'Taken' is the feel-good movie of 2009

Taken (2009)
Starring: Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen and Arben Bajraktaraj
Director: Pierre Morel
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

When his teenaged daughter (Grace) is kidnapped by a white slavery and prostitution ring, a retired CIA wetworks specialist (Neeson) puts all his skills to use to get her back... and to kill those who harmed her.


"Taken" is the feel-good fantasy movie of 2009. It's a movie about a father who is trying to make up for lost time with his nearly-grown daughter--and who manages to not only save her life but to make her fondest dreams come true through a series of coincidences established in the film's first act and resolved in the denouement--but it's also a movie where one man brings down a vicious crime syndicate and exposes police corruption at the very highest levels. I've also rarely seen a film with so many people so richly and obviously deserving of death as the ones dispatched by the hero in this film.

With well-drawn and believable characters and a script that is fast-paced and finely tuned, "Taken" is a must-see for lovers of action films--and for anyone who wants to see some truly scummy bad guys get dispatched by a James Bond-like character who is fighting to save someone he truly loves. Neeson is fantastic in the part of a man who isn't especially violent, but who has no problem with killing bad guys when it comes to it. (There is a particularly neat scene that demonstrates exactly how Neeson's character respects life and tries to protect the innocents: He is in the middle of dispatching the first rung of the white slavery operation, but he takes steps to avoid harming some construction workers who may or may not be innocent bystanders.)

"Taken" will be available on DVD and Blu-Ray discs on May 12. If you missed it in the theaters, I highly recommend you check it out now. For more information, click here to view the Amazon.com listing.

(A word of caution for parents: I was surprised to note that the film is only rated PG-13. With the level of violence, drug use, and general plot of the film, I would have assume it was R. You should definitely watch the film before you let your kids at it and decide if you think it's appropriate for them. The MPAA is erratic as ever....)

Dom DeLuise dead at 75

Dom Deluise has died at the age of 75. The veteran comedian passed away in his sleep at a hospital in Los Angeles on Monday night, according to his son, Michael DeLuise.


DeLuise rose to fame in the 1970s and '80s, appearing alongside pal Burt Reynolds in movies like "The Cannonball Run", "The End", and "All Dogs Go to Heaven"; and in Mel Brooks comedies such as 1974's "Blazing Saddles", 1976's "Silent Movie", and 1993 comedy "Robin Hood: Men in Tights".

He became known on the small screen for his magic act as 'Dominick the Great' on the popular Dean Martin show between 1972 and 1973 He was nominated for a Golden Globe in 1974 for his work on TV comedy "Lotsa Luck", while he received a nod at the Daytime Emmys in 1999 for his efforts on animation "All Dogs Go to Heaven: The Series". He also appeared on two episodes of "Stargate: SG-1".

DeLuise spent his latter years writing children's books and cookbooks.

He is survived by his actress wife Carol Arthur, who he married in 1965, and their three actor sons Peter, David and Michael DeLuise.

Actress Jane Randolph dead at 94

Jane Randolph, who starred in the two "Cat People" horror films and several film noir classics of the 1940s, died May 4 in Gstaad, Switzerland of complications from a broken hip. She was 94.

Happy May Day!

Hilarious video from Eminem

"We Made You" is a hilarious new song and video from Eminem that skewers trashy celebs while even poking a little fun at himself. The song itself is pretty funny and the tune catchy, but the great video truly makes it. He comes across like a mean-spirited Weird Al in the video and song.

Dave Arneson dead at 61

Game designer and co-creator of the original Dungeons & Dragons game, Dave Arneson, has passed away on April 7 after losing a battle with cancer and a brief hospitalization. He was 61.

Arneson co-created the most popular RPG in history with Gary Gygax in the early 1974, during which time he also created the very first setting for the game, Blackmoor. He remained active in the game design field until 2002 when a stroke forced him into retirement.


The news of Arneson's death makes me sad, as he's yet another of my idols to pass away in recent years. He is one of the few figures in the hobby games biz who influenced my career path by inspiring me to write in the field.

Double Feature: Two Tales of Trinity

They Call Me Trinity (aka "My Name is Trinity") (1971)
Starring: Terence Hill, Bud Spencer, Farley Granger, Steffen Zacharias, Dan Sturkie, Remo Capitani, and Riccardo Pizzuti
Director: Enzo Barboni
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

Trinity (Hill), a shiftless drifter so lazy he has his horse tow him on stretcher instead of riding, arrives in a town where his his horse-thieving half-brother Bambino (Spencer) is pasing himself off as the new sheriff while looking for the best way to rustle horses belonging to the evil Major Harriman (Granger). Trinity has a habit of spoiling Bambino's plans and otherwise complicating his life, and soon the two find themselves protecting a group of pacifist Mormon settlers from both the Major and Mezcal (Capitani) and his banditos.


When I was a kid, my friends and I loved to rent Bud Spencer and Terence Hill videos. Whenever we spotted one of their movies we hadn't seen, it became our next rental. We also rushed to see them in the movie theater when they'd run them during the summer, or when new movies with either or both of them would be released. They never dissapointed, and the Trinity films were our favorites.

It was for this reason that I was a bit hesitant to watch "They Call Me Trinity" when I noticed that it was included in "Mean Guns", a 20-movie collection of westerns that the folks at Mill Creek Entertainment were kind enough to send me. I feared the film would not hold up to my very fond memories of it.

I am glad to say that, 25+ years later, this first Trinity movie is every bit as hilarious as it was when I was a kid. The comedy in this spaghetti western spoof--made by filmmakers who understood spaghetti westerns the best: Italians--is a fabulous bit of filmmaking from beginning to end.

With humor and satire that ranges from subtle to the basest of slapstick, good acting, excellent set and costuming, and the over-the-top fights and gunplay that we loved so much (not to mention Bambino's imperviousness and his trademark "fist-to-the-top-of-the-head" knockout blow) this film is a near-perfect western and action-comedy. It's the sort of film that "Shanghai Noon" and all three "Rush Hour" movies desperately tried to be, but none of them come even close.

If you like western and comedies, I think you'll enjoy the heck out of "They Call Me Trinity". I think you'll enjoy it even more if you watch "For a Fistful of Dollars" or "The Magnificent Seven" first, as both are poked fun at with great effect.



Trinity Is Still My Name (aka "All the Way Trinity") (1971)
Starring: Terence Hill, Bud Spencer, Yanti Somer, Emilio Delle Piane, Harry Carey Jr., and Pupo De Luca
Director: E.B. Clucher
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

Shiftless drifter Trinity (Hill) and his short-tempered brother Bambino (Spencer) promises their dying father (Carey) they'll do something with their lives, so they set out to become successful bandits. It seems however that every robbery they try to commit ends up becoming a good deed (and costing them money instead of earning them any), and when they are mistaken for Federal Agents because Trinity wants to impress a beautiful farmgirl (Somer), they find themselves protecting a Catholic mission that's fallen under the thumb of smugglers and a frontier crimeboss (Piane).


"Trinity Is Still My Name" was a favorite of mine when I was a kid, and it's every bit as funny as I remember it. A sequel to the classic Spaghetti Western spoof "They Call Me Trinity" it's not only as funny as the original, but it also has an identity all its own as it's less concerned with lampooning other films than it is with offering up a unique film.

Hill and Spencer give their usual excellent performances, and they are ably supported by the gorgeous Yanti Somer and a whole host of regulars from the Spaghetti Westerns of the 1960s and 1970s. The film is also remarkable for the excellent dubbing and the voice actors who did the work. It is so well done and the voice actors so talented that you can hardly tell the film wasn't originally done in English.

"Trinity Is Still My Name" is another near-perfect action-comedy set in the wild west. The script may meander a bit at times, but the jokes are all top-notch--the scenes where Trinity and Bambino go to a fancy French restraunt, and the one where Bambino goes to confessional will have you laughing so hard you'll have to watch those parts of the movie again to catch everything--and the final free-for-all fight where Trinity and Bambino take on dozens of thugs in a fight over $50,000 in ill-gotten loot tops the one at the climax of the original Trinity film.

I recommend this film highly to lovers of light-hearted westerns and quirky comedies.