48 Hrs. (1982)

It was credited to be the first Buddy cop film. Usually that genre is about two very different cops working together, but this is about a cop and a convict. The film I’m talking about is the 1982 action comedy 48 HRS. Directed by Walter Hill (The Warriors) and with Joel Silver (The Matrix)making his 1st film as Producer, the film tells about a hard-nose, alcoholic, chain-smoking San Francisco cop named Jack Cates (Nick Nolte) who reluctantly paroles a wisecracking, womanizing convict named Reggie Hammond (Eddie Murphy) for 48 Hours and make him his temporary partner to go after an escaped homicidal convict named Albert Ganz (James Remar – The Warriors), who along with his partner Billy Bear (Sonny Landham - Predator), recover a stash of $500,000 he was after when he was arrested. And as Cates and Hammond race around the clock to find the killers, they discover they have only one thing in common: they’d both kill to find the bad guys…if they don’t kill each other first. The film also stars Frank McRae (Last Action Hero) as S.F.P.D. Captain Haden, Annette O’Toole (TV’s Smallville) as Cates’ girlfriend Elaine, David Patrick Kelly (The Warriors) as Ganz’s old partner Luther, Brion James (Blade Runner) as Det. Sgt. Ben Kehoe, and Denise Crosby (TV’s Star Trek: The Next Generation) as Ganz’s girlfriend Sally. The role of Reggie Hammond was originally intended to be played by Gregory Hines, then Richard Pryor, Howard E. Rollins, and a young Denzel Washington. Even Clint Eastwood wanted to play Hammond, while he was originally intended to play Cates. Instead, the role went to a then 21 year old Eddie Murphy, who at the time was starring on NBC’s Saturday Night Live and making his feature film debut that earned him his first Golden Globe nomination for Best Acting Debut - Male. Reggie Hammond was originally named Willie Biggs, but Murphy felt that was too stereotypical of a black man's name and changed it to Reggie Hammond. The film’s original premise, which was came upped by one of the film’s producers Lawrence Gordon, was about a criminal kidnapping the daughter of the Governor of Louisiana and strapped dynamite to her head and threatens to blow her up in 48 hours if the ransom was not met. The meanest cop goes to the worst prison in the state and gets out the most vicious criminal for his knowledge of the kidnapper who was his cellmate. By coincidence to the film’s title, the word "Fuck" is used 48 times in its various forms during the course of the film. The film’s best scene is when Murphy shakes down a redneck bar and it ends with him saying “And I want the rest of you cowboys to know something, there's a new sheriff in town. And his name is Reggie Hammond. Y'all be cool. Right on”. The song "The Boys Are Back In Town" by rock & roll band The Busboys is one of the best songs I’ve ever heard and the film’s music composer James Horner (Titanic) won the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for the film’s score. When it was released on December 8th, 1982, 48 Hrs. became an enormous box office success and went on to become the seventh highest grossing film of 1982 with a gross of $4,369,868 in its opening weekend and $78,868,508 overall at the domestic box office. 48 HRS. Is one of the greatest action comedies of the 80’s, and it’s a favorite to all movie lovers. In the words of Reggie Hammond: “Y’all be cool. Right On!”

Another 48 Hrs. (1990)

It's seven years later, the times have changed, but for Jack Cates and Reggie Hammond… They didn’t. Eddie Murphy, Nick Nolte and Director Walter Hill reunite in this 1990 sequel ANOTHER 48 HRS. While one is fighting for his job and the other for his life, Fate has pushed hard-nosed, chain smoking San Francisco cop Jack Cates (Nolte) and wisecracking ex-convict Reggie Hammond (Murphy) back together again and once again go on another shoot-‘em up, car-chasing, and fist-flying 48 hours to take down a ruthless drug lord who’s operating in the Bay area while a pair of dangerous bikers, who were hired by the drug lord, pursue them throughout the city streets and kill them. The film also stars Ed O’Ross (Red Heat) as Detective Frank Cruise, Kevin Tighe (Eight Men Out) as the harsh Internal Affairs Det. Lt. Blake Wilson, Andrew Divoff (Wishmaster) as biker Richard “Cherry” Ganz, David Anthony Marshall (Lock Up) as biker Willie Hickok, Brent Jennings (Red Heat) as the creepy small time dealer Tyrone Burroughs, Ted Markland (Wild Bill) as biker leader Malcolm Price, Bernie Casey (007 – Never Say Never Again) as the tough and influential prisoner Kirkland Smith, and Tisha Campbell-Martin (House Party) as Kirkland’s daughter Amy, and Brion James (Blade Runner) returns as Det. Sgt. Ben Kehoe. One minor note that Frank McRae, who played Nick Nolte's boss, Haden in the first 48 Hrs, was initially supposed to be in this film too. However, his part was almost completely cut from this picture. If you look closely in one of the shots in the police precinct, McRae appears on camera for a few seconds. As a result, he was uncredited for the role. Before the film grossed more at the US box office than its predecessor and made $72.7m from foreign markets for a total of $153.5m, Murphy received a salary of $7,000,000 for his role as Reggie Hammond (because of his success in Beverly Hills Cop and further films), an improvement over his mere $450,000 salary from the first film. And Nolte received a salary of $3,000,000 as an improvement over his original salary of $1,000,000 for the first film. ANOTHER 48 HRS. Is filled with more action and more comedy than the first one, and I make this one of the most entertaining sequels I’ve ever seen. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it too!

Last Man Standing (1996)

I like movies that involve the leading characters, who carry guns and shoot and kill the bad guys one by one, and this film is one of them. It’s a gangster movie set in the west that I think sounds interesting to watch, and that movie is called LAST MAN STANDING. Written and Directed by Walter Hill (48 Hrs., Red Heat) and Based on legendary filmmaker Akira Kurosawa’s 1961 Japanese film “Yojimbo”. The film, which is an officially authorized remake, tells the story of John Smith (Bruce Willis), a gun slinging-for-hire drifter, who winds up in the dusty ghost town of Jericho, Texas and finds himself drawn into a vicious war between two Prohibition-era Mafia gangs: the Irish, led by Doyle (David Patrick Kelly – The Crow) and his right hand man Hickey (Christopher Walken), and the Italians, led by Fredo Strozzi (Ned Eisneberg – TV’s Law and Order: Special Victims Unit) and his cousin Giorgio Carmonte (Michael Imperioli – TV’s The Sopranos). In a dangerous game, he switches allegiances from one to another, offering his services to the highest bidder. And as the death toll mounts, Smith must take the law into his own hands in a deadly race to stay alive. The film also stars Karina Lombard (Legends of the Fall, TV’s The L Word) as Doyle’s mistress Felina, William Sanderson (TV’s Deadwood & True Blood) as bartender Joe Monday, Alexandra Powers (TV’s L.A. Law) as Strozzi’s mistress Lucy Kolinski, Patrick Kilpatrick (Under Siege 2: Dark Territory) as Finn, Leslie Mann (Big Daddy) as Wanda the Prostitute, and Ken Jenkins (TV’s Scrubs) as Texas Rangers Captain Tom Pickett. Almost all the cast members have worked with Hill on other Pictures such as David Patrick Kelly (The Warriors, 48 Hrs.), Ted Markland (Another 48 Hrs., Wild Bill) as Galt’s silent Deputy Bob, Luis Contreras (Red Heat, Geronimo: An American Legend) as Mexican Police Captain Ramirez, and Bruce Dern (Wild Bill) as Sheriff Ed Galt. The film is known primarily for its intense gunfights, featuring Willis's character dual-wielding two M1911 .45 caliber pistols, in the style reminiscent of Hong Kong Blood Opera. But I didn’t care; I enjoyed seeing Willis killing all of Doyle and Strozzi’s men. The first time I heard about this movie was watching a clip of it on the TBS television station. I recently turned eight the month and year it came out on September 20th, 1996, and I never saw it till I was 21. I grew up watching Bruce Willis movies almost all my life, from Hudson Hawk to Die Hard, and I thought this movie was one of the best performances of his I’ve ever seen. Sadly, the film did poorly at the box office, grossing only a total $18,127,448 by December 22, 1996. But I still think Director Walter Hill’s LAST MAN STANDING is entertaining to watch for any movie lover such as myself.

Inception (2010)

10 years before, Director Christopher Nolan wrote an 80-page treatment about dream-stealers. He originally envisioned it as a horror film, but eventually wrote it as a heist film. After pitching the idea to Warner Bros. Studios in 2001, he felt he needed to have more experience into making large scale films such as the hit 2005 movie BATMAN BEGINS and its 2008 sequel THE DARK KNIGHT. He spent six months polishing the film’s script after he realized it needed a large budget because, in his words: "as soon as you’re talking about dreams, the potential of the human mind is infinite. And so the scale of the film has to feel infinite. It has to feel like you could go absolutely anywhere by the end of the film. And it has to work on a massive scale". Warner Bros. finally bought the script in February 2009 and with a budget of $160,000,000, Nolan and some of his crew members from The Dark Knight spent six months between June to November of that year filming his Action/Sci-Fi masterpiece INCEPTION. The film tells the story about Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio), a skilled thief and is the absolute best at what he does: Entering into the dreams of others by thrusting himself into the subconscious of his targets, thus obtaining information that is otherwise impossible to access but it has also made him an international fugitive and costing him everything he has ever loved. When he is being offered a second chance for redemption, Cobb takes on one last job that will hopefully give him his life back if he can accomplish the impossible-inception. Along with his team of specialists: Arthur, the Point Man (Joseph Gordon-Levitt – (500) Days of Summer), Ariadne, the Architect (Ellen Page - Juno), Eames, the sharp-tongued Forger (Tom Hardy - RocknRolla), Yusuf, the Chemist (Dileep Rao - Avatar), and the Tourist, Saito (Ken Watanabe – The Last Samuari) have to pull off the reverse of planting an idea into the subconscious of their target: Robert Fischer, Jr. (Cillian Murphy – 28 Days Later), the heir of his dying father’s business corparation. The film also stars Academy Award winner Marion Cotillard (2007, Best Actress – La Vie en Rose) as Cobb’s deceased wife Mal, Tom Berenger (Platoon) as Robert’s godfather Peter Browning, Lukas Haas (Witness) as Cobb’s previous Architect Nash, Pete Postlethwaite (The Usual Suspects) as Robert’s father Maurice, and Academy Award winner Michael Caine (1999, Best Supporting Actor - The Cider House Rules) as Cobb’s mentor and father-in-law Miles. When Nolan filmed The Dark Knight, he shot it in Chicago, London, and Tokyo. In this movie, he shot in six different cities: Los Angeles, London, Paris, Tokyo, Calgary, and Morocco. Where in his words: “Photographing different extremes from heavy rain to burning sun and to incredible snowfall” in showing the incredible landscapes of the film. The first time I saw the theatrical trailer, I thought it looked really interesting. I went to see it and I really enjoyed it. The best scene of the movie is when Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s character is running around the walls and ceiling of a hotel hallway while gravity has gone haywire. Gordon-Levitt himself did his own stunts for that sequence. I consider INCEPTION one of the best movies of 2010. It is a definite must see from me to you!

Universal Soldier (1992)

Before he scored big with the Sci-Fi/Disaster hits STARGATE, INDEPENDENCE DAY, THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW and 2012, German director Roland Emmerich replaced THE FUGITIVE director Andrew Davis to helm the Tri-Star/Carolco Pictures Action/Sci-Fi movie UNIVERSAL SOLDIER. Released in 1992, Two U.S. Army soldiers, the homeward bound Private Luc Devreaux (Jean-Claude Van Damme) and the psychotic Sergeant Andrew Scott (Dolph Lundgren), kill each other during a deadly Confrontation in 1969 Vietnam. Twenty-Five Years Later, both Devreaux and Scott are brought back to life, along with a large group of other previously dead soldiers, for a secret government program of an elite counter terrorism unit called UniSols, aka Universal Soldiers. They are genetically enhanced, unstoppable killing machines without memory, feelings or free will. Meanwhile, a snoopy and cocky news reporter named Veronica Roberts (Ally Walker) stumbles upon the secret of the UniSols. But when Devreaux and Scott begin to regain patches of memory from their former lives, Devreaux escapes, along with Veronica, from the program, leading Scott to go on a blood lust chase across the west to find them and kill them. The film also stars Ed O’ Ross (Red Heat) as UniSol Commander in Charge Colonel Perry, Leon Rippy (Eight Legged Freaks) as UniSol technician Dr. Woodward Haynes, Tommy “Tiny” Lester (Friday) and Ralf Moeller (Ridley Scott’s Gladiator) as UniSols GR55 and GR74, and Jerry Orbach (TV’s Law and Order) as UniSol creator Dr. Christopher Gregor. I remember seeing this movie when I was a little kid and the only scene that I remember watching was the first part of the diner scene and that was it. I finally saw the whole movie when I was eighteen and I loved it. I had no idea that Emmerich directed this movie and I must say that this is one of the best films he has ever made next to Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow, and 2012. Both Van Damme and Lundgren's performances were both awesome and fantastic, and the final scene between them at Van Damme's character's home was great. This was the final film that was to be recorded in CDS (Cinema Digital Sound), an early digital sound format that would later form to DTS. Mainstream critics dismissed the movie as a TERMINATOR 2 clone, or as a typical, mindless action film. While it was poorly received by other critics, the film grossed $10,057,084 from 1,916 theaters with a $5,249 per screen average and taking the 2nd spot. From there, it made $36,299,898 in US ticket sales, becoming a moderate hit. Overseas, it was much more popular, mostly opening at #1, making over $65 million overseas, which earned the film a total of $102 million worldwide, on a $23 million budget that was filmed throughout the state of Arizona and some interiors in Los Angeles during the late summer of 1991. UNIVERSAL SOLDIER is one of the best action movies I have ever seen and when you watch it, you'll love it too.

Armored (2009)

I'm a fan of action crime thrillers and I thought this movie was one of the best I’ve ever seen. Released in 2009 and Directed by Nimród Antal (Predators, Vacancy), ARMORED is about a young armed service veteran name Ty Hackett (Columbus Short), who works for an armored transport security firm, is coerced by his mentor Mike Cochrane (Matt Dillon) and their fellow coworkers: Baines (Laurence Fishburne), Quinn (Jean Reno), Palmer (Amaury Nolasco), and Dobbs (Skeet Ulrich) to steal a transfer of $42 million dollars from the Federal Reserve. But when an unexpected witness interferes, Los Angeles County Deputy Sheriff Jake Eckehart (Milo Ventimiglia), their supposedly foolproof plan leads them all to a potentially deadly resolution. This movie kept me on the edge of my seat when it came time to see the whole purpose of the film. What a great cast of actors, who I thought were all great in their performances, starring Matt Dillon (Drugstore Cowboy), Jean Reno (The Professional), Laurence Fishburne (The Matrix trilogy), Amaury Nolasco (Max Payne), Fred Ward (Tremors), Milo Ventimiglia (Rocky Balboa), Skeet Ulrich (Scream), and Columbus Short (Stomp the Yard). Fishburne had some funny moments in the film, but I thought Short did a terrific job as the main character Ty. And I kid you not; it made me feel like I was in his shoes, watching him trying to make it out alive. Sadly in advanced, the film was never screened to critics. However, it got mixed reviews and got 43% rating from Rotten Tomatoes. I still think ARMORED is one of those movies I would definitely recommend for all movie lovers to see and enjoy.

Predators (2010)

I saw the original 1987 PREDATOR with Arnold Schwarzenegger and enjoyed it. Then, I saw the 1990 sequel with Danny Glover and thought it was okay. I saw the 2010 ‘sequel’ PREDATORS, and like the first one, I enjoyed it. Produced by Robert Rodriguez and Directed by Nimród Antal (Vacancy, Armored), this installment shows nine heavily-armed individuals: the American mercenary Royce (Adrien Brody – The Pianist), the disgraced American physician Edwin (Topher Grace – Spider-Man 3), the Israeli IDF sniper Isabelle (Alice Braga – I Am Legend), the American Death Row inmate Stans (Walton Goggins – TV’s The Shield), the Russian Spetsnaz soldier Nikolai (Oleg Taktarov – 15 Minutes), the Mexican drug cartel enforcer Cuchillo (Danny Trejo - Machete), the silent Japanese Yakuza assassin Hanzo (Louis Ozawa Changchien), the African RUF death squad officer Mombasa (Mahershalalhashbaz Ali – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), and the insane American Air Cavalry Soldier Noland (Laurence Fishburne – The Matrix trilogy), being hunted on an alien game reserve planet by members of a merciless alien race known as Predators. This movie took 16 long years to make. In 1994, Robert Rodriguez himself wrote an early script for the film for 20th Century Fox while he was working on his 1995 film DESPARADO. He presented the script to the studio, but was denied when they realized that the budget would be too large. 15 years later, the studio decided to go with his script. Filmed in 53 days from September 28th to November 19th, 2009, the locations of the film were shot between Hawaii for the Exteriors and at Rodriguez’s Troublemaker Studios in Austin, Texas for the Interiors. Rodriguez was originally going to direct it, but he instead produced and went with Antal because he enjoyed his earlier films. They both expressed that they wanted this film to be only a sequel to the original Predator films and try to distance itself from the ALIEN vs. PREDATOR films, which Antal said that they made the Predator characters too ‘cartoonish’. As a fan of the original and went to see it on opening day at age 14, Academy Award winner Adrien Brody said in an interview that it was a dream come true for him to do this film and put on 25 pounds of muscle to prepare himself the role of Royce, for which he was specifically chosen by Antal and I thought he did a great job in his performance. Stuntman Derek Mears, who played Jason Voorhees in the reboot of FRIDAY THE 13th and did stunts for such films like PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN and INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL, don the costume of the Classic Predator alien and it was the first time for it to be seen again in 22 years. As I said before: I enjoyed 1987’s PREDATOR, thought 1990’s PREDATOR 2 was okay, and as for 2010’s PREDATORS, I thought it was enjoyable to watch.

Men in Black (1997)

From Barry Sonnenfeld, the director of THE ADDAMS FAMILY and GET SHORTY, and Executive Producer Steven Spielberg, bring us the 1997 action/sci-fi/comedy MEN IN BLACK. Based on the Marvel comic book series by Lowell Cunningham, MEN IN BLACK is about a grizzled and humorless senior agent name K (Tommy Lee Jones) and his newly recruited skeptical partner, former N.Y.P.D. Detective James Darrel Edwards III now named J (Will Smith), who work for a top secret agency that polices, monitors, and directs alien activity on the planet Earth. Every MIB agent wears black suits and neckties with white shirts, and carry a pair of black Ray-Ban sunglasses which they put on to shield themselves before activating a Neuralyzer, a device they carry to wipe witnesses' memories of what they have seen, and replace them with more mundane explanations. The plot of the film is about Both K and J trying to save the world from being destroyed as they go after an alien bug, who crash landed in New York and is disguised in the skin of a dead farmer named Edgar (Vincent D’Onofrio – Full Metal Jacket) who is searching for a miniature galaxy which is also a vast energy source. The film also stars Linda Fiorentino (After Hours) as the cynical Deputy Medical Examiner Dr. Laurel Weaver, who won her role after beating Sonnenfeld in a poker game, Rip Torn (Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story) as the head of the MIB chief Zed, and Tony Shaloub (TV’s Monk) as the alien posing Pawn shop owner Jack Jeebs. After Clint Eastwood turned down the role of K, Jones accepted the role after Spielberg promised the script would improve. He had been disappointed with the first draft, which he felt did not capture the tone of the comic. After reading the script, Will Smith did not want to accept the role of J, but his wife Jada Pinkett Smith convinced him to take the part and Sonnenfeld’s wife was a big fan of his on “THE FRESH PRINCE OF BEL-AIR” and The role was originally turned down by Chris O’ Donnell and David Schwimmer. Producers Walter F. Parks and Laurie MacDonald wanted Sonnenfeld to direct because of the dark humor he put in the ADDAMS FAMILY films. After having been approved by both Sonnenfeld and Spielberg, Special Effects Make-Up artist Rick Baker was the man who led the film’s alien makeup and creature effects and has said it was the most complex in his career to date. Released on July 2nd, 1997, MEN IN BLACK grossed over $589,390,539 worldwide. MEN IN BLACK is one of the greatest movies of the 90’s and it’s a true favorite to all movie lovers.

Congo (1995)

From Michael Crichton, the legendary best-selling author of JURASSIC PARK. Kathleen Kennedy, the producer of E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL. John Patrick Shanley, the award-winning screenwriter of DOUBT. And Frank Marshall, the director of ALIVE and ARACHNOPHOBIA, bring you the action-adventure movie CONGO. Released in 1995 and Based on the best-selling 1980 novel of the same name, the film tells the story about a communications technologist name Dr. Karen Ross (Laura Linney - Kinsey) who is sent to the Congo to search for a rare diamond mine and possibly a lost expedition crew who was looking for the mine. To keep her goal confidential, Ross tags along with Dr. Peter Elliot (Dylan Walsh – TV’s Nip/Tuck), a devoted primatologist and researcher from Berkley, California, who is Africa-bound to return his gifted gorilla Amy to her natural habitat. Upon their arrival, they are joined by Monroe Kelly (Ernie Hudson - Ghostbusters), an English-African mercenary who acts as their guide, and Herkermer Homolka (Tim Curry – The Rocky Horror Picture Show), an eccentric Romanian explorer who’s searching for a mythical lost city called Zinj. Soon, the expedition turns into a deadly safari of suspense and someone…or something in the jungle is watching their every move, turning the hunters into the hunted. The film also stars Grant Heslov (True Lies) as Peter’s hapless assistant Richard, Joe Don Baker (007 - The Living Daylights) as megalomaniac CEO R.B. Travis, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls) as African Porter leader Kahega, and special appearances by Bruce Campbell (The Evil Dead 1 & 2) as R.B.’s son Charles Travis, Joe Pantoliano (Bound) as the wisecracking transportation and equipment guy Eddie Ventro, and Delroy Lindo (Malcolm X) as the bigmouth African military leader Wanta. Marshall filmed this movie in not just Los Angeles but in Costa Rica, Tanzania, and Kenya. The film’s music, which I really loved, was composed by legendary Academy Award winning composer Jerry Goldsmith (The Omen). I remember seeing half of this movie on TV when I was seven years old and I never saw it again till I was 21, and after watching it all, I really enjoyed it. When it was released on June 9th, 1995, the reaction from the critics and the fans was less successful. Roger Ebert said that Congo is a splendid example of a genre no longer much in fashion, the jungle adventure story. He gave it 3 out of 4 stars and Rotten Tomatoes gave it an aggregate rating of 22% based on 41 reviews. When Jurassic Park was released two years earlier, the audiences were familiarized with the CGI Dinosaurs and it was originally planned for Congo to have the same thing for the gorillas, but the technology had not yet been developed to the point where realistic hair could be created. While smooth skinned dinosaurs were possible, hairy apes would have looked inappropriately cartoonish. So instead, Marshall went to legendary Academy Award winning visual effects supervisor Stan Winston, who also worked on Jurassic Park, to create animatronics, puppets and costumes for the actors playing the gorillas. My favorite quote from the film is when Tim Curry’s character says: “Those Hieroglyphics we saw inscribed everywhere, I have translated them: WE ARE…WATCHING YOU!” Whether you like the film or not, I still consider CONGO one of the most entertaining movies I’ve ever seen. And as it says in the film’s trailer: YOU ARE THE ENDANGERED SPECIES!

Demolition Man (1993)

I was five years old when this movie came out on October 8th, 1993 and I can still remember seeing a billboard poster of it from a block away near my old home. Produced by Joel Silver (Lethal Weapon, The Matrix) and Directed by Marco Brambilla (Excess Baggage), comes an Action/Sci-Fi/Crime film with some Comedy to it called DEMOLITION MAN. The film is about a tough, risk taking Los Angeles police officer named John Spartan aka “The Demolition Man” (Sylvester Stallone) and a menacing, evil crime lord named Simon Phoenix (Wesley Snipes), Who were both cryogenically frozen the year 1996 and are reawakened to face each other again in the year 2032, where L.A., San Diego, and Santa Barbara were combined into a nonviolent future society city called San Angeles. The movie features a cast of familiar faces from Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side) as the 20th Century fanatic cop Lt. Lenina Huxley, Sir Nigel Hawthorne (Amistad) as the creator of the San Angeles’ society Dr. Raymond Cocteau, Bob Gunton (The Shawshank Redemption) as the commanding Chief of Police George Earle, Denis Leary (TV’s Rescue Me) as Wasteland Scrap leader Edgar Friendly, Benjamin Bratt (TV’s Law and Order) as Huxley’s friend and fellow officer Alfredo Garcia, Glenn Shadix (Beetlejuice) as Cocteau’s assistant Associate Bob, Bill Cobbs (Air Bud) as former L.A. Police helicopter pilot Zachary Lamb, Rob Schneider (TV’s Saturday Night Live) as Officer Erwin, Stephen Kahan (Lethal Weapon) as L.A.P.D. Captain Healy, and non-speaking performances by former Governor Jesse Ventura as a member of Phoenix’s cryocon men and funnyman Jack Black, in one of his earlier film roles, as a member of Friendly’s fellow Scraps. Steven Segal and Jean Claude Van Damme were the original choices for the roles of Spartan and Phoenix respectively. But Van Damme refused to play the character of Phoenix and asked for the role of John. When Steven Segal refused to play the villain, both men left the project. Jackie Chan was offered the role of Simon Phoenix but he turned it down because he chooses never to play a villain. Snipes’ hairstyle for his character was the inspiration for former NBA Basketball player Dennis Rodman. The Museum shootout is my favorite scene of the whole movie and the scene that I think is stupid is when Spartan and Huxley have ‘Sex’. The best thing for me was that this movie was shot, with not just the interiors at Warner Bros. Studios, but in Irvine, Orange County, California for the exteriors to make it look like a 2032 version of Los Angeles. I think Hollywood should really film more movies in Orange County. They didn't do much with the television show “THE O.C.”. Although this film grossed $58,055,768 by the end of its box office run in the U.S. and $159,055,768 worldwide, DEMOLITION MAN is one of the best action movies I’ve ever seen and you will enjoy it.