No Contest (1994)
It’s Die Hard…
at a Beauty Contest.
Is the main character an average Joe?
No she’s a kick boxing actress named Sharon, played by Shannon Tweed. At one point she’s even referred to as a “Bruce Lee with boobs”
Sidekick?
Robert Davi, with a limp leaving all the butt-kicking to Shannon. He gets to shoot couple of times though. Like Reginald VelJohnson in Die Hard he is her contact on the outside only he gets to kiss the main character.
Any personal problems?
She complains that her career is at a low. Other than that, nothing.
Is the lead character there by coincidence?
She is the host of the Galaxy contest, so no.
Are there any friends or family in danger?
Only the contestants, but Shannon does establish herself as sort of a mother-figure.
What’s at stake and why aren’t the authorities doing anything?
A huge fortune in diamonds and the lives of the contestants. The authorities are trying to do something but as always the building is sealed off from the inside. It doesn’t help that most of the policemen that actually manage to enter the building halfway in the movie almost all get shot in first sight.
Any charismatic villains?
Andrew Dice Clay as OZ leaves his stand-up shtick at home and tries to do his best Rickman. He succeeds partially. His main henchman is none other than Rowdy Roddy Piper as Ice. He gets put on it by Shannon so she can deliver that one liner. Another henchman worth mentioning is Keram Malicki-Sánchez as Cal who I at first mistook for a girl. A butch girl but nevertheless a girl. He’s some kind of poor-mans Ed Furlong in this movie. Considering the career of Furlong that’s not quite a compliment.
Is it any good?
It’s a movie starring Shannon Tweed, you do the math. What is strange is that Shannon does not once have a nude scene even though the script provides certain scenes where you would expect them.
It is watchable however but the low budget shines through everywhere. Strangely though even the producers realized Shannons name not being a metaphor for quality so the movie cover consists of Andrew Dice Clay and Robert Davi despite Shannon being the hero of the movie. That’s like putting Alan Rickman with Reginald VelJohnson on the cover of Die Hard. It actually got a sequel which was “Die Hard in an Art Gallery” with Lance Henriksen as the villain.
You can read my review of No Contest here.
They are planning a remake, I would go for Jensen Ackles, Jared Padalecki, Joe Manganiello, Milo Ventimiglia, Tom Welling, Chris Evans, Chris Pine, Chadwick Boseman, Anthony Mackie, Jeremy Runner, Derek Theler, or D.J. Cotrona as Gabe Walker; and Billy Zane, Kevin Spacey, Dominic Pace, Alec Baldwin, Gil Banks, Hugo Weaving, Robert Knepper, Brian Van Holt, Travis Fine, Skeet Ulrich, or Dash Mihok as Qualen.
I think there is a way to improve The Taking of Beverly Hills, like instead an undercover Fed helped crippled a militia group and imprisoned many members including their leader. But the leader’s brother and a few members of the group plant bombs all over Beverly Hills, and threaten to set them off if the leader is not released, and the undercover fed seeks out the bombs while his partners buy him time.
Blast is good, but it would be worthwhile to note that, Agent Lisa Reed (Vivica A. Fox) finds out that Michael Kittridge (Vinnie Jones) is actually a mercenary named Skyler Talbot and had killed the real Kittridge and stole his identity to throw off authorities.
I would like to see Christmas Rush. Anyone know where to find it?
There are some sites that list it as streamable, but I don’t know how legit they are. If you own an XBMC player I would advise you to look on that network.
What is an XBMC Player? I have never heard of one.
In most cases they are mediaplayers running Android. Because they run Android they can download an app named XBMC from Google’s Play Store. XBMC allows you to search and stream movies
Don’t forget the other scenarios like Terminal Rush, Interceptor, Crash Dive, Counter Measures, 12 Rounds: Reloaded, 12 Rounds: Lockdown, Project: Shadow Chaser, Command Performance, Demolition University, Cyberjack/Virtual Assassin, Final Voyage, and Air Rage.
For Speed 2: Cruise Control, it should have been Direct to Video, and not a sequel to Speed. The lead villain should have been a pirate instead of soft ware designer turned mad bomber trying to blow up a ship.
Every time I see “Air Force One” I remember that in the Tom Clancy novels, the character of Jack Ryan becomes president. This film could have been part of the saga starring Harrison Ford, if he had continued it.