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Your unorthodox views.

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Post  James Stocks Sat Apr 20, 2013 1:22 am

Basically opinions on flicks you hold that might have others scratching their heads. For example...

While I acknowledge that RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK is the best Indiana Jones film, I can't help but enjoy TEMPLE OF DOOM the most. There's a zany quality to it that makes me grin every time I watch it. The Indy flicks were always big callbacks to the 1930s pulp serials and this one feels like the one that gets it right. It's schlocky, over the top, Indy has a kid for sidekick that could hold his own, a death cult, some warm hearted racism, non-stop swashbuckling action and to top it off, Indy kills a Chinese gangster with a GIANT FLAMING KABOB! Laughing Despite flaws like the beginning of the second act being relatively talky and overt with slapstick humor (EYEBALL SOUP!), the Shanghai sequence and everything that starts with Indy discovering the hidden temple is a real blast.

Also, ALIEN: RESURRECTION is better than PROMETHEUS. bounce
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Post  thecolorsblend Sat Apr 20, 2013 9:28 am

I enjoy the Star Wars prequels (although less lately).

I enjoy the Matrix sequels.
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Post  Apologist Puncher Sun Apr 21, 2013 10:52 pm

I think 'Sucker Punch' is maligned online as much as it is because people parrot OTHERS opinions, and are afraid to admit they liked it or are afraid to form their own. I enjoy it, and I "got it".

'King Creole' shows that Elvis had a real chance to become a very good actor if he had been given a chance. His last film, 'Change of Habit' confirms this.

I have never, and will never, watch 'Titanic'. Ever.

More to follow....
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Post  thecolorsblend Sun Apr 21, 2013 11:13 pm

Apologist Puncher wrote:I think 'Sucker Punch' is maligned online as much as it is because people parrot OTHERS opinions, and are afraid to admit they liked it or are afraid to form their own. I enjoy it, and I "got it".
It's all part of Internet group think that has taken over everything. The Internet supposedly allows for a wider, more diverse range of opinion but the precise opposite is the case most of the time. Because God forbid people have a different opinion.

Speaking of...

I have radically changed my opinion about the Schumacher Batman movies. Both of them. I think they're both great and are a ton of fun to watch. And not in a dumbass "ironic" way either. I think both say some interesting things about Batman.
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Post  James Stocks Mon Apr 22, 2013 7:29 pm

I have nothing against with the approach that Schumacher took. Campy Batman is as legitimate as the darker broodier Batman IMO. I do enjoy B&R purely from an absurdest point of view, but a lot of what it tries to be doesn't work. Unlike the Adam West show, B&R comes off more crass than clever.

The best thing going for those flicks for me is the score by Elliot Goldenthal. I get more out of his work than I ever really did with Elfman's. Of the approach that the Schumacher films went, Goldenthal seems to be the one element that really GOT it. He did a fantastic job of making a score that sounded all dramatic, brooding, funny and sexy. A lot of the score in B&R is the same as in BF (kind of like Ken Thorne recycling Williams' themes) but on that second go I thought he improved what came before. There's a lot more oomph to it in B&R. I look forward to getting a nice cleaned up remaster of that soundtrack someday.
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Post  Apologist Puncher Mon Apr 22, 2013 8:07 pm

thecolorsblend wrote:It's all part of Internet group think that has taken over everything. The Internet supposedly allows for a wider, more diverse range of opinion but the precise opposite is the case most of the time. Because God forbid people have a different opinion.

Big Brother is going to take over starting with the internet, mark my words. It's already begun...

I have radically changed my opinion about the Schumacher Batman movies. Both of them. I think they're both great and are a ton of fun to watch. And not in a dumbass "ironic" way either. I think both say some interesting things about Batman.

I can understand "liking" 'Batman & Robin'. Kind of. But come on colors, "great"? Are you sure you want to make THAT claim?
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Post  thecolorsblend Mon Apr 22, 2013 8:18 pm

Apologist Puncher wrote:
thecolorsblend wrote:It's all part of Internet group think that has taken over everything. The Internet supposedly allows for a wider, more diverse range of opinion but the precise opposite is the case most of the time. Because God forbid people have a different opinion.

Big Brother is going to take over starting with the internet, mark my words. It's already begun...

I have radically changed my opinion about the Schumacher Batman movies. Both of them. I think they're both great and are a ton of fun to watch. And not in a dumbass "ironic" way either. I think both say some interesting things about Batman.

I can understand "liking" 'Batman & Robin'. Kind of. But come on colors, "great"? Are you sure you want to make THAT claim?
Well. "Great" is probably not what I should've said. Can I defend the butt-shots and Freeze's ice puns? Of course not. But the era that Schumacher was referencing (the 50's and 60's comics with a helping of Adam West thrown in) isn't too far off from what's seen in B&R in tone. I freely acknowledge it's not for everybody but when I put it in that context, it's enjoyable. And not in an unintentional, ironic or hipster kind of way.
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Post  James Stocks Tue Apr 23, 2013 12:51 pm

Not sure if this is considered unorthodox, but I greatly prefer the first Terminator to its sequel. Much more suspenseful and of course I prefer Arnold as the villian.

Another thing on Cameron. TRUE LIES blows TITANIC out of the water, and nothing needs to be said of AVATAR.
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Post  Apologist Puncher Tue Apr 23, 2013 11:03 pm

'Over The Top' is one of Stallone's BEST non-Rambo/Rocky films.
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Post  thecolorsblend Tue Apr 23, 2013 11:41 pm

I've always thought LOTR is a bloated waste of time. As Star Wars isn't really a trilogy anymore and as there are only two Godfather films, Back to the Future is the best trilogy ever. The Raimiverse Spider-Man movies might've been contenders if the first movie had more spark to it, if the second wasn't so over-the-top repetitive and if the third wasn't so over-crowded with villains. So Back to the Future is top dog.

Ferris Bueller is good... but it's not the definitive 80's teenage comedy; Better Off Dead is. Goonies is #2. So, best case scenario, Ferris Bueller is in the third slot... and I'm not even convinced of that, to be honest.

Fight Club. Never understood what the hype was all about. Saw it once in theaters, once on DVD and once on regular TV. It was plodding and meaningless during each viewing. The book is supposed to have some pretty shocking lines in it though.

I liked The Village. Seems I'm the only one who did.
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Post  James Stocks Wed Apr 24, 2013 3:15 am

I can see your point on BTTF, of all the trilogies it's the most consistent.
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Post  non_amos Wed Apr 24, 2013 11:10 am

BATMAN TO ROBIN:

"This is why Superman works alone."
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Post  non_amos Wed Apr 24, 2013 11:24 am

James Stocks wrote:Not sure if this is considered unorthodox, but I greatly prefer the first Terminator to its sequel. Much more suspenseful and of course I prefer Arnold as the villian.

Another thing on Cameron. TRUE LIES blows TITANIC out of the water, and nothing needs to be said of AVATAR.

The 1st 2 Terminator films are among my all-time favorites. I even watched them both again recently. I agree and disagree. The production values ain't as good on the 1st one but it also only had about a $6 million budget compared to the $100 million of it's sequel. But Ahnuld does work as the villain. Interesting thing here. We criticize BJ the Bartender for being a non-speaking Singerman but his supporters say he 'expressed emotion'. Whatever. But in Ahnuld's case he also said very few words in that film but he did the whole 'body language' thing in spades! And he also had one of the most quotable quotes in film history, "I'll be back." The chemistry was also great between the characters of Sarah Connor & Kyle Reese. The 1st film is truly awesome for what it brought to the table. Even the supporting cop characters were great including the guy from ALIEN.

But T2? I feel like they brought the Terminator franchise to a whole new level. Definitely one of the best action-packed films I've ever seen! And sure, Ahnuld's not the villain but in this case he also works as the hero. But the T-1000 played by Robert Patrick has got to be one of the best villains ever. And I feel like T-2 has one of the best endings for a film ever with Ahnuld giving the thumbs-up to John Connor while going down for the last time. So I tend to prefer T-2 but it's also nearly a tie.
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Post  James Stocks Wed Apr 24, 2013 3:51 pm

It's a bit difficult for me to enjoy T2 as much as I used to because a lot of the flaws jump at me more often, one of the great concepts like the T-1000 being underutilized. Here's a terminator that can change his appearance and blend into the crowd. He can mimic walls, floors, ect. Having this as a terminator would be difficult to track and avoid. He could easily sneak up behind John Connor and swiftly terminate him before he realized what happened.

Instead, the T-1000 chases John Connor with a fucking semi! Laughing

Besides that, the pacing kind of dies down for me to the point that the urgency almost becomes absent after they escape to the dessert and it doesn't really pick up again until they get to the Cyberdyne complex. It's even worse in the extended edition, really showing how when Cameron has more control over his films he sort of tends to make his films longer than they necessarily should be. ALIENS was perfectly well paced in its theatrical cut, while the special edition just highlights how much Cameron doesn't understand how the added scenes really don't do much other than stall things. You don't need to literally make Ripley a mother to explain why she has maternal instincts towards Newt, it's natural for adult females.

Back to T2, I still find it entertaining to watch, despite the flaws. I'll take that over a great many other flicks that pass as summer tentpole flicks.
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Post  thecolorsblend Wed Apr 24, 2013 4:01 pm

^ I see your argument about Cameron but, man, in his prime, NOBODY did it better. And the Terminator duology (as with the Godfather, I don't understand why people think the series went beyond their second/concluding chapters) is proof of it.
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Post  non_amos Thu Apr 25, 2013 1:48 am

Hey, I actually like the extended cut of T-2 better than the theatrical version. To me it fleshes it out better. Some scenes might could arguably have been left out but some actually enhance the story imho. Like when John Connor reprogrammed Ahnuld & Sarah Connor wanted to smash his chip with a hammer. Things like that that actually added to the story. The whole Myles Dyson arc was also enhanced by this version. Now as for the 1st film, there's deleted scenes on the DVD but be thankful those weren't included in an extended version because, while maybe interesting, they really would've slowed things down.
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Post  thecolorsblend Thu Apr 25, 2013 11:24 am

non_amos wrote:Hey, I actually like the extended cut of T-2 better than the theatrical version. To me it fleshes it out better. Some scenes might could arguably have been left out but some actually enhance the story imho. Like when John Connor reprogrammed Ahnuld & Sarah Connor wanted to smash his chip with a hammer. Things like that that actually added to the story. The whole Myles Dyson arc was also enhanced by this version. Now as for the 1st film, there's deleted scenes on the DVD but be thankful those weren't included in an extended version because, while maybe interesting, they really would've slowed things down.
The T-1000's malfunctions in the steel mill are made a lot clearer in the extended cut. The extended version adds enough stuff to the film that, as with the Abyss, I'm tempted to say it's a completely different movie. It's a tougher argument to make about T2 than it is the Abyss but you can't underplay how much the added material changes/enhances things.
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Post  Apologist Puncher Thu Apr 25, 2013 9:44 pm

Cameron DEFINITELY should have left Michael Biehn's scenes in the original cut. He deserved at least that much, and it was a good "bridge" between the two films.
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Post  Apologist Puncher Thu Apr 25, 2013 9:47 pm

Back to the point of the thread, I think 'Crank' and 'Crank: High Voltage' are two pieces of action film craziness that are awesome in their over-the-top bad-assness.

And Jason Statham RULES in them.
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Post  non_amos Fri Apr 26, 2013 1:49 am

Apologist Puncher wrote:Cameron DEFINITELY should have left Michael Biehn's scenes in the original cut. He deserved at least that much, and it was a good "bridge" between the two films.

Not to derail the thread or anything but this point is one thing that has irked me. You see, the first time I saw T-2 was the theatrical version but when it first aired on network TV I believe around 1993 or so? Anyway, I loved that version, then. At that time I wasn't even aware of an extended cut. Of course there is on the DVD but in more recent years I got the laserdisc of T-2 & sure enough, it's extended but my point is this. For many years I thought only of the theatrical cut. Ignorance is bliss. But the thing that stood out to me is that it was a shame that Michael Biehn wasn't somehow in the film. I know his character died but still..........it just seemed like such a regret, such a waste. But voila! The first time I ever saw the extended cut, there he is! Dream, vision, ghostly visitation or 'trip' that Sarah Connor was on, you decide, but I really thought it was neat he was in that but simultaneously it just added fuel to the fire. Somehow it made it even more offensive that he was 'deleted'. Mad
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Post  James Stocks Fri Apr 26, 2013 3:04 am

Apologist Puncher wrote:Cameron DEFINITELY should have left Michael Biehn's scenes in the original cut. He deserved at least that much, and it was a good "bridge" between the two films.

That I agree with. I forget what his reason was for cutting it out of the theatrical cut. Biehn must have been underwhelmed.
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