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Post by stefancrosscoe on Aug 27, 2017 11:32:52 GMT
Blade (1998) It's been a while since I saw this one and from my recent experiences with the two sequels (not that the third one was all that bad, really) I did not expect too much from it. However the film still holds up very much thanks to nostalgia and some very cool action scenes, here and there, but the main problem is just too obvious, which is that Stephen Dorff is a very dull/weak main villain, as he looks more like some random member from a crappy wannabe 90s boyband, and not some powerful, ruthless opponent that poses any threat to someone like Blade, but then again most of the baddies in the film far too often comes off as a bunch of useless, goofy and un-menacing clowns, especially Dorff's loudmothing redneck/hilbilly sidekick who must be one of the least useful henchmen in action history as he gets beaten up, mutilated and completley destroyed over and over again by Blade, and it become early on a overused and tiredsome act which should have been dealt with earlier on. Anyway, Wesley was cool as ice in the role of Blade and Kris Kristofferson was solid too as Whistler, and it lies somewhere between a 6,5/10 and well, I had a fun (most of the time) thanks to the nostalgic part, and a rockin' great soundtrack, plus some good fight scenes and so I think a 7/10 is where it should be.
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Post by stefancrosscoe on Aug 27, 2017 12:42:46 GMT
Charlie's Angels (2000) Never saw it when it was released back in the cinemas early of 2001 (in my country that is) and never saw the original TV-show, so anyway, this is pretty much just another loud, dumb and very hyperactive action-comedy/adventure where the viewers are constantly reminded that the film is about three beautiful ladies that kicks ass, takes names and have lots of fun doing so. The "plot" is one random "cool" scene thrown at you after another, where we get to see the Angels kick ass, drive fast cars, kick more ass, drive fast boats, kick ass, then some time-out for dancing or flirting, kick some more ass with lots of annoying slow-motion and wire-fu action stunts, then we have Bill Murray doing his best "robotic" acting as the films goofy clown, then more ass-kicking, and that is pretty much it, the end. "Quality" wise, it probably belongs in the 4/10 rating section, as it really is a poor/below average movie, that I see once, then never again. But, the main ladies do have a certain "charm" that they bring with them into the movie, and it never becomes boring, not even for a second, as that would probably be impossible as something seems to happen all the time throughout the 90 minutes. 5/10
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Post by lostinlimbo on Aug 30, 2017 12:41:35 GMT
The Rage (1997) 6/10 I know this was a Lorenzo Lamas’ 90s home video action vehicle by genre director Sidney J. Furie (The Ipcress File, Iron Eagle), but its Gary Busey as the perverted, psychotic villain that hits the ground running over a passe Lamas. If you like crazy Busey and I mean off the leash crazy rocking business attire with cammo pants. Then there’s daft fun to be had. Watch as he and his girlfriend within the first minute of the film, randomly stops by a family having a picnic to brutally slaughter them. Why… to show just how vicious and maniac he can be. From being covered in lipstick to slashing and beating to death unlucky foes. Truly a vile thrill seeking junkie, yet the most shocking moments happened off-screen (sexual assault, dismemberment and decapitation).
Lamas is a renegade FBI agent obsessed in nailing a gang of killers consisting of former members of a CIA hit squad commissioned during the Vietnam War. Leader Dacy (Busey) wants revenge against those government officials for being rejected and abandoned by an ungrateful nation after the war by planning to assassinate government leaders.
When Busey isn’t on screen, the chemistry between Lamas and his co-star Kristen Cloke stumbles, but when Roy Scheider shows up. Rapid fire insults are flung back and forth. There’s one heated exchange between Lamas and Scheider that had me laughing;
“You know you made me eat a lot shit today”! “Just close your eyes and swallow it”. “You can fuck yourself on the spot”!
That’s just the cream of the crop. Everything that comes out is pure pulp; from start to finish. Even though you have Busey being Busey, I thought Scheider had some of the best lines as the arrogant and obstructive FBI superior. Cloke holds her own, but seems to find herself being captured, or used as bait. Also David Carradine shows up for a 30 second cameo.
As for the explosive action, director Furie doesn’t wimp out on the dangerous stunts ranging from cars, trucks and speedboats showing such reckless abandonment with its high-octane execution. You get car equestrian jumping to cars being ripped apart. The story isn’t particularly engaging, where predictable character elements (the usual demons and conflict) make their way in, but there’s a constant barrage of full-on activity with many prolonged tit for tat exchanges that keeps the narrative moving and spontaneous.
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Post by stefancrosscoe on Aug 30, 2017 12:56:50 GMT
Sounds like a fun filled ride, and anything with Gary Busey as a crazed maniac baddie is a must see in my book, so I might have to take a closer look at this film. By the way, great review.
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Post by lostinlimbo on Aug 30, 2017 13:02:02 GMT
Blade (1998)It's been a while since I saw this one and from my recent experiences with the two sequels (not that the third one was all that bad, really) I did not expect too much from it. However the film still holds up very much thanks to nostalgia and some very cool action scenes, here and there, but the main problem is just too obvious, which is that Stephen Dorff is a very dull/weak main villain, as he looks more like some random member from a crappy wannabe 90s boyband, and not some powerful, ruthless opponent that poses any threat to someone like Blade, but then again most of the baddies in the film far too often comes off as a bunch of useless, goofy and un-menacing clowns, especially Dorff's loudmothing redneck/hilbilly sidekick who must be one of the least useful henchmen in action history as he gets beaten up, mutilated and completley destroyed over and over again by Blade, and it become early on a overused and tiredsome act which should have been dealt with earlier on. Anyway, Wesley was cool as ice in the role of Blade and Kris Kristofferson was solid too as Whistler, and it lies somewhere between a 6,5/10 and well, I had a fun (most of the time) thanks to the nostalgic part, and a rockin' great soundtrack, plus some good fight scenes and so I think a 7/10 is where it should be. I wholeheartedly agree. Still rather enjoyable and that great opening sequence is never bettered in the franchise. I know some people think the second film is the best in the series, but I actually prefer the first. I do think the sequel has the better story, but IMO its poorly paced and the usage of CGI (that looked too cartoonish) just left me with bad taste in my mouth.
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Post by lostinlimbo on Aug 30, 2017 13:11:30 GMT
Sounds like a fun filled ride, and anything with Gary Busey as a crazed maniac baddie is a must see in my book, so I might have to take a closer look at this film. By the way, great review. Thanks. I might be generous in my rating, but for what it is (straight to video action romp) it's well worth it. Not just for Busey, but the big-scale action stunts are surprisingly well executed. Nice bargain bin purchase.
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Post by stefancrosscoe on Aug 30, 2017 13:30:26 GMT
I wholeheartedly agree. Still rather enjoyable and that great opening sequence is never bettered in the franchise. I know some people think the second film is the best in the series, but I actually prefer the first. I do think the sequel has the better story, but IMO its poorly paced and the usage of CGI (that looked too cartoonish) just left me with bad taste in my mouth. Yeah, the CGI use in all of the film, but maybe most obviously in the second was not very good, and I was very disappointed by the second film as it came along with some heavy names to it, and still it did very little for me. I remember some british techno-rave band scored a big hit in the early winter of 2001 with Operation Blade - Bass in the Place. Did not know the original from the film was a very re-worked remix of an old New Order song, but it worked like magic in the opening scene of Blade. I wonder if we ever get a new Blade movie, as there was some rumours a couple of years ago where I think Wesley said something about a possible 4th adventure, shortly before his part in The Expendables 2 (2012). Thanks. I might be generous in my rating, but for what it is (straight to video action romp) it's well worth it. Not just for Busey, but the big-scale action stunts are surprisingly well executed. Nice bargain bin purchase.I sometimes have the same feeling, maybe I was too generous, but sometimes the action scenes/stunts and the bad guy can turn a poor DTV or low budget movie up several ratings, not something that happens too often, but after seeing the trailer of The Rage (1997), I can understand why you gave it a 6/10. I am not sure, but I do think I have given one Lorenzo Lamas movie a 6/10, but mostly his films are within the 4/10 rating scale, but they usually also have not only a wooden/poor male lead (Lamas), but also very dull and forgettable action scenes and villains, while The Rage seems to be on another level of the usual Lamas DTV vehiciles.
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Post by lostinlimbo on Aug 30, 2017 13:32:33 GMT
In a Valley of Violence (2016) 5/10 Ti West, an indie filmmaker known for his horror output; “HOUSE OF THE DEVIL”, “THE ROOST” and “THE INNKEEPERS” takes on a different genre with the western “IN A VALLEY OF VIOLENCE”, yet his signature style is more than evident. Another love letter bathing in its genre influences (like the spaghetti western opening credits) with a touch of quirkiness amongst violent actions. The premise has been done over and over again (lone drifter seeking vengeance after running afoul of a crooked town), therefore no real surprises in how this mechanical western plays out. Honestly it had me thinking of “JOHN WICK”.
Two competent performances; Ethan Hawke (in gravel voice mode) and John Travolta (who perfectly balances a dominating figure with a sly sense of humor) kind of make up for some inconsistent and overstated support roles that really took me out of it.
From acting to its economical technical execution it has a stagey feel that kind of undermines the dirt and grit. Sure the sun is blistering, sweat flows and violence is bloody, but I just wanted more moments of kinetic bursts and sometimes the less said the better. The script can be ponderous trying for character depth, but it's the constant pockets of characters bickering, yelling and non-stop monologues bog it down. I like West’s slow burn horror films and how they slowly escalate into mayhem, but on this occasion the formula doesn’t really come off. The offbeat humor for most part is off-putting, grating, even serious scenes can be unintentionally humorous (a standoff where a character dramatically gets caught in the crossfire) and the locations lack immersive character. It just doesn't gel.
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Post by lostinlimbo on Aug 30, 2017 14:13:16 GMT
It's been awhile since I've watched the Blade series, and I was trying to remember if the first and third film had bad cgi. My mind drew a blank, but whenever I think of II, it isn't blank Yeah disappointing describes it perfectly. I'm surprised they haven't rebooted franchise. Maybe not popular enough? Don't think Snipes will be back though. Speaking of comic adaptations; Interesting to see a Spawn film is in pre-production, 20 years after the first adaptation. Other than "The Rage", the only film of Lamas that I liked was "Snake Eater III". He actually showed some life in his acting on that occasion. I also have "Midnight Man" and "Tilt" on my watchlist. Saw a VHS copy yesterday of his film "Body Rock", thought about it then decided against it. Other than that not much to get excited about.
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Jax
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Post by Jax on Aug 30, 2017 14:27:30 GMT
The Hitman's Bodyguard 8/10 Funktion and entertaining action flick, that brought you back to the 80's.
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Post by stefancrosscoe on Aug 30, 2017 14:45:49 GMT
It's been awhile since I've watched the Blade series, and I was trying to remember if the first and third film had bad cgi. My mind drew a blank, but whenever I think of II, it isn't blank Yeah disappointing describes it perfectly. I'm surprised they haven't rebooted franchise. Maybe not popular enough? Don't think Snipes will be back though. Speaking of comic adaptations; Interesting to see a Spawn film is in pre-production, 20 years after the first adaptation. Other than "The Rage", the only film of Lamas that I liked was "Snake Eater III". He actually showed some life in his acting on that occasion. I also have "Midnight Man" and "Tilt" on my watchlist. Saw a VHS copy yesterday of his film "Body Rock", thought about it then decided against it. Other than that not much to get excited about. Yeah, these days a reboot is actually strange that it still not have happen, maybe someone is holding out or something but I still have small hope of seeing Wesley back in action one last time as Blade, but the rumoured idea of crossing the Blade world with Underworld (Kate Beckinsale), now that sounded truly awful and I am glad that stopped. A new Spawn movie could be fun, I liked the original one, and as a kid loved the comics. So if the right people is brought on board, and we are given a dark/fantasy with solid R rated action packed, a new Spawn movie sometime in the near future, could be truly somethng to look forward to. Turns out that after taking a fast look through my IMDb rating, I have never given a Lorenzo Lamas movie a 6/10, but I did give one a 5/10, and that one, if I had re-watched it, might just have bounced up to a 6/10. As it came with lots of naked, big breasted ladies, hilarious bad guys and lots of explosions and cheesy one-liners and went under the title of Viper (1994). The Hitman's BodyguardI have only heard good things about that one. A big fan of Samuel L. Jackson, and while not so much of Ryan Reynolds, I still guess I have to check this one out.
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Post by SuperDevilDoctor on Aug 30, 2017 15:41:42 GMT
Hell Commandos (1969) Super-shitty WWII "macaroni combat" flick (an Italo-Spanish production).
Absolutely awful.
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Post by mikef6 on Aug 31, 2017 4:07:44 GMT
Logan / James Mangold (2017). Four pluses: 1) I always enjoy Patrick Stewart in just about anything; 2) Ditto Richard E. Grant; 3) The young actress who plays the new mutant (Dafne Keen) does very well in a role in which she is entirely (until almost the end) mute; 4) Johnny Cash’s “When The Man Comes Around” plays over the end credits. Other than that, this is a Bad Movie in almost every regard. There is nothing in it that we haven’t seen a hundred times before. In the title role, Hugh Jackman channels Humphrey Bogart as the cynical loner who doesn’t want to get involved, who “sticks his neck out for nobody” until he goes all-in for the good side (Casablanca, To Have and Have Not, Key Largo, The Harder They Fall). The action/fights are very repetitious: heads roll, arms roll, blades penetrate bodies. Worst of all: it is a Road Trip movie where mis-matched characters have to bond during a long automobile journey.
A few years ago, I decided I needed to see more multiplex fare so squirmed my way through “Captain America” and “Thor” before I said “No more comic book super heroes.” But I watched “Logan” because a production team spent six weeks in the New Mexico desert about 4 miles from my house filming the scenes that feature the old factory with the downed water tower that appear in the film’s first half hour. If you go to Google Maps and enter Phoenix Rd NW @ King Blvd NW, Rio Rancho, NM and select satellite view you can see the wide space in the northeast corner where the set was built. About 3 miles east on King you come to a development. The parking lot at the kid's park on the desert’s edge was filled with cars for crew parking every week day for the six weeks. On a morning run, I even saw the battered limousine being transported on a flat bed truck on its way to the filming location. When the set was first constructed, it was covered in the paper and TV news flew over in a helicopter, but that ended coverage so, apparently, there were no Hugh Jackman sightings in Albuquerque. So it is possible – nay, even probable - that everything they did for that month and a half was all for green screen projection and no movie stars ever saw the place.
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Post by stefancrosscoe on Aug 31, 2017 13:04:38 GMT
Blast (1997) Oh, boy. This was quite the "adventure", as here we have the "great" Albert Pyon who shows us what REALLY could have happen, if some bunch of useless clowns (terrorists) ended up succeeding in their evil attempt to mess shit up during the summer Olympics in Atlanta. All in all, it is just another crappy b-movie version of Die Hard all over again. Here we have some "brilliant" and evil group of terrorists wanting to boost their reputation, after their last mission went down the drain, when special forces anti-terror expert, Leo (Rutger Hauer) screws up their plans and now it is payback time! As a result, the bad guys ends up taking a bunch of cute female swimmers, hostage in a swimming hall, while threating to execute them all, if the police tries to interfere. The answer to this desperate situation lies of course in the hands of some "random" janitor with a bad leg, who just miraculously happens to be a pure killing machine and former Olympic fighter.
The main problem with this film is not that it so awfully copies (even whole lines and some scenes) from the masterpiece that is Die Hard (1988), but that the film is so boring and dull in most parts, that it is very hard to stay awake for the entire time. In the role of the anti-hero, we have one of the worst actors I have ever seen in a action movie, as there is absolutely no personality about this guy at all, a terrible choice for the leading part. Yeah, I know he was Johnny Cage in Mortal Combat, but that must be a one-show off, as here he is a pathetic excuse for a John McClane "copy", limping around in tight hallways on one leg, while easily destroying 8-10 bad guys with no problem. He even gets his t-shirt full of blood, just like McClane, but there stops the "connection" between the two. Back to the plot, we have the typical sleazy coward who thinks about himself, and screw the rest. Who also happens to be part of a ridiculous love-triangle between our hero, his ex-wife and this scumbag, and of course a lot of the film spends too much time on this "sub" plot, which should have been scrapped, as the rest of the film.
The other heroic part goes to the character of Leo, which is played by Rutger Hauer and he is probably the only reason why I bothered to see the film through, as he is hilarious (probably unintentionally, I hope) where he spends most of the time locked in some dark basement, talking to himself in a silly tone, and sporting what looks like some native american indian braids and when the shit gets real, it becomes a complete parody, where he rolls (in extreme slow-motion) his electric wheel-chair into a cop car, then later on helps out to beat the bad guys, in one of the funniest and most stupid/silly movie scenes I have seen. I will come back to that later on. Then we have Tim Thomerson who just sits on a chair and looks grumpy for almost the entire time, and that is pretty much it. Brilliant acting! The leader of the baddies is played by some awful poorman's Arnold Schwarzenegger and is a complete joke.
This truly was a horrible action movie, and the reason why I end up with a much nicer rating than it really deserves, is because of one hilarious part where Rutger Hauer comes to rescue.
The bad guys is about the kill the ex-wife of the main hero, "dramatically" we see Rutger Hauer with his goofy hair and clothes while driving in slow-motion like he's some bad ass Stephen Hawking through the hallway with his electric wheelchair to confront the villain, and the way he does so, is just, "incredible". I laughed like a maniac when it happened, and it was really the only thing in the film worth to see, as he has rigged up his chair with explosives, then drives towards the terrorist leader and then surprises him by either punching or stabbing him in the gut, then jumps into the pool, while leaving his wheelchair behind, the chair explodes and blows the baddie to kingdom come, and that's it, the end!
3/10
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Post by stefancrosscoe on Sept 1, 2017 11:45:23 GMT
Ground Zero (2000) The second "classic" which was included in a 2 movie in one DVD release, along with the shower of shit above. From the look of it, Ground Zero seems like yet another poor, low-budget, b-movie, and it really is. It reminds me of the work by the Asylum productions, and only a few minutes in, I knew I was in for a very bumpy and long ride. Janet Gunn delivers one of the worst performances (I seem to be keep repeating myself with that one lately) that I have seen (not for that long time, just less than 24 hours ago, I had the same experience with the movie above), as she looks like she's about to burst into laughter, in every scene, and specially the ones where she's supposed to be "scared" or in "danger", and she just have this goofy look on her face that says: "I just cannot stop laughing of how awful this movie really is" and I guess the producers/director only shot one scene, then decided that was more than enough.
Anyway, the film starts up like a very, very poor disaster film, but then turns into a even more poor action-thriller that is about some group of anti-heroes trying to save San Francisco from blowing up, thanks to some bad guys and a big bomb. The main henchman looks like mix up of Klaus Kinski and that long haired villain that just wont die in Die Hard (1988), and I actually have already forgottoen about the evil villain, and well, somewhere along the way another Die Hard connection shows up, which is the always likeable Reginald VelJohnson who sadly has not a lot of things to do, and just seems to be put in here and there. All in all, this was a very bad movie, but again one that comes with "enough" stupidity and ridiculous moments, that it ends up "working" far better than it really should.
3/10
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Post by stefancrosscoe on Sept 2, 2017 13:05:33 GMT
Once Upon a Time in Venice (2017) I saw the trailer back in early june and well, it did look okay and I kind of hoped Bruce Would turn up this time, and with John Goodman alongside I went in with some small expectations that we might finally have some of the old cool, laidback, badass Willis but all that is more or less ruined the very moment the movie suddenly have his incredible annoying, unfunny douchebag of a sidekick, delivering one "hilarious" line after another, and to make it even worse this guy keeps on screwing things up by coming in with one unecessary voice-over after another, often with a terrible freeze-frame to either introduce or "spice" things up, and since it does not work once, so hell, "lets use it as frequent as possible". But the scene that really took this movie further down, was the moment we see a nude Bruce Willis on a skateboard through the streets of Venice L.A. at midnight, carrying a piece to protect his, uhm other one, then he is stopped by a police officer (I think it is the guy from the horrible sitcom Mike and Molly?) who tells him to put his hands up, and since Bruce carries a pistol with him, he ends up shoving it up his ass or beneath something (I really did not pay too much attention), and it would be even more "hilarious" as we get to later on see Bruce ending up taken hostage by some drag queen, who then decides to give him a complete "make-over" and these scenes are truly the stuff of nightmares, and I wish I could go back in time an unwatch them. "Comedy" at its very "best"!
Bruce is, well more "moodier" than the usual boring act he often does, but the script and plot is paperthin and I just felt sorry for John Goodman who looked like some succubus had drained the life out of him, while Adam Goldberg has also little to do here, in fact the only ones who came through this poor excuse of a "comedy" in a positive way is the little white dog most of the films plot revolves around and Jason Mamoa seen here as a latino gangbanger, and I guess I should have know that a movie which was given a release on monday, then it is already on sale thursday, that it should be a BIG warning sign, right there. This was not Bruce Willis "comeback" as some of his more die hard fans has claimed, it was just another sad b-movie with a terrible script, tiredsome acting and a lots of lame sex and shit jokes, then top it off by having one annoying characters after another throwin into the misadventure. I also forgot that the beautiful Famke Janssen has a very, very small part here, and sadly she has nothing to work it either.
It is a bad movie, not 3/10 bad, but one that I knew within a few minutes would be a long and hard next 85 minutes of waste, so I am very kind when I hand out a:
4/10
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Post by stefancrosscoe on Sept 4, 2017 12:05:18 GMT
Aftermath (2017) "All he had left was revenge" or something like that, it says on my DVD copy, along with a very angry faced Arnold and a image below of a burning airplane wreckage. If I had gone in with that in mind, while not seen any of the trailers or read about the actual history behind the film nor it's characters, one might easily have thought it was gonna be another Liam Neeson DTV revenge-thriller, not unlike the Taken series, and this one even includes Maggie Grace. But instead Aftermath turned out to be maybe Arnold's most humane role ever, and also very likely his strongest acting performance since True Lies (1994). Sure, he has done the grieving father/familyman who suddenly loses everything, a few times before, such as in End of Days (1999) or Collateral Damage (2002) but those films was more within the usual action/sci-fi/horror genre and while they where somehow entertaining, his acting was too goofy and not very believable at all, and it probably did not help much either that Collateral Damage (2002) was to be heavily cut and re-released almost a year after the tragic events which occured in september of 2001, and what might have been a more solid action-thriller ended up instead as yet another very mediocre/uneven Arnie post-True Lies vehicle.
In Aftermath we meet two very different kind of men and personalities who all of a sudden are to be struck by tragedy and how it ends up changing their lives for ever. I am no expert on the actual happening that took place, but I felt the film was very well made, it was not damaged by poor cameral angles, lousy editing, poor choice of music or maybe worse, over-acting or over-doing, which often (for my part) ends up bringing what could have been a powerful scene down, many levels. Instead, I felt Arnie delivered a truly great (yes, great) performance here, as a broken down man who only wants for someone to take some kind of responsability and say they are sorry for killing his beloved ones. Arnold plays his part very low-key, there is no place for Sean Penn (Mystic River) over-done emotional outbursts with screaming and yelling and cursing, and suddenly he gets super-human powers and needs to be restrained by 10-15 grown men, (great movie by the way) but that is something which I felt would have easily damaged Arnold's part, instead he plays it very down to earth, and some of the films most touching and strongest moments happens when it easily could have gone all Hollywood and become "too much". Scoot McNairy plays his part also very well, obivously a far better damatic actor than Arnie, but somehow his character comes off as very sympathetic which I guess is one of probably several moments where the film maybe goes a bit over-the-top as from what I understood, in real life, the guy had no or little remorse and came off as arrogant and maybe not as "likeable".
The film is far away of being great, there are some scenes which felt a bit "underdone" and some where maybe a bit out of place, but after seeing this, and comparing it to the turd that was Once Upon a Time in Venice (2017), I feel I was too kind with that film, it should be a 3,5/10 not 4/10, and Aftermath I might just give a second chance any day, and that is not something I can say too often about an Arnold film made after his "comeback" in 2013, and the last one was actually The Last Stand, also from 2013. That was not a great movie, fun but uneven. Aftermath shows that Arnie can do more than just killing people and be funny, and I hope that he will continue maybe to do more dramatic parts in the future, even if if means he wil not get the main role. Also, I would love seeing Arnie in a bad ass western movie, but sadly going only by the recent trailer of Killing Gunter (2017), it might be a while until we get a chance of seeing him deliver such a good performance as in Aftermath.
I end up giving this film, the strongest rating since 2000 I have given an Arnie film and that was The 6th Day, which got a 7/10 because it reminded me of his late 80s and early 90s sci-fi/action heyday with over-the-top plot/acting and all. Aftermath is a good movie with some very strong performances and I think it deserves a very solid:
6,5/10
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Post by stefancrosscoe on Sept 6, 2017 9:26:21 GMT
Forest Warrior (1996) has the look of a low budget Hallmark product, and is maybe Chuck Norris most family friendly adventure along with Top Dog (1995) as he stars as an shape-shifting forest spirit that can turn into an eagle, bear or an wolf in his never-ending fight against corrupt and greedy men who tries to exploit his beloved forest. Here he ends up befriending and saving the lives of a group of children who soon becomes a bit of a pain in ass for a local businessman who wants to cut down their tree hut along with the forest, but of course all that goes down the drain when he comes up against the mighty forest spirit (Norris). Terry Kiser plays the corrupt businessman and does a decent job on doing so, but the film neede a more "scary" looking henchman than the bumbling hilbilly who poses not threat at all, and gets his head beaten in by Chuck several times over, and even the kids have little problem handling him. Forest Warrior is more ridiculous than bad, and where Chuck shows up, beat a bunch of redneck lumberjacks, then goes into "hiding", comes back for another beating, disappears, and again comes back for the "big" climax fight and the end.
4/10
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Post by lostinlimbo on Sept 13, 2017 5:41:29 GMT
Nicely put, "Forest Warrior" is far from awful, but yeah, very silly. I think I might prefer the goofier "Top Dog", but it also fits the same description. Another similar in style (family friendly) Chuck Norris entertainment I wouldn't mind checking out sometime is "Sidekicks". Anyhow Terry Kiser always makes a great heavy/bad guy.
As for "Aftermath", glad to see you enjoyed it. Arnie's performance, along with the rest of the cast elevates the film. I don't know how true it was to the sources, but I liked how the drama wasn't black and white. Keeping it on the level made it hit harder. I haven't seen " The 6th Day" before, but I did pick up a copy recently. I remember me and some high school buddies were going to see it at the cinemas, but we went with "Austin Powers The Who Shagged Me" instead. Never really thought about it again until recently.
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Post by stefancrosscoe on Sept 13, 2017 11:01:31 GMT
Nicely put, "Forest Warrior" is far from awful, but yeah, very silly. I think I might prefer the goofier "Top Dog", but it also fits the same description. Another similar in style (family friendly) Chuck Norris entertainment I wouldn't mind checking out sometime is "Sidekicks". Anyhow Terry Kiser always makes a great heavy/bad guy.I looked up the trailer or fanmade trailer of Sidekicks (1992) and well, it looked not bad, more funny/silly but I liked the fact that it seemed like a combination of The Karate Kid and The Last Action Hero. I think youtube have the whole film online, so I might have to give this one a go. As for "Aftermath", glad to see you enjoyed it. Arnie's performance, along with the rest of the cast elevates the film. I don't know how true it was to the sources, but I liked how the drama wasn't black and white. Keeping it on the level made it hit harder. I haven't seen " The 6th Day" before, but I did pick up a copy recently. I remember me and some high school buddies were going to see it at the cinemas, but we went with "Austin Powers The Who Shagged Me" instead. Never really thought about it again until recently.Yeah, Aftermath was quite the surprise, I did not expect such a strong performance by Arnie, but he really did come through and showed that if the right director/writer comes along, he can be trusted upon with more heavier type of movie roles in the future. The 6th Day is a lot of fun, it is silly but is probably his last film made after Eraser (1995) which has that classic Arnie feel with hilarious one-liners, goofy bad guys and in some parts reminded me of his 80 and early 90s sci-fi action movies such as Total Recall and The Running Man. Also Robert Duvall delivers a very good (as he always does) job here along with Tony Goldwyn, Michal Rooker and Michael Rapaport. I think I gave it a 7/10, not great but still lots of fun.
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