JuddNelson Tagged Articles at Cinematical

The original Boondock Saints was relegated to video store shelves before most would-be fans had an inkling it had passed them by in theaters. But eventually, chances are one night a friend would suggest watching this weird, violent movie about hot twin brothers with a serious gun fetish, Catholic complex, and Latin tattoos, and you'd pass the word along. Basically, Murphy MacManus (Norman Reedus) and Connor MacManus (Sean Patrick Flanery) were blue-collar Irish guys who decided that they'd had enough of the scum on the streets and began wiping them out in various creative ways, although their favorite weapons were and remain the gun. Their buddy Rocco, a mob errand boy, was the de facto third Saint. Meanwhile, they're being tracked by a very odd FBI agent by the name of Paul Smecker (Willem Dafoe in a fabulously bizarre performance) and three bumbling local cops. And then there's Il Duce (Billy Connolly), the infamous assassin who's finally paroled from prison.

Ten years later, the Saints are in Ireland with Il Duce, aka their dad, when the word comes that someone in Boston killed a priest they knew and tried to make it look like the Saints did it. Game on. The boys shed their woolly sweaters and their long hair and beards and return to Boston.

I was a wee lass when my mom and I caught The Breakfast Club on late-night TV. I remember a distinct uneasiness mixed with giggles during the one scene where John Bender (Judd Nelson looking very foxy) snuck a peek at Claire's underwear while he was hiding under the desk. (Claire, in case you live under a rock, is played with ice-queen perfection by Molly Ringwald.) I teared up when Brian (Anthony Michael Hall) described his desire to commit suicide. And I admired how awesome, cool, and crazy Allison (Ally Sheedy) was in her black clothing, purse full of crap, and lies about sex with her shrink. (I was also disappointed by her makeover, but such is life. Duckie was supposed to end up with Andie, and Iona traded in her punk rocking-ness for a more normal dude in Pretty in Pink, after all.) And every time I hear "Don't You (Forget About Me)" by Simple Minds all I want to do is dance in my living room and trade earrings with a cute boy. I was never in detention, but The Breakfast Club makes me wish I was. At least once.

What's your favorite memory of watching a John Hughes movie? What scene do you wish you could have lived in, just for a minute?

If you're someone who likes to delight in the perks and romance of Valentine's Day, you've got to plan it. When you don't, you might see a good time fall in your lap, or you might find yourself fighting hordes of couples and end up eating at McDonalds. I remember one year when I went out on an impromptu evening with a guy on that dreaded day. Since we didn't plan it first, we ran around trying to find a place to eat that wasn't booked, and then headed off for the movies, where the only flick that was wasn't sold out Blues Brothers 2000. Even my huge love for Joe Morton couldn't make me love that movie. Ugh.

So, if you plan to make cinema a part of your night, you're going to want to plan it. Maybe, instead of a saccharine romcom, you'd like some horror to snuggle up with. If that's the case, you might want to check out The Caretaker, when it gets released this February 14. It's just a little indie film, but it looks quirky; it has some funny bits; and what could be better to watch while eating conversation hearts than a horny Jennifer Tilly hitting on students and serial killers alike, or Judd Nelson being the protective dad?

The Caretaker focuses on a group of teens who want to scare their girlfriends during Homecoming, which just happens to fall on Halloween. To up the chills, they go to an abandoned house in a grapefruit orchard -- yes, grapefruits -- and are stalked/butchered by a real-life urban legend. If this sounds like it might be up your alley, and you aren't in Toronto to get a healthy splatter of blood at the reappearance of Evil Dead: The Musical, The Caretaker might be all you need.

I never really understood the premise behind Transformers, but I didn't care. They were above and beyond the greatest toys a kid could dream of playing with. Who needed either action figures or Matchbox cars anymore? The Transformers were both. And as a loyal consumer child of the '80s, I followed my favorite toy line as it spun-off an animated television series, a comic book series and a full-length feature film. As I said, I didn't really get the story. All that mattered was that there were good guys (Autobots) and there were bad guys (Decepticons), same as any action cartoon. Anyway, the more I try to comprehend the premise of Transformers, the more questions I have about its logic, so I kinda prefer to be in the dark.

It's been nearly twenty years since I sold all my toys at a tag sale, and I haven't watched the television show or read a Transformers comic in all that time. So, when I decided to take a nostalgic look at Transformers: The Movie I was more in the dark than ever. Because it functions as a continuation of the television series, existing chronologically between the show's second and third seasons, there isn't much in the way of introductions. This is a movie for people familiar with the premise, the story and the characters of the Transformers universe.

While we've been getting a lot of horror flicks lately, they've taken themselves pretty seriously. If there is anything that I've loved about the horror genre it's the tacky moments in between the jumps and geysers of blood. It's been a while since I've been to some camp-fueled gore. (This is probably why I'm heading to the theater tonight to sit in the splatter zone for a performance of Evil Dead, The Musical, but that's besides the point.) Riffing on Grease, Jackie Linder Olson is saying that "camp is the word" for her upcoming film, The Caretaker, which she wrote and produced while her husband, Bryce Olson directed.

Hopefully they wouldn't tease a girl. The movie is about a group of teen boys who want to scare their girlfriends on Halloween. They go out to an abandoned house in a grapefruit orchard and are stalked by an urban legend called The Caretaker. The movie, however, is more than just a night at the creepy house, because Jennifer Tilly and Judd Nelson have notable roles. Nelson is "disarmingly creepy" as an overprotective dad, and Tilly is a teacher who wants to get famous by sleeping with a student. According to the director: "We took a current trend that we found both tragic and disturbing and put it in the forefront of our film. No one could do a better job at this character than the sexy and talented Jennifer Tilly." Is that a compliment? Honey, no one knows deranged, sexually-confused women like you do! Other cast members include: Jonathan Breck, Jennifer Freeman, Diego Torres, Andrew St. John, James Immekus and Kira Verrastro. Hopefully it can live up to the Olson hype.

When it comes to exuding evil out of every pore, either you have a knack for it or you don't. Some actors are just good at being bad, to the point that they seem miscast when playing a hero. For the life of me, I cannot fathom what Gary Oldman is supposed to be doing in the new Batman series, playing a kind-hearted desk cop who pops up every now and then to tell Batman he's doing a heck of a job. If Oldman's character doesn't turn into a bedbug-crazy villain by the end of The Dark Knight, I'm cashing in my chips. John Travolta is a good example of an actor who can swing both ways -- he played a perfectly good villain in two John Woo films, but doesn't carry any of that over to his comedies or dramas. He has the knack, and can turn it on and off.

Of the younger generation, Tim Olyphant is an up-and-coming actor to watch for his villain-chops. He tested them out as a memorably slimy porn-guy in The Girl Next Door and as the shiftless drug-dealer in Go. He'll next be testing his mettle as a traditional kingpin villain in Live Free Or Die Hard, or as the rest of the world knows it, 4.0. Today, I'm making a list of actors who fit a particular mold -- the ones that do villainy superbly when they do it, but hardly ever do it. Maybe they don't realize how much eye-gouging, evil-eyeing, venom-spewing potential they have, or maybe they just need new agents who will give them a great horror or action script that requires an awesome antagonist.

1. Drew Barrymore

The only thing I could think while watching the Pyro character do his thing in X-Men: The Last Stand was "why don't the X-Men track down Charlie McGee, who is probably some 30-year old scarred-up outlaw biker chick/freelance hitwoman, and have her show up and fire-battle this guy into the next life?" There's nothing I'd jump in line to see faster than a hard-edged sequel to Firestarter, with Drew Barrymore's character now completely warped by her childhood experiences, and basically available to flame-broil anyone you please, if the price is right. I didn't exactly dig Barrymore's trailer-park-Lolita Poison Ivy phase, but I maintain that she has some great villainy in her future. There's something in her eyes that screams the polar opposite of the hippy-dippy, bright-eyed 'human sunflower' image she so aggressive pushes on us. We're talking about Drew Barrymore here -- doesn't anymore remember 1985 through, like, 1996? She still has major issues, and she needs a role that will give her a body count.

If you grew up in the 80's then the chances are pretty good that you've seen a lot of John Hughes movies. Hughes' schedule was packed back then when he directed his teen masterpieces Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Weird Science and Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Hughes still works as a writer, but hasn't directed a film since 1991 (Curly Sue).

Don't You Forget About Me, a new documentary by Matt Austin, interviews fans of the films and people who worked with the now somewhat reclusive director on those famous angst-filled flicks. Austin has interviews with Ally Sheedy, Judd Nelson, Kelly LeBrock, and even Kevin Smith, whose love of Hughes is pretty well documented. Hughes hasn't given an interview since the 80's, but Austin is still trying to get one with him before finishing the film; it's still up in the air. Austin has compiled a tape to send to Hughes in an attempt to convince him to take part, and seems confident: "Right now, I'm very hopeful that we're going to get him. My genuine feeling is we'll get a call."

Maybe when it comes down to it, since I'm not a teen anymore, I don't get most teen movies lately. Don't You Forget About Me credits Hughes with creating some of the most realistic portrayals of how teens really behave. I don't know if that's true, but I do know he managed to make teen movies that had more to offer than sex with baked goods.