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Frankie Crisp

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If anything, the first MI film has TOO much plot, to the point that it makes absolutely zero sense.

Anyway, Scarface (1983) 

First time I've watched it in a couple of years. It's still one of my very favourites (yes I am that basic), but one thing that surprises me every time I watch it, is just how funny it is.

It is full of such dry humour, that I find myself laughing out loud several times. Sometimes at things I don't think they meant to be humorous, but still. 

Soundtrack is absolutely fucking banging as well.

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Rewatched O Brother, Where Art Thou? For the millionth time. Still find new bits to laugh at and this time it was Everett’s face just before Delmar’s “Oh George, not the Livestock” line.

E98-D4553-E0-CD-42-D9-9-B6-F-230-E803474

Tim Blake Nelson is probably the MVP of the film, he’s never let me down but there’s no weak link. 

I’d love to revisit them 20 years on for another adventure but that’s just not the Coen’s style.

Edited by Mr_Danger
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13 hours ago, Frankie Crisp said:

You’re right, though. When I was in my 20s I assumed we’d seen the last of the best action films; I’d been breast-fed the best of the best in Predator, Top Gun and Indiana Jones so in my head it was a generational genre that would die with New Kids on the Block. Then we got the 90s which delivered like nothing else.

I got old and assumed the glory days were behind me and then we get served with the films you mentioned. I mention the Mission: Impossible films in conversation to mates who dismiss them as some flyaway nothingness. I need better mates.

The 90s still don't get nearly as much credit as the 80s. I think that's probably because the genre really took off in the 80s and you had Schwarzenegger at the peak of his powers. But the 90s were definitely better for the sheer volume of great action films there were. The 2010s snuck up on me in terms of how good they were.

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42 minutes ago, Devon Malcolm said:

The 90s still don't get nearly as much credit as the 80s. I think that's probably because the genre really took off in the 80s and you had Schwarzenegger at the peak of his powers. But the 90s were definitely better for the sheer volume of great action films there were. The 2010s snuck up on me in terms of how good they were.

Yeah, the bulk of the M:I series aside, the 90s is my favourite era for action films.

Heat, T2, Jurassic Park, Face/Off, Speed then you’ve got Con Air, Broken Arrow, The Rock and other favourites we’ve discussed on here over the years. I have a soft-spot for Police Story 3 even if it’s not up there with the first and I won’t hear a bad word said about Ferris Bueller legging after Godzilla or Deep Blue Sea. I fucking love those.

The Fugitive is one of my all-timers, as it should be for everyone.

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ahead of a long overdue re-read of the book, I watched Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) last night for the first time in years.

The score is superb. That recurring main theme feels so foreboding and sinister, it might just be the best tension-building music in cinema this side of the opening of The Shining. At times it looks stunning, too.

I don't have a lot else good to say about. Some of the in-camera and physical effects are incredible (as far as I can tell, there's no CGI in the whole movie), but the amount it relies on double exposure and so on becomes almost comedic by the end. The decision to show Dracula's arrival in London as if it's shot on an old-timey wind-up camera seemed completely arbitrary and at odds with the rest of the movie, and there's one point where there's an Iris transition/wipe away from Dracula's face, as if it's a fucking Looney Tunes cartoon.

A lot has been written about how fucking dreadful Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder's accents are, and rightly so, but that lets Tom Waits off the hook for one of the most bizarre attempts at an English accent I've ever heard (as much as, otherwise, I think Waits as Renfield is inspired casting), Anthony Hopkins' Van Helsing for an inconsistent "Dutch" accent that seems to skip all over western Europe within sentences, and whatever the fuck Gary Oldman was aiming for. Billy Campbell as Quincey Morris comes across as a complete caricature, and I'm not really sure what he brings to the plot, while Richard E. Grant and Cary Elwes have maybe the only plausible accent in the entire movie, but has the "Cary Elwes In A Serious Role" drawback of never quite feeling like a real human being.

Not really a fan of the romantic subplot, or the hackneyed Dracula backstory. I prefer the character as somewhat unknowable - the audience should learn about him as the characters do, not have the whole film begin with his origin story and make it immediately apparent what his motivations are.

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Human Traffic

I've always loved it, and this time around was no exception at all. The thing with 'drug' films is that they can feel really inauthentic and staged, and this doesn't, which is strange given that it gets very surreal at times. It is absolutely of it's time and that's OK.

Danny Dyer is fucking superb, and the soundtrack is a great throwback. The greasy burger manager still makes me want to look away though.

A Whisker Away

10yo is going through a MASSIVE Japanese phase at the moment, so we watched this anime last night.

Girl who is in love with boy, meets a strange massive cat who gives her a mask that allows her to become a cat and get near to said boy.

Very sweet, and with a very cool soundtrack, we both really enjoyed this a lot. 

Almost Famous

Maybe 10/15 years since I saw it, and yeah again, absolutely loved it. I think everyone is great in this, but especially Kate Hudson who's performance is so touching, but never to the point of being overbearing in it's attempts to sympathise. Billy Crudup is excellent as well.

Stillwater have to be the worst fictional band of all time though don't they? 

Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade

Still the greatest action film of all time for me, and the kids absolutely loved it. Cried again when Sean Connery calls him Indiana.

The Nut Job

Was OK, better than I expected. 

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18 hours ago, SuperBacon said:

Almost Famous

Maybe 10/15 years since I saw it, and yeah again, absolutely loved it. I think everyone is great in this, but especially Kate Hudson who's performance is so touching, but never to the point of being overbearing in it's attempts to sympathise. Billy Crudup is excellent as well.

Stillwater have to be the worst fictional band of all time though don't they? 

It's such a great film. Totally agree on Kate Hudson's performance, she's fantastic. I've got a copy of the Stillwater EP of the songs from the film and there's some belters on it although "Fever Dog" is definitely the best track by a mile. Considering the songs were written by Peter Frampton, Nancy from Heart and Mike McReady from Pearl Jam there's no real stinkers on it. As people though, yeah, Stillwater are dicks.

18 hours ago, SuperBacon said:

Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade

Still the greatest action film of all time for me, and the kids absolutely loved it. Cried again when Sean Connery calls him Indiana.

Easily the best one of the series and the reason we called our dog Indy. Might have to watch that this afternoon.

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The Gentleman
Charlie Hunnam’s  accent is absolutely wild in this. Cockney, Irish, American and eventually his native Geordie. No idea what he was going for. Bit of a weird film, some of it is pretty funny and entertaining but it’s so jarring to see the Guy Ritchie staples in 2020. Non actors playing heavies and criminals and some of the language sticks out like a sore thumb.

The worst part is when a black character takes offence at being called a black cunt but is explained to by a white character that it’s ok because he is black and he is a cunt and it’s just banter and it might as well be the director sat in a chair explaining it to the audience. Jesus Christ.
 

Rewatched Annihilation after it. It’s almost a masterpiece. 

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Is The Untouchables meant to be a comedy/parody? have vague memories of the staircase scene from childhood but just watching it now for the 1st time. I'm about halfway in and some of the accents/music & dialogue is just mental, the scene were is wife is making is lunch for work with a weird smile and shit music playing honestly seems like a sketch along with where Im at now where they're pn horseback looking at a bridge with some Monty Python character 

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24 minutes ago, Kamaras-Tash said:

Is The Untouchables meant to be a comedy/parody? have vague memories of the staircase scene from childhood but just watching it now for the 1st time. I'm about halfway in and some of the accents/music & dialogue is just mental, the scene were is wife is making is lunch for work with a weird smile and shit music playing honestly seems like a sketch along with where Im at now where they're pn horseback looking at a bridge with some Monty Python character 

I'm not 100% sure but I don't think it's intended as a comedy or a parody as such. Connery's accent is pretty ropey. That said the staircase scene is, I believe, a homage to a similar scene in Battleship Potemkin. 

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1 minute ago, mim731 said:

I'm not 100% sure but I don't think it's intended as a comedy or a parody as such. Connery's accent is pretty ropey. That said the staircase scene is, I believe, a homage to a similar scene in Battleship Potemkin. 

This. It just doesn't really hold up well unless you forgive a bunch of stuff.

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On 7/5/2020 at 1:13 AM, DEF said:

Die Hard, Predator, Terminator, Demolition Man, Con Air, John Wick etc. The stories of those films are absolutely as memorable as the action.

I love demolition man but it can't just be me that considers its plot generally a bit thin. 

Having not seen it in a few years I can still remember nearly every scene of that film but couldn't tell you why evil future dude has gone to all the trouble of using snipes to kill someone because it ultimately wasn't that important to enjoying the film or the continuing Spartan & Phoenix showdowns in a fish out of water world. 

It's also got a gorgeous Sandra Bullock talking about licking ass, so that's a +1.

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