First Blood (1982)
First Blood is quintessential Reagan-era violent individualism, and one of the benchmark flicks that set the standard for most Hollywood action films for the next several years. Resonant in the American psyche, this first...
First Blood is quintessential Reagan-era violent individualism, and one of the benchmark flicks that set the standard for most Hollywood action films for the next several years. Resonant in the American psyche, this first...
2010s / Action / Science Fiction / Superhero
by Vincent Leo · Published May 6, 2017 · Last modified July 4, 2018
Upping the action, as well as the CG components, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 should go down easily for fans of the first film, even if it’s not quite on the same footing in terms of...
I went out on a bit of a limb in proclaimingFruitvale Station the best film of 2013. It was the debut film of previously unknown director Ryan Coogler, and yet, no other film moved me...
Sylvester Stallone plays Ray Tango, a flashy, business-savvy LAPD narcotics officer. Kurt Russell plays Gabriel Cash, a blue-collar, devil-may-care type who scores big busts with equal success. Drug kingpin Yves Perret (Jack Palance) wants the...
Action / Science Fiction / Thriller
by Vincent Leo · Published August 22, 2008 · Last modified January 28, 2019
Demolition Man starts off in Los Angeles’s near future of 1996, where crime has run rampant. It takes someone ruthless to catch ruthless criminals, and that man is super-cop John Spartan (Stallone, Rocky V), whose take-no-prisoners...
1980s / Action / Adventure / War
by Vincent Leo · Published December 31, 2007 · Last modified October 5, 2019
A purely propagandist return of the popular 1980s hero sees Stallone donning the tightly-bound bandana to the forehead again for another one-man rescue attempt. This time it’s a bit more personal as his former...
1980s / Action / Adventure / War
by Vincent Leo · Published December 31, 2007 · Last modified September 28, 2019
Rambo: First Blood Part II is one of those films that doesn’t really have much going for it these days save for the social significance for the time in which it was released, where...
by Vincent Leo · Published December 15, 2006 · Last modified December 22, 2024
As the release of Rocky III ramped up, writer-director-star Sylvester Stallone would regularly get asked if this was the end or if there would be a Rocky IV. Generally, he would say that III was the last...
Plans for a third Rocky film to round out the trilogy were underway during Rocky II‘s post-production. Stallone wanted to begin filming within 18 months so he wouldn’t appear too old. Bill Conti began...
The seed of inspiration for Rocky was planted on March 24, 1975. Sylvester Stallone attended a closed-circuit Los Angeles movie theater presentation of Chuck Wepner fighting Muhammad Ali. Severe underdog Wepner wasn’t expected to...
Reviews from film writer Vince Leo, covering all eras and genres of films from classics to the latest releases.
Film reviews from Vince Leo, from classics to new releases, since 1996.