James-Belushi Movie Reviews

If you are not a Saterday Night Live fanatic, you might what to give this one a pass. Truly only for collectors.

Eddie Murphy's best character skecthes performed on Saturday Night Live television history in the eighties was his "Mister Robinson's Neighbourhood", "James Brown", "Stevie Wonder", "Buckwheat" and serial killer assassin "John David Stubbs". Are simply the best over it's top to a funny comedian like Murphy himself!

That Dutch person must not understand American comedy. This video is a must for anybody whom Eddie Murphy ever made laugh. This is a wonderful set of Saturday Night Live sketches by one of the greatest comedic geniuses ever to grace SNLs stage. I wish they had more of the Buckwheat sketches, but they do have my favorite of all time: Mr. White. This makes the whole video worth buying.

Isn't Mr Guy receiving more than his fair share of attention these days ? This is a fine sample of what a young director can do with a copy of Adobe Premiere and a good PC ! Don't get me wrong, the music is TERRIFIC, sound is above average (it's recorded live at Legends, Guy's Club), the band is first class... Picture quality is OK, I guess, with 3-4 cameras buzzing around the place (a lot of angles, good thing) and a mediocre sepia-toning thing over the whole video, except -here comes! - the TERRIBLE cutscenes where your good frined Buddy Guy gets all-down-home-homey and warm, and starts telling stories of the past, his first cigar-box-guitar, the first time he met the blues, and, guess what ? ALL CUTSCENES are over solos! First song, first solo, Buddy breaks a string, everybody's laughing, oops.. a cutscene, solo in the back, picture comes back to the club after solo ends ! Poor editing? Buddy's tendency for overexposure ? Buy this tape for the music, and JUST LISTEN to it, no need to watch it (that is, if you're not fed up with his Royal Bluesness already)

Buddy Guy plays very good on this video, as well the Saturday Night Live Band. What stands out in this film is the footage of the old Chicago Blues Clubs that have been closed down and their present day look. Buddy gives informative background on the old days, his perspective on the Blues and the role he's had. Playing in a small club you get limited camera angles, so I saw better footage of Buddy Guy at the Muddy Waters tribute on PBS. It's still worth the purchase though because he's playing more straight Blues, keeping the "Hendrix Style" to a minimum.

I have been to Buddy Guy's Legends nightclub in Chicago and this video captures Buddy at his best jammin with GE Smith and the SNL band in Legend's itself...excellent direction with interviews with Buddy telling about the early days of the Chicago Blues scene...sound is excellent and I truly enjoyed watching Buddy and GE trade blues guitars licks...a must see video...

Following an arrest for drunk and disorderly conduct, schoolteacher Belushi is transferred to the worst school in the district and designated the new principal. Except for some halfhearted support from some of the faculty and a few students, he's all on his own. That sets the tone of the story, because most of the student body is out to get him. Louis Gossett Jr. is solid as the school security guard, and so is Rae Dawn Chong as a teacher that Belushi is able to make headway with. The fine performances and some gripping tension lift this above some of the other "violent youthgang" movies.

In this wonderful reworking of Hawks' Rio Bravo, Belushi takes on both the role of the sheriff and of the drunk. This is the best of all of the 1980s faculty vs. evil student movies. Belushi towers in this film, giving a wondeful leading man performance which should have forever brought him out from under his brother's shadow. The film, like a lot of Hawks films, has the main characters trapped in a building and having to fight their ways out. Morales, Gosset and Rae Dawn give strong support. Though director's Cain's Young Guns was his most popular film on the decade, this was clearly his best.

Jim Belushi shines in this film. Lou Gossett and Rae Dawn Chong are strong as well. This film does bring together elements of drama, suspense, and comedy together very well. The drama of trying to reach out to the kids in the school. The suspense that hangs continually because of the threat of violent drug dealing students. The comedy comes from Belushi trying to put up with it all and make change happen. A worthwhile film and is worth checking out.

My 3 1/2 yr old has watched this over and over. She loves Tom the Piper's son, and Mary (of little lamb fame). She also loves the music. The bad guys are not too scary for a three year old (at least not mine).

My 2 1/2 yr old daughter LOVES this movie. She watched it so often at grandmas it broke. I found another copy and shes happy again. She likes Humpty Dumpty the best and the goblins also.... Thanks!!

I don't know much about this I haven't watched it all , I wasn't too interested in it, but Mr.Bill is a putty figure that keeps on getting killed in many ways and Toonces is some cat that likes to drive around and stuff. Sorry I couldn't give you enough info , this didn't really catch my attention.

This is a hilarious 2 VHS set, featuring two of Saturday Night Live's best charachters, MR. BILL and TOONCES. The first tape features 19 great Mr. Bill skits, along with all of Mr. Bill's buddies, including Spot, Sluggo, Miss Sally, and of course, Mr. Hands. The second tape (my favorite) features Toonces (The Cat who Could Drive a Car). There are some great guests on the Toonces tape, including Steve Martin, Randy Quaid, George Wendy, Griffin Dunne, Karen Allen, Linda Hamilton, and SNL regulars like Dana Carvey, Phil Hartman, Julia Sweeney, and Victoria Jackson.

An Italian-American politician, running for NYC mayor, decides to support the legalization of drugs to increase his chances of winning the election. This politician (Belushi) and his new wife (Rogers) strategically choose Palermo, Sicily as the site of their honeymoon, in hopes of impressing voters. The candidate aimed to appear as a man who valued his family's roots in Sicily. Initially, his platform, marraige, and choice of Palermo as a honeymoon site improve his voter support. However, this brave candidate meets a strong force in Palermo - The Mafia - ready to destroy his legalization platform. The Mafia, which can not afford to lose control over the drug market, cleverly places him in a compromising position, forcing him to either drop his support for legalization or face serious consequences. Rosi clearly makes his point that Palermo is at risk of losing its beautiful history, because people today only think of the mafia when the city's name is uttered. Unfortunately, Philippe Noiret (Cinema Paradiso and Il Postino) only makes a cameo appearance. Rosi had good intentions in making this film, but poor acting performances by Belushi, Rogers, and several others injured his effort. Rosi has directed several masterpieces, but this is not one of them. I seriously recommend The Truce (1997), Three Brothers (1983), and Christ Stopped at Eboli (1979).

I liked this movie! It turned me into a James Belushi fan!

I love stuff like this, quirky Altman-esque comedy-dramas with huge casts, and this did not disappoint. For a film that was almost entirely improvised, "Parallel Lives" chugs along quite smoothly. Standouts in the cast are Liza Minnelli (who deserved an Emmy nomination), Lindsay Crouse, Dudley Moore and Ally Sheedy.

We liked the interaction of the actors, and the story line--but mostly, we loved the song of the movie, also entitled, Parellel Lives. Don't know why they didn't release the song as a single. We had searched for it, but guess no one ever recorded it. What a shame!

I was fortunate enough to see this in the wrong order. Let me explain, i saw the movie first and then saw this. The movie was ok but when i saw this after it blew it away. It is very very funny. The ones w/ steve martin are the best. Suggested for a fan of the movie or snl remember, this was when the show was groundbreaking.

When I watch this video, I get flashbacks of my life during that time. The tape features Tom Hanks when he was just another actor in silly movies, PeeWee Herman, Penn and Teller, and the president's son (no, not Dubya!).
Cameos of audience members, a "Back to the Future" spoof, a yuppie-slamming commercial parody, a Hall and Oates impersonation, etc., all show that 1985 was (and is) the most totally "eighties" year.

My only complaint is that Sam Kinnison made numerous appearences on SNL during this season, but none of those were included on this tape.

I never saw these origanally air but when I did I couldn't stop laughing. I thought the new ones were all right but wow. I wish this video had more skits but besides that it is great.