Thank you. I own both (on vinyl, no less!), so I was confused. You do remember the reference though, right?

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Gillian

"Now everyone was giving her that kind of look UFOlogists get when they suddenly say, 'Hey, if you shade your eyes you can see it is just a flock of geese after all.'"

"You can't erase icing."

"I can't believe it doesn't work! I found it on the internet, man!"

Popeye was good?? I consider it one of the worst movies I have ever seen (as voted in a previous thread here on BAUT). Enjoyed Good Morning Vietnam though.

It's a matter of opinion. Consider not only the overall box office appeal of a movie, but also of Williams' performance. Anyone who was a big fan of the popeye cartoons most likely would've loved the live-action adaptation. Robin Williams performance as Popeye was a big part of that.

Shelly Duvall was really built to only play Olive Oyl. Yeesh!

The movie had its shortfalls, but the casting director deserves a serious round of applause for a job extremely well done. You do have to look at it as a Popeye cartoon done flesh and blood style, and that's where it gets its charm to its following.

I loved popeye as a kid, and although the film had the feel of the cartoons, I still cringe whenever I think of the movie! Anyway, each to their own.

I must admit, it was actually scary seeing Shelly Duvall as Olive Oyl...

I agree with Kristophe’s assessment of Huevos Grandes’ assessment.


In particular, I really liked both the movie AND RW’s performances in:

9. Patch Adams (1998) .... Hunter 'Patch' Adams 35/100 (painful)

I REALLY disagree with this one:
17. Jack (1996) .... Jack Charles Powell 2/100 (approaching worst of all-time)

19. Jumanji (1995) .... Alan Parrish 37/100 (hurting)

21. Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) .... Daniel Hillard/Mrs. Euphegenia Doubtfire 25/100 (abomination)

And I most disagree with this one
31. The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988) (as Ray D. Tutto) .... King of the Moon 15/100 (oh the humanity)
Didn’t he play the king of the moon in this one? With the disembodied head? I loved this one. Too bad for Gilliam it culted out in the theaters. I’d pay to see this one on the big screen again. Can’t get enough of that Uma Thurman!! ;o)

Remember... one of our beloved leader likes another box office crash turned hit cult following - “I’ll hold your thruster!” P.P.

Toys was really bizarre...not to say that there wasn't a point in making it, but it was EXTREMELY bizarre...

No problem.

It's been over twenty years(where did all that time go) since I last listened to the album but I'm pretty sure he jokes about Mork and Mindy on it.

He's doing improvisational Shakespeare based on suggestions from the audience; someone suggested Mork and Mindy, and he wigged out a little. He says he never performed while stoned, but you know what they say about cocaine and paranoia . . . .

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Gillian

"Now everyone was giving her that kind of look UFOlogists get when they suddenly say, 'Hey, if you shade your eyes you can see it is just a flock of geese after all.'"

"You can't erase icing."

"I can't believe it doesn't work! I found it on the internet, man!"

I think the main problem with Eddie Murphy's work is perversely tied to his laudible sense of responsibility as a parent. He said in an interview that after his kids got old enough to watch movies he decided that he wouldn't take a role that he wouldn't let his kids watch. Since his brand of humor is best when raunchy he has basically crippled himself for those of us who remember his earlier works.

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Free speech is no problem
It's listening that costs

It's a matter of opinion. I disagree with your assessment of Kristophe's assessment of my assessment. Robin Williams has been well into decline for some time, and the ratings I gave were fair. I invite you, as I did Kristophe to post your own ratings list, so that we can better get a sense of your grading style.

The movies was full of transparent plot devices designed to elicit an emotional response, much in the same way that Brokeback Mountain is meant to be "controversial", or that North Country is meant to be a "break-through" (if you want modern examples). Weakened by the "inspired by a true story" parameters, it's a predictable plotline, and Williams himself is reduced to making pathetic speech-ettes about happiness and the disease state. His comedy bits were good, his dramatic acting shamefully poor.
One of the worst movies of all-time was Martin Short in 1994's "Clifford", which was a similar theme. These aren't enjoyable movies for audiences older than 6. Generally, movies where the lead character becomes a small child, an animal, or switches bodies with a member of the opposite sex, are some of the most terrible atrocities inflicted upon an audience. I don't even need to see the new Tim Allen movies where he "becomes a dog, then back to a man, but with doggie-style" to know that it stinks.
It's a special-effects blitz, not a serious kid's adventure movie. The thing is devoid of plot, and Williams' only job is to look grizzled and direct the kids to scream. Williams starts to rant, and display something at times, but it's surely not humor.
Tootsie wasn't great either, but it also wasn't full of slapstick. The movie is replete with Mary Poppins-isms, but always with the hidden identity of the dad lamenting the "loss" of his kids. The film becomes about Williams, since there is no plot, other than the disguise- there's no danger to the kids, no goal in sight for the poor father, except to eventually be unmasked and get a biiiig hug from his crying kids. Those aren't character flaws- it's predictable tripe. Guys in drag are funny though...
The movie itself has very few redeeming points. The sequence on the Moon is at best, bizarre and acid-tripped. At worst it's unscripted nonsense designed to fill in a few moments of what is otherwise a very bland, and terrible kid's film. I don't need to give a more thorough review of the movie, as more literary a critic than I have ripped the film a new one, to no end. But I will say that Williams should've played the Baron, and not the awful Moon-man, a sequence obviously longer on make-up and special effects, than writing or performance.

Yes, but even I will submit that Buckaroo Banzai is terrible in places. It is too long, too full of comic book logic for its time (a pre-Daredevil or pre-Batman), and suffers too much Jeff Goldblum (is there a movie he doesn't look out-of-place in; no, not "The Tall Guy", either ). But there's no way I can diminish the zany characters, the great lines, and the amazing virtuoso performance of John Lithgow. That's why BB isn't bad, it's "cult", and a true one too, unlike Baron Munchausen.

I don't decide what movies I like according to popular vote, thank you very much.
I saw The Adventures of Baron Munchhausen (1988) when it came out. Great fun! The Bicentennial Man was a fair adaptation of Asimov's story, especially if you compare it with the other scifi stuff that has hit the theatres in recent years.

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"All your bias are belong to us." Ara Pacis
"A witty saying proves nothing." Voltaire

Which is probably why it tanked immediately...

Oh, how I hate grade inflation. If "average" doesn't equate to 5/10 on someone's scale then I tend to immediately ignore the rest of the opinion.

But Baron Munchausen is an utterly charming, beautiful film, and if you can't see that then you have my pity rather than anything more severe for the above.

74% is average in nearly every commonly accepted grading scale, and would represent a "C" or a "7.5/10" on alternate scales. I thought it best to rate out of a 100-pt scale, so as to more finely differentiate good and bad. If I had to provide a key along with my ratings in this instance, I would say that:

0-15 - Stay away if you value your time in the slightest
16-30 - Watch for free on television if you're busy knitting, or half-asleep
31-50 - Rent if your first pick isn't available
51-65 - Maybe entertaining, seek to rent this first
66-75 - Worthy of a bad theatre experience
76-90 - Pretty good theatre experience, memorable
91-100 - Box office gold, Academy Award, favorite all-time, etc.

The last few movies I've seen were "Lord of War", "Wedding Crashers", "Brokeback Mountain", "A History of Violence", and "Hellboy", and none of them, except perhaps Hellboy, would have cracked the two lower categories. I'm seeing "Walk the Line" tonight, and I'm hoping it's good- it comes highly rated (but then, so did Brokeback...).

I hope you're not serious that the only true litmus test is whether or not Baron Munchausen is considered "beautiful and good". I like kiddie adventure movies (Neverending Story, Star Wars, The Princess Bride, A Knight's Tale), Terry Gilliam, and even the prolific John Neville, but these factors simply didn't combine well enough to make a watchable and/or enjoyable film. So again, let's please see your ratings to better get a sense of your grading style, rather than simply attacking mine.

Sorry Huevos about Baron Munchausen - it's just one of those Gilliam films that I think is massively, massively under-rated. I'd go as far as to say I prefer it to nearly every film on your list, and would give it a solid 8/10. 5/10 is average, because it's halfway between the worst score and the best - otherwise you only really have 8, 9 and 10 to differentiate between different levels of 'good', while most of your scoring range is reserved for specifying exactly how bad something is (and lets face, that doesn't matter half as much).

75% average is ok when you're marking the work of schoolchildren, because getting too much wrong is simply depressing in an exam situation. But for reviewing films, music, games, books etc. it's one of those pet hates of mine.

Returning to the question of what I'd rate Mr. Williams' other work, The Fisher King gets a 9, Toys a 6 as a guilty pleasure (besides, it has Joan Cusack in it, and I've never disliked her in anything), Insomnia a 6 or 7 (depending on whether I can ignore the superior original or not), and then everything else would either struggle to get a 5, or I've not seen it in so long or at all, and don't feel qualified to comment.

On the subject of Steve Martin, I've never really been a fan, sorry.

In a world where standard fare is "American Pie 4", "Big Momma's House 2", and coming soon- "Rocky 6", yes, there needs to be division in assigning how bad a movie is. And I disagree with your earlier assessment about "grade inflation". That's not true- it's exactly the opposite, it's deflation. A movie should be good enough to make you want to see it, praise it, recommend it, see it again. If it's just idle entertainment to see any movie, then why both claiming something as a "favorite" ?

To each his own. 75% is pretty terrible in almost any setting in life, and would be about the minimum in many fields to be passable, or "average" enough to subsist without really impressing. People forget what words like "fine", "good", "excellent" and "outstanding" mean, when they're overused. Similarly, think of how often you hear someone described as a "hero" or "superstar" today. Get the grading scale back to reality if you really want a critique that means something.

Measures of schoolchildren are arbitrary anyway, so that's not a good analogy.

Cool. So other than Baron Munchausen, you don't really seem to disagree with me, since nothing falls below what- 3? for you ? I'd be curious to know what is a 0-3 on your scale; a student film, overexposed film ?

And it's John Cusack, I think you mean. Joan is the awkward sister that adds little, if anything, to most films she's in. Did you know that her brother gets her parts in just about everything he's in, from Sixteen Candles to today.

Don't worry about it. You haven't been missing much, if you haven't seen the most recent decade+half of his stuff. But much better comic geniuses like Robin Williams or Steve Martin, than the likes of Chevy Chase or gasp- Martin Short.

The director of Popeye gets an honourary Oscar Sunday.

How can you not like Joan Cusack? She's so cute! I love her in Grosse Pointe Blank, for example, especially that weird Sergeant Pepper outfit. And, yes, she's in practically all of John's movies (actually playing his sister in Say Anything), but that doesn't bother me. It actually bothers me when she's not there.

Look, taste is subjective. This is why relying solely on reviews before watching movies is not necessarily a good idea unless you know the tastes of the reviewer. For example, Huevos, I'm pretty sure we shouldn't be picking movies for one another. (I loved Brokeback far better than I liked Hellboy, and I, too, liked Baron Munchausen.) I like Joan Cusack almost as much as I like John. I loathe Chevy Chase and almost all the works of Martin Short, which it seems you do, too, but mutually disliking bad comedians doesn't mean we'd have similar tastes anywhere else.

The fun thing is that you vote with your dislikes. I own L. A. Story, because I consider it one of the finest comedies ever made. If I didn't like it, I wouldn't have spent the money o