The Running Man (1987)

The Running Man (1987)
I'm a big Arnold Schwarzenegger fan so it was only a matter of time before I watched The Running Man. Somehow I still need to see Conan the Barbarian, but after that I should be caught up on all the major Arnie movies.
Stephen King wrote the novel this movie is loosely based on under the pseudonym Richard Bachman. The Running Man takes place in a dystopian future where convicted criminals are put on a game show and forced to fight for their lives. Ben Richards (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is a policeman framed for a massacre he didn't commit. Richards is put on the show as punishment and tries to survive and clear his name.
The Running Man shares some similar themes to Videodrome and They Live, such as the effect of TV and the media on the masses, but is lighter in tone than those two movies. The Running Man is hilarious at times, but still tells a good story with something to think about. The satire continues to be relevant today, perhaps even more so than in 1987, thanks to the popularity of reality TV and the internet.
Arnold is fun as always bringing a bunch of great one liners (like "you're the asshole from TV!") to the table as usual. However, it is Richard Dawson as The Running Man's host, Killian, who steals the show. Dawson hosted many game shows such as Match Game and Family Feud in real life and does a great job parodying himself as a sleazy and egotistical host. Jesse Ventura (as Captain Freedom!), Yaphet Kotto, Jim Brown, and Maria Conchita Alonso also put in memorable performances.

Besides the humor and satire, another strong point of the film are the creative action scenes. As part of the game show, contestants are hunted in different game zones by "stalkers" with gimmicks such as Buzzsaw and his chainsaw, Fireball and his flamethrower, and Dynamo who has a suit that can arc electricity.
The Running Man was directed by Paul Michael Glaser. This is his most well known film but he is also infamous for being the director of Kazaam! That movie effectively killed Glaser's career though he has done some TV work since. Although Glaser was not the first choice to direct, I think his background in TV helped the film given its subject matter.
The music is dated and the dance scenes featuring choreography from Paula Abdul go on too long. While I understand that the cheesy music and scantily clad women dancing for no reason in the TV show are part of the parody, it still could have been limited since it felt like overkill at times.
The Running Man is not on the quite on the same level as other Sci-Fi action movies starring Arnold Schwarzenegger such as the Terminator movies or Total Recall, but The Running Man is still a fun ride and a must watch for fans of Arnie.
8/10

Fugitive Alien (1987)

Fugitive Alien (1987)

My last couple of posts have been related to MST3K and RiffTrax. Before I move on to other stuff here is another MST3K episode!
Fugitive Alien is a movie made from episodes of a late 70s Japanese TV show called Star Wolf. The show seemed to be the Japanese version of Star Trek combined with Star Wars. For example, the Arabic area the crew visits reminded me of how original Star Trek series often went to planets that modeled themselves on different time periods, usually a result of the shows small budget and the need to re-use sets and props. Considering the low budget perhaps one could even say that Fugitive Alien is the Japanese Space Mutiny!
The episodes of Star Wolf are poorly stitched together with bad dubbing. If I was probably just watching the show itself (and with subtitles instead of the bad dub) it would probably just be cheesy fun but as is its hard to figure out what is even going on. Despite its major flaws, at least Fugitive Alien is never boring, which I consider to be the worst flaw of bad movies.
Fugitive Alien is from the third season MST3K so it has Joel as the host. MST3K would feature the sequel Star Force: Fugitive Alien II on the show later that same year. The host segments are fun with the first appearance of the Jack Perkins character (based on the real Jack Perkins, host of the TV show Biography) who would later host MST3K in syndication as The Mystery Science Theater Hour. Although the movie is a big mess, Joel and the bots have a blast with the material and make it very enjoyable.
There were a bunch of great riffs in this episode but some of the best were the recurring jokes about everybody being named Ken and the catchy "He tried to kill me with a forklift!" song.
2/10

Winter Wrap-up Part Two

Yet again here are three very different movies that I all saw months ago. My classes end in a few weeks so I hope on getting caught up soon.

King Kong (1933)
I watched King Kong for the first time on March 2nd, the 79th anniversary of this film's release!
For an almost 80 year old movie I was impressed by the great special effects. I didn't know they had anything close to animatronics back then!
King Kong is a precursor to modern adventure movies. While the film starts out a bit slow it turns into non-stop action once we get to Skull Island. This is another aspect of the King Kong that was ahead of its time.
Movie director Carl Denham (played by Robert Armstrong) is forced by the studio to include a love interest in his films. Denham ends up casting Ann Darrow (played by Fay Wray) as the iconic beautiful blonde. However I found it was interesting how King Kong is about making movies in this respect.
King Kong is sort of a cross between The Lost World and The Phantom of the Opera. The Lost World similarities are that dinosaurs still survive in a forgotten land as well as King Kong being unleashed on the modern world in a battle of man vs. nature. Kong is sort of the like the phantom as we have a beauty and the beast relationship between Ann Darrow and Kong. Kong seems to truly care for Ann despite causing destruction and mayhem. Kong as a tragic anti-hero and it is easy to root for the "monster" in this movie.
Kong is one of the earliest non-human film characters that audiences actually cared about. Unlike Rin Tin Tin, the famous canine actor of the 1920s, Kong is not even alive! While models, animatronics, and CGI of the last 50 years have now achieved this, King Kong was head of the curve here as we don't even have a person in a suit. Sure Kong isn't the first non-human movie monster, but he's probably the first we truly sympathize with.
I haven't seen the 2005 Peter Jackson version of King Kong but will probably watch it someday.
9/10

The Secret of My Succe$s (1987)
There are some actors I like so much that I will seek out their movies only because they are in them. Michael J. Fox is one of those actors. The basic plot of the movie is that a young man who lives with his family on a farm in the mid-west (played by Michael J. Fox) moves by himself to New York City in order to make it in the real world of business.
Fox was great in this role and the movie would not have been as entertaining without him. The Secret of My Succe$s was made after the original Back to the Future movie but before the sequels and while Fox's TV show Family Ties was airing.
Michael J. Fox is pretty short but usually this is hidden by having his romantic interest be his height or shorter. However, in this movie his love interest (played by Helen Slater) is taller than him and there is no attempt made to hide it.
The "music conductor" scene is absolutely hilarious and a good example of a really funny scene in an otherwise pretty average comedy. The character Vera Prescott (played by Margaret Whitton, probably best known as the owner of the Cleveland Indians in Major League) who is the cheating wife of Fox's boss/distant relative was also funny and led to some amusing moments. Fred Gwynne (Herman Munster of The Munsters), Richard Jordan, and John Pankow also have supporting roles.
Although The Secret of My Succe$s is not that well known today, it was quite popular in its time. It was the 7th top grossing movie in the U.S. in 1987, ahead of movies such as Lethal Weapon, Predator, Robocop, Full Metal Jacket, and The Princess Bride. 
Night Ranger performed the title theme, one of their last hits before they faded out in the late 80s. The song "Oh Yeah" by Yello is also in the movie which was kinda distracting since I, and most people for that matter, will always associate it with Ferris Bueller's Day Off which came out a year earlier.
6/10

True Lies (1994)
True Lies is first of so far only two non-science fiction movies directed by James Cameron. The other is of course Titanic which is probably the reason this movie gets lost in the shuffle of his catalog.
While watching this movie I felt like it was James Cameron meets Alfred Hitchcock. We have the classic Cameron touches but with the paranoia and suspense of a Hitchcock film. Even the basic plot is essentially an inverse of North by Northwest as instead of a ordinary guy being confused for a spy we have a spy trying to hide as a normal family man.
There are some great action sequences such as Arnold Schwarzenegger riding a horse through a building (and even taking it on an elevator!) and the final scenes with helicopters and airplanes.
With a 141 minute running time I felt that True Lies bit too long. While I did enjoy the sub-plot in which a used car salesman (played by Bill Pullman) pretends to be a spy to try to sleep with Schwarzenegger's wife (played by Jamie Lee Curtis) it did drag down the film's pace.
The terrorist angle was interesting and a bit ahead of its time though I doubt it would've been handled that way in a post 9-11 movie.
Tom Arnold, Tia Carrere, and Charlton Heston (who basically plays Nick Fury!) are all a lot of fun in supporting roles. True Lies also features Eliza Dushku (as the daughter of Schwarzenegger and Curtis' characters) early in her career.
I later found out that True Lies is actually an American remake of the 1991 French film La Totale! but I couldn't find much information about that original movie. I was surprised to find out this was a remake so I'd like to the original someday as I'm curious as to how similar or different they are.
The only James Cameron movie I have left to see now is The Abyss. Unless you count Piranha Part II: The Spawning of course... but if you go by movies he has writing credit but did not direct I also have yet to see Rambo II and Strange Days.
8/10

Summer Movie Round-Up Part 1 of 3

This will be the first of three posts covering the movies I have seen so far this summer. Each post will include 8 brief reviews. At the end of this post I'll go over my scoring system. Tomorrow (Saturday) will be my first film topic post, which will be a weekly feature. On Sunday I'll continue with Part Two.

Joel Schumacher's 1987 vampire flick, The Lost Boys, is a lot of fun. I enjoyed the atmosphere and the soundtrack. It was hard to believe that this movie was directed by the same guy who made Batman & Robin. The acting wasn't anything special, but just what was called for as this is a horror film geared toward teenagers that features plenty of humor. My favorite character was Grandpa (Emmy Award winner Barnard Hughes) who was hilarious and should have had his own movie. I saw this with a group of friends, some of whom had seen the movie before, and we had a blast. However, when it comes to 80s vampire movies I still prefer Fright Night (the remake starring Colin Farrell is coming soon!) and Near Dark (which is also reviewed in this post).
The Lost Boys bites into a 6/10!

The Untouchables, also released in 1987, is the second Brian De Palma movie I have seen. The first you ask? Well it is hard to believe, but this is the same guy who directed the mediocre at best Mission to Mars! Luckily this is much better as well as a much more enjoyable film. The Untouchables is based on the true story of government agent Eliot Ness as he tries to bring down the gangster Al Capone. Although there are some historical inaccuracies, it doesn't matter since the film is engrossing and makes you want to know more about the real story. Sean Connery is fantastic as Jim Malone, an older cop who helps Ness in his quest to defeat Capone. This role won Connery an Oscar (his only) for best supporting actor.  
The Untouchables shoots its way into 8/10!

At the moment Thor is the most recent movie I have seen in theaters, and I was lucky to see it with a group of friends which made for a fun experience. Thor is based on the Marvel comic book character which is in turn based on the Norse god of thunder and Norse mythology in general. While I was not too familiar with either before watching Thor, I enjoyed it. Sure there is a bit too much CGI and the romance between Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Jane (Natalie Portman) felt forced, but overall Thor has a solid blend of action and humor. Director Kenneth Branagh put his Shakespearean background to good use by giving the movie shades of King Lear, while the villain is not a one-sided bad guy but a complex, tragic figure. Thor is more on par with Iron Man 2 (which I still liked even though it was a bit of a mess) than the first Iron Man, but so far Marvel Studios has only made good movies. Hopefully this trend will continue with the July 2011 release of Captain America as well as the highly anticipated The Avengers in 2012.
Thor hammers a 6/10!

When Spike TV first started it would air two Jean-Claude Van Damme movies over and over again. One was Bloodsport (1988) and the other was KickBoxer. The movies share the same star, were filmed around the same time, and are both martial arts movies so you can understand why they always blended together in my mind. Luckily I got to re-watch this with a group of friends which is the best way to watch this flick. The fighting scenes are done well and Van Damme's facial expressions alone make this one worth watching. Don't expect much of a plot, even though it is supposedly based on true events. Donald Gibb is hilarious in a supporting role as Van Damme's friend who competes with him in a deadly martial arts competition. Bloodsport may not be a good movie, but it certainly is entertaining which is not something all movies can claim.
Bloodsport kicks and punches its way to a 5/10!

I first heard about Robinson Crusoe on Mars (1964) from my Dad, who told me it was a movie he had seen as a kid. We watched it together and even though he had seen it before, it was so long ago that we both did not know what to expect. I was guessing it would be cheesy and campy but it was not. Instead the film is an interesting sci-fi adaptation of the Robinson Crusoe story with a quiet atmosphere as the main character (Paul Mantee) simply tries to survive while spending most of the film by himself. It is an older film but still looks stunning on the Criterion Collection Blu-ray released. Adam West appears in a minor role as one of only four characters in the film, one of whom is a monkey! The film was directed by Byron Haskin who is most famous for directing Treasure Island (1950) and The War of the Worlds (1953). This makes sense as Robinson Crusoe on Mars is sort of a combination of the two since it is a version of a classic adventure story as well as science fiction. The science used in the story is dated, but Mars is portrayed close to the science of the time and not simply as pure fantasy.
Robinson Crusoe on Mars blasts off into a 7/10!

I am a big fan of Predator and I liked Predator 2 so I had been cautiously optimistic about another Predator movie. And no, I don't count the Alien vs. Predator series as real Alien or Predator movies! Although we didn't get the Arnie cameo that all Predator fans wanted, this was an enjoyable sequel with some nice twists and turns. There are still no bad movies in the Predator canon. Adrien Brody is cast against type as a bad-ass soldier, but somehow it works. Topher Grace on the other hand is totally out of place, even when the true nature of his character is revealed. I loved the concept of having an alien planet as a game preserve and it was fun watching these dangerous characters having to work together. However, the jungle setting, as well as a few other aspects, tend to rehash the original a bit too much. The relationship between Royce (Brody) and Isabelle (the female lead, played by Alice Braga) worked, but felt too similar to that of Hicks and Ripley in Aliens. There were even some direct references to that movie such as the line, "If the time comes, I'll do us both" and the fact that at the end of both movies the characters finally share their names with each other. I still enjoyed it, but I just wish Predators spent more time being Predators instead of trying too hard to be Predator and Aliens. Predator 2 often gets ragged on, but at least it tried to do something different with its "urban jungle" setting. Considering how some sequels turn out, Predators is not bad at all though still the weakest of the series for me. I'm not counting the Aliens vs. Predator movies which I haven't seen.
Predators hunts down a 6/10!

Before the Roger Corman Blogathon kicked off, Nate told me to watch X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes (1963). Starring Ray Milland as a doctor who gave himself x-ray vision, this was actually only the second Corman movie I had ever seen. While I obviously still need to see a lot more Corman movies, this is so far the one I consider to be his best. The acting is perfect for the tone and there is some great directing. My favorite scene had to be the dance party in which Dr. Xavier sees everyone naked thanks to his x-ray vision! It was fun to see some familiar faces (Harold J. Stone, John Hoyt, and Don Rickles) who appeared on my all-time favorite TV show, The Twilight Zone. "If thine eye offends thee... pluck it out!"
X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes has the vision to get a 7/10!

Before Kathryn Bigelow won an Oscar for directing The Hurt Locker, which also won best picture, she made a fun little movie set in the American West about... bloodsuckers. You know, people who bite others and stay up all night. I'll stop, but the point is that Near Dark (1987) is a movie about vampires that never uses the dreaded v-word! Unfortunately this movie got overshadowed by The Lost Boys which came out the same year and was also about teenage vampires. However don't let success at the box office fool you, this is a better and more interesting movie. Jenny Wright puts in a haunting performance as Mae, a young female vampire who "turns" Caleb (Adrian Pasdar), a farmhand who works for his father. The other vampires are played by the cast of Aliens. I'm not kidding, we have Bill Paxton, Lance Hendrickson, and Jenette Goldstein as the older vampires. I guess it makes sense since Bigelow was married to James Cameron at one point. In addition to those actors, Joshua John Miller plays Homer. He appears to be about twelve years old and therefore the youngest in this group of vampires. However, since vampires can live forever, it actually turns out that he is the oldest with the other characters referring to him as an "old man." The synthesizer score by Tangerine Dream felt out of place, but I don't think it significantly detracts from the movie. This gritty vampire flick is criminally underrated and the perfect antidote for those Twilight movies!
Near Dark doesn't suck, as it gets a 7/10!

Here is how I do my rating system: It is not rocket science but merely a combination of how much I enjoyed the movie plus how well I felt it was made (acting, directing, writing, cinematography, etc.). A 10/10 would be a movie I absolutely loved and felt was incredibly made, a 5/10 would be about average in both respects, while a 1/10 would be totally boring and utter crap. Actually for this blog I'll make that a 0/10 although IMDB only goes as low as 1/10. I might also do .5 ratings (ex: 7.5/10) on this blog since I can't do that on IMDB. I don't give out 1's and 2's easily and 9's and 10's are even more rare. My ratings can change a bit over time, especially when I haven't seen a film in a while. I feel that the content of the review is more helpful and important than any number or grade, but I'll still include my rating for each movie.

On Sunday I will post Part Two, in which I review a Hitchcock film, another Corman flick, and three movies released in 2010!