cult film freak: oliver stone

Showing posts with label oliver stone. Show all posts

Written by James M. Tate / 4/07/2025 / No comments / biopic , counter-culture , crispin glover , frank whaley , kathleen quinlan , kevin dillon , kyle maclachlan , meg ryan , michael madsen , music , nineties , oliver stone , olivia barash , sam whipple , val kilmer

VAL KILMER PLAYS JIM MORRISON IN OLIVER STONE'S 'THE DOORS'

<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/AVvXsEijvKDjLXfUM9_9fsqGIt1sqYcpXW8OKOrxdHLeYA1fejE17S8rln5T0zQBpVbVr9Cmyl3dBNrN1AaYcjNlp64Y-mkpLMHYHfq-ZkF2SH7S5K3F7uEFqeuAd27mlFbFzFqBmrfrni0wLz3fK4ok-jlyNA-D2hnR0t4FiRgJ_U0pVH8tkGtONT11DAcduGun/s1386/Screen%20Shot%202025-04-06%20at%2010.19.44%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="812" data-original-width="1386" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijvKDjLXfUM9_9fsqGIt1sqYcpXW8OKOrxdHLeYA1fejE17S8rln5T0zQBpVbVr9Cmyl3dBNrN1AaYcjNlp64Y-mkpLMHYHfq-ZkF2SH7S5K3F7uEFqeuAd27mlFbFzFqBmrfrni0wLz3fK4ok-jlyNA-D2hnR0t4FiRgJ_U0pVH8tkGtONT11DAcduGun/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-04-06%20at%2010.19.44%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>CineGraphx image of Val Kilmer in Oliver Stone's THE DOORS Year: 1991 Rating: ***</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>At one point in Oliver Stone's THE DOORS, Jim Morrison is told by one of several female admirers that he's better than the band itself, and that everyone only cares about him... that HE ALONE is The Doors... which is basically how Stone's movie winds up, far too quickly shifting away from an involving biopic about how four guys met in Venice, California and started a band, wrote great songs and played (from nightclubs to auditoriums) before screaming audiences...<br></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>So the first act harbors the best scenes, with Kilmer's brooding Morrison meeting founding member keyboardist Kyle MacLachlan as Ray Manzerek, a kind of uptight Felix to Jim's grungy Oscar... as Stone's PLATOON tough-guy Kevin Dillon plays drummer John Densmore as the band's Doubting Thomas, while Jim's real life favorite Robby Krieger's portrayed by Frank Whaley like he's never taken a single drug in his life...</p><p><span></span></p>

biopic, counter-culture, crispin glover, frank whaley, kathleen quinlan, kevin dillon, kyle maclachlan, meg ryan, michael madsen, music, nineties, oliver stone, olivia barash, sam whipple, val kilmer

VAL KILMER PLAYS JIM MORRISON IN OLIVER STONE'S 'THE DOORS'

CineGraphx image of Val Kilmer in Oliver Stone's THE DOORS Year: 1991 Rating: *** At one point in Oliver Stone's THE DOORS, Jim Morr...

YOUNG OLIVER STONE DIRECTS MICHAEL CAINE IN 'THE HAND'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><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/a/AVvXsEjlIUeij78x6tIGlswsx_7rPQbcaTJQp24fHXcCFw-3Uf-KTe6tiotNz6_HaIBQ5ZzMULkE02N2XLsoy6PrZVBHkwE9trJ2n0LRB2ZjGjcNb8AvN4DccVEdMC6SVumYFoGMDUOwDey8s-jM7eq08AqxfhJzWzlaKAmJSPlI3DfObtLlK9e2xtYeo3g2zQ=s1479" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1106" data-original-width="1479" height="299" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjlIUeij78x6tIGlswsx_7rPQbcaTJQp24fHXcCFw-3Uf-KTe6tiotNz6_HaIBQ5ZzMULkE02N2XLsoy6PrZVBHkwE9trJ2n0LRB2ZjGjcNb8AvN4DccVEdMC6SVumYFoGMDUOwDey8s-jM7eq08AqxfhJzWzlaKAmJSPlI3DfObtLlK9e2xtYeo3g2zQ=w400-h299" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: THE HAND Year: 1981 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Michael Caine is commendably intense in an otherwise subdued kind of psychological thriller by first-time director (of a genuine studio film) Oliver Stone that centers on Michael Caine as a comic book artist/writer who loses his hand in an automobile accident, technically the most riveting scene, after which he rehabilitates while the severed limb is, or seems to be, crawling around doing his dirty work for him...<br></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Stone’s 
best direction occurs during taut conversations between Caine and the 
people around him, providing a suspenseful base liken to 
stage-influenced British horror films, building character development in
 lue of cheap shocks...</p><p>However, scenes involving The Hand itself look a bit 
cheesy, dated, and sporadic cuts to black and white seem misplaced, contrasting
 from our protagonist turned antagonist and revolving side-characters 
Annie McEnroe as a tempestuous college student, Bruce McGill as a 
temperamental shrink, and Caine’s cheating wife Andrea 
Marovicci: his ultimate target in a horror thriller that has moments but somewhat loses its grip halfway through. Although, witnessing Michael Caine slowly 
going mad... a role that, according to Stone, took a toll on the actor’s 
real life... is worth the ninety minutes.</p><p><span></span></p>

andrea marcovicci, annie mcenroe, body count, bruce mcgill, cult, eighties, horror, michael caine, oliver stone, thriller

YOUNG OLIVER STONE DIRECTS MICHAEL CAINE IN 'THE HAND'

Title: THE HAND Year: 1981 Rating: ***1/2 Michael Caine is commendably intense in an otherwise subdued kind of psychological thriller by fir...

PENN STUCK IN STONE'S DESERT NOIR U-TURN

billy bob thorton, claire danes, jennifer lopez, joaquin phoenix, jon voight, julie hagerty, neo noir, nick nolte, nineties, oliver stone, sean penn

PENN STUCK IN STONE'S DESERT NOIR U-TURN

Sean Penn phones in Oliver Stone's mindtrip neo noir excursion within a small town purgatory Year Released: 1997 "If I were a b...

GREED RULES IN OLIVER STONE'S UNDERRATED 'WALL STREET'

<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/AVvXsEh_Gf9pqPytC9uM9HXaPO73zN4K8GbGxh7ONtS9a8tHY6OCwN7EKKwnqGaqfQNJaSpwLn6sNiWttV8l6_tEV4cux0wrD1teYr2ravJbpBTi_gwi83ERke8lmz5kG18wYyWgACvXGYhvP2jpVumYZT1gHtoN_DmoHOAKGZDwJf4K0UroPUnrCqwk4zdTFiyR/s1488/Screen%20Shot%202025-09-10%20at%2012.01.29%20AM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="792" data-original-width="1488" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_Gf9pqPytC9uM9HXaPO73zN4K8GbGxh7ONtS9a8tHY6OCwN7EKKwnqGaqfQNJaSpwLn6sNiWttV8l6_tEV4cux0wrD1teYr2ravJbpBTi_gwi83ERke8lmz5kG18wYyWgACvXGYhvP2jpVumYZT1gHtoN_DmoHOAKGZDwJf4K0UroPUnrCqwk4zdTFiyR/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-09-10%20at%2012.01.29%20AM.jpeg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Year: 1988 Rating: ****</u><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>Oliver Stone didn't win an Academy Award for writing and/or directing WALL STREET. His Vietnam opus PLATOON, also about two mentors pulling at a vulnerable Charlie Sheen wishbone, was the anticipated Gold Statue followup to his Best Screenplay for MIDNIGHT EXPRESS, which got the ball rolling a decade earlier. And having been an American soldier in Vietnam, PLATOON was his canvas to paint...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Painting and Douglas</td></tr>
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And yet, accolades were and still are very few concerning WALL STREET, giving props to Best Actor Winning Michael Douglas as the iconic Gordon Gekko, a Corporate Raider whose "Greed" speech was as important to his victory as, in a few years, Joe Pesci's barroom clown lecture would be. It's often that <i>one scene</i> seems to usually nail it. But according to both Stone and Douglas, they weren't the best of friends: On the first day, the director asked the big-named actor (on a tremendous roll after ROMANCING THE STONE and FATAL ATTRACTION cleared memory of his STREETS OF SAN FRANCISCO television status) if this were a motion picture or soap opera? And while it's never been disclosed exactly what scene in particular Stone referred to, it just might have had to do with playing a villain in a noticeably villainous fashion: The worst kind of cinematic bad guys (or girls) are the ones who seem like nothing else in the process, and with no pulse pumping in-between: as if instead of eating breakfast in the morning they meditate in perpetual darkness...<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_9P_PeMP8JKU77p5tHSC6-YKixh6cSa7WjsalEAfPSa0nPC-CYwd81uVqwJ5Gdcofl6ELXRuxO6V6H4Wy_v_Od8-SxdOj7PqEEkXfHMvsizRN0pUHHpxvRKcA_PDvab0mdZ3nHbpkr9A/s1600/2132.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_9P_PeMP8JKU77p5tHSC6-YKixh6cSa7WjsalEAfPSa0nPC-CYwd81uVqwJ5Gdcofl6ELXRuxO6V6H4Wy_v_Od8-SxdOj7PqEEkXfHMvsizRN0pUHHpxvRKcA_PDvab0mdZ3nHbpkr9A/s400/2132.jpg" width="190" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Real life father/son Sheen</td></tr>
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In fact, Douglas's best moments are bringing a sort of genuinely "twisted" humanity to this film's first-billed star, wonderfully playing the ultimate heavy against a lightweight climber in Stone's PLATOON leading young man, Charlie Sheen as Bud Fox, who sells his soul more convincingly by, in this case, using info on his father's union/airlines, than actual Faustian-inspired tales set in the modern world, like, for instance, THE DEVIL'S ADVOCATE, which this is not only much better than but seems the cinematic origin/inspiration of... For Douglas, at first... instead of harboring the intensity of some demonic manipulator... he's more like a deer springing gleefully through a forest, as Fox's motivation isn't to equal that impossible stride but to follow the heels upon which is tragically predicted an unlucky outcome by dad Martin Sheen in a terrific father/son (mostly one shot) scene, beginning within a silent elevator going down as Martin plays better than he speaks, often spouting blue collar values as if Stone were kissing his typewriter with every punch of the keys. And yet, shocking for a writer/director with a heart usually soaking on his sleeves, and with all the "good greed" abounding during the Reagan era (that liberal baby boomers preferred to call Selfish instead of Prosperous... which would reverse in the Clinton Era), this movie is, surprisingly, far more ambiguous than one might think, and that, other than the actor, is what makes Gordon Gekko so timeless... beneath all his money that never runs out, he really is a climber that only knows to move forward, without looking back – traits embracing any intrepid motion picture hero as opposed to a villain.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd47GlV2Lot3sF-njF8O8XGw8BYh7TrGUkkau8UOYe658kkvSJdJCuYKKPX6z0qMYd9rL-k6n-PlKdsZUajOlkH5GEmcUvoKVJlN6HAsWSrKGfdvesNBg8okdkvOTCt80xoGZBZnqzilQ/s1600/2.jpg" 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/AVvXsEgd47GlV2Lot3sF-njF8O8XGw8BYh7TrGUkkau8UOYe658kkvSJdJCuYKKPX6z0qMYd9rL-k6n-PlKdsZUajOlkH5GEmcUvoKVJlN6HAsWSrKGfdvesNBg8okdkvOTCt80xoGZBZnqzilQ/s320/2.jpg" width="221" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bud Fox is born to be lectured/mentored</td></tr>
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And taking a glimpse into the director's personal history, this movie was to Oliver Stone's youth what PLATOON was to his slightly older (yet still young) years; his dad was a hard-working Right Wing stockbroker and, in that, is who Hal Holbrook's friendly yet lecturing, wisely anticipating office broker Lou Mannheim is inspired: on par with Martin Sheen's "work hard without taking shortcuts" virtues and, despite having backed Nixon in the early-1970's and cruising along on a nowhere road in the same office for decades, he sees through Fox even before dad does, and also, doesn't trust money or Bud's foreknowledge of it, one bit.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">James Karen pouncing Fox</td></tr>
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A film that never stops entertaining, the value is in the "action" of the first half as Sheen goes from put-upon cold-caller in a relatively mediocre firm, bringing you into the caged, hectic setting and, like Bud, wanting out despite the great actors and flowing dialogue; to being a crooked investigative underling, following his prime target (Terrence Stamp) on a motorcycle while thinking up ways to cut corners to bring info and money back to his boss; while the suspense lies with equal momentum the rest of the way through, as Fox rides the tail-wind of success to what could be his own "abyss"...<br />
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Meanwhile, grooving throughout the good times and bad is a non-dated yet still completely discernible 1980's soundtrack, highlighted by several David Byrne Talking Head tunes that the techno main theme plays variations of: sounding as if one of those old black and green computer screens magically played music all by themselves, somehow, like a pianola for determined, workaholic yuppies in rhythmic repose. And there are corny moments, that Stone is often prone to in any of his projects, like an exhausted Fox looking out his million dollar penthouse window whispering to himself, "Who Am I?" as interior designing "trophy" girlfriend Daryl Hannah as Darien, equally vulnerable and desirable (who also butted heads with Stone), waits in a large bed, the set bathed in a sort of ominous glow, like Hell itself anticipates their every move... or maybe they're there already, but comfortably, for a little while...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Picturing Wall Street Life</td></tr>
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And to cover some other... contrived moments: One scene shows a bum with a shopping cart, and a suited businessman, standing together in the rain, on a street corner, as limo-cruising Gekko makes a point, literally pointing-out to Bud about their contrast: both just happening to be standing there, like an earlier scene in a club locker room where, as Gekko tells Fox about the importance of acquiring information, a guy conveniently walks up and quietly asks Gordon for an illicit stock tip...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An Unfairly Unbalanced Fox</td></tr>
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These things seem straight out of a play, or perhaps a coloring book, but somehow it's an old-fashion, dime-novel or even Film Noir approach that works. And returning to Bud's "Who am I?" moment, occurring just when hitting his stride (and literally after peaking sexually following a fantastic meal with Hannah), would he realize he lost his soul so quickly and/or even care at all? Stone mentions this moment during a great commentary track on the DVD, discussing and often defending a movie that most critics saw as a potential yet pale followup to his "greatest motion picture achievement," PLATOON, which is, really, if you look closely at Charlie Sheen's duo mentors... both obvious in their agendas... is completely the reverse of within a far more subtle WALL STREET...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">More Smoking of Winston Cigs</td></tr>
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Gekko is what he is the whole way through, and the genuine acting triumph lies far beyond just one of those performances that exceeds the film itself, which WALL STREET, to many, is the epitome of, and yet is very far from being. Working backwards here, from the 1980's to the 1990's, using Quentin Tarantino as a comparison: while the sublime Vietnam flick was Stone's PULP FICTION, exploding with epic grandiose while putting him on both the Hollywood and Household-Name map, this is more of a grounded-in JACKIE BROWN, paying more laid-back attention to the details than the devil. For any fans of the John Landis comedy TRADING PLACES knows, the convoluted work going on with the actual Stock Market "Floor Traders" makes little to no sense to an uneducated-in-such-matters audience, no matter how many times viewed: You just have to go with it, and let the characters make more sense to the story – beyond what they're actually doing.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">JCM Rules</td></tr>
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<u><b>RATING</b></u>: ****1/2<br />
<b><u>TRIVIA</u></b>: Most of the information has been already mentioned, as you should see this movie on DVD or BLU RAY to hear the terrific director commentary that covers a whole lot of ground, but there are still things to take notice of: Like Oliver Stone himself in a cameo as a broker... His son, who played a young, plump, dead-Indian obsessed Jim Morrison later in THE DOORS, plays Gekko's son... While the usually villainous greedy yuppie type James Spader plays a nice cautious fella with no guts while the equally jerk-off casted Sal Rubinek, as Gekko's lawyer, is in his usual weenie form... And not only is Sheen returning from Vietnam in PLATOON, but scene-stealer (in both films) John C. McGinley also returns, playing Bud's best friend/partner in the cold-calling firm run by an always-watchable James Karen, the Murray Hamilton of POLTERGEIST... In another small role, this a cameo, THE SHOOTING starlet, and the first cinematic Anne Frank, that being, Millie Perkins, turns up as Bud's mom while Sean Young has an even more (or rather, less) wasted potential as Gekko's wife, and yet her scenes are intriguing and realistic, as usual with the controversial yet talented and beautiful actress... Martin Scorsese regular goon Frank Adonis plays one of the blue collar root-for characters... Franklin Cover, best known as "the white guy married to Lenny Kravitz's mom" on THE JEFFERSONS turns up in one of his few movie roles • And the eerie portrait at the very top of this article/review, that Bud says would only be worthwhile "If you're on mushrooms," is one of the many modern paintings that Hannah's character bought with either Gekko or Fox's dough.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicKgtKnQGDZUGrNu4QhRagNYPzbYK18e1aKq_D5z0UgByvXUOx_cw5C0JNkjafeKKC_RiTY0KtyLJscrN9p-FQ8XON9D_XhJbMB_98KHMW3HbNGG8ZL1aQjm1wdghD6M02qZzoNA_l58A/s1600/111.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicKgtKnQGDZUGrNu4QhRagNYPzbYK18e1aKq_D5z0UgByvXUOx_cw5C0JNkjafeKKC_RiTY0KtyLJscrN9p-FQ8XON9D_XhJbMB_98KHMW3HbNGG8ZL1aQjm1wdghD6M02qZzoNA_l58A/s1600/111.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wide Shot of Gekko's War Room including a painting of the GHOST demons and what look like pinball machines</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy4_i_fFoxj8G1VZ4RFyeMo-CTrQxNrZc6iLeyA25noUaMoK1w1xcfZVk0JXiSQw8p9SWZvyEM66r5eJISVZJ6qlUSNpF3Z6K5UJeZvTKM6KajGUn0OkBbdHE3gCyECKbMkWys_cAvQog/s1600/112.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy4_i_fFoxj8G1VZ4RFyeMo-CTrQxNrZc6iLeyA25noUaMoK1w1xcfZVk0JXiSQw8p9SWZvyEM66r5eJISVZJ6qlUSNpF3Z6K5UJeZvTKM6KajGUn0OkBbdHE3gCyECKbMkWys_cAvQog/s1600/112.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"You're fired, but maybe you can talk the networks into a possible Jeffersons spin-off called... The Zebra Bunch."</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfOiRN2_qXpF0zn8I1cjfWoVbf4Jz6GlvBkJBFQMHMrNpIuh4nwSatx6-zUyyR2aHsbLUCqOFEOOexHOZiNWLLBx_E-xZpiulVF4OUHgndXns6Tp2Iinmu13qvVEcrQvY17RmG_CQMsCo/s1600/113.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfOiRN2_qXpF0zn8I1cjfWoVbf4Jz6GlvBkJBFQMHMrNpIuh4nwSatx6-zUyyR2aHsbLUCqOFEOOexHOZiNWLLBx_E-xZpiulVF4OUHgndXns6Tp2Iinmu13qvVEcrQvY17RmG_CQMsCo/s1600/113.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Here's a shot of the famous, or infamous, GREED IS GOOD scene, and to Wall Street, and Hollywood, it's Truth.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil3O8u2jcsqMj0efRIJXbC_tl71yAS2mSjlQ6j9tyd6488Gx_sL2cLGylJN5TU975xfCyuILb7BzYej53AvFVfbfYNVIGB6eCOUh5mM2pVZ_KEO9jWl9lNt5hq43BHp2aS9L5eACEH1Eg/s1600/114.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil3O8u2jcsqMj0efRIJXbC_tl71yAS2mSjlQ6j9tyd6488Gx_sL2cLGylJN5TU975xfCyuILb7BzYej53AvFVfbfYNVIGB6eCOUh5mM2pVZ_KEO9jWl9lNt5hq43BHp2aS9L5eACEH1Eg/s1600/114.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A very great scene between Martin & Charlie Sheen, both who <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2012/11/fifteen-main-characters-denied-top.html">starred in popular Vietnam Flicks</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiadNu7snJnbrG2R1FWu8CYSWwUPoep-7XYkg4W2xMrz7o6EHWBfWbYza6-qFzNQYSJOlY1PGlxoCrh6TcF5VbeJ_qvA3pdrvC-sqYYp0RV0Kr8fI7wY-8Pw_XYzokBskcZCBtsX037RzE/s1600/115.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiadNu7snJnbrG2R1FWu8CYSWwUPoep-7XYkg4W2xMrz7o6EHWBfWbYza6-qFzNQYSJOlY1PGlxoCrh6TcF5VbeJ_qvA3pdrvC-sqYYp0RV0Kr8fI7wY-8Pw_XYzokBskcZCBtsX037RzE/s1600/115.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Daryl, it could be worse news, believe us, wait a few years, Charlie just couldn't stop... And he's not winning.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM6-CUf9MlaNkdHWNnc_aD3EzGFGg-mlxSyb6BLYEv1DN_N5YeeC0NjlbdoAyUnNd2a4qzTvgLfX2vn1WEFZYzgLwhIN4_6gnFUj_-8_ixZSpS34XpEj9D9VgjTUfFUW_oH7STXXU2z3w/s1600/1.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM6-CUf9MlaNkdHWNnc_aD3EzGFGg-mlxSyb6BLYEv1DN_N5YeeC0NjlbdoAyUnNd2a4qzTvgLfX2vn1WEFZYzgLwhIN4_6gnFUj_-8_ixZSpS34XpEj9D9VgjTUfFUW_oH7STXXU2z3w/s1600/1.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nice use of what was popular during the 1960's and 1970's, Split-Screen Cinematography featuring Sean Young</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRpLuRUfM74paEuxcZMGHzJ8JSeahI70GaI052bXGVDvMdn4ZL4Cko_YUoIqZjcLuCTur-PEVFRhf3WMHzVhxgAChtgzN-SfzAB0KUeHo9i_kiHySBmS0SnDEhE1n12NO5kDO5wnozD4o/s1600/77.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRpLuRUfM74paEuxcZMGHzJ8JSeahI70GaI052bXGVDvMdn4ZL4Cko_YUoIqZjcLuCTur-PEVFRhf3WMHzVhxgAChtgzN-SfzAB0KUeHo9i_kiHySBmS0SnDEhE1n12NO5kDO5wnozD4o/s1600/77.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Canvas that provides THE END closing credits layout and father dedication for WALL STREET</td></tr>
</tbody></table><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/AVvXsEgv6slSlE9iiZ5_uJPUYmuU-WpO9xeDEfr2vNqzdDhTi7z8sso8A9XLE-BMM02tj7M2mgNlWurateu5CjKFouaIcihUdv7F_q6A_DYUPmwg9-JL4qweyfAhb0vQoJ3MHzr4R_JX2miIl7dFHOtxEiYQ8JxZ3umt2T4GgintEIvkKk0znccKiKwgDY54XRBg/s1600/0.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="866" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv6slSlE9iiZ5_uJPUYmuU-WpO9xeDEfr2vNqzdDhTi7z8sso8A9XLE-BMM02tj7M2mgNlWurateu5CjKFouaIcihUdv7F_q6A_DYUPmwg9-JL4qweyfAhb0vQoJ3MHzr4R_JX2miIl7dFHOtxEiYQ8JxZ3umt2T4GgintEIvkKk0znccKiKwgDY54XRBg/s16000/0.jpeg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Must have taken a bath on that one"<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p><br /></p><p> </p>

charlie sheen, daryl hannah, eighties, james karen, michael douglas, oliver stone, oscars, stock market

GREED RULES IN OLIVER STONE'S UNDERRATED 'WALL STREET'

Year: 1988 Rating: **** Oliver Stone didn't win an Academy Award for writing and/or directing WALL STREET. His Vietnam opus PLATOON, als...

Written by James M. Tate / 3/04/2016 / No comments / al pacino , christian slater , eighties , nineties , oliver stone , quentin tarantino , tony scott , val kilmer

UNPOPULAR TAKES ON BELOVED 'SCARFACE' & 'TRUE ROMANCE'

<table align="center" 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/AVvXsEhm3Y_krZqybAeofEPVx4yQVXerWcN4VrkKyPdwxh8js6bNN6IXS5zVIJECnOZCya2RKpriKSkn4E9Jw-Q6Vzt46Vr-5_RUh4TEecxRPl5JutaEniJm_rOh8wu6dXuEF46SjE6ECpqdcRw/s1600/0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="209" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm3Y_krZqybAeofEPVx4yQVXerWcN4VrkKyPdwxh8js6bNN6IXS5zVIJECnOZCya2RKpriKSkn4E9Jw-Q6Vzt46Vr-5_RUh4TEecxRPl5JutaEniJm_rOh8wu6dXuEF46SjE6ECpqdcRw/s400/0.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Firing away at a so-called Masterpiece Year: 1983</u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<u>SCARFACE</u> has… or had, since this post has been edited for a long time… returned to the theaters, mang. The one starring Al Pacino, written by Oliver Stone and directed by Brian De Palma...<br>
<br>
And now can be viewed in all its glory, and flaws… As for the latter, and with the legacy of what’s considered a “timeless classic” supposedly on par with the THE GODFATHER, who knew there were so many downsides? During one important scene, bordering the first and second act, when Al Pacino’s Tony Montana, a Cuban refugee who climbs from poverty and starts making loads of cash in the cocaine business, visits his mother, he offers money to her and Tony’s little sister. Mama refuses, saying the cash is dirty. At this point, not only does the dough seem clean as a whistle, and a damn nice gift, but we hardly experience Tony’s initial climb from the slums to a car dealership where a forty thousand dollar Porsche is an easy purchase…<br>

al pacino, christian slater, eighties, nineties, oliver stone, quentin tarantino, tony scott, val kilmer

UNPOPULAR TAKES ON BELOVED 'SCARFACE' & 'TRUE ROMANCE'

Firing away at a so-called Masterpiece Year: 1983 SCARFACE has… or had, since this post has been edited for a long time… returned to th...

ANOTHER BLOODY BAGFUL OF ECLECTIC HORROR

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH1wZCElo50Qk0keX2GBEK2JtwwDFplgcCa3U5iCLeHStTwcBnwX8mszSds2tOO_LJcicYNcAM95LiynGGtxbizMwRxB_fP62pXAjt3lBLbUeri222I2Al4VugbZUM7IP5eh4AZO8v3DE/s1600/31966_117684458274518_114286515280979_90987_2058846_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH1wZCElo50Qk0keX2GBEK2JtwwDFplgcCa3U5iCLeHStTwcBnwX8mszSds2tOO_LJcicYNcAM95LiynGGtxbizMwRxB_fP62pXAjt3lBLbUeri222I2Al4VugbZUM7IP5eh4AZO8v3DE/s1600/31966_117684458274518_114286515280979_90987_2058846_n.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Pictured: Connie Nelson Year: 1971</u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="background-color: white;"><u>DRACULA VS FRANKENSTEIN:</u> </span>Here's an Al Adamson directed b-movie so tailor made for a drive-in theater, you might have to roll your car inside the living room to watch it...  <br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgZ_Tf4w3s95ibAoDFbCtVvlBVeWAMhid94oHMeFXyOiWrWkgFr3Rropv-egmdol50Wu2MFf4XmQhhm9A4s226pY1KlxqTUN7dTL3qj3_5Ks8ZXilDmB1zmjULkNDIgstv8Um6sSXcRjKA/s1600/220px-Draculavsfrankposter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgZ_Tf4w3s95ibAoDFbCtVvlBVeWAMhid94oHMeFXyOiWrWkgFr3Rropv-egmdol50Wu2MFf4XmQhhm9A4s226pY1KlxqTUN7dTL3qj3_5Ks8ZXilDmB1zmjULkNDIgstv8Um6sSXcRjKA/s1600/220px-Draculavsfrankposter.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>DraculaVFrankensteinSCORE: **</u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Not exactly a pairing-up of two classic monsters, DRACULA VS FRANKENSTEIN is more of an exploitation horror: Involving monolog-driven mad scientist J.  Carrol Naish working out of a
 carnival fun house with an axe-wielding  idiot man-child, Lon Chaney, 
sent to kill women for experiments to give  his other employee, a 
brooding Count Dracula, eternal life...<br />
<br />
All the  while reanimating 
Frankenstein's Monster who resembles a melted  cabbage... But the worst thing is that it can
 be quite boring with tedious bouts of dialogue,  spouted mostly by two 
love-struck heroes: A man helping his new  girlfriend find her lost 
sister and eventually happening upon... all  that stuff already 
mentioned (a much cooler yet unlucky couple are beach lovers Connie Nelson and our pal, Gary Kent.) Although at times it can be somewhat involving: A fact which remains completely unexplainable.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLd5yzlr1upOTeYTIc7nU8pdIQ4K8dsvnH3sm1QV-4yuHJ0qWWmGE8_sTw7Semcvt2dFBYg9-OopnXnlxhLu0cRrPmis-ncCj_SICF6Pv-udFlCAlg1yqDrzDdhVclr4J9TDMnm5Hikj4/s1600/209867.1020.A.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLd5yzlr1upOTeYTIc7nU8pdIQ4K8dsvnH3sm1QV-4yuHJ0qWWmGE8_sTw7Semcvt2dFBYg9-OopnXnlxhLu0cRrPmis-ncCj_SICF6Pv-udFlCAlg1yqDrzDdhVclr4J9TDMnm5Hikj4/s1600/209867.1020.A.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>1982 rating: ***</u></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 100%;"><u>THE FOREST:</u><b> </b>The  set-up to this woodsy body count low
 budget slasher: the massacre of two  couples arriving at the forest... 
The women first and their boyfriends, who, for some reason, arrive later
 on... </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;">This is merely a bizarre platform for a subplot involving the ghosts 
of  two children and their crazy, cannibalistic father played by 
director Don  Jones's stock actor Gary Kent (SCHOOLGIRLS IN CHAINS), who
 kills, then eats, all females that  cross his path: a cheap horror with a lot of activity, 
including a backstory involving the  then-normal dad, kids, and a 
cheating wife just screaming to be killed keeps you interested enough  
to forget it's yet another FRIDAY THE 13th ripoff, but with a unique  
personality all its own. NOTE: The killer's son, child/pre-teen actor Corky Pigeon, played a geek named Freddie (whose secret was tap dancing) on the 80's sitcom SILVER SPOONS. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW8BOzeyrPA00f3O4e-S01GP8sJzUQHBX9wxxnodhUCT5P-gByAoj_Sa3_yynsCT4Gh1Cf7sOKpWqvJsNmAhgJYVypMxtearAmAubeKZov_EcTDgmftaAtWueccoNz3kW7Gy0AnjYrdqc/s1600/SPIDERBABYT.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW8BOzeyrPA00f3O4e-S01GP8sJzUQHBX9wxxnodhUCT5P-gByAoj_Sa3_yynsCT4Gh1Cf7sOKpWqvJsNmAhgJYVypMxtearAmAubeKZov_EcTDgmftaAtWueccoNz3kW7Gy0AnjYrdqc/s1600/SPIDERBABYT.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>year: 1964 rating: ***</u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<u><span style="background-color: white;">SPIDER BABY:</span></u> Whenever there's a horror film about a backwoods family of dimwitted yet
 dangerous loons, it's usually compared to, or accused for stealing 
from, THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE... but no longer.<br />
<br />
This film, written 
and directed by Jack Hill ten years prior, starring Lon Chaney as the 
caretaker of two lethal sisters and their lanky, lughead brother played 
by scene-stealer Sid Haig, is not only groundbreaking and shocking, but 
lots of fun as most of the fear is implied: when outsiders visit the house, 
will Lon be able to stop the twisted clan... especially gorgeous Jill 
Banner, using knives like spider's teeth... from murdering them? And although things drag in the middle, it's still a minor classic.<br />
<br />
<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/AVvXsEieM1INJkiG1BOQ5_nBWmr9rUMfc-_rOT7pBg5HENx_z2kvVj0mwiLbDi2aZCSaDLEQhudVeHxvVmg7VLivbWGKNLM6v3JC4UdPkdRTDO2Cs0TMvmuEdoFsN0Qgjv8HNjfAUNzyKLFl9AI/s1600/stee.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieM1INJkiG1BOQ5_nBWmr9rUMfc-_rOT7pBg5HENx_z2kvVj0mwiLbDi2aZCSaDLEQhudVeHxvVmg7VLivbWGKNLM6v3JC4UdPkdRTDO2Cs0TMvmuEdoFsN0Qgjv8HNjfAUNzyKLFl9AI/s1600/stee.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>year: 1987 rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><u><span style="background-color: white;">THE STEPFATHER</span></u>: A fantastic, fully-satisfying suspense/horror from Canada about a man 
who always needs a new family to kill starring Terry O'Quinn, years 
before gaining fame on LOST...</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;">As the title character, one minute he's extremely bland 
and unassuming, the next an intensely driven, strict "family values" 
patriarch, and eventually a complete psychopath, yet never showing<span style="font-style: italic;"> </span>the
 cards... Keeping protagonist Jill Schoelen, as the unfortunate new 
step-daughter, on her toes. Meanwhile, a</span><span style="font-size: 100%;"> side-story involving a young man's search 
for the Stepfather (before he strikes again) adds a nice peripheral 
balance, reminiscent of Alfred Hitchock and Brian De Palma's best work.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisDMurKghokV9O4HuiR2FTYoKqnYGWEgHUt0O5XHWMGTQaJj27iz_pgy53wn1zJoZPI3L2PW7NGX7afVmyZaRtDWT-vFy1ZCz08H_jHX9BINRkCeKMpY2apo5SZW93dMV5z9pbGB343M0/s1600/INNOCENT+BLOD.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisDMurKghokV9O4HuiR2FTYoKqnYGWEgHUt0O5XHWMGTQaJj27iz_pgy53wn1zJoZPI3L2PW7NGX7afVmyZaRtDWT-vFy1ZCz08H_jHX9BINRkCeKMpY2apo5SZW93dMV5z9pbGB343M0/s1600/INNOCENT+BLOD.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>year: 1992 rating: **</u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="background-color: white;"><u>INNOCENT BLOOD:</u> Decent</span> premise with good beginnings: A sexy, hungry 
french Vampire (Anne Parillaud) in America sets her sights on mafia kingpin Robert Loggia... a clever gag has her being repelled by 
Loggia's breath before she bits him... he's Italian, therefore reeking 
of garlic.<br />
<br />
Our anti-heroine bloodsucker, while feasting on various evil 
mobsters, falls in love with undercover cop Anthony LaPalgia while they 
both try stopping Loggia, who's not only head of the mob but now a 
powerful vamp himself while director John Landis, returning to horror a decade after AMERICAN 
WEREWOLF IN LONDON, balances humor and horror okay, but there's not 
enough going for either genre... Unlike the Werewolf classic, BLOOD is neither
 funny or scary: The choice of the vamps screeching like 
rabid cougars is pretty lame. And in the Landis fashion, there are many 
clips of other classic movies being watched on television by various 
characters, but homage becomes too excessive: making one long for those 
films instead.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoEtk5vRX5shaYgwdBS87G2mc8Mvv_Zn_cu7T5FtP-7o2oiDAha-s7Z9_5JRzq2YIbY1q6qmc2mGpXOJ1GKnJh4wKA6GJ1qCaVowb1g8aLp79oJhxqlFcDUeipZ0rwPKQw0LW7dfT-rEs/s1600/Picture+1.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoEtk5vRX5shaYgwdBS87G2mc8Mvv_Zn_cu7T5FtP-7o2oiDAha-s7Z9_5JRzq2YIbY1q6qmc2mGpXOJ1GKnJh4wKA6GJ1qCaVowb1g8aLp79oJhxqlFcDUeipZ0rwPKQw0LW7dfT-rEs/s1600/Picture+1.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>1983 rating: *1/2</u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<u><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">AMITYVILLE 3D</span>:</u> Gone are the days when 3D meant things moving towards the camera in a 
contrived manner. It's hilarious seeing this in 2D years later after the
 gimmick not only wore off, but is seen as merely that. Yet this film 
suffers from more than pretension of a 50s-era trend trying desperately 
to regain itself in the 1980's...<br />
<br />
Although the first ten minutes as Tony 
Roberts and Candy Clark trick a pair of seance-giving charlatans is not 
bad, the rest of the movie, after Roberts moves into the ghostly manor 
with his gorgeous daughter Lori Laughlin (visited by her friend, Meg 
Ryan), is quite stale. And those ever-buzzing flies just aren't scary... In fact, they never were.</div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_yUb1BgajHDH2rGnUZfVdG02tX7J7LHzoVqBEFE0_Ou5yA0hWA_8g30nze8azfN8jlv55_rzueQ5KAFNlOL6ZWIRJYejpqHK5V8mW71RWr-uL24K8Fa4fUt35Falch1Zs6ZHK6-EPdno/s1600/CONNELLY.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_yUb1BgajHDH2rGnUZfVdG02tX7J7LHzoVqBEFE0_Ou5yA0hWA_8g30nze8azfN8jlv55_rzueQ5KAFNlOL6ZWIRJYejpqHK5V8mW71RWr-uL24K8Fa4fUt35Falch1Zs6ZHK6-EPdno/s1600/CONNELLY.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>year: 1985 rating: *1/2</u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<u>PHENOMENA</u>:<b> </b>It's hard to stare at bugs, especially maggots, for very long... Some can't even say the M word out loud...<br />
<br />
But not 
for teenager Jennifer Connely who has the power to read their little 
minds, thus aiding Donald Pleasence, as a insect forensic expert, in 
finding a serial killer roaming around much like the phantom in Dario's 
SUSPERIA, which this is either a ripoff or, since it's the same man 
behind it, a homage by crashing girl's heads through windows, using a 
Goblin soundtrack but this time adding Iron Maiden and Motorhead tunes: So if you enjoy watching Jennifer Connelly, right after a flashback role in ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA and before playing a sexy ingenue in her career making CAREER OPPORTUNITIES, this isn't bad... but
 if you want a good horror flick, or a movie that actually goes 
somewhere: best try something else.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijbZ3xxmG9g6wJugMtMtPNrRT4SkIskpWZ5mt9BuEQlp2N_QNyWUspnPnZmOoGCmPxdoSFg35Qo0SLge-JPeVPX0WLFA7WVGIfSfIRodlagoMiDUyW-kKJ5mPoJQSydl3Cllg5J1_fB0I/s1600/28204.1020.A.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijbZ3xxmG9g6wJugMtMtPNrRT4SkIskpWZ5mt9BuEQlp2N_QNyWUspnPnZmOoGCmPxdoSFg35Qo0SLge-JPeVPX0WLFA7WVGIfSfIRodlagoMiDUyW-kKJ5mPoJQSydl3Cllg5J1_fB0I/s1600/28204.1020.A.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>year: 1981 rating: **1/2</u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<u><span style="background-color: white;">THE HAND:</span> </u>Michael Caine is terrific in this otherwise mediocre 
thriller by first-time director yet already screenplay Oscar winning Oliver Stone. Story centers on a 
cartoonist (Caine) who loses his hand in an automobile accident – 
technically the most riveting scene. After which he rehabilitates while 
the severed limb is, or seems to be, crawling around doing his dirty 
work for him.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTOeyE_QLpRh_ELN9GE8rV8OG5faVnELp7iiakuRN1exf8kPNrIKFnyi3me8u05ohCfWcIbqO-xZlCGqpMVk89hEWsz8bkLeNn06mggHO30vXU_xnwsRosg2QUuW0zG06q6FcMBYn-5fo/s1600/n1111.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTOeyE_QLpRh_ELN9GE8rV8OG5faVnELp7iiakuRN1exf8kPNrIKFnyi3me8u05ohCfWcIbqO-xZlCGqpMVk89hEWsz8bkLeNn06mggHO30vXU_xnwsRosg2QUuW0zG06q6FcMBYn-5fo/s200/n1111.jpg" width="107" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Midnight Relocated</u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Stone’s best direction occurs during taut conversations 
between Caine and the people around him, providing a suspenseful base 
liken to stage-influenced British horror films, building character 
development in lue of cheap shocks. But scenes involving The Hand itself
 look a bit cheesy, and sporadic cuts to black and white seem misplaced,
 contrasting from our protagonist turned antagonist and revolving 
side-characters Annie McEnroe (THE SURVIVORS, THE HOWLING II) as a tempestuous college student, Bruce 
McGill as a temperamental shrink, and Caine’s cheating wife 
Andrea Marovicci: his ultimate target.<br />
<br />
The film has moments, but loses 
its grip less than halfway through. Although, witnessing Michael Caine 
slowly going mad – a role that, according to Stone, took a toll on the 
actor’s real life – is worth the ninety minutes.<br />
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</div>

al adamson, candy clark, connie nelson, cult, eighties, exploitation, gary kent, horror, jennifer connelly, lon chaney jr., michael caine, oliver stone, pamela sue martin, sequel, seventies, tim matheson

ANOTHER BLOODY BAGFUL OF ECLECTIC HORROR

Pictured: Connie Nelson Year: 1971 DRACULA VS FRANKENSTEIN: Here's an Al Adamson directed b-movie so tailor made for a drive-in the...

Written by James M. Tate / 7/07/2012 / No comments / 2012 , action , blake lively , john travolta , oliver stone , taylor kitsch

SAVAGES

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS2Rya-WGFd-wtracPaU1PcBrxXJZ0RkWdvB8o4kFIiR6PRZLkJwC6VxIv0K4l0LsuyYHK5l3sNO7pAapaKp3IgtGqEq_3adowvuIz92iTUvlF65qmu7q927K9X9B_mTwWGH0FLhDvPCYq/s1600/savages-logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="314" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS2Rya-WGFd-wtracPaU1PcBrxXJZ0RkWdvB8o4kFIiR6PRZLkJwC6VxIv0K4l0LsuyYHK5l3sNO7pAapaKp3IgtGqEq_3adowvuIz92iTUvlF65qmu7q927K9X9B_mTwWGH0FLhDvPCYq/s640/savages-logo.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>year: </b>2012 <b>cast: </b>Taylor Kitsch, Blake Lively, Aaron Johnson, John Travolta<b> rating: </b>**</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The narration, provided by Blake Lively’s character O (short for Ophelia), prepares us for just about everything, including some of the corniest dialog heard in a motion picture. Describing her sex life with boyfriend Chon, a badass Iraq/Afghanistan veteran, she says, “I have Orgasms… He has Wargasms.” Ugh!<br />
<br />
The plot has Chon and best friend Ben sharing the same woman and occupation. Personality-wise they couldn’t be more different… Chon’s a bloodthirsty tough guy and Ben’s into saving the environment… yet they have pot-dealing in common. Born and raised in Laguna Beach and living the high life, things become ugly the minute a Mexican drug cartel wants to make a deal. Anyone familiar with bartering with a Cartel or Mafia will know: even if there seems to be a choice, there is no choice. You better agree or else… And that “Or Else” takes up much of the film.<br />
<br />
After O is kidnapped by Benicio Del Toro’s sinister thug Lado, who, baggy-eyed and gun happy, is probably the most likable character: you'll anticipate his every scene. And that’s not a good thing since our heroes are supposed to be Chon and Ben, not only unrealistically taking on the entire cartel but pulling off heists even the CIA couldn't comprehend.<br />
<br />
Enter John Travolta as a woebegone federal agent hanging with the good guys <i>and </i>the villains. While Salma Hayek is the head honcho, strutting around her Tijuana lair with a threat for everyone. Yet with all the characters – including Navy Seals and computer hackers – the person we’re supposed to care about most is O: if anything goes wrong, she gets it.<br />
<br />
But Blake Lively’s performance is so dull and listless even edgy Taylor Kitsch (Chon) and vulnerable Aaron Johnson (Ben), both trying their best to matter in yet another bloody Tarantino-inspired Oliver Stone flick, are forgotten by the climax which is very… Well that’s something you must survive on your own.

2012, action, blake lively, john travolta, oliver stone, taylor kitsch