Pee-wee as Himself (2025)

Paul Reubens's death in 2023 hit me hard and continues to hit me hard, so it's nice to have this documentary produced in his final years that feels like he's speaking to us directly from beyond the grave. As a private person, he has tried to control every aspect of his story and we are granted access to parts of his life that haven't been revealed before. It recontextualizes his entire career through his own words. Paul is very self-aware of the camera and how he comes across, and he tends to play with our perception of that. I was a little disappointed at how it glosses over the latter half of his life and leaves us with more questions than answers, but it's nice we got anything at all before his tragic and untimely passing, in order to give some much-needed closure.

3 bags of tricks out of 5

The Pee-wee Herman Show on Broadway (2011)

Paul Reubens at long last got a chance to reprise the popular character he was known for in a 2010 revival of the original stage show that began his career. It updates the original story for modern audiences while incorporating a lot of new Pee-wee lore, including appearances by many characters from his 1986-1990 TV series, Pee-wee's Playhouse, making it both an epilogue and reunion for many of the performers. It's a lot of fun to see Paul inhabiting the role again and fitting the grey suit like a glove without ever missing a beat. This one is mostly for the fans, but there is a lot of love and nostalgia throughout.

3 magic words out of 5

Big Top Pee-wee (1988)

This one is mostly for me. 

As a kid, I didn't much care for this movie because it was completely removed from the world of Pee-wee's Big Adventure and Pee-wee's Playhouse. It's only through time and experience that I've come to find it brilliant on those merits alone. It's so completely different from everything else, it's kind of magical to me. Pee-wee plays a farmhand who dreams of being a lounge singer when a traveling circus rolls through town and recruits him, capturing his imagination. It's a throwback type of Pollyanna movie full of carnival set pieces out of Paul Reubens's own childhood. This is a weird, oddball movie that doesn't make a whole lot of narrative sense, yet that is what I must reward it on, through and through.

3½ high-wire acts out of 5

The Pee-wee Herman Show (1981)

A filmed version of Paul Reubens's stage show from 1981, this early HBO special introduced the character of eternal man-child Pee-wee Herman to the world at large. Taking place in an imaginative playhouse set, it features a twisted and surreal parody of '50s children's TV shows (e.g. Howdy Doody) with a bit of a punk rock edge. Captain Carl (Phil Hartman), Miss Yvonne (Lynne Marie Stewart) and Jambi the Genie (John Paragon) are all in tow. It's a bit darker, rough around the edges and more adult in tone than than the Pee-wee's Playhouse program that would develop later, but it's still a great showcase for wild and bizarre humor featuring puppets and humans alike.

4 luckiest boys in the world out of 5

Nice Dreams (1981)

AKA: Cheech & Chong's Nice Dreams

Cheech & Chong now own their own ice cream vendor business, as a front for selling marijuana. This flimsy plot acts as an excuse to tie together scenes involving doing lines at a restaurant, getting locked away in a sanatorium, and a really fun sequence involving a threesome at a hotel, which remains the most memorable part of this movie. Besides the raunchy humor, there is an old fashioned appeal to this duo that dates all the way back to the tradition of Laurel & Hardy and Abbott & Costello. There's no denying these movies are really dumb, but there's an irresistible charm that makes it difficult to dismiss.

Also features brilliant lines such as this:

"Will you forget about titties? We've got a bust to think about!"

2½ helicopters circling a nude beach out of 5

Cheech & Chong's Next Movie (1980)

The continuing adventures of Cheech & Chong (now going under their own pseudonym) as they get into trouble and meet strange characters across L.A. As a comedy feature, it's wildly uneven, but you have to admire its audacity for going weird places and risking losing the plot. Notable for featuring some early roles from Michael Winslow and Paul Reubens (as Pee-wee Herman).

2½ literal roaches out of 5

Note: There is a long lost television edit of this film which features a new storyline and so much alternate footage that it's almost an entirely different movie. It removes all references to drugs and now refers to "diamonds" in an effort to make it "family" friendly. It also somehow manages to make less sense than the theatrical cut, so it gets half a roach less.

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER [1992]

Producer Fran Rubel Kuzui tries her hand at directing then unknown screenwriter Joss Whedon's comedy/horror script Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
It's the age-old story of a Californian high school cheerleader who is unreluctantly chosen to be part of a long line of vampire hunters.
It has neither the dramatic arcs or colorful characters Whedon's now known for but it still features glimpses of cheeky dialogue that no one but title character actress Kristy Swanson seems to know how to properly deliver.  It's pretty obvious nobody seemed to understand what sort of script they were working with and it results in a tonal disgrace.  It has it's good intentions but it's poorly executed.  With something this forgettable who would have known what was to come in five years time?

2 acoustic stakes out of 5

Flight of the Navigator (1986)

A family film about twelve-year-old David (Joey Cramer) who's forced to deal with a frightening and unexpected change in his life. The appearance of an alien ship complicates matters further for everyone involved.
It’s a coming of age story, but not in the traditional manner. I can’t say more than that for fear of spoilers. It avoids many of the clichés that usually litter this kind of feature and makes best use of some others.
Being set in a specific era means it doesn't feel overly-dated, except perhaps for some of the music.

3½ leaks out of 5

The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

Oh, somewhere deep inside of these bones
An emptiness began to grow
There's something out there far from my home
A longing that I've never known~

I remember excitedly watching this movie on opening day, and being thrown into a stopmotion world of wonder and delight. It's not so much a Christmas or a Halloween movie, so much as a lonely skeleton trying to find his place in the world. Oh, how I identify with the plight of Jack Skellington, the poor pumpkin king who longs for something more in his life, something new and exciting. The forest of holidays is the stuff dreams are made of. The union of Tim Burton and stopmotion was a spectacle simply "meant to be." (Ugh, that was bad.)

5 clowns with the tearaway face out of 5

Pee-wee's Christmas Special (1988)

I can't get that opening tune out of my head.

Here's your typical television Christmas special gone right. Featuring an array of special guest stars including Cher, Little Richard, Magic Johnson, Joan Rivers, k.d. lang and Zsa Zsa Gabor, it's a perfect snapshot of the 1980s. Full of Pee-wee's trademark imagination and some really weird innuendo (Floory asking Miss Yvonne to "stand over him" and an unexplained shirtless construction worker), it stands the test of time despite all the dated appearances. I shared this with my cousin a few years back and it still had the same impact on him as it did on me when I was a kid.

4 Christmas fruitcakes out of 5

Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985)

Greatest Movie Ever Made. Period.

This is the most fun I've ever had with my pants on (and sometimes off). I saw it for the first time when I was a wee lad—and over and over again—and more than two decades later, it still holds up as well as the first time as I saw it. Paul Reubens is maniacal fun, and the pairing of Tim Burton and Danny Elfman was a match made in heaven. Informed so much of my weird, twisted sense of humor as a kid. Still as inventive and funny as ever.

"I'm a loner, Dottie. A rebel."

5 movies within a movie out of 5