Genre: Comedy
Rating: UN
Release Date: 6-JAN-2009
Media Type: DVDEven within the subgenre of grab-bag comedy,
Disaster Movie sets a new bar for free-associative lunacy. To what degree there is a plot, it's vaguely stolen from
Cloverfield: A handful of twentysomethings try to rescue someone in a city assaulted by an incomprehensible threat--in this case, falling asteroids. But that's just a thread on which to string a long and increasingly tedious series of gestures towards recent movies (ranging from
High School Musical to
Enchanted to
Sex and the City to
Kung Fu Panda) and pop culture figures (Amy Winehouse to Flavor Flav to Dr. Phil to, of course, perpetual punching-bag Michael Jackson). No one over 30 will recognize more than a fraction of the movie's references, but the movie'! s bigger problem is that there are hardly any actual jokes--the filmmakers seem to think that simply alluding to
Hancock or
Jumper is funny in and of itself... and it just isn't.
Disaster Movie will probably appeal to its primary audience of high-school students and repressed frat boys, for whom the mere mention of homosexuality prompts jittery laughter and who find generically pretty girls and studly boys in tight clothing titillating. It's a wasted opportunity; there are moments that, through sheer incompetence and desperation, suggest a surreal stream-of-consciousness. A filmmaker like Luis Bunuel or Federico Fellini could have turned such raw matter into a satirical aria that would genuinely critique a culture that worships Paris Hilton. Instead, we get this. Featuring, as ever, Carmen Electra.
--Bret Fetzer
DISASTER MOVIE - DVD Movie
Studio: Lions Gate Home Ent. Release Date: 01/06/2009 Run time: 88 minutes Rating: Ur
Spider-Man, X-Men, and the Fantastic Four will never be the same after this outrageously funny spoof of your favorite comic book movies! Drak! e Bell (Drake & Josh) stars as a nerdy high school student bit! ten by a genetically-altered dragonfly. He stumbles hilariously through the process of becoming a crime-fighter and as his new powers grow, so do the laughs. Sara Paxton (Aquamarine) and Christopher McDonald (Spy Kids 2) costar as the clueless damsel in distress and the comically intense super villain, along with Pamela Anderson and Leslie Nielsen. Going from superzero to superhero has never been this much fun! Adolescent fantasy meets sophomoric humor in the latest cuisinart comedy,
Superhero Movie. The story of how frustrated loser Rick Riker (Drake Bell of
Drake & Josh) becomes the superpowered Dragonfly is largely poking fun at
Spider-Man, but there are a handful of digs at
X-Men,
Fantastic Four, and other Marvel Comics superhuman flicks. What's disappointing is how few of the jokes are specific to the genre--the abundance of gags about urine, feces, horniness, and especially flatulence (long, drawn-out gags about flatulence) could have been! shoehorned into a parody of pretty much anything. The strong point of
Superhero Movie is the above-average cast; while there are the obligatory cameos by the likes of Pamela Anderson, the cast is mostly filled out with actual actors like Marion Ross (
Happy Days), Christopher McDonald (
Thelma & Louise), Brent Spiner (
Star Trek: The Next Generation), Jeffrey Tambor (
Arrested Development), and Leslie Nielsen, who trots out his trademark deadpan one more time. As Dragonfly's love interest, Sara Paxton (
Aquamarine) does a flawless and subtle imitation of Kirsten Dunst's sultry vocal mannerisms. And for fans of
Airplane! (the movie that started the whole everything-but-the-kitchen-sink genre of comedy), there's an appropriate cameo by Robert Hays as Rick Riker's father.
Superhero is a step above such recent tripe as
Date Movie and
Meet the Spartans... but sadly, that's not saying much.
--Bret FetzerThe ! hilarious hi-jinks begin when a hapless group of orphans from ! curious backgrounds come together to embark on an adventure that takes them to a special chocolate factory where they fall into an enchanted wardrobe and wind-up in a magical land. Here, hilarity ensues when the bungling bunch run into a colorful collection of characters including a flamboyant pirate and a gang of wizardry-apprentices who they join forces with to overthrow the wicked White Bitch of Gnarnia.
By dint of the inexplicable popularity of their send-up of movie genres in the parody movies Scary Movie and Date Movie, writer/director duo Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer probably got an epic-sized bucket of cash for this hastily stitched pastiche of drive-by entertainment. There's no particular variety of movie they were sent to send up this time, unless big box-office grossers has now become a genre in and of itself. If so, Epic Movie may well qualify as part of that league itself. Very little expense has been spared to make so-called "comic" referen! ces to a slew of mostly recent blockbusters--The Chronicles of Narnia, Borat, Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the X-Men and Harry Potter series, Superman Returns, Nacho Libre, and The Da Vinci Code to name a few--and it's assumed we've seen them all. In a goofy thread of a story about four orphans plucked from some of the above, battle must be done through various bastardized plots from same so that a prophecy can be fulfilled and they can assume their rightful place as rulers of a sacred land. Lots of crotch kicks, fart, urine, and vomit jokes speed by as we pass through Willie Wonka's factory and a magical wardrobe with an unusually interesting assortment of look-alikes and name actors caught up in the gag mix (some of it legitimately funny). Darrell Hammond, Crispin Glover, David Carradine, Kevin McDonald, Carmen Electra, Kal Penn put on game (and sometimes gamy) faces,! and it's definitely a hoot to watch comedy improv alums Fred ! Willard and Jennifer Coolidge as Aslo the Lion and the White Bitch do battle in a Narnian good vs. evil character smackdown. As lame as you already expect a movie like this to be, anything that can throw together an homage to C.S. Lewis alongside MTV's Punk'd in less than 90 minutes can't be all bad. --Ted Fry
Epic Movie Extras
Watch the writers and producer talk about how adding song and dance made Epic Movie a smash. |
Beyond Epic Movie
More Comic Spoofs | 
More Kal Penn Films | 
More From 20th Century Fox |
Stills from Epic Movie CRASH LANDING
In this against-all-odds, high-octane action-thriller starring Antonio Sabato Jr. and Michael Paré, a private flight for a billionaire's daughter and her friends becomes a hellish ordeal when the plane is overtaken by a team of terrorists, plotting to hold the billionairess hostage.
But there is one thing the hijackers didn't count on - Major John Masters (Antonio Sabato Jr.), who is also on board. Within a matter of minutes the situation spirals out of control, resulting in a wounded pilot, several dead, and a severely damaged plane. Now, Masters must somehow land the plane on a small Pacific island despite a category five hurricane if they hope to survive - that is if Captain Williams (Michael Paré) and his team can finish the runway in time...
NATURE UNLEASHED: AVALANCHE
In the Ural Mountains of Russia, transplanted Westerners Thom and Jock Cussler take tourists on adventurous snowmobile ! rides up and down the slopes. When an avalanche heads for their party, their quick thinking saves them all, but a village far below is buried completely. In nearby Kirovina, the brothers convince townsfolk to hide in a mine to save themselves. Thom and Jock then risk their lives attempting to rescue survivors trapped under a mountainside nightclub. They must act fast - the air is running out!
NATURE UNLEASHED: EARTHQUAKE
Josh, a respected engineer, travels to Russia to inspect a nuclear power plant. Coincidentally, his ex-wife Rachel works at the facility and lives nearby with their kids. When Josh arrives at the plant, he leads a group of engineers down to the reactor's core to investigate a possible leak when disaster strikes; a catastrophic earthquake of an 8.2 magnitude rocks the Russian countryside.
At the same time, Josh and Rachel's daughter becomes trapped in a crumbled subway tunnel, while back at the plant several fires threaten to cau! se a meltdown - and an explosion ten times the size of Hiroshi! ma...
So begins a race against time as Josh and Rachel fight their way into the collapsed train tunnels and nature reveals a final, deadly surprise...another MASSIVE QUAKE!
NATURE UNLEASHED: FIRE
After a dirt biker is injured, Forest Ranger Jake Langford gets the assignment to lead the rider and his group safely out of the forest. But when a mysterious, angry arsonist sets off fires across the park, the group is trapped in a raging inferno...and the way out is through an old abandoned mine that's full of methane gas - which is not only poisonous, but very, very flammable...
Get ready to face nature's fiery fury in this high-octane thrill ride packed with explosive action, pulse-pounding suspense, and incredible special effects!
