It always seems to surprise people when I admit stuff like this, but until now I had never seen WYATT EARP. And when I was getting ready to watch it and do this review I worried I was gonna get myself into trouble because it came out six months after TOMBSTONE, and lived and died in its comparisons to TOMBSTONE, so I know everyone in the comments is gonna want to talk about that. And the thing is I still haven’t seen TOMBSTONE either. Yeah, I know. I’ll get around to it.
Initially I thought I should do that first, but then I realized it was a unique opportunity to be the one guy watching WYATT EARP on its 30th anniversary with zero instinct to compare and contrast to TOMBSTONE. I have been preparing three decades to be this specific guy. (read the rest of this shit…)
You remember Rambo, John J. Vietnam vet, Green Beret, POW camp survivor, Congressional Medal of Honor recipient. In ’81, as a homeless drifter, he waged a one-man guerrilla war against the police department of Hope, Washington, wounding several officers, killing police dogs, blowing up buildings and causing one officer to die from falling out of a helicopter. But they let him out of prison for a secret POW rescue mission. Though he earned a presidential pardon, he decided to live in Thailand, living off odd jobs such as stickfighter, temple-builder, snake-catcher or river guide, with occasional missions to help the Mujahideen in Afghanistan or rescue missionaries in Myanmar. But eventually he came home to his dad’s place in Arizona.
It doesn’t seem like it, but that movie was 11 years ago. Rambo has short hair now, wears cowboy hats and runs his (now deceased) dad’s horse ranch. He lives with a woman named Maria (Adriana Barraza, AMORES PERROS, DRAG ME TO HELL), who I guess the photos on the wall indicate was his parents’ maid, and her granddaughter Gabrielle (Yvette Monreal from the El Rey show Matador), who calls him Uncle John and who he says he thinks of as his daughter. (read the rest of this shit…)
Right now, in 2019, people sure do love a good TV series. Some claim that the premium cable and streaming shows are actually better than movies. As TV shows become more cinematic and cinema becomes more serialized, the two mediums seem to be growing into each other like a very respectable rat king. Big name real deal movie stars can star in TV shows or limited series and collect acclaim and awards instead of scorn for slumming it.
At the same time the industry is obsessed with “intellectual property” and franchises, so naturally we’re getting TV shows that prequelize or sequelize a popular movie/movie series. In recent years they’ve done Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Tremors, Taken, Transporter: The Series, Training Day, Limitless, Ash vs. Evil Dead, Cobra Kai, Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp and Wolf Creek, and soon we’ll be getting new Star Wars and Marvel tie-ins and maybe Undisputed and all kinds of shit.
From the dawn of 1986 they came…moving stylishly down through the decades. Movies, TV shows, cartoons, struggling to reach the time of the reviewing, when Vern will write about the franchise
That wasn’t how it worked in the early ’90s, though. There had been a few genre shows connected to movies: Planet of the Apes (1974) (and the animated Return to the Planet of the Apes [1975]), Beyond Westworld (1980), Blue Thunder (1984), Starman (1986-1987) and Alien Nation (1989-1990). None of these ran for very long, few are well remembered. TV was lesser than movies, you could never carry over the cast or the production value, and extending a movie series onto the small screen was not really a good bet.
But shit, HIGHLANDER II: THE QUICKENING wasn’t a good bet either. And producers Davis and Panzer, stinging from that loss, weren’t ready to leave the blackjack table. Maybe a TV-sized saga of the Immortals could be more than the Starman of the ’90s. Maybe it could be the M.A.S.H. of the ’90s! (read the rest of this shit…)
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Recent commentary and jibber-jabber
Matt on Rumpelstiltskin (1996): “Just got finished watching – yeah, the part with the kids is very similar to our Hoagie discovery scene too,…” Feb 24, 18:07
Muh on The Wrecking Crew (2026): “One thing that’s funny about Tarantino is half the times he doesn’t even seem to understand the movies he’s watching.…” Feb 24, 08:12
Muh on The Wrecking Crew (2026): “My guess is that punch to Don Murphy was much wussier than average, plus Don’s kinda a soft target. There…” Feb 24, 08:07
VERN on The Wrecking Crew (2026): “I’m personally glad about that because writing and directing a long string of A++ movies that I will watch over…” Feb 23, 20:46
Muh on The Wrecking Crew (2026): “Tarantino likes some obscure movies that’s fun, but generally his taste is kind of shit. And it’s so funny how…” Feb 23, 19:59
Curt on The Wrecking Crew (2026): “I should perhaps clarify that my earlier comment was only about Tarantino’s judgment of other people’s work (his least charming…” Feb 23, 19:11
VERN on Rumpelstiltskin (1996): “Oh, that’s funny. I thought the ending with the kids had to be a reference too.” Feb 23, 18:12
Muh on The Wrecking Crew (2026): “Eh, fight logic is a bit more nuanced generally than “it’s a fantasy do what you want.” You CAN, but…” Feb 23, 14:40
Muh on Send Help: “I’m hoping this leads Raimi to do more mid-budget movies where he can cut loose.” Feb 23, 10:58
Muh on Kill Bill: Vol. 2: “The Michael Jai White scene is pretty bad. I love him and the accent is funny, and it’s nice to…” Feb 23, 10:50
Muh on Heart Eyes: “I really don’t care for Israel or what they’re doing but the idea of them killing 1,800 in that week…” Feb 23, 10:44
Matt on Rumpelstiltskin (1996): “Though I might of seen this on VHS back in the day I was not actively paying homage to it…” Feb 23, 08:34
Knadler on Rumpelstiltskin (1996): “This is one of my favorite hangout movies, I’ve probably watched it as much as any movie in my life.…” Feb 23, 08:29
CJ Holden on Rumpelstiltskin (1996): “This isn’t a full blown super rewatchable b-horror classic, but you can’t deny that it’s one of those cases when…” Feb 23, 07:49
Bill Reed on Blue Moon: “I enjoyed this one because I love talky Hawke/Linklater joints. I agree the Forrest Gump moments rankle, but I also…” Feb 23, 06:29