Category: Action films

Really Awful Movies: Ep 322 – A Force of One

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There’s only one Chuck Norris. And before Delta Force and Invasion USA (or for that matter, Good Guys Wear Black) there was A Force of One.

Chuck plays Matt Logan here, a sensei who runs a dojo, and is of course, a champion kickboxer.

Logan is hired on as a consultant when members of the San Diego Police Department end up dead, their windpipes cracked by practitioners of a certain deadly art. Three guesses as to which one.

The lieutenant and coroner suspect that the cop-killer (or killers) are proficient in the deadliest of the deadly martial arts, in this case, karate, which was exploding in popularity thanks to the likes of Enter the Dragon and the Chuck Norris co-starrer, Way of the Dragon. And it’s up to Chuck as Logan to find out which end is up, and how detectives keep ending up in San Diego Bay as fish food.

This one features an inane criminal drug syndicate subplot, and also b movie genre stalwarts like Clu Gulager (The Return of the Living Dead) and Jennifer O’Neill (Lucio Fulci’s The Psychic). And we can’t forget Super Fly himself, Ron O’Neal (no relation to Shaq…that we know of) portraying a sleazy on-the-take cop.

Join us on this special edition of the Really Awful Movies Podcast, as we once again jump into the turgid waters of the action movie ocean.

And for those who are interested in some of the nuttier offerings in the genre, be sure and check out Mine’s Bigger Than Yours! The 100 Wackiest Action Movies, which features a foreword by Ozploitation kingpin Brian Trenchard-Smith.

The book spans 9 chapters, variously covering categories like Covert Ops, Kick Ass Women, Dystopian Action and much more, but also spanning the globe, featuring many a Filipino-lensed Rambo knock-off.

If we do say so ourselves, it makes a mighty fine Christmas gift.

 

Really Awful Movies: Ep 320 – Mine’s Bigger Than Yours! A new action movie book

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On this week’s episode of the podcast, a new book for action movie enthusiasts: Mine’s Bigger Than Yours! The 100 Wackiest Action Movies.

If you’re a fan of any of the following…Steven Seagal, Cannon Films, Chuck Norris, JCVD, Reb Brown, Brian Bosworth or the films Miami Connection, Dangerous Men, Road House or Gymkata, we have a Christmas gift for you.

On this episode of the podcast, how we came to our love of terrible action movies, genre clichés like the inevitable abandoned warehouse shoot-em-up, why goons always attack one at a time instead of all at once,  and how it is that Cameron Mitchell seems to appear in so many of these crappy efforts.

Also, how we came to work with Brian Trenchard-Smith, the Aussie director who wrote our book foreword and directed Strike of the Panther; the glacial, barrel-shaped Steven Seagal and his direct-to-video Euro-oeuvre and how it influenced this tome; and the Golden Era of the muscle-bound taciturn action hero.

Finally, we explore less-than-stellar super hero movies, and how the genre has come to particular prominence now, courtesy The Avengers, but how back in the day…all people had at multiplexes was the dismal Pumaman, but also a made-for-TV pile of dung Captain America II: Death Too Soon.

Grab your bandolier, your hunting knife, another pal (especially if you’re a cop as you need a cop buddy for many of these movies) and get ready for an incredibly restorative action movie training montage as you go head-to-head with an international heroin dealer holed up on an island. With choppers. And machine guns.

The book is available in physical retailers November 18, in the United States, Canada, the UK, and Australia (that we know of. Much like the action genre, it probably spans the globe with a particular presence in The Philippines for all we know).

 

 

 

Really Awful Movies: Ep 300 – Predator

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Episode 300. Can’t believe we made it this far. On this episode of the Really Awful Movies Podcast, we tackle the Arnie muscled classic, PREDATOR!

A SWAT team descends on a mythical Central American banana republic to rescue some politicos. The force is led by none other than the Guvernator himself, Arnold Schwarzenegger, along with another governor, Jesse “The Body” Ventura. They, along with a crack team battle a rebel army in deep dark jungle…until….they come upon some compadres, skinned alive and left to rot out under the tree canopy. What could’ve committed such atrocities? Surely, no man…Instead, it’s a BEAST and an alien beast to boot. Or is that Alien? The similarities are obvious, plus those to Rambo.

Needless to say, Predator is a hoot. It’s well-filmed, the characterizations are simple, yet effective.

Join us for some chat, and subscribe!