Author: Dave Franklin
-
A Handful of 90s British Classics
Tag(s):
Author:
Read more: A Handful of 90s British ClassicsThe nineties was the last great decade for movies. Here we had the likes of Goodfellas, Unforgiven, Pulp Fiction, Thelma and Louise, Fargo, Se7en, Silence of the Lambs and Schindler’s List while (as detailed below) those Limey bastards also coughed up a good few belters. Yes, terrific movies still get made post-2000 (e.g. Requiem for…
-
Starring debuts #10: Bo Derek in 10 (1979)
Tag(s):
Author:
Read more: Starring debuts #10: Bo Derek in 10 (1979)Bo Derek is actually rated a Spinal Tap-esque 11 in this successful sex comedy but that still might be underscoring her. She looks sensational here and it’s not hard to see why George Webber (Moore) gets hit by an Apollonian thunderbolt as he mundanely waits in his open top Roller at a Californian stop sign.…
-
Blaxploitation #6: The Black Gestapo (1975)
Tag(s):
Author:
Read more: Blaxploitation #6: The Black Gestapo (1975)What the hell are these cats up to? Rape and castration, mainly. General Ahmed (Perry) has started an inner-city People’s Army in south LA to improve everyday black life and tackle pressing issues like drug addiction. However, he runs into big trouble with the Mob, leading him to grant permission for his deputy Colonel Kojah…
-
Starring debuts #9: John Amplas in Martin (1978)
Tag(s):
Author:
Read more: Starring debuts #9: John Amplas in Martin (1978)Martin on the hunt with a syringe clamped between his teeth is one of the great sights of 70s horror. We know he’s a serial killer, but is he a vampire? As played by the superb Amplas, we never get a telling answer. The movie continually toys with conventions and expectations so that facts and…
-
Blaxploitation #5: Three the Hard Way (1974)
Tag(s):
Author:
Read more: Blaxploitation #5: Three the Hard Way (1974)What the hell are these cats up to? After watching this mess, I only have the vaguest of ideas. I think there are three black dudes (Williamson, Brown and Kelly), who somehow know each other, and they team up to tackle a white supremacist’s genocidal plan to poison the water supply so that only the…
-
Pliers, Pussies & the Enduring Class of John Vernon
Tag(s):
Author:
Read more: Pliers, Pussies & the Enduring Class of John VernonIn the flat blaxploitation parody I’m Gonna Git You Sucka, baddie John Vernon prickles at the insinuation that playing an exploitation villain is beneath him. “Lots of famous people have done exploitation movies,” he tells the hero before listing the likes of Shelley Winters and Angie Dickinson. OK, mate, fair point, but I doubt you…
-
Starring debuts #8: Alan Rickman in Die Hard (1988)
Tag(s):
Author:
Read more: Starring debuts #8: Alan Rickman in Die Hard (1988)You know Alan Rickman’s done his job remarkably well in Die Hard when he plunges to his death from a high-rise building and we feel a bit sad. Unlike Kong, it wasn’t beauty that killed the charismatic beast, but a combination of old-fashioned greed and sheer bad luck. Rickman plays Hans Gruber, a debonair German…
-
Blaxploitation #4: Boss Nigger (1975)
Tag(s):
Author:
Read more: Blaxploitation #4: Boss Nigger (1975)What the hell are these cats up to? Two fearsome bounty hunters Boss (Williamson) and Amos (Martin), who kill up to five outlaws at a time, take a break from their day job to forcibly outwit the piss-weak, double-dealing mayor of San Miguel and become the law. As you can imagine, the vast majority of…
-
Cruising For A Few Good Movies
Tag(s):
Author:
Read more: Cruising For A Few Good MoviesIn the atrocious Interview with the Vampire the effete Tom Cruise tells his supernatural buddy Brad Pitt: “Life without me would be even more unbearable.” Well, kids, whaddya reckon? Is Our Tom telling the truth? Can you imagine your existence sans Maverick or never having witnessed all those heroic dashes with his choppy hands? No…
-
Starring debuts #7: Richard E. Grant in Withnail and I (1987)
Tag(s):
Author:
Read more: Starring debuts #7: Richard E. Grant in Withnail and I (1987)Big-budget action maestro Michael Bay could probably learn a thing or two from Withnail. Namely, that if you get the characterization and dialogue right, you don’t need any explosions or mayhem to make a great movie. After all, what does the titular character accomplish during the 107 minutes of this cult classic? He tries to…