Change Your Image
Selish70
Reviews
Red Dawn (1984)
Realistic? No. Entertaining? Yes.
Rent this flick and watch the lead fly! Some very well done shootouts in Red Dawn make it a must-see for fans of action films.
Things not to think about:
1) How the Communist invasion is pulled off. I mean, think about it as a mental exercise if you wish, but it's not really the point of the film, so don't let it take away from your enjoyment. It needs to happen to set up the plot, a MacGuffin if you will.
2) How a bunch of lightly armed paratroopers not two hours on the ground can beat off an attack by a mechanized unit in what appears to be excellent tank country.
3) How these kids can cause the amount of trouble they do without sustaining any casualties whatsoever throughout much of the movie. It's a fact that lightly armed guerrilla units can be a definite thorn in the side of conventional forces through the use of hit and run tactics, they tend to have very high casualty rates. Example on both counts: The Viet Cong.
So ignore that stuff, among other things. This isn't real. It ain't art. It's not even propaganda. It's just an action flick with an interesting premise/backdrop. Actually, now that I mention the "anti-soviet/communist propaganda" angle that a few folks here seem to subscribe to, let me note that Communist regimes tend to be the authors of their own worst propaganda through their very actions. This is the most murderous system of government in human history we're talking about, folks, and to state/imply otherwise is to immediately peg oneself as willfully blind or stupid. So pardon me for not much caring if this film offend communist sensibilities.
*ahem* Where was I? Oh yeah. All the equipment is well rendered, but sharp-eyed individuals will notice an both an American and German vintage WWII AT gun on a train toward the end. Anal, I know, but I thought I'd throw it in. *SPOILER* The whole, "We gotta set up a distraction so everyone else can split" set up toward the end is a little strained, but I guess it was the most dramatic way for Patrick Swayze to die.
Not a seminal piece of cinema, but if this is your thing, it won't be a waste of time.
Cause for Concern (2002)
Something of a misrepresentation
All right, I'll review this thing. I'm up to it. And I'll put the bottom line at the top: don't waste your money. Check it out as a curiosity if it's free but don't spend your coin.
The vast majority of the fights in the uh, film, don't involve bums, but rather teenage yahoos that have been watching too much "Jackass". Bad news that most of them appear to survive, which means that they will almost certainly reproduce. Watching fights on TV between people I don't know and who don't appear to be battling for any moral principle - real or percieved - isn't as compelling as you might think. I think the WWF realizes that, which is why they brew up a story to which the "fight" is the last act. Not so here. The fight is the whole entire play, and it's an unsatisfying one-act.
"Supermodel" Angela Taylor is there. Not much else to say about her.
The "Bumhunter" segments sound hilarious when you hear about them, but the don't live up to an actual viewing. It's not that the guy playing the Bumhunter isn't funny - he is - but most of the bums are just tired and seem content to wait for this weirdo to bug off once he's had his fun. Not that they have any real choice in the matter in some cases...
Best part are some of the pranks and stunts. I admit I laughed quite a few times at the (attempted) destruction of property and other idiocy. I don't know, there's just something about a guy pummelling a drive thru menu/intercom that I find amusing, probably because I've wanted to do it a few times myself.
This video might be worth an hour of your time, but as I said, borrow a friend's.
Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985)
Whaddya want?
I'm no snob, and I've seen all these movies and enjoyed most of 'em, but I gotta say I get a real charge out of all the people critcizing this installment of the series as inferior to the rest. C'mon guys, that's like laughing every time someone burps and then getting annoyed when they finally decide to take it to the next level and cut the cheese.
So Jason wasn't there. So what. It's not like he's some deep character. He don't talk. He don't think. Got no motivation. Just shlumps around and kills folks. His fill-in does it just as well, and why not? It's not like he had to match Olivier's Hamlet.
Bottom line: Lighten up on this one. It's as good as any other in the series, save the original.