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MrMuscleHead
Reviews
Deadline Auto Theft (1983)
Running in Circles
What a rip-off! Deadline Auto Theft is actually the original Gone in 60 Seconds with some very minor editing. It is well established that Gone in 60 Seconds 2 is unfinished and this shows the stunt sequences that would have been in that film. That amounts to about 33 minutes of car chases with no storyline to speak of. If you've seen the original Gone in 60 Seconds, acquiring this film will be an extraordinary waste of time unless for some reason you insist on seeing the complete Halicki body of work, in which case, the special features are quite nice. Everyone else should rent this, or the original Gone in 60 Seconds, not both.
Never Say Never Again (1983)
Focus on the women, not the script
Even a bad James Bond movie has considerable entertainment value. Unfortunately, Never Say Never Again IS a bad James Bond movie.
This time, SPECTRE has stolen a pair of nuclear weapons and is demanding tribute from the world's wealthiest nations. Bond, played by Sean Connery, finds himself up against a megalomaniac and his own boss, M, who disapproves of the 00 agents. The 00 boss disapproving of the 00's is one of a number of script elements that doesn't make much sense to the alert viewer.
Connery's acting is the only selling point of this film (Too old? No way!) Klaus-María Brandauer as Maximilian Largo is a peculiar villain that certainly comes off as mad, but not really threatening. Barbara Carrera as Fatima Blush is more than threatening, but perhaps she is hamming it up a bit too much for the cameras. Kim Basinger has all of the beauty of a Barbie doll, but her character, Domino Petachi has only slightly more personality than a Barbie doll.
The Bond women have all of the sex appeal that you expect, but the gadgets, the stunts, the soundtrack, and the climax all fall short. Viewers with some passion for 007 movies will not want to miss this. More casual viewers have better options available.
Chris Rock: Bigger & Blacker (1999)
Better medicine than Robitussin
The Doug E. Fresh intro perfectly sets the mood for the frantic and energetic Chris Rock. Bigger & Blacker is an HBO production filmed in the Apollo Theater and is brilliant satire from the perspective of an African-American.
Rock lays the smack down on topics such as school violence, gun control, irresponsible parents, neglected fathers, infidelity, bigotry, and the poor state of health care. His assertions are blunt, bold, and are fired from point-blank: "A man is only as faithful as his options", "Men lie but women are much bigger liars", "Blacks and whites have little to complain about, consider the state of Native Americans".
All of Rock's material is solid and most of it is intelligent and thought-provoking. He slips into crudeness only briefly as he suggests that the blind be assigned to midgets instead of seeing-eye dogs and when he mentions his contempt for women that don't provide oral servicing. Also, he picks on white people a little, but it is not really funny like when Richard Pryor teased white people. These minor flaws are certainly not deal breakers. Rock is providing a solid hour of comedy here. He has a superb rapport with his audience and his delivery is very good overall with only a couple instances of repeating himself or otherwise stalling as he gathers his thoughts. This is an adult show and profanity is used liberally, but not quite what I would consider gratuitously. Overall this is a very good show that all fans of stand-up comedy, should consider viewing. Chris Rock deserves to go home to the big piece of chicken (inside joke-watch the show).