#Steven E. De Souza

[90smovies]

[omercifulheaves]

Die Hard (1988)

Still a sterling example of how to do a big action blockbuster right despite the internet's best efforts to meme it to death.

[80smovies]

[atomic-chronoscaph]

Peter Barton and Amy Steel - The Powers of Matthew Star (1982)

[cinesludge]

Movie #43 of 2024: Die Hard

[graphicpolicy]

Preview: Sheena: Queen of the Jungle #4

Sheena: Queen of the Jungle #4 preview. Sheena and Bob are trapped between an army of mercenaries and a stampede of hippos! #comics #comicbooks

[nfcomics]

SHEENA QUEEN OF THE JUNGLE: THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME TPB • cover art • Lucio Parrillo [Oct 2022]

The Queen of the Jungle Returns! The thrilling adventure combines the classic elements of the legendary character along with a modern sensibility that will make it the perfect debut for fans new and old! Sheena is recruited - that's being kind, she's kind of forced to enter the "bio-dome" -- an amazing synthesis and nature and machine, where something has gone terribly wrong. Outside the dome, she faces with human trickery and deceit, inside the dome, she facing the deadly jungle and a fast, murdering mystery.

Writer: Stephen Mooney, Steven E. de Souza • Artist: Jethro Morales

Collects Sheena, Queen of the Jungle #1 - 5, plus a gallery of every cover.

"[Jethro] Morales' artwork is just fantastic throughout…" -The Fandom Post

[dalesramblingsblog]

Brief Look at Judge Dredd Novels, Cinematic Interlude: Judge Dredd (1995)

We should, perhaps, begin with the obvious.

The biggest problem here is Sylvester Stallone, in manners both gross and subtle. On the one hand, his performance is... well, it's pure Stallone. It's a mind-gratingly stoic and staid performance, with all the mumbling you've come to expect, and on the most obvious of levels it's simply not very good.

But the deeper problem here, and the one that really sinks the film, is one that fandom generally seems to come very close to correctly diagnosing, if only to ever so slightly miss the mark in the way that only science-fiction fandoms really can.

The problem, as John J. Fandom, MD would have you believe, is that the film chose to show Judge Dredd's face, one of the biggest no-nos of 2000 AD. And they are, at least, partially right, but only in the sense that the prominence of Stallone's face is a symptom of the overwhelming amount of distortion that the actor's mere presence inflicts upon the very cinematic grammar of the film.

Witness the first scene in which Dredd is revealed, and you can practically hear the creaks as the generally satirical and sceptical lens in which 2000 AD cast the Judges at its best moments is wrenched into a far more conventional "action movie" template.

This impression certainly isn't helped any by the eventual arrival of Rob Schneider, who was seemingly one of your go-to guys in the nineties for lame action movie buddy comedies.

(Granted, the only other film I've seen from the decade that fits the bill would be Tsui Hark's 1998 JCVD vehicle Knock Off, a rather terrible film that I only ever bothered to watch because Sparks did the theme song. At any rate, it simply wasn't worth it.)

It's not that the juxtaposition of Judge Dredd against this conventional setting couldn't create a perverse frisson, but it would definitely require a much more incisive and self-aware script than William Wisher, Jr. and Steven de Souza were apparently willing to provide. As is, you're left with... well, a conventional action movie, which is probably in the Top 2 Least Interesting Things You Could Ever Do With Judge Dredd.

The other, as it happens, would be to make it a conventional sci-fi film riffing on Star Wars and Joseph Campbell, and oops they did that one too, complete with a James Earl Jones voiceover that makes a point of having him say lines about "forces." The best encapsulation of the sheer strangeness of this experience is the scene in which Max von Sydow's Fargo reveals to Dredd his nature as a clone. After seemingly never shutting up throughout the whole film, Rob Schneider is practically forced to the periphery of the frame for an Atonement with the Father or whatever.

Rather than being as liberating as one would hope "getting less Rob Schneider" would be, it only reinforces the sense that the film is caught between two - three, if you count the tone and aesthetic of the original 2000 AD comics, but all impressions of the film's behind-the-scenes would seem to suggest that you'd be the only one - competing sensibilities, and ultimately ends up doing neither of them particularly well.

Sure, it looks good, with some wonderful set design and special effects, but the reduction of such an interesting world as Judge Dredd down to superficial and facile pleasures - and I include in this remark the utterly extraneous catfight between Diane Lane's Hershey and a rightfully bored Joan Chen, for the record - can't help but sting a little. The biggest saving grace the film has is that it isn't that long, but at that point we'd best stop scraping the bottom of the barrel before we end up with splinters.

And accordingly, we should end with the obvious: The fact that this made nearly nineteen times as much as the contemporary Tank Girl film is the kind of thing that it's hard not to view as anything but a moral abhorrence.

[domono08]

I’m totally not going to miss the epic crossover between MC Hammer and Colonel Guille!

[adamwatchesmovies]

Die Hard 2: Die Harder (1990)

“How can the same shit happen to the same guy twice?”

You’re right, John McClane, Die Hard 2 is improbable. When the results are this entertaining, who are we to complain? It’s got the hero we love back in full form, big action set pieces that’ll knock your socks off and a worthy adversary of a villain. It's a sequel that satisfies.

Two years after the incident at the Nakatomi Plaza, LA police officer John McClane (Bruce Willis) is waiting for his wife Holly (Bonnie Bedelia) to arrive at the airport. As her flight approaches, former U.S. Special Forces Colonel William Stuart (William Sadler) and his men hack into the airport’s traffic control system, take over all communication and hold the flights above hostage. They demand General Ramon Esperanza (Franco Nero), recently arrested and on his way to the United States, be delivered to them - or else.

I often see Die Hard listed as “the best Christmas movie”, which I'm almost certain is a gag answer. It’s not really about the spirit of the holidays; it’s merely set during the season. The same applies to this underrated sequel. McClane is back. This time, he feels less vulnerable than he did before but that’s ok. He’s once again out of his element and forced to use his wits to outgun and outmaneuver opponents who outnumber him about 12-to-1. Like before, his wife is being incidentally held hostage. Throughout the film, you’re always worried the villains will find out and that she’ll be used against our hero. You believe Stuart would sink that low. He’s as ruthless as he is good at the whole bad guy thing. The stakes feel even higher than they did last time. We’re not talking about a couple dozen hostages. It’s entire planes full of innocents who don’t even know they’re in danger.

The situation's intensity is cranked way up because of the villains’ plan. They’re not in the airport itself, but they have to be close. While navigating the corridors of red tape put up by the bewildered and panicked airport security, McClane has a mystery to solve. A mystery with a time limit. For now, the planes are circling above but their fuel won't last forever. The stakes and time limit keep the plot moving from one big action scene to the next. The stunts and special effects dwarf everything we saw previously. That’s the right way to go about it. If you can’t be as smart and tense as Die Hard, double-down on the spectacle. It adds up to the same results.

There’s just the right amount of one-liners and jokes to ease the tension before director Renny Harlin puts you through the wringer again. The side characters - played by Dennis Franz, John Amos, Art Evans - are memorable. Their little arcs add a lot of life to this twisty thriller. Just when you think McClane’s gotten a break, some new obstacle pops up. When he does manage to overcome one, the big set pieces will have you pumping your fists and cheering. You just hate those baddies so much that seeing them get riddled with holes, blown up or otherwise taken down makes it feel like a proper Christmas wish come true.

While you might raise an eyebrow at Die Hard 2 initially, in no time at all, it’ll have you nervously stuffing your face with popcorn, wondering how our hero will make it out of this dire situation alive. Here's an idea. In the same way that you should occasionally swap out Home Alone from your holiday roster with Home Alone 2 to keep things fresh, why not do the same with Die Hard and Die Hard 2? (On Blu-ray, February 7, 2020)

[90smovies]

[blog-oscar-iglesias-casado-23675]

CINE "STREET FIGHTER: THE MOVIE"

La típica película de Van Damme, una película mediocre, sin mucho que destacar, la verdad. Datos básicos Título original: Street Fighter Título en español de España: Street Fighter: La última batalla Título en español latinoamericano: Street Fighter: La batalla final Calificación por edad: PG-13 (No recomendada para menores de 13 años) Director: Steven E. de Souza Actores…

[randomrichards]

IN SEARCH OF THE LAST ACTION HEROES:

80’s action films

And Those who made them happen

And how it has changed

[80smovies]

[lamazmorradelandroide]

“¿Qué haces cuando un soldado de Shadaloo te tira una granada? La coges del suelo, le quitas la anilla, y se la devuelves.” - Adrian Cronauer, Street Fighter: La última batalla (1994)

[cinesludge]

Movie #44 of 2024: Die Hard 2

Die harder.