Crossbows-and-animal-skins science fiction, set in a 21st-century penal colony. Some sternum-bruising directorial "touches" by Martin Campbell punctuate the general triteness and tedium. And Ray Liotta has a chance to "stretch" himself, a chance to find out whether he can be a Sylvester Stallone, a Jean-Claude van Damme. But why would …
Optimistically titled gangster farce. (Hoped-for critical blurbs: "Oscar's a winner!" "Oscar is the best!" "Oscar, meet Mr. Price and Mr. Waterhouse.") Some of the actors -- Peter Riegert, Tim Curry, Chazz Palminteri, particularly -- get a lot of chewing out of the driest old bones: mistaken identities, switched satchels, etc., …
Instantaneously boring character chemistry: trucker Sylvester Stallone wants to become pals with the snotty son he has never known, starting on graduation day at military grammar school: "Sir, you're going to be a victim of cholesterol poisoning," and so on. There's also the boy's hospitalized mother (why does she suddenly …
Barrelhouse entertainment from Sylvester Stallone, on whose scrawny novel it is based, and who scripted, directed, and stars. Set in 1946 (preceded, though, by a frontispiece of the black-and-white Universal Pictures logo, circa 1931), the story of Hell's Kitchen, professional wrestling, and three chummy brothers is infused with an atmosphere …
As if to concede his depletion of ideas, Sylvester Stallone, star and director, has not troubled to think up a new title for the resuscitation, after twenty years’ slumber, of his embittered Vietnam vet (“Fuck the world”), settling for the title of the second film in the series, minus its …
This sequel advances into territory already occupied and overpopulated: the post-Vietnam War MIA rescue operation. (The director of the earlier film, Ted Kotcheff, got into that territory first, with Uncommon Valor.) Still, there is plenty of lively action, helped along by Jerry Goldsmith's thundering music and Jack Cardiff's gleaming photography. …
Can Dolly Parton turn the next "normal" person she meets into an authentic country-western singer, even if the next person is Sylvester Stallone and has a speaking voice like a rusty gate, or will she lose the wager and be obliged to sleep with her obnoxious manager (played by the …
One-man-army revenge fantasy, but with more of a "reason" for the hero's invincibility than is normally mustered for someone like Sylvester Stallone or Chuck Norris: he's a cyborg, implanted with the brain cells (and painfully vivid memories) of a murdered Detroit policeman. Moving with the smartness of a drum major, …
One-man-army revenge fantasy, but with more of a "reason" for the hero's invincibility than is normally mustered for someone like Sylvester Stallone or Chuck Norris: he's a cyborg, implanted with the brain cells (and painfully vivid memories) of a murdered Detroit policeman. Moving with the smartness of a drum major, …
The prizefighting premise — a second-rate Philadelphia pug named Rocky Balboa gets a shot at the heavyweight title — functions very well as a metaphor for the making of this penny-saving, corner-cutting movie — a second-string actor named Sylvester Stallone gets a shot at the Oscar. But the boxing doesn't …
The sixth installment in the Rocky series (despite the absence of a Roman numeral to remind us) comes thirty years after the first one and sixteen after the fifth. It will stand as a serviceable definition of "retarded." Written and directed by its sixty-year-old star, Sylvester Stallone, it wants nothing …
The problem for Sylvester Stallone is how to preserve Rocky Balboa's adorable underdog persona, now that he wears the heavyweight championship belt, has reeled off ten successful title defenses, and enjoys the good life as magazine cover-boy, American Express Card spokesman, celebrity guest on The Muppet Show, etc., etc. The …
The third sequel to Rocky has gotten into politics, but there is no need for the critic to follow. Sufficient grounds for dismissal will be found, once again, in simple pugilistics. With his newfound defensive skills (see Part III) somehow mislaid, Rocky is again cast as the underdog against the …