The "DEATH WISH" Retrospective

From "Death Wish 4: The Crackdown"

BAD GUY
Who the f_ _ _ are you man?

PAUL KERSEY
Death.

The urge to write up a Death Wish retrospective has been strong in me. However, with time limited these days I happened upon a reviewer, Vern at AICN that has his own SITE and has done a great job of writing up the genius of Bronson's five epic vigilante films. So I'm gonna totally rip Vern off and re-post his reviews here. If you love B-movies please check out vern's site, I highly recommend it! I know it's a horrible thing to do, but I don't think I could do it much better than Vern did.

I also want to recommend a great book that's oput called Bronson's Loose! The Making of the Death Wish Films by Paul Talbot. I'm in the middle of reading it now, and its a great read. You can BUY it here at Amazon.


DEATH WISH



After enjoying recent DEATH WISH ripoffs and spinoffs like DEATH SENTENCE and THE BRAVE ONE, I thought it would be a good time to revisit the source, and to see those sequels I never got around to watching. (By the source I mean the first Charles Bronson movie and not the book by Brian Garfield, which is apparently similar but clearly anti-vigilante in the end - that's why he wrote the sequel Death Sentence, because he was so mad about the DEATH WISH movie.)

Charles Bronson plays Paul Kersey, New York architect, happily married father, "bleeding heart liberal," Korean War veteran with conscientious objector status. A cool guy. Then one day a gang of hoodlums (including Jeff Goldblum in his first movie role) follow Paul's wife and daughter home from the grocery store and rape them. Mrs. Kersey dies and the daughter is so traumatized she's hospitalized in a near catatonic state.

Paul's annoying son-in-law (who calls him "dad" way too much for comfort) convinces Paul to take an opportunity to go work on a project in Tucson to get away from it all. Hanging out with ranchers he ends up going to the gun range, where he gets a condescending lecture about how the city wouldn't be so violent if everybody had guns like out here. When he leaves they give him a gun as a gift. So, uh, that might end up being used for something. Who knows?



Of course Kersey ends up in a one man war against crime, going out late at night waiting for people to try to mug him so he can shoot them with his new gun. It makes him feel good. Strangely, he never ends up tracking down or even trying to track down the dudes who attacked his family. Since this was the start of the urban vigilante formula it hadn't yet occurred to them that that was a good way to make the story satisfying. Or maybe they just knew it was unrealistic. That didn't become a part of the formula until part 2.

Obviously nobody likes bullies, and this was at a time when crime was fairly rampant in alot of major cities, so it hit a chord with alot of people. Anybody who ever gets fucked over fantasizes about getting revenge. But the manipulation of the movie is pretty blatant, the way it openly states that Kersey is a "bleeding heart liberal" and basically says that all his values were wrong and now he knows since his wife was killed.

Being made in a more sexist era the portrayals of his wife and daughter are pretty embarrassing to look at now. Obviously an attack like this is deeply scarring but the wife seems to die of fear and the daughter quickly reverts to the mental state of a little girl. She's even that way years later in part 2. It's reinforcing this fantasy for the Tucson ranchers that women are helpless little fragile waifs and that a man's primary job in life is to violently protect them from other predators.



If the movie wanted to really make the vigilantism argument credibly it wouldn't have to stack the deck the way it does, with the hoodlums being these silly cartoons who run around hooting and giggling and randomly attacking people for fun. If that's the way the filmatists see street crime then you gotta figure they're just paranoid, they wet their pants every time they see a longhair or a black guy, then run home and tell their friends they just barely dodged a gang rape. This movie definitely exploits our basest and most paranoid instincts. (I mean jesus, check this out.)

But you know what? I still dig this movie. Bronson is so good at these type of characters that I accept him more like he's a real guy who went a little crazy in a bad circumstances than as thinly veiled audience manipulating right wing fantasy time. So I forgive him. And for such exploitation the filmatism is pretty classy. The elegant and sometimes funky score by Herbie Hancock goes a long way toward making it work. Apparently director Michael Winner's girlfriend gave him the Headhunters album and convinced him to get Herbie. Good job Michael Winner's girlfriend at the time(aka Maria from Sesame Street).

And although the movie seems to be coming out on the side of vigilantism, you gotta acknowledge that there is some ambiguity there, the way at the end Kersey has completely lost it and he starts spouting cliches from the western stunt show he saw earlier. To me it seems to be saying that what he's doing is at least in part inspired by that blatantly fake world - rehearsed, lipsynched, acted out for tourists. And maybe that's why he takes his chance to leave New York instead of dying or committing suicide like alot of people would after a crazy rampage like that. Maybe that's why he doesn't really have a death wish.



DEATH WISH II



For the first DEATH WISH sequel we trade down from Dino DiLaurentiis to Golan and Globus producing. Apparently Menahem Golan almost directed, but Bronson wouldn't do it unless they got Michael Winner back. I bet he said "why get a loser when you can get a Winner?" Anyway we caught a lucky break there. I guess Winner must've broken up with Maria from SESAME STREET by this time so Herbie Hancock was out. Instead he got one of his neighbors to score, a neighbor who happened to be Jimmy Page. I was worried but there's only guitar soloing on the beginning and end credits, the rest is standard old school score, not cheesy '80s keyboards and rockin guitars and shit. So I'm not gonna complain.

It's 1982 now, 8 years later, but they say it's 4 years later. (The magic of cinema.) Paul Kersey lives in L.A. now. His adventures in Chicago (portrayed in the book Death Sentence) are ignored. He's still an architect, h has a new girlfriend (Jill Ireland) and he's moved his daughter to a hospital in California. She's still so traumatized she doesn't speak.

His life seems happy but then he has a run-in with some weirdos in the park. They steal his wallet so he chases one of them down and beats him up in an alley. Very satisfying, but too bad his driver's license was up to date. They go to his house, rape his housekeeper, hit him over the head with a crowbar, kidnap his daughter, then rape his daughter until she kills herself.



One time a guy at the DMV scolded me for not updating my address after I moved, and he said if the police were looking for me they'd go to the old address. I said that was a pretty good case for not updating your address, and DEATH WISH II is another one. If Paul was still carrying around his Illinois driver's license his daughter and maid would still be alive. And those thugs would be wandering around Chicago trying to find him.

This story raises a few questions. In DEATH WISH, Kersey's vigilantism was said to lower the crime rate in New York City. And it inspired other people to stand up for themselves and fight off muggers. But did that last? And is he gonna hafta travel the world to lower crime rates everywhere else, because L.A. of 1982 seems way worse than New York of '74. How's he ever gonna keep up? He's not Santa Claus. The hoodlums here are even less human and more violent than Jeff Goldblum's crowd. They just run around grabbinb people. They giggle and stick their tongues out and swing around like monkeys. Then occasionally they just set up a boombox and dance badly to shitty guitar rock.



A word of warning: the rape scenes in this one are much longer and more graphic, almost headed toward I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE territory. In the Jeff Goldblum future-respected-actor-playing-rapist slot we have Laurence Fishburne as "Cutter", wearing sunglasses like Levar Burton on Star Trek. I read that the U.K. cut has some of that stuff censored but I wouldn't mind. I get the idea.

I always wondered why in DEATH WISH all he needed was a gun. Wasn't he ever gonna get mugged by somebody with more than a switchblade? In II that escalation has taken place, so he does get in shootouts. These guys are pretty pickpockets and crazy rapists, but they trade a bag of coke for machine guns from the mob. Shit is getting crazy out there.



The simplistic approach to issues continues. People Kersey hes call him a hero and refuse to give a description to angry cops who seems to care more about busting him than other criminals. Alot of sticking it to the man goes on in these movies. Jill Ireland's character is very interested in criminal rehabilitation, Kersey kind of plays along and you're probaly supposed to think "isn't it cute, women don't know what they're talking about." An anti-death penalty senator is made to look naive by only giving him one weak sentence to explain his stance.

But since Kersey's tracking down the specific guys who did the crime this time it's hard to get too mad at him. And his methods are extra badass - he calls himself Kimball, wears a knit cap and rents a rathole to use as his headquarters, his hall of urban justice. Meanwhile he's trying to act normal whenever his lady shows up. He keeps having to hide guns or hope she doesn't notice the blood pouring out of his sleeve. For his last kill he has to use her connections and a fake doctor ID to get into a mental hospital where the guy gets locked up for rehabilitation. The craziest part is Kersey proposes to her and plans it so that running off to Acapulco will also be his post-murder-spree getaway. Not too romantic. That's kind of in the same category as Homer Simpson buying Marge a bowling ball with his name on it for her birthday.



There's some pretty good violence. Laurence Fishburne has the best death - he tries to hold up his precious boombox to shield himself from bullets - it gets shot in half in time to see the bullet hit him in the face. But actually my favorite part of the movie is earlier, when Kersey is not yet on the warpath because he's only had his wallet stolen. He doesn't have a gun but he beats the guy up. The guy tries to stab him, he catches the blade in a cardboard box and disarms him. He gives him a few pounds but the guy turns out not to have his wallet, so he tosses his knife over a tall fence. Schmuck.

Then when he goes back to the ladies he doesn't even tell them what happened. He just claims he can't buy ice cream because he forgot his wallet. That's Paul Kersey for you.


DEATH WISH 3



Well, L.A. didn't work out too hot for Paul Kersey. Might as well head home. So Part 3's opening credits show Kersey taking a bus back into New York City, looking out the window to the tune of the most in-your–face, half cheesy/half cool blast of white-man's-keyboard-rock meets jazz-fusion-'80s-cop-movie-establishing-shot-of-the-city theme this side of HARD BOILED. Jimmy Page is back in the composer's chair and comes up with a pretty weird and experimental sound more often than he comes up with the crappy guitar noodling you usually got after LETHAL WEAPON came out. He's still no Herbie Hancock, but he'll do.

Director Michael Winner returns for his last at-bat in the DEATH WISH series, but you immediately gotta wonder what the hell's up because this feels nothing like his other DEATH WISHes. I'm honestly not sure if it's a deliberate artistic choice or a sudden case of not giving a shit, but he has completely removed whatever traces there were of subtlety, thoughtfulness, ambiguity, class or elegance, not to mention realism. It looks cheaper, plays out more clunky and seems to have been made all in a week or so with no time to prepare or to stop to take a breath. And that's exactly why it's the most popular of the sequels. This movie is pretty fuckin nuts.



The first two took questionable morality and made it go down easier with execution that's just a little smarter than the material. No time for that in III. The writing and editing both go for a sometimes hilarious bluntness and minimalism. No beating around the bush. No time to set up or explain things, no time to set a mood, to develop an idea, to linger on anything at all. For example a scene will start with some place already on fire - why bother to show how this starts? Let's just skip to the burning. Maybe the funniest example is the lawyer who Kersey strikes up a relationship with during a few scenes. They start to see each other and before you have time to catch your breathe Kersey has left her in the car for a moment, the bad guys have punched her out, put the car in neutral and rolled it down the hill where it crashed and exploded. And Kersey is pissed but I don't think he 0ever mentions her again. The movie's saying, "yeah yeah yeah, revenge, etc. You get the idea, I'm not gonna blow a bunch of smoke up your ass about it."



In the opening Paul comes to visit a Korean War buddy (who cares why?) moments after a bunch of punks have broken in and killed the poor guy. Then a whole bunch of cops show up and arrest Paul. One cop knows he was The Vigilante so he tells him he can go if he continues killing "creeps." As a reader named Drew B. pointed out to me, "Eastwood shoots 'Punks,' and Bronson shoots 'Creeps.'" Anyway now the story doesn't have to deal with much secretiveness or cops trying to catch him. Just him shooting muggers.

The villains are your standard young white guys with chains and vests. Their leader Manny Fraker has a reverse mohawk and they all paint two lines on their foreheads in his honor. He's a weird looking dude with a good lawyer who, after his first meeting with Kersey, offers to kill a little old lady in his honor. But you can tell underneath the bluster he's a huge nerd. He sounds like such a weiner when he gets on the phone to call in some biker gang reinforcements. "Manny Fraker here..."

The Jeff Goldblum/Laurence Fishburne slot I guess this time would be filled by Alex Winter as "Hermosa." I mean he's mainly known as Bill or Ted (I never remember which one) but I still respect him for directing a movie nobody else knows about called FEVER.

The creeps seem to make up 99% of the neighborhood's population. There are a handful of elderly people or women who live there but if they go outside they're always surprised by a purse-snatching or a gang rape. If they stay inside the creeps climb in the window. So Kersey starts setting booby traps such as a bed of nails on the floor by his window or a plank that swings up and takes a guy's front teeth out. Sadly these traps always go off off screen.



Alot of the movie is Kersey happening to walk around the corner as a crime occurs, then he chases them down and shoots them. He uses a gun designed for African big game hunting, and later a machine gun his late buddy Charlie saved after the war and a rocket launcher he uses to blow Manny Fraker through the side of his apartment. (He ain't getting his deposit back.) The escalation is justified by the rioting creeps who just start blowing up cars, lighting people on fire and hiding on the roofs shooting at any citizen they spot. (More proof that Kersey's vigilantism did not lower New York's crime rate in the long run.)

The battle is painted broadly as a war between old people and young people. About the only time cops ever get involved is when they falsely arrest Kersey or when they come to take guns away from elderly people. (The right wing propaganda is at its all time clumsiest.) It seems like no cops give a shit about the crime at all except the one guy who gives so much of a shit that he secretely authorizes Kersey to execute all criminals on sight. I mean look, Kersey's a good guy, I trust him. But this brings up some constitional issues, in my opinion. Some due process and what not. I'm not sure I'm comfortable with this.



But this is a hell of a movie. You can't watch it and not get a little giddy. Whether its stripping down of the cliches DEATH WISH created was intentional or not is something that will require further study. Jim Blanton of Fantasmo Cult Cinema Explosion tipped me off to a book called Bronson's Loose! The Making of the Death Wish Films by Paul Talbot. I couldn't find it at the local book stores so I had to order it. As soon as I get it I'm gonna skip to the chapter on part 3 to find out what the hell was the thinking on this one. It seems like the movie that every violent parody of violent action movies in the '80s was directly based on. By normal standards of filmatism it's the worst of the series, but judged by raw force and entertainment value it's the best after part 1.

If you like your action raw, ridiculous and completely ignorant, DEATH WISH 3 is a must-see.


DEATH WISH 4: THE CRACKDOWN



For part 3 Michael Winner stripped DEATH WISH down to its crudest elements. There was nowhere further to go within. So for THE CRACKDOWN new director J. Lee Thompson (GUNS OF THE NAVARONE, the last two PLANET OF THE APES movies, THE EVIL THAT MEN DO, tons of other shit) dresses it back up again. You know this right away from the opening which contains suspense, mood, atmosphere, build, surprise, and symbolism, all forbidden by part 3's strict DOGME style rules.

Kersey is an architect again, and has a family again - another reporter girlfriend with a teenage daughter he regards as his own daughter (we know this because he says "I regard her as if she were my own daughter.") Oh jesus, not more gang rape, right?

Well, we're in luck. Kersey's regarded-as-daughter dies not from an attack but from a cocaine overdose. Kersey follows her boyfriend to the video arcade/roller rink, sees him confront and get stabbed by their dealer, ends up shooting him so his body falls and gets shocked by the top of the bumper car rink.



The admirable thing about this sequel is that the only punk or "creep" in the whole movie is the guy who gives the cops a description of Kersey's car after the arcade/roller rink shooting. Kersey goes after the organized crime figures who get rich off of the drugs that killed that girl. So finally the class conflict of DEATH WISH is reversed. It's not this well-to-do architect going after poor people who dress funny. It's Kersey vs. rich guys who wear suits and live in mansions or penthouse condos. And to enter their world he pretends to be the help, sneaking into a party as part of the catering staff, or pretending to be a worker at the drug front fishpacking plant.

This secret agent business wasn't his idea. A rich guy recruited him. He knows about Kersey's vigilante activities, claims his daughter was killed by drugs too, sort of forces/convinces Kersey to go after the kingpins. He gives Kersey intel (you hear it as narration) and supplies his equipment: sniper rifles, bombs, bugs, uzis, rocket launchers. Everything he needs for a crackdown.



So it's a series of missions and the feel is kind of more THE MECHANIC than DEATH WISH. You start to wonder how he got so fuckin badass just from shooting muggers and being a medic in the Korean war. He does things that usually require a special ops backstory, like in the great scene where he tries to escape the fish plant with about 80-100 working stiffs coming after him. Somehow the comparitive slickness makes it seem more reasonable than part 3, but at times it's just as ridiculous.

He also has a couple great one-liners. My favorite is when a gangster finds him in his kitchen, asks him what he's doing there and he says he was gonna make a sandwich.

About the music, let me say this: the saxophone is a proud instrument. In jazz and funk it can steal the show. John Coltrane used it to channel the planets and the love supreme. Maceo Parker made it funkier than a fat man's ass on a hot day on the bus. But in rock music and especially in action movie it is rarely dignified. This includes HARD BOILED. That may be one of the greatest action movies of all time, and playing the soprano saxophone may fulfill Tequila's need for pre-babyholding badass juxtaposition, but that David Sanborn/Kenny G smooth jazz sound doesn't cut it in my opinion. THE CRACKDOWN uses that type of saxophone sometimes, dating the movie. But I forgive it. In a strange way it's kind of comforting, reminding you of a time when even a lesser action movie, a part 4, could be pretty good.

I know THE CRACKDOWN is not one of the more popular entries in the series, but I like it. I think they were smart to have Kersey's strategy finally progress. Going after the heads of the gangs seems more likely to have an effect than going after street punks (although to be fair Bronson and Michael Winner had already shown this tactic as ineffective 15 years earlier in THE STONE KILLER). It also has a fun thriller structure (even if the twist is pretty easy to see coming) and lots of enjoyable action scenes. Keep it up, Kersey.

DEATH WISH V: THE FACE OF DEATH




This one finishes off the series, it's a goodbye to Paul Kersey and to Charles Bronson for those who aren't gonna watch the three FAMILY OF COPS movies (the only thing he made after this). I've read that Bronson had Alzheimer's, but he seems completely with it and in good shape.

The year is 1994, Paul has another girlfriend with another daughter. Like part 4 they don't get mugged or raped, but like all DEATH WISH movies they're in serious danger. This time Paul runs afoul of the Irish mafia, specifically his girlfriend's crazy ex-husband Tommy O'Shea (Michael Parks, aka Sherriff Earl McGraw from FROM DUSK TILL DAWN, KILL BILL and both GRINDHOUSE movies). We find out Paul is in witness protection now, not on the run, and he calls an old friend at the D.A.'s office (Saul Rubinek) to help him with O'Shea. But of course that makes things worse, so Paul finds himself sneaking around picking off mobsters. It occurs to me that makes it kind of like a slasher movie where you root for the slasher. Oh well.



This installment's strength is its colorful characters. Parks is a great villain, very eccentric, making odd faces, mumbling to himself, sinisterly amused by some joke even his own men aren't in on. And he kills a mannequin, for which he will suffer dearly.

The other most memorable character is Robert Joy (the guy with the burned face in LAND OF THE DEAD) as Freddy Flakes, a schizophrenic hitman who is introduced in drag, is obsessed with security, and suffers from severe dandruff. (Seriously, they make a huge deal about his dandruff.) Paul goes after him with a radio control soccer ball. So we are pretty far away from the tone of part 1 at this point.

The soccer ball scene is great, but my favorite is when Kersey poisons a mobster's connoli in a restaraunt. As the guy is violently choking to death Paul comes over with a big smile on his face and asks if something is wrong. His delight is hilarious.



This is a fun movie, but honestly it feels more like it should be a new Charles Bronson character than another Paul Kersey adventure. The other sequels have more purpose in the overall series. Part 2 is a rehash, a first attempt at continuing the story. Part 3 takes that story to its logical conclusion, showing how ridiculous it is. Part 4 ups the ante, shows him graduating from petty street thugs to higher level criminals behind the conditions that make those guys proliferate. But this one doesn't progress at all. It's mobsters again but with a more personal connection again.

I might be alone on this one, but I enjoyed this entire series. I'm not sure if there's another series with 5 movies and I enjoyed all 5 in their own way. This is a miracle of exploitation filmmaking.

And looking back over these 5 movies - god damn, poor Paul Kersey. His wife was killed, his daughter raped into catatonia. Then his housekeeper was raped and killed, his daughter kidnapped and raped and impaled in an escape/suicide. His war buddy was murdered, his neighbors killed trying to do something about it, his new girlfriend blown up. His next girlfriend's daughter O.D.'d, then she herself was shot to death. Then the girlfriend after that had her face slashed and fell to her death. I mean, this guy should stop talking to other people. Too dangerous. In a way this is a happy ending to the series, because the daughter is still alive at the end. We never have to find out what horrible thing happened to her.



The climax takes place at the dead girlfriend's clothes factory, which hopefully was shut down by OSHA afterwards. They have an open pool of acid, a machine that can grind a man into meat, a machine that plastic wraps a guy. I mean it's just not safe.

At the end Kersey struts away and, his back turned to the camera, says to contact him if you need any help, then it freezes. He looks so confident and so content. Nobody to avenge (except Jeff Goldblum and the other creeps from part 1). This is a good way to remember Kersey and Bronson. He's inside a factory, but he's pretty much riding off into the sunset. And you know what Paul? I'll take you up on that. I will contact you if I need any help.

Thanks to Vern!

CHECK OUT THE TRAILERS:

DEATH WISH



DEATH WISH II



DEATH WISH 3



DEATH WISH 4: THE CRACKDOWN



DEATH WISH V:THE FACE OF DEATH

Death Star Over San Francisco

This is a few weeks old now, but I just saw it and think it's outstanding...

Scatmanson Dance

This is genius.

Batman vs. Hulk vs. Hellboy

THE DARK KNIGHT

This review should be for all the Superhero movies this summer, but alas I have not seen all of them. I have not seen Hancock or Iron Man yet. Hellboy 2, Hulk 2, and The Dark Knight I have seen. So this will be a mash up of sorts. Given that all three of these films are the second chapter in their respective series let's begin with the giant elephant in the room, Chris Nolan's The Dark Knight. Being a HUGE DC Comics fan and an even bigger fan of Batman Begins I had high expectations for this, and man was I happy. I think the thing that I like best going in was that this film felt like a natural continuation of the first film. The themes setup in Begins pay off nicely in Knight. If you edited the two films together you wouldn't know the difference. Much like Superman: The Movie and Superman II.



This time Batman is fighting the Joker played by the late Heath Ledger. Ledger is spot on as the Joker, although this is a variation on the character. A lot of people have said this is just like the comic. No it's not. Stop with that. The Joker in the comics is much more maniacal at times than Ledger. In fact I thought Ledger could have dug even deeper, but then we are not talking about a summer PG-13 movie anymore are we? Nolan pushes the rating as far as it can go here. This Joker is something Batman has created. He is the afterbirth of Batman Begins. he is the Yin to the Yang. In other words they cannot exist without each other, and would serve no purpose other than to balance the other out. That is what this movie is all about. You can't be a Cowboy if there are no Indians. In this film Batman has to deal with not only his own split identity issues from Begins, but all the loons lining up to take a shot at taking the Sheriff out. Yummy Batman stuff! Writer/Director Nolan gets it, that's why it works.


The other characters also play a big part of the story. The Harvey Dent/Two-Face character has never been my favorite character in the Batman world, but here he works pretty well. Aaron Eckhart's Harvey Dent represents what Batman would be if Batman was legal and political. But as we all know with Politics, compromises must be made to get things done, and in the Dark Knight we are told that playing by the rules may seem cool, it rarely and unfortunately does not work in a city as dirty and insane as Gotham. As Dent is transformed into Two Face, he becomes a fusion of the Joker and Batman, which as we all know would drive one insane. Which if looked at carefully represents a horrific view of our political system in action these days.



Now these are all things I took away from the film, you may disagree, but I felt the drama, action, and subtext made for wonderfully rich and multi-layered film. This is a great film that is now the number two money making film of all time. In all my life I never thought i would see a comic book movie make this much bank. Ah these are good times indeed if you grew up reading comics and dreaming of seeing them on a big screen.



HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY

Next up is Hellboy Dos: The Golden Army. the first Hellboy was a guilty pleasure for me. It has gotten better on each viewing for me. And Del Toro is on of the few amazing artists working in film today. I was much hyped for H2. And I have to say as much as I enjoyed it I thought it was too much in the final analysis. The film starts off on rather awkward note of a pre-teen Hellboy learning of the Golden Army with his father played by John Hurt again from Part 1. Eventually the Army is unleashed and Hellboy and his Superhero sidekicks must fend off the Army from taking over the world.





I love the character and his relationship with Liz the flame woman, and I LOVE Abe Sapian. He is by far the best thing about Hellboy for me. This time they get a German guy in suit who is actually all gas. He is a great and welcome addition. These are all great and fun as hell but where the movie started to where me down was that every single character in this movie is a monster of some sort and I mean everyone but Jeffery Tambor. It's monster overkill! There is the Star Wars cantina city like Mos Eisly that is full of monsters. But every plot point leads them to a new monster that tries to be more over the top crazy than the last. And it's cool shit don't get me wrong, but they all look like they came out of the casting all for his last film Pan's Labryinth. That film had a great blend of human/monster. This is all monster.

Ron Pearlman does another great job as the big red kid. and the ending fight between him and the kung-fu fighting albino guy is breathtaking. I'm looking forward to part 3 but that might be a decade away with Del Toro making The Hobbit movies. Someday the baby will be awoken again.



THE INCREDIBLE HULK

The Incredible Hulk (aka Hulk 2) Going in I was thinking this was a complete reboot of the Hulk, but it actually is a coy sequel to Ang Lee's film without ripping it a new one. I really enjoyed Ang Lee's hulk, but like Superman returns I can understand why it pissed some people off. Most people criticize those films for too much talking and not enough smashing shit up. Well we have smashing now. Hulk smashes! This is the non-thinking man's Hulk movie, and I enjoyed it. It was really quite comforting to see how they left Bruce Banner where they left him in Hulk 1 and started from there, just replacing the actors by showing them in a recap of events from film 1. Kind of helped you ease into the new actors.



This time Banner is trying to cure himself while not being caught by Col. Ross, now played by William Hurt. (An odd casting choice but it works somehow) Hurt wants to find out what makes the jolly green giant tick and after obtaining some DNA from him he creates a super G.I. Joe played by Tim Roth in a great villain role. Roth sees the Hulk not as a job but as a challenge. He really relishes the opportunity to knock heads with this guy and once he OD's on Hulkroids and becomes the film's main baddie creature Abomination it is on for real. The fights are great. I mean yeah you can see it's still CGI effects, but they are fun and once you let that go, this film is pure comic book fun. Norton makes a great banner on par with Bill Bixby, who makes a great cameo in a really creative way as does Lou Ferringo. In fact, Lou's is really funny and well done.

On a side note I LOVE how Marvel is handling the way their movies are made. Iron Man has a cameo by Nick Fury, Iron Man has a cameo in Hulk and Captain America's shield makes an cameo in Iron Man. The plan is to merge all these heroes into one badass Avengers movie in 2012. That would be sweet!!!!!!! If only DC could do this...I would be in heaven.



So is this the greatest super hero summer of all time. It is. And I still have not seen Iron Man, and I can't explain why! Go see all of these films if you are a lover of comic book movies. You can't go wrong any of them.

Shawn and I

I was in Beijing after the big Gold metal win by Shawn Johnston last night and actually ran into her at a local grocery store. She was nice enough to snap a pic with me before running off to her interview with Bob Costas. Congrats Shawn!

A Conversation with Jerry Horton

Friend and local fillmmaker, James M. Johnston just did a short documentary called, "A Conversation with Jerry Horton" for the West and Clear website. It's about a woman that might potentially lose her house to the eminent domain powers of Chesapeake Energy. Really cool piece from JMJ....


A Conversation With Jerry Horton - West and Clear from James M. Johnston on Vimeo.

Angela's Body

My friend and fellow filmmaker Jon Keeyes and co-star of "Seventy-8" Susanna Gibb are trying to get a film going called Angela's Body.

Caught between the death of her son and a new pregnancy, a dramatic and emotional story of mental illness unfolds as the mother, Angela Gray, spirals out of control through postpartum psychosis that results in depression, self-mutilation, attempted suicide and even graver tragedies.

They recently shot some footage and I edited that for them as a promotional trailer. They are hoping to raise the funds to make the film. So if you know of anyone who might want to front the bill let them know! Here is a LINK to the myspace page where you can get in contact with Jon or Susana. Here is the trailer...


Angela's Body from Atombomb.tv on Vimeo.

Stanley Kubrick Ad

Check out this LINK to this awesome Stanley Kubrick ad for a Kubrick film festival in the UK. The 65-second promotional spot has been filmed as a one-take tracking shot through the recreation of The Shining set.

Viewers get Kubrick's point of view as he walks through the set, ending up in his director's chair as the crew prepare to shoot the famous scene of Danny Torrance, the son of Duvall and Jack Nicholson's characters, riding round and round the deserted corridors of the Overlook Hotel.

Stop Violence

I don't often discuss my day job as a producer/editor, because quite frankly a lot of the stuff I do is related to a certain industry and even though it airs on TV it's not always the coolest thing in the world. But in this case I thought this was worth showing off. I produced a series of spots for movie theaters in and around the DFW area. (They are the annoying things you have to sit through before the movie starts.) The spots are for Safe City to help stop gang and gun violence around the city. They are only 15 seconds long, and are playing at a theater near you all summer long.

I'm quite fond of these, because of the message they convey and the simplicity of the message is direct and to the point. So much so that the Rave theaters refused to show them because they were too intense and dark. That little conflict was resolved thankfully by cooler heads. All the kids in these spots are no longer with us or disabled because of gangs and gun violence. There are 4 spots and one longer video used for the web...

REVIEW: The Mother of Tears

I am back to blogging after a long absence. I recently moved, so its been a bit hectic getting setup in the new digs, and now they are making me move at work again... It never ends. So back to the blog... and I intend now to pretty much just write about film and things related to film or video.

Went over to Dallas at the Magnolia to check out the latest Dario Argento movie, "The Mother of Tears: The Third Mother." This concludes the trilogy he began in the late seventies with "Suspiria" (1977) and "Inferno" (1980). Make no mistake about it, Suspiria is a masterpiece of horror. One of my all time horror movie favorites. The Goblin score is to this day one of the most annoying and unnerving scores ever. "Inferno" was a really interesting film, but its flaws kept it from Suspiria league. Now 28 years later director Argento enlists the help of his daughter, Asia to topline and complete this Mothers trilogy.

Each film is this series is about a witch. There were three of them called the Three Mothers. At one time they ruled the world with Witchcraft and whatnot, but throughout time they were suppressed and each movie details each mother's turn at resurrection and taking control of the world through darkness.



In Tears, Sarah Mandy (Asia Argento), is an American studying art restoration at the Museum of Ancient Art in Rome, examines an urn found at an ancient, decrepit grave near Viterbo. Bound within are the relics of a witch known as the Mother of Tears, Mater Lachrimarum (Moran Atias). Breaking the seal heralds the return of the beautiful yet malefic sorceress' powers, and the world is plunged into chaos. A wave of suicides and crime sweeps over Italy's capital as witches congregate to pay homage to their reborn queen. Sarah must eventually discover her latent supernatural powers with the help of her deceased mother (Daria Nicolodi) and confront Lachrimarum at the opulent Palazzo Varelli.



As with Suspiria and Inferno, Tears is gory and all the better for it. The murder scenes make you flinch in your seat. But like most of Argento's works the acting takes a back seat to the mood and the music and this is still the case here. After a while you just let it go and let the mood take you. To me Dario has been making mediocre films for about 10 years. His last film, The Stendhal Syndrome was his last work of true significance. It too starred his daughter Asia. Here his ex wife and mother of Asia Daria Nicolodi also returns for the fun. It's an Argento family reunion! But back to the mood point. There are moments that suck you into the Argento universe, as when the lesbian couple are brutally killed by a bald guy and a crazy monkey screaming in the background. The long tracking shot in the house toward the end all bring back fuzzy Argento memories of the past. Does it fit it in with the other two films in the trilogy? Kinda. It's a mixed bag. There are references to both Inferno and Suspiria, and Udo Kier from Suspiria even pops up.



So in short if you are a Argento fan, go see this! If not, you won't like it or even appreciate it. If you like bad acting and gore, then you might find some nuggets of fun. If like me you enjoy starring at Asia Argento, then you will love it. The score by Goblin member, Claudio Simonetti. The biggest problem I had with the sore is that it needed to be bigger. Maybe I am stuck in Suspiria land but the score needed to be outlandish and sick to match the visuals and it seems to take a backseat here. I want Goblin back! If your a fan of Italian horror or Argento check this one out. It's gone from Dallas, but it's touring the country now in the art houses. Check the trailer:

80's Ninja Movies Retrospective Part 2: I'm Afraid of American Ninjas

Oh the greatness begins again. Here it am. Here it am. Part 2 bitches. It's Dudikoff time kids!

AMERICAN NINJA (1985)

The mid 80's brought us a new series of Cannon Studio Ninja flicks starting with American Ninja in 1985 starring Michael Dudikoff as American solider Joe Armstrong stationed in the Philippines. It must have been dirt cheap to film in the Philippines in the 80's, because almost every Ninja movie Cannon made seems to take place there at some point. And I guess "Philippine Ninja" does not have the ring to it that "American Ninja" does. Dudikoff plays this fresh faced Private whose truck convoy is hijacked by Evil Mercs while carrying the Colonel's hot daughter. She is played by Judie Aronson of Weird Science and Friday the 13th:The Final Chapter fame. She flees and Dudikoff takes out 25 armed dudes with his fists and sticks. Joe and Girl have a skinny dipping incident on the way back to the base and fall in puppy love.

Several army men in the convoy got killed during the Dudikoff massacre so Joe is in trouble now and as a result gets into a fight with genius B-movie legend, Steve James. After Dudikoff kicks James' ass to earn his respect, they team up to form a deadly duo of martial arts skillz and an acting tour de force. Along the way we flashback to Dudikoff's training on a remote Island with a great Ninja master. Joe claims to have amnesia and only remembers in flashbacks to his Ninja training.



The first AN is pretty standard action fare. Missing is the insanity of the Enter the Ninja trilogy. It's basically Dudikoff sees trouble, and he resolves it. It is not until the very end that he dons the Black Ninja outfit and fights side by side with his Master. The one odd thing about these AN movies is the main baddie Ninja is never Japanese. In this one he wears eyeliner and appears to be a Filipino. This is not my favorite in the AN series. There is some humor in this one but not amped up to the level of part 2. Dudikoff's acting makes Chuck Norris look like Brando, but he gets by just fine on his stoic looks and ninjitsu skill. Steve James is the best in this one. He looks like he is having fun and he is. All the baddies are stock cardboard cutouts. And that trend continues through all four films...

This one is directed by Sam Firstenberg who did Revenge of the Ninja and Ninja III. The Ninja action is a little better here, although a lot of it is basic fighting. Nothing uber fancy and cool. No Ninja III magic to be found here. I give this American Ninja two Steve James biceps and half a blow dart.





AMERICAN NINJA 2: THE CONFRONTATION (1987)

Ah now this one is my personal favorite of the AN Quadrilogy. Dudikoff and James return as Joe and Jackson. Here is the plot down: On a remote Caribbean island, Army Ranger Joe Armstrong saves an old friend from the clutches of "The Lion", an evil super-criminal who has kidnapped a local scientist and mass-produced an army of mutant Ninja warriors.

Now that's more like it folks! Throw in some more bad acting and an annoying little kid sidekick named Toto and bingo instant Ninja greatness. Once on the island Joe and Jackson begin kicking ass immediately. This time Steve James character has bulked up to twice his normal size and since the first movie has been trained to be an African-American Ninja it seems. These Ninja go down with a simple tap to the head. The main bad Ninja has a scar on one eye so you can tell him apart from the spare Ninjas. He resembles one of the extras from The Wild Bunch.



The biggest difference in this movie is the humor. Steve James really hams it up while Dudikoff plays the straight man of course. The chemistry between the two is much better this time out. They both seem to be having fun despite the paper thin plot that more or less takes Dudikoff from one confrontation to the next. Hence the title... The funniest thing in this one is how Steve James will start fighting someone and all of a sudden his shirt is ripped off so he can show off his new cut muscles. It happens every fight. I thought about timing how long it took for his shirt to get ripped off. At one point he fights in his army suit and the bad guys pull his sleeves off!

They travel to this Enter the Dragon-esque island where a scientist who almost cured cancer was taken hostage by "The Lion" an evil drug dealer to make Super Mutant Ninjas out of kidnapped US Soldiers to protect his drug empire. Now wouldn't it make more sense to go ahead and get that cancer cure down before the Super Ninja thing? I think the cure for cancer might sell better than Super Ninja bodyguards. But what do I know. So Dudikoff and James show up and fight the army of Super ninjas, then take out the Lion. Now the Lion looks like a LA guy that may have guest starred on CHIPS or The Love Boat in the 70's. The Super Ninjas come in two flavors here, red and black. The music score is by George S. Clinton and is great 80's action synth music. I saw this when I was 15 or so on video and I loved every horrible minute of it. This is my favorite Cannon Ninja movie. I actually really loved Dudikoff and James in these retarded movies. There are more Ninjas in this movie than you can count. It's like they grow on trees. And I guess they do, because they are growing them in the cancer lab in tubes. The best line is, "Ahh, The American Ninja I presume?, How very nice to meet you." How returning director Firstenberg never won the Oscar is beyond me.

I give this one my highest Ninja rating of 4 throwing stars with poison tips. Check out this great review I found on YouTube. This guy hits it on the head.





AMERICAN NINJA 3: BLOOD HUNT (1989)

Oh my, it can't be true could it? An American Ninja flick without Dudikoff? Yes it happened, but there is a silver lining here. In 89 we got the straight to video, American Ninja 3 with a new white boy Ninja, David Bradley, a real life martial artist. This is Bradley's first movie and it shows in his limited performance. However, he is very likable. Thankfully Steve James agreed to return, and he is back in fine form as Jackson, the African-American Ninja. He and Bradley have decent chemistry, but they throw in this annoying sidekick character who almost ruins the movie single handed.

The plot is that Bradley's dad is shot and killed when he is a child at a martial arts contest by some baddies. A master Asian dude rescues him from the bad guys that killed his Da and trains him to be a Ninja. Flash forward years later, where Bradley meets Jackson at a martial arts tournament they have entered. There is a reference to Dudikoff during a fight scene, where Jackson says "I thought I left Ninja's behind in the army where I left Joe" So fear not, it appears our country is still being protected by the Ninjas by Dudikoff. Some funny things of note in this movie are the outfits worn by Bradley. In the first big Ninja fight Bradley takes on numerous Ninja in acid wash jeans and jean jacket with white Nike shoes. Now back in the day I thought that looked bad ass. With some retrospect, not so much. In this movie we are introduced to the new Blue ninjas. These guys look very similar to Cobra Commander from GI Joe. And no joke, the bad guy is named The Cobra...hmm.



There is one fight scene I believe may be a first... An underwater Ninja fight! Yes, you read correct. Ninjas punching each other underwater. This is a much cheaper movie (if that is even possible) than the first two AN movies. It looks like it was filmed in some third world country shanty town. The bad guy is again using a scientist to develop a Super Ninja and trying to poison everyones blood or some shit like that. The "Cobra" looks Patrick Duffy with a bit of Larry Bird thrown in. Very odd casting choice. He looks like he sells carpet. Bradley is drawn to yet another isolated Super Ninja factory to seek his kidnapped master. Once there he discovers it's a hoax and is imprisoned with a female ninja. She escapes and enlists Jackson to help her bust him out. (Oh and yes Jackson gets shirtless in EVERY fight scene again) To his credit, Bradley's martial arts skills are much better than Dudikoff's. You can actually see him doing some decent moves here and there.

Some lines to look out for are when a local cop gets in Steve James face and James tells him, "You're breathing my air". The music score here is still from George S. Clinton and most of it is from AN2, with a few new cues thrown in. The director of AN3 is Cedric Sundstorm who would continue with AN4. I remember liking this when it came out and it indeed has some great AN moments and I give it props for keeping the series alive. It's a little more serious than the last one, which is bad cause it robs James of some good lines. He does call the female Ninja, a Ninjette. Sadly this was the end of the line for Jackson's character in the AN series. James passed away from prostate Cancer at the age of 41 in 1993. This guy was so huge and fit, it just reminds you that we are all human and can leave this Ninja infested life at any moment. I'm sure that much like in the AN movies, Steve went down fighting. He made several other films before he passed away including I'm Gonna Git you Sucka, The Player, and Weekend at Bernies 2. Peace out to you brother Jackson...

I give American Ninja 3 a low two poisonous darts to the eyes. Enjoy this scene of the Ninjette as she takes her mask off...






AMERICAN NINJA 4: THE ANNIHILATION (1990)
Went to see this with my hommie, Tony Cardenas at the Ridgmar General Cinema in the summer of '90. You would think that someone going to see this in 1990 could not possibly graduate from a respectable University seven years later, but it happened. We were highly anticipating this movie because it brought both American Ninjas to the screen for the cost of one movie! How could it go wrong? If the subtitle is The Annihilation could it mean that both American Ninjas could wipe out the entire Ninja race? Bringing AN3 director Sundstorm back was the first problem here. The other was no Steve James and without James these movies have no humor and without that it's a bad day in Hazzard. So let's get into it shall we...



In this one Bradley is captured yet again like in the last movie by Ninja terrorists while trying to rescue some Delta Force gents sent to find a nuke to blow up NYC. (I am beginning to question his Ninja creditentals at this point when he gets captured in every movie) Right at the get go, you can tell this movie has a much larger budget with which to work from. There are steadicam shots, tracking shots, and all sorts of crane shots not seen before in a AN movie. Cannon probably had theatrical deals in place if they could team up the two AN stars together, much like Star Trek with Kirk and Picard. (OK, that may be a stretch) So when the new American Ninja is down who do you call? The original American Ninja who like in the last Rambo film is in the Peace Corps, living a quiet reflective Ninja life teaching poor children. However this time the stakes are higher, we are talking big bombs terrorist style, NYC. So look out Bin Laden. Fuck Stallone, Norris, and Van Damme. It's Dudikoff time beotch!

Things that popped out to me as weird: When parachuting from a plane into a jungle is it normal to wear a Members Only leather jacket? I guess you need to look cool on the ground when your jean jacket from part 3 is in the wash. Is it in the Cannon rule book that every AN movie has to have a young annoying sidekick in tow? At least this time his name is not Tito. We are introduced to the Yellow Ninja in this one, and the Red, Blue and Black all come out to play again. The bad guy carries a whip around and looks like your local child molesting Uncle who lives in the abandoned house on the corner. Dialog watch from bad guy: "Lick my boots, you fool!" Another gem from Dudikoff teaching kids in the peace corp: "Ok kids, go outside and find something from the environment and bring it back in and we will discuss it." Huh? Teach those kids how to beat the F out of a Ninja dude! And apparently only the White Ninjas are allowed to carry nuclear bombs.



Now let's talk about the "annihilation" and the Ninja battle to end all Ninja battles. Right before the big battle, Dudikoff teams up with a Beyond Thunderdome-esqe biker gang to help deal with the Ninjas. One scene has Dudikoff dressed as priest as he subdues a Nazi with a Star Trek Vulcan neck pinch. Also of interest is that instead of changing costumes in a phone booth like Superman, the American Ninja changes in a dirt ditch in less time. Dudikoff infiltrates the dungeon where Bradley is being held hostage and discovers that he has been brainwashed to fight Dudikoff so that the audience can see the great American Ninja face-off. This is a very sad scene because we want the American Ninjas to kick ass together, when Dudikoff kills Bradley, we discover that like in Part 3 some Ninjas wear masks, and some of those masks look identical to actor David Bradley. David is actually outside chilling about to be burned to death at the stake. Then boom Dudikoff appears and lays down some wicked smoke bombs and frees American Ninja Bradley setting in motion the Ninja fight to end all Ninja fights. but sadly it's a let down. Team Yellow, Blue, Red, and Black all take turns getting their asses collectively kicked by the AN's. Then the Thunderdome Biker Gang shows up to clean up the rest.



The bad thing about this movie is that it's too big for it's britches. I mean I admire the scope of it. They spent some money on this one for sure, but in all the cool shots and lighting they pull off, they forgot the basics. Ninjas. There is way too much plot and talking and not enough Ninja love fighting before the finale. In AN2 Ninjas where all over the place. If you went to the bathroom at a cafe, chances are there would have been a Ninja in stall number three. In AN4 you would be able to urinate in peace while discussing the environment. All in all I would have to give this one only 2 and half fire arrows.



There is an American Ninja 5 with just David Bradley going solo. This one has NADA to do with the series here. It's a bad David Bradley movie with Pat Morita that sucked so bad the only way to get it released was to call it AN5. I have seen it, and I don't remember liking a single frame of it. I don't actually like to admit it exists. If you are in the need of a Dudikoff/James team-up they did another movie together called Avenging Force and it's actually pretty good from what I can remember. If memory serves, it's a take on The Most Dangerous Game in a swamp.

So that's it for the American Ninja Quadrilogy. I had a blast watching these again. Yes, they are not the greatest, but as a kid they were a dream come true. As a kid it made you think maybe someday you could be the American Ninja. So as I stalked my hood looking for bad people thinking I was a Ninja, these movies gave me some hope!


As a treat I did some searching and found Michael Dudikoff's email addy. If you would like to email the American Ninja himself you can do so by clicking HERE! I'm sure Michael would appreciate the fan mail. According to his site which I found HERE he will sign photos of himself if you send a SASE to him. I will be doing this soon as i have an original press kit for AN2. I know, I know, I am a geek. (and I blog)

Once

I really have not had a chance to talk much about this little movie that could. (and did) The movie is called "Once" and if you have not seen it, you should. It's one of the most refreshing films in a long time. Here is the plot line courtesy of IMDB:

An (unnamed) Guy is a Dublin guitarist/singer-songwriter who makes a living by fixing vacuum cleaners in his Dad's Hoover repair shop by day, and singing and playing for money on the Dublin streets by night. An (unnamed) Girl is a Czech who plays piano when she gets a chance, and does odd jobs by day and takes care of her mom and her daughter by night. Guy meets Girl, and they get to know each other as the Girl helps the Guy to put together a demo disc that he can take to London in hope of landing a music contract. During the same several day period, the Guy and the Girl work through their past loves, and reveal their budding love for one another, through their songs.



The big star of this movie is really the feelings these characters have, and the drive they have for something they believe in no matter what the odds might be. The music is really great and my favorite song of the year, Falling Slowly actually won the Oscar this year for best song. I don't think that will ever happen again in my lifetime. This movie is about as low budget as you can get, but the great thing is, you don't care after a while. It's filmmaking in its purest form. PLEASE GO GET THIS FILM!!!!! Ive enclosed some clips of the trailer and a really moving acceptance speech by them at the Oscars.

80's Ninja Movies Retrospective Part 1: Enter the Revenge of the Domination

About a month ago, I was watching the awesome new HD channel on satellite called MGMHD, and they started playing the Cannon Films classic from 1981, "Enter the Ninja". I had a blast watching that movie, because at the time it came out I was about 8 years old and I didn't see it till a few years later, and by that time the 80's Ninja craze was at an all time high. Now these movies were never any good as far as deep cinema goes, but as a kid I wanted to be a ninja because of these movies. How could you not want to put on the black outfit and take out dudes with stars, swords, blow darts, and other assorted weapons. I even went over to an older kid's house one time where he had built a Ninja fort which had weapons and a throwing star range. He even showed us some secret ninja magazines that were not available in the states where you could purchase secret Ninja weapons from Japan. Suffice to say I did not become Ninja, I did however take Tae Kwon-Do in college and got a belt or two. But the one thing I always dug no matter how bad they were were the 80's Ninja movies. So this will be a 3-part retrospective of those movies I thought were cool back in the day.



This retrospective will not cover any Asian made ninja movies, that is a whole other ball of wax. This will cover just the American made ninja movies. Part 1 covers the original Cannon Films trilogy starring Sho Kosugi that began with Enter the Ninja, Revenge of the Ninja, and Ninja III:The Domination. Part 2 will cover Cannon's American Ninja films 1-4. (We don't count part 5..more on that later) Part 3 will be an assortment of Ninja films, like Rage of Honor, Pray for Death, The Octagon, and 9 Deaths of the Ninja. So let's throw some smoke bombs and do this.



ENTER THE NINJA (1981)

This is the first Ninja movie I probably ever layed eyes on. And its sad to think that, because it really isn't the greatest ninja movie ever. As a kid it was a lot of fun. So this movie stars Italian actor Franco Nero from "Django". If you had seen "Django", a (spagetti western classic) before you saw this, you might not like this movie. I didn't so it didn't bother me at the time. Now that I've seen Django recently in fact, going back and seeing Nero in Ninja is odd. In "Django" Nero was a very slow moving loner, but could shoot fast when needed. In Enter he is a back flipping ninja with super human martial arts skill. So it's a bit of a leap of faith. (no pun intended) This films starts with Nero as the white Ninja being chased in Japan by a bunch of red Ninja and a evil black Ninja played by the legendary Sho Kosugi. Franco playing a Vietam vet is in his final test of becoming the first American ninja, even though he is Italian... stay with me. The black Ninja is upset because he thinks it is against tradition to let an ex-spagetti westerner to become a Ninja. The head Ninja in charge disagrees and allows him to become a Ninja. Nero packs his white suit up and heads to the Phillippines to chill with his land mogul Nam buddy who happens to have a hot wife played by Susan George. A crazy real estate gangster played by Christopher George tries to bully his buddy into giving him his land which sets in motion the conflict. Nero destroys about 80 of George's henchmen before the 50 minute mark.



George sends someone to Japan to find his own Ninja to fight Nero. They of course find Sho and he comes back for the final confrontation. Some of my favorite scenes include Nero's buddy telling him that he can't "get it up" anymore for his hot wife, Susan George. So instead of saying hey its all good man, just keep trying, Nero goes back to his best buddy's house and does his wife, so she won't have to suffer anymore. WOW! Great friends are hard to find. As expected the Nam buddy dies before the hands of the evil Ninja played by Sho Kosugi, but not before a Nam flashback reveals that he saved nero's life back in Nam, setting up a final battle in some sort of elaborate cock fighting ring. And this is another of my favorite scenes here as Christopher George who demolishes all scenery in his award winning performance as the bad guy. I mean this has to be the worst acting I have ever seen...



At then end Nero wins and all is right with the world as expected with a Django Ninja in the Phillippines. Now the fighting scenes are what people payed money to see these things at the time. There are some cool Ninja fighting scenes, by 80's fighting standards I suppose, but those mostly are the ones involving Sho Kosugi. Nero was in fact in no shape to be a Ninja. So his fighting scenes were all doubled by fight choreographer Mike Stone. The film is directed Menahem Golan who was half of the Golan/Globus producing giant, Cannon Films. His direction here is sub-par at best. He just kind of sets the camera down and waits for shit to go down. Very little energy.

On my Ninja scale I give this 2 throwing stars and half a blow dart. Enter the Ninja is not on DVD, so if you see it on VHS somewhere, grab it, it might go for something on ebay. Enjoy one more Christopher George performances please...



REVENGE OF THE NINJA (1983)



In this follow-up to Enter the Ninja, we go a new route and find Sho Kosugi playing a different character this time around in Japan protecting his family by deadly Ninja's. While Sho is chatting with his buddy Dave, a group of Ninjas show up and kill his entire family except his baby boy. Dave tells Sho that he must go to America to get away from the Ninja insanity that is his life to protect his son from any future Ninja attacks. So he does of course. Because all Ninjas must eventually live in L.A. and open some sort of store that will get robbed. Now Sho teaches his son, played by his real life kiddo the art of the Ninja but not to practice it on people, only honor the tradition. WHATEVER! This little dude can ball! He kicks four little kid's asses then beats the shit out of his Dad's big breasted girlfriend. In fact this actress continues the tradition of bad Ninja acting... Oh it hurts me!



This movie still suffers from stiff direction although new director Sam Firstenberg has a better feel for the action this time out. Being his first feature he has some nice sequences here with Sho taking the baddies downtown and back again. There are some decent fight scenes and a cool van chase. There are stars to the head, more exploding smoke balls, and by far the best scene in the film, torture by by hot tub jets. Classic. Sho fights his friend Dave, who of course happens to be a Ninja and has been shipping heroin in Sho's Japanese antique dolls. This is just a thought, but if you were a Ninja and you had a best friend, wouldn't you know he was a Ninja too? The final battle takes place on top of a roof in LA on a Tennis court... Yes a Tennis court. Is there a deep meaning here? No, it's just a Tennis court.



Sho is good here. His acting is horrible, but so is everyones. What set's this movie apart from the others, is Sho and his skills as the Ninja. Much more believable than Franco Nero in the original. I give this one 3 throwing stars and dirt with leaves to the face. Revenge of the Ninja is available on dvd so you can netflix that bitch or buy it on the cheap HERE.

NINJA III:THE DOMINATION (1984)



"No thanks I don't use soft drinks." This classic line of dialog is just one of so many in my favorite titled film in the Cannon Ninja trilogy. I couldn't find this one anywhere around town, and let me tell you i think I would rather ask for the porn, Manhammer than Ninja III:The Domination again at the video store. I had to search deep into the web to find a copy of this one. But alas I have it! The Domination!!! Ninja III has nothing to do with the other two as far as I can tell. But let me tell you something, you have NEVER seen a Ninja film like this. This film is FAR out there. I'll try my best to sum it up...

Lucinda Dickey, star of director Firstenberg's "Breakin' 2: Electric Bugaloo" stars as Christie a telephone pole repair person that finds a Ninja that has just survived about 10,000 bullet hits from the police and is possesed by the dying Ninja's spirit. Yes this ninja is supernatural people. So now we got ourselves a female Ninja. Well she keeps the sword and reports the dead Ninja to the cops. This is where we get this stirring scene of drama...



Soon she discovers her ass kicking skills by fending off goons outside a gym. She then falls in love with one of the cops that killed her previous Ninja self. As the killings around the city mount, Sho Kosugi is called in to kick bitchy ninja ass. This time he does not play himself from Enter or Revenge but a new character named, Yamada who wears a strange eye patch. Christie lives in a VERY 80's art deco place and even has her own arcade game inside. One night after screwing the cop, a glowing sword floats out of the closet on two strings. The next night the arcade game comes on and she is possessed again by the spirit of the Ninja only this time its "Tron" style...check this out!



Next she goes out and kills some more cops responsible for the death of her Ninja spirit. Now if getting possessed by a video game isn't enough fun for you it gets even awesomer. She goes to some S&M dungeon where James Hong (Blade Runner and Lopan from Big Trouble in Little China) tries to perform an exorcism on her. So now we have a female video game possesed exorcism crazed ninja non-soft drink using beotch. But fear not, Sho is on the way.

I did learn some things about a Ninja's skill level in this film. First, when doing a standing back flip over a ten foot high chain length fence it is necessary to remove your leather jacket before doing so. Second, If you are a Ninja attending the funeral of a cop that you killed it is good to hide in the trees and assassinate as many other cops as you can using your bow and arrow while they all fall into the same grave. Good use of surrounding resources. When fighting Sho Kosugi you might want to mention you starred in Breakin' 2: Electric Bugaloo. Who knows, he could be a fan.



Christie and Sho battle in a Shaolin Monk temple in the end and she turns into a Zombie Ninja and then turns the monks into an army of living dead kung-fu fighters against the mighty Sho. As silly as this movie is, it really is entertaining from all the horrendous 80's cliches of headbands, aerobic leggings, and bad synth scores it's too much fun to not recomend. Director Sam Firstenberg has a better feel for the action this time around. Sure it's ludricras from start to finish, but who gives a crap it's a Ninja movie!The only way this movie could have gotten four throwing stars is if during the final battle Sho told Christie that the Ninja spirit inside her was in fact Sho's gay lover. Now that's an ending. You can't get this movie anywhere unless you find it on an old VHS from '85. On ebay it was going for upwards of 80 bucks!



This is the end of part 1 covering the Cannon Ninja trilogy. There are reports of a new Ninja movie that will be called "Return of the Ninja" with Sho returning to his most famous part. But nothing new has been on that front for years it seems. Keep your fingers crossed! Look for Part 2 of the Ninja Retro soon!

Oh my, this looks fun...Iron Man

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DVD REVIEW: Justice League: The New Frontier

As a big fan of DC Comics and it's characters I always look forward to any new movies, toons, or comics that might offer me something new. Having not heard of Darwin Cook's graphic series, New Frontier aside from seeing the action figures at the comic shop I was anxious to see this new take on the Justice League series. I grew up loving the Justice League comics and TV shows as a kid. Loved the tension between Batman and Superman in the league. To me the best incarnation of the JLA was not too long ago on the Cartoon network's Justice League and Justice League Unlimited. It really had a cool edge to it, that the old Super Friends show did not. Don't get me wrong I'm not knocking the old Super Friends show, but it was for kiddos and once you got into the comics you realize how much they really missed on that old show. Cutting to the chase, several years ago, Darwin Cook wrote this version of the JLA that takes place in the 50's/60's that shows our heroes dealing with the issues of the day ala JFK, MLK and other relevant social issues. It's a more realistic world and the violence that happens is not fantastic it's real. Which brings us to the DC Direct to DVD movie...In the first scene, Hal Jordon (AKA Green Lantern) is shot down by a communist jet and lands in an enemy trench, he struggles with a commie, until finally shooting him in the head with blood splattered on his face after he pulls the trigger. Like I said this is not Super Friends.



The animation is stripped down and very 50/60's style. It is stylized but in a good way. The characters seem fresh this time around. Many of their origins are shown here, like Martian Manhunter and Green Lantern. A lot of this movie takes place around the time of the Space Race, so The Green Lantern is more or less the main character of this one. However he does not become the Lantern till almost the end of the movie. Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and Flash are the main characters. They recently disbanded the Justice Society because of disagreements on how to handle situations. This disagreement is somewhat of an analogy for the situation that America is in with racism and communism trials. Its a really brilliant idea, and one can only hope that the current in production live action Justice League can muster a tenth of this story's significance.



Reading comics and especially The Justice League made you feel as kid that if you work as a team with others you can make a difference in the world no matter how large the problems may be. It gave me hope as a kid. And this film represents that hope once again that we need heroes, we need hope. The animation and voice work here is really good. I missed some of the voices from the recently canceled JLA Unlimited, but the new voices are still very good, just takes getting used to. There are also several documentaries on the disc including a long one chronicling the history of every era of the JL in the comics. There is also a great documentary on the evolution of the Legion of Doom.

So if you love Superman, Batman, or any of the Justice League heroes check this movie out. It's rated PG-13 and it means it. To see the official website click HERE. The trailer is down below, and a great review can be found HERE.

Equilateral on Atombomb.tv !

My good buddy, Jon Keeyes was nice to let my short film site, Atombomb.tv show his short film, Equilateral. It's a comedy spoof of the Christian Bale movie Equilibrium from a few years back. It's very well crafted and directed by Mr. Keeyes. Lot's of local talent from Ft. Worth involved in this short. Also check the behind the scenes video produced exclusively for Atombomb.tv.

Equilateral: In a futuristic world, comic books have been outlawed. To destroy the rebels, a militant faction called The Shredders has sprung up. Now, one of the Shredders will have to decide between the law he enforces and the world of free thought and expression.

Hope everyone enjoys the film, I hope to up production on these shorts soon, so there will be more! Again, check back and enjoy the other shorts on the site, send them to your friends, embed them on your sites, blogs, and myspace pages.

DVD Review: Highlander: The Source

I reviewed this earlier on the blog back in the summer I think when it came out on the Sci-Fi Channel. As an avid Highlander fan I was underwhelmed to say the very least. Well now its out on DVD, and I decided to give it another chance, if anything for the extra features. On the sci-fi broadcast it was very hazy and cropped to hell. Well at least on this nice new dvd, you can see it in the proper anamorphic aspect ratio and the special effects don't look as bad. However, the movie itself is still a total mess. (This is Highlander part 5 for those of you counting)If you are a strict and completest Highlander fan, then there is a terrific tribute to Highlander producer Bill Panzer who passed away before this movie came out. He had produced all the movies and the long running Highlander TV series. Also there is documentary of the making of The Source that is really cool. For one its tons of B-Roll from pre-production to the end of production and is really interesting to see the Highlander team do their thing. The documentary is actually longer than the movie itself! Too bad the movie itself is such rubbish. Still if your a Highlander fan, a dvd you must put on your shelf. It will make a nice bookend with Highlander 2:The Quickening! There can be only five. The dvd comes out on Tuesday, Feb. 26th.

Do the Mavs really need this...again

Review: There Will Be Blood

Daniel Day Lewis is a BADASS. He owns this movie. At no point did I ever say to myself, I'm watching Daniel Day Lewis. The guy just transforms himself into his character of Daniel Plainview an oilman of the early 1900's oil boom in America. A story about family, greed, religion, and oil, centered around a turn-of-the-century prospector in the early days of the business.

This film besides King of Kong is one of my favs for 07. PT Anderson is a favorite director of mine ever since Hard Eight and Boogie Nights. Here he continues his growth as a storyteller and a director. The supporting cast is nothing short of great. This movie feels real. The photography and the music are spot on. The score by Jonny Greenwood is much like the Shining. Yes the score is almost anti-score, like shrieks and howls. Very moving. I would put this movie in the all time classic category if not for the very predictable ending, which is sad considering the build up of the last 2 hours. Although I enjoyed seeing what happened to these characters in the future I didn't like leaving them in the present. I didn't like being ripped from that world and thrown into the future.

And my favorite part of the film was Dillon Freasier's portrail of Plainview's son, HW Plainview. HW is only about 6 or 7 years old but goes everywhere with his dad, even to meetings. And once you see this movie you will want HW to be in every meeting you;ve ever had. He is that cool.



A truly great film that belongs in the upper tier of classics. A true film in every respect, the kind that people discuss for years. This is truly one film experience you will never forget on the big screen.

Seventy-8 will be Unleashed!

Seventy-8 trailer from Atombomb.tv on Vimeo.

Great news on the Seventy-8 front! Director Uwe Boll's company Boll World Sales picked up Seventy-8 for Worldwide distribution. They plan on releasing the film in several territories including Australia, New Zealand, and Germany among others. They also plan on taking it to the film market at Cannes in May '08 to try and sell it in more territories. So keep your fingers crossed. There is no U.S. release yet... We are working with Brightlight Entertainment in Vancouver on the dvd stuff now. We will keep you updated on any new information as it develops. Thanks again to all of you who worked so hard on the film, this kind of stuff does not happen without all of you.

As a token of my thanks, I'm gonna leak the gag reel... and a fresh version of the trailer.

Thanks
e.


78 gag reel from Atombomb.tv on Vimeo.

My Rambo Review

GDMF on Atombomb.tv

Finally! There is a new short film on Atombomb.tv. Sorry for the delay, but after "Death by Powerpoint" in September my day job producing commercials got hectic yo. So after a nice Holiday break we got back on track with this great short from Fort Worth filmmaker and master vegan chief James M. Johnston. I saw GDMF a year ago at the Dallas Video Festival and became a fan of James style. GDMF is a film that challenges you and makes you pay attention. I've always been a big fan of improv filmmaking. If its done bad, it comes off as pretentious, but GDMF works. James worked to give the actors a story and the crew a sense of the scene, paying attention to all the details while letting the story shape on its own through its characters.

I hate to compare films to each other but I can't help to compare this to John Cassavetes films. When I first walked out of the screening last year Cassavetes and "Buffalo '66" popped into my mind. Sometimes a writer can't capture a moment in time. Good dialog is great and all, but does not always work in certain situations. I think James film is great example of improv filmmaking and I look forward to his next film, "Merrily, Merrily".

So head on back over to the Atombomb.tv site HERE and check out GDMF. Be warned that the film is for adults, so prolly not a good idea to watch it at work. Oh and check out all the extra bonus features below on the film page. James did commentary, articles, and all sorts of fun stuff. New film next month I promise!!!!

Diary of the Dead trailer!

Diary of the Dead - Exclusive Trailer

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R.I.P. HD-DVD... January 4th, 2008

Just when I was having fun buying cheap hd-dvd's. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted. HD-DVD: The Look and Sound of "Almost" Perfect is hanging by a thread. All hail the mighty BLU.

Click HERE to read the sad news for HD-DVD devotees.

The Possibility of Hope

I finally got the chance to see "Children of Men", and enjoyed it very much. There is a documentary on the hd-dvd called "The Possibility of Hope" which kind of gives you an overview of our world and how we F it up and continue to do so. I found it to be very scary yet fascinating. Check it out in 3 parts:

Hellboy II: The Golden Army

This makes me smile...

When Hitchcock Meets Scorsese...

Yummy Japanese Pizza!

Mayonnaise and Shrimp filled crust. Awesome.