At Long Last Love (1975)
Runtime: 118 minutes
Directed by: Peter Bogdanovich
Starring: Burt Reynolds, Cybill Shepherd, Madeline Kahn, Eileen Brennan, John Hillerman
From: 20th Century Fox
Imagine my surprise when Tuesday night I was looking through my cable guide and this film came up as being played at midnight on Fox Movie Channel. After all, this is a movie that got such a bad reception when it was released, it was never put out on VHS tape, let alone DVD. That’s it despite it being directed by a famous name and starring some famous people. Maybe it being a musical (yep, Burt and Cybill sing), it being a very “white” environment-I’m not talking about race; rather, most of the sets are that color-and the actors sing “live” on stage rather than lip-synching has something to do with that reputation, but I was glad to finally see this movie. I understand it was on Netflix earlier in the year, but I don’t use that crap.
This movie is just like one of those musicals from the 1930’s. The plot… well, it isn’t too important, believe me. It’s stringed together from a bunch of old Cole Porter songs, and it’s couples falling in and out of love, couple-swapping, and so on and so forth. It’s a lot of arguing going on too amongst all the singing, which you get a LOT of. As I heard someone once say, musicals would be a lot better if they didn’t have all that damn singing. I tend to agree with that; most things in that genre I don’t really care for. That sort of taints this review, but that’s just my opinion.
As for the movie, I didn’t care for any of the characters or their machinations, the songs weren’t terrible but it was clear as day Kahn was the only trained singer (hearing old Burt try to sing was pretty surreal, although I’ve heard the likes of Lee Marvin and Clint Eastwood try to warble a tune also), and I just thought the movie didn’t work. I wouldn’t say it was awful and deserving of getting pulled from its theatrical run and the director doing the rare thing and apologizing for his own movie; however, it’s not all that good and it’s best as a strange curio, a failed experiment from a famous director. I mean, casting the two leads to both sing AND dance when they aren’t too good at either task is asking for problems.
At least I can say that the film looks nice, from the sets to the photography (by famed cinematographer Laszlo Kovacs) and everything else. Hillerman (yeah, Higgins from Magnum P.I.) sings and romances Brennan, which is an interesting sight. It’s just that the too-long film has a threadbare plot and you don’t care about what happens; if you enjoy musicals you may enjoy it more, though. If you want to, you can watch it on YouTube.
I'll be back Wednesday night.
Friday, July 29, 2011
Thursday, July 28, 2011
I'll Be Back Friday Afternoon
Well, things happened and I did something on Wednesday night and plus I taped a movie Tuesday night that's so obscure, it never got a VHS release, let alone DVD; that is good enough for me to do a review, me thinks. I'll be back Friday afternoon, I promise.
Monday, July 25, 2011
Severance
Severance (2006)
Runtime: 96 minutes
Directed by: Christopher Smith
Starring: Laura Harris, Danny Dyer, Toby Stephens, Andy Nyman
From: HanWay Films
Here’s another horror film from Europe, which seems to be one of the few places where you can actually get at least a halfway decent film in the genre in recent years. This is also a movie that mixes scares and laughs pretty well, and isn’t grating or drags on forever; yes, I’m directing that potshot towards the movie known as Hatchet.
As for this movie, it seems to be quite a bit inspired by the few minute segment in the sixth Friday the 13th movie where Jason hacks up that company that is doing a team-building exercise in the woods and there’s a lot of humor involved. Here, it’s an English weapons company that is out in the woods on a team-building exercise, only it’s in Hungary (by the borders of both Serbia and Romania, according to a line of dialogue in the movie) and it’s a wacky group of people, from an American to a drug-using clown, a brown-noser type and an out of touch boss. They are on a bus off to a cabin when there’s arguing with the bus driver and they have to do a bit of walking to what they believe is their cabin. That’s when the fit hits the shan, so to speak, and they have to deal with a killer.
Much of the horror and carnage doesn’t come in the first half of the movie. Rather, it’s getting to know the characters and their various personalities. It’s done in a smart and entertaining way, for the most part. The laughs are actually worthy of giggle and it doesn’t drag. Once the second half starts up, you get to see some pretty dark humor, along with enough gruesome moments for the gorehounds. It also moves fast so it isn’t boring either. Oh, and whenever I hear the song Itchycoo Park (by The Small Faces) I’ll forever be reminded of this film.
I don’t want to give too much else away-as there are some surprises-but if you enjoy horror-comedy and want to see something that you haven’t checked out yet, you should track this down.
I'll be back Wednesday night with a new review.
Runtime: 96 minutes
Directed by: Christopher Smith
Starring: Laura Harris, Danny Dyer, Toby Stephens, Andy Nyman
From: HanWay Films
Here’s another horror film from Europe, which seems to be one of the few places where you can actually get at least a halfway decent film in the genre in recent years. This is also a movie that mixes scares and laughs pretty well, and isn’t grating or drags on forever; yes, I’m directing that potshot towards the movie known as Hatchet.
As for this movie, it seems to be quite a bit inspired by the few minute segment in the sixth Friday the 13th movie where Jason hacks up that company that is doing a team-building exercise in the woods and there’s a lot of humor involved. Here, it’s an English weapons company that is out in the woods on a team-building exercise, only it’s in Hungary (by the borders of both Serbia and Romania, according to a line of dialogue in the movie) and it’s a wacky group of people, from an American to a drug-using clown, a brown-noser type and an out of touch boss. They are on a bus off to a cabin when there’s arguing with the bus driver and they have to do a bit of walking to what they believe is their cabin. That’s when the fit hits the shan, so to speak, and they have to deal with a killer.
Much of the horror and carnage doesn’t come in the first half of the movie. Rather, it’s getting to know the characters and their various personalities. It’s done in a smart and entertaining way, for the most part. The laughs are actually worthy of giggle and it doesn’t drag. Once the second half starts up, you get to see some pretty dark humor, along with enough gruesome moments for the gorehounds. It also moves fast so it isn’t boring either. Oh, and whenever I hear the song Itchycoo Park (by The Small Faces) I’ll forever be reminded of this film.
I don’t want to give too much else away-as there are some surprises-but if you enjoy horror-comedy and want to see something that you haven’t checked out yet, you should track this down.
I'll be back Wednesday night with a new review.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Ticked-Off Trannies With Knives
Ticked-Off Trannies With Knives (2010)
Runtime: 90 minutes
Directed by: Israel Luna
Starring: Krystal Summers, Kelexis Davenport, William Belli, Tom Zembrod
From: La Luna Entertainment
Yes folks, this is a legit movie, and I legit watched this late Tuesday night on Showtime Beyond, not because I’m a fan of transsexuals or anything (I’m not!) but rather because the movie just sounds SO bizarre and out there someone has to recap it. It’s not any sort of porno but rather a revenge exploitation flick (a la Death Wish), except that this one happens to have a fantastic title and the heroes happen to be transsexuals.
Now, I’ve come across some recent movies with wacky titles, such as Run! Bitch! Run! or Nude Nuns With Big Guns. I haven’t seen those films but I understand they’re more about the great title than the actual film. With this, I will say that is not the case.
The plot is rather straightforward: a group of trannies meet up with some guys who turn out to be gay bashers, and they literally bash them, resulting in death. The “girls” (I’ll refer to them as girls, to make it simple) regroup and they get their revenge. But it’s more than that. I’ll provide some highlights:
* The opening part has a lot of dialogue, but to sum it up, a girl named Bubbles arrives at the club everyone works at with a black eye, due to being attacked by a redneck with long hair named Boner. Yes, that's the only name he gets called by. Bubbles also happens to be the tranny who looks most like a lady. The others... it's rather obvious they're dudes. Sassy and mouthy dudes, but dudes nonetheless.
* By the way, the characters in this movie have named like Pinky L'Trimm (a huge black person; think Divine), Rachel Slurr, Emma Grashun, Tipper Sommore, Doctor Laccio, Connie Lingus, and my favorite, Helluva Bottom-Carter.
* Two of the ladies get invited to hang out with a pair of Mexicans. Bubbles is asked to go, and after some arguing, she does. It turns out to be a warehouse. The two Mexicans and Boner set them up, as Boner hooked up with Bubbles, not knowing the obvious. He then raped her, as he said "a hole's a hole". I never thought of it that way.
* There's a fight scene and besides a baseball bat getting used, one of the Mexicans gets a high heel in the eye. In terms of weapons, a broken CD also gets used to slash someone.
* Anyhow, Bubbles ends up in a coma due to a baseball bat shot to the head. She loses her voice, only to regain it, but with a lisp. I don't know why either. Some of the humor and gags were just strange more than anything else. Speaking of that, there was also a strange scene involving Doctor Laccio (an actual dude) and Connie Lingus (another tranny) which doesn't need to be talked about.
* The girls get trained to fight back by a strange dude who was supposed to be Asian but really wasn't, named Fergus. They get led by horseback (and wearing geisha-esque outfits) to the middle of nowhere. Then, the missing reel comes in.
That’s right, missing reel. It tries to be like Grindhouse with that gag, the print sometimes looking haggard, and the overall vibe in general. After that… well, I won’t spoil it for you, but you’ll get to see some violence there, that’s for sure; the movie was apparently made for only 300,000 bucks and usually you can tell that’s the case; with that said, most of the special effects and whatnot are fine for the price.
So, the movie is pretty wacky and despite (or maybe because) of its balls-out gimmick (pun not intended… or is it?) I managed to enjoy this low-budget trash that is just fun to watch; there’s some points where it does drag, but that’s typical for the Grindhouse genre, whether legit or the faux ones made in the past few years.
I'll be back Sunday evening, and it should be a more "normal" movie than this one.
Runtime: 90 minutes
Directed by: Israel Luna
Starring: Krystal Summers, Kelexis Davenport, William Belli, Tom Zembrod
From: La Luna Entertainment
Yes folks, this is a legit movie, and I legit watched this late Tuesday night on Showtime Beyond, not because I’m a fan of transsexuals or anything (I’m not!) but rather because the movie just sounds SO bizarre and out there someone has to recap it. It’s not any sort of porno but rather a revenge exploitation flick (a la Death Wish), except that this one happens to have a fantastic title and the heroes happen to be transsexuals.
Now, I’ve come across some recent movies with wacky titles, such as Run! Bitch! Run! or Nude Nuns With Big Guns. I haven’t seen those films but I understand they’re more about the great title than the actual film. With this, I will say that is not the case.
The plot is rather straightforward: a group of trannies meet up with some guys who turn out to be gay bashers, and they literally bash them, resulting in death. The “girls” (I’ll refer to them as girls, to make it simple) regroup and they get their revenge. But it’s more than that. I’ll provide some highlights:
* The opening part has a lot of dialogue, but to sum it up, a girl named Bubbles arrives at the club everyone works at with a black eye, due to being attacked by a redneck with long hair named Boner. Yes, that's the only name he gets called by. Bubbles also happens to be the tranny who looks most like a lady. The others... it's rather obvious they're dudes. Sassy and mouthy dudes, but dudes nonetheless.
* By the way, the characters in this movie have named like Pinky L'Trimm (a huge black person; think Divine), Rachel Slurr, Emma Grashun, Tipper Sommore, Doctor Laccio, Connie Lingus, and my favorite, Helluva Bottom-Carter.
* Two of the ladies get invited to hang out with a pair of Mexicans. Bubbles is asked to go, and after some arguing, she does. It turns out to be a warehouse. The two Mexicans and Boner set them up, as Boner hooked up with Bubbles, not knowing the obvious. He then raped her, as he said "a hole's a hole". I never thought of it that way.
* There's a fight scene and besides a baseball bat getting used, one of the Mexicans gets a high heel in the eye. In terms of weapons, a broken CD also gets used to slash someone.
* Anyhow, Bubbles ends up in a coma due to a baseball bat shot to the head. She loses her voice, only to regain it, but with a lisp. I don't know why either. Some of the humor and gags were just strange more than anything else. Speaking of that, there was also a strange scene involving Doctor Laccio (an actual dude) and Connie Lingus (another tranny) which doesn't need to be talked about.
* The girls get trained to fight back by a strange dude who was supposed to be Asian but really wasn't, named Fergus. They get led by horseback (and wearing geisha-esque outfits) to the middle of nowhere. Then, the missing reel comes in.
That’s right, missing reel. It tries to be like Grindhouse with that gag, the print sometimes looking haggard, and the overall vibe in general. After that… well, I won’t spoil it for you, but you’ll get to see some violence there, that’s for sure; the movie was apparently made for only 300,000 bucks and usually you can tell that’s the case; with that said, most of the special effects and whatnot are fine for the price.
So, the movie is pretty wacky and despite (or maybe because) of its balls-out gimmick (pun not intended… or is it?) I managed to enjoy this low-budget trash that is just fun to watch; there’s some points where it does drag, but that’s typical for the Grindhouse genre, whether legit or the faux ones made in the past few years.
I'll be back Sunday evening, and it should be a more "normal" movie than this one.
Monday, July 18, 2011
Bullitt
Bullitt (1968)
Runtime: 114 minutes
Directed by: Peter Yates
Starring: The Great Steve McQueen, Robert Vaughn, Jacqueline Bisset, Don Gordon
From: Warner Brothers
Here is something I referenced in the past that I’m finally getting around to reviewing here. Way back in April of ’10 I watched a documentary on the Blu-Ray disc of this movie and I reviewed it. I enjoyed that docu., by the way. Well, I figured it was about damn time I watch the main attraction on that disc; sure, I’ve seen the movie before, but that was only on DVD.
Sure, this movie is best known for its all-time classic car chase scene, but it’s more than just that. In particular, knowing the context of that scene makes it all the better. The plot of the movie is that San Francisco police lieutenant Frank Bullitt is asked by an important person (Vaughn) to guard a guy who is being hunted by “The Organization” (i.e. The Mob, let’s be honest here); problems arise when the guy gets attacked anyhow and Bullitt has to try and get to solving this case. There’s some twists and turns which I won’t give away; the overall mystery isn’t too complex but it’s still a lot of fun to watch things unfurl as Bullitt deals with all that along with his fine-looking lady friend (Bisset) gets worried about his job as she’s the complete opposite as an artist.
There’s not only the car chase; many other things are done in a quality fashion, from the groovy score by Lalo Schifrin to the great opening credits to all the nice scenery you get to see of San Francisco, to even the ending sequence that is entertaining, if it isn’t as memorable as Bullitt racing his green Mustang to chase down the Charger R/T.
This movie is just a fun ride (pun both intended and unintended) and it’s not slam-bang ADD-riddled like too many movies are these days. Things are relaxed and the movie takes its time. You get to see police and hospital procedure, for example. Yet I enjoyed all of it and never got bored with the film. As long as you realize that, then you should enjoy your first viewing of this famed film, if you haven't viewed it yet.
I'll be back Thursday night with a new review.
Runtime: 114 minutes
Directed by: Peter Yates
Starring: The Great Steve McQueen, Robert Vaughn, Jacqueline Bisset, Don Gordon
From: Warner Brothers
Here is something I referenced in the past that I’m finally getting around to reviewing here. Way back in April of ’10 I watched a documentary on the Blu-Ray disc of this movie and I reviewed it. I enjoyed that docu., by the way. Well, I figured it was about damn time I watch the main attraction on that disc; sure, I’ve seen the movie before, but that was only on DVD.
Sure, this movie is best known for its all-time classic car chase scene, but it’s more than just that. In particular, knowing the context of that scene makes it all the better. The plot of the movie is that San Francisco police lieutenant Frank Bullitt is asked by an important person (Vaughn) to guard a guy who is being hunted by “The Organization” (i.e. The Mob, let’s be honest here); problems arise when the guy gets attacked anyhow and Bullitt has to try and get to solving this case. There’s some twists and turns which I won’t give away; the overall mystery isn’t too complex but it’s still a lot of fun to watch things unfurl as Bullitt deals with all that along with his fine-looking lady friend (Bisset) gets worried about his job as she’s the complete opposite as an artist.
There’s not only the car chase; many other things are done in a quality fashion, from the groovy score by Lalo Schifrin to the great opening credits to all the nice scenery you get to see of San Francisco, to even the ending sequence that is entertaining, if it isn’t as memorable as Bullitt racing his green Mustang to chase down the Charger R/T.
This movie is just a fun ride (pun both intended and unintended) and it’s not slam-bang ADD-riddled like too many movies are these days. Things are relaxed and the movie takes its time. You get to see police and hospital procedure, for example. Yet I enjoyed all of it and never got bored with the film. As long as you realize that, then you should enjoy your first viewing of this famed film, if you haven't viewed it yet.
I'll be back Thursday night with a new review.
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Navy Seals
Navy Seals (1990)
Runtime: 113 minutes
Directed by: Lewis Teague
Starring: (Unfortunately, these days) Charlie Sheen, Michael Biehn, Joanne Whalley, Bill Paxton
From: Orion
Here’s a movie best known these days for being scorned in Clerks as being “intellectually devoid” and starring a guy best known these days for… well, being a warlock, I suppose. Remember back in March where his loony act was actually popular? That certainly died down after his first-ever stage show bombed and now I’m sure most people don’t give a damn about it or his persona.
As for this movie, it’s pretty much average in every which way. It’s not awful, but it’s definitely no The Expendables, for example. It’s a standard tale where you get to see the title characters go through some missions that deal with some damn extremists Lebanese religious zealots going wild with some Stinger missiles that they illegally acquired. A female reporter (Whalley) gets involved too. Various machinations go on, stuff happens, and of course there are moments where members of the team argue with each other. Trust me, the plot isn’t really worth discussing in detail.
Instead, I’ll mention that the movie is what you’d call “intellectually devoid”… although, you could also say the same about some of the films that Kevin Smith has made, but that’s another topic for another day. There are some stupid moments, where some characters really should have died, but somehow they avoid death. It’s intelligence-insulting, yet I laughed at the same time, so there’s that.
Speaking of laugh, there's this scene, which comes dangerously close to being like that beach volleyball scene from Top Gun. It's the guys golfing, mainly either shirtless or wearing short bright shorts in colors like pink and purple! Talk about homoerotic. And yeah, the Bon Jovi-esque band doing that horrible cover... it's actually Bon Jovi! Not their best song, that's for sure.
As for the lead star, he’s childish and immature, a hothead, wakes up from a bender face-down on the beach, runs after his towed car while riding a bicycle (!) and catches up to it (!!), shoots his mouth off, jumps from a Jeep off of a bridge into the water to avoid a wedding… so in other words, just like real life for The Warlock!
So, sorry for not saying much about this movie, but it’s not really worthy of a prolonged discussion unless you want to rip on all of the dumb moments. It's just a movie you shouldn't take seriously; at least you get to see some of what the SEALs apparently do. It's nice they get some props (especially considering that some of them were the ones that took out bin Laden) but I'm sure a documentary would do a better job of showing what they're all about.
I'll be back on Monday night with a new review.
Runtime: 113 minutes
Directed by: Lewis Teague
Starring: (Unfortunately, these days) Charlie Sheen, Michael Biehn, Joanne Whalley, Bill Paxton
From: Orion
Here’s a movie best known these days for being scorned in Clerks as being “intellectually devoid” and starring a guy best known these days for… well, being a warlock, I suppose. Remember back in March where his loony act was actually popular? That certainly died down after his first-ever stage show bombed and now I’m sure most people don’t give a damn about it or his persona.
As for this movie, it’s pretty much average in every which way. It’s not awful, but it’s definitely no The Expendables, for example. It’s a standard tale where you get to see the title characters go through some missions that deal with some damn extremists Lebanese religious zealots going wild with some Stinger missiles that they illegally acquired. A female reporter (Whalley) gets involved too. Various machinations go on, stuff happens, and of course there are moments where members of the team argue with each other. Trust me, the plot isn’t really worth discussing in detail.
Instead, I’ll mention that the movie is what you’d call “intellectually devoid”… although, you could also say the same about some of the films that Kevin Smith has made, but that’s another topic for another day. There are some stupid moments, where some characters really should have died, but somehow they avoid death. It’s intelligence-insulting, yet I laughed at the same time, so there’s that.
Speaking of laugh, there's this scene, which comes dangerously close to being like that beach volleyball scene from Top Gun. It's the guys golfing, mainly either shirtless or wearing short bright shorts in colors like pink and purple! Talk about homoerotic. And yeah, the Bon Jovi-esque band doing that horrible cover... it's actually Bon Jovi! Not their best song, that's for sure.
As for the lead star, he’s childish and immature, a hothead, wakes up from a bender face-down on the beach, runs after his towed car while riding a bicycle (!) and catches up to it (!!), shoots his mouth off, jumps from a Jeep off of a bridge into the water to avoid a wedding… so in other words, just like real life for The Warlock!
So, sorry for not saying much about this movie, but it’s not really worthy of a prolonged discussion unless you want to rip on all of the dumb moments. It's just a movie you shouldn't take seriously; at least you get to see some of what the SEALs apparently do. It's nice they get some props (especially considering that some of them were the ones that took out bin Laden) but I'm sure a documentary would do a better job of showing what they're all about.
I'll be back on Monday night with a new review.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
A Rant & A Mini Review
So, this month hasn’t been the greatest so far. I won’t get into it, but there’s been a number of little annoyances that add up. The fact that I’ve tried to watch some movies I have in my collection in the past few days (legal or otherwise) and all of them I got annoyed pretty quickly with something, whether it be characters I can’t stand, a plot that takes forever to get going, stupid moments, or a combination of all of them, and with all of them I gave up and did not watch the films in full; why waste my time and get more and more angry? I give up on movies more often than I’d normally like to admit, as again, why waste my precious time?
One thing I did at least see on TV (ESPN Classic, so I don’t know how much got edited out for time or content) was a random small documentary that was interesting due to its setting. It’s The Lost Son of Havana, about Luis Tiant, a famous Major League Baseball pitcher back in the day who is Cuban; he went to the U.S. to become a star player and as that happened the same time the U.S. and Cuba started having their problems that exist to this day, he hasn’t been to his homeland since 1961until he went back there 46 years later in 2007 to visit and see how things had changed. Talk of his father-a pitcher himself who was in the Negro Leagues-also comes up. Along with seeing his experiences in Cuba there’s also time devoted to talking about his career and how for someone that you may not have heard of before, he had one heck of a career.
I won’t get into the whole deal about the U.S. and their relationship with Cuba and whether it’s right or not; you do see, though, that Cuba appears to be not the best place to live, to say the least. Not a great endorsement for Communism! You get your share of emotions, from happiness to sadness, and at least for me it was interesting throughout.
You can find it on YouTube… problem is, for some bizarre reason, that version of it has no subtitles for when the dialogue is in Spanish! Needless to say, a good amount of it is in Spanish, so you’re SOL there unless you are fluent in that language.
I'll be back Friday night, and this time it'll be the usual from me.
One thing I did at least see on TV (ESPN Classic, so I don’t know how much got edited out for time or content) was a random small documentary that was interesting due to its setting. It’s The Lost Son of Havana, about Luis Tiant, a famous Major League Baseball pitcher back in the day who is Cuban; he went to the U.S. to become a star player and as that happened the same time the U.S. and Cuba started having their problems that exist to this day, he hasn’t been to his homeland since 1961until he went back there 46 years later in 2007 to visit and see how things had changed. Talk of his father-a pitcher himself who was in the Negro Leagues-also comes up. Along with seeing his experiences in Cuba there’s also time devoted to talking about his career and how for someone that you may not have heard of before, he had one heck of a career.
I won’t get into the whole deal about the U.S. and their relationship with Cuba and whether it’s right or not; you do see, though, that Cuba appears to be not the best place to live, to say the least. Not a great endorsement for Communism! You get your share of emotions, from happiness to sadness, and at least for me it was interesting throughout.
You can find it on YouTube… problem is, for some bizarre reason, that version of it has no subtitles for when the dialogue is in Spanish! Needless to say, a good amount of it is in Spanish, so you’re SOL there unless you are fluent in that language.
I'll be back Friday night, and this time it'll be the usual from me.
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Action Jackson
Action Jackson (1988)
Runtime: 96 minutes
Directed by: Craig R. Baxley
Starring: Carl Weathers, Craig T. Nelson, Vanity, Sharon Stone
From: Lorimar
Well, I spent some time thinking this weekend which movie I would check out and see. I decided ultimately to go with a slice of 80’s cheese I’ve seen before but decided to watch again. Sure, it’s technically not a smart or great movie; that said, it’s still a lot of fun to watch.
The story of this movie is rather simple. Jericho “Action” Jackson (Weathers) works for the Detroit Police Department. He had a run-in in the past with the son of Peter Dellaplane (Nelson), the head of Dellaplane Autos in the city. It turns out that Peter is not a nice guy; it’s certainly not the Nelson you’re used to seeing in Coach or Poltergeist. He has a mistress (Vanity) to go along with his wife (Stone). It turns out that he is behind the murder of various people involved with the auto worker’s union, for reasons that you find out while watching the movie. Jackson finds out, and the war is on.
It’s definitely a product of its time. Vanity sings, and in a move that should shock no one who has seen any of her other films during the decade, she shows off her bare breasts (so does Stone!) The music is synthesizer-heavy and yet one of the composers is the first signer of the Declaration of Independence, Herbie Hancock. There’s a lot of goofy (yet entertaining) one-liners and jokes you hear throughout, similar to Tango & Cash, for example. You don’t want to look at the plot too closely in terms of logic; you get to see some goofy and implausible things. Would you believe Weathers could leap and backflip over a moving car and land on his feet behind it? That’s not even the most laughable thing involving an automobile you get to see. Still, at least the movie is a good time; there are worse ways to spend 96 minutes, I say, where you can laugh at the goofy/funny stuff while enjoying all the shootings and fighting, and where you can watch Craig T. Nelson use martial arts!
The movie has many familiar faces if you’ve seen enough 80’s action flicks; even if you don’t recognize the names, you’ll recognize the faces. In small roles there are the likes of Al Leong, Robert Davi, Bill Duke, Ed O’Ross, De’voreaux White (Argyle in Die Hard), Branscombe Richmond, and Sonny Landham. It’s nice seeing all of them together. You even get Thomas F. Wilson-Biff Tannen himself-in a bit part.
What I like about the movie the most is that it’s not dour or mean-spirited or nasty or anything of that sort, which seems to be a too-common theme in the action genre in recent years. Like I said, it’s just an entertaining and fun mindless movie to watch on a rainy afternoon or what have you.
I’ll be back on Wednesday night with a new review.
Runtime: 96 minutes
Directed by: Craig R. Baxley
Starring: Carl Weathers, Craig T. Nelson, Vanity, Sharon Stone
From: Lorimar
Well, I spent some time thinking this weekend which movie I would check out and see. I decided ultimately to go with a slice of 80’s cheese I’ve seen before but decided to watch again. Sure, it’s technically not a smart or great movie; that said, it’s still a lot of fun to watch.
The story of this movie is rather simple. Jericho “Action” Jackson (Weathers) works for the Detroit Police Department. He had a run-in in the past with the son of Peter Dellaplane (Nelson), the head of Dellaplane Autos in the city. It turns out that Peter is not a nice guy; it’s certainly not the Nelson you’re used to seeing in Coach or Poltergeist. He has a mistress (Vanity) to go along with his wife (Stone). It turns out that he is behind the murder of various people involved with the auto worker’s union, for reasons that you find out while watching the movie. Jackson finds out, and the war is on.
It’s definitely a product of its time. Vanity sings, and in a move that should shock no one who has seen any of her other films during the decade, she shows off her bare breasts (so does Stone!) The music is synthesizer-heavy and yet one of the composers is the first signer of the Declaration of Independence, Herbie Hancock. There’s a lot of goofy (yet entertaining) one-liners and jokes you hear throughout, similar to Tango & Cash, for example. You don’t want to look at the plot too closely in terms of logic; you get to see some goofy and implausible things. Would you believe Weathers could leap and backflip over a moving car and land on his feet behind it? That’s not even the most laughable thing involving an automobile you get to see. Still, at least the movie is a good time; there are worse ways to spend 96 minutes, I say, where you can laugh at the goofy/funny stuff while enjoying all the shootings and fighting, and where you can watch Craig T. Nelson use martial arts!
The movie has many familiar faces if you’ve seen enough 80’s action flicks; even if you don’t recognize the names, you’ll recognize the faces. In small roles there are the likes of Al Leong, Robert Davi, Bill Duke, Ed O’Ross, De’voreaux White (Argyle in Die Hard), Branscombe Richmond, and Sonny Landham. It’s nice seeing all of them together. You even get Thomas F. Wilson-Biff Tannen himself-in a bit part.
What I like about the movie the most is that it’s not dour or mean-spirited or nasty or anything of that sort, which seems to be a too-common theme in the action genre in recent years. Like I said, it’s just an entertaining and fun mindless movie to watch on a rainy afternoon or what have you.
I’ll be back on Wednesday night with a new review.
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
More Randomness
Well, tonight I don't feel like doing a review of a full movie. I'm still bummed about that jury verdict yesterday, among other things. I'll be back Sunday night with a proper review.
So, as of late I haven't seen too many horror films. However, I can mention that when it was shown recently on TCM Underground, I tried watching The Beyond for the first time. I know some won't like hearing this, but I didn't even watch it all the way through. The bad/bizarre acting started to turn me off, but one moment made me change the channel. So, if you're driving on the 24 mile long Lake Pontchartrain Causeway in Louisiana and out of nowhere a woman appears in the middle of the road and you discover she has strange colored pupil-less eyes and she wants you to take her to the old hotel you just inherited... and you take her there no questions asked? That just insulted me. Sorry Fulci fans, but maybe he's not for me. That sort of "dream logic" filmmaking isn't for me... guys like David Lynch, no thanks. Ironic I say that, considering that there are some Freddy Krueger movies I enjoy.
Speaking of that, I randomly rented A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2. Oh no, I've seen it before (although that was years ago; when I saw it then, of course I noticed the blatant homoerotic overtones then; however, since then and the infamy it's gotten for being SO homoerotic...), but watching it a second time and it's amazing I didn't notice all the clues the first time. It's so blatant!
I can't say that the movie is really any good (especially compared to the original) but at least there were some interesting touches throughout and it was definitely fascinating viewing it as an allegory involving the main character dealing with his homosexual feelings and possibly coming out. I'm not sure how that parakeet scene fits into the allegory, but it at least makes me laugh.
This review delves more into the rampant homosexual overtones (rather than undertones) of the film.
So, as of late I haven't seen too many horror films. However, I can mention that when it was shown recently on TCM Underground, I tried watching The Beyond for the first time. I know some won't like hearing this, but I didn't even watch it all the way through. The bad/bizarre acting started to turn me off, but one moment made me change the channel. So, if you're driving on the 24 mile long Lake Pontchartrain Causeway in Louisiana and out of nowhere a woman appears in the middle of the road and you discover she has strange colored pupil-less eyes and she wants you to take her to the old hotel you just inherited... and you take her there no questions asked? That just insulted me. Sorry Fulci fans, but maybe he's not for me. That sort of "dream logic" filmmaking isn't for me... guys like David Lynch, no thanks. Ironic I say that, considering that there are some Freddy Krueger movies I enjoy.
Speaking of that, I randomly rented A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2. Oh no, I've seen it before (although that was years ago; when I saw it then, of course I noticed the blatant homoerotic overtones then; however, since then and the infamy it's gotten for being SO homoerotic...), but watching it a second time and it's amazing I didn't notice all the clues the first time. It's so blatant!
I can't say that the movie is really any good (especially compared to the original) but at least there were some interesting touches throughout and it was definitely fascinating viewing it as an allegory involving the main character dealing with his homosexual feelings and possibly coming out. I'm not sure how that parakeet scene fits into the allegory, but it at least makes me laugh.
This review delves more into the rampant homosexual overtones (rather than undertones) of the film.
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