Archive for the 'SciFi Channel' Category

01
Dec
22

The Last Sharknado: It’s About Time (2018)

Date watched: 12/1/22

Starring: Ian Ziering, Tara Reid, Vivica A Fox, Dude from 30 Rock

Plot: Fin has to go back in time to rejoin his shark-battling friends to stop the first Sharknado and save humanity. (From IMDB)

Rules:

  • Say “time”
  • Callbacks to previous Sharknado movies that we don’t remember
  • Say “Sharknado”
  • Dee Snider quotes one of his songs or other cameos that the character makes a reference to themselves
  • Talking about needing speed

Quotes:

  • “Welcome to prehistoric times.”
  • “I’ve actually been eaten and pooped out by a lot of dinosaurs.”
  • “First time ever on a pterodactyl?”
  • “These are the same drawings that are at Stonehenge.”
  • Dee Snider: “I think I know who’s twisted Mister.”

Viewer Quotes:

  • “Is that the guy from 30 Rock?”
  • “This movie is… something else.”
  • “OMG that is Deana Troy.”
  • “C’mon, you’re better than this Neil deGrasse Tyson.”
  • “If I could get a chainsaw sword for Christmas, I would be pretty delighted.”

Things We Learned:

  • You can only go back in time once.
  • One of the consequences of travelling in time is changing sexes and then not remembering.
  • 20,000 years in the future all people are Tara Reid

Final Take:

Well, if you’ve made it through five other Sharknado movies, then you kind of know what you’re getting into with number six. I can’t say that this one is better or worse than the others, because I have little to no memory of them. They all provide a decent BMT experience, and they all are immediately forgettable. I think we’re kind of glad to be done with this series. Wait, what’s that you say? Ian Ziering and the makers of Sharknado created another movie called “Zombie Tidal Wave”? Darn, I guess we kind of have to see that at some point. 🙂

24
Sep
16

Sharknado 4: The 4th Awakens (2016)

Date Watched: 9/22/16

Plot: Fin, his family and the cosmos have been blissfully sharknado-free in the five years since the most recent attack, but now sharks and tornadoes are being whipped up in unexpected ways and places.  (From IMDB)

Rules:

  • Star Wars references
  • Bad cameos
  • Every time they say “Sharknado”
  • Gratuitous product placement
  • Use of Las Vegas landmarks
  • Every time there is a new type of “nado”
  • References to other movies
  • Famous U.S. landmarks

Quotes:

  • “What inspired you to create a hotel full of sharks?”
  • “Fin Shepard, welcome to the family”
  • “Just as long as you have a beating heart, I’m going to love you”

Viewer Quotes:

  • “Does that airplane look like a penis?”
  • “Why would you need a chainsaw if you had a light saber?”
  • “How would you like to have David Hasselhoff as your grandfather?”

Things We Learned:

  • You can fly off a building in a car and use your car doors to “surf” down safely
  • Pirate ship steering wheels make good shark killers
  • Sharknados can become Bouldernados, Oilnados, Firenados, Lightningnados, Cownados, and Nuclearnados

Final Take:

For a movie franchise that already jumped the shark (pun intended), this one was a worthy addition.  There was plenty of silliness and D-list celebrities getting eaten by sharks.  I’ve seen lots of movies filmed in Vegas, but the Treasure Island Pirate Ship scene was something memorable (not just for having David Faustino as a character named “Bud”).  We will be waiting for number 5.

15
Jul
16

Zoombies (2016)

Zoombies Poster

Date Watched: 5/12/16

Plot: When a strange virus quickly spreads through a safari park and turns all the zoo animals undead, those left in the park must stop the creatures before they escape and zombify the whole city.  (From IMDB)

Starring: Terrible green screen animals

Rules:

Animal Zombies

Giraffes – Zombie Giraffes = drink two

Say “Eden”

Jump Scares

Drone shots of the park

Quotes:

“Let’s just say that I got drunk at the wrong bar with the wrong policeman.”

“You don’t look like the kind of girl that likes to get dirty.”

“I swear that gorilla was trying to mate with me.”

“Excuse me intern, this is my sanctuary, and I decide what’s good!”

Viewer Quotes:

“They have a tracker on every dinosaur in the park… I mean err, animal.”

“I wish that little girl would turn into a zombie.”

“Is he going to kill Clay Mathews?”

Things We Learned:

-Irritating little girls are worse than terrible monkey special effects or guys in phony gorilla suits.

-Zombie giraffes like to attack in pairs and draw and quarter their victims.

-Zombieism makes animals smarter, faster, and stronger.

-Guts make good eagle’s nests.

Final Take:

It was an OK rip-off of Jurassic World.  The zombie giraffes were great, but very limited in their screen time.  If they ever do a sequel, I hope that they make them the true stars that they are.

01
Jul
16

Cowboys vs Dinosaurs (2015)

Cowboys vs Dinosaurs Poster

Date Watched: 6/30/15

Plot: After an accidental explosion at a local mine, dinosaurs emerge from the rubble to terrorize a small western town. Now, a group of gunslingers must defend their home if anyone is going to survive in a battle of cowboys versus dinosaurs.  (From IMDB)

Starring: Eric Roberts in a role that time forgot

Rules:

-Cowboy clichés

-Dinosaurs eating people

-Girls in bikinis

-Montana scenic shots

-Eric Roberts vomits

Quotes:

“Apparently he was attacked by a wild animal last night.”

“That sure is hell isn’t a bear claw.”

“That sure is hell isn’t a fossil.”

“That ain’t no mountain lion.”

After the dinosaurs jump out of the hole in the ground… “I think we’re too late.”

“You made your bed and now you can die in it.”

“You’re history.”

Viewer Quotes:

“That cowboy is totally going to order a coffee and a pecan pie.”

“Those are totally Montana skanks.”

“Can you still drink in the car in Montana?”

To the miners on their way to into the mine… “Are those the dwarves on their way to work?  Hi ho, hi ho.”

Things We Learned:

Velociraptors love to jump in the water to eat people.

Dinosaurs are attracted to propane tanks.

The best place to hide from a dinosaur attack is the washing machine at the laundry mat.

Dinosaurs will not eat horses even if they are right there.

Final Take:

This was pretty much generic Syfy fodder if you’re in the mood for that sort of thing.  I’m not quite sure what attracted Eric Roberts to this particular role.  I would think that if I was brought a script that had me puking my guts out for half of my time on camera, I might pass.  On second thought, I totally get it, and I would have done it too.

01
Apr
16

3 Headed Shark Attack (2015)

3-Headed-Shark-Attack-2015

Plot: As a mutated, three-headed, great white shark eats its way from one end of the ship to the next, the passengers have to fight the deadly predator using anything they can find.

Starring: Danny Trejo, Rob Van Dam

Rules

  • Shark eating multiple rules at once.
  • “Garbage Patch”
  • Hot girls spewing scientific nonsense
  • External shots of the underwater facility
  • Creature vision swimming over the sand bar

Quotes

“How are the new kids?”  “He’s talking about her boobs” (viewer quote)

“I know what’s going on.  It’s being drawn in by the pollution of the larger vessel.  It’s driving it insane.”

Viewer Quotes

“Where are the fishermen?  Taking  a siesta?”

“I can’t believe Dr. Boobs went out like that.”

“These are the worst group of scientists since Denise Richards in the James Bond movie.”

What We Learned

  • Somehow, when you’re confronted with a 3 headed shark, you’re safer on a 25 foot boat than on dry land (an island).
  • Eating aluminum cans will make a shark insane (especially a 3 headed one).
  • Plastic lawn chairs can turn deadly when your booze cruise is attacked by a 3 headed shark.
  • In the world of “3 Headed Shark”, boats cannot get within 100 feet of the shore, forcing you to “swim for it”
  • A mutant 3 headed shark will grow more heads if existing heads are removed.
  • Sharks can make boats explode

 

12
Jul
14

Sea Beast (2008)

Sea Beast

Date Watched: 5/29/14

Starring: Parker Lewis Can’t Lose

Plot:

The fishing vessel Solita crosses a storm during the night and the Skipper Will McKenna witnesses a weird creature attacking the crewman Joey. They return to the dock and Will has difficulties to pay the amount he owes to the former owner of the boat, Roy. The fish population is reducing in the area and the biologist Arden is investigating the possible causes. Meanwhile, Will’s daughter Carly steals the keys of her father’s cottage in a nearby island and plans to travel with her boyfriend Danny and their friends Erin and Drew to spend the weekend in the island. However, Drew is murdered by a deep sea predator on the dock and his pieces are found by Will and Arden. Carly, Danny and Erin do not have any news from their friend and travel to the island without Drew. Sooner Erin is murdered by the creature and Danny is bitten by a newborn reptile. Danny and Erin seek shelter in the cabin but they are trapped there by the creatures. In the continent, Will and Arden learn that the deep sea predator is a very dangerous species, after a series of lethal attacks, and they head to the island to rescue Carly. (From IMDB)

Rules:

-Non-special effects

-Shots of being haunted by the cartoon beast

-Parker Lewis loses (bad things happen to him)

-Dumb actor struggling to sound scientific

-Sea Beast’s tongue comes out

-Say “angler fish”

-When Sea Beast is cloaked

-Sideways camera angles like in Battlefield Earth

Quotes:

“I’m just telling you the properties of this slime and where it’s found in nature.”

“Let’s just go to the boat and get the first aid kit.”

“That weren’t no shark!”

“You’re the fisherman, you figure it out.”

Viewer Quotes:

“Wow, they just throw us right into this.”

“Gee, the black friend died first.  Shocker for a movie like this.”

“All the cool dudes in the 80’s had house boats.”

“If you take a selfie with a Sea Beast, is it still considered a selfie?”

“Ooh entrails.”

“Now it’s time for a making weapons montage.”

“There’s a lot of sea beasts in this movie, so should this really be called sea beasts and sons?”

“Parker Lewis dating a girl his daughter’s age… that’s winning.”

“He just wants to tongue her.”

Things We Learned:

-Sea Beasts have cloaking capabilities like the Predator or a Klingon warship.

-Sea Beasts know instinctively to use their tongues to choke people.

-The best way to hold a hatchet is to choke up on it like a baseball bat.

Final Take:

Any movie starring Parker Lewis is already a winner in my book, although this is pretty standard Syfy movie fare.  It’s fairly entertaining, but you won’t see any hardcore gore or T&A in a movie like this.  

11
Aug
13

Sharknado

sharknado

Viewing Date: 7/18/2013

Starring: Ian Ziering, Tara Reid

Plot

When a freak hurricane swamps Los Angeles, nature’s deadliest killer rules sea, land, and air as thousands of sharks terrorize the waterlogged populace (from IMDB.com).

Rules

  • People getting killed by sharks
  • Shark cam (house rule of “creature vision” applies, this is only a reminder)
  • Shark fin
  • Footage of a real shark is used
  • References to Jaws (drink 2)
  • Aussie guy says any stereotypical Aussie stuff (g’day, krikey, etc)

Quotes

“Sharks don’t like vegemite”

“It’s like Old Faithful!”  “We’ll need faith to get through that!!’

“Hey, I fell off a slide when I was two.  Hurt like hell….”

Viewer Quotes

“Hey baby, I’m a Chippendales dancer!”

“He’s all ‘Johnny Manziel’d’.”

“How many sharks does it take to eat a drunk guy?”

“Her (Tara Reid) face looks like a shiny piece of plastic.”

“It’s a sharter spout.”

“Scorpion avalanche!”

What We Learned

  • Sharks can flood houses and eventually make them explode
  • Sharks can travel through drains and sewers- really they can appear out of nowhere.
  • Sharks can climb ropes
  • Movie car rental places stay open during the worst storm in California’s history.  These rental cars have real nitro boosters included!
  • You can survive in a shark’s stomach for an extended amount of time.
  • It takes a propane bomb and a helicopter to kill a sharknado
  • Sharks have the accuracy of a tomahawk missile when airborne and always fly teeth-first.

Final Take

We actually watched a few minutes of Sharknado during the world premier on SyFy, but had no idea that it would become the big deal that it did, so we had to schedule the next Thursday for a viewing.  Did Sharknado live up to all the expectations?  Did it deserve all the press? Yes and no. This movie did truly hit a homerun as far as casting, and overall absurdity. It really had everything that we love here on BMT: washed up actors, horrible dialogue, bad special effects… So what’s not to like. Maybe it’s just me personally, but I can smell a SyFy Channel movie a mile a way, and even though this might be the cream of the crop, it still is a little off-putting. Something about the video quality, pacing, and how the CGI is cut into the scenes with the actors… But somehow it doesn’t completely feel like a real movie for me- more like a tv mini series or a Stargate spinoff.
Once past the SyFy hang-ups, this movie was quite entertaining, and had us laughing and engaged the whole time, so it was a win overall. Most of our enjoyment came from trying to come up with a movie to match the absurdity of Sharknado (how many viewers out there did the same?). We settled on “Scorpion Avalanche”- maybe “Scorp-valanche”. We had it casted, the plot set and how the climax was going to play out. I don’t know if any of us remember the details, but still no stealing this idea.




March 2023
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