S.W.A.T. Season 1

Hey all. Welcome back. This is my first real foray into 2020. Was a bit disappointed no cyberpunks or shadow runners. Those that got this reference, thanks. With the small screen still keeping us entertained we have a re-emergence of the popular 60s to70s to 80s show getting a revamped look with things like Hawaii 5-0 and Magnum P.I.and hell even MacGyver has a new running. So it was not all surprising that another cop show has gotten the love once again. With its predecessor starting in 1975, this updated version is ready for the mean streets of L.A. This is S.W.A.T.

Nah just protein shakes, light chicken and weight lifting.

Many a Criminal Minds fans were devastated with Shemar Moore vacating the series but rest assured ladies and gents, Chocolate Goodness is stepped into the role of Sgt. Hondo, team leader of S.W.A.T.and has a fine collection of bad asses. (Sorry I went Apone there for a moment) With a heated debate over police conduct, Hondo's former team leader has been taken off the force and he has been placed in charge during a rough issue of an unarmed kid getting shot.

With his team of LAPD, Deacon (Jay Harrington of Coupling, Summerland, Desperate Housewives, The Inside, Private Practice, Burn Notice, Benched and S.W.A.T.), Hondo's second-in-command, streetwise and hot heated Jim Street (Alex Russell of Almost Kings, Bait, The Host, Carrie, Cut Snake, Unbroken, Goldstone, Rabbit, Only the Brave and S.W.A.T.) tough girl with a heart of gold, Chris Alonso (Lina Esco of CSI: NY, Cane, Heroes: Destiny, Drop Dead Diva, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, 15 Minutes, Open, Flaked, Kingdom and S.W.A.T.) sharp and easy going Victor Tan (David Lim of Castle, Soap in the City, Hollywood Heights, Supergirl, Criminal Minds, Quantico, 5^th Passenger and S.W.A.T.) and door knocker and heart of the team, Dominique Luca (Kenny Johnson of The Shield, Cold Case, The Undgodly, Saving Grace, Sons of Anarchy, Burn Notice, Dexter,Chicago Fire, Blue, Bates Motel and S.W.A.T.) they are trained and experienced in almost every feasible scenario and prepared to expect the worst.

Freeze Lil Wayne!

With joint leadership of the youngest Captain Jessica Cortez (Stephanie Sigman of Miss Bala, Pioneer, Artic Monkeys: Snap Out of It, The Bridge, American Crime, Narcos, Spectre, Shimmer Lake and S.W.A.T.) and veteran coordinator and Commander Robert Hicks (Patrick St. Esprit of Black Dawn, Crusade, ER, Walker, Texas Ranger, We Were Soldiers, Angel, Tremors, JAG, Saving Grace, The Chicago Code, Super 8, Sons of Anarchy and S.W.A.T.) the two work together prepping units, dole out assignments and try to make some sense of order out of the chaos.

Too much pretty for the streets there.

What is great about this series is simple. We have everything from character based story lines, existing subplots that will carry over to the next season, racism issues and being handling in more of a positive light. I mean you have a Hispanic female captain, S.W.A.T. Team leader is a black man, a young Asian man hearing from his family how he should be in a career through MIT instead of being a door kicker with S.W.A.T. We have tension, action, good character development and some updated stories from the original series.

With a solid cast, crew and writers, this season tugs on some heart strings, gets the die hard action fans plenty to see and shows these people are human flaws and strengths. Family issues, community being disgruntled with LAPD and a variety of criminal scum. Personally as I am two and a half seasons behind, I look forward to reviewing Season 2. So let's all thank CBS for bringing this into the 21st century.  

 On a personal note, sorry about the screenshots, Netflix wasn't working so I had to go to a freebie streaming site and yeah it is LOADED with Ads. Hence the black ink. Again sorry about that.

So Mexican and beer after work? I'm buying.

The Blacklist

Hey folks. It has been a strange week. Working on my new video review has eaten up a lot of my time and for that, I apologize for not putting up some blogs. Today we foray into TV. I know, I know. You were expecting a cheesy Sci-Fi or a Horror film that would make you queasy from description but I thought I could find something unsettling in TV and I was right. This is The Blacklist.

Thinking a plug job. Thoughts?

FBI Special Agent Elizabeth Keen (Megan Boone of Law & Order: LA, Blue Bloods, Robot Chicken, Welcome to the Jungle, The Blacklist and Family Games) starts her first day as a profiler. A day of significance for her as this marks all the hard work required as a young woman to be in such a position of authority... as it also marks the day a notorious man, Raymond Reddington(James Spader of Less than Zero,Mannequin, Jack's Back, Stargate, Wolf, Boston Legal, and Avengers: Age of Ultron) number 7 of the Most Wanted List wanders in the D.C. Branch to surrender himself to the FBI. This man has been in operation for 20 years, wining and dining some of the most elite, ruthless and unscrupulous people on the planet.

Deputy Director Harold Cooper (Harry Lennix of Dollhouse, Emily Owens, M.D.,Evidence, Man of Steel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, MacBeth Unhinged, Transformers: Robots in Disguise and The Blacklist) is feeling rather smug until he finds out that Reddington has a proposition for the FBI, his little black book. Names of the most powerful and vicious creatures that wear a flesh suit. No, no supernatural angle there. Human made monsters that profit of others' suffering through drugs, sex trade, espionage, terrorism and king making. The power behind the power. Those that lurk in the shadows but operate in plain sight. One of many catches is, he will only work with Elizabeth Keen.

According the records, that is 18 terabyes of porn. That's a lot.

Case worker Agent Resseler (Diego Klattenhoff of Falling Skies, Longmire, After Earth, Homeland, Radius and The Blacklist) has poured 5 years of his life into catching Red is a bit pissed when newcomer Keen is allowed to take point with Reddington. And yes we can all jump to the conclusion he's a dick or we can watch the series unfold itself and bring about a better picture as no one character on this series feels one or two dimensional.

A character that fascinates me outright is CIA Meera Malik (Parminder Nagra of Bend It like Beckham, ER, Ella Enchanted, Alcatraz, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., The Blacklist and Fortitude). With the look of someone's favorite aunt or cousin with the sharp mind and conviction of an Eastwood character, she comes off commanding, courageous, calculating and charismatic.

To that end, Red holds up his end but must be allowed to continue being the bad guy, moving around and behind the scenes or no one will trust him as a bad man. With much reluctance, The FBI has a substantial and costly "black site" pulling ops on the soil and in foreign countries along side the CIA as support. Now John and Jane tax payer would probably be extremely pissed when footed with that bill but cannot deny the effect it is having on the criminal and corporate empires around the globe.

I mean the implications of the CIA working in our backyard aside from being tactical or investigative is dicey at best. Surely the NSA alone are going to have problems with this.

Why is Red doing this? To level the playing field?   What is his interest in Keen?  Is the irony of her name just someone having fun with puns?

Starting in 2013, we are up to six seasons now. To be honest, I expected this to drag as many series starting this clever would normally do. That the writers can't keep my interests and I would be solely depended upon the development of the characters but seriously, watch Season 1 and draw your own conclusions. James Spader is in his element. Coming off as charming, witty, devious and crafty it brings something you rarely see in TV. A cop drama with a key criminal element.

I haven't seen writing like this executed well since The Wire or Burn Notice and you know they each had a few episodes that were hit or miss. I look forward to seeing this go further, taking us down the rabbit hole of darkness in the hopes of being able to see the light once more.

I know you drank my smoothie, Agent Kesseler.

Shows Across the Pond: The Sweeney

Hey folks. Back again. Just to mention again Rotten Reelz can be reached at rottenreelzreviews@gmail.com for comments, critiques, queries and even suggestions. That being said I found a show from across the pond on parallel with Starsky &Hutch here. Giving all the levels of clashing classes, police and official corruption, bribery and oh so close links to criminal elements. The Flying Squad, a division of the Metropolitan Police tended to the scum of armed robbery and violent crimes. Watched like a hawk by their Detective Chief Superintedent, DI Jack Regan and DS George Carter are on the case. This is The Sweeney.

Gonna plug ya with my Roscoe, see?

Created in 1975 by writer Ian Kennedy Martin (The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes, The Capone Investment, Mitchell, The Sweeney, The Chinese Detective, The Fourth Floor and King & Castle) mirroring the actual corruption of the real-life Flying Squad in which actual commander of the Flying Squad, our heroes Detective Inspector Jack Regan (John Thaw of Inspector Morse, Mitch, Cry Freedom, Bomber Harris, Home to Roost, Into the Blue and Goodnight, Mister Tom) and Detective Sergeant George Carter (Dennis Waterman of Scars of Dracula, Sextet, Alices's Adventures in Wonderland, Sweeney!, The Life and Loves of a She-Devil, Tube Mice, Minder and Cold Justice) working the streets and being the thief takers. (Detective Chief Superintendent Kenneth Dury in 1977 up for five counts of corruption and set to the hoosegow for 8 years.)

Regan, the chief "thief-taker" is a hard ass cop annoyed with Scotland Yard procedures and red tape constantly complaining about it. Clearly from Manchester he attempts to muddle his accent poorer upbringing is a seat of ridicule for his Londoner partner George Carter. A bit of a womanizer, quick to a fist fight, divorced with a daughter offers a working class dynamic. Carter is a force unto himself. The man drinks like a fish whilst smoking like a chimney. A former boxer, lover of football (Soccer for us Yanks) after the death of his wife he chased many a skirt but not as successful as Regan he is constantly more a good cop to Regan's bad cop.

Give us the dirt or it's lights out for you, me old son.

Both have a casual relationship with their chief DCI Frank Haskins (Garfield Morgan of Albert!, Henry VIII and His Six Wives, Z Cars, The Man Was Hunting Himself, The Odessa File, Crown Court, George and Mildred, Shelly and Jenny's War) who they refer by first name rather than by rank. Of the three he is married with three children all attending boarding schools (probably Hogwarts) is the only one with a stable background having a former service in Royal Corps of Signals (ran radio during the War) and is constantly at lager heads with Regan on procedures and conventional police work.

This show has that same gritty dark feel that the original Get Carter and brings a seedy underbelly of London showing rampant crime and cops coming down on them like a ton of bricks. Laughed myself sick seeing more than a handful of guest stars I immediately recognized. Such as: Patrick Troughton, John Rhy-Davies, Brian Blessed, Joss Ackland, Prunella Gee, Geraldine James and Stuart Wilson. It's sinister, cleverly-written and well cast. One for those that loved the grimy, 

nebulous vibe of the cop drama films and TV of the seventies. Highly recommend this for folks enjoying something tenebrous and redeeming at the same time.

Oh that's the face of a man losing his temper.

Season One Shows: Gang Related

Welcome back readers and we are off to Day 4 of Season One Shows. To detract from our usual steady diet of sci-fi and moderately interesting dramas, how about we go full on into a cop drama dealing with gang activity? Yes, the warm environment of Gang Task Force... where you can find a kid in a dumpster... with his throat slit... or more holes in him than a politician's promises. With such a gritty take on the ends and outs of gang life we better have a gruff kid from the streets all grown up to lead us into the stories. This is Gang Related.

Fine, no one likes my coffee. I get it.

Surprisingly enough this is shot in L.A. As we explore the professional and personal lives of the members of Gang Task Force we find they will go head to head with the most notorious of street scum bringing them down and downtown for booking. Yeah, sorry if I went a bit Dragnet on you there. Let's look at the cast, shall we?

Our main protagonist is Detective Ryan Lopez (Ramon Rodriguez of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Bella, Day Break, The Wire, The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 and Battle Los Angeles)... we know this because we get an intro narrative that he is this man and this is his story. Apparently raised by another family after his parents died and watched over by the Los Angelicos gang, our young man trained in several martial arts, fluent in multiple dialects and sciences until a bat came crashing in his window and he... oh crap that's Bruce Wayne. Ahem, Ryan became a cop and works undercover to protect his adopted family of Colombian gang/syndicate  but that bat story was working. With gang ties and being police he walks the tightrope between both worlds.

Sorry, there's a bee circling my head.

Leading this collection of hard asses is Sam Chapel (Terry O' Quinn of The Stepfather, Black Widow, The Rocketeer, The X-Files, Millennium, JAG, Alias, Lost and Hawaii Five-0)

veteran cop that may bend the rules to get justice, his daughter ADA (Assistant District Attorney)Jessica Chapel (Shantel VanSanten of The Open Door, Remembrance, In My Pocket, One Tree Hill, Something Wicked and The Messengers) and Ryan's girlfriend... akward...

DEA agent Cassius Green (RZA of Wu-Tang, Be Cool, The Box, American Gangster, Repo Men, The Next Three Days and G.I. Joe: Retaliation) now Ryan's partner. FBI agent Tae Kim (Sung Kang of Mystery Men, Forbidden Warrior, Live Free or Die Hard, War, Fast & Furious, Fast Five and Fast & Furious 6) and his ICE partner Veronica Dotsen (Inbar Lavi of Crash, Street Kings 2: Motor City, Getting That Girl, For the Love of Money, Underemployed and The Last Ship)

Working with the DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency) the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) and ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) this multi-departmental task force has a lot of resources, boots on the pavement and hard hitting go-getters for the job. Not sure why we can properly fund our actual agencies as well as the fictitious ones but I move on. With each episode developed we learn about every member of the task force and the reasons behind why they are there. In short, we have a lot of broken people that this is the only way of mending... aside from that whole vigilante idea but again must let it go. Ryan's story is a bit darker as he is playing double agent for his gang's leader Javier Acosta (Cliff Curtis of Virus, Six Days Seven Nights, Three Kings, Bringing Out the Dead, Blow, Live Free or Die Hard and Last Knights) who engineered the idea in the first place placing the young man he considers a son in mortal danger for more than a decade. What is to become of Ryan? Whose side is he truly on?

A quick sum-up of the series now. The writing is sound, the characters are flushed out and the cinematography alone was excellent. This is very much a character driven series with back stories that are dark and some provide hope. Created by writer/producer Chris Morgan (Cellular, Wanted, Fast & Furious, Fast Five and 47 Ronin) you get a feel that The Wire was a real impact to this writing but with the added bonus that we are intrigued by the character either side of the fence. 

 Sadly this was place in FOX rather than HBO or Showtime to give the streets the vulgarity and violence level needed to carry the show. So blown away by Cliff Curtis' charisma as the gang leader that you can easily see why he calls the shots. Terry O' Quinn does not disappoint either. The downside is the criminals are being revered as rebel outlaws similar to Robin Hood and does not provide the proper scope showing that deep down they flaunt the law and kill anyone that doesn't agree with that outlook on life. Still it gives as good as The Departed and The Shield did and was deemed unworthy of another season, let alone a continuation? What utter crap, Fox.

Actually you are unlucky my chick's here.  Black Widow Style.

Season One Shows

Let's face it, we have seen plenty of shows. Shows that moved us, shows that disgusted us and shows that didn't get enough of a chance at life. Welcome to the week ladies and gents and this week I wanted to do a little TV as I have steered clear of it for a bit.  Ranging from drama, comedy and even a little sci-fi, I thought it good and proper to discuss shows that did not get the opportunity to blossom into a series people would not stop yapping on about * cough * (Walking Dead) and bring more subject matter into our homes for great writing, fine acting and excellent direction.

Ugh, girl parts.  Where do I put my hands?

What if that show isn't allowed to be? What if due to scheduling conflicts, writing strikes, FAR TOO MUCH reality TV and poor Nielson ratings that show is terminated with extreme prejudice? For the week, this week be all about shows that did not get the breath of life past Season One and the fans are still miffed. Let's see why, weigh the pros and cons of each show and the genre it hails from.

Shiny...

For those of you already bored with this idea, well there are better written and well researched blogs out there. Believe it or not, there are actually far poorly constructed ones as well. Clearly I need to make some cleavage shots for this one to boost the ratings. Hmm, lacking boobs so on with the write-ups instead and welcome to Season One Shows.

Patch Adams and Buffy.  Weirdest Crossover yet.

Random TV Week

Well greetings my readers and welcome to the beginning of the week. I have been a bit stumped about this and was racking my brains for the better part of 5 hours and I decided to just go with my gut. I have not given the idiot box a chance and thought some a few shows I am currently enjoying might just be the ticket. Keep in mind, I do enjoy more than a handful of shows that have been canceled or ran its course so that is a likely scenario to prepare yourselves for.

No, I don't think the space station is too phallic.  Well...

I almost did a collection of horror movies but I really want to stem away from my earliest writings and try to get a fresh perspective on other entertainment. I shall not, nor is it likely I ever will be tackling reality TV series so my apologies up front on that. What I can promise is to share a wide spectrum of past and present so we can hope for the best and again if you have any suggestions for the week, hit me up via Facebook, Twitter and the like.    

I say, you wouldn't happen to seen a blue box around here?

Forgotten Gems of the 70's: Streets of San Francisco

Welcome, welcome, welcome back to Day 4 of Forgotten Gems of the 70's Week.  This next show is another cop drama and yes I know you thought we covered that with The Rookies.  Well, we didn't... enough that is.   Oh hush and read on.   So this time around the folks of Martin Quinn Productions (The Fugitive, Twelve O' Clock High, The F.B.I., The Invaders, Cannon and Barnaby Jones)  felt we needed to explore the dark and mean streets of beautiful San Francisco.  Competing against two beloved sitcoms on CBS, The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Bob Newhart Show this crime drama series got excellent rates and gave the folks of Frisco a different view, not so much as one of dark void that cannot be brought to justice but putting a smudge on a town that California is proud to call " The City"   This is Streets of San Francisco.

Keep Spelling out!!!!

Detective Lt. Mike Stone:  There's a lot of spoiling out there and we got to do something about it, kid.







Our series follows a pair of plainclothes homicide detectives out on the streets of San Francisco (say, great name for a title!) as Lt. Mike Stone (Karl Malden of A Streetcar Named Desire, The Sellout, Operation Secret, On the Waterfront, Birdman of Alcatraz, The Cincinnati Kid, Hotel and Patton) a veteran cop of 20 years, street smart, savvy and follows his gut instincts is partnered with a rookie fresh from college but schooling allows him procedure, shows his book learning giving him the rank of Inspector, Steve Keller (Michael Douglas of The China Syndrome, Romancing the Stone, Fatal Attraction, Wall Street, Falling Down, Traffic and The In-Laws) is being shown the ropes, what to expect on most murder scenes and how reliable witnesses are but we gotta go by the book according to Stone.

Sorry about about your dog, Steve.

The two knock their heads together, walk the scene, retrace their steps and follow the clue wherever they may lead.    With Stone as a mentor, Keller has the rigors and procedures down-pat offering him the potential promotions and how to be a better cop,  to truly care about the victims and their next of kin.

Just a few comments about the show now.  Standard protocol.

The two play off each other well and share their separate skill sets with their partner slowly forming a bond and yes we do have grumpy older cop stuck with rookie scenarios from time to time but this is good solid writing that while a trifle predictable comes off well.   The murder scenes are as accurate for television as allowed.  Apparently showing the true effects of gun shots and splatter patterns is deemed too violent for viewers, in spite of that this does occur in real life.  Both Malden and Douglas did more than 3 months research with the SFPD homicide giving the authenticity needed for the show and the series was filmed entirely in San Francisco using a converted warehouse for the precinct.  

Ford Motors was proud to sponsor the series giving a fleet of Galaxies and a LTD for Keller and Stone to arrive in record time.  

This show offered a lot of actors their bones on it as guest-stars including: Ricky Nelson, Pernell Roberts, Susan Dey, Don Johnson, Tom Selleck. Robert Wagner, Nora Marlowe, Mark Hamill and many more.

Yes, my ears are huge! WHAT OF IT???!!!

Forgotten Gems of the 70's

What's happening readers of mine?  Ahh, the seventies...  They brought shows like: Starsky & Hutch, Happy Days, Sanford and Son, M*A*S*H* and The Six Million Dollar Man.  Of course also had to endure B.J. and the Bear, All in the Family and The Waltons but that is neither here nor there.  Free love and peace came to an almost grinding halt, gas prices rocketed and disco was king.  From soap operas to Sesame Street, our television shows had their flaws and their strengths and yet several of these did not get the love it deserved.

Why do we always have to fight when we go out??!!

This week I purpose we examine some of the forgotten gems of the seventies and reflect on what impact they had to our culture and no I do not just mean polyester and bellbottoms.    Variety shows and music of the time broadcast to our homes along with dramas, dark comedies and even some sci-fi got the love of the day and needs to be viewed with a hint remembrance.

So join me in the pursuit of classic TV that rocked you to the core or made you blink and wonder what the heck it is you are watching.

HULK HATE HAIRDRESSER!!!!

A&E Mysteries: Inspector Morse

Welcome back my little foragers of forensics to the continuation of A&E Mysteries.  Thought we might take a look in at Thames Valley as I hear they have a gruff but brilliant CID (Criminal Investigation Department) Detective Inspector by the name of Morse.   Fueled by cynicism, a pint of bitter and a love for classical composure, this Inspector ruffles feathers, beats down doors and goes out of his way to find the truth no matter who it may hurt.   So fetch us a cup of tea, don’t skimp on the biccies and for God’s sake mind the traffic.  This is Inspector Morse.

I am smiling, sir. Truly I am.

Morse: Drink that, Spoiler, and loosen some brain cells.

A working class man that developed more than a few connection at Oxford, Inspector Morse (John Thaw of Redcap, Dr. Phibes Rises Again, Thick as Thieves, The Sweeny and The Glass) brings a different investigator far retracted from Sherlock Holmes or Hercule Poirot.  A thinking man in his own right you get the feeling as though solving these mysteries is almost beneath him.  Exhibiting a keen intellect and a flawed soul our good inspector had arrested the wrong suspect or arrived at the wrong conclusion giving an honest human that is fallible but in no way or shape a fool.  

Can't wait to have a DS to torment meself.

Saddled with a young, bright eyed police sergeant Lewis (Kevin Whately of Auf Weidersehen, Pet, The Return of the Soldier, Look and Read, Peak Practice and Inspector Lewis) who is a family man striving to do right by his inspector and community.  Morse is ill-natured and sullen towards Lewis trying desperately to beat some of that police training out of his head and getting the lad to think and conclude for himself.    In the middle of a case Morse is known for dragging Lewis to a pub for a few pints allowing Morse to review the case in his head and give the crime scene another go but this would be seen as a derelict of duty by most eyes.  

As you peruse this particular series you will notice that Morse is not a people person, his attempts at a love life are comical and he is a acrid fellow with a love of fine wines, literature, chess and Wagner (the composer not the paints).  These elements give him a true vulnerable human quality not found in most of the detective characters and I for one am glad to see a genuine person rather than the proximity of one.

For some of you BBC fans you will note more than a few guest stars grace the Morse series such as: Gemma Jones (Rainbow City, The Devils, The Duchess of Duke Street, Devices and Desires, Bridget Jones’s Diary and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets) and Patrick Troughton (Smuggler’s Bay, The Six Wives of Henry VIII, Doctor Who, Scars of Dracula, Blake 7, Crown Court and The Omen) for example and others let’s just say you have seen more than your fair share of them even if their names do not immediately jump in your head.  This is an intense series showing pain, joy and some unrivaled acting.

Bloody hell, is that Elizabeth Hurley??!

Old Vs New Week: Assault on Precinct 13

Hello all and welcome to Old Vs New Week and we start off with a John Carpenter classic and its remake.  Both films have bloody intros and dive right into their stories and while both have diverse concepts the films are more or less the same thing.  So board up the windows, douse the lights and conserve your ammo.   This is Assault on Precinct 13.

Now who the hell payin' for that window?!

Officer, Detroit is a tough town...honest.

Spoilers all around us, man! There is no escaping it!

Our story opens with a sting takes out a series of gang members in a bloody gunfire. Cannot even imagine how many shots fired forms they were filling out.  The surviving gang members swear in blood oath that vengeance will happen.  Lieutenant Ethan Bishop (Austin Stoker of Battle for the Planet of the Apes, Horror High, ‘Sheba, Baby ‘, Roots and Machete Joe) a recently promoted officer is scheduled to Precinct 13. A station being torn down, paperwork and supplies shipped to its future location.  While this is not the best gig, it is Bishop’s first assignment as a Lieutenant and he will see it through.

Meanwhile in Los Cruzes, a notorious criminal named Napoleon Wilson (Darwin Joston of Eraserhead, The Fog, Coast to Coast, Time Walker and Airwolf) is being transported in a bus on his way to death row by Starker (Charles Cyphers of Halloween, Halloween II, Escape from New York, The Fog and Grizzly II: The Concert)

Back at the precinct, Bishop meets the remaining staff, desk sergeant  Grumpy McStereotype, filing clerk Leigh (Laurie Zimmer of American Raspberry, A Dirty Story and Survival of Dana) and dispatch operator Julie (Nancy Kyes of Halloween, Halloween II, The Fog, Halloween III, Not in Front of the Children and Lady Boss)

One of the inmates on the bus is violently ill and the only station in route is Precinct 13, with that the bus pulls in assessing the situation and hope they can lay aid to the sick man.  Blocks away a father takes his daughter with him in order to scoop up and move her nanny (Oh Mr. Sheffield) in with them.  Driving a high end Cadillac in South Central L.A. under the influence of being a dumb white guy this could get a bit dicey.

No, don't help me find the phone book. just gaze at the girl.

A shoot out later the father makes his way to Precinct 13 to safety but the combined forces of the gang follow him with their ill-gotten gains from a heist of the National Guard Armory depot, they have enough firepower to level six maybe seven city blocks.  Equipped with silencers, the lack of neighbors in the rundown area and barely any public safety of any sorts the members of the precinct, two prisoners and the remaining transport troops have to hold off this mass army of lunatics until help arrives.  

The dialogue gives the feel of a B-movie and this is Carpenter’s second film after Dark Star in 1974. Fewer dolly tracked shots and more hand held you really had to feel for those poor cameramen breaking their backs.  Given its fairly violent nature and penchant for shock and awe, this movie does invoke fear and dread for the decent folk trying to live through the night and almost seething hatred for the gang members.  In my humble opinion a gem that gets overlooked.

I...(gasp)...hate...vanilla...

Enter our remake with its bluster opening with a drug buy conducting by Jake Roenick (Ethan Hawke of Dead Poets Society, Floundering, Before Sunrise, Gattaca, Great Expectations, The Newton Boys and Training Day), an undercover cop that gets found out, his bust goes pear shaped and he loses a team member because it.  Now months later he is addicted to pain killers, a damaged knee and a crap duty to watch the transfer of a precinct to another.  He has been assigned to watch over a few scumbags on New Year’s Eve.  They will have no direct communications beyond radio frequency and offloading paperwork and evidence locker. His subordinate Sgt. Jasper O’Shea (Brian Dennehy of First Blood, Silverado, F/X, Legal Eagles, Best Seller, Seven Minutes, The Last of the Finest and F/X2) are busy grumbling at the crackhead Beck (John Leguizamo of Romeo + Juliet, Spawn, Moulin Rouge!, Ice Age and Chronicles ) gang bangers Anna (Aisha Hinds of Neo Ned, Invasion, Madea Goes to Jail, Dollhouse and True Blood)  Smiley (Ja Rule of Rush Hour, Next Friday, The Fast and the Furious and Fish Tank) and the crème de crème of villainy, mastermind criminal Martin Bishop (Laurence Fishburne of Apocalypse Now, The Cotton Club, The Color Purple, Cherry 2000, Boyz n the Hood, Bad Company and The Matrix) 

Get a haircut baby face!

Before the evening even gets started, the precinct is under siege by a collection of corrupt cops, blocking radio signals and exits. Led by Captain Marcus Duvall (Gabriel Byrne of Miller’s Crossing, Shipwrecked, Point of No Return, The Usual Suspects, Pirates, The Man in the Iron Mask and End of Days) demanding Bishop turned over to them.  Roenick gathers his staff and the crooks to save each other they need to fight back until help comes or they can escape.

Now the complaints of this movie are there is just too much.  Too much backstory, too many characters and dear God some are just over the top to the likes that would rival Doctor Doom in melodrama.  A lot of hand held work that cause really quick cuts and jumpy edits which could cause any photophobic to be wildly sick viewing it.  More explosions than an 80’s Schwarzenegger film and honestly it is a darker movie than the original.  To quote TV’s Frank, “I thought it had no texture.”   I think the main complaint I have is this really is the first time I get to see Fishburne as a sinister bastard and he didn’t get to do nearly enough other than the ritualistic tough guy talk and a bit of gun play.   At the end of the day while the remake wasn’t bad it just was way too much for one film.    Both films feel like a hybrid of Rio Bravo and Night of the Living Dead but I feel Carpenter’s has a better feel for it.

Sci-Fi Week: Outland

Welcome back kiddies!  Day 4 of Sci-Fi Week begins and it holds a bit of sentimental value for me.   After leaving the James Bond Franchise in 1971, Most Connery fans were convinced he was past his acting prime and never do better than James Bond.   So suit up in your atmospheric suit, make sure to activate your magnetic clamps and get them boots a walkin’.  This is Outland.

It's only a model.

Spoilers have a flair for the dramatic…

Director/writer Peter Hyams (Capricorn One, The Star Chamber, 2010, The Presidio, Narrow Margin and Timecop) brings us a retelling of Gary Cooper’s High Noon only rather a battered mining town we have a mining colony at Io, a far moon of Jupiter.  Not exactly the best assignment for Marshall O’Neil (Sean Connery of Dr. No, Goldfinger, The Anderson Tapes, Murder on the Orient Express, The Great Train Robbery, Highlander, The Hunt for Red October and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade) and his family but orders are orders and he has to lump it.  Before too long it feels like a typical mining operation and he meets with the general manager Mark Sheppard (Peter Boyle of Young Frankenstein, Taxi Driver, Turk 182!, Red Heat and Everyone Loves Raymond) who proceeds to inform the Marshall that most of the workers are good at what they do, they bust their butts and are entitled to play after hours but sometimes folks get a bit rowdy.

Yes I was in Highlander, now concentrate on the job!

Marshall O’Neil sits in with his men finding out the daily logs, his right hand man Sgt. Montone (James Sikking of General Hospital, Hill Street Blues, Doogie Howser,M.D. and The Pelican Brief) tries to point out the good about this town.  The booze isn’t that watered down and the hookers have a heart of gold.  Yeah so a man on duty not being in a pressure suit and exposed himself to a zero-pressure atmosphere only to become the contents of raspberry jam all over the walls.   Later throughout the week a worker that reports and fellow workers call as calm, collective and always well behaved smacks around a prostitute and threatens to slice her to bits.  O’Neil has the locked door disengaged and Montone sneaks through the vents with a shotgun blasting before O’Neil can question him.  Given the sheer size of this colony very little can go on without O’Neil finding out.

 Using the surveillance cameras throughout the colony he discovers the possibility of an amphetamine being smuggled onboard.  Confirmed by Dr. Lazarus (Mary Sternhagen of The Hospital, Another World, Independence Day, Spencer, Golden Years, Cheers, Sex and the City and ER), a wreck of a doctor as she calls herself is stunned rigid on the dosages that are floating in one man’s veins and cannot believe this is happening.  With a bit more investigation with cameras O’Neil links the smuggling to Sheppard and it is sanctioned by Sgt. Montone.   O’Neil follows and captures one of Sheppard’s dealers, tosses the drugs in the toilet and drops him into an isolation chamber leaving him in zero gravity to drift until he feels like being chatty.   Confronting Montone about being bought off, O’Neil tells him how he can help or get the hell out of the way.  His pride and sense of justice blinds him to the point that Sheppard’s partners has set a couple of professional hitmen to kill him but O’Neil patched into outgoing communications and is aware of everything that is coming his way.

Sheesh the caters really need therapy.

Now I understand the comparison to High Noon due to the clock counting down in the same way he is waiting his impeding assassins on arrival.    Will anyone help him or will all turn a blind eye to a man being eliminated?   Most of the film is blue screened, matte painted and scale model shots as well as the decompression explosions but I feel the effects as a whole still stand up to this day and c’mon it’s Sean Connery walloping men 20 years younger than him.   A novelization of said movie was once again like Logan’s Run done by Sci-Fi/Sci-fi Fantasy writer Alan Dean Foster. It is a dark drama with some levity and complicated relationships.  This is an old favorite so not exactly an arm twists to view it again.