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Run (1991)
Run Run Run !!!
"Run" tells the story of law student Charlie Farrow (Patrick Dempsey) whose working part time as a mechanic on a campus in Boston. His boss offers him money to deliver the car to a man in Atlantic City. Unfortunately, the car breaks down only half way to Atlantic City. Charlie leaves the car in a garage for repairs and enters a casino/restaurant ran by the local mob. As a lucky gambler, Charlie plays poker with the mobster's son who doesn't accept failure and gets in a fight with Charlie. The guy accidently kills himself in a bad fall, leaving Charlie as the only witness. The mobster sends his goons and the police after Charlie who can't prove his innocence without the help of a beautiful croupier who saw everything.
*SPOILERS*
I must say this movie contains some never before seen action scenes (to my experience) in a movie. 1) Charlie is chased down a bowling alley. 2) Charlie gets thrown of the top of a building but hangs on after a henchman's pants. 3) Charlie kills the mobster with the "bait" used in dog races.
A great performance from highly underrated actor Patrick Dempsey who has yet starred in a big blockbuster. Kelly Preston is gorgeous and also gives a believable performance. The rest of the cast is okay as well as the direction and script. This movie is fast paced which makes it so entertaining to watch more than once. I bought this movie and recommend it to anyone who loves chase movies such as "The Fugitive", "US Marshals", "The Hunted" and the new movie "Pressure" (which looks much like "Run"). Overall, a nice little movie worth a least one watch and a 7 rating on 10.
Detroit Rock City (1999)
The killer soundtrack itself is worth a viewing !
"Detroit Rock City" has the best soundtrack I've ever heard in a movie which includes songs from "Kiss" (Detroit Rock City, I stole your love, Love Gun, etc), "KC and the Sunshine Band" (Boogie Shoes), "Hot Chocolate" (Everyone's a winner), "Joan Jett"(Love Hurts) and many more. The soundtrack carries the movie along a fun ride especially if the songs are already familiar to you.
"Detroit Rock City", written by Carl V. Dupré and directed by Adam Rifkin, is the story of four high school kids and fans of Rock & Roll band Kiss. They're all "potheads" (said Natasha Lyonne's character) and have their own band where they worship Kiss! Hawk, the lead singer with a badass attitude, Jam, the mama's boy who plays the drums, Trip, the dumb stupid guitar player and Lex, the serious dude.
***SPOILER***
The story takes place in 1978 where the four friends are about to go see "Kiss" in concert live from Detroit when Jam's mom burns their tickets and sends him to boarding school. Hawk, Trip and Lex get a hold of other tickets from a radio contest and try busting their friend out to leave for Detroit for the concert. But when they actually arrive, they learn that they can't have the tickets while there's only a few hours before the concert and there's no way they'll miss it. So they each go their separate ways. Hawk enters a dancing contest in a strip bar to find money to pay a Kiss ticket form some street guy. Jam is caught in the streets by his mother whose leading a manifestation against Kiss and finds an unexpected romance as he confesses at church. Trip tries to mug the wrong kid for a Kiss ticket and gets in trouble with the kid's big goon brother who forces him to rob a convenient store. And finally, Lex wanders around the stage where Kiss are about to give their concert, hoping to escape the security guards and enter. The four friends meet again only a few minutes before the concert with only one last shot to see Kiss on stage. Wil they succeed ?
This movie is highly entertaining, not only for the music but also for the funky styles and events which occured during the 70's. It's the time when Disco and Rock & Roll were rivals in music culture which is used in many jokes like "Disco blows dogs for quarters, man!" and "The Village people! There a fag band!". The characters, maybe a little under developed, often find themselves in goofy situations where they'll do anything just to see a concert. Good performances by Edward Furlong, Sam Huntington, Giuseppe Andrews and James DeBello delivers a hilarious comedy for either teens or grown adults who've lived through the seventies ! My older cousin once had a haircut like Trip and laughed out loud when he watched this movie. Finally, a simple plot to a simple movie makes it worth a good viewing. Watch out for the music too ! 8/10.
The Terminator (1984)
The movie that inspired "The matrix"
Every big fan of the "Terminator" saga knows that this movie helped inspire popular movies like the matrix, which is why this movie is so good. Back in 1984, James Cameron's "The Terminator" brought a unique approach to the science-fiction genre with this original popcorn action/sci-fi flick. This movie has long since reached the status of a cult classic as well as it's follower, "T2 : Judgment Day". It's probably a little too soon to be calling "T3 : Rise of the machines" a classic. I hope it'll become one in the near future. Even though both these sequels are excellent, "The Terminator" has some sort of class unseen in the sequels.
Here are a few good things about "The Terminator" :
1. THE STORY Unseen before in previous movies. The future calls for help in the past. A warrior is sent to protect a woman to assure the safety of humanity in the far future.
2. THE SPECIAL EFFECTS Stan "The man" Winston is visually creative with all those unbelievable effects he presented in the movie : 1) The scenes of an apocalyptic world 2) The terminator operates on himself 3) The killing machine walking down the street.
3. THE CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT Sarah Connor (played by Linda Hamilton) goes from a naive waitress to a very strong woman (as seen in T2) and Kyle Reese (played by Michael Biehn) is not your ordinary type of hero. He's also strong an never quits believing in freedom and the end of the war against the machines. Sarah and Kyle eventually fall in love. Finally, the terminator (played by Arnold Schwarzenegger) is a perfect predator and villain who hasn't been played so well by other actors.
4. THE SCRIPT AND DIRECTION I personaly think that James Cameron is a sci-fi genius (as seen in "Aliens", "The Abyss" and "T2"). In this picture (actually his first), Cameron wrote an original screenplay and directed it as a movie, bringing a very dark approach to the sci-fi genre and crafting a world of terror where machines control humans. He also wrote funny unforgettable one liners like "I'll be back". This is indeed his best picture.
5. THE VIOLENCE/GORE is wisely used to show off a darker aspect of terror and being in danger. Without the violence, it's uncertain if "The Terminator" would be as good.
These five things are pretty hard to describe because everyone feels different about something. This is how I feel about this movie. It's a fun ride to hell where you'll be kept on the edge of your seat as the plot unfolds the terrible destiny awaiting humanity.
The cast and crew did a great job on this movie. Big Arnold is frightening, Linda is gorgeous and Michael is unbelievably good. Here's a piece of James Cameron's imagination. I hope everyone can find something they like in this movie no matter what genre you're interested in. Watch this movie again and again and again. It's the kind that gets better and better. I rate it a great big 10.
Pressure (2002)
It's pressure all right !
I've seen "Pressure" a few months ago when I rented the DVD at blockbuster videos. I thought it was just okay as first but I afterwards saw the special features including a small featurette about the making of the movie. Actors sat down and talked about the movie's actual message. So when I saw the movie for the second time, I found it much more entertaining once you've understand what the hell is going on !
"Pressure" tells the story of Steve (Kerr Smith) and Patrick (Lochlyn Munro) who are two medical students back from a conference heading for California. On their way home, they stop at a bar somewhere in Oregon where they get into trouble when Steve gets involved with the wrong girl (Angela Featherstone). The rest of the movie is one big chase scene where Steve and Patrick must prove their innocence.
*SPOILERS*
Don't read this part if you haven't seen the movie. Unless of course you're not willing to see it at all.
As I was saying, Steve gets involved with a girl who manages to take him outside of the bar for a few minutes. Steve is attacked by her boyfriend with whom she robs his belongings. But that's not all. Her boyfriend is some kind of crazy idiot who likes to see people suffer to feel in control. So he brings Steve out in the woods to scare the hell out of him but accidently shoots his balls off when he triggers his gun in his pants. Steve manages to escape with Patrick. Unfortunately, the guy who shots himself is a cop and his father is the sheriff. You guess about the rest.
I personally think that "Pressure" was a good movie by director Richard Gale. Do you know he shot this movie in 18 day ?!! Incredible is the results if you watch the movie and its special features. It will explain you what you'll probably won't understand while viewing the film.
Overall, "Pressure" is a nice little chase movie like many others except that it stands altogether. The script is solid, the direction is good and the acting is average. A good movie for people who've enjoyed "The fugitive" and "Rambo". Not as violent as both of these, though. Rent this movie. It's worth it. I rate it 7/10.
Murder 101 (1991)
Funny. This movie actually seems like a course of mystery writing !
"Murder 101" is by far one of Pierce Brosnan's best performances in an almost tailored role for his Irish personality. I think I haven't seen him in a better movie before he played James Bond in 1995. Brosnan plays a writer who teaches how to write mystery stories. He's a little crazy about perfection in his novels and is very interesting to listen to when he gives writing lessons to his classes. I love Brosnan's performances and hope he could get back to this kind of role after he gives up the Bond role.
*SPOILERS*
"Murder 101" tells the story of mystery writer Charles Lattimore (Pierce Brosnan) who recently wrote a highly successful novel about the true story of Timothy Ryder (J. Kenneth Campbell) who murdered his wife. Lattimore spent time with Ryder to understand his story and didn't believe that Ryder was guilty. But success was more important than friendship for Lattimore as he betrayed Ryder and wrote that he killed his wife. Lattimore is hunted by the betrayal he did to his friend and finds out that the murders occurring on campus where he works are destined to frame him. So he thinks Ryder is setting him up with a student from Lattimore's class (Raphael Sbarge). Lattimore tries to prove his innocence with the help of his ex-wife (Dey Young) and settle the score with Ryder before things get worst.
This is a great TV-movie who could of been successful in theaters. It's a shame that it was broadcast on TV instead. It really is a wonderfully written movie that shows a difference between reality and fiction. Performances by Dey Young and Raphael Sbarge are excellent and make this movie shine on your TV. Rent it. I rate it 9/10.
Aliens (1986)
One word : ALIENS !!!
"Aliens" is the best one of the series with its unique good versus evil fight to save the universe. Far better than the slow but still quite scary original "Alien", this film is extremely well crafted with a lot of action and suspense that keeps you on the edge of your seat.
Just like the tagline says "This time, it's war", Aliens is a war movie set in space on the distant planet of LV-426. Sigourney Weaver returns as Lt. Ellen Ripley in this chilling adventure directed by James Cameron co-starring the director's usual cast list Michael Biehn, Bill Paxton, Jenette Goldstein and Lance Henriksen.
Recovered somewhere in space by the "company" after drifting into space for the past 57 years, Lt. Ripley explains her story (from the first movie) to the "company" about what happened to the "Nostromo". No one believes her and they revoke her lisence as a flight officer indefinitely. When the company loses contact with the colony on LV-426 (planet from the first movie), Ripley is called back into action to assist a group of Marines on investigating the matter. They find out that the colony is crawling with aliens. Will they survive ?
Personaly, I think that Aliens was perfect in every way. James Cameron's direction and screenplay are sharp and the cast is well chosen to impersonate some colorful characters. Stan Winston's special effects are better than ever and James Horner's score is frightening. Even though a violent picture, Aliens develops a nice chemistry between the characters that leads to a nice happy ending. Too bad that ending is screwed up in the beginning of Alien 3. But just don't think about it when your watching this movie. Have fun and enjoy the ride as James Cameron brings you one step further in the Alien Saga.
High Adventure (2001)
Not as bad as its rating
"High Adventure" stars Vampires' Thomas Ian Griffith as gambler and adventurer Chris Quatermain. His last name may sound very familiar to Allan Quatermain. He's his grandson just like Griffith explains in the movie. "High Adventure" is suppose to be an action/adventure movie but lacks of originality because of a small budget. Griffith travels to Africa to recover Alexander the Great's treasure hidden somewhere in cave. His trusty assistant Johnny Ford (Harry Peacock) and his love interest (Anja Kling), have to join forces to find the treasure before ruthless gangster Lorenzo gets her hands on it. Bad action, quite long even though it only lasts 94 minutes and no cool scenes. The only good thing might be Thomas Ian Griffith's grade-B performance when he pulls off funny one liners like (a man just saved his life) "We owe him a beer !" and (a woman kisses him when he's got a fake mustache on) "You should try without the silly mustache." Overall, I think it's more of a lightweight comedy with a little bit of action from martial arts master Thomas Ian Griffith. I rate this movie 5/10.
Digital Man (1995)
Between Terminator and Robocop, there's "Digital Man"
I've seen Digital man almost a decade ago when it came to video. My dad rented me this movie to watch over the weekend since he was leaving with my mom. I loved it so much that I've watched it five or six times in 48 hours !!!
My memories of this movie are quite vague. I can't really remember the quality of the acting and script. But I definitely remember how scary Mathias Hues was as the killer robot. A team is sent in a small community somewhere out in the desert to terminate him but soon find out some of them are robots themselves. Woon and Jackson are two bad*ss soldiers who can't match Digital Man.
I think I'll buy this movie in the near future since I can't find it at the video store anymore. I think fans of Terminator and Robocop would love this movie. It's the traditional "Shoot the bastard !!!" kind of flick with lots of action and sci-fi. I rate it 7/10. See it if you get the chance.
Gunmen (1993)
Modern remake of Sergio Leone's "The good,the bad and the ugly"
"Gunmen" was loosely based upon Sergio Leone's "The good, the bad and the ugly". But it isn't that much of a rip off. It's actually pretty good. Here are the most obvious resemblances :
1. In "The good, the bad and the ugly", there are three men : the good, a lonesome cow-boy (Clint Eastwood); the bad, an gun-for-hire(Lee Van Cleef) and the ugly, a thief (Eli Wallach). In "Gunmen", Mario Van Peeples plays a bounty hunter (the good), Dennis Leary plays a cutthroat (the bad) and Christopher Lambert plays a thief (the ugly). The relationship between Van Peeples and Lambert in "Gunmen" is similar to Eastwood and Wallach's partnership in "The good, the bad and the ugly".
2. There also is what I call the "you've got the gun and I've got the bullets" situation. In "The good, the bad and the ugly", Eastwood and Wallach are forced to work together to find the treasure because Wallach knows the name of the cemetery and Eastwood knows the name of the grave in which the treasure is buried. In "Gunmen", Van Peeples and Lambert both have their own part of the secret. Lambert knows where his brother hid the boat with 400 millions dollars aboard and Van Peeples knows its name.
3. Finally, there are many scenes in "Gunmen" similar to the ones in "The good, the bad and the ugly" like the scene where Lambert is forced to reveal where the boat is to Leary (Wallach is beaten up and reveals the name of the cemetery to Van Cleef) and the scene at the end when Van Peeples makes Lambert believe he'll get rid of him to keep the treasure (Eastwood hangs Wallach but cuts him loose and shares the treasure).
With all these resemblances, it makes no doubt that "Gunmen" is a remake of "The good, the bad and the ugly". A good remake, though. Considering this movie was made with a very low budget with terrific cast, I thought "Gunmen" was a cool action/adventure flick. Mario Van Peeples and Christopher Lambert are great in their roles and Dennis Leary is excellent as the main bad guy. Patrick Steward also gives a very believable performance as the drug dealer.
Overall, "Gunmen" is a fun modern day remake of Sergio Leone's epic western. I give it a strong 7/10.
Paparazzi (1997)
A shocking well made TV-series about paparazzis
"Paparazzis" is about freelance photographers who struggle day and night to find some interesting new targets to publicly humiliate by taking photographs of these people's private lives. Steve Ménard (Marc Messier) and Pierre Dumont (Patrick Goyette) stumble upon a plot orchestrated by religious leaders to get rid of child abortion experts by assassins led by ex-cop turned hit man named Mamouth (Michel Barrette). Denise Lemieux, wife of a politician and defender of child abortion, is framed off raping children and is sent to a mental institute. So to prove the religious leaders are guilty, Ménard and Goyette must find the woman by risking their lives to accomplish this task. They sell their photographs to magazine owner Valérie Morin (Pascale Bussière).
I saw "Papparazzis" on TV in 1997 and watched it again when it was back on cable last year. I couldn't get enough of it. It shows the great talent of writer Fabienne Larouche. Performances by Marc Messier, Patrick Goyette, Pascale Bussière, Guy Nadon, Joëlle Morin and Michel Barrette are excellent. Especially the character of Steve Ménard played by Marc Messier. A character gone over the edge in humiliating people who tries to do some good for once.
I truly love this TV-series and would like to see it brought back to TV with some new episodes with the same characters. If you speak french and that "Paparazzis" happen to play on cable again, watch it !
PS Check out Fabienne Larouche's other TV series such as "Lance et compte", "Scoop" and "Fortier".
La Petite Vie (1993)
The greatest sitcom from Québec television !!!
"La petite vie" was a former play created by Claude Meunier starring Serge hériault as môman (mom) and himself as Pôpa (dad). They form a strange couple of senior citizens who've got nothing else to do than argue about their children and their boring lives. The play was a hit on stage when Claude Meunier decided to turn it into a TV show.
With much more characters and funnier situations, "La petite vie" became a cult classic TV show of the 90's in Québec. The new characters were Rénald, a brainless account, Thérèse, an annoying housewife who can't bake shepperd's pie, Rod, môma's favourite and Caro, the rejected little girl of the family, as pôpa and môman's children. Lison is Rénald's low in IQ wife, Réjean is Thérèse's lazy husband and Jean-Lou is the gay neighbor. All these colourful characters brought together shows how lovely and sometimes stupid, a family can really be.
This TV show was on cable from 1993 to 1999. Every Monday night, I'd watch it with my family and laughed at the jokes and pranks the characters pulled off against each other. If you speak french, you must watch at least a few episodes of this TV phenomena. But don't take it seriously, turn your brain off and have fun watching "La petite vie".
By the way, if you see the show's last episode "Le bog de l'an 2000" on shelves at Wal-Mart, buy it ! You won't regret it for a second.
Les Boys II (1998)
Better than the first !!!
The Boys are back in town ! This time, the gang has gone to France where they'll compete against other countries in an international hockey tournament. The sequel was released shortly after the first movie an grossed much more money at the box office in Québec.
Stan, Bob, Ti-Guy, Jean-Charles, François and Fernand are back to break the ice in the highly entertaining sequel to the original Boys movie. This film is very different from the first. The jokes are much funnier as they make fun of french people. Stan (Rémy Girard) falls in love with a restaurant owner while Fernand (Paul Houde) is unhappy with the cheap hotel Ti-Guy (Patrick Huard) got them and Bob sleeps with the wife of another team's coach. Once again, the characters' private lives get mixed up with their hockey lives in this hilarious comedy.
Louis Saïa presents the second chapter in the Boys saga that continues with Les Boys 3. See this film if you are from Québec or if you speak french fluently. This movie rocks and is much better than it seems. See it ! I rate it a great big 10 just like the first one.
Les Boys (1997)
One of Québec's greatest classics of all time !!!
I've seen Les Boys back in 1997 when I was pretty bored of those shoot em up American movies. I've spent a hell a good time. It was pure fun all the way ! A movie about hockey will never be as good as this one. Movies like Mighty Ducks and Mystery Alaska are insults to this sport. In Québec, hockey is a religion. It's our national sport. Unfortunately, you must speak french fluently if you want to understand the jokes. If you do, you won't be disappointed.
Les Boys is the story of Stan, a hockey club owner who owes 50 000 $ to a guy named Méo. If he doesn't pay Méo back before the end of the week, he get his legs broken. But Méo finds another way to bargain with Stan as he proposes him to plan a game between Stan's Boys and his own team. But will the Boys accept to help Stan...
This movie was full of laughs and gags as the movie explores the characters' private lives. Bob is a ladiesman who needs cash, Ti-Guy is a lonely salesman who extorts money form people by sailing old ugly houses and apartments, Jean-Charles is a gay lawyer who hides his homosexuality, François is a surgeon and Julien is a dope head guitarist. All of these colourful characters create a perfect climax that shows how hard life can get at sometimes and how beautiful it could be at other times. It's a great comedy about friendship, women, hockey and life.
Les Boys is part of Louis Saïa's epic saga that continues with Les Boys 2 and Les Boys 3. Overall, a good movie with an excellent (canadian) cast. Have fun watching this different kind of movie.