There is definite racism or some racist caricatures in The Rock, my recollection of the Alcatraz tour scenes when the Marines take over is that a couple characters are used for comic relief in a way that's pretty awkward. It's an interesting movie w/the extremely serious and well-performed Harris and Morse duo going against the more heightened comic weirdness of Cage and Connery. The most memorable performance aside from the stars is probably Gregory Sporleder as a psycho Marine, plays like a particularly vicious hybrid of James Cagney and David Patrick Kelley and makes good use of his limited role. Which is to basically be the Waingro to Ed Harris' McCauley. (speaking of Heat!)
if you haven't seen The Wild Bunch and Once Upon a Time in the West, that would make a lengthy but hellaciously great double bill.
To Live and Die In L.A. is the single most mindfucking movie on the list, it's one that I have shown a few different people and they've come away with a thumbs up and mild PTSD every time.
The Woo films are both great, just operatic cornball beauty that feels like they belong in a parallel universe. When I watched them on VHS w/shitty dubbing back in my teen years they changed my life.
Dawn of the Dead is the best zombie film ever but it's not as much an action movie. But the action is really wonderful and lurid and gorgeous in its gruesomeness, and the four main performances are all exceptionally good. Unlike most performances in zombie flicks (one slightly related key exception: Sarah Polley in the DotD remake.)
From the list of unwatched, the only ones I'd pass on or save for last are probably Sin City (looks good but kinda lame), Crank (feels like an "early era Vice Magazine" action film at this point tbh), and maybe Taken (benefited in this poll from being a recent release and Liam Neeskn being frankly quite awesome, but it's not great.)
― omar little, Sunday, 11 March 2018 03:37 (six years ago) link
The Rock also has some really cruel homophobia in the form of a comic-relief sissy that like actually pissed me off
― the masseduction of lauryn hill (Stevie D(eux)), Sunday, 11 March 2018 03:52 (six years ago) link
feel like if i charged omar with the duty of mounting a passionate defence of any or all of the three movies hes suggests skipping he could do it
― the clodding of the american mind (darraghmac), Sunday, 11 March 2018 04:33 (six years ago) link
Well I'll say this for all of them:
Sin City is not boring and goes all the way, it really does bring the graphic novel to life and Mickey Rourke is almost surreally on-point in recreating his character in what I guess is basically a live-action performance. The gore is wonderful, I deeply enjoyed the noir elements. It's mostly lame in it being extremely empty for the most part, it's very much a "see once and never again" type film. I'm not regretting seeing it but I also felt like it gave me nothing.
Crank is probably diminished bc its mostly shit sequel just tried to recreate it and go one up on everything without doing anything new, but the original is really smug and self satisfied and Statham I think is at his most unlikeable in these films. It's also probably a bit racist. However it is insane. I give it points for sheer unbridled insanity. It comes off more like a Troma picture than any typical Hollywood action film. Which earns it some respect.
Taken is I think very well-directed and Neeson's role is more than just The Speech, he's an unstoppable and fearsome presence physically and that coupled with his set of acting skills keeps the entire thing moving. It's got some nice low-grade Eurotrash vibes throughout, but it is also racist. Crazy how the plot hinges on the girls deciding to follow U2 on tour or whatever, I appreciated that touch. It's funny though how i think culturally Taken is the Neeson action film everyone talks about (understandably perhaps) while in the meantime every single non-Taken franchise action film he's made since is better.
― omar little, Sunday, 11 March 2018 04:50 (six years ago) link
mad max fury road would top 5 imo
― the clodding of the american mind (darraghmac), Sunday, March 11, 2018 12:56 PM (six hours ago)
mad max 2 isn't even on the list!
― just noticed tears shaped like florida. (sic), Sunday, 11 March 2018 09:00 (six years ago) link
has anything come out in the last six years that would have stood a chance?
Definitely: Mad Max Fury Road, John Wick, The Raid
Probably: Dredd, Edge of Tomorrow, Snowpiercer
Outside bets: MI6 Rogue Nation, Fast and Furious 6, Wonder Woman, Baby Driver, Green Room
― Dan Worsley, Sunday, 11 March 2018 09:40 (six years ago) link
also Raid 2
― Finnegans woke (Noodle Vague), Sunday, 11 March 2018 09:50 (six years ago) link
im pretending that ppl voted mad max, a searing budget transvestite social drama, but were thinking of mad max 2 the great action movie. it helps.
edge of tomorrow, john wick and MI6 all def make list yeah
if taken were made in the seventies and nobody had heard of it i think it would be an ilx sensation.
sin city looks great, is funny, is probably the hottest movie of all time, fair to say the action isnt actually great in it maybe.
think yr point on cranks experimentalism is key.
― the clodding of the american mind (darraghmac), Sunday, 11 March 2018 10:05 (six years ago) link
Wonder Woman would open up some doors - I don't remember much about the fight scenes apart for the terrible one in the french town, but Civil War and Black Panther have some great ones - on the one hand you could claim that it isn't really an action movie if the protagonist is never in danger, on the other hand Arnie.
There would be some Fast & Furious vote splitting, I suspect - real headz love Fast Five, and it didn't even make this poll.
xp MI6 comes out next month? It's MI5 yez are thinking of.
― Andrew Farrell, Sunday, 11 March 2018 10:34 (six years ago) link
My unwatched, some of them glaring
72 VANISHING POINT69 (TIE) THE HURT LOCKER67 (TIE) BRANDED TO KILL66 ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 1365 SIN CITY62 (TIE) TAKEN61 MAD MAX60 JAWS*57 COLLATERAL53 (TIE) MIAMI VICE50 LA FEMME NIKITA48 TOTAL RECALL*47 THE WILD BUNCH46 THE GREAT ESCAPE45 COMMANDO44 THE KILLER41 BULLITT38 DAWN OF THE DEAD37 TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A.34 CRANK27 BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA*24 POINT BREAK*23 BATTLE ROYALE22 THE THING20 POINT BLANK17 NORTH BY NORTHWEST14 THE FRENCH CONNECTION8 HEAT
Happy to watch any of these movies not directed by Michael Mann.
* indicates that I know them well enough to joke about them.
― Andrew Farrell, Sunday, 11 March 2018 10:38 (six years ago) link
mimi2 urlight uhjackitt uhpockett awful hairmi3 pope overratedmi4 undercover undercover undercovermi5 does this exist or is the desert one also the above onemi6 opera underwater
also day and knight is an unofficial mi imo
― the clodding of the american mind (darraghmac), Sunday, 11 March 2018 11:39 (six years ago) link
I might start a thread on to live and die in la the action movie for people who know action movie tropes but were ready to see them absolutely eviscerated
― the clodding of the american mind (darraghmac), Sunday, 11 March 2018 11:43 (six years ago) link
which is also a brilliant action/cop movie like
mad max 2 (aka the road warrior) placed didn't it? can't load the thread on my phone but surely.
― Doctor Casino, Sunday, 11 March 2018 12:13 (six years ago) link
and AF wow, sit down and watch jaws straight through, you are in for a TREAT. or wait for someplace to show it on the big screen and see it with an audience, it rules. french connection also with scheider and also great. neither one is really full on "action" movie but both classics. the one car chase in french connection is worth the whole movie, and you also get some great cat and mouse detective stuff, and hackman.
― Doctor Casino, Sunday, 11 March 2018 12:17 (six years ago) link
Road Warrior was #16. I suspect Fury Road would make the top 5. My guess would be it would have an okay shot at #1. And it might deserve it!
― omar little, Sunday, 11 March 2018 12:35 (six years ago) link
otm to both posts
FC is my favourite ever i think
― the clodding of the american mind (darraghmac), Sunday, 11 March 2018 14:40 (six years ago) link
also gotta say if you enjoy anything about schwarzenegger or OTT ridiculousness in an action movie, you will love commando. get a group of friends together and go to town. i think as a kid the box convinced me it was gonna be heavy and boring, and no aliens or sci-fi stuff to hook me in, but it's basically a quippy, silly, video game, complete with a string of mini-bosses on the way up to the big showdown. fair warning it also has possibly the highest body count of any movie in the whole list, and mostly all in the last like 20 minutes of the movie. he kills so many people!
― Doctor Casino, Sunday, 11 March 2018 14:48 (six years ago) link
yeah he does!
― the clodding of the american mind (darraghmac), Sunday, 11 March 2018 14:59 (six years ago) link
also fair warning, the dead people are almost all Henchmen Of A Central American Banana Republic Strongman, which probably qualifies on the racism trope-o-meter.
― Doctor Casino, Sunday, 11 March 2018 15:14 (six years ago) link
casting irish lads would have looked funny tbh
i mean ok but cmon but ok
― the clodding of the american mind (darraghmac), Sunday, 11 March 2018 15:17 (six years ago) link
Full list, for anyone who can't load the thread:
75 APOCALYPTO74 INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM73 GOLDFINGER72 VANISHING POINT71 DIRTY HARRY69 (TIE) THE HURT LOCKER69 (TIE) DIE HARD WITH A VENGEANCE67 (TIE) CON AIR67 (TIE) BRANDED TO KILL66 ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 1365 SIN CITY64 INFERNAL AFFAIRS62 (TIE) DEMOLITION MAN62 (TIE) TAKEN61 MAD MAX60 JAWS59 THE FUGITIVE58 CASINO ROYALE57 COLLATERAL56 THE INCREDIBLES55 ENTER THE DRAGON53 (TIE) MIAMI VICE53 (TIE) KUNG FU HUSTLE52 GET CARTER51 AKIRA50 LA FEMME NIKITA49 DISTRICT 948 TOTAL RECALL47 THE WILD BUNCH46 THE GREAT ESCAPE45 COMMANDO44 THE KILLER43 THE FIFTH ELEMENT42 SPEED41 BULLITT40 YOJIMBO39 LE SAMOURAI38 DAWN OF THE DEAD37 TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A.36 THE MATRIX35 INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE34 CRANK33 THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK32 THE BOURNE IDENTITY31 THE WARRIORS30 THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM29 THE BOURNE SUPREMACY28 ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST27 BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA26 THE DARK KNIGHT25 PREDATOR24 POINT BREAK23 BATTLE ROYALE22 THE THING21 KILL BILL VOL. 120 POINT BLANK19 THE TERMINATOR17 NORTH BY NORTHWEST17 STARSHIP TROOPERS16 THE ROAD WARRIOR15 THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY14 THE FRENCH CONNECTION13 THE SEVEN SAMURAI12 ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK11 HARD BOILED10 BLADE RUNNER9 LÉON: THE PROFESSIONAL8 HEAT7 RONIN6 CHILDREN OF MEN5 ROBOCOP4 TERMAINTOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY3 RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK2 ALIENS1 DIE HARD
I'm surprised at the poor showing of martial arts movies. They don't seem to have been ruled out, since Enter the Dragon is on the list.
― jmm, Sunday, 11 March 2018 15:25 (six years ago) link
there were definitely some in the nominees (see: TOP 100 ACTION FILMS OF ALL TIME NOMINATIONS AND DISCUSSION THREAD ) but they're swamped by stuff closer to the American Blockbuster Action Movie template...
― Doctor Casino, Sunday, 11 March 2018 15:31 (six years ago) link
big trouble in little china tbf
― the clodding of the american mind (darraghmac), Sunday, 11 March 2018 15:33 (six years ago) link
Okay, I guess I need to rep harder for Cobra as it ticks a lot of Dr. C's Commando boxes. It's the most ridiculous movie ever. The baddies are satanists who ritually clank fire axes together in an abandoned warehouse. Marion Cobretti is the most overly try-hard badass in history.
― Ape Wipes (Old Lunch), Sunday, 11 March 2018 15:33 (six years ago) link
Couldn't find an uninterrupted clip of this scene, so you're missing the bit between these two clips when Cobra crams his newspaper inside a bbq grill and tosses his housekeys like a hardman in an attempt to impress all zero people who are watching him:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32sLgUoj91ohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SxN_U2H0Xc
― Ape Wipes (Old Lunch), Sunday, 11 March 2018 15:38 (six years ago) link
All to the tune of Miami Sound Machine. More like Camp-brah, amirite.
― Ape Wipes (Old Lunch), Sunday, 11 March 2018 15:40 (six years ago) link
i love the OTT final monologue of the Night Slasher, what is he even talking about?
You want to go to hell? Huh, pig? You want to go to hell with me? It doesn't matter, does it? We are the hunters. We kill the weak so the strong survive. You can't stop the New World. Your filthy society will never get rid of people like us. It's breeding them! WE ARE THE FUTURE!
― omar little, Sunday, 11 March 2018 16:11 (six years ago) link
a layup for Cobra:
Marion Cobretti : No![aims his gun] Marion Cobretti : You're history.
separately, i wanted to gauge ILX interest in a crime/thriller/mystery/detective/film noir poll. i don't think it's been done, it would cover all eras, etc...
there are a lot of films that i think slipped through this poll and some others that would be interesting to discuss in a rollout.
― omar little, Sunday, 11 March 2018 16:48 (six years ago) link
that could be cool! i was looking up lists of movies under that basic umbrella recently cause my friend wanted to do a "noir" marathon but they were feeling pretty broad-minded, at one point the shortlist included like, The Getaway and Sugarland Express alongside Midnight Run and Pierrot le Fou. unfortunately we got started late and only got through Chinatown and uh, Brick. anyway though i like it... pretty huge range of things to cover... could be cool, could be unwieldy, probably would be fun. i'd assume things like TLaDiLA and Le Samourai would qualify despite their 'action' placement...
― Doctor Casino, Sunday, 11 March 2018 16:57 (six years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wk-jT9rn-8
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 11 March 2018 17:03 (six years ago) link
xp re Cobra, i love that Miami Sound Machine song.
― piscesx, Sunday, 11 March 2018 17:30 (six years ago) link
totally down for a crime poll.
It's funny though how i think culturally Taken is the Neeson action film everyone talks about (understandably perhaps) while in the meantime every single non-Taken franchise action film he's made since is better.
True. I particularly liked Run All Night, A Walk Among The Tombstones, and The Grey. Haven't seen The Commuter yet.
― grawlix (unperson), Sunday, 11 March 2018 18:41 (six years ago) link
This life's HARD man, but it's HARDER if you're stupid! aka CRIME/MYSTERY/THRILLER/NOIR movie POLL nominations thread
― omar little, Sunday, 11 March 2018 19:06 (six years ago) link
the William Friedkin poll
to live and die in la well discussed in this thread
― the clodding of the american mind (darraghmac), Sunday, 11 March 2018 19:58 (six years ago) link
I'd searched for Warrior with no results, then expanded the entire thread and ctrl+f'd every mention of "mad max" without Road Warrior showing up, so blame Americans for this I guess
yeah Fast Five is the real golden point of the Furiouses
AF: I thought I'd seen Jaws, because I knew every reference well enough to joke about it for decades, but watched a remaster in the cinema five years ago and realised that I'd just read some of the novel and all of the MAD magazine version when I was a kid. It's really good, definitely worth seeing with an audience
Crank is probably diminished bc its mostly shit sequel just tried to recreate it and go one up on everything without doing anything new, but the original is really smug and self satisfied and Statham I think is at his most unlikeable in these films.
this is crazytalk, Chelios is adorable (and tbh more of a real person than almost any Statham character). Spy is probably the only film he's better in? BUT: the biggest crazytalk is thinking that there was any way Crank 2 could possibly go OTHER than one-upping everything. And in fact they do plenty that's new in the course of that, like two characters transforming into kaiju of themselves in the middle of a fight scene.
― just noticed tears shaped like florida. (sic), Sunday, 11 March 2018 22:56 (six years ago) link
its no 16 on the list
― the clodding of the american mind (darraghmac), Sunday, 11 March 2018 22:58 (six years ago) link
surely statham career-best in snatch
yeah but as Road Warrior, not Mad Max 2. outside the fold, there was no indication it placed
― just noticed tears shaped like florida. (sic), Sunday, 11 March 2018 23:06 (six years ago) link
i had a lot of fun on this thread. back in the day.
― scott seward, Monday, 12 March 2018 00:37 (six years ago) link
i'm a bit Statham-agnostic, i think his brand of brute charisma has its charms but not all of the time. i'm completely down with any style or type of movie but Crank didn't work for me as well as it did on others, ultimately. my beef w/it is ultimately pretty limited, i won't argue much one way or another, not even for Crank: High Voltage which i just couldn't get w/whatsoever. i have no issues w/Crank placing, nothing in this poll for me is a total hard pass.
― omar little, Monday, 12 March 2018 02:12 (six years ago) link
most Statham films are pretty empty, but he's got to do something to keep busy until Neveldine & Taylor win $113,000 on a scratch-it and make Crank 3 in a weekend with an iphone
ten years since we polled Statham!
― just noticed tears shaped like florida. (sic), Monday, 12 March 2018 08:54 (six years ago) link
hey, this guy knows what's up:
also, Crank 2 is in no way worse than Crank 1 - it just simply couldn't exist without the former, and is openly a distillation and exaggeration of the wondrousness of its predecessor. It is truly a tragedy that this was a box-office flop, and that we shall be denied the otherwise inevitable glory of CRANK 3-D.― oh sh!t a ¯\⎝⏠___⏠⎠/¯ (sic), Thursday, July 15, 2010 10:35 AM
― oh sh!t a ¯\⎝⏠___⏠⎠/¯ (sic), Thursday, July 15, 2010 10:35 AM
― just noticed tears shaped like florida. (sic), Monday, 12 March 2018 09:09 (six years ago) link
Fair.
I have seen most of Jaws, but I think it was something I was paying sporadic attention to as a callow youth, so I missed most/all of the build-up and only remember the gorier later bits.
Possibly similarly with Commado, or tbh I may just have watched a lot of "100 best Arnie lines!" Youtubes. My Arnie shame is clearly Total Recall, made all the worse by the fact that I have seen the remake (on a plane, mind).
I have a to-do item (on the "this list may see me out" list, mind) to catch up on all of these - I'm far more likely to get to it than the Comedy poll, for sure.
― Andrew Farrell, Monday, 12 March 2018 12:12 (six years ago) link
this is crazytalk, Chelios is adorable (and tbh more of a real person than almost any Statham character). Spy is probably the only film he's better in?
statham is an absolute fucking treasure in spy, i unironically love that guy
― I’m 16 and a member of UKIP’s youth wing, young independence (bizarro gazzara), Monday, 12 March 2018 12:44 (six years ago) link
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
― Finnegans woke (Noodle Vague), Monday, 12 March 2018 13:20 (six years ago) link
many xposts to Dr C but posting vmic I will say that Mad Max is a must-watch. Especially if you have seen and/or enjoyed Fury Road. If you’ve seen Fury Road then it is worthwhile bc Mad Max pulls off a similar level of vehicular intensity & creativity with absolutely no money & no cgi, just pure gonzo creativity. And Immortan Joe = the same actor that is Toecutter in Mad Max. Though caveat: Mad Max is a no-budget 70’s movie and is paced as such. Lotta weird sidetracks (saxophone!) so it does have a bit of an Mst3k-fodder feel at times.
― Squeaky Fromage (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, 13 March 2018 06:58 (six years ago) link
if i may counter in the interests of balance
mad max 2 is the movie you will recognise in fury road
mad max one is just an australian dildo biker gang documentary with little enough action
― the clodding of the american mind (darraghmac), Tuesday, 13 March 2018 08:54 (six years ago) link