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‘The Delta Force’ force feeds too much amidst some decent procedural aspects

There are two ways by which one can watch and analyze director Menahem Golan’s The Delta Force. Both are worthy insofar as they put the film into context and help to explain what it does and how it tries to accomplish its aspirations. In neither instance however does the film get away scott free from, at times, head scratching decisions, other times ones that will easily make some viewers even feel rather dirty, and finally decisions that are just plain laughable, albeit in an enjoyable way.

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Thanks for Noticing, Golden Guy: Top Ten Oscar-Nominated Actor Acknowledgements

The 87th Academy Award nominations were released on January 15, 2015 representing the excellence in film for the previous year. Naturally there was the standard controversy regarding those films and performances that got unfairly overlooked. Unfortunately, the perceived snubs do happen from year to year so this goes along with the territory. Nevertheless, the lucky …

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‘Automata’ feels too slight and ripped off to be successful sci-fi

Automata Directed by: Gabe Ibáñez Written by:  Gabe Ibáñez, Igor Legaretta Gomez, Javier Sanchez Donate Starring: Antonio Banderas, Birgitte Hjort Sorensen, Dylan McDermott, Robert Forster, Tim McInnerny, Melanie Griffith USA, 2014 Following up 2009’s Hierro, Gabe Ibáñez goes from domestic to sci-fi mystery with Automata. Set in 2044 AD, when solar storms turn Earth into …

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Cannon Films gets an affectionate profile in ‘Electric Boogaloo’

Australian documentarian Mark Hartley crafts his third vigorous valentine to exploitation cinema, alongside Not Quite Hollywood and Machete Maidens Unleashed!, with Electric Boogaloo, an explosive trawl through the snarling ferocity of Cannon Films before its inevitable bankruptcy in the early 1990s. Whilst the former documentary in the cycle celebrated the boom in Ozploitation cinema of the 1970s and 1980s, and Maidens! took a appreciative scan of the laxly monitored Philippine film factory, this time the viewfinder shifts to the excessive and action packed oeuvre of Israeli movie moguls Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus, whose 1979-founded company became an explosive production house in Hollywood during the Reagan-mandated 1980s. Much to the disgust of snooty critics and prestige-minded executives, Cannon (an apt name) forged repeated success due to their box office-incinerating brand of chaotic, cheap and politically dubious action and exploitation films, bringing the grim jaw lines of Chuck Norris, Charles Bronson and Sylvester Stallone to international markets.

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Lead Actors: The Overlooked and Underrated

This article is dedicated to Andrew Copp: filmmaker, film writer, artist and close friend who passed away on January 19, 2013. You are loved and missed, brother. **** Looking at the Best Actor Academy Award nominations for the film year 2012, the one miss that clearly cries out for more attention is Liam Neeson’s powerful …

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‘Jackie Brown’: The joy of great character development

There is a lot to be said about writer-director Quentin Tarantino’s success as a filmmaker. His films have all been met with some degree of critical appreciation and have all made some decent money at the box office. What’s more, and this might be his true legacy, his projects have sparked the imaginations of fellow …

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