I wasn’t too crazy about the first “Kick Ass.” The attempts to take Mark Millar’s homophobic misogynistic fantasy and tame it for broader audiences failed. And it failed fantastically once it watered down the cynicism and introduced that stupid rocket pack. I never understood the appeal of adapting the comic, either. Since I never really bothered to finish “Kick Ass 2” the mini-series (Millar’s “edginess” gets exhausting after the thirtieth anal sex joke), my frame of reference is nil, so “Kick-Ass 2” is a fairly fresh experience as a sequel to a movie that could have done without one.
Tag Archives: Crime
Showdown (1993)
In the eighties and nineties, there were tons of movie studios trying their hardest to create their own versions of “Karate Kid.” The movie made Ralph Macchio a star for a while, and helped fuel America’s love for the underdog. So naturally, someone had the bright idea to cast Billy Blanks in a lead role for their own “Karate Kid” movie. Like Macchio, Blanks was a celebrity for a short while before becoming a fitness guru, and here he basically plays Miyagi, except as a washed out janitor for a high school filled with students all of whom look well in to their twenties.
Charlie Chan Collection (Shadows Over Chinatown / Docks of New Orleans / Shanghai Chest / The Golden Eye) (DVD)
Charlie Chan is a great character I’d love to see depicted by an actual Asian man someday and as a brilliant detective surrounded by a world of racists who assume him an ignorant little Oriental man. I’d cast a wonderful Asian actor, and create a very elaborate murder mystery for the resurgence of Charlie Chan. If handed the reins I’d certainly aim for a character that strays from his racist roots, whole hog.
Do Not Disturb (DVD) (2013)
Director B.C. Furtney’s horror thriller watches almost like an off off-Broadway play somewhere in some run down theater. “Do Not Disturb” watches like it began life as a stage play and then was turned in to a screenplay after it languished for a few years. Filled with horror genre notables, “Do Not Disturb” is mostly confined to the setting of one room, and is about as dull as any self-important stage play you’ve seen in Manhattan.
The Principal (1987)
Jim Belushi’s vehicle “The Principal” is that case of a movie that never knows what the hell it wants to be. Sometimes it strives to be an inspiring tale of a principal helping students to learn in a lower class school, and other times it’s an action movie about a man fighting against local gang members.
Toy Soldiers (1991)
It’s “Die Hard.” But now it’s set in a private school. And it stars a bunch of child actors now young men that band together to bring down terrorists. You have to love the nineties. Most of it tried to establish its identity, while the rest pretty much cribbed ideas from the eighties. If you can buy that Will Wheaton and Sean Astin are action heroes, “Toy Soldiers” is passable action escapism that mixes “Die Hard” with a touch of “Red Dawn.”
Skinhead Requiem (2013)
Director Jason Victor Everett’s short dramatic thriller “Skinhead Requiem” is a powerful and compelling short look at two men on the cusp of realization in their lives that they will take with them to their graves. Director Jason Victor Everett takes a startling transformation as the ultimate extremist skinhead, while the legendary Tom Noonan plays a priest speaking with him as he prepares to leave for his execution.