The Next Karate Kid (1994)

 Genre: Drama
Directed by: Christopher Cain
Cast: Hilary Swank, Noriyuki “Pat” Morita, Michael Ironside
Running Time: 107 minutes

 

Mr. Myagi becomes the temporary caretaker of the teenage granddaughter of his late commanding officer, after attending a commemoration for Japanese-American soldiers in Boston. Julie Pierce is an angry teenage orphan being raised by her grandmother. Myagi helps channel that anger through karate.

While this fourth installment in the Karate Kid franchise was really not necessary, this film is saved by good acting from Pat Morita and Hilary Swank. I remember having a little crush on Swank after first seeing this film, in the 90’s. The story does not lead to much, with an anti-climactic predictable end, but, as I said, the acting made this sufferable.

Rating: «««

Beverly Hills Cop (1984)

Genre: Action / Comedy
Directed by: Martin Brest
Cast: Eddie Murphy, Judge Reinhold, John Ashton 

Running Time: 105 minutes

 

Axel Foley is young and brash detective from Detroit who travels to Beverly Hills, on his own time, to solve the mysterious murder of his best friend.

I have been on an Eddie Murphy trip as of late, and it is amazing to see how good he once was at comedy. It is also sad to see how far he has fallen as of late.

In Beverly Hills Cop, Murphy is young and hip, and he is in top comedic form. He radiates off the screen and carries this film by himself. This is a fun action-comedy flick. Sure, it contains a good dose of clichés of the era, but it is still so enjoyable.

Rating: ««««

Cosmopolis (2012)

Genre: Drama / Thriller
Directed by: David Cronenberg
Cast: Robert Pattinson, Paul Giamatti, Samantha Morton 

Running Time: 109 minutes

 

Based on the Don DeLillo novel of the same name, Cosmopolis is the story of young billionaire Eric Packer, who is stuck in Manhattan traffic in the back of his limo/office trying to get to his favorite barber for a haircut. As he is personal and professional life is falling apart, Packer meets up with various people to discuss business and trivial nonsense.

While this film is not without its artistic merits, thanks especially to the good work done by Cronenberg and Pattinson, I found it overly difficult to get emotionally invested in this film. It was very dry, with a lot of nonsensical gibberish for dialogue. Thankfully, there were a few glimpses of brilliance that made me thankful for making the effort to keep ploughing through.

Rating: «««

The Karate Kid Part III (1989)

Genre: Drama
Directed by: John G. Avildsen
Cast: Ralph Macchio, Noriyuki “Pat” Morita, Martin Kove
Running Time: 113 minutes

 

Daniel LaRusso and Mr. Myagi are back from Okinawa and they must now contend with an old foe: namely the former sensei of Cobra Kai, John Kreese. Kreese is backed up by wealthy entrepreneur Terry Silver, who intends to make Daniel San’s life a nightmare to force him to compete again in the karate competition to defend his title.

While the first two installments in the Karate Kid movie franchise were really solid, this second sequel is quite weak. The story lacks focus, with lots of rehashing, and some of the acting is quite bad. One scene where Terry Silver shares his plan on the phone with John Kreese and starts laughing maniacally was cringeworthy and very cheesy. There were a few rare glimpses of hope here and there, but they were all swashed with the lame duck ending.

Rating: ««

Coming 2 America (2021)

Genre: Comedy
Directed by: Craig Brewer
Cast: Eddie Murphy, Arsenio Hall, Jermaine Fowler 

Running Time: 134 minutes

 

Upon his father King Jaffe Joffer’s death, Prince Akeem is crowned king of Zamunda. The nation now needs a new prince, but Akeem and his wife only have daughters, and crowning a woman is against the rules. Akeem finds out he has a bastard son in America, from back when he went to New York the first time, so he travels back to the US to find his future prince.

The film is so bad, it should have never come to life. They tried to sail on nostalgia, but that boat sank fast. The attempts at humor in the script were lame and the acting was so uninspired, it is painful to watch. A few bright lights were Wesley Snipes and Leslie Jones. Snipes was a cool surprise, and Jones basically played her usual character well enough in a dose just small enough to not become too much.

The preachiness of the film was also annoying. I get wanting to be a product of your time, but there are ways to convey a message without being so blatant and unimaginative. The overdose of wokeness almost put me to sleep.

Rating: ««

Black Panther (2018)

 Genre: Superhero
Directed by: Ryan Coogler
Cast: Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong’o 

Running Time: 134 minutes

 

Following his father’s death, T’Challa is crowned king of Wakanda and given the role of Black Panther. But, a long lost cousin N’Jadaka, arrives with the goal of overthrowing the king and starting a global revolution.

The beginning of this film almost completely lost me. It felt like I was coming in halfway through, with no idea who were these characters and what was going on. Maybe it was a lack of nerdiness on my part, but I had a hard time getting emotionally involved. Eventually, things got better and actions picked up.

The acting was fine. Visually-speaking, this film was amazing. The story was a little complex and overloaded for me. Overall, this maybe just was not my thing.

Rating: ««

Framing Britney Spears (2021)

Genre: Documentary
Directed by: Samantha Stark
Cast: Britney Spears, Dave Holmes, Wesley Morris
Running Time: 74 minutes

 

This New York Times documentary looks at the situation of pop star Britney Spears, who was legally put under a conservatorship managed by her father in 2008 following a very publicized breakdown. Now over 12 years later, Spears is trying to get the courts to remove her father from the conservatorship and the singer’s fans are clamoring for the same thing to happen.

This is an interesting film, though it is quite short and incomplete. It gives a general idea of the situation, but none of the people closely involved in the situation were involved enough in the film to give any pertinent information. Still, the movie brought more attention to the case and got a lot of people to apologize publicly for their treatment of Britney Spears over the years. If that was part of the goal, well that was accomplished.

Rating: «««