LOVE AND A .45 (1994)

Back in the early 90's there was a whole slew of these criminal/murderer lovebirds road trip movies: WILD AT HEART, THELMA & LOUISE, TRUE ROMANCE, NATURAL BORN KILLERS, KALIFORNIA, THE DOOM GENERATION and so on.  LOVE AND A .45 is another one and it tells the story of Watty and Starlene.  Watty pays the bills on their crappy little trailer by doing small time hold up jobs.  Starlene sometimes acts as a diversion.  After one job goes horribly wrong (thanks to their high as a kite buddy, Billy, going nuts and killing a woman), they head out on the road to Mexico.  Of course, if things went according to plan there wouldn't be much of a movie, so to add to the drama we got some macho policemen, strung out criminal tough guys and a left for dead but not quite so dead Billy hot on their trail.  That doesn't stop them though from seeing the sights, getting married, visiting Starlene's folks and even stopping off to buy camera film.

I remember seeing this film when it came out and enjoying it, but watching it now it doesn't hold up very well.  There's very little action and I never once got a feeling that Watty or Starlene were ever in much trouble.  The whole movie Starlene's just giggling away.  You would think they were on a road trip to a petting zoo not on the run for their lives.

Average pace, dated everything, Peter Fonda in a small role, Rene Zellweger actually looking attractive, a nod to PINK FLAMINGOS, nice looking old cars, $279 VCR's, nice Texas scenery, a skull tattoo, Jeffery Combs as a mobster bill collector, fork to neck stabbing, a young Gil Bellows and a soundtrack featuring stuff like The Jesus and Mary Chain, Mazzy Star, The Reverend Horton Heat and Johnny Cash.

For a low-budget movie you could definitely do worse,  but I wouldn't go out of my way to watch it.

ESCAPE FROM L.A. (1996)

"You may have escaped from New York, but this is L.A., vato."

August 23, 2000.  A massive earthquake separates Los Angeles from mainland America.  The hardcore Christian President turns the new island into a prison where anybody who doesn't fit into his idea of a perfect Christian nation (kweers, atheists, drug users,dogs and cats who live together, etc.) is exiled permanently.  Logistically, that doesn't even make sense, but whatever.

Fast-forward to 2013 and the President's hot daughter is brainwashed via virtual reality by a revolutionary leader who lives on the Island of Los Angeles. He has her steal a top secret super weapon called the "Sword of Damocles" and deliver it to him. So now it's up to the government to sneak a dude onto the island to locate the President's daughter and return the weapon. That's where soon to be transported to Manhattan, I mean, Los Angeles prisoner and ex-special forces soldier "Snake" Plissken comes in. Yep, that's right.  It's the same fucking story as the original film, except this time instead of Manhattan it's L.A.

Surfing, playing basketball, hang gliding, walking on a treadmill...this movie is definitely weird.  A good way to briefly describe ESCAPE FROM L.A. is there's a short scene where Snake is walking near a road and a car drives by with a dude hanging out of the window shooting a gun while blaring Sugar Ray.  Yes, Sugar Ray.  Snake then turns around to walk off.  The sound of thunder is heard while a bright light flashes from behind a nearby bush.  (It's almost like that awesome non-gun drive by two years later in DISTURBING BEHAVIOR with the non-threatening dudes and that Sesame Street music blaring.)

All things considered, ESCAPE FROM L.A. isn't much worse than the already overrated ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK. Cheesier yes, but laughing at it actually adds the much needed entertainment the original lacked.  Based purely on entertainment, EFLA is barely passable.  The story is weak, the look of the whole thing is garbage, the entire movie is a night, zero nudity, zero gore, zero blood, the action scenes are forgettable, the dialogue is rubbish.  Honestly, the biggest entertainment comes from the surprising cast and simply laughing at...everything.  Especially the story and the special effects.

Part 1 - Escape from New York (1981)