The other day I was pretty bored and so I decided to stick the Blu-ray of James Cameron's seminal classic - Terminator 2: Judgment Day. 21 years after its release, the film still stands as one of the finest action films ever made. Considered by some to surpass its predecessor in quality, it's a film that still holds up today and looks bloody lovely in high definition. I finished watching and I felt just as I did when I first watched it at the age of nine. Stunned by the rich story and characterisation, I was left stunned once again by the perfect ending in which (spoiler alert), Arnie's T-101 sacrifices himself in order to thwart judgment day and help John Connor live a normal life. It was as good an ending as you can hope for.
Fast forward to 2003 and, for some strange reason, we've got another Terminator on our hands. Not directed by James Cameron and only featuring two of the cast of the previous installments, it was a film pretty much doomed from the start. Nevertheless, as a completionist when it comes to DVD and Blu-ray, I bought the high def version and had a watch a day after watching Judgment Day. Having not watched the film for a few years, I popped the disc in, primed to hate the film anew. However, after an hour or so, I was once again hooked into a pretty decent Terminator installment that featured a gripping plot, decent effects and was pretty ballsy. The credits rolled and I was convinced I'd watched a film that wasn't half bad, but something still didn't sit right. Afterwards, I had a look online to see what other reviewers had said about it and I was surprised to see that the general consensus was that it wasn't half bad. Not as god as the first two, but certainly not bad. Still though, something didn't sit right with me. I thought about it and thought about it until it finally clicked. There's no fucking need for the film.
As I said earlier, T2 finished with the Connors stopping Judgment Day with the help of the T-101 - who could have stuck around to look after John but instead chose to dunk himself into the molten steel in order to make sure he was safe. Then 12 years later, a film comes along and, simply by its nature of existing, it pisses all over the ending of T2 - which is a bit of a middle finger to James Cameron's work. It made me feel the same way I did when I watched Alien 3. Having watched Aliens and rooted for Ripley, Hicks and Newt to evade the queen alien and survive, the flick finished and we all felt relieved that our heroes lived. Then Alien 3 rears it's ugly head and kills two of the gang off screen! Again, it's not a bad film, but it just smacks a little of disrespect.
Anyway, back onto T3. Rise of the Machines would have been forgivable if it were better than T2 but it's not. The T-X is hot alright, but is she as menacing as the T-1000? Hell, no. Schwarzenegger putting on Elton John's sunglasses? Well, that's just cheesy and taking the piss. When it's a part of a film series that doesn't play for cheap laughs, it's a little jarring to say the least. Sarah Connor is dead, John is played by Nick Stahl instead of Edward Furlong and the whole thing plays out a little less grandiose than T1 or T2. As such, it just feels like a throwaway installment rather than a big, brash concluding part of a trilogy - and that's a bit of a shame. As I said, there's plenty good about it - the cast are all great (especially Clare Danes), the ending in which the nuclear apocalypse goes off is a great, gutsy move considering the efforts that had been put into stopping it, and it's a nice twist that Skynet is revealed to be software and not hardware. It would have been a totally worthy installment had T2 not been so great. The thing is it also led to Terminator Salvation - again, by no means an awful film but a movie that stretches out a franchise that was completed back in 1991. In order to try and cover up T3 and T4, TV series, The Sarah Connor Chronicles ran for two seasons and basically did the same thing in continuing the story after T2 when it was unnecessary. This time by spending most of the series cooped up in a house. A little dull, but featuring some neat series developments, TSCC was an okay series that tried to right a wrong that wasn't too heinous but ended up compacting the issue by lumping more lesser quality Terminator onto the pile and obscuring Cameron's originals even further.
Still, the one saving grace is that at least none of these later chapters have been utter shit. I just wish that sometimes decent franchises should be left the hell alone.
Sunday, 29 April 2012
Monday, 31 October 2011
Rant: How not to conduct yourself during a horror film
Ah, it's that wonderful time of year when everybody lazily dresses up as a zombie, carves pumpkins and eats way too many sweets and chocolate. As it's a load of old arse, I generally tend to spend Halloween watching a horror movie in the flickershow. This year, seeing as the selfish scallywags behind the Saw franchise have shut up shop, a friend and I went to see the latest Paranormal Activity installment.
Now, I'm not reviewing the flick and I'm not even going to say much about the content. My reason for that being that I simply don't know if I liked it. That's not to say it's one of those films where it's teetering on that fine line between awesomeness and utter farce, it's that the overall viewing exerience was ruined by people who simply don't now how to conduct themselves during a horror flick. Now these aren't your mindless noisy chavs
(whereby you have a chance of getting them to can it if you have the balls to tell them they're pissing you off), they're a different kettle of fish altogether.
The people responsible for my moviegoing frustration are the lads that take a girl to see a horror because all the other films suggest that you're more likely to get some ass if she's shitting herself and you can protect her from the nasty, meanie movie. Now, it'd be bloody lovely if that was the case, but it ain't. For one thing, the ladies are nowhere near as squeamish and easily scared by films as they were back in the nineties. That's no doubt thanks to the influx of slashers and splatter films that have bombarded box offices over the past two decades. The truth is that today there's just as much a chance of a guy shrieking like a girl should a jumpy bit come up - and that's where the problem lies.
You see, it would appear that showing fear (or even being succeptable to being caught off guard by a jump-moment) is a dating faux-pas so severe that will mean you'll never get to see her with her bra off. Of course, to slag anybody off for trying to appear brave is just unfair - we've all done it. What really grinds my gears though is how they go about conducting their futile effort to prove their lack of fear.
Laughing is the first thing that you'll notice. A moment will come up that, if the guy was watching it alone in a darkened room, it would reduce him to a gibbering mess. Naturally then, laughing is a two bird-one stone sort of solution as it not only covers up your wuss-like fear, it shows just how easily you can handle such intensely scary material - meaning that she thinks you're the shit. Of course it'd be slightly convincing if the moment in question warranted even half the laughter it gets. As such, the guy annoys the rest of the theatre as he blunders along his marathon-like quest to get his dick wet.
The other thing that happens isn't rare in films like Paranormal Activity where there's a lot of silence that's punctuated here and there with some pretty hefty jumps. Like everyone else in the cinema, the guy shoots out of his seat (what with it being a completely natural reaction and all) and inadvertently reveals himself to be a pussy human in front of the girl he wants to take horizontal jogging. He knows she saw his female-repellant reaction and so he decides to counter it by, you've guessed it, talking to her about it. Heaven forbid that the girl not think he's a badass.
It's these guys that can also spoil a film for people who aren't sure who they feel about it yet and would quite like to mull it over once the credits start rolling. That's wrecked too though as the guy just cannot leave the cinema without highlighting at volume just how stupid the film is and how it was not scary at all. As such, others assume he's got it right and leave the cinema convinced they've had a bad time - all because he's having a pissing contest with his own sense of fear.
I remember years ago when The Exorcist was re-released in Britain. A number of people I know went to see it (I was 16 at the time so I didn't) and, when I quizzed them on how scary it was, I was informed that it was funny by today's standards. Well years went by and I avoided it as the trailer gave me a week's worth of sleepless nights. Eventually, one Halloween when I was 21 and in university, it was on TV. I decided that I'd have to face that fear if I was to be a film reviewer and so I settled down to watch a film that was almost certainly likely to leave me a mess of a man, quaking in fear as my girlfriend was asleep in the next room. Well, the film went on and within half an hour I was bricking it and kicking myself as to how I'd left it so long before I'd indulged in the masterpiece. One thing that was certain though, none of that film was funny. It was terrifying. Brilliantly, beautifully haunting stuff. That's when I realised how these "laughers" get on my last nerve.
If you're reading this and feel a little guilty, then don't. It's pretty understandable to want to seem tough and have nerves of steel. Just remember though that you could be ruining the film for others and, if you're being that loud, you're probably over-egging the compensation pie anyway. So just do us all a favour and shut it.
Now, I'm not reviewing the flick and I'm not even going to say much about the content. My reason for that being that I simply don't know if I liked it. That's not to say it's one of those films where it's teetering on that fine line between awesomeness and utter farce, it's that the overall viewing exerience was ruined by people who simply don't now how to conduct themselves during a horror flick. Now these aren't your mindless noisy chavs
(whereby you have a chance of getting them to can it if you have the balls to tell them they're pissing you off), they're a different kettle of fish altogether.
The people responsible for my moviegoing frustration are the lads that take a girl to see a horror because all the other films suggest that you're more likely to get some ass if she's shitting herself and you can protect her from the nasty, meanie movie. Now, it'd be bloody lovely if that was the case, but it ain't. For one thing, the ladies are nowhere near as squeamish and easily scared by films as they were back in the nineties. That's no doubt thanks to the influx of slashers and splatter films that have bombarded box offices over the past two decades. The truth is that today there's just as much a chance of a guy shrieking like a girl should a jumpy bit come up - and that's where the problem lies.
You see, it would appear that showing fear (or even being succeptable to being caught off guard by a jump-moment) is a dating faux-pas so severe that will mean you'll never get to see her with her bra off. Of course, to slag anybody off for trying to appear brave is just unfair - we've all done it. What really grinds my gears though is how they go about conducting their futile effort to prove their lack of fear.
Laughing is the first thing that you'll notice. A moment will come up that, if the guy was watching it alone in a darkened room, it would reduce him to a gibbering mess. Naturally then, laughing is a two bird-one stone sort of solution as it not only covers up your wuss-like fear, it shows just how easily you can handle such intensely scary material - meaning that she thinks you're the shit. Of course it'd be slightly convincing if the moment in question warranted even half the laughter it gets. As such, the guy annoys the rest of the theatre as he blunders along his marathon-like quest to get his dick wet.
The other thing that happens isn't rare in films like Paranormal Activity where there's a lot of silence that's punctuated here and there with some pretty hefty jumps. Like everyone else in the cinema, the guy shoots out of his seat (what with it being a completely natural reaction and all) and inadvertently reveals himself to be a pussy human in front of the girl he wants to take horizontal jogging. He knows she saw his female-repellant reaction and so he decides to counter it by, you've guessed it, talking to her about it. Heaven forbid that the girl not think he's a badass.
It's these guys that can also spoil a film for people who aren't sure who they feel about it yet and would quite like to mull it over once the credits start rolling. That's wrecked too though as the guy just cannot leave the cinema without highlighting at volume just how stupid the film is and how it was not scary at all. As such, others assume he's got it right and leave the cinema convinced they've had a bad time - all because he's having a pissing contest with his own sense of fear.
I remember years ago when The Exorcist was re-released in Britain. A number of people I know went to see it (I was 16 at the time so I didn't) and, when I quizzed them on how scary it was, I was informed that it was funny by today's standards. Well years went by and I avoided it as the trailer gave me a week's worth of sleepless nights. Eventually, one Halloween when I was 21 and in university, it was on TV. I decided that I'd have to face that fear if I was to be a film reviewer and so I settled down to watch a film that was almost certainly likely to leave me a mess of a man, quaking in fear as my girlfriend was asleep in the next room. Well, the film went on and within half an hour I was bricking it and kicking myself as to how I'd left it so long before I'd indulged in the masterpiece. One thing that was certain though, none of that film was funny. It was terrifying. Brilliantly, beautifully haunting stuff. That's when I realised how these "laughers" get on my last nerve.
If you're reading this and feel a little guilty, then don't. It's pretty understandable to want to seem tough and have nerves of steel. Just remember though that you could be ruining the film for others and, if you're being that loud, you're probably over-egging the compensation pie anyway. So just do us all a favour and shut it.
Tuesday, 25 October 2011
Rant: Downloads and the decline of optical media
A few years ago I used to work as a film journalist for DVD Monthly magazine. As well as watching films and cackling like a madman at the idea that I was actually getting paid for it, I was also the mag's hardware editor. As such, my finger was (and still is) well and truly on the pulse when it comes to the latest and greatest innovations to hit lounges around the world to make our viewing experiences a little sweeter.
Over the past decade, the downloading of movies (both illegally and legally) has gone through the roof. Now, for me, that's a pain in the arse for a number of reasons. Firstly, if more people bought DVDs instead of nailing the torrent sites then maybe DVD Monthly wouldn't have shut down and I'd still be in the best job I ever had. So it's worth remembering that every time you download, I blame you a little bit more for the demise of the magazine and my sweet, sweet full-time film journo career.
Secondly, and more obviously, illegally downloading is very flippin' naughty! Yes, everybody does it but if it became the norm then studios wouldn't make any dollar to make new movies. As cinema prices are already sky high, it's worth not exacerbating the situation. Still, it's a vicious cycle as the more expensive cinemas get, the more people will download. I could go on but I'm starting to bore myself which can't be good news for any readers.
Thirdly, and this applies more to legal downloads, if I'm paying £15 for a film then I want something tangible for my cash. I have downloaded films over the years but I don't hold any of them in the same high regard as even a DVD I've paid less for. Maybe I'm on my own with that one, I don't know.
Anyway, the reason I'm grumbling I guess is that I can see how things are going to be in ten years or so. downloading WILL overtake DVD and Blu-ray sales just as iTunes and Spotify have kicked the shit out of CD sales. Similarly eReaders will see books taking a major hit. The really annoying thing though is that I can see why downloading will take off and why I'll eventually be on board with it to a greater extent. Digital files take up sod all space compared with a DVD or a Blu-ray. You can also get them without leaving the comfort of your sofa/table/bed/toilet and they'll arrive a damn sight quicker than the postie can bring a disc to you. To top it all off, as legal downloading increases, it should see illegal downloading start to decline. Still, it's not the same as having a funky Blu-ray with nifty packaging and special features etc. You can't get the Bumblebee figure edition of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen on download for instance. While it's just aesthetics and superficial, it's important. Artwork and all that jazz is a big part of film culture and shouldn't be overlooked. Who ever looked at somebody's hard drive and was impressed at a film collection? Nobody - and that's because a file isn't held in the same regard as a disc. I love it when mates come round my place for the first time and their jaw hits the floor when they see my wall of movies. Smug and snobbish, I know, but I've been collecting for years and I'm kinda proud of it. Imagine the bit in Hot Fuzz where Nick Frost shows Simon Pegg his movie collection - the scene wouldn't have had the same wow factor has Frost just whipped out a hard drive would it?
Still, at the end of the day, I know I'm being hopelessly sentimental about technology that's not even that old. One positive about all this downloading malarkey is that we get dirt cheap DVDs and Blu-rays just weeks after release, so it's not all that bad. I don't implore people not to download as that's fucking stupid and it'd be a hypocritical statement in a few years I could be showing off about my 32 TB hard drive loaded with a fuckton of flicks. But what I will say is you should download legally if you can. If not, I'll blame you for the magazine's closure - and that means you're off my Christmas card list.
Over the past decade, the downloading of movies (both illegally and legally) has gone through the roof. Now, for me, that's a pain in the arse for a number of reasons. Firstly, if more people bought DVDs instead of nailing the torrent sites then maybe DVD Monthly wouldn't have shut down and I'd still be in the best job I ever had. So it's worth remembering that every time you download, I blame you a little bit more for the demise of the magazine and my sweet, sweet full-time film journo career.
Secondly, and more obviously, illegally downloading is very flippin' naughty! Yes, everybody does it but if it became the norm then studios wouldn't make any dollar to make new movies. As cinema prices are already sky high, it's worth not exacerbating the situation. Still, it's a vicious cycle as the more expensive cinemas get, the more people will download. I could go on but I'm starting to bore myself which can't be good news for any readers.
Thirdly, and this applies more to legal downloads, if I'm paying £15 for a film then I want something tangible for my cash. I have downloaded films over the years but I don't hold any of them in the same high regard as even a DVD I've paid less for. Maybe I'm on my own with that one, I don't know.
Anyway, the reason I'm grumbling I guess is that I can see how things are going to be in ten years or so. downloading WILL overtake DVD and Blu-ray sales just as iTunes and Spotify have kicked the shit out of CD sales. Similarly eReaders will see books taking a major hit. The really annoying thing though is that I can see why downloading will take off and why I'll eventually be on board with it to a greater extent. Digital files take up sod all space compared with a DVD or a Blu-ray. You can also get them without leaving the comfort of your sofa/table/bed/toilet and they'll arrive a damn sight quicker than the postie can bring a disc to you. To top it all off, as legal downloading increases, it should see illegal downloading start to decline. Still, it's not the same as having a funky Blu-ray with nifty packaging and special features etc. You can't get the Bumblebee figure edition of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen on download for instance. While it's just aesthetics and superficial, it's important. Artwork and all that jazz is a big part of film culture and shouldn't be overlooked. Who ever looked at somebody's hard drive and was impressed at a film collection? Nobody - and that's because a file isn't held in the same regard as a disc. I love it when mates come round my place for the first time and their jaw hits the floor when they see my wall of movies. Smug and snobbish, I know, but I've been collecting for years and I'm kinda proud of it. Imagine the bit in Hot Fuzz where Nick Frost shows Simon Pegg his movie collection - the scene wouldn't have had the same wow factor has Frost just whipped out a hard drive would it?
Still, at the end of the day, I know I'm being hopelessly sentimental about technology that's not even that old. One positive about all this downloading malarkey is that we get dirt cheap DVDs and Blu-rays just weeks after release, so it's not all that bad. I don't implore people not to download as that's fucking stupid and it'd be a hypocritical statement in a few years I could be showing off about my 32 TB hard drive loaded with a fuckton of flicks. But what I will say is you should download legally if you can. If not, I'll blame you for the magazine's closure - and that means you're off my Christmas card list.
Rant: 3D is shite.
Pirates of the Carribean...in 3D! Thor...in 3D! A Tetley-bastard-tea advert...in 3D!
Despite a hefty amount of the technology having been around for donkey's years, the last few years have played host to a bloody annoying fad - 3D cinema. And yes - it IS a fad and no, I couldn't care less that the likes of Cameron and Spielberg think otherwise.
Let me get one thing straight, I'm not saying that the technology doesn't work and I'm not even saying it's not impressive - what I'm saying is that it's detremental to whole movie viewing process. Yes, it adds depth and everything but if you're paying attention to a technical aspect, how can you be absorbed into the film itself?
There are so many times I've gone to see a 3D film and halfway through I've realised that I've not even noticed the lovely stereoscopicness as I've been engrossed in the movie. Then I find I'm unhooking myself from the film as I start looking at the 3D rather than watching the flick itself and getting all caught up in the story. Other times, the 3D will be so impressive that you're unable to get engrossed in the first place and spend the duration of the film looking at the pretty pictures rather than following any plot - see Resident Evil: Afterlife for an example. It's a ten minute film stretched to feature length thanks to an abundance of supremely tasty 3D slo-mo sequences. I'm not the first person to point that out, but it's true.
The whole situation wouldn't be such a blood-boiler for me if they didn't demand another £5 on top of standard cinema prices (£4 if you're a scab and keep your 3D specs). Naturally it's even worse when they don't have a 2D version available for a fraction of the cost.
I honestly think that within a few years, we'll see people getting fed up with it. It's not like HD where it's a boost in quality and frame transition (leading to a smoother viewing experience) - it's a gimmick. A stylistically cool one at that, but a gimmick nonetheless and one that has viewers passively experiencing the story of the film rather than getting actively engrossed. In fact, there's been a case here or there where I've watched a film in 3D at the cinema and thought it sucked donkey balls, only to watch it in 2D on Blu-ray and liked it a hell of a lot more.
Still, it looks like it's going to be here for a while so I guess I'm going to have to seethe and bear it. I'll try and appeal to common sense in people though: Always opt for 2D if you can - it's cheaper and you can actually experience the film properly.
Right, I'm off to watch The Lion King in 3D and pay the same price I would to actually own it on DVD.
Despite a hefty amount of the technology having been around for donkey's years, the last few years have played host to a bloody annoying fad - 3D cinema. And yes - it IS a fad and no, I couldn't care less that the likes of Cameron and Spielberg think otherwise.
Let me get one thing straight, I'm not saying that the technology doesn't work and I'm not even saying it's not impressive - what I'm saying is that it's detremental to whole movie viewing process. Yes, it adds depth and everything but if you're paying attention to a technical aspect, how can you be absorbed into the film itself?
There are so many times I've gone to see a 3D film and halfway through I've realised that I've not even noticed the lovely stereoscopicness as I've been engrossed in the movie. Then I find I'm unhooking myself from the film as I start looking at the 3D rather than watching the flick itself and getting all caught up in the story. Other times, the 3D will be so impressive that you're unable to get engrossed in the first place and spend the duration of the film looking at the pretty pictures rather than following any plot - see Resident Evil: Afterlife for an example. It's a ten minute film stretched to feature length thanks to an abundance of supremely tasty 3D slo-mo sequences. I'm not the first person to point that out, but it's true.
The whole situation wouldn't be such a blood-boiler for me if they didn't demand another £5 on top of standard cinema prices (£4 if you're a scab and keep your 3D specs). Naturally it's even worse when they don't have a 2D version available for a fraction of the cost.
I honestly think that within a few years, we'll see people getting fed up with it. It's not like HD where it's a boost in quality and frame transition (leading to a smoother viewing experience) - it's a gimmick. A stylistically cool one at that, but a gimmick nonetheless and one that has viewers passively experiencing the story of the film rather than getting actively engrossed. In fact, there's been a case here or there where I've watched a film in 3D at the cinema and thought it sucked donkey balls, only to watch it in 2D on Blu-ray and liked it a hell of a lot more.
Still, it looks like it's going to be here for a while so I guess I'm going to have to seethe and bear it. I'll try and appeal to common sense in people though: Always opt for 2D if you can - it's cheaper and you can actually experience the film properly.
Right, I'm off to watch The Lion King in 3D and pay the same price I would to actually own it on DVD.
Monday, 24 October 2011
Movie moments to get you fired up
Sometimes a moment pops up in a film that's more than just a feel-good moment, it's a scene that gets you jacked up enough to go out and headbutt a bull. Have a look at this handful and tell me I'm wrong.
"Let's finish the game!" - Young Guns II - Blaze of Glory (1990)
So Billy the Kid and the rest of the Regulators are fucked. Lincoln County sheriff Pat Garrett has discovered his old chums holed in an old house. Billy (Emilio Estevez) and Doc (Kiefer Sutherland) have a little spat and the latter storms out when "BOOM!" Doc gets a big fat bullet to the chest. As Billy and the rest of the gang try fruitlessly to pick off the law that's got the house surrounded, our anti-heroes soon discover that they've got no options left when Doc gets up and through blood-soaked lips utters the words, "Let's finish the game."
Grabbing a pair of guns, he bursts out of the house and takes a load of gunfire as all bar Billy manage to escape as Doc drops to the ground a heroic martyr.
Rocky and Dixon go toe to toe - Rocky Balboa (2007)
After an hour and a half of watching an aging Sly doing his best to recover his former glory, the whole Rocky saga boiled down to a scrap that was better than pretty much all of the other bouts in the series. Filmed in the style of a real ESPN match, Rocky dug deep until the final round. As the seconds die down, Rocky and reigning champ Mason "The Line" Dixon go hell for leather trying to knock a new shade of shit out of each other. The result is a battle that's more tense and electrifying that anything to happen in real-life boxing - even when Tyson bit Holyfield's lug off.
"Fuck you!" - Wanted (2008)
Wesley is a bit of a pussy to say the least. First of all he lets his bitch of a boss intimidate him despite only being armed with a stapler and he's also standing idly by as his supposed best mate, not so subtly, slams his girlfriend. Things change however when he discovers he's imbued with shit-kicking assassin skills and has a cool few million dollars to his name. Naturally he responds accordingly by making his boss look like a twat before belting Barry in the face with his keyboard so hard that the letter keys and Barry's dislodged molar fly off spelling "FUCK YOU". Lovely.
Cyclops finally stomps ass - X-Men 2 (2003)
A bit of a personal one this as I was a massive X-Men fan as a kid and Cyclops was my favourite mutant. While I liked X-Men, my major gripe with it was that Cyclops was nothing short of being a bloody wuss. Letting Wolverine sniff around his slamming hot telekinetic other half, Jean Grey, Cyclops just stood there like a floppy cock whereas his comic book counterpart would have thrown down with Weapon X.
Still, in X2, we finally got to see what Cyke could do when he and Xavier visit Magneto's cell and only to find out it's an ambush. Reeling on his assailants, Scott Summers proceeds to beat the snot out of the goons with some bad-ass martial artistry before finally being put on his arse. Shame that's all Cyclops fans got out of the series really.
"Good luck!" - Taken (2008)
Really speaking, when it comes to Taken and moments to get you fired up, you could stick the entire film into this list. However, if you have to pick one stand out moment, it's got to be the moment Liam Neeson's Bryan Mills tricks his daughter's kidnapper into saying "good luck" and giving the game away - leading to Mills coolly and calmly fucking the entire room up without breaking a sweat. Nice.
"Get me Vaughn" - Major League (1989)
After giving blood sweat and tears, hopeless baseball outfit Cleveland Indians have battled their way to the final of the World Series where they take on the New York Yankees. After slugging it out for eight innings, pitcher Harris is knackered. When Cleveland's nemesis Haywood takes the plate, Indian's coach Lou Brown walks to the mound and tells Harris to take a well deserved rest as he calls in a replacement - pointing to the gate utters three words, "Get me Vaughn."
Cue an opening chord ringing out across the stadium as Rick Vaughn emerges to a frenzied crowd welcoming him to the diamond chanting Chip Taylor's Wild Thing. Hands down the coolest thing Charlie Sheen has ever done - including Denise Richards and the whole "bi-winning" thing.
"Let's finish the game!" - Young Guns II - Blaze of Glory (1990)
So Billy the Kid and the rest of the Regulators are fucked. Lincoln County sheriff Pat Garrett has discovered his old chums holed in an old house. Billy (Emilio Estevez) and Doc (Kiefer Sutherland) have a little spat and the latter storms out when "BOOM!" Doc gets a big fat bullet to the chest. As Billy and the rest of the gang try fruitlessly to pick off the law that's got the house surrounded, our anti-heroes soon discover that they've got no options left when Doc gets up and through blood-soaked lips utters the words, "Let's finish the game."
Grabbing a pair of guns, he bursts out of the house and takes a load of gunfire as all bar Billy manage to escape as Doc drops to the ground a heroic martyr.
Rocky and Dixon go toe to toe - Rocky Balboa (2007)
After an hour and a half of watching an aging Sly doing his best to recover his former glory, the whole Rocky saga boiled down to a scrap that was better than pretty much all of the other bouts in the series. Filmed in the style of a real ESPN match, Rocky dug deep until the final round. As the seconds die down, Rocky and reigning champ Mason "The Line" Dixon go hell for leather trying to knock a new shade of shit out of each other. The result is a battle that's more tense and electrifying that anything to happen in real-life boxing - even when Tyson bit Holyfield's lug off.
"Fuck you!" - Wanted (2008)
Wesley is a bit of a pussy to say the least. First of all he lets his bitch of a boss intimidate him despite only being armed with a stapler and he's also standing idly by as his supposed best mate, not so subtly, slams his girlfriend. Things change however when he discovers he's imbued with shit-kicking assassin skills and has a cool few million dollars to his name. Naturally he responds accordingly by making his boss look like a twat before belting Barry in the face with his keyboard so hard that the letter keys and Barry's dislodged molar fly off spelling "FUCK YOU". Lovely.
Cyclops finally stomps ass - X-Men 2 (2003)
A bit of a personal one this as I was a massive X-Men fan as a kid and Cyclops was my favourite mutant. While I liked X-Men, my major gripe with it was that Cyclops was nothing short of being a bloody wuss. Letting Wolverine sniff around his slamming hot telekinetic other half, Jean Grey, Cyclops just stood there like a floppy cock whereas his comic book counterpart would have thrown down with Weapon X.
Still, in X2, we finally got to see what Cyke could do when he and Xavier visit Magneto's cell and only to find out it's an ambush. Reeling on his assailants, Scott Summers proceeds to beat the snot out of the goons with some bad-ass martial artistry before finally being put on his arse. Shame that's all Cyclops fans got out of the series really.
"Good luck!" - Taken (2008)
Really speaking, when it comes to Taken and moments to get you fired up, you could stick the entire film into this list. However, if you have to pick one stand out moment, it's got to be the moment Liam Neeson's Bryan Mills tricks his daughter's kidnapper into saying "good luck" and giving the game away - leading to Mills coolly and calmly fucking the entire room up without breaking a sweat. Nice.
"Get me Vaughn" - Major League (1989)
After giving blood sweat and tears, hopeless baseball outfit Cleveland Indians have battled their way to the final of the World Series where they take on the New York Yankees. After slugging it out for eight innings, pitcher Harris is knackered. When Cleveland's nemesis Haywood takes the plate, Indian's coach Lou Brown walks to the mound and tells Harris to take a well deserved rest as he calls in a replacement - pointing to the gate utters three words, "Get me Vaughn."
Cue an opening chord ringing out across the stadium as Rick Vaughn emerges to a frenzied crowd welcoming him to the diamond chanting Chip Taylor's Wild Thing. Hands down the coolest thing Charlie Sheen has ever done - including Denise Richards and the whole "bi-winning" thing.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)