2001 - THE TICK, very funny superhero spoof

Ben Edlund's goofball superhero series is very funny and very weird.  Unfortunately it was just to weird for the television viewing audience.

This version of The Tick lasted only nine episodes but they are nine very funny episodes.  Edlund has such a warped vision of comic book superheros that once you watch the big blue avenger's clueless fight against evil and mostly past their prime super villains, it's hard to take another Marvel movie seriously.

The Tick and his crime fighting partner Arthur (dressed as either a bunny or a moth or something) are ably assisted by the Wonder Woman like Captain Liberty and the hilarious send up of the Batman character,  Batmanuel.

Edlund doesn't seem to have much luck finding a way for The Tick to get mainstream acceptance on TV.  However.  the character continues to bounce back so far in an animated series and another 2016 live action series that also failed with the public. I'm sure The Tick will turn up again.

The running time for this series is 198 minutes, Ben Edlund, primary writer for the series.

2006 - BROKEN TRAIL, good TV mini series

The 3rd in Robert Duvall's old codger western film series, preceded by Lonesome Dove and Open Range.  If Duvall is still playing Gus McCrae from Lonesome Dove,  he plays the character very well.

The story is about two cowboys driving a herd of horses up to Canada for sale to the British Army.  Along the way the rescue 5 Chinese girls who have been sold into prostitution The remainder of the mini series is about their encounters with a tough gang of outlaws determined to get the girls back.

 

The film was directed by Walter Hill who is probably one of the few remaining filmmakers to have a real feeling for the old west.  The film was shot on beautiful Alberta Canada locations.  This is an example of a high quality television product made by very talented people.

 The writer was  Alan Geoffrion, the film runs 184 minutes. Duvall was one of the producers.

1968 - THE LOVE BUG, typical live action Disney

Amazingly this was the 2nd highest box office money maker of 1969.  I can remember going to the film and thinking it was one of the funniest things I have ever seen.  I wasn't alone the audience surrounding me had a good time as well.

However, time has not been particularly kind to this film.  Viewed recently the film now seems rather slow moving and most of the slapstick humor doesn't show up until the last 30 minutes of the film.

 

The film has what I would call the typical Disney cast.  What's a live action Disney film without Dean Jones?  The rest of the cast is what I would almost call the Disney stock company, Buddy Hackett, Michelle Lee, Joe Flynn, and Mr Banks himself David Tomlinson. The Disney Company kept a lot of these people receiving  paychecks.

The film was directed by Disney's best in house director Robert Stevenson.  Bill Walsh and Don DaGradi a couple of Disney veterans wrote the screenplay.  The bouncy music score was by yet another Disney regular George Burns.

The film runs kind of slow at 108 minutes.  A real period piece.

2019 - SHAFT, updated and remade for the new generation I guess.

If you like Samuel L. Jackson kicking ass, shooting people and swearing a whole lot, this is the film for you.  This I believe is Jackson's second shot at the character.  The emphasis is on comedy and action in this film.

This film gives Shaft an estranged ex-wife played by Regina Hall who has a pretty big potty mouth of her own but is really funny.  In addition, Shaft now has a son who works for the FBI and is some kind of computer geek. Finally there is the original Shaft himself Richard Roundtree who is also very amusing and moving darn good for being 78 years old.

  

 I enjoyed this film however,  it is not a film you would probably want to watch with your significant other or mother or grandmother for that matter.

We've come a long way from the original Gordon Parks film that had a gritty NYC look.

Written by Kenya Barris and Alex Barrow, the film runs 112 minutes.

1995 - UNDER SIEGE 2 DARK TERRITORY, a sequel to Under Siege (what else)?

 The film Under Siege with the rather unlikable  Steven Segal made a lot of money.  So the ineveitable sequel was green lighted.

As with most sequels this is essentially the same film as the first one except this time the film was set on a train rather than a ship.  Most of the cast is even back from the first film to give you the sense of "been there done that."

The film was directed by Geoff Murphy a good New Zealand director and it has some decent action scenes but apparently Segal had a lot of influence on the script which is readily apparent.

Well I've see worse.

 

Written by Matt Reeves and Richard Halem.  This OK time killer runs 10o minutes.

2014 - THE TAKING OF TIGER MOUNTAIN - good Chinese action film

 Hong Kong filmmaker Tsui Hark's take on the battle between the People's Libertation Army (PLA) of China and a Chinese warlord played by an almost unrecognizable Tony Leung Ka-fai.  The warlord has been terrorizing the local population from a fortress located in a place called Tiger Mountain.

The film has a lot of thrilling action set pieces as only Tsui Hark can deliver and at times was clearly filmed during the winter which must have been a very miserable experience for the actors.

Tsui Hark is good a delivering action scenes and if there is a complaint it's that the movie runs 141 minutes which is a little on the long side.

The film was written by Tsui Hark, Wu Bing, Dong Zhe, Lin Chi-an and Li Yang.

Action filmmaking at it's best.