Beverly Hills Cop

– It’s nostalgic for us who grew up in the 80’s BUT it’s also a really great film.
– The music is killer: the Axel Foley theme song is iconic (and is played with variations [depending on the scene] throughout the entire movie), and the pop songs played throughout the movie are 80’s classics (Pointer Sisters, Patti LaBelle, Glenn Frey and Vanity? Yes, please).
– No one forgets Bronson Pinchot is in it, but how about Damon Wayans’ cameo, or Paul Reiser’s cop & even Breaking Bad’s Jonathan Banks as the main henchman?
– One of the very first “action comedies” ever made.
– The scene in the strip club is the definitive scene in the movie for one specific reason: it introduces us to the true power of Axel Foley. Everything that happens in the movie before this scene is him comedically talking his way through and out of situations. His character is smarter than everybody. But let’s deconstruct this scene: it starts out with him being funny, poking fun at the two cops who are assigned to escort him out of town. As he’s ordering drinks and having a good time, two suspicious looking individuals come into the club. This is where we get a glance at Axel Foley the COP. He quickly deduces their intentions and comes up with a plan to take down both men. Then there’s the final piece: Axel uses BOTH his wit and his physical cop training to take down the lead gunman and give the two accompanying cops the chance to restrain the other bad guy. Brilliant scenes like this not only define characters, but they also show us why the craft of filmmaking involves artfully constructing characters and scenes to give us, the audience, the best ride we can be on. It takes work, so don’t give in to lazy filmmaking.
– Final Letter Grade: A+

Jose Zuazua is editor-in-chief of Quick Lunch Break Reviews. He has an associates degree in film production. He’s on twitter (twitter.com/josezuazua) and instagram (instagram.com/josezuazua).

Rogue One: a Star Wars Story

– Goes from “just ok” to “OH MAN THIS IS KICKING ASS”.
– A more “adult” (and enjoyable) Star Wars flick than “The Force Awakens”, which I felt pandered to nostalgia instead of trying to tell a good story whereas this new one…
– Used nostalgia to EXPAND (key word) the film’s story and embed it into the overall Star Wars universe.
– Very impressive battle scenes, including stuff I’d never seen before in previous Star Wars entries.
– Characters that are fresh and well thought-out that you can actually get behind.
– K-2SO FOREVER: my favorite newly-introduced Star Wars character since Boba Fett.
– Some above-average dialog except for some HORRID and cliched lines. Seriously, modern screenwriters: can you just make 100% of your dialog original and clever? Stop cheating by using the same phrases again and again. There are many, MANY words in the English language.
– Good score that really pops during the battle scenes mentioned above.
– MUTHER EFFIN DARTH VADER, babies! (air-guitar riff)
– Final Letter Grade: B+

Jose Zuazua is editor-in-chief of Quick Lunch Break Reviews. He has an associates degree in film production. He’s on twitter (twitter.com/josezuazua) and instagram (instagram.com/josezuazua).

a Costume Review of the new Pennywise from Stephen King’s IT

-They’re remaking IT (the movie based on the book) and released this full shot of the new Pennywise the other day.
-It’s definitely creepy.
-But therein lies the rub: creepy, is not “terrifying”. What is terrifying is the ability to look innocent and harmless while holding something sinister and gruesome under the hood.
-What child wouldn’t want to walk up the 90’s Pennywise? He’s got big red poofy hair, balloons and a friendly demeanor…AND THEN HE TEARS YOUR EFFING ARM OFF. That is the definition of a predator, and predators are legitimately scary. They scar you psychologically.
-It’s one thing to be a “movie monster” (Freddy Kreuger, Jason Voorhees, et al) and have an iconic appearance and chase horny teenagers around & kill them for fun, but it’s a whole other thing if you’re a monster with the face and costume intentionally meant to draw people in. Because it’s that draw that piques our curiosity and then destroys us, first as characters, then as an audience investing ourselves with those characters, and then with our imaginations.
-Hollywood forgot the above points, because they just want “scary-looking” (see every “creepy kid movie” that’s come out in the last 20 years), but the reason Regan in The Exorcist and Damien in the original Omen resonate with us is because they’re innocents who turn into evil. That transformation is called a “descent”. And descents are fucking scary. We’ll see how this pans out.
-Final Grade: C

Jose Zuazua is editor-in-chief of Quick Lunch Break Reviews. He has an associates degree in film production. He’s on twitter (twitter.com/josezuazua) and instagram (instagram.com/josezuazua).

The Get Down

-Casting young Black & Hispanic actors (and actors that are mixes of both) is GREAT. Groundbreaking, even. These kids will be getting more and more roles thanks to this.
-The music from the era (late 70’s birth of hip-hop & disco) is also GREAT.
-Every actor brings their A-game.
-It’s nice to see a show where minorities get to succeed.
-BUT…those same minorities get themselves into some trouble that never get resolved. Hardly anyone experiences any actual consequences for their negative actions.
-Additional story threads with smaller characters are brought up too late within the six episodes and not given any real screen time to grow.
-The narrative is highly imbalanced, spending too much time on unimportant scenes that hardly progress the story at all. Plus, that time was a very volatile time in New York and should’ve affected the characters and their environments a lot more than actually shown.
-Whomever edited the show is not a good editor (Neither am I, and that’s how I know). Scenes are cut roughly, dialog is cut in weird places and using different music used to contrast on-screen-conflict doesn’t work.
-Some of the resolutions to conflicts happen too easily as if they were in someone’s pocket.
-Some might take the show as perpetuating a few negative stereotypes and glorifying negative behavior (I did…but was that part of the time? That New York was so messed up that good people did bad things and got away with them? And no one ever faced reprimand for it?)
-I really wanted to enjoy this. As someone who still has my parent’s Rapper’s Delight LP (and whose first piece of music ever bought was Run-DMC’s Tougher Than Leather [and has ABBA as a favorite band of all time]), I was really craving something that was set in that time and showcased that music. I just wish it had been told better (but that’s my fault for having expectations. I shouldn’t have my own ideas of what the show could be). It’s just ok, with some brilliant moments (especially one for an especially antagonistic character).
-Final Grade: C+

Jose Zuazua is editor-in-chief of Quick Lunch Break Reviews. He has an associates degree in film production. He’s on twitter (twitter.com/josezuazua) and instagram (instagram.com/josezuazua).

The Transfomers: The (animated) Movie

-The movie was released THIRTY years ago today (and I got to see it as a child in the Eagle Rock Plaza [back when they had theaters inside]).
-Great dialog and banter between the characters (especially Kup, Hot Rod, Arcee & Springer).
-One of Orson Welles’ final films (Yes, THAT Orson Welles).
-Pushed characters and story in ways that your standard “cartoons that were secretly toy commercials” had not really been pushed.
-Apparently caused some trauma for some children (wimps!)
-Makes my top ten favorite films of ALL TIME (a list that also contains movies like Seven Samurai and To Kill a Mockingbird).
-“I’ve got better things to do tonight than die.”
-I remember being shocked (and seeing other kids in the theater shocked [but in an innocent, cool “kids” way] when one of the characters from the cartoon (now aged in the movie) cussed.
-Sweet soundtrack blasting 80’s metal, Weird Al and two 80’s-rific tracks by Stan Bush.
-In the mid-90’s, I lent Danny Simonzad my vhs copy of it, and his vcr ate the tape (In his defense, the tape was pretty worn since I had seen the movie so damn much).
-I STILL quote this movie, as I know every line of dialog in it since it’s the movie I’ve seen the most in my entire life.
-Leonard Nimoy, Judd Nelson and Monty Python’s Eric Idle are in it too.
-Final Grade: A+

Jose Zuazua is editor-in-chief of Quick Lunch Break Reviews. He has an associates degree in film production. He’s on twitter (twitter.com/josezuazua) and instagram (instagram.com/josezuazua).

Finding Dory

-Dory was already the best part of the first movie, and she gets to carry this one.
-Film is paced way better than that first movie (which I thought was really boring).
-Marlin isn’t as annoying and actually gets to grow.
-Great new characters brightens up the world, especially Hank (voiced by Ed “Al Bundy” O’Neil).
-Sigourney Weaver!
-Final Grade: B+

Jose Zuazua is editor-in-chief of Quick Lunch Break Reviews. He has an associates degree in film production. He’s on twitter (twitter.com/josezuazua) and instagram (instagram.com/josezuazua).

Stranger Things

-Loved it.
-Set in early 80’s Indiana (early 80’s anything is great, there’s a He-Man cameo!)
-If you’re a fan of science fiction or horror or mystery or suspense or conspiracies, you’ll be drawn into this in some way.
-Great characters who all grow emotionally.
-Winona Ryder!
-The eight episodes were a perfect length to tell the story.
-Soundtrack is great if you’re into early 80’s alternative and the “post punk” scene.
-The show understands that less is more. If you were to give this a rating, it’d be PG-13.
-Neon, scratchy credits!
-Early Steven Spielberg and early John Carpenter had a baby and named it “Stranger Things”.
-Final Letter Grade: A+

Jose Zuazua is editor-in-chief of Quick Lunch Break Reviews. He has an associates degree in film production. He’s on twitter (twitter.com/josezuazua) and instagram (instagram.com/josezuazua).