Reviews

"A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge" isn't as bad as its reputation. This movie has never been anyone's favorite but it's not that bad either. It's a hit and miss affair. Some "Freddy's Revenge" doesn't work that well but other scenes are pretty effective. It takes a little while to get going and the ending isn't the greatest but the stuff in between is pretty good. A big problem that this movie has a hard time overcoming is the cast. It's not the greatest. They're just not that appealing. A more likeable set of actors would have gone a long way in making "Freddy's Revenge" a better watch.

I've always kind of liked "Tango & Cash". I saw it in the theaters and later a bunch of times on cable. Today was the first time I've seen it in years. And you know what? I still kind of like it. It's a fun movie. I mean, it's completely ridiculous but it's still fun. The cast is very likeable. Sylvester Stallone and Kurt Russell seem to be having a good time together. The supporting cast is also good. Jack Palance hams it up (in a good way) and Teri Hatcher has never been dreamier. "Tango & Cash" does run out of gas towards the end. The big finale is less than thrilling. But warts and all, I had a good time watching this movie today.

The Bowery Boys movies are a hit or miss kind of thing. Because of their short running time most of their movies are pretty watchable. "Hold That Baby!" fits into the watchable category. Everything about the movie is fine. There aren't that many laughs but there are a few. As usual, Louie gets most of the laughs. All in all, "Hold That Baby!" was an easy way to kill and hour (and four minutes) on a lazy Sunday morning. (IMDB has a six hundred character minimum. Usually that's not a problem. But with a movie like "Hold That Baby!", it gets a little tricky. You can only say so much about a movie like this.)

The 80's were a great decade for teen movies. In fact, it was the best. There were a ton of great ones that everybody knows. But there were also some really good ones that slipped through the cracks. "Firstborn" is one of those that a lot of people missed. That's a shame. "Firstborn" is top-notch stuff. The cast is great. Teri Garr, Peter Weller, Christopher Colet and Corey Haim all deliver the goods. "Firstborn" is not a perfect movie. The coach character is pointless and the teacher is totally ridiculous. The chase scene is also a bit much. That said, when "Firstborn" is on point, it's great stuff.

I remember when I saw "A Nightmare on Elm Street" in the theater (Sunrise Multiplex, Valley Stream, NY). I saw towards the end of its run which meant I spent weeks listening to how great it was. It lived up to the hype. "A Nightmare on Elm Street" is a fun ride of a horror movie. Writer/director Wes Craven came up with an outlandish premise but managed to deliver quite a few thrills. The cast is fine (with one exception) but I have to admit that I've always wished that Heather Langenkamp and the dreamy Amanda Wyss had switched roles. Wyss is too hot to stuck walking half of the movie in a bloody body bag. The weak link in the cast, by the way, is the annoying Ronee Blakley.

Writer/director/producer John Hughes reaches into his standard bag of tricks with "Curly Sue" and, for the most part, he pulls it off. Some of his gags don't work. Some of his characters don't work either. But when "Curly Sue" works, it's enjoyable. Most of the credit has to go to Jim Belushi. Belushi is on his game and ends up delivering a very likeable performance. It's because of Belushi that the movie manages to survive when it hits the occasional bump in the road. A dreamy Kelly Lynch also does a nice job. I don't watch "Curly Sue" nearly as often as I watch many of Hughes' other movies but this morning it hit the spot. (I also saw this movie in the theater when it first came out.)

I've seen "Invitation to a Gunfighter" a few times before I sat down to watch it tonight. I never really liked but I decided to give it another go. I don't know why I bothered. "Invitation to a Gunfighter" doesn't have a lot going for it. It has a good cast, I guess, but none of them stand out. In fact, most of the performances are lacking. The script and the direction are heavy-handed. The movie takes itself way too seriously. "Invitation to a Gunfighter" starts off okay but after a half hour or so it turns into homework. It ends up being a hard movie to finish. I think this is the end of the road for me and "Invitation to a Gunfighter". Honorable mention: the "Psycho" house is in it.

"Everyone Says I Love You" is an uneven movie but when it's on, it's on. The movie looks terrific with excellent location photography. The cast is likeable. I'm not the biggest fan of either Edward Norton or Tim Roth but they're both fine in this movie. The story is barely there but it doesn't really matter. "Everyone Says I Love You" is an easy going musical with more than a handful of laughs. However, it does skip a beat here and there. The Groucho Marx French song scene doesn't work. It's actually almost annoying. The wake scene is really good and Goldie's and Woody's dance is excellent. It's actually quite beautiful. "Everyone Says I Love You" isn't perfect, it's about twenty minutes too long, but I like it.

I know that Netflix is starved for content but not everyone deserves a documentary. Wham! May have sold a lot records way back when but they don't have much of a story to tell. The story of Wham! Isn't much different than the story of other pop groups. The movie "Wham!" drags out their story for an hour and a half. There used to be a show on VH1 called "Behind the Music". "Behind the Music" could have told the story of Wham! In an hour (including commercials). I would like to say that this movie is for Wham! Fans only but I'm not sure any exist anymore. (IMDB has a six hundred character minimum.)

Writer/director Peter Bogdanovich lays egg with "Nickelodeon". It's a noisy, obnoxious movie. Sure there's a laugh here and there but, for the most part, it's an annoying experience. Many of the gags are too broad and go on for too long. I saw this movie at the Sunrise Drive-In (Valley Stream, NY) when it first came out. I don't think I've sat through the whole thing since. You want to know why? Because it's not that good. (I watched "Nickelodeon" tonight On Demand TCM in black & white. Supposedly Bogdanovich wanted to film this movie in B&W but the studio said no. But sorry Peter, taking the color out of a color movie doesn't turn it into a B&W movie. It just turns it into a color movie without color. It's reverse colorization.)

There's a lot that's wrong with "Driven". In fact, there's little that's right with this movie. It's silly and uninteresting pretty much every step of the way. The racing scenes are colorful and sound great but they're anything but exciting. Those scenes are ruined by an endless series of close-ups of concerned faces. Another big problem is the young cast members. They are also dull and uninteresting. I didn't care about anything that was going on with them. Sylvester Stallone gives an okay performance but he's never believable as a racecar driver. Burt Reynolds looks good but they make him spend the whole movie in a wheelchair. What were they thinking? "Driven" is probably the worst movie Sylvester Stallone has ever written.

"At Close Range" is terrific every step of the way. Don't get me wrong. It's not for the faint of heart. It's rough stuff but it's an excellent piece of filmmaking. The cast is top-notch with one great performance after another. Sean Penn and Christopher Walken both deliver Oscar caliber performances. This is probably Walken's best work. Director James Foley deserves all of the credit in the world. Foley ends up delivering one of the best movies to come out of the 1980's. "At Close Range" is terrific but be ready for a rough ride. (I saw this movie when it first came out at Movie World, Douglaston, NY.)

I've never been the biggest fan of "Monkey Shines: An Experiment in Fear". When it first came out on video I rented it. I thought it was okay. But over the last twenty years or so I've become more and more of a fan of George Romero and, therefore, more of a fan of this movie. After all these years, "Monkey Shines" ends up being a solid '80s horror movie. Sure, it's not perfect. It's about twenty minutes too long for starters. And the nurse and mother characters are a little bit too annoying. Although, it's always nice to have Christine Forrest around. (I can't always say that for Joyce Van Patten.)

"Helter Skelter" came out of the glory days of made-for-tv movies and it's one of the most memorable. Now, it may not have the impact that it did years ago as the memory of Charles Manson and his followers fade but it still has an impact. "Helter Skelter" is a long movie (it originally aired as a two parter) that often feels long. Much of the dialogue is expository. It doesn't always sound real but it does explain what the authorities were dealing with as they tried to bring Charles Manson and company to justice. When I was a kid this movie used to scare me. It doesn't scare me anymore but it's still a good watch. Honorable mention: a dreamy Cathey Paine.

I've been meaning to watch "The Informer" for about forty years. I know that's a long time but I just never really came across it. Although I've bought a bunch of movies that I've never seen before, I never could pull the trigger on "The Informer". I also always missed it when it was on Turner Classic Movies. Until now that is. I'm glad I finally did because it's a great movie. But that doesn't mean that's it's a perfect film. It's not a long movie (91 minutes) but it feels like it at times. There are more than one scene that goes on too long. "The Informer" is an old movie that sometimes feels like an old movie. But when it shines, it top-notch stuff. The last five minutes are amazing. Honorable mention: the trial scene.

I saw "The Deadly Tower" for the first time it aired on television many years ago. I saw it a bunch of times after that when it was repeated. Today was the first I watched it in years. It's excellent. It's edge-of-your-seat stuff. Kurt Russell does a nice job playing the sniper. He doesn't have much dialogue. The rifle does his talking. The rest of the cast is also very good with the stand outs being Richard Yniguez and Ned Beatty. Yniguez gives a terrific performance. He should have nominated for an Emmy. There isn't a lot of music in "The Deadly Tower". Just the sounds of gun shots. That adds a lot tension to the movie. "The Deadly Tower" come out during the golden age of made-for-tv movies and it's one of the best.

I don't want to pick on "Bounty Hunter in Trinity". It would be like shooting fish in a barrel. Spaghetti Westerns are a hit or miss kind of thing. Some are really good/great. Some are campy fun. Others are just bad. "Bounty Hunter in Trinity" is a bad one. The copy Grjngo Western Movies posted on YouTube looks great. But the sets, costumes and makeup don't. The cast is okay, I guess, but there aren't any stand outs. Despite a pretty high body count, the final twenty minutes are dull, almost boring. I'm glad I watched this movie because I really enjoy spaghetti westerns but I can't see myself watching this one again.

I've seen "An American Werewolf in London" a bunch of times. Sometimes I think it's okay. Other times I don't like it as much. Writer/director John Landis deserves an E for effort. He aimed high and almost hit the target. "An American Werewolf in London" is a great looking movie. The transformation scene is a history making piece of cinema. But the movie has its fair share of flaws. The dream sequences don't work at all. They're actually kind of dumb. The supporting cast if fine, especially the dreamy Jenny Agutter but David Naughton is in over his head. He doesn't give a bad performance, per se. It's just that he's not really leading man material.

"Trapped" is fine for what it is. It's not anything groundbreaking but it tells its story well. Charlize Theron is easy on the eyes while Kevin Bacon's jet black dyed hair isn't. Sometimes you have to take the good with the bad. I watched "Trapped" last night and this morning I watched an old black & white episode of "The Adventures of Superman" and you know what? It was the exact same story! Now, the villains on the show were spies instead revenge seeking kidnappers and the girl in "Superman" had braces on her legs instead of asthma but everything else was the same. Maybe it's just a coincidence. Or maybe the writer has some explaining to do.

"Over the Top" is a big, loud kid's movie. It's like Sylvester Stallone decided to make a family movie and this is what he came up with. On paper, "Over the Top" isn't that bad but it needed another director. With producer/director Menahem Golan at the helm, this movie didn't stand a chance. Golan's style is as subtle as a sledgehammer. He smothers any chance this movie may have had. He doesn't seem concerned with getting good performances out of his cast. The performances are universally uneven with Robert Loggia faring best. Throw in a bunch of product placements and almost non-stop songs on the soundtrack and "Over the Top" ends up being another dud for Stallone.

"Patriot Games" is a solid action movie. It's action scenes are well staged and exciting. It's cast is (mostly) just as good. Harrison Ford does a nice job in a role that he's perfectly suited for. James Earl Jones is also perfectly cast and does a very nice job as well. The rest of the cast is strong but there is one weak link, Anne Archer. A little Archer goes a long way. I've seen "Patriot Games" quite a few times over the years. Last night was the first time I watched it in a while. It hit the spot. (IMDB has a six hundred character minimum so I have to ramble on for a little while. So, how was your day?)

I wouldn't call myself a fan of Liam Neeson's movies. Far from it. But for reason, I've seen a lot of them. "Retribution" is pretty standard Neeson fare. It's a good looking movie with some great locations. The cast is fine. The only week link is the sometimes tolerable Matthew Modine. A little of Modine goes a long way. As usual, Modine overstays his welcome. As for Liam Neeson, the guy never mails it in. He gives a serviceable performance in "Retribution". It's his standard post-"Taken" work. Not bad, it's serviceable. It does the job. "Retribution" paints itself into a corner pretty quickly. It's an okay Neeson thriller.

There are a couple of goods things in "Thanksgiving". It is a good looking movie and the killer's mask looks kind of creepy. The biggest plus of the movie is Nell Verlaque. I was very impressed by Verlaque's performance. I asked my twenty-five year old daughter and her boyfriend if they knew Verlaque. If she was from tv show that I've never heard of. They both said no. They didn't know who she was. For a newcomer, Verlaque handles herself like a seasoned pro. Other than those positive elements, "Thanksgiving" stinks. Director Eli Roth may have been trying to make a campy horror movie or some kind of parody but for whatever he was trying to do, he fails miserably.

There are a lot of big laughs in "Meet the Parents" but the movie is just a little too silly. The cast is likeable and that goes a long way to making this movie a fun watch. I saw this movie when it was in the theater but I never bothered with any of the sequels. I guess that probably means that I don't like it as much as I think I do. Dishonorable mention: Ben Stiller's jet black hair dye. (IMDB has a six hundred character minimum so I have to ramble on a few minutes. I watched "Meet the Parents" with my twenty-five year old daughter last night. She really enjoyed it. Now she wants to watch "Meet the Fockers". I can't wait.)