2014 MOVIE OMNIBUS THREAD

[caley]

Man 'Jack Reacher' is all sorts of awesome, have no idea why it took me so long to get around to it.  I mean, the biggest problem I had with it is Reacher is a little too good at everything but that's a minor quibble.  It's exciting, has a solid mystery, an incredible supporting cast (Robert Duvall, Richard Jenkins and Werner Herzog), good action sequences, good car chases, some humor, good one-liners and an epic monologue delivered by Herzog.  It's pretty much the best American straight-up action flick I've seen in many years.

[Tabe]

Man 'Jack Reacher' is all sorts of awesome, have no idea why it took me so long to get around to it.  I mean, the biggest problem I had with it is Reacher is a little too good at everything but that's a minor quibble.  It's exciting, has a solid mystery, an incredible supporting cast (Robert Duvall, Richard Jenkins and Werner Herzog), good action sequences, good car chases, some humor, good one-liners and an epic monologue delivered by Herzog.  It's pretty much the best American straight-up action flick I've seen in many years.

Yep.  I loved this one.  I know there's gripes that Cruise is too small to play the character (Reacher is apparently a big dude in the books).  I haven't read the books so I don't care.  The movie was good.  

[Elsalvajeloco]

I am surprised no one (meaning Marvel or DC) has hired Christopher McQuarrie to actually direct a blockbuster superhero film. From watching Jack Reacher, he seems to have the action template down. I had my hesitations going in and was pleasantly surprised. Maybe he can only do good with Tom Cruise and that's why he is doing the next Mission: Impossible movie. Makes me wonder what his version of The Wolverine would've looked like. I thought what I saw stunk to high heaven (Sorry, Fowler). I was bored out of my skull.

[HumanChessgame]

 

 

Why didn't the Asylum do an "Expendables" rip, using only actors from DTV action films? Michael Dudikoff, Don "the Dragon" Wilson, et al.?

 

They did, sorta.  It's called "Mercenaries" and is basically The Expendables with a female cast - Zoe Bell, Vivica A Fox, the female Terminator from T3, and Cynthia Rothrock as the team leader (who sadly doesn't actually fight).  Plus Bridgitte Nielsen as the villain.  It's about as bad as you'd expect.

 

I keep hoping more C-list action guys would show up in The Expendables.  They got Gary Daniels in the first one, so I kept hoping more of those guys would show up in the sequels.

 

 

What he said.  Gary Daniels was in the first movie so I was bummed that B-List action movie badasses like Jeff Speakman, Billy Blanks, Mark Dacascos, or Mattias Hues never showed up in the sequel.

 

How has Jack Scalia never had a cameo in either of these movies?

 

Especially Mark Dacascos. Holy shit, Drive is the best micro budget action movie that apparently only I have watched.

 

 

Brotherhood of the Wolf is one of my favorite movies.

 

I couldn't make it through the whole thing, but the live action Tekken movie they made a few years back had a pretty sizable ensemble of Redbox action guys, or at least the guys you always see pop up as henchmen in other movies that get in a good fight with the hero then die.

 

 

Man 'Jack Reacher' is all sorts of awesome, have no idea why it took me so long to get around to it.  I mean, the biggest problem I had with it is Reacher is a little too good at everything but that's a minor quibble.  It's exciting, has a solid mystery, an incredible supporting cast (Robert Duvall, Richard Jenkins and Werner Herzog), good action sequences, good car chases, some humor, good one-liners and an epic monologue delivered by Herzog.  It's pretty much the best American straight-up action flick I've seen in many years.

Yep.  I loved this one.  I know there's gripes that Cruise is too small to play the character (Reacher is apparently a big dude in the books).  I haven't read the books so I don't care.  The movie was good.  

 

 

I have no knowledge of the source material and also enjoyed it pretty well.  That along with the Wahlberg movie Shooter are two of the better modern action movies I've seen in terms of competent storytelling and solid action sequences.  For the most part I have no problem with Cruise as an actor.  I think his work gets overly shit on due to his reputation as being crazy and a generally lousy human in that it's hard not to just see him as crazy scientologist guy when you see him in a movie.

[Johnny Sorrow]

I've actually always heard that Cruise is a super nice guy with everyone on sets. I heard someone tell a story about working on a movie with him and he was told by some studio flunky "Do not make eye contact with Mr. Cruise" or some shit like that. But later on when Cruise was actually on set he came up to him and was just friendly and gracious, and is really cool with all the actors and crew

[Tabe]

Everything I've ever heard about Cruise is that he's cool to work with. And I generally love his work.

Oh yeah, Shooter is great.

[Tiller]

While on the topic of Cruise, I just watched Edge of Tomorrow. I am now really mad I didn't go see this in theaters. I thought it was great. It was funnier than I thought it was going to be, and it had some really solid action in it. Who knew Groundhog Day would work so well as an alien invasion flick?

[caley]

I've actually always heard that Cruise is a super nice guy with everyone on sets. I heard someone tell a story about working on a movie with him and he was told by some studio flunky "Do not make eye contact with Mr. Cruise" or some shit like that. But later on when Cruise was actually on set he came up to him and was just friendly and gracious, and is really cool with all the actors and crew

I flipped on the commentary to 'Oblivion' one night and Cruise was on there and as the movie ends, he thanks the director (Who was doing the commentary with him), and compliments him, then proceeds to go through the first 30 seconds or so of the credits and thank/compliment just about everyone, talking about what great jobs they did and how proud he was of the movie.  You just really got the sense that he was an awesome dude to be around and super-gracious.

[BurningBeard]

Edge of Tomorrow was fucking outstanding. The ending I wasn't too hot on but it's not like it ruined the film or anything

[Bustronaut]

Am I repeating myself?  I feel like Vince Vaughn would have been a great choice for Cruise's character.

[Jingus]

I loved that movie.  The ending does totally give up, it seems like "throw a big bomb into the enemy's weak spot" has basically become the inevitable deus-ex-machina of modern cinema.  But everything else was freaking awesome, that's one of those movies which just knows I Got This and you can feel the confidence coming out of it.  

[Reed]

I've actually always heard that Cruise is a super nice guy with everyone on sets. I heard someone tell a story about working on a movie with him and he was told by some studio flunky "Do not make eye contact with Mr. Cruise" or some shit like that. But later on when Cruise was actually on set he came up to him and was just friendly and gracious, and is really cool with all the actors and crew

 

I have heard of him being very nice to people. But then I also remember that story about Christian Bale basing Patrick Bateman on him, basically because while he was always polite and friendly, there was an emptiness there that Bale couldn't help but notice. I can kind of see what he means. Maybe because of the Scientologists brainwashing him? I don't know. But there seems something off about the guy.

[J.T.]

The Equalizer is only 63% Fresh.   This concerns me.

 

Thank God my kid hasn't said anything about wanting to go see The Boxtrolls.

[Reed]

The Equilizer has Denzel Washington walking slowly away from explosions...what more does anyone need?

[J.T.]

The Equilizer has Denzel Washington walking slowly away from explosions...what more does anyone need?

 

YES~!

 

[Reed]

Plot twist: Stoic action guy walks towards explosion...still emerges from the other side completely unscathed.

[J.T.]

Doesn't the T-1000 do that in T2: Judgment Day?  I mean yeah, it's a robot but it still counts, right?

[twiztor]

so i just watched Tekken 2: Kazuya's Revenge.

 

i wish i had known that this was supposed to be a prequel to the first Tekken movie from a couple years ago.  it definitely would've changed how i viewed the flick.

[Larry Rydell]

WHY!??!! exactly is it called The Equalizer again?  Let us review:

 

The TV show:

Robert McCall is a retired CIA agent who wears a bad-ass trench coat, drives a Jaguar, puts ads in newspapers to help the helpless, lives in a swank luxury apartment, kills only as a last resort, still keeps in contact with his old CIA boss who is named "Control" and wears vintage business suits from the 1950s, routinely gives long, moralistic speeches towards the bad guy, and routinely uses con artist tricks to get the bad guys to confess to whatever crime they've committed.

 

The Movie: 

 

McCall (no first name) is a retired Special Forces commando who dresses like a homeless person, is apparently a drifter with no fixed address, only helps a pathetic teen prostitute seemingly out of boredom more than anything else, still keeps contact with his female boss who apparently isn't named "Control" and has no vintage fashion sense, brutally kills the bad guys without giving them a long, moralistic speech or the opportunity to incriminate themselves in an intricate con job.

 

---

 

This was like a ready made script:  Denzel arrives at his Upper East Side condo, checks his Craigslist e-mail and sees he has a request for help, puts on his trench coat and drives to the Bronx in his 2015 Jaguar XL, gets the request from help from a helpless innocent, meets with "Control" to get info on the bad guy, meets with Mickey Kostameyer to get his help, sets up an intricate trap to trick the bad guy into confessing, executes the trap, gives the bad guy a "The Reason You Suck" speech, kills the bad guy in self-defense when the bad guy pulls a knife on Denzel, has a "everybody laughs" freeze frame ending with Mickey and his client, roll credits.

 

The movie at least better fucking end with a remake of the opening credits, with the theme song blaring and Denzel standing in the shadows, backlit by car headlights, as The Equalizer logo appears.

[twiztor]

it's a new Equalizer for a new era!

[Travis Sheldon]

My wife has been having fits when The Equalizer trailer plays during our TV viewing time.

I do my part to stoke the flames, as there's no way in hell Denzel is The Equalizer.

Sorry.

[AxB]

Why has Edward Woodward got four D's in his name?

 

Because E-War Woo-War sounds stupid.

[Reed]

Movie idea: Liam Neeson and Denzel Washington kidnap each other's daughters.

 

It's how World War 3 starts.

[cwoy2j]

Movie idea: Liam Neeson and Denzel Washington kidnap each other's daughters.

 

It's how World War 3 starts.

 

I think it'd be some kind of space time continuum paradox. Like in Timecop where the same matter can't exist in the same space at the same time.

[scraylo187]

RE: Cruise

 

Sorry for the 'WELL HERE'S A STORY ABOUT LIVING IN LA I AM THAT GUY' but I really love this story.

 

My wife and I both work on the Warner Lot, but I work in an office where VIPs rarely tread and she usually works in Building 1, which is where they all come for meetings. She is the lobby receptionist, so she greets VIPs and calls who ever it is they are meeting with, and that person comes down to get them. It's that way for everyone. Will Ferrell came in on her first day and sat and waited. The producers of Game of Thrones came in and waited.

 

At the end of her first week,  a motorcycle pulls up to the door because of course it does, and the helmet comes off and it's Tom Cruise, who just swings in, flashes the Cruise smile and says 'Just here to see Barry' and just goes upstairs. And then he pauses at the top of the stairs, points at her, and says "You're new, right? Never seen you." She just sort of nods and he smiles real big and vanishes upstairs.

 

Wife is horrified. She has not done her job but also, do you just tell Tom Cruise to hold the fuck up? How does that even work?

 

A little while later, Cruise comes back down, this time flanked by like, most of our executives and their people. He comes to a completely halt on the stairs, stopping everyone, points at Torlin (wife. Norwegian.) and says to Barry Meyer, the CEO "She's new. Fantastic, though. What's your name again?" She stammers out a 'Torlin.' and he snaps his finger and goes 'that's right. Great name. Great work. She's doing great work, you guys.' 

 

And then he leads the hurricane down a random hallway. She does not blink for an hour. I have no real clue what that story says about his personality, but I like to think that he knew he had screwed her a bit and to prevent some shitty executive assistant from being like YOU SHOULD HAVE STOPPED HIM AND MADE HIM WAIT, he turned the tide for her.