Category: Action-Adventure
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Remember the “Simpsons” episode where Bart watches ‘Die Hard’ jump out the window? Live Free or Die Hard–the title, incidentally, has nothing to do with the film’s content–is the first one where I expected McClane’s nickname to be ‘Die Hard.’ They come close in terms of self-reference…. Still, as a Die Hard movie, it’s about…
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Watching former–I don’t know, he wasn’t really an indie, so something like pre-hipster hipster–wunderkind Wes Bentley in material like this movie (where he finally finds his appropriate level, skill-wise) is kind of amusing. Is it amusing enough to get through the whole movie, especially since Bentley doesn’t show up until twenty-five minutes into it (remember,…
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Apparently, no director has ever needed a good script more than John Sturges. His work in The Magnificent Seven is static, the camera as disinterested in the film’s goings-on as the majority of the cast. He lets the camera sit and stare, cutting when it wakes up from its nap. He also appears not to…
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Catherine Mary Stewart’s British? She’s in Nighthawks for a second and she looked familiar but I don’t keep track of her filmography, so I didn’t find out until the end credits. (Actually, she’s Canadian, which is closer than I thought). Besides that trivia tidbit–if it even qualifies as a tidbit–the most amusing thing about Nighthawks…
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Hostage, towards the end, plays a little like a Die Hard movie, which isn’t surprising, since Doug Richardson did write it (he also wrote Die Hard 2) and Willis, who’s good in Hostage, is usually best in… well, Die Hard movies, actually. Like those films, Hostage lets him emote and he does a good job…
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I’m having a hard time thinking of something to say about Ghost Dog. It’s perfect. Jarmusch doesn’t just do a bunch of good things or a bunch of right things. Every single thing he does is perfect. And Ghost Dog is perfect pretty early on too–in the first five or ten minutes, I was completely…
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The amusement factor. Does that term even make any sense? Ocean’s Twelve is, in case anyone watching it was confused (which I find hard to believe, but of the principals, only George Clooney makes exclusively smart movies so Brad Pitt and Matt Damon fans are suspect), about enjoying itself. It throws itself a party no…
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I suppose, if there were a quiz or something and I thought about it real hard, I’d remember Under Siege brought Tommy Lee Jones… well, not back exactly, so I guess just brought Tommy Lee Jones. Looking at his filmography and the dates, someone could wrongly argue Oliver Stone tried championing him–but it didn’t work…
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I think I watched The Gauntlet for masochistic reasons, namely screenwriters Michael Butler and Dennis Shryack, the late 1970s, early 1980s version of Mark Rosenthal and Lawrence Konner–incompetent Hollywood writers. Even so, the film’s not wholly terrible. It’s rarely exciting, just because the action sequences are so poorly written, and Clint approaches the whole thing…
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I don’t usually see films released by Lionsgate. I wouldn’t say I boycotted them, but I don’t take them seriously enough to bother. I started watching Crank because the trailer looked amusing and I do like Jason Statham, whose career goal is apparently never to be in a film funded by a major film company.…
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I had read somewhere Casino Royale wasn’t going to be chock-full of CG like the recent Bond films, but maybe I misread it. As a series, the Bond films are supposed to be about stunt work and explosions. Casino Royale is actually light on explosions and practically absent of stunts. There’s lots of stunt-looking stuff,…
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There are a couple kinds of Westerns, once you break it down enough. Ones where people go places, ones where people don’t. The Outlaw Josey Wales is a going places Western. It’s about a man on a trip and what the trip does to the man on the trip. I’ve seen Josey Wales before, probably…
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Pale Rider is an interesting Eastwood–while it is a milestone in Eastwood coming together as a filmmaker–it’s also one of the few films where he really offered up so much for another actor to do. The film’s some kind of homage to Shane–as well as a colder, more mountainous version of High Plains Drifter–but Michael…
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DV Michael Mann–because there is a difference between Michael Mann on film and Michael Mann on DV–doesn’t bother giving Miami Vice a first act. I suppose he intends the absence to be some sort of cinema verite thing, but it doesn’t work, it just gives the audience no characters to identify with. Lethal Weapon 2…
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Given Men of War’s blind earnestness, the daddy issues, and John Sayles being one of the credited screenwriters, I wouldn’t be surprised to find out it was going to be Steven Spielberg’s first war movie. I first read about Men of War when IMDb came around and I looked up Sayles. A John Sayles written…
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Shakedown is such a terrible film, I’d have to go through it line by line to adequately catalog its deficiencies. The big action climax features Sam Elliot hanging onto landing gear of a jet flying over the World Trade Center, then dropping into a river. This climax–from take-off to dropping into the river to the…
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Back in the late 1980s, The Punisher was part of that period’s comic book movie wave. Most of these films had little to do with Batman’s success and most of them failed, both commercially and artistically. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, of course, succeeded financially. Watching this Punisher film (I have no interest in the new…
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Formulaic WWII thriller about Norwegian resistance fighters Kirk Douglas and Richard Harris infiltrating a Nazi base to stop them from developing the A-bomb first. Lots of good cross-country skiing footage, lots of reused war footage. Douglas doesn’t act very much in the first half, just gropes every woman in sight. Meanwhile Harris, who’s good in…
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Superbly acted, superbly directed, middlingly written thriller about average guy Navy officer Aidan Quinn drafted into an international program to turn him into a super-spy. Turns out Quinn looks exactly like infamous terrorist Carlos the Jackal. Quinn is fantastic; Ben Kingsley and Donald Sutherland are both good as his handlers (see, they’re training him to…
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Godawful adaptation of Robert Ludlum espionage novel about TV journalist Rutger Hauer (who’s excellent despite not having his accent ironed out to play American white bread) getting recruited to spy on his pals, who may or may not be enemy agents. The film’s a shocking waste of its cast–Burt Lancaster, John Hurt, Dennis Hopper, and…
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Okay WWII spy thriller about the Nazis capturing a D-Day planner (James Garner) days before the offensive. They only have… well, longer than thirty-six hours but ostensibly thirty-six hours to crack him. Their plan? Have shrink Rod Taylor convince Garner he’s had amnesia for six years. The first hour’s Taylor’s, which is good because he…
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Not a buddy movie buddy movie about aged New York cop Bruce Willis transporting witness Mos Def the titular number of blocks while Willis’s cop buddies are trying to assassinate Def. Great performance from Willis, great chemistry between him and Def, strong direction–with a just right, lighter tone–from Donner. Phenomenal (of course) supporting performance from…
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Atrociously written action sequel about “transporter” Jason Statham and the trouble he gets into because of one of his jobs. His jobs transporting things. Good thing he also knows kung fu. Terrible acting besides Statham and reluctant cop sidekick François Berléand. Kate Nauta’s performance is probably one of the worst ever in a theatrically released,…
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Rip-roaring, serial-inspired adventure set in the 1930s has archaeologist/adventurer/heartthrob Harrison Ford traveling the globe to keep the Nazis from getting their hands on the Lost Ark of the Covenant. Exciting, well-written (by Lawrence Kasdan), and beautifully directed by Spielberg. John Williams’s score is so important it could be top-billed. Sometimes moves a little too fast…
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Pretty good car chase action movie with cops vs. car thieves in fast cars. Great cast (save Christopher Eccleston and Angelina Jolie). At least she’s more mediocre than bad. Lead Nicolas Cage never visibly counts the paycheck; Giovanni Ribisi’s great. Ostensible director’s cut adds little–certainly not where it needs help; instead, there’s some padding and…
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Delightful comedic thriller has Robert Redford leading a group of high tech security experts who run afoul of Redford’s old hippie pal/nemesis Ben Kingsley. Great performances throughout (from an awesome, varied supporting cast), wonderful direction from Robinson, and a lovely, playful James Horner score. 126 minutes of expertly executed fun. DVD, Blu-ray, Streaming.Continue reading →
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Arizona sheriff’s deputy Clint Eastwood goes to New York in pursuit of fugitive Don Stroud; his macho demeanor causes friction with New York cop Lee J. Cobb as well as sizzles with probation officer Susan Clark. More a character study than an action/thriller, though the Hollywood hippies stuff doesn’t age well. Nice performances from Eastwood…
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Nicely paced disaster movie about a volcano growing out the La Brea Tar Pits. Anne Heche is the scientist, Tommy Lee Jones is the city guy, Gaby Hoffman’s his daughter. It’s occasionally annoying, with bad dialogue, but the cast is great. Heche and Don Cheadle are outstanding; Jones is fine. The film takes itself just…
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WWII espionage thriller has English thief Christopher Plummer convincing German captors wants to spy for them so he can go back to the UK and become a double agent for the British. Good performances compensate for a shallow script and mediocre direction from Young. DVD, Streaming.Continue reading →
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Graphically violent–but still PG–Disney adaptation boasts a shockingly good performance from Charlie Sheen, an appealing one from Oliver Platt, and a good villain turn from Michael Wincott but it’s otherwise fairly dreadful. Bad direction and a bad script (from David Loughery); awful performance from Chris O’Donnell (as D’Artagnan). Kiefer Sutherland tries and fails. Tim Curry’s…
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