Quote from: Prez on Mar 26, 2019, 10:24:50 PMI'm with you on this one. I actually enjoyed the whole psychological aspect of Ang Lee's film and I'm also a bit biased given Bana is a fellow Aussie who I always enjoy watching on screen. I mean it's got Jennifer Connelly in it!!
The 3rd act kind falls down a bit but overall I prefer it too - I found the Norton one rather average.
I much prefer the casting for all the major characters. Eric Bana > Edward Norton. Jenifer Connelly > Liv Tyler. Sam Elliot >>> William Hurt.
As you say, Ang Lee's movie had it's faults but the MCU film just feels bland in comparison. It also bugged me that the villain in the Norton movie was basically just an evil Hulk, coming right after Iron Man fought an evil Iron Man in the first of those films.
Anyway, a bunch of movies I've watched over the last week or so:
Terminator SalvationAll the talk of this in the Terminator thread reminded me I'd not seen it for ages. I didn't like it as much as I remembered, but it's still easily the best of the post-Cameron movies, if only because it tries to do something different. Some pretty impressive cinematography in some of the action sequences.
The Death of StalinReally enjoyed this. The whole cast were a hoot but Steve Buscemi and Jason Isaacs in particular were a riot. As with all the best surreal comedies, much of it was worryingly believable.
Tears of the SunI really rate Antoine Fuqua. He may not be a visionary but I've thoroughly enjoyed every film I've ever seen by him, and this is no exception. Bits of it are quite harrowing - the scene where the SEALs come across a village being ethnically cleansed in particular is hard to watch - but its one of the best modern wear movies I can name. In hindsight, Bruce Willis seems like he's simply phoning in another of the lacklustre performances he's been making a habit of lately, but for once it actually fits his character. The final twenty minutes is pretty awesome, and it's accompanied by some of Hans Zimmer's finest work.
Brooklyn's FinestCoincidentally another film by Fuqua. I'd seen this once but it was a long time ago, so I was keen to watch it again. Didn't realise before how many faces from
The Wire crop up in this. The three/four leads are all solid. It's not on the level of
Training Day (even though it's clearly trying to be) but its an engaging cop drama. Ironic that
Spoiler
the two main characters who are actually planning and striving for a better life ahead wind up dead, while the one we meet putting his revolver in his own mouth is the only one to survive.
My mind tells me this film is complete shite, but my heart tells me it's a riot. Every now and then you get one of these military-funded, blatant propaganda/recruitment pieces, but whereas these days they're all grim and deathly serious, this was the 80s*, so it's all completely ridiculous, played substantially for macabre laughs and has a rock soundtrack. Michael Biehn stars in easily the second best Navy SEAL role he's ever played, alongside a young Charlie Sheen (who manages to be likeable despite his character being a total prick) and Bill Paxton as a sniper called God. They go trotting around the globe using all the best military hardware the US Navy can supply in pursuit of some terrorists (who of course are all Arabic and who we learn literally nothing about beyond their leader's name) who have got their naughty mitts on some surface-to-air missiles. In their downtime, the SEALs play golf while rocking out to Bon Jovi covering Thin Lizzy with the amps turned to 80s.
Oh yeah, and to add to the fun, the picture quality on the DVD is atrocious, so it was more like watching a VHS, which added that extra slice of nostalgia.
*OK, so technically it was released in 1990, but it's still 80s as f*ck.
