#19: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (2023)

 I'm alive! As is this blog that I dropped the ball on last year, but hope to at least continue on this year with hopefully some improvement. And for our nineteenth blog, we're once again returning both to the realm of animation and to a more current release as this was one that was on my backlog for a while and, surprisingly, I finally got around to it. I'm of the mind that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as an IP is probably among the most timeless IPs out there. That it can be something that can be changed enough to evolve with the times. That something so tinged in the eighties can still be turned into something more modern in the 2020s is no small feat, and that's what Jeff Rowe sought to do with 2023's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem. Was it a display of turtle power or a case of Ninja, Ninja Crap? Let's pump over a thousand words talking about it.

#18: Yellow Submarine (1968)

So, going into doing a blog series like this, one of the pratfalls I've always worried about when it comes to reviewing certain things is feeling like I'm lacking in the skills to fully convey how I feel about something. Especially when it's something acclaimed. That general sense of the final product not being this magnum opus of a review. So when it comes to something like the latest movie I've watched, I definitely feel that sense of doing a disservice to it. But damned if you do, damned if you don't I guess. Because I want to convey that I really, REALLY liked Yellow Submarine, and give a thousand words and some change, I think I can do my best to type that down.

#17: The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)

Thirty years ago, Nintendo gambled on a Super Mario Bros movie for the first time. And while I kind of like it, to say it had damaging results to the brand was an understatement. It seemed to scare Nintendo away from allowing its IPs to other companies. And three decades later, that finally feels like it's loosening up. Because in 2023, we finally got another Super Mario Bros. Movie. My opinion? Well, I think it's as near-perfect a use of this IP as you could ask for in 2023. But let's pump out a thousand words at least to talk about what I liked and didn't like.

#16: The Toxic Avenger (1984)

It's time for another movie that was on my list for a long time but ultimately just never sat down to watch. As I broaden myself with more movies to watch, I definitely need a hot injection of shlock, or, in the case of the movie I watched last night, shock shlock. And nobody does shock shlock as well as Lloyd Kauffman and Troma Entertainment. So what better movie to watch for said broadening than Troma's 1984 film The Toxic Avenger? The movie that put Troma on the map. But is it a good movie overall? In my opinion, yeah, it's not too bad. It's definitely too much for a lot of people in terms of how gruesome it gets, but I enjoyed what I watched. Maybe that's the slow reveal to how twisted I am, but let's talk about the film itself before we really go off the deep end. 

#15: Weird: The Al Yankovic Story (2022)

Biopics are interesting. As much of a biography as it actually is a blend of fact and fiction that can often lead to a solid movie, even if it's more of an exaggerated take on the celebrity's life. So it's a genre very easy to parody. Though getting the parody just right is where it can be tricky. Thankfully the master of parody himself managed to show us just how it's done. It's the true (but not actually) story about Weird Al Yankovic, in 2022's Weird: The Al Yankovic Story. A project by Funny or Die and Weird Al that was added to the Roku Channel of all places, yet weirdly feels like the perfect spot for such a movie. So, what did I think of this foray into the totally not a parody life of Weird Al?

#14: Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981)

One year after the success of Sean Cunningham's Friday the 13th comes the first in what would be many, many sequels. While the first movie set the concept of Camp Crystal Lake and the incident that lead to young Jason Voorhees drowning on account of negligent teen counselors, the sequel would kind of be the series proper going forward. Because, given that Pamela Voorhees got her head chopped off in the first movie, and we left off on enough of a cliffhanger in the first movie involving if Jason really was still alive (in a figurative sense I guess), there are still some questions to answer and plenty of horny teens to kill. Time to see how Jason's first time as the main villain pans out. So, what did I think about Friday the 13th part 2? Let's talk about it. 

#13: Muppet Treasure Island (1996)

Time for another one of my "movie that was on my radar for years but never sat down to watch it" viewings. Honestly, you'd be surprised that I didn't watch that many Muppet movies growing up. Loved the IP, but blame my lack of movie interest in making that a reality. But as I watch them more and more the more I love them. Both in terms of technical brilliance as only the Henson brand could provide, but also for just being the epitome of a fun time. And no movie best exemplifies the concept more than 1996's Muppet Treasure Island. So, what did I think of the Henson company's take on the Robert Louis Stevenson classic? Simply put, that may be in my top favorite movies I've watched for this blog. And I think we can take about 1000 words to talk about just why.