list http://www.spout.com/ Recent community activity around Hard Target 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/Hard_Target/14716/default.aspx Title: Hard Target
Year: 1993
Director: John Woo
Plot: John Woo's first Hollywood feature stars Jean-Claude Van Damme as Chance Boudreaux, a down-and-out Cajun merchant seaman, who, after saving a young woman, Natasha Binder (Yancy Butler), from a gang of thugs on the streets of New Orleans, agrees to help her search for her father (Chuck Pfarrer), a homeless Vietnam vet. They locate local businessman Randall Poe (Elliott Keener), for whom the vet had been working, and learn that her father has become a victim of wealthy sportsman Emil Fouchon (Lance Henriksen), who, along with his cronies, hunts homeless men as a form of recreation. After Fouchon finds out that the girl is investigating the murder of her father, he arranges for she and Chance to be ambushed, but they manage to escape into the backwoods of Louisiana -- his stomping grounds. Realizing he needs to regroup, Fouchon assembles a private army to invade the bayous. They track the pair to the rustic cabin of Chance's Uncle Douvee (Wilford Brimley), and the real fireworks begin. ~ Michael Costello, All Movie Guide
Times Tagged: 1
Number of Lists: 10
Number of blog posts: 2
SpoutRating: 2
]]>Tue, 12 May 2009 13:13:23 GMTHard Target1993John Woo<a href="/players/P___117248/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>John Woo</a>'s first Hollywood feature stars <a href="/players/P____72739/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Jean-Claude Van Damme</a> as Chance Boudreaux, a down-and-out Cajun merchant seaman, who, after saving a young woman, Natasha Binder (<a href="/players/P_____9947/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Yancy Butler</a>), from a gang of thugs on the streets of New Orleans, agrees to help her search for her father (Chuck Pfarrer), a homeless Vietnam vet. They locate local businessman Randall Poe (Elliott Keener), for whom the vet had been working, and learn that her father has become a victim of wealthy sportsman Emil Fouchon (<a href="/players/P____31804/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Lance Henriksen</a>), who, along with his cronies, hunts homeless men as a form of recreation. After Fouchon finds out that the girl is investigating the murder of her father, he arranges for she and Chance to be ambushed, but they manage to escape into the backwoods of Louisiana -- his stomping grounds. Realizing he needs to regroup, Fouchon assembles a private army to invade the bayous. They track the pair to the rustic cabin of Chance's Uncle Douvee (<a href="/players/P_____8487/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Wilford Brimley</a>), and the real fireworks begin. ~ Michael Costello, All Movie Guide1Slightly Tagged (1-5)1022http://www.spout.com/ProductImages/t01010kyhko.jpghttp://www.spout.com/films/Hard_Target/14716/default.aspxFilm http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2008/9/8/34895.aspx Post By: SpoutBlog
Post To: SpoutBlog on spout.com
Post Date: 9/8/2008 4:01:08 PM
Body: At face value, JCVD sounds like a lot of fun. Jean-Claude Van Damme plays a version of himself in this fictional film, and it opens with an extremely over the top action sequence. Van Damme slugs, knifes, and kicks his way through all of the action in one take, only to have part the set fall apart when another actor closes the door. He pleads with the bored director that he’s old and he can’t do it in one take. The director ignores him and hurls darts into a photo of the Hollywood sign. Symbolism, anyone? Unfortunately, the film derails so suddenly that you’ll check yourself for nosebleed. It moves from a campy farce into what you can only assume is a semi-autobiographical film that takes places half in the fantasy mind of director Mabrouk El Mechri, and half inside the warped opinion that Jean-Claude has of himself. Either that or director and star decided to get together and reinvent the old Jean-Claude as the new Jean-Claude. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. After the opening scene, we find out that Van Damme is embroiled in a bitter custody battle with his ex-wife over their daughter, and daughter doesn’t want to live with daddy because the other kids at school make fun of her when her dad is on tv. Why? Because he babbles like a self-important loon. He’s employed an expensive law firm in Los Angeles to help him with the case, but his last check to them bounced, and he’s forced to take a role in yet another low-budget kickfest film to try and get an advance. When that does work out, he heads to the bank to make a withdrawal. In the bank, Van Damme finds himself in the middle of a bank robbery that isn’t going very well, and the cops actually think he’s the one robbing the bank. Soon a crowd grows outside when the word leaks, and the rest of the film is a standoff between the cops and the bank robbers, with Van Damme stuck in the middle. Things grow increasingly tense and unhinged, and in a truly bizarre sequence not long before the climax, Van Damme literally floats off of the floor above the scene, past the lights and boom mics, and addresses the camera directly. In a tearful confession, he says that he’s accomplished nothing in his life, that all of his fame, film roles, drug usage, marriages, and money means nothing. If you caught the finale episode of HBO’s Extras, then you saw Ricky Gervais of all people do something similar in a much more effective and touching way. Without the floating. Van Damme returns to earth and he saves the day, frees the hostages, and in one ending he literally kicks one of the bad guys unconscious. However, that’s yet another fantasy sequence, and ultimately it is revealed that he’s serving a short jail sentence due to the events, which really makes no sense. Much like the rest of the movie. He’s happy in prison, teaching karate lessons, and his daughter comes to visit him in what is meant to be an emotional scene. Unfortunately, it falls flatter than the wall in that opening sequence. I’m admittedly not the biggest Van Damme fan, but back in the day I had a soft spot for fare like Hard Target (hey, it was John Woo’s first American film), and Timecop. On paper it sounded like this film was going to be a lot campier than it was, but it appears to be some sort of a confession for Van Damme, and a very expensive letter from a fan to one of his idols. There were admittedly a few funny moments in the beginning, but those quickly began to taper off as the movie tried to take itself too seriously. Diehard JCVD fans will probably love this film, and there was an enormous line outside of the theater for this film at its midnight opening. Any time Jean-Claude’s name was mentioned during the introduction, hundreds of audience members howled in delight. There wasn’t nearly as much howling when the film was over. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog
]]>Mon, 08 Sep 2008 20:01:08 GMTSpoutBlogSpoutBlog on spout.com9/8/2008 4:01:08 PM At face value, JCVD sounds like a lot of fun. Jean-Claude Van Damme plays a version of himself in this fictional film, and it opens with an extremely over the top action sequence. Van Damme slugs, knifes, and kicks his way through all of the action in one take, only to have part the set fall apart when another actor closes the door. He pleads with the bored director that he’s old and he can’t do it in one take. The director ignores him and hurls darts into a photo of the Hollywood sign. Symbolism, anyone? Unfortunately, the film derails so suddenly that you’ll check yourself for nosebleed. It moves from a campy farce into what you can only assume is a semi-autobiographical film that takes places half in the fantasy mind of director Mabrouk El Mechri, and half inside the warped opinion that Jean-Claude has of himself. Either that or director and star decided to get together and reinvent the old Jean-Claude as the new Jean-Claude. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. After the opening scene, we find out that Van Damme is embroiled in a bitter custody battle with his ex-wife over their daughter, and daughter doesn’t want to live with daddy because the other kids at school make fun of her when her dad is on tv. Why? Because he babbles like a self-important loon. He’s employed an expensive law firm in Los Angeles to help him with the case, but his last check to them bounced, and he’s forced to take a role in yet another low-budget kickfest film to try and get an advance. When that does work out, he heads to the bank to make a withdrawal. In the bank, Van Damme finds himself in the middle of a bank robbery that isn’t going very well, and the cops actually think he’s the one robbing the bank. Soon a crowd grows outside when the word leaks, and the rest of the film is a standoff between the cops and the bank robbers, with Van Damme stuck in the middle. Things grow increasingly tense and unhinged, and in a truly bizarre sequence not long before the climax, Van Damme literally floats off of the floor above the scene, past the lights and boom mics, and addresses the camera directly. In a tearful confession, he says that he’s accomplished nothing in his life, that all of his fame, film roles, drug usage, marriages, and money means nothing. If you caught the finale episode of HBO’s Extras, then you saw Ricky Gervais of all people do something similar in a much more effective and touching way. Without the floating. Van Damme returns to earth and he saves the day, frees the hostages, and in one ending he literally kicks one of the bad guys unconscious. However, that’s yet another fantasy sequence, and ultimately it is revealed that he’s serving a short jail sentence due to the events, which really makes no sense. Much like the rest of the movie. He’s happy in prison, teaching karate lessons, and his daughter comes to visit him in what is meant to be an emotional scene. Unfortunately, it falls flatter than the wall in that opening sequence. I’m admittedly not the biggest Van Damme fan, but back in the day I had a soft spot for fare like Hard Target (hey, it was John Woo’s first American film), and Timecop. On paper it sounded like this film was going to be a lot campier than it was, but it appears to be some sort of a confession for Van Damme, and a very expensive letter from a fan to one of his idols. There were admittedly a few funny moments in the beginning, but those quickly began to taper off as the movie tried to take itself too seriously. Diehard JCVD fans will probably love this film, and there was an enormous line outside of the theater for this film at its midnight opening. Any time Jean-Claude’s name was mentioned during the introduction, hundreds of audience members howled in delight. There wasn’t nearly as much howling when the film was over. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2008/5/27/30039.aspx Post By: SpoutBlog
Post To: SpoutBlog on spout.com
Post Date: 5/27/2008 5:00:34 PM
Body: Speaking of Jean-Claude Van Damme, it’s been a long 15 years since John Woo came to America to direct the Muscles from Brussels in Hard Target, and I’m ready for the action auteur’s return to Chinese cinema already. In the last decade and a half, Woo has delivered some embarrassing work while in Hollywood (I know, except for Face/Off, we all agree). But now he’s back with Red Cliff, an epic Chinese film costing about $80 million, which makes it the most expensive Asian-financed film ever. The film, which takes place in the 3rd century (China’s Three Kingdoms period), was partially brought to the Cannes film market, where more than 8 minutes were shown to buyers. And now, courtesy of Trailer Addict, we get to see a bootleg of the reel (visit the site for a much bigger version). Unfortunately, it’s difficult to tell if it’s actually going to be worth the wait and the money (this past weekend showed us, with the release of The Children of Huang Shi, that not all China-set epics are good). Nevertheless, it is interesting and exciting to see what Woo has been doing back on his native soil. And who doesn’t enjoy watching Tony Leung over Ben Affleck? Originally posted on:SpoutBlog
]]>Tue, 27 May 2008 21:00:34 GMTSpoutBlogSpoutBlog on spout.com5/27/2008 5:00:34 PM Speaking of Jean-Claude Van Damme, it’s been a long 15 years since John Woo came to America to direct the Muscles from Brussels in Hard Target, and I’m ready for the action auteur’s return to Chinese cinema already. In the last decade and a half, Woo has delivered some embarrassing work while in Hollywood (I know, except for Face/Off, we all agree). But now he’s back with Red Cliff, an epic Chinese film costing about $80 million, which makes it the most expensive Asian-financed film ever. The film, which takes place in the 3rd century (China’s Three Kingdoms period), was partially brought to the Cannes film market, where more than 8 minutes were shown to buyers. And now, courtesy of Trailer Addict, we get to see a bootleg of the reel (visit the site for a much bigger version). Unfortunately, it’s difficult to tell if it’s actually going to be worth the wait and the money (this past weekend showed us, with the release of The Children of Huang Shi, that not all China-set epics are good). Nevertheless, it is interesting and exciting to see what Woo has been doing back on his native soil. And who doesn’t enjoy watching Tony Leung over Ben Affleck? Originally posted on:SpoutBlog http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/family/MemberTagFilms.aspxfamily
Number of films tagged: 6288

Number of people who tagged: 226

Number of times used: 1138

]]>Thu, 03 Dec 2009 20:09:21 GMT62882261138Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/revenge/MemberTagFilms.aspxrevenge
Number of films tagged: 5189

Number of people who tagged: 145

Number of times used: 489

]]>Wed, 02 Dec 2009 23:13:41 GMT5189145489Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/killing/MemberTagFilms.aspxkilling
Number of films tagged: 7191

Number of people who tagged: 31

Number of times used: 96

]]>Fri, 07 Aug 2009 13:01:54 GMT71913196Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/blackmail/MemberTagFilms.aspxblackmail
Number of films tagged: 1006

Number of people who tagged: 23

Number of times used: 38

]]>Tue, 08 Sep 2009 19:51:08 GMT10062338Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/sailor/MemberTagFilms.aspxsailor
Number of films tagged: 369

Number of people who tagged: 10

Number of times used: 15

]]>Thu, 16 Apr 2009 13:02:03 GMT3691015Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/mercenary/MemberTagFilms.aspxmercenary
Number of films tagged: 319

Number of people who tagged: 4

Number of times used: 7

]]>Fri, 20 Feb 2009 20:10:19 GMT31947Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/craptastic/MemberTagFilms.aspxcraptastic
Number of films tagged: 29

Number of people who tagged: 2

Number of times used: 30

]]>Sun, 11 Nov 2007 22:21:34 GMT29230Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/cajun/MemberTagFilms.aspxcajun
Number of films tagged: 37

Number of people who tagged: 0

Number of times used: 0

]]>Fri, 11 Jul 2008 13:01:41 GMT3700Tag