|
Now it just needs Nic Cage and get Keanu Reeves to hang dong and I'll see it twice in theaters and buy five copies of the blu-ray.
|
#
?
Aug 10, 2021 15:32
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 27, 2024 01:02 |
|
|
Just Thundergun the poo poo out of us
|
|
#
?
Aug 10, 2021 21:02
|
|
|
I like that they're just adding a bunch of fight guys to JW4, so I'm expecting maximum fighting and not so much gun stuff.
|
|
#
?
Aug 11, 2021 11:05
|
|
|
It will probably be like 3 where you had all the gun stuff against faceless randoms and then awesome fights with Mark Dacascos, Yahan Ruhian and Cecep Rahman. Which I think works pretty well and provided a nice break in the action. The fight in 3 with the guys from the raid is so good, you can tell they just had a ton of fun making it and it really utilized everyone's size really well.
|
|
#
?
Aug 11, 2021 11:56
|
|
|
CeeJee posted:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MysGjRS9jFU Righteous, love Band Maid. J-rock (and metal) for life! And Clancy Brown, whatta guy. John Wick 4 is looking good. That said, it's the first one without whatshisface writing it (Derek Kolstad), but, the franchise has earned my trust. Here's hoping they'll know if the script isn't good.
|
|
#
?
Aug 13, 2021 04:35
|
|
|
I'm going through the entire JCVD filmography and I've gotten to Kickboxer: Vengeance. The fight scenes are SO bad, I'm kinda stunned that IMDB user reviews all rave about how great they are. The main protagonist gets his rear end kicked all the time while hardly landing a blow on his opponent. The big fight at the end is extremely one-sided with Bautista just beating the poo poo out the hero. Also, JCVD's voice is randomly dubbed over by a very different voice.
|
|
#
?
Aug 21, 2021 03:27
|
|
|
clockworkjoe posted:Also, JCVD's voice is randomly dubbed over by a very different voice. I gotta say, that is amazingly nutty. Sounds like a troubled film. Also, kudos on your JCVD journey, that sounds pretty wild. If you're watching all or even most of them, that's gotta be some level of zen to handle that. I love JCVD, but I don't think I could dip into all those lower end recent ones without losing my mind (more than usual). Speaking of bad movies, Snake Eyes Origins... good lord. Just good lord. Fire the writer, fire the director... out of a cannon. Into the ocean. I hope Larry Hama doesn't have to see this.
|
|
#
?
Aug 21, 2021 12:37
|
|
|
I watched Face Off last night for the first time in probably 20 years. It definitely doesn't feel like the 2 hour runtime... I'd forgotten so much about it but man, Castor Troy is such a compellingly evil character. It's a shame that we don't get that much Nic Cage playing him because he's a delight. Travolta also does a bang up job of playing him as a face swap lunatic. There's so many sparks in this film, so much beautiful slow mo and sadly only a handful of lovely artistic shots like the single instance a slow mo camera has a kinda star filter on it when it's shooting out of focus sparks. There was also some rad slow mo shots of guns shooting towards the end. I was streaming it from Prime Video and either my Internet connection was shonky for the entirety of the film or the version available to stream isn't exactly high quality. It was also pretty dark in places it doesn't seem like it should be, it has been so long since I saw it last I can't remember what the deal is. Anyway what a banger of a film, bring back Hong Kong Woo please, the height of his powers.
|
|
#
?
Aug 22, 2021 11:18
|
|
|
Olympic Mathlete posted:Anyway what a banger of a film, bring back Hong Kong Woo please, the height of his powers. Amen to that. Nothing delights me like John Woo in his prime, oh lord he's good. Plus he's a great writer, editor, just whatta guy. One fun tidbit that came up recently, Nic Cage mentioned that John Woo showed him A Bullet in The Head. During preparation for Face/Off. When Nic saw the style of acting and tone (over-the-top and operatic), he got it, essentially Woo gave Cage permission to go for it. Just beautiful.
|
|
#
?
Aug 22, 2021 19:08
|
|
|
Heavy Metal posted:I gotta say, that is amazingly nutty. Sounds like a troubled film. Yeah, JCVD fridays are an excuse to do an online hangout with my brother and some friends. He's way more into JCVD than I am but it has been fascinating to watch the highs and lows of JCVD's career. What's interesting is JCVD has not entirely checked out like Bruce Willis or Steven Seagal. There's some good movies in his later career like Universal Soldier: Regeneration and Day of Reckoning - some ensemble pieces that are fine like Swelter and Welcome to the Jungle (a comedy!) and of course JCVD the film itself is great. On the other hand, he made a lot of films with HK directors like Ringo Lam and some of them are just miserable. In Hell is a mean-spirited prison movie without any redeeming elements.
|
|
#
?
Aug 22, 2021 19:52
|
|
|
Right on, that's how ya do it! Those Universal Soldier movies are highlights for sure. Assassination Games is another one from around then that I liked too. Speaking of Van Damme and HK directors, I love Knock Off for some reason.
|
|
#
?
Aug 22, 2021 20:06
|
|
|
Knock Off is great. I love the way it breaks the mold of those 90s HK directors in Hollywood movies with Tsui taking the American cast and money back to Hong Kong to make the film.
FancyMike fucked around with this message at 20:39 on Aug 22, 2021 |
|
#
?
Aug 22, 2021 20:37
|
|
|
clockworkjoe posted:Yeah, JCVD fridays are an excuse to do an online hangout with my brother and some friends. He's way more into JCVD than I am but it has been fascinating to watch the highs and lows of JCVD's career. What's interesting is JCVD has not entirely checked out like Bruce Willis or Steven Seagal. There's some good movies in his later career like Universal Soldier: Regeneration and Day of Reckoning - some ensemble pieces that are fine like Swelter and Welcome to the Jungle (a comedy!) and of course JCVD the film itself is great. On the other hand, he made a lot of films with HK directors like Ringo Lam and some of them are just miserable. In Hell is a mean-spirited prison movie without any redeeming elements. I really enjoyed Last Mercenary on Netflix. Definitely in the mold of Jean Claude Van Johnson but had some good action.
|
|
#
?
Aug 22, 2021 22:28
|
|
|
I've seen a few Cyntha Rothrock movies so decided to watch Undefeatable just because it was mentioned a few pages back. The fights were decent I suppose, but everything else, yikes. On the other hand the Jackie Chan Crime Story movie is pretty good. It might've been mentioned somewhere too but in general it doesn't seem to be discussed very often compared to Police Story or Supercop or something. I recently watched Fast9 and it was fun, but it's still striking how much smaller-scale, but real effects here just feel more impactful. Jackie is good playing it serious, but does seem like a bit of a waste that he isn't pulling his usual comedic style which is so unique to him. Olympic Mathlete posted:I watched Face Off last night for the first time in probably 20 years. It definitely doesn't feel like the 2 hour runtime... I'd forgotten so much about it but man, Castor Troy is such a compellingly evil character. It's a shame that we don't get that much Nic Cage playing him because he's a delight. Travolta also does a bang up job of playing him as a face swap lunatic. Most of the other stuff is pretty underwhelming unfortunately. Red Cliff didn't seem to have any guns so I skipped through most of it, and Manhunt was pretty meh. Looking at his imdb, I just noticed that I've never seen The Crossing, which is probably not an action flick either.
|
|
#
?
Aug 23, 2021 00:23
|
|
|
mobby_6kl posted:I've seen a few Cyntha Rothrock movies so decided to watch Undefeatable just because it was mentioned a few pages back. The fights were decent I suppose, but everything else, yikes. Red Cliff has some absolutely amazing battle scenes. Incredibly over the top, like how a little kid thinks battles work, it's loving great.
|
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2021 05:15
|
|
|
Like a lot of people, I used the recent passing of Sonny Chiba as an excuse to rewatch The Street Fighter, which I hadn't seen in many years. That movie kicks so much rear end, it's almost unbelievable. It's dirty and mean spirited, and it could only have been made in the 70s. Everyone's probably seen most of the cool moments at least in gif form, but you really need to see the movie to see what a total rear end in a top hat Chiba's character is. I can't imagine anyone reading this thread hasn't seen it, but on the off chance, give yourself a treat.
|
|
#
?
Aug 27, 2021 13:49
|
|
man
|
dokmo posted:Like a lot of people, I used the recent passing of Sonny Chiba as an excuse to rewatch The Street Fighter, which I hadn't seen in many years. That movie kicks so much rear end, it's almost unbelievable. It's dirty and mean spirited, and it could only have been made in the 70s. Everyone's probably seen most of the cool moments at least in gif form, but you really need to see the movie to see what a total rear end in a top hat Chiba's character is. I can't imagine anyone reading this thread hasn't seen it, but on the off chance, give yourself a treat. Will do! I have seen GI Samurai, which I loved. I did tape one of Street Fighter's sequels off of the action channel on cable once though. Any other fav Chiba heavy movies? I really liked Deadly Outlaw Rekka, though not a Chiba movie per se, as a main attraction. Also, to throw an extra recommendation Q in here, any fav 80s and 90s Japanese action movies or thrillers? And if yakuza, ones other than Miike or Kitano, just because I know about those ones and whatnot. I've also seen Zeiram and Hokkaider and whatnot, cool stuff of course. It seems HK was exploding in 80s/90s, but I don't have a lot of Japan from that period on my list, outside of anime. And some drama movies etc. Plus I just really love 80s and 90s movies, cool vibe. Heavy Metal fucked around with this message at 23:12 on Aug 27, 2021 |
|
#
?
Aug 27, 2021 23:08
|
|
|
I think Wolf Guy is the other Sonny Chiba movie people tend to recommend. Check out the Sister Street Fighter movies with Etsuko Shihomi, which are arguably better than Chiba's series. If you're into 90's Miike and that whole Japanese V-cinema, you might like the comedy/noir Yakuza films Kyoshi Kurosawa made with Show Aikawa in the mid 90's, this is pre-Cure Kyoshi. It's a 6 film series called "Suit Yourself or Shoot Yourself!", about a pair of Yakuzas who get into the weirdest troubles. Not heavy on action, more hangout and vibe type of movies.
|
|
#
?
Aug 28, 2021 14:26
|
|
|
Right on, sounds cool. We've talked a bit about different countries boom periods for film, like how HK was exploding with talent and great films for decades etc. And Japan decades earlier had Kurosawa etc. But I wonder why in say the 80s and 90s it seems live-action Japanese movies are such a niche and low budget thing. They had that good economy thing going in the 80s, anime was prolific as hell, but not a lot of live-action flicks across the genres. Not to randomly diss Japan, it's out of love, since I dig that stuff and would like a lot more. And just curiosity etc. Take say this letterboxd page of all Japan's 1988 movies, sorted by popularity. https://letterboxd.com/films/popular/year/1988/country/japan/size/small/ There are a lot of anime classics, and virtually nothing of note in live-action. Maybe some decent drama and tearjerkers, haven't seen those listed there. There's funny fluff trash we've heard of like Star Virgin etc, I mean, was there just not much of a film industry at all at the time, outside of anime? And/or, the good gems are just really really unknown to Western audiences decades later? Or was it that anime was so hot, if you were doing action or adventure on a budget you might as well just finance an anime instead of trying for live-action. Just a man looking for gems here, like in that Sandler movie. Somebody's gotta ask these tough questions about 1988.
|
|
#
?
Aug 28, 2021 20:30
|
|
|
Heavy Metal posted:Right on, sounds cool. I've read it described in that culturally Japan had Dragon Quest instead of Star Wars and that sort of filled part of the void in the wake of when Japan's film industry was in some bad shape. When I was writing about video games a lot, stuff from that late 80s era you'd see a lot of crossover where like, some guy who drew backgrounds for a PC Engine action game became a key animator at Studio Ghibli, or like the woman who did the background art for the Data East Captain America game also did artwork for the Urusei Yatsura movies. A lot of the folks who were in the Japanese game industry for a while, their "origin story" is like "I was a gardener for ten years it's the only thing I ever knew, but then I saw a video game and my friend said maybe you should make video games", or it's like "I was a punk who just left school, I saw an ad for game designer and figured I could make young punks like me in a game" and then they dropped some majorly important work. So nothing against live action movie crews or whatever but I think you had this sort of crossover of talent and passionate people that was sidestepping live action stuff and going directly into anime or games because hey that was the cool new thing.* *Obviously animation had existed for decades but there was a boom thanks to stuff being able to go direct to VHS. Neo Rasa fucked around with this message at 20:54 on Aug 28, 2021 |
|
#
?
Aug 28, 2021 20:50
|
|
|
That's cool, interesting stuff for sure. Good point that video games definitely filled a big part of capturing the imagination. Plus we did have some cinematic storytellers like good ol' Hideo Kojima getting going in that medium.
|
|
#
?
Aug 28, 2021 21:16
|
|
|
Heavy Metal posted:Just a man looking for gems here, like in that Sandler movie. Somebody's gotta ask these tough questions about 1988. I believe (I'm no scholar though) that the non-cartoon Japanese film industry was on a decline since the 60s. This is clearly visible in the chanbaras (historical swordfighting flicks) that got gradually less lush and more gritty from the post war era into the 70s. I don't think their tv industry suffered in the same way. But we're in the action movie thread, where you don't really need a functioning film industry to produce boss flicks. I am not an expert, but here are my favorite Japanese action or action-adjacent movies from the 80s and 90s. Mermaid Legend (1984), a beautiful thriller about a woman who suffers injustices and then goes on a revenge spree. Shogun's Ninja (1980), a ninja flick starring Hiroyuki Sanada and Sonny Chiba Dead Or Alive (1999), a weird gangster movie from Takashi Miike Riki Oh: The Story of Riki (1991), a martial arts splatter flick with the craziest poo poo in the world Gonin (1995), a gritty heist movie with surreal touches Fudoh: The New Generation (1996), another Miike gangster movie, but with more Miike weird stuff Pornostar (1998), a serial killer teams up with a yakuza, it's a weird poetic movie The Most Terrible Time in My Life (1994), a 1940s detective film noir homage from the 2000s, I think many people would agree that Versus (2000) is one of the most original action movies of the era https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COfUWCYo9sU post 2000 Takashi Miike made some more worthwhile low-budget action flicks, some of them transcendent Dead Or Alive 2 Izo Deadly Outlaw Rekka The Man in White and two historical action flicks with a substantial budget that were very good Blade of the Immortal 13 Assassins for the 2010s here are my favorites: Re:Born (2016), a straight action flick with lots of cool knife stuff Bushido Man (2013), a martial arts satire (kind of) with lots of great fights the Rurouni Kenshin series, samurai action with some of the best sword fight scenes ever Takeshi Kitano's Outrage trilogy, old school yakuza gangster poo poo
|
|
#
?
Aug 28, 2021 21:44
|
|
|
Nice, cool stuff no doubt. The manga is really really good for Blade of the Immortal. Versus is charming as hell too, I dig a bunch of Ryuhei's movies.
|
|
#
?
Aug 28, 2021 22:15
|
|
|
Heavy Metal posted:We've talked a bit about different countries boom periods for film, like how HK was exploding with talent and great films for decades etc. And Japan decades earlier had Kurosawa etc. But I wonder why in say the 80s and 90s it seems live-action Japanese movies are such a niche and low budget thing. They had that good economy thing going in the 80s, anime was prolific as hell, but not a lot of live-action flicks across the genres. There are a few causes to this, but the main one is the incredible dominance TV held in Japan from the late 60s onwards. By the time the 80s rolled around, most major studios had collapsed because people simply weren't going to theatres anymore. Low-budget productions, often featuring sexually explicit content were the pretty much the only thing cheap enough to still turn a profit. Studio Ghibli is an odd outlier in this regard and explaining their success probably requires more cultural knowledge than I possess. Edit: Not that this phenomenon was restricted to Japan of course. Look at the films France or Italy were producing in the 50s/60s and what they produced in the 80s, and you can definitely see the impact television had on their national industries. Though Hollywood continually expanding its global hegemony and crowding out domestic releases played a role as well. Samuel Clemens fucked around with this message at 23:25 on Aug 28, 2021 |
|
#
?
Aug 28, 2021 23:13
|
|
|
clockworkjoe posted:Yeah, JCVD fridays are an excuse to do an online hangout with my brother and some friends. He's way more into JCVD than I am but it has been fascinating to watch the highs and lows of JCVD's career. What's interesting is JCVD has not entirely checked out like Bruce Willis or Steven Seagal. There's some good movies in his later career like Universal Soldier: Regeneration and Day of Reckoning - some ensemble pieces that are fine like Swelter and Welcome to the Jungle (a comedy!) and of course JCVD the film itself is great. On the other hand, he made a lot of films with HK directors like Ringo Lam and some of them are just miserable. In Hell is a mean-spirited prison movie without any redeeming elements. I need to rewatch Double Impact/Sudden Impact for an Impact Impact marathon I remember Knock Off starting in the most ridiculous way, JCVD pulling a rickshaw as Rob Schneider whips him lol
|
|
#
?
Aug 28, 2021 23:23
|
|
|
Knock Off is great, there's only like one good fight scene and the rest is all unfiltered Tsui Hark style flourishes-the zoom in on exploding shoes, whooshing camera in the parking garage, green fire, it's a crazy movie
|
|
#
?
Aug 29, 2021 00:31
|
|
|
Well, I got The New Barbarians and watched it for my birthday, and. Um. I laughed my head off. It was great. Takes place in 2019, nine years after the nuclear war, and people have forgotten how to sew pants so everyone is wearing medieval-style leggings/chaps and giant codpieces (small diamond-shaped ones for women) And giant, almost circular, shoulder pads. The evil Templars are killing everyone they meet and blaming the apocalypse on "books," which they also destroy. A couple guys are killing Templars and arguing with each other. Disguised dune buggies everywhere! Silver paint on everything! And radioactive contamination magically disappears after 7 years, so it's safe to wander the landscape (Italian quarries). There is one extremely green sex scene, and one rape that is so abstract (it's a PG-13 movie) that I almost couldn't figure out what was going on.
|
|
#
?
Sep 8, 2021 19:41
|
|
|
The Raiders of Atlantis is a fun time. Cheesy and lots of shooting
|
|
#
?
Sep 8, 2021 23:50
|
|
|
Chris Knight posted:talk about bringing a knife to a gun fight Edit: movie loving owns. It's not quite as amazing as the best John Woo or Jackie Chan action/comedy but it's still very good, has lots of great fights, real stunts, sleazy European criminals, suprintendant yelling, basically everything you'd expect in an 80s HK buddy cop movie. brocked posted:Knock Off is great, there's only like one good fight scene and the rest is all unfiltered Tsui Hark style flourishes-the zoom in on exploding shoes, whooshing camera in the parking garage, green fire, it's a crazy movie The JCVD Knock Off? mobby_6kl fucked around with this message at 00:44 on Sep 11, 2021 |
|
#
?
Sep 10, 2021 15:23
|
|
|
MacheteZombie posted:The Raiders of Atlantis is a fun time. Cheesy and lots of shooting I've gotta see that, early 80s Italian cheese, yes please. mobby_6kl posted:This if Tiger on Beat, a Chow Yun-Fat movie I've never heard of somehow. Looks pretty good, it's on my watch list for tonight. Oh yes, that's some fun JCVD. And cool to see the Chow appreciation! I love HK movies so much, and Chow especially. Stephen Chow too, they should've teamed up! Though they've both starred in some God of Gamblers / All for the Winner movies which rule. Love Tiger on Beat too. Another crazy 80s comedy with Chow Yun-Fat I love is 100 Ways to Murder Your Wife. And for more wild action, Full Contact is cool. And the John Woo classics always deliver. Can't go wrong.
|
|
#
?
Sep 11, 2021 04:45
|
|
|
I know the MCU poo poo isn't quite within the purview of this thread, but the fighting and choreo in Shang Chi was done such a disservice by being drowned in CG backgrounds and effects that make it all look kinda vague and unreal.
|
|
#
?
Sep 11, 2021 05:42
|
|
|
Kate, the latest Netflix original, is a mixed bag. Mary Elizabeth Winstead is really good, it looks great and contains two genuinely outstanding action scenes (the fight in the restaurant and the one in the kitchen) otherwise it's a bog standard version of one of the two plots movies about assassins always have. The two good fights are really good though.
|
|
#
?
Sep 13, 2021 03:29
|
|
|
Snowman_McK posted:Kate, the latest Netflix original, is a mixed bag. Mary Elizabeth Winstead is really good, it looks great and contains two genuinely outstanding action scenes (the fight in the restaurant and the one in the kitchen) otherwise it's a bog standard version of one of the two plots movies about assassins always have. Its really good! I think it gets some props for having some interesting cinematography and shots in the movie rather than just lackadaisically working its way through the action cliches. Those 2 fights mentioned were hella good, and I think overall MEW does a great job in the action role. The plots a little whatever, but it doesn't matter the movie sells it! Spoiler: Kate just longing for the stupid boom boom lemon carbonated fake drink throughout the whole film is a fun little running gag
|
|
#
?
Sep 13, 2021 08:24
|
|
|
Kate feels like they made, by accident or design, a really solid Cyberpunk:2077 movie.
|
|
#
?
Sep 13, 2021 10:23
|
|
|
CeeJee posted:Kate feels like they made, by accident or design, a really solid Cyberpunk:2077 movie. Does MEW T-pose on someone and then phase through several walls?
|
|
#
?
Sep 13, 2021 10:30
|
|
|
Jerkface posted:Its really good! I think it gets some props for having some interesting cinematography and shots in the movie rather than just lackadaisically working its way through the action cliches. Those 2 fights mentioned were hella good, and I think overall MEW does a great job in the action role. The plots a little whatever, but it doesn't matter the movie sells it! Oh yeah, I liked it. It's a solid 6 or 7 out of 10. Even the kid had grown on me by the end. There are some bits that really elevate it and I enjoyed playing 'spot the Takeshi Kitano/Takashi Miike collaborator' among the cast. I think the bits that are genuinely inspired make the bits that are pedestrian more annoying, because you can see that this was a team capable of something great. The genuinely incredible restaurant scene being followed up with the competent but standard alleyway shootout is a perfect example
|
|
#
?
Sep 15, 2021 09:59
|
|
|
Is Chow Yun-Fat functionally retired at this point? Been a while since he was in something. I know he came out in favor of the HK protests so he's pretty much blacklisted in the Beijing film industry (this is why he's a legend).
|
|
#
?
Sep 15, 2021 14:50
|
|
|
His last movie was in 2018, and he's still attached to do Cold War 3.(Though who knows when that is happening, if at all) The problem is less with Chow and more with the Hong Kong film industry being in a suspended state since 2019, first with the protests, then with Covid, now with the new censor guidelines. Chow's been blacklisted for a long time, even before the 2019 protests, but he has a type of fame and popularity with Chinese audiences that means he just stays around making weird CGI gambling movies that make all the money, people just don't care what he says or who he supports.Also unlike the Fan Bingbings and Zhao Wei's, Chow Yun Fat doesn't seem to be interested in engaging in massive tax fraud schemes, so there's not much the Party can do other than shadowban him from mainland only productions. Electronico6 fucked around with this message at 16:51 on Sep 15, 2021 |
|
#
?
Sep 15, 2021 16:46
|
|
|
Snowman_McK posted:Oh yeah, I liked it. It's a solid 6 or 7 out of 10. Even the kid had grown on me by the end. There are some bits that really elevate it and I enjoyed playing 'spot the Takeshi Kitano/Takashi Miike collaborator' among the cast. I think the bits that are genuinely inspired make the bits that are pedestrian more annoying, because you can see that this was a team capable of something great. The genuinely incredible restaurant scene being followed up with the competent but standard alleyway shootout is a perfect example Yea I'd be curious to know when the alley scene was added to the script, because I think its obvious a lot of care went into the restaurant and kitchen choreography.
|
|
#
?
Sep 15, 2021 18:13
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 27, 2024 01:02 |
|
|
Jerkface posted:Yea I'd be curious to know when the alley scene was added to the script, because I think its obvious a lot of care went into the restaurant and kitchen choreography. I'm pretty sure it was in the script from early on. It's a pretty key scene. However, it's shooting on either a much bigger set or possibly on location, so they're a bit more pressed for time. The two really good scenes are in enclosed spaces with small groups of actors. The key to a great scene often seems to simply be time.
|
|
#
?
Sep 16, 2021 07:01
|
|