Tom Jolliffe with his picks of the essential 1980s action movies… Cheesy, excessive, over the top and funny. Something about the 1980s action movie marks it as the most extravagant, bold and explosive era of the genre. The 90s infused MTV stylistics into the genre and certainly went for a flashier style of shooting and […]
The Essential Action Movies of 1985
Time for a tooling up montage, as we travel back 40 years to look at the essential action movies from 1985… We’re midway through the decade now and I can’t be alone in finding it almost unfathomable that 1985 was 40 years ago. No, not 10, not 20… 40 years ago man! The midpoint of […]
The Essential Cannon Films Scores
Tom Jolliffe looks at some of the best musical scores from Cannon Films’ oeuvre… A good film score can elevate the picture and manipulate the viewer. It can illicit excitement, fear, intrigue, melancholy and more. It’s not uncommon for a film score to become just as legendary an aspect of a particular film as anything […]
An Action Christmas: Ten Action Movies Set At Christmas
Tom Jolliffe offers up ten action films set at Christmas… It’s time to pull your cracker and polish your baubles. Yep, Christmas is upon us. This means a festive period with a watch list of decidedly Christmassy films. By law we’ll all be watching Home Alone, The Snowman and It’s a Wonderful Life. Christmas is […]
The Essential One Man Army Action Movies
We take a deep dive into the explosive brilliance of the one-man army action movie with ten essentials you have to see… The 1980s were a glorious time for action cinema. They took all the tropes of the Western with near indestructible and stoic heroes taking on hordes of bad guys. They moved completely away […]
Anti-Revenge Cinema
Tom Jolliffe on when vengeance on screen is shown as futile… It’s a dish best served cold. Cinema has long held a fascination with revenge. As a sub-genre, the revenge picture still carries plenty of market appeal. Many actors over the decades, particularly cinematic tough guys, have made careers in dishing out vengeance. For the […]
Nine Gems from Cannon Films
Marvelous Videos presents nine gems from Cannon Films… If you grew up in the 80s, chances are you became (intentionally or unintentionally) familiar with a production company called The Cannon Group, Inc. They were responsible for an influx of action pictures throughout the 1980s that featured to some of the most iconic action heroes we […]
The A-Z of Action Movies: I-L
In the latest instalment of our action A-Z, Tom Jolliffe offers up a selection of films from I to L… Coming to a midpoint in our action A-Z, something becomes clear. I have seen way too many action films. Let’s face it, all you need is Die Hard repeated ad nauseam. That said, for carnage […]
Flagrant Misuse of a Bazooka, the Cannon Films Way
Tom Jolliffe looks back at two action films from Cannon which perfectly encapsulated the company… Those with a working knowledge of Cannon Films, the independent studio cranking out low budget genre fare through the 80’s, before over-extending themselves, will have a pretty good idea of their raison d’etre. After getting footing in the early part […]
An Ode to Chuck Norris
Tom Jolliffe pays tribute to movie legend turned internet meme God Chuck Norris, who recently turned 80… Earlier this month, a cinematic icon turned 80. Likewise, after something of a lull in recent years with Chuck Norris themed ‘facts’ and memes, his internet meme-worthiness has gone through the roof once more in the face of […]
