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Post by stefancrosscoe on Jul 12, 2017 13:56:43 GMT
Recoil (1998) PM Entertainment strikes, once again. This time they almost succeed, well at least when it comes to the action part, that is. The first 18-20 minutes is a complete and explosive mayhem of car chases, explosions, gun fights, martial arts, and it is like they just decided to spend almost the entire budget of the whole of 1998 on the first few scenes, like it was a "best of" music video by PM Entertainment. Sadly, the film is just too weak, acting/plot wise to keep the pace up, and we end up seeing martial art turned "actor" Gary Daniels kill and beat up somewhere between 30-40 bad guys, for the next 60 minutes and while I did enjoy some of the action/fights that kept going on throughout the runtime, it was not really that impressive. Some Italian mafioso wants to avenge one of his sons who got killed during a failed bank robbery, and his hatred is released upon 5-6 cops who was seen involved in the killing of his son. One by one, they are all taken out, well almost. Gary Daniels ends up surviving the hit attempt, but his family did not. Now, Daniels wants revenge on the father who wanted revenge over the death of his son. And every time we see Daniels try to "act" all serious and sad, the film just ends up turning into another "so-bad-its-almost-funny" b-movie. He is no Van Damme, that is for sure, but I gotta admit his fighting style/skills was really cool at times, but his screen/persona was just as wooden and unlikeable as Lorenzo Lamas, and that is my main problem with PM Entertainment. They seem to deliver the action pretty well, but almost every "good" heroic main figure is just too damn douchy/unlikeable, and I understand they could not afford the likes of Schwarzenegger, Sly Stallone or Van Damme/Seagal etc, but still there must have been some martial arts guys out there in the business, that came along with what might be some kind of a personality. Anyway, Recoil is impressive in the action department, and in fact it is one of the most explosive and fun filled releases PM ever did, but again the story and main hero is the same usual below average stuff that they have done so many times over, and I cannot give the film any higher rating than a 4/10 The action scenes would easily get a 6-7/10 but Gary Daniels would go on to do "better" stuff, like Cold Harvest (1999) which featured the lovley Barbara Crampton, and while less action, the story was slighly better.
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Post by stefancrosscoe on Jul 13, 2017 11:45:55 GMT
Hard Cash (2002) Oh boy, what a mess. I thought for a second there, that I had got my hands on Hard Rain (1998) as the DVD cover, the name all looked very alike, but bad news for me is that I ended up with a really bad and rotten deal as Hard Cash was a rather poor movie, filled with cheap special effects, a terrible script, paperthin characters and it seems to try and be one of those "clever" heist/robbery films but insteads ends up as a redneck b-movie full of vulgar and crappy "look how cool I am" kind of acting, which as been done so many times over, and I did not buy for one minute that Christian Slater could be in charge of such a messy and braindead gang of misfits. Then you have Val Kilmer doing a lazy villain role, showing up here and there and it is strange seeing these two guys doing DTV films, as less than 5 years earleir they were still seen as big movie stars, and now they are down to making "great" films like this. Daryl Hannah does have a part here too, but as all the others, it is just not very good. William Forsythe does get a small part, but is just wasted as a poor excuse of trying to include some "cool" comedic moments, such as the idiotic hispanic figure that keeps popping up here and there, or the "hilarious" russian/cuban bad guy that seem like a retarded leftover from one of Tarantinos lesser titles. All in all, the film is not slow-moving, which is probably the best news, and some of the heist scenes was in fact a bit of a entertaining done, but 5 minutes in, and I knew that this would be another dull film that I watch once, then never again. 4/10
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Post by stefancrosscoe on Jul 17, 2017 8:59:21 GMT
The Ice Harvest (2005) Well, maybe more of a mystery/crime/thriller/dark comedy than action/adventure, directed by Harold Ramis and starring John Cusack and Billy Bob Thorton I had some hopes going into this film, but it became very clear it was the kind of comedy that tried just about to hard to be clever and sharp, which it seldom came close to, not easy having a terrible Billy Bob just sleepwalking through the little screen time he has, trying to come off as some cool/bad ass mobster, and in one scene we are to believe he has somehow overpowered Mike Starr and hid him into a wooden box, just like that. Cusack does his usual thing, which is just playing the same way as in any of his films I have seen. Confused, little emotions, confused, followed by more "emotions" and the only thing that saves it from a below average is the stunning Connie Nielsen who really looks/acts like an early 80s (Body Heat) version of Kathleen Turner, with a very sultry appearence, but she gets just about too little to work with, to make her character any interesting beside being "wasted" as eyecandy. Then we have Oliver Platt as the quirky/horny friend of the main character, and he is just not funny in this film, the attempts of fun/jokes are completely overused so many times before, and the only surprise left would be if his character gets killed off, horribly, which sadly is not the case here. Randy Quaid steps in later on as a mean bastard, but at that point it is just too little, too late. Not among the worst films Ramis did, but far away of his best work and I give it a 5/10
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Post by lostinlimbo on Jul 17, 2017 13:26:56 GMT
Probability Zero (1969) 6/10 The steely faced Henry Silva stars in this lean, grounded and bleak Italian spaghetti war knock-off of Guns of Navarone. Very conventional, yet a strong looking production and picturesque locations lead to an action pack final third capped off with usual self-sacrifice. Silva playing an American commando leads a ragtag group and a torpedo behind German lines (Norway) to blow-up a fortified Nazi bunker that’s harboring an advanced radar unit from a shot-down British plane. Co-written by Dario Argento.
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Post by mikef6 on Jul 19, 2017 0:17:29 GMT
I have been watching some of earliest war movies from Hollywood after the start of World War II. Here are two.
Air Force / Howard Hawks (1943). One of the earliest films – if not THE earliest - from Hollywood to show men in combat in WWII, “Air Force” sets the tone and style and many of the tropes for many a film to come. Hawks was encouraged to make the film by five star general Henry “Hap” Arnold, an aviation pioneer and one of the first military pilots. Hawks and screen writer Dudley Nichols decided to focus on a B-17 Flying Fortress (the “Mary Ann”) bomber crew and their experiences. The biggest “name” in the cast was John Garfield who plays one of the gunners on the bomber. John Ridgely plays the pilot; Gig Young is his co-pilot. The other officers are Arthur Kennedy as the bombardier and Charles Drake as the navigator. Harry Carey (very good) is the top sergeant. Under Carey’s supervision is Garfield and George Tobias as another gunner. They are joined later by a fighter pilot who needs a lift. He is played by James Brown who boomers will remember as Lt. Rip Masters in the Rin-Tin-Tin TV series (1954-1959). The film (released in March 1943) took its first audience back in time about 15 months as seven B-17s bombers leave San Francisco on a routine flight to Honolulu in early December 1941. Minutes before beginning their landing, radio contact with the Air Force base is cut-off. They have flown into the attack on Pearl Harbor. From the Hawaiian Islands, they must make their way to Wake Island and then to the Philippines. All of the crew members are well written and given backstories. The action is plentiful and the Warner special effects crew does wonders with airplane and ship models. But for modern sensibilities, the demonizing and de-humanization of the enemy may seem excessive. There is copious use of the J-word and many expressions of what treacherous rats America is up against. The final huge battle set-piece, based on the Battle of the Coral Sea which turned back a Japanese invasion of Australia, occurs in the movie as taking place only days after Pearl Harbor and is pictured as an overwhelming American victory so is mostly fiction and deliberate rousing propaganda. Still, knowing that going in, this is an excellent film.
FUN FACT: Howard Hawks ran into author William Faulkner on the Warner lot and talked him into writing a death scene for one of the major characters. He wrote a good one, too. Reportedly, with the money Hawks paid him, the southern novelist had indoor plumbing installed at his Mississippi home.
Guadalcanal Diary / Lewis Seiler (1943). The battle for the small island of Guadalcanal (and two other islands) in the Solomon Islands northeast of Australia in late 1942 and early 1943 was a significant victory for the U.S. as it effectively stopped southern Japanese expansion and prevented the invasion of Australia. Given the usual Hollywood flag waving war propaganda, what we see seems more factual than usual in these films. Reed Hadley, with his deep trans-Atlantic radio announcer voice, plays a war correspondent who narrates his dispatches back home. Dates and specific places of battles are given by Hadley in a semi-documentary style. We follow one Marine company from their transport, through the landing, their holding action, and final drive of the enemy off the island. There is the usual Stagecoach/Grand Hotel mixture of different people: the guy from Brooklyn (William Bendix, ‘natch), a Jewish guy, a naïve kid, the tough but tender sergeant, well, you know the drill. What makes this film stand out is how it shows the Marines going from eager fighters wanting to get into combat through a stage of doubt and fear and then to hardened veterans. One thing that may turn modern viewers off is that GD, more, I think, than any other war time film I have seen (including “Air Force”), delivers the harshest and most frequent racist epithets and stereotypes. Viewers will have to cope with dialog like: “Hey Hook? How do you feel about killing... people?” “Well, it's kill or be killed, ain't it? Besides, those ain't people.” Preston Foster plays Father Donnelly; also in the cast of Marines are Lloyd Nolan, Richard Conte, Anthony Quinn, Richard Jaeckel, and Lionel Stander.
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Post by stefancrosscoe on Jul 22, 2017 9:10:07 GMT
Kill 'Em All (2017) Well, I did not went in with huge expecations, but I hoped the film would at least be somewhat a level/rating (both quality and entertaining wise) above the latest stuff that Steven Seagal and Dolph Lundgren has done, in recent years. Sadly, this Van Damme film was just another "letdown", and probably one of his poorest/most dull films that I have ever seen. This film makes stuff like Universal Soldier: The Return (1999) almost look like an action classic, and it is sad to see how tired and completely bored he looks these days, specially compared to the mans great and very memorable villain role in the entertaining, Enemies Closer (2013) which I thought was some of the best films he had done since In Hell (2003) and Replicant (2001).
Anyway, Kill 'Em All (2017) is another below average action-film, where I knew from the very start that it was gonna be a long and slow next 90-95 minutes of runtime, as the movie begins with a series of flashback scenes of people getting shoot, blown up, stabbed, beaten to death by either Van Damme himself, or some other guys. To make the film look even more "promising" we are completely drowned with horrible editing and music, it is like the guys behind the film did their very best to scare off the viewers. Well, it did kind of get "better" from there on, but I gotta say, if this is the best Van Damme can do/come up with in 2017, it will be a long time until I will see another of his movies. This was just a waste of time and money.
It took 3! people to come up with the movie script: "Out of bullets?" "HE IS JUST ONE MAN!!!" FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! "You are the kind of girl I would like to go to the forest with and listen to the birds sing." "Are YOU out of bullets?
There are probably worse lines thrown in, but some of it was not even funny/bad, just bad. Everything about it is poorly delivered/done. Most of the film takes place either at some random hospital, with a very tired looking Van Damme just having the same facial expressions throughout the entire film, and looking like he is about to die any minute, but of course he has no problems by taking out a small army. But it is not on the Steven Seagal egomaniac level, as Jean-Claude does take a lot of beating, but the fights are always destroyed by sloppy/terrible editing jobs, that tries to damn hard to make it look cool all the time, but instead some of the fights that had some small potential, end up looking like some crappy student clip. The bad guys are of course not memorable at all. And to make sure or at least try and correct that, every one of them (and there are just too many of them) gets their own little introduction with a laughable "backplot" including that stupid and very annoying freeze frame of an angry up-close face shoot, then followed by a big name sign, which says: DUSAN, KLAUS, and some other bad guy.
My biggest complaint is that film keeps jumping from 2016 backwards, and then suddenly we are in 1981, to 2008, or 2011, and to not confuse the already confused viewers, we are constantly reminded that the main event of the film, takes place in 2016.
Peter Stormare and 80s/early 90s babe Maria Conchita Alonso have the parts as the good cop/bad cop routine, and they do actually end up having a lot of scenes together, not great but they remind us how bad the rest of the actors in this dreadful movie are. Stormare looks like he just came from the set of John Wick 2, having the excact same look/appearance, but at least he seem to be interested in trying to make up for his paycheck, while the main star Van Damme however is like a sleep-walking zombie for most of the film.
I have ridiculed Seagal for his use of laughable bad stuntmen, but seeing this film, Van Damme has taken it to a new bottom level. In one scene, shot down in some random prison cell, we see two guys fight like crazy, wearing what looks like Mexican wrestling masks, and of course one of the guys is supposed to be Van Damme, but we do not get to see that before a close up of his eyes is revealed, then followed by him taking off his mask. It is just poor, not so-bad-its-funny like Steven, just real poor.
Still there are some small "highlights", like when Van Damme jr. and sr. are having a decent fight against each other, or miss little cutie pie suddenly became a asskicking killer, and I kind of liked the FBI scenes with Stormare and Alonso. I am very generous when I give the film a 4/10, as it probably do belong in the 3,5/10 level, but I made it through and my hopes for Van Damme and his future films are now just as bad as with Steven Seagal. It is not funny anymore, just sad.
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Post by lostinlimbo on Jul 25, 2017 12:20:28 GMT
Certain Fury (1985) Tatum O’Neal and Irene Cara team up together in this very trashy, b-grade urban action-thriller exploitation; a modernized mould of “THE DEFIANT ONES”. On the run they go, trying to survive, being fingered for a crime they did not commit. One costly mishap after another puts both in many dangerous predicaments on the dirty side of town. After a great full-throttle opening half-hour filled with a brutal courthouse slaughter and a trek in the city's sewers. Come to the halfway mark, it had already peaked. There it becomes uneven, the tension had little impact as scenes go on longer than they should and eventually it meandered to the (lousy) finish line. Sometimes dipping both into half-baked exploitation and serious drama. The latter does get manipulatively cheesy by trying to strike up an emotional chord; like the (unnecessary) scenes with one of the girl’s father (Cara). Although I did like the combination between O’Neal and Cara, even though the characters are predictably wear-worn, yet their relationship engages, from the callous remarks/or actions to their growing bond. Both stars weren't afraid to get down and dirty, but while not particularly likeable O’Neal did standout in her hardened, street smart hooker turn. Someone who didn’t is a paycheck collecting Peter Fonda who appears in one of the most ridiculously unconvincing staged moments in the film involving a nail-filer.
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Post by stefancrosscoe on Jul 27, 2017 12:43:49 GMT
Seeking Justice (2011) Another forgettable and mediocre Nicolas Cage action/thriller money vehicle, and while it does start up somewhat promising, at least compared to some of his other and lesser action related stuff the last 8-10 years, the film soon end up dragging on. Guy Pearce is wasted as the films villain, and Cage offers little new to his "acting" part, but there was a bit of the good old crazy Cage act in the last few minutes, but it was too little and far too late to save the film. 5/10
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Post by kuatorises on Aug 1, 2017 18:38:16 GMT
Universal Soldier. A childhood favorite that I still enjoy.
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Post by stefancrosscoe on Aug 2, 2017 12:18:53 GMT
The Negotiator (1998) I went in, expecting a buddy-cop/action film, at least that is what the DVD cover seemed to try and sell me, and instead I got a great and well acted crime/thriller with a bit of action thrown in. It came with a impressive cast with Samuel L. Jackson and Kevin Spacey delivering the goods in the leading roles, then you have David Morse, Paul Giamatti and J.T. Walsh (I think it was one of his last films and there is a short tribute/credit of him right before the end credits begin). The film last for almost 2 hours and 20 minutes, but this one was one of those rare films that the time goes by very fast, and it never become boring. 8/10
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Post by stefancrosscoe on Aug 5, 2017 12:37:09 GMT
Larceny (2017) Dolph Lundgren infiltrates a mexican prison as a "master" thief to steal some wealthy drug barons treasure. Very poorly executed action/thriller with some incredible amateurish action scenes which looked like it was part of some school project for kids, and the plot/pace become early on, very dull slow and I had trouble with staying awake for the around 80 minutes of time the film lasted. The positive things I can say is that Dolph sure look much more healthier/in shape that say, Seagal or Van Damme (at least judging by their latest adventures that is) and I notice that Lundgren has somewhere around 10-12 movies coming up the next 12 months, but I guess it could be even more. Some of them he might not be the main lead, such as the Aquaman movie or the rumoured part in Creed II where he might come back as Ivan Drago, and Dolph is even part of the Sharknado series, that is now on to film number five! (which is quite, well, a surprise) as I thought people would be fed up with these awful and bad wannabe "cult" movies after the first one, but since Dolph is on board, maybe I will give the new one a chance, as it cannot be any worse the other ones. Anyway, Larceny do have its positive moments, such as the stunning Jocelyn Osorio who for me is the only reason why I ended up seeing the film through, and why it will get a better rating that 3/10. Corbin Bernsen also have a very small part here too, and I guess he is in some serious cash problems if he ends up doing these 3 minutes roles. All in all, this is just another lame DTV release that I will never watch again. 4/10
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Post by sdrew13163 on Aug 6, 2017 21:30:02 GMT
The Dirty Dozen. The actors are all so tough and cool. The pacing is a little wack, but other than that it's a really good movie.
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Post by alpha128 on Aug 7, 2017 12:02:19 GMT
The last action film I watched was Security (2017). The film stars Antonio Banderas and Ben Kingsley. It's not the most original film, as you can easily imagine that the words "Die Hard in a mall" were spoken during the pitch meeting. But for $15 million budgeted film, it's pretty impressive.
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Post by stefancrosscoe on Aug 7, 2017 14:23:37 GMT
I am still waiting for the DVD version of Security to be released or at least in my country that is. Looks like a fun action filled ride, and hopefully it will live up the trailer I have seen.
Bandits (2001) In the early 00s there sure was a lot of heist/robbery movies going on, specially the ones with big budget and even larger stars in the leading roles. You had Heist (2001), The Score (2001), Taxi 2 (2000) and of course the Ocean's Eleven (2001) plus I think the remake of The Italian Job also was made during that time, and probably several other big budget/big famous names starring heist/robbery films too. Anyway, Bandits comes with Bruce Willis and Billy-Bob Thorton as two very unlikely buddies/co-partners in crime, and then along they end up falling for the same woman, who is a bored housewife looking for some action in her life (Cate Blanchett).
The film I have not seen since early 00s, and I remember very little of it, which is not always a bad thing but in most cases kind of put out a hint that it might be a reason to it. Bandits is a poor action-comedy, with more comedy than action thrown into a very lame storyline/plot, and in the beginning Billy-Bob and his nevrotic character comes more of like some silly/goofy sidekick, and Bruce is the masterchief of the two, but soon Bruce is the cool guy and Billy-Bob is the genious of the two, and somehow they both end up in the same bed with Cate Blanchett, who is the only reason why this film is watchable, as she looks stunning with her red hair and pale skin. The heist/robbery scenes are dull and bring very little new to the scene, and the romantic part just drags on and on. Compared to the other heist action-comedies of that time, Bandits is for me, the weakest/poorest of the bunch. It last over 2 hours, and most of the attempts on brining some comedy into it, fails most of the time. 4/10
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Post by alpha128 on Aug 8, 2017 2:38:41 GMT
I am still waiting for the DVD version of Security to be released or at least in my country that is. Looks like a fun action filled ride, and hopefully it will live up the trailer I have seen. Looks like Security will be released on DVD September 5, 2017.
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Post by sdrew13163 on Aug 9, 2017 6:25:59 GMT
Lone Wolf McQuade - 6.5/10
It's honestly not a bad movie. It has some good action and you can't go wrong with Chuck Norris and David Carradine facing off in a martial arts duel.
It's a pretty snappy experience that doesn't overstay its welcome. Overall, it's just good fun.
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Post by taylorfirst1 on Aug 9, 2017 15:46:37 GMT
Atomic Blonde (2017). 8/10.
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Post by stefancrosscoe on Aug 17, 2017 16:58:24 GMT
Altitude (2017) On the DVD artwork/cover, it just looks like your regular crappy 3/10 or 4/10 Dolph Lundgren DTV adventure, but I gotta say this film turned out to be a bit of a "surprise". Not great, but the first 20-30 minutes it really was solid stuff and Denise Richards proved herself more than well here, and for those who enjoys their action taking place far up in a airplane, this film might be worthy a watch. Dolph is not the hero, as the DVD cover tries to "fool" you with, instead he is some "mastermind" that most of the film just sits in the cockpit and looks deadly, instead we have some icy bitch who is taking the lead along with some more sterotypical looking baddies, and Denise Richards along with a love strucken British masterthief, who has stolen from the wrong kidn of people, must try and save the day and their lives. Sadly, the film do lose its grip around 40-45 minutes in, and it becomes a bit boring/random, and the last 20-25 minutes seemed very rushed, and the special effects was at time so cheap that it made some of the Asylum productions look like true art. Anyway, nice to see Denise Richards again, 46 years old, that was a bit of surprise, I thought she was younger, and of course Dolph shows that he is often better off as the villain (or so I think) than the heroic part, as seen in Larceny or any other of his crappy DTV stuff, where he just seems to sleepwalk through the "motions" but here he delivers the goods as the menacing villain, not as good as Van Damme a couple of years ago in Enemy Mine (2013), but still the best film of Dolph I have seen for some years now. 5/10
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Post by rateater on Aug 18, 2017 20:58:08 GMT
the hitman's bodyguard. it didn't live up to what i hoped it would be. i will not be purchasing this movie and watching it throughout the years. i was hoping for a good action, drama, buddy comedy but it didn't hit the right marks for me. the action wasn't bad.
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Post by taylorfirst1 on Aug 19, 2017 23:42:04 GMT
The Hitman's Bodyguard. Better than I expected. Great action comedy.
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