Grudge Match, let's talk about how GREAT Stallone is and why critics are wrong, AGAIN!

SPOILER FREE
Far from being some silly comedy based on the Rocky meets Raging Bull gimmick, this was a well scripted, well performed film about men, age, skill, passion, regret and dignity that, also, happens to be hilarious.

The only negative for me was the unimaginative, slow paced direction and editing. With someone who actually believed in the material and had a bit more visual flair and a marketing team that had any skill and this film would've been perfect.
Kevin Hart and Alan Arkin are consistently hilarious and the emotional story lines DeNiro and Stallone have to carry are maybe cliche but always engaging, never overly sentimental, always understandable and from a very manly perspective - few words and whole shed load of meaning. When you throw in some fun training montages, a great end fight, DeNiro being the funniest he's been since Midnight Run and a few welcome, but never heavy handed, in-jokes you have a solid, decent, enjoyable film that more people should see and enjoy but probably won't.

As for Stallone, why is it critics are shitting on all of his movies? they portray him as a rangeless, emotion-less, slab of no good, idiotic meat and they can barely even bring themselves to acknowledge his action prowess unless in a derisive or ironic way. They criticise his acting, his looks, his speech - everything! but Stallone is terrific in Grudge Match. Utterly believable, charming and matches DeNiro beat for beat in the acting stakes. You say he has no range but was he playing Rocky? No! was he playing Rambo? No! was he playing Barney Ross? No!
Critics should watch old films occasionally and remind themselves that their set-in-stone, out-dated, stereotypical and lazy opinions about some actors are wrong. Al Pacino is mostly always Al Pacino, same with DeNiro and more-often-than-not Nicholson, go further back and Mitchum, Bogart, Stewart, Grant etc. all were GREAT but all had onscreen personas. Well so does Stallone but he's not always the same, any more than any of those other actors I just mentioned. No he's not Daniel Day Lewis, thank god! That guy puts on a fake beard, stoops over slightly, talks in a funny voice and people think he's a genius (misguided fools!) but Stallone is a strong, interesting actor and Grudge Match gives him some scenes to show that off. It may well be his single best straight performance roll since Cop Land.

Most people who go to see this film won't take away from it what I did and that's a shame but even if you don't, if you can look past the somewhat slow pace and inept editing, there's at least a good man-centric comedy there that never has to resort to gross-out or infantile humour to get a big belly laugh.
This movie got made because it has a cracking script, the Rocky/Raging Bull thing was just a bonus.
- The Kick Ass Kid

Battle of the Damned

Saturday night I went to the 'Day of the Undead' Zombie film festival in my hometown of Leicester UK. I do love a good zombie flick, but this year it had an added bonus, Battle of the Damned which is, basically, Dolph Lundgren vs Zombies.
The organiser, Zombie Ed, told us that the film company behind the movie said, “if you don’t like the sight of Dolph running around killing zombies, you’re dead inside”. Well was he right?

The basic premise is simple, Dolph plays Max Gatling, a private soldier hired to go into a cordoned off city to find the daughter of a multi millionaire. When most of his crew are killed off by the zombies, who are marauding through the city, Dolph sets off on his own to find the girl, not getting on the chopper sent in to take his group to safety. Dolph now must find the girl before the city is destroyed by the missiles attempting to wipe out the zombie infection.
Will he find the girl, get her to safety and any other survivors??

Lundgren still has it, his running shows his age, but it doesn’t stop him high kicking zombies in the face. His acting has gotten so much better over the past few years, he really is excellent, as are all the cast, everyone is pretty good, better than some acting you usually see in some lower budget movies.
Oh and Dolph teams up with robots, yep ROBOTS. The mood in the cinema watching this was fantastic, nobody was dead inside, seeing Dolph kick, stab and shoot zombies was an awesome sight, very fun and well made.
The only problem really was the old problem with action movies, in that the director really needs to hold the camera still! it goes all over the place! But overall its still a GREAT fun action horror. With zombies AND ROBOTS!!!!!
'Day of the Undead' has been running for a few years now and is always a great day for zombie fans, for more information go to www.terror4fun.com, its creator can be found on twitter @zombieeduk.
- Dr.Action

MACHETE KILLS

So, Danny Trejo returns as MACHETE, for some it may not be great news, the first Machete movie was greeted with mixed opinion but I, for one, loved it.
Robert Rodriguez is one of, if not my favourite writer/producer/DP/directors working today. I’m sure the stroky chinned, scarf wearing critics see him as nothing special, he doesn’t make movies about people trying to become better people while helping out a crippled dwarf, all done in black and white with long meaningful gazes into the camera but to these people I say, fffffuck off!
Rodriguez makes movies about cool mofo’s in leather jackets who carry huge guns and bigger machete’s.

The plot of Machete Kills is simple, Machete is recruited by the President, played by newcomer Carlos Estevez (this boy will go far, with a little tiger blood) to go find Mendez who has missiles pointed at the White House. Machete agrees, with the promise of US citizenship. Along the way we learn of deceptions and meet outrageous villains, including The Chameleon who change their image everytime they kill someone. 

Mel Gibson plays Voz, the mastermind who built the missiles and is the one who can switch off said missiles after Mendez detonates the bombs to launch in 24 hours. Rodriguez has again created a great set of characters, with previous ones returning, notably Michelle Rodriguez who is a great female action star.

Hollywood stars still want to work with Rodriguez and Mel Gibson makes his debut in a Rodriguez pic as James Bond like villain Voz. Is he good? Hell yeah! he is perfect! He plays the role with glee. As listeners to the show will know, Gibson is one of my favourite action stars and I can seperate the personal and the star. From seeing him in Machete Kills, next year might just see Gibson give the Expendables the biggest run for there money yet. He clearly had the time of his life doing this part.

Everybody in fact looked liked they were along for the ride, including a certain pop star, Lady Gaga, a new ass kicker on the action movie scene? Why not. The beginning of the movie shows a trailer for forthcoming movie Machete Kills Again...in Space, so who knows. There is a further trailer at the end promising it again, I CAN’T WAIT.

I do hope that either on the DAATKAK pod or AMD we can put out a Rodriguez special or series, the man is a genius and while other directors say they want certain independence from the Hollywood system, this guy has acheived it on his own terms, with a self sufficient studio and using Hollywood money to make the movies he wants. When he can attract top stars why wouldn’t they?

Let’s not forget recent guest on the After Movie Diner William Sadler, as ever he is fantastic, playing the Sheriff with real steal and a hell of a handgun.
Go SEE IT!!!!!
- Dr.Action

RED 2

DON'T WORRY! SPOILER FREE!!
When I saw RED in the cinema I liked it, when I watched it again on Blu-Ray I LOVED it. The humour was fresh, the action was great, the story was surprising, there was energy, great performances and some genuine punch-the-air and cheer moments. Like the lighter, comic-book, family version of The Expendables. I will never get tired of old folks beating people up. It's just better, funnier and cooler.

Now here comes the inevitable sequel and, truth be told, it's not bad. If you enjoyed the first one then you will not be disappointed by the second one. The script is ok, the performances pretty good and the action enjoyable.

For some reason and I can't quite put my finger on why, although the pacing and globe-trotting may be a factor, it doesn't quite have the zing, pop, crash, bang, cheer factor of the first. The action, while executed well and while there's plenty of it, has the little annoying twinge of 'you've seen this stuff already quite recently' and 'oh look, they've walked on to a sound stage, here comes another big set piece' and it has a little annoying script trait where characters we know and see being cleverer than the other guy are easily duped when the script requires it, even though the audience see it coming. These are, however, just small complaints as neither hugely detracts from the enjoyment of the film. One thing that seemed a little forced was the rather heavy handed jokes, nods and winks concerning Willis and Parker's ongoing relationship struggles but I suppose the screenwriter thought it would give everyone something to do apart from just shooting everything. Lastly, it's a tad, needlessly, over long and suffers from World War Z lack-of-blood syndrome, despite plenty of dead bodies piling up.

There are still some great, explosive action and fight scenes though and, despite the bloodless quality, it's plenty violent. On the plus side, too, the director doesn't wave or shake or flail the camera around during the action like a mental having a spasm, so you can actually see what's going on. A breath of fresh air after some spectacularly badly filmed sequences in a certain Summer blockbuster about a flying alien with a cape and little maroon booties. In fact, despite some of the, maybe overly critical, down points I listed above, the more I think about the film, the more I remember bits in it that seriously kicked ass and there was certainly one or two moments where fists were pumped and appreciative laughter happened.

Willis returns to the role of Frank Moses well and has a particularly fun scene in a records room at the beginning, Mary Louise Parker is charmingly ditsy although her make-up makes her look weird and plastic-surgeryesque from time to time, Zeta-Jones is a little surplus to requirements, Anthony Hopkins leaves little scenery unchewed, Byung-hun Lee plays the Jet Li in Lethal Weapon 4 role but does it well, I could watch Helen Mirren fire a gun from noon to night every day for a year and never get bored and Malkovitch (and his outfits) steal the show.

The film has a little bit of an Oceans 11/12/13 vibe, in the sense that you get the feeling the cast are having a better time on set than actually translates on screen but, overall, I would definitely recommend it.  It's not going to change any lives but I'd happily check out a third if the box office so demands it, after all it's by far the best DC Comics movie we've had since RED (the first film). Here's hoping, like the first, it gets even better with repeat viewings.
- The Kick Ass Kid