Wednesday, April 6, 2022

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Retro Review: Schwarzenegger’s ‘Last Action Hero’ (1993)

Posted: 05 Apr 2022 03:25 PM PDT

 

It's often said that the mark of a good parody is that you could take out all the jokes, and it would still play well as a straight genre film. The best parodies start with that ingredient and add a deep love for the source material.

 

Due in part to those multiple points of failure, and because comedy is the most difficult genre to write well, it's easy for a parody to misfire. The results can be career-crippling, as no less a star than Arnold Schwarzenegger attests.

 

That's right. Arnold himself pinpoints Last Action Hero, the 1993 parody of his bread-and-butter action film genre as the start of his movie career's decline.

 

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True, the movie was a critical and commercial disappointment. But does Last Action Hero deserve its dismal reputation? Revisiting the movie three decades later puts its legacy in perspective. First, a heads up. This movie is 30 years old, so no effort will be made to avoid spoilers. Besides, if you've ever seen an 80s action flick, you already know the basic plot structure.

 

Last Action Hero's perspective character is a teenage kid named Danny. Raised in a bad New York neighborhood by a widowed mom, Danny seeks escape in schlock action movies. And he seeks a father figure in Jack Slater (Schwarzenegger), a pastiche of every trigger happy movie cop from Harry Callahan to Marion Cobretti.

 

One night after getting mugged, Danny flees to a midnight showing of the latest Jack Slater flick. The aged projectionist of the even more aged theater gives Danny a magic ticket claimed by Harry Houdini to be the key to another world. During the screening, the ticket activates and transports Danny into the fictionalized Los Angeles of Slater's world.

 

 

In an unintended parallel with contemporary manga, this plot hook may qualify Last Action Hero for the isekai genre. It's even unclear at first if Danny wasn't transported to Jack's world by dynamite that flew from the screen and which may have killed him.

 

Anyway, Danny leverages his special power–encyclopedic knowledge of action movie tropes–to carve out a niche in Jack's world. In particular, his having overheard the villains' plot while watching the opening scene prompts Jack's hotheaded lieutenant to deputize Danny as Jack's new partner.

 

While working with Jack to stop an evil yet dimwitted mob boss from killing off his competition, Danny's bigger challenge is convincing his hero that they're both in a movie. The stock actioner plot takes a meta-level turn when Benedict, the mob boss' much more evil and far more intelligent enforcer, gets a hold of Danny's ticket and escapes into our world. Jack and Danny leap back through the screen in a race to stop Benedict from unleashing a horde of other movie villains on New York.

 

 

Where Jack learns the hard way that in real life breaking glass hurts, bullets can kill heroes, and the bad guys can win.

 

Last Action Hero was panned on its first release. It's gone down in cinema history as a career-tarnishing blunder. But does it hold up better in retrospect?

 

Nope.

 

Part of the reason the years haven't improved Last Action Hero's rep much is that it wasn't that bad to begin with. It was never awful, just middle-of-the-road when the studio needed it to be a blockbuster. They wanted Ghostbusters and got Mystery Men.

 

 

Here are Last Action Hero's besetting vices:

  • Inconsistent tone. The movie suffers wild mood swings from tongue-in-cheek to [actual] cartoon to maudlin. One minute Jack's being chased by villains with an ACME dynamite kit, the next he's distracting his ex-wife with a taped phone conversation; then we learn they're divorced because the previous movie's villain killed Jack's son. The viewer's never sure how to feel.
  • Unclear magic system. How does the magic ticket work? Does it work? The first thing that crosses over from the movies to our world is a bundle of dynamite, which may have been what really isekaied Danny to Jack's world. We don't see him use the ticket to enter the screen at first. Later, Benedict can put his hand through walls while holding the ticket, and it's Jack who throws him into our world by accident. Benedict later implies he's been going into other films to recruit movie villains, but we never see it.

    Two other screen baddies–the Ripper from Jack Slater III and Death from The Seventh Seal–appear in New York, but we aren't shown how the former crossed over. And the latter just walks out off the screen when the ticket lands on the sidewalk outside the theater. Getting the other half of the ticket does seem to let Danny return Jack home by turning the whole proscenium arch into a portal, yet Nick the projectionist later says the magic was in Danny all along. Maybe that's why nobody's concerned about finding the missing half of the ticket that let Bergman's Death into the real world. The inconsistency is handwaved as pre-Sandersonian "Magic does what it wants" mysticism. But that copout falls flat in an action movie, where tension is vital to viewer interest.

  • Broken promises. The movie sets up a compelling arc for each main character but doesn't give satisfying closure. Danny wants a father to teach him courage. His arc is established when the mugger handcuffs him to a pipe. The movie later gives him the perfect chance to overcome his fear and redeem his failure when crooked fed John Practice similarly cuffs him and Jack. Although Danny still has the key from his previous failure, the writers thwart his rescue of Jack so they can get bailed out by a cartoon cat. Breaking a main character's arc for such a dumb gag is inexcusable. Almost as bad, the movie drops strong hints that Jack and Danny will fulfill each other's arcs by becoming father and son. There's even a scene of Jack spending all night talking to Danny's widowed mom and hitting it off.

    Director John McTiernan called Last Action Hero "a Cinderella story." He must not have seen Cinderella. If he had, he'd know a Cinderella ending would involve Jack marrying Danny's mom and taking them away from their crime-ridden slum to live in his idealized Hollywood world. Jack's arc comes closest to getting closure. He kills his son's killer–even though he already did that in Jack Slater III. His real desire is to be a regular cop who enforces laws and protects citizens, not a superhero who ricochets from one zany adventure to another. His last scene, in which he tells off his rage-head boss, suggests he might get his wish, but we're left unsure.

Now, so you don't think I'm just hating on the movie, it's got quite a lot going for it, including:

  • Fun. The over-the-top action set pieces are a lot of fun. This virtue covers many sins.
  • Genre homage. Jack Slater IV's action movie plot works as an action movie plot. It would have worked even better if the film makers had trusted the story to tell itself instead of interrupting the flow with constant nudge-and-wink gags that range from loving teases to scathing rebukes. Their ambivalence comes through in the final product.
  • Villains. If Last Action Hero can boast any feathers in its cap, it's the movie's villains. Charles Dance and Tom Noonan pour all their considerable acting chops into playing Benedict and Ripper. As a result, they both manage the rare feat of being genre tropes and fleshed-out characters at the same time. Dance's Benedict is a true threat who becomes a genuine terror when he emerges into our world with genre savvy to rival Danny's. An often overlooked question raised by Benedict: What are the metaphysical implications of a real person being murdered by a fictional character? Pondering that one gave me a shiver.

 

Not reflecting on the movie's inherent merits, but of special interest to members of Gen Y, Last Action Hero marked a milestone where Hollywood reached a crossroads. It bid a bittersweet farewell to the action flicks of the 80s and gave a foretaste of Cultural Ground Zero dead ahead. The movie captures a slice of the High 90s culture that turned out to be the zenith of postwar optimism before the West's steep decline.

 

 

Perhaps it's fitting that the fall of Arnold's star tracks with that of our civilization.

 

****

 

A wild, crazy, electric ride

Read now

 

Originally published here.

The post Retro Review: Schwarzenegger’s ‘Last Action Hero’ (1993) appeared first on Bleeding Fool.

Watch: Steven Has ‘Moon Knight’ Action Figure in New Teaser

Posted: 05 Apr 2022 01:15 PM PDT

Marvel just released a new teaser for Moon Knight this morning, and while the majority of it contains footage we've seen before, there is one new bit that stands out.

 

YouTube Video

 

First we see Oscar Isaac as Steven Grant running out of his bed, being tripped by his ankle restraint, and falling to the floor. Then it appears we cut to an all-white room with Steven wearing all white and a Moon Knight action figure has fallen out of his hands. The feel of the room has that "institution" vibe and in earlier trailers we've seen the character in a padded room.

 

 

But also, in the clip we see him in Egypt and the look on his face is very much NOT Steven. Is that Marc? Are we seeing what led him to his death and rebirth as the avatar of Khonshu? Episode two of Moon Knight will be released tomorrow on April 6th on Disney+.   

The post Watch: Steven Has ‘Moon Knight’ Action Figure in New Teaser appeared first on Bleeding Fool.

Obi-Wan Kenobi Premiere Delayed for Double Episode Launch

Posted: 05 Apr 2022 10:55 AM PDT

 

"Star Wars" fans will have to wait just a bit longer to see Ewan McGregor back in action as Obi-Wan. The upcoming "Obi-Wan Kenobi" series is pushing back its premiere from Wednesday, May 25, to Friday, May 27, McGregor announced last week.

 

However, the first two episodes of the limited series will drop on Disney+ that day. In a battle of galactic proportions, "Obi-Wan Kenobi" will now go head to head with Netflix's "Stranger Things" Season 4, which is releasing Part 1 of its latest season that same day, May 27.

 

 

Since Marvel Studios' "Loki" series last year, Disney+ has stuck with Wednesdays to launch its major TV series, like Marvel's "Hawkeye" and Star Wars' "The Book of Boba Fett." Before that, "The Mandalorian," "WandaVision" and "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier" released weekly episodes on Fridays.

 

McGregor's announcement only included the first two episodes of "Obi-Wan Kenobi," so the remaining four episodes may stick with releasing on Wednesdays.

 

via Variety

The post Obi-Wan Kenobi Premiere Delayed for Double Episode Launch appeared first on Bleeding Fool.

Mixed Reactions to Trailer for ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’

Posted: 05 Apr 2022 08:25 AM PDT

 

Paramount+ is locking phasers in advance of the latest new series in the Star Trek saga, releasing the first official trailer for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, which debuts next month on the streamer. The series follows Captain Christopher Pike and the USS Enterprise crew in the decade before the original Star Trek series’ time frame.

 

The new series will premiere exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S., Latin America, Australia and the Nordics on Thursday, May 5. Following the premiere, new episodes of the 10-episode-long season will be available to stream weekly on Thursdays in the US.

 

The series stars Anson Mount as Captain Christopher Pike, Rebecca Romijn as Number One, and Ethan Peck as Science Officer Spock. Also in the cast are Jess Bush as Nurse Christine Chapel, Christina Chong as La'an Noonien-Singh, Celia Rose Gooding as Cadet Nyota Uhura, Melissa Navia as Lt. Erica Ortegas and Babs Olusanmokun as Dr. M'Benga, and features recurring guest star Bruce Horak as Hemmer.

 

YouTube Video

 

The trailer was released over the weekend, but not everyone was impressed.

 

 

 

 

 

The series has already been picked up for Season 2. What did you think of the trailer?

via Deadline

The post Mixed Reactions to Trailer for ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ appeared first on Bleeding Fool.

Zack Snyder’s ‘Man of Steel’ Hurt the DCEU from the Start

Posted: 05 Apr 2022 06:15 AM PDT

 

Rotten Tomatoes podcasts took a retrospective look back at Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel from nearly a decade ago, which remade earlier Superman efforts through a more politically correct lens, laced with darkness and largely devoid of a sense of humor:

 

The film retraced some familiar story beats – a child named Kal-El escapes his home planet Krypton just as it is destroyed and lands on Earth, where he is adopted by human parents and learns to live a normal life until a great threat compels him to use his secret powers for good. This was, after all, an origin story and a contemporary reintroduction of the character.

But despite the talent on hand and Snyder's stylized flourishes, critics were fairly split on the film, saddling it with a 56% Tomatometer score. While some found the action and the striking visuals appropriately spectacular, others found the film cold, generic, and surprisingly dark. A lot of folks had thoughts on whether or not Cavill — and Snyder, for that matter — really understood the character of Superman, and everybody had something to say about that climactic neck snap.

 

IMO, they did not comprehend squat. Or, they had no respect for what Supes was built upon, and forcibly proceeded down the cliché boulevard with no regard for Siegel and Shuster’s visions that did allow for a sense of humor, and were anything but dark when Superman originally began in the Golden Age.

 

In some ways, the approach employed in 2013’s Man of Steel movie is an allusion to the serious problem of the comedy genre being almost completely driven out of the market over the past decade, because modern leftists don’t have a genuine sense of humor. I also don’t find it appealing that David S. Goyer, the same scribe who’d written Superman giving up USA citizenship over a decade ago, is involved with projects like these. He was overrated as a comics writer, and his insult to She-Hulk and her co-creator Stan Lee by extension were a telling sign he wasn’t really a comics fan so much as he was akin to a public moralist.

 

It’s worth considering all these moviemakers and comics writers played a part in bringing down the quality of movies along with the comics, and as a result, they sure aren’t genuinely funny anymore, nor do they convey a convincing effort to ensure audiences they respect the concepts of optimism and mirth. Maybe that’s why in nearly a decade, no solo sequels were ever prepared for the Man of Steel with Cavill as the star. Instead, they had him clash with Batman before showing up again in the mediocre Justice League movie, yet nearly always belittled for Batman’s sake. No wonder Man of Steel hasn’t aged well as a modern take on Superman at the movies.

 

Originally published here.

The post Zack Snyder’s ‘Man of Steel’ Hurt the DCEU from the Start appeared first on Bleeding Fool.

Let the Grooming Begin: Disney Releases “Gayest (Kids) Movie Yet”

Posted: 05 Apr 2022 04:45 AM PDT

 

Better Nate Than Ever, a musical comedy geared at pre-teens, was just released this month on Disney+ only a few days after Florida's “Parental Rights in Education” bill (aka the "Don't Say Gay" bill) officially became law. In the movie, Nate (Rueby Wood), is a 13-year-old who is distraught after missing the audition for his high school musical, and embarks on a trip to New York City in the hopes of landing a part in a Broadway production.

 

The Daily Beast says “the gloriously queer-positive” is related to Disney’s response to the bill, even though the film was clearly produced long before the movie was made:

 

The film, in the most beautiful sign of progress and the greatest compliment I can give, is something I desperately wish I had when I was growing up. It's a love letter to kids—to theater kids, and most specifically theater kids who were made to feel shy or ashamed about who they were and how they acted, and who probably, almost 100 percent of the time, grew up to be gay.

Tim Federle, who wrote and directed Better Nate Than Ever based on his Nate book series, is one of those people, even making a pitstop as a Broadway performer on his way to making TV and movies. (He's also behind the popular—and similarly queer-accepting—High School Musical: The Musical: The Series.)

Nate (Rueby Wood) is a 13-year-old suburban kid who lives and breathes musicals; it's barely minutes into the film that the 2004 Tony Awards battle between Avenue Q and Wicked is referenced, while he describes his mom's relationship to his aunt as having "antagonistic Glinda vs. Elphaba in Act One energy."

 

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The film’s 15-year-old star, Rueby Wood, is regularly featured in gender-bending attire. He wore a black gown with a bright rock necklace, fruit-tart finger rings, and colorful, long false fingernails to the premiere of the film.

 

 
 
 
 
 
View this post on Instagram
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by Rueby Wood (@ruebywood)

 

The movie never explicitly affixes the label of "gay" to its young star, but director and writer Tim Federle is no stranger to making LGBTQ content for young people. His partnership with Disney+ began with his High School Musical spinoff series, has incorporated a lot of gay messaging in the film. His previous project with Disney saw Olivia Rodrigo and Joshua Bassett, as well as their other young co-stars, break out. During that show’s second season, Frankie Rodriguez and Joe Serafini’s Carlos and Sebastian became the first to have a significant gay romance and later a same-sex kiss.

 

Joshua Bassett plays the big brother in the movie. Better Nate Than Ever is a semi-autobiographical story about Federle's own journey from Pittsburgh to New York, where he'd ultimately find his people and be on Broadway himself. Federle said: 

 

Joshua Bassett talks pretty openly about the types of messages he gets since he sort of came out as part of the LGBTQ+ community with people saying to him, 'if you have the bravery to live honestly, maybe I can too.' And all of that inspired me to write a version of the Nate movie that wasn't watered down and wasn't censored, but also I think a very age-appropriate adventure story about a middle schooler who wants to see the big wide world.

 

Disney was always planning on producing more LGBTQ content aimed at kids long before Florida passed the Parental Rights in Education bill, and the exposure of their Reimagine Tomorrow initiative. Last month’s release of Better Nate than Ever is further proof that the studio has been working on this kind of content for a very long time. 

The post Let the Grooming Begin: Disney Releases “Gayest (Kids) Movie Yet” appeared first on Bleeding Fool.
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