The old movie thread: ratings and discussion' or some shiz

102 Minutes That Changed America.

Judas H Priest - this was harrowing viewing. I'd not previously seen most of the footage of the twin towers attacks. This really brought it home on a personal level. Everyone should watch this documentary.

 

Expendables 3/10

Against advice I went to see this. Ok, the movie is not supposed to have any point in it, the plot is supposed to have huge holes and the characters are supposed to be flat and do things without any reason. All that is cool.

What is not cool is that the movie has plenty of one-liners, and two of them were nearly amusing. The dialogue overall is not witty at all. And what's worst is that the action scenes are no longer what they were in 80s. This is like the last Rambo, the fighting sequences are shot so that you can't tell what is happening and whose hand is in the air. Using a rocking free camera and turning sound effects to maximum volume just does not make up for it.

If I go to see an action movie, I want to see people get beat and shot., not close-ups of fists or wounds

 

Wrong: it is one of the best of its genre.

 

Machete This was a fun movie. Unlike "The Expendables" that all that talent was wasted, here Robert Rodriguez makes the most of each one of his actors and puts together a mindless gory ultraviolent rollercoaster ride camp film. The film cannot be taken seriously at all and it borders in high camp territory, but like "From Dusk Til Dawn" it delivers the goods and you maintain a big grin in your face. Danny Trejo proves no one is too old nor it is too late in an actor's career to play a killing lead character. Steven Segal had a more juicy role here than he ever had if he had accepted Stallone's offer to be in his film. Robert deNiro is a riot as the crook politician. Jessica Alba finally plays a latina, but here she is less sexy than Michelle Rodriguez who looks damn hot in every frame. Don Johnson plays an evil evil cop, his best role in decades. Jeff Fahey has a bigger role than he got credit for. And Lindsay Lohan gets naked and displays her epic boobs in her role as the slutty daughter of Fahey. And Machete fucks her and her mom too! I demand a sequel!!! 8/10

 

Ip Man (2008)- A semi-biographical account of Yip Man, the first martial arts master to teach the Chinese martial art of Wing Chun.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1220719


I watched it this past weekend. It was very enjoyable IMO. Just keep in mind that is VERY LOOSELY based on a true story.

 

OCEANS

SCORE - 9.5/10

GENRE - DOCUMENTARY

PREMISE - A beautifully filmed documentary about many of the sea creatures inhabiting the planets oceans.

CRITIQUE - Thoroughly enjoyed this film. The shots were beautiful and it captured some of the rarest animal actions and interactions from the ocean I've ever seen. Things like a blue whale rising out of the water opening his mouth, or sword fish attacking a school of fish. My only complaint was I felt they covered so many different animals that you felt short changed on how much they showed of the more interesting ones.

NOTE: Saw this on a plane. It was interesting enough that I quickly yanked my ipod out of my ears and started paying attention to it.


THE EXPENDABLES

SCORE - 6/10

GENRE - ACTION

PREMISE - A special forces group is hired to investigate a foreign army disturbance on a small island. They kick some serious ass and also deal with a little internal conflict.

CRITIQUE - I'm not a big fan of these types of films anymore but I found this one pretty good. The dialogue was pretty basic and nothing special, but the action sequences were outstanding, particularly the airplane sequence and the inside fight where everyone was doing unarmed combat all at once. Bonus points for Statham as the awesome knife guy and Crews for anytime he used that auto shotgun. The big names were overkill as most of them were only used in the last 30 minutes or so of the film. Also getting Ahnold, Stallone, and Willis in the same scene was about as fullfilling as having DeNiro and Pacino in a movie together. Overall not a bad action movie but definitely didn't meet the high expectations that came out during production.


THE OTHER GUYS

SCORE - 6/10

GENRE - COMEDY

PREMISE - Ferrell & Wahlberg are 2 cops who try to fill the shoes of the 2 local supercops (Sam Jackson & The Rock) who've kind of fallen out of the top spot (pun intended). Having never done any real leg work together the two try to get some chemistry going while also trying to crack a major case.

CRITIQUE - I'm not a big fan of Ferrell's style of comedy which I find repetative and childish. What's worse is when Wahlberg comes in to the picture lacking zero comedic ability not to mention a very wooden acting performance. To top it all off it seems like Wahlberg and Ferrell decided at the last minute to switch roles, because Wahlberg's attempts at humor appear to be nothing more than acting like Will Ferrell and yelling out bad jokes at the top of his lungs. I do think Ferrell fans will enjoy this movie (because when have they not enjoyed his movies?)but for me I'm certain I would have liked the movie a hell of a lot more had Jackson and The Rock been the actual stars of the movie. Still there were a few funny spots, but IMO Wahlberg couldn't have been more miscast here.

 

Actually she never does. The time in the pool that's a double. Lohan is ugly anyway so no big loss. Alba and Rodriguez on the other hand yummmm !!

 

wrong.

 

Prove it.

 

I agree, score one for Panchy and :shit: for Gatti.

 

Public Enemies > The Untouchables

 

ointlaughublic Enemies? LOL:giggle::laugh11:

 

no offense pancy, but you have incredibly bad taste in movies. okay, maybe PE ove Untouchable is over the top, but it doesen't take away from the fact that The Untouchables was not that great of a movie.

When you say it's one of the best of it's genre, do you mean best in the 'gangster' genre? Or in the 'cop movie' genre?

Either way, it's nowhere close to being among the best.

 

I'll say this and then we need to drop this Untouchables argument.

It's unfair to diss Untouchables now. At the time it was one of the best gangster flicks out. It doesn't hold up as well to today's standards but at the time it was definitely one of the best out there and it's still a very good movie.

 

Commando - 7 Out of 10

Pure 80's action. I recently purchased the Definitive Edition.

For my fellow Region 4 fightbeaters: You like me may have been annoyed in the past by the fact that 80's Arnold films here all seem to be the UK editions where they cut the shit out of all the gore scenes. I can happily report that Disc 2 on this edition is completely uncut and infact extended in many scenes including the infamous tool shed scene. The scenes also serve to flesh out Arnold's character a little more and I found them to be a welcome addition.

They skirt the line of having a child actor very well by having her doing very little aside from being scared and saying a few lines. The main villain is unlikely but he does play a nutcase quite well. Rae Dawn Chong does well with the material she's given. Arnold is just starting to hit his prime here. He finally gets to deliver lines above grunts and has more than one facet to his character.

This film is great. It's very 80's action and it's one of the best of it's kind. It never takes itself seriously. You can tell all of the cast had a blast making this one. Explosions, guns, death, an array of hilarious one liners (an 80's staple that is sadly missing from todays cinema) and a big pair of boobs in the hotel scene. Gotta love it.

For your enjoyment: The Commando Gear Up Montage
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<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/sMWLV5Ad0vs?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="385" width="480"></object>

 

I agree with Costner. That's not to say he put forth a bad performance it's just that DeNiro and Connery owned that film. Garcia? He was good but you have a man crush on him and I think that's telling here.

 

Mobsters - 6 out of 10

Picked this up for $7 at the same time as I bought Commando and it is well worth that price. This tells the story of the beginning of the 'Commission' brought about by Lucky Luciano and Meyer Lansky.

Don't balk at the casting choices here. Everyone actually does quite well with their characters. Slater was nowhere near as painful as I remembered him being and Dempsey is good also. Greico mugs his way through the film but seeing as he's not overly important to this film, it was acceptable.

Actually, I'm a bit surprised that this particular time in the 'Mafia' era hasn't been the subject of a grittier production. There's a lot to work with in this period. I know that films like The Godfather and Once upon a time in America take portions from this and weave it into their stories but I feel this could be expanded on with the right type of direction.

This is definitely worth a look. Don't expect Casino or Goodfellas but don't expect Mickey Blue Eyes either.

 

mickey blue eyes was the shit.

 

hey Godfather which movie was it where Andy Garcia played a mafioso type and after beating up some schmuck who offended him he yells "I gotta be the bad guy! Can't enjoy the opera, I gotta do this, I gotta be the bad guy!!!" or something like that???

 

He was great for that role. If they do a Lucky Luciano movie he should play him.

 

Please. You know you do.

I agree with you to an extent. I thought he was good in Internal Affairs and Black Rain. Hoodlum too.

 

I just watched Hot Tub Time Machine and the movie fucking rocks. The ending totally makes it. I highly recommend it for someone who just wants some dumb laughs, a dumb but funny story, and 80s nostalgia.

 

"Internal Affairs" was a bad-ass under-rated movie. Career best performances from both Garcia and Richard Gere.

Right up there with "Q&A" in the bad-cop genre.