The Mask

1994 was the year that Jim Carrey really blew up with The Mask arriving that summer, in between Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and Dumb and Dumber. And Carrey is the perfect actor for The Mask. He's able to convincingly portray both the docile bank clerk Stanley Ipkiss and his cartoonish alter ego. Carrey's incredible physicality also helps to sell the character beyond the practical effects and outdated CGI. The Mask's cast is rounded out with performances from Cameron Diaz, Richard Jeni, Amy Yasbeck and intelligent design propagandist Ben Stein. Though a fairly minor film, in the grand scheme of things, The Mask is easily one of the better comic book movies of the 1990s.

Rating: 65%

(Image from Wikipedia)

The Androids of Tara

After arriving on Tara, the Doctor decides to take the day off and do some fishing, leaving Romana to find the next segment of the Key to Time on her own. To her credit, she manages to find the segment pretty quickly. Soon after, she meets Count Grendel of Gracht, possibly the most devious man on Tara, kickstarting a back and forth battle for control over the entire planet. The Androids of Tara is an average serial. The setting is odd, aside from the presence of lifelike androids and some electrified weaponry, it's an entirely medieval world. With a few minor adjustments, The Androids of Tara could easily have been a historical story from the show's early years. The Doctor is in fine form here, throwing out plenty of witty remarks but, otherwise, it's a fairly forgettable story.

Rating: My hat's on fire%

Kindergarten Cop

Tough as nails cop John Kimble goes undercover as a kindergarten teacher, heartwarming hilarity ensues. Kindergarten Cop probably shouldn't work. It bounces back and forth between bleak violence and earnest sweetness, coming dangerously close to saccharine schmaltz. And yet it succeeds by way of its cast and script. The kids, some of whom seem way too old to be in kindergarten, are delightful. And the script gives Arnold plenty of opportunities to flex his comedic and dramatic muscles. My own mother, who has zero interest in Arnold Schwarzenegger movies, calls Kindergarten Cop "cute." Truly making it fun for the whole family.

Rating: 75%

(Image from Wikipedia)

Fun Fact: Miko Hughes, who famously played the "Boys have a penis, girls have a vagina" kid, was also in Pet Sematary, Wes Craven's New Nightmare and Spawn.

I Still Know What You Did Last Summer

The original I Know What You Did Last Summer was a straightforward, some might say formulaic, whodunnit slasher. It was well cast, well shot and it arrived at a time when audiences were hungry for throwback slashers. The sequel, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, arrived in theatres some thirteen months later and bombed pretty badly. It's not hard to see why. I Still Know What You Did Last Summer is very contrived. The original film didn't leave a lot of room for potential sequels, so the movie has to jump through a few hoops in order to establish its premise. The sequel also goes a little overboard with the number of dream sequences and fakeouts, which really slows things down during the first two acts. The mostly new cast handle themselves fairly well, especially Brandy, Jack Black and Jeffrey Combs. But even though I Still Know What You Did Last Summer isn't exactly reinventing the wheel, it's not a slog. It looks good and it borrows elements from some great old school slashers.

Rating: 61%

(Image from Wikipedia)