Richard Donner

The Goonies (1985)

The Great Movie Re-Watch

The Goonies (1985)

Director:

Richard Donner

Writer:

Chris Columbus

Starring:

Sean Astin

Josh Brolin

Jeff Cohen

Corey Feldman

Kerri Green

Martha Plimpton

Ke Huy Quan

John Matuszak

Robert Davi

Joe Pantoliano

Anne Ramsey

Blurb:

A group of young misfits called The Goonies discover an ancient map and set out on an adventure to find a legendary pirate’s long-lost treasure.

Thoughts:

I missed The Goonies when I was making my Best Adventure Movies list. I’ll be correcting that shortly. It fits my definition of an adventure movie to a ‘T.’ A group of underdogs go on a quest to find the lost pirate treasure of One-Eyed Willy. What more could you ask for?

I can’t think of much to say about The Goonies. I have no thoughts.

It’s fun to see all these young actors since most of them went on to have active careers. I like the treasure and booby traps and all the character’s little quirks. The truffle shuffle is a bit fat phobic. There are probably a couple of other less-than-acceptable moments as well, there always seems to be in these older movies, but nothing stands out.

Reading over the Wikipedia entry, there isn’t much there either. They built a full-size replica of a pirate ship for the movie, then had to destroy it when they were done because no one wanted it. In the 120-page script, there was a scene with an octopus that ended up being cut, which explains Data’s comment at the end. A sequel has been discussed more than a few times, and it’s also been denied. Who knows? Does it even need one? No.

That’s all I’ve got. It’s a great movie, but my brain has nothing more to add to that. *shrug*

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Lethal Weapon 4 (1998)

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Lethal Weapon 4 (1998)

Director:

Richard Donner

Starring:

Mel Gibson

Danny Glover

Jet Li

Joe Pesci

Chris Rock

Plot:

With personal crises and age weighing in on them, LAPD officers Riggs and Murtaugh must contend with a deadly Chinese crimelord trying to get his brother out of prison.

Review:

Jet Li with a rat tail is not something anyone needed to see. It is nice to see Mel Gibson with his hair cut though.

Order wise I think I’d rank this one 3rd in order of what I like. It goes 1st, 3rd, 4th, 2nd for me. It would have been nice to have a fifth movie because the decline in quality was a lot less than other franchises.

Excellent car chase.

I liked the fact that Jet Li only lost because of bad luck, he was kicking ass and would have won if the movie hadn’t been about the other guys.

I loved the fact that all the side characters were played by the same actors throughout the series, that was awesome and never done.

Overall, it’s an excellent franchise. I don’t know if the TV show quiet lives up to it, but it’s one of the better adaptions out there.

3.5/5

Lethal Weapon 3 (1992)

lethal-weapon-3

Lethal Weapon 3 (1992)

Director:

Richard Donner

Starring:

Mel Gibson

Danny Glover

Joe Pesci

Plot:

Martin Riggs and Roger Murtaugh pursue an arms dealer who is a former LAPD officer.

Review:

This might be my favorite Lethal Weapon movie. Riggs and Murtaugh have their groove and the story isn’t bad. Stuff blows up. Mel Gibson in underwear. Riggs even has a good relationship with a woman. All in all it’s a good addition to the franchise and it doesn’t feel like things have gone off the rails.

Well…the intro is a little over the top, but come on it’s a 90s action movie.

4/5

Lethal Weapon 2 (1989)

lethal-weapon-2

Lethal Weapon 2 (1989)

Director:

Richard Donner

Starring:

Mel Gibson

Danny Glover

Joe Pesci

Plot:

Riggs and Murtaugh are on the trail of South African diplomats who are using their immunity to engage in criminal activities.

Review:

So this is a Lethal Weapon movie, but there’s nothing really awesome that happens in it. Somehow Riggs wife’s killer is tied it, which seems kind of contrived. I liked the fact that South Africans were the bad guys, I thought that was nice and different. I also liked the fact that all the side characters were played by the same actors. That’s pretty much all there is with this movie. Well, we did get Joe Pesci, but I’m not sure if that’s a positive or a negative.

3/5

Lethal Weapon (1987)

lethal-weapon

Lethal Weapon (1987)

Director:

Richard Donner

Starring:

Mel Gibson

Danny Glover

Gary Busey

Plot:

A veteran policeman, Murtaugh, is partnered with a younger, suicidal officer, Riggs. They both have one thing in common: hating working in pairs. Now they must learn to work with one another to stop a gang of drug smugglers.

Review:

It’s been a long time since I watched the Lethal Weapon movies and recently I’ve been watching the TV show which made me want to go back to the source material. Thankfully they’re all on Hulu.com right now so I don’t have to dig out my blurays.

Totally forgot that the movie starts out with boobs. Very 80s intro. Boobs, big hair, and sax.

Mel Gibson was pretty, also you see his butt, in case you were wondering.

Danny Glover has the titular line.

Like Die Hard this movie was set at Christmas time and it made me realize we’re lacking lately in Christmas action movies. Hollywood should get on that.

I like this movie, I like the franchise, so honestly my review isn’t going to dissect it like I sometime do with action movies. There’s gun, shit blows up, lots of cursing, and drugs. Honestly what more could you want?

4/5