Director Peter Hyams pairs up with Jean-Claude Van Damme in this big-screen adaptation of the Dark Horse comic. Co-starring Ron Silver, Mia Sara, Gloria Reuben and one of my favourite character actors, Bruce McGill, this is probably the Van Damme film I enjoy the most. Max Walker (Van Damme) is a street cop who’s just…
Tag: cop
Hill Street Blues (1985) – An Oy for an Oy, and Fathers and Huns
Belker (Bruce Weitz) is worrying about Robin’s (Lisa Sutton) pregnancy, and where their relationship is going. He’s thinking about marriage. But he’s also having a problem with a pair of brothers (Michael Lerner and Alex Henteloff) who seem to be screwing one another over for some diamonds, and Belker is caught in the middle. An…
Cocaine Bear (2023) – Elizabeth Banks
Elizabeth Banks settles into the director’s chair again and delivers a mostly entertaining comedy thriller, which is loosely based on a true story, Cocaine Bear. Featuring an all-star cast led by Keri Russell, the film swings from working brilliantly to just falling a little flat. But damn if Banks doesn’t swing for the fences. There…
Flash Point (2007) – Wilson Yip
Donnie Yen continued to prove how awesome he is in the police thriller, Flash Point. Ma (Yen) is a no-holds-barred cop, he’s more than willing to beat a criminal to a pulp to prove his point and make an arrest, and he’s been after three criminal brothers, Tiger (Xing Yu), Tony (Collin Chou) and Archer…
The Punisher (1989) – Mark Goldblatt
The same year that Micheal Keaton donned the cowl and became the iconic Batman for a generation, Dolph Lundgren brought Marvel’s dark antihero, Frank Castle, to life in the low-budget adaptation of The Punisher. If I say ugh will that be enough? Lundgren has never been known for his thespian abilities, and in a role…
Hill Street Blues (1982/1983) – Santaclaustrophobia, and Gung Ho
It’s the holiday season on the hill, and lots of things are going on at the precinct. Santaclaustrophobia, written by Steven Bochco, Anthony Yerkovich, and Jeffrey Lewis, first aired on 16 December, 1982. Belker (Bruce Weitz) is undercover as a bell-ringing Santa, but a young kid keeps spoiling things by revealing he’s a cop. Hill’s…
The Replacement Killers (1998) – Antoine Fuqua
Antonine Fuqua’s 1998 actioner The Replacement Killers has quite the pedigree, it not only has Fuqua in the director’s chair, an executive producer credit for John Woo, but also stars Hong Kong cinema icon Chow Yun-Fat, the fantastic Mira Sorvino, Michael Rooker, Jurgen Prochnow, Danny Trejo, Til Schweiger, and Clifton Collins Jr. John Lee (Chow…
The X-Files (2002) – Underneath, and Improbable
Doggett (Robert Patrick) gets pulled back into a case he worked back when he was a New York cop, when the man they arrested as a serial killer is exonerated and released from prison – only to have the murders start up again. Underneath was written by John Shiban and first aired on 31 March,…
In the Heat of the Night (1967) – Norman Jewison
In the Heat of the Night shouldn’t be as timely and relevant as it still is. You’d think we could have moved beyond such levels of racism and prejudice, and yet, sections of society seem worse than ever before, and it seems to be both hidden and overt. Featuring powerhouse performances by Sidney Poitier and…
The X-Files (2001) – The Gift, and Medusa
Mulder (David Duchovny) is back! At least in flashbacks he is, as Doggett (Robert Patrick), Scully (Gillian Anderson) and Skinner (Mitch Pileggi) continue their search for the missing agent, and a case he was working on before his disappearance. Frank Spotnitz pens The Gift, which first aired on 4 February, 2001. While Scully continues to…
The Mind Reels 