We conclude the Samuel L. Jackson themed September week with more clips from the archives edited with new exclusive reviews:

I dive into the various political dramas and social thrillers that prove to be uncanny deep cuts in Jackson's career but which ones will prove to hit a homerun while others end up becoming meandering well-intended borefests?

Is Jackson always perfect even when a movie lets him down? 

And which one ends up being one of his most personal undertakings?

FILMS REVIEWED:

Dead Man Out, Against the Wall, 187, Changing Lanes, In My Country, Freedomland, Unthinkable, Big Game & The Sunset Limited

QUOTES USED:

A Time to Kill & Pulp Fiction

The penultimate Samuel L. Jackson themed movie collection focuses on some of the obscure, underrated and truly divisive Crime Thrillers & Revenge Dramas on his resume:

*Which of these reasonable thrill rides were commonly on cable TV and streaming but still flew under the radar?

*Which ones have some sadly lackluster and anticlimatic plot twists?

*Which one was actually based on a manga?

*And which ones could've been bigger had they not gone the VOD route?

FILMS REVIEWED:

Fresh, Kiss of Death, The Cavemen's Valentine, No Good Deed (2002), Cleaner (2007), Meeting Evil, The Samaritan, Kite, Reasonable Doubt (2014) & Damaged (2024).

MOVIE QUOTES:

Pulp Fiction

INTRO CLIP:

Actors on Actors by Variety: SLJ and Michael Keaton Episode

For this 9-movie pack collection, I dive into some of Sam Jackson's cop action dramas & buddy movie romps:

How many of these have some expertly timed darkly comedic wit and genre homages?

Which of these are parodies that are WAY too silly for their own doing despite Jackson giving it his all?

How does Jackson handle the various serious, popcorn and campy movie tones while still doing throwbacks to his Tarantino era persona?

All that and a brief overview on the hysterical cable TV edit of one of his famously foul-mouthed one-liners!

FILMS REVIEWED:

Loaded Weapon, Amos & Andrew, The Search for One-Eyed Jimmy, The Great White Hype, The Negotiator, Formula 51/The 51st State, The Man, Snakes on a Plane & Lakeview Terrace.

SONG USED:

"Rise" by Craig Armstrong (from The Negotiator OST)

AUDIO CLIPS:

Snakes on a Plane, The Man & Pulp Fiction

Continuing the themed week, we dive into Samuel L. Jackson's acclaimed yet criminally underseen mini-series THE LAST DAYS OF PTOLEMY GREY:

*Apple TV+ usually promotes alot of their material so how did this fall under the radar?

*Which supporting actor steals the show here?

*How does this handle heartwarming drama, shocking mystery and crime thriller elements all in one package?

*Which actor who generally plays villains gives an undervalued performance as the caring doctor?

*And a brief snippet about author Walter Mosley's talented neo-noir character studies!

Join us for Samuel L. Jackson September:

Action movie blogger Jon Mark & I sum up a triple feature of Sam's spy/assassin movie outings.

Is Geena Davis a better Scream Queen than an Action Star?

Why is Barely Lethal not as popular as other spy comedies like the RED and Kinsgmen movies?

How compelling is Martin Campbell's The Protege for assassin/revenge movie fans?

All that and how all of these are in some way inspired by Nikita!

SONG INTRO:

"Samuel L. Jackson" by Hot Action Cop (from SWAT OST)

To conclude the Stallone fanfare, we dive into all of his remaining crime flicks where we encounter all kinds of atrocious, fascinating & underseen material to recap:

*Which of these entries easily rivals the terribleness of Rhinestone? 

*Which of his later entries are easily him doing rehashes of his stand-alone '80s films? 

FILMS REVIEWED:

Rebel/No Place to Hide (A Man Called Rainbo... Film Dub), 

Lords of Flatbush, 

Roger Corman's Capone, 

F.I.S.T., 

Nighthawks, 

Lock Up, 

Tango & Cash, 

Oscar, 

Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot!, 

The Specialist, 

Cop Land, 

Get Carter (2000 remake), 

Avenging Angelo, 

Shade, 

Bullet to the Head, 

Reach Me, 

Backtrace, 

Samartian, 

Armor (2024)

& 

Alarum (2025).

INTRO CLIP:

Sylvester Stallone 'Tulsa King' always wanted to play a gangster role! (Inspire Me Podcast, 2024)

SONGS USED:

"Best Of What I Got" by Bad English (Tango & Cash End Credits)

In this brief overview, we reflect upon the junky yet divisive '90s Stallone adaptation of the comic book JUDGE DREDD as well as its critcally favorable yet financial flop rehash from 2012:

*Why didn't Dredd do more crossovers like the Batman comic book?

*Is it true that the he UK censorship cut of the '95 film has different scenes than the U.S. release?

*Why do many think that Dredd was a homage to The Raid when both were just Die Hard-inspired films filming around the same time?

*And why wasn't the '95 Dredd film just a Demolition Man sequel?

CLIP INTRO:

Joblo 2012 Interview with the Cast of Dredd

SONG TRANSITION USED:

"Big Car Theft" by AudioNautix

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

GUESTS:

Oreo Brewer, Cliff Stevenson, Tim Caldwell & Josh Hansen

We continue the various Stallone tributes by outlining 4 of his non-Rocky sports themed dramas:

Where do Paradise Alley, Victory, Over the Top & Grudge Match all rank for most of his fanbase? 

Which of them does he make a pre-Rhinestone mistake of singing the theme song in?

Which one honestly needs more love due to the comedic gags present in it?

Which entry is still often ranked as Sly's "so bad it's good" masterpiece?

And why were these so underseen despite being released during his hay day?

Get your workout music going & come listen in on our verdicts!

MUSIC USED:

"Too Close To Paradise" by Bill Conti & Sylvester Stallone (Paradise Alley OST)

"Meet Me Half Way" by Kenny Loggins (Over the Top OST)

GUESTS:

Oreo Brewer, Cliff Stevenson & Josh Hansen

CLIP INTRO:

The Rich Eisen Show interview with Stallone (Nov 19, 2022)

I close out the Expendables fanfare with an overview on the Dynamite released prequel comic and the "GO TO HELL" crowdfunded sequel by Splatto Comics:

What aspect comes up short in the prequel comic book?

What awesome personas and shenanigans happen in this supernatural sequel comic?

What creative avenues make one wish there was this much imagination in the actual movie sequels?

All that and notes on the pros & cons on comic book tie-ins to cinema!

SONG INTRO:

"Diamond Eyes" (Trailer Version) by Shinedown.

For our second Stallone themed week of September, we dive into some of his other crazy outings:

We had so much fun summing up Sly's Rocky and Rambo franchise villains so it was time to slip in another minisode on the big bads of his Expendables homage series.

Would Mel Gibson be more intimidating than Van Damme in a random celebrity encounter?

Why didn't "Stone Cold" Steve Austin continue doing more Action films after stealing every scene in the first Expendables?

Was Eric Roberts amped up or was this just his usual intense acting perfectly captured on film?

And which henchman caused the team of mercs the most trouble?

Enjoy, suit up & get buff!

Guests:

Jonathan Orr, The Western Wonder (Pic-a-Flic Podcast), Mark Oguschewitz & Gil Palmer