racketboy.com

Once again you put words in my mouth. I prefer chocolate.

marurun wrote:I prefer chocolate.

This we can both agree on.

MrPopo wrote:I wouldn't really call Blade Runner an action movie, personally.

Fair enough. Blade Runner doesn’t fall squarely into the action genre; it didn’t fall squarely into any genre when it came out. It’s not simply a sci-fi movie, a detective movie, a film noire, or an action movie. Blade runner was so different that it practically invented the cyberpunk genre (on screen at least).

Ack wrote:

samsonlonghair wrote:There are plenty of stylish action movies, sure. I can't think of very many action adventure flicks that also qualify as thoughtful. Blade Runner is the only one that comes to mind... maybe the first Matrix film qualifies. Some of the Alien movies are smart (smarter than others in the same franchise). The list starts getting short after that. Feel free to prove me wrong. If y'all can come up with a list of really smart action adventure films, I'd love to watch them.

I'm not really involved in this conversation, but I can offer up a few suggestions for action films that tend to make me think:

First Blood - Focuses on the attitudes and prejudices of American citizens against US veterans post-Vietnam.
Conan the Barbarian - An undoubtedly conservative adaptation of the comic with a stoic emphasis on self-reliance.
Hard Boiled - An interesting look into the minds of police, one detective, one undercover, who unwittingly must go head to head and eventually join forces in the line of duty while making some mistakes in the heat of the moment.
Commando - A parody of the jingoistic US action film.
The Raid 2 - Combination of epic crime film and martial arts masterpiece from Indonesia.
Hardcore Henry - An experiment in filmmaking which provides a view from an angle that is far more up close than cinema traditionally goes.
Shoot 'Em Up - An over-the-top running gun battle that just as often mocks its genre and criticizes the society which enables it to be made as well as US attitudes towards firearms.
Ip Man - An excellent biographical examination of the events which led Ip Man to reevaluate patriotism and martial education in the wake of the Second Sino-Japanese War.
They Live - A paranoid sci-fi criticism of American consumerism.
District 9 - A look at apartheid, segregation, and xenophobia in South Africa, but done through a sci-fi setting where aliens take the place of ethnic minorities or underprivileged.

Pfft! Of course you’re involved in this conversation, dude! You’re involved in practically every page of this thread. I’m pretty sure you’re the only professional movie reviewer here. Lay off the false modesty, Ack.

Good list!
-Coincidentally, I just re-watched Conan the Barbarian last week. Great film in so many ways. It’s a shame they could never make another Conan movie like the first. I had high hopes when I heard rumors about a King Conan movie. Too bad nothing ever came of that. By the way, did you know that even before the Comic book, there was a line of Conan the Barbarian paperback novels?
-I’ve love Shoot ‘em Up to bits. This movie has a permanent spot on my shelf. I rewatch it every year or two, and I always notice some new little detail that I didn’t notice before. **Insert joke about hipsters loving Paul Giamatti movies here.**
-The movie They Live absolutely flipping blew my mind when I was a kid. It seems to be experiencing something of a Renaissance now. I see references to this movie all the time lately. I need to re-watch this one sometime soon.
-I gave District 9 a good review somewhere in this thread the year it came out. I can’t comb through this whole thousand-page thread to find it right now, but I’m sure I gave it high marks.
-I have seen First Blood, but I was too young to understand it at the time. I was just in elementary school. Maybe third grade? I need to go back and rewatch this with adult eyes.
The rest of these I have not seen. I’m going to have to check ‘em out. Thanks for the recommendations, Ack!

ESauced wrote:Watched Spider-Man Homecoming and Jumanji Welcome to the Jungle.

I gotta say, I’ve been pretty burned out on most popcorn movies lately myself, all the Marvel ones start to blend together, but I really enjoyed both of these!

Spider-Man was a lot of fun and had some legitimately funny moments. Michael Keaton was great as a villain. I have to say, I like Sam Raimi, but this one takes the crown as best Spider-Man movie in my mind.

Jumanji is, by a large margin, the best video game movie ever made (or second to Scott Pilgrim if you count that). I mean obviously it’s not based on a real video game but it is inside of one and the video game aspect of it is a big part of the jokes. The Rock was charming and funny as usual, and Kevin Hart and Jack Black both had their moments. I did feel like they had some missed opportunities for jokes with the video game thing, but overall they did a good job with it.

Yeah Spider-Man Homecoming was the best Spider-man movie ever made. I loved it.

Jumanji Welcome to the Jungle is... a movie that exists. Ok, I’m going to level with you. The Rock is charming in almost any movie, but Jumanji Welcome to the Jungle is one of the dumbest movies I’ve ever seen. Just sixteen shades of stupid!

Hahaha, I'm actually not a film reviewer, I'm a researcher. I do watch a ton of these things for fun, but I also do things like identify scenes for social media use, examine credits and release year, read reviews to see what the audience tends to focus on in the plots, etc.

If you'd like more recommendations for action movies that tend to be more cerebral on some level, I'm happy to oblige! Though I do ask for parameters: war, martial arts, westerns, crime films, buddy cop, chanbara...there are a lot of angles to explore. Do you have any preferences?

I think Michi and prfsnl would both enjoy a movie called Super Dark Times (on Netflix).

noiseredux wrote:I think Michi and prfsnl would both enjoy a movie called Super Dark Times (on Netflix).

Awesome. Thanks for the heads up. I’ll check it out!

samsonlonghair wrote:Jumanji Welcome to the Jungle is... a movie that exists. Ok, I’m going to level with you. The Rock is charming in almost any movie, but Jumanji Welcome to the Jungle is one of the dumbest movies I’ve ever seen. Just sixteen shades of stupid!

Yeah it was dumb but it was a comedy. They’re supposed to be dumb. That’s how I feel anyway. I feel like there are many, many movies that are more poorly written. The Marvel movies feel like the dumbest movies to me at this point because every one is exactly the same and I feel it insults my intelligence to show me the same movie ten times and not think I can handle something new.

The Man Who Invented Christmas. I still have Christmas

Whoa.

https://www.facebook.com/transformersmo ... cation=ufi

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom - OH MAN, this movie is every bit as stupid as everyone says it is and I LOVED it. What impressed me was the gothic mansion setting for a large portion of the film! It's like the original Resident Evil and Dino Crisis had a baby and that baby became a movie. If you like dinosaurs and super-dumb horror movies, you'll probably like this. I can't wait for the next one!