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Fresh and Exciting

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Trashy, brainless, and oh-so-80s action melodrama stars Stephen Lang ("Avatar", "Don't Breathe") as Joe, an American Indian & Vietnam veteran who runs a program to reform troubled youth. Five punks - Ruben (Michael Carmine), J.L. (John Cameron Mitchell), Carlos (Danny Quinn), Moss (Leon), and Dorcey (Al Shannon) - are dragged out to the Everglades and deposited there, where Joe teaches them survival instincts and teamwork. Once back in Miami, the gang is *somewhat* more mature, and they go up against vicious drug runners including Cream (Laurence Fishburne) and Nestor (James Remar).To be honest, "Band of the Hand" is a hard slog for a while, since it's hard to give a damn about our protagonists for an extended amount of time. (This IS an overlong movie.) But things improve as "Band of the Hand" progresses, and debuting feature director Paul Michael "Starsky" Glaser gives this production a certain amusing amount of 80s excess. It bears the mark of its executive producer, 'Miami Vice' creator Michael Mann. It's noisy, it's silly, it's violent in a sometimes cartoonish way, and it's got a hip soundtrack. The centerpiece of said soundtrack is a priceless, catchy rock ditty written and sung by Bob Dylan, with Tom Petty's band The Heartbreakers backing him up.The acting suits the material. Top billed Lang is fine in a low key portrayal. The young cast is lively, with a cute Lauren Holly playing Carlos' love interest. Remar is okay as our primary villain, and other familiar character actors like Paul Calderon, Bill Smitrovich, Michael Gregory, and an unbilled Martin Ferrero all turn up as well.This is a decent, fun movie overall, even if the script ain't so hot. As was said before, it goes on a bit too long, but for the most part, it's *not* boring.Seven out of 10.

1986 wasn't just responsible for the much stylish but less substance hit, Miami Vice. As a bonus, this cheesy delight, which had a one week release in Adelaide with only a one nightly session, hit the screens, then suddenly disappeared. It's poster and tagline were fascinating, and still today, looking back on this film, is one of the reasons, 86 was a great year for cheesy movies. BOTH is a good movie, very well directed, by Starsky and Hutch's, Paul Michael Glaser, who went onto to make on to make that unique Arnie pic, The Running Man. The premise is great, and in reality, it's something that actually should be operating with re offenders. Five juvies are taken out of jail, two of different races, going off at each other like savages, another one, a drug dealer who likes to dress good, caught in a sting operation, his girlfriend (a young unknown Lauren Holly) getting away, but coming back into the picture later. The other two are hard cases, unstable you might say, the youngest, only a kid, from an abusive childhood, who shot his old man. These five are taken out into the croc infested waters of the everglades, and dumped there, not the most appropriate place. They're met by a mentor, Joe (an always reliable acting talent, Stephen Lang) who teaches them the basics, how to survive and fend for themselves. They overcome many obstacles, the racist hating two, finally coming to a truce. This is the first half of the movie, that's slightly interrupted by the chief baddie, James Remar as a vicious drug lord Nestor, who's doing Nikki (Holly) and keeps real skeletons as trophies in his closets. He ever so nicely, orders Holly to go upstairs and take her clothes off, where back then, she was pretty hot looking. To the second, part of the film. Our juvie five, having passed the survival test, set up house, in Miami, giving a whole new revamp and colourful paint over. But remember they're here to do a job, which later becomes personal, but the band come through. I like movies with different premises, which is why I very much liked this. Mister Misters's 86 hit, Broken Wings, appears, but somehow doesn't work for a scene involving a squabble between Holly and Mr Slick dressed, juvie, boyfriend. It just didn't feel appropriate. But you can't fault the originality of the movie, where the strong performances of Remar and Lang, keep the film in check. This is one eighties flick, you must check out + a scene of Bikini clad Holly sunbathing on Nestor's boat, where he childs her on covering herself when black guys are around.

I first saw this film in the mid-eighties, when I was out of school on a snow day. I thought it was a great movie. So when I saw the opening credits pop up on the tv screen one day when I was channel surfing, I thought I would enjoy a nostalgic treat from my teen years. I got 15 minutes into it and realized that I must have had terrible taste in movies when I was 17, because this film was just flat out bad. I can still enjoy some of the other teen films from this era, i.e. "Breakfast Club", even if only for the nostalgic value, but not this turkey. It was just unwatchable.

This has to be one of the stupidest premises ever... Maybe this is a decent movie later on, but I wouldn't know. After about 15 minutes I had to change the channel because the entire concept of dropping five hardened juvenile delinquents off in the middle of the Everglades with only one guy to watch them is stupid beyond words! This wouldn't be legal for adult prisoners, much less teenagers. Also, they give the kids a knife! Since if any of the kids got so much as a snake bite they'd be sued for millions (even in the eighties), this just doesn't work. Cheesy B-movie horror flicks are more believable. If you can swallow the stupid premise, this one might be worth a look. Me, I give it a zero out of ten. Pure stupidity... not worth the waste of time.