The Lighthouse

 

                                     Continuing with taking a leap of faith in finding those films I wouldn't touch but need to expand my horizons, unfortunately this was one of those movies where I don't know if this was intended to be a comedy or psychological horror movie? The Lighthouse the best way I would describe the movie as a fore warning that 2020 was going to be the worst year of our lives, and this movie came out in 2019 and this was foreshadowing that two week of being in quarantined in your own home, once exposed to Covid will sure be madness. In fact, I believe Fauci's advisors told him to watch this movie, and he was like "nah, the people will be fine". Also, if you're living with a guy who says that he wants a rare steak so bad that he would have intercourse with the steak it's probably best you'd find a way out of the house or sleep somewhere else.

                                      Two lighthouse keepers try to maintain their sanity while living on a remote and mysterious New England Island in the 1890's.

                                      The Lighthouse is directed by American filmmaker Robert Eggers, and the best way to describe Robert Eggers work is it has a lot to do with folkloric and mythological elements with a kiss of historical elements as well and I've recently reviewed another one of his films in The Northman which is a Viking story mixed with elements of Hamlet. Although I dig the Northman for many reasons it has Vikings moreover it does have that bizarre element but, in all fairness, I've binged four and a half seasons of the TV series Vikings and really when it comes to Norse Mythology, they clearly have a ton of weird pagan rituals. Although Northman I can get by on the Lighthouse is a whole, another level of bizarre and weirdness that I can't even explain. I've heard of this movie five years ago but like most of these psychological horror/artsy films I decided in my own personal reasons to pass on it, that is until now when I saw this Lighthouse dub with both Mickey Mouse, Goofy and Donald Duck voices and showed one scene that I knew I need to see this movie and it was Robert Pattinson budging a Sea Gull and it’s in a sort of funny way because I can't go with the idea of some human being able to grab any bird because I tried to catch birds when I was a young kid and I could never be able to catch them either way this was one of those films I figured I might as well give it a try. Sadly, this film is defiantly one of those movies that could be funny but then just becomes boring from start to finish. Now, I get that this film has it's complex elements of character study and cabin fever, but the main problem is both men are crazy though William Dafoe is pre-crazy, Edward is at the start of the movie not crazy just a typical man who is putting up with Dafoe's frequent farts and his strict orders of not going up to the light and then by the end of the movie he's clearly becomes crazy and is fed up with him for which in fairness it's normal because if I was living with any of my relatives for two weeks of covid quarantine I would most certainly lose my mind though I don't remember my Dad farting constantly. The other think in what turns me off this film is when you make a psychological Horror film you must keep your audience on the edge of your seat as well as make your audience scarred from seeing the film. The thing that makes this film not so scary at all is that I personally feel like it was trying to be funny like the bizarre ax chase scene between Goblin and Edward and it's filmed like these two don't know how to run or hold an ax, to these guys getting sh**t faced as well as dancing with each other to getting into a brawl and then Pattinson jerking his boner with a mermaid doll and cuts to him literally having sex with a mermaid which I don't believe is impossible, but really that's just the problem with this movie is that you're not quite sure if this movie was intended to be funny or scary kind of like the Happening where it wasn't marketed right and was revealed to be a failed comedy, and really you can look up logs of lighthouse workers on what they did and I don't quite believed Eggers really did any research on lighthouse workers and yet again people praise this movie as a great movie. For which really I can't believe if the critics of the world really watched the movie whole and just watched the trailer furthermore how can any sane person look at this movie and say that this is scary really just like the Shining where Jack Nicholson is bonkers through the beginning and end of the movie and people say it's the greatest thing ever, it's just one of those things that I don't quite understand but in the end I'm one of the few who don't understand it. If you're into artsy, bizarre horror movies? Go nuts buddy, as for me I just can't recommend it to anyone because it feels like another movie like, the Happening where it's funny but then gets boring through the course of the movie because it's just two actors going insane through the course of the final frame of the film. Now, having watched the movie I do wish they dubbed this entire movie with just Mickey, Goofy and Donald Ducks voice then I would consider this a great comedy for the ages. 

   

                                        

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)

 

                                         This Halloween themed movie is another one of those films that I myself want to expand my horizons and find those certain movies I haven't touched, turns out both Invasion of the Body Snatchers are another one of those films that I have not seen and my brother selected the 1978 version of the film, and I haven't seen any of the original movie or 78 version so you have to start somewhere and might as well start out a Phillip Kaufman movie that is somewhat of a letdown in all aspects of a movie about aliens taking over your own body. The film stars Donald Sutherland, Lenard Nimoy and Jeff Goldblum in a role for which I can describe as that person whose the absolute worst and sucks the fun out of life. After watching the movie, I will say that I have officially acquired a Jeff Goldblum accent so now I can go out and help sell apartments to people in a definite fraud way possible.

                                          Matthew Bennell (Donald Sutherland) assumes that when a friend (Brooke Adams) complains of her husband's strange mood, it's a marital issue. However, he begins to worry as more people report similar observations. His concern is confirmed when writer Jack Bellicec (Jeff Goldblum) and his wife (Veronica Cartwright) discover a mutated corpse. Besieged by an invisible enemy, Bennell must work quickly before the city is consumed.

                                          Now, I've heard about these movies in a strange sense I picked up the alien duplication idea and rules from watching an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 and they do whole segments of pod aliens taking over human beings. And just to let everyone know I still haven't seen the original movie so watching this movie was something new but also a big letdown in terms of this film being one of the greatest horror movies of all time. And to be fair I know what happens at the end judging by the many gifs I've seen on social media, but I never watched the whole movie, and this was the first time I slowly began to realize how boring and not so impressed in how the movie turned out. This was the first Phillip Kaufman movie I witnessed and a lot of people don't know is that he actually helped with George Lucas in developing the story for Raiders of the Lost Ark although Lucas developed Indiana Jones it was Kaufman who came up with pursuing the Ark of the Covenant and after watching this movie I will state that the man gets a quarter credit of Indiana Jones like about 25 cents worth. What I find depressing about the movie is that there's a lot of unanswered questions in terms of how the aliens begin to adapt to the humans or how there able to consume in just a few days really Mr. Spock is the leader of the consumed aliens and he's perfectly adapted to human cultures and it's not even explained, even more of editing that's a bit of a blur because at the end of the movie the aliens took over earth but it's not explained as how Donald Sutherland is consumed because he trying to hide from everyone and we see a guy looking through a hole with a flashlight and we cut to Donald Sutherland going back to his normal routine and then when he stumbles upon Veronica Cartwright it's revealed he's a Pod Person for which it would me more realistic if you'd just show him being surrounded by pod people and he screams and then we cut to normal, I mean something to make the horror more real than just automatically cutting to being chased and going back to normal. What really ruined the movie for me is Jeff Goldblum's performance in the movie, and sure it's typical everyday Goldblum role but it just him being an annoying f**k and through the course of the movie I'm just telling him through the television to shut the f**k up and go back to sell apartments, hell I prefer 90's Goldblum than late seventies Goldblum. I will say the hilarious part of the movie is Donald Sutherland and his girlfriend take speed in order to stay awake and later they’re captured and forced to take sedatives which is hilarious because it reminds me of Dewy Cox where he takes pills uppers and downers, and it reminds me so much of that joke. I will say that a movie all by itself I would highly recommend staying away from this movie for a gillion reasons it's boring and lame and the cheap visual effects just turned me off of from this whole experience but then that's basically the whole nature of the beast you have to watch these movies that could or may not be a hit and hopefully it's a success but then it's not a great success just like picturing Phillip Kaufman being a cool guy and not a weird f**k in adding a human face on a dogs body and yes this film actually has a dog with a man’s face I'm not sorry for spoiling it just telling you to avoid the movie. 

           

Dracula (1931)

 

                                          Well, having watched two Boris Karloff films, one being not so scary and the other being iconic in its own way. I figured the only way to concluded this epic monster mash trilogy I figured well I have to watch the one true monster movie that started it all the one movie in which everyone would be so creep out after participating in a staring contest with one Hungarian actor and stomp on you and make you feel like your innocence's has been taking from you, and trust me I never felt so uncomfortable after seeing everyone's eyes in this movie. The movie I'm referring to is the Bela Lugosi classic Dracula, a film that sadly was his only great success because as we should all learn that Hollywood personally sucks for many reasons, they cursed actors in being type-cast but in the end, Bela did get the last laugh in wanting to be buried with one of his Dracula capes.

                                           The Dashing, mysterious Count Dracula (Bela Lugosi), after hypnotizing a British salesman, Renfield (Dwight Frye), into his mindless slave, travels to London and takes up residence in an old castle. Soon Dracula begins to wreak havoc, sucking the blood of young women and turning them into vampires. When he set sights on Mina (Helen Chandler), the daughter of a prominent doctor, vampire-hunter Van Helsing (Edward Van Sloan) is enlisted to put a stop to the counts never-ending bloodlust.

                                           The film itself is most certainly based on Bram Stoker's novel but it's also based on the 1924 stage play of Dracula for which Bela Lugosi starred in around 1927 just a couple of years before the development of Dracula began at Universal Studio's. Although Bela Lugosi did star in the Broadway production of Dracula, he wasn't the first choice in the eyes of Universal Studio's and it took countless actors to find the right choice, they even went so far to cast John Carradine for which I don't think I can take him seriously since watching Stagecoach and a Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode of The Unearthly. Director Tod Browning decided to cast Bela Lugosi in the title role though Lugosi was paid a salary of only 3,500 dollars since, he had too eagerly accepted the role though at the time not a whole lot of money but still better to be paid than living through the Great Depression with nothing. The interesting aspect when you put both The Mummy, Frankenstein and Dracula in a row only one of the three are a true monster not Imhotep for many reasons he was just a tragic character because all he wants is to be with the love of his life and will stop at nothing to bring his lost love back even if it means doing terrible things, Frankenstein's monster is on the outside a monster but on the inside is a victim for which he was never asked to be brought to world we live in now he doesn't understand the nature of the laws of men. Dracula is the true monster because all he wants is to prey on women or men and enslave them to do their bidding and has no remorse and with that type of monster who has no remorse is a true monster and Bela Lugosi did an exception job at creating that monster though this was only success and was typecast for the rest of his life. Now again I doubt people today will not be scared of the monster movies in the golden age but the one thing that's so terrifying in the entire film is the eyes and the one actor in the movie who deserves a lot of that uneasiness is Dwight Frye who plays Renfield in the movie, and holy crap the way he plays crazy is just visually stunning but also terrifying especially in on scene where they discover the ship Dracula killed the crew and he's under the brig and shows his uneasy smile it's just so great but also creepy at the same time and even one scene in which Mina starts to attack her lover and her eyes are just terrifying that you’re not sure if she's going to attack him or rape him though let’s be honest if she was intending to rape her lover he wouldn't mind it would most certainly be "oh no, please no, okay honey have your way with me" so, there's no question that everyone's eyes are the uneasy part of the entire movie in fact if I was in a staring contest I wouldn't last and would curl up in the fettle position. Now granted kids today won't be scared by these monster films of the early 30's but the positive aspect of the movie is not just the actors doing a great job but it's 73 minutes so that's always a positive aspect because that's what all scary movies should be in terms of length as well as ninety minutes and two hours but anything above two and a half hours is just way too much. As a film buff, I would most certainly recommend it for anyone to watch old school scary movies, though now I plan to go off and find real scary movies to watch.

    

                                                   

                                                  

Frankenstein (1931)

 

                                            After watching the Mummy, furthermore, feeling a bit mixed on the emotions I decided to watch another one of Boris Karloff's films that made him a monster movie legend and really the greatest one of all the classic monsters movies, Frankenstein. Now, everyone has that one movie that introduced them into the world of Frankenstein and sadly it wasn't the original Frankenstein it was actually Young Frankenstein from Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder, and I can remember watching the original film and realizing wow a lot of references and to keep this short will get to Young Frankenstein in a little bit because it's marked a 50th Anniversary of the release of the film so, for right now let’s get Boris Karloff's greatest performance.

                                            The film follows the obsessed scientist, Dr. Henry Frankenstein, as he attempts to create life by assembling a creature from body parts of the deceased. Aided by his loyal misshapen assistant, Fritz, Frankenstein succeeds in animating his monster, but it escapes into the countryside and begins to wreak havoc. Frankenstein searches for the elusive being and eventually must confront his tormented creation.

                                            During the midst of 1930, Universal Studio's lost 2.2 million dollars in revenues and with the successes of Dracula things really started to change in Universal gained more of their money back in around 48 hours. So, there's no question Frankenstein really became the next chapter in Universals success through the thirties. Now if I had to pick in terms of which is the best of Boris Karloff's performances between Frankenstein's monster or The Mummy it would most certainly be Frankenstein's monster for many reasons it's really him combined with the great makeup as well as his acting and to me his performance alone is what makes the movie, and really is yes a monster but not necessarily a monster the way he's able to portray the monster as a victim and gentle giant you feel more for his character as a misunderstood monster and yet the real monster is his creator Henry Frankenstein who made him out of wanting to feel like God but through the course of the movie realizes his mistake for which sure you can tweak with the script in order to fix that mistake but let’s face it if you did then we wouldn't have Mel Brook's Young Frankenstein. Karloff is most certainly the star of the movie but the supporting cast is also great as well for which includes Colin Clive playing Henry Frankenstein, and the opening part of that whole movie where he's beginning to assemble his creation is just outstanding especially close ups of him being totally delirious moreover insane about wanting to bring life in the world and when I first watch the iconic scene of him delivering the line "it's alive" I just had full goosebumps like it’s just the feel of wanting to watch the scene over and over again and the way Clive delivers that line is so great that it puts a smile on my face just thinking about it while I'm writing this review and more importantly his performance in the first act of the film should be an important example of finding that way to crazy madman performance if you're in actor finding a role. Like all of the classic monster movies from the 1930's for sure their great and excellent but there's always the flaws and plot holes and to be honest I think what confuses me is when the creature begins to wreak havoc everyone is not blaming Henry Frankenstein furthermore not having moments of his own father shaming him for creating this monster and yet he realizes his mistake and helps the crowd search for the monster and again he doesn't get any blame for this but then again there many reasons why they went with this story but then again the more you think about it the more you begin to lose your own mind and reality. No question I would rank the original Frankenstein as one of the greatest monster movies and yet I feel the need to watch Bela Lugosi's Dracula but will most certainly leave that for another time. Like, the Mummy I would highly recommend watching Frankenstein though you can try having your kids watch these movies to test their attention span but, I'm not sure they can go though it but then again, these movies are 73 minutes long so, it could be worth a try.

        

                                                    

The Mummy (1932)

 

                                         Well, it's Halloween season everyone to all of you fall nut jobs that are obsessed with Pumpkin Spice everything I just want to tell you from the bottom of my heart that it's just CINNAMON! Okay, that being said let's get to some Halloween themed movies, from being obsessed with the 1999 version of the Mummy and I've been familiar with a tone of the classic monster movies from the 1930's and I've seen a good well, maybe a few of them more popular ones are Dracula and Frankenstein as well as the Bride of Frankenstein and really I did watch Boris Karloff's the Mummy but then it was one of those films that I'd forgot at a young age. And re-watching the film for the first time is one of those films that you are not sure what to say.

                                         A team of British archaeologists led by Sir Joseph Whemple (Arthur Byron) discover the mummified remains of the ancient Egyptian prince Imhotep (Boris Karloff), along with the legendary scroll of Thoth. When one of the archaeologists recites the scroll aloud, Imhotep returns to life but escapes and starts a journey of bringing back the love of his life.

                                         I think the interesting thing about the classic monster movies from the 30's is that they belong to a study aspect of horror because in all honesty if I had my young niece who loves the horror movie genre she would be bored out of her mind, for which really I can't blame her because when I got serious in watching Dracula or Frankenstein even I realized that these movies where not scary. For which really that basically the reason why they belong in the golden age of Horror and really if we had a target audience between kids now and kids from the thirties it would most certainly be a different debate on what is scary. The surprising thing about the movie is the budget was 196,000 dollars for which really it's the Great Depression of course you'd not have a whole lot of money to do what you can do but really the fact that they we're able to accomplish great scenes in the movie is just outstanding and really cool I mean sure you can do that now with that kind of money but you're not sure if the movie is either a snuff film or an independent sensation. I will admit that the movie is fascination to watch but I still can't turn off that button of where is the scary parts and really that's probably the toughest part especially when it comes to these kinds of films because everyone praises these films and The Mummy is one of those films that came out of the thirties and re-watching the film I feel like it's not as good as I remembered it. Though in all fairness this is a movie from the thirties when we get older, we watch horror films that we loved as a kid and then we slowly see how not so scary it was. Now that being said I don't quite understand as to why we have a Boris Karloff in a mummified mummy that's back from the dead but still looks like a mummy I mean it's a great makeup look and great for some of those iconic close ups but wouldn't it be more convenient to have a regenerated Boris Karloff and still look terrifying? either way you can ask yourself that question and slowly begin to lose your mind. Now I'm a nineties kid and I will argue and say that the 1999 version of the Mummy is the greatest and better than the 32 version now that being said, I'd still watch the movie over and over again because it's one of those films that needs to be understood as a movie that people from the great depression looked at and can escape from their lives during that era of lows in America and I think all of these monsters back in the thirties really helped with that depression and personally that's something you should look for in terms of what good it brought hell even the films poster is in the top five for the most money paid for a movie poster and if you look at the poster on this review it's a great piece of art that most certainly should be cherished. I would highly recommend watching the 1932 version of the Mummy but not have your own kids watch it, not because it's scary or anything like that because of course it's not but in truth they wouldn't be ready for these kinds of movies and maybe when they slowly get older and love watching the horror genre then you can turn it on and watch them with your kids then. 

             

Twenty Year Anniversary of Kill Bill: Volume 1

 

                                 You may find this hard to believe but Kill Bill: Volume 1 was my first film of Quentin Tarantino. Though at the time I never really heard of him as well as I was never truly introduced to his work even though I see the preview of Pulp Fiction and yet I didn't know that was his film. Really it was around the time Once Upon a Time in Mexico was release directed by Robert Rodriguez and he mentioned him being a friend though again I had no clue that he's a famous writer and director. And the fact that Kill Bill 1 is twenty years old, I figured well now's the time to go back and watch this great revenge movie. Since this is a Quentin Tarantino movie, I'm going to keep my David Carradine jokes to a minimum because any movie Quentin Tarantino's done has always been amazing well except for Death Proof. Oh, did you know David Carradine died from auto-erotic asphyxiation?

                                 A former assassin, known simply as The Bride (Uma Thurman), wakes from a coma four years after her jealous ex-lover Bill (David Carradine) attempts to murder her on her wedding day. Fueled by an inhabitable desire for revenge, she vows to get even with every person who contributed to the loss of her unborn child, her entire wedding party, and four years of her life. After devising a hit list, The Bride sets off on her quest, enduring unspeakable injury and unscrupulous enemies. 

                                To really understand Quentin Tarantino is to understand a man whose watched a lot of movies growing up upon which he did, even worked at a movie rental place which housed a tone of movies and to make a long story short he watched pretty much all of them and yet the man is pretty much one of the greatest filmmakers of all time and he's only made nine movies so, important lesson if your wanting to make movies yes pick up a camera and do it but most importantly when it comes to writing and finding your genre or choice of movie, basically watch any movie you can muster from every classic movie to every b-movie and any recent movies that come out. The development of the Kill Bill goes back during the production of Pulp Fiction for which was the first movie with Uma Thurman was in, during the course of shooting Uma's scenes both Quentin and Uma we're talking about wanting to make a revenge movie with the style of a Kung-Fu movie and the collaboration went on and on though through the course of life Tarantino went on to Jackie Brown then wanted to make a WWII movie. Then through the course of 2000-2001 Tarantino reunite with Thurman who at the time became a mother for which inspired him to write that into Thurman's character. At the time when I was a young naive kid, I never quite understood the movie in terms the style of the movie or a kung-fu sense of a movie in which the movie is based on and if you haven't seen a ton of seventies style of martial arts films this was pretty much a love letter to that genre. The interesting fact is that this movie is indeed one whole story once you watch volume 1 and 2, though at the time the movie was a whole four hours so you really couldn't release this movie whole, so you'd have separate the films and luckily both films were released six months prior to the first films release. The thing that makes Quentin Tarantino such a great director is that he's able to take actors don't have in a sense much of a film career and will get to David Carradine in the second movie because he's in a good portion of the second movie but Vivica A. Fox and Lucy Liu whose been in a few movies I like but when it comes to Fox this movie is the only one I can watch, okay getting back on track, what Tarantino does such a great job in is that he's able to cast actress like Fox and Liu with the ability that they can act in the way where they can be iconic I mean sure Liu at the time was infamous for Charlies Angles but when it comes to this movie she really shines in playing a villainous Yakuza boss who will kill without mercy and Tarantino has that unique ability to get these actors to act out these complex characters and will dive into that when we get to Kill Bill Volume 2 later. The fact that the movie is only one hour and fifty-two minutes not once did I touch my phone while the movie was going granted I had to stop the film to go take a piss or research something on my phone but through the course of the whole movie I was focused on Thurman's character arc through the final frame of the movie and looking forward to re-watching the second part of the film. If I had to pick a film or two that you would most certainly watch from Quentin Tarantino's filmography it would most certainly be Kill Bill films and Pulp Fiction but then again all of his films are great (except for Death Proof) so it's like picking his favorite kid you can't really answer that question, I can't find it anywhere in terms of streaming the movie for free but if you have the money I would highly recommend ordering the Kill Bill films on Blu-Ray or DVD which ever player you have and I promise you when saying this that it will be worth your time especially if you like streams of blood going everywhere in a ridiculous fashion.

  

                                   

                  

Movies I haven't seen in a while: Apollo 13

 

                                        Typical weekend nothing better to do with my time because let’s face it I'm a boring f**k. And so, I think it was my mom that decided to stream Apollo 13 for which I was like absolutely for obvious reasons it' another film I haven't seen in a long, long time hence Movies I haven't seen in a while. Apollo 13 was another one of those films from my childhood that I would watch constantly either watching it at my late grandpa's house or renting the film at the library moreover it was one of those films where I was fascinated with the space stuff more than the story itself though more importantly this movie introduced me to a ton of great and exceptional actors from the ever talented Tom Hanks, the late Bill Paxton and Ed Harris to Kevin Bacon and Gary Sinise whose acting career's where I would say okay at times but at least decent.

                                        This Hollywood drama is based on the events of the Apollo 13 lunar mission, astronauts Jim Lowell (Tom Hanks), Fred Haise (Bill Paxton) and Jack Swigert (Kevin Bacon) find everything going according to plan after leaving Earth's orbit. However, when an oxygen tank explodes, the scheduled moon landing is called off. Subsequent tensions within the crew and numerous technical problems threaten both the astronauts' survival and their safe return to Earth. 

                                         The movie itself based on the book by real life Jim Lowell titled Lost Moon for which the movie rights were shopped around to potential buyers long before the book was written. Jim Lowell himself stated his first reaction was that Kevin Costner would be a good choice to play him, you heard that right when I say this long before any of these great actors that you see on the movie poster the casting was shopped around with actors like John Travolta, John Cusack and even Brad Pitt which take no disrespect because they're great actors but I would never in a million years see Travolta, Cusack and Pitt be the three main astronaut characters. Director Ron Howard through the course of production went to great lengths to create a technically accurate movie, employing NASA's assistance in astronaut and flight-controller training for his cast and obtaining permission to film scenes aboard a reduced-gravity aircraft for realistic depiction of the weightlessness experienced by the astronauts in space. Comparing this movie from childhood years to now I'll still say that this is the most exciting and suspenseful movie of all time, though granted I wasn't paying all much attention to the story it was more of going to space and what they we're doing up in space, either way when you’re a kid you're biggest concern was the space stuff since the film is all about NASA going to the moon. Now watching the film from start to finish you'd become more intrigued with the fact that this is the late sixties to early seventies of NASA, meaning this was the golden age of going to the moon where everything can go wrong and there's a good chance that if something does happen you can die in space and no one will be able to rescue you or find your body and really that's the more fascinating thing about the movie. And really the two actors who make the film great and believable is both Tom Hanks who plays Jim Lowell and Kathleen Quinlan, though yes Tom Hanks is an exceptional actor anyone on the planet knows that though I got to say that one of my favorite scenes with him in the movie is when he's talking to his son about the space mission and is son asks him about the fire in the first Apollo mission and his character knows those people and instead of not responding to his question he just give him a simple calm and simple answer as to all the things that went wrong and assures him they've fixed the problem and it's that great acting from Hanks knowing his kid is a smart one giving him a good answer it’s just those types of little details you see and say that's great acting. Kathleen Quinlan deserves a ton of recognition because she plays the wife of an astronaut well in a sense that she's a stay-at-home mom and must care for three kids and then fearing that once his husband goes to the moon, she's never sure if he will ever come back and her to show those emotions on screen is most certainly great to see. Surprisingly while looking up the film, Ron Howard even cast his own parents in the movie Jean Speegle Howard plays Tom Hanks is mom while Ron's father Rance Howard plays the Minister in the movie for which is cool and personally if I begin my film-making career I'm most certainly going to repay my parents in casting them in small roles. Even Ron's mom has the best scene of the movie to where she's calming her grandchild and assuring her that his son will make it back to Earth. I would hate myself if I didn't give an special salute of approval or recognition to music composer James Horner who compose the music for Apollo 13 as well as compose a lot of Ron Howard's films as well as James Cameron's films too, and really he's the best part of Apollo 13 for many reasons his music of the launch sequence and going to back to Earth is so memorable and iconic that you just can't help but want to listen to that theme over and over again, especially when you have the launch and the two astronauts wife watching it furthermore seeing on the look on their faces it's like seeing the impossible and what Horner does great is creating a movie set in the seventies with the hope and possibilities of exploration that you couldn't capture in a space movie. Looking back on the NASA program to now yes, they've developed and accomplished a lot of things but I actually do wish that they will one day return to the moon because there's always that possibility of exploring accomplishing new things that I wish even the Earths governments can back up on the idea though I strongly doubt I'll be alive to witness NASA returning to moon. I'd say both Apollo 13 and the Martian ranks as one of the greatest NASA movies of all time, moreover I would rank this as Ron Howard's greatest movie of all time, in fact I believe Apollo 13 story is hands down the best story you’re ever going to tell when it comes to the Apollo missions granted sure you can tell the story of Apollo 11 but the only spoiler that everyone knows about it is that they land on the moon while Apollo 13 is a movie about against all odds bringing three astronauts back to Earth with a little bit of not being able to reach your dreams for which I believe anyone can relate too. So, if you’re ever wanting to watch a classic Tom Hanks film or Ron Howard's greatest film, Apollo 13 is on Hulu so I would highly recommend watching this great space movie.

           

September Recommendation: The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings

 

                                     With the passing of the most iconic actor of our era, James Earl Jones. I've been going through a mourning stage, meaning James Earl Jones really has without a doubt been a huge part of my childhood like this was Darth Vader, Terrance Mann, the Blind man from the Sandlot. And to hear that this voice of God, this legendary actor has passed the gates of Saint Peter, is so sad to hear and to be honest I knew I need to pay tribute to this masterful actor though the question is how and what way you should pay tribute to this iconic actor? Well thankfully after talking to my brother about this, he recommended a movie that I had no clue was a movie more importantly we also talked about that if you are going to pay tribute to James Earl Jones you have to start at before he was cast as the voice of Darth Vader, and the Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings upon which is a mouth full of words if you plan to say that title ten times, hell almost long as the Assassination of Jessie James by the Coward Robert Ford.

                                     Top baseball pitcher Bingo Long (Billy Dee Williams) is fed up with how his Negro League team owner treats him, so he forms his own lineup, recruiting big-hitting Leon Carter (James Earl Jones) and Charlie Snow (Richard Pryor), who dreams of playing in the majors. Boycotted by black teams, Long's outfit plays minor league white teams, earning more attention as entertainers than as players. However, their success wins them a chance to play again in the Negro League, this time as equals.

                                      The movie itself is a fictional story furthermore was based on the book of the same name by William Brashler, and he incorporates a lot of the characters with real life ballplayers like legendary ballplayers like Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson and if you're not a big baseball fan like me in terms of playing baseball video games you'd probably played a lot of the Negro League levels on the latest MLB the Show games, they've been telling stories of these great players like Paige and Gibson and some of the stuff of Paige's career I was reminded by in this movie. The film itself I imaged was filmed in where the Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama because that's where we had the latest Negro League tribute as well as the passing of Willie Mays but really was filmed in Macon, Georgia as well as the historic field Luther Williams Field for which was also used for films like 42 and Trouble with the Curve as well as the television show from Hank Azaria, Brockmire. And interesting fact, some ballplayers were played by actual former athletes, including former members of the Indianapolis Clowns, who performed various stunts shown in the film. Now we reach to the focus of the film, and that's James Earl Jones and Billy Dee Williams. This was 1976 when this film came out furthermore was a year before Star Wars dominated the box office and when you’re in actor you have to take any gig  in order to pay the bills and take care of your family and really James Earl Jones was an Academy Award nominee actor so deep down he had the respect so flood gates are open for a guy like Jones, even Williams who came out of the success of Brian Song portraying the real life Bears legend Gale Sayers and really when you are co-starring with a great presence as well as veteran actor in James Earl Jones, man you talk about a great balance of acting talent. It is strange and ironic that both actors appear in this movie and then four years later both appear, though not on opposite sides of the screen but in Empire Strikes Back so, real fate usually reaches out to extend its hand. What I like most about the movie honestly is that it hold a ton of themes especially when it comes to players and owners in baseball and that discussion of more money and having this incorporated to the Negro Leagues I especially like mainly because it adds more layers of the debate discussion, the other thing I liked and found fascinating is that watching Williams and Jones new team almost reminds me of the Harlem Globetrotters where they would set up a game and develop their team as an entertainment group circa the Globetrotters and interestingly enough the Globetrotters were founded in the mid-twenties so there is kind of that great inspiration between a film like this and the book. In a world that's thrown into chaos and only the good people are taken from us, I'd say it's always a good and refreshing way to express mourning and tribute to legendary actors like James Earl Jones, and to be truth full I don't know how I'll feel when Morgan Freeman is gone or Denzel Washington or even Samuel L. Jackson. So, if you’re like me who’s still reeling on the fact that an iconic actor like James Earl Jones being gone from this world, then I would highly recommend watching this surprising great film upon which is worthy of a monthly recommendation in my eyes. Furthermore, I would highly recommend everyone a fan of movies to just sit down and watch any film that includes your favorite James Earl Jones role from Star Wars trilogy to Field of Dreams and even the Lion King because deep down there will never be a voice so memorable and iconic voice, as James Earl Jones.

        

                                     

Football Recommendation: The League

                              

                            Sure, you can say Football recommendations, or any sports recommendation should be about movies in general. Though when it comes to a show about the love of Fantasy Football in general especially all the football fans who do it constantly in every football season well the TV show, the League is one of those underappreciated shows you just must recommend. 

                            Some friends who are all avid fantasy football fans try to balance their time between the league and their real lives. The sitcom features a plethora of cameos by real-life NFL players, who play themselves in the series. 

                            Now I'm a fan of Fantasy Football even though my Cowboys are awful when it comes to the playoffs. The fantasy aspect of it is a kind of sense of joy watching all different kinds of football on the weekends. And for sure a lot of people don't understand what the whole concept of Fantasy Football or trash talking your friends day in and day out, for which I truly understand and can't blame them, though to me it's about gaining pride for yourself that sense of pride that you can hold onto the rest of your day as well as carrying it with you through the course of your day as well as the rest of your week. A great example I started to play in a league with the people I work with and majority of them are in a sense pre-madonna's and once I logged into the draft I found out that I got the first pick in the draft and I didn't say it to all of them but I wanted to lead out every vulgar language I could at them, but I couldn't because it's that other self that telling you to keep your mouth shut so all I could really say was my miserable f**king a** life I finally got the first pick in the draft, sadly I picked Christian McCaffery and he's hurt right now but that sense of pride is something you have to hold onto especially whenever your day or week is bad. The show itself does a great job in incorporating that aspect of fantasy football although I doubt all the misadventures in the show happens in real life but it's still funny from start to finish, though despite that the show overstayed it's run but the first four seasons of the show are the best. So, if you’re a fan of NFL football or fantasy football or any other kind of football I would highly recommend watching the League on Hulu, though seasons five through seven are a bit fifty, fifty I would still check the show out and even if you watch five through seven, I'm sure you'll have a blast or feel free to shut the show off if you feel it’s losing its edge, I mean you know the famous saying right? Quit while you’re ahead.  

50 Year Anniversary of The Longest Yard

 

                                  Everybody! The time has come to celebrate the return of the Football season. Oh, wait it's already here, as well for me with Nebraska sticking it to Colorado, sorry not sorry to all Buff fans out there and Deion Sanders if you ever read my reviews moreover Dallas Cowboys beating the Browns on the first week. I'd say life couldn't be better, though I'd like every fan to think it doesn't last long. Though with every football season you need to find the right Football movie to celebrate the occasion and surprisingly enough the Longest Yard has officially turned 50 years old, and no I'm not talking about the 2005 version though will have a lot to talk about that I'm talking about the 1974 film that made Burt Reynolds a household name. Now having watched the film through I'm beginning to see that producers for Smoky and the Bandit were looking at this movie and saying to themselves holy crap we should make a movie where Burt is just driving cars.

                                  An Ex-Football star (Burt Reynolds) making time forced by the warden (Eddie Albert) to organize a team of inmates to play against his own line-up of guards. The warden tries to blackmail him into throwing the game, but the convicts have their own ideas and see the game as an opportunity to repay some of the brutality they have endured.

                                  Albert S. Ruddy who wrote and came up with the idea/concept to the Longest Yard after a conversation with his friend who at the time was the richest women in America who was married to an All-American football player who was a first-round draft choice by the NFL then later suffered a bad injury that sealed his fate. Getting back to Albert S. Rudy who was also the producer behind great films like the Godfather and Million Dollar Baby, him and the rich lady were having a normal conversation while her hubby was trying on three different jackets and asking which one to pick, and in her own words said "take all three because when I kick you out you'll need them", love right? So, after that conversation at the clothing store Ruddy was inspired to write the idea for which would later become the Longest Yard. Even Ruddy knew Burt Reynolds would be the perfect actor for the starring role, though Ruddy was asked by Reynolds to direct the movie, he knew he had to get Robert Aldrich famous for classics like The Flight of the Pheonix with Jimmy Stewart and the Dirty Dozen with Lee Marvin. Surprisingly Aldrich wanted Reynolds to tone down his stunt work mainly because I believe he wanted the film to be real as it gets, and Reynolds asked if there's going to be hitting involved the Aldrich reply's if he knows Packer’s legend Ray Nitschke? Reynolds said yes and Aldrich said, "well he'll be playing a game called kill the actor", for which when you make a football movie that should be a great one liner to say to your movie star. Burt Reynolds as in actor is amazing in the movie I mean this is really the one true movie that he's great in, moreover well all know Reynolds is great in the movie even without is infamous mustache, but Eddie Albert who a lot of people even the younger generation would know that he's infamous for Green Acres and with this movie he does a great job separating himself from is iconic role in Green Acres to a charming and horrible warden who is everything wrong about the prison system and Albert's does a great job at that. Getting back to Ray Nitschke as a football player he does a great job at that, and though he only has a few lines through the movie but even when he's up against Reynolds he's funny moreover does a good job as a first-time actor in a movie about football and four years later he was inducted into the pro football hall of fame. Not just Nitschke who helped with the football scenes, but Vikings legend Joe Kapp helped with a lot of the Football scenes especially to make them real as possible. Now I can probably tell you that the original is a billion times better, for which it is no doubt about that. And I have a full memory of each of the two movies growing up and I can honestly tell you that each of the movies are the same in terms of dialogue and scene structure and now having re-watched the original movie I kind of have to look at the Adam Sandler movie as a disgust but not so bad because, really because Reynolds himself plays the coach part though granted the football scenes are most certainly different but deep down the original movie is a hundred times better for many reasons its own movie but most importantly the 2005 version of the film just have that typical Sandler jokes that only Sandler would consider funny and to me that's just why I would pass the Sandler Longest Yard. What makes the Longest Yard a great Football movie is that the film is about dignity no matter how bad people treat you or how much self-respect you lose in life you must build yourself up and stand up for yourself. The other thing what makes the film great is that a bunch of murders, criminals and terrible men are giving this lost Quarterback the chance to gain the dignity and wanting to win the game against the Guards even if it means spending thirty years of his life in prison. So, if you’re looking great football movie, I would highly recommend watching The Longest Yard for anyone who hasn't seen it, and you can most certainly check the film out on Paramount + if you have the streaming service then your weekend will be great if you choose to sit down and watch the fifty year old film.

    

80 Year Anniversary of To Have and Have Not

 

                                     

                              The last time I watched a Humphrey Bogart movie was seven months ago, and to be truthfully honest I never thought about in fact there been a lot of other movies I wanted to watch so really it's always been a habit of just when you can't find the right movie to recommend or celebrate a movies long anniversary of when it came out well, you always go to your default and recommend a classic movie from pre-World War. For which leads to a classic Bogart movie, that I suddenly realized is 80 years old, To Have and Have Not is not just a regular Bogart movie but also a movie which starts his love interest and later future wife Lauren Bacall and really if you had to pick one of the all-time greatest on screen couples in movie history, Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall would most certainly be on that number one spot.

                              In Vichy France, fishing boat captain Harry (Humphrey Bogart) avoids getting involved in politics, refusing to smuggle French Resistance fighters into Martinique. But when a Resistance client is shot before, he can pay, Harry agrees to help hotel owner Gerald (Marcel Dailo) smuggle two fighters to the island. 

                              The film itself is loosely based on Ernest Hemingway's book title of the same name, and ironically enough Hemingway and legendary director Howard Hawks were close friends and on a fishing trip, Hawks told Hemingway, who was reluctant to go into screenwriting, that he could make a great movie from his worst book, which Hawks admitted was To Have and Have Not. Hemingway and Hawks worked on the screenplay during the remainder of their fishing trip because let’s face it you can't do two things at the same time one of them which leads to boredom, the two men decided the film would not resemble the novel, but rather would tell the story of how Harry Morgan met Marie, Lauren Bacall's character moreover was extensively altered for the film. Strangely when watching the film, you do get some resemblance with the film Casablanca and Hawks himself intended to have the screenplay be loosely modeled on Casablanca, which also stared Bogie hoping for the same success Casablanca had met at the box office. And in all honesty that doesn't bother me much mainly because Bogart does a perfect job playing an anti-hero always keeping a low profile never wanting to get involved with politics mainly a survivor like every regular man going through in life even during the war. Furthermore when authorities take Bogart's cash from him he knew that he has to take the job and through the course of the movie you see the character of Morgan changing and becomes a unlikely hero by the end of the movie and even Hawks created that difference from the book to the movie because he did not like stories about "losers" for which really I would most certainly agree with him on that. So, again Bogart is defiantly the perfect choice to play that part and lets it bloom through the course of the movie and really when it comes to those kinds of movies from a crime mystery or a war drama and even a survivalist story, I would watch Bogart in all those roles because he's just a perfect actor for that role. To Have and Have Not was even a first to where Bogart would me his future wife Lauren Bacall whom this would be her first movie as an actress in fact Hawks wife urged him to invite Bacall to take a screen test after seeing her model cover on the Bazaar fashion magazine, and Bacall was only 20 years old at the time for which her and Bogie would later marry in February of 1945 just a couple of months after the film’s release. Now both of these two makes this film worth seeing for many reasons there chemistry together is just pure joy like you've met you soulmate and that's what both Bogart and Bacall represent as these two survivalists who are not afraid of anything and begins to fall for one another, moreover you watch this film and you'd believe love is still real to which Bacall and Bogie were still married until Bogie's death in 1957. To Have and Have Not is most certainly on my list of a hundred greatest films of all time, it has everything from great character development great love story as well as a great story of one man being a hero in the end and for a movie that's 80 years old this film still to this day still ages like fine wine and even to this day I'll never get tired of watch the film from beginning to end. Though the funny and sad thing about this film is that it marks ten years now since Lauren Bacall died in 2014 which really, I believe that those two are now reunited and can live together in harmony in heaven. If this great gem ever lands on Turner Classic Movies or Hulu or even Max, I will highly recommend watching the film that brought the greatest on-screen couple in movie history.

          

Alien: Romulus

 

                                Last week were hands down probably the roughest weeks I had to endure, especially when it comes to working at a small Television station in the middle of nowhere. And the weekend I still was a little in the mixed of mad and anxiety kicking in so, in my randomness of ideas I decided to ask both my brother and his ex if I can take three of their kids to see a movie, though I took one out of the three kids with me of all movies I decided to take my nephew with it's the latest Alien movie, Alien: Romulus. Granted I can admit I'm being a terrible uncle when it comes to taking my nieces or nephew to movies like this though I'm going to leave that for God to decide when I meet him. Back to Alien was another one of those movies that I wanted to watch because I love Alien movies, and I know what it's going to have but it was another one of those films I wanted to see this year in the theaters.

                                Space colonizers come face to face with the most terrorizing life-form in the universe while scavenging the deep ends of a derelict space station.

                                The thing that put a smile on my face once I sat down in the theaters in watching the movie was not the Alien or the facehuggers but that we open the movie with 70's Sci-Fi technology turning on and that literally put a smile on my face because I never pegged any director to do that in today’s movie remakes or reinvention. From Prometheus to Alien: Covenant I've pretty much seen every recent Alien movie in the theaters, and I've always had a blast with them, I always was drawn to the horrors that was the Alien universe I mean deep down I always enjoyed them never thought they would be as great as the first two Alien films. And in all honesty, I was sold in one teaser trailer of the film and remember seeing all the facehuggers chasing after the crew members and I was sold right from the beginning knowing I needed to see the movie. Granted all the recent Alien movies pay enormous tribute furthermore they always have the same premise of evil corporations SOS distress calls or really anything that involves androids wanting to create life or destroy life basically all same plot points of the first two films so, why go to these recent Alien movies especially when there's a grand total of six maybe seven? And really the answer is simple the Alien or the Xenomorph is this creature that has the instincts of a bee where they need to breed on human life to survive as well as, it has no remorse moreover you can't reason with it. So, that's why Xenomorph or Alien is hands down one of the scariest movie monsters in all of cinema history. Fede Alvarez who directed another horror classic Don't Breathe (now if you haven't seen that film go check it out) and he does a fantastic job paying tribute to both Alien and Aliens but more importantly does a great job in building tension and suspense through the course of the movie in which really that's basically why I've been enjoying with the recent Alien films is each director as of now is basically trying to bring out what way you can scare the audience as well as finding other ways to have what I like to call WTF moments and really it's not just the Alien that gets the screen time but the facehuggers get screen time as well especially my favorite scene where it's a game of playing cool and quiet so you won't attract the facehuggers which is great. Hands down this was one of the most exciting and entertaining movies I've seen this year along with Ungentlemanly Warfare, and if you are a big fan of the Alien franchise as well as love the suspense and claustrophobia then I would highly recommend watching Alien: Romulus while it's still out in theaters.

       

August Recommendation: Rope

 

                                    In a sense I was really at a loss of what movies I was trying to recommend for my monthly recommendations. At first it was supposed to be Boy Kills World, unfortunately after watching the movie I felt a little down about the plot twist so really as I've said I was going through a movie watching drought. Though I began to realize that I haven't really recommended a good classic movie that would usually see in either Turner Classic Movies or basically any classic movie that no one has ever touched or has never seen. And really Alfred Hitchcock's Rope save the day for me and more importantly the best decision I've ever made because any Alfred Hitchcock's films age like fine wine.

                                    Just before hosting a dinner party, Philip Morgan (Farley Granger) and Brandon Shaw (John Dall) strangle a mutual friend to death with a piece of rope, purely as a Nietzsche-inspired philosophical exercise. Hiding the body in a chest upon which they then arrange a buffet dinner, the pair welcome their guests, including the victims obvious fiancée (Joan Chandler) and the college professor (James Stewart) whose lectures inadvertently inspired the killing.

                                    Surprising fact, Rope is the first in a sense of my personal view where there is no Hitchcock Blonde (all the actresses Hitchcock cast where blonde), for which really was the first time I realized this, while watching the second time around. Rope I believe was one of those movies that I had never seen granted I've never seen all of Hitchcock's films and my brother just picked this movie randomly and watched it from start to finish and thought that this was one of the greatest Hitchcock films, and so, re-watching the movie again like I said earlier his movies age like fine wine, because the camera angles and the suspense is still there and you still get that chill on your back that you will still feel your own a** being on the edge of the couch you’re on. Surprisingly enough this was the first collaboration between legend Jimmy Stewart and Alfred Hitchcock for which I knew these men worked together hell my first movie between the two was Rear Window and that was one of those films I remember my parents renting at the local library. And this was the first film where two legends of film both working together on an experimental film that had never been done before until Birdman. I think that's the best way to describe Hitchcock's Rope is the first experimental film that used the concept of long camera angles with very little edits, it was the infamous Birdman movie before director Alejandro Inarritu brought Michael Keaton's career back to life. The film alone had to do with a lot of rehearsals so you can keep the flow of the camera going and even when you watch the film you'll slowly notice where the cut of the film was made. I can go on and on about how great Jimmy Stewart is in the movie I mean all of the movies he's made with Alfred Hitchcock are always his best performances, but really the scene stealer throughout the movie is John Dall's character whose the real psychopath behind the murder and does such a great job playing a monster who has no remorse for what he's done as well as doesn't care about the fact that his own friends as well as his college professor worried about the victim. Now deep down I can go on and on about how great the movie is but deep down I can tell that everyone has not seen this movie before and really I don't want to spoil anymore details but Rope is most certainly one of those movies I'd highly recommend watching for a billion reasons it has great camera angles it shows very little and you have to pay attention to what the actors are thinking and another thing in what makes this film great is the amount of facial expressions as to what the characters are thinking makes this film great as well as the reveal. And once you watch the film for the first time the more you want to go back and just study more in the film in terms of what you missed as well as some of the little details. Sadly, the film alone is not in any streaming services though wouldn't hurt to keep a look out right? And really if you feel the need of a movie to expand your horizons Rope is most certainly the one Hitchcock film worth the purchase.

      

Boy kills World

 

                                    I remember seeing a trailer to this movie thinking that this could be intriguing consisting that Archer's voice aka H. Jon Benjamin is providing the voice of a boy who goes off on a revenge rampage. Which sure when you think about it sure it's basically every revenge film you know and watched, but really it was just Archer's voice in the movie which piqued my interest, luckily, I found a copy of the movie on Blu-Ray and I for some reason have mixed feelings. Staring Bill Skarsgard in his first action movie where he's not portraying a creepy clown, and Jessica Rothe who’s famous for the Happy Death Day movies. And finally, Sam Rami produced this movie going back to his days when he was making nothing but weird and twisted horror movies.

                                    Boy is a mayhem machine who's been training to assassinate the bloodthirsty Hilda Van Der Koy and avenge his family's murder; guided by his sister's mischievous spirit, Boy uncovers one stunning revelation after another as he barrels towards Hilda. 

                                    Writer/Director Mortiz Mohr pitched Boy Kills World with a short and previsualization reel to Sam Raimi and Roy Lee, of Raimi Productions and Vertigo Entertainment respectively, who were impressed and subsequently agreed to produce alongside Nithibah Pictures and Hammerstone Studios. I think it's safe to say that this movie with so much potential at first but then comes crashing down after watching the very end of the movie, though there was a big reason but will get to that later. I mean the movie has its moments mainly coming from H. Jon Benjamin's performance as the narrator of the film and Bill Skarsgard going with the flow, and really what I love about Benjamin's performance is that he basically a man/child voice just like his performance in the long running series Archer furthermore when you have H. Jon's narration as well as Skarsgard's acting is the most hilarious and funny parts of the film though really that's basically it. And really the action sequences are great some of the stuff they developed was pretty cool for an action movie but then when I got to what is supposed to be the climax of the film I get this bizarre twist for which I'm not sure I was more not wanting as to not surprised at the same time and for which this is another one of those films that sure it has the cliché revenge story but when you see the twist it just shuts me out through the end of the movie which I guess it's usual especially when you've seen enough movies as I have. If you're a fan of action movies like I am, I would most certainly recommend watching Boy Kills World but truth be warned for the rest of the world you may feel like you've seen this movie and if the plot twist throws you off I can't say that I warned you about these things and you didn't listen, for which I hope you do listen to me and avoid watching Boy Kills World.  

                        

In the Heat of the Night

 

                                     Now granted this Sidney Poitier classic is still on Tubi so you can most certainly check this great movie out now. Fast forward to last week my parents gave me their library card to go check out a movie for a usual movie night. Because as I was a young man that was our simplest solution was to rent a movie at the library instead of paying to rent a movie at your local video store, you all remember renting movies at Movie Gallery's or Library's? Hell, movies stores where the one place in the world where you can check out porn, finding the porn is easy going to the clerk is the toughest part because they’re going to give you that look of judgement if you know what I mean. Anyway, getting back to the topic, In the Heat of the Night was another one of those cop movies I haven't seen as of late in my early years and it was staring at me in the library shelf, so I must check this movie out.

                                     African American Philadelphia police detective Virgil Tibbs (Sidney Poitier) is arrested on suspicion of murder by Bill Gillespie (Rod Steiger), the racist police chief of tiny Sparta, Mississippi. After Tibbs proves not only his own innocence but that of another man, he joins forces with Gillespie to track down the real killer. Their investigation takes them through every social level of the town, with Tibbs making enemies as well as unlikely friends as he hunts for the truth. 

                                     Hands down this is most certainly the best buddy cop movie in my opinion despite the fact that I'm trying to separate the film from other buddy cop movies mainly because the film starts off as the two main characters who really don't like one another out of the sense of the color of each man's skin, and sure there other cop buddy movies where the two characters don't like one another but it's really because of their lack of respect for one another, this movie is set in the late sixties south where you’re going to be seeing really bad racisms everywhere you go and the fact that this movie came out during that time was no doubt great but most of all important for the world to see. I've seen some of Sidney Poitier's films, just not all of them, which in truth it's sad but then again if you’re going to start off with a great Sidney Poitier film you might as well start off with a great movie like this movie. Of course and really with a doubt Sidney Poitier was the best part of the whole movie I mean his quote of "They Call Me Mr. Tibbs" gives me chills, though another important actor in the movie upon which earn him an Oscar was Rod Steiger who does such a fantastic job playing the Police Chief who at first follows his principles on how he was raised but slowly begins to realize he need's Poitier's character and through course of the story worries for his safety of high tensions while investigating the murder and yet by end of the movie he begins to respect Tibbs and leaves it as each man respects one another. So, for a first and hopefully many Sidney Poitier movies to watch this was worth the watch from start to finish. And last, I check In the Heat of the Night is still on Tubi so, if you still have the absolute free no charge streaming service, I will highly recommend checking the movie out and be sure to listen to Ray Charles song In the Heat of the Night as well. 

      

Beverly Hills Cop

 

                                     Continuing the search of movies I haven't touched or seen and browsing through Netflix I stumbled upon Beverly Hills Cop, another one of these movies that I haven't seen for which was the turning point to former SNL star Eddie Murphy at that time. I think a reasonable explanation as to why I avoided any Eddie Murphy films is really after watching the Nutty Professor 2, I truly believe that was my breaking point and this was at a young age all I can remember was laughing but then his future projects like Norbit, Daddy Day Care or Tower Heist I just felt absolute no I don't want to dive deep into that disgust.  Now I don't know if I'm finding the right Eddie Murphy film but so far, I at least found the perfect Eddie Murphy that can't be worse than the Nutty Professor movies or Norbit, right?

                                     After his childhood buddy is murdered while visiting Detroit, rebellious cop Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) follows the leads to Beverly Hills, Calif., under the auspices of a vacation. He checks in with old friend Jenny Summers (Lisa Eibacher) and starts to believe her boss, art dealer Victor Maitland (Steven Berkoff), might somehow be involved in the murder. However, Lt. Bogomi (Ronny Cox) of the Beverly Hills Police Department does not trust Foley and hinders his search for evidence.

                                     Around 1977, executive Don Simpson came up with the idea of a cop from East L.A. being transferred to Beverly Hills. Screenwriter, Danilo Bach was the first to be called up by Don Simpson to write the screenplay. Originally around 1981, Bach pitched to both Simpson and Paramount under the name Beverly Hills Drive, about a cop from Pittsburgh named Elly Axel. However, Bach's script was a straight action movie, and he was forced to make a tone of changes to the script, but after a few attempts the project went stale but, after the success with Flashdance (1983) Simpson made it clear, that the Beverly Hills film as his next project to be. Now, to make a long story short, the attempts of the movie getting made went beyond interesting aspects that you'd never expect, because Eddie Murphy wasn't the first actor to be offered the role of Axel Foley like Harrison Ford not being the first choice for Han Solo or Indiana Jones, Mickey Rourke was first offered the role even Sylvester Stallone was consider the part for Axel Foley even stationed him to write the screenplay for which he included more dramatic scenes and it wasn't for another revision of the script that both Don Simpson and his partner Jerry Bruckheimer convinced Eddie Murphy to take the role of Axel Foley and to be truthfully honest I don't think this movie would of ever been successful if they didn't approach Eddie Murphy for the role. Speaking of Eddie Murphy, I truly believe that this is one of the many movies I should of started on from his career to watch first instead of his later movie for many reasons this was one of the first movies I sat down and watched a SNL legend really does a great job playing not just the comedic performance but also does a fantastic job playing all of the dramatic scenes for which that's really what you need when it comes to a cop movie like this. Like, Fletch the movie itself is very 80's style of filmmaking which is fine no complaint here but I believe what makes this film different and unique is that it has a catchy theme song composed Harold Faltemeyer who does such a great job in creating a tune for everyone while watching Beverly Hills Cop, everyone can have a good time watching movie and whistling the music to themselves when the movie is over. Without a question a movie with the recommendation it has that fun and entertaining value but more importantly you see a much better actor in Eddie Murphy than his other movie roles where he feels like he's depressed and is only in the movie to pay the mortgage. So, if you're looking for an entertaining Cop movie, I would most certainly recommend watching Beverly Hills Cop on Netflix as of right now. Although now having liked the first Beverly Hills Cop since the film is officially 40 years old, I'm still on the iffy on whether to continue with its successors though I'll let you all know when I get to that fork in the road.