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Rambo series

Sylvester Stallone became famous in the United States because he created the character of Rocky from scratch but a lot of his international longevity is due to his portrayal of John Rambo, a Vietnam veteran who to date has had five screen adventures presumably as harrowing as anything he faced during the war.  Rambo first appeared in the novel First Blood, written by David Morrell.  The author reportedly came up with the memorable name after his wife bought some Rambo apples and he based the character on veterans who were struggling with PTSD.   Rambo’s veteran status is a core characteristic of his struggles, especially in the novel and in the first film.  While audiences enjoy the Rambo films for the nihilistic joy of watching a tough guy gun down really bad guys there are plenty of mindless action films that offer that experience.  Rambo has unprocessed pain from both serving in Vietnam and then facing the cruel aftermath in the U.S. in which the public’s dis...
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Diamonds Are Forever

Sean Connery made an unexpected (and last minute) return to the role of James Bond in this 1971 film that I have always ranked at the bottom of my list of favorites in the series.  I have resisted writing about it for.a long time because I prefer to focus on films I enjoy in this blog.  But I am slowly working my way through writing about the Bond series and I feel it is time to take an in-depth look at Diamonds Are Forever and note its strengths and weaknesses. Diamonds is one of the films that probably saved the series at a critical point.  The previous film, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service had underperformed for a couple of reasons.  Firstly, Sean Connery had bowed out of the series after a grueling shoot on You Only Live Twice and was replaced by unknown George Lazenby who was well cast but a little inexperienced to play the lead in a Bond film.  Secondly, the audiences were accustomed to inventive gadgets in the Bond films but in OHMSS director Peter Hunt t...
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Masters of the Universe

 As regular readers of this site know I grew up in the 1980s. Seth McFarlane is about a year younger than me so on the rare occasion that I turn on Family Guy I catch all the 1980s references which are as much about fandom as the shows and movies themselves.  However I only watch it on occasion as I feel its characters are a little too immoral.  This is not a complaint I can lodge against He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. When the Filmation cartoon He-Man first began airing I was about ten which is a little older than the show was targeting, but I found plenty to like in it.  The setting, a planet called Eternia which had both magical creatures and scientific advancements far beyond what is on Earth (e.g. flying sleds). The title character is a Superman/Clark Kent like character except when he is not He-Man he really is just an ordinary man.  Prince Adan is deliberately, especially in the early episodes, a little lazy and more interested in having fun than...
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