TOP GUN; Full-Tilt Review

"I feel the need..." 

Maverick 

"..The need for speed!"

Maverick & Goose 

Looks as though Val doesn't understand how to play 'rock-paper-scissors'.

 
Synopsis:

Tom Cruise takes the lead as Lieutenant Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, a gifted pilot selected to attend the elite 'Top Gun School' for training ahead of rising tensions with Russia. However, his reckless attitude causes friction among his fellow pilots. And to confuse matters even further for the hot-headed Maverick, he develops an infatuation with Ms Blackwood, his astrophysicist instructor.

Script: 1/2 - a generic sports arc plotline, but you're not here for the plot, are you?


Pace: 1/2 - not bad, but a little baggy in Act 2.


Acting: 1/2 - the scenery is sufficiently chewed.


Aesthetic: 2/2 - a film that drips in 80's excess cool.


Intention: 1/2 - as a drama it's pretty weak, it's at its best when the jets are in the air.

Final Word: 6/10

I missed this film growing up, it just sort of passed me by, never having been fond of Tom Cruise or planes. Perhaps, because of this lack of judgement-bending nostalgia, my reaction to the film was only luke-warm. I found the character of Maverick almost impossible to root for, and I was actually pretty glad to see him taken down a peg (I'm not convinced that was the intention). Kelly McGillis makes for a love interest with all the sex appeal and chemistry of a used cotton bud, and if Val Kilmer was any more wooden he'd start sprouting roots and leaves... Having said that, the plot and the characters are a thinly veiled excuse to get the jets up into he air, and it's in these moments that the film comes to life. It's easy to see how so many impressionable (read "stupid") youngsters decided a glamorous life in the Navy was for them after viewing watching Top Gun. Naturally, all that time in the class room needs to pay-off, resulting in a logic and history defying dog-fight with Russian jets which somehow doesn't trigger World War III. On it's own terms, I guess there's some fun to be had with Top Gun, I just came to this particular party too late it seems.

BUBBA HO-TEP; Full-Tilt Review

"Ask not what your rest home can do for you. Ask what you can do for your rest home."

Elvis 

Elvis is the main character, only as a hero, and not a pervert who manipulated little girls.

 

Synopsis:


Based on a short story by cult writer Joe R Lansdale and bought to the screen by cult director Don CosCarelli (he of Phantasm fame), what we have here is very 'cult'... In a nutshell, two residents of an East Texas retirement home, one of whom believes he's Elvis while the other (a black man) thinks he's JFK, must put aside their differences to combat a soul-sucking Egyptian mummy who preys upon the elderly and in-firmed. Honest, that's the plot.

Script: 2/2 - funny yet poignant

Pace: 1/2 - laid-back but never dull

Acting: 1/2 - hit and miss

Aesthetic: 1/2 - makes good use of a shoe-string budget

Intention: 2/2 - a heartfelt, off-beat, buddy-movie horror comedy

Final Word: 7/10

Now, the setup may sound like a comedy that derives cheap laughs from the fact its central characters probably have Dementia, yet the subject is dealt with a surprising amount of affection, and rather than ever poke fun at such a cruel disease, this merely serves as a way of bringing together two lovably bizarre characters. The result is the baffllingly affectionate team-up ever put to film, and what follows is the most relaxingly paced supernatural investigation this side of Scooby-Do. 
Bruce Campbell excels as the old-timer convinced he's Elvis (believing he swapped identities with an impersonator to escape the limelight), and while his acting may skew occasionally into impersonation rather than acting, he is never less than completely entertaining. He gets a fine sidekick from Ossie Davis as a lovably kooky 'JFK' (dyed black after a failed assassination, obviously). Sadly the side is let down by some less than convincing supporting thesps, but thankfully this never takes the shine off the movie. 
It's a surreal experience, that's to be sure, but a film that's definitely worth a look- love it or hate it, you won't have seen anything quite like it before.

"AT IT'S BEST, LIFE IS COMPLETELY UNPREDICTABLE!"

Christopher Walken.

Walken is trying to suck away your brain... Must be Friday.

I feel like we understand each other by now. Do we really need an excuse to have a Christopher Walken themed post? Thought not.

End.