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Post by lostinlimbo on Jun 21, 2023 9:36:32 GMT
Yeah, it wasn’t good. Too much drama, not enough action. And the action we got was rather dull, and poorly staged. Honestly don’t know anything about Mimi Lesseos, yet somewhat underwhelmed from what I saw. Although I do notice ‘Beyond Fear 1993’ is in my watchlist. Maybe that one is better? During its release it probably suckered some people into believing it was related to the video game. It came out around the same time as the Super Mario Bros, Street Fighter and Double Dragon movies. Ps. One thing I noticed recently about Letterboxd that I find disappointing. The individual ratings disappeared. You still see the odd few on a film’s main page, but when you click ‘Your friends’ the rating section is gone. But they kept the liked section. Personally I rather see what somebody rated the film. Real dumb move… unless now it’s under the pro account features. If so, lame. Yeah, I have noticed a few things with Letterboxd which can get frustrating, and I hope it is not something which might continue further on. Forgot there were so many big studio releases based upon video games back then, I think I prefered the later Mortal Kombat from later viewings. Not sure if I have ever seen a film with Mimi Lesseos in one of the leads, but if I ever do so, I guess Streets of Rage is probably not the place to start up with. By the way, I guess by now you have probably caught hold of the upcoming (think it will get a release this fall) Expendables 4. Everything from the title, tagline, poster and trailer feels like your ordinary DTV movie, but from what I have heard a rather big budget. Not sure how big roles Stallone, Andy Garcia or Dolph will have this time, but they are barely included in the trailer, so my hopes for any thing above 5/10 is not too big these days. Yeah, for me Mortal Kombat was easily the best of the video game adaptations of that 90s period. Actually, I had no idea the latest Expendables trailer was released. I never cared much for the franchise. I don’t mind the second film, but upon a recent rewatch. I was at times kinda bored, especially when Van Damme wasn’t on screen. So my interest in a fourth film is not really there, and seeing the support cast from poster doesn’t pique it either. Maybe I would have enjoyed this franchise more, if it came out in the 90s.
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Post by theravenking on Jun 23, 2023 14:56:13 GMT
Fear Over the City aka. The Night Caller (1975; Henri Verneuil)There's a scary bloke at large in Paris terrorising women over the phone before murdering them. Thankfully macho cop Jean Letellier (Jean-Paul Belmondo at his most alpha-male-ish) is on hand to stop the maniac, in-between he also has to deal with a brutal bankrobber. A cross between the Italian poliziotteschi cop thrillers and gialli with some American influences from the likes of Dirty Harry and Death Wish brought in this is an exciting action movie. The violence is tough an uncompromising with even innocent bystanders getting gunned down during shootouts. A particularly nasty scene sees Letellier and his partner questioning a crook who has taken a shot to the chest and is bleeding to death trying to squeeze some information out of him while the guy keeps begging for an ambulance. However Belmondo's role is still relatively light, letting him deliver quite a few quips and coming over as a far more charming character then his aforementioned American counterparts. Belmondo performed his own stunts, including clinging on to the roof of a moving subway car and partaking in a breathless foot-chase over the rooftops of Paris which is every bit as impressive today as it undoubtedly must've been for 70s audiences. There's just one little issue with the movie, mainly that all this excitement got crammed into the first half with little action left for the rest of the running time. Once Letellier has hunted down the criminal Marcucci, the plot almost comes to a standstill. Unlike most gialli the viewer is given the killer's identity early on and there is little cleverness in the way Letellier manages to deduce who's behind the murders. There's some attempt to give the murderer depth by having him adopt the nom-de-plume Minos, a character from The Divine Comedy, but these philosophical underpinnings remain too slight to turn the antagonist into a truly memorable villain. There's also too much space given over to trivial psycho-babble analysing the madman's character, all of which feels like a very old hat today. After the breakneck pacing of the first half the last stretch is disappointingly dull and uneventful. Not even the final confrontation between the cop and killer in a high-rise can steer the wheel around. A massive hit in its native France and most of Western Europe, The Night Caller seems to have fallen a bit into obscurity over the years. Critics at the time were less than thrilled with Belmondo taking on such an acting-wise undemanding role, but the movie's success would lead to Bebe churning out similar action flicks for the rest of the seventies and during the eighties with inevitably diminishing returns. They say Sly Stallone took inspiration from this when making Cobra. 6.5/10
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Post by Captain Spencer on Jun 23, 2023 20:02:26 GMT
Fear Over the City aka. The Night Caller (1975; Henri Verneuil)There's a scary bloke at large in Paris terrorising women over the phone before murdering them. Thankfully macho cop Jean Letellier (Jean-Paul Belmondo at his most alpha-male-ish) is on hand to stop the maniac, in-between he also has to deal with a brutal bankrobber. A cross between the Italian poliziotteschi cop thrillers and gialli with some American influences from the likes of Dirty Harry and Death Wish brought in this is an exciting action movie. The violence is tough an uncompromising with even innocent bystanders getting gunned down during shootouts. A particularly nasty scene sees Letellier and his partner questioning a crook who has taken a shot to the chest and is bleeding to death trying to squeeze some information out of him while the guy keeps begging for an ambulance. However Belmondo's role is still relatively light, letting him deliver quite a few quips and coming over as a far more charming character then his aforementioned American counterparts. Belmondo performed his own stunts, including clinging on to the roof of a moving subway car and partaking in a breathless foot-chase over the rooftops of Paris which is every bit as impressive today as it undoubtedly must've been for 70s audiences. There's just one little issue with the movie, mainly that all this excitement got crammed into the first half with little action left for the rest of the running time. Once Letellier has hunted down the criminal Marcucci, the plot almost comes to a standstill. Unlike most gialli the viewer is given the killer's identity early on and there is little cleverness in the way Letellier manages to deduce who's behind the murders. There's some attempt to give the murderer depth by having him adopt the nom-de-plume Minos, a character from The Divine Comedy, but these philosophical underpinnings remain too slight to turn the antagonist into a truly memorable villain. There's also too much space given over to trivial psycho-babble analysing the madman's character, all of which feels like a very old hat today. After the breakneck pacing of the first half the last stretch is disappointingly dull and uneventful. Not even the final confrontation between the cop and killer in a high-rise can steer the wheel around. A massive hit in its native France and most of Western Europe, The Night Caller seems to have fallen a bit into obscurity over the years. Critics at the time were less than thrilled with Belmondo taking on such an acting-wise undemanding role, but the movie's success would lead to Bebe churning out similar action flicks for the rest of the seventies and during the eighties with inevitably diminishing returns. However they say Sly Stallone took inspiration from this when making Cobra. 6.5/10 Now this is one I gotta see!
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Post by Captain Spencer on Jun 29, 2023 4:11:28 GMT
Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects (1989)The young daughter of a Japanese businessman is kidnapped by a pimp and forced into child prostitution. Crusty Los Angeles cop Lieutenant Crowe tries to track her down. It's clear that Charles Bronson and director J. Lee Thompson wanted to try out something a little different here, something much darker and perhaps something less formulaic like another assembly-line Death Wish sequel. The subject matter of child prostitution is certainly disturbing, and some scenes are a bit hard to take (like the scene of numerous men entering the bedroom to have their way with the young Japanese girl; nothing is actually shown, of course, just implied). The theme of cultural clash between Asian and American civilizations is presented here in an interesting fashion. And certainly you would not likely find a newer movie today in which the lead character is spouting racist and blatant xenophobic remarks. Despite all the sleaze and depravity, Kinjite is a fine flick and always reminds me of the kind of gritty urban action-thriller they just don't make anymore. It's always a pleasure watching Bronson kick some scumbag ass, and their are a few good plot twists. The ending was soooooo satisfying. That's justice indeed! 7/10
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Post by stefancrosscoe on Jul 4, 2023 12:23:26 GMT
Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects (1989)The young daughter of a Japanese businessman is kidnapped by a pimp and forced into child prostitution. Crusty Los Angeles cop Lieutenant Crowe tries to track her down. It's clear that Charles Bronson and director J. Lee Thompson wanted to try out something a little different here, something much darker and perhaps something less formulaic like another assembly-line Death Wish sequel. The subject matter of child prostitution is certainly disturbing, and some scenes are a bit hard to take (like the scene of numerous men entering the bedroom to have their way with the young Japanese girl; nothing is actually shown, of course, just implied). The theme of cultural clash between Asian and American civilizations is presented here in an interesting fashion. And certainly you would not likely find a newer movie today in which the lead character is spouting racist and blatant xenophobic remarks. Despite all the sleaze and depravity, Kinjite is a fine flick and always reminds me of the kind of gritty urban action-thriller they just don't make anymore. It's always a pleasure watching Bronson kick some scumbag ass, and their are a few good plot twists. The ending was soooooo satisfying. That's justice indeed! 7/10 Was just thinking about re-watching this the other day, a sleazy, cheesy and yet at times ridiculously made Bronson late night flick, which as you brought up, seemed to follow the trend with culture collision between the east and the west, and yeah, along with the ending of The Evil That Man Do (1984), the main villain's fate is very satisfying. "CROOOOOOOOOOOOWE, YOU BASTARD!"I am sure Danny Trejo is in there somewhere as well during the final prison scene. Burst out in laughter the first time I saw it, years ago, where Bronson and his partner is trying to squeeze some information out of a bad guy, only to drop him from several stories above ground, or when Crowe is feeding the nasty pimp with his own gold watch, and tells him that he wont die from doing so, but he will need to put his head between his legs, everytime he want to see what time it is.
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Post by Xcalatë on Jul 4, 2023 12:32:09 GMT
The Mother (2023) (NETFLIX) - With Jennifer Lopez: an unoriginal and way too long POS movie. 4/10
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Post by stefancrosscoe on Jul 4, 2023 13:22:26 GMT
Not been to many action films seen the last couple of weeks, but here are a few of those I can remember: Extraction 2 (2023)
Went in with a small hope of a similar pleasant surprise after the first one, but sadly it did not take too long until the whole "overkill" feeling which I had early in with John Wick 2 arrived, and from there on, I kind of felt more tired and uninterested, just ending up more like just another video game action release, but not something I will remember too much of the other day. Not too many memorable bad guys either, just random cannon fodder and one of the few times I kind of went "Now this might be interesting", was where Rake is hit in the back head with a stone or heavy tool, and he seems to go down, while the women he is supposed to save is being dragged away in the total chaos, but yeah, he then shakes it off like it was just a tiny fly who took a shit on his neck, and then continue on slaughtering villains like there is no tomorrow. Another reason to why I cannot give it a much higher rating, was the 2 hour runtime, far too long, and well, if you love this kind of entertainment, 2 hours, 3 hours, 10 hours, I guess there is no ending, but yeah, just as with the John Wick films, there will be at least a dozen or more sequels, where the kill count and runtime reaches new heights every time. 5/10 Mobsters (1991)
Not seen this since it was aired all the time on late night cable, back in the late 90s and early 00s, and I guess during the big return of the modern American gangster movie craze of the late 80s and into the 90s, someone thought it would be a clever idea to follow the success of the similar return of the western genre and reaching out to younger audiences with Young Guns. As with the mentioned film, a lot of young and promising talent is involved along with some heavy veterans, but the result is almost like a parody of the old gangster films. Anthony Quinn overacts so much that I wonder if it got him the part in Last Action Hero (1993), while Michael Gambon as an italian mobster is yeah, interesting. However I loved seeing Robert Z'Dar in a bigger part, but the main reason to why I did not "hate" it, was due to F. Murray Abraham and Nicholas Sadler as the murderous Mad Dog Coll. Slater and Dempsey where not all bad as Luciano and Lansky, but between all the killing, the screwing, the treathening and a bit of torture, it felt like this interesting potential for a much better story, just drowned in just another slow motion scene with some glass or vase being thrown into the walls or mowing down people with Tommy guns in order to make it look cool and edgy. 4/10
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Post by Captain Spencer on Jul 4, 2023 20:08:52 GMT
Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects (1989)The young daughter of a Japanese businessman is kidnapped by a pimp and forced into child prostitution. Crusty Los Angeles cop Lieutenant Crowe tries to track her down. It's clear that Charles Bronson and director J. Lee Thompson wanted to try out something a little different here, something much darker and perhaps something less formulaic like another assembly-line Death Wish sequel. The subject matter of child prostitution is certainly disturbing, and some scenes are a bit hard to take (like the scene of numerous men entering the bedroom to have their way with the young Japanese girl; nothing is actually shown, of course, just implied). The theme of cultural clash between Asian and American civilizations is presented here in an interesting fashion. And certainly you would not likely find a newer movie today in which the lead character is spouting racist and blatant xenophobic remarks. Despite all the sleaze and depravity, Kinjite is a fine flick and always reminds me of the kind of gritty urban action-thriller they just don't make anymore. It's always a pleasure watching Bronson kick some scumbag ass, and their are a few good plot twists. The ending was soooooo satisfying. That's justice indeed! 7/10 Was just thinking about re-watching this the other day, a sleazy, cheesy and yet at times ridiculously made Bronson late night flick, which as you brought up, seemed to follow the trend with culture collision between the east and the west, and yeah, along with the ending of The Evil That Man Do (1984), the main villain's fate is very satisfying. "CROOOOOOOOOOOOWE, YOU BASTARD!"I am sure Danny Trejo is in there somewhere as well during the final prison scene. Burst out in laughter the first time I saw it, years ago, where Bronson and his partner is trying to squeeze some information out of a bad guy, only to drop him from several stories above ground, or when Crowe is feeding the nasty pimp with his own gold watch, and tells him that he wont die from doing so, but he will need to put his head between his legs, everytime he want to see what time it is. One thing that would have made the final scene even better; instead of Duke constantly yelling "CROOOOOWE" they should of had him finally doing some Ned Beatty-type squealing. That way we would know for sure that his cell mate actually got "intimate" with him. Yep that was Danny Trejo doing some cat-calls.
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mgmarshall
Junior Member
@mgmarshall
Posts: 2,052
Likes: 3,301
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Post by mgmarshall on Jul 5, 2023 15:58:52 GMT
Was just thinking about re-watching this the other day, a sleazy, cheesy and yet at times ridiculously made Bronson late night flick, which as you brought up, seemed to follow the trend with culture collision between the east and the west, and yeah, along with the ending of The Evil That Man Do (1984), the main villain's fate is very satisfying. "CROOOOOOOOOOOOWE, YOU BASTARD!"I am sure Danny Trejo is in there somewhere as well during the final prison scene. Burst out in laughter the first time I saw it, years ago, where Bronson and his partner is trying to squeeze some information out of a bad guy, only to drop him from several stories above ground, or when Crowe is feeding the nasty pimp with his own gold watch, and tells him that he wont die from doing so, but he will need to put his head between his legs, everytime he want to see what time it is. One thing that would have made the final scene even better; instead of Duke constantly yelling "CROOOOOWE" they should of had him finally doing some Ned Beatty-type squealing. That way we would know for sure that his cell mate actually got "intimate" with him. Yep that was Danny Trejo doing some cat-calls.If memory serves, he had "something long and hard for you, sweet thing!"
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Post by Captain Spencer on Jul 7, 2023 3:50:15 GMT
Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade (1989)Globe-trotting archaeologist Indiana Jones and his father seek the Holy Grail. The third entry in the Indy franchise doesn't seem to get a lot of love and I don't understand why. It's certainly an improvement over the extremely dark Temple Of Doom. I believe Last Crusade was an earnest attempt to bring back the grandiose spirit of Raiders, and I think it mostly succeeds. It's got grand escapist fare, an intriguing storyline involving another religious artifact, and best of all the humor is better than ever. Sean Connery was certainly ideal casting and he's a perfect fit in the role of Indy's father and is very likeable. He and Ford work well off each other with superb chemistry. Bringing back Sallah and Marcus Brody was a huge welcome with open arms, plus I liked the origins of Indiana's trademark fedora and whip. Definitely my second favorite in the franchise. 8/10
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Post by Captain Spencer on Jul 27, 2023 3:05:27 GMT
The Warriors (1979)During a large outdoor meeting with the top New York City street gangs, the organizer is murdered. Falsely accused of the killing, a gang known as the Warriors must fight their way back to their Coney Island home turf. A gritty urban action thriller that does not try to be a morality tale or address social problems, but rather told strictly from the point-of-view of street gang life. It is this approach that makes The Warriors so distinctive from other movies of its kind. Walter Hill delivers top notch direction and beautifully chorographed the brutal fight scenes. I also enjoyed James Remar's performance as the tough-as-nails Ajax; it's kind of a shame the character got arrested so early, as I would have liked to have seen more from him. Some of the dialogue can be a bit dopey at times, but the action, excitement, and grittiness more than make up for that. 7/10
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Post by lostinlimbo on Jul 29, 2023 11:09:48 GMT
Lee Van Cleef and Warren Oates made great adversaries in this small-scale western (even though throughout their standoff they spend most of the time staring/shouting at each other on opposite sides of a river). However it was Forrest Tucker who really stole the lime light.
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Post by lostinlimbo on Jul 29, 2023 11:36:18 GMT
The Warriors (1979)During a large outdoor meeting with the top New York City street gangs, the organizer is murdered. Falsely accused of the killing, a gang known as the Warriors must fight their way back to their Coney Island home turf. A gritty urban action thriller that does not try to be a morality tale or address social problems, but rather told strictly from the point-of-view of street gang life. It is this approach that makes The Warriors so distinctive from other movies of its kind. Walter Hill delivers top notch direction and beautifully chorographed the brutal fight scenes. I also enjoyed James Remar's performance as the tough-as-nails Ajax; it's kind of a shame the character got arrested so early, as I would have liked to have seen more from him. Some of the dialogue can be a bit dopey at times, but the action, excitement, and grittiness more than make up for that. 7/10 What cut did you watch? I don’t think I ever seen the theatrical cut.
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Post by Captain Spencer on Jul 29, 2023 13:11:00 GMT
The Warriors (1979)During a large outdoor meeting with the top New York City street gangs, the organizer is murdered. Falsely accused of the killing, a gang known as the Warriors must fight their way back to their Coney Island home turf. A gritty urban action thriller that does not try to be a morality tale or address social problems, but rather told strictly from the point-of-view of street gang life. It is this approach that makes The Warriors so distinctive from other movies of its kind. Walter Hill delivers top notch direction and beautifully chorographed the brutal fight scenes. I also enjoyed James Remar's performance as the tough-as-nails Ajax; it's kind of a shame the character got arrested so early, as I would have liked to have seen more from him. Some of the dialogue can be a bit dopey at times, but the action, excitement, and grittiness more than make up for that. 7/10 What cut did you watch? I don’t think I ever seen the theatrical cut. I'm pretty sure it was the theatrical version.
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Post by lostinlimbo on Aug 14, 2023 12:59:32 GMT
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Post by brandomarlon2003 on Aug 14, 2023 13:52:07 GMT
Heart of Stone (2023)
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Post by Spike Del Rey on Aug 14, 2023 20:37:09 GMT
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Post by Feologild Oakes on Aug 16, 2023 20:54:53 GMT
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Post by lostinlimbo on Aug 20, 2023 23:07:47 GMT
Since I’m planning to watch the Fred ‘The Hammer’ Williamson’s Black Cobra sequels tonight, I thought last night I would re-watch the film where it all began. We know how Italians like to rip-off popular movies, or genre trends. Well, here we are with 'The Black Cobra'. And you guess right. Sylvester Stallone's Cannon produced 'Cobra' gets the treatment... right down to the reflective sunnies. The twist though - the main bad guy (the leader of the biker gang) wears them. I guess to match his outfit that's right out of 'The Terminator'. Leather with decorative steel studs. I know, those crazy Italians. Disappointing though, as Fred Williamson (in the Stallone role) would have pulled it off much better. Honestly the biker gang looked like a bunch of models (well at least the leader) posing and playing dress up. When they randomly decide to terrorise unexpecting victims - it usually had me chuckling especially when the camera would focus on the leader's face as he grins. I think it was meant to be threatening... yeah, far from it. Anyhow the story almost plays out exactly like 'Cobra'. From the beginning where we are introduced to Williamson's rogue detective Malone taking out gunmen holding hostages at a local swimming pool(?!), right down to the lady photographer witness (Eva Grimaldi) who can identify the gang's leader, Malone having her under his protective care and the bikers trying to kill her by any means. Sadly it didn't have the constant pepsi plugs, or the infamous pizza by the way of scissors scene. Oh no, they went bigger to match the latter. Williamson eating blue label cat food... well, almost. The film doesn't entirely kick into gear until halfway through, when it came to the brutal hospital shootout. This is where Malone made himself known to the gang, and meeting the witness for the first time. More time is spent on the villains in the first half, especially lounging around either brooding or acting tough. You know, like knife throwing, snorting coke or looking at dirty magazines. At least their motives weren't confusing as those in 'Cobra'. In the second half, the action flows much more fluidily, yet still clunky in its delivery especially when it came to an all out assault of explosions, hot lead and Dirty Harry's iconic punk dialogue directed towards one of the bikers holding the witness hostage at knife point. It felt like it came a little too early in the film with this big hurrah, and it surprised me to find the film still had 15 more minutes to go. This is when you could mistake the main villian for being a terminator, after sharing a similar fashion sense... and also surviving the climatic firefight with a back wound... despite being shot square in the back. Anyhow it just gives Williamson another excuse to do it his way, by blowing another hole into our main villain while at the same time dining/wooing his date/protective witness. Now cue in thumping synth score, which i know I've heard before - possibly from 'Escape from New York'?
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Post by stefancrosscoe on Aug 21, 2023 10:40:20 GMT
Since I’m planning to watch the Fred ‘The Hammer’ Williamson’s Black Cobra sequels tonight, I thought last night I would re-watch the film where it all began. Need to re-watch a few of these, as I remember blind buying 3 of them on DVD back in the day, thinking that was it. But then realized they made even more of these films later on. Sadly these releases were from the shabby Elstree Hill Entertainment, which I have had mostly bad experiences with, due to grainy, dark and crappy picture "quality", as well as several being terribly cut down in violence and action. I think I saw all 3 back in autumn of 2012-13, and yeah, the original felt very much in tone with Cobra (1986), where as the others, I can barely remember anything at all.
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