Top Ten Things: KoRn Albums, RANKED

Welcome to another Top Ten Things, here at Enuffa.com!  This edition has bonus entries because today we're ranking the albums of nu metal innovators KoRn!

We're currently in the longest-ever drought between KoRn albums, approaching the four-and-a-half-year mark since their 14th album Requiem.  The band has apparently been working on their intended 15th record for a couple of years now, amassing upwards of 40 song candidates.  Perhaps this next one will be a double.  Either way, after a wait this long, this sumbitch better be good.  

My journey to get to KoRn was an unusual one; I hated their music with a palpable passion for years before finally coming around, and then they suddenly and immediately became one of my favorite bands.  Their unconventional focus on groove and grit over flash and precision was a very acquired taste, but once acquired I was insatiable.  For a long time their style was a major influence on my own music, oftentimes to a fault, and as a listener I was always looking for new stuff in that same vein.  Their "music as therapy" approach to songwriting was unique and quite relatable as a lonely 20-something, and it's been a treat to see my son discovering their music as a teenager. 

But let's cut to the chase and count down the studio albums of KoRn!


For our Top Ten KoRn Songs list, click HERE...

14. See You On the Other Side

KoRn's seventh album for me is their weakest.  For a long time I considered Take a Look in the Mirror, their unnecessary "return to our roots" album, as the band's nadir, but the years have been pretty kind to that album, less so for this one.  While See You On the Other Side was a pretty logical next step from Untouchables, the band experimenting with gothic, industrial and electronica elements, the songs just didn't come together, and this album in hindsight feels like a dry run for Untitled.  Guitarist Brian "Head" Welch had left the band and the remaining four members decided to reinvent themselves on this album, with very mixed results.  I appreciated SYOTOS more than its predecessor at the time for the risks being taken, but they hadn't quite found the new formula yet.  

Key Tracks: Throw Me Away, Coming Undone, Souvenir

Movie Review: The End of Oak Street (2026)

David Robert Mitchell's new sci-fi action movie The End of Oak Street is a curious little number.  It's a throwback to early 80s popcorn fare (and even takes place during that time), about a suburban family whose neighborhood suddenly gets transported to the prehistoric era and becomes overrun with dinosaurs.  Starring Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor as Denise and Greg Platt, a couple going through a crisis of marriage - she's secretly an aspiring novelist and he's working as a pizza delivery man after secretly being laid off from his full-time gig - the film gives us a brief exposition dump of all the principle characters via a block party sequence, before diving into the dino action.

Once the giant bird-lizards start showing up it's mostly about the survival set pieces, but the film does jump back into a bit of the family drama from time to time.  Unfortunately the script doesn't give us much to latch on to in terms of really caring about the characters.  The opening passages feel perfunctory, injecting superficial pathos into the family members without really committing to it.  Thus when they find themselves in mortal danger everything feels kept at arm's length instead of immersing us in the action.

Top Ten Things: Martin Scorsese Films

Welcome to another edition of Top Ten Things, here at Enuffa.com!  These are ten of my favorite things.  That's how the song goes, right?

Martin Scorsese.  In my estimation there is no greater director in film history than the diminutive, sickly kid from Little Italy in New York who grew up with a passion for telling stories through the medium of film.  Scorsese spent his childhood looking out the window and observing people and events in his neighborhood, and this predilection for people-watching translated into some of the most incredible filmmaking of all time.  His films are often unforgiving looks at profoundly troubled characters, yet Scorsese finds a way for us to empathize with them, at least enough to want to spend a couple hours in their company.  Many Scorsese films deal with hardened street criminals, hearkening back to the seedy lot he observed in his neighborhood.  But while crime dramas are his bread and butter, Scorsese's filmography also includes religious epics, suspense thrillers, biopics, lush period dramas, and even lighthearted children's fare.  Even after forty-plus years Scorsese remains at the top of his game; in fact his post-2000 output ranks among some of his best work.  To this day any new film of his is event viewing, almost guaranteed to be one of my favorites of that year.

The following are my ten favorite Martin Scorsese films....

10. Cape Fear

One of Scorsese's rare remakes is this 1991 suspense thriller based on the 1962 Gregory Peck/Robert Mitchum film of the same name.  Peck's role of besieged attorney Sam Bowden went to Nick Nolte, Mitchum's degenerate character Max Cady was played with gleeful menace by Robert Deniro.  The first thing Scorsese did with his version was to change Bowden from a virtuous family man to a morally ambiguous one who withheld evidence in order to get his client Cady convicted, and whose marriage is coming apart due to an extramarital affair and a strained relationship with his teenage daughter.  This change makes the Nolte character and his family even more vulnerable and fits in with the film noir trope of the flawed protagonist.  Deniro's performance of course steals the show; he is musclebound, ruthless, violent, and endlessly persistent.  This Hitchock-influenced genre exercise may not stack up with Scorsese's greatest work, but it did illustrate his ability to take an existing story and place on it his own distinctive stamp.

9. Casino

Casino plays almost like a sequel to Goodfellas, or at least a spiritual cousin.  Another epic, frenetically-paced gangster film based loosely on a true story, Casino chronicles the rise and fall of a Vegas gambling empire, once again pairing Robert Deniro with Joe Pesci.  Deniro plays Sam Rothstein, a mob associate brought in to run a mafia-controlled casino, while Pesci plays Rothstein's longtime friend, loose cannon enforcer Nicky Santoro.  Told from multiple narrative viewpoints, Casino shows in violent, gruesome detail the inner workings of 1970s mob-controlled Las Vegas.  Aside from Deniro and Pesci's legendary onscreen chemistry, Casino also boasts an Oscar-nominated turn from Sharon Stone, as Rothstein's materialistic, alcoholic wife Ginger.  Casino didn't quite equal the masterpiece that was Goodfellas, but it was a very worthy, provocative return to Scorsese's favorite genre.

8. Hugo

In 2011 Martin Scorsese's filmography took an unexpected 90-degree turn with this family-friendly, light-hearted tribute to the early days of cinema.  Based on the book The Invention of Hugo Cabret, Scorsese's film follows the exploits of a young boy who lives in a Paris railway station.  Hugo's deceased father, an inventor, taught him how to repair clocks and instilled in him a love for film.  He befriends a young girl, Isabelle, whose stern uncle is revealed to be early film pioneer Georges Melies, director of the first science-fiction film, A Trip to the Moon.  After his career declined sharply in the 1920s, Melies became a disillusioned, bitter man who distanced himself from his prior calling.  Hugo and Isabelle work tirelessly to uncover the story of the forgotten auteur so the world can once again embrace his artistic contribution to the medium of cinema.  Scorsese's film is a delightful and colorful romp, made all the more whimsical by the use of 3-D cinematography, used here in a way that enhances the story and intensifies the experience.  Hugo is a rare film that can be enjoyed by any age group; it doesn't talk down to young audiences and it contains complex character arcs that older viewers will be drawn to.

Top Ten Things: Harrison Ford Characters

Welcome to a special edition of Top Ten Things, here at Enuffa.com!  It's been a while since I created a new one of these, but the occasion definitely warranted a return to the list-making ring.....

Growing up in the early 80s, Mr. Ford was my first celebrity hero, thanks of course to his not one but TWO transcendent popcorn movie characters, the swashbuckling scoundrel Han Solo and the intrepid, world-traveling archaeologist Indiana Jones.  Starring in that era's two most successful action-adventure movie franchises made him the most recognizable movie star in the world at the time, and for many years Ford's films outgrossed those of any other actor.  Not bad for a guy who'd all but given up on acting in the mid-70s due to a dearth of quality roles.  It's pretty staggering to think the film industry had written him off during his salad days, deeming him "not believable as a movie star," his looks too rugged and his acting style too understated to be a leading man.  

Indeed, Ford was never even supposed to be cast in the two legendary roles that made him world-famous.  George Lucas, having already used him in American Graffiti, only brought him in to read for other actors when casting Star Wars because he happened to be working as a carpenter across the hall.  But he nailed the character of Han Solo so completely Lucas had no choice but to give him the part.  Four years later when Steven Spielberg suggested Ford for Indiana Jones, Lucas again balked, not wanting Ford to become the Robert Deniro to his Martin Scorsese.  Only after Lucas's first choice Tom Selleck became unavailable thanks to his Magnum P.I. commitments did Lucas assent to offering Raiders of the Lost Ark to Ford.  His unexpected rise to superstardom is one of the great Cinderella stories of Hollywood lore.

From then Ford could pick and choose his projects, and throughout the late 80s and 90s he mostly focused on roles that would challenge him as an actor, rather than simply taking comfortable action star gigs.  Films like Witness, Frantic, Working Girl, and Presumed Innocent revealed new facets to his acting game and proved he could bring credibility and gravitas to any kind of film, be it a heavy drama, a suspense thriller, or a light comedy.  He'd continue taking on action vehicles as well - films like Patriot Games, The Fugitive, and Air Force One scored big at the box office, in no small part thanks to Ford's cache as a relatable everyman action star.  By the late 90s he'd established himself as a versatile leading man with a subtle economy to his acting style.  Rather than relying on flashy speech-making in his films, Ford leaned toward conveying emotion and tension through facial expression and body language.  Sadly at awards season he'd be perennially overlooked (except once), but his choices set did him apart from his fellow leading men.

In recent years Ford's filmography has mostly included a lot of B-movies, his only really notable projects being reprisals of his most famous characters, but regardless of film quality, anytime Harrison Ford is in a film, I'm interested in seeing what he'll do.  He is one of the all-time great movie stars, and by all accounts a pretty damn cool dude in real life.

Here are some of his career highlights....

HM: Quinn Harris (Six Days, Seven Nights)

Heads-up, some of the entries on this list won't so much be reflective of the quality of the film in question, but on Ford's contributions to it.  Six Days, Seven Nights is a highly entertaining piece of crap, an Ivan Reitman-helmed adventure comedy where Ford's character is a grizzled pilot hired to transport Anne Heche's magazine editor to Tahiti for a photo shoot.  They hate each other at first but of course end up falling in love after some wacky Pacific island hijinks.  But Ford's performance is a pretty great comedic spin on his usual rugged action hero persona, and helps elevate the film above its station.

HM: Dr. Norman Spencer (What Lies Beneath)

Likewise in Robert Zemeckis's pretty terrible attempt at Hitchcock-style suspense, Harrison Ford is the film's brightest spot, providing a rare and welcome performance as a villain.  I'd love to see Ford try this in a smarter film (Incidentally he'd been offered the Nick Nolte role in Martin Scorsese's Cape Fear but turned it down, hoping to land Deniro's spot instead), his performance here is so much against type it makes an otherwise drivelous piece of supernatural melodrama worth a look.

Top Ten Things: The Rocky/Creed Films, RANKED

Welcome to a special installment of Top Ten Things, here at Enuffa.com!  

Today I'm here to talk about the Rocky/Creed film series!  The brainchild of struggling actor/screenwriter Sylvester Stallone, Rocky came about as a fit of inspiration in 1975, after Stallone watched no-name fighter Chuck Wepner shock the world by going the distance with the legendary Muhammed Ali.  He found the story of a million-to-one underdog a compelling mirror of his own journey in the film business, and pitched the idea to producers Robert Chartoff and Irwin Winkler at an audition.  They were intrigued and asked him to write a script, which he hammered out on lined paper in the span of three days.  Stallone's inspiring tale of a club fighter getting a once-in-a-lifetime shot at the Heavyweight Championship instantly captured their imagination, and the film was greenlit.  Limited to a tiny $950,000 budget, the production was a whirlwind affair, shot over four weeks, and no one was prepared for the cultural milestone the finished film would become.  $225 million and a Best Picture Oscar later, Rocky the film was as incredible an underdog story as its protagonist, and it quickly spawned a series.  The franchise is now nine films deep including the Creed spinoffs, with no signs of slowing down, and more amazingly, possessing of some of the sturdiest legs of any film saga.  After 47 years and counting, you simply can't knock this franchise off its feet.

But which installments are the best?  Which are the worst?  How does one rank these stirring, inspirational films spanning over four decades?  Let's hit the heavy bag and see if we're ready to go the distance.  Too many boxing metaphors?

10. Rocky V

The much-maligned fifth chapter earned most of its derision.  One of only two Rocky films I consider bad movies, Rocky V unfortunately didn't even reach "so bad it's good" territory.  I respected the filmmakers' endeavor at something different after taking the "Rocky as superhero" thing as far as it could go in Rocky IV.  They tried to return the series to its gritty roots, having Rocky lose his fortune (through one of the most convoluted financial plot devices in film history) and move back to his old Philly neighborhood.  Suffering brain damage after his grueling Drago fight, Rocky is forced to retire from boxing but instead becomes a trainer to up-and-coming fighter Tommy Gunn, who then ditches Rocky for a hotshot promoter and wins the championship.  Rather than build to an in-ring climax between Rocky and Tommy, the film instead has them fighting in an alley behind the neighborhood bar.  The attempt to eschew the Rocky formula while not really eschewing it just made for a muddy, uninteresting, drab film, and worse, at the time it seemed the Rocky franchise would go out with a rather embarrassing whimper (Originally Rocky was going to be killed during the street fight; thank god that didn't happen....).

Oscar Film Journal: The Pianist (2002)

....and we're back with another Oscar Film Journal, here at Enuffa.com!

I'm finishing out the year 2002 with Roman Polanski's Holocaust drama The Pianist, starring Adrien Brody in the role that won him his first Oscar.  Been meaning to watch this one for 24 years now....

Based on true events, The Pianist is a story of survival in the face of unspeakable inhumanity.  Professional musician Wladyslaw Szpilman was a flourishing piano player in 1930s Poland when the Germans invaded and forced the half million or so Polish Jews out of their homes and into a tiny ghetto area of Warsaw, before sending most of them off to be enslaved and murdered in concentration camps.  Szpilman was separated from his family by an acquaintance who was now a Jewish police officer, smuggled out of the ghetto, and set up in a safe house by non-Jewish Polish friends.  He spent over a year in hiding, battling starvation and isolation, before his apartment building was destroyed by tank fire, and from there hid among the Warsaw ruins, barely surviving on scraps, until the end of the war.  We later learn that he lived out the rest of his life (until the year 2000) in Warsaw, resuming his career as a pianist.

Movie Review: Spider-Man - Brand New Day (2026)

The MCU seems to have found its mojo again, for now at least.  Brand New Day, the fourth standalone Spider-Man film in this universe, feels like a fresh, personal jolt of life the bloated MCU desperately needed after five years of mostly forgettable fare.  Destin Daniel Cretton, who also helmed the superb Short Term 12 and the well-received Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, takes over the director's chair after three Jon Watts-led productions, and boy is his presence a welcome one.  Where Homecoming, Far From Home and No Way Home, delightfully entertaining though they were, often felt too clean and polished, Brand New Day strives for a bit of gritty realism and a darker maturity, upping the physical and emotional stakes in a major way.  

Gone for example is the Tony Stark-invented hi-tech spider suit, and in its place is a 3D printed fabric costume made by Peter Parker himself, inspired partly by the two other Spider-Men he met in No Way Home.  Also cinematographer Brett Pawlak steps into the MCU for the first time, lending this film an earthier, more moody look than its predecessors.  A greater reliance on practical lighting and physical sets has replaced the sometimes soulless green screen-enhanced look of the previous films, and thus Brand New Day is a much more immersive experience. 

Top Ten Things: Avenged Sevenfold Albums, RANKED

Welcome to a brand new Top Ten Things, here at Enuffa.com!  It's been a while since I did one of these lists, and this one isn't quite ten items, but hey, some editions of TTT have *more* than ten, so screw you!  Just kidding, please keep reading....

Today's topic is the discography of one of my favorite metal bands, Avenged Sevenfold!  Formed in Huntington Beach, CA in 1999, A7X is known for complex, theatrical songwriting and fearless genre-bending, incorporating a diverse set of influences into their distinct melting pot of audacious, bombastic sounds.  Initially the band went for a hybrid of metalcore and punk sprinkled with melodic hooks, but they pretty quickly began experimenting with other genres, veering all the way into Broadway musical numbers and country-rock ballads by 2007.  On their most recent full-length album they went full avant-garde, defying all logical expectations and forging their own unique artistic path.  This is a band never content to rest on their laurels; they don't just push the envelope, they shred it.  

Like a lot of their fans I discovered A7X on the heels of their breakthrough third album City of Evil, but it was their self-titled fourth record and its follow-up Nightmare that really hooked me in 2010.  Since then I've found myself often revisiting their catalog in the form of intense deep-dives, where I'll get stuck on album or two and play them on a loop before moving on to the next, always hungry for new material from them.  

As with all great musical artists, Avenged Sevenfold crafts songs and albums that reward numerous listens, blending intricate musicianship, balls-out aggression, and deeply heartfelt, relatable human themes.  I'm not sure there's another metal band with so many songs that make me well up.  In a genre known for macho chest-thumping, A7X isn't afraid to explore big feelings and make profound statements about the human condition.  Their music has a genuine vulnerability to it, even amid pounding drums and machine gunning guitar riffs.  That reason perhaps more than any other is why their music resonates so heavily for me, but I also love the fact that they aren't beholden to any genre expectations so many other metal bands adhere to.  They unapologetically make the music they want to make, and that's so much more exciting to me than when a band goes in predictable directions out of obligation.

But enough pontificating, let's get to the countdown!    

HM: Diamonds in the Rough

I've kept this collection of B-sides and covers out of the ranking for obvious reasons, but I felt it warranted a few words.  M. Shadows is on record saying he wished the band hadn't released this CD, as the songs were left off their self-titled album for a reason, but I'm gonna go on record myself as saying there are a few real gems here.  Aside from two covers (Iron Maiden's "Flash of the Blade" and Pantera's "Walk") and alternate versions of "Almost Easy" and "Afterlife," Diamonds in the Rough contains seven previously unreleased songs, of which three were absolutely good enough for the fourth album in my opinion.  I'd have cut "Critical Acclaim" and "Scream" and added the three tunes mentioned below.  Don't sleep on this collection.

Key Tracks: "Demons," "Until the End," "Dancing Dead"

WWE SummerSlam 2026 Review: Night 1 Was Okay, Night 2 Was Not

Alright, this review is a few days late because I've been traveling all week.  Sue me.

SummerSlam 2026 was yet another skimpy WWE broadcast resembling a couple of McDonald's Happy Meals.  If you like mostly short, forgettable undercards and overlong main events where not that much really happens, this is the pair of shows for you.  

The first night was a passable affair, with a couple of decent early bouts that could've been much better with more time and less WWE "production," followed by two main event-type matches, one of which was fine but too long, the other of which took place inside a cage that wasn't ever used.

The second night was easily the worst PPV show I've seen in 2026, with a mostly bad undercard, a pair of matches that didn't get enough time to reach their potential, and a main event that could've been pretty great had ten minutes of nonsense been cut from it (and with a story that didn't feel like AI slop).

Night 1 started with the best or second-best match of either show, Liv Morgan vs. IYO Sky for the Women's World Title.  Once again IYO proved herself the best wrestler on the entire roster, and it pisses me off that the company doesn't see her as being on the same level as Rhea and Liv.  These two got thirteen-plus minutes and it was one of the few undercard matches that didn't quite feel like it got shortchanged.  Still, it should've gone a few minutes longer.  IYO fired up after an Oblivion, but Liv hit a Codebreaker and a second Oblivion to retain the title.  Weird finish to have a fire-up followed by an immediate loss.  But this was the best match of the first night.  ***3/4

Top Ten Things: Weird Al Yankovic Albums, RANKED

Welcome to another Top Ten Things, here at Enuffa.com!

Today I'll be talking about a musical legend.  And a comedy legend.  And a certified genius (Seriously, he skipped second grade and was senior year valedictorian at sixteen).

Weird Al Yankovic burst into the American lexicon in 1984 with an off-beat parody of a Michael Jackson hit, and has somehow managed to build a hugely successful forty-plus-year career lampooning our most cherished pop music stars.  As an eight-year-old Michael Jackson fanatic I was initially offended that anyone would parody one of his songs, but Al won me over when I first saw the video for "Eat It."  Here was a dorky, bespectacled nerd mimicking all of Jackson's dance moves (badly I might add) and conjuring comedy from already-tired rock video imagery.  By age twelve I'd bought all of Al's records, and I've been a huge fan ever since.  In 2000 I got to see Al from the front row, and he even yelled at me for not singing along to "Dare to Be Stupid."  It was indeed a privilege.  Twenty-two years later I took my son to see his Ill-Advised Vanity Tour, a proud inter-generational moment. 

Despite originating as a zany novelty act on comedy radio, Weird Al's career has endured a staggering four decades.  For many artists, being parodied by Al is a badge of honor, a sign that they've truly "made it."  Al is like a pop culture mirror, making light of our society's latest fads and popular music heroes.  While he seems to be all done putting out full albums, he still pops up every so often with a new video to remind us he's still out there, ready to either lampoon or pay homage to whatever's grabbing headlines.

Here now Weird Al Yankovic's albums, ranked....

14. Polka Party!

It should come as no surprise that the album which nearly derailed Al's career ranks last.  Without the benefit of a strong single to help move sales ("Livin' With a Hernia" is a fun James Brown parody but didn't exactly light up the charts the way "Eat It" or "Like a Surgeon" did), Polka Party! would need to overachieve as a cohesive album.  Sadly it did not; the album's parodies tackled mostly less-than-memorable material, while its originals were largely pretty pedestrian.  The Talking Heads-inspired "Dog Eat Dog" and the Phil Spector-style "Christmas at Ground Zero" serve as a pair of standouts, but beyond those, Polka Party! lacks a strong catalogue of original tunes to make up for the rather uninspired slate of parodies.  Thankfully Al's career would resurge in a big way two years later with the release of Even Worse.

Key Tracks: Livin' With a Hernia, Dog Eat Dog, Christmas at Ground Zero

13. Alapalooza

Cashing in on both the mammoth success of Jurassic Park and the alternative music tour Lollapalooza, Al's 8th album dropped in 1993 and didn't quite make the splash its predecessor Off the Deep End did.  It probably didn't help that the lead single was a parody of an old 1960s tune rather than a hot 1993 alternative chart-topper (though Al's "Jurassic Park" song is pretty great).  Al did send up the Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Give It Away" and "Under the Bridge," with mixed results (RHCP bassist Flea expressed disappointment in Al's choice of The Flintstones as the song's inspiration), and Aerosmith's "Livin' on the Edge," returning to the subject of food, in this case the kind that's been in the fridge too long.  The original songs on this album were a letdown for me, aside from the excellent REM-esque "Frank's 2000" TV."  To my mind "Traffic Jam," "Waffle King" and "She Never Told Me She Was a Mine" sounded like outtakes from previous albums.  But Alapalooza does finish strong with "Bohemian Polka," a sped-up, accordion-driven version of Queen's megahit "Bohemian Rhapsody."  Overall though, Alapalooza is one of his weakest efforts, and the worst of his 1990s output.

Key Tracks: Jurassic Park, Frank's 2000" TV, Bohemian Polka

12. Straight Outta Lynwood

Notable for boasting Al's highest-charting single "White & Nerdy" (a parody of "Ridin" by Chamillionaire), Al's 12th album was from a commercial standpoint another career highlight.  Other parodies include "Canadian Idiot," based of course on Green Day's "American Idiot," "Confessions Part III," a sendup of Usher's "Confessions Part II," and the epic "Trapped in the Drive Thru" based on R. Kelly's "Trapped in the Closet."  The originals on this album are quite varied, with "Pancreas" parodying the style of The Beach Boys, "I'll Sue Ya" capturing the sound of Rage Against the Machine, and probably the strongest original "Don't Download This Song" going after 1980s all-star charity tunes like "We Are the World."  Overall SOL is ambitious and sonically diverse, but not all of it landed for me.  Still it was satisfying to see Al achieve such mainstream success once again.

Key Tracks: White & Nerdy, Pancreas, Don't Download This Song

11. Bad Hair Day

Falling just shy of the top ten is Al's 1996 return to prominence after the critical and commercial disappointment of Alapalooza.  The ninth album in Al's catalog surged to double-platinum status largely on the back of "Amish Paradise," a parody of Coolio's "Gangsta's Paradise."  Coolio infamously disapproved of Al using his song as comedy fodder and publicly objected, though Al did get written permission from Coolio's management to use the song.  This was ironic considering the Coolio tune is itself a reworking of Stevie Wonder's "Pastime Paradise."  Aside from the hit single, Bad Hair Day boasts an excellent parody of Presidents of the USA's "Lump," about Forrest Gump, some standout originals such as "Everything You Know is Wrong" the a cappella "Since You've Been Gone," and "The Night Santa Went Crazy," and maybe his best-ever polka medley, "The Alternative Polka," which makes use of numerous mid-90s grunge and alternative hits.  Bad Hair Day is a bit uneven but contains enough standout tunes to almost make the vaunted top ten.

Key Tracks: Amish Paradise, The Alternative Polka, Gump

10. UHF - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack and Other Stuff

The soundtrack to Al's 1989 summer flop sadly didn't fare much better than its film counterpart, but it did contain some fun parodies and solid originals, plus a few snippets of the film itself.  Al's spoof of Dire Straits' "Money for Nothing," which is essentially the Beverly Hillbillies theme set to different music, was accompanied by an excellent sendup of the Straits video.  Other highlights were "Spam," based on REM's "Stand," and two hilarious originals, "Generic Blues," which literally just recycles all the woe-is-me blues lyrical tropes, and folk-rock epic "The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota," which recounts in great detail a trip to go see the World's Largest Twine Ball (Yes, such a thing actually exists).  Released at a time when a) the summer movie season was quite cluttered (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Batman, Star Trek V, and Lethal Weapon 2), and b) Weird Al's record sales were somewhat contingent on including a Michael Jackson parody, this album and film kinda got lost in the shuffle (though UHF has since become a cult classic).  But it's not too shabby at all and shows evidence of Al's growth as a musician.

Key Tracks: Generic Blues, Spam, The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota

9. Dare to Be Stupid

Al's third album, and the first musical comedy album to see a CD release, showed that Al was growing beyond his reputation as "that funny guy who does the Michael Jackson parody."  With songs like "Like a Surgeon," "I Want a New Duck," and the superb "Yoda" (based on The Kinks' "Lola"), Al was attempting to last beyond the fifteen-minute lifespan most gave him.  But it's in the original songs where this album really achieves.  Style parodies like the hilariously descriptive doo-wop ballad "One More Minute" and the Devo-inspired title track demonstrated Al's gift for recreating different genres (Devo frontman Mark Mothersbaugh once said that "Dare to Be Stupid" captured the exact sound he himself had been trying to create).

Key Tracks: Dare to Be Stupid, One More Minute, Yoda

The History of WWE SummerSlam (2025)

SummerSlam 2025, the first two-night edition, was another mixed bag of an extravaganza.  The first night was a bad overall show, the second night was pretty good up until the appallingly tone deaf ending.  WWE has no line it will not cross, no scandal it will not gladly sweep under the rug if it gets in the way of their bottom line. 

Night 1 as I said was a pretty bad show, with a whole bunch of mostly nothing matches and a dull as fuck main event that for some reason WWE's faithful convinced themselves was some kind of Bret Hart-esque masterpiece.  I don't seem to recall Bret ever needing to stall after every move to let his gassed opponent recover for a while.  Certainly not in his good matches anyhow.

The first match began, 22 minutes in (that's TWENTY-TWO) with a solid tag match as Roman Reigns and Jey Uso took on Seth Rollins' buddies Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed.  Things started out not so promisingly as after a few moments of action Jey called for his entrance music again just to get a stupid Yeet chant going.  This company is a parody of pro wrestling.  From there they had a pretty good match and Breakker looked really good as usual.  They of course had to squeeze in yet another Roman spear through the barricade (which wasn't even attached at one side so this spot looked even dumber than usual).  The Brons did a Steiner doomsday bulldog spot which was cool.  At the end of the match Roman shoved Jey out of the way of a Breakker spear, and Jey hit his big splash on Reed to win the match.  This show would never get this good again. 

WWE SummerSlam 2026 Preview & Predictions

This weekend is the 39th WWE SummerSlam, and the second two-nighter.  Like WrestleMania there are a few promising matches on the docket, and some not-so-promising ones.  I assume also that like WrestleMania, these shows will be full of abbreviated matches to make room for ads and overlong entrances.  WWE is still relying on 40-plussers to sell tickets, and still seeing diminishing returns - this year's attendance is down a whopping 40% from last year.  Yes we have Oba Femi featured in one of the three top matches (via a nonsensical storyline development), but the company's top four stars are still Roman, Punk, Cody and Seth.  No Bron Breakker on the show at all, which is insane; wasn't he the next chosen one a few years ago?  And whose gas tank did Carmelo Hayes piss in?

Anyway let's take a look....

Night 1

The Bella Twins & Paige vs. Fatal Influence

No idea what this feud is about but man does this company love riding 2010-2015 nostalgia right now (probably only because everyone from before that period is retired).  The Bella Twins and Paige, all three of whom date back to before the "women's revolution."  We're kinda going backwards aren't we?  I know nothing about the Fatal Influence trio but I assume they're losing here.

Pick: Nikki, Brie & Paige

Oscar Film Journal: JFK (1991)

Welcome to an unusual entry in the Oscar Film Journal, here at Enuffa.com!

Today's subject is honestly a difficult one to review, as I have wildly disparate opinions of it simultaneously.  It is a film to be judged on two separate fronts - as a piece of filmmaking craft, and as a docudrama that had a major impact on the national dialogue surrounding its subject.  I would be fully justified in giving this film the Awesomely Shitty Movies treatment as well (and I just may at some point).

The film is 1991's JFK, directed by Oliver Stone, based on two (purportedly) non-fiction books about the Kennedy assassination.  Stone's film chronicles the infamous investigation into and subsequent trial of New Orleans businessman Clay Shaw, accused by the city's District Attorney Jim Garrison of conspiring to murder President Kennedy.  Starring Kevin Costner as Garrison and featuring a veritable who's-who of notable Hollywood stars, JFK spends over three hours taking us through Garrison's chaotic investigation, his interviews with various "witnesses" and informants, and finally the trial itself, which ended in abject embarrassment for the unscrupulous DA.  

I first watched this film in high school, going into it with very little prior knowledge of the JFK assassination.  I was transfixed by it on the first viewing, and in my college years it became one of my very favorite films.  I took Stone and his collaborators at their word as far as the facts of the case went, and it wasn't until my mid-twenties that I actually dug into the specifics of what happened on that fateful November day in 1963 and the aftermath.

But before we discuss the film's historical accuracy (or complete lack thereof), first let's talk about JFK as an exercise in cinema.  

There is no doubt whatsoever that Oliver Stone is an eminently talented filmmaker and storyteller.  Even without JFK on his resumé, he'd have proven himself one of Hollywood's most exciting directors of the 80s and 90s with titles like Platoon, Natural Born Killers, Born on the Fourth of July, The Doors (another very entertaining but highly inaccurate biopic), Talk Radio and Wall Street.

The History of WWE SummerSlam (2024)

WWE may have smashed a whole bunch more records at the 2024 SummerSlam (not that tough to do when you keep jacking up ticket prices and the city pays you to hold your event there) but as I suspected going in, the card itself was steeped in mediocrity, concerned more with bad drama than good wrestling.  At numerous times watching this show I found myself thinking "Christ, VINCE booked numerous recent SummerSlams better than this one."

After yet another Triple H "Don't forget who's in charge now" moment to kick off the show, followed by a Jelly Roll performance, the opening match was Liv Morgan vs. Rhea Ripley for the Women's Title.  They started out playing cat and mouse, with Ripley chasing Liv in and out of the ring until finally outmaneuvering her and going on offense.  After a few minutes of Ripley dominating, Liv sent her shoulder-first into the turnbuckles, which popped Ripley's injured shoulder out of socket.  Liv took over and worked the dislocation until Ripley finally got some space and slammed it into the announce table, Lethal Weapon 2 style.  Ripley made a comeback but Liv brought a chair into the ring and tried to use it.  Ripley flattened her with a boot, picked up the chair herself, and was about to swing it when Dominik on the outside grabbed the chair and reminded her she couldn't win the title this way.  Ripley let go of the chair but Liv knocked her into Dom and hit Oblivion for a close nearfall.  Dom then threw the chair into the ring for Liv to hit a second Oblivion to win the match.  The announcers sold this like Dom's plan backfired, but then Dom helped Liv up from the floor and kissed her, betraying Rhea.  Solid opener.  

The History of WWE SummerSlam (2023)

At SummerSlam 2023, WWE did it again.  And by "it" I mean snatched a pretty good show from the jaws of instant classic territory.

SummerSlam 2023 was yet another example of a show that should've been in contention for PPV of the Year (or at least WWE PPV of the Year), and was instead just a good solid PPV.  Between a live crowd that was oddly pretty subdued all night and some messy moments and their usual questionable booking decisions, this show overall fell short of my expectations.

Things started out very promisingly as Logan Paul and Ricochet had a very entertaining spotfest-type match that suffered a bit from WWE not being all that good at spotfest-type matches.  For a bout that was intended to "go viral" as an aerial spectacle this wasn't nearly as noteworthy as numerous other examples that year.  But it was very well-worked aside from a couple messy bits, and this was Ricochet's first main roster match with this high a profile (sadly he'd never get another).  After plenty of back-and-forth action and nearfalls, one of Paul's friends (who went unnamed) handed him brass knux, which Paul used to knock out Ric and steal a win.  Michael Cole's line "This was a great match but the ending sucked" was both amusing and a bit of unintentional commentary from WWE regarding their penchant for unsatisfying finishes.  

Overall the strongest match of the night, most unexpectedly, was the Cody Rhodes-Brock Lesnar rubber match, which from where I sit marked Brock's best work since the 2019 SummerSlam.  This still suffered from Lesnar Repetition Syndrome, with Cody limiting his own moveset to match Brock's, and a long stretch where Brock was inexplicably trying to get a countout win over and over.  But ultimately the match worked in the same way as Brock vs. AJ in 2017 and Brock vs. Bryan in 2018 did.  Cody overcame all the punishment and hit three CrossRhodes in a row to put a decisive end to this feud.  Brock then took off his MMA gloves, shook Cody's hand, and hugged him, in an apparently unplanned show of respect.  Good stuff overall.  

AEW Redemption Review: The Stage Is Set for Wembley

AEW Redemption was a fine show, not on the level of most of their PPV offerings, but a very good show with a slew of excellent matches and some not so good.  It did suffer from the length issue in a way that most don't for me.  Despite kicking off an hour earlier than usual it still ran until midnight and didn't need to.  The shortest match on the card exceeded sixteen minutes, and there were four or five bouts that could've been trimmed by five minutes each (at least one could've been omitted altogether).  After the first three matches all more or less tore the house down the crowd took a long time to get back into the show, and multiple bouts suffered because of that.  I'd have changed the match order around to spread the best stuff throughout the show instead of front-loading it.  But it was a very good night of wrestling overall.

Things kicked off as expected with the ladder match, which was an excellent car wreck.  All six men involved got plenty of time to be showcased, we had loads of high spots from everyone, and the local favorite walked away with the win to get the live crowd engaged.  There were of course a few moments that seemed to defy logic, like when two guys did moonsaults off the ladder set up on the stage, or when Jack Perry had the chance to climb up and grab the contract but did a Destroyer on Nick Wayne instead.  Mike Bailey finished things with a shooting star knee onto Mortos, followed by a match-winning climb.  Really fun opener.  ****1/2

The History of WWE SummerSlam (2022)

It's time to look at the first WWE PPV of the Triple H booking era (except Vince set all this up so it was really still his show).

SummerSlam 2022 was kind of the end of an era coming off the heels of Vince McMahon's numerous sex scandals that resulted in his temporarily stepping down from power (of course he'd force his way back in less than a year later but for a while there we had nice things).  Triple H had fully taken control of Creative by this point but he was still obligated to present the lineup Vince had scheduled.  Thus SummerSlam still felt like a Vince offering.  And like most Vince offerings in the 2020s this one was just okay, one match had no business being on the show at all, and the Intercontinental Title was missing completely.  Because Vince hates secondary titles.  

Things started of well with a Bianca Belair-Becky Lynch rematch from WrestleMania, that didn't quite live up to that one.  They got 15 minutes and worked well together as always, and Bianca retained the title after an exciting finishing sequence.  Becky hit a second-rope Manhandle Slam for a nearfall and went up to the top but Bianca countered with a Spanish Fly followed by the KOD to keep the belt.  This marked the end of Becky's ill-concieved heel turn (finally!) as after the match the returning Bayley came out to ringside, flanked by her new stable made up of Iyo Sky and Dakota Kai.  This moment felt like one of Triple H's few contributions to the show.  Anyway, a very good opener and the best pure wrestling match on the show.

Next up was the surprise hit of the evening as Logan Paul made his WWE debut against The Miz, proving himself maybe the best celebrity wrestler of all time.  The match wasn't truly great or anything, but it was very competently worked and exciting, and Paul looked like a natural.  This was a preview of much better things for the YouTube celebrity.  The highlight of the bout was Paul hitting a long-distance frog splash on Miz through the announce table, before finishing him off with his own Skull Crushing Finale.  Not too shabby at all.

Top Ten Things: Christopher Nolan Films, RANKED

Welcome to another edition of Top Ten Things, here at Enuffa.com!

It's another bonus edition of TTT, as we have not ten but thirteen entries to discuss - time to rank Christopher Nolan's filmography!  I've been a Nolan fan since Memento's 2001 theatrical release, and over the past two-plus decades this cerebral English director has already compiled an extraordinary body of work, creating a singular brand of intelligent, crowd-pleasing blockbuster films.  Nolan's affinity for challenging, puzzle-like movies was apparent from the beginning, but he also reinvented the Batman franchise by grounding it in reality and making its protagonist a deeply flawed, real-world hero trying to redeem his broken city.  Nolan's films generally demand repeat viewings, keeping the viewer on their toes and often letting the editing drive the narrative so there's no cinematic fat on the bone.  Every new Christopher Nolan film is event viewing for me, guaranteed to present a story in a genre-defying way audiences have never seen before.

Here now are Christopher Nolan's films, ranked....

13. Following

Nolan's feature debut was this neo-noir with a non-linear narrative, about an aspiring writer who looks for inspiration by shadowing people he sees on the street.  He falls in with an experienced burglar and begins to make a habit of breaking into strangers' homes, stealing various items, and selling what he can.  Soon though he becomes romantically involved with one of his "victims," whom he learns is mixed up with a local mobster.  Meanwhile nothing he comes to believe about her or his mentor is what it seems.  Following was made for a paltry $6,000 and is thus quite rough around the edges, but already Christopher Nolan showed his gift for labyrinthine storylines and devilish plot twists, two things he'd execute much more assuredly in his second film, Memento.

12. Tenet

Perhaps Nolan's most Nolan-est film was this 2020 puzzle box loaded to the brim with so much exposition he himself seemed to have trouble conveying it all.  John David Washington stars as The Protagonist, a CIA agent tasked with stopping a time-inverting terrorist plot that will create backward-traveling entropy and unmake the world as we know it.  Got all that?  Nolan as usual stacks the film with talented, capable actors and creates some truly unique set pieces, such as staging a fistfight while one participant is traveling forward through time and the other is traveling backward.  And while Tenet provides an entertaining, James Bond-on-conceptual-steroids cinematic experience, sadly some of the plot details get lost in the translation (not helped by the audio mix, which buries crucial dialogue under thundering sound effects).  Still Tenet is yet another innovative spy thriller from a director who loves his puzzles.

11. Insomnia

Nolan's remake of the 1997 Swedish thriller of the same title, Insomnia stars Al Pacino as an aging LAPD detective assigned to a murder investigation in Alaska during the "midnight sun" season.  The Pacino character accidentally kills his partner during a shootout, after said partner has revealed he intends to testify against Pacino in an Internal Affairs case.  Complicating the matter is the at-large murderer (a superbly creepy Robin Williams), who witnessed the shooting and attempts to blackmail Pacino into pinning the murder on the victim's abusive boyfriend.  What follows is a fascinating moral dilemma, where the flawed protagonist must choose between saving himself or bringing a killer to justice.  Insomnia takes the suspense thriller genre and turns it upside down, throwing curve balls at the audience every step of the way.  Pacino and Williams have splendid chemistry together, and Nolan's direction lends this noirish thriller a modern edge.

10. Dunkirk

Nolan's streamlined, visceral account of this World War II rescue tells the story from three different points of view: the air, the sea, and the land.  The film intercuts between the three locales, expanding time in some instances and showing us some of the same events from multiple points of view.  There's little historical context presented, so the material depicted must speak for itself and create an immersive viewing experience.  For the most part this element works, though I would've liked to see more about who these characters were and what the battle itself meant in the grand scheme of WWII.  You'll need to do a little homework to fully appreciate what's happening.  Still Nolan and co. deftly handle the genre, presenting a gritty, palpably harrowing war film and adding yet another impressive entry to his resumé.

The History of WWE SummerSlam (2021)

Well, as expected WWE's SummerSlam 2021 was yet another mixed bag of a show.  A few of the matches were very good, a few of the matches were utterly pointless, and God forbid we have a WWE PPV without a moment that flat-out pisses people off.  SummerSlam had all of these things.  Vince McMahon once again proved he could fuck up a bag of Doritos.

The PPV kicked off with the RAW Tag Championship, as AJ Styles and Omos defended against RKBro in a short but energetic bout that brought to mind old school PPVs where the opening match was just an easily digestible warmup.  AJ did almost all the work for his team and meshed well with both opponents, there were some fun spots later in the match as Matt Riddle took an Omos apron slam and an AJ moonsault DDT on the floor, perfectly executed.  It boiled down to AJ and Orton, who missed his first RKO attempt but scored on the second, pinning AJ to win the straps.  The crowd loved this title change and Riddle was ecstatic, and even Orton looked happy.  Decent little opener. 

Immediately the streak of good matches ended as Alexa Bliss faced Eva Marie in a useless regular match that didn't belong anywhere near a PPV.  There was no supernatural bullshit, which was good, but we were subjected to an Eva Marie match, which was bad.  Bliss hit Twisted Bliss off the top, followed by a DDT for the win.  I can guarantee this match did not garner a single ticket purchase or Peacock subscription.  Why was this on this show? 

AEW Redemption Preview & Predictions

This Sunday is the last PPV stop on the way to AEW All In, a brand new event called AEW Redemption.  Who is being redeemed, you ask?  Well it was obviously meant to be Kenny Omega's long-awaited coronation as AEW World Champion, but plans changed - it sounds like MJF needed time off sooner than expected - and the MJF-Kenny rematch was moved up to Beach Break.  And it was an absolutely fantastic match, better than their Dynasty match in April.  Long and short, Kenny is the new AEW Champ and now has seven weeks with the title before All In instead of five.  And now his "redemption" on Sunday will I guess be in the form of a successful title defense?

This here is a weird lineup that feels very much like a B-PPV except that it's loaded with bouts that should be spectacular.  But it lacks the marquee feel of most AEW PPVs.  I wonder if WBD pressured Tony into adding it to the calendar, because the build for this one was all crammed into two weeks of TV and there are lots of unconventional names vying for championships.  Don't get me wrong, I'm gonna watch the shit outta this show and most of the matches will deliver big.  But it does feel like a WWE Roadblock-type show, ahead of their WrestleMania.

But let's get into the matches.....

Six-Way Ladder Match: Jack Perry vs. The Beast Mortos vs. Komander vs. Speedball Mike Bailey vs. TBD vs. TBD

So somehow this match was thrown together due to a Mistico injury, but I'm fuzzy on what Mistico was supposed to be doing at this PPV.  I know he was set to get an International Title match with the winner of Fletcher-Bandido, but that was set for Grand Slam Mexico.  Anyway this match is now for a shot at said championship, with two qualifiers set for Collision: Nick Wayne vs. AR Fox and Lio Rush vs. El Clon.  Should be a very fun car wreck match and I think it would be a good candidate to open the show.  No idea who gets the title shot but Jack Perry or Speedball would make sense against Kyle.

Pick: I'll go with Jack since he just re-signed

The History of WWE SummerSlam (2020)

2020 was the year wrestling shows were mostly staged in front of no crowds due of course to the COVID 19 pandemic, and that year's SummerSlam felt those effects like every other show.  

The 2020 edition felt in a lot of ways like an old-school SummerSlam card, with only seven matches and a three-hour running time.  In that respect the show was somewhat refreshing.  It also felt like an old SummerSlam show due to the numerous big names missing from the card (AJ, Bryan, Owens, Zayn, Nakamura, Cesaro, etc.).  In that respect the show was somewhat stupid.

Kicking things off was the first of two women's title matches where Asuka was the challenger, and she took on Smackdown Women's Champion Bayley, with then-BFF Sasha Banks in the champ's corner.  Keep that in mind, as it would play into the story of both matches.  These three women nearly carried the show; Asuka and Bayley both worked hard to make this a strong opener, and it turned into a nice little rematch from their NXT rivalry.  There were some innovative moments like when Bayley countered an apron hip attack by catching Asuka's legs and slamming them into the edge of the ring.  Bayley then went after the injured leg, which would become a factor in Asuka's second match as well.  Asuka eventually snared the Asuka lock but Sasha distracted her from the outside and Asuka swung around with a kick to Sasha's head.  Asuka went for another apron hip attack but Sasha pushed Bayley out of the way and took one for the team, while Bayley got an airtight cradle to retain the belt.  Good, compact opening match with a well-executed screwy finish.

The History of WWE SummerSlam (2019)

SummerSlam 2019, while certainly no instant classic PPV, was nonetheless a thoroughly easy show to watch, managing to stay well under four hours and providing a variety of solid undercard matches and a pretty great main event.  

The show kicked off with the Becky Lynch-Natalya submission match.  This was the exact right type of match for the stipulation, with both women working over the body part their respective finishers target.  Becky went after Nattie's arm to soften her up for Disarm-Her, and Nattie attacked Becky's historically weakened knee.  Each of them stole the other's finisher at one point, teasing the humiliation of having to tap out to their own move.  The most memorable spot was Nattie locking in a Sharpshooter in the turnbuckles, leaving Becky dangling out of the ring as she struggled to break free.  Becky nearly submitted to a second Sharpshooter mid-ring, but managed to reverse it into the Disarm-Her for the win at about 12:30.  This was a fine opening match and easily one of Becky's best that year after her goodwill had been squandered for months in a feud with Lacey Evans.

Next up was one of two matches I was dreading, as Dolph Ziggler got killed dead by Goldberg in under a minute.  But for what this was it was executed damn near perfectly.  Ziggler and Goldberg stared each other down for a moment, and suddenly Ziggler leveled him with a superkick, covered him, Goldberg kicked out at one, and the sequence was repeated.  Ziggler charged, Goldberg cut him off with a sick-looking spear, followed by the jackhammer for the win.  Ziggler got on the mic and trash talked him, Goldberg returned to the ring and speared him again.  Ziggler did it again and Goldberg hit him with a third spear before finally leaving.  Now, feeding Ziggler, irreparably damaged though he is, to a 50-year-old who hasn't had a real match since 2003, is idiotically counterproductive.  But the live crowd went apeshit for this, the tease of Ziggler winning an upset was great, and Ziggler made the spear look like a spine-shattering move.  That said, I still don't get why everyone likes seeing Goldberg's one-note schtick over and over, or how this is supposed to translate to good long-term business.  But for what it was, they nailed it.