Almost forty years later, director John Carpenter’s “Assault on Precinct 13” is still an excellent and mean contemporary western that never lets up on its audience. Director Carpenter has a knack for lensing the world to look like an alien habitat filled with despair and evil, and “Assault” is no exception. What begins as moving day for a local precinct descends in to violence, chaos, and murder with an enemy that will stop at nothing to quench its thirst for vengeance.
If you want a pure unadulterated ride in to the middle of the eighties, “The Goonies” is an inadvertent trip in to the complete mindset of the decade. Cyndi Lauper, adventure, escapism, work out obsession, coming of age, nostalgia for the sixties, a humongous Steven Spielberg influenced narrative, Corey Feldman, Richard Donner, Jonathan Ke Quan, if it was in the eighties, it’s likely here. That doesn’t act as a caveat, thankfully, as “The Goonies” is a very decade relevant film that still manages to work as an excellent child oriented fantasy adventure in the vein of “The Hardy Boys.”
Let’s face it, someone took a shitty movie about vampire bank robbers and turned it in to a sequel to “From Dusk Till Dawn.” Except it’s nowhere near being a sequel. Even with an appearance from Danny Trejo as the vampire bartender Razor Eddie from the first film, this is a shitty vampire movie someone decided to make in to a sequel. It’s a goofy, campy, and ridiculous vampire movie filled with horrible performances, and a ridiculous premise that does nothing to reconcile itself with the first film. There’s not even a mention of Seth Gecko for crying out loud. Shit, at least re-cast Juliette Lewis’ role as Kate Fuller and follow her along on another vampire adventure, at least.
Not surprisingly, when long time film making pals Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez teamed up to make a horror movie, in the end it felt like two different movies. For folks unaware of the duo’s style of writing and film making, the second half will completely blow away anyone entrenched in the crime drama that is the first half of the film. “From Dusk Till Dawn” begins like a hyper violent take off of “Reservoir Dogs.” Seth Gecko and his brother Richie have broken out of jail leaving a trail of bodies behind, and are now hiding out in a gas station. Just their luck a sheriff comes in to chat with the owner, and thanks to a series of mishaps, Seth and Richie leave the gas station and its workers dead in a hail of gunfire and flames.
Oh, Marilyn Joi. You truly are a babe. I may begin looking for your films just to bask in your curvaceous glory. That said, “Bada$$ Mothaf**kas” is the newest trailer compilation from Full Moon Entertainment, the sub-genre for this fun series is blaxploitation. To host the fun, they turned to the man, the myth, the legend: Fred “The Hammer” Williamson. He doesn’t just have a good time hosting this compilation, but is damn funny.
For the movie lover interested in buying and collecting some of the most critically acclaimed and award winning thrillers and action films from Warner Bros. from the last twenty five years, the “20 Film Collection” of Thrillers features a dazzling and unique library of contemporary (and some classic) film hits that will keep you entertained for hours on end.
One of the more refreshing aspects of “Cockneys vs. Zombies” is that there is no doubt what the monsters in this movie are. They’re zombies plain and simple. When our band of mismatched degenerates we call heroes exit their bank heist to find a band of cops slaughtered by the walking dead, they only wonder what the monsters lurking about are until character Katy proclaims “They’re zombies.” It’s so easy to figure out, and thankfully we don’t spend twenty minutes figuring out what they are, and the moral ramifications of ending the havoc of one of the undead.