Yahoo Entertainment news recently announced it’s countdown of the greatest action icons of all time.
Included in the list was Steven Seagal’s navy Seal in ‘Under Siege’ co-starring Tommy Lee Jones and Gary Busey as heavies.
This 1992 thriller was known as ‘Die Hard on a Battleship’ and is widely considered Seagal’s best film.
Sean Connery in GOLDFINGER made the list, as it is considered one of the best James Bond features of all time (my favorite was The Spy Who Loved Me).
Kurt Russell in ‘Escape from New York’ made the cut for his Snake Plisken character. John Carpenter
directed this 1981 release. Burt Lancaster played a Johny Depp type swashbuckler in ‘THE CRIMSON PIRATE’
to break into the list. This is considered by some to be one of the top pirate movies of all time.
Of course RAMBO starrring Sylvester Stallone made the list as well, largely reinventing the action genere as we know it today.
Tom Cruise’s super spy franchise film MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE III of 2006 made the list as well. Uma Thurman made the chart with her
KILL BILL — VOL. 1 directed by Quentin Tarantino. One of the oldest entries on the list was the legendary Errol Flynn ‘THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD’.
This film was released in 1938. Peter weller made the list for his ROBOCOP from 1987. The 1969 film ‘The Wild Bunch’, Led by the hewn from a hard stone William Holden.
makes it’s way on the list as well. Then of course there was ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER in TERMINATOR 2 from 1991. I always though that one had some of the best chase scenes.
Russell Crowe also made the list for 2000’s GLADIATOR. it was also the Oscar winner of that year. keanu Reeves showed up on the list in the virtual reality/martial arts feature ‘The matrix’ from 1999,
Mel Gibson for the 1982 flick ‘The Road Warrior’, Harrison Ford for ‘ RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK’ (1981 vintage), bruce lee in ENTER THE DRAGON,
and Sigourney Weaver for ALIENS. Who was number one on this list? Bruce Willis made the #1 cut for ‘DIE HARD’ in 1988.
Ones I thought were overlooked include Clint Eastwood’s DIRTY HARRY and Liam Neeson in ROB ROY.
October 24, 2007
Who is the Greatest Action Star of all time?
October 10, 2007
Sutherland to do some jail time for DUI charge
Kiefer Sutherland pleaded no contest today to a charge of driving with a blood-alcohol level that was over the legal limit and will serve one month in jail under the terms of a plea agreement
His lawyer Blair Berk entered the plea on behalf of the actor, who was not there during the ruling.
In addition to this, he has to enroll in an eighteen month alcohol-education class as well as attend weekly alcohol-therapy sessions for some half of a year.
The charge of driving with a blood-alcohol level of .08 percent came about due to an otherwise routine stop by the police in southern California in September.
However a 2nd charge of driving under the influence was dropped, probably as a result of the no-contest plea.
At the time he was pulled over, the tv and movie actor was on probation for a drunken driving arrest which occured several years ago. Judge Stuart M. Rice then revoked the his probation in that case.
Sutherland, who is the star of the television program “24,” as well as a number of films such as ‘To End all Wars’
and ‘A Few Good men’ and is the son of movie actor Donald Sutherland (’Backdraft’, ‘Lockup’ and many other films) could face as much as half a year behind bars for violating his probation.
His Sentencing is set for December 21, 2007, which just happens to be the same day his television show starts the winter production recess. Imagine that, what are the odds of that happening?
October 7, 2007
Paintball Accident Prompts Concern
The following report is based on an eye opening report by esteemed journalist Michael Parrish
of the New york Times:
At Northern California paintball park for his tenth birthday in 2004. A fourteen year-old boy who was playing the game accidentially detached a valve, sending his weapon’s carbon-dioxide-filled cylinder as a kind of unguided missile. It struck one hapless Ms. Contois, who was innocently observing the action from a nearby picnic area off the field, in the back of her head. Unfortunately, she never would regain her consciousness, and died shortly thereafter.
Mr. Contois, from the Sacramento-area community of Cameron Park, and his lawyer, Peter Hinton, contend that KEE Action Sports, the successor to National Paintball Supply, inherited the obligation to warn consumers. In a complaint to be filed today in Contra Costa County Superior Court, they say KEE has not lived up to the terms of the settlement because it has failed to post warnings on its Web site and elsewhere. Citing the litigation, KEE executives would not respond to questions.
Paintball was started in the late about twenty-five years ago by 2 buddies in the forest near Henniker, New Hampshire. They held a standoff using dye-capsule pistols developed for lumberjacks to mark trees for cutting
Mr. Contois, from the Sacramento-area community of Cameron Park, and his attorney, Peter Hinton, claim that KEE Action Sports, the successor to National Paintball Supply, inherited the obligation to warn individuals of the potential dangers involved. In a complaint to be filed a few days ago in Contra Costa County Superior Court, they stated that KEE had not lived up to the terms of the settlement since it did not post any warnings on their internet site or anywhere else, for that matter.
Referring to the ongoing litigation, the firm’s executives refused to respond to any questions.
While ‘weapon” producers have in fact built superior valves since that tragic fatality, many of the older versions are still in use by paintballers. “There is no way to reach them, because we don’t know who they are,” claimed the chairman of the paintball subcommittee of ASTM International, a group which sets the various standards for a broad array of similiar products.
October 4, 2007
Spears Granted Visitation Rights
In an order released yesterday, Superior Court Commissioner Scott M. Gordon granted some visitation rights to the twenty-five-year-old star singer while at the same time requiring a monitor to watch her while she is with her boys.
Her visits will be cut short if the monitor believes that any behavior threatens the health or welfare of the kids. After a hearing 2 days ago, a court spokesman indicated that Spears would be permitted visits every other day.Phone messages left for her attorneys were not returned as of yesterday.
She had initially turned custody of the boys over to Federline after she had failed to produce a valid driver’s license and supposedly missed a test for narcotics as ordered by the court.
This was reported on ‘People’ Magazine a while back.
Gordon stated in his court order that she “was not in substantial compliance with material provisions” of his previous ruling.
In addition,he stated that if she misses any narcotics or alcohol tests, it will be “deemed by the court as a failed test.” Furthermore, she must finish a miniumum of 3 seperate counseling sessions by the time of the next hearing at the end of the month.
She had to previously undergo random narcotic testing 2 times per week after the court found she engages in “habitual, frequent and continuous use of controlled substances and alcohol.”
There had already been a variety of other conditions that had to be met, such as to meet each week with a “parenting coach” and so forth. As a matter of fact, both parents have to finish the court’s “Parenting Without Conflict” class.
Further, they were both refrained from drinking or using drugs either in the presence of their kids or within tweleve hours before taking charge of them.
All of this sounds reasonable to me, in my personal opinion.
O.J. Simpson’s Legal Woes Worsen
According to Yahoo News, O.J. Simpson has to fork over his Rolex watch and other possesions for a judgment which found him liable for the deaths of his ex-wife and her friend Ronald Goldman, a judge ruled today.
Any future royalties from a sports video game featuring Simpson must likewise be turned over to Goldman’s father, Fred Goldman.
In addition, Simpson has to give up the memorabilia items that were taken by the Las Vegas authorities that are found to be legally his.
His lawyer Yale Galanter was in court and not available for comment right away, according to the report.
Goldman was not in court for this ruling so no comments were forthcoming.
In addition to all this trouble for the defendent, A Washington Post newspaper survey found that some forty percent of black respondents believe he is innocent of the murders, compared with over seventy percent
who believed that when Simpson was acquitted for the double muder charge back in 1995. This major change in perception brings their perceptions of Simpson’s guilt closer to those of caucasion people.
In late 1995, for example 72% of white respondents stated that Simpson was guilty of murder, and seventy-four percent say they feel that way at this point in time.
This is a rather radical turnaround of perceptions indeed, sociologists stated, since the African Americans community has always been such a major supporter of the defendent over the past decade or so, cheering in many places when the verdicts was read.