My Top 10 Movies & TV Shows

Two down, three to go. For your pleasure, here are my top 10 movies & TV shows. Yeah I know I said I’d only be doing movies in my first top 10 post, but in a way television is a lot like cinema, only on a smaller scale.

10) MXC (Sample Episode: “***”)

Looking back, if there was a television show that I was ashamed of liking, it would be this. Airing from 2003 to I think 2006, MXC (Formerly known as Most Extreme Elimination Challenge) was a Japanese game show with english dubs. Now, if that sounds strange, let me go on by saying that the dub doesn’t match up with the mouth movements all that well, the dub in question is filled with incredible amounts of crude sexual innuendo, racial humor, pop culture references, and a host of other things to turn a Japanese game show into a American Gladiators spoof.

The reason this show was able to work in the first place was that it aired at the stage in SpikeTV’s early years, where a good chunk of the shows were relatively crude, and they were still touting the “Network for Guys” moniker. If they were to re-air the show today, or somehow make new episodes, it would totally clash with Spike’s cleaner (But still manly and occasionally crude) image. I guess the reasons why I liked MXC was because of the crude humor, and it somehow appealed to my younger self (I was 16/17 when I first watched the show). When I watch a episode or a clip of an episode, I still laugh, but at the same time a piece of me dies.

9) A Christmas Story (Sample Clip: “***”)

The sad thing is, Scrooged is a movie I enjoy more than this, but only just. The premise behind it is familiar, but somehow new at the same time. It also helps that Bill Murray headlines the movie (Hell, his face is plastered on the front of the DVD case), and his performance is just awesome. So you’re asking yourself “If you liked Scrooged more, why are you putting A Christmas Movie on this list instead?” Well.....

I’m putting A Christmas Story on this list because I can relate to it more. I can remember being as young as the main character during the holidays. I can remember how strange things could get during that time, and I can remember the wonder (And occasional horror) when I came down the stairs to gaze upon the sparkling tree with the presents underneath. It’s those kind of memories that ring stronger in me, and I would put this in a film ark in a minute because of that!

8) Deadliest Warrior (Sample Episode: “***”)

There was a time, in the course of SpikeTV’s history, that they actually seemed to be gaining credit & respect. From about 2008 to maybe late 2011, the network was bringing in shows & specials that seemed relatively intelligent & interesting. Of these shows, Deadliest Warrior was right on top for quite a while. For anyone who didn’t read my review of season 1 (Click “***” to read it), the show was a “What if insert name fought against insert name”, and used elements of Reality TV, History, and Science Fiction. It was actually kinda revolutionary, as silly as that may sound, because while this idea been flying around for a while, nobody has ever picked it up.

It was really fun to watch! I liked the idea of the show. I liked the testing of the various weapons, and the history behind the warriors of a particular. Even the Reality TV aspects of Deadliest Warrior were fun, as they weren’t as standard as other shows of the genre. The one thing that prevents me from putting it lower on the list is the fact that, regardless of the seasons, there were screwup after screwup. Sometimes it was an expert that wasn’t who they say he was (Or they weren’t as impressive as they were shows), sometimes they screwed up a fact, and they even sometimes screwed up with the editing of a scene. Nowhere was this more evident than in season 3, when everything that was wrong with the show, and then some, became readily apparent, but that’s for another review (My season 2 review will appear in a couple months, and I’ll get the review for the 3rd season up sometime after that). Suffice it to say, Deadliest Warrior is an example of a enjoyable & surprising television series, despite the bullshit.

7) Surviving Disaster (Sample Episode: “***”)

Getting axed even sooner than Deadliest Warrior (That show ran for 3 seasons, while this one only ran for 1), Surviving Disaster was another one of the shows that SpikeTV aired that was intelligent, but still provided some entertainment. The basic premise of the show was that the host (Who’s name escapes me) would guide a small group of people through a worst-case disaster, and teach the viewers & people how to survive the disaster in question, hence the name of the show. There was a surprisingly interesting selection of disasters that the show focused on, and they were:

Airplane Hijacking
Office Building Fire
Hurricane
Home Invasion (1 Solitary Individual/Tiger Kidnappers)
Avalanche
Lost At Sea
Mall Shooting
Nuclear Attack (1 mile from the blast & 3 miles from the blast)
Earthquake
Pandemic (Nerve Gas Attack/Global Pandemic)

From the beginning to end, the host told you explicit steps to follow, and experts from various fields would chime in and give their wisdom about the disaster in question. It was really informative, and was quite entertaining in the process. If I had one complaint about Surviving Disaster, it was that the disaster would sometimes be oblivious towards the host, often to the point of ignoring him. Nowhere was this most evident than in the first portion of the home invasion. I won’t spoil it for you, so go watch it.

6) UHF (Sample Clip: “***”)

It’s really such a shame that this movie was slammed back in the day, because I thought that the film was Weird Al at his best. He was consistently funny throughout the entire film, and the supporting cast (Which included the guy that played Kramer, as well Fran Drescher from The Nanny) added a lot of personality to it. What also makes this film fun, at least for me, was the wackiness of the scenes (More like skits, but I’ll save that for the eventual review), and trust me when I say that some of these scenes/skits are some of the most bizarre things I’ve ever seen.

You have Weird Al’s daydream sequences (The first one is a spoof on the beginning of Raiders of the Lost Ark, and a later sequence he’s imagining himself as Rambo rescuing Kramer), karate students getting thrown through walls and out of windows, the Wheel of Fish, and a host of other scenes/skits that I can’t really explain. This is an example where watching the movie will make far more sense than me trying to explain it.

5) Good Eats (Sample Episode: “***”)

I’m very conflicted with this show. On the one hand, I enjoy the host. Alton Brown has been doing this show since 1999, and brings an energy & fun that most other cooking show hosts don’t. Mr. Brown also brought in a lot of history about many of the more iconic dishes (Beef Wellington, Pavlova, and Spaghetti with Meat Sauce are just a couple of dishes he brings into the light), and can get very scientific at times. Good Eats is also helped by having a lot of humor in the show (With maybe an exception of the first 1 to 3 seasons), and thus keeps viewers glued to the TV screen.

On the other hand, Alton Brown is no longer doing the show (His last episode, a 1-hour special on dark chocolate, aired back in February of 2012). He’s also incredibly opinionated, often to the point of frustrating, and some of his cooking methods are downright bizarre. Steaming & baking chicken wings instead of frying them!? Baking a roux in the oven!? Cooking a lasagna in the crockpot!? These are just a small few of the methods he uses that makes me scratch my head. Despite some of the faults, Good Eats is a great show to get cooking info, or just to be entertained.  

4) The Thing (1982 Edition) (Sample Clip: “***”)

How ironic, that when this film was first released, it was a bomb. Nowadays, this movie is considered a classic in the horror genre. Small world, ain’t it?

The funny thing about this film is that I’m usually not a fan of horror films. I have a very vivid imagination, enough to the point of sometimes feeling the physical pain that the characters are feeling at that moment. This movie is one of the few exceptions, along with the first Hellraiser film, and the A Nightmare on Elm Street series (Not that crappy 2010 remake). There’s definitely some jump scares, but there’s always some kind of buildup before them. You’ve also got some great sci-fi, suspense, and a cast of characters that fit in with one another. It also helps by having a younger/sexier Kurt Russell as the lead character.

For anyone wondering, I did watch the original film, but I consider it inferior when I put it next to this one.

3) Blazing Saddles (Sample Clip: “***”)

Easily the most politically incorrect movie I’ve ever watched, Blazing Saddles also has the distinction of being one of the funniest movies I’ve ever seen. If there’s anything wrong with the film, it’s that another film like it will never be made again, simply because the politically correct environment we live in right now won’t let it be made. It’s really sad that so many people get upset by what’s in the film, cause it’s a really great satirical comedy.

If you remember my review from July last year about the film (Click “***” to read it), I said that some of the most racial & sexual humor I’ve ever witnessed. Words like “Nigger” & “Chink” are thrown around (But not constantly, and at the right time), and jokes about breasts and other body parts appear sometimes at random. Despite the subject matter of the humor, the underlying message of Blazing Saddles is just how ridiculous racism & sexism is, and that we should get along regardless of race or gender. It’s a great message that needs to be spread all over the world, and perhaps there won’t be as much bloodshed.

2) The Mummy (1999 Edition) (Sample Clip: “***”) & Mystery Men (Sample Clip: “***”)

Right around 1999 to 2000, I was beginning to get more into movies, the first two films I got addicted to was The Mummy & Mystery Men. I really can’t separate these two films, simply because I enjoy them that much.

Now, I’ve never seen the original 1932 edition of The Mummy (At least not completely), so I really can’t compare it to this one (Unlike The Thing). When I saw this movie for the first time, I was awed by what I saw. Before The Mummy, the movies I saw were relatively tame, mostly because my mother was cautious about what I saw. I had turned 13 around 1999/2000, and this was the first movie I saw when she loosened up a bit.

What I can say is that this version of the Mummy is very different than it’s predecessor. Whereas the original movie was focused mainly on horror & suspense, the 1999 edition was a mix of action, horror, suspense, and it also managed to sneak in a couple comedic moments. The cast was also a plus for the movie, with Brendan Fraser as the lead good guy, and Arnold Vosloo as the main bad guy. There were plenty of other good actors that graced the movie, such as Rachel Weisz, John David Hannah, and Kevin J. O'Connor. The setting of a mid 20s Egypt brings a mystical & early modern wonder to the movie, making for a great movie to watch when the lights are dim.

Like The Mummy, I watched Mystery Men in that 1999-2000 period of my life, when I was getting a better grasp & understanding of movies. Also like the previous movie, I watched the hell out of the VHS copy I have, probably to the point of making the tape fragile. What makes Mystery Men a fun film for me, is that it takes a standard film trope (In this case the Superhero genre) and turns it on it’s head. In the movie, the bay guy is fairly obvious, the obvious good guy turns out to be a douchebag, and the real good guys are the underdogs that save the day in the end.

Even if the movie wasn’t a goofy superhero/sci-fi comedy, it’s the cast of characters that endears me to the movie. For the good guys, there’s William H. Macy, Ben Stiller, Hank Azaria, Kel Mitchell, Paul Reubens, Janeane Garofalo, and Wes Studi as various lesser-known superheroes. With the bad guys, Geoffrey Rush is the lead villain, and Eddie Izzard as one of his second-in-command. This cast is quite an ensemble of A-list and B-list actors & comedians, and somehow, through some mysterious way, all of these people meld together, and create a truly memorable experience.

1) Hercules: The Legendary Journeys (Sample Clip: “***”)

I should start by saying that this show hasn’t necessarily aged well over the years. The 3d effects look cheap, the acting at times is incredibly hammy, and the sets don’t look so great now. Having said that, this was a show that I had incredible amounts of fun watching when I was younger. It was also one of the first things on TV I watched with my Mother & Father, right up there with Saturday morning cartoons, and oddly enough, CBS News.

If I had one word to use when talking about this show, it would be fun. Kevin Sorbo, despite being something of a B-list actor, really puts his all into his role as Hercules. The setting of Ancient Greece was interesting: it was familiar, but gets turned onto it’s head. It also helps that the show has a great sense of humor (Emphasis on great), it knew how & when to be serious, and the main cast of actors just seemed to fit (Bruce Campbell anyone!?). Again, the show aged poorly, but it’s so much fun to watch, it’s hard to hate on it.

See you all next week. Until then, stay Otaku!