Scary Movie 5 (2013)

AKA: Scary MoVie

This entry attempts to "reboot" the series with a new cast and offers a mishmash of several different parodies that don't really make any cohesive narrative sense, including Paranormal Activity, Evil Dead, Mama, Black Swan, Inception, Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Fifty Shades of Grey. It's got a few clever laughs sprinkled throughout, but it's incredibly inconsistent due to an allegedly troubled production with over half the film being reshot.

2 bumping tacos montages out of 5

Scary Movie 3 (2003)

The third in the series loses the secret weapon of the Wayans and installs the director of The Naked Gun, while lowering the rating from R to PG-13. It gets dumb in a hurry, with most of the humor coming from broad physical gags and people getting hurt. I was always disappointed how quickly it devolves into lowest common denominator humor, but watching it with fresh eyes, it has a lot going for it. As long as you don't directly compare this to the two films that preceded it, it's rather enjoyable in a way. Parodies include The Ring and Signs.

2½ cursed tapes out of 5

Loaded Weapon 1 (1993)

AKA: National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1

Emilio Estevez and Samuel L. Jackson team up in this spoof of the buddy cop genre that takes aim at Lethal Weapon and 48 Hrs, as well as Basic Instinct, Silence of the Lambs, Die Hard, Wayne's World and other hit films of the day.

I always found it amusing that Emilio did this while his brother Charlie was dicking around with Hot Shots!, but he capably takes up the comedy mantle. As always, you have to be in the right mood for this kind of silly humor, but if you're in particular playful spirits, this stuff hits hard. Conversely, if you're in ill spirits, this could just as easily be described as exhausting and boorish.

Chock-full of so many B-list cameos, I couldn't even fit them all in the tags.

3 gratuitous beaver shots out of 5

Note: Despite the number in the title, they never made a sequel.

Hot Shots! Part Deux (1993)

Inexplicably changing gears from Top Gun to an all-out assault on Rambo, we trade the military air base for the jungles of Iraq (?), where Topper (Sheen) is lured out of retirement in order to infiltrate a POW camp. It takes great care to lampoon other hits of the zeitgeist, such as Apocalypse Now, The Godfather, Basic Instinct and Terminator 2. Some of the novelty may have worn off by this point, but this is still an above average, top notch spoof comedy. Featuring unapologetically sophomoric, lowbrow humor, you either love it or hate it.

3½ Geronimos out of 5

Hot Shots! (1991)

Director Jim Abrahams launches a full-scale barrage on Top Gun and other popular films of the era in another high benchmark of the spoof comedy genre. Firing on all cylinders, this is in some ways even funnier and more relentless than Airplane! and The Naked Gun. Charlie Sheen and Lloyd Bridges understood the assignment and completely lean into the buffoonery. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think there may be TOO many jokes; but when the hit rate is this high, you can't really complain. At a breezy 82 minutes, you can watch this movie over and over again, and notice new gags each time. You can't take any part of this film seriously, and that's perfectly fine with me.

4½ Bogies out of 5