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sean10mm
Jun 29, 2005

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, MAD-2R World

poonchasta posted:

Nobody was enjoyable. I don't think I could watch it again, though, because it's basically Boomer Dad Power Fantasy: The Movie.

Also, does anyone else remember the very first John Wick trailer where they called him The Nobody instead of Baba Yaga?

Better or worse than Taken?

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Basebf555
Feb 29, 2008

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

Fun Shoe
Hard to compare it to Taken because Nobody has some legit action scenes in it, whereas Taken doesn't even really try to do that.

sean10mm
Jun 29, 2005

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, MAD-2R World
I remember the first one being fine as far as action went, and then the rest go pear shaped because they have 500 cuts per second to hide how Neeson either can't or won't move faster than some metaphor for slowness.

poonchasta
Feb 22, 2007

FFFFAAAFFFFF FFFFFAAAAAAAFFFFF FFFFFFFFAAAAAAFFFFF FFFFFFFAAAAAAAFFFFFF FFFFFFFAAAAAAAFFFFF

sean10mm posted:

Better or worse than Taken?

In Nobody, Odenkirk's character is looking for an excuse to beat the poo poo out of random hoodlums. It's way more of a Boomer power fantasy than the first Taken (I haven't seen the others).

Small Strange Bird
Sep 22, 2006

Merci, chaton!

sean10mm posted:

I remember the first one being fine as far as action went, and then the rest go pear shaped because they have 500 cuts per second to hide how Neeson either can't or won't move faster than some metaphor for slowness.
Yeah, I remember being pretty taken ( :haw:) with the action in the first one for its no-nonsense speed and brutality. The fights, at least; there was a crap car chase that didn't work nearly as well.

sean10mm
Jun 29, 2005

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, MAD-2R World

Payndz posted:

Yeah, I remember being pretty taken ( :haw:) with the action in the first one for its no-nonsense speed and brutality. The fights, at least; there was a crap car chase that didn't work nearly as well.

I went back and watched some Taken highlights and it had a fair amount of quick cuts and shakiness but everything was pretty straightforward and easy to follow. Like Neeson wasn't REALLY doing a ton of cool poo poo but it wasn't nothing.

Taken 3's action was virtually gibberish tho.

https://youtu.be/DWvLTSCnj1A?t=33

lol

Halloween Jack
Sep 12, 2003
Probation
Can't post for 9 hours!
I'm trying to think, like...what were the first Western action movies that had hand-to-hand fight choreography that is good enough to not read as comedy?

mastershakeman
Oct 28, 2008

by vyelkin

Halloween Jack posted:

I'm trying to think, like...what were the first Western action movies that had hand-to-hand fight choreography that is good enough to not read as comedy?

Depending how you judge them I'd either say early van damme, drive with dacascos, or the matrix

I just rewatched the under siege knife fight and ugh

mastershakeman fucked around with this message at 21:00 on Apr 25, 2021

sean10mm
Jun 29, 2005

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, MAD-2R World

Halloween Jack posted:

I'm trying to think, like...what were the first Western action movies that had hand-to-hand fight choreography that is good enough to not read as comedy?

When I think of an older fight scene that seems more like an actual fight this one was the first one I thought of off the top of my head.

It's very much a sloppy brawl in a confined space but it doesn't have a lot of the gimmicks of that era, it's mostly just the actors going at it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75b8fBQEijI

dokmo
Aug 27, 2006

:stat:man

Halloween Jack posted:

I'm trying to think, like...what were the first Western action movies that had hand-to-hand fight choreography that is good enough to not read as comedy?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlejMy9zLdI

mastershakeman
Oct 28, 2008

by vyelkin

What the gently caress

B-Rock452
Jan 6, 2005
:justflu:

mastershakeman posted:

Depending how you judge them I'd either say early van damme, drive with dacascos, or the matrix

I just rewatched the under siege knife fight and ugh

Lethal Weapons final fight had a pretty sweet triangle choke

Megaman's Jockstrap
Jul 16, 2000

What a horrible thread to have a post.

Can't believe I never knew about this. Thank you so much for posting.

McSpanky
Jan 16, 2005






Megaman's Jockstrap posted:

Can't believe I never knew about this. Thank you so much for posting.

Same, my first pick would've been sean10mm's post but this rips.

Snowman_McK
Jan 31, 2010

Halloween Jack posted:

I'm trying to think, like...what were the first Western action movies that had hand-to-hand fight choreography that is good enough to not read as comedy?

There are a lot of great brawls and fist fights in old westerns. Don't know if that would qualify for you.

Grendels Dad
Mar 5, 2011

Popular culture has passed you by.
Not from an action movie, but this classic gif was posted elsewhere recently and the discussion here reminded me of it:


Those are some nice kicks.

Narzack
Sep 15, 2008
Yeah, my first thought was the Russia With Love traincar scrap, but dang, that Cagney fight was pretty cool. I'd never seen it before, but i dig it

Roth
Jul 9, 2016

Go see Nobody if you can. Nobody rules.

Stairmaster
Jun 8, 2012

It's not worth the twenty bucks it costs on amazon.

Roth
Jul 9, 2016

Stairmaster posted:

It's not worth the twenty bucks it costs on amazon.

I saw it in an empty theater

Rascar Capac
Aug 31, 2016

Surprisingly nice, for an evil Inca mummy.
It's Friday, so here's another action film Letterboxd review, this time of Robowar (1988):

Wait, the low budget Predator ripoff couldn't rip off the bit where the monster is invisible?

A commando team led by Major Murphy Black (Reb Brown) is sent on a mission to a jungle island, but only their technical adviser Mascher (Mel Davidson) knows that they are there to find and neutralise Omega-1, a military robot that is running amock.

Reb Brown Slab Hardbeefs his way through a script that might have been generated by an algorithm. It manages to hit pretty much all of the plot points of Predator, but without any of the characterisation or storytelling skill that makes that film so good. There are a lot of scenes of guys firing guns filmed in slow-motion, so as to pad out the running time. The failure to rip off the invisible monster concept is particularly baffling, as that is something that you can easily do on a low budget project which is also an effective technique for building up tension. In Predator when you finally see the monster you're treated to some pretty cool creature design. Here you get writer/director Claudio Fragasso in a motorbike helmet and leathers, making beeping noises.

This is a mindless way to spend an hour-and-a-half, and it's not like you won't have fun with some of the absurdities here (the screenwriters would like you to know that "Virgin" is a perfectly normal name for a human woman), but ultimately the only takeaway is of how good a film Predator actually is.

Grendels Dad
Mar 5, 2011

Popular culture has passed you by.

Rascar Capac posted:

A commando team led by Major Murphy Black (Reb Brown)

Aw yiss

Megaman's Jockstrap
Jul 16, 2000

What a horrible thread to have a post.

Rascar Capac posted:

Here you get writer/director Claudio Fragasso

This is the Doomslayer's canonical name now.

married but discreet
May 7, 2005


Taco Defender
The Robowar score definitely blows Predator out of the water tho

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDeC-veIPXY

McSpanky
Jan 16, 2005






married but discreet posted:

The Robowar score definitely blows Predator out of the water tho

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDeC-veIPXY

I definitely heard that on the title screen of something I rented from Blockbuster in the mid 90s

B-Rock452
Jan 6, 2005
:justflu:
Friday night I fell asleep watching The Replacement Killers on prime, when I woke up Saturday to just finish watching I found it was no longer free :(

It is a great movie though, Chow Yun-Fat is soo good in it.

GoodyTwoShoes
Oct 26, 2013
Got my copy of Russian Raid, yesterday. I kind of liked the more subdued sounds for the fisticuffs. I definitely liked the lady-in-white getting to slap the guy who grabbed her behind. (Guys like that should always get slapped for it.) It's been too long since I shot anything to say if I liked the subdued sounds for the gunfire.

KVeezy3
Aug 18, 2005

Airport Music for Black Folk
I was inspired to give Unleashed, the Jet Li action melodrama, a revisit since I vaguely remembered that the soundtrack was helmed by Massive Attack. The action sequences are master-class, imaginative, and well shot. And the soundtrack by is good.

It's more ambitiously weird than I remember, as Li took a big risk on such an absurd premise with quite an odd structure. The big movements in story are signaled through three violent car crashes, and the film itself is almost like a car crash between two different films. And the origin story of Danny's (Li's character) enslaved existence is hinted at through his abuser being unable to gently caress women without being interrupted multiple times by our abused protagonist's shifting gazes.

dokmo
Aug 27, 2006

:stat:man

GoodyTwoShoes posted:

It's been too long since I shot anything to say if I liked the subdued sounds for the gunfire.

I had a problem with this. Seems like all the effects for violence, not just guns but punches and kicks and bricks to the head as well, were much quieter than I was comfortable with, the effect was making the movie seem cheap. I never knew this was something I had issues with. I wonder if this is just something I'll get over, as the movie definitely deserves a re-watch or two.

dokmo
Aug 27, 2006

:stat:man
Lateef Crowder is going to be on Scott Adkins' show today. If you don't recognize the name, if you've watched someone performing capoeira in a movie, it's probably him. This guy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6EIYLG5vxs

I love that video because it clearly shows the difference between someone who knows how to shoot action and someone who doesn't. The fights are all performed by good screen fighters, and choreographed by good stunt people. The difference between the quality of the fights is mostly where the camera is, and people like Panna Rittikrai and Issac Florentine know that the camera should not be so loving close to the action.

mastershakeman
Oct 28, 2008

by vyelkin
Speaking of lateef crowder, I watched the new mortal kombat movie last night and was super frustrated to have a 4 person fight hop perspectives over and over (like between the 4 perspectives of phantom menace finale). I was yelling just shoot it like undisputed 3, a tournament movie! Take your time showcasing these great performers!

Chas McGill
Oct 29, 2010

loves Fat Philippe

KVeezy3 posted:

I was inspired to give Unleashed, the Jet Li action melodrama, a revisit since I vaguely remembered that the soundtrack was helmed by Massive Attack. The action sequences are master-class, imaginative, and well shot. And the soundtrack by is good.

It's more ambitiously weird than I remember, as Li took a big risk on such an absurd premise with quite an odd structure. The big movements in story are signaled through three violent car crashes, and the film itself is almost like a car crash between two different films. And the origin story of Danny's (Li's character) enslaved existence is hinted at through his abuser being unable to gently caress women without being interrupted multiple times by our abused protagonist's shifting gazes.

I really like it. Definitely my favourite of his Western movies cos it has heart and some genuinely sweet moments with his adoptive family.

brocked
Oct 25, 2005

All shall love me and despair!
I love the action in Kiss Of The Dragon more, but I agree

B-Rock452
Jan 6, 2005
:justflu:
Well my monthly routine of hopping on just watch and seeing if Hard Boiled is available for streaming anywhere is over. Apparently two michelobs is enough for me to make a drunken Amazon purchase because I finally said gently caress it and bought the DVD. It arrived today so gonna sit back and finally rewatch the movie that made me fall in love with action movies.

Megaman's Jockstrap
Jul 16, 2000

What a horrible thread to have a post.

B-Rock452 posted:

Well my monthly routine of hopping on just watch and seeing if Hard Boiled is available for streaming anywhere is over. Apparently two michelobs is enough for me to make a drunken Amazon purchase because I finally said gently caress it and bought the DVD. It arrived today so gonna sit back and finally rewatch the movie that made me fall in love with action movies.

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

Any movie that opens with a character named <X> imbibing a drink called <X> Slammer is pretty great in my book!

Megaman's Jockstrap fucked around with this message at 01:46 on May 7, 2021

Snowman_McK
Jan 31, 2010
With the money from my first job, where i was paid 8 australian dollars an hour, i saved up and got the Hard Boiled DVD imported at my local 'cool dvd and music shop' for the obscene price of 56 dollars. An entire days wages. Of all the dumb things i've spent money on, that's the one i definitely got the most out of.

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

:dukedog:

Megaman's Jockstrap posted:

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

Any movie that opens with a character named <X> imbibing a drink called <X> Slammer is pretty great in my book!

It's really notable on how on top of the action, John Woo's pacing and editing for the little character development moments in his best flicks are just insanely loving good. We rewatched A Better Tomorrow a few days ago and it's crazy how well that movie holds up and how much pathos you get out of it.

A Better Tomorrow 2 is amazing too because it approaches this-is-a-ridiculous-parody-of-the-original-movie levels but still holds it together. The choppy production of it makes it a miracle to me that a lot of it is almost as good as the original.

flashy_mcflash
Feb 7, 2011

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrUdGNEgBe8

Rascar Capac
Aug 31, 2016

Surprisingly nice, for an evil Inca mummy.
A Friday Letterboxd review of Dangerous Men (2005):

In 1984 John S. Rad set out to make a feminist revenge thriller. 20 years later we discovered that he didn't really know what he was doing.

Newly engaged couple Mina (Melody Wiggins) and Daniel (Coti Cook) are walking on a California beach when they are attacked by two bikers. Daniel is killed and Mina is almost raped. She sets out on a campaign of vigilante revenge. Meanwhile, Daniel's police detective brother David (Michael Gradilone) sets out to investigate the murder and encounters the biker gang led by a man known only as "Black Pepper" (Bryan Jenkins).

The above is what the plot would be if this were a normal film, but this is not a normal film. Probably as a result of being put together in stages over a period of 20 years, characters rapidly appear and disappear, leaving us with a series of vignettes. There are huge tonal shifts in short spaces of time, as when a dramatic scene involving an attempted rape suddenly shifts into comedy. Most of the film's soundtrack consists of the same short synthesizer loop, reminiscent of a Sega Mega Drive game, being played over and over again. The overall effect of all this is what I imagine watching Pulp Fiction while huffing paint would be like.

The phrase "anything could happen next" is overused, but in the case of Dangerous Men it is actually true. The odds are that what happens next will be another overly long scene of a woman being attacked, but on the occasions when it isn't the results are genuinely entertaining.

Dangerous Men deserves its place alongside things like Samurai Cop and The Room. As such, it absolutely won't be to everyone's taste, but if you like entertainingly inept low-budget films and can cope with numerous scenes of women being attacked, this one's for you.

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dokmo
Aug 27, 2006

:stat:man

I enjoyed this, this is much better than the usual martial artists react to movie fights videos.

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