This blog covers Movies, TV, and other Geeky things...... Movie Reviews (over 3,400 movies rated so far) Countdowns of my top movies by year.... and much more.
The Sharknado franchise came to a wacky and strange time
travel conclusion last year. Ian Ziering not
wanting to fade from the public eye decided to move on to the zombie/natural disaster genre. Instead of just battling zombies
---why not spice it up a little with a Tidal Wave.Zombie Tidal Wave is a decent campy low budget
zombie flick.The problem with modern day Zombie films is
that post The Walking Dead –viewers are never going to connect with and care
about the characters in a zombie film as much as they did for that TV show. Basically,
with that series Zombies have already been done just about as good as possible.All these low budget zombie flicks are generally
not as good as the best episodes of the TV series - that being said they can still be a fun distraction if your expectations are not too high.
So, what is the point of watching Zombie Tidal Wave? Ian
Ziering has in my mind become the new king of cheesy and campy low budget fun.It is fun watching him with a Taser/Machete
electrocuting zombies that look like they have been dipped in Windex to save
money on zombie makeup. It was pure campy goodness.He has one
great fight with a Zombie that seems to know so wrestling moves near the end
that was enjoyable.
The 1st Sharknado --was SO Bad that it was Good. It had terrible editing and its plot was a silly mess. Most So Bad they are Good movies never get noticed by the general public, but social media turned this one into a huge hit for Syfy.
The 2nd Sharknado --fell flat for me. It had huge hype as a result social media hyping it and making it a trending topic. The film itself couldn't create the same SO Bad it is Good vibe. You can't force the kind of bad the first movie achieved on purpose and the 2nd movie got hung up on its cameos. It was still a huge hit for the Syfy channel and extended Ian Ziering's 15 minutes of fame into the 21st minute.
When Sharknado 3 hit this week it has grown into a much bigger thing. Sharknado hit the Syfy channel as a part of Sharknado week. It came along with 5 new Bad shark movies in its wake. Instead of the Syfy channel dropping Bad Shark movie slowly all year long --we got 6 bad shark movies all in one week. Shark overload. Sequels to Megashark, Sharktopus, and 2 Headed Shark hit the airwaves. New bad shark movies like Roboshark and Zombie Shark also premiered. It was like an actual Sharknado hit the TV with Shark movies dropping out of the skies. The social media hype for this Sharknado was out of control.
The movie itself was just great. It wasn't So bad it is Good --but it was actually just enjoyable this time around. Ian Ziering is now a badass and his level of fame from this silly franchise may get him Bruce Campbell like cult status. The franchise is now totally self aware. Like I said with the sequel -you can't create so bad it is good on purpose--it just has to happen. They learned this lesson in Sharknado 3. This movie is even more insane and ridiculous than before --but now the silly and stupid plot is totally with purpose.
It doesn't fell completely pieced together after the fact in the editing room with no idea how the pieces fit together anymore. It has a start and middle and a finish. Thought went into this movie.
Sharknado was an absolutely absurd movie that had the feel of a Robert Rodriquez flick. It still had cameos every couple of minutes --but it didn't hijack the movie this time. The settings were well thought out and fun. Mark Cuban battling sharks in Washington D.C. as the president--was fun.
Sharks landing on rollercoasters and water slides in Orlando - a silly good time. And Sharks in space is having to deal with David Hasselhof --really good cheesy stuff. I loved Sharknado 3 for all the right reasons and I can't wait for Sharknado week next year.
Enjoy Sharknado for what it is .......Good Cheesy fun!
The first
Sharknado was just the perfect storm, A So Bad that it was Good masterpiece.
So many things went wrong (right) all at the same time in the first groundbreaking Shark/Storm movie.
It has a terrifically
bad story ---a random non-sense plot and some super cheesy effects. It just
worked in all the wrong ways and somehow caught fire with the public and on
social media. So of course there was going to be a second one and the second
one hit just the other night millions of people watched it…. And it garnered a
billion tweets (I don’t even know that is possible).
So Lightning can strike
twice…or at least a Sharknado can.
The movie
itself……Well it started off great with Ian Ziering on an airplane having a
William Shatner Twilight Zone moment. Then we get the first of many cameos
–Robert Hayes of Airplane fame was flying the plane which was classic. He even had a line about what he had for dinner (a perfect throwback to Airplane).
But this
storm just didn’t have the same so bad it is good feel.
So Bad it is Good just
happens it can’t be forced. Sure you can try to be cheesy---but you just can’t
create on purpose that special SO BAD it is Good feel. I don’t think it is
possible to recreate the terribleness of the first one. The problem with
Sharknado 2 was that it was actually decent in its intentionally over the top
cheesiness and therefore was just a decent –bad sci-fi Storm/Shark movie.
Another problem with the film was the overuse of recurring cameos . It was
funny to see Al Roker and Matt Lauer discussing the Sharknados the first time,
but by the 4th time it just took away from and slowed down the movie. Lighting can strike twice, but the second one isn't as big of a jolt.
So the plot is
basically this: Some evil genius (played by former Revenge of the Nerds star Robert
Carradine) has created a Pterodactyl/Barracuda hybrid as a weapon. The government didn't want it, but he created it anyway. The testing
goes badly and it takes off and starts killing people instead of responding to
its programming. Meanwhile a marine biologist has found and egg sack that
survived from the first Sharktopus that got blown up in the original movie. So the new Sharktopus ends up an attraction at her uncle’s sea park. The bad guys decide to buy
and release the Sharktopus in order to battle the Pteracuda. In between scenes
of the two digital creatures battling in what looks like video game CGI –we get
a dull filler plot about the bad guys and marine biologist tracking the creatures. As much as I like the idea of Sharktopus, he kind of disappoints in this boring
sequel that was missing some of the qualities that made the first one much more watchable
The Verdict: A weaker storm front full of Sharks is still better than some video game level Sharktopus battling another mutant
Sharknado is hands down the best Shark/Tornado movie ever made. I'm sure it is the only Shark/Tornado movie ever made, but that makes it the best right? This is the gem that I search for when watching bad shark movies. Like Hammerhead Shark Frenzy it quickly turned from a bad movie into a SO BAD it is Good movie. They knew what they were doing and had me hooked at the title of Sharknado. It is just a fun movie title to say. With all of the crazy, silly monster movies that get churned out each year since CGI made bad monster movies possible again, why not a movie that combines the disaster films with bad shark movies? Why not indeed? Sharknado could be the first in a whole new genre. Gatortwister anyone? How about SnakeQuake? It is really brilliant if you think about it. With a movie title like Sharknado it will attract all the people that like bad disaster movies and all the people like me that can't get enough of bad shark movies. Genius!
The movie stars Ian Ziering of 90210 fame (I'm glad to see that Steve got a job after finishing high school at age 32). Apparently Steve has changed his name to Finley (of course Fin) after all it is a shark movie. Finley is a surfer that owns a bar on the Santa Monica pier SPOILER ALERT (well until a storm destroys it with giant waves and sharks flying through windows). He spends the rest of the movie trying to save his family from the silly storm of the century that is raining down sharks all over Los Angeles. I actually liked Ian Ziering is this ridiculous role. It was like journeying back to a Chuck Norris movie from the 80's.
Who needs a coherent plot when the title of your movie is Sharknado??? The plot is insane and the logic of the anything that happens in the movie is completely non existent (kind of like Sharknados). Of course with a title like Sharknado you have to leave all concepts of logic at the entrance to this amusement park ride of a silly, bad shark/tornado movie. The screenplay seems to be something pieced together from a pot smoking idea session.
Let's listen in on thewriting session for this flick:
Writer #1 "Wouldn't it be great if it was raining sharks?"
Writer #2 "Put it in the story dude"
Writer #3 "How about a scene where Ian Ziering in the middle of trying to get his family out of the city stops to rescue an entire school bus of kids Chuck Norris style"
Writer #2 "Sure dude that sounds awesome....Like something out of that classic movie Invasion USA, man"
Writer #1 "Dude at one point he can have a chainsaw and a shark can totally take out a shark falling out of the sky"
Writer # 2 " And a bunch of sharks can land in a swimming pool at an old folks home"
Writer # 3" Wait dude....Why would the old folks be out at the pool during a giant Sharknado?"
Writer # 2 "Dude.... who cares man it will look cool just put it in the script man "
That pretty much sums it up. Add Tara Reid as his ex wife, who at this point would struggle to act her way out of a paper bag and you get the movie magic that is Sharknado. A movie that makes no sense what so ever....but is a fun and incredible ride. One second it is raining and the roads are clear....next second the streets of Beverly Hills are flooded and sharks are leaping through the windows of a house that is somehow completely flooded and then blows up. Nothing makes any sense in this movie, but it doesn't matter. Sure why not try and stop the Sharknado by flying a helicopter into the air and drops homemade bombs into it? It makes sense to me, NOT. What did you really expect by a movie title Sharknado?? that it would make sense? Really??? They knew what they were doing and pulled it off better than Sharktopus did. Another great movie title that made it a must watch for bad movie lovers. Sharknado will go down in my books as one of the best SO BAD IT IS GOOD movies I've seen in awhile and it will keep me coming back to Syfy channel for more crap in search of more gems like this one.........I can't wait now for Blast Vegas.....sounds terrible....delightfully terrible.
