Hoodwinked is a musical, film-noiresque detective story version of Little Red Riding Hood.  If that doesn’t immediately make you run out and buy it, and it should, you may be on the wrong site.  But, if you need more convincing, read on.

Hoodwinked starts off by showing the end of the story, which turns out to be the middle of the story, but you only find that out later. The main players in this musical drama, Red, Granny, The Wolf and Kirk all get detained by Flippers, the police investigator,  and each is interviewed. During this process, you can piece the entire story together if you pay attention, but to get all the subtleties you will need to watch it more than once.

The interviews start, and you’re still convinced that this is a Disney cartoon made by a small budget studio. Then the singing starts. The first song is a crayon version of Julie Andrews in sound of music.  You’re still fairly sure what you’ve gotten yourself into, and that’ll be the last time you question whether this movie is dodgy.  After this, the musical numbers include a yodelling goat, a singing bunny and The “Schnitzel on a Stick Song” You have to see, well, hear  them to truly appreciate the full extent of the dodginess.

Vignettes abound, including homages to the great dodgy movies XXX and The Matrix.  There is also a group of singing porcupines dressed as The Village People, which is really just icing on top of the goodies. Ultimately, the mystery is resolved and the story ends happily for everyone that you care about, despite the fact that Kirk ends up in “Der Happy Yodelers”, but it makes him happy, even though yodelling has been outlawed by the Geneva Convention as a cruel and unusual punishment.

Cartoons don’t normally qualify for more than a 4 on the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man scale as a certain level of dodginess is expected. Hoodwinked, however, manages a well deserved 5. It’s hard to pinpoint the moment that pushes this movie up to the maximum rating. The schnitzel song and yodelling goat, the “battle of the iron cage gladiators” champion granny as well as the squirrel after being fed caffeine could compete for that privilege. However, the Broadway-esque musical number in which the Bunny’s plan is revealed, complete with choreography by the evil henchman, including Jazz Hands, pushes it over the edge.

I bought this one having only watched the trailer, and my faith was well rewarded. Every time I watch it I find something to appreciate, and it isn’t always something new. Even the musical numbers grow on you after a while, and for that, this one gets a 5 Mutant Smileys for rewatchability.

The most memorable quote was almost a tough choice, with gems like “Oh good, More singing” and “Use the hood Red, Use the hood.” But it wasn’t even close once the bunny started dishing out commands. “Keith, darnit change your name.. Please.. That’s not scary and I’m embarrassed to say it. Boris, try that. Keith, you know, oh watch out for Keith.” We all know the importance of scary henchman names, and this spells it out in flashing neon letters.

You won’t get the  slick, polished visual smorgasboard that you experience in the newer Pixar films, given that Hoodwinked had a far smaller budget. However, the script carries this one, and the animation is more than watchable, making this one a must buy for everyone.

Evolution starts out with a lot of promise. Directed by Ivan Reitman and starring David Duchovny, dodginess is assured. Throw in a plot containing aliens, Dan Akroyd and Sean William Scott and you’ve got a winner.

The film opens with Sean William Scott saving a blow-up-doll from a burning building and just goes downhill from there. The burning building gets destroyed by an incoming meteor which conveniently happens to contain the alien organisms. With this, the thrill ride begins, taking in interesting sights along the way, including a giant alien bird hunt in a mall and the administering of an anti-dandruff shampoo enema to the giant alien.

The movie has a plot, which is nice and straightforward. This is good as it doesn’t get in the way. Basically, aliens land, they evolve, the military steps in, stuffs it up, and it’s up to the psuedo-scientific heroes to save the day, with a brilliant deduction about Arsenic and Selenium and carbon and silica based lifeforms that would make any movie scientist proud.

Essentially, the plot exists to move the film from one dodgy moment to the next, not that this is a bad thing. However, it does get a little tricky to pick out a favourite.  I have managed to narrow it down to 2 key moments. The first occurs while hunting the giant alien bird in the local mall. Sean William Scott steps up to the microphone and utters the now infamous phrase “ca-caw, ca-caw. Tooky tooky tooky.” The second, a career defining moment for all involved, is the administering of the head and shoulders anti dandruff shampoo enema to the giant alien creature using a firetruck. Despite the ensuing explosion being reminiscent of the giant marshmallow man exploding sequence in ghostbusters, it is no less memorable. As a result of these two scenes, the film gets a Staypuft marshmallow man rating of 5.

Evolution has firmly established itself as one of my top 5 movies of all time. I have yet to get bored while watching it, even though I can almost recite the script. This gives it a massive 5 out of 5 for rewatchablilty. If I didn’t already own this one, I’d have to buy it.

You’d think that the line “There’s always time for lubricant” would have no competition in the category of “Best Film Quote of all time” but, such is the strength of the script, that it doesn’t even win best quote in Evolution.  That dubious honour goes to “ca-caw, ca-caw. Tooky tooky tooky” and a well deserving winner it is.

Do yourself a favour, if you haven’t already seen Evolution, go and watch it, and if you have, go watch it again.

Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li Versus Dragonball Evolution
What better way to introduce the world to the great sport of Mortal Kurling than with the opening match of Dodgy Movies. Reviewed! Showdowns! Will Dragonball Evolution’s super-slow-mo prove useful, or will it just allow Street Fighter to get in some additional cheap shots. Only time will tell. Street Fighter is likely to take this one, but it could be a close thing, and I’m not sure either of them deserves to be called a winner.

Little Shop of Horrors Versus Hairspray
The Carnivorous plant up against Zac Effron. We all know which way we want this to go, but do the rules allow for the consumption of the opposition, and will any ref have the balls to enforce them if they don’t. There’s only one result possible for this match, and it’s not going to the Disney boytoy.

Van Helsing Versus The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
Hugh Jackman once again with memory loss, although one has to wonder if he has any to lose. Sean Connery with his patented Scottish is the only real accent. Will the star players have it their own way, or will the rest of the team have to pick up the slack. It’s likely to appear close, but only because hunters like to toy with their prey.

Blade Versus Underworld
Both of these heavyweights are champions in their own rights. What will happen when they clash. this one will go to the judges. One can only hope that a fair impartial decision can be reached. Or that the better competitor figures out how to bribe the judge.

V for Vendetta Versus Sin City
A clash of graphic novel titans, Frank Miller against Alan Moore. Only one possible sport could even be considered; Pictionary Death Match. Expect leet drawing skills, bile and bitterness as the opposing views of Hollywood clash. Two men pick up the pencil, only one will survive being stabbed with it.

MIB Versus Evolution
The Men in Black may find that the silica based life-form is just too strong for them. Will this hold them back or can Will Smith’s dance moves swing the tide in the MIB’s favour. If the fate of the world can be decided using sunglasses and rap, my money would be on the alien menace.

Wild Wild West Versus Shanghai Noon
No contest. Not even the cowboy Jackie Chan can stand up to the unbridled awesomeness of a giant mechanised spider. Fastest knockout ever is predicted, but perhaps Shanghai Noon can avoid being squashed for a short time.

Gone in 60 Seconds Versus Ocean’s Eleven
With fast cars and faster woman, it’s unlikely that Gone in 60 seconds will have their victory stolen from them by the all-male gang. This one is going to be anything but clean and the ref is going to have to have a keen eye to spot the trickery. Fortunately, the crowd will happily point it out to him. Can age and subtlety be the match for strength and power, or will the hare win the day.

Bad Boys Versus SWAT
Will Smith against Samuel L Jackson. They’re both big. They’re both black. But, only one of them has wielded a lightsaber. The Bad Motherfucker should be able to take this one to the bank.

Hot Fuzz Versus Rush Hour
David versus Goliath. The movie that has 2 sequels versus the barely known British indie film. While Goliath really should have the advantage, there’s always a nagging doubt that the original fight was fixed, merely so we could laugh when the confident little guy gets the shit kicked out of him in all future encounters. Rest assured that we at Dodgy Movies. Reviewed! Showdowns! will not fix any fights.

Unless it’s really really lucrative!!

Sleepy Hollow Versus Ghost Busters
The aging heavyweight against the relatively unknown featherweight. Will Ghostbuster’s age prove to be an obstacle too much, or can the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man toast Sleepy Hollow’s aspirations. Giant marshmallowy goodness is likely to win the day, but is there a decapitation in the sailor’s future.

GI JOE The Rise of Cobra Versus Transformers
Super Elite military unit up against Giant Robots. This matchup really should be a foregone conclusion or should it. Both have similar tactics, appealing to nostalgic feelings, reliving childhood memories and blowing shit up. Once again this will go to the judges decision, and even then the results aren’t likely to be conclusive.

Mars Attacks Versus Eight Legged Freaks
Bill Watterson invented the perfect sport for this match-up, Calvin Ball. There’s no way to call this, even if it wasn’t for the massive randomness of the game itself.

Payback Versus Boondock Saints
Violence, guns and revenge up againt violence, guns and revenge coupled with a gay detective played by Willem Dafoe. After many traded blows and no small amount of spilled blood Boondock Saints will emerge victorious, although standing may be a problem.

The Matrix Versus Equilibrium
The Matrix up against the Matrix with guns (whoever came up with that stupid description for Equilibrium clearly never watched the Matrix). Crowd support will be a big part in this match. The Matrix fans are likely to outnumber those of Equilibrium, but can the vocal minority raise their team to greatness. Time will tell.

The Incredibles Versus Hoodwinked
The final match of round 1 is no ordinary event. No bloodshed, no contact. No, for this one the presidential debate format will be used, with the hypothesis – Big Budget cartoons are better! However, in a reversal of tradition, The Incredibles will be opposed and Hoodwinked will be for. The arguments here should be interesting or at the very least amusing.

That’s it. All the matches, predicted winners and a few exciting sports. Let me know in the comments if you disagree. Maybe we can start the bloodshed early!

Hairspray is a strange movie. It’s a musical without giant man-eating plants. The tunes are vaguely catchy, but you’re far more likely to find yourself humming time warp, or some other similarly dodgy tune. To add to this lack of catchy, the film has a message, and even though I agree with the message, it’s not a plus in a dodgy movie.

So, what is it that makes this film like-able. Certainly not Zac Effron. In fact, finding out that he was in it almost diminshed the enjoyment. It wasn’t Queen Latifa either. It may have been John Travolta. He’s normally better value as a villain, but, in a female fat-suit, it’s a close second. Christopher Walken married to John Travolta definitely tips the scale in Hairspray’s favour.

Other than that, there’s not a lot going for it, but it has very few annoyances either, barring the aforementioned Effron character, damn Disney Channel has a lot to answer for.

Hairspray gets 4 on the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man Rating for one reason and one reason only. John Travolta as a woman. This has endless possibilities for amusement, and Hairspray only scratches the surface. Perhaps we could convince him to do a hairspray sequel, but I won’t be holding my breath.

Hairspray requires a certain frame of mind to watch and as a result couldn’t get higher than 3 mutant smileys. It’s not something you’ll just grab out of the DVD cabinet, but it’s fun to watch occasionally. When you get tired of explosions, fight scenes and car chases, not that that is a regular occurrence.

Admitting to liking Hairspray may not get you any points in the heterosexual male olympics, but at least other dodgy movie afficianados may have some understanding.

And remember, we watch them, so you don’t have to.

I went into this film knowing a few things.  I knew Nicholas Cage would have emo-esque angst, I knew that at some point numerology would be mentioned, and I knew that Nicholas Cage would summon his super-emo angst powers that can make grass cut itself at ten paces and save the world.  I was only right on two of these.

The whole first half of the movie I kept on wondering how John (Nicholas Cage) was going to save the world.  He figured out the code, with a little help from a scotch ring, no coincidence that the ring happened to highlight 9/11/09, it couldn’t highlight some random date that had significance to John, like the date the hotel his wife was staying in burnt down.  But of course, that wouldn’t be transparent and easy for the audience to follow.

After he’s tried and failed to stop the second disaster I started to realise that, at last, someone had made an end-of-the-world movie in which the hero fails, and the world ends.  I started trying to figure out how the world ends.  I didn’t have to wait for long.  In a real Deus Ex Machina, which is a standard plot device for dodgy movies, but this one was excessive, John realised that the world was going to be destroyed by a super solarflare.  This really pissed me off.  There were so many opportunities for the writer to foreshadow this, or, even better, not have him realise and let the world be destroyed by a real random act of god.

But this lack of foreshadowing wasn’t the worst thing about the movie. No, that dubious honour is reserved for the biblical nature of the ending. How did the test audiences not pick up that this was a somewhat less than subtle attempt to mock Genesis, at least they could have done something interesting with it and made them pastafarians.

Knowing almost managed to rate 3 Stay Puft Marshmallow Men, but the ending screwed up its chances. The cool disasters, like the plane crash deserved 3, but the dumb silent aliens and the fucking moronic ending forced me to drop the dodginess rating down to 2.

The only reason I can think of to watch this movie again is if you get off on the emo quality of Nicholas Cage’s acting. In fact, that’s pretty much the only reason i can think of to watch this movie once, and it started with such promise.

Unless, you want to witness Cage’s secret super emo power of being able to make grass cut itself at 10 paces, know that you should avoid this.

And Remember, We watch them so you don;t have to.