RoboCop 2 (1990) - Movie Review

Official Score = 4 Devils 

Alright, so there has been one general theme that seems to be true of most forms of action packed entertainment... That is the fact that when the studios are doing the sequel to a successful movie, the production usually calls for the movie to be bigger, with more explosions, bigger story lines, bigger A list actors, etc... etc...

There is only one problem with that... That being that most of the time these movies, for lack of a better reason generally tend to be worse then their original movie!

Now this is not always true, (although it is most the time,) a great example of a movie that I would say was on par with the original was the sequel that Rob Zombie did of the, 'Halloween' remake series... And another example that I would say is universally accepted as being better then the original movie, is: Star Trek 2: The Wraith Of Khan (1982)... And yet another example being: RoboCop 2 (1990):

One of those few movies that I would say is better then the original.

Written by: Frank Miller (Sin City), Walon Green (Eraser) & Directed by: Irvin Kershner (Eyes Of Laura Mars), Starring: Peter Weller (Startrek: Into Darkness), Belinda Bauer (Timerider), Tom Noonan (Manhunter), Roger Aaron Brown (Star Trek: The Motion Picture), Nancy Allen (Carrie) & Dan O'Herlihy (The Last Starfighter).

Alex 'RoboCop' Murphy as he is just starting to take down, 'Cain's' drug ring!

After the events of the first movie, Alex 'RoboCop' Murphy (Peter Weller) has been accepted in to his department as one of their own, and not just as a piece of equipment... He has even made a friend in his partner, 'Lewis' (Nancy Allen)! The only problem is that as his old memories of his life before being a Cyborg begin to surface... Murphy begins to spend time watching his old family...

And OCP... Well... They are up to their old hijinks of course! There next robotic monstrosity... A cop to replace Alex 'RoboCop' Murphy! And in the end, instead of looking at reviving a duty driven cop... They will find some one far worse!

In the end, it will be up to Murphy and Lewis to once again stop the latest OCP mistake, before that mistake destroys the rest of the city!

RoboCop VS... RoboCrook? 

In the end I am going to say that, RoboCop (1987) was a truly exceptional movie, the one thing that for me I kind of liked that was missing in the first movie was the one thing that most of the time sequels tend to get wrong... This one had bigger and better special effects, big talent... But the kicker for me was the fact that the odds against Murphy and Lewis were bigger, with them basically being alone against an even more dangerous OCP... I also have to say that the ending was pretty amazing!

In the end the first movie had everything going for it pretty excellently, but if you haven't seen the second one yet... You should, you might really like it!

The Philadelphia Experiment (1984) - Movie Review

[caption id="attachment_557" align="alignright" width="307"] Official Score = 3 1/2 Devils[/caption]

For years now I have been a fan of both Horror and Science Fiction movies, and you know what? Generally speaking it seems like to me that with Horror movies, I usually come out of the movie feeling very satisfied, and sometimes I have even come out of the movie wanting to buy it!

With Science Fiction I feel very similar… That is to say I am also a huge fan of the Science Fiction genre, and frankly oft times I also come out of those movies either very happy with my selection… I would even go so far to say that I usually end up wanting to build the Science Fiction side of my library!

But you know what truly defines a great movie? When that movie actually electrifies you!

Now I am not talking that you get a jolt of actual Electricity... But it is not far from it… I mean you get that intense jolt of adrenaline that one gets when seeing a truly awesome movie, so much so that when you get out of the movie you can’t stop thinking about how great that movie was and it stays with you for a bit afterward… If you have had that then, you know what I am talking about!

And you know what? The Philadelphia Experiment (1984) was just one of those movies!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="720"] Michael Paré with Bobby Di Cicco in, 'The Philadelpha Experiment'![/caption]

Starring: Michael Paré (Solar Force), Nancy Allen (Carrie), Eric Christmas (Air Bud), Bobby Di Cicco (Night Shift), Kene Holliday (The District) and Stephen Tobolowsky (Groundhog Day).

The Philadelphia Experiment, tells the story about how in 1943 an experiment on board a A Navy Destroyer that went horribly wrong and ended up transporting two sailors by the name of David Herdeg (Paré), and Jim Parker (Di Cicco) that were on board the ship from 1943 to 1984…

Once they get to this foreign world though, they are not much better off… You see, besides the fact that both of them are both way out of date, and have no idea what seems to be going on, one of them is experiencing weird pain… But despite all of that, the world is coming to an end due to the fact that no one seems to be able to seal up the hole, and the hole seems to be sucking everything in to it!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="450"] Herdeg with the one friend he and his friend, 'Jim Paker' have been able to make since being thrown in to the future![/caption]

And once Jim finally disappears, David and his new friend, ‘Alison’ (Allen) will stop at nothing to find out what happened to him and his ship, and ultimately to maybe regain some sort of semblance of his life… It is the ride of his life!

In the end, this movie was freakin amazing… Now for those of you who don’t know, this movie is supposedly loosely based on the true story of an experiment that went wrong during World War 2… (And did a great job with the story line I suspect because of that…)

The truth is though is that they don’t make Science Fiction movies like that anymore… I mean this movie had some amazing talent that just did a fantastic job! Admittedly the special effects are a little campy… But what can you expect? I mean this movie is almost 30 years old, and in all truth I have to admit that the special effects (despite their campy appeal were part of what made this movie so awesome!)

The last thing that I wanted to mention here is the fact that this movie had an amazing script, with an awesome story line… the reason I say this, is that I saw a documentary on the, ‘Real’ Philadelphia Experiment, and in truth, at least according to the documentary, the way the movie depicted the events on the ship in 1943, were pretty close to what really happened, and the plight of the two Sailors lost in time (something that as far as I know didn’t actually happen) was amazingly well written!

In the end, this movie, I thought was just awesome… And if you check it out you might think the same!

http://youtu.be/iURHeZ3Qv8E

Stephen King On The Big Screen

Stephen King… What can I say… I mean this guy can literally be described as a true master of horror! I mean this guy’s novels have been terrifying readers all over the world, with such works as:

1. Carrie
2. The Stand
3. Gerald’s Game
4. Christine

And that is just to name a few!

But there is another side to the work that Stephen King has done that I wanted to talk about today that I thought that you, guys might enjoy, and that is the work that would eventually make its way to the big or small screen!

Starting off as early as 1976 with the release of his novel, ‘Carrie’ to the big screen and continuing on to the modern day with all the remakes that are coming out from this guy’s work. Stephen King has been entertaining and scaring audiences all over the world for literally decades! And the type of talent has been drawn to the films that are based on this man’s work!

[caption id="attachment_1103" align="aligncenter" width="640"] The start of one of the most famous scenes of the movie, 'Carrie' (1976)... One of the most recognizable horror movies all time, and it was adapted from Stephen King's first novel![/caption]

There has been such notables that have worked on movies that were based on Stephen King’s works of fiction which have included:

1. Sissy Spacek (Carrie)

2. Piper Laurie (Carrie)

3. John Travolta (Carrie)

4. P.J. Soles (Carrie)

5. Nancy Allen (Carrie)

6. Drew Barrymore (Firestarter & Cat’s Eye)

7. James Woods (Cat’s Eye)

8. Martin Sheen (Firestarter)

9. George C. Scott (Firestarter)

10. Gary SInise (The Stand)

11. Matt Frewer (The Stand)

12. Molly Ringwald (The Stand)

And that is just a few of the countless notables that have graced the screen in a Stephen King movie… And as for directors , we have such truly legendary directors that have worked on these movies which included:

1. John Carpenter

2. David Cronenberg

3. Brian De Palma

4. Tobe Hooper

5. Stanley Kubrick

That is just to name a few as well!

Now if you haven’t had a chance to read any of his work, he does have some non-horror based work as well, including: The Green Mile (1999), and Stand By Me (1986)… And the truth is, is that the majority of that stuff is fun and all of that, but I am not here to talk about that…

In this case I am here to talk about his work in the horror field… There was a joke at one point that was done on TV about Stephen King having to come up with a new idea that would scare the audience well enough and so he grabs his editors lamp and tries to scare him like that…

Well that is just one facet of his work! What I mean by this is that I have found that Stephen King has been able to take any one thing or circumstance and make it in to a fun, gripping and chilling tale of the macabre! A few examples are as follows:

1. In, ‘The Langoliers’ Stephen King makes an innocent enough plane trip in to a terrifying adventure back through time, where if they don’t make it back quick, they might never be able to do so!

2. Another fun example is how Carrie tells the tale of a girl with telekinetic powers in High School who after being taunted and teased by just about everyone around her decides to get even on one fateful night that will live in infamy forever!

3. Another example is how a classic car turns out to want it’s owner about as much as the owner wants the car and will kill to keep that relationship alive!

These are just a few examples of the truly classic novels that had been turned in to movies!

All in all, the truth is, is that most of his work is better in written form, but the truth is, is that the movies that are based on his work is pretty close to being just as good, and if you haven’t had a chance to enjoy either, then I recommend trying both… You might find that you have a new author to enjoy and a new series of movies as well!

http://youtu.be/1qshFVvbYuw