[Rock]

I wanted to do something to celebrate my 4000th post, and this was the only idea I had. I would have done my entire collection, but I have a lot more DVDs than Blu-rays, and this way finishing the thread is a bit more feasible (no guarantees, though). The first entry is coming up shortly.

Hope you enjoy.

FILMS REVIEWED

The Big Lebowski (Coen & Coen, 1998)
Black Sunday (Bava, 1960)
Blow Out (De Palma, 1981)
Blue Velvet (Lynch, 1986)
Carlos (Assayas, 2010)
Carrie (De Palma, 1977)
Casino (Scorsese, 1995)
Children of Men (Cuaron, 2006)
Crank (Neveldine & Taylor, 2006)
Crank: High Voltage (Neveldine & Taylor, 2009)
Creepshow (Romero, 1982)
Domino (Scott, 2005)
Dredd (Travis, 2012)
Eastern Promises (Cronenberg, 2007)
El Topo (Jodorowsky, 1970)
The Evil Dead (Raimi, 1981)
Fight Club (Fincher, 1999)
First Blood (Kotcheff, 1982)
A Fistful of Dollars (Leone, 1964)
Five Deadly Venoms (Chang, 1978)
For a Few Dollars More (Leone, 1965)
A History of Violence (Cronenberg, 2005)
The House of the Devil (West, 2009)
The Hurt Locker (Bigelow, 2009)
How the West Was Won (Ford, Hathaway, Marshall & Thorpe, 1962)
Jaws (Spielberg, 1975)
JCVD (El Mechri, 2008)
The Killer (Woo, 1989)
Killer Klowns from Outer Space (Chiodo, 1988)
Kiss Me Deadly (Aldrich, 1955)
L.A. Confidential (Hanson, 1997)
La Haine (Kassovitz, 1995)
The Last Temptation of Christ (Scorsese, 1988)
Le Cercle Rouge (Melville, 1970)
Leaves of Grass (Nelson, 2010)
Licence to Kill (Glen, 1989)
The Living Daylights (Glen, 1987)
The Longest Day (Annakin, Marton, Wicki & Zanuck, 1962)
Man on Fire (Scott, 2004)
Never Say Never Again (Kershner, 1983)
Paris, Texas (Wenders, 1984)
Point Break (Bigelow, 1991)
Rambo: First Blood Part II (Cosmatos, 1985)
The Rock (Bay, 1996)
Serenity (Whedon, 2005)
Shoot 'Em Up (Davis, 2007)
Skyfall (Mendes, 2012)
Straw Dogs (Peckinpah, 1971)
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (Hooper, 1986)
The Thing (Carpenter, 1982)
True Romance (Scott, 1993)
Vivre Sa Vie (Godard, 1962)
Walkabout (Roeg, 1971)
Wall Street (Stone, 1987)
The Warriors (Hill, 1979)
Watchmen (Snyder, 2009)
Young Frankenstein (Brooks, 1974)

[Rock]

Licence to Kill (1989)
Dir. John Glen



Timothy Dalton had an unfortunately short run as James Bond, but his movies are two of the better entries in the franchise. The Living Daylights is the closest the series ever returned to the tone of the earlier Terence Young films, and Licence to Kill is a precursor to the Daniel Craig Bonds, being grittier and more violent and shedding away the campier aspects of the series. Director John Glen, who had been with the series since For Your Eyes Only, had a straighter, leaner approach that didn’t mesh well with Roger Moore’s more light-hearted portrayal of Bond, but went together great with Dalton’s take on the character, less playboy and more man of action. The things that make Licence to Kill stand out for me are the darker story (it’s interesting to see Bond acting purely out of revenge, and this adds some depth to his character), the performances (Dalton’s great in this, and Robert Davi as the drug lord Franz Sanchez is one of the series’ more grounded and more menacing villains), and the set pieces (the movie clearly took some influence from ‘80s action films, and the truck chase at the end is one of my favourite action scenes in the entire series). Easily one of my favourite Bond movies.

On a side note, it's pretty funny seeing both Agent Johnsons from Die Hard pop up in this. Also, from one of the special features, I noticed that the script was originally titled Licence Revoked - it's a good thing they changed it, because that would have been a terrible title.

[Morris Schæffer]

Will check this list. Would be cool if you could comment on the quality of the transfer as well, but perhaps you are not so discriminate concerning PQ. Licence to kill is great, but not sure why they needed Wayne newton. Oh and Everet McGill is pretty awesome too.

Edit: and Del Toro who was unknown at the time.

[Rock]

Originally Posted by Morris Schæffer

Will check this list. Would be cool if you could comment on the quality of the transfer as well, but perhaps you are not so discriminate concerning PQ. Licence to kill is great, but not sure why they needed Wayne newton. Oh and Everet McGill is pretty awesome too.

Edit: and Del Toro who was unknown at the time.

I'm not as savvy to Blu-ray's technical aspects as some other posters are, but I'll comment occasionally on the transfer or some of the special features.

Licence to Kill looks pretty good, btw.

[Rock]

The Killer (1989)
Dir. John Woo



Out of the John Woo movies I’ve seen, this is easily my favourite, and I can see why it’s so revered. The action scenes are brilliantly shot and choreographed, and for once Woo’s tendency to go for easy sentimentality works with the story, and film is genuinely moving as a result. Woo said he intended the film as an homage to Jean-Pierre Melville’s Le Samourai and Martin Scorsese’s Mean Streets, and while those films’ influences are apparent (the lone hitman trope is taken from the former film, and the latter clearly influenced the use of slow motion and colour), Woo takes makes them his own, resulting in one of the most visually distinctive action films I’ve seen. My only knock against it is that there are a few aesthetic choices that I might normally forgive (one scene clearly uses sped up footage, and another has some awkward looking freeze frames, and these choices kill some of the momentum of their respective scenes), but stick out like a sore thumb here (especially when the fluidity of the action is one of the film’s major strengths).

I was a little bummed out by the picture quality of this Blu-ray. It looks really rough (I understand the transfer is 1080i instead of 1080p, despite the back of the box saying otherwise), and a film that looks this good deserves better. The interview and Q&A featurettes with John Woo are worth a watch, though.

[The Plan]

Haven't seen your first two entries, but I'll be watching.

[topher h.]

Licence to Kill is one of my favorite Bond films.

[Janson Jinnistan]

Loved Wayne Newton in License to Kill.

And the Dragon Boat sequence from The Killer, including the ensuing chase, is not only my favorite from Woo but one of my favorite action sequences of all time.

[Space for Rent]

Doesn't Bond drink a Budweiser in License to Kill? That's reason enough to strike it from the canon. That's actually a pretty apt metaphor for everything that was wrong with that movie, in my opinion.

I liked Dalton for his intensity, and moderately enjoyed The Living Daylights for down-scaling the character back to an operative, instead of a world saving superhero. But License to Kill felt like a bad American action movie, not a Bond film to me.

(I apologize for butting in on your Collection thread, but I thought some of the other comments on the movie invited discussion).

[Rock]

Originally Posted by Forget The Plan

Haven't seen your first two entries, but I'll be watching.

Cool. What happened to your DVD thread, btw? I was enjoying reading that.

Originally Posted by Phell

Doesn't Bond drink a Budweiser in License to Kill? That's reason enough to strike it from the canon. That's actually a pretty apt metaphor for everything that was wrong with that movie, in my opinion.

I liked Dalton for his intensity, and moderately enjoyed The Living Daylights for down-scaling the character back to an operative, and not a world saving superhero, but License to Kill felt like a bad American action movie, not a Bond film to me.

I understand this sentiment, but part of the reason I like the movie is because it breaks with tradition.

Also, Daniel Craig is going to have a Heineken in Skyfall. Hehe.

[Space for Rent]

Originally Posted by Rockatansky

I understand this sentiment, but part of the reason I like the movie is because it breaks with tradition.

Also, Daniel Craig is going to have a Heineken in Skyfall. Hehe.

Fair enough. And please see my ninja edit apologizing for butting in my opinion into your Collection thread.

I'm sure I can conceive of Bond having a beer. But on no account can I imagine him willingly putting Budweiser into his mouth.

[topher h.]

didnt he order a bourbon in Live and Let Die?

[Space for Rent]

Originally Posted by topher h.

didnt he order a bourbon in Live and Let Die?

You're missing the point, I think.


It's not that I think Bond exists solely on a liquid diet of incorrectly mixed martinis. It's that I can't imagine any European willingly drinking Budweiser, let alone Bond. Obviously, it was only for marketing reasons, but brands and labels matter to the character, and have all the way back to the books.

It was a minor detail, but like I said, a metaphor for much of the unwelcome tone and American character of that movie, in my opinion. Not to mention the terrible female lead character in that flick.

[Thief12]

I don't think I've seen License to Kill, or if I did, I don't remember. Been meaning to rewatch some old Bond though, so I'll get to that one.

Never seen John Woo's early films either.

[Otm Shank]

I watched The Killer for the first time fairly recently. Its final scene is all kinds of awesome.

[dreiser]

Originally Posted by Phell

Doesn't Bond drink a Budweiser in License to Kill? That's reason enough to strike it from the canon. That's actually a pretty apt metaphor for everything that was wrong with that movie, in my opinion.

So your complaints center on American beer and American actresses in a Bond film?

[Rock]

Originally Posted by Phell

Fair enough. And please see my ninja edit apologizing for butting in my opinion into your Collection thread.

No problem.

I'm going to be cranking out another entry soon.

[The Plan]

Originally Posted by Rockatansky

Cool. What happened to your DVD thread, btw? I was enjoying reading that.

Aghh, I'd be lying if I said I didn't have the time in the past week and a half or so, but late March/early April dumped a ton of work on me and I just didn't have the time. I'll get back to it though, soon. No, right now. Your thread has inspired me. Awayyyyy!

[Rock]

Crank (2006) & Crank: High Voltage (2009)
Dir. Mark Neveldine & Brian Taylor



I enjoyed the first Crank for consciously doing away with any pretense of an actual story and getting straight to the action, but I didn’t find the action itself quite that satisfying and the film works much better when it goes purely for humour (Exhibit A: the public sex scene). The reason the second film is better is because it doesn’t try to be anything resembling a traditional action film and instead goes for every batshit insane gag it can think of. This consists of seemingly trying to outdo not only its predecessor, but possibly every movie I’ve ever seen (highlights include sodomy by shotgun, a rehash of the public sex scene with a CG horse penis thrown in for added effect, and a fight scene inspired by Japanese monster movies). The reason that any of this works is largely due to the directors’ style. Neveldine and Taylor are willing to do pretty much anything and everything for effect with no regard for good taste, and display a remarkable amount of invention and a real understanding of the strengths of digital cinematography. (I should emphasize how great these movies look on Blu-ray.) I think both films start to wear out their welcome towards the end and could use a bit of trimming. Regardless, they’re both strong examples of ADD-inflected action films done right.

[The Plan]

Love the Crank movies

[Rock]

Originally Posted by Forget The Plan

Aghh, I'd be lying if I said I didn't have the time in the past week and a half or so, but late March/early April dumped a ton of work on me and I just didn't have the time. I'll get back to it though, soon. No, right now. Your thread has inspired me. Awayyyyy!

Fair enough. I actually have a pretty busy week coming up, so I'm probably not going to be posting that actively in this thread for a few days.

[Space for Rent]

Originally Posted by dreiser

So your complaints center on American beer and American actresses in a Bond film?

No.


[edit] I removed my elaboration because I didn't want to lay that big a turd in Rock's DvD thread, and because nobody cares anyway.

[topher h.]

enjoyed the first crank movie, havent seen the second.

[Morris Schæffer]

Loathe the Crank movies, just bad everything. They may be excessive, akin to a road runner cartoon like some might be prone to comment, but No road runner cartoon ever lasted beyond 5 or 10 minutes.

As for The Killer, I thought it was ok. In a way, I like the story and visuals of Face/Off more. It just strikes me as a more polished offering although there's no denying the leads in the killer are badass.

By the way, if I'm not mistaken, all the Bond flicks are coming to blu-ray this year so there'll be a few I'm going to pick-up!

[Rock]

Originally Posted by Thief12

I don't think I've seen License to Kill, or if I did, I don't remember. Been meaning to rewatch some old Bond though, so I'll get to that one.

Never seen John Woo's early films either.

The Killer and Hard Boiled are the only one of his Hong Kong films I've seen. They're definitely worth checking out if you're into action movies.

Originally Posted by topher h.

enjoyed the first crank movie, havent seen the second.

Take everything in the first one, crank it up to 11, and you get Crank: High Voltage. If that sounds like something you'd enjoy, it's worth checking out.

Originally Posted by Morris Schæffer

Loathe the Crank movies, just bad everything. They may be excessive, akin to a road runner cartoon like some might be prone to comment, but No road runner cartoon ever lasted beyond 5 or 10 minutes.

As for The Killer, I thought it was ok. In a way, I like the story and visuals of Face/Off more. It just strikes me as a more polished offering although there's no denying the leads in the killer are badass.

By the way, if I'm not mistaken, all the Bond flicks are coming to blu-ray this year so there'll be a few I'm going to pick-up!

Yeah, I can see how someone would find the Crank movies to be off-putting.

Face/Off is definitely slicker on the surface, but I was more emotionally involved in The Killer. (It does however, lack Nicolas Cage and John Travolta trying to outdo each other in the amount of scenery they can chew).

I need to pick up The Living Daylights, On Her Majesty's Secret Service and Diamonds are Forever and I think I'll have all of them on DVD or Blu-ray between my brother and myself.

[Dr. Lecter]

The Crank movies are worth watching just for the fight scenes alone.

[Rock]

Leaves of Grass (2010)
Dir. Tim Blake Nelson



This was a film I was anticipating heavily back in 2010, and it’s kind of a shame it didn’t get wider distribution. It has a lot of similarities with a film like Fargo, and director Tim Blake Nelson shows a lot of the same skill as the Coens in creating lighter comedy without doing so at the expense of the characters, and weaving it together with heavier drama (often in the same scene) without it feeling jarring. The best thing about this film is Edward Norton’s double performance. He flawlessly creates two distinct characters (twin brothers, one a respected philosophy professor, the other a pot dealer who has run into some trouble), and the film fully develops and treats each of them with respect, resisting the temptation to turn the pot dealer brother into a caricature. Leaves of Grass probably qualifies as a stoner movie, but it manages to avoid going for easy stoner humour and is instead very thoughtful, well acted and well made (and yes, very funny).

[Rock]

Young Frankenstein (1974)
Dir. Mel Brooks



It’s safe to say that Mel Brooks is one of the greatest directors to work in the comedy genre. The Producers and Blazing Saddles are two of the boldest and most relentlessly funny comedies ever made, Young Frankenstein and Silent Movie are impressive achievements, and Life Stinks shows that he can be thoughtful without sacrificing the laughs. Young Frankenstein isn’t the most consistently funny of his films, but that’s part of the point, as the film is equal parts comedy and legitimate Frankenstein film. I liked that in the earlier portions of the film, Brooks keeps the humour relatively subdued and uses it to support the atmosphere. The decision to shoot in black and white to achieve the look of old Universal horror films also plays a big part in why the film works as both parody and homage. Once the monster is introduced, the film gets much funnier, and Young Frankenstein has some of Brooks’ very best gags (“seda-give”, Gene Hackman’s cameo, and the performance of “Puttin’ On The Ritz”). It’s not my favourite Mel Brooks film, but it’s a very impressive comedy nonetheless.

[topher h.]

****ing love Young Frankenstein!

[doughboy]

Originally Posted by topher h.

****ing love Young Frankenstein!

This.