Last Action Hero

(Got to Catch The Red Eye)

Today begins a week long waiting game for The
Expendables (Out Friday). I will review one action movie from some of the main stars from The Expendables every day this week. Why not start with the man himself, Ah-nuld!!! Technically, Stallone and Arnold have done a movie together before The Expendables. Sure, Sly made a short lineless cameo as a  cardboard cut out, advertising the release of Terminator 2 starring himself in the altered reality. Hilarious in it's irony, How Arnold's character Jack states, "it's his best movie!" In my opinion they have "shared the screen" at least once before The Expendables. Any who, I saw Last Action  Hero in the theater when I was 11 and I enjoyed it for what I saw. Lots of action, altered reality, actual reality, and 2 Arnolds on screen simultaneously. As Great movies do, it got better with age. Not only it's age, but with my age. Having watched it several times per year, every year since I bought the VHS in 1994, it's only become more and more classic. It's hard for me to believe how much they make fun of the "Hollywood" way of integrating their "reality" into our movies. Like, in real life how many of us have ever seen an explosion first hand? I'm guessing zero. Not to mention, I feel the "henchman" with the glass eye is probably one of the greatest villains ever. He eventually crosses into the real world, the shitty real world where "the bad guys can win". I'm sure he enjoyed himself in that world right up until the end. Jack Slater's life was going fine until Danny crossed over into his world proclaiming "This is a Movie!" for the first fifteen minutes he's with Jack. Jack wants proof, but nothing pans out until "henchman" crosses over in front of him. From the La Brea tar pits to the pyramid of rottweilers to Leo De Fart, "he was a good man, a flatulent man" it never stops being awesome and more importantly, it never gets old. They exploit every facet of BIG Hollywood blockbusters eventually comparing that world to the "Real world" Danny Madigan comes from. Ultimately it turns into a struggle for Jack to get back to his world, although, if he couldn't, he does have a job lined up as Arnold Schwarzenegger's stunt double. The one liners to the cornball jokes, this movie is BRILLIANT. If you disagree, I urge you to watch it again. I could write for hours on the genius of this film. The writers did a great job of highlighting the absolutely asinine perspective of Hollywood and to this day I laugh my ass off every time I hear the "Area Codes" scene outside that Blockbuster Video staffed with hotties. I may have to watch it tonight, now that I've been thinking about it. One last scene for the road.

Danny: It's gotta be on the other side of the road, because he had an ocean view. It looks like that one, in fact just like that one! The bad guys guys are in there.
Jack: All the police work I've done and all we had to do is drive around the neighborhood, point our finger at a house and say the bad guys are in there!!
Danny: You think you're funny, don't you?
Jack: I know I am, I'm the famous comedian Arnold Brownschwagger.
Danny: Schwarzenegger!
Jack: Cozuntite.

I realise content is missing. I thought I would just give the high points and the punchlines of the conversation.

Last Action Hero gets a Solid NBM rating - A Work of Cinematic Art!

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