Recently, events converged to remind me there was a (sort of) remake of John Carpenter’s ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 back in 2005. Well, really what happened was that movie PLANE came out – the Gerard Butler one with the plane – and that’s from the same director, Jean-François Richet. He did a couple gritty French crime movies in the ‘90s and then his phone rang and Hollywood said, “Hello, this is Hollywood, would you be interested in remaking ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13, or as you call it in France, ASSAUT?” I imagine he very thoughtfully said “Oui” and then hung up.
According to his commentary track they didn’t have the script yet when they hired him. He chose James DeMonaco to write it because he’d just seen THE NEGOTIATOR, a movie this does seem kinda similar to. DeMonaco had also written a film for Francis Ford Coppola*. (read the rest of this shit…)
THE NEGOTIATOR is a monument to that too-brief window of time when there were big budget Samuel L. Jackson vehicles. He’d been acclaimed in supporting roles including JUNGLE FEVER, then said that line in JURASSIC PARK, then became a superstar with PULP FICTION. I always thought it was unfair that Travolta was nominated for best actor and Jackson for supporting, but that’s mostly where he stayed. He was still kind of a sidekick in DIE HARD WITH A VENGEANCE or THE LONG KISS GOODNIGHT or a scene-stealer in JACKIE BROWN. And technically even this one is a two-hander with another star, but it starts on Jackson and keeps the two separated for most of the movie so I’d put it in a rare Samuel-L.-Jackson-vehicle category along with SHAFT, THE 51st STATE and SNAKES ON A PLANE.
Also going on in the late ’90s: Kevin Spacey. Like Jackson, he was a veteran character actor who suddenly caught the world’s eye with an indelible performance in a breakout indie crime drama. And he actually won his Oscar. After SE7EN and L.A. CONFIDENTIAL he was one of the most respected dramatic actors in Hollywood.
So THE NEGOTIATOR had a pretty catchy thriller hook (hostage negotiator gets framed by crooked cops, takes hostages in a desperate ploy to find out the truth and prove his innocence), but it was definitely that heavyweight actor showdown that lured us in. Two enormously respected actors, also known for hip movies, actoring the shit off each other in a studio thriller. That had appeal back then. (read the rest of this shit…)
MIGHTY MORPHIN POWER RANGERS: THE MOVIE is easily the crappiest movie in my Summer of ’95 retrospective so far. Maybe less offensive than BATMAN FOREVER, since it doesn’t seem to be made by professionals who should know any better, but it’s really something. I know it’s an extension of a cheesy kids TV show made up partly of stock footage from Japanese shows, but it’s amazing that a soundtrack album and a little bad CGI was enough to get this into theaters alongside real movies. APOLLO 13 and
JUDGE DREDD came out the same day. Watching it 20 years later POWER RANGERS does not seem like it belongs in the company of either, and the dark, low quality transfer on the DVD isn’t helping things. It didn’t get completely killed at the box office, though. That weekend it came in below APOLLO 13, POCAHONTAS and BATMAN FOREVER, but above JUDGE DREDD.
Like APOLLO 13 this is the story of an elite team of squares chosen to put on uniforms and helmets and fly into space. The Power Rangers are five teenagers chosen by a giant face in a glass tube named Zordon (Nicholas Bell, DARK CITY) to “transform into a superhuman fighting force” and defend the Australian-looking city of Angel Grove, California. That means morphing into masked and color-coded martial arts super heroes and piloting robotic dinosaurs called Zords that combine into a bigger, humanoid robot called Megazord to fight giant monsters. In their spare time the Power Rangers like to skydive, rollerblade and act as role models to local children who don’t know they’re the Power Rangers because it’s a secret identity, although that is never relevant to the story. As far as we see, none of them have parents, schools, jobs, homes or alone time. (read the rest of this shit…)
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Recent commentary and jibber-jabber
Kaplan on The Servants / The Saviour: “Ronny Yu strikes me as one of those good journeyman directors who can find something of themselves in any story…” Mar 20, 18:39
KayKay on The Servants / The Saviour: “Looking forward to traveling through the Yu-niverse! Alongside my love for auteurs is the insanely versatile and adaptable film-maker who…” Mar 20, 17:38
Gary Anderson on The Servants / The Saviour: “[visual-parse url=”https://youtu.be/XTBNONSR9F8″] That’ll be the song the Chemical Brothers sampled for this one. Nice.” Mar 20, 15:57
Curt on The Servants / The Saviour: “I’m very pleased so far with the puns “Uncle Sam Wants Yu” and “the Yuniverse”. Yu guys are great.” Mar 20, 14:31
Bill Reed on Creed III: “SPOILERS, probably: Saw this in my local theater, in sub-optimal conditions: they seemed to project it in the wrong aspect…” Mar 20, 11:50
CJ Holden on The Servants / The Saviour: “Well, that didn’t work, but I meant I’M MAD AS HELL by El Coco [visual-parse url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdSfXtp4Rnk&t=1s”]” Mar 20, 08:07
CJ Holden on The Servants / The Saviour: “Awesome! I always wanted to dive deeper into the Yuniverse, because I liked the few movies I’ve seen from him,…” Mar 20, 08:06
jojo on The Servants / The Saviour: “The thing I find strange about the trajectory of Yu’s career, is the last time he was a part of…” Mar 20, 07:54
Mr. Majestyk on The Servants / The Saviour: “I am not too humble to brag that Ronny Yu was my pick for who this series would be about…” Mar 20, 07:47
dreadguacamole on Memory: “I feel I should defend RELIC, which is a pretty heartfelt movie that represents Alzheimer’s as a horrifying malevolent force.…” Mar 20, 02:58
Kaplan on Terrifier: “Having watched this, it’s a mixed bag to me. Pretty much at the level of a latter-day Friday the 13th…” Mar 20, 02:57
VERN on Memory: “Actually it was THE TAKING OF DEBORAH LOGAN! But RELIC got even better reviews. Thanks for the heads up.” Mar 19, 20:50
dreadguacamole on Cocaine Bear: “That’s fair. Was going to make a joke and blame the producers, and found out Phil Lord and Chris Miller…” Mar 19, 17:06
Muh on Cocaine Bear: “Well that’s true, but say, I wouldn’t consider Aja a great or particuarily interesting stylist, but in Crawl he kept…” Mar 19, 14:24
VERN’S “I RECOMMEND THE SHIT OUT OF THIS PRODUCT” CORNER:
Recently, events converged to remind me there was a (sort of) remake of John Carpenter’s ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 back in 2005. Well, really what happened was that movie PLANE came out – the Gerard Butler one with the plane – and that’s from the same director, Jean-François Richet. He did a couple gritty French crime movies in the ‘90s and then his phone rang and Hollywood said, “Hello, this is Hollywood, would you be interested in remaking ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13, or as you call it in France, ASSAUT?” I imagine he very thoughtfully said “Oui” and then hung up.
July 29, 1998
