Category: Movies

The All-Time Best Heist Movies!

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Matthew Jackson at Mental Floss presents The 25 Greatest Heist Movies of All Time.  Jackson’s list is a good one.  I’ve seen 18 of the 25 films listed.  Here are my thoughts on each of the movies Jackson selected.

1. THE ASPHALT JUNGLE (1950) – An excellent choice for number one.  John Huston directs a great cast in a classic film.

2. RIFIFI (1955) – The heist itself is an extended classic scene without dialogue.  Another excellent choice.

3. THE LADYKILLERS (1955) – I haven’t seen this one.

4. THE KILLING (1956) – I love this film and it gets better with each viewing. I wouldn’t have argued if it had placed higher.

5. BOB LE FLAMBEUR (1956) – I haven’t seen this one, but would like to.

6. THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR (1968) – The first film on the list that I’ve seen and didn’t love.  In fact I would have chosen McQueen in The Getaway instead.

7. THE ITALIAN JOB (1969) – I haven’t seen it.

8. THE STING (1973) – Newman and Redford re-teamed for an excellent follow-up to Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

9. DOG DAY AFTERNOON (1975) – A unique story told from a perspective most wouldn’t expect.

10. BLUE COLLAR (1978) – I’ve never seen this one and until this list didn’t realize it was a heist film.

11. THIEF (1981) – Thief takes us into a world alien to us civilians.  You can see the groundwork for Heat being developed by Mann.

12. DIE HARD (1988) – A classic.  Until this list, I had never considered Die Hard to be a heist movie but it is.

13. RESERVOIR DOGS (1992) – My favorite Tarantino movie.  

14. HEAT (1995) – Love this one.  I wonder why it didn’t rate higher.

15. BOTTLE ROCKET (1996) – I haven’t see this one.

16. OUT OF SIGHT (1998) – I was surprised by how much I liked this one.  I need to see it again.

17. SEXY BEAST (2000) – I haven’t seen this one.

18. OCEAN’S ELEVEN (2001) – Saw it when it was first released and thought it was ok.

19. INSIDE MAN (2006) – Another movie that I thought was just ok.

20. THE TOWN (2010) – I love The Town and would have rated it much higher.

21. FAST FIVE (2011) – I like the Fast & Furious series but truthfully they all start to run together as they get more and more outlandish.  I still dig ’em though.

22. HELL OR HIGH WATER (2016) – Surprisingly good and doesn’t follow the typical Hollywood format.

23. BABY DRIVER (2017) – What a stylishly unique film.  I can’t wait to see it again… 

24. LOGAN LUCKY (2017) – This was a much better and funnier movie than I expected.

25. WIDOWS (2018) – I haven’t seen it, but wouldn’t mind doing so.

Click over to Matthew Jackson’s The 25 Greatest Heist Movies of All Time to see trailers and learn more about each film.

Jean-Claude Van Damme Trivia!

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Jake Rossen at Mental Floss posted 8 Surprising Facts About Jean-Claude Van Damme.  Below are three of my favorite facts and my thoughts. 

  • JEAN-CLAUDE VAN DAMME WORKED AS A BOUNCER FOR CHUCK NORRIS. (Can you imagine?  So you make it past JCVD and then you have to take on Chuck. Ha! – Craig)

  • JEAN-CLAUDE VAN DAMME ONCE CHALLENGED STEVEN SEAGAL TO A FIGHT AT SYLVESTER STALLONE’S HOUSE. (Sly Stallone must have the best parties! You should click over to Rossen’s article just to read Sly’s quote about the incident. – Craig)

  • JEAN-CLAUDE VAN DAMME HAS TWO STATUES DEDICATED IN HIS HONOR. (The first statue is located in Brussels, Belgium.  This makes sense since JCVD has been known as the Muscles from Brussels.  The location of the second statue makes even more sense as it is located in the the village of Vandam in the country of Azerbaijan. – Craig)

“Run with the Hunted” Poster and Trailer are Here!

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Here are the poster and trailer for Run with the Hunted.  The trailer has left me wanting more!

Oscar, a young boy, commits a noble murder and is forced to run away from his rural hometown, leaving behind his best friend, Loux. Fifteen years later, he has forgotten his past and become the leader of a band of lost children. Loux takes it upon herself to find the boy who saved her life. Directed by John Swab.

Trailer provided by Vertical Entertainment for promotional use only.

“40 Years of Rocky: The Birth of a Classic” Narrated by Sly Stallone is Coming!

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40 Years of Rocky: The Birth of a Classic is a new documentary premiering on-demand June 9th.  Narrated by Sylvester Stallone and directed by  Derek Wayne Johnson (director of John G. Avildsen: King of the Underdogs), the new film will heavily feature behind-the-scenes footage taken by Alvidsen and Lloyd Kaufman (Rocky production manager).

For more details check out Rocky Making-Of Documentary Narrated By Sylvester Stallone Sets On-Demand Bow by Dade Hayes at Deadline.

“Alive” – The Poster and Trailer are Here!

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Here are the poster and trailer to Alive.

#Alive (#살아있다) is an upcoming Korean action thriller directed by Cho Il-hyung, adapted from #Alone the screenplay of Hollywood screenwriter Matt Naylor. It stars Yoo Ah-in and Park Shin-hye. It will be released in 2020.

Plot
A city was infected by a mysterious virus, which causes the city getting out of control and being closed-off, leaving two survivors completely isolated and struggle to live in the critical situation.

“Demolition Man” Trivia!

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Tim Buckler at ScreenRant posted Demolition Man: 10 Things You Didn’t Know About The Cult Classic.  My guess is that you will most, if not all, of the trivia items, but in case you don’t…

And here are my three favs as well a my thoughts on each…

Evil Chan – Wesley Snipes was not the first choice to play the villainous Simon Phoenix. Originally Stallone had his friend and co Planet Hollywood founder Jackie Chan in mind for the role. However, Jackie had never played a baddie before, he decided against the part in order not to alienate or confuse his fans.

Other rumors state that Steven Segal and Jean Claude Van Damme also turned down the part for similar reasons, although both would play villains a few decades later in Machete and The Expendables 2 respectively.

(Craig – Demolition Man would have been a very different movie had someone other than Wesley been selected.  I think with Jackie Chan it would have dipped more into comedy,  With Seagal or Van Damme it would have felt more disjointed unless it went for less comedy.)

Spartan’s Daughter – There is actually an entire subplot in the movie that was cut out of the finished feature. In the final wasteland battle, John is seen protecting a wasteland scrap named Kate. Kate is also seen at the end of the movie standing next to Edger Friendly when Associate Bob introduces himself.

Apparently, in a cut scene Spartan is introduced to Kate where he learns she is his daughter. This, plus other scenes that didn’t make it in the final film were cut because Warner Brothers wanted a much shorter run time.

(Craig – Deleted scenes are usually fun, but deleted for a good reason.  I’d like to see those scenes but don’t imagine they’d add a lot to the movie without slowing it down.)

A New Script – The movie, in its most basic terms, is about a cop and a criminal who fight each other, are frozen for almost 40 years, then keep fighting. However, in Demolition Man‘s original screenplay, the story was set to start straight away in 2032 with no glimpse of the past (which, at the time, was the near future, but nowadays is the past).

Fred Dekker is the man to take credit for changing things up, even though his re-write is uncredited. He gave the film a prologue that showed Spartan and Phoenix in their natural environment. “If you don’t show Kansas, Oz isn’t all that special.”

(Craig – I agree with Dekker.  I also wish that Demolition Man leaned more into the action and less into the comedy.  I thought the opening with Sly jumping from the copter to take down Simon and his crew set the right tone for an all out action fest.)

The MGM 31 Day Movie Challenge

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I saw the MGM 31 Day Movie Challenge and thought it would be fun to play along.  Except for days that ask for a very specific movie I’m going to use favorite films that are great but less likely to be chosen.  Here we go…

  • Day 1:  Movie I’ve watched the most – Rocky.  No surprise there.  Also in the running would be some other Stallone films, Enter the Dragon with John Wick and World War Z offering some newer challenges to the throne of most watched.
  • Day 2: Movie that makes me cry – Saving Private Ryan.  When old man Ryan asks if he is a good man something always seems to get in my eye.
  • Day 3: Movie that make me laugh – Steamboat Bill, Jr.  Made over 90 years ago by the great Buster Keaton.  It’s a silent film that still resonates.
  • Day 4: Movie with a number in the title – District B13 (2004).  A little known action film with tons of parkour and fun.
  • Day 5: Movie with a teacher – Rope directed by Alfred Hitchcock.  Two college men host a dinner party with their murder victim hidden in the same room. James Stewart stars.
  • Day 6: Movie from the 90s – Last of the Mohicans.  I’ve been wanting to watch this again… now even more!
  • Day 7: Favorite musical – The Wizard of Oz!  Musicals aren’t my favorite genre, but The Wizard of Oz is one of my all-time favorite movies.
  • Day 8: Movie from the 80s – Nighthawks.  Sly Stallone is ahead of the curve with a buddy movie about terrorism in the United States.  At the time a lot of folks thought and said, “That could never happen here.”
  • Day 9: Movie with a person’s name in the title – Rambo.   Stallone returns to the character with one of the best films of the series.
  • Day 10: Movie that reminds you of your mom – Conan, the Barbarian.  My wife and I took my mom to see it and she spent the last half of the movie in the lobby.  She hated it.
  • Day 11:  Movie with a color in the title – Black Rain.  Another under-rated film.
  •  Day 12: Your favorite Rom-Com – The Apartment.  I’m not a huge Jack Lemmon or Shirley MacLaine fan, but they are perfect in The Apartment.
  • Day 13: Movie from the year I was born – Elevator to the Gallows.  A man murders his boss who is also the husband of his mistress.  Unexpected events lead the police to his trail…
  • Day 14: Your favorite horror flick – Night of the Living Dead.  George Romero’s movie’s impact is felt to this day.
  • Day 15: A  movie from the 70s – Enter the Dragon.  The best Bruce Lee and martial arts movie of all-time.  Pure perfection.
  • Day 16: Your favorite movie to quote: Rocky Balboa.  “Life ain’t all sunshine and roses… It’s not how hard you can hit. It’s how hard you can be hit and…”
  • Day 17: Movie from the 60’s – Requiem for a Heavyweight.  One of the best boxing movies of all time.  Written by Rod Serling, directed by Ralph Nelson and starring Anthony Quinn, Jackie Gleason and Mickey Rooney.
  • Day 18: Film based on a book – To Kill a Mockingbird.  Classic book and classic movie.
  • Day 19: Favorite Action/Adventure movie: Since I’ve listed Enter the Dragon, Rocky and Rambo and because John Wick is an obvious choice, I’m going with The Adventures of Robin Hood directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Errol Flynn in his greatest role.
  • Day 20: Favorite comedy – The Great Race.  I’ve come to love this movie more with every viewing! (Maybe I’m more of a Jack Lemmon fan than I knew.)
  • Day 21: First movie I saw in a theater – It may have been Goldfinger, Help! or Mary Poppins.
  • Day 22:  Movie that stars my favorite actor or actress – Cop Land.  Sly held his own with Deniro, Keitel and Liotta.
  • Day 23: Favorite cult classic – From Dusk Till Dawn.  I love this film!
  • Day 24: Favorite film series – Rocky.  No surprise there.
  • Day 25: Favorite remake – Dawn of the Dead directed by Zack Snyder.
  • Day 26: Favorite Holiday Movie – National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. (Yeah, I love A Christmas Story, too.)
  • Day 27: Movie with the Best Soundtrack – Sharkey’s Machine directed and starring Burt Reynolds.  More folks should give that soundtrack a play.
  • Day 28: Movie made by my Favorite Director – Paradise Alley directed by Sylvester Stallone.  His first directorial effort and it is under-rated.
  • Day 29: Favorite Animated movie – The Incredibles.
  • Day 30: Favorite Childhood movie – The original Planet of the Apes!
  • Day 31: Movie that starts with the first letter of your name: Cabin in the Sky.  Made in 1943 with an all black cast and it is amazing.  One of my all-time favorites.