BLUE THUNDER is a classic action flick from 1983, with Roy Scheider and Malcolm McDowell battling over the skies of downtown LA in police helicopters. Scheider stars as Frank Murphy, a great pilot with a bad attitude and the requisite eighties flashbacks to Vietnam. Even though he's constantly in hot water with his boss, Captain Braddock (played in great style and humor by the terrific Warren Oates) he is chosen to test pilot the new police surviellance helicopter dubbed Blue Thunder. He and his co-pilot, played by a young, very good Daniel Stern, soon find themselves in over their heads in a conspiracy involving the copter and its use in urban neighborhoods. Director John Badham (Saturday Night Fever, WarGames) keeps things fast, action-packed and exciting throughout and baddie Malcolm McDowell is a lot of fun to hate in his role as Murphy's adversary with a lot riding on Blue Thunder. Sit back, turn your brain off and have a good time with this early 80's hit. It thunders, peeks, shoots, listens and hovers its way to a solid B.

Back in 1966, long before the benefits of computer generated special effects, THE BLUE MAX put on a great aerial effects show. George Peppard (who looks like a movie star, but seems awful flat on the big screen) stars as Bruno Stachel. Stachel grew up simply but now finds himself in the premiere WWI flying group with many pilots groomed from aristocracy and success. His goal is the Blue Max, German's highest medal of honor earned for downing 20 enemy planes. He will stop at nothing and no one to get it. James Mason is great as a General and Ursula Andress is Mason's gorgeous wife, who falls into Peppard's flight path. The Blue Max is a 60's war classic. It's sometimes slow, but never boring, the air sequences are very well done and set to Jerry Goldsmith's great music. It must have been bold back in '66 to center a big film around an anti-hero and it plays well today. We'll award a B to The Blue Max.

Revisiting the 2009 box-office smash THE BLIND SIDE just before the kickoff of the 2016 NFL season, it holds up perfectly and still provides plenty of inspiration and enjoyment. Sandra Bullock has never been one of my favorites, but she's terrific here as successful Texan, Leigh Anne Tuohy. Smart, caring and strong, Leigh Anne is mother to son SJ and daughter Collins. When Leigh and her husband Sean (country singer Tim McGraw in a good performance) see a huge figure walking through the rain one night, they recognize him as Michael Oher, a fellow student at their kids school. Leigh and Sean bring him home and discover that Michael is living on his own, saddled with an absent father and a drug & alcohol fueled mother with no parental instincts. Michael is quiet, smart and HUGE, showing real talent on the football field, which can get you a LONG way in the Friday Night Lights of Texas. Quinton Aaron is fine as Michael, conveying quiet strength and great loneliness. As the Tuohys build Michael's sense of worth and value, his talents truly emerge and he feels part of a family for the first time. The film nicely avoids the predictable during these sequences. Leigh's determination to provide Michael EVERY opportunity to succeed, providing him tutors and confidence is a great story and the entire Tuohy family is inspiring in the way they open their hearts and home to Michael. Bullock is really good here, as likable as she's ever been in a role that could have been overbearing in the wrong hands. It's undoubtedly a Hollywood polishing of an inspiring TRUE story, but the heart of the story is powerful. It's been interesting since the movie was released to look for the real life Michael Oher, who still plays for the Carolina Panthers. If you're looking for a feel-good, family-friendly movie for football fans or anyone that loves an inspiring tale, THE BLIND SIDE is a touchdown. It gets a B.

Stanley Kramer's BLESS THE BEASTS AND CHILDREN must have been quite an odd little film when it came out in 1971. It tells the story of a group of misfit campers that come together to battle their loser label in summer camp by setting off an a quest to save some buffalo. Those buffalo are kept in a couple acre pen at which hunters line up to shoot them (in captivity!) and then take home their mounted buffalo heads and tell stories of their great hunt. The cast of boys includes Bill Mumy (Will Robinson for you "Lost in Space" fans) and he is by far the best actor, making some of the other young actors look pretty dismal by comparison. It's a pretty by-the-numbers, hammer over the head message movie on young people that don't fit in either with their peers or the adults around them (plenty of 1971 hippie references here) but it does feature a pretty powerful ending, some nice work by Mumy, a great period musical score by Perry Botkin Jr and Barry de Vorzon and a beautiful title tune by The Carpenters. It's dated, slow but never boring and very much a product of its time. Who else remembers this poster being everywhere in stores and dorm rooms and likely being more popular than the movie at the time?! We'll Bless them with a C.

1974's Mel Brooks classic BLAZING SADDLES is one of the funniest movies of all time. No matter how many times I see it, it still makes me laugh for every bit of its 93 minutes. SO many classic moments: "Howard Johnson's right!" "Work, work, work, HELLO boys!" "Think of your secretary, sir" "It's HEDley.." "Camptown ladies sing that song, doo dar, doo dar"....LOL where do you stop? Richard Pryor was one of the writers, alongside Mel Brooks of this comedy classic. When you realize that Brooks also wrote, directed and released YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN the same year as this, the level of his genius in the 70's knocks you out. Harvey Korman:hilarious. Madeline Kahn: classic as Lily Von Shtupp. Cleavon Little, Gene Wilder...the laughs just keep on coming. Hey, I didn't get a harumph out of that guy! As UN-PC as you get and as funny as you get. Brooks and Pryor trying to point out the absurdity of racism is likely lost on today's soft audience, but the sheer volume of laughs is astonishing. A Comedy Classic and an LOL A.

Blade Runner has always been a polarizing science fiction film. When it was released in 1982, I remember long arguments with fellow film fans. I thought it was slow but fascinating, they just thought is was boring. Those same arguments will be likely for anyone seeing Denis Villeneuve's brilliant sequel BLADE RUNNER 2049. Like Ridley Scott in the original version, Villeneuve (Arrival, Sicario, Prisoners) takes his time with every frame, painting every nuance of a futuristic Los Angeles. Ryan Gosling (La La Land, Drive) stars as Blade Runner K, still on the trail of replicants (androids) and soon pulled into a mystery that leads him on the trail to Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) who's been missing for the 35 year gap since the original film. Villeneuve is one of the greatest directors working in film and he's assembled an incredible crew of filmmakers to create his world. For nearly three hours, you are immersed in the future as K unravels mystery after mystery, following clues on a startling trail with grand scale implications for humanity and beyond. Jared Leto (Suicide Squad) is Niander Wallace, a wealthy industrialist who is helping the world with new farming methods. He's also bought what's left of the Tyrell organization, the originator of replicants. Robin Wright is terrific as K's boss, Dave Bautista is surprisingly good as the suspect that's the genesis of K's quest and Ana de Armis (War Dogs) is terrific as Joi, K's companion & so much more. Like Villenueve's last film "Arrival" this is the kind of film that generates a lot of discussion and debate after viewing. I found myself thinking about the bigger themes of the film the day after and the next, as layers of the storytelling seemed to open up into "a-ha!" moments on all the ripples of the events that take place. Harrison Ford is terrific as Deckard, hesitant to come out of hiding but ready to fight for what's right. He has some of his best acting moments in years, appearing in only the last third of the film. Gosling is terrific, just as good in the action sequences as he is in the most still (and often revealing) scenes. This is an incredible looking film and the sound matches the visuals in power. Roger Deakins (Skyfall, No Country For Old Men) photography is incredible. He and Villenueve are probably the best director/photography duo since David Lean and Freddie Young created the huge vistas of "Lawrence of Arabia" and "Doctor Zhivago" together. Let's hope this duo makes movies for a long time together. I saw it in IMAX and the sound was so immersive that Hans Zimmer's score hit my in the chest before it reached my ears. It's great work from Zimmer. Everyime a car passed over head, a punch landed or a wave hit, I was IN the film. If you can see it in IMAX, it's worth every dollar. Villeneuve always challenges me in his films with BIG topics. "Prisoners" made you think about your own morals in relation to what you would do to protect your children. 'Sicario" sunk you deep into the war on drugs and challenged everything you think you feel about right & wrong. "Arrival" told you a great aliens-are-landing story while setting up a superb storytelling twist that shatters what you know in the final moments. BLADE RUNNER 2049 is a bigger film, a huge visual feast that reveals itself in a hypnotic, leisurely style. It ponders everything from origin to creation with massive full size sets and cutting edge CGI that never feels false. Walking out, I said that it was way too slow and smart to ever be a big hit. Based on the box office numbers opening weekend, I was right, but I hope people discover it for many years. It's an incredible experience, filled with surprises for fans of the original. It gets an A.

After seeing the excellent trailers for the new sequel coming out in December, I went back to revisit the original 1982 BLADE RUNNER. Widely regarded as one of the best science fiction films ever made (and just as widely considered a slow, boring mess by many non-fans) there is no denying that the film is beautiful to look at, with production design and settings that look just as powerful today as they did 35 years ago when the film was released. Harrison Ford stars as Deckard, a future detective that tracks down "replicants", near human like robots that have taken over menial and dangerous tasks in a very dark and dreary 2019 Los Angeles. When four replicants cause mass mayhem and murder and return to Earth, Deckard is assigned to track them down. He first meets with the Tyrell Corporation that manufactured them. Joe Turkel plays inventor Dr. Tyrell (but for me, he'll always be Lloyd the bartender pouring drinks for Jack Nicholson in "The Shining"). Deckard also meets beautiful replicant Rachael, who's Tyrell's assistant and unaware of her origins. The film is slow paced but fantastic to watch, wrapping you in a very rainy, black and crowded Los Angeles bathed in spotlights, heavy Asian influence and non-stop advertisements for off-world colonies. Rutger Hauer is Roy Batty, the fiercest of the rogue imposters and his climactic rooftop battle with Deckard is now film legend. Daryl Hannah brings a touch of madness to runaway robot Pris, M. Emmit Walsh (Blood Simple, Back To School) is the perfect lead detective and Edward James Olmos brings off-kilter menace to his role as a policeman. Director Ridley Scott has released so many versions of this classic that it's hard to keep track (and who knows how many variations I've bought on DVD, Blu-Ray, Laserdisc etc) but for this review in July 2017, I watched his recently assembled "FINAL VERSION" which Scott introduces as his favorite. He's dropped ALL the narration that was so controversial in its original release. It did dumb down the film and remove a lot of its mystery when you heard Ford talking throughout explaining the motivation and "action". This version leaves you much more in the dark. Earlier versions raised many questions about Deckard's past, his relationship with Rachael etc, but most of the hard lines are gone, including the once featured happy ending with characters riding off in the sunset. I do prefer this version that leaves you to a lot of interpretation. It certainly sets up an intriguing scenario for them to explore later this year in action that takes place 31 years later in 2049. With Denis Villeneuve (Arrival, Sicario) at them Director's helm of BLADE RUNNER 2049, it should be one of the best movies of the year. The original holds up as an intriguing, mysterious visit to a very dark version of our own world that gets a wet and foggy B.

Forgot how good 1977's Black Sunday is! Interesting perspective on a potential terrorist attack in a pre-9/11 USA in the 70s. From a great book by Thomas Harris (Silence of the Lambs), this is a taut suspense thriller. Wacko Bruce Dern (who does wacko better?) and Marthe Keller (Marathon Man) plot to kill everyone at the Super Bowl using the Goodyear blimp. Robert Shaw (Jaws, The Sting) is a tough foreign agent working with our FBI to track them down. Pre CGI effects hold it back a bit, but John Williams music score here is so good it's like another star of the movie. Great thriller! A

Creating a land and origin story all its own, Marvel's BLACK PANTHER is a multi-layered, unexpectedly rich stand alone film that also weaves perfectly into the Marvel universe. While 90% of the film takes place present day in the hidden land of Wakanda, the film opens in 1992 Oakland, setting up a network of extended family and spies that will echo in the present day story. T'Challa (the excellent Chadwick Boseman of "42" and "Get On Up") is prepared to become the king of Wakanda, assuming the powers of the throne and Black Panther. As he takes the reins, a nefarious arms trader named Klaue (Andy Serkis) steals vibranium, the life's blood of Wakanda's technologically advanced hidden city and powers. Klaue is working with a lethal former special ops man named Erik Killmonger, whose driven to discover Wakanda's secrets. Killmonger is excellently played by Michael B. Jordan (Creed, Fruitvale Station). The film weaves a tale rich in the tradition of the five tribes of Wakanda, drenched in the politics of the hidden land and its relation to the outside world, while entertaining the Marvel audience with the action and intrigue we've all come to expect. A showdown between many sides in a casino and the car chase that follows is a highlight, as is the final battle in the fields of Wakanda. The supporting cast is huge and exceptional, including Lupita Nyongo'o as Nakia, Martin Freeman as CIA man Ross whose finally forced to take a side, the ageless Angela Bassett as T'Challa's mother, Sterling K. Brown (This Is Us) in a pivotal role in the Oakland scenes and Winston Duke as M'Baku, the leader of the fifth Wakanda tribe. Writer/Director Ryan Coogler (Creed, Fruitvale Station) does a brilliant job elevating the material into a rich family drama/action film/political thriller mashup that entertains on many levels. Visually, every bit of its $200 million budget is there to enjoy. Wakanda is so different than any other land we've visited with Marvel. The costumes and sets are stunning. While there are grand scale battles, more of the fighting is hand-to-hand combat. In combination with the characters that Coogler and this incredible cast have created, it makes the stakes higher and all the outcomes aren't what you expect. By the closing moments of the film, you realize the world in which all these Marvel films take place in has been changed by the events that take place in Wakanda. For my money, that will only improve the next Avengers tale when it hits theatres this May. Breaking box office records this weekend as it continues to roll out, BLACK PANTHER deserves all the accolades it's getting. Riding the strong acting and action of leads Boseman and Jordan, it gets a A-. Stay through the credits for two teaser sequences, one funny and one intriguing.

This must be cinematic redemption week. Yesterday I was talking about how Ryan Reynolds had never made a good movie, but just triumphed with his massive box office hit "Deadpool". A much longer discussion lately has been the fact that it's been a VERY long time since Johnny Depp has made a movie worth watching. For me, I'd have to go all the way back to 2003 and the original Pirates of the Caribbean to name a Depp film I truly enjoyed. 13 years later, Depp pulls himself out of the dreck with an amazing performance in BLACK MASS. Depp oozes unstable menace in his biographical, true-life portrayal of James "Whitey" Bulger, a south Boston neighborhood criminal who rises to the top of the dirt-bag food chain. Bulger does it with the unabashed assistance of childhood friend John Connolly, now an FBI agent who enlists Bulger as a high level informant. The two men's lifelong bond as fellow "Southies" from the tough streets binds them still, with Connolly bending every rule to paint Bulger as a golden informant while Whitey feeds them tidbits to eliminate his competition and enable his rise up the crime ladder. Depp is fantastic, becoming Bulger with the help of some terrific make up, strong voice work and a pent up performance that keeps you on the edge of your seat. Walking old ladies home with their groceries one minute and going full Joe Pesci "Goodfellas" mode the next, Depp is better than he's been in years. What a great surrounding cast. Edgerton (The Great Gatsby, Zero Dark Thirty) is great as Connolly, dripping misplaced loyalty and triumph. Benedict Cumberbatch is Bulger's brother, a senior politician in Boston. Kevin Bacon, Peter Sarsgaard, Adam Scott and Corey Stoll are all terrific in key roles. Jesse Plemons follows up his great work in Fargo, Season 2, with a key role as Kevin, Bulger's new driver and right hand man that becomes our conduit into Bulger's empire. David Harbour, a character actor you've seen for years, breaks out in a great role as Connolly's partner, at first sharing the glory on the FBI victories fed by Bulger's tips, but then tortured by the facts as they emerge. The fact that this is a true story is fascinating, all the more so when the end credits are shown over pictures of the real folks and updates on their current status. Truth truly is stranger than fiction. Kudos to Depp for his best work in years, still aided by the makeup, hair and voice work he loves to employ, but this time put to chilling effect to create a real-life monster. BLACK MASS is a violent, Scorcese-like crime thriller that packs a punch. An old man in a Members Only jacket and giant aviators has never been so chilling..... Depp and Company get a strong B.

Powerful, funny and disturbing, Spike Lee's best film in years sticks with you well after its thought provoking final scenes. BLACKkKLANSMAN tells the true story of Colorado Spring's first African American police officer in the seventies, Ron Stallworth. In his first major role, John David Washington is perfect as Ron. He's strong, funny as hell and incredibly likable. What he puts up with blazing a trail in the Colorado police force is astonishing. When Stallworth cleverly infiltrates the dangerous local installment of the KKK by phone, he partners up with fellow detective Flip Zimmerman (Adam Driver, terrific) to be the in-person half of Ron, since the real Ron cant attend the KKK meetings for obvious reasons. What unspools from there is a smart, sometimes hilarious, often uncomfortable tale of breaking barriers, blatant racism, good cops and bad cops, the in-your-face stupidity of the Klan, wrapped in a very good crime thriller. Director Spike Lee is at his very best. Lee seduces you with the carefree humor of the story before stopping you in your tracks with the backward reality of everyday racism. Lee elevates the film by taking you behind the surface of many of the characters. A long club sequence in which Stallworth meets a college activist for a drink that evolves into a long dance and a romance that will impact the entire film is flawless. Credit Lee with perfect casting and bringing great performances out of all his actors. Corey Hawkins (24, Straight Outta Compton) is better than he's ever been on screen as Kwame Ture, a speaker who ignites the story with his appearance at a local college. Ryan Eggold (The Blacklist) is strong as leader of the local KKK and Paul Walter Hauser follows up his hilarious performance as the worlds dumbest crook in "I, Tonya" with his dumb as a box of rocks klan member Ivanoe. Topher Grace is strong as real life KKK leader and current politician David Duke. Lee builds real suspense in the final act as an undercover operation tilts toward disaster, a violent plan is put in play by the KKK and all our characters are propelled toward a confrontation. But Lee saves his most disturbing moments for the final 5 minutes, which move away from the film you just watched and into a montage of scenes showing news clips from events surrounding racial hatred, many of them in the past few years. By mirroring the opening moments of the film, which feature news footage of racial battles in the early sixties, Lee holds up just how little we've changed in the last 50 years. For me, the best films are those that make you think, that challenge what you think you know or inspire you to feel differently. WIthout being preachy, Lee holds truth up in front of you and challenges you to feel & to think. Our lack of progress fifty years after Selma and Martin Luther KIng is disturbing. BLACKkKLANSMAN will stick with me for a very long time. It's Lee's best work in 25 years and gets an A+. It's in the top half of my all-time Top 100 films.

In 1989, Ridley Scott and Michael Douglas teamed up for the enjoyably stylistic, violent crime thriller BLACK RAIN. Douglas is a NYC cop under investigation for pocketing drug money found at the scene of his crimes. He's a great, tough cop with a grey area at his core, if the internal affairs suits are right. When Nick (Douglas) and his partner Charlie (Andy Garcia) are witnesses to a Japanese mob assassination on their Mafia counterpart, they are chosen to escort the killer back to Japan. The two are immersed in the exotic underworld of Japan and teamed up with Japanese detective Masahiro, well played by the late Ken Takakura. Director Ridley Scott wraps the whole film in 80's pastels, steam and atmosphere, dropping you into Japan. Watching the young, aggressive gang try to explode every tradition through murder and mayhem is fascinating, like a mashup of "The Raid" and "The Godfather". The action scenes are plentiful and really well shot and staged by Scott and his team. Douglas is damn near perfect as Nick and Garcia is a great wing-man with a much more defined sense of right & wrong. As the raging Yakuza gangland battle escalates, Douglas is determined to find justice and eventually revenge. Some of the foreshadowing is pretty heavy handed and the NYC characters a bit cliche, but with Scott and Douglas at the helm, its never anything but a fast moving, fun ride into some very dangerous territory. Douglas cornered the market for a decade or so on portraying men that work outside the law to get what they want. No one did it better and it's always fun to revisit. BLACK RAIN is a perfect storm of 80's music, great photography, exotic locales and terrific action that blasts its way to an A.