i watched .. not sure for what reason .. The Running Man - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093894/
oh boy, this film did not age well.
Exceptionally cool and upstanding policeman Ben Richards is ordered to kill a bunch of unarmed civilians. When he refuses he is framed for their murder, sent to prison, escapes, becomes a resistance fighter, infiltrates his old apartment, attempts a covert escape, is noticed by the local TV network, who then scheme together with the DoJ to capture him and bring him as a "guest" on their rating-smashing bloodsport show, The Running Man.
And all in less than half an hour !! Talk about pacing.
Then you get the stuff we all remember, good ol' schwarzie making short work of overweight bad dudes in horrible costumes while spittin' quips in a bad austrian accent. Cue final confrontation and poetic justice.
There's still a couple of performances - not schwarzie's - in the film which are worth watching today, namely the tv host, and the lady who bets on Richards ("he's a mean motherfucker"), but the supporting cast is awful, the direction is awful, the photography is awful, the music is terrible, the sets are pathetic, and the story is really cool, which is why we even remember this film at all. Even Schwarzenegger does a bad job acting and delivering his lines, compared to .. well, compared to Predator, which was the following film, where he also has very few lines, or 1990's Total Recall.
It's a film that's lost to time. If you didn't enjoy it when it came out, it's too late now.
My vote: 6.5/10 - for a first viewing, 5.5/10 if you've seen it before.
i got it queued up, i'll let you know. I did not watch the previous iteration, not my kinda stuff.
I am watching (but can review it, as i've seen it 4 times already) Brainstorm - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085271/
A film that i have a weird love-hate relationship with.
I watched this film first when it came out in the theaters, around 1983 (maybe 1-2 years later for the dub), i would have been 12. I both loved it and hated it, it amazed me, terrified me, confused me, and bored me, all at the same time.
Back in 1983 this film was a disaster; both because one of the main actors, Natalie Wood, died during (but not related to) production (and quite likely murdered). The film got put on hold for 2 years, sold to an insurance company, and when it hit the theaters (competing with Trading Places, Risky Business, Krull, Cujo, Wargames, Flashdance, Yentl, Superman 3, Rumble Fish, two James Bond films, the Twilight Zone movie, National Lampoon's vacation .. etc) it did really poorly, also due to a barebones promotional campaign.
The story is of two scientists, played by Woods and Christopher Walken, who build a Mind-Machine Interface. Obviously there are many buyers interested in the machine, some of which do not have the best intentions.
The film uses some interesting devices, such as the change of optics in the camera during real-life and machine- sequences. The sets are nice, the props are gorgeous, holding up even today. The script is ok, dialogue is average, the pacing is not great.
Christopher Walken is terrible. He had not adopted that weird, almost-stuttering persona that has used in the recent years, and is just really wooden in delivering his lines. All the supporting characters are fairly solid, but there are no standout performances.
The film was finished with a substantially reduced budget (due to what described above) and as such, some scenes are a bit confusing. They may be a bit more obvious today, but back in the 80s i didn't know wtf was going on.
For a film set in the current period, there was a stronk SciFi vibe here. Some sequences are visually memorable, but unfortunately some other are really not, and the result is not great.
Still, it's a film i would recommend. See it and i bet you will be as confused, amused, perplexed, excited as i was, all at the same time.
My vote: 7/10
Yeah, the remake with Farrel and Bekinsale was muuuch betterer. OFC, Kate makes any of her movies a bit more enjoyable to watch.I watched Schwarzenneger Total Recall the other day. ....it's, so goddamn terrible. I look at it now, almost can't believe it was made. Production values today look like cheap Sci Fi channel production values. Stupid looking vehicles that make zero sense, with plastic walls that bend when you open doors, wobble when they move. bland studio sets, 60s era "sci fi!" computer consoles that also wobble when people walk near them.
The story is terrible. Arnold is terrible. I mean....he's terrible. I don't recall any bad movies from Paul Vorhoeven (well, OK...that one with Saved by the Bell and strippers), but Total Recall might be the worst. I watched it again because I recently saw the remake with Kate Beckinsale and some other people playing the lead roles and thought...what is the point of this? Why did it get made? So I watched the original again....OK, back to Beckinsale. That's the one you should watch.
--Also, the whole Mars thing does seem super ridiculous now. It doesn't matter if it's the original story, it's just silly in a film like this. The remake does a better job of turning all of Australia into the colony, instead. ...even though the "core tunnel" is also quite ridiculous.
What are some great Cage movies? I don't mean that to sound like I'm insulting Cage, I just haven't seen many of his movies. National Treasure, Matchstick Men, and Ghostrider, I think.Bruce Willis is exactly like Nicolas Cage.
They each had a handful of great movies and a metric butt ton of terrible movies but for some reason they get to be famous and popular and Hollywood keeps offering them work.
What are some great Cage movies? I don't mean that to sound like I'm insulting Cage, I just haven't seen many of his movies. National Treasure, Matchstick Men, and Ghostrider, I think.
Raising Arizona and Leaving Las Vegas come to mind. I also liked Captain Corelli's Mandolin. And 8mm, which not many people like but it IS a good flick.What are some great Cage movies? I don't mean that to sound like I'm insulting Cage, I just haven't seen many of his movies. National Treasure, Matchstick Men, and Ghostrider, I think.
everyone can be a good actor. But not everyone can always be a good actor.
Honestly, i do not blame Cage for having given up trying. He did his "serious" films (and was not given the respect he deserved), he's done his "character" films, and now he just gets a paycheck. Guy hasn't got anything to prove.
between 2018 and 2019 he did FOURTEEN films. That's money, man. Any way you put it, that's money.
I would say that Cage's most satisfying to watch film is Lord Of War. Cage plays his own character and he plays it well.
The "best" film that Cage was in, is probably Wild At Heart (by David Lynch .. see a pattern here?).
The Rock is a classic.What are some great Cage movies? I don't mean that to sound like I'm insulting Cage, I just haven't seen many of his movies. National Treasure, Matchstick Men, and Ghostrider, I think.
Con Air----A very funny trip--I mean Steve Buscemi as Garland "The Marietta Mangler" Greene ? lol
Wind Talkers
Mandy------Don't expect to like it. Its too far gone. But the denoument is extremely satisfying.