bluesteele Reviews

The Strongest Man in History (2019– )

These Guys are Great!

[10/10 · 3 August 2019]

I've always enjoyed the various strongman competitions since I was a kid. They would show up at odd times on ESPN, and they were almost always repeats (in other words--very different from watching a live world championship . . . . sometimes you'd be watching a competition from 10 years ago!). But they were still captivating, especially when Americans began showing up in the top ten. Hard not to root for the homeboys and hang on for the final event to see who'd come out on top.

Brian Shaw is from nearby Colorado, and it's hard not to like the guy. He is like this 6'8" 450 pound 5 year old. Not arrogant (and a 4 time world champion has earned the right to arrogance!), but gentle and thoughtful. I began watching occasional "Shaw Strength" YouTube clips a few months ago--which often feature him going back and forth with Eddie Hall (England's strongman and one time world champion) like two brothers with a great sense of humor.

So this show has added two more giants to the roster and follows them through a series of well scripted on location competitions which are tied to some old school legendary feat of strength. You get this mix of giants throwing around objects the rest of us can only stare at, and the kind of humor that makes a lot of us recall from playing high school or college ball -- so it's very funny and very watchable.

The thing I like--the real world strongman competitions are not making any of these guys rich. Training is clearly a full time, 365 day a year occupation requiring significant investments in training equipment, coaches, and diet. Even at the elite level, the prize amounts are a fraction of what American professional football and basketball players get. Bravo to the History Channel for finding a way to leverage entertainment and helping to support someone like Brian Shaw financially. I hope this series makes it for a few years and helps these guys out!

Five Feet Apart (2019)

Richardson and Sprouse Make This Work!

[8/10 · 17 March 2019]

I feel compelled to write this review for all of those guys who get dragged along to see some cheezy romance flick by the wife or girlfriend and can barely make it through without trying to duck into the adjacent theater for something action oriented.

That's how I ended up watching this, but honest-to-God . . . I have to give credit where credit is due. I'm usually so cynical about movies that seem so clearly intent on going straight for the heartstrings and forcing every girl in the audience to go for the emergency kleenex stash in the purse. I hate that feeling of being manipulated. "Five Feet Apart" actually works very well on all of the important levels. Cystic fibrosis is not a common disease, and I certainly wasn't familiar with it. But the script and the actors handle the condition with surprising sensitivity. Rather than making it the focus of an emotional trainwreck, no one seems to be working overtime to make you feel sorry for them. Rather, we get to see what seems to be a surprisingly appealing group of teenagers who've accepted the condition in various ways long before the opening scenes of the movie, and they are going to move forward with life without asking for our sympathy.

There is a serious level of chemistry between Haley Lu Richardson and Cole Sprouse that has to be one of the most believable pairings I recall in this genre. The growing sparks between them effectively places this truly debilitating genetic condition in just the right context. They don't want your sympathy--they just want a slim chance at happiness. Yes, the teenage girls in the audience were crying rivers at the end . . . but for once . . . I could completely understand it.

Dead Tone (2007)

The Denver Broncos Connection!

[8/10 · 8 February 2018]

Yes this is a below average slasher copy flick, but it DOES feature the semi-legendary Rutger Hauer AND it has just recently been revealed in the Denver metropolitan area that one of the original financers of this film is Steve Atwater--potential hall of famer Denver Bronco's safety and one of the cast members is legendary Denver Bronco cornerback Ray Crockett!

For long time fans of the Denver Broncos, this is more than enough to establish this near-forgotten movie as a cult classic! If you love the Broncos, you owe it to your fandom status to watch this movie!

The Buddy Holly Story (1978)

If You Love Rock and Roll -- You Need to See This!

[8/10 · 1 February 2017]

I saw this movie when it first came out, and that was my introduction to Buddy Holly. I picked up the DVD years later to watch it with my son (a 'budding' musician), and found Gary Busey's extraordinary performance in the lead role as fresh as I remembered it from the late 1970s. Those reviewers who note that the plot is pretty cheesy are correct, but everything around Busey, Stroud, and Martin seems incidental to the incendiary live performances. You can find some of the old original Holly performances on YouTube, and as sacrilegious as it sounds . . . Busey is the better performer!

I remember reading somewhere that one of the producers or the director himself managed to get Busey, Stroud, and Martin to gig as a Buddy Holly cover band in clubs for several months prior to beginning the shoot, and that Stroud began practicing for these live sessions (and subsquent shooting) having never played the drums before. If this is true, it would be great to hear from someone who might actually have caught one of these performances?

Whether it's true or not, it certainly would explain how Busey would step up to the mike and simply kills it in the film, and why Stroud and Martin seemed wholly believable in their drums and bass backup. Stroud in particular really looks like he was still trying to master his kit, but more than made up for a lack of total professional skill with the energy he put into it.

The movie may be a cheesefest, but the stage scenes ARE rock and roll!

One last recommendation. If you get the DVD, make sure you get the version that has Gary Busey's commentary. Priceless.

Wiseguy (1987–1990)

Holds Up Very Well!

[9/10 · 16 June 2016]

I remembered this late 80's/early 90's show for its look, high production values, and Ken Wahl's wholly believable turn as Vinne Terranova. After it was recently released (again) on DVD, I picked up Season One from Amazon. It's been very hard to hit 'pause' and come back later! And certainly worth every penny. Wahl is even better than I remembered (I don't think he ever ended up doing anything again after leaving Wiseguy), and the rest of the cast--especially those who were brought on as Wahl's antagonists for the multi-episode story 'arcs' like Ray Starkey and Kevin Spacey--bring their 'A' game (which seems unusual for that era of television.) What struck me in scene after scene is that Wahl not only seems perfectly cast in this role, he has SERIOUS presence and acting chops. His acting, which never seems forced or 'over the top,' seemingly pushes first rate actors like Starkey and Spacey to give it THEIR best . . . there's almost a competitive edge to the extended scenes where Wahl and these guys are truly going for it in an acting sense.

Some of the scriptwriting is a little corny by today's standards, and the plots . . . peculiar (I'm thinking of the Mel Profit arc where Terranova and Profit's right hand man are sent to Tennessee to "straighten out the business"). Jonathan Banks, who plays Terranova's FBI handler, seems overly heated and one dimensional for the most part (a criticism that may have been contemporary as he occasionally breaks character to show some kind of human side). Not a particularly memorable turn.

The other reviews here suggest that things dropped off after Season One, so I probably will skip those . . . but Season One is a serious work of early episodic television.