Running Scared (1986)

Directed by: Peter Hyams
Format: DVD
DVD Features: Outtakes/Behind the scenes, trailer
Starring: Billy Crystal, Gregory Hines, Dan Hedaya, Joe Pantoliano

**This movies has been nominated for a Gummi Award in the Best Dialogue category.**

I'm old enough to remember the 1980's. The hair, the spandex, the sport coats...the legwarmers (shudder). If there was a committee to suppress the comeback of legwarmers, I'd join up. As much as I detest the fashion and a great majority of the music from that decade, there are moments when I recall it with amusement. Thoses moments are mostly connected to the period's rare gems of film. I've ranted before about all of the great movies I remember from the 80's, bit it's the advances in technology that I get a kick out of. There's just something about a cell phone the size of a dictionary that cracks me up. Yes, Running Scared features one such phone and even a box of 8-track tapes!

Running Scared is a mid-eighties "buddy cop" comedy. Danny Costanzo (Crystal) and Ray Hughes (Hines) are officers with The Chicago Police Department. The pair are a little rough around the edges and don't always do things by the book. Nevertheless, they get the job done. Their latest case involves a known drug smuggler - Julio Gonzales (Jimmy Smits), who has been recently released from prison and is already up to no good. Hughes and Costanzo are on the case, sure that something smells fishy but lack the evidence to back up their hunch. They capture one of Gonzales' henchmen, Snake (Pontoliano) and convince him to wear a wire - unaware that they're about to tangle an undercover op.

The banter between the two partners is often clever and amusing. In one scene, the pair get held up by a couple of petty theives. Far from being rattled, Costanzo and Hughes exchange whitty remarks, "Pointing a gun at a police officer - can we waste them for that?" They also take quite a bit of liberty with The Miranda Rights. What makes the comedy here so effective is the delivery. Each line is delivered with a straight face, expert timing and so nonchalant that they're often easy to miss.

The plot, on the other hand, leaves something to be desired. It's very typical of the genre and the era. In Running Scared, can be found the following: the requisite hard ass Sargent, the suspended leave of absence for bad behavior, the pissed off ex wife and the familiar "bad guy kidnaps loved ones" scenario. But, certain scenes make up for the unoriginal content. I particularly enjoyed the car chase on the train tracks, the rigged police line-up and the ways Hughes finds to distract his lover's boyfriend. One thing I didn't expect was the ending. Have you seen the Simpson's "Schwarzenegger/Mendoza" send up? Well, without giving too much away, I'll just say that it always seems to be a curse when cops decide to retire.

I got more than I'd hoped for with Running Scared. I expected to groan and roll my eyes a lot, but I didn't expect to laugh. I expected cheesy one-liners, race related humor and terrible hair. I even expected Hines to do some dancing. On all counts, I was pleasantly surprised. There's a reason Crystal was a star.

Overall Rating: 3 1/2
Hottie Rating: 0

Alternate Recommendation: Rush Hour
Official Site (none found)
IMDB Page
DVD Verdict review (and I swear I wrote my review before I read this one!)

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Rawhead Rex (1986)

Director: George Pavlou
Venue: Online
Starring: David Dukes, Kelly Piper, Heinrich von Schellendorf, Niall Toibin

The 1980’s produced a number of good movies. The Breakfast Club with Emilio Estevez and Molly Ringwald was one of my favorites. Back to The Future with Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd was an instant classic. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off tops my list of best 80’s movies. It’s true that not everything created in the 80’s was a good thing. If you’re as old as I am, you’ll remember the wall-o-bangs hairstyles, legwarmers and baby boomers. Yet, certain things born in this era should stay buried in the past. In fact, some movies are so bad, so criminally awful, so devoid of any redeeming quality, that every last copy should be hunted down and tossed into the flaming pyre of shame, along with their creators.

Rawhide Rex does indeed have a plot. Granted, it’s pathetically contrived and about as weak as a 2 day old puppy, but it’s a plot nonetheless. The story takes place somewhere in Ireland, in a rural village. When a local farmer uproots an ancient monolith, the legendary demon, Rawhead Rex is released and begins to terrorize the township. Howard Hallenbeck (Dukes) and his family have arrived just in time for the massacre. Hallenbeck has been carting his family around the countryside, photographing small churches and attempting to uncover their Pagan roots. Luckily for the rest of the population, his photos hold the key to stopping the demon.

As you may have guessed, the prominent character in Rawhide Rex is, in fact, Rawhide Rex himself. With that in mind, it’s reasonable to expect a little bit of effort to go into the costume. However, a gorilla suit, a dime-store Halloween mask, and a few castoffs from the Mad Max wardrobe room don’t quite scream, “resurrected demon from Hell” to me. Rex is basically Heinrich von Schellendorf running around in a cheap costume yelling, “Rawr!”. His little devotee is father Declan O’Brien (Ronan Wilmot), who becomes so after touching a mysterious hot spot on a table in the church (I kid you not). In a WTF moment toward the climax of the movie, Rex unexpectedly “shoots his load” all over the priest. I suppose that’s what he gets for dropping the F-bomb about 20 times in a row inside a church.

The protagonist in the picture isn’t much more entertaining and his family pretty much deserves to be torn to shreds by Rawhead Rex. His wife Elaine can’t seem to find anything to wear except her nightgown and takes absolutely no interest in parenting her two kids. Little Robbie Hallenbeck (Hugh O’Conor) is a mouthy brat who keeps his nose in his comic books and smarts off to his parents constantly. The little girl’s name is Minty. Who names their child Minty? Other than constantly whining, she’s a typical tyke. Hardly any of the rest of the characters in this movie are worth mentioning, except that they’re a mob of Irish stereotypes – ignorant and drunk.

Watching Rawhide Rex, one almost expects to see three little silhouettes in the bottom corner, cracking wise about the movie. However, if you find yourself watching this monstrosity, it won’t be hard to make up your own clever quips. That might be the only way to survive the 89 minutes of your life flushing rapidly down the drain. There’s absolutely nothing in this movie worth taking seriously and it’s even too bad to have that camp appeal which might otherwise make it bearable. No wonder I was never a Clive Barker fan. Heed my warning and avoid at all costs.

Overall Rating: 0
Hottie Rating: 0

Alternate viewing: Hellraiser
Official site (none found)
IMDB site
Cavalcade of Schlock review

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Runaway Jury (2003)

Director: Gary Fleder
Format: DVD
DVD Features: commentary, deleted scenes, featurettes
Starring: John Cusack, Dustin Hoffman, Rachel Weisz, Gene Hackman
Trailer

The latest trend arriving in my mailbox appears to be a series of John Grisham inspired films. Previously, I had never been partial to court drama. However, working in a law office has given me a bit of new perspective on the topic. I have also never been a reader of Grisham’s novels, although I haven’t intentionally avoided them. So, it seems slightly odd to me that at some point many months ago, I felt that I needed to add some legal material to my movie repertoire. It has become somewhat of an adventure to travel this seemingly random path I have chosen. It almost makes me wonder if I shouldn’t open up my Netflix queue to the general public just to see what I’ll end up with.

In Runaway Jury, Wendell Rohr (Dustin Hoffman) and Durwood Cable (Bruce Davison) are attorneys on opposing sides of lawsuit that will ultimately decide whether or not gun manufacturers can be held responsible for the deaths of people killed by their products. The plot thickens, though, when a third party surfaces offering to sway the jury to either side in return for a cool ten million (give or take a few mil). On each side of the case, is a jury consultant who makes his living trying to judge which jurors will vote in their favor.

There are a lot of dual-sided elements to this film. Obviously, there is the conflict involved with the case itself. Then, just as obviously, there is the issue of gun control and constitutional rights. Two lawyers represent opposite sides of the case, two profilers attempting to aid either side, and two people working together to manipulate the case. But despite this black and white aspect to the film, the characters don’t quite balance each other out. Gene Hackman’s character, Rankin Fitch (I like the name), is working for the bad guys. He directs a team assigned to photograph, investigate and basically stalk all of the potential jurors in the case. After the jury is chosen, they continue to manipulate the lives of these people in order to convince them to favor their side of the case. Fitch is apparently an old hand at the business and his personality far overshadows that of Lawrence Green (Jeremy Piven), who is his counterpart on the good guy’s side. Rohr is counsel for the good side of the fight, but this is one of Hoffman’s weaker roles. Cusack is….well, typically Cusack. His girlfriend Marlee (Rachel Weisz) is a bit more hardcore than he is. Weisz is very strong in this role and gives an excellent performance. She is fast becoming one of my more favorite actors.

One particularly disappointing characteristic of Runaway Jury is that the filmmakers make it abundantly clear which side of the gun control issue the story favors. Hoffman and Piven are both the more humble, earthy type of people than their counterparts, who are greasy, big city men. The conclusion of the film, not just the verdict in the case, leaves no grey area as to how the audience should feel about the right to bear arms. I have not read John Grisham’s novel, and therefore cannot attest as to the accuracy of the movie, but I wish that Runaway Jury had shown more of a balanced argument. Regardless of my personal beliefs surrounding the issue, I always like to see both sides of a topic represented, giving more freedom to the audience; more respect for their right to make their own descisions.

I really did enjoy the story, aside from the weight so apparently shifted to one side. I did not see the ending coming (the verdict, yes, but not the true motives of Easter and Marlee), so it was refreshing to be surprised. The story is sufficiently intricate and most of the characters are very strong. I would recommend Runaway Jury if you are the type of person who enjoys a good court mystery. If you aren’t usually the kind to go in for this sort of thing, I don’t think it’s so distinctly different from the rest of the genre.

Overall Rating: 3
Hottie Rating: 2 (for Weisz and Cusack in general)

Alternate viewing: The Pelican Brief
Official site (I was unable to navigate to Runaway Jury at Fox’s site here, even though there is a link to it. Maybe you’ll have better luck.)
IMDB site
The Onion AV Club review

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The Ring Two (2005)

Director: Hideo Nakata
Format: DVD
DVD Features: standard audio and subtitle options
Starring: Naomi Watts, David Dorfman
Trailer

The Ring series is continued here in the U.S. by the director of both of the Japanese films (Ringu, Ringu 2). Although the first Ring movie stateside was directed by Gore Verbinski, it mirrored Ringu almost exactly. The Ring holds a special place in my heart (long story) and I was hoping that its sequel would be as creepy and intriguing as the first. The Ring Two is not a movie to walk into without having seen its predecessor, because there is no rehashing of the old storyline, no flashback scenes (except for a few clips from the deadly video), and picks up very nearly where it left off. The plot also relies heavily on references from the prequel.

Since we last left Rachel (Naomi Watts) and Aiden (David Dorfman), they have moved to a new town, a new job, and a new group of potential victims. Rachel has found work with the local newspaper and learns of a mysterious death in the neighborhood. After some minimal investigation, she finds the unmarked video tape and discovers that Samara is back to haunt her and her son. As with the last movie, Rachel has to follow clues to discover what the ghoulish undead girl wants. The Ring Two could have easily been just another string of victims with VCRs. Instead, it focuses more on Aiden’s character and Samara’s attempts to steal Rachel away from him. In that regard, it was nice to see a change. However, toward the middle of the film, the plot seems to lose some focus. Aiden is in the hospital and Rachel isn’t allowed to visit him because the authorities feel that he may be a victim of child abuse. She doesn’t seem more than momentarily upset by this and runs off to look for Samara’s original mother. When she finds the woman, the scene is anti-climactic. The Ring Two lacks the cohesion that the first movie had and doesn’t feature any spine-tingling moments that weren’t already spoiled by the trailer.

Plot: 2 stars

I always appreciate it when the sequel to a movie retains its original stars. Watts and Dorfman maintain their respective roles, Samara isn’t the same girl, but it’s not easy to tell and everyone else from the first movie didn’t make it to the sequel. Not being a big fan of child actors to begin with, I was especially tormented by David Dorfman. My enjoyment of the movie was hindered by a constant burning desire to slap him senseless or ring his neck (smart-ass little brat).

Cast: 3 stars

I don’t know that I’d say this movie has any action, per se. Most of the scary parts come when they’re expected, or are already spoiled by the trailer. The final confrontation between Rachel and Samara is what you might call “tense” and a bit creepy, but not really action.

Action: 2 stars

The bathtub scene, which is one that the trailer spoils, is perhaps the most visually complex effect in the film. The majority of the movie has a washed-out blue-grey tint and nothing really seems to stand out. At the same time, it works to set the gloomy atmosphere. A few shots of Samara are kind of cheesy looking, and I think that the filmmakers should have either put more effort into them, or left them out altogether.

Visual: 2 stars

I thought the tag line, “Fear Comes Full Circle” was clever, if a little corny. Once again, no memorable dialogue. There was a bit about Aiden addressing his mother as “Rachel”, rather than “Mommy”, but I couldn’t recap that situation without spoiling something.

Dialogue: 1 star

I was terribly disappointed with The Ring Two. Perhaps it is the change of directors that makes the difference, or maybe it’s that the plot isn’t so elastic as to fill two movies without becoming limp. It could have also been the lack of convincing makeup and effects, which didn’t induce the fear that the first one did. I added this one to my personal library, but only because it was on sale for $5.00. At least this video won’t kill you in seven days.

Alternate viewing choice: The Ring
IMDB site
Official site
Rotten Tomatoes Review

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The R List

Rawhead Rex

The Ring Two

Runaway Jury

Running Scared