Radical Jack

Starring:Billy Ray Cyrus, Dedee Pfeiffer, Noah Blake, George 'Buck' Flower, Brian Smiar, Cassie Branham, Rusty De Wees, Benny Nieves, Mark 'Woody' Keppel, Paul Schnabel, Lou Ferguson, Orly Tepper, Ken Roberts, Michael D. Walsh (II), Jayson Argento, Tim McKay, Barbara Ita, James Bradley (IV), Joshua Bradley, John Alexander (III)
Director: James Allen Bradley
Studio: Lions Gate
Product Type: DVD

Average customer rating:

Sadly underrated ensemble comedy
the impostors
i get it, but should have been better
Lighthearted, fun ode to old screwball comedies
Screwball Comedy with a Woody Twist

The Impostors
Starring: Ted Blumberg , Teagle F. Bougere , Elizabeth Bracco , Steve Buscemi , and Michael Emerson
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Big Night
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The Front

ASIN: B00000ICUW
Release Date: 1999-05-18

Amazon.com

It's unfortunate to report that The Impostors--a misguided, but slightly noble, attempt to return to both the Hope and Crosby Road movies as well as the screwball comedies of the '30s and '40s--really, really doesn't work. Writer, director, and star Stanley Tucci (who created the gorgeous Big Night) plays Arthur, who along with Maurice (Oliver Platt) finds himself stowing away on an ocean liner and forced into multiple masquerades. The film has a dream cast of supporting players, including Steve Buscemi, Tony Shalhoub, Isabella Rossellini, and Campbell Scott, but the humor never works and this vessel founders quickly. --Keith Simanton

Description

Meet Authur (Stanley Tucci) and Maurice (Oliver Platt), two out-of-work actors who escape from the police by stowing away aboard a luxury liner. But soon the ship hits the fan, and the impostors must give the performance of a lifetime - not only to evade the authorities, but to foil the dastardly plot of a deranged crewman who has explosive plans for eveyone on board.

Customer Reviews:

Sadly underrated ensemble comedy.......2007-02-08

Well, I've rented this thing so many times, it's time to buy it and give it a place of honor in my small collection. I think this is one of the best ensemble comedies made in the past twenty years. Sure, everyone in it is hamming it up, but they're all so talented that they pull it off.

I admit, I have friends who were not crazy about this movie, especially the first part pre-ocean liner. But I think the main two guys are very funny with their little scam at the baker's shop, and Tucci's "beggars" speech, even in what could be considered the setup for the meat of the movie. I thought the beginning credits over the muted restaurant scene was hilarious. And once they are on the ship, look out, all sorts of talented actors are trying like heck to out-overact each other. My favorites are Billy Connelly ("That's where we'll wrestle, my semi-Grecian lad!") and Campbell Scott ("It has made me also... moist.) Isabella Rosellini, Steve Buscemi, Hope Davis - they're all fun.

You have to be able to get into the mindset of the thing, suspend your disbelief, and go to that naive, silly place in your brain. If you are a person who can do that, get this movie. Otherwise, maybe not.

the impostors.......2006-11-10

It was terrible! Lili played a good part of course. But the rest was just plain stupid!

i get it, but should have been better.......2005-12-23

with the great cast i expected more. i get how this was a tribute to the comedy-duo teams of laurel and hardy and the like but it didn't all work for this viewer.there are alot of giggles throughout but they are not all out laughs.i love the cast and they all do their best with what they are given.i really wanted to like this movie,but at best it was only ok.i'd love to see more movies like this done better and hopefully there will be.we need comedy teams like laurel and hardy today.if stiller and wilson is the best that hollywood has to offer than i'm afraid that comedy-duos are a thing of the past.

Lighthearted, fun ode to old screwball comedies.......2004-12-29

Comedy fans who aren't much interested in classic films may not really "get" this film. They may get turned off by what they see as exaggerated acting and meandering plot, not understanding that both are done on purpose. Hopefully not though, as this film is still funny on the surface.

This is, however, an absolute "must-see" for anyone who likes the Marx brothers, Laurel & Hardy, or any of those great screwball comedies from the 30's and 40's. For most films of that genre, the plots only served as a template for a series of funny exchanges or situations. Stanley Tucci, and Oliver Platt deliver hilarious performances as poor, bumbling actors whose ambition far outweigh their intelligence. They use their wits, such as they are, to hide on a cruise ship from a famous alcoholic actor they rumbled with (the wonderfully hammy Alfred Molina) and a campy German cruise employee (Campbell Scott), who would seem better served running a Gestapo. The stowaways find help from another ship employee (Lili Taylor, playing against type, looking adorably lovely) and her weak but friendly Italian boyfriend. One would fear that their romance would spoil parts of the movie as such sublots are prone to do, but thankfully, the makers stuck to comedy the whole way.

Probably the most impressive aspect of this relatively lesser-known film is the great supporting cast. In addition to Molina, Scott and Taylor, we get fine (as well as fun to watch) performances from Steve Buscemi, Alison Janney, Billy Connolly, Richard Jenkins and Tony Shalhoub. In addition, Hope Davis, Woody Allen, and Isabella Rossellini have minor roles.

This film will entertain people on differing levels, depending on their comedy taste, but I would definitely recommend this one who has enjoyed an old film, or seeks out humor off-the-beaten-path.

Screwball Comedy with a Woody Twist.......2004-09-25

Tucci, one of my favorite (and I think most underrated) actors, does a fine job emulating the styles of Woody Allen and Frank Capra in this homage to the madcap comedies of the 30's. The brisk pacing, snappy dialogue and exaggerated characters make the film a treat.

Dozens of terrific cameo performances by stars like Isabella Rosselini, Campbell Scott, and even the great Woody, himself, are sprinkled throughout. Authentic art-deco sets, costumes and music are pluses as well.

It's the best attempt at the genre in many years, but one still longs for the comedic talent of Hepburn, Lombard or Cary Grant.

Average customer rating:

Same As It Ever Was
And the Beat Goes On
The War at Home: History at it's Darkest

The War at Home
Starring: Betty Boardman , Allen Ginsberg , Henry Haslach , Gaylord Nelson , and Wahid Rashad
Director: Glenn Silber , and Barry Alexander Brown
Manufacturer: First Run Features
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0000DI87X
Release Date: 2003-12-16

Customer Reviews:

Same As It Ever Was.......2004-09-14

THE WAR AT HOME is a very strong film somewhat marred by its one-sidedness. Almost everybody interviewed participated in the Vietnam antiwar movement, and most of them participated from the time they first arrived in Madison. The film could have strengthened its case by giving more time to backers of American involvement in Vietnam and people who experienced a transition from one side to the other. A few are featured--my favorite is campus police chief Ralph Hansen--but the preponderance come from the protesters.

No matter how it's presented, however, the case would be equally strong. By the time American involvement in VN ceased in 1973, 65-70% of the U.S. population thought the war was a mistake. Over the passage of 30+ years, it's become clear they were right.

I love the documentary footage in THE WAR AT HOME, the carefully-constructed chronology that puts the Madison protests in the context of the US war effort, the sense of administration refusal to engage with a growing antiwar movement, the pointless sacrifice of 58,000 young Americans, (not to mention who-knows-how-many million Vietnamese), the divisions among Americans (which were sometimes cynically exploited by LBJ and Nixon, although the film doesn't go into much detail about that), the fiasco of the Army Math bombing.

Parallels with the current mess in Iraq are obvious, notably the arrogance of the U.S. administration in going in in the first place, the lying to convince the nation of the danger of WMD, the current floundering for a workable policy. The only "upside" so far, thank God, is that the Iraq death toll is nowhere near that of Vietnam--currently 1,000 American dead, 7,000 wounded, 10,000+ Iraqi dead. (Of course, that's no comfort to the dead, wounded, and their families. And all current western analysis suggests that it will only get worse.) Seeing THE WAR AT HOME appalls me at how little the current administration learned from the bloodshed in Southeast Asia and the difficulties in fighting against guerrillas.

Books which cover some of the same ground include Tom Bates' out-of-print RADS, about the New Year's Gang which bombed the AMRC, and David Maraniss' THEY MARCHED INTO SUNLIGHT, which juxtaposes the 1967 Madison Dow Day protests with a terrible battle in Vietnam, both occurring on the same day in October, 1967. An interesting fact: current VP Dick Cheney, one of the prime movers behind Iraq who still hasn't admitted publicly that there are no WMD, was a grad student in Madison in 1967, famously pursuing "other priorities" than the antiwar movement. According to Maraniss, he looked at the protests as a useless distraction and a waste of time. I only wish he had REALLY learned something at the University of Wisconsin.

THE WAR AT HOME is a fine historical film with unhappy resonances in 2004.

And the Beat Goes On.......2003-03-24

I was a graduate student at the UW/Madison during the period that this film covers. It shows the history and development of the anti-war movement with a great deal of accuracy. (Not perfectly accurate, but very close.)

Nothing could adequately portray the frustration, anger and betrayal felt by many students and faculty as the war dragged on, no matter what they did, and no matter how many died in Viet-Nam. This was also the period of the spread of the war to Cambodia, the assassination of Martin Luther King, the Chicago Democratic Convention Police Riots, and the Kent State killintgs. Considering all of this, the film does an excellent job of not becoming bogged down in emotion, yet letting the viewer know that it is there.

The tragic bombing of the Army Math Research Center by 4 angry but naive students put a terrible pall on peace activites in Madison, as everyone was horrified by the death of a graduate student who was in the building. However, it did not end the movement, and eventually peace was achieved.

An extremely timely film today (review updated 12/28/06), when many of the same people (and many others as well) have felt it necessary after more than 30 years to return to the streets and their communities to protest another war.

I have found this film very moving personally, but have also found it very useful as a teacher, to give my students a feeling for what that time was like, what some of the issues were, and how people felt, acted, and re-acted. Not to mention any parallels with today,

The War at Home: History at it's Darkest.......1999-03-27

The War at Home is a moving story about America's turbulent mid-decades. It is a documentary of Madison, Wisconsin's infamous ROTC bombing, an event overshadowed by the Kent-State massacre. In 1969, after riots swept Madison, several students from University of Wisconsin Madison set off a bomb in the army's mathematics labratory. They then proceeded to hijack a plane and drop a dud-bomb on the army's Badger ammunition plant in Baraboo, Wisconsin. The War at Home is the moving story of the anti-war riots leading up to the ROTC bombing, and the hunt for the suspects of the bombing. Where were you?

Average customer rating:

Very Enjoyable!

New York in the Fifties
Starring: Ned Polsky , John Gregory Dunne , David Amram , Joan Didion , and William F. Buckley
Director: Betsy Blankenbaker
Manufacturer: First Run Features
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00005OSKA
Release Date: 2001-11-20

Description

New York in the Fifties is the story of a unique time and place, when New York was the hotbed of new artistic expressions, free love, hot jazz, and radical politics. The film combines stunning archival footage of New York with interviews and footage of the icons of the day: Kerouac, Ginsberg, Baldwin, Mailer, Basie, etc. Offering modern day prespective and reminiscences are writers, actors, and artists such as Joan Didion, Robert Redford, Nat Hentoff, Gay and Nan Talese, John Gregory Dunne, William F. Buckley, and Calvin Trillin, all part of the rich cultural and artistic scene of the time. Based on the best-selling book by Dan Wakefield. 72 minutes.

Customer Reviews:

Very Enjoyable!.......2003-10-15

A neat documentary about life among the bohemian types of New York City in the 1950s and very early 60s. Lots of fantastic archival footage and recently-filmed reminiscences of some of those concerned. My only complaint is that it mainly concerns itself with the writers of this period. It would have been great had the program run an additional 45 minutes (on top of the 75 minute running time we have here) and included more about the jazz, art and theatre scene that is merely glossed over. Very enjoyable but a little unbalanced. The dvd includes an "interview" with director Betsy Blackenbaker which is actually a half hour girlie chat from MetroTV's "Unblinking Eye" program. In it the director laments the times gone by and also not having enough money to have done a more comprehensive overview of the New York scene. She ends up, somewhat surprisingly, agonizing over the burning question:"What can we do to create something like this again?" ABOLISHING POLITICAL CORRECTNESS would be a positive start but (sigh) that was another place, another time, another world. It wont happen again, Betsy... It can't! The disc has really cool coverart.

Average customer rating:

Billy Ray's Mullet vs.the Bad Guys

Radical Jack
Starring: Noah Blake , Billy Ray Cyrus , DeDee Pfeiffer , George "Buck" Flower , and Cassie Branham
Director: James Allen Bradley
Manufacturer: First Look Pictures
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000A2X488
Release Date: 2005-08-26

Customer Reviews:

Billy Ray's Mullet vs.the Bad Guys.......2007-04-16

Want a movie that's a fun waste of time?Little or no plot?Plenty of explosions,shootings,and scantily clad women?Then "Radical Jack" is perfect for you.

Billy Ray stars as Radical Jack,a former CIA man out to avenge his family's deaths.He fights for truth,justice,and the American Way with his fists,his muscles,his guns--and his mullet.The plot is needlessly complicated with the CIA,arms deals,war veterans,etc-but it makes for good dumb fun early morning viewing.Yay!

Average customer rating:

Mullet vs.the military
Action packed thriller, with a southern drawl to boot!!

Radical Jack
Starring: Billy Ray Cyrus , Dedee Pfeiffer , Noah Blake , George 'Buck' Flower , and Brian Smiar
Director: James Allen Bradley
Manufacturer: Lions Gate
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00005OBAN
Release Date: 2001-11-20

Customer Reviews:

Mullet vs.the military.......2007-04-16

This is a hilarious action film/thriller supposedly set in the South (everybody drawls),but was filmed in---Vermont,land of maple syrup as well as Ben&Jerry's.There are plenty of explosions and shootings in the final minutes of the movie,especially when it's Billy Ray vs.the Baddies.Now Billy Ray has turned to lighter fare through "Dancing with the Stars" and starring opposite his real-life daughter on Disney's Hannah Montana show.

Billy Ray Cyrus stars as a former CIA agent now ensconced in the South,and he's got a heart-as well as a mullet-for truth,justice,and the American way.He's "Radical Jack." He finds love with a woman whose abusive ex HAPPENS to be the same man behind his family's death.

The plot is needlessly complicated with arms deals,the CIA,and Radical Jack's own questionable character--but it makes for dumb fun early morning viewing!

Action packed thriller, with a southern drawl to boot!!.......2002-05-08

I bought this movie straight out. I tell everyone if they love Kurt Russell action movies they will love this movie. Billy Ray Cyrus shows he can play a character that is charming and wholesome but can turn around and be absolutely cutthroat take-no-prisoners. Those who love action will enjoy the movies explosive finale, and those who love drama will love the bar showdown, and the love triangle. Who ever you are, watch this movie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Even if you can't stand Billy Ray Cyrus' music, and you may not be a fan of DOC, you will love this movie! Even if you do love him and DOC, you will love it too.

Average customer rating:

Radical Jack [DVD] Bill Ray Cyrus

ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000N9B3HM

Product Description

No One Can Hold Him Back.

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