Posts filed under 'Action!'
September 23rd, 2009
Here’s a story from the TIMES ONLINE about Adrian Bennett, a guy who’s such a big fan of the MAD MAX movies that he built his very own Interceptor, just like Max drives.
Bennett tells the times: “From the opening credits of the first film to the closing credits of MAD MAX 2 (what THE ROAD WARRIOR was titled in the rest of the world), my jaw was on the floor, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing and I was totally hooked.”
Notice, by the way, that he even has his own blue heeler cattle dog, just like Max does in the sequel. What’s more, he’d done the right thing and named it “Dog” — just like Max.
And here, just to remind you why someone would go to all the trouble to build an Interceptor, is the trailer for THE ROAD WARRIOR — still one of the greatest action movies ever made.
September 11th, 2009
Here’s the trailer for BLACK DYNAMITE, a faux-blaxploitation movie that looks like it nails the genre more accurately than anything I’ve ever seen, from the frenzied voice-over to the kung fu to the list of (fake) actors’ names at the end. (The actual trailer it most resembles is the hard-to-believe-it’s-real promo for Rudy Ray Moore’s oddball masterpiece, DOLEMITE.)
It opens Oct. 16, and as a fan of crazed ’70s cinema, I can’t wait to see it. Here’s one of the posters which, like the trailer, nails the time-period perfectly. (For more, check out the official site.)
August 14th, 2009
THE GOOD opens this weekend, and while this Jeremy Piven comedy about a car lot trying to sell off everything might be amusing, I highly doubt it’s going to match the comic brilliance of USED CARS, the 1980 Bob Zemeckis film starring Kurt Russell as a salesman with an astounding lack of scruples.
Here’s a scene with my favorite actor in the cast, Gerrit Graham, playing Rudy, Kurt’s superstitious buddy. All you need to know is (a) Rudy refuses to drive a red car, (b) Rudy is driving a red car, and (c) Rudy has to get the car to the lot ASAP. Oh, and (d) Kurt has explained to him that, because it has a coat of gray primer, it’s really a gray car. Got it? Okay…
There’s an even better stunt that precedes this one, with Rudy stumbling backwards across the highway and just narrowly avoiding getting hit by an oncoming car. I couldn’t find that one online, but if you rent the movie, keep an eye out for it. I think it was accomplished by (a) hiring a very good stunt driver and (b) not telling Graham just how close he was to the car.
July 21st, 2009
The first sentence of this Associated Press story about an effort to create a Bruce Lee museum is certainly attention-getting, even if you’re not a fan of Bruce Lee…
HONG KONG – The former home of Bruce Lee is now a love motel, renting rooms by the hour. But officials on Monday launched a design competition to turn it into a Hong Kong museum for the kung fu icon.
The story goes on to discuss a design competition aimed at establishing a permanent museum to honor the groundbreaking action star who, besides starring in ENTER THE DRAGON and other classics, revolutionized the martial arts movie and thereby shaped the way action movies are today. (No ENTER THE DRAGON? No MATRIX.)
There is an impressive statue of Bruce Lee on Hong Kong’s Avenue of Stars, located on Victoria Harbor. Here’s a picture of the wife and me during a 2006 trip to HK. We were actually in China to adopt our daughter, but being a devoted Hong Kong film fan, I couldn’t pass up a chance to see the Avenue of Stars.
July 17th, 2009
Here’s a quiz for all you science fiction slash action slash horror movie fans: This promotional poster for the Crazy 4 Cult Show by artist Tim Doyle contains about 40 weapons from various films. How many can you name?
At first glance, I spot Rick Deckard’s pistol from BLADE RUNNER, Rocky’s boxing glove, that spinner thing from KRULL, the backpack from GHOSTBUSTERS, the owl from CLASH OF THE TITANS, the gun from ALIENS, a chainsaw from (I’m guessing) TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, Han Solo’s pistol, a STAR TREK phaser, Jason’s hockey mask (is that really a weapon?), Batman’s wire gun, Jesse Ventura’s helicopter gun from PREDATOR, a light sabre, Anton Chigurh’s airgun Anton from NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, the pistol from ROBOCOP and the ring from LORD OF THE YOU KNOW WHAT.
How about you? There’s a bigger image — and a contest to enter — here.
July 14th, 2009
If you’ve seen SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE and think you’ve seen a Bollywood movie, think again. These wildly popular Indian films have an over-the-top style that combines wild action, bold emotions and elaborate musical numbers. Here, to give you the briefest taste, is a clip from a movie that I don’t know the name of — but will nevertheless never forget.
Be sure to stick around for the big finish…
Courtesy of Nik Dirga’s Spatula Forum
July 6th, 2009
Over at Slate.com, Kevin Conley has come up with a smart angle on the usual summer action movie story. He’s asked a group of stunt professionals (who, after all, have a unique and uniquely close-up perspective) to pick their top action movies. Some have great stunts, some changed the business, and some are just favorites. But whatever the criteria, it’s a pretty interesting list with even more interesting insights. Here, for example, is why THE MATRIX earned a spot…
As (the stunt workers) explain it, producer Joel Silver traveled to China to beg a reluctant Yuen Wo-Ping, the action director for such kung fu classics as IRON MONKEY and FIST OF LEGEND, to choreograph the fighting in this movie, and Wo-Ping set ridiculous demands in the hopes that Silver would just go away: a huge budget, a ridiculous salary, and six months of training with the actors and stuntmen. Much to his surprise, Silver agreed to everything, and when the series became a blockbuster, the practice of hiring stuntmen for lengthy training and rehearsal periods took off.
And yes, there are You Tube links to most of the clips. Here, for example, is some impressive driving from the German TV series ALARM FUR COBRA 11…
June 4th, 2009
As part of its ongoing Gateways to Geekery series, the Onion AV Club offers recommendations for kung fu movies if you’re just getting into the genre. It’s a fine set of picks, led by the excellent 1978 film THE 36TH CHAMBER OF SHAOLIN.
But, as always, the discussion in the messages that follow is where things really get interesting. After mentioning dozens of kung fu films, someone finally brings up a legendarily bad one: THE DRAGON LIVES AGAIN. Released after the death of Bruce Lee, it cast another actor (who doesn’t even look like Lee) in the role of Bruce, who finds himself in hell. And that’s only the beginning. THE DRAGON LIVES AGAIN may be bad, but it’s like no movie you’ve ever seen. In fact, it’s great.
Here, for example, the faux Bruce Lee battles James Bond, what appear to be silhouette characters from a James Bond credit sequence, and the Blind Swordsman of Japanese movie lore, spaghetti western Clint Eastwood (as Kato, Lee’s role from the GREEN HORNET series), what appear to be a couple of Dracula-types, and a swordsman from a movie I can’t identify…
But that’s nothing! In this clip, he fights an army of mummies and gets help from — believe it or not — Popeye! — complete with a can of spinach and that familiar theme song!
June 4th, 2009
Here’s the trailer for the new flick THE SURROGATES, due to open in theaters on Sept. 25.
Always nice to see an action movie that actually has an intriguing idea at its core.
June 3rd, 2009
Via Boing Boing, here’s a show reel where gymnast and stunt master Damien Walters shows off some pretty amazing skills…
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