MOVIE OF THE DAY: THE ISLAND

I'm a huge David Warner fan, but I found his scrawniness to be distractingly unintimidating. 

Great write up, Josh. Articles like this remind me CHUD is much more while at the same time not really about scoops on movies in development. A great mix of snark and genuine appreciation for this flick in particular and movies in general.

Only one ball dropped: Ritiche also directed THE GOLDEN CHILD. Sardo Numspaa is very disappointed in your omission!

"Bunch of arseholes playing Long John fucking Silver."

Was always fond of this one. Probably belongs in that Real Archetypes thread (the grimy, creepy freaks in this movie vs the lovable Hollywoodized rogues of Pirates of the Caribbean). Caine and Warner are enjoyable as always, also several really great forgotten British character actors/faces in this... love Don Henderson telling Caine's son he'll have him "for breakfast"- you know he means it literally. Morricone's grand adventure score sounds like it was written for a different movie and yet somehow makes it all even more weirdly entertaining.

And for three decades or so, this had the greatest .50 cal movie massacre ever... until Stallone and his unlimited squibbage came along and outdid it.

Great article. Can't add much that hasn't been touched on...Warner continuing his career-long trend of never disappointing, Caine can barely do wrong. The film always stuck with me thanks to it's dank atmosphere (working a stunning contrast with the wide blue Caribbean setting) and clever parodic use of Strauss' Heldenleben theme for decidedly unheroic moments.

This was one of those films that I had to sneak downstairs to catch on HBO after my folks went to bed. I believe that that helped magnify my fondness for it as it represented something of a forbidden sweet.

Funny to think that the real "pirates" that are regularly hijacking and kidnapping folks lately make Warner and company look positively quaint and sociable.