Movie: Juice (1992)

Reason: Cause whenever I’m random, I tend to come up with throwback movies which totally rule and this happens to be one of my faves!!!!!

HB Analysis: Juice stars 2Pac and Omar Epps along with Jermaine “Huggy” Hopkins and Khalil Kain as four troubled inner city youths who hang out frequently cutting school, listening to boom boxes and going up against a gang rival all for the quest of legacy. Who has the most JUICE??? If you’re into gang oriented movies with real good acting, then this is your type of flick. So sit back, relax and get the popcorn and beer or whatever the heck you have and watch this because it’s a freaking classic.

2Pac plays Bishop, who turns into the loose cannon becoming fascinated by the power of guns. Epps in his first signature role is the cool Q, who is a very talented dee jay whose goal is to win a contest. Hopkins plays Steel, who always carries his boom box blasting it as loud as possible. Then there’s Kain, who as Raheem is the ring leader.

We also see cameos from Samuel L. Jackson and Queen Latifah. Each has smaller roles. Jackson plays a pool hall owner who relays messages back and forth to Bishop and Q, who by the end wind up against each other due to Bishop’s power trip. Latifah is the Ruffhouse MC during the DJ competition Q reaches the finals in.

It starts off very innocently as they cut class and then chill in the park. There’s a hilarious scene where they scare a well dressed caucasian male by just playfully screaming at them and then watching the poor person almost knock into a tree.

The movie takes place near Riverside Drive in Harlem giving it a hometown appeal. As is the case with most urban gang movies, the language is street slang. It’s got that cool hip hop vibe. Naughty by Nature had the featured “Uptown Anthem” hit in this movie. If you’ve seen the video, they use scenes from it which realllly works.

The acting from a young Tupac and an 18 year-old Epps who were both in their debut roles is just off the charts. They were each fantastic playing off each other so well and making their characters very believable. While 2pac turns into the classic villain, Epps plays the smarter well schooled likeable character who you find yourself rooting for.

They clash because Q doesn’t agree with how far Bishop will go. During his DJ competition before the finals, they rob a local grocery store putting on masks with Bishop brandishing the gun. It’s at that point that for no reason, he shoots and murders the clerk who just wants them to leave. After he’s dead, they scram with the money and hide. The plot only thickens from there which sees Q drift further and further apart from a crazed Bishop who will do anything to get ahead. Even if it means killing his own kind.

There are some great lines between the two which only add to the movie’s street creed. One scene sees Bishop standing behind Q’s school locker and they have a great exchange:

Q: Bishop, you’re crazy!
Bishop: You know what? Last time you said that, I was kinda trippin’, right? But now, you’re right. I am crazy. And you know what else? I don’t give a fuck. I don’t give a fuck about you. I don’t give a fuck about Steel. I don’t give a *fuck* about Raheem, either. I don’t give a fuck about myself. Look, I ain’t shit. And you less of a man than me, so as soon as I figure you ain’t gon be shit, *pow*! So be it. You remember that, motherfucker. ‘Cause I’m the one you need to be looking out for… *partner*!

Definitely one of the best scenes of this action packed movie. I also really like the police scene where they’re interrogated about who murdered Raheem. That’s pretty intense!

I’ll try to get some videos up at some point. Just stay tuned.

HB Rating: Users on IMDB give it 6.5 stars out of 10. This movie got nominated for Best Film in 1993. I really dig it. So I’m giving it 8.0 out of 10.

If you like Boyz N’ Da Hood, you’ll love Juice.

Movie: The Last Boy Scout (1991)

Reason: Just one of those totally random ones because this movie happens to kick fuckkkkinggg ass!!!!!!!!

HB Analysis: The Last Boy Scout stars Bruce Willis and Damon Wayans. Willis plays Joe Hallenbeck- a lowlife private investigator who once saved the President’s life taking a shot in the line of duty as a Secret Service agent. Since, he used to work for Senator Calvin Baynard but caught him beating a chick the dirty Senator was cheating with. So he did the only cool thing he could and socked Baynard.  Long story short. Hallenbeck winds up a PI taking cases for Mike Matthews, who happens to be banging his wife Sarah (played by Chelsea Field).

Basically, Hallenbeck has a messed up life where anything that can go wrong usually does. Even his 13 year-old teenage daughter Darian (played by the now beautiful Danielle Harris who starred in Halloween IV and V) is against him because he wouldn’t allow her to go to a party. And it was “only the best partttty of the year” she says sarcastically to him while eventual partner Jimmy Dix (played by Wayans) observes at their house. It doesn’t help that the kid now believes in Satan Claus and got into trouble in class for a picture. Gotta love it. 

Dix is a former quarterback for the L.A. Stallions. Played extremely well by former In Living Colour star Wayans, he’s been kicked out of football for illegal gambling. He’s drawn in and eventually teams up with Hallenbeck because his former girlfriend played by then young knockout Halle Berry is murdered by hitmen because she knew too much and also was trying to blackmail Stallion owner Sheldon Marcone. Marcone was trying to payoff Senator Baynard to legalize professional sports gambling.

At the beginning of this action packed thriller, we see Stallion back Billy Cole resort to shooting opposing players just to score a touchdown because he wasn’t doing enough and had gotten threatened by the gamblers. Not surprisingly, he turns the gun on himself which was broadcasted well by veteran CBS commentator Verne Lundquist.

It only intensifies from there as the scene switches to a napping Hallenbeck who slept in his car just to be awakened by hooligans who even planted a ferret. He immediately pulls out his gun and they scramble away.

Oh. But it gets better as he then returns home early only to discover the toilet seat up and immediately concludes that his wife cheated on him. When he counts to three, she pleads and then Matthews comes out. That’s where a classic line comes out. In reference to his finger scale, he asks, “How was she?” Then shoots their wedding picture.

If that’s not enough, he still takes the case from the same screwball who slept with his wife. But poetic justice happens when he gets into his car and it blows up leading to his death. The “bad guys” thought it was Hallenbeck’s car and wired it.

We finally meet the real bad guy played by Taylor Negron as the cool but cocky Milo. I’d have to say he’s the coolest bad guy ever in a movie. There’s some great dialogue between him and Hallenbeck when they later kidnap him and bring him back to Marcone so they can frame him for the Senator’s murder. Hallenbeck loathes Baynard because of what happened previously.

Here’s some of that back and forth dialogue which is what makes this movie so much fun to watch:

Milo: Can we get a formal introduction?
Joe Hallenbeck: Who gives a fuck? You’re the bad guy, right?
Milo: I am the bad guy.
Joe Hallenbeck: And I’m supposed to be trembling with fear, something like that?
Milo: Something like that.
Joe Hallenbeck: Fine, I’ll start trembling in a minute.

Just your classic lines from a downright hilarious flick which I could probably watch over and over. It’s that good.

Willis’ comraderie with Wayans in The Last Boy Scout is awesome. They play so well off each other and trade great line after great line. Here’s one such sequence:

Jimmy Dix: It ain’t right.
Joe Hallenbeck: No, it ain’t right.
[sighs]
Joe Hallenbeck: This ain’t no game, flash. Real guns, real bullets. It’s dangerous.
Jimmy Dix: Danger’s my middle name.
Joe Hallenbeck: Mine’s Cornelius. You tell anybody, I’ll kill you.
Jimmy Dix: You ever watch “Soul Train”?
Joe Hallenbeck: Shut the fuck up.

One of my favorite parts has to be when Hallenbeck threatens Milo’s dopey assistant. He wants a cigarette and when he needs a light, the assistant pops him in the mouth and laughs. When Willis asks for another and a light, he says, “You touch me again and I’ll kill ya.”

So, of course, the idiot punches him again and goes:

“Boombagg babbbyyyy!  Hahahahahahahhaha. Oh Babbby! We got a two for two!!!!!”

Hallenbeck then puts his nose to his brain and he dies instantly freaking out another one of Milo’s dopes who reacts:

“He just put his god damnnn nose to his brain. He’s a fuckkiinn’ A killer!”

Let me see if I can find a clip off YouTube.

Here we go. A classic scene where he wakes up:

The Last Boy Scout: “I’m Awake“ 

The Last Boy Scout: “Introduction” this is kinda cheesy but still.

The Last Boy Scout: “Jimmy Dix meets Darian”

What else was great about this movie? Well, if you like awesome car chases, then watch because it’s fucking intense. The part where Wayans as Dix draws a picture and writes “Bom” and shows it to the bad guys and nearly gets shot is classic. Willis as Hallenbeck then replies:

“Bom means f you in Polish.” :lol: 

HB Rating:  On IMDB, the average user rating was 6.6 out of 10.0. I’ll give it a 7.0 for creativity and just total awesoommmeness.

If you haven’t caught it, it’s one of Willis’ best action movies. And Wayans is great in it. If you like Die Hard, then you’ll love The Last Boy Scout.