Tag Archives: Action Movies

Remember Stallone’s Get Carter Remake? Here’s Why It’s Worth a Second Look

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Let’s travel back to the turn of the millennium. It’s the year 2000. Nu-metal is on the radio, everyone is terrified of the Y2K bug, and Sylvester Stallone is sporting a meticulously sculpted goatee, pointy sideburns, and a wardrobe full of $5,000 sharkskin suits.

Enter Get Carter.

If you ask a hardcore cinephile about this movie, they will likely shudder. The film is a remake of the 1971 British crime masterpiece starring Michael Caine—widely considered one of the greatest, grittiest revenge thrillers ever made. When Hollywood decided to drop Stallone into the lead role, shift the setting from a bleak, industrial Northeast England to a rain-soaked, techno-booming Seattle, and flash-fry the whole thing in MTV-style editing, the critics had an absolute field day. It bombed at the box office, scored a dismal 11% on Rotten Tomatoes, and effectively sent Sly’s career into a brief straight-to-video tailspin.

But here’s my hot take: Get Carter (2000) doesn’t deserve all the pure vitriol it gets. If you isolate it from the shadow of the original, it is a fascinating, deeply weird artifact of its era that actually has some genuinely good stuff under the hood.

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Why The Expendables Are the Ultimate “Turn Your Brain Off” Blast

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Let’s be honest for a second. Sometimes, you don’t want a deeply complex psychological thriller that makes you question the meaning of existence. Sometimes, you don’t want a slow-burning indie drama that leaves you staring at a blank screen in existential dread.

Sometimes, you just want to see a building explode while a 1980s action icon delivers a corny one-liner.

That is exactly why I will always defend The Expendables franchise. As a massive fan of these films, a huge part of my love comes down to two absolute legends: Sylvester Stallone and Jet Li. Stallone is the mastermind behind this entire glorious madness, assembling the ultimate action-movie Avengers. And Jet Li? The man is a human lightning bolt, bringing incredible martial arts precision to the heavy-artillery chaos.

The secret to enjoying this series is simple: don’t take them too seriously. If you walk into these movies expecting grounded realism, you’re doing it wrong. They are an unapologetic throwback to the golden age of action—loud, over-the-top, and an absolute blast.

With four movies now in the books, let’s break down the franchise, movie by movie, to see how this wild ride evolves.

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The 2018 Robin Hood Movie is Actually an Absolute Blast

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Let’s be honest for a second. When the 2018 reboot of Robin Hood hit theaters, the critics absolutely eviscerated it. It was called unnecessary, a mess, and everything in between. Because of that, I avoided it for years. But the other night, I finally decided to put it on with zero expectations—mostly because I’m not a Robin Hood purist who needs every adaptation to strictly copy traditional folklore.

And you know what? I was completely blown away by how much fun it is.

Contrary to all that early negative press, I found this movie to be a total blast from start to finish. If you’re willing to let go of what you think a medieval movie is supposed to look like, there is so much to love here.

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Jurassic World Rebirth Review: Is It the Best Since the Original?

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Let’s be honest: after the globetrotting, locust-filled spectacle of Dominion, many of us were ready to let the Jurassic franchise settle into a nice, quiet fossil bed. But Gareth Edwards stepped in, whispered “back to basics,” and gave us Jurassic World Rebirth.

The result? A film that feels less like a bloated corporate product and more like a high-stakes survival thriller. It’s not perfect, but it’s the most “Jurassic” this series has felt since the 90s.

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Tequila, Toothpicks, and Two Guns: Hard Boiled Revisited

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If you look up the word “cool” in the dictionary, you won’t find a definition. You’ll find a picture of Chow Yun-Fat sliding down a banister with a toothpick in his mouth and a Beretta in each hand.

Released in 1992 as director John Woo’s farewell love letter to Hong Kong cinema before his move to Hollywood, Hard Boiled is widely considered the peak of the “Heroic Bloodshed” genre. And standing tall at the center of this hurricane of bullets and broken glass is the incomparable Chow Yun-Fat.

Here is why his performance as Inspector “Tequila” Yuen remains the gold standard for action heroes.

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