Posts Tagged ‘Action’

Watchmen: The End Is Nigh (2009)

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Rorschach works out some of his issues with women.

Rorschach works out some of his issues with women.

Released in two parts — March and July 2009, respectively — The End is Nigh is something of a prequel to the Watchmen film and comic book series, set in 1972, before the passing of the Keane Act that outlawed masked vigilantes.

In the first part, Rorschach (voiced by Jackie Earle Haley) and Daniel “Nite Owl” Dreiberg (Patrick Wilson) set out to quell a prison riot at Sing Sing. The riot turns out to be a diversion for the escape of crime lord The Underboss, and our caped crusaders end up fighting their way through criminals and cops alike trying to find him, and possibly stop the plot to kill two reporters at The Washington Post, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. The second part concerns the kidnapping of a girl named Violet Greene, and finds Nite Owl and Rorscach chasing Twilight Lady through strip clubs and brothels, fighting gangs, gimps, and dominatrices. (The voice acting of the gimps and doms is quite funny, especially the ball-gagged ones.)

Stargate (1994)

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Colonel Jack (Kurt Russell) and Action Jackson (James Spader) take in the atmosphere.

Colonel Jack (Kurt Russell) and Action Jackson (James Spader) take in the atmosphere.

OK. Let’s get the opening confessions out of the way: I’m a Stargate SG-1 fan, and the last time I saw the feature was more than ten years ago, long before the series premièred. So, I won’t pretend I don’t see the series as the “real” version of the mythos, but I’ve tried to keep an open mind.

Thriller – en grym film (1974)

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Madeleine (Christina Lindberg) knows the importance of colour coordinating your eye patch.

Madeleine (Christina Lindberg) knows the importance of colour coordinating your eye patch.

Madeleine (Christina Lindberg) is mute since being raped as a child. One day, she leaves the family farm and follows a man who seemingly can’t stop talking to the city. As you might’ve guessed, it doesn’t end well. The man, Tony (Heinz Hopf), is a pimp who forces Madeleine into prostitution and heroin addiction. After at first refusing, Madeleine soon has her mind changed by a scalpel to the eye. Despite the steady heroin supply, Madeleine doesn’t very much like prostitution, and sets out to get her revenge on Tony and the tricks.

Watchmen (2009)

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Silhouette celebrates Japan's surrender the old fashioned way.

Silhouette celebrates Japan's surrender the old fashioned way.

Zack Snyder’s feature film debut, Dawn of the Dead (2004), had a kinetic, visually exciting opening sequence, but the rest of the film was fairly pointless. His second film, 300, was all flash and no substance, and, frankly, I found it a bit boring. And now, he’s tasked with bringing the Tristram Shandy of comic books, Alan Moore’s Watchmen (1986-7), to the silver screen. So, a comic book by a wizard, adapted by Solid Snake, and directed by a man who made his name with a zombie film remake. If that isn’t the definition of the post-modern condition, I don’t know what is; the creators are mash-up of pop-culture mythology.

The Die Hard Tetralogy

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Die Hard (1988)


John McClane (Bruce Willis) is at an office Christmas party when the building is taken over by terrorist. One of the best action films of all time. Bruce Willis is superb as the prototypical American hero, and Alan Rickman hams it up as the “terrorist” leader. It’s the film that pretty much created the modern action film, and it’s sure a fun ride.
Rating: ★★★★☆

Die Hard 2: Die Harder (1990)


Or: Die Hard in an airport. Follows the Aliens dictum for sequels: if you can’t make it better, make it louder. And it’s certainly action-packed, but it’s let down by the ludicrous plot and the sometimes headache-inducing editing. Still, it’s fun to watch Bruce Willis reenact the American Monomyth again, and Harlin does know how to shoot an explosion.
Rating: ★★½☆☆

Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995)


This time, Willis gets some help from Samuel L. Jackson as they play a deadly game of Simon Says all over New York City. Even dumber than Die Harder, but the action set-pieces are still fun to watch and the Willis/Jackson dynamic is all right once they get past the initial idiocy and settle into the film.
Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Life Free or Die Hard (2007)


As is customary for Die Hard sequels, Live Free or Die Hard (worst title yet, and the rest-of-the-world version, Die Hard 4.0, isn’t much better) is dumb but fun. It’s basically a series of effects sequences strung together by something that is almost but not entirely unlike an intelligent plot.
Rating: ★★½☆☆

Overall Rating: ★★½☆☆