An American crime film directed by Walter Hill, strring Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy.
Loose cannon cop, Nick Nolte rents criminal, Eddie Murphy from jail to catch other criminals.
Mediocrity... The plot was tired and stale by the 1970s. Casting stars as the cop buddies did not help much, but I like those 2 actors. Wikipedia says it might be the first "buddy cop" movie, but I find that difficult to believe. A memorable scene involved Eddie Murphy bullying a country bar full of rednecks, pretending that he was a cop "experience my bullshit". Video looked '70s and the audio was midrange-biased, exaggerating Nick Nolte's gravelly voice. There's really not much to write about a film like this. I rate it o.k.
An American comedy drama directed by Brian Robbins, starring Eddie Murphy.
An extroverted businessman is trying to publish a "new age" writer's book and ends up with a tree in his yard. The tree loses leaves when Eddie Murphy speaks and he is told he will die when all the leaves are gone.
I guess the thought process was that if Jim Carrey couldn't lie in Liar Liar (1997) and that was funny, then if Eddie Murphy can't speak at all, that should be funny too, right? No. It was hokey, cheesy, sappy and shallow. The camera crew and editors did their best to make it seem like Eddie was having these emotional breakthroughs, finding his true self, but it came off too heavy handed. Again, this is supposed to be one of the worst movies and this is closer to how bad movies can get. It was not painful to watch, though. There were some short and slightly funny moments and the camerawork looked good. Again, it comes down to writing. A bad script makes a bad movie and no amount of camerawork, acting, editing or music is going to change that. I rate this bad. Don't watch it.
An American drama directed by Bruce Beresford, starring Eddie Murphy.
A cook goes to help a woman who is dying of cancer and her daughter. The daughter becomes friends with the cook and after her mother dies, she goes to college, gets pregnant and seeks refuge at the cook's house.
So sappy and repetitive. I get the sappy part and I understand the decision of having monologue lines from the beginning come back at the end. What I dion't get is the main characters being so static. It seemed to me that the main character (Charlie Brooks) was still 10 years old at the end and exactly the same as she started. Mr. Church didn't change either. Oddly enough, I had a friend named Charlie Brooks and I couldn't stop myself from thinking of him being in the lead role of this film. Also oddly enough, he was a static character. The cinematography, camerawork and editing were all great, but a lot of good it did with writing like this. I rate this bad. I would recommend it to those who disagree with all of my other reviews.
An American comedy directed by Karey Kirkpatrick, starring Eddie Murphy, Thomas Haden Church, Ronny Cox and Martin Sheen.
A stockbroker is too busy at work to spend time with his daughter and a co-worker is luring away his clients. When the daughter draws on her father's paperwork and the co-worker steals another group of clients, the stockbroker has a breakdown. He shows the child's drawings to the clients and interprets them into stock advice. It turns out that the advice was correct.
This was a mediocre, mainstream film that was not even that great. Not only that, but the video quality of the copy I watched was terrible. It looked like it had been made by pointing a camera at a television. Why I'm writing about it is because I had just finished reading David Icke's first book, Truth Vibrations (1991) in which he wrote about conversations with mediums and spirit channeling. The daughter in this film uses her "goo-gaa" or security blanket to contact imaginary friends who always provide correct stock tips. At one point, a female co-worker articulates it so accurately as a "securities blanket". The client-stealing co-worker even goes as far as to purchase an expensive and mystical blanket for his son, feed him energy drinks and use him for divination. What I would have really liked was a scene in which Eddie Murphy is depicted in his daughter's fantasy world. I rate this film adequate because some parts were funny and it matched what I was reading, but was otherwise mediocre and the video quality was bad.
An American comedy directed by Frank Oz, starring Steve Martin, Eddie Murphy, Heather Graham, Terence Stamp and Robert Downey Jr.
A failing film producer gathers the rag-tag bunch that he calls his crew to film a movie featuring a famous movie star who doesn't know he is in the film.
This was actually funny from a filmmaker's view. Anyone making films who is not in the Hollywood elite has faced similar problems at some point. From film students like myself to independent filmmakers, we know this territory. The plot made sense to me, although I think that Eddie Murphy's character would rather have just acted in their movie than think he was going insane because of being ambushed by the team. The characters were mostly cast well. The brother of the star actually being the star acting a different part is the only thing I objected to. The video was decent and I think the fictional Mexican crew did a good job on their shots too. The sound was seamless. I could hear the dialogue and the music was appropriate. Overall, a regular American comedy that is well-made, but how many of those do we need? Superfluous is the word I'm looking for. I rate it adequate.
An American comedy directed by John Landis, starring Dan Aykroyd, Eddie Murphy, Ralph Bellamy and Don Ameche.
The two owners of a stock trading company set up a scam to have one of their employees reduced to a hobo and have a hobo put in his place. They bet a dollar on it, but the misplaced hobo and stock trader find out and have to set up another scam on the company owners.
This wasn't all that great. Most of the humor just was not funny. I thought that they over-expanded the plot from too simple a premise and the characters lacked depth and were not developed in any way. The pacing was my main issue. It seemed to take almost forever for anything to happen. Technical aspects of audio and video were fine, but I think it was just badly written. Overall, a well made, but mediocre film. I rate it poor because I won't tolerate mediocrity here.
An American romantic comedy directed by John Landis, starring Eddie Murphy, Arsenio Hall and James Earl Jones, with a cameo by Samuel L. Jackson.
An African prince is tired of being pampered and doesn't like the woman he is arranged to marry. The king lets him leave for a little while and he goes to New York City with his assistant. They get a ghetto apartment and menial labor jobs where the prince falls in love with the boss' daughter.
Standard late '80s romantic comedy. The plot was relatively uninteresting and the characters were extremely stereotypical. Video style was clear and the audio was appropriate. There were some interesting things that I must mention. The prince's female servants scored Female Anatomy Points within the first five minutes. I believe the quote was "The royal penis is clean". Also, nobody can drop an "F bomb" like Samuel L. Jackson. Overall, just a regular movie. I rate it o.k.
An American crime comedy directed by John Landis, starring Eddie Murphy, Judge Reinhold and Hector Elizondo.
A "loose cannon" cop from detroit follows a gang of criminals to Beverly Hills, where they have set up an operation at a theme park.
This was pretty standard for a '90s cop comedy. The plot was relatively simple, but contained some things that didn't make sense to me. Normally, cops don't tend to kill ALL the criminals. They usually want to lock some up to feed the jail system. The few main characters were stereotypical and there were literally armies of extras. I was impressed by the setting in the fictional theme park. It must have taken lots of work to convert the Paramount park into Wonder World, complete with a Disney-esque "Uncle Dave" and cast of fictional cartoon characters. The technical aspects were also pretty standard for the time. I could hear and see everything clearly, but the soundtrack was really annoying. The intro dance scene in the chop-shop was just totally uncalled for. Overall, standard fare for the genre and time. I rate it o.k.
An American horror comedy directed by Wes Craven, starring Eddie Murphy and Angela Bassett.
A vampire arrives in New York City, searching for a specific woman. He takes a small-time criminal as an assistant.
This was not so great, but some of the jokes were funny. I liked how the all black cast were depicted so stereotypically. The assistant was a comedian and reminded me of Chris Rock. The video was very dark and the audio included that special type of whispered dialogue that irks me so. Overall, not really worth watching. I rate this poor.
