Released in 1993 this action movie was directed by Stephen Hopkins and written by Lewis Colick and Jere Cunningham. The cast included Emilio Estevez, Cuba Gooding Jr., Denis Leary, Stephen Dorff, Jeremy Piven and others.

Don't move, Don't whisper, Don't even breathe

Four friends are headed into "The City" to see a boxing match. Frank Wyatt (Emilio Estevez), Mike Peterson (Cuba Gooding Jr.), John Wyatt (Stephen Dorff), and Ray Cochran (Jeremy Piven) rent (or borrow, I don't remember which) an RV for their excursion. While on the way they get stuck in a traffic jam and will be late for the match if they don't find another way to get there. They take the first exit they see and end up in a seedy part of "The City." They witness a murder and the murderer (Denis Leary) doesn't want any witnesses so he comes after them.

The soundtrack is better than the movie. The movie is a typical action flick. Nothing to get too excited about.

People immediately associate action flick with bad movie, step into the movie theater/sit down on the couch, and watch it without looking deeper into it. In this movie's case, I must harp on that. The plot may leave a little to be desired, but the acting is quite decent if not tremendous in some scenes.

Dennis Leary plays an amazing villain in this movie. You watch it and wouldn't even think that he was a comedian. A particular scene that encapsulates his evil lunacy is set on the roof of one of the projects, when he tells Ray that Ray is the exact type of person he absolutely hates. The look of the devil in his eyes and a crooked grin filled with smoke stained teeth even makes you wonder whether Dennis has played this part before... for real.

Steven Dorff plays the adorable high school graduate with zig zags in his pocket. As a soulful newbie thrust into the 'real world' he agonizes over other people's misfortune. Definately a keeper.
Not all of the acting is stellar. Though it may just have been his written role, Cuba was a little hard to stomach after a while. His wild eyed stares, exaggerated expressions and sudden mood swings in the face of fear are jarring and stink of overacting.

Major props go to the attention to detail the screenwriters had. The setting is just as recognizable to us south siders as beverly hills 90210 was to people living there. Little things everywhere enrich each scene, like the afore mentioned zig zags.
Factually, the movie has it's ups and downs as well:
The setting for the movie is pretty realistic. It's set in the near south side of Chicago, if you're familiar with it, think: a few blocks west of the river, south of maxwell street and north of chinatown. However, the percentage of non-black people living in the projects in the third action sequence is flabbergasting. Obviously it was a decision aimed toward political correctness, yet with the movie already having so many setting specific plot lines (the rail yard, the sequence in Cullerton Market, etc), this surprised me.

Overall it's a great movie; a must see if only for that Dennis Leary scene. Its soundtrack is well chosen, especially for its mixture of intelligent hiphop and hardcore. And fred durst thought he was anything CLOSE to innovative.

However, being the early nineties, it's message is pretty destructive to any sort of white reeducation:
Suburbanites, DON'T GET OFF THE EXPRESSWAY.

"Judgment Night" is the tenth episode of The Twilight Zone. It was first broadcast in December of 1959 and starred Nehemiah Persoff as Carl Lancer. It also featured a number of other actors in supporting roles.

The opening narration establishes that we are a on a passenger ship going from Liverpool to the United States of America in 1942. The ship has lost its convoy, and everyone involved is a little nervous since there are U-Boats on the prowl. In the salon, the passengers are meeting each other, but Carl Lancer seems to have a hard time interacting with the other passengers. He can't remember much about his life, only that he was born in Frankfurt. Since that is a city in Germany, it is unclear how he got on an allied passenger ship. He also seems to know exact details of how U-Boats operate. At this point, it probably occurs to the viewer (and to my readers) what direction this might be going in.

The episode is somewhat predictable, but it is saved by the dark, foggy mood it projects. The acting is also good, although it does blur into the realm of scenery chewing. One disappointment about the episode is that while it looked like it might have some character interaction in the first few minutes, it quickly turned into a one-man show, much like the previous two episodes. An added bonus to this episode for me was that Nehemiah Persoff, the actor who plays Carl Lanser, is Jewish.

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