Top 5 Highly Anticipated Action Movies (2011)

With movies like Green Lantern, Thor and X-Men First Class already in circulation, there is a host of others due to be released before the end of the year. Here are the top 5 I’m willing to sell my dog for:

1.Mission Impossible 4: Ghost Protocol – Tom Cruise must be flipping the bird to all those Anti-Scientologist hating (and of course Sofa-trampoline mocking) fans out there. After speculations of possible replacements for the Ethan Hunt role, the hunt finally came back full circle – I guess Tom Cruise’s shoes are almost impossible to fill (excuse the pun). The trailer does more than just whet your appetite – It makes you want to climb up the tallest skyscraper and make a ridiculously dangerous swoop round to another building with nothing but a dodgy bungee cord and balls of steel (well, I’m not THAT crazy). I guess the director was somehow inspired by the Bond movie ‘Casino  Royale’ – this could easily have been a 007 movie. Two words: CAN’T WAIT! 

2. Immortals – Ever heard of Henry Cavill? Well if you can remember a time when few people knew who Gerard Butler was until ‘300’ blew us out of our minds, you’ll probably soon have Henry embedded in your minds after watching this trailer. The British-born actor looks set to make tidal waves in Hollywood and end his unlucky streak. This movie is easily a fusion of ‘300’ and ‘Clash of the Titans’ (the sh#%ty remake with Sam Worthington…all he had to do was NOT shave his frigging head!). Mickey Rourke’s inclusion in the film helps give it that A-list status, thanks to his brilliant performance in ‘Sin City’. CGI does rear its ugly digital head in this adrenaline-charged epic…but who’s complaining. Two words: 3-D GLASSES!

3. Cowboys and Aliens – If you think this title is somewhat…I’m looking for the most appropriate word here…predictable, then guess what – it is! And even more predictable is the fact that the Cowboys would most certainly defeat all but one alien who has already been forced by the director to sign a binding contract to reappear in the sequel aptly titled, ‘Cowboys and Aliens: Texas Showdown‘. This movie looks like a cross between Men In Black and er…The Good (Daniel Craig), the Bad (Aliens) and the Ugly (Harrison Ford). Watchability looks very promising and you just can’t help but hope that Clint Eastwood does a cameo (wishful thinking, I know). Two words: SADDLE UP! 

  

4. Captain America: The First Avenger – Since the recent release of Green Lantern, comic book fans have been feigning for a quick ‘superhero’ fix…and apparently, so did Chris Evans in the movie before he went from puny to ‘Arnie’ in 3 seconds flat. DC Comics have outdone themselves this time around and I dare say that it looks more impressive than the bombshell that was Superman Returns. This is as patriotic as a superhero can get and I think Wonder Woman should appear in the sequel. Marriage could follow at the end. Two words: Aye Aye!

5. Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon – On to the last but not the least of my top 5 list (phew!). Shia Lebouf is back with his allies (more like alloys) in this rip-roaring reel of colossal mayhem. In my opinion the humans in the movie just seem to be in the way most of the time – you want to see the ROBOTS! (which is more than I can say for the poor actors who have to stay at a blue screen during filming). The first release was good. The second installment was even better. Only time will tell if this new movie will garner more fans than Megatron aka Leader of the Decepticons aka the Baddie. Two words: Optimus Prime!  😀

What movies are you looking forward to seeing this year?

Lights, Camera, Action!

When it came to Action heroes, one name lay imbedded in my memory as a teen – ARNOLD SWARCHZENEGGER. In the Eighties when ignorance was bliss, I believed that he and all the subsequent action heroes were not ‘acting’ so to speak. With biceps the size of lunchboxes it wasn’t hard to believe then that he could floor five guys with his brute strength alone. His groundbreaking debut, COMMANDO, was simplistic in its plot and concise with dialogue – As a matter of fact, I remember a good half hour of non-stop pulsating gunfire mayhem amidst the rescue of his non-Russian-sounding daughter. After endless rewinding, re-playing, pausing and fast forwarding I was hungry for more…I needed a lot more.

SYLVESTER STALLONE was the immediate antidote I discovered after immersing myself in FIRST BLOOD. The trademark 1 minute-long dress-up sequence in which John Rambo geared up was just an adrenaline booster. I never thought it possible for one man to pack just the right amount of ammo to annihilate an entire platoon. A few bullet wounds and 2 sequels later the thirst returned and I needed it to be quenched pronto.

BRUCE WILLIS didnt have the muscles of Arnie or Stallone but he sure knew how to handle a group of terrorists in DIE HARD. Everything about the plot seemed believe and not too far-fetched. Yes its possible for a cop to go on vacation to see his wife (or ex-wife), Yes its possible for him to arrive at his wife’s fully serviced skyscraper on the exact day the terrorists plan to strike, Yes it is possible for him to hear gunshots just when he’s in the middle of changing clothes,  and yes it is possible for a trigger-happy cop to run around barefoot finding a way to get FBI back up. Bruce Willis seemed like the average cool-headed guy who showed real fear amidst danger unlike the mucho predecessors with faceless expressions. Bruce had the wit to back him up too! 3 catastrophic explosions and 1 sequel later I was ready for a stronger dose.

JACKIE CHAN taught me that one didnt need semi-automatics or AK-47s to ‘blow you away’. Just a lil’ martial art mixed with death-defying stunts and a few funny blunders gave me all the excitement I needed. Hand-to-hand combat never looked so good until I watched POLICE STORY and RUMBLE IN THE BRONX. Everything about he’s fight sequence was real – no stuntman required. If he was trapped btw 2 walls 8ft high then he was going get out with a ‘Prince-of-Persia style’ wall-to-wall leap, just in time to narrowly miss the high-speed van crashing beneath him. Once I found this new taste for martial arts, I slowly weaned myself off the guns and C-4s. It was a new era for dropkicks, roundhouse kicks and clothes-lines.

STEVEN SEAGAL eventually brought an end to all that when he took the fun out of martial arts and made it a split-second ordeal of ultra fast ‘ten-ten’ before breaking his adversary’s arm…backwards. When he decided to get a lil creative he moved on to breaking legs, necks, hands, and then he went into detail when he plucked a few eyes, broke fingers, and ankles. I was more queezy than entertained and I began to ask myself if I was slowly becoming side-tracked. Yes, Seagal was giving me an overdose of whoop-ass but my hands weren’t clapping…they were covering my eyes. Time was against me and I was getting older and older. In a time when WWF was discovered to be a farce I needed a lift, a hit of something strong, but not overkill…cue the dragon!

Or should I say ENTER THE DRAGON. When I first saw BRUCE LEE in action I was mesmerized to say the least. I think it wasnt so much the Kung-fu but the ‘wooh-haw!’ and ‘wataah!’ cries he bellowed through his lightning punches & kicks – He had me glued to the seat and to the screen (and that was responsible for bloodshut eyes & dented sofas). His untimely death is an infinite blow to the action movie industry and till this day he remains an icon.

In my opinion, these are some of the founders who’ve paved the way for the new generation of action movies…and ultimately transformed me into an Action Junkie.

My Top 10 Action Movies

1.  Die Hard
2.  The Matrix
3.  Game of Death
4.  True Lies
5.  T2
6.  House of Flying Daggers
7.  Casino Royale
8.  Kill Bill
9.  Rush hour
10.John Rambo
My Top 5 Action Heroes

1. Arnold Schwarzenegger
2. Jackie Chan
3. Bruce Lee
4. Sylvester Stallone
5. Bruce Willis

My Dream Face-Offs

1.  Arnie vs Stallone – Punch up
2.  Bruce Lee vs Jackie Chan – Martial Arts
3.  Keanu Reeves (Matrix) vs Christian Bale (Equilibrium) – Gunfight…in ‘slo-mo’
4.  Uma Thurman vs Michelle Yeoh – Ninja Swordfight
5. Angelina Jolie vs Sigourney Weaver – Chickfight
6. Bruce Willis vs Chris Tucker – Witfight
7. ALIEN vs Predator (IV) – SCI-FIght (lol)
Accolades

*Quick to the rescue – 007
*Relentless to the finish – Rambo
*No-funny business – Arnie
*A woman scorned – Uma Thurman (Kill Bill)