@aquamanpunch
So before a face-off during one of the Hawks playoff games a few weeks ago (still bummed they got beat
) they were playing the song "Black Betty" and that always makes me think of the movie
Basic. I realized that it'd been longer than I could remember since I'd watched that movie, so last night, I fixed that. Upon starting the film, I also realized that it'd been at least seven years since I'd last seen it, because whenever I watched it last, I'd yet to become familiar with Tom Hardy. Had I known him the last time I watched
Basic, I would've noticed that John Travolta's character's name is Tom Hardy. Watching it last night, I laughed for a solid minute before I could continue with the film.
It's still a bad ass fucking movie. The lack of attention it got when it was released is inexplicable and the fact that it hasn't since gained any momentum is likewise inexplicable. A military thriller version of
Rashomon with Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson directed by John McTiernan? It's a can't-miss. And it doesn't miss. I always thought Travolta was excellent here and I still think that. I wouldn't have been surprised if the writer wrote it imagining Bruce Willis in that role, but Travolta pulled off the down-and-out and the snark brilliantly. Plus, he can pull off silly and wild better than Willis, and combining the many different shades of characterization required in that role is something likely beyond Willis' capabilities but well within Travolta's reach.
I also just love McTiernan's storytelling abilities. He's always such a sure-handed director. You're never in doubt that the guy is in total control of his story no matter how many moving parts it has. And there are
a lot of moving parts in
Basic. In someone else's hands,
Basic could've easily gotten bogged down in twists and pointless reveals. In McTiernan's hands, though, it's an exceptional working out of deception and projection that's both complex but easy to apprehend.
If anybody in here has been sleeping on
Basic, give it a watch. And if you've already watched it and filed it away under "meh," dust it off and give it a rewatch.
For tonight, I'm going to have another nostalgia watch and rewatch the movie that I recorded on the same VHS tape as
Basic back in the day: Clint Eastwood's film version of
Blood Work. It's been even longer since I've seen this one, and I didn't love it as much as
Basic (which I watched literally every day for a week when I first saw it, it totally blew my mind), but I remember thinking it was pretty cool. It's also probably the coolest role for Old Man Clint other than
Unforgiven and
In the Line of Fire.
She was like your version of Weird Science Lisa. Serious movie discussing girl.
@Johner was a top quality regular too.
I have a vague memory of him coming back once. Otherwise, he just straight up bolted. What you mentioned about
YeahBee and not remembering his sensibilities, I don't remember
Johner's. I remember his Tory Lane AV but not much else. I think he was one of the ones particularly pissed at me for hating
Children of Men (along with
Will Jacobs, who I think was the most devastated). I think he joined up with
The Hug Dog to give me shit for hating
The Assassination of Jesse James, as well.
What happened to @jstorm?
Now there's somebody I
completely forgot about. Didn't he write coverage? For some reason I'm remembering him being somewhat in the industry.
And I'm way cooler than Brian.
I will definitely try to.
What the fuck is going on btw? Is it 2010 again? I'm talking to JSN in the SMD.
If you @ them, they will come.
I think I went AWOL for like 3 or more years at one point.
For a long time this was my go to place online to chat and hang out.
I used to go back and read a block of pages from the original thread here and there, but i think it got lost in the format switch.
Same. Way back, right after the 1000-post cap was implemented, the first few installments got lost/deleted. I thought that was bad enough. When I realized the original SMD was part of the purge, I got really pissed. So much shit got dumped in the migration with no warning.
It was such a good blend of stubborn, heated debate and cracking jokes.
I always have a private laugh when somebody tells me my academic writing is too polemical and intense because the first thing I always think is that it's not shit compared to some of the knock-down-drag-outs that have been had in the SMD. And then the fact that, after, we could still joke around spoke to the characters of everybody involved. The SMD has seriously spoiled me when it comes to discussing movies. No matter how "big" I get in academia, this will always be my favorite place to talk about movies.
Ill go see a very relevant movie in theaters once in a while, but i hardly watch on tv now, and when i do it's a lot of stuff I've seen before.
Just do what I do and post about where you stand in relation to the movies you're rewatching.
Basic isn't in the MCU but I'm still posting about it.
