Paul Verhoeven (“RoboCop”, “Starship Troopers”) directs “Basic Instinct”, a cheesy and enjoyable murder mystery flick. Some have criticised it for its perverted nature but the movie seems so overboard that is hard to do anything but laugh at it. Verhoeven is great at using extreme imagery while making you laugh at how absurd everything is.

In “Basic Instinct”, Nick Curran (Michael Douglas “Wall Street”, “Fatal Attraction”) a mentally unstable police detective that is investigated a violent murder. The main suspect is a manipulative and seductive crime writer (Sharon Stone “Sliver”, “The Specialist”) that quickly has Nick exactly where she wants him.

Michael Douglas is good as Curran. His character is complex and has been deemed potentially unfit for duty after he shot some tourists. We never hear the exact details of what happened. Sharon Stone is very good as Catherine Tramell. She is of course most known for one particular shot in this film in which she reveals an awful lot. The chemistry between the two is effective. “Basic Instinct” attracted a lot of complaints from homosexual rights organisations for its depiction of lesbian and bisexual characters. I do not see what is wrong with the depiction as nobody would have protested if these were straight characters behaving the same way.

While not quite as fun as “Total Recall”, “RoboCop” or “Starship Troopers”, “Basic Instinct” is a good movie from Verhoeven. While only a few moments are graphically violent, the movie does contain some very intense sexual scenes. Normally, I would fine this sort-of thing cheap and gimmicky but Verhoeven has a way of doing it and making it entertaining. However, he seemed to lose his way when he did “Showgirls” a few years later but that is a different story. If you want a murder mystery film that deals with some mature themes but is not afraid to be silly then this is worth checking out.

The creators of “South Park” Trey Parker and Matt Stone star in “BASEketball”, an average comedy directed by David Zucker (“Airplane!”, “The Naked Gun”). It starts off as a promising knock at the commercialisation of sports but instead turns into yet another “Wayne’s World” style movie.

Two friends named Joe Cooper (Parker) and Doug Remer (Stone) invent a game named ‘baseketball’ (or ‘BASEketball’ if you look at the film’s title), which is basketball with baseball’s rules. It starts off on their driveway but becomes the largest sport in America. Now a greedy tycoon named Baxter Cain (Robert Vaughn “Superman III”) is out to make the sport just as commercial as football, basketball and baseball so can our ‘heroes’ (I guess that’s what they are) save the day.

Parker and Stone are witty and hard-hitting comedians but every now and then cross the line into the just plain gross and this movie sadly features a lot of that as there is a scene where they both have gigantic anatomies. I think Parker seems a lot better here as he comes across as normal compared to Stone, who never really seems to fit in here as he constantly has strange expressions on his face. The characters here do the obvious thing and have the clichéd fall-out but come back to join forces because they actually miss each other and they know this is the right thing. The supporting characters aren’t all that interesting.

“BASEketball” features some dumb moments but some of them are so dumb that you’ll probably find yourself chuckling anyway such as the beer mascot urinating and one unfortunate guy who keeps being attacked by a dog. Some of the scenes are just grotesque though such as multiple parts where Remer shoots milk from his nipples. The film has been made by comedic geniuses on both sides of the camera but unfortunately doesn’t seem all that impressive; watch “Airplane!” and “South Park” instead.

At first “Barton Fink” seems as if it is written in the same style as “The Big Lebowski” (also directed by the Coen brothers) but the difference is that this film has pay-offs and in my opinion is the best film I’ve seen by the Coen brothers so far.

In this film a quiet and a little nervous playwright from New York named Barton Fink (John Turturro “Transformers”), who moves to Hollywood to write for the films in the 1940s. While suffering from ‘writer’s block’, he stays in a hotel that makes the one from “The Shining” look innocent with wallpaper that is constantly falling and an employee in the lift that couldn’t be creepier. His only friend in town is Charlie Meadows (John Goodman “The Flintstones”, “King Ralph”), who lives in the room next door but maybe he isn’t all he’s cracked up to be.

John Turturro is very good as Barton Fink if the character isn’t written with as much certainty as the ‘Dude’ from “Big Lebowski”. Goodman is excellent and the twist with his character pays off in perhaps the most interesting and thrilling bit of the whole film. I also like the bellboy played by Steve Buscemi (“Desperado”) and the Hollywood executive played by Michael Lerner (“Godzilla”). I didn’t like the other writer character and his subplot. Barton is just a normal guy meeting all these larger-than-life character just like the Dude.

“Barton Fink” certainly isn’t perfect, especially with the unnecessary subplot I just mentioned but it features so many interesting moments and characters that you have to enjoy it. It’s amazing how intriguing the picture of it when a large portion of it is just shots of Barton looking depressed or confused. “Barton Fink” showcases the Coen brothers’ ability to create strong characters and a good slight spin on reality.

“Barb Wire” is a post-apocalyptic sci-fi/action flick with a female lead and is based on a comic book just like “Tank Girl”. Suddenly, “Tank Girl” is not looking so bad because “Barb Wire” is easily one of the worst comic book films ever made. It’s also a loose (and I mean very loose) remake of “Casablanca”. It’s strange how “Casablanca” is considered one of the best films of all-time and “Barb Wire” is a serious candidate for the worst.

This film takes place during the Second American Civil War. We follow the life of Barb Wire (Pamela Anderson Lee “Scary Movie 3”), who is a nightclub owner and mercenary. She has tried to remain a neutral businesswoman during the conflict but will have to pick sides when her ex-lover (Temuera Morrison “Once Were Warriors”) walks back into her life.

The acting in “Barb Wire” is quite frankly abysmal. Pamela Anderson Lee was clearly only cast so that she can show off her curves. She has no acting abilities whatsoever. It’s a real shame to see the talent Temuera Morrison dragged into this horrendous mess. Also, Udo Kier (“Johnny Mnemonic”) has to suffer the shame of being in “Barb Wire”. The other characters are boring and/or annoying.

The opening of “Barb Wire” has the titular character dancing provocatively as she is sprayed with water. You get to see what you came for and then you have to endure the rest of this dreadful picture. The acting is shambolic, the script is moronic, the editing is poor and the plot is stupid. I thought the movie was going to make me laugh but it was just painful to watch. There are two reasons to watch “Barb Wire” and about a hundred reasons why you should not sit through it. Go and watch “Casablanca” because it’s a masterpiece and if you really need a post-apocalyptic superheroine flick then watch “Tank Girl”.

“Bangkok Dangerous” is a fun action movie starring Nicolas Cage (“Gone In Sixty Seconds”, “The Weather Man”). It is a remake of Thai film from 1999 of the same name but I’ve not seen it so I will not be comparing the two.

Joe (Cage) is a skilful hitman hoping that his job in Bangkok will be his last. He has four targets and expects to be in town for roughly a month. However, things start to get complicated when he falls for a local woman (Charlie Yeung “Fallen Angels”) and bonds with an errand boy (Shahkrit Yamnarm), who he takes under his wing.

Nicolas Cage is a great actor and he does a really good job as the hitman character. The character is very similar to Jason Statham’s character in the “Transporter” movies as they both have a set of rules that they end up violating. Cage brings a charm to the performance. Charlie Yeung is good as Fon, a deaf and mute chemist. Some of the scenes with Joe and Fon might seem rather corny but they are also quite heart-warming at times. Shahkrit Yamnarm is good as Kong. The villains in the movie are not particularly memorable but they do not really need to be.

The action scenes in “Bangkok Dangerous” are executed rather well and there is a nice variety of them. We get to see tactical hits, shootouts, fistfights and vehicle chases. Cage gives an impressive performance and the movie never drags. For some reason, this film is not very popular and I’m not really sure why. Sure, it’s nothing amazing but I do not get what else people were expecting to get from it. If you want a solid action film then “Bangkok Dangerous” should provide you with everything you need to have an entertaining time.

Directed by and starring Woody Allen (“Annie Hall”, “Manhattan”), “Bananas” is a somewhat amusing comedy that is clearly supposed to be a satire on the revolution in Cuba that saw Fidel Castro come into power.

A bumbling New Yorker by the name of Fielding Mellish (Allen) gets a new activist girlfriend (Louise Lasser “Requiem For A Dream”). It isn’t long before they breakup and so Mellish travels to a tiny fictional Latin America country and finds himself joining its latest revolution. As the film goes on, it of course gets crazier and crazier and as a result, becomes less and less funny.

Woody Allen is of course the master of creating pitiful individuals that inhabit that real world in his best films such as “Annie Hall” and “Scenes From A Mall” but here, much like in “Sleeper”, he’s placed into a larger-than-life situation and it just isn’t as funny. If you watch his performances in movies such as “Sleeper” and compare them to those in his films such as “Manhattan”, you can see he tries too hard to be funny in the former. Louise Lasser isn’t particularly funny as the girlfriend. Watch out for an appearance by a young Sylvester Stallone (“Rocky”).

There are some genuinely funny scenes in this movie and there are times when it is clear that a lot of passion and energy has gone into it but I never really felt like I was enjoying it all that much. The movie is a lot like Allen’s “Take The Money And Run” in that it seems to pitch itself just a little too far outside of reality for it to work. I’m sure plenty of people will enjoy “Bananas” but it just wasn’t quite the movie for me; maybe I’m just wanting too much from a Woody Allen movie after seeing what he is capable of.

I went into “Badge Of Fury” (also known as “Badges Of Fury” for some reason) expecting an action-packed cop movie but what I got was a silly slapstick mess. Jet Li (“Fist Of Legend”, “The Forbidden Kingdom”) has been used extensively in the marketing for this movie but he’s not even the star. In fact, the whole film has had misleading marketing (at least in the Western world).

In this film, a young detective by the name of Wang (Zhang Wen “Love Is Not Blind”) and his colleagues have to try and solve a mysterious murder case where the victims have died with smiles on their faces. They will need all of their whacky martial arts and detective skills to find the culprit.

Unfortunately, Jet Li is not the star. He does fight in the movie but the action sequences are abysmal. The man is a skilled martial artist but you would not know that from this movie. Here, all of his moves are masked by cheap C.G.I. and bad choreography. It reminded me of the dreadful movie “The One”, which also managed to hide Li’s abilities. The other characters are all pretty boring and pretty much everybody has cheesy lines that just aren’t funny.

“Badge Of Fury” has fight sequences that are like a low-budget version of “The Matrix”. People fly around all over the place in this film in some of the most unrealistic and unimpressive action scenes I’ve ever seen. Seriously, “Looney Tunes” follows the laws of physics closer than this film. The comedy is just pathetic with almost all the jokes failing to hit the mark. The only part I really did find funny was the scene where they mention the “Police Story” movies with Jackie Chan. I wish I was watching one of those films instead of “Badge Of Fury”.

I enjoyed “Lethal Weapon”, “Tango & Cash” and “Rush Hour” so I like quite a few buddy cop films but “Bad Boys” fails because it doesn’t understand what makes a good buddy cop movie is the chemistry between the two cops.

Directed by the always over-the-top Michael Bay (“Transformers”, “The Rock”), “Bad Boys” has Miami police officers Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence “Blue Streak”) and Mike Lowrey (Will Smith “Men In Black”, “Independence Day”) out on the hunt for millions and millions of dollars’ worth of stolen drugs while also protecting a murder witness (Téa Leoni “Deep Impact”). There are car chases, shootouts and fistfights but no heart.

Martin Lawrence is just not funny and he makes every scene with him in almost unbearable. I think that Will Smith has been somewhat entertaining in films such as “Men In Black” but here he has no chemistry with his co-star. The interaction between Smith and Lawrence is not remotely entertaining. The only time that either one is fun to watch is when they shut their mouths and are blasting away at bad guys. Téa Leoni is mildly entertaining and amusing as the attractive murder witness that Lawrence and Smith must defend. The other characters are pretty dull and the villains won’t leave much of an impact.

“Bad Boys” has a fairly exciting finale with seemingly endless explosions but the rest of the film is shockingly dull. This is meant to be a thrilling and funny action comedy but you’re sat there and you’re not laughing and you don’t care about most of what’s going on. If you watch “Lethal Weapon” or one of the other good buddy cop films I mentioned earlier and then you watch “Bad Boys”, I think you’ll agree that there is a huge difference in the quality of the pictures.

The slapstick sequences in “Baby’s Day Out” flow like one of those brilliant old-school cartoons involving a baby crawling into danger but sadly the movie as a whole isn’t as impressive. It was written by John Hughes, whose “Home Alone” films didn’t really impress me but because this is so clearly based on a cartoon and it feels like one I actually liked it.

Baby Bink is kidnapped by three clumsy crooks led by Eddie played by the voice of Fat Tony on tv’s “The Simpsons” Joe Mantegna. They want five million dollars and things seem to be lucky good for them but then the baby escapes out of a window and proceeds to take a bus ride, a trip at the zoo and finally he comes to a construction site as the pesky bad guys chase him down.

Baby Bink is adorable of course and it is funny to watch him during his misadventures. The bad guys are okay but they’re taken more from the Three Stooges as opposed to cartoon characters. Joe Mantegna is my favourite while Joe Pantoliano (“The Matrix”, “The Fugitive”) left a lot to be desired. I really disliked the parents as they would distract from the cartoony feel of the movie.

Many projects Hughes has worked including “Dennis The Menace”, “Home Alone” and “Flubber” have left me feeling underwhelmed but there is something funny about this one and it is because you’re sucked into this cartoon-like world the movie creates. The bad guys get hurt in ways nobody could survive or at least move on from without being completely paralysed and we buy into it because of the atmosphere the film has made but it is annoying when we get a few scenes that distract us from that vibe. “Baby’s Day Out” will entertain children and provide some charming nostalgia value for older viewers.

“Babylon A.D.” is a thrilling sci-fi movie in the spirit of “The Fifth Element” and “Johnny Mnemonic”. This is an exciting and complicated sci-fi film and it is littered with some splendid action scenes. This movie is very underrated and that’s a real shame.

Set in a dystopian 2058, Vin Diesel (“xXx”, “Pitch Black”) stars as a mercenary by the name of Toorop, who gets hired to escort a girl (Mélanie Thierry “A Perfect Day”) and her guardian (Michelle Yeoh “Sunshine”, “Tomorrow Never Dies”) from Russia to America. Little does Toorop know that the girl he is escorting is at the heart of a sinister cult’s plot.

Vin Diesel is far from being a good actor but he’s picked a role where he isn’t required to do much besides look and sound tough so he works fine here. Michelle Yeoh is good as Sister Rebeka. Mélanie Thierry does a good job as Aurora and the character becomes increasingly interesting as the film continues. The interactions between the three main characters were okay but nothing special. I felt that the villains of the movie didn’t get enough screen time but it is probably because the movie waits quite a while before revealing them for the last act.

The world that “Babylon A.D.” creates is certainly ugly but somewhat plausible. I like movies such as “Blade Runner” and “Minority Report” that create detailed visions of the future so that’s probably why enjoyed this movie a lot. The action sequences are impressive and I particularly enjoyed the snowmobile scene. The final act does seem to hit you with quite a lot and I think that presents some problems but I also think some of the big revelations are clever and very intriguing. This movie was heavily criticised by the majority of critics and a lot of other people don’t care for it, I guess maybe the movie is too smart for fans of Vin Diesel’s “xXx” and “The Fast and the Furious” but too action-packed for fans of slower movies such as “Blade Runner”. I enjoyed it anyway.