“Nativity!” is a good-natured Christmas film but it has some big flaws. The biggest issue I have with it is that it’s a comedy and not a very funny one. At times, the film branches off into a more serious tone and that’s when I enjoyed it the most.

Primary school teacher Paul Maddens (Martin Freeman “Love Actually”, “Hot Fuzz”) is tasked with creating this year’s school nativity. After a misunderstanding made by the dopey teaching assistant, Mr. Poppy (Marc Wootton “Arthur Christmas”), a rumour is spread that Hollywood will be viewing the play. Now, it’s up to Maddens to get Hollywood’s interest for real and to create the best possible play he can so that he can upstage his snooty rival at the private school nearby.

Martin Freeman does an excellent job as Maddens. I really liked the performance he gave during the scenes where he encourages the children. It’s a real shame that at times, we see him put in goofy sequences that don’t really work very well. The character Mr. Poppy causes an uncontrollable amount of chaos that makes the film even goofier than it already is. Some of the children seem to have some talent but the filmmakers made them do ridiculous things that make them look like they can’t act.

“Nativity!” has good points and I’m sure kids will get a few laughs out of it. However, they should have done one of two things: 1. Create some witty humour that is more sophisticated that bathroom jokes 2. Make it a film about how a frustrated but fantastic teacher has to put on a great show with very limited resources. “Nativity!” will suit those who like burp jokes but I don’t find that very funny so I’m afraid I can’t recommend the film. Although it is cheerful film, it just didn’t do it for me.

“National Lampoon’s Vacation” is the first entry in the “Vacation” series and sadly, it isn’t very impressive. That’s because they throw jokes at us that never make me do anything more than smile. It’s surprising how many people have fond memories of it.

Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase “Fletch”, “Caddyshack”) and his family take a cross-country drive to Walley World. Unfortunately, for the ‘average American’ family, things take a turn for the worst as we see them get into countless situations where we understand the joke but it’s just not very amusing. This is a real shame because I think this seems like a decent premise for a light-hearted comedy.

Chevy Chase is as bad actor as he simply stands there and delivers his lines without putting any effort in and as a result he is only funny when the material is great but here it isn’t. The other members of the family are quite dull. I didn’t like the part John Candy (“Spaceballs”, “Planes, Trains & Automobiles”) got as it isn’t funny and it too small for someone like Candy who can be reasonably funny. I wasn’t keen on the character Cousin Eddie (Randy Quaid “Independence Day”) either. There should have been a few crazy characters thrown in there but they are all very bland.

80% of the jokes will put a smile on your face but that’s all this film achieves. Although I don’t care for any of them particularly, I’d say “Christmas Vacation” has at least one or two decent laughs in there so that’s the best one. This first “Vacation” lacks the ability to have you actually laugh out loud or even chuckle. I felt the fun park at the end was a massive disappointment, a few jokes involving the dog aren’t good at all and the family didn’t really see that much of America.

This is a parody of action movies and movies in general but it’s not all good. No matter how many big names they throw in there, no matter how many different film references they go and cram in and no matter how many jokes they get in, “Loaded Weapon 1” forgets that it’s quality that’s important.

In this parody (mainly of the “Lethal Weapon” franchise), Emilio Estevez (“The Mighty Ducks”) stars as Jack Colt alongside Samuel L. Jackson (“Snakes On A Plane”) as Wes Luger. The duo takes on a group of drug dealers, led by General Mortars (William Shatner “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan”). Throughout the duo’s misadventures, we see references to “Cobra”, “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”, “Commando”, “Basic Instinct”, “Silence of the Lambs” and various other films.

Most of the cast including the leads are poor but William Shatner is superb as the villain. Jon Lovitz (“Rat Race”), Phil Hartman (“Jingle All the Way”), Tim Curry (“Congo”), Dennis Leary (“Ice Age”), Whoopi Goldberg (“Sister Act”), Corey Feldman (“Goonies”), Bruce Willis (“Die Hard”) and a few others all make appearances. However, their appearances feel gimmicky and they’re just there for no reason. Although some of them deliver some okay jokes but nothing too amazing.

Despite the fact that some fun is delivered, there is not enough here to make a good movie. The leads are poor and the supporting cast are there for no reason except for the fact that the film will try to draw you in with big names. This movie reminded me of “Last Action Hero” with Arnold Schwarzenegger (“Predator”) as both are parodies with endless cameos and gimmicky humour that never quite works out. There are some great parodies out there like “Airplane!” and even films like “Spaceballs” are worth seeing over this movie. All-round “Loaded Weapon 1” not a terrible movie but with better jokes this could have been great.

“National Lampoon’s European Vacation” is a lot like the first “Vacation” film. Both put smiles on the faces of the audience members but never a big laugh. It is a completely neutral film that never amounts to much.

The Griswold family, led by Clark (Chevy Chase “Caddyshack”, “Fletch”), wins a tv game show and are on their way to Europe. Once there, they do all the basic things that people do when they visit Europe but nothing they do is particularly funny. Arguably the best part is the final shot before the credits… if it were the first then at least you could sit down for a minute or so before leaving the film.

Chevy Chase is once again dull as Clark Griswold. Beverley D’Angelo (“American History X”) provides a mild snigger as the mother/wife Ellen in a shower scene but that really is it. The children in these films have never been good but here they are really bad. The other characters aren’t very good and the biggest disappointments are the several British actors featured. The most notable one is Eric Idle of “Monty Python” fame. The material given to all the characters isn’t horrible but it is just dull.

“European Vacation” has another nasty dog joke like the first, which I could do without. Overall, this is about as funny as the first so if you liked the original then this sequel should impress you. I feel it has one or two kind of decent moments but the rest of it is just average so to me, it is yet another dud Chevy Chase film and yet another dud film from National Lampoon. I like comedies that can make me laugh or does something more than just make me smirk every now and then. If they can only accomplish that, they haven’t truly struck a nerve with me.

There are seem pretty hilarious film titles out there so I thought I would share a list of 10 of the most ridiculous ones that I have encountered. I’ve not necessarily watched these films, I’m just aware of their absurd titles.

10. I Want To Eat Your Pancreas
11. Don't Worry, We'll Think Of A Title
12. The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing
13. Sex Lives of the Potato Men
14. Sharknado
15. Sorority Babes In The Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama
16. Pterodactyl Woman From Beverly Hills
17. Santa Claus Conquers the Martians
18. A Nymphoid Barbarian In Dinosaur Hell
19. The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living And Became Mixed-Up Zombies!!?

The Coronavirus pandemic has changed life substantially for people around the globe in ways that many of us would never have predicted.

So many films have come out over the years that showed us the possibilities of the future. “Gattaca”, “Blade Runner”, “Ghost In The Shell”, “Alien”, “Minority Report”, “The Terminator”, “Ex Machina”, “RoboCop”, “Total Recall”, “Brazil”, “The Fifth Element”, “Mad Max”, “The Running Man”, “I, Robot”, “Hardware” and “The Matrix” all offered up different ideas about what might happen to the world. However, it is strange to think the film that world now seems to reflect most closely is “Demolition Man”.

I was not a fan of it but “Demolition Man” was a moderately successful sci-fi/action flick from the 1990s. Sylvester Stallone (“First Blood”) starred as a cop with Wesley Snipes (“Passenger 57”) playing the villain. The two got frozen for decades but would continue their battle in the future. Sandra Bullock (“Speed”) also had a major role.

What does this have to do with 2020 pandemic? Well, it’s the world that the movie created. In the film, non-essential physical contact has been outlawed due to the prevalence of viral infections. This sounds an awful lot like 2020’s ‘social distancing’ measures. This also means no kissing and sex is done using a virtual reality headset. Stallone is invited to have a sex session with Bullock but he’s not too impressed by the virtual method of stimulation. However, the lack of touching is not the only way in which the movie appears to share similarities with the pandemic. Many people may remember that concerns about the lockdowns led to stockpiling. One item that became hard to obtain was toilet roll. Well, in “Demolition Man” toilet roll has been replaced by the use of three seashells. We never see the seashells but the characters mention it a few times. Also, with a significant number of conventional restaurants closed, fast-food outlets have remained popular. In “Demolition Man”, all restaurants are Pizza Hut (at least in the British version, Taco Bell is used in the American version).

“Demolition Man” was a hit when it was released but most people have probably forgotten about it. However, it is interesting to think that of all the sci-fi films to sort of come true, it was this cheesy Stallone film.

“1911” is a film all about the Xinhai Revolution where the Chinese overthrew their imperial leaders. The film is arguably too ambitious for its own good. It tries to show the battles, the politics and the personal stories of the revolution. However, it all feels rushed. This is a movie that would have been better if it was twice as long.

The Republic of China is founded when nationalist forces, led by Sun Yat-sen (Winston Chao “The Meg”, “The Wedding Banquet”), set out to bring the Qing dynasty down. They hope a new nation can be built, one that offers more freedom for its citizens and prevents foreign powers from exploiting them.

Winston Chao is good as Sun Yat-sen; he’s really the star of the movie. Jackie Chan (“First Strike”, “Armour Of God”) plays Huang Xing. This is often billed as Chan’s 100th film, something that’s debatable as exactly how many films he has done remains contested. He can be good in dramatic roles as we have seen in “Shinjuku Incident” but here, he doesn’t get to shine. His son, Jaycee Chan (“Blade Of Kings”), also has a small role here. There are just so many characters including the Qing dynasty rulers, the revolutionary soldiers and the foreign diplomats that it becomes a little overwhelming as we don’t get enough time to understand any of them very well.

“1911” has some spectacular battle sequences and has some interesting political moments. The irony of this film is that it’s a very patriotic and pro-China film but the Republic of China is now relegated to Taiwan while the rest of China belongs to the People’s Republic of China. Maybe if I knew more about Chinese history that I would have enjoyed this film more but there was just way too much going on. I wanted to be able to understand things clearly as I’m surely the subject matter is interesting but it just rushes through so much in so little time.

“Armed Response” is a dull film that is not sure exactly what it wants to be. It dabbles in the action, sci-fi and horror genres. There is nothing particularly original on offer here as it felt like the filmmakers cobbled together concepts from “Resident Evil”, “Eagle Eye”, “Ghost Ship” and “The Outpost”.

Something mysterious happens at a secret government facility, which serves as a prison with an advanced lie detector. A special team is dispatched to investigate. However, they soon find themselves turning on one another as they try to uncover the secrets of the facility and encounter strange and unsettling sights.

Wesley Snipes (“Blade”, “New Jack City”) stars as Isaac, the leader of the team. Snipes is a decent actor but he’s given an unengaging script to work with and he looks seriously bored. It’s a real shame because he could have helped the film a lot. The other actors give really bland performances and as soon as I finished watching the movie, I can’t remember anything about most of the characters. Films like this really need you to get invested in the characters because you are stuck with so few of them for such a long period of time.

If you have seen the other movies that I mentioned, you will then probably be able to vaguely imagine what this film is like. “Armed Response” is disappointing and it gets unnecessarily complex. The action sequences are actually okay but the rest of the movie is so uneventful that you just won’t care when the shooting starts. It’s also not nice to see Snipes waste his time with rubbish like this. It’s not quite as bad as some of the recent Steven Seagal films such as “General Commander” but this is the type of film that I could easily see Seagal in.

“Land of the Free” is an unremarkable thriller starring martial artist Jeff Speakman (“The Perfect Weapon”, “Street Knights”) and William Shatner (“Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan”). It has a few moderately entertaining parts but a lot of it looks rather amateurish and it has a distracting score.

In “Land of the Free”, Aidan Carvell (Shatner) is succeeding in winning public support as he campaigns for a seat in the United States Senate. His campaign manager, Frank Jennings (Speakman), is approached by authorities when they fear that Carvell is secretly funding dangerous militia groups. Frank and his family find themselves targeted by Carvell and corrupt elements of the federal system as he tries to shine a light on the truth.

Speakman never really made it as a big action star. He’s supposedly a very talented martial artist but you wouldn’t know that from this movie; a lot of the fight scenes are edited rather poorly. Speakman gives a mundane performance. He’s certainly not terrible and maybe he has better acting skills than Jean-Claude Van Damme (“Bloodsport”) but there is a reason why people don’t still talk about Speakman. Shatner is enjoyable as always and I really wish that he was in more of the movie. The other characters are rather forgettable.

“Land of the Free” has some decent car chases and I like the performance from Shatner. However, this is not a particularly exciting thriller. Some of the ideas are interesting but the film clearly had major financial constraints. Maybe we could have seen Speakman fight the militia groups. Fans of Shatner will likely enjoy the ridiculous fight scene at the end where he battles Speakman. It’s not as good as some of the fights from the original “Star Trek” but I’ve not seen Shatner kick anybody so well since I saw “Star Trek III: The Search For Spock”.

“National Lampoon’s Animal House” is one of those movies such as “Halloween” and “Die Hard” where basic premise would quickly be copied by countless others. If you’ve seen “Caddyshack”, “Police Academy”, “Stripes” or even “Teen Wolf”, you’ll have somewhat of an understanding of what “Animal House” is like. It’s very dirty and immature but somehow it works.

At a university, there are two rival fraternities in “Animal House”. Omega House is full of a bunch of squares, who take part in a strange sadomasochist initiation, while Delta House is filled with drunken partygoers. I don’t think I’d like to be in either but as we watch the madness unfold, we see a bunch of 1960s’ college students go through an unforgettable experience.

Although the film focuses on the students such as Flounder (Stephen Furst “The Dream Team”), Pinto (Tom Hulce “Amadeus”) and Bluto (John Belushi “The Blues Brothers”), my favourite character is easily the strict Dean Wormer (John Vernon “Dirty Harry”). That’s because Vernon does a great job and I also have a soft spot for the bad guys in movies such as this. The marijuana-smoking teacher Mr. Jennings (Donald Sutherland “Space Cowboys”) is another one of those unorganised teachers found in movies. You know, mid-lecture when the bell goes.

“Animal House” is one drunken party after another but while I don’t think I’d like to be there, it’s fun to watch. Some of the jokes are pretty funny (I like the court case scene in particular). It’s the kind of movie where the foulness of the humour plays into the film’s hands. Whether they’re spying on girls getting dressed or wrecking a town parade, the boys from Delta House will make you laugh. Trust me, you’ll be wanting to dress yourself in a bedsheet after watching this.