DVD/Movie Review: Private School

 

Private School is a coming-of-age comedy from 1983 starring Phoebe Cates, Betsy Russell, Matthew Modine, Kathleen Wihote, and Ray Walston. The best way I can describe this movie is a combination of Porky's and Fast Times at Ridgemont High, yet nowhere near as good as either of them. However, if you were a boy anywhere near puberty in the 1980s this was one of the movies you always hoped came on cable late at night when you got to stay up late. The script and acting are atrocious. Even though the movie had some young stars who would go on to be relatively good actors, they were not given much to work with, even by teen sex comedy standards. There were also some whose careers never made it out of the 1980s. It has about every 80s movie cliche you can imagine (right down to the cheesy music montage). 

The DVD is very bare-bones. There are no extras such as deleted scenes, making-of featurettes, or the like. Realistically, given that it was not one of the major teen comedies of the 1980s and is far more of a cult classic, it is not surprising that it did not get a more expensive DVD release.

The two best things about the movie are Betsy Russell and having some relatively good songs on the soundtrack. Phoebe Cates was the big star in the movie, coming off her role in Fast Times. And although she was the "sexy one" in that movie, she plays the rather bland "good girl" in this one. She is of course still gorgeous and did show a little bit toward the end of the movie, but Betsy Russell is the one who amps up the sex factor here. Ultimately you know what you get with this. It is not great by any means. Do not expect an Academy Award winner, but if you fall within the demographic who remembers this movie from your youth, you can have a good laugh at how good you probably thought it was when you were young and fondly remember ogling Betsy.

DVD/Movie Review: 10

 

10 is a movie starring Bo Derek, Dudley Moore, Julie Andrews, Dee Wallace, and Brian Dennehy. In the movie, Moore plays a man named George Webber who is a famous music composer going through a mid-life crisis. He sees a young couple getting married and becomes obsessed with the bride (played by Derek). He discovers that the couple is going on a honeymoon in Mexico and follows them to the resort. It is partly a comedy and partly a drama about a guy discovering that he is content with the life he has. 

All the hype around this movie was about Bo Derek and rocketed her to a 1980s sex symbol. This was one of her first movies and she did look spectacular in it, but what is lost in all that hype was the fact that it was a funny movie about a guy going through a midlife crisis. What makes it funny is that Dudley Moore was not a typical leading man.  You do have to keep in mind this was made in the late 1970s and the humor in it is very different than it is in today's comedies (even the good ones). Whether or not you will find it entertaining is completely subjective. There is a little bit of nudity and some sexual content (which is tame by today's standards). If you have seen the movie on TV and enjoyed it or just grew up in the era of Bo Derek being a huge sex symbol, it is certainly worth a DVD purchase.

The Greatest American Hero: The Complete Series

 

This is the complete series of the campy superhero series The Greatest American Hero, starring William Katt, Connie Sellica, and Robert Culp, that aired on ABC from 1981-1983. The series was created by Stephen J. Cannell to ride the wave of popularity (and in some ways spoof) the original Superman movie, which came out a few years before this aired. The premise of the show was that a regular guy named Ralph Hinley (his last name was originally Hinkley, but his last name was changed after the assassination attempt on Ronald Regan), played by Katt, who is a high-school teacher is given a suit that gives him superpowers (by aliens) but he loses the instructions so he has no idea how it really works. He teams up with an FBI agent (Culp) and his attorney girlfriend (Sellica) to fight crime. So, the show is really part superhero series, part buddy cop drama, and part comedy. The show is mainly a procedural following a case-of-the-week format in which the stories are resolved by the end of the episode. But, the show occasionally calls back to something from a prior episode.

Since the show aired in the very early 1980s, the special effects were pretty cheesy, and the writing in some areas is hilarious today for different reasons than they were when the show aired. For example, the kids they were trying to portray as tough or bad were not threatening in any way, shape, or form. Many of the storylines were Cold War-themed given the era. Because of that, if you did not at least grow up around that time you probably will not get all the references. 

What I liked about the show is that it never tried to take itself too seriously. And while it did go off on some strange tangents (like the electricity monster episode) it managed to stay entertaining throughout its run. I think all three of the main actors did a great job with their characters. William Katt really did feel ridiculous in the suit, and that came across in his performance. Robert Culp was great as the chauvinistic "my way or the highway" FBI agent, and Connie Sellica was more than just eye candy on the show. Many times Sellica played the "straight man" role to Culp's eccentric character even more than Katt did. As different as the characters were, it seemed all the actors had very good chemistry which came across in the performances, and you bought that the characters really cared about each other. And the relationship between the characters was really what made the series work even when it could get a bit silly.

Some reviews on Amazon mention that the music was not the same as when originally aired. I was too young when the show was actually on TV to remember any of the music other than the main theme song. However, as is the case with many older shows, the studio likely ran into copyright issues when putting together the DVD release and had to change some of the songs that were played. Chances are the lack of original songs will not be an issue for a lot of people since they did not seem to use canned instrumental replacement music (for the most part anyway), but it may be for some. Personally, I would rather have the series available on DVD without the original music than not have it at all. The only unfortunate thing about the series is that it never had a proper ending. It only had a 13-episode final season, and the way it ended seems like it was canceled abruptly halfway through season three. So the final episode of the series really feels just like any other regular episode. Even though the show is dated, it holds up pretty well (but not perfectly) and is definitely worth the time to watch.

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: American Ninja 3: Blood Hunt

 

If you take portions of the plots of American Ninja 1 and 2, combine them with any other martial arts movies that involve a tournament (e.g., Enter The Dragon and The Karate Kid), and don't do any of them as well, you get American Ninja 3. This is the third movie in the American Ninja franchise created by Cannon Films after the popularity of the "Ninja Trilogy" that starred Sho Kosugi. The first American Ninja was a pretty big hit (for a low-budget martial arts movie) and the second one was more of a flop. The first two movies starred Michael Dudikoff as Joe Armstrong, the titular American Ninja. For this movie, Dudikoff's contract was up and he was replaced with David Bradley, who played Sean Davidson another (convenient) American Ninja. Dudikoff's character is named dropped once during the movie, but that is it.

The plot, to the extent there is one, is recycled yet barely comprehensible. The main bad guy is another terrorist nicknamed The Cobra (played by Marjoe Gortner) who is making biological weapons and genetically enhanced super ninjas. One of the main problems with the movie is that there is no "main" bad ninja. There are just a bunch of rando ninjas that would be expendable henchmen in any other ninja movie. So, the "final battle" is just silly. Steve James is the only one from the first two movies to appear in this one, reprising his role as Curtis Jackson, who is now out of the Army and attending a karate tournament where he meets Davidson.

The A/V transfer is okay, but not great. It is definitely a step up from VHS quality, but as you would expect with a low-budget B-movie, it did not get a great restoration. For extras, there is a 13-minute behind-the-scenes featurette that includes interviews with the writer, director, producer, and Dudikoff who basically says it was not his decision not to come back for this movie. Then there is a 6-minute portion of David Bradley's screen test and the theatrical trailer. Unlike the blu-ray releases for the first two movies, this one does not have a commentary track.

The only real reason to get this movie is if you have the others and want to keep your collection complete. The action is fine and Bradley certainly could handle the martial arts. But, the writing is horrible and as a result, the acting is pretty shitty too.  It is something you can watch once and never watch again and/or just have it on in the background while you are cooking or cleaning. 

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: American Ninja 2: The Confrontation

 

This is the 1987 follow-up to the surprise 1985 hit, American Ninja. The movie brings back Michael Dudikoff as Joe Armstrong and Steve James as Curtis Jackson and was again directed by Firstenberg (who directed the first movie, as well as a couple of movies in Cannon's early 80s "Ninja Trilogy". 

The movie is set on some unnamed tropical island in the Caribbean, where Marines are being mysteriously abducted. Armstrong and Jackson (who are still in the army) are sent to investigate. From there, a silly plot about a local drug lord (played by Gary Conway, who also wrote the movie) that involves genetically engineering ninjas plays out. This time, the lead "bad" ninja was played by Mike Stone (who had trained Elvis Pressley in Karate). 

The blu-ray transfer was decent (an upgrade from the VHS version for sure), but not great. Very similar to the transfer the first movie received. The extras include an audio commentary track with Elijah Drenner and Firstenberg, which was very similar to the track they did for the American Ninja Blu-Ray, a making-of featurette, and the trailer. In the commentary track, Firstenberg again provides a lot of good nuggets about the movie, including filming the movie in South Africa toward the end of Apartheid and working with an even lower budget for this movie than he had for the first, despite the success of the first movie. 

Overall, the movie itself is bad. It definitely has the look and feel of a very low-budget 80s action movie. The script was hilariously bad, which resulted in horrible acting, and the fight sequences were not nearly as good as in the first movie. The "expendable" black ninjas could not beat anyone, and even Stone's lead ninja was pretty lame in the final fight. But, you know what you get from the movie. It is not an award-winner by any means but is a nostalgic blast from the past. 

CD/Music Review: Phi Collins: The Singles

 

If you were alive in the 1980s and 1990s and were a fan of pop and/or adult-contemporary music you heard Phil Collins a lot. Either because of his time as the lead singer of the group Genesis or his prolific solo career. This is a two-disc set (if you get the physical CD) that has all of the songs that Phil Collins put out as singles during his solo career. It is basically a greatest hits album and the songs on it cover his solo career from the early 1980s up through the mid-1990s. All of the songs have been remastered and pretty much all of his solo hits, including songs like Both Sides of the Story, Another Day in Paradise, You'll Be in my Heart, Against All Odds, and Take Me Home are included, along with some of his lesser-known non-smash hit songs. I definitely recommend this one to any fan of Phil Collins.

DVD/Movie Collection Review: Porky's the Ultimate Collection

 

As anyone who grew up in the 1980s knows, Porky's was on the raunchier end of the coming-of-age comedies. The original movie, written and directed by Bob Clark and released in 1981 was set in FL in the 1950s and told the story of a bunch of teenagers (played by a bunch of twenty-somethings who barely pass as teenagers) from the fictional Angel Beach High School who want to have sex. They figure the best way to do that is to go to the local hicksville strip club called Porky's, run by a guy, as you would guess is named Porky (played by Chuck Mitchell). They also manage to peep into the girl's shower at school (in that classic hole-in-the-wall scene and the extremely funny aftermath). The final act of the movie turns into an action-revenge story as the kids take down Porky's after one of them gets beat up. The other almost iconic scene in the movie was the one with Kim Catrall (in one of her early movie roles) that involves a lot of howling.

The second and third movies, Porky's II (The Next Day) and Porky's Revenge never did live up to the first movie. Clark bowed out of the franchise after the second movie, and by the third movie, none of the actors could pass for teenagers in their senior year of high school. Both the first movie and the second movie dealt with the racist south. The second movie especially lampoons the KKK and the racist southern preachers with the story set around the fact that a Native American transfer student was cast as Romeo - alongside a Caucasian Juliet in the high school play, and the protagonists taking down the racists. The third movie, released in 1985 was about Porky blackmailing the Angel Beach basketball team as revenge for the kids destroying his club in the first movie.

As far as the DVDs go, the set has all three movies on separate discs. The first movie has the most extras, with the commentary track by Bob Clark being the most extensive, and then a 13-minute making-of documentary. Then, each disc has the trailer and some tv spots for the respective movies. Definitely not as much as some box set releases get, but given that none of the movies were a critical success, that is not all that surprising.

Overall, the first movie is good and the other two fall in quality. There is a lot of nudity in each movie, including full-frontal nudity from both men and women, which was highly controversial back then. The themes of racism and antisemitism in the first two movies would be much more of a big deal now, and chances are the movies could not get made the same way today as they did back then. Porky's Revenge is more of a straight-up comedy (and is also the worst of the three). None of the movies were as good as other coming-of-age-teen comedies or dramedies of the era like Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Sixteen Candles, but it was definitely a precursor to the more raunchy teen comedies like American Pie that would come out years later. For most people, the movies will be a nostalgic blast from the past, and for that, this is a good set.

DVD/Movie Review: Just One of the Guys

 

Just one of the Guys is, partly, a cookie-cutter 1980s teen comedy, but it does deviate partly from being completely cookie-cutter. The story does not start as the "typical" teen romantic comedy, it actually starts out with a theme of sexism as a journalism student named Terri, played by Joyce Hyser, is not entered in a competition by her teacher that would land her an internship at a newspaper, she decides that it is because she is a girl and decides to enroll at a different school as "Terry" and hopefully get entered into the competition on her journalistic merit. From there it does get into the cookie-cutter 80s teen comedy with Teri falling for one of her classmates Rick Morehouse, played by Clayton Rohner, having to fend off a bully Greg, William Zabka, and being pursued as Terry by another classmate, Sandy, played by the utterly gorgeous Sherilyn Fenn. Of course, hilarity ensues as she tries to hide being a guy and then in the end has to reveal, in spectacular fashion, that she is not a boy.

For those looking to get the movie on disc, there is a Blu-Ray version out there that does have a commentary track with at least some of the cast members included. The DVD version just has the movie itself, no extras. It would be nice if there were a bit of behind-the-scenes material, but given that the movie was not anywhere near as big as some of the other 1980s teen comedies, it is not surprising that the release is pretty bare bones.

Overall, the movie is good. Probably better than it got credit for being at the time. It definitely does require some suspension of disbelief, just like movies like Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead require. It is definitely not something that a kid could pull off in real life. But, if you accept it for what it is and do not overanalyze it too much, the movie is enjoyable. The acting is very good, with Billy Jacoby who plays Terri's little brother, Buddy stealing nearly every scene he is in, and Fenn doing sultry about as well as she did in Twin Peaks. While I would not call it a must-see, if you are into 80s comedies, especially the coming of age movies like Fast Times, this is a good one to check out.

DVD/Movie Review: Ghostbusters 2

 

The original Ghostbusters, made in 1984 is widely considered to be one of the greatest comedies of all time. The second movie is set five years after the first movie, to match up with a 1989 release date, to reveal that the Ghostbusters did not exactly become heroes after saving the city. They were left with a massive cleanup bill, they did not get any clients, and were relegated to appearing at kid's birthday parties, running a bookstore, and in the case of Venkman, hosting a crazy talk show. It is revealed that Dana broke up with Venkman, got married, and then divorced, and is raising a baby as a single mother while working at a museum restoring artwork. Of course, a new evil threat awakens to threaten not only the team, but the city and the world, and the Ghostbusters get pressed back into service.

The movie is definitely not as good as the original. That said, it is not as bad as some make it out to be. There are definitely some corny parts to it (like Bobby Brown's cameo), and most of Peter MacNicol's role, but it does keep a lot of the same humor and charm of the first movie. It brings back the entire cast including Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver, Harold Ramis, Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts, and Rick Moranis (giving the last two more expanded roles than they had in the first movie).

For those who get the stand-alone DVD that was released in 2006, the only extras are the inclusion of a couple of episodes of the Ghostbusters animated series. Nothing specific to the movie itself. Of course, it is now available in Blu-Ray and in 4kUHD, so those may have better extras, but on the DVD release, there was nothing to write home about.

Overall, the movie is good, but as I said above, not as good as the original movie. Even so, it does have a good, uplifting, message and even with some of the eye rolling moments, it is still worth watching.

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Gremlins 2: The New Batch

 

This is, of course, the sequel to Gremlins, the 1980s movie that was a combination of horror movie and comedy. It brings back stars, Zach Galligan and Phoebe Cates as well as Howie Mandel voicing Gizmo and Dick Miller, Jackie Joseph, and Keye Luke reprising their roles from the first film. It also adds cast members like Robert Picardo, John Glover, John Astin, and Christopher Lee, as well as has cameos by Hulk Hogan and film critic Leonard Maltin. The premise of this movie is that Gizmo is subjected to being a lab rat by a billionaire in NY. Billy and Kate, who conveniently happen to be working in the same building in which he is being experimented on, manage to rescue Gizmo, but he gets wet of course causing him to spawn Gremlins who take over the building.

The movie is much campier than the first one, which itself was not without campiness. It is pretty much a straight comedy with a bunch of comedic violence, but the Gremlins are not a sinister murderous threat in this movie as they are a threat to damage property. The Gremlins are really the stars of the movie (Gizmo is not as major a character as he was in the first movie), and there are a lot more of them in this movie than there was in the first.

The extras all carry over from the DVD. Those include a commentary track by the writer, director, and Galligan, in which they admit that the movie is a totally unnecessary sequel. Then there are some deleted scenes, a gag reel, and the trailer (along with a couple of smaller, minor extras). The A/V quality is okay, but it did not get a great video restoration that some older movies get when released on Blu-Ray.

Overall, the movie tends to garner mixed opinions. Some people like it more than the original movie and some, like me, think it is okay but was not really needed. The overall plot was kind of dumb, but the plot of the first movie took a lot of suspension of disbelief too. But to me, this went beyond that and was a far more typical 80s comedy than the first movie was. I liked it far more when I was a little kid watching it than I like it as an adult.

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Gross Anatomy

 

Gross Anatomy is a 1980s medical school drama, something like what The Paper Chase was to law school. The movie stars Matthew Modine as Joe Slovak, a smart student who does "good enough" to get into med school, but does not reach his full potential, basically because of his attitude and unwillingness to apply himself, Christine Lahti, as Dr. Rachel Woodruff, one of the professors at the medical school Joe is accepted to, and one of the teachers of the class Gross Anatomy, and Daphnie Zuniga as Laurie Rorbach, another med student and potential love interest for Joe (because of course there had to be a love story component).

The movie is set around the first-year med school experience, namely through the Gross Anatomy class in which the students have to dissect a human cadaver over the course of the year. There are several conflicts in the movie, one of the main ones between Lathi's character and Modine's character as she tries to push him to live up to his full potential and he chafes under her strict rules. It also deals with the pressure of med school and the desire to succeed at all costs, drug use, work-life balance, and the like. It also has some plot twists along the way that make for a good story.

The A/V quality of the Blu-Ray is good. It did not get an extremely high-quality transfer. Whether there are any extras depends on whether you get the regular edition (which has no extras just the movie) or the special edition (which has a commentary track by the director and trailers). I have the regular edition with just the movie, which I think is fine.

Overall, the movie is a good late 80s drama. It is well-written and well-acted. Some of it is definitely formulaic, but it is not totally cookie-cutter either. Chances are most people who are thinking of getting this watched it on TV growing up. If you are in that camp, I would say that the movie holds up pretty well even over thirty years later.

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Fast Times at Ridgemont High

 

Fast Times is one of the great coming-of-age comedies of all time, and one of the best comedies of the 1980s. It starred Judge Reinhold, Phoebe Cates, Sean Penn (in a role that he has never come close to playing since), Jennifer Jason Leigh, Ray Walston (as the great Mr. Hand), Brian Backer, and Robert Romanus. It also featured Forrest Whittaker, and in a  (almost) blink and you'll miss them roles, Nicholas Cage, Anthony Edwards, and Eric Stoltz.

The movie is really about the trials and tribulations of high school and growing up, and all that comes with it. It tackles subjects like dating, sex, and drugs all with a comedic bent, and also gets into deeper dramatic topics like abortion. Sean Penn and Ray Walston had great chemistry as the stoner loser Jeff Spicoli and his teacher nemesis Mr. Hand and played off each other very well. And, of course, there was "that scene" with Phoebe Cates taking off her bikini top which is one of the most (if not the most) paused scenes in movie history and launched thousands of crushes during the 1980s. There is also a great scene in which Cates' character teaches Leigh's character how to give a blowjob using carrots during school lunch.

For those who get the Blu-Ray, the movie looks and sounds good. It did not get as good an HD restoration as some movies have received, but it definitely looks better than the VHS and DVD releases. The extras include a "u-control" mode that plays making-of clips as the movie plays, and identifies the songs. There is also a making-of documentary that features interviews with the cast and crew (made about the time the movie came out), a commentary track with director Amy Heckerling and screenwriter Cameron Crowe, and the trailer. A good amount of material for those who like watching the bonus features.

The movie does have a reputation as a cult classic, as most of the coming-of-age comedies do, regardless of the era in which they were made. It is certainly a bit dated now and does feel like a movie from the 1980s, both in the way it was filmed, the hair and clothing styles, and the teen slang. Even so, some of the things from the movie are timeless no matter what the era, especially the teenage awkwardness and insecurity. Penn steals pretty much every scene he is in, and as I said, it is the type of role he never played after that, going for much darker and more serious roles after this one. I think most people who are likely to be interested in this probably are in their mid-forties or older, including a lot who, like me first saw it on cable in the mid-1980s and instantly fell in love with Phoebe Cates. But, if you are one who has never seen the movie and are looking for a good comedy, this is definitely worth watching.