I Just Watched (Films)

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Maturin
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Re: I Just Watched (Films)

Post by Maturin » Sat Jan 22, 2022 9:57 am

Red Heat's not his best but I still find it enjoyable enough to give it a 6/10. I mean, Commando is just as 'bad' if you try to analyse it, but it just has a higher quota of ridiculous cheesy memorable moments, not because it has a better script, better acting or anything.

There's just something about Arnie being fantastically wooden & totally conspicuous, moving from location to location that is forever entertaining. Red Heat is interesting in that they were sort of aiming for a genuinely gritty cop thriller at some point, but it ended up in this weird semi-cheesy no man's land which I find quite intriguing.

Eh, it rattles along quickly enough.

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Raid
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Re: I Just Watched (Films)

Post by Raid » Sat Jan 22, 2022 10:07 am

At 104 minutes, not nearly quickly enough.

I have nothing against Arnie, I quite like his brand of being terribly macho coupled with terrible one-liners. My issue with Red Heat is that they just don't make use of the actor for the qualities he's known for. Anybody could have played that character and it would have been the same film.

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Mantis
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Re: I Just Watched (Films)

Post by Mantis » Sat Jan 22, 2022 12:26 pm

I love Red Heat. I think Maturin is right, hold a lens up to pretty much all of Arnie's 80s output and they are all absolutely terrible. That's one of the reasons I love them all so much though.

I think Running Man is arguably just as bad as Red Heat, if not worse, but it's still one of my favourites of his. There's just something about that super po faced, humourless performance in Red Heat that cracks me up. The bathhouse scene at the start is absolute peak Arnie; topless, wordlessly clutching a boiling hot rock and punching a man through a wall into the snow. Absolute classic.

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Animalmother
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Re: I Just Watched (Films)

Post by Animalmother » Sat Jan 22, 2022 12:55 pm

Personally I think Red Heat is just very bad with hardly any redeeming qualities, every character without exception is an unlikeable asshole The much maligned Raw Deal should be the same but is actually very entertaining and Arnie gets to be silly and looks like he's enjoying himself. It's trash but it's fun trash and just goes with it.

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Wrathbone
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Re: I Just Watched (Films)

Post by Wrathbone » Sat Jan 22, 2022 6:28 pm

Mantis wrote:
Sat Jan 22, 2022 12:26 pm
I love Red Heat. I think Maturin is right, hold a lens up to pretty much all of Arnie's 80s output and they are all absolutely terrible. That's one of the reasons I love them all so much though.
Oh totally, I don’t think there’s any question that most (not all) of his 80s action stuff is objectively trash, but in terms of pure entertainment I think Red Heat fails for much of the duration. There are highlights, but overall it’s a bit boring. There’s a disappointing lack of post-mortem one liners and the action doesn’t have much novelty (except for the bit at the start where he rips a guy’s leg off). The baddy is really dull too.

Compare that to Commando, the pinnacle of 80s action. Bennett damn well demands attention every moment he’s on screen with his amazing chainmail vest and Freddy Mercury moustache. The action involves not only mass-annihilation of an army in a variety of novel and gratuitous ways, but also personal takedowns with wonderfully daft one-liners. Red Heat has none of this! Simply watching Matrix rip out a car seat for no good reason is funnier than anything Ivan Danko comes out with. The two films are night and day to me.

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Re: I Just Watched (Films)

Post by Wrathbone » Sat Jan 22, 2022 9:32 pm

Sense and Sensibility

This was part of the Columbia Classics 4k collection I got a while back. Finally got round to watching it.

Not a single novelty death, let alone a post-mortem one liner. The entire bloody thing seems to be people weeping uncontrollably. I was hoping Mr Wiloughsby would let loose with duelling pistols at the end, but instead there was just Alan Rickman pelting people with coins.

Total bollocks.

2/10

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Raid
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Re: I Just Watched (Films)

Post by Raid » Sat Jan 22, 2022 10:15 pm

The Power of the Dog (Netflix)

What a strangely sedate film. Benedict Cumberbatch plays a passive aggressive, irredeemable arsehole.
Spoiler
Then he gets killed for it.

That's it. That's the whole film.

While I'd be hard pushed to recommend it I still feel like it was a net positive, but I can't really explain why.

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eny
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Re: I Just Watched (Films)

Post by eny » Sat Jan 22, 2022 10:31 pm

I watched that last night....found it to be strange too, but oddly watchable for all the myriad thought trails it sets up, and the immersive space it gives you to follow them. I like that he is "ugly" and saddle-worn—all the characters in fact, very authentic to the time and not polished. My biggest takeaway is the
Spoiler
dualistic homosexual characterisation, and how the film challenges common perspectives to each side. Ultimately both are human, with character progression going in opposite directions.
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Raid
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Re: I Just Watched (Films)

Post by Raid » Sun Jan 23, 2022 7:25 am

That's far more eloquent than I was capable of at 10pm last night.
Spoiler
I did love the relative subtlety of the homosexuality angle. As overt as it is in places, it's never actually brought up in dialogue, and it leads the audience to imagine that some of Phil's personality faults are down to an attraction to men that, because of the time period, is frustratingly difficult to express. It still doesn't excuse any of his behaviour, I stand by my irredeemable arsehole comment, but it's nice to have it hinted at rather than being some big reveal at the end.
Having had a little more time to process it, I think I did actually enjoy the film as a whole, it just wasn't what I was expecting.

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Re: I Just Watched (Films)

Post by Solitaire » Mon Jan 24, 2022 2:27 am

Edge of Tomorrow

First off, a little story about my unique disposition towards Mr. Tom Cruise. I started off in the 80s hating the sight of him. “Risky Business” was all the rage, and I thought it was dismal. Then off to the Marines with me. They marched us all down to watch a movie on what was pretty much the only ‘night off’ in the entire thirteen weeks. It was “Top Gun,” which I suffered through. Cue his movies about being the best race car driver in the world, or the best bartender in the world, etc etc. Ugh.

After a time he started making sci-fi movies, which I’ve learned to quite enjoy, despite his ridiculous overindulgence in scientology along side them all. So anyway here we are with “Edge of Tomorrow.” If I catch it on tv while channel-surfing, I’ll stop and watch the whole thing. It twists with my brain just enough to be enjoyable instead of frustrating. The plot mechanics hold up the entire movie, in my opinion. The only part that puzzles me is
Spoiler
why he was put back in the helo at the end of the movie – was that because it was the last memory engram of the Omega? I feel like I figured this question out, way back when, but have forgotten my own answer
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Rusty
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Re: I Just Watched (Films)

Post by Rusty » Mon Jan 24, 2022 8:42 am

I love groundhog type films. And I have no problems with Mr Cruise :) Love this film.

I just think it should have ended a wee bit sooner for that really satisfying tying up.
-- To be completed at some point --

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Achtung Englander
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Re: I Just Watched (Films)

Post by Achtung Englander » Mon Jan 24, 2022 9:15 am

Have you seen Palm Springs. Its a complete rip off (of sorts) of Groundhog Day. Personally I found it funnier.
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Animalmother
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Re: I Just Watched (Films)

Post by Animalmother » Mon Jan 24, 2022 11:20 am

Edge of Tomorrow was a film that completely passed me by when it was released, it had Tom Cruise in it :-&

Then a few years ago I watched it out of curiosity and absolutely loved it, Cruise is actually great in it. It was directed by a former stuntman hence all the action looks amazing. I think there is a sequel in the works which is a bit odd but more of the same would be great.

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Raid
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Re: I Just Watched (Films)

Post by Raid » Mon Jan 24, 2022 12:00 pm

I really liked Edge of Tomorrow, but then time loops / causality loops are a favourite sci-fi sub-genre of mine so it had a head start. I seem to remember my only real criticism was that the aliens, although very cool looking, moved so quickly that it was sometimes difficult to work out what was happening. It was one of the few Tom Cruise films I've seen where he begins the film just as an ordinary person, and doesn't become the superhuman he usually plays until the end (at which point due to the amount of time he's spent practicing this makes sense).

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Rusty
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Re: I Just Watched (Films)

Post by Rusty » Mon Jan 24, 2022 6:58 pm

Achtung Englander wrote:
Mon Jan 24, 2022 9:15 am
Have you seen Palm Springs. Its a complete rip off (of sorts) of Groundhog Day. Personally I found it funnier.
Yup Palm Springs was very good.
Also Boss Level, another time warp. Also great fun.
-- To be completed at some point --

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