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Gene Hackman Does Rambo: The Emo Machismo Of <em>Uncommon Valor</em>
Gene Hackman made a Rambo movie, and only a year after the original. Maybe it's best to think of 1983's Uncommon Valor as the missing link between The Deer Hunter and the first Rambo sequel, two extremely fucking different takes on the idea that there are still prisoners of war in Vietnam, and we ne...
<em>The Heroic Trio</em>: A Female-Superhero Classic For Stoners Everywhere
Recently, news circulated that we are finally getting a full movie about a female superhero. It's going to be a spinoff of the current not-great Spider-Man series, and we don't yet know if the female superhero in question is going to be Spider-Woman or Silver Sable or the Black Cat or what. It's a f...
<em>Safe</em> Is The Best Jason Statham Movie
You can learn a lot about someone from his or her favorite Jason Statham movie. For instance, if your pick is Crank (or, fucking hell, Crank 2), I know you don't really like Jason Statham movies that much. Those are built on a fun concept, and they have a few great ideas, but they're Mountain Dew co...
Drive Angrier: The Bleak Mayhem Of Mel Gibson's Original <em>Mad Max</em>
For someone who's never been to Comic-Con, the whole idea seems a bit baffling—waiting in line all day to attend a half-hour promotional junket for a movie that won't be out for another year, getting to say you were there when Robert Downey, Jr. said he had a pretty good time making this next Aven...
Donnie Yen Is The Tom Hanks Of Kicking Ass In <em>Ip Man</em>
On a good day, Hong Kong's Donnie Yen is the greatest working movie star on the face of the earth. Even in bad movies, he has a light charm, a gracefulness that shines brighter than anything his Hollywood peers can offer. There's a warmth in his presence, a gliding dignity. The sparkle in his eye ri...
Stop Making Sense: The Lunkheaded Genius Of <em>Big Trouble In Little China</em>
In 1988's Die Hard—probably the most perfect and pure American action movie ever made—we met Bruce Willis's John McClane, a different kind of action hero. McClane wasn't an ultra-capable superman, but instead a resourceful, slippery, one-liner-slinging everyman, not to mention, sometimes, a smarmy a...
Yakuza Throwing Frisbees: The Graceful Savagery Of <em>Sonatine</em>
In 1994, the year after he released his lyrical yakuza movie Sonatine, the Japanese movie star and director Takeshi Kitano got into a bad motor-scooter accident. He came away with half of his face paralyzed. You almost couldn't tell....
Cruise Control: The Loopy Terror Of <em>Mission: Impossible—Ghost Protocol</em>
Tom Cruise is not like us. This was always pretty evident, but as recently detailed in this great Amy Nicholson L.A. Weekly story, it became inescapable fact around 2005, when he jumped on Oprah Winfrey's couch. That story is full of convincing evidence that the whole couch episode didn't happen t...
Walter Matthau, '70s Action Hero: The Lurid Charms Of <em>Charley Varrick</em>
For much of his adult life, Walter Matthau looked like a weathered chew-toy version of Ronald Reagan, not like anyone's idea of an action hero. But for a three-movie run of early-'70s crime thrillers, he made a case for himself as one of the all-time great movie tough guys, a calm and sardonic every...
The Real Ultraviolence: In Praise Of <em>Riki-Oh: The Story Of Ricky</em>
If you're old, you might remember a time before Jon Stewart hosted The Daily Show, and instead Sportscenter's own Craig Kilborn sat in his chair. If you're old with bad taste like me, you might remember being deeply annoyed when Stewart took over, mostly because he immediately did away with his pred...
<em>Dredd</em> Is The Second-Best Drug-Fortress Action Flick Ever
For reasons we may never understand, movie studios, in their infinite wisdom, often decide to drop two movies about the same thing at the same time. That's how we end up with dueling volcano-based disaster movies, giant-asteroid-based disaster movies, or Truman Capote biopics. But in 2012, we got su...
A Million Ways To Die In Japan: The Gonzo Splendor Of <em>13 Assassins</em>
Netflix Instant doesn't have to feel like a depleted Blockbuster in 1990, where you spend half an hour browsing hopeless straight-to-video thrillers before saying "fuck it" and loading up another Archer. Streaming services can be an absolute treasure trove, particularly if you like action movies, an...
Charles Bronson, Urban Rambo: The Frantic Nihilism Of <em>Death Wish 3</em>
Netflix Instant doesn't have to feel like a depleted Blockbuster in 1990, where you spend half an hour browsing hopeless straight-to-video thrillers before saying "fuck it" and loading up another Archer. Streaming services can be an absolute treasure trove, particularly if you like action movies, an...
Peak Jackie Chan: The Intoxicating Joys Of <em>The Legend Of Drunken Master</em>
Netflix Instant doesn't have to feel like a depleted Blockbuster in 1990, where you spend half an hour browsing hopeless straight-to-video thrillers before saying "fuck it" and loading up another Archer. Streaming services can be an absolute treasure trove, particularly if you like action movies, an...