Preamble, T1 and T2

I am a hardcore Terminator fan and this rant has been a long time coming.

The original was one of the very first movies I ever saw as a kid of about 6, complete with all the violence and swearing and even the sex scene – none of which made any sense to my child mind, of course. Along with the Conan films which my parents also enjoyed, I suppose it’s fair to say that I was born into being a Schwarzenegger fan, although only in hindsight do I realise that I was actually born into being a James Cameron fan. I was terrified by the dark vision of the future in the film, by how hard it was to destroy just that one Terminator, and how when 1991 came round all the kids raved on about how awesome the sequel was and how the T-1000 in particular was one of the scariest film villains ever, even surpassing the Arnie T-800. T2 lost a lot of its dark edge and replaced it with a more hopeful tale of the value of humanity achieving victory through their inner strength, and it was also the cementing of Schwarzenegger as a true Hollywood icon. But the real star was Cameron, the creator, writer, and director. He had raised his credibility with Aliens (as well as the tremendously underrated The Abyss) in between the two Terminator films, with a vision of exactly what he wanted his story to say. And he chose to end it with just T1 and 2, even shooting an alternate ending to T2 with an old Sarah Connor sitting in a park post-August 29th 1997 but opted instead for a black highway ending which was, looking back, a huge mistake.

So when does a film like Being John Malkovich get out-Malkoviched? When Takeshi Kitano makes one, that’s when.

A few words about Kitano San to begin. Many of you will remember that crazy old 80′s TV show Takeshi’s Castle, where contestants participated in a myriad of next-to-impossible obstacle courses with predictably hilarious, injurious, I’ve-got-a-bad-feeling-about-this, results. Well this is that very same Takeshi. The very same Takeshi who then went on to make a name for himself in the 90′s with hauntingly beautiful (and often very violent) Yakuza films, before finding relative international success in the 2000′s with the fascinating Zatoichi, a film about a blind samurai, a pair of revenge-seeking geishas, and tap-dancing. Obviously. And in between? Well, that very same Takeshi made a lot of weird ones too. And when I say weird, I mean crazy, messed up, only-in-Japan weird.

Originally posted here

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Born on 31 July 1956 and best known as Kyle Reese from the original Terminator film, Michael Biehn has since forged a career out of playing military-type roles with his distinct level of charisma and good looks. I caught up with Michael during the shooting of his next film, ‘Fire Bay’, to find out what the man himself thinks of his prominent career, his influence on gaming, and how he should have been in Call of Duty 4.

Michael Biehn : Thanks Willooi. The pleasure is all mine. But please, from now on call me The Biehn

WillOoi : Umm okay. So what are you up to these days Micha..The Biehn?

Michael Biehn : I’ve just finished shooting a couple more feature films where I play tough, handsome, good-looking, sexy, and charismatic macho characters with guns.

WillOoi : You seem to have made a career out of that type of role.

Michael Biehn : Indeed. Ever since I fell out of the sky, naked, in Terminator 1, I think there’s been a helluva lot of demand for that type of character. I mean, it was me naked versus Arnie naked, and the people made their choice.

It’s the Arnie movie that had everything: over the top violence, hilarious one-liners, outrageous ‘boss’ characters, Jesse Ventura, a Latino chick, satire on society and television, Yaphet Kotto of Alien fame, a distinct future influence on video games, and Schwarzenegger in possibly his finest form. It’s The Running Man (cue dodgy 80s echo sound effects)!!!

Set in an Orwellian 2017 where free speech is illegal, the story begins with futuristic policeman Ben Richards (Arnie) being set up by the totalitarian government for the massacre of civilians and sent to jail (where he sports a cool-looking beard). He escapes of course, but not without someone having his head blown off first (thanks to futuristic head-exploding collars which, to be honest… Read More