Hot Tub Time Machine is a great trip back to the 80's

In 2010, three high school buddies (John Cusack, Rob Coddry, and Craig Robinson) come together after being years apart thanks to one of them trying to committ suicide. They decide to take a trip to a ski resort town to relieve their glory days and bring along Cusack's nephew (played by Clark Duke). Once there, they get wild and drunk and in a hot tub and before you know they're back in 1986. The catch is they have their current memories as adults but everyone sees them as their teen-age counterparts. There is an abundance of jokes and gags recalling the 80's such as leg warmers, cassette players, Max Headroom, rubik's cube, Red Dawn, and so on. Also loads of popular songs like Motley Crue's Home Sweet Home, which is kind of the movie's theme song, since they play it several times. And Poison is actually performing at the ski resort. Well, not THE Poison band but close enough. With enough nostalgia to please any fan or person that came of age during the 80's Hot Tub Time Machine is a fun and great comedy. All the guys are terrific, especially Coddry and Robinson. Also look for appearances from Chevy Chase, Crispin Glover and William Zabka (Johnny from The Karate Kid). Be warned it is heavily rated R and the language is very crude but funny.
B
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Jacob: Hey look, it's the douchbag from Karate Kid 3.

Awesome Movie Weapons - rail gun (Eraser)

This has to be one of the coolest weapons ever. From Arnold Schwarzenegger 1996's action flick Eraser, which has him playing bad ass U.S. Marshal John Kruger, who is assigned to protect witness Vanessa Williams. During the rousing finale, the bad guys are using rail guns, which the U.S. Navy has clocked the speed of a railgun at seven times the speed of sound, to flush out Kruger in a warehouse. Well once our man takes those two fools out, he picks up the guns and proceeds to kick some ass. Once the rail gun is fired, it  leaves a plasma trail in it's wake which is very cool. It also has a night vision scope on the side which even uses X-ray technology to see through walls. Awesome weapon indeed.

Fun Summer Movies: SUMMER SCHOOL (1987)

Summer Release Date: 22 July 1987. Starring Mark Harmon, Kirstie Alley, Courtney Thorne-Smith, Dean Cameron, Shawnee Smith, Robin Thomas, Carl Reiner.

For my final fun summer movie for the year, I chose the aptly titled Summer School, a very funny movie from 1987. For everyone who only know Mark Harmon from two distinct periods. One being on the current show NCIS. And the other from the earlier 80's when he was on St. Elsewhere and also when he played Ted Bundy in a TV movie. Well Mark got to cut loose in this comedy which cast him as high school gym teacher Freddy Shoop, who is pushed into teaching summer school when the other teacher bails out after winning the lottery. Which means he can't spend the summer in Hawaii with his girlfriend. She ends up going anyway, no sense in wasting the tickets and her summer as well. Of course Mark gets saddled with some of the worst students in school including two horror movie fanatics who love pulling pranks on class-mates and Mr. Shoop. Now Freddy is probably the most laid back teacher you will ever meet. But once he meets another teacher (Kirstie Alley) he starts to change his outlook on his career. The main goal is to get the kids all to pass summer school or at least show major improvement from the last set of kids. Freddy's main enemy is the vice principal who wants to see him fail. He also happens to be dating Kirstie. There are tons on laughs through-out especially when Freddy tries to help all his kids in different ways outside of school. Such as teaching one girl how to drive so she can pass her drivers test; being another girl's lamaze coach as she is expecting a baby, and trying to ward off the advances of a young Courtney Thorne-Smith. Plus Freddy has one of the coolest dogs ever, named Wondermutt. So if you never seen Summer School, check it out, it's pretty funny.

Notes:

Was a sleeper hit during the summer of 1987 with almost $40 million. Considered a success since Mark Harmon was not known as a big movie star.

The same school was used for the filming of The Karate Kid (1984).


On Shoop's left hand, you can see that he has injured one of his fingers and it appears to have been smashed. This occurred when 'Mark Harmon' had to actually put out the fire on the couch during the party scene that grew quickly out of control.
 
The Hawaiian shirt that Mark Harmon wears is the same exact Duke Kahanamoku model Montgomery Clift wears in "From Here To Eternity."


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Quotes:

Phil Gills: Would someone tell me what Mr. Shoop had planned for today?
Chainsaw: Group sex. No, that's tomorrow. Today is independent study, right after our mid-morning nap.

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Pam: You want us to study?

Shoop: The thought did cross my mind.
Denise: Well, what's in it for us? What do we get out of it?
Shoop: Literacy?

Happy Birthday Carole Bouquet

Happy Birthday to French actress Carole Bouquet who is my favorite Bond Girl. She appeared opposite Roger Moore in 1981's For Your Eyes Only, one of my fave Bond films ever. She was only 23 when she was cast as Melina, the Greek daughter seeking revenge for her parents murder.

Lynda Carter as Rita Hayworth

Another role that Lynda did to further remove her from her Wonder Woman image was the 1983 movie, Rita Hayworth: The Love Goddess. And while I'm a little fuzzy on the details since I haven't seen it since 1983 or 1984, when it was last shown on TV, I do remember Lynda giving a pretty good performance. I know a lot of Rita fans in retrospect take offense that Carter was chosen to play the actress. But Lynda was a capable enough actress and she has never received much credit for her ability. Even when playing Wonder Woman, she was able to combine drama and comedy pretty well and not come off as cheesy. So I have no problem with Lynda playing the role of Rita Hayworth. It doesn't air on TV much and I don't think it's available on DVD as of yet, but far as film bios go, it's a solid one with a good performance by Lynda.

Review - The Expendables is an action movie lover's dream come true...

Now this is how you make an action film. Sylvester Stallone has assembled an action lover's dream cast with him, Jason Statham, Mickey Rourke, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Steve Austin, Terry Crews, Randy Coture, Eric Roberts and throws in for good measure a cameo by Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzengger. The plot has Stallone's team of mercenaries called The Expendables who are recruited for a suicide mission to take down a power mad South American dictator. That's a plot right out of an 80's action flick, but hey it's good enough for me. The opening scene has our guys rescuing some hostages from Somali pirates that sets the tone for the movie. These guys are good as they rip through the bad guys with ease. But Lundgren's character Gunnar goes a little too gung ho and ends up being kicked off the team. Back stateside the team meet up with an ex-member who handles their assignment and his name is Tool (played by Rourke). Him and Barney (Stallone's character) reminisce about the old days before Tool sends him to meet Mr. Church (a wicked Bruce Willis). Church is CIA and wants Barney's team to take down this dictator but not before he agrees to the conditions of the job. Schwarzenegger is a rival mercenary who tries to get the job as well. This scene between the three action legends is one of the best scenes in the movie. As Sly and Arnie trade jabs at one another the whole time and Bruce has to step in to referee.

In the meantime Lee (played by Statham) has girlfriend troubles and has to beat down a rival to his girl in a kick ass fight scene between him and six other guys. Lee also is very deadly with knives as he gets to show several times during the movie. Jet Li gets some action later on as he has to tangle with a whacked out Lundgren that begins with an exciting car chase sequence. Lundgren is perfect as the off kilter Gunnar, who just wants to kill. Period. Barney and Lee fly down to South America for a little recon and meet Sandra, their contact and have a memorable shoot-out and fight sequence with some bad guys. After coming home, Barney does some soul searching with Tool and decides to take the mission.

Once the team gets down to South America to take on the bad guys, we learn that the true villian behind the scenes is Eric Roberts, who once again plays a smarmy ass-hole like no one else can. The last half hour of this film is non-stop action as our boys take on an entire army. Times have definitely changed...Sly used to do this kinda stuff back in the day by himself as Rambo, but now needs all the help he can get. His fight scene with Austin is brutal and he pretty much gets his ass handed to him. Crews has a killer scene where he unloads with this awesome gun that just rips through the bad guys like tissue. Like I said The Expendables gets the job done. If you want to see an old school action fest with stuff being blown up and the good guys being bad asses on bikes and getting into a shoot out or fight every 5 minutes, then this is the movie to see. When we watched it today, there was just as many women as men there and while the women in the film don't get to do too much, they aren't reduced to being just eye candy neither. There is plenty of humor and the entire cast clicks together like seasoned pros. I believe this could start a whole new series of Expendable movies because this was very entertaining and I think it will be a pretty big hit.
B+

Favorite Movie Weapons - new series

Decided to start yet another new series on this blog called Favorite Movie Weapons. And they will range from the real to the ones that are made up. And all kinds of weapons: handguns, bow and arrow, swords, lasers, etc.

Going to start off with the .44 Magnum used by Clint Eastwood in the Dirty Harry films. As Harry was prone to say "This being the most powerful handgun in the world and would blow you head clean off". Here are some interesting facts about the story of what gun was actually used while making Dirty Harry.

Dirty Harry's gun is supposedly a Smith & Wesson Model 29 revolver, chambered for a .44 Magnum cartridge. In the film, the gun is shown as being capable of sending assailants flying through the air, even when shot from a distance, however, in reality the gun does not produce such dramatic results. Additionally, the .44 Magnum round is not considered to be a practical caliber for urban police force use due to recoil (which makes target re-acquisition difficult) and over-penetration issues, which greatly increases the likelihood of the bullet going through its target and injuring bystanders. The actual gun used on set by Clint Eastwood was reportedly not a Smith & Wesson Model 29. According to a story circulated by a member of the studio's prop department, Smith & Wesson did not have a Model 29 in stock at the time, and so a Smith & Wesson Model 57 chambered for a .41 Magnum cartridge was used. The Model 29 and Model 57 are identical except for minute differences in bore size, chamber dimensions, and exterior markings, none of which are visible in the film. Fans however, have claimed that in a close up at the end of the film, the gun carried by Eastwood is in fact a genuine Model 29 chambered for a .44 Magnum. The close-up clearly shows the markings "44 MAGNU," with the final "M" blocked from view.

Be that as it may, whatever gun that was used made for an exciting film. And the .44 Magnum is synonymous with Harry Callahan.

Happy Birthday Angie Harmon

Happy Birthday to one of my favorite modern actresses. Angie Harmon turns 38 today. She has starred in Law & Order, The Women's Murder Club and is currently on TNT's new series Rizzoli and Isles.

Lynda Carter in Partners In Crime (1984)

There are lots of people who only know Lynda from Wonder Woman. Well she did several other things as well. Not as successful as her stint as WW but still diverting and entertaining stuff. One such thing was the short-lived TV series Partners In Crime from 1984, which paired her up with Loni Anderson as women who were both married to the same man, a private detective, at different times. Lynda played Carole Stanwyck, a former socialite, now photographer. And Loni played Syndey Kovak, a pick pocket and jazz bass player. When their ex-husband is killed, they team up to find the killer after inheriting his private detective business. Once they solve the case they decide to stick together and solve crimes for a living. Partners in Crime lasted only one season but it was entertaining enough. Lynda and Loni made a great team, and there wasn't that many action adventure shows with two female leads, other than Cagney & Lacey. So Lynda's performance as Carole was a little different from her Wonder Woman role but she still got to drop some one liners and kick some ass.

Wonder Woman mix

Wonder Woman TV show theme song....

One of the best TV themes ever!

Star Of The Month - Lynda Carter

August will be a very special month here on Hero Worship. Two Words: Lynda Carter. That's right, our favorite Wonder Woman will be my star of the month. Expect to get bombarded with all kinds of facts and photos of Lynda all month long. And I will also post reviews of her film and TV work. Here's a pic to get you primed for the goodness that is Lynda.