cult film freak: michael parks

Showing posts with label michael parks. Show all posts

Written by James M. Tate / 7/08/2025 / No comments / action , body count , daryl hannah , david carradine , exploitation , gordon liu , karate , lucy liu , michael madsen , michael parks , quentin tarantino , revenge , sonny shiba , uma thurman , viveca a. fox , zeroes

QUENTIN TARANTINO'S GENRE-BENDING CLASSIC 'KILL BILL VOL. 1'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuYDp3E50wlBDn4akqOXc9Wc-u5QDL0RBg-1s0nU0LTuUE3WsErhMWAgc8kH_kPQyAT-pJMxXgIXo26gT-vAv0CKXSVxjE5lfH-q-ElP5nfMVM_NP57yxS7l0l1ANUFuxWXnQBVoqI0TfuPQ2KZo8tqbUb_fCv4pSfPL_sz6mIqWSjtBxlRBFDO8D5Y94O/s2290/Screen%20Shot%202025-07-08%20at%2010.35.00%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1432" data-original-width="2290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuYDp3E50wlBDn4akqOXc9Wc-u5QDL0RBg-1s0nU0LTuUE3WsErhMWAgc8kH_kPQyAT-pJMxXgIXo26gT-vAv0CKXSVxjE5lfH-q-ElP5nfMVM_NP57yxS7l0l1ANUFuxWXnQBVoqI0TfuPQ2KZo8tqbUb_fCv4pSfPL_sz6mIqWSjtBxlRBFDO8D5Y94O/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-07-08%20at%2010.35.00%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Uma Thurman in KILL BILL VOL 1 Year: 2003 Rating: ****1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Quentin Tarantino began with the heist-fallout sleeper-hit RESERVOIR DOGS, and the blaxploitation caper JACKIE BROWN while in-between was his first anything-goes-epic PULP FICTION... and nine years later, it was time to throw it all into the pot once again...<br><br>And it's even more-of-more this time, with the genre-bending KILL BILL VOL 1, his epic take on Japanese Martial Arts combining fast-paced action with exploitation horror, and kind of a <i>superhero</i> twist...   <br></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><span></span></p>

action, body count, daryl hannah, david carradine, exploitation, gordon liu, karate, lucy liu, michael madsen, michael parks, quentin tarantino, revenge, sonny shiba, uma thurman, viveca a. fox, zeroes

QUENTIN TARANTINO'S GENRE-BENDING CLASSIC 'KILL BILL VOL. 1'

Uma Thurman in KILL BILL VOL 1 Year: 2003 Rating: ****1/2 Quentin Tarantino began with the heist-fallout sleeper-hit RESERVOIR DOGS, and the...

QUENTIN TARANTINO'S SLOWBURN FOLLOWUP 'KILL BILL VOL. 2'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA07IV01vJ5MiKvZcLxDH6eEYsKTdSQAwLbO8Os5Pldosxye84ljnhtS-_khjomN5urz826Q5zqqxrbWga19nyYDZcBjOALqMrt5ixhDBYnD0cRdhiDq7kUoFDMc1Vzx1snd3Kqm-r5Xgryya8oIPA5LeEmQjGk9h8wky6qQj96AuEcUztHaBS1n5yiNzG/s2304/Screen%20Shot%202025-07-09%20at%201.58.14%20AM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="2304" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA07IV01vJ5MiKvZcLxDH6eEYsKTdSQAwLbO8Os5Pldosxye84ljnhtS-_khjomN5urz826Q5zqqxrbWga19nyYDZcBjOALqMrt5ixhDBYnD0cRdhiDq7kUoFDMc1Vzx1snd3Kqm-r5Xgryya8oIPA5LeEmQjGk9h8wky6qQj96AuEcUztHaBS1n5yiNzG/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-07-09%20at%201.58.14%20AM.png"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Michael Madsen in Quentin Tarantino's KILL BILL VOL. 2 Year: 2004 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The difference of Quentin Tarantino's KILL BILL volumes 1 and 2 is like comparing PULP FICTION with JACKIE BROWN: the first is to please everyone, and the second for himself... <br><br>So the first BILL (mostly without David Carradine's Bill) has something to entertain fans of eclectic genres ranging from high-octane karate to swiftly-edited action to exploitation-horror to Asian anime... but the perfectly cast Uma Thurman as The Bride's final installment is a far more deep and personal journey... <br></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><span></span></p>

action, bo svenson, body count, daryl hannah, david carradine, gordon liu, karate, larry bishop, lucy liu, michael madsen, michael parks, quentin tarantino, revenge, sid haig, uma thurman, zeroes

QUENTIN TARANTINO'S SLOWBURN FOLLOWUP 'KILL BILL VOL. 2'

Michael Madsen in Quentin Tarantino's KILL BILL VOL. 2 Year: 2004 Rating: **** The difference of Quentin Tarantino's KILL BILL volum...

KEVIN SMITH DIRECTS MICHAEL PARKS & JUSTIN LONG IN 'TUSK'

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 2014 rating: ***</td></tr>
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“It’s such a fine line between stupid and, uh, clever,” said a member of the fictional heavy metal band Spinal Tap. And the same can be said of Kevin Smith’s TUSK, in which a snarky podcaster is trapped inside the rural manor of a crazy old man with an obsession for walruses!<br />
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The first half is pretty damn great, aiming headlong for horror film parody… The doomed claustrophobic setting/supposedly nursing back to heath of MISERY combined with the mad scientist man-turning-into-a-creature agenda of SSSSSSS, pittig two polar opposites in the middle of nowhere, Canada…<br />
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Justin Long’s Wallace delivers the Kevin Smith dialogue with perfection. Spouting one-liners and poking fun at just about everything, and then some, he’s more a brash Jason Lee than, say, the Ben Affleck style nice guy protagonist. Meanwhile his show partner, Teddy, played by a fully grown Haley Joel Osment, is the straight man of the group – and the least adventurous. With a cheating heart piercing Wallace's (way too) gorgeous girlfriend,  he makes a victim who reaps what he sows: although no one deserves what's eventually coming to him...<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPuftjWLG19vJD0_NSKCAzyXm16EdFdtMybpQVJ_vlRbH_nc5b9i3GEH1vyveKzAAKS7JQTdx8H3x2rcjx17ztCKjLP1TV3DrzEgajQ4fhEYN6DCD_2Qq0Aecp84hDoNfxx5VVWTEpZYU/s1600/poster212x312.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPuftjWLG19vJD0_NSKCAzyXm16EdFdtMybpQVJ_vlRbH_nc5b9i3GEH1vyveKzAAKS7JQTdx8H3x2rcjx17ztCKjLP1TV3DrzEgajQ4fhEYN6DCD_2Qq0Aecp84hDoNfxx5VVWTEpZYU/s320/poster212x312.jpeg" width="206" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">iTunes Artwork</td></tr>
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Enter veteran character-actor Michael Parks as the "wise" old fella with many tales to tell, and he tells them wonderfully, proving Kevin Smith can still write nicely. <span class="caption">"Oh, it’s just an empty old bottle," Parks' Howard Howe says to the curious house guest. "But when 
combined with the story? Then it’s a powerful talisman — a doorway to 
another time and place. Perhaps a drawbridge to history." </span>Or when Howe confirms a lie about how his captor became ill by a deadly spider bite. 'The arachnid assailant? Well... a typical spider. A legion of legs, etc etc." Meanwhile Long bends a sarcastic ear to every overly-pronounced syllable, often lifted from literary quotes. Their conversations could have gone on forever: If only we remained indoors... <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSqcWlJhCNq7Xv3W6DEtd9WZZdd8DdzfPCYdHPUWrESp_yxlseoTMWHWwE3LQySq6uGnnqRhlrA3sOB17gODCEVV7J0LnTlRPNO0xrZSTNpEWYbrmuP3TgXUcH0G9zId9yDOG3tqFBoRw/s1600/depp.PNG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSqcWlJhCNq7Xv3W6DEtd9WZZdd8DdzfPCYdHPUWrESp_yxlseoTMWHWwE3LQySq6uGnnqRhlrA3sOB17gODCEVV7J0LnTlRPNO0xrZSTNpEWYbrmuP3TgXUcH0G9zId9yDOG3tqFBoRw/s200/depp.PNG" width="199" /></a>Sadly, TUSK hits a massive wall with the introduction of Johnny Depp’s would-be rescuer, Guy Lapointe. A combination of Dr. Livingston, Inspector Clouseau and Columbo, Depp lets loose a 15-minute string that hardly progresses the story at hand, although he does let us in on the backstory on the lunatic we'd rather spend more time with. <br />
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But it isn't Johnny's fault, entirely. Any character intruding upon such offbeat potential would have done the same amount of damage. But one gets the feeling indie director Smith was getting his big name money’s worth with this prolonged “surprise” role (Smith and Depp's daughter's play store employees here and in the semi-sequel YOGA HOSERS) – damn shame all that cotton candy had to ruin such a wonderfully devious Fun House/Freak Show ride, which is still an intriguing, crazy labor-of-love freak show nonetheless. <br />
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2014, haley joel osment, horror, johnny depp, justin long, kevin smith, michael parks, thriller

KEVIN SMITH DIRECTS MICHAEL PARKS & JUSTIN LONG IN 'TUSK'

year: 2014 rating: *** “It’s such a fine line between stupid and, uh, clever,” said a member of the fictional heavy metal band Spinal Ta...

Written by James M. Tate / 3/01/2012 / No comments / action , adventure , katy kurtzman , mary-louise weller , michael parks , seventies , william windom

HUNTERS OF THE REEF STARRING MARY-LOUISE WELLER

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">year: 1978 venue: Television</span></td></tr>
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Michael Parks, the character actor "recently" cast perfectly in FROM DUSK TILL DAWN and KILL BILL thanks to mega-fan Quentin Tarantino, starred in this 1978 made for television movie created by JAWS author PETER BENCHLEY, what was supposed to be a pilot for a series centering on various sea adventures. And while that show never got off the ground, this is a nice little film on its own.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhokYCxJgPugkaP2FdBExqL3zg3vMLvRFDE8KequLWPDAIK0bjw8ZXnh7Ay5DE3prgChP8U9XSpZnAYPAzyBDIcKhyFTVOExVu2GyL2KphqeLc1PzP8VsoaHHupkoRkhxRVmWGsA0fgREIo/s1600/17795969_296048230824360_2838396780139656845_n.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhokYCxJgPugkaP2FdBExqL3zg3vMLvRFDE8KequLWPDAIK0bjw8ZXnh7Ay5DE3prgChP8U9XSpZnAYPAzyBDIcKhyFTVOExVu2GyL2KphqeLc1PzP8VsoaHHupkoRkhxRVmWGsA0fgREIo/s320/17795969_296048230824360_2838396780139656845_n.jpg" width="315" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">HuntersReefScore: ***1/2</td></tr>
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Parks, with his usual laidback yet intense James Dean style, plays Jim Spanner, a maverick fisherman who, along with ex-rummy counterpart Panama (William Windom, straight from a Hemingway novel), has found a sunken boat with an abundance of treasure. All is well until a gorgeous shark researcher arrives – Mary Louise Weller as Tracey Russell. The only way for anything to happen is if she puts her engine in his old boat, which means her own particular research comes first. Through Russell we see some terrific underwater shots of the sharks roaming their habitat, although unlike Benchley’s JAWS and this film's rather misleading title, the killer fish don’t provide much of a suspenseful element.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB7dBJ7XrfYUTjdEIJIzX9kgAD_k3v7RwG_Uck9FNYzh1aGJev0-REIrM4Tu7ZL56bmIwS_9uSZJQaOQ8DTJVjGnl6-UFzZKYEtib7Yx07pcpmWZYu0Cfbggu0Vb-zBfuKynIK7sUquNU/s1600/l_hunters-of-the-reef-1978-tvm-michael-parks-sharks-43ab.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB7dBJ7XrfYUTjdEIJIzX9kgAD_k3v7RwG_Uck9FNYzh1aGJev0-REIrM4Tu7ZL56bmIwS_9uSZJQaOQ8DTJVjGnl6-UFzZKYEtib7Yx07pcpmWZYu0Cfbggu0Vb-zBfuKynIK7sUquNU/s1600/l_hunters-of-the-reef-1978-tvm-michael-parks-sharks-43ab.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mosie & Mike</td></tr>
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A smug pirate in preppie clothes, Le Salle, who wants to find that treasure before Spanner, is the antagonist here. And his eleven-year-old daughter Kris, played by child actress Katy Kurtzman, takes an interest to Spanner’s long lost little brother Mike (Moosie Drier), an adventurous kid who also loves the sea.<br />
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Although not loaded with thrills, it’s a neat little adventure with amazing shots and nice chemistry between the actors: especially Mary Louise Weller, best known as Mandy Pepperidge from ANIMAL HOUSE, who has three important scenes with each male character. So if you can find it, this never released on video treasure is worth watching.<br />
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action, adventure, katy kurtzman, mary-louise weller, michael parks, seventies, william windom