The Toxic Avenger Part II (1989)

I thought for today that I would check out a film from Troma Now which is only $4.99 a month and I realized that I had never seen any of the The Toxic Avenger sequels and it was definitely time to start watching them. So for today's film, we are checking out the 1989 sequel The Toxic Avenger Part II which was once again directed by Lloyd Kaufman (Class Of Nuke 'Em High) and Michael Herz (Troma War). Things in Tromaville have definitely changed since the events of the first film and not just in the sense that things improved in Tromaville since the arrival of Toxie (Ron Fazio). The only problem is that a lot has changed for Toxie in the sense that he has no evil to fight so he feels like he has no purpose. so as an evil corporation starts to move in , they have his shrink trick him into going to Japan to find his dad while they take over. The film also stars Phoebe Legere (King Of New York) as Claire, Rick Collins (Class Of Nuke 'Em High) as Apocalypse Inc. Chairman, Rikiya Yasuoka (Black Rain) as Big Mac Bunko, Mayako Katsuragi (Angel To Be Sacrificed) as Masami, Jessica Dublin (Fellini Satyricon) as Mrs. Junko, Erika Schickel (Aaahh!!! Real Monsters ) as the Shrink, Joe Fleishaker (Tromeo & Juliet) as Apocalypse Inc. Employee, Michael Jai White (Spawn) as Apocalypse Inc. Thug, Dan Snow (Return To Nuke Em High Volume 1) as Cigar Face, Paul Borghese (The Family) as Lou Sipher, and Benny Nieves (The Devil's Advocate) as Apocalypse Inc. Employee.

What can I say about this film that probably wasn't already said before other than the fact that it was fun to sit back cracking a couple of cold ones and just enjoying the show. One of the best sequences of the film is the opening fight scene which is just epic in my opinion because it's literally one guy after another and each one is as interesting as the last. My only problem with it is that I wanted a full fight with Michael Jai White and we never got that through out the whole film. They teased us at the beginning of the film, but they never followed through because the rest of the return to America is spent with him chasing after the motorcyclist. The film has everything you would love about a Toxic Avenger film from the outrageous stunts, kills, and even all of the breasts, but this one kicks up a notch and takes us to Japan. One of the things I loved was seeing the Japanese people and their reactions to Fazio dressed up as Toxie because some of them seemed generally surprised and amused while others were told to act scared, but I feel that not everyone in Japan was aware of him. That was definitely a fun aspect of the film, but I have to be honest in saying that the parts in Japan were cool to have, but it doesn't top the first film. I definitely want Michael Jai White to be in the next film, but I am not sure if he actually is, but nonetheless I am going to give the film an B- for a final grade.

The Illusionist (2006)

One of my favorite actors to emerge in the 1990's was the one and only Edward Norton (The Score) who impressed me tremendously with American History X. It is very rare to find an Edward Norton picture that doesn't live up to the hype, but there are also a lot of films that have slipped through the cracks and today's film is one of them. Tubi, a free app presented the opportunity for me to see the 2006 film The Illusionist which was adapted for the screen and directed by Neil Burger (Limitless). The film stars Norton as Eisenheim the Illusionist, a man who abilities to do things that are dazzling people in turn of the century Vienna, Austria. It dazzles them so much so that he is able to secure the long lost love of his life (who is above his social class), but it comes with as very deep cost. The film also stars Jessica Biel (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre) as Sophie, Paul Giamatti (Private Parts) as Inspector Uhl, Rufus Sewell (A Knight's Tale) as Crown Prince Leopold, Eddie Marsan (The Gentlemen) as Josef Fischer, Jake Wood (EastEnders) as Jurka, Tom Fisher (The Mummy Returns) as Willigut, Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Avengers: Age Of Ultron) as Young Eisenheim, Eleanor Tomlinson (Jack The Giant Slayer) as Young Sophie, and Karl Johnson (Hot Fuzz) as The Doctor.

I don't think this was my favorite Edward Norton film and it 's not even because of his performance because that was absolutely amazing. I just thought that while the story was cool it wasn't super exciting or on the edge of your seat kind of stuff. I think the first half of the film is great and the pacing is wonderful as you see him do all of these amazing tricks and the story to get the girl is great, but the last half of the film was just a little slow. The whole time, you were wondering what was going to be his way to get revenge on this evil crown prince guy and you do not find out the juice until the very end of the film. Your left with the notion of how clever it was, but in the back of your mind you sort of had an idea that was what was going to happen. As I said before, Edward was absolutely fantastic in this film as he took total charge of the film and camera time with confidence. He is only rivaled by one man in the film and that was definitely Rufus Sewell who played a very good asshole in the film making him the perfect villain for this film. I loved the sets and I loved the overall tones of the film which were kind of medieval or primal if that makes any sense. You sense the fact that everything was lit by candlelight in those days so it has that tone to it. The film as I said before is available on Tubi, but it is also available to watch on IMDB right now as we speak. So, I definitely think you should check this one out and I am going to give it an an B+ for a final grade.