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I believe that Chris Farley has overstayed his welcome a bit. I'll admit, I liked the stuff he used to do on Saturday Night Live. And Tommy Boy was a great showcase for Farley's talents. But this movie is basically a rehash of the latter film, and it only shows how Farley's antics are becoming stupefying dull. He teams up again with David Spade (though not as successfully as in Tommy Boy), in this story of how a big, loud-but-lovable lug is screwing up his brother's chances of becoming the next Governor of Washington. Spade is basically given the task of keeping Farley out of trouble, which he of course fails to do.Farley's antics were fine the first time around, but like the recent work of Jim Carrey, his stuff is becoming obnoxious. The usual assortment of gross sight gags are mostly mean-spirited and get old real quick. And what's up with Spade?! Whereas he usually has wonderful sarcastic quips to go along with Farley's slapstick, here he's just standing around, looking like he wishes to be anywhere but in another Chris Farley movie. What makes this so bad is the fact that it drags out scenes that really do not need to be dragged out any further. The result is that the audience is either bored stiff or they shrink back in their seats. This is mostly due to the embarrassing fact that they shelled out six bucks to see this turkey.
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One of Clint Eastwood's most popular roles and the definitive dirty cop film, Eastwood plays a San Francisco detective tracking a serial killer. The killer (Andrew Robinson) is crafty, but he doesn't reckon with the die hard, break-all-the-rules tactics of Eastwood. And Eastwood always gets his man (thanks in part to his .357 Magnum), even if it means stepping over that fine line between being heroic and being psychotic.Eastwood sears the screen with his presence, with gracious help from gritty action Director Don Siegel, the sharp editing and the nifty score by Lalo Schifrin (the artist behind the Mission: Impossible theme). This is followed by four sequels, but none of them are as good as this adrenalin-filled action picture.
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Macauley Culkin was cute and charming for about one movie, but by the time he did this sequel, he beat that persona of his to death. Instead of being fresh and original, this sequel is just the first film, in a different setting and with some new characters thrown into the mix. Culkin gets lost again, this time in the Big Apple, with the same two yutzes (Daniel Stern and Joe Pesci) chasing after him. The usual assortment of traps are prepared by Culkin, for the single purpose of making the audience laugh. It was funny the first time, but once you've seen two clowns fall off a building or have bricks thrown on their heads, you've seen it all.The performers are simply going through the motions, except for perhaps Culkin, who seems to be having a ball doing the same stuff over and over again, at the expense of the audience getting bored beyond belief. If this is all Culkin could ever offer in the first place, he doesn't deserve any chance at "serious" acting (like his disastrous work in My Girl and The Good Son, which would have been better pictures without such "star power" involved).
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As I said before, Culkin was cute once, but enough with these dippy vanity productions. Culkin plays yet another cute-spunky little kid, who is sucked into the animated world of classic literature, where he meets an odd assortment of characters. Among them, there are his trusty trio of sidekicks, magic talking books (voiced respectfully by Whoopi Goldberg, Frank Welker and Patrick Stewart).This Disney wannabe has nothing to offer either adults or kids, except for maybe Culkin's star power. And we all know how lucky Culkin's star power has been for recent productions. Plus, the message that reading is important is laid on real thick. The animated sequences are standard and are so devoid of wonder and fulfillment, that it's no big surprise that kids will start snoring heavily before the film is even halfway through.
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The two talents of Clint Eastwood and Kevin Costner combined to make what they hoped to be a major success. Instead, it ended up clearing out theaters, which is a shame since the film isn't half bad. Costner stars as an escaped con, who takes a little kid hostage and travels cross country, with Texas Ranger Eastwood hot on his trail. In the meantime, the boy and the con become friends and begin to form a special bond.The movie is well-filmed by director-co-star Eastwood and cinematographer Jack Green, and it features some impressive performances, especially by Costner in an unusual role for him. The flaws are the overlong of the story, the lack of suspense for a film about a manhunt and the fact that, no matter how hard you try, you just can't see the charming Costner as a vicious killer. Better luck for Clint has unfolded in more recent dictatorial efforts, but this isn't the godawful bomb that it's made out to be.
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The film that did for Chris Farley's career what Ace Ventura did for Jim Carrey's. Unfortunately, like much of Carrey's later work, later efforts by Farley pale in comparison. The story is simple. A lovable dufus returns to his hometown, which is about to go under once its car factory, the only supplier of decent jobs in town, shuts down. It's up to Farley and his smug sidekick Richard (David Spade) to save the day. As the two travel across the country, they cause much havoc along the way.Stupid yes. But boring? NO. Most of it is mostly unbearably funny, though it does lose steam towards the end, when a predictable climax makes its grand entrance. Mostly, you should pay attention to the modern day Laurel and Hardy antics of Farley and Spade. Spade has the best moments, spewing out hilariously sarcastic lines by the dozen. If you're looking for anything intelligent here, I don't think this is the movie for you. But if you just want to have a good time, you've found the perfect couch potato film.
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Clint Eastwood returned to the Western genre in style, with this brilliant anti-violent look at the brutal lives of cowboys, lawmen and gunslingers, and the price they have to pay for such violence. It follows the last killing job of a one-time viscous killer (Eastwood), who simply wants to retire and get some much-needed money for his family and farm. He also wishes that he could repent for his brutal past, as does his friend and fellow traveler (Morgan Freeman). In the meantime, Sheriff "Little Bill" Daggett (Gene Hackman) is making sure nobody attempts to collect the reward Eastwood is after, mainly because it ruins his vision of law and order in his town. He takes drastic and bloody steps in keeping the bounty hunters from attempting to collect their rewards, which leads to the climactic showdown between Eastwood and Hackman.A dark, bleak western that truly explains the meaning of "You live by the gun, you die by the gun!". Eastwood, Freeman and especially Hackman give towering performances, as men who don't wish for violence, but get thrust into bloody conflicts none the less. I find it strange how these days, few films that show what violence really does to people (for those who cause it and those who are victims of it) are being made, while gory, cartoonish fare like The Rock, Under Siege and Escape From LA are still being made by the dozen each year. Still, Unforgiven is a more interesting substitute for such idiotic action fare, and a perfect throwback to the get-down-and-dirty style of Peckinpah westerns.
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