So it's going to be a Jerry Goldsmith/James Horner-ish score? I know the theme from Alien a bit but that was more of a horror score rather than action. James Horner got the best one to score and made good variations in both the horror and the action aspect. Can't be that bad. But I'll see and hear it when the time comes.

Last night, I saw Judgment Night starring Emilio Estevez, Stephen Dorff, Jeremy Piven, Cuba Gooding Jr., Denis Leary and Peter Greene.

Four guys (Frank, John, Ray and Mike) are on their way to a boxing match but end up lost trying to find their way back to the expressway. While driving through a dangerous neighborhood, they hit a wounded man. They take him in and find out he has stolen money. When they try to catch up with a police car, another vehicle crashes into them causing their RV get stuck in a small alleyway, and the engine is dead. Their back window is violently smashed, and the guy they ran over is dragged out of the vehicle by the men of a drug dealer called Fallon. Fallon arrives shortly after. After confronting his henchman, it turns out the money belonged to Fallon and there for one of his rules was broken. 'Do not steal from me.' As a result, he shoots the henchman in cold blood, and this is witnessed by the gang in the RV. This, however, requires rule 2 to be executed: 'No witnesses.' In order to escape Frank sets the RV on fire and the gang makes a run for it while being chased down by the killers through a dark and a violent area in the town where they are trying to find a phone to call the police, however, because of the violent area no one is willing to help, and most phones are cut.

Another great actioner from the 90's with a bunch of great actors. Maybe not the best but I like all of them. Of course, there is Cuba Gooding Jr. whom we all know and Denis Leary, who looks a lot like RDA in my opinion. Especially in this movie. He's the same height, same physique; the haircut was pretty much like Mac and he likes hockey too. Yeah, I can see RDA in him or see RDA in the movie. But then he would have to play a cold and vicious criminal. Denis is only seven years younger than RDA and was about 36 when Judgment Night was released in 1993.

I heard that the movie is filled with lots of action scenes! Have got to see it!

Cliffhanger. With Sylvester Stallone, Michael Rooker, Jeanine Turner, and John Lithgow. At the beginning of the movie Gabe (Sly) has to pick up his best friend and his girlfriend from a mountain top. The girl is inexperienced in mountain climbing. When they're trying to get them safely in the helicopter things, go wrong with the girl's harness. Gabe tries to rescue her, but she falls to her death. Guilt-ridden Gabe leaves for nearly a year. When he returns to pick up some stuff and wanting to ask his girl to come with him high above them, a plane heist takes place. A corrupt treasury agent tries to steal 100 million dollars by transferring them from one plane to the other. Things go wrong when the cable breaks holding the money and the plane blows up because of planted bomb. The money cases go flying over the mountains, and the other plane crashes down. Stranded the treasury agent and a bunch of mercenaries are going to have to locate the cases through a rough wilderness. They send out a distress call to Gabe and his team, to find the money with the help of beacon locators. When Gabe and his friend Hal arrive, they are immediately taken hostage. Hal is still bitter with Gabe because he blames him for the death of his girlfriend. While the others start to worry about not hearing from them, they decide to go and look for them, but inclement weather is coming as well.

A good movie to relax with. There is also a cameo by Bruce McGill as a treasury agent and he only has one line to say and looks like Lucky Charlie. Hair neatly combed backwards.

This is one of those movies that could've been a great Mac-adventure, and it is. This can be like the R-rated version of The Widowmaker but then set in the snowy mountains. The beginning is the same with the death of a friend. And you can replace the rescue team, Gabe, Jessie, Hal, and Frank with Mac, Nikki, and Pete. It's a little hard to find one for Hal actually, because he doesn't look like Jack Dalton, right now I would say, Novis Reilly. And the lead villain Eric Qualen played by Lithgow you can replace with Murdoc and couple of henchmen. Imagine the finale of the movie: a crashed helicopter hanging upside down on the ledge of a mountain, and its final hold is about to give in while Mac and Murdoc are fighting for their lives.

I haven't posted in here for a while... XD

Here's a pretty good movie that actually helped inspire Silent Hill 3, which was why I checked it out. I need to get this on DVD still... lol

Looks made for TV. Still, I can see the similarities.

No luck for me this weekend. My son fell ill again and to cherry top it, the missus was in a car accident (Someone bumped into her) so no Independence Day Resurgence.

Still, hoping to check it out this Friday. Maybe. If luck is on my side.

Coincidentally, my friend went to watch it and while in the theater, they had technical difficulties so he couldn't see it either!

Apparently, however, it didn't perform as well as its predecessor with Finding Dory topping the charts.

Reviews are on the fence too. Some like it. Some hate it. Then again, the original was also criticized.

Predator 2. Another one with at least three Mac-actors in them. Hakim's bodyguard from Eye of Osiris who was also in The Stringer, that guy from The Spoilers who got thrown over the side and best one: Kent McCord played the police captain and has at least three scenes with Danny Glover.

This one looks interesting.

Blown Away with Jeff Bridges, Tommy Lee Jones, Forest Whitaker, Lloyd Bridges and a cameo by Cuba Gooding Jr. Release only a month earlier before Speed this movie takes about the same concept about a bomber. However nowhere near as good as Speed. This is the third movie of director Stephen Hopkins in the 90's. He never did anything major or had great career. During the 90's he made a bunch of action movies mostly getting mixed or negative reviews. To me this is his least interesting film. I had the idea the movie was a little incoherent and had a weak progress. I'd rather recommend Predator 2 or Judgment Night from this director.

Judgment Night was a top movie IMO. Loved the plot and loved Leary as the villain. And an amazing score from Alan Silvestri (Almost sounded like Back to the Future meets Predator!)

The Abyss. James Cameron's underwater adventure with Ed Harris, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Michael Biehn and Kimberly Scott (Mama Lorraine).

You're right Denizen. Silvestri's scores from the late 80's, early 90's sounds pretty much a like. He made an electronic score first for Judgment Night, which was rejected. The director requested a more Predator-like score, which I think was a good move, but I never heard any similarities actually. I think Predator 2 is a little darker and aggressive than Judgment Night. But I can understand why people say that.

OT: The Quick and the Dead. Another movie where Silvestri did the score. He's my favorite composer. One of the first Westerns I've ever seen and one of my personal favorites. A bunch of familiar faces: Sharon Stone, Gene Hackman, Russel Crowe, Leonardo Di Caprio, Lance Henriksen, Keith David, Tobin Bell, Gary Sinise, Robert Blossom and Pat Hingle... Sharon Stone plays the Lady, who travels to the town of Redemption to find her own and to take care of those responsible for her father's death when she was a child. On arrival, a dueling contest is being organized in which she participates to get close to her target however she doubts herself if she can do it.

The story behind the movie is also an interesting one. Sharon Stone received the script and thought it was excellent and asked Sam Raimi to direct because she was a big fan of Army of Darkness and so he did as a favor. The movie launched the career of Russel Crowe and was a big step for Di Caprio's career as well even though he would fully breakthrough two years later with Titanic. I also read once that Sharon Stone paid Di Caprio in full for the movie herself. Stone's career has been known to be one of many flops and disasters, but this one is amongst her best. She can carry the movie by herself, and she's having a very good time.



Edit: It appears Sharon Stone was once married to Michael Greenburg.

Quick and the Dead is a fun movie.

Didn't actually know the back story but it sounds fascinating. I feel terrible for poor Stone. She has had a difficult life and a tougher career but this is one of her best.

I have still not seen ID4-2. Sheesh. Been too much of a productive weekend to have seen anything. But let's see how the rest of the week unfolds.

I can go to the première tonight if I want to but I'll probably go when it's fully released in about two weeks with my friends. I think an Independence Day marathon is not going to happen at the movies. So I guess I'll have to watch the dvd instead before I go to the theaters than.

OT: Red Dawn 1984. Patrick Swayze, Charlie Sheen and Lea Thompson before their big breaks.

Last night Dante's Peak starring Pierce Brosnan and Linda Hamilton and in a minor role Tzi Ma (Wing Lee).

And also Terminal Velocity, your typical 90's cheesy B-action flick starring Charlie Sheen, Christopher McDonald and James Gandolfini (to my surprise really) and Natasja Kinski. Sheen plays a skydiver who gets involved in a big plot about Russians trying to smuggle gold out of the United States after he sees his skydiver partner (a hot blonde whom he hopes to score of course) fall to her death. Trying to investigate her death on his own he learns nothing is what it seems.


Pack your bags. We're going on a guilt trip. And bring a parachute.

The movie was a good watch with an ending I could've sworn I've seen before. Maybe the writer took a little inspiration from MacGyver perhaps considering what the trailer shows and there is also a scene that seems to come directly from the Pilot.

Note: This movie was directed by Deran Sarafian. Son of Richard C. Sarafian who played Caspar Kasabian in Bitter Harvest. It appears Sarafian did his share of directing himself during the 70's, unfortunately he passed away three years ago.

The taking of Pelham 123 (1974)



New York City, when a subway car is unexpectedly hijacked by a ruthless gang led by Mr. Blue played by the legendary Robert Shaw, a transit policeman Zachary Garber (Walter Matthau) has his hands full dealing with the mayor's office and fellow cops, while also trying to deliver the ransom before the deadline expires. A deadline where the gang threatens to shoot a passenger every minute until they receive a million dollars in cash within an hour!

It is the 1970's at its best and a truly great treat for those that love the thriller genre. 4 stars!

The Siege with Denzel Washington, Annette Bening and Bruce Willis. An interesting movie that's for sure. Released in 1998, three years before 9/11. It was considered a flop but became the most rented movie after 9/11. And it got me thinking. I'm not sure if this film would've been made after that day, but the same goes for Die Hard With A Vengeance. The Siege covered a few things I've seen here as well after the attacks in March like a lockdown. With these two movies: The Siege and Die Hard With A Vengeance, both movies set in New York on terrorist attacks you might wonder: can movies predict the future? In Die Hard there is a moment in which Willis or Samuel L. Jackson enters the station and passes a digital clock there saying it's a Tuesday.

If The Siege were made now, it probably would have had a lot less action and was more a political thriller or drama.

I keep posting and finding that it has hasn't work, I posted to this thread the other night, but don't see it. I wonder if it's a problem with the new gizmo.

I'm working through any DVD that I can find in second-hand stores which have famous movies I've never seen for £1.

We did two the other week.

Rocky - less impressed than I expected to be for all the interest in these films. The settings and atmosphere were authentic, but it was another of these movies where the speech was so heavily accented and inarticulate that it made it incredibly difficult to follow the story. OK, I realise that parts have to be played, but when the speech is that inarticulate you can't follow the movie it seems a bit too far to go - maybe it needed subtitles!

The Shawshank Redemption - I was unconvinced for the first 20-30 minutes, but glad we stuck with it, I liked the twist in the man that couldn't be traced, but I did guess the ultimate ending. It was well done and I think we enjoyed it.

Rocky for me is a classic but yes. Heavy New York Bronx accents from the stars.

Also there were few movies out there that played like it back in the 70's. Nowadays its all been done before.

Rocky was or either is one of the very first movies I have ever seen at the age of 5 or 6. I remember seeing Jurassic Park at the movies as one of my first cinematic experiences. It was my first big adventure movie, but I'm pretty sure I saw Rocky earlier as the very first movie at home. And actually it's pretty good one too to initiate someone in the grown ups movies. Simply stated Rocky is a romantic drama. At least the first one. Never paid much attention to their accents and at that age English sounded like Chinese to me. But yeah it's typical Sly/Rocky to talk like the way he does. It's slurred, he mumbles and is not articulate. You might wonder how Rocky and Adrian can have decent conversations. He mumbles and she talks very soft all the time. But than again she doesn't need to talk, it's the way she looks at him. It's actually very different if you ever get to the beach scene in Rocky III.

I'd say give it another shot with subtitles because it's really good and a real classic.

OT: Last Man Standing with Bruce Willis and Christopher Walken, written and directed by Walter Hill. Panned by critics of course but I think it was very good. Willis plays a character called John Smith who arrives in a pretty much deserted Wild West town in the 1920's during the Prohibition. By simply looking at a woman of some Mafia big shot who owns the town, he gets himself into trouble with the gangs there. He plays it very smart however by working for the gang against another one. In the end he plays it so that both gangs who had an uneasy peace starts facing each other and that he can take off with the profits. Or that's at least his plan.

I don't understand this was considered a flop. The movie was pretty good. It's part western part gangster movie and was pretty much as violent as Sin City. It was a nice combo. Yes, the movie is pretty gritty and there is a depressing mood all over it. That's how I like it. But I think the movie deserves a lot more recognition. With only 1,5 stars at allmovie, I think this one deserves at least 3 out of 5.

Tomorrow we are going to see the movie Independence Day: Resurgence.

I haven't been to the movies for ages! The last film I saw on the big screen was a comedy named ''Mad Buddies" starring Leon Schuster and Kenneth Nkosi, released in 2012. My only worry is the poor ratings 5.6/10 on IMDb. Would like to hear from the people who have seen it, Is it worthwhile watching, or should I preferably look for an alternative?

Don't feel bad Maclover, I need a translator for Coronation Street in most episodes. I guess it's all how your ear is 'tuned'. I'm a big sports movie buff but the Rocky films are solidly not in my top 20 list. On the other hand, I picked up a Blu-ray copy of Hoosiers the other night, and that sports film is well within my top 10 list - a really good flick.

Payback. One of the few Mel Gibson movies I had never seen before. His first film after Lethal Weapon 4 and it shows because I can consider this as Lethal Weapon 5. I saw a little of Riggs in that movie, only smarter. And despite it's only Mel Gibson he could carry the movie by himself. Even though it's more like a dark comedy mixed with a little Noire in it, there's a lot of action in it.

Mortal Kombat. So I had been watching this Mortal Kombat X fatalities (and reactions) on YouTube and I suddenly got this urge to watch the movie. So I went out bought the movie and watched it. Though not a big fan of Paul WS Anderson's work. The movie started good but ended a little mediocre. It's your typical cheesy 90's videogame movie of course. Sort of a guilty pleasure and perhaps aimed at kids in their early teens. Still one reason I would recommend this movie amongst us Mac-fans is actually Johnny Cage. Johnny Cage was played by Linden Ashby who played Brett in Twenty Questions. I was like: Brett? Mostly acted as the comic relief of the movie being the arrogant and selfish superstar, he has several great moments in the movie. I think his best moment was his fight with Scorpion which you can see here.


A little cheesy effects, yeah.

Other than that actress Bridgette Wilson was hot in that little black outfit as Sonya Blade. But I guess we all know the reputation of these kind of movies. Movies of videogames rarely work out.

And last one I've seen was The Craft. Another movie that made my mouth fall open after I saw that the script writer was Peter Filardi. He wrote The Endangered episode and the movie Flatliners. A horror movie about witches. A rare theme in movies. Though also not the greatest movie ever, there were a few nice effects in it but the movie itself wasn't that scary. Even though they were aiming for a PG-13 rating they got an R-rating instead. The movie itself is pretty much without blood but I think it could've been a lot scarier. The witches were pretty and acted by Robin Tunney, Fairuza Balk (who has amazing blue eyes), Neve Campbell and Rachel True. But I prefer Robin Tunney and Fairuza Balk of the four. Sorry Neve, but you were better in Scream. Also interesting is Skeet Ulrich. So even though they don't have scenes together the protagonist and antagonist from the first Scream movie are in this movie as well. Also in a little role is Kathleen Lloyd better known as Carol Baldwin from Magnum PI.

The Special Edition of Independence Day was finally released on Bluray. So I bought it and can replace the regular dvd with it now. I bought it so I could watch it again before going to Resurgence. A classic, one of a kind movie really. The simple idea of: what would you do if you wake up one morning and see a spaceship hanging over your town? With some great city wide shots and arrivals of the spaceships in New York and Washington and of course the devastating attacks this movie is sheer joy with a great pace and great acting. Some actors got their big breakthrough like Will Smith others were like never seen again. There was also Bill Pullman, Vivica Fox, Jeff Goldblum (his second big blockbuster that decade after Jurassic Park), Judd Hirsch, Randy Quaid, the girl from Mrs. Doubtfire, the kid from the Fresh Prince of Bel Air and many more. For the viewers who pays attention you might notice Dan Lauria (the dad from the Wonder Years) in two scenes at Space Command and also Robert Pine (Ralph Jerico) in the Oval Office meeting scene.

To me personally this movie has the greatest orchestral ending in a movie I have ever seen. David Arnold made the score for this movie and has many great tracks like Evacuation, Firestorm and Jolly Roger and of course the aerial battles. All tracks giving me goosebumps but especially the last thirty seconds of the Victory track.


Didn't I promise you fireworks?
Yeah.

Camera pans to a clear blue sky and all the debris of the mothership from space burns up in the atmosphere and than fade out! That's why I like movies!

Ffffinally got the chance to watch Independence Day Resurgence. Wow. Thought it would never happen!

So what can i say about ID4R? Well, when i first saw the original back in 1996, I was entertained for the bland stick of entertainment that it was. We all knew it was a sci-fi flick about an alien invasion and there had been many before it. But what gave ID4 the advantage were the shocker attacks these enemies bestowed upon humanity. It was a typical high budget disaster movie with all the effects and all the wise cracking remarks from its stars.

So 20 years on, what can they possibly do to make this one different from the last? Although ID4R tries to throw in a few new twists to an age old story of alien invasions, it feels as if the franchise is already a little tired. The movie was still entertaining to the point that you pretty much get what you expect.Although at times you have to wonder about the reason why some of the returning cast are returning and what their role is. Also it does still have the patriotic question of why the US is fronting the world and why an alien race would work on our time frame.

Some nice new additions in the story were welcome and you get the sense that the movie could have the potential to grow into something it might need.

ID4R has had a moderate success at the box office. It did not flop after all. But whether they will proceed with part 3 remains to be seen. I give it 3 stars.

Sorry but the second movie is not what the first one is and I always doubted it needed a sequel. The first one was perfect in everything. Story, cast, effects, music... They manage a great build up until the ships are finally visible on earth. A worldwide phenomena. Mankind sees spaceships for the very first time. Are they friendly? Are they hostile? What do we do? What do we expect? All that is not in the second movie. Understandable because we've been there, done that. We know what to expect this time but seriously, they come down with a bigger ship this time but where's the whole wide world attack feel than?

There is still something in it but it lacks a whole lot that should be there. Using the same story structure the first movie had, wouldn't have hurt. The feeling of world wide attacks wouldn't have hurt either. Come on, this is Emmerich, the director who likes to destroy the world all the time and for once I expected it and it's only to one smalltime scene. When the aliens destroyed the White House, the Empire State and L.A. that was massive.

One thing that I find very interesting is that Independence Day is trying to represent a world without conflict between nations. The threat comes from outer space now. Maybe they can deepen out their alien world more and it sounded like they would in the third movie. And even though this might be a bit of a flop, I got to say, Emmerich should be obligated now to make that third movie. There has been years and years of debate whether or not there should be a sequel and we get this? OK, I've seen worse but now I want that third movie. He started something, now he's gotta to finish it.

This one looks like fun.

Last night I saw A Fish Called Wanda. Written, co-directed and starring John Cleese along with Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline, Michael Palin and George Thomason. It has been years since I have seen this movie. The movie is about a jewel heist in which everyone is trying to fool everyone for their own reasons and the loot gets lost. Tom (Thomason) sets up the heist which succeeds but Wanda and Otto (Curtis and Kline) turn him in instead but they find out too late that loot is no longer where they left it. In the meantime Wanda is sleeping with Tom's lawyer to have him plead guilty in order to find out where the loot is but due to Otto's jealousy it always goes wrong. Meanwhile Ken (Palin) has been assigned to take care of the only eyewitness of the robbery.

I can recommend the movie if you're up for a good laugh. Kline has a won an Oscar for his role in this movie as well as John Cleese and Michael Palin in England.

It's a double whammy.
First I managed to re watch this last night.

It's a blatantly obvious classic that truly stands the test of time. Made back in 1962, and starring Peter O'Toole, Sir Alec Guinness and Omar Shariff, Lawrence of Arabia tells the story of T.E. Lawrence and his experience in Arabia during World War I. Cast, direction and visuals are outstanding and the classic soundtrack by Maurice Jarre is timeless. The movie is just a little long.

That aside, i you are one of the few that has yet to see this classic, it is definitely worth your time. Easy 5 stars.

On Friday, we finally got round to watching the Legend of Tarzan.

Starring Alexander Skarsgard, Margot Robbie, Samuel L. Jackson & Christoph Waltz, LOT tells the story almost a decade after Tarzan/John Clayton leaves the jungle in Africa to live in England with his now wife, Jane. But not all is as well as expected when the couple are lured back into the jungle in an attempt to have him captured in exchange for diamonds.

In some ways, the forwards / backwards storytelling almost feels necessary to avoid the retelling of Tarzan and to be modestly different to previous incarnations of this story. But the overuse of CGI & political interference somewhat derailed my experience in watching this. Visually, Legend of Tarzan is great and it will probably be the best looking Tarzan movie you have ever seen but some scenes play out like a Spider Man movie with the only difference is that this hero doesn't have a spider suit on and is swinging on vines. Also, having stars like Sam Jackson in it (The character he plays and how he plays it) did not match up to the historical part of the story they were trying to tell. Themes presented in the movie were so so and i got no invigoration from the score. Overall, LOT is a mediocre attempt at retelling Burroughs iconic story and certainly doesn't come near the early versions of the Tarzan movies. Some might enjoy this a lot more than i did but i felt a little disappointed. 2 stars from me.

LOT wasn't so bad but it wasn't top notch either. It was alright. And it gave me a look into Belgian history and not exactly a great part of our history. It was a private project of King Leopold II but on everything I read the nation wasn't too happy about it. Leopold II himself never went there but was very proud of his private project calling it the Congo Free State. The reason nobody liked it was that Belgium was supposed to be a neutral country without colonies. After many protests from other nations, the government took over the project from the king creating the Belgian-Congo colony in 1908.

During Leopold's reign the Congolese people were treated extremely bad by the Force Republique, a colonial army that commited crimes like: genocide, slavery, kidnapping, torture, rape, decapitations and chopping off hands (including children). Casualties are according to what is known between 3 million and 10 million peoples.

It's a dark page in Belgian history.