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Kevin Phillipson (10021 KP) rated Highlander (1986) in Movies
Jan 17, 2023
David McK (3425 KP) rated Highlander (1986) in Movies
Jul 17, 2020
Classic 1980s fantasy movie, in which a Frenchman (Christopher Lambert) plays a Scot, a Scot (Sean Connery) plays an Egyptian by way of Spain and an American (Clancy Brown) plays the Russian villain (the Kurgan), all as immortal swordsmen who must duel down through the ages (only being killed when their head is separated from their neck) in search of the mysterious Prize.
Supported by a brilliant soundtrack by Queen - 'Who Wants to Live Forever' has to be amongst their best - and with the immortal line 'There Can Be Only One', leading to 6 sequels and a TV series!
Supported by a brilliant soundtrack by Queen - 'Who Wants to Live Forever' has to be amongst their best - and with the immortal line 'There Can Be Only One', leading to 6 sequels and a TV series!
Awix (3310 KP) rated Highlander 2: The Quickening (1991) in Movies
Feb 22, 2018
Which part of 'there can be only one' did the film-makers not get? Baffling sequel doesn't bother with an actual plot, settles for a succession of disjointed ideas and set pieces; barely makes sense on its own terms, is utterly incoherent if you consider the backstory established by the original movie.
Sean Connery chewing the scenery gives the film a certain appeal to lovers of ham acting; same is true of Michael Ironside. Christopher Lambert is still quite painful to listen to. Quite how the Highlander series managed to continue on for umpty-tump more sequels and TV episodes is a mystery: it is notable that this movie was quietly forgotten about and never mentioned again.
Sean Connery chewing the scenery gives the film a certain appeal to lovers of ham acting; same is true of Michael Ironside. Christopher Lambert is still quite painful to listen to. Quite how the Highlander series managed to continue on for umpty-tump more sequels and TV episodes is a mystery: it is notable that this movie was quietly forgotten about and never mentioned again.
Awix (3310 KP) rated Highlander (1986) in Movies
Feb 12, 2018 (Updated Feb 12, 2018)
Cult fantasy movie which kind of flopped on its initial release but spawned a franchise which seemed to go on forever (and may not in fact be completely defunct). Scottish highlander (played by a Frenchman) discovers he is immortal; is mentored by ancient Egyptian immortal (played by a Scotsman); must do battle with rival Russian immortal (played by an American) to decide the destiny of the world.
Pretty much as goofy as it sounds, but very likeable - strives for a sort of mythic grandeur, doesn't quite manage it. None of the battles in the story are quite as brutal as the one between Christopher Lambert and the English language, but Sean Connery is having fun; some decent fight choreography too. Benefits immensely from the Queen soundtrack.
Pretty much as goofy as it sounds, but very likeable - strives for a sort of mythic grandeur, doesn't quite manage it. None of the battles in the story are quite as brutal as the one between Christopher Lambert and the English language, but Sean Connery is having fun; some decent fight choreography too. Benefits immensely from the Queen soundtrack.
Blazing Minds (92 KP) rated Highlander (1986) in Movies
Nov 1, 2021 (Updated Nov 3, 2021)
I remember back in 1986 when the film was released, it was fresh and the story of Connor MacLeod (Christopher Lambert) and his journey from the time he was killed in the Scottish highlands in 1536 to the present day (1986) was one which fascinated me.
The immortal Highlander was on a journey for a fight for his life, the only way his immortality could be ended would be for his head to be removed, gruesome sounds I know, but nothing gory in this 80s movie.
In the end, “There can be only one”, a battle through time for the ultimate goal, “the prize”!
Highlander may have had four sequels, firstly the awful 2nd movie with its storyline that the “immortals” came from another planet, thankfully the “Renegade Version” was released some years later on DVD that was a much better cut of the film.
The immortal Highlander was on a journey for a fight for his life, the only way his immortality could be ended would be for his head to be removed, gruesome sounds I know, but nothing gory in this 80s movie.
In the end, “There can be only one”, a battle through time for the ultimate goal, “the prize”!
Highlander may have had four sequels, firstly the awful 2nd movie with its storyline that the “immortals” came from another planet, thankfully the “Renegade Version” was released some years later on DVD that was a much better cut of the film.
Awix (3310 KP) rated Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (1984) in Movies
Jun 15, 2018
Umpty-tumpth Tarzan movie goes back to Burroughs and features most of the stuff you'd expect from this kind of thing: posh English couple cark it somewhere in Africa, leaving infant son to be raised by wild apes. He grows up, quickly learns to wear a loincloth so as not to outrage the censor, rediscovers his heritage, and so on.
Christopher Lambert is pretty good as the Lord of the Apes, though the script has to explain exactly why Tarzan has a French accent; Ralph Richardson and Ian Holm are really better in supporting roles, though. If the film has a problem it's that it's just a bit too downbeat and glum for a Tarzan movie - you can take gritty realism just a bit too far, and director Hugh Hudson seems determined to make serious angry points about the evils of imperialism, colonialism, and the British establishment. Still, it's probably preferable to most of the previous, ultra-silly Tarzan movies.
Christopher Lambert is pretty good as the Lord of the Apes, though the script has to explain exactly why Tarzan has a French accent; Ralph Richardson and Ian Holm are really better in supporting roles, though. If the film has a problem it's that it's just a bit too downbeat and glum for a Tarzan movie - you can take gritty realism just a bit too far, and director Hugh Hudson seems determined to make serious angry points about the evils of imperialism, colonialism, and the British establishment. Still, it's probably preferable to most of the previous, ultra-silly Tarzan movies.
Gareth von Kallenbach (980 KP) rated Electric Slide (2015) in Movies
Aug 6, 2019
Today’s choice for your consideration is the 2014 film ‘Electric Slide’. A biographical crime film based on the life of antique/furniture salesman turned bank robber Eddie Dodson.
Starring Jim Sturgess, Isabel Lucas, Chloe Sevigny, Patricia Arquette, and Christopher Lambert, ‘Electric Slide’ opens in 1983 Los Angeles. Disco is nearly dead and Rock-n-Roll is putting the final nails in its coffin. By day, Eddie Dodson (Jim Sturgess) is a hip antique furniture salesman (there’s a contradiction in terms) catering to the rich and famous while in engaging in some petty thievering from his customers on the side. By night, he moves with the drug-fueled parties from one mansion to the next. A chance encounter at one of these parties introduces him to the beautiful and aloof Pauline (Isabel Lucas). Eddie and Pauline are immediately smitten with one another as though destined by fate. At about the same time, Eddie’s carefree lifestyle is coming back to haunt him as loan sharks finally catch up to him and his former benefactor Roy Fortune (Christopher Lambert) comes calling demanding the return of his money. With no other way to repay his debt, Eddie resorts to robbing banks. With Pauline in tow, Eddie uses his charm to talk the tellers at over 60 banks in the L.A. Area into handing over their cash. However, instead of paying off his debts Eddie and Pauline simply continue their life of excess with the police and the loan sharks in hot pursuit.
This film did an excellent job of depicting the ‘L.A. Lifestyle’ of the early 1980s that didn’t involve celebrities, but the folks who you would imagine would be latching on to those said celebrities.
The groupies if you will. The main character Eddie Dodson seems like he was a born con artist … a greasy slime ball who will take you for every thing you have if you let him. He is a bizarrely likable character though and his devotion to Pauline makes the viewer all the more want him to get away with just about any scheme he tries to pull. This is the first time I’ve seen Isabel Lucas in film since ‘Transformers:Revenge Of The Fallen’ or the ‘Red Dawn’ remake and I must say her performance as Pauline was brilliant. To quote another reviewer who screened this film I found myself asking ‘Who is that girl?’ From her first appearance on screen, it’s like you’re immediately drawn to her quiet/mysterious presence. It was also awesome to see Christopher Lambert in a movie once again. Although he’s portrayed a villain previously, I had personally never seen anything where he was the villain. His appearance in this film although brief had me convinced. In my opinion he should pursue more roles as the villain if they present themselves.
One of the movie’s aspects that bugged me though was the soundtrack. The only way I could describe it would be ‘hipsters trying to sound retro’ and they didn’t succeed. The music didn’t sound like it belonged in the timeframe which the movie took place in. There were also far too many clips and scenes where they kicked in the slow motion or decided to have the camera pan or zoom out in some attempt to capture more of the surroundings. They could’ve used this wasted time to include more dialogue and interaction between the main characters in my opinion. Besides the A-List actors they managed to enlist for this film the only thing that saved it in the end was the knowledge that the film was based on a true story. It kinda of fizzled about halfway though and then kicked back in 3/4s of the way through. The film is worth watching visually but the thing that killed it was that it could’ve used more dialogue. I’d give it 2.5 out of 5 stars. It’s worth watching once or twice. Nothing to write home about though.
Starring Jim Sturgess, Isabel Lucas, Chloe Sevigny, Patricia Arquette, and Christopher Lambert, ‘Electric Slide’ opens in 1983 Los Angeles. Disco is nearly dead and Rock-n-Roll is putting the final nails in its coffin. By day, Eddie Dodson (Jim Sturgess) is a hip antique furniture salesman (there’s a contradiction in terms) catering to the rich and famous while in engaging in some petty thievering from his customers on the side. By night, he moves with the drug-fueled parties from one mansion to the next. A chance encounter at one of these parties introduces him to the beautiful and aloof Pauline (Isabel Lucas). Eddie and Pauline are immediately smitten with one another as though destined by fate. At about the same time, Eddie’s carefree lifestyle is coming back to haunt him as loan sharks finally catch up to him and his former benefactor Roy Fortune (Christopher Lambert) comes calling demanding the return of his money. With no other way to repay his debt, Eddie resorts to robbing banks. With Pauline in tow, Eddie uses his charm to talk the tellers at over 60 banks in the L.A. Area into handing over their cash. However, instead of paying off his debts Eddie and Pauline simply continue their life of excess with the police and the loan sharks in hot pursuit.
This film did an excellent job of depicting the ‘L.A. Lifestyle’ of the early 1980s that didn’t involve celebrities, but the folks who you would imagine would be latching on to those said celebrities.
The groupies if you will. The main character Eddie Dodson seems like he was a born con artist … a greasy slime ball who will take you for every thing you have if you let him. He is a bizarrely likable character though and his devotion to Pauline makes the viewer all the more want him to get away with just about any scheme he tries to pull. This is the first time I’ve seen Isabel Lucas in film since ‘Transformers:Revenge Of The Fallen’ or the ‘Red Dawn’ remake and I must say her performance as Pauline was brilliant. To quote another reviewer who screened this film I found myself asking ‘Who is that girl?’ From her first appearance on screen, it’s like you’re immediately drawn to her quiet/mysterious presence. It was also awesome to see Christopher Lambert in a movie once again. Although he’s portrayed a villain previously, I had personally never seen anything where he was the villain. His appearance in this film although brief had me convinced. In my opinion he should pursue more roles as the villain if they present themselves.
One of the movie’s aspects that bugged me though was the soundtrack. The only way I could describe it would be ‘hipsters trying to sound retro’ and they didn’t succeed. The music didn’t sound like it belonged in the timeframe which the movie took place in. There were also far too many clips and scenes where they kicked in the slow motion or decided to have the camera pan or zoom out in some attempt to capture more of the surroundings. They could’ve used this wasted time to include more dialogue and interaction between the main characters in my opinion. Besides the A-List actors they managed to enlist for this film the only thing that saved it in the end was the knowledge that the film was based on a true story. It kinda of fizzled about halfway though and then kicked back in 3/4s of the way through. The film is worth watching visually but the thing that killed it was that it could’ve used more dialogue. I’d give it 2.5 out of 5 stars. It’s worth watching once or twice. Nothing to write home about though.
Gareth von Kallenbach (980 KP) rated Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (2012) in Movies
Aug 7, 2019
In what can only be described as a failed attempt at a sequel, Nicholas Cage reprises his role as Johnny Blaze, and Blaze’s alter ego Ghost Rider.
In this follow-up chapter to the 2007 film that first brought Marvel’s Ghost Rider to the big screen, Cage’s character has left the States to run from the demon inside him. His attempts to control the Rider work best when he is far from people, but his plans are derailed upon the entrance of a young boy and his attractive mother. The boy is the object of desire for Mephistopheles (the demon who turned Blaze into the Rider). The film takes you on a wild ride while Ghost Rider attempts to prevent the devil from getting his claws on the boy.
Lets cut right to the chase: this is, bar-none, one of the worst films I’ve seen in at least a decade. It’s right up there with D-Wars. While the first film had decent acting (minus Cage), a well-thought-out script, and special effects that made sense, the sequel is a complete failure even when compared to its predecessor.
The complete lack of a coherent script, the terrible acting, and the nonsensical actions of the Rider (not to mention the extremely cheesy dialog) make it clear that this film is an extremely poor attempt by Hollywood to capitalize on the recent success of other Marvel/DC titles. Unfortunately, this movie was cobbled together with one liners and special effects that weren’t convincing enough to pass the test.
Being a long time Marvel/DC comic fan, I always approach these films with low expectations, so I can be surprised when they’re done well — and at the very least, enjoy it. Despite this, I still feel like the hour and twenty minutes of my life spent watching Ghost Rider is time I can’t have back.
The only moment of hope this film had was Christopher Lambert as the tattooed monk.
I encourage all of you who wish to see it, even after reading this review, to wait until it’s available for cheap home viewing.
In this follow-up chapter to the 2007 film that first brought Marvel’s Ghost Rider to the big screen, Cage’s character has left the States to run from the demon inside him. His attempts to control the Rider work best when he is far from people, but his plans are derailed upon the entrance of a young boy and his attractive mother. The boy is the object of desire for Mephistopheles (the demon who turned Blaze into the Rider). The film takes you on a wild ride while Ghost Rider attempts to prevent the devil from getting his claws on the boy.
Lets cut right to the chase: this is, bar-none, one of the worst films I’ve seen in at least a decade. It’s right up there with D-Wars. While the first film had decent acting (minus Cage), a well-thought-out script, and special effects that made sense, the sequel is a complete failure even when compared to its predecessor.
The complete lack of a coherent script, the terrible acting, and the nonsensical actions of the Rider (not to mention the extremely cheesy dialog) make it clear that this film is an extremely poor attempt by Hollywood to capitalize on the recent success of other Marvel/DC titles. Unfortunately, this movie was cobbled together with one liners and special effects that weren’t convincing enough to pass the test.
Being a long time Marvel/DC comic fan, I always approach these films with low expectations, so I can be surprised when they’re done well — and at the very least, enjoy it. Despite this, I still feel like the hour and twenty minutes of my life spent watching Ghost Rider is time I can’t have back.
The only moment of hope this film had was Christopher Lambert as the tattooed monk.
I encourage all of you who wish to see it, even after reading this review, to wait until it’s available for cheap home viewing.
Jesters_folly (230 KP) rated Mortal Kombat (2021) in Movies
May 23, 2021
Contains spoilers, click to show
Mortal Kombat is one of those films that doesn't seem to know what story it wants to tell, it starts with a grudge battle between a proto Sub Zero and Proto Scorpion then jumps to the modern times with Sub-Zero hunting a young fighter, Cole Young. Then it (kind of) switches back to the Scorpion/Sub-Zero grudge match.
The bulk of the movie follows Cole as he joins up with Sonya Blade to find a group of 'Earths Champions' in an attempt to stop a secret invasion from Outworld. The hero's are, of course various characters from the 'Mortal Kombat' video games and a lot of the film is just looking for excuses to for the characters to shout out one liners from the games.
This isn't to say that Mortal Kombat is a bad movie, it has good fight scenes and the relationship between Sonia and Kano lead to some of the funniest moments of the movie. In fact I would go as far as saying that Kano is the best character of the film, a tough job seeing as he seems to be there for the comic relief.
There is a lot of time put into the put into the human characters but almost nothing to the villains, the most we find out about them is that Kabal seems to be a human and that Kano put him in his suit, there is no back story to this, no information a to how he ended up on outworld and, puzzlingly he seems to want to Kano to join up with his team.
I felt that there was something disappointing about the ending (HERE BE SPOILERS)..... All through the film we are told that Cole is the last of Hanzo Hasashi's (Scorpion) blood line (even though Cole has a daughter so she should be the last), he's given Hanzo's weapon and is being set up to become Scorpion. Then suddenly Hanzo is back, as Scorpion and all but saves the day. I know the film has the law of the games to follow but building one character up and then just re introducing someone else to all but take his place just feels like a cheat, especially as most of the film is about finding the power within and using it to win.
Saying all that Mortal Kombat is a good film, it has action and humour and some quite graphic 'Brutalities'. I think part of the problem is the 1995 Mortal Kombat film which feels a lot more fun, it doesn't have all the blood but it has a simple story, the villains seem slightly more rounded and the soundtrack just works. Also, and I know there is a big push to have actors of the 'correct' ethnicity I really do think that Christopher Lambert was a better 'Lord Rayden', Tadanobu Asano, who plays the character in this version seems bland and emotionless. I think that even an elder god would get worked up if evil forces were trying to invade his realm, especially if the invaders were breaking the rules.
The effects are good although some charters seem to have more attention than others (Sub-Zero, I'm looking at you) and there could have been more attention spent to the 'Evil' characters but, over all the film works with few problems.
The bulk of the movie follows Cole as he joins up with Sonya Blade to find a group of 'Earths Champions' in an attempt to stop a secret invasion from Outworld. The hero's are, of course various characters from the 'Mortal Kombat' video games and a lot of the film is just looking for excuses to for the characters to shout out one liners from the games.
This isn't to say that Mortal Kombat is a bad movie, it has good fight scenes and the relationship between Sonia and Kano lead to some of the funniest moments of the movie. In fact I would go as far as saying that Kano is the best character of the film, a tough job seeing as he seems to be there for the comic relief.
There is a lot of time put into the put into the human characters but almost nothing to the villains, the most we find out about them is that Kabal seems to be a human and that Kano put him in his suit, there is no back story to this, no information a to how he ended up on outworld and, puzzlingly he seems to want to Kano to join up with his team.
I felt that there was something disappointing about the ending (HERE BE SPOILERS)..... All through the film we are told that Cole is the last of Hanzo Hasashi's (Scorpion) blood line (even though Cole has a daughter so she should be the last), he's given Hanzo's weapon and is being set up to become Scorpion. Then suddenly Hanzo is back, as Scorpion and all but saves the day. I know the film has the law of the games to follow but building one character up and then just re introducing someone else to all but take his place just feels like a cheat, especially as most of the film is about finding the power within and using it to win.
Saying all that Mortal Kombat is a good film, it has action and humour and some quite graphic 'Brutalities'. I think part of the problem is the 1995 Mortal Kombat film which feels a lot more fun, it doesn't have all the blood but it has a simple story, the villains seem slightly more rounded and the soundtrack just works. Also, and I know there is a big push to have actors of the 'correct' ethnicity I really do think that Christopher Lambert was a better 'Lord Rayden', Tadanobu Asano, who plays the character in this version seems bland and emotionless. I think that even an elder god would get worked up if evil forces were trying to invade his realm, especially if the invaders were breaking the rules.
The effects are good although some charters seem to have more attention than others (Sub-Zero, I'm looking at you) and there could have been more attention spent to the 'Evil' characters but, over all the film works with few problems.