Category Archives: Movie Reviews

Beverly Hills Cop III (1994)

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Remember in “Live Free or Die Hard” when it became apparent that the every man we knew we John McClane was gone? In the first movie he was frumpy and nearly bleeding to death being forced to walk on broken glass. In “Live Free” he’s leaping out of exploding cars, and taking huge dives. This is Axel Foley’s ultimate undoing from the every man cop to the action figure superhero. In the first movie he’s using his wits and clever use of improv to sneak in to corners of the underworld.

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Beverly Hills Cop II (1987)

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The follow up to the massive Eddie Murphy star maker from 1984 is a much different film than the original. While Martin Brest had a lot more of his film tilted in to comedy action, Tony Scott tilts this sequel in favor more of action comedy. There’s the patent Axel Foley goofy comedy that we’ve seen before, but Scott also injects a lot of his own sensibilities that help his installment stand out. The usual orange and brown hazy lens are included unabashedly. There’s also a lot of Scott’s penchant for framing establishing scenes with wide shots of establishing settings.

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Jaws: The Revenge (1987)

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I’ve never liked “Jaws: The Revenge.” Even as a kid who would watch anything that was on TV, I would often doze off during “The Revenge.” And that’s saying a lot since the movie technically has killer sharks in it. I’m glad I’m not in the minority as “The Revenge” has ranked up there with embarrassing sequels like “Staying Alive” and “The Exorcist II” and for good reason. “The Revenge” is a further slap in the face of the 1975 film, first killing off one of Brody’s children to a—ahem—vengeful shark. And then we later come to learn that Martin Brody has also died off screen from a massive heart attack. So that’s it? Brody gets a cheap off screen death, and the shark gets a very goofy movie serial revenge arc. Got it.

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Jaws 3D (1983)

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With all that we now know about marine parks, Joe Alves’ “Jaws 3” isn’t just a terrible film, but it’s also one filled with awful undertones. The cast of “rah rah America actors with white teeth spend the majority of the mostly dull “Jaws 3D” obliviously trying to turn the newest discovery of a massive great white in to a new attraction. Meanwhile the writers and producer seem to turn “Jaws 3D” in to an almost pitch video for the Jaws ride in Universal. After “Black Fish” in 2013 we learned so much the heinous treatment of these poor animals, and how there are aren’t any real winners or losers.

There is just a mangled shark, imprisoned dolphins, and loyal scuba expert Matthew.

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Jaws 2 (1978)

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You either die a hero or live long enough to become a villain. That’s the sad fate for Sheriff Brody who, years after the events of “Jaws,” is now seen as the crackpot of Amity Island. Despite the fact that the mayor admitted defeat in the end of “Jaws,” and in spite of academic backing, and a very experienced shark hunter dying at the teeth of the beast, Amity Island has a streak of memory loss prompting a lot of people to forget what Sheriff Brody accomplished at the end of the original movie.

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Jaws (1975)

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I can’t imagine saying anything about “Jaws” that hasn’t already been said by hundreds of movie buffs all around the world. It’s all at once a movie about fear of the unknown, the trauma of being controlled by our fear, and man vs nature. “Jaws” is absolutely flawless gem that worked on little resources and so many accidents that director Steven Spielberg had to literally take bruised, busted, lemons to make lemonade. “Jaws” had every potential to fail and be an infamous box office flop, but its measured tension, deliberate pacing, and ability to establish our heroes before their fateful battle on the ocean with the shark.

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Beverly Hills Cop (1984)

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Director Martin Brest’s film came at just the right time at just the right period of the 1980’s. This was a time where Eddie Murphy was writing his own ticket in Hollywood and could do whatever he wanted, and with “Beverly Hills Cop,” he managed to carve out a pretty underrated action hero. In spite of the film’s massive success and cultural influence Axel Foley is often ignored in the annals of movie heroes alongside John McLane or Dutch. It’s probably because Eddie Murphy plays Axel more in the arena of comedy than he does as a straight forward police officer.

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