On the eve of the release of Live Free or Die Hard, Slate has released its annual Summer Movies issue.

Today’s installment brings us two gems: a deconstruction of “yippe kai-yay, motherfucker” vis-a-vis action movie one-liners and an examination of the re-appearance and rise of the ninja in popular culture.

What’s of note in the second article is that it finally gives credit where credit is due for all the “bad” action movies that we grew up watching and loving every second of in the 80’s - Israel’s Six Day War which gave rise to Menachem Golan and Yoram Globus, the two most important men in 80’s bad action movies:

That conflict established the legitimacy of modern-day Israel, and without modern-day Israel, there would be no modern-day ninja craze. In 1979, Israelis Yoram Globus and Menahem Golan established Cannon Films, and in 1981 Golan directed Enter the Ninja starring Sho Kosugi, a Japanese karate-champion-turned-stuntman-turned-actor, who would become the most iconic on-screen ninja of the ’80s. The film’s success led to more landmark ninja movies from Cannon: Revenge of the Ninja (1983) and Ninja III: The Domination (1984), both directed by Israeli Sam Firstenberg.

Anyway, I am soooooo hoping that this summer brings some joy and excitement back to the summer blockbuster rather than the uninspired, bloated dreck that’s been polluting our popcorn fun for the last, oh…decade.

Let’s hope that two 80’s icons - John McClane and Optimus Prime - can bring back the fun. I’m warily hopeful.

The countdown is on.

Energon cubes, baby…energon cubes.

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