Tag Archives: Renny Harlin

4 Shots From 4 Christmas Films

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

4 Shots From 4 Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films lets the visuals do the talking.

Happy holidays!

Let’s get December started with….

4 Shots From 4 Christmas Films

The Godfather (1972, dir by Francis Ford Coppola, DP: Gordon Willis)

Lethal Weapon (1987, dir by Richard Donner, DP: Stephen Goldblatt)

Die Hard (1988, dir by John McTiernan, DP: Jan de Bont)

Die Hard 2 (1990, dir by Renny Harlin, DP: Oliver Wood)

THE LONG KISS GOODNIGHT (1996) – the $4 Million script!

Posted on by Bradley Crain

Shane Black wrote a couple of my favorite action movies during my teenage years, LETHAL WEAPON and THE LAST BOY SCOUT. His scripts are characterized by strong violence balanced out by a healthy amount of comedic banter. That lethal (pun intended) combination made Shane Black a star in his own right, with his work being very much in demand. In 1994 he sold his script for THE LONG KISS GOODNIGHT for the unheard price of $4 Million. After hitting this payday, Black would go dark for the next decade and not release another screenplay until 2005’s KISS KISS BANG BANG, which was also his directorial debut. 

THE LONG KISS GOODNIGHT opens with Samantha Caine playing Mrs. Claus in her small town’s Christmas parade. She has a nice boyfriend, an 8 year old daughter, and she’s a member of the PTA. This is pretty good for a lady that doesn’t remember a damn thing about her life prior to 8 years ago. After celebrating her friends at a Christmas party, she’s driving a soused old man (Alan North) home when she hits a deer and flies right through the window and lands on a snowbank. This wakes up some of her memories and she starts having a few quick flashbacks and some odd dreams from her past, including the name Charly Baltimore. She also learns that she can easily break a buck deer’s neck and handle knives like a champ! Around this same time, low-rent private detective Mitch Hennessy (Samuel L. Jackson) who has been paid a retainer by Ms. Caine to be on the lookout for any clues related to her past, gets lucky and finds a letter from Caine to a supposed former lover. He heads her way to give her the update. When a local news program shows the beautiful Ms. Caine in the parade, some enemies from her past see the story and head to town to try to kill her. Surviving the attempt on her life, and now with Hennessy by her side, Samantha leaves to find out who she really is and unravel the secrets of her past. Is she a chef? Is she a school teacher? Is she a badass hit woman named Charly Baltimore? The fun is in finding out! 

Geena Davis is so good in her role as Samantha Caine / Charly Baltimore. She’s simultaneously beautiful, funny, sexy, cute as a button, and badass. She was married to the director, Renny Harlin, when the film was made and they both went all out to create a strong, female action hero. I think they succeeded admirably. Samuel L. Jackson is just so good in this type of role. He’s sarcastic and funny, a little sleazy, and very much a reluctant hero who does the right thing when he has to. In 2019, Jackson would go so far as to tell late night host Jimmy Fallon that Mitch Hennessy is his personal favorite role. The remainder of the cast is fine, with Brian Cox particularly standing out. His declarative statement about the ultimate results of a small lapdog continually licking his asshole really hit home for me and is reason enough alone to watch this film.  

Ultimately, even though I personally went to see it during its theatrical run, THE LONG KISS GOODNIGHT underwhelmed at the box office in 1996. It grossed around $90 million worldwide on a budget of around $65 million. But that’s fine to me, I enjoyed it in 1996, and I enjoyed it again when I watched it today! 

The Films of 2024: The Bricklayer (dir by Renny Harlin)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Someone is assassinating commie journalists in Europe and making it appear as if the CIA is responsible.  O’Malley (Tim Blake Nelson) of the CIA suspects that the assassin is Michael Radek (Clifton Collins, Jr.), a former intelligence asset who faked his own death but who has now returned and is seeking vengeance on the Agency for the death of his wife and daughter.  O’Malley decides that Radek’s friend and former CIA handler, Steve Vail (Aaron Eckhart), is the only man who can track Radek down.

The problem is that Vail is as disillusioned with intelligence work as Radek.  Vail walked away from the Agency years ago and now spends his time listening to jazz and working as a bricklayer.  Vail explains that, when working with bricks, everything is predictable and everything fits together perfectly.  It’s the opposite of the chaotic world of spies and assassinations.  O’Malley think that Vail is full of crap and I would be tempted to agree if not for the fact that Aaron Eckhart is one of the few actors who can make you believe anything that he says.

At first, Vail refuses to help but then Radek sends a group of assassins to kill him.  That changes Vail’s mind.  Along with an inexperienced supervisor named Kate (Nina Dobrev), Vail heads to Greece to not only track down Radek but also discover the identity of a mole in the CIA.

The Bricklayer was advertised as being a return-to-form of sorts for director Renny Harlin.  In many ways, it’s a typical Harlin film.  For the most part, it looks good.  Some of the action scenes are exciting.  A car flips over and explodes.  At the same time, it never quite reaches the heights of Harlin’s heyday.  This film has neither the grandeur of Die Hard 2, the romantic sparks of The Long Kiss Goodnight, or the energy of Deep Blue Sea.  The film’s low-budget is definitely a factor in that.  There are scenes in the film that look about as cheap as some of the movies that Bruce Willis was making before he announced his retirement.

That said, The Bricklayer does what it does with efficiency and Renny Harlin still knows how to keep the action moving.  Though the story is a bit too familiar to really be intriguing, Aaron Eckhart makes for a surprisingly believable secret agent.  One thing I especially liked about Eckhart’s performance is that he didn’t go for the “grim” stereotype of the former intelligence agent.  As played by Aaron Eckhart, Steve Vail may have had his regrets but he wasn’t some sort of emotionless zombie.  He enjoyed jazz.  He enjoyed the work that he did as a bricklayer.  Though the rules of the genre demand that he and Nina Dobrev start the film as mild adversaries, they quickly developed a likable chemistry.

The Bricklayer is the epitome of an okay, middle of the road movie.  It’s neither good nor bad enough to be especially memorable but it’s entertaining enough if you’ve got 100 minutes to kill.

6 Things That I Am Looking Forward To In January of 2024

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Ah, January.

Traditionally, as far as pop culture goes, January doesn’t get much respect.  If a studio has a film that they knew isn’t going to be a hit with critics or audiences, January is where they usually dump it.  The same can often be said of publishers.  Everyone is so busy getting caught up on what they missed during the last few months of the previous year, chances are that they won’t notice a few bombs dropped on the cultural landscape.  That’s the theory anyways.

But, you know me!  I’m an optimist.  And I remain convinced that, even in January, there are things to which we can look forward,  And here’s six of those things!

(Why six?  Because Lisa doesn’t do odd numbers.)

  1. The Iowa Caucus

That’s right!  It’s an election year!  And the first contest of 2024, the Iowa Presidential Caucus, is just two weeks away!  Remember how much fun we all had in 2020 when the Democrats couldn’t figure out who had actually won their caucus?  Who knows what fun this year has in store for us!  The Iowa Caucus will be held on January 15th.

(Okay, this may seem like a lame thing to look forward to but it’s January and beggars can’t be choosers.)

2. The Sundance Film Festival

While the 2023 race waits to be determined, the 2024 Oscar Race will begin at the Sundance Film Festival!  It seems like, every year, there is at least one Sundance Film that makes it into the Best Picture lineup.  In 2023, Past Lives and Magazine Dreams were huge hits at Sundance and now, it looks like Past Lives has a great chance of being nominated for Best Picture.  As for Magazine Dreams ….. well, yeah.  Which contenders will come out of this year’s festival?  We’ll find out when Sundance opens on January 18th.

3. I.S.S. — This film, about strange happenings on the International Space Station, is set to be released on January 19th.  I always enjoy a good mix of horror and science fiction.  Plus, once this film comes out, maybe YouTube will stop trying to make me watch the trailer.

4. Mean Girls — The Mean Girls musical will be released in theaters on January 12th.  I’m not really sure that we need a new version of the film when the original holds up perfectly well but whatever.  Originally, this was going to go straight to Paramount Plus but it was decided to give the film a theatrical release instead.  Normally, that would be a sign of huge confidence if not for the fact that it was given a January release.

5. The Bricklayer — For those of us wondering whatever happened to Renny Harlin, he’s got a new film set to be released on January 5th.  Hey, that’s this week!

6. The Oscar Nominations — The nominations will be announced on January 23rd and I’ve got a lot of movies that I still need to watch!  So I better get to it!

What are you looking forward to in January?

Holiday Film Review: Die Hard 2: Die Harder (dir by Renny Harlin)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

During 1990’s Die Hard 2, John McClane (Bruce Willis) asks himself, “How can the same shit happen to the same person twice?” and he does have a point.

I mean, consider the situation.  In 1988, McClane spent his Christmas sneaking around a skyscraper and saving his wife from a group of sadistic mercenaries.  Two years later, John McClane spends his Christmas sneaking around an airport and saving his wife from a group of sadistic mercenaries.

There are a few differences of course.  In 1988, the mercenaries were only interested in stealing as much money as they could and each mercenary had his own properly ghoulish personality.  In 1990, the mercenaries are really more of a cult, led by the fanatical Col. Stuart (William Sadler).  And, along with trying to make some money, they are also trying to free General Ramon Esperanza (Franco Nero), a Central American drug lord and former CIA asset.  Despite the fact that the mercenaries are played by familiar actors (like Robert Patrick, John Leguizamo, Tony Ganois, and Vondie Curtis-Hall), none of them are quite as memorable as the henchmen that Alan Rickman commanded in the first film.  And while Sadler has charisma and makes a big impression during his first scene, his character is nowhere near as interesting or entertaining as Hans Gruber.  Franco Nero, it must be said, is as dashing as ever.  He really seems to be having fun in this movie.

A lot more people die in Die Hard 2 than died in the first Die Hard and the majority of them are innocent bystanders.  This isn’t like the first film, where Harry Ellis died because his coke-addled mind led him to believe that he could outsmart Gruber.  The victims in Die Hard 2 include a friendly church caretaker and over 200 passengers of an airplane that Stuart tricks into crashing on an airport runway.  The scene where the plane crashes remains disturbing no matter how many times that you see it and it truly makes you hate Colonel Stuart.  When the plane crashes, despite McClane’s futile efforts to warn the pilots, McClane sobs and it’s a powerful scene because it’s the first scene in which McClane has not had a quip or a one-liner ready to go.  In this scene, McClane fails to save the day and, for a few minutes, he’s helpless.  I usually end up crying with McClane.  Today, those tears are also a reminder of what a good actor Bruce Willis truly could be whenever he let down his defenses and allowed himself to be vulnerable on screen.

Die Hard 2 is usually dismissed as not being as good as the first movie and …. well, that’s correct.  It’s not as good but then again, few actions films are.  There’s a reason why Die Hard continues to be held in such high regard.  That said, Die Hard 2 is not bad.  The stakes are a bit higher and the action scenes a bit more elaborate, as you would expect from a film directed by Renny Harlin.  Bruce Willis plays McClane with the blue collar swagger that made his such an awesome hero in the first film.  Bonnie Bedelia and William Atherton also return from the first film and Atherton once again gets his comeuppance in a crowd-pleasing moment.  The cast is full of character actors, all of whom get a chance to make an impression.  Dennis Franz is the profane head of security who eventually turns out to be not such a bad guy.  John Amos is the major who eventually turns out to be not such a good guy.  Colm Meaney has a few heart-breaking moments as the pilot of the doomed airplane.  My favorite supporting performance is given by Fred Thompson, bringing his quiet authority to the role of tough but fair-minded Air Traffic Control director.  Watching Die Hard 2, it does feel as if the viewer has been dropped in the middle of these people’s lives.  Everyone seems real.  No one seems like a mere plot device.

Is Die Hard a Christmas movie?  You bet it is!  But so is Die Hard 2 and it’s not a bad one.

Cliffhanger (1993, directed by Renny Harlin)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Sylvester Stallone is Gabe, a mountain climber who also works as a rescue ranger.  Michael Rooker is Hal, Gabe’s colleague and former best friend.  Hal blames Gabe for the death of his girlfriend, Sarah.  Gabe also blames himself and is planning on getting out of the rescue game.  But before Gabe can quit, he’s got one last mission to perform.  Qualen (John Lithgow) is a psychotic former spy who has masterminded a multi-million dollar robbery.  A plane crash leads to the loot getting scattered in the mountains.  Qualen takes Hal and Gabe prisoner and tries to force them to help him track down the money.

Cliffhanger was made during one of the slower periods of Stallone’s career.  He had temporarily retired the roles of both Rocky Balboa and John Rambo and, as an action star, he was being overshadowed by Arnold Schwarzenegger.  Stallone had tried to reinvent himself as a comedic actor, with the result being Stop!  Or My Mom Will Shoot!  The former Oscar nominee was now only winning Razzies and he was running the risk of becoming better known for his messy divorce from Brigitte Nielsen than for his recent films.  Things weren’t looking good for Stallone but, fortunately, the box office success of Cliffhanger revived his career.

Seen today, Cliffhanger holds up well as an undemanding but enjoyable action film.  It’s a very much a film of its time, complete with John Lithgow hamming it up as a British villain and Northern Exposure’s Janine Turner playing Stallone’s loyal, helicopter-owning girlfriend.  Stallone’s best films are the ones where he is willing to surrender his ego and he does that in Cliffhanger.  It may be a Stallone film but the best lines go to Michael Rooker and the true stars of the film are the mountains and the scenes of Stallone and Rooker trying to climb them.  With Cliffhanger, Stallone was smart enough to stay out of the way and just trust that the image of him dangling above the Rockies would bring in the audience.  It was a smart decision.  Though Cliffhanger is often overshadowed by Stallone’s other 1993 hit, Demolition Man, it’s still an entertaining film in its own right.

Cliffhanger was directed by Renny Harlin, the Finnish action specialist whose promising career would subsequently take a hit and never really recover from directing Cutthroat Island.  Mountain climbing and Renny Harlin just seem to go together and Cliffhanger is one of his better films.  Here’s hope that, just as Stallone has done many times in the past, Renny Harlin will eventually his comeback as a director.

Born American (1986, directed by Renny Harlin)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

The year is 1986 and the Cold War is raging between the United States and the Soviet Union.  Three American college students are on vacation in Finland.  Mitch (Steve Durham) and Savoy (Mike Norris) think it would be a great idea to secretly cross the border into Russia and just hang out for a few hours.  The more cautious KC (David Coburn) thinks that would be a mistake but he’s outvoted.

Of course, it turns out that KC was correct.  No sooner have the three students crossed the border than they find themselves being chased by Soviet soldiers and getting accused of raping a woman in a nearby village.  When the three of them attempt to flee back over the border, they instead end up accidentally destroying the village instead.  Arrested by the Russians, KC is tortured by the KGB until Savoy agrees to confess to being an intelligence agent.

Sentenced to a prison camp in Siberia, Savoy and KC are forced to take part in forced labor while Mitch is used as a pawn in an underground human chess match where the pawns are all prisoners and capturing a pawn means that prisoner is then executed.  (I don’t get it either.)  After KC dies due to the abuse to which he’s been subjected, Savoy discovers that there’s a former American intelligence agent known as The Admiral (Thalmus Rasulala) living underneath the prison.  The Admiral is willing to help Savoy escape but he wants Savoy to help him by smuggling a book that The Admiral has written to publishers in the West.

What type of name is Savoy anyways?

Despite the name and the pro-American subject matter, Born American was produced in Finland.  At the time, it was the most expensive Finnish film ever made.  It was also the directorial debut of Renny Harlin and the surprise box office success of Born American led to Harlin getting offers from Hollywood.  If not for Born American, Renny Harlin would never have gotten the chance to direct Die Hard 2 or to marry Geena Davis.  Of course, he also wouldn’t have gotten the chance to direct Cutthroat Island.

The best thing about Born American are the action scenes.  They rarely make much sense in the context of the film’s plot but Renny Harlin proved that, even with his directorial debut, he knew how to film people blowing things up and shooting guns at each other.  The scenes in the prison camp are believably intense, or at least they are until The Admiral shows up in his well-furnished underground lair.

The worst thing about Born American is the plot, which never makes any sense.  I’m about as anti-communist as they come and even I still found it hard to have much sympathy for three obviously wealthy college students who were stupid enough to try to sneak into Russia just so they’d have a story to tell later.  Savoy is not much of a hero because almost all of his troubles could have been avoided by him not acing like an idiot.  Plus, what type of name is Savoy?

Originally, Savoy was to be played by Chuck Norris.  When Chuck withdrew from the project, the producers instead hired his son, Mike Norris, and rewrote the script to make the three Americans college students.  This was Mike Norris’s first starring role and, unfortunately, he’s not very good.  He’s believable as a tourist but once he’s taken prisoner and has to emote, he starts delivering all of his lines in a high-pitched whine and it becomes difficult to listen to him.  Watching Mike Norris in the role of Savoy Brown, I couldn’t help but think to myself that Chuck Norris never would have gotten captured in the first place.

4 Shots From 4 Christmas Films: The Godfather, Lethal Weapon, Die Hard, Die Hard 2

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

4 Shots From 4 Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films lets the visuals do the talking.

Merry Christmas!

Let’s get today started with….

4 Shots From 4 Christmas Films

The Godfather (1972, dir by Francis Ford Coppola)

Lethal Weapon (1987, dir by Richard Donner)

Die Hard (1988, dir by John McTiernan)

Die Hard 2 (1990, dir by Renny Harlin)

4 Shots From 4 Nightmare Films: A Nightmare on Elm Street, Dream Warriors, The Dream Master, Freddy’s Dead

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

4 Shots From 4 Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films lets the visuals do the talking.

Since I reviewed A Nightmare on Elm Street earlier today, it just feels right to do….

4 Shots From 4 Nightmarish Films

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984, dir by Wes Craven)

A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 3: Dream Warriors (1987, dir by Chuck Russell)

A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988, dir by Renny Harlin)

Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991, dir by Rachel Talalay)

Music Video of the Day: Deepest Bluest (Shark Fin) by LL Cool J (1999, dir by Renny Harlin)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkKb9OvXXvk

Seeing as how this is shark week on the SyFy network and I reviewed both Deep Blue Sea and Deep Blue Sea 2 on Sunday, it seems appropriate that today’s music video of the day should feature LL Cool J turning into a shark.

I mean, doesn’t it!?

Anyway, this is one of the songs that plays over the end credits of Deep Blue Sea.  The video was directed by Renny Harlin and features several clips from the film.  And, of course, LL Cool J turns into a shark.

Enjoy!