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Broken Arrow (1996) was much better than I was expecting it to be. John Travolta plays crazy so well.
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Oct 27, 2020 10:12
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Broken Arrow was huge for the time and cemented Travolta's return and Woo's bonafides. Then Face/Off came out and it was so good that everyone kinda forgot about Broken Arrow.
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Oct 27, 2020 18:25
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I remember Broken Arrow being conceptually silly but really well done. Is that the one where, right at the beginning, the bad guys just straight murder an old couple camping in a national park?
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Oct 27, 2020 18:35
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Megaman's Jockstrap posted:Broken Arrow was huge for the time and cemented Travolta's return and Woo's bonafides. It's crazy when you look at it, just how much of a bankable name Travolta became in those years after Pulp Fiction. I mean even before Broken Arrow, he had a string of hits like Get Shorty, Michael, and Phenomenon, then after a bit of a weak year in 1998 he came back in 1999 and had another hit with The General's Daughter. All of these movies made over 100 million. He actually hung on longer than you might think after Battlefield Earth too, I mean four years later he's in Ladder 49 which also made over 100 million. The guy just made a whole bunch of successful movies during those years that turned out to be pretty forgettable but at the time I guess people liked him and would go to the theater just for him.
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Oct 27, 2020 18:57
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Halloween Jack posted:I remember Broken Arrow being conceptually silly but really well done. Is that the one where, right at the beginning, the bad guys just straight murder an old couple camping in a national park? I wish there was a supercut of all the bystanders, security guards and lab technicians killed in the first half of action movies. I bet it would be really loving long Also, Broken Arrow is loving great. It strikes the best balance Woo ever struck between making his character a double pistol wielding superman and an actual person making decisions and doing things. Also, it has Delroy Lindo who, like Pete Postlethwaite, was a british actor who was just in loving everything in hollywood for a while.
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Oct 28, 2020 01:36
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Fun bit of trivia in the new Scott Adkins interview with Gary daniels: Jackie Chan Hong Kong movies were shot without a script, because if there was a script someone would steal it and make their own version before Jackie's movie could come out.
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Oct 29, 2020 22:11
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Shageletic posted:I watched Toxic Avenger for the first time at an outdoor theater. Toxic Avenger, Terror Firmer, and Toxie IV: Citizen Toxie form a very nice trilogy that kinda pays homage to the timeline of Troma itself.
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Oct 29, 2020 22:54
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dokmo posted:Fun bit of trivia in the new Scott Adkins interview with Gary daniels: Jackie Chan Hong Kong movies were shot without a script, because if there was a script someone would steal it and make their own version before Jackie's movie could come out. On the same lines, that's why 'Police Story' is called that. Every time one of his films had a more descriptive title, there'd be five ripoffs out before they finished shooting. Whereas Police Story is pretty opaque as a title.
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Oct 30, 2020 01:00
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dokmo posted:I didn't notice that! Here is the short, it's pretty slick filmmaking. Pro-click.
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Oct 30, 2020 03:30
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I'm 3 minutes into nemesis and hollering in amazement this rules
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Oct 31, 2020 04:57
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mastershakeman posted:I'm 3 minutes into nemesis and hollering in amazement this rules yep.
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Oct 31, 2020 05:09
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Snowman_McK posted:yep. I lost my mind when I thought two mannequins had arrived on the set but were some about to deliver dialogue and just posing in insane outfits
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Oct 31, 2020 05:17
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Jackie Chan making a grab for the Fast & Furious genre: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsOCnqigA7g It looks very bland and generic but I was happy to see a ridiculous Dahir Inshaat quadcopter death machine in not-real life. For those who don't know, it's some mad Russian in Turkey who makes CGI about crazy contraptions. From trucks turning into quadcopter gunships, massive VTOL planes and earthquake proof beds. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTGxgkxmyx8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8I7O4JJ1ko
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Oct 31, 2020 08:39
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You can't not post those without goon commentary. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnbl9CZ9tOI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXTSx0RvwEM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oWk9gYSfME
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Oct 31, 2020 08:42
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Olympic Mathlete posted:Yeah for some reason Edge got absolutely panned but I was intrigued by the concept so sat down and thoroughly enjoyed it. The scene where Tom is learning the sequence and just dying so often it actually becomes comedy was just a really cool little bit of light entertainment until you see it start to actually affect him and you start to feel bad for him. Kinda goes a bit squiffy at the end but everything else leading up to that was genuinely solid. I'll definitely defend that one. I believe that Edge of Tomorrow was generally praised universally. I thought it was great. I know the title was bashed....but not the actual movie. ???
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Oct 31, 2020 15:14
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mastershakeman posted:I'm 3 minutes into nemesis and hollering in amazement this rules Nemesis loving rules. Super fun movie that tosses in some really funny scenes just for the hell of it. As others have said.....Split Second also rules.
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Oct 31, 2020 15:19
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Now that I'm getting into these 90s movies I never saw growing up, I have to ask , does anyone know of an explainer or want to explain just how the dtv market worked ? My rough understanding of the studio/theater system pre vcr is pretty simple , but I don't get at all how all these ridiculous 80s movies and later made any money at all. How were they able to convince rental stores to carry their movies on the scale needed to cover the cost of shooting?
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Oct 31, 2020 16:42
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From what I remember at least part of it is that VHS’s were pretty expensive back in the day, it was easier to fill your shelves with lower-priced ones
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Oct 31, 2020 16:44
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RestingB1tchFace posted:I believe that Edge of Tomorrow was generally praised universally. I thought it was great. I know the title was bashed....but not the actual movie. Maybe they confused Edge's reception with Oblivion's. That one came out a year earlier, and while it's not really an action movie, it's pretty good. Not as fun as Edge tho.
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Oct 31, 2020 17:21
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Grendels Dad posted:Maybe they confused Edge's reception with Oblivion's. That one came out a year earlier, and while it's not really an action movie, it's pretty good. Not as fun as Edge tho. Probably. EoT was nominated for all sorts of awards.....and has like a 90% on rotten tomatoes (not that it's proof that the movie is good). Elysium came out in 2013 as well. I can't remember critics being overly positive about that one either.
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Oct 31, 2020 18:46
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I loved Elysium and will never understand why it got panned. It's a simplistic story, sure, but it's so drat entertaining and done quite well. Edge of Tomorrow is one of the few movies I own on physical media, I enjoyed it so much. It's almost a send up of Tom Cruise himself where it opens with his toothy grin and then you get to see him just broken down over and over. One of those movies that makes me sad the female lead (Emily Blunt) never went for more roles like that. I even bought the book when it saw it cheap. If the movie was closer to that it would have been a hard R or worse.
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Oct 31, 2020 18:55
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jojoinnit posted:I loved Elysium and will never understand why it got panned. It's a simplistic story, sure, but it's so drat entertaining and done quite well. Edge of Tomorrow is one of the few movies I own on physical media, I enjoyed it so much. It's almost a send up of Tom Cruise himself where it opens with his toothy grin and then you get to see him just broken down over and over. One of those movies that makes me sad the female lead (Emily Blunt) never went for more roles like that. Did Elysium actually get panned? I mean....it wasn't as acclaimed as Edge of Tomorrow. I'll have to check out the book.
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Oct 31, 2020 18:58
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RestingB1tchFace posted:Did Elysium actually get panned? I mean....it wasn't as acclaimed as Edge of Tomorrow. I'll have to check out the book. Maybe not panned but I remember it disappeared very quickly and is never really mentioned. I think it was the kind of movie that made money but was so expensive it didn't officially turn a profit. E: the wiki page quotes the directors thoughts on it as quote:
I dunno, I thought Damon did a great job, I enjoyed the supporting cast and I thought the action was well done. It wasn't deep but it didn't need to be.
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Oct 31, 2020 19:09
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More reviews, though I'm leaving out some additional movies that were tagged "action" by someone that has never and will never watch an action movie. (Dark Forces 1/5, The Owners 2/5, #Alive 3/5) The Doorman (2020) - 2/5 A Die Hard in an ancient New York apartment building that's being renovated. The movie has over 20 credited producers and 5 story/screenplay credits, and they've created an unsalvageable monster of a script that sucks so bad. It's hard to judge performances because the plot is so bad, but I was rather underwhelmed by Ruby Rose. Jean Reno was fairly good. Ryuhei Kitamura is stuck working in these conditions and he still manages to thrive in all of the moments where the script would have said "they fight." The action is somewhat over-edited but Kitamura proves that he still has a lot of good ideas for shooting interesting fights. The movie's worth it for that but you can absolutely skip around if you feel like the rest is getting boring, you are not missing anything. Crazy Samurai Musashi (2020) - 1/5 The gist of it is that Crazy Samurai Musashi is a fancam video of somebody's LARP and not a legitimate movie meant to entertain. It's a tech demo designed to have an impressive tagline to put on a poster. There's a reason that heroes don't spend over an hour of a movie fighting fodder, and that there is more than one character. None of the action in the single-take has any impact, the sound editing stinks, and the added CGI blood (while nothing is on his sword obviously) looks awful. I ended up having to watch this in 5-10 minute increments because it was exhausting how mind-numbing the endless horde battle was. None of the few diversions meant to give Tak a break were that entertaining, and there was certainly nothing memorable in his onslaught combat. For bonus infuriating frustration, the final sequence of the movie was a traditionally edited fight scene and it was excellent. Shimomura could have just made a great normal movie! Time to Hunt (2020) - 1.5/5, Netflix If this were a 90-minute movie with the premise "four guys get hunted by a madman" you might have something here. But what is presented is a bloated 135-minute monstrosity that tacks on a dystopian setting and a heist, neither of which end up being relevant to the final product. Maybe there's some element of cultural understanding I'm missing, but it legitimately appears to me that the "near future dystopia" is entirely in place to make the world of the film look seem more like modern America than South Korea and to create an explanation for why the characters have easy access to guns and there are so many abandoned streets and buildings for them to get chased through. This is a crime thriller. There's very little action until the last 15 minutes, and most of the gun scenes are about tension. Superman: Man of Tomorrow (2020) - 1.5/5 ANOTHER "early career Superman" story. The "twist" with this one is that you get to see Superman's nude rear end and Lobo says "poo poo." Definitely reason enough for them to turn the lame script into this uninspired feature. It's a shame, because the art and animation look very nice and there are even a few decent superhero action scenes. Rogue City (Bronx) (2020) - 1/5, Netflix The only way this movie may have approached watchability was if it came with a diagram explaining who all the people were and forced you to pause at different points to review it. The movie has like 20 characters and they are all constantly double-crossing each other and you are never given a shred of a reason to care about a single one of them. Very little action, and all the gun stuff is done with digital effects that look horrible.
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Oct 31, 2020 19:12
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jojoinnit posted:Maybe not panned but I remember it disappeared very quickly and is never really mentioned. I think it was the kind of movie that made money but was so expensive it didn't officially turn a profit. That makes sense. It does seem like a movie that kind of vanished after being released. I mean....I haven't seen it (basically anywhere).
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Oct 31, 2020 19:17
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jojoinnit posted:Maybe not panned but I remember it disappeared very quickly and is never really mentioned. I think it was the kind of movie that made money but was so expensive it didn't officially turn a profit. I agree with him.
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Oct 31, 2020 19:45
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Tezcatlipoca posted:I agree with him. One thing that I kept thinking about while watching it, was that this movie is made by, produced, distributed by people and starring a dude who would all probably be on that ring
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Oct 31, 2020 22:36
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Boco_T posted:
wow. just have to cut in because I just finished watching this and thought it was the best movie of the year... and was about to come in praising it. Yes it's more complex than your standard Adkins movie. It's like a french The Departed if I had to compare it. It's absolutely brutal at times. I do get your point about too many characters/etc - it helped being a wrestling fan that 3 of the bad guys looked like Ciampi (Bald guy), Roman Reigns (fatso), and The Miz (nadal). 4.5/5 from me Also watched Primal with Nick Cage, as a hunter, on a cargo ship with a ex-spec ops hannibal lecter being transferred, who gets loose... and Nick Cage has to get this... hunt him down! while ridiculous as it sounds, it was dumb/stupid entertaining, coulda been 20minutes shorter, but still a decent enough watch, I wouldn't recommend it, but its not the worst... 2/5
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Nov 1, 2020 06:03
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Hirez posted:wow. just have to cut in because I just finished watching this and thought it was the best movie of the year... and was about to come in praising it. Yes it's more complex than your standard Adkins movie. It's like a french The Departed if I had to compare it. It's absolutely brutal at times. I did like the part with the nude man a lot at least
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Nov 1, 2020 07:03
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Watched The Last Boy Scout tonight since the wife hadn't seen it and man I miss the days of foul mouthed action movies.
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Nov 1, 2020 07:46
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Arrow is releasing a bluray of Versus in December so I know what I'm getting myself for christmas.
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Nov 1, 2020 09:36
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E: Wrong thread.
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Nov 1, 2020 11:43
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Streaming Action November 2020 Prime & Hulu - Expendables 1-3, Universal Soldier, Robocop 1-3, most James Bonds Prime - Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, American Ninja 2, Crying Freeman, Universal Soldier 2-3 TV movies, City Hunter: Shinjuku Private Eyes Hulu - 3 Ninjas, 12 Rounds
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Nov 1, 2020 18:01
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RestingB1tchFace posted:Did Elysium actually get panned? I mean....it wasn't as acclaimed as Edge of Tomorrow. I'll have to check out the book. Late reply to this whole conversation, not just you: I'm pretty sure Official Movie Critics think every movie should be "Schindler's List," no matter what the actual genre is. Can you imagine if RomComs tried to meet that standard? SciFi has a hard enough time getting financed for films/special effects that don't suck too horribly, so they can very seldom afford both a script and the CGI. Getting two major actors into Elysium took a small miracle. (And I loved it, naturally.) --------------------- Change of subject: "The Take Down," starring Jack Jacogda, which I am sure I just misspelled. He became a stuntman in his 30s, as far as I can tell from his tiny internet presence, and this was his try to move into acting in his possibly-40s. It's not bad. Plot is, of course, a trifle thin, as expectable for a new-actor movie. He does pretty good in most of his fights (lots!), but he was a foot taller than a couple of his opponents and you could see him being extremely gentle with them in a couple spots. He has a really pretty Polish accent, too. :<3: Using BocoT's scale, 2 or so stars. Won't be a blockbuster, but worth checking out when stuck in a hotel during a blizzard.
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Nov 1, 2020 21:37
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GoodyTwoShoes posted:Late reply to this whole conversation, not just you:
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Nov 2, 2020 03:50
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RestingB1tchFace posted:I believe that Edge of Tomorrow was generally praised universally. I thought it was great. I know the title was bashed....but not the actual movie. Must have been the UK media reaction to it that I'm remembering. The newspapers that usually review stuff gave it very middling scores it seems. Glad it was praised outside of our miserable little Isle.
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Nov 2, 2020 15:53
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Of course the British reviewers didn't like it, the cast isn't entirely composed of balding unfunny has been alcoholic comedians and things happen in it that aren't people arguing in pubs.
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Nov 3, 2020 17:44
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re Edge of Tomorrow critic reviews, on metacritic only one out of 43 reviews gave it below 50 (Peter Bradshaw for The Guardian), 5 out of 43 reviews gave it 50, 2 more Brits gave it 60. Looks like most of the (relatively) bad reviews were british, but this was a very well reviewed film overall.
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Nov 3, 2020 17:59
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Lurdiak posted:Of course the British reviewers didn't like it, the cast isn't entirely composed of balding unfunny has been alcoholic comedians and things happen in it that aren't people arguing in pubs. Iirc one of his days is spent saying "gently caress it" and going to the pub where a bunch of gammons moan at him about how their dads would have won the war by now like they did with the Nazis so that probably didn't sit well with critics of a certain age in the UK.
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Nov 3, 2020 18:13
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Lurdiak posted:Of course the British reviewers didn't like it, the cast isn't entirely composed of balding unfunny has been alcoholic comedians and things happen in it that aren't people arguing in pubs.
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Nov 3, 2020 18:26
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