You Have to See This! Tommy Boy (1995)

Currently Streaming on Amazon Prime Video, AMC Plus, Philo, Fandango at Home

Chris Farley would have been sixty this year had he not sadly passed away at the young age of thirty three. One of the best cast members of the iconic late night comedy show “Saturday Night Live,” Farley was looking up at a promising second chapter in feature films. Farley was very much loyal to SNL and only made small cameos in movies featuring his “SNL” co-workers. And although they were small, Farley had the tendency to make the best out of his small roles. Whether it’s the maniacal bus driver in “Billy Madison,” the lovable Ronnie in “Coneheads,” or Milton in “Wayne’s World 2,” Farley was skilled enough to know that there were no small roles, just small actors.

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Every Bugs Bunny Ever: Knights Must Fall (1949)

Knights Must Fall (1949)
Directed by Friz Freleng
Written by Tedd Pierce
Animation by Ken Champin
Music by Carl Stalling

There’s a lot of really good material here in “Knight’s Must Fall,” probably one of the two times Bugs Bunny comes face to face with a knight. I personally prefer “Knights Must Fall” over “Knighty Knight Bugs” but not because of Yosemite Sam. While the latter is very good in its own right, I just found the former to be so much funnier and more creative gag wise. Sure, the writers recycle Bugs’ classic “That’s the ol’ Pepper, boy!” gag but this time while jousting the black knight, but the creative and hilarious gags outweigh the small caveats, in the end.

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Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead (2024)

Now Streaming on BET+.

1991’s “Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead” is one of my favorite 90’s films. It’s also a painfully underrated comedy that, despite being marketed as a dark comedy, is actually a charming, fun coming of age teen comedy in the vein of “Working Girl.” Wade Allain-Marcus’ remake is shockingly not a bad movie at all, either, it’s just completely unnecessary. I don’t think anyone was begging for a remake of “Don’t Tell Mom…” when all was said and done. But lo and behold we got one, and I’m still not sure who this movie is aimed towards.

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The Garfield Movie (2024)

The latest iteration of the seemingly immortal Garfield franchise seems to work less in favor of retelling the classic story of Garfield and more in building a cinematic universe–apparently. Bafflingly, the producers seem to think there’s some merit in building this big world for Jim Davis’ Garfield. While Garfield does have a gallery of characters in his world, I never really thought of his franchise as being this sprawling world with side characters, and spin offs, and one off adventures. I doubt anyone wants a Nermal comedy, or Odie adventure. “The Garfield Movie” misses the key ingredient of what makes this series so beloved, which is Jon Arbuckle.

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IF (2024)

While John Krasinski’s “IF” doesn’t exactly break new ground, nor re-invent the wheel, what he lacks in originality, he makes up for with oodles of charm. John Krasinski has emerged as a very good multi-faceted director, and with “IF” he delivers on a very heartwarming, often entertaining tale about the hardships of growing up and having to say goodbye to certain things that made us happy. “IF” suffers from not having a completely fleshed out idea (it also leaves a sub-plot unresolved), but I loved it mainly for its warmth, good humor, and wholesomeness.

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Every Bugs Bunny Ever: Long-Haired Hare (1949)

Long-Haired Hare (1949)
Directed by Chuck Jones
Written by Michael Maltese
Animation by Ken Harris
Music by Carl Stalling

“Long Haired Hare” is one of the many examples of the wonderful marriage of music and comedy with the Looney Tunes. The way the animators manage to merge the medium of music as a means of helping to land comedy is brilliant and it amounts to one of my top ten Bugs Bunny shorts of all time. What’s even more outstanding is that “Long Haired Hare” feels like two shorts merged in to one without a single flaw. One portion of the narrative for this short involves Bugs trying to play music while he’s outwitting opera singer Giovanni Jones. The second portion involves Bugs basically wreaking all out havoc by sabotaging Jones’ opera and putting him through pure hell.

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Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988): Limited Steelbook Edition [4K/Blu-Ray]

Now Available from Scream! Factory

Another sign that horror is always ahead of its time, the mainstream has finally caught up with the horror community and realize what a loyal but small fan base has known for a very long time. That “Killer Klowns from Outer Space” is a demented horror masterpiece, and there’s never really been anything like it since. You can kind of, maybe consider “Mars Attacks!” its successor, but “Killer Klowns” is so much more concerned with turning its villains in to genuine horror foes, rather than trotting out all sorts of guest stars and fancy special effects. Even today, “Killer Klowns from Out Space” is a bag of mixed treats filled with gore, grue, silliness, and a fun group of fearsome alien klowns that seem almost unstoppable in their rampage.

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