No Huddle Reviews

It all started as an ABC television movie about three police officers fresh from the academy. They had their passions and ideals and were ready to take on the world. The telefilm featured Kolchak: The Night Stalker’s Darren McGavin as Lt. Ryker, the grizzled veteran police mentor and boss for the three rookies. By the time the show went to series the role was recast with Gerald S. O’Loughlin as a slightly more understanding version of the character. It was obviously decided to make him less harsh and more amicable in personality. The three rookie cops remained the same.
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Ever wonder what Herman Melville’s classic tale Moby Dick would have been like if instead of a white whale Ahab was obsessed with but a giant white dragon?  Well, then you’re in luck, because that is exactly what Age of Dragons is, a literal remake of the classic but with dragons.  At first I found this idea pretty awesome, and heck it even has Danny Glover (Lethal Weapon) with Vinnie Jones(X-Men Last Stand); what could possibly go wrong?  Sadly, a lot can go wrong.
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Going into this film all I really knew was that it was written and directed by Mario Van Peebles (New Jack City) and a vague memory of the trailer I caught on a previous DVD I reviewed.   One look at the unappealing cover and it had me thinking I got stuck with a low-budget Step Up knockoff, and I just really wasn’t looking forward to this film, but I do try and stay optimistic, because sometimes you never know when something good may come along.  This is one of those films.
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“Corporations… They have all the money. They have all the power, and they use it to make people like you go away. Right now you’re suffering under an enormous weight. We provide the Leverage.”

The series centers on Nathan Ford (Hutton), an ex-insurance investigator. His life was turned around when the very insurance company he recovered millions for turned down his child for treatment to keep her alive.
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“Loyalty is what you can hold in your hand.”

I know it doesn’t completely fill the bill as a pirate film, but ever since I saw The Goonies up on the big screen I became obsessed with all things pirate related.  Even one of the first books I read as a child was the Robert Louis Stevenson classic Treasure Island.  The bad part with being an 80’s kid was growing up in an era where pirate films simply were hard to come by, and when they did they weren’t very good; I’m looking at you Cutthroat Island. 
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“Miami Beach. Used to be the average age around here was, like, 82. And then that broad Madonna decides that this is the place to be, and the next thing you know, everywhere you turn, it’s women with big breasts, men with big breasts. Breasts are very big here.”

This is one of those budget triple-feature DVD’s presenting three of Touchstone Film’s underperforming comedies, The Crew, Oscar, and Big Trouble. I must say I enjoyed the fact I hadn’t seen any of the films before.
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Three-time widower Ben Cartwright  (Greene) runs his famous Ponderosa Ranch with the aid of his three grown sons from three different mothers. There’s Little Joe (Landon), Adam (Roberts) and Hoss (Blocker). Set some time in the mid 1800’s, this long-running series followed the family’s many exploits. In the late 1950’s westerns accounted for six of the top ten programs on TV. Only Gunsmoke had a longer run than Bonanza. From 1959 to 1973, Ben Cartwright and his boys rode across the small screen. Years later in syndication the series re-emerged as Ponderosa, and a handful of TV movies continued the tale into the 90’s.
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Catholic priests are used to hearing confessions, but for one particular pastor in Chicago, the usual confessions about using the Lord’s name in vain or stealing a couple of paper clips from the office just weren’t exciting enough. Father Dowling loved reading mystery books, and it appears to have sharpened his own powers of observation and deduction. As luck would have it, crimes and mysteries would simply fall into his lap. With the help of Sister Stephanie, better known as Sister Steve, he would step away from his pastoral duties to track down clues that were elusive to the Chicago Police Department
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Just to forewarn you this is not a review for the mini-series that aired on the History channel with Kevin Costner and Bill Paxton.  Instead this is for the bad knockoff that seems to have been released just in time to catch any spillover interest from the Costner version.  So how does this version of the battle between the two feuding families hold up?  Well, not so good, and I’m being generous in saying that.
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If you weren’t around in the 1970’s, you might be surprised to find out that film superstar Michael Douglas was once in a television cop show. It was this influential crime drama that allowed Douglas to show off the acting chops that would earn him a spot in the Hollywood elite for decades to come. It didn’t hurt any that he was able to team up with Karl Malden, an undervalued talent in his own right. The two of them literally bring the show to life.  The series was run by Quinn Martin, himself no stranger to groundbreaking television.
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A serial killer is on the loose in New York dispatching up-and-coming hip hop artists.  Is it a feud between rappers, a crazed fan, or is it all part of a conspiracy connecting all the homicides involving rappers reaching back to the days of Tupac and the Notorious BIG?  Chances are if you’re anything like me you couldn’t care less.  I take rappers about as seriously as Carrot Top, and I’m willing to wager it’s Carrot that has more talent.  But people still enjoy the music, and as long as the fans are happy that’s all that matters.
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