The Furious is a balls-to-the-wall actioner that is outrageously over-the-top but incredibly crowd-pleasing in its violence and action beats. Having said that, the ADR in the film is terrible, and I honestly think the entire film should just be subtitled. The film has a strong enough appeal that I don’t think it needed to have…
Tag: over the top
The King’s Man (2021) – Matthew Vaughn
The third entry in the KingsMan series, all of which have been directed by Matthew Vaughn, is a prequel to the rest of the series. It shows how the KingsMan agency came to be, what caused it, and how it grew its network of information and agents. Sounds great. Then you throw in Ralph Fiennes,…
Eraser (1996) – Chuck Russell
Arnold Schwarzenegger fights to save Vanessa Williams and stop an arms deal with terrorists in Eraser. The big guy is John Kruger, a U.S. Marshal who specializes in working the Witness Relocation Program. The opening sequence sets up his abilities and the aspects of the job which see him erasing Johnny C (Robert Pastorelli) to…
Polite Society (2023) – Nida Manzoor
Polite Society is an enjoyable action comedy with strong female characters involved in a wonderfully melodramatic tale. The story follows a young Pakistani woman, Ria (Priya Kansara) who dreams of being a stuntwoman, and who idolizes her older sister, Lena (Ritu Arya), who is experiencing a tough time after leaving art school because she she…
Renfield (2023) – Chris McKay
Nicholas Hoult, Nicolas Cage, and Awkwafina star in Chris McKay’s bloody, hilarious, and over-the-top love letter to the supporting character of the original Dracula story, Renfield, including some wonderful homages to the original 1931 film. It’s modern-day America and Renfield (Hoult) has relocated Dracula (Cage) yet again to hide him from those who would hunt…
Shadow in the Cloud (2020) – Roseanne Liang
Shadow in the Cloud starring Chloe Grace Moretz is a wonderfully over-the-top nod to female pilots in World War II as well as nods to The Twilight Zone (specifically ‘Nightmare at 20,000 Feet’), John Carpenter (the film’s score feels like Carpenter through and through) and allows Moretz to get her Ripley on. Boarding a B-17…
Batman (1966) – Instant Freeze, and Rats Like Cheese
Batman (Adam West) and Robin (Burt Ward) have their work cut out for them when Dr. Shivel (George Sanders) aka Mr. Freeze returns to Gotham in Instant Freeze. Written by Max Hodge, this episode first debuted on 2 February, 1966. Batman is a little bothered by Freeze’s return to Gotham, not only because of the…
The Equalizer (1988) Target of Choice, and Always a Lady
McCall (Edward Woodward) and Mickey (Keith Szarabajka) have their work cut out for them in the penultimate episode of season three of The Equalizer. Target of Choice, written by Kevin Droney, first aired on 6 April, 1988. A killer, Hawkins (Kevin Geer), is out of prison, and he’s got his murderous eye on the man…
Red 2 (2013) – Dean Parisot
Bruce Willis, Mary-Louise Parker, Helen Mirren, Brian Cox, and John Malkovich are back in Red 2, a sequel that came hot on the heels of the previous film, and added some more star power to its roster with Anthony Hopkins, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Lee Byung-Hun, Steven Berkoff, and David Thewlis. Frank (Willis) gets the band back…
Willy’s Wonderland (2021) – Kevin Lewis
Silly, goofy, and wonderfully over-the-top, the horror film, Willy’s Wonderland, is just a romp that doesn’t take itself, or the world it exists in very seriously, and it’s star, Nicholas Cage, doesn’t say a word through the entire film. His character, known only in the credits as The Janitor, is a bad-ass looking guy who’s…
The Mind Reels 