**_The fast and the furious on the beaches of Southern California_** A young FBI agent (Keanu Reeves) is sent by his superior (Gary Busey) to investigate a surfer gang to find out if they’re a notorious group of bank robbers. Patrick Swayze plays the guru-like leader of the gang while Lori Petty is on hand as a surfer companion. John C. McGinley appears as the FBI chief. "Point Break" (1991) is an action/crime thriller set mostly on the beaches of SoCal that obviously influenced "The Fast and the Furious" (2001) plot-wise. This is the better movie due to Swayze’s charismatic character and the interesting dynamic between Utah (Reeves) and Bodhi (Swayze), not to mention the relationship of Utah and Pappas (Busey) as well as Utah and Tyler (Lori). So, while this is a snappy, action-packed flick, it doesn’t forget to provide human interest. In some ways it’s even great with certain seeming plot holes easily explained if you think about it; others maybe not so much. Since it was made in 1990 it has an 80’s vibe (in a good way) with a pre-grunge soundtrack. Nirvana’s NEVERMIND wouldn’t debut until 2.5 months after its release. The film runs 2 hours, 2 minutes, and was shot mostly in greater Los Angeles (Malibu, Culver City, Santa Monica, Redondo Beach, Manhattan Beach and Venice). The surfing scenes were done in O'ahu, Hawaii; the skydiving scenes at Lake Powell, Utah; and the closing Australian sequence at Cannon Beach, Oregon. GRADE: B+
**Katherine Bigelow creates a beautiful complex action blockbuster with magnificent depth and chapters.** Wow. Just wow. Point Break is a deep character-driven film full of top-notch action, mind-blowing stunts, and incredible performances. These actors made you fall in love and deeply care about each character and moment in the film. Each actor's portrayal was thoughtful, dedicated, outstanding, and worthy of much more acclaim and awards than received. This film transformed Keanu Reeves into an action hero, with Point Break only being the first of many 90s action movies he led, including Speed and The Matrix. Gary Busey nailed his mentor role as Agent Pappas. But the stand-out performance was Patrick Swayze as the cool and captivating Bodhi. His performance was shown brilliantly through his eyes, which said much more than any dialogue. Unfortunately, the real crime was Swayze didn't even get a nomination for this astonishing role. The complex relationship between Reeves and Swayze's characters as their friendship develops and their conflicting sides of the law is the focal point of the movie, providing an excellent foundation for the fantastic action sequences. Point Break is an incredible movie about friendship and justice, with skydiving action fight sequences, robbery heists, and chase scenes. Katherine Bigelow's film remains one of the greatest action and heist movies of the 90s and the inspiration for the Fast and the Furious franchise.
On this face of it, this ought to be rubbish... a testosterone-fuelled story of beautiful people who rob banks to fund their hedonistic lifestyle that largely revolves around anything that causes their adrenalin to rush, but it isn't rubbish. Kathryn Bigelow keeps the pace end-to-end, and both Keanu Reeves ("Johnny Utah") and Patrick Swayze ("Bohdi") are clearly having fun as the FBI agent pursuing the gang of rubber mask clad "ex-president" beach-bum robbers. Reeves is easy on the eye, but pretty wooden and sure, the plot has more holes than a string vest but the story isn't meant to be deep and meaningful. This is just a fun adventure escapade that sees our hero go surfing, sky-diving and the cinematographer is clearly in his element, too. The ending, though cluttered up with some lovey-dovey nonsense, is actually quite exhilarating as the pair seem to develop just a little bit of a bromance... It's an updated variation on the traditional cops 'n robbers affair that offers much by way of escapism on a wet, wintry evening and ought to be judged accordingly.
Behind prison walls, corruption, sex and power make criminals out of the guards and heroes out of the guarded. For more than a decade, the lawless guards inside a maximum security women's prison have reigned with impunity - rape, sex for money and illegal favors have become the norm until one woman decides to battle the system. Leading a group of inmates on a risky life-or-death struggle for justice, a ten year silence is finally broken, exposing the twisted truth to the world and enabling the prisoners the freedom to live without fear.
Samantha believes that her father murdered her mother. In her exhausting search for the truth about her young mother's untimely death 14 years earlier, Samantha receives help from beyond the grave.
A police chief in the war-torn streets of Los Angeles discovers that an extraterrestrial creature is hunting down residents - and that he is the next target.
After Silvia Broome, an interpreter at United Nations headquarters, overhears plans of an assassination, an American Secret Service agent is sent to investigate.
Jackie Brown is a flight attendant who gets caught in the middle of smuggling cash into the country for her gunrunner boss. When the cops try to use Jackie to get to her boss, she hatches a plan — with help from a bail bondsman — to keep the money for herself.
Slevin is mistakenly put in the middle of a personal war between the city’s biggest criminal bosses. Under constant watch, Slevin must try not to get killed by an infamous assassin and come up with an idea of how to get out of his current dilemma.
Advertising man Roger Thornhill is mistaken for a spy, triggering a deadly cross-country chase.
In the post-apocalyptic future, reigning tyrannical supercomputers teleport a cyborg assassin known as the "Terminator" back to 1984 to kill Sarah Connor, whose unborn son is destined to lead insurgents against 21st century mechanical hegemony. Meanwhile, the human-resistance movement dispatches a lone warrior to safeguard Sarah. Can he stop the virtually indestructible killing machine?
A young transgender man explores his gender identity and searches for love in rural Nebraska.
Arvid is an ordinary bank clerk who lives a rather unassuming life with his dear girlfriend. But his life is turned completely upside down when he bravely manages to avert a robbery against the bank where he works.
Leonard Shelby is tracking down the man who raped and murdered his wife. The difficulty of locating his wife's killer, however, is compounded by the fact that he suffers from a rare, untreatable form of short-term memory loss. Although he can recall details of life before his accident, Leonard cannot remember what happened fifteen minutes ago, where he's going, or why.