I don’t know what’s weirder, the fact that movie is a satire of women in prison movies or that I recognized that 90 percent of the cast for “Bikini Chain Gang” are porn stars. But then Fred Olen Ray’s comedy about women in prison is really just a mid-level porno that’s about ninety minutes. Well–fifty, when you cut out the monotonous sex scenes that injected mid-story. Basically, the story is so utterly simple it’s as if Fred Olen Ray wrote the premise down on a cocktail napkin in between bouts of Scotch and sniffing coke off of Asian strippers’ backs.
Tag Archives: Crime
21 Jump Street: The Complete Series, Seasons 1-5 (DVD)
Before Hollywood came along and turned it in to a buddy comedy, “21 Jump Street” was actually once an edgy crime drama. For its time and the decade, “21 Jump Street” was a controversial series that tackled many issues plaguing the headlines including murder, the drug epidemic, abortion, illegal immigration and the like. Even almost two decades after its end, “21 Jump Street” is still a high octane and truly engrossing crime series that is admittedly a bit hokey, but still manages to soak in the audience with its sharp performances and engrossing plot lines.
“21 Jump Street” is most famous of course for being the launch pad for star Johnny Depp, who transformed from obscure actor, to teen heartthrob overnight and managed to be one of the few successful eighties icons who transformed from teen heartthrob to acting legend and superstar in a matter of years. But “21 Jump Street” has a lot more going for it than Depp. Even if the show’s best years involve Depp. Let’s face it, Depp is basically the lifeline for the series for a majority of the show as his character is one of the best ever written on the series, while he manages to possess an incredible rapport and chemistry with star David DeLuise.
For a good part of the early seasons, the best episodes involve interplay between the two actors, who approach every case with wisecracks and bad assery that is hard to topple once Depp leaves the show for greener pastures. Everything about “21 Jump Street” is still fresh from the get go, from the great theme song to its cases that involve issues like pre-teen alcohol abuse and students bringing guns to school, all of which are still prevalent in our society and still very relevant social issues. The premise of the show is very much in the vein of “The Mod Squad” in which young looking police officers masquerade as teachers and students in local schools allowing them to infiltrate gangs and social groups leaving them to solve certain crime and cases that the local authorities can’t. The cast is made up of diverse and very entertaining actors, all of whom are given their own episodes and chances to shine and will allow audiences to root for them. Holly Robinson is still very attractive and bold as Judy Hoffs, while Dustin Nguyen is a stand out as officer Harry Ioki.
“21 Jump Street” is a healthy mixture of procedural crime drama with some teenage angst that delves not only in to the cases but the personal lives of the individual officers all of whom manage to leave their assignments affected and traumatized in one way or another. Further in to the show, the casting of Richard Grieco in place of Johnny Depp is not much of a departure as he fulfills the bad boy role quite well offering a smoldering performance as Officer Dennis Booker. Overall, like most shows of this ilk, it dives in to the deep end and jumps the shark by season four, but it’s still a very entertaining and action packed crime drama with stylish ensemble performances, and some truly action packed moments for fans of cop shows. Hardcore fans of Johnny Depp need apply if they’re interested in seeing how he went from Tiger Beat to Oscar Fodder.
House Party 2 (1991)
Kid has had a tough road ahead of him. In the original “House Party” we learn his mom died, and when we meet him in the sequel his father has died too. This is obviously to coincide with the death of comedian Robin Harris who played Kid’s father in the original, and it’s sad he couldn’t present us with a funny performance for this sequel. He was hilarious in the original, and a great foil for Kid. This time around Kid is living with Play, now an orphan, and is on his way to college. This is a great addition to Kid’s back story and adds some real emotional anchor to the film, because Kid is now pressured to live up to his dad’s legacy and achieve an education that his dad was so desperate for him to accomplish.
House Party (1990)
Kid n Play originally began their careers as rap rivals, and you can sense a lot of that rivalry in their performances as Kid and Play in “House Party.” Much of that interplay of two rappers pitted against each other is carried over, even though the film establishes them as best friends. Very often “House Party” involves Kid and Play making a move on the same girl, and competing for attention not only for their friends, but from pretty much everyone they come across. Because of that “House Party” is a bonafide party film that is quite the entertaining guilty pleasure, if you’re willing to re-visit the early nineties. Born from the remnants of the eighties, “House Party” is a film that’s awfully dated but still very fun and equally funny to sit through.
The Crow (1994) [Blu-Ray]
It’s hard to believe that it’s been almost twenty years since the release of Brandon Lee’s final film, but here we were with a brand new release of his landmark film “The Crow.” In a long overdue treatment it deserves more than most titles out on the Blu-Ray format as we speak “The Crow” hasn’t shown wrinkles at all. “The Crow” is a film that garners a soundtrack with some of the most notable rockers of the nineties, along with some rather of the decade colloquialisms, and still manages to feel completely and utterly timeless. That’s because the world Alex Proyas shapes in his 1994 masterpiece is void of shape and time.
Remote (1993)
“Home Alone” was a smash hit in America, and to this day it’s one of the landmark blockbuster films of all time based solely around such a simplistic formula of comedy and storytelling. After the success of “Home Alone” every single studio in America from the big guns to the low budget filmmakers sought to create their very own successful film starring a rambunctious kid and a group of inept criminals with some physical comedy thrown in for good measure. Many variations tried and failed. Among them was Charles Band’s very own “Remote.” Directed by Ted Nicolaou “Remote” is a film I vaguely remember back in the days of VHS rentals.
Batman: The Line (2011)
I don’t know too much about Batman lore and I don’t pretend to. So it’s a tall order to ask viewers to keep in mind that this film is set between two issues of Batman that they likely never read before. Surely enough though, “Batman: The Line” works within the context of the Jason Todd storyline and really doesn’t take much time to expound on the scenario we’re witnessing save for a newspaper clipping of what occurred before we set down on Batman and the current Robin.