NEW: List some movies you've watched recently. Theatre, rental, TV... and give a */10

DaaQ said:

Does this have anything to do with the Bruce Willis "The Jackal"? Out of curiosity.

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maybe. I've never watched the Bruce Willis version, but according to wikipedia it is "a loose take on the 1973 film The Day of the Jackal, which was based on the 1971 novel of the same name by Frederick Forsyth."

I watched

Damsel - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13452446/reference/

Semi-decent fantasy-action film where Millie Bobby Brown is the titual damsel, married into royalty and then sacrificed to a dragon (to save the skin of the *real* royals).
Following the "sacrifice" (which involves unceremoniously throwing down a well the bride) she has a rather protracted fight scene where she tries to survive the dragon, during which she grunts, screams, tumbles, gets all dirty and sweaty, and i gotta say, i was not immune to her charms.
Otherwise, it's full of every fucking trope you can think of, so unless you really want to oogle MBB for an hour or so, feel free to replace this film with literally any other film with either a damsel or a dragon. or angelina jolie.

6/10 because sex reasons. And it's fairly decently made, but it's just so damn mid.

DigDog said:

6/10 because sex reasons. And it's fairly decently made, but it's just so damn mid.

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Don't disappoint Millie with that score!

Watch the Bruce Willis Jackal. I thought it was above average for its era. Actually, I think I saw Mercury Rising and Jackal before Die Hard. Die Hard was obviously super fun but those two movies I saw before had my mind rate Bruce Willis as one of those actors whose movies I would watch for a long time afterwards without reading any reviews.

igor_kavinski said:

Don't disappoint Millie with that score!

Watch the Bruce Willis Jackal. I thought it was above average for its era. Actually, I think I saw Mercury Rising and Jackal before Die Hard. Die Hard was obviously super fun but those two movies I saw before had my mind rate Bruce Willis as one of those actors whose movies I would watch for a long time afterwards without reading any reviews.

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And gotta love the scene with Jack Black, testing the new gun.

Payback (Director's Cut) (1999)

The theatrical release in my opinion is a nice little action flick with a bit of style and a nicely wrapped-up plot.

I recently decided to replace my DVD copy with a BR that had both versions, so I've just watched the DC for the first time (I think it's called the "Straight Up" edition sometimes too). One very strange thing is that DCs tend to be longer than their theatrical release counterparts whereas this is nearly 20 minutes shorter even though it has additional scenes (with some cuts obviously).

The DC is a substantially reworked version. It's interesting to watch if you liked the original movie, but IMO it's not an improvement. The things it changed were things I liked about the original, like the film noir style colour palette and musical style. The B&W-ish palette is replaced with standard colour, but it's the music that is the real kicker here, in the original the music is well-chosen and flows nicely with the movie. In this version, the musical style is uninspired, confused and at times gets a bit tacky with "menacing" incidental music. Not quite shocked-meerkat DUN DUN DARRR style, but the kind of thing I would expect from some tacky 80s drama series.

One thing I thought was interesting about the DC is that the protagonist is cast more as a ruthless, violent, and not a particularly nice guy but I think they needed to go somewhere further with it, it's like an idea that was picked up and dropped after a while. In the theatrical cut he's more like a knight in shining armour (for the ladies) who also happens to be a crook, perhaps a little trite and Hollywood (ie. the good guy has to win and the bad guy has to lose).

Overall I think the theatrical cut is quite a bit better. The lead female character is made good use of, whereas in the DC it looks like she takes a logical exit from the story with no reason to return then she's suddenly back.

I was banned for two weeks so I didn't know I could watch shows and movies either.