Shameless Self Expression

Paul Rudd (a glum, cynical type) and Seann William Scott (a Seann William Scott type) are a couple of ne’er-do-wells who get into serious trouble when on one of their usual trips to schools promoting a crappy energy drink called Minotaur. Rudd, depressed after his cynicism causes his relationship with lawyer Elizabeth Banks to end, pretty much goes postal their latest promotional visit, resulting in he and Scott being thrown in jail. Facing jail time, they are thrown a life-line; volunteering at Sturdy Wings, a group that matches emotionally needy/troubled kids with adult ‘mentors’. It’s a place run by a sarcastic, possibly insane former drug addict Gayle Sweeney (Jane Lynch), who seems to forget her point about halfway through a sentence but keeps on going anyway. Scott is paired up with a foul-mouthed, breast-obsessed 10 year-old (Bobb’e J. Thompson), whilst the cynical Rudd is paired with uber-geek Christopher Mintz-Plasse, who likes to escape in a world of Live Action Role Playing…

Sean Patrick Powder Flanery stars as an Albuquerque cop (!) determined to bring down elusive mad bomber Joe Pantoliano, after the latter rigged a bomb to Flanery’s wife and...well, let’s just say it ends unhappily, Pantoliano (who is also a piss-weak master of disguise) gets away, and Flanery wants this guy caught, real damn bad. Years after this personal trauma, semi-retired Flanery is spending most of his days getting acquainted with a liquor bottle in Mexico when FBI agent Carmen Serano (who has the strangest eyebrows I’ve ever seen) asks him to identify a recording of what is suspected to be Pantoliano’s voice, as Flanery is apparently the only one who has heard it. Before long, though, Flanery has reluctantly found his way into being an active part of the FBI hunt for Pantoliano’s terrorist known simply as ‘The Lion’. ‘Coz, damn it, he’s the only man for the job! But can the man with nothing left to lose control his desire for vigilante-style justice? Greg Serano turns up as Flan…

Claire Holt takes her sister Mandy Moore to Mexico to get over a breakup with her ex, who accused her of being boring. Well, they’re certainly not in for a boring trip. Skippered by old sea dog Matthew Modine, the sisters go out on a boat on the water, get into scuba gear, and lowered down in a cage to have some personal time with the sharks. At first it’s a fun bit of adrenaline rushing…and then something snaps and the cage plummets to the ocean floor. It’s going to get dark soon, communication with Modine is fuzzy, and there’s limited oxygen. Fun times.


Another day, another shark movie and sadly this 2017 flick from director Johannes Roberts (the weak “Storage 24”, the interesting “The Other Side of the Door”) and co-writer Ernest Riera (“The Other Side of the Door”) is a long way from “Jaws”. In fact, it’s quite similar to “Open Water”, only set underwater…and nowhere near as effective. It’s not very original, and it takes far too long to get to the nitty gritty. 25 minutes is far …

The story of enterprising, drug lord Nino Brown (Wesley Snipes), and the dedicated team of cops attempting to bring down his crack empire. These cops are led by Mario Van Peebles, and his street cops; reckless and oft-suspended Judd Nelson, and drug-hating Ice-T. It is the latter (who seems to know crack intimately) who takes a young crackhead (a young and superb Chris Rock) under his wing attempting to clean him up. This kid will later be a crucial part in the rule-bending street cops’ attempts at infiltrating Nino’s operations. Allen Payne is Nino’s long-suffering right hand man, Bill Nunn is cast against type as a stuttering thug, blaxploitation mainstay Thalmus Rasulala plays the police chief, and yes, that’s Nick Ashford of Ashford and Simpson as a corrupt politician.


Along with “Boyz N the Hood” and “Malcolm X”, this exciting, sometimes entertainingly schlocky, sometimes grimly honest 1991 Mario Van Peebles (director of the flat, black western “Posse”) film stands out as one of …

Young African-American Larenz Tate goes through all manner of hell in Vietnam, and comes home to find a) his neighbourhood has gone to hell, b) he can’t hold a job, c) his girlfriend Rose Jackson has given him a child he now needs to support, and Jackson has fallen in with a sleazy pimp (charismatic Clifton Powell), d) His best buddy (Chris Tucker, nearly as effective as Chris Rock was in “New Jack City” but not quite) has become a major crack head, and e) His one-legged former employer (Keith David, great as always, playing a pool-hall operator) has also fallen on hard times. So what’s a young black Vietnam veteran to do? Rob a bank of course! Somewhat unbelievably, Tate’s fellow robbers (in addition to Tucker and David) include a militant sister-in-law (N’Bushe Wright), and the nutjob killer who was in his platoon in ‘Nam (Bokeem Woodbine) and has now become a preacher. He’s about as effective in that job as say, D’Urville Martin’s character was in “Dolemite”. James Pickens Jr. and …