Above The Law

Let me set the scene for you. Having been to a pub in Nottingham to witness yet another crushing disappointment in the arena of British sport, namely, being knocked out of the European football championships by a bunch of guys who would normally be on the receiving end of an action hero's roundhouse. Having had a couple of pints, my girlfriend and I made the walk of shame back home, only to have my spirits lifted by the mighty might of Above The Law, not only starring, but also co-written by Seagal himself.

In this ass-kicking display of bad guy bone crunching, Seagal wades through a swathe of bad guys in an attempt to right some plot-relevent wrong (something to do with drugs and explosives and something that happened in Vietnam - I missed the beginning, which made little difference), kicking ass and taking names all the way. Bringing together Hollywood royalty past (Pam Grier), present (Seagal himself) and future (Sharon Stone, in a supporting role as Nico's wife) and snapping the neck of one of the all-time great bad guys, Henry Silva as the awesomely named 'Kurt Zagon', the tagline probably says it all; 'He was a covert agent trained in Vietnam. He has a master 6th degree black belt in Aikido... and family in the Mafia. He's a cop with an attitude.'.

If you missed this on Channel Five last night, you missed a treat. Still, you can pick it up on DVD from Play for about a £11.99, and you should.

Raddest Movie Ever has Fansite

Why are there no good fan sites for seminal 80's action movies I hear you ask ? There are, I reply, there is this one, ActionClub, and there is also CommandoFans.com, the latter being brough to my attention by the ever-vigilant ActionWillis.

Just beware though, if you visit it, you may be persuaded to 'stick around'.

30 Days of NIght (Part 2)

A pointy teethed, frosty splatterfest, 30 Days of Night is a decent vampire movie with a great ending. I saw this at the weekend and really enjoyed it. It has style and flow and characters that you really want to survive. Good vampires, if a bit gothy and overacted, there's a high level of splattery death for a 15 certificate movie, or that may just be me getting old, with one or two shocks but nothing over the top. It was a choice of this or Resident Evil: Extinction, and this won the toss, which I'm quite pleased about. Still like to see RE:E though.

30 Days of Night

It's 'Lost Boys' meets 'The Thing'. Another graphic novel gets the big screen treatment, this time under the direction of newcomer David Slade, and starring Josh Hartnett and Melissa George. Vampires, who like the dark (apparently) have a field day in the arctic circle during the long period of winter darkness (30 days, or thereabouts) when the sun doesn't rise.

Much vampy biting action and screaming will inevitably ensue as the residents face an unenviable fight for survival against a bunch of pointy toothed goths in wooly jumpers (probably). Looks like it might be fun all the same, especially with the legend that is Sam Raimi on board as producer. Check out the official website. Here's the trailer...

Cloverfield ?

There are some great movies on the way, none moreso than this offering from the production office of the near-godlike JJ Abrams. Much speculation surrounds the content of this film, whether it's another Godzilla movie, a story based in the world and mythos of HP Lovecraft or a Voltron episode. The Teaser Trailer was shown at theatres with the Transformers movie and is supposed to have a January 2008 release date.

If you haven't seen the trailer, check it out here and find more information on Wikipedia, on the Empire website and also on IMDB where it's still listed as an 'Untitled J.J. Abrams Project'.