Movie #40 - Tombstone

"Justice is coming!"

Yes - and his name is Kurt Russell (Wyatt Earp). What makes me laugh about this film is that although tagged as one of the best modern Western films ever made, it doesn't get any critical acclaim because it is in fact shot and cast like a strict action movie. Also, what spoiled the success of Tombstone is Kevin Costner's failed attempt at Wyatt Earp - which was released so soon after this film (less than 1 year), that most people disregarded it completely.

What makes this movie a great film and one for those masculine men out there is the wonderfully casting of Val Kilmer (Doc Holliday) contrasted against Sigma Nu's own, Michael Biehn (Johnny Ringo). The constant feud between these two deadly guns of the wild west are captured on film between these two actors. You really feel the hatred Biehn has for Kilmer's character and you definitely know that these two are on a collision course throughout the film.

As a follow up to this movie, I would like to see Kilmer resurrect his role as Doc Holliday in a film just based around his character and life's exploits. However, I think Holliday will be forever linked to Wyatt Earp and his association to his time in Tombstone.

Overall, the film is cast with a number of familiar names: Sam Elliott, Bill Paxton, cameo from Charlton Heston (can't have a movie with guns without him), Jason Priestley (who looks really out of place with his fake beard), Thomas Haden Church, Terry O'Quinn (pre-John Locke), Michael Rooker, Billy Bob Thornton, Powers Boothe, and of course, the love interest of Dana Delaney.

If this film had been made today, you would see this film immediately be tagged as a money grab. Most films with more than 2 headliner actors / actresses are usually deemed as such and many of them are. However, you cannot go wrong with Tombstone. If you are a fan of the old westerns with violence like For a Few Dollars More or The Magnificent Seven, you'll definitely enjoy this film. It packs it all in there in a neat little package and it has some great movie quotes that you can use the next time you find yourself in a gunfight.

"I'll be your huckleberry."

Movie #13 - Poseidon

Well... to mark the first day of having The Movie Network (TMN) channels on our cable system at home, I decided to start myself off on the right foot and watch the remake of The Poseidon Adventure, entitled Poseidon.

There isn't much to this film. The cruise ship is CGI built and the set, although elaborate, is really a bunch of stages in a warehouse. Even some of the major set builds seem fake and you really have to pay attention to what could be real and what's obviously not.

Josh Lucas and Kurt Russell star in this film with some useless appearances from the likes of Emmy Rossum and Richard Dreyfuss. There is also a surprising appearance by Fergie (Stacy Ferguson) of Black Eyed Peas fame and Andre Braugher from Homicide: Life on the Street.

The film attempts to build some characters early on in the film, but spends just about 10 minutes on this attempt. Unlike the first Poseidon starring Hackman and company, this movie wastes no time in destroying the ship with the rogue tidal wave, but also wastes no time to pit the band of survivors against pitfall after pitfall of danger.

I guess Wolfgang Petersen's (Das Boot, Air Force One, Outbreak, In the Line of Fire) thought that if he just bombarded the audience with scene after scene of suspense, that the final picture would be well worth the time spent. Well... I thought the original Poseidon Adventure was a bore, due to its attempts to build characters and discuss courses of action in a time of crisis. However, this film just threw all of that out of the window and decided to just do a plain action film... which sank at the end.

Both movies have their positives... I guess in retrospect, the first one had bigger actors for one (Hackman, Borgnine, Winters) and even garnered some Academy attention. This one... was just a fumble from the beginning. It probably relied on the success of the first film in order to parlay that into success in a remake.

Overall, in my movie watching lifetime... I haven't seen a movie remake better than the first one... and trust me, there have been plenty that have bombed. This one can rank up there with the rest of them.

There is only one cool scene here... but in a time of despair and destruction, its doubtful that this scene would even happen in "real" life. However, it was still a cool one and was the only surprise of the movie. Bonus: Fergie dies... guess the whole film wasn't that bad!

Movie #11 - The Poseidon Adventure

I was watching this movie on the AMC channel the other day. I had originally seen this film back when I was 14, renting movies from our local video store (Queen Video) in Streetsville, Ontario during their awesome rental deal, 5 old movies for $5.

The reason I rented this movie back in 1994 was because of the cover. It showed a flipped over boat, with a ton of cast members who at the time, were famous in their own right. By 1972 production standards, the Poseidon Adventure was considered a major blockbuster film with a tremendously large budget. To create a relative example, this film would rank up there in cost as Titanic. Ironically, also a ship disaster movie.

The cast is filled with A and B list celebrities. Everyone's favourite loud mouth, Gene Hackman. A very rough and tumble Ernest Borgnine, Red Buttons (for comic relief of course - although he didn't really achieve it here) and Shelley Winters. Winters received an Academy Award nomination for this film for Best Supporting Actress... something that is almost unheard of nowadays in a so-called action movie.

There is also a very brief cameo of Leslie Nielsen... see if you can spot him. He makes a Janet Lee-esque appearance in this film... so don't blink if you are expecting to see him in the latter parts of this movie.

Related to my commentary for this movie is the fact that this film was recently remade in 2006 starring Kurt Russell in the Hackman role. I didn't bother seeing this film when it was released because I actually didn't really like the first one.

My personal rule with remakes - if I don't like the first one... why waste another 2 hours of my life to see the next one. It probably isn't any better if they used the first one as a template or foundation for the story.

The adventure itself is quite fantastic in the sense that a band of passengers struggle to live while the sinking ship continues to throw obstacle upon obstacle at these characters. There really isn't any character development beyond Hackman and Borgnine and I am quite surprised why Winters got this Oscar nod. This movie was ground breaking in the sense of giant set design and stunts and action sequences... however, beyond that, it is a sinking ship from beginning to end!

Movie #1 - Backdraft

What better way to start, but with a good movie.

1991 was a good year. Although I was only 11 years old, I remember being able to watch movies every weekend, for my local video store had a great rental deal of 5 old movies for $5.

Greatest deal ever!!!

Well, although I don't recall ever renting Backdraft, I know that I watched this movie with my family in theatres.

Ron Howard portrays a wonderful storyline of two brothers, played by Kurt Russell and William Baldwin, who hate each other... and how to tie the brothers together, but with firefighting.

This movie cost a lot of money to make in 1991, as computer graphics were not up to par with making large pan shots of fire scenes and destruction... all had to be done with live action and miniature models. I remember a show in the early 90's, Hollywood FX Masters hosted by Christopher Reeves, showing the movie magic behind Backdraft.

Not only would this movie cost a great deal of money to make now using special effects, but the cast would be high end in pricing. Although William Baldwin would cost a B-rated movie salary now... Kurt Russell, Robert De Niro, Rebecca De Mornay, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Scott Glenn, J.T. Walsh, and my favourite 100-year old villain, Donald Sutherland. This movie would be made with similar actors nowadays, but would cost 10x to make on actor salaries.

The movie is compelling from start to finish. Although Baldwin never amounted to much in Hollywood, his role in this movie as the lost younger brother works for me. Russell is the driving force in this movie... he's a believable fireman and he's a tough as nails older brother. Sutherland and De Niro provide veteran presence in their side roles, while the late J.T. Walsh provides another prime villainous performance.

Overall... this movie will still remain one of my favourites from 1991. Out of my 5M scale (Meliton Movie Minute scale), I give it 3.5 M's.