list http://www.spout.com/ Recent community activity around First Blood on Spout Copyright 2005-9 Spout, LLC Spout RSS http://www.spout.com/images/SpoutLogoRSS.jpg http://www.spout.com/ 136 30 http://www.spout.com/films/First_Blood/11688/default.aspx Title: First Blood
Year: 1982
Director: Ted Kotcheff
Plot: First Blood is the Sylvester Stallone film that unleashed "Rambo" onto an unsuspecting world. Wandering into a small, hostile town, ex-Green Beret John Rambo (Stallone) is targeted for persecution and abuse by potbellied Sheriff Will Teasle (Brian Dennehy). When he can stand no more, Rambo goes bonkers, killing a deputy and heading into the surrounding hills, armed to the teeth. Only after Rambo has picked off practically every law enforcement officer within a radius of 50 miles do the local authorities bring in his former commanding officer Trautman (Richard Crenna) for advise. Trautman's response, that the locals had better get a lot of body bags ready, is hardly encouraging. First Blood proved to be one of Stallone's biggest non-Rocky hits. Kirk Douglas had originally been cast as Trautman, but he ankled the project when the producers refused to cave in to Douglas' demand that Trautman kill Rambo in the finale. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Times Tagged: 20
Number of Lists: 26
Number of blog posts: 4
Number of discussion threads: 1
SpoutRating: 3
]]>Thu, 16 Jul 2009 07:11:23 GMTFirst Blood1982Ted KotcheffFirst Blood is the <a href="/players/P___112464/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Sylvester Stallone</a> film that unleashed "Rambo" onto an unsuspecting world. Wandering into a small, hostile town, ex-Green Beret John Rambo (Stallone) is targeted for persecution and abuse by potbellied Sheriff Will Teasle (<a href="/players/P____18601/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Brian Dennehy</a>). When he can stand no more, Rambo goes bonkers, killing a deputy and heading into the surrounding hills, armed to the teeth. Only after Rambo has picked off practically every law enforcement officer within a radius of 50 miles do the local authorities bring in his former commanding officer Trautman (<a href="/players/P____86209/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Richard Crenna</a>) for advise. Trautman's response, that the locals had better get a lot of body bags ready, is hardly encouraging. First Blood proved to be one of Stallone's biggest non-<a href=/films/29292/default.aspx style='text-decoration:underline'>Rocky</a> hits. <a href="/players/P____88133/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Kirk Douglas</a> had originally been cast as Trautman, but he ankled the project when the producers refused to cave in to Douglas' demand that Trautman kill Rambo in the finale. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide20Tag Target (>10)26413http://www.spout.com/ProductImages/u08970redgo.jpghttp://www.spout.com/films/First_Blood/11688/default.aspxFilm http://www.spout.com/blogs/warmovieblog/archive/2009/1/14/39509.aspx Post By: WarMovieBlog
Post To: WarMovieBlog Blog
Post Date: 1/14/2009 8:01:25 AM
Body: First Blood (1982) IMDB Ah, the one that started it all, that introduced us to the now immortal character of John J. Rambo (Sylvester Stallone), ex Green Beret turned ronin samurai, defender of freedom and justice wherever he's needed.Only in First Blood, he's not that man.  Really you have to wonder where the entire "Rambo" persona came from after seeing this movie.  But I'll get more into that later. We find Rambo walking the earth, looking for the last member of his squad from Vietnam.  After finding out that he's died of cancer, he continues his walkabout.  Where he walks square into the town of Hope, WA (a fitting name) only to find that hope in this town, at least for Rambo, has abandonded him.Sheriff Will Teasle (Brian Dennehy) doesn't take to Rambo's "hippie"-ish looks, and escorts him straight through to the other side of town, when all John wants is to stop for a hot meal on his trek.  Big mistake.After Teasle takes him into jail, Rambo starts having POW flashbacks, and violently flees into the woods, where he proceeds to do what he was trained to do, survive.  Unfortunately for everyone going in after him, this means, survive through killing.Only after Col. Trautman (Richard Crenna) arrives to defuse the situation do things really start to become clear.  He's a cornered animal, a machine who doesn't know how to do anything else.Well, I'm sure you've all seen it before, so I don't need to go through the gory details.  Long story short, its the ending here that defines Rambo.  His breaking down in front of Trautman, which like it or not was really a nice bit of work on Stallone's behalf,  probably describes the feelings of a lot of Vietnam veterans, and veterans of any war.Which brings me back to the first point.  Its too bad that Hollywood saw fit to turn this character into nothing more than a comic book hero for the next two entries in the Rambo "franchise."  Not until last year's Stallone-produced "Rambo" did we see this person again, at least with any sort of real meaning or purpose.You'll also note that this film is pretty much devoid of the gratuitous violence which was present in later chapters.  Director Todd Kotcheff managed to give us a picture without exploding bodies or detaching limbs, which only adds to the suspense and drama of it all.If you've never seen the first chapter of the Rambo saga, I recommend you take a look, just to see what started it all, and to get a firm anchor on what the character is all about.  If you have, you might go back and see First Blood again, just to remind yourself of one of the hidden costs of war, and maybe to appreciate your veteran friends and neighbors a bit more.  Not that they'd go all Rambo on you or antyhing...  er, well, you know what I mean.Here's the scene that sends John over the edge, and you can see where things are going.... also keep an eye out for a much younger and non csi-miami-pose-for-the-camera David Caruso... First Blood (1982) on Spout.com Originally posted on:War Movie Reviews and News
]]>Wed, 14 Jan 2009 13:01:25 GMTWarMovieBlogWarMovieBlog Blog1/14/2009 8:01:25 AMFirst Blood (1982) IMDB Ah, the one that started it all, that introduced us to the now immortal character of John J. Rambo (Sylvester Stallone), ex Green Beret turned ronin samurai, defender of freedom and justice wherever he's needed.Only in First Blood, he's not that man.  Really you have to wonder where the entire "Rambo" persona came from after seeing this movie.  But I'll get more into that later. We find Rambo walking the earth, looking for the last member of his squad from Vietnam.  After finding out that he's died of cancer, he continues his walkabout.  Where he walks square into the town of Hope, WA (a fitting name) only to find that hope in this town, at least for Rambo, has abandonded him.Sheriff Will Teasle (Brian Dennehy) doesn't take to Rambo's "hippie"-ish looks, and escorts him straight through to the other side of town, when all John wants is to stop for a hot meal on his trek.  Big mistake.After Teasle takes him into jail, Rambo starts having POW flashbacks, and violently flees into the woods, where he proceeds to do what he was trained to do, survive.  Unfortunately for everyone going in after him, this means, survive through killing.Only after Col. Trautman (Richard Crenna) arrives to defuse the situation do things really start to become clear.  He's a cornered animal, a machine who doesn't know how to do anything else.Well, I'm sure you've all seen it before, so I don't need to go through the gory details.  Long story short, its the ending here that defines Rambo.  His breaking down in front of Trautman, which like it or not was really a nice bit of work on Stallone's behalf,  probably describes the feelings of a lot of Vietnam veterans, and veterans of any war.Which brings me back to the first point.  Its too bad that Hollywood saw fit to turn this character into nothing more than a comic book hero for the next two entries in the Rambo "franchise."  Not until last year's Stallone-produced "Rambo" did we see this person again, at least with any sort of real meaning or purpose.You'll also note that this film is pretty much devoid of the gratuitous violence which was present in later chapters.  Director Todd Kotcheff managed to give us a picture without exploding bodies or detaching limbs, which only adds to the suspense and drama of it all.If you've never seen the first chapter of the Rambo saga, I recommend you take a look, just to see what started it all, and to get a firm anchor on what the character is all about.  If you have, you might go back and see First Blood again, just to remind yourself of one of the hidden costs of war, and maybe to appreciate your veteran friends and neighbors a bit more.  Not that they'd go all Rambo on you or antyhing...  er, well, you know what I mean.Here's the scene that sends John over the edge, and you can see where things are going.... also keep an eye out for a much younger and non csi-miami-pose-for-the-camera David Caruso... First Blood (1982) on Spout.com Originally posted on:War Movie Reviews and News http://www.spout.com/groups/B_Movies/Re_B_is_the_new_B_Modern_B_Movies_Remakes/588/34273/1/ShowPost.aspx Post By: SkyPilot
Post To: B Movies
Post Date: 8/22/2008 2:46:50 PM
Body: Speaking of Sly's B Movies, here's a table from slashfilms that corvine alerted me to. I'd consider First Blood and Rambo 4 to be the only B movies in the series. And I have one correction: there isn't a 'traditional' sex scene in Rambo 4, but there is a disturbing part where Rambo witnesses a villain undress a young boy. Creepy.
]]>Fri, 22 Aug 2008 18:46:50 GMTSkyPilotB Movies8/22/2008 2:46:50 PMSpeaking of Sly's B Movies, here's a table from slashfilms that corvine alerted me to. I'd consider First Blood and Rambo 4 to be the only B movies in the series. And I have one correction: there isn't a 'traditional' sex scene in Rambo 4, but there is a disturbing part where Rambo witnesses a villain undress a young boy. Creepy. http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2008/8/13/33965.aspx Post By: SpoutBlog
Post To: SpoutBlog on spout.com
Post Date: 8/13/2008 3:01:08 PM
Body: From what I hear, Star Wars: The Clone Wars is really bad. Bad enough for the king of the fanboys, Harry Knowles, to reportedly write, “I hated the film. HATED IT. REALLY HATED IT.” Bad enough that Warner Bros. had the review removed from Aint it Cool News due to a review embargo — though probably it had more to do with it being so damaging to the studio’s marketing of the film (apparently Warners had no issue with Variety publishing its so-so review on the same day). I’m not in the least bit surprised. Most people I know who used to be big Star Wars fans won’t be bothering to see the film. But if it bombs at the box office this weekend, what will that mean for Lucasfilm’s upcoming Clone Wars animated series, which is set to spin off from the movie? The show will probably do OK, thanks to the few geeks who still worship the franchise, but it’s not likely to make my list of best animated series spun off from movies: Muppet Babies - The cute infant versions of Kermit, Miss Piggy, Fozzie and (most of) the others officially debuted in The Muppets Take Manhattan, so this cartoon series counts. Even though my brother disagrees (”the Muppets are a whole entity outside of the movies”). And it’s so good that I’d almost say it’s the best Muppet project ever. It’s at least better than the movie it spun off from. Plus, it was especially entertaining for movie fans. Long before Family Guy did it, the Muppet Babies had their own brilliant animated take on the Star Wars films. Star Wars: Droids - When I was a kid, I definitely preferred the cuter, longer-running Star Wars: Ewoks (both cartoons were later united as Ewoks & Droids Adventure Hour), but looking back, Droids was the cooler series because it retained Anthony Daniels as the voice of C-3PO (R2-D2 was humorously credited as himself) and featured characters like Boba Fett and IG-88. As a bonus, it also featured an awesome theme song co-written and performed by Stewart Copeland. The only theme that might top it is the Fat Boys’ rap for Police Academy: The Series. Back to the Future - I’m a sucker for cartoon spin-offs that feature voices from the original movies, and this one had both Mary Steenburgen (Clara Brown) and Thomas F. Wilson (Biff Tannen) reprising their roles. Strangely enough, the animated Doc Brown was voiced by Dan Castellaneta (also the voice of Homer Simpson), while the live-action Doc Brown, who introduced and closed each episode, was actually played by the movies’ Christopher Lloyd. Someone please put this show on DVD already. Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventures - Even better than BTTF, this cartoon initially featured the voices of the three original stars of Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, Keanu Reeves, Alex Winter and George Carlin. Unfortunately, the bogus second season of the series screwed everything up with a different production company (DiC instead of Hanna-Barbera), new actors (Evan Richards and Christopher Kennedy, stars of the live-action Bill & Ted series) and a broader premise (the dudes could now travel into literature, TV shows and the human body). At least for awhile, the series was most triumphant. Beetlejuice - Talk about changing the premise. I don’t know what the creators were thinking when they decided to suddenly make Beetlejuice and Lydia best friends, but somehow it works. And, as much as I’d have loved for Winona Ryder to reprise her role, I’m glad Lydia was voiced by one of my favorites, Alyson Court (Jubilee in X-Men: The Animated Series and Veronica in The New Archies). I don’t understand how it really fits with the plot of Tim Burton’s movie anymore than I get why Daniel and Mr Miyagi were suddenly adventurers in the Karate Kid cartoon, but I was at least a big fan of the imaginative Netherworld setting of the Beetlejuice series. The Real Ghostbusters - Like Beetlejuice, this animated version of Ghostbusters turned enemies into friends by making Slimer a cute mascot. In fact, the series was eventually retitled Slimer! and the Real Ghostbusters because of how kids responded to the green guy, with Slimer receiving his own half-hour storylines. This despite the initial attraction of the series having a darker tone than most Saturday morning cartoons. TaleSpin - Forget all the later Disney cartoon series based on animated features, this was the best and most inspired. Maybe because it’s another example in which the premise of the series is completely different than the premise of the films. Aside from starring the characters Baloo, Louie and Shere Khan, it has nothing at all to do with The Jungle Book. And except for the lack of songs performed by Louis Prima, the series is much cooler than the movie. She-Ra: Princess of Power - I’m counting this even though the movie it’s spun off from, The Secret of the Sword, is also the first four episodes of the series. It was released theatrically, though. Besides, including it on the list means I don’t have to choose a best of the three lame Jim Carrey movie spin offs (The Mask; Dumb and Dumber; Ace Ventura), nor do I have to familiarize myself with The Animatrix, which I’m sure has it’s fans, or attempt to justify the cool in theory but terrible in reality Teen Wolf cartoon. Toxic Crusaders - Among all the R-rated movies that were turned into cartoons for kids — including First Blood (Rambo), Highlander, RoboCop and Police Academy – the decision to make an animated series out of The Toxic Avenger is the most questionable and therefore the most ingenious. I doubt something like this could be created today; we kids of the ’80s were just more exposed to inappropriate material and also had room for more sanitized versions. I saw the original, extremely violent movie when I was 8 years old and would have also loved this cartoon back then, despite it’s lack of head-crushings and nudity. Unfortunately, it didn’t debut until I was in my teens, when I was typically sleeping in on Saturday mornings and napping on weekday afternoons. Clerks - I’ve honestly never seen this cartoon, but I have a good reason to include it. While taking a film studies course titled American Film Comedy in college, I had a classmate who literally finished each session — having just watched The Circus, The General, Sherlock Jr., Duck Soup, The Palm Beach Story, It, Trouble in Paradise, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, His Girl Friday, It Should Happen to You, Tootsie or some other classic — by saying, in all seriousness, “I guess I don’t have the right sense of humor for these movies. I prefer smart comedies like Chasing Amy.” A devout Kevin Smith fan, he also continuously would reference the animated Clerks series, despite the fact that nobody else seemed to have any familiarity with it. For a cartoon spin-off to so completely appease the biggest fan of the movie, it has to be considered a success. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog
]]>Wed, 13 Aug 2008 19:01:08 GMTSpoutBlogSpoutBlog on spout.com8/13/2008 3:01:08 PM From what I hear, Star Wars: The Clone Wars is really bad. Bad enough for the king of the fanboys, Harry Knowles, to reportedly write, “I hated the film. HATED IT. REALLY HATED IT.” Bad enough that Warner Bros. had the review removed from Aint it Cool News due to a review embargo — though probably it had more to do with it being so damaging to the studio’s marketing of the film (apparently Warners had no issue with Variety publishing its so-so review on the same day). I’m not in the least bit surprised. Most people I know who used to be big Star Wars fans won’t be bothering to see the film. But if it bombs at the box office this weekend, what will that mean for Lucasfilm’s upcoming Clone Wars animated series, which is set to spin off from the movie? The show will probably do OK, thanks to the few geeks who still worship the franchise, but it’s not likely to make my list of best animated series spun off from movies: Muppet Babies - The cute infant versions of Kermit, Miss Piggy, Fozzie and (most of) the others officially debuted in The Muppets Take Manhattan, so this cartoon series counts. Even though my brother disagrees (”the Muppets are a whole entity outside of the movies”). And it’s so good that I’d almost say it’s the best Muppet project ever. It’s at least better than the movie it spun off from. Plus, it was especially entertaining for movie fans. Long before Family Guy did it, the Muppet Babies had their own brilliant animated take on the Star Wars films. Star Wars: Droids - When I was a kid, I definitely preferred the cuter, longer-running Star Wars: Ewoks (both cartoons were later united as Ewoks & Droids Adventure Hour), but looking back, Droids was the cooler series because it retained Anthony Daniels as the voice of C-3PO (R2-D2 was humorously credited as himself) and featured characters like Boba Fett and IG-88. As a bonus, it also featured an awesome theme song co-written and performed by Stewart Copeland. The only theme that might top it is the Fat Boys’ rap for Police Academy: The Series. Back to the Future - I’m a sucker for cartoon spin-offs that feature voices from the original movies, and this one had both Mary Steenburgen (Clara Brown) and Thomas F. Wilson (Biff Tannen) reprising their roles. Strangely enough, the animated Doc Brown was voiced by Dan Castellaneta (also the voice of Homer Simpson), while the live-action Doc Brown, who introduced and closed each episode, was actually played by the movies’ Christopher Lloyd. Someone please put this show on DVD already. Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventures - Even better than BTTF, this cartoon initially featured the voices of the three original stars of Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, Keanu Reeves, Alex Winter and George Carlin. Unfortunately, the bogus second season of the series screwed everything up with a different production company (DiC instead of Hanna-Barbera), new actors (Evan Richards and Christopher Kennedy, stars of the live-action Bill & Ted series) and a broader premise (the dudes could now travel into literature, TV shows and the human body). At least for awhile, the series was most triumphant. Beetlejuice - Talk about changing the premise. I don’t know what the creators were thinking when they decided to suddenly make Beetlejuice and Lydia best friends, but somehow it works. And, as much as I’d have loved for Winona Ryder to reprise her role, I’m glad Lydia was voiced by one of my favorites, Alyson Court (Jubilee in X-Men: The Animated Series and Veronica in The New Archies). I don’t understand how it really fits with the plot of Tim Burton’s movie anymore than I get why Daniel and Mr Miyagi were suddenly adventurers in the Karate Kid cartoon, but I was at least a big fan of the imaginative Netherworld setting of the Beetlejuice series. The Real Ghostbusters - Like Beetlejuice, this animated version of Ghostbusters turned enemies into friends by making Slimer a cute mascot. In fact, the series was eventually retitled Slimer! and the Real Ghostbusters because of how kids responded to the green guy, with Slimer receiving his own half-hour storylines. This despite the initial attraction of the series having a darker tone than most Saturday morning cartoons. TaleSpin - Forget all the later Disney cartoon series based on animated features, this was the best and most inspired. Maybe because it’s another example in which the premise of the series is completely different than the premise of the films. Aside from starring the characters Baloo, Louie and Shere Khan, it has nothing at all to do with The Jungle Book. And except for the lack of songs performed by Louis Prima, the series is much cooler than the movie. She-Ra: Princess of Power - I’m counting this even though the movie it’s spun off from, The Secret of the Sword, is also the first four episodes of the series. It was released theatrically, though. Besides, including it on the list means I don’t have to choose a best of the three lame Jim Carrey movie spin offs (The Mask; Dumb and Dumber; Ace Ventura), nor do I have to familiarize myself with The Animatrix, which I’m sure has it’s fans, or attempt to justify the cool in theory but terrible in reality Teen Wolf cartoon. Toxic Crusaders - Among all the R-rated movies that were turned into cartoons for kids — including First Blood (Rambo), Highlander, RoboCop and Police Academy – the decision to make an animated series out of The Toxic Avenger is the most questionable and therefore the most ingenious. I doubt something like this could be created today; we kids of the ’80s were just more exposed to inappropriate material and also had room for more sanitized versions. I saw the original, extremely violent movie when I was 8 years old and would have also loved this cartoon back then, despite it’s lack of head-crushings and nudity. Unfortunately, it didn’t debut until I was in my teens, when I was typically sleeping in on Saturday mornings and napping on weekday afternoons. Clerks - I’ve honestly never seen this cartoon, but I have a good reason to include it. While taking a film studies course titled American Film Comedy in college, I had a classmate who literally finished each session — having just watched The Circus, The General, Sherlock Jr., Duck Soup, The Palm Beach Story, It, Trouble in Paradise, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, His Girl Friday, It Should Happen to You, Tootsie or some other classic — by saying, in all seriousness, “I guess I don’t have the right sense of humor for these movies. I prefer smart comedies like Chasing Amy.” A devout Kevin Smith fan, he also continuously would reference the animated Clerks series, despite the fact that nobody else seemed to have any familiarity with it. For a cartoon spin-off to so completely appease the biggest fan of the movie, it has to be considered a success. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2008/1/30/24552.aspx Post By: SpoutBlog
Post To: SpoutBlog on spout.com
Post Date: 1/30/2008 1:00:38 PM
Body: Here I present you with yet another Sundance trailer. But it’s for a film that screened at Sundance LAST YEAR. I know, I’ve already bitched recently about having to wait so long for Sundance darlings to make their way to theaters, but I can’t help complaining again. Not when it comes to Son of Rambow, the movie I heard so much about during the 2007 festival and couldn’t wait to see for myself. And then it never came, and I forgot about it for awhile. Hopefully, I can wait just a bit longer (and not forget again in the meantime) for Paramount Vantage to finally give it a limited release on May 2nd. At least now I have some more time to get around to seeing the original First Blood and the other Rambo movies I meant to watch (because I’ve never seen them before) prior to the release of the new Rambo (which, as a result, I also didn’t end up seeing). Son of Rambow is probably still an enjoyable movie without being familiar with those iconic Stallone movies, but since it’s about two kids making a spun-off sort of movie titled “Son of Rambow”, it seems like I’ll appreciate it a little more if I know the inspiration. (more…) Originally posted on:SpoutBlog
]]>Wed, 30 Jan 2008 18:00:38 GMTSpoutBlogSpoutBlog on spout.com1/30/2008 1:00:38 PM Here I present you with yet another Sundance trailer. But it’s for a film that screened at Sundance LAST YEAR. I know, I’ve already bitched recently about having to wait so long for Sundance darlings to make their way to theaters, but I can’t help complaining again. Not when it comes to Son of Rambow, the movie I heard so much about during the 2007 festival and couldn’t wait to see for myself. And then it never came, and I forgot about it for awhile. Hopefully, I can wait just a bit longer (and not forget again in the meantime) for Paramount Vantage to finally give it a limited release on May 2nd. At least now I have some more time to get around to seeing the original First Blood and the other Rambo movies I meant to watch (because I’ve never seen them before) prior to the release of the new Rambo (which, as a result, I also didn’t end up seeing). Son of Rambow is probably still an enjoyable movie without being familiar with those iconic Stallone movies, but since it’s about two kids making a spun-off sort of movie titled “Son of Rambow”, it seems like I’ll appreciate it a little more if I know the inspiration. (more…) Originally posted on:SpoutBlog http://www.spout.com/blogs/usesoap/archive/2008/1/28/24462.aspx Post By: usesoap
Post To: usesoap Blog
Post Date: 1/28/2008 4:28:35 PM
Body: Now that Sylvester Stallone seems determined to dust off his most enduring screen roles, if he decides to shuffle back to the cinematic well, it will have to be from some of the lesser names of his canon. Might I take a moment to offer a few suggestions:Cobra 2: Time to Strike – Lieutenant Marion Cobretti dispatches his “Zombie Squad” to shady dealings at a senior citizens home, where most of the thugs from the original film now reside. It seems they’ve been running smack through the Metamucil supply. When one of the home’s members accidently ODs while trying to stay regular, she ruins Bingo Night and brings Cobra back on the scene. Can Cobra still be the cure (as long as there is a little ipecac in it)?Over the Top II: Brothers in Arms : World Champion Arm Wrestler Lincoln Hawk first fought for his son’s love, now he wrasslin’ to save the twin brother he never knew he had. Stallone flexes his acting muscles in two roles, as Lincoln and his Lupus-afflicted brother, Cedrick. Danny Pintero (“Who’s the Boss”), meanwhile, plays Stallone’s now-grown son, who follows in his father’s footsteps by entering the now-popular sport of thumb wrestling.Stop, or my Mom’s Ghost will Shoot!: Estelle Getty, whose health has prohibited her from reprising her role, appears, via cutting-edge CGI, as a heat-packin’ apparition who still manages to get entangled with her son’s life from beyond the grave. Detective Bomowski (Stallone) is living out his final years on the force as a crossing guard, but when a local gang of ruffians (lead by Corey Feldman), begin harassing him, Tutti (Getty) gets back in action and haunts the quiet suburban streets with a vengeance that would make Freddy Krueger proud.Judge Dredd 2: Dredder: The dystopian future of the original has since become utopian, after Judge Joe Dredd has been able to drive crime to extinction. Frustrated that his training in government-endorsed mass murder, Dredd goes undercover as a folk singer at the Worldwide Birkenstock Festival and decides to start crackin’ skulls of those damn hippies who he thinks are smoking a little too much peace pipe.I enter “Rambo” with frustration – not so much with the concept, but the chronology. Follow me: if the first film was called “First Blood,” and its sequel was “Rambo: First Blood Part II” (which should actually make it “Second Blood,” but no bother). Then, the next sequel was titled “Rambo III.” I teach English, not math, but it is obvious even to me that there is something wrong with that equation. Now we have “Rambo,” which is actually the title of the second film, minus the subheading.I know it seems inconsequential. Perhaps it’s something I should just work out on the therapist’s couch.Whatever the title, this latest revisit to the Sly Stallone hall of fame has John Rambo residing as a snake catcher in the depths of Burma. Why Burma, you ask? Even though the filmmakers make no mention of it, I would assume it’s because he spent his last film in Afghanistan helping those “freedom fighters” from Soviet reign. Yes, those same freedom fighters that went on to form al-Qaeda.Thanks a bunch for that one, Rambo.He’s approached by a group of Christian missionaries wanting to help the downtrodden by spooning them medicine and religion. Rambo reluctantly agrees to be their guide, but only because one of them is hot (forget the fact that she’s young enough to be his granddaughter-- eww). Obviously, things don’t go all that well for the group and they are on the losing end of enemy rifles, causing Rambo to join a mercenary team sent in the thick of it all. And even through the bad guys are drawn as heartless, soulless killers, the film itself is an ethical quandary. The first few minutes are dedicated to actual documentary footage of the victims, but that is cheapened by having us root, cheer and applaud the same ruthless killing committed by Rambo and his soldiers of misfortune.For wasn’t it just moments earlier in the film where he tells us many of these brutal thugs were actually kidnapped villagers, tortured and brainwashed into fighting, and yet we are meant to thrill when their legs are ripped off by Rambo’s tree-leveling machine gun?With “Rocky Balboa,” the actor/director’s last attempt to breathe life into his left-for-dead franchises, Stallone was a gentle giant, hollowed out by years of loss. “Rambo” begins to flicker with the hope that this, too, may return the series to its far-superior first film. But it seems he also want to satisfy the masses who longed for his slaughterhouse mentality of the latter two films, as well. Rambo is, at first, broken, cynical and indifferent, but appears all too quick to strap on the bow and arrow after some perfunctory soliloquy of “knowing who he is.” The problem is, the audience does not.
]]>Mon, 28 Jan 2008 21:28:35 GMTusesoapusesoap Blog1/28/2008 4:28:35 PMNow that Sylvester Stallone seems determined to dust off his most enduring screen roles, if he decides to shuffle back to the cinematic well, it will have to be from some of the lesser names of his canon. Might I take a moment to offer a few suggestions:Cobra 2: Time to Strike &ndash; Lieutenant Marion Cobretti dispatches his &ldquo;Zombie Squad&rdquo; to shady dealings at a senior citizens home, where most of the thugs from the original film now reside. It seems they&rsquo;ve been running smack through the Metamucil supply. When one of the home&rsquo;s members accidently ODs while trying to stay regular, she ruins Bingo Night and brings Cobra back on the scene. Can Cobra still be the cure (as long as there is a little ipecac in it)?Over the Top II: Brothers in Arms : World Champion Arm Wrestler Lincoln Hawk first fought for his son&rsquo;s love, now he wrasslin&rsquo; to save the twin brother he never knew he had. Stallone flexes his acting muscles in two roles, as Lincoln and his Lupus-afflicted brother, Cedrick. Danny Pintero (&ldquo;Who&rsquo;s the Boss&rdquo;), meanwhile, plays Stallone&rsquo;s now-grown son, who follows in his father&rsquo;s footsteps by entering the now-popular sport of thumb wrestling.Stop, or my Mom&rsquo;s Ghost will Shoot!: Estelle Getty, whose health has prohibited her from reprising her role, appears, via cutting-edge CGI, as a heat-packin&rsquo; apparition who still manages to get entangled with her son&rsquo;s life from beyond the grave. Detective Bomowski (Stallone) is living out his final years on the force as a crossing guard, but when a local gang of ruffians (lead by Corey Feldman), begin harassing him, Tutti (Getty) gets back in action and haunts the quiet suburban streets with a vengeance that would make Freddy Krueger proud.Judge Dredd 2: Dredder: The dystopian future of the original has since become utopian, after Judge Joe Dredd has been able to drive crime to extinction. Frustrated that his training in government-endorsed mass murder, Dredd goes undercover as a folk singer at the Worldwide Birkenstock Festival and decides to start crackin&rsquo; skulls of those damn hippies who he thinks are smoking a little too much peace pipe.I enter &ldquo;Rambo&rdquo; with frustration &ndash; not so much with the concept, but the chronology. Follow me: if the first film was called &ldquo;First Blood,&rdquo; and its sequel was &ldquo;Rambo: First Blood Part II&rdquo; (which should actually make it &ldquo;Second Blood,&rdquo; but no bother). Then, the next sequel was titled &ldquo;Rambo III.&rdquo; I teach English, not math, but it is obvious even to me that there is something wrong with that equation. Now we have &ldquo;Rambo,&rdquo; which is actually the title of the second film, minus the subheading.I know it seems inconsequential. Perhaps it&rsquo;s something I should just work out on the therapist&rsquo;s couch.Whatever the title, this latest revisit to the Sly Stallone hall of fame has John Rambo residing as a snake catcher in the depths of Burma. Why Burma, you ask? Even though the filmmakers make no mention of it, I would assume it&rsquo;s because he spent his last film in Afghanistan helping those &ldquo;freedom fighters&rdquo; from Soviet reign. Yes, those same freedom fighters that went on to form al-Qaeda.Thanks a bunch for that one, Rambo.He&rsquo;s approached by a group of Christian missionaries wanting to help the downtrodden by spooning them medicine and religion. Rambo reluctantly agrees to be their guide, but only because one of them is hot (forget the fact that she&rsquo;s young enough to be his granddaughter-- eww). Obviously, things don&rsquo;t go all that well for the group and they are on the losing end of enemy rifles, causing Rambo to join a mercenary team sent in the thick of it all. And even through the bad guys are drawn as heartless, soulless killers, the film itself is an ethical quandary. The first few minutes are dedicated to actual documentary footage of the victims, but that is cheapened by having us root, cheer and applaud the same ruthless killing committed by Rambo and his soldiers of misfortune.For wasn&rsquo;t it just moments earlier in the film where he tells us many of these brutal thugs were actually kidnapped villagers, tortured and brainwashed into fighting, and yet we are meant to thrill when their legs are ripped off by Rambo&rsquo;s tree-leveling machine gun?With &ldquo;Rocky Balboa,&rdquo; the actor/director&rsquo;s last attempt to breathe life into his left-for-dead franchises, Stallone was a gentle giant, hollowed out by years of loss. &ldquo;Rambo&rdquo; begins to flicker with the hope that this, too, may return the series to its far-superior first film. But it seems he also want to satisfy the masses who longed for his slaughterhouse mentality of the latter two films, as well. Rambo is, at first, broken, cynical and indifferent, but appears all too quick to strap on the bow and arrow after some perfunctory soliloquy of &ldquo;knowing who he is.&rdquo; The problem is, the audience does not. http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/drama/MemberTagFilms.aspxdrama
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]]>Thu, 03 Dec 2009 20:04:41 GMT524102623Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/survival/MemberTagFilms.aspxsurvival
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]]>Fri, 07 Aug 2009 13:01:54 GMT3073867Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/heroin/MemberTagFilms.aspxheroin
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]]>Wed, 25 Nov 2009 02:12:04 GMT1383667Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/Didnt-Get-It/MemberTagFilms.aspxDidnt-Get-It
Number of films tagged: 36

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]]>Mon, 02 Jul 2007 23:46:38 GMT362242Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/loner/MemberTagFilms.aspxloner
Number of films tagged: 84

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]]>Thu, 23 Jul 2009 13:01:55 GMT841112Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/guerrilla/MemberTagFilms.aspxguerrilla
Number of films tagged: 162

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]]>Fri, 03 Apr 2009 13:02:14 GMT16267Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/gunfights/MemberTagFilms.aspxgunfights
Number of films tagged: 7

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Number of times used: 12

]]>Sun, 25 Jun 2006 15:51:22 GMT7612Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/persecution/MemberTagFilms.aspxpersecution
Number of films tagged: 111

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]]>Thu, 04 Jun 2009 13:02:33 GMT11155Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/killingspree/MemberTagFilms.aspxkillingspree
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]]>Tue, 05 May 2009 13:12:46 GMT19244Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/veteran-military/MemberTagFilms.aspxveteran-military
Number of films tagged: 655

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]]>Fri, 12 Jun 2009 13:02:35 GMT65544Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/drinking-game/MemberTagFilms.aspxdrinking-game
Number of films tagged: 2

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]]>Tue, 26 Feb 2008 21:32:16 GMT222Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/DVDs-that-Rock/MemberTagFilms.aspxDVDs-that-Rock
Number of films tagged: 10

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]]>Sun, 05 Mar 2006 17:31:19 GMT10210Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/greenberet/MemberTagFilms.aspxgreenberet
Number of films tagged: 15

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]]>Thu, 01 Nov 2007 13:01:32 GMT1522Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/BestAction/MemberTagFilms.aspxBestAction
Number of films tagged: 3

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