After watching it again, I realised that there was more to this film than a typical Seagal flick. For starters, its his first major hit and it also set the standard for the 90's cop thriller drama. Dont expect this to be an action movie, its a cold hard thriller with Seagal for the first time showing his red hot temper and devestating his opponents as he battles a shadowy CIA group dealing drugs and weapons from South America and into the US. Framed, harrassed and finally marked for assassination, Seagal plays Nico, a diamond hard cop and special ops veteran who crosses the path of his old enemies from Vietnam and the black group who believe themselves to be untouchable.
With a good cast and helmed by Andrew Davis (Under Seige and The Fugitive) it is a plot worth thinking about as you dont know how the pieces fit together until the latter part of the movie, so its not a typical dmub story, its got meaning and a moral, which is expressed through Seagal's script and narrative.
Very modern and slicker than your average movie, this one is worth watching, dont dismiss it as a cheap Seagal flick, its probably one of his best.
Not exactly the typical Tarantino flick... and rather mild on the violence and gore than the trailer showed us.... maybe my expectations were different as this movie is.
Anyways, with a colorful cast led by Brad Pitt, Taratino gives his his take on WWII. A cross between the original Inglorious Bastards and The Dirty Dozen, it strives to find some position but I cant help thinking that it didnt meet my expectations - a couple short stories revolving around the Nazi propoganda machine, but these stories are not equal to Pulp Fiction.
The script was excellent, the cast were on the ball.... if you don't mind the dialouge in French and German most of the time. Some may find it long winded and boring, though the build up of some scenes were a let down. Laced with the same dark humor and themes like revenge and brutality, the movie is rather more a play than a movie.
Anyways, it was good viewing, but a tad long and did leave me feeling confused on what exactly Tarantino was trying to achieve here.... he keeps on twisting to a new direction, though it wasn't completley unexpected and didn't surprise me, which is one of the things I want from a Tarantino movie.
But you can't beat his unique vision and the script and the colorful characters he creates... and the simplicity of everything else makes it work. There is no large extravagant sets, no over the top expenditure on filming and production and certainly no frills. Its honest, simple and effective filmmaking, which is true Tarantino style - letting the raw movie, the cast and the direction do its work, which is what makes him such a great director.
A good movie with different ideas, but I think Tarantino needs to step back and go back to his uniqueness. I know he has a great love for the old exploitave cinema and b grade flicks, but his best work has usually been the most unique, and Inglorious Basterds is not a unique idea, but a made with a unique concept, which is why I dont think it had a great effect on me.
When I first came on Flixster, they didn't have this movie in its database. WTF???
Anywayz, about time!! This is Jackie's best action movie ever, and he did it all as well - acting, screenplay, action direction and director. Oh, of course - the stunts as well. :-)
Its a brillant piece of work - the definitive JACKIE movie - lots of action, a good plot, from which Jackie took fromm one if his dismal failures in the US, and made the idea into something legendary. Most of the action scenes from this movie has been copied time and time again into many other movies - a good example being the Shantytown stakeout car chase - which was copied into the climatic car chase in Bad Boys 2.
Jackie is one of Hong Kong's finest, trying his very best to take down a drug dealer. But things go crazy when he has to babysit the beautiful witness to th chagrin of his girlfriend, the bad guys are out looking for him, and to top it off, he is framed for murdering another officer. Lots of emotion and energy from this film - the final fight scene in the mall SPECTACULAR.
interesting facts - this movie was nicknamed GLASS STORY by the stuntmen - and if you watch it, you'll see why. And apparently so many people, including the main man himself, got injured and were rushed to hospital. And after this movie, no insurance company will work with Jackie - so pretty much he foots the medical bills and everything himself.
And despite all that - this is one of the best movies ever made.
Marlon Brando is the Godfather, the wisest, most loved and repsect Don of the times, his power and authority from New York to Sicily. We enter the world of his family, his trials and tribulations, how lifes are intertwined under his shroud, and how they are destroyed, and how others grow. Though despite being one of the most feared men that ever lived, The Don knows he is not immortal, and an attempt on his life throws his "cosca" in a bloody war in which there are many casualties.... and knowing that to save his Family, he must stop the war through his power and honor.... but in his mind he is preparing his youngest son, the exiled and indepedant Michael Corleone, to take his place and reignite the power of the Corleone family and bring justice to those who crosses the Godfather and his Family.
Flawless......... movie. I would criticise it for not being a 5 hour epic which followed the book, but the Godfather 2 pretty much told the rest of the story, and that was near flawless as well.
Marlon Brando obivously made the movie, but in my mind, Al Pacino and James Caan were the big guns. These two always light up the screen, Pacino, with his quiet intensity and presence, in opposite to the raging war monger James Caan, the Underboss of the Family.
So many contrasts, so many shades of grey, so many stories, lives and so much death... you would feel if you have entered the 1940's to 50's period as well. Its engaging in the sense that even though this is a work of fiction, it shows us that these people do exist and this is what happens. Its tale of reality in the underworld, literally. An Underworld, a world which is not our own, and admit it, we are all curious to explore.
Above the Law
R
Inglourious Basterds
R
Ging chaat goo si (Police Story) (Jackie Chan's Police Force)
R
The Godfather
R
