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"What Movie Did You Watch?" - 2020 Edition


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3 hours ago, EvanG said:

It's basically a satire, it's Arnie making fun of his career and all the cliché action movies he has made up until that point, but disguised as an action movie, yet it's a lot more than just that. But I guess the audience wanted just another typical action movie from him instead of a movie with weird plot twists. 

I actually quite liked it, its kinda unique, part Disney, part satire, part lots of things.  Plus it has fuckin' Anthony Quinn in it, with automatically raises any films cool factor.  I don't think the audience necessarily disliked it because its just another action movie though, its a movie that had a famously troubled production, it has ten different fuckin' writers or something, ten is probably too many but it ain't far off either, plus 93 was a year of a lot of good films and it kinda was a huge budgeted thing with a lot of expectation that got drowned out by the other movies of the day.

Also, there is a lot that is satirical about a lot of Arnie movies, I mean Commando is clearly satirical or at least self aware, all the one-liners etc, its very deliberate, those films were corny by accident but its just really really overt and obvious in Last Action Hero, I don't think it is at all anything that the audience missed, I mean how could they?  I'm not sure why that should lessen the piece necessarily, I suppose the short answer is that it shouldn't but it somehow does in this case. 

And another thing about satire or irony or anything like that, its a narrative tool and thats all it is, it doesn't necessarily make a thing better.  I often read this a lot in people assessments of things 'i liked it, its satirical' or 'it has irony', well...so what?  In and of itself it doesn't make a thing better.

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12 minutes ago, -W.A.R- said:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Run_TMC

My team the Bulls just hired Arturas Karnisovas (who was on that Lithuanian team) as VP of Basketball OPs (the lead manager).

Thanks. And, also thats very cool! What a journey. Im really into this idea that ones commitment to sport can carry them all sorts of placed in life. Even against the backdrop of Mutually Assured Destruction.

Hopefully this means the Bulls will now take the court to a Dead jam:dance:

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Cast Away (2001)

Apparently there was a satellite phone in that last package that he never opened.

53 minutes ago, Len Cnut said:

 I don't think the audience necessarily disliked it because its just another action movie though,

No, I think that's what many expected and wanted from an Arnie movie. I think a large part of the audience wanted the ''Jack Slater'' part of the movie and nothing else. Not having it go to this weird place where fictional characters from the ''Jack Slater'' films escape to the ''real world'' and having to deal with the ''real'' actors. This movie touches different genres, it even has a cartoon character in it, but it's also a spoof and I think some maybe didn't understand that they were making fun of those types of action movies that Arnie was known for.

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27 minutes ago, EvanG said:

Extract (2009)

@soon watched it over the weekend. Not nearly as funny as Office Space, but it was alright. I suppose Mila Kunis made up for some of it.

Cool. Yeah Mila Kunis makes everything better! A lot of big names in this cast.

I watched a few clips and had pretty much the same response as you. I lol'd at this exchange,

"He's taken this accident pretty well."

"Yeah, I think when you loose your balls, it mellows you out."

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I honestly haven't seen Last Action Hero since it originally came out at the pictures so can barely remember it, beyond that I didn't like it, but it may be worth a re-watch - there is a decent Acca Dacca song on soundtrack, 'Big Gun'. Arnie has always done comedy, more overtly Twins and Kindergarten Cop but Terminator 2 has all that stuff where Furlong is learning him ''dude speak'', and then you have all those Roger Moore-esque Loony Tunes style one-liners on films like Commando, ''let off some steam Bennett'' and the immortal, to the question where's Sully?: ''I let him goo''. This stuff is ''quintessential Schwarzenegger''.

Here is some observations on re-watching this stuff,

- The scene where Arnie and Furlong phone the foster parents, the mother of which is actually the T-1000 ('hey, d'y know, what's wrong with Wolfie/the foster parents are dead' - that scene). The first cut is of the mother chopping vegetables. Just think about this for a second. How long would this domestic fiction have continued until Connor made contact? Was the T-1000 cooking Spag Bol for her and Todd? Did Skynet program T-1000s with the collective recipes of Delia Smith? 

- Furlong and his little ginger mulleted friend have 'You Could Be Mine' on repeat. Change the station.

- I always wanted to learn that skill as a kid where you use a tiny computer pad and hack into a bank account haha. When growing up I thought all American kids were basically Furlong's John Connor.

- Sully, quintessential 1980s weasel badguy. You just know he snorts coke from a prostitutes' tits. That suit! That hideous car! He makes the movie really. 

- Terminator. The nightclub scene. How shit is the T-800, and how shit is Kyle Reese? T-800 stands there with a machine gun infra red on Sarah's head for five minutes (alright alright, it is in slow motion) whilst Kyle fannies about. Bang. Movie over. Skynet wins. Humanity is destroyed. Such small margins, ehh?

- Similarly, Predator. They have the bugger! They trap the bloody Predator in a net half way through the film!

Edited by DieselDaisy
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7 hours ago, Len Cnut said:

Post True Lies is basically where I stopped watching Arnie films.  I think I saw End of Days and The Sixth something or other way after their release, like years after, weren't ever so memorable.

A few years ago I saw some creaky collaboration with Stallone where they were both trapped in a futuristic prison. It wasn't bad I suppose, but I wouldn't watch it again. 

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I grew up on all those Schwarzenegger/Stallone movies, but I can't imagine watching them now and still enjoying them, except for the few good ones.

1 hour ago, soon said:

Cool. Yeah Mila Kunis makes everything better! A lot of big names in this cast.

I watched a few clips and had pretty much the same response as you. I lol'd at this exchange,

"He's taken this accident pretty well."

"Yeah, I think when you loose your balls, it mellows you out."

Yeah, that's pretty much the kind of humour in this flick,

Ben Affleck's character to his friend when he notices Mila Kunis:

''Damn! She works here?''

''Yeah, she's a temp.''

''She's a tramp?''

''TEMP!''

: /

Edited by EvanG
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1 hour ago, DieselDaisy said:

A few years ago I saw some creaky collaboration with Stallone where they were both trapped in a futuristic prison. It wasn't bad I suppose, but I wouldn't watch it again. 

It all belongs to a time I think.

 

1 hour ago, EvanG said:

I grew up on all those Schwarzenegger/Stallone movies, but I can't imagine watching them now and still enjoying them

I probably could if I hadn’t’ve seen em 40,000 times over.

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4 minutes ago, Len Cnut said:

It all belongs to a time I think.

 

I probably could if I hadn’t’ve seen em 40,000 times over.

The latest Rambo movie was awesome! Still love Sly movies. This latest movie had a great storyline although it was sad. But Rambo always gets revenge, so that was awesome.

I think this might really be the last Rambo.

I did see Last Action Hero. The movie was okay, but yeah, the soundtrack had some cool songs especially from Def Leppard and Queensryche.

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1 hour ago, Len Cnut said:

I probably could if I hadn’t’ve seen em 40,000 times over.

To be fair, I watched Commando earlier this year. It happened to be on and I probably hadn't seen it since I was a kid, so I thought fuck it... let's see how bad it really is. It was alright, just not my cup of tea anymore. 10 year old me couldn't get enough of them, though. 

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7 hours ago, soon said:

He was, yeah. Nice call! I learned a lot of new players. Im not familiar with Run TMC though? 

Golden State had three players Tim Hardaway, Mitch Richmond, and Chris Mullin. They took the first letter of their names and called them Run TMC.😄 They had a contest and a fan came up with the nickname.

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2 minutes ago, DieselDaisy said:

What do you think I have been watching? Batman and RobinJingle All the Way?

From your list, I could probably only enjoy the Terminator films now. I tried to watch The Running Man some time ago, because I watched it obsessively as a kid, but I couldn't get myself to finish watching it... so boring.

Also, Jingle All The Way is already worth it just for the legendary Phil Hartman. 

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57 minutes ago, EvanG said:

From your list, I could probably only enjoy the Terminator films now. I tried to watch The Running Man some time ago, because I watched it obsessively as a kid, but I couldn't get myself to finish watching it... so boring.

Also, Jingle All The Way is already worth it just for the legendary Phil Hartman. 

I have heard and seen it discerned, the filmography of Schwarzenegger criticised in a plethora of manners, usually in terms tending towards anti-thespianism and a sinewy dumbness, but ''boring'' is not singularly that which is most frequently used! I almost feel like paraphrasing Samuel Johnson's line about London in reply!

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30 minutes ago, DieselDaisy said:

I have heard and seen it discerned, the filmography of Schwarzenegger criticised in a plethora of manners, usually in terms tending towards anti-thespianism and a sinewy dumbness, but ''boring'' is not singularly that which is most frequently used! I almost feel like paraphrasing Samuel Johnson's line about London in reply!

Arnie could clearly do Shakespeare with the best of 'em. :lol: 

 

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11 hours ago, DieselDaisy said:

 but ''boring'' is not singularly that which is most frequently used!

I know, but action movies bore me unless they are done really well. I grew out of those big, dumb action movies pretty early on. It's not that I can't enjoy stupid movies, I have watched plenty without walking out of them. When a comedy has a terrible storyline, script, acting, no depth, etc., at least there are sometimes a few decent jokes that can get you through it. But when an action movie is like that, there really isn't much to keep me entertained. Except when the fight scenes are done really well, but in most action movies this is not the case.

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3 hours ago, EvanG said:

I know, but action movies bore me unless they are done really well. I grew out of those big, dumb action movies pretty early on. It's not that I can't enjoy stupid movies, I have watched plenty without walking out of them. When a comedy has a terrible storyline, script, acting, no depth, etc., at least there are sometimes a few decent jokes that can get you through it. But when an action movie is like that, there really isn't much to keep me entertained. Except when the fight scenes are done really well, but in most action movies this is not the case.

I am pleased that I can enjoy films from multiple genres. My favourite filmmakers - well known if you read the film thread - are people like Fellini, Kurosawa, Hitchcock and Fritz Lang, but I also grew-up on kung fu films and other kinds of z-movie exploitation shlock such as blaxploitation and (Italian) horror etc., as well as liking your more mainstream budgeted actioners, Stallone and Arnie for instance as well as James Bond. Sometimes I want to watch something like Tokyo Story or Bicycle Thieves. Other days I want Bruce avenging his sifu, or Jackie pulling off some mad stunt. Other days I want to watch a (prime time) Stallone or Schwarzenegger gun fest.

But it isn't as if all Schwarzenegger movies, at least the superior ones, are thoroughly stupid and devoid of art. The Terminator and Total Recall (latter, Philip K Dick adaptation of course, Blade Runner) run through a whole gauntlet of philosophical science fiction concepts such as time travel paradoxes and ''the nature of being'' and reality. But yes, sometimes I unrepentantly just want Commando which is as you describe - this is my Dazey moment.

Mix films up. It is always fun. A few weeks ago I was watching loads of gritty British kitchen sink stuff, then a few weeks before that I was watching endless westerns: from Tony Richardson, the Duke and Schwarzenegger within a not excessive time period!

Variety is a wonderful thing.

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16 hours ago, lame ass security said:

Golden State had three players Tim Hardaway, Mitch Richmond, and Chris Mullin. They took the first letter of their names and called them Run TMC.😄 They had a contest and a fan came up with the nickname.

Right on! That contest produced a great name! lol Love it. 

Ive never done the whole 'go back and watch a classic season' thing, out side of a bit of that for my home teams or olympics. Run TMC could maybe be the one. I might do that! 

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2 hours ago, DieselDaisy said:

I am pleased that I can enjoy films from multiple genres. My favourite filmmakers - well known if you read the film thread - are people like Fellini, Kurosawa, Hitchcock and Fritz Lang, but I also grew-up on kung fu films and other kinds of z-movie exploitation shlock such as blaxploitation and (Italian) horror etc., as well as liking your more mainstream budgeted actioners, Stallone and Arnie for instance as well as James Bond. Sometimes I want to watch something like Tokyo Story or Bicycle Thieves. Other days I want Bruce avenging his sifu, or Jackie pulling off some mad stunt. Other days I want to watch a (prime time) Stallone or Schwarzenegger gun fest.

But it isn't as if all Schwarzenegger movies, at least the superior ones, are thoroughly stupid and devoid of art. The Terminator and Total Recall (latter, Philip K Dick adaptation of course, Blade Runner) run through a whole gauntlet of philosophical science fiction concepts such as time travel paradoxes and ''the nature of being'' and reality. But yes, sometimes I unrepentantly just want Commando which is as you describe - this is my Dazey moment.

Mix films up. It is always fun. A few weeks ago I was watching loads of gritty British kitchen sink stuff, then a few weeks before that I was watching endless westerns: from Tony Richardson, the Duke and Schwarzenegger within a not excessive time period!

Variety is a wonderful thing.

Oh, but I like most genres, as long as it's entertaining. Like I said, I have watched a lot of silly movies and enjoyed them. I am even guilty of having watched Wild Hogs or some Adam Sandler movies more than once, no matter how predictable and stupid they are, but they have some slapstick and silly jokes and that can be good enough to keep me entertained for 1,5 hour.

But the average 80's action movie usually has the same formula, terrible writing, and in the case of Schwarzenegger, a bodybuilder who makes Keanu Reeves look like a decent actor. Of course there are exceptions like Total Recall and the Terminator films (which I really like) and probably a few others, but I'm sure that most will bore me now. I watched You Were Never Really Here with Joaquin Phoenix last night, also an action thriller. It wasn't great, but something like that speaks more to me than the average action movie with little depth and the same plot as most of the other ones.

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23 hours ago, DieselDaisy said:

The nightclub scene. How shit is the T-800, and how shit is Kyle Reese? T-800 stands there with a machine gun infra red on Sarah's head for five minutes (alright alright, it is in slow motion) whilst Kyle fannies about. Bang. Movie over. Skynet wins. Humanity is destroyed. Such small margins, ehh?

If you looked closely enough, you'd see that the T-800's gun did fire, but a little too late as Kyle Reese already hit him. The whole Tech-Noir scene is one of the greatest moments in cinematic history. It's perfectly paced, photographed, lit, edited, sound-mixed and scored. Those small margins make you watch the movie at the edge of your seat.

On 7.07.2020 at 4:27 AM, -W.A.R- said:

I recommend U-Turn (1997) if you haven't seen it. Very similar to Red Rock but more batshit.

I liked that movie, despite it started Oliver Stone's downfall. The last time I've seen it was 15 years ago or even more and it seemed totally pointless, I didn't care about any of the characters. Or it was made on purpose. Stone always did care, and maybe this time he wanted to be more nihilistic. Still a brilliant cast and Robert Richardson's cinematography is always a feast for the eyes. Maybe it's time to refresh this one.

 

 

Johnny Handsome (1989) by Walter Hill

Cast: Mickey Rourke, Ellen Barkin, Lance Henriksen, Forest Whitaker, Morgan Freeman, Elizabeth McGovern, Scott Wilson

Music: Ry Cooder

Cinematography: Matthew F. Leonetti

 

Another neo-noir gem. The last great film with Mickey Rourke in a lead role (until The Wrestler came out) and the second last great one in Walter Hill's filmography (before 1992's Trespass). It's dark and it's beautiful. And the cast is simply superb. Mickey's scene in the front of a mirror is worth a million dollars ("You people did a terrific job"), and Ellen Barkin and Lance Henriksen are perfect scumbags.

"I'm not so sure that I'm what you want."

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A Madea's Family Funeral

22 hours ago, EvanG said:

To be fair, I watched Commando earlier this year. It happened to be on and I probably hadn't seen it since I was a kid, so I thought fuck it... let's see how bad it really is. It was alright, just not my cup of tea anymore. 10 year old me couldn't get enough of them, though. 

Love Commando.  I really like most of Arnold's movies.

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6 hours ago, Drexl said:

If you looked closely enough, you'd see that the T-800's gun did fire, but a little too late as Kyle Reese already hit him. The whole Tech-Noir scene is one of the greatest moments in cinematic history. It's perfectly paced, photographed, lit, edited, sound-mixed and scored. Those small margins make you watch the movie at the edge of your seat.

It is the greatest film Cameron has ever made by a country mile. I love the slow motion shot in the nightclub where the T-800 walks through 1980s spasticated dancing and misses Sarah sitting on a table, who has dropped something and is reaching for it. This might seem a fairly superfluous scene/shot but the directing here is excellent and suspenseful. 

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