Reviews (23)

How things have changed...
I think Do the Right Thing is Spike Lee's best movie, and the early 1990s was a time where Spike was making his movies with a message. Do the Right Thing is a movie that stands the test of time in my opinion, because so much of it rings so true, it's incredibly funny, and heartbreaking at the same time. Lee received a lot of flak for that movie while making it. When it came out, it shut everybody up.
About one year after that, Jungle Fever was released. It was definitely a big deal at the time - a movie about a black man and an Italian woman in a relationship in NYC, a city at the time still basically reeling from the well-known racist killings of two black men at the hands of Italians in their neighborhoods. So this whole interracial thing and the ramifications of it seemed groundbreaking at the time.

I watched this movie the other day and marveled in terms of the interracial aspect of it how much of it is just not the case anymore in 2003 America. It was a big deal for a black man to be seen with a white woman. Now, it's totally taboo, and desired, and nobody really cares. I mean, I actually found myself giggling during the movie and saying to myself, "Come on, now. It's not even like that!"

Okay. A quick review of the movie: Wesley Snipes stars as Flipper, who starts an affair (for no damn good reason) with a white temp worker, Angie, played by Annabella Sciorra, and then has to deal with the repercussions of it. In the midst of this are storylines with Flipper's brother and his drug use, his strict bible-thumping father, and other storylines with Angie's folks, part-time boyfriend, etc. Spike Lee's ensemble cast is featured, and they do not disappoint. Samuel L. Jackson is absolutely fantastic as the crack addcited brother. His performance is both hilarious and pitiful, Ossie Davis is wonderful in his role (hated the actions of his character at the end, though, did he go to the slammer? He should've), John Turturro is excellent (when is he not? Absolutely phenomenal in Do the Right Thing, btw), and the list goes on and on. Fortunately, these actors all balance out Wesley Snipes who is basically ineffective in his performance. In my opinion, he just can't act. You feel so sympathy for him as he has to deal with his wife and all her anger about the affair, you don't care about him and his issues with his job, and everything else he goes through. And I think we're SUPPOSED to care and sympathize with this guy, I just think Snipes was just unable to pull off the role. BTW, Annabella Sciorra is excellent.

On another note: much has been made of Halle Berry's performance in this movie, how groundbreaking it was, etc. Not! She is totally overrated in this movie. All she does is act crazy, fire off expletives and the like to the point of annoyance. She has proven herself to be a good actress in movies following this, but in this one, give me a break. It's Samuel L. Jackson who makes that storyline, let me tell you.

The bottom line is if you watch this movie around Wesley Snipes, you can actually enjoy it. It gets a little long-winded at points, but the performances are pretty good. Some other performance notes, the little girl who plays Snipes and McKee's daughter Ming (someone explain the chinese name for this black child to me, please?), annoying! I know she was young, but she was totally not cute, though she tries very hard to be. Totally irrelevant to my review of the movie, I just wanted to say that I found her incredibly annoying and not cute.

BEST SPIKE MOVIE EVER!!
I'm a Spike Lee fan and i have to admit that this is his best work ever! I'm a teenager and ever since this movie came out I had always wanted to see it. I finally saw it 2 hours ago and I thought it was excellent. I'm a big fan of Sam Jackson and I think in a way he stole the show. Everybody played their part accordingly specially Anthony Quinn and Lonette McKeen. This actors did a great job and I do think this is an "underrated masterpiece." This movie has been overlooked by some people and I think it deserves way more reviews than it has received. The issue of white/black dating was discussed throughout this movie and I loved the scene where the "girls" were talking in the living room about why they thought black men dated white women. Go rent this movie now if you haven't seen it and if you don't liek it then you're crazy!

One of Spike's Most ambitious films
But he apparently was still having some trouble with balance. The story is , well, you know. And it's a great thing that Spike had the guts to do something like this. And while there was some balance, the scale was a shade racist. Just a shade. Still, one of his absolute best and a must, although he really did have trouble with ending this one.

Spike Showed Truth With This Film
First of all, I am a black female who could care less if someone dates out their race. And I don't know if Spike is a racist or not (because he has dated white women and his father is married to a white woman). But one thing is clear; SOME black people do get offended when they see a black man with a white woman. I have personally seen black women confront black men for dating white women and I have seen black men act crazy when they see a black woman with a white man. In my opinion, Spike showed reality in this film, whether you agree with it or not. However, I don't like this film because it was so unfocused to me. There were too many things going on and in the end, it all seemed useless. I guess Spike wanted to get people talking about race and if that was his goal, then he achieved it. Personally, what I find most offensive and racist is the person who is playing the lead character. He (Snipes) made nasty comments about black women to a black magazine, which explains why his popularity has gone down.

Spike Lee ought to be banned from filmmaking
This is one of the absolute worst movies I have ever seen. Spike Lee is not a brilliant filmmaker. He clearly has racist views that he feels the need to display on film. Jungle Fever is the story of a black man who has an affair with an Italian woman. When their affair is found out, everyone is up in arms. The woman is accused of stealing the Black Man. Black women sit around dissing her when Flipper's (Snipes) wife needs to be questioning her husband. Last I checked, the ring was on Flipper's finger. The very idea that these women can sit around dogging white people and it be deemed ok is deplorable to me. As a young black female, I was disgusted at this image. Queen Latifah's portrayal of that waitress was even worse.

This movie is disgusting and it is a very good example of irresponsible filmmaking. This does not promote racial unity or racial tolerance.

Avoid it at all cost. ... Read more

Reviews (11)

I "Bet" the "Book" is better.
Found this movie very entertaining but didn't like the circumstance under which "Stuey" was telling the story."Loosely based" on the life of Stuey Ungar is a good way to put it.I hope the book tells the real story and would certainly be up for a more biographical movie on the man.The heads up action where "Stuey" overpowers his various opponents is certainly entertaining and probably the most realistic part of the movie, but stuff like Billy Baxter being replaced by a chinese gangster is odd at best.

Entertaining none the less.

The Stu Ungar Story?
Michael Imperioli (Christopher on "The Sopranos") stars as Stu Ungar, the troubled three time World Series Of Poker Champ. Imperioli does a good job, but the movie isn't really up to much. The movie touched on the basic facts like Ungar's WSOP wins, and his death, but in no great detail. As far as Poker movies go I found Rounders to tell a more complete story. This is a bio-pic, and as such probably has the historical accuracy (inaccuracy), of movies like Brave Heart.

No poker heroes here. Just a riveting portait.
As a poker player and gambler, I sat down to watch this film with a certain expectation.

What I got was something totally different. And for me as a person, much better.

You see, what Stu Ungar had to teach us wasn't really about how he played certain poker hands or how he won the WSOP three times: but rather that none of that is important, and has no value without people you care about around you to share it with.

This film got to me in a big way. It has flaws, unquestionably, but the way it captures the life of a guy who could've done so much more with his talents is deeply affecting, with much of the credit going to a maginificant performance by Michael Imperioli. At turns it is both funny and sad, depressing and uplifting. For a couple of days after I've been thinking about how I've been spending MY time, and with whom. I'm looking forward to watching it again when I get the DVD.

I fully understand those that are disappointed (or even enraged) that High Roller isn't the story of a poker hero who fights his way back to triumph, chock full of poker action (although there are several great scenes), and justifying the existence of gamblers everywhere.

But for me, a movie that makes me think about my own life, and what I want from it, is the move that makes my permanent collection.

somewhere between bad and really bad
I wanted so much to like this movie and gave it every chance until I just found myself uttering outloud how lame this was.The cast was not the problem.Yes he could have looked younger when he one his first, but who cares.The script was so awful.Fill in your favorite negative here, cliche, predictable, cheesy, etc.What was the director thinking?He had such a great subject matter.I would be shocked if this guy ever does another movie.I just checked the credits and it's his first script and first directing.My God does it show.

Quite disappointing
Firstly, this is not a poker movie, if that is why you considered buying this, don't.However, there are other reasons that I didn't like the movie.It veers to far into the cheesy "movie of the week" treatment of someone who was quite troubled and it didn't help me understand the main character.

The cast is quite good, but Imperioli is mis-cast as Stu.There's a reason that he was called "The Kid"; when he won his second World Series title at age of 27, he looked about 14.

In short, make sure you see this before you buy it. ... Read more

Reviews (80)

"Lawrence and Smith Are The Bad Boys of Comedy"
Hilariously enjoyable as any black comedy and full of fast paced action, "Bad Boys," as a 'slick flick,' stars Martin Lawrence as Marcus Burnett and Will Smith as Mike Lowrey playing two cops who fall on to the trail of millions of dollars of Heroin stolen by a criminal mastermind named Fouchet (Tcheky Karyo) and try to recover it as well as rescue Julie Mott (Tea Leoni) who is also involved. Personal matters appear to Marcus Burnett who is obsessed with getting "quality time" with his wife Theresa (Theresa Randle) and almost loses his marriage when he is forced to switch names and use Mike Lowrey in front of Julie. The comedy works unmistakeably well, however, the only mistakes I find in here are the heavy profanity and the violence used. But I keep saying this to myself, how can you pardon the profanity if it works well with the script? Oh well. Don Simpson-Jerry Bruckheimer Films/Columbia Pictures, 1995, Rated R for intense violent action and persuasive strong language.

The first film in hopefully a trilogy and bruckheimer's best
Don Simpson and legendary action producer Jerry Bruckheimer who almost surpasses Joel Silver in what he put's on the screen,
and at this time first time director Michael Bay who also helmed
the much bigger and from the looks badder sequel Bad Boys 2.Get's
down and dirty for Bad Boys the first flim of this series wich
teams Will Smith and Martin Lawrence.100 million in confiscated
heroin has been hijacked from Miami Police the pride bust of DEA
and Narc agent's Mike Lowry(Will Smith)who is a stylish single
and full of money and his partner Marcus Burnett(Martin Lawrence)
,a family man who want's quality family time could not be any more
oppisite , but if they don't work together to find out about the
whereabouts of the missing heroin it will shut down the narcotics
of the Miami Police Department but when a drug kingpin played by
Tcheky Karyo kills a freind of Mike Lowry's with a witness spying
on the murder it becomes personal for Mike.But they must do all
they can to protect Julie(Tea Leoni) before she is killed by the
kingpins henchmen even if Mike Lowry and Marcus Burnett trade
places to protect her but they will also have to fight a drug war
in order for them to recover the stolen drugs and save Julie's life.

An explosive first entry in the series in hopfully a trilogy wich would be very weird on Bruckheimer's part of taking the
advantage of making his first trilogy.Explosive action , car
chases , unbeleivable stunts and the like wise teaming of Will
Smith and Martin Lawrence who without there chemistry added to
the film would be no sequel and just and ordinary action film
but there Mel Gibson and Danny Glover like appeal makes this film set afire as one of the best films Bruckheimer has made
Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer would only team one more
time for The Rock before Simpson's untimely death , the highly
anticipated bigger and badder sequel is due out this friday
an awsome action film.

Love this movie
I love this movie. It is funny and action-packed. I just wish two could have copied the same formula. It had too much action. It made me dizzy.

Nevrer seen
I have never seen this movie so it will get 4 stars need to get my boycott across to show this point

Something Old, Somthing New
By the mid-nineties, the buddy cop action flick was not a new idea. Starting with 48 Hours and continuing with movies like Beverly Hills Cop and Lethal Weapon, the "cat and dog in a barrel" concept had been fairly played out. However, in 1995, a new director and some rising stars teamed up with the movie veterans behind Top Gun to create a new breed of action movie.

In Bad Boys, wild card narcotics officers Marcus (Martin Lawrence) and Mike (Will Smith) are in a bind. Their career dope bust has just been robbed from the station, and their only hope of finding it is the witness to a murder. However, circumstances get complicated when the two are forced to switch roles, and family man Marcus has to become swinging bachelor Mike for 72 hours.

The plot of the movie is fairly weak, centering around the drug bust and the cops' efforts to protect the witness, find the dope, and (shock and awe) keep Internal Affairs off their backs. However, the plot is not the reason to see the movie. For the reason, just look to the stars.

The same spirit of banter and hen-pecking that made the Lethal Weapon series so enjoyable is given a fresh coat of paint, and a couple of fresh voices. Will Smith and Martin Lawrence snap, crackle, and explode on screen, whether their shooting the bad guys or just firing pot shots at each other. While Lethal Weapon showed us the friction between a fresh pair of partners, Bad Boys shows us two cops who have been together six years, and know just how to get on each other's nerves.

But even with the snappy humor that Lawrence and Smith bring to the screen, the movie rides on wheels of action. Micheal Bay has become synonymous with action movies, and Bad Boys is the reason why. In his directorial debut, Bay uses swift camera moves, scenic pans, and judicious slow motion, fusing elements of John Woo and MTV to create a fresh take on gunplay and car chases. Although he lacks Woo's finesse in creating bullet ballets, Bay definitely knows how to keep a film's pace going, and Bad Boys does just that.

Sure, the movie's not perfect. The plot is sometimes laughably flawed, and the real Miami PD wouldn't put with half the crap that Smith and Lawrence pull, but the movie is enjoyable nontheless, focusing on character conflict and balls-out adrenaline to keep the audience entertained. Combined with a solid cast of character actors (Joe Pantoliano ROCKS), and Bad Boys is summer entertainment at its funnest. ... Read more

Description

A comic catch from the studio that brought you Shrek, Shark Tale is a hilarious hit and "a wonderful under-the-sea adventure for movie lovers of all ages!" (Clay Smith, Access Hollywood)

Oscar (Will Smith), a lowly tongue-scrubber at the local Whale Wash, becomes an improbable hero when he tells a great white lie.To keep his secret, Oscar teams up with an outcast vegetarian shark, Lenny (Jack Black), and the two become the most unlikely of friends.When his lie begins to unravel, it’s up to Oscar’s loyal friend Angie (Renée Zellweger) and Lenny to help him stand up to the most feared shark in the water (Robert De Niro) and find his true place in the reef. ... Read more

Reviews (42)

I love it to death.
This has to be one of the best action, western and gangster movies I've ever seen. Willis was perfect for the part of John Smith (his voice-over has some of the best dialogue ever and if you don't believe me check out the opening scene), a gun for hire without a conscience. All elements of each genre are highly spoken for.

The editing, dialogue, cinematography, music, direction and acting are all top class. Everything is fantastically overblown but never preposterous.

As for the film itself, it is very empty but the mood and tone are so very distant and weird, and I totally love it. Walter Hills direction is a well balanced cross between Sam Peckinpah and John Woo. And Cooder's score will transport you right into the movie even on it's own. This wall always be one of my fave movies and it is very much worthy of 5 stars.

The 2.50:1 anamorphic picture is stunning and there are rumors that Hill originally wanted to make it in B/W but New Line Cinema would not let him. To test this out turn your color right down and see how much the film's atmosphere is enhanced from already gloomy to undeniably depressing, BUT IT IS SO COOL.

The DD 5.1 sound quality on this DVD during the gunfights is absolutely amazing. It will bug the hell out of your neighbors, but who cares? Every now and again Walter Hill injects a sudden burst of ferocious, furious and brutal violence that takes your breath away. When people are killed they don't just fall down, they FLY across the room and thru windows.

Extras are brief and not very good (Cast Bios say that Die Hard 4 was released in 1998!) and there is a cool clip of Loaded Weapon 1 hidden in there too.

A letdown -- could've been much better
I actually would give this film 2.5 stars. I opted for 3 (instead of 2) because it's leaning more toward 3, as it is not boring and didn't cause me any feeling of pain.

As you probably have discovered by now, this is a remake of Kurosawa's Yojimbo, or, as more of you know, Leone's A Fistful of Dollars, starring the great Clint Eastwood. It's a pretty interesting story and concept, but in Last Man Standing the execution is not there.

For one, the characters are just plain bad. I like Bruce Willis, and here he gives a decent (at best) performance. But Clint Eastwood he's not. They try to go for character development with him (and only him) and it more or less fails. I've seen worse, but this is hardly memorable. The other characters are not even worth discussing, other than the fact that the dialogue is particularly wretched.

And then there's the action. It's simply not that good. This movie could have possibly redemeed itself had the action been remarkable. The director Walter Hill goes for the Peckinpah-Woo style of gunplay (which I happen to love), but unfortunately does not succeed. The result is a second-rate job. It's not terrible, but Rodriguez did a better job in Desperado for sure. Hill unwisely does not use enough slow motion, which is too bad. That would've helped a lot. You would think there would be a western in the past 30 years that could top The Wild Bunch's quality of action, but nope.

Not only is the action not that impressive, but there's not nearly enough of it. Leonard Maltin wrote in his review that this movie is "rife" with gunplay. In actuality, it's not. You don't get a whole lot. There should have been much more.

Visuals are uninteresting. There's not much to see. The DVD picture quality is good, though, I'll give it that.

There are no special features on this DVD worth mentioning, just so you know. A director's commentary would have added, so we could hear Hill defend this film.

The one thing I'll give this film is that it isn't boring. Fans of The Wild Bunch and John Woo will be diappointed. It passes the time fairly quickly, but in the final analysis, Last Man Standing is a forgettable movie.

a good story... poorly done
I wish to keep this short, so I'll only say this: I liked this movie better the first time-- when it was called 'A Fistfull of Dollars'.

Awful!
One of the silliest pretexts for a movie, ever! This film has all the substance of an AT&T commercial, and the "story" is nothing more than one establishing shot after another. After about an hour and a half, we get to see Christopher Walken and Bruce Willis eyeball each other and act macho... That's if we haven't fallen asleep or otherwise lost interest by that time.

At this time, you can buy a used VHS edition of this movie for $.49 on amazon, but at less than a half a buck, it's still not worth it...

A novel take on a classic movie
Akira Kurosawa's film "Yojimbo" is a cinematic masterpiece, and in the time it came out, Westerns and Samurai movies were practically one in the same. Consider "Seven Samurai" and "The Magnificent Seven" both excellent films in their own right. Similary, "Yojimbo" was remade into the classic Spaghetti western, "A Fistful of Dollars" with Clint Eastwood. It's with this remarkable history that "Last Man Standing" was made.

If you know the story fo Fistful of Dollars or Yojimbo, it becomes clear that this is a role that Willis is well-suited for. He plays a man passing through a town in the middle of nowhere, and the town's split between two rival crime families. As a man skilled with guns, he plays the families off of each other to make a buck, but can't help getting pulled into the dilemmas of this little town.

If you loved Yojimbo or Fistful, and don't want to see this movie out of fear that it will ruin the story, I would put those fears to bed. This movie takes a novel and more modern approach to the story, and Willis adds his own flavor to the 'man with no name.'

Of course, I liked Yojimbo more. But Last Man Standing is a good film in its own right, with a good performance by Willis and excellent performances by Chris Walken, Bruce Dern, and William Sanderson. The gunfights in this movie are enjoyable, but unrealistic in a sort of John Woo/Killer/Hard-Boiled style.

So, if you're interested in seeing a reworking of a classic movie, or if you just want to see a good shoot-em-up, this movie fits the bill. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Based on the riveting bestseller by Richard Price, this 1995 crime drama was directed by Spike Lee with such authority and authenticity that it has the hyper-real quality of a stylized documentary. Fully capturing the thoroughly researched detail of Price's novel, the film focuses on Strike (newcomer Mekhi Phifer), a young, ambitious "clocker"--or drug dealer--who works the streets of his New York housing project, selling drugs for a local supplier named Rodney (played with ferocious charisma by Delroy Lindo). Just as Strike is struggling to get away from his dead-end life of crime, another dealer is murdered in a fast-food restaurant and local detectives (Harvey Keitel, John Turturro) consider Strike the primary suspect. In cowriting the script with novelist Price, Lee uses this murder mystery to explore the plague of guns and black-on-black crime in America's inner cities, in which drugs and death are familiar routines of daily life. The film doesn't pretend to offer solutions, nor does it dwell on the problem with numbing insistence. Rather, this taut, well-acted film takes the viewer into a world often hidden in plain sight--a world where options seem nonexistent for youth conditioned to have little or no expectation beyond a probable early death. Lee and Price are deadly serious in handling this volatile subject (which incorporates racism, powerless law enforcement, and political indifference), but Clockers is also blessed with humor, insight, and humanity. It's one of Lee's most confidently directed films, signaling a creative maturity that Lee continued to develop throughout the 1990s. --Jeff Shannon ... Read more

Reviews (25)

An Average Joint
This crime drama about a troubled, confused teen boy has some well-done elements but the overall result isn`t too exciting or innovative. Strike is a young dealer living in a dangerous and claustrophobic neighborhood, and as he becomes more involved with some bad influences his problems start to increase and leaving him in a difficult situation.
Director Spike Lee uses a typical murder mystery to offer some insight into this NY community, showcasing their connections and relations. There are some stylish and edgy camera angles, the acting is generally convincent and the characters complex enough (even if a bit stereotyped), but the movie is ultimately too long, the pacing slow, the plot unsurprising, the score melodramatic and the ending a bit weak and forced.
So, despite some good moments, "Clockers" could have been more developed and edgier, since most of the picture offers nothing that hasn`t been shown in some TV series out there. Passable entertainment.

ALEXS CAPSULE MOVIE REVIEWS
Highlights: Harvey Keitel's, Mekhi Phifer's and Delroy Lindo's amazing performances; the tightest script ever written by Spike Lee; philosophical themes well-developed; candidly brutal depictions of the projects, with all their crack dealers and lack of aspiration.

Lowpoints: The musical score at times gets a little too overwhelming; Clockers' pace falters, but that's to be expected from a Spike Lee joint, and Clockers is the most successful venue on his resume yet.

Conclusion: A fine, powerful drama that deals with the life of a young man, born in the projects and trying to make a living from dealing crack cocaine. The acting is exceptional, particularly Harvey Keitel's, who always mesmerizes and here delivers a performance that, in terms of intensity, could only be compared to his work in Abel Ferrarra's Bad Lieutenant. The characters are spot-on, the script sizzles, and there are scnes that will make viewers choke on tears of compassion.

SEE THIS IF YOU LIKED: Do the Right Thing, Menace II Society, Baby Boy.
DON'T SEE THIS IF YOU LIKED: O, Save the Last Dance, Monkey Trouble.

Classic Gangsta Cinema from the hardest of hardcore Spike
Yo, you gotta buy this yo. This is where it all comes from. This is the movie that in the future will be viewed as the end all be all of gangsta movies. It chronicles the trials and tribulations of a smart teenage drug dealer as he grows up in Brooklyn and tries to gain a lucrative spot in the drug game off the benches. It shows with flashbacks and good storytelling how black on black crime is created and perpetuated in the hood: too many men dealing crack son. This teenage hardcore is called Strike and he must choose his path in life and one thing the movie makes abundantly clear: Strike can stop dealing anytime he wants. Strike has money and trains. Strike has people in the community including two understanding cops and a mother and a brother and a sister in law who would like to see him change his ways and the script shows that he can chance anytime. He can go into witness protection. He can just up and move and take his money elsewhere. He's smart. he can do alot of things, but he chooses to stay and be a dealer. Why? because the most father-like influence on him is a hard-boiled dealer played by Delroy Lindo who permeates the film with rationale evil and avarice that make bad leutenant look like good family fun. So in short, Spike is showing through Strike how all the black youth just need a good father figure to set them straight, stop dealing and raise a family like Strikes brother who is honorable and sympathetic to the extreme. The soundtrack is brilliantly wrought to effect sympathy and compassion from the audience while the shocking visual elements cause us to question our own society.

Fair to middlin'
I'd probably like this movie a lot better if I didn't feel it was such a disservice to the novel it's based on.

Delroy Lindo does give a standout performance as Rodney, but I just wasn't that impressed with Keitel. I guess it's a testament to Price when I say that the Rocco Klein of his novel felt more lifelike, more deeply conflicted, and more rounded than Keitel's Klein seemed on screen.

I found it irritating that there were certain surreal elements added to the script which seemed to compromise the grittiness of the story. The additions didn't make the movie funnier, they just made it strange.

As a side note, less than ten years old, the soundtrack already seems incredibly dated.

Don't even rent this one, go read it. If you're dead set on spending your loot, buy two copies of "Do the Right Thing."

VERY NOSTALGIC
This film is probably the most emotionally compelling film I've ever seen. I feel like the ghosts of my past are reaching into me as I watch this. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Bad Boys
Slick to a fault, this glossy action flick takes place in sunny Florida, where Martin Lawrence and Will Smith play two cops--one married with kids, the other a swinging bachelor. The two are forced to trade places to foil criminal mastermind Fouchet (Tchéky Karyo) who has stolen $100 million worth of heroin from a police lockup. Violent, illogical, and filled with wall-to-wall profanity, Bad Boys was the last film produced by the hit-making team of Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer before Simpson's untimely death, and marked the directorial debut of Michael Bay who followed up with The Rock. Bad Boys will be of interest to action buffs and fans of Téa Leoni, who makes one of her early screen appearances in the central supporting role. --Jeff Shannon

Bad Boys II
No one goes to a movie directed by Michael Bay for delicacy and grace; you go because Michael Bay (Armageddon, The Rock) knows how to make your bones rattle during a high-speed chase when a car flips over, spins through the air, and smacks another car with a visceral crunch. Bad Boys II fulfills this expectation and then some. Will Smith and Martin Lawrence may be mere puppets amid all this burning rubber and shrieking metal, but they actually provide a human core to the endless cascade of car wrecks and gunfights. Their easy rapport makes their personal problems--a running joke is Lawrence's attempts at anger management--as engaging as the sheer visual hullabaloo of bullets and explosions. The plot is recycled nonsense about drug lords and dead bodies being used to smuggle drugs, but orchestration of violence is symphonic. If that's your thing, then this is for you. --Bret Fetzer ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Bad to the Bone
The bad boys series are great with popcorn, a beer and a couple of friends to watch it with. Action, comedy, explosions, probably not the chick flick you want to watch with the significant other. The dynamic between Martin Lawrence and Will Smith is great and makes up for any holes in the story. I hope they make this a trilogy!

You know you'll buy this movie
These movies are the best ever. Bad Boys 1 has a better story and 2 has hell of better action scenes. The bad thing about the second is that the story really sucked. Its still a good buy though. If you like movies, youll love this.

Action and Excitment
Good movie for explosions and shoot-outs, and the humor is solid between Will Smith and Martin Lawrence. Not much else there tho, and the story is kind of corny and far-fetched. Sounded great on the home theater though, and was fun to watch. ... Read more

Reviews (86)

A gritty, realistic film with wonderful acting performances.
"The Basketball Diaries" is a gritty, uncompromising look at a basically good guy's decent into heroin hell. The cast, headed by Leonardo DiCaprio, is superb; the screenplay doesn't pull any punches. Realistic, shocking, eye-opening, the film gives DiCaprio and Mark Wahlberg the chance to display their true talents and really ACT -- these fellows do a terrific job because it all looks so REAL. What a great film with an ending I guarantee you won't expect -- connoisseurs of fine films and DiCaprio fans should check it out -- this is a real movie with a real script and real acting, and the characters and storyline aren't larger than life. They're real as life, and that's not something you see on TV every day. END

Gritty, Powerful And Well-Acted
The name Jim Carroll may not be familiar to mainstream, radio-friendly listeners, but to those who know about rock poetry and Punk Carroll is one of the genre's greatest word-players along with Patti Smith and has recorded two especially noteworthy works, "Catholic Boy" and "The People Who Died," which sound like wonderfully gritty hybrids of beat poetry and Punk rock. "The Basketball Diaries" is based on Carroll's novel of the same name which is a testament of his days living in the streets of New York during which he became addicted to heroin, saw friends either die or spiral down into self-destruction and eventually found his talent for words as an exit out of the hell he was trapped in. As a movie, the story comes alive with a powerful impact. Director Scott Kalvert does not make the movie into an obvious anti-drug message, instead the story of Carroll's teen years is simply just...told. There is almost a documentary-like realism in how scenes are put together, nothing feels false but instead chillingly real. Anyone who has lived in an environment like this or attended high school in the more gritty, violent sections of a city can instantly relate to the people and events. The actors bring these characters to live with great believability, Leonardo DiCaprio broke through with this role, but even his recent work in films like "Titanic" and "Gangs Of New York" seems more tame compared to his brilliant, effective performance here. The scenes where Carroll is addicted to heroin and lives in the junkie underworld are performed by DiCaprio with a vivid realism that is disturbing. One reviewer here complained about the movie missing a plot, plot is not something central here, the story is central and it is the story of a very talented young man gripped by addiction in a world where vices and the darker side of life can easily suck you in. And of course, there is some great music here by Soundgarden, The Doors, The Cult and a great highlight which is Carroll performing "Catholic Boy" with Pearl Jam. In the history of rock music there are many popular stories of addiction from Iggy Pop to Scott Weiland, Carroll's is brought to life in a movie that breathes and doesn't need to throw the message in your face, the message is right there in the story itself.

Those are the people who died.......
Jim Carroll's autobiographical life story is the basis for this cult classic of the early 90's. Leonardio DiCaprio plays Jim Carroll a poet writing basketball star at a Catholic prep school in Manhatten who's future comes tumbling down when he gets addicted from glue sniffing to heroin. Mark Wahlberg co stars as Mickey his partner in crime as they skip school and do drugs, Jim realizes his future of becoming a pro basketball player are gone when he sees a local kid that he used to run with that decided to stay clean makes it to college ball. Eventually his mother kicks him out and he is saved by a black preacher an ex drug user from the streets takes him in. A powerful story about addiction and the negative affects it has on one's dreams. Leonardo DiCaprio's performance was amazing & makes you wonder how accurate it was of Carroll. The soundtrack also is amazing, essential to collection & a must see film.

well done
This is the most accurate depiction of dope addiction I've seen (drugstore cowboy too). From sticking a cutoff straw in a bag for a toot in the highschool bathroom or lockerroom, to the sick daydreams, to the fiending, the pure exileration of copping bags, to the allure of the needle. I started doing dope at 15 (1994)and stopped at 19, 6 years ago in 3 days. I saw this movie in 97 and I havent seen it since. Definitly not a movie you will want to watch over and over.

Like a drug, film has very high highs and very low lows
Don't take my middle of the road three star rating as a sign of apathy. This movie is one you will either love or hate, and in my case I very much enjoyed certain things and very strongly disliked others.

Obivously the big draw in this movie is Leonardo DiCaprio. I have to say, he does an outstanding job with this role. In the true story of drugged-out high schooler Jim Carroll, he thrives on the type of script Academy Awards are made out of: tons of opportunities for him to be high, low, enraged, in sorrow. There are a lot of opportunities to use his physicality in the role, and he seizes every one. In particular I think of his drug withdrawal sequence and he and his friends' mourning the death of a close friend by getting drunk and playing basketball in the rain.

The plot has a sixteen year old Jim Carroll playing high school basketball. Three of his teammates are his best friends, and when not on the basketball court, they tend to find all kinds of "innocent" trouble around New York (knocking over food vendor carts, for instance). Another outlet of energy for Jim alone is his diary where he records sensations he feels in his young life.

His search for sensation and his friends' desire to find trouble coalesces in experiments with drugs like cocaine and herione. As Jim notes in the monologue of the movie, there is no such thing as a part-time addict. They fall further and further into the downward spiral in an effort to evade pressures from school teachers, coaches, and parents.

Some of the scenes in this movie are very gripping and visceral. However, the links between these scenes tend to be bogged down in poor directing. I realize this movie was a lower budgeted one, but there really is no excuse for having a movie made in 1995 that looks like it was made in 1985. While the performance by DiCaprio is extraordinary, the directing is lackluster. Poor camera angles, helpless lighting, bit part actors who look and sound amateur; those should all be blamed on the director.

However, this movie is worthwhile if you are one who has a particular interest in either Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Wahlberg (he stars as a main character and one of Jim Carroll's best friends), or the subject matter. I have to say I thought "Trainspotting" handled the subject of drug use extremely well, but this movie is right up there in the ability to depict the sensations felt by those addicted. ... Read more

Description

A crackpot ex-nun who writes pornographic short stories crosses paths with an amnesiac wandering the streets of New York City. When they set out to uncover his identity, they come face to face with his unsavory past – including a vengeful porno actress and ruthless corporate assassins hot on their trail. ... Read more

Reviews (15)

A Masterpiece
Restraint wrings our emotion. Jumping up and down can express joy, but a perfect ballet segment will convey ecstasy so complete the dance pratically creates it. Subtlety often can explode emotions larger than realism.

Hal Hartley understands this. The characters in his film do not talk like real people. Their speech is subdued, flat, and usually bluntly honest. Their small words carry mountains of meaning.

Most mystery films focus on the identity of the bad guy. This film instead chooses to explore the bad guy's identity. The film opens with him laying unconscious on a cobblestone street. He awakes but has no idea who he is. With this premise, the audience always knows who the bad guy is. He is in almost every frame of the feature. The rest of the film sets about discovering who the bad guy is.

I'm avoiding the film's plot. Telling too much about this film steals many of its pleasures, although I have enjoyed it each of the ten times I have seen it. Most scenes are arranged as artfully as a painting, the actors understand and enlarge Hartley's vision, and the music, ranging from Liz Phair to Pavement, is excellent.

This film may well be the best the ninties have to offer. Hartley's own Simple Men is one of the only other real contenders.

Gets better with repeated viewings
Like all Hal Hartley films (I've seen Flirt and Henry Fool, but neither are as good as Amateur), this is a decidedly odd and mannered movie. The first time I saw it, the far-fetched plot and stilted characterizations are a bit unnerving. This is an ambitious project--Hartley explores the fall of man (an event which literally precedes the film) and original sin in the context of an off-kilter Manhattan thriller. There are some hilariously delivered deadpan one-liners (Martin Donovan: "You're a nyphmomanic and you've never had sex? How could that be?" Isabelle Huppert: "I'm choosy.") But the heart of the movie revolves around the title, and how, try as we might, we cannot escape who we are--Hartley seems to suggest that humanity's flaws are indelible, and despite the guises we might adopt, we are only novices. Amateur ranks low on entertainment value (see Air Force One instead), but a great thinking person's film: brainy, sly, somber, and at times (especially the ending), heartbreaking. Hartley's beguiling screenplay unravels its original insights upon repeated viewings, and it makes the effort worthwhile.

Best Hartley Ever
This is my favorite Hal Hartley film, several of the scenes do not fail to bring a tear to my eye or give me a feeling of frisson and I saw it for the first time in 1995. I think that should say it all.

Purist Hartley fans seem to believe that Trust is the quintessential Hartley, and while I agree that the film is great, Amateur has a much more complicated plot and explores more complicated issues.

The film is all about ontology. What is the nature of being? Can one change? What is memory? Is there an essential nature to existence or is existence mutable depending on experience?

Don't think, however, this is some weird indie/foreign flick heavy on the meaning. Hartley manages to pose all of the above questions within a film that is quirky and funny and deadpan and sad and wonderful all at the same time.

Yes, I know this man.

The mark of Hal (Hartley)
Here's the trademark Hartley quirkiness that fuses bullets with uncertainty, a fried-brain accountant and two sexy women, semi-stagey dialogue and neatly dressed corporate hit men. Here's Parker Posey in a small role, Michael Imperioli (of The Sopranos) in a smaller one, and Martin Donovan as the amnesiac lead male who gets involved with Isabelle Huppert's character, an ex-nun who's turned to writing porno fiction--unfortunately, bad enough to make her publisher reject her work.

And here's Elina Lowensohn as well as a porno actress who wants out of her tawdry (though well-paying) life, whose sad eyes and possible death wish clash with her overly sensuous demeanor. How can all these disparate elements, you ask, ever possibly blend into a whole?

An excellent question. In Hartley's film, they do and they don't. Nobody really knows anything for sure; everyone here is an amateur at life, trying to figure out what to do next--or not knowing how to do anything next. Thomas (Martin Donovan's character) can't remember his name or what he did in the past. Isabelle (Huppert's character) knows intuitively she's linked to Sofia (Elina Lowensohn's role) but she doesn't know how. The accountant, Edward (Damian Young) seems self-assured until he has his brains fried and then he's completely unpredictable.

There's shooting and torture and a little love making. There's uncertainty or puzzlement around every corner. We never really know a whole lot, Hartley's saying, and because of that, you could, in fact, meet a porno-loving ex-nun. You could be an accountant whose neat orderly life is scrambled into violent outbursts and uncontrollable behavior. You could wind up becoming a man who doesn't remember his name and makes some effort to find out what it is, but not enough to discover it.

So is this a coherent film? Hartley is interested more in character than coherence. Structure is not as important as how people actually impact each other, how they impinge on each other's lives. It is, he says, this random colliding of personalities that determines what will happen; people are so complex and so full of possibilities that things just...happen as a result of them being brought together.

Once the viewer accepts this perspective, everything falls into place. Or randomly shifts into place--falling here, rising there, making a jagged turn when you least expect it.

This is less satisfying than Hartley's masterpiece Henry Fool, but it is nevertheless a very intriguing film and definitely worth seeing.

An amateur rewiew
I was channel-surfing when I landed on IFC showing a "comedy-drama" called Amateur. It was nearly an hour in, and there was this scene of these two geeky accountant types arguing about the merits of various cell-phones while using the wires from a floorlamp to electrocute a Christopher Lloyd look-alike. High-concept, but decidedly "B", I thought. But as the movie progressed, I began to notice the deliberation that led to the quirky stagger of the film. The style itself was saying things that the action couldn't begin to convey. This was high art! And it was funny in an intentionally-unintentional way.
The plot, about an ex-nun who now writes bad pornography, a porn queen with a grudge, and an ex-pornongrapher with amnesia, each searching for their identity, is interesting, but it doesn't begin to tell of the impressive stylishness of this movie. Amateur sucks you in like Beckett mixed with "letters to Penthouse", and leaves you satisfied on both accounts. If this sounds good to you, you should check it out. It shows on IFC quite frequently. Oh also, this movie turned me into a freak for Elina Lowensohn. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A Narrative Failure
Based loosely on Arthur Schnitzler's text "Reigen/Liebelei," Love In The Time Of Money depicts a human concatenation of sexual liaison between individuals who hardly know each other and could care less. And to what end? I, for one, could hardly decipher a reason for this exercise in existential malaise and gratuitous fornication. Despite the film's auspicious provenance (it credits Robert Redford as an executive producer and Sundance Institute as a progenitor), a cast of talented actors, and a moment or two of artistically consequential cinematography, I was thoroughly disappointed by what impressed me as a pointlessly languid depiction of desultory sex engaged in by aimless, unhappy people. Remarkably, Peter Mattei's direction and script were so poorly realized that even an inspired and almost always entertaining actress like Jill Hennessy turned in a performance that fell flat on its face in several early scenes of this woefully misguided project. Her painful, uncharacteristically self-conscious portrayal of an affection-starved wife on the prowl was, in fact, so stilted and motivationally confused that I was actually embarrassed for her as I forced myself to watch! There were, however, a few moments in the middle of the picture when I thought (hoped) that something of interest was germinating on the screen. As, for example, when Steve Buscemi in the role of an aspiring painter attempts to get Rosario Dawson, playing a secretary employed by the art gallery where he intends to show his canvases, to model for him. But once the tension in this duet of awkward seduction quickly and inevitably devolves into meaningless sex I was sadly reminded once again of how Mattei's vision of alienated 'love' refused to get out of its own way for even a minute's respite. ...I submit these comments as a service to those who are contemplating what I was unable to avoid. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Campbell Scott directs and stars in this not-quite-modern-dress version of Hamlet. A production can easily lose itself in attempting such a notorious great work of literature, but this one largely keeps its head. The film starts with a few silent establishing scenes--a nice touch when one already knows the characters. Some well-thought-out stage business also enhances the play, such as Gertrude frolicking with Claudius just outside an open window while Hamlet delivers his first soliloquy. Occasionally cinematic concerns seem to get in the way--the production appears so concerned with making the old King Hamlet's ghost scary that it forgets to make him ominous--and every now and then Scott falls into the self-indulgent traps that directors who cast themselves as Hamlet tend to. Overall, however, the performances are quite good. Blair Brown gives Gertrude more depth and intelligence than most actresses, and Lisa Gay Hamilton fights her way through some difficult mad-scene direction to give a fine performance as Ophelia. Roger Guenveur Smith does excellent work as Laertes--he is thoroughly comfortable with Elizabethan English and gives a lovely, understated performance. The DVD includes The Making of Hamlet. --Ali Davis ... Read more

Reviews (12)

BEST ADAPTATION...
No one is a bigger Kenneth Brangah fan than I am, but this version of Hamlet (which aired on the Odyssey channel a year ago) far surpasses his grandiose attempt, and is simply the best I have seen, better than Oliver and Gibson and all those others (but still watch 'Discovering Hamlet' if you have a chance...great behind the scenes of a young Kenneth's stage version). But back to this film....it is a wonderful adaptation of the greatest play about modern man ever written, a good solid cutting which, unlike Kenneth's film version, keeps the story moving along and doesn't drag out every line which may have been necessary for the story to be told properly in Shakespeare's time, but isn't as neccessary for the film world of today. But the cutting still keeps everything important and wonderful about the play. Campbell Scott is PERFECT as Hamlet; the makers of this film did not try too hard to update it, but they certainly showed how even more relevant Hamlet is today as the complete and utter picture of modern man. The other actors are great; the actress who played Ophelia (a black woman--another great twist and angle to Ophelia and Hamlet's complex relationship)is brilliant in the scenes when she goes crazy...with the lewd and disturbing songs Shakespeare wrote, she really takes things to another level. The three most memorable scenes....the scene that Hamlet sees his father's ghost (the ghost comes out of the sand with some great special effects); a wonderful staging of the scene where Ophelia helps her father spy on Hamlet; and a stunning adaptation of Hamlet's famous monologue. Such a wonderful version. So worth the extra money if you really want to own a fantastic version of Hamlet. Especially great for teachers who want their English/drama classes how revolutionary Shakespeare really was. And hey! It was on the Odyssey channel so it's completely school appropriate...

Disappointing
Wait for the Kenneth Branaugh version of Hamlet. Although the Campbell Scott version has its good moments, generally it lacks energy. The sword play is so reserved that it gives the impression that the actors didn't want to hurt each other. If you're really interested in buying this version of Hamlet, borrow it from the library first. You may find my copy there soon.

a successful updated Hamlet
Updated to a late 19th century era, this Hallmark Hall of Fame TV production often succeeds where others have failed. It keeps the language of old, although it is spoken unpretentiously with American accents, and the cadence has a flatness to it that takes getting used to. The racially mixed all-American cast in on the whole good, with only a few weak links.
It's filmed in and around an elegant Long Island, N.Y. manor house, and the soundtrack by Gary DeMichele is effective, using mostly solo piano, and occasionally some percussion instruments and horn, and manages to sound medieval and modern almost simultaneously. The piercing sound that accompanies the ghostly image of Hamlet's father is a little loud for my liking and sensitive ears, but a similar sound is often heard by people who are about to faint, so perhaps it is appropriate.

Campbell Scott, who also co-directed with Eric Simonson, gives a bravura, fascinating performance as Hamlet, and it has subtleties that make his Dane interesting for several viewings. John Benjamin Hickey as Horatio is also impressive, Jamey Sheridan makes an excellent calculating, smooth Claudius, Blair Brown a believable Gertrude, and Lisa Gay Hamilton is a lovely Ophelia.
Though my first choice for Hamlet on film is the Gibson/Zeffirelli version, followed closely by the beautiful Olivier one, this is surprising and innovative without leaving the spirit of the play behind, and definitely worth watching for anyone who appreciates this glorious work, and my favorite of all of Shakespeare's plays.
It's one of the better versions available, and total running time is 3 hours.

very disappointing
Ok, first off, what in the world is up with the bongos and other crappy background music? It just doesn't fit in with the Shakespearian play at all. I can understand perhaps using a little rock music if you want a bit of a modern twist, but the slow jazz music and cheap-sounding piano really downplay all the emotional scenes. The movie wasn't affecting at all. And some of the acting was really crappy. I couldn't feel any sparks between Hamlet and Ophelia and the last scene was so anti-climatic. The swordfight was made too light of a matter - it just seemed as though they were just practicing or entertaining the court. This was the first time I ever saw Hamlet acted out (I had to watch this for a class) and I really like the play, so I was highly disappointed. I swear, you could find more entertainment in just reading the orginal Shakepeare script than watching this.

I'm choosy about my Hamlets...
...and I choose this one. I'm another "Hamlet collector." When a friend brought this to me from a yard sale, I read the blurb & thought "Well, have you ever seen a bad Hamlet?" I sat down to watch, & was soon entranced by the production. At three hours, it's a good length - not overly gutted like so many 2 hour productions, not rump-numbing like some "eternity" uncut versions. The casting is imaginative and effective. Finally - a Gertrude old enough to be Hamlet's mother, & an Ophelia old enough not to be jail bait! The "to be or not to be" soliloquy is given a powerful set up - possibly the best I've ever seen. When I began to describe it to a friend, she stopped me because the intense emotion of the scene bothered her. Throughout there are wonderfully original (yet not disrupting) bits of stage action. Most carry an element of surprise, so I won't mention those here, but a striking example comes soon after Polonius' death, when Hamlet is pursued, surrounded and captured by various guards. One guard pulls out a long cord and lashes the Prince's hands together.
I do have one quibble, which is at odds with another review here. I really dislike the musical score. It reminded me of nothing so much as a saloon piano. ... Read more

Description

The Superbit titles utilize a special high bit rate digital encoding process which optimizes video quality while offering a choice of both DTS and Dolby Digital 5.1 audio. These titles have been produced by a team of Sony Pictures Digital Studios video, sound and mastering engineers and comes housed in a special package complete with a 4 page booklet that contains technical information on the Superbit process. By reallocating space on the disc normally used for value-added content, Superbit DVDs can be encoded at double their normal bit rate while maintaining full compatibility with the DVD video format. ... Read more

Reviews (80)

"Lawrence and Smith Are The Bad Boys of Comedy"
Hilariously enjoyable as any black comedy and full of fast paced action, "Bad Boys," as a 'slick flick,' stars Martin Lawrence as Marcus Burnett and Will Smith as Mike Lowrey playing two cops who fall on to the trail of millions of dollars of Heroin stolen by a criminal mastermind named Fouchet (Tcheky Karyo) and try to recover it as well as rescue Julie Mott (Tea Leoni) who is also involved. Personal matters appear to Marcus Burnett who is obsessed with getting "quality time" with his wife Theresa (Theresa Randle) and almost loses his marriage when he is forced to switch names and use Mike Lowrey in front of Julie. The comedy works unmistakeably well, however, the only mistakes I find in here are the heavy profanity and the violence used. But I keep saying this to myself, how can you pardon the profanity if it works well with the script? Oh well. Don Simpson-Jerry Bruckheimer Films/Columbia Pictures, 1995, Rated R for intense violent action and persuasive strong language.

The first film in hopefully a trilogy and bruckheimer's best
Don Simpson and legendary action producer Jerry Bruckheimer who almost surpasses Joel Silver in what he put's on the screen,
and at this time first time director Michael Bay who also helmed
the much bigger and from the looks badder sequel Bad Boys 2.Get's
down and dirty for Bad Boys the first flim of this series wich
teams Will Smith and Martin Lawrence.100 million in confiscated
heroin has been hijacked from Miami Police the pride bust of DEA
and Narc agent's Mike Lowry(Will Smith)who is a stylish single
and full of money and his partner Marcus Burnett(Martin Lawrence)
,a family man who want's quality family time could not be any more
oppisite , but if they don't work together to find out about the
whereabouts of the missing heroin it will shut down the narcotics
of the Miami Police Department but when a drug kingpin played by
Tcheky Karyo kills a freind of Mike Lowry's with a witness spying
on the murder it becomes personal for Mike.But they must do all
they can to protect Julie(Tea Leoni) before she is killed by the
kingpins henchmen even if Mike Lowry and Marcus Burnett trade
places to protect her but they will also have to fight a drug war
in order for them to recover the stolen drugs and save Julie's life.

An explosive first entry in the series in hopfully a trilogy wich would be very weird on Bruckheimer's part of taking the
advantage of making his first trilogy.Explosive action , car
chases , unbeleivable stunts and the like wise teaming of Will
Smith and Martin Lawrence who without there chemistry added to
the film would be no sequel and just and ordinary action film
but there Mel Gibson and Danny Glover like appeal makes this film set afire as one of the best films Bruckheimer has made
Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer would only team one more
time for The Rock before Simpson's untimely death , the highly
anticipated bigger and badder sequel is due out this friday
an awsome action film.

Love this movie
I love this movie. It is funny and action-packed. I just wish two could have copied the same formula. It had too much action. It made me dizzy.

Nevrer seen
I have never seen this movie so it will get 4 stars need to get my boycott across to show this point

Something Old, Somthing New
By the mid-nineties, the buddy cop action flick was not a new idea. Starting with 48 Hours and continuing with movies like Beverly Hills Cop and Lethal Weapon, the "cat and dog in a barrel" concept had been fairly played out. However, in 1995, a new director and some rising stars teamed up with the movie veterans behind Top Gun to create a new breed of action movie.

In Bad Boys, wild card narcotics officers Marcus (Martin Lawrence) and Mike (Will Smith) are in a bind. Their career dope bust has just been robbed from the station, and their only hope of finding it is the witness to a murder. However, circumstances get complicated when the two are forced to switch roles, and family man Marcus has to become swinging bachelor Mike for 72 hours.

The plot of the movie is fairly weak, centering around the drug bust and the cops' efforts to protect the witness, find the dope, and (shock and awe) keep Internal Affairs off their backs. However, the plot is not the reason to see the movie. For the reason, just look to the stars.

The same spirit of banter and hen-pecking that made the Lethal Weapon series so enjoyable is given a fresh coat of paint, and a couple of fresh voices. Will Smith and Martin Lawrence snap, crackle, and explode on screen, whether their shooting the bad guys or just firing pot shots at each other. While Lethal Weapon showed us the friction between a fresh pair of partners, Bad Boys shows us two cops who have been together six years, and know just how to get on each other's nerves.

But even with the snappy humor that Lawrence and Smith bring to the screen, the movie rides on wheels of action. Micheal Bay has become synonymous with action movies, and Bad Boys is the reason why. In his directorial debut, Bay uses swift camera moves, scenic pans, and judicious slow motion, fusing elements of John Woo and MTV to create a fresh take on gunplay and car chases. Although he lacks Woo's finesse in creating bullet ballets, Bay definitely knows how to keep a film's pace going, and Bad Boys does just that.

Sure, the movie's not perfect. The plot is sometimes laughably flawed, and the real Miami PD wouldn't put with half the crap that Smith and Lawrence pull, but the movie is enjoyable nontheless, focusing on character conflict and balls-out adrenaline to keep the audience entertained. Combined with a solid cast of character actors (Joe Pantoliano ROCKS), and Bad Boys is summer entertainment at its funnest. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

5 stars for the extras
Sam Atkinson, as the family member of an AIDS victim, is BRILLIANT! The rest of the film is a tad affected.

An Extremely Interesting Failure
The artist David Wojnarowicz (1954-1992 was not exactly the sort of person you'd like to have drop in to meet mom: the product of an abusive home, he spent his teenage years working as a Time Square prostitute and much of his later life on the road, trading sex for a ride, for a meal, for nothing at all. Over time, he would begin to turn his extreme experiences into art: a series of writings, paintings, and sculptures that would eventually gain him a small but influential following. He came to national conciousness when the National Endowment for the Arts, under pressure from Senator Jessie Helms and Rev. Donald Wildemon, withdrew funding for an exhibition of his work--and instead of going quietly into night Wojnarowicz responded by suing Wildemon for copyright infringement and misrepresentation.

POSTCARDS FROM AMERICA is based on both Wojnarowicz's life and two autobiographical books he wrote: CLOSE TO THE KNIVES and MEMORIES THAT SMELL LIKE GASOLINE, both of which might best be described as a series of essays that sketch the horrors of his childhood, his sexual experiences as a prostitute and on the road, and his battle with AIDS. And like many art films, it has many good ideas; unfortunately, and also like many art films, it doesn't always know what to do with them.

The style of the film, directed and scripted by Steve McLean, tears a page from D.W. Griffith's silent masterpiece INTOLERANCE: instead of presenting us with a sequential biography, the film slips through time, mixing scenes of Wojnarowicz's childhood, his teenage years, and his later years on the road. In each case Wojnarowicz is played by a different actor at each stage of his life, and overall the effect is quite interesting and the performances are quite a bit better than you might expect. The cinematography by Ellen Kuras is also quite fine.

Where the film falls down is in the script, most of which is lifted word-for-word from Wojnarowicz's writing--which at its best explodes memorably in the ear. But director/writer McLean scripts the piece as a series of monologues, some done as voice-overs, some delivered directly to the camera. It would take a truly extraordinary ensemble to pull it off, but for all the directorial and acting gifts involved the overall feel that emerges is a mix of the static and the stagey. But the real failure of the film is its inability to convey the absolute fury that Wojnarowicz's writings possess and the sense of exploding anger that the best of his art conveys. Ultimately, Wojnarowicz emerges as a guy who had bad luck instead of a person who deliberately chose the adult life he led.

All of that said, it's rather difficult to know to whom this film is supposed to appeal. Obviously, the film has a strong gay element--and it is rife with same sex scenes, casual encounters in bathrooms, truck stops, a truly vicious rape that occurs when Wojnarowicz accepts a ride from a man in a van, all of which the character actually seems to take in stride as the "givens" of life. But individuals who live this particular lifestyle are unlikely to sit down and watch an art film about it, and for the rest of us--be we heterosexual or homosexual--it is off-putting to say the least.

That off-putting element might have been overcome by bringing us more deeply into Wojnarowicz as a person, but the film never really does this, and when it ends we are really left no wiser than we were before. I am tempted to give POSTCARDS FROM AMERICA three stars--but for all its failings it is in many respects a haunting film, filled with unexpected moments of visual beauty and a host of remarkable performances (especially from James Lyons, Michael Tighe, and Olmo Tighe, who play Wojnarowicz at the different stages of his life.) And so I'll be generous and give it four. But don't say I didn't warn you.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

Ponderous
Well-meant portrayal of the life of David Wojnarowicz who died of AIDS as told through slow, poetic ruminations about his abusive father and early life as a street hustler. While sometimes very effective (and beautiful), the somber, disjointed style becomes a little too self-absorbed and overwhelms the brief, lighter moments of comedy and