Critics Club II: 31 - Bruce Campbell

[Neon Ignition]

I'm going to approach these in batches of ten to make them less exhaustive so after a break we'll start cracking through the 30's with an actor who sure is Groovy

Bruce Campbell



An awkward one as he strays the line between theatrical, cameo and non-cinema output a lot so feel free to speak out for anything not on the list. I skipped anything where it's cameo led too meaning no Spider-Man trilogy.

Vote for the movie you feel is their best whilst also discussing their other work, your reasons for voting and thoughts on what is their weakest.

Some will have very long lists so some trimming will be required to focus on the key entries but broadly the main selection will be available each time.

[JazzFunk]

[Yakumo]

All I can say is that the man still has it. He carried Ash VS the Evil Dead with ease.

[JazzFunk]

Loved him as the plastic surgeon in Escape From LA. Need to see that again.

[Cassius_Smoke]

All three of his spiderman cameos are brilliant. He's the best thing about spiderman 3.
Obviously it's Army of Darkness that's his best. He just owns that film.

[teddymeow]

I really liked him in Burn Notice.

[QualityChimp]

Army of Darkness.
Not as cheap as Evil Dead, no vine attack in EDII and a perfect balance of action, horror, comedy and one-liners.
Plus two brilliant endings!

"Yo! She-bitch! *Ker-chak-chak* Come get some."

[teddymeow]

"This...is my BOOMSTICK!!"

[teddymeow]

Loved him as the plastic surgeon in Escape From LA. Need to see that again.

That was on one of the ITVs the other day.

[QualityChimp]

First day I got Netflix, I was overwhelmed with choice and put on EFLA and it was a lot poorer than I remembered with no real sense of dread.
I thought the Campbell, Peter Fonda (in the completely unconvincing surfing scene) and Pam Grier detracted from the story by constantly breaking the suspension of reality.

I could probably quote most of AoD, but fave lines including "Jack ****" and "You've got something on your face".

[kryss]

Brief parts in the original Fargo movie and the second season of the TV show. But I've not seen either.

[Neon Ignition]

He's absolute legend through and through, I don't think I've seen him be in something and him not be a highlight of it. I went for Evil Dead II though, Army has the best lines but I prefer II as a film and it's mostly a one man show by the sequel.

[Dogg Thang]

This topic is difficult because the man is a god in everything. Amazing in Evil Dead 2 but he just takes the comedy up a notch in Army of Darkness and that probably gets my vote. But his Elvis in Bubba Ho-Tep is fantastic. It should just be funny but he has so much heart. He really delivers in that movie. Maybe I have to go for that.

He is so good in so many things though. A real legend. He even made Xena a work of excellence.

[QualityChimp]

Has any one else seen Waxwork II: Lost in Time?

I hadn't seen Waxwork, but this was advertised on some random VHS trailer section and it looked interesting, mainly because it looked like it referenced Dawn of the Dead.

The actual film is a lot more light-hearted than I expected and is good fun. The "Lost in Time" suffix is a bit of a misnomer because they actual travel through homages to movies (Alien, DotD etc.), rather than periods in time.

Bruce's appearance is more of a cameo, but he shows a lot of guts.

->Open Spoiler<-

The theme is amazing! It's by L.A. Posse but this is from the end credits, so it shows the events in the film, so it's a bit (lot) spoilery if you've not seen it:

->Open Spoiler<-

Also, I really enjoyed Moontrap. It's got some pretty harsh scenes but is pretty good for the budget.
"During a routine flight, two veteran space shuttle pilots discover an alien artifact and bring it back to earth. It soon turns out to be an extraterristial war robot, which is able to recycle any biological or technical material for its own deadly use. The two astronauts are sent to the moon where Nasa expects to uncover the mystery of the alien robot's origin. They discover an ancient humanoid culture and battle the ultimate threat of the war machines heading earth."

[Brad]

As Ronald Reagan in season 2 of Fargo is just the best.