“Metalstorm” is another one of the Not Brand X movies from the eighties where fans of “Mad Max” were treated to a long list of movies that desperately emulated its formula and aesthetic. If you survey most of the late seventies and eighties, you could probably build a whole sub-genre of post-apocalyptic movies that emulate “Mad Max” and “Escape from New York.” There’s a whole library from various studios who aimed to capture the same success and pop culture momentum as the aforementioned. “Metalstorm: The Destruction of Jared Syn” is by no means a bad movie. It is a hokey but fun movie, though. It has all the hallmarks with films of this ilk including a desert wasteland, a hot rod driving “road warrior,” and his blonde babe.
Tag Archives: Adventure
Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992)
“Home Alone” already stretched the idea of logic and suspension of disbelief already, but when Dreamworks squeezed out a sequel hoping for equal to more success, we instead got “Lost in New York.” Not only did this follow up basically prove that the original’s premise was a tad far-fetched, but something of a flash in the pan. This sequel is just leaps and bounds sillier than even the third “Home Alone” and even presents a ton of misguided morals within its narrative. You can sense the movie is one giant misstep, when it casts the likes of Tim Curry as one of Kevin’s adversaries, and turns Rob Schneider in to a hilariously slimy bellboy, and wastes them in favor of rehashing the same dynamic we saw with Marv and Harry from the first film.
Independence Day: Resurgence (2016)
One thing you can always count on with aliens, that no matter how advanced or sentient they are, their primary form of security is always two huge closing doors that slide together and seal as gradually as possible. You assume in their world they’d have laser doors that seal up in a matter of milliseconds, but no. It’s always very slow closing doors that never quite close fast to stop our heroes. But of course they always murder the alien pilots because–they’re obviously not trained to zip through the doors I assume. “Independence Day: Resurgence” is a sequel with such an obvious mission to launch an “ID4” cinematic universe that it’s almost not really worth watching “Resurgence” at all, when you get down to it.
Legends of the Hidden Temple: The Movie (2016)
“Legends of the Hidden Temple” always had a fun Indiana Jones vibe to it, and was often well loved despite being notoriously difficult for its contestants who deemed it almost impossible to topple. I am one of the many nineties kids who spent a lot of time watching “Legends of the Hidden Temple” and immersing myself in the imaginative obstacles and fun history lessons. While the game show will never be revived for modern audiences, 2016’s cinematic adaptation is a perfect fit for an audience that loved the game show and for everyone else tuning in to see a good fantasy adventure movie. “Legends of the Hidden Temple” garners the right amount of menace and awe that the game show held, and evokes classic adventure films like “The Goonies.”
Ratchet & Clank (2016)
The way critics savaged “Ratchet & Clank” in 2016, you’d swear we were given an animated move in the same league of “Norm of the North” or “Doogal.” Instead, we get a funny and entertaining science fiction adventure that doesn’t re-invent the wheel, but manages to be a fun animated movie nevertheless. I have never played the video games “Ratchet & Clank” is based on, but I know enough to understand the basic concept and premise. “Ratchet & Clank” is a eye catching and very good action film that touches on all bases and delivers one very interesting underdog tale about a potential hero trying to prove his worth. Director Kevin Munroe stages a prequel to the games that widens the universe of Ratchet and Clank and genuinely attempts to add another dimension to the titular duo for the sake of their fans.
Norm of the North (2016)
So Norm is a polar bear who lives in the arctic and doesn’t really know how to hunt. But that’s okay because he can speak to humans, for some reason. Why? It’s never explained, but Norm goes back to when he was a child and explains to the audience that everyone in his family can communicate with humans, including his grandpa. Just his luck, he and his friend Socrates, who is an intelligent bird (because he wears glasses ya see), realize that human tourists are coming to the arctic. Are you still with me? So in order to appease the humans, Norm willingly enlists the helps of his friends to perform for the hapless tourists. Which works too well because he and Socrates find out that the humans are turning the arctic in to a tourist destination. So Norm made the arctic a tourist destination and now hates that it’s becoming a tourist destination. Understand?
American Ninja 4: The Annihilation (1990) [Blu-Ray]
When last we saw Sean Davidson, he was a martial arts competitor thrust in to a plot involving a secret organization engineering a huge virus. Now he’s in the military as a top secret enforcer—for some reason. I guess Curtis Jackson had some connections and hooked Sean up over the course of a year? David Bradley is back as pseudo-American Ninja Sean, a man who is by no means a ninja. But he can recognized types of ninjas, so that counts. I think. Thankfully, Michael Dudikoff returns as Joe Armstrong, the original American Ninja who is now a peace corps officer and has turned down all efforts to be turned in to a covert military officer.