Firstly, I should probably point out that up until recently the high-kicking 1989 cult classic has eluded me - or maybe it was me eluding it. Who knows? Anyway, seeing that Doug Liman and Jake Gyllenhaal have taken it upon themselves to remake Road House  and put a 21st century spin on solving every problem by kicking, I figured; 'why not make it a double feature?' View the two movies for the first time one after the other and see how they measure up.  Naturally I took the chronological approach, starting with the original movie and then moving on to the remake. Watching this cult classic for the first time, I was struck by how much it feels like a feature length episode of The A-Team . Typical 80's good guy arrives in town, where he comes to blows with the rich guy/your typical A-Team  bad guy who thinks he owns the place. Seriously, stick that famous opening monologue on the beginning and have Patrick Swayze's 'Dalton' build some weird weapon from parts acquir

Doug Liman directs this biopic on "the Gringo who always delivers". American Made tells the story of Barry Seal; a commercial airline pilot who went to work for the CIA flying reconnaissance and supply runs between the US and Central America. It was on these runs that Seal began working for the Medellin Cartel, bringing illegal drugs into the US. Liman has managed to make a Tom Cruise movie that isn't a Tom Cruise movie. In recent years it seems Cruise's movies have been more about spectacle, some sort of death defying stunt to tick off of his bucket list; the Vomit Comet in The Mummy, strapping himself to the side of a plane during take off or climbing the world's tallest building in the Mission Impossible movies. But American Made is more character driven, about one man and the crazy life he led. That's not to say Cruise didn't get to feed his adrenaline addiction on this one, because he did, flying solo in some pretty dangerous places. On t