I also have another Green Day poster in storage and an old Green Day t-shirt.
I didn't grow up on Stingray, because it never played on TV when I was a kid, so I missed out on that unfortunately. same with Joe 90.
Admittedly I never seen their other film, Everything Everywhere All at Once. But maybe I will before their new movie comes out.
Like a lot of kids I grew up on the Looney Tunes and they were part of my childhood.
However, when I was about four or five my dad took me and my brother to see Space Jam. That was my introduction to the NBA and to Michael Jordan of course.
That was the beginning of my interest in basketball which grew during my teenage years.
Space Jam was one of my favorites as a kid and rewatching it now as an adult all those years later. It's not that great.
It has a lot of stuff I like in it but it also that makes it irritating.
I'll go over the Pros and Cons with the film.
Pros:
The voice actoring is pretty good:
The people they got to voice the Looney Tunes pretty much nailed the the characters especially Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. There not Mel Blanc, but it's solid.
The soundtrack slaps:
I think we can all agree that Space Jam has one of the best movie soundtracks. With songs like
It's a soundtrack I often revisit and listen to from time to time.
Basketball Rocks:
Pretty any scene that involves basketball or the NBA players is the Highlight for me. From the Knicks game to the big game between the Tune squad and Monstars. It reminds me why I like the sport in the first place.
And I'm just going to say it I like Michael Jordan in this film. Say what you want about his acting, but he has a certain enthusiasm and charm.
I think Gene Siskel said it best he wisely doesn't go to the Superstar Route like Shaquille O'Neal did in Kazaam, he's Michael Jordan the best character he will ever play.
And other players like Charles Barkley and Muggsy Bogues also have some big screen charm to them as well.
Bill Murray:
I mean come on it's Bill Murray next to Michael he's probably the best character in the movie. Even when he's in something bad you can't help but like him.
Cons:
The Jokes Aren't Funny:
That's one of the worst things a comedy could do is not be funny. I barely laughed at all during this movie even the Looney Tunes themselves don't get a laugh. The only joke I kind of found funny was the scene with the fortune teller and the NBA players. That's it.
Lola Bunny:
This may upset people or fans of this character but I am not a fan of Lola. What is even the point of this character? Yeah she's good at basketball but that role can be given to any of the Looney Tunes. She mainly only there for fan service and it feels wrong that I just said that. If this movie only knew what a Pandora's Box it opened during the internet age. That's one of the things I can get the sequel credit they actually gave her more of a personality.
The other Human characters suck:
I don't care for Michaels family there boring and not interesting, and I don't like Wayne Knight's character, Stan. this is a character that contributes a lot to the movie being unfunny. I know Michael can't stand them either but that shouldn't the audience shouldn't like him either.
The Writing:
Now I know what type of movie this is I wasn't expecting anything oscar-worthy, and I'm aware it's kids movie, but that doesn't mean it can't be well written.
And the writing really does hurt this movie.
The whole plot involves the Looney Tunes getting Michael Jordan for their basketball game to defeat the Monstars. I mean that's fine but when they pull him down the golf hole Larry Bird is also there, you don't think Larry Bird would be any help? Or any other NBA player who didn't get their talent stolen would be any help for that matter?
When Michael get sucked down the golf hole Stan, Bill Murray, and Larry Bird are there and they pretty much have no reaction to what just happened.
Bugs and Daffy going to Michael's house to get his shoes and basketball shorts, the kids see and talk to them and they just treat it like a normal thing. Like kids you're talking to Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, any other kids would likes the Looney Tunes would be going crazy right now.
I can go on about the writing in the movie but those are the highlights of why it is so bad.
So, with all my criticisms what would I do to make the movie better? Well there's not much that can be done because Space Jam is a product of the 90s, and it would have to be reworked from the ground up.
But what I can offer is two alternatives to Space Jam.
If you're a fan of Looney Tunes check out Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Another live action animated comedy that's a tribute to the Golden Age of cartoons and has much better jokes and stronger writing. Along with fun cameos from the Looney Tunes and other classic cartoon characters from the 30s and 40s.
If your a basketball fan or a fan of Michael Jordan check out The Last Dance. A Netflix documentary show highlighting the Chicago Bulls during the Michael Jordan era up until the 1998 finals, with interviews from coach Phil Jackson, Michael's teammates like Scottie Pippen's and Dennis Rodman and MJ himself.
Overall: Space Jam is a very flawed movie, and the stuff that's good it's really good but the bad stuff is just painful.
But at least it's not Space Jam 2 or the TV movie about MJ, Michael Jordan An American Hero (yes that was a real movie).
Everything you see in this "movie' is either images or stock footage they got from some royalty-free website. Barely any footage with Kobe or the Lakers, no interviews, and an awful narrator.
If you wanna see a documentary on Kobe, watch Legends of the Court (2020)
I'm also waiting on Stingray and the Terror fish model.
Except for the remastered mighty morphins, Ninja rangers and those Ninja Turtle figures.
I now have all the teams that were completed in the lightning collection. Except for Omega Ranger and we didn't get a Beast morphers silver but at least we got all the human Rangers from That season.
Since Brand New Day is coming out this week I'm going to take a look back at the last Spider-Man movie No Way Home.
It's been about almost 5 years since I last saw it and it was my favorite film of 2021. But revisiting it again I was worried that it wouldn't hold up as well as it did when I first saw it.
Well I can easily say it's still one of my favorite Spider-Man movies and one of my favorite films of the decade. The best way I can describe no way home is that it's like The Dark Knight and Dark Knight Rises of Spider-Man movies.
Because like the Dark Knight this movie raises the stakes and not everyone is going to live happily ever after by the end of the film. And like Rises this is the end of the home trilogy and also it's become very divisive among Spider-Man fans and moviegoers.
I join a lot of movie discussion groups someone said he didn't like no way home because it was basically nostalgia porn. Because as we all know the movie features Spider-Man villains from the Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield movies as well as Toby and Andrew themselves.
I do understand why people would feel this way it's the same reaction I had with the Mario Galaxy movie. That's a film that puts references and nostalgia above everything else. Like "hey there's Yoshi, hey it's Starfox, hey Mario and Luigi turn into Baby Mario and Baby Luigi from Yoshi's Island" Etc.
The Nostalgia in this movie doesn't bother me like others because Tom Holland had two Spider-Man movies before and 3 MCU movies to establish this version of Spider-Man, before jumping into the Multiverse.
The Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield versions of Spider-Man are portrayed like the big brothers or mentor figures to MCU Spider-Man.
The thing I like most about this movie is how they interact with each other as well as the villains from the two other Spider-Man series interact with each other. There's just a sense of fun and charm to seeing that.
But the character that steals the show is Willem Dafoe as the Green Goblin. He brought that same energy this film like you did in the first Spider-Man movie. In the first film all he did kill people but he didn't get away with killing Aunt May or Mary Jane. In this film he definitely gets away with murdering Peter's loved ones. And one nice touch is that they don't pin him up against Tobey Maguire because from this movies point of view he's not his arch enemy anymore he's Tom Holland's. But there needed to be something between the two when MCU Spider-Man tries to kill Goblin Maguire steps in to prevent him from doing that. It's a great scene no dialogue and a good example of show don't tell.
I also like Andrew Garfield in this movie more than I did The Amazing Spider-Man movies. He gets a chance to redeem himself after failing to save Gwen in Amazing Spider-Man 2.
Overall: Spider-Man 1 and 2 are still my favorite Spidey films but this is like third favorite overall. It's a Perfect Blend of good writing and nostalgia giving fans closure on the other Spider-Man series as well as continuing the MCU version.
Thunderbirds is number 1, you knew that before you saw the title. But here's my ranking anyway. Also, I'm only included shows that are under the Supermarionation label, things like Terrahawks, remakes of Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet, and Team America not going to be ranked.
But if your curious, Team America would be number 1, since it is my favorite movie.
But let's get started
Let me know how you would rank these in the comments.
Thanks for reading.
How many of you knew that?