Before last night, I had never before seen a film starring Don "The Dragon" Wilson. I know, it's a total failing on my part as a dude who grew up in the late 80s/early 90s, and who was into martial arts movies and whatever cheese was playing on Cinemax (on a related note, remind me to write about Angelfist one of these days). On first impression, I can see why Don "The Dragon" did fine in his niche. He's a good looking guy, with his angular features and massive ears making him look like the studly love experiment of Jason Scott Lee and Clark Gable. As a martial artist, he doesn't over do it with a lot of flash, moving well and cutting a nice presence. As an actor... he's one hell of a martial artist. Sorry, to his credit, Don "The Dragon" isn't quite as stiff as a stump, as I've seen many other martial artist-turned-actors be, but that's not saying a whole lot. The film doesn't require him to emote very much, and he pulls off not emoting much with great aplomb. And while his heavy voice with a distinct drawl doesn't always allow for the cleanest of line deliveries, it does give him an approachable charm. He's about as good on screen as Howie Long, is what I'm saying, and as the sole member of Firestorm Fans United, that's perfectly fine by me.
December 4, 2013
Bloodfist (1989 film)
Before last night, I had never before seen a film starring Don "The Dragon" Wilson. I know, it's a total failing on my part as a dude who grew up in the late 80s/early 90s, and who was into martial arts movies and whatever cheese was playing on Cinemax (on a related note, remind me to write about Angelfist one of these days). On first impression, I can see why Don "The Dragon" did fine in his niche. He's a good looking guy, with his angular features and massive ears making him look like the studly love experiment of Jason Scott Lee and Clark Gable. As a martial artist, he doesn't over do it with a lot of flash, moving well and cutting a nice presence. As an actor... he's one hell of a martial artist. Sorry, to his credit, Don "The Dragon" isn't quite as stiff as a stump, as I've seen many other martial artist-turned-actors be, but that's not saying a whole lot. The film doesn't require him to emote very much, and he pulls off not emoting much with great aplomb. And while his heavy voice with a distinct drawl doesn't always allow for the cleanest of line deliveries, it does give him an approachable charm. He's about as good on screen as Howie Long, is what I'm saying, and as the sole member of Firestorm Fans United, that's perfectly fine by me.
November 27, 2013
Castle Rock Cash-In presents... A Return to Salem's Lot
This is a tie-in to Angelle Tusa's Castle Rock Companion series, which explores the cinematic adaptations of the works of Stephen King. Check out her review of Salem's Lot.
We open in the jungles of South America, where a native tribe is sacrificing a young man (classic image of him stretched out on an altar with his heart being cut out) so as to bless the fertility of the king's newly wed young daughter, while topless women dance about in a circle. Viewing the scene is Joe Webber (Michael Moriarty), an anthropologist who coldly takes over filming when his cameraman wigs out in disgust at the sight. What does this scene have to do with the ensuing film? Jack all! Yes, it establishes Joe as an anthropologist, which is key to the plot, but his callousness at seeing human life ripped away not only doesn't play in the story to follow, but is largely contradicted by it.
We open in the jungles of South America, where a native tribe is sacrificing a young man (classic image of him stretched out on an altar with his heart being cut out) so as to bless the fertility of the king's newly wed young daughter, while topless women dance about in a circle. Viewing the scene is Joe Webber (Michael Moriarty), an anthropologist who coldly takes over filming when his cameraman wigs out in disgust at the sight. What does this scene have to do with the ensuing film? Jack all! Yes, it establishes Joe as an anthropologist, which is key to the plot, but his callousness at seeing human life ripped away not only doesn't play in the story to follow, but is largely contradicted by it.
November 10, 2013
October 31, 2013
Castle Rock Cash-In presents... Creepshow 3
This is a tie-in to Angelle Tusa's Castle Rock Companion series, which explores the cinematic adaptations of the works of Stephen King. Check out her reviews of Creepshow and Creepshow 2.
In "Alice", our eponymous, snobbish teenage girl finds herself thrust between alternate realities when her father experiments with a new universal remote. This sets the tone of the piece early, with crisp direction and a good naturalistic flow to the dialogue and performances. It's not a particularly scary short, with the increasingly gory burns Alice suffers as a result of her reality shifts being played more for a gruesome laugh, and more focus is put on the humor, as her father adjusting the color hue throws her in a reality where her family is black, or playing with subtitles makes them Hispanic. Sadly, it just doesn't seem to know where to go beyond that as a few things just randomly happen and the short ends.
In "Alice", our eponymous, snobbish teenage girl finds herself thrust between alternate realities when her father experiments with a new universal remote. This sets the tone of the piece early, with crisp direction and a good naturalistic flow to the dialogue and performances. It's not a particularly scary short, with the increasingly gory burns Alice suffers as a result of her reality shifts being played more for a gruesome laugh, and more focus is put on the humor, as her father adjusting the color hue throws her in a reality where her family is black, or playing with subtitles makes them Hispanic. Sadly, it just doesn't seem to know where to go beyond that as a few things just randomly happen and the short ends.
October 11, 2013
Sleepy Hollow, episode 4 "The Lesser Key of Solomon"
In this week's Sleepy Hollow, we learn the Boston Tea Party was a ruse so Ichabod and Samuel Adams could recover a book of King Solomon containing spells to summon demons, that the Hessian descendants of the same order the Headless Horseman fought for is still around, living in Sleepy Hollow as a sleeper cell (or as I like to call them, the Sleepy Cell), that Baddie Blur is really the Ammonite demon god Moloch, and that Jenny has had a tough life.
October 6, 2013
October 4, 2013
Sleepy Hollow, episode 3 "For the Triumph of Evil"
Ratings
The drop from 8.59mil to 7.97mil is significantly narrower than the drop from the pilot episode's 10.10mil, so here's hoping the show is about to stabilize in the mid-high 7mil range. It's still in a good timeslot on a good night, so as long as they don't suddenly shift it, it should be fine. Granted, wouldn't be the first time they've shifted slots based on numbers like this.
Recap
Abbie arrives at the station where Irving tells her the suspect has been caught and is being interrogated by Ichabod. Which strikes Abbie as odd. As they walk to the interrogation room, Abbie is introduced to a woman, a forensic psychologist, who says the suspect is going for an insanity defense. Reaching the room, Ichabod is looming over a young woman, demanding to know what she saw. The woman is a teenage Abbie Mills. Abbie storms into the room, only to find Ichabod sitting in the suspect's chair, glaring at her with eyes glazed over white. "The truth will set you free." He's gone and Abbie finds herself alone and locked in the room with lights flickering. She spins, finds herself facing a tall, pale figure, nude to the waist, with no features on his face expect a pair of dark eye sockets which leak drifts of sand. Enter, the Sandman.
The drop from 8.59mil to 7.97mil is significantly narrower than the drop from the pilot episode's 10.10mil, so here's hoping the show is about to stabilize in the mid-high 7mil range. It's still in a good timeslot on a good night, so as long as they don't suddenly shift it, it should be fine. Granted, wouldn't be the first time they've shifted slots based on numbers like this.
Recap
Abbie arrives at the station where Irving tells her the suspect has been caught and is being interrogated by Ichabod. Which strikes Abbie as odd. As they walk to the interrogation room, Abbie is introduced to a woman, a forensic psychologist, who says the suspect is going for an insanity defense. Reaching the room, Ichabod is looming over a young woman, demanding to know what she saw. The woman is a teenage Abbie Mills. Abbie storms into the room, only to find Ichabod sitting in the suspect's chair, glaring at her with eyes glazed over white. "The truth will set you free." He's gone and Abbie finds herself alone and locked in the room with lights flickering. She spins, finds herself facing a tall, pale figure, nude to the waist, with no features on his face expect a pair of dark eye sockets which leak drifts of sand. Enter, the Sandman.
September 26, 2013
Sleepy Hollow, episode 2 "Blood Moon"
Ratings
Episode 2 has slipped a bit from the episode 1 numbers of 10.10mil to 8.59mil. This is a typical drop, and not unexpected. If it can hold around here, or even settle and stabilize in the 7mil range, it should be okay for another season. Still way too early to tell, though, as I've seen shows hold around here for a few weeks, then take a sudden plunge into 5, 4, sometimes even 3mil. Here's hoping they keep it in this timeslot, as it's just up against sitcoms and reality competitions, giving it an edge for people looking for a drama at the time.
Recap
Night. Ichabod is racing through the woods, the Horseman at his heels. Three other Horsemen, their armored shapes lost in shadows, join in the chase. Ichabod runs into a thicket, where the branches come alive and pull him into the ground. Ichabod finds himself in a catacomb, where Katrina appears and repeats his mission objectives, with the addition of, "Before the Four Horsemen can ride, an army of evil will make way for their arrival. The first dark spirit rises before the blood moon. She's one of us. You must stop her before she kills again!" Katrina disappears. Looking up into the thicket hole he came through, Ichabod sees a charred woman with red eyes looking down at him.
Episode 2 has slipped a bit from the episode 1 numbers of 10.10mil to 8.59mil. This is a typical drop, and not unexpected. If it can hold around here, or even settle and stabilize in the 7mil range, it should be okay for another season. Still way too early to tell, though, as I've seen shows hold around here for a few weeks, then take a sudden plunge into 5, 4, sometimes even 3mil. Here's hoping they keep it in this timeslot, as it's just up against sitcoms and reality competitions, giving it an edge for people looking for a drama at the time.
Recap
Night. Ichabod is racing through the woods, the Horseman at his heels. Three other Horsemen, their armored shapes lost in shadows, join in the chase. Ichabod runs into a thicket, where the branches come alive and pull him into the ground. Ichabod finds himself in a catacomb, where Katrina appears and repeats his mission objectives, with the addition of, "Before the Four Horsemen can ride, an army of evil will make way for their arrival. The first dark spirit rises before the blood moon. She's one of us. You must stop her before she kills again!" Katrina disappears. Looking up into the thicket hole he came through, Ichabod sees a charred woman with red eyes looking down at him.
September 25, 2013
Castle Rock Cash-In presents... Firestarter 2: Rekindled
This is a tie-in to Angelle Tusa's Castle Rock Companion series, which explores the cinematic adaptations of the works of Stephen King. Her review of Firestarter can be found here.
Documents relating to the Lot 6 experiment have been released to the public thanks to the Freedom of Information Act, but have been quietly tucked away in library archives instead of creating a media scandal. Nonetheless, a class action lawsuit from the experiment's survivors is quickly launched and settled, and the legal firm for which Vincent Sforza (Danny Nucci) works is tasked with tracking down everyone else related to the experiment so the settlement earnings can be properly processed. Following a paper trail to the basement of the late Dr. Wanless (Freddie Jones in the first film), Vincent encounters a secretive young woman named Tommy (Marguerite Moreau), who's also rooting through the files to dig deeper into the actual drugs used in the trials.
Documents relating to the Lot 6 experiment have been released to the public thanks to the Freedom of Information Act, but have been quietly tucked away in library archives instead of creating a media scandal. Nonetheless, a class action lawsuit from the experiment's survivors is quickly launched and settled, and the legal firm for which Vincent Sforza (Danny Nucci) works is tasked with tracking down everyone else related to the experiment so the settlement earnings can be properly processed. Following a paper trail to the basement of the late Dr. Wanless (Freddie Jones in the first film), Vincent encounters a secretive young woman named Tommy (Marguerite Moreau), who's also rooting through the files to dig deeper into the actual drugs used in the trials.
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