VAL KILMER, GABRIEL JARRET & WILLIAM ATHERTON IN 'REAL GENIUS'

<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><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/AVvXsEhhfQDyV6ofG7T912smviE853CDRHdwmC4qDavvzFUqbMjZQGlS_v3A4NvYzzM3R3852d2jIIXY6u5rwSIimK_b3m0XMh1an4r4nff405z6JmTjJyaVdSfrr-xHnBT3d1cf_EgAgh8OpKDV9hbzLybQxza8U5zfgmXJ12NRFNJR4SLp2-iL3OKa1uSlRsvn/s2000/Screen%20Shot%202025-04-04%20at%206.02.01%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1108" data-original-width="2000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhfQDyV6ofG7T912smviE853CDRHdwmC4qDavvzFUqbMjZQGlS_v3A4NvYzzM3R3852d2jIIXY6u5rwSIimK_b3m0XMh1an4r4nff405z6JmTjJyaVdSfrr-xHnBT3d1cf_EgAgh8OpKDV9hbzLybQxza8U5zfgmXJ12NRFNJR4SLp2-iL3OKa1uSlRsvn/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-04-04%20at%206.02.01%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Val Kilmer in REAL GENIUS Year: 1985 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>In two consecutive years, William Atherton played a smug antagonist against underdog scientific protagonists... in GHOSTBUSTERS he wanted to shut down the titular agency and in REAL GENIUS he's a television science-broadcaster using his high-tech university's two most brilliant students to create a laser that the military ultimately wants to...</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></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Well whatever's going on in the cold-war subplot doesn't make much sense, so the third-act revenge-scheme against Atherton is basically when GENIUS loses the audience (like the TRADING PLACES Wall Street sting)...  </p><span></span>

cold war, college, comedy, deborah foreman, ed lauter, eighties, gabe jarret, robert prescot, science-fiction, val kilmer, william atherton

VAL KILMER, GABRIEL JARRET & WILLIAM ATHERTON IN 'REAL GENIUS'

Val Kilmer in REAL GENIUS Year: 1985 Rating: **** In two consecutive years, William Atherton played a smug antagonist against underdog scien...

GENE HACKMAN RETURNING FOR 'THE FRENCH CONNECTON II'

<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/AVvXsEiTw8c1vhHV36_v2zP7lbef6uscchCk6jZIAxEcbRdBby_jf-Ra-0HJHJexFtqemS41eH_MCIiIN5TEXzCauVuGCQzJnzEUjTwtTSBzl5HxVIsL87x-q40IfFw238q_qaLDmkgBJzdrcCW_JtCnj_9IJJToi0021p_vVm7sFZW42hbFUjBfjFneE8c4LU2F/s1312/1-1.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="774" data-original-width="1312" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTw8c1vhHV36_v2zP7lbef6uscchCk6jZIAxEcbRdBby_jf-Ra-0HJHJexFtqemS41eH_MCIiIN5TEXzCauVuGCQzJnzEUjTwtTSBzl5HxVIsL87x-q40IfFw238q_qaLDmkgBJzdrcCW_JtCnj_9IJJToi0021p_vVm7sFZW42hbFUjBfjFneE8c4LU2F/s16000/1-1.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Gene Hackman in THE FRENCH CONNECTION II Year: 1975 Rating: ***</u><br></td></tr></tbody></table><p>There's a kind of guilty pleasure watching a thinned-down Gene Hackman as New York's favorite tough cop Popeye Doyle being force-fed heroin in a Euro-slum, and then kicking it cold turkey whilst squirming, vomiting, and eventually screaming about Mickey Mantle... </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>We begin in France and this time remain there. Unlike his New York stomping grounds, Doyle can't get a decent whiskey buzz, this time gets beat up by a black guy, finds it impossible interrogating perps, and is without partner/anchor Roy Scheider, who, that same year, was busy hunting a Great White Shark for Steven Speilberg...</p><p><span></span></p>

action, bernard fresson, cop, drugs, ed lauter, exploitation, fernando rey, gene hackman, john frankenheimer, sequel, seventies

GENE HACKMAN RETURNING FOR 'THE FRENCH CONNECTON II'

Gene Hackman in THE FRENCH CONNECTION II Year: 1975 Rating: *** There's a kind of guilty pleasure watching a thinned-down Gene Hackman ...

GENE HACKMAN MINING THROUGH NICOLAS ROAG'S 'EUREKA'

<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><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/AVvXsEiCRfM7Ghj5zLUvUYIqIUKoAsAs8vExn4gmt3QfjjJP-LLP-5l9fhSRfcHcHWLIVxtHTIwSMDD2M-W0ogvEwCWZ_uBMs_J2jfGiY1nqxDHLFdeii6cASgCnaDb4mfJEhbzY53CW3JzUfqVrl99cmeulEvNCo98mHJW5pgGE096wd7ZNfqmt0JT6YBfu_E1e/s1036/Screen%20Shot%202025-03-01%20at%2010.15.14%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="558" data-original-width="1036" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCRfM7Ghj5zLUvUYIqIUKoAsAs8vExn4gmt3QfjjJP-LLP-5l9fhSRfcHcHWLIVxtHTIwSMDD2M-W0ogvEwCWZ_uBMs_J2jfGiY1nqxDHLFdeii6cASgCnaDb4mfJEhbzY53CW3JzUfqVrl99cmeulEvNCo98mHJW5pgGE096wd7ZNfqmt0JT6YBfu_E1e/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-03-01%20at%2010.15.14%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Gene Hackman in EUREKA Year: 1983 Rating: **1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Following the game-changing THE FRENCH CONNECTION turning 2nd-lead and/or villain-role character-actor Gene Hackman into a leading man/movie star, he did two independent art-films, <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2025/02/scarecrow.html">Jerry Schatzberg's SCARECROW</a> and Francis Ford Coppola's THE CONVERSATION that, because of their underpar box office (albeit both being critically praised), he swore to only mainstream movies thereafter...<br><br>But after THE FRENCH CONNECTION sequel, a few action thrillers and two SUPERMAN blockbusters, he went back to low-budget basics with the most offbeat auteur of them all, Nicolas Roeg, for a deliberately dismal melodrama EUREKA where the best scenes exist in the relatively short-lived first act: when Gene Hackman as solitary yet formidable minor Jack McCann (when not frequenting a brothel with FIVE EASY PIECES rambling-actress Helena Kallianiotes) has put everything into one lucrative gold strike...</p><p><span></span></p>

ed lauter, eighties, gene hackman, helena kallianiotes, indie, joe pesci, mickey rourke, nicolas roeg, rutger hauer, theresa russell

GENE HACKMAN MINING THROUGH NICOLAS ROAG'S 'EUREKA'

Gene Hackman in EUREKA Year: 1983 Rating: **1/2 Following the game-changing THE FRENCH CONNECTION turning 2nd-lead and/or villain-role chara...

CHARLES BRONSON WITH JILL IRELAND IN 'BREAKHEART PASS'

<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/AVvXsEj47WLsuSa_j2WwCGqbfwrwJvmr1rz_7F2l_-hn_hQpqxYsgxA-2WuPcihuhwoY4CE7HN5VPq-GhyEo5RCwwBo-u5Zpxj7ccUmrvUMzyevDoB_grsEhb9jFmTdQ-j0HVpHPza8KyT43ugFiFXYxdUDi40dsKMpP582Ve4JYKiq250Bh4WktLQVV7fV3-Ybn/s1256/Screen%20Shot%202023-12-08%20at%208.22.21%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="586" data-original-width="1256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj47WLsuSa_j2WwCGqbfwrwJvmr1rz_7F2l_-hn_hQpqxYsgxA-2WuPcihuhwoY4CE7HN5VPq-GhyEo5RCwwBo-u5Zpxj7ccUmrvUMzyevDoB_grsEhb9jFmTdQ-j0HVpHPza8KyT43ugFiFXYxdUDi40dsKMpP582Ve4JYKiq250Bh4WktLQVV7fV3-Ybn/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202023-12-08%20at%208.22.21%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Charles Bronson in BREAKHEART PASS Year: 1975 Rating: ****1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>British actress Jill Ireland sporadically appearing in husband Charles Bronson's films was really a matter of convenience, providing the family a kind of busman's holiday that was great for them, but not always the audience since her overacting often clashed with the comparably slow-burn cadence of vehicles like THE MECHANIC or HARD TIMES: the latter making an enemy out of writer/director Walter Hill, shooting as few scenes with Ireland as possible, so he never worked with a perturbed Bronson again...</p><p></p><p>But in the case of (the same years') BREAKOUT director Tom Gries's Mystery/Western BREAKHEART PASS, Jill Ireland fit perfectly since her character... the daughter of a post-Civil War Northern General... is fitfully classy and sophisticated, making one particular opposites-attract scene really spark while helping Bronson's supposedly captured-outlaw Deakin, tied uncomfortably inside an otherwise fancy train car and... although he's the central lead, PASS is mainly an ensemble, equally balancing the other characters, all suspects...<br></p><p><span></span></p>

ben johnson, bill mckinney, charles bronson, ed lauter, jill ireland, mystery, rayford barnes, richard crenna, sally kirkland, thriller, tom gries, western

CHARLES BRONSON WITH JILL IRELAND IN 'BREAKHEART PASS'

Charles Bronson in BREAKHEART PASS Year: 1975 Rating: ****1/2 British actress Jill Ireland sporadically appearing in husband Charles Bronson...

BURT REYNOLDS GETS CAPTURED FOR 'THE LONGEST YARD'

<div> <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/AVvXsEhD2EmKs0xztng9r-jRfc-VVmIS25A8WeCFIwa_yBMoSxzplXOrxTvSs03tZDGLdEZB64abj3LEx75_aKesSR9n1mKMUAdVkHdb8m_4LrFnKIWk7SsYtRrjRvQDrogtfeARbh1C3hPeFeJJUpMfUWQx727zdytJPaIoo9aMVdTMSk-lpPg6ZWhd10v92g/s1037/the_longest_yard__1974__poster_by_a_jaded_smithy_d9qld7i_pre.0%202.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="586" data-original-width="1037" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD2EmKs0xztng9r-jRfc-VVmIS25A8WeCFIwa_yBMoSxzplXOrxTvSs03tZDGLdEZB64abj3LEx75_aKesSR9n1mKMUAdVkHdb8m_4LrFnKIWk7SsYtRrjRvQDrogtfeARbh1C3hPeFeJJUpMfUWQx727zdytJPaIoo9aMVdTMSk-lpPg6ZWhd10v92g/s16000/the_longest_yard__1974__poster_by_a_jaded_smithy_d9qld7i_pre.0%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Burt Reynolds in THE LONGEST YARD Director: Robert Aldrich Year: 1974 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table>Having experienced the many Burt Reynolds road flicks throughout the mid/late seventies and early eighties, you'd expect him to, in the very beginning as he's being chased by cops in a stolen hot rod, get away and avoid all punishment... </div><div> </div><div>Nothing doing in THE LONGEST YARD since Burt, playing a has-been football star, is sent to a backwards Florida work-camp where he's called upon by a power hungry warden (Eddie Albert backed by chief guard Ed Lauter) to start a team of convicts: who end up challenging the prison guard semi-pro outfit with a start-up game (fitfully helmed by DIRTY DOZEN prisoners-with-a-purpose director Robert Aldrich) ...</div><p><span></span></p><span></span>

action, alfie wise, bernadette peters, burt reynolds, comedy, drama, ed lauter, football, harry caesar, james hampton, michael conrad, prison, richard kiel, robert aldrich, seventies, sport

BURT REYNOLDS GETS CAPTURED FOR 'THE LONGEST YARD'

Burt Reynolds in THE LONGEST YARD Director: Robert Aldrich Year: 1974 Rating: **** Having experienced the many Burt Reynolds road flicks ...

MICHAEL NESMITH PRESENTS FRED WARD AS 'TIMERIDER'

<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><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/a/AVvXsEjEKV5FKA8OyhCN6O8fd58BTUY30EzAoSJcSGGAFmtxVSI6y0v87E3alfXDFvddhQrzRguKBRNZg7O0tb4sQmyufcUAWtJwMvHt68Nm8Dyk4mLCqo-UcesX355RJ2cP6ywVjZZ1l3cKZ9dkrvFbl3ayDWFBp-BramOiWdXqOrLB433yBnnuyH5iGpAniw=s900" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="314" data-original-width="900" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjEKV5FKA8OyhCN6O8fd58BTUY30EzAoSJcSGGAFmtxVSI6y0v87E3alfXDFvddhQrzRguKBRNZg7O0tb4sQmyufcUAWtJwMvHt68Nm8Dyk4mLCqo-UcesX355RJ2cP6ywVjZZ1l3cKZ9dkrvFbl3ayDWFBp-BramOiWdXqOrLB433yBnnuyH5iGpAniw=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: TIMERIDER Producer: Mike Nesmith Cast: Fred Ward, Belinda Bauer Year: 1982 Rates: **</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Before executive producing REPO MAN, Micheal Nesmith not only produced but co-wrote and composed a crunchy rock guitar score for a low-budget time-travel flick TIMERIDER: THE ADVENTURE OF LYLE SWANN, starting out with titular dirt-bike champ Fred Ward's perspective of a desert race course that we learn... cutting to and from the interior of a nearby scientific center... has a metallic device set up to...</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></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Long story short, Swann winds up a hundred-years back in the 1870's post-Civil War, making TIMERIDER that <i>Western with a dirt bike</i> movie co-starring Belinda Bauer as the Arizona past's tough Mexican firebrand Claire Cygne, who, less than an hour after seeing our muscular hero skinny dipping, gets his clothes off again for a literal roll in the hay... </p><p><span></span></p>

action, belinda bauer, chris mulkey, cult, ed lauter, eighties, fred ward, l.q. jones, michael nesmith, modern western, peter coyote, science-fiction, time travel

MICHAEL NESMITH PRESENTS FRED WARD AS 'TIMERIDER'

Title: TIMERIDER Producer: Mike Nesmith Cast: Fred Ward, Belinda Bauer Year: 1982 Rates: ** Before executive producing REPO MAN, Micheal Nes...

MICHAEL WINNER DIRECTS CHARLES BRONSON IN 'DEATH WISH 3'

<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/AVvXsEigKVEZuPJMiWlWUgAeQo4bblR0XcSUNQdYYVOwh-SzHaJaRbr5gilD5CEIZMEh7P2OLlPRzzKCzCt2RXQEnAcsmnfvgSstbqBqV49SSglkBL3tpXsoC82cZ04Fxv_GVYBSDMdvCeFBDXj4c98eZ0bR1dECmwYshtYm8sDMNTinpUiE4cTEbCsnwSoKCQMr/s1808/Screen%20Shot%202025-07-29%20at%202.43.35%20PM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1124" data-original-width="1808" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigKVEZuPJMiWlWUgAeQo4bblR0XcSUNQdYYVOwh-SzHaJaRbr5gilD5CEIZMEh7P2OLlPRzzKCzCt2RXQEnAcsmnfvgSstbqBqV49SSglkBL3tpXsoC82cZ04Fxv_GVYBSDMdvCeFBDXj4c98eZ0bR1dECmwYshtYm8sDMNTinpUiE4cTEbCsnwSoKCQMr/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-07-29%20at%202.43.35%20PM.png"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Charles Bronson in DEATH WISH 3Year: 1985 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>By the third DEATH WISH, a gray-haired Charles Bronson was showing his age. Although compared to a group of helpless elderly residents of an apartment building in the middle of a contained, highly dangerous urban neighborhood ruled by a vicious gang, he seems much younger. Plus, the iconic action star can still get around...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>The villain is named Fraker, played by the actor who was the first basketball-bouncing Chuck Cunningham, enigmatic/pointless older brother of Ron Howard’s Richie on  HAPPY DAYS... <br></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/AVvXsEgjN6mJiHo64jFY3fAZquvZ0eF9gsNLgWJUPiIn70JvrmfkoYS5vYjLC-1k86IzpARr2dzP5fD3m2cfnQbMKtmD6dnWrY1y2OHsbsMw5omLJ2r6w7qR6qvlXprD9Ofr_-zu-vfUpWefKNPo/s1777/Screen%252BShot%252B2021-08-13%252Bat%252B9.17.02%252BPM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1006" data-original-width="1777" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjN6mJiHo64jFY3fAZquvZ0eF9gsNLgWJUPiIn70JvrmfkoYS5vYjLC-1k86IzpARr2dzP5fD3m2cfnQbMKtmD6dnWrY1y2OHsbsMw5omLJ2r6w7qR6qvlXprD9Ofr_-zu-vfUpWefKNPo/s16000/Screen%252BShot%252B2021-08-13%252Bat%252B9.17.02%252BPM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Gavan O'Herlihy as Fraker in DEATH WISH III</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Enter Gavan O'Herlihy, with a reverse Mohawk and a red stripe running down the middle of his shaved head, makes for an unlikely leader, especially one consisting of every race: from black to Hispanic to white...</p><p></p><p>But Fraker does have an effectively nasty glare that fits within the punk rock aura, displayed amongst the lot of sordid villains liken to a bunch of schoolyard goons with weapons: sneaking into old people’s apartments, stealing purses and wreaking general havoc, like brats with too much free time... </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/AVvXsEikuSLz5iZsnILKPtIoBFWBeM4Ii0-7leqkhBnDII-VmE_U97JKybpptGFPublsZwGIB22KdKG4IXPods0MHqgzvUG_Zs7UuU_cmjOER_EzYizmSHau-RbUhosE_aShMwCbPnx24FoHMtjw/s1865/Screen%252BShot%252B2021-08-13%252Bat%252B9.17.36%252BPM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1171" data-original-width="1865" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikuSLz5iZsnILKPtIoBFWBeM4Ii0-7leqkhBnDII-VmE_U97JKybpptGFPublsZwGIB22KdKG4IXPods0MHqgzvUG_Zs7UuU_cmjOER_EzYizmSHau-RbUhosE_aShMwCbPnx24FoHMtjw/s16000/Screen%252BShot%252B2021-08-13%252Bat%252B9.17.36%252BPM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Deborah Raffin in DEATH WISH 3</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>It’s Charles Bronson’s architect Paul Kersey... back in the grungy Neo Western New York City where everything began... who will send them into permanent detention...</p><p></p><p></p><p>A peripheral romance between Kersey and Deborah Raffin is useless filler, but Ed Lauter as a cut-corner and effective police captain, and Martin Balsam as the tenants’ weapon-stockpiling spokesman, serves as worthy side-characters, helping move the story and all the gratuitous cat-and-mouse action...<br> </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/AVvXsEjJj1e0lrl6AcZGDlL0Hq0-T13WUVBGzoWp3CPmEhFO_D2erHCCTidWbHG2WlroBRRd33wteA2khOTBCWB08w4zLmv898kcjuQg-ZpJMxlH3Aj5O6AtrPsGvcpHOZuP4n95meqT081-RgEA/s1738/Screen%252BShot%252B2021-08-13%252Bat%252B9.17.23%252BPM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1130" data-original-width="1738" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJj1e0lrl6AcZGDlL0Hq0-T13WUVBGzoWp3CPmEhFO_D2erHCCTidWbHG2WlroBRRd33wteA2khOTBCWB08w4zLmv898kcjuQg-ZpJMxlH3Aj5O6AtrPsGvcpHOZuP4n95meqT081-RgEA/s16000/Screen%252BShot%252B2021-08-13%252Bat%252B9.17.23%252BPM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Charles Bronson in DEATH WISH 3</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The music, although given credit to Jimmy Page, who provided the ominously spooky guitar/synthesizer score of the second film, is actually completed by another composer, throwing in Page’s previous work with his own variations, making the soundtrack more conventional and less intriguing, foreboding... <br></p><p></p><p></p><p>And Michael Winner directs his last of three (out of five) DEATH WISH films, the camerawork full of the usual creative zoom shots in an exploitation manner, giving this mid-80’s venture a desperate and edgy early 70’s style throughout.</p><p><span></span></p>

action, alex winter, charles bronson, death wish, ed lauter, eighties, exploitation, franchise, gavan o'herlihy, jimmy page, martin balsam, michael winner, revenge, sequel

MICHAEL WINNER DIRECTS CHARLES BRONSON IN 'DEATH WISH 3'

Charles Bronson in DEATH WISH 3Year: 1985 Rating: **** By the third DEATH WISH, a gray-haired Charles Bronson was showing his age. Although...

JESSICA LANGE 'KING KONG: THE LEGEND REBORN' JEFF BRIDGES

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdFK7M8sQ18uzTzkB3Q_96v300DqpGTiC_7-SA8_zLVcIPnSYPPcfiESaZDsQbq-gpW2SWr1nBaGQKZHUhUYwjgPgCMlP1_1H7AjmG_4e3TxIxtztaljskHJkYchhAuOuCa4TKYiGOAjKNRm1TB9xg8TiPsSzW06H6xiO-3xuZOuuyqctsA5pYNFmlvJMI/s2110/Screen%20Shot%202024-08-01%20at%2010.43.12%20AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1460" data-original-width="2110" height="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdFK7M8sQ18uzTzkB3Q_96v300DqpGTiC_7-SA8_zLVcIPnSYPPcfiESaZDsQbq-gpW2SWr1nBaGQKZHUhUYwjgPgCMlP1_1H7AjmG_4e3TxIxtztaljskHJkYchhAuOuCa4TKYiGOAjKNRm1TB9xg8TiPsSzW06H6xiO-3xuZOuuyqctsA5pYNFmlvJMI/w400-h276/Screen%20Shot%202024-08-01%20at%2010.43.12%20AM.png" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Year: 1976 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table>The first half is fantastic: a creative set-up with the famous story altered where oil speculator Charles Grodin seeks the fog-surrounded island as a possible origin for that gushy stuff that keeps planes flying and cars running...<br> <br> Jeff Bridges, as a "hippie" stowaway turned trek's photographer, who had bribed his way aboard the freighter, knows the island has a big secret, and yet even he's not sure exactly what's there... And had another actor been cast in this preachy, idealistic photographer role, liking and even thinking he understands simians over humans, it would be annoying and/or pretentious, even cliché given the progressive 1970's era: But given his film credits before and after, it's no surprise that Bridges can be just cool enough to add a tinge of pulpy action hero to the hairy modern dogooder...<br>

action, adventure, ape suit, charles grodin, creature, disaster, ed lauter, jeff bridges, jessica lange, john guillermin, julius harris, king kong, monster, remake, rené auberjonois

JESSICA LANGE 'KING KONG: THE LEGEND REBORN' JEFF BRIDGES

Year: 1976 Rating: ***1/2 The first half is fantastic: a creative set-up with the famous story altered where oil speculator Charles Grodin ...

CLINT EASTWOOD IN TROUBLE WITH THE CURVE

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYjMa0JHnjR_UStcJ0tHV_JppyYmzsO6TIht-Y6R4Sdz01zIbh6ZUroH4XzFnTszBIaZ-bvFlIpqF_LxbQ5eub1ljps814WWv912GyQtj59vEa_HdQzbttmpyWs1MNNUxPPzZ85LB8HQn4/s1600/Trouble+With+The+Curve.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="332" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYjMa0JHnjR_UStcJ0tHV_JppyYmzsO6TIht-Y6R4Sdz01zIbh6ZUroH4XzFnTszBIaZ-bvFlIpqF_LxbQ5eub1ljps814WWv912GyQtj59vEa_HdQzbttmpyWs1MNNUxPPzZ85LB8HQn4/w640-h332/Trouble+With+The+Curve.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 2012 cast: Clint Eastwood, Amy Adams, Justin Timberlake, John Goodman rating: ***</td></tr> </tbody></table> Okay, so Clint Eastwood’s Gus is very familiar. Take away the racism and he’s the surly yet endearing old-timer from GRAND TORINO – but this coot has a pretty good job.<br /> <br /> As a baseball scout, an aged Gus is losing his sight, but he still has a way of picking the best players: although it takes time and he doesn't need a computer. He passes this inherent talent to daughter Mickey, played by blue-eyed pixie Amy Adams, joining him on the road to help out (but what she really wants is closure from a rocky past).<br /> <br /> The best moments occur whenever Gus and Mickey sit down at random small town bleachers to figure if a new prospect lives up to his reputation. Throw in Justin Timberlake's rookie scout for a little romance, in an old-school courtship with Mickey, who, like her father, is used to going alone.<br /> <br /> This is a cozy film about baseball and especially father/daughter bonding, and the parallels between the two leads are right up front: both have to keep working (Mickey's a lawyer) or they’ll be replaced. The problem with this curve are the side characters, all either really nice or extremely rotten. And the ending piles on so much comeuppance for the jerks begging to be punished, you’ll feel the writer forcing applause from your knuckles.<br /> <br /> Yet despite the clichés, and some corny filler dialogue, this is a decent little jaunt around bases: Just don't expect a home run.

2012, amy adams, clint eastwood, drama, ed lauter, justin timberlake, road movie, sport

CLINT EASTWOOD IN TROUBLE WITH THE CURVE

year: 2012 cast: Clint Eastwood, Amy Adams, Justin Timberlake, John Goodman rating: *** Okay, so Clint Eastwood’s Gus is very familiar. ...

JOHN CANDY WITH RICHARD LEWIS TAKING THEIR 'WAGONS EAST'

<div class="separator"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs_OBamgtQr7kedN8oUIyc8S9JuRhqrVHPDDs2AJhRpuN7I4IDEBUGnq8q02QX5qcyfS4vijTFiyBSTzzd0U3xkbQL8fNQSYDlkae7rwZSmjlrMOdBZJ9N5mLpH9bfFuExp2sxuwOd1Dkp/s1600/wagons-east-poster.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="206" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5624495723906864066" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs_OBamgtQr7kedN8oUIyc8S9JuRhqrVHPDDs2AJhRpuN7I4IDEBUGnq8q02QX5qcyfS4vijTFiyBSTzzd0U3xkbQL8fNQSYDlkae7rwZSmjlrMOdBZJ9N5mLpH9bfFuExp2sxuwOd1Dkp/w251-h206/wagons-east-poster.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 164px; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; width: 200px;" width="251" /></a></div><p>Legendary and universally-likeable John Candy's final film, in which he died on location, isn't completely awful. A comedic Western about a group of disheveled citizens in a desolate Western town who, realizing their dreams have, thanks to rowdy locals, become a nightmare, decide to head back East...</p><p>A clever premise, and for the most part, an involving "Road Movie" as John Candy, playing a weathered wagon master, leads five stage coaches, which includes Richard Lewis as a whiny doctor, Robert Picardo as a doubting banker, Ellen Greene as a hooker with a heart of gold, and scene-stealer John C. McGinley as a gay librarian, into Indian territory, dry riverbeds, and a winter storm. The humor relies on the perilous situations and how the neurotic characters, especially Lewis, reacts to each. A bland finale for Candy, not only because it's not very funny, but as a frustrated, sulky drunkard his endearing sweet-natured underdog humor is absent, so anyone could have played the part. And since most of his scenes were filmed there's not much missing except a funnier script, which the late icon deserved to go out with. Perhaps fans should consider UNCLE BUCK as his last truly classic swan song. <u>Year: 1994 Rates: **1/2</u><br /></p>

comedy, ed lauter, ellen greene, john c. mcginley, john candy, nineties, richard lewis, road movie, robert picardo, spoof, western

JOHN CANDY WITH RICHARD LEWIS TAKING THEIR 'WAGONS EAST'

Legendary and universally-likeable John Candy's final film, in which he died on location, isn't completely awful. A comedic Western ...

YOUNGBLOOD HAS RELOCATED

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2XHexC_oP0PTnLc-wuSrmVn1jSMKfq9GkVpDj0fPOfVw0jX08LRaOVIiHYwOQVw_Z-4kzUmknBjvhiVn1grcEMHBV124HgRnrH4tUR8D7XidljA1nz_W7syU_b_hY9zxL4GbntU6qEnI/s1600/Youngblood.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5597770938857918786" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2XHexC_oP0PTnLc-wuSrmVn1jSMKfq9GkVpDj0fPOfVw0jX08LRaOVIiHYwOQVw_Z-4kzUmknBjvhiVn1grcEMHBV124HgRnrH4tUR8D7XidljA1nz_W7syU_b_hY9zxL4GbntU6qEnI/s200/Youngblood.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 140px; margin: 0 0 10px 10px; width: 200px;" /></a><strong>title:</strong> YOUNGBLOOD<br /> <div> <strong>year:</strong> 1986<br /> <strong>cast:</strong> Rob Lowe, Jim Youngs, Patrick Swayze, Cynthia Gibb<br /> <strong>rating:</strong> *1/2<br /> <br /> <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2014/05/rob-lowe-films.html">CLICK HERE</a> TO WHERE YOUNGBLOOD NOW RESIDES...</div>

cynthia gibb, ed lauter, eighties, hockey, jim youngs, keanu reeves, patrick swayze, rob lowe, sport

YOUNGBLOOD HAS RELOCATED

title: YOUNGBLOOD year: 1986 cast: Rob Lowe, Jim Youngs, Patrick Swayze, Cynthia Gibb rating: *1/2 CLICK HERE TO WHERE YOUNGBLOOD...