Feeling a bit of '90s nostalgia, I purchased three '90s movies on blu-ray.
Dante's Peak, a disaster movie, and Spawn and Johnny Mnemonic, movies that were disasters.
I only watched Spawn and the other two movies are eagerly awaiting to have the plastic removed off their cases. As for Spawn, I liked it when I was 13. Watching it at 27, I think to myself, "Why?" The production values were abysmal. And God, some of the CGI was bad even in 1997, particularly the Hell sequences. However, the animation of the Violator character (whose alter ego is played by John Leguizamo doing an over-the-top Danny DeVito Penguin impression (yes, that is possible)) was halfway decent, and Spawn's suit and flowing red cape remain pretty bad-ass...but my GOD!!! The only way I could sum this movie up is through a quote by Steve Buscemi in Armageddon; It's like Dr. Seuss' worst nightmare! Yes! That line sums up this movie.
And surprise, surprise. George Lucas' name is mentioned in the "special thanks to" credits. No wonder the film had so many Star Wars rip-offs, like Nicol Williamson (you may remember him as the guy who played the Nome King in Return to Oz) playing a poor man's Obi Wan Kenobi. Imagine if Lucasfilm became part of Disney back in '97! Satan would be Mickey Mouse!
The film was directed by Mark A.Z. Dippe, and surprise, surprise, it was his directorial debut. His previous films were as a visual effects artist and later supervisor for The Flintstones, Jurassic Park, Terminator 2, The Abyss, and others. Whenever a former visual effects supervisor gets behind a camera, we get John Bruno's Virus, Stefen Fangmeier's Eragon, Pitof's Catwoman, and the list goes on and on and on...(David Fincher, Michael Bay, and Joe Johnston are exempt because they were storyboard artists).
Spawn made absolutely no sense in many parts, and the scope was so ambitious and so little was done with it. It's hard telling which movie was worse, Spawn or the other epic [fail] superhero movie that came out the same year, Batman and Robin. At least the latter had better puns (oh yes, the puns in Spawn were far more obnoxious) and had a sense of style that was fun to look at, not to mention a smokin' hot Uma Thurman. Spawn is a decent concept owed to the comics on which it's based, and this is a movie that really deserves live-action a reboot...and make it a hardcore R this time, without the embarrassing fart jokes.
Reviews for Dante's Peak and Johnny Mnemonic coming soon...