Amazon.com

It's no wonder Caught Up only garnered haphazardtheatrical release in 1998. Director Darin Scott, who is credited with screenplaynods for Tales from the Hood and Sprung, tosses everything--including the kitchen sink--into this noir rip-off that borrows liberally from Chinatown and Bound but lacks the intelligent gravity and grace of thefirst classic or the stylish, tongue-in-cheek fun of the second. StarringBokeem Woodbine as Darryl, an ex-con who wants to go straight but who keeps findinghimself in unlucky circumstances, Caught Up has laughable dialogue andterrible bug-eyed over-emoting that tries to pass for acting, and wastes the laconicbeauty of One False Move costar Cynda Williams, as a femme fatale named Vanessa Dietrich (honest!). Vanessa wraps Darryl around her little finger and embroils him in a voodoo-esque drug plot that will have the viewer rolling onthe floor in disbelief. Had Caught Up played its convoluted plot forlaughs, it may have at least been a camp parody on the genre, but as it is, it doesn't avoid a single cinematic cliché. Caught Up is a goofy mess of contradictions and implausibility. --Paula Nechak ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Must By As Cynda Williams is from my Hometown
I thought it was a very very good suspenseful movie that was a bit biazarre at times but still a good watch. I am very proud of Cynda's performance and, I am amazed at her rapid growth as an actress. Good Flick...........

A REALLY HORRIBLE MOVIE
This might be the most terrible movie ever made. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.

EXTRAORDINARY SUSPENSE AND THRILLS!!!
It is truly amazing how someone can be 'Caught Up' in someone else's stupidity and Woodine should have realized that after getting out of prison. But instead, he continues to be caught up in lust, love and money. This was a GREAT movie all the way through. Rent it, buy it, just see it!!!!

Excellent film-noir!
This one is a film lovers treat! Hip updating of classic film-noir for a modern urban audience, with a sly comic undertone. Cinematically illiterate types will find it flying over their heads, but if you've seen more than a couple of noirs, or if you like mystery and suspense, it's a real winner!

If you like wasting your time...
Then this movie is for you! I rented this movie hoping to see entertaining performances from Tony Todd, Bokeem Woodbine, and Michael Duncan (Bear from Armageddon) and my god, did I regret it! Tony Todd has a limited role, Woodbine can't carry a movie as a lead, and Duncan was in the movie oh, about...1 second! Very disappointed with this one!! ... Read more

Reviews (6)

best music possible
ok first off great acting but the music was banging i would love to get a hold of the soundtrack if its possible the song when he comes out as cyberstorm for the fist time i love that song anyone knows how holla at me

Everything I ever had to say about this movie...
I give this movie 3 out of 5. One for the Utah Saints, one for being accidentally humorous during the more crucial plot points, and one for the exquisitely lovely and multi-talented Scott Cohen (best known at the time of this review from his recent breakout role as Wolf in the NBC miniseries "The Tenth Kingdom" and as hyper-verbal bad penny Detective Harry Denby on ABC's "NYPD Blue"). Although it's obvious that nobody in the movie is particularly comfortable with the techno genre, Mr. Cohen's "young and strong and perverted... and everything that makes a young man a star" performance as the artiste-ic Simeon makes the whole movie worth watching... or at least the parts with him in it. The remainder of the cast, with the exception of Faye Grant (Zena, the landlady) and, to a lesser exception, David Burke (Geek, Simeon's best bud and resident techie) give performances worthy of a "The Producers" style extraplot. It does appear very much as if someone wanted to see Christina Applegate make out with a freak of nature and wrote a movie about her doing just that.

The only reason to even bother with this movie is if you are 1) really *really* into Christina Applegate (although even so, I don't recommend it, because this movie heavily reinforced my desire to see her struck repeatedly in the mouth with a large, solid object). She attempts to play off as an ethereal earth child and ends up spewing every stereotype imaginable about hippies and flower children. ("Utopia is just around the corner." - Puh leeze.),

or 2) you're really *really* into Scott Cohen. This is a seminal work and for that alone, it's interesting. Comparing Simeon (first big thing) to Wolf (latest big thing), it's amazing to see the versatility *within* stability that this man is able to project. There's no "rough around the edges" or "wet behind the ears" to this person. It's absolutely breathtaking to see someone who knew he was a star from the moment his feet hit the ground. In a Hollywood world of stuttering egos, one hit wonders, and faltering pedagoguery, Mr. Cohen truly stands out as an Actor, an Artist, and a Talent (capitalization very much *intended*).

That is, if you can force yourself to sit through the rest of the movie.

Once again, Scott prevails
Okay- to sum it up, the movie wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. The music was good even though I'm not into techno, and the acting could have been worse. I agree wiht Suz's review for the most part (I know her from her site and an e-group) and I think she basiclly said everything I wanted to. Anamika is almost ignorant in the ways of karma, exploration, self-exspression and anything else that has to do with that. I myself am into metapsychics, and think that they should have backed off when it got there. Thankfully though, they didn't focus on it. James Marshall was interestingly good as T.J. BUT the hands he used were obviously fake and you could tell during the rather stupid rave scene it was either not him or he just put metal plates on his hands. Simeon's character was funny;he had the best lines and the most rave-ish attitude, but Scott looked somehow out of place in this movie. (For those of you who don't know, Scott is Scott Cohen, my fave actor who was in 'Gia' '10th Kingdom' and playes Dec. Denby on 'NYPD Blue.' -It's a guest role.-) If anything, Scott is the most likeable character, and is in the best scenes. If you see this movie, do it for Scott or to laugh during the whole thing because even at 2 am, this movie sucked worst then a high school drama club, 2 week rehersal play.

A very mixed bag - but worth the effort for one thing
This film can best be summed up with a simple two-word phrase:

Nice try.

Allow me to explain.

SPOILERS AHEAD! IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW, DON'T READ!

TJ (James Marshall) is on his way to becoming a well-established and well-known musician, his specialties being the keyboard and the guitar. He and his band have begun to get the recognition they have worked so hard for, and the future looks bright.

Viewers note: when the future starts to look bright or in the smallest bit rosy, you can guarantee something bad is about to happen.

Something bad happens.

Bet you didn't see that coming.

Late for a performance after canoodling with his girlfriend (Paige Turco, later to turn up on 'American Gothic' and 'NYPD Blue'), he unfortunately gets involved in an incident with a gang of thugs that ends up with TJ losing both his hands.

Needless to say, TJ is incredibly upset, not knowing how to go on without being able to express his 'talents'. After his girlfriend freezes up when he touches her with his new artificial hands, he leaves home.

Finding himself in the city he lives on the streets, spending most of his time drunk and trying to clean car windows.

One afternoon he crawls into a building and snoozes, until loud music wakes him. It seems that at night the building turns into the setting for a rave, and TJ has found himself smack bang in the middle of one.

Enter Anamika (Christina Applegate). Her real name is Marie or something, but I guess Anamika is easier to say...

Seeing TJ is clearly not sure of what's going on, she leads him outside to get some air...eventually, through a whole pile of incidents I'm not going to get into (yes, it was boring and tedious and this review will end up the same way), he moves in with her so he can dry out and no longer be dependant on alcohol.

It's here where we meet the people who live in the same building as Anamika:

Zina (Faye Grant): The landlady, who despite - or because of - her defensiveness, seems to have a thing for Simeon. Also has a thing for metal and performance art.

Geek/Leonard (some guy): A geek - computer whiz, technological whiz, glasses, always wears a white shirt. A computing cliché.

Simeon (Scott Cohen, who incidentally also turns up on NYPD Blue before this film as one character, and after it as another, but is best known as Wolf from 'The 10th Kingdom'): The ladies man with a heart of gold. A new girl every day but that's why they love him ("He's a tramp, but they love him..."), and he protects and sticks up for his friends.

I describe this at the top as 'worth the effort for one thing'; Scott Cohen is the one thing.

For all the films good intentions - the fact that life is worth living after disability, true love can happen anywhere - there's an itty, bitty, little problem.

It sucks.

If James Marshall gets any less expressive, he'll fall into a coma. His hairdo is straight out of the 80's (even after he has it cut). The metal hands made for him are so OBVIOUSLY too big and clumsy for him to play the keyboard with the required accuracy.

Christina Applegate's character believes in karma, in spirituality - that's fine. But I know people who also believe in those things and not a single one of them speaks the way she does - as if her head were stuck up something unpleasant because she's so full of herself.

But it's not all bad news.

The actor who plays Geek is actually quite good, as is TJ's girlfriend, effectively showing her unintentional reaction to his hands. Faye Grant is great as Zina, and then, of course, we come to Mr Scott Cohen.

Ah, thank heavens. I make no secret of my admiration for Mr Cohen's work, and I'll continue to make it no secret right now.

Simeon is...probably best described as an intelligent Joey from 'Friends'. Or, a ruder version of Wolf from 'The 10th Kingdom'.

In fact, Simeon is startlingly close in characterisation to Wolf. Energetic, enthusiastic, acting on his impulses as often as he can, but also fiercely protective of those he loves.

The big difference? Wolf is saving himself for the right woman. Simeon finds the right woman - or more - every day.

Personally, I think the right woman for Simeon would be Zina. The chemistry and dialogue between them is terrific, and that goodbye kiss was very revealing.

Not that I spend that much time thinking about it.

Really.

Or it could just be that I'm an obsessive compulsive with a Scott Cohen fixation.

Either way, he's the reason the film gets three stars. I do want to give it five, but the bulk of it just drags the score right down.

Piece of advice: just watch Simeon's scenes. Cute, charming, funny, best lines, nice guy. If you do decide to watch the whole thing, watch it with a group of friends and make fun of it. Believe me, it's VERY entertaining.

Rounding up...let's return to the beginning...nice try, but as they say, no cigar.

And I'm convinced that absolutely no one involved with the movie has EVER been to a rave. But what do I know?

Vibrations w/Christina Applegate
I seen this movie on Showtime and it blew me away. Christina Applegate is really underrated as an actress. She gives a phenomenol performance. The story line is fantastic and it's a movie that makes you think about life and your place in it. I highly recommend it and I hope it comes out on VHS again or DVD to buy. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Science Fiction with a BRAIN!
The best thing about this flick is that it does not insult the audience. We are told enough to be both scared and fascinated by the alien, but we are not really told HOW to feel. Instead, we experience things that excite feelings and thoughts without taking away our involved choices. Most movies like this are insulting: The alien is presented as EVIL or MISUNDERSTOOD or some such silly generalization. This alien is REALLY COOL: intricate, unique, intelligent and just plain amazing. It is also morally neutral as a grizzly bear. It wants to survive and so on. This is so refreshing given all the insipid, canned monster-moralizing to which we are usually subjected. A sequel would be nice if it extends this film with integrity like the Alien sequels have done.

LIFEFORM: An Invasion Works Both Ways
LIFEFORM is one of the best if not underappreciated alien attacks earth movies ever filmed. Director Mark Baker has borrowed liberally from THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN, ALIEN, and other films that have as its basis the theme of a hostile, mobile, and agile alien creature in deadly competition with human beings. Most of the actors, with the exception of Cotter Smith and Ryan Phillipe, are unknown, yet the acting is of a uniformly high level. The fears of both scientist and inexperienced soldier are palpable. What the creature feels is by implication more directed and except for a brief expression of what looks like happiness on its alien face at the end, it goes about its business of survival in a way that punctuates an earlier claim by one of the scientists that it was preprogrammed on a DNA level to survive even in a hostile environment like the earth.

The plot involves a Mars exploratory craft that returns to earth carrying an incubated life form that soon hatches to carry out some undetermined purpose. What this purpose is the creature does not make clear. At one time is is a brutally effective killer, but at another time it confronts the female lead in a scene that brings to mind Sigourney Weaver's face to face encounter with her own alien, and in both cases, the creature allows the woman to survive. Much of the film deals with the standard 'let's kill it first' theme that we first saw directed against James Arness as the plantman in THE THING (1951). In this case, the claim by the scientists that we should understand what we face before resorting to violence does not ring as hysterical pacificism as it did in THE THING. What this film makes clear is that when humanity ever does confront an alien life form, either right here on earth or up there on another world, we had better look carefully at what we are pointing our weapons at before we pull the trigger.

wonderful film !!
when I first rented this, I think about two years ago, I instantly fell in love with it. It had all the elements of a Hollywood movie: intellegent script, great acting, and exellent special effects.

The story: A viking lander sent to mars quarter century ago, misteriously lands in the mojiave dessert and a Alien lifeform escapes from it, only to end up in a military base. Like "metamorphosis: the alien factor" (1993), "The Gate" (1986), and "endless descent" (1989), this is another great movie that, for some reason, Has not yet gotten a DVD release (even though it should have, by now) This definitly made my top ten list. a must have.

Lifeform
I was very impressed with Mark H Baker's writing and his use of the mystery creature. You never hear the Lifeform and it never speaks. I like the indescribable behavior including it's dual electronic software form and it's mobile form. I am sure you can't kill it because it also exists as computer impulses. It easily infiltrates the humans, but we are not sure if it is benign or malignant. We must have the sequel. WE MUST HAVE THE SEQUEL!!

Pretty Cool
I first saw part of this movie on the Sci-Fi Channel and was totally interested in seeing the whole thing. I watched the movie a second time when it came on the Sci-Fi Channel and was happy with the whole movie. This movie is a little slow at first, but if you take the time to watch the whole thing and enjoy it for what it is worth, then I am sure you will like it. ... Read more

Amazon.com

It's no wonder Caught Up only garnered haphazardtheatrical release in 1998. Director Darin Scott, who is credited with screenplaynods for Tales from the Hood and Sprung, tosses everything--including the kitchen sink--into this noir rip-off that borrows liberally from Chinatown and Bound but lacks the intelligent gravity and grace of thefirst classic or the stylish, tongue-in-cheek fun of the second. StarringBokeem Woodbine as Darryl, an ex-con who wants to go straight but who keeps findinghimself in unlucky circumstances, Caught Up has laughable dialogue andterrible bug-eyed over-emoting that tries to pass for acting, and wastes the laconicbeauty of One False Move costar Cynda Williams, as a femme fatale named Vanessa Dietrich (honest!). Vanessa wraps Darryl around her little finger and embroils him in a voodoo-esque drug plot that will have the viewer rolling onthe floor in disbelief. Had Caught Up played its convoluted plot forlaughs, it may have at least been a camp parody on the genre, but as it is, it doesn't avoid a single cinematic cliché. Caught Up is a goofy mess of contradictions and implausibility. --Paula Nechak ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Must By As Cynda Williams is from my Hometown
I thought it was a very very good suspenseful movie that was a bit biazarre at times but still a good watch. I am very proud of Cynda's performance and, I am amazed at her rapid growth as an actress. Good Flick...........

A REALLY HORRIBLE MOVIE
This might be the most terrible movie ever made. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.

EXTRAORDINARY SUSPENSE AND THRILLS!!!
It is truly amazing how someone can be 'Caught Up' in someone else's stupidity and Woodine should have realized that after getting out of prison. But instead, he continues to be caught up in lust, love and money. This was a GREAT movie all the way through. Rent it, buy it, just see it!!!!

Excellent film-noir!
This one is a film lovers treat! Hip updating of classic film-noir for a modern urban audience, with a sly comic undertone. Cinematically illiterate types will find it flying over their heads, but if you've seen more than a couple of noirs, or if you like mystery and suspense, it's a real winner!

If you like wasting your time...
Then this movie is for you! I rented this movie hoping to see entertaining performances from Tony Todd, Bokeem Woodbine, and Michael Duncan (Bear from Armageddon) and my god, did I regret it! Tony Todd has a limited role, Woodbine can't carry a movie as a lead, and Duncan was in the movie oh, about...1 second! Very disappointed with this one!! ... Read more