Ya know how you....hmmm....how you know your own body? Okay perverts, that's not what I mean (well, at least not THIS time)....I mean how, do you know when you're about to get sick? Man, I know every single time. Monday morning I was sitting at my desk, getting ready to go to court and all of a sudden it started to hit me. I went into court, we went to trial, and during the middle of jury selection I started having a massive coughing fit (the judge thought I was about to buy the farm). It got worse and worse during the day, and when I got home, I told Kim that there was like ZERO chance that I would be going to the "open house" night at the kids school. I mean, c'mon...on my best day those things are torture to go too. If I'm sick, I'd be looking for a gun to put myself out of my misery! Anyway, luckily Kim made the decision that we weren't going to go (man, I love that woman!). Then I got basically zero sleep on Monday night//Tuesday morning....called in sick and was pretty much miserable the whole day. Last night I felt a little better, but knowing that Wednesday is one of the slower days of the week, and that Thursday is usually a madhouse, I decided to take one more day off. Finally started to feel close to returning to normal around early afternoon. Fortunately for you, my loyal and beloved readers....I made the most of my time off by watching some movies and having reviews for you!! Am I just the host with the most....or what? I mean, c'mon I'm suffering here for my art! (well, sorta)
And how about this God forsaken hurricane??? Geez, louise...what does the man upstairs have against the people of Florida? A couple of weeks ago he wacks the SW coast of the state, and now this monster storm is off the eastern coast trying to decide what the heck it wants to do. Which means.....yep, being a government employee...I'm off again tomorrow! Hurricane day! By the way, I should mention that even in the throes of my misery yesterday....by God I went out and voted!! I sure hope all of you did also! Anyway, hopefully this storm (Frances? what sort of name is that for a storm?) will turn north and go out to sea again and leave Florida alone for awhile....we got wounds that need to heal here people! Anyway, just in case, I may be putting up storm shutters and all that shit tomorrow. And if there is one thing that better not happen....this damn storm had better not interfere with me being able to watch some college football this weekend! If there's one thing I hate, its being inconvienced! (Ya know?)
So anyway....like I said.....I got to watch some movies over the last couple of days:
1) From Hell: I've had this DVD for ever, and I finally got around to watching the damn thing. Man, does that Johnny Depp make some good movies. I've heard his last one..."Secret Window" or something is kinda crappy, but man....everything else this guy does is at least INTERESTING. This one is a retelling of the Jack the Ripper legend, with Depp as an inspector assigned to the case, being ably assisted by Robbie Coltrane, Ian Holm and Heather Graham, as the only whore in London during the late 1800's with all her teeth. I will say this for the movie. It doesn't glamourize prostitution. Depp's character is also ably assisted by a nasty opium habit which causes him to see "visions" of the killer and his victims. That opium is some kinda nasty shit....look what it did to Chris Walken in The Deerhunter. You chase the dragon...and bad things happen. Anyway, this is a really good movie. Not great mind you, but really good. A tad on the gory side, and I certainly wouldn't recommend letting junior sit down and watch it with you, but there are a lot worse ways to kill 2 hours. ***3/4
2) War of the Worlds---so I'm flipping the channels last night, and I happen upon this old classic from the 50's, starring Gene Barry, who some of you may remember as Bat Masterson from t.v. (any of you? What about you? Oh, c'mon people!! Am I that freakin old??) Anyway, this is great cheezy 50's cinema at its best. There are tons of allegories here about the U.S. and communists and stuff....but just sit back and enjoy Gene and the army try and figure out how to save Los Angeles!! ***
3) Starsky & Hutch--okay, here's a guilty pleasure admission. When I was in middle school and into high school, this was one of my favorite t.v. shows. Stupid? Oh God, of course it was. But it was fun, in a slightly brutal way....and there wasn't a kid in high school who didn't dream about owning that badass Gran Torino. The remake stars Ben Stiller & Owen Wilson and they play the remake for laughs. In this one, Starsky is a total tightass, by the book cop, and Hutch is a 70's slacker, barely walking that fine line between being a police officer and breaking the law thru sheer laziness. It makes for a cute setup, as Stiller in particular has nailed some of Paul Michael Glaser's old mannerisms as Starsky. Fred the Hammer Williamson plays Capt Doby in the role originated by.....anybody? Anyone remember?? The great Bernie Hamilton ladies and gentlemen!! Thank you, thank you very much.
Antonio Fargas as Huggy Bear has been replaced by Snoop Dogg, who has made the character more empowered than the original's sniveling informant. (There's a very funny sight gag in the movie involving Huggy's pet iguana--I'll leave it at that)
Overall, I liked the movie, as I thought it was a playful homage to the 70's. I say this while admitting that I have never watched one of those God forsaken Charlie's Angels movies.....some things just shouldn't be tampered with! ***1/2
4) Kill Bill, Volume 2---so the first movie in this series was all about the action, with some of the greatest kickass fight scenes in movie history. This one, the concluding chapter, is more about the storyline, as it tells the complete history of "The Bride", played by (never thought I'd say this one people)....the great Uma Thurman. This one is the equal of Volume 1, and for totally different reasons. It makes for a satisfying conclusion, as a lot of the questions posed in the first movie are answered.
What's also great is the way that Quentin Tarantino pulls amazing performances out of people that you would least expect it out of. David Carradine? Hey, a quirky guy--but am I shocked that he does a great job? No. Michael Madsen? This was the guy who cut off the cops ear in Reservior Dogs. Am I shocked that he does a great job as Carradine's sleazy hitman brother? Nope. Darryl Hannah? Am I shocked that she absolutely kicks ass as a one-eyed assassin who has one of the alltime great fight scenes with Uma Thurman? Well, uh.....okay....yeah, I was shocked at that one. I mean---C'MON PEOPLE!! Darryl Hannah? When the hell was the last time she was any good in a fucking movie????? Darryl Hannah???
Holy crap! Tarantino must be some kind of a miracle worker, cuz Darryl Hannah is great in this role. And I loved some of the veteran character actors that Q.T. has working in this movie include Samuel L Jackson, Bo Svenson (no shit! Bo Svenson!
Good Lord--where in the hell has he been at lately?) & Michael Parks (remember "Then Came Bronson"?) This and the first volume are more than just kung-fu movies...you're really doing yourself a disservice if you're avoiding them because you think that. ****1/4
5) Predator--You know...one of the things I enjoy as a new parent is introducing my kids, and in particular my son, to the joys of a great action movie. Andy is really into the whole outer space thing...and I knew he would love the Predator character.
I think outside of the Terminator movies, this might be Arnie's best role. He's made some pretty bad movies (Raw Deal, Commando to name just two), but when paired with a really good director (James Cameron with the Terminator movies & John McTiernan here) he made some damn good action movies. Arnie is also helped out by a stellar supporting cast, including Carl Weathers, Bill Duke & Jesse Ventura--who just spouts out great lines left in right in this one. Tons of great action here, as a group of soldiers in a latin american country on a secret mission begin to realize that they're being hunted by something that is....(drumroll please)....NOT OF THIS EARTH!!!!! Great bloody fun. One of your alltime "guy" movie classics. ****
I know, I know....I've been avoiding my top 10 list.....Let me get back to it:
10) The Shawshank Redemption
9) Rear Widnow
8) The Outlaw Josey Wales
7) The Godfather 1 & 2
6) Lord of the Rings trilogy
5) Unforgiven
4) Jaws
3) The Deerhunter
2) The Road Warrior---hey, its my damn list. If you don't like it, go read someone elses. I remember going to the old Lauderhill Mall back around 1981 or so with my old buddy David Little to see this movie that he told me looked really good in the previews. I just sat there for almost 2 hours with my mouth wide open watching the greatest action movie I've ever seen until that point---and since then. This film hits the ground running and doesn't let up, concluding with one of the greatest car chases in cinematic history, an over the top vehicle crashing spectacular rivaled perhaps only by the mayhem wrought by the car chase sequence in The Blues Brothers.
Mel Gibson became an international superstar as Max, the former road patrol officer driven from his home and from civilization by the death of his wife and young child.
He is doomed to wander the roads of Australia's outback, searching for fuel in a future post-apocalpse world....chasing and being chased by lawless outlaws. He is finally confronted with the loss of his own humanity by a group of survivors who have been processing gasoline, the most prescious commodity in the wasteland.
Max's decision, on whether to help the survivor's or not, will decide his own fate.
A great movie that influenced countless other inferior remakes, but make no mistake about it....this is the movie that made Mel Gibson a star. *****
PS....if you want to check out the first movie in the series, called Mad Max, its definitely worth checking out, if for nothing else than for one of the greatest opening sequences in movie history....but beware....the redubbing of some of the actor's voices (apparently they had some rather heavy Australian accents) is pretty bad.
Still, a good little action movie that sets up The Road Warrior. ***1/2
Beware however, of the horrible 3rd movie in the series, Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome. Tina Turner, a bunch of whiny kids and a plot line that had something to do with turning pig shit into fuel (I'm not making that up). UGH! * 1/4
Later,
jeff
No comments:
Post a Comment