ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13
During a snowy New Year's, a mobster is temporarily jailed at the soon-to-be-closed police station, Precinct 13. A crew of policemen and prisoners, even a secretary and a shrink, must band together to fight off a gang that wants to free the mobster.
Assault on Precinct 13 is surprisingly suspenseful, funny, and overall, a good movie. But was it because I had low expectations for it? That's probably it. Although, I could've done without either of John Leguizamo or Ja Rule's characters.
It was definitely a surprise for being a January release. Watch this movie on PrimeWire
BAADASSSSS!
First of all, what a great movie title! Oh, and trust me, the great movie title isn't the only thing that's great about this movie.
I wasn't fully aware of what this film was really going to be about, but with so many great reviews that it's been getting, I just had to check it out.
The movie is about Melvin Van Peebles (played by his son, Mario Van Peebles) independent film called Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss! Song, which is about a real brotha taking it to the Man - it got an X-rating. This movie shows the struggle for independent filmmakers who sometimes have to self-finance there own work. Baadasssss! even shows us how the great "Earth, Wind & Fire" got started.
All in all, some great performances are included in this movie. I'm hoping that at least Mario Van Peebles gets an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of his father. Watch this movie on PrimeWire
BAD NEWS BEARS
Billy Bob Thornton takes off the Bad Santa outfit, but leaves the attitude when he plays Buttermarker, an exterminator when sober, a baseball coach when half-drunk.
Movie Guide, Chapter 2, Section 101: If you've seen one children's sports movie, then you've seen 'em all.
It's no different here, where we get the same story: The team of misfits with a huge losing streak turn into unlikely contenders. Oops! Did I spoil it? However, it's a remake of a supposed 1976 classic, so at that time, I'm sure it was considered original.
Speaking of the original, I've never seen it. I've heard that director Richard Linklater's (Before Sunset, School of Rock) faithful to the original, though. If that's the case, then I have no interest in seeing the original. I thought that Richard Linklater's direction was very sloppy, even a little amateurish.
It's sad to see that the kids aren't interesting at all. I thought every single one was terrible at acting. Why does every freakin' kid have to kick the dirt when they're upset? It drove me crazy!
Worst of all, Bad News Bears isn't that funny. You could tell where the film wanted us to laugh, but we didn't, because it wasn't funny. However, I did enjoy the scenes where we had Billy Bob Thornton and Greg Kinnear making fun of each other. I thought that worked, at least.
Richard Roeper pointed out a few errors in the film that I noticed right of the bat. Among them, Buttermaker's daughter's (Sammi Kraft) mother was said to attend the championship game, but we never see her showing up. Are we supposed to assume that the daughter lied or that she really did not show up? I mean, wouldn't that get Buttermaker a bit steamed about his ex not showing up to their daughter's big game? I think that the writers accidently forgot to solve that issue.
What a very disappointing film.
Scroll up
Searching: