[Closed] Recent Viewing Part III

Glad you are enjoying it so far


Well, after 6-7 years, I think it is normal. Keep in mind that Eric Kripke left the show after season five, which was the running time of the show he had planned since the beginning (a veteran from the series, Sera Gamble, took over from Kripke as showrunner though).

Still, six and seven are really good seasons. The chemistry between the main characters is still there, and you can definitely see a (very) dramatic progression regarding the relationship between the two brothers. Besides, some new characters that you are gonna love *cough* Castiel *cough*, and new and interesting arc stories Wouldn't hesitate buying all the seasons.

SHHHHH!!


Same here!

But, when you look at it. How many of these classic action movies are actually good, well-made movies and how much does the nostalgia take over? The biggest stars of the 1980s action cinema couldn't and still *can't* act. I think Dolph Lundgren and Chuck Norris are more wooden than my garden table. Rambo II has a major emotional scene simply badly choreographed, shot and edited (the ambush on Rambo and his girlfriend). I made a point avoiding movies like Cobra on TV. I saw Commando a few years ago and it was total crap, including bad acting from a great guy like Dan Hedaya (Blood Simple, anyone?!)

I've had a huge fight about this thing on a Polish forum I attend (and one I am an admin at ) They say that those movies have passion and emotions nothing today has. But, I would dare to say, Ed Wood also had a lot of passion and... not a lot of craft, to say the least. What holds up together for today? The first Rambo movie, The Lethal Weapon series (unless I forgot that part two isn't from the 1980s, then I apologize, only part one than), Die Hard, a handful of Schwarzenegger movies, Aliens (which is more action than pure horror, I can't even tell whether I prefer the Ridley Scott movie or the Cameron movie, because you can't "prefer" when you have to make a choice between two movies that basically share only a character, the villain, the actress, the title and... a cat), maybe The Terminator (will amend that pretty soon, in fact, almost did it today, but it got too late), Conan the Barbarian? Music is great obviously, cinematography is great, the story is quite decent, but when I tried watching it a few years ago, I had to go to the toilet somewhere in the middle and... didn't feel like going back.

What is good and what does nostalgia influence, really?

A 12 step recovery program?

'Cognitive dissonance'.

I had never come across this phrase until a week ago. And now I have heard it being used! Luckily, the first person who used the phrase - comedian Bill Bailey of all people - also gave a clear definition.

So I can nod knowingly in agreement.

Hate is not a good feeling for you to have my friend. You seem to do a lot of hating (composers, movies etc) lately and if my opinion counts at all, as one who went through this at previous times too, don't do it.

Loved both the idea and the execution, both films. Especially the 2nd with Chuck Norris, the whole cinema was laughing their asses off when he went on-screen and threw the one-liners and the self-joke

Same here, loved both of them. You just don't see this kind of action films nowadays. Never. Let's face it, most of the action movies released today are so light (*cough* for pussies *cough*) on its execution and level of violence that make those old, bad movies of the eighties look like master pieces: they were harsh, tough, cold,... and not directed in the edit room and with loads of fake CGI effects.


The whole cinema applauded when Norris appeared on screen. Actually, you could hear people whispering, wondering WHEN would he appear on screen. And it was worth the long wait. Actually, I think that Norris, with his stone face, has more charisma than most of the action stars of the present.

And yes, his self-joke is priceless.

But all the blood AND explosions in the first one are very *fake* CGI. Sometimes it's all too obvious for that.

I remember watching Commando, for example and wishing for Schwarzenegger's daughter to be killed off, because the girl acted so badly, I didn't want to see her on screen any more.

I don't really care about a heavily intellectual story for a movie, I care for a movie to have a strong story, which with very notable exceptions Thor actually included in his previous post, is practically non-existent in the classic movies. I also like my movies, no matter the genre, to be well-acted, you guys are talking about charisma, to me a guy who can't deliver a line well (Norris, Lundgren, Dudikoff if I remember well) basically make me totally quit any suspension of disbelief or whatever should be included in watching something like Commando, has no charisma. If it's badly-acted, I won't get into the story, because nothing will convince me. And no, even if a character is basically supposed to single-handedly (word?) bring revolution to a fictitious Latin America country, I still need to be convinced by why and what he's doing.

Another thing is that those cult classics and, to be honest, in general the action filmmaking (even of the highest order) in the 1980s has basically ignored the cinematic development of my favourite period in cinema history which are the 1970s. No intelligently used hand-held camera work like Owen Roizman or John Alonso in the 70s basically created. I don't really have a feeling of "being there", so important to my experience of watching movies. Using completely different genres to make you see what I mean, I like to be thrown into the world of the film like Ridley Scott (OK, Black Rain would count) or Michael Mann did with his Heat.

SAUCE CODE ( 2011 )

Jake Gylenhaal or however you spell him plays a bloke who invents a code that makes tasty sauce, Steven Elfman gets hold of it and pours it all over his Crispy Bacon.

Rubbish!

2/10

I quite enjoyed it! It was a wee bit contrived, and ultimately full of plot holes (so he basically took someone else's body to live out the rest of his life? Also, can he shave that beard, or is it just a projection? That's gotta itch).

I also enjoy the score. The fact that Crispy Bacon has worked for JNH shows through in his music, the main theme could almost be for a Shyamalan movie.

I enjoy a movie only if I am fully into it, really, that's why the immersion is so relevant to it.

Also, about the first Expendables movie, the villain was very weak. Eric Roberts' acting was good, but the character was really weak.

Feels like the simpler ending -- truer to the concept -- ending with the kiss -- was the original plan and someone at script development said: 'Hey, I've got a really cool idea...'

(I've not seen Brokeback.)