Kevin Murphy Movies

Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy, and Bill Corbett poke fun at nine corny shorts about dining etiquette, bicycle safety, and emotional maturity. Featured shorts include Beginning Responsibility: Lunchroom Manners, Why Doesn't Cathy Eat Breakfast?, Are You Popular?, and Coffee House Rendezvous. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

From Mystery Science Theater masterminds Kevin Murphy, Mike Nelson, and Bill Corbett comes a follow-up series that finds the quick-witted threesome skewering some of the worst movies in Hollywood history. The first flick on the Film Crew bill is Hollywood After Dark - a 1968 drama starring Rue McClanahan as a struggling young actress desperate to get her big break on the silver screen. The naïve young actresses' trip to the top hits an unexpected detour, however, when she is drawn into the sordid world of underground stripping by her lecherous producers. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

The made for television movie Munster's Scary Little Christmas, created three decades after the demise of the original series, concerns son Eddie missing his home in Transylvania. Soon the entire family bands together to teach the young boy everything great about the holiday season. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

The cult television series Mystery Science Theatre 3000 transfers its brand of science-fiction wisecracking to the big screen with relatively few changes. The concept is the same in series and film: an innocent man (Michael J. Nelson, playing Mike Nelson) is stranded in outer space by a mad scientist, who subjects the poor slob to "experiments" that involve watching the worst movies ever made. In order to survive this cinematic torture, Mike and his two companions, sarcastic robots Tom Servo and Crow T. Robot, mercilessly heckle the film in self-defense. In this case, the target is This Island Earth, a 1950s sci-fi opus that, despite its silly makeup effects and stilted dialogue, actually stands slightly above the usual Mystery Science Theatre fare. Otherwise, despite the larger budget, the film plays as a shorter version of the television show, with the robots and sets purposefully maintaining their ingenious, homemade look. Despite its loyalty to the original concept, many long-time fans found the film less sharp than the series, and the cinematic version failed to attract many viewers beyond the original audience. Nevertheless, it serves as a good introduction for the uninitiated, demonstrating the show's combination of pop culture deconstruction and intelligent, playful humor. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide

In episode number 515, originally aired in 1993, the 1950s short Cheating inspires Crow to cheat on Mike's essay test, while Dr. Forrester tests out a new hairstyle. After the short, Mike and the 'bots wreak havoc on the Wild World of Batwoman, involving skimpily clad bat-girls who dance around the movie looking for a plot. A hearing aid falls into the wrong hands and threatens to destroy a narrative already in shambles, and on the Satellite of Love, Tom Servo and Crow try to "out-shun" one another. Meanwhile, Mike and the scientists exchange inventions on the cutting and styling edge. ~ Sarah Sloboda, All Movie Guide

Astronaut Mike Nelson (Michael J. Nelson) is trapped in outer space with only his mechanical friends Tom Servo (Kevin Murphy) and Crow (Trace Beaulieu) for company. So what better way to kill the time than watch bad movies and crack jokes about them? That's the premise of the TV series Mystery Science Theater 3000, and in this installment, Mike, Tom, and Crow take a long, hard look at The Brain That Wouldn't Die, in which a slightly crazy scientist tries to find a new body for his recently-decapitated girlfriend (whose head he's managed to conveniently keep alive in a pan on his kitchen table). The DVD release features both the MST3K episode with Mike and his friends commenting on the action, and the original version of The Brain That Wouldn't Die in uncut and uninterrupted form (allowing you to come up with your own snide comments!). ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide