Splinter cell: back in black...

Well its been a wee while since my last post so I thought I would do one on a game for a change and nope it isn't GTA V as I haven't even bought it yet!  Instead this one is on the new Splinter Cell game, Blacklist, which sees the first game without Michael Ironside at the voiceover helm of the main character Sam Fisher, but we'll get to that later for now let's get on with the usual....

So the story of the game begins with Sam Fisher (voiced by Eric Johnson) who along with his friend Victor Coste leave Guam airforce base where unknown enemy force destroys the entire base.  Sam and Victor manage to escape but in doing so Victor is injured after trying to save Sam from a grenade.  Later a terrorist group named "The Engineers" takes responsibility for the attack, and they reveal it will be the first of many "blacklist" attacks they will set on the United states, which will not stop until the American government will call back all American troops deployed in abroad.  In response to this threat the President of the United States of America, Patricia Caldlwell, assigns Sam to a new special ops and counter-terrorist unit called fourth echelon, as Sam is teamed up with his old ally, Anna "Grim" Grimsdottir, and a new members consisting of Charlie Cole, a hacker specialist and field agent Isaac Briggs.  Along with his team, Sam is put in charge of hunting down the terrorists and trying to stop the attacks on American soil.

Splinter Cell Blacklist is a very solid and entertaining addition to the Splinter cell series, however the departure of Michael Ironside is definitely felt and is the game's single biggest disappointment as for me and I'm sure everyone else, he was the voice of Sam Fisher.  And in his place is Eric Johnson, a younger Canadian actor, who to be quite honest is not really well suited to the part and he sounds too young to voice the role of Sam, a middle aged man, but Johnson is in his md 30s and it shows in his voice.  Ironside however was on record as saying he felt it was time he stepped down from playing the character and let someone else play the part, but for me its a real pity he didn't stay on.  However despite that, what makes Splinter cell so entertaining and enjoyable as a spy stealth game is still very much there, and as far as stealth action games go there are few games their equal.  And after the slight departure from the norm in Splinter Cell Conviction, the series get's fully back on track with Sam back in his special ops gear, complete with infrared goggles, sneaking around and infiltrating different surroundings, he's back to what he does best.

As for the gameplay well its pretty much the same as we have seen in previous games in the series and why deviate from a formula that has worked so well, and in addition to the single player campaing there are other modes, such as co-op mode, where another player can join in with you and play select missions in the game that require two players.  Sam can also do side-missions for his team mates, Grim, Charlie and Isaac, as well as a prisoner they hold in a cell on the plane, Andriy Kobin and these can be played either in single or co-op mode.  And naturally there is of course the multi-player mode, however as I tend to find multiplayer games quite boring I'd much rather immerse myself in the single player campaign which is pretty entertaining as it is.

The main centre in between missions is set on an airplane which forms as the base of operations for Fourth echelon, and it works pretty well in the game, as Sam can wander around different parts of the plane to chat with his team mates, such as Grim, Charlie or Isaac.  And in talking to his team, Sam can obtain different upgrades, particularly from Charlie, who offers Sam some modifications to his special ops suit, as well as his special equipment.  Sam can also through Grim (and with the money you gain from passing missions) upgrade parts of the plane to allow further access to the plane's facilities.

And there are many upgrades available to Sam for his weapons and specialised equipment, of which one of the best inclusions is the special alternate weapons, which include non-lethal ones, such as a stun-gun and a crossbow.  And with the crossbow Sam can also add a variety of different features, which include sticky shockers, which we saw from the previous games which can be used to incapacitate people as well as sleeping gas, a new feature, which naturally can be used to knock out someone.  Sam as the game progresses can purchase different weapons as well such as handguns, machine guns, shotguns, as well as sniper rifles, all of which are upgradeable, and can include different features such as upgrades in ammo capacity, piercing rounds, laser sighting, anti-recoil measures and scopes.  Sam's goggles have received some upgrades aswell, as in addition to the usual infrared (or infragreen as it is here, although you can change this colour) he also can access other modes such as sonar or footprint mode in the dark, which detects the prints of Sam's enemies. 

In terms of Sam's movement not too much has changed from the previous games as he can still do all the usual acrobatics of running, jumping, climbing, shimmying, as well as dangling from overhead pipes where he can pounce on unsuspecting baddies and knock them out.  A new addition however is called killing in motion where Sam can make multiple targets and kill them while on the move.  Similar though to Conviction in order to engage the execute mode, where Sam take headshots (i.e. take them out, not take a photograph!) he has to perform a hand to hand take down, but that's the only thing that's the same in this respect.  However one welcome aspect that has been brought back to the game that was missing in Conviction was the ability to pick up and hide bodies in a corner where they won't be seen, as in the previous game you couldn't do that you just had to knock them out or kill them where they stand, so it was good to see that back in the game.  Also another welcome addition is that Sam can now sprint and he can even run in crouch mode, which is also really good as it allows for some move fast in a low position. 

Getting on the game's graphics well overall the presentation is pretty good although what slightly let's them down is the fact that the character models do look a little bit unsophisticated as the most up to date game's are.  Sam while he still has his grey hair has almost been made to look a little bit younger, which you could argue was made to fit in with his now more youthful voice.  The environments however all look very good and as usual there is a great variety in the mission levels graphics as Sam breaches different areas, such as say an old warehouse in rainy London, or a fuel base in Iran. 

As for the level difficulty isn't too bad overall, although some of the later missions can be tricky, especially one where Sam enters a facility and he has to stealthy take out some heavily armed mercaneries.  But you should be able to complete the game itself with relative ease and the single player campaign is quite lengthy which is always quite welcome (that way you get good value for money!), and on the Xbox 360 version its comes on two discs, which is something of a surprise although the second contains an HD texture pack, as due to the game's size it would probably account for the need of a second disc. 

Voice acting wise the cast are all mostly excellent, but as I already said I felt that Eric Johnson as Sam Fisher was miscast as they really needed someone older to play the part, and his voice doesn't lend to the authoritative or intimidating figure that Sam Fisher can be.  However the other voice cast members are very good, particularly Kate Drummond who plays Anna Grimsdottir, who makes her first appearance as Sam's old ally who has been with Sam since the beginning of the series.  Sound wise the game also sounds really good and it has a pretty good music score (not sure who it is who does it however!) as it has a different sound to the previous Splinter cell scores.

So that's it for my look at Splinter Cell Blacklist, which is a very worthy addition to the series, although the departure of Michael Ironside remains its biggest disappointment, in most other regards it sure isn't.

And with that, that's it for nowww.  

Wax on, wax off......

OK this post goes back to the1980s vault again (seems almost like a theme this month!) and I will look at a real classic, the martial arts romantic drama, The Karate Kid, which launched the career of Ralph Macchio, who developed a fine line in playing teenagers after this (despite the fact he was 23 at the time!).  Anyway so let's take a look....

Right so the film starts with teenager, Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) and his mother (Randee Heller) moving from Newark, New Jersey out to Reseda in Los Angeles.  Once they arrive Daniel befriends a boy from the neighbourhood and he also meets the apartment handyman, Mr Miyagi (Pat Morita) an eccentric but kind immigrant from Okinawa.  The boy invites Daniel to a beach party where he meets Ali Mills (Elisabeth Shue) an attractive high school cheerleader.  However the party is interrupted by Ali's ex-boyfriend, Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) who is an arrogant bully, who Daniel confronts and ends up on receiving end of a beating from Johnny, who turns out to be a top karate student at a local club called Cobra Kai.  Daniel decides to start practising karate as well, as he knows a little from classes he attended at the YMCA back in Jersey.  As time goes on Daniel makes progress wih Ali, but he is tormented and bullied by Johnny and his Cobrai Kai classmates at every opportunity.  This soon culminates when Daniel plays a trick on Johnny at the school prom which backfires on him as Johnny catches up with Daniel and gives him a severe beating.  However at this point Miyagi arrives to rescue Daniel from Johnny and his classmates as he subdues them with an impressive display of karate.  Daniel is impressed by Mr Miyagi's skill and asks him to be his tutor so he can get even with Johnny, but Miyagi refuses at first, but does agree to go along with him to confront the Johnny and his classmates at the Cobra Kai class.

On turning up at the Cobrai kai class, Miyagi speaks with the class's sensei (Japanese for teacher) John Kreese (Martin Kove) who is a former special forces Vietnam veteran, who teaches an aggressive approach to karate, and that "mercy is for the weak!".  Miyagi asks Kreese that Johnny leave Daniel alone, however Kreese insists that Daniel and Johnny fight it out in the class, but Miyagi instead suggests they fight at an upcoming karate tournament, to which Kreese agrees to let Daniel attend.  Miyagi also asks Kreese that Johnny and his classmates leave Daniel alone to train, to which Kreese agrees but warns Miyagi that if Daniel doesn't show then the harrassment will continue, and Miyagi will also become a target.  And from here Daniel starts his training under Miyagi's wing, which starts with a rather unorthodox approach with giving Daniel manual labour chores, such as cleaning his cars, painting his fence and house.  After a few days of this Daniel grows exasperated with Miyagi as he feels that Miyagi is using him rather than teaching him, but Miyagi eventually shows Daniel that by doing these chores he has been unconsciously been learning his defensive blocks used in karate, via muscle memory.  After this Daniel and Miyagi train closer together and at the same time Daniel continues to grow closer to Ali, but its not too long before the tournament is round the corner where Daniel will have to fight in order to gain the respect of his rivals.

There is no doubt that the Karate Kid is a classic film of the martial arts genre, and what's great about it is of course not so much of the emphasis is on the karate as its more on the relationship between Daniel and Mr Miyagi, which is what makes the film work so well.  Director John G.Avildsen, who directed Rocky, uses a similar theme here as he did with Rocky, by using the underdog, with Daniel in a position where he is forced to stand up to his tormentors and in doing he has to learn karate, which he uses in order to fight them and gain their respect.

Moving onto the performances, the cast are all pretty good here, starting with Ralph Macchio who does a fine job as the likeable Daniel LaRusso, who is soon put in a position where he is forced to deal with the local high school bullies that torment him.  Macchio has quite a few highlights, and his best moments are in his scenes with Mr Miyagi, particularly in the sequence where under Mr Miyagi's instruction has to clean his cars, paint his fence and his house, and he grows fed up with these tasks and Miyagi eventually shows what he has learned by Miygai making him use the motions he instructed him with when doing each task.  But my favourite moment is probably when Daniel is nearly cornered by Johnny and his classmates when Daniel manages to escape them by speaking to a nearby school teacher about a history class, and Daniel says he was interested in hearing about the class and that his buddies would like to hear it as well, then Johnny and his friends all back away and move off saying "No I've gotta go!".  Macchio also has a pretty cheesy but endearing scene where he goes to the school prom dressed up as a shower, where he shares a dance with Ali and he says to her about Johnny "well what goes around comes around".  And later on he plays a prank on Johnny by feeding a hosepipe into the toilet cubicle he occupies and turns on the water, soaking Johnny, Daniels runs off and says to Ali as he runs by "its coming around!".  

Pat Morita is great as Mr Miyagi and he also received an oscar nomination for his performance as well, and he plays Miyagi as an eccentric but decent man, who helps out Daniel and during their training they become good friends, and he plays Miyagi with a calm tone and a dry wit.  Morita get's most of the film's best dialogue and he has plenty of highlights, which include the scene where Daniel asks Miyagi what kind of belt does he have, i.e. belt in karate status, and Morita shows him his belt around his trousers "JC Penney, $3.98!  Do you like??  In Okinawa belt is only used as a rope to hold up pants!".  Also when he first shows Daniel the movements he wants him to use when cleaning his cars, he says the famous line "wax on, wax off, wax on, wax off....." and as he moves off Daniel asks Miyagi where did he get his cars from and Miyagi answers "Detroit!".  Also in the scene where Miyagi and Daniel finish training on the beach he walks up to his truck and Miyagi asks two men to remove their beer bottles of his car, to which they refuse, and Miyagi does a karate chop and cuts the tops of the bottles off without the bottles dropping on the floor.  Daniel looks on amazed and then says "How did you do that???!" and Miyagi replies "Don't know.  First time!".  But Miyagi best scene is of course where he finally reveals to Daniel what his laborious chores have been about by using the movements he asked him to use, such as "show me sand the floor!" and "show me paint the fence!" and he says to Daniel as he shows the moves are actually his defensive blocks for karate.  And at the end of the scene as Daniel bows he looks down and Miyagi testily smacks him on the head and says "Eye!  Always look eye!  Come back tomorrow!".  Morita's oscar nomination ironically was actually the result of the scene where he get's drunk and wears his army uniform from his days in the second world war, and he sadly reflects on the death of his wife, who died in childbirth.  But the execs at the time of the film's shooting felt this scene detracted from the pace of the film and felt it should have been cut, which once again just goes to show what they know!

In other performances, Elisabeth Shue is pretty good (and pretty!) as Daniel's love interest, Ali, as she plays her pretty much straight down the line as a nice girl, who falls for Daniel, but at the same time she has to contend with her jealous ex-boyfriend, Johnny, Daniel's nemesis who stands between the fledgling relationship.  Martin Kove is great as the main antagonist of the film, Kreese, the ruthless Cobrai Kai karate instructor, and he too get's plenty of classic lines, one such line is a classic where he says to his students during class "pain does not exist in this dojo!" "fear does not exist in this dojo!".  Also his main highlight is the scene where Daniel and Mr Miyagi pay Kreese a visit and Miyagi asks Kreese to have Johnny leave Daniel alone and Kreese says "this is a karate dojo, not a knitting class! Now get your boy on the mat or we'll have a problem!".  And when Miyagi asks Kreese the favour of leaving Daniel alone to train, Kreese almost laughs and says "you're pushy little bastard, aren't you?!  But I like that!".  And one of my favourite lines is when he says to Miyagi and Daniel "but if he doesn't show, then its open season on him and you!".  And of course there is the scene later on during the climactic fight between Daniel and Johnny where he says to Johnny "sweep the leg!".  John G Avildsen also amusingly gave Kreese a unique piece of direction throughout the film, which was never to smile, and Kove manages to do that really well and instead he proves a few smug smirks. 

Which brings me onto William Zabka as Johnny, who isn't bad in his role as Daniel's nemesis, although ultimately due to his bleach blonde hairdo he doesn't always looks that threatening or convincing as a baddie.  However Zabka notably took a real interest in the martial arts after the film was made and he kept it up, and throughout you can see how effective he is in the practice of the martial arts.  Zabka's best scene is probably in the sequence where at the school prom (dressed in a ghoul outfit) Danny plays a practical joke on him, dousing him in water from a hosepipe fed into his toilet cubicle, to which Johnny soon chases and catches up with Daniel and beats him up saying "you couldn't leave well alone, could you?  You little twerp!  Well now you're gonna pay!".  His final fight scene with Daniel is also pretty good, even though again he wears a pretty cheesy angry look as he prepares to fight him.  Zabka also has a great little moment where during his final fight scene with Daniel, he has a timeout where he goes to his corner and Kreese says to him to "sweep the leg" i.e. Daniel's injured leg (during a previous round in the tournament) and Kreese angrily says "you have a problem with that?!" and Johnny looks shocked and says "no sensei".  Its a great moment as Johnny realises how for Kreese this is more a personal victory over Daniel and Miyagi than a victory for Johnny. 

And finally I will quickly mention Randee Heller as Daniel's mother, who puts in a rather corny and excessively cheery performance, who has the rather mortifying task of picking up Daniel and Ali for their date and dropping them off, only later on arriving just in time to embarrass Daniel in front of Johnny and his friends to slag him off for being picked up by his mommy.  However Heller does share a good scene with Macchio when Daniel angrily throws his bike in a skip, as he has just been pushed off the road by Johnny and his classmates, and Daniel angrily says how much it sucks being in LA and he wants to go home to New Jersey.

Getting onto the direction, John G. Avildsen does a fine job here and he keeps the pace moving along nicely, and he does a great job in bringing the characters to life and making them endearing to an audience, also largely thanks Mark Robert Kamen's fine screenplay, which is both funny and charming.  Bill Conti also provides a good score for the film and it has a fairly memorable theme used in the scene where Daniel practices out on the beach.  

Flaw wise the film has one or two, the first one being that once again the film does feature some pretty cheesy 80s tunes, especially in Joe Espositos "You're the best" used during the tournament at the end of the film.  Also as I mentioned, Johnny doesn't make for a very effective antagonist as he is morely just like a spoilt yuppie brat, with a ridiculous blonde hairdo, who fails to convince in his role as Daniel's nemesis.  And the remake of the film years later with Jade Smith and Jackie Chan had a far more vicious young baddie who really kicked ass.  You could also say the whole thing of Miyagi's pain suppression technique is a bit daft, particularly in how he can use it to reduce the pain of Daniel's leg injury during the film's final fight scene.  Yet after Daniel goes out to fight he is still limping and despite during his fight with Johnny, Johnny injures Daniel's leg again, but somehow Daniel can still find the energy to stand up and fight on!  I also thought the film's final scene (PLOT SPOILERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!) with Daniel triumphing in his fight, with Mr Miyagi looking on in pride and how they use that as a freeze frame shot to end the film was also pretty corny and cringeworthy.  And surely they could have finished it in a better way than that, although John G Avildsen seems to like using final freeze frame shots to end his movies, just like he did in Rocky.

Anyhow all that aside, The Karate Kid is still a very entertaining and somewhat nostalgiac film (for me anyway!) which to this day is still the best of the three films, with Parts II and III (also directed by Avildsen) being still enjoyable but not in the same class as this one.  And years later, the film was remade starring Jackie chan and Jade Smith (son of Will Smith) except the main difference being it was set in China, and Jackie Chan taught Jade kung-fu instead of karate, and for the most part it is almost a scene for scene remake of the original, but its still a good film as well in its own right.

So that's it for now.   

Feed em to the pigs, Errol!

OK guess what?  Go on guess?  Give up?  OK its time for another review (right that's enough of that!).  This one is another comedy, well a crime comedy which is Snatch, directed by Guy Ritchie, as a follow up to his debut Lock, stock, and two smoking barrels.  And with that let's look at the plot and the usual......

So.... the story set is in London and the two main characters, are boxing promoter and slot machine shop owner, Turkish (Jason Statham) and his partner (in business that is) Tommy (Stephen Graham).  Turkish at the start of the film sends Tommy along with the boxer, "Gorgeous" George (Adam Fogerty) to pick up a caravan from a pikey campsite.  However when the caravan they are sold falls off its back wheels when being toed off, George get's into a fight with one of the pikey's, Mickey O'Neill (Brad Pitt) who turns out to be a bare knuckle boxer, who ends up knocking out George with one punch, and is left badly injured as a result.  Without a fighter for an upcoming fight, Turkish decides to apporach Mickey and ask that he take George's place, to which Mickey agrees.  Turkish approaches the gangster, Bricktop (Alan Ford) telling him that Mickey will replace George, but Bricktop insists that Mickey go down in the fourth round.  However on the night of the fight, Mickey knocks out his opponent, again with one single punch, which infuriates Bricktop, who later pays a visit to Turkish's shop and steals the money from his safe to make up for the shortfall in the match.

Meanwhile a thief, Franky "Four Fingers" (Benecio Del Toro) having pulled off a heist in Antwerp and stolen a diamond, travels to London and delivers to a diamond dealer, Doug "the head" (Mike Reid) on behalf of an American jeweller, Avi (Dennis Farina).  However one of the other robbers in the heist turns out to be the brother of an ex-KGB agent, Boris "the blade" (Rade Serbedjiza) who tells Franky he can buy a gun from Boris, but what he is not aware of is that they both intend to steal the diamond.  Boris gives Franky a gun in exchange for a favour as he wants him to place a bet at Bricktop's bookies, but Franky is known to have a serious gambling problem.  On hearing this news, Avi travels to London in order to obtain the diamond himself.  Boris in the meantime approaches two small time crooks, Vinny (Robbie Gee) and Sol (Lennie James) to rob Franky in order to retrieve the diamond, but the robbery goes wrong and they end up having to abandon it, however their driver Tyrone (Ade) manages to capture Franky.  Avi on arriving in London utilises the services of a mercenary, Bullett Tooth Tony (Vinnie Jones) in trying to retrieve the diamond.   

Meanwhile Turkish starts to feel pressure from Bricktop to use Mickey again but this time he does want him to go down in the fourth round.  Turkish then goes to Mickey and asks him to do the fight, but Mickey, who is out with his friends, hare coursing, asks him to bet on the outcome of the race, if Turkish wins, Mickey will do the fight, but if not then Turkish has to pay for his mum to get a new caravan.  Turkish makes the bet, reckoning the hare will "get fucked" but the hare ends up outrunning the two dogs, leaving Turkish in a very awkward position with Bricktop.  Bricktop then decides to punish Turkish by smashing up his slot machines and burning Mickey's mum's caravan while she was asleep in it.  Mickey realising he has little choice decides to do the fight, and on the night of the fight, the events involving Turkish, Tommy, Mickey, Bricktop, Avi, Vinny and Sol all come to ahead...

As a follow up to his impressive debut, with Snatch, Guy Ritchie produced one of his most enjoyable films, which is filled with plenty of witty cockney banter and  funny lines.  Ritchie once again delights in showing the seamy, gritty underworld of the East end of London, where we are embroiled in the world of unlicenced boxing, small time crooks, pig feeding gangsters, and two unfortunate small time boxing promoters who amongst it all are just trying to make a living.

Performance wise Snatch is also really good, starting with Jason Statham as Turkish, who while he isn't the greatest actor in the world, and has little in the way of range as an actor, he does well with playing the sarcastic and world weary promoter who provides the narration for the film.  Statham like pretty much all the cast has plenty of good lines, especially in his scenes with Tommy, one of which is where Tommy reveals he has bought a gun from Boris, and he sees that Tommy wears it in his trousers and Turkish says "what's to stop it blowing your bollocks off every time you sit down!".  Also when Bricktop's two henchman come around to visit him, he says to them "What are you doing here? Ran out of pants to sniff?".  And when he argues with Tommy at one point who asks him "who the fuck took the jam out of your doughnut?!" and Turkish replies "YOU took the jam out of my fucking doughnut, Tommy!  You did!!".  I also like the scene where Turkish talks to Tommy about what will happen Mickey doesn't fight or go down in the fourth round as Brick top wants, and Turkish says "I imagine we get murdered before we leave the building, and get fed to the pigs!".  And when Tommy pushes as to why he is calm Turkish says "I heard what you said!  You show me how to control a wild fucking gypsy and I'll show you how to control and unhinged pig feeding gangster!". 

Brad Pitt is excellent as Mickey the Pikey, and he is at times hilarious as the boxer as his Irish accent is almost indecipherable so you can make out what he says most of the time!  Pitt has plenty of great lines, especially when he tells Turkish and Tommy that he wants a caravan for his mum, and he tells them in his gutteral tongue what colour scheme she wants for it and he says "she awfully partial to the periwinkle blue!  Am I clear boys!" and Turkish says "oh yeah perfectly clear, Mickey!".  Also in the scene after his mother's wake he sits in a drunken heap just before his bare knuckle boxing match, and he says "have to take a shite!".  And another great scene is when he get's ready to fight Gorgeous George, who keeps hitting him, but George grows tired of it saying he's out of here and Mickey says to George "You're not goin anywhere you big thick lump!  You stay till the job's done!" and proceeds to stun George with one punch.  And one of the funniest moments in his Brad's performance is what turned out to be an accident where he says to Turkish "I'll tell you what I'll do.." and he nearly steps on one of the dogs and he says "fucker!".  Brad also stands out well in the film's one dramatic scene where Bricktop has set fire to Mickey's mum's caravan while she is asleep in it, and Mickey's brothers desparately try to hold him back from making a futile attempt to save her.  And of course there is the scene where he introduces Tommy to his mother, and he says to Tommy "d'ya like dags?" and Tommy doesn't get what he means at first, and he says "oh dags! Yeah I like dogs!".    

In other performances Alan Ford is great as Bricktop, the sadistic crime boss, who takes pleasure out of as Turkish puts it "placing bets on anything to do with pain" as well as feeding his enemies to the pigs.  And this is covered in his first scene where he has two of his men killed for betraying him, and he says to one of his henchmen, Erroll, "feed em to the pigs, Errol!".  Another funny aspect of that scene is where two sparring boxers in the background look on in horror as the two men are killed, and Bricktop yells "what the fuck are you two looking at?!".  Also later when he speaks to Turkish after they change to using Mickey in the fight, Turkish says they won't back out, and Bricktop says "you bet your bollocks to barndance you ain't backing out!".  And at the end of that scene I love it when he says to Turkish and Tommy "you are on very fucking thin ice, my little pedigree chums, and I will be under it when it breaks.  Now fuck off!".  I also like the scene where he pays a visit to Sol and Vinny, and he tells them about the process of feeding human corpses to pigs, and he later has Sol, Vinny and Tyrone sealed up in body bag, as Sol begs Bricktop to give them time to get the diamond.  And Bricktop relents and says "you've got 48 hours, and you can keep that silly fat wanker, as the boys can't lift him!".  And when Mickey deliberatel refuses to take a dive in his first boxing match for Turkish, it lands Brick top in trouble with his associates, and one man stops him says "thanks for the tip, Brick top!" and Brick stops him and grabs his throat and says "Listen, you fucking fringe!  If I throw a dog a bone, I don't wanna know if it tastes good or not!  You stop me when I'm walking again and I'll cut your fucking jacobs off!" (jacobs is cockney for balls!).  

In other performances, Dennis Farina is great as Avi, the Jewish American jeweller who arrives in London to get the diamond.  Farina get's plenty of great dialogue, especially when he arrives in London and meets Doug the head, who welcomes warmly, and Avi sharply replies with "Shut up and sit down, you big bald fuck!".  Also later on when Avi recruits Bullet tooth Tony to retrieve the diamond, Tony says he will try and find out who blagged the bookies, and Avi says "Speak English will you!  I mean this is the country that spawned the language and yet no one here seems to fuckin speak it!".  Vinnie Jones is also pretty good as the vicious Bullet tooth Tony, who is a fairly intellectual thug, and his first scene is quite funny when he slams someone's head against his car door, and his phone in his car rings and he picks it up and says politely "Bonjour?".  Later on Vinny's main funny scene as Tony is where the three crooks Sol, Vinny and Tyrone hold him at gunpoint and he says to Sol "You must be the big dick, and either side of you are your balls!  Now dicks have clarity and vision, but they aren't too bright.  And you thought you smelled some good old pussy, but there ain't no pussy here, just a dose that made you wish were born a woman!".  And then Tony goes on to say "and the fact that you have the word "replica" written on the side of your gun, and that I have "desert eagle .50" written on the side of mine, should be enough to precipitate your balls into shrinking along with your presence.  Now.... fuck off!".  Which they rightly do!

Stephen Graham is also really good as Tommy, Turkish's business partner, who is somewhat naive and foolish at times, but he is also quite headstrong and at one point he even saves Turkish from Bricktop's thugs when they smash up his arcade.  Graham also get's some of Guy Ritchie's funny dialogue, such as in the scene where he and Turkish talk about the merit of drinking milk and he says "you shouldn't drink that, its not in synch with evolution!".  And in the scene where he saves Turkish from being beaten up by Bricktop's thugs, he points his gun at them and he says "What's the matter?  You wanna see if I've got the minerals??".  And in the scene where Turkish bets on Mickey's hare coursing outcome, as Turkish reckons the hare "get's fucked" but the hare outruns the dogs, and Tommy's face drops and he says "who's proper fucked now?!".  And finally another funny moment is where he goes to confront Boris at the Russian's house for selling him a dud gun and the half crazed Boris turns up, walking towards him, who simply grabs Tommy forcefully by the nuts and pushes him back against the wall!

Which brings me onto Rade Zerbedzija who is really good as Boris the blade, the manipulative sneaky former KGB agent, who is also nicknamed Boris "the bullet dodger" to which Avi asks why to Tony at one point who simply replies "because he dodges bullets, Avi!".  Rade has some funny moments, particularly when he is tied up with a bag placed over his head and put in Tony's car, he evenutally get's out and wanders around blind with his hands tie behing his back, he ends getting hit by a car!  Also in the scene where he shoots Frankie "Four Fingers" and chops off his arm so he can take the case with diamond and he says to Sol and Vinny "If ever see you again, you MOTHER FUCKERS!  Well just look at him!".  And when he sells Tommy the dud gun he says to him "the weapons is heavy, heavy is good, if its doesn't work you can always hit them with it".  Benecio Del Toro does well with his role as Frankie four fingers, however it is no more than an extended cameo as he doesn't really appear that long in the film.  Mike Reid (who was famous for his role as Frank Butcher in Eastenders) does a good job as the Jewish wannabe diamond dealer, Doug the head.  And I like the scene where Reid as Doug walks toward the entrance of his store and there some young Jewish boys hanging around, and he asks them what they are doing, and one of them spits and says "its a free country ain't it?" and Doug replies "yeah but it isn't a free shop, is it?!  So fuck off!".     

And finally I will mention Lennie James and Robbie Gee, who are both fine in their roles as the two small time crooks Sol and Vinny.  Their best scene is when they rob Bricktop's bookies and the woman behind the counter tells them all bets are off, as there is no money left, and Sol says "I ain't fucking buying that!" and the woman replies "well that's alright, I ain't fucking selling it either!" and the woman proceeds to use the security alarm which raises a barrier, which lifts up Vinny with it to the ceiling!  And when they both try and leave the bookies, the doors is locked from the inside, and they both take their balaclavas off, without realising that they are being recorded on CCTV, and Vinny turns to Sol and says "we're fucked!".  Also Ade as the big Tyrone is also good and his scene where he struggles to get out of their getaway car, due to his weight and size is funny.  And this prompts a great line from Robbie Gee as Vinny who says "Oi! You said he was supposed to be a getaway driver, well what the fuck can get he get away from?!".  Lennie James also has some funny lines, especially in his first scene when he examines a diamond for one a customer and local Yardie, Lincoln (played by the rap artist, Goldie) and he says "Nah its a moissanite.  A moissanite is an artificial diamond.  Its Mickey mouse mate, its spurious, not genuine, and its worth.... fuck all!". 

Direction wise, Guy Ritchie, does a fine job with Snatch, although he does once again utilise some of that rather distracting jittery camerawork in certain scenes, such as the Mickey's boxing fight near the end of the film, and Mickey's wake.  But both his writing and direction are overall pretty solid, and I like the way he juxtaposes the scene where Bricktop's men capture Tyrone, and where we see the hare coursing happen at the same time.  I also like the quick comedic cuts he uses for Avi travelling from American to London, as we see him get in a cub, quick shot of him on the plane taking a drunk, and a taxi arriving in London.  Ritchie also makes good use of diluting the colour in the film, using I presume the digital colour gading method that was used in films such as The Matrix and Fight Club.  This helps give the film the perfect visual griminess which is well suited to the atmosphere and setting of the East End London crime underworld.     

The film also has a fine soundtrack and there are some really good tracks to be found here, such as Oasis's "Fucking in the bushes" which is used really well during Mickey's climactic boxing match.  Other tracks included that are really good include "Ghost Town" by the Specials, Klint's two tracks, "Diamond" and "Where are you?" which are used in the title sequence and Mickey's mother's wake respectively.  Bobby Byrd's "Hot Pants (I'm coming, I'm coming, I'm coming)  which is a really good funky track, in the scene which introduces Tony.  And finally the Massive attack's powerful "Angel" is used very well in the film's most dramatic scene where Mickey desparately tries to make a futile attempt to save his mum who was burned alive in her caravan.

As for the film's flaws, well you could argue that the film isn't really much of a departure from Lock, Stock and its really more of the same of the East End grimy underworld, and it doesn't really see Ritchie stretch himself yet beyond that world in his filmmaking.  Also some of the film's characters feel a bit superflous, such as Doug the head's two daughters who say the same lines such as "yeah, dad, you told us!" which get's a bit grating.  And Frankie four fingers as a character is also underused, which in my opinion left Benecio Del Toro without a great deal to do in the film, except perform the diamond heist, go to London, get knocked unconscious, then get shot (by Boris).        

But all that aside, Sntach is still my favourite film that Guy Ritchie did, as its well written, funny, and very entertaining.

And after that exhaustive post (which took me about a night and a half!) I will leave it there my old son. 

I want a f****** car! Right f****** now!

Another movie review coming your way now and this is another 1980s comedy film, Planes, trains, and automobiles, which has to rank as my favourite John Hughes film, and with that let's give it a look.

Right getting to it, the story begins with Neal Page (Steve Martin) a highly strung marketing executive, who is on a business trip in New York tries to get a flight back to Chicago so he can be home in time for Thanksgiving day with his wife and family.  However getting home proves to be far from easy as for starts Neal tries to hail a cab on the busy Manhattan streets only to find another man (a cameo by Kevin Bacon) beats him to it.  When Neal tries to get another cab, someone else jumps into it, leaving Neal angrily running after it.  At the airport Neal ends meeting the man who took his cab, Del Griffith (John Candy) a genial, overly talkative shower curtain ring salesman.  The two men also end sitting next to each other on the plane, but the flight is then diverted to Wichita due to a blizzard coming in over Chicago, which delays Neal even further from getting home.  Del then suggests that they go to a hotel for the night and they manage to get a room, but they end up having to share the same bed, and during the night while they sleep, a thief breaks into their room and steals the money from their wallets.

Throughout the trip Neal oftens blows up at Del and accuses him of being boring as he talks too much, whereas Del accuses of him being cold hearted and cynical, but eventually the two men start to bond as they are forced to travel together.  After having their money stolen, Del then uses his salesman skills to sell his inventory of shower curtain rings to the public, which puts enough money together for Neal to buy a ticket on a train back to Chicago.  Neal however decides they should part ways although he is grateful for Del's help, but the train soon breaks down that they go on (in different carriages) and they end up having to disembark.  Neal next goes to rent a car from a car rental company, but on arriving at the spot where his car is supposed to be, he finds it to be empty, leaving Neal outraged.  Neal storms back to the rental company and angrily launches into a tirade at the woman behind the reception, but as he threw his rental agreement away there is nothing they can do for him.  Neal next get's into an altercation with a cab driver who punches him, and Neal falls to the ground just as Del drives up in a car. 

Neal and Del then travel together in the car, and have a near death experience as late at night, Del unwittingly drives down the opposing direction on a highway while they end up driving into the path of two trucks, in between them, leaving the car heavily scratched on both sides.  The car also soon catches fire due to a cigarette Del unsuccesfully put out earlier, and Del reveals that he had actually taken Neal's credit card, which is now burning in the smoking remains of the car.  They both then travel to a hotel with what little money they have, Neal get's a room for the night, and let's Del stay with him, as Del didn't have enough money.  And from here the two men finally reach the train station where Neal and Del part their ways as their hectic journey nears its end.

For me Planes, trains, and automobiles was John Hughes best film, and it was welcome change from the teen films, as we had seen in his previous movies such as Weird sience, Breakfast club and Ferris Bueller's day off.  Instead here Hughes finally get's into the adult world and tells a story of two unlikely men who are reluctantly forced to travel together at first but eventually develop a bond during their journey.  And one of the asepcts of the film that works so well is how Hughes develops the characters, particulary Neal's as he starts off as being a cynical and rather closed off person, but as the film progresses he opens up and becomes more likeable.  Del by contrast is a big hearted guy straight off and he is likeable but his big mouth does get him into trouble with Neal, and his bumbling nature causes some hilarious moments in the film.

And there are plenty of funny moments in the film such as when both men share the hotel room and the next morning they are asleep completely unaware of the fact they are snuggled up to one another in bed, with Del kissing Neal's half asleep, Neal asks "Del, why did you kiss my ear?".  Del replies "why are you holding my hand?" and Neal says "where is your other hand?" and Del says "between two pillows" then Neal "THOSE AREN'T PILLOWS!!" and they both scream and jump out of the bed!  Another funny scene is where the two men survive a near fatal car accident on the highway in their rental car, which catches fire, and Del confesses to having taken Neal's credit card, which is then burnt in the car, and Del asks "are you mad at me now?" and Neal punches Del and he goes to walk away but then falls over Del's big trunk!  Also the scene where Neal goes to get the rental car and sees it is not in the car park space where it should be, he angrily makes his way back to the rental company at the airport and the agent asks how he can help him and Del replies "You can start by wiping that fucking dumb ass smile of your rosy fucking cheeks!  And then you can give me a fucking automobile!  A fucking Mustang, a fucking toyota, a fucking Buick!  Four fucking wheels and a seat!" followed at the end by "I want a fucking car, right fucking now!".  And the receptionists asks for his rental agreement to which Neal says he threw away, and receptionist says "oh boy!" then Neal says "oh boy what?!", the receptionist replies "you're fucked!".  Another funny moment is where Neal and Del are picked up for a ride by a redneck named Owen (Dyaln Baker), who keeps spitting out and making strange gurgling noises during sentences.  The redneck then asks his wife to get out the truck to help lift Del's big trunk and he says "she may look skinny, but she's strong!  Her first child born, came out sideways!".  

Which brings me onto the performances and the two leads are in particular are great, starting with Steven Martin, who for once plays the straight man in this film, as he plays Neal as an uptight, conservative guy who basically just wants to get back home with as little fuss as possible, but sure doesn't get it that way.  One of Martin's highlights other than his verbal tirade at the car rental company is his scene where he berates Del during their stay at the motel.  And Neal says to Del "I've been to seminars, that go on for days, which I can stand easier.  And a guy next to me one day will turn to me and say "how do you stand it?" and I say "because I've been with Del Griffith, and I can take anything!".  And Martin also succeeds in showing the change in Neal's character throughout the film from being cynical to being more personable and accepting of people.  I also like the moment where Neal walks out of the airport to get a lift from the cab driver who laughs at him for not taking a flight and Neal says "If I wanted a laugh I would follow you into the john and watch you take a leak!  Now are you gonna help or just stand their like a slab of meat with mittens!".   

John Candy is also terrific as Del Griffith, the big hearted (and big!) but overly chatty, bumlbing salesman, who means well but often get's himself and Neal into trouble in their travels.  Candy has plenty of funny moments, but he also shows that he was an excellent dramatic actor as well, particularly in the scene where he responds to Neal's verbal attack on Del's personality and he says to Neal "I could be a cold hearted cynic like you, but I don't like to hurt peoples feelings.  But I like me, my wife likes me, people like me.  So I'm not changing, I'm the genuine article.  What you see is what you get!".  Also at the end of the film when we learn the sad truth behind Del's life as a travelling salesman (PLOT SPOILER) and that his wife, which he fondly speaks of througout the film, died eight years ago.   

Some of his other scenes are also priceless, especially in the scene where he nearly squishes Neal with his rental car, and the cab driver who punched Neal tells Del to get his car out of here, and Del says to him "What is your problem?! You insensitive asshole!".  Another funny moment is where Del using salesman skills to sell his shower curtain rings and he flogs a few to some young girls and he says "these are great as earrings, and they will make you look at least 18!" and the girls automatically hand over their money!  Also in the scene after the car their rental car caught fire, they leave the motel and are pulled over by a highway patrolman, who asks them what speed they were doing and Del "well that's what I was just saying to our friend here, that the speedometer has melted so I can't say to an exact number what speed we were doing.  But the radio is still working!".  Also the scene where Neal argues with Del about things that Del does to annoy him, and then Neal turns it back on him by saying "you play with you balls alot!" to which Neal denies, and Del says "Oh please, I've never seen one man do so much ball handling in my life!" and Neal angrily says "you know what I would like?" and Del says "An extra pair of balls and some fingers!".

In terms of the film's minor flaws, where it does slightly fall down is again in the film's music as it is filled with cheesy pop songs of the time and its dated sounded music score by Ira Newborn.  Plus the inclusion of the funky cringeworthy track when Neal angrily walks back to the car rental place (with his tie wrapped around his head no less!) and Neal's voice dubbed over it saying "messin with the wrong guy!".  But these are small niggles I have to say.

So that's it for my look at Planes, trains and automobiles which is a very entertaining and charming comedy film, which saw John Hughes pretty much at his best, and if you want a good laugh its well worth watching.

And I shall bid you farewellie right there. 

Beverly Hills Cop

Righty-ho its been a week or so since my lost post on this blog mainly because I've been busy clacking away the keys on my tennis blog due to the US Open being on just now.  So I thought I would take a break from that and get back over to my review blog and this time its another film, and I've gone back to the 1980s vault and pulled out one of the classic action comedies of the era, Beverly Hills Cop starring Eddie Murphy, which was a huge commercial hit at its release.

OK so let's start with the usual stuff, plot: the film's main character, Axel Foley (Murphy) is a cocky yet talented detective with the Detroit police force.  Foley goes undercover on a sting operation involving a cigarette smuggling operation, which turns sour when a couple of cops unwittingly come across Foley trying to deal with the smugglers.  This then leads the smugglers to run off, with one of them driving the truck away (with Axel in the back hanging on for dear or cheap life!) and the driver causes alot of damage in the city, who ditches the truck then runs off.  Foley back at the station faces his boss, Inspector Todd (Gil Hill) who is angered by his operation which was unauthorised and he warns Axel if he disregards police procedure again he will be fired.  Axel later returns back to his apartment where he finds his best friend Michael Tandino (James Russo) is there who was previously serving time, but after his release went to Beverly Hills where he worked as a security guard, a job he got through a mutual friend, Jenny Summer (Lisa Eilbacher).  After they go out for a drink and head back to Axel's apartment, Axel is knocked out by two men who then question Tandino, who had stolen some bearer bonds from the factory where he worked, then they kill him.

Afterwards Axel insists on getting involved in the case but Todd refuses to let him due to his close ties with Tandino.  Axel then decides he wants to go on vacation, which he uses as an excuse to go to Beverly Hills and try and solve the crime himself.  In Beverly Hills, Axel meets up with Jenny who tells him she hired Tandino to work for Victor Maitland (Steven Berkoff) a wealthy local art dealer.  Axel then goes to meet Maitland at his office, by barging in, he tries to question him but then Maitland has his bodyguards throw him out a window.  Axel is then arrested by two police officers for a charge of disturbing the peace and taken to the police station where he meets Sergeant Taggart (John Ashton), Detective Rosewood (Judge Reinhold) and their senior officer Lieutenant Bogomil (Ronny Cox).  Bogomil asks what Axel is doing in Beverly Hills and also that he has spoken with Inspector Todd who said if he finds out he has been investigating the Tandino murder, he will be brought up on charges and fired, but Axel simply insists he is on vacation.  Bogomil then has Taggart and Rosewood follow Axel's movements, however Axel manages to evade them using different methods.  Axel then sneaks into one of Maitland's warehouses where he snoops around and finds information that reveals most of Maitland's crates were not passed through customs. 

After this Axel joins with Taggart and Rosewood and reluctantly persuades to come along to a strip bar where Axel spots two men whom he foils from committing a robbery.  Axel is taken back to the police station where he tries to big up Taggart and Rosewood, who reclutantly tell Bogomil that Axel deserves credit for the arrest, but Bogomil then decides to take them both off the case and put two of his other staff on tagging Axel's movements.  The next day Axel manages to evade Bogomil's backup cops, and he meets with Maitland at a country club where he confronts him only to be arrested again.  Back at the police station Bogomil insists why Axel keeps bothering Maitland and Axel tells him about Tandino and how he thinks Maitland had him killed and what he has learned so far.  Bogomil while sympathetic is then ordered by his police chief to escort Axel off the building and ensure that he leaves Beverly Hills.  On leaving however Axel persuades Rosewood to take him to one of Maitland's warehouses so he can expose the evidence of Maitland's smuggling, but when he get's Maitland's men are waiting for him, and from here Axel needs to find a way to get even for his friend's murder.

Beverly Hills Cop was a big commercial hit on its release and its easy to see why as it is still a very enjoyable action comedy, and it was also one of the early buddy buddy cop films.  And its a perfect vehicle for Eddie Murphy's comedic skills as the cocky Axel Foley where he uses his improvisation in pretending to be someone in order to get what needs, and he is undoubtedly the film's star he get's plenty of comic highlights.  Some examples include the funny scene where he first arrives in Beverly hills and attempts to check into an expensive hotel but he is told they are fully booked and he pretends he is a journalist writing a story on Michael Jackson for Rolling Stone magazine.  And he angrily says to the desk clerk "I was going to call the story Michael Jackson can sit on top of the world, as long as he doesn't sit in the Beverly Palms Hotel because there are no niggers allowed in there!".  Also the moment where he walks into Maitland's country club and he pretends to be gay infront of the maitre'd and he says "Tell Victor that Ramone, the man Victor saw, tell he had a herpes simplex 10, and he said he better go and check with his physician before things start falling off on the man!".  Another funny scene is where Inspector Todd first berates Axel for his sting operation on the cigarette smuggling going wrong and Todd says how the mayor "chewed my ass off!" and Axel replies "hey chief, the mayor hasn't chewed it all off, you still got a little ass there!". 

Another one of Murphy's highlights is the "supercop" scene where he tries to tell Bogomil how great Taggart and Rosewood are and how they foiled the robbery at the strip bar and he says "I don't know what you teach these fellows, as its like a sixth sense, and all that's missing from them are capes!".  And if you watch this scene you can clearly see John Ashton as Taggart, trying not to laugh.  Murphy is also equally good at mixing in moments of seriousness aswell as comedy in certain scenes such as when he is held at gunpoint by Victor's men and he says to him regarding Jenny "If something happens to her, I'll kill you".

The supporting cast are also excellent, especially the John Ashton and Judge Reinhold as Taggart and Rosewood and they make for a very amusing comic double act as the two bumbling cops.  One of their funniest scenes is where Rosewood and Taggart stakeout waiting for Axel in their car and Rosewood reads aloud from a newspaper article "by the time the average man is 50, he will five pounds of undigested meat in his bowels" and Taggart angrily says "Why are you telling me this?  What makes you think I have any interest in that at all?" and Rosewood replies "well you eat alot of red meat!".  Also later on during the climactic fight scene at Maitland's house, Rosewood holds up his badge to Maitland's guards and shouts "Police you're all under arrest!!" and they open fire at him.  In another funny moment Rosewood and Taggart at Maitland's house hide behind some plants from the gunfire and Rosewood says this reminds him of the climax of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and Taggart looks at him wearliy saying "Billy, I'm gonna make you pay for this!".

Steven Berkoff is also very good as Victor Maitland, the film's main antagonist (or bad guy) and he plays Maitland with a smarmy and transparent deviousness and its clear from the get go that he is dirty.  Berkoff's best moment comes in the scene when Axel confronts him at Maitland's country club and he says to Axel "I don't know from under which stone you crawled, but it seems painfully obvious to me you don't have the slightest fucking idea who you are dealing with!  Now here's my advice to you, go back to your little rock in Detroit before you get sqaushed, OK?".  Elsa Eilbacher does a fine job in her role as Jenny, Axel's friend, who works for Maitland and she shares a nice scene with Murphy when he she drives him back to his hotel and she says how she remembers that he used to drive "a crappy blue Chevy nova" and she asks what he drives now and he replies "the same crappy blue Chevy nova!".  Bronson Pinchott also makes a noteworthy debut as the camp art gallery employee, Serge, whom Axel shares a famous scene with when he asks him how much a vase went for in the gallery and on telling him the price Axel yells "get the fuck out of here!".  Pinchott's best line is of course when Axel and Rosewood later arrive at the gallery and Axel asks Serge if he will make Rosewood some tea, and Serge asks "do you want it with a little lemon twist" and Rosewood says "sure if it isn't too much trouble" with Serge replying "no don't be stupid!".   

Other performances in the film worthy of note are of course Ronny Cox who is great as Lt Bogomil, who he plays as a decent cop who is very straight down the line and does everything by the book.  Cox has a great moment where after they foil the crime and take down Maitland he hesitantly tries to explain to his police chief what went on as he arrives at the scene, and the chief seems to accept it after Taggart backs up his story, with Axel replying "you were lying your ass off!".  Gil Hill, who was a real life police detective, does a fine job as Inspector Todd and he is given some great dialogue, especially in his first scene when he confronts Axel and says to him "the deputy called the chief, the chief called the mayor, and the mayor has just chewed my ass off!  You see I don't have any bit of it left don't you?!".  And finally Jonathan Banks is pretty good at Maitland's main henchman Zack, who kills Axel's friend Tandino.  Banks had a fine line in playing baddies in 80s films at that time, and he does a good job at playing the brutal (and let's face it rather pug ugly faced looking) bad guy.  His best moment in the film comes when he confronts Axel in the warehouse and says to him "Well cuz!" and Axel says "Are you still pissed at me" (as Axel threw him over a buffet table earlier in the film) and he replies "Oh no, but I should have taken care of you in Detroit.  When I popped your little buddy!".

Moving onto the direction, the director Martin Brest does a good job here in keeping the comedy and action moving along nicely at a good pace and the film never really lags as its quite taut time wise in just over 1 hour and 45 minutes.  Brest interestingly enough was previously hired to direct the film WarGames (but he was fired after nearly two weeks due to a personal dispute on the production) and the sets used for the Beverly Hills police department were actually the sets designed for the NORAD base in WarGames and you can see how similar they look.  Getting onto the film's music score by Harold Faltermeyer it remains one of the most memorable synthesized scores from the 80s and Axel's theme is instantly recgonisible and overall its a pretty good one, and has plenty of light hearted and atmospheric passages that compliment the comedy and action of the film.    

Moving onto the film's niggles and flaws, again I won't nitpick a great deal, although you could argue at times Axel's character while he is likeable, he does become a bit grating and childish, especially when he takes the mickey out of Bogomil's black police officer for how he says "we're not gonna fall for a banana in the tailpipe".  You just think at that point that you wish Axel would grow up a bit, but perhaps it also highlights his youthful naivety.  The film naturally as it is an 80s flick also looks quite dated to its period and the fashions are blatantly outrageous, and most of all the cheesy 80s music tracks are pretty duff and cringeworthy to listen to, particularly the track used in the strip bar called, Vanity 6's "Nasty girl" and "Stir it up" by Patty LeBelle.  Although one of the better songs in the film is of course "The heat is on" by Glenn Frey which is also instantly recognisible and one of the catchiest songs you'll find from the 80s.

Right so that's it for my look at Beverly Hills Cop, which I always enjoyed as an action comedy which has a great mix of humour, action, drama and basically good fun.

So on that note I will leave ye there.             

Panic Room!

Rrrrrrrrrright guess what?  Time for another review?  If that's your question you guessed right (OK enough of that).  So this one is going to be on David Fincher's thriller film, Panic Room, which was released back in 2002, starring Jodie Foster.  And with that let's do the usual and give the plot a look....

The story is set in New York City, where Meg Altman (Jodie Foster) and her daughter Sarah (Kirsten Stewart) who have bought an expansive four story house in the upper west side.  The previous occupant of the house was a millionaire reclusive who had a secure room built to prevent intruders from breaking in, which is called a "panic room".  The "panic room" also has several surveillance cameras as well a thick steel door, concrete walls, and a PA communications system and a separate phone line.  During their first night in the house, it is broken into by Junior (Jared Leto) who is the grandson of the previous owner, who is joined by Burnham (Forrest Whittaker) an employee of the residence's security company, and also by Raoul (Dwight Yoakman) a gunman who conceals his face by wearing a ski mask.  Junior soon realises that from the unpacked boxes that the Altmans have moved in and he manages to persuade Burnham to carry on with the job, as they intend to break into the panic room where there are 3 million dollars in bearer bonds locked in the vault.

However on having a sleepless night, Meg enters the panic room to shut the lights off and notices the three men on the surveillance cameras, and she wakes up Sarah and takes her into the panic room just before the men can get there.  With no way into the panic room, Burnham comes up with an idea to get them out by using propane gas which he pumps through the vents.  However Meg looking through the supplies in the room, finds a fire safety blanket as well as a lighter which she uses to ignite the gas, which in turn destroys the propane gas tank Burnham used, which also leaves Junior injured by the fire.  Meg in attempt to call for help finally manages to tap into the main telephone line and calls her ex-husband Stephen Altman (Patrick Bauchau) but Raoul cuts off the connection down in the basement before Meg can finish talking to him.  After this Junior gives up on trying to find a way into the panic and room and decides to leave, but he let's slip that there is actually more money in the vault than he had let on.  As a result of this Raoul shoots Junior dead and he forces Bunrham to help them get into the room, and not long after Stephen arrives, whom Raoul viciously beats up in an effort to force Meg out of the panic room.  And this soon leads into the film's tense and dramatic climax where Meg must try and survive the ordeal and save Sarah and Stephen from the burglars...

Panic room is an almost classic suspense film and it is really well put together by its director David Fincher, and its the old tale of cat and mouse with the criminals breaking and entering into the house, a la a more dramatic and adult version of Home Alone (just a whole lot better really!) or even Sam Peckinpah's Straw Dogs.  Throughout the film there is a tense atmosphere and Fincher does an excellent job in building on the suspense slowly as the film progresses, starting from the burglars breaking into the house up until Meg's final showdown with them.  And the film also of course builds on the strong vulnerable female character who is put in a dangerous situation where she must protect her daughter.  And with the burglars you get the juxtaposition of the three different characters, the young naive cocky upstart in Junior, the decent but troubled family man in Burnham, and the icy sociopath in Raoul.  And the characters are well catered for in screenwriter David Koepp's screenplay which is well written and at times even witty.

In the film Fincher also uses a couple of recurring themes that he has used in his previous films, such as the reclusive millionaire, who was a "shut-in" which was one of the aspects of the plot in Seven and Fight Club of people who live in seclusion.  Also in Koepp's screenplay he pokes fun at popular culture and how they can be ignorant of references to literature, as in Seven where Brad Pitt says reads the "Marqis De Sade" and says "Sade" as the name of the modern day singer.  And in Panic Room the estate agent doesn't understand Meg's reference to the author Edgar Allan Poe as she says "have you ever read any Poe?" and the estate agent bluffs it by saying "no, but I loved her last album!".   

Which brings me onto the performances which are all great, beginning with Jodie Foster who is great as the strong and vulnerable single mother, a recent divorcee who finds herself in a crisis where she must take charge and find a way to fight against the robbers.  Foster actually arrived on the production, replacing Nicole Kidman who was originally cast in the role but had to pull out due to an injury, but filming had to be delayed further again as Jodie Foster was pregnant at the time and they didn't resume filming until after she gave birth.  Foster has several highlights in the film, where Meg uses the fire blanket to cover herself when she tries to ignite a fire in the vents to stop the robbers from the breaking in.  Also the scene where Meg has to try and talk her way out of letting two patrolling cops enter her house while the crisis in ongoing.  Foster in that scene has some good lines of dialogue where one of the cops asks what she said on the phone to her husband before she was cut off and Meg replies "If you insist on knowing the end of the line, I was going to say there are three things I would do right now for you if you would jump into bed with me!".  And to this the other cop replies "Look you wanna go, or do you want her to tell what three things!".

Forrest Whittaker is also excellent in his role as Burnham, who is a essentially a decent family man with financial troubles of his own and he reluctantly takes on his role in breaking into the panic room, and he later plays a key part in saving Meg and Sarah.  Whittaker also has some good lines in the film especially in his arguments with Junior and Raoul, and in their first scene when Burnham insists that "that I don't want any help from Joe Pesci over there!" as he refers to Raoul and his ski mask.  Also later on when Junior tries to communicate with Meg and Sarah in the panic room by writing on sheets of paper, he fails in his attempts and Burnham sarcastically replies "What? They're not coming down?!".

Jared Leto for the most part steals the film as the not so bright and hotheaded Junior, who is the "mastermind" behind the panic room robbery, but in his plan he failed to take into account that the Altmans would move in early!  Leto has plenty of fine moments in the film and funny lines of dialogue, especially in a scene where the three men argue loudly outside the panic room and Junior shouts "shut the fuck up there are people trying to sleep over there!".  Also in the scene where Burnham gets some tools from the garden shed and he walks past Junior asking him if he is just going to stand there, and Junior says "Why? What have you got, MacGuyver!".  I also like his insistance in trying to communicate with Meg and Sarah over a one-way PA comms system, where he speaks to her but they can't hear him, and Burnham "its a PA system, not an intercom" and Junior replies "I know.  I'm just scaring her!" as if that makes any difference!

Dwight Yoakam is also quite creepy in his role as the wiry, soft spoken sociopath Raoul, who provides the film with a surprise twist when he suddenly turns around kills Junior with his gun.  Yoakam also get's some fine lines, particularly in the scene where he argues with Junior over the money and he says to Junior "don't take that tone with me, jerkwad, or I'll shove it up your ass and snap it off!" and later "say that shit about the money again, baby cakes!".  Also in the scene where he is introduced by Junior to Burnham, Raoul shows his gun to Burnham who looks at him with disgust and says "Who are you?!" and he Raoul calmly replies "I'm Raoul".  Yoakam also has an amusing moment where they first try to run upstairs to get into the panic room, as Meg and Sarah shut the door just time, and Junior goes bananas battering the door, and he smashes the glass mirror on another door, which Raoul looks on and says to Junior "that's seven years bad luck".  

In other performances Kirsten Stewart is really good as Meg's diabetic daughter Sarah, who is quite a feisty character and at the start of the film she rides her scooter all over the house when they are shown it by the estate agents.  Stewart is provided with some funny smart-ass dialogue for the precocious character she plays, especially in the opening scene where she rides on her scooter on the pavement while Meg talks to the estate agent, and Meg asks "Sarah do you have to ride that here?" and Sarah says "Mom, we're in the street!".  Stewart has another great line where she lies in the panic room, with Burnham and Raoul who finally get in at this point and Burnham says "Nice house you guys have got. Mom's rich?" and Sarah weakly replies "Dad's rich.  Mom's just mad!".  And lastly I'll mention Stephen Bauchau who is somewhat underused in the film as Meg's ex-husband, but he does a decent enough job with his role, although he is mainly in it to be used just as a punching bag for Raoul!

Direction wise, David Fincher does a fine job here and he paces the film well as it slowly builds into its dramatic climax.  Fincher also makes great use of CGI to make it look like the camera runs continuously through the house in one fluid action, and this put to great use in the scene when the burglars arrive at the house, and the camera zooms through the door lock as one of them tries to open it and the camera zooms out again.  Fincher also again employed the use of digital colour correction like he did with Fight Club, which gives the film its green tint (also like in The Matrix).  The film also has another fine music score by Howard Shore, who once again provides the soundtrack for Fincher (as he did before for his previous films Seven and The Game) and Shore creates plenty of suspenseful dramatic passages of music, as well as a very ambient and atmospheric title theme.

As for the flaws???  Well yes Panic Room isn't quite perfect.  The main problem is to do with the film's climax in that it becomes pretty over the top in the end and all the credibility starts to fly out the window.  For starters why would Meg bother even trying to use her husband, Stephen, who at this point can barely move, as Raoul had beaten him up so much, to try and hold a gun in waiting for when Raoul and Burnham will come back downstairs.  As no doubt Stephen could be easily disarmed as he can hardly move at that point in the film at all, and Meg even has to use a table lamp to prop his arms up enough to use the gun.  The idea of the cops at the door while it remains one of the film's most amusing scenes its also one of the daftest as well.  This is because the cop's character (played by Paul Schulze) is basically spelling out to the audience while talking to Meg "give us a sign that something is not quite right in there!" in such a not-so-sutble way by saying stupid things like "if there is something you wan't to tell us, but you don't want to say, you could try blinking your eyes.  That might be something you could do safely".  I mean come on!  Talk about patronising the audience or what????!

Anyway all that aside Panic Room still remains a thoroughly entertaining and suspensful thriller film, which is worth a watch if you haven't already seen it.

And so I will leave it there!  

Sheriff of Cop Land

OK its about time for another one of those reviews which finds it way onto this blog, and this one is on the film crime drama film Cop Land, starring Sylvester Stallone in one of his most acclaimed performances.  So let's give it a look and get on with it....

The story is set in the town of Garrison, New Jersey, which is located across the Hudson river from New York city where most of the residents are NYPD officers.  During one night at a party in New York, one of the cops, Murray "Superboy" Babitch (Michael Rapaport) having had a drink or two leaves the party and as he drives of the George Washington Bridge two black teenagers crash their car recklessly into the side of Babitch's.  Babitch tells them to pull over and one of the teenager pulls out what appears to be a weapon (but turns out to be a steering wheel lock) which prompts Babitch to open fire on them, and they are killed as a result.  On arriving at the scene, Babitch's uncle Lt Ray Donlan (Harvey Keitel) decides to fake Babitch's death as a suicide, claiming that Babitch jumped off the bridge, in order to avoid a possible racial incident.  One of Donlan's men and corrupt cop Jack Rucker (Robert Patrick) is caught trying to plant a gun inside the dead teenager's car to make it look like a justifiable shooting.

Among the residents of Garrison, the town sherrif Freddy Heflin (Sylvester Stallone) maintains good relations with the other cops.  Freddy however is deaf in one ear as the result of saving his childhood friend Liz (Annabella Sciorra) with whom Freddy is secretly in love with, and Liz is now married to one of the NYPD officers, Joey Randone (Peter Berg) and with his ear he is unable to become an NYPD officer.  As a result of the incident with Babitch, Internal affairs investigator Lt Moe Tildon (Robert De Niro) pays a visit to Freddy and asks him to find out information on Ray and the other cops in the town, but Freddy out of loyalty to them refuses to betray them.  Babitch however in reality is still alive is kept undercover, despite promises for the Patrol Defense Association (PDA for short) setting up a new life for him, its president Vincent Lassaro (Frank Vincent) is concerned that the case will not hold up tio scrutiny unless they find a body in the river and he insists that Babitch needs to be killed, and the case will be suspended.  Babitch however receives a handwritten note from his Aunt and Donlan's wife, Rose (Cathy Moriarty) who overheard Ray conversation with Lassaro, and Babitch survives an attempt on his life by Ray, Rucker and fellow corrupt cop Frank Lagonda (Arthur Nascarella) who flees.

Babitch turns up at Freddy's apartment and asks for his help, but he runs away when he sees Freddy's friend and fellow NYPD officer, Gary "Figgs" Figgis (Ray Liotta).  Freddy realising his mistake travels to IA department in New York and speaks to Tilden, who by this time has had his investigation shut down.  Freddy tries to plead with Tilden to help him re-open the case and try find Babitch but Tilden angrily tells him that he had a chance but he blew it.  On leaving, Freddy steals some of the Garrison files and looks through them to try and do a bit of his own investigating and realises the extent of his fellow police officers corruption.  After this Freddy sets about trying to find Babitch and bring him into IA to expose the town's corruption, but Freddy soon finds its not that easy....

As far as crime dramas goes, Cop Land is very solid and effective one which features a terrific cast and also one of Sylvester Stallone's finest performances as the slow witted but well meaning sheriff Freddy Heflin.  Stallone himself gained quite a fair bit of weight for the role and he plays the part in a nicely understated way, as a man who rarely raises his voice and is almost naive in the faith and trust in which he puts into his fellow cops.  Stallone has several great moments in the film and he also has a touching friendship with the character Liz Randone (Annabella Sciorra) who he is in love with, and in one scene she turns up at his door after she has a row with her abusive husband Joey Randone (Peter Berg).  In the scene Liz asks Freddy why he never got married and he quietly responds "all the best girls were taken" which really does echo a truism in life about missed opportunities.

Harvey Keitel is also great as the corrupt cop Ray Donlan, who is forced to put his nephew into hiding and later he attempts to murder him in order to ensure the case holds water (no pun intended as they try to drown Babtich).  Keitel also get's some good lines of dialogue as he often puts down Freddy's lack of activity and importance in the town, when he turns up at his wife's house and he sees Freddy speak to Rose about garbage bags that have been dumped outside their house and Ray asks what he is doing there and Freddy tells him and Ray sarcastically replies "Ah a felony!".  Later on Keitel has a terrific scene where Freddy confronts Ray and asks him to go into IA together with Babitch to try and work things out, which leaves Ray less than impressed by Freddy's naivety.  And Ray says "You're plan is the plan of a boy!  You made it up on the back of matchbook without thinking!  Without looking at the cards!".  Keitel also shares a brief scene with De Niro early in the film when Tilden bumps into Donlan in a coffee shop, and they quickly say hello and Tilden leaves, with Donlan looking on in contempt, angrily says "fucking rat!". 

In other performances Ray Liotta is terrific as the burnt out cop Figgs who is addicted to coke and also tries to help out Freddy in how to deal with Donlan.  Liotta also get's plenty of good dialouge in the film, such as in his first scene where a drunken Freddy opens a parking meter to try and get some more coins so he can play a pinball game in the bar, and Ray says "there are two kinds of people in this world, Freddy.  Video game people and pinball people.  You are definietly pinball people, Freddy!".  Liotta's best scene in the film comes in his argument with Donlan as he confronts him over the death of his former partner and he says "don't shut me out, Ray!".  Robert Patrick also delivers an excellent performance as the corrupt wise cracking cop, Rucker, who keeps making sleazy put downs at his fellow cops.  Patrick also get's some great lines, in one scene Freddy stops Donlan's car for speeding and Freddy's deputy, Cindy (Jeanne Garofalo) asks them for ID, Rucker says "We are heading towards the hills.  I'm John Mcenroe and this is Jimmy Connors!".  Also later when Freddy asks Rucker if he had anything to do with the bombing of Ray's place, Rucker replies "I had nothing to do with it.  That would be retribution, and that I would leave to God almighty.  I'm Ghandi!".  Peter Berg also puts in a good performance as Joey Randone, one of the fellow cops who refuses to help out Donlan with killing Babitch, and is also having an affair with his wife Rose.  Berg also has a funny line when Figgs winds him up about making a bet on a baseball game and Figgs says his inner child made that bet, and Joey says "tell you what, Figsy.  Why don't you open my fly and take out my inner child and give it a bite, bite it hard and bite it thick!".   

And finally Robert De Niro does a fine job as the hotheaded IA investigator Moe Tilden, who approaches Freddy and asks him in his best scene in the film to find out some information on Ray and the other cops.  And De Niro get's one of the film's best lines when he says to Freddy "And aprt from the cats and the trees and all that other bullshit there isn't much here for you to do.  And I look at you and I see a man waiting for something to do.  And here I stand, Sheriff, saying "Sherrif, I've got something for you to do!".  Tilden's short temper allows for De Niro to have some great moments, one of which is when Tilden hears that the Garrison case has been closed, he yells at his men "Go to lunch! GO TO LUNCH!!  Everybody get the fuck out of here!  The case is FUCKING CLOSED!!".  Also in his scene later with Freddy who approaches Tilden after the case has been closed is another great moment, when Tilden angrily responds "listen you deaf fuck, I gave you chance when we could have done something about it, and you BLEW IT!!!".

So getting onto the film's niggles (or flaws if you like) well for me I kind of felt that Freddy's character showed incredible naivety as he operates in the open, and he even goes to tell Ray the events of what happened, such as Babtich coming to see him and also that he wants to bring Babitch with Ray together.  I just don't buy that Freddy would be so naive as to expose what he is doing in trying to find Babitch so much to the corrupt cops who are trying to kill him anyway!  So for me I just think Freddy's character has too much blind faith in their town and his fellow police officers, although I guess the whole point of it as he says later "everybody just keeps their eyes closed and their mouth shut like me!" when he realises what they are like.  But even at this point Freddy still thinks he can reason with these men when we know for a fact that can't, however I guess that's Hollywood for you.

As for the direction and writing, James Mangold despite those niggles has done a terrific job with the film as his script is terrific and his direction is pretty taut and he keeps the mood of the film dark and rather unsettling at times.  And while the action in the film is quite sparse its is well staged and Mangold does a solid job in cranking up the suspense in the climactic scene where Freddy confronts his fellow police officers, armed with a shotgun, and defeaned by a gunshot (fired by Rucker when they grabbed Babitch from him).  And finally I can't finish without mentioning the music score by Howard Shore which is excellent, as its morose tone suits the film perfectly, although it is somewhat repetitive, but it does show again that Shore still is one of the best film composers in the business today.

So that's it for my look at Cop Land which as far as crime dramas go its definitely one to watch.

And well I shall leave it right there.