48 Hrs. | Another 48 Hrs. (1982 | 1990, Walter Hill)

Before Riggs & Murtaugh, there was Jack & Reggie.

48 Hrs.

Walter Hill (The Warriors) reunites with James Remar, who plays a convincing psychopath as Ganz in this gritty cop drama, as well as David Patrick Kelly (The Crow).

The banter between Reggie & Jack is simply wonderful, and there simply cannot be enough of it. They don't particularly like each other but they can't resist being together to take down some relentless no-good-cop-killing-lunatics.

The film is short and it shows, being far from the duration of its title, and this film is violent. There is a slew of cynical characters, nudity (which I like), profanity and racial slurs. It is an unapologetic 80s flick, nearly on par with Lethal Weapon, which would come 5 years later. The plot is simple in this cat-and-mouse thrill ride but there is a lot to like about it.

Another 48 Hrs.

This sequel came 8 years later, and it is rough around the edges. But I do have more to say about it than the original, most but not all of it good. With more story, comes more problems. Things begin a bit less than smoothly; the beginning is rather awkward and bogs down the fun, causing unpleasant tension in early scenes between Reggie & Jack.

The Internal Affairs subplot should have been improved but also shortened, allowing for more fun between Reggie & Cates in its place. Naturally, there is nice action and lots of stuff getting blown up, especially glass during shootouts in a member's only nightclubs.

This sequel strangely lacks the unrelenting violence of the original, and there are shots (literally) that are flat out silly, like they were taken from Jason Voorhees' vault of quick kills, e.g. we see a prisoner bust through the glass in the visiting room for no apparent reason, and some motorcycle stunts that belong in other films. This raises the awkward stigma of the film because for the most part these characters (baddies and all) are interesting, i.e. it would be more enjoyable to watch their innards splatter, unlike in the original that had the gore but not the character depth. The nudity also returns, as well as a touch of crazy in the villains, though I wondered why the elusive Iceman became just as nuts late in the film, suddenly making crazy eyes at Cates and having fun with an Uzi.

I was also bothered by Cates shooting Hammond during a hostage situation, given that he doesn't need to do this in the original and instead makes a good shot on a baddie. Has Cates' aim gotten worse? (He is nursing an arm injury, but it's not the arm he shoots with). As a result, the scene catches the "awkward bug" that has plagued the rest of the film. Did Cates not care if Reggie was seriously hurt? A bullet is a bullet is a bullet. On the bright side, the plot ties into the original and as expected Eddie Murphy still brings laughs.

Overall, this is a decent sequel that uses the same formula that fueled the original and takes on a slightly larger scope in story. It is not as sound and coherent as the original, but I do applaud the ambitious story in comparison to the original. A third installment would have been interesting and perhaps these shortcomings would have been grist for the mill.

Rear Window (1954, Alfred Hitchcock)

Rating - 7 out of 10 (Enjoyable)

There is not much to this standard picture as the film stays isolated within Jimmy Stewart's apartment as he peeps into the lives of neighbors who don't believe in using curtains.

It is certainly not bad, and I do love an atmospheric mystery, but I feel like another viewing would be dampened by the familiar plot as is the nature of mysteries.

The neighbors were interesting, but never rise above being visual delights, especially a hot blonde that dances for Stewart's pleasure, though he has his hands full with Grace Kelly, who is sensational in this picture as a socialite struggling to win Stewart's heart (and eyes).

A Fair Shake of The Twilight Saga

Admittedly, New Moon is abysmal and doing Breaking Dawn in two parts was needless, but the original film is stylish, brisk, and atmospheric. Eclipse is a return to form by blotting out its plodding predecessor and dishing up new trouble.

I've always liked stories about werewolves, vampires and humans that get caught up in the mix. There is an allegorical quality and lasting mystique to these fanged and furry abominations. At its center, The Twilight Saga is a dark, earnest and spunky romance.

I was 18 when these movies came out, still in the thick of my own adolescent emotions, making me able to empathize with the gushy feelings that people experience around that time. My significant other and I also made it "our thing" to watch the films as "nice dates."

But they did give me this sweet pair of contact lenses.

The author, Stephanie Meyer, gets a lot of flack for putting a new spin on vampires and whatnot, making them into sparkly porcelain, and borrowing atypical supernatural elements from superhero comics and lending them to these pale bloodsuckers.

However I did find some of her controversial twists to be on the neat side. Moreover, every character has just a pinch of depth to be intriguing (though I would prefer more). Poor usage of run-time is a central problem with these movies; very little actually happens.

I am totally just sitting here, waiting for the next movie to start...

The action is satisfactory and I like the more 'normal' (albeit quite large) wolves versus the man-wolf that cinema is so familiar with. The special effects also improve with each film. One minor gripe is how the sequels (especially New Moon) abandoned the artsy, eerie, cinematic, frosty quality of the original, though Breaking Dawn satisfyingly resembles it.

aka The Twilight Saga: New--wait--No Art Direction

In closing, I don't think the story ever takes itself too seriously and I don't think there is any bad acting and can feel confident in saying that the cast would have been able to deliver with deeper roles. The Twilight Saga is a tepid romantic fantasy. It certainly attracts a lot of blind hate when it is actually rather enjoyable.

Resident Evil (2002)

You'd love to see me use these guns, right? Well, too bad.

Rating: 6 out of 10 (worth watching)

The 'hit' zombie game gets mostly a 'miss' adaptation. Most of this is likely due to director, Paul W.S. Anderson (Mortal Kombat) breaking away from what would have worked better, i.e. actually following the story of the game.

Sadly there is not much going on with the plot. Most of this vague film is bogged down by paper-thin characters with arbitrary amnesia. That is fine if the story is going somewhere, but as the characters get nearer to the surface that will prolong their survival (or so the sequel would have them believe), the story follows suit and becomes even more superficial. Alice (Milla Jovovich) tries to carry this film as the bad-ass heroine, but falls short (and onto the floor of her bathroom, which she doesn't remember having, of course). Late in the film, she also falls off an operating table, flashing her pubic region; the tell-tale sign of an apologetic movie that has little to offer. Jovovich is gorgeous, but the film is not.

The movie as a whole feels clunky, lifeless and shortsighted, as if there was once a desire of a desire to mimic the charm of Aliens that made it a classic action movie. There is nothing of that quality here, despite the neat zombie dogs, stuff blowing up, cool lasers, and Alice doing some nice stunts.

To make matters worse, this movie is quite jarring at times. Early in the film, Alice (having woken up nude in the shower) inexplicably covers her breasts. Why would she do this?

Aah, the audience is looking! Better cover up in this empty mansion.

There is nobody around to peep on her, and seconds later her nipple shows during an obvious T&A shot. The question is why limit the sex appeal? The film is rated 'R', after all. A tonal mess, this film made me scratch my head. Was it trying to be erotic or scary? It amounts to neither. Part of the problem is Alice's costume. It is horrible to say the least and why the shorts? The costume is an eyesore that only gets worse. It is simply bad fashion.

My name is Alice. Umbrella made me forget this movie.  But I found THIS for the sequel.

Admittedly, despite everything I've written above, I did enjoy the film more during this viewing than last time. But to steer away from the bountiful source material and amount to little more than setting up a superior sequel was a foolish choice, and it blatantly shows.