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Yeah I guess everything after would be different. I think I'd rather they brushed through the childhood and put most of the focus on the Vietnam stuff would be interesting. Like somewhat of a mix of born on the fourth and platoon with more action.
Yeah I guess everything after would be different. I think I'd rather they brushed through the childhood and put most of the focus on the Vietnam stuff would be interesting. Like somewhat of a mix of born on the fourth and platoon with more action.
I think there's a whole movie that could be made about Rambo after returning to the USA and before he is walking down the highway to start First Blood. Something like Fat City or The Wrestler where it's a guy who is trying to adjust to normal life and failing, having an elite skill set that has no use in civilized society, how he can't even keep a job parking cars...
I think there's a whole movie that could be made about Rambo after returning to the USA and before he is walking down the highway to start First Blood. Something like Fat City or The Wrestler where it's a guy who is trying to adjust to normal life and failing, having an elite skill set that has no use in civilized society, how he can't even keep a job parking cars...
Yeah maybe a more character driven drama? I can see that.
I wonder who you could get to play the part though. There really isnt a younger actor these days I can think of as "the next stallone". If there ever was one.
Classic comedy-drama directed by Mike Nichols and starring Dustin Hoffman, Anne Bancroft, and Katherine Ross.
21-year-old Benjamin Braddock (Hoffman) returns home to his parents in Pasadena after finishing college on the east coast. Braddock was a terrific student (although it beggars belief that the stuttering inarticulate young man was really Captain of the Debate Team) but is facing an existential crisis because he feels directionless.
Braddock is seduced by the much older married wife of a family friend, Mrs. Robinson (Bancroft). Braddock spends the summer lazing around the family pool during the day and carrying on the affair at night.
Things become more complicated when Braddock succumbs to family pressure to take Mrs. Robinson’s daughter, Elaine (Ross), out on a date.
This film is rightfully considered a classic. The first half is hilarious as the naive and bumbling Braddock tries to conduct an affair. The second half delves into a sense of uncertainty and angst that most of us remember from our early 20’s. The last shot of the film is perfect. One of the best endings ever.
Hoffman does not look 21 (I think he was closer to 30 when the film was made) but he is terrific. Bancroft has the best performance of all. As Hoffman was aged down, she was aged up. She is a lonely woman who is straightforward in wanting the sex that she is not getting in her marriage. She is the most honest person in this film.
Nichols’ direction is impeccable. He cleverly uses water as a metaphor for Braddock’s mental state. The camera work is suffocatingly close when Braddock is overwhelmed. We can feel Braddock’s claustrophobia at the initial party. Similarly, Nichols subtly makes Mrs. Robinson larger than life during the seduction phase before shrinking her in later shots. Braddock’s panicked search for the church in the last act feels appropriately feverish and unhinged.
This was the first time I had watched this film from start to finish. In the past I had only watched different scenes at different times. I wonder if I would have reacted differently if I had watched it in my early 20’s.
I always thought of this film as an expression of youth revolt against the strictures and dictates of adult life. All Benjamin and Elaine want is some time to think and breath and make their own decisions. The film certainly tells that story. Benjamin’s parents are pleasant but never listen. The scene where they insist that he wear the scuba gear and dive into the pool is hilarious. At one point they are literally pushing him down into the water. The running gag where Mr. Robinson asks Benjamin what he likes to drink but then always serves him scotch despite Braddock asking for bourbon is great. It is true – adults often don’t listen.
Yet, the Braddock parents don’t seem all that bad to me. Benjamin arrives home to the gift of a fancy sports car and the privilege of lounging around while he decides what he feels like doing next. A welcome home party was more about them than it was about Benjamin but perhaps it was not so much to expect a 21-year-old to shake the few hands of people who have known him since he was a baby and seem to be genuinely happy for his success at college. The man who suggests “plastics” as the future may be boring, but he is just trying to be helpful. Frankly, Benjamin has the air of an uncreative future corporate drone and “plastics” is probably good advice.
When Mrs. Braddock asks Benjamin where he goes at night, she is disappointed when he lies to her but does not push him further. She is trying to talk to him, but Benjamin is unwilling to meet her halfway.
Not to mention that their desire for him to take Elaine Robinson out on a date seems good hearted. Elaine is a beautiful college student of about the same age as Benjamin and ultimately the parents were right – he falls in love with her!
Benjamin may be the protagonist, but he is the worst person in the film. He is completely self centered, selfish, and unaware of his own privilege. The kid is starting on 3rd base in life, and he feels hard done by. He is boring and says almost nothing interesting during the entire film. His main passion seems to be to react to somebody telling him he can’t do something. He is completely passive with Mrs. Robinson until she assumes that he is a virgin (overt manipulation on her part) and then he becomes passionate about proving her wrong. His interest in Elaine seems is at least partially driven by Mrs. Robinson forbidding the date. Once Benjamin sets his eye on Elaine, he aggressively stalks her but other than being annoyingly aggressive and persistent, it is difficult to see what is so interesting about his courtship.
This is a great film. It probably means something different today than it did in the late 60’s but the fact that it still feels relevant is itself a tremendous accomplishment.
I think there's a whole movie that could be made about Rambo after returning to the USA and before he is walking down the highway to start First Blood. Something like Fat City or The Wrestler where it's a guy who is trying to adjust to normal life and failing, having an elite skill set that has no use in civilized society, how he can't even keep a job parking cars...
A war documentary that covers a Ranger QRF helicopter sent to Takur Ghar, a mountain ridge in Afghanistan to rescue SEAL and Air Force Commandos. The Ranger QRF helicopter is then shot down on a mountaintop by Al Qaeda. The surviving Rangers buckle down and hold their position until fighter jets and a CIA drone are able to strike Al Qaeda bunkers. I liked in the documentary how the mountaintop position would periodically be displayed on a 3D map. It was a nice touch
American comedy directed by and starring Jake Johnson.
Tommy (Johnson) is a lonely guy who lives with his mother despite having what looks to be a decent job. He is still struggling to get over his long time girlfriend leaving him 2 years earlier.
Tommy accepts an entry into a bizarre "dark web reality assassination game" run by some Icelandic weirdos. If Tommy avoids getting killed for 30 days, he wins $1m. Tommy is convinced that he can win because of a "loophole"; the contestant is safe as long as they are with another person.
Since Tommy does not have a lot of friends and his family does not take him seriously, his strategy to avoid getting killed proves more difficult to execute than he thought. He adapts by hiring a homeless man to hang around with him and he eventually meets Maddy (Anna Kendrick).
This is obviously a film that does not take itself too seriously and it lurches between being a comedy, a romantic-comedy, and a thriller. The absurd plot is fun and the movie itself is funny at times. I always like Kendrick in these types of movies. Andy Samberg is hilarious in an extended cameo as himself.
Ultimately the movie starts to run out of steam and it seems unwilling to go as fully crazy as the premise allows. Johnson seems to realize this and smartly keeps the run time to a crisp 90 minutes.
It's a pretty good movie. I have said on here before that it, Rocky 5 and Godfather 3 are considered worse than they are because they have to stand next to giants.
I think Rambo 3 would be on the short list of the best movies Van Damme or Seagal ever made. And it's considered by many to be one of Stallone's worst. Although with enough Escape Plan and Expendables sequels there won't be room for anything else on that list.
It's a pretty good movie. I have said on here before that it, Rocky 5 and Godfather 3 are considered worse than they are because they have to stand next to giants.
I think Rambo 3 would be on the short list of the best movies Van Damme or Seagal ever made. And it's considered by many to be one of Stallone's worst. Although with enough Escape Plan and Expendables sequels there won't be room for anything else on that list.
Yeah I thought rambo 3 and 4 were about just as good as each other but Rambo 4 seems to get way more love. 5.8 vs 7 IMDB score.
I guess it's interesting how stallone rebooted 2 of his franchises in the 2000s at age 60 that got more love than the previous rocky 5 and Rambo 3 when he was closer to physical prime.
Yeah I thought rambo 3 and 4 were about just as good as each other but Rambo 4 seems to get way more love. 5.8 vs 7 IMDB score.
I guess it's interesting how stallone rebooted 2 of his franchises in the 2000s at age 60 that got more love than the previous rocky 5 and Rambo 3 when he was closer to physical prime.
Yeah both franchises were considered dead in the water in 1990. But both characters were taken quite seriously in those 2000s movies. It was actually years and years and years and years working at getting Rocky 6 made and bankrolled etc. to the point where it became the underdog story in real life all over again.
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps(2010)
Starring Michael Douglas, Shia LaBeouf, Josh Brolin, Susan Sarandon, Frank Langella, Eli Wallach
Directed by Oliver Stone
7.5/10
A sequel to the original, Michael Douglas reprises his role as Gordon Gekko--just released from prison after serving eight years for his sins in the original: insider trading and securities fraud. He spends the next few years writing a book about greed which becomes a big hit. He is sought out by Jake Moore(played by LeBeouf)--a Wall Streeter engaged to Gekko's daughter, who has been estranged from her father since his incarceration. She blames Gekko for her older brother's death and messy divorce from her mother. Jake is trying to patch things up between his fiance and Gekko and begins to get conned by the old securities trader who wants to reconnect with his daughter but not for the reasons Jake thinks.
Josh Brolin plays a rival trader who ratted/lied to prosecutors in order to get Gekko imprisoned and Gekko wants revenge so Jake agrees to help him since Brolin's character was responsible for bankrupting Jake's trading firm.
I enjoyed this movie since I've always been interested in stock markets and compared to the original it tugs more at the heart strings than the original...which was just a ruthless, backstabbing, greedy look at the security business.
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps(2010)
Starring Michael Douglas, Shia LaBeouf, Josh Brolin, Susan Sarandon, Frank Langella, Eli Wallach
Directed by Oliver Stone
7.5/10
A sequel to the original, Michael Douglas reprises his role as Gordon Gekko--just released from prison after serving eight years for his sins in the original: insider trading and securities fraud. He spends the next few years writing a book about greed which becomes a big hit. He is sought out by Jake Moore(played by LeBeouf)--a Wall Streeter engaged to Gekko's daughter, who has been estranged from her father since his incarceration. She blames Gekko for her older brother's death and messy divorce from her mother. Jake is trying to patch things up between his fiance and Gekko and begins to get conned by the old securities trader who wants to reconnect with his daughter but not for the reasons Jake thinks.
Josh Brolin plays a rival trader who ratted/lied to prosecutors in order to get Gekko imprisoned and Gekko wants revenge so Jake agrees to help him since Brolin's character was responsible for bankrupting Jake's trading firm.
I enjoyed this movie since I've always been interested in stock markets and compared to the original it tugs more at the heart strings than the original...which was just a ruthless, backstabbing, greedy look at the security business.
I found it to be just a decent movie but I thought Michael Douglas could have been up for best actor. I have the first Wall Sreet at close to 10 / 10 though.
The voice work was quite good (Pratt got a lot of unwarranted criticism before anyone even saw the movie). Did anyone really want him to do a high-pitched accent emulating the N64 (and beyond) games for 90 minutes? He did really well, in my opinion. The visuals were very good and felt fitting to the world of the video game. Otherwise, it’s a pretty run-of-the-mill family friendly film. I think it’s pretty clear that it will play better for people who grew up with the games. There are a lot of neat references and nostalgia.
Probably a decent setup for a better sequel within that universe. The narrative was pretty straightforward, which makes sense, but there could have been more to the world-building. Consider how John Wick has a pretty standard revenge plot line but the world-building really adds to it.
Weirdly enough, no one is ever going to call 1993 Mario Brothers a good movie, but it seemed to me that it had some interesting ideas and the set design/some of the set pieces had potential. There’s way more wrong than right but I did like how they took some chances and tried to build on the source material. If you had had a director like Terry Gilliam at the helm and a better script, good actors like Hoskins and Leguizamo would have been given something to work with.
The likability of Mario and Luigi as characters in this film and the strong voice work from Anya Taylor Joy and others does bode well for future installments.
I found it to be just a decent movie but I thought Michael Douglas could have been up for best actor. I have the first Wall Sreet at close to 10 / 10 though.
Stone made some odd choices (surprise!) in the original but it is definitely an absolute classic. One of those films that has become irrevocably tied to the era that it represents.
Douglas was great. Hannah was bad. I wish they had cast somebody other than Charlie Sheen. He never did anything for me as an actor. Same with Platoon. But many people liked him in both those roles, obviously
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