When it came to choosing today’s film, it was one of those whose concept grabbed my attention right when I saw it on Netflix. The film is called Hot Bot and it stars Zack Pearlman (Staten Island Summer) as Leonard and Doug Haley (Hansel & Gretel Get Baked) as Limus, are two best friends who are sexually deprived teenagers and virtually unnoticeable at their school. One day it all changes as the two of them stumble upon a sex robot named Bardot (Cynthia Kirchner) that will change their lives. The only problem is that this very expensive robot belongs to Senator Biter (Larry Miller) and he wants her back. Now the boys will try everything they can to make sure that the Senator doesn’t get his hands on her. The film also stars David Shackelford (There’s Something About Mary) as Benny, Anthony Anderson (Me, Myself, and Irene) as Agent Frazier, Danny Masterson (That 70’s Show) as Agent Koontz, Donald Faison (Clueless) as Mr. Huffington, Angela Kinsey (The Office) as Mrs. Huffington, Kirby Bliss Blanton (The Green Inferno) as Kassidy, John Robinson (Transformers) as Rodney, Chasty Ballesteros (Final Destination 5) as Sophia, and the film was directed by Michael Polish (90 Minutes In Heaven).
I read a quote on IMDB.com that read like this, “If Return of the Living Dead (1985) had been directed by Dan Aykroyd and the premise was a mash-up of One Crazy Summer (1986), Weird Science (1985), and Cherry 2000 (1987) in a world where Superbad (2007) had never been made, that film would be Hot Bot (2016), a surprisingly genuine sex-comedy without any sex.” I couldn’t agree more with the quote as that is exactly how I felt about the film. The film in it’s style reminds me of a lot of those great comedies he listed in his quote and that is what I loved about it. At fist glance jut from reading the name of the film, you may think that this could be a really stupid film, but it’s quite the contrary. It’s actually smart and it just seems very natural. What I mean by that is that the actors and their lines seemed so natural and unforced almost as if they were making it up as they went. Some after viewing this film may complain that besides the one part with the breasts, there really isn’t a whole lot of sex in the film. That is certainly fine by me because the film didn’t really need it. There were a lot of hilarious scenes in this film, but there was one scene that was just downright awkward. Larry Miller visits Limus in his room and it just gets really weird at one point. Larry Miller never really gets enough credit, but he has always played a really good antagonist no matter what the role. There was a study I read about some time ago about how there are humans that love having sex with robots and that the robots almost fully replace the idea of another human in the relationship role. This film doesn’t really talk about it, but it touches upon it a little in the comedic sense. I am going to give the film an B for a final grade.
For today’s film, I saw the trailer for Hell And Back some time ago and I remember saying that I wanted to see it. I went on Netflix today and discovered that they had the film available to watch. Hell And Back is a stop-motion animated film that takes place in hell and it’s for adults. Three friends Remy (Nick Swardson), Augie (T.J. Miller), and Curt (Rob Riggle) all work at a carnival that is slowly going down the proverbial tubes. They’ve run out of ideas until Remy finds the devil’s book with the devil weeping and he instantly sees dollar signs. Whiel reading the book, Curt asks him for a mint and Remy makes him swear that he’ll return the favor. When Curt doesn’t, he gets sucked into hell where he will be a live sacrifice for the Devil (Bob Odenkirk). Now Remy and Augie will have to go to hell to rescue their friend before it’s too late. The film also stars Mila Kunis (That 70’s Show) as Deema, Susan Sarandon (Thelma & Louise) as Barb, Danny McBride (Pineapple Express) as Orpheus, H. Jon Benjamin (Archer) as The Tree, John Farley (You Don’t Mess With The Zohan) as Welcome To Hell Demon, Paul F. Tompkins (BoJack Horseman) as annoyed soul, Michael Peña (Fury) as Abigor The Demon, Brian Posehn (The Devil’s Rejects) as Cleb, and ti was directed by Tom Gianas and Ross Shuman.
You could definitely tell by watching this film that it belongs with Adult Swim or at least it has that Moral Orel/Robot Chicken style with the Stop-Motion animation. The film is kind of divided into to different parts in my opinion which are the part where it starts slow and the part where it gets good. The first part of the film is ok and they’re trying really hard with the jokes, but right when they get to hell that is where all the fun starts. My favorite part of hell was the welcome to hell demon who messes with the lost souls like telling them that there is no pizza at a Taco Bell/Pizza Hut and then ends it with a welcome to hell. He goes on and on throughout the film and stick around in the end credit scenes for some more. Bob Odenkirk is brilliant as the dark one, but at times I swore James Woods was the voice. The film gets really good when Danny McBride shows up as the Greek mythology character of Orpheus. If you are a fan of Danny’s like I am, then I am here to say that even in voice, he does not disappoint. One of my favorite voice actors H. Jon Benjamin shows up int he film to play a raping tree which is outrageous. I do want to warn parents that are stupid enough to click on the film that it is not meant for kids, but for adult enjoyment. Anyways, I really enjoyed the film and that is why that I am giving the film an B+ for a final grade.
Instead of doing Super Sunday on the other blog, I am bringing it here for a film that I sort of boycotted back when it was first released (I’ll explain my reasoning below). Spider-Man 3 was the third and last installment of the Sam Raimi (Evil Dead)/Tobey Maguire Spider-Man series. Things appear to be going quite well for Spider-Man (Maguire) as all the residents of New York love and appreciate him and he has the girl of his dreams in Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst). That all begins to change when a strange black entity from another world appears and bonds with Parker. It starts to drive certain urges in Spider-Man that we are not used to seeing from him as he battles new villains and some new problems because of it. The film also stars Topher Grace (That 70’s Show) as Eddie Brock, James Franco (Pineapple Express) as Harry Osborn, Thomas Haden Church (Daddy’s Home) as Sandman, Bryce Dallas Howard (50/50) as Gwen Stacy, Rosemary Harris (Spider-Man) as May Parker, J.K. Simmons (Whiplash) as J. Jameson, James Cromwell (The Green Mile) as Captain Stacy, Dylan Baker (Trick ‘r Treat) as Dr. Curt Conners, and Elizabeth Banks (Zack & Miri Make A Porno) as Miss Brant.
The reason I avoided this film to be perfectly honest back in 2007 was that I was frankly sick of Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man and I did not agree with the casting choice of Topher Grace as Eddie Brock a.k.a. Venom. Topher Grace just wasn’t my first choice to play a bad ass villain, but nevertheless they went with him and I decided to check it out today. While this is definitely not the best film of the Sam Raimi three, it’s definitely not the best of all the Spider-Man movies that have come out including the two Amazing Spider-Man films. The film was just all over the place and there is this one sequence that was just unnecessary and it’s when Parker is walking down New York like he’s John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever. That had to be the cheesiest moment of the whole film, but there are some redeeming values in the film. I wasn’t completely disappointed with the way Venom looked and Topher Grace was OK. I was impressed with him through most of the film when he was just that annoying Eddie Brock trying to top Peter Parker at The Daily Bugle. I loved the film’s choice for Gwen Stacy in Bryce Dallas Howard as she brings beauty to the role and the battle scene towards the end was pretty good as well. One thing they messed up on was the film seemed to abandon the subplot between Parker and Osborn who has basically ruined Parker’s life. After he regains his memory, he goes on a hellbent mission to destroy Parker, but after a little tussle in the lab, it’s over just like that? There’s also one more problem towards the end that I had, but I won’t give that away. So, let’s just say it has something to do with the Sandman. It’s definitely a film that could have been so much more than it was, but Raimi dropped the ball on this one. I am giving the film an C+ for a final grade.
365moviesin365dayschallenge 