Legendary, ultra violent western from director Sam Peckinpah.  A group of aging outlaws plan just one more big heist before “peacefully” riding off into the sunset.  OK.  That was really lame!  But it’s a familiar tale of thieves taking down one more score before disappearing with the loot and presumably staying out of any more trouble.  The really electrifying action takes place at the end of the film when the four man bunch takes on a Mexican stronghold of soldiers numbering in the hundreds.  You will witness tons of graphic blood splattering, grenade tossing, and Peckinpah’s patented usage of slow [More]
Brief interview with the late Dennis Hopper discussing his troubled time on the set of Francis Ford Coppola’s “Apocalypse Now”.  Listening to Hopper in this interview, it is amazing how much more lucid he was at the time as compared with his binging days of the Late Seventies/Early Eighties when “Apocalypse” was made.  I highly recommend seeking out “Hearts of Darkness”, a documentary on the making of “Apocalypse Now”.  “Hearts” includes a longer take of the snippet of Coppola trying to communicate with a seemingly deranged Hopper on the set of “Now” shown at the end of this interview.  Coppola [More]
Interesting action/suspense/monster movie that at first appears to feature the messy handiwork of a werewolf on the loose in New York City.  Albert Finney investigates a rash of gruesome murders and has to piece together what is causing all the havoc.  Well shot cityscapes and some nice tension inducing scenes played out in some desolate, derelict locations around New York.  Curious visual effects are employed here that are supposed to enable us to see the movie namesake’s point of view at various times during the film.  Gregory Hines adds a nice turn as a member of the coroner squad.  This feature [More]
This clip is a masterfully staged study of the shark hunter Quint from Steven Spielberg’s “Jaws”.  Quint, played by Robert Shaw, recounts his earlier in life run in with man eating sharks.  The profound horror of this life threatening event probably played no small part in his decision to hunt sharks for a living.  “Jaws” is still an amazing thrill ride of a movie after all these years.  I think it may be Spielburg’s best picture.  This scene is eminently creepy and evocative.
A harrowing account of a collection of dubious characters  involved in a drug deal that goes bad.  A counsellor, in need of some heavy cash, agrees to go in on a deal with some of his drug connected buddies.  Little do they know that they are being set up by a member of their inner circle.  Visually stunning work with an equally stunning cast.  Ridley Scott directs a cast that includes Michael Fassbender ( who took a turn as a sadistic artificial person in Scott’s “Alien” prequel “Prometheus”), Brad Pitt, Cameron Diaz, Penelope Cruz, and Javier Bardem.  Incidentally, the screenplay [More]