#peter macdonald

[theactioneer]

Sylvester Stallone, Rambo III (1988)

[leofromthedark]

Sylvester Stallone in RAMBO III (1988) dir. Peter MacDonald

[sonjackcarl]

[cemyafilmarsiv]

God loves crazy people.

Rambo III [ Afghanistan] 1988

[sslimbo]

[watching-pictures-move]

Thai poster for Rambo III (MacDonald, 1988).

[cinematitlecards]

"First Blood" (1982) Directed by Ted Kotcheff (Action/Adventure) . . "Rambo: First Blood Part II" (1985) Directed by George P. Cosmatos (Action/Adventure/Thriller) . . "Rambo III" (1988) Directed by Peter MacDonald & Russell Mulcahy (Action/Adventure)

[schlock-luster-video]

On August 10, 1988, Rambo III debuted Greece.

[rye-views]

The NeverEnding Story III (1994) dir. Peter MacDonald. 7/10

I would not recommend this movie to my friends. I wouldn't rewatch this movie.

I liked the way every character and prop design looked more in previous movies. The Nasties are just so weird.

I'm happy for Falkor seeing cute dragons.

So many characters are so immature.

[outromoony]

Fuck drugs. Have you ever been addicted to reading angsty fanfics about Harry Potter's dead parents and their friends? That shit will kill you.

[beataylorsversion]

why can't gay people flirt normally

like "ur cute," "no ur cute," isn't that hard

it doesn't have to be:

"finally the flesh reflects the madness within,"

"well, you'd know all about the madness within wouldn't you remus?"

[artachokie]

remus lupin is the type of teacher to say "i'll wait." and then just stare at the class till everyone shuts up.

[professor-scribbls]

An early valentines post :)

[cemyafilmarsiv]

Legionnaire directed by Peter MacDonald (Jean-Claude Van Damme)

[logolepsy-babble]

Lily: I want to confess something.

James: Go ahead!

Lily: I fancy girls.

Peter: Me too!

Lily: And… I fancy Mary…

Remus: I’m happy for you. I want you to know you are accepted. I like men.

Sirius: Wait what?

James: Are we all coming out? I’m bi, I fancy Regulus.

Sirius: Ex-fucking-scuse me?

[watching-pictures-move]

Movie Review | Rambo III (MacDonald, 1988)

The previous movie so thoroughly sculpted the iconography of the series, of Rambo’s physicality framed against the harshness of his environment, of his finely honed propensity for combat, that this doesn’t need to labour over it to the same extent, and is instead free to adopt the usual sequelitic tendency to go bigger in every respect. Bigger muscles. Bigger hair. Bigger battles. Bigger explosions. Helicopters in the last one? Now we got more of them, and tanks too.

The results feel less personal, less psychically penetrating, but once again Stallone grounds this with the gravity of his presence, honed like a weapon to deadly effect. There’s a tendency to mock his work in these movies because his physical presence seems so removed from any concept of reality, but I think the wit he brings to the proceedings is taken for granted. He has some very (intentionally) funny line readings, even more deadpan than the last movie.

The action has a diminished sense of stealth and deliberation, perhaps because it’s harder to sneak up on enemy soldiers in the desert than in the jungle, so that what we get plays less as set pieces than a free associative series of exclamatory images. At its most thrilling, it plays as a greatest hits version of itself, nonstop carnage meted out by Rambo against the Soviets. And while one likely doesn’t think of this series as being stylized, the stunning lighting choices in the interior scenes give the violence an added sense of unreality.

The idea of the Soviet-Afghan War as akin to Vietnam is not exclusive to this movie, nor is it explored as thoroughly as one might hope given that the previous movie had Rambo give the war a do over (but win this time). (For that, you’ll have to turn to The Beast of War.) But because Rambo is the immaculate soldier, he does out-Mujahideen the Mujahideen and out-Spetnaz the Spetznaz. While the portrayal of the Afghans isn’t particularly sophisticated, I appreciate that the movie treats them with relative warmth (more than the previous movie had for the POWs) and that Sasson Gabai provides a nice supporting presence for Stallone to play off of. For all the mockery this gets for its dedication at the end to “the gallant people of Afghanistan” (often from people I suspect don’t realize the Mujahideen consisted of different factions with differing beliefs who spent the subsequent decade engaged in bloody civil wars), this is a rare Hollywood movie from the era that actually likes Muslims. Which isn’t nothing.