There’s not much dishing in I’m Your Huckleberry, the chapters of which are organized by roles: Jim Morrison, Real Genius’ Chris Knight, Top Gun’s Tom “Ice Man” Kazansky, Tombstone’s Doc Holliday, and The Island Of Dr. Moreau’s Dr. Montgomery, among others.

Delaying Batman seems especially prudent considering they apparently only shot 25% before the shutdown.

“YOU STOLE THE WRONG FLUFFY BOY!”

I may be thinking of another line. Perhaps "common street bitch". 

I remember reading an interview with that guy when this film came out, and the interviewer asked him how close this character was to how he actually ran a department. And he answered (paraphrasing), “The only difference really is that I don’t yell at my guys that hard. Even if someone screws up. These are cops...when…

Honestly? No, not really. It has some laughs, but not nearly as many as you would expect from a movie starring not only Eddie Murphy, but also Richard Pryor and Redd Foxx. It’s not “Eddie Murphy completists only” bad, like Vampire in Brooklyn or Pluto Nash, but it’s not a whole lot better.

That little reaction shot / fourth-wall break is quite likely my favorite Eddie Murphy moment of all time.

Speaking of balls-out insane, the peak moment of Gremlins 2 insanity/genius (impossible to distinguish in this case) has to be the 4th-wall-breaking bit, which these crazy motherfuckers did entirely differently for each medium into which they put the thing.  Theatrical release, later VHS release, and the damn…

My favorite bit is the “supercops” story Axel tells, and the way that the guy who plays Taggart barely holds it together, like it was the only take they could get without him completely cracking up.

The main problem with that movie is it decided to become a serious issues film in the final act. Having Murphy grow a conscience over the girl with cancer and veer (mawkishly) into serious governance just didn’t work. A better course would be to find a way for him to expose and screw over a bunch of Congressional…

I’ve been watching some ‘80s classics with new eyes, as ya do. BHC has the casual homophobia of its era, and it sure doesn’t pass the Bechdel test. But something I love about it is how it models a kind of non-toxic masculinity. Like when Axel asks Mikey in amazement “Why did you take the rap for me when we were teens”…

Foley did earn the cops’ respect, but I just don’t see the two of them forming this close friendship.  Foley and him going on fishing trips?  Doesn’t ring true at all.

The 90s comedy The Distinguished Gentleman was clearly an attempt to recapture the vibe of Trading Places, with a low level con man getting elected to Congress. It was filled with a lot of arcane stuff about Congress in the same way that Trading Places dug into dealings in the commodities market. It was pretty lame,…

My college roommate and I would have to do that bit at the merest mention of bacon or a BLT.

“Oh, you ain’t gonna fall for no ‘banana in the tailpipe’ trick, huh?”

True enough, but Trading Places does have one of the all-time great reaction shots-to-camera while the Duke Brothers are painfully explaining what bacon is.

The only thing arguing against Gremlins being a masterpiece is that Gremlins 2 is better. Gremlins rules, with a surprising amount of credit being due to Chris Columbus of all people and his nasty original script (decapitated Mrs. Pelter! Gizmo becoming a gremlin!).

I could see R-rated movies when I was young (Conan the Barbarian, amongst other things two years earlier), and even watching this (I was younger than 10) and having seen some of Saturday Night Live knew that there was something different and electric about not only the movie, but the star.

Yep, he very much is. Starting with Dolemite last year and hosting SNL for the first time in decades, and then he’s got the Coming to America sequel set for release later this year.

Sad to hear no mention of the mighty Ronny Cox. I have my own idea for a Beverly Hills Cop spin-off movie, which would be called Bogomil Crisis. Ronny Cox is still going strong, so Hollywood, please get on that as soon as you’re making movies again!