Today would have been the 89th birthday of actor Richard Jordan. Jordan was an excellent actor who died way too soon back in 1993. I’ve always liked him though, and he’s been in some excellent movies including CHATO’S LAND (1972), THE FRIENDS OF EDDIE COYLE (1973), THE YAKUZA (1974), and LOGAN’S RUN (1976).
Today, I share one of his great scenes from THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER, where he accurately portrays a politician. Enjoy my friends!
Happy 75th birthday to cult director Abel Ferrara! Here are four shots from my 4 favorite Ferrara films!
There’s a movie podcast I love to listen to called the “Podcast on Fire.” Kenny B and his various co-hosts focus on Asia, especially the films of Hong Kong and South Korea. They have a large back catalogue, and I’ve been catching up on their episodes related to South Korean horror. In the middle of a show on the WHISPERING CORRIDORS series, co-host Paul Quinn mentioned THE CALL, a film that was released on Netflix during the pandemic. I’m usually not a consumer of freaky horror, but his enthusiasm for the film proved infectious, so I decided I’d check it out when I got home from work.
THE CALL centers on two 28 year old women. There’s Seo-yeon (Park Shin-hye), who’s visiting her childhood home in the country when she receives a series of phone calls from 28 year old Young-sook (Jeon Jong-seo). They soon realize that Young-sook is calling Seo-yeon from the same house… just from 20 years in the past. Both with severe mommy issues, the two ladies initially seem to form a friendship. They even use their knowledge of events in the past to help each other in ways that change the future. But as you might guess, these changes come with severe consequences, and the story eventually turns into one of bloody survival!
I wasn’t expecting it, but I kept thinking of one of my favorite movies, FREQUENCY (2000), while watching THE CALL. In FREQUENCY, an adult son is able to talk to his deceased dad from 30 years in the past on their family’s old ham radio. We may not really understand the science behind it all, but we just accept it. Their discussions start out as heartwarming, and their actions that change the future seem good at first, but then eventually bad things happen. That’s pretty much what takes place in THE CALL, with the exception that these ladies are not family and the radio has been replaced by one of those late 20th century cordless phones. The heartwarming early moments eventually devolve into a lot of crying, screaming, and gaping neck wounds.
While the concept has been done before, the filmmakers do a good job of building genuine suspense. It’s one of those movies where the stakes keep getting raised, and when you think they’re as high as they can go, they’re ramped up another notch. There are a few effective jump scares here, but the primary tension is in the growing sense of dread concerning how the actions in the past will affect the present. Let’s just say that some of the characters in the present aren’t allowed to enjoy their newfound health and well-being for very long.
I wasn’t familiar with either of the lead actresses going in, but they’re both excellent. In the present time, Park Shin-hye invests enough vulnerability in her character of Seo-yeon that you can’t help but pull for her, especially as her world is continuously turned upside down. And I can’t say enough about Jeon Jong-seo, who gets the showier role in the past timeline. Her character starts out as sympathetic, but she doesn’t stay that way. It’s an unnerving character and performance.
At the end of the day, I had a good time with THE CALL. It’s been awhile since I watched a film from South Korea, so it was fun for me to jump back in. If you enjoy a good horror-suspense-thriller, this one’s an easy recommendation!
In honor of Jan-Michael Vincent’s 81st birthday up there in cinema heaven, I searched Tubi to see if there were any of his films streaming that looked interesting. I came across this low-budget action movie named BODY COUNT, which apparently has also been known as CODENAME: THE SILENCER based on the poster I share above! What caught my attention is the solid B-movie cast that the film had assembled. Aside from Vincent, you also had Robert Davi, Sonny Chiba, Steven Bauer, and Brigitte Nielsen. For a guy who spent a lot of time at video rental stores in the 80’s and 90’s, I decided this movie was something I needed to investigate!
The story follows Detective Eddie Cook (Davi) and his partner Vinnie Rizzo (Bauer). After spending eight years trying to bust a couple of mobsters named the Gianelli brothers, one night the gangsters are assassinated by a hitman named Makato, played by Japanese action legend Sonny Chiba. Cook and Rizzo somehow manage to nab Makato and send him to prison. 1 year, 6 months, and 21 days later, with the help of his extremely tall and shapely partner in crime, Sybil (Brigitte Nielsen), Makato breaks out with nothing but revenge on his mind against the cops who put him behind bars.
I’m not going to sit here and pretend that BODY COUNT is some kind of forgotten gem. Because it’s not. For those that remember the era, it has the unmistakable look and feel of a mid-90s direct-to-video action film. The dialogue is awkward, the pacing is uneven at best, and there couldn’t have been much in the budget, but there’s still some nostalgic fun to be had in watching all those action veterans share the screen in the city of New Orleans, one of my favorite movie towns!
As far as the action, there are definitely some good scenes… the movie opens with one of those scenes where a guy walks away from a car in slow-mo and lights a cigar, while the car behind him explodes. That was cool! The scene where the cops confront the Chiba in a strip club, with the ensuing chase by foot spilling into the surrounding shops and rooftops was a lot of fun. The scene where Nielsen shows up to Chiba’s chain gang wearing a revealing shirt and daisy dukes and then proceeds to bust him out of prison was fun. There’s a scene where Davi is in hot pursuit of the bad guys, while hanging off of a Ryder moving truck, that eventually leads to a school bus flipping and exploding, and to be honest, it’s never made clear if a whole bunch of kids just died or not. The final scene involves runaway trolley cars. The action isn’t all perfectly handled, but there’s definitely enough here to bring a smile to your face… as long as you convince yourself that no one was on the bus!
Robert Davi is pretty good in the lead role as Detective Eddie Cook. After years of always playing supporting roles, usually as a bad guy, this had to be fun for him. He even gets to make love to his beautiful co-worker, special agent Janet Hood (Cindy Ambuehl). He takes full advantage of the scene by literally sucking on her toes, which I find somewhat awkward. Sonny Chiba looks great as the bad guy, convincingly killing with both rifles and swords. He may not speak the greatest English, but he doesn’t really have to, as he owns every scene he’s in with his charisma and intensity. The rest of the cast is fine as long as you don’t expect too much. Nielsen and Ambuehl both look great and engage in a pretty nice catfight at the end. I mentioned earlier that I watched the film in honor of Jan-Michael Vincent’s birthday. (Spoiler Alert) He doesn’t have that much screen time, and he gets pushed from a tall building about halfway through the movie and splats. I’m just saying don’t watch this if your enjoyment requires JMV to be the hero.
At the end of the day, if you enjoy low budget action movies of the direct-to-video era, filled with lots of familiar faces, you just may have some fun with this one. It’s cheesy at times and unintentionally funny at others, but it also offers some game performances and crazy action. There are times when that’s just what I need!
I hated reading the news that Sam Neill had recently passed away. As an obsessed movie fan going back to the mid-80’s, I had especially enjoyed his work in films like DEAD CALM (1989) and THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER (1990) prior to him starring in Steven Spielberg’s juggernaut JURASSIC PARK (1993)! Like so many others, I was wowed in the theater watching the film, and Neill was so good in it. From that point forward, he was a part of our lives no matter what the film or television series. We all kind of felt like we knew him. When I was looking back through his filmography, I was reminded of the TV mini-series MERLIN, that I made sure to watch each night when it premiered on NBC in April of 1998. I have not watched it since the original broadcast, but in tribute to Sam Neill, I decided I’d revisit the series again this week.
To somewhat set the stage, some TV mini-series were extremely big deals back in the ‘90’s, and MERLIN was a major “event!” This was before streaming services like Netflix or Amazon were pumping out a new 6-part series every other week. In those days, when something like MERLIN premiered on network TV, a lot of people would make sure they were at home every night so they could be sure to see these ambitious stories play out. With an extraordinary cast led by Sam Neill, and its fresh take on the Arthurian legend, MERLIN would be a massive ratings and critical success for NBC.
In complete honesty, at that time in my life, I had my eye on the series because one of my favorite actors, Rutger Hauer, has a role as the evil, power mad King Vortigern. I have also been a big fan of the legend of King Arthur, I guess going all the way back to when I was a kid and watching Disney’s THE SWORD IN THE STONE! But this time I was here to celebrate Sam Neill, and I must say he’s very good as Merlin. Neill’s Merlin is much more than an all-knowing wizard guiding King Arthur. Rather, he’s a man who experiences the full spectrum of human emotion. We see him fall in love, suffer heartbreak, admit his own mistakes, and then fight on behalf of the world when just about everyone else is gone. The character of Merlin was personalized for me for the first time in my life, and I give Neill’s likable performance full credit for that. In a career with so much great work, this is another excellent achievement.
MERLIN has an incredible supporting cast. Rutger Hauer, Helena Bonham Carter, Miranda Richardson, John Gielgud, James Earl Jones, Isabella Rossellini, Martin Short, Billie Whitelaw, Lena Headey, and many others bring the story to life and remind us just how big a production this really was. Of the supporting performances, Miranda Richardson, who plays dual roles, Helena Bonham Carter, and Martin Short really stood out the most to me. Hauer leaves a memorable impression despite relatively limited screen time. Neill, Carter, and Short would all be nominated for Primetime Emmy Awards for their acting, but none would win the award. The series would be nominated for a total of 15 Primetime Emmy awards, taking 4 of them home, mostly in technical categories.
Looking back on MERLIN after thirty years, I would have to say I appreciate it more now than I did then. I like the fact that it takes its time exploring big ideas like good vs. evil, destiny, sacrifice, and the unstoppable passage of time. I also like the visual effects, which may very much be a product of 1998, but I think they provide a charm that helps sell this timeless story. There’s a reason some stories are told for centuries, and this series does honor to the legend.
Just this past week, I made arrangements for my wife and I to spend a week on the beach in Perdido Key, FL at the end of the summer. The last time I was there was during the summer of 2019. As I sat on the beach back at that time, I received a notification on my phone that Rutger Hauer had passed away. Having been a fan of his for over thirty years, I just remember being sad that another one of my movie heroes was gone. Time doesn’t stop for anyone, and while my wife and I will be enjoying that same beach next month, there’s no doubt that I’ll think about Hauer, and now Sam Neill. Actors leave us, but their work lives on forever, and sometimes that work is legendary. Thanks for all the great memories, Sam.
It’s hard for me to believe, but THE DEAD POOL was released 38 years ago on July 13th, 1988. Back in those days (and now), a 14 year old Brad was completely obsessed with action movies, especially those starring Charles Bronson and Clint Eastwood. I especially loved Eastwood’s portrayal of tough San Francisco detective Harry Callahan, and you can be sure that we rented this film as soon as it hit the video shelves!
Today, I’m sharing a scene that I’ve always enjoyed. It perfectly encapsulates Harry’s dry wit, his disdain for bureaucrats, and his continual desire to work alone. Happy anniversary DEAD POOL, and enjoy my friends
When THE SPECIALIST came out back in ‘94, Sylvester Stallone was on a pretty good run of films, with his prior two movies being CLIFFHANGER and DEMOLITION MAN. I’m a fan of Stallone, but he wasn’t the main reason I went to see THE SPECIALIST at the movie theater. I went to see it because James Woods is in it. I’ve always been drawn to actors who are little different than your traditional Hollywood leading men. That’s why I’m especially fond of actors like Charles Bronson, Roy Scheider, and Woods. This was a point in Woods’ career where he seemed to be transitioning from a leading man to more supporting roles, but he still always brought his best to every performance. And anytime one of my favorite actors was in a movie, I was going to see it on the big screen.
Stallone plays Ray Quick, a former CIA explosives expert who now uses his unique set of skills to kill bad guys. His latest client is the extremely beautiful May Munro (Sharon Stone), who enlists his assistance in ridding the earth of Thomas Leon (Eric Roberts), a Miami mobster who murdered her parents when she was a girl. The problem… his former friend and now mortal enemy, Ned Trent (James Woods), works for the mobsters, led by patriarch Joe Leon (Rod Steiger). Nobody understands Quick like Trent, and with Munro having her own set of secrets, this job is going to be much more difficult than he imagined!
I won’t sit here and pretend that THE SPECIALIST is an incredible film. It’s very much a thriller of its time… with the humid Miami locations, oversized set pieces, lots of slo-mo, and even more double-crosses. It’s more melodramatic than I remember, but I probably appreciate that more now than I did then. It’s also impossible to look back on THE SPECIALIST and not remember where Sharon Stone was at that point in her career. Two years earlier, BASIC INSTINCT had made her one of the biggest stars in Hollywood. It felt like the pairing with Stallone was trying to recapture that magic, but it didn’t really work. There are a couple of sex scenes between the two, but director Luis Llosa is no Paul Verhoeven, so the scenes don’t share the same power.
With Stallone’s controlled, some might say comatose, performance, the movie truly belongs to James Woods. His Ned Trent is cocky, sadistic, and entertaining. He attacks every scene with so much intensity that you can’t take your eyes off him and he easily steals the film. I also enjoyed the strong supporting cast. Rod Steiger doesn’t have that much screen time, but he brings an unmistakable energy to the role of crime boss Joe Leon. Then there’s Eric Roberts, whose sleazy performance as Tomas Leon adds another layer of intensity that tries to match Woods. The scenes involving Woods, Steiger, and Roberts are some of the best of the film.
Is THE SPECIALIST one of Stallone’s action classics? Definitely not, but looking back at the kind of movies we get served these days, I’d say it’s pretty darn entertaining. Stallone and Stone could have brought more personality to their characters, but James Woods just about makes up for them by delivering one of his most delightfully over-the-top villains. And it’s just fun seeing veterans like Rod Steiger and Eric Roberts bring their own talents to the proceedings. I miss the times when movies were full of big stars and unique character actors. Whether you love it or not, THE SPECIALIST is one of those movies that you took home from the video store on a Friday night, popped in the VCR, and proceeded to have a good weekend. I miss that era of movies, and I especially miss those interesting stars!
Born in 1973, I missed the first John Travolta phenomenon. I wasn’t even five years old when movies like SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER and GREASE were released. Now don’t get me wrong, I loved John Travolta as a kid. I remember watching GREASE at my cousins’ house when I was around ten, and we all loved it. Probably the movie I loved the most is Brian De Palma’s BLOW OUT from 1981. Fox 16 out of Little Rock loved to play that movie, and I thought it was so great. It was the mid-80’s when I was watching it, so his best work had been several years before.
From the mid-80’s to the early 90’s, I was obsessed with renting videos at our local rental shops. Do y’all remember the crap that Travolta was putting out then… TWO OF A KIND (1983), PERFECT (1985), THE EXPERTS (1989), CHAINS OF GOLD (1990), etc? I remember wanting to watch RAMBO: FIRST BLOOD PART II at the movies when I was kid, and the theater in Conway, Arkansas was playing 2 movies: RAMBO and PERFECT. My mom insisted on PERFECT. So there we were, Dad, Mom, my older brother, me, and my younger sister in the theater watching PERFECT. It was an R-rated film, and Mom walked us out less than half an hour into the movie due to some guy putting his head under a woman’s skirt. I still remember the other patrons laughing at us as we walked out. This moment is burned into my psyche. Travolta did work on the hit LOOK WHO’S TALKING movies, but at the time, he got no credit because these were talking baby movies. It almost seemed like Travolta’s career had become something of a joke from the time I was a grade schooler all the way into my college years. I still loved him, but any time his name came up, the conversation was always about his good movies that were made years earlier contrasted against the crap he was in now.
And then Tarantino’s PULP FICTION was released in 1994, he was absolutely incredible, and I was all about phase 2 of the John Travolta phenomenon. I watched just about everything he did over the next five years at the movie theater. During this remarkable stretch, I saw him in GET SHORTY, BROKEN ARROW, PHENOMENON, FACE/OFF, and many others. I revisited PHENOMENON again this week, and it took me back to that time when a 22 year old college student was rediscovering what a talented actor Travolta could be with the right material.
George Malley (Travolta) is a likable “Everyman” who works as a mechanic in a small town in Northern California. On his 37th birthday, a mysterious flash of light knocks him over and changes everything. Suddenly he’s the smartest guy in town, and he can even move things with his mind. At first, his abilities amaze his friends and neighbors, but they soon begin to be afraid of him because they don’t understand him. George doesn’t understand why he’s so smart all of a sudden, but he’s falling in love with Lace (Kyra Sedgwick) anyway. The ultimate “answer” is somewhat realistic, and ultimately quite moving.
Director Jon Turteltaub (WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING, NATIONAL TREASURE) does a good job by focusing on George and his friends rather than the supernatural “mystery elements” of the plot. We may not understand exactly why George has these extraordinary abilities, but they mostly remain a backdrop in a story about love, friendship, and mortality. The film asks a simple question: How would we react if someone we’ve known all our lives is suddenly one of the most amazing people on earth? If you follow much social media these days, we know the answer. How often do we see people get torn down as soon as they show any exceptional ability? We even see this in our own families, and we see it in this movie as well. Watching the film 30 years later, that fact really sticks out to me.
I’ve been a fan of PHENOMENON for three decades specifically because I love John Travolta’s performance in the movie. He’s just so likable, so when things start to go bad for him, we’re disappointed as well. He plays George as a man whose growing genius makes him want to help people even more. He’s so sincere that we never stop pulling for him, which is a true testament to Travolta’s incredible work. Kyra Sedgwick is amazing as well. As a mother and having been hurt before, her character takes her time letting George into her life, but once she does she goes all in. I love it. Forest Whitaker, Robert Duvall, and Jeffrey DeMunn all have outstanding moments that make the small-town community feel real. Their friendships specifically help provide an emotional strength that most films don’t have.
PHENOMENON isn’t a perfect film, as it’s probably a little too long, and it may linger a little too much on vague “science.” However, it is a film that’s most interested in showing us a character who uses the gifts he’s been given to make life better for those around him while he can. It’s a timeless idea that gives PHENOMENON a power that has only grown stronger with time. It’s also a reminder that John Travolta has a magnetic screen presence. Beneath all of his charisma is an actor capable of tremendous warmth and vulnerability. At the end of the day, those are the kinds of characters we end up really caring about.
Beginning in 2018, I fell in love with the state of West Virginia. It started because I fell in love with my beautiful wife who’s from West Virginia, but we’ve also driven across the state on multiple occasions, and I can easily say it’s one of the most beautiful states in this country.
As a movie lover, I began looking for films set in West Virginia when I came across MATEWAN (1987), which was written and directed by John Sayles. Of course, I knew about the film beforehand, but with my new interest in the state, I decided I would purchase it sight unseen from the Criterion collection and give it a spin. Based on the violent, true story of coal miners attempting to form a union in Mingo County, WV in 1920, I’ll just state here that I consider the film to be a masterpiece. I’ll probably write a full review for the movie at some point.
Chris Cooper plays the lead in the film, and interestingly, this was his film debut. Prior to MATEWAN, Cooper had only appeared in a couple of soap operas. After MATEWAN, he would steadily rise to be the Oscar-winning actor we know today. July 9th, 2026, is his 75th birthday, and I’m paying honor to him by sharing this excellent scene. Heck, I just may have to watch this movie again tonight!
I must admit that I’m not always the most patient guy in the world, and that extends to my driving. I get so frustrated when someone pulls slowly out right in front of me, or when another person camps out in the left lane of the interstate. Most of the time, these are just quick little moments that I quickly move on from, but what might happen if one day I decided to honk my horn and the person in the other car is a crazy psycho? UNHINGED takes that scary thought to the ultimate extreme.
The premise of the movie is about as simple as it gets. Rachel’s (Caren Pistorius) having a rough morning, and she’s running late while taking her son to school. When the truck in front of her doesn’t move at the green light, she decides to lay on her horn. The driver (Russell Crowe) pulls up beside her at the next light and requests an apology. When she refuses, he decides he’s going to teach her what a bad day really is.
UNHINGED works because it’s a mean little thriller that exploits a fear that we can actually imagine. Most of us have a story that involves some level of road rage, and director Derrick Borte’s movie doesn’t waste a second once it gets going. It’s one of those movies where everything keeps getting worse for the terrorized Rachel while the tension continually ratchets up from the beginning to end. The violence is sudden and brutal so you never quite know what’s going to happen next, which definitely works in the film’s favor.
And then there’s the incredible Russell Crowe. Probably heavier than he’s ever been on screen, his psychopathic road rager is truly terrifying. Having witnessed his sick mental state early in the film, we know he’s capable of committing the most heinous acts imaginable. Crowe commits himself completely to this character, erasing any thoughts we have of his noble performances in movies like GLADIATOR or CINDERELLA MAN. Caren Pistorius is also effective as the woman who’s in for the fight of her life. I think she looks a lot like actress Shailene Woodley.
UNHINGED isn’t a perfect film, as it does ask its audience to suspend quite a bit of disbelief. But with that said, it does offer 90 minutes of suspense anchored by Crowe’s incredibly intimidating performance. In my opinion, it’s a very effective film… and I doubt I honk at anybody on my way to work tomorrow morning!
Through the Shattered Lens 