[CrossedPete]

Stone Cold. Who is the Craig R Baxley and why have I never heard of his movies?

Baxley was a stuntman in the 70s and 80s probably most notable being the stunt coordinator for Predator. He went on to direct some really great action flicks - Action Jackson, Dark Angel and Stone Cold are three that I have seen and I love each one. My knowledge kinda stops there though. I too was curious what other releases are worth hunting down. I believe scojo said he went down a Baxley rabbit hole so maybe he has a bit more insight. It kinda looks like he went on to do a lot of made for TV movies. I was also curious why he wasn’t ever tapped to do any big budget (summer blockbuster) action movies. A lot of the action sequences are really great in the flicks I’ve seen.

[ScoJo]

Stone Cold. Who is the Craig R Baxley and why have I never heard of his movies?

Baxley was a stuntman in the 70s and 80s probably most notable being the stunt coordinator for Predator. He went on to direct some really great action flicks - Action Jackson, Dark Angel and Stone Cold are three that I have seen and I love each one. My knowledge kinda stops there though. I too was curious what other releases are worth hunting down. I believe scojo said he went down a Baxley rabbit hole so maybe he has a bit more insight. It kinda looks like he went on to do a lot of made for TV movies. I was also curious why he wasn’t ever tapped to do any big budget (summer blockbuster) action movies. A lot of the action sequences are really great in the flicks I’ve seen.

You nailed the Baxley 'Big Three', Pete. Those are the ones I've seen, and fully back up your appraisal. I wouldn't be averse to sampling his other lesser known pictures though.

[CrossedPete]

Stone Cold. Who is the Craig R Baxley and why have I never heard of his movies?

Baxley was a stuntman in the 70s and 80s probably most notable being the stunt coordinator for Predator. He went on to direct some really great action flicks - Action Jackson, Dark Angel and Stone Cold are three that I have seen and I love each one. My knowledge kinda stops there though. I too was curious what other releases are worth hunting down. I believe scojo said he went down a Baxley rabbit hole so maybe he has a bit more insight. It kinda looks like he went on to do a lot of made for TV movies. I was also curious why he wasn’t ever tapped to do any big budget (summer blockbuster) action movies. A lot of the action sequences are really great in the flicks I’ve seen.

You nailed the Baxley 'Big Three', Pete. Those are the ones I've seen, and fully back up your appraisal. I wouldn't be averse to sampling his other lesser known pictures though.

I noticed he did a movie in the late 90s with Charles Sheen either titled Under Pressure or Bad day on the Block that could be interesting i just have to track it down first

Speaking of tracking down stuff I’m having a hard time finding The Hunger. I’m thinking I might just rent it off YouTube. Has anyone done this before? I would assume it’s a fairly easy to do. I’m glad we have a separate feed for the tony Scott project so I can watch at my leisure and not be skewed by other comments. I think this is a great concept. It should be a lot of fun

[Mateo Sanboval]

Stone Cold. Who is the Craig R Baxley and why have I never heard of his movies?

I was also curious why he wasn’t ever tapped to do any big budget (summer blockbuster) action movies.

But he was. It was called Stone Cold. That movie had a big busget. And en even bigger promotional budget, relatively speaking. It's hard to fathom / remember just how big Brian Bosworth was back then. He wasn't some old athlete trying on an actingcareer as a heavy or as the theoretical lead in some DTV garbage. No, The Boz was a household name. He was already minted. As big as any athlete in America. Bigger even. He was a cult of personality. He had posters next to Prince and Madonna at the mall. He was an institution. He was Baxley's big break. Until he wasn't. And then he melted away quicker than Vanilla Ice and Baxley was relegated to lower budget flicks and TV movies. But we'll always have Stone Cold.

As an aside, Baxley did helm a few King adaptations and at least one of the Sniper sequels so he still had little wins here and there.

[Hatter313]

His King projects, all written for TV and not adaptations, are some of my favorite “later” works from SK. Storm of the century is great fun and Rose Red is the result of king and Spielberg’s failed Haunting of Hill House collaboration and despite some “TV budget” issues, is my second favorite riff on that material over everything barring the original film.

[Mateo Sanboval]

His King projects, all written for TV and not adaptations, are some of my favorite “later” works from SK. Storm of the century is great fun and Rose Red is the result of king and Spielberg’s failed Haunting of Hill House collaboration and despite some “TV budget” issues, is my second favorite riff on that material over everything barring the original film.

Quite right, Hatter. Poor choice of words by me; just writing on autopilot there while polishing of my lunch. I blame the egg salad. Kingdom Hospital is also worth a watch if only to see roughly how LVT's Riget would have turned out had he the chance to complete it.

[Hatter313]

His King projects, all written for TV and not adaptations, are some of my favorite “later” works from SK. Storm of the century is great fun and Rose Red is the result of king and Spielberg’s failed Haunting of Hill House collaboration and despite some “TV budget” issues, is my second favorite riff on that material over everything barring the original film.

Quite right, Hatter. Poor choice of words by me; just writing on autopilot there while polishing of my lunch. I blame the egg salad. Kingdom Hospital is also worth a watch if only to see roughly how LVT's Riget would have turned out had he the chance to complete it.

Yikes! I didn’t even see that you called them adaptations, I just always get a kick out of those being his rare foray into straight screen work. Unintentional pendantic “well achshually” tone on my part, blame not the egg salad!

Agreed on Kingdom Hospital, I go back to it once every few years, it’s got a lot of charm

[Jimmy_Mike]

Stone Cold. Who is the Craig R Baxley and why have I never heard of his movies?

I was also curious why he wasn’t ever tapped to do any big budget (summer blockbuster) action movies.

But he was. It was called Stone Cold. That movie had a big busget. And en even bigger promotional budget, relatively speaking. It's hard to fathom / remember just how big Brian Bosworth was back then. He wasn't some old athlete trying on an actingcareer as a heavy or as the theoretical lead in some DTV garbage. No, The Boz was a household name. He was already minted. As big as any athlete in America. Bigger even. He was a cult of personality. He had posters next to Prince and Madonna at the mall. He was an institution. He was Baxley's big break. Until he wasn't.

Cause he met Bo.

[Hatter313]

4D9291FF-A700-4386-8D29-228ED5A5070B.jpeg (76.9 KiB) Viewed 3166 times

Under seen, underrated, under valued. In the nearly peerless filmography of Peter O’toole, this ranks as criminally undiscussed. One of my favorite movies about the movies, a time capsule of insanity and nonsense. Nominated for three Oscar and then forgotten.

[Mateo Sanboval]

A fantastic film, Hatter! I blind bought this on DVD many years ago and never regretted it.

[Hatter313]

I remember paying extra on eBay for that dvd because it was out of print by the time I even heard of the film. I was filling in the gaps on my o’toole knowledge in college and saw a clip of the “cut” scene and that was it, had to be done. Shout factory put out a nice Blu-ray a few years back as well.

[Mateo Sanboval]

I got mine sealed in ebay for a few bucks maybe twenty years back. Like I said, worth every penny.

[CrossedPete]

Stone Cold. Who is the Craig R Baxley and why have I never heard of his movies?

I was also curious why he wasn’t ever tapped to do any big budget (summer blockbuster) action movies.

But he was. It was called Stone Cold. That movie had a big busget. And en even bigger promotional budget, relatively speaking. It's hard to fathom / remember just how big Brian Bosworth was back then. He wasn't some old athlete trying on an actingcareer as a heavy or as the theoretical lead in some DTV garbage. No, The Boz was a household name. He was already minted. As big as any athlete in America. Bigger even. He was a cult of personality. He had posters next to Prince and Madonna at the mall. He was an institution. He was Baxley's big break. Until he wasn't. And then he melted away quicker than Vanilla Ice and Baxley was relegated to lower budget flicks and TV movies. But we'll always have Stone Cold.

As an aside, Baxley did helm a few King adaptations and at least one of the Sniper sequels so he still had little wins here and there.

I don’t know if it’s an age thing but I can honestly say that the first time i heard of Brian Bosworth was when I heard about Stone Cold. So I’m shocked to hear how big of a star he was. Could be a regional thing also I guess.

I looked up movies that were released in 91 and there are some heavy hitters. So who knows what it was up against. It’s a shame it’s not as popular as out for justice or lionheart cause it really should be. As for Baxley all I was trying to say is I’m surprised he was at the very least tapped to direct a franchise sequel like rush hour 3 or something.

[CrossedPete]

4D9291FF-A700-4386-8D29-228ED5A5070B.jpeg

Under seen, underrated, under valued. In the nearly peerless filmography of Peter O’toole, this ranks as criminally undiscussed. One of my favorite movies about the movies, a time capsule of insanity and nonsense. Nominated for three Oscar and then forgotten.

I’m gunna have to check this out thanks for sharing

[Mateo Sanboval]

Pete, it was a bigger budgeted film than Out For Justice and Lionheart combined. It just flipped so hard because by the time the film was in post, no one cares about Boz anymore. He had been exposed. It was a crazy flick.

[Bezulsqy]

45. Universal Soldier: Regeneration (2009)



Okay, we're 17 years after the first one and the second JCVD UniSol we do not count. This is a completely different movie than the original. It is a great action movie. Lots of shooting and kicking and Russians. But for me it lacks the charm of the original. That mainly has to do with the period in which it was made. JCVD could do no wrong around 1992. Those movies were a lot a fun because of the mix of action and humor. They were more lighthearted. In the 2000s everything became more serious and tougher. That is not always bad.
This UniSol was simply put a decent and well made action movie. Well paced. And the Dolph Lundgren part was very strange. I expected a lot more from his role.

Only one more to go and then I can start writing my JCVD dissertation.

I love this movie completely and I think it is a far better film than the original UniSol, but it is also an extremely different film as you outline. They are cut from wholly different cloths and I don't think really meant to be linked very heavily to each other. I think this is a The Raid-level piece of action genius perfectly shot and exquisitely framed. The strangeness of Dolph's role and the eerie ambiguity of the world around them only adds to the enjoyment for me. We are here for action and action only. To quote the 30th Century man himslef, "There is no hope." There is also one of the best extended take/one shot sequences in all of action cinema here where JCVD is clearing a building under bombardment by walking in, out, around, and through said building fighting all manner of folks along the way with nary a shaky cam in sight. It's tremendous.

you made me re-watch that scene :-)
The fist thing I noticed yesterday is that it reminded me of playing Call of Duty and of the opening scene in JCVD. You are correct about the action quality of this movie.
Maybe I prefer the first UniSol because for me it better fits into the whole JCVD canon. This is my 45th JCVD movie in 11 weeks...
I forgot I started with No Retreat, No Surrender on January 15.

While a type this the scene with Dolph is playing. It feels very eery. "We're good like that, right?"

You are really making me rethink this movie. There is a lot to love. Maybe for me UniSol Regeneration is the better action movie, but the original UniSol is the better JCVD movie.
Seeing so many of his movies in such a short time might influence how one feels about them all combined. I cannot see these flicks separate from each other anymore.

[Bezulsqy]

Baxley was a stuntman in the 70s and 80s probably most notable being the stunt coordinator for Predator. He went on to direct some really great action flicks - Action Jackson, Dark Angel and Stone Cold are three that I have seen and I love each one. My knowledge kinda stops there though. I too was curious what other releases are worth hunting down. I believe scojo said he went down a Baxley rabbit hole so maybe he has a bit more insight. It kinda looks like he went on to do a lot of made for TV movies. I was also curious why he wasn’t ever tapped to do any big budget (summer blockbuster) action movies. A lot of the action sequences are really great in the flicks I’ve seen.

You nailed the Baxley 'Big Three', Pete. Those are the ones I've seen, and fully back up your appraisal. I wouldn't be averse to sampling his other lesser known pictures though.

I noticed he did a movie in the late 90s with Charles Sheen either titled Under Pressure or Bad day on the Block that could be interesting i just have to track it down first

Speaking of tracking down stuff I’m having a hard time finding The Hunger. I’m thinking I might just rent it off YouTube. Has anyone done this before? I would assume it’s a fairly easy to do. I’m glad we have a separate feed for the tony Scott project so I can watch at my leisure and not be skewed by other comments. I think this is a great concept. It should be a lot of fun

I have digital copies of everything you want, but I don't know if you are able to play them. Do you have a media player or device that can stream .mkv files to your tv?

[ScoJo]

You nailed the Baxley 'Big Three', Pete. Those are the ones I've seen, and fully back up your appraisal. I wouldn't be averse to sampling his other lesser known pictures though.

I noticed he did a movie in the late 90s with Charles Sheen either titled Under Pressure or Bad day on the Block that could be interesting i just have to track it down first

Speaking of tracking down stuff I’m having a hard time finding The Hunger. I’m thinking I might just rent it off YouTube. Has anyone done this before? I would assume it’s a fairly easy to do. I’m glad we have a separate feed for the tony Scott project so I can watch at my leisure and not be skewed by other comments. I think this is a great concept. It should be a lot of fun

I have digital copies of everything you want, but I don't know if you are able to play them. Do you have a media player or device that can stream .mkv files to your tv?

You the man @bez. Fwiw I also have 1080 rips of the Tony Scott Canon if you want to share the sharing burden.

[Bezulsqy]

I noticed he did a movie in the late 90s with Charles Sheen either titled Under Pressure or Bad day on the Block that could be interesting i just have to track it down first

Speaking of tracking down stuff I’m having a hard time finding The Hunger. I’m thinking I might just rent it off YouTube. Has anyone done this before? I would assume it’s a fairly easy to do. I’m glad we have a separate feed for the tony Scott project so I can watch at my leisure and not be skewed by other comments. I think this is a great concept. It should be a lot of fun

I have digital copies of everything you want, but I don't know if you are able to play them. Do you have a media player or device that can stream .mkv files to your tv?

You the man @bez. Fwiw I also have 1080 rips of the Tony Scott Canon if you want to share the sharing burden.

I live in a country where a party participates in the federal elections that is called: The Pirate Party And we have one of the best broadband infrastructure of the world.

I need to collect all the other TS movies but if there are people that want something, please PM me. I can get you stuff in all different sizes ;-)

[ScoJo]

I have digital copies of everything you want, but I don't know if you are able to play them. Do you have a media player or device that can stream .mkv files to your tv?

You the man @bez. Fwiw I also have 1080 rips of the Tony Scott Canon if you want to share the sharing burden.

I live in a country where a party participates in the federal elections that is called: The Pirate Party And we have one of the best broadband infrastructure of the world.

I need to collect all the other TS movies but if there are people that want something, please PM me. I can get you stuff in all different sizes ;-)

f211479542a5771ded46e07ff885ee63.jpg (24.79 KiB) Viewed 3118 times

[Bezulsqy]

46. Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning (2012)



Best UniSol there is. For me at least. What a movie. Insane.

I did not like the first scene. It did not feel right. That appeared to be deliberate. What followed after those first couple of minutes was fantastic. Brutal. Noisy. Bloody. Insanity. Around 65 minutes there were 15 min that for me took me a bit out of the action and focussed more on the plot. Final actions scenes were brilliant again.

What sets this apart from UniSol Regeneration is that this movie has more of a story with insane and over the top elements in it. Regeneration doesn't really have a story but is more of full on action as Mateo described. I think Day of Reckoning clicks with me because it is over the top and surprises all of the time because of the amount of blood and flesh and JCVD on acid.

Need I say more:

[inksb]

Just to add to the UniSol conversation. I do not feel the same as Mateo on Regeneration. I did watch it after you shared it with me and I can say while it's a good movie, it is not on the same level as The Raid for me. The Raid is incredibly well orchestrated, it's shot really well and has characters you actually care about and villain's that are exciting to watch. Regeneration has none of that (for me), I found the plot tired, the action was good but nothing new, just well done. It has a distinctly "of it's time" feeling to the way it's shot, edited and directed. With that said, it's still the 3rd best in the series.

As for Reckoning, I can see some one putting that on the same level as The Raid, that shit is bananas in all the best ways. I love that shot you there @bez, it's easily one of the most striking images from that film. I love Reckoning and put on the same level as the original. It's a better action film than the original for sure but the first holds a special spot in my cinema heart, it's a film my father and I watched a lot together.


@crossedpete, if it makes you feel any better Stone Cold was not a big film or even remotely talked about by any one around me when it came out. Growing up in a small town in the middle of nowhere definitely contributes to stuff like that. No internet and just randomly picking up VHS tapes at the local shops. I became aware of it in the early 00's but still haven't watched it. I recently looked for an HD copy but couldn't find one.

[Mateo Sanboval]

I don't think I can add anything to what you fellas already said about Day Of Reckoning except that, after I watched it for the first time, I checked the box to see if David Lynch had a story credit. Amazing action picture.

Inks - That was sort of my point about Stone Cold. It was a relatively big budgeted film that got made because Boz was such a big deal. Yet in the span of time from green light to theatrical release, the World had moved on. The picture bombed. As a young kid in what I'd wager was a similarly rural and internetless town, we couldn't wait to get our hands on that VHS and the only competition where kids of a similar age. We all still remembered Boz and his posters.

[CrossedPete]

Pete, it was a bigger budgeted film than Out For Justice and Lionheart combined. It just flipped so hard because by the time the film was in post, no one cares about Boz anymore. He had been exposed. It was a crazy flick.

Was there a bigger story I’m missing? How was he exposed? For Boz is it a case of his fifteen minutes of fame being up before the movie was released? I can’t find any stories of him being a monster and his football career seemed to be over 2 years prior to the release of Stone Cold.

Also I can’t believe it took me this long to have heard of this movie. I searched BlockBuster movies of 1991. That year has some great movies. On that list SC was in the low 100s. I then googled the worst movies of 1991, IMDb has a list of 28 movies SC being #28 so in theory there are 27 shittier movies. Out of those I’ve seen or at the very least heard of 22 of the titles. So if SC is the best of the worst I truly believe it should have more respect in the world of action movies.

I still don’t understand why Baxley didn’t have another chance at a big budget movie. I did a little research Stone Cold had a budget of 25 mil or so with a return of 9 mil. That is disasterous for sure. But compare it to another action flick released the same year Harley Davidson and the Marlboro man. Similar budget with a worse return ( around 7mil) I believe that movie is more known but is it a better movie? I’m not so sure. Don’t get me wrong I love that movie also I think it’s great but I feel Stone Cold edges it out, for me at least. Now compare directors Baxley went on to TV obscurity, and Simon Wincer went on to direct other big budget movies. Now I guess I can make the argument Baxley didn’t want to conform and do any movies not in the Action genre where Wincer went on to do a lot of Successful Family movies. Now why am I harping on this? I have no clue :)

[Hatter313]

First sequence of the new creepshow season is very promising if not a wee bit close to home for anyone who ever had to defend themselves for being a monster kid.

I feel like the music, tone, and design is more on point than last season. Even the main title sounds closer to the original score (I haven’t gone back to listen to the title sequence in the first season but I think they’ve changed it because I noticed it’s similarity immediately this time)

Granted, the first story this season is essentially an expansion of the wrap around from the first film, but so far I like it a great deal more than I liked the first season (and for what it’s worth I actually did enjoy most of the first season, warts and all)