Tagged: paris
Movie Review: GOTCHA! When those 80’s Paintball Skills Pay Off Yet AGAIN!
It’s funny how many movies in the 1980’s focus for some reason on the game of paintball for inspiration. I mean, I lived the 80’s and yes indeed paintballin’ was all the rage, so I guess it’s no wonder that movies like ‘The Zero Boys’, ‘Masterblaster’ & even the 1989 Mexican Gem ‘Trampa Infernal’ all begin with their main characters playing paintball & eventually using said paintball skills in a real life adventure.
For you young folks paintball is a game usually played out in the woods where two teams compete with each other with loaded guns filled with paint ball pellets. In the 80’s apparently it readied you for crazy real life adventure. This is of course just how 1985’s sweet sexy action comedy begins!
Yep, Anthony Edwards stars as a college freshman named Jonathon, a down on his luck virgin but luckily, you guessed it, an expert paintballer. He spends much of his time playing paintball on the college campus during the day while also asking out any beautiful babe who crosses his path. He soon convinces his parents to pay for a European vacation, in hopes he can finally lose his damn virginity overseas. So in Paris, he meets a slightly older, more experienced woman named Sasha Banicek (Linda Fiorentino), a sexy mysterious Czech who invites him to accompany her to West Berlin. of course Jonathon is totally enamored & will do just about anything for her affection. Sasha however, is secretly desperate to get a roll of film to the CIA & slips Jonathan the package without telling him what’s inside. Oblivious of what he’s carrying, Jonathan must elude the sinister Soviet forces trailing him at all costs & lucky for him he’s already a well versed expert in the paintball game of “Gotcha”!
Ok so this one’s pretty much exactly the kind of 80’s flick I’m down to watch any damn day of the week! It’s a cool little comedic thriller that really could have only existed in the 1980’s. It’s got some college humor that might not exactly fly today, but it’s also got some great characters at it’s core that make up for any of those shortcomings. There’s plenty of romance to go around as well, as our hero who’s a failed Romeo finally lives up to the challenge and adventure thrown his way for the woman who he claims he “loves” after knowing her for only a few days. Hey we’ve all been there at least one though right? There’s also some decent action scenes and the setting of Paris to Berlin only add to the mystique of the whole debacle. It’s a near perfect 80’s coming of age adventure that also manages to take some unique twists and turns along the way, that keep you guessing to the very end. If you’re feeling like taking a time machine to simpler, more charming times, I highly recommend Gotcha! Oh yeah it’s theme song is worth the price of admission alone, it’s so damn catchy it’ll swirl in your mind for days after, check this one out for some sweet retro vibes from my personal favorite era of cinema.
New “Marvel Knights” Comics Show True Potential!
Thus far with my limited budget I’ve decided to take a few chances on a couple of the new “Marvel Knights” limited series and I’m so far pretty damn impressed! I’ve been pretty bored with most of the super hero titles I’ve tried to keep up with and honestly have dropped almost all of them. I’ve first got to clarify I don’t get any promo or advance copies here to review, I’d LOVE to do reviews every week of all the new titles. I’m sure I’d find many that would blow my mind. I love all styles of comic books but I’d be liar if I said that I wasn’t first and foremost a superhero fanatic. I’ve tried many titles out there and it feels like perhaps we’re at another stale point in comics at least from the big two publishers. It seems to go in waves, but perhaps the whole super hero thing is a tad overblown these days with the huge shiny Hollywood blockbusters. It’s been reported that Marvel Knights this time around was launched to give some writers and artist with a more independent background a shot at giving some of the more popular heroes a slightly different feel.
Well recently I shelled out some cash for a couple of the new Marvel Knights titles which are right now just mini series. Last month I was pleasantly surprised to read Marvel Knights: X-men by Brahm Revel, who also was the writer artist of “Guerillas” which is now on my radar for must read comics. This X-men story was so impressive to me because of how well it’s smaller scale plot line played out(so far at least) in issue #1. Wolverine, Rogue and Kitty head out on a road trip together to a tiny backwoods town to investigate some child mutants that they believe may be in danger of being murdered. It reminded me of older X tales with a more personal storyline rather than some part of whatever big yearly extravaganza Marvel has planned to try and sell millions of books. It had me pumped to see where it will go next and Revel’s artwork as well was truly impressive with a darker, grittier feel to it. Reminding me that some of the best comic book stories don’t need to involve saving the world every day.
Yesterday I thought I’d give Marvel Knights: Hulk a shot as well, as I have been craving my Hulk fix for quite some time now. I’ve tried over and over to get into Indestructible Hulk but something about it just doesn’t click with me. I was pleased to find that this Marvel Knights Hulk was quite intriguing as well! Basically following Banner as he wakes face first in a river with no memory in Paris and is taken in by a local woman who tries to help him put the pieces back together of how he got there.
It doesn’t take long before things get crazy as some secret organization is hunting him down with giant Hulk like monsters. Like the X-men the story starts out small but it seems like this one is going to get pretty out of control. The art while not as impressive as the X-Men is solid but the story is thus far top notch and filled with mystery. I may have to check out more of these Marvel Knights books if they are of the same caliber. I think there is also a Spider-man MK book too. It’s nice at least to have a few superhero books to look forward to!
Universal Dork 