Dennis Haysbert

  • Battledogs (2013)

    Battledogs (2013)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (In French, On Cable TV, April 2021) I’m at a point where even seeing “The Asylum presents” in the opening credits of a film can be enough to make me think about shutting it off and watching something else. But the remote was too far away and I was doing something else and what was the worst that could happen, right? Well, as it turns out, Battledogs is still not a good movie… but it’s not as bad as what I was expecting. This tale of werewolves/zombies/monsters/whatever running rampant over Manhattan is executed with more skill than I expected from yet another made-for-Syfy production. There are a few known names in the production (Dennis Haysbert, Ernie Hudson, Ariana Richards and Wes Studi), but the film’s most distinguishing characteristic is the energy in which it executes its rote plotting of monster attacks and military super-soldier nonsense. Its quantity-over-quality approach to special effects is defensible (how else are you going to get an exploding helicopter on a budget?), and the actors don’t do too badly. There’s even something that looks suspiciously like non-CGI effects here. But please understand that I’m grading on a curve here, and even saying something like “this isn’t the worst Asylum/Syfy film I’ve even seen” is far from being an absolute compliment. Still, we all rate films according to expectations, and mine were exceeded in watching Battledogs.

  • Major League (1989)

    Major League (1989)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On TV, March 2020) There is nothing new in Major League, and that’s probably what explains its charm. Yet another baseball underdog comedy, this one features a calculating team owner who deliberately sets out to put together the worst players she can find in order to have an excuse to move the team to another city. This naturally strong comic premise leads to a collection of supporting oddballs and lead characters with overblown problems. The decision to go for an R rating allows the film to distinguish itself with plenty of spicy language and risqué situations. Still, Major League would have been better had it featured even a few surprises: as it is, it’s an underdog sports comedy that ends like you’d expect it to end, with all characters have resolved their issues along the way. Added fun comes from spotting actors who would become even bigger stars later on: the then-ascendant Charlie Sheen is quite good as the bespectacled “Wild Thing,” while Wesley Snipes, Dennis Haysbert and Rene Russo have good early roles. The humour can be coarse at times but never too gross or off-putting, which does help a lot in making this an approachable R-rated comedy. Major League plays familiar riffs and still does it reasonably well, and sometimes that’s all a movie needs to win.