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This film from John Carpenter is a cult hit, but its really just average sci-fi action fare. One of its main problems is the completely implausible premise. The film proposes that crime rises in the U.S. 400% in 1988 and that by 1997 the isle of Manhattan has been turned into a prison. The U.S. gives up on New York City? Come on. The premise could work if the story and characters were solid, but that’s not the case here.

A rebel from the Liberation Front of America hijacks Airforce One and plans to crash it into New York. The President (Donald Pleasence, HALLOWEEN) ejects himself from the plane and ends up being kidnapped by The Duke of New York (Isaac Hayes, SOUTH PARK: BIGGER, LONGER & UNCUT). Because the police have been kicked out by the inmates, the police chief Bob Hauk (Lee Van Cleef, THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY) enlists inmate and former special forces soldier Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell, BACKDRAFT) to find and rescue the President within 22 hours or die. Along his journey, Snake hooks up with dimwitted Cabbie (Ernest Borgnine, MARTY), Brain (Harry Dean Stanton, PARIS, TEXAS) and Brain’s buxom girlfriend Maggie (Adrienne Barbeau, TV’s CARNIVALE).

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There’s no doubt about it – Bruce Lee rocks. Lee (FIST OF FURY) plays Lee, a Chinese martial arts master that is recruited by a secret British government agency to infiltrate a martial arts tournament to uncover information about Han (Kien Shih, BETTER TOMORROW III), a wealthy crime lord and host of the competition.

Also in the competition is an in-debt American gambler named Roper (John Saxon, A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET) and Williams (Jim Kelly, BLACK BELT JONES), a black man from Los Angeles who wants to get himself out of the ghetto. The film works as a Chinese James Bond flick. It throws in colorful villains especially Han, who is like a Chinese Dr. No, complete with the white fluffy cat.

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I’ve reviewed this film before, but this review is based on the new DVD release of the film. What struck me this, my zillionth or so, viewing of the film is director George Lucas’ brilliant attention to detail. Sci-fi before STAR WARS never had a lived in feel. Before STAR WARS, the buildings and vehicle were shiny and perfect like they were just put into use right before the film took place. The world of STAR WARS sucks you in because you instantly and subconsciously sense a history that is new and original. Lucas truly created a new world.

He makes the characters iconic without being ironic. The characters are strong types, but human enough that we care about what they care about. Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, Han Solo, Princess Leia, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Chewbacca, R2-D2 and C-3PO are all household names. And the actors who played them, whether they like it or not, are synonymous with those roles.

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What’s so great about this 1940s set film is you think you know where its going and don’t mind, but when it surprises you you’re delighted.

Lottie Wilkins (Josie Lawrence, WHO’S LINE IS IT ANYWAY?) is a flighty, but good-natured woman who is married to a penny-pinching banker named Mellersh (Alfred Molina, SPIDER-MAN 2). She sees an ad in the paper for an Italian villa to rent and convinces solemn Rose Arbuthnot (Miranda Richardson, SPIDER) to join her. Because the 30 pound each price tag is a bit too high for them, they advertise for two other women to join them. Answering the ad are Mrs. Fisher (Joan Plowright, AVALON), an elderly woman who is set in her ways and likes to drop the names of the many dead authors who were her friends, and Lady Caroline Dester (Polly Walker, EMMA), a wealthy heiress who wants to get away from the prying eyes and hands of the men in her life.

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Spike Lee’s first feature was shot in black and white and cost $175,000 to make. It went onto make $7 million at the box office and launched Lee’s career. It also served as one of the key independent films of the 1980s that helped launch the explosion of indie cinema in the early ’90s. For black cinema, it also helped move portrayals of African-Americans on the screen away from the stereotypes of the blaxploitation era.

Set in a thriving Brooklyn, the film chronicles the love life of Nola Darling (Tracy Camilla Jones, NEW JACK CITY), who is dating reserved “nice guy” Jamie Overstreet (Tommy Redmond Hicks, THE FIVE HEARTBEATS), conceited model Greer Childs (John Canada Terrell, BOOMERANG) and out-of-work jokester Mars Blackmon (Lee). The main focus of the movie is Nola and Jamie’s relationship. All three of the men have a tough time with Nola sleeping with other men. This film was about female sex in the city before there was a SEX IN THE CITY.

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What makes this film so disappointing is that it was done by people with real talent. Director Mike Figgis has made brilliant films like LEAVING LAS VEGAS and TIMECODE. For COLD CREEK MANOR, he must have turned his brain off; it’s the only logical explanation.

Logic is something that this film doesn’t have. Cooper Tilson (Dennis Quaid, FREQUENCY) is a documentary filmmaker, who moves his family out of New York City after his son Jesse (Ryan Wilson, film debut) is hit by a car. Cooper’s wife Leah (Sharon Stone, CASINO) is some exec at some company who is offered a VP job by her boss if she sleeps with him. If you think I’m giving away too much info, this comes early on and goes nowhere. That’s a pretty solid statement about the whole film. In the process of getting to its preordained ending, the film goes nowhere, builds no tension, gives no thrills and hardly entertains.

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Actor/director/writer Harold Ramis (GHOSTBUSTERS) made his directing debut with this comedy. Centering on the shenanigans that occur on a country club golf course the film is filmed with laughs and anchored by several good comedic performances.

The film is pretty typical of the ‘80s sex comedy. Caddy Danny Noonan (Michael O’Keefe, THE SLUGGER’S WIFE) is kissing as much butt as possible to secure himself the club’s caddy scholarship. The chief recipient of his butt kissing is conservative judge Elihu Smails (Ted Knight, TV’s MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW). Serving as Danny’s mentor is the free-spirited heir Ty Webb (Chevy Chase, FUNNY FARM), who is wooing Smails niece Lacey Underall (Cindy Morgan, TRON). Hanging around the clubhouse to the chagrin of Judge Smails is millionaire land developer Al Czervik (Rodney Dangerfield, LADYBUGS). In addition, assistant groundskeeper Carl Spackler (Bill Murray, GROUNDHOG DAY) is on a mission to rid the golf course of one pesky gopher.

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If you’ve read any of my other reviews of Sidney Lumet’s films, you know that I’m a gushing fan. If you haven’t read them then you may be asking, “who’s Sidney Lumet?” Other than film freaks like me, he is little known by the general public, but the general public knows his films, which include 12 ANGRY MEN (the best film about the American judicial system), DOG DAY AFTERNOON (the best bank robbery movie) and NETWORK (the best movie about the TV news industry). He makes great films. You can also add to that list THE VERDICT and RUNNING ON EMPTY. Now lets get to SERPICO, one of the best films about a whistle blower I’ve ever seen.

First and foremost, Al Pacino as Frank Serpico is what makes this film so great. Serpico is a young cop who understands the changing ways of the 1970s and wants the police department to adjust as well. He dresses like a hippie and works in plain clothes. He makes connections and collars that uniformed cops could only dream of making. Serpico is a breath of fresh air in an institution that is stubbornly set in its ways, especially when it comes to blackmail and pay-offs. Serpico will have nothing to do with the dirty money and that makes his fellow cops nervous and suspicious. Serpico’s desire to do the right thing puts his life in danger and estranges him from his friends and family.
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If there were ever a filmmaker that could truly be called a “man’s director,” Sam Peckinpah would be that director. This film starts out with the pregnant Theresa (Janine Maldonado, only film performance) sitting by a river. Her father El Jefe (Emilio Fernandez, WILD BUNCH) is furious that she is pregnant and calls for the head of her lover Alfredo Garcia.

Two of El Jefe’s hitmen Sappensly (Robert Webber, 10) and Quill (Gig Young, THEY SHOOT HORSES, DON’T THEY?) turn up in a brothel looking for Alfredo and meet piano player Bennie (Warren Oates, 1941), who knows how to find Alfredo and wants to get paid for it. Bennie learns that Alfredo has hooked up with his favorite prostitute Elita (Isela Vega, THE STREETS OF L.A.), which upsets him. He then discovers that Alfredo is already dead, but the hitmen want proof (i.e. Alfredo’s head). So Bennie and Elita head out on a road trip to find Alfredo.

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Say hello to my little friend! You may have never seen Brian DePalma’s SCARFACE, but you know that line. This is a film filled with classic lines and Al Pacino’s bravado performance drives them into your memory. Some disregard this film as a scene eating exercise for Pacino (THE GODFATHER), but what they don’t get is that the over-the-top behavior is the character of Tony Montana, who was raised on the gangster films of Humphrey Bogart and James Cagney.

Montana is a Cuban immigrant who dreams of attaining the American Dream in Miami. He likes to pretend he’s a political exile to cover up his criminal past. He’s violent and paranoid, which is a deadly combo. He’s especially paranoid about his little sister Gina (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, THE ABYSS) and whom she dates. He’s smart about the drug business, but indulges himself too much. Excessive greed and a huge ego lead to his downfall as well.

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