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Eric_Rage
Reviews
Play It to the Bone (1999)
Classic Ron Shelton
As demonstrated in "Bull Durham" and "White Men Can't Jump," Ron Shelton has a feel for sports movies that's unmatched. He knows locker room vernacular and "guy" talk better than any screenwriter that's come before him.
A must-see for any fight-fan. If only boxing was as exciting in real-life as it is in the movies.
Any Given Sunday (1999)
Suffers from Oliver Stone
Several times while watching "Any Given Sunday," I couldn't help but think what a great movie it would have been in the hands of a film maker other than Oliver Stone.
Stone is, by far, the most overblown, self-indulgent director ever. The fact this movie is even decent is a credit to the cast, who all deliver solid performances, and the strength of the football scenes, which are the perfect venue for Stone's over-the-top camera techniques and seizure-inducing editing style.
Hamburger: The Motion Picture (1986)
I can't say I liked this movie...
...but for some reason I watched it many, many times on cable.
That may have been because I was 13 at the time, and "Hamburger..." features a ton of gratuitous nudity even by cable standards.
The movie is pretty awful, but the fact that it stands out in my mind after all these years has to say something about it.
Streets of Fire (1984)
This movie rocks, literally
Like most Walter Hill movies, "Streets of Fire" has more flash than substance. And like most Hill entries, it works.
Despite Michael Pare's lack of emotional range, Tom Cody makes for one of the slickest action characters of the '80s. Willem Dafoe, making his debut, is perfect as the sleazy biker Cody has to crack to free the obligatory action babe, this time played by Diane Lane.
The action moves sporadically, but the thrills warrant the lulls they follow. The movie is beautifully shot by the same cinematographer Hill used in stylish action epic, "The Warriors."
Songwriter, and frequent Meat Loaf collaborator, Jim Steinman almost manages to steal the movie. The Ellen Aim songs that bookend the movie, "Nowhere Fast" and "Tonight Is What It Means To Be Young," are best the songs lip-synched by an actress that I can think of.
Megaforce (1982)
Give credit where credit is due
The movie is, beyond a shadow of a doubt, the most crippled excuse for an action flick ever to be pressed into celluloid...
*BUT*, here it is almost 20 years later and we all remember the movie vividly. There is something to be said for that dubious sort of immortality.
One shop on a stretch of Pacific Coast Highway here in Orange County, California, has one of the old brown, yellow and burnt red Megaforce dune buggies parked near the front entrance. I'm always amazed at how the owner has the audacity to chain it to a sign imbedded in the concrete. As if any self-respecting criminal would steal a relic from this movie!
Strange Days (1995)
Underrated, unappreciated and unseen by too many
If there was ever a movie deserving of a second chance to find an audience and some box-office respectability, it's "Strange Days." I'll never understand how this movie went ignored four years ago, and I can't understand now why no one's thought to re-release it, especially with Y2K right around the corner.
Since the chances of "Strange Days" playing on the big screen are pretty much nonexistant at this point, do yourself a favor and give it a look on video. This movie is equally stylish and brutal, capped off by a number of great performances. The story is riveting, and, despite Kathryn Bigelow's flaws, she has a feel for action flicks that's matched by few others.
Bad Boys (1995)
The Smith/Lawrence Show
I'm not a huge fan of Michael Bay, who never has a cut longer than five seconds and seems to be in love with three different shots that he rehashes for all of his movies (The .25 second long tight close-up showing a character expressing shock, someone running in slow motion and the shot from ground level looking up at a character or a number of characters as the sky rolls slowly above him/her/them.)
What "Bad Boys" has going for it, and why it succeeds where "The Rock" and "Armageddon" failed miserably, are Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, who flat-out carry this movie. It's pretty obvious that a number of scenes (Pretty much every scene that's good for a laugh) was ad-libbed, and it's equally obvious that Smith and Lawrence had a great time filming this.
Aside from that, the movie is a strictly by-the-number buddy cop-flick with absolutely no surprises that suffers even more because of Michael Bay's seizure-inducing camera techniques. Check it out strictly for Will and Martin.
Airborne (1993)
The ending almost makes up for it
I cannot begin to stress how bad this movie is -- but I also can't stress enough how sweet the final scene is.
The first hour-fifteen of this snore-fest is only slightly less painful than having teeth pulled with a pair of pliers. The movie doesn't take off (No pun intended...honest.) until the end when the principle characters (and a slew of extras who can haul on a pair of in-lines) settle their differences with a race through most of downtown Cincinnatti. The sequence the follows -- as 'bladers fly down hills, through intersections and underneath semis before finishing at Cinergy Field (formerly Riverfront Stadium) -- flat-out rocks and is almost worth sitting through the 75 minutes of lifeless dialogue...but not quite.
Since "Airborne" is revived on basic cable pretty much on a weekly basis, channel surf until the last twenty minutes. You'll thank me for it.
Diggstown (1992)
Highly underrated
I'll never understand how a movie this smart, funny and well crafted has been disregarded all these years. This movie is loads of fun with great performances and an ending that goes far above and beyond the call of duty for a sports flick.
"Diggstown" may be my choice for the most underrated movie of all-time.
Major League (1989)
Top Guilty Pleasure
This movie is pure Velveeta and packs every sports-flick cliche ever seen into 90 minutes...but I still laugh out loud during many of the lines I can quote verbatim and still get chills every time Ricky Vaughn strides out of the bullpen at the end.
Not a great movie by any means, but ten years later it's still one of my favorites.
Night of the Creeps (1986)
Still one of the best
I saw this movie 12 years ago and can still vivdly remember a number of the small details that make this a must-see for any fan of the '80s and horror flicks in general. (The characters named after splatter directors, the one-liners and Det. Cameron, one of the best characters in horror history.)
I saw pretty much every crippled "Scream" clone that came down the pike last year and can't remember much about any of them.
Do yourself a favor and track down a copy of this tragically forgotten masterpiece on video. The movie entertains where 90% of it's current big-budget, mass-marketed, wide-release brethren fail horribly. "THRILL ME!"