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Post by stefancrosscoe on Apr 18, 2021 9:37:28 GMT
Have been meaning of giving a few of Reynolds action films of the 80s, a chance some day. I remember, either that you or DramaticLookGopher wrote some positive stuff of a few of his releases, where one I think was Malone, or something close in name to that. I kind of enjoyed Sharky's Machine, which probably were more of a slow burning crime-noir movie, rather than a explosive action film. Rent-A-Cop however, that was more fast paced, but also a bit more played out like a cheaply delivered b-movie, some fun, a few nasty scenes, a rather brutalt villain (if I remember correctly), but again, it has been so long since I saw that one. Anyway, Heat looks like an interesting one, so I will try to come back to it someday.
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Post by stefancrosscoe on Apr 18, 2021 9:48:29 GMT
 Crossworlds (1996) by Krishna Rao Its been a while, since I last saw an unseen Rutger Hauer film, at least one I kind of wanted to see that is. Crossworlds, I remember got aired a few times, very late at night, during the mid 00s, and I remember a few scenes, here and there, but that I never got around to watch the entire thing, through. Sure, this is a made for tv movie, but that doesn't mean it is a bad thing, as there are a lot of familiar names and faces showing up, some thankfully in lesser doses, than others (Jack Black for one) and where the incredible hot Andrea Roth sure makes up for a rather uneven plot and characters, that and some surprisingly nice up close/up skirt shots. The film or atmosphere, kind of reminds me of the later The Librarian tv movies, where an average Joe (yeah,the main character is even called Joe in the film) suddenly is jumped by a sexy and seductive blonde (Roth), and before he knows what hit him, all kind of weird stuff is taking place, and then Rutger arrives, and the film goes from some random teen-sex college comedy, into a action-fantasy film, that includes some potetional for a tv-show, but where I guess never did enough, to be backed up for some more adventure. Kind of sad, to see how Rutger Hauer went from starring in the main lead, some truly bad ass and fun roles as well, during the late 80s and into the early 90s, then only to end up getting "caught" playing the villainous psycho guy, in far too many tv-movies, before ending up as these older, mentor/father figure roles, but I of course, he was now into his mid 50s, and yeah, still, I would watch his films, but I believe he had a few more Split Second, Wanted: Dead or Alive, Wedlock or Blind Fury's in him, but sadly, that is not how the business works out. Anyway, Crossworld moves in a rather nice pace, and never gets boring, but it sure helps being a fan of Hauer. That and enjoying Andrea Roth, but the main villain, I thought were kind of weak/dull, but all in all, nice to have finally seen the entire thing, and one less Hauer film of the 90s, that I can cross out, of my watchlist. 6/10
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Post by lostinlimbo on Apr 22, 2021 21:52:40 GMT
 Director/Star Sammo Hung’s HK action-comedy ‘My Lucky Stars’ (the first sequel to ‘Winners & Sinners’) is a real mixed bag. The humour in these type of films are usually silly, and at times crude. Here it doesn’t buck the trend. The mid-section is filled with it, sometimes unfunnily cringe and drawn out comedy routines. Especially when the orphans led by Sammo get together, and start harassing Sibelle Hu. And during most this Jackie Chan is M.I.A. However the film’s bookends are great. This is when the fight choreography, and stunt work comes to the party blending much better with the humour. Sammo and Chan don’t disappoint. While Lam Ching-Ying shows up briefly. The best moments are mostly set in a theme park. Then add ninjas and a haunted house attraction to the mix. And you got yourself a ride.
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Post by lostinlimbo on Apr 22, 2021 22:24:29 GMT
Have been meaning of giving a few of Reynolds action films of the 80s, a chance some day. I remember, either that you or DramaticLookGopher wrote some positive stuff of a few of his releases, where one I think was Malone, or something close in name to that. I kind of enjoyed Sharky's Machine, which probably were more of a slow burning crime-noir movie, rather than a explosive action film. Rent-A-Cop however, that was more fast paced, but also a bit more played out like a cheaply delivered b-movie, some fun, a few nasty scenes, a rather brutalt villain (if I remember correctly), but again, it has been so long since I saw that one. Anyway, Heat looks like an interesting one, so I will try to come back to it someday. Heat is probably more slow-burn character driven then what the trailer has you believed. It’s decent, but you can easily see why it’s a forgettable staple of Reynold’s late 80s output. It was remade later with Jason Statham; ‘Wild Card’. ‘Malone’ is a favourite of mine, probably because it’s straight-up action without the wink-wink. Formulaic yeah, virtually a modernised ‘Shane/Pale Rider’ storyline, but it delivers what you want from something of this ilk. ‘Stick’ also had its moments. Very comic in its approach, but still amusing when it wasn’t being brutal. Overlong though. Never cared much for ‘Rent-A-Cop’. Great opening, and the killer is unique (kinda reminded me of the one in ‘Fear City’). However I couldn’t stand Liza Minnelli. Feels like a comedy version of Sharky’s Machine. I do have his 1996 film ‘Raven’ still to watch. Looks kinda serious.
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Post by mgmarshall on May 19, 2021 6:18:59 GMT
 Murder at 1600A murder in the White House is a pretty good hook, but unfortunately this shakes out to be a pretty average political thriller once things get into gear. Wesley Snipes does his usual slick, smirky routine, which is fine. There's some solid supporting turns from Alan Alda, Daniel Benzali, and Ronny Cox as a likeable President, though he's unfortunately underutilized until the film's final act. Overall, it's okay but nothing special.
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Post by mgmarshall on May 19, 2021 11:28:12 GMT
 Boiling PointIt was on the same disc as Murder at 1600 (and in a full screen copy too, those cheap bastards...). This one is okay, sort of a gritty character study that parallels the lives of Wesley Snipes' tough, bitter treasury agent, Dennis Hopper's lonely, pathetic con artist and Viggo Mortensen's gullible, childlike thug. But despite strong work from all three of them, it's never really all that involving. It's just kinda standard. Really great supporting cast, though- Lolita Davidovich, Dan Hedaya, Seymour Cassel, Jonathan Banks, Tony Lo Bianco, Valerie Perrine, James Tolkan, Paul Gleason, and Tobin Bell. It's a pretty talented ensemble.
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Post by brandomarlon2003 on May 19, 2021 13:30:24 GMT
Under Siege  |
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Post by FridayOnElmStreet on May 19, 2021 21:06:05 GMT
 6/10 |
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Post by dirtypillows on May 19, 2021 23:53:39 GMT
I'm watching "Aliens" now. I've seen it a couple times before. I like it. Not as much as the first one - which was spine tingling in the grand manner - but this one is pretty exciting. And Sigourney Weaver gives a very commanding (and sympathetic) performance. She totally deserved her Oscar nomination. Without Weaver's presence, the movie would have been just above average. And I've never noticed it before, but she has a really good, captivating speaking voice. You can totally imagine her voice almost intimidating the alien. She was born to play Ellen Ripley. Bill Paxton's Hudson is my second favorite character. He's funny and likeable, sort of doing the freaked out Lambert character, only this time for laughs. btw, Lambert is my favorite character from the entire franchise!
"Aliens" (1986) -- ***1/4
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Post by stefancrosscoe on May 20, 2021 3:24:13 GMT
Heat is probably more slow-burn character driven then what the trailer has you believed. It’s decent, but you can easily see why it’s a forgettable staple of Reynold’s late 80s output. It was remade later with Jason Statham; ‘Wild Card’. ‘Malone’ is a favourite of mine, probably because it’s straight-up action without the wink-wink. Formulaic yeah, virtually a modernised ‘Shane/Pale Rider’ storyline, but it delivers what you want from something of this ilk. ‘Stick’ also had its moments. Very comic in its approach, but still amusing when it wasn’t being brutal. Overlong though. Never cared much for ‘Rent-A-Cop’. Great opening, and the killer is unique (kinda reminded me of the one in ‘Fear City’). However I couldn’t stand Liza Minnelli. Feels like a comedy version of Sharky’s Machine. I do have his 1996 film ‘Raven’ still to watch. Looks kinda serious. Well, I finally managed to check up on Heat (1986), last weekend. I somehow got recommende it to me, by "accident", while browsing around on Youtube, and decided that I might as well give it a go. It started out very gritty and nasty, which then much later on, sadly felt a bit wasted, since the film midway through and out, went for more of a light hearted buddy-cop routine, including some random Cannon Pictures dramatic action climax, and where I quite enjoyed the chemistry between Burt Reynold and Peter MacNicol, but when the latter ended up smiling and joking in the hospital bed, having earlier been pumped full of lethal gun shot wounds, to the chest. It felt like I got a bit cheated. Still, the film moved, but yeah, it felt a bit unbalanced, like the director or writers or whoever in charge, where not sure how to sell the movie, and decided to just try and fit everything and all, into the mix, and it worked very well, in some parts, others not so much. Anyway, I rated it with a 6/10, so I did enjoy it, but if only the first 40-45 minutes would be backed up, with a similar approach, I might just have had to pick up a DVD of it. But know, I doubt it. Malone however, that is one I will hopefully get around to see, soon.
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Post by mgmarshall on Jun 3, 2021 11:59:11 GMT
 Angel TownMan, this is that special kind of bad action movie. It'd be right at home as part of a double feature with something like Samurai Cop or Miami Connection. Olivier Grunier seems like a perfectly competent, talented fighter, but as an actor he makes Jean-Claude Van Damme look like f*cking Daniel Day-Lewis. He is astoundingly awful in this. It's almost as if Tommy Wiseau learned martial arts. But hey, it was his first time acting, I'll cut him a little slack. The rest of the cast around him is no great shakes, either. Teresa Saldana is perfectly fine though given little of any substance to do (and the movie rather unnecessarily and off-puttingly has her beaten and sexually assaulted once the plot needs her out of the way) . Frank Aragon is just as wooden as Grunier, but without the impenetrable French accent, so he's nowhere near as entertaining. Tony Valentino, on the other hand, is wonderfully hammy as the weaselly, Uzi-toting gang leader, Angel. He's backed up by what has to be the most cartoonish, borderline-racist depiction of a Latino street gang I've ever seen in my life (oh, and Marc Dacascos pops up as a gang member in an atrocious 90's sweater only to get his ass handed to him by Grunier after one brief fight scene). Take a shot every time one of them calls somebody "homes" and see if you're still alive by the end of the movie. Improbably, the best performance in the entire cast might be from Mike Moroff- y'know, he's the guy who played that "F*ck me!" store robber in Robocop. But enough about the non-acting, how about the plot? Well, oddly enough, it's basically Gran Torino- street gang wants local kid to join, he doesn't wanna do it, so they're harassing his family and our hero has to stand up for them, while helping the kid learn to defend himself. Except replace "elderly war vet neighbor" with "beef-headed, French martial artist." And replace all that grim, stoic soul-searching Clint Eastwood did about aging and mortality with Olivier Grunier kicking people in the face a lot. The story does drag a little bit in the middle, but by the end it picks up again in a massive, jumbled street fight/shootout between like twelve guys at one time. The action is so cluttered and incompetently staged it could practically pass as the finale to one of the Dolemite movies. Also this could be the fault of my DVD, but I could swear it looks like the movie was shot on three different film stocks. Anywho, I've spent long enough on this. The DVD also includes another Grunier movie- Nemesis, which I've come to understand has a minor cult following. I'll see how that one fares with me...
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Post by stefancrosscoe on Jun 4, 2021 10:08:32 GMT
Angel TownMan, this is that special kind of bad action movie. It'd be right at home as part of a double feature with something like Samurai Cop or Miami Connection. Olivier Grunier seems like a perfectly competent, talented fighter, but as an actor he makes Jean-Claude Van Damme look like f*cking Daniel Day-Lewis. He is astoundingly awful in this. It's almost as if Tommy Wiseau learned martial arts. But hey, it was his first time acting, I'll cut him a little slack. The rest of the cast around him is no great shakes, either. Teresa Saldana is perfectly fine though given little of any substance to do (and the movie rather unnecessarily and off-puttingly has her beaten and sexually assaulted once the plot needs her out of the way) . Frank Aragon is just as wooden as Grunier, but without the impenetrable French accent, so he's nowhere near as entertaining. Tony Valentino, on the other hand, is wonderfully hammy as the weaselly, Uzi-toting gang leader, Angel. He's backed up by what has to be the most cartoonish, borderline-racist depiction of a Latino street gang I've ever seen in my life (oh, and Marc Dacascos pops up as a gang member in an atrocious 90's sweater only to get his ass handed to him by Grunier after one brief fight scene). Take a shot every time one of them calls somebody "homes" and see if you're still alive by the end of the movie. Improbably, the best performance in the entire cast might be from Mike Moroff- y'know, he's the guy who played that "F*ck me!" store robber in Robocop. But enough about the non-acting, how about the plot? Well, oddly enough, it's basically Gran Torino- street gang wants local kid to join, he doesn't wanna do it, so they're harassing his family and our hero has to stand up for them, while helping the kid learn to defend himself. Except replace "elderly war vet neighbor" with "beef-headed, French martial artist." And replace all that grim, stoic soul-searching Clint Eastwood did about aging and mortality with Olivier Grunier kicking people in the face a lot. The story does drag a little bit in the middle, but by the end it picks up again in a massive, jumbled street fight/shootout between like twelve guys at one time. The action is so cluttered and incompetently staged it could practically pass as the finale to one of the Dolemite movies. Also this could be the fault of my DVD, but I could swear it looks like the movie was shot on three different film stocks. Anywho, I've spent long enough on this. The DVD also includes another Grunier movie- Nemesis, which I've come to understand has a minor cult following. I'll see how that one fares with me... I guess you pretty much summed up, how took notice of his "acting skills", in a few of his more random made, martial arts releases. I think he is quite handy, as a fighter, but too stiff, to be either likeable or charming, as the lead. However, Nemesis (a while ago), almost made me change my mind, as I remember (well, did not love it, but gotta say it was less terrible, than expected) he put in a rather solid performance. Not seen the film you reviewed, and not sure if I will get there, any time soon. However, it sounds like quite a ride. So thanks for the write up.  Speaking of the Nemesis movies, I believe Albert Pyun, made a franchise out of that one, and I had seen one of the much later follow ups, which I thought were horrible and very boring, but the first one, surely is anything but that. So maybe you might find it to be a pleasant surprise.
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Post by stefancrosscoe on Jun 4, 2021 10:30:33 GMT
I had a few re-watches, of the early 90s work, of Mark L. Lester, and I guess he became more and more frustrated with how the studios edited and butchered his work, so he decided to leave the big budget films, and head into more of lesser budget straight to video releases, which I gotta say, sounds pretty bad, but in a way, most of the films of Lester, has usually had the grindhouse/b-movie feel and look to them, even when handling big budget titles and names, such as Firestarter (1984), Commando (1985) and Armed and Dangerous (1986), but he seemed to continune on, making fast paced and very fun b-movies, far into the 90s. A shame, it did not work out better for him, as he seemed to thrive, in doing action and sci-fi/thrillers, but when you have people cutting out 10-15 minutes of your movies, I understand you have to draw a line. Anyway, I already posted a thread/review for Showdown in Little Tokyo, a few years ago. So not much else to change on how I feel about it:  "We've got a problem here. There are more bad guys than we've got bullets."In a desperate attempt of trying to find an answer on how to deal with the ruthless Japanese crime syndicate of the Los Angeles underworld, the LAPD decides to bring in two very different kind of police officers. Chris Kenner (Dolph Lundgren) an martial art expert with a tragic background from Japan along with his new and much more laidback, street-tough city cop partner, Johnny Murata (Brandon Lee). This unlikely duo is set up in order to use their skills and knowledge to infiltrate and find a way to stop the Yakuza, but first they must do something far more dangerous and that is to find a way of getting along without killing each other.A "hidden" early 90s gem when it comes to action films and specially buddy-cop releases, where we get to see Dolph Lundgren and Brandon Lee team up against the ruthless the Yakuza led by the menacing Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as a sadistic crime boss who likes to rape and behead beautiful young women and who in the brutal part as Funekei Yoshida is later on revealed as the reason behind a tragic history that have a link up with Chris Kenner (Lundgren). In all of the chaos, the always stunning Tia Carrere shows up as Minako Okeya another victim of Yoshida's nasty lifestyle and who ends up becoming a part of the team to go up against the Yakuza. Directed by Mark L. Lester this is maybe not a "great" film, however it is filled with lots of fun and ridiculous over-the-top scenes, fights, one-liners along with many familiar faces and as mentioned Tia Carrere. I really liked the chemistry between Dolph and Brandon, they were a great team, and Brandon had some hilarious lines, which I had to almost skip back the first time I saw, thinking "Did he just say what I think he did?" and it just added on to the laughable but funny plot and characters. Anyway, the only "downpart" is that the film only last for about 76 minutes but that is just nitpicking, as the pace and story works very well. As with any self-respectable buddy-cop action films, this one also comes along with explosive action and over-the-top fight scenes, torture scenes, female nudity, lots of swearing, violence, car chases, stereotypical henchmen, ridiculous lines and of course its very own deep and moving training montage.   Having re-watched it, a couple of weeks ago. I end up with rating it a 7/10, and yeah, great cheesy fun, for a late night friday, with some cold drinks and a hot pizza to go with it. The torture scene with the sadistic "doctor", standing right between the main guys, all making these hilarious grunting noises and ridiculous facial expressions, constantly shouting and mouthing off to each other, comedy gold and cracks me up, every time I watch it.  Night of the Running Man (1995) by Mark L. Lester A tired and depressive cab driver (Andrew McCarthy), who has put life on the wait, in hopes of better times, suddenly ends up getting thrown to the wolves, as one of his customers is brutally murdered, right in fron of him, and all of sudden, he is left on his own, along with a suitcase, full of money.
Sadly for him, the money belongs to a wealthy and ruthless mobster, and pretty soon a sadistic hitman (Scott Glenn) is put on the case, in order to get back his stolen goods, but also to wipe out any witnesses.Night of the Running Man, is now where near a "ground breaking" movie, but I have always enjoyed it, for its fun and fast paced plot and performances, where it takes no prisoners, and moves in rapid speed, with solid action, rather brutal (at times) fighting and other nasty scenes, quick replies/one-liners, and since Lester is quite the official titties man, you can be sure he includes some big breasted women, showing their goodies on the screen as well. However, what truly makes this, more than just another "typical" late night b-movie cable flick, is the slimy and sadistic performances by Andrew McCarthy, Scott Glenn and John Glover as well. Glenn and Glover, damn these guys, I mean having Glenn hot on your tale, stabbing and killing of people all over the place, to get you, and then Glover, with his "special treatment" as well, yeah, but it kind of evens out, as the anti-hero does hook up with a very fine nurse, with a heart of gold, even if it migth feel a bit hasty, it still does not hurt the movie and plot, or so I believe. All in all, quite a solid video release, and one that is great for a late night watch, during summer times. 6/10 |
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Post by lostinlimbo on Jun 7, 2021 0:02:19 GMT
Angel TownMan, this is that special kind of bad action movie. It'd be right at home as part of a double feature with something like Samurai Cop or Miami Connection. Olivier Grunier seems like a perfectly competent, talented fighter, but as an actor he makes Jean-Claude Van Damme look like f*cking Daniel Day-Lewis. He is astoundingly awful in this. It's almost as if Tommy Wiseau learned martial arts. But hey, it was his first time acting, I'll cut him a little slack. The rest of the cast around him is no great shakes, either. Teresa Saldana is perfectly fine though given little of any substance to do (and the movie rather unnecessarily and off-puttingly has her beaten and sexually assaulted once the plot needs her out of the way) . Frank Aragon is just as wooden as Grunier, but without the impenetrable French accent, so he's nowhere near as entertaining. Tony Valentino, on the other hand, is wonderfully hammy as the weaselly, Uzi-toting gang leader, Angel. He's backed up by what has to be the most cartoonish, borderline-racist depiction of a Latino street gang I've ever seen in my life (oh, and Marc Dacascos pops up as a gang member in an atrocious 90's sweater only to get his ass handed to him by Grunier after one brief fight scene). Take a shot every time one of them calls somebody "homes" and see if you're still alive by the end of the movie. Improbably, the best performance in the entire cast might be from Mike Moroff- y'know, he's the guy who played that "F*ck me!" store robber in Robocop. But enough about the non-acting, how about the plot? Well, oddly enough, it's basically Gran Torino- street gang wants local kid to join, he doesn't wanna do it, so they're harassing his family and our hero has to stand up for them, while helping the kid learn to defend himself. Except replace "elderly war vet neighbor" with "beef-headed, French martial artist." And replace all that grim, stoic soul-searching Clint Eastwood did about aging and mortality with Olivier Grunier kicking people in the face a lot. The story does drag a little bit in the middle, but by the end it picks up again in a massive, jumbled street fight/shootout between like twelve guys at one time. The action is so cluttered and incompetently staged it could practically pass as the finale to one of the Dolemite movies. Also this could be the fault of my DVD, but I could swear it looks like the movie was shot on three different film stocks. Anywho, I've spent long enough on this. The DVD also includes another Grunier movie- Nemesis, which I've come to understand has a minor cult following. I'll see how that one fares with me... His awkwardness, voice and delivery of the dialogues was very Tommy Wiseau. Just close your eyes and you can picture it. Even in spite of its shortcomings, Angel Town was entertaining. It was reminding me of ‘Defiance’ starring Jan Micheal Vincent.
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Post by lostinlimbo on Jun 7, 2021 0:26:58 GMT
I had a few re-watches, of the early 90s work, of Mark L. Lester, and I guess he became more and more frustrated with how the studios edited and butchered his work, so he decided to leave the big budget films, and head into more of lesser budget straight to video releases, which I gotta say, sounds pretty bad, but in a way, most of the films of Lester, has usually had the grindhouse/b-movie feel and look to them, even when handling big budget titles and names, such as Firestarter (1984), Commando (1985) and Armed and Dangerous (1986), but he seemed to continune on, making fast paced and very fun b-movies, far into the 90s. A shame, it did not work out better for him, as he seemed to thrive, in doing action and sci-fi/thrillers, but when you have people cutting out 10-15 minutes of your movies, I understand you have to draw a line. Night of the Running Man (1995) by Mark L. Lester A tired and depressive cab driver (Andrew McCarthy), who has put life on the wait, in hopes of better times, suddenly ends up getting thrown to the wolves, as one of his customers is brutally murdered, right in fron of him, and all of sudden, he is left on his own, along with a suitcase, full of money.
Sadly for him, the money belongs to a wealthy and ruthless mobster, and pretty soon a sadistic hitman (Scott Glenn) is put on the case, in order to get back his stolen goods, but also to wipe out any witnesses.Night of the Running Man, is now where near a "ground breaking" movie, but I have always enjoyed it, for its fun and fast paced plot and performances, where it takes no prisoners, and moves in rapid speed, with solid action, rather brutal (at times) fighting and other nasty scenes, quick replies/one-liners, and since Lester is quite the official titties man, you can be sure he includes some big breasted women, showing their goodies on the screen as well. However, what truly makes this, more than just another "typical" late night b-movie cable flick, is the slimy and sadistic performances by Andrew McCarthy, Scott Glenn and John Glover as well. Glenn and Glover, damn these guys, I mean having Glenn hot on your tale, stabbing and killing of people all over the place, to get you, and then Glover, with his "special treatment" as well, yeah, but it kind of evens out, as the anti-hero does hook up with a very fine nurse, with a heart of gold, even if it migth feel a bit hasty, it still does not hurt the movie and plot, or so I believe. All in all, quite a solid video release, and one that is great for a late night watch, during summer times. 6/10The cast were great in Night of the Running Man. Especially Scott Glenn. Have you seen Lester’s ‘Extreme Justice’? Also starred Scott Glenn. The story is rather generic. Corrupt cops (a secret death squad) seen through the eyes of a rookie cop (Lou Diamond Phillips). Still Lester didn’t disappoint when it came to staging the action.
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Post by lostinlimbo on Jun 7, 2021 0:30:18 GMT
 Iron Monkey 1993 |
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Post by stefancrosscoe on Jun 7, 2021 13:45:03 GMT
Have you seen Lester’s ‘Extreme Justice’? Also starred Scott Glenn. The story is rather generic. Corrupt cops (a secret death squad) seen through the eyes of a rookie cop (Lou Diamond Phillips). Still Lester didn’t disappoint when it came to staging the action. No, not yet. I guess it is one of those titles, I am aware of, and notice is lying around on Youtube or other places. So with that in mind, I should probably head into that direction, soon. Anyway, it looks like a fun flick, and with both Glenn and Phillips in the lead, I guess it will hopefully end up with a pleasant ride.
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Post by sostie on Jun 7, 2021 15:02:14 GMT
Unthinkable (aka Den blomstertid nu kommer) (2018)
Bit of a slow burn for nearly the whole first half of the film setting up character background. But when the action kicks in it's pretty well executed. Compared to Cloverfield, but at times closer to The Happening...but not "that type" of either film.
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Post by Archelaus on Jun 7, 2021 15:10:55 GMT
 Clear and Present Danger (1994) - 8/10 |
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Post by mgmarshall on Jun 10, 2021 2:01:51 GMT
 NemesisWell, it's better than Angel Town, anyway. I can see why this one secured the cult following it has, especially in the 90's. It's really got that whole grungy, cyberpunk aesthetic that every sci-fi actioner was trying to pull off for years after Blade Runner. And as far as that goes, this movie does look pretty cool, and it has some effective, memorably gruesome cyborg make up effects. (Although the budget limitations do kinda show by the end when Grunier is fighting a pretty shitty-looking stop-motion exoskeleton.) Grunier's still pretty bad, but at least this time he's supported by a strong cast including Tim Thomerson, Brion James, Deborah Shelton, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, a sleazy ancillary antagonist bit for Thom Mathews, and blink-and-you'll-miss-them appearances from Thomas Jane and Jackie Earle Haley. Albert Pyun definitely brings some real directorial action-schlock moxie to the table, and stages quite a few inspired, batshit set pieces, including Grunier shooting his way down through several floors of a hotel. It's like a Tom and Jerry cartoon, I love it.
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