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Matthew Krueger (10051 KP) rated Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot (1992) in Movies
Sep 16, 2019
Pranked By Arnold
This is one of the baddest movies that Stallone has been in. Its so bad that its good?
The plot: Smarting from a romantic breakup, macho police Sgt. Joe Bomowski (Sylvester Stallone) gets a cross-country visit from his mother, Tutti (Estelle Getty). Her misguided efforts to help only fray his nerves, but that doesn't stop her from nagging Joe to be more open about his feelings toward his ex-girlfriend and current boss, Lt. Gwen Harper (JoBeth Williams). When Tutti witnesses a brutal multiple murder, she takes her meddling to the extreme by tagging along to help her son solve the case.
Sylvester Stallone signed onto the film based on rumors that Arnold Schwarzenegger was interested in the lead. In October 2017, Schwarzenegger confirmed a rumor that, knowing the script was "really bad", he had publicly faked interest in starring for producers to lure Stallone.
So Arnold pranked Stallone to get him into this movie that is so funny.
Dont watch this film, its not good.
The plot: Smarting from a romantic breakup, macho police Sgt. Joe Bomowski (Sylvester Stallone) gets a cross-country visit from his mother, Tutti (Estelle Getty). Her misguided efforts to help only fray his nerves, but that doesn't stop her from nagging Joe to be more open about his feelings toward his ex-girlfriend and current boss, Lt. Gwen Harper (JoBeth Williams). When Tutti witnesses a brutal multiple murder, she takes her meddling to the extreme by tagging along to help her son solve the case.
Sylvester Stallone signed onto the film based on rumors that Arnold Schwarzenegger was interested in the lead. In October 2017, Schwarzenegger confirmed a rumor that, knowing the script was "really bad", he had publicly faked interest in starring for producers to lure Stallone.
So Arnold pranked Stallone to get him into this movie that is so funny.
Dont watch this film, its not good.
Gareth von Kallenbach (980 KP) rated Sabotage (2014) in Movies
Jun 19, 2019
Action icon Arnold Schwarzenegger is back in âSabotageâ, with an ensemble film that is part thriller, part action, and part western. Schwarzenegger plays John Breacher, the leader of a top D.E.A. squad who take on the worst of the criminal underworld in the war on drugs.
Breacher has become a celebrity for his exploits as the numerous pictures of him with former Presidents attest to. It is learned that after bringing down a drug Kingpin, Breacher had his wife and son kidnapped in retaliation and he was forced to watch them tortured to death via video for refusing to turn himself over to the kidnappers for retaliation.
The brutal and drawn out nature of the crimes has haunted Breacher and as the film opens he is leading his team on a raid of a mansion filled with cash and bad guys.
His team is very efficient at what they do but have both physical and mental scars from their experiences. The raid goes almost as planned, but Breacher and his team are accused of taking ten million dollars from the crime scene after the raid as it was learned that the F.B.I. were also keeping tabs on the locale.
Six months pass and despite being an outcast, Breacher and his team are returned to active duty after the closure of the investigation against them. With most of his agency convinced someone on the team has taken the money, Breacher and company celebrate their return to active status.
Their celebration is short-lived when members of the team start being killed in brutal fashion. The fact that highly trained operatives are able to be killed in this manner has raised some red flags especially to local detective Brentwood (Olivia Williams), who thinks there may be more to the cases than first thought. The fact that the D.E.A. is not helping with her investigation and the fact that the bodies are starting to pile up lead her and Breacher into an uneasy alliance to find the killer(s).
What follows is a methodical, but at times action packed film that results in an ending that is disappointing compared to what it could have been.
After the final revelation was revealed, it seemed to me that the methods taken did not match up well with the timeline, opportunity, and motivations of the characters involved. The more I thought about the film the more I was convinced that there were easier ways for things to be accomplished or explained and that perhaps there were too many Red Herrings along the way.
The cast is the film is top notch from Terrance Howard, Sam Worthington, Joe Manganiello and Josh Holloway, and this is one of Schwarzeneggerâs most mature and diverse roles in memory. I liked the ambiguity of his character as he was not the one man killing machine and unstoppable force of nature that he has portrayed countless times before.
Breacher is a haunted and troubled man who is highly capable at what he does and enjoys doing it even though it has cost him everything he holds dear. The film seemed to be unable to find an identity as it started out as a very gripping drama that had you guessing but took some turns that strained to be credible and became a conglomeration of action clichés and western nostalgia which is a shame as the cast and premise offered so much more as did the first part of the film.
Director David Ayer keeps things moving along and is to be praised for not letting the action overshadow the characters but sadly the final act of the film comes up short and undermines what could have been a classic mix of action and drama.
The film fails as an effective action film or drama which results in an at times enjoyable but largely forgettable effort.
http://sknr.net/2014/03/28/sabotage/
Breacher has become a celebrity for his exploits as the numerous pictures of him with former Presidents attest to. It is learned that after bringing down a drug Kingpin, Breacher had his wife and son kidnapped in retaliation and he was forced to watch them tortured to death via video for refusing to turn himself over to the kidnappers for retaliation.
The brutal and drawn out nature of the crimes has haunted Breacher and as the film opens he is leading his team on a raid of a mansion filled with cash and bad guys.
His team is very efficient at what they do but have both physical and mental scars from their experiences. The raid goes almost as planned, but Breacher and his team are accused of taking ten million dollars from the crime scene after the raid as it was learned that the F.B.I. were also keeping tabs on the locale.
Six months pass and despite being an outcast, Breacher and his team are returned to active duty after the closure of the investigation against them. With most of his agency convinced someone on the team has taken the money, Breacher and company celebrate their return to active status.
Their celebration is short-lived when members of the team start being killed in brutal fashion. The fact that highly trained operatives are able to be killed in this manner has raised some red flags especially to local detective Brentwood (Olivia Williams), who thinks there may be more to the cases than first thought. The fact that the D.E.A. is not helping with her investigation and the fact that the bodies are starting to pile up lead her and Breacher into an uneasy alliance to find the killer(s).
What follows is a methodical, but at times action packed film that results in an ending that is disappointing compared to what it could have been.
After the final revelation was revealed, it seemed to me that the methods taken did not match up well with the timeline, opportunity, and motivations of the characters involved. The more I thought about the film the more I was convinced that there were easier ways for things to be accomplished or explained and that perhaps there were too many Red Herrings along the way.
The cast is the film is top notch from Terrance Howard, Sam Worthington, Joe Manganiello and Josh Holloway, and this is one of Schwarzeneggerâs most mature and diverse roles in memory. I liked the ambiguity of his character as he was not the one man killing machine and unstoppable force of nature that he has portrayed countless times before.
Breacher is a haunted and troubled man who is highly capable at what he does and enjoys doing it even though it has cost him everything he holds dear. The film seemed to be unable to find an identity as it started out as a very gripping drama that had you guessing but took some turns that strained to be credible and became a conglomeration of action clichés and western nostalgia which is a shame as the cast and premise offered so much more as did the first part of the film.
Director David Ayer keeps things moving along and is to be praised for not letting the action overshadow the characters but sadly the final act of the film comes up short and undermines what could have been a classic mix of action and drama.
The film fails as an effective action film or drama which results in an at times enjoyable but largely forgettable effort.
http://sknr.net/2014/03/28/sabotage/
Bob Mann (459 KP) rated Spielberg (2017) in Movies
Sep 29, 2021
On making Drew Barrymore cry.
âSpielbergâ is an HBO-produced documentary by documentarian Susan Lacy. Youâll never guess who the subject is?!
Steven Spielberg is a product of one of the most surprising revolutions in Hollywood in the late 70âs: one of a set of wunderkind directors alongside such luminaries as George Lucas, Francis Ford Coppola, John Milius, Brian De Palma and Martin Scorcese. These men (only men, it should be noted!) were ready to cock a snook at Hollywoodâs traditional studio system to break rules (case in point, Star Warsâ lack of opening credits) and move cinema into the format that would last to this day.
As this excellent documentary makes clear, Spielberg was one of the least rebellious of the movie-brats. Even though (astoundingly) he blagged himself a production office at Universal (after hiding during the Tram Tour toilet stop!), his path to the top was through hard graft on multiple Universal TV shows, after recognition of his talents by Universal exec Sidney Sheinberg who speaks in the film.
Before we get to that stage of his life, we cover his childhood back-story as a reluctant Jew living in a non-Jewish neighbourhood, driven to fill his time with tormenting his sisters and movie-making with a Super 8 camera. Scenes of home videos, photos and his early attempts at special effects are all fascinating. The impact of his Bohemian mother Leah and workaholic father Arnold, and particularly the very surprising relationship breakdown that happened between them, go a long way to explain the constant return to âfather issuesâ in many of his films such as âE.T.â, âClose Encounters of the Third Kindâ, âHookâ and âIndiana Jones and the Last Crusadeâ.
The majority of the film though settles down into a roughly chronological review of the highlights of his movie career, with particular emphasis justly being placed on some of the key watershed moments in that career. Most of his films get at least a mention, but âJawsâ, âE.T.â, âSchindlerâs Listâ, âThe Color Purpleâ, âJurassic Parkâ, âMunichâ and âEmpire of the Sunâ get more focus. It is such a wonderful trip down my cinematic memory lane. I also forget just what cinematic majesty and craftsmanship is present in these films: I just hope that at some point this will get a Blu-Ray or DVD release so it can be properly appreciated (rather than viewing it on a tiny airplane screen which is how I watched this): the combination of film clips in here is breathtaking.
As might be expected for a documentary about the great director, there is plenty of âbehind the cameraâ footage on show, some of which is fascinating. Spielberg could always get the very best performances out of the youngsters on set, from Cary Guffey (âToys!!â) in âClose Encountersâ to a heartbreaking scene where he reduces the young Drew Barrymore to howls of emotion in âE.T.â. A master at work.
All of the movie scenes are accompanied by new interview footage from Spielberg himself, as well as warm platitudes from many of the luminaries he has worked with in the past. Directors involved include many of the the directors referenced above, as well as those modern directors influenced by him such as J.J. Abrams; his go-to cinematographers Vilmos Zsigmond and Janusz Kaminski; his âgo-toâ composer John Williams; and stars including his go-to âeverymanâ Richard Dreyfuss, Tom Cruise, Harrison Ford, Bob Balaban, Tom Hanks, Opray Winfrey, Leonardo DiCaprio, Christian Bale, Dustin Hoffman and James Brolin. Some of these comments are useful and insightful; some are just fairly meaningless sound bites that add nothing to the film. What all the comments are though is almost all uniformly positive.
And thatâs my only criticism of the film. Like me, Susan Lacy is clearly a big fan. It is probably quite hard to find anyone who isnâtâŠ. but perhaps Ms Lacy should have tried a bit harder! There is only limited focus on his big comedy flop of 1979, â1941â, and no mention at all of his lowest WW grossing film âAlwaysâ. And there are only a few contributors â notably film critic Janet Maslin â who are willing to stick their head above the parapet and prod into Spielbergâs weaknesses; ostensibly his tendency to veer to the sentimental and away from harder issues: the omitted âColor Purpleâ âmirror sceneâ being a case in point.
This is a recommended watch for Spielberg fans. On the eve of the launch of his latest â âReady Player Oneâ, a film that I am personally dubious about from the trailer â itâs a great insight into the life and works of the great man. It could though have cut a slightly harder and more critical edge.
Steven Spielberg is a product of one of the most surprising revolutions in Hollywood in the late 70âs: one of a set of wunderkind directors alongside such luminaries as George Lucas, Francis Ford Coppola, John Milius, Brian De Palma and Martin Scorcese. These men (only men, it should be noted!) were ready to cock a snook at Hollywoodâs traditional studio system to break rules (case in point, Star Warsâ lack of opening credits) and move cinema into the format that would last to this day.
As this excellent documentary makes clear, Spielberg was one of the least rebellious of the movie-brats. Even though (astoundingly) he blagged himself a production office at Universal (after hiding during the Tram Tour toilet stop!), his path to the top was through hard graft on multiple Universal TV shows, after recognition of his talents by Universal exec Sidney Sheinberg who speaks in the film.
Before we get to that stage of his life, we cover his childhood back-story as a reluctant Jew living in a non-Jewish neighbourhood, driven to fill his time with tormenting his sisters and movie-making with a Super 8 camera. Scenes of home videos, photos and his early attempts at special effects are all fascinating. The impact of his Bohemian mother Leah and workaholic father Arnold, and particularly the very surprising relationship breakdown that happened between them, go a long way to explain the constant return to âfather issuesâ in many of his films such as âE.T.â, âClose Encounters of the Third Kindâ, âHookâ and âIndiana Jones and the Last Crusadeâ.
The majority of the film though settles down into a roughly chronological review of the highlights of his movie career, with particular emphasis justly being placed on some of the key watershed moments in that career. Most of his films get at least a mention, but âJawsâ, âE.T.â, âSchindlerâs Listâ, âThe Color Purpleâ, âJurassic Parkâ, âMunichâ and âEmpire of the Sunâ get more focus. It is such a wonderful trip down my cinematic memory lane. I also forget just what cinematic majesty and craftsmanship is present in these films: I just hope that at some point this will get a Blu-Ray or DVD release so it can be properly appreciated (rather than viewing it on a tiny airplane screen which is how I watched this): the combination of film clips in here is breathtaking.
As might be expected for a documentary about the great director, there is plenty of âbehind the cameraâ footage on show, some of which is fascinating. Spielberg could always get the very best performances out of the youngsters on set, from Cary Guffey (âToys!!â) in âClose Encountersâ to a heartbreaking scene where he reduces the young Drew Barrymore to howls of emotion in âE.T.â. A master at work.
All of the movie scenes are accompanied by new interview footage from Spielberg himself, as well as warm platitudes from many of the luminaries he has worked with in the past. Directors involved include many of the the directors referenced above, as well as those modern directors influenced by him such as J.J. Abrams; his go-to cinematographers Vilmos Zsigmond and Janusz Kaminski; his âgo-toâ composer John Williams; and stars including his go-to âeverymanâ Richard Dreyfuss, Tom Cruise, Harrison Ford, Bob Balaban, Tom Hanks, Opray Winfrey, Leonardo DiCaprio, Christian Bale, Dustin Hoffman and James Brolin. Some of these comments are useful and insightful; some are just fairly meaningless sound bites that add nothing to the film. What all the comments are though is almost all uniformly positive.
And thatâs my only criticism of the film. Like me, Susan Lacy is clearly a big fan. It is probably quite hard to find anyone who isnâtâŠ. but perhaps Ms Lacy should have tried a bit harder! There is only limited focus on his big comedy flop of 1979, â1941â, and no mention at all of his lowest WW grossing film âAlwaysâ. And there are only a few contributors â notably film critic Janet Maslin â who are willing to stick their head above the parapet and prod into Spielbergâs weaknesses; ostensibly his tendency to veer to the sentimental and away from harder issues: the omitted âColor Purpleâ âmirror sceneâ being a case in point.
This is a recommended watch for Spielberg fans. On the eve of the launch of his latest â âReady Player Oneâ, a film that I am personally dubious about from the trailer â itâs a great insight into the life and works of the great man. It could though have cut a slightly harder and more critical edge.
LeftSideCut (3776 KP) Sep 16, 2019