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Reviews
The Bad News Bears Go to Japan (1978)
Was this the inspiration behind Lost In Translation?
After watching Lost In Translation and seeing Bill Murray's character awkwardly appear on a quirky Japanese TV show called 'Matthew's Best Hit TV', I couldn't help but be reminded of the Bad News Bears Go To Japan and the Bears appearance on a 70's Japanese variety show.
Both movies tried to show the quirky aspects of modern Japanese society, although the subplots in LIT were a bit more subtle than those of BNBGTJ. Think you can compare all movies made about Japanese society with LIT and come up with the same similarities? Two that come to mind, Mr. Baseball and Black Rain don't even come close. As strange as it may seem, LIT and BNBGTJ are more closely related than it would seem on the surface.
Bad Boys II (2003)
Was this a sequel to Bad Boys or Lethal Weapon?
Warning - May contain spoilers.
Watching this movie, I could have sworn I was watching a Lethal Weapon movie. You've got two cops who have been partners for a long time and act like a bickering married couple. One threatens to break the partnership while the two are chasing a bad guy. Bad guy makes it personal by kidnapping a loved one of one of the partners. The two partners chase after the bad guy and kill him to free the loved one. All the while, there is bad comedy but amazing stunts sprinkled throughout. Throw in an Italian-American actor named Joe (Pantoliano vs. Pesci) who has a whiny, annoying voice and the formula is complete.
I was really looking forward to Bad Boys II, since I had always wondered why it had taken so long to make a sequel to the first one, which I really enjoyed. The banter between Will Smith and Martin Lawrence wasn't as good this time and the comedy was way too contrived - "woosa" and humping rats. Very disappointing. Is it too late to make a sequel of Running Scared with Billy Crystal?
The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training (1977)
Best in the trilogy
Surprising as it sounds, I thought this movie was the best of the three. It was a combination sports movie, road movie, comedy and drama rolled into one. The sports part was obvious, as it is about the underdog Little League baseball team California Bears going to meet the mighty Texas Toros. The drama is in the subplot where star player and unofficial team leader Kelly Leak (Jackie Earle Haley) rejoins the team as a chance to see his estranged father (played nicely by William Devane) in Houston. The comedy was plenty as the kids were involved in many "adult situations". All parts were mixed together quite nicely and still featured the classical music that was in evidence in the first movie.