Metallica: Through The Never (2013)

Credit: Picturehouse

Heavy metal has been looked down upon for 40 years and I’m sure it will still be looked down on 40 years from now. The genre has been called “satanic”, band apparel and albums were banned from establishments and events, its also taken the blame for kids committing suicide after spinning records, and even gun violence. The misunderstanding comes from the fact that its more than just notes played by an instrument and lyrics sung by a vocalist. Many of the great metal bands write songs that transcend words and create a visual for the listener to imagine in their mind as the song plays. Great metal musicians such as Iron Maiden have written songs based on popular literature which add to that visual and tell a story for the listener. Ronnie James Dio’s songs with bands like Rainbow and Black Sabbath used mystical lyrics that could transport the listener to another place and time. Other bands, such as Alice Cooper and KISS, actually went beyond creating an image in the mind of the listener and became a larger than life persona on stage. With Through The Never, Metallica has now stepped into that echelon of heavy metal performers and possibly surpassed them as well.

Just like the genre itself, this movie will be misunderstood too. Heck, I even didn’t know how to make sense of it at first. I had heard that there’s a story based around a roadie but that its also a band performance involving special effects. I was trying to comprehend the loose plot too much because I was viewing it as another movie so I could write a review afterward. It’s really not a movie at all- it IS a concert but each song has visuals to enhance the performance, from tombstones that rise up through the stage to coffins that lower down from above. Metallica has even taken elements from other bands- Alice Cooper’s trademark is being hung onstage, KISS once had a massive Statue of Liberty prop on stage with them, and Iron Maiden has their own mascot named Eddie who marches on stage- and concocted an apocalyptic blend from those assembled parts. Alice Cooper even attempted an electric chair gag that accompanied the stage show for his late 70’s album about a stay in a mental institution, but it never looked this good! So don’t analyze it, just feel it and hang on for the ride. The 3D effects enhance the experience because you’ll swear you can feel the sweat flying and heat from the fireworks. I’m just glad I never had to run for my life when I was delivering Slash’s coffee!

The Fly (1986)

Credit: 20th Century Fox

Each time I watch this I seem to discover a new layer, just like Jeff Goldblum's character of Seth Brundle has several stages of his transformation throughout the movie. During my first experience with The Fly, I felt like it was a bizarre and creepy dark comedy that was in a similar style to the early work of Tim Burton. Jeff Goldblum's weird mannerisms combined with a mullet and a descent into madness led me to believe this movie was just something to laugh at. Not to mention its a great display of practical movie effects, which is what I love about movies of the 1980's.
 

I gained a greater appreciation for this movie after I saw the special features on the creation of the movie, so I returned for a second watch. That time The Fly struck me as a tragic love story and I was closer to what this movie is really about. When the movie starts, the characters played by Geena Davis and Jeff Goldblum are already in the middle of a conversation, and I like how the movie thrusts you into their story. The two meet at a party, Seth is eager to show off his teleportation experiment, and it leads to chemistry between them. I don't think the chemistry would become quite what they expected as Seth didn't consider a variable in his experiment. Typically when a relationship reaches the end, people part ways after an argument, they pack their bags, and never see the other person again. It's not because they've transformed into a giant insect, they just turned out to be an asshole. Seth's feelings for Ronnie are relatable; not because men have turned into a fly for the women we love, rather when we do dumb things in a moment of weakness. I've done what I thought had the best intentions, only it backfired and I looked like a creep. I also love to make references to this movie in conversations, not just because I enjoy the movie but I'm sure it creeps people out when its taken out of context. So perhaps I'm just a creep either way.

This current rewatch of The Fly showed me that it's also about losing one's identity. Seth Brundle has become lost in his work and teleports himself before his machine is even ready. He had only just begun to teach his computer about "the flesh", so after teleporting, is he still the same man who went through the teleporter? Or is he the computer's version of a man? We already know he's not himself so the clues that he is partially a fly are fun to watch unfold, if not very creepy. I had been told the changes in Seth are a metaphor for AIDS, and I even felt the loss of identity could be social commentary on joining the trends of the 80's and conforming. Yet when I tried to elaborate more, I felt I had lost my own identity and just copied the thoughts of another person's views on the deeper meaning of The Fly. That's just the beauty of this movie, that there is much to discover through each viewing and it's open to your own interpretation.

They Live (1988)

Credit: Universal Studios

The 1980's were a time of excess. If you were a rock star, you had to have the biggest hair and the baddest leather jacket. If you were a child, you had to own every He-Man toy and accessory under the sun. If you were a business man, then your goal was to own the fastest sports car and have a wardrobe just like Don Johnson. If you were a woman, then you also wanted big hair but you wore tight leggings rather than leather jackets. It was a culture driven by spending, with the politics being that if the wealthy were wealthier, it would trickle down to the lower class. The beginning of the 21st century was much the same way, but wardrobes were updated and the plastic action figures were replaced with Apple products and Playstations. However, what if all of those trends were fabricated by other-worldly ghouls that wanted to contain us like cattle? 

John Carpenter's They Live is very much in the same vein as RoboCop, which was released to theaters just a year earlier. It focuses on the loss of identity of its hero who lives in a commercialized world driven by big business. The violence and humor is as much of a distraction for us as a viewer, as "consuming" and "obeying" distracts the citizens from realizing they are only serving an agenda. Its not really known what agenda that is by the ghouls because "Rowdy" Roddy Piper blows into town like a wild western drifter and tries to save the day. His weapon is a shotgun and cool sunglasses that reveal these ugly ghouls and their subliminal messages. Perhaps they only came to Earth because they like our fashions, yet they're hideous, so they decided to disguise themselves to blend in. The alien make-up may seem cheesy by today's standards, but it does have its own charm, which is something modern sci fi epics could learn from; sometimes simpler is better.

I enjoy John Carpenter movies because they're really basic storylines, with simple sets and simpler music scores, but somehow he gets the most out of using very little. I've also noticed that the best John Carpenter movies seem to feature a common, "every man" character who has to fight against very large odds. "Rowdy" Roddy's one-liners still crack me up, yet as I've grown older the pacing of the movie still seems a bit slow to start. However once he discovers the sunglasses, its pretty much a wild ride beyond that point. Another thing about getting older is that I'm realizing movies like this are more than just science fiction. The population really does seem as divided like it is within the movie. The rich, upper class flourishes because the politicians are funded by big businesses; the middle class is shrinking; the lower class is growing. Its certainly not as radical as it is portrayed in They Live, where the upper class have condos and the lower class have shanty towns and share canned goods. Yet our society transformed over the past two decades to become more like the setting in They Live, so who knows what the future holds for the next twenty years.

Dirty Harry (1971)

Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures

I feel that we are doing Clint Eastwood a disservice by putting a film such as Dirty Harry into the bargain bin. This is a landmark action movie, both for the genre and for the career of Clint Eastwood. He already established himself in the Western genre, on the television series Rawhide as well in the films of Sergio Leone, yet Dirty Harry was unlike anything he had portrayed before. Inspector Harry Callahan is blunt, probably a bit racist and immoral (he is even mistaken for a "peeping tom" in one scene), but he has a true sense of justice, and does any "dirty" job that comes along; which is how he earns his name. Eastwood's role as Callahan set the stage for many "loose cannon" cops that bend or break the rules to get the job done, from television to feature films as well. Heck, he even returned to this role four more times.

Not only is "Dirty" Harry an iconic character, this movie features an iconic movie line as well. I was familiar with this line long before I ever watched the movie, which might be the case for many others, so I was surprised within the first fifteen minutes of the movie! While Harry is out to lunch, he suspects a bank robbery is in progress, so he stops the three robbers as they attempt to speed away with his .44 Magnum, "the most powerful hand gun in the world." As one of the men is lying on the ground, Harry asks, "You've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya, punk?" while pondering whether he shot 6 times or only 5. That isn't even the best part of the whole sequence, it's actually that Harry took a big bite of his sandwich, then finishes chewing while he fires his weapon at a speeding car. Truly bad ass! Harry also has a few awesome lines before and after that foiled robbery attempt, but none entertained me more than his nonchalant manner.

Clint Eastwood isn't the only one who has an outstanding performance, I felt the Scorpio killer played by Andrew Robinson was excellently creepy. As calm under pressure as Harry is, this killer is equally driven to killing. He goes as far as paying someone to beat him up to frame Harry. Actually, this isn't any old beating, it's a complete thrashing. Now that's being dedicated to villainy. You could almost admire his dedication to his craft, much like Goldfinger's "Operation Grand Slam" master plan in Goldfinger; although that's a review for another day. I also like how we don't know the motives for the Scorpio Killer, he's just a bad dude. Too many movies these days try to humanize the villain, which is fine if it suits the story, but this wouldn't be the place for it. We see Harry's humanity on display as he will do anything to stop more women from dying, even going above the law to do it.

I love how the ending not only returns to that famous line uttered humorously from earlier in the movie, it changes the dynamic when Harry confronts the killer. The ending also seems to reference a conversation from earlier in the film, when the wife of Harry's partner asks about his motivation for being a police officer. What Harry does seems to answer that question and closes the door on any sequels. However, I'm glad that Clint Eastwood returned to the role four times- Magnum Force, The Enforcer, Sudden Impact, and The Dead Pool; which can also be found in your local bargain bin. Maybe that's actually a good thing, as every Clint Eastwood movie I own has been a bargain bin purchase, making it easily accessible for everyone to enjoy the "Man from Malpaso."

007 Racing (PSX)

I remember Christmas 2000 well, waking up, immediately strolling out to the living room and seeing two CD shaped presents under the tree, knowing that I hadn't asked for any music that year, I knew that they were two PlayStation games. But which ones would it be? My mind was racing through all the options and when it came time to open them, I was ecstatic. Game #1 was Madden NFL 2001. Sweet! I had been playing NFL Game Day 98 for awhile now, it was time for a newer, better football experience. Game #2? 007 Racing! I was so excited, I'm a huge James Bond fan, so anything involving 007 was going to blow my 16 year old mind.

And boy did it! I was driving around in all of his classic cars, the BMW Z3, the Aston Martin DB5, the Lotus Espirit! I was shooting missiles at poorly designed cars and impossible to see specs that doubled as bad guys! I raced to my friend's house later that day and told him how awesome it all was, and how he had to check it out. He too was very impressed. Life was grand! If only I knew then, what I know now. This game sucks. Age can do that to you, numerous things I loved as a child, have turned out to be complete crap when looking at it as a man nearing his 30's.

So where did it all go wrong? It's hard to pin point, you'd probably have an easier time picking out what the game gets right. And.. well, it.. uh.. it has Jaws. And it's short. Really short. If you're any good (or you emulate with save states) you can breeze through the game in a matter of hours. And if you save state it, you might just save your sanity, as the game, like most of it's shitty ilk, is only challenging because nothing really works like it's supposed to. The cars all handle like their on grease covered roads, randomly swerving off the road with the slight turn of the wheel. There's no real difference between each car either, they all are stocked with the same Q technology. The Q tech all works well for the most part, minus a few that are mostly ruined by the horrible driving controls.

There's very little in the way of story. They attempt to have one, but it's just a few cut scenes with a creepy looking Pierce Brosnan CGI clone, and most of the story is told through narration by either M (someone doing a decent enough Judy Dench impression) and R (actually voiced by John Cleese!) You just go from mission to mission, with a basic explanation for why, and with little interest. Not to mention, there's no real “racing” in the game. There's two missions where you race against the clock and have to drive around a poorly designed New York City (without breaking!) with a bomb strapped to your car, gathering clocks that add to the timer. But ultimately these are the most frustrating parts of the whole game. The controls do nothing to help you out, you're constantly sliding all over the place and constantly stopping, which of course causes you to blow up. If any time this game causes you to lose your cool and break things nearby, it's these times. They're terrible.

I don't know what it is about him, but CGI Brosnan is kinda creepy. 

Is 007 racing worth playing? The answer is a resounding, NO! Not even a hardcore Bond fan will find anything enjoyable out of this game. Even if you can look past the awful controls, and boring game play.. there's just nothing in it that makes it worth any of your free time, even if it is relatively short. Skip it.

Bullet to the Head (2012)

Credit: Warner Bros

The revenge genre in action flicks is near the top of my list of favorites. I was really hoping I could add Bullet to the Head as another one in a long list of enjoyable revenge tales. Unfortunately, it's not that good. The premise is good enough: Stallone plays a hitman who is out to avenge the setup of him and his partner, which lead to his partner's demise. Stallone kills off everyone involved, one by one, uncovering each player involved, until he finally gets to the head man in charge. It's a story we've seen numerous times, and it's been done better.

Bullet isn't a bad movie, it's just one that is complacent in being average. The action scenes are good, and the pacing is right, the film never leans to the boring side. It's just hard to get emotionally invested because the movie never attempts to make you care about anything that's happening. The villains are all boring, and lack any characteristics that make them stand out (which, come on.. every great action movie has a great villain). I was hoping for more from Christian Slater, it was great seeing him in a major feature film role again (first since 2005's awful Alone in the Dark), he could have been the key to making a more entertaining baddy, but instead he's only in a few scenes. There' also a few plot twists at the end to shake things up a little, but by then it's too late.

Director Wayne Kramer (The Cooler, Running Scared) was the original director before being replaced when Stallone felt the film was going to be too dark. It makes me wonder what could have been. Instead we're left with a movie that, isn't bad, but isn't memorable either. It's an average movie, and doesn't strive to be anything more.

Rating: 5/10

Cast

Sylvester Stallone, Sung Kang, Sarah Shahi, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Jason Momoa and Christian Slater 
Writer
Alessandro Camon
DirectorWalter Hill
Rated R

Crash Bandicoot (PSX)

The problem with playing a lot of games from the early Playstation days is that your expectations and memories are going to be completely different from what you're actually playing. Time hasn't been kind to a lot of these early games. Controls are less refined, graphics are less impressive, because of this, good games can look and feel incredibly dated. Luckily one game that manages to break that trend is Naughty Dog's: Crash Bandicoot!

The story of Crash Bandicoot is simple: Crash is a mutated bandicoot who's out to save his gal from the evil mad scientist, Doctor Neo Cortex, who apparently plans to take over the world by turning other animals into mutant assassins out to stop Crash at all costs. Apparently there is a lot more to the story, but I never witnessed any of this throughout the course of playing Crash. I just ran around jumping on and over things without a care in the world. In fact, had it not been for a Wikipedia article I read when researching the game, I'd never had known a plot existed. This can be forgiven though, this was an early title, and honestly isn't really expected to bring much in terms of a story anyway. Crash is hip and cool and he jumps on things, that's all that really matters. And he wears jorts, jorts were really cool in 1996.

There's not a lot to say about game play, it's a traditional platformer, you run around and jump on enemies and then jump over gaps. Rinse and repeat. But it's fun, the controls are responsive and there's some nice level design thrown in that still holds up.

So the big question is, after nearly 20 years of waiting, should you play Crash Bandicoot? YES! It's a fun plat-former that at times can be pretty challenging. It's full of animal hijinks and death traps and everyone loves animal hijinks.

As the years went on, Crash had over 15 different games, they even redesigned Crash into more of a punk rocker with spiky hair for the last game released in 2008. The most curious design choice was that they kept the much outdated jorts.

Rise Above Hate

Man Of Steel (2013)

Credit: Warner Bros.

I've wanted to like the character of Superman more than I do, yet it seems like he's too powerful. He has heat vision, cold breath, the ability to fly, he has X-Ray vision, super strength, he's also faster than a speeding bullet, and one time he even flew around the Earth to reverse time. Yet his only weakness is a glowing, green crystal? Well, this movie finally proved me wrong. This movie showed that Superman is a compelling character who's real weakness is his humanity. He's torn between his home on Earth and his birthplace of Krypton, which the villain of this movie exploits to the fullest. Man of Steel also made sense of the Krypyonite weakness as well. Its not that the actual green crystal is his weakness, its that the atmosphere of the Earth has made him powerful, yet on his home plant of Krypton he would become normal. The green crystal isn't a weakness as much as coming in contact with a relic of his home world will strip him of his abilities.

Man of Steel does something different with the origin of its superhero than most modern superhero films. It uses flashbacks to younger versions of Clark Kent who has to suppress his instincts to use his powers, while also showing present day Clark Kent being the powerful person that he is. Man of Steel also distances itself because it makes the point that Superman is actually not of this world, he's an alien, and I don't recall the other films boldly stating that fact. Being that Superman is not of this world, yet appears to be a man, I noticed a parallel between another figure of many stories; that would be Jesus Christ. Both have human parents but were not born of those parents, they were raised with humble beginnings, and while the people actually did turn their backs on Jesus, it was feared that they would do the same thing to Clark Kent if they knew his true nature.

The movie does many things right and most of those moments are it's personal moments between characters. It excels when it comes to the emotional side of the story, and even manages to momentarily make its villain a sympathetic character, which Michael Shannon does convincingly when his character of Zod tells Superman that he's doing what he was born to do. The rest of the cast is just as good in their roles, especially Henry Cavill as Superman/Clark Kent. The Lois and Clark of this movie felt a bit more real in their romance, which is more than I can say for Margot Kidder's version of Lois Lane.

As much as the dramatic side to the movie won me over, when it came to being an action blockbuster, it nearly crumbled. It pains me as a lover of action movies to say that this movie had too much action. It felt like it didn't know when to end, as there were battles after battles and I didn't even know if Metropolis had that many skyscrapers to smash. Despite that fact, Man of Steel may not be the best superhero movie but it is the best Superman movie.

Westworld (1973)

Credit: MGM

This movie seemed right up my alley as science fiction films have been a long-time interest while the Western genre has only recently been on my radar. There have been recent sci fi/Western hybrids, like Cowboys and Aliens and even the Firefly TV series from a decade ago, though their success has varied. Westworld seemed more intriguing to me because of it's placement in the "thriller" category when making a blind-buy at the electronics store. I thought for sure I'd find it in the Western section.

The movie features a small principle cast, with James Brolin ("John") and Richard Benjamin ("Peter") starring as buddies who venture to West World for a vacation. In order to picture West World, think of an adult version of Epcot Center at Disney World, where each "world" becomes its own amusement park. Not only is there West World, but also Medieval World and Roman World. For a thousand dollars a day, patrons can joust against a knight, draw pistols at dawn with a gunslinger, or even battle a gladiator in a coliseum. And you won't even hurt anyone because androids in each "world" are programmed to lose every battle. John and Peter end up confronting the gunslinger of West World, played by a veteran of Westerns, Yul Brynner, who's famous for the lead role in The Magnificent Seven. Yet for me, the highlight of the movie was a small role by Dick Van Patten and I believe he never has a single line! He popped in briefly as a patron of West World who gleefully practiced firing his pistol in the mirror, only for it to accidentally fire and shattered the glass. Fellow West World patron Peter Martin seemed extra wimpy, especially when ordering a martini at the saloon, so it was surprising how easy he handled his pistol. I recently learned how to handle a gun and I was apprehensive, so it took away a bit of believability from his character, although that's Hollywood for ya.

The most interesting part of Westworld was that it took me nearly 60 minutes of it's 88 minute running time to figure out this is a precursor to Jurassic Park! I knew it was written and directed by Michael Crichton, and that something went wacky at an amusement park, but I didn't connect the dots right away that it actually *is* Jurassic Park only with a "wild west" setting (...and obviously a lack of dinosaurs.) Perhaps Crichton had the grand idea for dinosaurs wrecking havoc when creating Westworld, only he kept this movie more intimate and on a smaller scale since technology wasn't advanced enough yet to make realistic dinosaurs to fulfill his vision. Not only is Westworld noteworthy for being a blueprint for Jurassic Park, I feel like the gunslinger could be a prototype for villains that appeared in movies throughout the 80's, specifically the original Terminator and Jason Vorhees characters which would silently stalk their victims. I like this approach that Crichton took to crafting an intense finale, while also successfully merging genres, and in the process laying the ground work for many "silent killer" characters to come.

The Gauntlet (1977)

Credit: Warner Bros.

This seems like a lesser known film amongst the resume of Clint Eastwood, though I can't see why with a movie poster like that. It's as if the posters for Star Wars and Escape From New York were merged into one bad ass masterpiece. Just one look at it will put hair on your chest! As a side note, if there's one thing that bugs me most about today's movies, its the severe lack of creativity when it comes to movie posters. I don't know if they would rather not spend the budget to commission artwork like this poster for The Gauntlet or Hollywood doesn't have faith in it's audience to tell who's the star of a movie if they don't slap their face onto a simple "photoshopped" poster.

As for The Gauntlet, it's poster does indeed sum up everything you'd want in an action movie, and Clint Eastwood delivers the goods. Not only does he star as Ben Shockley, he also steps behind the camera and into the director's chair. As Ben Shockley, he is given the task of transporting a witness for a trial from Las Vegas to Phoenix, which unfortunately for him it turns out to be a difficult assignment. Fortunately for us, the viewers, we're treated to several shoot-outs, an exploding car, high-speed chases, even a helicopter firing from above as Shockley rides a motorcyle. Clint's signature dry wit is present but he doesn't hog all the great lines for his character; his feisty female co-star gets some great lines, as well as a cop that Shockley holds at gun point to transport them to the airport. His female co-star is not just that, she was also Clint's love interest at the time, Sondra Locke. I have a feeling their chemistry in real life is much like in this film; if Clint overcooked her steak, she probably slapped him with it.

Do you know how action movies always feature a million bullets whizzing through the air yet none of them ever hit their target? I feel like this is the movie that started that trend, as the movie's climax features a bus that is turned to Swiss cheese; wait, scratch that. It's more than cheese as it literally becomes a giant-sized cheese grater after the bad guys are done with it. I'm surprised that this movie was sitting in the bargain bin and isn't mentioned in the same breath with Clint's classics movies like Gran Torino, Dirty Harry, and The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. We're doing this movie, and also Eastwood, a disservice by not including it with other classic action movies. I think I'm going to end this review now and start surfing the web for a replica of The Gauntlet's movie poster to proudly display on my wall.