Cinemaniac1984

Loose Cannons was meant to be a goofy comedy that is nothing more that an unfunny trainwreck from start to finish. Gene Hackman can easily play a straightlaced no nonsense character and Dan Aykroyd can easily play a comedic character. Both roles could have worked in this movie especially as another cliched odd couple partnership but nothing worked at all. The less said about the story the better.

Washington D. C. Police Detective MacArthur "Mac" Stern is partnered with Detective Ellis Fielding to investigate a number of murders tied to the possession of a German sex film involving Adolf Hitler and also implicates German Chancellor Elect Kirk Von Metz (Robert Prosky) who has ties to the Neo Nazi party. One of the witnesses is pornographic filmmaker Harry Gutterman (Dom DeLuise) manages to evade capture from Neo Nazi hitmen led by Grimmer (Paul Koslo) and finds himself in protection. The problem is that Mac is often in trouble for rubbing other people the wrong way and Ellis is suffering from dissociative personality disorder where he impersonates many cartoon characters. Along the way, Mac and Stern have a run in with FBI Agent Smiley (Ronny Cox) who is trying to warn them to stay away from the case to shield the Germans from embarassment and Israeli Secret Service Agent Riva (Nancy Travis) who is also in pursuit to find the film to expose the Neo Nazis.

The movie is a jumbled mess. The plot has so many holes and roads that lead to the middle of nonsense. No matter what movie Gene Hackman appears in, he can never do wrong. Just look at his memorable movies including The French Connection (1971), Superman (1978) and its sequels Superman II (1980) and Superman IV (The Quest for Peace), Unforgiven (1992), Crimson Tide, Get Shorty and The Quick and The Dead (all 1995), Enemy of the State (1998) and The Royal Tenanbaums (2001). Here he finds himself stuck in this middle of this trainwreck just like his character. Dan Aykroyd has been in many memorable movies in his career including The Blues Brothers (1980), Trading Places (1983) and Ghostbusters (1984), however this movie he just tried too hard to be funny putting on his various chartoon character impersonations and he just missed the mark. Ronny Cox is largely wasted in his role as FBI Agent Smiley was was highly unnecessary. Nancy Travis didn't do much as Israeli Secret Service Agent Riva and I thought the writers could have done more with her. Dom DeLuise is hapless just like his bumbling character but he did make an effort.

Just food for thought, take out the bloody violence, profanity, and dial down the sexual references or even remove it and this could have easily been a family friendly movie.

I didn't care about Loose Cannons by the end. I just wanted to stick with it to see how it ended. I didn't laugh once not did I find it mildly amusing. No wonder the movie was a box office flop and the critics did not show any mercy with many negative reviews. It is also another movie that has the dishonourable mention of rating 0% on Rotten Tomatos. Loose Cannons was a forgettable movie for Gene Hackman and Dan Aykroyd, both actors who I always hold in high regard.

2/10.

Mention the movie Apocalypse Now, and everyone instantly thinks of the scene when the song "Ride of the Valkyries" is blasting out of the speakers as the U. S. Army helicopters attack a village occupied by the Vietcong. There is also the song The End by The Doors which plays at the start of the movie which sets the tone for the rest of the movie. Released in 1979, Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now is one of the most epic war movies of all time.

Set in the nightmarish world of the Vietnam War, the movie tells the tale of troubled U. S. Army Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) who is assigned to a classified mission to terminate "with extreme prejudice" a highly decorated U. S. Army Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando) who has become mentally disturbed and has gone rogue by commanding his own army of barbaric villagers deep in Cambodia. Captain Willard travels to his destination on a US Navy patrol boat crewed by Chief Petty Officer Phillips (Albert Hall), Lance (Sam Bottoms), Chef (Frederic Forrest) and Mr. Clean (Laurence Fishburne in his movie debut). Along the way he travels through a very disturbing yet fascinating journey through Vietnam from the skies through up the river.

The all star cast features Robert Duvall in his most memorable role as the gung-ho surfer loving John Wayne stereotype Lieutenant Colonel Kilgore, Dennis Hopper as the crazed photojournalist, Harrison Ford as a US Army Intelligence Colonel, Scott Glenn as a crazed US Army Captain, and Colleen Camp as a Playboy Bunny.

The movie which was filmed in the Philippines was almost a disaster during filming. Francis Ford Coppola suffering a nervous breakdown, Martin Sheen had a heart attack and almost suffered a breakdown as well due to gruelling filming conditions, Marlon Brando arrived overweight and unprepared, a typhoon destroyed the set, drug use and alcoholism was rampant (some actors were high on drugs during filming including Dennis Hopper and Sam Bottoms) and the film ran over budget and what was meant to be a 6 week shoot turned out to be 68 weeks.

Upon its release, Apocalypse Now turned out to be a big success at the box office and garnered a lot of critical acclaim, many describing the movie as masterful. It also netted 2 Academy Awards for Cinematography and Sound, and was nominated for Best Picture.

Apocalypse Now has two other versions that have since been released including Apocalypse Now: Redux (2001) and Apocalypse Now: Final Cut (2019). Both are still worthy but I'll always consider the original 1979 version to be a masterpiece. It is still worthy of its praise and it's something that I'll always cherish.

10/10.

Deadpool & Wolverine brings back two of the most popular Marvel characters in the titular roles. Ryan Reynolds returns as Deadpool having last appeared in Deadpool 2 (2018) and Hugh Jackman returns as Wolverine having bid farewell to his iconic character in Logan (2017). It was fantastic to see both actors return again. The movie was well worth the hype and it was a great experience from start to finish with plenty of non stop humour and action. A lot of question marks and concerns were going to be raised about the third Deadpool movie after Disney's takeover of 20th Century Fox but there's nothing to worry about at all. There's a lot of crude jokes and blood and gore which Deadpool is well known for.

Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) is enjoying making the best of a normal life until he finds himself being thrust back into the action by Mr Paradox (Matthew Macfayden) after being told his current universe is under threat of being wiped out from existence. After reluctantly agreeing to stop the threat, Deadpool also finds himself reluctantly enlisting the help of Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) from another universe who is even more reluctant to join forces with the motormouthed hero. Both Deadpool and Wolverine find them forming an antagonistic alliance to face off against Cassandra Nova (Emma Corrin) who is the evil twin of the beloved Charles Xavier aka Professor X.

There is going to be no spoilers here, otherwise it will spoil things. Deadpool & Wolverine was great from start to finish. So many laughs, non stop action, lots of jokes and Easter eggs, and Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman made a great on screen duo. It was great to see them back. Deadpool & Wolverine is another great hit in the Marvel series. All fans of Marvel, Deadpool and Wolverine will really enjoy themselves. Have a great time watching the movie, and this is another hit for 2024.

8/10.