GCRN Top 10 Action Films

You're listening to Keycast Radio on KeycastRadio

.com Episode 41 Top 10 Action Films Hello and

welcome to GeekCast Radio Episode 41. I am one

of your hosts, Steve, John, Mike. Joining me

is Optimus Solo. Hello. Hello. Moodyroll Dan.

Hello. Hello. And of course, the other co -founder,

Steve Megatron. Hello. Hello. And, uh... For

the next 10 episodes of GCR we're doing something

Kevin mentioned to us. Oh god about year and

a half ago two years ago This suggestion you

had that long ago. I think it's probably about

that long ago probably about that long course

You know the whole music spotlight last year

kind of got in the way. But anyway, we are going

to be doing episode 41 to 50 top 10 countdowns

of films uh... this is kevin's idea it's kind

of his baby he is list man serendipitous the

plot yes so why don't you uh... so listeners

what this is going to be all about well i mean

basically we like to uh... find things that other

people around the interwebs are doing and then

try to do them better uh... we've already said

that the idea of taking on a gentle as uh...

this time we're taking off figure out people

that actually do make somewhat good list uh...

if i I don't remember how many years ago, and

they updated, I think, every once in a while,

put out a top 10 of 10 different genres of films.

I originally watched it, whatever year the original

airing of that series was, and they basically

had their 10 different genres, and they counted

down the top 10 films in each of those genres.

I can't remember how many years they wait and

then they update them or whatever. But I thought

it would be cool not to take their specific genres,

but to take more of a geeky, nerdy. I mean, obviously

we have some of the basic genres, but we've also

tried to tailor it as much as we can to more

geek nerd genres that people would be interested

in that are watching and listening to the rest

of our shows. So it's basically our take on AFI's

top 10 lists with our own 10 genres and then

the GCRN members. at least for these first couple

of lists, have voted on a master list of, well

in this case, action films. And so we've had

six different people from GCRN that have pulled

their rankings of top 20 films and we've narrowed

it down to overall our top 10. So in the introduction

we'll be able to talk a little bit about the

honorable mentions, which are any films that

got voted on that did not. receive enough points

to actually make the top ten so we will talk

about more than just the ten films that we've

narrowed it down to and then hopefully everyone

else can weigh in on what their favorite action

films are and comment on the website and tell

us what we got right and what we got wrong and

all that fun stuff and then we will proceed to

hit nine different genres as we make our way

through these episodes. You know, so as he said

episode 41 is all about action movies GC runs

top 10 action films Notice we are not marketing

this thing saying all time because last time

we did that we got a lot of criticism Well for

certain things you can do that and certain things

we've been exposed to enough like I don't mind

doing it with animated series because we've all

seen all of Most of the animated series of all

time. I mean they don't go back right that far

Whereas films there's a ton of them a lot of

them go back pretty far and not enough of us

would have a good knowledge of some of the classics.

Dan would probably. But honestly, we haven't

all seen them enough to judge them correctly.

Yes, exactly. So this is top ten action. Why

don't you take it away with some of the honorable

mentions. And it's basically got, just to give

you a specific time, we're basically looking

during our lifetimes or modern era, which we

consider 1970 and above for this list. Anybody

want to start off with some of the ones that

they found and the honorable mentions or some

stuff that they had on their list They're seeing

a show up that they want to mention. I know Dan's

got some I'm surprised FX is even on here. You're

surprised which one FX the Brian's Brian Brown

Brian Dennehy movie. Well, it's definitely an

interesting we all have our personal Choices

that you know only got voted on by one person

or something like that But there's quite a few

of these that got voted on by more than one person.

Oh, right. No, I know. But I'm just surprised.

To me, FX and FX2 at Sequel, I found those movies

and I love those two movies. But I didn't know

a lot of people even knew about them. So it's

kind of like the whole thing when I was mentioning

over on MWIRE with that movie Airborne. It's

like, I know I'm not the only person that knew

about the film, but I just don't see those two

films as being. Is something is a lot of people

would talk about in the action genre blame, Canada

One day one that I'm kind of surprised didn't

make it was Mad Max two -word warrior I thought

that would at least make the top ten. It looks

like it almost got there Yeah, there was it showed

up on see what I found one thing that was interesting

in and compiling everyone's votes and whatnot

is franchise movies movies that have had sequels

or multiple installments sometimes kind of fall

prey to the everyone has their different favorite

in the series and for example Mad Max 2 landed

on two of our lists and Mad Max 1 landed on somebody

else's list so you know had we all been in agreement

the people that voted for a Mad Max movie and

chose the same installment it probably would

have ranked higher and maybe even made the top

10. But it's interesting to see those movies

that have two, three, four, five chapters in

them sometimes split the vote. So that makes

sense. It looks like that happened with Mission

Impossible 2 because that looks to be all over

the board with two, four, and I think even one

in the honorable mentions that didn't make the

cut. I think that franchise in particular, they're

all different in their own way. So I think Depending

on your personal taste. It's hard to really pick

a favorite in that series, right? No, I definitely

agree with that. There was there was a few like

that that that certain Since there was more than

one movie. They kind of split and either all

didn't make it or only one of them made it or

something like that Any other ones that people

are seen on the list that they're surprised and

Sherlock Holmes was the top voted one that didn't

make the list Sherlock Holmes and the professional

were the two closest to breaking into the top

ten I'm surprised speed wasn't a little higher.

You know, we just went we're doing that an N

more than 90s Retro episodes and I thought that

would be I thought that would be a lot higher

than it is or But I guess like that too kind

of falls prey to the fact that it kind of gets

lumped in with all the different type of die

-hard films of that type of genre, so I'm surprised

Shooter even got voted on. Hey, that was me.

That was a good movie. It was a good movie, but

I just, I don't know. It's, again, it's one of

those, to me, it's one of those hidden gems that

nowadays cable networks do. Oh, hey, watch Shooter

for the next three days, three days in a row.

You know, it's just one of those films that just...

Don't know I was surprised that two of them specifically

that I voted for that didn't get on on the list

and One of those would be Dirty Harry I just

thought that was kind of like your classic action

movie But most people were not in agreement with

me on that one and the other one was taken I

just thought being more of a recent movie and

being such a example of Liam Neeson's badassness

That it would have ranked a little bit higher

as well Yeah, I agree I hope to God the sequel

didn't make it on the countdown if the first

movie didn't because holy crap. The sequel was

awful compared to the first one. That's what

I mean. I'm hoping that the see because heaven

forbid we have another thing of oh number three

Transformers. Oh my god. I don't think anybody's

gonna be too upset at the top ten But like I

don't know I just dirty hairy and taken off the

off of my list were the ones that stood out.

30 Harry was on my list as well. So I was going

to surprise I had it in my top 10 and I almost

taken almost made my top 20 but as I kind of

rearranged as we Altered like what films we made

eligible and ended up getting knocked off Another

one that surprises me after doing all the James

Bond movies last winter Casino Royale did not

make the top 10 Also doesn't seem like many people

voted for it, which i'm kind of surprised because

that's I think maybe because of Skyfall, maybe

people are kind of forgetting about that movie.

Yeah, that's another one where you have a franchise

that has so many different films and, you know,

if someone's going to pick a Bond movie, you

know, which one are they going to pick? You know,

I know Casino Royale was on there, GoldenEye

got votes. I thought there was at least one more

that got Skyfall. So, I mean, there's three different

Bond films that made honorable mention. So it's

like more of a disagreement on which is the best

Bond film, maybe. Yeah, I mean that's that's

true. That's always a hard especially when you

have you know How many 24 movies or 23 movies?

It's hard to pick which one will pray Consider

Mike any other ones that you were surprised that

maybe maybe you voted on that didn't make the

list I Don't know I I guess it's just me seeing

it in theaters for the very first time ever I'm

surprised Top Gun didn't make the list because

yeah Got multiple votes, but yeah, I know you

know I'm not expecting a lot of Tom Cruise action

movies to be in a top ten but like Top Gun is

just one of those quintessential action You know

don't even think about it as a story movie. Just

think about the action scenes in that film and

That's why I thought it would have made it. I

don't know what about you Steve any other ones

that you thought might have made it I'm kind

of surprised by looking that Die Hard with a

Vengeance didn't make it on there, or The Bourne

Identity, just because With a Vengeance is probably

the second best Die Hard film to the first one.

And then you have Bourne Identity, which is what

starts the whole Bourne series. Yeah, I agree

and I think again that's kind of like what we

mentioned where where people split the vote between

different ones because we had die hard with a

vengeance and Live free or die hard both got

votes And amongst our honorable mentions, so

it kind of split and with me like I voted for

a mission impossible ghost protocol Instead of

like let's say mission impossible to So, you

know, if I would have voted differently on that

and voted for Mission Impossible 2 instead of

Ghost Protocol, maybe there's a difference there,

but for me, I thought Ghost Protocol was the

better of the two films. So yeah, I think what

you're saying with the diehards, too, is just

a case of where people had disagreements on which

diehard was better than which other diehard type

thing. Anybody else? Has anyone voted on Last

Action Hero? I did, jackass. Really? Yeah, I

like that movie. It's, yeah, I like it. Everybody

has their movies that they like. Like I like

Salt and I thought that was a good movie even

though I knew nobody else was gonna vote on that.

I voted on Man on Fire just because I love that

movie even though it gets panned by most people.

Payback I like, you know, so everyone has their

favorite action films that don't get widely accepted

as like top of the class. There was two action

films that Mel Gibson did. It was Payback and

there was something else. Ransom. No, no, no,

no, no, no, no. Not Ransom. There was Payback.

It's a Darkness? No, no, no. It's Payback and

Get Carter. That's what it is. Always liked payback

better than get Carter. I don't know. I like

payback. I think that's Mel Gibson like being

a badass before that was like Before he went

crazy. Well, no that was like what Liam Neeson

didn't take in Mel Gibson had already done in

payback. Yeah But it's definitely some interesting

interesting lists I think a couple of them that

we didn't mention that got some good votes Indiana

Jones in the Last Crusade Rambo first blood part

to the town jackal Safe House, we mentioned Speed,

Boondock Saints, so there were some interesting

ones that Honorable mentioned. Police Story as

well, that's one of Jackie Chan's, not his first

film, but one of his more notorious movies. That's

another one. Jackie Chan has so many films, it's

hard for people to indicate which one's their

favorite, especially because their Japanese titles

and their American titles are often different,

so people kind of get confused with which one's

which. And there's also the issues of who's seen

what. Certain films just haven't been seen by

as wide of an audience maybe. Like I have not

seen Police Story. With Jackie Chan, the other

thing is because of his action star status and

his stuntman status, the way that he does his

own stunts, Sadly a lot of times he just oh hey

it's it's lieutenant or detective or whatever

the hell his name is in the rush hour movies

people just kind of lump him at least like today's

generation I think lumps him into oh hey he's

gonna make another rush hour movie that's that's

the sad tragedy with him I think nowadays whereas

you know back in like the early 90s he was doing

a lot of really great films And even before the

90s. I did want to mention too Sherlock Holmes

I know I kind of said it before but Sherlock

Holmes missed missed to the top ten by one point

And I just wanted to pull that out there because

for me it had some revolutionary Visual effects

and some stuff that might impact the action genre

going forward I just and so far in both installments.

I've loved the slow motion look ahead Plot out

what's about to happen and then play at live

speed type thing Love that film. Yeah, or even

in the second one where they slowed it down when

they were shooting through the forest And you

got to see like bullets going slower and then

faster and stuff like that So, I mean, I think

Sherlock Holmes has some merit for for doing

some cool things that we hadn't ever seen before

or at least not on that type of level So I'm

not surprised that it never ranked high. But

like I said, it missed the countdown by one point

So, are we ready we are ready all right, well,

let's get to number 10, which came out in 2006

in kind of a special release, but it was mainly

a 2007 release. And that is the movie 300 starring

Gerard Butler beat Sherlock Holmes by one point

for the 10th spot. I think most people are familiar

with 300, the Spartans in battle. I think that

movie was. pretty fantastic again from a visually

visual standpoint what they did and Just the

level of like a almost like a war battle on a

different stage I don't know. I just think it

was kind of a unique take on this type of topic.

I Don't know who else has seen 300 on our panel

I'm not I like 300 is very it's The visuals are

pretty outstanding in that film. Just Zack Snyder

really emulated the comic really well. This didn't

make my list, but I have no issue with it being

in the top 10. It is a pure action movie, like

that movie is just like pure just housed around

at its fullest extent. If you haven't seen it,

definitely try to see it in high def because

it's a gorgeous looking film. And if you read

the comic or you look at the pages of the comic,

it's almost exactly the same visuals, the same

style. But yeah, that's kind of surprising. I

didn't think that would make the top ten but

Not a good multiple people had it in their top

ten. The highest it was ranked was a Michael

Wilson had it ranked number four So that helped

it get at some points I had it in my top ten

just because to me it stands out for some of

its unique Ways that they can with it that they

shot some of those scenes and some of the visual

effects to me kind of makes a standout compared

to your typical action film Yeah, yeah, it was

a really great film. It was one of those ones

where At the time that it came out it was groundbreaking

for what it was gonna for what it was doing with

the action genre Yep, so that is our number 10

ranking action film of all time I think it fits

the whole geek perspective there for number 9.

We're going to 2007 And I'm glad that at least

one of these installments made the countdown.

It may have ranked higher had it not split with

some of the other installments. It's a Matt Damon

film. So that should give it away. It is the

Bourne Ultimatum. Very nice. So the Bourne Ultimatum.

Now we know that some of the other Bourne movies

did get... Bourne Identity came close to making

the list as well. So it was one of those again

where it kind of got split between... The different

installments of a born ultimatum did get enough

points to come in at number nine. I know Steve,

you had this on your list. Yes. Whereas Mike,

you had both of them on your list. You had ultimatum

and identity on your list. Dan, you had ultimatum

pretty high. I actually went with born identity

instead of ultimatum. So it might have been even

higher had I went that way. But I kind of gave

more credence to the first one. But you guys

can speak about ultimatum a little bit. Steve.

Mostly why I put it on there is because I felt

that it was one of the better out of the three

only for the fact that it kind of tied some things

up and he'd really kind of found his own in the

series so it wasn't so much of him discovering

himself but he was peeling back the layers of

you know the Blackbriar and the Treadstone and

everything else and kind of Ramming it down their

throats essentially, so it was very action -packed,

but it was it was very very well written You

know the writing on born ultimatum was so well

done I actually got the the book to meant to

follow along with it even though I know the book

has more than the movie does but The movie it's

it's such a great action movie yes born identity

isn't even you know as an equal is also a really

great action film, but I preferred Ultimatum

because it actually told us a story of where

that character of David Webb, Jason Bourne, was

gonna go. Like, I felt the first movie introduced

us to him and kind of had that mystery of it,

supremacy kind of, it told a story of him still

kind of finding himself, and then Ultimatum,

it just kind of climaxed, and then sadly they

moved on to other. I don't mind where they're

going with it and the fact that they're going

to bring them back eventually if they follow

through with that is cool. I'm just glad that

one of the Bourne movies made the list because

the Bourne movies basically almost redefined

the sub -genre of action that we're talking about

here with the espionage and the CIA and all that

other stuff. I really think the Bourne whole

series is a great series. I'm glad at least one

of the installments made our top ten. Definitely

and I think one thing you have to also talk about

when you talk about born ultimatum Which is honestly

and probably my personal top ten like ever. I

love that movie is Paul Greengrass's direction

He he came in in the second installment. I think

I love born identity, but I think I appreciate

what he did more What he can do with the bolt

on to the made him is the variety of the different

type of action that was in that movie You had

your typical chases, but they were done really

well, but you also had a really great suspense

scene when it was just in the The bus terminal

where you know, there's the the person attempting

to assassinate the the reporter and that and

that scene was so well staged and so well plotted

and it's one location but like paul greengrass

is an excellent excellent director and he's really

able to kind of mix all this different type of

direction um so and i also love about that movie

in the series in general is how very travelogue

it is and how they always go to these different

locations and they really go there and they really

become a character in the film and in the final

film how they went to New York, or actually,

not the final film, but in Ultimatum, and how

strange it was that they were actually in America,

because they were always in these foreign locales.

So it was kind of cool seeing Jason Bourne come

to New York. And New York ended up feeling more

like a foreign country than the other locations

because we'd become so used to him in Europe

and in Asia. So, but yeah, I think that's why

I appreciate. for an ultimatum a little bit more

than the other two installments, but I think

it's one of the greatest trilogies of all time.

And just like I'm glad that one of the Bourne

movies made the list, I'm also glad that a certain

action star will show up next in number eight.

So we've had Gerard Butler and Matt Damon, but

how can you have a top 10 action movie list without

Schwarzenegger? So for number eight we go to

1994 and Arnold Schwarzenegger film that we're

talking about is true lies True lies, which ranked

as high as number three on JT's list as far as

action films of all course you Canada It was

also on Dan's list it was also on Michael Wilson's

list So Dan since you're the only one out of

the three of us that had it on your list. What

are your thoughts about true lies? Think what

I love about true lies is it's one James Cameron

knows how to use Schwarzenegger He can get great

performances out of him or great performances

for Schwarzenegger and it's mixture of great

comedy and great action and how It relied a lot

on practical effects Like even I watched it recently

the other day and that Harrier sequence at the

end still holds up pretty well since they're

using real Harrier with mixture of CGI, but That's

what I love about that movie. You have that great

relationship between Schwarzenegger and Jamie

Lee Curtis and I love her character and even

Tom Arnold is good in that movie. If you can

get Tom Arnold to give a good performance, you're

doing something right. Apparently so. It was

the third highest grossing movie of 1994 and

Jamie Lee Curtis did get a Golden Globe for best

actress. Yeah. So I mean there's a lot of people

that liked it back in 1994 a lot of people were

enthralled with Arnold back in the day so I'm

just happy that Arnold somewhere on the countdown

as Silly as some of his movies can be For a second

there. I thought you were gonna say jingle all

the way, but that was later I think I don't think

that kid was right after that. This was the year

after last action hero Yeah, yeah true lies Yeah

Like you said, you know A lot of people liked

it in 1994. I think for me, if I went back and

watched it now, all I can think of is that awkwardness

between the two of them with the marriage and

she not knowing that he's a super spire. And

it's just that whole awkward that I just did

not care for Jamie Lee Curtis in that movie.

Please give me the trading places character again.

Any other thoughts on true lies? Because. Forgot

to mention, but it wasn't in eighth place alone

It was tied with another film Because Arnold

was not just an action hero in the 90s. He was

also an action hero in the 80s So we're gonna

go back to 1985 and Arnold gets back to back

movies here in 1985 film that he was in would

be commando So commando comes in tied with true

lies. So it'd be only fitting to say I would

be back exactly commando was ranked number two

by Michael Wilson number four by JT so apparently

JT and Michael Wilson are big Arnold fans because

they both had true lies as well I can see commando

it's kind of classic action kind of suspend everything

else and just have straight action I'm surprised

that Arnold I guess I shouldn't be surprised

that he has two movies on the list but out of

ten he's dominating the rankings here. I'm surprised

that they are the two movies that they are. I

would have thought that they would have been

different films. Well, and one thing we should

mention is before people start berating us, and

they probably will at the end of once they hear

everything, but certain movies were only eligible

for certain genres. So some movies that you may

expect that you might put in an action genre

may fit better in some of our other genres. So

you kind of have to stay Tune for all ten podcast

episodes before you can rail us for not including

certain films But there was quite a few Arnold

movies that got votes You know, we talked about

last action hero Obviously, we just talked about

true lies commando. So, you know Arnold that's

what he does You know, so it's not a surprise

that he's had multiple multiple movies that have

gotten gotten votes Dan your thoughts on commando

Um, I'm not the biggest fan of commando I it

is kind of the quintessential 80s action movie

like it is kind of it's big a lot of one -liners

a plot that doesn't make any sense it there's

a fun aspect to it, but I I just think it's it

goes a little too far times and But you know

it I could understand it if you're a big fan

of that type of style If you love that type of

80s action where you know, it's never takes itself

too seriously then I can understand voting for

it. But it's never really been my favorite type

of style of action. But yeah, I probably would

have gotten it. I find it funny that it came

out the same year as Rambo First Blood Part 2.

And Rambo First Blood Part 2 made more money,

but did not make our list compared to Commando.

So it didn't win the yearly battle, but it won

our ranking battle, I guess. But I thought you

know Rambo might have got a few more votes, but

I Don't know I guess I am a little bit surprised

that it's commando and true lies, but I'm not

surprised that we have Arnold movies involved

Anybody else on Arnold in general commando true

lies anything Despite that they weren't on my

list I do I am a big fan of Arnold Yeah, I think

he definitely didn't warrants at least a spot

in the top ten, so I'm you know I'm not upset

about it. Yeah Another action star that I'm not

a hundred percent surprised to find on our list

is Nicolas Cage and his 1997 movie anybody They

saw no con air. Oh Yeah, that's a classic. Yeah,

so 1997 film con air with Nicolas Cage comes

in at our next spot. Let's see That's number

six on our list. So thoughts on con air Mike.

I Love that movie That movie is so awesome. It's

got so many great actors in it. Besides just

Nicolas Cage, and I know it's a Nicolas Cage

movie, but you got John Cusack, John Malkovich.

Bing Rames. Bing Rames. Steve Buscemi is the

creepy dude. It's one of those movies that has

a plot that's so simple you don't think it's

going to work, but it does. It's kind of got

a cult following in the action genre, so I'm

not 100 % surprised. I mean, it didn't get the

rave reviews or anything, but a lot of action

films love, or a lot of action fans and action

buffs love Conair. Know every time whatever network

whether it's TNT TBS USA whoever airs it I know

every every time it airs on TV nowadays I usually

end up watching it or falling asleep to half

of it or something. It's it's such a good movie

the stunts in it are great The acting in the

movie is so well done And so over -the -top at

it points, but it's over -the -top good. It's

not like You know, it's not like a cheesy Mr.

Freeze moment from 1997. It did win a golden

raspberry award for worst reckless disregard

for human life and public property. Is that Nicolas

Cage in general or is that in the movie? But

yeah, I just remember when it came out at the

time and everybody was all about it It was kind

of like someone had mentioned face off. It was

around the same time that face off came out We

kind of had a barrage of a couple years with

all these types of action movies And then this

one did kind of stand out amongst them. So I'm

a little surprised. It's as high as number six

But I'm not surprised that I got votes Anybody

else thoughts on con air? I can't remember if

it was on my list or not, but One, two, three,

four, five, you had it at like seven or eight.

Yeah, that movie is just, it's not only funny,

but I mean, it's because you have all the different

kind of comedy and action kind of combined, and

quirky personalities, but just like you guys

mentioned before, all the different actors that

are in it alone kind of make it up, and it's

just one of those, it's one of the better. It's

one of the better what? What the hell? What?

Oh, you went on mute for a minute. No, I didn't.

Oh, we heard it was one of the better, but we

didn't hear anything after that. One of the better

Nicolas Cage movies. Oh, yeah, I agree. Kevin,

was it on your list? No, it did not make my list.

It was on Steve's list. It was on Mike's list.

It was on... Michael wilson's list. Um, so it

did get multiple votes. Um, I just for me nicolas

cage It's like reves I have trouble voting for

anything that they're in yeah reves I have a

hard time voting anything with him in it, but

uh because I think Because like mike how mike

thinks of ryan reynolds of oh van wilder. I think

of I know kung fu Yeah, but I think the matrix

really erased his whole Ted image though. Anyway,

that's a conversation for another time. All right,

moving right along. So we've seen Gerard Butler,

Matt Damon, a double dose of Arnold and Nick

Cage. Now we are into our top five and we're

going martial arts style this time. There is

bound to be at least one martial arts film in

here and it is 1973's Bruce Lee movie, Enter

the Dragon, which Was nominated for AFIs a hundred

thrills a hundred years a hundred thrills Also

got Bruce Lee nominated for a hundred heroes

and villains from AFIs a hundred list series

So it has been recognized by AFI before and it

comes in at number five I know Dan you probably

have something to say about enter the dragon

Yeah, I think it was on my list pretty high and

when making these lists I definitely considered

how much influence a film had and you can't deny

the influence that entry the dragon had it It

launched a huge my martial arts craze in the

70s Bruce Lee be one of the biggest act stars

of all time even in a short period. I don't think

it's the best Of all the martial arts films,

but I think considering how important it was.

It does have some great Action scenes one of

the best fight scenes near the it's it's classic

mirror sequence at the end Bruce lee at his best

he he it was an introduction to america for a

lot of audiences and I think he is a screen presence

unlike many action stars and I just unfortunately

he didn't have a long career as he could have

because of you know the tragedy that happened

but End of the Dragon is a great action film

and if you're a person that's not really watched

a lot of martial arts films I think it's a great

one to start with. It is an American production

so you don't have to worry about subtitles. The

dubbing is pretty bad at times but if you can

forgive that and you can just recognize just

how amazing Bruce Lee is or was and his talent

is pretty impressive. Yeah, I agree, and I'm

not upset to see a martial arts film of some

sort get on there And when you think of martial

arts films you the first name you usually think

of is Bruce Lee So yeah, I'm not surprised that

he made the list he was on your list he was on

Dan Excuse me a JT's list and Michael Wilson's

list so a lot of people had some respect for

enter the dragon I myself actually haven't seen

the movie So I could not vote for it Saw it a

long time ago, but I barely I know this is sacrilege

to say but I barely remember it I'm just not

a martial arts fan as far as when it comes to

movies myself So I can't get past that but I

do respect that it is regarded as one of the

better More impactful like Dan said martial arts

movies of all time Yeah So for number four on

the list, we're going to 1987. This film was

nominated for AFIs 100 years, 100 movies. It

was nominated for AFIs 100 years, 100 thrills.

It was nominated for 100 heroes and villains

for the heroes. It's widely considered one of

the best buddy cop films of all time. Entertainment

Weekly magazine named it number 24 on their list

of the greatest action films of all time. We

have it as actually number four Mel Gibson And

lethal weapon yes, that's right. Oh Boy, I know

there's a lot of humor in it and Everything but

in its essence. I still view this as a complete

action film You know, it's not going to have

the throw it in your face action that you get

like from Commando or like 300 or something like

that. But this is one of my all time favorite

movies. Yeah, you and I spent two hours, 23 minutes

back in M .Y .E .R. Episode 59 talking about

the entire franchise. It happens. It was on four

of our lists. And I believe the only reason it

wasn't on five of our list is because you sir

voted for lethal weapon two instead yeah it was

the heymo it was the what it was the heymo So

there's another one that could have been a little

bit higher had it been unanimous as far as which

was the best Lethal Weapon installment But there

was no doubting that it was gonna make our list

being on so many people's list the only other

person that didn't vote for it was Michael Wilson

He left all the Lethal Weapon movies off of his

list how dare him But yeah to me like This I

love all the Lethal Weapon films, but for me

this is the clear winner because you just get

to see Mel Gibson crazy as fuck and So right

in his element. Yeah, the forming of the relationship

between Riggs and Murtaugh in this. And there's

just so many classic lines. There's classic scenes.

This is a movie in college that my roommate and

I, it was just one of those go -to movies that

whenever we were bored or something, it was like,

throw Lethal Weapon 1 in. And it was always fun,

no matter how many times you watch it. Dan, thoughts

on Lethal Weapon 1? Yeah, I mean, pretty much

it is. It's great. Great action I love because

the action like you mentioned isn't very much

of the 80s But it's kind of almost closer to

like the 70s grittier action with the you know

The cop drama aspect of it and it also has great

humor and like I think Richard Donner really

mixed those really well They complement one another

I mean Danny Glover and Mel Gibson You know one

of the best partnerships ever So yeah, it's I'm

really glad it's on this list and glad it's High

as it is. So I think it's unquestionably belongs

in the top five Yeah, I definitely agree that

Steve any thoughts on lethal weapon It's not

only really fun, but just You have Rigs which

one's Danny Glover isn't it? He Bertha or is

he? Yeah, Danny Glover's Murtaugh. Okay, I had

it right then You have rigs just being nuts You

know Just completely crazy, especially when he's

got a gun in his hand So he's he's kind of like

a younger crazier John McClane in a sense and

but he's willing to work with people and to some

extent and Just that dynamic of the two of them

together. Just you wouldn't think it would fit

but it works really well I agree. It was a great

partnership and it lasted for all the movies.

It wasn't something that got stale. Those two

just really worked well off of each other. And

it didn't matter who else he threw in there.

As the third or fourth person in the cast, those

two still made it work and are hilarious together.

And just the craziness of Gibson poised with

the paranoia of Glover was just perfect. It was,

yeah. So we're into our top three. Now I know

some people might put this more of a gangster

film, but I view this film as straight action.

It was actually ranked number two on two different

people's lists. It's from 1995 starring Al Pacino,

Robert De Niro, and Val Kilmer. The movie Heat.

And to me this... It's part crime part police

part gangster But it's all action and some of

the shootouts that they have and some of the

the action sequences They have are some of the

best that I've ever seen Dan you got thoughts

on heat I'd love he I mean it I probably would

have ranked it higher in the action list, but

I think I Think considering its action element.

I put a little bit other films a little bit higher

But regarding like the cast such that cast is

fantastic. I mean Val Kamler does an amazing

job. The chemistry and the performances of Robert

De Niro and Al Pacino, that classic diner scene

is amazing. It is so well -crafted. It's Michael

Mann, back when he was really on fire as a director.

I love that movie. And we see that it has a heavy

influence of a lot of heist movies that you see.

You know the town that came out recently you

can definitely see. Oh, yeah, it's influence

on the town When I saw the town This is the first

thing that I compared it to or the first other

movie that came into my head was this like the

modern version of heat Just because I viewed

heat so so highly Yeah, and it's a great it just

also just a really great movie in general It's

it is a hard film to quantify because of what

genre you're gonna put it in But I think it does

there's enough action in there to make it Yeah

legitimately on this list. But yeah, he is fantastic.

Empire Magazine actually ranked it as the 38th

greatest film in history on their list of 500

greatest movies of all time. It got 38. That's

a pretty high ranking. And talking about a cast,

it wasn't just, you know, Pacino, De Niro, and

Kilmer, which obviously were the main superstars

there. You had John Voight, Ashley Judd, Natalie

Portman, Hank Azaria, Tom Sizemore, Dennis Haysbert,

Danny Trejo. Jeremy Piven in an early role. So

I mean, you had a lot of superstars in this cast

kind of playing off of each other. But yeah,

anytime you put Al Pacino and Robert De Niro

together, usually good things happen. Except

for lately, but besides that. I don't know what

you're talking about. Right, just kill that movie,

do not watch. I did not see that. Note to self

don't watch right just kill But yeah, I'm glad

he's on there. Just like I said some of the gun

the shootouts and everything standoffs are just

fantastic Moving on to number two It was came

in at the as the top ranked movie on my list

It was the top ranked movie on Michael Wilson's

list It was the top ranked movie on Dan's list

We are going to 1981 for Indiana Jones and the

Raiders of the Lost Ark. Very nice. I know some

people will say, again, there's a lot of debate

about genres. It's a fantasy film. It's an adventure

film. We decided it was action worthy amongst

our different genres, and that's where it kind

of plotted in. You know, again, there was multiple

Indiana Jones movies that got votes. Last Crusade

just missed getting in there. So is it possible

if we would have been in agreement on which is

the best Indiana Jones movie? This could have

been, you know, even higher. But number two is

pretty high. So Raiders of the Lost Ark. Thoughts,

Mike? You didn't vote for it. Yeah, no. No, Indiana

Jones last crusade is my favorite out of them

all yeah, I had last crusade on my list and I

I Like Raiders, but I think because I was so

young at the time and even going back a lot of

these films Everyone says oh these are such classics

and I've gone back now at 33 years old and tried

to watch them and I just Don't care Raiders is

not one that I felt that way about but another

one that I felt that way about was Scarface I

saw that on AMC about a month and a half ago

and I just don't see why everyone loves that

damn movie I just don't get it. It was not eligible

for our action list by the way. Well, no I love

all the Indiana Jones movies. I'm glad there's

one on our list somewhere I go back and forth

on which one's my favorite between Last Crusade

and Raiders of the Lost Ark. I ended up It usually

end up siding with Raiders of the Lost Ark. But

when I was younger, it was usually Last Crusade.

But to me, this is just the quintessential action

adventure film. It's what other films try to

be that are in that same kind of subgenre, doing

the little more adventure style. But I'm very

happy that it's on our list. And I'm very happy

that Harrison Ford's on our list. Yeah, I'm very

happy it's this high. I mean, it was obviously

number one on my list, but I love the Indiana

Jones franchise as well. The great thing about

that franchise is it has a great hero, and Indiana

Jones is one of the most iconic movie characters

of all time. Also, what's really great about

him is he's a very human character. He's not

superhuman. He has that fear of snakes, which

is more than just a little bit of a cliché thing

or just something like that. I think it really

does help humanize him in the fact that he is

a teacher and he's really smart and he's not

just a dude who just does things without thinking.

He does do that, but he's also... has some intelligence

behind him as well. And plus, it just has one

of the greatest scores with John Williams. It

just kind of makes it that much better. It just,

like you mentioned, it is a movie. When you think

action adventure, I think Raiders of the Lost

Ark and think everything else comes in second.

It's just, it's so much fun. It is that quintessential

roller coaster ride. The stunts are amazing.

What they're able to do in Harrison Ford is just

charismatic as ever. And what makes it for me

is all the different, with all the Indiana Jones

movies are the booby traps and the different

things that he has to dodge and whatnot. Just

to give you an idea of how it's viewed around

the world and everything. In North America, it

remains one of the top 20 highest grossing films

ever made if you adjust for inflation. I was

nominated for nine Academy Awards, including

Best Picture. Um, as far as AFI goes, since this

is kind of what we're doing here, place the film

at number 60 and it's top 100 films of the first

century of cinema. Uh, in 2007, they bumped it

to 66. They also named it as the 10th most thrilling

film and named Indiana Jones, the character as

the second most thrilling hero. And I get this

in 1999, the film was deemed culturally, culturally,

historically and aesthetically significant by

the U S library of Congress. selected for preservation

in the National Film Registry and Entertainment

Weekly called Indiana Jones the third their third

favorite action hero and Said that some of the

greatest action scenes ever filmed are strung

together like pearls in this film. So, you know

a lot of people Like this film and on that one

movie or the Empire's ranking of 500 greatest

movies of all time Raiders of Lost Ark was number

two That's 500 greatest movies of all time across

all genres Empire headed at number two Yeah,

I mean it is that it's that we're a genre film

That is both loved by fans loved by critics and

loved by like, you know Academy and other other

locations. It's pretty rare that that happens

So I think it's it's just pretty much in a lot

of ways I think you can call it like a perfect

film because I really can't think of any fault

with that movie Not at all. So that leaves us

with one film left on the list Thought it'd be

fun to go around and if anyone has a prediction

on what the top film may be you've seen our honorable

mentions You've seen ten all the way down to

two We've seen a lot of different films Mike.

Do you got a guess for number one? Well Steve

already said it I'll say I'll be I'll say it

a different way Let's hope Skynet doesn't take

over die hard So you get it. I don't think it's

going to be. It could be Die Hard. It could be.

But I'm thinking T2. Dan? I would say Die Hard,

because Terminator. Well, anyways, I'm guessing

Die Hard. Well, it was the only movie. The number

one film on our list was the only movie voted

on by, I believe, every single person. I had

it at number four. Dan had it number two JT had

it number five Michael Wilson had it about number

nine or so and Steve and Mikey both headed at

number one and That would be the 1980 film diehard

with Bruce Willis Again, we saw other parts of

diehard Nominated we saw two or the other chapters,

but it was unanimous and this was not even close

You know, I mentioned Sherlock Holmes, missed

the countdown by a point. I mentioned that there

was a tie between Commando and True Lies. Die

Hard was over, in our point system, was over

44 points ahead of Raiders of the Lost Ark. So

it dominated the competition. It was hands down,

there was nobody even close to it. So Steve,

thoughts on Die Hard? This is quite possibly

one of the greatest action movies of all time

and obviously as our list reflects that is so

true and This film also has other significance

because it actually put Bruce Willis on the action

map and Set him in motion for everything that

he's done since which is before that. He was

just moonlighting Yeah, he was kind of just playing

comedy parts and playing whatever he could get

for the most part and this is what really made

people pay attention to them and honestly I this

film I could watch this over and over and I grow

bored of it yeah it's got a 94 % on Rotten Tomatoes

the film's title and its story of a lone hero

battling a multitude of single -minded opponents

in an isolated setting also becomes kind of a

common descriptor amongst reviewers for later

action films, they always refer to other films

as Die Hard on a blank. For example, Speed, a

lot of people referred to as Die Hard on a bus.

The Rock was dubbed Die Hard on an island. So

it's very well regarded, nominated for four Academy

Awards, obviously. Issued in a whole franchise

of die -hard films listed on number 39 on AFI's

100 years 100 thrills Entertainment Weekly named

it the best action film of all time Hans Gruver

was listed as number 46 on the 100 heroes and

villains list John McClane was placed at number

12 on that same list and McClane's catchphrase

Yippee -ki -yay motherfucker was voted as number

96 on the greatest movie lines by Premiere magazine

in 2007 and uh also empire named it the greatest

christmas film of all time okay now wait hold

the fucking phone i want to go around the panel

here and we need to get a four -person gcr opinion

now the question is is this a christmas movie

or is this a movie that takes place at christmas

time no it can't be fucking good as it can no

it takes place during christmas time in the movie

and it's a christmas movie I vote both. You have

to watch it around Christmas time. There's like

snow, there's jingle bells, there's everything

going on. You can't watch this in June. You have

to watch it in December. You can't. You can't.

Nobody can watch fucking June. You can say Merry

Christmas. It has Merry Christmas in it. I mean,

they have some carols on it. Is the Christmas

movie of all time? I mean what it's been more

Christmas than it has the family dysfunction

of you know John McLean and his wife not getting

along it's all about you know It's got a guy

that wants to bang his wife. It's good. Exactly.

It is everything iconic scenes Yeah But yeah,

I You can't I think what people also forget with

die -hard we watching it the first 30 minutes

There's not much action, but it's a good thing

because it does a lot to set up its characters

and set up its story It's really well written.

It's a it's which really makes it really well

and it's masterfully directed budget McTiernan

it's there a lot of great shots in that movie,

especially obviously the the most iconic one

with Bruce Willis jumping off the the building

with the hose and but there's a lot of great

moments and It is that simplistic plot, but it's

also what's great about that movie is that it's

the anti -1980s action film and how there are

all these superhuman men, all these ridiculous

explosions, and it kind of wasn't that. You have

all these little humanistic moments. The classic

shoots a glass where Bruce Willis is just a guy

and you see his bloody feet. It's the perfect

action movie. It was number two on my list, but

I have no issues with it being number one. Just

like he said the scene of him walking across

the glass or whatever and like I don't know This

is just Bruce Willis in his element. He is never

better than he is in this movie And it's very

ironic that this franchise is still going today

literally even though the movies pale by comparison

after each film For the most part. Yeah, or I

would even argue that you know one three and

I'd even give it to four two is alright, but

And I've heard a lot of things about Five that

don't have me very enthused, but I'm still going

to see it. Like I said, Live Free or Die Hard

receive votes, Die Hard with a Vengeance receive

votes. So there's a lot of Die Hard love amongst

the network. But this was by far... Die Hard

2, while it's not the greatest plot in the world,

it still is a Die Hard feel movie where John

is just put into a situation that he just...

He even says it, you know when he's in the elevator

shaft what you know What kind of guy falls into

the same damn situation twice, you know, I'm

paraphrasing what he said But I like that movie

because of a couple of reasons number one. It

gave us Yippee -ki -yay. Mr. Falcon Yippee -ki

-yay. Mr. Falcon. Yeah, and number two. It's

it's a decent Action movie on its own. It still

has the die -hard characteristics of the first

film But it's not as good as the third and fourth

film. I can't speak about the fifth film because

I have yet to see it The fourth film I'm getting

sick of because cable networks constantly play

it Yeah, I can I can see people some people getting

sick of certain ones showing up again and again

But like for me lethal weapon one die -hard one

They're just two movies that I can watch over

and over and over again, and I do not get sick

of them And they were both two of the first like

Franchise sets that I owned on a box set on a

DVD the lethal weapons set and the die -hard

set like those were my first two purchases When

I went to go start buying like complete sets

of stuff Because to me those franchises just

define the genre in a way So yeah, I'm very happy

that it came in as high as it did even though

I didn't have it ranked number one on my personal

list I did have it ranked very high anybody surprised

that we're we didn't see some of the You know

when you think about action stars You think about

Arnold? I hope you do think about Bruce Willis.

You know, we had Bruce Lee on there, but there

is no, you know, like Jean -Claude Van Damme

or Sylvester Stallone. You know, some of those

iconic action stars did not find a place on our

countdown. Anybody have thoughts on that? I'm

trying to think of some of the other guys that

you would put in that category. So I'm in Seagal.

Oh, yeah, Steven Seagal. I mean, Jet Li to a

certain extent, Dolph Lundgren. I mean, they're

probably lesser, but I'm really surprised Stallone

didn't make it. I thought First Blood, if any

film was probably had an opportunity to make

the crack to top 10. And I think it probably

does deserve to be, but just how the votes went.

But that's probably my biggest surprise is Stallone

not being on and maybe also if we're going to

pick a movie, probably Mad Max. I'm surprised

that's not. on it, either Mad Max or Mad Max

2. Maybe Stallone and Estelle Getty will be on

the comedy list. Yeah, Stallone didn't find it.

Jean -Claude Van Damme, Chuck Norris, Steven

Seagal, like you said, Dolph Lundgren, Vin Diesel,

thank God. So yeah, there were some interesting,

none of the WWE stars found their way onto the

list. Imagine that. No John Cena? No, no Rock.

Well, the Rock was voted not one time. Not the

Rock. Yeah, I know. But yeah, I like the list.

I think it's good just to kind of sum up here

again. Number 10, we had the movie 300, then

Born Ultimatum, True Lives, Commando, Conair,

Enter the Dragon, Lethal Weapon 1, Heat, Raiders

of the Lost Ark, and Die Hard. Final thoughts,

Mike? Oh, I think it's a... Pretty damn good

list and I can't wait to see what we do next

with the next episode. I think for me, my final

thoughts is there's a little bit of everything,

a little bit of something for everybody. You

have more of your just like shoot them up straight

kind of over the top action and like commando.

You know, you got your spy stuff with born ultimatum,

you got your comedy cop, you know, buddy cop

film and lethal weapon, a little more adventure

with Raiders of the Lost Ark, martial arts with

Ender the Dragon, more of a war style with 300.

So you have a little bit of all types of action

in here. So there should be something for everybody

on this list. Dan, what do you think? It's it's

pretty solid I mean obviously when you create

these lists and you're trying to cram in 30 years

of action films into 10 films It's you're gonna

have certain things that don't make it and people

have their own personal biases But I'm pretty

I'm pretty happy especially with our top five

I think our top five is really solid and they're

all really deserving But like you mentioned a

good mixture of different movies good mixtures

of different genres within action in different

years We have you know, we from the 70s and 80s

the 90s and you know the 2000s So it's good to

see it spread out throughout the time yeah and

like I said our point system it took 33 points

to get on to the list from number 10 to number

3 the range of points is from 33 to 46 that's

a very small range when you jump to our number

2 and our number 1 you go to 60 points and 104

points so those Raiders of the Lost Ark and Die

Hard ran away from the competition. Everything

else was somewhat close. Steve, any final thoughts

on the action list overall? No, I'd say it pretty

much hit the nail right on the head. I agree.

I think it's a great list. Mike, why don't you

do your thing? You better be careful. Sergeant

Murtaugh is mean with a nail gun. That's true.

uh... all right so that's going to do it for

this episode of the cast radio uh... the next

episode we will be counting down the top ten

comedy films that's going to be really got a

different sense of humor good lord that that

let that list might be the most interesting one

week we we do because holy crap yeah you're right

here is the difference in your uh... so i a m

t if you and michael with optimus solo movie

revolt and Steve Megatron Phillips and until

next time be wait a second I'm gonna do that

again until next time unleash the geek in you

and we will count down with you next episode

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