Happy Birthday Sylvester Stallone

Not had much time of recent to post up any reviews (working on a few...and finally located my SHARK ATTACK 3 dvd) and what with the sad passing of Peter Falk, it's never a better time to celebrate my favourite actors Birthday.

Not much to say about Stallone, other than his rise to fame inspired billions (let alone his movies) For all the slick pumped up action flicks, he'll be (rightfully) associated with the ROCKY movies (those movies are a template to my life...regardless of what heights you actually reach) Add to his acting, writing, producing, and singing abilities (come on...."Too Close To Paradise" is a classic song) he also comes across a genuinely warm and witty guy, not afraid to mock his own image and mortality. And at 65 years of age (today) the guy is still built like a piece of steel.

He briefly dipped his toes into DTV land in the late 90's early 2000's....but has since bounced back with ROCKY BALBOA, RAMBO and THE EXPENDABLES (which is great, because quite frankly, I'm sick to death of so-called 'action stars' like Matt Damon and Orlando Bloom) With many other projects lined up, Stallone shows no signs of slowing down. Long may be reign as the finest action hero in history (not to mention, a great actor)



Happy Birthday Sly

Happy Birthday Steven Seagal

Today the 'Stout Sensei' is 60 years young. Despite the (many) digs at his size, or the quality of his recent movies...the guy has such a screen presence* (whether you like him or not) and is still one of the most credible action stars around today. From the top-flight bone-breaking 'hardcore' classics like OUT FOR JUSTICE and MARKED FOR DEATH to the absurdities of ATTACK FORCE and OUT FOR A KILL, Seagal has been entertaining audiences now, for well over 20 years (not bad for a guy who debuted in a lead role for a major studio at 37 years of age) On top of that, the guy writes, produces, directs, sings and is a tireless campaigner for many humanitarian charities around the world. Oh, and did i forget he's an expert 7th Dan Aikido master!

Straight-To-DVD-Heaven salutes you Steven Seagal, have a great Birthday Sir




(* He was easily the best thing about 2010's MACHETE)

Happy Birthday Burt Reynolds

With a fair few obituaries on this blog, it's only fair that I include something to celebrate on Straight-To-Dvd-Heaven, every once in a while...Namely that Burt Reynolds is 75 years young today.
Former halfback, stunt-man and all round 'good old boy'...Burt Reynolds was one of the biggest box office stars of the seventies, starring in such classics like DELIVERANCE, THE MEAN MACHINE, SHAMUS, HUSTLE, SEMI TOUGH, SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT (the criminally underrated) STARTING OVER, CANNONBALL RUN, SHARKY'S MACHINE (my personal fav along with) STICK, HEAT, MALONE and RENT-A-COP.
His good looks, killer timing and fun movies, often detracted from the fact that Mr Reynolds is also a great actor and director (Sharky's Machine are proof of both attributes)
Sadly though, as the eighties winded down, cinema had new box office champs (Arnold, Sly, Cruise, etc) but reynolds kept at it, and has appeared in a diverse range of DTV projects, before having a mini revival with BOOGIE NIGHTS (1997) before returning to mostly DTV work.
Some notable DTV releases being, THE MADDENING, RAVEN (fuck yeah...'Raven-Team' zippo lighters!) BIG CITY BLUES, (Albert Pyun's) CRAZY SIX, PUPS and his Logan Mcqueen movies.

Hollywood might have a short memory Burt, but i salute you on your 27, 375 days on 'gods blue and green' misery orb....All the best 'Bandit' (I may even watch SHARKY'S MACHINE tonight, or better yet...order that R2 import of STICK
, that I've been after for so long off E-bay?)

(This one)