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Reviews
Silk Degrees (1994)
A cop/buddy movie. No Oscar performance but still fun.
I admit that this is not the best film of the month that I have watched. However, this isn't to bad of a show. Mark Hamill from Star Wars and Marc Singer from V the miniseries and the Beastmaster saga are a couple of federal agents who get assigned to protect a beautiful witness from a man who wants her dead. Its got it all, chase scenes, light T&A, witty banter between the male leads and a charming performance by Deborah Shelton, the films heroine. This is a tale of seduction, betrayal and murder. Give it a shot and you will not be disappointed.
WARNING! BEYOND THIS POINT LIES SPOILERS! Marc Singer and Mark Hamill are federal agents hot on the trail of international killer Degrillo (Michael Des Barret). The two agents are in the middle of a stakeout when their equipment accidentally receives a transmission from a nearby camera crew that is filming a TV show featuring the beautiful Alex Ramsey (Deborah Shelton). Gilbert Godfrey plays an irate director who is not happy with her creative input and just wants her to stop trying to be creative and just help him make a substandard television program that will be sandwiched between commercials. Unhappy with this situation she storms off to her trailer. Meanwhile, Degrillo finds the bug that has been placed in his room, he knows that his mistress has to have turned on him and our heroes race to save her. Cutting back to Alex as she sees the murder of the mistress and now becomes a witness to a crime that will finally be able to put this man away once and for all. When the agents report back to headquarters with their witness in hand, Marc Singer is dressed down for disobeying orders, and while the rest of the team is sent to catch the bad guy, they are tasked by their boss Schultz (Charles Napier) with protecting their witness until she can testify at trial.
Taking their witness to a remote cabin in the woods, the two agents do their best to keep Alex out of danger and out of view. This is not as easy as they hoped because she is very well known. Both the manager of the lodge and her newest employee, a buxom blond that instantly shows a serious interest in Mark Hamill, know her from her TV show where she plays a hard hitting female cop. An already difficult job is made harder with their charge not being happy with the setup of the room or the quality of the food.
Slowly, she does warm up to her protectors, as she realizes that this is not just another job to them, and that they are concerned with her safety and prove that no matter what they will do anything, even risking their lives to protect her.
END OF SPOILER!!!
Look, I could go on for another few paragraphs, but if I do, it will give away a lot of surprises that really make this movie unique and fun to watch. The point is its fun to watch, has a great cast of well known B+ list actors and actresses including Playboy Playmate of the month December 1987 and Playmate of the Year 1988 India Allen, look her up on IMDb for fun. Basically, this film has it all, a surprise ending, edgy content, the works. It is not an academy award winning piece and it is not meant to be. Its light entertainment and excels at being an agreeable way to pass the afternoon. Mark Hamill makes a great team with Marc Singer and everybody gets to have fun watching them do what they do best. So over all B+ for the film with A+ for what the leads did with what they had to work with. You may not want to see this film after reading all of the reviews. If you think you can make a better film, go do it. If you can't, or just want to have fun, then get a copy of this film and watch it. You won't be disappointed.
Time Runner (1993)
A low budget thrill ride with familiar faces. I liked it, not a bad way to pass the afternoon.
WARNING!!!! SPOILERS AHEAD!!!! Set in the near future of the year 2022, humanity's last hope lies with Captain Michael Raynor (Mark Hamill, the man who played Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars series) who is hurled through a time warp back to the year 1992. Scientists send Raynor back in time after the satellite he occupies is damaged and the woman he loves is killed in the alien attack. He ends up in the past, less than a day before he is born and learns that he has a chance to prevent the alien invasion from happening. Ruthlessly pursued by an agent belonging to a super-secret government organization, Raynor learns he can affect the future and, with the help of scientist Karen McDonald(Rae Dawn Chong), attempts to alert authorities to the upcoming alien threat.
Time Runner is in my opinion an unappreciated movie. It is true, I originally hunted down this movie because it had Mark Hamill in it. I am not saying that this film deserved an academy award, I won't even go so far as to say that it was Mark Hamill's best work. I will say that it is memorable, Mark Hamill kicks serious tale in this show, his deals with the trauma of time travel as only a disciplined and trained soldier of a terrible conflict can: he picks himself up and charges back into the fray to get the mission done. Not every sci-fi film will set a new standard like the "Robocop" series, and they do not have to, they just need to be entertaining, and this film really is.
It has a lot going for it. For starters there is a great soundtrack to the film, classic low budget 90's music that takes you to a war torn future. There is a great supporting cast. Mark Hamill is a believable lead, the rest of the cast are also realistic for the parts they play. I can see the humor in casting Brion James as the future president of the United States! I love Mark Hamill, in fact he's one of my all time favorite actors, sadly it did nothing to help his career. True, going back in time to save humanity has been done before. Still, this film does say that for what it had to work with it did the job nicely.
I will say that there are a few down points on the film. It is low budget, you can tell by the quality of the special effects that were used in the opening scenes. The lack of funding shows in other areas as well. The shootout scenes are not the best I have ever seen, but it beats the hell out of equally low budget action films like "The Substitute" series. Though the part about Michael Raynor trying to save himself as a baby has been done before, it was still done well. This film did not really do anything to forward Mark Hamill's, or the rest of the casts careers. Realistically, not every film will make a high mark on a performers resume. That does not mean that it did not have merit or that it was not worth mentioning or seeing. It is a "B" movie. But I give it a "B+".
There are better movies out there, this is true. However, as a dyed in the wool movie buff, I can also tell you there are a whole lot worse. This is one of those movies that you will remember seeing years from now, and though it may not land on your list of all time favorites, it will register as being a memorable film that you did not regret seeing. Anyone can say the film could have been better, lets see those people, what are they doing with their lives? Are they writing budget films in Hollywood too, or just posting inane blogs and waxing about what they could do if only they had the chance, or the courage, to try their own hand at writing.