RoboCop 3 (1993)

After my surprisingly positive reaction to RoboCop 2 when I (re?)watched it a few weeks ago, I decided to make a rewatch of RoboCop 3 a top priority. I have definitely seen this before, and I definitely didn't like it. But I went into it with an open mind and a good helping of optimism.

It's Robert John Burke in the main role this time around, and things are still not great in Detroit, which has now been acquired by OCP. OCP isn't the same old OCP any more though, having itself been taken over by a Japanese corporation now holding a controlling share of the stock. As Detroit residents are mistreated and turned out of homes that can then be demolished and turned into more profitable enterprises, growing unrest from civilians becomes such a strong force that it eventually affects the police. But will they continue to work as the strong arm for capitalist bullies, or will they follow RoboCop's lead and develop a moral conscience?

While he cannot match Weller's performance, Burke is very good in the lead role, and he does well with the physicality of the role. Nancy Allen reprises her role for a while, Remy Ryan is good as a talented kid, Nikko, who can also use technology to help those around her fight back against the authorities, Jill Hennessy is the aptly-named Dr. Lazarus, and it's fun to spot familiar faces like CCH Pounder, Bradley Whitford, Stephen Root, and Daniel von Bargen in the supporting cast. Bruce Locke has some very memorable moments as Otomo, most easily described as a kind of robo-ninja, and Rip Torn gets to join in with the fun for a few amusing scenes.

Directed by Fred Dekker, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Frank Miller, RoboCop 3 is a decent, but flawed, bit of sci-fi action fun with the kind of satire and social commentary that fans of the first two movies should expect. Like many perfectly fine sequels, the biggest problem it has is not being up to the high standard of the first film. That is all, although it was received so poorly when first released that it pretty much killed Dekker’s directorial career stone dead. 

There's nothing here to shout about when it comes to the technical side of things. The visuals lack some flair, but aren't awful, and the few moments that feel like highlights still pale in comparison to the highlights from both of the previous movies. It's obvious that the budget wasn't there for an epic vision, but it's hard to be sure that Dekker and Miller had any epic vision in mind, as the story we get is much more interested in re-establishing a connection between RoboCop and some real humanity than providing more glimpses of the dystopian future setting.

Yes, a few  moments feel unintentionally silly, either due to the plotting or the wonky special effects, but I ended up enjoying the messy mix of capitalist brutality fighting against community warmth. There’s no prime directive to say that you should watch this, but I don’t think that it’s anywhere near as bad as its reputation would suggest.

6/10

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Men In Black II (2002)

Another day, another chance to revisit a film that I think was always given a bit too hard a time when it was first released. Men In Black II is a lot of fun. It’s as well-paced and inventive as the first movie. The returning players are still great in their roles. It just isn’t as good as the hugely successful original.

A new baddie has landed on Earth (Serleena, played by Lara Flynn Boyle), looking to get their hands on something that was hidden away years ago by Agent Kay (Tommy Lee Jones). Unfortunately, Agent Kay had his mind wiped when he chose to retire from the MIB organisation, which makes things tricky when Agent Jay (Will Smith) has to bring him back “into the office”. Can they protect the valuable asset that Serleena is seeking? Can they even find the damn thing in time?

Written by Robert Gordon and Barry Fanaro, in place of Ed Solomon, and with Barry Sonnenfeld back in the director’s chair, Men In Black II doesn’t feel very far removed from its predecessor. There are one or two scenes that spend a bit too much time being too earnest and unfunny, but they are few and far between. Overall, this is a pretty great sequel, full of both new gags and gags that call back to lines and moments in the first film. The visual style is just as cool and slick throughout, and Danny Elfman once again delivers with his music (I think his main theme for this movie series holds up as some of his best work). Sonnenfeld keeps perfect control over everything, or at least makes it seem that way, and every extra detail, in the plot or production design, feels well-considered and relevant.

Although their roles have changed somewhat, Smith and Jones still make a great central pairing. The former remains cocky and ready to deliver witty lines, the latter still retains an air of exasperation around his well-worn face. Boyle is fun in the role of Serleena, an alien dominatrix with their tendrils whipping whoever doesn’t give them the right answers to their questions, and Johnny Knoxville is . . . well, look, I like Johnny Knoxville, but his character is the weak link there, a two-headed creation given too many chances to fool around in a way that isn’t on a par with the rest of the humour in the film. Rosario Dawson is a worthy addition to the cast, playing a murder witness named Laura who somehow avoids having her memory wiped, and there’s a typically great little turn from Patrick Warburton at the start of the movie. Rip Torn, Frank The Pug, and Tony Shalhoub all make welcome returns, as do the odd little “worm guys” (CG creations who all perk up when Dawson is introduced to them), and there are some fun cameos to keep your eyes peeled for.

The first film set a very high bar when it comes to blockbuster sci-fi comedy, and it holds up as a brilliant slice of modern mainstream cinema, but I remain convinced that this is a worthy sequel. It’s smart, it’s funny, it hits similar main beats. It just isn’t the first film, and I think those judging it too harshly on that basis are being a tad unfair. Although you can deduct an extra point or two from my rating if you REALLY can’t stand Frank The Pug. I have somehow grown to enjoy his screentime a bit more than I used to, but I can see how he could hurt the viewing experience.

7/10

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City Heat (1984)

Perhaps they weren't at their highest height, but in the early '80s you would struggle to find two cinematic superstars more iconic than Clint Eastwood and Burt Reynolds. Don't get me wrong, we still had plenty of cinematic icons alive and well, but they weren't seemingly at the peak of their powers, whereas Burt and Clint absolutely were. One was The Bandit, and also just Burt, one was Dirty Harry, and so many other memorable characters. Which makes the idea of City Heat a no-brainer.

This was Tango & Cash five years before Tango & Cash, with the added move of making it a period piece, for reasons I still can't quite fathom (although I admit that a couple of fun gags stem from the whole prohibition-era restrictions).

Eastwood is Lieutenant Speer, Reynolds is a private detective named Mike Murphy. The men used to be partners but it's clear from the opening scenes that there's no love lost between them. Murphy has a partner who has unwitingly gotten himself in too deep with some mobsters, Speer is keeping a detached eye on the situation, mainly by keeping an eye on Murphy.

Directed by Richard Benjamin (who I knew as an actor, mainly from the Saturday The 14th films, but was unaware that he has been behind some fun movies, including The Money Pit, Mermaids and My Favourite Year), and written by Blake Edwards and Joseph Stinson, City Heat is a film symptomatic of many that want to pair up two superstars without really knowing how best to use them. There's simple fun to be had just watching any exchange between the fast-talking Reynolds and the much more laconic Eastwood, and there are some good gags here and there (a running joke about hidden alcohol being one, the other involves Eastwood having a supply of larger and larger firearms), but that's about all this has going for it, which is a great shame for all involved. The script should have been full of better lines, the plotting didn't need to seem so convoluted, and there should have been more thought given to creating set-pieces that could involve the two leads.

Eastwood and Reynolds both do very well, and both are much better than the material they have to work with. Jane Alexander and Madeline Kahn are also very good, playing two women who may be inadvertently dragged into the whole dangerous mess. Tony Lo Bianco and Rip Torn play the two mob bosses at odds with one another, and Richard Roundtree, Irene Cara, William Sanderson, and Robert Davi are among the other familiar faces joining in.

Having not seen City Heat since I first watched it on VHS when it was released in the 1980s, I wondered if it would be better or worse than I recall. It turns out that, despite the age of the film and the much older age of myself, I feel pretty much the same way about it as I did way back then. I'll be interested to hear how others view it.

5/10

Having never really been given any special treatment on disc, I recommend picking City Heat up with this set.

American fans can pick it up on Bluray here.

Extreme Prejudice (1987)

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Walter Hill makes movies so manly that if you were to melt them all down and form a shield then you would then have the one viable protection against any attack from Chuck Norris. The man knows how to put a bunch of great actors together and then heap on the violence with the eye of a world-famous dance choreographer. Just watch any one of his movies and try to deny it. Well, okay, most of his movies can be put into that category. Maybe not every single one.

Extreme Prejudice can certainly fall into that category. Crackerjack cast? Check. Great characters and a selection of great lines scattered throughout the script? Check. Violent set-pieces mixing some major bloodletting with moments of beautiful camerawork? Check.

The film, in the first act, feels like two completely different storylines. Nick Nolte plays Sheriff Jack Benteen, a man trying to keep drugs and drug-runners out of his local area. Unfortunately, the main drug baron is Cash Bailey (Powers Boothe), a man who used to be his best friend. Elsewhere, Mighty Michael Ironside leads a team of soldiers in a plan to rob a bank that stores most of Bailey's drug money. These two storylines soon intertwine, with the soldiers affording Benteen an opportunity to hit back, and hit back hard, at Bailey's operation.

As well as Nolte, Boothe and Ironside, Extreme Prejudice has room for Rip Torn, William Forsythe, Clancy Brown and Maria Conchita Alonso in its cast. While their names may not be as recognisable, the likes of Larry B. Scott and Dan Tullis Jr. also do a very good job, easily holding their own alongside some of the heavyweights onscreen.

The script by Harry Kleiner and Deric Washburn is based on a story from John Milius and Fred Rexer, which helps to further solidify those tough credentials, if anyone still had any doubt at this point.

Hill draws great performances from everyone here, with Nolte and Boothe in especially good form, and once again mixes the visceral and strikingly cinematic amongst a varied cast of characters who don't just feel as if they've been shoved into the movie to be shot at.

Fans of the director will have seen this one already, no doubt, but if you've somehow missed it until now (as I had) then do make it a priority. And anyone new to Hill's filmography, all I can say is that you have so many treats ahead of you. Extreme Prejudice is one of them, and as good a place to start as any.

9/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Extreme-Prejudice-DVD-Nick-Nolte/dp/B002TS15K0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1391202128&sr=8-1&keywords=extreme+prejudice

Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004)

This review is going here because, well, I wanted to start off the new year with a smile on my face.

As simple as it is gut-bustingly funny, Dodgeball is a near-perfect mix of great one-liners and physical comedy, populated by a cast all playing to their strengths and directed with sharp focus on moving from one comedy beat to the next.

Vince Vaughn plays Peter La Fleur, owner of Average Joe's gym. La Fleur is a nice guy, but a terrible businessman. When he's given a very short time in which to come up with a very large sum of money it looks like Average Joe's is about to close. Which is good news for White Goodman (Ben Stiller), the narcissistic, dense, mean owner of Globo-Gym (slogan: "We're better than you, and we know it").
There may, however, be a way to raise the money and save Average Joe's. Yep, you guessed it. Dodgeball. There's a big tournament about to happen, and the prize money is just the exact amount that La Fleur needs to save the gym.

Written and directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber, who would score another big comedy hit almost ten years later with We're The Millers, this is very much a love or hate movie, and I love it. In fact, it's one of those movies that I love so much that I just hope many of my friends also love it, otherwise I start to question their taste, and then question the basis of our friendship, and then question by questioning manner, and then just collapse into a heap of paranoia and low self-esteem.

Vaughn is a fast-talking average Joe (almost literally, in this case), Stiller is the angry idiot, Justin Long is a good-hearted klutz, Stephen Root is someone who builds and builds up his anger until he explodes, Joel David Moore is a socially awkward bundle of nerves and, well, I guess you get the picture. What I'm emphasising here with my description of each character is that this is not a film to watch if you do not like any of these actors doing their usual stuff. Christine Taylor is very good as the attractive young woman who La Fleur takes a shine to, Rip Torn is hilarious as a violent dodgeball coach, and there are great cameos from the likes of David Hasslehoff, William Shatner, Hank Azaria, Lance Armstrong (although his cameo isn't as funny now as it once was) and even Chuck Norris. Gary Cole and Jason Bateman are to commentators with distinctly different styles, and Missi Pyle is the most dangerous woman in the world with a dodgeball.

Is it a modern comedy classic? Most people would probably say that it isn't, but Dodgeball has a better laugh-per-minute ratio than almost any other comedy I can think of since the turn of the 21st century. It's the perfect blend of clever and dumb, with an extra sprinkling of . . . . . . . . even more dumb, and I certainly rank it up there with many other comedy greats. It might not be perfect, but it comes close.

And the sequence that pops up during the end credits may not be big or clever, but it's yet another moment that makes me burst out laughing, ensuring that the smile stays on my face for some time after the movie has finished.

9/10

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