shawnsamsmullin

Be Cool is one of those movies that leaves you completely flabbergasted. Here we have a brilliant author creating a book for a sometimes great lead actor following up a very good movie. I really enjoyed Get Shorty. It certainly wasn't the Pulp Fiction-Esq movie people said it was, but it was really fun to watch this fictional mafia guy show how much Hollywood can be like the mob. Danny Devito was just fantastic in that movie, and basically the character whose comedy carried the flick. So now in the sequel we have even more acting talent lined up. They brought in Uma Thurman to work with Travolta again, Vince Vaughn fresh of a great run of comedies, The Rock - who I'll admit I'm a huge fan of - one of the most charismatic and brilliantly comedic wrestlers in history who has translated very well into film, Cedric the Entertainer, Harvey Keitel, etc, etc. There is so much talent you just assume that the movie must have a good script to lure in these stars. Well, it doesn't. The bottom line about this movie is that it doesn't say absolutely one new thing. It's Get Shorty, but set in music, and without the fun interaction with Palmer's past (Dennis Farina provided that in the last movie) or any of the initial humour that comes from nobody knowing who the hell this thug was. This movie was just stupid, and some of the jokes are so bad and forced that I could only shake my head while watching it. It's too bad, because Cedric, Rock and Vaughn all delivered good performances - but there's nothing to this movie. You spend the whole flick waiting for the part of the movie where everyone comes together and hilarity or at least a climax ensues, but that really doesn't happen. Vaughn and Rock's character seem to have the same interaction with Palmer with the same result like 4 times, and because of the way Palmer presents himself in the movie you never for a second even think that anything will go wrong for him in any way. That's not very interesting. Not only that, but the movie itself was brought to a horrendous new low when Steven Tyler made his appearances. I don't even want to get into it, but his scenes were some of the worst I've ever seen in film. Not just for acting, but for how stupid, illogical and they ripped you out of any suspension of disbelief you may have had. I mean, why the hell would he tell Uma Thurman's character that "Joe Perry" liked what she did with fabric softener. As if he would say his long time guitarist's whole name because their former groupie wouldn't know who he was talking about. Still, there are good moments, especially from The Rock - but it's not worth watching. This movie is the type of movie you laugh at because it's so bad, but entertainingly bad. At the beginning of the movie Travolta and James Woods are making fun of sequels, and that may have been funny if this movie wasn't the worst example of how wrong a sequel can go.

I'd take a FLAME THROWER to this place.

This movie turned me into a movie buff. I used to just watch, have fun, toss them aside and not really pay much attention. Then I was 14 or so and saw this movie on television. I know some people say it's overrated, and that's their right, but it's such an intense character study that I just fell in love with movies after watching it. There are scenes in the movie like driving scene, the dinner with Josh Lyman, the dancing at the restaurant and the climactic hotel room scene... just outstanding. I proudly own and watch this one to this day, and hokey or not, I still love that final speech. Take THAT you no good dean!

This movie was just awful. The frustrating thing is that it had a lot of potential, and they just ruined it. Thomas Jane could've been an excellent Punisher if they built a watchable movie around him, but they sure didn't. They turned the movie into a bad soap opera storyline that would've been right at home on General Hospital or something. John Travolta's character is just absolutely hammy and brutal to watch. You don't hate him like a classic villain, you want him to go away. The Punisher should not have WACKY side kick buddies. He should not do funny little gags to screw with the villains. He should brutalize them like a bad ass. If anyone has seen Last Man Standing with Bruce Willis, that's more how I would've imagined the Punisher character dealing with his enemies. The one explosion in the shape of his logo was a nice way to sum up how much they screwed this up.