(As always, thanks for stopping by.)
I SAW IT
BERRY GORDY'S THE LAST DRAGON
released 3/22/1985
Box Office Gross: $25,754,284 (#33 in 1985)
Adjusted for Inflation: $58,527,328
In New York City, a young martial arts student searches for his true master while facing battles on two fronts; trying to free his singer girlfriend from a vile music promoter and fighting a terrifying brute for the martial arts supremacy in the city.
Director Michael Schultz (COOLEY HIGH, CAR WASH) knocked out a trio of R&B/hip-hop related films in the mid-80's that, although slight and less than stellar, have stood the test of time and are still spoken of today with the utmost of nostalgic fondness. Schultz had dipped his feet into music-inflected films several times before (SGT. PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND) and he has a good eye and ear for letting the music complement the films, rather than overpowering them.
THE LAST DRAGON was the first of this trio (followed by KRUSH GROOVE and DISORDERLIES) and it is a silly yet joyous mash-up of coming of age films, music videos, and Bruce Lee martial arts epics. Taimak plays the lead, Leroy, the young man trying to figure out his destiny. This puts him straight in the cross hairs of several baddies, most importantly Julius Carry as the immortally named Sho'Nuff.
This. Movie. Is. Fun. Always was, still is. This was made back in the era when music-video style movies meant showing a DeBarge video behind the action in its entirety, not editing the film into frantic one second cuts. THE LAST DRAGON is supremely silly from the first frame, and there is never a moment when it should (or COULD) be taken seriously, but it fits beautifully in the canon of mid-80's films that are made to put a smile on your face (and sell soundtrack albums!) more than anything else. To quote the kids these days, it is adorbs.
By the way:
1. How the hell did Taimak not build a career off of this? Not a great actor, but he had charisma, the looks and the martial arts chops. At the very least, Roger Corman could have given him a slate of low budget films ala Don "The Dragon" Wilson in the BLOODFIST series.
2. How the HELL did Julius Carry not build a resume of larger than life bad guys off of Sho'Nuff???? Two of his next three film parts? A CIA agent and a track coach. Simply unforgivable. This man should have been Sho'Nuff in every single action film in 1987 and 1988. Does John McClane beat Sho'Nuff in the Nakatomi Building? I don't friggin' think so!
3. Vanity - R.I.P. forever. Such a undeniable screen presence in all of her early films, and they always found ways to fit her singing into her parts. Check her out in ACTION JACKSON and 52 PICKUP (which we'll DEFINITELY be covering here later down the road) to see what I mean. Her career never prospered, she turned towards the church in the mid-90's and she was taken from us way too soon. No talk of the 80's would be complete without a hat tip to Vanity.
I SAW IT
BERRY GORDY'S THE LAST DRAGON
released 3/22/1985
Box Office Gross: $25,754,284 (#33 in 1985)
Adjusted for Inflation: $58,527,328
In New York City, a young martial arts student searches for his true master while facing battles on two fronts; trying to free his singer girlfriend from a vile music promoter and fighting a terrifying brute for the martial arts supremacy in the city.
Director Michael Schultz (COOLEY HIGH, CAR WASH) knocked out a trio of R&B/hip-hop related films in the mid-80's that, although slight and less than stellar, have stood the test of time and are still spoken of today with the utmost of nostalgic fondness. Schultz had dipped his feet into music-inflected films several times before (SGT. PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND) and he has a good eye and ear for letting the music complement the films, rather than overpowering them.
THE LAST DRAGON was the first of this trio (followed by KRUSH GROOVE and DISORDERLIES) and it is a silly yet joyous mash-up of coming of age films, music videos, and Bruce Lee martial arts epics. Taimak plays the lead, Leroy, the young man trying to figure out his destiny. This puts him straight in the cross hairs of several baddies, most importantly Julius Carry as the immortally named Sho'Nuff.
This. Movie. Is. Fun. Always was, still is. This was made back in the era when music-video style movies meant showing a DeBarge video behind the action in its entirety, not editing the film into frantic one second cuts. THE LAST DRAGON is supremely silly from the first frame, and there is never a moment when it should (or COULD) be taken seriously, but it fits beautifully in the canon of mid-80's films that are made to put a smile on your face (and sell soundtrack albums!) more than anything else. To quote the kids these days, it is adorbs.
By the way:
1. How the hell did Taimak not build a career off of this? Not a great actor, but he had charisma, the looks and the martial arts chops. At the very least, Roger Corman could have given him a slate of low budget films ala Don "The Dragon" Wilson in the BLOODFIST series.
2. How the HELL did Julius Carry not build a resume of larger than life bad guys off of Sho'Nuff???? Two of his next three film parts? A CIA agent and a track coach. Simply unforgivable. This man should have been Sho'Nuff in every single action film in 1987 and 1988. Does John McClane beat Sho'Nuff in the Nakatomi Building? I don't friggin' think so!
3. Vanity - R.I.P. forever. Such a undeniable screen presence in all of her early films, and they always found ways to fit her singing into her parts. Check her out in ACTION JACKSON and 52 PICKUP (which we'll DEFINITELY be covering here later down the road) to see what I mean. Her career never prospered, she turned towards the church in the mid-90's and she was taken from us way too soon. No talk of the 80's would be complete without a hat tip to Vanity.
Also, if you are a LAST DRAGON fan, or if this whole thing has piqued your interest, check out the article "A Deeper Look Into How ‘The Last Dragon’ Became An ’80s Classic" here.
I HAD IT ON MY WALL
We never give enough credit to the B-movies of the 90's because they mostly went straight to video instead of playing our 42nd Street joints and drive-ins like all the cool 70's and 80's ones did. We'd have a lot more love for Lou Bamba Phillips chasing Scott Glenn if this film had been made in 1982 instead of 1993.
CRUSH OF THE DAY
FRANCES STERNHAGEN
A fantastic, versatile actress, Sternhagen was an acting teacher even before she ever started acting in projects herself. She has been nominated for 5 Tony Awards and won one. She has been in such films as MISERY, STARTING OVER, THE MIST, and RAISING CAIN, as well as having recurring roles in TV series such as ER and SEX AND THE CITY. To me, though, she is imminently crush-worthy due to two roles.
Sternhagen took on the role of Cliff Clavin's mother on CHEERS. She took a part that could have been written as nagging and shrill and instead (with no small help from the great team of writers) turned the character into a very lovable woman who you were always happy to see return when they would write episodes featuring her.
More essentially, however, Sternhagen is the amazing Dr. Lazarus in the 1981 sci-fi actioner OUTLAND. Director Peter Hyams took a role written for a man and switched it up, giving it to Sternhagen. He also didn't reconfigure the part to be a romantic partner for star Sean Connery. Find a studio today that would cast as an action film's female lead a Broadway-trained actress in her early 50's. I'll go get a beer and come back in a few. I'm sure you'll come up with an answer.
Sternhagen is given a fantastic role, and she grabs onto it with all of her might. Her Lazarus is cranky, sarcastic, and not easy to get along with it at all. She is also smart, brave, and built with a moral compass that no one else even remotely close to Connery's character possesses. The role, and the performance, is phenomenal, and although not nominated for an award, there was at least discussion of a possible Supporting Actress nod for Sternhagen when the film was released.
CRUSH OF THE DAY
FRANCES STERNHAGEN
A fantastic, versatile actress, Sternhagen was an acting teacher even before she ever started acting in projects herself. She has been nominated for 5 Tony Awards and won one. She has been in such films as MISERY, STARTING OVER, THE MIST, and RAISING CAIN, as well as having recurring roles in TV series such as ER and SEX AND THE CITY. To me, though, she is imminently crush-worthy due to two roles.
Sternhagen took on the role of Cliff Clavin's mother on CHEERS. She took a part that could have been written as nagging and shrill and instead (with no small help from the great team of writers) turned the character into a very lovable woman who you were always happy to see return when they would write episodes featuring her.
More essentially, however, Sternhagen is the amazing Dr. Lazarus in the 1981 sci-fi actioner OUTLAND. Director Peter Hyams took a role written for a man and switched it up, giving it to Sternhagen. He also didn't reconfigure the part to be a romantic partner for star Sean Connery. Find a studio today that would cast as an action film's female lead a Broadway-trained actress in her early 50's. I'll go get a beer and come back in a few. I'm sure you'll come up with an answer.
Sternhagen is given a fantastic role, and she grabs onto it with all of her might. Her Lazarus is cranky, sarcastic, and not easy to get along with it at all. She is also smart, brave, and built with a moral compass that no one else even remotely close to Connery's character possesses. The role, and the performance, is phenomenal, and although not nominated for an award, there was at least discussion of a possible Supporting Actress nod for Sternhagen when the film was released.
MY TOP 5 ANTICIPATED FILMS FOR 2018
1. JFK 2 - Jim Garrison finds out that the conspiracy wasn't in who killed Kennedy. It was in the fact that the President wasn't killed at all. James Franco plays Garrison, and Rob Riggle takes on JFK in this gritty sequel.
2. BATMAN VS PIXELS - Kevin James goes crazy in this epic mash-up, playing the President character from Pixels, Batman, as well as directing the film and doing set design. Here comes the boom, indeed.
3. HAL HARTLEY'S "TRANSFORMERS" REBOOT - Hartley has promised a gentle and deadpan followup to TRANSFORMERS: THE LAST KNIGHT, with Robert John Burke picking up the mantle as Bumblebee. Expect fireworks.... very VERY low-key, low budget ($22,000 for the whole production!) fireworks.
4. DISNEY'S ANIMATED "ELLE" - Having converted ALL of their animated properties into live-action films, Disney strikes gold again converting OTHER studio's live-action films into animated treasures. First up, a musical re-do of Paul Verhoeven's 2016 film, ELLE. Featuring Selena Gomez providing the voice for the cartoon counterpart of Isabelle Huppert's Oscar-nominated role. Over a dozen songs! Bring the kids!
5. DEATH'S EXPANDED UNIVERSE - Yep, you didn't see it coming, but Drew Barrymore's character in SCREAM, Faye Dunaway's in CHINATOWN, Bruce Willis's in THE SIXTH SENSE (is this still a spoiler?), and Bambi's mother in BAMBI (well, duh) were all just red herrings thrown in by studios as they secretly and stealthily built a new Marvel-style expanded universe of dead people. And next August, all four join forces to fight supervillains (and presumably, not DIE again) in the highly anticipated CORPSES: BACK IN ACTION.
Check Fandango to see when advance tickets go on sale for all of these fantastic-looking features!
Check Fandango to see when advance tickets go on sale for all of these fantastic-looking features!
I HEARD THAT
NO MERCY - MAIN TITLE (1986) - Alan Silvestri
Alan Silvestri had already composed the BACK TO THE FUTURE score, a full-orchestra score that I did love. However, in the 80's, I was the biggest sucker for Silvestri's synth-and-sequencer heavy compositions. His theme for THE DELTA FORCE even was made into a dance remix in Europe. This title track from the '86 Richard Gere/Kim Basinger cop thriller hits all those synth notes perfectly in my opinion.
I WANT IT
I'm not going to do full slates of upcoming Blu-ray releases here, like the amazing Rupert Pupkin Speaks site does (and if you don't check that site out regularly... 1. I'm worried about you, and 2. Fix that now by clicking here.) I will, however, spotlight a title here and there that I want in my collection RIGHT THIS DAMN SECOND, and I'll let you know when you can get it (for me, preferrably. I'm not really worried about YOU getting a copy of it. So let's think of what's important first... ME.)
The movie I want today is MR. MOM, which comes out on Blu September 5th. You can order it through Amazon or wherever you dang well feel like it. Again, if it's not going to me... don't care. (But if you ARE buying it for me, do it through Amazon, and get me one of them neato Amazon gift cards. And some shaving cream. I'm getting a tad scruffy.)
MR. MOM came out in 1983 and it was a huge comedy hit that year. Michael Keaton, coming off of his amazing debut in NIGHT SHIFT the year before (I'll have PAGES to discuss about that one down the road), plays an executive who is laid off and, when his wife (TERI GARR), finds a chance to go back to work and earn money to replace his lost wages, he decides to be a stay-at-home dad. PG-rated hilarity ensues, and honestly, for a family film (and yes, my younger sisters ADORED this film when it came out), it is pretty damn funny. Keaton and Garr are great, and you get great supporting work from Martin Mull, Ann Jillian and Jeffrey Tambor. 90 minutes of 80's comedy perfection. If you haven't seen it, it'll feel mild to some compared to the raunchier fare now. If you have seen it, beware that renegade vacuum!
That's it for now. See you in a couple of days with more crushes, needs, wants, and more.
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