Robert Rodriguez is in negotiations to direct Escape From New York, 20 Fox’s remake of the 1980s cult classic that starred Kurt Russell.

John Carpenter, who directed and co-wrote the original, is executive producing the project, which is targeting a production start later this year. 

Andrew Rona and Alex Heineman of The Picture Co. are producing the feature project, which the studio is hoping to launch as a franchise in the same mold of its Planet of the Apes series.

The original 1981 movie was set in a future (then 1997) where Manhattan had been turned into an island-sized maximum-security prison. When the president of the United States crashes into the decaying city, an outlaw is coerced into traveling inside to rescue him.

Neil Cross, the creator of the BBC crime series Luther, wrote the script. Robert Rodriguez is the director of Machete, Planet Terror, Spy Kids, Desperado, The Faculty and Sin City. In my opinion I loved the first Sin City but, when you take into account the rest of his filmography I have only one prediction – The Escape from New York remake is going to SUCK.

Written by Sam HaiNe

email: sa*******@**********ve.com

            I was watching the first Terminator movie on cable television for the one-ba’jillionth time this morning. It never gets old; it only gets better with age. Little tiny quirks and nuances make each viewing fresh and new to me… call me nostalgic.

            But, this time I couldn’t help but, remember how cool Michael Biehn was. I mean he is still capable of delivering solid performances but, he rode a gigantic wave of great movies back in the day. I mean like massive cult classic films like Terminator, Aliens, The Abyss, Navy SEALs, The Seventh Sign and Tombstone.

               Michael Connell Biehn (born July 31, 1956), got his start in movies with a bit part in the film version of Grease in 1978. He appears in two scenes, in the more memorable of which John Travolta‘s character, Danny, hits Biehn’s uncredited character in the stomach while playing basketball. But, it wasn’t until he scored the role of Kyle Reese in the James Cameron science fiction / horror film The Terminator (1984) that got him real notice and attention. Following the success of that film, he would reunite with Cameron on Aliens (1986) and TheAbyss (1989). He would reprise his role as Kyle Reese in the 1991 film Terminator 2: Judgement Day in a cameo performance that was cut from the theatrical release but can be seen in the special edition directors cut.

In 1988, he starred in The Seventh Sign opposite the lovely Demi Moore. The Seventh Sign was about the coming of the apocalypse as prophesized in the Book of Revelations following the return of Jesus played by Jürgen Prochnow (DUNE, The Keep).  

            Navy SEALs (1990) starred Biehn with then sane Charlie Sheen as members of the real life fraternity of military operators. The movie was not a box office success, debuting at No. 4 and eventually grossing $25 million domestically, just barely above its reported budget of $21 million. The film was more successful on home video, with a VHS released on January 31st, 1991. A Blu-ray was released in 2009 in USA.

            However, one of his greatest roles was that of Johnny Ringo in the amazing Tombstone (1993), starring Kurt Russel, and Val Kilmer, Powers Booth, Dana Delany, Bill Paxton, Stephen Lang, Sam Elliot and many more names to be called out. The real Johnny Ringo—was a known associate of the loosely federated group of outlaw Cochise County Cowboys in frontier Tombstone, Cochise County, Arizona Territory. He was affiliated with Cochise County Sheriff Johnny Behan, Ike Clanton, and Frank Stilwellduring 1881–1882, and Michael Biehn played him with a psychopathic fever and intensity only equaled on screen to Val Kilmer’s deteriorated yet charmingly dangerous Doc Holiday. The film went on to earn $56,505,065 in total ticket sales in the North American market. Rotten Tomatoes reported that 73% of 44 sampled critics gave the film a positive review, with an average score of 6.2 out of 10. Following its cinematic release in 1993, Tombstone was named “One of the 5 greatest Westerns ever made” by True West Magazine. The film was also called “One of the year’s 10 best!” by KCOP-TV in Los Angeles, California.

            As the years progressed, Michael Biehn would go on to work in other films. However with the dawning of the current age, many actors were going unnoticed in the cluttered sea of information and media frenzy. The five minute attention span of the average American overlooks a lot of its stars and quickly moves to the next spoonful of fast food.

            To be honest a lot of us didn’t really notice Michael was still working until Robert Rodriquez’s half of Grindhouse (2007) as Sheriff Hague.

            The man is still out there working and we must not only remember the films he did but, take the time to follow up on what he’s doing now. There could be some contemporary gems and future cult favorites to be seen in his resume.

            Stay classy Retro Lovers and remember to keep your fingers on the REWIND BUTTON.

Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky (also known as Story of Ricky; Chinese: 力王) is a 1991 Hong Kong martial arts film written and directed by Lam Nai-choi, and based on the Japanese manga Riki-Oh by Masahiko Takajo and Saruwatari Tetsuya. The film stars Fan Siu-wong, Fan Mei-sheng (Siu-wong’s real life father), Ho Ka-kui and Yukari Oshima. The live action Ricki movie is basically an international production. It’s not often that you see this happen. The only other time I can think of, off the top, is the live action SHAMO film.

            Merry Christmas retro surfers! I was on my way to review an 80’s holiday film and bring in the Season’s Greetings with style. However, I took a dark turn down an alley and parked in front of a hole in wall DVD shop and decided to scavenge through the aisles of yesteryear. A little bit of this and some of that and “abracadabra” here we are at our destination.

            The Story of Ricki is the story of a young talented and slightly super powered martial artist named Ricky who ends up in prison for unknown reasons and soon discovers the horrors and social Darwinism of life behind bars. The prison is ruled by a corrupt warden and kept under thumb by his four enforces, each controlling a different wing of the institution. Prison can be the kind of place where helping out a weaker inmate just opens up the shooting gallery on your head and that is exactly what happens to Ricki. All eyes are on him.

            I guess I have to comment on the production value. Well… the remastering of the film itself does make the overall budget looks better. I mean it’s not a terrible Ed Wood’esque production but, you can and will notice the occasional cardboard wall and Styrofoam head. The fight scenes are more anime style than Shaw Brothers, similar to fights from Yu Yu Hakusho (1992-95) or Evil Dragon War Chronicles (魔龍戦紀 1987-89). Cinematography is just as serviceable. Dialogue is cookie cutter and possibly straight from the source material directly; although, I doubt that. The wire work is obvious as well.

            Riki-Oh’s Category III rating (the Hong Kong equivalent of an NC-17) greatly inhibited its ability to make money at the box office. It was one of the first Hong Kong movies that used Category 3 film rating system for non-erotic media. It grossed $2,147,778 HKD in Hong Kong.

            Ricki is violent and filled with gore; in fact rivers of gore are a plenty in this film. The biggest selling point is how over the top and completely absurd the violence is. At some point in the film an antagonist literally has his jaw ripped from his face by an uppercut and it’s glorious. So glorious, you don’t even mind the fact that he delivers a few lines of dialogue right after, “How?” I have no clue how. But, who cares. Go Ricki!

 This version you are about to click on looks a bit like one of the remasters of the film. 

            From my memory, I believe Golden Harvest released an older version to VHS. There have been recent reissues and a Blu-ray release, even an airing or two on cable’s Turner Classic Movie channel. So there is a good chance you can own this mofo and add it to your collection by any means necessary.

            Now take off your shoes and sit back and go to jail with Ricki-Oh. Merry Christmas to the entire Retro Wave community and stay fit, stay smart and keep that fruit cocktail cool next to the rewind button.

MOVIE LINK: https://youtu.be/wZVh-Drp8h8