Sucker Punch (2011)

From the creative mind of Zack Snyder, the film director who brought us 2007’s 300 and 2009’s WATCHMEN, comes the epic action-fantasy-thriller from Warner Brothers Pictures and Legendary Pictures called SUCKER PUNCH. Set in the 1960’s, The film follows the story, as what Snyder describes it as an “ALICE IN WONDERLAND with machine guns”, about a young girl named Baby Doll (Emily Browning – Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, The Uninvited), who gets placed in a mental institution by her stepfather some time after her mother dies. With being locked away against her will and not losing her will to survive, Baby Doll urges four other young girls: the outspoken Rocket (Jena Malone – Donnie Darko, Saved!), the street-smart Blondie (Vanessa Hudgens – High School Musical, Beastly), the fiercely loyal Amber (Jamie Chung – Sorority Row, Grown Ups) and the reluctant Sweet Pea (Abbie Cornish – Bright Star, Stop-Loss) - to band together as she envisions a plan, by using her vivid imagination of an alternative reality, to escape from their captors as the girls engage in a fantastical warfare against everything from samurais to serpents, with a virtual arsenal at their disposal. Together, they must decide what they are willing to sacrifice in order to stay alive. But with the help of a Wise Man (Scott Glenn – The Hunt for Red October, The Right Stuff), their unbelievable journey-if they succeed-will set them free. The film also stars Carla Gugino (Watchmen, Sin City) as Madam Gorski, Oscar Issac (Robin Hood, The Nativity Story) as Blue and Jon Hamm (TV’s Mad Men, The Town) as the High Roller. I thought this film was both very visual and very entertaining to watch. I enjoyed this film a lot more than WATCHMEN. The performances by Emily Browning, Abbie Cornish, and Jena Malone were fantastic. I even especially liked Oscar Issac for his performance as Blue. Amanda Seyfried was originally set to play Baby Doll, but dropped out due to scheduling conflicts with her HBO TV series “Big Love”. The movie was filmed at the Vancouver Film Studios in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada from September 10th, 2009 to January 22nd, 2010 with a budget of $85 Million. After it was first announced by Warner Bros. to be released on October 8th, 2010, the studio pushed the film to be released five months later on March 25th, 2011. Opening at #2 at the box office, while 20th Century Fox’s DIARY OF A WIMPY KID: RODRICK RULES opened at #1, with $19,058,199 opening weekend. I make this movie one of the best films I’ve seen of 2011. If you like action movies that have beautiful but sexy young women shooting guns and kickin’ ass, SUCKER PUNCH is that movie I recommend for you to see.

John Q. (2002)

What happens when a father is given so many options and is left with only one choice? You’ll have to see for yourself in Director Nick Cassavetes’ (The Notebook) 2002 Drama from New Line Cinema called JOHN Q. Two-time Academy Award winner Denzel Washington (1989 – Best Supporting Actor, Glory; 2001 – Best Actor, Training Day) plays John Quincy Archibald, a down on his luck husband/father/factory worker, whose only son Michael (Daniel E. Smith) is diagnosed with an enlarged heart and then finds out he cannot receive a transplant because HMO insurance will not cover it and decides to take drastic measures by taking a hospital full of patients hostage until the hospital puts his son's name on the recipient's list. The film also stars Robert Duvall (The Godfather) as Chicago Police Lt. Frank Grimes, James Woods (Once Upon a Time in America) as Dr. Raymond Turner, Anne Heche (Six Days, Seven Nights) as Hospital Administrative Supervisor Rebecca Payne, Kimberly Elise (Tyler Perry’s Diary of a Mad Black Woman) as John’s wife Denise Archibald, Eddie Griffin (TV’s Malcolm & Eddie) as the street talking Lester Matthews, Shawn Hatosy (The Faculty) as the cocky Mitch Quigley, Kevin Connolly (HBO’s Entourage) as Hospital nurse Steve Maguire, Obba Babatundé (Philadelphia) as Chicago SWAT Police Sgt. Moody, Ethan Suplee (TV’s My Name is Earl) as Hospital guard Max Conlin, Laura Harring (Mulholland Dr.) and David Thornton (Home Alone 3) as John and Denise’s friends James and Gina Palumbo, Paul Johansson (TV’s One Tree Hill) as news reporter Tuck Lampley, and Ray Liotta (Goodfellas) as Chicago Police Chief Gus Monroe. I was thirteen and in the eighth grade when this film came out. I missed the chance of seeing this in the theaters and forgotten about it over the years till I finally saw it when I was 22, and I thought this was a very entertaining movie. I thought all the actors, and not just Denzel Washington, were all terrific in their performances. As the story is taken place in Chicago, Illinois, the movie was filmed in Toronto and in around Hamilton, Ontario, Canada and part in Canmore, Alberta from August 7th to November 3rd, 2000, with an estimated budget of $36,000,000. Released two years later on February 15th, 2002, JOHN Q became a box office hit. Opening at #1 with $23,275,194 during its first weekend, and ended up with a total domestic gross of $71,026,631. I consider JOHN Q one of the best Denzel Washington movies I’ve ever seen. And if you haven’t seen it, I totally recommend it.

Set It Off (1996)

Released in 1996, is director F. Gary Gray’s (Friday, The Italian Job, Law Abiding Citizen) action-crime-drama-thriller SET IT OFF. Lifelong friends since childhood and raised in the dangerous projects of Los Angeles, California, Four young African-American women: Lita “Stoney” Newsome (Jada Pinkett-Smith – Madagascar, TV’s Hawthorne), Cleopatra “Cleo” Sims (R&B and Hip-Hop musician/actress Queen Latifah), Francesca “Frankie” Sutton (Vivica A. Fox – Kill Bill: Vol. One, Independence Day), and Tisean “T.T.” Williams (Kimberly Elise – Tyler Perry’s Diary of a Mad Black Woman, For Colored Girls), struggle through life with lack of money while working as night janitors. And after they each witness a series of tragic events, they decide to turn to a life of crime by robbing banks. The film also stars John C. McGinley (TV’s Scrubs) as L.A.P.D. Detective Strode, Rap artist/record producer Dr. Dre as Black Sam, Theater actress Ella Joyce as L.A.P.D. Detective Waller, Anna Maria Horsford (TV’s The Wayans Bros.) as Ms. Wells, Thomas Jefferson Byrd (Ray) as Luther, special appearances by Charlie Robinson (TV’s Night Court) as Nate Andrews and F. Gary Gray himself as a low rider driver, and Blair Underwood (TV’s L.A. Law) as Keith Weston. I’ve heard about this film since as long as I remembered. I finally watched it, and I thought this was a very entertaining movie. The performances by Pinkett-Smith, Latifah, Fox, and Elise I thought were fantastic. There is one scene of the film that I thought was hilarious to watch is when the women are imitating characters from Francis Ford Coppola’s THE GODFATHER, with Fox as Vito Corleone and Latifah as Peter Clemenza. Before she would go on star in Tyler Perry’s films DIARY OF A MAD BLACK WOMAN and FOR COLORED GIRLS, SET IT OFF marked the theatrical film debut of Kimberly Elise, who was waitressing at a restaurant during the start of her career and was discovered by the film’s producer Dale Pollack. Filmed entirely on location in Los Angeles, California from December 19th, 1995 to February 12th, 1996 with an estimated budget of $9,000,000, the film was released on November 10th, 1996, with $11,807,451 opening weekend, and later grossing over $36,049,108 nationwide. SET IT OFF is one of the greatest crime movies I’ve ever seen, next to THE TOWN and DEAD PRESIDENTS, and I make it a definite must see for all movie lovers to watch.

Drive Angry (2011)

Visionary film director Patrick Lussier (2009’s MY BLODDY VALENTINE 3D) has taken the spirit of classic 70’s action films and 3D by combining them together for the explosive, high octane, 3D action-adventure-thriller from Summit Entertainment and Millennium Films called DRIVE ANGRY. Academy Award winner Nicolas Cage (1995 – Best Actor, Leaving Las Vegas) stars as Milton, a hardened felon who breaks out of hell to go after Jonah King (Billy Burke – The Twilight Saga), the crazed leader of a vicious cult, who is responsible for the murder of his daughter and kidnapping his daughter’s baby. With the help of a sexy but tough as nails waitress named Piper (Amber Heard – Pineapple Express), her vintage 1969 Dodge Charger, and one last chance at redemption, Milton has three days to avenge his daughter’s death and save her child from being mercilessly sacrificed by the cult while avoiding capture by an enigmatic assassin, who’s also the devil’s right hand man (William Fichtner –TV’s Prison Break). The film also stars David Morse (The Green Mile) as Webster, Katy Mixon (TV’s Eastbound & Down) as Norma Jean, Charlotte Ross (TV’s NYPD Blue) as Candy, Pruitt Taylor Vince (Mississippi Burning) as Roy, Jack McGee (The Fighter) as Fat Lou, and Tom Atkins (John Carpenter’s The Fog) as Cap. Capone of AIN’T IT COOL News said that this film “must be experienced on the big screen” and I thought this was a very entertaining movie that’s got a lot of great action sequences, and I also thought that this film is almost as a reference to Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino’s GRINDHOUSE movies. I thought Billy Burke’s performance as Jonah King was both scary but good. The movie was filmed on location in Minden, Plain Dealing, and Shreveport, Louisiana from March to May 2010 with an estimated budget of $ 50,000,000. If you’re a fan of action movies or a Nicolas Cage fan, than DRIVE ANGRY 3D is a movie that I recommend for you to see.

Unknown (2011)

“Do you know what it feels like to become insane? It’s a war between being told who you are and knowing who you are… Which do you think wins?”

From Director Jaume Collet-Serra and Producer Joel Silver, the team that brought us 2005’s HOUSE OF WAX and 2009’s ORPHAN, comes the psychological action-drama-thriller from Warner Brothers Pictures and Dark Castle Entertainment called “UNKNOWN”. Based on the novel “Out of My Head” by French author Didier Van Cauwelaert and originally entitled “UNKNOWN WHITE MALE”, The film tells the story of Martin Harris (Liam Neeson – Schindler’s List, Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, Michael Collins, Taken, and The A-Team), an American doctor, who awakens from a coma after being in a car accident in Berlin and soon discovers that someone has taken on his identity. With no one believing who he really is, being hunted by mysterious assassins, and with the help of an unlikely ally named Gina (Diane Kruger - Inglorious Basterds, National Treasure), Martin plunges headlong into a deadly mystery that will force him to question about not only just his identity, but his sanity, and just how far he's willing to go to uncover the truth about who he really is. The film also stars January Jones (TV’s Mad Men, American Wedding) as Martin’s wife Elizabeth Harris, Aidan Quinn (Benny & Joon, Legends of the Fall) as Martin B., Bruno Ganz (The Reader) as Ernst Jürgen, and Frank Langella (Frost/Nixon, Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps) as Rodney Cole. Carrie Keagan of NGTV said “It’s TAKEN meets THE BOURNE IDENTITY”, and I totally agree with her. I thought this was a very entertaining movie that had me guessing till the very end. I enjoyed a lot more than TAKEN and I credit Neeson’s performance one of the best I’ve ever seen him in. The movie was filmed entirely on location in Berlin, Germany from December 16th, 2009 to March 28th, 2010 with a budget of $ 30 million. I recommend UNKNOWN to all movie lovers, and I make it the first best film I’ve seen in 2011.

Ransom (1996)

From Ron Howard and Brian Grazer, the Academy Award winning Director-Producer team of APOLLO 13, A BEAUTIFUL MIND, and THE DA VINCI CODE, Bring us the most intense crime thriller from Touchstone Pictures and Imagine Entertainment called RANSOM. Released in 1996, the film follows the story of New York City’s multimillionaire airline owner Tom Mullen (Mel Gibson – Braveheart, Lethal Weapon trilogy) and wife Kate Mullen (Rene Russo – Lethal Weapon 3-4, Get Shorty), whose only son Sean (Brawley Nolte - Affliction) gets kidnapped by a gang of criminals, who demand $2 million as ransom. At first, Tom cooperates with the N.Y.P.D., and then later tries a unique tactic with the kidnappers’ leader by offering the ransom money for his head. The film also stars Gary Sinise (TV’s CSI: N.Y.) as N.Y.P.D. Detective Jimmy Shaker, Delroy Lindo (Malcolm X) as FBI Special Agent Lonnie Hawkins, Lili Taylor (I Shot Andy Warhol) as Maris Conner, Liev Schreiber (Scream) as Clark Barnes, Evan Handler (TV’s Sex and the City) as Miles Roberts, and actor/musician Donnie Wahlberg (New Kids on the Block, TV’s Blue Bloods) as Cubby Barnes. I sort of grew up watching this film because my Dad took me and my family to see this movie at a drive-in movie theater when I was eight years old. I forgotten about it as the years passed, and I never saw it again till I was a teenager when it was broadcasted on television. Although Ron Howard directed a very entertaining thriller, but it’s hard for me to watch it because this is one of the most intense thrillers I’ve ever seen and can’t watch. The performances of Gibson, Russo, Sinise, Lindo, and Taylor were sensational. And also Liev Schreiber, Evan Handler, and Donnie Wahlberg were also good in their performances. Gibson was nominated for a 1997 Golden Globe award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama, but he lost to Geoffrey Rush for his performance in SHINE. Filmed entirely on location in New York City, New York from January 10th to May 10th, 1996, with an estimated budget of $80 million, RANSOM was released on November 8th, 1996. With $34,216,088 on its opening weekend, the film later grossed over $136,492,681 domestically. RANSOM is one of the best films of the 1990’s, and if you’re a fan of intense crime thrillers, this movie has it all.

The Green Hornet (2011)

I'm not a Seth Rogen fan, nor will I ever see him in KNOCKED UP or PINEAPPLE EXPRESS. But THE GREEN HORNET was the 1st movie of his I've seen in theaters. Based on the character of the same name that had originated in a 1930’s radio program and has appeared in movie serials, a 1960’s television series that starred legendary Martial Arts star Bruce Lee as Kato, comic books and other media, the 2011 movie follows 28 yr old irresponsible playboy Britt Reid (Seth Rogen) as he becomes the heir of his late father’s newspaper company The Daily Sentinel and teams up with his father’s assistant Kato (Asian pop singer Jay Chou), a mechanic and skilled martial artist, to become crime-fighters who pose as criminals in order to infiltrate real criminals, and also to prevent enemies from using innocents against them. The Film was Directed by French filmmaker Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) and also stars Academy Award winner Christoph Waltz (2009 – Best Supporting Actor, Inglorious Basterds) as Russian gangster Benjamin Chudnofsky, Tom Wilkinson (Michael Clayton) as Britt’s father James Reid, Edward James Olmos (TV’s Battlestar Galactica) as The Daily Sentinel’s managing editor Mike Axford, David Harbour (007 – Quantum of Solace) as D.A. Frank Scanlon, Edward Furlong (Terminator 2: Judgment Day) as meth dealer Tupper, and Cameron Diaz (Charlie’s Angels) as Britt’s secretary Lenore ‘Casey’ Case. I really loved the action sequences but the comedy I thought wasn't that great. However, there were some funny gags like when Rogen accidently shoots himself with the gas gun and running away from the cement truck. I loved how they showed a drawing of Bruce Lee as a tribute to the legendary Kato. As I was watching Rogen, he reminded me of Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark from IRON MAN. But to me, I thought he was ten times worse than Tony Stark. I’m also surprised that he co-wrote the story with his friend and collaborator Evan Goldberg, who both did Rogen’s past movies. I thought Jay Chou was awesome. I thought the performance by Tom Wilkinson almost reminded me him from ROCKNROLLA, cause he had the same attitude he portrayed from that movie. It's weird for me to see Cameron Diaz in this film because I thought she was least expected. And the scenes between her and Rogen I thought were dumb. After seeing Christoph Waltz in INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS, I was happy to see him in this film as Chudnofsky. And I thought he did a great job in his performance. I was surprised to see James Franco, Rogen’s Pineapple Express co-star, in a terrific cameo appearance as rival drug dealer Danny "Crystal" Clear. Filmed entirely on location in Los Angeles, Calfornia in late 2009 with an estimated budget of $120 million, the film was originally to released as a regular film in the summer of 2010, but Sony pushed it to January 2011 to secure more time to convert it into a 3D film. As for the film itself, I only loved the action but not the comedy. But I recommend that you see it if you’re a Seth Rogen fan like I’m not. Sorry!

Braveheart (1995)

“Would you be willin' for one chance, just one chance, to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they'll never take... OUR FREEDOM!” “Alba gu bràth!” (“Scotland Forever”). Do you know what movie features that famous quote from? It’s from Director Mel Gibson’s 1995 epic historical action drama BRAVEHEART. The film is based on the true story of William Wallace (Mel Gibson), a 13th Century Scottish man and patriot, who rallies his fellow countrymen into liberation with the English and to overthrow King Edward I aka “Longshanks” (Patrick McGoohan – ITV’s Secret Agent aka Danger Man). The film also stars Sophie Marceau (007 – The World is Not Enough) as Princess Isabelle of France, Angus Macfadyen (Cradle Will Rock) as 17th Earl Robert the Bruce, Brendan Gleeson (28 Days Later) as William’s often short-sighted but thinks with his fists childhood friend Hamish Campbell, Catherine McCormack (Spy Game) as William’s wife Murron MacClannough, David O’Hara (The Departed) as the fearless Irishman Stephen, James Cosmo (Highlander) as Hamish’s father Campbell the Elder, Peter Hanly (BBC’s Ballykissangel) as Longshanks’s homosexual son Prince Edward of Wales, Ian Bannen (Ghost Dad) as Robert’s father The Leper, Tommy Flanagan (Smokin’ Aces) as Morrison, Alun Armstrong (The Mummy Returns) as Mornay, Michael Byrne (Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade) as Smyth, John Kavanagh (The Black Dahlia) as Craig, Stephen Billington (Resident Evil) as Prince Edward’s lover Phillip, John Murtagh (Rob Roy) as Lochlan, Richard Leaf (The Fifth Element) as the Governor of York, and Brian Cox (Manhunter) as William’s uncle and Roman catholic priest Argyle Wallace. I’ve heard about this movie since it came out when I was six years old. I grew up watching Mel Gibson in other films such as the LETHAL WEAPON movies, and I would never see BRAVEHEART till I was 22. This was Gibson’s second film as Director after 1993’s THE MAN WITHOUT A FACE and originally was to direct and co-produce BRAVEHEART only, but finally agreed to star in it as well after he couldn’t decide who would be the right choice for Wallace. American stuntman Mic Rodgers, who was also Gibson’s stuntman from 1984 to 1997, was the stunt coordinator for the battle sequences, including the Stirling battle sequence, which features Gibson saying the famous “Freedom” speech, was shot with nine cameras within a period of six weeks between mid-July and August 1994. Filmed entirely in Scotland and Ireland for five months between June to October of 1994, BRAVEHEART was released on May 24th, 1995. Although the film was at #7 at the box office opening weekend with $2,642,460, and grossing over $75,609,945 worldwide, BRAVEHEART was nominated for 10 Academy Awards at the 68th Academy Awards in 1996, but only won five awards: Mel Gibson for Best Director, John Toll for Best Cinematography, Lon Bender and Per Hallberg for Best Sound Editing; Peter Frampton, Paul Pattison, and Lois Burwell for Best Makeup, and Best Picture. I have seen other historical epic movies such as GLADITATOR, SPARTACUS, and ROBIN HOOD: PRINCE OF THIEVES, I found BRAVEHEART to be very entertaining and I really loved James Horner’s music for the film. I add BRAVEHEART to that list of historical epics I’ve seen. And if you haven’t seen it, I recommend it.

Rush Hour (1998)

What do you do if you take the fastest hands in the east and the biggest mouth in the west? My answer is simply this: You put them together, mixing punches with punch lines, in Director Brett Ratner’s (The Family Man, Red Dragon, and X-Men: The Last Stand) martial arts buddy-action-comedy RUSH HOUR. Distributed by New Line Cinema and released in 1998, the film tells the story of two mismatched cops from different worlds and with nothing in common: top Hong Kong Detective Inspector Lee (Jackie Chan) and big-mouthed, work alone, Los Angeles Police Detective James Carter (Chris Tucker), who reluctantly team up to catch a group of criminals who kidnap the daughter of a Chinese Consul and demand a ransom of $50 million – if they don’t kill each other first. The film also stars Tom Wilkinson (Michael Clayton) as British Police Commander Thomas Griffin, Philip Baker Hall (Hard Eight) as L.A.P.D. Captain William Diel, Mark Rolston (The Departed) as Special FBI Agent in Charge Warren Russ, Tzi Ma (Rapid Fire) as Chinese Consul Solon Han, Rex Linn (TV’s CSI: Miami) as FBI Agent Dan Whitney, Ken Leung (Saw) as Chinese criminal Sang, Clifton Powell (Next Friday) as Luke, John Hawkes (The Perfect Storm) as Stucky, with Chris Penn (Reservoir Dogs) as Clive Cod, and Elizabeth Peña (Transamerica) as L.A.P.D. Detective Tania Johnson. I was ten years old and was in the fifth grade when this film came out that fall and I never got the chance to see it in the theaters. I finally did seeing it once when my father rented it on VHS the following spring, but when it was finally broadcast on network television during the time RUSH HOUR 2 was released, I started to really like this movie and would watch it over and over again on TV till I finally added to my DVD collection. My favorite scene would have to be the fight scene at the Foo-Chow Restaurant. As a fan of Jackie Chan, Ratner really wanted to do a film with him and the thought the script for RUSH HOUR was the perfect choice. And Tucker had previously worked with Ratner, who are also life-long friends, on 1997’s MONEY TALKS. According to Ratner, this was Jackie Chan’s first English speaking role that did not involve any kind of dubbing that what Chan did in his other movies from Hong Kong. Filmed in Los Angeles, California and some in Hong Kong, China from December 1st, 1997 to February 17th, 1998 with a budget of $33,000,000, RUSH HOUR opened at #1 at the box office, with a weekend gross of $33,001,803 when it was released on September 18th, 1998, and later grossed over $141,186,864 worldwide. Before the film was placed at #7 of the top grossing films of 1998, it gained relatively positive reviews from critics, such as Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert giving it Two Thumbs Up and many other critics praised Chris Tucker for his comical acts in the film and how he and Chan formed an effective comic duo. Their performances earned them both 1999 MTV and Blockbuster Movie Awards for Best On-Screen Duo and Favorite Duo. With the success of RUSH HOUR, The film went on to spoil in two hit sequels: 2001’s Rush Hour 2, earning $226,164,286 domestically, and 2007’s Rush Hour 3, which earned $140,125,968 domestically. “Do you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth” when I say RUSH HOUR is one of the greatest action comedies of all time? And if you haven’t seen it, I definitely recommend it.

Beverly Hills Cop (1984)

In 1984, actor/comedian Eddie Murphy left NBC’s Saturday Night Live after four years (1980-1984) and went on to focus on his movie career after appearing in the hit movies: 1982’S 48 HRS. And 1983’S TRADING PLACES. In that same year, he starred in his first leading role that shot him into international stardom, that was originally to be played by Sylvester Stallone, in Producers Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer’s Paramount Pictures production called BEVERLY HILLS COP. Directed by Martin Brest (Scent of a Woman, Midnight Run), The film tells the story of Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy), A young, wisecracking but street-smart Detective from Detroit, who travels to Beverly Hills, California to solve his best friend’s murder, but finds himself dealing with the very different culture that Beverly Hills has. The film also stars Judge Reinhold (Fast Times at Ridgemont High) as Detective William ‘Billy’ Rosewood, John Ashton (Midnight Run) as Sgt. John Taggert, Lisa Eilbacher (Live Wire) as Axel’s best friend Jeannette ‘Jenny’ Summers, Ronny Cox (Deliverance) as Lt. Andrew Bogomil, Steven Berkoff (007 - Octopussy) as Victor Maitland, James Russo (Once Upon a Time in America) as Axel’s doomed best friend Michael ‘Mikey’ Tandino, Jonathan Banks (48 Hrs.) as Zack, Bronson Pinchot (TV’s Perfect Strangers) as Serge, Paul Reiser (TV’s Mad About You) as Detective Jeffrey Friedman, and real life former Detroit Police Detective Gilbert R. Hill as Axel’s trash talking boss Inspector Douglas Todd. I started to watch this movie when my parents had it on VHS, and I would watch it over and over again, and I loved it. As I said earlier that it was be starring Sylvester Stallone, The movie was written for him, with the character of Michael Tandino being his brother, Jenny Summers being his love interest, and did a lot of work on the screenplay by making it as a much bigger action movie. But two weeks before filming was to start, Stallone was suddenly out and Murphy was in, prompting massive rewrites. However, Stallone would later use the same ideas for his 1986 film COBRA. After watching ARMAGEDDON and ENEMY OF THE STATE when I was ten, and by the time I was to middle school, I became a big fan of producer Jerry Bruckheimer, but I never noticed that he was one of the producers of this film when I first watched it. I love the famous Axel F. song that composer Harold Faltermeyer made for the film, and I listen to it sometimes on my iPod. Filmed in Detroit, Michigan and between Los Angeles and Beverly Hills, California, with a budget of $15 million, the film was released on December 5th, 1984, opening at #1 at the box office with $15,214,805. It was well received by film critics and it went on to become one of the best films of that year, grossing over $316,360,478 worldwide. Not only was it one of the best movies of 1984, next to GHOSTBUSTERS, INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM, and THE TERMINATOR, BEVERLY HILLS COP is one of the greatest Hollywood action comedies of all time. And if you haven’t seen it, I am so recommending it for you to see it!

Beverly Hills Cop II (1987)

As it was said the film’s theatrical trailer: THE HEAT’S BACK ON, as Director Tony Scott (Top Gun, Man on Fire) takes the helm in directing Producers Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer’s action-comedy BEVERLY HILLS COP II. Released in 1987, Street –smart Detroit Police Detective Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) returns to Beverly Hills and reunites with Sgt. John Taggert (John Ashton) and Detective Billy Rosewood to investigate a series of “alphabet crimes” that Lt. Andrew Bogomil was investigating on. With Paul Reiser (TV’s Mad About You) as Detroit Police Detective Jeffrey Friedman and real life former Detroit Police Detective Gilbert R. Hill as Inspector Douglas Todd returning for the sequel, The film also stars Jürgen Prochnow (Das Boat) as Maxwell Dent, Brigeitte Nielsen (Cobra) as Karla Fry, Allen Garfield (The Conversation) as Beverly Hills Police Chief Harold Lutz, Dean Stockwell (Blue Velvet) as Charles “Chip” Cain, Paul Guilfoyle (TV’s CSI: Crime Scene Investigation) as Nikos “Nik” Thomomopolis, and special appearances by Robert Pastorelli (TV’s Murphy Brown) as Vinnie, Gilbert Gottfried (Disney’s Aladdin) as Sidney Bernstein, Chris Rock in his feature film debut as the Playboy Mansion Valet, and Hugh Hefner as himself. Cop II is much better than the first one, because this one was more action packed than what the first film had. I was shocked that Tony Scott, who's one of my favorite directors, was the man who directed this movie. He had previously worked with Simpson and Bruckheimer on TOP GUN, and was hired by them to direct the sequel. Tony said in interviews that Comedy was “not my strength and not my sort of leaning”. But he was a huge fan of Eddie Murphy and was very intimidated to work with him. Like in his other films, Tony made the tone of the movie look like a painting. I thought it was funny to see a young Chris Rock, who was 21 at the time, in his feature film debut. The reason how he got a role in the film was that Murphy saw him performing at a nightclub and befriended him. Filmed entirely on location in Los Angeles and Beverly Hills, California from November 1986 to February 1987, with a budget of $20 million, the film opened at #1 at the box office earning $33 million when it was released on May 20th, 1987. As it made a total domesticated gross of approximately $153,665,036, the film became the third biggest hit domestically at the box office that year, after FATAL ATTRACTION and THREE MEN AND A BABY and the second highest grossing film worldwide that year, behind FATAL ATTRACTION. BEVERLY HILLS COP II is a very entertaining sequel to the hit classic Beverly Hills Cop. Shame that the 3rd one isn't.

Beverly Hills Cop III (1994)

“It’s On” for the third time as Director John Landis, who reunites with Eddie Murphy for the third time since 1983’s TRADING PLACES and 1988’s COMING TO AMERICA, for BEVERLY HILLS COP III. Released ten years after the first movie, Detroit Police Officer Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) returns to Beverly Hills and teams up again with Detective Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold) to stop a group of criminals, led by a cold, vicious security boss named Ellis De Wald (Timothy Carhart - Thelma & Louise, Witness), who are running a secret counterfeit money ring out of an L.A. theme park called Wonderworld. The film also stars Héctor Elizondo (TV’s Chicago Hope) as Beverly Hills Police Detective Jon Flint, John Saxon (Enter the Dragon) as Wonderworld manager Orrin Sanderson, Theresa Randle (Bad Boys) as Janice, Alan Young (TV’s Mister Ed) as Wonderworld owner Uncle Dave Thorton, Jon Tenney (TV’s The Closer) and Joey Travolta (Oscar) as Detroit Police Detectives Levine and Giolito, Lindsey Ginter (Mercury Rising) and Dan Martin (Gridiron Gang) as thugs Holloway and Cooper, and a special appearance by Bronson Pinchot (TV’s Perfect Strangers) as Serge. The film also features a number of cameo appearances by well-known film personalities: directors George Lucas, Arthur Hiller, John Singleton, Joe Dante, Martha Coolidge, musical songwriter Robert B. Sherman, and special effects master Ray Harryhausen. The film’s screenplay was written by Steven E. de Souza (Die Hard, Commando, and 48 Hrs.). This was the 1st out of all the Beverly Hills Cop movies I saw when it came out on video, and I would never see the 1st two movies till I became a teenager. I loved Beverly Hills Cop I and II, but III was both good and bad. The reason I say that is because it had a lot of different things, John Ashton's Sgt. Taggart was replaced with Hector Elizondo as Jon Flint. Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer, the producers of Cop I and Cop II who left Paramount to work for Disney and went on to work on Crimson Tide, were replaced with Mace Neufield and Ronald Rehme, who did Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger. The villains played by Carhart, Ginter, and Martin were more vicious than the past ones but good and Eddie Murphy’s Axel Foley was more heroic than what he was in the first two movies. The Wonderworld theme park scenes were filmed at California’s Great America theme park in Santa Clara, which at that time Paramount Pictures owned the entire amusement park. The scene when Eddie Murphy saves the kids on the Spider ride and the climax of the movie were my favorite scenes. Murphy himself did some of his own stunts in the Spider ride sequence. Filmed entirely in Los Angeles, California from September 8th, 1993 to January 24th, 1994, with a budget of $50,000,000, the film was released on May 25th, 1994 with $15,276,000 on opening weekend. It grossed over $42,610,000 in the U.S. and over $75 million in the foreign box office. BEVERLY HILLS COP III has been considered by critics and admittedly by Murphy himself as the most disappointing film in the series. I know this movie is a disappointment to Beverly Hills Cop fans, and I agree, but the only thing I liked about it was the action.

Apocalypse Now (1979)

I’ve always heard about this movie since it was re-released in 2001 as an extended version. But I’ve only seen the theatrical version of Director Francis Ford Coppola’s 1979 Vietnam War epic drama APOCALYPSE NOW. Written by Coppola and John Milius (director of CONAN THE BARBARIAN and RED DAWN), the film tells the story of two US Army Special Operations officers, one of whom, MACV-SOG Captain Benjamin L. Willard (Martin Sheen –Gettysburg, TV’s “The West Wing”, The Departed), is sent along with an eclectic group of Navy PBRs to the jungles of Cambodia to assassinate the other officer, the rogue and presumably insane Special Forces Colonel Walter E. Kurtz (Marlon Brando – The Godfather, A Streetcar Named Desire, On the Waterfront). The film also stars Frederic Forrest (Falling Down) as the tightly-wound New Orleans native Engineman 3rd class Jay “Chef” Hicks, Sam Bottoms (The Outlaw Josey Wales) as drugged up California native Gunner’s Mate 3rd Class and former professional surfer Lance B. Johnson, Laurence Fishburne (The Matrix), who was fourteen years old and lied about his age when he got cast to play the cocky seventeen year old Bronx, NY native Gunner’s Mate 1st Class Tyrone “Mr. Clean” Miller, Albert Hall (Rookie of the Year) as Chief Quartermaster George Phillips, Robert Duvall (The Godfather) as 1st Squadron, 9th Air Cavalry Regiment commander and surfing fanatic Lt. Colonel William “Bill” Kilgore, Dennis Hopper (Easy Rider) as a crazed American photojournalist, G.D. Spradlin (The Godfather Part II) as Military Intelligence Lt. General Corman, Scott Glenn (Backdraft) as Captain Richard M. Colby, with R. Lee Ermey (Full Metal Jacket) as a helicopter pilot, and Harrison Ford (the Star Wars and Indiana Jones trilogies) as Military Intelligence officer Colonel Lucas. I’ve seen other Vietnam War films such as PLATOON and BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY, but thought this film was both very visual and made me feel like I was at that war. The scene I really enjoyed was when we see both Sheen and Brando’s characters for the first time as Brando says “You’re neither. You’re an errand boy, sent by grocery clerks, to collect a bill”. Out of all the actors, I really enjoyed both Hopper and Brando’s performances. I also thought that Brando played a really scary looking character, especially when he looks at Sheen as he’s wearing war paint all over his face and head. I’m used to seeing Laurence Fishburne in movies, such as THE MATRIX, RED HEAT, and ARMORED, but I thought it was so weird seeing him in this film as a young 14 year old kid. Harvey Keitel was originally to be played as Willard, but was replaced by Sheen after the first two weeks of shooting. The shooting of this film in the Philippines was a nightmare. It was originally to be a six week shoot, but ended up for 16 month from March 1976 to June 1977. Why? Because there were problems such as Brando showing up to the set overweight, Sheen having a heart attack and struggled for a quarter of a mile to reach help, and the 1976 Typhoon Olga destroying several sets that caused filming to be delayed for several months. For the next two years, the release date for the film was delayed several times, till it was finally released on August 15th, 1979. Performing well at the box office with $322,489 the first five days, then later grossed over grossed over $78 million domestically with a worldwide total of approximately $150 million. To end this review, I thought APOCALYPSE NOW was an entertaining and well-crafted film that Francis Ford Coppola made. And if you haven’t seen it, then I recommend for you.

The Fighter (2010)

Directed by David O. Russell, in his third collaboration with Mark Wahlberg since 1999’s THREE KINGS and 2004’s I HEART HUCKABEES, and Executive Produced by Darren Aronofsky (The Wrestler, Black Swan), THE FIGHTER is based on the true story of two brothers from Lowell, Massachusetts: professional boxer “Irish” Micky Ward (Mark Wahlberg) and his troubled older half-brother Dicky Eklund (Christian Bale). The Film also stars Amy Adams (Enchanted) as Micky’s bar tending girlfriend Charlene Fleming, Melissa Leo (TV’s Homicide: Life on the Streets) as Micky and Dicky’s mother Alice Eklund, Jack McGee (TV’s Rescue Me) as Micky and Dicky’s father George Ward, and real life Lowell, Mass. Police Sgt. and Ward’s trainer Mickey O’Keefe as himself. On one of the Televison spots I’ve seen, Richard Corliss of TIME Magazine said “It’s ROCKY plus THE BLIND SIDE plus THE DEPARTED but it’s more satisfying than any of them”. But when I went to see this film, I just referred to it as the “ROCKY” of my generation. I enjoyed Mark Wahlberg’s performance, but I thought Christian Bale was fantastic. I would love to see these guys in another movie in the future, you’ll never know. I also thought both Adams and Leo’s performances were good. The boxing match scenes I thought were fantastic to watch because the way it was filmed it made look like the film audience was watching a real match on HBO, and it almost made want to stand up and cheer for Wahlberg. Filmed in Lowell, Massachusetts in 33 days from June 13th to July 15th, 2009, with a budget of $11 million, THE FIGHTER was released on December 17th, 2010 placing it at #4 with $18,645,663 its opening weekend. I would definitely recommend THE FIGHTER to all movie lovers to see, and it’s one of the best movies I’ve seen of 2010.

True Grit (2010)

From Joel and Ethan Coen, the Academy Award winning directors of 2007’s NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, comes their take of the western-adventure-drama TRUE GRIT. Based on the 1968 novel by author Charles Portis and previously adapted into a 1969 motion picture starring John Wayne in his only Academy Award winning performance, The film tells the story of Mattie Ross (newcomer Hailee Steinfeld), a stubborn 14 year old girl who enlists the merciless, whiskey drinking U.S. Marshall Reuben J. “Rooster” Cogburn (Jeff Bridges) and with the help of Texas Ranger La Boeuf (Matt Damon) to go after her father’s killer Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin). With the Coen Brothers as the film’s screenplay writers, it was produced by Scott Rudin and Executive Produced by Steven Spielberg, The film also stars Barry Pepper (Saving Private Ryan) as gang leader ‘Lucky’ Ned Pepper, which was previously played by Robert Duvall. I saw the original film when I was a little kid, and I remember certain parts of it. When I first saw the theatrical trailer for this version, I really wanted to see it. Let’s not mention that I enjoy watching the trailer over and over because of Johnny Cash’s God’s Gonna Cut You Down in it. I thought the film was very entertaining, with a lot of comedic humor to it. Being that this film is Rated PG-13, there was one violent sequence that almost looked like a Rated R moment. My favorite moment of the film would have to be the shootout with Cogburn against Pepper and his gang on horseback. Filmed on location in Austin, Texas and in the Santa Fe, New Mexico area in March-April 2010 with a budget of $38 million, the film was released on December 22nd, 2010, earning $25.6 million its opening weekend. I make Joel and Ethan Coen’s TRUE GRIT one of the best films I’ve seen in 2010.