NickSavage's Reviews

Chinatown Kid (1977)

1 April 2004

I don't normally watch martial arts movies that take place in a modern day city, but I kept seeing parts of this movie on T.V. and it eventually caught my interest.

This is actually a good movie. You do sort of get close to some of the characters (good acting for this type of movie).

Watching this movie today, it does feel rather dated, with the bell-bottom pants and some of the background music. Though, some of the music is kind of "cool" sounding, and fits in with the scenes. Wait till you see the modern digital wrist watch that the lead character becomes obsessed with (remember those big ones where you had to push a button to see the red LED light up the time? I do!)

The story is good and does have some morals to it. The scenery does look rather phoney. It looks as if a strong wind might blow down some of the stores downtown. Is a hot dog stand supposed to convince us that this is really America?

The dubbing is also very funny, and stereo-typical of Chinese people and kung fu movies.

Most of the fight scenes in this are not that great, and is probably the film's weak point. There seems to be too many fight scenes in this movie anyway. This is one of those rare martial arts film where the plot is more interesting than the fighting.

To some it up, this movie does have "campy" elements, and there are some poor production qualities. But the acting, character development, story, and even a few positive production values make this into a very watchable movie.

I recommend this to fans of Chinese martial arts movies, especially the older 70's/80's movies. Or anyone who likes to watch something a little different from time to time.

7 out of 10 stars.

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The Joe Piscopo Special (1984 TV Special)

One of the best Michael Jackson parodies!

21 February 2004

This is another one of those little known classics. I do not consider myself to be a fan of Joe Piscopo material, but this one is really good.

The skits I remember from this are as follows-

In one skit, J.P. is portraying a homeless guy that lives in an alley who one day finds a pair of "magical drum sticks" in the trash and becomes a fabulous drummer. Eventually he joins a big rock band, gets hooked on cocaine, almost dies, and ends up back in the alley where he started, and where he seems to be happiest.

The whole skit is less than 10 minutes, with little or no dialog, and is very funny as well as insightful.

The highlight of this video is a fantastic parody on the Michael Jackson "Thriller" video. It begins just like the original one. J.P. is walking his girl friend through the woods. As the full moon rises, J.P. slowly turns in to---Jerry Lewis!

The dance scenes in this are great and hilarious. You will die laughing when you see it. I put this parody up there with Steve Martin's "Billie Jean" (also very hard to find).

Eddie Murphy's scenes are also good, and its easy to see that these guys were probably friends in real life. Good chemistry.

This should be on DVD! 8 out of 10 stars.

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The New Show (1984)

Love to see this again!

20 February 2004

I only remember a couple of episodes of this. The best skit I saw was the Steve Martin "Billie Jean" parody (which I could not find under the Steve Martin Television Appearances section on IMDB).

Another skit that stands out was the "Cartoon Bloopers" skit. The idea was so original and ridiculous at that time, although the idea has been somewhat over-used in recent years. Like, "The Jetsons", George is supposed to enter a room, and the space-age door slides up half way and gets stuck, and you can hear him laughing on the other side of the door. Great stuff!

Would love to see a "Best Of" DVD for this show!

8 out of 10 stars.

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Vice Squad (1982)

Edge-of-your-seat suspense!

20 February 2004

I remember this movie very well as one of the most suspenseful movies of the 80's. Definitely Wing's best performance. Very menacing as the pimp "Ramrod". You really feel for his victims and want to see him get his.

Don't watch "Terror in the Isles" before you see this movie. The clips they show give the ending away.

Watch for a small part by Re-Run (What's Happening).

Where's the DVD?!?!

Nine out of ten stars.

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Office Space (1992)

Too Funny!

25 December 2003

I saw this animated short on a Comedy Central re-run of Saturday Night Live and laughed so hard, I've been going crazy to find out more about it. The animation is similar to the Dr. Katz series and consists entirely of a man sitting behind a desk complaining about stuff at his job.

The funniest thing is that this guy reminds me of people I have known in my life time. I'm sure many people will be able to relate to this guy.

I hope this short turns up on a DVD some day (it may already be).

10 stars.

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Clifford (1994)

Back to Classic Martin Short!

13 October 2003

This movie is hilarious! Martin Short reverts back to his original "weird & off the wall" humor (SCTV, Glick) in this very funny comedy. This is what he does best.

Though I did enjoy him in other movies in recent years, like "Innerspace", "A Simple Wish", etc., I felt that he was sort of holding back. This movie ushers Mr. Short back into great original comedy stuff.

Although I'll admit- not everyone will find this as funny. You have to be able to appreciate his non-traditional type of comedy. Sort of like "Pee Wee's Big Adventure". I also loved this movie. So, you see, I guess you have to be a little strange to understand - and be amused by - this sort of material.

Funniest moment for me - at the dinner, when some older lady kept making over how "adorable" Clifford was - and he just loses it!

Funniest line - "Oh Ms. Sarah - Uncle Martin's gone Nutty-Nuts! Classic Martin Short!

I don't know why this hasn't been released on DVD yet. I hope it will be soon. 8 out of 10 stars.

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Revenge of the Ninja (1983)

My favorite "American Made" Martial Arts Movie.

11 October 2003

After seeing "Enter The Ninja" in the movie theater that I worked at in the early 80's, I cringed of the thought of having to watch another American made martial arts movie when my boss notified me that "Revenge..." would be our next attraction. When the movie opened in 1983 and I watched the opening scene, I was drawn in and hooked!

Everything about this movie seemed perfect (except the acting). The locations were great. The colors and lighting in the film were great. And the fight scenes were fantastic.

I just purchased the DVD to see how well this has held up through the years, and I must say it has held up quite well. I didn't even remember this movie being so bloody and violent (I had to quickly usher the "under 10" crowd away from the TV). Even by today's standards, this movie holds on tight to its "R" rating for violence. There is very little profanity and very little sex in this film.

It's funny that a movie with such good production values would have such bad acting. I mean some of the lines in this movie are delivered so badly I had to laugh out loud. And the "thugs" in the park look like the Village People!

Honestly though, this is, in my opinion, a great action movie. And the characters, in spite of bad acting, are quite likeable (or hateful, whichever appropriate for the character).

I also thought the music track was excellent, and doesn't really sound dated now like a lot of early 80's movies.

I recommend this movie with eight out of ten stars.

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Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)

9/10

Great Film- All Things Considered.

4 August 2003

When I went to see Terminator 3, I was so afraid of what I might be in for. So many sequels in years past have really let me down. But, in spite of James Cameron and Linda Hamilton's absence, and the fact that this was made over 10 years after T2, this film was not bad at all. In fact, I enjoyed this over all other summer movies so far.

I thought the action and the effect scenes were great, as well as Arnold's third performance as the terminator. And that "Terminatrix". She was perfect. She came as close as one could wish for in terms of a superior cyborg and was ALMOST as menacing as the T1000 from T2. This movie also does a good job of staying on track with the original story.

I've heard comments about how the "time travel stuff doesn't make sense because John Connor bla bla bla"... Lets face it folks, when you try to work out all of the impossible scenarios with time travel movies like Back to the Future, Terminator, etc., you can find a million "but what ifs", so don't think that hard. Lets remember, its fiction.

I would highly recommend this to all Terminator fans, as well as fans of Sci-Fi or action movies for the summer.

This ones definitely going in my DVD collection upon release.

8 out of 10.

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Iceman (1984)

Slow, but with beauty.

23 July 2003

I remember seeing this movie in the theater in 1984, and, though I don't agree with the evolution aspect of the film, I found it quite a beautifully told story.

Tim Hutton and the actor who played the caveman both did very convincing jobs with the rolls.

It does move a little slow at times, but if you stay with it, the bitter-sweet ending will really choke you up.

The sound track fits in perfectly. Seven out of ten stars.

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Secrets (1977 TV Movie)

Another good 70's TV movie

23 July 2003

Its been over 25 years since I've seen this one, but I do remember that it was very captivating, even for a 16 year old (at the time of broadcast).

One thing that really stuck in my memory from this movie was the scene in which Blackley was having helucinations of seeing her deceased mother. One scene comes to mind when she heard her name called from behind, "Andrea!" and she turns to see her dead mother in a rocking chair looking very eerie, while creepy music was being played. The youths that were watching this movie with me also got the creeps from this scene.

No, this isn't a horror movie, but I guess as a teenager, anything scary in a movie always stood out.

This is another movie that would be nice to see on DVD some day, along with so many other TV movies from the 70's. Maybe even a cable network (like Lifetime or something) that shows only TV movies from the past.

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Demon Cop (1990)

Like a Home - Made Video

5 July 2003

I recently saw this movie on a local independent channel and it sparked my curiosity. It was very hard to follow and suffers from lack of production quality and actors. The film lists the late Cameron Mitchell as the main star of the movie (best known for tons of B flicks and 70's TV appearances like "Fantasy Island"). When I saw him at talking at the beginning of the movie, I figured I'd be watching a cheap B horror movie. Instead, what I found was something like what I would have made on my home movie video camera when I was a teenager.

First off, Cameron Mitchell only makes two appearances in the whole movie, about 3 minutes at the beginning and 3 minutes at the end. He is supposed to be some kind of Doctor or something and he's telling a story about what happened to one of his experimental patients or something. In both scenes, he's sitting at a desk in an office and at no time does he appear in any of the scenes of the movie or interact with any of the "actors". I heard a narrator at times throughout the movie that could possibly be Mitchell, but with the sound quality being so bad, I couldn't tell if it was him.

I can't really comment on the plot to much, due to the fact that I had a very hard time following it (partly due to the sound track). A couple of detectives are investigating a series of murders in a suburban / city area. A man (I guess its Mitchell's patient) has a disease that causes him to turn into a sort of werewolf - looking monster.

This movie seems to have been shot on video and fades to black after almost every scene. I did observe some film scratch lines from time to time which could have been added for effect. This movie also has an overwhelming 80's feeling to it - back ground music, clothing, set designs, etc. There seems to be a lot of voice sound - overs (dubbing) that is not very well done.

To point out just a very few positives, the make-up effects aren't too bad. This might have been O.K. as a 15 minute short, and shows some, if little, hope for the cast and crew involved.

Feeling generous today, I'll give this movie 1 out of 10 stars.

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D.C. Cab (1983)

The first cut was better!

4 July 2003

Warning: Spoilers

I was previleged to screen this movie with theater owners and critics a couple of months before it was actually released in 1983. I loved it! It had great characters for that era. Mr. T played his role very believably and really hammed up those classic Mr. T phrases ("Fool", etc.). The support cast was also very good. Lots of action, comedy, and a very satisfying happy ending. On the film's opening night, I couldn't wait to see it again.

I was very disappointed to find that, for reasons unknown, the original ending with Irene Cara had been ommitted.

WARNING- POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD!

*Note- This next paragraph should be noted under "Alternate Versions" for IMDB.

In the films original ending, we get to see our heroes at the White House in the evening. Irene Cara, who had taken a ride Tyrone's cab early in the movie, mentions in that scene that she will be singing at the White House, and arranges for Tyrone and his friends to observe the concert from outside. Irene Cara could be seen superimposed through the window of the White House. I think she was wearing a red dress. I just remember she looked fantastic! It sounds a little corny, but the cab gang was all there and you had that feeling of everyone living happily ever after.

What we see in the released cut of the movie is, after the rescue of the children, the scene jumps to a large parade down Pennsylvania Avenue in downtown Washington DC. The parade seems to be in honor of the cabbies. You hear the Irene Cara song as the credits roll. The End.

Not bad, but that feeling of satisfaction just wasn't as good. Some others that had viewed it at that screening agreed. The movie as a whole just didn't have the same feeling without that original ending.

Incidently, the White House ending was mentioned in the Washington Post movie review on the movie's opening day. I guess they didn't tell the film critic about the changes.

All in all, DC Cab is a very entertaining movie and I can recommend it for those who just want to have a fun, somewhat mindless comedy movie evening. My only other complaint is that they should have edited some of the language - the only thing keeping this from a PG rating. This movie is very entertaining for children and suffers from all the profanity. I give this 7 out of 10 stars - but would give 9 for the original cut.

Maybe we will see it on DVD some day with the much needed original ending!

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