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Beverly Hills Detective: Axel F (15, 115 minutes)
Verdict: A nice nostalgic trip
Since the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the measure of a momentous world event is whether we can remember where we were when we heard the news.
For my generation, Diana’s death and 9/11 were the defining “JFK” moments.
Less dramatically, but just as clearly, I have the same memory of films. I can remember, in almost every case, which cinema I was in and who I was with when I first saw a major film.
For example, I went with my mother to the Palace in Southport in 1969 to see the double feature of Ring Of Bright Water and The Plank, which made me understand, in my childish way, the masterstroke of following an almost hysterical tearjerker with outrageous slapstick comedy.
And about 15 years later, with my girlfriend at the New Picture House in St. Andrews, I saw Beverly Hills Cop.
The latest installment of Beverly Hills Cop, starring Eddie Murphy as Axel Foley, is the fourth in the series, but the first in 30 years.
The film is an ideal platform for Murphy, a 63-year-old Foley, to demonstrate that, as self-assured as Foley is, he still commands the screen with that unrivaled ability to generate laughter and emotion at the same time.
Murphy stars alongside Taylour Paige as Jane Saunders, Foley’s estranged daughter.
From the beginning I loved its powerful mix of action and comedy, and of course the incongruity of the Detroit street detective played by Eddie Murphy, who operates in the pampered Beverly Hills.
But what I liked most was Murphy’s perfect performance in a leading role that was reportedly (and now almost unimaginably) offered to Sylvester Stallone, Harrison Ford and Mickey Rourke before him.
I’ve had a lasting affection for that film ever since, so I sat down to watch the sequels with some trepidation.
None of them have matched the original, and the same can be said of this latest Netflix effort, the fourth in the series but the first in 30 years.
And yet it is genuinely funny, and an ideal platform for Murphy, an eternal Axel Foley at 63, to demonstrate that, like himself, he continues to dominate the screen with that unrivalled ability to generate laughter and emotion at the same time.
At first, Foley continues to pursue criminals in downtown Detroit, but heads to Los Angeles when he learns that his estranged daughter, Jane (Taylour Paige), is in mortal danger.
Jane is a righteous young lawyer who vigorously defends a man who has been framed by a corrupt police officer for murder.
Naturally, he has stumbled upon a vast conspiracy that inevitably involves a drug cartel.
With the tense father-daughter dynamic as a subplot, this could all be tiresome, repetitive material, but in some ways the predictability is an advantage.
The narrative is very 80s, but that means we can sit back and enjoy the nostalgia trip.
The cast of this latest film also includes Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Detective Bobby Abbott and Bronson Pinchot as Serge
There is also a place for 1980s virtues, and indeed a place for several members of the original cast, including Paul Reiser and Judge Reinhold.
Overall, first-time director Mark Molloy shrewdly abides by Murphy’s Law: Give mischievous Axel enough funny lines (co-writer Will Beall is a former Los Angeles detective) and silly adventures (here involving a stolen helicopter, a golf cart and a 10-ton truck), and the show will keep going.
Kevin Bacon plays the main villain, who, admittedly, doesn’t need to do much more than smile goofily the whole time.
By the way, Murphy gets solid additional support from Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Jane’s ex-boyfriend, another uncommonly honest detective, and Kevin Bacon as the bad-guy boss, who, admittedly, doesn’t need to do much more than grin goofily all the time.
Still, it’s at least a nice change to see Bacon actually acting, rather than advertising mobile phone networks, Hyundai cars or recyclable paper clips.
I can’t be the only one of us who decided some time ago that whatever it is I’m selling, I’m going to try not to buy it.
Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F is on Netflix
MaXXXine (18, 104 mins) Verdict: Slasher pastiche
But in another twist on those six degrees of Kevin Bacon, he also appears in MaXXXine, ably playing a sleazy private detective in Ti West’s latest slasher horror film, starring British actress Mia Goth as Texan porn actress Maxine Minx.
Those who saw X (2022) and its prequel of the same year, Pearl, will know that Maxine, a survivor of the ‘Texas porn star massacre’, is desperate to be famous.
This third film, set in 1985, opens with an ominous quote from Bette Davis: “In this business, until you’re known as a monster, you’re not a star.”
Maxxxine, the latest slasher horror film from Ti West, stars British actress Mia Goth as Texan porn actress Maxine Minx with Elizabeth Debicki directing the film.
In a bleak Reagan-era Los Angeles, Maxine wants to get away from porn and is auditioning for a horror film called The Puritan II, which could bring her the stardom she craves and is directed by an imperious Brit played by Elizabeth Debicki.
Meanwhile, a Satanic serial killer known as the Night Stalker is on the loose, terrorizing young women.
With skill, and no small amount of mischief, West keeps these two threads intertwined, with repeated nods to Hollywood of the past, such as when Maxine puts out her cigarette on the sidewalk, a star dedicated to Theda Bara, the original vampire of silent cinema.
At times the film veers a little too close to what I suppose could be termed “horror pastiche”, and also features one of the most ridiculous “Yorkshire” accents you’ll ever hear, firmly putting the ha! in Harrogate, from Lily Collins as a horror film actress supposedly from the north of England.
Still, it’s imaginative and energetic, with an ’80s soundtrack that ends, nicely, with Kim Carnes’ hit, Bette Davis Eyes.
MaXXXine is now in theaters
50 years later, Gene Hackman at his best
The conversation (12A, 113 minutes)
Gene Hackman gave many wonderful performances in a glorious acting career, but his quietest, most introspective performance is, in my opinion, also his best.
The conversation It returns to theaters today, restored to celebrate its 50th anniversary.
If you’ve never seen Francis Ford Coppola’s brilliant psychological thriller on the big screen, seek it out.
Hackman is impressive as crack surveillance expert Harry Caul, a paranoid loner whose work makes him and, once he starts getting involved in the lives of those he spies on, destroys him as well.
Coppola wrote and directed, clearly influenced by the Watergate crisis that, just a few months after the film’s release, forced the resignation of President Richard Nixon.
The Conversation offers a fascinating insight into America at that time, as well as showcasing film acting at its finest, not just from Hackman but also from a supporting cast that includes John Cazale, Robert Duvall and, in an early role, Harrison Ford.
If you’ve never seen Francis Ford Coppola’s brilliant psychological thriller The Conversation on the big screen, seek it out.
The nature of love (15, 110 minutes)
Also worth checking out is The Nature of Love, a deeply engaging French-Canadian film about a philosophy professor who falls madly in love (and lust) with the laborer hired to renovate her lakeside home.
But can pure physical attraction replace the intellectual confrontation she has with her long-term partner, whom she leaves to continue their romance?
It’s a funny, smart and sexy movie.
Both films are now in theaters.
