The seminal 80's movie from writer John Hughes that is often overlooked in terms of holding it's place in 80's movie history is 1987's Some Kind of Wonderful. The movie follows the exploits of every man high school Junior, Keith and his tomboy best friend Watts, played by Eric Stoltz and Mary Stuart Masterson. Watts character could be described as the protagonist of the story, and is by Eric Stoltz in a making of featurette. She is also quite possibly the protagonist in my attraction to strong females with tomboyish qualities and short hair. Keith is an artist, who works at a gas station aafter school, all the while pining for some chick named Amanda Jones, who is coined as "sex" by Keith's younger sister, Laura.
The movie's plot takes Keith through the wringer of falling for Amanda and doing everything in his power to ask her out. She accepts on the basis that she has had enough of her boyfriend's cheating ways. Amanda is then thrown into a world she knows nothing about, as she comes from a working class family, but is "allowed" to hang with the "richies." Keith gets detention to be able to spend time with Amanda, who has plans of her own for avoiding the whole ordeal. In sitting through detention, Keith makes friends with the school misfits, lead by Duncan. Through their mutual dislike for Hardy Jenns and both being artists of sorts, they become friends.
The moment of truth in this movie might be the practice kiss between Watts and Keith for most viewers. However for this reviewer, the moment to watch is when Keith drops by Watts' to talk. He lays down on her bed, and she plops down next to him. The tension in that moment is classic as Watts has been in love with Keith for some time. Only seeing what he wants, Keith misses the whole thing, until he sees Watts at the end of the movie standing my the car she drove for Keith while on his date with Amanda. He flashes back to the kiss, and suddenly knows it was always her that he really loved. The last line of the movie when Watts puts on the diamond earrings Keith bought for his date with Amanda. She asks, "how they look?" Keith answers with a classic line, "You look good wearring my future."
This is my favorite 80's movie. And the best written John Hughes film ever made. Even though he didn't direct it, it was his movie. In my own grading system, this movie rates Rob Van Dam versus Jerry Lynn for the ECW World Television Championship at Hardcore Heaven 1999. It was 20 plus minutes of action the likes of which had ever been seen. The two had a handful of matches, none of which delivered quite like this, with both combatants being knocked cold during the match. The major moment of the match was Lynn's Somersault Flip over the top rope, sending Van Dam through a table that exploded from the impact.
There are a few things in life that no matter what can make me happy. This movie is one of those things.
Showing posts with label jerry lynn. Show all posts
Showing posts with label jerry lynn. Show all posts
Friday, October 1, 2010
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Scalped vol. 1; A Hardcore Review *SPOILERS*
What can I say about this trade other than it's FUCKING BRILLIANT! Jason Aaron writes a compelling, deep seeded book that R.M. Guera draws about Dashiell Bad Horse, a Lakota man who's come back to The Rez to find it in worse shape than when he left. Bad Horse is made a law man by Lincoln Red Crow, with the hopes of cleaning up the reservation in time for the Crazy Horse Casino opening. Dash is not at all excited about the new position he has, but takes it like a champ kicking the shit out of anyone who gets in his way. Not the least is his former Red Power revolutionary mother, Gina, with whom he is estranged. Red Horse busts out meth houses, while keeping tabs on the old love he left behind 15 years ago. And she hasn't forgotten the heart break either.
Red Crow, the prosperous tribal leader is mired in getting his 97 million dollar casino off the ground, while structuring back alley deals with drug dealers and the men who put him power. Also on his plate is dealing with his scandalous daughter who is the source of much shame to him. Red Crow surrounds himself with plenty of muscle and guns to keep things from going under. But there's only so much that can save you when the man you just hired to keep the situation in order is an undercover FBI agent. And Red Crow has a little too much on his plate to notice all the holes in his grand scheme.
Bad Horse is a bad mother fucker in every sense of those three words. The term "tough as nails cop," gets thrown around a lot too often in descriptions for movies, tv shows and novels these days. As sadly America's vocabulary suffers greatly from lack of use of a thesaurus. But Bad Horse is someone you do not wanna fuck with. Upon his return, everything is thrown into the blender and then poured out in a concoction of gasoline and volatile methamphetamine chemical cocktails. This is a book you do not want to miss.
Guera's artwork is fashionably subdued for this piece. Nothing is warranted like a book with the perfect art to compliment the writing. And it doesn't get any better than Scalped. With a solid Earth-tone palette and grizzly realism, Guera paints a gritty and fucked up picture to Aaron's words. And the flashback sequences are nothing short of genius, having the palette shift to gray scale to show the separation of time. If this duo hasn't won an award yet, it's not for lack of effort, that's for fucking sure. People need to put this book on their pull list for fear of being left out of a title that truly changes the face of comics today. And that is what has set Vertigo apart from the rest for so many years now. Their willingness to let the talent be the talent and let them tell stories the way they can do it best.
The intrigue from a double murder almost 25 years earlier, sends FBI agent Nitz recruiting Bad Horse from the academy and sending him back to Lakota land to bring down Red Crow. This all ties in with Red Crow, Bad Horse's mother and the mysterious man trailing Bad Horse at his secret rendezvous with Nitz. And that's just the first two story arcs.
Scalped is one of the most brutally shocking crime noir comics ever, and that's it's best selling point.
As you may well know these reviews are graded based upon moments in wrestling history. The more hardcore, sexual, violent, classic or otherwise the moment, the more I approve of the piece I am reviewing. Scalped rates pretty fucking high on that list. With its frankly downright honest dialog and story telling to the truth it holds with the art, I cannot help but fucking love this book. You won't hear mention of Hulk Hogan in this review, except for right there. Hardcore is a title that is earned and should never ever be given to someone or something. Especially when that someone or something has not earned it. And when Vince McMahon bought ECW, he thought he bought the idea of hardcore. You can't buy a legacy. You can't hold an idea in your hands and claim it's yours cause you shelled out a few million bucks for it. But when Pantera's "Walk" blared into the Hammerstein Ballroom on January 7, 2001 it meant something. And when Rob Van Dam, stepped from behind those curtains that night, the crowd lost it. He confidently sauntered to the ring in his now iconic tiger striped singlet and the crowd chanted with him, "WHOLE FUCKIN' SHOW!" as he did the double thumbs. Rob put on a performance that few have tried and even fewer have equaled. That night he fought the only man to ever take him to his limit in Jerry Lynn, new recruit to Cyrus. Lynn professed at the start of the pay per view that he would only wrestle in main events if he ever wrestled again. It was the main event and it was spectacular, as Van Dam and Lynn pulled out all the stops and then some. And with no one on his side. Sidekick and manager Bill Alphonso was not at ring side to help, who was gonna aide Van Dam in delivering the most dangerous and deadly finisher is wrestling. In steps the quintessential stud muffin, Joel Gertner who had been battling with Cyrus all through 2000 on pay per views and during the Friday night ECW on TNN. Gertner jumped into the ring saying he could do Van Dam's bidding, and so he should. Holding the steel chair over Lynn's face as he lay damn near unconscious in the corner. All in one motion, Van Dam leaped to the top turnbuckle and sprang corner to corner, to deliver the very last Van Terminator in ECW.
Red Crow, the prosperous tribal leader is mired in getting his 97 million dollar casino off the ground, while structuring back alley deals with drug dealers and the men who put him power. Also on his plate is dealing with his scandalous daughter who is the source of much shame to him. Red Crow surrounds himself with plenty of muscle and guns to keep things from going under. But there's only so much that can save you when the man you just hired to keep the situation in order is an undercover FBI agent. And Red Crow has a little too much on his plate to notice all the holes in his grand scheme.
Bad Horse is a bad mother fucker in every sense of those three words. The term "tough as nails cop," gets thrown around a lot too often in descriptions for movies, tv shows and novels these days. As sadly America's vocabulary suffers greatly from lack of use of a thesaurus. But Bad Horse is someone you do not wanna fuck with. Upon his return, everything is thrown into the blender and then poured out in a concoction of gasoline and volatile methamphetamine chemical cocktails. This is a book you do not want to miss.
Guera's artwork is fashionably subdued for this piece. Nothing is warranted like a book with the perfect art to compliment the writing. And it doesn't get any better than Scalped. With a solid Earth-tone palette and grizzly realism, Guera paints a gritty and fucked up picture to Aaron's words. And the flashback sequences are nothing short of genius, having the palette shift to gray scale to show the separation of time. If this duo hasn't won an award yet, it's not for lack of effort, that's for fucking sure. People need to put this book on their pull list for fear of being left out of a title that truly changes the face of comics today. And that is what has set Vertigo apart from the rest for so many years now. Their willingness to let the talent be the talent and let them tell stories the way they can do it best.
The intrigue from a double murder almost 25 years earlier, sends FBI agent Nitz recruiting Bad Horse from the academy and sending him back to Lakota land to bring down Red Crow. This all ties in with Red Crow, Bad Horse's mother and the mysterious man trailing Bad Horse at his secret rendezvous with Nitz. And that's just the first two story arcs.
Scalped is one of the most brutally shocking crime noir comics ever, and that's it's best selling point.
As you may well know these reviews are graded based upon moments in wrestling history. The more hardcore, sexual, violent, classic or otherwise the moment, the more I approve of the piece I am reviewing. Scalped rates pretty fucking high on that list. With its frankly downright honest dialog and story telling to the truth it holds with the art, I cannot help but fucking love this book. You won't hear mention of Hulk Hogan in this review, except for right there. Hardcore is a title that is earned and should never ever be given to someone or something. Especially when that someone or something has not earned it. And when Vince McMahon bought ECW, he thought he bought the idea of hardcore. You can't buy a legacy. You can't hold an idea in your hands and claim it's yours cause you shelled out a few million bucks for it. But when Pantera's "Walk" blared into the Hammerstein Ballroom on January 7, 2001 it meant something. And when Rob Van Dam, stepped from behind those curtains that night, the crowd lost it. He confidently sauntered to the ring in his now iconic tiger striped singlet and the crowd chanted with him, "WHOLE FUCKIN' SHOW!" as he did the double thumbs. Rob put on a performance that few have tried and even fewer have equaled. That night he fought the only man to ever take him to his limit in Jerry Lynn, new recruit to Cyrus. Lynn professed at the start of the pay per view that he would only wrestle in main events if he ever wrestled again. It was the main event and it was spectacular, as Van Dam and Lynn pulled out all the stops and then some. And with no one on his side. Sidekick and manager Bill Alphonso was not at ring side to help, who was gonna aide Van Dam in delivering the most dangerous and deadly finisher is wrestling. In steps the quintessential stud muffin, Joel Gertner who had been battling with Cyrus all through 2000 on pay per views and during the Friday night ECW on TNN. Gertner jumped into the ring saying he could do Van Dam's bidding, and so he should. Holding the steel chair over Lynn's face as he lay damn near unconscious in the corner. All in one motion, Van Dam leaped to the top turnbuckle and sprang corner to corner, to deliver the very last Van Terminator in ECW.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
The Big Lebowski; A hardcore Review
"AM I THE ONLY ONE AROUND HERE WHO GIVES A SHIT ABOUT THE FUCKING RULES?!"
If the Coen Brothers never made another movie, I would still call them fucking geniuses. When you get the Coen's involved in a movie with an amazing ensemble cast like this, with a movie that makes absolutely no fucking sense and really has no discernible plot, you would think this was gonna be an abortion of Gigli proportions. Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, Julianna Moore, Phillip Seymore Hoffman, John Tuturro and Sam Elliott. This flick has more quotable one liners than a Kevin Smith marathon. And this all starts out with a guy having his rug peed on.
"You flash your piece at me. I'll take it away from you and shove it up you ass and pull the trigger till it goes click."
"Jesus..."
"You said it man. Nobody fucks with the Jesus."
The story of the pacifistic, White Russian drinking, sloppy yet charming Dude. A man so lazy he puts my roommates kid to the test. Jeffrey Lebowski is The Dude, a man who bowls, and writes checks for half & half and get confused for The Big Lebowski, a multi-millionaire philanthropist. Somehow, getting him tangled in a web revolving around The Big Lebowski's wife Bunny, who owes money to pornographer Jackie Treehorn. This movie is a fucking acid trip man. So many fucked up things go on. A fucking great film in so many senses of the word. It's filmed incredibly well. Cinematic in scope. But then again it's the fucking Coen brothers we're talking about.
"Walter, I love you man. But sooner or later you're gonna have to realize your a fucking moron."
One question I have about the "plot" is why would Nihilists be involved in a kidnapping for money? Apparently they believe in money. So the thought is, money IS nothing. The Coen's are teaching up a philosophy lesson as well as entertaining us. And they do entertain. Jeff Bridges proves he is a perfectly able character actor. And then you add in John Goodman who has done nothing BUT play astonishing characters throughout his career. Add in guys like Sam Elliott, Steve Buscemi and John Tuturro in small doses and this movie couldn't get any better.
"You want a toe? I can get you a toe.... I can get you a toe by three o'clock. With nail polish."
It's a movie that would make a great comic book. Slice of life piece with aspirations of Superman-like greatness. This movie is so a part of pop culture that Agnew dresses as The Dude in volume 2 of got crayons? I need to remember this movie for future reference and inspiration for Youth in Asia.
"Shut the fuck up Donnie!"
The grade for this movie is something that was 12 years in the making. A man who had a made a career out of making stars for companies that didn't appreciate him. Companies that used him to make money and promote other wrestlers. This night, in his hometown, in front of a capacity crowd and millions on pay per view, Anarchy Rulz 2000 to be exact. Jerry Lynn had the biggest fucking match of his career. Against the man who ran The Franchise out of ECW. The upstart who caned the Sandman to near death, took his Singapore Cane and forced him to join WCW, and then almost killed Tommy Dreamer. Justin Credible, the young man who threw down his half of the World Tag Team Titles to steal the belt that Tommy Dreamer had just won from Taz. But tonight, the young upstart met his match in the journeyman who was no longer gonna make any more stars. Other than himself. The deck was stacked. As Danny Daniels snuck into the match after H.C. Loc was knocked out during the action. Daniels had been trying to fuck over Lynn for weeks. He fast counted Lynn twice, then after Credible hit Lynn with That's Incredible for like the fifth time, Daniels counted to 2, flipped off Lynn and yelled, "Fuck you!" was about to count three, when the music hit! The long whistle followed by the explosion, and the crowd went ballistic. Out came NEW JACK, who was supposed to ref the match before Justin Credible jumped him the week before. Jack took out Daniels, and then took a couple cane shots from Credible. But Lynn recovered, and hit a cradle Tombstone Piledriver. 1-2-3! And Jerry Lynn had won his first title in North America, the Extreme Championship Wrestling World Heavyweight Championship.
"YOU SEE WHAT HAPPENS LARRY?! YOU SEE WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU FUCK A STRANGER IN THE ASS?!"
If the Coen Brothers never made another movie, I would still call them fucking geniuses. When you get the Coen's involved in a movie with an amazing ensemble cast like this, with a movie that makes absolutely no fucking sense and really has no discernible plot, you would think this was gonna be an abortion of Gigli proportions. Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, Julianna Moore, Phillip Seymore Hoffman, John Tuturro and Sam Elliott. This flick has more quotable one liners than a Kevin Smith marathon. And this all starts out with a guy having his rug peed on.
"You flash your piece at me. I'll take it away from you and shove it up you ass and pull the trigger till it goes click."
"Jesus..."
"You said it man. Nobody fucks with the Jesus."
The story of the pacifistic, White Russian drinking, sloppy yet charming Dude. A man so lazy he puts my roommates kid to the test. Jeffrey Lebowski is The Dude, a man who bowls, and writes checks for half & half and get confused for The Big Lebowski, a multi-millionaire philanthropist. Somehow, getting him tangled in a web revolving around The Big Lebowski's wife Bunny, who owes money to pornographer Jackie Treehorn. This movie is a fucking acid trip man. So many fucked up things go on. A fucking great film in so many senses of the word. It's filmed incredibly well. Cinematic in scope. But then again it's the fucking Coen brothers we're talking about.
"Walter, I love you man. But sooner or later you're gonna have to realize your a fucking moron."
One question I have about the "plot" is why would Nihilists be involved in a kidnapping for money? Apparently they believe in money. So the thought is, money IS nothing. The Coen's are teaching up a philosophy lesson as well as entertaining us. And they do entertain. Jeff Bridges proves he is a perfectly able character actor. And then you add in John Goodman who has done nothing BUT play astonishing characters throughout his career. Add in guys like Sam Elliott, Steve Buscemi and John Tuturro in small doses and this movie couldn't get any better.
"You want a toe? I can get you a toe.... I can get you a toe by three o'clock. With nail polish."
It's a movie that would make a great comic book. Slice of life piece with aspirations of Superman-like greatness. This movie is so a part of pop culture that Agnew dresses as The Dude in volume 2 of got crayons? I need to remember this movie for future reference and inspiration for Youth in Asia.
"Shut the fuck up Donnie!"
The grade for this movie is something that was 12 years in the making. A man who had a made a career out of making stars for companies that didn't appreciate him. Companies that used him to make money and promote other wrestlers. This night, in his hometown, in front of a capacity crowd and millions on pay per view, Anarchy Rulz 2000 to be exact. Jerry Lynn had the biggest fucking match of his career. Against the man who ran The Franchise out of ECW. The upstart who caned the Sandman to near death, took his Singapore Cane and forced him to join WCW, and then almost killed Tommy Dreamer. Justin Credible, the young man who threw down his half of the World Tag Team Titles to steal the belt that Tommy Dreamer had just won from Taz. But tonight, the young upstart met his match in the journeyman who was no longer gonna make any more stars. Other than himself. The deck was stacked. As Danny Daniels snuck into the match after H.C. Loc was knocked out during the action. Daniels had been trying to fuck over Lynn for weeks. He fast counted Lynn twice, then after Credible hit Lynn with That's Incredible for like the fifth time, Daniels counted to 2, flipped off Lynn and yelled, "Fuck you!" was about to count three, when the music hit! The long whistle followed by the explosion, and the crowd went ballistic. Out came NEW JACK, who was supposed to ref the match before Justin Credible jumped him the week before. Jack took out Daniels, and then took a couple cane shots from Credible. But Lynn recovered, and hit a cradle Tombstone Piledriver. 1-2-3! And Jerry Lynn had won his first title in North America, the Extreme Championship Wrestling World Heavyweight Championship.
"YOU SEE WHAT HAPPENS LARRY?! YOU SEE WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU FUCK A STRANGER IN THE ASS?!"
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