Tag Archives: Ralph Macchio

Brad reviews KARATE KID: LEGENDS (2025), starring Jackie Chan and Ralph Macchio!

Posted on by Bradley Crain

I’m a huge fan of the 1984 film, THE KARATE KID. The stars aligned perfectly for my lifelong love affair. I was 10 or 11 years old, and my family had recently purchased our first VCR when the movie was released on VHS tape. I’ll never forget that first viewing. It was one of the most exhilarating films I had ever watched, and it’s fair to say that I literally wanted to be the karate kid. I was also smitten with Elizabeth Shue as the kid’s girlfriend, “Ali with an I!” I’m still infatuated with her to this day. I watched THE KARATE KID PART II (1986) and THE KARATE KID PART III (1989) at the movie theater, especially enjoying Part II, although I did miss the beautiful Ali. For a short, skinny guy from Toad Suck, Arkansas, the story of a skinny kid getting the best of the much stronger bullies was irresistible to me. The strong relationship between Daniel (Ralph Macchio) and Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita) gives the stories so much heart, which makes the rousing finales even more emotionally satisfying. I didn’t care so much for THE NEXT KARATE KID (1994) where Hillary Swank stepped in as the kid. Even with the return of Mr. Miyagi, I wasn’t very interested in a movie that didn’t feature the character of Daniel LaRusso. 

After being away for sixteen years, THE KARATE KID was given new life in 2010 when it was rebooted with Jackie Chan as the martial arts master and Jaden Smith as his bullied student. I wasn’t that interested in watching it due to the presence of Jaden Smith, but I ended up watching it because I love Jackie Chan. It didn’t make a lasting impact on me, but I must admit that I did end up enjoying the film. Then when the T.V. series COBRA KAI came out in 2018 with William Zabka and Ralph Macchio in the leads, I was immediately taken back to my teenage years, and I loved it all over again. I especially loved how the series brought back so many of the characters from the first three movies, including my beloved Ali! The series paid homage to the original 80’s films, which satisfied old farts like me, while introducing a bunch of new teenagers and drama that brought in a whole new audience. I was so happy the “karate kid” world was back in my life. 

Which brings us to KARATE KID: LEGENDS (2025), a movie that blends the world of the original KARATE KID and COBRA KAI, with Mr. Miyagi and Daniel LaRusso, with the world created in the KARATE KID reboot starring Jackie Chan as Master Han. When I first saw the trailer for “Legends” that features LaRusso and Master Han working together to train the young Li Fong, I knew it was a movie I wanted to see. The plot is nothing new as kung fu prodigy Fong (Ben Wang), haunted by his brother’s tragic death, relocates from Beijing to New York City with his mom (Ming-Na Wen). Forbidden from fighting by his protective mother, Li meets and starts falling for his classmate Mia (Sadie Stanley). Unfortunately for Li, Mia’s ex-boyfriend turns out to be a badass karate bully named Conor (Aramis Knight), who proceeds to demonstrate his skills with fists to Fong’s face and kicks to Fong’s torso. With the contrived help of a wise-cracking Master Han and an emotionally earnest Sensei LaRusso, Fong enters the “5 Boroughs Fighting Tournament” to settle the score with Conor and prove that he’s all the man that Mia will ever need.

I liked KARATE KID: LEGENDS. The pure nostalgia of watching Daniel LaRusso show his love for Mr. Miyagi by sharing the master’s teachings with Li Fong is quite satisfying for me. Adding to that feel-good vibe is the opportunity to see Ralph Macchio and Jackie Chan working together on screen. The legendary Chan may be over 70 years old, but he’s still fun and energetic. And Ralph Macchio still seems to be defying the aging process. At 63 years of age when filming KARATE KID: LEGENDS, Macchio is twelve years older than Pat Morita was when he starred as Mr. Miyagi in the original 1984 film. That fact is amazing to me. And the familiar storyline of an underdog standing up to a bully is engaging no matter how many times we’ve seen it before. With fight choreography that’s both acrobatic and bone-crunching at times, as well as a running time of just over an hour and a half, director Jonathan Entwistle delivers a fast, easy-to-watch, and entertaining film. With that said, KARATE KID: LEGENDS does have some issues. Primarily, I wanted more Chan and Macchio. A lot of the film’s run-time focuses on Li Fong’s move to New York, his blossoming relationship with Mia (and her dad), his troubles at school and with the bully, as well as the tragedy of his brother. By the time Chan and Macchio start training him, a big part of the movie is over. Since they’re the main reason I wanted to watch the film, that was a little disappointing. Also, the relationship between Mr. Miyagi and Daniel-san is so important in the original films, but this movie misses that part completely between Li Fong and either of his teachers, Master Han or Sensei LaRusso. Without an emotional connection being created in this film, the overall impact is blunted for new viewers who aren’t bringing in 40 years of nostalgia with them.

Overall, I’m happy I spent an hour and a half of my life revisiting the world of THE KARATE KID. This film itself may not bring in a lot of new fans, but it offers tons of fan service to old timers like me.

Happy 78th Birthday, John Kreese (Martin Kove)! In honor of you, I celebrate one of my favorite scenes!

Posted on by Bradley Crain

It would be hard to overstate how much I loved THE KARATE KID (1984) when I was growing up. The movie came out when I was 10 years old, and I think it would be fair to say that I wanted to be the karate kid. I was a scrawny little runt, and the whole storyline about getting the better of the big bullies appealed to me. Ralph Macchio and Pat Morita will always be special to me because of their roles as Daniel LaRusso and Mr. Miyagi. It’s also fair to say that my very first movie crush was Elizabeth Shue. I thought she was so beautiful as “Ali with an I,” and I still do!

It was so easy to hate Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) and his band of bullies. The show, COBRA KAI, has finally helped me get over my anger at them. And then there’s Martin Kove as John Kreese, the head of that snake that was cobra kai. He is such an asshole in the movie! When I saw it was his birthday, I had an excuse to share one of my favorite scenes in cinema!

Happy Birthday, Martin Kove! Enjoy, my friends!

MY COUSIN VINNY (1992) – Joe Pesci heads way down south!

Posted on by Bradley Crain

There are certain movies in my life that I consider “comfort movies.” These are the movies that I love so much that they always help me relax because I feel better just by watching them. I often turn on a comfort movie when I really need to fall asleep. Examples in my life include most of Charles Bronson’s filmography, RIO BRAVO, the ZATOICHI films, THE OTHER GUYS, and pretty much anything directed by Alex Kendrick. MY COUSIN VINNY fits comfortably under my categorization of a comfort movie.

The movie opens with friends Bill Gambini (Ralph Macchio) and Stanley Rothenstein (Mitchell Whitfield) taking the scenic route down south as part of a cross-country trip to attend college at UCLA. Unfortunately, while in Alabama, the two are arrested soon after leaving a convenience store. Thinking they are being charged for accidentally shoplifting a can of tuna, it turns out the actual charges are robbery and murder as the place was robbed and the clerk killed soon after they left. Knowing they are in big trouble, Bill calls his cousin Vinny Gambini (Joe Pesci), who’s pretty much the only lawyer that he knows. The problem, Vinny has never actually tried a murder case. Vinny heads down south with his fiance Mona Lisa Vito (Marisa Tomei) where he must contend with a judge (Fred Gwynne) who doesn’t like him, a prosecutor (Lane Smith) who has way more experience than him, and a mountain of circumstantial evidence that he has almost no hope of contradicting. Will Vinny be able to prove his cousin’s innocence before they end up with life in prison, or even worse?

There are many reasons that I love MY COUSIN VINNY. The cast consists of a couple of my personal favorite actors in Joe Pesci and Ralph Macchio. GOODFELLAS is certainly one of the best movies ever made, and Joe Pesci gives an unbelievably powerful performance, a performance that would win him the Academy Award. Pesci took a short break from filming MY COUSIN VINNY to attend the Acadamy Award ceremony and pick up the gold. He even took the statue to the set to show the cast and crew. Maybe that helped inspire Marisa Tomei to give her own Academy Award winning performance in this film. My favorite scene of the entire movie is when Vinny is treating Mona Lisa as a hostile witness on the stand, just before she proceeds to prove that nobody knows more about cars than she does. It’s such a satisfying scene as she makes the prosecutor’s “expert” look like a novice. As for Ralph Macchio, many times in my life I’ve made the statement that I wanted to be the karate kid when I was growing up. I think I was in the fifth grade when I saw the film for the very first time. I’ve been a fan of Ralph Macchio, and in love with Elisabeth Shue, ever since. It’s the kind of movie I’d just sit around thinking about when I was a kid. I even wanted to learn karate, but being just a little over 4 feet tall at the time, I didn’t need to be getting into any fights. I also like that MY COUSIN VINNY was partially filmed in the town of Covington, GA. My wife and I were driving from Arkansas to Myrtle Beach back in 2020 and we stayed the night in Covington. I had done a little research while I was looking for a place to stop for the night, and I found out that Covington is sometimes referred to the “Hollywood of the South” due to the large number of movies and TV shows that are filmed there. We snapped a couple of shots of the downtown before heading on down the road. But I think the thing I love most about MY COUSIN VINNY is also the reason I love movies like THE KARATE KID and ROCKY so much. I love movies where a person is completely underestimated, and rightfully so. But then, through some combination of intelligence, hard work, heart, and will, that same person is able to rise to the occasion and prevail against those very same people who underestimated them. Vinny has no business in the courtroom, but somehow, he’s able to win the case, and he does it in a smart, funny and exciting way. I love an underdog, and MY COUSIN VINNY just makes me feel good!  

Film Review: My Cousin Vinny (dir by Jonathan Lynn)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

In the 1992 film, My Cousin Vinny, two college students from New York City, Bill Gambini (Ralph Macchio) and Stan Rothstein (Mitchell Whitfield), make the mistake of driving through Alabama.  The two students stop off at a convenience store.  When the clerk is subsequently shot dead during a robbery, Bill and Stan are arrested for the crime.  The viewers know they’re innocent.  Bill and Stan know they’re innocent.  But the entire state of Alabama seems to be determined to send Bill and Stan to prison for life.

Fortunately, Bill’s cousin, Vinny (Joe Pesci, star of Half Nelson), is a lawyer.  Unfortunately, he just recently passed the bar exam and he has yet to actually try a case.  Still, Vinny and his fiancée, Mona Lisa Vito (Marisa Tomei), come down to Alabama.  Vinny takes the case, lying to the judge (Fred Gwynne) about his qualification as a trial attorney.  Vinny is momentarily impressed when the prosecutor (Lane Smith) shares with him all of the files about the case.  “It’s called disclosure, dickhead!” Lisa snaps at him, revealing that she actually has more common sense than Vinny.  That becomes increasingly important as Vinny tries to keep Bill and Stan from spending the rest of their lives in prison.

To be honest, considering how much I complain about stereotypical portrayals of the South, I really shouldn’t like My Cousin Vinny as much as I do.  Almost every character in the film is a stereotype to some extent or another, from the farmers and rednecks who take the witness stand to Fred Gwynne’s no-nonsense judge who rules that Vinny is in contempt of court because he’s wearing a leather jacket.  Fortunately, though, the Southern stereotypes don’t bother me because both Vinny and Lisa are New York stereotypes.  Just as the judge and the townspeople seem to confirm every prejudice that someone like Vinny would have against the South, Vinny seems to be the epitome of everything that people in the South dislike about the North.  When Vinny first shows up on the scene, he’s loud and brash and obnoxious.  But, as the film progresses, Vinny reveals himself to not only be a better attorney than anyone was expecting but he also calms down and adjusts to the more relaxed pace of life in the country.  Just as Vinny reveals himself to be not as bad as everyone originally assumed, both the Judge and the prosecutor are also allowed to reveal some hidden depths.  Neither one is the cardboard authority figure that viewers might expect.  The Judge does sincerely want justice to be done and the prosecutor sincerely wants to keep the county safe, even if he is prosecuting two innocent men.  Just as Vinny learns not to be too quick to judge them, they learn not to be too quick to judge Vinny.  The end message is that everyone is innocent until proven guilty and deserves a fair hearing, whether in a court of law or just in the courts of public and private opinion.  It’s not a bad message.  In fact, it’s one that more than a few people could still stand to learn today.

Of course, the best thing about the film is Marisa Tomei, who not brings a lot of energy to the film but whose hair is amazing and whose clothes are to die for.  Tomei won an Oscar for her performance in My Cousin Vinny, a victory that was so controversial that there were unfounded rumors that presenter Jack Palance had read the wrong name by mistake.  (As we all learned a few years ago when Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway actually did read the wrong winner, the accountants aren’t going to let anyone get away with that.)  Watching the film last night, it was obvious to me that Tomei deserved that Oscar because Lisa is the heart of the film.  Pesci, Gwynne, and Lane Smith are all give good performances but, without Marisa Tomei’s performance, My Cousin Vinny would ultimately just be another culture clash comedy.  A lesser actress would have just played Lisa as being a stereotype.  But Tomei turned Lisa into the most believable and sincere character in the film.  While Lisa won the case, Tomei saved the movie.

(And needless to say, I’m a fan of any movie that features a Lisa saving the day.)

My Cousin Vinny holds up as an enjoyable film.  Watch it the next time you’re losing faith in humanity.

Hellhound On My Trail: Walter Hill’s CROSSROADS (Columbia 1986)

Posted on by gary loggins

gary loggins's avatarcracked rear viewer

‘Well the blues had a baby/and they named it rock and roll” –

Muddy Waters

Hi, my name’s Gary, and I’m a bluesoholic! Whether it’s Deep South Delta or Electric Chicago, distilled in Great Britain or Sunny California, the blues has always been the foundation upon which rock’n’roll was built. Yet there aren’t a lot of films out there depicting this totally original American art form. One I viewed recently was 1986’s CROSSROADS, directed by another American original whose work I enjoy, Walter Hill.

Hill was responsible for cult classics filled with violence and laced with humor, like HARD TIMES (with Charles Bronson as a 1930’s bare knuckles brawler), the highly stylized THE WARRIORS , the gritty Western THE LONG RIDERS, and SOUTHERN COMFORT (a kind of MOST DANGEROUS GAME On The Bayou). He scored box office gold with the 1982 action-comedy 48 HRS, making a movie star out of…

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Back to School Part II #16: The Karate Kid (dir by John G. Avildsen)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

320px-Karate_kid

Finally, I am getting a chance to continue my series of Back to School reviews!

Earlier today, we had a pretty big storm down here in Texas and it knocked out the electricity for three and a half hours!  There I was, sitting in the dark and wondering if I would ever get a chance to review the 16th movie in this 56-film review series.

(Originally, I was planning on being done by this weekend but, as always seems to happen whenever I do a review series, I’m currently running behind so it’ll probably won’t be until the weekend after next that I post my final Back to School review.)

Fortunately, the Oncor truck eventually showed up in the alley.  I, of course, ran out into the back yard and started to shout at them, “I need power!  I have movies to review!”  They must have heard me because, suddenly, the power came back on.  And now, I can finally get around to sharing a few thoughts on the original, 1984 version of The Karate Kid!

Up until last night, believe it or not, I had never seen The Karate Kid before.  Certainly, I knew about it.  Much like Star Wars and Star Trek, The Karate Kid is one of those cultural landmarks that everyone knows about even if they haven’t actually sat down and watched the movie.  Even before I watched the film, I knew about Mr. Miyagi.  I knew about “wax on” and “wax off.”  I knew about the crane.  I even knew about “You’re alright, LaRusso!”

But I hadn’t actually seen the film and I have to admit that I was a little bit hesitant about doing so.  Everything I had heard about The Karate Kid made it sound like a thoroughly predictable and excessively 80s sports film.  I was expecting the film to be all about power ballads and training montages and uplifting dialogue and certainly, The Karate Kid had a lot of that.

But what took me by surprise is what a genuinely sweet movie The Karate Kid is.  Yes, it’s predictable and it’s full of clichés but dammit, it all works.  It still brought tears to my mismatched eyes.

The karate kid of the title is Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio), who moves, with his mother, from New Jersey to California.  Daniel’s a nice kid who has learned a little karate from reading books but he’s still no match for the bullies at his new high school.  Daniel does get a girlfriend, Ali Mills (Elisabeth Shue, giving a performance that feels far more genuine than any of her more recent work), but even that leads to him getting in trouble.  It turns out that Ali’s ex-boyfriend is Johnny (William Zabka), the top student at Cobra Kai.  Oddly enough, Johnny’s teacher is also named John.  John Kreese (Martin Kove) is a Vietnam veteran who decorates his dojo with pictures of himself looking threatening.  Kreese, we soon discover, is a total psychopath.  “NO MERCY!” he shouts at this students.

When Johnny and his fellow Cobra Kai students beat up Daniel on Halloween, Daniel’s life is saved by Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita).  Mr. Miyagi may appear to just be a simple maintenance man but he’s actually a total badass.  He teaches Daniel not only the moves of karate (“Wax on…wax off…”) but the philosophy as well.  He explains to Daniel that there are “No bad students.  Just bad teacher.”  In short, he is the exact opposite of Kreese.

Who is the better teacher?  That’s a question that will be answered when Daniel faces off against the Cobra Kai bullies at the Under-18 All-Valley Karate Tournament.  Can Daniel defeat Johnny, win Ali’s love, and earn the right to live free of harassment?

Well, it would be a pretty depressing movie if he didn’t…

Anyway, The Karate Kid turned out to be a really sweet and likable movie.  I was never surprised by the movie’s plot but I still found myself being drawn into the story and hoping that everything would work out for Daniel and Ali.  The character of Mr. Miyagi has been parodied in so many other films that I was a bit surprised to see just how good Pat Morita was in the role.  Yes, Morita gets to say a lot of funny lines but he also gets a rather harrowing dramatic scene where talks about how his wife and child died while he was away, serving in the army.

It’s interesting to note that, at the end of the film, even Johnny got to show a glimmer of humanity, suggesting that even the worst jerk in the world can be redeemed by a good ass-kicking.  That said, Kreese is pure evil from beginning to end and Johnny’s friend, Dutch (played by Chad McQueen), is about as scary a high school bully as I’ve ever seen.  But at least Johnny is willing to admit the truth.

LaRusso?

He’s alright.