The Delta Force (1986)

The opening shot sets the tone perfectly, for good or ill. The scene that follows, wherein special ops member Chuck does what other men won't, reinforces it tenfold: it's 80s action from Canon Films with men and guns.
Much of it takes place on an aeroplane, with an ensemble cast that gets very underused. Chief hijacker Abdul (Robert Forster) is mustachioed and menacing. but he didn't reckon on the Deltas doing their thing. They wear covert black duds with a bright US flag patch on the arm lest the audience forget who they're cheering for. If they get tired walking, they've got bikes that shoot mini-missiles. Abdul and his middle eastern cronies are boned - even if Chuck is perpetually late to the party and Silvestri's music sucks.

2½ clear runways out of 5

The Towering Inferno (1974)

Previously it was a watery death that an ensemble star cast had to run from, now it's a fiery one. They're opposing elements, but the end result is a similar kind of disaster movie, again produced by Irwin Allen (Dir. John Guillermin).
With a story adapted from two different novels (The Tower by R.M. Stern; The Glass Inferno by T.N. Scortia and F.M. Robinson), the script doesn't rush to the big event, but nor does it dally. An epic establishing scene effectively gets us to where the (hot) shit goes down. Thereafter the two male leads, Paul Newman and Steve McQueen, are cleverly kept apart for the longest time but are dependent on each other's skills at crucial moments throughout.
The villains of the piece are hobnobbing rich folks who feel that their life is somehow worth more than that of the average Joe.

3½ corners cut out of 5

Virus (1980)

aka Day of Resurrection

In 1982 a deadly virus wiped out most of humanity, leaving less than 1000 people alive. The search for a cure by the survivors has no single protagonist to lead it, and therefore no principal actor or actress for us to journey with, but the film still manages to ensure we keep what's important fixedly in mind.
The White House scenes aren't anything special. By contrast many of the street scenes manage to be more realistically horrifying than even horror movies get. It's a bleak, powerful drama with some shocking scenes.
Part Japanese and part English language, the 156 minute version (with subs) is the film as it should be seen. The shorter 108 minute version that's more easily found in western territories reportedly cuts out most of the best Japanese actor's scenes, and through truncation drastically changes the ending.

4 flightless birds out of 5

Battle Beyond the Stars (1980)

Galactic bully John Saxon arrives at planet Akir and lays down his terms. The planet's defenceless farmers are boned if they don't take action; i.e. hire mercenaries to defend them. So John-Boy Walton hops in a ship that looks like the ass-end of the Enterprise made out of slug and uterus and flies boldly into a Seven Samurai (1954) situation in space. The addition of Robert Vaughn as one of the hired-guns directly references The Magnificent Seven (1960), too.
It's a charming B-Movie that's as bizarre as it is fun. Add George Peppard with the best utility belt ever, Sybil Danning as a Valkyrie warrior, and a ship's computer that acts like a sarcastic but protective aunt and you have a film that might not qualify as 'one for the ages,' but is memorable in its own way.

3 hotblood forms out of 5

The Magnificent Seven (1960)

Hollywood swapped east for west, B+W for colour and katanas for guns in their reworking of Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai (1954). In doing so they managed to come up trumps in every way with the first film in the series.
The John Ford-esque clique; the men beholden to nothing but their own moral code; recurring good and bad guy themes (by Elmer Bernstein); and even the split between the recruit, preparation and battle phases are all instantly recognisable pre-existing elements to fans of both the Western and Chanbara genre, but it’s still indelibly iconic in its own 'magnificent' way.
Much of the appeal can be attributed to the cast. The seven protagonists and the man in their gun-barrel sights, the inimitable Eli Wallach, each remain cool under pressure; if they don't it's because the story demanded it.

4½ civic improvements out of 5

Black Moon Rising (1986)

For the John Carpenter completist, BMR is another of the lesser known films that he wrote but didn't direct.
Tommy Lee Jones plays a resourceful thief who gets embroiled in a large-scale criminal operation. There’s 80s hair, a prototype car and a heist that requires crucial timing and possibly half a dozen beers to enjoy.
It won’t stay in the memory long after viewing, but nor does it bore at any stage. It’s just average and there’s no shame in being average.

2½ bruises out of 5

Demon Seed (1977)

Based on a 1973 Dean Koontz novel of the same name, this sci-fi/horror hybrid pits a child psychologist (Julie Christie) against the mind of a super intelligent machine. For a film that takes place mostly in one place, it keeps the attention well and raises the terror to awkward levels.
One of the film’s strengths is that it gives the viewer concepts and ideas that require more thought to fully appreciate. Ironically, the more you engage that part of your brain and begin to think about what you’re seeing onscreen, the more the sheer absurdity of the events within start to rise to the surface. Be aware before going in that it gets very silly and you'll enjoy it a lot more.

3 debuggings out of 5

Superman III (1983)

Prepare your face for a severe palming. A lot of Part III is campy comedy drama. Sure, it's based on a comic book, but that's no excuse for piss poor slapstick. I'm talking custard pie comedy. Really.
It's a shame because in the middle section Reeve gives his best performance of the whole series.
Also, removing him from Metropolis gave him room to let the Clark character grow beyond a clumsy oaf.
Seeing Annette O'Toole play Clark's first love, Lana Lang, was fun. She would go on to play Clark's mom in the Smallville TV series years later.

2 far removed from the Brainiac script out of 5