Kevin Johnson

A stylish neo-noir thriller starring 1980s hearthrobs Rob Lowe and James Spader and the reluctant crime spree his new friend influences or tricks him into. At first they're buddies, so it seems, yet Lowe's influence goes too far. They rob liquor stores, turn a family affair into a chaotic mess, and then mercilessly beat one of Spader's colleagues that advances his career. Yet the protagonist eventually comes to his senses once the booze and drugs wear off. Then Spader can't shake his new friend who has framed him for murder. Enlisting help from his pot smoking brother, the two attempt to exact revenge and clear Spader's name. What was so mesmerizing about the film is the director's stylish take on the late 1980s L.A. underground, virtually predicting the speakeasy craze captured in mid-90s movies like Swingers. Moreover, characters look Emo, with dark hair, dark lipstick, and bangs. The movie also does a great job of capturing the tech consumerism of a future America. One of the earlier intrigues involves a hostile work colleague who steals computer files from Spader (but with Lowe's influence, he in turn does the same and holds a file hostage). On track to upper middle class wealth as a financial manager, Spader's character is into all the trappings of that late 1980s lifestyle that's only increased to the nth degree by 2005. He has every credit card known to human kind, and all kinds of AV gadgetry. Also predicting the 1990s coffee craze, Spader's sleek condo kitchen includes a cappuccino machine. The characters are also wearing costumes more in appropriate in 1998 than the late 80s, and the music matches the weird vibe the moviemaker was going for. Bad Influence was ahead of its time and comes with great performances by the two male leads. But this isn't a buddy film, and reiterates the message that crime doesn't pay.

Probably the worst movie ever made.

Very predictable and of course the movie depicts a budding romance between a 25 year old and a 45 year old as if that happens every day. Too much loud country music on the soundtrack. Typically with sequels, the plot was very much like the first one.

A really goofy propaganda film in which Hollywood producers attempted to turn the Vietnam conflict into a feel good war like WW2. One strange component is using Japanese music whenever the movie depicts Vietnamese people. It’s informative regarding the weapons used during the war, which I liked. Extremely unrealistic depiction of the Green Beret tactics actually used in Vietnam. Moreover, few colonels went on S&D missions, but John Wayne can do anything. This movie was likely filmed before the 1968 Tet Offensive that the Americans won, but caused the public to sour on the war because of the brutality used by the US and its South Vietnamese allies. It was also funny that the troops in this movie have clean tiger stripe utilities even during battle.

Riveting war scenes, this series doesn’t hold back the gore and war is hell imagery. Sartre said other people is hell, and The Pacific, unlike Band of Brothers, demonstrates the philosopher’s maxim. These marines aren’t brothers, nor do they bond. In fact, they hate each other through much of the series. In Band, we see people from all walks of life bond and become brothers, making the best out of a horrible situation. In The Pacific, in contrast, we see marines compete on committing war atrocities with friendly fire artillery barrages thrown in. There really aren’t any charismatic officers in this series. The writers should have done more with Chesty Puller. The only redeeming value of the series is Seda’s Basilone. But he gets greased in episode 8 that just further bums the audience out. I commend the series for showing wars hell stuff, which we Americans should understand more, but it’s so gloomy and doomsday compared to its companion series. In fact, the series made me hate the Marine Corps by episode 9. I don’t think this is what the producers intended.

Dare to Be Different is an excellent biography of an "underground" radio station trying to make it in the context of corporate merger prone, and profit-driven entertainment world of the 1980s. The film deftly covers the rise and fall of WLIR, 92.7 in Long Island, New York. The story is presented in five acts, beginning with the radio station's humble beginnings in the 1950s to its transformation by 1981 when it switched formats. In the second act, the movie makers concentrate on what made New Wave music different, and how the producers and DJs at WLIR tapped into its potential, discovering the synth-pop sound of the 1980s and transforming it into the artistic and economic, and social justice powerhouse that acts U2 and Madonna came to be. Other acts in the film focus on both artists' and listeners' responses to WLIR's unusual format thereby demonstrating the deeply held connections, if only ethereal, between New Wave fans and the bands that eventually became regular viewing on MTV. The final segment deals with WLIR's fall from grace, as station higher management could not really get its act together, transfer ownership, and maintain FCC licensing despite tremendous success as an "alternative" radio station trying to make it a corporate conglomerate atmosphere in which record labels colluded with competitive corporate-sponsored DJs to pummel the airwaves with Top 40 drivel. Those who experienced their teenage years could see the film as a trip down memory lane, featuring information about the American success of mostly British bands such as New Order, Duran Duran, Echo and the Bunneymen during the 1980s. Dare to Be Different suggests that American success of these acts, promoted by WLIR from 1981 to 1987, encouraged American bands to get in on the New Wave. Too many famous bands are profiled, even if only briefly, to mention in this brief review. While the documentary touched on WLIR's emphasis in promoting new, undiscovered (for the most part) music like Frankie Goes to Hollywood and Howard Jones, among many others, in addition to the reggae sound adopted by many of these European acts, one large critical point is warranted. Virtually unmentioned in the documentary was the world of emerging hip hop in the 1980s, from Grandmaster Flash to Run DMC and L.L. Kool J. Blondie produced several of these acts, yet fails to get noticed by the filmmakers, although WLIR at the time was all over the CBGB scene--but not hip hop? That's a large omission considering that WLIR was in much the same neighborhood at the time of the rap revolution. Did WLIR did not promote rap, and if not, then why? If it didn't, then surely that content choice made by WLIR's management deserved criticism on the part of the filmmakers and numerous commentators unearthed to provide perspective and intriguing oral histories of working at the station, or being an artist-guest at WLIR. Despite the unfortunate omission of hip hop from the film, Dare to Be Different is still an outstanding treatment of a bygone era in American popular culture--a society in which youth yearned for a radio and a station to help them figure out the novel changes in the composition of popular music emanating from Britain as well as in the States--and a community station enabling youth to foment connections with one another around these shared musical tastes. The movie closes with a commentator acknowledging that corporate-controlled media of the 1990s to the present is soulless, and something about the Spotify's of the world certainly show us the great a loss society has experienced when community radio went corporate, and then online...all for bucks. And it seems like nobody has noticed, except for the filmmakers, and that is why this is an excellently produced documentary.