The Good and Bad Action Movies, plus your favorite Action Figures.
The Elements that make a Action Movie GOOD
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Looking for something specific? It's on the Hit List, and . . .

WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE!

Feb 25 ACT OF VALOR: The Real Deal
You have to see this movie if you're an Action Movie Freak, if you loved Predator, if you love the whole SOLDIER-movie concept, or if you're crazy about military 'toys'. Just Go! You'll love it. Grown men cried both times I saw it.  
 

JOURNEY 2: The Mysterious Island
I had to go and give The Rock my $11; not $17 for the evening show in IMAX 3D, but . . . the big kid in me wanted to see it—a throw back to Swiss Family Robinson. I love Luis Guzman (ever since Q & A).  I am sure Disney is only casting who they cast for the greatest profitability based on popularity, but I wish The Rock would just do Action Movies. It was fun but really obvious most of the time: The payoff for him not liking lizards, "Only a fool trades his life for money", etc.  The set details were great: Atlantis, the Nautilus, the attic with the model planes, etc. There were the fun Rock moments too: the "Thunder Cookie", the "pec pop of love". Bottom line: it's an adventure movie for kids (I'd put the age at 8, maybe up to 13).     
 

Feb 24 ACT OF VALOR starts tonight!
You GOTTA see it!

And . . . LaRon Landry as "Augustus Cole"

From this article "LaRon Landry is big. 'Incredible Hulk' big..." by Chris Chase (NFL Shutdown Corner sports blog), where he mentions The Avengers, I see Gears of War.  With Batista as Marcus Fenix (scroll down), THIS is the kind of Action Hero we want to see. This is what is missing in today's Action Movies from what we loved about the Awesome 80s era of Action. Action Movie Freaks want this eye-popping largenesss that looks too big to be true (you know, like Arnold-in-Predator big).  That article led me to this one:  An interesting perspective on black characters in gaming history.
 

Feb 19 The Devil Himself Wants This Boy
GHOST RIDER: SPIRIT OF VENGEANCE is visually stunning, from the overall look of it with the intense colors, creative cut outs, collages, and camera angles, to the details like the absolutely bad-ass wardrobe of worn leather, to the stunts like Idris Elba's slow-mo fall backwards while shooting (as often as we've seen that original Dar Robinson move, it was a stand out, and delivered not only, surprisingly, SURPRISE, but impact—it says a lot that they made this move fresh, and that it was so bad ass, that it's still bad ass). I saw the movie in 2D thinking that if I didn't think 3D would have added anything, I would have been smart and saved the difference in the price of admission, but if it seemed like it would have been good in 3D then I could always pay to see it again.  And will I!  It delivered beyond my expectations on every level. 

SCRIPT . . .  The set up was right up front where it should be: "Bring us the boy and we will lift your curse."  Thank you. No :45 minutes of wondering where it's going. I love when you know what's at stake for the character so you can be invested in what he's trying to do and give a damn whether or not he gets there, hoping all the while for a few twists and turns even when it's predictable. Check and check.

CAGE-INESS . . . This scene alone, where Cage is riding while his face morphs in and out of being the Rider, is seriously worth the price of admission. Cage fans will be Oh So Satisfied.  The flame-thrower peeing scene from the preview was even better in the movie (how often does that happen?!).  It was a father-son/guy/penis bonding moment that made me wonder about the fact that there probably is, sadly, no female equivalent, and which was classic Cage. I am a huge Nicolas Cage fan. There is no one as entertaining to watch. If anything, I would have loved more Cage.  It was strangely fascinating to watch his moves in the The Rider scenes and to see Cage come through.  In one scene he's kind of dancing as only he can. If you don't appreciate what only Nicolas Cage can bring to a role like this, you're missing out.  

SPECIAL EFFECTS . . . Even though this is the second movie, the novelty of the flames and the skull on fire didn't get old for me.  Excellent job to whoever managed to make fire as fascinating as it really is. This spitting bullets moment from the preview, still satisfied.  Love it when the preview doesn't ruin it for you.  Even though they showed this, and you knew it was coming, it was still incredible to watch.  And when The Rider cranks up the giant digging machine (HOLY HELL!), it's jaw dropping, and if it wasn't for you, it should be. I loved that he's un-killable and how he smokes when hurt.  The special effects are seamless. Even though I know we are suspending disbelief, I never felt pulled out of the story because the effects fell down. The sound of the motorcycle engine was exciting and strangely satisfying. Overall I loved the sound effects.  My only tiny criticism is that the music should have dominated more when the Rider operated the digging machine. I feel the song was a good choice and it would have punctuated it more than the real scene sounds that competed with and drowned out the music too often. It felt a little like someone wanted real sounds and someone wanted the song, and this was a compromise that didn't work as well as the song would have.

ACTION MOVIE FREAK-INESS . . . 
• with a side order of cheese, please. Cheesy one-liners were sprinkled throughout, and sometimes came in visual form, like Jerry Springer, the twinkie, and yet another surprise: Christopher Lambert. They cleverly worked in "fire wall" and "road kill". Loved "The apple doesn't rot far from the tree." Classic Cage attitude: "So, that happened", and "These guys are gonna lift my curse? They don't even have shoes." "Did we win? I'm gonna say yes. Hell yes!" 
• It is my opinion that Action Movies that deliver the most satisfying experience do so when there are lessons to be taught or learned. This  movie was a perfect example of that. "This power that we have comes from a dark place, but it's not who we are." The religious tones gave depth and meaning. Cage's character is a little Christ like. "Where you go now, I cannot follow." We love a bad guy who fights for the right reasons. Without spoiling the ending, I thought the movie was obviously headed in one direction but then they turned it around. Although I could still see it coming, I still appreciated that they didn't go the obvious route and it happened late enough that it kept my interest right up until the end.
• Gnarly Kills—there were so many. The ways in which people die are interesting. The chain kills are really wicked. The most satisfying kill for me was another surprise. When the mother plays the typical weak female to her advantage and throws a knife at a bad guy with a guy, you and the bad guy think "how lame" and let your guard down. Turns out she had a gun the whole time and it was just an (effective) distraction. (Brought to mind the scene where Indiana Jones shoots the guy with the big knife rather than use the whip.)  Although the mother has one all-too-typical weak female scene where after she is beaten she lays on the ground too long, writhing, mouth open seductively (As a female I have to say "Eew! why?"), they redeem it later when she is a bad Mamma Jamma using a sniper rifle. 
• Car Chases and Stunts—There were lots of great car chases and crashes. And, there were two great payoffs for whatever The Rider drives also bursts into flames.

Everything happened so fast,  I think you really should see this movie twice to appreciate it all. I know I won't have to twist Cage-fans' arms. The pacing reminded me of Crank in the best way. So get out your Action Movie checklist and go see it.  You'll want seconds. (This is your brain on Ghost Rider 2 . . . )

Feb 6 Chronicles of Riddick Fight Choreography

Exciting News!
Dave Bautista is going to be in the new Chronicles of Riddick movie!  I wrote the paragraph below about the big fight scene in 2004's The Chronicles of Riddick, but I wonder how much of the credit I give to Vin Diesel might belong to Troy Robinson (yes, Dar Robinson's son) or to  Troy Connelly?  Nonetheless, all are gifted!  What I'd really like to know is who came up with the flying two-fisted decapitation move? 

From the credits on IMDB, it's hard to tell:

Stunts
Bradley James Allan .... stunt fight coordinator
Bob Brown .... stunt coordinator (as Robert Francis Brown)
Dean Choe .... stunt coordinator
Marny Eng .... stunt coordinator: second unit
Paul Lazenby .... fight instructor
Paul Rapovski .... fight coordinator: Kali de Leon
Troy Robinson .... stunt double: Vin Diesel (as Troy Jess Robinson)
Tim Connolly .... fight double: Vin Diesel

BALLET OF DEATH
Fight scenes . . . what we live for when we watch a really good action movie. Think about how many there have been and you begin to appreciate how hard it must be to deliver when the time comes for one. Director David Twohy said if we'd seen it before he didn't want to use it. To the credit of everyone who helped to make it seem so: This fight scene is Vin Vin Vin. It's a ballet of death, dished out with double blades wielded with efficiency and lightning speed. The animal side takes over and it seems he knows what to handle first and how. Sure it's choreographed, but it had to be thought up, and it had to be played just right by everyone so it looks like it's real.  And it looks real mainly because Vin is selling it. And how!  It takes more than athletic prowess, ass-kicking strength, and fierce determination to pull this off. You have to be gifted. An actor could rehearse over and over, but to make it look this effortless, it's a gift.  He decimates the ranks and with his double blades in hand, pulls off a flying two-fisted decapitation on one soldier, and then lands both blades into the chest of another! And then he faces Lord Vaako. Vaako has one back-cracking kill and a spiraling jump from a prone position that exceed all expectations. For me, the whole movie is a wind-up to this one incredible non-stop all-out fight scene. How it ends is creative and calls into play the mark of the rage of the entire Furyan race.

"Aaah, the Riddick [Fight Choreography]!"

Feb 5 The Evolution of Action Movies

What makes an Action Movie GOOD ?
Recently, HAYWIRE, ACT OF VALOR, and a video from ACTIONFEST, came together for me with comments by ActionFest co-Founder  Aaron Norris.
 

• HAYWIRE
I had great hopes that HAYWIRE would be a breakthrough Action Movie that would bring women out to see a truly physically strong woman in a lead role, and awaken that sleeping-giant market.  It had all the right elements . . . or did it? 

It had a good Director, big-name male stars (lots), a simple-but-intriguing story line, and, most importantly, the lead character was played by a real-life powerhouse female. Shouldn't that be enough? So what happened? 

From an Action junkie's perspective bad movie happened. The Director was not an Action Director, and it showed.  Plus, there was no Second Unit Director.¹  Fight Choreographer J.J. Perry did a great job but the big-name male stars either were slow in the fight scenes (sorry guys) or were filmed before they were ready. And, the storyline was tortured. Maybe I was just tired when I watched it, but the plot was confusing and seemed intentionally obfuscated to ill effect (sorry Lem Dobbs). There were too many characters and no meat.  By the time I got to the end and realized Mallory was talking about Ewan McGregor's character (He's "Kenneth"?! What?!), I realized I had already stopped caring after she explained all that stuff in the car to her 'hostage'—they got caught anyway, so what was the point of telling him all that? As a plot device, telling a story while driving in an Action Movie is, well . . . Zzzzzz. 

HAYWIRE made me realize that the things that make an average movie good are NOT what make an Action Movie good. It also made me see that if you want to make a really good Action Movie, it helps to have people who know and value Action and the importance of its place in the movie.  Maybe this movie was intended to be more Thriller than Action, but if that was the case, it was hurt ($-wise²) by a huge missed opportunity!  I know my criticism may seem harsh to those who worked so hard on this film, and, no,  I have never tried to do what they did, however, I am an Action Movie Freak and I'd like to think I know what Action Fans are looking for. 

• ACT OF VALOR
Speaking of what Action Fans are looking for . . . if you've seen the preview for ACT OF VALOR, you were probably as blown away as I was. Watch below if you haven't seen it yet before you read further. It, too, is possibly a breakthrough Action Movie. 

The Directors of ACT OF VALOR—and I am quoting from Aaron Norris (who would know better?!) on the Actionfest Blog—are "STUNTMEN!  Mike 'Mouse' McCoy and Scott Waugh . . . the real deal."  This movie looks like what Action Movie Freaks worship Rambo and Predator for. It's a SOLDIER movie of the best kind. What will put it over the top is if the storyline makes us care. The 'Actors' are "Active Duty Navy Seals". How interesting that they used 'Actors' who know what they are doing. "The story is fictional but the weapons and tactics are real." I'm afraid to say it, but "How can this fail?" Acting in Action Movies is both overrated and underappreciated.  By that I mean Action Movies where the acting is bad but the Action is awesome still satisfy, and Actors and Stuntmen (and others) in Action Movies never get any recognition by the Oscars. [Best Assistant Director (considered below the 2nd Unit³) was given only in 1933-37, and as a Proposed Category Best Stunt Coordination was rejected in 1999 and again in 2005.]
 

• STUNTWORK
Action Movies are evolving.  While Motion Capture Actors also suffer the same snubbing as Stuntmen, CGI will never replace the wow factor of real stunt work.  There's no comparing a man really being on fire to a CGI version of that.

This is where ActionFest comes in.  Being at ActionFest and the thrill of seeing a man set on fire makes you realize real stunt work has no equal. This video brought to mind the real driving stunts from The Transporter as compared to the recent Ghost Protocol glove/climbing scene which underestimated the intelligence of its audience by abusing the suspension of disbelief. We want to think an Actor did a stunt even if he didn't, but as long as somebody does it, it still works.  When it's faked or completely unbelievable, it takes us out of the moment and back to reality.

From their site: "ActionFest is the first film festival in the world devoted exclusively to action film. And ActionFest is the only film festival in the world that honors the stuntmen and stuntwomen who take the punches, falls and crashes that make ordinary actors appear superhuman on screen. Historically the film industry has refused to recognize the stuntmen and stuntwomen, the stunt coordinators, and the 2nd unit directors, and their contribution to filmmaking. That was before ActionFest. At ActionFest we recognize, honor and appreciate the remarkable efforts of these amazing people who risk their lives every day to make big Hollywood films look exciting and great. ActionFest’s mission is two-fold: to honor these unsung heroes of Hollywood; and to show the best action films from around the world."

[Aside:  If you love Action Movies, ActionFest is over the legal limit on fun. Spending 3 days and 4 nights mainlining Action Movies is so worth the price of admission!  Ask now for time off to visit Asheville, April 12-15, 2012 and experience it for yourself.  An all-inclusive VIP pass is under $100 (prices have not been announced yet but I'm basing it on the last 2 years), or be a big shot and become a Sponsor.  [pictured are Larnell Stovall and Michael Jai White in the ActionFest 2011 Panel: Modern Fight Directors ]
 

• Directors vs Action Directors
I became aware of the value of a good Second Unit Director after I saw Final Destination 2 (2003, not considered "Action"), because it was only the second movie David R. Ellis directed. I remember thinking how awesome that such a big-career Second Unit Director got to direct! (His film list is beyond impressive.)  The car crash scenes are so crazy good (the movie is good all around!!), how could you not become a David Ellis Fan?  Yes! I thought, more Second Unit Directors should get to direct, however, stupidly, the importance of whether or not a Director had an Action background or experience in Action Movies never mattered to me until I saw HAYWIRE. 

Of course, there are great Directors who are known for Action Movies who are also great at other genres, but it all came together for me  that Action Movies need Action-minded Directors after reading these remarks by Aaron Norris:

"Studios will give a writer, a Director of Photography, an Editor, or Special Effects person a directorial. Just about anyone other than [emphasis added] stuntmen get chances at directorial debuts. They will hire a person who shot one or two commercials and give them a $50 million picture.  Give me a break!  Stuntmen and Stuntwomen who Stunt Coordinate and 2nd Unit Direct have been making directors look good since the invention of film."
 

• Actors vs Stuntmen
In HAYWIRE, even if the story sucked but the Action was good I might have been happy, but the choreography in the Action scenes was so obviously showing.  People waiting for someone else to make their movie, standing still and not reacting, etc. It looked to me like 99% of it was not because of Gina, but because of everyone else. The men fought like they didn't want to hurt her. She came off as the only one who looked like she knew what she was doing (except the stuntman in the hallway fight scene). She's an MMA Fighter and an American Gladiator, she knows how to fight. Even so, they needed more rehearsing. It seems like they went to print before they were ready, and it left me wondering about the Director.  Could he just not see that the fight scenes weren't good enough (I mean the practice, not the creation, of the moves) or did he think it didn't matter?  In this kind of movie (selling a stronger female), the fight scenes have to work. They were already halfway there because Gina was physically believable, but then they put her against Michael Fassbender and it was a joke. He looks like a soft smoker. It might as well have been Jeremy Irons.  Channing Tatum was a bigger disappointment. It sure looked like he held back. His seeming less-than-all performance made Gina look bad.

HAYWIRE and ACT OF VALOR really emphasized the value of using real stuntmen versus Actors, and the value of having an Action-minded Director. Before, I thought what makes an Action Movie good were mainly these things: Now I feel a great Action Movie needs as much of that as possible, but even more: It needs an Action-minded Director and 'Actors' who can sell the Action.  I think CGI has made it too easy for non-Action minded Directors to think they/anyone can make an really good Action Movie.  So not true.  It's exciting to me that HAYWIRE using Gina (and an ex-military fight choreographer), and ACT OF VALOR using Navy Seals (with Stuntmen directing), might be the beginning of a NEW ERA for ACTION—One where those in the know shine at what they do, and outshine those who only think they do. Where audiences begin to appreciate the elements that make Action Movies the most popular genre on the planet, and not attribute their success to a big-name Director or Actor alone. And best of all, a new era with lots of Kick-Ass Action Movies starring Stuntmen and truly strong women!  As an Action Movie Freak, I'm not buying it anymore that we need a big-name Actor/star who can't do these things. Those days are gone. I want to see the men and women who can! You just know there are more Stuntmen who can act than Actors who could do their own stunts.  It's a Action Revolution, baby!

________________________________

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director:
Second Assistant Directors
Catherine Dunne, Jody Spilkoman

Stunts:
Fight Choreographers 
Jonathan Eusebio,  J.J. Perry (link to Actionfest interview),
Jon Valera .... co-fight choreographer
Don Tai .... fight choreographer: additional scenes
Stunt Coordinators
Clay Cullen, R.A. Rondell,
Don Tai .... stunt coordinator: additional photography and
additional stunt coordinator (uncredited)
Donal O'Farrell .... assistant stunt coordinator: Ireland (uncredited)  
 

² Budget  $23,000,000 (estimated)
  Opening Weekend   $8,425,370 (USA)  22 January 2012  on 2,439 Screens
  Gross   22 January 2012  $8,425,370 (USA)  +  29 January 2012  $15,281,962 (USA)  =  $23,707,332

³ IMDB's glossary offers these minimal and seeming minimizing definitions:
   Second Unit  A small, subordinate crew responsible for filming shots of less importance, such as inserts, crowds, scenery, etc.
   Second Unit Director  The director of the second unit.

Excerpted From Wikipedia: 
[In film, the SECOND UNIT is a team that shoots subsidiary footage for a motion picture. Its work is distinct from that of the first unit, which shoots all scenes involving principal actors.  In addition to shooting establishing shots, close-ups, inserts, and cutaways, second units also film in locations too expensive or dangerous to send the first unit to. Often this involves stunts and close-ups with body doubles . . ..  The second unit has its own director and cinematographer.

The SECOND UNIT DIRECTOR is . . . considered above the post of Assistant Director. As Second units oversee many dialogue-free scenes with stunts and special effects in action movies, the job of stunt coordinator is often combined with that of second unit director.  As a result, many second unit directors are former stunt coordinators.

 

Jan 20  The next Chronicles of Riddick is filming!

Jan 18  HAYWIRE | Gina Carano

At Last!!  Here comes a truly powerful woman kicking ass.  I'm not saying all women have to or should look like the American Gladiator powerhouses here, but this is the kind of woman women want to see more of on screen. Women like: the real deal strength-wise Valerie "Siren" Waugaman (second from left) my pick for Red Sonja (see Seeing Red Over Sonja) over someone selected to please men like Rose McGowan; and like the star of HAYWIRE (third from left) Gina "Crush" Carano.     
 

Jan 1  2nd Annual Top 100 Action Movies