City Hall Movie Review

Title: City Hall
Format: DVD
Year: 1996
Label: Warner Bros.


This is a political thriller staring Al Pacino and John Cusack with a minor supporting role by Bridget Fonda.

The plot revolves around the Mayor of New York ( Pacino ) and his deputy ( Cusack ) caught up in a political scandal when a young boy is caught in the cross-fire between a mobster and a cop. The boy dies. In fact all three die. It becomes a political mine field when suggestions that the cop was dirty hit the media.

The acting is top class with all actors including the supporting roles delivering outstanding performances. The only exception is Bridget Fonder. It's not a terrible performance but the makes no real impact or connection with the other characters. This may be down to the writing. She is a similar role to Sandra Bullock in A Time To kill which was released in the same year, but Fonda's Character is not developed we'll enough and feels like an after thought. "We need a supporting actress similar to that film they are shooting over at Warner Bros."

The direction is excellent and the whole production is slick. In a very 
90's way. Maybe too slick.

The plot develops nicely and at a steady pace allowing the characters to develop and the bond between the Mayor and his deputy to cross over to the viewer.

After you get over the dense dialogue, the American political  and New York colloquial  Dialect and etiquette, you start to get a feel for the city. The viewer is lead to feel less alienated by the fact that Cussack's character is not originally from New York and although he tries to actively participate and integrate the Cultural influences present in City Hall into his own life, he is still only learning.

When you finally get around to absorbing the plot, you may think that you know how it will end. You are probably right. But the journey is worth the ride in my opinion. Even though there are no major unexpected twists, the way the prices come together is engaging mainly due to the fact that the actor make the character feel real.

In conclusion I would recommend this movie for those who enjoy political thrillers. There have been some great ones in recent times and this one is often over- looked. 

UK Films Rating: 7.5/10
Release Rating: 3/10 - OK transfer and only a Trailer
Did James like it? Yes

Freerunner Movie Review

Title: Freerunner
Format: DVD
Year: 2011
Label: Revolver

The stars of the very successful Football Factory & The Business team up again for 'The Ultimate Death Race.' Sounds like fun.

First of all I have to mention that I have been sorely disappointed with Hassan & Dyer's recent films with the exception of Dead Man Running which I actually enjoyed. The duo seem to be living out their roles from The Business in real life. From the heights of success and coolness to the dirty shell-suited desperadoes just clinging on to a slither of dignity in their third act. But that could all change with 'Freerunner.'

The UK DVD release from revolver 
features Danny Dyer and Tamer Hassan weilding massive machine guns. It looks cool, but you soon realise by reading the synopsis on the back that neither of them in the lead role in this movie. Sean Francis is. He is not on the front cover at all. So we know the cover is misleading, not a good start, but at this point I'm not put off. 

The movie starts with some overly stylised shaky camera footage of some free runners - running and jumping. It's ok but doesn't really hold your attention. The added film grain and colour grading seems to work ok, but that damn shaky camera is so annoying. We get a glimpse of Hassan and Dyer and then some bad acting by the freerunners. Oh dear. There is some voiceover work by Hassan ( or was it Dyer, I can't remember ) and then we are introduced to the main character who has an internal dialogue voice over. Not a good start for him either BUT after the pointless monologue, we see some actual acting and it turns out that Sean Feris actually carries this film. His acting is good, he looks like Tom Cruise, he sounds like Tom Cruise and he is playing a similar role to... Tom Cruise 'Race against time...get to the bad guys before they get to you' - It works. That is the the positives. All of the positives in that one sentence.

The negatives are substantial. The film has too many vibes going on. Serious action vibe, tongue in cheek vibe, grindhouse vibe... Some of the characters don't seem to know what their motivation is or what context to play their roles. Dyers character is unconvincing as the main bad guy. Hassan doesn't really have a role worth mentioning at all.

The first half of the film is very hard work. The acting is bad, the direction is awful, the freerunning stuff is tedious and the story is very weak. The second half is alot better, the real story is revealed and the race begins. There story is basically: a group of freerunners have to race to the other side of town. They have exploding colors fitted. Only one will survive. Bets are taken from billionaires and it's televised in a running man style. The main problem with this is freerunning. It just isn't necessary and is actually quite boring to watch. They are meant to be fighting for their lives but the fights are general action is lame. It would have been much better to stick to the old tried and tested random people or bad-ass convicts.

To summerise. The main problem with Freerunner is the free running. The second problem is that Dyer and Hassan's characters are one dimensional at best. The fact that the DVD miss-leads the viewer so badly really doesn't help matters. Those guns shown on the cover are not in the movie at all. Hassan doesn't go anywhere near a gun at any point and Dyer spends 99% of his screen time in an office.

UK Films Rating: 3/10
Release Rating: 7/10 - Behind Scenes and freerunning extras
Did James like it? No

Sexy Beast Movie Review

Title: Sexy Beast
Format: DVD
Year: 2000
Label: FilmFour

Sexy Beast is a gangster movie featuring Ray Winstone. Maybe you are thinking that about sums it up, I know that's all I'd really have to know to make my own assumptions as to the nature of the movie - a gritty London based run of the mill cockney  cock fight. This is not at all what this film is like - is that a good thing? I'm not entirely sure.

The story revolves around two couples, retired from a life of crime who have found peace and harmony living the good life on Spain. A face from the past appears summoning Ray Winston's character to return to London for 'one last job' - so far so big standard. The difference here being that Ray Winston is not the hard man. He's afraid if saying no and it takes alot of courage for him to say no. Ben Kingsley's character will not accept no for an answer. 

I must say that the direction shows some real flares of genius but also is left wanting in other places. The script is great but the plot doesn't quite deliver. The acting is superb especially by Cavan Kendall and Ben Kingsley.

It feels like a gangster film fighting against being an art film which doesn't quite sit well together. It may be my own Pre-conceived notions of what a gangster movie, or maybe even a conflict movie should be, but for me, although it has a great atmosphere, it never really feels immersive. The plot doesn't thrill. Maybe it isn't meant to. The lead character is not a hero. Again maybe this is not a bad thing, it's very realistic in that sense and it gives the character some genuine depth.

The release itself is very good. Great packaging and artwork. Lots of extra features.

On the whole I would recommend watching this movie we a Pre-warning not to expect your typical gangster film. If you go into expecting that, it will lead you on for the first half of the movie and you may be disappointed with the second half.

UK Films Rating: 7/10
Release Rating: 8/10 - Exellent transfer. Trailers. Behind Scenes...
Did James like it? Yes

The Exterminator Review

Title: The Exterminator
Format: DVD
Year: 1989
Label: Synergy

This is a revenge movie. Pure and simple. There were a string of Death With rip-offs in the 70s and early 80s mainly from Italian directors. This one is American. Director James Glickenhaus was born and raised in New York which helps to set this movie apart from others such as Vigilante.

The lead character 'Eastland' is an anti-hero. A man who starts out on a revenge mission and seems to enjoy it all too much by the end. His best friend is badly beaten by a gang and left hospitilised. 

Eastland's mission is to get revenge on the gang and get some money to support his friend's family. He goes after a local mobster played by Dick Boccelli who I think plays the part brilliantly. For me, this character had so much more potential and is killed off far too early. He has a great death scene which would have been so much more gratifying had it been the finale.


Overall the direction is good. The editing seems a little jagged in places. The actors are all more than competent. I enjoyed this movie and felt it had a unique vibe even though it is essentially a rip-off. There was emotion in the story, even if missplaced, it added something new to the mix. 

The cop on the exterminators trail was a run of the mill good cop. Again I think the character had more potential. Christopher George played the role well and could have potentially been the main character from the start. Allegiance does seem to shift from Eastland to Dalton pretty early on.

The transfer on this Synergy release is ok. The sound is stated as being stereo but it is infact mono ( maybe duel mono ) and does seem to have some strange phasing effects at time - not sure whether this was an intentional part of the original sound track or not.

I enjoyed The Exterminator. If you like the vigilante genre, this one is a classic.

UK Films Rating: 6/10 - Good B-Movie.
Release Rating: 5/10 - OK quality transfer. Trailers.
Did James like it? Yes

Dog House Review

Title: DogHouse
Format: DVD
Year: 2009
Label: Sony Pictures


I had high hopes for this movie, it stars some of my favourite UK actors including Danny Dyer (The Business) Stephen Graham (Snatch) and Noel Clarke (Dr Who), and maybe that was the problem. If this was a standard movie with a bunch of unknown actors I think I would have found it slightly more enjoyable, however with the calibre of actors cast in the film I found myself both waiting for and wanting more..It never materialised.

The plot is taken from any standard horror movie (group of people in middle of nowhere get attacked) and that in itself was fine. I could even over look the awful product placement by a certain razor company... that got repeated often.... certainly not the best a man could get. The monsters in this film are infected, flesh eating females which are cliché stereotypes, not scary in the slightest.... I know this film is supposed to be tongue in cheek but I still expected to be a taken back a little at some point in this ‘horror’ film, sadly I wasn’t. 

One of my main issues in this movie was that as the viewer I never felt any empathy or connection with the characters or situation they were in. I genuinely hoped that I could just watch this film as a fan of low budget home grown movies however I soon became distracted and lost all interest in the story.

The acting for the most part was sub-par; the only exception to this was Noel

Clarke who in my opinion stood out above the more experienced film actors. It seemed both Danny Dyer and Stephen Graham were treading water and doing the bare minimum. Maybe they were restricted by the poor dialog or felt they were constrained by the nonexistent character development, either way it just didn’t work.

The audio started so badly during the early pub scene that I changed the audio settings on my TV hoping that was the problem, unfortunately it wasn’t. To me it sounded as though the actors were speaking from under an inch of water, the sound came across as dull and muffled. To be fair the audio did pick up as the movie progressed and after 20 minutes I had forgotten there was an issue.

This movie was never expected to win a BAFTA or compete with true horror movies, this was always going to be the kind of film you watch with mates after a few beers and in that light I think it just barely works... emphasis on just.

If you don’t expect a decent story line, originality, or scares then you won’t be disappointed.


UK films Rating: 4/10 – Mildly entertaining
Release Rating: 7/10 -  Great Transfer, extras include: Making of, Deleted Scenes and Blooper Reel
Did Jesmon like it? NO

Bail Out Review

Title: Bail Out
Format: DVD
Year: 1989
Label: Digiview Productions

The synopsis describes Bail out as an action packed comedy. And it is. To some degree. And it has a great cast. And the story is fine - for a 30 min episode of Magnum.

The story is about a group of 3 bounty hunters who are given the task of watching a wealthy heiress to ensure that she turns up for court the following day. Needless to say things get complicated when the girl is kidnapped.

For a 1989 movie, it feels a lot earlier. Like previously mentioned, it has the vibe of a Magnum episode, and to some extent, Hasslelhoff's character has similar traits and he plays the role well.

The direction is fair to good and the comedy, although not laugh out loud ( or not so intentionally ) is lighthearted and entertaining. 

The action is good. The car chases, firefights, horse-riding.. all done well. The chemistry between the bountyhunters also works well. 

This is not a good movie. It has alot going for it, but it just not good. I'm not sure if it's a pace issue or maybe a lack of variation in locations, but something doesn't work. Like mentioned twice before, it seems like an extended episode of magnum. This could have been ( maybe it was ) a feature length pilot for a TV series - which would have been pretty good. 

Overall, probably would have been a worthwhile video rental in 1989, but best steered clear of nowadays. The Digiview DVD transfer is shockingly bad which doesn't help either.
UK Films Rating: 4/10 - Not great.
Release Rating: 2/10 - Bad quality transfer. Poor packaging & no extras.
Did James like it? No

Iron Eagle Review

Title: Iron Eagle
Format: DVD
Year: 1986
Label: Columbia Tri-Star

This a a great little Pro-America 80s teen adventure. Often seen as a Top Gun rip-off, Iron Eagle was actually released before Top Gun and other than the fact the it features fighter jets, there are not many similarities.

The story revolved around an 18 year old air cadet, Doug, who lives on an airforce base with is family. His father is shot down over a middle eastern country and is sentenced to death. The US governments hands seem tied to Doug comes up with a plan to rescue his father with the help of his friends and a retired airforce colonel ( Louis Gossett Jr. )

The sound track is excellent, Louis Gossett Jr's performance is brilliant - he basically plays the same role as his award winning performance in An Officer nd a Gentleman.

Jason Gedrick's acting is a little wooden at times, but it doesn't hinder the movies charisma or the viewers empathy with the character.

For me the most outstanding performance is by David Succhet who plays a Gaddafi type character. His dialogue is laughable but delivered with conviction. "I want these pigs blown out of the sky!." The direction and effects are excellent. The aerial footage is some of the best shot pre 00's and has been re-used in many other movies over the years.

There is a political undertone but that is to be expected in these Reagan era pro American outings. It's what makes them so good.

It's a movie for teenaged fashioned into something for a much wider audience. It doesn't quite succeed in this respect but nevertheless, it's a fun movie, well shot, well paced and with a good cast.

This movie is dated. Heavily dated. But if you like 80s movies, this one is a cracker.

UK Films Rating: 8/10 - Great entertainment
Release Rating: 5/10 - Good quality transfer, no real extras.
Did James like it? YES