Were these words over a million dollars?  

Today's film is The Last Boy Scout, the film that once held the record for the highest amount of money paid for a script.  

Granted- it held that record for 62 days.  

After that, the record went to Basic Instinct...and eventually back to Shane Black for The Long Kiss Goodnight.    

Scout is a Buddy Cop Action Film with a unique Shane Black vibe to it.  It's a bit dated now, but holds up pretty well overall.  

A grizzled Detective a former Pro-Athlete team up to solve a murder that hits too close to them.  

They uncover a bigger conspiracy- in typical Shane Black manner- and will have to use their wits to survive.  

This 1991 film features a few notable Actors on their way up, giving it up some extra appeal to a modern viewer.  

To find out whether or not this Boy Scout deserves to be integrated, read on...
In an odd opening scene, a Football Player has a mental break during a game, shoots a bunch of players on the field and then himself.

That...that's far closer to reality than anyone could have predicted.
Bruce Willis here plays Bruce Willis Character Type A- a grizzled and sarcastic Detective.

To be fair, there is some more character depth thanks to his back-story.  

Even so, that's all Script.  Willis pretty much just tries to coast through this one.
His character is a Private Detective with a not-so-fun life.  

He takes a case from his friend- who turns out to be screwing his wife- only for the guy to be killed IRA-style.  

Yeah, I'd still take that case.
Her boyfriend is Damon Wayans, playing a Football Player on the outs.  

She tries to help him get in with some blackmail material against his boss, which ends about as well as you'd probably guess.
Willis' daughter is played by Daniella Harris, an Actress who famously has appeared in both actual Halloween films and both of Rob Zombie's Remakes.  

That's your random trivia for the day!
Without SPOILING too much for you, the plot all leads back to a Football Game.  

How they'd organize one so quickly after a mass shooting by a player is anyone's guess.  

Never mind that a sitting U.S. Senator is there!
In a scene much like the Rooftop Fight from Last Action Hero (which Black has a Writing Credit on), Willis must stop an assassin from shooting the Senator.  

This attempted assassination is brought to you by GMC Trucks!
The day is saved- naturally- and our heroes plan to team up...for some future film that never got made.  

The film ends in typical Shane Black fashion, however, by having Willis explain that 'in the '90's, you can't just knock a guy out- you have to make a funny quip first.'  

The End.
 If you missed it the first time, it's worth a look back.  

Scout is not a perfect film by any means.  As I said, Willis is at the point where he started trying to coast- see Die Hard 2, Hudson Hawk, etc.  Director Tony Scott- R.I.P.- gets as much out of him as possible though and makes the movie look good.  

A so-so DVD print hurts the film's visual appeal, so hopefully it's recent Blu-Ray release is more than just a port.  The film really soars when you just get to hear Shane Black's witty back-and-forth dialog.  

Even in the hands of people I'm not super-huge fans of, it really works. 

The Script also gives the Characters a tragic back-story that unfolds in typical 'I'm gonna tell you my back-story' moments throughout.  They add some nice layers to what can sometimes feel as a repackaged Riggs and Murtaugh.  

The film also has some surface similarities to The Hard Way- also released in 1991-, which, oddly enough, would have similarities to Black's own Kiss Kiss Bang Bang over a Decade later.  

That's just the kind of thing you notice when you watch as many movies as I do, I guess.  

If you're one of the many people suddenly more familiar with Shane Black since the $1 billion success of Iron Man 3, do yourself a favor and see an early glimpse of where he was going.  

If that's not enough incentive, watch the film to find out the context of this shot...
Next up, our world is under siege by Dragons!  The only thing worse is a muddled U.S./South Korean production that pleases nobody!  Stay tuned...

Can we all just agree that we didn't all see this movie when it first came out?  With the $1 Billion and counting success of Iron Man 3, a lot more attention is suddenly being paid to the first pairing of Robert Downey Jr and Shane Black.  The film- Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.  For those of you who don't know all about him, here's some quick info on Shane Black.  For many years, Black was just a Screenwriter, the faceless voice behind such films as Lethal Weapon, The Monster Squad and Last Action Hero.  Black has always seemed to have an ironic sensibility and a desire to mess with cliches.  A lot of his works have been deconstructions of tropes and ideals of Writing.  The title of this film reflects this, as Kiss Kiss, Bang is a sardonic summary of what Action Film Scripts (like Black wrote) are.  The film is about Downey Jr ending up in Hollywood due to a series of bizarre circumstances and stumbling across a mystery involving a lady from his past.  The whole thing is somewhat lamp shaded by the fictitious crime stories about Johnny Gossamer that him and the woman love.  That's just a taste of the Meta styling of this film.  If you're a fan of Downey Jr in the role of Tony Stark, this role is a bit different, while still managing to strike many familiar notes.  To give you a MOSTLY SPOILER-free look at this *now* Cult Classic, read on...
After a cold open that will make more sense later, we meet Downey Jr as Harry Lockhart, who is going to be Narrating this tale of just one year prior.  When your Narrator tells you that he's your Narrator, you just might be Meta!
Lockhart is a petty thief in New York who flees a robbery gone awry and runs right into an Open Audition.  His real emotions over what just happened convince the people that he's 'a Method Actor.'  You're going to Hollywood, dawg!
At a bar, he meets Harmony Lane, who he eventually recognizes as a girl from his past.  Harry the Narrator then apologizes for 'being a bad Narrator,' but also says that we should have figured out that the Intro was important.

Meta Burn!
Lockhart is sent out with 'Gay Perry' (Val Kilmer), a P.I. who is supposed to Tutor him for the part.  Unfortunately, their 'average stake-out' turns them into witnesses to a Murder.  Uh oh.
This is a Shane Black film, so, naturally, it's set at Christmas.

Seriously, Lethal Weapon, The Last Boy Scout, The Long Kiss Goodnight, this film and Iron Man 3 are all set around this holiday.  Weird, right?
As Perry, Lane and Lockhart get deeper into this case involving a dead sister, two missing bodies and a lot of money, things get dangerous.  Who could be behind it?
The answer(s) is/are a bit weird.  Naturally, I won't SPOIL this reveal in any way.  I'm a dick/hero like that.
Instead, I'll give you a quick look at this super META moment from the ending scene.  Awesome.
 Oh and for all of you who don't find Downey Jr's sardonic persona funny, here's one for you.  The End.
Honestly, I don't have a lot left to say.  Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang is a funny movie.  It's just that simple.  Granted- humor is subjective.  After all, about five people seem to find Tim & Eric funny.  That said, most of the film is built around Robert Downey Jr's sardonic banter.  This same banter was in The Avengers (over $1 billion gross) and the Iron Man trilogy (nearly $2 billion gross in total), so it seems to be pretty popular.  The film's charms may not work on everyone, but they certainly did on me.  I would love to see more films narrated by Robert Downey Jr- provided that his lines were written by either Shane Black or Joss Whedon. It's one of those films where its relative obscurity works in its favor- an argument hard to make if you're one of the people who funded it, mind you.  If you still haven't tracked down this film, do yourself a favor and do it.  Given how well Iron Man 3 has done, you'll want to hurry before everyone and their mother sees it first.  Take us away, shot with zero context...
Up next, another Remake of a Classic film.  When in doubt, give it to a bunch of Englishmen with $20,000.  Stay tuned...

A better metaphor is not available.  After a bit of success in America with films like Cliffhanger, Harlin was given a little leeway to create something of his own.  It didn't hurt that they had a Screenplay by Shane Black, the Writer of Lethal Weapon and The Monster Squad.  As a bonus, Harlin was able to cast his then-wife Geena Davis in the lead.  The film is...well, it's The Bourne Identity.  Granted, this film is probably a closer match to Point of No Return, but the framing is more like Bourne.  The plot is pretty easy to decipher if you know either of those films, so I won't waste too much time with it.  I will mention that the film was a Critical success, but lost money for the studio.  Naturally, they gave him even more money to make Cutthroat Island...but more on that later.  To see the start of Harlin's downfall, read on...
Our heroine has amnesia and has no idea why she's covered in scars.  She's been living a quiet life with a kid (who she was pregnant with when she first work up) and there's no way that it could possibly go awry.
Through a series of events, she ends up in a car wreck and a chip falls out of her head.  This sets her up on a path to find out who she truly is.
Unbeknownst to her, a high-up conspiracy is discussed in the White House.  How does it relate to our amnesiac heroine?
The film's cast is full of notable names, even if they weren't as famous then.  Hi, Brian Cox!
Our heroine goes through some changes as she tries to get to the source of her past.

You'll notice that my Screen Caps change to Widescreen.  Long story short- Netflix's DVD of TLKG is kind of crappy.
Craig Bierko is here playing the villainous henchman and the father of Davis' baby.  He does a good job here...but it's distracting since I mostly know him from Scary Movie 4 and Boston Legal.
Here's the reason that I delayed this review: the Third Act Plot Reveal features a Government Official saying that they will fake a terror attack to get military funding.

Yeah, I didn't plan for this at all.  Don't bother trying to find good TLKG clips on YouTube either- you'll just find this scene.
Davis and Bierko battle against rear-projection backgrounds before our heroine finally wins the day.  So much for the Custody Hearing!
Our heroes win the day and survive to live happily ever after.  Jackson in particular can thank test audiences for that fact- he died in the original cut.  The End.
Dear God, it's...not that bad.  Don't get me wrong- the movie isn't great.  I would say that the movie is good in a lot of ways, but doesn't do a whole lot that's unique.  They basically hired Shane Black to turn 'The Bourne Identity' into a Feminist Action film.  Beyond that, the movie doesn't do a whole lot.  The biggest thing you can say about it is that it tries to represent Davis' character struggling to be herself.  As she learns more about her killer past, she tries to distance herself from her normal woman self.  That doesn't really make a whole lot of sense, however, since the former doesn't represent a big bit of escapism that one might desire.  Instead, she just kind of comes off as callous for a bit, especially when she initially appears to abandon Samuel L. Jackson's character.  It all comes around, of course, but I don't see what the point of it really is.  Aside from that, the action is mostly-good, the writing is good (naturally) and it's generally-decent.  If I had a halfway-decent Disc, I might have actually been able to watch it more smoothly.  This does set my sights slightly-higher for Cutthroat Island, which is probably going to be bad.  Take us away, bad-ass ice skating...
Next up, Renny Harlin makes a film about shirtless men that use magic.  Somewhere, David DeCoteau is perking up his ears.  Stay tuned...