Reviews by Leo

I remember liking this one when I was a kid after first catching it on cable, then I never rewatched it again until I bought this one on DVD a decade later. Needless to say, "Lost in Space" was terrible then I thought was going to be. It's got a decent cast at the front (William Hurt, Gary Oldman, Mimi Rogers, Matt LeBlanc, Heather Graham, Lacey Chabert) and was based on a popular 60s TV series, which I haven't watched but I can tell it would be a lot better than the film we got. Whereas the show had a campy charm, the movie has none of the camp factor and instead ended up just being pretty boring. Some of the CGI effects haven't aged well, the most notable being Blarp the space monkey, who looks pretty creepy, as well as the directing by Stephen Hopkins ("Predator 2", "Blown Away") being clumsy. This was another black mark in screenwriter Akiva Goldsman's uneven career ("Batman & Robin", "The Da Vinci Code", "Winter's Tale", etc.) and two planned sequels ended up being cancelled due to not living up to blockbuster expectations as well as fans of the show disliking the film a whole lot. It's best that you just avoid "Lost in Space" and instead watch a better TV-to-film adaptation like "The Fugitive" or "Mission: Impossible" than this one.

Another bad Madonna movie alert! This film was one of many erotic thrillers ("Sliver", "Color of Night", "Jade" etc) that came out following the success of "Basic Instinct" the year before but unfortunately, Willem Dafoe was no Michael Douglas and Madonna is definitely no Sharon Stone in that matter. Everything in it was an unintentional laugh riot from the sex scenes, the dialogue, the acting, you name it. Dafoe, Joe Mantegna, Anne Archer, Julianne Moore and Jurgen Prochnow really should've known better when Madonna was one of your co-stars, and the Material Girl herself once again falls flat with her performance while none of the sex scenes feel sexy, it comes off as unintentionally awkward. If you want to go for a good laugh, this movie will do but otherwise, it's best that you just steer clear and watch "Basic Instinct" instead.

What a terrible crime thriller this was. Everything about "Deadfall" doesn't make any sense as you can't tell who is conning who or whatnot. The direction was incompetent, the writing was piss-poor, and the acting was not very good despite the fact that you had a couple of decent actors in there (Michael Biehn, Nicolas Cage, James Coburn, Peter Fonda, Charlie Sheen). Of course, we got to talk about Nicolas Cage because this is one of his most craziest performances out there, ranging from the way he speaks, his wig, sunglasses etc. He made it worth watching until he dies at the end of the first hour, where the film continues to fall apart. Other than Cage, there's nothing else I can recommend about "Deadfall" and it's best that you just watch clips of Cage from this movie acting way over the top instead.

Nothing more than a poor "E.T." rip-off which was made six years too late. The acting, directing, writing and special effects are all pretty horrible. Plus, it basically does nothing but promote product placements for Coca-Cola, McDonald's and Skittles. Yet, everything about it is unintentionally funny. Everything ranges from the wheelchair kid falling out of a cliff and plunges into the water to customers and workers dancing at McDonald's for some very strange reason. The former scene has been parodied numerous times whenever Paul Rudd comes on Conan O'Brien to promote a film, and this clip has been played a lot. "Mac and Me" is awful in a nearly inept way and it's best that you don't watch it and see "E.T." again.

We got another stinker from the Happy Madison gang! Nick Swardson was awful as the main character, a bucktoothed hick who decides to get into the porn industry after finding out that his parents used to be in the business. None of "Bucky Larson" is remotely funny, and a bunch of decent actors (Christina Ricci, Stephen Dorff, Don Johnson, Edward Herrmann, Kevin Nealon) were completely dragged down by letting Swardson take the reigns. This film clearly deserves a 0% on Rotten Tomatoes and quickly came and went from theaters within a span of two weeks. Don't watch "Bucky Larson" and watch "Boogie Nights" instead, as that is a much better and darker example about the porn business. Just skip it.

"Swept Away" is clearly nothing more than a vanity project for Madonna in order to get her then-husband Guy Ritchie to direct her in a movie. While I haven't seen the 1974 original that it was based on, I can tell is a thousand times better than the film we got on the big screen. This feels muddled, the leads have zero chemistry together, and since it took in just under $600,000 (against its $10 million budget), this pretty much tells that Madonna's movie career is basically over. Sure, she's had a bunch of bad movie projects before that ("Shanghai Surprise", "Who's That Girl", "Bloodhounds of Broadway", "Body of Evidence", "The Next Best Thing) but "Swept Away" clearly takes the cake for being Madonna's worst film ever, and it's no wonder why she stopped acting after this disaster to continue what she does best: her music. And after that fiasco, she and Guy Ritchie would eventually divorce a few years later. It's best that everyone just don't watch "Swept Away", and listen to either Madonna's recordings or watch a better Guy Ritchie flick instead ("Snatch").

Is this a crazy movie/production or what? When this was being made, the original director Richard Stanley got fired and was immediately replaced by John Frankenheimer. Next, Rob Morrow dropped out as the main hero until David Thewlis took his place. Then everything between Marlon Brando and Val Kilmer where you immediately must look it up on what kind of trouble these two created. As for the film itself, well "The Island of Dr. Moreau" is so insanely awful that you got to check out to believe. Brando and Kilmer extremely chew up the scenery everytime they appear, whereas Thewlis and Fairuza Balk felt pretty bad about doing this one it looks like they didn't want to be there (in fact, Balk tried to flee the production, but was caught by the producers and ordered her to finish the movie). The makeup on the animal/human hybrids looked pretty decent, but that's pretty much it. Regardless, the whole thing is dumb and marked the beginning of the end in the careers of Frankenheimer (he later died in 2002), Brando (one of his last notable roles before his 2004 death) and Kilmer. "The Island of Dr. Moreau" is of course not worth a look and the behind-the-scenes stuff is way more interesting than the entire movie itself.

From Justin to Kelly is no doubt considered to be one of the worst movies of all time. Clearly made to capitalize on the success of "American Idol", starring season 1 winner Kelly Clarkson and runner-up Justin Guarini, this movie fails as a musical, a romance, a spring break film, and an overall movie in general. Clarkson and Guarini have zero on-screen chemistry, the music and dance numbers were hideously awful, the writing, acting and direction was poor, and it's no wonder why Clarkson herself has admitted that the film is not very good, saying that she and Guarini were contractually obligated to do this film following the end of "American Idol"'s first season. Overall, avoid From Justin to Kelly like the plague, and just hear podcast episodes dedicated to it as well as video reviews picking that movie apart.

What the heck was wrong with The Bonfire of the Vanities? To start with, everything about this flick doesn't feel right from the beginning to the casting of Tom Hanks as an unlikable Wall Street tycoon, as well as Bruce Willis as a journalist who was supposed to be British, plus the torturous production on how everything got made. Published by Tom Wolfe in 1987 and then turned into a major film in 1990, The Bonfire of the Vanities is an epically miscast, less sanitized adaptation that infamously bombed heavily at the box office and critics in general, marked the beginning of the end of some careers (Brian De Palma and Melanie Griffith), and spawned a best-selling book that details on why this film failed so hard called "The Devil's Candy". If you're a fan of De Palma, Hanks or Willis, The Bonfire of the Vanities will leave you feel empty and will get fans of Tom Wolfe's book all riled up on what the studio managed to do with the source material.

North marks the beginning of the end for Rob Reiner. From 1984-1992, he had a pretty huge run as a director (This is Spinal Tap, Stand by Me, The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally etc.) and everyone thought that this film would be another winner. Then it got bad reviews (most notably from Siskel and Ebert), it bombed hard at the box office, and has been a go-to punchline ever since. With that, what went wrong? Elijah Wood was a young rising star with him playing the title character, who decides to divorce his bickering parents (Jason Alexander and Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and find a new set of folks all over the world. You thought that might be simple, right? Nope. Once the plot kicks in, there is a bunch of offensive and unfunny jokes regarding racism, different cultures and poor puns. Plus Bruce Willis must have felt embarrassed by wearing a pink bunny outfit in his first scene. With Wood, Willis, Alexander and Dreyfus being the four main people in the story, along with a large group of talented actors involved in supporting roles like Jon Lovitz, Dan Aykroyd, Kathy Bates, John Ritter, Alan Arkin, Reba McEntire, Faith Ford and many others to count, how did they along with Reiner think that making North was such a good idea? Everything feels awkward and it's completely devoid of laughs. Following this debacle, Reiner bounced back briefly with The American President, but hasn't been exactly the same after that (The Story of Us, Alex and Emma, Rumor Has It, And So It Goes). North is completely infamous for a reason so while you're at it, watch either Siskel & Ebert's review of the film or the Nostalgia Critic's version of it, as they're more entertaining than that and stay far away from it at all costs.