Revisiting Dirty Harry (an act inspired by Empire magazine's thumbs up for The Dirty Harry Ultimate Collector's Edition boxset) really hasn't done much to change my mind about Don Seigel's simplistic piece of comic book nastiness.  Loosely based on the real life Zodiac killings the film itself is certainly well put together with it's sharp editing and fantastic soundtrack courtesy of Lalo Schifrin but the central plank, that Harry Callahan is heroic, is a ridiculousness all of it's own...

For starters his kill rate and fetishistic love of weaponry (the line "My, that's a big one" says it all) is equal to (if not above) that of Scorpio his nemesis.  Talking of whom, at least the villain of the piece actually has a personality - Harry doesn't even rate as a decent performance.  When the similarly void Robocop and Judge Dredd turned up their creators had the sense to place them within satirical environments, but Harry is supposed to be a real world inhabitant - that is if you believe San Francisco to be run by the kind of fiendish liberals that make up Fox News' 'reality'.

For me Dirty Harry is wish fulfilment cinema and succeeds and fails on this one definition.  The character's enduring popularity speaks to a belief that due process is simply too much hassle when you 'just know' that someone is guilty (although one suspects that if they were ever accused of a crime they would want the rights they would deny others in the name of expediency) and that resolutions are all that matter - the real life Zodiac case remains open whilst this movie closed it with a .44 Magnum.  Either way Dirty Harry offers a world that is cleaner, simpler, devoid of substance and crammed with rhetoric.

Released in a year when Popeye Doyle (a character who shares many traits with Callahan) showed us that tough cops and broken men go hand in hand, Dirty Harry shows us that depressingly in both art and reality people crave certainty above all else.

...which probably explains why Eastwood's other output in '71, Play Misty For Me and The Beguiled, are somewhat overshadowed despite being far superior efforts.

1. The ABC War Robot.

What would life be like if we were followed around by an 8 ft. tall robot with machine guns in it's hands and who did everything we told it to? Awesome. It would be awesome.

2. Mutants.

We all know that if there's ever some sort of nuclear disaster, and we somehow survive it, we're more than likely to be transformed into hideous mutant monsters. He can only hope that our uber-Christian preacher fathers will be able to outfit us with Six Million Dollar Man cybernetic implants, and that there will be enough airplane crash victims for us to eat.

3. Rob Schneider.

I think it's great that Rob Schneider has given up success and a career of his own so that he could focus on co-opting the success of others who are still relevant and still making good movies. Anyway, he was decent in this movie and some of his lines were pretty funny. Little did he know that the s**tfest that was Deuce Bigalow would have a retroactive effect on all his previous work, also moving it into the s**t catagory. We'll make an exception for Judge Dredd... and for SNL.

4. Block war, man!

Don't you hear 'em out there? It's block war, man!

5. The Lawgiver.

I thought it would be kind of obvious to do an article on things we loved about movies with guns, and then have one of those things be the guns themselves. But this time around I couldn't resist. The Lawgiver does everything. It shoots flairs, grenades, standard rounds, armor-piercing rounds, and in the movie's deleted scenes, you see it actually make Dredd a ham sandwich. Who wouldn't want one of these things? Don't pick it up though, because they're booby-trapped.

Be back next week for a new edition of 5 Things We Love About Movies With Guns. As always, if you'd like to see a movie reviewed, write us at move.it.move@gmail.com.

Now, I could easily fill this list with nothing but Rambo & Rocky movies, but what fun would that be? Sure, all of those movies are nine kinds of awesome (yes, Rocky V and Rambo III included), but it just wouldn't be a fair contest. As much as Stallone's filmography is full of amazing cinematic adventures, what can compare to freakin' Rambo & Rocky ?! Nothing. So I'm cutting it down to only 1 Rambo and 1 Rocky movie in the interest of fairness.

First Blood (1982)

The mother of all action movies and Stallone's finest moment. Sure, action movies came before this (Remember all those westerns and war movies that your grandpa watched?) but First Blood set the standard for the 80s and beyond. Schwarzeneggar movies may have popularized the one-liners (another 80s action necessity), but Stallone's John J. Rambo gave us the strong silent type that was used ever so often during the 80s. While there was only 1 kill (and it was by way of the cop's own incompetence), this was the template for the unstoppable one-man war machine.

Rocky (1976)

This is the movie that launched the world into the Stallone Zone and paved to way for his excellent work in the action genre. Previous to this, Stallone was a struggling actor and insisted on starring in this movie, which he also wrote. Had the movie studio not agreed to his starring role or had the movie flopped, Stallone may have become a footnote in cinematic history, and that my friends, is a world I dare not dream of.

Lock Up (1989)

Truly, an underrated gem! I love this movie. Well, I love all of Stallone's movies, but this one is up near the top. The bad guys? Absolutely dispicable. Stallone? A good guy done wrong. Classic formula!

Demolition Man (1995)

This movie is just fun. A cop and a criminal cryogenically frozen and then they get thawed out in the future. Snipes' performance is over the top, and in a good way. Plus... A young Sandra Bullock. Mmm... Sandra Bullock.

Over the Top (1987)

Judging by the packaging for the home video release, this was supposed to be the next action franchise for Stallone: "Rocky, Rambo, Cobra and now Hawk, in the biggest fight of his life". There was even a short-lived toyline based on the movie. This movie was pretty much the arm-wrestling version of Rocky, except there's an annoying kid thrown in. He's such a whiner, but it's Stallone doing what he does best-- the underdog.

Tango & Cash (1989)

Now THIS I would've loved to have seen become a franchise. They were obviously trying to cash-in on the buddy cop genre that Lethal Weapon did so well and for the most part it worked. Kurt Russell really shines in this movie. Plus... A young Teri Hatcher. Mmm... Teri Hatcher.

Judge Dredd (1995)

I don't care what you say, this is a good movie. I'm sure it made fans of the comic book really mad, but hey, I'm a Stallone fan first and formost, so I liked it. I do think the addition of Rob Schneider was a bit much, there was no need to turn this movie into an action/comedy when he was around, but other than that, it's solid and Stallone was a great choice for Dredd, I think. Plus... A young Diane Lane. Mmm... Diane Lane.

In the summer of 1995, I believe, Blockbuster sponsored the second and last of its World Video Game Championship competitions. Somewhat appropriate for my age, I was video game obsessed so I was excited at the opportunity to try my luck at this. Besides two years of free rentals (two per month) were on the line.

The contest was set-up to give each competitor the opportunity to play the special cartridges 3 times over a four or six week period, if I remember correctly. An official from the Blockbuster store observed you while playing and acted as scorekeeper for the contest. Players had to choose between playing Donkey Kong Country on the SNES or two pack of Acclaim games, Judge Dredd and NBA Jam TE, on the Sega Genesis. Being a devoted member of the House of Sega, I picked the Genesis side of the competition.

I remember not doing extremely well in my first two trials. NBA Jam TE I think I did very well in since the original game was one of the few non-baseball sports titles I actually enjoyed. The competition tabulated score based on how many points a player could score in one quarter (2:00) of play. The trick was 3 points also tabulated an additional 9,000 points for each one hit. So when I played, I picked a 3 point heavy team, the Cleveland Cavaliers, and managed to score consistently high the both times I played.

Judge Dredd, as all things Stallone turn out to be, was a different matter altogether. The game wasn't out in retail or rental yet. It was set to be tied to the Stallone summer film coming out later in the summer. As such, it was difficult to practice or know how to play the game and the 10 minute time limit didn't give much opportunity to learn. I managed with what I could and did a pretty mediocre job with the game. I followed the tips provided in the little Blockbuster pamphlets to maximize scoring opportunities but still ended up middling in 5th place.

One day, I got a lucky break. While browsing the aisles for a game to rent, I happened upon another competitor playing through the Judge Dredd portion of the competition. I watched intently as he played through his round. Nothing seemed spectacular or out of the ordinary from the way I played. As the timer ticked away, the player found a hidden room and found a trinket adding a million points to his score. This explained why everyone else seemed to so handily topping my score.  Of course, I didn't really have much of a clue as to where the trinket actually was.

Eventually I got to take my last stab in the contest.  I managed to pull the highest score in NBA Jam TE yet but I wasn't on the road to victory yet.  Judge Dredd booted up and I started my play through trying to find the trinket.   Time ticked away as I fruitlessly scoured the two dimensional representation of Mega City One.  I did find the trinket by falling into a room with the worst enemies in the game.  I grabbed the trinket and scrambled to rack up whatever remaining points I could accrue.

With time up, my scores were tabulated and I found I now commanded a significant lead with a week left in the contest.  I waited and checked in on the scores every couple of days to see where things stood.  No one else managed to top my score and I was the winner at the store.  I was handed over the card with my winnings which rented many a crappy game over the next year, I mean it was 1995 and unfortunately the 16-bit era was in its twilight.  I reckon Blockbuster didn't see much value in the competition and the second contest ended up being the last one.

Anyone else every compete in the competition or tracked down some of these rare cartridges?  Leave a comment.

Thomas Bodström visar vad han tycker om det svenska folket.

Att Beatrice Ask skulle tycka att det var en bra idé är väl kanske inte direkt förvånande. Hon är moderat och har ingen utbildning eller kunnande i ämnet. Är det nåt högern blir sexuellt upphetsade över är det att spara in skattemedel samt ordning och reda. Det och att äta upp små barn för att deras oskyldiga själar livnär dem och får deras förstenade tjäriga hjärtan att fortsätta slå i ytterligare några veckor. Det finns en ganska logisk förklaring till varför polis, åklagare och domare är separerade i vårt juridiska system. Och den har ingenting med kostnadseffektivitet att göra. Vad kan det vara för nåt? Satiren håller på att bli verklighet.

Här har vi vår framtid gott folk.

Men så länge poliser och åklagare slipper göra sina egentliga jobb och vi sparar lite pengar kan vi nog säkert sova gott om nätterna. Vetandes att vårt omutliga och högst kompetenta polisväsende vakar över oss. Kan någon säga; Polisstat?

Now a producer at Columbia Pictures, Michael De Luca has been the president of production at DreamWorks Pictures and the president of production at New Line Cinema. A self-avowed lover of comic books, he got his comic book movie start by serving as the executive producer (with #6 Mike Richardson) of The Mask, based on the Dark Horse Comics publication.  Shortly after that, he collaborated on the story to 1995’s Judge Dredd, along with William Wisher, Jr., which was based on the British comic character of the same name published in the comics anthology 2000 A.D.  He was the executive producer for Blade and Blade II (although he was uncredited for Blade), working with #13 Mike Mignola and writer/executive producer #5 David S. Goyer.  In 2007 he produced Ghost Rider with director and writer #14 Mark Steven Johnson and executive producer David S. Goyer to a dismal reception.  However, he is set to be an executive producer for Marvel’s martial-arts piece The Hands of Shang-Chi to be released in 2009, and will be producing Priest, based on South Korean graphic novelist Min-Woo Hyung’s work of the same name, also to be released in 2009.

Influence Meter: +++

There, I've done it. Since movies always begin with threats these days, and nobody seems to mind, I thought I'd begin a blog post the same way and see if it works. But I'm a good-hearted fellow, so I threaten you into doing something enjoyable. Which means it's not a crime, right?

The kind of threats I mean are the ones that warn you against video-recording a movie at the cinema, promising terrible legal repercussions if you should walk out of the theatre with some lasting evidence of your experience. IRON MAN is the latest attempt to scupper the movie pirates, as it's a movie that literally erases itself from your brain as you watch it. I want to write something about it but I have to be quick or there'll be nothing left -- it was pneumatically blasted into my skull through my eye and ear sockets, but now it's just leaking out my back-brain like a lactulose O.D. My spine is wet with bits of Terrence Howard.

Not that it's a bad film, it is actually very entertaining, and has a far better set-up than most summer blockbusters/buckblowers. And main dude Jon Favreau did a beautiful thing by casting Robert Downey Jnr., who's "riddled with charisma" as Fiona puts it. All that chemistry Downey has poured into his bloodstream over the years is still evaporating from his skin and appearing onscreen -- he has great chemistry with everybody: Gwyneth Paltry, who CAN be something of a no-joy zone but here is rather fun: a large mammal called Jeff Bridges, who brings the world's largest private collection of affability to bear on the bad guy role; Shaun Toub, who's a very nice actor indeed -- I ducked out of seeing the Haggis CRASH and THE KITE RUNNER so this was my first exposure. Downey even has great chemistry with a robot arm carrying a fire extinguisher which, through deft writing and the personality lent it by Downey, acquires the best character arc of anyone in the film. 

(Downey can't do as much with Terrence Howard, who's stuck in a thankless, sexless, meaningless best friend role. As a thought experiment, try cutting him out of the film in your mind, and watch in awe as NOTHING HAPPENS.)

Enjoyable as the film is, it crucially lacks resonance, which is why I'm struggling to recall most of it, one hour after the screening. I do remember enjoying it. There are good lines (RD Jnr: "Give me a whiskey, I'm starving") and a very nice initial flying sequence, but the film's reluctance to carry through the themes it set up (loud and clear, with big tags on them saying "THEME") in the first section robs it of any mental staying-power. It comes down to a conflict between all-out capitalism -- Stark Industries sell arms to the highest bidder, because that's what they're in business for -- and, what? Enlightened capitalism? Or just fantasy super-heroics? Downey's hero tries to stop his company making weapons, but never explains how he's going to keep his business afloat and his staff employed.

Contrast this with ROBOCOP, which this movie evokes frequently (Verhoeven's festival of irony and guts pre-empted so many comic book adaptations, from Batman to Judge Dredd, it's unbelievable). While the Verhoeven was a rock 'n' roll speedball of dark wit and graphic bodily mayhem, it also set up numerous dialectics. Paul Weller's cyborg policeman is a real public servant (the words on the side of his car, "To protect and serve" are given strong emphasis) in conflict both with social chaos and rampant capitalism, which are shown to be hand in glove.

Bridges, as "Obadiah Stane", at one point rides on of those wheelie things that George W Bush fell off -- you know, the things you're not supposed to be able to fall off? -- but isn't set up to embody neo-con evil or hawkish militarism or anything but basic greed, and by the end of the movie he doesn't even have a masterplan. Corporate bad guys don't smush secret agents and punch superheroes through walls with their big metal fists, even metaphorically. Where's the profit in that? He's not an evocative bad guy because he's mutated from a character into a bare plot function. As soon as he suits up and starts walloping, he's a fugitive from justice who isn't going to be selling arms to anyone, so it doesn't much matter if he's defeated by Gwyneth pulling levers to make Something Happen That Will Work.

BUT, the film, as I say, is entertaining, and does have one good stick-in-the-mind moment, when Paltrow inserts her hand into her leading man's body. The scene is queasily funny, frightening, and perversely romantic, and I award extra points because it isn't the kind of scene you'd automatically think necessary in a comic book action adventure. I hope she does it again in the sequel. Use both hands next time, Gwyneth!

April 24. 2008

"Demolition Man" star Wesley Snipes faced a judge dread of his own today that sentenced him to 3 years in prison for tax evasion. His tax preparer has been sentenced to prison as well.

Snipes Gets Maximum Sentence: 36 Months

Asked For 'Mercy,' Received Deterrence

Wesley Snipes was sentenced to 36 months in prison Thursday, the maximum sentence allowed...

However, the judge indicated that deterrent was an important factor in tax cases.

"There's nothing unusual about prosecuting a celebrity," Judge William Hodges said. "[Snipes] never mentioned the words tax or taxes in his apology."

http://www.wesh.com

Story found here

After reading the first team up between Dredd and Batman it was almost inevitable that I was going to be around for the second one. This one definitely didn't pack the same punch as Judgment In Gotham though. The premise is fairly simple and fairly similar -- to place two iconic figures with different perspectives on how to deal with criminals in places where they are fish out of water and to see how they react both to their strange situation and to the person they have been forced to team up with.

The art is just as good as Judgment but the story seems very thin. The villain is not as menacing and he reads like one of those campy figures that were present in the worst of both titles. Batman had his silly foes and so did Dredd. Judgment had the Dark Judges and with the weight of some of the things they have visited on Mega City One in the past bearing down on experienced readers and just the idea of Dredd carried to the ultimate extreme in a judge that will act without mercy will hit the new readers. But here, what do you have? Pantomime. And the ultimate riddle of the title? OK, well if that were the ultimate riddle then I don't think many people would have had a hard time cracking it.

It seems to a degree that this may have just been a profit driven project, or if not that the people involved got overly excited just at the prospect of having these two together and forgot about the story. Like I said, it's nice to look at, so even if the story doesn't grab you the art will, and it's short and it wasn't expensive -- so is there anything to complain about? Well, you kind of want some more meat to your story when there is such potential in a team-up like this. So, good but not good enough.

Ezquerra es responsable de uno de los detalles estéticos finales: el águila del uniforme. Al contrario de lo que suponen, no hace alusión al águila americana, sino a la ceñuda águila franquista . Ironía u homenaje, usted decide...

Así armado e implementado, el bizarro hermano clónico de RICO DREDD saldrá batallando a las páginas de esa modesta publicación, aún en pañales, para chocar con la negativa del editor a publicarlo.

Aunque el personaje ya tenía un solvente revestimiento, impregnado del poderoso clima de cine de catástrofe y ciencia ficción superpoderosa que, durante la década de los 1980, eclosionaría con toda una galería de personajes ahora legendarios y referenciales, el editor juzgó inadecuadas las primeras propuestas de guión para este Judge Dredd que complementaría las aventuras de los HÉROES DE HARLEM (una especie de ROLLERBALL menos sesudo), el nuevo DAR DARE o FLESH (un PARQUE JURÁSICO menos arrogante), que estaba publicando la incipiente 2000AD. Eran historias éstas de CF de alto voltaje, ingeniosa, impresionantes (recordemos que hablamos de 1977), cuyo légamo acabaría revolucionando indirectamente el género, de forma discreta, pausada y jamás admitida.

Porque, grosso modo, en el plano literario, la CF estaba prácticamente con encefalograma plano, comatosa. Los estándares preconizados en los años 30 y 40 estaban agotados, quemados. La tiránica influencia de ASIMOV y su camarilla había envenenado (sigue haciéndolo) el género. 2000AD y sus jóvenes autores, con energía un tanto desesperada y febril, asieron nuevos criterios y desafiaron esos mohosos convencionalismos con espíritu KAMIKAZE: Si triunfamos, ¡dabuten! Si nos la pegamos, ¡que sea gloriosamente!, parecía ser su lema.

El fruto de su decisión les permitió ofrecernos un ingenioso y largo catálogo de novedades que aún podemos seguir disfrutando, pese a los años transcurridos, con su frescura casi intacta (aunque, a veces, se deba ser un tanto condescendiente). No son tantas las historias que resisten tan bien el embate del tiempo.

Finalmente, el tercer guión propuesto (escrito por PETER HARRIS y reelaborado por el editor, PAT MILLS), obtuvo luz verde para su publicación. Apareció en el PROG Nº 2 de 2000AD, y ya contenía los elementos y clichés que constituirán el recio espinazo del pintoresco personaje.

Irónicamente, ni Wagner ni Ezquerra participarán en este alumbramiento.Judge Dredd ha tenido una convulsa y dificultosa edición. Durante los 80, EDICIONES ZINCO (la mítica, ahora), que se ocupaba también del débil catálogo de personajes DC COMICS, empezó a publicarlo, sin sentido cronológico alguno, en números que ahora parecen singularmente valiosos y de prestigio. Eran tebeos poderosos, que compendiaban las sagas de La Tierra Maldita y La Ley murió, así como muchas historias cortas secuencialmente desordenadas, que avanzaban o retrocedían a lo largo de la biografía de Dredd, clon de EUSTACE FARGO, el primer Juez Jefe, proyecto de ingeniería genética destinado a producir un tenaz representante de la Ley (idea que absorbería entera ROBOCOP), para meter en cintura a la desbordante delincuencia de las recientes Mega Cities.

Posteriormente, MC se ocupó de publicar más historias de esa Big Mega empapada del aire a lo MIAMI VICE en 2109. A continuación, con un vaivén espasmódico, recopilatorios en formato prestigio aparecerían a cuentagotas, algo difícil de entender, dada la cantidad de material, su calidad y la popularidad de Dredd. Con personajes menos enjundiosos o longevos se ha pesquisado hasta la última última viñeta existente.

Actualmente, Ediciones Kraken se ha impuesto el minucioso empeño de publicar en nuestro país, de modo secuenciado/recopilatorio, todo Dredd, desde la primera aventura. Loable esfuerzo al que deseamos un continuado gran éxito y que trata de imponer el respeto que un personaje como Dredd merece en las estanterías de las tiendas, saturadas por ende de tanta y tan desbordante calidad, que nos faltan manos y tiempo para deleitarnos con toda ella.

Fuente:  http://tebeosfera.blogspot.com

Vamos a ver la propuesta de First 4 Figures en esta Toy Fair :

Zelda

Metroid

Sonic The HedgeHog

Assassin Creed

Judge Dredd

La mayoria de las figuras ya las habiamos mostrado por ChileJuguetes, pero ahora no son las imagenes promocionales. Espero que las hayan disfrutado.

Mantenganse Informados!!

Spectr0

Neil Marshall's simple recipe for

Doomsday:

Should we add some High Tension to the recipe? (click for trailer)

4 cups of 28 Days Later...
2 pounds of Mad Max
5 pints of Thunderdome
2 1/2 cups of District 13
fresh squeezed official* Rhona Mitra
2 tablespoons of Running Man
3 1/2 teaspoons of Resident Evil
4 ounces of Aliens
1/2 tablespoon of Equilibrium
1 teaspoon of V for Vendetta
1 small can of No Escape
some dried Abyss
1/2 ounce of Silent Hill
a dash of 300
3 teaspoons of Gladiator
1/4 teaspoon of Ultraviolet
a dollop of Judge Dredd
a dash of Tank Girl (optional)
a sprinkle of Underworld

Mix all of the futuristic elements in one bowl and all of the apocalyptic elements in another. Slowly fold the dystopic items into the futuristic mixture and carefully combine them all into one script, being careful not to add too much wirework. Drizzle the official Rhona Mitra (see below) throughout and be sure to throw in a gratuitous ass shot. Make sure plenty of the people involved have cool accents and then give it to Neil Marshall (the guy that wrote and directed Dog Soldiers and the Descent) and hopefully it will turn out to be half as good as either of those movies.
I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad one, but I've never seen a trailer that reminded me of so many other things. I have faith in the writer/director based on his previous projects though, so this film's definitely going on my to-see list. Besides...Rhona Mitra looks like a girl that I could freshly squeeze watch for way, way longer than movies ever last.

Garnish with The Transporter and add some bikers from Weird Science to taste.

Serves millions.

*the official website of Rhona Mitra

edit:

This bombshell came near the end of last night's talk with the comics legend, held at Surgeons' Hall in Edinburgh.

A question from the audience on which comic Grant would recommend to a 10-year-old girl led to the revelation that he had watched an Island Barbie DVD last week with his granddaughter and was impressed by the quality of the script.

Writing, and a love of ideas, is what most of the discussion revolved around in the hour long conversation with crime novelist Denise Mina.

In his youth the Dundonian writer had enthused over the cowboy novels read by his father and the doctor and nurse romantic stories beloved of his mother.

A constant diet of his parents reading matter, alongside a weekly dose of comics from Dundee-based DC Thomson, led to an affinity with the written word from an early age and a career that started as a sub-editor on Thomson's romance magazines.

The centrepiece of the discussion, Grant's much publicised take on seeing the topics he had written about in the pages of his comics come true - smoking bans, the rise of obesity, governments' desire to quash individuality and freedom of speech under the guise of anti-terrorism laws - were intriguing.

Yet these views almost paled in comparison to the life of a man whose career has seen him work on some of the most iconic characters in British (Judge Dredd) and American (Batman) culture while working with creatives such as John Wagner and Alan Moore.

The only hint of negativity came during discussion of his 1986 comic, The Bogey Man. The story of the comic - the problems getting it commissioned, a change in location from San Francisco to Glasgow - and its subsequent failed transition to television gave a hint of the behind-the-scenes problems that have often followed Grant from job to job.

This was a fascinating evening in the presence of a self-deprecating and humorous man. The Mighty Tharg could do worse than to continue bringing Alan Grant back for more issues of 2000AD to show the newbies a thing or two.

Now that Sylvester Stallone seems determined to dust off his most enduring screen roles, if he decides to shuffle back to the cinematic well, it will have to be from some of the lesser names of his canon. Might I take a moment to offer a few suggestions:

Cobra 2: Time to Strike – Lieutenant Marion Cobretti dispatches his “Zombie Squad” to shady dealings at a senior citizens home, where most of the thugs from the original film now reside. It seems they’ve been running smack through the Metamucil supply. When one of the home’s members accidently ODs while trying to stay regular, she ruins Bingo Night and brings Cobra back on the scene. Can Cobra still be the cure (as long as there is a little ipecac in it)?

Over the Top II: Brothers in Arms : World Champion Arm Wrestler Lincoln Hawk first fought for his son’s love, now he wrasslin’ to save the twin brother he never knew he had. Stallone flexes his acting muscles in two roles, as Lincoln and his Lupus-afflicted brother, Cedrick. Danny Pintero (“Who’s the Boss”), meanwhile, plays Stallone’s now-grown son, who follows in his father’s footsteps by entering the now-popular sport of thumb wrestling.Stop, or my Mom’s Ghost will Shoot!: Estelle Getty, whose health has prohibited her from reprising her role,  appears, via cutting-edge CGI, as a heat-packin’ apparition who still manages to get entangled with her son’s life from beyond the grave. Detective Bomowski (Stallone) is living out his final years on the force as a crossing guard, but when a local gang of ruffians (lead by Corey Feldman), begin harassing him, Tutti (Getty) gets back in action and haunts the quiet suburban streets with a vengeance that would make Freddy Krueger proud.

Judge Dredd 2: Dredder: The dystopian future of the original has since become utopian, after Judge Joe Dredd has been able to drive crime to extinction. Frustrated that his training in government-endorsed mass murder, Dredd goes undercover as a folk singer at the Worldwide Birkenstock Festival and decides to start crackin’ skulls of those damn hippies who he thinks are smoking a little too much peace pipe.I enter “Rambo” with frustration – not so much with the concept, but the chronology. Follow me: if the first film was called “First Blood,” and its sequel was “Rambo: First Blood Part II” (which should actually make it “Second Blood,” but no bother). Then, the next sequel was titled “Rambo III.” I teach English, not math, but it is obvious even to me that there is something wrong with that equation. Now we have “Rambo,” which is actually the title of the second film, minus the subheading.

I know it seems inconsequential. Perhaps it’s something I should just work out on the therapist’s couch.

Whatever the title, this latest revisit to the Sly Stallone hall of fame has John Rambo residing as a snake catcher in the depths of Burma. Why Burma, you ask? Even though the filmmakers make no mention of it, I would assume it’s because he spent his last film in Afghanistan helping those “freedom fighters” from Soviet reign. Yes, those same freedom fighters that went on to form al-Qaeda.

Thanks a bunch for that one, Rambo.

He’s approached by a group of Christian missionaries wanting to help the downtrodden by spooning them medicine and religion. Rambo reluctantly agrees to be their guide, but only because one of them is hot (forget the fact that she’s young enough to be his granddaughter-- eww). Obviously, things don’t go all that well for the group and they are on the losing end of enemy rifles, causing Rambo to join a mercenary team sent in the thick of it all.

And even through the bad guys are drawn as heartless, soulless killers, the film itself is an ethical quandary.

The first few minutes are dedicated to actual documentary footage of the victims, but that is cheapened by having us root, cheer and applaud the same ruthless killing committed by Rambo and his soldiers of misfortune.

For wasn’t it just moments earlier in the film where he tells us many of these brutal thugs were actually kidnapped villagers, tortured and brainwashed into fighting, and yet we are meant to thrill when their legs are ripped off by Rambo’s tree-leveling machine gun?With “Rocky Balboa,” the actor/director’s last attempt to breathe life into his left-for-dead franchises, Stallone was a gentle giant, hollowed out by years of loss.

“Rambo” begins to flicker with the hope that this, too, may return the series to its far-superior first film. But it seems he also want to satisfy the masses who longed for his slaughterhouse mentality of the latter two films, as well. Rambo is, at first, broken, cynical and indifferent, but appears all too quick to strap on the bow and arrow after some perfunctory soliloquy of “knowing who he is.”

The problem is, the audience does not.

This is pretty exciting news for anyone brought up on the weekly adventures of Dredd or with a passing interest in comics. Grant will be presenting a lecture titled "Writing tomorrow yesterday: how fiction became reality" and according to the Edinburgh Lecture website:

Cheery stuff from our Alan. But he's got a point: the sooner the cult of celebrity is banished to the depths of Mega City One, along with Heat magazine (does anyone remember when it was a half-decent film and TV review mag?) and it's associated hangers on, the better.

Oh, and the lecture is chaired by crime writer Denise Mina - I saw her a few years ago at a Book Festival talk with Ian Rankin and she was great. Roll on the 29th!

Event: The Edinburgh Lecture: Alan Grant (you need to scroll down the page a bit to find him)
Venue: Quincentenery Hall, Surgeon's Hall, Edinburgh
Date/Time: Tuesday 29 January, 7pm

I'd consider myself a pretty big movie fan. I'm only 5'11", though, so I doubt I'll ever be as big as Yao Ming or whoever played Chewbacca, but I have seen almost 2,000 films, which is a lot. And sometimes, a really shit movie can be totally redeemed by one awesome scene. And some of the best films have that single classic scene to define it. AFI (The American Film Institute for Jerks) does annual top 100 lists of things, and they usually suck because they're loaded with boring and irrelevant films that most people have never seen. And their lists are loaded with movies by/starring The Marx Brothers, Woody Allen, Stanley Kubrick, and so on. Now, nothing against those guys, but why bother making a big production about loving films when you're patting the same backs over and over? I appreciate the effort, but their snobbery completely ignores 75% of all films. Judge Dredd might've been a shit-tastic movie, but it had some really cool stuff in it - so why ignore it? I'm as tired of Rob Schneider's sidekick-ness as much as the next guy, but his appearance in the movie doesn't mean Alan Silvestri's score is any less awesome, or that the costume design isn't flawless.

But, in the coming days, I'll share the TOP 20 FILM MOMENTS EVER (in my humble but correct opinion). This is going to be huge. Bigger than when Elvis died on the can, or when Tommy Lasorda was on "Police Squad!". It's not quite up to when Apollo Creed landed on the moon, but it's close.

Keep your eyes on the skis!

(Er, skies. )

(And before you ask, no, I will not cut it out with the Simpsons jokes.)

Actualité

Kedma de Amos Gitaï
Sortie en 2002 , de nouveau à l'affiche dans le cadre du Ciné Club Alèsien, projeté gratuitement le jeudi 13 décembre à 20h30 au Capitol.
Secret Sunshine de Lee Chang-Dong.
Actuellement aux Arcades en VOSTF.
Journée avec Jean-Pierre Améris au Sémaphore à Nîmes
Dimanche 9 décembre à partir de 11h. Projection de films choisis ou réalisés par lui-même avec échange et repas à midi, sur réservation. 20€ pour tous les films, repas compris
Pour tout renseignement et/ou réservation, contactez le cinéma Sémaphore au 04.66.67.83.11.
Les Années Laser n°138 - numéro double de décembre 2007/janvier 2008
Revue spécialisée dans le matériel Home Cinema et les sorties DVD Zone 1, 2 et autres ; HD-DVD, Blue-Ray et Cie. Actuellement en kiosques
Mad Movies n°202 avec inclus le DVD du film Pervert de Jonathan Yudis.
Encore en kiosque, mais c'est pas sûr alors dépéchez vous...
Interview d'Alberto De Martino sur le site Nanarland - Le réalisateur d'Holocauste 2000 et de L'Homme Puma raconte sa carrière : passionnant, édifiant, hilarant...
Suck My Geek de Tristan Schulmann & Xavier Sayanoff
Actuellement diffusé sur Canal +. Dernière diffusion le mercredi 12 décembre à 05h20 (du matin évidement...ça fait tôt mais faut programmer...)

Dossier : Les Acteurs / Réalisateurs

Aujourd'hui reconnus ou oubliés, vénérés ou méprisés, les acteurs, ces demi-dieux modernes, ont vus naître leur gloire en même temps que celle du cinéma. Et elle n’a cessée de grandir avec lui au fil des décennies. Pourtant aujourd’hui il est une place que mêmes eux convoitent, plus glorieuse et au moins aussi reconnue que la leur : la place de réalisateur. Ce poste qui était jadis considéré comme un simple technicien de plateau à aujourd’hui acquis une reconnaissance au moins égale, si ce n’est supérieure, à celle de l’acteur. La star de l’image doit depuis maintenant partager la gloire (ainsi que les billets et la place sur l’affiche…) avec cet autre qui à désormais pouvoir sur lui, car “fabricant et maître” de l’image de ses derniers. Quoi de plus naturel alors que les acteurs cherchent à monter en grade, à devenir maîtres de leurs images, tous vers ce même but malgré leurs motivations des plus variées.

Le cas Clint Eastwood (filmographie séléctive en tant que réalistateur)
Play Misty for me (1971) ; ressortie cinéma dans une copie restaurée.
L'Homme des Hautes Plaines (1973)
Josey Wales, Hors la loi (1976)
L'épreuve de force (1977)
Sudden Impact - Le Retour de l'Inspecteur Harry (1983)
Bird (1988)
Impitoyable (1992)
Sur la route de Madison (1995)
Space Cowboys (2000)
Million Dollars Baby (2004)
A la mémoire de nos pères (2006)
Lettres d'Iwo Jima (2006)

Les débuts "coups de maîtres" :

1 - John Cassavetes :
Johnny Staccato (TV - 1959)
La ballade des sans-espoirs (1961)
Shadows (1959)
2 - Charles Laughton : La Nuit du Chasseur (1955) avec Robert Mitchum
3 - Al Pacino : Looking for Richard (1996)
4 - Gary Oldman : Ne pas Avaler (1997)
5 - Nino Manfredi : Miracle à l'italienne (1971)
6 - Michel Blanc : Grosse Fatigue (1994)

Les causes
24 mesures de Jalil Lespert (actuellement à l'affiche)
Good Night & Good Luck (2005) de George Clooney
Yentl (1983) de Barbara Streisand
Tous le monde il est beau, tous le monde il est gentil (1972) de Jean Yanne
Elle s'appelle Sabine de Sandrine Bonnaire (en avant première le dimanche 9 décembre au Sémaphore ; à l'affiche le 30 janvier 2008)
Pardonnez-moi (2006) de Maïwenn
Le Petit Homme (1992) de Jodie Foster
Un week-end sur deux (1990) de Nicole Garcia

Sylvester Stallone (filmographie réalisateur)
La Taverne de l'Enfer (1978)
Rocky II (1979)
Rocky III (1982)
Staying Alive (1983)
Rocky IV (1985)
Rocky Balboa (2006)
John Rambo (à l'affiche le 06 février 2008)

(Suite à un afflux innatendu de stress intense la partie sur Sylvester Stallone n'as pue être menée comme elle devait l'être. Nous vous prions de nous excusez pour ce facheux dérapage incrontrolé... :-( )

La Bande Originale de la semaine

Bernie d'Albert Dupontel : extrait "Love Transfo" composé par Ramon Pipin

Bienvenue au Drive-In
Cherry 2000 (1987) de Steve De Jarnatt

Extraits Sonores
La Nuit du Chasseur (1955) de Charles Laughton
Après la Vie (2002) de Lucas Belveaux
Bob Roberts (1992) de Tim Robins

Musique

Misty composé par Eroll Garner
Extrait de la bande originale de Play Misty for me

When I was a wee lad, my father set up our family's AOL accounts with names that were very similar to the ones we actually had. When I expressed some interest in using some of the chat rooms present in the AOL client (before I even knew about the www.com internet), my parents were concerned that my screen name provided to much information for pedophiles. So, based on my current but passing interest at the time, I had my dad change my screen name to JudgeD5667, after the comic book hero Judge Dredd. It was at about this time that a pretty mediocre Judge Dredd movie starring Sylvester Stallone was released. As a child I thought it was very cool.

I stuck with that name for many years, but when we finally got a cable modem, and AOL was no longer a necessary gateway to the internet, the AOL IM client seemed less than useful. SO I had to come up with a screen name for AIM. Not wanting to evoke the law any more, I was reminded of what a presume to be a band name a friend of mine had once mentioned. While I'm not sure if there ever was a band called Late At Nine, for some reason it always seemed like a pretty great name to me. No, there isn't any deep meaning behind the phrase late at nine. In fact, I've yet to actually be late at 9:00, but maybe I just haven't been paying attention.