Continuing my Halloween marathon, next up is Beverly Hills Cop 2.  Of course it was a no-brainer for Paramount to greenlight a sequel when the first one made $250 – 300 million.  The one big difference was the change in directors from Martin Brest to Tony Scott.  After watching the first movie and the interviews, I am in firm belief that BHC would have not performed as well with a different director. Tony Scott was coming off of Top Gun, another smash for Paramount.

Cop 2 finds Eddie Murphy heading back to Beverly Hills to investigate the shooting of one of his buddies from the first movie.  Again, the story is fairly straight-forward with no twists.  Unfortunately, it also lacks the depth the first movie had, as well as some of the comedy.  In the DVD interviews, even Tony Scott admits that he was looking to film a straight-up action movie versus a comedy with action.  It is these choices that create a movie that does not completely live up to fan expectations.  As a matter of fact, I still remember the conversation in AP Calculus that I had with Mike Harvey where he blasted the movie for phoning it in and turning out a “piece of crap” compared to the first one.  While I did not enjoy it as much as the first one, I felt it was still decent enough entertainment.

Similar to the BHC DVD, this disc featured interviews and a trailer.

My advice:  decent enough to watch, but I would not choose it over the first…

I was listening to the “Best of” show yesterday for The Monsters in the Morning and the topic centered on comedic movies that could stand the test of time.  It made me think back to a discussion I had with Robert atSmart Guys Computers earlier in the week where we brought up Beverly Hills Cop.  So, I decided to spend Halloween watching the entire series.

For those unfamiliar with the movie, Eddie Murphy plays a Detroit cop who has a high school buddy gunned down in his apartment.  From there, Murphy pursues the case to Beverly Hills and its inevitable resolution.  No real twists were incorporated into the story; the story focused more on character development and comedic moments.

Along with 48 Hours and Trading Places, BHC is considered the genesis of Eddie Murphy’s movie career.  Interestingly enough, while he was the first choice of Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson, Murphy was not Paramount’s first choice.  The studio wanted Sylvester Stallone and had actually begun working with him on revising the script to better suit him.  Martin Brest, the director, finally made the studio see that the movie was moving too far from the original vision of “cop-out-of-water” idea.  Stallone agreed to step aside, and eventually made the movie Cobra based on some of the work he had done on BHC.  Paramount agreed to bring in Murphy and the rest is history.

The other notable feature of this movie is the soundtrack.  Harold Faltermeyer is responsible for one of the most recognizable movie themes, Axel F.  The way the theme is interlaced with the action helps balance the tone between action/mystery and comedy.  With songs from Glen Frey, The Pointer Sisters, and Patti LaBelle, the soundtrack became one of the most sought-after albums of 1984.

The DVD I have is part of a 3-disc collection that Paramount released for the whole series.  I liked the amount of interviews contained on the disc, which became the source of some of the info you have just read.  The audio is the standard 5.1 mix and the original trailer is also included.

My advice: grab a copy of this DVD and see a comedy/action movie that holds up 25 years later – In the words of Axel Foley, “Trust me….HEH HEH HEH”

No matter how hard we try, there are some movies that you just never get a chance to see on the big screen.  Of course, in this age of DVD/Blu-Ray, you do not have to wait too long to catch up.  Such was my experience with Fanboys.

The movie centers around a group of friends a few years removed from high school in 1998.  They have one desire: to see an advance copy of the new Star Wars movie 6 months in advance.  What follows is your typical road-trip high-jinks mixed with some really good story/character development.  You find out that each character has a deeper motivation for seeing the movie that drives them to finish the road trip.  By the end of the movie, not only have you gotten a good comedy, but one heck of a great story.

The casting was great.  The use of Kristen Bell (Veronica Mars) as the female lead nerd was brilliant, particularly in the Princess Leia bikini.  Seth Rogen in three different roles; Shatner; the list goes on.  The great thing about the “named” stars is how they committed to this like it was a big-budget feature.

The DVD has the usual features: commentaries, deleted scenes, and gag reels.  All of the extras are worth checking out.

My advice:  give this one a spin – you will enjoy the references to Star Wars and many other pop culture items…

I had been hearing about this one for a while, and never got around to seeing it until I noticed I could rent the re-release DVD from Netflix.  Not sure what drew me more to watching this, the fact that Neil Patrick Harris is in it or the story behind the whole project.  Wikipedia it if you’re not familiar with the DHSALB story.

Anyway, so it’s a 42-minute, 3-act musical about evil villains, superheroes, laundry marts, and the homeless.  I really don’t like 99% of musicals…and my exceptions are all rather offbeat ones (Avenue Q, Across the Universe, South Park Movie, etc.).  At first I did think the singing was cheesy, but later that became the charm of the whole thing.  It had great production value considering the time and budget it was done under.  The whole cast and crew really put their full effort into this series and it shows completely.  The story was a bit rushed, but considering they only had 42 minutes to work with, they at least told everything they needed to so it could be self-contained, albeit a bit too quickly.

The DVD extras were the standard commentary tracks and some behind the scenes interviews.  But they were great interviews about the production, the music, and a wrap-up, gave a lot more depth to the production of the musical and just how much effort everyone put into it.  Another great part of the extras was the Evil League of Evil auditions which were fans of the musical that sent in their audition tapes as villains applying to be in the ELE.  The ones that made it to DVD were the cream of the crop, and seriously some of them were amazingly funny.

My advice: Yes, you can get this for free on the internet, but the DVD extras of the cast interviews/thoughts and the ELE auditions are worth it.  Plus watching all three acts together without streaming lag or having to load the next video is nice.

Every director hopes to have that one film that defines who they are and is the legacy/foundation upon which their career is judged:

• Coppola – Godfather
• Lucas – Star Wars
• Spielberg – ET
• Zemeckis – Back to the Future
• Hitchcock – Psycho

For Cameron Crowe, that film is Almost Famous.  AF is based on Crowe’s experiences as a teenager and a writer for Rolling Stone.  The story follows William, who goes on tour with a band on the verge of making it and falls for a girl who serves as a muse and a guide to growing up.  Given Crowe’s feelings on the subject matter, you feel a heart and a life to this movie that hasn’t existed in his other movies, even Jerry Maguire.  Watching it, you are William and you feel his pain.  Of course, the music is outstanding and the visuals are good.  Kate Hudson was nominated for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar with her role as Penny Lane in this movie, which could easily have been about her versus William.

The Bootleg DVD set contains an extended cut of the movie which adds more background – I liked the inclusion of the scenes.  All of Crowe’s Rolling Stone articles can be found here, as well as many deleted scenes and concert footage.  Much like the original movie, this set was a labor of love.

My advice:  This is almost a must-have in any DVD collection – a fine movie and a fine DVD set release…