I’ve got a confession to make. I like found footage movies. Well, good ones. In fact, I even invented the genre.
Tag Archives: Film Review
Review: Bloodsport
The 1980’s were the halcyon days for action films. For me, it was such whimsical nights of watching rented movies that made me into the great man I am today. Guilt-tripping a naive mother into renting the likes of Robocop, Predator, or Die Hard as a seven-year-old was a skill of mine, and I took full advantage of my local corner shop’s extensive collection of over-sized VHS.
But my introduction to the Muscles from Brussels, Jean-Claude Van Damme, came via another member of my family – my cousin
Review: The Gunman
Being an older, Oscar-winning actor and coming out of retirement to kick ass in lower budget action movies is the vogue at the moment. Liam Neeson wrote the blueprint with Taken, and has completely reinvented his late career. Now other high end middler-agers are coming out to take a piece of the bloody pie (Denzel, Guy Pearce etc).
Now it’s Sean Penn’s turn as The Gunman. Is he going to be the new Studio Canal Golden Boy? Or is this just another example of an elder statesman desperately trying to stay relevant?
Bastards of Smokin’ Aces
2006 may well be remembered for the likes of 300, Casino Royale, and Snakes on a Plane, but it also had a few lesser movies worthy of note. One such forgotten actioner is Smokin’ Aces, an ensemble revenge plot that reeks of multi-national influence. It’s also chock full of bastards.
Review: Hard Target
A quick re-watch of Expendables 2 the other day reminded me of Jean-Claude Van Damme’s turn as the maniacal Jean Vilain. We’ve spoken about many of cinema’s greatest badasses on this website – Schwarzenegger, Stallone, Statham, Norris and so forth, but never JCVD. I figured it was about time to revisit one of Van Damme’s greatest triumphs. Let’s talk about Hard Target.
Review: Batman (1989)
As I explained last week, the landscape for superhero films (particularly Batman) was non-existent in the 70’s and 80’s. Well, I mean serious superhero films. Beyond Superman, the only other alternatives were dreck like Kiss Meets The Phantom Of The Park, or the woeful first Captain America film in 1979 . Comics were still far from mainstream, and no one in Hollywood had any inkling as to the dark, anti-hero renaisance that was occurring in the halls of DC and Marvel.
Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman changed all that.
The Movie Bastards 