JoBlo Originals

In 1989, the movie Best of the Best had a somewhat abbreviated run in theaters. Only grossing a mere $1.7 million, the movie was a major hit on home video and cable. That’s why, three years later, a sequel, Best of the Best 2, hit theaters… for a while. While the first film has maintained a certain cult status, the sequel, and the two more that followed, have been largely forgotten - until now on this edition of The Best Movie You Never Saw. We'll tell you why this Eric Robert, Phillip Rhee and Ralf Moeller action flick deserves some love.

It’s Oscar night 1987, Jeff Bridges and Sigourney Weaver are dressed up all fancy, ready to tear open that majestic envelope and read the name of the best supporting actor of the year. The competition was tough but when but the victor of the night was that of Sir Michael Caine for his wonderful performance in the Woody Allen flick Hannah and Her Sisters. The audiences erupted with applause as they celebrated Mr. Caine’s triumphant Oscar glory. But then silence nothing... the actor is nowhere to be found. Where could he be? What event could drag him away from this ceremony? Unfortunately, it would turn out the Michael Caine was stuck in the furious jaws of Universal and was out battling stupid sharks instead. That’s right, Michael Caine missed this Oscars because of Jaws: The Revenge. Was it worth it? Of the universally panned sharkie fourquel, Michael Caine said, “I have never seen it, but by all accounts, it is terrible. However, I have seen the house that it built, and it is terrific.” But that the thing with Michael Caine is that he can be perfectly placed in Oscar winners and silly stinkers. And Michael Caine isn’t even his real name. He took his stage name from The Caine Mutiny, he birth name is Maurice Micklewhite, which is way too British even for Michael Caine. But this actor did give everyone a new type of British leading man to root for... the Cockney kind. Hollywood legend John Wayne once look Michael in the eyes and said, “You’re gonna be a star.” and boy howdy was The Duke right. But, with his retirement seemingly official, have we seen the last of the cockney legend? For more MOVIE NEWS, visit: http://www.joblo.com SUBSCRIBE for more of all the LATEST JoBlo Videos here: https://goo.gl/R9U81J #MichaelCaine #BatmanBegins #wtfhappenedtothiscelebrity

Howard Stern has been one of the most controversial – and revered – figures in the history of modern media. With a passion for the field as a child, Stern’s climb to the top of the radio world truly began in the ‘80s. And he did it off of his unique, button-pressing, FCC-clashing brand and humor, and all of it all made Howard Stern one of the most recognizable figures in all of media. And so as his markets grew and his written word topped the charts – but long before his first $500 million contract with Sirius – it was time for Stern to enter the movie business with his fictionalized biopic, Private Parts. So how Stern get his own shot in Hollywood? How did he micromanage his own book into a motion picture that got surprisingly good reviews? How did he further solidify himself as the King of All Media? Let’s find out: What Happened to this movie?!

I have this really bad habit when I watch new shows. I am always late to the party. It happens all the time. I watch a pilot of a TV show, write it off and then years later I find out it's an incredible piece of work. Community, Brooklyn 99, Superstore, and Babylon 5 are a few that come to mind. It's frustrating because I miss out on so much fun, like talking to other fans about the show, conventions, and fun marketing. Sure, you can still do many of these things after the show but, like a fresh slice of pizza, it always tastes better fresh out of the oven. Fringe is another slice that I have had to microwave. The series followed a quirky scientist, an estranged criminal son, and a badass FBI agent on some dark and fascinating twists and turns. These would involve alternate dimensions, time travel, and a cow. The show is tragically underrated and sometimes gets lost in the shuffle. But is Fringe as special as many fans claim it is? Or was my original opinion of Fringe being yet another X-files knockoff correct? Luckily you have me to serve you a fresh slice of awesome, in this episode of Gone But Not Forgotten.

Many people often blasphemously (and hilariously) joke around that Morgan Freeman is God. Not only because of his pitch perfect casting as God but also due to his smooth, defining and, yes, god-like is Morgan Freeman’s voice that one can’t picture penguins or parts of nature or, yes, God, without hearing the man. One reason could be that we’ve only ever really known Morgan Freeman as an older actor, not striking a chord with mainstream audiences until he was in his 50s. Soon enough his skills, screen presences and voice had Hollywood calling every time they needed a kind wise grandfather types or a grizzled vet from either side of the the law or any type of narration in any type of film. That persona has marked him as a welcome figure throughout modern cinema – despite the nearly constant cash grabs that pad out the unfortunate bulk of his filmography. There were some major controversies surrounded this man for sure, but he has been given a bit of a pass... the public seems to have quickly forgiven the man who became the widely accepted ultimate Hollywood earthly depiction of God, Let’s find out: WTF Happened to...MORGAN FREEMAN?

As a big fan of spy cinema, particularly the vintage kind from the early days of James Bond, I’ve always liked what Matthew Vaughn was doing with his yarns. While many say he should direct an actual 007 film, it’s clear to me - as a fan of the genre - that Vaughn’s heart belongs to a bygone era in espionage movies. If the Kingsman movies were his gonzo, R-rated riff on the Roger Moore James Bond movies he grew up watching, Argylle is his tribute to the campy James Bond knockoffs that hit theaters in the late sixties. Imagine the 1967 all-star version of Casino Royale, mixed in with a hefty dose of the Our Man Flint series, with a hero - played by Sam Rockwell, who seems to be channelling Dean Martin’s take on the Matt Helm films, and you’ve got a wacky spy yarn that’s unwieldy, but also quite entertaining.

The controversy around Rick and Morty creator Justin Roiland led to him being replaced on all the shows he was involved in. So what happened? In this video, we're going to take a step back and look at the accusations, as well as how revolutionary the show Rick & Morty was for both its creator and network. You see, throughout the 90s, the popularity of more adult animation on TV would continue rising until the traditionally kid-friendly Cartoon Network began airing more adult-oriented animated programs after 11pm, eventually launching their Adult Swim slate of programs that catered to an adult audience that would be watching TV at that late of an hour. We would see the rise of cult hits such as Aqua Teen Hunger Force and Space Ghost: Coast to Coast. But no show seemed to have true crossover success until December 2, 2013, when an animated show that resembled a more adult version of Back to the Future debuted. The show came from controversial figure Dan Harmon, who had recently been fired from his network series Community, yet it would be the show's other creator that ten years later would make headlines for his off-screen behaviour. It’s time we delve into the controversy surrounding Rick and Morty, and its co-creator, Justin Roiland.

In a 2022 interview for Variety, actor, writer, and director Christopher Guest said, “When I met (Jennifer Coolidge), I knew there was something going on that was special. And I was right, fortunately.” He praised her ability to command attention without commanding the dialogue. “This person stands out. Everyone else, to me, is invisible. You want to see her.” We have seen her on our television and theatre screens since the early 90s. And 2023 may have been her best year yet, with her winning a second Emmy for The White Lotus and being named one of the most influential people in the world by Time Magazine. It's been a pretty amazing run for the actress who, at one time (long ago) was best known as "Stifler's Mom" in the American Pie Series. So, WTF happened to Jennifer Coolidge, the self-deprecating eccentric humorist and sometimes sex symbol, who owns over 100 credits in television and film? Let's find out!

This is it, folks! It's time to blow the dust off the fedora, oil the whip, and venture into the unknown one last time as we celebrate the end of an era with a look back at the fifth film in the Indiana Jones franchise, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny! Unleashed 15 years after Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and presented as Harrison Ford's final performance as Dr. Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones Jr., Dial of Destiny finds a disillusioned Indy haunted by a villain from his past and pulled into a chase to recover the Antikythera, an Ancient Greek hand-powered orrery capable of predicting astronomical patterns and eclipses in advance. When released in the summer of 2023, it underperformed financially and was ill-received by many franchise fans. Looking back after a few months, did it deserve a better fate?

For us 90s kids, Dick Tracy was an interesting monster of a movie. It seemed to take a lot of cues from Tim Burton’s Batman, which was released the previous summer, but it definitely had a distinct voice of its own. Dick Tracy was another classic pulp adaptation of an urban enforcer that had very dynamic visuals and an over-the-top rogues gallery. It even sported a score by Danny Elfman, which would have his signature atmospheric sound. The movie would introduce a generation of young audiences to the 1930’s film noir/ detective movie genre. Additionally, the movie brought back Warren Beatty after a three-year absence when his last film, 1987’s Ishtar, was a big flop. Having a star like Beatty in a big-budget franchise like this was an enormous asset for the re-budding intellectual property. And the star power wouldn’t even stop there.

As comedian Will Ferrell walked across the magnificent stage of The Kennedy Center to accept the greatest honour an American funny person can receive: The Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, something happened that made us all remember why he is getting this prestigious honour. The award instantly slipped from Will’s hilarious fingers, shattering this legendary humorist’s bust all over the floor. An obvious gag, that was so damn fitting to what Will represents in the history of the art of doing silly stuff. Without breaking character for a second, Will hilariously tries to pick up the pieces as the world just sits back and laughs… but not laughing at him; we are laughing with him. The appeal of Will Ferrel comes from his innocent attitude that elevates simple stupid jokes to performance art. As Mr. Ferrell once said, “What I recognized when I started doing comedy was that I'm probably not the wittiest, not the fastest on my feet, but the one thing I can guarantee is that I won't hold anything back.” And that funny philosophy of not holding back put this man on top of the comedy world, delivering hit after hit before he hit an inevitable wall.

Walt Disney Studios has had a pretty abysmal year at the international box office in 2023. Between Ant-Man 3, The Little Mermaid, Elemental, Indiana Jones 5, and perhaps most disappointing, The Marvels, the typically successful movie studio has lost an ungodly amount of money by producing overly expensive feature films that failed to resonate among the masses and earn back their financial investments. If the studio isn’t careful and the trend continues, Disney could break another record for the all-time biggest box-office bomb on record. Speaking of which, what would your answer be if you had to guess what Disney’s most notorious financial flop of all time? Well, up until recently, the correct response would have been John Carter, the disastrous 2012 adaptation of Edgar Rice Boroughs’ A Princes of Mars. However, after tallying up the receipts in 2023, Disney’s most infamous box office failure now belongs to The Lone Ranger, directed by Gore Verbinski and starring Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer. Of course, losing hundreds of millions of dollars is one thing the studio must account for, overcoming the reputational hit of one of the most problematic productions in Hollywood history is quite another. Yet, while much of the public focus regarding The Lone Ranger has to do with the epic commercial failure and scathing critical response, many people overlook how damned and doomed the making of the movie was in 2011-2012. Between the production delays stemming from the budget spiraling out of control and the outbreak of chicken pox to weather problems and dangerous wildfires to Depp’s near-fatal horseback injury to the literal death of a crew member on set, the tragedy of the film extends far beyond the economics. Saddle up Kemosabe, it’s time to find out WTF Happened to the Lone Ranger ahead!

Yes, 2023 was an excellent year for cinema (though a TERRIBLE year for Hollywood, but we here at Awfully Good Movies believe you couldn’t have had the great movies without the bad ones, specifically the Top 10 Worst Movies of 2023! Last month, we held a poll for the year’s worst movies among our readers that, as always, gets tabulated against each film’s IMDb score and Tomatometer to end up with a list representing the biggest letdowns and losers amongst our moviegoing public. Whether it was Tomlin and Fonda trying to meet Tom Brady or Adam Driver trying to shoot CGI dinosaurs, the ten nights we spent in theatres watching this crap (except watching WHITE MEN CAN’T JUMP on Hulu) were far scarier than any nights we would spend at Freddy’s. Not even the likes of Vin Diesel driving cars through explosions (again) or Jason Statham punching prehistoric sharks (again) could’ve prepared us for the likes of THE FLASH shaking our faith in superhero cinema or THE EXORCIST: BELIEVER shaking our very belief in God… and by God, I mean David Gordon Green’s ability to handle horror. And need I say any more about my previous episode on EXPEND4BLES, the dumbest movie title since FAN4STIC and the dumbest Stallone sequel since ROCKY V? But thank God for the likes of Nolan and Scorsese for renewing our faith in the cinematic experience, just as WINNIE-THE-POOH: BLOOD AND HONEY getting a theatrical release was about to have us swearing off the movie gods. And thanks to all of you fabulous readers and viewers for getting me to my tenth anniversary working for this website… even if it means having to sift through all these shitty movies at the end of each year.

Ah Hollywood. The evil temptress where talent often overshadows any sort of character flaw. Many people claim it to be a new development with the advent of social media where a person tweets out something dumb ten years ago only to have it brought back up when they have a new Netflix movie dropping. But actually, celebrities have seen their careers implode long before people posted pictures of their dinners online for the world to see. Think back to the story of Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle, one of the highest-paid silent film stars of the era whose talent and fame were overshadowed when a woman was assaulted and subsequently died at a party hosted by the famed comedian. Arbuckle was acquitted of the crimes, but his career never recovered. We have never seen a career implosion like we witnessed in 2023 when an emerging talent had a genuine break-out year that was expected to end with a a film that would see him nominated and potentially even win an Oscar. Instead, the year ended with that project shelved, potentially never to see the light of day and a career seemingly cut short when the dark side of their private life was exposed to the world. It’s time we sit back and find out just WTF Happened to Jonathan Majors.

As Marvel Studios continues trying to reinvent their franchise after a lacklustre year at the box office and on Disney+, Kevin Feige and his team kick-off 2024 early with many firsts. Echo is the first MCU series to debut simultaneously on Disney+ and Hulu, the first to drop the full season on the same day, the first spin-off of another Disney+ series, the first project under the new Marvel Spotlight banner, the first series featuring an indigenous actress in the lead role (not to mention the first Deaf lead and first lead with a prosthetic limb), and the first MCU series with a TV-MA rating. Echo, starring Alaqua Cox in the title role, is a grittier and more violent take on Marvel Comics than we have seen in the MCU but not quite as brutal as the Netflix series with whom it shares some characters. A five-episode event series, Echo boasts some intriguing mythology centered on Native American fables and a cast full of great actors but does not do much to earn the mature rating that has become a major marketing point for this series.

Riggs and Murtagh. Tango and Cash. Starsky and Hutch. John McClane. Frank Bullitt. Dirty Harry Callahan. While those are all tough movie cops, none of them are as hard as nails was perhaps the toughest, most dangerous movie cop of all time…Frank Drebin, as played by the legendary Leslie Nielsen, in the iconic The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad, which we still think is one of the funniest films of the eight, and we revisit in this video!

Some have called them the worst band of the nineties, but the fact remains that Creed has sold over 53 million albums worldwide and had a great run as one of the most popular bands of the 90s and 2000s. Led by Scott Stapp, many mocked the band, but people kept buying their albums and seeing their concerts. Yet, over time, substance abuse and addictions took their toll on Stapp and the rest of the band, but with them reuniting for an upcoming nostalgia tour, it’s time to look back at one of the most divisive bands of their era - CREED!

And so, another year is in the books, with 2023, the year of Barbenheimer now ending. It was a dramatic one for entertainment, with shelved movies, surprising hits and misses and dual strikes that brought the industry to a standstill for months. Nevertheless, there were plenty of great films, so here’s JoBlo’s official top 10 for the year. Before we start, there are a few honourable mentions to get out of the way. Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One was a surprising box office disappointment, to the extent that the next film is set to drop Dead Reckoning from the title, but it was still an expertly assembled action film with some of the best stuntwork and style of the year. I also thoroughly enjoyed Creed III and Gerwig’s Barbie, with both just falling a tad short of making my top 10. At the same time, other films like Bradley Cooper’s Maestro, American Fiction and many others are also worth checking out this holiday season. But without further ado, here’s the top 10

2023 was supposed to be an excellent year for movies. Now that people were no longer reluctant to return to the theatres due to COVID, the year was expected to be peppered with blockbusters, making this one of the highest-grossing years in memory. After all, there were Marvel movies, DC movies, new stars, and a pipeline of film that didn’t seem like it would dry up soon. Of course, things ended up a little different, with Hollywood brought to a standstill by strikes. At the same time, once influential franchises started to wane when pitted against an incredibly weary public hungry for something new. Indeed, it was a pretty dramatic year overall, so here at JoBlo Originals, we’re counting down some of the biggest pop culture stories of the year.

For most performers, building up a resume of over 150 projects is something that takes an entire lifetime to achieve, but for James Franco that is a feat he has accomplished at just 45 years old. This Freaky Geek was catapulted to fame in one of biggest comic book franchises of all time before settling in to his role as a performer who can take on any genre and any film no matter how big or small. But with a tremendous rise at such a young age, sometimes you don’t make the best decisions. For Franco, those bad decisions would come to light on the very night of his greatest professional achievement and begin a downfall that is sadly all to common in today’s world. At one point putting out up to 12 projects a year, Franco has taken a backseat as allegations against him began to pile up. It is time we examine the career and find out just WTF Happened to James Franco! For more MOVIE NEWS, visit: http://www.joblo.com SUBSCRIBE for more of all the LATEST JoBlo Videos here: https://goo.gl/R9U81J #JamesFranco #wtfhappenedtothiscelebrity #sethrogan

Take Star Wars, a liberal amount of Seven Samurai, The Magnificent Seven and Battle Beyond the Stars, and mix it in with a heavy helping of Heavy Metal (both the magazine and the film), and you end up with Zack Snyder's Rebel Moon. While a bit overstuffed (Snyder maybe made it a little too lean at just over two hours), it's nonetheless a deliriously entertaining sci-fi epic that one could easily call the Best Star Wars Movie Never Made. It's not a stretch to say that Rebel Moon is more fun than anything that has come out of a Galaxy Far, Far Away in quite some time.

The boys of Bon Jovi did something amazing. They made Heavy Metal fun again. This resulted in some rocking pop hits or some popping rock hits, as well as power ballads galore, that will make you fall in love and break your heart but in the most entertaining of ways. As we all know, the music world is a vicious beast that often feeds off of nothing: hairspray, spandex, motorcycles, leather jackets and even more hair spray. Even though Jon Bon Jovi dismisses the “hair band” label.... even though he is in a band and has a lot of hair... And yes, that hair is a little grayer now, but their music career is still growing strong, right? I’m not sure actually... so let’s find out. What Happened to...JON BON JOVI

In many ways, Chris Columbus and John Hughes made the most successful Christmas movie of all time with Home Alone. Sure, there are other movies that might rank high in the pantheon for some, but in terms of box office alone, this was a juggernaut, grossing $476 million in 1990, which, adjusted for inflation, is about $1.1 BILLION in 2023. No other Christmas movie comes close to that number, and that’s not even counting how much money it made on home video, where it was one of the biggest-selling titles of all time, plus all its plays on cable, streaming and more. Yet, it’s also a movie that would never be made now, with the film climaxing with Macaulay Culkin’s Kevin McCallister laying a series of traps for Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern’s Harry and Marv that would likely put real men in their graves. Crazy as it sounds, Home Alone would likely get an R-rating now, given how sensitive audiences have become. Don’t believe me? Did anyone try to watch Disney Plus’s lukewarm Home Sweet Home Alone, with its lukewarm traps (no maimings?) and sympathetic, misunderstood burglars? It’s a PC nightmare (with our own Jesse Shade eviscerated on Awfully Good) that shows you how tepid family fare nowadays can be when it falls under the domain of a monolithic studio like Disney. Thankfully, Home Alone, in all its slapstick glory, still exists (along with its sequel) and is a movie we can still return to holiday after holiday. In this episode of Scene Breakdown, our host, Kier Gomes, takes a look at the movie’s slapstick climax, breaking down the surprisingly deadly traps and explaining what makes this such an irreplaceable Christmas classic. And hey - if you like it next year, we’ll come back and do Home Alone 2 (we’ll skip the others, though).

It’s that time of year again…the giving season. As families everywhere come together to celebrate the holidays, bundle up by the fire, and indulge in a parade of sappy Christmas movies, the real adults in the room are going to need something with a bit more kick. Think about it, the all-time best Christmas movies - It’s a Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street, A Christmas Story, Home Alone, you name it - all revolve around sentimental family-friendly stories for children and adults to enjoy equally. But f*ck all that, Jack, this year we’re all about honoring a bona fide Christmas classic expressly aimed at adult audiences. While Die Hard and Violent Night are worthy action-packed contenders, it’s time to dish out the edible cookies and spiked eggnog for Bad Santa - easily the most politically incorrect and controversially transgressive Christmas comedy on record. Honestly, do you even think it’s possible for a movie like Bad Santa to be made in Hollywood today? Well, as Bad Santa celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, it’s only right to unwrap the classic cinematic gift that keeps on giving and discover what went into the production, including the major studios who passed on the project, the Coen Brothers’ story conception and uncredited script work, the casting process, principal photography, Billy Bob Thronton’s drunken on-set antics, Todd Phillips’ uncredited reshoots, and a whole lot more. Sound good? Merry Christmas motherf*ckers, it’s time to unstuff the stockings and find out WTF Happened to Bad Santa! For more MOVIE NEWS, visit: http://www.joblo.com SUBSCRIBE for more of all the LATEST JoBlo Videos here: https://goo.gl/R9U81J #BadSanta #wtfhappenedtothismovie #christmasmovies

Realizing they needed a voice over actor to provide the narration for a new show in development called Arrested Development, producer Ron Howard looked around the empty recording studio, finding no voice over actor in sight. So this Oscar winning former child star stepped in to provide a temporary voice track, you know just as a filler until they could find a better voice, of course. But a better voice never came because Ron Howard’s comforting and gentle tone mixed with a dry yet kinda goofy speech pattern was the perfect fit for the sense of humor of this show. But this was not the only time Ron Howard stepped up and became an unexpected perfect fit, he’s been doing that all his life - from being in front of the camera in classic TV shows and behind the camera for a hefty handful of wonderful motion pictures… and more! But nowadays is his career in arrested development? Whenever I watch a Ron Howard picture, I always play a little game. I like to call this game Spot the Clint Howard! As Ronnie Boy has given cameo appearances to his troubled yet beloved brother Clint in nearly every film he has made. Can you spot the Clint Howard? His films always use his brother and he always changes up the genre. Bouncing around from historical epics to light hearted comedies to heart breaking dramas and he excels in them all. A true professional who proved to Hollywood he was meant for more than just sitcoms. But is he still producing works of art that live up to his days as a Oscar winning box office champ? Or are those happy days of exciting cinematic achievements behind him? Do we need to throw old man Opie in a pool full of Cocoon fountain of youth magic? Is he caught in some sort of arrested development? Ron Howard had been called nicest fella in Hollywood–a living, breathing embodiment of “Aw, shucks!” but have those “aw, shucks” turned to to “ah what the f*cks”? Let’s find out: WTF Happened to… RON HOWARD?