Movie Review: Lethal Weapon (1987)

Lethal Weapon stars Mel Gibson and Danny Glover and in my mind, it's one of the most overlooked movies of the present time. Lethal Weapon is a buddy-cop movie from the 1980s. Not Police Academy, but something with really good character development. The film revolves around Danny Glover's character, trying to celebrate his birthday while also solving the murder of a porn-star. Mel Gibson's character, a suicidal rookie cop is partnered with Glover's role, and the two begin a very typical film bond. What I mean by that is that this movie has the typical personalities that one might encounter in a cop movie. One cop who's seen it all has been partnered with one who has seen nothing, but thinks he's seen everything. We see this in a wide range of movies: Beverly Hills Cop is a great example. Surprisingly, Se7en also had that dynamic between Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman. The two roles are frequently used because it allows for the two personalities to "bounce" off of each other. Which is the key to the excellent quality of this movie. These two roles are so well played by Danny Glover and Mel Gibson, that it creates for a fascinating on-screen character relationship between these two different characters. As they solve this crime, they're both warming up to each other and both of their characters....at the same time....arch. That's really hard to do and the best thing about it is that this film makes it look easy. Another reason that Lethal Weapon is also really interesting to watch, is because of the setting. This movie takes place during the Christmas holidays. Which makes the character archs even more likely. It's a christmas movie without being directly about christmas. It isn't even a subplot, it's a background. That's all it is. It's almost as if the bird in the background of your latest vacation photo speaks volumes to the pics of you. Overall, Lethal Weapon is a great movie because of the fact that the characters mirror each other and the fact that the archs are so carefully designed...not to mention awe-inspired cinematography. Three stars.

Q&A Part 2, and my 100th Post!

Welcome everybody! This here is my 100th post on Media World. Which makes this very special, indeed. Over the past few weeks, I have been thinking about what I might want to do for my 100th post. Originally, my idea was to review a classic film, one like Alien or The Godfather  or Goodfellas. However, then I got thinking and I really can't pick a movie to review for the big 100 because that would be giving one movie a whole lot of credit. Not that it's not good, but I feel like maybe that would've been a waste of what I did. So, I spent the last few weeks gathering questions which I will answer in yet another Question and Answer session. TBH, some of these questions really surprised me with how good and deep they were. So, this one's for you all.


1) When did you first begin reviewing movies?
I started Media World in November, 2014. But, as far as just reviewing movies, it may go back to when I was a younger kid. I always found movie critics to have one of the best jobs in the world because they get paid to go to theaters and watch films. It sounded like a fun, easy going, relaxing job. And at that time, I thought that I one day would experiment with film criticism. It was always a goal of mine, and Media World allowed me to have that. So, if you're looking for a specific age, then I would say maybe 8 or 9.

2) What initially interested you in film criticism?
Besides the job description which I just mentioned, I think what interests me is the power that movie critics have over the average-joe movie goer. If someone reads an article or a review that a film critic has composed, it may determine whether or not that person ever even sees the movie. It's such an important task and a lot of people (including myself) even though I'm a film critic, still go to other film reviewers to see if a movie is worthwhile to see.

3) Do you think it is essential to have violence in films today?
Essential, no. Violence is this thing that we have become so latched to in the movie industry. People oppose it, and yet there are some who are wildly entertained by it. It does concern me that people see violence in films and it actually effects their behavior. That's scary, and I think that issue is something that needs to be dealt with right away. Violence has always been a part of movies, since the early days of the 1940s, but today violence is often the only thing that drives the movie. If we look at The Godfather, there are some really violence- packed scenes, but there is also more of the scenes which contain dialogue and great acting. That's acceptable to me. Violence isn't good when used ever, but in a movie overuse is the killer. It locks us out of the film.

4) How did movies become your passion?
Great question for this purpose. Walt Disney is the movie maker that I cite as getting me interested in watching movies. When I was younger I loved Snow White, The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast. All of those were phenomenal animations and great films. I loved the original Star Wars movies when I was younger. Those brought me deeply into film because they were movies that explored science fiction while also remaining relatively realistic. Toy Story was one that I loved as a kid. That was a great movie that I still can enjoy today. I got slightly older, and I started seeing The Polar Express and The Princess Bride. Then towards middle school, I got really interested in horror movies. The Evil Dead was one I saw in seventh grade. Finally in high school, I saw a movie called Pulp Fiction. That movie changed by life. It was excellent. It was the first time that I really saw a movie as being a product of someone sitting "behind the scenes". I finally started analyzing and studying films, and here we are now.

5) Do you prefer to review older movies or newer movies?
It depends on what you define as a new movie or an old movie. From my experience, great cinema is buried within 20th century films. The 90s was a great period of movies because lots of influential cinema was arriving at that time. The Silence of the Lambs, Goodfellas, Good Will Hunting. Those are just some of them. I think each decade has its own gold. So...older films it is.

6) Name the seven dwarves
Off the top of my head: Sleepy, dopey, grumpy.....some others

7) How many horror movies have you reviewed? Do you intend to continue?
The exact number, I don't know. However, I really enjoy horror movies because they're often very short and they thrill at the same time. Critical reception, at least these days, for horror films are very weak because directors have really forgotten what it takes to make something scary. I'll continue because I know that I'll encounter more on the way.

8) What is your favorite movie?
Pulp Fiction, Goodfellas, The Graduate. Those are just some of them.

9) What is your favorite Michael Jackson song?
Yes, I'm a huge fan of MJ. It's very hard to pick a favorite song of his because all of his are close to perfection. However, one song that I will never tire of is Billie Jean. I like the song "One More Chance". Smooth Criminal is also great as well as The Girl Is Mine and Human Nature.