Bill and Ted Face the Music

How excellent would it be to have a time machine so you could go around and correct all of your mistakes? So you could go around and find alternate, bogus versions of yourself and reshape your legacy? You could fulfill your destiny and create your masterwork, because you’ve been told by your future self what to do and how to do it? Wish-fulfillment is the modus operandi for this chapter of middle-aged dudes Bill and Ted, whose avant-garde, conceptual prog-rock band (which isn’t bad, by the way) has yet to write the world’s greatest song. It’s an innocent adventure about legacy and family, and the timing of its release could not be more bodacious. Kudos to all the filmmakers for making a completely unnecessary sequel kind of necessary.

(By the way, the pro rock song in the opening is called: "That Which Binds Us Through Time - The Chemical, Physical and Biological Nature of Love and the Exploration of Meaning Pt 1")

Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey

William Sadler and the “Death” scenes are really funny in this; sending up The Seventh Seal to an audience that probably never heard of it. They’ve got more money and bigger ideas here, but the introduction of a villain from the future is clunky. The guys using time travel to defeat him feels like a repeat, but it’s all in good fun, so…

 

Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure

Before "Beavis and Butt-head", before "Wayne and Garth", there was "Bill and Ted." They may be heavy-metal idiots who are flunking history, but Bill and Ted really grasp all of the time-travel concepts pretty quickly. Deep down, it’s actually pretty corny and innocent, and portends to teach kids about historical figures. But it’s most funny when the dudes finally figure out that time is on their side, and they use the booth to their advantage.

Slap Shot

Revisited this seminal hockey comedy; full of brutal physical comedy and dated world views. But it’s funny, that’s for sure. It’s funny to watch Paul Newman ham and mug, almost but not quite to the edge of exaggeration. I think he may have known what he was doing.

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle

I finally watched this wildly popular family film. The cast seems to be having a blast. The plot is paper-thin and barely threads together the many, many action sequences. Bethany/Jack Black fares the best here as he/she learns the most valuable lesson: to be less selfish and focus on the present.

The Go-Go's

Unfolds like a lot of rock and roll documentaries. The scrappy beginnings, the rise to fame, the decent into booze and pills, the infighting, and the triumphant reunion. A lot of this material was covered in the VH1: Behind the Music episode, which maybe didn’t have as much of the sex and the drugs. It’s an important point, though, to cover all the “firsts” they achieved, and they fact that there hasn’t really been any rock band like it since. And a final thought: why the apostrophe?

The Jerk

The first of the Steve Martin/Carl Reiner collaborations, this goofy, rags-to-riches confection is considered a classic. But that doesn’t mean it’s not dated. There are a few N-bombs and a few unsavory caricatures. But watching Steve Martin wildly and meticulously do the physical comedy thing is exhilarating.