Dice Movie Reviews

It's a testimony to Michael Mann's reputation at the time that Crime Story was even greenlighted. NBC would have never gone for the casting of Dennis Farina, with his pockmarked face and lack of acting experience, had Mann been a neophyte producer with no proven track record. The choice of cult film director Abel Ferrara (pre-Bad Lieutenant) must have also freaked out network execs. His previous films included a deranged psycho gruesomely killing people with a power tool and a rape survivor viciously killing the men who attacked her with a .45 pistol.

And yet, the final product proves that Mann's instincts were right on the money. Farina delivers the hard-boiled dialogue with the perfect amount of intensity (at one point Farina says menacingly to one goon, "you hurt anybody else, when this is all over I'm gonna find what you love the most and I'm gonna kill it. Your mother, your father, your dog. Don't matter what it is -- it's dead."). You can see it in his eyes and the way he barks out orders that this a no-nonsense guy who isn't going to let anything get in the way of his job.

Ferrara directs with the same proficient skill of crime auteur, Don Siegel. Crime Story depicts a harsh world where life is cheap and characters will do anything -- even if it means bending or breaking the law -- to achieve their goals.

One of the most striking aspects about Crime Story is that it feels like it was ripped right from the pages of a James Ellroy novel. It is even more surprising that this show was done before Ellroy had written his famous L.A. Quartet of books that features L.A. Confidential, which Crime Story most closely resembles. The author claims that he hadn't seen the show until after he wrote these novels but he does admit to being a fan since then. This, of course, begs the question, when is someone going to reunite Farina and Ferrara to do a proper Ellroy adaptation?

The DVD disappoints in the extras department. No audio commentaries from Ferrara or Mann (both of whom have done them before), or even the show's creator, Chuck Adamson. A retrospective featurette would have been nice but instead we are left with nothing.

If you are willing to overlook the appalling lack of extras and are a fan of Michael Mann or James Ellroy's fiction then this is definitely worth checking out. Hopefully, the folks at Anchor Bay will redeem themselves with the first season of Crime Story that their website says is due out in July of this year with the second season coming out in December.

A throughouly enjoyable love story. Not too heavy, but some teen angst all the same.

Ringwald is backed up by a strong supporting cast, including Jon Cryer, who plays her best guy friend, Duckie, who is just side-splittingly funny. In one of the funniest scenes of the film, he gets thrown in the girls bathroom by a group of nauseatingly preppy guys for trying to defend himself. "Wait a minute. We don't got none of this stuff in the boys room. You got doors on the stalls & a candy machine (He points to the tampon dispenser).
Harry Dean Stanton has never been more adorable & endearing as Andie's father. Annie Potts is wonderful as Andie's eccentric mother figure & co-worker. James Spader is Steff, the totally creepy slimeball & best friend of Blaine (Andrew McCarthy). I dismiss the fact that he looked way too old to be in high school because he just plays the part so damn well. He hates Andie & makes fun of her in front of his crowd. Secretly though, he has had a crush on her for years & it kills him that she won't give him the time of day. Ugh, I remember creeps like that in high school.

What I like is that all of the characters we're cheering for change for the better. Iona stops dating losers & gets herself a classy new image. Andie's father starts to get out of his rut that he's been in since Andie's mother left them years before & looks for a job for real this time. Duckie learns to stop making unfair generalizations about the popular people once he finds out Blaine is actually a very nice guy. Blaine learns to do what he wants to do & tells Steff off & makes things right with Andie. Andie refuses to let the popular kids break her. The only thing I didn't like was the unresolved ending that doesn't really leave things on a completely positive, realistic note. Andie & Blaine still have his parents to deal with & if they're as awful as Steff desribed, Blaine just might encounter the two unpleasant words that can pop up in difficult families: disown & estrangement.

Wish the DVD had some special features, but the soundtrack is great & essential to building the perfect CD collection.

Pretty in Pink is watchable and fairly entertaining. It doesn't have the cool scenery and hot dialogue as St. Elmo's Fire. It's not nearly as funny or fast paced as Sixteen Candles and it comes nowhere close to being as incredibly fabulous as The Breakfast Club ( which is the best Brat Pack film hands down!).

Put Pretty in Pink deals with a teen's look at how being poor can damage your love life and your reputation.

Molly Ringwald is Andie. The red-head 80's teen queen Ringwald plays Andie similar to the role of Sam in Sixteen Candles. Andie lives with her father who hasn't been able to deal with the fact that his wife/Andie's mother left them with no explanation. Andie is a teen with a lot on her shoulders. She goes to school, works, studies and takes care of her father. Without her friend Duckie she wouldn't have made it through the harder moments in life. He keeps her laughing when everyone else is laughing at her. Duckie ( Jon Cryer ) is head over heels in love with Andie. The audience can't sense that Andie knows this. When Duckie starts the lovey duvey talk Andie always brushes it off as another one of jokes. It's not until Blane ( Andrew McCarthy ) steps in the picture that Duckie gets the nerve to tell her how he really feels. Duckie reluctantly steps aside to let Blane and Andie embark on a stressed relationship. While Andie believes the relationship is hardest for her to deal with because Blane is rich and part of the in-crowd, she has no idea how hard it is for him to be with her. It turns out that Blane's snotty friends are giving him a hard time. James Spader is Steff ( probably in one of his most memorable roles ). Steff is the richest and the cruelist kid in the entire school. He's Blane's nasty best friend who tries to persuade Blane to stay away from Andie. On the other hand Steff has a secret motive. He doesn't resent Blane and Andie's relationship because of their social differences, but because he has been in love with Andie and can't take no for an answer. After constantly bullying her to date him and getting nowhere, Steff pulls out all the stops to make Blane give up on his true love.

This film is described as a " Cinderella " type but I thought it was more on the lines of " Sleeping Beauty ". It is indeed a modern fairytale. This film was made seventeen years ago ( when I was eight ) and I never paid it much attention although I'm a brat pack fan to the end. This is not the best brat pack movie in the world but is and will always be a classic to us 80's kids. Once again Molly Ringwald was on top of the world.

Fortunately she is one of the main characters, with more screen time than Angie Everhart who does get a main billing. Although she, usually, wears more than her character in The Lost World she's still very sexy and provides possibly the only good reason to see the film.

In some ways, the plot could seem complicated but it plays as though it's very thin.

A biker steals drugs and money from his gang, killing several in the process. His girlfriend (O'Dell) runs off with a rich talent scout to escape his jealousy and abuse, accidentally taking the bag containing the stolen goods. To get back the drugs and kill her new boyfriend the biker kidnaps her epileptic sister (Everhart) and offers a trade. After a few chases and much violence the good guy wins and walks off in to the sunset with the girl.

An interesting piece of casting was Zach Galligan as the biker's sidekick. I can only recall him playing the good guy in Gremlins so it seemed strange to see him as a vicious thug.

I rated this 4 stars because it gives me what I wanted, a lot of Jennifer O'Dell, and will get partially rewatched a number of times. I couldn't really recommend it for anyone looking for quality in script or filming.

1. Back To School
2. Caddyshack
3. Easy Money

That's it. He's still great live, though. Saw him at Radio City Music Hall in May, 2001 and he lit the place up.

MY FIVE WIVES loses steam as it stumbles to a conclusion. Instead of keeping Dangerfield and his jokes the center of attention, the film concentrates on its "plot," which concerns a land swindle and organized crime. Despite a supporting cast including comedians John Byner and Andrew Dice Clay, there's not enough funny stuff going on when Rodney's not on screen.

In one MY FIVE WIVES scene, Dangerfield and the five young women he's married wear thong bathing suits. I'll give Rodney credit for doing a semi-nude scene at his age. Come to think of it, two of his wives don't look so hot from behind in those swimsuits, either, and they can't blame age.