Re-Watch Part 1

You know the feeling when a scene from a film pops in your head and kind of replays behind your eyes like the first song you hear on the radio in the morning. Well, when that happen, I have to watch that movie or that scene in my head won’t bugger off.

And sometimes I rewatch movies because they are my happy place and I need a friend. These films have taken up permanent residence in my heart and soul (we have already mentioned the unreliable mind).  The result of all of this is I watch a lot of movies. What else is new. Here is some of the Re-Watch social media posted reviews. You know the ones. Like the Films With Friends reviews, the ones that don’t go over 380 words. Enjoy you awesome nerds.

Re-Watch – Solarbabies (1986)

When I first saw this film, it was a random pick by one of my sisters at the video store that we watched on a weekend in the middle of school holidays in the 90s. Yeah, I know I’m old. Shut up!

And I just thought it was one of the coolest things I’d seen at that point. And on re-watching the film recently, I can honestly say that it is still a lot of fun. This film throws a lot of sci-fi tropes into a blender, adds two shots of teen drama and serves with action and adventure.

The story is set in the far future in the classic 1980s post-apocalyptic wasteland. Water is a rare commodity and has been placed under containment by the Eco Protectorate. And by doing so, they control what is left of humanity. The fascist army they employ helps too.

But in this world, orphans live in state-controlled orphanages designed to indoctrinate them into being ‘productive’ members of society. You know that old chestnut. To amuse themselves the orphans, play a game that is a hybrid of hockey and lacrosse that gives off serious Rollerball vibes. The skating sequences are awesome.

After a late-night game is broken up by the cops, the youngest member of the team, the Solarbabies, gets separated from that other in caves and finds a mysterious glowing orb. Its alien, intelligent and its name is Bohdai. And with the help of Bohdai, and another mysterious orphan named Darstar, they escape the orphanage, avoid the cops and destroy the Eco Protectorate and save the world.

This is only two films directed by Alan Johnson, the other being Mel Brooks’ To Be Or Not To Be. And he does a good job here mixing the sci-fi and action elements of the story. The cast is top notch with Jamie Gertz, Jason Patric, Lukas Haas, James Le Gros, Claude Brooks, Peter DeLuise and Adrian Pasdar as the Solarbabies. The supporting cast is just as great with Richard Jordan playing the villain, Sarah Douglas, Charles During and Terrance Mann adding colour. And even Alexei Sayle and Bruce Payne playing comically evil bounty hunters. This movie is a treat. Hunt it down.

Re-Watch – Happy Birthday to Me

I recently passed another rotation on the planet, and I thought to myself, what cool birthday themed movies are out there. The was only one that came to mind, the 1981 mystery slasher flick Happy Birthday to Me. I’ll try to avoid it, but I’m throwing out a spoiler warning just in case.

This film was one of so many Canadian horror films that were released in the 70s and 80s, taking advantage of that country’s tax breaks for film production. And they gave us so many superstar directors like David Cronenberg and cult classic flicks like Scanners, My Bloody Valentine and this little gem.

Directed by veteran J Lee Thompson (Guns of Navarone, Cape Fear, Conquest of the Planet of The Apes), as a director for hire, he brings all his experience to bear here.

The film centres around a group of friends at university who call themselves the “Top Ten”, who all start being knocked off one by one. Our main character/final girl is Ginny Wainwright (Melissa Sue Anderson) who years earlier survived a car accident in which her mother died. She received experimental brain surgery to correct complications which affected her memory and mental health. So much so that she may be the killer. We actually saw her kill off two of the group, but have no memory of it later. This is quite well done throughout the film, with the ‘is she/isn’t she’ plot device, and is one of the film’s red herrings. It is a good mystery, until the end, that is.

The ending of this film is a little stupid or a little weak, depending on personal preference. The end of the film was altered at the 11th hour it seems. The original ending of Ginny actually being the killer, being possessed by the spirit of her dead mother, makes so much more sense than the one we got on release. But those original elements linking to the original ending are still present.

Great tension, good gore, a drunk Hollywood legend and a silly ending. A treat, full of sugar that goes right to the hips. 

Re-Watch – Cliffhanger (1993)

It’s hard to believe that in the early 1990s, Sylvester Stallone’s career was sliding downhill. Lock Up and Tango and Cash didn’t do big business and were not favoured by critics at the time. Rocky V, despite being a good entry in the franchise, was a disaster. And his journey into comedy with Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot and Oscar were tragic. Sly needed a hit.

Luckily 1993 gave the man a one two punch of sweet success with the amazing and underrated Demolition Man and the action thriller Cliffhanger. The latter was so successful that it was even granted the parody treatment in the second Ace Ventura movie.

The film opens with Gabe Walker (Stallone) and Jessie (Janine Turner), members of the Rocky Mountain Rescue, heading up into the mountains to rescue their friend and fellow ranger Hal (Michael Rooker) and his inexperienced girlfriend Sarah (Michelle Joyner) after Hal blows out his knee. In the rescue, Sarah falls to her death. Hal blames Gabe, and Gabe, racked with guilt, leaves town.

Cut to a year later. Gabe comes back into town to ask Jessie to leave with him. Meanwhile, a group of terrorists and mercenaries, led by Qualen (John Lithgow), hijack over 100 million dollars from the U.S. Treasury plane in mid-flight. The heist hits a little ‘turbulence’ and the cases fly out into the blue and land over the mountains. When the bad guys crash their own plane, they call in the Rocky Mountain Rescue. Hal goes up, and Jessie persuades Gabe to go too. And then the cat and mouse action adventure starts with Gabe racing to each case and Hall being held hostage by the villains.

This Renny Harlin directed flick is a lot of fun. And there is very little that has aged the film. The story is a basic one and it allows the visuals to do all the work. No CGI, very few opticals, some good model work and some fucking amazing stunts (one of which is in the Guinness Book of World Records). Best thing about this flick for me is: 1) Stallone is not a celluloid superhero who takes a lot of damage, and 2) John Lithgow plays the scene chewing villain perfection.

Re-Watch – Predator (1987)

Predator has launched a juggernaut. Seven films (two being versus films with the Xenomorphs from Alien), comics, novels, video games, and every type of merchandise you can imagine. The image of the alien hunter is recognizable like other popular franchises like Alien, The Terminator and Robocop.

But the original film stands head and shoulders, not because the story was a better story, but because there is very little in the film to date it as with the other entries.

The film opens with Dutch (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and his team of badass recovery and rescue experts landing in South America somewhere to take on their next mission. There Dutch meets with General Phillips (R.G. Armstrong) and CIA operative and old friend of Dutch’s Dillon (Carl Weathers). Their mission is to go into the jungle, find a downed chopper and rescue the occupants, ‘take out’ the guerrillas, and get out. All with Dillon tagging along.

They find the chopper, but something is not right. On the way, they find the remains of another extraction team, skinned, and strung up in the trees. After they take out the guerrillas in classic 80s fashion full of bullets, bravado and banter, the real movie begins. The soldiers, along with a female guerrilla, are stalked and killed one by one by an unseen foe as they head for the extraction point. Until there is only one left.

The slow build-up of the alien hunter through POV shots and glimpses of its camouflaged form, where perfect, almost Jaws like. Because when you first see the alien, audiences were not prepared for it. And the subversion of the big beefy 80s action hero types being picked off by an almost slasher type alien always tickles me.

This was only John McTiernan’s second feature (his third would be Die Hard a year later) and he delivered a visual feast. The Predator himself was given life (and nightmare fuel for a young me) by actor Kevin Peter Hall and special effects master Stan Winston. It’s a freaking ride of a movie that Alan Silvestri’s score elevates this exciting and uncomplicated film. This has always been a personal favourite.

Most memorable line: If it bleeds, we can kill it.

Re-Watch – Predator 2 (1990)

When it comes to films being unfairly judged, from my view point anyway, Predator 2 always comes to mind. When I watched it in cinemas as a teenager, I thought it was a great sci-fi action film, with solid performances all round. But as I got older, I heard from friends, film critics and pretentious know-it-all’s, that this was a bad movie. I was confused by this reaction. Still am really. It does what a good sequel should do. Adds to the story and entertains. I just think people were a bit salty that Arnold wasn’t in it. And to this day, even after the amazing Prey brought new life to the franchise, it remains my favourite of the Predator films.

The film takes place in the near future of 1997 in Los Angeles, where the city is in the middle of a massive heat wave, and the cops have to deal with an out-of-control gang war between the Colombian and Jamaican drug cartels. We follow Lieutenant Mike Harrigan (Danny Glover) and his team, Danny Archuleta (Ruben Blades), Leona Cantrell (Maria Conchita Alsono) and new comer to the team, Jerry Lambert (Bill Paxton) as they try to get a handle on the mayhem. And also investigate the strange ritual slays on members of both gangs.

Also in the mix, and making Harrigan’s job harder is shadowy agent Peter Keyes (Gary Busey) and his team who want the police out of the way for their own investigation into the killing. Turns out, the agents are hunting the Predator, and unbeknownst to Harrigan, so is he.

The cat and mouse between Harrigan and the Predator is a highlight, as is the battle between the Predator and the agents. And the ending had many fans going wild and prompted the Alien Vs Predator comics from Dark Horse Comics. The banter and the lived in feel of the city adds to the story. The film is peppered with good character actors: Robert Davi, Adam Baldwin, Kent McCord Morton Downey Jr, Calvin Lockhart, Lilyan Chauvin, and Lethal Weapon’s Captain Ed Murphy himself, Steve Kahan. And having the late Kevin Peter Hall back to play a different Predator, was just a treat.

Re-Watch – Frankenstein Unbound (1990)

Roger Corman is an icon, a true independent in the industry. In 12 years, he directed somewhere around 55 films. In the early 1970s, he stepped back from directing and started New World Pictures. Names like Ron Howard, Joe Dante, Jonathon Demme, and James Cameron owe their careers to him. His influence is felt in almost every film made from the 1970s to now.

In 1990, Corman came back to direct one last time. That film is Frankenstein Unbound, directed by Corman from the Brian Aldiss story of the same name. The story starts off in the future, where Dr Buchanan (John Hurt) is developing an energy weapon that completely removes whatever the beam is aimed at. Hoping it will end war and have no effect on the surrounding environment. But an unforeseen side effect of the project is the creation of random and violent weather patterns and rifts in time causing people and objects to disappear.

On his way home, Buchanan and his AI equipped ‘future’ car are transported back to Switzerland in 1817. Here he meets Dr Victor Frankenstein (Raul Julia), not a fictitious character like first thought. He has created his creature, and it not only killed Victor’s brother, but many others. The monster (Nick Brimble) wants a mate and will kill to get it.

Buchanan also crosses paths with Mary Godwin (Bridget Fonda), later becoming Mary Shelly and writes the famous story, who he hopes will help him save a condemned girl that Victor is responsible for. Percy Shelly (Michael Hutchence) and Lord Byron (Jason Patric) are also here. There is betrayal, misunderstanding and a clash of ideologies leading to a showdown between the monsters and the creators.

This sci-fi cult classic blends the original Frankenstein story with the life of the original novel’s creator, while adding an extra cautionary tale of scientific advancement. The film looks great, with the make-up and production design looking damn impressive for such a low budget flick. The gore is effective, but not lingered on. The performances are on point from an unexpected cast, and the ending is pure science fiction poetry written large with light and colour at 24 frames a second.

You can currently watch the entire film on YouTube for free.

Re-Watch – Predators (2010)

Predators is a 2010 second sequel to the original, the first in the franchise for 20 years. The script was written by producer Robert Rodriguez in 1994, but wasn’t greenlight until 2009. Which is puzzling, because, while it has its flaws, it is a much better film than the Alien Vs Predator films from 2004 and 2007. And if 20th Century Fox had the script for this for 20 years, why ignore it for so long?

The story of this Sci-fi action film hits the ground running. It opens up with Royce (Adrien Brody) waking up in free fall in the upper atmosphere heading towards the ground. After reaching terra firma (jungle), he meets other hard cases who were also given the skydiving treatment. All these characters are mercenaries, freedom fighters, special forces soldiers, hitmen, cartel enforcers, yakuza, killers, death row convicts and an out of place young doctor. And they are played by character actors, action stars and genre icons. And what a cast: Alice Braga, Walton Goggins, Oleg Taktarov, Danny Trejo, Louis Ozawa, Mahershala Ali and Topher Grace.

The characters figure out they are on another planet that is a game preserve, and they are the prey. They discover the predator camp and the predators. But there are two factions. The smaller ones (which we have seen before), and larger more brutal predators. And as a past human survivor, Ronald (Laurence Fishburne) says, the big ones hunt the little ones. Then betrayal, explosions and the running for their lives.

Exciting and engaging, but not original. But having every human character in the film a bad character from misguided, to asshole, to unredeemable killer, is an interesting touch but isn’t used nearly enough. The film does give a few twists and a big reveal. But with no definable hero and little humour to break the serious elements, it falls short of a great entry. But the addition of two separate alien factions of the predator species, it adds to the mythology like a good sequel should.

While critics ran hot and cold, the film was successful, making $127.2 million on a $40 million budget. Not amazing numbers but enough to give us another unconnected sequel in 2018.

Good just for the cast.

Re-Watch – The Predator (2018)

We didn’t have to wait too long for the next entry in the Predator franchise. Only eight years this time. This time, the director has some history with the franchise. Shane Black, was, at one point, the highest paid screenwriter in Hollywood. Recently he has become an amazing director too with Iron Man 3 and neo-noir classics Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang and The Nice Guys. But in 1987, he was hired to be an actor in a little film called the Predator playing the character of Hawkins.

So, a Predator movie directed by Black and co-written by Black’s long-time friend Fred Dekker (The Monster Squad) has to be good right?

Army sniper Quinn McKenna (Boyd Holbrook), after witnessing a UFO crash, tries avoiding the military and a shady U.S. government agency, but gets captured and sent to the secret shady facility where they secret shady military UFO things. And oh, look. They have a predator. Which is why Trager (Sterling K Brown), the head shady guy, sent for scientist Professor Casey Brackett (Olivia Munn). But guess what, the predator escapes. Ask me how shocked I am. Brackett teams up with McKenna and a bus load of mentally unstable types, such as: Nebraska (Trevante Rhodes), Coyle (Keegan-Michael Key), Baxley (Thomas Jane), Lynch (Alfie Allen), and Nettles (Augusto Aguilera). They set out to stop the predator and save McKenna’s autistic son Rory (Jacob Tremblay), who has figured out the alien tech. But something else is hunting, not only Rory, but the predator. A monster Predator, and he brought dogs. See, the captured predator good, monster predator bad.

The performances and the action beats are fine, the comedy is well executed, and for the most part the visuals are stunning. But the film falls down in a few places. The introduction of the second larger Predator being a completely CGI creation, while the smaller predator remains practical. Also, the depiction of Rory’s autism in the film is not great. I can see what the intentions were, but a conversation and some research would have improved that aspect of the story. And the coda at the end is rather silly.

This film does seem a little hollow, but like chocolate eggs at easter, it is a treat. Even if its fleeting.