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Thank God for the SciFi Channel. Once ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox finish with and then cast aside some very good shows, they slowly find their way to the SciFi Channel, well most do anyway. Wolf Lake belongs on DVD and should be right there with shows like Tru Calling, American Gothic, The 4400, Point Pleasant, Dead Like Me and The Kindred, but it looks as if Wolf Lake will be stuck waiting in the wings with Special Unit-2.

Wolf Lake with stars and stars on-the-rise, such as Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Sophia Donner), Lou Diamond Phillips (Noah Cassidy), Sharon Lawrence (Vivian Cates), Mia Kirshner (Ruby Cates), Scott Bairstow (Tyler Creed), Tim Matheson (Sheriff Jack Kohanek), Graham Greene (Professor Duke Joseph ), Carmen Moore (Deputy Molly), and more, should have been given a longer run than 9 episodes, but I guess in 2001-2002 the networks were gearing up for a series of fake reality shows. Without giving too much away the premise starts out like many other shows, both good and bad, boy meets girl, girl leaves for Chinese food, something strange happens, boy looks for girl and then it gets good. While in search of his lost girl-friend he ends up in a town full of werewolves. I won't say anymore about the show so as not to give away anything, but I will say it had it's life snuffed out too soon. It started out very good and could have had a decent run given a little time. If you liked any of the shows mentioned in the first paragraph, try to catch this one. Right now SciFi is showing it.

I just rented Year Of The Dragon on DVD as I had worn out my VHS copy that I purchased as soon as it hit the market back in 85 or 86 and it was as great as I remembered it to be. First of all, I have to admit to being a Mickey Rourke fan, loving good police movies, loving Asia and falling for Ariane. So yes, this review will probably be somewhat bias. Mickey Rourke does an outstanding job as Stanley White, police captain assigned to China town. Stan is still a tad angry over the Viet Nam war and losing it, so he is determined to not lose the war in China town.

Ariane who plays Tracy Tzu is an American born Chinese girl who is a reporter that Stan turns to for help with the Chinese gangs and for a bit of comfort after Stan and his wife, Connie White, played by Caroline Kava have a falling out over many things including the fact that Stan is always working. I really didn't care for that story line, to me it slowed the pace of the movie too much. There is however plenty of action as Stan works to bring down Joey Tai, played by John Lone, who is trying his best to take over China town from his elders, two of which are played by Joey Chin and Victor Wong, a couple of well known faces to movie fans. I am not a technical movie critic, I am a "I know what I like" critic and I happen to like this movie very much. Directed by Michael Cimino and based on the novel by Robert Daley, with the screenplay by Oliver Stone. It was released on Aug. 16th, 1985 and stood the test of time very well. It has it all, parades, gun-fights, drugs, gangs, romance, tiny bit of nudity, wire-taps, fights, murder, and mayhem. One of the bad things about not being a honest to goodness critic is trying to figure out why someone as beautiful as Ariane, who can act, at least as well as some of the current day actresses, didn't end up doing more than a handful of films. IMDb show her last entry as 1993. One note: It is sheer BS that her performance was wooden. Buy or rent this one if you have not seen it.

Hammett was produced by the sadly, now defunct Zoetrope Studios of Francis Ford Coppola. Hammett is a great movie that will most likely achieve cult status over time, especially with the folks who love the old 30's and 40's type crime and mystery movies. If you are a fan of this genre, you will most certainly notice the scenes which are very similar to scenes from the Maltese Falcon, but that is understandable as Dashiell Hammett penned the novel and Hammett is a who-dunnit which places the writer right in the thick of things as an old friend and mentor returns to San Francisco to seek help from Hammett played by Fredrick Forrest (The Rose). The old friend and P.I., Jimmy Ryan, played by Peter Boyle (Joe) seeks Hammett's help in locating one, Crystal Ling played by Lydia Lei aka Lydia Lei Kayahara. Crystal ran away from a brothel owned by Fong Wei Tau played by Michael Chow. I won't go any further with this as I don't wish to add any spoilers to this review, but I will say that Marilu Henner (Taxi) plays Hammett's neighbor and drinking buddy, Kit Conger/Sue Alabama. While she doesn't have the biggest part in the world, she does a good job with the part she does have and the sweater beret and black shiny coat that she was wearing at the end of the movie, well, made me long for the good old days. Other old time favorites show up here as well. Roy Kinnear plays English Eddie Hagedorn and Elisha Cook Jr.

plays the taxi driver Eli. Hammett's nemesis in this movie is Lt. O'Mara played by R.G.

Armstrong, while the ever present bad-boy punk is played to perfection by David Patrick Kelly (The Warriors)(Last Man Standing). Sylvia Sidney plays Donaldina Cameron and is only given a small part as is Elmer Kline who plays Doc Fallon. Jack Nance plays Gary Salt. The movie goes back and forth between what our main character has written and what is actually happening, but the two are pretty much the same. Dark and brooding as this film is, it is still worth your time and it is available, at least for now, so grab a your copy while you can as it is worth it to have it in your collection. Too bad that it seems that Lydia Lei only had an 11 year run in movies and TV. I thought she played her character wonderfully. According to the information on IMDb she started in 1977 and her last entry was 1988.