Reviews

Quite simply, this movie should be remembered as a pure piece of Americana at its finest. In 1973 wrestling promoter Verne Gagne took some of the best wrestlers in the pro wrestling world and got them to make a movie about pro wrestling. The movie, 30 years in retrospect, looks more like a cheeky documentary produced in the classic "kayfabe" style (the traditional promotion of wrestling as a sport, cloaked in mystique and tradition).

The wrestling talent is pure, raw and unadulterated - featuring stars such as Dick the Bruiser, the Crusher, Nick Bockwinkle, Ric Flair, Dory Funk Jr, and "Dirty" Dick Murdoch, Dusty Rhodes and many others - all young and in just starting to hit their peaks. And in a rare appearance, Vincent J. McMahon, the progenitor of the now popular WWF/WWE - promoting pro wrestling in the old style, before the glitz, glamor and entertainment hoopla surrounding it. Verne Gagne himself also appears in this movie as one of its main stars, putting himself over the competition in his typical egotistical, yet entertaining, style.

But this movie isn't all wrestling. There's a good story to be told here, essentially giving the viewer the feel as if they've cut right into the middle of a traditional wrestling program. There is no real start or ending to this story, but it is another chapter in the daily struggle of faces and heels.

Ed Asner is the main star here, his acting ability along with his middle-age looks are a perfect fit for the character, he really does look like a wrestling promoter trying to keep his business together and defending it from the outside corrupting influences of a local mobster (played by legendary wrestler & commentator "Slammin'" Sam Menacker).

There is no comparison to any other wrestling movie made, this one is definitely the undisputed heavyweight champion!

Probably no movie was pushed as hard in 1993 as Demolition Man. With an all-star line up of Sly Stallone, Sandra Bullock, Wesley Snipes, Dennis Leary and Nigel Hawthorne, how could you go wrong? They even had a large million-dollar marketing campaign tie-in with Taco Bell.

Unfortunate it flopped and flopped hard at the box office after taking a beating from the movie critics. They said the script was horrible and unrealistic, the acting was bad considering the cast, and it was yet another boring shoot-em-up.

So what is it like 10 years later? A little too close for comfort if you ask me! As I stated in the title this movie was way ahead of its time. Who would have known that in less than a decade politics, science and technology would have skyrocketed us into the 21st century. While we don't yet have ray guns and cars that drive themselves, we do have frozen Hall of Famers, personal communication devices that permeate our lives, and the beginning of a government looking to use it all to sterilize and sanitize the way we work, play, live and love.

Granted the script was pretty custom written. The Taco Bell tie-in is just pretty blatant and obvious. Dennis Leary's character was mainly based around his hit parody song "I'm an A**hole" and his comedy tour. Sandra Bullock's chracter's love of contraband 20th century items just happened to all be products from 20th Century Fox, the film studio for this project. Still, this is an action flick! The whole point of the film is for the stars to blow stuff up! If critics don't like a film for what it was written for, why bother to review it at all?

This was probably the most quotable movie of the year as well, mainly based from the blatant misquotes by Bullock's chracter. "Take this job and shovel it", indeed! :)

Ever ask yourself what the world would be like if Kevin Arnold's (The Wonder Years)alter-ego lived life through his warped and hyperbolic sense of the world? You know, like that one flashback episode where him and best friend Paul Pfeiffer envisioned themselves as Kirk & Spock and they had become captured by the evil alluring alien trio of Winnie Cooper, Becky Slater & Carla Healy?

That is the life of Louis Stevens. And with no surprise - Fred Savage (Kevin Arnold) serves as director for this outrageous comedy depicting the story of an average teenage boy trying to grow up in an over-achieving family. Focusing much on his school day, ALL of the characters in this show are intentional parodies of themselves from the super-jockular and super-tubby Coach Tugnut to the egomanical and all-controlling Principal Wexler.

This show may only have a few seasons of production life, but it will live in re-runs for years to come!