The Mouseketeers At Walt Disney World

The Mouseketeers at Walt Disney World

1977 | G | 1 hour | Family | Disney

Director: John Tracy

Writers: Tom Adair, Tedd Anasti

Stars: Billy 'Pop' Atmore, Scott Craig, Lisa Whelchel 

Synopsis:

Follow the Disco Mice of the New Mickey Mouse Club as they visit America's favorite vacation spot, Walt Disney World!

Oh, 1977 when Jimmy Carter was our leader, stamps where still .13 cents and gas was a whopping .62 cents a gallon. Star Wars was the movie of the year as well as Saturday Night Fever. Remember that Barry Manilow Live album yep 1977. I remember sitting around the boob tube like it was yesterday as Happy Days, Laverne and Shirley, as well as Three's Company, kept us laughing. What we all seem to forget that its the year Disney seemed to try and revive their most famous kids show The Mickey Mouse Club. 

The new show kicked off with an hour-long story that would easily take you through there vacation destination. Disney was no slouch when it came to cross-promoting their TV series with the parks. Sadly this did not lead to a resurgence of the show. But here we are in 2020 amidst a pandemic searching for those small things that would help make us happy once again. And that is where this show comes in.

This deep cut snuck its way onto Disney+ this past July to co-inside with the opening of Disney Lands 65th Aniversary. And yet this show was a ton of fun to watch unlike the Walt special "The Pre Opening Reports From Disneyland" that was released on the same day. 

A few things really made this worth the watch first up the commercials are intact! We get those 70s Gaines-Burgers commercials along with Shake and Bake, a few different toy lines, and some really odd microwave that did not stand the test of time. This my friends hit on the nostalgia nerve making this so much more fun then it should have been.  

That's Lisa with her thumbs in her pant loops and Julie left of Ronnie Schell.

The most notable star of the show was Lisa Whelchel’s in her first TV appearance, of course, she would go on to play “Blair” on the 80s sitcom "The Facts of Life". Julie Piekarski is here as well she was a background charter on "Facts of Life" as well as "Different Strokes". Unlike the 50s version as well as the 90s the 70s Club failed to produce any real young talent. 

Jo Anne Worley turns up as a magazine reporter who starts following the group around looking for a hot scoop. Unfortunately, She finds herself in the middle of some drama that has taken over the clubhouse.  But this is where it also turns odd has Worley and Schell try to patch up the drama with the kids through the use of the parks. With that, we do get some of the mid-70s wonders of the Magic Kingdom, like River Country, Space Mountain, and Fort Wilderness. But sadly it's more Magic Kingdom and less of the kids.

Sadly the show turns really, really dark. To make things right they plan a camping trip at the wilderness lodge campground (More Disney advertising basically) where the kids are finally getting along. And then one of the girl's ties down the tents to some other mobile campers. Well, when they leave drama, comes flying back and it turns ugly. This was a very uncomfortable scene as they all get in this little girl's face yelling at her, picking on her, and pretty much bullying her. She runs away into the Magic Kingdom where the songs fail to make you feel any better. The group quickly learns their lesson and we move on to find the girl and do the one show they are there to perform.

Outside of those amazing commercials, we are treated to some nice moments through song, dance, that bring on those warm fuzzies. Like I said earlier this is pure nostalgia at its finest, but I can see how this did not hold up way back in 1977. If your a Disney fan this a so much fun to watch for the simple fact the park is here in all its 70s glory. If you here for the kids it is going to fall really short for you. 

The Mouseketeers At Walt Disney World is a television special that exists during a time when Disney wasn’t doing exceptionally well with the exception of its theme parks.  I can not bring myself to hate this and under the current circumstance, I really fell in love with it. It's not great but it was just what I needed!

The good news is you do not need Disney Plus to watch it the same bootleg version is on Youtube so if your interested here you go The Mouseketeers at DisneyWorld. Sadly this is the Disney Channel Version with no commercials. 

**I'm sure I missed this original airing on November 22, 1977, as it was the same day Walter Payton rushed for 275 a record that still stands today. (and now you know)**

What an Institution! The Police Academy Franchise.

Yep, I did it quarantine life had me like... Hey, let's watch all of the Police Academy movies! I'm not sure why but I think it comes down to needing a laugh during these strange times. It started one-night February 22nd to be exact and came to an end April 27th so it's not like I binged them all in a few days I had to spread them out. I did cram in the last few due to the fact these leave Netflix in May. So do they still hold up after all these years? Not going to lie they do they really do. Sure every film as the same formula the same actors, for the most part, the same wittiness and that really helps make things delightful.

Now not all things are jolly throughout, for example, Bobcat Goldthwait may have been a big deal in 1985 but his humor does not translate very well today. In fact, he was really annoying when on-screen. Also, the Kung Fu running gag Michael Winslow performs every movie was old by the 2nd one and yet it played out all the way to the end.

To show my appreciation for the series here is a look at how I would rank them from the worst to the best.

The worst was easy it would be Part 7 or Mission To Moscow. In this installment, The Russian government hires the veterans of the Police Academy to help deal with the Mafia. Neither Ron Perlman nor Christopher Lee could save this depressing attempt at humor. A weak story followed with bad acting proves that there was no reason to wait five years. This is also The first American comedy movie to be filmed in Russia. Perlman considered his work on this movie "a public service", by shutting down the Police Academy movies for over two decades. Perlman said, "I'm not going to apologize. I did that piece of shit."

Now if going to Rusha was not hard enough to watch Police Academy 6 City Under Seige was an odd waste of time. I'm not 100% on this one but I feel this was made for children so maybe they were trying to bounce off of the short-lived Cartoon that was out the year before?  This time around A gang is terrorizing citizens by robbing stores in the Wilson Heights district of town. Since a leak in the department is suspected, the Governor has chosen the officers from the police academy along with Captain Harris and Lt. Proctor to catch the criminals using old fashioned police work. When Commandant Lassard is indicted, the officers must bring the gang and Mr. Big to justice to clear him.

The movie performed poorly at the US box-office, grossing less than $11 million being the first "Police Academy" movie not to place first in the US weekend box-office. (and yet they made one more ugh)

Ok, I promise from here on out things will be much more cheerful as the first five movies are a true delight. If you were to binge the series you can easily skip the last two and your life would be complete. Now as a reminder I'm no longer going to go in order as I'm ranking them in the order I liked them. With that said Police Academy 2 Their First Assignment is the weakest of the five but not in a bad way as it is still hysterical and worth watching. This time around Mahoney and friends have graduated from the Police Academy and are issued with their first assignments. As before, their cheerfulness and devotion to duty outweigh any shortcomings, but are they ready to do battle with a band graffiti daubing terrorists? Maybe it's Bobcat that did not give me the warm fuzzies this time around, the story is good and honestly, it entertains you all the way to the end just for me it was not the best of the bunch.

Both Police Academy Citizens on Patrol (1987) and Assignment Miami Beach (1988) will leave you feeling good from the beginning to the end. In fact, Assignment Miami Beach is the stronger of the two and a refreshing ride all the way to the end. For Citizens on Patrol, The misfit Police Academy graduates now are assigned to train a group of civilian volunteers to fight crime once again plaguing the streets. This one is a mixed bag as well Sharon Stone joined the cast after going through a divorce said of this difficult period in her life, "hanging out with a gang of comedians, it was the best therapy." Plus we get a young Tony Hawk and the film debut of David Spade! Sadly this will also be the last time we see "The Blue Oyster Bar".

Assignment Maimi Beach The Police Academy's commandant will be honored at a police convention in Miami Beach. At the airport, he picks the wrong bag with stolen diamonds. The "owners" want them back. This will be the first movie without its young star, Steve Guttenberg who has said he regrets turning down the last few sequels. Had Guttenberg agreed to appear in the movie, his character Mahoney was to be promoted to Lieutenant at the end of the film. And thankfully Bobcat has not returned! And Mahoney is now replaced by TV journeymen Matt McCoy who in return gives the team a nice little boost. At this point Michael Winslow (Jones), David Graf (Tackleberry), and George Gaynes (Commandant Lassard) are the only actors who appeared in all seven Police Academy movies. Winslow even goes a step beyond this, as he is the only actor to not only appear in all seven Police Academy movies but also had a regular role in Police Academy: The Series (1997).

 

Both 3 1/2 out of 5

Well, I do not mean to upset you all but here it is the grandfather of them all the one that started a franchise Police Academy from 1984. The movie I watched at a much younger age on HBO over 100 times comes in 2nd! A group of good-hearted, but incompetent misfits enter the police academy, but the instructors there are not going to put up with their pranks. This is the only " Police Academy" movie that was given an R-rating, and also the most successful of the series at the box office. This is also one of the few films to which Roger Ebert gave zero stars, ( Caligula, I Spit on Your Grave, and Death Wish II were the others.) Yet it is included among the American Film Institute's 2000 list of the 500 movies nominated for the Top 100 Funniest American Movies. Needless to say, I love this movie but...

...for me for some odd reason Police Academy 3 Back in Training (1986) was the best of the franchise. The city has two police academies, one is under the eye of Commandant Lassard and the other is under Commandant Mauser. Now Mauser has learned that the State is considering closing one of the academies, and to protect himself, he approaches Blanks and Copeland and instructs them to make sure that Lassard's cadets all foul-up. Lassard, on the other hand, calls his "favorite graduates", Mahoney, Hightower, Jones, Tackleberry, and Hooks, and along with their former instructor, Callahan, they try to train the cadets and hopefully save their academy. I'm not sure why but this one had me rolling. It was also nice to return to the Academy itself.  The Police Academy films follow one of two Narrative styles, the first style which is used in the first, third, and fourth films, features the Academy prominently with chasing the bad guys will close out the movie. Where the second style used in the second, fifth, sixth, and seventh films consists of brief uses of the Academy while the bad guys are featured throughout the film.

Well there you go I survived the Police Academy Franchise and still had a ton of fun doing it. It will be interesting to see if Steve Gutenberg can get a new Police Academy off the ground. It has been said he is working with Apple Tv "Definitely. It's coming. People will look down at the idea, but they're in the same business of making money too. The Police Academy films gave me so much opportunity, and I've got nothing but a good attitude towards them. I sure hope they do it. If the script's right - I'm definitely in. You never know, I may direct." said Gutenberg. (Source IMBD) Now if I could only get that theme song out of my head!

Long live the 80s and all those classic films I love growing up. So where does one go from here? To my wife suggestion sounds like a few Nerds are in my future!

The weapons of the future are alive...

Crash And Burn
1990 | R | 1 Hr. 25 Min | Sci-Fi | Full Moon Features

Director: 

Charles Band

Writer: 

J.S. Cardone

Stars: 

Paul Ganus

Megan Ward

Ralph Waite

Synopsis:

Unicom is a powerful organization overseeing most of the world after its economic collapse. They have banned computers and robots in an attempt to ensure "life, liberty, and the pursuit of economic stability". When a Unicom Synth robot infiltrates a southwest TV station and kills the manager, a revolutionary against the Gestapo-like corporation, a lowly Unicom delivery man must help the rest of the station survive through the incoming "thermal storm".

The Bait and Switch

Ok, Uncle Charlie, I see what you're doing here! Crash And Burn is capitalizing on the Stuart Gorden cult classic Robot Jox that came out the year before. What's the catch you ask? Well, you have this giant robot on the poster in the same fashion as Robot Jox. Spoiler alert this one has nothing to do with Robots! Well ok, the last few minutes we are treated to David Allen's stop motion bot that is on the poster. Yet we do get a simple little tale that in the end works. For the small budget, this one has a tight story and that is what counts. J.S. Cardone has penned plenty of Full Moon Features but it would be his retelling of Prom Night (2008) and Stepfather (2009) that he will be remembered for. 

Mr. Walton? 

That's right Ralph White headlines a pretty solid cast along with Megan Ward's first movie and by far the best charter goes to Bill Mosely. Let's go back to Ward first, of courses she will go on to do many B movies including Arcade, Encino Man, and one of my favorite hidden gems PCU. She hit's her role like a veteran as the story revolves around her character. Delivering a top performance you can easily see how her parents were a big influence on her career. Her parents were drama teachers and cast her in plays they produced. When she was 9, her mother's job at a modeling agency led to her doing commercials for local department stores. I have always enjoyed watching her in almost any role she has been in (Sorry General Hosptial not you). 

The true hero tho happens to be one of the bad guys, Bill Moseley once again finds himself playing the sadistic yet dark comedic villain. Moseley is strong in this one with his smirky slimy character that saves this movie.  He gives it just the right amount of grit! 

The one thing the movie does well it visually draws you into a dark, grim world that we have destroyed. The desolate feeling comes through as they run around this old factory that is just as dank as the outside world. You do get a Blade Runner vibe on a much lower scale. 

One downfall or shortcut that was taken lies in the futuristic look that they try to produce. I had a hard time thinking a robot was still running on an Amiga 128 and 3" floppy disks. This is tech that was old when they were making this movie. I get that maybe this is what she put together from old scrap to make the TV station work, to run the a/c that keeps them alive but to run a robot? Eh, I was not buying that at all.

Finally, in the end, we get to see the Robot in action. David Allen's (Ghostbusters 2, Puppet Master) special effects work well here. It's kind of sad they did not do more with his talent on Crash and Burn. Special effects and a tight story teamed up with Bill Moseley are enough for you to tune into Crash And Burn. Somehow everything comes together with a late-night cable vibe that keeps you engaged. This might not be the greatest movie I'm going to watch during the COVID sit in but it was not the worst either.  

3 out of 5 Stars

What Did I Watch In March Not Much

As you can see March was still a slow movie-watching month around here. Join me as I take look back on what I watched and how I ranked these flicks on Letterbox.com. 

Watched on Wednesday, March 25, 2020. I really enjoyed Police Academy 2 for what it is worth. This is also the first time the series went PG so us young kids could catch it on the big screen back in 1985!

 

Watched on Sunday, March 22, 2020. So this was part of the new Watch Party you can do with Netflix. A few of us camp buddies got together to check this one out. I'm not sure if it really holds up and still not sure why we need a sequel. In the end, it was more fun chatting with friends. 

"If anyone can defeat the Coronavirus it’s Daniel Son! You can’t beat that 80s soundtrack!" That's what I wrote on March 22nd. Who would have guessed that the COVID would take over our lives like it has? The cool part about watching Karate Kid both girls knew what we were watching and sat down to join us. 

Still a classic!

Watched this during one of those nights I was having trouble sleeping. If you are a fan of music this is a fun ride if your a fan of ZZ Top this should be at the top of your list. I would have been happier with another hour! Just the right blend of old and new.

Skip the Tiger King watch this instead.

Watched on Saturday, March 7, 2020. Well, let's just say the wife made me do it. It's her favorite so what do you do. 

Watched on Friday, March 6, 2020. I was bored ok and it was on so you know why not. It still holds up fine and I just might go back and watch the others after I finish Police Acadamy. 

Ok so I was to do a blog hop and this was the flick I picked. Even tho I never did write the post it's probably a good thing. This movie was so so bad it took me days to watch it!  In fact, I could not finish it there are still ten minutes left and I can not do it! If you like dumb movies with naked girls than this one is for you.

This sucked so bad!

So there you go a whopping 7 movies! Thanks to the Coronaviuras I should be able to pass that up I have a major backlog to take care of.

February Movies

Ok catching up on what I watched in February will only take a few minutes as I only watched 5 flicks!

Police Academy

2/22/20 I was looking for a brainless time killer so why not Police Academy. "Time is still good for this one! Such a blast still today." was my review on Letterboxed and its true still funny after all these years. I know as a child I watched this every time it was on HBO. 

I gave it 3.5 but a 4 is still true.

Tom Papa: You're Doing Great!

Watched on Sunday, February 16, 2020. This one is a solid 4 stars Papa had me rolling for the whole hour! His new Netflix standup is worth the time I promise! And if you have girls like I do you will laugh even harder.

 Gabriel Iglesias: I'm Sorry for What I Said When I Was Hungry 

On Feb.8th the Fluffy One talked to me about "Portillo’s chocolate cake shake baby!" I don't write about tv shows much but his new show Mr. Iglesias about a high school teacher was amazing. Netflix better bring it back for another season! I decided to check some of his stand up shortly after and I'm So Glad I did this was an hour and a half laugh out loud good times. And hey it was recorded in Chicago so win-win!

The Lion King 1½

My pour 12-year-old was home sick early on in the month. She learned that Lion King was going to be the kid's musical this year so we talked a lot about it. She and her friend want to try out for Timon and Pomba so what better time then to show her a truly underrated Disney flick Lion King 1 1/2. And the songs still pop along with a story that is still wonderful my revisit was just as fun as her first viewing. If you have not seen this wonderful side story you are missing out!

No Beezy Bear 1955 

Watched on Friday, February 7, 2020. The one thing I have been looking forward to with Disney Plus would be the classics. I love that all these old shorts are on there as well. Pure nostalgia gold.

Well, there you have a very shortlist. I have already topped that in March so that is a plus! Hoping today to sit and watch some Disney Plus with the girls as they are still locked in the house.

https://letterboxd.com/mda4life/

Letterboxd - Bob Johns

And remember to wash your hands to stay safe! Oh, and what have you watched this month that has blown you away?