Category: 1990s

Omar Epps is an undercover cop on a mission to bring down LL Cool J’s criminal enterprise. After an unspecified time on the job, his superiors pull him from the assignment when the line between good and bad becomes blurred, but he goes back in when it’s determined that he’s the only one who can pull off the take down. The plot is entirely predictable as it’s similar to any number of undercover cop films, but it’s not even a middling entry for the genre. It has some glaring pacing issues and criminally underuses Pam Grier as a fellow detective. 

When they first meet, Michael Boatman, the first Black officer at the Sheriff’s department, and Lori Petty, the first female, don’t really get along, but that changes as they each encounter outright contempt and hostility from the rest of the white male force. When Boatman becomes suspicious of police activities after the arrest of Ice Cube, the two team up to find the truth about the investigation. While being a little too good versus bad in its portrayal, t’s a fairly well acted exploration of police corruption and the artifice of the thin blue line. I was surprised how little Ice Cube actually was in the film as he is prominent in the cover images for the film. 

Every year I watch the journey of smarmy weatherman Bill Murray’s path to enlightenment while providing coverage for the annual Groundhog Festival in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. It’s a role that Murray perfectly encapsulates at perhaps the height of his career. I’m not generally a fan of Andie MacDowell, but even as a love interest, she mostly gets out of the way of Bill’s journey. The rest of the wonderful cast just supports the process. The settings are perfectly captured from the downtown area to the bed and breakfast to the recreation of Gobbler’s Knob. Each year I find new questions to ask myself about the timeline and the changes Murray experiences and the choices he makes.      

After his partner hands over an assignment to guard stripper Halle Berry, former Secret Service agent turned Private Investigator Bruce Willis finds himself enmeshed in a conspiracy involving sports gambling. Along the way he teams up with Berry’s boyfriend and disgraced football star Damon Wayans. Wayans and Willis surprisingly have incredible chemistry together. The movie works best when they are allowed to just buddy up and riff off each other. I would enjoy seeing them buddy up together again. Unfortunately the movie often gets in the way of that. I’ll also give it points for Taylor Negron as a baddie. It’s a role different than any other I’ve seen him in and he shines.