BIG FUCKING EXPLOSIONS

"Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house not a creature was stirring EXCEPT the..."

Thu, 24 Dec 2009 19:53:07 -0800

“Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house not a creature was stirring EXCEPT the four assholes coming in the rear and at a standard 2/2 cover formation.”

- THEO: DIE HARD

Merry Christmas!

I GET DEEP RESPONDING TO A QUESTION FROM SKEETONMISCHA ON FORMSPRING.ME

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 20:48:00 -0800

Do you think in twenty or thirty years from now people will look at the works of, say like Neveldine/Taylor as an art or will it fade into a unseen purgatory with an occasional revival screening? In other words, do you think the action films or even genre films of today be cherished and looked upon as great works of a bygone or will people continue to look at the 70s/80s and to a lesser extent the 90s as the era of the genre film? by skeetonmischa

There are two stylistic affectations/tics of the ’00s action film (both, oddly enough, introduced by Spielberg and then widely, badly imitated) that have already dated and are going to be looked back upon in a similar manner as the wah-wah soundtracks and rack focuses of ’70s action movies: A) the “Saving Private Ryan” open shutter effect and B) the horrid “Minority Report” tweaked/desaturated color/overly highlit whites look (which, at least in Spielberg/Kaminski’s case, was achieved photochemically and now is the kneejerk mode of bad DI colorists everywhere). Neveldine/Taylor exemplify these two tics 2 the Xtreme, along with nausea-inducing shaky-cam, speedfreak editing and overall in-your-face crassness. Within 5 years, this “style” will seem dated. The question is whether, in 15, the hipsters of the future will start adopting said style “ironically” and it will become either camp or an “everything old is new again” “cool” technique. That, more than anything, will determine if these films have legs. These things are hard to peg. Will tats and piercings be the ironic bushy mustache of the 2020s? Is style destined to repeat itself in cycles, like Dr. Seuss’ The Sneetches, with their fickle vogue for navels with stars? The bigger question is this: do you think the hipster kids of the 2020s will wear vintage Ed Hardy ironically?

-dc

R.I.P. Dan O’Bannon If it wasn’t for Dan...

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 10:43:00 -0800

R.I.P. Dan O’Bannon

If it wasn’t for Dan O’Bannon, movies would suck a whole lot more than they already do.

O’Bannon credits include:

Alien
Total Recall
Return Of The Living Dead (Greatest Horror Comedy Of All Time)

A great writer/director and a true champion of the genre. He will be greatly missed.

-Douglas Reinhardt

Fishburne joins Predators

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 10:29:40 -0800

Fishburne joins Predators:

From the Article:

While Jenna might not be able to tell you much about Noland [ Ed Note: Laurence Fishburne], I know from my own digging that the character has a little experience fighting Predators. While most of our characters are newbies, Noland’s been at this game for a while

SOLD!

Sorry Mom Sorry Uncle Rick We’re skipping Christmas this...

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 16:35:07 -0800

Sorry Mom

Sorry Uncle Rick

We’re skipping Christmas this year and heading straight to the theater to camp out for IRON MAN 2

Click on the image to watch the trailer

delbertshoopman: Armageddon (1998) When an asteroid the size...

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 13:04:07 -0800

delbertshoopman:

Armageddon (1998)

When an asteroid the size of Texas is headed for Earth the world’s best deep core drilling team is sent to nuke the rock from the inside.

Many people don’t know this about me, but… Armageddon is one of my top 20 favorite movies… Hell, I referenced the shit out of it during my speech at my high school graduation (I was class president). Eventually I’ll recreate the whole movie… but until then… here is a Del & Dave reenactment of the famous animal cracker scene. YOU’RE WELCOME.

Cast:

AJ - Del

Grace - Dave

*Cinematographer - Ian Broyles

BFE approves this message.

All I want for Christmas is the movie, Legion or at least an...

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 11:20:45 -0800

All I want for Christmas is the movie, Legion or at least an semi empty theater to watch it in with all friends and fans of B.F.E.

Also, SCREEN GEMS, please e-mail us! We love your movies!

-Douglas Reinhardt

From the Wikipedia Entry on "Predators" aka "Predator 3"

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 12:46:20 -0800

Cast information was released only a few weeks before shooting began. The cast consists of Adrien Brody who plays a man who ends up inheriting the mantle of leader. Topher Grace who would plays an accountant-type whose unassuming facade masks a dangerous serial killer, Alice Braga plays a tough female killer. Mahershalalhashbaz Ali portrayes a man not afraid to die, Walton Goggins presents a loose canon of the group and Oleg Taktarov is a former Russian special ops agent and Danny Trejo plays a hardened warrior with twin uzis

SOLD!

The Great Debate: Best Telekinesis Exploding Head/Body Scene

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 09:43:38 -0800

From time to time, we at BFE like to examine and compare the great moments and scenes to truly discover which is the truly the best. Much like Highlander, there can only be one, ladies and gentlemen. Without much further ado, let’s begin the latest installment of the GREAT DEBATE:

BEST EXPLODING HEAD/BODY CAUSED BY TELEKINESIS: David Cronenberg’s Scanners V. Brian De Palma’s The Fury

Scanners, thanks in part to the internet boom and the popularization of GIFs and 4Chan humor is perhaps the best known explosion in this debate. With good reason though, it’s quite a spectacular and rather unsettling.

And oh yeah, it’s Michael freaking Ironside using the power of his mind to blow up some guy who looks like David Cross’s head! How insane is that?!

Brian De Palma’s The Fury which I can only describe as Carrie with a pretty girl mixed with elements of The Bourne Identity features an impressive cast: Kirk Douglas, Amy Irving and John Cassavetes. As well as one of the weirdest and wackiest explosions scenes.

While it seems like John Cassavetes is thinking of what film he’s going to make next with his paycheck through a majority of the film, the climatic scene is the first scene in the film where he appears to be acting. His cement shoes/Frankenstein’s Monster stomp is brilliant compared to Amy Irving’s ‘smell the fart’ style of acting.

Comparing the two scenes, one hopefully begins to notice the obvious differences. Cronenberg plays his explosion out in one shot as opposed to cutting to multiple angles like De Palma did. Then again, going over the top is or was De Palma’s key aesthetic in the 1970s and 1980s. The explosion, the effects and the wacky John Williams score is all perfectly in sync with De Palma’s style. Then you have John Cassavetes’ monstrous stomping and Michael Ironside’s semi porno style of acting as he scans the David Cross lookin’ guy’s mind.

Two great scenes, but we leave it up to you. Please answer this great debate: Scanners or The Fury ?

A COUPLE OF BFE DUDES SITTING AROUND ASKING EACH OTHER QUESTIONS ON FORMSPRING.ME

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 15:37:26 -0800

Follow up question: What are your thoughts on John Milius? Thanks to BFE, I’ve fallen in love with the Reagan era action film again. Do you think we’ll see a return to that style of politically charged action film or it will be more of the liberal action films of Paul Greengrass and Kathryn Bigelow? And finally, do you really think James Cameron and Kathryn Bigelow will be both nominated for best director this year? by skeetonmischa

Milius deserves legendary status, if for nothing more than writing 3 of the greatest monologues of all time: the “do you feel lucky, punk” speech in “Dirty Harry” (uncredited), the “Indianapolis” speech in “Jaws” (also uncredited) and the Col. Kilgore naplam rant in “Apocalypse Now.” As a filmmaker, he was pretty top-notch. Much like Walter Hill, he made his bones as a screenwriter (“Judge Roy Bean,” “Jeremiah Johnson,” “Magnum Force”) before becoming a director, and his batting average is actually solid. “Dillinger” is epic (though admittedly, I have a soft spot for anything featuring Warren Oates), “Big Wednesday” is a perfect an evocation of time and place, and “Conan” is amazingly pure in its Nietzschean ethos, as well (not to mention its awesome “To crush your enemies, see them driven before you and hear the lamentation of their women” speech). “Farewell to the King,” with an awesome pre-meltdown performance by the always amazing, always underrated Nick Nolte is fascinating, as well. So what happened? I think Milius got a little too into the idea of playing the role of “MILIUS.” He thrived on presenting this bigger than life, cigar-chomping, gun-toting persona and I think it might have gotten in his way as an artist. Unlike you, I’m not the biggest fan of “Red Dawn” or, for that matter, the Reagan era action movie (though I could see how it would look better today, at least as camp). Maybe that’s because I was old enough to live through the ’80s the first time and saw it then, and now, as a decade (for Hollywood, and otherwise) that cheapened all the aesthetic innovation of the ’70s and was the beginning of our slide toward the lowest common denominator. I haven’t revisited too many of those films since first seeing them on grindhouse triple bills back in the day (particularly the Cannon fare — and yes, Virginia, there used to be grindhouses in L.A. There was an amazing theatre on Hollywood Blvd. called The World, the site of the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City was once an AWESOME triple theatre with low-rent double bills and the staggering palaces downtown used to show actual movies before being converted into churches and swap meets; if one didn’t mind the smell of bum piss, one could see AMAZING movies. For some reason, the co-feature to almost all of them was “Master of the Flying Guillotine” (!). I also spent some time in NYC in the late ’80s/early ’90s, before they cleaned up Times Square and it was truly BFE-worthy heaven). One could argue that the things you find appealing about the “Reagan Era” action movie aesthetic really have nothing to do with the “Reagan Era,” per se. The kickass vigilante template really started with “Dirty Harry,” “Death Wish” and “Walking Tall,” a decade earlier. If anything, the ’80s films were sort of white-wash distillations of those earlier “take no prisoners” types of pictures. But yes, I think vigilante movies will definitely be on the rise, particularly in the wake of the success of “Taken” (which, Liam Neeson excepted, totally blew). I wouldn’t call such a style “political” as much as more “black and white” in terms of good and evil. “Law Abiding Citizen,” for instance, is a step in that direction, fusing the “Death Wish” ethos with the gratuitous, intricately-detailed, Jacobean violence of “torture porn” films like “Saw.” As for the Cameron/Bigelow oscar prediction, I think you’re spot on. Bigelow being snubbed would be shocking. And judging from the reviews and the otherwise lackluster pickings this year, “Avatar” is starting to look like a lock for a Best Picture nom and, as it’s TOTALLY an achievement of pure filmmaking, I can’t imagine Cameron not being nominated, although his status as one of the most hated people in Hollywood could negate this. It will be interesting to see.

[via formspring]

-dc

QUESTION ANSWERED

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 16:53:00 -0800

My BFE comrade SkeetOnMischa asked me a question on Formspring and I figured I’d repost the answer here.

DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE WALTER HILL FILM? by skeetonmischa

Hill’s run from 1975-1984 is damn near perfect: “Hard Times,” “The Driver” (which never gets the credit it deserves for influencing the entire aesthetic of Michael Mann), “The Warriors” (!!!), “The Long Riders,” “Southern Comfort,” “48 HRS,” and “Streets of Fire.” Not a bad movie in that bunch and of those, only “Streets of Fire” has really dated, and more because of the hairstyles and horrific song score than anything else. This was followed by his whore job “Brewster’s Millions” and the unfortunate Ralph Macchio vehicle “Crossroads,” then somethng of a return to form with the Carolco troika of “Extreme Prejudice,” “Red Heat” and “Johnny Handsome” (“Red Heat,” maybe not so much…). “Another 48 HRS” was a misfire, followed by the amazingly underrated “Trespass” starring Paxton and the Ices T and Cube (with a script by Zemeckis and Gale!) which was marred only by a watered-down studio mandated ending as the L.A. riots were still on everybody’s mind. After that, he made his two thoughtful but, alas, somewhat boring Westerns: “Geronimo” and “Wild Bill” (“Wild Bill” is worth another look for Jeff Bridges’ amazing performance. It was one of those “competing projects merging together” hybrids of a script Hill wrote and a project called “Deadwood” (no relation to the David Milch show) written by Pete Dexter — the original Dexter script was better). The less said about “Supernova” the better. “Last Man Standing” should have been a lot cooler than it was, as should have “Undisputed,” despite a great setup and Wesley Snipes and Ving Rhames at their most badass (I blame the Weinsteins for that one). And after that? Just TV stuff. It’s a shame. Even with the misfires, the guy’s batting average was incredible. And now he’s nearly forgotten. A tragedy, really.

But, to answer your question, THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE. And it is, of course: “Warriors… come out and play-yay.” Can you dig it?

-dc

“I have a .44 Magnum, I love the .44 Magnum, in fact I...

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 11:21:06 -0800

“I have a .44 Magnum, I love the .44 Magnum, in fact I still have the .44 Magnum that inspired that line,” - John Milius

Nicolas Cage just shot a fireball. Your argument is invalid.

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 11:00:00 -0800

Nicolas Cage just shot a fireball.

Your argument is invalid.

After a careful memory jog examination of a list of every movie...

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 05:33:36 -0800

After a careful memory jog examination of a list of every movie released in America during the during the dread(ed) noughts, I have scientifically come to the conclusion that “Bad Boys 2” is, indeed, the BEST FILM OF THE DECADE*

*(disclaimer: “best film of the decade” that wasn’t “Ghost World,” “American Psycho,” “City of God,” “In Bruges,” “Kill Bill Vol. 1,” “Master and Commander,” “The Hurt Locker,” “Quinceañera,” “Anchorman,” “There Will Be Blood,” You Can Count on Me,” or “Nacho Libre.” Was that just my end of decade wrap-up list? Why, yes I believe it was….)

-dc

NEW MICHAEL BAY! NEW MICHAEL BAY! NEW MICHAEL BAY! It’s...

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 09:26:05 -0800

NEW MICHAEL BAY! NEW MICHAEL BAY! NEW MICHAEL BAY!

It’s the trailer for what should be his next film, Sexy Explosions Girls

Every time Burt Reynolds walks away from an explosion, an angel...

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 11:41:50 -0800

Every time Burt Reynolds walks away from an explosion, an angel gets their wings.

‘Terminator’ Future To Be Decided by Feb 1 – Deadline.com

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 20:52:12 -0800

‘Terminator’ Future To Be Decided by Feb 1 – Deadline.com:

BFE will be officially announcing our acquisition of the Terminator franchise in the next month. Details coming soon.

BFE recommend of the day.

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 16:07:21 -0800

BFE recommend of the day.

Quick Rule Of Thumb: If Michael Biehn is in the movie, 9 times...

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 12:00:03 -0800

Quick Rule Of Thumb: If Michael Biehn is in the movie, 9 times out of 10, it’s going to be pretty awesome.

Check out this scene from Timebomb and tell me I’m wrong?

MC Mickey Rourke drops some science and potentially the Big...

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 15:42:14 -0800

MC Mickey Rourke drops some science and potentially the Big Fucking Explosions theme song.

Via Alex Litel