41st Anniversary of A Nightmare on Elm Street

 

                          

            I've sadly didn't celebrate its fortieth anniversary of this only good Freddy Kruger film which is its first appearance but I'm just going to state the fact that all the Nightmare on Elm Street sequels are not worth watching because it's the same feeling I have with Jason Voorhees when I say that Jason X is his excellent movie and the other films would just not worth the watch and then we can go to the greatest slasher comedy, Freddy vs. Jason. Look the point of what I'm making in the Freddy franchise is A Nightmare on Elm Street directed by a real filmmaker in Wes Craven so, deep down that's the only reason why the first Nightmare on Elm Street is the best horror movie out of the Elm Street films.

            Four teenagers fall prey to Freddy Kruger (Robert Englund), a disfigured midnight mangler who preys on teenagers in their dreams -- which, in turn, kills them in the real world. After investigating the phenomenon, Nancy (Heather Langenkamp) begins to suspect that the dark secret kept by her and her friends’ parents may be the key to unraveling the mystery, but can Nancy and her boyfriend Glenn (young Johnny Depp) solve the puzzle before it's too late? 

            The development of the script is very interesting and a lot of it comes from Wes Craven's childhood and a series of articles talking about late victims who are terrified to go to sleep one of the victims actually had a coffee maker next to their bed as well as avoiding taking subscribed pills to help sleep and while dead the corner who did autopsy states that nothing bad happened to the victim and Craven saw these in LA Times and collected them for a source of inspiration. Another source of inspiration for the creation of Freddy Kruger actually came from Craven's childhood when he was asleep later woken by a stranger in the exact clothes that Kruger wears and all of a sudden just looks dead eye into Craven's soul and once Craven looked away, the mysterious stranger was never seen again, for which later would become the inspiration for Freddy Kruger, although instead of wearing masks and using weapons as well as not saying anything, Craven took another approach and wanted Kruger to talk so he made him look as if he was burnt alive and use a glove of surgical knives or claws as a way to separate the typical weapon cliche. Another interesting aspect of the movie being green lit, was that this was New Line Cinema's first ever movie project long before Lord of the Rings made massive bucks Freddy Kruger was the one fictional serial killer that built a movie studio, which I would find it hilarious if Kruger stumbles upon Middle Earth and complains about them stealing his spotlight but that's a whole other crossover.  Even though this film was made forty years ago with a limited budget of 1.1 million dollars the film alone still works with great aspects as well as terrifying visuals and granted this film was made with a limited budget with some scare's out of date but some of the camera angles as well as some great shots still work for me especially in the scene where Kruger slices off two of his fingers and is just laughing hysterically is so creepy and terrifying you can't help but feel creeped out by him. As great of a performance Robert Englund does in the movie, I at times feel bad and that he was type cast for the rest of his life after the film’s success but then again he did bring it upon himself by making more sequels when he could of find other works but at the same time Anthony Perkins was type casted after his performance in Psycho so, in all fairness it's a typical span although Perkins did have other good films Englund just had one movie but deep down Freddy vs. Jason is hilarious so, maybe two good films I could always be wrong. Now, I don't think any horror movies now pose any excitement for me as a movie watcher and personally there are times where I wish horror movies would go back to the basics of creepy and more suspenseful elements but I guess I'm more old fashioned though it doesn't hurt to come out with a movie that doesn't show much and leaves the suspense as the scary aspect for filmmaking. For the month of October, A Nightmare on Elm Street is still on either HBO Max or Hulu so if you’re a big fan of Wes Craven's past works then I would highly recommend watching A Nightmare on Elm Street for a gillion reasons it was the first dream weaving experience long before Chris Nolan came along with Inception, and this is just me when I say this but I still believe that everyone is killed off by Freddy in the end of the movie although you may have different opinions I still say that everyone was killed off by end of the movie. But then again, it's all about nightmares so we all could be wrong or be a good debate talk when you finished watching the movie. 

          

Alien 3

 

            Well, everyone we are officially in the month of October; that's right everybody as you've probably gotten all your Halloween candy out since the middle week of September and maybe you've got your slutty Halloween costume bought by the beginning of August and now come on you must admit you dirty sluts. So, I decided since October is the month of Halloween, by watching certain Alien movies I haven't seen or talked about in years. And don't get me wrong, I love the Alien movies, even Prometheus and Alien: Covenant. And for certain I'm going to take a crack at the latest Alien show by Noah Hawley most infamous for Fargo. Though I've never taken the proper time to watch both Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection too of the Alien films that no one remembers and as of this month of the year I decided I'm going to watch these movies and so far, Alien 3 isn't that bad.

             Set years after the events of Aliens. Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) is the only survivor when she crashes land on Fiorina 161, a bleak wasteland inhabited by former inmates of the planet’s maximum-security prison. Once again, Ripley must face skepticism and the alien as it hunts down the prisoners and guards. Without weapons or modern technology of any kind, Ripley leads the men into battle against the terrifying creature.

              I can imagine Alien 3 wasn't the most exciting or perfect as the last two films, granted I don't know, but from the first time watching the third installment I got to admit this wasn't all bad of a movie in fact I enjoyed it considering it was an hour and fifty-minute movie. In all fairness the film before it got the green light, was still in a bad case of creative writing differences in fact there was a grand total of six writers developing the third installment so, yeah, this film was not going off that good of a start. Though watching the film all the way through there actually was some really good ideas as well as some great concepts like, the idea of this film being set in a maximum security prison with all Brits and one African American in the entire movie which I guess is strangely funny but in all reality feels a little convenient but hey, it's the early nineties. I will say when watching this film for the first time, there's a lot of recognizable actors that you sort of remember although YOU, will most certainly not remember these actors like I do, give you a great example Paul McGann who played the Eight Doctor in Doctor Who: The Movie, ANYONE REMEMBER DR. WHO: THE MOVIE? No? Well then, I probably rest my case on that example. But hey, I'm sure all of you remember Charles Dance who infamously portrayed Tywin Lannister in Game of Thrones and played a master vampire in Dracula: Untold, I mean he was the only good thing about that whole movie. And so, with this movie when I saw those two actors’ names I was surprised and had that minor shock of "OH HOLY CRAP, it's that guy" you know the kind of reaction we would all have when seeing a movie like this. I will say the movie has some moments of good concepts and interesting ideas and I well, I sort of liked the fact that they go back to just one Alien but then through the course of the movie especially some of the wide shots of the Xenomorph, you slowly realize the Alien is fake or computer generated, which was a disappointing factor about the film which sure they were working with a 50 million dollar budget, but at least make the Alien at least more believable because those shots of the Alien were just no good, in fact it was almost like a high school project for film class and that was the disappointing factor which took me out of the film. Granted this isn't the most epic Alien movie considering they're just relying on one Alien for which they're just recycling story elements from the first film I mean which is okay-ish, but really you get great cinematography from Alex Thompson and first time director in David Fincher who, surprisingly does a good job considering this is a first time big project, but in the end would later come out with more nineties classics with Seven and Fight Club so, deep down Fincher gets a good deal out of finishing Alien 3. With a great list of actors including Sigourney Weaver who of course does a great job with a pretty good story as well as working with what she had to provide and either way I don't think this is the worst Alien movie I've seen granted I've relived Alien vs. Predator but deep down it was a fun movie to watch as well as a good suspenseful movie to start off in the month of October. 

      

Football Recommendation: The Express

 

          

          Of course, Football season is amongst us from being a Nebraska fan to a Kansas City Chiefs fan and part time Dallas Cowboys fan (don't ask me, it's literally being tired of Jerry). And deep down I love the game of football and there's a lot of college football teams I despise but deep down I don't have a whole lot of hatred when it comes to any of the NFL rivalry teams on the opposite sides of the ball. Of all Football films you can find on the internet or find them on your streaming service. The Express is one of those films that puts you in a great mood about the greatness of football but is also an extraordinarily story about one man's story of strength and determination but also showing what it truly means to win one of the greatest trophies in College Football history.

          The story centers on Ernie Davis (Reb Brown), the first African American athlete to with the Heisman Trophy. Born into poverty, Davis overcomes many obstacles to get into Syracuse University's football program. Under the guidance of Coach Ben Schwartzwalder (Dennis Quaid), Davis becomes one of the school's best players, even surpassing legendary NFL player Jim Brown's achievements.

          I think I've watched this movie while back when there was in actual video store still standing somewhere in late 2000's to beginning of 2010's and keep in mind if you look at a small town in any state of the United States you can most certainly see a small rental store in your local area, although I doubt there many now but maybe there's still left standing. Anyway, getting back to the Life of Ernie Davis, I honestly didn't know a whole lot about Davis or Dennis Quaid's character Syracuse coach Ben Schwartzwalder moreover how great of a football program Syracuse used to have back in the mid-fifties, almost reminiscent of Nebraska football back in the mid-90's. The thing that really struct me about the movie is that it's a prototype to the Jackie Robinson's 42 movie, and the thing that makes me surprised is that it didn't do so well as 42, I mean this was a great and entertaining movie about the first ever African-American to win the Heisman Trophy and more importantly sticks it to the Texas Longhorns on their own home turf and this is coming from a Nebraska fan growing up in the nineties and if you were a kid in Nebraska being raised as a fan for Nebraska football you're trained to hate your opposing rivals and Texas was one of those college football teams that you would despise from beginning to the very end and in fact one of my earliest memories was attending a Nebraska and Texas game furthermore we lost that game and the last memory I will always remember is Texas player planting the flag on the N, in the middle of the field. So, there is a reason why I rank this movie, The Express, as one of the greatest football movies of all time because Texas lost in the National Championship. Now I can understand that people didn't show up for this movie because this resembles Remember the Titans but, this was really a prototype for 42 and this would be five years after the Express's release Hollywood was like "well maybe the time is now to release a movie about Jackie Robinson". And truly Ernie Davis life story has the best elements of accomplishing the impossible and yet a twist of fate tragic happens but then you pass you knowledge to another Running back legend and to be honest re-watching this film again it has amazing college football score from Mark Isham, moreover through the course of the you root for Ernie Davis and then you feel for him at the very end but then you relish of how great of a football player, Davis was and guys like Davis were a two-way player when it came to fifties football and to be honest that's a different type of player that you'd never see in today's football. The other thing in what makes this movie fantastic is that you have a great list of supporting actors surrounding Reb Brown's performance, actors like Dennis Quaid and really when it comes to sports movies I would most certainly cast Quaid in any sports movie and he would deliver a great performance, he could of played Barry Switzer and I would suggest Dennis Quaid if it was a biopic about Brian Bosworth. More importantly you have a great actor in Charles S. Dutton most infamous for Rudy and he's great in the movie and the same goes with Clancy Brown as one of the assistant coaches who helps Quaid's character train Ernie Davis and even he does a great job as well and the most important part of making a sports movie like this is that you surround your unknown star with some well accomplished actors moreover is always the most important part when making a movie like this. For all football fans out there from College football fans to NFL football fans hell, even Fantasy football fans I would highly recommend watching The Express, because it's one of those unknown and underappreciated football films that needs to be seen to a wider audience, for more important reasons the story of Ernie Davis is one of the most extraordinary college football stories that you appreciate from beginning to the very end and I'll say it again, for me what makes this one of the greatest football movies in my opinion is simply Texas getting beat in the National Championship for which I could imagine any Oklahoma fans watching this movie and hearing Texas getting beat in the big game especially at the Cotton Bowl in the state of Texas. Even Oklahoma fans would consider this the greatest football movie of all time. 

            

21st Anniversary of Kill Bill Volume 2

               I know I've been little on the lazy side when it came to reviewing Kill Bill Vol. 2, and sure I missed it's twentieth anniversary of its open release but in all fairness it's not too late to review it, in terms of a 21st Anniversary of the film’s release right? Well as fate would have it, I finally got the opportunity to watch the second and final installment to Quentin Tarantino's final revenge fueled masterpiece of Kill Bill Vol. 2 although when you think about it the film is technically one whole movie if you realize it, but we can talk about that whole aspect later. Moreover, I'll keep my jokes about David Carradine to a minimum.

               “The Bride” (Uma Thurman) picks up where she left off in volume one with her quest to finish her hit list she has composed of all the people who have wronged her, including her ex-boyfriend (David Carradine), who tried to have her killed four years ago during her wedding to another man. Leaving several dead in her wake she eventually tracks down Bill in Mexico. And soon unanswered questions come to light.

               Alright I'm trying the best of me to not joke so much in term of how David Carradine died (auto-erotic asphyxiation), Ah screw it maybe just one, "whenever David Carradine plays with his katana, he feels better, and I mean REALLY feels better". Okay, okay all jokes a side this was again one of the many movies that you can point in Quentin Tarantino's filmography and movies like this shows how great Quentin is when it came to working with actors I mean we don't have to get so much in terms of Uma Thurman in this movie but when you have actors like David Carradine, Michael Madsen and Daryl Hannah whose filmography is in the "meh" but when they're directed by Quentin Tarantino they do such an exceptional job with their characters, Like Daryl Hannah is basically a woman you'd despise but the late Michael Madsen does such a great job being the complex man who has some bad blood with his brother and yet at the same time defends him but more importantly plays this hick that you'd imagine Uma's character can take down easily but at the same time may have met her match, but more importantly just channels is inner Mr. Blonde which is great deep down you watch him in this movie. David Carradine also does a great job knowing who he really is but through the climax of the film you see how menacing he is as a character although he doesn't show is menacing ways but is like a silent and charming killer that doesn't lash out but is very scary face to face and at the same time you feel "choked up" when he meets is end. Okay that's permanently it but come on I just had to add that, and you never know in an alternate reality Uma Thurman was on a quest for revenge on Harvey Weinstein for being a disguising horrible person and for some reason killed David Carradine which may or could be possible but then would be a great spoof on the Unsolved Mysteries. Uma Thurman is fantastic in both the Kill Bill films and I truly believe that both films including Pulp Fiction and those are hands down her greatest acting performance and other movies in a sense can be passible but her drive and her hatred towards her enemies is just outstanding as well as her real emotions she shows through the course of the final showdown. All of the actors and actresses are excellent but if I had to pick one that was even outstanding it would most certainly be Gordon Liu who plays this powerful martial arts, master whose all in one a sexist, racist basically would never survive in this decade but at the same time when you see him train Uma you see this horrible person begin to respect his student in a way of knowing how special she is and she would be someone who can carry on his legacy and Gordon Liu does a great job at that. From the acting and the amazing action sequences you can tell Quentin Tarantino took notes in watching a lot of these 70's action films and does a great job blending the action as well as the great acting you see through out these two Volumes of Kill Bill. Both films are impossible to find in terms of streaming so obviously you have to rent these movies or if you want you can buy these great movies on your phone, and I would highly recommend watching them obviously because of Quentin Tarantino as well as every movie you can pick from his filmography and you can tell that each film are amazing and great at the same time and more importantly you can see that there are no bad movies in his filmography besides Death Proof but even he can say that was not his best work and I believe that's great character coming from him as a filmmaker and as an honest person. 

        

                    

30th Anniversary of Pulp Fiction

 

         Another film that's nearing the end of its 30th Anniversary mark and that film is Quentin Tarantino's greatest achievement in the film, Pulp Fiction. No doubt this was another one of those films in the late nineties that was constantly on Dish on Demand previews that I would watch constantly considering, I was not on the age appropriate list but constantly watched the preview and noticed a lot of actors from Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis whom my first film with him was Armageddon as well as Ving Rhames who just so happened to be on the very first Mission Impossible film (back when the films where actually good). And even though the film is thirty years old I still don't know how to describe Pulp Fiction to somebody who hasn't even seen Pulp Fiction or if it's his or her first time viewing the movie though with help, I believe I can manage.

          Pulp Fiction in a nutshell is about two Mob hitmen (John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson), a boxer (Bruce Willis), and gangster (Ving Rhames) and his wife (Uma Thurman) and a pair of undermined criminals intertwine in four tales of violence and redemption amid two days.

           Quentin Tarantino said before in a certain interview, that Kill Bill movies are his born to make movies and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is his favorite movie he's made, and Inglorious Bastards of all his entire filmography is his masterpiece he's made in his entire career of filmmaking. And sure that's his opinion and I can't fault him for that, but for me, I still say that Pulp Fiction is his greatest achievement in filmmaking period I mean this is one of those films that you can't make or begin to create ever again moreover contains what maybe greatest performances as well as comeback films from John Travolta and Bruce Willis but more importantly launched the careers of Samuel L. Jackson, Uma Thurman and Ving Rhames. The other important factor of what Pulp Fiction brings is a level of gangster storytelling, reminiscent to its predecessor, Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction also has these criminals talk about more than just their past job or who they whacked long back no, these criminals actually talk about shenanigan's that you and I talk about in terms of conversations and brings new refreshing vibes to the actual gangster movie genre. The amazing thing about the movie is that it brings the rising comeback to both John Travolta and Bruce Willis, Travolta before Pulp Fiction became a reality was in low point in his career wasn't a first choice for Tarantino because he was writing Vincent for Michael Madsen, long story short Madsen pulled out and Travolta was being the coinvent choice but pre-exposed rapist Harvey Weinstein wasn't signing on for that idea but Danny DeVito who was one of the producers behind Pulp Fiction stated to Harvey that Quentin gets the cast approval and final cut and so this is why Quentin Tarantino is one of the many greatest American filmmakers, mainly because he was able to say F-you to Harvey, though deep down he was probably the gimp because let’s be honest he wanted to be that character. Not only does Harvey Keitel give a lot of credit for Quentin Tarantino rise to fame but he also convinced Bruce Willis to be part of Pulp Fiction firstly he was a fan of Reservoir Dogs but more importantly he needed some work after countless flops for which in all honesty both men do fantastic job in the movie that we don't need to describe how great they are, especially the same to the rest of the actors in the film, though this film launched the career of Ving Rhames who went on to all the Mission Impossible films as well as Con Air and Out of Sight (the only movie where JLO is actually good, if you know what I mean). To the films credit and granted this film deserves a lot of credit for how we look at independent movies, but this movie alone was ahead of its time, in terms of showing the dark side of Los Angeles, like a pawnshop run by to psycho hillbilly rapist who keep a gimp in the basement of their store. Yeah, sorry to spoil some little details but I have to prepare you for stuff like that, because even when I was secretly watching this on cable TV and not knowing the certain context of that who scene yeah that was when I would usually when that scene appeared tried to change the channel and then come back to it later when it was over granted it's like a few seconds tops but again is still uncomfortable, then again Tarantino is warning all outsiders of the entire United States to never wander in the rough part of LA because you don't want to be in a situation like Ving Rhames and Bruce Willis were in. On the plus side, at least you do see some justice in that scene as well, for which let's be honest, when it comes to a rapist getting what he or she deserves you shoot that person in the balls or hands whichever situation comes first. And to be frank, if I'm trying to land in audition and I'm being called to play a rapist I doubt I would want to land a role like that because that's rabbit hole I would never in a million years want to land, especially trying to be an actor. A side from the uncomfortable twist of fate I truly believe that's the kind of genius Quentin provides in these four tales of crime, he's giving you these tales of criminals being criminals but also showing a cruel twist of fate in which something scary in our lives would happen from the unexpected to sometimes divine intervention which is what makes Tarantino such a great writer as well. To people who've never experienced a movie like Pulp Fiction or any of Tarantino's other films I would give a small warning in terms of confused state of mind, just know that the film is chronologically out of order so if you feel confused you have to really sit down and pay attention to the details of the film from the small details to the big reveal but in all seriousness if you made this film in right order it would be a predictable and uninteresting movie and the way Tarantino cuts the film together as well as written the script is actual genius way because you get to pay attention of what is going on why are these characters wearing these certain clothes but then when you just sit down and watch the film from the very beginning to the final frame you understand why he does that and either way I love the way he puts it together. I would most certain recommending this movie to any Tarantino fans or movie goers who have not ever seen a Quentin Tarantino movie before for many reasons it was ahead of its time in terms of storytelling but more importantly it keeps you interested with every main character from their first introduction till their last scene of the film, and also it gets you excited of what movies where before and what they could still be again. 

            

Street Fighter 2: The Movie

 

            After watching Street Fighter: The Movie I lately found its Japanese counterpart on Amazon Prime for a reasonable price of FREE. And it was only 90ish minutes so, I figured why not try this Japanese animated movie about the second best popular, fighting game. And this is my first time experiencing Japanese animation and I got to tell you this may be my only Japanese cartoon movie I'll probably ever watch, though in all fairness our fellow allies have a bizarre way of making cartoons.

            Kind of the same concept as the movie Street Fighter, only this time you see some street fighting, only this time M. Bison is trying to capture some of these fighters like Ryu, who travel around the world to battle other street fighters. Interpol agent Chun-Li teams up with Colonel Guile to help track down and stop M. Bison before his evil plan becomes a reality. 

             Strangely the film makes more sense than the video game or the live action movie to the extent of actual street fighting is happening and yet the tournament is still lost to me, and granted Mortal Kombat's tournament makes a ton of sense to me but Street Fighter's tournament factor is still lost to me because we center around the fact that M. Bison is a terrorist and runs a crime syndicate, while Guile and Chun-Li are teaming up to stop him. Now granted you can take the tournament aspect out of the equation and say that Colonel Guile recruits a group of Street fighters and call them Street Fighter (though it would be a horrible name) and you can make it as a Dirty Dozen treatment to it, either way I can go on and on about how to make this better but I'm going to stop before I go crazy. Interestingly enough I yeah I seen tons of nudity in Heavy Metal but this is another movie where I never expected a shower scene and see full frontal nudity which I was like "HOLY CRAP", like I can almost picture a lot of these street fighter fans that are either kids and loved the live action film and watches this movie and all of a sudden the full nudeness happens and all the kids have a deer in the headlights look and immediate are like "I love BOOBS NOW". And later you see kids at the elementary school telling their friends about the boobies they seen and that's how early nineties kids began to like girls. A side the jokes this movie does have some great moments fun action scenes but in the end I still have to go with the live action just because of the silliness as well as Raul Julia giving it all especially since the man wanted to go out with a bang and this movie does have some fun scenes but then you rarely see some of your favorite fighters and that's basically the reason why Mortal Kombat Annihilation but then again who remembers Mortal Kombat: Annihilation. If you’re a fan of the Street Fighter series I would recommend watching this film on both Pluto TV and Amazon Prime as well as if you’re a fan of Japanese Animation than this movie would for sure be the movie for you to watch from beginning to the very end.  

       

Casino

 

                

            Well as you all know, when you feel that burnt out feeling you get after watch a bizarre mob movie with a crazy a**, middle aged woman that looks like Joan Rivers, you know the best course of action is to watch a movie where a real director knows how to make a movie about the mafia. That's right everyone, today on its 30th Anniversary I've decided for the first time ever to sit down and watch Martin Scorsese's 1995 classic, Casino. And here is a word of advice Ladies and Gentlemen, when you make a movie about the mafia you hire a ton of New Yorkers or people from New Jersey, and not the crazy ones from Jersey Shore you get the guys who look like Robert De Niro or Joe Pesci. Now if you're making a movie about Asian Mafia or Yakuza then you get any actors from Japan.

             In the mid-1970's Las Vegas, low-level mobster Sam "Ace" Rothstein (Robert De Niro) gets tapped by his bosses to head the Tangiers Casino. At first, he's a great success in the job, but over the years, problems with a loose-cannon enforcer and childhood friend, Nicky Santoro (Joe Pesci), his ex-hustler turned crazy wife Ginger (Sharon Stone) and a handful of corrupt politicians put Sam in ever-increasing danger. Martin Scorsese directs this adaptation (Casino: Love and Honor in Las Vegas) from the works of Nicholas Pileggi. 

             I watched this movie twice and granted I needed a second opinion from my end for many reasons when watching the film for the first time I felt a little conflicted mainly because the film is the typical gangster rise and fall. Though watching the film, the second time around I began to realize that there's something more to the movie I never quite give credit to the story telling that's based on actual events involving around these three characters. Based on the book by Nicholas Pileggi the same author who wrote Wise Guys based on Goodfellas, while researching Casino Pileggi read a report from the Las Vegas Sun circa 1980, about an argument between Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal, a casino figure, and his wife Geri McGee, a former topless dancer. Upon which gave Pileggi the inspiration for the next book to write based on 1970's Las Vegas. While filming came to an end for Goodfellas Pileggi came to Scorsese about the next idea to transition into film. Goodfellas was basically based on a true story or bibliography on Henry Hill and sure Casino is based on a true story to the extent of it being based on actual events. While the interesting thing about Casino is, that it's really shows the dilemma of what makes a good gangster to a bad gangster and De Niro's character is a smart gangster to the extent of keeping his distances with the mob but doing gangster things when his casino gets out of line a great example of that aspect is De Niro spotting a pair of cheaters and gives the hammer to one of them as well as giving all the cheaters a warning on what will happen if they come back. Then on the other side you have Joe Pesci's character represents that gangster that obviously gets out of hand as well as gets way to sloppy that you most certainly see tensions between De Niro and Pesci who at the beginning of the film their childhood friends moreover later in the film they become enemies which really when you think about it becomes a sad factor because you have a remorse for De Niro because he loses a lot of things but through the course of the movie he still follows his principles as well as never breaking his own thoughts and beliefs. Both De Niro and Pesci do such an excellent job playing off one another as well as playing reverse roles to where De Niro is the antagonist in Goodfellas and Pesci plays the protagonist but more importantly the friend to Liotta's character and with this movie De Niro is the protagonist and Pesci is the antagonist who gets out of control and unstable that it's kind of a great dilemma  of these guys trying to run a business but the other is so blinded by greed you see how things become a dangerous dilemma till the very end. Either way both men do a great job at playing these gangsters they we're born to play especially in one scene where Pesci has a guy in a gripped vice to his head and you can hear the head cracking or the eye popping out like this movie really does amp up the violence especially when the bring metal bats in the mix. No doubt Casino is up there in the top ten greatest gangster movies of all time and out of the mob movies that Scorsese's done, for certain Goodfellas and Casino are his grand masterpieces and as for his greatest masterpiece well, that's a conversation for another time. The movie itself is a grand total of three hours so if your trying to watch a movie like this my advice would be a ton of coffee but if you can't handle three hour long movie then you can always split the movie in half, and last I check the film alone is on Amazon Prime for now so if you’re looking for a movie to watch I would highly recommend watching Casino, for its great storytelling as well as great list of actors that will make you believe this movie was made by a real filmmaker and not just some amateur director that tries to make a gangster movie but ends up shooting himself in the groin. 

 

September Recommendation: Reservoir Dogs

 

                 Two months ago, I've been reminded of the passing of the late and underappreciative actor Michael Madsen, who's most known for playing the cool and sadistic Mr. Blonde in my latest monthly recommendation Reservoir Dogs. This is Quentin Tarantino's very first movie directed in the early nineties. Back when we never even heard of first-time directors though granted, we never discovered Steven Spielberg's first movie, hell, or even George Lucas's first movie, but when it comes to Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs this is a standout movie with a killer soundtrack and a bunch of well-acted and great appreciative recognition from Michael Madsen himself. 

                 Six criminals with pseudonyms, and each stranger to one another, are hired to carry out a robbery. The heist is ambushed by police, and the gang are forced to shoot their way out. At their warehouse rendezvous, the survivors, realizing that they were set up, try to find the traitor in their midst.    

                 One of the earliest memories and literally has a lot to do with, was Michael Madsen's performance in the movie, sure I loved Harvey Keitel in the movie but to me Michael Madsen's presence on screen as well as his performance was just outstanding that most of the times I couldn't finish the movie mainly because how his time comes unexpectedly, but more importantly he was just a cool looking character from his look to his maniacal laugh you just can't help to love the guy despite him being a true psychopath. During the auditions Madsen actually wanted to play the role of Mr. Pink, as played by Steve Buscemi, mainly because wanted more screen time with Harvey Keitel and Quentin insisted that he'd play Mr. Blonde for which really I would insist him playing Mr. Blonde because Steve Buscemi fit perfect for the role of Mr. Pink and Madsen didn't have that paranoia or basically the Martin Scorsese and Steve Buscemi talk, though I guessing the New York accent but the kind of New Yorker where he talks to much, that kind of guy. And just Madsen has that cool James Dean presents that really feels Mr. Blonde was made for him and Tarantino having Madsen play the role of Mr. Blonde was most certainly the smartest choice, if not one of the many smart choices and he's never made any well, a side from Death Proof. One of the things on why Quentin Tarantino is such an inspirational filmmaker is simply, the man never went to film school he literally worked most of his young adult life at a video store and just watched a ton of movies from classic movies to Japanese films, from film noir to maybe the too even romantic comedies (for which as a hobby maybe?) but he studies from films and just decides to make a movie at an early age as well as taking a leap of faith. But more importantly a lot of his films are inspirations from past movies that he loved and you may think that his films aren't original I think that doesn't really matter when it comes to writing your own movies or directing your own movies an original film is an original film no matter who the director is or what that person's style of filmmaking is. The funny thing is Lawrence Tierney in the movie plays the mob boss in the movie was no doubt a excellent actor in the movie and I'm not going to go into much details about him being difficult to work with and sure the guy was probably difficult to work with as well as a nut job but Chevy Chase is a bigger nut job/egotist throughout Hollywood. Okay getting back to topic,  through my teen years that was the one movie I associated him with until I watched a few episodes of Seinfeld and saw him again as Elaine's father and the way he made Jerry and Jason Alexander uncomfortable was the most funniest thing I've ever seen mainly just because of the guy's presence on screen as well as his age of being a gruff grumpy bastard that would most certainly be one of your relatives and after that I stopped but in all fairness I don't have Netflix anymore so, it's best I don't proceed any further after that great episode. There so many great actors in the movie and really if I had to pick two that deserve recognition it would most certainly be Tim Roth and Chris Penn, Roth for example does a great job playing an innocent guy who you feel like he's going to die but through the course of the film you unexpectedly know he's not what he says he is and that's great acting, Penn on the other hand does a great job playing a pissed off mob boss, son who is a great guy to hang around but when we get to the climax of the film, he does an excellent job playing a savage and scary guy and his eyes when you see him at the climax, speaks for itself. The excellent thing about the movie is you don't need a full scene of how the robbery went down the fact that Quentin allows the characters and the actors describe how the job went down really sells it and the aspect that majority of the movie is basically in a warehouse, is so great as well as you can always transition to the movie in a stage play but also allows the film to let the audience imagine how the robbery happen and the great shot of Mr. Blonde torturing a cop and then the camera pans to not show what is going on is another great example of letting the imagination of the viewers find out what is truly happening. If you ever want to have a bro's night out, Reservoir Dogs is that perfect guy movie, that you can love from beginning to the very end with great soundtrack you wish you can mimic some of those scenes, hell I wished I would look good in those suits they wear but I know that's not going to happen. Still to this day Reservoir Dogs, is one of those classics that you can watch and enjoy but has that cool flair that Geto Boys would always say "Damn it feels good to be a Gangsta" The film is on Peacock so if you’re feeling for a great gangster classic Quentin Tarantino's very first movie I would highly recommend to watch this September as well as paying tribute to the Late Michael Madsen for delivering an iconic performance in cinema history. 

 

       

Blazin'

 

           I think after watching one of the most obnoxious and terrible b-movies of all time, The Amazing Bulk, that I would learn my lesson and not peruse a whole lot of B-Movies. But this movie, upon which I discovered out of Red-Letter Media's Best of the Worst, I had to make an exception for other bizarre reasons it has an over-the-top middle aged crazy woman who thinks she's a gangster and more importantly Fat Joe, hopefully everyone remembers Fat Joe right? Anyway, a fun fact is this is one of three films found in Osama bin Laden's house during the fateful Operation Neptune Spear in which he was assassinated. So, he may or may not have been laughing so hard or was stoned out of his mind while watching Blazin', granted I don't know because I wasn't there but I'm just assuming.

           Basically, a Romeo and Juliet story with the mix of hip hop and a trying attempted to make a movie but, just fails so badly that you get a great performance from a crazy woman. 

            Unlike The Amazing Bulk, which I declare as the worst non-movie I've ever seen or don't believe to be a movie and yet Tubi streams the damn movie. Straight Blazin is surprisingly one of the most fascinating B-movies I've ever seen almost close to like The Room standards. Although this is one of those films that yes it's hilariously bad but it's also embarrassing to see especially with all the actors in the movie, and yet after watching the movie I do wish to find a copy of this movie on eBay and hopefully ask Fat Joe to sign this but I doubt he cares all about the movie since the man is a big success in music. As crazy as this may sound I would highly recommend watching this movie not to anyone who’s ever watched weird B-movies like this but those who, if you’re a person who wants to get into the movie business and you don't have the good education to go on or working at dead end jobs but you want to make movies, hell like me for example who wants to direct movies, I truly believe this is a movie of great importin's to watch, in the sense of "DON'T DO THIS" sense. And like all bad independent movies go when you try and make a movie that's unintentionally bad, but with this film sure it's bad and funny, but it's so, embarrassing to even watch especially guys who are overly large and out of shape and for some reasons know kung fu or martial arts. And coming from someone whose grown up fat and out of shape, I would look silly trying to choregraph martial arts fights and logical sense if you’re trying to make a small, low budget action movie you need to do a lot of experimental shots to get those sequences right. And with this film I feel like the director has only scene Goodfellas and Reservoir Dogs, then after viewing those movies felt like "oh I can do that", but either way he just fails so miserably at almost everything I mean there are some decent ideas that would make it better but I would just be losing my mind thinking about. Hell, I almost feel like Walter White when he must put up with Jessie and after watching the movie and then looking at him goes "Did your mother drop you on your head when you were a baby? There is no way in hell we're going to get our money back from this", and I'm no expert I never claim myself to be a good reliable expert but watching this all the way through, makes me feel great inside with the belief of thanking the good lord that I didn't produce this movie because I would lose my mind. Speaking of thanking our good lord and savior, you know when you feel like your parents or family members are complete nut jobs well after watching this movie, I'm thankful my family members aren't that crazy as the old woman who plays a gangster? I looked up the actress who plays the Drug Lord in the movie and her name is Paula Roth moreover she's hands down the most entertaining part of the movie to the degree where she's playing a gangster who recently just be out of the insane asylum. Like I feel like the director of the movie recently visited a Shutter Island like asylum and visited this woman who was also off her meds and thought she would be perfect for the role. And she played the role like your mother who gets hysteric when Thanksgiving or Christmas Day is happening and all of your family members are all coming and she's losing her sh*t that's basically who she's playing, furthermore I'm so glad I have loving caring parents now (granted I've always been thankful) because I swear to you if my parents was like this actress I would literally be calling the guys in white jackets and tell my parents to put the long shirt on, because that's the kind of toxic family I would never in a million years want to be in. Now I'm trying to get into the film business and I didn't have the good film school education to get me there so, I have to rely on things that I've learned through TV as well as working with a camera of any kind so, a side from this movie being a entreatingly bad movie I would only recommend this movie to the people who want to lean filmmaking but more importantly this film is a good lesson in what you most certainly need when it comes to making a small low budget movie because whenever your actors are screaming at the top of their lungs for which either the boom mic is hitting red or the volume level is bursting to red hot then you need to tell your actors to tone down their voice or if your experimenting with scenes then you most certainly need a microphone or a boom mic to get the soundtrack of the dialogue. Also, you need ton of music to pad out the film, for which I'm sure you can always look for a composer for hire or a small-time musician who works around with a lot of band instruments, either way adding music to your film will make some good adjustments. And here's the most importantly lesson whenever you get the idea of using overweight men to experiment with a strange martial arts fight scene just don't, because I'm extremely fat and I can personally say that even I would look embarrassed as well as ridicules doing a kung fu style of fighting for fat people. So, if you’re a fan of strange, weird b-movies then this movie is strait of your alley and I would recommend watching it, hell that's why Tubi is the greatest streaming service for these bizarre and weird films. And if you’re a normal human being I would definitely say not to watch this movie, either way this film is a great observer for people who really want to get into the film business because this film is a great example of what you need when it comes to making a movie, as well as what not to do when making a movie. 

        

Ten Year Anniversary of The Martian

 

           This great human-interest story hasn't reached its ten-year mark yet. But I'm already at the point where I decided now is the time to discuss Ridley Scott's epic Science Fiction and greatest human story, as well as Matt Damon's greatest performance ever on screen. The Martian, by the time of the film’s release, I knew single handedly I wanted to see this movie because of course it's directed by Sir Ridley Scott, and one of the most bizarre collaborations with Matt Damon, for which yes like Christopher Nolan I'm going to see a movie directed by Ridley Scott no question. But out of this entire adventure comes one of the greatest films of 2015, but more importantly a human-interest story that shows, maybe humanity can strive for great things, especially the entire world working together saving one person in a dangerous deserted planet like Mars.

            When astronauts blast off from the planet Mars, they leave behind Mark Watney (Matt Damon), presumed dead after a fierce storm. With only a meager number of supplies, the stranded visitor must utilize his wits and spirit to find a way to survive on the hostile planet. Meanwhile, back on earth, members of NASA and a team of international scientists work tirelessly to bring him home, with his crew mates hatching their own plan for a daring rescue mission.

            “The Martian” is based off a 2011 Bestseller by Andy Weir. Andy Weir always wanted to be a science fiction writer, loved reading his grandfather's or father’s collection of science fiction books, though through course of his destination like most people wanting to accomplish their dream, had to find a profession to pay bills as well as food. And so, computer technician became his backup plan while trying to find time to write. Through the course of working through jobs Weir picked the time to finally write and do some research on NASA and life on Mars for which came to the concept of The Martian. Having been turned down by literary Agents, Weir decided to put the book online in a serial format, one chapter at a time on his website. While Weir's book has been hitting some great views, fans requested Weir to have the book for full access so Andy made the decision to publish the book on Amazon Kindle for about .99 cents (the minimum allowable price he could set). With 35,000 copies sold as well as launching success for Andy Weir as well as movie release the rest became success. Even after watching the movie for the first time, I decided to buy the book, and it literally became my favorite book to read so that I couldn't stop reading the book. Ten years later the movie alone is still the great and tremendous movie that uplifts you’re spirit that you'd never expect to feel. But more importantly this provides a protagonist that's unlike any protagonist I've ever experienced, for which people for sure compare the movie and book to the movie Cast Away, but this is a lone survivor against all the odds against him and yet he's still able to keep himself calm and still have a sense of humor in the situation he's in. For which, who doesn't respect a man who makes fun of Disco music, I mean that scene of actor Chiwetel Ejiofor worried about Matt Damon's character, and then we brilliantly transition to Damon listening to "Turn the beat around" express his dislike for Disco music, still gives me the chuckles because if I was stranded on Mars having listen to nothing but Taylor Swift music or Adelle, even I would be worrying about my sanity. Hands down the most amazing thing about the movie is the realistic ton and look of Mars, granted it's science fiction but also shows a great tone of what would Mars would look like if NASA traveled to a planet like Mars because really we all don't know what Mars would look like other than it's a desolate planet with no possible way to grow or colonize it so shooting scenes in the Jordan dessert of Wahi Rum is a fantastic choice to shoot the exterior scenes for The Martian. A lot of people will obviously say that Matt Damon's best performance is either Good Will Hunting or Jason Bourne, but for me personally Damon's performance in the Martian is his greatest performance as an actor, granted his playing a character based on a book but the way he's able to not play a miserable/lonely astronaut but a scared to calm astronaut with a sense of humor is really a breath of fresh air and for great reasons we've never seen that type of stranded character before and Damon being able to bring Andy Weir's character of Mark Watney to life is both great as well as showing great emotion range at the same time especially in scenes where he's all by himself with no one to talk to and then hearing his crew member's during that scene of him getting of Mars is just incredible acting on his part and let's be honest Matt Damon is an excellent crier, we can all agree on that. Though Matt Damon isn't the only person that makes this movie in epic film, he also has a list of great actors like Jessica Chastain, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Sean Bean and Jeff Daniels does a fantastic job playing a political NASA director that's always playing it way to safe, you know the typical guy you'd have to put up with knowing he's your boss type character. But Kristen Wiig does a fantastic job in the movie not doing so much comedy though in all fairness she's being directed by a well accomplished filmmaker, just like Seth Rogen doing a fantastic job in the movie Steve Jobs when the only reason the man did a great job because he's directed by Danny Boyle and acting from a screenplay by Aaron Sorkin. Close to ten years of the film’s release and it's still to this day in my opinion one of the greatest and beautiful human interests story's ever to be put on screen, and I usually don't say that a lot when it comes to movies, but when you see two nations like U.S. and China with their space programs coming together to help one man is just great and something special about it because really when you take a look at the world is now, you realize the crash course of reality but the entire world coming together as one to in the hopes of one astronaut escaping the hostile environments of Mars is somewhat of a beautiful thing in hopes that maybe humanity can come together as one. And really that's always been the human instinct that has always been engraved in all of us, and really the movie is set in 2035 so maybe in the next ten years will see NASA or all of the space programs coming together and building a space program to explore mars, and at the age I am I do hope that becomes a possibility. After watching the movie I'm now considering reading the book again because it's a great read as well as addicting to ready because all I remember while at work, helping a broadcast in the two minutes of spare time I would constantly read the book just because of how funny and a great read it was so, if you love any Matt Damon movies or your like me and watch all of Ridley Scott's films then I would highly recommend watching the Martian but also read Andy Weir's The Martian after watching the film, or you can read the book before watching the movie whichever comes first. 

           

Twisted Metal (TV Show)

 

              Now if it we're me and this is just my opinion I would totally change NASCAR into a battle ground where all racers are shooting at each other as well as blowing each other’s cars, while turning left. Though we're not living in a post-apocalyptic world so I guess, discussing the first-two seasons of Twisted Metal on Peacock streaming service, will do. If you’re not familiar with Peacock basically the streaming service for NBC, along with Universal Studio's films as well as Peacock films and shows and surprisingly enough Twisted Metal based on the popular PlayStation game series is a binge worthy show worth watching. 

               Set somewhere in 2002 or 2005 where all the world has gone to shambles, but CDs are a gold mind for anyone who has a car. John Doe and Quiet (Anthony Mackie and Stephanie Beatriz) two unlikely lovers on a quest of redemption as well as participating in a tournament of battle cars. But more importantly there's a killer clown that could makes Joaquin Phoenix's Joker look like a week WAP, if you catch my meaning.

               If you want a good description of what the game of Twisted Metal is to get a clear idea on the show. Basically think of Mad Max in a Video game form which is clearly what Twisted Metal is when you think about it and more importantly you don't necessary need to play the games in order to get into the movie because once I decided to watch the show I basically kept in open mind going in and a result, a surprisingly great, entertaining show that provides great character development from both actors Anthony Mackie and Stephanie Beatriz who both show great chemistry together, as well as great character growth through the course of each season. Granted Mackie and Beatriz are great, but the real scene stealer is both Samoa Joe and Will Arnett, together brings the iconic Sweet Tooth to life and I'm not going to lie both men do a fantastic job at bringing the voice as well as the physic of his killer personality. Aside from some scenes getting way to dark, especially some of the first seasons, it does have some great comedic moments as well as bringing out some great 90's and 2000's nostalgia music to the show as well and I think it does bring a great balance between the dark as well as the comedy. Defiantly, an entertaining show with a span of 30 minutes per episode with great character development and great action and for certainly one of the best Television shows I ever seen on a streaming service so, if you have Peacock and love cars as well as action, then I would highly recommend watching Twisted Metal for you'll for certain, have the craving to listen Rob Zombie's Dragula. 

Days of Thunder

 

               In one of the rare few times, I never thought I would decide to watch an early nineties Tom Cruise movie. Although this was a movie I had never seen and thought it couldn’t be worse, right? Well, this was one of those things when you get feel like you've seen the exact same story line from a past Tom Cruise movie well, this is most certainly that movie only this time it's about NASCAR one of the most boring sporting events on the planet. Furthermore, I should thank NASCAR after watching this movie because it gives me every reason to hate the sport even more. Hell, if you’re going to create a racing event where all they must do is turn left, for f**ksake give some excitement like put some ramps on the track or something because after watching Days of Thunder I slowly realize that even NASCAR drivers are complete douches. 

               Basically, the same storyline to Top Gun only this time yes, it's about NASCAR drivers two guys don't like one another then Tom Cruise has a love affair with a young up and coming actress in Nicole Kidman. When the two bros kiss and make up (literally) Tom Cruise has another douche-bag rivalry in Cary Elwes and well in the end Tom Cruise wins Daytona again it's a NASCAR movie, so they obviously must have Tom Cruise win. 

               Look I love a good quality racing movie, in fact I'm big fan of the movie Rush by Ron Howard and Ford v. Ferrarri directed by James Mangold. But let's be frank, this is NASCAR, basically turning left as well as changing lanes every 50 laps as well as years of my life, hell I don't even know how our fellow Southerners ever can get into this sport to be honest. Now keep in mind I did give this movie a chance, this was one of those days where I literally was bored and didn't find anything better to watch but, although now I'm really glad to of watched and experienced the movie because once again NASCAR proves to me why I hate the sport and more importantly hate Days of Thunder. I really wished that this movie wasn't a carbon copy of Top Gun and really if you haven't watched this movie from start to finish this movie is a lazy draft of Top Gun, basically using the same hot shot driver who has no experience in stock car driving and through the course of the movie these two rivals Tom Cruise and Michael Rooker battle each other off the track both wheelchair battle and then renting cars for which both douches literally damaged in which if I was that person who owned those cars I would tell those a**holes to pay up right now. Then Cruise has another rivalry in Cary Elwes, and the two men begin to bond, look either way this movie has one to many elements of it being the exact replica of Top Gun that's when I slowly begin to realize on how bad this movie is going to suck. Apparently and due to the sources I browsed through there were a lot of arguments going on between producers, Tony Scott and writer of Days of Thunder battle out in terms of arguments for which nothing was getting done and all the crew were sitting around watching this Soap Opera, for which explains a lot moreover there was no finished script during the course of filming and Tom Cruise while filming himself in the car had to rely on cue cards attached to the windshields, and even reading about this just hurts my brain and I don't know about you but I find that sad and say we're not going to film anything until we get a good script, but I'm no Tony Scott so, I guess that doesn't matter. I would love to continue about how bad this movie was but, hell I don't even know what to tell you or how to explain some of these scenes especially when Tom Cruise through the course of the movie is such a dumba** and gets into situations where you'd have to cringe. A side from the fact that this movie is on Hulu I would strongly advise you not to watch Days of Thunder especially if you’re a fan of NASCAR fan, and even if you're a lonely woman, look there other movies to be turned on by besides a young Tom Cruise I would imagine, all you just have to do is look around and find something at least hell just watch all the Thor films for a good start and then find something else because those movies would be ten times better than Days of Thunder. And in all fairness this movie came out in 1990 and in about two years Rob Reiner would hire Cruise to play Lawyer/Naval Officer in A Few Good Men, so I would imagine Reiner after seeing this movie pull Cruise a side and told him "look Tom I seen your film Days of Thunder and I hate to tell you that movie sucked, so the good news right now is that I got a movie role that will launch your career and out of the young hotshot douche", though I'm not a fortune teller but I would love to believe that was the conversation between Reiner and Cruise, upon which Cruise still hasn't changed at all and A Few Good Men for me is still my only favorite Tome Cruise movie. 

  

 

30th Anniversary of Mortal Kombat

 

                  

            There was a point that I was going to hold off on this 30th Anniversary classic, Mortal Kombat till the most recent Mortal Kombat film arrives in October (false alarm coming out next year). But I've been recently reminded about the films 30-year release and I decided upon myself to sit down and watch the film that surprisingly still holds up. Directed by infamous B-Movie director Paul W.S. Anderson long before he impregnated Mila Jovovich and proceeded to make mediocre, sometimes lame movies in which his wife would star in. Strangely enough Mortal Kombat is hands down one of Paul W.S. Anderson's best movie and granted I haven't seen Event Horizon yet but out of all the movies he's done, this is single handedly one of his finest movies, moreover that pretty much say's a lot because if you take away his most recent movies from 2010 till now they are not acceptable to be call movies. 

            Lord Raiden (Christopher Lambert) handpicks three martial artists -- military soldier Sonya (Bridgette Wilson), Shaolin Monk Liu Kang (Robin Shou) and a washed-up movie star Johnny Cage (Linden Ashby). With the guidance of Raiden, these three Martial Artists must fight to survive on an Island hosted by Sorcerer Shang Tsung (Cary Hiroyuki Tagawa). With Earth left in the balance only one will remain victorious.

             I've said before I always loved Mortal Kombat, there's no denying that for good reasons it has one of the simplest yet great storylines in all fighting games, and like Star Wars, Mortal Kombat its storyline is the basis of good vs evil, unlike Street Fighter and Tekken that has a story? Behind it? Some of it makes little sense but with Mortal Kombat you have a mad Tyrant wanting to invade the realm of Earth and the only way to invade the realm is to win ten straight victories at a tournament, I mean that's literally one of the most simplest of ideas that gets me drawn to the game other than yeah it's the most bloodiest video game of all time. One of my earliest memories of Mortal Kombat was at a friend’s house and he was playing the original game and all I remember is Scorpion removing his mask and a Skull appears to burn the opponent down and I already thought that was scary at first as well as Raiden being a scary looking guy with the lightning never though he was a force for good, and at the time I wasn't all that interested in playing games because I was going outside and playing until I got my first PlayStation 2 and thought "oh I can play Mortal Kombat now and so thus began my continuation of playing Mortal Kombat till the day I die.  Somewhere between 1997 to 2000 on Dish Network, Mortal Kombat was on Cable TV and loved watching the movie from start to finish and especially loving Sub-Zero and Scorpion intro and though that was the coolest thing especially Reptile's fight with Liu Kang, furthermore though his look was the best one out of all the Reptile versions especially when he's in a human form. Going back and rewatching the film again I do stand tall as one of the best representations of the very first Mortal Kombat game mainly because you just have the seven original characters in the movie together as well as a few characters from Mortal Kombat 2. Granted you don't get a whole lot of your favorite characters, I still think a lot of the fights are the real scene stealers of the entire movie especially when you see Goro in action, and though Goro looks very stop motion, he strangely looks great on screen and either way I love the way he turns out. If you take away the visual effects and some of the cheesy dialogue it still holds up, almost the same as Street Fighter the movie, but Mortal Kombat is great from start to finish especially when the killer soundtrack of the movie takes it to a whole new level. I still say that the original Mortal Kombat still stands the test of time despite its cheesy cliches it still holds up with the fights to the killer soundtrack as well as the iconic song from The Immortals with Mortal Kombat (Technio-Syndrome), for which is the greatest song ever. There's so many great things to talk about Mortal Kombat especially when you have Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa playing Shang Tsung whose hands down the best Shang Tsung especially when he returns to voice the character in Mortal Kombat 11 and the same goes to Bridgette Wilson who also returns as Sonya in MK 11 as well as Linden Ashby and Christopher Lambert, though Lambert makes a great Raiden in this movie but now when we finally understand he's Asian we have to make adjustments, hell we've been confused on what nationality Scorpion and Sub-Zero were because there were always portrayed as the same white guy until we get to the most recent games where they explain both characters are from Japan and China. Sadly, enough, this is Paul W. S. Anderson's best and only good movie he's ever made and there's no doubt because his movies after Mortal Kombat are just okay to complete utter garbage and I don't know what the best way would be to describe his filmography, other than this is really his only good movie out there. No question I would highly recommend watching Mortal Kombat, it has everything from great fights to killer soundtrack moreover once you see how great this movie is and then when you get to its sequel you slowly realize how bad the next one is, but I can imagine it's not all bad considering some funny moments though still is just blah. And sure, this movie isn't perfect but it's still fun and entertaining to watch especially when you don't have anything exciting to do, as well as want to take a trip down memory lane and realize how fun 90's films were. 

     

Airplane II: The Sequel

 

                       

             Well, we've recently talked about Airplane. I figured, well now we jumped, down this rabbit hole I figured we might as well talk about the sequel to Airplane, that is titled Airplane II: The Sequel. And you know there comes a time when you feel the need to do a sequel to a highly successful disaster spoof comedy, you, probably should just say no in terms of those situations although this is Hollywood and the spend their money like crazy in my opinion on Hookers and cocaine. Also, this movie is technically a Christmas movie and since all stores are already putting up their Halloween decorations we might as well talk about Christmas films, right?

              Like the movie’s predecessor. Ted Striker (Robert Hays) agrees to return to the cockpit to man the controls of Mayflower One, America's first commercial spacecraft. But, as soon as Mayflower One lifts off, an electrical malfunction sends the ship veering off course. A shaken Striker struggles to guide the shuttle through a treacherous asteroid belt, tames its failing computer and stops a disgruntled Sonny Bono from detonating a deadly bomb on board.

              To be truthfully honest this movie reminds me a lot of Major League II, where the film is the same as its predecessor but the jokes are just so flat that you feel so bored and sometimes disgusted at the jokes you chuckled at, granted the joke is this movie are more funny than Major League II, but then again chuckling at some of these jokes just make me want to take a shower. And this was one of these movies like Major League II where I remember watching on TV and though that this was amazing and funny but then watching the film now, I begin to realize that this hasn't aged well, not even close. The trio of ZAZ were in talks to do a sequel although, I'm assuming through a ton of talks with producers they were just tired of suggestions from the studio execs that they decided to just focus on their TV show of what would be The Police Squad with Leslie Neilson. With the trio not returning to directing the first film Paramount decided to turn to a first-time director in Ken Finkleman who later written Grease 2 and basically, I guess Paramount was running out of options and were trying in the best of their ability to get this film out and running for the Christmas season. In all fairness I like to say that the film isn't all bad like, compared to Major League II, is this good? But then when you continue to watch the movie you begin to see yourself bored out of your mind and continue to have this face of disgust on your face that again you'd like to say sure it's funny but it's just not moreover you just want to fix the movie but then you can't fix this movie at all in your mind. For which in all honesty what made the first Airplane movie great was because the film was based on Zero Hour! and the fact that majority of the plot and dialogue are in the movie but that's what makes the movie great and memorable. Airplane 2, you're basically rehashing the same jokes and telling the same story and that's just lazing writing, and really, it's not all Finkleman's fault because he had to write the script with limited time but could at least give some effort in making the jokes funny at least. And that's what makes the Naked Gun films so, entertaining that there's so many cop movies out there you can make ton of jokes, but with Airplane, you only need just one movie and call it good. I think that if your bored or have a lot of house cleaning to do at your house then you can watch this movie while you work mainly just to get things done while there's sound in the air so, really that would be the safe bet in terms of wanting to watch this movie on Hulu, although you don't need to watch this movie sitting down, all the way through because that's when you'd feel bored and in needs to take a shower. 

    

Zero Hour!

 

                     

           Well believe it ladies and gentlemen, for I finally have found the movie that was inspired by the 1980 comedy classic Airplane! Staring Dana Andrews, to me, is most famous for playing Detective Mark McPherson, in the 1944 film noir classic Laura. Sterling Hayden most notably starred in The Killing a year before Zero Hour! was released. And surprisingly a Wisconsin Badgers, halfback legend Elroy "Crazylegs" Hirsch, who I didn't know was a famous football player that would later be in the NFL with such teams as the Los Angeles Rams.

           Basically, it is the same premise as Airplane! Although Ted Striker (Dana Andrews) has a wife (Linda Darnell) and a kid. So, Ted Striker has a good reason to help his own son when a food poisoning outbreak occurs and well, you know the whole story so, I'll just leave it at that.

            When the trio of ZAZ said that they used a good portion and dialog of the film, well watching it for the first time I was surprised at how much they used from this movie, and it was shocking yet funny at the same time. From a movie stand point the film is not the greatest movie I've seen, but it's really fascinating in terms of the story structure as and the characters though granted as the trio of ZAZ states, Zero Hour! is really the serious version to Airplane! and it is this movie takes itself seriously while Airplane! alone takes it on the goofy stage for which is the most incredible hilarious to ever be develop by human hands. The film itself there's not a whole lot to say other than well, it's in okay movie and I can understand why I've never heard of this movie before and surprisingly how either Hulu or Turner Classic Movies was able to put this film out for cable TV or streaming, but in all fairness the film is a real fascinating aspect to watch as well as you can see where the trio was able to go with in terms of jokes and what they were trying to create in terms of what the jokes they were able to create furthermore when you look at the Naked Gun films they did, you know you can find every cop movie out there and that's basically what they were trying to do hell, there's a million cop movies and TV shows that you can mesh together and create the Naked Gun films and yet while creating Airplane you can look at this film and see oh this is how they were able to come up with some jokes that you can laugh at over and over again, not just combining every disaster movie into Airplane!. Again the film isn't good, it's mostly decent, but if you love the film Airplane!, for sure I would highly recommend watching this movie on your local Hulu, just because you never know how much material landed on Airplane!, and watching this movie for the first time I was shocked but laughing at the same time with some of the scenes in the movie and then remembering what jokes reminded me of this scene it's just crazy even to seen on screen and in all honesty it was fascinating to see but more importantly without this movie we wouldn't get Airplane!, so in all fairness Zero Hour! was made for a purpose and that purpose was for three men to come up and write one of the best comedies of all time. So, if you're fan of the Airplane! movie and granted I'm talking about the only one not it's sequel, then you should sit down and watch Zero Hour! for understanding and reasons why this movie exists, but more importantly you only have to watch it once don't make it a habit, don't feel the need to watch it all the time. 

 

Cape Fear

 

           On the quest of finding the best cinema I haven't touched or never got around to watching. I finally decided to watch a movie that was the original predecessor to Martin Scorsese's Cape Fear. Now I've not seen Scorsese's Cape Fear, but after watching this original version to Cape Fear, I suddenly feel hesitant in wanting to watch Scorsese's version, for a gillion reasons I can honestly tell that De Niro is literally chewing the scenery throughout the entire movie despite not seeing it. But for great reasons, Robert Mitchum's Cady has nothing compared to De Niro's Cady just not even close. The 1962 version of Cape Fear I will most certainly say to everyone who has Amazon Prime, I would highly recommend watching the 62 version to Cape Fear.

           After eight-year prison sentence for rape, Max Cady (Robert Mitchum) targets Sam Bowden (Gregory Peck), one of the lawyers who sent him away. When Max finds Sam and his family, he begins a terrifying stalking spree, intending to ruin Sam's life. Desperate to protect his wife and daughter, Sam tries to send Max back to jail. But when his attempts fail, Sam realizes that he must take matters into his own hands if he wants to get rid of his life of Max for good. 

           Night of the Hunter for sure readied me for Robert Mitchum being a villain, but again this movie shows that I'm glad he's passed because I would be terrified of him once I bump into him and then I make a break for it and run for my life shouting "No Robert don't touch my Pee Pee", I mean sure when it comes to any time of horror film or film noir yeah, you have to play that cold hearted character, but something about Robert Mitchum's performance that gives chills down your spine moreover he was way ahead of any of these actors that played infamous movies villains like Anthony Perkins, Robert Englund and even some of these other iconic movie antagonists that you see in other horror movies. Though what makes Mitchum great to watch on screen is that he's normally scary in the sense that he doesn't really need any props or anything to be scary, it's his presence on screen is what makes him so terrifying on screen. In fact, Gregory Peck and director J. Lee Thompson wanted Mitchum to play the role of Cady, but Mitchum refused at first until he relented after Thompson and Peck delivered him flowers and bourbon furthermore reply's "Okay, I've drunk your bourbon. I'm drunk. I'll do it", for which really that's a one good lesson I'm going to use when I want an actor in my movie, I'm going to deliver them flowers and some good whiskey, and if it's Jessica Chastain or Charlize Theron I'm going to give them flowers and maybe tequila depends on what they're choice of booze would be mainly because I want them to chew the scenery and I figured tequila would be the best choice maybe. J. Lee Thompson gets a lot of credit for making Cape Fear one of the most scary and terrifying movies I've seen since Promising Young Woman. Thompson in fact claimed to be a fan of Alfred Hitchcock, and he envisioned the movie black and white, for good reasons he wanted to have every Hitchcockian element into the movie such as unusual lighting angles, eerie musical score, closeups, and subtitle hints to violence rather than graphic depictions of violence, Mitchum's character has in mind for the family. And it works perfectly especially in scenes where Cady is hooking up with this woman and she starts to get terrified of him and then we have these hints of violence that even I was taken back, especially the way it was shot and you don't see anything and as dark as this may sound I loved the way it turned out. The fact that this movie didn't do so well in the box office and later destroyed Gregory Peck's studio company is just insane in terms of people going to the movies it's almost reminiscing to people now than people in the sixties it’s just way to crazy for people to watch all of Hitchcock's films but a movie inspired by Hitchcock nobody goes to see this is just crazy maybe because of the dark elements but come on, that's what Gregory Peck is there for. Hands down this is defiantly in my top list of greatest horror movies as well as list of greatest movies ever made, I mean Robert Mitchum playing a perfect bad guy, you just can't get any better than this but more importantly you have the best of both actors in Gregory Peck and Robert Mitchum facing off with one another you can't get a better use of great actors since Heat. So, if you have an Amazon Prime account furthermore, hopefully is still there I would highly recommend to stop what you’re doing and sit down and watch this great movie hell even have the kids watch the movie so they can get a clear idea about being terrified of stalkers, hell if kids can get into Sabrina Carpenter moreover be like her, then watching Cape Fear with the kids is a great lesson to learn in life.