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As a red-meat-eating fan of action films and honorary graduate of the Schwartznegger Institute of Gratutious Cinematic Carnage, I hearby nominate John Woo's Hard Boiled for best shoot-out action scenes ever filmedOf all the action films I have ever seen Hard Boiled is no.1 in terms of body count, however, that's the least of the story. The three action setpieces (in the tea room, the warehouse and the hospital) set a new standard for action films that I doubt will ever be equaled in my lifetime for kinetic motion and balletic grace. This film is an absolute must-see that will blow the minds of viewers raised on the likes of Lethal Weapon, Terminator 2 and Die Hard-type shoot-em-ups. Some of the violence is extremely graphic and disturbing (especially the scene where Tequilla, the cop, is holding an infant in his arms while shooting one of the terrorists through the throat -- viewer discretion is definitely advised).
Once could argue that Woo's other films, especially Bullet in the Head or The Killer are superior action flicks, but Hard Boiled was created specifically for American audiences and is IMO the most accessible and entertaining of John Woo's work.
The battle scenes in Zulu are unsurpassed, especially the fight in the hospital. That this really happened adds a certain spice (though the movie has many inaccuracies). And besides gunplay the movie shows free use of the bayonet and iklwa.
I like Matrix & can't wait to get it on LD. I saw the DVD at a A/V store & can't wait to see it w/o the digital %@$#^*.But for unmitigated shear testosterone filled battles, I prefer Braveheart even though the ending was inconsistently gentile. It was almost like another director was used.
excellent choice, i need to rent that now that i have a subwoofie. Thanks for the reminder. Uh oh, we agreed on something, one of us has to have a heart attack now! accck! oooohggg!, bleccchhhgurglechokedeletedreally disgustingnoises (knew that would make you feel better)
hey, it was never anything personal. That's why I thought we'd get along in reality. I've never met a leftist who could articulate intelligently.The lame excuses I heard for years from Cuomo & mindless spin regurgitating professors made me ill. Well, not as much as the apologistic media who used to worship Cuomo’s thin arguments. I felt like I was listening to Nader claiming victory, not when Chevy fixed the Corvair, but when the line discontinued. I thought he was after a better product for the American consumer, silly me. That’s when I grew up.
Or, when “Emily’s List” manages to defeat the woman running for office against the male (D) which explicitly violates their published purpose to see women represented in government. Talk about misrepresentation. They won’t see another penny from this guy. I get so tried of misogynistic users trying to dictate to women how they should feel.
Or, when the DNC defeats the Democrat running against Bernie Sanders. That’s when I discovered Independent was a euphemism for his true party.
HI!,
Yup, and the real liberals i know still call me conservative. I am clueless about NY politics, Emily + Bernie, i must have missed whatever that was about.
Btw, as a former Pinto owner ( that rolling Molotov cocktail ); my feelings for Nader are a bit mixed. You definitely have a point, but so did
the rear suspension of my car ( a little metal point that wanted to puncture my gas tank and spray burning gasoline over me while i sit stunned
from the force of a brutal collision ). So, yeah, maybe he ain't a saint. But cars are safer now, and he is one of the resons why.
And.... i agree (mostly) with what seems to be a reference to feminazis. Nasty subject, they will likely disappear with time. Prob the best thing to do is ignore them, and hope they go away.
hi,
the heart attack was fooling around; which i only do with people i think of as friends, or those who might become friends.
don't worry, it was properly conveyed the 1st time. That's why I titled the response "LOL". I understood your joke.As for my previous statements that I thought you knew about ...
“Emily’s List” is a PAC to fund women running for office. When they funded a Democrat male that was running against a conservative female Republican. They made me regret donating & lost my future donations. Apparently they believe women can only have a stereotypical perspective, otherwise they aren't really women & don't deserve to be heard. At this point I should interject that their history reveals that the man wouldn't have received any funding if he were running against another man. I wouldn't mind so much if they stated that they are funding representation of stereotypical "women's issues", but they choose to publish the distortion for fund raising purposes.
Bernie Sander is the only "Independent" U.S. Representative from Vermont that doesn't run under the Independent Party but rather runs under the Socialist Party. Whenever Bernie has a serious Democrat opponent, the DNC heavily funds Bernie against the Democrat. The currently speculation (nobody will admit anything) states that the DNC likes to portray Bernie as a centrist because he's "independent".
hi,
Vermont has a 200+ year history of sending intersting characters to Congress. It started with 'Spittin Jack' who was sent to jail for his behavior on the floor; and was re-elected while in jail. George let him out, setting a number of precedents with that action. Haven't paid much attention to Bernie, my basic feeling that a broader spread of viewpoints
is a good thing. Our political system acts too much like a ricer, turning
a wide variety of views, and approaches, into mush.
Emily's List is news to me; not particularly good news, from the sound of it.
I'm a great believer in order from chaos. I just want to see clearly amidst the chaos. But, there's so much spinning & parsing & newspeak, clarity is the vary last thing on anyone's mind (DNC / GOP ). Another reason why I believe political parties are an unneccessary evil. They're too busy staying in power to do anything productive with the power they attained. The 2 of them treat it like a f'n horse race when people's health & wealth are on the line.One reason why I wanted a Bradley vs. Bush race. Out of the 4 candidates, these were the 2 most straight forward messeges which I grant you aint saying much.
"ABT 2" is the only contender to "Hard Boiled" that I can think of for sheer quantity of gunplay. It starts out slow, but all hell breaks loose in the last third of the film and there is probably more bloodshed, if not more bullets, than "Hard Boiled". At times it looks ridiculous, as if buckets of blood are being thrown at the camera in slow motion.
Audiohead posted a similar challenge a while ago for the non-warfare film with the most gunfire: his pick was "The Gauntlet". I nominated "Hard Boiled" in response and noted that it probably had more ammunition than "Saving Private Ryan". It is hard to imagine making a commercial film with more gunfire than "Boiled". It is also impossible for American filmmakers to duplicate it (without CGI); American actors are protected from hazardous situations involving squibs, explosives, and blanks, that HK actors wouldn't bat an eye at (ahhh, the power of litigation). Just look at all the flying shrapnel and explosion fire that Tony Leung has to avoid in the warehouse scene. John Woo makes a cameo appearance in the film as the drummer/nightclub owner backing up Tequila during the opening.A couple of action film nominees of my own:
Best Swordfighting: "The Blade" ("Dao"), Tsui Hark's period epic of an orphan's revenge has a final duel that you just have to see to believe (again, I think people were injured during the making of this film).
Best Martial Arts (hand to hand): "Fist of Legend" with Jet Li, just released on DVD. Chen Zhen's battle with Fumio Funakoshi is a visual "Master's thesis" on combining many fighting styles. If you liked "Enter The Dragon", you're gonna love this politically-correct remake of "Fist Of Fury".
Always nice to meet a fellow HK film enthusiast!
the rescue shoot out from 'The Matrix', i have been using this to show off
my HT, and it is really something. The recurring use of slo-mo is hypnotic;
especially the lobby explosion, the whoomp,whoomp of the chopper contrasting with the tinkle of casings seguing into the staccato splash/splash/splash of bullets hitting water. Whoever did the sound work on this did a great job. So far, i am 3 for 3 using this as a demo; they have all said something like 'holy s***'.
Don't expect "Hard Boiled" to be a home theater technical demo showstopper; the print is rather faded and the sound is typical of Hong Kong movies, i.e. compressed mono.
> > > the print is rather faded and the sound is typical of Hong Kong movies, i.e. compressed mono < < <You're probably referring to the Criterion LD; it is horribly washed out. The 2-disc Japanese LD looks much better (but has a strong blue cast that is incorrect but suits the movie subjectively).
The Criterion DVD looks fantastic on a calibrated monitor.
The Japanese LD is mono but has excellent low level detail and dynamic range.
nt
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