Flickering Myth

Film & TV News, Reviews and Features

A Look Back at The Expendables Franchise (And a Look Forward…)

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Ten years on from the release of the first movie, Tom Jolliffe looks back at the Expendables franchise and then looks at where it can go now (and who needs to join the crew)… When The Expendables was first announced in late 2009, my excitement levels went through the roof. Initially it was Sylvester Stallone, […]

Netflix and Conan the Barbarian: What We’d Like to See

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Tom Jolliffe offers his two cents on the potential of Netflix bringing Conan back to screens… For years fans of Conan The Barbarian have waited with baited breath for the potential of a new film. Most predominantly among those, there has been a particular clamour for Arnold Schwarzenegger to return to the role which broke him […]

Commando at 35: Revisiting the Arnold Schwarzenegger Action Classic

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Tom Jolliffe revisits the Schwarzenegger classic Commando, which recently turned 35… It pains me to think a seminal film from my childhood has now turned 35. I probably first saw Commando some 30(ish) years ago. That would make me? Urgh, like the old Knight Harrison Ford stumbles on in The Last Crusade probably. Or at […]

When Arnold Schwarzenegger prevented the End of Days

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Tom Jolliffe looks back at the Y2K era Schwarzenegger vehicle End of Days, released during a period of  millennium apocalypse fascination… Remember Y2K? Remember the threat of an impending apocalyptic event? Or if not that, PCs around the world going haywire. As it transpires, soothsayers from the middle ages were a bit off course with […]

Three Rs with Arnold Schwarzenegger: Raw Deal, Red Heat and The Running Man

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Tom Jolliffe looks back at three Rs from Arnold Schwarzenegger in Raw Deal, Red Heat and The Running Man… If you’re a physical media hound with a penchant for alphabetizing, who also happens to be a Schwarzenegger fan, chances are you’ll have three great Arnie flicks in close proximity to each other. In Arnold chronology […]

No Country For Old Men: The best Terminator movie of the 21st century

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Tom Jolliffe looks back at No Country For Old Men, the relentless chase film which did ‘Terminator’ better than every 21st century sequel in the Arnold Schwarzenegger franchise…  The year is 2022. We’re well into the 21st century. Franchise fascination has never been higher and likewise, the lustre in Hollywood for remakes, reboots and sequels […]

How to Refurbish the Terminator Franchise

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Tom Jolliffe offers his thoughts on the direction to take the Terminator franchise… Terminator 2: Judgment Day is 30 this year. It’s also fair to say it’s the last film in the franchise that proved unquestionably successful. It was a massive box office hit, launching James Cameron to gargantuan levels of production. At the time […]

Northman the Barbarian: How Conan Courses Through The Northman

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Tom Jolliffe looks at the similarities between The Northman and Conan the Barbarian. Spoilers follow… After success and masses of acclaim for his small scale masterworks The Witch and The Lighthouse, director Robert Eggers went large scale in his third outing. The Northman is a big budget Viking revenge epic. In every way, it’s the […]

4K Ultra HD Review – Raw Deal (1986)

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Raw Deal, 1986. Directed by John Irvin. Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Kathryn Harrold, Robert Davi, Sam Wanamaker, Ed Lauter, Darren McGavin, and Joe Regalbuto. SYNOPSIS: A former FBI agent now working as a small-town sheriff goes undercover in the Chicago mafia after the son of an old friend is murdered. Raw Deal is something of an […]

4K Ultra HD Review – Red Sonja (1985)

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Red Sonja, 1985. Directed by Richard Fleischer Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Brigitte Nielsen, Sandahl Bergman, Paul Smith, Ronald Lacey, Ernie Reyes Jr., Pat Roach. SYNOPSIS: A female warrior sets out for revenge against the evil tyrant who murdered her sister, aided by a skilled swordsman and a child prince. Red Sonja is one of those ‘80s […]