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Post by Captain Spencer on Jun 30, 2021 3:56:03 GMT
Revenge Of The Ninja (1983) After most of his family was slaughtered in Japan, a ninjutsu martial artist moves to the United States to open an art gallery. Little does he know is that his partner (who also studied ninjutsu) is using the business as a front for a drug-smuggling operation. Out of all the 1980s ninja movies I've seen this one's my favorite. Tons of brutal, gory action with amazing fight choreography; has enough action to fill about three movies. A definite improvement over the inferior Enter The Ninja.
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Post by stefancrosscoe on Jun 30, 2021 8:11:42 GMT
Crazy SixWell, this was just flat-out awful. Visually stylish, but downright incoherent narratively. Between all the awkward slow-motion, crossfades, and vibrant lighting choices, it almost looks like Albert Pyun is deliberately trying to ape David Lynch's visual style. But where Lynch uses those tools to create a tone of menace and dread among the banal, Pyun seems to be using them just to use them. Ah well, I guess it's at least an interesting look for an action movie; shame there's not much of a story to go along with it. Rob Lowe looks pretty fit and healthy for supposedly being a burnt out Eastern European crack addict, almost as if they just slapped a cheap wig and a mustache on him and called it quits there. Ivana Miličević is fairly awful as the love interest, but she has an okay singing voice (if she isn't dubbed). Ice-T is given very little to do aside from sitting around looking vaguely villainous until he decides get off his ass and actually be in the movie in its last ten minutes. Mario van Peebles at least seems like he's having fun playing a flamboyant, chihuahua-toting, French (?) crime boss, but he too is given practically nothing to do other than popping up here and there. Burt Reynolds wanders around the periphery of the story, wearing a ten gallon hat and crabbily mumbling his lines. It's like he doesn't wanna be there, and knowing Burt that was probably the case. Oh, and Thom Mathews (whom I most recently saw in Pyun's Nemesis) has a substantial supporting role. He's fine. All in all, despite the couple decent names in the cast, there's just not all that much interesting stuff going on in this one. Never seen this, but sounds like one that I guess I am in no hurry to catch up with. I have often went in, hoping to love some of Pyun and his films, at least those during the 80s and early 90s. I still think Cyborg (1989) and Radioactive Dreams (1985) are the two that I enjoyed the most. Cyborg for its pure cheese and fast paced "story", ridiculous villains and the hot female sidekick, always forgot her name, but yeah, also one of the earliest Van Damme films I remember from childhood. Radioactive Dreams, I just recently saw, and thought it was both funny and impressive in the stylished and cool combination of music video looking sets and use of lights and colors, along with two solid performances by the leads, and a kicking soundtrack as well. But yeah, Albert often seems to focus more on the visuals and action, rather than the story and characters, but I doubt I will ever complete all of his releases, still have few I might like to give a look, such as re-watching the Lance Henriksen post-apocalyptic early 90s film, Knights, which I do remember seeing a few times, on night cable, but never found on DVD or Blu-ray.
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Post by stefancrosscoe on Jun 30, 2021 8:19:41 GMT
Revenge Of The Ninja (1983) After most of his family was slaughtered in Japan, a ninjutsu martial artist moves to the United States to open an art gallery. Little does he know is that his partner (who also studied ninjutsu) is using the business as a front for a drug-smuggling operation. Out of all the 1980s ninja movies I've seen this one's my favorite. Tons of brutal, gory action with amazing fight choreography; has enough action to fill about three movies. A definite improvement over the inferior Enter The Ninja. That movie poster, is surely among the coolest looking, from the heyday of the ninja craze, which surely Cannon Pictures made into a bit of a goldmine, and while I have not seen either of Enter the Ninja or Revenge of the Ninja, for a long while, I do remember enjoying both films, very much, but the latter surely were on another level. Sadly, my nordic DVD release, has done some terrible cuts of Enter the Ninja, and I will be planning on re-purchasing it, hopefully one that is uncut. Have still not seen Ninja III: The Domination, but picked it up just recently, and yeah, from what I have been hearing, reading and seeing of some clips and trailers from the net, it looks like I am in for something different, with that one.
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mgmarshall
Junior Member
@mgmarshall
Posts: 2,052
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Post by mgmarshall on Jun 30, 2021 20:51:10 GMT
BlastAnother Pyun effort. This one is at least better than Crazy Six, but that doesn't change the fact that this was one of the most dull, rote, by-the-numbers action movies I've ever seen. Even among Die Hard knock-offs, this movie barely does anything to distinguish itself from the pack. Oh, and speaking of that, despite the movie blatantly being a rip-off of Die Hard, they actually have the balls to to tastelessly evoke the 1996 Atlanta bombings in the opening text crawl, claiming the movie is some kind of "alternate history." It's an incredibly bad foot to start off on. Linden Ashby is fine, though just as bland and generic as the movie around him, as our McClane-of-the-moment, a former Olympic martial artist turned janitor. Andrew Divoff isn't too bad as the Hans Gruber equivalent. Filling in for Al Powell as man on the ground is the late, great legend himself, Rutger Hauer. Sadly, Rutger seems to have been on the same pay scale in this one as Burt Reynolds was in Crazy Six- he spends the majority of his screen time filmed separately from the main action, in tight close ups in a darkened room, mumbling to himself. Also, very bizarrely and distractingly, Rutger appears to have been made up as a Native American- full braids and red makeup and everything. I have no idea why, it never comes up in any pertinent way. Just odd. I would feel bad for Rutger in all this, but let's face it- this movie is just one in a whole host of indignities his later career subjected him to. Oh, and Thom Mathews pops up yet again as the Ellis of this movie, pulling off the worminess of the role just fine. I guess he and Albert Pyun were joined at the hip in the 90's. That, or Pyun was the only one offering him roles. What ultimately hamstrings this movie more than anything is just how obviously the low budget shows. It's clear from moment one that they just had a swimming pool or a Y.M.C.A. or something like that available for filming and desperately tried to build an action movie around that one location. It's pretty cheap. Plus, they clearly weren't allowed to actually use the word "Olympics." Every time they're mentioned, it's just "the Games." It's hilarious. In the end, if I want Die Hard set at a sporting event, I'll take Sudden Death any day. Then again, I suppose that comparison is a little unfair. Sudden Death truly is the Cadillac of Die Hard clones.
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Post by Popeye Doyle on Jun 30, 2021 21:15:34 GMT
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Post by stefancrosscoe on Jul 2, 2021 9:34:38 GMT
BlastAnother Pyun effort. This one is at least better than Crazy Six, but that doesn't change the fact that this was one of the most dull, rote, by-the-numbers action movies I've ever seen. Even among Die Hard knock-offs, this movie barely does anything to distinguish itself from the pack. Oh, and speaking of that, despite the movie blatantly being a rip-off of Die Hard, they actually have the balls to to tastelessly evoke the 1996 Atlanta bombings in the opening text crawl, claiming the movie is some kind of "alternate history." It's an incredibly bad foot to start off on. Linden Ashby is fine, though just as bland and generic as the movie around him, as our McClane-of-the-moment, a former Olympic martial artist turned janitor. Andrew Divoff isn't too bad as the Hans Gruber equivalent. Filling in for Al Powell as man on the ground is the late, great legend himself, Rutger Hauer. Sadly, Rutger seems to have been on the same pay scale in this one as Burt Reynolds was in Crazy Six- he spends the majority of his screen time filmed separately from the main action, in tight close ups in a darkened room, mumbling to himself. Also, very bizarrely and distractingly, Rutger appears to have been made up as a Native American- full braids and red makeup and everything. I have no idea why, it never comes up in any pertinent way. Just odd. I would feel bad for Rutger in all this, but let's face it- this movie is just one in a whole host of indignities his later career subjected him to. Oh, and Thom Mathews pops up yet again as the Ellis of this movie, pulling off the worminess of the role just fine. I guess he and Albert Pyun were joined at the hip in the 90's. That, or Pyun was the only one offering him roles. What ultimately hamstrings this movie more than anything is just how obviously the low budget shows. It's clear from moment one that they just had a swimming pool or a Y.M.C.A. or something like that available for filming and desperately tried to build an action movie around that one location. It's pretty cheap. Plus, they clearly weren't allowed to actually use the word "Olympics." Every time they're mentioned, it's just "the Games." It's hilarious. In the end, if I want Die Hard set at a sporting event, I'll take Sudden Death any day. Then again, I suppose that comparison is a little unfair. Sudden Death truly is the Cadillac of Die Hard clones. I knew something was familiar with that title, but the poster were not, still I did waste money and time on this trashy b-movie, back in late summer of 2017, think I wrote a review in this thread back then as well. However, what save it from an even worse rating, was the hilarious cheese, which surely Rutger Hauer put into his character, but even then, it was barely watchable for most of the time, and yeah, surely one of the worst Die Hard knock-offs of the 90s. Should do fine, fitting along with another terrible Die Hard clone, in Skyscraper (1996), starring Anna Nicole Smith in the role of John McClane, well, if he suddenly turned into a big chested blond female.
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Post by theravenking on Jul 2, 2021 11:26:10 GMT
Boss Level (2021) I have a soft spot for time-loop films and Boss Level looked like it could be a fun combination of Groundhog Day and Crank. Joe Carnahan certainly had a lot to atone for after the awful Stretch. Sadly Boss Level is not the comeback I was hoping for. Frank Grillo plays Roy Pulver, a war veteran who for some reason keeps reliving the same day, which starts with some goons attacking him in bed, continuing with an assortment of henchmen and women hunting him to death. His wife (Naomi Watts) works as a scientist for a dubious tycoon named Craig Venter (Mel Gibson), and her experiments might have something to do with Roy being stuck in time. With each repeated day Roy acquires new survival skills while trying to figure out what's happening to him. Watching the movie I kept wondering what the budget might've been, because from the beginning the film gives of a distinct B-movie vibe (meaning it looks a bit cheap) which it never manages to shake off. It seems it cost 45 million, which would be more than the first John Wick, but unlike that movie Boss Level lacks a strong visual identity, camera-work, set and costume design are disappointingly average. The action relies heavily on CGI, the fight choreography is nothing special and the antagonists although colourful and somewhat unique (In what other movie do you get a mean dwarf with a grenade or two German assassin brothers who happen to be black?) have too little personality. They are clearly supposed to be an homage to video game characters, but they are not as much fun as they could've been. Perhaps a considerable chunk of the budget was spent on attracting some recognizable names to the project such as Naomi Watts, Mel Gibson or Michelle Yeoh (whose appearence is not more than a cameo). Watts plays the protagonists's wife and she does a solid job but there is not much chemistry between her and Frank Grillo. Gibson has two longer speeches and is otherwise wasted and Yeoh who plays a fight trainer, mentor figure barely registers. Still the first half is quite entertaining, but once Carnahan starts introducing more serious elements to the plot, the film slows down considerably and the theme of an absentee father trying to reconnect with his neglected son is hardly the freshest idea. Boss Level lacks the budget and sophistication of the somewhat similar Edge Of Tomorrow, but it shares the former movies major weakness, a rather lacklustre and contrived ending which comes so abruptly that you wonder whether the last few pages of the script got lost. While there might be worse ways to spend a couple of hours, Boss Level sadly didn't live up to its potential. 5/10
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Post by louise on Jul 3, 2021 10:33:41 GMT
Brannigan (1975). Highly enjoyable with John Wayne as a Chicago policeman chasing crooks in London. Especially enjoyed seeing John Wayne chuck Tony Robinson in the Thames.
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Post by stefancrosscoe on Jul 5, 2021 15:04:32 GMT
Off Limits (1988) by Christopher Crowe One of many Vietnam themed films, which got made during the 80s, and where Willem Dafoe and Gregory Hines has some great chemistry going on, as two detectives, on the chase for a brutal serial killer, set in the chaotic city of Saigon 1968. I guess this is more of a action-thriller, with a dose of the buddy-cop formula thrown in, rather than just another war drama, and also in lesser parts, you got names like Fred Ward and Scott Glenn showing up as well. For my part, I thought the film would benefit of having more of Glenn and his absolute insanse character, but sadly that was not to be, and I thought the film kind of went down hill, after his part, and the film ended up on a typical poorly delivered Hollywood thriller ending, which seemed like a bit of a disappointment, after so many great and thrilling moments. The atmosphere is also another solid effect here, very lively and nasty at times, but yeah, great stuff by Dafoe and Hines, but one of those films I kind of felt could have been a bit better, as it seemed to lose steam for the last part. 6,5/10
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mgmarshall
Junior Member
@mgmarshall
Posts: 2,052
Likes: 3,300
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Post by mgmarshall on Jul 5, 2021 15:42:12 GMT
Off Limits (1988) by Christopher Crowe One of many Vietnam themed films, which got made during the 80s, and where Willem Dafoe and Gregory Hines has some great chemistry going on, as two detectives, on the chase for a brutal serial killer, set in the chaotic city of Saigon 1968. I guess this is more of a action-thriller, with a dose of the buddy-cop formula thrown in, rather than just another war drama, and also in lesser parts, you got names like Fred Ward and Scott Glenn showing up as well. For my part, I thought the film would benefit of having more of Glenn and his absolute insanse character, but sadly that was not to be, and I thought the film kind of went down hill, after his part, and the film ended up on a typical poorly delivered Hollywood thriller ending, which seemed like a bit of a disappointment, after so many great and thrilling moments. The atmosphere is also another solid effect here, very lively and nasty at times, but yeah, great stuff by Dafoe and Hines, but one of those films I kind of felt could have been a bit better, as it seemed to lose steam for the last part. 6,5/10 That sounds interesting, never heard of that one.
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Post by Captain Spencer on Jul 5, 2021 17:08:06 GMT
Off Limits (1988) by Christopher Crowe One of many Vietnam themed films, which got made during the 80s, and where Willem Dafoe and Gregory Hines has some great chemistry going on, as two detectives, on the chase for a brutal serial killer, set in the chaotic city of Saigon 1968. I guess this is more of a action-thriller, with a dose of the buddy-cop formula thrown in, rather than just another war drama, and also in lesser parts, you got names like Fred Ward and Scott Glenn showing up as well. For my part, I thought the film would benefit of having more of Glenn and his absolute insanse character, but sadly that was not to be, and I thought the film kind of went down hill, after his part, and the film ended up on a typical poorly delivered Hollywood thriller ending, which seemed like a bit of a disappointment, after so many great and thrilling moments. The atmosphere is also another solid effect here, very lively and nasty at times, but yeah, great stuff by Dafoe and Hines, but one of those films I kind of felt could have been a bit better, as it seemed to lose steam for the last part. 6,5/10 My god, I haven't seen this one since it was first released on VHS. Can't even remember if I liked it or not. Definitely time for a revisit.
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Post by lostinlimbo on Jul 6, 2021 11:28:15 GMT
Off Limits (1988) by Christopher Crowe One of many Vietnam themed films, which got made during the 80s, and where Willem Dafoe and Gregory Hines has some great chemistry going on, as two detectives, on the chase for a brutal serial killer, set in the chaotic city of Saigon 1968. I guess this is more of a action-thriller, with a dose of the buddy-cop formula thrown in, rather than just another war drama, and also in lesser parts, you got names like Fred Ward and Scott Glenn showing up as well. For my part, I thought the film would benefit of having more of Glenn and his absolute insanse character, but sadly that was not to be, and I thought the film kind of went down hill, after his part, and the film ended up on a typical poorly delivered Hollywood thriller ending, which seemed like a bit of a disappointment, after so many great and thrilling moments. The atmosphere is also another solid effect here, very lively and nasty at times, but yeah, great stuff by Dafoe and Hines, but one of those films I kind of felt could have been a bit better, as it seemed to lose steam for the last part. 6,5/10 I like this one, but the reveal behind the serial killer is foreseeable. Still there were a few exciting, and quite intense set-pieces. Really captured the dangers of its surroundings too. Scott Glenn was indeed great despite a minor role. The helicopter sequence was probably one of the film’s best moments.
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Post by lostinlimbo on Jul 6, 2021 11:48:41 GMT
Lionman (1975) aka The Sword and the Claw Ridiculous and hokey low-budget Turkish action-fantasy with a run-of-the-mill premise infused with silly story beats and insane action, as the title character leaps about clawing faces and throats in a constant bloodbath of non-stop mayhem. The dubbing also adds to the charm.
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Post by stefancrosscoe on Jul 8, 2021 7:38:35 GMT
I like this one, but the reveal behind the serial killer is foreseeable. Still there were a few exciting, and quite intense set-pieces. Really captured the dangers of its surroundings too. Scott Glenn was indeed great despite a minor role. The helicopter sequence was probably one of the film’s best moments. Yeah, somehow, I kind of almost expected Glenn to re-appear near the end, but I guess it was probably for the best, he did not, as the helicopter scene would maybe have not stuck out, as much as it did. Also, forgot to mention, that Hines sure seeemed to have a "thing", for trying to rip off peoples balls, as he would over and over, threaten to do so, during the film.
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Post by stefancrosscoe on Jul 8, 2021 7:42:28 GMT
Lionman (1975) aka The Sword and the Claw Ridiculous and hokey low-budget Turkish action-fantasy with a run-of-the-mill premise infused with silly story beats and insane action, as the title character leaps about clawing faces and throats in a constant bloodbath of non-stop mayhem. The dubbing also adds to the charm. Some pretty damn intense stuff, right there. Looks like a hilarious combination of Wolverine and Hands of Steel, only done a few decades earlier than the ones mentioned, and most likely with a budget that no where near, yet I kind of want to see it.
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Post by stefancrosscoe on Jul 8, 2021 7:56:06 GMT
Command Performance (2009) by Dolph Lundgren Well, another round of "classic" DTV, eastern-european action, and this time it is not through Seagal, Van Damme or Snipes in the lead, but Dolph Lundgren, who also is the director and co-writer of this action release. Here he is playing a pot-smoking drummer, from a rock band who gets the opportunity of a lifetime, to appear at a charity music show, for the poor, warming up for some russian pop star. Sadly, a bunch of bad guys soon show up, and steals the entire scenery, all while trying to kill some important political names. However, they did not expect some ex-biker turned drummer, named Joe, to come save the day, after being locked away in the toilets, and pretty soon he uses every musical instrument he can land his hands on, in order to kill off as many terrorists as possible, and save the day. Sure, this is your usual Lundgren b-movie, yet it does contain some absolute hilarious moments, even if the story drags on after a while. Stuff like the cheap attempt of having this far too young pop bimbo, being all flirty with Lundgren, or the generic looking villains, well, I guess for a cheap Die Hard rip-off, it could have been way worse, and it did move pretty fast, still it was kind of fun to watch Dolph behind the drums, rocking it out, and then later on using his drumsticks to punch a hole into the face of an opponent, then crashing some poor bastards head in, with a guitar. But yeah, another pretty forgettable DTV release, that never reaches above the rating of: 4/10
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Post by FridayOnElmStreet on Jul 8, 2021 7:59:58 GMT
5/10 - Silly, dumb and overblown but actually gets pretty exciting in the last 20 minutes.
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Post by stefancrosscoe on Jul 8, 2021 8:07:31 GMT
5/10 - Silly, dumb and overblown but actually gets pretty exciting in the last 20 minutes. I feel those words, sums up most of the films I have seen of Vin Diesel through the years. Sadly, very few of them have been ever close of being all that exciting, or at least in a way that means I want to keep them in my movie collection, or end up with a better rating, than the usual 4/10 or 5/10s. However, the guy has got it made, not sure how many Fast and Furious films they will keep making, but somehow the xXx franchise, I believe stopped at 2 or 3 films? And was it only two times, that Vin appeared in the leading part?
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Post by stefancrosscoe on Jul 8, 2021 8:11:50 GMT
That sounds interesting, never heard of that one. Yeah, I kind of just a few weeks ago, noticed this one, then decided to give it a closer look, and I gotta say, I feel it has some potential for a better re-watch later on. Along with, I believe Bat21, with Gene Hackman, among the probably lesser known, or successfull Vietnam/war action films of the late 80s, but which I thought were well acted and worth a watch, for fans of the war-action genre of that time. Sadly, my nordic DVD release, did not include the awesome movie poster, instead it had a pretty dull and cheap looking DTV artwork.
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Post by stefancrosscoe on Jul 8, 2021 8:18:01 GMT
Brannigan (1975). Highly enjoyable with John Wayne as a Chicago policeman chasing crooks in London. Especially enjoyed seeing John Wayne chuck Tony Robinson in the Thames. Never seen this one, but I did caught up with a pretty Dirty Harry stylished and enjoyable cop-action thriller, with the mid 70s John Wayne film, McQ.
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