Bangkok Dangerous (2008)

Directors: Oxide Pang Chun, Danny Pang

Writers: Jason Richman, Oxide Pang Chun, Danny Pang

Composer: Brian Tyler

Starring:  Nicolas Cage, Shahkrit Yamnarm, Charlie Yeung, Panward Hemmanee, Nirattisai Kaljaruek, Dom Hetrakul, Tuck Napaskorn, Steve Baldocchi, Crhis Heebink, James With

More info: IMDb

Tagline: The hitman has become the target

Plot: A hitman who's in Bangkok to pull off a series of jobs violates his personal code when he falls for a local woman and bonds with his errand boy.

My rating: 6.5/10

Will I watch it again? No.

I was surprisingly entertained.  I'd heard a lot of crap about this flick and, being a Nicolas Cage movie, I kind of expected much, much worse.  It turns out to be pretty good.  It looks great, the action scenes are fun, Brian Tyler's score adds to it and Cage feels like the right choice.  If you don't like him then stay away from this one.  Even though his character falls for a dame, just like the often used trope goes, it doesn't seem to hurt the picture all that much.  In fact, it makes more sense that Joe (Cage) might do something like that considering where he is in his life.  The pacing is pretty good and I found myself not regretting giving up 95 minutes of my life for this.  Only now do I see that the writer/directors who made this also created the original film in 2000.  If I should come across it I'll definitely watch it.  It's probably better, Nicolas Cage or no Nicolas Cage.  The Lionsgate DVD extras include 2 making of featurettes which total around 30 minutes, an alternate ending, the theatrical trailer (anamorphic widescreen) and a handful of anamorphic widescreen trailers for more Lionsgate pictures.

The Rutles 2: Can't Buy Me Lunch (2004)

Director: Eric Idle

Writer: Eric Idle

Composer: ???

Starring: Eric Idle, Neil Innes, Ricky Fataar, David Bowie, Billy Connolly, Carrie Fisher, Jewl Kilcher, Steve Martin, Mike Nichols, Conan O'Brien, Salman Rushdie, Garry Shandling, Robin Williams, Clint Black, Jimmy Fallon, John Halsey, Tom Hanks, Graham Nash, Kevin Nealon, Catherine O'Hara, Jim Piddock, Bonnie Raitt, David A. Stewart, James Taylor, Jann Wenner

More info: IMDb


Plot: Twenty-three years after the release of the original Rutles documentary, famous artists, actors and musicians speak out on how the Rutles influenced them.

My rating: 6/10

Will I watch it again?  Probably not.

On its own this is still pretty funny but only if you haven't seen THE RUTLES: ALL YOU NEED IS CASH (1978).  If you have seen the first film then this is utter shit.  It uses an extraordinary amount of footage from that film AND it regurgitates a lot of the same gags, making them run even longer than they should have.  It is nice seeing some of the then-current SNL players and there are some good laughs in this picture but there's no escaping the laziness of trying to pad out a film for 80 minutes where probably half of it was filmed 25 years earlier.  Still, there are enough cameos from some very funny people to make this a must-see for fans.  I can almost guarantee you'll only ever go back to the first one for revisits.  The Warner Bros. DVD has some extras including about a half hour of more interviews, 8 minutes of Eric Idle outtakes and an alternate ending. 

The Big Hit (1998)

Director: Kirk Wong

Writer: Ben Ramsey

Composer: Graeme Revell

Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Lou Diamond Phillips, Christina Applegate, Avery Brooks, Bokeem Woodbine, Antonio Sabato Jr., China Chow, Lainie Kazan, Elliott Gould

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Hit Happens

Plot: To payoff his second girlfriend's debt, hitman Melvin Smiley undertakes a kidnapping job with his usual associates. In a world of prospective Jewish in-laws and late movie fees, the hitman falls in love with the victim and must settle the score with those out to double-cross him.

My rating: 5.5/10

Will I watch it again? No.

I guess I don't dig much on Wahlberg.  So many times I find his performances adequate but not quite there when it comes to the tons of other guys who could do better.  Still, he's done some great work like in THE DEPARTED (2006).  Maybe it's his character that I wasn't digging on.  Anyway, he's OK in this but he's completely out-shined by Lou Diamond Phillips, a guy who's also hit and miss like Wahlberg.  He's pretty damn funny in this picture and he's probably the best thing about it.  The story gets too bogged down with the budding romance sub plot but I did find myself laughing from time to time when I wasn't otherwise bored.  It drags in spots but it's punctuated by bouts of action and comedy. The Columbia DVD has a few extras including a director's/producer's commentary, a screenwriter's commentary, 3 deleted scenes and the non-anamorphic widescreen theatrical trailer. 

The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash (1978)

Directors: Eric Idle, Gary Weis

Writer: Eric Idle

Composer: Neil Innes

Starring: Eric Idle, John Halsey, Ricky Fataar, Neil Innes, Michael Palin, George Harrison, Bianca Jagger, John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Gilda Radner, Bill Murray, Gwen Taylor, Ron Wood, Terence Bayler, Henry Woolf, Al Franken, Lorne Michaels, Tom Davis, Mick Jagger, Paul Simon

More info: IMDb

Tagline: The Rutles, a living legend that will live long after other living legends have died.

Plot: Charts the adventures of the prefab four, possibly the most famous band of all time.

My rating: 7.5/10

Will I watch it again? Yes.

Hilarious and brilliant. It's so fun that many parts of it feel like they just wrote themselves.  The cast and crew must have loved filming this. The Beatles song parodies are not only spot on but a lot of them are very clever and as enjoyable as the songs they're aping.  I've seen this several times over the past 35 years and I'm always amazed at how authentic a lot of the vintage video and photos look.  They really took the time, money and effort to make this look as genuine as possible and they succeeded wildly.  Then there's the cameos from Jagger and Simon playing themselves and also the SNL actors like Murray, Aykroyd, Belushi et al.  There are a lot of great gags and Idle couldn't be more suited to run the show.  It's a great mockumentary and it's possibly the first or at least one of the earliest of what has since become a genre unto its own.

A Foreign Field (1993)

Director: Charles Sturridge

Writer: Roy Clarke

Composer: Geoffrey Burgon

Starring: Alec Guinness, Leo McKern, Edward Herrmann, John Randolph, Geraldine Chaplin, Lauren Bacall, Dorothy Grumbar, Jeanne Moreau, Michelle Gheleyns-Hue, Cateline Alteirac

More info: IMDb


Plot: Veterans return to Normandie on the 50th anniversary of D Day for their own special and poignant reasons, among them two looking for an old love who turns out to the same woman for both.

My rating: 8.5/10

Will I watch it again? Yes.

This feature length TV movie (an episode of SCREEN ONE) may start out like some 'cute but for old people who survived the war' picture but it ends without a dry face in the audience.  There are some good laughs and the characters are likable but man, oh man, does that last half hour pack an emotional wallop!  My face was completely wet by the time the credits rolled.  The performances are solid and so is Roy Clarke's script that starts light and fun and ends heavy and reverential.   Highly recommended. 

The Blood Beast Terror (1968)

Director: Vernon Sewell

Writer: Peter Bryan

Composer: Paul Ferris

Starring: Peter Cushing, Robert Flemyng, Wanda Ventham, Vanessa Howard, David Griffin, Glynn Edwards, William Wilde, Keven Stoney, John Paul

More info: IMDb

Tagline: The Blood Lust of a FRENZIED VAMPIRE!

Plot: A scientist, working with genetics, creates a creature that is capable of transforming back and forth between a giant Death Head moth and a beautiful woman. The creature masquerades as his daughter when she is in her human incarnation and feeds on the blood of her victims when she is in the moth form.

My rating: 6/10

Will I watch it again? No.

A giant moth as the monster in a pseudo-Hammer horror?  Sign me up.  Oh, wait, don't.  It's not nearly as much fun as it seems like it 'could' be. The acting, led by the amazing Peter Cushing is great as you'd expect with a British cast in the 60s.  The Gothic setting, clothes, locations et al do a great job of setting the look and tone of the picture.  What hurts it in a big way is the pacing.  They really try to make it seem like there's a lot in the span of about 90 minutes but I'm certain a second viewing will uncover several moments and perhaps entire scenes that could be trimmed or excised altogether.  It's not a bad film but it's shy enough from being a good one that it almost begs you to watch and compare it to most any of the Gothic Hammer horror pictures of the era.  It was made by Tigon British Film Productions, their first, who would go on to make the excellent WITCHFINDER GENERAL (1968) and outstanding THE BLOOD ON SATAN'S CLAW (1971), among others.  It's on Netflix streaming at the moment and it's one of the sadly few 60s horror movies they have.  Is it worth watching?  For Peter Cushing fans it's a no-brainer (rumor has it he's said it's his worst picture on several occasions).  There is a neat Burke & Hare-esque stage play in the film that would be neat to have seen back then (as in the 1800s).  It takes up an extraordinary amount of running time and it barely adds anything to the story but it's also one of the most entertaining parts of it. 

Mission of the Shark: The Saga of the U.S.S. Indianapolis (1991)

Director: Robert Iscove

Writer: Alan Sharp

Composer: Craig Safan

Starring: Stacy Keach, Richard Thomas, Steve Landesberg, Don Harvey, Robert Cicchini, David Caruso, Bob Gunton, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Jeffrey Nordling, Carrie Snodgress, Dale Dye, Gordon Clapp, Andrew Pine

More info: IMDb


Plot: True story of the sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis, its crew's struggle to survive the sharks and exposure, and the captain's scape-goat court-martial.

My rating: 6.5/10

Will I watch it again? No.

I can only begin to imagine what it must be like to be stranded in the ocean with no one knowing you're there until many days later, and even then I'm only speculating the horror these men must have felt.  The story entered into the popular culture with Robert Shaw's incredible monologue in JAWS (1975).  He tells a chilling story that is based on true events.  This TV film does a pretty good job of recounting the events but they are, unfortunately, bound to the budget and limitations of the medium at the time.  It feels like a TV movie but the actual events still resound with horror.  Craig Safan's somber score is nice and it has hints of his excellent score for SON OF THE MORNING STAR from that same year.  Listen to the main theme from that picture; it's fantastic!  I'm really surprised that this story hasn't been told on the big screen.  Given the right talent, it could be one powerhouse of an emotional, exciting and horrific picture.  So far, the best filmed account of this story was told by Quint.  It's 40 years old this year and it never ceases to send chills through my body.