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Cyborg 2, a review by Rich

Cyborg 2


 
In the year 2074, a cyborg manufacturing company schemes to stop their main competitor by booby-trapping a gorgeous female cyborg with explosives designed to destroy everything in sight. After she discovers their intentions, she teams with a human to stop the nefarious plot. Jack Palance, Elias Koteas and Angelina Jolie star.

Disappointing sci-fi, completely unbelievable scenario and backdrop to the movie, the film unfortunately plodded on with little to save its fate.
The chemistry between the 2 leads was invisible, and only Jack Palance could walk away with any credit. Some of the special effects were interesting, and the fight scenes would prove brutal enough to be watchable, but besides this I struggle to find a positive to note.
An awful sequel, which made the pretty dire first film seem good.
 

**Angelina Jolie mini-marathon


(From Riches Random Reviews on August 10th, 2009)

Junior Bonner, a review by Jon

Junior Bonner
3 out of 5



Still recovering from being thrown from a bull called Sunshine, Junior Bonner is on his way home to join his family for the annual Frontier Days Rodeo. However, when he arrives, he finds his house abandoned and his father, Ace (Robert Preston) in hospital. Determined to prove that he still has all the makings of a champion, Junior challenges Sunshine once again but this time he is determined to beat the bull so that his father's dream of building a ranch in Australia can become a reality.

Junior Bonner is an uneven film that by the end might seem inconsequential, but you have to appreciate its considerable style, especially with some of the awesome touches Peckinpah brings and the great cast. On the other hand, the director did surprise me with occasional clumsiness, including the dated split screen titles that make it look like a TV movie and a cheesy freeze frame montage at the end.

But let’s focus on the good. Steve McQueen is great in this Autumnal, melancholy role and the chemistry with Robert Preston as his rebellious dad, Ace, is just wonderful. If you don’t know Preston, he looks like Joel McCrea and sounds like Burt Lancaster, with cheek to match either of them.

The dialogue is probably the best part of the production. It’s full of zingers, perfectly styled to the characters, yet has an understated realistic pitch. The whole thing has a laid back style; I liked how McQueen has rivals on the rodeo circuit, but they treat each other as casual friends. There’s no silly, predictable “villain” that McQueen has to beat. Oh, hold on. That is, apart from Sunshine. He’s the BFB...
The rodeo scenes are fantastic. Peckinpah’s use of slow motion and edits is peerless. While it started like a cheap TV film and might have descended into a pseudo documentary where the second unit just wandered around a real event getting stock footage, the tournament scenes have breathtaking power and lift it up a notch. Plus the lighter hearted “Milking” event is both very funny and impressively staged. Add in a classy cowboy barroom brawl, a lively cast, a poignant story and you have a passable couple of hours. And the film might keep coming back to you, despite its humble nature. Another overview I read claimed this was Peckinpah's favourite film of his own. While I think it is far from his best, I can well believe it. It has a good heart.

(From Jon's Alphabet Marathon 2010 on July 23rd, 2010)

"Due South" marathon, a review by addicted2dvd

You Must Remember This

This one really didn't impress me all that much. I found it to be slow and boring for the most part. I also found who the girl was as being pretty obvious... I figured it was something like that early on into the episode.

My Rating:

Last couple in a row I wasn't very impressed with... I hope it picks back up here soon!

(From "Due South" marathon on July 15th, 2009)