cult film freak: christopher walken

Showing posts with label christopher walken. Show all posts

Written by James M. Tate / 3/16/2016 / No comments / christopher walken , feel-good , hugh jackman , sport

REVIEW OF EDDIE THE EAGLE

christopher walken, feel-good, hugh jackman, sport

REVIEW OF EDDIE THE EAGLE

A somewhat belated review of a movie to take the family and kids to... or wait a few weeks to stream on your television. Everyone knows ...

MOORE BOND SEVEN: A VIEW TO A KILL

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The final Roger Moore performance as Secret Agent 007 James Bond</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigwgjuCPbY_Hy3c8OACwVr28kCToO_0TnCC02msoLCk9IdBSm8DBPL0uy50RgC071ma7aWubklj5IFMkbT6y5xG_qUbSsybY5Uv9CnRkIXGyyKN5Bj8_H12ELAXM7Na7oQbJEDw2O79cg/s1600/2.jpg" imageanchor="1" 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/AVvXsEigwgjuCPbY_Hy3c8OACwVr28kCToO_0TnCC02msoLCk9IdBSm8DBPL0uy50RgC071ma7aWubklj5IFMkbT6y5xG_qUbSsybY5Uv9CnRkIXGyyKN5Bj8_H12ELAXM7Na7oQbJEDw2O79cg/s320/2.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 1985 rating: ***</td></tr>
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The first and only time a disclaimer appears before the movie begins, telling us the villain isn’t based on anyone actual… Perhaps since the computer race was just starting, nerves could have been touched... <br />
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After all, Christopher Walken’s Zorin isn’t a bald cat lover yearning to take over the world with a simple little nuke… This guy has his sites set on Silicon Valley with microchips to – making a complicated plot point short – allow bad things to happen. <br />
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Roger Moore, surprisingly older than Sean Connery, looked young for his age… His sly boots in the eyes of a smitten Moneypenny and an ever-lecturing M is now old shoe. In fact, during one scene where the three are hanging out at a horse track, they all seem like contemporaries. But Roger Moore still pulls off the super agent with ease… Perhaps too much so…<br />
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At one point he tells fellow agent Tibbett (a new Felix type played by Patrick Macnee, probably to make Roger look young) that pretending to be someone else has become second nature… Moore's Bond has been around the block six times and this adventure is a breezy piece of cake, although there are some snags in the icing.  <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Poster Artwork</td></tr>
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The best parts take place at Zorin’s immense compound, a castle-like world onto itself, much like Drago’s lair in MOONRAKER…<br />
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Here’s where Bond gets to dangle the ladies and have his usual sneaking-around/close calls… Eventually cozing up to Stacey, played by SHEENA starlet Tanya Roberts, the plot shifts to San Francisco with a seismic warning and a hazardous oil tanker, where we experience a few neat action sequences along the way – but where’s our main villain?<br />
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In other films the heavy constantly reminds us of the danger Bond and the entire world faces… But a neglected Christopher Walken is out of the loop for so long that at one point, you might forget there’s any threat at all. This allows his wicked (and now extremely dated) henchwoman Grace Jones as May Day to do the dirty work.<br />
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A VIEW TO A KILL, complete with a catchy Duran Duran opening song and the usual variation on that particular theme, is a whimper to Moore's finale to the sublime bang of his previous venture, OCTOPUSSY, feeling like a big budget TV Movie of the Week… Begging for the next 007, Timothy Dalton, to dirty things up once again.

christopher walken, eighties, james bond, roger moore, spy, tanya roberts

MOORE BOND SEVEN: A VIEW TO A KILL

The final Roger Moore performance as Secret Agent 007 James Bond year: 1985 rating: *** The first and only time a disclaimer a...

Written by James M. Tate / 6/24/2014 / No comments / 2014 , biopic , christopher walken , clint eastwood

CLINT EASTWOOD DIRECTS JERSEY BOYS

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 2014 rating: **</td></tr>
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Based on an immensely popular Broadway musical, JERSEY BOYS, about the rise and fall of the pop band The Four Seasons, although directed by Clint Eastwood, strives for good old fashion Martin Scorsese street savvy charm…Hell, there's even an actor playing a young Joe Pesci...<br />
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We begin in the streets of New Jersey through a mugging face-the-camera narration by founding member Tommy DeVito (Joe's name in GOODFELLAS), a two-bit hustler with a scam for just about any occasion. He puts his crooked mind at work and something usually comes of it, even if jail time is part of the deal...<br />
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It's through Tommy we learn (and are constantly reminded) that being bad is simply part of the game. And while actor Vincent Piazza does a pretty decent job stealing scenes and just about everything else, he seems very alone in the process...<br />
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Soon enough, Tommy has some very important company, leading to the young man of the hour, Frankie Valli, with a voice like a falsetto angel and, with a sneaky devil on his shoulder, Frankie and Tommy have the sort of friendship that leads to predictable trouble... <br />
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The two main performances are alright, especially since the actors do their own crooning, but Piazza and John Lloyd Young seem to be going through the motions, as if rehearsing for a much grittier film. And soon enough, they're no longer nobodies: eventually the boys form their own band, first called The Four Lovers and then, after a bowling alley neon inspiration, the Four Seasons are born…<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivbJpB6tQEZfCApnzTu_DAZtruVifyzt4spH3pWaudVSpZEwfqzrHvpud0u3-ldZ3nbNS4VZhIW63M7K9RnA8xkdnGQi0yVJ0r6AYCxo_a7g1fnyqkd0xZqjJbagIJzksYZYHxChon0q8/s1600/the-four-seasons-entertain-you-175240.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivbJpB6tQEZfCApnzTu_DAZtruVifyzt4spH3pWaudVSpZEwfqzrHvpud0u3-ldZ3nbNS4VZhIW63M7K9RnA8xkdnGQi0yVJ0r6AYCxo_a7g1fnyqkd0xZqjJbagIJzksYZYHxChon0q8/s200/the-four-seasons-entertain-you-175240.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">the Real FOUR SEASONS</td></tr>
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The transition from working musicians to big stars seems a bit rushed, while their initial climb to the top is a lot more interesting. Beginning as background singers with an itch for their own fame, soon enough their dreams are fully realized. And yet, having a string of back-to-back hit songs, thanks to the much more classy and thoughtful songwriter/keyboardist Bob Guadio, the movie never seems entirely focused on a famous band: The boys are far more comfortable in stolen clothes than when the money rolls in, which is probably intentional. They're Jersey punks no matter how much money is earned... <br />
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Although a lot feels held back in this rags to riches tale – the second act plays out more like a daydream than a biopic. And while the poster has the boys singing under a street lamp, we hardly get a glimpse of their unified pre-limelight struggle.  <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Famous DEER HUNTER Frankie Valli sing-along</td></tr>
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The main problem is the melodramatic side effects occurring as the boys play big bills and make sporadic television appearances. This includes Tommy’s gambling debts, Frankie’s troubled marriage and the ultimate tragedy of losing a kid, all treated in a somewhat breezy, TV soap fashion. Even a pivotal meeting between Christopher Walken's mob boss, a vengeful bookie and the troubled band has no palpable edge...<br />
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So right as we’re getting to know The Four Seasons as a solid act, not only are they falling apart at the seams, but there wasn’t enough time centered of their fame to make the inevitable decline really matter. Meanwhile, Tommy’s fourth-wall-breaking narration is replaced with that of good guy bassist Nick and songwriter Bob... yet their casual approach lacks the punch that made Tommy's roguish gab so intriguing.  <br />
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Director Clint Eastwood, who provides a unique cameo as RAWHIDE plays on a TV set, awkwardly balances grungy street life with shiny musical numbers. Meanwhile, the legitimately classic Four Seasons songs come and go like the breeze, while the buildup for Valli’s solo/comeback <i>Can’t Take My Eyes Off You</i> is much too grandiose, glorified and anti-climactic for its own right... especially after tweaking the horn section to sound like a Vegas lounge act from hell... What's with the intruding saxophones!?! <br />
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Everything gets conveniently summed up with a tacked-on reunion at the 1990 Music Hall of Fame... the actors, wearing aged makeup, seem part of an SNL skit... And we finish with an overlong song & dance routine obviously geared for fans of the Broadway musical, where this particular story is probably much better suited.

2014, biopic, christopher walken, clint eastwood

CLINT EASTWOOD DIRECTS JERSEY BOYS

year: 2014 rating: ** Based on an immensely popular Broadway musical, JERSEY BOYS, about the rise and fall of the pop band The Four Seas...

Written by James M. Tate / 2/01/2013 / No comments / 2013 , al pacino , alan arkin , christopher walken , crime , genre tarantino

STAND UP GUYS

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 2013 cast: Al Pacino, Christopher Walken, Alan Arkin rating: **1/2</td></tr>
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In one scene towards the end of STAND UP GUYS, Al Pacino’s Val confesses to a priest all that he’s done, including a tryst with a hooker, robbing a pharmacy, and, among a few other things, stealing a car. The priest can’t believe all this happened in one day, but the colorful description is more entertaining than the already experienced reality. <br />
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As we begin our tale, the scruffy/beaten Val gets out of prison after serving 28 years. He’s greeted by former crime partner turned brooding artist Christopher Walken who, as Doc, has an assignment to whack his old friend for a vengeful mobster – or else both will be killed. Much of the film has the duo looking and acting their age, hanging around town consisting of a few seemingly vacant boulevards. They drink at a bar, philosophize at a coffee shop, and reflect old times while a grungy R&B score thumps in the background.   <br />
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Two great actors like Pacino and Walken make the somewhat trite dialog interesting, but even when they free their former driver Hirsch, played by Alan Arkin, from a retirement home and go joyriding in a stolen hot rod, it all seems too easy: anything they wanted including young women (who feel sexually about the coots what the director feels historically about the actors, or something), cash, fancy clothes, and loads of prescription drugs, are right there: giving little edge for the once edgy thugs. And a subplot that involves a damsel in distress picks up the pace, but is ultimately pointless. Meanwhile, the dark task remains in Doc’s peripheral, and eventually Val figures things out: leading to a final act with genuinely heartfelt scenes and a beautifully conceived climax, providing the kind of glorified potential these guys deserved all along.

2013, al pacino, alan arkin, christopher walken, crime, genre tarantino

STAND UP GUYS

year: 2013 cast: Al Pacino, Christopher Walken, Alan Arkin rating: **1/2 In one scene towards the end of STAND UP GUYS, Al Pacino’s Val ...

Written by James M. Tate / 11/06/2012 / No comments / casey siemaszko , christopher walken , comedy , eighties , matt mulhurn , matthew broderick , mike nichols , neil simon , war

BILOXI BLUES

<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/AVvXsEjORRFFGKArNNPXGx58HzUHun_WWgPnG1hWlQr7yF3hv96UaJvuELFWNdvJtNICtAfYlD5Nfl4t9L6_sPXPmFhK37Y2ZJKj0aR2yi6XOHf1mocj5sxqcDASFUwTqZT3pkykotmTUfkaLf8tzn5w-j3wh5sXM-tlpKh17KbZXCf6C5oaPVHrtbJwco9DdShj/s1422/Screen%20Shot%202025-04-01%20at%2012.47.00%20AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="582" data-original-width="1422" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjORRFFGKArNNPXGx58HzUHun_WWgPnG1hWlQr7yF3hv96UaJvuELFWNdvJtNICtAfYlD5Nfl4t9L6_sPXPmFhK37Y2ZJKj0aR2yi6XOHf1mocj5sxqcDASFUwTqZT3pkykotmTUfkaLf8tzn5w-j3wh5sXM-tlpKh17KbZXCf6C5oaPVHrtbJwco9DdShj/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-04-01%20at%2012.47.00%20AM.png" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 1988 cast: Matthew Broderick, Christopher Walken, Matt Mulhurn, Corey Parker rating: ***1/2</td></tr></tbody></table>Perhaps Matthew Broderick’s Pvt. Eugene Morris Jerome has too many one-liners, seeming delivered at a Friar's Club lunch, to make us believe he’s really in a hardnosed boot camp.<br />
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Set in 1945, this biopic written by Neil Simon and directed by Mike Nichols works despite jumping awkwardly from comedy to drama. The ensemble cast within the barracks includes Matt Mulhurn as the bullying Pvt. Wykowski, his lughead motormouth cheerleader Selridge (Markus Flanagan) and mild-mannered nice guy Carney (Casey Siemaszko).<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Matthew Broderick loses it to Park Overall</td></tr>
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Then there’s Arnold (Corey Parker), a prissy/futzy geek who doesn’t back down to the constant taunts, mostly brought on by scene-stealing monolog-laden Christopher Walken as Sgt. Toomey. With a metal plate in his head, Toomey has a kneejerk reaction to all of Eugene’s smartass remarks, and the tension builds onto a suspenseful climax involving both stars at gunpoint. But in-between the tough times harbor the most involving scenes: the boys sitting around the barracks discussing everything from death to the opposite sex. These conversations are not only interesting but bring out the true colors of each eclectic character.<br />
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One scene set in a Biloxi brothel during a weekend pass is a standout: Park Overall’s experienced gin-soaked chemistry with the virginal Eugene is funny and endearing. And the taboo (at that time) subject of homosexuality lends quite a shock. Penelope Ann Miller's good girl love interest adds completely nothing to the tale that’s really about Eugene and his pals surviving boot camp whist facing an unknown, and downright scary, future of <strike>possibly</strike> battling Germans overseas.  <br />
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casey siemaszko, christopher walken, comedy, eighties, matt mulhurn, matthew broderick, mike nichols, neil simon, war

BILOXI BLUES

year: 1988 cast: Matthew Broderick, Christopher Walken, Matt Mulhurn, Corey Parker rating: ***1/2 Perhaps Matthew Broderick’s Pvt. Eugene M...

Written by James M. Tate / 11/05/2012 / No comments / 2012 , christopher walken , colin farrell , crime , genre tarantino , sam rockwell , tom waits

SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS

2012, christopher walken, colin farrell, crime, genre tarantino, sam rockwell, tom waits

SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS

year: 2012 cast: Colin Farrell, Sam Rockwell, Christopher Walken rating: ***1/2 Towards the anticipated finale, which could result in a ...

Written by James M. Tate / 5/05/2012 / No comments / bridget fonda , christopher walken , elmore leonard , nineties , paul schrader , skeet ulrich , tom arnold

TOUCH

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<b>title:</b> TOUCH<br />
<b>year: </b>1997 <br />
<b>cast: </b>Skeet Ulrich, Bridget Fonda<br />
<b>rating: </b>**1/2<br />
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After the success of Barry Sonnenfeld's GET SHORTY, cult auteur Paul Schrader provides an Elmore Leonard adaptation in the same breezily entertaining style but with mixed results. The plot centers on a young man nicknamed Juvenal played by Skeet Ulrich – a Johnny Depp version of Ethan Hawke or vice versa – who, with the power to heal, is sought after by former sideshow evangelist/shyster Christopher Walken. The most intriguing aspect has Walken sending ingénue Bridget Fonda undercover where Juvenile works at a detox center. She learns he’s got more soul than those who want his powers for fame and money. And he's great looking to boot. When Juvenal heals random people... from the blind to the diseased... his wrists and side bleeds: this is called Stigmata and, being a serious subject, is surprisingly treated by director Schrader (who never strays from controversial religious subjects) like baking a cake. Once Skeet and Fonda hit the sack and our melancholy protagonist begins losing his <i>touch</i>, the film hits a wall – or two. Tom Arnold as a hypocritical religious fanatic, constantly meddling into everyone's business, proves his <i>talents</i> dwindled after a miraculous turn in TRUE LIES. Not sure if it’s a comedy or a drama or a melodrama or a romance, perhaps this fable, like Leonard's novel-turned-movies that work, could have used some guns-wielding criminals. And while it’s difficult to tell if TOUCH would have fared better without Schrader’s purposely-downplayed voyeur style of watching characters interact without much editing, perhaps he made this more interesting than it would have been otherwise. But the director and actors and the funky Dave Grohl soundtrack aren’t the problem… The bland script is what needed healing.

bridget fonda, christopher walken, elmore leonard, nineties, paul schrader, skeet ulrich, tom arnold