The 101 Action Movies brings me another one of my favorites. Fresh off the success of Predator, McTiernan took Bruce Willis, then mostly known for the TV series Moonlighting and launched him into superstardom as everyman police officer John McClane, who just happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Flying out…
Tag: 101 action movies
Bloodsport (1988) – Newt Arnold
Jean-Claude Van Damme makes an appearance on the 101 Action Movies list with this martial arts classic. The film, based LOOSELY on a true story follows Frank Dux (JCVD), a military officer, who trained with Senzo Tanaka (Roy Chiao) after his own son died to pass on his martial arts style and philosophy. Going on…
Top Gun (1986) – Tony Scott
The 101 Action Movies brings this flag-waving American classic back into my life. With Tony Scott’s typical super colour-saturated framing, quick editing, fantastic rocking score, Lt. Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Tom Cruise), struggled to prove his the best of the best at the fighter pilot school known popularly as Top Gun. Tons has been said about…
Police Story (1985) – Jackie Chan
For this entry on the 101 Action Movies, Jackie Chan directs, stars, and choreographs in a no holds barred, knock-down stunt-filled flick. With an opening sequence that Bay stole for Bad Boys II, which sees a trio of vehicles busting their way through a shanty town, Chan keeps the action and the humor coming full…
Commando (1985) – Mark L. Lester
This entry on the 101 Action Movies list is just good fun, its loud, violent, and a lot of fun. It’s also a prime example of the generic action films of the 1980s. It’s rather simplistic in plot, but that doesn’t take anything away from one’s enjoyment of the film. John Matrix (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is…
The Shaolin Temple (1982) – Xinyan Zhang
The 101 Action Movies brings me yet another awesome movie I had never seen, and features a very young Jet Li. Witnessing the murder of his father by an evil general who has rebelled against the emperor and installed himself as a the new ruler . Young Jue Yuan (Li) makes an escape and injured…
48 Hrs. (1982) – Walter Hill
The 101 Action Movies brings me one of the classic buddy action movies, and despite the fact that it’s really good, it’s really tough to like any of the characters in it. Almost all of them come across as coarse, racist, and unlikable. Nick Nolte plays Jack Cates, a bit of a loose cannon of…
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) – Steven Spielberg
I’ve made no secret of my love for this movie on my blog, and it was a joy to revisit it for the 101 Action Movies list. This and Jaws always tend to be in my Top 5 movies of all time, and there is, for me, no other film that captures that action and…
Knightriders (1981) – George A. Romero
I love when the 101 Action Movies brings me something I had never seen. I remember seeing the posters for this when I was a kid, but it never meant anything to me. Now though, I think I have found my fave Romero film after the original Night of the Living Dead. And this one…
For Your Eyes Only (1981) – John Glen
This is my favorite of the Roger Moore 007s. A View To A Kill will always have a soft spot in my heart because it was the first James Bond soundtrack I had, and Spy Who Loved Me just because it was so much fun, but For Your Eyes Only added a more serious…
The Mind Reels 