J.T. Walsh is one of the great character actors of all time. Born on September 28th, 1943, he died way too young at just 54 years of age. You could count on him being good in any role, but I always appreciated him appearing with Billy Bob Thornton at the beginning and end of SLING BLADE (1996). He filmed his scenes about 15 miles from my house.
Happy Birthday in “character actor” heaven, J.T.!
As someone who was born in the early 70s, my Superman will always be Christopher Reeve. Born on September 25th, 1952, Reeve started out as the “Man of Steel” and developed into a darn good actor over the years. To celebrate his birthday, I thought I’d share a clip from a movie where he crossed paths with my favorite actor of all time, Charles Bronson. Back in 1993, they made the TNT cable movie THE SEA WOLF together. It’s my favorite Bronson film of the 90s, and he and Reeve are both excellent. Thanks for the memories, Superman!
I’m watching Thursday Night Football tonight and they’re advertising the new movie where Nicolas Cage plays the legendary Raiders coach and television broadcaster, John Madden. It’s directed by David O. Russell, and Christian Bale portrays the iconic Oakland Raiders owner, Al Davis. Are y’all looking forward to this film? I personally am interested in just about anything starring Cage!
I share the trailer below. Check it out!
Henry Silva was born on September 23rd, 1926 and lived all the way up to September 14th, 2022. During his years on earth he played a lot of bad guys in movies. From my growing up years, I remember him in stuff like LOVE AND BULLETS (1979) with Charles Bronson, SHARKY’S MACHINE (1981) with Burt Reynolds, CODE OF SILENCE (1985) with Chuck Norris, and ABOVE THE LAW (1988) with Steven Seagal. These were some of my favorite movies at a time when I was really getting into movies as a teenager. I’ve always considered LOVE AND BULLETS a missed opportunity, because he never fights Charles Bronson. Seriously!!
Silva got his start playing bad guys very early in his career. I guess he just had the right face for it. An early psychopath performance that I really appreciate came all the way back in 1957, when he played a vicious gunman in Director Budd Boetticher’s THE TALL T. Let’s just say that cute kids are not safe when his character of Chink is around. In a cast that included Randolph Scott, Richard Boone and Arthur Hunnicutt, Silva stood out like a sore thumb. Here’s a scene of Silva shooting the breeze around a campfire while eating some grub. He doesn’t seem like such a bad guy here, which is one of the things that makes him so good in the role… because he’s capable of absolute evil, and not caring one bit about it. Enjoy!
BLACK RAIN opened on September 22nd, 1989, and I’ve been a big fan since the first time I saw it. Director Ridley Scott creates a visual masterpiece where ethically challenged supercop Nick Conklin (Michael Douglas) and his tragically fated, but fun, partner Charlie Vincent (Andy Garcia) head to Japan to deliver a yakuza murderer to the authorities. When the prisoner gives them the slip, they stay over in the Land of the Rising Son and engage in a clash of cultures with strait laced Japanese cop Masahiro (Japanese cinematic legend Ken Takakura) as they all try recapture their man. Needless to say, things don’t always go well.
I’ve chosen the opening sequence where Michael looks extremely cool riding his motorcycle while Greg Allman sings “I’ll Be Holding On” over some pretty impressive credits. Enjoy my friends.
It’s not often these days that I come across a low-budget 80s action film that I haven’t seen that catches my attention. I thought I’d pretty much seen them all. Today, while I was scrolling through the “This Week in Charles Bronson Podcast” Facebook page, I came across a post that was paying tribute to the recently deceased Gerrit Graham and a movie he appeared in called THE ANNIHILATORS (1985). The post made a direct comparison of the film to Charles Bronson’s DEATH WISH 3, also released in 1985, and mentioned that actor Paul Koslo was also in the movie. Paul Koslo has given very impressive “bad guy” performances in the Bronson films THE STONE KILLER and MR. MAJESTYK. That was all that I needed to read to get me to want to fire up the film immediately! Luckily for me, it’s currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
This film has a plot that should sound very familiar to anyone who’s watched many low-budget movies or TV shows from the 80s…. a group of Vietnam veterans (Christopher Stone, Gerrit Graham, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, and Andy Wood) reunite after one of their former comrades, the one who saved all their lives back in the jungle, is brutally murdered by a violent street gang in a rough section of Atlanta. The badasses decide to head to Georgia and get revenge for their friend. Once there, they learn that the street gangs are shaking down all the businesses and people in the neighborhood, so they decide to teach them to fight back. Unfortunately, the head street gang, led by the vicious Roy Boy Jagger (Paul Koslo), is also neck deep in a large heroin ring so taking them down and protecting the neighborhood will be far from easy.
THE ANNIHILATORS is not a great artistic success by any stretch of the imagination, but if you enjoy cheesy 80s action movies like I do, there’s a lot of fun to be had here. I think this film would be especially fun to watch as part of a group of like-minded movie lovers, and maybe while consuming a refreshing cold beverage. I think it could easily be described as a more adult version of something like “The A-Team.” The bad guys go much further than you might get on a TV show (attempted rape, cussing, more blood, etc.), but the camaraderie and hi-jinks of the good guys and the people of the neighborhood feel very similar. It also periodically tries to bring up some “serious issues” in typical 80s fashion, like the gang’s recruiting of some of the local, angelic-looking teenagers and one member of the team’s struggle with alcoholism, but these issues are quickly pushed aside for the low-budget action.
As far as I’m concerned, this film does have one great thing going for it, and that’s the incredible over-the-top performance of Paul Koslo as Roy Boy Jagger, the leader of the notorious Rollers. He’s just horrible on every level, which definitely includes his hair. There’s no possibility of Koslo attempting to give this character any redeemable qualities, as he enjoys torture and murder way too much. When he shows up with a flamethrower at the end, willing to burn up any elderly person or school child who gets in his way, the filmmakers had successfully led me to wish brutal vengeance upon the man and his mates.
Now back to that comparison my friend made to DEATH WISH 3. The cult Bronson film, as bonkers as it is, looks like a masterpiece in filmmaking compared to THE ANNIHILATORS. With that said, I’d still recommend this film to anyone who likes low-budget, 80’s action cheesefests. You know what you’re getting yourself into, and there are enough familiar faces and silly scenes that you just may have some nostalgia-laced fun!
September 19th has always been an important day in my life, primarily because it was the day I was born. Of secondary importance, but still cool, is the fact that it was also the day in 1997 that THE FULL MONTY received a nationwide release in the United States of America. I caught the film at the theater during its initial run, and it turned out to be a truly heartwarming tale of a group of lovable, unemployed losers who decided to put on a strip show to raise some cash. Their special hook is that they would do something even the Chippendales wouldn’t do… show the full Monty! On this special day, I thought I’d share this fun little scene where Donna Summer’s “Hot Stuff” comes over the loudspeakers while the guys are in the unemployment line. Enjoy, my friends!
I’ve been seeing trailers for the South Korean action film HOPE (2026). Being a fan of the country’s cinema, it definitely piqued my interest. As I investigated a little further, I saw that it was written and directed by Na Hong-Jin who did the same for the unsettling THE WAILING back in 2016. Digging even deeper, I recognized actor Hwang Jung-Min as the lead of the film. He’s been great for a long time, starring in South Korean classics like A BITTERSWEET LIFE (2005), NEW WORLD (2013), VETERAN (2015), and the director’s THE WAILING. This being my birthday week, I decided I’d start it off with a bang by heading to the movie theater to see what this intriguing film has up its sleeves!
The movie gets right into the action as we meet small town Police Chief Beom Seok (Hwang Jung-Min) in the middle of his investigation of the vicious death of a cow. The incident was reported by a group of hunters who think the wounds look out of the ordinary. Wondering if a bear or a tiger might be on prowl as he’s driving back, he arrives in town where all hell has broken loose. It seems there’s something causing death and destruction, but it’s way too powerful to be a bear or a tiger. I won’t say anymore because the fun of the first half of the film is discovering just what the hell is bringing such chaos to this normally sleepy harbor town.
HOPE has a lot of good stuff going for it. The performances from the leads are at the very top of my list, beginning with Hwang Jung-min as the police chief. He has this ability to project goofy exasperation better than anyone else I know. A lesser actor might take this too far, but not Hwang. He is able to balance the film’s absurd humor while also being tough and fearless when he needs to be. He’s great here. Next up is Hoyeon (SQUID GAME), who plays police officer Sung Ae. I won’t say too much, but her character’s introduction into the film is incredibly fun and badass. I loved it, and you can’t help but love her as the film progresses. Finally, I really enjoyed actor Zo In-sung’s performance as one of the hunters who reports the suspicious cow death at the beginning of the film. At first he seems like a guy being set up as a victim, but he turns out to be much more than that by the end. I’ll have to give writer Na Hong-jin credit for creating such fun characters. I’ll mention here that Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander are also in the cast, but I won’t say anything more about their characters.
After actually watching the film, I can say that writer-director Na Hong-jin really did come up with a very interesting premise for HOPE. The first half of the film is so fun as our characters fight for their lives and simultaneously try to figure out what the hell they’re dealing with. I would say this is the best section of the film. When we finally see what our ragtag group is up against, we get an exciting, non-stop action sequence that ends with a bit of luck and relief for our heroes. Up to this point, the movie has been a violent, funny, action-packed ride!
The second half of the film, while still enjoyable, isn’t quite as successful as the first. The primary issue is the extreme length of the film. HOPE clocks in at over two and a half hours. While it continues on as a non-stop action ride, I think this movie would be just as good at only two hours long by cutting some repetitive action sequences. The last part of the film introduces a whole new storyline solely to set up future sequels. HOPE had the biggest box office opening weekend in South Korea thus far in 2026, so the sequels will definitely be coming. I’m certainly looking forward to them, but if you’re looking for closure for any of these characters, you won’t get it here. There is an almost unbelievable mid-credits sequence that’s truly absurd, but it’s also not out of line with the craziness of the film we just watched. Don’t miss that part!
For me, watching HOPE at the theater was 100% worth my time and an awesome start to my birthday week. It’s not a perfect film, but I truly enjoyed it, and I’ll be on the lookout for the sequels!
My wife and I visited the South Fork Ranch a few years ago to celebrate her fond memories of watching DALLAS with her granny. It was a wonderful visit, and I surprised her for her birthday that year by buying her the entire DALLAS TV series on DVD. Since then we’ve watched every single episode of the original DALLAS television series, all of the DALLAS television movies, and every single episode of the reboot series! By my count that’s a total of 396 TV episodes and 3 TV movies. That’s a lot of hours… and Linda Gray was in most of them. Based on that alone, this beautiful lady seems like a beloved member of the family.
Happy Birthday, Linda! Thanks for all the wonderful memories. Here’s a sample of some of her best scenes on DALLAS!
As I was discovering my love of movies, the first director I ever became obsessed with was Brian De Palma. His BLOW OUT (1981) played frequently on Fox 16 out of Little Rock, and I still consider it one of my favorite films. I consider his version of THE UNTOUCHABLES to almost be a perfect film. To celebrate his 86th birthday, I thought I’d share this scene featuring the Oscar winning performance of Sean Connery, along with Kevin Costner and Andy Garcia. Enjoy, my friends!
