If you've read this site before, you know I have a special place in my heart for 80's movies. Especially for the ones that I grew up with, those that I saw 50 times on HBO or burned out our family's first VCR watching over and over. Wildcats was one of those films. It had just about everything a prepubescent boy would want to see, crude sex jokes, farting, high school football, and a brief glimpse of Goldie Hawn naked. Like most films from this time in my childhood, there came a point where I stopped watching them. Discovering filmmakers like Scorsese or Kubrick, I wanted more sophisticated films. These were forgotten or regulated to guilty pleasures of the past.

Running across Wildcats in the discount bin, I had brief memories of Woody Harrelson and Wesley Snipes rapping about football, a kid bashing in lockers with his head, a fat guy blocking a big kick, and fancy stolen hubcaps on a VW bus. I didn't have much expectations for a well made comedy, I only wanted to walk down memory lane. Once I had it home, it didn't take long for me to pop it in. Instead of watching a copy of the classic On the Waterfront, I'd been holding on to for too long, I went with the high school jock movie I'd seen 20+ times in my past. I'll always go for the easy watch first.

The amazing thing was that Wildcats turned out to be nearly as good as I remembered. The childish sex jokes worked on a new level. The dramatic elements, about a woman wanting to coach high school football and having to do so in a bad part of town, seemed genuine. The verbal abuse, treated comically, she takes from her players, ex-husband and former boss ring true. Everything about the film is a cliché, but they're classic movie elements that work and are well executed. Goldie Hawn is at the top of her game here, she's bubbly cute, with perfect comedic timing. Her team is full of actors that went on to better roles; Woody Harrelson is the smart-ass QB, Wesley Snipes is the cocksure wide-receiver, and Mykelti Williamson is the ultimate talent, who'd rather spend his time being a criminal. The film also features great character actors, like M. Emmet Walsh as Goldie's attorney who only talks in football terms, James Keach as her manipulative ex-husband, Bruce McGill plays her sexist former boss and coach of her crosstown rivals, and Nipsey Russell cracked me up as the principle of her new school with his every utterance of the word "Riiiight."

It's most definitely an 80's movie, with awful fashions and hair styles, an incredibly cheesy music montage with the boys becoming a team, and a very young LL Cool J rapping about football. Except for the 80's setting, I think the film works better than most of today's comedies. It doesn't rely on easy pop-culture jokes and you actually become invested in the characters and their underdog story. The film has its flaws, but they're quickly forgotten as the movie moves effortlessly ahead with its solid screenplay and strong acting. The film is well directed by Michael Rithchie, who directed one of the greatest sports comedies ever The Bad News Bears, the scenes flow well and the football scenes actually make sense. If you watch a lot of sports movies as a sport fan, you'll notice a lot of over-the-top stuff that doesn't really happen on the field or even worse is when the games just aren't played right. If you're a fan of 80's and/or sports movies you could do much worse than Goldie Hawn and her Wildcats. - Grade: B (Seen on 10/10/08)

Will Ferrel seems content in continuing to make the same film over and over until the well runs dry. We as an audience continue to lap up what he’s serving, so he’s able to continue to do so, not forcing him to move on to something greater. But I must admit that his films remain funny, he’s such an offbeat, lovable character that his shtick has yet to grow old. Although I’m not sure how many more trips to the well I can take.

In Semi-Pro, Ferrel plays owner/coach/player Jackie Moon of the fictional ABA team Detroit Tropics. It’s the late 70’s, Moon made his money with a disco one-hit-wonder called "Love Me Sexy", but his bank account is quickly dwindling and the basketball league is dying. The era lets Ferrel and gang dress up in over-the-top costumes, ridiculous even by disco standards. Ferrel gets to rock his trademark white-man’s-fro and as usual he’s obliged to take off his shirt to show off his flabby physique and strange orange, lint-ball chest hair. Woody Harrelson shows off his comic chops as the aging veteran Ed Monix, going through his last hurrah. Will Arnett, does his usual funny routine as the hard-living team announcer, and gets some great one-liners off during the games. Andre Benjamin, doesn’t really get any funny lines as the hot-shot youngster, but he holds his own with some of the best comedians of the day.

I don’t need to spell out the storyline, it’s easy enough to make it out from the trailer. It doesn’t go anywhere fresh or exciting; it’s a fairly typical sports-comedy archtype, simply a foundation for the comedians to riff off of. Perhaps the most interesting development of the film, is that Jackie Moon doesn’t have a love interest, at least female wise, his love is his team. It's not often that the lead character of a comedy, isn't chasing a woman. Harrelson’s character gets the love story, and it’s a twisted one at that.

Perhaps what surprised me the most was the filmmaking, I found it to be far better made than Ferrel’s last few vehicles. There's some actual attention to detail, this isn't the typical, bare minimum, flat-lighting, point a camera in the stars direction, comedy. The film is really nicely shot in widescreen, with some true attention to detail. The costumes and sets are believably 70’s, it doesn’t feel like a bunch of guys playing dress-up, it actually places you into the era. Most importantly I thought it was genuinely funny, I laughed out loud much more during this film, than either Talladega Nights or Blades of Glory. It doesn't feel quite as re-watchable as the minor-classic Anchorman, but it's a close second. – Grade: B (Seen on 6/25/08)

When it comes right down to it, I'd have to say that the Coen Brothers are my all-time-favorite directors. They make movies exactly the way I wish I could; with a wonderful all-around sense of style, just the right amount of quirky, dark humor; beautiful camera work, the best writing and great performances from every actor, so that no matter how small the character in their films, you always remember them. Raising Arizona, The Big Lebowski and Fargo are all near the top of my all time favorites list. Everything else they've done is also top-notch, with the exception of their last two films; The Ladykillers and Intolerable Cruelty, both were far below their standards, I was afraid they'd lost it. But when No Country For Old Men was released to phenomenal reviews, I knew they were back.

There is no question that this is one of the top films of the year. If it weren't for a slight stumble towards the end, I'd be ready to call it the year's best. The old west photography by cinematographer Roger Deakins is absolutely gorgeous. Every actor in the film is at the top of their game. A brilliant screenplay, building up the intensity with every scene, until it's almost unbearable; it's broken up occasionally with some pitch-black humor, so much so, that I was the only one laughing at some of the "jokes".

Llewelyn Moss, played perfectly by Josh Brolin, which I had no idea he had in him as an actor, is a typical no-ambitions type of guy, who's been content to float through life. Until he runs across the aftermath of a drug deal gone wrong. Instantly his military training kicks in and he tracks down the injured guy who escaped with a suitcase full of money. He knows somebody is going to come looking for it; so he sends his wife off to her mother's and goes into hiding.

And he's right. The chase comes in the form of the ultimate bad-ass Anton, a bob-haired psycho, with no conscience about killing and the ultimate sense of how to get to anybody and through everybody else that stands in his way. I've seen nothing but sensitive type roles for Javier Bardem so far, but he's the most memorable bad guy of the year. (I think Anton will be remembered for a long time, we'll see folks dressed as him next Halloween.) He carries with him the most unique weapon we've ever seen for a professional killer, a cattle gun, which he uses to open doors and people's heads. I can't get over how much I loved this villain!

It's getting near the end of the film and I'm deeply involved in the game of cat and mouse between Llewelyn and Anton, it's the most tense filmmaking I've witnessed in a long time. Llewelyn gives Anton more trouble than he's probably ever had to deal with. And just when you think that Llewelyn actually has a chance to survive, the film veers off in a weird, unsatisfying way. Suddenly we're behind on the events and seeing the film from a new perspective. One woman at my screening explained it quite simply, "That ending was stupid!"