Beverly Hills Cop

Since the latest film in this franchise has finally been released on Netflix after years of talking for another sequel, this month will be dedicated to the “Beverly Hills Cop” franchise, starting with the first film, released in 1984.

Mike Massie started out his review by crediting, “Beverly Hills Cop” is, arguably, comedian Eddie Murphy’s finest film, brilliantly combining his improvisational wisecracking and infectious laugh with murder-mystery mayhem, adventure, unlikely sidekicks, and a hip techno soundtrack that would become the production’s trademark. Full of wild stunts, fast-talking comedy, and a slew of hilarious supporting characters, this surprise hit (especially considering it was originally a project for Sylvester Stallone) would spawn two sequels and is easily one of the most enjoyable of the abundant buddy-cop action films of the ‘80s.” This was also nominated for Best Screenplay Oscar (maybe for the countless improvisational lines) and was directed by Martin Brest before his career shattered due to “Gigli.”

Massie noted, “Detroit detective Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) uses his loud mouth and in-your-face persuasiveness to go undercover in dangerous stings. The opening scene demonstrates his ability to stay quick on his feet and concoct plans on the fly – skills that find him hanging from the swinging back doors of a delivery truck as it careens down busy streets and demolishes half of the city during a particularly impressive, stunt-filled chase sequence.” Shortly after getting yelled at by his commanding officer (Gilbert R. Hill) for the large amount of property destruction, Foley’s friend Mikey Tandino (James Russo) visits him after a six-month jail sentence. The two were childhood friends, both frequently getting into trouble before Axel realized his love for fighting crime. However, Mikey hasn’t completely stopped the crimes and his involvement in a German bearer bond conspiracy ends in a professional hitman (Jonathan Banks and Michael Champion) shooting him down.

Livid, Axel takes a vacation to Beverly Hills to get to the bottom of a murder he is told not to get involved in. the clues given by his longtime friend and gallery employee Jenny Summers (Lisa Eilbacher) lead him to a top United States art dealer named Victor Maitland (Steven Berkoff), who has Axel civilly thrown out of a window to be unfairly arrested for public disturbance. Tough police lieutenant Andre Bogomil, played by Ronny Cox, isn’t pleased to find out Foley is ruining his town. He orders detectives Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold) and John Taggart (John Ashton) to take the Detroit detective and eventually escort him out of the city limits – but Axel wins over the two cops and convinces them to help him catch the evil Maitland.

Massie noted, “Although Murphy is a one-man-army comedian, the chemistry between Foley, Rosewood, and Taggart truly makes the movie hilarious. Foley continually marches into hazardous situations but uses jokes for defense and impersonations to infiltrate enemy bases; a shotgun in the face doesn’t faze him and, despite plenty of assassins and gunmen, he just won’t die.” Hilariously, his sense of humor protects him. However, even when several of his jokes fail (the sheer amount orders that some won’t work), the supporting characters are always there to pick up the slack. Also, some of it unexpectedly comes from non-important roles like Bronson Pinchot as the thickly accented and yet ethnically unidentifiable Sarge.

This is one of the funniest movies ever made. I saw this as a rental from the library. If you haven’t seen it yet, go see it on Netflix. For a movie that originally was supposed to star Sylvester Stallone, who actually wanted to do “Cobra” and they wanted to make this movie funny, Murphy quite possibly brought his most memorable character. He even said that when he goes overseas, kids know him as Axel Foley. You will love this movie a lot, especially when this came out around the time Murphy released his stand-up “Delirious.”

Look out next week when I talk about the first sequel in “Beverly Hills Cop Month.” Sorry for the late posting. I laid down and didn’t realize I fell asleep.

Team America: World Police

Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the dynamic duo behind “South Park,” released “Team America: World Police” in 2004 with the political satire that was going on at the time. Rob Gonsalves said in his review, “The puppets here, of course, are literal: Thunderbirds-style marionettes manipulated by visible strings. At first, director Parker plays the puppets’ jerky movements for laughs, in much the same spirit as when Eric Cartman, in the previous Parker/Stone feature South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, complained about the crudely animated Terrance and Phillip, and the movie cut to the four crudely animated boys waddling away.” However, it doesn’t take long for audiences to suspend their disbelief, even during the famous lovemaking scene between two Team America members. What are human actors in big-budget action movies but highly-paid puppets anyway, saying lines and movie from one over-the-top scene to another?

“Team America’s” biggest target ends up being not terrorists or even politicians, but actors. One actor mainly, the fast-rising Broadway actor Gary Johnston, voiced by Parker, is recruited by Team America to act like a terrorist an find out when the next attack will be. The team include Joe (Parker), a blonde quarterback type, Lisa (Kristen Miller), who knows how terrorists think, Sarah (Masasa Mayo), a lover who goes around “sensing” how everyone is feeling, and Chris (Matt Stone), a cold martial-arts expert with a tragic backstory about the cast of “Cats.” In charge of everyone is the gray-haired importance Spottswoode, voiced by Daran Norris, who has a strange way of asking proof of loyalty from his team of freedom fighters. They go up against Kim Jong Il, voiced by Parker, who wants to level civilization but also has time to sing I’m So Ronery.

Gonsalves admitted, “The movie is funny, sometimes uproarious, but doesn’t hit the delirious heights of the South Park movie, one of the funniest comedies of the ’90s. It’s closer to the hit-and-miss first feature by Parker, Cannibal: The Musical, and probably comes in behind 1997’s Orgazmo, which began the long-standing feud between Parker and the MPAA (who objected to Team America’s puppet-love scene).” Parker and Stone are all about teasing everyone, and Hollywood liberals (Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Michael Moore) get the worst of the pair’s jokes here. They would probably do likewise for Hollywood conservatives who position and explain Republican’s main points, if there were any besides Ron Silver (or Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was more a politician than an actor at the time). Gonsalves said, “I think Parker and Stone just can’t resist tearing down anyone who sounds holier-than-thou; they do have a message here, but, typically, it’s expressed in jock-filth terms that would make Howard Stern blush.”

Gonsalves continued, “Consciously structured like a Jerry Bruckheimer action flick (Pearl Harbor takes some lumps in a ballad called “Pearl Harbor Sucked and I Miss You”), Team America sports some true artistry in the form of the puppetry work by the Chiodo Brothers and the intricate set design by visual consultant David Rockwell.” As usual, heart and soul have been inserted into an area that Parker and Stone want you to think they just made up after getting together and doing who knows what.

Gonsalves admitted, “It amuses me that probably the biggest star to appear in any Parker/Stone film is Ron Jeremy (in Orgazmo); after Team America, which thoroughly trounces the Hollywood elite, the duo shouldn’t expect many actors to chomp at the bit to work with them. Nor, I’m sure, do they care; in South Park and now Team America, Parker and Stone have resolved their disdain for actors by not hiring any. Their movies now play like goofs made by two guys in their basement, financed and released on Paramount’s big dime. Billy Wilder once opined, “Actors: can’t make movies with ’em, can’t make movies without ’em,” and I think he would’ve understood Team America.”

I remember people in my high school talking about this movie a little, mainly with the theme song in the film. I didn’t see it at the time because my parents were very careful on what I watched. Besides, I never watched “South Park,” and seeing how this film was made by the creators of that show, you can see how related it is. Check it out because you will have a lot of laughs at the spoofs in this film, especially with the puppet movements and how the shots of just holding on to a puppets face to resemble what real-life actors would have done is just downright funny.

Happy Independence Day everyone. I hope everyone had an enjoyable day today, especially when going out to see the fireworks. Sorry for the late posting as I had gone out today for a couple of things. See you tomorrow to see what I will review next month.

Inside Out 2

Last night, my sister, cousin, and I went to the theaters to check out “Inside Out 2,” which came out a little over two weeks ago. Will this be the Disney that will get people back into loving them again?

Who would imagine that the thoughts keeping people up at night come from a feeling that means well? However, after watching “Inside Out 2,” it’s hard to think of Anxiety any other way.

Valerie Kalfrin said in her review, “It’s been nine years since Disney/Pixar’s Oscar-winning animated feature Inside Out introduced viewers to the cutely complex emotional landscape inside the mind of a tween girl named Riley. Her emotions—Joy, Anger, Disgust, Fear, and Sadness—floundered as her family relocated from suburban Minnesota to San Francisco.” However, they all fount out they each have a purpose, even Sadness, whom Joy had tried to limit to keep Riley feeling happy and positive.

“Inside Out 2” does some similar ideas as now 13-year-old Riley, voiced by Kensington Tallman, experiences more emotional turmoil. Kalfrin said, “But anyone who appreciates the shorthand emotional intelligence of the original will love the clever way the film depicts and handles what happens to Riley once Anxiety takes over.”

The beginning shows Riley, an energetic ice hocky player, playing a game as feelings Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Anger (Lewis Black), Disgust (Liza Lapira), and Fear (Tony Hale) take turns at the emotional controls inside her. Kalfrin said, “Like a fluid unit, Anger steers when Riley charges ahead with the puck while Disgust steps in when she grabs the wrong mouthguard.”

The feelings celebrate as Riley and her best friends, Brie (Sumayyah Nuriddin-Green) and Grace (Grace Lu), catch the attention of the high school coach famous for leading the undefeated Firehawks. When the coach invites the girls to a weekend hocky camp with other potential and current teammates, Riley is ecstatic – until puberty arrives.

Puberty announces itself with an alarm and a wrecking crew that makes more room in HQ for more feelings – and makes the emotional console way more sensitive. Now the slightest touch from Anger and Disgust show Riley getting frustrated, to her mother’s alarm. (Kalfrin admitted, “I was mildly curious who pilots the console during Riley’s period—a huge hallmark of puberty for girls—but the filmmakers dodge that altogether.”)

Anxiety, voiced by Maya Hawke, shows up, literally with so much luggage. With her are the tall Embarrassment (Paul Walter Houser), a mostly silent feeling who slouches inside a hoodie, Envy (Ayo Edebiri), and Ennui (Adéle Exarchopoulos, who lays across a chaise lounge and can control the console from an app on her cell phone.

Kalfrin described, “Bright orange, Anxiety is the least-humanoid of the feelings, with scraggly hair, pinhead green irises, and a wide mouth of gapped teeth.” She chugs energy drinks in a case, a fast-talker with projected scenarios for every possible future outcome. Determined for Riley to make a good impression at camp, she soon discards Riley’s old sense of self, along with Joy and the other original main feelings. She throws them toward the back of the mind, where Joy took it upon herself to throw other unpleasant memories.

As Joy and the others find their way around the Stream of Consciousness and other areas, Riley feels the effects of Anxiety controlling her actions. Writer-director Kelsey Mann, a longtime storyboard artist and writer making her film debut, and writers Meg LeFauve and Dave Holstein nicely create the visual humor and puns around Riley’s insane emotional changes.

The animation – always bright and colorful – shows more tone, with orange appearing more in real life as Anxiety grows stronger. Kalfrin said, “The music by Andrea Datzman (Zootopia, Inside Out) also becomes more complex, incorporating more pop and rock with touches of Michael Giacchino’s original twinkly score.”

Though made as an antagonist, Anxiety is impossible to hate, with Hawke’s serious tones showing her good intentions. She wants what’s best for Riley. Kalfrin said, “She forces Riley’s imagination to work overtime, keeping the poor girl up at night, and starts to craft a new sense of self that’s all sharp edges and mantras like, “I’m not good enough”—nothing like the person Riley used to be.”

Kalfrin continued, “The rest of the voice talent is stellar, showing degrees of personality. As Joy, Poehler’s chipper bossiness gives way to uncertainty and realization; Smith’s Sadness melts into empathy, and even Black finds—dare I say?—the upside of Anger. Among the newcomers, Exarchopoulos stands out as Ennui, shambling around to deliver infuriatingly vague responses that any teen’s parents will recognize.”

Like the previous film, “Inside Out 2” gives some emotional ideas inside an entertaining and relatable part of life. We all have varieties, and balancing them is how we grow.

I highly believe this is better than the first film. You can relate to Riley in every way possible with how she grows up. Especially with the new emotions that come in and try to dominate Riley’s thoughts, especially Anxiety. Everyone has anxiety, some suffer with it worse than others. Check this out in the theaters, you will love it, I promise you. This film is a contender for being the best film of the year.

Thank you for joining in on this review tonight. Stay tuned Thursday for the yearly “Independence Day Movie Reviews.”