Assassins (1995)

Sylvester Stallone is a hired Assassin in the film written by the Wachoski's and directed by Richard Donner. He is number one in his profession, you join him taking a mark out in to the swamp, another professional he has been tasked with killing. You have Antonio Banderas a younger Assassin who knows Sylvester Stallone is number one and he wants to be number one. You have Julianne Moore a hacker that comes between them as a target and from there the story unfolds as Stallone realises what she has and decides to use it to get out of the business.

The film comes to a conclusion outside a small white bank in a tropical location and it is strange finish as Stallone knows what will happen as it is a similar situation that he previously went through when he took the number one spot. Now this is an interesting story but he knows what is going to happen so well and can tell exactly what Banderas is going to do I don’t know why he did not make more sure of what he was trying. Thinking about the end of the film it was not very clear and while gripping in a tension filled way too much thought about how they do it makes it seem silly.

This film is enjoyable enough to watch and appreciate a couple of the gun fights but it is not high entertainment and is typical 90’s Stallone action driven fare. Would only recommend to people who enjoy this sort of film and think that from my brief description you will know if it is for you or not. Overall this is a 5 out of 10 film, not worth going out of your way to get but worth seeing especially for free.

Lethal Weapon 2 (1989)

The second in the Lethal Weapon films, sees Murtagh and Riggs back together again as partners, this time investigating South Africans. Mel Gibson and Danny Glover, one of the best cop buddies are back in a film that takes what the original created and moves it on a bit. From 1989 it is dated by the fact that the drop back to a lot of the action and set up is Apartheid demonstrations and does lead to the funniest scene in the film in the South African Embassy. “Bit you are Bleck!”

I like the series it went on a bit long and have only ever seen the fourth film once, but the first three are actually a really good series and they do what sequels are supposed to do and build on the original and previous films and I think that this series achieves this. The action is a step up, the comedy goes annoying with Joe Pesci but with Joss Ackland playing the main bad guy you have the comedy relief and the evil enough bad guy.

Overall you will know before you watch this if you are going to like It, a buddy cop movie that ticks all the boxes of the late eighties with dark enough deaths, harsh enough violence and just the right level of comedy. In the Cop buddy stakes it is a 9 out of 10, in the realms of movies it hits a respectable 7 out of 10.

Conspiracy Theory (1997)

From 1997 we meet Gerry the Cab driver played by Mel Gibson who opens the film by talking endlessly about all of the common conspiracy theories and some not so common ones. You then see him try to visit Julia Roberts and it becomes clear that he is a little unhinged and is possibly a little bit obsessed with her. He has some radical theories that he gathers by reading all the newspapers and connecting articles through recent history. The big question surrounds is it Paranoia when they really are out to get you? And Sir Patrick Stewart is there to try and help him as well.

I saw this film not long after it came out but had not seen it again in ages so took the opportunity to watch it and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by it. Gibson and Roberts are not actors I am generally drawn to but they were both more in their hey day when this was filmed and were both very good and convincing. There is obviously some believability whether what is actually done in the film is possible and I think it is just the Hollywood extreme case that almost everything is true but not at the same time and they really make it work in the context of the film.

Patrick Stewart makes the perfect bad guy as he really can act and he can show both sides from the giving father to the evil agent out to kill you all. But he does round out what is an excellent cast and I have to say this film really was a pleasure to watch, 7 out of 10 for me on this one.

The Goonies (1985)

This is one of my favorite all time movies, I have seen it so many times that when re-watching it I am able to quote whole conversations and the jokes still work for me, i will say that there is a level of nostalgia and I think that the music the jokes and the setting just put me back to when I was a child watching this film repeatedly from a VHS we had taped from the TV. I had watched the tape so many times I used to know all of the adverts on the VHS. But back to looking at the film, the best thing about this for me is that it throws you into the middle of a situation, it is easy enough to pick up what is happening and they reference so many things that happened previously that I likened it to being the film at the end of a TV Series which shows that Chris Columbus really was a great writer and Richard Donner is a great director, everything in this film works.

Your main cast is a surprising in that so many of the child actors are well known for other things, Sean Astin in Lord of The Rings, Josh Brolin in No Country for Old Men and other things, Corey Feldman for being Corey Feldman and Jonathan Ke Quan as Short Round in Temple of Doom. The fact that so many of them are still around shows they had the chops and it was a dream cast. The baddies, thr Fratellies are played by the late great Anne Ramsey, she still scares me today and i would not cross her and teh fact that her 2 sons hate each other as the vye for her attentions. The set peice is the dream and realm of so many kids fantasies from that era, who did not go looking for treasure when they were younger?

This film is a 5 star masterpeice that I actually think people watching today for the first time will still enjoy, and if you have not seen it, you will see some really common pop culture refrences and where they originated so "Hey you Guys!" Make sure you have seen this film.