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. 

             

August Recommendation: Airplane

 

             After watching movie that's so bad that you literally need to take a shower as well as pound five little bottles of fireball (figuratively). I knew firsthand that I had to find a good movie to watch, for me to get back into the game of recommending some movies for all of you to sit down and enjoy. Granted there's no wrong in watching some entertaining bad B-Movies, but the Amazing Bulk was such a mess that just hurts a ton of brain cells. Thankfully I became one of the greatest comedic trios of all time since Mel Brooks. Airplane! (Worthy of a Monthly Recommendation) was one of those movies I remembered watching as a kid, though watched a ton of the sequel but do remembered watching the first movie to the point I remembered the crowd going nuts about a pilot and all of a sudden a half-naked woman comes in for a second and my mom was like "GO TO YOUR ROOM", and in all fairness this movie got me into liking girls growing up in a strange sense.

             This spoof comedy takes shots at the slew of disaster movies that were released in the 70's. When passengers and crew of a jet are incapacitated due to food poisoning, a rogue pilot (Robert Hays) with a drinking problem (figuratively) must cooperate with his ex-girlfriend (Julie Hagerty) turned stewardess to bring a plane to safe landing.

              Shockingly enough although it makes sense, this is in fact Jim Abrahams, Jerry and David Zucker’s directorial debut together for which I at the time didn't know about that, but it makes sense because from this movie to like the Naked Gun films those are there sole movies together. Around 1971, the trio was developing their comic routine, and they would usually record late night television and reviewed the tapes later primarily to pull the commercials. Basically, Abrahams, in a sense of describing or comparing it as "seine fishing", during one of the tapings they unintentionally recorded the 1957 film Zero Hour! and like most comedic writers would find that one source of inspiration this was most certainly fate reaching out to extend its hand towards ZAZ. The group completed their first film script in 1975 titled The Late Show. Having failed to sell their script to major studios, ZAZ met with John Landis who encouraged them to write a film based on their theatre sketches, for which later became The Kentucky Fried Movie, furthermore David Zucker in his own words "it was the first time we had ever been on a movie set. We learned a lot. We learned that if you learned that you wanted a movie to come out the way you wanted it to, you had to direct. So, on the next movie Airplane! we insist on directing". Even though the trio was borrowing a lot of source material as well as dialog from Zero Hour! They needed to negotiate the rights to create a remake of the film to ensure they remain within the allowance for a parody within the copyright of the law. So, before they were able to make the film for Paramount, they had to obtain rights from Warner Bros. and Paramount for about 2,500 dollars at the time. Going back and watching this film, it does have that breath of fresh air sense where you can sit down and have a great time with a lot of goofy and serious comedic humor that's still funny even to its 45th Anniversary. Like the original Naked Gun films what carry's this movie through as well as still being fresh is the seriousness as well as blending comedy, and there's always that sense of being very serious but laughing at the same time especially in scenes where Lloyd Bridges is being serious about picking the wrong time to quick smoking or drinking or Robert Hayes telling his stories and you just have to laugh about his drinking problem and just splashing it on his face it just great humor from start to finish and the best part about it is, as always the fact that it's under a 90 minute movie, but more importantly it works it explains what it is and has a first, second and third act in a quick pace and just finishes it in the best way possible. Robert Hays, Julie Hagerty and Leslie Nielson are excellent in this film, no doubt about it and in fact this was Nielson's first collaboration with the trio of ZAZ who later in 82 began the development of Frank Drebin and the Police Squad TV series. But a lot of credit also goes with the supporting cast in the film with Peter Graves, Lloyd Bridges along with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Stephan Stucker and even Robert Stack who through the course of my childhood, has always been that narrator for Unsolved Mysteries like between the Unsolved Mysteries and Airplane! those are the only movies I've seen of his, and even when watching this movie for the first time I began thinking to myself is this "his voice is familiar". Peter Graves and Jabbar are great and they play off of each other and both of them have the best moments, but the other supporting actor that deserves a lot of praise is Stephan Stucker who plays the actual goof in the movie Johnny Stucker, who knows what the film is and does a fantastic job at playing either the crazy or goofy person through the course of the movie and you know everyone is serious with their acting as well as comedy but he's the only one who plays the goof ball throughout the movie and yet it's still entertaining at the same time. In all summer movie seasons, you always must have that one good comedy through the course of the year and comedies now is just hard to find but whenever you sit down and watch a classic like Airplane! it  has that breath of fresh air that keeps you entertained year after year. Again like the Naked Gun this film is best that you watch once a year so, the jokes can keep fresh and something to laugh at and for the month of August, you always have to have a great comedy to be entertained as well as something to laugh at, because let's be honest you never get to see these kinds of spoofs, especially when they try to copy this format or fail miserably furthermore when you have pathetic comedic actors now that are just lame and not even close of being funny. So, if you’re bored and need some laughter in your life Airplane! is the best movie to watch in that time of need especially if you’re tired and want to watch some classic comedies, but also the film is on Hulu and hopefully will stay on Hulu forever. 

      

                 

The Amazing Bulk

 

              This is probably one of these things that I had to see to believe, although I found this movie by accident. Apparently the guys from MST3K, Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett who've now formed their next movie bashing internet show, Rifftrax and a year ago They made fun of this green screen movie The Amazing Bulk and I just watched some of these on YouTube, until I decided to look it up on the internet and realized holy crap this film is on Tubi? Well, then I had to see this movie and honestly this is one of those things that gives you a chuckle because it's absurd, but then you realize that it's seventy minutes of the same thing.

               Basically, the movie is a parody of Edward Norton's The Incredible Hulk only this feels like a cheaply made and trying to be funny.

               I've always said when you make that passionate movie and just fail or your ego gets the better of you and yet it's unintentionally funny because of the films flaws and we always get that from every Stallone movie in the 90's or Van Damme hell even the Batman TV series in the late sixties. Like all of those elements of which I just mentions were all funny or unintentionally funny, but with this movie, sure you get a few laughs and have a great time looking at how embarrassing they look in the movie, but then through the course of the movie it just feels so dirty and annoying that you want to take a shower. Majority of this film was shot entirely on a green screen with basically one camera in frame with tons and tons of stock footage that you would find on any website, and according to a source, the director of the movie many of the backgrounds on free stock footage website, which you can always use if your trying to make a school project movie, unfortunately a lot of these stock footages have unnecessary cartoons, for which when you watch the film there some absurd cartoon in the background which had nothing to do with the movie. When I first watched the movie granted, I laughed at how ridiculous the movie was but then I had to turn the movie off mainly because it started to hurt my brain as well as having a hard time figuring out if this movie was funny or not. In the end I did finish the movie and wanted to know more, luckily, I found a Rifftrax interview with the director of the movie as well as the actor and they claimed that this was supposed to be a joke, which explains so much how funny it was but then the joke gets extremely old. The Amazing Bulk is not as fascinating as The Room and not as iconic as the Batman TV series though that's obvious when I say that. I'd say check the movie out on Tubi but then you're going to have to shower after thirty minutes in. Though more importantly sure if you love weird B-Movies or loved Sin City then give this movie a watch but you'll probably regret it in the end after thirty minutes but like I said long before if you have Tubi the streaming subscription is free but then after watching the movie you'll need to delete this movie out of your movie and TV list. Even after watching this film, it was claimed from a source that the film was made for 14,000 dollars for which I refuse to believe and I will chose not to believe even till the day I die I mean sure unknown actors I can get by shooting this movie for six days sure, but fourteen grand I just cannot believe that, which fits this movie as absurd. 

   

                   

The Naked Gun

 

                   Well believe it friends, the impossible has happened. Although it all started with me and my dad having a Naked Gun Trilogy watch on Hulu, and with all the fun time we were having my dad wanted to go and see how the newest version of The Naked Gun movie holds up. Now I was a little skeptical since Seth MacFarlane was producing the film and well let’s just say, the last film I saw of his was 8 million ways to die in the West and I left about ten minutes into the movie all because of how miserable the movie made me feel. Though I'll have to admit I never expected the outcome that would lead to the film’s success.

                    Lieutenant Frank Drebin Jr. (Liam Neeson) becomes a police officer like his legendary father and must save the police squad from shutting down by solving the case. 

                    I think we can all agree that before the latest Naked Gun, the Spoof movie genre was completely dead, majority of that thanks goes to Hollywood for making spoof sequels to Scary Movie like Epic Movie, Superhero Movie hell, I'm just going throw in 8 million ways to die in the West because MacFarlane needs to answer for that monstrosity. And even I was not all interested, for a gillion reasons none of them are funny to begin with basically being unrepetitive children trying to gain support from Jim Abrahams and the Zucker Bros, David and Jerry Zucker. With this movie sure they nailed the best joke in the trailer were everyone is paying tribute to the original cast and O.J.'s son is like "Nope", which is funny considering now the man is dead as well as being guilty to killing his wife so on and so on. But when you go into the movie the biggest hope you can wish for is that they at least stay true to what the Naked Gun films are and why everyone loves them which is the dry humor as well as the serious tone to make great comedy, and surprisingly enough they really do stay true to the original Naked Gun films for which I was hoping but knew that MacFarlane was going to f**k it up somehow, but literally was hands off and let director Akiva Schaffer do his thing and, I loved the way it turned out and me and my Dad we're sitting in the theaters just chuckling all the way through the final frame of the movie. And I'm not joking when I say the comedy is actually great, hell Liam Neeson does a fantastic job creating his own version as Frank Drebin moreover him and Danny Huston are great together in terms of playing off one another moreover being great pros of comedy it's almost as if they've done it all of their lives and the trick is trying to be serious and funny but not showing the sense of humor but trying to be serious if that makes any sense. But more importantly everyone in the cast, including Pamela Anderson and CCH Pounder do a great job of backing these great actors up. I never imagine I would be impressed especially when Seth MacFarlane is producing these films but, hands down The Naked Gun was most certain one of the best summer films of 2025 furthermore the writers and directors did a fantastic job staying true to the Naked Gun films but keeping the jokes fresh and new, for which I always believe is the most important thing when your tackling a remake like this or sequel. So, I'm going to end this review short because I don't want to spoil anything, but I would highly recommend spending your money on The Naked Gun, and I would highly recommend your kids watching this great movie or if you’re a bit concerned just give them money to watch the crappy superhero movies, because if I want to have a great father and son bonding I would defiantly have my own kid watch The Naked Gun.

       

30th Anniversary of Street Fighter: The Movie

 

                  

             I will admit their times in my movie watching experiences, I usually don't make the greatest of choices, Vacation is a good example along with films like Charles Bronson's The Mechanic and Kingpin. And for sure those were not the greatest of choices to watch in terms of movies to experience, but then there comes a movie I grew up watching on cable TV or Dish Network TV, and suddenly you feel in urge to take on the world. I'm talking about Street Fighter: The Movie, based on the popular video game series, most notably Street Fighter II. Street Fighter was in fact my first ever Jean Claude Van Damme movie I watched out of his filmography but more importantly is Raul Julia's final film before his death in 1994 right before the film came out in December of 94. With all the silly elements that the film contains, I will argue and say that this is a billion times better than Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li.

             Gen. Bison (Raul Julia), the evil dictator of Shadaloo, captures a busload of relief warriors and holds them for ransom. Col. Guile (Jean Claude Van Damme) leads an international strike force to invade Shadaloo and rescue the hostages. Along the way, Guile recruits Chun Li (Ming-Na Wen), a reporter and martial arts expert, as well as Ryu and Ken, an All-American Boxer and a Sumo Wrestler.

              I've said many times of being a Mortal Kombat fan, though I was actually being a short term Street Fighter fan ever since I saw the Street Fighter II arcade back when arcades were a thing (man I miss the 90's) in fact one of my earlier memories was being excited to go over to my Grandpa's house because we would usually get burgers at the local bar but also had a Street Fighter II arcade and although I wasn't good at the game, there were times when I would usually just play around the joysticks and buttons while the replay mode was playing. Though more importantly if you were a kid growing up in the 90's, G.I. Joe's were the toys to have as well as Street Fighter and I had actions figures of Guile and Bison. While I never seen the movie in the theaters my memory of the film was more of watching the film on Cable TV or Dish on Demand when I was a teenager, and this was before Star Wars Special Edition became my whole favorite and Street Fighter was another one of those trends that became a phase. Following the success of Street Fighter II and the many updates, Capcom wanted to get a live action film in progress and so, with the help of Universal Pictures, they were able to get the movie in progress along with Capcom making the approvals. Steven E. de Souza, writer of your favorite action films 48hrs and the beloved Christmas movie Die Hard, was also a fan of the game, wrote countless drafts of the story as well as putting his name in the ring of helming the director’s chair. Although the film was financed with an estimate of 35 million dollars, the executives as well as Capcom had to get an action star that can sell the movie and Jean Claude Van Damme according to Capcom always envisioned to play Guile, but Van Damme apparently was asking for big bucks and majority of the money went to Van Damme and the remaining cast went to unknowns. Though in the positive note you at least get some uprising stars like Ming-Na Wen (Disney Legend and Fennec Shand) as well as Kylie Minogue, well to all the Gen Z’s, she was a gorgeous pop star with the infamous song "Can't get you out of my head". The positive thing in what gives the movie credit is that Raul Julia who plays M. Bison really wanted to play the character for good reasons he was facing his final years on earth and his own kids were fans of game so, watching his kids play the game really helped him get into character, for which yes the film is silly but this film also gives sympathy considering that Julia in his final days just wanted to be more with his own family and this was the best way to do it by playing one of the characters in Capcom's successful fighting game. Thirty years since the film’s release and it always puzzles me on the film getting the lowest rating in terms of critics’ expectations, granted nobody cares about what the critics think, more importantly they have very lack of what makes a great movie as well as their very high expectations. Although critics have not played the game which would explain why, but if you look at the game as well as the film, it literally doesn't have much of a plot and de Souza had to work out a story that would be suitable as well as put up with a limited budget that would work for the film and audiences who've never heard of the game before. Rewatching the film again, I got to say that this was a breath of fresh air to watch and more importantly fun to watch from beginning to end, furthermore this was one of those films that whenever you have a bad day or trying to vent or don't want to do anything, Street Fighter: The Movie is most certain the film to watch on those days and defiantly a great example of actors like Raul Julia that even when your facing for seeable death, you spend your final days with your family and kids by playing a role that your kids and love and cherish for the rest of their lives. Now as a video game series by itself I would rank the Street Fighter series second to Mortal Kombat mainly because I love playing some of the Nostalgia games such as the re-release of the 30th Anniversary of Street Fighter on Playstation 4, furthermore some of the games now don't have that magic that the original games have which makes the games feel unnecessary to play especially when there's at least four out of the many characters I still don't know how their special moves work, ugh so frustrating. Anyway, if you’re looking for that movie that can give you a unintentional laugh as well as a movie to have a good time watching, then Street Fighter: The Movie is a movie worth watching from beginning to end. Sadly though you'll have to buy the movie considering the film was on Peacock a couple of weeks ago and you'll have to buy or rent the movie, but I promise you all if you love a good comedic action movie than this will fill you with great cliche's as well as great laughter from beginning to the final frame.

 

Escape from New York

 

              When it comes to John Carpenter, I've always been a fan of such great films like the very first Halloween movie, They Live and most recently, close to a year ago, The Thing. Now full disclosure there were other films I remembered watching most notably Christine, didn't realized he directed that movie until I saw his name on the credits and look I'd say I like cars but I'm not going to fall in love with one especially when I have to get the damn thing fixed all the time as well as changing the oil once every 5,000 miles. The other film was The Fog, and it was entertaining for the first minute until I stopped watching The Fog. Which leads us to the latest John Carpenter movie, I sat down and watched and to be truthfully honest I have mixed emotions about the movie especially Kurt Russell's acting.

              In 1997, a major war between the United States and the Soviet Union is concluding, and the entire island of Manhattan has been converted into a giant maximum-security prison. When Air Force One is hijacked and crashes into the island, the president of the United States (Donald Pleasence) is taken hostage by a group of inmates. Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell), a former Special Forces soldier turned criminal, is recruited to retrieve the president in exchange for his own freedom. 

              Originally Carpenter wrote Escape from New York prior to the aftermath of the Watergate Scandal which led to Nixon's resignation. Moreover, he wrote the screenplay during a time when New York City was tearing itself apart with crooked cops running wild especially in 1977 came around. Although Carpenter wanted to pitch this movie to major studios, a good portion of them didn't want to finance the movie mainly because of the film being way too violent, too scary and just too weird. Now granted the writing development is fascinating as well as understanding Studio execs weren't intrigued in wanting to finance the film. All that a side the major problem I had with the film is understanding what Kurt Russell was saying, I mean I don't know if it was the TV I was watching because I had this problem because it's almost the same as watching Oppenheimer the first time, but there were times where I felt that Kurt was speaking softly that I couldn't understand what he was saying and wished that Lee Van Cleef would say "what? Speak up I can't hear you!" and it just got to the annoying point where I was close to turning it off but didn't and just turned up the volume until I can hear him or felt he was either talking gibberish when he gets loud either way I'm not quite sure I could be wrong, just the bottom line is Kurt through the course of the film was talking way to softly almost like a whisper and it just took me into a negative space in wanting to recommend this film to anyone who loves John Carpenter. Granted it was nice to see actors like Isaac Hayes, before he became crazy like Tom Cruise and found space ships in Scientology, and even Donald Pleasence in a real movie for a change, because if you look at the man's filmography he's in a ton of bad to sh*tty movies, and I personally think that Carpenter felt bad for him and just casted him to play the President in the movie. Being a fan of both St. Louis Cardinals and St. Louis Blues I will admit in hearing that some of the scenes like the gladiatorial arena was filmed in the St. Louis Union Station for which I've been there, couple of times furthermore a good portion of the film was shot between the city of St. Louis and East St. Louis Illinois, so maybe in near future if I go up to St. Louis for a baseball game or hockey game I might find some of these locations. Although I have mixed emotions about the film, a lot of that has to do with Kurt Russell's acting but I do love the fact that we're almost close in seeing a New York City being turned into a massive garbage dump for criminals and the way Democrats are treating the city, I have no intentions in visiting the city. Although the film is on Amazon Prime, I really don't feel comfortable in wanting to recommend this film unless you’re a big fan of John Carpenter's films than go nuts, but just keep in mind that Kurt Russell's whispering acting severely scared me for life and I'm not sure if I want to re-watch the film nor have the interest in wanting to watch Escape from L.A.. 

       

Movies I haven't seen in a while: Payback

 

           

                 

         After watching Get the Gringo, I decided to rewatch Mel Gibson movie that I remember being obsessed with as well as a revenge movie that was in a sense my first introduction to the Anti-Hero. Payback was certainly one of those films that I haven't seen in quite a long time which would be perfect to bring up a movie I haven't seen in a while. Payback staring yours truly Mel Gibson, Maria Bello and up and coming actress Lucy Liu. Although Payback is a typical Mel Gibson movie in a sense, but this is an infamous that spawned two different versions of the film and for some reason turns into a forgotten movie I do wish to get everyone into re-watching this film again because it's a great action/comedy that needs to be brought to the light.

         Porter (Mel Gibson) is a thief betrayed by both his wife, Lynn (Deborah Kara Unger), and his partner, Val (Gregg Henry), when he is shot in the back after a heist. Slowly, Porter recovers from his wounds and begins a search for Val, intent on recovering his share of the money they stole together. With the aid of prostitute Rosie (Maria Bello), Porter captures Val but still cannot find his cash. For this, Porter will have to challenge an imposing crime syndicate called the Outfit.

         Based on the book, Hunter by Richard Stark in 1962 involves around a professional robber named Parker, and while the first book is loosely based on Payback, author Richard Stark aka Donald E. Westlake consisted of writing 28 books as the follow up to his success to Hunter. The film is amazing to watch from start to finish with Mel Gibson playing a perfect Anti-Hero along with having romantic chemistry with Maria Bello long before she was a Coyote Ugly as well as Lucy Liu who originally was in the credits Lucy Alexis Liu until she got her big break in Charlie's Angles. Now all the actors are great as well as the director, Brian Helgeland too, which is credited for his first film. Although the film is amazing to relive what makes the movie famous for is that the film started off with a theatrical release until 2007 when Helgeland finally released his truer version of Payback that didn't consist of voiceover work by Mel Gibson and Kris Kristofferson as the main antagonist and the story is that Brian Helgeland and Mel Gibson fought over ideas on the films concept and granted majority of the cut was directed by Brian Helgeland he was later fired, upon hearing that he won the Oscar for his writing on L.A. Confidential, which yeah show's how great the show business in Hollywood is. Now you can both versions thankfully on Tubi or Amazon Prime, though the question is which version is better and at times I would usually say that the director’s cut is always better almost the same as an extended cut, but this time I have to stick with the original cut of the movie, for good reasons is mainly the voice over or narration that Mel Gibson does in the theatrical film works for me and it gives the film a more film noir feel with the combination of the tough guy presence that you see on screen, while some of the scenes of the director’s cut do work and some of the scenes in the movie I wish were in the theatrical movie though I can understand though there is no voice over in the director’s cut and it kind of feels like when you don't have the voice over the scenes seem a bit slow as well as unnecessarily need those scenes but furthermore the ending to the director’s cut feels like the movie was going to wink for a sequel and it doesn't need a sequel it feels much better if they just wrap it up and they do in the theatrical cut where all the mafia is dead they both go up to Canada. Both film versions of Payback are on Tubi as well as Amazon Prime so, honesty if you’re a massive fan of Mel Gibson and who isn't a fan of Mel Gibson? Hell, if you’re not a fan of Mel Gibson then you’re not American. Anyway, you can watch both versions of Payback to see which is better and there's nothing wrong to experience both versions, though after watching the original Payback I still prefer the theatrical version and granted majority of Brian Helgeland's movie is still in the movie, though deep down I can feel what he was trying to go with in terms of bringing his own version to life. Hands down this is an unappreciative Mel Gibson movie that's been stored in the dark and it needs to be seen to a wider audience, and I hope you all pick the time or the right weekend to watch Payback or give your boss Payback in case they haven't given you your paycheck if you know what I mean. 

    

Patton

 

                 

        In search of a better cinema or finding more movies I haven't touched yet to keep my cinema file fresh and new, in best way of describing. I decided to look at another film that's iconic but more importantly was the Best Picture winner at the 1970 Academy Awards. Patton starring George C. Scott and the third time actor I've seen, Karl Malden circa Fear Strikes Out and On the Waterfront. Although A Christmas Carol was my first George C. Scott film this was the first time I actually was excited to see his Oscar award winning performance, despite only remembering the first shot of him on stage with the United States flag in the background giving a kick em in the ass speech that I always remember when I saw the VHS copy of the film and I would believe my parents sent me to bed due to bad language. Now I'm finally proud to be an American after watching this amazing great film. 

        Biography of controversial World War II hero General George S. Patton (George C. Scott). The film covers his wartime activities and accomplishments, beginning with his entry into the North African campaign and ending with his removal from command after his outspoken criticism of US post-war military strategy.

        Strangely enough attempts were actually made to make a movie about Patton long after is death in 1945 but his widow, Beatrice resisted although after her death in 1953, producer Frank McCarthy worked on the project right after Patton's wife was buried, although the through course of cooperation he wasn't able to gain access on Patton's life from either his kids or be able to get help from the Pentagon due to over rushing on getting his story ready for filming, as in assumption on my part. Though after the fifties developments of the film began to bloom with Francis Ford Coppola writing the scripted basing the film largely on the Ladislas Farago's 1963 biography "Patton: Ordeal and Triumph", along with Edmund H. North to help work on the script both Coppola and North would together win an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay so, in all fairness both men win in this category. Although there are some fun facts about the development of Patton, the real star of the film is no question George C. Scott, who delivers his greatest performance that would lead him to his first ever Oscar for best actor. And yet the crazy thing is Lee Marvin was considered for the role along with other actors like Burt Lancaster, Robert Mitchum and John Wayne, now granted their both accomplished actors but really I don't think they would be up to par with George C. Scott's performance, like sure John Wayne would be good but I would think overrated but really nothing compared to Scott just balancing power and wisdom and yet by end of the movie you feel pity in seeing that America has no need for Patton anymore now that World War II is ending. The same goes to Karl Malden as well he also balances the supportive role as well as backing up to George C. Scott power performance as Patton and really it's both of these actors that really make this film great from beginning to the final frame although the battle sequences are most importantly another center piece of the movie moreover is another reason why director Franklin J. Schaffner won best director for the film plus hearing that he directed the very first Planet of the Apes movie, I'm like surprised moreover feel the need to watch it because it's been a long time since I watched it and I do mean a long time. Now having seen this moreover learned that Patton actually died in December of 1945, I feel like either being fed up with how the politics of America was handling with the end of the War as well as dealing with Soviet Union, although through the course of it I begin to think that it was most certainly politics that killed Patton because a man of action and without purpose would for sure kill a man's purpose and that's what happen to him although there other factors involving his death which sure would make more sense although without this man we for sure wouldn't of win the War in Europe. And sure there's a million ways of to see what Patton was like after the Second War ended either way the man for sure wasn't a man of politics because he did share some good points about the Soviets especially when it comes to not trusting them, either way I still say in my own viewpoint politics really defeated Patton moreover I don't think he would of lasted after the second war because most of America wouldn't be able to handle him, but for sure he would be the man I would assign to help fight a war. Hands down one of the greatest epic biographical war movies I've seen for sure George C. Scott's best although I still love his performance as Scrooge in A Christmas Carol but this movie for sure wouldn't be great without Scott's performance even if you cast other iconic stars to play Patton, and to me George C. Scott was hands down the perfect actor to play Patton. And the film is still on Amazon Prime so if you have a subscription, I will highly recommend watching the movie although if you’re not used to watching three hours, probably take breaks during intermissions although you can use some soda to help you watch the entire movie.

              

The Seven Year Itch

 

               

              This ladies and gentlemen is the movie that gave us the iconic air vent dress gag that we've all seen countless times in Super Bowl commercial's and, well actually a ton of commercials especially one were a group of dudes in Scottish skirts are out in a hot summer day in New York parade and one of them goes to a ground vent and has the best time ever, until a kid tells his dad "that's just wrong dad!" Even the scene in Pulp Fiction where John and Uma go to the diner and Marilyn Monroe is there with her dress pushed by air. Well, The Seven Year Itch is that movie that I wouldn't say put Marylin Monroe on the map more like got so much attention towards her that was in a sad sense a downfall that she couldn't get out of. Especially when the Democrats aka Kennedy's killed her. 

                During a summer heat wave, New Yorker Richard Sherman (Tom Ewell) ships his wife, Helen (Evelyn Keyes), and their son to Maine for vacation. Left alone to work back in Manhattan, Richard encounters a gorgeous blonde model (Marilyn Monroe) who has moved into the apartment upstairs and becomes immediately infatuated. While pondering infidelity, Richard dreams of his beautiful new neighbor -- but will his fantasies about her become reality?

                The Seven Year Itch is based off, a three acted play of the same name by George Axelrod, in which the play premiered in 1952 and closed in August of 1955, just two months after the movie premiered. Directed by the talented Billy Wilder, this is another one of those films where Wilder strikes gold when it comes to directing comedy a side from this being based off of a play, surprisingly this was the first to two plays Billy Wilder collaborated with the beautiful Marylin Monroe, and really no matter the genre Wilder is doing from film noir to war drama or even comedy in general he's always has that natural gift in bringing out some hilarious moments that you can watch time and time again and you can chuckle even if the movie is either Stalag 17 or The Seven Year Itch it's always pretty funny especially when it's a guy having typical fantasies of a gorgeous women living upstairs next to him. Another surprising factor is actor Tom Ewell played Richard Sherman in the play version and surprisingly he wasn't consider for the movie role there were other actors like James Stewart and William Holden, but in all honesty Tom Ewell is the perfect Richard Sherman because he embodies everything in us men where we doubt ourselves especially when it comes to beautiful women and even when he gets to his imagination phase he's even greater in terms of his comedic performance. And Marilyn Monroe as beautiful and gorgeous of a woman she was back in her hay day, she was also an amazing actress although I still say her best movie is Don't Bother to Knock, she also steals the movie with of course her beauty but also has a great monologue about what women really want especially her as well. And although this was one of those films where everyone would pin her as sex symbol especially when her then hubby ex-baseball player Joe DiMaggio wasn't happy upon seeing the infamous of her skirt blowing through the air vent, I got to say that woman at least made a supportive good choice in separating herself from Joe D because, she's way too good for a baseball player who has the worlds ugliest face. I do hope with people watching this movie, that they at least see Monroe as a talented actress and not just a pin up model because she does have the great sense of being a great actress and it's just sad that her time was cut short. Now having seen at least four of Marilyn Monroe's filmography I do need to continue my search for more films she was in because she was in some good ones, especially one directed by John Huston, so hopefully I get the time to sit down and watch it. I've said it many times, Tubi is the go to movie streaming service for some great classic and hidden gems so, if you have Tubi, this film is a great movie to watch on this hot summer day and guys if you’re in a difficult relationship where you're woman is driving you up the wall it's not a crime to dream of beautiful women, though it would be wise to not let your wife know about the name you're mentioning in your dreams. Also here is the commercial I talked about earlier and take a guess who the surprise actor is in that commercial. 

      

The Night of the Hunter

 

                             

                 

          I have my dad to thank for this latest movie I decided to sit down and enjoy. The Night of the Hunter has been a film noir classic, that's been torturing me into watch though there were so many distractions in my life where I just delayed the opportunity to finally sit down and watch the movie from beginning to the final frame. And there are those certain film noir classics that literally put you on the edge of your seat till the very end, likewise the last film noir classic, that gave me the chills was Marylin Monroe performance in Don't Bother to Knock. Now after watching Robert Mitchum's performance in this movie as a scary fanatic preacher man, I'd say if you put him and Marylin Monroe's Nell in the same room together, I'd say you have a bunch of crazies in a nut house.

           The Rev. Harry Powel (Robert Mitchum) is a religious fanatic and a serial killer who targets women who use their sexuality to attract men. Serving time in prison for a car theft, he meets a condemned murderer Ben Harper (Peter Graves), who confesses hiding ten grand. Released from prison, Powell obsessed with the money stalks and marries into Harper's family. But little Harper (Billy Chaplin) sees through Powell's lies and deceit.

           The film itself is a complex genre of both film noir blend with thriller aspects along with fairy tale elements, the major element consisting of Mother Goose. And really one of the few film noir elements that really keeps it more gripping and more terrifying, is simply that kids are involved in the story, which reminds me again how terrified I was with Marylin Monroe's performance in the film Don't Bother to Knock in which she's almost close to killing a young girl. Furthermore, with this movie, it's a serial killer in the form of Robert Mitchum and he's literally going after a young boy and a young girl all because he wants the money their caring and even in scenes where he's literally going after these kids one scene in which he's going after them in a wide-angle lens is just terrifying. Though apologies for spoiling too much information but again just showing how great a film is, this is from beginning to the very end. The other thing in what makes this film amazing is that it blends a lot of the catholic aspects from fanaticism to following the true aspects of God and you have a great blend of both good and evil so, when you can have a discussion on what is right and what is wrong this movie does have that great blend of conversations that you can have with your family members, moreover something good to show to the hardcore Baptists because I would basically describe them as more fanaticism. There's really not a whole lot to say in terms of how great Mitchum's performance was because like I said again he play a great antagonist who preys on this small family and is so abusive and terrifying at the same time that you just have to hope for some reason he dies a horrible death but with the story it gives you a great reason to root for the kids at the very end, all because Mitchum is such a terrifying killing machine that there's no escape from him moreover your simply on the edge of your seat till the final show down.  Charles Laughton the director of the film deserves a ton of credit for the film being memorable, because he does a ton of great shots that leaves you memorized through the course of the movie from Mitchum being a creeper to him riding on a horse, I mean every shot looks almost like a haunting portrait that you can find at your local American Art museum and it's just incredible to see a first time director showing off his greatness despite this being his only movie. Speaking of being his only movie, the film I'm shocked to learn that this didn't do so well at the box office and Charles Laughton, who was depressed by the film's reception, didn't make another film again. Though I personally find it applauding the fact that this movie didn't do well at the box office, for which granted their times I question people’s logic when it comes to people thinking Mission Impossible 1,000 is great or Fast 20 is a great entertainment and doesn’t get me started on people still loving Adam Sandler. But people back in 1955 didn't think this movie was GREAT moreover didn't support this movie, though for granted now we look at this movie as one of the greatest movies ever made almost the time when Caddyshack didn't do so well and yet it's aged like fine wine. But I still don't see why people weren't compelled into seeing The Night of the Hunter, I just don't find any rational explanation of why this didn't do so, well almost like people preferring to watch the musical Oklahoma over this movie and I will put my foot down and say that The Night of the Hunter is a billion times better than Oklahoma, but then again this goes back to humanity not knowing what a good movie is so, no use in beating myself up over this I guess. I highly recommend watching this amazing great and scary thriller, for anyone to see, for a million reasons it has one of Robert Mitchum's greatest performance as well as the perfect boogie man. But more importantly this film inspired a lot of legendary filmmakers from Martin Scorsese, the Coen Brothers and Guillermo del Toro, that this film needs to be seen with open eyes, moreover, experience something that's a blend of both religion and people using religion to the extreme. Furthermore, the film is streaming on Amazon Prime and Tubi, both great streaming services I would certainly recommend to any fan of cinema. 

          

July Recommendation: The Terminator

 

              In terms of the summer movie seasons, we at the strongest sense it's always released with the Action film genre. May we have the Western genre that includes tones of action. June, we had the post-apocalyptic genre with amazing action sequences. Now we have the Science Fiction genre with an iconic action star at the center of it. The Terminator has been another movie on my radar for monthly recommendations ever since I realized that I forgot about its 40th Anniversary last year. When I think about the Terminator genre as a kid growing up I always see scenes of the second installment as well as the merchandise. But never quite seen a lot in terms of the first ever Terminator film, which came out in 1984, upon which I wasn't alive at that time but can't always get what we want in life. Though The Terminator is a great example of blending a perfect Sci-Fi concept but setting it in modern day times.

             Disguised as a human, a cyborg assassin known as The Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) travels from the future to present 1984 to kill Sarah Conner (Linda Hamilton). Also sent to present 1984, to protect Sarah Connor, is resistance soldier Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn), who divulges the coming of Skynet, an Artificial Intelligence system that will spark nuclear holocaust. Sarah is targeted because Skynet knows that her unborn son will lead the fight against the machines. With the Virtually unstoppable Terminator in hot pursuit, Sarah and Kyle attempt to prevent the future before it happens. 

             Technically the Terminator isn't James Cameron's first film, although in all fairness this is first ever writer and director debut and will get to his first directorial debut because in all honesty. This seems very interesting to hear about. So, for now we’re just going to consider this as James Cameron's first ever directorial debut. After finishing with his directorial debut, James Cameron had a dream about robots and knives moreover being carried around. Though the course of the years went by, Cameron sat down and wrote a science fiction movie with a little inspiration for John Carpenter's Halloween. Originally the first Terminator film was going to send two Terminator to the past one of the Terminator's including the T-1000, though the technology wasn't there yet and, in futures to come that idea would later be the key concept for the sequel so, deep down everything came into place. Although technology wasn't there yet so, Cameron decided to keep it simple and just write one Terminator that is sent to present day. Orion Pictures (the studio head behind Caddyshack, First Blood and Eight Men Out)doesn't get a lot of credit back then, in terms of stepping aside and letting the writers and directors express their vision and granted they've been mostly a fallout company now, but to the studio's credit they never interfered with anything that the Directors were doing in terms of stepping aside let them just make a movie. Though at times they did ask a few negotiable ideas to them but they're rule back then was always hands off, though I'm doubting that major studio heads were always nit picking at the directors vision, for which I would always say is most certainly the worst part of filmmaking because I always re-live the story about Kevin Smith getting the opportunity to write a Superman movie but was being asked a ton of requests that made the idea look bad in the end. Funny fact is Schwarzenegger was going to play Reese at the time in terms of casting choices, and the Terminator was going to be played by O.J. Simpson, and once I heard about that I laughed at first furthermore heard that Cameron didn't believe Simpson would be a believable killer. Well Cameron was proved wrong ten years later when he heard about O.J. killing his own wife as well as the Bronco chase, for which I would imagine Jim having the look of shock but then later saying "we’ll all be damn I should of casted Simpson to play the Terminator". But let's be honest with ourselves that idea would only make it worse, moreover they would have to switch the title to BroncoMan or The Glove. And in the end things worked out when Jim met with Arnold and had a good look at him and suggested that instead of playing Kyle Reese, he would make in excellent Terminator, and the rest became legendary history. Although the films budget was 6.4 Million dollars a lot of that consisting on the Visual Effects as well as creating the Terminator and the Future L.A., Cameron did in fact have to use a lot of gruella filmmaking to get the shots he wanted, a lot of that had to do with having to not deal with a ton of the acquiring permits and so, a lot of the people that you see in the movie were actually people who didn't know that they were even being filmed at all. A much of an incredible actor Arnold was in the movie, the man lifting both a Spas 12 Shotgun and an AR-18 rifle both of them look like they need to be held with two hands and watching Arnold massacre the police force in the movie, I myself was like man that guy lifted those guns like they were nothing, though more importantly before shooting Arnold took a lot of time being one with the guns he was carrying spending countless times at the shooting range, trying not to blink and I got to say even in those action sequences he truly knows what he's doing and believing that he's a perfect killing machine. What I love most about the first Terminator is that it's basically a science fiction movie, but a movie that is works in every simplest form, it's not over doing itself with a whole lot of explanation, it gets straight to the point, one man and one Terminator on a mission of their own, only one comes out alive. Mostly in the basis of a slasher movie but blended with science fiction with a ton of action sequences moreover doesn't overdo itself with a whole lot of explanation it gets straight to the point and even with a length of 90 minutes the film alone is compelling from beginning to the very end. And the amazing thing about the movie is this started James Cameron's career, for which allowed him a ton of creative freedom and great iconic films to come and even though his movies now might be overrated at times, he does deliver in the best way's imaginable and lets us not forget without The Terminator we wouldn't have his greatest accomplishment in Titanic as well as the infamous Rose and Jack love story. The other key factor about this movies greatness is the special effects guru of Stan Winston who created the iconic Terminator skeleton as well as given the full look of the machines in the near future, which also gives this a memorable key moments as well especially with the iconic stop motion chase with the Terminator skeleton, because there were moments were even I was a little scared of the skeleton almost coming close despite seeing this movie a thousand times. Though more importantly this was the first movie where we see the full potential of what Stan Winston can do, for which led him to future collaborations with Cameron as well as Steven Spielberg and even Tim Burton. So, in this year of mediocre summer movie releases, if you looking for something a bit in the nostalgia or looking for something to watch in terms of movies you haven't seen in a long time, I would highly recommend The Terminator from beginning till the final frame and after finishing the film it will get you saying "I'll be Back". 

          

20th Anniversary of Batman Begins

 

             While everyone is probably wasting their hard earn money on mediocre Superhero movies like the latest Superman film from James Gunn or the most recent Fantastic Four film that just came out today, I decided in my own right to sit down and watch one of the greatest reinventions to any Superhero movies ever created by human hands. I've may have said this many times that the Superhero movie genre is a bit on the dead side of things, but when I think of the fact that Batman Begins has just surpassed its Twentieth birthday. I think back in a time when I truly got into Batman comics and graphic novels and reminded myself that Batman was always my favorite Superhero from childhood.

             A young Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) travels to the far East, where he's trained in the martial arts by Henri Ducard (Liam Neeson), a member of the League of Shadows. When Ducard reveals the League's true purpose -- the complete destruction of Gotham City -- Wayne returns to Gotham City with the intent of cleaning up the city without resorting to murder. With the help of Alfred (Michael Caine), his loyal butler, and Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman), a tech expert at Wayne Enterprises, Batman is born.

             I've always been a Batman fan ever since I was a kid, and one of my fondest memories was watching a lot of the sixties Batman TV or the Batman movie released in 66. Furthermore ever since the release of Batman Begins during either my junior or senior year in high school whenever it came in a conversation on who was the greatest Superhero, and I would always pick Batman while all of the other Bros would choose Superman because he's all powerful, furthermore I would never let that bother me, though granted if I was a little smarter I would simply say that "well Batman is at least human!" And to me that's always what made me love about the character is that you have a man in pain and angry at the world after a traumatizing experience in the death of his parents and yet he chooses to clean his city now out of vengeance or wanting to kill the bad guys but more of wanting to inspire more heroes to clean the city of Gotham. I actually do remember after the release of Batman and Robin around 1997, the whole DC comics when downhill from there and Warner Brothers pretty much stopped making any Superman or Batman movies for a long time, and at that time I was more centering on Star Wars or Indiana Jones then I was with other movies sure I did spend more movie watching on other certain films in the 2000's but I was more excited about the Star Wars Prequels than I was about anything else. In fact when Batman: Begins when was released, being still a Star Wars fan moreover wanting to still see Revenge of the Sith more than any other films I was just sceptic, even though after the first viewing of the first film by Christopher Nolan I thought it was great from beginning to end furthermore it was a different kind of Superhero film that I never seen before. But when I re-watched them on DVD and Blu-Ray I slowly became obsessed with a lot of the imagery as well as what Nolan as a filmmaker was trying to accomplish, by grounding the character to a much more realistic tone than we've ever seen in film. It was around January 2003 when Warner Bros decided to hire Christopher Nolan to take a crack at making a Batman film after his success with Insomnia, although Nolan claimed that he wasn't a comic book expert he had to hire a writer who knew a lot about comic books as well as the superheroes and David S. Goyer. Goyer who was responsible in saving the Marvel Comics franchise as well as the films brought the movie Blade to the big screen, was a huge comic book fan growing up and loved a lot of the Batman comics and so, once Nolan stated his intentions into reinventing the character into a much grounded and darker tone the looked into a lot of comics as well as some graphic novels, for which would be the inspiration behind the Dark Knight Trilogy. In one of the things that makes a great superhero movie is that you must have a list of great actors and actresses to surround the movie, and one of the inspirations Nolan took when it came to casting the movie he took a lot from Richard Donner's Superman. And the fact that you have a list of accomplished actors in Sir Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman and Gary Oldman as well as Liam Neeson helping up and coming actor Christian Bale in bringing a new kind of Batman is just a great understanding, into making a perfecto origin story of Batman. Christian Bale at the time I wasn't familiar with in terms of age appropriate films to watch back in 2005, so, this was the first time seeing him portray Batman as well as Bruce Wayne and really, when you look back at the other Batman films from Adam West to Michael Keaton as well as the late great Val Kilmer they all were just playing Batman and sure Bruce Wayne was there but it was mostly Batman in a pure basis and we've never seen the real origin as to why would Bruce Wayne become Batman or why he chose to fight crime. And really Bale was that first person to give you both Bruce Wayne as an angry man wanting justice for his own parents as well as a much more terrifying Batman that I never seen, and in fact the first time my dad sat down and watched Batman Begins he was literally taken a back. Furthermore re-watching Batman Begins you really begin to feel Bruce Wayne from his anger as well as his pain and finding that piece of that shadow side that he needs to fix his city and Christian Bale to me will always be my Batman as well as Bruce Wayne till the day I die and I will always thank Bale for that in terms of getting me back into loving Batman. As much as Bale being a great Batman, you have to have great antagonists to challenge Batman and both Liam Neeson as well as Cillian Murphy and long before Cillian gave us a great performance in Oppenheimer, he was a great psychotic antagonist as Scarecrow aka Dr. Crane and I always love his chilling quote when he say's to Tom Wilkinson "would you like to see my mask?" and going back to his performance in the film he does a fantastic job at playing a corrupt doctor but a sinister modern day Norman Bates type character. Liam Neeson at the time of 2005 was always playing that character who sometimes gets killed off but always plays the mentor or father figure, but this was the time when you see him play a great antagonist to Bale's character. And one of the things that makes Batman Begins great, is you don't start off with traditional villains like Joker or Penguin you have some of these great bad guys that you've never heard of like Ra's Al Ghul who really reminds you as a kind of terrorist like Bin Laden. but his motivations are more we need to do something in order for humanity to survive and destroying Gotham City is that best option in order to restore the balance and that's always to me the beauty to Batman's world is that Batman has a list of baddies that resemble him in a sense but as well all know is that Batman choose to save people instead of destroying his enemies. Now, granted I can go on and on about how great reliving Batman Begins and consider it the perfecto of great origin stories to any Superhero films, but the beauty of Batman Begins as well as The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises, is that there all perfect in my eyes they both have the perfect beginning of a character as well as outbalancing the risks and more importantly finding the conclusion and Batman Begins to me is the perfect beginning to any Superhero film and for the last two hours of watching the movie not once, did I turned to my cell phone and I was hooked on watching it from beginning to the very end furthermore I can never in a million years choose which is better out of the Dark Knight Trilogy, a side from The Dark Knight being Chris Nolan's greatest accomplishment to his filmmaking career, but I still can't pick which is better out of the Dark Knight Trilogy because I love them all and consider each film perfect in my own right. After Avengers: Endgame, the superhero genre to me is getting too tiring in terms of predictability and finding something new and compelling to see. Moreover is just getting literally boring because I've seen almost every superhero films to the point where I've seen them all and re-watching Batman Begins, it filled that need for emotional and compelling storytelling and hell, in about an hour into the movie we don't even see Batman, for which I was shocked and once I see Bale as Batman it just put a smile on my face, for which I was happy to see as well as seeing something that brought back a time when Superhero films could be fun again. Now I'm sure the latest Superman movie is a great movie I don't doubt it and the same goes to the new Fantastic Four film, but to me I just feel like I'm seeing the same thing and Hollywood now is not taking any risks like they did with Batman Begins or beginning the MCU films from Iron Man to Avengers Endgame and I really wish they would stop making superhero movies if they're not going to try but that's just me in my old age. So, if you’re having thoughts of wanting to see the latest Superhero movies but having doubts, well then you can always take the time and re-watch the third greatest movie trilogy in the Dark Knight trilogy as well as the greatest and perfect origin story of any Superhero or hero, and Batman Begins to me is the most perfecto of the beginning of a hero's journey.