One of my all-time favorite musicians, the incomparable David St. Hubbins, once spoke of the fine line between clever and stupid. Justin Lin’s previous entry into the Fast & Furious franchise lives on that line – straddling it like a drowning midshipman holding onto a buoy in an unforgiving sea. But where Fast Five’s excesses [...]
When the lights go down and Furious 6 roars to life in theaters this weekend, audiences will be watching a franchise that now only tangentially resembles its earlier incarnations. I’ll let you decide if that’s a fundamentally good thing or not, though I think it’s both fantastic and fascinating. Far too often a series will [...]
In the intro to part one of this retrospective, I stated that the Fast & Furious franchise is bizarre. The series’ third entry is why … THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS: TOKYO DRIFT (2006) This is the point where the franchise probably should have starting cranking out direct-to-DVD entries. This is where everyone expected the [...]
Rather than one of them writing an individual review for Star Trek Into Darkness, Tim and Bob thought it might be fun to team up Kirk-and-Spock style to discuss J.J. Abrams’ second Trek film. Major spoilers to follow … Tim: I’m going to break a cardinal rule in film analysis and admit I’m of two [...]
The Fast & the Furious franchise is nothing short of bizarre. I mean, sure, it’s mostly straightforward. Fast cars. Exotic locations. Hot women. That’s about as surefire a formula as any for successful popcorn fun, but there’s something about this particular string of movies that strikes a nerve in a way that most other action [...]
By all accounts, NBC’s Hannibal should not be a show I’m even watching, let alone breathlessly anticipating every week. For starters, it’s a prequel, that laziest form of storytelling that offers much in the way of fan service but little in the way of drama or surprise, as the audience always knows exactly where the [...]
Stop-motion wizard Ray Harryhausen, one of the great titans of fantasy cinema, died today at the age of 92. His legacy will last for as long as there are monster movies, and we would be remiss if we didn’t do our part to help commemorate his life and work. So go watch this video compilation [...]
Let’s talk numbers. Three: The number of Iron Man films that Disney outfit Marvel has produced. Seven: The number of films Marvel has released in theatres. Five: The number of films Marvel currently has in production. Two: the number of films that Shane Black has now directed. 1,000+: Movies about robots. This is where context [...]
Massive spoilers of Iron Man 3 to follow. Seriously, don’t read this if you haven’t seen the movie yet. In the Marvel Comics universe, the Mandarin is Iron Man’s greatest villain — an Asian scientist and fighter who gains superpowers courtesy of ten alien rings constructed using technology far more advanced that even Tony Stark [...]
The Cult Spark Podcast crew is back to preview the 2013 summer movie season, walking you through all the films you should be excited to go see during the next four months. Additionally, Tim outs himself as a Scott Pilgrim vs. the World hater. Bob cops to having never seeing a single Fast and Furious [...]
Kickboxer might be the quintessential Jean-Claude Van Damme movie. He’s got other films that are more outrageous, more action packed, more filled with ridiculous one-liners and films that are bigger in scope. But few of them seem to encapsulate so fully the things that Van Damme gravitates toward and prioritizes as an actor. It has [...]
There’s a sort of kneejerk reaction to Pain & Gain that makes you want to cast Michael Bay in a different, better light. His latest film, a longtime passion project masquerading as a true crime opus, is a prime example of the right director marrying into the right material. But Bay’s always been capable of [...]