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Pride and Glory, a review by Rich

Pride and Glory



Four cops down: two dead, two likely. An NYPD drug bust has gone horribly wrong, and Detective Ray Tierney heads the investigating task force. He already has ties to the case. His brother was commander of the ambushed officers. His brother-in-law, a fellow officer, often partnered with them. The more Ray uncovers, the more those family ties are tested. And the more the fraternal order starts to fray. Edward Norton, Colin Farrell, Jon Voight and Noah Emmerich star in a gritty, tension-packed tale of a multigenerational family of cops facing hard realities and tough cohices. Set and filmed in Manhattan's Washington Heights, Pride and Glory  draws you into a grippingly raw real world... and into a house divided.

Disappointing and unoriginal thriller, this family of cops facing corruption etc has been done to death, and a darned site better too.
The camerawork during the film is a disaster, shaky shots, spinning around, and zooming all around the place made it feel like the cameraman must be epileptic, and was difficult to follow. Despite some great actors involved, there are no stand out performances, primarily due to a weak script and overly long production. The direction is awful, swearing pointlessly excessive and the violence extreme for no apparent reasoning.
The ending was totally ridiculous, and the film overall is a total mess and I would never recommend it.
 




(From Riches Random Reviews on May 27th, 2009)

What Price Hollywood?, a review by Antares

What Price Hollywood? (1932) 3.5/5 - A Pre-Code precursor to both A Star is Born and Sunset Blvd. about a waitress who is discovered by a famous director and catapulted to stardom, all the while the director's career is fading.  What makes this pre-code work is Lowell Sherman's performance as the washed up director, and the realism in the story about what Hollywood fame does to him. Just two years later a film like this could have never been made and stayed true to its story. Clocking in at a quick 88 minutes, we get a view of Hollywood that would be white washed just a few years later at the hands of the Breen Office. This is my second film starring Constance Bennett and its a shame that her career was so reminiscent of a shooting star. She definitely had a good screen presence and had enough moxie to make her roles interesting.

(From Antares' Short Summations on April 16th, 2012)

Tom's Random Reviews, a review by Tom

Superman II (1980/United States) IMDb | Wikipedia Warner Home Video (United Kingdom) Director: Richard Lester Writing: Jerry Siegel (Original Characters By), Joe Shuster (Original Characters By), Mario Puzo (Story By), Mario Puzo (Screenwriter), David Newman (Screenwriter), Leslie Newman (Screenwriter) Length: 127 min. Video: Widescreen 2.35 Audio: English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, French: Dolby Digital 1, German: Dolby Digital 1, Italian: Dolby Digital 1, Spanish: Dolby Digital 1, Spanish: Dolby Digital 1, Portuguese: Dolby Digital 1, Commentary: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Subtitles: Danish, English, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish

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Stars:
Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor
Christopher Reeve as Superman/Clark Kent
Ned Beatty as Otis
Jackie Cooper as Perry White
Sarah Douglas as Ursa

Plot:
Unwittingly released from Phantom Zone imprisonment, three super-powered Planet Krypton criminals (Terence Stamp, Sarah Douglas and Jack O'Halloran) plan to enslave Earth - just when Superman (Christopher Reeve) decides to show a more romantic side to Lois Lane (Margot Kidder). Gene Hackman (as Lex Luthor) also returns from the first film and with a top supporting cast, witty Richard Lester direction and visuals that astound and delight, Superman II saves the day any day you watch it.

Awards:
Won:

Saturn (1981)

Best Science Fiction Film

Nominated:

AFI (1980)		100 Years... 100 Passions (2002)
AFI (1980)		100 Years... 100 Thrills (2001)
Saturn (1981)		Best Actor (Christopher Reeve)
Saturn (1981)		Best Actress (Margot Kidder)
Saturn (1981)		Best Music (Ken Thorne)

Extras:

• Commentary
• Deleted Scenes
• Featurettes
• Scene Access
• Trailers

Chances that I would revisit the theatrical cut of Superman II were slim since I saw the superior Donner Cut, but since I just double-dipped on the Blu-ray set, I planned to watch all movies therein.
The theatrical cut isn't as bad as I remembered, and I could enjoy it again as I did in the past before knowing anything about the Donner/Lester controversy. Still some stuff are obviously unfitting. Especially since they chose not to use any Marlon Brando scenes, which results Jor-El missing in the flashbacks to the first movie (launch of Superman's ship and the imprisonment of General Zod). And also the need to use Superman's mother in the Fortress of Solitude scenes.
But I have to say, that there is only one moment, which I miss from the theatrical cut in the Donner Cut. And that is Clark's resignation of keeping up the charade and admitting to Lois that he is Superman. There is something similar in the Donner cut, but because it is a scene never originally shot and taken from screen test footage, it is not as effective (Christopher Reeve not yet the perfect Superman. Acting-wise and body-wise).

Rating:

(From Tom's Random Reviews on August 14th, 2011)