ironheart: Have you seen 12 angry men? Its a must see. So is Signs.
Have you seen 12 angry men? Its a must see. So is Signs.
12 Angry Men is on my too-see list. I actually rented it a few weeks ago but never got to watch it.
I also want to see Signs.
Point Break (1991)
Action movies are the greatest genre of movies ever and Point Break is just another movie in a long list of them that proves this.
I meant to watch this when Patrick Swayze passed, but never got around to it. Being that I'm home sick, I decided to watch a movie that I didn't have to pay too much attention to (And Taxi Driver isn't working). Point Break was perfect.
Obviously, it's a little ridiculous. But that doesn't stop it from being extremely enjoyable. The plot? Who cares! The action? So incredibly awesome.
Seriously, this movie so full of kickass things. Keanu Reeves gets a dog thrown at him. He doesn't just shake it off, however, he drop kicks it. The robbers in this movie wear masks of old presidents. There is a hell of a lot of skydiving. Hell, there is an awesome fight while skydiving.
Point Break = one of the most badass movies ever.
Possible Next Movies: Air Force One, Charade, It Happened One Night
Reviews Coming Up: Dawn of the Dead
Air Force One (1997)
The "One man against an army of terrorists who have a lot of hostages" formula is a great way to make an action film. Once Die Hard became popular, most action movies used a similar formula and were pitched as "Die Hard on a...". Air Force One is Die Hard on a plane.
The president (Harrison Ford) is on his way home from Russia when a group of terrorists hijack the plane. When the terrorists are able to take out most of the Secret Service agents, it's up to Mr. President to take them down.
Over the course of the two hour runtime, there is some pretty awesome action and very cool stunts. Combined with awesome performances from Harrison Ford and Gary Oldman, you have an excellent action flick. It's a little too long. Every time you think it's going to end something else happens. Still, Air Force One is one good Die Hard clone.
Possible Next Movies: The Killer, A Fistful of Dollars, It Happened One Night
Tag Sale finds:
Raw DealLethal Weapon 2The Hunt For Red October
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)
I was really excited to watch this movie, because it seemed like something I would love and it did not disappoint.
Actually, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is the best movie I've seen in a while. I cannot praise it enough. I find Shane Black to be one of the greatest action movie writers, and he's very good at mixing action and comedy. Personally, I think the greatest action movies need a little comedy as well.
KKBB is full of comedy. Actually, I was laughing my ass off the whole way through. It's a hysterical movie made even better by stellar performances from Val Kilmer and Robert Downey Jr. The movie couldn't have been as good without them. They were the perfect pairing and their interactions led to a lot of funny moments.
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is full of funny moments and I refuse to tell you about any of them, because it's even better when you don't expect it. If you haven't seen Kiss Kiss Bang Bang yet, make it number 1 in your Netflix queue, because it is such an awesome movie and a welcome addition to my top 10.
Possible Next Movies: Lethal Weapon 2, Raw Deal, It Happened One Night
Dawn of the Dead (1978)
Obviously, with a premise as awesome as this one (Zombies invading a shopping mall), there is a lot of possible good. That's why I was pretty excited to see this and get my first taste of Romero. Sadly, it was a little disappointing.
Well actually, what truly determines how much I love this movie, is if Dawn of the Dead was intended to be a comedy. If it was, then it gets a few bonus points, because it was pretty funny, intentional or not. One of the things I did not like were the characters. They were just...annoying. The movie also felt a little too long. They could've started straight at the mall and taken out 20 minutes but I will admit, the beginning in the news station was pretty cool.
I found that the music was very important to the movie and added a lot to the atmosphere. It's rare that music sticks out to me so much.
The amount of gore was insane. It didn't really bother me, but a few times I muttered, "That's gross." I like how the movie originally was going to get an X rating because of the gore.
Overall, Dawn of the Dead was a good movie, but it fell below my expectations.
Lethal Weapon 2 (1989)
It's a well-known fact that the first Lethal Weapon kicks a lot of ass. However, I gathered from various reviews, that the sequels were lackluster. Lethal Weapon 2 certaintly is not.
Actually, it's just as good, if not better than the first. Lethal Weapon has even better action. The final fight wasn't as ridiculous as the one in LW1, thankfully. Instead, this one is pretty badass. Lethal Weapon 2 is also a lot funnier. Mel really got into the role of Riggs this time, taking his psychoticness to new, funnier heights. Of course, Danny Glover is great as Murtaugh.
My only problem with this movie is Joe Pesci's character Leo Getz. Leo is funny at the times (Like when they are in the South African embassy), but he can also be pretty annoying. Luckily, he's barely in the movie, anyway. Hopefully, his presence will be like that in the other Lethal Weapon films.
I think I may like Lethal Weapon 2 better than the first one. It has awesome action, a great villain and it's hilarious. With only one flaw, LW2 is a kickass movie.
Possible Next Movies: Taxi Driver, The Fugitive, It Happened One Night
Taxi Driver (1976)
It's been almost a week since I've watched this movie. I'm still going it over it in my head, thinking about everything, from the characters, to the acting, to the direction and everything in between.
Taxi Driver is a mindblowing movie. Almost perfect, actually. The only thing keeping it from perfect is the music, which sometimes feels so out of place that it's distracting. Otherwise, everything about this film is excellent.
The thing that makes Taxi Driver, truly, is the performances. If there were anyone else in the role of Travis Bickle (Except for maybe Dustin Hoffman, but that's only because he's my favorite actor), this would be a completely different movie with a lot less impact. Robert De Niro is Taxi Driver. And I think I realized this in the beginning of the film, when Travis is driving his taxi. There are a few closeup shots on De Niro's eyes and the emotion in them is just amazing.
But De Niro isn't the only awesome performance in the film. Jodie Foster is great as the 12-year-old prostitute. Albert Brooks, Harvey Keitel and even Martin Scorsese himself kick ass.
This was my first Scorsese movie and I was extremely blown away. His direction is amazing, though I expected it to be. Taxi Driver is an awesome movie. Highly reccomended.
Possible Next Movies: True Romance, Raging Bull, It Happened One Night
The Edge (1997)
Survival books and movies have always interested me, because I find the idea of one or two people alone trying to survive very entertaining (This is probably why I also love disaster movies). I've read quite a few books, kids books, about this subject (Like Hatchet, yuck), but I've never seen/read a survival movie/book that really entertained me. The Edge is the first.
This movie would be nothing without it's good performances, considering it's pretty much two guys the whole way through. Alec Baldwin is great in comedy roles and that's what I know him for. The guy has perfect comedic timing, and he can make almost anything funny, which is why I find watching him in a dramatic movie sort of difficult. Anthony Hopkins I don't have much experience with (He was in Chaplin, but I don't remember who he was) and I first I didn't really like either of these people's performances. But as the movie wore on, I appreciated their spectacular acting. Special mention must also be given to Bart the Bear because without him, this movie would be nothing.
The Edge is full of exciting chase scenes and all around great scenes. There's one scene with some incredible tension that had me worried for the outcome. I love how my feelings of the two characters changed as the movie went on. I went from hating Baldwin's character, to loving him, hating him for 10 minutes and then loving him in the end. Overall, The Edge is a pretty satisfying movie and I'm happy I watched it.
Possible Next Movies: Raging Bull, 3 Days of the Condor, It Happened One Night
Reviews Coming Up: Saving Private Ryan
So what's the verdict? Scores? No scores? Why am I even asking this? No one reads this anyway.
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Saving Private Ryan is a WWII movie on an epic scale. It opens up with US soldiers storming Omaha Beach. This battle scene is just nuts. Everything is all over the place. It's hard to follow and disorienting, like I would have expected it to be. At the end of the very long scene, the body count is high, blood is everywhere, and quite a few of these soldiers have lost their arms or their legs.
Saving Private Ryan has some very other good battle sequences. There's one excellent showdown between two snipers and the final battle is magnificent in the same way the opening battle was. But SPR has one flaw and I think it's a pretty big one:
You don't care for any of the characters.
Except for maybe James Ryan. You might care for him. But that doesn't really matter, since he's barely in the movie anyways. But the other soldiers, the ones the movie follows the whole way through, aren't likeable. A war film like this should have characters you care. Take the Great Escape. There are a lot of deaths in that movie and for most of the characters, I actually felt a little sad and in most cases, you barely even know them.
But the guys in Saving Private Ryan? You could care less about them. And without that, the only great thing the movie has is its battles. But damn, the battles are good.
Possible Next Movies: Snatch!
Reviews Coming Up: True Romance, Out of Sight, Real Genius
No scores. And by Snatch I hope you mean the guy ritchie film. Good choice.
Cat in the walllll
November 2009 Month-In-Review
November brought me a month of very little movie watching (Thank you MW2) and very little, actually NO discussion (Thank you loyal "fans!" )
1. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang2. Taxi Driver3. Out of Sight4. True Romance5. Point Break6. Lethal Weapon 27. Zombieland8. Real Genius9. Saving Private Ryan10. Grosse Pointe Blank11. The Edge12. Air Force One13. Dawn of the Dead
Number of Tens: 2
Lowest Score: 7
Biggest Surprise: Zombieland
Biggest Disappointment: TIE: Saving Private Ryan; Dawn of the Dead
The Movie That Technically Wasn't Very Good But Was Just Plain Entertaining: Point Break
Taxi Driver >>>>>>> Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
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Saving Private Ryan was disappointing?!
...boy am I saddened!
EDIT: AND YOU STILL HAVENT SEEN SNATCH!?
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GreenManGaming
Kenny007: Saving Private Ryan was disappointing?! ...boy am I saddened! EDIT: AND YOU STILL HAVENT SEEN SNATCH!?
NOT FALLING INTO THE TEMPTATION OF THE WITTY REMARK AHHHH
Pm me your email addy for Lockerz invite have 9 left redemption coming soon
batmania15: Kenny007: Saving Private Ryan was disappointing?! ...boy am I saddened! EDIT: AND YOU STILL HAVENT SEEN SNATCH!? NOT FALLING INTO THE TEMPTATION OF THE WITTY REMARK AHHHH
I lol'd.
