1.21.2010

31. Zapped!
32. D.O.A: Dead or Alive

Yesterday was a fairly slow day for me, movie-wise. I spent much of the day in a rage fueled by cabin fever and the seeming inability to find someone to come over and keep the wife company so I could go out. Ultimately, the wife's aunt came over and agreed to stay with her for as long as I needed to go and take care of my errands. God bless her for that. All told, she was here for 3 hours and did so without a complaint. Her doing that allowed me to get out and get some air while picking up our W2s, some soda and getting the kid his H1N1 vaccine. Worked out well. Anywho...


Started the day with Zapped! This 1982 comedy stars Scott Baio and Willie Aames. Baio is a high school student with a serious love of science. One day, an accident in the lab grants him telekinetic powers. Aames, as his best friend, tries to use the powers to his advantage.

First off, this isn't a very good movie. I'd always wanted to see it because of the VHS cover. I'd always see it in the video store but wouldn't be allowed to rent it. This is a case of the box art being better than the movie. The acting really isn't all that great. Baio and Aames aren't exactly Oscar material. The story is basically a parody of Carrie, even playing out as such with a big finale at the prom. The laughs really weren't too frequent either. I got the biggest laughs from the late Scatman Crothers. He was pretty good.

I guess this one had a bit of a cult following as it managed to spawn a sequel: 1990's Zapped Again! I believe it was direct-to-video. Anyway, it's safe to say that you can skip this one.


I followed up Zapped! with 2006's DOA: Dead or Alive. It's based on a series fighting video games. Basically, the world's best fighters get selected to participate in the DOA tournament.

I wasn't expecting very much from this one honestly. I was quite surprised to find myself enjoying it. Don't get me wrong, it's really not a good movie. But it was definitely an enjoyable way to spend 90 minutes. The eye candy in this one is off the charts. You've got Jaime Pressly, Devon Aoki, Holly Valance, Sarah Carter and Natassia Malthe as 5 seriously attractive fighters. The story isn't all that much but the fight scenes are shot well and are choreographed really nicely. All in all, it's a decent mindless action flick. As I've said before, sometimes you just can't go wrong with that.