Slaughter's Big Rip-Off

Slaughter's Big Rip-Off (1973)

Runtime: 92 minutes

Directed by: Douglas Gordon

Starring: Jim Brown, Ed McMahon (yes), Brock Peters, Don Stroud, Gloria Hendry

From: AIP

Here's a movie I was inspired to track down, and I was able to do it in a not so ethical way, as a few months ago I stumbled upon a podcast known as Bad Movie Fiends; where they not only review awful movies with little merit like Battlefield Earth and The Happening but also awesome low-budget films that technically aren't good but are awesome to watch anyway. I burned through all 100 plus episodes they've done and they're great to listen to and enjoy. Anyhow, I wrote them an e-mail asking them about blaxploitation movies and recommended Slaughter, a movie I saw last summer and thought was pretty great. Much to my surprise they liked the idea so much they watched that movie and this month for them will be blaxploitation. They also managed to enjoy Slaughter a hell of a lot so I am quite flattered they liked my ideas so much.

Anyway, they knew of this sequel but no one knew if it was any good or not, and not even I could answer that, until now.

The plot is that Slaughter is back in LA. He's on a picnic in the country with some pals. Suddenly, a bi-plane appears and machine guns his best friend, while Slaugher survives; needless to say he's PISSED that “The Syndicate” is after him so he I on the path to take down Ed McMahon (!), a.k.a. Duncan, who he finds out is the guy that ordered the hit. Along the way he meets up with a cop (Peters) that coerces him to getting a special list from Duncan that has all of his contacts, including fellow people on the police force. There's also interactions with a wide variety of people wearing lout and wacky clothing from the period, including Scatman Crothers, who only appears in one scene, and doesn't use The Shine. He also has to get help from a pimp (Dick Anthony Williams) who overacts to a hilarious degree.

While it isn't as awesome as the original it's still pretty great and filled with many laughs. Slaughter does some tremendous things, like threaten to shove a guy's face into an airplane propellar, and he even bitch-slaps a guy who has curly hair and a porn 'stache. He dropkicks a guy as if he was a WWE wrestler. He also has to team up with a pimp named Joe Creole who overacts to the nth degree and thus is always hilarious. Needless to say, Slaughter ends up killing many sons of bitches.

Oh, and there's SCATMAN CROTHERS who briefly appears as a jive dude but he only appears in one scene for about 2 minutes. My favorite scene, though, was when Slaughter and the pimp break into a mansion to retrieve the film's McGuffin and you see Ed McMahon make out in a hallway with a woman in her 20's. They then go into a bedroom where you hear them have sex, and it includes Ed McMahon moaning like he's going to orgasm! That is a sound I'll never forget.

About the only bad thing I can say is that when MGM released the movie on DVD they were cheap and didn't pay the cash to have James Brown's soundtrack appear so it was replaced with generic funk and that's unfortunate. Still, this movie has lines such as, “I'm going to kick your eyes out your ass”, and I probably don't need to say much more than that.

I'll be back Friday afternoon with something interesting, and I'll also be posting something about Episode 1 (yes) on Saturday afternoon.

Live Sports On The Big Screen

On this Super Bowl Sunday, why not do something a little different and talk about the few times I've seen sporting events on the big screen?

The first one was back in early 2009 with the BCS National Championship Game between the Florida Gators and the Oklahoma Sooners. I drove all the way to Bradenton to watch it in an auditorium (and a bunch of crazy Gators fans) because of the fact that some locations across the country were showing it in 3D. When it worked, the effect was nice. It's just that the way they filmed it wasn't always the best, and there were such mistakes as entire plays being missed to show a replay, the cameras having trouble following who had the ball, and that sort of thing. I guess that was why Cinedigm (the people that at least presented it; it was a game that was broadcast on FOX so I'll always be happy to blame them for it, as FOX is the dirt worst of all the networks) never tried to do that again.

Then, for four events in 2010, UFC pay per views were presented by Fathom Events in theatres. The pay per views weren't always the greatest but I always had a good time and while the crowds varied in size, the people that did show up seemed to have a good time too. As I presume not enough people showed up to those events, that's why they stopped doing it.

Then, just yesterday UFC returned to theatres, but this time from Cinedigm and instead in 3D. The production was a lot better than the BCS game. There was only a glitch or two and none during the fights themselves. There was only a few instances of the ghosting effect, and it was minor and did not ruin the effect for the bouts. The fact that it was a good pay per view was an added bonus. The attendance where I was... it was pretty good. Hopefully they'll do this once every few months as I'll always attend.

If only events like the Super Bowl would be shown in theatres in 3D... I think that could be pretty awesome.

I'll be back Wednesday night and this time I promise I'll do a traditional movie review.

Damn You, Streaming Video Services!

I was going to review something I stumbled upon which was on a streaming video website but the stream ended up not workng out, so I was SOL. I will be back tomorrow, though, where I'll talk about the experience of watching sporting events on in a movie theatre. Wacky and something different, but I also hope it will be something interesting.

The Grey

The Grey (2012)

77% on Rotten Tomatoes (out of 146 reviews)

Runtime: 117 minutes

Directed by: Joe Carnahan

Starring: Liam Neeson, Dallas Roberts, Dermot Mulroney, Frank Grillo, Joe Anderson

From: Open Road Films

Finally, I've seen a quality movie released in 2012. I realize not everyone will agree with this statement but I'll get to that in a bit.

The way this movie has been advertised, you might think it's Taken with wolves, but it's much more than that. To steal a quick plot synopsis from IMDb:

“In Alaska, an oil drilling team struggle to survive after a plane crash strands them in the wild. Hunting the humans are a pack of wolves who see them as intruders.”

It sounds simple but it's more complex than that. You start off by seeing that Liam (I might as well call him that instead of his character name, due to how awesome Mr. Neeson is) is unhappy as the guy who keeps guard and shoots any wolf who tries to attack the people working on the oil drilling team. He clearly misses his old lady. It isn't long before the team boards an airplane and fly back to Anchorage. Suddenly, the plane crashes, and holy crap I haven't seen a plane crash in a fictional movie in such a terrifying fashion.

So, after the crash it's just Liam and six surviving males; those dudes are all rough and tough guys so it's no surprise that there are arguments and disagreements as Liam becomes the alpha male of the group and decides to move the figurative wolf pack and leave the crash site to try and reach civilization as a literal wolf pack decides to track them down as they don't like those men in their space.

Overall, this movie isn't just a badass affair where dudes have to team together to go against nature. Rather, you get to see that these tough guys are human beings and they have families and they have to deal with the fact that it's likely they won't be seeing their loved ones again. I will warn you that the movie is pretty downbeat, if you didn't get that impression already. I don't want to give too much else away but I say that all of it is effective and you have quality acting jobs, especially from Neeson, who has some unforgettable scenes. Also, the scenery of Alaska (actually filmed in rural British Columbia) is quite beautiful.

Now, if you haven't heard there's a segment of the audience that saw this which did not like how things turned out. I won't spoil anything but I did not hear about that backlash until someone I know personally on Facebook mentioned it the night before I saw this, then I look online and a forum has a thread which has people echoing his thoughts. Me, I was fine with how things turned out; I thought it worked for this sort of motion picture and I had little to carp about. Yet, some people out there were so displeased they hated the entire movie, and I say that's unfortunate. This sure as shit isn't The Devil Inside!

Oh, and there is a really short stinger that comes after the end credits but I say it doesn't really add anything so you can just find out what it was AFTER you see the film.

So, I say this film which reunites the star and director of the surprisingly good The A-Team is pretty damn good in a totally different way and it's well-worth seeing. Just don't be misled by what you may infer from the advertising, which I do say can make you think this is something it is not.

I'll be back Saturday afternoon with a new review.

Dark Of The Sun

Dark of the Sun (1968)

Runtime: 100 minutes

Directed by: Jack Cardiff

Starring: Rod Taylor, Peter Carsten, Yvette Mimieux, Jim Brown

From: MGM

Here is a movie I've heard about for awhile via a forum, but have never seen it despite it being on TCM once in a blue moon, as when it's on it's at weird times, like it was late Thursday night. I did not know it was on until about 40 minutes in, so I was disappointed by that. My mood lightened when I looked online and I saw it was on Veoh. You just download the free player and it allows you to watch anything on there.

I'll copy and paste the short plot description from its IMDb page:

A band of mercenaries led by Captain Curry travel through the Congo across deadly terrain, battling rival armies, to rescue $25 million in uncut diamonds.

Yep, that sums things up pretty well... except it was actually 50 million dollars in diamonds.

This movie (actually filmed in the UK and Jamaica instead of deepest darkest Africa) is pretty darn good. Things get started right away as you see Curry (Taylor) and Ruffo (Brown) arrive in the Congo as it's in the midst of the Simba Rebellion. In short, it's a real-life rebellion starting in '64 where some anti-government people tried to start a revolution. For the sake of this film, all you need to know is that the mercenaries are hired by the President of the country to go to a mine in Simba country to retrieve some diamonds so that the rebels don't have them in their possession. They find an alcoholic doctor and also an ex-Nazi (Carsten) who only gets hired for his military skill. Via train they travel there and back, and along the way they meet up with nice eye candy Mimieux.

I don't want to give too much away but even in 2012 the action you see here is satisfying. You have fire, explosions, big guns being fired-along with small ones-fights, and so on and so forth. There's even a moment where one guy gets his head forced onto a train track, as his enemy wants his head run over! That's pretty ruthless. Not to mention, all the people getting killed Also, there's the natural conflict with the damn Nazi, so that provides a lot of drama. And I mean that in a good way.

It's a grand aventure which I wish was more easily accessible as it deserves to be better known than it is, and I don't mean watching it on Veoh; I mean a nice Blu-Ray. Yeah, I enjoyed watching it that much. It's a good old manly time with enough action (it's graphic for the time), drama, and intrigue to entertain you and never leaving you feel bored or disappointed.

I'll be back Wednesday night with a new review.

Red Tails

Red Tails (2012)

35% on Rotten Tomatoes (out of 85 reviews)

Runtime: 121 minutes

Directed by: Anthony Hemingway

Starring: Nate Parker, David Oyelowo, Ne-Yo, Tristan Wilds

From: 20th Century Fox

Here's a movie that has sounded interesting to me for awhile, despite the aspect of it being executively produced by a certain George Lucas. After his last few films, it's natural to have at least some reservations about something with his name attached to it. But, then again it was a movie he had been looking to do since '88 and he put in many millions of dollars to have it made so it was a labor of love for him.

I was going to see it during this past weekend and then on Monday but things got in the way of that, so it wasn't until earlier tonight that I was able to go out to the local cineplex to check it out. To steal the plot synopsis from the official site of the film:

1944. To help win the war, the Pentagon brass has no choice but to consider the untested African-American pilots of the experimental Tuskegee training program. Just as the young Tuskegee men are about to be shut down and shipped back home, they are given the ultimate chance to show their courage. These intrepid young airmen take to the skies to fight for their country - and the fate of the free world.

That is a pretty accurate description of the movie's plot. Even though I'm a history guy I doesn't know as much as I should about the Tuskegee Airmen. After I watched this, I still am not sure how much more I learned about them. I just hope Hollywood didn't fabricate too much. Then again, I heard old George did a lot of research through the years on the subject so I guess I shouldn't worry about that too much.

As for the film, the story isn't always presented in the best way, the dialogue and situations seem straight out of a World War II film that was made while World War II was still going on (at least Lucas isn't still in the 1930's serials), and it's real cornball stuff at times. Yet, I can't say I hated the movie at all; in fact, I thought it was entertaining for what it was. The performances all around are nice (even from Ne-Yo, playing a character named Smokey who believe it or not did remind me of Smokey from Friday), with Oyelowo as the hotshot Lightning definitely being the most dynamic and intriguing character. You also have roles from Cuba Gooding Jr. and Terrence Howard, with small roles from Bryan Cranston and Major Dad... whoops, I mean Gerald McRaney.

The flying scenes are cartoony but hell, they are exciting so you won't see me carp about that. As long as you know going in how cliché and cornball things can get, then you should probably enjoy this tale about some truly great men from history's past who deserve the attention for the contributions to the history of the United States. The cliches may be old and hoary, but some of them still work rather well. Oh, and this sort of movie with a predominantly African-American cast should do well as it would be nice for Hollywood to produce more films such as that; Lord knows this is far better than the gobshite you get from Tyler Perry!

I'll be back Friday night with a new review.

The Long Riders

The Long Riders (1980)

Runtime: 100 minutes

Directed by: Walter Hill

Starring: The Carradine brothers, the Keach brothers, the Quaid brothers, and the Guest br others

From: United Artists

Due to me not feeling at 100% on Saturday and having football to watch on Sunday, that is why I'm going to talk about a movie that I first saw a few years ago, but it was before I started up this blog, so I might as well write about it, right? It's a western so it helps fill a genre that I don't give as much love to as I should.

The one big hook of this movie based on the lives of famous outlaws the James Brothers, the Younger Brothers, the Millers, and ultimately the Ford Brothers (given that a few years ago there was a movie which came out called The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, it sort of gives away what the ending of this film is; then again, if you've read up on the history of this gang then you'll know more than a little about the plot of this film, along with probably generally be entertained by their exploits) is that four sets of famous acting siblings were cast in those roles, thus you have James and Stacy Keach as the James Boys, David, Robert, and Keith Carradine as the Youngers, Dennis and Randy Quaid as the Millers, and Christopher and Guest as the Fords. It's a gimmick which works as every one of those brothers delivers a performance that is at least fine and is usually better than that.

This film-which I don't think is entirely accurate to the truth but hey, it's still fun-portrays the gang in a sympathetic light as they rob trains and banks to provide for their families while dealing with such things as some of the guys wanting to start families of their own and deal with the Pinkerton Detective Agency, who are on the hunt for them and the movie makes them look to be dicks, willing to kill innocent people to get their men.

Overall, it's an entertaining western and if you enjoy the real-life story then you should check this out. When you do see violence it's certainly bloody and visceral. I mean, when people get shot with a shotgun, they go flying backwars something like 20 feet through windows. It's not very realistic... but is it cool? I say yes. It's a manly movie directed by a manly man, and after the PG-13 crap news of last week, it was nice to see an R-rated film like this one.

I'll be back Wednesday night with a new review.