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Mantis42
Jul 26, 2010

Every cent that went into Seagel should have gone into people like Cynthia Rothrock, or God forbid, some other unknown that actually had charisma and talent.

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CeeJee
Dec 4, 2001
Oven Wrangler

G-III posted:

The shootout scene in Nemesis is Pyun's gift to cinema. Just imagine what this man could have done with a 100m dollar budget.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16sGH4xb5ic

"Combine the visual impact of Blade Runner with the visual effects of Terminator 2" is overselling it a bit but they sure made some great action shots. Shooting in the middle of a huge steel mill being demolished and just putting the stars and some gasoline bombs next to a huge tower being toppled is the kind of 90's film making that is gone for good, at least in North America. Probably for the better when it comes to crew health but it made a tiny budget go a long way.

MrBling
Aug 21, 2003

Oozing machismo
Seagal would also just hit the stunt guys for real, so there's a reason his fight scenes could look cooler back in the day.

Majkol
Oct 17, 2016

CeeJee posted:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16sGH4xb5ic

"Combine the visual impact of Blade Runner with the visual effects of Terminator 2" is overselling it a bit but they sure made some great action shots. Shooting in the middle of a huge steel mill being demolished and just putting the stars and some gasoline bombs next to a huge tower being toppled is the kind of 90's film making that is gone for good, at least in North America. Probably for the better when it comes to crew health but it made a tiny budget go a long way.
This has somehow lead me to Olivier Gruner's Wikipedia page and never have I seen one that is more transparently written by the subject themself.

Remulak
Jun 8, 2001
I can't count to four.
Yams Fan

MrBling posted:

Seagal would also just hit the stunt guys for real, so there's a reason his fight scenes could look cooler back in the day.
Tommy Lee Jones had a rep for this too, and not in the Hong Kong Star secret I’ll slip you extra bucks way. Fucker went to Harvard in the 60’s, unsurprising that he’s an elitist rear end in a top hat.

So I imagine both of the doubles in that movie got it pretty bad.

Snowman_McK
Jan 31, 2010

Majkol posted:

This has somehow lead me to Olivier Gruner's Wikipedia page and never have I seen one that is more transparently written by the subject themself.

You can't say that without posting his rad fan fiction descriptions of his business ventures.

"Body-guarding
Gruner occasionally does body-guarding for celebrities. It can be more comfortable for some clients to have a fellow star, who understands stardom's pressure and demands, that also fulfills the role of a bodyguard. Gruner indeed not only has got one of the highest special forces military training one can receive,[12] but also provides body-guarding training at his academy. One of such body-guarding clients is the famous Canadian singer Celine Dion.[19][20][21]"

MrMojok
Jan 28, 2011

I think Above the Law, Out for Justice, and Marked for Death are all genuinely great action flicks, despite Seagal basically playing the same character in all three.

The aikido, joint lock and throws looked really wild onscreen at that time, and they are all fun in a hammy kind of way.

Out for Justice especially is a favorite of mine. The story of the fantastically-named Gino Fellino, Richie Madano, and Bobby Lupo.

Punkin Spunkin
Jan 1, 2010
Watching Yes Madam and Nemesis tonight, beyond excited.
Saw The Taking of Beverly Hills which was like...okay I guess. Fun to have an "action hero" whose gimmick is just chucking things at people, though was Brian Bosworth unavailable or something cmon. Thought the lead was kinda doofy and uninspiring. Robert Davi has some fun though.

Seemlar
Jun 18, 2002

Snowman_McK posted:

It also has the most awkward ending kiss of any action movie ever. It used to be funny but since Seagal moved from 'creepy' to 'complete monster' it's just extraordinarily uncomfortable.

There's a part in that movie where he rubs the female leads ears and it's almost as ick-worthy as the Travolta Face Off thing.

It's a coinflip between what he was worse at at his apex, love scenes or driving scenes

Shageletic
Jul 25, 2007

Got to be his running scenes. Seagal running is like an upset toddler

dokmo
Aug 27, 2006

:stat:man
I rewatched Hydra and Baby Assassins to get the taste of Seagalchat out of my head. Not great movies, but a truly great fight finales.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Hah-DL97iQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSILF1TjNOQ

I love how fast and dynamic these scenes are. The action was directed by Kensuke Sonomura, who may be the best action director in the world right now.

Megaman's Jockstrap
Jul 16, 2000

What a horrible thread to have a post.
Don't know about that "the best" but I never heard of this guy before your posts and those were both very interesting and different scenes. I definitely want to see more of his work.

This dude could evolve into something truly amazing. He seems to understand the "energy" of a real fight very well, even though there's nothing real about it.

WoodrowSkillson
Feb 24, 2005

*Gestures at 60 years of Lions history*

MrBling posted:

Seagal would also just hit the stunt guys for real, so there's a reason his fight scenes could look cooler back in the day.

this reminds me of the bit in Mick Foley's book, where he describes his first time ever getting to wrestle his idol Terry Funk.

quote:

"No matter what mannerisms I 'borrowed,' I knew that I would never throw a punch like Terry's, which was truly a thing of beauty. Many people, including me, considered the Funker's big left hand to be the nicest punch in the business. A few minutes into the big match, Terry took me into the corner, and I saw him rear back with the big left. This was going to be great. Here it comes.

Thwack.

I felt like I did when I was eight and my mother came clean about Santa Claus. I had just learned the hidden "secret" of the great Funk left hand. It was so simple--I'd been a fool for not knowing the whole time. Terry Funk had just punched me as hard as he could in the forehead."

When he spoke to terry in the locker room all Terry just said "And all this time you just thought I was good."

EL BROMANCE
Jun 10, 2006

COWABUNGA DUDES!
🥷🐢😬



Megaman's Jockstrap posted:

Don't know about that "the best" but I never heard of this guy before your posts and those were both very interesting and different scenes. I definitely want to see more of his work.

This dude could evolve into something truly amazing. He seems to understand the "energy" of a real fight very well, even though there's nothing real about it.

Yeah if these films aren't great but have great scenes, got an example of a better film of his that also has great scenes?

dokmo
Aug 27, 2006

:stat:man
He's been an stuntman and action director working in low budget japanese movies and video games for his whole career, only recently getting a chance to direct (the aforementioned Hydra, and Bad City which I haven't seen yet). To give an idea of his range, Bushido Man was the first movie of his that I saw, and the action could not be more different than the grounded stuff in Hydra.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84MnIFHCuic&t=57s

He did the action in the Hard Revenge Milly movies, which to me set the standard for goofy super low budget action.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KvDzTfUIX8&t=1672s

forest spirit
Apr 6, 2009

Frigate Hetman Sahaidachny
First to Fight Scuttle, First to Fall Sink


I liked how much boxing head weaving was in the baby assassin's clip, but besides that it seemed okay. The impacts really didn't feel heavy enough and some of the choreo was Seagal-y (impacts feeling more like slaps) and I could feel the jumps where it felt like pre-impact frames were removed without enough care.

I think I'm also Gun-po (gun kenpo) fatigued. It feels like everyone doing the 15 seconds of Gun-po at the end of Equilibrium, but it's the half of the entire fight.

reminded me of re:born.

forest spirit fucked around with this message at 19:23 on Dec 5, 2022

Shageletic
Jul 25, 2007


I love this? Outside of the bad sound mixing and lol-riffic sound foleys, I'd eat this poo poo up with a spoon. It's Ichi the Killer, the even more B movie lol

NoneMoreNegative
Jul 20, 2000
GOTH FASCISTIC
PAIN
MASTER




shit wizard dad

Seagalchat if you like arts and crafts and dry humour this will be just the video for you

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aCMTpJx2cs

edit: also I never knew SS did so many 'late era' paycheque films, I've been watching this channel

https://www.youtube.com/@SpaceIce

and they just keep on coming, and they are all incomprehensibly bad.

NoneMoreNegative fucked around with this message at 00:12 on Dec 6, 2022

duz
Jul 11, 2005

Come on Ilhan, lets go bag us a shitpost


They are very funny for how bad he is in them.

brocked
Oct 25, 2005

All shall love me and despair!
I remember vividly seeing Seagal beat up those mooks with a cue ball in a bar towel. There was just nothing like that at the time, imagine dropping the Night Comes For Us on an audience back then

Megaman's Jockstrap
Jul 16, 2000

What a horrible thread to have a post.
Seagal has revealed himself to be a fat lazy jerk beyond a shadow of a doubt. Because of that, and the poor quality of most of his catalog, and the fact that the industry has moved way beyond his initial strong showing, people want to totally discount the man.

But the dude was a 6'4" capital B capital M Big Man who was able to hang as an akido trainer in Japan. For a time, there was something there. And those movies were revolutionary in the action department when they were released, although they have aged poorly.

Snowman_McK posted:

An underreported aspect of Seagal's career is that he was the result of a bet. A producer bet a casting agent that he could make anyone a star and they picked this wooden, impressively unathletic guy who was running a martial arts school in LA.

The story comes from Michael Ovitz who is the agent in question. It's the exact excuse you would expect somebody to make whose former client revealed himself to be a big lazy weirdo and nobody else - the producer, anyone else at his agency, literally anyone else - has every confirmed it. Same with the Gene Labell story, people very rarely poop themselves from being choked out, but Seagal is loathed by everyone (and rightly so) so people are willing to believe it.

Basebf555
Feb 29, 2008

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

Fun Shoe
I spent about three years working at a Blockbuster Video and my time there was mostly defined by Seagal because this was right around 2003-2005 when he really started churning out a ton of those straight-to-DVD low effort movies. The Foreigner, Belly of the Beast, Out of Reach, Into the Sun, Submerged, Today You Die, Shadowman, Attack Force, Flight of Fury, the list goes on and on. It seemed like a new one was dropping every month and there was still a pretty strong market of dudes who would come into Blockbuster and just rent/buy every single movie Seagal put out.

EL BROMANCE
Jun 10, 2006

COWABUNGA DUDES!
🥷🐢😬



Basebf555 posted:

.. there was still a pretty strong market of dudes who would come into Blockbuster and just rent/buy every single movie Seagal put out.

Even though he didn't rock it then himself, I like to imagine all these people coming in for his movies had 'the goatee'.

WoodrowSkillson
Feb 24, 2005

*Gestures at 60 years of Lions history*

NoneMoreNegative posted:

Seagalchat if you like arts and crafts and dry humour this will be just the video for you

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aCMTpJx2cs

edit: also I never knew SS did so many 'late era' paycheque films, I've been watching this channel

https://www.youtube.com/@SpaceIce

and they just keep on coming, and they are all incomprehensibly bad.

they are so funny though

Midnight Pooptrain
Oct 13, 2012

2001's Father of the Year

NoneMoreNegative posted:

Seagalchat if you like arts and crafts and dry humour this will be just the video for you

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aCMTpJx2cs

edit: also I never knew SS did so many 'late era' paycheque films, I've been watching this channel

https://www.youtube.com/@SpaceIce

and they just keep on coming, and they are all incomprehensibly bad.

I checked out all of these videos in the past week. These films are stupendous.

Halloween Jack
Sep 12, 2003

La morte non ha sesso

duz posted:

They are very funny for how bad he is in them.


I've seen this one. I don't think he's even pictured standing at any point in the movie.

Xenomrph
Dec 9, 2005

AvP Nerd/Fanboy/Shill



Tis the season everyone

https://youtu.be/kA5x65aydhc

Xenomrph
Dec 9, 2005

AvP Nerd/Fanboy/Shill



Just saw Violent Night, it rules, instant holiday classic.

Gyro Zeppeli
Jul 19, 2012

sure hope no-one throws me off a bridge

Yup, Violent Night rules, David Harbour as Santa is loving fantastic. And the Home Alone callback is totally the highlight of the movie. The nail through the chin got an out-loud groan from the whole theatre.

Midnight Pooptrain
Oct 13, 2012

2001's Father of the Year
The Killer(new Korean film, not the Woo masterpiece) is absolute nonsense, but I had a good time. A lot of the blood didn't look CGI?

MadDogMike
Apr 9, 2008

Cute but fanged

Megaman's Jockstrap posted:

The story comes from Michael Ovitz who is the agent in question. It's the exact excuse you would expect somebody to make whose former client revealed himself to be a big lazy weirdo and nobody else - the producer, anyone else at his agency, literally anyone else - has every confirmed it. Same with the Gene Labell story, people very rarely poop themselves from being choked out, but Seagal is loathed by everyone (and rightly so) so people are willing to believe it.

Though if you want a very funny telling of the Gene Labell story, this is pretty good.

thatfuturekid
Jan 5, 2014
Happy "The Big 4 is now on Netflix" day!!!

Heavy Metal
Sep 1, 2014

America's $1 Funnyman

Very cool!

I saw Accident Man last weekend, lotta fun, really solid. Also fun that it's (loosely I assume) based on a comic by one of Judge Dredd/2000AD's classic writers Pat Mills. Gotta see that second one. I love that particular flavor of fun cheese, goes down smooth.

And I must again recommend Raging Fire (2021) to everyone possible, just got the blu-ray. For me that is still the coolest style of fights I've seen in many many years, what a delight.

Grendels Dad
Mar 5, 2011

Popular culture has passed you by.
I am watching Medieval right now, a 2022 Czech movie starring Ben Foster. I need to grab more beers and want to use this opportunity to report that this movie goes very hard. Nothing mind-blowing in terms of choreography, but the action is super-gnarly and Ben Foster and his gang are amazing. While I was watching, I felt the movie needs to reach its climax soon but there is another hour to go and I'm pretty excited. There is a fair bit of European political drama too, but the main feature is people being smashed to bits on the battlefield.

Yesterday, I rewatched the 3:10 to Yuma remake which is excellent, I seem to be on a Ben Foster Bender.

Megaman's Jockstrap
Jul 16, 2000

What a horrible thread to have a post.
I really like Ben Foster, he always gives a terrific performance.

Grendels Dad
Mar 5, 2011

Popular culture has passed you by.

Megaman's Jockstrap posted:

I really like Ben Foster, he always gives a terrific performance.

He is an amazing weirdo in Yuma and a really great more straight-up heroic guy here. Medieval really makes me want to watch more Ben Foster movies (again).

morestuff
Aug 2, 2008

You can't stop what's coming
Not action (probably the opposite) but I’d strongly recommend checking out Leave No Trace, he’s incredible in it and it was my favorite movie of that year.

I sort of assumed he was going to become an A-tier character actor after Hell or High Water popped but it hasn’t seemed to have happened for him

Punkin Spunkin
Jan 1, 2010
He's really shined from the beginning, like I remember being like "Who's this dude in 30 Days of Night kinda stealing this movie?"
and it's a shame he hasn't really gotten more great roles. Even like, Hell or High Water, it's an okay overrated pretty-decent film that he's fantastic in.

B-Rock452
Jan 6, 2005
:justflu:
The fact that no one has mentioned Galveston yet is making me sad. He is incredible in it

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MrMojok
Jan 28, 2011

And Alpha Dog!

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