CINEMA GEEKS
Top 10 Action Films of the Decade Countdown

About this Episode
Main Attraction:
Top 10 Action Films of the Half-Decade (2010-2014)
Question:
What would be your Number 1?
Geeks:
Kevin @OptimusSolo
Dan @MovieRevolt
Amanda @HardCandiMandi (In Spirit)
DJ Valentine from @TryingToBeDJV & @SimpleTweeters
The post Cinema Geeks – Episode 68 – Top 10 Action Films of the Decade appeared first on GeekCast Radio Network.
Hey, this is Steve Blum, and you are listening
to the Geekcast Radio Network. Welcome to episode
68 of The Cinema Geeks. We're back with another
one of our special countdowns looking back at
the half - decade. That's right, we're looking
at 2010 through 2014. We've done a number of
these lists, starting all the way back when we
did science fiction, fantasy, we did comic books,
we've done comedy. What else have we done, Dan?
I feel like I'm missing one. Comics, action,
no, we're doing action today. Animation. Animation.
We did animation. That's right. And today, like
Dan said, we're looking at the world of action
slash adventure. Yes, the slash adventure is
important, especially as it comes to some of
our lists. But we're looking at action films
basically this week and trying to count down
what we think have been the best of the decade
so far. Obviously, Dan here is one of the cinema
geeks with us today. How's it going, Dan? Oh,
it's going. It's going. Busy week. Busy week.
Yeah, I'm in the same boat, and I'm Optimus Solo,
your other host. Amanda, our normal third cinema
geek, is currently not with us. But she does
say hello to everybody. She is very sad that
she's not here. She has had a long week. She
had a long workday today and she was invited
out for some alcoholic beverages at the end of
her workday and that was four hours ago. And
I was just getting home from work expecting us
to be ready and that is not the situation. She
is praying to the porcelain god in the other
room. I actually checked and she was she actually
specifically said that she wanted me to tell
people this I'm not there was wondering I'm like
wow She said let everybody know that I'm too
drunk to record. I don't know, you know She says
the Barry and Hyrule always are claiming to be
Drunk during their records and she wanted to
take the literal meaning of that and actually
be drunk But she was she's actually too intoxicated
to actually be on the record herself. So and
she specifically said say that And she wanted
to call you D Jizzle. I don't know why, DJ, but
she wanted to call you D Jizzle. Just because
I'm black. I feel like the guy who's reaching
out his hand for a man to tag me in! Tag me in!
Get me in the game! And that's one of the things
she's bummed about too, DJ, is she really wanted
to record with you because she hasn't had...
I don't think she's had the opportunity to do
that before. Oh, well, if that's the case, I
have to come on more often. Hopefully when she's
middle intoxicated. I don't mind middle intoxicated.
But she was really looking forward to kind of
being on here with you as well. She's listened
to a bunch of different stuff, podcasts lately,
and she likes all the episodes that you're on.
So she's sad that she misses that. Don't fear
people, especially those that have been keeping
track of our comedy countdown and this, that,
and the other. I know her list on the comedy
show created quite the buzz in the comments section
of the webpage as well as Twitter, but I actually
have in my hand her list for the top ten action
films, so we're not missing out on her list.
She's just missing out on the chance to defend
that list. We get to burn it! She can't stop
us! Yes! Exactly. And I told her if she came
up with anything that she really wanted to be
said during the course of the podcast to just
send me a message and I'll repeat that on air.
So if it's something I can figure out and comprehend.
There's a question mark in this word. Why are
there symbols? It's a hieroglyphic. 25 -letter
word. But like I said, we're talking about action
adventure. There's really not a whole bunch of
criteria, but I still wanted to give all of you
guys a chance to make any types of statements
or comments that go about with how you created
your list, if there was any kind of criteria
that you added, or if you brought in the definition
of action per chance. So Dan, how did you go
about coming up with your top 10 list here for
the action adventure? So yeah, I kind of looked
at those that had accidents. or adventure as
a key component of what they were doing because
there are some movies I consider that had action
in them, but That you know that wasn't the driving
force Maybe it was more of a thriller drama with
an action scene here and there so I just looked
for My thought process similar to like when we
did comedies and you have the comedy dramas I
was thinking like 60 to 70 percent had to be
dedicated to action adventure for the most part
I might have some that cheat there, but that's
the only thing only criteria. I had so And Dan,
how much of an action genre fan would you say
you are? I'm thinking I'm a pretty solid action
film fan. I enjoy a great deal of martial arts
films and I do appreciate well -crafted action
films. DJ, what about you? What kind of thought
process were you going through as you came up
with your... This was hard, but I tried to create
a formula and quantify an equation that consisted
of a combination of factors including my personal
must -sees of the decade so far mixed with how
much of the genre of action or adventure or both
said film showcased and added bonus points if
there was a kick -ass female heroine, because
I love kick -ass female heroines. All that gobbledygook
is just for me to say that. There are going to
be movies on my list. That are probably better
than movies that are above it So it was I was
kind of trying to do some kind of math, but I
realized I suck at math so I Feel like that's
the same that what you just said was like the
same type of statement that would be made by
like M Night Shyamalan He's trying to explain
what his movie is about. My film is kind of about
an equation of a ghost. I threw a kick -ass heroin
in there. And then I'm the savior of the world,
but then there's a lady in the water. And then
when you give your list, nothing happens. Nothing
happens. And I'm standing in background going,
hey, it's me. I directed this film. DJ, how much
of an action junkie are you? It's funny, because
on our show, mad is kind of the poor guy in japan
is kind of the fringe he with doesn't as masters
no stuff knows like all the fringe grindhouse
stuff i'm kind of the designated come a book
uh... action person so i mean i i have written
soliloquies about die hard so i i know action
kind of backwards and forwards i am by far than
going to be the at least uh... intelligent sounding
person when it comes to action films out of the
tree. Don't worry, I will judge you. Judge away.
I am opening the gates for everybody to judge
me on this list. I have discovered that I guess
maybe I'm not as big of an action fan as I thought
I was at one point or that I realized. I don't
know, but I found myself struggling because we've
already done a list on science fiction and fantasy
and we've already done a list on comic book movies.
I don't bleed over. And I had to eliminate all
of those films obviously and I was just trying
to find those straight action films and man,
every film that I want to consider action, I
really don't think is considered action by most
people. So I guess my criteria is there had to
be action involved. But you're going to see a
lot of films that maybe better fit other genres.
But my reasoning and my excuse is going to be
that we don't have, we're not doing a list on
every possible genre out there. So if it didn't
fit into another list and I could try to explain
away why it fits into this list, it was giving
me an excuse to talk about it. So you might see
some genres or some movies that probably better
fit a slightly different genre, but I promise
there is at least a little bit of action involved
in those films. So that is a big explanation
for me saying I did not do as good a job as everybody
else probably did on this. I'm like which action
film should I see guys and like everyone's like
half this list isn't actually I think you tweeted
to me and I think JD from in session and then
we were like I don't think that's an action film.
I don't think that word means what you think
it means. You pulled it an eagle my friend. That's
okay. You were good movies on that list. I'm
like that's not an action movie. Ratatouille
doesn't count, okay? I'm gonna hear this over
and I'm just gonna keep whatever you just said
like on repeat so that I can just be like that
movie doesn't count Doesn't count, okay Nice
nice. All right, anything else and anyone needs
to proclaim before we get into our number 10.
Yeah Maybe apologies later, but right now feel
good. I'm so sorry Alright then, let's get right
into it. DJ, since the female aspect of the Cinemagiques
is not here and she would usually go first, well,
let's read her first one on the list and then
we'll let you go second as the honored guest,
but her number 10, like I said, she's not here
to defend herself and I'm not going to try to
guess at what point this list was finalized.
So maybe it was finalized two days ago when she
was sober and maybe it was finalized two hours
ago when she was I hope her number ten listed
here is the film three days to kill three days
to all with Kevin Costner and Johnny Depp's girlfriend
off again on wife lady to name again. I don't
know He was the zombie that Jason Jesse Eisenberg
kills in the beginning I forget a name a Beard
Amanda Beard or something. I forget a name Let's
just keep naming names. Yeah, when Stephanie
I don't think I've even seen this film so I can't
comment on that film It's like Kevin Costner
doing taken but not That's good. As for the girl
from True Grit, was it Haley Steinfeld? Haley
Atwell? No, no, no. This is awesome. The girl
from True Grit and Ender's Game and... Let's
just do this the whole time. Let's name a lady
in that thing. No, I think it's Haley Steinfeld.
I might be saying her last name wrong, but she's
Kevin Costner's daughter and he's kind of a spy
who's trying to get back with his daughter, but
he has this mission where he's gonna die and...
It's very like if they took taken and they made
it kind of charming. It's not really but I remember
seeing previews for this. I'm just impressed
that Kevin Costner found his way into the discussion.
You know what's funny? He's not bad in it because
he's just doing Kevin Costner. So it's like,
yeah, he's likable enough. So you kind of like
he's a likable action lead. It's just the movie
itself, the story itself, which if you call it
that, it's not that great. And you're right.
It's Haley Seinfeld. Seinfeld. That's what I
was talking about. I said the name. I think we
had all the syllables in there somewhere All
right, so that is Amanda's number 10 DJ. What
about you? I'm gonna go with If an adventure
into your dreams, I'm starting with inception
Like most popular things, the cynicism toward
it has kind of like risen as time has passed,
but I remember how I felt walking out of that
movie. I remember the day I was in Orlando. I
remember walking out of the Westlake movie theater.
I was blown away, walking around questioning
my own reality. No one managed to not only like
tell a really unique and a great story, but also
give us visuals that had not been really done
ever. The folding city the hallway fight the
dream within the dream within the dream Tom Hardy
Everything about that film. I just really like
and to this day I'm one of the greatest soundtracks
of all time went on Zimmer and it just I really
Justin brings us up a lot that snow sequence.
It's kind of like his love note to Bond films.
It's just There's a lot of good stuff in that
movie. And it's really like a motion picture
because it's kind of lean score drama because
of the whole Leo Marion Cotillard story angle.
But if you want to watch it as an action piece,
I mean, there's great action set pieces in that
movie. The Mombasa chase. The hallway fight is
pretty cool. The hallway fight definitely is
the one in which they did practically. Christopher
Nolan's on the top list of one of the The director's
out now working that can make great set pieces,
real set pieces, not blue screen, digital stuff.
He'll do it for real. He'll flip a truck for
real, you know? For real piece. That's my number
10. I just like the fact that we struggled with
everybody's name in the previous movie discussion,
but we got Marianne Cotillard right on the front
foot of that. That's French. Dan, reactions to
Inception, I think we had that both listed on
one of our previous lists, so we might not have
included it here. Yeah, I didn't include it here
because it wasn't science fiction. I think I
had like top five within science fiction, so
I agree. I love Inception. Yeah, I don't know
if I've ever met someone that doesn't like Inception.
Everybody I work with hates that film, and I
work with like 30 people. They hate that film,
and I'm like, why? They don't like Joyce of Gordon
-Levitt's face in it. How do you work there?
I bite my tongue every day. It's hard. Man, that
would be, that's like working in a hostile environment.
It does, it's like I need hazard pay. Man, all
right, well I'll go next since I'm sure Dan's
List is much more action -y than mine and I'm
gonna go with a film that I feel like I like
more than most people and I even have rewatched
it to make sure, cause I was like, maybe I just.
had a good first or second experience with it
and maybe I should re -watch it because nobody
else likes this film so I'm like I'm gonna watch
it again and I'm gonna learn why I shouldn't
like it and I enjoyed it just as much that time
and I'm gonna go with the 2010 film starring
none other than Angelina Jolie and that would
be salt wow I know most people don't like this
film I'm not even in a camp of not liking it
it's more like I'm like It's got like three days,
three days to kill. It was kind of like, it didn't
hurt me. It was just like, that was on that blacklist,
wasn't it? Salt was like one of the movies that
was on, there was like a list of scripts that
they, that this shelf that was on a blacklist
and they eventually met, because originally it
was going to be Tom Cruise, because it was written
for a man and then it fell into production hell.
It wasn't awful. She's good at it. I like Angelina
Jolie and pretty much anything. I think that
was mostly why maybe I was drawn to it was at
the time, you know, 2010, especially like, you
know, seeing the female lead, especially in an
action film like this and some of the stuff they
saw just really worked for me. You got Liv Schreiber
and actually Ejiofor. Chiwetel Ejiofor. Yeah,
before most people even knew his name. I don't
know Hailee Steinfeld, but I know how to say
Chiwetel Ejiofor. I don't know I just for some
reason I just found it fun do I think it's like
a great like one of the best movies of like all
time or the even of the decade it won't make
my list for best of the half decade so far but
if I'm just looking for like a fun action film
it's something that I can watch and just kind
of sit back and turn my brain off and enjoy so
this is an example of how much I had to struggle
to come up with 10 films Salt is my number 10.
Tan, help me out. What's your number 10? Well,
my number 10, I've been going back and forth
with a number 10. I have like four different
films I was going to put here. I think I finally
settled on one, which, because I think I had
some maybe that better fit action in this, but
I felt this was the best out of the ones I was
considering. I talked about that ratio of like
60 to 70 percent action. This might actually
break that on my list, but it does have some
solid action set pieces. And when you can see
someone like Sarshi Ronan, I'm saying that name
incorrectly, I'm sure. But with Hannah is my
number 10. And it's directed by Joe Wright, her
playing this like. uh... young female assassin
with her dad being eric banna i'd think there
is a great story there the middle section really
like i mentioned doesn't have much action with
it's her kind of getting acclimated into the
real world after you know basically being raised
in the woods by her dad this to be this uh...
living weapons so uh... but also has one of my
favorite climaxes in it with with an amazing
set that was this random abandoned amusement
park that they found and it gives life a lot
of character to the movie. It is very much like
a modern day action fairy tale oddly enough and
that kind of ties it all together. That's it,
that's all I got. That movie always reminds me,
every time I watch it I just think, it's just
like if Big Daddy and Hit Girl was taken seriously.
Exactly, yeah. Because it's like the same relationship.
It's like, okay, look, I'm going to train you
to be this murderous weapon. The chick from Adaptation,
I think she did Adaptation, then this, I believe.
Yeah, not that long after. And she did the host,
which I was like, oh man, you were on such a
roll. I was in two good films. But she's very
good in this movie. And so is Cate Blanchett.
It's one of the rich times, other than Kingdom
of the Crystal Skull. You see her play like a
real bad person. So yeah. She played that big
bad wolf. type of character, and there's this
random, I forget his name in the movie, but he's
just the creepiest dude in the film. He's like
this random assassin who has, it's like a Pied
Piper adaptation. It is kind of interesting,
just the different things they have in it, but
I do enjoy Hannah a great deal. And that was
one of those ones that was on the list of films
that I listed, and my quick... My quick Netflix
slash Amazon search after that realized that
my list was pretty poorly put together because
I only had the option to watch like two of the
ones I listed. This was not one of the films
I had in mind. What is wrong with you? What's
wrong? I wish I would have saw this last night,
but I didn't. I saw a different film instead
that did not make my list. So I will put this
on the list of stuff I need to see. If we're
going back to Amanda here for number nine, she's
doing something with her number nine pick that
I'm going to be doing later on. And that is using
the action slash adventure genre as an excuse
to try to kind of horn in a Western. OK. And
I want to see that again. I love the Western.
It's got me already. So for her number nine pick,
she's going for another 2010 film. And that would
be True Grit from Coen's with Jeff Bridges. We
just said Haley Steinfeld. She keeps showing
up. And who knew? Who knew that an action adventure
list was going to be dominated by Hailey Steinfeld?
She loves Hailey Steinfeld. Ender's Game is on
this list. I guarantee you. Hailey Steinfeld
is to her action to what Melissa McCarthy is
to comedy, I guess. It's like the Arnold Schwarzenegger
of the 80s. You don't have an action film unless
you have Hailey Steinfeld on it. I guess. But
what do you guys think of the film? I love True
Grit. I do. I didn't consider it because it was
a western, but yeah, I'm a big fan of that film.
It's in lieu of having in our own Western lists.
We found a way to shoehorn a couple it It's a
stretch for an action because very minimalist
I mean there is this good when they do get to
the action It's great. But the thing about Westerns
are where they're hard to be put in action. The
great thing about Westerns are Drawing out the
tension. So if you want to a Western and expect
like an action sequence, you're going to be waiting
for Elizabeth to quicken the dead in Sam Remy.
If you're walking into Unforgiven, one of the
greatest westerns of all time, it's going to
take a while before you see something great,
but that's what makes a western. You have to
have Angelai stare at Clint, and Clint stare
at Eli Wallach, and it's long, long, long, and
then they shoot. That's the stretch of an action
to a western. That's why there are two different
genres. I'll let this go because True Grit is
freaking awesome. Alright, so yeah, I thoroughly
enjoyed this film as well It did not make my
list But I'm gonna give her a pass since I will
also have something that there's kind of like
a pseudo Western and my list later on so But
yeah, I think it's a great film. So if it gives
us an excuse to mention it. I'm all for it DJ
What do you got for number nine? I don't know
if you all notice about me, but I really really
love predator and now and none of its subsequent
sequels I think captures the tone Or the adrenaline
and the masculine action of predator than predators
that film I think is one of the truth is like
the truest sequel to the first one I know people
again. I know a lot of people who hate on this
film, but I Think the people who make it when
you watch it from the word go you can tell they
appreciate it because they you can just see it
they love Predator and they try and match every
tonal thing that was in the one with Arnold and
Carl Weathers and then Bill Duke. It just seems
like that film just seems to grab everything.
They have the shoot in the woods scene. They
have the running scene. They have everything
that was great about the first Predator. They
try and replicate. They might not do it perfectly,
but I think... They hit it enough for me that
it's reminded me of Predator. So I like Predators
a lot. And I've heard many people destroy this
film. And I'm like, well, did you want AVP 2?
Did you want AVP? Did you want Predator 2 with
Danny Glover running through Los Angeles, dripping
buckets of sweat? I prefer this one. Because
this one, to me, if you would have played the
first Predator and then this one, it fits right
into that world. So I'm going to go with Predators.
Amanda is going to be super bummed that she's
not a part of this discussion because she could
talk predator with you for hours. That's a smart
lady. She's a smart lady. She likes predators.
She's a smart lady. Right, she loves the Predator
franchise. I actually cannot believe that this
is not on her list. I know people see Topher
Graves and go, oh my god, Topher Graves is like
acid. But I mean, I really love, I kind of like
what Adrian Brody was doing in here, though people
kind of love that he's doing this really gravelly
voice, my name is Royce. And you got Danny Trejo,
you got Laurence Fishburne playing a crazy person.
gigantic head gigantic head who the size of a
watermelon you got frickin Walton and Galton
Goggins from my one of my favorite shows justified
as an He's the least crazy. He's a psychopath
and he's less crazy than Laurence Fishburne.
It's weird Yeah, you got some really good stuff
in there great action pieces the they'd replicate
the Billy fight with the Yakuza guy It's it's
a great film. If you like predator one you should
not saying it's as good as predator It's just,
these people are fans of Predator and they try
to make their own kind of like a fan fiction
version of it. And that's how I see Predators.
Nice. All right. For my number nine, actually
my first part of this is all still fitting into
the action genre. I haven't swayed yet. I haven't
started kind of fudging the rules a little bit.
And for my number nine, it is definitely an adventure
film. I don't know. You could maybe question
the amount of action that's in there, but it's
definitely kind of an adventure thriller and
that is 2011's film starring Liam Neeson and
that would be The Grey. I don't know about this
because my number 9 is The Grey as well. So I'm
not gonna get opposition from you on this one.
I had to find a way to get Liam Neeson in here
somewhere, right? No note taken, too, then? I
mean, I am shocked. I mean, I don't want to reveal
the rest of my list. And this was also a fun
experience for me, just theater -wise. It was
one of the first movies I ever got to see, kind
of like as an early screening. And that was something
I didn't even realize was possible at my young
age, four years ago. So just being able to see
it before it came out was cool to me. And I just
like... I like the types of kind of survival
films that this kind of falls into, but I like
the way that it kind of didn't just fall into
some of the cliches that you get with a lot of
those films. I had no problem with the way it
ended like some people did. I thoroughly enjoyed
all of this film, and I mean, I don't want to
get too much into it in case I guess there's
people that haven't seen it, but Dan, what did
you think? Why did it make your list as well?
I think like The Grey is one of those movies
that's like a million times better. than it had
any... Yeah, it didn't need to be that good.
It got built as I think people thought it'd be
taken, but instead of him fighting people in
France, it was him fighting wolves. But that
really wasn't what it was at all. I can almost
imagine him on the phone with a wolf. I don't
know who you are. I don't know what you're doing.
That might happen. But I thought there was just
some really actually powerful scenes. One that
comes to mind is the... After the airplane crash
like him going to the guy who was dying and like
the conversation he has and it is this huge allegorical
Exploration of people and how we deal with death.
It's it's it's obvious in that way But they're
also it is adventure film at heart as well and
some great adventure set pieces and within my
crime climbing the ropes comes to mind There's
a lot of those and having those wolves always
there. So I it's just to me ended up being a
lot more There's a lot more cinematic Cinematically
that we're going on that I anticipated and I
think it's just a film that like I said, it's
it it kind of got think You know was released
in January people thought it'd be just just kind
of like the edge to type of movie But it ended
up being a lot more Yeah, I mean I think it was
it could have fallen into a lot of different
traps there But like you said it was an action
adventure film more so adventure, but it also
had like the feel of something that's much more
serious, much more, you know, almost award -worthy.
Like you're talking about the cinematography,
the visual aspect of it, the framing of scenes,
everything that was going into it, it was like,
it wasn't just an action film that we don't care
about any of that stuff, we're just gonna throw
a bunch of action set pieces at you and hope
it works. It was like they actually took their
time and took some, paid attention to detail
and... put a little bit more effort into it than
you get a lot of times with that genre or with
that specific type of like a survival film that
I saw. So I really appreciated that more than
I thought I was going to. Like you said, it came
out early in the year and it had every opportunity
to be a complete dud. It showed a lot of restraint,
especially the way it used the wolves. Again,
easy comparison to the shark in Jaws. They were
more, you kind of felt their presence than actually
see their presence and I thought that was an
effective way of kind of using them. The thing
about Carnahan is he always like, there are a
bunch of like, kind of like bipolar -y directors
out there where sometimes they'll do something
that's like... Wow, that was really good and
then be like wait, why'd you do that? So Karnaghan
will do like narc and then he'll do smoking aces
and then he'll do the gray and then he'll do
18 and then he'll do the black he makes he's
like the one of the big guys behind the blacklist
and Then he'll do stretch, you know, he's all
he's kind of like all over the place He's like
he's like Soderbergh but even more bipolar Soderbergh
is super but he has he has false names. Okay
Soderbergh is all of them Alright, so a double
take of the gray there at our number nine picks
Which I guess we'll flip it back all the way
to Amanda for her number eight and it appears
that she has a cheat on her against Number eight
and then this time we're not cheating the genre
so much as we're cheating by putting two films
in one slot and It looks like she has kick -ass
one and two in her number eight. She didn't have
to cheat Let's put kick -ass one and be done
with it So she's putting the whole franchise,
I guess, in her number eight spot. Dan, did you
have this, or did one of us have this listed
in the comic book? I had it in my, I think I
had it in my top ten comics. I think I had it
in mine, too. Yeah. Yeah, so I mean, I think
a couple people probably had it in that other
genre, but she has it here in her action list.
And I mean, I don't think she's alone. I think
a lot of people love the kick -ass, at least
the first one. The first one. But she's not a
big fan of the second one. The first one, yeah.
Once Matthew Vaughn leaves, you need to leave,
too. Yeah, the second one I felt like it was
made by someone who didn't get the joke yeah
I mean, I know they kind of they understood first
off. It's a big gaping hole where Nick Cage used
to be Yeah, it's like okay indicate. There's
not enough and I was supposed to be Jim Carrey
But like before right before that movie started
you care. He's like well I'm not promoting this
movie because I'm against violence and I'm like
Oh, thank you. You never feel the void that Nick,
because Big Daddy's such, it was almost like
a perfect formula in the first Kick Ass with,
you know, Aaron Taylor Johnson, Nick Cage, Chloe
Grace Moretz, or Chloe Moretz, whatever you want
to call her. It was in Mark Strong. We're doing
much better with the names here. Well, I know
Kick Ass. The second one is just like, oh, it
felt like... It just felt like a studio version
of it. It didn't feel like the original where
it was like, you know, it just felt kind of hollow.
It didn't have the same juice as the first one
did. Yeah. And I haven't seen the second one,
so I can't comment. But like I said, a lot of
people love the first one. So whether you have
it here in the action genre or if you put it
in the comic book, I think it's probably at least
should be in the discussion for one of them.
She didn't cheat. She didn't cheat. Kick ass
one, you're done. There we go. No cheating involved.
So DJ. where do you go to the uh... i love this
recent trend of great directors and dvds actors
award -winners in fact uh... bring in their town
for something as fun and trendy as a bond film
so i'm going with skyfall Sam Mendes and Roger
Deakins doing a Bond film is like LeBron in a
pickup game or Neil deGrasse Tyson consulting
on Star Wars. It's like, what are you doing here?
I mean, they're at the top of their game and
they make possibly the most gorgeous, well -shot
Bond film of all time, at least for me. Other
than looking great, you really have some terrific
action scenes with the 007 feel and a lot of
people... The proponents, like, cynicism always
grows over time, like I told you with Inception,
and some people crap on Skyfall, but I mean,
because they dare to... show bond with a heart
but i mean on top of that that bon may have a
heart but he's still cold if you think bond has
a heart in this movie go back to the scene where
um spoiler alert he's serene is against a uh
like a statue head and uh javier bardem is forcing
him to uh shoot the glass off my head james and
bond can't save her and spoiler alert again and
And that's it. If you think Bond is not cold
-blooded and enough for you after that scene,
he's awesome. That movie, the set pieces, the
motorcycle chase in the beginning on the train,
the running down to Whitehall in England with
the courthouse, the subway thing, going into
all that stuff is just well done and it's beautiful.
Every shot it's like it's you can freeze the
you can pause it every shot is beautiful. So
yes guy falls my number eight All right great
pick and I think we'll probably hear from one
of us at least later on for more on that film,
if I know Dan and myself well. For my number
eight, you know, for my number 10 and my number
nine, I definitely had an action film and I definitely
had an adventure film. I would now like to dedicate
my number eight slot to a film I couldn't fit
in anywhere else. Because most people are not
gonna call this action or adventure. But there's
guns involved and there's police involved, is
that enough? I'm going with 2012's film, End
of Watch. Oh, that's good, David Ayer. Yeah,
I mean it's crime it's kind of action, but it's
probably not gonna fit the percentage that Dan's
talking about it's probably got more than 50
% drama and Less than 50 % action, but it's Jake
Gyllenhaal and it's Michael Pena and it's David
Ayer and it's a great film. So those police Siege
scenes are like Heart -stomping, you know, those
are really well done. So and this is a film too
that I usually you know, sometimes when a certain
film work is done, you know, people talk about
shaky cam, or this, that, and the other, or different
stuff like that, and it can throw you off, or
it can disrupt you, or a lot of people don't
like that, but I thought the way that they filmed
this movie actually worked super well for what
they were trying to get across and kind of putting
you in the scene and putting you kind of at that
vantage point. I thought it worked well the way
they did it in this one. I think it works because
we're kind of like the cops generation, so we
were used to seeing like police officers with
the whole handheld camera. stuff from that and
rescue 9 -1 -1 all that other stuff so seeing
cops doing that yeah that's a little rescue 9
-1 -1 shout out. My mom used to watch that every
night. It's very addictive but because we've
seen cops in that Scenario before we're used
to it other than like, you know, we're going
to school My friends died and we're gonna videotape
the whole thing and keep the camera that doesn't
make any sense But if it's a cop you can kind
of see it now So I I think I've edged in the
watch that David air another bipolar He'll do
sabotage and then they'll do end of what? Yeah,
I mean if you look at quality action over quantity
I think certainly Ed and Watch has some really
quality action sequences like you mentioned like
the siege sequences the shootout sequences are
just super intense and in large part because
of the the choice due the more the shaky cam
or you know would even want to call it if it's
a found footage but not really type of movie
but I do think he I like how he cheats with it
though and he doesn't he he's not uh he doesn't
feel obligated to keep that type of concept he'll
kind of you know he'll suit in that that method
but he'll not act like a camera has to be there
at all times so I think it ends up making it
a lot more effective And just like you liked
how he cheats with that, hopefully people will
like that I cheated to get this film into my
countdown. I think you qualify. I think it's
close. I think it's close enough, I think. Especially
because you have a David Ayer. It's not like,
you know, it's like Michael Gondry or somebody.
I knew there was a reason I was excited you were
going to pass. I'm like your lawyer. All right,
Dan, what do you got at your number eight? Well,
my number eight, I think there's no question
that it's an action film. For myself, like many
people, this is the movie that kind of turned
this franchise around into actually making it
from a joke to something actually to take seriously,
at least in an action standpoint. And it helps
when you add The Rock into your movie. He is,
like they say, franchise Viagra. And that is,
of course, Fast Five. I was not a fan of the
Fast and Furious franchise up to this point.
I think, actually, like I... despise most of
them but fast five just was it just all kind
of made sense and and Illogical ways, but the
axes that pieces were so well done the rock it
was a lot of fun in it I think he really brought
new energy to it and seeing him kick the crap
out of in diesels is always a good time in my
book so And there's just some incredible action
sequences the train sequence and the final chase
all are Well done and that cast while they may
not be the best actors in the world They do have
great chemistry and I think it really started
with fast five I debated which one to go with
fast five or fast six And I think overall I enjoyed
Fast Five just a tad more. For the record, as
much as I've ragged on this franchise for...
the entire existence of it. I did heavily consider
putting one of those two films on my list. I
didn't. I couldn't pull the trigger. I couldn't
do it. Remind me, is this the one where The Rock
says, give me the damn veggies? Is this that
one? I don't remember dialogue. You don't remember
speaking? Things were driving and things were
blowing up and then The Rock showed up. I kind
of had to balance my list with like this because
I think when I get to the top of it some people
might question it if it's a So I had to put like
a dumb action film in it to kind of well I think
you saved us because I think if we would have
gone through our entire list and never even at
least Mentioned to the fast and furious franchise
people probably would have like got pitch for
those people work at hot topic and they drive
Cars with spinning rims, okay They live in their
parents basement but have like a, you know, a
car that they don't do anything with. They don't
have a job so they can work on the car all day.
Alright, so that is everybody's number eight.
We're gonna skip past Amanda's number seven because
as I'm looking at it, it is also my number seven
so I will save it for a second and let you go
first DJ with your number seven. I'm going with,
and this is kind of a cheat because it was on
another list, but I have to. I just watched this
today. Captain America The Winter Soldier. What
can I say about this film that I haven't said
on this show before? After watching it over and
over and over again, like I said today in fact,
it is like my, it's grown to now my one B of
favorite comic book films ever, a hair down from
the Avengers. But what it has that the Avengers
doesn't is really well -done action set pieces
that feel like action set pieces in a non -comic
book film. Avengers' geek -gasm comic book splash
pages come to life, yes, which I love, but Winter
Soldier has really grounded action, or at least
the most grounded of any MCU film. And again,
I have to say this, Captain America versus Winter
Soldier Street Fight, faux. life. That fight
scene, to this day, it's one of the best. I mean,
I listened to the commenter for that movie and
the Russo brothers, they're saying, oh yeah,
our inspiration for the street chase, which is
like my favorite action set piece of the movie
is that, was heat. And you can tell it's just,
he goes, this must have been what it felt like
when Michael Mann was shooting Heath, and it's
not as good as Heath, I'm not saying it's as
good as Heath, but that's what they were going
for, and you feel it. It's visceral. That scene,
spoiler alert, when Black Widow gets shot in
the back, it's like, what? The comic book characters
don't get shot? What's going on here? I mean,
Captain America gets shot in this movie like
four times. Your hero. So yeah, Captain America
Winter Soldier is like one of my favorite comic
book films. And I think it's the most, not to
like the Dark Knight or something like that,
but it's just for a MCU film, it's the most grounded
action film they have so far. And DJ, you and
I were both guests on an in -session film podcast,
I don't know, a couple months back, and we were
talking about the best... I don't know if it
was specific Marvel, but we were talking about
the best fight scenes I believe in the Marvel
Universe and this came up on I think all three
of them. I think it was my number one. I was
glad that that was Spider -Man vs. Bacog. It
was one of the two. Right, and so I mean, I think
this is, you know, we're in full agreement here.
This is great. That street action scene is just
ridiculous and Dan, I know you're gonna be full
support of this even if it is a comic book film.
Yeah, I'll just say it did up and that's pretty
much it. And for more thoughts on Captain America,
go back and listen to our top, uh, comic books.
Listen to me geek out about Captain America.
Or just tune in to DJ at any time. Call me on
the phone when I will. Geek out about it. Awesome,
awesome. Alright, so I'll get back to the number
seven that both Amanda and myself had. Again,
I did not see her list until she handed it to
me in a drunken stupor. She's getting drunker
and drunker as this story goes on. But it just
happens that we have a one in common here and
I guess I didn't realize I was putting it back
to back with another Michael Pena and David Ayer
film but both of our number seven is the 2014
film fury and Again, we've had a little bit of
Western. We've had a little crime police movie
now we're going war style, but I think it's still
got action in it and No, no, I'm the instrument,
not the hand. God didn't call us today. You hear
me, boys? What's he doing up there? Big paradise.
Everyone else came up, snake eyes, but us. Lord's
protection. We got it, don't we, boys? Yes, sir.
Yes, sir. Norm's mowing them down, didn't he,
too? Hey, good job, Norm. Welcome to the Army,
Norm. You did good. Best job I ever had. That's
all I ever had. I think that that accounts for
that and this was one of my until I got to catch
up with the rest of 2014 like in the last month
or the first month of 2015 for a long time this
is kind of one of my favorite films of 2014 and
until I saw whiplash and a couple other things
finally but I think this is done super well I
think the tension especially in a few of those
scenes, like the dinner scene is crazy. And I
mean, there's never been - That's not an action
set piece, but it's still fricking nuts. Right,
but just to set the tension that then kind of
follows through these characters as you kind
of see them have the tension there, but then
work somewhat as a team, I guess, in the tank.
And just the craziness, I mean, you got to see
some gruesome stuff there. I mean, that was the
first scene where they're cleaning out the tank
from the previous owner. Man. that's what was
in there to somebody's face got taken so uh...
i'm agree a hundred percent with amanda's number
seven so much so that i put it in my own yeah
uh... that the one thing about that film that's
it's uh... almost overlooked is that it's like
the probably the only uh... it remind me if i'm
forgetting one Action film that I've seen that
was it's I was like what other tank actually
the thing that's amazing about that is like I'm
thinking back to like the early video games like
before Nintendo when you had like two tanks fighting
each other like I had one for the Intellivision
back in the day and yeah, I played it a lot,
but it illustrates like this is like one of the
most boring possible war video games we could
possibly play like we're two tanks we're moving
at half a mile an hour and trying to turn ourselves
so that we can possibly get at each other and
then fire like in the video game it was it was
that dull and then for them to make it as invigorating
as i think it was in the film is just like ridiculous
like i can't think of anything else that's ever
done that there's this there's a movie lebanon
that that was me and i think I forget exactly
it's not an action film, but it's a it's set
not set entirely in a tank because that would
be an awful movie, but The actors are pretty
much all within the tank going across, but it's
not it's more of a Dramatic movie, but it's the
only other movie I can think where a tank is
the centerpiece of a film Yeah, I mean because
it's basically a character in this this is like
the best Shia LaBeouf performance. We've had
is this ever Is this the best show she's started
doing performance art? Other than putting a bag
over his head? I don't know, Eden Stevens? I
mean, that was pretty good stuff. I was going
with Holes, but you gotta go with Eden Stevens?
I can buy that, I can buy that. All right, so
a double dose of fury at number seven for Amanda
and myself Dan. Well, I said with fast five I
didn't remember any the dialogue with my number
seven I memorized it all because there's basically
one word in the entire movie and This goes back
into the adventure. So if you look at like my
fast five in this movie You might get whiplash
with just the dramatic and shift in tone and
quality of film and that's all lost all Robert
Bedford's film adventure film of him getting
kind of stranded at sea and what happens there.
So, again, that might stretch the action standpoint,
but it's just movies so well told. And J .C.
Chandler, man, can't say the name correctly,
but like if you look at Marginal Call, which
came before this, which was such a dialogue driven
movie and then all this loss, like I can't think
of a more drastic shift of film than that. And
it's so much it's really well told. Robert Redford,
you know, his best performance in years, obviously.
And there are also some really great sequences
especially within like the storms and you know
what was done practically as well So it's I know
some people have some issues with it because
it you know it's hard to watch a movie when the
known nothing's happening and But I don't know
I was just captivated the entire time, and I
just thought it was just I don't know there is
something about Robert Redford character that
I was able to go to and also one of my favorite
endings of that year, so I think it counts kind
of like an adventure because it's kind of like
cast away on a boat instead of on an island.
He's dealing with all this stuff. I guess it's
akin to something like a gravity where he's trying
to survive and that might bleed into the adventure
kind of realm. It's kind of like what would happen
if the guy didn't necessarily have all the skills
he needed to get the job. That was in the play.
I'm shameful or ashamed to say that I still have
Netflix so you can you can add that to your list
All right second second one. I'm adding to the
list for should have got a nomination I think
Robert Reffert even came out and said like they
didn't promote this movie enough and but like
it's very very good in it So I still haven't
seen a most violent year. So even though I loved
his first two films, but hopefully soon Yeah
That's definitely worth a watch All right, so
that brings us back around and if you were trying
to keep track as to what point during the countdown
that the For Amanda I think it is coming here
when we get to the number six and the number
five pick as I'm looking at her list And she's
not here to defend herself. So I can say that
so Her number six a lot of people are gonna have
problems with And I wish she was here to defend
herself, but it is 2014's film 300 Rise of an
Empire. You know, I'm not gonna hate, you know
why? Alright, you're making more friends. I love
Eva Mendes. Not Eva Mendes, Eva Green, sorry.
My Eva's mixed up. I love both of them. She was
in the movie too. But no, Eva Green is awesome.
It's Eva Green. It's so good in that movie. She's
and I love kick -ass heroines and she's one of
the baddest in the whole film. She was essentially
the like evil Leonidas in that movie So I'm not
sure did he shoot that guy with an arrow from
across about seven miles I Didn't see it. I don't
I can't remember if I saw it one or six times
in that film the replay of that happening But
I mean It's hard I guess to live up to what no
you can't do it especially when it comes later
Yeah, I mean it was a failed adventure from the
beginning But I mean, I think there were parts
that could have hug onto if you if you're an
Eva Green fan You'll like this movie because
she is the movie. It's not the whoever I forget
his name I think he's on that new show blind
spot a Stapleton. I think he's the he's the hero
Think it might be He's he's cardboard. He's Sam
Worthington. So, you know, you don't worry about
him. Hey, I thought it was it could have been
I wouldn't even know but if you hang on to Eva
Green We hang on to Vesper land you you'll be
fine because she goes Court she choose all the
scenery available like Xerxes is like, yo, hey,
I'm dressed like Xerxes. Can I get like a Let's
see that that bedroom. Yeah Again, if you're
a fan of you've agreed You might you might not
be annoyed by this choice All right, so that
is her number six 300 rise of an empire DJ. What
do you got at number six mama? Judgment time
going with dread This is Judge Dredd in case
you people have forgotten this block operates
under the same rules as the rest of the city
mama is not the law i am the law i freaking love
dread you and amanda will be best friends in
this episode she was she wasn't sure if that
she wasn't sure if that was disqualified for
any kind of science fiction elements or not,
because I know she wanted to put this on her
list, so she'd be happy that you're giving her
a chance to talk about it. Not only because it
scrubbed away the memory of Sly Stallone's version
of the character, not only because it was way
better, you guys are talking about Grey, this
movie was way better than I thought it was going
to be going in. I was like, this is going to
suck, and I was like, what the? I loved it for
knowing what it was and embracing it. It's grim,
it's gruesome, it's uncompromising, but it's
fun. I mean, I've been a huge fan of Carl Urban
since probably Star Trek 2009 or even Born Supremacy,
but he nails. What I've always imagined because
I've read the books I've always imagined dread
to be like you can tell He like he read the books
too. He paid attention. He nails his character
like Hugo weaving nailed V He's like, I'm not
gonna show my face. I know what dread is and
he's doing like this Eastwood thing So it's kind
of like you get to see Clint Eastwood in the
sci -fi He's talking like this. It's awesome.
So great. Lena Headey is, of course, a great
foil. She's Cersei for Christ's sake. The 3D
is very well done. And again, some people hate
3D. This is probably one of the best 3D films
you're going to see if you're kind of on the
fence about it. The effects are great. The slow
-mo was used as a plot point instead of just
for garnish. So they only kind of use the slow
-mo when somebody's taking that drug slow -mo.
I think it's called slow -mo. I believe it's
what it's called. Yeah, so when they go into
the slow -mo shot, it's because you're getting
into the perspective of somebody who's on the
drug. So it's stylistic, but it's also very cool.
The filmmakers are just making decision after
decision and using creativity that appealed to
me, and it's just the action. So it's awesome,
it's awesome. Dread is awesome. Amanda's gonna
hate what I'm about to say, but they figured
it out with this scene and instead of trying
to take a film that was good and rebooting it,
they went back and found something that maybe
had a good idea, but just doesn't have done properly
the first time. And that's what reboots and remakes,
if you're gonna do them, they should be based
on something that just didn't work the first
time, not something that was already great. Doing
it and not feeling the need to do an origin story
and just kind of dropping you in the world and
then like this is it and Giving you everything
you need to know you know dread you know dread
from the first Scene you're like, okay. I know
everything I need to know about this guy. I'm
done. I got it. Thank you Alex Garland X Mac
and a guy for knowing you and he's like look
we know who dread is he's just Sometimes in action
films you want a one note guy and he's just dread
it's just uncompromising one note and you get
to see a chip away from being It's the law, it's
the law. And as stuff goes on, as he sees what
Anderson is showing him, he's like, oh wait a
minute, maybe he kind of dreads a conviction
crack or shake a little bit. And I thought that
was really cool. Way more than I got from Sly
Stallone, who was just, I don't know what I'm
doing. He had no idea what he was doing. But
I mean, to be fair, that did have Rob Schneider
too. uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... uh...
uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... All right, great
pick there for number six and for my number six
I don't know what your guys take is on this franchise
or of the second film in the franchise but I've
loved all of it so far and We're going more of
an action mystery route. I guess you could say
and for my number six I'm going with the 2011
film Sherlock Holmes a game of shadows from guy
I debated putting this on my list so hard because
I think I think I like the first one better but
I do like the first one better, and obviously
some of the elements of the first one are transferred
right over into the second one, but I got to
like the way they decided to do some of the action
in this franchise and some of those slow sequences
where they kind of just tell you what's about
to happen. Not that that hasn't been done now
a million times in different films, but I just
remember it mostly from this franchise. I mean,
it's RDJ, and it's Jude Law. It's fun, and it's
adventurous, and it's got action pieces in it,
so I think it fits the genre, so I'm trying to
get back in line with that. So, I'm a big fan
of Sherlock Holmes, the whole franchise. Dan,
do you like the second one? Yeah, I like it.
I think you guys probably like it a little bit
more than me. I think I agree that I probably
liked the first one more. It just, I don't know,
something about it, like they felt, they were
fine, it just... I felt more style and substance,
I would say. But I do like Guy Ritchie's style,
and maybe I just have higher expectations with
him since I love Snatch so much. They're adorable,
I would say that, and I do think the one sequence
that comes to mind with Game of Shadows is that
wood sequence with the slow motion and the explosion
of the cannonballs, which is really well done.
I just remember finding the ending of Game of
Shadows, the second half, especially with some
of the characters, I felt kind of... The the
way they handle like Rachel McAdams character
felt like a little disheartening and that's that
I agree with that Yeah, yeah, but overall I do
I would agree that it does fit the genre of action
for sure especially the the way that rg rgj plays
them as it's like a boxer, you know, so the thing
about Sherlock Holmes, I think I've said this
before the character is that it can be done in
completely different ways and They don't hurt
each other, because I love Benedict Cumberbatch's
Sherlock show. I like Elementary way more than
I should. John Lee Miller's Sherlock, and I love
RDJ Sherlock. And they're three completely different
Sherlock Holmes, but you can enjoy them equally.
I love John Lee Miller's version of Moriarty.
I won't spoil it in elementary because it's a
very big departure of what Moriarty is. I love
Jared Herod as Moriarty in this and I love, I
forget, Ethan Spector, Benedict Cumberbatch's
version of Moriarty. You can take those characters
because they scrap elements of them and they,
you know... They can put something creative around
it, but they keep the heart of it. I think RDJ
knows who Sherlock Holmes is. He wants to personify
more of the drug addict, really deranged version
of Sherlock Holmes more. That final scene with
him and Moriarty, the chess they're playing in
their head, I thought was really well done. Alright,
so number six for me Sherlock Holmes game of
shadow Dan what's my number six is my first foreign
film and I talked about that ratio and it helps
when you end your movie with 45 minute gigantic
kind of battle action sequence and You know the
first it's all kind of built up to that moment,
but it's when you have a good director I'm a
bit like that can work in tight Takeishi Mikkei
is definitely one of those directors who sometimes
can be great sometimes can make some bad movies
But he with 13 assassins. I thought he hit it
out of the park it's you know, it is basically
what it what it says it is great samurai film
and Sets up the story perfectly has a great build
and then just the act that final action sequence
That is like I said, it's a 45 minute battle
sequence, but it's directed. So well, there's
a progression to it it It never gets tedious
or boring. So that's what really made it my list.
That's why I made it my list because just the
way he was able to portray story through action
with that. So it's a really great film. And being
a fan of samurai movies, there have been tons
of them. It's hard to kind of ignite something
new into the genre. But I felt he did with Thirteen
Assassins. All right. I've only seen bits and
pieces, but I I'm I'm coming around some vacation
time I'm gonna get on that because You're not
the first person to bring up 13 assassin like
you haven't seen 13 sounds like I've seen a person
like no you just sit down you need to watch freaking
13 and Yeah, I saw it on a lot of lists when
doing some research for this, and it's definitely
something, it's the third film I'm jotting down
to see. It's on my cue, it's on my cue. I want
to watch, I want to sit down, make it like a
Saturday afternoon and just sit down and watch
it, so. Yeah, it, like I said, be patient because
it does take some time to build, but then once
it gets there, it does not stop, so. Excellent.
Well, like I said, we could kind of tell the
alcohol was starting to kick in with Amanda's
number six. I said it's going to continue with
number five, but before I get to that, we're
going to take a quick break. I'm going to go
make sure she's not suffocating in her own vomit.
Jimi Hendrix, Jimi Hendrix. Then we'll be back
right after this with our top five action films
of the last five years. Stick with us. Hey guys,
it's Dr. Masolo and Hard Candy Mandy. And we
just wanted to let you guys know about another
podcast out there that we both think you would
all enjoy. It's one of both of our favorite shows
to listen to, and it's none other than the True
Bromance podcast. True Bromance is a movie podcast
hosted by longtime friends Hiro and Barry, and
if you like to smile, laugh, and just be genuinely
entertained while listening to movie talk, then
this is definitely the right show for you. Each
week, the guys break down a recently released
movie, and not only do they tie in the movie
that week to the beers that they are drinking
during the show, but they also tie it into a
real fun top and bottom five list associated
with that movie. It's a blast hearing both sides
of these lists, and it definitely makes them
unique amongst all other movie review podcasts.
So we definitely want to recommend all of you
guys to go check out their show. Just search
out the True Bromance podcast on iTunes, Stitcher,
and all other podcast platforms. And if you listen
via iTunes, do us a favor and leave them a five
-star review. And don't forget to let them know
that the Cinema Geeks sent you. On the Simplistic
Reviews podcast, we talk movies. We talk TV.
We talk. Hello Julie, what the heck are you doing?
Trying to make our spot sound more exciting by
adding explosions Yeah, I'm pretty sure you could
have got the point across with sound effects.
Not the real thing Download the show on iTunes
or if simplistic reviews dot blog spot dot com
I'm sure your insurance company will cover that.
No, they won't. No, they probably won't All right,
thanks for sticking with us. I'm proud to report
that Amanda is alive and well and She is no longer
praying to the poor some god. She is just cuddled
up on the couch. I think half sleeping so with
a bucket It's all good the cats are keeping her
company so She said she's feeling better. So
that's good. So like I said right before the
break I kind of left with a cliffhanger saying
that There were some alcohol -induced pics at
her number 6 and possibly coming up with her
number 5. I think probably her number 5 will
draw the most ire from the panel as well as the
listeners. Oh God. Oh God. It doesn't start with
a T, does it? No, it does not start with a T.
This is going to get her in trouble. But if you
follow her at all on Twitter or if you listen
to Cinema Geeks and you know... Her movie taste,
you know that she is the one and only Jai Courtney
fan on the planet. And her number five pick,
let's just pretend that this is written in a
way that I can't read it. It's a good way to
die hard. I just died. I think I just died hard.
That is the worst I did. Man. Holy catastrophe!
Maybe she was drunk and she thought it maybe
she's trying to say divergent. Maybe that's what
she was trying I think that Good day to die We're
gonna let her put the exception of putting a
film that would not only was not the last five
years But was not the last 20 years and say that
she said she was like just die hard good She
was thinking die hard But on the sheet it said
a good day to watch die hard. That's what she
wrote on there That's what she thought it said,
yes. So I'm just going to give her a pass and
say that's what she meant and that's a mistake.
Bruce Willis hates that movie. It killed John
McClane. It killed him. Hans Gruber is envious.
Maybe she hasn't even seen it and she just said
it's Die Hard and she likes Jack Courtney. It
must work. One plus one does not equal two there.
That is a false negative. Let's just pretend
that we're moving on and TJ save us you know
people keep asking me if the fifth film on my
list is John wick Yeah, I'm thinking it's John
wick People keep asking if I'm back and I haven't
really had an answer But now yeah, I'm thinking
I'm back so you can either hand over your son
Let me tell you something about John wick. Okay.
He is the most murderously efficient one note
in a good way Original action hero we've seen
in a very very very very long time John wick
the character is a man built on mythos John wick
the film is gritty but like a Stylish like throwback
to like 90s that I ate up like cotton candy,
man It's like yeah, it may be empty calories,
but it tastes so good And the fact that these
are the guys behind The Matrix, I believe. I
think they also, sadly, did the Agent 47. They
did some of the action set pieces for that. But
this movie, oh man, it's so, I cannot wait for
the sequel for this. Because it's just, people
ask, what is John Wick about? I'm like, well,
I don't want to spoil it, but something happens
to something he loves. And for the rest of the
movie, people keep going, hey, what did you do
that for? Well, John Wick's coming. Oh God, John
Wick's coming, that's the whole freaking movie.
It's mythos, it's like this guy is the boogie
man. I told him, he killed like three men in
a bar with a pencil. I gave him a job that we
thought was gonna kill him and he did it. That's
the whole film, it's so awesome. It kinda like
reminds me of like Payback, kinda, you know,
the Mel Gibson Payback movie. It's very, very
stylish and cool and I cannot wait for the sequel
for this. Yeah, I'm gonna just not comment on
that. You don't need to comment. You don't need
to comment. You know it's true. I do know it's
true, and I'll do that later on. Yeah, great
pick. My number five, excuse me, this probably
is the most pick that I'm most likely to get
chastised for for not being an action film. but
there's three guys that are bad asses and there's
really been a little bit of uh... and uh... no
uh... and see i'd like to i'd like to hear the
words action adventure and then just translate
that into crime film uh... and just go with it
so my number five is two thousand twelve film
lawless with some of the views to show them our
news about what will I was gonna ignore that
part and just say Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman, Jason
Carpenter. I got Seinfeld in my left ear, I got
Shia LaBeouf in my right ear. Hailey Seinfeld
and Shia LaBeouf. You put them together, you
have the action goal. But again, another just
excuse for me to talk about a film that I wasn't
gonna get to talk about in any of our other genre
lists. We didn't do crime, you know, we didn't
do that type of thing. So, Lawless, I did not
see this right away, but when I saw it, I just...
Again, I loved it. It was enjoyable. I'm not
saying it's like a masterpiece or anything, but
it's a whole bunch of fun, and it's a whole bunch
of badassness. And just another example of Tom
Hardy being Tom Hardy. He doesn't speak. I like
the film. I think Jason Clarke might be the unsung
hero of that movie. He's freaking awesome in
that movie. Yeah, he's good as well. Dane DeHaan
is in there somewhere for a little bit. We haven't
met Jessica Chastain yet. The amazing Jessica
Chastain. Is it counts? Oh, that's what that
was you know, the ls -a -wonderland lady, right?
Yeah, yeah, it's Tom Hardy man. I think a lot
of arguments Tom Hardy's awesome. So Yeah, I
mean, I think you just put Tom Hardy in a film
and you can talk about it in any genre list It
doesn't matter. We just is locked in row an action
movie No, I'm already in the car driving Two
hours. He opens a binder. It's like what they
try to do with Liam Neeson for a while. It's
like, let's put him on a plane. Top parties at
a daycare center. Kindergarten cop to you. Man,
so yeah, I'm cheating. I'm putting lawless at
number five Dan. Give me something Yeah, this
is I think definitely fits more of the action
vibe. I had a passion if you're I guess I'll
be the dude who's a Being pandering and going
with some of the franchises But there's no one
in the world who can run on screen like Tom Cruise
and he does so brilliantly in Mission Impossible
Ghost Protocol it's Action set pieces galore
in this. Brad Bird really bringing new life to
this franchise, though I thought Mr. Brasswell
III was good as well, but I thought this edited
up to a new level, especially with, obviously,
the Dubai sequences. I would say if not the best
second best action sequences in this franchise
and the fact that it was done practically in
real life It's you know, it will give you vertigo
if you do not have it beforehand, but even more
than that I love the little little kind of twists
they had on the genre. I love the sequence in
the Kremlin with the camera and the cool visual
gags that they were there and the in all the
little side jokes I had too within it like how
they kind of poked fun of just the the the tropes
you see with the Mission Impossible franchise
so I I think it all came together with this and
Bradford really kind of showed that he can be
a legit director with live action so I was a
little Worried when he left the franchise but
ended up still still doing okay, but I still
think you know He showed that he can just bring
a little bit extra and make something a little
bit special with mission impossible gross protocol
Well, you thought that Amanda made a mistake,
you know with her number five pick But apparently
Dan she totally redeems herself with a number
four pick because it's mission impossible ghost
port of hangout Maybe she wanted to put that
twice, but she So yeah, she she agrees with you
I would say that that's my favorite film in the
franchise So I have no problem It's not gonna
make my list because I'm not a big fan of the
franchise in general But I think it's the the
best of the bunch and it definitely deserves
to be in the discussion when we're talking about
action film So I'm glad you brought it up. So
I'll agreement so far I'm gonna plead the fifth
on this one. My lawyers. I'm looking at my lawyer
now. He's telling me he's handing me a paper
I cannot talk about Mission Impossible girls
for all As of yet. We'll talk about it a little
bit later. Sounds good. So if we already skipped
past Amanda's number four, since she's the same
as Dan's number five, DJ, you do get to talk
about something, and that would be whatever is
coming in on number four. My lawyer's sending
me a paper here. I'm reading it. OK. The movie
with many names, whether it be All You Need is
Kill, Lived, I repeat, I'm going with Edge of
Tomorrow, a truly imaginative action adventure
film. For perhaps the first time, we get to see
Tom Cruise play a coward who gradually turns
into this heroic badass. It's adapted from a
manga from my favorite writer, Chris McCrory,
so I'm already favoritism coming out the gate.
It co -stars Emily Blunt, who is not bad on the
eyes, who shines. her role as the full metal
bitch Rita Patowski a Character that I totally
buy who has my one if not my most favorite moments
in this film I don't want to spoil it, but it's
it has to do with a helicopter She is in my top
five best female action heroines of all time
It's not only a great action adventure film.
It is the best unintentional video game movie
put the screen so far edge of tomorrow My lawyers,
just like if you had yours, I'm informing you.
No, but they sold me a different paper and that
was when I was creating my list. They said I
could not use this since I had already spent
my Edge of Tomorrow card on our science fiction
list. Otherwise, it would be here because I thoroughly
enjoyed that film about, let's say, 100 times
more than I expected to. Because it was marked
like an idiot. Not only before it was released,
but then continued to be marketed like an idiot,
even after. That scene with the helicopter is
the personification of the original title of
this movie, which is All You Need Is Kill, because
it's a play on the song All You Need Is Love,
and that moment with the helicopter is Rita Batowski
telling Tom Cruise... You don't need love, you
need to kill, you need to stay on mission. That's
why I love that moment. And right after that
moment, Tom Cruise stays on mission, goes to
killing, and gets more fit. There's stuff in
that movie, and people crap on time travel. But
for you to crap on time travel is like, you know,
a straw man argument. Time travel, it doesn't
exist. Okay, first off, there's plot holes in
all types of time travel. So if you're going
to Edge of Tomorrow because of, why did they
do this with the thing? You're digging in the
wrong place. Enjoy it for what it is, which is
fun. It's a fun action film. It's Groundhog's
Day with guns. What do you want from me? And
enjoy the idea that they showed you the same
whatever you want to, I don't know how long a
time period that was, but it's like the same
couple hours. seven hundred times and yet found
a way to do it and make it entertaining at the
same time that you weren't tired of going through
that same sequence by the time it was over so
uh... yeah that's a great pick anytime we get
a chance to talk about edge of tomorrow live
die repeat uh... or whatever else we want to
call it i think it's a good it's a good thing
so full support of that pick uh... that means
it's my turn i guess so we've talked about my
uh... i went war action uh... we've seen western
action i guess we've seen crime action we haven't
really had an actual comedy and that's where
i'm going for for my number four i did not listed
on my comedy list intentionally because i thought
the action just slightly outweighed the percentages
like dan was talking about so my number four
is from two thousand thirteen we also haven't
talked about denzel washington or mark walberg
yet I haven't seen it so I can't I didn't see
that come I forgot all about that movie I think
it's based on a comic book as well yeah yeah
yeah it's based on a comic book of the same name
so you hey for once I get to say a name of a
film that somebody hasn't seen suggest that you
watch it. This film is just a whole lot of fun.
The whole dynamic between Denzel and Mark Wahlberg
worked perfectly for me. I think this is another
example of a film I probably like more than a
lot of other people do, but man, I... This is
a perfect blend for me of the comedy, of the
action, and it just works. You even got Bill
Paxton in here doing his thing. So, Dan, you've
seen this. Am I way off putting this on the list?
I would say you said you definitely like it a
lot more than I did. I thought it was fine. It
was just, I don't know, it was just passable,
I guess. I don't know the word to say. It did
not... captivate me nearly as much as you I think.
I don't think it's a bad movie per se but I don't
disagree it's fun and Denzel and Mark Wahlberg
do have good chemistry but I just remember just
thinking it was just like you know yeah that
happens and then I don't remember anything else.
I think you're more like the rest of the world.
Definitely, I'm probably the minority. It has
a 64 % on Rotten Tomatoes, but as far as trying
to find an action comedy, I think this was at
the top of my list for this time period. I'm
not saying there's not other ones outside of
this time period that are much better, but if
we're just looking at this five years, it stood
out to me. I don't know. I just enjoyed it. I
had fun. Turn off the brain. Just have some...
I'd rather this Mark Wahlberg action movie than
the other Mark Wahlberg action movie. There is
no other. My Number 4 might be a cheat because
technically it came out in the US in 2010 but
some may say it's a little earlier than that
and it's also a western too. I'd say it's a Western
kind of in the vein of that of maybe like Pirates
of the Caribbean and it's actually the movie
I gave you for homework last week, Kevin, and
that is The Good, The Bad, The Weird. And it's...
I haven't seen it, by the way, so don't... So
hopefully I'm not setting up expectations too
high, but it's, you know, it's a take on the
classic, obviously, The Good, The Bad, and Ugly,
but a lot more high adrenaline. It's not necessarily,
I would say, as on the level at all of The Good,
The Bad, and The Ugly, but it's... super entertaining,
some really creative action set pieces, and it's
also just really thrilling, a lot of fun, some
really good comedy there, so I really enjoyed
this movie, and some just really colorful, unique
characters all over the place, and it was one
of those two that I heard a little bit about,
and then I ended up watching it, and I was enthralled,
and it's... If you're, for those people who are
maybe apprehensive to foreign films or watching
subtitle films, it's usually one of the first
ones I go to, because it is obviously an action
film, so there's not much to follow plot -wise,
but it just kind of shows you just the high quality
you can get in South Korea, because they have
some amazing movies, and I think this is one
of the best. Alright and clearly I haven't seen
it. I was supposed to see it for this week But
since we're not doing a regular episode until
next week. I had a little more time So I should
have watched it in preparation for the list,
but I have not but I have not but I am a western
snob So especially with comes with the good the
bad ugly. That's almost like hollowed ground.
So if I am a good the bad the ugly Snob will
I be offended by watching this because now you
got me you pique my interest because I'm thinking
Okay, maybe because I saw that Ken Watanabe version
of unforgiven. I really like that. So is it like
it's I mean, it's certainly it's certainly Takes
homage for the math. There are certain scenes
that it definitely come from it, but it I think
it's it's It's more so just the concept of having
three characters So if you're, I wouldn't go
into it thinking, okay, this is gonna be like
a different adaptation. It is to like, the good,
the bad, the ugly, like the magnificent, the
seven samurai. So it's very different. It's not
trying to kind of do the same thing, but it's
in the same vein, I would say. I think it's a
loving homage, but not necessarily trying to...
be the same tone at all it's like i said it's
more the tone of like a part of the caribbean
just kind of like more venturi good time type
of type of film cool all right well both of us
will have to get back to you on our opinions
of that film but uh definitely um i'm definitely
like like dj said my interest is peak so um you
haven't set it up too high it's only your number
what four It could have been your number one,
you know. All right, let's swing it back around
then to Amanda. You know, I thought we'd get
a lot more martial arts films so far, and we've
only, what, had one? Wait for it. All right.
She has one at her number three, and that is
the 2013 Chinese -American martial arts film,
as stated on Wikipedia, and that's always right.
Starring Keanu Reeves, of course, this would
be man I cheat For her number three structural
film. I actually like that movie. I'm not gonna
lie. I don't know if I Didn't make my list, but
I do think it has some really well -crafted fight
sequences Yeah, the fight scenes in that movie
are awesome. I think he was wrong as the villain
Yeah, yeah Again, I love Keanu Reeves as John
Wick, but I do not love him as this character.
I mean, I love him as Constantine. I love him,
you know, a certain thing. Johnny Utah. This
was not right. They should have got somebody
who could... I don't know. Haley's Times. Get
Shalapoff. Get Shalapoff in there, then Keanu
Reeves. He just doesn't, like, come off as vicious.
Like, he doesn't have that, like, you know, you
don't feel him. He's threatening when he's a
good guy, but as a, like, as a villain that doesn't
come off as... It kind of comes off as comedic.
I'm like laughing at parts where I'm not supposed
to be laughing. But she is right, the action
in that movie when they're actually fighting.
And a guy from a film that might be on my list
is in that movie as a cameo, which I thought
was really cool. But yeah, the action in that
movie is awesome. So, she's redeemed herself
after a bump in the middle of Mission Impossible
and Man of Tai Chi. She's on the comeback. Alright,
DJ, what's your number three? I'm getting a paper
from my lawyer. I can talk about that? Okay,
yes. Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol. Of all
the Mission Impossible films, this is the one
that I think is the best action adventure of
them all. I'm not counting the second one because
the second one's bad. It is not my favorite Mission
Impossible film. I think the fifth one that just
came out might... I think it's the most overall
great Mission Impossible film because it has
all the espionage and the action and the comedy
all together. But this one is just action set
piece, action set piece, action set piece. So
it follows the genre well. Brad Bird can do inventive
action set pieces in literally sleep. I mean
Tomorrowland for as as it was when it gets to
the action set piece It's almost like he you
can just feel like Brad Bird like yawning Okay,
do this thing over there cuz he's like so he
comes to him so naturally I'm so angry. They
didn't get a miss for the spider -man director,
but here It's just a great the Dubai sequence
with Dan was talking about it Awesome. You have
to watch it. Especially if you saw it in IMAX.
Holy crap. It is like, get Dramamine before walking
into that theater. You will throw up on yourself.
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I know. Tom Cruise
is more than likely a crazy cult leader. But
he makes amends for it by putting his life at
risk in every single film he makes for us. So
I'll let it go that he might, you know... be
from the planet Zordon. I don't care about that.
Just please hang on for the side of a plane,
and climb on a building, and drown yourself.
Keep doing that, I'm fine, because he's sacrificing
the cra - he's giving us crazy, but he's, you
know, he's trying to apologize with these films,
and I love Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol.
Alright, I don't think you're finding anybody
that's, uh, disagreeing with you in this panel.
I've made three out of the four lists, so definitely...
we're in unison on that. My number three I talked
about the fact that this for the record this
is the last time I'm going to fudge the genre
a little bit but way back when Amanda gave out
True Grit at number nine I said that I would
have a somewhat of a western eventually on my
list and my explanation here is that I saw this
number one on half a dozen different action lists
that I was doing in my research and damn it it's
bounty hunters it's action in a way. So I'm completely
cheating for my number three and I'm going with
the 2012 American Western film from Quentin Tarantino
himself, Django Unchained. You guys can say it
doesn't count, but damn it, I needed another
one. There's nowhere else for me to talk about.
There's nowhere else for me to talk about Westerns.
We're not doing a Western list. So Django Unchained
is my number three. There's Bounty Hunters and
there's Killing and there's action. Damn it.
He's smiling and dignity. So you guys won't have
it on your list because you don't consider it
action, but you'll agree that it's a good film.
It's a great film. I love that film. All right,
and we'll talk more about that in our next Tarantino
episode. I'm not going to go into it in detail
at all. Just know that Leonardo DiCaprio was
robbed for being awesome in that movie. That's
a pretty heavy little action sequence there at
the end there. When Quentin does this, first
off, Quentin's a genius, but when he goes balls
to the wall action, you get balls to the wall.
Also the wall action and that movie might have
one of the greatest endings of all time It's
the most cathartic thing ever. It's just pure
catharsis that ending. So yeah All right, so
my cheating is done. I won't cheat anymore. I
promise Dan. What are you talking about? Not
having many martial arts films. Well, I guess
we're gonna at least have two here because this
is Definitely martial arts film and you JD and
not JD Wow I apologize. It's been late. It's
late. I have little sleep We should have some
type of running thing For like the world of our
podcast community that anytime someone does that
they have to like I got it I got I need to steal
this guy's identity. He's like he's so popular
But you had dread on your list and this obviously
this got a lot of comparisons to dread because
it has a similar plot line and that of course
is the rage redemption and It's your simple,
hey, we need to go up this building and do so
with a lot of amazing action set pieces. And
Gareth Edwards, like his mind when it comes to
creating fights and... Evans. Evans, sorry. Don't
worry, I get them mixed up all the time. Edward
Godzilla, Evans, the Raid. His mind when it comes
to crafting action sequences is fantastic. I
thought about putting the Raid 2... as well on
my top ten, but I just went with this one. I
think both are deserving for sure. You know,
yes, it's it's short on plot, but I think that's
perfectly okay because it's just it knows what
it is and it's balls to the wall really fun action
from you know a variety from your gunfights to
beginning to the fact it just gets hand -to -hand
brutal and it's a movie I think probably could
not be made in the u .s. Because I'm sure they
had no safety standards whatsoever with some
of the sequences that that happened but uh, it's
just I love seeing eventful and in kind of creative
and just people who are trying to take the action
genre in new directions and something and do
something that's never been done before and take
risks and that happened with the Raid Redemption.
So I love it. It's a great time. Alright, I think
that a lot of people will be happy to hear that
franchise be named because it is on every action
list I think I've seen in doing all my research.
It's definitely a very very much praise and hold
held in high regards in the genre so great that's
getting the mention that means that we're going
back to our number two at the top of the rotation
which is amanda and she's gonna talk about a
film that is she's not going to talk about it
but she's going to list a film that's already
been talked about on my list at number six and
her number two is also sherlock holmes a game
of shadow so apparently she is a bigger fan of
it than even myself so she has it all the way
up at number two but she is she likes Jack Courtney
yeah but that's not even close to the same universe
as how much you like I might like him more than
she does she is a huge RDJ fan and this is him
in his element so Sherlock Holmes the game of
shadow is her number two I won't talk about it
because I already did but that is that that means
DJ You only got two left. This was hard. And
Dan has hit a lot of points. I left off the first
raid off this list because Dread essentially
is the same film, like you're saying, with a
bit more of a character because you got Urban.
But the raid two follows right after the raid
and does everything that the first raid does.
But to me, better so i think i'm covered it was
arguably some of the greatest action set pieces
ever filmed arguably one of the best car chase
scenes ever shot and unarguably unarguably the
best one -on -one fight scene ever ever i don't
give a damn you can bring me your they live fight
you can bring me your end of the dragon game
of death bring anything this was poker you can
flip the cards over i'm all in on the kitchen
fight scene in the raid 2 it is one of the best
choreographed brutal longest to the death fights
you will ever see on celluloid if you haven't
seen it you must it will i was literally like
watching this film out of breath like like right
before the kitchen fight scene the scene that's
the greatest one -on -one fight i've ever seen
shot before before that like Five seconds before
that was a one -on -two fight in a hallway with
a woman with a bat and a guy with a hip. I got
the weapons mixed up. The movie is freaking insane.
The director, Gareth Evans, nearly died making
the movie. The car chase scene, the car almost
ran him over. The movie is... Nuts and then kind
of take this infernal affairs kind of Storyline
with so it's a little bit more plot, but it's
okay if you like I've seen this before the stories
cliche It's mine this hold wait for five seconds,
and then you'll see him fight 500 guys in a sushi
restaurant with knee cleavers Matt was telling
me he's like you need to watch the raid too.
I'm like yeah, I watched the raid I don't really
want so you do just watch it I started watching
it and it was the the prison fight and I'm like
I'm like, why would I watch this movie sooner?
He goes, just wait. You haven't seen anything
yet. It is amazing. The Raid 2 is so worth your
time. Please watch it. And the fact that you
said that statement, Dan, about that you cannot
make this movie in America. They sadly are trying
to make it in America with Frank Guerrero, apparently.
Don't, don't, don't. Unless Garrett Evans is
directing it, don't. Because you... It's not,
one, gonna even come close to this if you're
not gonna do the things. These guys should all
be dead. Some of the sons of this movie... Some
of them might be. We don't really know. Some
of them might be dead. I don't understand how
people are dead from this. A guy can sit by a
car, like, on camera. So I don't understand how
these people aren't dead. But yes, Ray 2 Berendal,
I forget the international name for it. Doesn't
look up Ray 2. It is worth your time. The best
time you'll have watching a karate flick. Maybe
ever. So high praise for the raid from both Dan
and DJ and Obviously warranted by all the action
fans out there listening and for my number two
My number two and one aren't even gonna be interesting.
They've all been talked about already before
So I'll kind of downplay it already, but my number
two I had it much higher than Than you did DJ
and it can't be an action list without more talk
about James Bond. So my number two I Mean it's
I haven't seen or I haven't seen all of the old
ones I've only seen probably the last six or
seven Bond films and it's my favorite out of
the ones I've seen I think it's a It's just magnificent
on so many different levels. We kind of talked
about earlier on when we were talking about one
of the other films, it's not just an action film
that has good action pieces, but it's like they
took the time to care, the cinematography, the
filming of it, the camera work, the sound, everything
worked, and they took the time to do it right,
and it paid off. So I love Skyfall, and that
is my number two action film of the last five
years. Dan, what's your number two? My number
two, again, some people might call me out, but
do you feel like... this fits in the adventure
category and I guess I kind of had a movie that
was very similar to this with all those loss,
you know the loss at sea type of story but this
one is much different and it was based on a book
that was supposed to be unfilmable but I thought
it definitely deserves it and some really great
adventure going on here and that of course is
Life of Pi. Some might question if it belongs
but I do feel like it does count as an adventure
film for sure and Again, I went into this thinking,
the trailers were interesting, okay, but I don't
know. The movie just really got to me on multiple
levels, what I had to say, and I do think some
of its adventure sequences are phenomenal. It's
just, the look of this movie is just, when people
complain about CGI and say, CGI's ruining movies,
I go to Life of Pi and say, look what it can
do, though, if it's done right. And it's... This
is one of the most appealing visual films for
sure. It's just so creative and it's picturesque
in so many different ways. I mean even looking
at the animals and stuff like that and the story
itself is so layered with what's going on and
also talking about endings. I just love just
what it did and it obviously has a lot to do
with religion and things like that too but at
the heart of it I think it's still an adventure
film about a guy just trying to survive at sea.
You're watching a film that is undoubtedly done
in CGI and trying to convince yourself, you're
like, I know this is CGI. Why does it look so
real? Why does it look so believable? Why is
this not bothering me? Is that a real? or is
that a CGI, whatever it is that you're looking
at. But I can see where you're coming from, from
the adventure standpoint, and I didn't think
about this, it just was completely off the radar
for me, but maybe if I had, because I love this
film too, I think this is a great pick, and I
definitely think it fits the adventure film.
What do you think, DJ? We figured out that Dan
loves boats. What do you think? I actually asked
DJ before this, I'm like, does Captain Phillips
count? I'm like, Captain Phillips, Life of Pi,
All is Lost? No, he just misheard what we said
we were doing today. Top 10 boat film. Boat trip.
No, I think Life of Pi is a visual, it's visually
amazing and it's a sad thing. I always remember
every time I think of Life of Pi, I'm like, oh
man, isn't this the movie where like the people
who made the effects, the company went out of
business, like right? It's crazy, like why? That
tiger is one of the most... Best photo realistic
any things that I've seen other than like maybe
Caesar it that it's so watch how they made that
movie Like go to get the DVD pop on the making
of how they did the scenes in that boat with
that tiger You'll be amazed which shots are real
and which starts are fake because there's a lot
of scenes of that movie Okay, that's the real
tiger. That's the fake tiger. That's you you'll
be amazed which ones were fake and real It's
awesome. It's and when it comes to harrowing
adventure and the whale scene and all that stuff
it was It's great. Again, it's another castaway
on a boat. Also, another good example of how
to use 3D. Yes, definitely. That movie does get
enhanced through the use of 3D, just the way
Ang Lee would frame shots and how he had stuff
coming outside of the aspect ratio of what was
going on. I thought that actually added another
layer to it. I felt like you couldn't really
fully experience that unless you saw it in 3D,
which is something I... I think never say maybe
we did like two other movies and and it didn't
have the benefit of this I mean I think this
guy what's his name Siraj Sharman Sharma he's
not I mean he was he acting before he might have
done that was his first role I believe and he
killed it so yeah great acting performances and
it's harrowing as hell so all right great pick
we're gonna skip past Amanda's number one because
just like with her number seven it's the same
as mine so uh... i don't know how we did that
we've been we don't usually see i'd i uh... when
it comes to films but we have the same number
one someone save it for a second let dj give
his number one person d j the best action -adventure
film of the last five years long you guys have
been fudging genres and Dan's been doing stuff
in boats. I decided to fudge years. So, um, I'm
gonna go with... What a day! What a lovely day!
I have to go with Mad Max Fury Road because of
Dan. As Dan so eloquently put it, Mad Max cannot
be confined by rules for decades. It's a blur
of personification of action adventure. This
film, by its own admission, is one long action
sequence, as always. Oh, what a day! And and
and what you're doing here is basically as you're
saying I don't need to sit on this I don't need
to let it resonate I'm already I already know
I'm confident that when we do the action list
in five years of the best of the decade Yes,
unless George Miller's sequel to this is way
crazier. I don't be knocking this off my list
man this film by itself It's amazing the visuals
stunning the set pieces dangerous Like, talk
about the Raid 2 before. I'm pretty sure people
are dead here because they're in the desert.
They can get rid of the bodies easily. Inventively
insane things are put to film. It's just awesome.
And it's my favorite kick -ass heroin of all
time, sorry, Ripley. Furiosa, holy... I might
have been a curse. I mean, it's practically Charlize
Theron's film and she carries it with... It's
not just an action film. It's an action experience
Watch this on a big if you didn't see this in
the theater. I'm so sorry I'm so sorry for you
because even it's still great on a big screen,
but man Wow It's probably watch it in a theater
with people. It is like you're gonna be like
holding people It's crazy it's insane so yeah
And the other reason why it's okay for you to
put this movie on the list is, like you said,
Mad Max doesn't follow rules when it comes to
years because I vividly remember in the end of
2014, people were already putting this film on
list of best of 2014. Yes, the trailer, which
I was always saying like, Wolf of Wall Street's
trailer was like my coffee. The trailer was so
well, it always got me amped. This is like...
Cocaine the chair that makes me wrote any one
of them. I think it's three of them. They're
all like we're actually like It's amazing so
again, I don't know if a film in the next ten
years or five years it's gonna best this unless
it's a Sequel to this and yet again George Miller
been trying to make this movie for 30 freaking
years So I'm gonna give him a little bit of it
is out So yeah the Mad Max free road Amazing
I mean this he was gonna do Justice League and
they kicked him off. So he said alright screw
it. I'll do this Alright great pick for number
one We don't care if it's not technically in
2014 the trailer came out in 2014 and people
were listening at then so you know Kind of trying
to lock down a spot for the overall 10 -year
period so great pick for my number one Like I
said, it's the same as Amanda's number one and
it's already been talked about Talk about something
that caught us off guard and that nobody probably
thought was gonna be as effective as it was DJ
we're in agreement with a film you talked about
earlier We both have the 2014 film as our number
one and that would be Keanu The world they created
for this was just amazing. The character of John
Wick and just how much of the name scared them
out of people. Out of anyone. I mean, we're talking
about people that have their family members being
killed or being threatened and they're just like...
The greatest scene I think, one of the greatest
scenes of the movie, that it's not an action
scene, it's like the John Leguizamo conversation
with the Russian mafia. Like, you hit my son,
do you know what you're doing? He stole John
Wick's car. He's like, oh, click. Sorry, that
tells you everything you need to know about John
Wick, how awesome he is. And we didn't mention
it before, so I'll throw his name out there,
too. Oh, man, the chain. And Willem Dafoe. There's
a lot of great actors in this movie. Yeah. Yeah,
this this was a fun film from beginning to end
they they did something that the standard action
film fails at many times and that is not just
creating the Epic character that can be done
sometimes but just the world around it and just
everything about it You know, I mean we're talking
about having a freaking hotel that all these
people can go and then it's just kind of like
we're okay we don't have to worry about people
killing us and Everything about this film was
fascinating and fun to watch and I don't how
many people expected this film to be liked to
the level it was and to be received like it was
when the previews or when the idea that, hey,
there's gonna be a film, John Wick, it's gonna
be an action thriller starring Keanu Reeves.
The first trailer for it came out like two weeks
before the theater. Right so all it was was like
people hearing about it but it wasn't seeing
anything and it's just like okay that's probably
going to be a dud or ah you know whatever and
then it hit people like with a left hook. Great
trailer again by another great trailer by the
way because that has that line that I said it
was a everybody keeps asking me if I'm back yeah
I'm thinking I'm back I was like I gotta watch
this movie I don't know what it's about I don't
care he said the line was really cool I have
to watch it and it was awesome. That's that's
both Amanda and my number one action film of
the last five years Which means we only have
time for one more Dan. My number one is also
one that's also been talked about and I by both
of you and that of course is Skyfall and Exactly
exactly. I I mean I was a mild James Bond fan,
but actually the year this came out since it
was like the anniversary I kind of went back
and watched all the Bond films and Going the
skyfall and coming out. I'm like, well, that's
one of the best and if you're one of the best
of a franchise that's been around since the 60s
and I do like a scene around a little bit more
but still like skyfall is You know Daniel Craig
doing a Bond film in the vein of classic Bond
films and doing it really well it wasn't a loving
homage to classic Bond films in a lot of different
ways and it's just You know, like you mentioned,
DJ, with Sam Mendes and Roger Deakins coming
in, it just took it to an entirely new level
of filmmaking that I think the bronze franchise
maybe never had before. It looks phenomenal.
Like, I cannot get enough of just looking at
some of these sequences from the casino to the
fiery red of the fire, the amber red of the ending
to, like, one of my favorite fight sequences
of the last whatever, which is a silhouette fight
sequence, which is just... Who I'm a guy exactly
brilliant and you know the fight itself isn't
you know, it's it's nothing phenomenal But just
the look of it. It's just it's so great and it's
it the characters the actors, you know, however,
our bond am is Top three bond bond film and he's
just villain. He's just so charismatic and his
give -and -take with that of Daniel Craig is
phenomenal. Yeah, like you said there There are
some detractors, people made some issues with
it and it does borrow some from Dark Knight,
but you know, Dark Knight itself borrowed a lot
from the Bond franchise itself. So I just, I
don't know. To me, it elevated the entire James
Bond to something new and I love it and it got
me so excited that... I like specter is the movie
I'm looking forward to the most this year because
of Skyfall So it it is the perfect sky bond film
in my eyes It has everything that you need in
a good bond film bond except for maybe a strong
bond girl though So I love supreme though, man.
So it's for the limited amount of time. She had
she was good. That's casino conversation with
the she has she's like the dragon She's like
smoking the cigarette and she's shaking For a
limited amount of time, you're correct, she's
not Vesper. She's not Vesper. But she's alright.
But some could ask that maybe that the real,
the bon girl in this, because you have the reveal
of obviously who Penny is, but I think the real,
I can't think of her name in the top of my head.
Oh, Naomi Harris? Not Amy Harris, but Judy Dench
was really the real bond girl of this film because
she took such a big role in this, but I don't
know. I just loved everything about it, and from
the opening sequence to the changing sequence
to the final Home Alone battle sequence at the
end, whatever you want to call it, it's just
amazing. When we're making this list, I had no
doubt in my mind this would be my number one.
I mean, I can have a, and I've done podcasts
all about Harvey R. Bardem as This guy, Silva,
he is so... That shot from the elevator to one
take of him walking up to Bond, it's still, it's
so good. That's when you know you're a great
filmmaker. When you see like a small thing like,
oh man, this guy knows what the hell he's doing.
And you got a great talent around him. And that's
just him walking. My mother had an island. It's
just so awesome. Yeah, definitely. All right,
well before we give any of our honorable mentions,
we'll real quick review our list in the hole
so you can get it all in one false swoop. We'll
also put all of our lists up on the website and
let you guys pick which list represents action
films in the last five years the best. For Amanda's
list, it goes Three Days to Kill, True Grit,
Kick Ass, One, we're going with, Fury, 300 Rise
of an Empire, at number five I believe was Die
Hard, Number four mission impossible girls ghost
protocol number three man of Tai Chi number two
Sherlock Holmes a game of shadow and a shadows
in number one John wick DJ. What was my ten was?
Inception it was Predators it was sky fall then
it went to Captain America the Winter Soldier
and number seven dread John wick Edge of Tomorrow,
Mission Impossible, Ghost Porter Call, The Raid
2, and what a day, what a lovely day, Mad Max
Superior Road. Alright, and my 10 was Salt, followed
by The Gray with End of Watch, Fury, Sherlock
Holmes, The Game of Shadows, Lawless, Two Guns,
Django Unchained, Skyfall, And John Wick. For
number 10 I had Hannah, number 9 The Grey, then
Fast Five, All Is Lost, 13 Assassins, Mission
Impossible, Ghost Protocol, The Good, The Bad,
The Weird, The Rage Redemption, Life of Pi, and
finally Skyfall. DJ, any films that just missed
your list that you were really on the fence about?
I had a hard time picking... What year was MI3?
Was that before 2010? No, I don't know. 2012,
2013 maybe? I really want to pick MI3 because
I think that still has the silver in that. Philip
Seymour Hoffman as that character. Do you have
a wife or a girlfriend? Oh, MI3. I'm thinking
Men in Black 3. Jesus, sorry. Oh, God. No, no,
no. Wrong. Maybe in my head. That was before
2010. Okay, then I probably want to mention Scott
Pilgrim verse the world which is Another unintentionally
great video game. It's a comic book film. I love
that film What the hell was the other one? Oh?
You guys mentioned the raid one I was trying
not to put a raid one on here because I don't
have raid one then right to that Raid but raid
one Dan is correct. It is freaking awesome and
for some reason I know I'm probably a lot like
about this i don't think that a lot of people
a little bit it's a guilty pleasure uh... amanda
was amanda was going to list that but she disqualified
it on the science yeah i mean i i i think people
crap on the movie that by the book it's but for
some reason i don't know what something about
that movie that i i i liked me because you know
i uh... i was i was very drunk and i want to
believe it was good I considered, like I said,
Mission Impossible, Ghost Protocol. I slightly
considered putting a Fast and Furious movie or
one of the Red movies on there, just to get a
mention. I had The Town, but I figured that also
didn't qualify and I already had enough of those
that didn't qualify. The same can probably be
said for Gangster Squad or Killing Them Softly.
What else did I have here? I had Olympus Has
Fallen, got a slight second from me. Yeah, I
agree with you on that one. And I also briefly
thought about the equalizer. Dan, anything else
on your list that didn't quite make your cut?
I just went with the Grandmaster, our card wise
film. It has two of my favorite... Great. It
looks great because it's a work on wife movie,
but Great fight sequences, but it's more drama
heavy and it's also kind of choppy because they
the American edit is pretty Kind of sacrilegious
what it does to the film. I didn't like I mentioned
Captain Phillips I thought about it, but I ended
up not going with it Some other ones that came
to mind haywire. I do like that movie. I didn't
end up I didn't think it deserved quite the top
10. Again, some well -directed fight sequences,
and I think Steven Soderbergh made Gina Carano
look somewhat confident as an actor. Well, he
did dumber than he did. Did he put somebody else's
weight on it? Yeah, that might have helped a
little bit. Some other ones, The Raid 2, well,
I thought about 2, but since I had The Raid already.
Also, Sleepless Night, which... Kind of almost
a French version of Die Hard, in a way. And I
also thought about Dread and Olympus Has Fallen,
too. A guilty pleasure for me. I like that movie.
I see its faults, but I think it was a good time.
So similar to Battle of Los Angeles. It's got
its issues, but I think it has its merits, as
well. All right. Well before we get into kind
of just a general discussion like we normally
do on the genre itself Just real quick kind of
forecasting I mean obviously DJ has already put
his vote in for Mad Max But anything that you've
seen this year or that you know That's coming
out here in the next year or two that you think
it's gonna make a bid to be on the list if we
did it again Once the decades come in well I
know I'm thinking sector definitely. I mean if
you're gonna start cheating Batman v Superman
might be up there. Suicide Squad, I think, is
going to be fricking nuts. I know that's kind
of comic book, but I think the way David Ayer
is going to shoot that, that's going to be like
a dark action film. So I think he's shooting
it like how he shot Fury a little bit. So, oh
man, it's going to be a lot of stuff coming out,
man. Especially in the comic book genre, we're
going to get some ones that are going to bleed
out. Because what Marvel has been doing is like...
we have a common film but we're not going to
make it become a former to make it by captain
america's like a spy action thriller and we're
gonna make doctor strange a horror film you know
i think we have a couple of those like blood
maybe black panther might be on their but yeah
i i i'm what uh... do you think uh... do you
think anything else you've seen this year to
something like you know i i was thinking about
kingsman uh... that was enough i think it's a
third act of that movie that's really like super
actiony uh... I guess not. I didn't really like
Jurassic World that much or Terminator, Gynisys,
whatever the hell that's called. But yeah, I
think Star Wars is going to be on that list.
Oh, Revenant. Revenant might be. It seems like
it's going to be a drama, but I don't know. We
don't put an all is lost on there. And this might
be another one with Leonardo DiCaprio surviving
a bear attack and Tom Hardy's running around
there. I think Revenant might be on that list
soon. I'm just going to keep throwing westerns
on mine and add an outside shot for the hateful
8. The thing about hateful 8 is it's all going
to be in one room. It's like 12 angry men. You
might be right, I might be wrong, but it seems
like all of the movie is shot in that cabin.
What about you Dan? Anything you've seen already
this year or that you have your eye on in the
next couple years that could make a move? I mean
possibly mission impossible ruination. I did
I did enjoy that a great deal Anything else that
really comes to mind not particularly Mad Max
obviously hoping up hoping for specter You know,
maybe there'll be another fast furious time.
I'm sure And next year maybe Deadpool. I mean
that that Deadpool I forgot about devil. You're
right. I'm with him Deadpool. So that What about,
is Liam Neeson truly done with action movies?
Never. Dan, I think you had a question as far
as the action genre in general. We kind of like
to close in a way and take a look at the genre
at a more broad standpoint and not kind of pick
out specific movies. I was kind of thinking with
action and this conversation is going on a lot
right now. It's CGI versus practical. And I think
we're seeing people, when they do use practical
effects, it's being kind of put in the forefront,
like with Mad Max. It was talked about a lot,
even with A Mission Impossible, with Tom Cruise
really hanging off the airplane, because he loves
to do that. He loves hanging off things. So do
you think we're going to see a resurgence of
practical effects because of the positive? You
know the positive reaction that those got or
do you think we're still gonna have the the CGI
fest that we tend to get here and there I've
always been a proponent of I don't mind CGI when
you're using it for Accents or if it's like Star
Wars like I'm a huge Star Wars fan So you know
and JJ said he's gonna he was using more, you
know the practical effects, but Like you guys
were saying earlier, if you do it right, you
take your time, CGI is a benefit. I don't think
it's done horribly wrong or cheaply or rushed
like Terminator, Jynisus or whatever. You're
gonna get crap. But I think that you can still
get away with some CGI and do it right. For every
time I see a Mad Max, I'll see a Star Wars. For
every time I see a John Wick, I might get a Deadpool
movie. And you can't do Ted Poole practical all
the way. You can do some practical, but you get
the expression in his eyes. That's CGI at work,
giving personality to that mask. Just use it
as accents. Blend it. Don't just CGI George Lucas
heavy, I want it to be all green screen. Don't
do that. Just make it mount. Chris Nolan has
a lot of CGI in The Dark Knight. And George Miller
for Mad Max Fury Road. But they hide it. They
hide, they use it to accent stuff, to get around
problems they could not do practically. They
want to do stuff practically, but sometimes you
use the CGI to make it great. And sometimes you
get a CGI tiger out of the deal, that's awesome.
Or Caesar, from Donald Planet, this is another
movie, I forgot the list on that, honorable mentions.
You get a Caesar or a Coba, that's CGI, that's
amazing CGI. So yeah, I think we're still gonna
get people using more of it. Using an equal balance
of it now. Yeah, I mean I think it depends on
who's in control and who's who's paying the money
first of all You know there's always gonna be
those cash grabs that are gonna take the easy
route and just throw a bunch of crappy CGI out
there because they don't want to take the time
and the effort and the money to do the practical
effects and like you said for everything that
we get that's taking the practical effects like
maybe JJ is doing with Star Wars Don't. That's
a family secret. But for every one of those,
you're going to get Clash of the Titans and Wrath
of the Titans. I mean, that's maybe more the
3D aspect of it. But you're going to get crappy
effects any time somebody wants to save a book
and put something out there fast. But hopefully,
like you're saying, some of these examples of
practical effects and kind of the effects, no
pun intended, the effects that that has on the
people watching it will... Hopefully pave the
way for people to say hey people really enjoy
this and this is getting better reviews and better
Critiques on it. So maybe we'll do it more but
man, it's it's a tough thing when it comes down
to the good old Don't be lazy with it. Don't
be late. If you're lazy with it It shows watch
agent 47 hit man wherever that thing is called
and watch how lazy they are with that CGI it
is Well, you know in a perfect world, like you
said the CGI would only be used when it's physically
impossible to do things in a different way, or
completely cost -ineffective to do it with practical
effects. But, man, if you can do it in practical
effects, I'm all for it. Yeah, it's like looking
at The Hobbit compared to Lord of the Rings,
you know, when you're seeing CGI orcs versus
real -life orcs and what that can do. But, I
mean, I think there are... CGI, I don't think
inherently is bad. I mean, the Marvel films are
full of it, and I personally don't mind it, because
I think at times you need it... for it to work
or even something like edge of tomorrow which
it you know that's the guys there but you don't
even really tell cuz it does they've kind of
blended both and same thing with mad max so gravity
we would not have gravity without cj that's one
of the that movies amazing -looking so yeah exactly
so i i think Well, and like you even brought
up with Life of Pi. It is, it's just, it's a
combination of getting talented people and also
giving them the money to do it, you know, because
a lot of times, you know, something looks bad
simply because people aren't putting the money
in for it to happen. They'll throw it other places
or, you know, so they'll just like, we'll make
it look fake because we can or they won't put
much into it. I think we will get more films
that do the blending, I think, because you do
see... trends while hollywood loves to do its
trends something is hard to try to repeat it
but maybe you will end up seeing is people not
doing it greatly because it's not just the fact
that something's practical to its practical and
done well so i think that kind of people get
kind of caught up with the format or what they're
using but at the end of the day it it's all but
depending upon the filmmaker and the time and
effort that's behind it so hopefully it we get
good action sequence films in the future that
we've been talking about. I mean, hopefully we'll,
you know, get into the great Mad Max movie or
something like that. But I do like the fact that
people are taking note of it and we're not like
allowing just bad CGI to kind of go unnoticed.
But I do think it's kind of like people dismiss
CGI a little bit too much at times. Like there's
that great video, it's like CGI is ruining movies,
but it really isn't. And I would have liked checking
that out because it does show you that. There's
a lot of CGI that's done that you don't see,
because when it's done well, you don't notice
it. I was talking about Captain America Winner
Soldier. I forget her first name, but the moneymaker
chick that does all of Scarlett Johansson's stunts,
especially in the age of Ultron, because she
was super pregnant when they were doing that.
They CGI. squadron space on her body and so that's
why all those funds look so often elated in jurassic
park when uh... the girl falls to the uh... the
ceiling and they had a cgi or fake list of women
accidentally looked up i mean that's where cgi
is great to have so i was always cgi one all
practical use it use it take your time is a properly
When it makes sense. Be creative with it. It's
easier with digital blood. Let's do that. No,
no, no, no. I'm always for blood squibs. I kind
of shy away from digital blood. There's things
that CGI can do that are great. Again, I always
go back to that scene in Dawn of the Planet Apes,
when that kid steps out of that tent and sees
that orangutan sitting out there, and you realize
that orangutan ain't freaking there. That is
amazing, Sean. That's photorealism. You wouldn't
have no Hulk without CGI. So yeah, CGI has its
benefits. Yeah, I definitely agree with what
you guys are both saying. And Dan, I think you
had an interesting second question, too, kind
of the last thing before we close this off. i
think it's a interesting one and maybe it comes
down to which ones you're talking about but i'd
like to frame it this way uh... and go with you
first eejay but our action franchises take anyone
you want but are a are are the main action franchises
helping or hurting the action genre as a whole
uh... our action friends i was so they were talking
about fast in the fury Fast and the Furious,
you got Mission Impossible, you got maybe the
Expendables, you got... This is almost like a
CGI argument, because for every Fast and the
Furious, because I'm not a fan of that franchise,
there is a Mission Impossible which seems to
be getting better as it's going along. So, but
then you have a die hard which is dead. And then
you, it's just dead. But then you got a Star
Wars coming back, which is not really action,
it's kind of sci -fi action. I don't know, I
think we're kind of entering a world, for me
anyway, where we're going back to the auteur
theory where I follow the directors. If Matthew
Vaughan's doing an action film, I don't give
a damn if it's a franchise and then I'm watching
it. If Christopher Corey is doing a direct in
a film or some action director who's known for
action is doing something I'm following, franchises
are good things. I think if it's a good franchise,
you don't want to have a movie that's a Transformers
movie that's going on forever. It's nothing.
It's not really reinventing the wheel. It's just
doing the same thing over and over again. Take
it. Holy crap. Take it! It's sad. First take
and I really like it because it's kind of like
a John Wick. It's just very gritty, grounded
and then the studio gets their hands in it, fantastic
four, and they just turn it into something else.
Let's hope the same doesn't happen with John
Wick. The thing about John Wick, I don't know,
I think they're leaving them alone because This
is where the studios will leave you alone with
your franchise and your stuff. If you don't like
Deadpool, this is why I'm not worried about Deadpool.
Deadpool they made for 30 million dollars, that's
nothing. So they got to do whatever the hell
they wanted. When you get into 100 million dollars,
when you get into Fast and the Furious range
and you got movie number seven and your budget
is like 180 million, that's when the studios
will be like, okay, now I want Vin Diesel to
have a scene where he drives a car because my
daughter loves that car. That's what you're going
to get when you have a huge budget. When you
have a small budget like a John Wick, I don't
think they're going to wonder, or I think that's
Warner Brothers, they're going to be like, yeah,
make a hotel with Lance Reddick, I don't care.
They won't care. But if you're talking about
a big franchise like Fast and the Furious or
whatever are hurting action films, no, no. I
think we got two really amazing action movies
this year. So no, I don't think so. I don't think
franchises themselves are hurting action films,
but I think the attempt to create them does hurt
them in the sense where people put the franchise
ahead of the movie they're making first when
they think, okay, and it's not just action, I
think it's films in general, but one that comes
to mind, even though it's part of a franchise,
is Terminator Genisys, and it's so evident that...
there's stuff in that film that was not answered,
was planned to be answered later on. But then
it's like, what happens if that movie never happens?
So I think that that does hurt movies where they're
playing the long game and not focusing on the
film that's at hand first. So that like that,
because they just see dollar signs and like they
want the next Fast and Furious, see Need for
Speed, or don't, don't see Need for Speed. Don't
ever see Need for Speed. Well, I think you could
see that too, like in the G .I. Joe franchise
and a couple other things. It was like, let's
create something that's And we're only concerned
about making this a three, four, five picture
franchise deal that's going to make us money.
We're not concerned that let's make it. It comes
down to the creative team, because Amazing Spider
-Man 2 did that same thing Dan is talking about,
where they're like, we're going to set up a series
of sticks and we're going to put a long name,
it's going to be a spy, all that crap. But for
as bad as that setup was, look how creative.
Marvel does their stuff with the Guardians of
the Galaxy, setting up the Avengers Age of Ultron,
which sets up Ant -Man, which sets up Doctor
Strange. They have a plan. When you have a plan
and a good creative team, like a guy like a figurehead
like Kevin Feige, you're fine. X -Men has been
off and on and on again. When they got Brian
Singer, or when they got Matthew Vanis, initially
was what got that back on track, and then Brian
Singer came back and he's helming it. But then
for that, then you got Fantastic Four where the
studio was like, whoa, we're going to do whatever
the hell we want, and blah, blah, blah. You have
to have a great creative team, a good figurehead
behind your stuff to make these franchise. If
you want to make a franchise, be very creative
about it. Have a plan. Don't just say, I have
a Spider -Man property. I'm going to make a Senator
Sticks movie and not know how the hell to do
that. You're just going to just drop Easter eggs
all over the place with no plan whatsoever. Because
Amazing Spider -Man 2, they had no plan. They
were going to say, we got to keep this property.
Let's just do what the hell we want to do. And
say semester six in the background. Yeah, I think
you have people trying to play catch -up and
it's like by doing that you end up Being behind
because then you forget. Oh, yeah, you need to
set a foundation first and then do that So that's
what worried me about Batman v Superman Kind
of still kind of a little bit worried because
it seemed like they were doing the same thing
the the catch -up thing But it seems like they
I forget his name Fuji Nara the guy who runs
DC Warner or whatever He seems like he has a
little bit of a plan to kind of reverse engineering
there What Marvel did? Yeah, like it's like Existing
already and you're kind of coming back layers
that were there, but we just weren't aware of
what I think is a smart way to do it and like
you said kind of play both sides where you're
playing catch -up at the same time you're not
trying to re -event the wheel you're just kind
of just re -inducing re -re -inducing those characters.
Now with the Suicide Squad movie that's really
like a creative way to connect you with Batman
is in that but then he's in you know that maybe
Superman in that setting which I know they're
trying to set up the Aquaman thing you just got
you're right then you got to be careful that
you're one not Harming your film by setting up
all this stuff, which that's what worries me
about Batman v Superman because it should just
be a Batman v Superman movie not 18 other people
in it But you I mean if you have a plan just
make sure you you plan out. Don't just do this
whole you know I don't know if you guys seem
fantastic for but holy crap the way they shoehorned
in their sequel bait was so 1995. It was very...
He -Man, Masters of the Universe, Frank Langella.
I'll be back. It was very... No, you won't be.
Yeah, Amanda and I will both be talking about
all of the Fantastic Four films next episode.
Does that include the Roger Corman one? Because
that's the question. May God have mercy on your
soul. all right uh... anything else that you
guys want to get off your chest action -related
before we close this one out no i'd just like
i said action -adventure keep that in mind when
you're yelling at my list for having so many
movies that's right nobody's gonna be on that
list more than uh... Amanda's a good day to die
hard or my lack of action films altogether I
Think the question that I want to ask for the
listeners kind of take a little bit different
But we touched on it a little bit when DJ brought
up dread and that was taking a older action film
and redoing it obviously reboots and Remakes
are not foreign to us these days But thinking
specifically of action of the action genre is
there a franchise or a singular action film from
days gone by? from back in the 90s 80s 70s whatever
that you would like to see done again or done
better like they did with Dread so if there's
one that you could pick out that hasn't been
done in the last 15 to 20 years what would it
be that you would want to see kind of revisited
in the action genre so let you answer that and
we'll kind of talk about that on our next episode
like to thank DJ for being here. It's always
fun to have you on man your tons of tons of great
insight into Usually movies that I haven't seen
but in this case I've seen most of them. I was
pleased to be the drunken tag -in person. I was
happy to be here Yeah, you needed that tagging
so And we'll have to have you on again sometime
so Amanda can actually record with you like she
wants. I'll be drunk DJ, if people want to listen
more to what you've got to say, how are they?
Go to www .simplisticreviews .net. Our podcast
is on YouTube. We have a Facebook page at facebook
.com backslash Simplistic Reviews. I'm on Twitter
under TryingToBeDJV and our show's Twitter account
is Simple Tweeters where we say a whole bunch
of obscenities that I didn't say today because
I'm being a good boy. So definitely check out
his show and follow him on Twitter etc. Dan,
we got a couple more episodes left as we wrap
up Quentin Tarantino Retrospective. We got Django
Unchained and then the complete wrap -up which
is going to be a ton of fun. What else can people
be looking forward to you as far as what's coming
up for Talking in Circles? Well, the next episode
of Talking in Circles, we're actually going to
be talking about sports, and that's where we're
going to do a 2015 NFL preview episode. So a
little bit of just why we like football, some
predictions, and just some thoughts on fantasy
this year. So you can look forward to that. You
know, you should probably have Barry high row
myself and DJ If you want to win you might want
to have me I'm just putting it up so we can just
dominate the conversation out there. Just put
it out there Chuck on our broadcast is also a
Dolphins fans you guys do wax pro and Kelsey
grammar. Don't forget about Kelsey graham So
definitely check out Talking in Circles as well
as the upcoming Quentin Tarantino episodes. And
then we'll be back with a new episode of Cinema
Geeks next week. And until then, Dan, how can
people follow you on Twitter? I am at Movie Revolt.
And I am at Optimus Solo, and the show is at
Cinema Geekcast. So you should follow all of
us, as well as DJ and the rest of the Simplistic
Review crew. And tune in next week for another
chance to listen to the Cinema Geeks. He's like
I'm representing the action I'll show you fucking
action boom Man he really took this shit, but
he's like a method Daniel Day Lewis of podcasters
over some real -life art Shia LaBeouf style I'm
sorry. I'm so sorry I was never famous You're
doing it perfect Don't get naked in a movie by
Lars von Trier, please. Just stay the way you
are. I have no problem with that. I'll just have
a really bad British accent or whatever. Oi!
Hey! I'm naked! Over here! Shaila? Is that you?
It's me! Shaila! No, I'm Australian! My accent's
bleeding backwards and forwards. I didn't realize
I did that on the last episode. I recorded everything
in stereo. If you record it in stereo, you can
still, because I use to record in stereo, but
then when I convert it into mono, when I export
it. Right. My problem was I didn't realize I
had done it in the first place. So I didn't realize
there was a need for anything. And then somebody
was, I guess, was trying to, they regularly listen,
but they must listen with just like one headphone
in or something. and he's like made a comment
on the page he's like why is dan only talking
to himself i've gone crazy it's experimental
here see what you can fill in you can be you
can be the other person like mad libs in audio
form what would make dan say that and like everybody
else was like i don't get it i can hear everything
and then somebody was like oh one of them's coming
out of the right ear one of them's coming out
of the left ear i'm like oh my bad guys Hello,
hey, yeah, okay everybody alive nobody dead.
I don't know he hasn't come back yet We're gonna
be here for like two hours, dude. I had to come
back. I had to go to the hospital She's peaking
her guts out. Yeah, okay. Is she fine. Yep. All
right you get the $20 change it We're taking
bets when you're gone
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