Cuba Gooding, Jr.--finally diminished to direct-to-video status after years of turkeys like RADIO and BOAT TRIP stinking up the multiplexes--stars as Secret Service agent Alex Thomas, who is wounded trying to protect the President (Jack Scalia, who got a promotion after playing the head of Homeland Security in last year’s RED EYE) during a successful assassination attempt.  The assassin is gunned down by other agents, and Thomas’ boss Vaughn Stevens (James Woods) places Alex on medical leave.  Not a very quiet one, however, as he partners with a reporter, Kate Crawford (Angie Harmon, formerly of LAW & ORDER), to snoop out a conspiracy which may involve half of Washington, D.C., up to and including a mysterious retired Army general (Burt Reynolds) and the widowed First Lady (Anne Archer).

Millennium is an off-shoot of Nu Image Films, which made a name for itself during the 1990s with an impressively vast production slate of DTV action movies with titles like CYBORG COP III, OPERATION DELTA FORCE 2 and dozens of movies about killer animals:  SPIDERS, CROCODILE, SHARK ATTACK, OCTOPUS et al.  In recent years, Millennium/Nu Image has made an effort to amp up its budgets and production scope, and END GAME appears to have been intended for theatrical release.  It instead went directly to DVD earlier this month, even though it compares favorably with something like THE SENTINEL, the Michael Douglas film that likely cost four times as much to make, but contains a story and action setpieces no more impressive.

Indeed, Cheng does handle a couple of END GAME’s chases pretty well, including an interesting car chase in which the fleeing heavy attempts to distract Gooding by shooting at passing vehicles.  The story by Cheng and J.C. Pollock is muddled--I’m not entirely sure what the conspiracy was all about--but the veteran cast, which also includes a welcome character turn by DARK SHADOWS’ David Selby, makes it somewhat believable.  Even Harmon--my least favorite “L&O” ADA--settles into a relaxed performance.

END OF DAYS (1999)--Directed by Peter Hyams. Stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Gabriel Byrne, Robin Tunney, Kevin Pollak, Rod Steiger. A loopy supernatural thriller with its own sense of logic, END OF DAYS features a good number of action scenes, explosions and (mostly fake-looking) special effects, but is too dopey to be taken seriously. The screenplay by Andrew W. Marlowe (AIR FORCE ONE, an equally unbelievable action movie in which the President of the United States singlehandedly staves off a terrorist attack) asks us to believe that once every 1000 years, a baby girl will be born who, twenty years later on New Years Eve in the hour just before the new Millennium, if she is impregnated by Old Scratch, will eventually give birth to the Anti-Christ and bring about the destruction of the world, or the end of days. The girl is Christine (Tunney), who is unaware of her importance in the grand scheme of things, and has been under constant surveillance by the Vatican since her birth. One faction of the Church wants to kill Christine (the needs of the many outweighing the needs of the few, you know), while another, represented by priest Steiger, believes that murdering an innocent girl isnt a very godly way to save the universe. Her guardian angel turns out to be a suicidal, alcoholic ex-cop named Jericho Cane (very biblical), played in his usual manner by Schwarzenegger in his first action lead since 1996's ERASER. Satan (Byrne) takes the form of an important New York businessman (about whom we know nothing) whose life is saved by professional bodyguard Cane. The assassin is a homeless priest who has cut out his own tongue, and is later found crucified on the ceiling of his hospital room.

Hyams' films, which include CAPRICORN ONE and TIMECOP, have never relied on strong characterizations or tight scripting, and END OF DAYS is no exception. The action scenes don't even work too well, since Hyams chose to shoot them too close and edit them too quickly, so we don't get to see whats going on. Pollak gets all the best lines as Arnold's sardonic partner, Byrne makes for a marvelously charming Prince of Darkness, Tunney is cute (and performs a completely gratuitous topless scene) but lifeless, while Arnold is...well...Arnold, albeit a slightly more ambitious one.

Hyams, one of the few Hollywood directors who serves as his own cinematographer, achieves a decent look, with an OK score by John Debney and too-frantic editing by Steven Kemper. Stan Winston's briefly-seen creature design seems to indicate he's been watching a lot of SOUTH PARK, since his Satan closely resembles the one displayed in one of that series's episodes. Also with CCH Pounder, Renee Olstead, Linda Pine and the great Udo Kier.

ENEMY (1990)—Directed by George Rowe.  Stars Peter Fonda, Tia Carrere.  Fonda closed out the “tough guy” portion of his acting career with this decent Vietnam War actioner filmed in the Philippines.  From this point on, he moved gracefully into character roles in bigger, better films, such as ULEE’S GOLD, which earned Fonda his only Academy Award nomination as an actor.

More commonly seen on Media’s VHS as FATAL MISSION, ENEMY stars Fonda as Andrews, an American agent who assassinates a North Vietnamese official using a gun hidden inside a newsreel camera.  The helicopter assigned to pick him up from the jungle is destroyed by Mai (Carrere), a beautiful Chinese agent, who takes Andrews prisoner, but not before receiving a nasty bullet wound in the shoulder.  As the two enemy spies traipse on foot through the perilous jungle towards civilization, the realization hits both that they’ll have to work together to make it alive, as the elements and a seemingly inexhaustible supply of Viet Cong soldiers work against them.

It’s sort of an ENEMY MINE/DEFIANT ONES riff made cheaply but competently.  For some reason, it took six screenwriters (including Fonda) to cobble together one of the simplest scripts I’ve ever seen.  They may have been working against each other, rather than together, because ENEMY occasionally hints at more complex plotting involving a CIA plot to kill Andrews, but the whos and whys aren’t very clear, making the shock ending something of a dud.

Director Rowe (BLACK MAMBA) shoots the action with little flair, but plenty of squibbing.  Cameos by Mako, Ted Markland, Joe Mari Avellana and Jim Mitchum (with whom Fonda starred in Cannon’s MERCENARY FIGHTERS) add appeal, and the young Carrere is fine, whether acting in Chinese or English.  Fifteen years later, she and Fonda would reunite in the TV-movie SUPERNOVA.

THE ENFORCER (1976)--Directed by James Fargo. Stars Clint Eastwood, Tyne Daly, Harry Guardino, Bradford Dillman. Third DIRTY HARRY movie pits the San Francisco inspector (Eastwood) against a group of hippie terrorists that kidnap the city's mayor. What sets this action tale apart is the fact that Dirty Harry's partner this time is a woman (Daly)--one who sacrifices her life at the end and turns out to be just as courageous as her male partner. The action sequences are good, and Eastwood gets a lot of great one-liners. Music by Jerry Fielding. From the director of EVERY WHICH WAY BUT LOOSE.

ENSIGN PULVER (1964)--Directed by Joshua Logan. Stars Robert Walker, Jr., Burl Ives, Walter Matthau. Despite the absence of Jack Lemmon, Henry Fonda and James Cagney, this follow-up to MISTER ROBERTS is a fairly pleasant comedy about World War II hijinks. Look for some familiar faces in small roles including Tommy Sands, Jack Nicholson and Larry Hagman.

ENTER THE DRAGON (1973)--Directed by Robert Clouse.  Stars Bruce Lee, John Saxon, Jim Kelly, Shih Kien, Bob Wall, Angela Mao Ying, Ahna Capri.  Lee was dead by the time this big-time Warner Brothers martial arts movie was released.  It was supposed to be the film that made him a true international movie star—and it did.  Too bad he wasn’t able to enjoy it.  Michael Allin’s comic-booky screenplay turns Lee into a government agent who accepts an invitation to a martial arts tournament in order to investigate the event’s sponsor, Han (Shih), a ruthless millionaire who runs a busy narcotics and prostitution ring from his private island.  Kelly and Saxon play Vietnam War buddies on the run from racist cops and Mafia loan sharks, respectively, who join Han’s competition, but become sickened by their host’s corruption.  Lee’s climactic battle with Shih and his detachable metal hand is a classic, but Clouse and Lee (who choreographed the fights) provide other memorable action scenes too.  Much credit goes to Lalo Schifrin for composing one of his finest scores, adding much gusto to the kicking and punching.

ENTER THE NINJA (1981)--Directed by Menahem Golan.  Stars Franco Nero, Sho Kosugi, Susan George, Christopher George, Alex Courtney, Sachi Noy.  This Cannon exploitation film shot in the Philippines more or less kicked off the short-lived "ninja" craze of the 1980s.  Not only did Cannon and other low-budget filmmakers rip off ENTER's success, but NBC even tried a television series co-starring Kosugi with Lee Van Cleef titled THE MASTER. 

EPICENTER (2000)--Directed by Richard Pepin.  Stars Traci Lords, Gary Daniels, Jeff Fahey, Daniela Nane.  Undercover cop Lords (I know...just go along with it) and industrial thief Daniels find themselves inexorably forced together during an earthquake in Los Angeles.  Infiltrating a gang of Russians who have hired computer expert Daniels to swipe stealth fighter technology from the thinktank he works for, Lords captures Daniels during an exhaustive car chase (swiped from the Eddie Murphy actioner METRO) in San Francisco in which two of the gang is killed, one the brother of juicy short-haired gang member Tanya (Nane).  Making their way to L.A., Traci, who.s planning to meet her estranged daughter at a mall, and Daniels, lamenting the fact that Traci has changed the password to access his Swiss bank account, are caught in the city's largest tremor in history.  As buildings crumble and streets flood, the handcuffed pair tries to make their way to safety while dodging the guns of revenge-driven Tanya and a corrupt FBI agent played by Fahey (DARKMAN III).

EPICENTER pales next to Pepin's wilder films for his company, PM Entertainment, which are notable for slicker production values and more outrageous stunts than demonstrated here.  One problem is that Pepin, instead of staging his own action sequences, decided to buy them instead; in addition to the METRO chase, stock footage from SPEED and MONEY TRAIN also pop in.  The earthquake scenes were also probably taken from another production, but I didn't recognize which.  In addition, both Lords (billing herself as "Traci Elizabeth Lords") and Daniels are miscast; Gary only has one very brief martial arts moment, while Traci, with her puffy cheeks and pouty lips, is never convincing as an undercover agent.  Fahey, a veteran of these things, is wryly amusing in his brief screen time.

EQUALIZER 2000 (1986)--Directed by Cirio H. Santiago.  Stars Richard Norton, Corinne Wahl, Robert Patrick.  After the apocalypse, a bunch of rebels fight a bunch of bad guys.  Both sides want badass Slade (Norton) on their side, but what Slade wants is the Equalizer 2000, a big gun that blows stuff up real good.  Despite wall-to-wall action, this film is quite dull--as many Santiago films are--and doesn't even bother to strip Penthouse Pet Wahl, who thankfully went au natural in AMAZON WOMEN ON THE MOON.  Patrick plays Deke, a redneck in a Confederacy cap.

EQUINOX (1970)--Directed by Jack Woods.  Stars Edward Connell, Frank Bonner, Barbara Hewitt, Robin Christopher.  If you were a horror fan growing up in the 1960’s and 1970’s, you were undoubtedly aware of FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND.  A monthly magazine published by Warren, FMOF enchanted kids with wonderfully evocative articles and stills from science fiction, horror and fantasy movies past and present.  Much of it was written by its editor, Forrest J Ackerman (sic), in an inimitable “punny” style that clicked with a young audience fixated on monster movies and special effects.  It’s no exaggeration to say that FMOF influenced a generation of future filmmakers.

In 1965, a trio of young “monster kids” who had met through the FMOF classifieds decided to join forces and make a movie just like the ones they enjoyed watching on late-night TV.  Greatly influenced by KING KONG and the special effects wizardry of the legendary Ray Harryhausen, the three lads--Dennis Muren, Mark McGee and David Allen--created EQUINOX on weekends over the course of two years on a budget of only $6500.  Muren is a name many genre fans recognize immediately.  He’s an Oscar-winning visual effects technician whose credits include E.T. and JURASSIC PARK, just to name a handful.  Muren was still a teenager when he co-directed his first movie, along with McGee (who went on to write several films for Roger Corman) and Allen, who, like Muren, became renowned for his work in visual effects, specializing in stop-motion animation.

Three years after EQUINOX was finally completed, Hollywood producer Jack H. Harris bought the picture and hired Jack Woods to write additional scenes and reassemble the cast to direct new footage.  EQUINOX played across the United States and found an extra life in TV syndication and home video.  Criterion has released it in a sumptuous 2-disc DVD that includes not only the theatrical cut, but also--for the first time ever--the original 77-minute version from before Harris and Woods got hold of it.

Both versions have slightly different storylines, but the basic premise remains the same.  Four youths--David (Edward Connell), Susan (Barbara Hewitt), Vicki (Robin Christopher) and Jim (Frank Boers, Jr., who later changed his name to Frank Bonner and became famous as sleazy sales manager Herb Tarlek on WKRP IN CINCINNATI)--hiking through the woods to the cabin of Professor Waterman (fantasy author Fritz Leiber) encounter a crazy old man in a cave who hands them an ancient book.  This tome opens a doorway between Earth and a haunted dimension that unleashes a bevy of murderous creatures against them, including a green giant, a Harryhausen-like “Taurus” and a winged demon.  The Woods/Harris version attempts to flesh out a story that doesn’t need it by adding a spooky park ranger, Mr. Asmodeus (Woods), who warns the kids away from the woods, but also takes the time to mesmerize and make out with the two girls in scenes that appear to exist solely for the actor/director’s gratification.

Neither EQUINOX is what I would call “good,” but both are interesting in terms of their admittedly crude special effects.  It’s fun guessing how the budding filmmakers pulled off their ambitious vision without much money.  A lot of it was done “in the camera” using forced perspective, mirrors or matte paintings on glass that mingle perfectly with the real background.  The paintings were done by another “monster kid,” Jim Danforth, who was already a Hollywood professional on films such as THE 7 FACES OF DR. LAO.  The stop-motion scenes were mostly directed by Allen using front and rear projection techniques that seem impossible on $6500.  I particularly admire the cave set, which is one of the best I’ve ever seen.  It was basically a 40-foot cave wall constructed in Muren’s backyard, but, combined with exteriors filmed at Bronson Canyon and another Danforth matte painting, is indistinguishable from a real cave.

I’ve barely mentioned the performers, which is fair when discussing EQUINOX.  It’s difficult to accurately measure their work, since EQUINOX was shot without sound using a 16mm Bolex camera, and the voices were post-dubbed later.  The cast are inexperienced, but likable; it’s unsurprising that Bonner comes off best.  The performances are definitely hurt by Woods’ recutting, which eliminates nearly all the character buildup and backstory, turning the protagonists into teenage ciphers, rather than people we become invested in.

EQUINOX is perhaps the unlikeliest member of the vaunted Criterion Collection, which, according to its Web site, is “a continuing series of important classic and contemporary films“ and “dedicated to gathering the greatest films from around the world.”  I’m not certain EQUINOX qualifies on those counts, but there’s no denying the film’s impact on a select few individuals who went on to create some of Hollywood’s greatest fantasies.

ERIN BROCKOVICH (2000)--Directed by Steven Soderburgh. Stars Julia Roberts, Albert Finney, Aaron Eckhart. Although this crowd-pleasing star vehicle placed surprisingly high on several year-end Top Ten lists, ERIN BROCKOVICH, starring wide-lipped Roberts as a potty-mouthed activist, is nothing more than a solidly performed and directed Hollywood melodrama. Erin, a single mother of two younguns struggling to find both a job (her bank balance stands at $74) and a babysitter (to watch her kids when she finally lands that job), talks her way into a position file-clerking for local attorney Ed Masry (Finney). Masry unsuccessfully represented Erin in a civil suit after she was injured in a car accident. Her wiseass attitude, vulgar vocabulary and boob-baring wardrobe makes it difficult for her officemates to warm up to Erin, but Masry, in a fit of guilt and pity, agrees to take her on anyway, and assigns her to a faraway office. Her enthusiasm gets the best of her when she begins investigating a pro bono case on her own, one in which several people seem to have been poisoned by Pacific Gas & Electric, which allegedly dumped a toxic chemical into the local towns drinking water. Although Masry is initially annoyed at Erin's immersion in the case, he soon realizes that there's more to it than meets the eye, and eventually, with Erin's legwork and dedication, agrees to pursue a third-of-a-billion-dollar class action suit against PG&E.

The sort of David-meets-Goliath drama that Hollywood loves to produce, ERIN BROCKOVICH suffers from its similarity to 1998's A CIVIL ACTION, another true story about a colorful attorney who pursues a lonely pollution lawsuit against a major company. That movie, which starred John Travolta as New England lawyer Jan Schlichtmann, did a nice job showing the frustration of going up against an opponent with the power to bankrupt and destroy anyone who threatens its capitalist goals. ERIN is simply a feel good movie with plenty of one-liners and too few obstacles in our heroine's way. Need a babysitter? No problem--the unemployed nice-guy biker next door (Eckhart) is eager to help.

Roberts, who won a Best Actress Academy Award, is fine as Erin, but she's just coasting here, doing most of her acting with her cleavage and her smile. It's the work of a movie star with great charm, but hardly Oscar-worthy. On her behalf, it isn't easy making a character like Brockovich someone to root for, since she appears to make her own brand of bad luck. Instead of clucking our tongues at Erin for antagonizing anyone who attempts to help her or coming into work in outfits more fitting to Julia's PRETTY WOMAN character, we're supposed to be aroused by her sense of individuality. I thought she was more stupid than brave. Finney, on the other hand, delivers his most vigorous performance in years, while familiar faces Peter Coyote (E.T.), Marg Helgenberger (C.S.I.) and Conchata Ferrell (E/R) turn in nice support.

Also with Tracey Walter, William Lucking, Mimi Kennedy, Gina Gallego and the real Erin Brockovich as a waitress. Music by Thomas Newman. Writer Susannah Grant also penned the trite Sandra Bullock-in-rehab drama 28 DAYS. Danny DeVito was a producer. Soderburgh earned DGA, Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for this and TRAFFIC the same year; he won the Best Director Oscar for TRAFFIC.

ESCAPE FROM ALCATRAZ (1979)--Directed by Don Siegel. Stars Clint Eastwood, Patrick McGoohan, Roberts Blossom, Fred Ward. Clint and two colleagues plan to become the first convicts to break out of the legendary maximum-security prison on Alcatraz Island. McGoohan is good as the slimy warden. The escape sequence is tautly directed, and there are many other good action scenes along the way. Script by Richard Tuggle.

EXCESSIVE FORCE (1992)--Directed by Jon Hess.  Stars Thomas Ian Griffith, Lance Henriksen, Charlotte Lewis, Burt Young.  This looks like a straight-to-video release, but it actually played in theaters.  Black belt Griffith (who also wrote the screenplay) plays Terry McCain, a tough Chicago cop obsessed with nailing mobster Sal DiMarco (Young).  So tough that he's been known to use "excessive force" a time or two when bringing bad guys to justice.  Unfortunately, this time he goes too far, and when DiMarco is arrested during a drug deal gone badly, a judge releases him on a technicality.  Even though it's McCain's own damn fault, he continues to harass DiMarco--a situation that grows more personal after the Don's gang starts killing Terry's partners.  It seems $3 million of DiMarco's drug money has disappeared fro