Tag Archives: Eddie Murphy

Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F (2024)

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Now Streaming Exclusively on Netflix.

A lot of what counts for the success of “Axel F” is that it Keeps it all Simple. Axel Foley is no different the man he was when we first met him in 1984. That works for and against the character as while he’s still the huckster and con man that we love, it’s managed to make him someone who’s alienated a lot of the people in his life. But what makes Mark Molloy’s take on the character so very good is that it doesn’t aim for huge heights. It’s just another adventure with Axel Foley in Beverly Hills. Except this time he’s so much older and a wee bit slower.

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Beverly Hills Cop III (1994)

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Now Available to Stream and on Physical Home Media.

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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Now Available to Stream and on Physical Home Media.

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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Beverly Hills Cop (1984)

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Now Available to Stream and on Physical Home Media.

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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From SNL to the Big Screen

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For every Bill Murray and Will Ferrell who made the successful transition from “Saturday Night Live” to big-screen acclaim, there were more who either never made the jump or had a spurt of movie stardom before petering out. ArmchairCinema.com’s Jerry Dean Roberts returns to the “Online Movie Show” podcast to discuss why some SNL comics became movie stars and others didn’t.

The episode can be heard here.

The Haunted Mansion (2003)

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hauntedmansionIt is a shame that “The Haunted Mansion” has the Eddie Murphy taint all over it. I think there’s a good movie to be made about “The Haunted Mansion” and it doesn’t involve the same old Eddie Murphy tropes we’ve seen in the past fifteen years. Eddie Murphy is once again a dopey work a day man who babbles to himself, and is so self involved he can’t notice his family is right in front of him. It’s the same goofy plot points that count as conflict in Eddie Murphy movies these days. Murphy is one note yet again as workaholic dad Jim Evers, a dopey real estate agent impossibly married to a beautiful woman who is, as always, put upon and ever patient toward his priorities of choosing work over family. When Jim’s wife Sara is called to an old mansion to oversee the property, Jim tags along hoping to garner a sale.

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Daddy Day Care (2003)

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2003_daddy_day_care_010Eddie Murphy’s career continues its downhill slope into oblivion with this bad and bland re-tread of “Mr. Mom.” Taking it’s cue from “Mr. Mom”, Charlie Hinton is fired from his job as an advertising exec when his department shuts down, and now he and his friend Phil are out of work and must stay home to take care of their children and are forced to be father’s again. But when they begin getting desperate to get back to work, they decide to market taking care of children and begin a daycare center despite the fact they have no real qualifications nor are they ever asked by the parents. In a skewed attempt they begin taking care of children and engage in various derivative scenes involving toilet humor, relying on children’s amusing qualities to draw laughter, and the usual falling over stuff for comedy.

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