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DVD Amazon Women on the Moon - Collector's Edition
Contrary to popular rumor, this 1987 collection of comedy skits is not about a group of female employees from Amazon.com on a mission to the lunar surface. It's a series of unrelated spoofs and sketches designed to resemble an aimless night of TV channel-surfing, and the satirical targets include grade-Z science fiction films of the 1950s, sex films of the 1930s, hospital soap operas, and Playboy video centerfolds. There's a charity drive in which legendary bluesman B.B. King pleas for donations to help "Blacks Without Soul," and Ed Begley Jr. thinks he's the son of the Invisible Man, which would be fine if he weren't as visible as everyone else. The various sketches feature an all-star cast including Rosanna Arquette, Griffin Dunne, Carrie Fisher, Michelle Pfeiffer, the late Phil Hartman in an early role, and many others. It's strictly hit-or-miss, and many of the sketches fall flat, especially since the subjects being spoofed (the title sketch is a send-up of the actual 1954 movie Cat Women on the Moon) are funny enough without being satirized. Even though Leonard Maltin's Movie & Video Guide describes most of the sketches as "astonishingly unfunny," this can be a very amusing movie if you're in the mood for a no-brainer with a lot of familiar Hollywood faces. Now a modest little cult film, it's the kind of disposable entertainment that maintains its appeal almost in spite of itself. --Jeff Shannon
Review(s): DVD Amazon Women on the Moon - Collector's Edition
It has its moments
"Amazon Women on the Moon" is like watching someone else flip through the channels late at night. It does have some pretty hilarious scenes but just as much as there are these funny moments, there are some boring ones. I wouldn't totally recommend it unless you're just curious to watch it. Not a bad movie to watch late one night if you're bored.
"Did you know that every 8 minutes...
... a black person is born in this country with no soul?" That's a line from on of the better skits in this film. As much as I'd hate to admit it, I'd have to agree with Leonard Maltin in his describing most of the bits in the film Amazon Women on the Moon (1987) as being `unfunny'. There are a handful worth looking for, which I'll mention later, but the majority just aren't that good. In case you've never heard of this film, it's not a 1950's science fiction film, or even a spoof of a 1950's science fiction film (although there is a lengthy sketch contained within the film that is), but a series of parody sketches similar to other films like The Groove Tube (1974), The Kentucky Fried Movie (1977), and, to a lesser extent Mr. Mike's Mondo Video (1979), It Came from Hollywood (1982) and the short lived, early 80's television series `Likely Stories'. The various segments feature direction by individuals like Joe Dante (Gremlins), Carl Gottlieb (Caveman), John Landis (Animal House), and Robert K. Weiss, producer of such films as The Kentucky Fried Movie and The Blues Brothers. The film features a number of actors including, but not limited to, Arsenio Hall (Coming to America), Michelle Pfeiffer (Married to the Mob), Griffin Dunne (After Hours), Joe Pantoliano (The Matrix), Joey Travolta, older brother to the much more famous John Travolta, who does not appear in this film, Sybil Danning (Chained Heat), David Alan Grier (Jumanji), B.B. King, Rosanna Arquette (Desperately Seeking Susan), Steve Guttenberg (Police Academy), Belinda Balaski (The Howling), Robert Picardo (Small Soldiers), Ed Begley Jr. (This Is Spinal Tap), Kelly Preston (Mischief), Dick Miller (Rock 'n' Roll High School), Howard Hesseman (Doctor Detroit), Carrie Fisher (Star Wars), and Paul Bartel (Eating Raoul).
Of the many segments in the film, there were about five that stood out as ranging from moderately funny to hilarious. `Roast Your Loved Ones' featured a skit about a service that roasts the dearly departed creating a rather lively and entertaining wake, employing comedians like Rip Taylor, Slappy White, Jackie Vernon, Henny Youngman, Charlie Callas (was this guy ever funny?), and Steve Allen. It's wonderful seeing these older comics doing their schtick, riffing on not only the recently dead, but each other, especially since as I write this four of them have since passed on...the next segment worth looking for was the bit titled `Son of the Invisible Man' featuring Ed Begley Jr. as the title character. Believing he's recreated his father's formula, he prances around playing pranks and such, but in reality, he's not invisible, just naked, and the folks sort of go along with the idea, humoring him. This bit works especially well if you've actually seen the original 1933 Invisible Man film featuring Claude Rains, directed by James Whale. The 3rd bit I enjoyed was titled `Titan Man' and involves a young man and what happens when he tries to buy condoms from the local pharmacy. The 4th was a bit played after the credits, featuring Paul Bartel and Carrie Fisher, titled `Reckless Youth' and was a parody of those health films release back in the 50's intended to frighten viewers away from `immoral' activities by showing the harsh and tragic consequences surely to result and often uses words or phrases like unclean, impure, sinful ways, secret shame, social diseases, and shameful affliction. Finally, my favorite segment of the film was actually a few short segments that comprised a running gag throughout the film, the first being a commercial where B.B. King laments on the alarming condition of `Blacks Without Soul', and features some of the funniest bits as we see various examples of African Americans who truly have `no soul'. The stand out here is David Alan Grier as a black singer who croons the most white bread tunes imaginable, completely bereft of any soul. He then appears in a couple of more commercial segments later on as Don 'No Soul' Simmons, promoting albums featuring his particular take on popular songs including `Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Old Oak Tree' and `Joy To The World'.
It seems liked producer Robert K. Weiss and director John Landis tried to revisit the comic greatness of The Kentucky Fried Movie, which they also produced and directed respectively, but they neglected to bring back one critical element in that of the writers Jim Abrahams, and the Zuckers (David and Jerry), the men responsible for such hits as Airplane! (1980), Top Secret! (1984), and The Naked Gun (1988). Writers Michael Barrie and Jim Mulholland are certainly accomplished in their own right, both having previously worked on such shows like "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" and "Mary Tyler Moore", but they lacked the edge Abrahams and the Zuckers brought to The Kentucky Fried Movie. Subsequently what you have here is a series of lukewarm bits propped up by few, pretty good scenes. There are a couple of scenes involving former Penthouse Pets Monique `36D-25-37' Gabrielle (Munchie) and Corinne `37-23-36' Wahl (Spring Break) getting all nekkid (not together), so that sure didn't hurt (hence, the main reason for the R rating)...the film flowed along alright, but it was weird when it kicked into the credits after about an hour and fifteen minutes, and I found myself saying, `Damn, that film was short'...and then after the credits there was that last skit entitled `Reckless Youth', which ran about ten minutes, stretching the overall runtime to about 1 hour and 25 minutes. They do have Don `No Soul' Simmons singing over the end credits so audiences would probably keep watching and catch this last sketch, but if not, keep in mind it's there.
The wide screen anamorphic (1.85:1) looks very good on this DVD, and the Dolby Digital Mono 2.0 English comes though relatively well throughout. Special features include some deleted and alternate scenes, an original theatrical trailer, outtakes, and some recommendations (basically for other John Landis films).
Cookieman108
Started great then went down the drain
The first skit with Arsenio Hall was pretty funny but then the movie went to crap. I didnt laugh at any of the other stuff. Looks like they put the funniest segment first. What a waste of talent on bad corny writing
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