BEYOND THE LAW

 

BEYOND THE LAW =  C

I first became aware of this film probably 20 years ago or more.  I've simply never seen it anywhere to buy or rent.  So when it came up on one of the streaming services, I decided to check it out.  The film was a mixture of strengths and weaknesses.  I think where the film went wrong was in not making Charlie Sheen's character of Daniel/Sid, interesting or likable.  That's not to say that he didn't have redeemable qualities.  He was much more of an anti-hero, than he was a hero though.  There was as much to dislike about the character as there was to like about him.  Every time he did something that made you want to empathize with him, and start to reason with him, he'd turn around and do something to make you dislike him again. It was an interesting character study, one that I feel could have been done better. 

It's also interesting to go back and watch something from nearly 32 years ago.  Charlie Sheen would have been about 28 years old when this film came out. Probably 26 or 27 when it was filmed.  It's amazing to see how much he's grown and improved as an actor over the years. While his performance was by no means bad here, it wasn't going to win him any awards either.  There were kinks in the armor, and it'd be fun to see him tackle such a project now, as he's had three decades to perfect his craft. 

I think what really saved this film was Michael Madsen's performance as Blood. Madsen was born to play such characters.   While the film kept a very serious tone throughout, with no moments of comic relief or levity, Madsen added something to keep it from becoming too monotonous.   As to the other performances, I didn't think there was enough given screen time to make much of an opinion.  Especially that of Linda Foriento.  She simply seemed to be there in order to give Sid a love interest, with little substance. 

Not something I'd go back to again.  While the film had some good parts, it dragged in others.  

BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE

 

BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE = A 

Funnier, more intriguing, and more interesting than the original.  I really enjoyed this film.  With that said, I do have a couple of complaints. Or perhaps better stated, I feel there a few things that the film could have done better.  I'll get those out of the way. 

First and foremost, I feel there was way too much focus on the Charles Deetz character.  Jeffery Jones wasn't even in the film, and while his character's death was essential to the plot, the attention he otherwise received was inconsequential. Furthermore it slowed the pace of the film down.  The character of Jeremy Frazier was much more interesting and evoking yet received far less screen time.  His comeuppance was still satisfying, yet if he were given more character development and buildup for us as an audience to truly hate him, it would have been all the more rewarding.  The film lollygagged around with the setup and then rushed through the payoff.   I also felt the film could have ended as easily with their final victory.  The dream sequence at the end added nothing to the film and if anything took away from how good the ending could have been had the credits rolled minutes earlier. 

Enough with the negative, onto the positive. 

Winona Ryder did an excellent job of encompassing the character she played over 30 years ago.  It's not always easy for actors to get back into roles they have defamiliarized from for so long, but it is as if she never left.  I couldn't believe how young she still looks, despite being 52 years old.  I'll same the same for Michael Keaton, who walked right into the shoes of Betelgeuse as if he had never taken them off.  Props to the makeup department for making the 73 year old look so good for his age.  Which not to go off on a tangent, but this point must be made... Michael Keaton at 73, Catherine O'Hara at 70 and Willem Dafoe at 70, all nailed their roles.  I hear so often the excuse of, "We could never see another sequel because so and so is too old" and they're often talking about actors 10 to 15 years younger.  As if we could never see " " because this actor is, Heaven fobid, 57 years old!  Give me a break.  Keaton is 73, and he did Betelgeuse every bit as well as he did when he was 36.  

The point of adding new characters to a film franchise is to enrich the franchise and add something good to it.  I feel all the new characters helped to do this. Jenna Ortega as Astrid Deetz fit into her place like a perfect puzzle piece.  Large enough to be noticed and appreciated, yet not trying to take up more space than she needed to.  As said before, I really liked the Jeremy character, wish the conniving psychopath would have been given more time in the story, but Arthur Conti did enough to make me wanna break his nose. So, job well done. 

As always, feel as if I could say more and as if I should say more, but over all really enjoyed this flick. 

There for a while I had avoided going to the theater.  Saw a handful of films I was either not impressed with at all, or at most, felt lackluster about.   Ashley talked me into giving a film a chance again, so we went and saw DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE.  I was thoroughly impressed.  So when she suggested BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE, I figured why not?    

The movies have won me over again.  Here's to hopefully keeping me around for a while. 

 

DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE = A 


Fun, engaging, and kept you entertained throughout, DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE was a film that kept hardcore comic book lovers and the casual movie goers happy alike. Usually, sequels focus in one of two directions.  Either keep in mind that it is a sequel, that requires linkage and continuity, in other words, you watched the parts before it for a reason.  Or, treat it like a totally new film, that is as fun and entertaining to a newcomer, even if they had never seen the previous films as a prerequisite.  DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE somehow or another managed to do both.  Having seen part one and part two, the characters and their back stories matched previous installments, but had someone came into this unaware and oblivious, they would not have felt totally left in the dark.  An extremely difficult thing to pull off, yet executed near flawlessly. 

Like a good meal that mixes all the ingredients, not too little, not too much, DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE had the right mixture of action, comedy and drama.  A great fight sequence, followed by a moment of levity, to a side-splitting gag.  Wolverine's speech about his fallen comrades was enough to bring you to tears, as Deadpool moments later dried them up with a well-timed joke.  

Some comic book films require you to be a hardcore comic book fan, obsessed and fixated upon the material.  DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE isn't one of them.  Yet if you are a hardcore, obsessed and fixated comic book fan, you're still going to enjoy this film anyway.  It had a little bit of everything for everyone, and it was amazing how well Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman worked together.   The filmmakers had to know that Reynolds was constantly going to try and upstage Jackman, and they tackled this obstacle by brilliantly writing it into the script.   I've enjoyed all the DEADPOOL movies, but this one really hit the nail on the head.