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Movie questions

To break up the monotony:

In the space of four years, John McTiernan made three of the best action movies of that generation: Predator (87), Die Hard (88), and Hunt for Red October (90). Each movie is awesome in its own particular way.

So two questions:

1) What happened? Did Last Action Hero kill this guy in Hollywood, or did the action genre move in a different direction with Cameron's Terminator 2 in 91?

2) The big decision: Die Hard vs. Predator, you have to pick a winner. Which do you choose and what's the argument (we already know your affections for Predator)?

1
)  Oh yeah, the action movie landscape changed in a BIG way around that time, which kind of bummed me out as a kid who had grown up watching the MANIAC COP genre.  I think it was actually Die Hard that killed the superman-with-a-badge deal, because it presented an everyman hero who WAS vulnerable, and then we started getting every permutation of "Die Hard On A (Blank)" studio pitches.  Also, I will defend Last Action Hero to my death as a decent movie.  Yes, it was stupid and nonsensical and poorly acted at times, but I always thought it was more the movie equivalent of all the poor bastards who released hair metal albums after Nevermind came out.  

2)  I have affections for Predator, but Die Hard is one of my favorite movies of all time, full stop.  Better plot, more layers, more memorable one-liner, better acted, much better sequels.  

Comments

  1. Aww c'mon I loved Last Action Hero. It was crap but entertaining crap.

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  2. Huh? Which Die Hard one-liner beats out "Bunch of slack-jawed faggots around here, this stuff will make you a god damned sexual Tyrannosaurus, just like me."

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  3. Why isn't there a "Die Hard vs. Predator" movie yet?

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  4. Jesse's had better lines throughout his career.

    "9/11 WAS A CONSHPIRASHY BY THE ILLUMI-NARTY!!"

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  5. Oh, and I'll go out on a limb and say Predator's better than Die Hard. Die Hard reinvented the genre and technically is the greater film, but goddamn is Arnie a charismatic lead character. I don't know what it is about him, but it's somehow believable when he alone can beat that freaky alien.

    Oh sorry, SPOILER ALERT.

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  6. davidbonzaisaldanamontgomeryAugust 31, 2013 at 12:11 AM

    Die Hard is the better movie, but Predator probably gets the nod over Commando as the best mindless more-Dakka 80s action film ever.

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  7. It's amazing how poorly edited Die Hard is though. The amount of continuity gaffes is in-fucking-credible.

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  8. I have to go with Predator over Die Hard as well. There aren't many movies I've watched more than Predator.

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  9. I prefer Die Hard, but I do love Predator. I still say that's the best "pro wrestling" movie ever made (Predator). In an alternate universe, McClain is Arnold. McBain!

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  10. Who cares, Die Hard rules.

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  11. Plus anything with Charles Dance in it can't be a bad movie. He carries every scene he's in.

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  12. Movie nerds.


    "The cinematography was yadda yadda..."


    zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

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  13. I say that every Memorial day when I start doing shots of Bacardi 151 and throw out the shot glasses.


    Nobody takes me up.

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  14. The same reason you aren't supposed to divide by 0

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  15. Love Die Hard, but Predator is just fucking badass.


    When they all step out the helo and every one of them is dressed differently, then Arnold sits back and lights up a cigar.


    You know this movie is gonna rule.

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  16. Die Hard was intended to be a sequel to Commando.

    Arnie looked at the script and passed on it it for a number of reasons. One of which was that it would require him to be in an air vent that would be absurdly large enough to accommodate him. Essentially, he turned it down for the same reasons he wasn't Robocop.


    After having the Commando sequel version shot down, they decided to revamp the whole movie as a deconstruction of the very same kind of movie Commando was, probably out of spite.


    I don't think Predator is better than Die Hard, but I also wouldn't say the reverse is true. Predator is an action movie done absolutely right in every way.

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  17. The scene that sums up Predator's unrelenting greatness for me:

    Duke (iirc) gets spooked and starts firing wildly into the trees. Instead of wondering why, or taking any sort of strategic thought process, his team all step up alongside him and spend five minutes unloading enough bullets to shred a small town to paper into some poor, innocent trees.

    No questions, no thought, just "he's shooting at something, let's back him up! " and its just fucking brilliant in it's insanity.

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  18. Is it me, or does Detroit's current situation make Robocop more of a likely real-world outcome by the day? Like, Paul Verhoeven kind of called that one.

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  19. That's interesting, I never knew that.

    Predator is the perfect action film, and they don't make them like that any more. It's over the top and shit blows up, and now everything has to be CGI'd up the ass.

    Die Hard though, which I don't prefer, really set the template for "normal guy steps into crazy situation" movies. At the time it was insanely cool, and it was probably the beginning of Willis being awesome.


    Personally, I think the original Terminator would be universally considered the best action film ever, but a) the music is so bad and distracting and doesn't hold up, and b) the guy who plays the dude from the future sucks ass. There are a couple of other reasons I'm forgetting. T2 was great too.

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  20. I love the sense of sheer fear in that film. At times, it can be more intense and frightening than many horror films.

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  21. Generally speaking, I prefer "Sci-Fi" action to "Cop" action movies- and Predator is just so bad ass it will make you boys spontaneously start puberty and women curse God for not making them men- but man, the first time I saw Die Hard I was just floored. The guy from Moonlighting was just owning it. The scene with the glass still makes me cringe. Just such a great movie-

    And now I am going to lose everyone's respect by saying how much I LOVE both the sequels- In fact, I like Die Hard 2 more than Die Hard and Predator 2 just as much as the original. I don't have any film school double talk or any key defining moment to defend my case with, I just am generally even more entertained by the follow ups...

    I know, I am a bad person.... .

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  22. MaffewOfBotchamaniaAugust 31, 2013 at 1:35 AM

    Last Action Hero has aged really well considering audiences are more genre and trope-savvy now than they were when that came out.

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  23. If anything, the corporations have been pretty genre savvy. Instead of accelerating it's decline through force, they've simply abandoned it and allowed it to wilt.

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  24. I actually like Michael Biehn a lot (as does James Cameron, apparently) but he absolutely dropped the ball in The Terminator.
    He was fine by the time he made Aliens, pretty good generic action guy who was smart enough to not rely on Calculonesque ACTING TALENT(!) to carry every single scene.


    I like the music in Terminator, but I concede I've listened to Britny Fox on purpose so who am I to judge?

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  25. MICHAEL BIEHN IS AN ACTING GOD!


    I dont know anything else he did besides Aliens and Terminator but holy shit!


    He is my guy. Kyle Reese and Dwayne Hicks are like my two favorite characters.


    They are just grunts who are forced to step into a role they are wayyyy over their head and just adapt and overcome.

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  26. No, step up and admit it.


    While I have not seen Die Hard 2, I LOVE Predator 2, just in its sheer over the top-ness.


    Pretty much when Glover infiltrates Keys hideout and the watches Keys team get decimated (via the Predator switching views), the movie rules.


    Its good (entertaining) beforehand, but once that scene happens, it non-stop bad-assery

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  27. davidbonzaisaldanamontgomeryAugust 31, 2013 at 2:21 AM

    Whatever gets us closer to Detroit's future TV programming, I'm all for, if only to know the set-ups that lead to "I'D BUY THAT FOR A DOLLAR!"

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  28. I actually don't remember him in anything else. I mean, I'm sure he's better than someone like Bill Paxton ("It's already HEEEEEEEERE!!" ".....Finger of God.") but yeah.

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  29. davidbonzaisaldanamontgomeryAugust 31, 2013 at 2:25 AM

    Right? I love after they've leveled the fucking trees, Mac is still squeezing the trigger on that giant gatling gun, and all of the commandos are just looking for any sign that they hit something, while the whirr of the gun is like the noise of hell. The movie's lauded for being such a fun, macho movie that it sometimes feels like it doesn't get enough credit for its superb atmosphere and cinematography; I remember Ebert saying something along the lines that it might have been the most convincing jungle in a film.

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  30. davidbonzaisaldanamontgomeryAugust 31, 2013 at 2:27 AM

    Which is funny, because Predator's cinematography is pretty fucking spectacular.

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  31. davidbonzaisaldanamontgomeryAugust 31, 2013 at 2:27 AM

    Ahead of its time for sure. I marked out when you used the "IF I DID A 360, I'D GO COMPLETELY AROUND AND END UP BACK WHERE I STARTED" clip in one of the Botchamanias.

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  32. Dude, Arnold showed more charisma and acting ability and he was playing a cyborg.

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  33. davidbonzaisaldanamontgomeryAugust 31, 2013 at 2:29 AM

    Michael Biehn was fucking great as Johnny Ringo in "Tombstone".

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  34. Oh shit, that was him? Okay, I like him now.

    Speaking of which: Val Kilmer, get back in shape and be awesome again, please. Doc Holliday is one of the greatest Western characters ever.

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  35. davidbonzaisaldanamontgomeryAugust 31, 2013 at 2:33 AM

    It stuns me that Kilmer can't find great work considering his work in stuff like "Tombstone", "The Doors", and "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" (although rumor had it that he was a pain in the ass to deal with). Even something like voice acting, because I thought he had a really great presence as Moses in "The Prince of Egypt".

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  36. I haven't watched last action hero for many years but I remember that the only thing that I didn't like about it was the cartoon cat, other than that I loved the concept! I just watched Robocop a couple weeks back for the first time since I was a kid and found it to be a lost treasure of the 80's that always seems to be left out of peoples best of lists. Also Predator is fantastic but Die Hard is a classic and a Christmas movie to boot!

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  37. The scene where the mud is cleansed from Arnold might be the most underrated "I'm fucked now" moment in movie history.

    My favourite jungle in a film? Platoon. The part where the "trees come alive" was frightening.

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  38. Nobody could play Jim Morrison like he could. It was spot on.

    I'll even go out on a limb and say that he was the best Batman. Not the best Batman movies, but I never dug Keaton and although Bale's unbelievably great, his version was pretty dull for me. Kilmer had the right amount of... I don't know, Bondness.

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  39. I'm trying to think of an old british dude who isn't awesome.

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  40. I had a teacher who went to school with Kilmer at Julliard, and apparently Val is just a complete nutcase. Just a total lunatic.

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  41. Two points.


    1. I never said Die Hard is bad because it has shit editing, I simply said it had shit editing.


    2. I am now going to quote you whenever you bitch about continuity errors in WWE.

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  42. Editing=/=cinematography.


    And cinematography is one of the most important parts of action movies. Shaky cam isn't hated because film nerds don't like it, shaky cam is hated because it's awful.

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  43. Caliber_Winfield_The_3rdAugust 31, 2013 at 4:17 AM

    You would have known it had you bought my book

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  44. Caliber_Winfield_The_3rdAugust 31, 2013 at 4:19 AM

    In high school my friends and I thought we were the biggest bad-asses around because we use to drink it straight. Every Friday morning at school we'd have the discussion of "OK, who's turn is it tonight to break the screen off the bottle? No, not you, you got glass in the bottle last time"

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  45. Caliber_Winfield_The_3rdAugust 31, 2013 at 4:20 AM

    Oh, sure, Keith, you send me questions about WWE possibly being sued for calling Kane The Big Red Monster, but you don't send me this?

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  46. Caliber_Winfield_The_3rdAugust 31, 2013 at 4:22 AM

    You've never seen DH2? What kind of slack-jawed faggot are you? That movie will turn you into a goddamn sexual Tyrannosaurus.

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  47. That would suppose I part with my money.


    But seriously, booze and smokes down here cost too much to consider actually paying for less important things (gasoline, lunch, girlfriend's aborton, that sort of thing).

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  48. Im already a goddamn sexual Tyrannosaurus.

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  49. Caliber_Winfield_The_3rdAugust 31, 2013 at 4:25 AM

    Die Hard 2 is fucking awesome, and completely escapes all criticism when McClane says "How can the same shit happen to the same guy twice?".

    It's such a great movie that unfortunately gets over-shadowed by the incredible ass-kickery of Die Hard With A Vengeance, which was done by McTiernan, which came out after Last Action, and the super-return and super-fantastic Live Free or Die Hard.

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  50. Caliber_Winfield_The_3rdAugust 31, 2013 at 4:26 AM

    Well then this movie will put a cool apparatus on your head in which you can shoot lazers, and seduce any female T-Rex with a fat ass.

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  51. Caliber_Winfield_The_3rdAugust 31, 2013 at 4:27 AM

    It's 99cents! That's less than a dollar! And here I thought we were close.

    You just promise me if you do ever get some extra money that you'll buy the MME before you buy your girlfriend anything.

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  52. Caliber_Winfield_The_3rdAugust 31, 2013 at 4:29 AM

    You guys need to check out Wonderland. Absolutely fantastic, and Kilmer's last great role as Johnny Wad himself, John Holmes.

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  53. Caliber_Winfield_The_3rdAugust 31, 2013 at 4:30 AM

    He wanted Robocop, but the producers and such thought he'd look too bulky in the suit. He also seriously petitioned for Superman in the late 70's.

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  54. Well... since the Australian Dollar is so strong right now.


    You accept Paypal? If so, drop me a link.

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  55. funny, i thought the same exact thing!

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  56. Caliber_Winfield_The_3rdAugust 31, 2013 at 4:33 AM

    It's on amazon, no paypal required.

    http://www.amazon.com/The-Man-Movie-Encyclopedia-ebook/dp/B0089NPI20/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1377945153&sr=8-1&keywords=Man+Movie+Encyclopedia

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  57. Caliber_Winfield_The_3rdAugust 31, 2013 at 4:35 AM

    I assume he was just happy to get a non-wrestling related question for once, and wanted it all to himself.

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  58. Caliber_Winfield_The_3rdAugust 31, 2013 at 4:40 AM

    Hell yeah, with that fantastic music. Then you have what is the burliest scene in movie history
    "Cause some damn fool accused you of bein' the best!"
    "DYLAN!"


    Predator is the burliest, most manly movie of all time. Yeah, I fucking said it, so everyone will know it's church.

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  59. Caliber_Winfield_The_3rdAugust 31, 2013 at 4:43 AM

    Much obliged.

    What format would you prefer? Ebook? RTF? ODT? DOC?

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  60. http://www.buzzfeed.com/mhastings/exclusive-the-tragic-imprisonment-of-john-mctiernan-hollywoo


    A tragic story about what John McTiernan unfotunately has had to endure. I think he'd be wanting to direct movies if given the opportunity.

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  61. McTiernan still survived Last Action Hero to make Die Hard with a Vengeance and the Thomas Crown remake. The Pellicano case and Rollerball remake killed his career

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  62. Caliber_Winfield_The_3rdAugust 31, 2013 at 5:16 AM

    Alrighty, sent and sent.

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  63. Caliber_Winfield_The_3rdAugust 31, 2013 at 5:23 AM

    Yup, both of which I think are bullshit.

    The only upside to his imprisonment is the come back story. I guarantee he'll be back on top within 5 years.

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  64. What in the blue fuck!? That poor bastard.

    Somebody please, get him out of there.

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  65. Caliber_Winfield_The_3rdAugust 31, 2013 at 5:43 AM

    Die Hard didn't really change the landscape. There really was no change. Action movies were still the same, it was just the whole "Die Hard On ____" became so popular. Speed 2 was suppose to be the 3rd Die Hard, matter of fact.

    In the early 90's, we saw a lot of the same faces, with Arnold & Stallone doing their usual [Total Recall, Terminator, Demolition Man, Judge Dredd] but we also had a few new-comers in the form of Seagal who had major hits with Above The Law, Hard To Kill, Out For Justice, Under Siege, and fuck Hollywood, On Deadly Ground is AWESOME. And my boy Jean Claude, who had massive hits with
    Bloodsport, Double Impact, Nowhere To Run, Timecop, and Universal
    Soldier. I love that for the first half of his career, all of Seagal's films had titles where you could go "Steven Seagal is...". Under Siege 2 is a fantastic film, and the last of his hits, as afterward we saw things like The Glimmer Man with Keenan Ivory Wayans, and The Patriot.

    Plus you had Arnold venturing into family-comedy land with things like Twins, K-Cop, Junior, and Jingle All The Way. As well as Stallone with crap like Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot! I love both Stallone and Estelle, but that film just didn't work.



    Hell, Seagal & Van Damme were so popular that Kimmy Gibbler was arguing with her grandmother over who could take who. By the way, I don't know, honestly. Seagal is such a massive bad-ass with his Akido training, and despite what he said on the Arsenio Hall Show, Van Damme won many a contest in karate, and is very legit.





    Um, Scott, Die Hard has more memorable one-liners? Look, I love DH, but no way. Predator has;
    "Cause some damn fool accused you of bein' the best!
    DYLAN!
    *MID AIR ARM WRESTLE*
    Looks like the CIA got you pushing too many pencils!"


    "Bunch of slack-jawed faggots around here! This stuff will turn you into a goddamn sexual t-rex, just like me.
    Yeah, why don't you slap this on your Soreass, Blaine"


    "You're bleeding.
    I ain't got time to bleed"


    "Knock knock *blows people to hell*"


    "*throws knife into guy, sticks him into wall* Stick around"


    "Bullshit, Billy! You ain't afraid of no man!
    Ain't no man in those trees"


    "You are one ugly motherfucker"


    And then Arnold is SUCH a bad-ass, that just him standing in the clearing after the bomb goes off is a one-liner, and that doesn't even make sense!


    Die Hard had:
    "Welcome to the party, pal!"


    and


    "Happy trails, Hans"


    I mean, sure, there's a thousand quoteable lines, not to mention Elis, but it couldn't top Predator in the one-liner department.



    Predator is the ultimate man movie, the ultimate pop-corn flick, and something so burly I have to shave my TV every time I watch it.

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  66. I really cant choose between Predator or Die Hard. Both are the shit. Hunt for Red Octobet is good but its definitely a tier below the other two in my book.

    Whats the most underrated action movie. Im going with Tango and Cash.

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  67. A QOTD on movies to...BREAK the monotony???

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  68. You know action movie history, but this needs to be repeated:


    Seagal's first batch of movies are top-fucking-notch.

    First of all, he's the spiritual successor to Chuck Norris. Norris was a legit karate tough guy in the '70s, and he had a handful of great ones back in the day. Seagal came on the scene, and in American cinema he was THE GUY who brought cringe-inducing (in the good way), bone-cracking action to movies. Van Damme was cool, but Seagal did shit that after '95 or so, EVERYONE ripped off.

    Now seems to be the time to bring up Roadhouse. The movie's considered a kind of a joke and Swayze isn't a pure action guy, but if that movie's playing anywhere at any time YOU WILL WATCH IT UNTIL IT'S OVER. It's a law in manliness.

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  69. I always enjoyed Kilmer in the David Mamet film Spartan. Kilmer plays a badass Government agent who must rescue the Presidents kidnapped daughter. Very underrated movie.

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  70. I prefer Commando to Predator...

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  71. Predator is like some jacked up monster of a builder who enthralls you with his charisma and ability to bite the top off a whiskey bottle.

    Die Hard is like the quiet cat at the bar who will make you laugh and can tell a story, but will also throw your ass out the window if need be.

    Both badass, and hard to judge against each other.

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  72. Long Tall Sally!

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  73. Check him out in Salton Sea. Great flick.

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  74. Jessie Ventura has some of the best lines in movie history in that film too.


    Why'd you say it twice? I didn't! :D

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  75. Mac! Not Duke! Thank you!


    But, yeah, it's actually amazingly tense in places. The general vibe of the film is amazing.

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  76. Die Hard's the story of a (relatively) ordinary man put into extraordinary circumstances. Predator's a science-fiction film with roots in ancient myth. Besides both being action films, they're nothing alike. It makes more sense to compare Predator to Beowulf than it does Die Hard.

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  77. Caliber_Winfield_The_3rdAugust 31, 2013 at 8:49 AM

    Fuck off to whomever downvoted this.

    Yeah, Roadhouse is complete ridiculous, but it's fantastic. If I had to describe the film in one word, it'd be fun. There are few better films to watch with a group of people.

    And dude, you're cocaine, because you're on the money about Seagal's first run of films.

    Above The Law - ****1/2
    Hard To Kill - *****
    Out For Justice - *****
    Under Siege - *****
    Marked For Death - *****
    Under Siege 2 - *****
    on Deadly Ground - ****1/2

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  78. Caliber_Winfield_The_3rdAugust 31, 2013 at 8:52 AM

    Tango & Cash is great, as it contains both the gun boot, and "Rambo's a pussy".

    Most underrated? Oh man. I'd probably have to go with Last Boy Scout. Directed by Ridley Scott, written by Shane Black [Lethal Weapon, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang] and starring Bruce Willis. I've always considered it "the lost Die Hard". Fucking awesome film. Also, Showdown In Little Tokyo. Lundgren & Lee kicking major ass.

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  79. Caliber_Winfield_The_3rdAugust 31, 2013 at 8:55 AM

    Commando is just...I'm stunned at it's awesomeness everytime I see it.

    It was originally rooted a bit more in reality, with Nick Nolte as the lead.

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  80. Prosecutorial abuse is a huge problem and what led to the suicide of Aaron Schwartz and so many other awful sentences over the years.

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  81. you are not a bad person but something is wrong with you for thinking DH2 is better than Die Hard. there are less than a handful of sequels better than the originals over the course of human history and DH2 is not one of them. That being said, i enjoy it!

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  82. I was shocked - SHOCKED - to find out Scott posted this and not you. We're in some weird Bizarro World blog, like it was based in Toronto or something.

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  83. Continuity errors in the story versus some editing issues are far from the same.

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  84. Batman and Robin truly proves that an accurate assesment in every way.

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  85. This was my question, and am pleased that Scott answered so quickly, and that it's spawned another couple of threads. It's interesting because these are sibling movies, with the same director, casting, etc., and both became huge influences in the genre after it. Predator's genre shift halfway through the movie was so unique and well done that Roberto Rodriguez.states he tried to duplicate it in From Dusk to Dawn to not great success. Meanwhile Die Hard could be the "perfect" action movie.



    I think I need to do a breakdown of these two movies and submit to Scott.

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  86. Wait a minute, Scott, "Yipikayee MF" isn't even the best line in Die Hard. That's "I'm not the one who just got butt-fucked on national TV, Duane."


    And neither of those are better than "If it bleeds, we can kill it" or "You are one... ugly... MF". Oh, I REALLY need to do a breakdown.

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  87. What I remember most about Tango & Cash is how hot Teri Hatcher looked. Movie is okay.

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  88. I have to give the edge to Die Hard if only because most of the Die Hard clones that followed actually ended up being pretty good movies in their own right (The Taking Of Beverly Hills, No Contest and Open Fire to name a few) while on the flipside, nearly all of the Predator clones have flat-out sucked (Don't even get me started on Alienator).

    And Last Action Hero has aged pretty well now considering all of the awful Channing Tatum movies that currently flood the action movie market.
    Got to love how Hollywood repeatedly snubbed Jeff Speakman, Thomas Ian Griffith and Jeff Wincott, three action movie guys who could actually act yet they give an untalented douchebag like Channing Tatum one undeserved role after another.

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  89. I loved From Dusk Till Dawn all the way up until the weird shift from somewhat comedic action movie to straight up horror movie. Once that shift happened, the movie never recovered.
    Although the all-time winner for most nonsensical shift in direction in movie history has got to be Hancock.

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  90. The Taking Of Beverly Hills, The Perfect Weapon and F/X would be my top three picks. Those films never get enough love.

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  91. I will defend Live Free or Die Hard as the second best Die Hard movie till my dying breath, or until another Die Hard movie manages to usurp that in my eyes.


    Seriously, With a Vengeance is overrated and suffers from ONE GIANT FLAW: if Simon never gets McClane involved, he wins without even trying.

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  92. Anything Tia Carrere is in gets a lifetime pass from me. It also helped that Dolph and Brandon had great chemistry and Cary Hiroyuki-Tagawa got to be his usual badass self. Definitely a great hidden gem.

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  93. Yeah, the movie Fred Olen Ray himself admitted was his attempt to copy Predator. Only instead of having Arnold kick ass and take names, Fred had a drunk off his ass Jan-Michael Vincent slur lines and fight sloppily.

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  94. I can't take Predator 2 seriously when Danny Glover looks like he's about to keel over from a heart attack at any minute, yet somehow takes the Predator to his limit and manages to WIN.

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  95. Fuck you, nobody says a bad word about Michael Beihn!

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  96. It's the editors job to take care of that. It's not everything the editor has to do, but it an important role.


    I swear to god McClane's shirt changed colors between scenes.

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  97. Yeah, still don't care.

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  98. You could've said that from the beginning.


    If you get caught on your BS, don't get all passive aggressive on people.

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  99. http://www.moviemistakes.com/film361

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  100. I'm not that huge of a Channing Tatum fan, but lets not act like every movie the guy has been has sucked.


    (Being perfectly honest the only movies I've seen of his are the first GI Joe and 21 Jump Street. He's .500 in my eyes)

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  101. What the Fuck was up with the theme shift in Hancock

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  102. You must of hated Cloverfield then.

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  103. Caliber_Winfield_The_3rdAugust 31, 2013 at 3:45 PM

    LFODH is absolutely incredible, and gets better every time I see it.

    He had to involve someone, and who better than McClane? He wanted to get vengeance, and he wanted to keep the cops looking in a different direction. His own ego got the best of him when he had numerous times to kill McClane, but thought he'd always have the chance, and wanted to make him suffer that much more.

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  104. Caliber_Winfield_The_3rdAugust 31, 2013 at 3:48 PM

    TIG was great as Terry Silver in Karate Kid III, and as Valek in John Carpenter's Vampires.

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  105. Forgot about F/X. Good choice

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  106. davidbonzaisaldanamontgomeryAugust 31, 2013 at 5:02 PM

    I think he was the only one of the quadrilogy who looked like Bruce Wayne yet also looked physically like he could be Batman.

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  107. davidbonzaisaldanamontgomeryAugust 31, 2013 at 5:03 PM

    Shit yeah, that movie needs more love, but I'm a sucker for David Mamet. Also really good in Salton Sea and Wonderland, the guy can still work so it bums me out he can't more of it.

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  108. davidbonzaisaldanamontgomeryAugust 31, 2013 at 5:06 PM

    I'm with you in regards to LFODH as the 2nd best DH. I think that's his second-best performance as McClane ("Oh wait, I bet you're still on hold with "Can I Get Another Dead Asian Hooker Bitch?") and the action is fucking oldschool (well, most of it) with practical effects everywhere, long fluid takes, and stuntmen getting the shit kicked out of them. Plus, Mary Elizabeth Winstead nailed it as his daughter.

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  109. In my former life as a DM for a video rental chain, I always had to be in one of my stores for a conference call on Mondays but it wouldn't start until 10:30 so I had about 2 1/2 hours to kill. I had a rotation of about seven movies that I would play during those times and Last Action Hero was one of them due to it being 1) Awesome and 2) PG-13 or under. I'd have people come in, see what was on the screen, and start ripping on it but I'd catch those same people staring up at the horribly angled screens during the action sequences and laughing during the comedy bits. Because it's awesome.

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  110. What in the blue moon are you talking about? One, I'm not angry or upset in the least bit. Two, I said I didn't care because I love this movie and it's a dumb action movie anways. Three, what the color of McClain's shirt is or isn't from one scene to another has nothing to do with glaring story continuity errors that occur in WWE or when they blatantly ignore established mythos for the sake of a current storyline. I didn't get caught on any BS, because there isn't any BS to be caught on. Now move along.

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  111. I see your ONE GIANT FLAW and raise you with: hacking! These guys are hackerz cuz they type on the internet REALLY FAST and the bad guy hits Enter REALLY DRAMATICALLY. And fucking Kevin Smith is in the movie so people can go "Teehee, it's Kevin Smith and he's a FAT-ASS LOSER like in everything else he's ever been in but he made CLERKS so huzzah!"

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  112. MaffewOfBotchamaniaAugust 31, 2013 at 5:28 PM

    I can imagine people's reaction in 1993 to the Macbeth trailer being ''...I thought this film was going to be like that...''



    And thanks for the praise fella.

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  113. Channing Tatum has been in a bunch of great movies, and I've really enjoyed his collaborations with Steven Soderbergh.


    What makes him a douchebag?

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  114. Yes.


    Is that controversial? Is shaky cam popular? Do people actually like it?

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  115. People bitch about minor continuity errors as well. Don't deny it.


    My point is that if you're going to ignore errors because Product X is awesome, you should be equal with your behavior. I'm complaining about potential hypocrisy.



    And honestly, for the sheer amount of hours of TV WWE produces, their continuity isn't that bad. It's better than comic book continuity for example.

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  116. Let's be clear, you brought up WWE to my "who cares" response. Strawman.

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  117. I would think you'd have to be in order to create a laser with the needed five megawatts of power to properly run.

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  118. That's more of a Doucheman, technically.

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  119. Nope, not as bad as the bad guy having it won already but "oh look, he has hubris but on an incredibly stupid scale."


    Besides, McClane being an old fuddy duddy who doesn't get computers is awesome and fits perfectly with the character established with the first film.

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  120. Because it's relevant. Caring about continuity selectively seems a mite hypocritical.

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  121. davidbonzaisaldanamontgomeryAugust 31, 2013 at 10:18 PM

    The actor's name is Bill Duke, so maybe that's what you were thinking of. Fun fact, he directed Sister Act 2.

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  122. You're still carrying about this? Good Lord! Fine, you win. The editing errors drops the film's quality to WWE storyline levels. Happy? (I'm sure you can't resist, so go ahead, take the last word on one of the lamest conversations I've had on this board)

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  123. Hey, we two ourselves have had far lamer conversations with each other.

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