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Megaman's Jockstrap
Jul 16, 2000

What a horrible thread to have a post.
The Action Movie Discussion Thread

Hidden gems, latest finds, and choreography/editing/cinematography appreciation

Hi friends! Welcome to the CineD action movies thread.

I find discussions are best if we don't set too many rules but here's fun things that we can try to focus on:

Action Moviefights - who doesn't love these
Hidden Gems - and writeups why they are good
Choreography discussion/breakdowns
News and anything upcoming things in the genre you want us to know about

There's a lot of space to work with here. Action movies are hugely popular mainstream entertainment, but they also have a lot of DTV releases and other small films at the margins. Some of them are legit awesome movies that you should check out.

Having said that there's two other threads with a lot of overlap here and we should try to use them if relevant:

The Martial Arts Movie Thread
Comic Book Movie Thread

Surprisingly, there isn't a Westerns thread so you can probably discuss them cowpokes here, if you want. Lots of them are also action movies IMO.

I don't think anyone would mind cross-posts if you made some detailed point/discussion/review that could conceivably belong in this thread and in those threads.

So let's get going!

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Megaman's Jockstrap
Jul 16, 2000

What a horrible thread to have a post.
To start us off (and date us) here's a trailer for Triple Threat, an upcoming action movie featuring a bunch of big DTV and martial arts names.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVbvxh-_2Ts

The D in Detroit
Oct 13, 2012
Skin Trade isn't that great but drat if this scene isn't effective

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JfO_Qpvtbo

Basebf555
Feb 29, 2008

The greatest sensual pleasure there is is to know the desires of another!

Fun Shoe
Headshot

This movie was mentioned a few times in the streaming thread, but there wasn't anywhere else where it was going to naturally come up in conversation.

Do you like The Raid and it's sequel? Well, this is very much along the same lines and stars Iko Uwais loving up a whole bunch of people in his Silat style. The camera work isn't as good, the director here has more of a kinetic style than Evans, which I guess is a nice way of saying he likes shakey cam. But don't let that put you off, it's only distracting in a small percentage of the scenes.

Best part is that this movie is available on Netflix!

Also, don't sleep on The Accountant. Yea it's Ben Affleck starring in a movie and he does play an accountant, but this is actually a pretty legit action flick. John Bernthal co-stars and he's awesome as usual.

Megaman's Jockstrap
Jul 16, 2000

What a horrible thread to have a post.
I didn't like Headshot, and right when it got to the scene with the bus I turned it off. It simply took it's "these are real bad guys doing real bad stuff" shtick into pointless nihilism way too quickly. No thanks.

Basebf555
Feb 29, 2008

The greatest sensual pleasure there is is to know the desires of another!

Fun Shoe

Megaman's Jockstrap posted:

I didn't like Headshot, and right when it got to the scene with the bus I turned it off. It simply took it's "these are real bad guys doing real bad stuff" shtick into pointless nihilism way too quickly. No thanks.

I can understand that, but at the same time you turned it off before any of the real action scenes got going. The reckoning as it were.

Megaman's Jockstrap
Jul 16, 2000

What a horrible thread to have a post.

Basebf555 posted:

I can understand that, but at the same time you turned it off before any of the real action scenes got going. The reckoning as it were.

Is that the last of that sort of pointless slaughter scene? If so, I'll get back to it.

Tenzarin
Jul 24, 2007
.
Taco Defender
Hardcore Henry was a pretty good action movie. Not alot of talking, some singing, and alot of action. My favorite scene is the highway scene.

Basebf555
Feb 29, 2008

The greatest sensual pleasure there is is to know the desires of another!

Fun Shoe

Megaman's Jockstrap posted:

Is that the last of that sort of pointless slaughter scene? If so, I'll get back to it.

I mean, the movie itself is very graphically violent, but yea as far as random innocent people getting slaughtered that's really it. That's the scene where Uwais kinda snaps and decides that he's gonna mess these people up real good, so I guess that's why they made it so horrific.

Chemtrailologist
Jul 8, 2007
What did everyone think of Hardcore Henry? I loved it, but it seems like it's a pretty divisive movie. I'd put it up there with Mad Max 4, The Raids, John Wicks and Dredd as best action movies of the past few years.

edit: well that's one answer

The D in Detroit
Oct 13, 2012
Hardcore Henry is the closest thing to Crank 3. I love that the dance number is just taken from Gamer.

Martman
Nov 20, 2006

Ego-bot posted:

What did everyone think of Hardcore Henry? I loved it, but it seems like it's a pretty divisive movie. I'd put it up there with Mad Max 4, The Raids, John Wicks and Dredd as best action movies of the past few years.

edit: well that's one answer
I think it's a movie that's very easy for people to dismiss as juvenile, but it seriously has a lot of awesome stuff going on. And Sharlto is wonderful.

Wandle Cax
Dec 15, 2006

Megaman's Jockstrap posted:

To start us off (and date us) here's a trailer for Triple Threat, an upcoming action movie featuring a bunch of big DTV and martial arts names.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVbvxh-_2Ts

Is this the best action ensemble cast ever assembled? It seems that way

Megaman's Jockstrap
Jul 16, 2000

What a horrible thread to have a post.

Wandle Cax posted:

Is this the best action ensemble cast ever assembled? It seems that way

Martial Arts wise, yes. I think Expendables probably had "bigger" names if you're an 80s guy, but they were largely wasted.

A reminder that Undisputed 4 is coming to Blu-Ray on August 1st. If you haven't seen the Undisputed movies they are the kings of the DTV fight movies and incredibly good. Watch Undisputed 2 and 3!

FancyMike
May 7, 2007

Yes Madam

Saw this recently and I wouldn't call it 'good' in a traditional sense, but it's absolutely nuts and 80s and Hong Kong and is a ton of fun. Michelle Yeoh and Cynthia Rothrock as badass cops and there's a bunch of great fights.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4IAe3VmUpk

I've been watching quite a bit of Johnnie To lately as well and while not straight up action, Drug War, Exiled, and Three(this one's on Netflix), are all good cop/crime movies that contain some top notch action. Three is the weakest of those but worth it imo just for the climactic slow motion hospital shootout.

Wandle Cax
Dec 15, 2006
The Mission is another excellent Johnnie To, it's understated but effective and the action is purposeful and exciting.

Tart Kitty
Dec 17, 2016

Oh, well, that's all water under the bridge, as I always say. Water under the bridge!

Cobra

Where to start? It's a 1986 Stallone vehicle "adapted" from a book about a detective named Marion Cobretti, who is part of the "Zombie Squad," drives a turbo-charged Mercury Monterey with the license plate "AWSOME 50," and is tasked with protecting a model played by Brigitte Nielsen from a cult of axe murderers called the New Order. You know how sometimes there is a fake, over-the-top action movie playing on a tv screen in the background as a gag in other movies? Cobra is that movie, but for real. And it's great.

Trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoGoSu4NEyo

Pizza Etiquette:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SxN_U2H0Xc

Obligatory Robot Model Fashion Shoot:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0luO0VYh5o

Watch Cobra.

Cythereal
Nov 8, 2009

I love the potoo,
and the potoo loves you.

Wandle Cax posted:

Is this the best action ensemble cast ever assembled? It seems that way

Still going to be hard to top Predator. That movie is everything that is so gloriously right with 80s Hollywood.

Wandle Cax
Dec 15, 2006

Fart City posted:

Cobra

Obligatory Robot Model Fashion Shoot:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0luO0VYh5o

Watch Cobra.

Cobra is well worth a watch for 80s action fans indeed. It's got all the staples. And I have to say there is no doubt in my mind that robot photo shoot montage is absolutely the most 1980s sequence ever put to film.

Small Strange Bird
Sep 22, 2006

Merci, chaton!
Best moment in Cobra is when the Night Slasher grabs a standing woman by the throat while he's hiding under a bed. Or the police firing range being separated from the squad room by a glass partition. Or Stallone using shears to cut his pizza.

got any sevens
Feb 9, 2013

by Cyrano4747
Atomic Blonde was pretty drat cool, mustve been tough to do some of the fights around a moving cameraman. Some really good shots

mobby_6kl
Aug 9, 2009



Lionheart isn't one of Van Damme's best movies, but it's not bad either. After the opening scene you'd think the plot would be the thinnest possible to get a revenge story going, but it's not even that - at least half of the movie he spends just getting to his brother's widow and in the meantime is convinced to drop his idea. However that's more than enough to set up opportunities for JCVD to kick and punch a lot of people in the face (and balls), mostly in a series of illegal street fights. Definitely recommended if you're looking for a straightforward fight movie.

GoodyTwoShoes
Oct 26, 2013

SleepCousinDeath posted:

Skin Trade isn't that great but drat if this scene isn't effective

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JfO_Qpvtbo

You are wrong; Skin Trade is an awesome movie. Dolph Lundgren has almost learned to act! Starring He-Man, Robocop, Spawn, Hellboy, and . . .Tony.


Content: The Dead Lands (2014) is pretty cool. Does it belong here or the martial arts thread? Here's the trailer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKy7Q50tJ84

mobby_6kl
Aug 9, 2009

Ego-bot posted:

What did everyone think of Hardcore Henry? I loved it, but it seems like it's a pretty divisive movie. I'd put it up there with Mad Max 4, The Raids, John Wicks and Dredd as best action movies of the past few years.

edit: well that's one answer
Sadly it didn't quite work for me. There's definitely a lot of cool stuff but overall I thought the FPV gimmick made it worse, not better. Half of the time you don't even see what the gently caress is going on, either due to the enormous motion blur or by the Henry's vision being (partially) obscured by something or just being in a bad position.

It tried very hard to be Crank 3DFPV what with the premise, nonstop action and ridiculous villains but somehow was more incomprehensible and took itself too seriously. Chev provided a lot of character to the movies too, and here not only is the protagonist basically Gordon Freeman, there's hardly anyone else to care about too. There was this weird English guy but that's about it.

Wilhelm Scream
Apr 1, 2008

No action thread should go without a Walter Hill mention and if any of you haven't seen Extreme Prejudice, do so because it's basically testosterone on film.

Tart Kitty
Dec 17, 2016

Oh, well, that's all water under the bridge, as I always say. Water under the bridge!

Wilhelm Scream posted:

No action thread should go without a Walter Hill mention and if any of you haven't seen Extreme Prejudice, do so because it's basically testosterone on film.

The Warriors is a consummate late 70's/early 80's action film. The fight choreography often gets overlooked, but it's surprisingly visceral for a film of its era:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgMvQiHuvqs

Big Bad Voodoo Lou
Jan 1, 2006
Streets of Fire is another great Walter Hill movie, and surprisingly obscure. Willem Dafoe as a great psychopath, Rick Moranis as a decent sidekick for the hero, Diane Lane at her most gorgeous, musical numbers (including two incredible Jim Steinman songs at the beginning and end), and a sledgehammer fight.

PostNouveau
Sep 3, 2011

VY till I die
Grimey Drawer

got any sevens posted:

Atomic Blonde was pretty drat cool, mustve been tough to do some of the fights around a moving cameraman. Some really good shots

Yeah it's real good. Got some great scenes.

The plot makes no loving sense. I don't mean it's convoluted. I've seen a lot of reviews calling it convoluted, and it is not. It's actually simpler than most spy movies; it just doesn't make any loving sense.

got any sevens
Feb 9, 2013

by Cyrano4747
Plot is overrated anyway

evobatman
Jul 30, 2006

it means nothing, but says everything!
Pillbug

Big Bad Voodoo Lou posted:

Streets of Fire is another great Walter Hill movie, and surprisingly obscure. Willem Dafoe as a great psychopath, Rick Moranis as a decent sidekick for the hero, Diane Lane at her most gorgeous, musical numbers (including two incredible Jim Steinman songs at the beginning and end), and a sledgehammer fight.

It's weird how this movie isn't better known than it is. I like it a lot, and Nowhere Fast is always in rotation in my MP3s.

Snowman_McK
Jan 31, 2010

GoodyTwoShoes posted:

You are wrong; Skin Trade is an awesome movie. Dolph Lundgren has almost learned to act! Starring He-Man, Robocop, Spawn, Hellboy, and . . .Tony.


Content: The Dead Lands (2014) is pretty cool. Does it belong here or the martial arts thread? Here's the trailer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKy7Q50tJ84

The Dead Lands was very cool. It's rare to see something that feels so much like it's own thing in a new style.

Megaman's Jockstrap posted:

Martial Arts wise, yes. I think Expendables probably had "bigger" names if you're an 80s guy, but they were largely wasted.

A reminder that Undisputed 4 is coming to Blu-Ray on August 1st. If you haven't seen the Undisputed movies they are the kings of the DTV fight movies and incredibly good. Watch Undisputed 2 and 3!

Seconding this. Undisputed 4 is pretty bonkers even by the standards of the series. Scott Adkins has been reliably knocking out good ('good') action movies for a few years now. Ninja 2 is probably the stand out here.

Firstborn
Oct 14, 2012

i'm the heckin best
yeah
yeah
yeah
frig all the rest
Action movies are my favorite movies. I remember watching action movies with my father since I was very little. He died when I was a teenager, and his favorite movies sort of became my favorite movies. As I get older, I learn to appreciate different ones depending on what my life is like at the time. I notice the older I get, the more interested in Clint Eastwood (mostly westerns)I am, when as a child I just had no interest in.
Weirdly sentimental about action movies.

Edited

mobby_6kl
Aug 9, 2009

Did the movies prepare you for the long and bloody journey of revenge?

FancyMike
May 7, 2007

Megaman's Jockstrap posted:

To start us off (and date us) here's a trailer for Triple Threat, an upcoming action movie featuring a bunch of big DTV and martial arts names.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVbvxh-_2Ts

If you want some Tony Jaa right now Kill Zone 2 (SPL 2: A Time for Consequences) is available on Netflix. Don't worry about the title there's no plot continuity from the first SPL/Kill Zone so you don't need to seek it out (but you totally should because it's got Donnie Yen vs Sammo Hung). The action is really good and Jaa has a bunch of lines and it turns out he can act.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CCFEDPMLmA

It also looks like there's a third SPL film coming soon, hopefully it'll get some sort of theatrical release here. Tony Jaa is back and it's directed by Wilson Yip, who did the first
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9B-JQJGDX8Y

Megaman's Jockstrap
Jul 16, 2000

What a horrible thread to have a post.
Killzone 2 is, no bullshit, my favorite action movie of the last few years. Yes, this means it beats John Wick and John Wick 2. It really is a return to the pitch-perfect melodrama and beautiful fighting of HK's heyday.

FancyMike
May 7, 2007

Speaking of the HK heyday I forgot to mention how the first Kill Zone (SPL) is basically a classic heroic bloodshed movie, but with an emphasis on family. Those movies have traditionally ignored or discarded the heroes' families, but in SPL they're foregrounded in a big way for that sort of film. The bulk of it takes place on Father's Day and a lot of time is spent showing how this style of hero makes a lovely dad. Also the fights are good, Donnie Yen is good, and Sammo Hung is still the best

Megaman's Jockstrap
Jul 16, 2000

What a horrible thread to have a post.
SPL is my favorite HK movie of the 00s. It would probably be higher on my overall list but it's insanely nihilistic. It works so hard to earn it (and continually messes with expectations) so I'll give it a pass. The fact that Killzone 2 pretty much lives up to it was incredible IMO.

Megaman's Jockstrap fucked around with this message at 18:42 on Aug 8, 2017

Neo Rasa
Mar 8, 2007
Everyone should play DUKE games.

:dukedog:

Fart City posted:

Cobra

Where to start? It's a 1986 Stallone vehicle "adapted" from a book about a detective named Marion Cobretti, who is part of the "Zombie Squad," drives a turbo-charged Mercury Monterey with the license plate "AWSOME 50," and is tasked with protecting a model played by Brigitte Nielsen from a cult of axe murderers called the New Order. You know how sometimes there is a fake, over-the-top action movie playing on a tv screen in the background as a gag in other movies? Cobra is that movie, but for real. And it's great.

Fun trivia, The Cindy Crawford / Baldwin movie Fair Game and Cobra are both adapted from the same book.

There's also a four film long Italian ripoff series of Cobra starring Fred Williamson called.........................BLACK COBRA!

The first one is basically a remake of Cobra, but the second and third ones have him going to Manila for more adventures. Incredibly, despite coming out just a year or two later, Black Cobra 3: The Manila Connection, is set ***TWENTY-FIVE YEARS*** after Black Cobra 2 and has Williamson partnering up with previous partner's now grown up son. But it doesn't take place in the future and Fred Williamson still works in the same office with the same chief and has the same incredible conversations almost as if they hit the trifecta of filming the movie back to back with his Delta Force Commando series and they couldn't get Nicholas Hammond back to play his partner but they needed to film as much in Manila again as possible, weird.

Please view the scene at 9m30s here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_aphEVpBXk

Also Fred Williamson was already old when these were made so you can see everyone basically moving in slow motion so that he can catch/attack/etc. them.

Black Cobra 2 might have my favorite title card+music+shot ever because it is so awesome. There's a slow build up with a super loud cowbell, the camera pulls up behind a car. Then someone holds their cigar out the window of the car and a rocking guitar riff pops up along with the "BLACK COBRA 1" title lined up under the arm and the camera turns to the car window to get Fred Williamson in profile. It just, like, it should be "so bad it's good" but it's just straight up great and the entire movie puts a huge smile on my face. The movie ends on a freeze frame of Williamson and his new partner who now get along as a sappy love song plays. It's THE BEST.

The first Black Cobra has a five minute scene of Fred Williamson feeding/hanging out with his cat. And the movie also 1ups Cobra itself for non-chalantness of its protagonist. He just rolls into a place with hostages and just walks up and the head bad guy lists some demands and Fred Williamson just goes "NO WAY. PAL." and blows everyone away, then lights up a cigar and starts strolling out before they've even stopped moving. :laffo: It doesn't have Cobra's budget but it's honestly a pretty good remake of it in that respect.

Those first three movies are cheesy and awesome fun.

The fourth one is called Detective Malone and, it is, incredibly, and entire full length film made with outtakes and pickups and test footage from the original movie along with maybe ten minutes of new footage of some other characters to try to tie it into a coherent story. It's total poo poo so don't bother. I think like half of the movie is basically static shots of Fred Williamson standing against a wall while someone talks to him.

Speaking of Cobra, last thing, the original movie is TWO HOURS AND TEN MINUTES LONG and not 84 minutes. But it was cut to 84 minutes both so they could get additional screenings in because they were competing with Top Gun and to prevent an X rating. An uncut version of it was never released but the footage isn't lost as there are bootlegs of it around.

Neo Rasa fucked around with this message at 20:25 on Aug 8, 2017

Firstborn
Oct 14, 2012

i'm the heckin best
yeah
yeah
yeah
frig all the rest
Cobretti taking the pizza out of the freezer and cutting it with scissors will remain with me forever.

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McSpanky
Jan 16, 2005






Firstborn posted:

Cobretti taking the pizza out of the freezer and cutting it with scissors will remain with me forever.

It's legendary, along with him grabbing warm beer in the convenience store in the middle of a shootout.

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