Change Your Image
wayfarer4
Reviews
The Coca-Cola Kid (1985)
Coca-Cola Dundee?
This is a marginal movie, easily forgettable among a large string of low budget movies trying to cash in on the early American interest in Australia in the mid-1980's. If it has a true failing, it is in being considered a comedy, which I feel it isn't. It is closer to a drama, a story of a supremely confident man being thrust into a world he has no real understanding of.
The acting is actually quite good, and the odd little twists that his journey takes are truly enjoyable, but it gets bogged down in clashes of dueling pride, of a lack of even the most minimal attempts to understand the Australian culture, and a penchant for using nudity to move the movie along. There are numerous questionable characters, people that seem to be in the movie simply to provide a momentary diversion from a real plot. It does manage to steer around several bits of stereotyping, such as presenting an Aborigine musician who never flinches at being patronized, even flippantly handing over a business card advertising his services.
The visuals are wonderful, including one of the most spectacular sunrise shots across the Outback. The movie does a wonderful job of showing bits of the mixture that Australia is, including a roving patrolman riding a camel, and trying to address the great question - "What is the pure Australian experience?". If they had found a way to fill the movie with more of these moments, it might have been far better.
I'd recommend this movie for one of those nights when nothing else seems right. It's a decent time passer, but shouldn't be taken too seriously.
Escape from L.A. (1996)
Not Terrible, But Not Good As A Sequel
In all honesty, I would have loved this movie far more if I weren't old enough to have seen the original Snake Plissken film, Escape From New York, on it's first run in the theaters. Being a fan of early Cyberpunk and apocalyptic films, that one was the truly great film.
This movie is good, in it's own way. Most of the cast is known B-movie and character bit actors, people that I didn't have to strain myself to recognize. The premise is good, the action scenes are fun, the various lines have some great moments. But several of the big special effects scenes are weak, and the script is almost an entire copy of the original. While I haven't done it myself, I have heard that you can play New York and LA side by side, and have almost the same general events happening at the same time, down to where and how he gets injured. The only nod to this is having the police recognize Plissken's planned duplicity from his actions in the earlier movie.
I would agree that the ending is a great one, especially the last scene, which I won't describe here. If you haven't seen it, this scene alone is worth the cost of buying this movie. (If you can't find it for less than seven and a half dollars, you're not looking in the right places.) But I'd make a point of having Escape From New York also.
My final critique? It's a decent film, but if I had been able to recommend Kurt Russell doing a sequel to one of his John Carpenter films, I'd have voted for Big Trouble In Little China first, The Thing second, then Escape From New York.
At Sachem Farm (1998)
"St. Elmo's Fire", without the Brat Pack
This movie falls into that group of initially obnoxious "coming of age" films that has numerous characters that have either zero understanding of what their life can offer them, or they have come to a complete understanding with the universe, and are happily content, but unwilling to offer the serious smack to the head that the others require. It takes a while to get anywhere, especially with the two main characters both completely blind to everything around them that isn't squarely in their plans for themselves. Naturally, for the viewer, it quickly becomes obvious that they are squandering great potentials, but the joy of this movies is in the journey, not the destination.
Character development is the key here, not a grouping of pre-designed archetypes that are ready to hand you their life story and purpose in one single bit of dialogue. Especially noteworthy is the quirky uncle that seems hell-bent upon destroying anything of monetary value, but actually has himself firmly set upon his path to spiritual enlightenment. The siblings that are each trying to figure themselves out are equally good, although the viewer is generally ready to scream at them by the movie's midpoint.
The bottom line is that this is not a casual movie to pick up when you don't have other plans, and are looking for "anything". Be prepared to pay attention to it and enjoy the entire movie, not just the beginning and the end. It demands that you follow the characters in just as befuddled a state as they seem to be, until you reach the end, and recognize the true genius of the trip.
The Unit: Non-Permissive Environment (2006)
Escapism Within Escapism
Well, let's see, what's to say about this particular episode? The premise for the plot is decent, but the follow-through is weak and inconsistent. (In another episode they can get a cell phone call out from backwoods Afghanistan, but in this one they can't make a phone call in the one moment that it desperately needs to be made?) Bottom line, after the team is called in to assassinate an unfriendly ruler, they fail to get the abort call in time, and accidentally set off an international incident. Now, all five team members must not only get clear of the area, they must individually return to their home base using only their wits. At the same time, one of the team members' daughters returns home to have a fight with her parents.
Okay, so far so good. Here's where it bogs down. The show only follows two of the members in getting home, and one of those is a quick situation where he steals the identification cards of an intelligent agent, and uses a clandestine government airline to return home. Mysteriously, four of the team members get home safely within a couple of hours of their escape. The final team member has the worst luck in escaping, constantly being recognized or simply running into the officials. While I'll give the writers points for creative ideas, realism is pretty much tossed out the window. The lone team member breaks through a group of police, using some spectacular combat moves to get past them, later passes a check point with the great disguise of a driving hat and sun glasses, and even manages to implicate several Americans as himself when things get tough. And, when all else fails, he passes himself off as gay in order to attract the attention of a wealthy homosexual with a private ship. (note - at no time to they specifically say yes or no, this team member is bisexual. Instead, this is left sort of hanging as a guilty intimation, a mystery that makes no sense, as this team member in a later episode has serious issues about even pretending to be cheating on his wife.) The B story is worse, more in keeping with an after school special than a prime time show. The only interesting part about it is the daughter out showing her stuff on a firing line, handling a Glock like she was born with it.
My attitude is this. This particular story had great potential from an initial standpoint. But you could easily have watched the first twenty minutes, then switched over to something else, and not really lost anything. The other episodes of this series are better, a point that I'll give for upping my score on this episode. The Unit is a show for those that don't want to worry too much about current political events, and just want something with fire power and illicit sexual encounters. If you're looking for realism, watch the Discovery Channel. And, just think, they could have cast Steven Seagal and Lorenzo Lamas for this show...
Dead Men Can't Dance (1997)
What Firebirds Was To Top Gun,
Okay, yes, this wasn't exactly a high power movie. My impression is that this was originally considered as an answer to G.I. Jane, but with the star power in a strange side story that really had little to do with the main character, other than adding a love interest and some mental anguish.
The fight scenes are fairly contrived, true. The degree of realism is less than believable. And if you can distract an Army Ranger from his assigned guard duty with a cable hack of "Dirty Dancing", then our military is in serious danger. And, if the military (at the supposed time of the movie) hasn't trained any female Rangers, then where did we get the female drill sergeant that runs them through the training? On the other hand, this is a movie with Michael Biehn and Adrian Paul that didn't get any coverage in movie trailers, and is likely only to be shown on the late late night movie when the regularly scheduled Brian Bosworth movie doesn't show up. If you're a fan of either of these actors, and are only looking for a movie with the two of them, then this isn't so terrible. I got my copy from a used book store, and have to agree that it was the cover that got my attention. Both Biehn and Paul have the best scenes and dialogs out of the cast. (If nothing else, Paul's pick-up line involving "Mr. Happy" is one of his better moments.) It does play shamelessly with bits from other movies, including what appears to be a co-ed shower that almost smacks of the "Starship Troopers" scene.
I would have to say that this isn't the worst movie I've seen. See this movie with an open mind and a willing suspension of disbelief. Or, find yourself a good movie editing system, and remove all other sections of the movie that don't involve Biehn and Paul. It will probably make about the same amount of sense.