HIGH RISK (1981, ROKU CHANNEL) HUDSON HAWK (1991, KINO BLU-RAY)
"High Risk's" writer/director Stewart Raffill has a filmography ("Mac and Me," "The Ice Pirates," "Mannequin: On the Move," etc.) worthy of taking chances during June every year. But even by the heist genre playbook "HR" ventures too far off the reservation to be taken seriously. Three down-on-their-luck unemployed California workers (a baby-faced Bruce Davis, Cleavon Little and Chick Vennera) join their documentarian friend Stone (James Brolin) to buy never-gonna-use-them guns from Ernest Borgnine, fly down to Colombia and hit the flush-with-cash safe of a drug dealer (James Coburn) inside his compound. With only a female dog to distract Doberman guards (!) and the hope everyone's asleep during the afternoon siesta (WTF?!?!), the foursome get more than they bargained for when Stone's plan turns to shit right away (no doy!). They get chased/shot through a brothel, run afoul of guerrilla-leader-turned-bandit Mariano (Anthony Quinn), pick-up "The Bionic Woman" herself, Lindsay Wagner, as part of their crew, etc. The cast might be stacked with recognizable names, but "HR" looks/feels like "Romancing the Stone" on welfare. Colombia's never looked more like Southern California/Northern Mexico, and nobody ("good" or bad guys) can shoot worth a damn. The ending is supposed to make you pump your fists with joy... not shut off the TV halfway through the credits in disgust. 2.35 REAGONOMICS-BASHING RADIO NEWS ITEMS (out of five).
Started watching Michael Lehman's "Hudson Hawk" at 4PM Saturday and was finished by 8:15 because I kept falling asleep and having to rewind large portions... which kept happening even though I was wide awake at the start. And yet there is a reason I own this on Kino Blu-ray and won't get rid of the disc anytime soon. The early '90's poster child of superstar Bruce Willis' ego run amok, "HK" has bad pacing to go with the million other negative elements (no consistent tone, unfunny jokes/one-liners, disregard for physics, Andie McDowell trying too hard to be flirty/cute and failing, candy-named CIA agents who serve no purpose, James Coburn wasting his charm, etc.) that has kept it in the guilty pleasure/bad movie conversation for decades. But there are a handful of great moments/performances sprinkled throughout that make this an entertaining curio. The 'Swinging on a Star' auction house singing heist is actually a blast, the closest the narrative comes to being silly fun. The Vatican Codex heist doesn't reach the same heights but it's a too-brief chance to see Hawk being the great cat burglar we're told he is. And hey, that's "V: The Miniseries'" Leonardo Cimino as The Cardinal! :-D
The bromance/friendship between Willis' Hawk and Danny Aiello's Tommy Five-Tone is the heart of "HK", which we never experience in full because McDowell keeps getting rubbed in our faces by the script. Up until near the end of a normal-length film that seems thrice as long, whenever Aiello pops on screen everything/everyone in it comes alive. I disliked them as characters, but the Mayflowers (Richard E. Grant's Darwin and Sandra Bernhard's Minerva) at least feel like actors making choices and sticking with them. It's a mess and often a fascinating/entertaining one (the deleted scenes hint at this being an even bigger dumpster fire involving Hudson's pet monkey), one worth revisiting if you manage to stay awake long enough to see it through to the end. 2.75 (212) 555-1989 'WONG' NUMBERS (out of five).
A trio of hapless bank robbers pull off a successful heist, but it turns out it’s much easier to rob a New York bank than get out of New York. Hilarity ensues - and I mean it, the movie is really funny. Bill Murray is at his Bill Murray-est, but unsurprisingly it's Geena Davis who steals the show with her combination of exasperated and vulnerable. She and Murray have nice chemistry together and you find yourself rooting for these crazy kids to make it.
Im trying to only do new watches this month. So when i heard about this movie on a recent Screen Drafts for the films of the always brilliant Gene Hackman (RIP), directed by Mamet, i knew it'd be my choice for today. LOVED IT. The cast is phenom, every single person bringing their A game. It is an outstanding entry into the Heist genre which i love. From dropping us into the middle of an elaborate jewelry heist in the opening moments to the just-need-to-pull-one-last-job-what-could-possibly-go-wrong premise for the rest of the flick. And the flick is filled with fun dialogue. DIG IT!
Jimmy: So, is he going to be cool? Pinky: My motherf@cker is so cool, when he goes to bed, sheep count him
ROUGH CUT (1980, D. Siegel) First-time watch, Paramount Blu-ray, 7/10. This flick doesn't get much love, & while I'm not about to slather it with praise, it's an easily entertaining, non-kids-PG movie for any Sunday afternoon. David Niven is almost retired but if he can nail uber-thief Burt Reynolds first, he can ascend to Scotland Yard Valhalla. Lesley-Anne Down is a clepto with a politician father, an easy mark for Niven to use as bait. Patrick Magee is a N@zi pilot, Al Matthews (ALIENS) is his copilot & Joss Ackland doesn't believe Niven. Movie-star fluff; warm it up with THE PINK PANTHER.
A Franco-phile suggests: Last one, I promise. GRETA, THE MAD BUTCHER (1977, aka ILSA THE WICKED WARDEN) Apparently, Dyanne Thorne was approached about making a kung fu film that turned out to be a women-in-prison movie that was easily retitled as an ILSA cash-in. It's what you'd think/hope/fear: sl3azeb@ll goodness with Lina Romay, Eric Falk & Franco himself. This is part of Franco's time with Swiss producer Erwin C. Dietrich. Dietrich, like Towers, had some standards; for better or worse, they weren't anywhere close to Towers'. Now playing on Night Flight Plus.
I really need to watch this GRETA. I already picked BLOODY MOON for my Franco flick, and I also have a WIP movie on my slate for the month, so I may have to screen this during Julysploitation!
3000 Miles to Graceland (2001, dir. Demian Lichtenstein)
Michael (Kurt Russell) is barely out of prison when his old cellmate (and Elvis obsessive) Murphy (Kevin Costner) invites him to join a gang planning to rob a Vegas casino during an Elvis impersonator convention. But when no one is eager to split the loot evenly, a deadly game of cat and mouse between the robbers, Michael's new girlfriend (Courteney Cox) and her son, a money launderer, the cops and a pair of FBI agents begins.
The most 2001 movie that ever 2001'd. The plotting, the cinematography, the editing, the humor, the sound effects, the needle drops, they're all trying really, really hard to be slick and cool. They only occasionally succeed. What does constantly work is the cast: Kurt Russell is great as always in the lead and Kevin Costner is having fun in a rare villain role. I associate Courteney Cox so much with Friends that it's a little jarring seeing her play a very different character, but she's fine at it. The deep bench includes Christian Slater, David Arquette, Bokeem Woodbine, Thomas Haden Church, Kevin Pollak, Jon Lovitz, and Ice-T.
I started watching "3,000 Miles...." after "Hudson Hawk" last night. Made it about 15 minutes in (right after Kurt Russell makes love to pre-surgery Courtney Cox the 2nd time) and gave up. That's when l went looking and found "High Risk." Yep, lousy day all around. 🙄💀☠️
Taxi (1998): One of my favorite french action movie, written by Luc Besson, with a kick-ass hip-hop soundtrack (I'm not even a fan of hip-hop). The car chases are great, the banter is funny. There's a mix of Bad Boys and The Fast And Furious, before they existed. The first of series of movies much like F&F, where it starts relatively simple, but eventually gets way crazier with flying cars and stuff like that. Don't confuse this movie with the american remake, that was is baaaaaaaad. It's also the first time I saw Marion Cotillard on the screen.
George Burns, Art Carney and a show-stealing Lee Strasberg decide to rob a bank to add some excitement to their dull lives. Smart, funny, sad and moving this was everything I want in a movie. Movie magic from start to finish. Highly recommended.
FIRESTORM (2013, Alan Yuen) First-time watch, Well Go DVD (from Dollar Tree), 6/10. An armored car is robbed after the criminals lift it off the highway with a giant crane. Cop Andy Lau is gunning for the biggest crime boss (making this a nice accidental double with ROUGH CUT) but he wants to do it right. Gordon Lam just got out of jail, but is he flying straight? What about when he beat Lau in high school judo? Lau's been watching Philip Keung's severely autistic daughter while he was in prison, but Keung wants to go undercover. With three hours of plot jammed into 109 minutes, FIRESTORM's use of ever more ludicrous non-great CGI helps balance what feels like an ever more tangled story. It's not great, but it's entertaining up to the finish. It's also a sad reminder of how easily digital cinema can look non-great.
I'm not a big Guy Ritchie fan, or a Jason Statham fan, but I had heard good things about this one (probably from someone on the podcast). It's still got too much "Look how macho and not gay we are!" banter for me, but I liked the story structure and the jumping around in time. It was occasionally confusing as to who is who, and on which team, but it's a good time.
Thanks for the reminder to revisit this! Watched this today too and it only continues to get better every time I see it. Ready to call it a masterpiece.
A solid film about two sisters who turn to train robberies to help with the bills and pay their mom's bail.
A solid film about family, but honestly not super strong as a heist movie. They rob the train several times for small time goods, so there's not the epic laying out the plan scene, which for me is a staple of a heist movie.
Today is a perfect day outside, sunny, not too hot, light breeze... so obviously I stayed inside to watch the rest of the Taxi movies. There's 5 of them, and as I've mentioned before, they get weirder, but not necessarily better, and clearly smaller budgets. It's also more of the same, same type of jokes, same cast, they do manage to change the stories a little bit: heist, kidnapping, but always with the taxi at the center of it. Stallone has a cameo in the 3rd movie, dubbed by his usual guy. The last one, they changed the 2 main guys and the director, and it's not very good. Except for that 5th movie, they're mostly entertaining enough, but never as good as the first movie.
MIDDLE MEN (2009) The alleged true story of the invention of online credit card payments for use in p*rn, only for Russian mobsters and the FBI to get involved. Reminded me a lot of Fight Club with the oh-so-edgy voiceover throughout. Tons of well-known actors show up for this, only for it to be your basic rags-to-riches-to-rags biopic. It was fun to revisit the early internet days, but this type of real-crime thing has been done better elsewhere. (And apologies for this not being a proper heist film. Before clicking play, I thought it was a con artist flick.)
30 days of Georges Melies, day 8: JOAN OF ARC (1900) We’ve seen Melies do fantasy, but how does he do a historical film? Young Joan has a heavenly vision which leads her to take charge of France’s troops in battle, all building up to her tragic end. More huge production value with tons of extras. I like the gag of the marching troops that goes on and on. Allegedly, star Jeanne Calviere was a stablewoman (!) whom Melies cast because he thought she had the right look, which then kicked off her acting career. She is indeed quite the presence in this movie.
A good cast lead by Matt Dillion, Kurt Russell and Terrance Stamp keep this funny and entertaining heist film going. Sadly its a bit too predictable and anyone thats seen more then two heist films will be able to figure out the ending long before the end.
First time watch, and before I get into any quibbles, I want to start off by saying I liked this quite a bit and found it sort of fascinating. The scope of the movie is so ambitious, and its budget, while not miniscule, is so relatively modest, that this felt a little like watching a minor league team play the Yankees, but the minor leaguers end up holding their own.
It takes a looong time to get to the heist part of the movie, and while the heist sequence is exciting, it feels just a half step disconnected from the rest of the plot. The first hour-plus of the movie covers a LOT of ground, from finishing high school, to the Vietnam War, to the challenges of re-entering "normal life" after the war, and despite the broad scope, it somehow manages to feel pretty patient and methodical. The movie sets up a lot of elements for where it wants to go later on, and handles most of the returning-from-war dynamics in pretty effectively nuanced ways. The relationship struggles between Anthony (Larenz Tate) and Juanita (Rose Jackson) are handled really well, where both characters are likable without being perfect, and when the cracks in their union start to widen and break down, you really empathize and understand the frustrations from both of their perspectives, even as their words and actions toward each other spiral into tragic territory.
Right around this point in the movie, the patient build fo the first 90 minutes falls away, and the plot really goes into hyperdrive in a way that feels like the filmmakers may have had to make some difficult cuts to the story. There are hints of a black revolutionary storyline that feel trimmed down to a bare minimum (just to explain how one character joins the heist crew). Although there are a lot of seeds planted earlier on to explain and justify Anthony's decision to resort to crime for cash, it feels like the final blossoming of that story branch is skipped over, with maybe 10-15 minutes missing before the heist is quite suddenly being planned and executed. The rushed feel of the final 30 minutes certainly didn't ruin the movie for me, but it did leave me wondering if, given a bit more budget and the leeway to add another 30 minutes the runtime, the Hughes Bros, after attempting and executing some high degree-of-difficulty story acrobatics, might really have been able to stick the landing in a more satisfying way.
I was pretty impressed with the whole cast, but Chris Tucker in particular deserves a shoutout. He's obviously got a ton of comedic charisma, but he's able to mix that with a pretty impressive dramatic performance in this role. As I'm scanning his filmography, I'm recalling a couple other good not-just-comedic performances he's given (Silver Linings Playbook, Air), but I kinda think Dead Presidents is his best dramatic work (at least that I've seen).
I see there's an FTM podcast episode on this movie, so now I'm really looking forward to giving that a listen!
I remember giving this a big ol' "no fucking thank you" when it came out. Now, 13 years later, I was so right. I hate being negative so I'll save it, but I'm actually a little shocked that a heist movie could be this boring.
I only watched this because it is on the DVR. 11 Harrowhouse is a middling and messy diamond heist film set in the U.K. Charles Grodin stars as a small-scale diamond seller pushed into robbing the company that he buys from. The planning and heist sequences are by far the most enjoyable parts of the film. Speaking of the cast, James Mason always brings a bit of class to his roles. Though she does not have a well-defined character, Candice Bergen brings needed energy to a film that largely lacks it. I can understand why this film has sunk into obscurity.
Sexploitation noir! Director Lee Frost helmed a smorgasbord of grindhouse goodies such as THE DEFILERS, THE THING WITH TWO HEADS, and THE BLACK GESTAPO. I almost went with one of his efforts for the “Auteurs” category, but opted for this bit of twisty and twisted noir nastiness which was thought to be a lost film until recently unearthed from a Paris vault and restored by the those awesome exploitation entrepreneurs at Vinegar Syndrome. Two Vegas bagmen think with their d!cks and get d!cked by a duo of female thieves, then try to recover the mob’s stolen dough before the bosses put the kibosh on ‘em. This moves into roughie territory and tosses a few curveballs at the viewer in the final act, making for a satisfyingly sleazy climax. Added bonus: legendary exploitation producers David F. Friedman and Bob Cresse play mobsters! Final b@@balicious bonus: Gigantic 60s n!pples! They don’t make ‘em like they used to!
A few years ago I did a Lee Frost day for a Free day. The Animal was one that I enjoyed a lot, but Zero In And Scream was garbage. I actually have a Something Weird DVD-R of The Pick-Up. Not watched, of course.
DUCK, YOU SUCKER -l 1971 aka A FISTFUL OF DYNAMITE dir. Sergio Leone
They’re constantly looking to score but they only ever end up being glorious heroes of the revolution.
Maybe too high quality of an epic drama by a legendary director to really be exploitation. But James Coburn say the title like six times whenever he blows something up and Rod Steiger plays a Mexican, so I think I’m safe.
Would have been a lot better if it was closer to 90 minutes than its 150 minute runtime.
Dillinger, Bonnie, Clyde, Pretty Boy Floyd, Baby Face Nelson and Ma Barker are the Doberman Gang, six Dobermans who join the gang of Eddie Newton (Byron Mabe), Sammy (Simmy Bow), June (Julie Parrish) and former Air Force dog trainer Barney Greer (Hal Reed). Oh yes — there’s also a bulldog named J. Edgar.
Eddie and June have been a couple, but she soon sees that he could throw her away at any time. She starts getting close to Barney, who soon learns that this is a criminal plan to train these dogs. He’s told that he’ll be killed if he tries to get away, so he works with them in the hopes that he can save the dogs and June. But he soon has second thoughts when he learns that the dogs will be killed.
Good boys. J. Edgar gets them to run off with the money. The bad news is that one of the dogs was hit by a car, and I could have done without that part. Except that in the sequel, The Daring Dobermans, that dog is fine. Whew.
There are also two more movies in the series, The Amazing Dobermans and Alex and the Doberman Gang.
I didn’t have to worry so much, as this was the first movie to have the “No Animals Were Harmed” onscreen credit from the American Humane Association.
This was directed by Byron Ross Chudnow and written by Louis Garfinkle, who also wrote I Bury the Living, Face of Fire, The Hellbenders, Little Cigars and The Deer Hunter—yeah, I know, wow—and Frank Ray Perilli, who wrote Mansion of the Doomed, the Michael Pataki adult Cinderella, End of the World, Dracula’s Dog, the adult Fairy Tales, Laserblast, The Best of Sex and Violence and co-wrote Alligator with John Sayles.
Dimension Pictures played this as a double feature with The Twilight People. I love that!
QUICK CHANGE (1990, B. Murray & H. Franklin) I've wanted to see this since it came out. I guess 11-year old me couldn't get my parents to take me to it & I can't guess why I never rented it. In any event, I can do nothing but enjoy it. Heist becomes one-crazy-day! Makes an interesting chaser to my first film of the day, ROUGH CUT.
My first choice for this category because of how long I have owned the DVD. With a strong performance from Sean Connery and gritty location shooting around New York City from Sidney Lumet, this could not be a bad film. Add in a young Christopher Walken and it gets better. Connery is Duke Anderson, a British safe-cracker getting out of jail after serving his sentence. The life of crime is still in his blood, though, and he sets his sights on the wealthy residents of a NYC apartment building where an ex-girlfriend lives. The politics of the era seeps into the film with seemingly everyone being recorded or filmed in some way. If you like 1970s films, this ought not to disappoint. Martin Balsam plays a gay character who very well might be a little offensive by today's standards (Could not tell you what those are at this point), but I found it interesting that his sexual orientation was made so overt.
Wright will always be one of my Mt. Rushmore fav directors. This movie rules, problematic cast or not. That’s the trouble with doing anything creative as a group. Maybe you think you know who you’re getting into it with, but you never really know.
I watched Money Train for this one. It’s got my beloved Jennifer Lopez plus the re-teaming of Woody Harrelson and Wesley Snipes. Chris Cooper pops up as a creep. Robert Blake pops up as another creep. There’s New York in that magical Christmas and New Year’s time frame. There’s the titular money train!
The plot of this movie is all over the place but who cares. The action is fun and the character chemistry is undeniable. I kind of want a tv show with Snipes, Harrelson, and JLo just doing things in New York.
Seen this piecemeal over the years, but never front to back. One of the few 00s crime movies I've seen that doesn't feel impossibly dated. Great debut from Glazer.
'UNDERWHELMING ODDS' TWO-WAY SPLIT!
ReplyDeleteHIGH RISK (1981, ROKU CHANNEL)
HUDSON HAWK (1991, KINO BLU-RAY)
"High Risk's" writer/director Stewart Raffill has a filmography ("Mac and Me," "The Ice Pirates," "Mannequin: On the Move," etc.) worthy of taking chances during June every year. But even by the heist genre playbook "HR" ventures too far off the reservation to be taken seriously. Three down-on-their-luck unemployed California workers (a baby-faced Bruce Davis, Cleavon Little and Chick Vennera) join their documentarian friend Stone (James Brolin) to buy never-gonna-use-them guns from Ernest Borgnine, fly down to Colombia and hit the flush-with-cash safe of a drug dealer (James Coburn) inside his compound. With only a female dog to distract Doberman guards (!) and the hope everyone's asleep during the afternoon siesta (WTF?!?!), the foursome get more than they bargained for when Stone's plan turns to shit right away (no doy!). They get chased/shot through a brothel, run afoul of guerrilla-leader-turned-bandit Mariano (Anthony Quinn), pick-up "The Bionic Woman" herself, Lindsay Wagner, as part of their crew, etc. The cast might be stacked with recognizable names, but "HR" looks/feels like "Romancing the Stone" on welfare. Colombia's never looked more like Southern California/Northern Mexico, and nobody ("good" or bad guys) can shoot worth a damn. The ending is supposed to make you pump your fists with joy... not shut off the TV halfway through the credits in disgust. 2.35 REAGONOMICS-BASHING RADIO NEWS ITEMS (out of five).
Started watching Michael Lehman's "Hudson Hawk" at 4PM Saturday and was finished by 8:15 because I kept falling asleep and having to rewind large portions... which kept happening even though I was wide awake at the start. And yet there is a reason I own this on Kino Blu-ray and won't get rid of the disc anytime soon. The early '90's poster child of superstar Bruce Willis' ego run amok, "HK" has bad pacing to go with the million other negative elements (no consistent tone, unfunny jokes/one-liners, disregard for physics, Andie McDowell trying too hard to be flirty/cute and failing, candy-named CIA agents who serve no purpose, James Coburn wasting his charm, etc.) that has kept it in the guilty pleasure/bad movie conversation for decades. But there are a handful of great moments/performances sprinkled throughout that make this an entertaining curio. The 'Swinging on a Star' auction house singing heist is actually a blast, the closest the narrative comes to being silly fun. The Vatican Codex heist doesn't reach the same heights but it's a too-brief chance to see Hawk being the great cat burglar we're told he is. And hey, that's "V: The Miniseries'" Leonardo Cimino as The Cardinal! :-D
The bromance/friendship between Willis' Hawk and Danny Aiello's Tommy Five-Tone is the heart of "HK", which we never experience in full because McDowell keeps getting rubbed in our faces by the script. Up until near the end of a normal-length film that seems thrice as long, whenever Aiello pops on screen everything/everyone in it comes alive. I disliked them as characters, but the Mayflowers (Richard E. Grant's Darwin and Sandra Bernhard's Minerva) at least feel like actors making choices and sticking with them. It's a mess and often a fascinating/entertaining one (the deleted scenes hint at this being an even bigger dumpster fire involving Hudson's pet monkey), one worth revisiting if you manage to stay awake long enough to see it through to the end. 2.75 (212) 555-1989 'WONG' NUMBERS (out of five).
Hudson Hawk Rules!!!! (and, ironic timing, i was JUST listening to an old mix tape with Swingin on a Star from HH on it!)
DeleteI know movie people who consider "HH" their No.1 guilty pleasure. Not me, but l can see why. 😉😇
DeleteI'm not even guilty, I always loved that movie 😎
DeleteLoving your rating system
DeleteTPA, my way of proving l actually watch the pics l said l do. 😉🫢
DeleteQuick Change (1990)
ReplyDeleteA trio of hapless bank robbers pull off a successful heist, but it turns out it’s much easier to rob a New York bank than get out of New York. Hilarity ensues - and I mean it, the movie is really funny. Bill Murray is at his Bill Murray-est, but unsurprisingly it's Geena Davis who steals the show with her combination of exasperated and vulnerable. She and Murray have nice chemistry together and you find yourself rooting for these crazy kids to make it.
No love for Randy Quaid? Tony Shaloub? Or Jason freakin' Robards? 🤨😉😃
DeleteWere they in the movie? Sorry, I only saw Geena Davis.
Delete{mic drop}
DeleteHeist (2001)
ReplyDeleteIm trying to only do new watches this month. So when i heard about this movie on a recent Screen Drafts for the films of the always brilliant Gene Hackman (RIP), directed by Mamet, i knew it'd be my choice for today. LOVED IT. The cast is phenom, every single person bringing their A game. It is an outstanding entry into the Heist genre which i love. From dropping us into the middle of an elaborate jewelry heist in the opening moments to the just-need-to-pull-one-last-job-what-could-possibly-go-wrong premise for the rest of the flick. And the flick is filled with fun dialogue. DIG IT!
Jimmy: So, is he going to be cool?
Pinky: My motherf@cker is so cool, when he goes to bed, sheep count him
ROUGH CUT (1980, D. Siegel)
ReplyDeleteFirst-time watch, Paramount Blu-ray, 7/10.
This flick doesn't get much love, & while I'm not about to slather it with praise, it's an easily entertaining, non-kids-PG movie for any Sunday afternoon. David Niven is almost retired but if he can nail uber-thief Burt Reynolds first, he can ascend to Scotland Yard Valhalla. Lesley-Anne Down is a clepto with a politician father, an easy mark for Niven to use as bait. Patrick Magee is a N@zi pilot, Al Matthews (ALIENS) is his copilot & Joss Ackland doesn't believe Niven. Movie-star fluff; warm it up with THE PINK PANTHER.
A Franco-phile suggests:
Last one, I promise.
GRETA, THE MAD BUTCHER (1977, aka ILSA THE WICKED WARDEN)
Apparently, Dyanne Thorne was approached about making a kung fu film that turned out to be a women-in-prison movie that was easily retitled as an ILSA cash-in. It's what you'd think/hope/fear: sl3azeb@ll goodness with Lina Romay, Eric Falk & Franco himself. This is part of Franco's time with Swiss producer Erwin C. Dietrich. Dietrich, like Towers, had some standards; for better or worse, they weren't anywhere close to Towers'.
Now playing on Night Flight Plus.
I really need to watch this GRETA. I already picked BLOODY MOON for my Franco flick, and I also have a WIP movie on my slate for the month, so I may have to screen this during Julysploitation!
DeleteBLOODY MOON is great!
DeleteJulysploitation is a real thing for sure.
Delete3000 Miles to Graceland (2001, dir. Demian Lichtenstein)
ReplyDeleteMichael (Kurt Russell) is barely out of prison when his old cellmate (and Elvis obsessive) Murphy (Kevin Costner) invites him to join a gang planning to rob a Vegas casino during an Elvis impersonator convention. But when no one is eager to split the loot evenly, a deadly game of cat and mouse between the robbers, Michael's new girlfriend (Courteney Cox) and her son, a money launderer, the cops and a pair of FBI agents begins.
The most 2001 movie that ever 2001'd. The plotting, the cinematography, the editing, the humor, the sound effects, the needle drops, they're all trying really, really hard to be slick and cool. They only occasionally succeed. What does constantly work is the cast: Kurt Russell is great as always in the lead and Kevin Costner is having fun in a rare villain role. I associate Courteney Cox so much with Friends that it's a little jarring seeing her play a very different character, but she's fine at it. The deep bench includes Christian Slater, David Arquette, Bokeem Woodbine, Thomas Haden Church, Kevin Pollak, Jon Lovitz, and Ice-T.
I started watching "3,000 Miles...." after "Hudson Hawk" last night. Made it about 15 minutes in (right after Kurt Russell makes love to pre-surgery Courtney Cox the 2nd time) and gave up. That's when l went looking and found "High Risk." Yep, lousy day all around. 🙄💀☠️
DeleteTaxi (1998): One of my favorite french action movie, written by Luc Besson, with a kick-ass hip-hop soundtrack (I'm not even a fan of hip-hop). The car chases are great, the banter is funny. There's a mix of Bad Boys and The Fast And Furious, before they existed. The first of series of movies much like F&F, where it starts relatively simple, but eventually gets way crazier with flying cars and stuff like that. Don't confuse this movie with the american remake, that was is baaaaaaaad. It's also the first time I saw Marion Cotillard on the screen.
ReplyDeleteGoing in Style (1979, dir. Martin Brest)
ReplyDeleteGeorge Burns, Art Carney and a show-stealing Lee Strasberg decide to rob a bank to add some excitement to their dull lives. Smart, funny, sad and moving this was everything I want in a movie. Movie magic from start to finish. Highly recommended.
I cannot figure out how to show my profile pic
ReplyDeleteSelect your name, you should be able to edit your profile from there
Deleteno way! i never messed around with that. thanks for the heads up Kunider!!!!
Deleteweird...i added a photo which i now see when i blog but the posts dont show it...maybe a setting? or blogger just hates me?
DeleteI think Blogger hates everybody, but sometimes it feels like they're targeting our merry little community
DeleteFIRESTORM (2013, Alan Yuen)
ReplyDeleteFirst-time watch, Well Go DVD (from Dollar Tree), 6/10.
An armored car is robbed after the criminals lift it off the highway with a giant crane. Cop Andy Lau is gunning for the biggest crime boss (making this a nice accidental double with ROUGH CUT) but he wants to do it right. Gordon Lam just got out of jail, but is he flying straight? What about when he beat Lau in high school judo? Lau's been watching Philip Keung's severely autistic daughter while he was in prison, but Keung wants to go undercover. With three hours of plot jammed into 109 minutes, FIRESTORM's use of ever more ludicrous non-great CGI helps balance what feels like an ever more tangled story. It's not great, but it's entertaining up to the finish. It's also a sad reminder of how easily digital cinema can look non-great.
Wrath of Man (2021)
ReplyDeleteI'm not a big Guy Ritchie fan, or a Jason Statham fan, but I had heard good things about this one (probably from someone on the podcast). It's still got too much "Look how macho and not gay we are!" banter for me, but I liked the story structure and the jumping around in time. It was occasionally confusing as to who is who, and on which team, but it's a good time.
Thanks for the reminder to revisit this! Watched this today too and it only continues to get better every time I see it. Ready to call it a masterpiece.
DeleteDeidra & Laney Rob a Train (2017)
ReplyDeleteA solid film about two sisters who turn to train robberies to help with the bills and pay their mom's bail.
A solid film about family, but honestly not super strong as a heist movie. They rob the train several times for small time goods, so there's not the epic laying out the plan scene, which for me is a staple of a heist movie.
Today is a perfect day outside, sunny, not too hot, light breeze... so obviously I stayed inside to watch the rest of the Taxi movies. There's 5 of them, and as I've mentioned before, they get weirder, but not necessarily better, and clearly smaller budgets. It's also more of the same, same type of jokes, same cast, they do manage to change the stories a little bit: heist, kidnapping, but always with the taxi at the center of it. Stallone has a cameo in the 3rd movie, dubbed by his usual guy. The last one, they changed the 2 main guys and the director, and it's not very good. Except for that 5th movie, they're mostly entertaining enough, but never as good as the first movie.
ReplyDeleteMIDDLE MEN (2009)
ReplyDeleteThe alleged true story of the invention of online credit card payments for use in p*rn, only for Russian mobsters and the FBI to get involved. Reminded me a lot of Fight Club with the oh-so-edgy voiceover throughout. Tons of well-known actors show up for this, only for it to be your basic rags-to-riches-to-rags biopic. It was fun to revisit the early internet days, but this type of real-crime thing has been done better elsewhere. (And apologies for this not being a proper heist film. Before clicking play, I thought it was a con artist flick.)
30 days of Georges Melies, day 8: JOAN OF ARC (1900)
We’ve seen Melies do fantasy, but how does he do a historical film? Young Joan has a heavenly vision which leads her to take charge of France’s troops in battle, all building up to her tragic end. More huge production value with tons of extras. I like the gag of the marching troops that goes on and on. Allegedly, star Jeanne Calviere was a stablewoman (!) whom Melies cast because he thought she had the right look, which then kicked off her acting career. She is indeed quite the presence in this movie.
The Art of the Steal(2013 Dir Jonathan Sobol)
ReplyDeleteA good cast lead by Matt Dillion, Kurt Russell and Terrance Stamp keep this funny and entertaining heist film going. Sadly its a bit too predictable and anyone thats seen more then two heist films will be able to figure out the ending long before the end.
Dead Presidents (1995)
ReplyDeleteFirst time watch, and before I get into any quibbles, I want to start off by saying I liked this quite a bit and found it sort of fascinating. The scope of the movie is so ambitious, and its budget, while not miniscule, is so relatively modest, that this felt a little like watching a minor league team play the Yankees, but the minor leaguers end up holding their own.
It takes a looong time to get to the heist part of the movie, and while the heist sequence is exciting, it feels just a half step disconnected from the rest of the plot. The first hour-plus of the movie covers a LOT of ground, from finishing high school, to the Vietnam War, to the challenges of re-entering "normal life" after the war, and despite the broad scope, it somehow manages to feel pretty patient and methodical. The movie sets up a lot of elements for where it wants to go later on, and handles most of the returning-from-war dynamics in pretty effectively nuanced ways. The relationship struggles between Anthony (Larenz Tate) and Juanita (Rose Jackson) are handled really well, where both characters are likable without being perfect, and when the cracks in their union start to widen and break down, you really empathize and understand the frustrations from both of their perspectives, even as their words and actions toward each other spiral into tragic territory.
Right around this point in the movie, the patient build fo the first 90 minutes falls away, and the plot really goes into hyperdrive in a way that feels like the filmmakers may have had to make some difficult cuts to the story. There are hints of a black revolutionary storyline that feel trimmed down to a bare minimum (just to explain how one character joins the heist crew). Although there are a lot of seeds planted earlier on to explain and justify Anthony's decision to resort to crime for cash, it feels like the final blossoming of that story branch is skipped over, with maybe 10-15 minutes missing before the heist is quite suddenly being planned and executed. The rushed feel of the final 30 minutes certainly didn't ruin the movie for me, but it did leave me wondering if, given a bit more budget and the leeway to add another 30 minutes the runtime, the Hughes Bros, after attempting and executing some high degree-of-difficulty story acrobatics, might really have been able to stick the landing in a more satisfying way.
I was pretty impressed with the whole cast, but Chris Tucker in particular deserves a shoutout. He's obviously got a ton of comedic charisma, but he's able to mix that with a pretty impressive dramatic performance in this role. As I'm scanning his filmography, I'm recalling a couple other good not-just-comedic performances he's given (Silver Linings Playbook, Air), but I kinda think Dead Presidents is his best dramatic work (at least that I've seen).
I see there's an FTM podcast episode on this movie, so now I'm really looking forward to giving that a listen!
Man on a Ledge (2012)
ReplyDeleteI remember giving this a big ol' "no fucking thank you" when it came out. Now, 13 years later, I was so right. I hate being negative so I'll save it, but I'm actually a little shocked that a heist movie could be this boring.
11 HARROWHOUSE (1974)
ReplyDeleteI only watched this because it is on the DVR. 11 Harrowhouse is a middling and messy diamond heist film set in the U.K. Charles Grodin stars as a small-scale diamond seller pushed into robbing the company that he buys from. The planning and heist sequences are by far the most enjoyable parts of the film. Speaking of the cast, James Mason always brings a bit of class to his roles. Though she does not have a well-defined character, Candice Bergen brings needed energy to a film that largely lacks it. I can understand why this film has sunk into obscurity.
THE PICK-UP (1968, Lee Frost)
ReplyDeleteSexploitation noir! Director Lee Frost helmed a smorgasbord of grindhouse goodies such as THE DEFILERS, THE THING WITH TWO HEADS, and THE BLACK GESTAPO. I almost went with one of his efforts for the “Auteurs” category, but opted for this bit of twisty and twisted noir nastiness which was thought to be a lost film until recently unearthed from a Paris vault and restored by the those awesome exploitation entrepreneurs at Vinegar Syndrome. Two Vegas bagmen think with their d!cks and get d!cked by a duo of female thieves, then try to recover the mob’s stolen dough before the bosses put the kibosh on ‘em. This moves into roughie territory and tosses a few curveballs at the viewer in the final act, making for a satisfyingly sleazy climax. Added bonus: legendary exploitation producers David F. Friedman and Bob Cresse play mobsters! Final b@@balicious bonus: Gigantic 60s n!pples! They don’t make ‘em like they used to!
I love Lee Frost. Haven't gotten to THE PICK-UP yet, tho. Maybe when the next sale comes 'round...
DeleteA few years ago I did a Lee Frost day for a Free day. The Animal was one that I enjoyed a lot, but Zero In And Scream was garbage. I actually have a Something Weird DVD-R of The Pick-Up. Not watched, of course.
DeleteDUCK, YOU SUCKER -l 1971
ReplyDeleteaka A FISTFUL OF DYNAMITE
dir. Sergio Leone
They’re constantly looking to score but they only ever end up being glorious heroes of the revolution.
Maybe too high quality of an epic drama by a legendary director to really be exploitation. But James Coburn say the title like six times whenever he blows something up and Rod Steiger plays a Mexican, so I think I’m safe.
Would have been a lot better if it was closer to 90 minutes than its 150 minute runtime.
iViva La revolution!
Still need to see this!
DeleteThe Doberman Gang (1972)
ReplyDeleteDillinger, Bonnie, Clyde, Pretty Boy Floyd, Baby Face Nelson and Ma Barker are the Doberman Gang, six Dobermans who join the gang of Eddie Newton (Byron Mabe), Sammy (Simmy Bow), June (Julie Parrish) and former Air Force dog trainer Barney Greer (Hal Reed). Oh yes — there’s also a bulldog named J. Edgar.
Eddie and June have been a couple, but she soon sees that he could throw her away at any time. She starts getting close to Barney, who soon learns that this is a criminal plan to train these dogs. He’s told that he’ll be killed if he tries to get away, so he works with them in the hopes that he can save the dogs and June. But he soon has second thoughts when he learns that the dogs will be killed.
Good boys. J. Edgar gets them to run off with the money. The bad news is that one of the dogs was hit by a car, and I could have done without that part. Except that in the sequel, The Daring Dobermans, that dog is fine. Whew.
There are also two more movies in the series, The Amazing Dobermans and Alex and the Doberman Gang.
I didn’t have to worry so much, as this was the first movie to have the “No Animals Were Harmed” onscreen credit from the American Humane Association.
This was directed by Byron Ross Chudnow and written by Louis Garfinkle, who also wrote I Bury the Living, Face of Fire, The Hellbenders, Little Cigars and The Deer Hunter—yeah, I know, wow—and Frank Ray Perilli, who wrote Mansion of the Doomed, the Michael Pataki adult Cinderella, End of the World, Dracula’s Dog, the adult Fairy Tales, Laserblast, The Best of Sex and Violence and co-wrote Alligator with John Sayles.
Dimension Pictures played this as a double feature with The Twilight People. I love that!
QUICK CHANGE (1990, B. Murray & H. Franklin)
ReplyDeleteI've wanted to see this since it came out. I guess 11-year old me couldn't get my parents to take me to it & I can't guess why I never rented it. In any event, I can do nothing but enjoy it. Heist becomes one-crazy-day! Makes an interesting chaser to my first film of the day, ROUGH CUT.
THE ANDERSON TAPES (1971, dir. Sidney Lumet)
ReplyDeleteMy first choice for this category because of how long I have owned the DVD. With a strong performance from Sean Connery and gritty location shooting around New York City from Sidney Lumet, this could not be a bad film. Add in a young Christopher Walken and it gets better. Connery is Duke Anderson, a British safe-cracker getting out of jail after serving his sentence. The life of crime is still in his blood, though, and he sets his sights on the wealthy residents of a NYC apartment building where an ex-girlfriend lives. The politics of the era seeps into the film with seemingly everyone being recorded or filmed in some way. If you like 1970s films, this ought not to disappoint. Martin Balsam plays a gay character who very well might be a little offensive by today's standards (Could not tell you what those are at this point), but I found it interesting that his sexual orientation was made so overt.
BABY DRIVER - 2017 dir. Edgar Wright
ReplyDeleteWright will always be one of my Mt. Rushmore fav directors. This movie rules, problematic cast or not. That’s the trouble with doing anything creative as a group. Maybe you think you know who you’re getting into it with, but you never really know.
I watched Money Train for this one. It’s got my beloved Jennifer Lopez plus the re-teaming of Woody Harrelson and Wesley Snipes. Chris Cooper pops up as a creep. Robert Blake pops up as another creep. There’s New York in that magical Christmas and New Year’s time frame. There’s the titular money train!
ReplyDeleteThe plot of this movie is all over the place but who cares. The action is fun and the character chemistry is undeniable. I kind of want a tv show with Snipes, Harrelson, and JLo just doing things in New York.
SEXY BEAST (2000, Dir. Jonathan Glazer)
ReplyDeleteSeen this piecemeal over the years, but never front to back. One of the few 00s crime movies I've seen that doesn't feel impossibly dated. Great debut from Glazer.