Friday B-Movie Pick: Lay the Favorite
Nice little comedy with some decent star power in the way way of Bruce Willis, Vince Vaughn, and Catherine Zeta-Jones. You don’t see much of Zeta-Jones, but what you do is good eye candy with more than a phone in acting. The movie is based on the book by Beth Raymer, and the movie appears to follow the book fairly faithfully. A fun flick, well worth the rental fee. Oh, bonus casual upper torso nudity by That 70’s Show alumni Laura Prepon.
Friday B-Movie Pick: A Good Day To Die Hard
Yes, there really is a fifth Die Hard film. Another chapter in the saga of John McClane, a man who keeps ending up in the wrong place at the wrong time. He bonded with his daughter while fighting cyber-terrorists in the last film. This time he travels to Moscow in order to help out his son, who he thinks is in really deep trouble. Little does NYC Detective McClane now just how much trouble John McClane, Jr. is really in. This adventure gets us a Bond worthy car chase in downtown Moscow, a bunch of fire fights, and the required Die Hard plot twists. A good addition to the series.
Friday B-Movie Pick: 1776
Since it July 5th, I will once again go with the 1972 film version of the Broadway musical 1776. Based on the Broadway play, it tells the tale of getting the resolution on Indepence passed through the Contential Congress in the summer of 1776. William Daniels is quite good as John Adams, but it is Howard Da Silva as Benjamin Franklin who steals the show. The sets and costumes are first rate as well.
Friday B-Movie Pick: The Last Stand
Arnold Schwarzenneger is back. He’s in his mid-sixties and makes no bones over being old. He even uses it as a punch line in the movie. The movie was actually pretty good. A bit silly on the plot line, but come on, it’s a Schwarzenneger action movie. Some good actors in as well. Forest Whitaker as the FBI agent who loses the bad guy in the first place. I couldn’t help but think not catching Van Damn in Bloodsport typecast him in this type of role. Also filling out the good actor round up was Luis Guzman as the senior Deputy and Harry Dean Stanton as the gruff old farmer. Oh ya, Johnny Knoxville was in the movie too, more as comic relief, which he as pretty good at. It was a fun flick, with elements of comedy, action and a wee bit of drama. Fire up the popcorn and enjoy.
Friday B-Movie Pick: Ganster Squad
A decent B movie with good guys, bad guys, gun play and a fair amount of your basic ‘beat-the-crap-out-of-each-other fu. It does leave you making unfavorable comparisons to much better movies, such as LA Confidential. Oh well, get it as rental, fire up the popcorn and make book on the following, was Sean Penn’s fake nose a left over prop from Dick Tracy? Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone were good as the pretty couple eye candy. Josh Brolin was so square jawed, he could star in a Noir version of The Middleman. The best acting was actually done by the rest of the Gangster Squad who played their cardboard cutout characters with a delightful twinkle in their eyes.
Friday B-Movie Pick: Django Unchained
Yet another tale of bloody revenge from Quentin Tarantino. He takes on the old American West this time. Django (the D is silent) is a slave rescued by a German bounty hunter, because he can identify three men worth a lot of money dead or alive. The Good Doctor (the German bounty hunter, played by the Oscar winning Christoph Waltz, is also a dentist), finds dead is easier to deal with. He and Django hit it off and become partners. Together they go off to free Django’s wife Brunhilda from the Candyland Plantation in the deep, deep South. Much death and destruction follows. Not much a spoiler, this is a Tarantino movie after all. I say check it out, and I’m pretty sure Joe-Bob Briggs would agree.
Friday B-Movie Pick: Kill Zone
A tale of bloody revenge staring Donnie Yen and Sammo Hung. A group of cops get tired of a mob boss (Hung) walking despite their best legal efforts to take him down. So they step outside the law. Great fight scenes by Donnie Yen, including the final battle with Sammo Hung. Hung is still quite spry despite his age and size. The fight between him and Yen was like watching a bear battle a leopard. A really bad ass bear in this case, with really fast paws.
Friday B-Movie Pick: Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
It’s a Mary Elizabeth Winstead Hat Trick. In this historical horror/fantasy flick she plays Mary Todd Lincoln. A taller, less crazy, and definitely better looking Mary Todd Lincoln than would be historically accurate. As an escapist action flick, not bad. Good special effects, excellent cast, and it follows the Bond rule of the villain makes the movie. In this case, the vampires are very nasty indeed.
Friday B-Movie Pick: Sky High
Going back to 2005 for another Mary Elizabeth Winstead flick. Sky High is the nickname for a floating high school where the children of superheros, super villains and their respective sidekicks to learn the trade of their parents. It’s a fun, light hearted flick that combines teen angst and super powers. It has a good cast which includes B-Movie SuperStar Bruce Campbell, Dave Foley, Lynda Carter, and Kevin Heffernan as Ron Wilson, Sky High Bus Driver. Oh ya, Kurt Russell is in it too. He plays the father of the protagonist, the uber-superhero of the era. Which provides a whole new level of angst to his son, who has to try to live up to his parent’s reputation as the top of the superhero food chain.
Friday B-Movie Pick: Live Free or Die Hard
This is the fourth Die Hard film, or the saga of John McClane, a man who keeps ending up in the wrong place at the wrong time. This time, it’s fighting rouge Cyber White Hats gone extremely black. Plenty of action, lots of gun fu and even some movie kung fu supplied by Maggie Q. Justin Long plays the cyber-geek sidekick who really doesn’t want to be involved the whole thing. For B-Movie bonus points, Mary Elizabeth Winstead plays McClane’s daughter Lucy. She has been in another B-Movie pick, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.