Tagarchief: FilmDungeon

Dungeon Classics #5: Escape from Absolom

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

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

Escape from Absolom (1994, USA)

Director: Martin Campbell
Cast: Ray Liotta, Lance Henriksen, Stuart Wilson
Running Time: 114 mins.

Actually, this movie – also known as No Escape – is not that good. But it’s childhood nostalgia and has a few things going for it. Ray Liotta is a great actor for starters. And the costumes, that remind of Mad Max, are awesome. In the year 2022 (close now) all US prisons are run by private enterprises (sounds realistic enough). Liotta’s character is a marine who has shot and killed his commanding officer. He is shipped off to a desolated island where there are no guards and no walls; convicts run the show. There are two camps: the barbaric outsiders and the more civilized insiders. Liotta joins the later. He has escape on the brain constantly… but first, there is some fighting that needs to be done. From the producers of Aliens and The Terminator, the tagline promises. No, it’s not that good, but like I said: sweet memories.

Dungeon Classics #4: The Quick and the Dead

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

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

The Quick and the Dead (1995, USA / Japan)

Director: Sam Raimi
Cast: Sharon Stone, Gene Hackman, Russell Crowe, Leonardo DiCaprio
Running Time: 107 mins.

One of the my favorite movies! It’s just so damn entertaining. The story is about a sexy, female gunslinger (Sharon Stone) riding into the town of redemption to take revenge on local boss Herod (Gene Hackman). To do this, she has to enter a fast-draw contest in which the odds of surviving are about 3,2 percent. Five reasons I LOVE this movie:
1. The direction by Sam Raimi is top of the line. Never did he deliver more style and razzle-dazzle.
2. The camerawork. Every shot and angle is a little masterpiece. The gunfights are all shot in incredibly inventive ways.
3. The main cast and supporting cast are terrific. The chemistry and tension between Stone, Hackman, Crowe and DiCaprio is magnetic. And the supporting actors, gunfighters mostly, are hard, no impossible to forget.
4. The beautiful score by Alan Silvestri.
5. Some of the duels are the greatest scenes I’ve ever seen. This movie is scandalously underrated.

Deadwood: The Movie (2019)

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

Director: Daniel Minahan
Writer: David Milch
Stars: Timothy Olyphant, Ian McShane, Molly Parker

Modern days are coming to Deadwood! A telephone for every business, keeping up with the times. But is it less savage than 13 years earlier (in 2006 the show was cancelled after three seasons)? Not a chance. Like the fairly satisfying El Camino is now doing for Breaking Bad, this TV-movie gives us (more) closure on one of the great HBO-shows of the early 2000s. It is sure good to be back in this South Dakota town in the 1880s. I didn’t know how much I missed those inhabitants! Especially Al Swearengen, the greatest TV-character since Tony Soprano, formidably played by Ian McShane. Good old Marshal Seth Bullock (Timothy Olyphant) is back as well. The two opposites clash with the murderous and power hungry senator George Hearst who is looking to purchase land around Deadwood. This leads to a satisfying finale to a monumental show. With dialogues composed of old English prose with hundreds of fucks and cocksuckers in between. This is the West how we’ve never seen it, but wished we had. It doesn’t go out with a bang, but with one of Swearengen’s finest fucking poetic lines yet. Time to watch the series if you haven’t seen it, and re-watch it if you have. It’s glorious.

Dungeon Classics #3: Enter the Dragon

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

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

Enter the Dragon (1973, Hong Kong / USA)

Director: Robert Clouse
Cast: Bruce Lee, Jim Kelly, John Saxon, Kien Shih
Running Time: 102 mins.

Enter the Dragon isn’t much of a movie. EXCEPT it is one of the GREATEST martial arts movies EVER. Sadly, it is also Bruce Lee’s penultimate film. He plays secret agent Lee who enlists on a mission to infiltrate a martial arts tournament of epic proportions. It is held on an island near Hong Kong and organised by Han, a former member of Lee’s shaolin temple who has gone renegade. Obviously this dweeb is no match for Lee’s deadly technique. Nor are his henchman, including the ‘Beast from the East’ Bolo Yeung. Many memorable fight scenes (choreographed by Lee himself!) follow. And the spectacle ends with the duel of duels: the mirror room fight!! It is an unforgettable piece of cinema. I got a huge kick out of it when I was young, and still do. This classic hasn’t lost any of its greatness. So do yourself a BIG favor and don’t miss this one.