Reviews

Powers Boothe and Brandon Lee work opposite styles together to weave a buddy film cloth of resilience that derveved better reviews upon release. Unfortunately, the market was over crowded with far too many action movies at the time and though Rapid Fire had elements that others had not considered, it was simply dumped into their same pit.

Brandon Lee showed signs of the talent he possessed, a gentleness and thoughtfulness that's difficult to convey on film, particularly in characters whose primary aspects are violence and action. Somehow, he allowed humor to leap off the screen as well as intelligence.

Powers Boothe, as usual, brought a hard boiled wisdom to his Mace Ryan, along with av fatherly compassion for Lee's Jake Lo.

Among the cast who stand out are Nick Mancuso as organized crime boss Tony Serrano. I've always been shocked that Mancuso didn't end up with a more important career in film and television. His lead role in an 80s crime show called Stingray, which I highly recommend, if you can find. Research it first though.

Raymond J. Barry does a fine job as bent Federal agent Frank Stewart, who's time on screen is limited, but critical to the plot.

Kate Hodge plays a police officer on Mace Ryan's crack staff and is a love interest of Lee's character Jake Lo. Ms. Hodge is beautiful, intelligent, and makes a striking visual contrast with Asian-American Brandon Lee.

The plot is somewhat derivative, though more developed than most. It pits the Souteast Asian drug trade and the Chinese democracy movement in contrast with each other, despite not being related.

The visuals are very good, the editing is typical of the time with quick cuts, attributed to the influence of MTV music videos, but not nearly as quick as we're subjected to in the 2020s.

The pacing of the story is very good and it's nice to see a film with an international cast carrying it.

Ultimately, this isn't an arthouse film, but it does carry a message skilfully conveyed by cast and crew.

Boothe and Lee deliver excellent performances throughout and their relationship grows into a father and son style situation culminating in the climax.

I believe the film delivers an action style with intelligence and heart, well above its competitors of time.

If you like action movies, are admirers of Powers Boothe, Brandon Lee, or Nick Mancuso then see this film.

One sad aspect ties 2 of these actors together and that's the fact that they aren't walking our planet any longer. Most shockingly, the youngest of the 2, Brandon Lee, was the 1st to "cross over"as my Cherokee grandparents taught me to say.

Brandon Lee February 1, 1965 - March 31, 1993 Powers Boothe June 1 1948 - May 14, 2017.

I bought this movie as soon as I could.

Yes, I'm a beach volleyball fan and was a decent regional player back then. I love the sport and while this movie had no chance of being taken seriously by Hollywood it was enjoyed by a bunch of beach players.

The work that Howell and Horton put in prior to filming was put to good use by the director. Plus, they're both photogenic, as my wife will attest to. She has a "thing" for tall, athletically built guys, like me, and every beach volleyball player featured in this film.

The storyline is without complications. A no- frills script that's a way to get these guys on the beach and playing the greatest professional beach volleyball players in history. I'm being a bit harsh about the story. The relationships of all the principal actors is important and the love stories add an impact that fleshes the story out.

Do I recommend SIDE OUT? Yes, enthusiastically. If you have every played volleyball, you'll appreciate the action. If you've ever watched the AVP beach volleyball, especially back in the 90s, this is a movie you should see.

The greatest team to ever play the sport, Randy Stoklos and Sinjin Smith are here and they play what the flick wants us to buy is they're the "bad guys." Other great players in this are: Steve Obradovich, Steve Timmons, Brent Frohoff, Tim Hovland, Ricci Luyties, Kent Steffes, Mike Dodd, Roger Clark, Pono Maa, Wally Goodrich, and Randy Dvorak.

Another guy in this film is a guy who gave me what is known as a "facial" which means getting smacked in the face with a spike. Chris Marlowe broke my nose in a pickup game. He apologized, but I'm sure he liked it since my teammate and I were beating his team, big time. Since tgati was the 9th time my nose had been broken, it wasn't a big thing to me.

I loved the film and still enjoy seeing it and remembering when my body still worked well. LOL! Father time is undefeated!

With all of these storylines flowing through Frank Castle's life, and all of these odd characters rolling through the canvas of Frank's life. How will he be able to force a convergance and find a solution to his ultimate question: who killed his family and why?

Frank begins working with Micro, though, in my estimation, Frank likes Micro as much as root canals. Though Frank does show some loyalty to Micro's wife.

Frank continues on his mission, solving crimes he hasn't chosen to prioritize, as he goes on trying to solve the most important crime.

I think I see a pattern here. Anyone else?

Go, Frank Castle!

The Punisher was not a comic from my childhood. No. My favorite comic book hero back then was Daredevil. It struck me as funny that two of my favorite comic superhero characters ended up thrown together on TV. Ironic, don't you think?

The Punisher as a character, made a first appearance in a Spiderman comic in the mid-seventies. I was in high school by then and was buying more music books than comic books. But ... ... I had no idea that just a few years later I would do what men in my family had been doing since the Revolutionary War, and enlisted in the military. Then, after 15 years in the military, I might rejoin the civilian rat race with attitudes more in line with a Frank Castle. But, hey, that's what was going on with me.

I've not seen these The Punisher shows save for a snippet, here or there. So, being able to enjoy these is quite a pleasure.

This second episode in the series does a better job of adding some layers to the world of Frank Castle. It also adds characters that inhabit Frank Castle's world with him and begins to give those characters some storylines and how they might interact with Castle sooner, or in some cases, later.

This series is very well made with superb production values. The money invested in the series is evident from the outset and is manifest in everything from the costumes, the sets, the stunts, the direction, the scripts, and the acting.

One major aspect of any Superhero show are the stunts. While there may not be any huge Avengers' stunts here, the ones that are part of this production are clear, well done, and believable. That is one of the best parts of practical stunts over cgi stunts.

The Punisher is my favorite comic character so I'll be watching these as long as I stay awake.

Shogun is a close to a perfect adaptation of a novel as is possible.

Having written novels, I can tell you that being able to convey on a screen what is written on the page requires the work of so many people, very talented people at that. The writer simply sits and types what is in their head. Sure, it requires effort, but it's the work of an individual primarily, and an editor, who comes along and saves your rearend.

Shogun was a masterpiece of inimitable style and effort. It took the hard work of so many people to create it.

The work was so good that I actually began to teach myself Japanese from it. Mind you, only spoken Japanese. I was studying Judo and Aikido, after separation from the military at the time. So, I needed some type of physical exertion to prevent me from going entirely out of my mind. The fact that I learned the Japanese sword in Aikido was instrumental in choosing it. Also, our Sensei taught classes in Japanese and that made it great too.

As a story, Shogun may seem simplistic, initially, but that soon gives way to so many other plot evolutions that may call for a score card to keep up. Keep up though, you'll be rewarded. I promise you.

No one has ever made another miniseries to stand up to this one. No one.

Do yourself a favour. See Shogun. You'll not be disappointed, in the least.

This BBC production won its spurs when it was able to cast Sir Alec Guinness as George Smiley. Suddenly, the floodgates opened and all of the finest actors in the UK rushed to join this cast.

The writing, acting, directing, stunts, and special effects were all first rate for the time period. Its reception in the UK was excellent, assisted by a strike at ITV. Which I found wickedly funny and delivered by David Cornwell himself in an interview well after the event.

With a storyline as complex as is necessary in the espionage world, this miniseries delivers on all fronts. It's a tour de force by Sir Alec as Smiley. His moments of quiet reflection convey what took the author a page of writing to bring to the reader's mind. Guinness was a tremendous talent and his talents were put to excellent use by the story and direction in this production.

The rest of the rest are the cream of the crop of the UK and it is readily apparent.

That it was brought to the US by PBS is something of a shame, by that I mean some of the more risque aspects of the original BBC production were edited out. Pity that. US audiences are not that unworldly to have been able to cope with more NSFW material.

As a guy who worked in the intelligence world in a previous lifetime, I find Cornwell's novels the best representations of the actual world of espionage. There are few beautiful women waiting behind the next door or flashy sports cars too whisk operatives out of danger either. Yes, there is an analog to the Q branch, however it's nothing like the Bond films.

What is portrayed here is far closer to fact than anything you've ever seen in a Fleming based film.

I enjoyed this series immensely, as well as the file up, Smiley's People. In fact, on YouTube has both linked together which makes for a perfect day of George Smiley marathon, for your viewing pleasure.

Enjoy, espionage aficionados, enjoy!

Kelsey Grammer, Lauren Holly, Rob Schneider, and a tub full of assorted nuts take on the USN's nuclear submarines in a vintage diesel sub in was games.

The rest of the cast is filled with distinguished thespians, including William H. Macy from my own hometown.

If you've never seen this film, and enjoy tense, terse dramas like Run Silent, Run Deep, this is not for you. If a silly, mostly funny movie about a misfit crew is more in your line of a few hours time wasting, then by all means, welcome aboard.

Harland Williams gets an opportunity to shine in a few goofy scenes and is genial, funny, and sweet.

Lauren Holly is intelligent, clever, and beautiful.

Kelsey Grammer plays this mostly surprisingly straight. I hardly expected that as a style in such a farce, but he's the actor here, not me. Bruce Dern as Grammer's rival and foil is perfectly cast as an evil heel, a role he's spent a lifetime perfecting.

If you're looking for a fun few hours of low level humor, then, why not this? It's free on YouTube! Sure, this isn't something to show little children, but your preteens have seen worse online, not to mention any teenagers at home.

For me, honestly, aside from the first talking version of The Virginian, with Gary Cooper and Walter Huston, this version with Bill Pullman and the always excellent Diane Lane, is my favorite.

This version is more true to the Owen Wister novel than others, and for me that makes it an overwhelming winner.

Both the main actors do a superb job with their characterizations, which creates the correct atmosphere to carry the storyline throughout the entire film.

Pullman looks great on a horse, perhaps not as smooth as Gary Cooper, but Coop grew up on a horse. Lane wears the period costumes perfectly and her chemistry with Pullman is tangible.

One thing I have yet to say is that, like the eponymous character, I too am a Virginian. Ironic that I should have fallen in love with this story. There is a major flaw here though, while I live on a horse farm, I'm a terrible rider. I'm far better on a motorcycle.

While I did ride horses as a kid, the older I got, the worse I got at riding them. I think the issue is that I can only ride something where there's only one brain involved and the brain sits in my skull.

Back to the movie.

Like I said in the beginning, this version is my favorite after the 1929 Gary Cooper version of The Virginian. I'd say, that puts this film in perfect company.

I highly recommend reading the Owen Wister novel, and then see this movie.

If reading the novel is too much effort then just see this film. It's an excellent take on a Western story that became the archetype for every western story that came after it.

Who would have thought that teen idol Richard Grieco was such an excellent comedian?

The cast is overflowing with talent; Linda Hunt, Roger Rees, Gabrielle Anwar, etc. It's rare when a first time film star gets this kind of supporting cast it is an event.

While this film is a comedy spoof it is accomplished with aplomb. Grieco runs wild across Europe in a Lotus with the assistance of Gabrielle Anwar, who will go on to assist yet another spy, one Michael Westen.

This spoof actually succeeds in many ways and provides laughs along the way as we travel with the gang.

If laughs and early 1990s silliness are your bag, this is your film.

Frankly, I went in anticipating little in the way of entertainment and I was rewarded with roughly an hour and a half of thrills, spills, and giggles. Try it, and you might like it as I did.

This series deserves to be seen by more people. The production standards are far above other shows during this time.

I highly recommend this to anyone interested in Indiana Jones, the character. His backstory, as presented here is absolutely fascinating and spectacular. See it for yourself and be thrilled by this project.

This film touched me. In addition to the always magnificent Dame Helen Mirren, Daniel Bruhl was superb, but the performance that truly surprised me was that of Ryan Reynolds.

He's always great, this time he was emotionally involved. I just love this story.

Patton adds humor to this episode, which makes it great. It also is like some strange foreshadowing for the film, :Keeping Up with the Jones'. Although Jones' features Zach Galifianakis in a role that Patton Oswalt could have easily filled, both roles require the "Oh darn, I'm scared to death and can't do the things you spy people do all the time." That type of role is perfect for both Zach and Patton. They're covering the Jerry Lewis segment of Hollywood films currently, though I find both Patton and Zach far funnier these days.

All in all, this is a really good episode, of a show I always enjoy all the time.

This is one of the best Native films I had seen in a very long time. One of the main reasons for that assessment is that for once we Native types are shown in modern society.

So often, we are portrayed as only existing in the 19th century, wearing feathers, breechclouts, tomahawks in our belts, carrying rifles and trying to kill off a bunch of poor white people who want to take our land. With that kind of PR it's no wonder we Natives have to exist only in the 19th century.

In the film Smoke Signals we are allowed to exist in this century, have contemporary issues and work to solve those issues in constructive manners.

The performances of all of the main characters were absolutely wonderful. In particular, Adam Beach and Evan Adams carried off their characters fantastically. As usual, Tantoo Cardinal and Gary Farmer were superb, and John Truedell was excellent as the radio DJ, Randy Peone on KREZ.

In short, I loved this movie, from the first time I saw it when it was released in 1998 and I continue to love it every time I see it.

Much as I admired Basil Rathbone's Holmes, Mr. Brett will always be the Sherlock Holmes that I see in my mind's eye. His work for Granada will occupy my thoughts, rather exclusively.

James D'Arcy made a very fine Sherlock and Richard E. Grant was an excellent Mycroft.

The film was very entertaining and was well and truly finely produced.

The production designer performed admirably, delivering a Victorian background, which was nicely populated by extras wearing well made Victorian costumes.

Altogether, this was a superb film that I quite enjoyed.

Ian McShane stars as an antique dealer who solves problems, crimes and assists all kinds of people, as he is able. Lovejoy does all of that while being as cheeky as he can be. The writing is impeccable, the actors deliver superb performances and the production values are top shelf To watch Lovejoy is to be entertained in exquisite fashion.

Enjoy! Cheers!

After seeing the initial film, I was hungry for more and the series came along at the perfect time in my life.

After studying martial arts since I was 15 years old, I longed for well written entertainment that included martial arts. I also became a fencer in college, so sword work really added a flair to the show for me.

I'll come back to this review when I can access my computer as there is no way to see what I am entering until after the fact.