Monte Carlo Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 Hello. I grew up on a diet of action movies, mainly set during WW2. My childhood revolved around Clint Eastwood's Lt. Schaeffer silently hosing down a gazillion Nazis with an MP40, Gregory Peck garroting SS men on Greek Mountains and Donald Sutherland driving the Sherman tank armed with paint rounds. A bit later, it was The Wild Geese or A Bridge Too Far and as we hit the 1980's I naturally loved brain-dead action movies (of which Arnie was clearly the Meister, culminating in Jesse Ventura's hopelessly camp but cool mini-gun wielding merc in Predator). Nothing, apart from perhaps jello-wrestling with Angelina Jolie and Scarlett Johannsen, makes me happier than beer, pizza and a night in with action movie DVDs (last marathon involved The Dirty Dozen, followed by Ronin (naturally, Ronin aspires to higher-quality Euro-thriller status but is actually also a brain dead actioner. Not that there's anything at all wrong with that, of course). So, I actually fainted when I read about The Expendables.... check it out. Jason Statham is a worthy addition to the Hollywood action hero hall of fame, and of course he's British too so it's nice to see one of our own up there with the big boys. Naturally, I'm looking forward to Inglourious Basterds and adore Tarantino, but this is the film he should be making. And it's not released until 2010, filming starting in March. Please join me in this thread to share your love of the braindead action movie genre. Please post suggestions as to how this film could be even better. For example, love interests / cars / firearms and one-liners. Cheers MC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shryke Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 get to the chopper! when your mind works against you - fight back with substance abuse! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taks Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 i like statham, too. my wife, i think, has some sort of hollyweird crush on him. she absolutely loves the transporter movies. taks comrade taks... just because. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gorgon Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 Stallone is not a good director though. and the actors aren't good enough to make up for it. Na na na na na na ... greg358 from Darksouls 3 PVP is a CHEATER. That is all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slowtrain Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 Where Eagles Dare The Guns of Navarone Kelly's Heroes Three of the greatest movies ever made. Notice how I can belittle your beliefs without calling you names. It's a useful skill to have particularly where you aren't allowed to call people names. It's a mistake to get too drawn in/worked up. I mean it's not life or death, it's just two guys posting their thoughts on a message board. If it were personal or face to face all the usual restraints would be in place, and we would never have reached this place in the first place. Try to remember that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slowtrain Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 I would also add: Bill Holden in The Devil's Brigade Steve McQueen in Hell is For Heroes Errol Flynn in Objective Burna Gregory Peck in Porkchop Hill Notice how I can belittle your beliefs without calling you names. It's a useful skill to have particularly where you aren't allowed to call people names. It's a mistake to get too drawn in/worked up. I mean it's not life or death, it's just two guys posting their thoughts on a message board. If it were personal or face to face all the usual restraints would be in place, and we would never have reached this place in the first place. Try to remember that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amentep Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 I've always liked guns of navarone. hECK i even like Force 10 from Navarrone (probnably bec ause I saw it firsat). 'nm looking forwar to The Exzpendables though. I cannot - yet I must. How do you calculate that? At what point on the graph do "must" and "cannot" meet? Yet I must - but I cannot! ~ Ro-Man Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aram Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 I've always preferred some degree of realism or at least believability in action scenes. John Woo type stuff tends to piss me off as much as it entertains me. When the violence gets too cartoonish, it loses me. I utterly loathed Shoot 'Em Up. Terminator 2 is my favorite "dumb" action movie, and maybe it doesn't even qualify. Otherwise I prefer movie shoot-outs like Ronin, Heat, Collateral, and the Way of the Gun, in which there's actually some reason to believe that the hero could come out triumphant (or not) because of proper handling and superior tactics. I'm really, really looking forward to Public Enemies, the new Dillinger movie directed by Michael Mann, because as far as I'm concerned Mann is the current master of the cinematic gunfight. A Heat style shoot-out with Tommy guns would be pure magic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monte Carlo Posted February 20, 2009 Author Share Posted February 20, 2009 ^ Some interesting points... and I agree about Mann. Look at The Kingdom. Quite average, rescued by a superb, nail-biting action sequence at the end of the movie. Miami Vice? Execrable. Absolutely rotten. Great gunfight at the end. And so on. Forgot Way of The Gun. Extremely good shoot-outs, love the empty fountain full of glass sequence. I think you are still too cerebral to fully dig this thread, though. Retreat to your den with a couple of dozen straight-to-video action movies, anything with Dolph Lundgren is good, and drink heavily. Only stop to eat pizza. After a while, you will be One of Us. Cheers MC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gorgon Posted February 21, 2009 Share Posted February 21, 2009 (edited) I've always preferred some degree of realism or at least believability in action scenes. John Woo type stuff tends to piss me off as much as it entertains me. When the violence gets too cartoonish, it loses me. I utterly loathed Shoot 'Em Up There are a couple of exceptions to that rule, Hard Boiled, The killer, even Face Off, the latter has really cartoony action but somehow it's good anyway. He's done plenty of stinkers, but few directors know how to get an action scene to flow as well has him. My pet peeve is kung fu movies that aren't grounded in reality. Flying around like superman, running on water or parting a whole forest with one sword chop, that pisses me off no end. If you don't believe it the danger and suspense vanishes. 70s and 80s hollywood action films are almost universally bad. Edited February 21, 2009 by Gorgon Na na na na na na ... greg358 from Darksouls 3 PVP is a CHEATER. That is all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shryke Posted February 21, 2009 Share Posted February 21, 2009 My pet peeve is kung fu movies that aren't grounded in reality. Flying around like superman, running on water or parting a whole forest with one sword chop, that pisses me off no end. If you don't believe it the danger and suspense vanishes. agree wholeheartedly i thought Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon was an utter piece of **** when your mind works against you - fight back with substance abuse! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theslug Posted February 21, 2009 Share Posted February 21, 2009 I can't believe you guys like Jason Statham. An actor is defined by the work he does and Statham's entire career is essentially horrible movies that have no excuse with the exception of snatch which even then was just good and not even great. Seriously you guys are crazy. Call me wrong and I'll ask you to watch The One twice in a row. Ff you still disagree then you have more serious problems then just bad taste. And how dare you. Kung Fu movies are amazing. Well at least the good ones like shaolin soccer and hero and even some stuff with Jackie Chan. There was a time when I questioned the ability for the schizoid to ever experience genuine happiness, at the very least for a prolonged segment of time. I am no closer to finding the answer, however, it has become apparent that contentment is certainly a realizable goal. I find these results to be adequate, if not pleasing. Unfortunately, connection is another subject entirely. When one has sufficiently examined the mind and their emotional constructs, connection can be easily imitated. More data must be gleaned and further collated before a sufficient judgment can be reached. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelverin Posted February 21, 2009 Share Posted February 21, 2009 (edited) I can't believe you guys like Jason Statham. Not it! And how dare you. Kung Fu movies are amazing. Well at least the good ones like shaolin soccer and hero and even some stuff with Jackie Chan. Sorry not a fan, enjoy the few Bruce Lee films otherwise not interested. 70s and 80s hollywood action films are almost universally bad. Indiana Jones Trilogy Star Wars Trilogy Die Hard Aliens Assault On Precinct 13 Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia Death Wish Superman: The Movie The Warriors 48 HRS Mean Streets Jaws The Organization The French Connection Dirty Harry Black Sunday The Anderson Tapes Walking Tall Three Days of the Condor Shaft Laughing Policeman Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry The Driver Southern Comfort Hard Times Streets of Fire Westworld Vanishing Point Scorpio Rollerball Rocky Papillon Patton Man Who Would Be King Macon County Line Hindenburg The Getaway The Gauntlet The French Connection II First Great Train Robbery Batman Beverly Hills Cop Blade Runner Conan the Barbarian Dragonslayer Highlander Ladyhawke Lethal Weapon Lethal Weapon 2 No Way Out Predator First Blood Runaway Train Running Scared Sharky's Machine Terminator Terminator 2 To Live and Die in L.A. Walker Year of the Dragon I'll leave out all the quality war, westerns, and crime dramas that easily fall into the action genre to save you more embarrassment Edited February 21, 2009 by Kelverin J1 Visa Southern California Cleaning Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hurlshort Posted February 21, 2009 Share Posted February 21, 2009 I've found everything Jason Statham has done to be very watchable, and actually really enjoyed his lead roles in The Transporter and crank. I haven't tried watching the Dungeon Siege film though. I'm not sure how The Expendables will turn out though. Dolph Lundgren and Mickey Rourke? Those guys can completely ruin a movie. I know Rourke pulled off a huge role in the Wrestler, but I'm not sold on him suddenly becoming a great actor. Stallone has done better directing with the most recent iterations of Rambo and Rockey, but he's capable of releasing some serious bombs. Ben Kingsley has absolutely been trash for the last few years as well, Ghandi has fallen far. I'm actually hoping Statham is the lead. If Whitaker is the villain, it might turn out alright. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aram Posted February 21, 2009 Share Posted February 21, 2009 70s and 80s hollywood action films are almost universally bad. The eighties were a cesspit, sure, but a brief period that lasted through the late sixties to the mid-seventies produced some of the best films ever made. Sam Peckinpah basically created the ultraviolent gunfight sequence and movies like Bullitt and the Italian Job and the French Connection both defined the car chase sequence and set a standard for it that has never been equaled. The eighties were more or less ****, however. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aram Posted February 21, 2009 Share Posted February 21, 2009 There are a couple of exceptions to that rule, Hard Boiled, The killer, even Face Off, the latter has really cartoony action but somehow it's good anyway. He's done plenty of stinkers, but few directors know how to get an action scene to flow as well has him. As much as I like Hard Boiled, every time I see that really awesome one-long-take, perfectly choreographed hallway scene in the hospital, I have to think how much better it would be if someone had actually shown those two actors how to properly hold and fire a weapon, how to clear a room, how to hit a tactical reload. Instead I see no reason to actually believe their bullets would be hitting bad guys when the bad guys' bullets aren't hitting them except that they have top billing and the rest are extras. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monte Carlo Posted February 21, 2009 Author Share Posted February 21, 2009 Guys, you're missing the point. This is a celebration of a genre that ranges from the sublime all the way to the so-bad-it's-good. Ronin sits comfortably with Red Scorpion on this thread. Cheers MC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hell Kitty Posted February 21, 2009 Share Posted February 21, 2009 This stuff will make you a god damn sexual tyrannosaur. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meshugger Posted February 21, 2009 Share Posted February 21, 2009 Monte Carlo is on the right trail to awesomeness. And Mickey Rourke in the The Expendables?... Awesome, awesome, awesome. "Some men see things as they are and say why?""I dream things that never were and say why not?"- George Bernard Shaw"Hope in reality is the worst of all evils because it prolongs the torments of man."- Friedrich Nietzsche "The amount of energy necessary to refute bull**** is an order of magnitude bigger than to produce it." - Some guy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monte Carlo Posted February 21, 2009 Author Share Posted February 21, 2009 I know Rourke pulled off a huge role in the Wrestler, but I'm not sold on him suddenly becoming a great actor. Hurl, you must have seen Mickey in the awesome video for Enrique Inglesias' Hero? Where Mickey swats Julio like a fly? At that moment Mr. Rouke sealed the deal, honestly he will become a paragon of awesomeness in The Expendables where he plays a sinister arms dealer. Mickey was born to play a sinister arms dealer in an over-the-top homage to action movies populated by the steroid-addled heroes of yesteryear. This is so awesome I think that the premiere will result in the appearance of the Higgs Boson. It's that awesome. Even as I write I feel sheer hunger for this movie, and am planning the day I go to see it. Cheers MC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slowtrain Posted February 21, 2009 Share Posted February 21, 2009 FOr me, the action movies of the 80's, such as Raw Deal and Commando aren't nearly on the same level of entertainment as the action movies of the 50's, 60's, and early 70's, especially the war movies. Ther are great non-war action epics like The Killer Elite and Bullitt and The Magificent Seven and The Wild Bunch. To me all those all seem to have a certain flair and passion that the 80's could never muster. All the 80's could deliver was a body count. And that's not enough. Notice how I can belittle your beliefs without calling you names. It's a useful skill to have particularly where you aren't allowed to call people names. It's a mistake to get too drawn in/worked up. I mean it's not life or death, it's just two guys posting their thoughts on a message board. If it were personal or face to face all the usual restraints would be in place, and we would never have reached this place in the first place. Try to remember that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monte Carlo Posted February 21, 2009 Author Share Posted February 21, 2009 The Guns of Navarone was probably the first WW2 action movie. Given that it was made in the mid-60's the war was still recent enough to be treated reverently by movie makers, if we take away propaganda pieces made between 1939-45. Then, all of a sudden, Hollywood decided that WW2 was a perfectly acceptable vehicle for action movies (the mid-late 60's gave us The Dirty Dozen, The Great Escape, Battle of the Bulge, Where Eagles Dare, Tobruk, The Longest Day...). The 1970's gave us allegories (C'mon, Kelly's Heroes is clearly about Vietnam) and overblown (but enjoyable) epics like A Bridge Too Far. The thriller genre was a bit too tied up with the Cold War IMO, but still there are gems in there if you look hard enough (for example The Eiger Sanction with Clint Eastwood and the Dirty Harry movies). OTOH, the 1980's action movie can be enjoyed for what it is, i.e. pulp. Commando is a well-executed confection of cliche that is eminently watchable. Whilst Hollywood was agonizing over Vietnam, Arnie was making Red Heat and The Running Man! Keanu Reeves made Point Break and Speed (OK, early 90's) that are still great popcorn movies that trace their lineage to 80's pulp actioners. OK, there's more than enough dross to be getting on with, but in the same way Tarantino heavily references 70's pulp in his work, I'm hoping that Stallone will see the opportunity to do likewise. It's fashionable to mock the man, but there's clearly more to him than meets the eye. The last Rambo was actually very good from both a narrative and technical perspective. The man enjoys fine art and paints. He opened a bizarre series of burger restaurants with Arnie and Bruce. He married Brigette Nielsen. He's more than the sum of parts... go Sly, go!* Cheers MC *I can't forgive him the re-make of Get Carter, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slowtrain Posted February 21, 2009 Share Posted February 21, 2009 (edited) SLy is cool. And Nighthawks is a fab action movie. Other great action films are The Dogs of War and The Eagle has Landed. The 80's had its high points in action movies. The ones that come to mind are probably Die Hard, Beverly Hills Cop, and Lethal Weapon, although Lethal Weapon was horribly tainted by its string of increasingly inane serio-comic sequels. For me, movies like Cobra, Raw Deal, COmmando, Total Recall, The Running Man were cold and joyless experiences that completely stripped the fun out of the action movie genre. Others like Missing in Action were more fun, but ultimately too bland to be remembered fondly. I didn't realize anybody but me had even watched The Eiger Sanction. edit: also in the 80's: The Terminator and Aliens. Can't forget those Edited February 21, 2009 by CrashGirl Notice how I can belittle your beliefs without calling you names. It's a useful skill to have particularly where you aren't allowed to call people names. It's a mistake to get too drawn in/worked up. I mean it's not life or death, it's just two guys posting their thoughts on a message board. If it were personal or face to face all the usual restraints would be in place, and we would never have reached this place in the first place. Try to remember that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monte Carlo Posted February 21, 2009 Author Share Posted February 21, 2009 ^ I am obscure action movie geek. I'm not proud of it, but it is something I have to deal with. Can you name the early 1970's Dirty Dozen rip-off starring Michael Caine set in North Africa in WW2? As for The Eagle Has Landed - the first novel I ever read (aged 8 or 9) and I love it to bits. Have read it probably twenty times. The movie is OK and I'd love to see a remake. Cheers MC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelverin Posted February 21, 2009 Share Posted February 21, 2009 (edited) edit: also in the 80's: The Terminator and Aliens. Can't forget those I also forgot Robocop. Badass flick. The action films of the 90' or 00's have NOTHING on the 70's - 80's "Can you name the early 1970's Dirty Dozen rip-off starring Michael Caine set in North Africa in WW2?" Play Dirty (1969)? Edited February 21, 2009 by Kelverin J1 Visa Southern California Cleaning Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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