Auteur archieven: Jeppe Kleijngeld

The Verdict: Tony Hawk: Until the Wheels Fall Off

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

In my childhood, I was obsessed with skateboarding. As often as possible, me and my friends would go to a halfpipe in a town nearby and practice all day there. We would also visit the skateshop every so often and buy all the skateboarding magazines available. In those magazines was always this absolute legend: Tony Hawk, the best skateboarder in the world. He was like a God to us. The documentary about him, that is now streaming on HBO Max, showed me that he is just a man who, despite all his physical injuries, won’t stop skating until his wheels fall off (Hawk is now 54). Tony Hawk’s life story is not just interesting for skate fans, but for everybody. This is already one of the great sports documentaries. At the age of nine, Tony discovered skateboarding and since then has done nothing else. Pretty soon, he joined the famous Bones Brigade (a team of pro’s with a.o. Lance Mountain, Steve Caballero, Mike McGill and leader Stacy Peralta). A few years later, he turned pro and started winning every competition in the country. In the early nineties, skateboarding went out of fashion and Hawk could no longer make any money doing what he loved. He even had to sell his house and break down his personal halfpipe. He never stopped skating though and in the late nineties/early zeroes, it came back and Hawk made millions on huge shows in Las Vegas and the well known video game franchise. We follow him on his path through those years as he tirelessly works towards his greatest career achievement: the impossible 900. His perseverance is amazing and inspired me to think of new things to try that I think are impossible. Apart from being a moving life story, it also gives the viewer a gigantic amount of the most insane skateboarding footage ever collected. Tony Hawk: Until the Wheels Fall Off is a great flashback to my childhood, but Hawk’s amazing aerial acrobatics are a thrill for everybody to behold.

Tony Hawk: Until the Wheels Fall Off is now available on HBO Max

The verdict: to stream or not to stream? To obsessively stream

Double Bill #02: Grindhouse (Planet Terror & Death Proof)

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

This was the first time I saw the Rodriguez / Tarantino double feature as it was originally intended: back to back and with fake trailers in between. Originally, I saw the films separately when they came out in 2007 in an open air cinema on Crete. This was a special experience in itself and I really liked the movies. So what is the real authentic Grindhouse experience like? Well, what do you think? It kicks complete ass! It starts with the Machete trailer, which is so good they decided to actually make the movie. Then the first feature Planet Terror opens with that pole dancing sequence, the sexiest ever committed to celluloid. Rose McGowan is amazing as Cherry Darling, a go-go dancer who’ll soon have a machine gun for a leg. Rodriguez’ his contribution is a bat shit crazy gory virus zombie splatterpiece, while the Tarantino film that follows is… well a masterful genre film (in this case a carsploitation-horror), like only the maestro knows how to make them. What’s beautiful is that the films actually go together like burgers and fries. Tarantino-Rodriguez is a unique partnership in the history of filmmaking and this is a once-in-a-lifetime project. The two films have a lot in common. Apart from the shared cast members, they feature lots of lethal ladies; girls who kick ass, though they also suffer a lot. The guys in the movies are mostly psychos. And one of them is unforgettable: Kurt Russell as Stuntman Mike McKay. Another Tarantino-character made for the cinema wax museum. The Grindhouse versions of the films are cut a little shorter than the films released separately. Death Proof now also has a missing reel. Not coincidentally, it is the lap dance scene that is missing (Tarantino and Rodriquez are suggesting that a horny projectionist stole the reels, in Planet Terror a sex scene between Cherry and Wray is missing). Also, included in all gory glory are the fake movie trailers: Rob Zombie’s Werewolf Women of the SS, Edgar Wright’s Thanksgiving and Eli Roth’s Thanksgiving. O man, cult cinema just doesn’t come any better than this.

Dungeon Classics #25: RoboCop 2

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

FilmDungeon’s Chief Editor JK sorts through the Dungeon’s DVD-collection to look for old cult favorites….

RoboCop 2 (1990, USA)

Director: Irvin Kershner
Cast: Peter Weller, Nancy Allen, Belinda Bauer, Tom Noonan
Running Time: 117 mins.

Irvin Kershner is a director who is good in dark sequels that feature tormented cyborgs, he proved with The Empire Strikes Back (1980). RoboCop 2 doesn’t quite approach that extremely high level, but it also didn’t deserve the harsh criticism it received. Peter Weller is excellent once again as the human-machine cop who’s dealing with remnants of his former life. The events take place shortly after the first film and crime in Detroit has gotten even worse. RoboCop has to single handedly end a drug epidemic as the cops go on strike for being squeezed out by evil corporation OCP. The script of this movie was written by Frank Miller (Sin City), so that adds to the darkness. It is too sadistic at times, but seeing RoboCop in action with his tough-as-nails human partner Lewis (Nancy Allen) is as thrilling as it was three years earlier. And although the special effects are pretty outdated (check out the Apple-interface on cyborg Caine!) the movie, with all its apocalyptic Detroit factory settings, still looks good.

Dungeon Classics #24: RoboCop

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

FilmDungeon’s Chief Editor JK sorts through the Dungeon’s DVD-collection to look for old cult favorites….

RoboCop (1987, USA)

Director: Paul Verhoeven
Cast: Peter Weller, Nancy Allen, Kurtwood Smith, Ronny Cox
Running Time: 102 mins.

Paul Verhoeven’s hyper violent RoboCop is a near perfect classic. In the crime ridden futuristic Detroit, police officer Alex Murphy is brutally executed by a gang of maniacal criminals (a tough scene to watch still). He is then resurrected by the corporation that owns the police (OCP) and turned into the cyborg law enforcer RoboCop. At first, he functions mostly as a hyper effective machine, but then his memory starts coming back to him with a venguence and he goes after the criminals that murdered him as well as the corrupt boss of OCP that is in league with them. Besides pure entertainment and lots of humor, Verhoeven’s Hollywood debut offers a dark, cynical view on the future and smart social commentary on consumerism (‘how about the 6000 SUX!!’), capitalism and the human as flesh machine. Ultimately, the movie is about identity as RoboCop remembers he is not just a product but “Murphy”.