Death Wish 2 : Bronson Takes L.A.

If you like Charles Bronson and “Death Wish,” then you’ll want to see “Death Wish 2.” It’s not the best entry in the series, but it’s decent. In it, Bronson and his daughter have moved to L.A. at the behest of N.Y.C. police chief Vincent Gardenia. Bronson plans on having a quiet life but then his maid and daughter are raped and both die. Time to get out his trusty Beretta 84 and get revenge. As Jimmy Page’s score wails in the background, Bronson proves that every other action hero is a total wuss by comparison. By the time the ending electrocution occurs, your jaw will be on the floor as Bronson finishes his revenge.

This film got no stars from Roger Ebert, and I think that’s because the rape scenes are way too graphic and go on too long (now that the late 70’s, early 80’s are over) . If you can handle those scenes, the movie’s fine. Jill Ireland and Vincent Gardenia give good performances in support and a young Laurence Fishburne amuses as one of the criminals. The big difference between “Death Wish 2” and other entries in the series is that Bronson only goes after the criminals who killed his daughter and maid.

Jimmy Page did the score for the second and third installments of this series. His music was experimental disco sounding, but effective and memorable. What’s cool about it though is it keeps a dark tone. Ominous sounding disco like that is unique and fit the era of what the film was about. Page was awarded a Razzie for this score. However, its under-appreciated and has aged well. It is worth checking out. There’s some gritty British rock overtones as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEtJffDs8K4

Death Wish 3 Cleans Up the Hood

No action fan’s life is complete without seeing “Death Wish 3.” Back in New York to visit an old Korean War buddy, Bronson’s friend is soon killed and he is shocked to see what bad shape the slums of New York are in. To protect several new friends including Martin Balsam from a multiethnic neo-punk gang, Bronson, with the help of the local police chief, once again takes the law into his own hands.

Whereas the first two ‘Death Wish” movies took themselves seriously, this one is a romp in the Bronx. To begin with, we are presented with the idea that the N.Y. police would be cool with Bronson being a vigilante as long as he keeps them up to date on his activities. Then, we are asked to accept multi-ethnic, neo-punk gangs as plausible. This is easy to do because the bulk of the movie is Bronson killing people with his Colt Cobra until he gets bored with that and starts using a rocket launcher. Naturally, his new squeeze, a public defender, is killed, upping the ante even more.

“Death Wish 3” got really bad reviews because the critics didn’t realize IT’S A JOKE! The director, Michael Winner, had exhausted all plausible ideas with the first two films and, realizing what a strange place America was in 1985, decided to camp it up! If you’ve been dying to see Alex Winter as a heavy who needs to be dispatched by Bronson, look no further. If you’re looking for something that makes “Cobra” look realistic, you’re in luck! If you’re looking for a plausible thriller starring Bronson, try the first “Death Wish” or the original “Mechanic.” But for campy drive-in trash, “Death Wish 3” can’t be beat!

Randy Quaid Will Crush Bernie Sanders

Bernie Sanders and his liberal ilk had better watch out. There’s a new sheriff in town. And his name is Randy Quaid. Quaid, of Vacation and Christmas Vacation fame, is taking on Bernie Sanders for his Senate seat. He has a reality TV show documenting his run. Quaid is a big time Trump supporter, and has enough of an independent streak to merit consideration from all sides.

http://www.wnd.com/2017/12/reality-show-randy-quaid-runs-against-bernie-sanders/

His detractors will posit that Quaid is a mental case and should not be elected. It’s true he was put under house arrest while on the run from authorities for trespassing, vandalism, and unpaid hotel dues. He claimed that ‘star-wackers’ were out to get him. Probably the same people that killed David Carradine, Robin Williams, and Whitney Houston. Is Quaid nuts? No. Many Hollywood stars get in drug, real estate, credit card, and real estate debt. They are subject to termination by drug-dealers and loan sharks. Just like there is a shadow government, which Trump is fighting – there is also a shadow industry in Hollywood and the lime-light, in which dirty leeches suck the blood of the entertainment industry talent.

What makes Quaid qualified? Quaid, with his skepticism of Hollywood and government, and his innate understanding about the failures of liberalism (as evidenced by his portrayal of the dependent mooch uncle in Vacation) is just what Vermont needs. A good kick to the nuts of liberalism. Ok you want to pay higher taxes for do-gooder stuff??? OK , but you will have to house and pay for those dreamers yourself. You want free health care for all??? Ok but don’t be surprised if all the indigents and illegals cut in front of you in line at the hospital (and steal your cell phone to make expensive long-distance calls to Mexico city). You want communism? Ok, but you will have to let that homeless junkie ‘borrow’ your new BMW then.

Also, we have previously done a Randy Quaid tribute here at Groin. And we would like to mention that he is a very multi-dimensional actor, unlike DeNiro and Meryl Streep. Quaid can play LBJ. He can play Lenny from Mice and Men. He can play the cannibal dad in Parents. And we are quite certain that he can play Senator from Vermont better than PC socialist Bernie Sanders.

Personally, I would vote for Randy Quaid any day.

‘The Room’ A Post-Modern Masterpiece

The film sensation surrounding the success of the strange cult film the Room has been misunderstood as the glorification of mediocrity. On the surface this is true.

(Link to trailer for ‘The Room’) :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EE6RQ8rC8hc

But really this film is a post modern classic which tells a deeper story of male disenchantment in a world of upside down and self centered morality. Not to mention that the rent is too high and the city smells like garbage (with homeless people everywhere).

In the film the protagonist has a cheating no good , not that hot fiancé. She is self centered to the point of having no empathy for anyone. She acts only upon her own dominant whims. The friends and neighbors in the story are all kind of just ‘there’, causing problems with their own moral obliviousness.

The hero of the film lives a romantic and self determined lifestyle, and is moral to a fault. He cannot survive in a depraved , self centered city such as SF. Cuts which people thought were stupid, such as the café ordering scenes, are thoughtfully placed throughout the film to emphasize the shallow nature of modern city life.

The concept of the room is not just the one room the hero bangs his fiancé and kills himself in. The room is a metaphor for the soulless, morally bankrupt city of SF. The long screen shots of the Golden Gate bridge are meant to warn the viewer that SF sucks, and the hero is thinking of jumping off the bridge. The film is meant to channel Camus’s classic novella The Fall.

The viewer is left with the gripping reality that we all have contributed to the death of the hero. As we have ‘torn him apart!’

Presumed Innocent Sequel Prevails

In the late 1980’s Scott Turow’s first novel “Presumed Innocent” set the publishing world aflame with its sexual explicitness and its dense, riveting mystery. It was a number one best-seller and was turned into a classic thriller film with Harrison Ford. Twenty years later, Turow came out with a sequel called “Innocent” which is not sexually explicit but does have just as riveting a mystery. Why does it work so well?

At the end of “Presumed Innocent,” the protagonist Rusty Sabich is acquitted of murder charges. At the beginning of “Innocent,” he gets implicated in a woman’s death again-this time, his wife’s. He ends up on trial again and even his loving son Nat wonders if he is guilty or not. Further complicating matters is Anna, Nat’s girlfriend, who used to be lovers with Rusty and may have some involvement with the wife’s death. As the trial goes on, the twists and turns continue.

“Innocent” is a spellbinding thriller because it keeps you guessing till the end. The guessing is not so much who killed whom as it is what twist and turn in the trial is coming up next. The novel is told from the point of view of several different characters, which actually helps build suspense about what’s going to happen. Several characters, such as Rusty and the prosecutor Tommy Molto, have complicated character arcs and many good and bad character traits. That sort of complexity is a breath of fresh air in an age of writing for dummies. I was spellbound through 400+ pages of this book, and by the end I felt I had been put through the literary ringer. In short, if you’re looking for a great thriller, try “Innocent”!

On Exoskeletons

Exoskeletons are the future. Right now they are used for people missing limbs to walk mostly. The applications for exos are broadening now to help workers lift boxes and basically make humans stronger and more durable. Wartime applications of super-human strength seem obvious too. Or how about putting an exoskeleton on your dick and hammering that woman you love’s love mound into orgasmic ecstasy after you got tired from the first couple rounds. Ford and Ekso Bionics ( a $2 stock) https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/EKSO/ are teaming up to work on an exo suit for use in the workplace.

https://futurism.com/ford-pilots-new-exoskeleton-lessen-worker-fatigue/

 

Death Wish 4: Just Say No. Or Else!

One of the most underrated film series, the “Death Wish” series, triumphs again with “Death Wish 4: The Crackdown.” A 1987 Cannon film starring Charles Bronson, it finds legendary vigilante Paul Kersey (Bronson) EXTREMELY angry when his live-in girlfriend’s daughter dies as a result of a drug overdose. Rather than letting the authorities handle it, Bronson becomes a one-man army again and kills off anyone with any connection to drugs. Apparently a fan of “Yojimbo” and “A Fistful of Dollars,” Bronson pits two drug cartels against each other resulting in MASSIVE casualties.

This film features a woman saying about her sleazy date “I wish he’d drop dead!” right before he gets thrown off a building and onto her taxi. It also features this classic dialogue exchange: “I can be real nasty when I want to be.” Bronson: “So can I!” This film has a shootout at the end in a roller-skating rink/video games. It has Bronson watching the gangs in partially open doors in hotel rooms and NOT BEING NOTICED! It has Bronson killing people with bazookas and grenade launchers. It has a completely gratuitous dream sequence. It even has Danny Trejo in it! This flick doesn’t seem like much at first but then it surprises. I love the extreme anti-drug message; apparently you’re likely to die from your first hit of cocaine! Available for $10 on Blu-ray as part of a “Death Wish Triple Feature” with “Death Wish 2” and “Death Wish 3,” this is an exploitative delight and not to be missed by fans of good trash!

 

Booms, Busts, and War

You had the Depression (bust), followed by Pearl Harbor and WW2, and the post-war boom. This created the perception of the Greatest Generation. But the media has failed to put things into perspective and the boom, bust, and war cycle continues to this day. Maybe the current generations are under-rated.

Many overlook that the Internet bubble 90s were a period like post WW2, booming without external threats. That bubble popped and then what did we get? 911.

911 was like Pearl Harbor, plus you have Aphghanistan (Taliban), Iraq (Bathists/Sadaam), Syria (Bathists/Assad), Libya (Khadaffi), Pakistan (Bin Laden killed there) and many other wars and pseudo-wars since then.

Now the ‘war on terror’ has gone on 16 years , which is actually much longer than WW2 was. Unlike the cold war its a hot war, rather than a standoff.

Other than Pearl Harbor the US was not attacked during WW2. Whereas war on terror massacres here in the US by foreign (inspired) cells have been at least once a year almost.

I don’t think the major media has done a good job of putting modernity in perspective. When the history books are written a hundred years from now the War on Terror will be considered to have been WW3, and the Generations of X and Millenials will be considered to have been fairly militant and forthright.

Bloated Governments Should Pay Taxes

What if instead of taxing individuals, individuals (society at large) taxed the government? With the taxes from the government enriching Joe Six Packs, benefits could be cut , since people would have the cash to cover unforeseen circumstances. This would shrink the government.

What rate would you have to tax government spending at to get the government to shrink?

Once the government becomes half the economy
why should the private sector/individuals be taxed rather than the government itself?

The way to do this in practicable terms is to have the government pay quarterly dividends to taxpayers, by selling off its assets to private companies. Such assets would include foreign military bases, national forests and coastlines, and the rights to things such as offshore drilling off of Florida. When a private individual cannot pay their taxes they often have to go to the pawn shop and sell something or have their wages garnished. This should be reversed and the government should sell off its own assets instead, and have their income garnished, to impose fiscal austerity, thereby ultimately shrinking the government, while increasing the private sector’s share of the economy.