Category Archives: Film Review

Blue Ridge (2020, directed by Brent Christy)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Former Green Beret Justin Wise (Johnathon Schaech) is the new sheriff of the small mountain town of Blue Ridge.  Sheriff Wise is so good at his job that he can just step inside of a gas station and figure out that it’s been robbed just by observing that the millennial behind the counter isn’t look at his phone.  The sheriff has a phone-obsessed millennial daughter (Taegen Burns) and a supportive ex-wife (Sarah Lancaster), who works as a waitress.

He also has a big mystery on his hands when the daughter of Cliff McGrath (Graham Greene) is found murdered.  The McGraths thinks that the Wade family is responsible.  The Wades have a long-standing grievance against the McGraths.  Sheriff Wise and Deputies Dobson (Lara Silva) and Thompson (Ben Esler) have to solve the mystery before a full-out war breaks out in town.

I was not surprised to discover that this was a pilot for television series.  The movie has the homey feel of the type of mystery show that your parents or grandparents would watch every Friday night.  Sherriff Wise may not be as old as my parents but he definitely shares their feelings about phones and trying to understand what’s wrong with the kids today.

It’s an old-fashioned movie but it’s mildly diverting and it does hold your attention.   Johnathon Schaech gives a strong performance as the sheriff who can beat up three people at once but who still gets nervous before asking a woman out on a date.  Graham Greene and Tom Proctor both give good performances as the rival family patriarchs and the mystery takes some interesting turns.  Blue Ridge did a good job of brining its small town setting to life.  Blue Ridge is good enough to be a pleasant afternoon diversion.

The TSL Grindhouse: Rage of Wind (a.k.a. Ninja War Lord) (dir by Ng See-Yuen)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Also known as Ninja War Lord, 1973’s Rage of Wind takes place during the Japanese occupation of China during the Second World War.

A Chinese fishing village is controlled by the ruthless Taka (Yasuaki Kurata), who terrorizes the town with his Hawaiian-shirt wearing henchmen and who deals with dissent by hanging people in the town square and then refusing to allow their loved ones to take down the bodies.  When boxer Chan Kwong (Chan Sing) returns to the village after pursuing a successful fighting career in the United States, the village rejoices.  Finally, there is someone who can stand up to Taka!  And the villages needs help because Taka has just instituted a new fishing tax!

Oh, Taka, you fool!  Don’t you realize that raising taxes never solves anything?  I realize that this film is taking place at a time when Milton Friedman was still working for the government and also long before the Laffer Curve was drawn on that napkin but still, raising taxes is always the last refuge of the unimaginative.  When the people in the village express their displeasure at having to pay more in taxes, Taka decides to seize their boats.  Hey, Taka, you dumbass commie — how are they going to make the money to pay your taxes if they don’t have their boats!?  Fortunately, Chan Kwong isn’t going to let the taxman get away with this.

(It’s interesting that this film features a Chinese hero fighting on the side of free enterprise.)

Here’s a few things that I liked about Rage of Wind.

First of all, it didn’t waste anytime getting to the good stuff.  The film’s first fight broke out within the first five minutes of its running time and, from that moment on, people were either fighting or preparing to fight.  This film didn’t feature any slow spots.  The fights were exciting to watch and, even more importantly, they distracted the viewer from asking too many questions about the plot.  At times, it felt like everyone in the film would have been well-served to just stop fighting and negotiate but that wouldn’t have been as much fun to watch.

Second, Taka wore a cape.  His henchmen may have dressed like tourists in Hawaii but Take wore a red cape!  And what’s even more impressive is that Taka totally pulled off the look.  Seriously, if someone can wear a cape and not look like an idiot, that’s when you know that person is a total badass.

Third, both the bad guys and the good guys got their own annoying sidekick.  The bad sidekick was constantly popping up and laughing.  The good sidekick had no teeth.  Both sidekicks died, which is an example of this film giving the viewers what they want.

Fourth, the musical score was made up of stolen riffs from Pink Floyd and the Theme From Shaft.  (I didn’t recognize the Pink Floyd riffs but everyone that I was watching the film with was like, “How did they get Pink Floyd!?”)  Apparently, the film “borrowed” the music without paying.  I love the shamelessness of old school Hong Kong cinema.

Fifth, the final fight between Taka and Chan Kwong is absolutely brutal!  Seriously, when you’re watching a film about people who are incapable of settling their conflicts through talking, this is exactly the type of fight you want to see.

Finally, once again, all of the conflict could have been avoided if they hadn’t tried to tax everyone to death!  I love films that are anti-taxation.  Watching a double feature of Rage of Wind and Harry’s War might become my new Tax Day tradition!

 

Avenging Angelo (2002, directed by Martyn Burke)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

When mob boss Angelo (Anthony Quinn) is assassinated on the orders of the son of a former rival, bodyguard Frankie Delano (Sylvester Stallone) takes it upon himself to protect Angelo’s daughter, Jennifer (Madeleine Stowe).  The problem is that Jennifer, who was adopted by a normal couple, doesn’t know that she is the daughter of a mobster.  Her life and her marriage are already falling apart even before Frankie reveals the truth to her.  All she wants to do is disappear into the pages of a romance novel written by her favorite writer, Marcello (Raoul Bova) but Marello is not quite what he seems.

Sylvester Stallone has had a long career, full of high points (Rocky, First Blood, The Expendables, Creed) and low points (too many to list).  Avenging Angelo, made at a time when it was assumed that the aging Stallone would never again play Rocky Balboa or John Rambo, is a moderate low point.  It’s no Rocky but it’s still better than Stop!  Or My Mom Will Shoot!  Overall, it’s not very good and a lot of the humor falls flat but Stallone and Madeleine Stowe are both likable and they have a few moments that display what seems like genuine chemistry.  It’s still a slow movie that awkwardly mixes comedy and action but it was not the disaster that I was expecting it to be when I first found it on Tubi.  It’s more forgettable than bad.  If there is anything to really regret when it comes to Avenging Angelo, it’s that Anthony Quinn did not get a more memorable swan song.

Avenging Angelo was Stallone’s second movie to go straight to video.  It’s easy to forget not but the conventional wisdom in 2002 really was that Stallone was washed up.  There were jokes about whether or not he would follow Schwarzenegger’s lead and go into politics.  Stallone, however, proved all the naysayers wrong, proving that he could still throw punches as Rocky Balboa and John Rambo while The Expendables revealed a Stallone who could finally laugh at himself.  Avenging Angelo turned out to be not the end of Stallone’s career but instead just a detour.  Say what you will about the man and his movies, Sylvester Stallone is an American institution.

Nothing In Common (1986, directed by Garry Marshall)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Tom Hanks plays David Basner (Tom Hanks), an advertising executive whose immature lifestyle gives him insight into what sells but has also left him totally unprepared to deal with the fallout when his mother (Eva Marie Saint) leaves his father, Max (Jackie Gleason).  David, who is struggling to come up with the perfect commercial for a demanding client (Hector Elizondo), has to come to terms with both his father’s bad health and his history of infidelity.

This isn’t my favorite Tom Hanks movie.  It comes from that awkward period when Hanks was trying to make the transition from comedy to drama and its attempt to mix the two genres is not always successful.  The scenes of Hanks at the ad agency are often so cartoonish that they don’t seem like they belong in a movie where Jackie Gleason loses a foot to diabetes and realizes that he spent his entire marriage emotionally abusing his wife.  The movie, though, is worth watching for the teaming of Hanks and Gleason, two comedic actors who eventually proved themselves to equally as skilled at playing it serious.  Gleason, especially, gives a strong performance.  This was his final film and Garry Marshall convinced him to take it by asking, “Do you really want to go out on Smokey and the Bandit 3?”  Gleason would die a little over a year after the release of Nothing In Common and this film, even if it wasn’t perfect, gave the world a chance to see what a good actor he really was.

This film is often cited as the the movie that started Hanks on the way to becoming a dramatic actor.  Like Punchline, Nothing In Common played a role in Hanks becoming more than just a comedian but  I think Big was ultimately the better showcase for Hanks’s ability to mix pathos with laughs.  Nothing In Common was directed by Garry Marshall and, as was usually the case with Marshall, he often doesn’t trust the audience to figure things out for themselves.  He goes overboard trying to force an emotional response instead of just trusting the material.  Tom Hanks still does a good enough job in Nothing In Common.  Hanks is as likable as always and you can see the dramatic actor emerging in Hanks’s performance even if Hanks still wasn’t totally comfortable with it.

Nothing In Common is flawed but it was definitely a better swan song for Jackie Gleason than Smokey and the Bandit 3.

Brad reviews JACK REED: A SEARCH FOR JUSTICE (1994), starring Brian Dennehy!

Posted on by Bradley Crain

Brian Dennehy directed, co-wrote and starred in this made-for-TV movie about Chicago homicide detective Jack Reed. This is the third TV movie based on Reed’s exploits, following 1992’s DEADLY MATRIMONY, and 1993’s BADGE OF HONOR. In A SEARCH FOR JUSTICE, Jack Reed (Brian Dennehy) investigates the murder of pregnant stripper Lorelei Bradley (Marjorie Monaghan), who also happens to love children, even running a daycare center in the trailer park she lives in. Reed’s investigation quickly identifies the politically connected businessman and strip club owner, Win Carter (Miguel Ferrer), as the prime suspect. As if trying to solve the murder isn’t tough enough, Reed must also deal with corrupt superiors within his own department and train his new boss Charles Silvera (Charles S. Dutton), the latest in a long line of men to be promoted over him. No matter what obstacles Reed encounters, he remains determined to bring the killer to justice!

JACK REED: A SEARCH FOR JUSTICE, is my first “Jack Reed” film, and I enjoyed it. The character of Jack Reed is based on real life Cook County, Illinois Sheriff John “Jack” Reed, with each of the different movies loosely based on cases that Reed investigated throughout his career. As you might imagine, Brian Dennehy is excellent in the lead role as the tough, principled cop who will stop at nothing to catch criminals. The Chicago backdrop adds a nice wrinkle to the proceedings with its strong reputation for corruption, something that plays strongly into this installment and makes Reed’s job that much harder. I also really like Charles S. Dutton’s character, Lieutenant Charles Silvera. Initially promoted due to the color of his skin, and as a way to stick it to Reed, Silvera turns out to be an incorruptible lawman who develops a great working relationship with Reed. I’ve always been a fan of Dutton as an actor, mainly because of his ability to project decency and integrity on screen, and I’m looking forward to seeing them work together in future installments. Miguel Ferrer is also a good villain. He doesn’t go over the top here, rather he plays the part as low key, politically connected, amoral, and ultimately, very dangerous. It’s a good choice.

The fact that JACK REED: A SEARCH FOR JUSTICE is based on real life cases helps bring a little more realism than you might get in most TV movie cop movies of the time. As an example, our cops are more concerned about putting together solid evidence and getting a conviction over anything else. There is some action, but after watching this installment, I realize that these movies are just as likely to end with lawyers cutting a deal than with a big shootout. On the flip side, there are elements of the story that don’t seem realistic at all, such as Reed’s wife Arlene (Susan Ruttan) doing her own undercover work at one point, and our victim’s unlikely dual life as a stripper and daycare operator. What can I say, it’s not a perfect movie, but if you enjoy 90’s TV cop dramas like I do, you should enjoy this film and this series. The cast is good, and the characters are men of integrity trying to bring justice to a corrupt world. That’s a recipe for enjoyment as far as I’m concerned, and I’m looking forward to watching the rest of the film series! 

That Thing You Do! (1996, directed by Tom Hanks)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

That Thing You Do! is the story of a one-hit wonder.

In 1964, an aspiring Jazz drummer named Guy (Tom Everett Scott) is a last minute addition to the a local band called the Oneders.  (It’s meant to sound like Wonders but almost everyone mispronounces it as O-Needers.)  The band’s egotistical leader, James (Jonathon Schaech) has written a slow ballad called That Thing You Do! but when Guy’s drumming causes the band to perform the song at a faster tempo, they end up with a local hit on their hands.  That local hit becomes a national hit when The Oneders are signed by Play-Tone Records.  First, Mr. White (Tom Hanks), their new manager, officially changes the name to The Wonders.  Secondly, he makes sure that every teen in America is dancing to That Thing You Do!  Third, he tells Guy to always wear sunglasses.  Fourth, he tells James that he will record and perform what Play-Tone tells him to.  Guitarist Lenny (Steven Zahn) and the unnamed Bass Player (Ethan Embry) are happy to be along for the ride but James chafes at his lack of artistic freedom.  Guy, meanwhile, falls for James’s girlfriend (Liv Tyler, at her loveliest) and dreams of meeting his idol, jazzman Del Paxton (Bill Cobbs).

That Thing You Do! was Tom Hanks’s directorial debut and, with its careful recreation of a bygone era and its collection of authentic sounding early 60s rock on the soundtrack, it was obviously a labor of love.  Considering the number of times that the song is played in the movie, it helps that it is a very good song.  That Thing You Do! is a catchy tune, one that you can’t help but tap your feet to.  At the same time, it also sounds like a one hit wonder.  It’s good but not so great as to make you expect much else from The Wonders.

Not surprisingly, Tom Hanks gets great performances from the entire ensemble cast.  Johnathon Schaech and Tom Everett Scott have never been better.  Liv Tyler is lovely and vulnerable as James’s unappreciated girlfriend.  Familiar faces like Peter Scolari, Kevin Pollak, Chris Isaak, and Clint Howard make welcome appearances.  Hanks himself is surprisingly intimidating as Mr. White.  When he says that the band will cover something the Play-Tone catalogue, it’s obvious that he’s not making a request.

The film is a tribute to being young and to loving music bit it’s also a study in the disillusionment of discovering that everything is ultimately a business.  James is frequently an arrogant jerk and he treats his girlfriend terribly but it’s hard not to sympathize with him when he says that he wants to do more than just cover songs from the Play-Tone catalogue.  To James and Guy, the Wonders are about self-expression and their love of music.  To Mr. White, the Wonders are just another band that came up with one catchy tune and who probably aren’t ever going to be heard from again.   That Thing You Do! pays tribute to all of the one-hit wonders out there, the bands who you forget about until you just happen to hear that one song on the radio or in a movie and suddenly, all the memories come flooding back.

 

Film Review: Cast Away (dir by Robert Zemeckis)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

“WILSON!”

Seriously, I’m usually pretty well-behaved when I watch a movie but every time I see the 2000 film Cast Away, I find myself thinking, “Protect Wilson!  You must protect Wilson!”  And then, every time, I feel the sting of tears in my eyes as Wilson, with that red-face and that understanding attitude, goes floating away.

Wilson is a volleyball.  When a FedEx executive named Chuck Noland (played by Tom Hanks) finds himself stranded on a desert island, Wilson becomes his only companion.  A stain from Chuck’s bloody palm creates something that resembles a face on Wilson’s rubber surface and Chuck spends a lot of time talking to Wilson.  It’s how Chuck maintains his sanity, even as he loses weight, sheds most of his clothes, and grows a beard.

Chuck learns how to make fire.  He learns how to catch fish.  He is able to survive due to the supplies that he gathers from the FedEx packages that were being carried on the plane that crashed into the island.  But Chuck never stops dreaming of returning home to his girlfriend (Helen Hunt).  Eventually, Chuck finds the courage to try to make the journey back to civilization.  He brings Wilson with him but ultimately, this is something that Chuck is going to have to do on his own.  Of course, Chuck has failed to consider that he’s been gone for years.  He is presumed dead.  On the Island, time seemed like it was frozen.  For the rest of the world, life has continued.

Cast Away is a film that a lot of people, especially online film commentators, tend to criticize.  The complaint is usually that the film is essentially a commercial for FedEx, that it’s not believable that Tom Hanks could survive on that island for as long as he did, and that the film itself has a weak ending.  I’ll concede that the film does make FedEx look like the nicest corporation on Earth.  (FedEx’s CEO appears as himself, which should tell you something about how the company is presented.)  And I will admit that the film’s time-advancing jump cut, which abruptly takes Hanks from being clean-shaven and husky to being thin and bearded, does leave a lot of unanswered questions.  But I will always defend the film’s ending.  The film ends on a note of ambiguity but how else could it have ended?  Everyone thought Chuck Noland was dead.  His girlfriend had every right to get on with her life and, in fact, it would have been psychologically unhealthy for her if she hadn’t.  As for that final shot, it’s an acknowledgment that Chuck doesn’t know what lies ahead of him in the future.  All he knows is that he life isn’t over yet.  It’s a melancholy ending.  It’s a frustrating ending.  But it’s also the only way the film could have ended and therefore, it’s a perfect ending.

Cast Away is a film that I will always defend and it’s also a film that really only could have worked with Tom Hanks in the lead role.  He plays Chuck as being the ultimate everyman, an affable guy who was just trying to do his job and whose survival of the initial plane crash was largely due to luck.  Hanks is one of those actors who is instantly sympathetic and Cast Away uses his screen persona to good effect.  You want him to survive because he’s Tom Hanks.  He may be playing a character named Chuck Noland but ultimately, he’s Tom Hanks.  He survived being trapped in space.  Surely, he can survive being stranded on an island.  The majority of the film is just Hanks talking to himself.  This would have brought out the worst in so many actors but Tom Hanks makes it work.  And yes, he’ll bring tears to your eyes as he watches Wilson float away.  That’s the power of a good actor.

As for Wilson, I like to think that he washed up in Pensecola.  Recently, I played a little volleyball on a beautiful Florida beach.  Was that you, Wilson?

 

Lethal Tender (1997, directed by John Bradshaw)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Montessi (Kim Coates) and his men have taken over a water filtration plant, are holding hostages, and keep threatening to poison the water supply.  Rogue cop David Chase (Jeff Fahey) and Melissa Wilkins (Carrie-Anne Moss) sneak around the plant and try to stop the terrorists.  David Chase is set up to be a John McClane type but instead, he only kills one terrorists and then lets everyone else do most of the work.  Of course, the whole water filtration hostage situation is just a distraction so Mr. Turner (Gary Busey) can steal a bunch of bonds.  Busey sits behind a computer for most of the movie, lending his name but not much else.

A good cast is wasted in what is definitely one of the worst of the many Die Hard rip-offs to come out in the 90s.  There’s not enough action, with Jeff Fahey as a passive hero and even the great Kim Coates reduced to standing around and doing a lot of yelling for most of his time on screen.  Gary Busey is the big star here but it’s obvious that he was only on the set for a few hours and his plan for stealing the bonds never makes sense.  Whenever anyone questions his plans, he says that it involves computers.  In the 90s, I guess that was enough.

Watching this last night, I realized that I had seen it on Cinemax back in the day.  It didn’t make much sense back then either.

The Killing of Billy The Kid (2023, directed by Brett Bentman)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

In the year 1881, a recently arrested prisoner named Thomas Riley (Andrea Zirio) attempts to gain his freedom by offering to inform Sheriff Pat Garrett (Thom Hallum) about the location of a man calling himself Henry McCarty.  At first Garrett asks why he should care about a man named McCarty but, when Riley reveals that McCarty is actually the infamous Billy the Kid, Garrett becomes much more interested.

The Killing of Billy The Kid is a straight-forward account of the events leading up to the death of Billy the Kid (played here by Paul Addison).  While there are flashbacks to the pasts of both Billy and Garrett, the majority of the film is Garrett heading out to the location where Billy is hiding.  With a few notable exceptions, it sticks to the general accepted facts about the death of Billy the Kid.  Paul Addison plays Billy as being a cocky punk and probably comes closer to capturing Billy’s actual personality than a lot of other actors have.

The budget was obviously low (the imdb says it was made for only $30,000) but the film still looks good and it’s version of the old west feels duty and isolated enough to be passable.  I have seen the film listed as having a 90-minute runtime on some sites.  Every streaming version that I’ve found clocks in at 77 minutes and, when I watched the film, it didn’t seem like there were any parts of the story missing.  Addison and Hallum are convincing in their roles, looking authentic whether riding a horse or shooting a gun.  For western fans, there’s much to appreciate about The Killing of Billy The Kid.

10 Films For The Week (7/6/25)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

America, Hell Yeah!

As I always do, I celebrated Independence Day by watching one of the greatest films ever made, the original Red Dawn (1984).  The communists land in America and try to take over and, sadly, they succeed to a large extent.  However, a group of high school students led by Patrick Swayze and Charlie Sheen refuse to go down without a fight.  Say it with me, “Wolverines!”  This film really doesn’t get the respect that it deserves.  Not only is it well-acted but, despite it’s reputation, it doesn’t glamorize war.  Most of the Wolverines do not survive.  C. Thomas Howell, the most committed of the Wolverines, loses a bit of his soul and goes from being a fresh-faced high school student to someone who can execute a former friend without a moment’s hesitation.  While evil Russian William Smith plots to destroy the rebels, Ron O’Neal comes to respect their dedication.  Still, in the end, the best thing about this film is that it’s shamelessly patriotic and unapologetically anti-communist.  “Avenge me!” Harry Dean Stanton yells and you better do it.  The film can be found on Max.

Warren Oates, Hell Yeah!

Yesterday was the birthday of the great character actor Warren Oates.  Brad reviewed two of his films and Jeff shared a scene from Strips.  I would like to recommend the enigmatic 1966 western The Shooting (1966).  Deliberately paced and philosophically-minded, this film features Oates in a leading role.  Millie Perkins and Jack Nicholson (who wrote the screenplay) make for a wonderfully menacing duo of villains.  The Shooting can be found on Tubi.

Sylvester Stallone, Hell Yeah!

Today is Sylvester Stallone’s birthday.  As far as I’m concerned, Stallone’s best performance was in First Blood (1982).  The sequels, which were a bit more simplistic and jingoistic than the first film, have tended to overshadow just how good Stallone was as a troubled veteran who just wanted to get a cup of coffee and who found himself being thrown in jail for refusing to “go across the border.”  Of course, it’s not just Stallone who is great in First Blood.  Brian Dennehy and Richard Crenna were, arguably, never better than when they played Sheriff Teasle and Col. Troutman.  First Blood was one of the first films to really be sympathetic to the plight of the Vietnam veteran.  Rambo may snap and destroy an entire town but, after what he’s put through, you won’t blame him.  First Blood is on Tubi!

Of course, if you really want a fun and wonderfully absurd Stallone film, check out the arm wrestling epic, Over The Top (1987).  Stallone is Hawk, a truck driver who makes his living as an arm wrestler.  Robert Loggia tries to Stallone’s son away so Stallone has to prove himself to be the world’s greatest arm wrestler.  I distrust anyone who doesn’t love Over The Top.  It can be viewed on Tubi.

Tom Cruise, Hell Yeah!

If you’re still in the mood to celebrate Tom Cruise’s birthday, Losin’ It (1982) features Cruise as a teenager in the 60s who goes down to Mexico with his friends so that he can …. well, lose it.  While the comedy is often predictable, Losin’ It is still an amiable enough film and Cruise gives a likable performance and his character has a really sweet romance with Shelley Long.  The great John Stockwell is also in the film.  Director Curtis Hanson went on to do L.A. Confidental.  Losin’ It is on Tubi!

It’s become fashionable to criticize Risky Business (1983), released a year after Losin’ It, for being a materialistic film but …. eh, screw that.  Between the soundtrack, the surreal direction, Guido the Killer Pimp, and Tom Cruise bringing out the sunglasses at night, Risky Business is one of the best films of the 80s and it can be viewed on AMC+’s Prime Channel.

In Cocktail (1988), Tom Cruise  is the last barman poet!  A guilty pleasure for sure but a pleasure, nonetheless.  Cocktail can be viewed on AMC+.

The Running Man, Hell Yeah!

There’s a remake of The Running Man coming out this year.  I’ll live it to you to decide whether or not that’s a necessary thing.  I will say that the original Running Man (1987) holds up very well, as both an action film and a media satire.  You can smell the cigarettes and gin whenever Richard Dawson is on screen.  The Running Man can be viewed on Tubi.

Beach Fun, Hell Yeah!

Saturday was National Bikini Day.  If you missed your chance to celebrate, you can make up for it be watching Malibu High (1979), a film from the legendary production company, Crown International.  It’s all fun and games the beach until a young woman is dumped by her boyfriend and decides to become a professional assassin.  Malibu High can be viewed on Tubi.

The End of the World, Hell Yeah!

If you’re in the mood for some end of the world action, the low-budget, independently made A Thief In The Night (1972) is currently on Tubi, along with its sequels, A Distant Thunder, Image of the Beast, and The Prodigal Planet.  A Thief In The Night is not necessarily a great film but it does have a few moments of dream-like intensity.  And it’s short!  It can be viewed on Tubi.

Click here for last week’s entry!