Mystery Alaska (1999)

 

Synopsis: Professional hockey team drops everything and travels over 3000 miles to humiliate tiny, frozen town.

Blurb From the DVD jacket: “With Russell Crowe, Hank Azaria and Burt Reynolds leading an incredible all-star cast, here’s a fun, uplifting and action-packed story that everyone will love!”

What Did I Learn?: 1) Playing hockey and fornicating are the two most fun activities in cold weather. 2) Christmas is a lonely day for a guy to be choking his own chicken. 3) Women don’t like being referred to as “fat mammals.” 

You Might Like This Movie If: you're in the mood to watch a good mystery. 

Really?: 1) I had a hard time believing Charles (Hank Azaria) ever spent any time in Mystery, let alone grew up there. It’s also funny how he doesn’t seem to have any family in town, and seems to spend all of his time hanging out with Donna. 2) So, a town of just over 600 people has its own courthouse? That in itself is bit unbelievable, but I had a hard time believing a local could get away with shooting somebody in the foot and then get away scot-free because he plays on the local hockey team. Why wouldn’t Judge Burns (Burt Reynolds) recuse himself and order the trial to take place in Anchorage, or the nearest city? 3) I have to wonder: is Bailey Pruitt possibly America's worst lawyer? I'm no legal eagle, but I'm pretty sure you have to cite case law, or present legal arguments in court - you can't just yell a lot and slather on the small town charm.  

Rating: Mystery Alaska is a nice little movie, and….that’s really about it. I can certainly give this feel-good comedy some kudos for featuring a great cast, a script that delivers a few good laughs, and some breathtaking scenery of the Rocky Mountains in the dead of winter near Canmore Alberta, but it’s also very predictable… you kinda know how the three or four different sub-plot conflicts will get resolved long before the third act. 8/10 stars. 

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0134618/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

The Legend of Butch and Sundance (2004)

 

Synopsis: Classic late-1960s Western is given TV-movie-of-the-week-style prequel with cinematic heavyweights David Rogers and Ryan Browning filling in for Newman and Redford. 

Blurb From the DVD jacket: “The Legend of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid comes to life in this blazing action-adventure that follows the early adventures of two of the most famous outlaws in the history of the American West.” 

What Did I Learn?: Railroads are bad news, they control the banks and all the money, and the West would have been much better off if it stayed unconnected with the rest of the United States. 

You Might Like This Movie If: you still think that Coy and Vance Duke were the coolest guys to ever appear on television.

Really?: 1) Michael Biehn is an incredibly talented actor. I can’t believe he went from starring in The Terminator to playing a brief supporting role in a made-for-TV Western. 2) So, wait… Butch is wanted for a crime, he resists arrest and even assaults a couple of deputies, and the judge allows him to walk out of his courtroom scot-free if he promises to never again commit a crime in Wyoming? Did anything like that ever happen in the Old West? 

Rating: The Legend of Butch and Sundance is a low-budget, and now-forgotten prequel to Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. I realize it’s tough to be compared to a cinematic classic featuring two of the biggest stars of the 1960s-70s, and directed by George Roy Hill, but LBS doesn’t come close to matching the quality of its far superior and much more famous cousin. LBS is fine for wiling away a rainy afternoon, but it’s funny - I honestly don’t remember very much about this movie, even though I viewed it maybe a week ago. 5.5/10 stars. 

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0366709/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0