Movies That Were Probably Made By a Spasm of Six Year-Olds on Acid: The Top 75 Action Films Poll Results Thread

"the actor looked like dick cheney with hair" resonates w/me

mad at myself for not at least voting giving bourses all the points they deserve better

man i used to drink and post a lot

Yeah, really disappointed Supremacy isn't higher.

It is by far the best of the lot. The fight in the kitchen, the improvised explosion... awesome.

I have a three-pack of them at home and have only watched the first one (and so, have been nursing an uninjured hand for 20 minutes) - I guess I should sort that out.

2 > 3 > 1

2>1>3

tbf, they're all excellent and it's probably more like 2 > 3/1

1

2-3-1, I think, but they're all pretty close

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v212/etienne_saint/onceupon.png

#28

ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST

Sergio Leone
1968
Italy/United States
(346 points, 10 votes)

The score sets it all off perfectly Julio - you do know that Morricone and Leone worked in tandem and the score was meticulously composed scene by scene, and was built around the complex plans that Leone had in his head, down to the personalities of the characters and the events that take place in the movie. Even Harmonica’s blowing is deliciously well conceived – I mean who plays a harmonica like that – nobody right, because it’s the sound of a dying man’s last breaths.

― @lex K

Harmonica's origin scene tho, that's some awe-inspiring superhero type shit.

― Daniel_Rf

Not a word on Jason Robards yet? A legend for his stage work, this is likely his best movie perf. Can you believe Paramount cut his last scene in '69??

I go back and forth between this and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly as SL's best, but I always choke up at the water-carrying finale.

Also, seeing at least a couple Ford films where Fonda is the hero should be a prerequisite for enjoying him fully in this; it was considered shocking casting.

"Keep yer lovin' brother happy."

― Dr Morbius

Enthuse over Once Upon A Time In The West please

why would you nurse an uninjured hand

Glad someone asked.

it's a euphemism

for milk

like when i told my wife i needed to unveil my poll

think that might just be european for "sucking my thumb" ?

Watching "Die Hard 3," and it's much better than I remembered. Thanks, ILX!

Oh, also, Leone rules.

OMAR!

man i fucking love the bourne supremacy. i gave it 44 points.

the chases in this movie are so good. i mentioned the american embassy scene from identity as being representative of the series, but for me the iconic bourne chase has always been the berlin hotel escape in supremacy. the way it refuses to arrive at a throw-up-its-hands-and-hit-the-'the hero wins'-button moment is stunning to me. the GSG chase bourne down like a ragged dog and he has to do everything he can think of just to stay a few inches ahead of them. it's not a movie that's satisfied with doing something ordinary, and as a viewer i have to appreciate that

i saw it with my dad when it came out, and afterwards he uncharacteristically commented that the moscow climax was one of the best car chases he'd ever seen. he's a pretty taciturn guy and also not necessarily into whiz-bang stuff, so i was surprised. but i tend to agree. amateurist pointed out at the time that every impact is shot within the car, which is cool. i love the lead-up to the chase too, lots of in-the-moment over the shoulder photography of bourne limping through russian supermarkets and scrapping to survive.

politically the movie still impresses me. as blount pointed out back then, how many american spy movies end with their cia trained killer apologizing to the family (played by the girl from moodysons Lilya 4-ever) of one of his hits? that scene always floors me.

and right after it is one of the most remarkable shots of greengrass' career - bourne exiting her apartment building, shot from above, the camera pans up to the building across the lot, and keeps panning up and up and it seems like the building never ends. the audience i was with collectively muttered 'damn' at that shot. the mise-en-scene of the russian sections is great, and with very little explanation you pick up so much about the hypercapitalist dystopia russia had become

2>1>3

― wolf kabob (ENBB), Thursday, February 16, 2012 12:17 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

ay omar just a suggest but I wouldnt mind seeing the dates on the pull quotes

once upon a time ranked high for me, though not as high as TGTBTU which is just more fun. but it's some pretty sick epic filmmaking

why would you nurse an uninjured hand

Oh, because I rewatched the first one quite recently, and the use of a ballpoint pen in the scene with the first assassin made me wince even when I knew it was coming, and is still making me wince.

i like everything about the bourne movies other than the fact that julia stiles is horrible and should be shot into the sun

Julia Stiles is generally horrible yes, but is quite tolerable in this series imo.

i didn't place Once Upon a Time which i think was one of those "haven't seen it recently enough" arbitrary decisions i made to get the list down to 50. i wish i'd placed it now i think.

25-27 a bit later, folks

btw I watched dirty Harry last night

jeez omar, why didn't you use some of your vacation days to post these results? ;)

xp did you enjoy it y/n?

I did! and I have some things to say abt it, l8r

Annoyed that Netflix is streaming cropped Dirty Harry.

one more thing on bourne supremacy... the moment at the end where he lets karl urban live is legit powerful to me. to me this is a sick movie and not just a great action flick, which is why i was so gravely disappointed by the failings of ultimatum.

what'd you think of DH lagoon.

The Matrix should have been higher, and anyone dissing it is either projecting their feelings about the sequels on to the original or just plain doesn't like awesomeness. Such an amazing experience to see that in the cinema not knowing much about it beforehand, just sitting there open-mouthed for the whole second half of the film. I mean the lobby sequence alone...

matrix is awful gtfo

calling something as deliberate as OUATITW "action" o_O

The Matrix's "We need lots of guns" made me want to puke

awfully awesome

tbh if you dislike slow-motion gunfights set to "Spybreak!" you have no business watching modern action movies

The Matrix's "We need lots of guns" made me want to puke

yep. this sort of brainless betrayal of the basic concept (which was liberally stolen/cribbed from better sources anyway) was just... ugh

"We're going to need guns - lots of guns" reminds me of one of the ways the Matrix is great - the rare film with an innovative schtick that has also thought about how to intensify its style and story in the last act rather than just do more, louder.

how is it a betrayal of the basic concept exactly?

calling something as deliberate as OUATITW "action" o_O

i said in the nominations thread that the term "action movie" will be forever coloured by the big 80s stuntfests that had better fill up the upper echelons of this poll or else. but there are films from earlier eras that really shd count as action movies even tho their pacing is more considered or sedate. having said that, Once is nowhere near Leone's actioniest picture as far as i'm concerned.

the big 80s stuntfests that had better fill up the upper echelons of this poll or else

cuz they need the help

how is it a betrayal of the basic concept exactly?

you control reality, what do you need a gun for?

it's similar to all the action movie nonsense in Inception, it's just conceptually nonsensical.

NONSENSE I say!

iirc they shot the basic concept with lots of guns

Yes, but they're only able to control reality up to a certain point.