John C. McGinley – People Talking

Classic Treble – ‘Shakedown’ 🚓 ‘Bringing Out the Dead’ 🚑 ‘Trespass’ 🚒 – DON’T Call 911

Full disclosure: I have not seen these three movies in theaters recently, but, per my own review principles, I have seen them theatrically at some point in the past few years (and all on 35mm film to boot). Anyway, since I’m basically still in corona-lockdown and theatrical viewings are at a premium, and since I’m back writing again, I thought it would be fun to do a “seafood stew” and put together a sort of First Responder triple pack (with more than a little wink as I say that). Enjoy.

Written and Directed by James Glickenhaus
Cast: Peter Weller, Sam Elliott, Patricia Charbonneau, Jude Ciccolella, Blanche Baker, Antonio Fargas, Richard Brooks, John C. McGinley, Henry Judd Baker, Larry Joshua, Vondie Curtis-Hall, William Prince, Anthony Crivello, Thomas G. Waites, Paul Bartel, Holt McCallany, Walter Flanagan
Soundtrack: Jonathan Elias

Of the numerous films I’ve been introduced to at Alamo Drafthouse Yonkers over the years (I pray it re-opens at some point, any point), Shakedown by far left me with the biggest smile on my face.

Now, I know movies involving police are a tough sell right now, but hear me out, because this one actually cares about true justice.

I suppose Shakedown would qualify as a buddy cop film, it’s a somewhat debatable point, but it’s not one with two cops together (e.g. Lethal Weapon, Running Scared, etc.); it’s one of those with an odder pairing (e.g. 48 Hrs., Die Hard with a Vengeance, etc.). In fact, the protagonist of this story is actually a legal aid attorney, which bears out my notion that the heart of the movie is real justice. Sure, there’s some reel justice, too, as expected, but that’s a parallel strength of the movie (I’ll just say: Coney Island, whoa).

The only genuine weaknesses I’d say the movie has are, for one, a slight failing of budget at the very end, and there’s one scene in particular that just seems out of step with the rest of the film (it might’ve been okay as a dream sequence or something like that), but make no mistake, this is James Glickenhaus’s magnum opus. Earlier works like The Exterminator and The Soldier certainly have their entertainment value, but as far as I know nothing else he’s made is as tightly written as Shakedown, and the more times I watch it the more the quality becomes evident.

Anyway, I don’t know if Shakedown is the very last action film to shut down 42nd Street for major stunt sequences, but if it is, what a way to go out. Even more than “The Deuce” though, the movie is a treasure trove of a time capsule for pre-Giuliani New York, including the condemned West Side Elevated Highway (before it was finally torn down, obviously). Certainly a far cry from the Disneyfied city we see today.

Of course, what is a buddy cop movie without its buddies, and boy are these two a pair. Sam Elliot is just as you’d expect him, in the best way possible, but it’s still Peter Weller’s universe. In fact, I’ll go as far to say that Shakedown is PEAK Peter Weller; beyond RoboCop, and even beyond, dare I say, Buckaroo Banzai (much as I do love both those films). However, it would be unfair to not mention Patricia Charbonneau, as she turns in a strong supporting performance.

In the end though, what makes me love Shakedown is that it’s not just another buddy cop film, because it makes you think a little bit in addition to the thrills and chills. It may not be the best but it’s got a ton of personality and unique quirks, and with a budget somewhere under $10 million it punches far above its weight class. It’s under-seen and underrated and it deserves much more notoriety, especially compared to some other 80s “classics”.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Directed by Martin Scorsese
Written by Paul Schrader, based on the novel by Joe Connelly
Cast: Nicolas Cage, Patricia Arquette, John Goodman, Ving Rhames, Tom Sizemore, Marc Anthony, Mary Beth Hurt, Cliff Curtis, Nestor Serrano, Aida Turturro, Sonja Sohn, Afemo Omilami, Judy Reyes, Cullen O. Johnson, Arthur J. Nascarella, Larry Fessenden, Michael Kenneth Williams, Queen Latifah
Soundtrack: Elmer Bernstein

Now, I know what you’re thinking.

“A New York City film written by Paul Schrader, directed by Martin Scorsese, and it’s not Taxi Driver?”

Correct.

Unfortunately for poor Marty, Bringing Out the Dead was a box office bomb, which is probably why it’s never gotten a proper, loving home format release, even though it’s a film begging for a 4K Blu-ray restoration (though apparently this and Sleepy Hollow were the last films released on LaserDisc, so, that’s interesting). Frankly, it’s a shame that this movie is relegated to “hidden gem” status, because I think it’s among Scorsese’s better films; certainly better than most things he’s directed since (yeah, I’m looking at you, The Irishman).

The plot, is, well… I’d describe the whole movie as something of a fever dream. Nic Cage plays a paramedic who’s in a bad way. He’s insomnious to the point of hallucination, he’s on a cold streak of saving people, and it’s a bit of a Russian Roulette situation with who he’s paired up with on a given night. In the midst of this seemingly comes a ray of hope, when he appears to have saved a man’s life, and maybe strikes up a bit of a thing with his daughter, played by Patricia Arquette.

Though the movie was made in the late Nineties, it’s set in the drug-addled days of pre-Giuliani NYC, and the film is not afraid to comment on a number of serious issues.

What really makes it for me though is the cast and the music. Though it’s heavy at times, just about everybody seems to be reveling in their performances, and that comes through the screen; and the soundtrack (both the wonderful Elmer Bernstein score and the licensed songs) just amplifies it all.

Off the beaten path, but well worth it.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Original Release Date: December 25, 1992

Directed by Walter Hill
Written by Bob Gale & Robert Zemeckis
Cast: Bill Paxton, Ice-T, William Sadler, Ice Cube, Art Evans, De’voreaux White, Bruce A. Young, Glenn Plummer, Stoney Jackson, T.E. Russell, Tommy ‘Tiny’ Lister, John Toles-Bey, Byron Minns, Tico Wells, Hal Landon Jr., James Pickens Jr., L. Warren Young
Soundtrack: Ry Cooder

Oh, you thought were we done with the heavy hitters?

Think again.

That’s right, from the creators of Back to the Future and the director of 48 Hrs. comes a tale of treasure sought, and all the pitfalls that come with it.

Now, admittedly, Trespass is the most tenuously connected film in my First Responder trilogy here, as our nominal protagonists are indeed fire fighters, but outside of one introductory scene there’s no real firefighting to be found; but, hey, this is my seafood stew.

Trespass is one of those movies that’s limited in scope, scale, and cast, but manages to be just as captivating as many a bigger film.

While fighting a fire in Fort Smith, Arkansas, our two nominal protagonists (played by Paxton and Sadler) are gifted a map to treasure in a now abandoned factory in East Saint Louis, Illinois. Unfortunately for them, the day they go to investigate happens to be the same day that a local gang (led by Ice-T and Ice Cube) happens to be executing someone on the same grounds.

You can imagine where it goes from there. Lots of tension, intrigue, criss-crosses; in fact, now that I think about it, it kind of reminds me of Green Room, except Trespass takes place in the daylight, which makes it feel more hopeless at times, though I wouldn’t say Trespass borders on horror territory like Green Room does.

In the end, it’s a nice, tight, entertaining little thriller. Not the best, but unique and different.

Rating: ★★★½ (out of five)

True Life Twofer – ‘American Made’ and ‘Battle of the Sexes’ – Nothing Special

Nothing really connects these two films other than the old “based on a true story” moniker, but they did go wide the same day, so here we are. I wanted to like them; I tried, but…

American Made

Directed by Doug Liman
Written by Gary Spinelli
Cast: Tom Cruise, Domhnall Gleeson, Sarah Wright, Jesse Plemons, Caleb Landry Jones, Lola Kirke, Jayma Mays, Alejandro Edda, Benito Martinez, E. Roger Mitchell, Jed Rees, Jayson Warner Smith, William Mark McCullough, Mickey Sumner
Soundtrack: Christophe Beck

The last time Tom Cruise and Doug Liman got together resulted in one of the best action movies of the new millennium, so I had reasonably high expectations going into this one.

Unfortunately, my hopes were dashed fairly quickly.

For one thing, somebody decided it would be a good idea to shoot American Made like a Duplass Brothers film (complete with annoying snap zooms), which, for the life of me, I cannot understand, anymore than I can understand all of the praise for Tom Cruise that I’ve been seeing. I mean, I like Tom. He still does great movies from time to time (mostly of the Mission: Impossible variety, but that’s fine), but boy oh boy can he not pull off even the slightest of accents.

Really though, these are just nitpicks compared to the bigger issues.

There are two fatal flaws with American Made. One, despite the “based on a true story” label, the movie is severely lacking in verisimilitude, especially in the performances (and I mean across the board), and, two, we’ve seen this kind of story done better already, and in particular I mean Blow. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again, I don’t mind if you play fast and loose with the truth, but the movie better be interesting and at least feel real within the world of the story, and American Made largely fails at both.

This is not to say it’s entirely bad. There’s a fair amount of entertainment value from the flying scenes (which are sadly shrouded in deadly controversy), and a few moments of good humor, but other than that there’s not a whole lot to grab onto.

I wish I could rate it higher, but my heart tells me no.

Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Battle of the Sexes

Directed by Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris
Written by Simon Beaufoy
Cast: Emma Stone, Steve Carell, Andrea Riseborough, Sarah Silverman, Bill Pullman, Alan Cumming, Elisabeth Shue, Natalie Morales, Eric Christian Olsen, Fred Armisen, Martha MacIsaac, Mickey Sumner, Jessica McNamee, Austin Stowell, Wallace Langham, Bridey Elliott, Lewis Pullman, James Mackay, Enuka Okuma, Mark Harelik, Jamey Sheridan, Chip Chinery, Chris Parnell, John C. McGinley
Soundtrack: Nicholas Britell

Speaking of lack of verisimilitude, let’s talk Battle of the Sexes.

To be fair, this one doesn’t play with the truth nearly as much as American Made, but outside of Emma Stone as Billie Jean King, Steve Carell as Bobby Riggs, and the fantastic period costuming, this one fell rather flat as well, not to mention obsolete.

I say obsolete because ever since ESPN debuted its 30 for 30 series in 2009, and showed the world the depths to which sports documentaries could now reach, the idea of the classic “based on a true story” sports movie has become rather outmoded. Not to say that any genre can’t still be done well, but I’m not sure Battle of the Sexes did justice to the story it attempted to tell, nor, frankly, did it do justice to being an entertaining film. I tell you what though, if ESPN ever does a 30 for 30 on it, I’m all in.

One of the big problems is the pacing, due largely to the fact that the movie spends an inordinate amount of its two hour runtime tightly focused on the affair between Billie Jean King and her lover, Marilyn Barnett. Undoubtedly, it was a crucial part of King’s life, and I’m not arguing it should go without any mention, but it doesn’t add much to the film other than to set up a moment that was obviously made up for dramatic purposes.

Beyond that though, there’s just a lot about this movie, performances especially, that feels one-dimensional. Maybe much of the dialogue was inspired or directly quoted from real conversations, I don’t know, but most of the characters in Battle of the Sexes feel more like caricatures than real people, which would be fine if it was more of the comedy it was advertised as, but not in a film attempting to deal with real life drama.

Again, Stone and Carell are great, but they’re not enough to push this one into recommendation territory, which is sad.

Rating: ★★☆☆☆

P.S.
No stingers of any kind on either film.

Movie Review – ‘The Belko Experiment’ – Human Resources

Directed by Greg McLean
Written by James Gunn
Cast: Adria Arjona, Abraham Benrubi, Tony Goldwyn, Michael Rooker, John C. McGinley, John Gallagher Jr., Josh Brener, Sean Gunn, David Dastmalchian, Owain Yeoman, Gregg Henry
Soundtrack: Tyler Bates

I don’t know if I’ve ever actually shared this with anyone, but one of my biggest fantasies in relation to winning a big time lottery jackpot is securing the rights to some defunct production company and/or distributor and releasing films under that name (looking at you, The Mirisch Corporation).

Evidently, someone at MGM had the same idea, because that company has very quietly revived the old Orion Pictures name, and the first contemporary movie I’ve noticed under that banner is The Belko Experiment, which is appropriate because this movie feels like it should have been made 30 years ago (frankly, I wish it had been).

I’m not going to sit here and lie to you by saying that The Belko Experiment is a perfect film, or the best thing ever, or that it’s going to change the world, but what I will honestly tell you is that it’s a solid piece of genre cinema: ninety minutes long, gets right to the point, and doesn’t waste your time.

According to James Gunn, the trailer for the movie played out in a dream he had one night, and he spent the next two weeks furious working on the script (to the point that he caused himself injury). It’s a simple enough story. Belko (named for Gunn’s ancestral homeland of Belcoo, Northern Ireland) seems like a perfectly ordinary corporation, until one day a mysterious voice announces over the intercom that a certain number of people need to die in a certain time frame or even more people will be killed.

What’s really clever about this premise is that you can almost completely throw out the usual notions of character development, because while there is interpersonal drama amongst the folks in the movie (not unlike Shaun of the Dead), the real drama comes from inserting yourself into the situation and imagining what you would do under the circumstances, not to mention the ideological conflicts at play.

Like many films in the horror and thriller genres (The Stepfather, Misery), I’d say The Belko Experiment is very much a dark comedy at heart, although that’s not to say it lacks punch. It has its share of legitimately horrifying moments, and it’s certainly violent enough, but it’s also not afraid of a little levity along the way, which I appreciate.

Performance-wise, everyone rates about where you’d expect based on their experience, so, some have a little more going on than others, but I wouldn’t say there are any albatrosses in the bunch. Given the divisive story premise, the movie’s actually a half-decent ensemble piece.

Other than that, the film is so short and sweet that I can’t say much more without saying too much (perhaps I have already). It’s a little over the top for my tastes in a few places, but on the whole it feels like a clever callback to movies of a time gone by.

It’s not the best film in theaters at the moment, but The Belko Experment is worth seeing if you feel inclined (or the big movie you want to see is sold out).

Rating: ★★★½ (out of five)

Classic Movie Review – ‘Point Break’ – “What would you say, you do here?”

Original Release Date: July 12, 1991
Directed by Kathryn Bigelow
Written by Rick King (story) & W. Peter Iliff (story and screenplay)
Cast: Patrick Swayze, Keanu Reeves, Gary Busey, Lori Petty, John C. McGinley, Anthony Kiedis (cameo), Tom Sizemore (uncredited cameo)
Soundtrack: Mark Isham

Can I let you in on a well-guarded secret?

This movie is overrated.

Now, listen, I’m not saying “It sucks” or “It’s trash” or “It’s garbage”, or anything like that. I’m merely saying that it doesn’t live up to the reputation that precedes it.

To be sure, there are individual moments of brilliance throughout the film (“Utah! Get me two!”), but, all-in-all, it just doesn’t form a cohesive whole. Are there Gary Busey moments? Obviously, yes. Are there amazing stunt set-pieces? Yes, a few. Was I at any time actually emotionally invested in the film? No. And that’s a problem. It would be less of a problem if not for the movie’s biggest problem.

The ultimate issue with Point Break is that it’s at least a half hour too long. If all the fat was trimmed and we were simply left with a lean, mean cut of action movie prime rib, you know, clocking in at around ninety minutes (or a hundred, if you’re RoboCop), then it wouldn’t bother me so much; but when an action movie like this is trying to give you a little something more, but that something more is actually just some effervescent nothingness (you know, like something a crazy surfer dude might come up with), then you’re just wasting your audience’s time. “I ain’t watching this stinker for the plot!”

Another huge issue is basic story structure and some “show, don’t tell” problems. I guess if you were living under a rock you might not foresee the true nature of Patrick Swayze’s “Bodhi” (SPOILER ALERT: he’s the bad guy), but trying to somehow keep that from both the audience and Johnny Utah seems rather pointless. Basically, “the big reveal” falls totally flat. This is further compounded by the fact that rather than actually showing us Johnny’s process of confirmation, we’re treated to some boring expositional dialogue about how he was tailing Bodhi all over the place and then eventually saw him casing a bank. I would have much rather seen that played out on screen! You know, some good old-fashioned cat-and-mouse action? It would have been nice. Instead, it’s a missed opportunity to make this film legitimately good.

I understand that a big reason why people enjoy this movie so much are the so-bad-it’s-good moments, but the key to an entire movie being so-bad-it’s-good is consistency. Point Break is just too inconsistent across the board to be truly entertaining as a whole.

Now, I don’t want to come across too harsh on this, because there are elements I deeply appreciate, like the bank robbery scenes, the car/foot chase, and the final skydiving scene (especially the fact that “Adios, amigo!” is Swayze all the way), but, as I said, the movie is just too long, too inconsistent, and too disjointed for me to give it an outright recommendation. If you’re watching it at home, you pretty much want to fast forward through anything that isn’t a Gary Busey moment or an action scene (or surfing…or football).

Sometimes you just need a little more something, or a little less nothing.

Rating: ★★½ (out of five)

R.I.P. Swayze