Straight Netflix'ing: The Ranch

As you all know, Sam Elliott is the man. The gravelly voiced dude with sweet hair and mustache from Shakedown, Road House, Tombstone, The Big Lebowski, We Were Soldiers, Hulk and many more is the epitome of cinematic cool and seems pretty chill in real life. Elliott is currently co-starring in the just released Netflix sitcom The Ranch with Ashton Kutcher, Danny Masterson and Debra Winger. I had seen a few blurbs stating that he and Winger were highlights of the comedy/drama series and several friends on Facebook seemed to be enjoying the show so we popped it on during a lazy Saturday. We were supposed to go see a few movies but after three weekends of gripping and ripping along with rainy weather, it seemed like the perfect day to kick back, eat a lot of food, drink a bit of whiskey and tear through a new series.

Created by TWO AND A HALF MEN's Jim Patterson and Don Reo, The Ranch starts at a modest (and very TV set looking) ranch in Colorado where high school sensation turned professional washout Colt Bennett (Kutcher) returns and starts helping out dad Beau (Elliott) and brother Rooster (Masterson). Son and father have lots of issues as Colt smoked, drank and screwed away every opportunity while Beau has been struggling making ends meet on the ranch for decades. Immediately the show is a strange mix of sitcom yuks and actual family/life drama with a bit of cursing thrown in that threw me off. You get bar owning mother Maggie (Winger) who is still married to and sleeping with Beau but lives on her own, to give the elder actors their own subplots. Then there's former along with current flames Abby (Elisha Cuthbert) and Heather (Kelli Goss) for Colt. The series basically hinges on Beau's old school macho man who won't accept help or consider other people's opinions and Colt's easy going and charming washout loser dynamic. Everyone in the cast does well for themselves but it's Elliott who drew me in as I would not be setting aside large chunks of time to watch Kutcher. As the cantankerous Beau, Elliott uses his gnarly voice and bitching mustache to full effect as he makes fun of modern convenience, fashion and food (Almond Milk is referred to as nut juice, Uggs are for women, etc.) and gets to say the F word a lot.

It's impossible to keep up with Netflix's original output so a semi low brow show with heart aimed at middle America starring multiple familiar faces really caught me by surprise. The show is set up like any sitcom whether it's Two and a Half Men or The Big Bang Theory with a few regular locations and the odd actual outdoor scene shot along a random side of a road. Randomly you get one episode appearances from the likes of Rex Linn (Cliffhanger), Thomas F. Wilson (Back to the Future) and Kutcher's former co-star Jon Cryer (sporting a clean bald head). All in The Ranch is an enjoyable 10 episodes where humor is usually hanging around sex jokes and guys getting hit in the nuts mixed with an unexpected amount of dialog focused on family dynamics, parenting, love and regret. Set on a ranch in Colorado, there's no jokes aimed at rural America but gives a fair glance at small town living, farming, animals, drinking and guns. You even have dinner at Cracker Barrel instead of some generic show hang out. There was actually a lot of clear but not oppressive product placement for Budweiser, Jameson, Muscle Milk, Ajax, Chips Ahoy and more which makes me wonder how much of the shows costs were covered by manufacturers. Apparently Netflix picked up the series for 20 episodes and will release the next 10 at a later date. From there we'll see if it's picked up for a second season and give the world more of what it needs, Sam Elliott being a and the man.

Straight Netflix'ing: Daredevil

Oh how time flies. It just seems like yesterday that Marvel and Netflix announced their joint venture to bring Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron Fist to the small screen. Daredevil shot in New York City between July and December of 2014 then premiered this past weekend with all 13 episodes dropping simultaneously. Early photos and teasers did little to boost confidence in the project as the black clad Charlie Cox seemed like not much of an update from Rex Smith's leotard from 1989's The Trial of the Incredible Hulk. The red suit kept being teased an on the eve of the premiere we got a glimpse of it's tactical and practical motif. Having been a fan of Daredevil in comics, in the Hulk TV movie and Ben Affleck's film version, I was pumped to do some straight Netflix'ing this weekend to see how things turned out. Marvel isn't dumb and Netflix routinely puts out superb original content so I was interested to see if they'd give audiences a slow burn crime drama disguised as a superhero show or a fast paced action hour that took itself a little too seriously.

Seven episodes in and it's great. A nice mix of humor, drama and action. Basically we follow the Daredevil mythos set up by Stan Lee and Bill Everett along with Jack Kirby from 1964. Young Matt Murdock pushes an old man out of the path of a runaway truck carrying toxic waste. The truck crashes, containers open and spill radioactive waste on young Matt who is blinded but gains hyper sensory and "radar" sense. His boxer father "Battling" Jack Murdock pushes his son to use his brains instead of his brawn and after not throwing a fight, Jack is killed, leaving young Matt all alone. Cut to today and Matt is a lawyer along with buddy Foggy Nelson and the duo have opened a law firm to represent those who can't afford expensive legal teams. By night Matt fights thugs and organized crime to save his city, working his way up to Wilson Fisk; a giant of a man looking to save Hell's Kitchen in just a totally opposite fashion than Matt. We see Matt as a bit of an eager pup who has a lot to learn about criminals, being a vigilante and taking on several highly organized crime syndicates more or less all at once.

The interactions between young Matt Murdock (Skylar Gaertner) and Jack (John Patrick Hayden) are particularly effective early on as "bum" Jack does everything in his power to take care of his son. Even at the detriment to his own life. Charlie Cox as the adult Matt is excellent as well; calm, odd and debonair with a lean yet beefy physique that looks capable of running around town fighting badguys but still able to hide under a suit and tie.  Grown up Mighty Duck Elden Henson does a nice job of playing his less handsome and dashing friend and partner Foggy who half wants to go for the money but realizes helping others is important too. Vincent D'Onofrio's take on Wilson Fisk aka the Kingpin is a little sad yet menacing as we meet him in the surprising set up of a romantic relationship before watching him explode into mega violence on some gangsters. Deborah Ann Woll does a fine job as would be victim Karen Page who becomes Matt and Foggy's secretary and love interest while launching her own investigations on the side. It's nice to see Vondie Curtis-Hall (Die Hard 2, Broken Arrow) as tired but determined reporter Ben Urich but the biggest surprise for me was Scott Glenn (Vertical Limit, The Right Stuff, Backdraft) as ninja/teacher/mentor Stick. Showing up in episode 7, Stick is like an amped up version of Rutger Hauer from Blind Fury mixed with Sam Elliott from Roadhouse. He's a blind badass who kicks, flips and sword fights while imploring Matt to cut loose of friends and comforts to fight the war on crime that only a few in society can.

Action is pretty top notch in the show with a welcome use of wide angles and long shots showcasing something out of Oldboy mashing with The Raid. Only you get some flash and pizzazz in the forms of jump and spin kicks to go along with the brutality and cringe worthy injuries. Lots of falling through stuff and landing hard on the ground along with manipulated joints. I'm interested to see when the red suit comes in and his trademark billy clubs. There's 3 more shows lined up to follow DD with a possible 4th that combines them all. With Netflix not in the business of releasing view counts I guess we'll only know the show is a success when season 2 is announced. Now the question is do I push on through to finish the series or let it simmer for a few weeks and come back to? Ah #NetflixWorldProblems...

Straight Netflix'ing: Drive Hard

Screeching it's way to Netflix this past Tuesday is a flick I've been curious to see for quite some time, the Thomas Jane and John Cusack buddy-action-driving-comedy in Australia, Drive Hard.  Directed by native low budget, big concept master Brian Trenchard-Smith, Drive Hard introduces us to Peter Roberts (The Jane) as he dreams of his previous life as a successful race car driver.  After being woken up by his cute and sassy daughter, Peter hits the weights before getting into yet another argument with his lawyer wife who wants him to get a real job instead of chasing the pipe dream of opening a racing school.  Making ends meet as a driving instructor, Peter's first client of the day is fellow American Simon Keller (permanently clad in black baseball cap and dark glasses John Cusack) who seems to know all about Peter's former adrenaline filled life.  Turns out that Keller is about to rob a bank of bonds and needs a getaway driver so what better candidate than an unknowing citizen and former professional?  The two then hit the Gold Coast eluding the banks armed mercenaries, police and federal agents while bickering, fighting and bonding amidst car chases, shootouts, old lady choke holds, rubber bullets and learning to respect oneself.

Based on a screenplay by Chad and Evan Law, director Smith and co-writer Brigette Jean Allen craft a quirky, funny and decently exciting piece of low watt direct to video fun.  I was impressed by the opening CGI credits moving through an engine, as it was a sign of Drive Hard being more than your typical, shot in a couple weeks around Los Angeles action flick.  Jane plays Peter as a goofy, lovable loser and has a nice, quick, funny yet tense back and forth dynamic with Cusack's intelligent professional thief with a grudge Keller.  There's some solid car chase shenanigans post bank robbery with lots of real looking gags around the streets of Australia and some clever bits to show off Peter's driving skills.  Things slow down a bit in the middle when the duo leave the luxurious and metropolitan coast line and head into the country.  An unexpected and amusing run in with some crazy old people leads up to a final showdown with bikers hired by the bank to recover the stolen bonds.  Of course by the end the two are semi buddy buddy and Peter has regained his daredevil flare that was put on hold to start a family.  At times, Drive Hard plays like a piece of marketing for the department of tourism as there's lot of shots showing off the gorgeous beaches and glistening buildings then later the serene green and lush of the country.  Jane and Cusack both get to shine as likeable and amusing characters while Trenchard-Smith's blend of off color humor and action suits the lightweight 95 minute romp.

Straight Netflix'ing: Wings

What constitutes Netflix'ing?  Anything more than 2 episodes?  What if they're only 22 minute programs versus 42 minute ones?  Anyways, I don't tend to binge watch much (there was that week with Arrow) but I do steadily chip away at certain shows like Knight Rider, The Rockford Files, assorted anime and in surprising depth, Wings!  I had no idea I was into season 5 of the former NBC mainstay but hey, I've had Netflix for a couple years now and tend to turn the show on for background noise every now and again.  The story of Joe and Brian Hackett, bros who grew up in Nantucket, had a crazy dad, an absent mom and then ended up running a charter airline in a tiny New England island airport.  Their day to day struggles running the airline, competing with neighbor Aeromass and dealing with kooky friends and passengers gave life to 8 hilarious seasons of sitcom goodness.

From the guys that brought you Cheers and later Frasier, David Lee and Peter Casey's situational show was a regular fixture in my after school on USA Network watching in the 90's and it still makes me laugh today.  You had Joe (Tim Daly) the responsible bro and his crazy and womanizing brother Brian (Steven Weber) always screwing things up along with their multiple time widowed ticket taker Fay (Rebecca Schull), sleazebag yet successful rival Roy Biggins (David Schramm), lunch counter owner and would be love interest Helen Chapel (Crystal Bernard), dumb yet brilliant mechanic Lowell Mather (Thomas Haden Church) and cab driver from Italy Antonio Scarpacci (Tony Shalhoub).  It wasn't about irony or mugging to the camera and saying "really?", it was just the sitcom crazy lives of these offbeat characters.  Sometimes things got a little dramatic (house they grew up in getting demolished, plane crashes and strands them at sea, Joe has a meltdown) but for the most part the not too offensive humor derived from the everyday goings on of dealing with family and friends, running a business and the pratfalls of broken dreams (Joe wanted to fly jets, Helen is a trained orchestra cellist, etc).  

It's always fun to watch old shows and see if you spot anybody who went on to something more substantial.  Off the top of my head I recall Matthew Fox playing a high school baseball prodigy, the kid from Entourage, E aka Kevin Connolly as a high school reporter, John Hawkes from Deadwood as a waiter and of course a few familiar faces from Cheers like Kelsey Grammer's Fraiser along with George Wendt, John Ratzenberger and Kirstie Alley. 

Airing Thursdays in 1990 on NBC, Wings would be shuffled around the prime time schedule multiple times over it's 8 year run, moving to Fridays, Thursdays again, Tuesdays and finally Wednesdays for the last seasons.  At it's peak, the show was a top 30 staple for 4 seasons, tying with powerhouses like Fox's The Simpsons and ABC's NYPD Blue.  A handful of Emmy Nominations followed though none for the main cast or the show itself.  After the last season aired in 1997, star Tim Daly would remain a familiar face on shows like The Sopranos, a new take on The Fugitive and a near 100 episode run on Private Practice while providing the voice for Superman in several series and animated films.  Television brother Steven Weber popped up in lots of indie flicks, including Leaving Las Vegas and has guest starred on at least a dozen shows you've watched before like The Simpsons, Tales From the Crypt, Law & Order and Without a Trace.  Crystal Bernard has released a couple of albums and written for Paula Abdul and Lisa Stansfield.  David Schramm more or less got out of the Film & TV business but continues to act on stage and Broadway.  Rebecca Schull is currently appearing on ABC Family's Chasing Life while Thomas Haden Church left Wings to appear on a Fox's Ned & Stacey and has kept up a surprisingly solid output in TV and Film with Tombstone, Sideways, Spider-Man 3 and Broken Trail to his credit.  Tony Shalhoub starred on the long running Monk and appears in 2013's greatest film, Pain & Gain!

In 2013, after the massively successful Kickstarter for the Veronica Mars movie, Daly, Weber, Schull, Shalhoub and later cast addition Amy Yasbeck appeared in a Funny or Die skit looking to fund The Wings Serenity Movie Project.  Oh how times have changed when people actually watched shows when they were on...

Animated Goods: Samurai Champloo

After attending Anime Expo and not knowing what the heck was going on for most of the time, I started perusing Netflix to see what options I had to catch up.  I hear Hulu has a dynamite selection of anime available but I already have two paid online streaming services and no real desire to add a third.  The Flix came through though as Attack on Titan and Samurai Champloo are both available.  Being a martial arts, medieval knights and feudal Japan nut I opted for the samurai action first.  The story sounded intriguing from the get go: a waitress saves two warriors from execution and demands that they accompany her on a journey to find the samurai who smells of sunflowers.  The opening episode introduces us to Mugen, a wild and crazy swordsman and Jin, a stoic, masterless samurai wandering the villages, starving and hungry yet utterly badass.  Mugen has a temper and gets into trouble in the restaurant waitress Fuu works in while Jin stands up for a put upon local business owner and against the fat ass province ruler by killing his top guards.  The duo then encounter each other and start to talk some shit before throwing down.  Before long, local ruler nabs them both and they're sentenced to die the next day.

Fuu saves the bickering duo with some coconut bombs stashed in her kimono and the trio are off to find the sunflower samurai.  Who that is or what he did, we don't know.  Then it's misadventures galore as they travel the countryside running into gangsters, human trafficking rings and the like.  Most episodes start with them being hungry and poor then getting mixed up with the local seedy element as they try to find work or cash to eat.  A vibrant and well produced show, the opening and closing titles are beautifully rendered pieces of art with splash pages a la a James Bond movie.  The music takes on a hip hop vibe and there's even a Psyche!  thrown into a title card which cracked me up.  Unlike American cartoons where characters fire guns and swing swords at each other with no blood or death, one of the shows signature traits is the quick and intense violent action scenes that showcase fist, feet and katana sword crime.  The odd sense of humor in the pervy yet knowing Japanese style is another memorable trait from Fuu's extremely bouncing bosom that turn out to be bombs tucked into her robe to the local investigator we think is pleasuring himself in the bushes but is actually working out with a Shake Weight style apparatus.  Episode 6 somehow manages to mix in an eating contest, reverse racism and a homosexual giant of a man from Holland who comes to Japan after reading a book on the similarities between the bond of samurai and male love.  Pretty impressive.

Upon further inspection, Samurai Champloo comes from director Shinichiro Watanabe, who brought us the awesome space adventure western/noir/jazz fueled Cowboy Bebop.  So it's no surprise that Samurai seamlessly blends historical events, modern music and attitude with old school samurai, swashbuckling mayhem.  Samurai originally aired in Japan in 2004 and 2005 for 26 episodes before being brought to the states on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim. 

Summer Screen: Beverly Hills Cop Saturday

One of the biggest movie stars from the 80's and 90's I haven't talked about much around here is Eddie Murphy.  The former stand up comedian turned Saturday Night Live regular turned box office star turned animated voice actor's films have racked up an impressive $6 billion dollars in worldwide receipts.  Like other stars of the time who commanded a certain niche and accompanying salary reaching $20 million, Murphy took on writing and producing duties to help control his own destiny.  Adjusting for inflation, Murphy has 24 $100 million dollar earners to his name in the United States with Coming to America, Trading Places and The Golden Child among my personal favorites.  Franchise wise, Murphy has been a part of 3: Shrek, The Nutty Professor and Beverly Hills Cop.  The latter series has recently been announced for a sequel 20 years after the last installment as Murphy's career, like any that spans 3 decades, needs a little juice.  A TV pilot featuring Murphy and his character's son was recently not picked up.  With all 3 Beverly Hills Cops films buried in my DVD collection but newly on Netflix, they made for a fun trip down memory lane as I worked out, cleaned up and relaxed through the week with Murphy's signature role that's not an animated donkey; iconic Detroit cop Axel Foley.

Early incarnations of BHC saw Mickey Rourke offered the role and being paid $400,000 for a holding deal that expired before the script was ready.  Murphy was the favorite choice for super producers Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer but Paramount offered the role to Oscar winning box office champ Sylvester Stallone.  Sly took the script to tailor it to his sensibilities and returned a draft of Cop that was light on comedy and heavy on action.  Originally set for a budget of $14 million, Stallone's revisions turned it into a $20 million dollar affair that Paramount was not ready to bankroll.  Stallone walked, took his ideas and turned them into Cobra, the awesome cop versus cult action-slasher flick released in 1986.  Young director Martin Brest helmed the pioneering action-comedy that follows Alex Foley, a wise talking, street smart former criminal turned Detroit police officer.  When an old friend shows up fresh from a stint in jail followed by some work in Beverly Hills and gets killed, Foley heads out west to find out what his buddy was into.  From there it's fish out of water, hilarious improv, rich versus poor, black versus white, fancy pants, banana in the tailpipe, rough and tumble comedy mixed with action and a detective story set to an unforgettable synth score by Harold Faltermeyer.

Murphy's quick mouthed Foley is without a doubt the star and backbone of the flick but supporting players Judge Reinhold and John Ashton as the straight laced Beverly Hills officers Billy Rosewood and John Taggart, who are tasked with escorting Foley out of town but end up getting caught up in the caper are a terrific duo. Ronny Cox, Paul Reiser, real life police officer Gil Hill and Bronson Pinchot round out a fantastic supporting cast of familiar faces and memorable performances as screaming superiors, skeezy sidekicks and a near incomprehensible Beverly Hills art dealer.  Steven Berkhoff's European art dealer who's actually smuggling drugs villain is probably one of the first of it's kind that would later be perfected by Alan Rickman's smooth thief posing as a terrorist Hans Gruber in Die Hard.  I'm sure the movie had theaters roaring back in 84 but watching it now, Beverly Hills Cop is entertaining more than it is laugh out loud funny.  The music plays a big part as right away, Glenn Frey's catchy tune "The Heat Is On" blares over a blown deal and ensuing car/truck chase letting you know that we're in for a fast and funny good time.  Faltermeyer's techno-pop, synthesizer score and Axel F. theme mark the flick specifically 80's and along with Blade Runner, Rocky IV and anything by John Carpenter makes you wish it were still around a little more today.  Beverly Hills Cop went on to be 1984's highest grossing film and the most successful R-rated film for over 20 years. 

After an attempt for a Beverly Hills Cop television show was squashed by star Eddie Murphy, a sequel to the smash hit was put into production and released in 1987.  Directed by Tony Scott, hot off the mega-success of Simpson and Bruckheimer's Top Gun, BHC II is a bigger, more polished production that shows a virtuoso's touch in crafting a big, Hollywood style summer movie that's humorous yet exciting.  Part II opens with a jewelry store robbery in Beverly Hills pulled off by a professional if not shy crew of thieves.  Cut to Detroit where Axel is still working undercover on the street, dealing with unsavory types and using his big mouthed bravado to talk criminals into making deals with a cop.  Back in BH, Ronny Cox's top cop Andrew Bogomil is fighting a losing battle with his new superior that's cleaning out the division with only himself, Rosewood and Taggart still around.  After Bogomil gets too close on a case dealing with the thieves, an attempt on his life is made and he ends up in the hospital.  Foley heads back to Beverly Hills to find out what's going on and drags the reluctant Rosewood and Taggart along to find the guilty party.  Virtual Reality Gun club, Ferrari crashing, golf pants, Playboy Mansion, Brigitte Neilsen, Rambo and Dirty Harry references, plants, turtles, Chris Rock's first film appearance, shotguns and former crook teaching cops street tips with gum and super glue shenanigans ensues.

While Stallone might not have fit the profile for what Beverly Hills Cop was meant to be, I think he would have done just fine in part II.  The film benefits from the increased budget and experienced director as Scott gives everything a great smoky yet shiny feel and takes us around Beverly Hills to exclusive, high-tech gun clubs, mansions, landmarks and action movie hallmark locations like warehouses and deserted pseudo military installations.  The action is dialed up for the sequel as the thieves knock off a jewelry store, bank depository, horse track, etc, a cringe inducing, crashing armored car chase and shootouts galore.  Murphy's fast paced, in your face, can't keep up wise cracking is also on display in scenes where he commandeers an under construction mansion from confused contractors and walks into a private office by pretending to be carrying sound sensitive explosive ammunition.  While part I dealt with drugs, II is all about guns being run by the pocked and granite faced Jurgen Prochnow as a shadowy weapons dealer who employs the tall and striking Brigitte Neilsen as his henchwoman/ringleader.  Reinhold's Rosewood has become an eco-friendly gun nut while Ashton's Taggart is dealing with his wife leaving him.  The music again plays a critical part of the film's tone and pace with Faltermeyer returning to synth duties along with another vocal hit, Shakedown with Bob Seger.  Weirdly, some of the place holder music sounded a lot like John Carpenter's work in Big Trouble In Little China...Anticipation was huge and Beverly Hills Cop II netted a whopping $33 million dollar opening weekend making it the biggest debut of the year.

In the early 90's, Paramount finally got serious about a third installment to the series but producers Simpson and Bruckheimer passed when they thought the proposed budget and timeline wouldn't equate a film equal to it's predecessors.  Fellow 90's super producer Joel Silver, who had worked with Murphy on 48 Hours, was sought to shepherd the project but too balked at the studio's rushed release date and reluctance to spend.  Coming off the so-so performance of The Distinguished Gentlemen, Murphy was paid $15 million to reprise the role of Axel Foley.  Coming to America and Trading Places director John Landis was brought in to direct and a "Die Hard in an amusement park" esque script was churned out.  Beverly Hills Cop III starts in Detroit with Foley working undercover to buy some chopped cars when his superior, the foul mouthed, screaming and degrading yet supportive Inspector Todd gets shot and killed by the lily white Ellis de Wald.  Foley tracks de Wald back to Los Angeles where we learn de Wald is head of a private police force that works out of Wonder World, a Disneyland style park where they're printing fake money under a closed attraction.

Beverly Hills Cop III is goofy.  Like almost embarrassingly goofy.  The settings just feel generic from the opening chop shop to Billy's new fancy office in Beverly Hills to Wonder World, it all just smacks of rushed flimsiness.  Even with a rumored budget of $55 to $70 million and a director with some great titles to his credit like The Blues Brothers and An American Werewolf in London, Cop III plays like a parody of it's former self.  Kind of the same way that troubled production Tango & Cash was so uneven in tone and goofy with the gun boots, huge machine guns and RV from hell but still managed to be a good time.  That kind of shtick shows up here in the form of The Annihilator 2000, a luxury machine gun with net launcher, night vision goggles, cell phone and TV included that Foley obtains through a forced sequence with part I's Serge, who's traded in art dealing for gun selling...It's said that Murphy was in a bit of a funk at the time and didn't want Foley to be funny.  With 7 years passing since part II, the star figured the character should have grown up a bit and wouldn't be the same guy from 10 years ago in the original Beverly Hills Cop.  Kind of like Die Hard where the same shit keeps happening to the same guy so he can't exactly be unaffected by it all right? 

While it's not unwatchable, BHC III isn't exactly something you'd pop in on a lazy Sunday, either.  You do have a low-watt cast backing Foley up with Judge Reinhold back as buddy Billy Rosewood but is mostly relegated to over the top reactions and getting tangled up in random things.  Stephen McHattie aka the Canadian Lance Henriksen shows up as a shady Federal Agent who may or may not be on Axel's side then Enter The Dragon's John Saxon puts his time in as a mastermind behind the counterfeit money operation.  Director Landis peppers the film with filmmaker cameos as George Lucas, Joe Dante and John Singleton among many others show up for quick scenes.  The action is uneven with hand to hand scenes much better than they were in II and some harrowing, physical antics involving Foley jumping from car to car on a moving Ferris Wheel intercut with some really spotty shot in studio, CGI shots of Murphy for close ups.  Harold Faltermeyer elected not to return but his signature theme music is used throughout and even gets an orchestral take that is familiar and rousing at the same time.  Hitting theaters in May of 1994, Beverly Hills Cop opened to a not great $12 million on it's way to a $42 million take, way down from the first's $234 million and sequel's $153 million domestic totals.  Let's see what part IV has in store for us in 2016...

Straight Netflix'ing: Arrow

It all started at WonderCon during a panel on writers and showrunners.  One of them worked on Arrow and during the sizzle reel I spotted action hero/martial artist/bodybuilder/Black Dynamite  Michael Jai White as a member of the Suicide Squad.  I know Smallville ended up doing a TV version of Justice League but I hadn't kept up with it's 10 year run and just felt it was too late to jump back in.  But Arrow had only been on the air a couple years I thought and I kept seeing it on Netflix.  Byron Mann, an actor I've tried to keep up with since seeing him Van Damme's Street Fighter, The Corruptor and Michael Biehn's American Dragons, had a recurring role on the show so that was a plus.  I was unfamiliar with Manu Bennet's work or existence until seeing him at Calgary Expo where he seemed like a cool yet macho kind of guy, a rarity in today's era of skinny leads and lady boys.  I haven't seen him in Spartacus but found out he plays Slade Wilson aka Deathstroke on Arrow so it seemed like I had enough reasons to check out the show between the three action actors.

One thing I really didn't realize was that Arrow has full seasons.  I figured CW only did short, 13 episode arcs a la cable to save money but nope, Arrow is full on with 23 frigging chapters.  That gave me pause because I think that's one of TV's problems, the seasons are too long so you just get filler.  I still haven't checked out an episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. because it looked so boring and lackluster.  Who gives a shit about that smirking bland-ass Agent Coulson?  Where's the actually interesting men of action like Dum Dum Dugan, Jimmy Woo, Clay Quartermain or Gabe Jones?  I don't want to see a bunch of boring, unknown actors solving Podunk mysteries on a weekly basis.  I want to see interesting characters working for a super secret para-military/international police force using fancy toys and kicking ass!  Maybe I'll go back and check out the Bill Paxton episodes because, bro, Bill Paxton...  Dude, Bill Paxton.

Luckily, Arrow has been pretty interesting through the first half of the season and is only getting better.  The story of Oliver Queen; a rich, vain, thoughtless playboy who is cheating on his girlfriend with her own sister.  On a leisure cruise somewhere in China, the yacht sinks and Oliver is left on a life raft with his father Robert, a powerful businessman who admits to his son that he's failed their city and helped destroy it.  Father Queen gives his spoiled son a list of all the names of people who helped poison Starling City and instructs him to survive.  Washing ashore on an unknown island, Oliver is taken in by the mysterious Yao Fei (Mann) and later comic based character Slade Wilson (Bennett) who teach him to fight and survive.  Turns out the island is actually a former prison and through flashbacks we see Oliver adapting and escaping. 

5 years after the sinking of the family yacht, Oliver is rescued and returns to Starling City where he's reunited with his mother, sister, former girlfriend and best friend.  The show does a good job of mixing in the family and former lover drama like any CW show should with Oliver's vigilante antics as he dons a hood and uses a bow and arrow to fight those who have helped destroy his city.  At first, it all smacks deeply of Batman.  The rich kid, big house, unlimited resources, inspired by his dead father to take revenge, etc.  But slowly, Arrow differentiates itself as he deals with his affluent family, his sister's despondent fall into drugs and trouble and the fact his mother had something to do with the sinking of the yacht.  More tinges of Batman come out as Oliver taps resources from his father's vast business empire and of course, the "Applied Science" department helps him out a la Morgan Freeman's Lucious Fox in Batman Begins.  The pinches aren't blatant enough to make your eyes roll, they just help keep you in the right frame of mind of the show's story and world.  The show's action is pretty solid with lots of hand to hand, parkour infused mayhem happening each episode.  Production values are high as Vancouver looks great with locales for the 1% style luxurious, woodsy natural and seedy urban aspects of the show.

I had seen Stephen Amell on the last season of Hung, where he played a nice yet shallow rival gigolo to Mr. WeirdCool Thomas Jane's.  On Arrow, his Abercrombie & Finch handsomeness and action figure physique are put to good use as the rich kid façade and for the shirtless training scenes.  In the first half dozen episodes, Amell's lack of a dignified hero voice a la Michael Keaton or straight Christian Bale growl was really jarring in the Arrow scenes but now seem to be modulated to give him a kind of monotone, ominous motif instead of the gee whiz, nice guy quality his voice naturally has.  Since superheroes and villains are all the rage right now, Arrow hasn't shied away from using colorful characters like revenge seeking The Huntress, assassin China White, eye patched super gunman Deadshot and so on.  A drug dealer known as The Count gets a syringe full of his own supply and is carted off at the hospital so you know he's gonna come back looking all freaky and cray cray in the head.  I'm unfamiliar with the comic book version of Oliver Queen beyond knowing The Green Arrow shared a title with The Green Lantern at one point and was praised when sidekick Speedy was depicted as a drug addict so I have no idea if this is paying homage to the panels.  That's not a bad thing because there are no preconceived notions and if anything will inspire me to pick up a few issues to expand my comic knowledge since I've always been a Marvel guy.

Apparently the show is doing quite well, being CW's highest rated new show in 5 years and receiving positive critical reception along with garnering award nominations from The Saturn Awards, IGN, The Leo Awards and more.  I wonder if interest in bow and arrow shooting has risen in the last 10 years what thanks to Legolas in Lord of the Rings, Thomas Jane's throwback to Rambo in The Punisher, Arrow, Hawkeye in The Avengers and of course, Katniss in The Hunger Games.  Season 2 has just wrapped up while a 3rd year was green lit.  Spin-off The Flash was picked up recently along with Fox's young Commissioner Gordon series, Gotham and Constantine on NBC so while Marvel is winning the cinematic battle, DC can claim victory on the small screen.

Straight Flexing on the Net(flix)

In case you haven't heard, Netflix is about to lose a shit ton of titles to herald the year of the machines 2014.  Read the full list over at Dark Horizons and start crafting your To Watch list!  Among the digital casualties:

Jean-Claude Van Damme:  Hard Target, Lionheart, The Quest, Street Fighter and Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo.  Looks like the 65 million views his Volvo ad mustered couldn't save the Muscles From Brussels' Universal catalog along with his early appearance in Boogaloo.

Mel Gibson:  Braveheart, Gallipolli and We Were Soldiers

Cannon Films:  Breakin' 2 and Revenge of the Ninja

Lance Henriksen:  Pumpkinhead and Hard Target

Sylvester Stallone:  Stop!  Or My Mom Will Shoot (we still have Staying Alive and Antz though!)

Michael Biehn:  Dead Men Can't Dance (alongside the TV Highlander himself, Adrian Paul)

Tom Selleck:  Quigley Down Under

Arnold Schwarzenegger:  Not affected, we still got Conan The Destroyer and Jingle All the Way!

Between loads of laundry, I worked on my expiring Instant Queue with Running Scared, Peter Hyams' 1986 buddy comedy starring Gregory Hines and Billy Crystal, most memorable for an impressive car chase on top of Chicago's L train tracks and a cop car with bullet proof glass.

Next was 1988's I'm Gonna Git You Sucka, the Blaxploitation parody from Keenan Ivory Wayans featuring no less than Isaac Hayes (Duke A-Number One!), Bernie Casey (Nerd savior), Chris Rock, Jim Brown and the best sidekick who was cooler than the hero, Steve James, of American Ninja fame as Kung-Fu Joe.

Michael Dudikoff and Steve James in a Cannon Films classic: