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 Quixote wrote:
Currently watching Season of the Witch with Ron Perlman and Nic Cage... and Claire Foy.

It's actually better than I thought it would be. I'll let you know how it turns out.

EDIT: Ok. It didn't go the way I thought it would... I kinda wish the production had a little more money to spend on the 3rd act.

Much like a lot of promising films (like Solomon Kane and Wonder Woman <-That's the only time those two films will be mentioned in the same sentence.) The end features a chunk of unconvincing CGI, that doesn't fit the rest of the film.

Oh yes, I watched that one in the cinema Yeah, IIRC my impressions were similar. It's not a horrible film; once they're on their way with the witch it felt like somehting that would work nicely as a D&D adventure. Which usually means that the film is very simplistic. Which is okay. But the CGI in the end really kinda let it down. Still, I bear no grudge against that film. It's pretty ok.

ccs wrote:
Finally rewatching Babylon 5 on Amazon after all these years.

I saw most of it in its original run in the 90s. Then about 2005 or so I started re-watching it on DVD
But the dvds weren't mine, so part way through I lost access to them.

So far, 6 episodes in, it's still as entertaining as it was back then....

Oh, cool. I should do that as well.

 warhead01 wrote:
Just enjoyed Buddy goes west (1981) on Youtube yesterday.

Bud Spencer being the stereotype Bud Spencer character is always a good time for me.
.....

Bud Spencer is the GOAT. Yes, together with Terence Hill the magic is complete (and some Bud Spencer solo films are rather bad), but in my mind Bud Spencer is 60% of what makes these films great and Hill is 40%. That ratio may change though based on the day of the week, I have to add.

Either way - there is nothing like a Bud Spencer film. It's basically Laurel and Hardy. With punching. But the punching always happens upwards. Speaking of Spencer/Hill films specifically, they always want to get rich or are offered an opportunity to get rich. In the end they always are on the side of the bullied, the poor and the powerless. Because they're basically two of them.

Bud Spencer was the man.



@MDG: From the ads and so on I thought that The Monkey was more like a "young people's first horror film", but the other day I heard it's actually pretty violent and pretty good. Sounds interesting.




Well, I never was a huge fan of Scott Adkins. He's a very vanilla man in everything I saw him in. Earlier I was idly looking for an interview with Daniel Bernhardt, specifically him talking about Bloodsport II (and possibly the Mortal Kombat tv show. And possibly FUTURE WAR.), ran across Scott Adkins' youtube channel, The Art of Action, in which he does long interviews with action dudes. And it's really nice to listen to. So do, if you're so inclined:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_jEf4zv-RE Fun thing is that Adkins also looks exactly like Bernhardt, with a dash of Rob Brydon thrown in.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Oh there’s plenty splats to enjoy, but they are also kind of restrained.

In comparison to say, Saw? They’re pleasingly graphic, but nobody actually suffers as such. Parental Advisory of course, but if you’ve a young teenager looking to progress from “horrible but just off screen”, this might work for them.

Cheers, thanks for the info! I was talking to a friend whose son is showing an interest in scary films. I guess The Monkey is out of the question for now.



Holy crap, I just learned that Richard Norton has passed away recently! Just watched Scott Adkins' interview with him earlier today. :O

 Lathe Biosas wrote:
Choose the Instrument of my Destruction...

I was given a stack of DVDs.

Which one should I watch tonight?

1. 2001: A Space Odyssey
2. Batman & Robin
3. Brother Bear
4. Catwoman
5. House of Flying Daggers
6. Mission Impossible 2
7. Mission Impossible 3
8. Twister
9. Valerian

Valerian. It's not exciting, but it's pretty.

 warhead01 wrote:
Double Trouble 1984 | Terence Hill, Bud Spencer

This movie was a lot of cheesy fun. It has both Studio Gibli and Scooby-Doo DNA, such fun.

Terence Hill, Bud Spencer play body doubles for two very rich cousins for 7 days. People are trying to kill the cousins. And they are told to just be themselves.
What could possibly go wrong.
It is also funny that both of the cousins have opposite personalities to their doubles. Bud's cousin character is seeing a therapist and has never been in a fight, basically a huge weak-body very pampered and soft. Hill's "cousin" is a platonic friend to a knock out blond character who clearly has feelings for him. It's more funny because it's opposite of the character traits to their usual characters and these as well. A really clever layer I quite enjoyed.
Mayhem insures which culminates in yet another huge fist fight and a several million dollar payday for the boys.
I think this will easily be one of my favorites.

I also watch "All the way boys" which wasn't bad but wasn't as good. Sadly they leave that movie as poor as they started.
Not a bad movie but the cut was a little off but the opening sequence was good for a laugh.

Bud Spencer was younger and not as "heavy" as he is when he's older. He definitely looks more like a jock in this one. My introduction to these guys was They call me Trinity. I was hooked.
It's also very much a Studio Gibli type movie. My reference would more or less be Porco Rosso.

Oh, Double Trouble is tauted by many as one of their best. Interesting, I never realized it was made that late. Anyway, very fun film. What's basically the first thing they do once they took on the rich lifestyle? Go to the cheeriest, ruddiest strip club and have a BIG plate of spaghetti.

"All the way boys" has a pretty sweet ending. The title song was and is quite a radio hit around here and very much helped that band (who made songs for many of their films and others) gain some sort of cult status. Wasn't that one also one of the few films in which they fight each other at one point? That to me always felt very special and a bit weird. All wholesome films, them.

Oh yes, Hill being an angel is heavily implied in that film, with his shadow in the end and all. Also a great film.

I recently watched Crime Busters (1977) again. Have you seen that one yet? Really good fun (might have the strongest opening, along with the two meeting), and it also stars David Huddleston (of many, many things) and Laura Gemser (of Black Emanuelle fame).
.



As for films I'd watch because of a starring actor/actress despire the inherent badness ....not sure I'd do that. I mean there are certain genre actors who I know improve films. I'll watch a Steven Seagal film (pre-2003 or so), a van Damme film, a Cynthia Rothrock film, a Sho Kosugi film, a Jackie Chan film (unless it's a big Chinese fantasy film from 2010 on, because that's painful), etc. but also with the RE-films discussion above I realized that I'll watch a Milla Jovovich film (not the three Musketeers film though). I'll watch a film starring Kirsten Dunst, I'll watch a Cannon action film in general, etc. but usually these are factors which could lead to me watching a film.

In the sense of the above action/martial arts films, I can absolutely see what Lathe Biosas wrote about Jason Statham. That guy is a phenomenon. Possibly the last pure action guys, and most so dedicated to that role than even most guys in the 80s/early 90s. You know what you get with Statham, he does a great job at it and refuses to age. That guy is an institution.

@warhead01: Title song of "All the way boys" just came on the radio.



Of Watership Down I watched parts, never seen Plague Dogs, but it sounds almost worse. How many of you watched Felidae? 1994 German animated film based on a 1989(?) book. It's basically a psychologial whodunit thriller with some horror elements (one scene that was burnt into my brain too. ). All characters are cats. I wasn't aware that it was a German production. Interesting. Anyway, interesting film to watch, and IIRC pretty well produced too.

I mean it's rather japanese, but (in my mind) a better film than Ghost in the Shell: Perfect Blue. Psycho-thriller about a member of an all girl pop group. Aronofsky bought the rights to that just to redo a bunch of scenes in his non-animated films.

I hear great things about Mars Express (as something newer). And Flow (the one with the cat on the boat).

As Overread said- everything by Ghibli. And if you only include one, I'd make it Princess Mononoke. Nothing against Kiki's Delivery Service. It rocks hard. But Princess Mononoke is just the grandest of them, I think. And it features so many typically Ghibli things.


Make sure to put The Last Unicorn on that list too. And Coraline. And Ernest & Celestine. That one rocks too. And Mary&Max. Maybe The Triplets of Belleville for something a bit different. Amazingly drawn and animated.




Automatically Appended Next Post:
Oh, and this:




voiced by the same guy who voiced Pingu. Apparently using a very similar 'language' too.

 Gitzbitah wrote:
There's an old miniseries called Red Planet. It's western sci fi animation, and definitely not Disney. Here's a link to its youtube, because I don't think it's streaming anywhere.

https://youtu.be/u5XWbLyOE3w?si=hCAvQFH1KpfbBEi6

And although it's much later, definitely get The Road to El Dorado.

Oh, and if you haven't already- Transformers The Movie. The one where Starscream (briefly) wins!

Yeah, many people like Road to El Dorado. Same with Anastasia, and the Treasure Planet is at least cited as interesting IIRC. I haven't seen either, so I can't comment.

 Easy E wrote:
I saw MST3K live once, and it was amazing.

MST3k is not a thing here in Austria or any German-speaking areas. You can't really translate it.

HOWEVER, a German comedian named Oliver Kalkofe, who is very much involved in genre and B-film stuff ( he used to run a slightly mst3k-like thing on German tv in the 2010s), helped making a dubbed version of the film, and by chance I caught it on late night tv some 15-20 years ago. I was mesmerized by the concept and very vividly remember thinking that this was either the most stupid thing in the world of the best thing in the world.

In the following 1-2 years i watched every single episode on youtube (including watching several episodes a LOT of times). I love mst3k. It's right up my alley.


Granted, I never watched it with others and when I did, others didn't find it that great. No idea why. But I found the mix of the films, the puppets ("everything's better with puppets!"), the silly skits (which I even got into eventually, so much so that I still just look up some of the songs every now and then), the references (maaaaaaaaany of which I didn't even get due to cultural context, but I like that sort of stuff. I like not getting a joke, because it allows to look it up and learn new, useless stuff.). I love quoting mst3k and the films, even though nobody around me of course doesn't care. Forever cementing my status as sad, lonely neeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrddddd.

Anyway, to me MST3k is a central part of later media socialization.


Yes, the films are cut, in some cases unfairly so (I hear Squirm is a pretty solid, even splattery film, Mitchell was treated a bit unfairly [I prefer Final Justice anyway. "Goosio!"], and so on.), but it was to be aired in bascially daytime US tv. Anyway. MST3k is fun. I'm a big fan.

Some of my favourite episodes, if anyone's interested:
.) Girls Town (I think that was the first regular episode I ever watched, after Bride of the Monster)
.) Final Sacrifice
.) Space Mutiny
.) The Undead (this may be the one I watched the most? Not sure why, it's just so weird and like a stageplay)
.) Kitten With a Whip
.) Soultaker
.) all the others.


Favourite christmas episode:
.) Santa Claus


I have yet to watch any of the new seasons I have to admit. Never had them available, even though the things were on Netflix in the US, they were not on Netflix 'round here.

That's absolutely understandable. I made some friends watch the rifftrax version of Twilight, and one of them said the same thing.

[quote=Lathe Biosas 767846 11747323 85b5e9d410e5aae9dd82096723c8c96b.jpg...
I am one of you. And I send this message: We watched... so others wouldn’t have to. We have watched all the Michael Bay Transformers films in order.
...

 Easy E wrote:
Fun Fact: Where I grew up was where MST3K was founded. I use to watch it on UHF Channel 23. They use to do a MST3K marathon on New Year's Eve that culminated in the annual watermelon drop off the top of the station.

That was back when glorious UHF channels still existed and the scourge of Cable TV had not destroyed everything, only to be itself decimated by the streaming; which has become worse than the horror days of Cable TV.
...

Damn straight. So you grew up in Minnesota(?)? That's where MST3k used to be from, right?



@MDG: Funny, I watched Convoy for the first time just a few years ago, and it was ....alright. Then I watched the first two Smokey and the Bandit films for the first time since I was tiny (but I remember well driving my tricycle around the living room in a circle, pretending it was Reynold's car after seeing bits of that film for the first time. One of my earliest memories. Around that time I also watched the first episode of MacGyver and at age ...I don't know, 4, 5 at best, I was convinced that this was the most badass thing ever. Anyway, Smokey and the Bandit is fun. Ilike the interplay between Reynolds and Sally Field. And it's just SUCH a thing that wouldn't be made today. Everything about it is from another time. Very interesting.

 Geifer wrote:
...

It's basically the first movie with more monkeys,....

The uninspired Hollywood sequel in a nutshell.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
Felidae
...
It’s pretty hard hitting, especially the fantastic nightmare sequences.

Aye, I saw the film first time when I was 12 or so. Those nightmare sequences stick with ye.

Apart from that I think it's pretty cool how well they took bascially a horror thriller story and put it in the world of cats without it feeling like some sort of gimmick. I haven't seen it in a while, but IIRC it never felt like there was a disconnect between plot/dialogue and the fact that it's cats.

Three Amigos (1986)

Everyone knows it. I hadn't watched it in a looong time, somehow I did today. It's a bit messy, and bit by-the-numbers, but in between there are always juuuuuust enough bits that are juuuuuust funny enough to keep me watching. It's OK.

What was the traditional verdict phrase? Take it or Leave it?

 insaniak wrote:

 Sigur wrote:
Three Amigos (1986)

Everyone knows it. I hadn't watched it in a looong time, somehow I did today. It's a bit messy, and bit by-the-numbers, but in between there are always juuuuuust enough bits that are juuuuuust funny enough to keep me watching. It's OK.

What was the traditional verdict phrase? Take it or Leave it?

This is a movie that I was very surprised to enjoy the hell out of, given the trainwreck premise and the three leads all being actors whose comedy I normally can't stand... Been at least 30 years, though, so due for a rewatch to see if it still holds up, I think.

I was surprised myself. It's a bit uneven, so the actually funny things surprised me, which added to the amusement. I found the baddies to be surprisingly wholesome too. Basically a pretty nonsensical thing, making use of several western tropes. Some really silly things, with funny things mixed in.
What I dread the most about comedies is a by-the-numbers plot. The plot of this one baiscally is extremely by-the-numbers, but they dismiss it so often that it's bearable. Weird film. Also, I ended up liking Martin Short the best out of all of the three, for seeming the most genuine in the role out of the three. I also liked the leading lady and the whole bunch of townfolk. The way they went with the final confrontation and preparation therefore was also surprisingly un-annoying.

I think that this film is as good now as it was then. Not very, but it made me laugh a bunch of times, which surprised me a lot.

 Flinty wrote:
Watched Clue again for the first time in many years. The first third or so is so slow and stilted, I was starting to think it was t as good as I remembered. and then the cast loosen up and the really manic nonsense starts and it is just great entertainment. I would be surprised if any of the scenery didn’t have tooth marks in it. Some of the sight gags are glorious.

Funny, just the other day I listened to a podcast in which this one was mentioned as being a fun comedy. I may have to look it up.

How apt that we talk about MI films right now! This weekend I was at an event in Germany, had an overnight stay at a hotel. So I watched some TV at the hotel after having sat up for the show. Mission Impossible - Fallout (2018) happened to be on, and I remembered recently hearing that this was people's favourite film out of the series and tauted as one of the best action films of the past decades, and I hadn't watched an M:I film since the third. So I gave it a go, and I was not disappointed. The film goes on for about 900 hours, but there's always stuff happening, and most of it is rather pleasant. I'm extremely suspicious of Henry Cavill, but this film just worked on most levels I thought. Somehow Cruise comes across as extremely competent, but also kinda human, which is a weird thing to say about Cruise, but it works. Neato. Watch It.

As a stark contrast, I watched the first half of Black Adam (2022) right after that. It starts with a very long and very unnecessary, narrated bit about the background of Black Adam and the crown of wotsit. Then we get a sequence about how a lady archeologist, her brother and his pals go to look for that place where the crown of wotsit is supposed to be. These scenes and characters feel like they're right out of the Michael Bay textbook. Then Black Adam appears and kills all the baddies. It all looks like a video game sequence, and very unimpressive. There's a lot of magic and shouting and effects, and it was deeply boring. In contrast, Tom Cruise slipping off a rope in Mission Impossible Fallout made me actually gasp in front of that tv. There's 20 times bigger things happening in Black Adam, and it's just boring and generic and fake. But hey, they occasionally play random pop songs from 40 years ago along with a few scenes, because that other film that made a bajillion dollaridoos did it. And it's as cheap and boring and backwards as that always is. A new film made for kids and young audiences in general supporting the rather strong theory that in terms of music NOTHING has happened since 2004 is just sad.

Then the film stops and a whole different superhero film starts, which is about the X-Men by another name and they're kinda fun and colourful (a young lady who looks cool when superpowerin' and seems to get a charming relationship going with the boy who looks like deadpool, but actually is Ant-Man, but he can only get big. Sadly, he also seems to fill the role of all the comic relief, but it un-annoying. Then there's the stern, and no-nonsense (and thus boring as all hell) man, BUT he's got the most ridiculous outfit when being a superhero. And a little rotating morning star as a weapon to boot. He's the funniest looking guy. The one to give the group dignity is Pierce Brosnan who plays a wizard with a golden hat. He's cool, but it's impossible to say what exactly he can do and can't.). The group are introduced ham-fistedly, but the only way bad superhero films know how to do it, and then they have to go catch Black Adam because he kills everybody all the time, because he's angry and boring.

This opens up some interesting ideas about those people in that fictional African country being opressed by foreign mercenaries (not sure who's in power there, but probably their employer), some of the people there view Black Adam as a great leader and their saviour from foreign oppression because that's kinda his backstory; he did that 2500 years ago already. But doesn't really care about the peoplenow. I'm not even sure what motivates him at all. On the other hand, there's this kinda shady group of X-Men-by-another-name who are sent by some wealthy supergovernment/secret service/whatever to catch Black Adam and get him to Superhero prison because he's a big risk to peace and kills people all the time without caring. But the people of that country never asked for these x-men to show up. Very interesting question. It's kinda implied, and maybe even spelled out at some point, but not really mentioned again. Instead we get to see The Rock's back and face a lot. Sometimes he just kills people, sometimes he kills people and they put some sort of humour in as well. But Black Adam is such a big chunk of god-like nothing that it's just weird. He's a weird mix of really bland and unevenly presented. Then I had to turn off the TV and go to sleep.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
I’ve a soft spot and genuine admiration for Bollywood as an art form. But it’s not the sort of thing I can really sit down and watch.

I mean, it’s great to see a film industry so Not Hollywood, and still incredibly successful. And I’d like to see more such things in the world, as everyone is better off with greater variety.

But the end product just isn’t for me.

Very good take on the subject.

 lord_blackfang wrote:
For me, Blair Witch was the point where I realized people will blatantly lie to sell something. Maybe I was just a sheltered kid, but for me it's the foundation of modern viral marketing, influencer cancer and fake news, while the product itself was a turd of a nothingburger. But I guess it has some value as a sociological phenomenon.

Good point.


One word on From Hell (because someone has to, I suppose): One of the very few films I fell asleep while watching. Can't remember anything else about it.



@Easy E: Haven't watched it. Is having watched the tv show add or detract from the cinematic experience?
As for Jonah Hill: Not sure, but I do know he did a Netflix romantic comedy which was kinda lame and where the kiss in the end was CGI'd. It also was the first instance of a main character who's pretty insufferable to begin with is made more insufferable by claiming his dream job was being a podcaster, doing a podcast about "the culture". Which is a turn of phrase or a concept that still makes me angry. Actually earlier today I had to think of it and got a bit miffed

 Quixote wrote:
Just skip to Rogue Nation and Fallout. Fallout was my favorite, but there's a lot from Rogue Nation referenced.

I have seen 1, 2, 3 (can't remember a bit of it though) and Fallout. Fallout is really good.

Never seen Lola Rennt, funnily enough. It was everywhere back then. Should catch up on that.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
...
Streets of Fire 1984

Apparently, this choked at the Box Office, but I’m not sure why. A neo-noir rock’n’roll movie. Akin to Burton’s Batman, its aesthetic is oddly timeless. 1950’s cars, 1980’s music. Clothing a mix of the two. A city seemingly perpetually raining and at night.

Starring we have Willem Defoe, Rick Moranis, Diane Lane and Bill Paxton among others.

Got to say? I’m loving this. Elements of 80’s action movies tied up with 50’s gang fights, via just a touch of The Warriors. And with a really nice soundtrack of 50’s and 80’s rock’n’roll.

Perhaps this was just a bit ahead of time. But it’s overall stylings would prove quite the influence on Robocop, Also, an influence on Streets of Rage, at least according to the chap that designed Cody in Streets of Rage.

Willem Defoe is superb, and for once Rick Moranis isn’t playing a wimpy character.

Definitely worth a watch. A solid proof that a film bombing on release does not a bad film make. And Y’know? If you fancied an 80’s rock’n’roll double feature, I think this would pair fairly well with Purple Rain

One of my all-time favourites. Moranis is kind of a wimpy character, but he's competent in his field and wields some power. Not sure if it was ahead of its time, but it found its place as a timeless, extremely entertaining film.




@BobtheInquisitor: Yeah, it's a bit weird. They designed this very cuddly beast character people grow to care about over the course of the film and when he turns into the prince dude again in the end, everybody just wants the beast back. I feel bad for the prince.

Bubblegum Crisis is rather anime, but the good sort, I'd say. I really enjoy it. It's tauted as "the cyberpunk anime", and in this case (and Ghost in the Shell's) I agree there. Bubblegum Crisis (2032, I wouldn't bother with later iterations. MAYBE Bubblegum Crash and AD Police, which were direct spin-offs, but even they aren't as good) is just hella rad looking. I'm all into the look of 80s sci-fi anime, and its got some of the greatest robot designs I know of. It's more "anime" than Ghost in the Shell though due to being a tv show.

Jin-Roh is alright. Always feels a bit style over substance to me.

Perfect Blue isn't cyberpunk, but just a darned solid psychologial thriller.

I watched the first two episodes of Pluto, which is a newer thing (should be on Netflix). It's about a futuristic society with loads of robots. Very Aasimov. Seems good. Also very moody.


Yeah, Gundam. I got into that a while ago. I'm into the "Real Robot" stuff, and especially enjoy when stuff like logistics, replacement parts and unprepared/not-so-well-equipped/etc units are on display, so I worry most of the things which depict any other timelines or post-One-Year-War stuff gets a bit too wacky for me. Watched the first three films, Char's Counter-Attack, a bunch of episodes of 08th MS Team (ok to good), a handful of episodes of Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam (jury's still out on that). All rather anime of course, lots of slapping of people, because it's the 70s. Well, in the beginning. Also watched the first two episodes of that Netflix CGI show, which I did not enjoy.

So. Streaming films. This is direct to video rubbish, carried by one (or two) names to put on the cover, the rest is probably algorithm-generated.

I trust Cena and Elba - both are really good at what they do - to pull off such a thing, but it's still a sorry state of affairs. Both of them deserve better, and so do we. Amazon deserves worse.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
....
MST3k: Manos! The Hands of Fate

It’s Torgin’ time!


Not the funniest or best MST3k, but one of the most memorable.


MST3k: Space Mutiny

The one with Blast Hardcheese.

This one was funnier, and very quotable.


MST3k: Warrior of the Lost World

Megaweapon! Megaweapon! Megaweapon!


The one with Megaweapon!


Could have used more Megaweapon.

Bang on on Manos.

Space Mutiny surely is among the episodes I watched the most. It's just so much fun.

Geez, I haven't watched Warriors of the Lost World in a while. Wasn't that one the one which starred the guy from Paper Chase? (not that I ever saw that film. )

I love Fallen! Washington, Goodman AND Gandolfini? Evil demon singing that song? Great film. Lovely double-feature with Ricochet. Add the one with crazy cyberpsychokiller Russel Crowe to the mix and you got a good-time triple feature. I love a film in which Denzel Washington is a straight-laced, possibly a bit cocky policeman and some crazy entity just wants to mess with him in creative ways. Do watch films until the end before the review.


What I did watch though is The Batman (2022).
Watch out, a film review in miniature!
Negatives: There is no reason for this bloody thing to be 2 hours and 40 minutes long; there very, very rarely is a reason for a film to be that long, unless it involves sail ships, non-cgi battles or the ten commandments.
Positives: Good catwoman! Good everybody really! Batman notwithstanding because anybody who's got a chin can play Batman and will do an OK job. I very much enjoy Batman doing detective work, because my favourite aspect about him is that he's the world's greatest detective. He's really not very good at it, but this is a young batman and the riddler is really smart and very lucky with timing. Thank god we got no origin story.
Remarkables: Funny shoes. I get that the footstep sound announcing Batman is a good idea, the shoes still are funny.

This isn't a smart film, but somewhat pretty in parts and a very good Batman film with a surprisingly positive and optimistic end.

Watch It if you're into that sort of comicbook/fantasy action flick.

Oh yes, I'm sure it's "super woke" to people who are so incredibly afraid of the term that they use it a billion times a day and consider bees woke.

I watched the three Naked Gun films. Well, 1, 2 and about a half of 3. When I was a kid, I had the second part on VHS; took me ages to see the first one. Watched the third when it premiered on tv, but did not like it. I loved 2 though. Now that I watched them again, I kinda wonder why. 2 is a LOT weaker than 1. 1 rocks.

The Equalizer (2014)

Denzel Washington is Batman and Kevin from Home Alone.

This is among the most straight-forward "2010s dad films" I've seen. Washington meets a friendly hooker, she's in trouble, he kills every bad guy. A head bad guy shows up, Washington kills him and all the rest. The Equalizer is one of the most reassuring and most unflinchingly capable character ever. I'd like to see a version of this film where Seagal plays the main part. That probably wouldn't be much different, but evoke a VERY different audience reaction. Nothing against Washington (or in favour of Seagal), but it's really striking. Denzel Washington's face does amazing things in that film. He's a clown, he's a wise mentor, he's a ruthless, horrible killer, he's a priest, he's a torturing bastard.

Honestly, I thought this film was much newer than 2014, and thus I viewed it as even more old-fashioned that it might be. But it really is, despite being older than I thought. But it's perfectly OK. It's reassuring.

Maybe it's the "helping of the young prostitute" aspect of the story, but this character made me think of Taxi Driver. The Equalizer easily could have been Travis Bickle and vice versa, but where the former has an overabundance of discipline, routine and grounding in a routine, the latter had nothing of that kind.

Oh well. Watch It, if you want to see an action film of the 2010s kind. What it's really good at is making you think/wish that people like the Equalizer are out there, taking care of things. Which of course is a dangerous thing, because murderous vigilante justice is problematic.