3 new reviews - Steele Justice, Messages Deleted, Spider Man 2012

[Adam Dolan]

STEELE JUSTICE – A forgotten gem of 80s exploitation. (Forgotten by
me at least, I’d never heard of it until now). Martin Kove is the
Rambo knockoff, an uncompromising, hard drinking Vietnam vet who’s
troubled personality and unbending principles prevent him from
successfully re-integrating with “society”. We see him first in
Vietnam, then pick up with him years later as he’s virtually
unemployable, fired from the cops and then from a job as a truck
driver (!). He’s also semi-estranged from his wife (Sela Ward, never
hotter looking). When Steele's ex-Nam and ex-cop buddy gets killed by
the son of his old Vietnamese enemy – I’m spoiling nothing by telling
you that Pops is still alive and well too – it kicks off your basic
one-man-army revenge plot. This movie hits all the 80s action
bases. The terrific cast includes the aforementioned Sela Ward,
James Hong, Bernie Casey, Sarah Douglas, Shannon Tweed, and of course
Ronny Cox as the police lieutenant. There’s not one original idea
in this thing, but damn is it fun to watch. Docked one half star for
a very un-80s lack of female nudity. 3 and half stars. Joe Bob says
check it out. It’s MIA on dvd thanks to the MGM bankruptcy
boondoggle, but Netflix has a terrific hi def copy available for
streaming.

MESSAGES DELETED – Turns out this is a final (?) entry in the Larry
Cohen scripted series of telephone thrillers. (See also PHONE BOOTH,
CELLULAR.) This probably the least of those 3, but it’s still a fun,
if predictable, ride. Cohen didn’t direct this one either; Rob Cowen,
previously a producer [THE CRAZIES] and second unit director, makes
his debut in the big chair here and does a pretty good job. Mathew
Lillard [SCREAM, 13 GHOSTS] effectively plays it straight as a
screenwriter who starts getting phone messages from people he doesn’t
know – right before they are violently murdered. He soon figures out
that the killer is re-creating an old screenplay of his. The killer
eventually turns out to be just who you thought it would be, but the
journey to get there is diverting enough. Mildly recommended. Also
on Netflix streaming.

THE AMAZING SPIDER MAN (2012) – I may be committing heresy here, but I
liked this better than any of the Raimi series. The trouble with the
Raimi films, which really jumped out at me while re-watching SPIDER
MAN 2 recently, is that they’re *depressing*. I don’t especially want
a comic book movie to be pitched at the level of the 1960s BATMAN
series (or Joel Schumacher’s 90s awful movie sequels), but it should
at least be SOME fun. If I want to feel sad I'll watch a REAL movie,
for crissake. The new version succeeds admirably on the more-fun
front, while still maintaining some serious underpinnings. The
casting is absolutely pitch perfect all the way around, especially
Denis Leary as Capt Stacy and Martin Sheen and Uncle Ben. This
version modernizes Spidey’s origin story, but is actually much more
faithful to the original the previous films. The action scenes and fx
are first rate too. The ending stretches on a little too long [the
natural stopping place is about 3 scenes sooner], but other than that
I really can’t find a bad word to say about this one. I did get a
bit of oh-god-I’m-old culture shock seeing Sally Field, in my mind
still that sexy 70s girl from STAY HUNGRY and various awful Burt
Reynolds flicks, as Aunt May. That’s just wrong!! (And it's probably
even more wrong that I still find her very attractive. What the hell,
I'm old too.) Four stars for this one.

[Kishin]

I liked TAS-M, too. I wouldn't call the origin closer to the comic than
the Raimi movie, in fact, I think I'd say the opposite. But I still
quite enjoyed it, and it used a LOT less CGI when it came to Spidey's
tricks (the Lizard was all CGI, of course).

--

Kishin