What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

[Markgway]

Sleepaway Camp 3: Teenage Wasteland (1988-USA) *½
Lazy sequel filmed back-to-back with Part 2 on the same sets. Springsteen tries her best... but the material is subpar.

He Knows You're Alone (1980-USA) **
A serial killer stalks brides-to-be.
Bloodless Halloween rip-off; more competent than most slashers with OK characterization, but damaged by inability to play by its own rules (most of the victims aren't brides) and silly coda.

[Markgway]

Bachelor Party (1984-USA) *½
The title says it all...
Awful adult farce full of loud, zany humour, political incorrectness, bad taste, and T&A... this seemed so much funnier when I was ten.

[Markgway]

Two Mules for Sister Sara (1969-USA-Mexico) ***
Gold-hungry gunman Clint Eastwood takes stranded nun Shirley MacLaine(!) under his wing.
Enjoyable western; not much action, but the star teaming is fun to watch.

[Markgway]

New Year's Evil (1980-USA) *½
Psycho stalks TV hostess.
Pedestrian slasher pic is both obvious and illogical.

[Markgway]

American Gothic (1987-UK-Canada) **
Young folks are dispatched by a family of inbred religious nuts.
Surprisingly tolerable, if not terribly bright horror.

[saltysam]

Without Warning 2/5 Little seen on Home Video down the years but now released on BD by Scream Factory this early 80's low budget sci-fi/horror hybrid has a great cast of oldies (Landau/Palance/Brand/Meeker)but the film itself is pretty silly though with some nice effects work which belies it's low budget.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2.5/5 Solidly made but ultimately uninspiring reboot of the Spider-Man franchise starring Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker/Spidey.he looks suitably geeky but at least 3-4 years old for the high school teenager he's supposed to be.

[saltysam]

Non-Stop 2.5/5 Entertaining plane set Liam Neeson actioner is tense for an hour but gets pretty stupid towards the end.worth seeing though

[grim_tales]

Without Warning 2/5 Little seen on Home Video down the years but now released on BD by Scream Factory this early 80's low budget sci-fi/horror hybrid has a great cast of oldies (Landau/Palance/Brand/Meeker)but the film itself is pretty silly though with some nice effects work which belies it's low budget.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2.5/5 Solidly made but ultimately uninspiring reboot of the Spider-Man franchise starring Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker/Spidey.he looks suitably geeky but at least 3-4 years old for the high school teenager he's supposed to be.

I thought TAS was OK but to be honest, I didnt see the point in making a reboot. Though I liked that it was in some ways darker than Raimi's film. the emo, moody fashion in which Garfield played Peter Parker didnt seem to fit when he turned into a confident wisecracker in the Spiderman suit.
Possibly 3/5

[Markgway]

The ONLY reason Sony made The Amazing Spiderman was to hold onto the rights which otherwise would have reverted to Marvel.

[saltysam]

The ONLY reason Sony made The Amazing Spiderman was to hold onto the rights which otherwise would have reverted to Marvel.

pretty sure they made it for profit as well,as the sequel's out and a 3rd movie's confirmed

[luckystars]

The ONLY reason Sony made The Amazing Spiderman was to hold onto the rights which otherwise would have reverted to Marvel.

Source?

[grim_tales]

Really? I never knew that Doing a reboot for a series which had, at the time, only 10 years since Spider-Man (2002) seems daft, imo.

[Masterofoneinchpunch]

The ONLY reason Sony made The Amazing Spiderman was to hold onto the rights which otherwise would have reverted to Marvel.

Source?

You can get it from a variety of sources. While the following does not give the year count it talks about this issue: Screen Rant and you will notice a link discussing how Daredevil's rights went back to Marvel. But this does make sense and is done (while differently depending on the contract) to make sure someone does not lease the rights and then sits on the property (like what happened with many Hong Kong movies here in the states.)

[Markgway]

Passenger 57 (1992-USA) **½
Solid, no flab action vehicle for Wesley Snipes.
Remember: "Always bet on black!"

[Markgway]

King Solomon's Mines (1985-USA) **
Forgettable Indiana Jones clone contains enough humour and stunts to make it bearable.

[Masterofoneinchpunch]

The following is an answer to a question on KFC involving the possible use of Chan Sing in Double Impact. Mark (or anyone else), other than the deleted scenes in the trailer which are on youtube, do you know of deleted scenes for Double Impact (if they still exist)?

Unfortunately you have to use forensic science for this one. I hope you can follow my meandering logic.

IMDB has Cast (in credits order) (verified as complete) which is unfortunately wrong. The order is in appearance which actually makes it easier (not easy) to try to figure out who is who.

Notice the name used here (written as Chan Siu Sing); also the fact that character takes place after the Karate Student who gets beat up and the Mah Jong Manager (in several Van Damme films so he is easty to recognize)



But what is weird is that there are no new speaking parts between the Karate Instructor and Students and Kamel Krifa. The credit order above also seems to be slightly wrong as the Instructor comes in first then the two students (which Van Damme kicks one.)

Really the only close up you get is of this non-speaker before Kamel:



Which is hilarious because he looks like Chen Kuan-Tai.

The person who gives Van Damme the money after the talk with Kamel is Galen Yuen (Smuggler).

Diagnosis: The Chen Sing (aka Chan Sing) we know is not in the film. It is possible there was a deleted scene. Does anyone know if Siu is our Chen's middle name?

[Markgway]

I don't know of any deleted scenes. A couple of deleted shots from the final fight appear in the trailer. That's it.

According to Cinemagic Chan Siu-Sing is an AKA for Chen Hsing:

http://www.hkcinemagic.com/en/people.asp?id=592

I didn't spot him anywhere. The only close contender is the dude you posted a cap of, and yeah, he looks more like Chen Kuan-Tai!

I suppose the order of credits could be wrong and Chen appears in a dock scene elsewhere in the picture.... or maybe he was just cut out at a later stage.

[Masterofoneinchpunch]

... I suppose the order of credits could be wrong and Chen appears in a dock scene elsewhere in the picture.... or maybe he was just cut out at a later stage.

Thanks Mark. Here is an instance where I think IMDB is wrong and everyone else quoted IMDB for their source.

This question originally came from Mo because he bought the Kickin' It Shaolin Style - 12 Movie Set. It states that Chen is in Double Impact which I don't think he is (I did go through, fast forwarding, all of the picture looking for dockworkers.) It really does look like someone (still not sure who) was deleted out of a scene.

I don't think I could take seeing Van Damme again in the pastel colors splits scene again. A scene that Chang Cheh could have directed. Though strangely enough it reminds me of the Sammo tight-wearing outfit in Owl vs. Dumbo.

[Markgway]

I don't think I could take seeing Van Damme again in the pastel colors splits scene again.

To be fair, it's supposed to be camp... I think.

[saltysam]

Locke 2.5/5 Tom Hardy plays a welsh concrete mixing foreman who's life unravels in the space of a car journey.interesting concept,the entire film consists of Hardy driving in his car making/taking various phone calls,not bad,different but not one i'd revisit.

[saltysam]

The China Syndrome 2.5/5 Well made and at the time topical late 70's thriller Starring Jane Fonda as a reporter who along with cameraman Michael Douglas witnesses while on a visit to a nuclear plant a serious safety incident. Jak Lemmon is the plant supervisor with a conscience.

[grim_tales]

The Expendables 3: 2.5/5

Some of the humour and crazy stuff in this made me laugh but it's disappointing the film was a 12A, it felt like so much had been cut out of a more violent film. And why does Stallone recruit a "younger" team in the film? I thought the whole point of the Expendables was a gang of aging, past their best mercenaries getting together for one last job.

[Markgway]

That's not a spoiler Grim, it's in the trailer...

And, yes, you're absolutely right. It worked better when Statham was the token young 'un.

[Markgway]

The Expendables 3 (2014-USA) **

Where do I start...? OK, this isn't a terrible action movie. It's a mediocre action movie, and a terrible Expendables movie. The whole point of the Expendables was to give a shot in the arm to the flagging careers of ageing (and aged) action stars. Occasionally, this works: Wesley Snipes reminds us of his charisma, whilst Mel Gibson steals the movie (and reminds us in the truck capture sequence just how damn good an actor he can be). So, why then does Sly dump his current team (better named The Indestructibles because none of them ever dies - even Apollo Creed died) to recruit a bunch of wooden kids that no one has ever heard of? Also, for a film aimed at males, there's only one hot girl in it - and she can't act. Is Sly's inexplicable reasoning for the new team that he doesn't want to see his EXPENDABLE pals get hurt (you know, what they're actually paid for...), so he hires some naïve young 'uns to get blasted instead? Gee, how nice of him! Jet Li is on-screen for about a minute and doesn't throw a single punch or kick - they might as well have a cast me in that role, except I'm not short enough for the return of the 'short' jokes. And is it me or is Jet's 'English' becoming worse than my Mandarin? Ford is OK, growling his way through dialogue clichés, Banderas irritates like a Speedy Gonzales on speed. The script is about 10% good, 90% disposable. The explosive action is chaotic (and obviously chopped up by the censors) with far too few and too short fights. It's official - I just don't like the way 'they' shoot and edit action anymore. Maybe if I was 10-15 years younger I'd enjoy this a whole heap more... but I remember these guys at their best. And it's not about age, despite the usual jibes. It's filmmaking styles that are at odds with Sly's mission statement. He says he wants to make a particular type of throwback and then does the opposite. Three times! I give up, honestly. I think it's time to retire and leave the video game generation to their own.

[grim_tales]

I agree with a lot of what you said, it worked better when Statham was the "young'un", what's the point in Sly bothering with a younger team? Just to say "The old guys have still got it" when they have to rescue them? The girl was nice, but TBH the new team (eg the baby faced hacker) had no personality whatsoever.
I could barely understand what Sly was mumbling half the time
Gibson's villain was good, and slightly crazy, like Riggs from Lethal Weapon gone bad imo. Overall the humour (referencing their earlier hits like Arnie saying "Git to da choppa!" ) was all this film was good for. My rating works out about the same as yours
PG13 is for pussies.