Entries Tagged as 'Action'

Comic-Con ‘08: Take The New Knight Rider Out For A Spin

Posted by SH

Speculation ran wild when a new “Knight Rider” movie aired on NBC earlier this year that it was actually a pilot for a new series. Well, that turned out to be true — the show premieres Sept. 24 — but the producers say to forget pretty much everything in that movie. There’s a new sheriff in town, executive producer Gary Scott Thompson, who knows his way around fast cars. He wrote the first two “Fast and the Furious” movies and wasted no time making this show his own. The lead, Mike Traceur (Jason Bruening), has a new but familiar name, Michael Knight, and Deanna Russo’s character is no longer a college professor (OK, she’s on sabbatical), focusing instead on wearing high heels and kicking butt.

KITT still sounds like Val Kilmer, but the super-intelligent car can now transform into “attack mode” and become a badass war machine. The crowd visibly oohed and awed at the sight. They also reacted with glee at the news that the creators are in serious talks with the Hoff for a recurring role.

I was a child of the ’80s, but honestly I never got too into “Knight Rider.” That probably means I could enjoy the new incarnation more than someone taking notes and forgoing anything enjoyable about it and instead just lamenting everything that’s different. That said, it doesn’t look to be as drastic a reimagining as, say, “Battlestar Galactica,” so fans of the original should find plenty to geek out over.

The most memorable part of the session had nothing to do with the preview, or the Q&A. Most of the cast was late because of — impending irony alert — they were stuck in traffic. Where’s KITT when you need him?

"The Kill Point" Countdown Finale Recap

Posted by Ryan

The Kill Point

Wow. The Kill Point has come and gone. It’s been a lot of fun following this series since April. Now I’m going to have to find some new show to obsess over. I’m open to suggestions.

Last night I had a fantasy football draft (I got Larry Johnson) during the two-hour final episode and had to watch it on the DVR when all 18 (!) rounds were finally done. So I’m a little groggy this morning.

So, on to The Kill Point

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"The Kill Point" Countdown Episode 5 Recap

Posted by Ryan

The Kill Point

Episode 5 opens with Mr. Mouse having a serious case of the Creepy Mes. He’s scrawling stuff in his notebook, and speaking jibberish in Arabic. He’s doing this in the boardroom near the photograph with the bug in it, so the cops can hear everything he says. They’re a little weirded out, too. And Mouse’s wound is getting a little nasty with gangrene. No, he’s not well.

Wolf tells Deke to call a bunch of vets they know and start a protest outside to give the cops a little something else to deal with. A nice diversion while Deke’s guys start their extraction.

We learn that Cali had the Feds put a travel alert on all members of Wolf’s platoon, and they discover two guys from the 1013 flew into Pittsburgh. The cops I.D. Big Stan and his buddy from surveillance video, and now it’s starting to click that there’s something going down.

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"The Kill Point" Countdown Episode 4 Recap

Posted by Ryan

The Kill Point

Episode 4 opens with our favorite crazy SWAT sniper waxing philosophical about bullets and sniping. You just know this guy is going to do something big soon.

Back in the bank, Rocko has to pee, and Rabbit is just a little too interested in watching. Rabbit forces Rocko to take off his pants and lie face-down on the floor, then lectures Rocko on the meaning of fear. Rabbit sticks his shotgun in Rocko’s butt. Oh, so that’s fear.

Cali’s wife calls him and tells him she has a surprise for him. She also says he looks like “a cool asshole” on TV. With Beck in jail, Wolf can’t communicate with anyone outside, but Cali seems to think Beck passed the frequency codes to someone else. Deke obviously comes to mind. I figured Beck would eventually connect with Deke somehow, but it’s not clear if or how they connected and handed over the frequencies. Cali decides to bring in a visitor to see Wolf.

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"The Kill Point" Countdown: Episode 3 Recap

Posted by Ryan

Read the Episode 4 recap here!

The Kill Point

Episode 3 of The Kill Point starts off with everyone in the bank enjoying cake and having a good time. It’s a happy little hostage situation. Ashley and her friends are trying on other people’s jewelry. Mr. Rabbit is still digging through the wall for some reason. Mr. Mouse is catching up a little sleep and having pleasant dreams until his rifle goes off.

And he shoots Cass in the face. Yeah, I suppose Cass was an “acceptable casualty” for the story. Mr. Wolf calls for EMTs and they take Cass out of there. That’s one way to get out of a hostage situation.

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“The Kill Point” Countdown: Episode 2 Recap

Posted by Ryan

The Kill Point

Episode 2 of The Kill Point starts off with the morning after, 18 hours since Mr. Wolf (John Leguizamo) and his crew busted into the Three Rivers Trust bank.

The FBI has taken control of the hostage negotiations, relegating Cali (Donnie Wahlberg) to a consulting role — basically a nice way of telling him to get lost. The new negotiator, Agent Ash, is an arrogant hard-ass who you know is just going to screw this up. At least Cali’s not giving up. He wants to know why Wolf released Mr. Sabian.

Things aren’t going so well inside the bank either. Mr. Rabbit has an episode of post-traumatic stress disorder and just starts randomly slapping up Rocko, the maintenance man. Rocko reveals he’s always hated Rabbits, the Easter Bunny included, and wants to hatch a scheme to get the gun Leroy stuck in the plant and use Ashley to get Mr. Pig’s gun. It’s also Robby Sabian’s birthday, and he’s not going to be able to go to his all-male pool party and wear a T-shirt to hide his “man cans.” Robby and Mr. Wolf connect in a touching moment, and Wolf decides that he’s going to demand a birthday cake from the FBI. Oh, and Mr. Mouse’s gunshot wound is infected.

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“The Kill Point” Countdown: Extra Webisode Action!

Posted by Ryan

The Kill Point

Followers of The Kill Point will want to head over to Spiketv.com for a series of webisodes which tell the story of Deke, the getaway car driver who escaped Market Square on foot. You’re not going to get any huge reveals in the webisodes, just some extra side-story stuff that might help fill in some of the gaps in the TV series.

I’m curious to see exactly what Deke and the posse of ex-soldier buddies he rounded up at the end of Episode 1 plan on doing. Are they going to launch an assault on the cops? Are they going to bust into the bank and stand in solidarity with Wolf and the other guys? Probably not. If Wolf could contact Deke, he’d probably tell him how to best screw with Cali — and that would be by kidnapping Cali’s wife. Just a prediction. No insider knowledge here.

“The Kill Point” Countdown: First Episode Review!

Posted by Ryan

(Click here for my recap and review of The Kill Point Episode 2)

Wahlberg and LeguizamoSpike’s The Kill Point premieres this Sunday, with a two-hour presentation. I’ve been writing about The Kill Point now for nearly three months since I visited the set in Pittsburgh, and have amazingly managed to avoid Kill Point burnout. I’ve been screening a lot of comedies (many of them not so good) for our fall preview, and have been looking forward to finally watching The Kill Point DVD Spike sent me about a month ago. I watched it yesterday afternoon, and I’m happy to say that my three months of buildup for this series didn’t go to waste.

My review of the first episode is after the jump. I don’t think I included any spoilers or revealed any plot twists, but if you’re really concerned about learning too much before seeing it for yourself, you might want to wait until late Sunday night to read it.

If there’s interest from visitors to The Kill Point Countdown, I’ll post reviews and commentary of the remaining episodes. So let me know in the comments. And share what you thought of the show in the comments, too!

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“The Kill Point” Countdown: Part 8

Posted by Ryan

Dog Day AfternoonIf you’ve been following along, then you’ve probably figured out that Spike’s The Kill Point has some heavy, intense stuff in it. So I saved the fun stuff for last, just to lighten it up a bit before the show premieres this weekend. (Check back on Friday for my review of the first episode.)

I asked a few of the guys I interviewed what their favorite movie was from the heist/robbery/standoff genre, and then I asked them what they liked to record on their TiVos or plain-old-generic DVRs.

One thing’s for certain: They love themselves some Dog Day Afternoon. Attica! Attica! Attica!

The Q&A starts after the jump.

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“The Kill Point” Countdown: Part 7

Posted by Ryan

We’re coming down to the wire on The Kill Point Countdown, with the show premiering July 22 on Spike. Next week I’ll have a roundup of random questions I asked the cast, plus my review of the first episode!

Donnie WahlbergWhen I think back to 17 or 18 years ago, I probably would’ve freaked if someone told me I’d someday be interviewing a guy whose face was printed on my younger sister’s bedsheets. Donnie Wahlberg has definitely come a long way since the New Kids on the Block. He’s developed into quite a solid actor, and I was impressed with his roles in Band of Brothers, The Path to 9/11 and, earlier this year, Kings of South Beach (check out this personal interview Channel Guide Magazine did with him back in January).

Wahlberg stars in The Kill Point as Capt. Horst Cali, a hostage negotiator for the police who has to defuse the crisis at Pittsburgh’s Three Rivers Trust Bank and get everyone out alive. Unfortunately, the schedule didn’t work out so I could talk to Wahlberg while I was on set in Pittsburgh. He arrived back in Pittsburgh a few days after I was there, and we talked over the phone. He did a pretty good job negotiating with me; I surrendered to police shortly after.

You know, I still haven’t told my sister I interviewed Donnie. I should probably do that. Interview after the jump.

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