Friday, September 4, 2020

I Stream, You Stream Vol. 124

by Patrick Bromley
It's back!

Primal (2019, dir. Nicholas Powell) After a long absence, I Stream, You Stream returns as a semi-regular column! What better way to kick it off than with a double dose of Cage? One of his latest DTV efforts just showed up on Prime, casting him as a big game hunter who finds himself on a ship with a terrorist. It's basically Under Siege but with a CG jaguar. The cast, which includes Famke Janssen, Kevin Durand, and Michael Imperoli, is overqualified and the movie feels kind of cheap overall (no surprise there), but Cage is having a great time and the movie is super entertaining. Watching this one earlier this year is what sent me down the rabbit hole of watching every single Nicolas Cage DTV movie, so consider yourself warned. Primal is a gateway drug. (Watch on Amazon Prime Video)
Debt Collectors (2020, dir. Jesse V. Johnson) Scott Adkins and Louis Mandylor return in the sequel to 2018's excellent The Debt Collector finds the pair reuniting (and surviving death) for another round of collecting debts. It's in the title. The two actors have fun chemistry together, with Adkins once again being a standout. I love how his tightly-wound character from the first film has changed in the sequel and embraced his dark side. The action is great because of course it is (Jesse V. Johnson doesn't fuck around), and while I didn't like it quite as much as the first movie, it's a more than worthy sequel. For some reason, this is called Debt Collector 2 on Netflix. (Watch on Netflix)
Color Out of Space (2020, dir. Richard Stanley) One of my favorite movies of the year just appeared on Shudder this week. The second (and better) Nicolas Cage movie of this week's column finds him as a nice guy family man whose family is turned upside down -- in some cases, literally -- by the arrival of a strange meteor. There is stuff in this movie so nightmarish I still haven't forgotten it. I hope it leads to more Richard Stanley movies. Thirty years between projects is too long to wait. (Watch on Shudder)
Dream Lover (1994, dir. Nicholas Kazan) Super hard to see for a long time, this '90s erotic thriller just popped up on Amazon Prime this week. It's terrific until it becomes nasty and misogynistic, but let's focus on the terrific part. My hero James Spader falls in love with Madchen Amick (who could blame him) without knowing much about who she really is. This is a problem. There's at least 2/3 of a great movie here. Watch it for the performances and because you couldn't for so long. Unfortunately, the version on Amazon is the R-rated cut. An unrated cut does exist. (Watch on Amazon Prime Video)

9 comments:

  1. Hey! I'm long-time lurker. I want to check out some some Scott Adkins movies and would love hear your recommendations. Thanks!

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    1. Well, to be honest, of he's first lead, they're all worth it.

      And if he's second or third, still worth it

      So just get the first one you can and watch

      Though Universal Solder Day Of Reckoning is a straight up masterpiece

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    2. I haven't seen many Scott Adkins movies but I'll second that UNIVERSAL SOLDIER DAY OF RECKONING is very good

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    3. Thank you! I watched Universals Soldiers: Regeneration and Day of Reckoning back to back and enjoyed both a lot. I think I will continue down Adkins rabbithole.

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    4. I love Scott Adkins and that's because of Patrick and this site! I echo the other comments that you can just dive into any Scott Adkins movie that interests you. Some movies might be just okay, but he is always good. I've seen quite a handful, but I can recommend some other titles not yet mentioned if you haven't seen them yet. El Gringo (on Prime) is fun and you get this zany Christian Slater performance as a bonus (or maybe that's default Christian Slater, I don't know). Ninja: Shadow of a Tear is great. I've never seen the first Ninja, but that's only because I am too stubborn to watch it for the first time with ads on a free streaming service. Close Range (on Prime) is also fun. I really love his Jesse V Johnson collaborations such as the first Debt Collector (on Netflix), Savage Dog (on Prime and Netflix), Accident Man, Triple Threat (on Netflix), and boy howdy Avengement (on Netflix) is bonkers fun.

      It's been a while since I've seen some of those so hopefully they hold up.

      I didn't realize Debt Collectors is up on Netflix so hurray!

      I was trying to tell one of my friends about Scott Adkins and she said that he looked like a dark haired Ryan Reynolds and I was all, HOW DARE YOU??? We are still friends. (No offense to Ryan Reynolds)

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    5. Thanks! I watched Ninja yesterday and liked it. I will keep exploring Scott Adkin's movies. And, yup, Patrick's (and other's) love of his movies got me curious. Very cool to find a new area to explore. Thanks for the suggestions!

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  2. This is great! I was just thinking recently about how I missed these recommendations...thank you

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  3. "watching every single Nicolas Cage DTV movie" - gawd this has been a long quarantine if it has resulted in this.....

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    1. He started before the quarantine. Cage is just that awesome

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