Last Action Hero - So close to perfection

It was Schwaz' first box office flop and put up the current standard of spending way too much money on film marketing. It ranks high upon the worst returns of all film history. Yet there is a good film here and could have been a hidden gem -- had it not been for Danny and coming into "our world."

You may be among the hordes who avoided Last Action Hero. You should reconsider. It has that stigma of being a horrible film, but if you're a fan of this podcast then you will understand why we put it upon such a high platform with Hell Comes to Frogtown, Joe Vs The Volcano and UHF. While Joe is a far superior production and Hell is a far more efficient production, Last falls into bad movie legend with incredible amounts of money thrown at it, while clearly only going to work with a very small amount of movie goers. It's your classic case of men in ties making horrible decisions.

The primary mistakes the film puts upon its audience is the snivelly Danny (Austin O'Brien). It's not that Austin does a bad job (it's not good either) as a child actor (we've seen FAR worse, looking at you Jake Lloyd), it's just that Danny sucks. This is the last character you want to see in an over-the-top action movie, the whiny child who isn't having fun with us. THEN there is the always awful choice of bringing your fantasy characters through a magic portal into our reality. Our reality sucks. We don't want to be here, and we especially don't want the movie we are escaping our reality from coming into it. Blech. 

Yet every single minute that takes place inside Jack Slater's (Arnold) movie fantasy world is a treat. It's non-stop homage/satire/creation of action films and the characters within them. The stunts are fantastic, the self-deprecating comedy is top-notch, and as always, Arnold delivers non-stop fun and charm. 

Last Action Hero is one our favorite movies and rides that beautiful line between crap and brilliance. Must watch film.

The Great Wall
Geostorm
Rings
XXX: Return of Xander Cage
The Snowman
The Dark Tower
The Space Between Us
Valerian
King Arthur: Legend of the Sword

Worst Bad Movie

The Mummy
Collateral Beauty
Transformers: The Last Knight
The Snowman
Resident Evil: The Final Chapter
Geostorm
Flatliners
Underworld: Blood Wars
Fifty Shades Darker

Best Bad Actor

Gerard Butler - Geostorm
Matt Damon - The Great Wall
Shawn Roberts - Resident Evil: The Final Chapter
Vincent D'Onofrio - Rings
Michael Fassbender - The Snowman
Sam Worthington - The Shack
Javier Bardem - Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
Ice Cube – XXX: Return of Xander Cage
Russell Crow – The Mummy
Idris Elba - The Dark Tower
Tom Cruise - The Mummy

Worst Bad Actor

Dane DeHaan - Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets
Tom Cruise - The Mummy
Will Smith - Collateral Beauty
John Depp - Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
Ethan Hawke - Valerian
Val Kilmer – Snowman
Jim Sturgess – Geostorm
Javier Bardem - Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
Jamie Dornan - Fifty Shades Darker
Vin Diesel - XXX: Return of Xander Cage
Matt Damon - The Great Wall

Best Bad Actress

Astrid Bergès-Frisbey - King Arthur: Legend of the Sword
Nina Dobrev - XXX: Return of Xander Cage
Milla Jovovovich - Resident Evil: The Final Chapter
Tian Jing - The Great Wall
Octavia Spencer - The Shack
Kate Beckinsale - Underworld
Rihanna - Valerian
Britt Robertson - The Space Between Us
Abbie Cornish: Geostorm
Toni Collette - XXX: Return of Xander Cage
Deepika Padukone - XXX: Return of Xander Cage
Rebecca Ferguson -The Snowman
Ellen Page - Flatliners

Worst Bad Actress

Sofia Boutella - The Mummy
Kate Winslet - Collateral Beauty
Helen Mirren - Collateral Beauty
Dakota Johnson - Fifty Shades Darker
Sofia Boutella - The Mummy
Mila Jovovich - Resident Evil
Keira Knightly - Collateral Beauty
Nina Dobrev - XXX: Return of Xander Cage
Kim Basinger – Fifty Shades Darker
Laura Haddock – Transformers: The Last Knight
Rhianna - Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets

MS