- Mar 14, 2012
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PURE TESTOSTERONE
I really don’t know what else to call this next batch of movies. These are the antithesis of ‘chick flicks’. I used to just call ‘em action movies, but that doesn’t quite fit the bill for some of these. Instead it’s just men being manly, talking tough, and blowing **** up.
The Road Warrior – 1981
I was 9 years old when this came out, and yet it popped up on my radar as being ‘that car movie with the punk rockers’. When it finally came to HBO, I had the date circled on the calendar, 8pm start time. And our cable went out. Utter devastation. It came on again a week later, and the picture was scrambled for the first 10 minutes of it. So my dad turned it off. I honestly don’t know if he even knew what the movie was! Finally I got to see it with no issues, and it amazes me now as much as it amazed me then.
I’m putting this here because while universally beloved, I don’t see it ranked that often. It doesn’t get the special edition treatment on video, yet it spawned an entire genre of copycats all through the 80’s. Amazingly enough, I don’t think any of its clones has ever come close to surpassing it either. It is a film stripped down to the bare essentials, with 100% real stunt work and a raw brutality. To me, it is a movie that simply hasn’t aged one bit.
By the way, in case anyone missed it, you absolutely have to watch the trailer for Mad Max: Fury Road. I'm not even gonna make you click to find it, I'm embedding this one!
Desperado – 1995
I don’t care what you may or may not think about Robert Rodriguez as a director. You simply cannot discount what he pulled off with this film. It was intentionally designed so that you could show off individual action sequences to your buddies at home without needing to watch the entire movie. No shaky cam, no breakneck editing, just perfectly framed shots for the most desired impact. It is proof positive (much like The Raid) that you do not need a large budget to put up crazy action sequences.
I’m not even going to go into the plot of this, other than to say it takes place in a dusty little Mexican town run by a gentlemanly gang leader. Antonio Banderas comes to town, all hell breaks loose, many bullets are exchanged, explosions. I do think the film holds me the distinction of having the single best introduction to a new actress ever.
Going into the film, I had no idea who Salma Hayek was. Her first scene happened, and it was as if a new star had materialized right in front of me. The scene practically begs, “did we get your attention”? After that, she practically steals every scene.
I won’t argue that this isn’t a silly movie. I mean guitar cases are used as rocket launchers and Gatling guns, and pistols have the impact of cannon fire. Instead it joins the ranks of movies like Commando, where you love them for how over the top they are, as well as how solid the action sequences are put together.
Heat – 1995
I love this movie so much, and yet a rarely watch it. It is emotionally draining for me. I view it much like I view Shawshank Redemption; excellent movies that are too long to just casually sit through, but incredibly rewarding when you do.
I could have just as easily put this into the category of Heist Movies, but ultimately it is about a code among men. It doesn’t even bother to pick sides between good and bad guys. You long for there to be a way for both sides to win, which obviously can’t happen. And that sucks.
The movie is about a master thief and the detective trying to catch him. They are two sides of the same coin, and one does not exist without the other. Michael Mann toys with the audience, holding back on giving the audience what it wants, which is a scene between Pacino and DeNiro. When that does happen, he never shows them in the same shot together. Brilliant audience manipulation.
Of course the most famous scene is the streets of Los Angeles gun shoot out. It is riveting for its sound design and cold detachment. It hit me like a ton of bricks, and I remember when it finally finished, you could feel the theater collectively breath again. That scene alone should be a master class in how to shoot gun battles.
True Romance – 1993
Probably my favorite Tarantino film, even though he only wrote it and didn’t direct. This is for me the very definition of a guy’s version of a chick flick. It ultimately is a romantic movie, once you get past all the graphic violence, pimps, whores, drugs, and gangsters.
The hero of the movie, Clarence, is a comic book / film geek, which speaks directly to the very audience watching. He falls instantly in love with a girl, decides to defend her honor in a fashion that is as gutsy as it is stupid, and then spends the rest of the movie unwittingly leaving a trail of chaos.
The movie alternates between being quite funny to brutal, often within the same scene. The epitome of this is the scene between Hopper and Walken. It starts off with very witty dialogue, and slowly turns into a situation where there is no hope of reprieve. These moments of violence are almost always conscience decisions by those on the receiving end. They can either go out like a man, or go out like a wuss. No one over chooses the latter option.
I’m not going to go so far as to say I shed a tear by the end of this flick, but if I had it would be justified. Like I said, it is the guy equivalent of a chick flick. I think Tarantino’s own career has obviously overshadowed this, yet I wonder if it’d be held in higher esteem had this been one he directed himself, maybe some time after Pulp Fiction.
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang – 2005
Also known as Robert Downey Jr.’s come back. If you don’t know who Shane Black is, he wrote many of the best action movies of the late 80’s, early 90’s. This is his directorial debut, and it plays like a love letter to fans of his earlier work. This is a tour de force of amazing dialogue, spoken like only RDJ can, oozing sarcasm.
This is also one of those movies that break the 4th wall. It knows you are watching a movie and is not afraid to sit down and watch along with you. By the end, you only wish you could be as cool as RDJ and Val Kilmer. Because it is quirky and small budgeted though, I think it will always just be a cult film, which is a shame as it deserves so much more notoriety. I just know the movie is an adrenaline shot right into my happy place.
The Departed – 2006
Don’t look now; I just put an Oscar winning Best Picture on my list. Say what? How is this a movie needing attention? Because it was an unlikely winner, and will always be overshadowed by Scorsese’s other movies.
The original film this was adapted from was a Hong Kong movie called Infernal Affairs. Yep, I’d seen it, and it was fantastic. For the life of me I couldn’t figure out how an American version would be able to remotely be as effective. Try this on for size…while watching, knowing full well what was going to happen, I was still gob smacked when those things happened anyways. I got so absorbed in The Departed, I practically forgot I had already seen the foreign original.
Along with Heat, this is a manly man kind of movie through and through. Bad guy pretends to be good to infiltrate the police; good guy pretends to be bad to infiltrate the mob. By the end, lines are so blurred as to who is really good and who is really bad, it’s heartbreaking. You don’t come out of this kind of movie pumping your fist and feeling good about yourself. And I wouldn’t want it any other way.
Only 2 more posts to go! Next time, movies you're better off not knowing a thing about before watching.
Have you missed a previous post? Here they are!
Pt.1 - Comedies
Pt.2 - Heists and Cons
Pt.3 - Foreign
Pt.4 - Sci Fi
I really don’t know what else to call this next batch of movies. These are the antithesis of ‘chick flicks’. I used to just call ‘em action movies, but that doesn’t quite fit the bill for some of these. Instead it’s just men being manly, talking tough, and blowing **** up.
The Road Warrior – 1981
I was 9 years old when this came out, and yet it popped up on my radar as being ‘that car movie with the punk rockers’. When it finally came to HBO, I had the date circled on the calendar, 8pm start time. And our cable went out. Utter devastation. It came on again a week later, and the picture was scrambled for the first 10 minutes of it. So my dad turned it off. I honestly don’t know if he even knew what the movie was! Finally I got to see it with no issues, and it amazes me now as much as it amazed me then.
I’m putting this here because while universally beloved, I don’t see it ranked that often. It doesn’t get the special edition treatment on video, yet it spawned an entire genre of copycats all through the 80’s. Amazingly enough, I don’t think any of its clones has ever come close to surpassing it either. It is a film stripped down to the bare essentials, with 100% real stunt work and a raw brutality. To me, it is a movie that simply hasn’t aged one bit.
By the way, in case anyone missed it, you absolutely have to watch the trailer for Mad Max: Fury Road. I'm not even gonna make you click to find it, I'm embedding this one!
Desperado – 1995
I don’t care what you may or may not think about Robert Rodriguez as a director. You simply cannot discount what he pulled off with this film. It was intentionally designed so that you could show off individual action sequences to your buddies at home without needing to watch the entire movie. No shaky cam, no breakneck editing, just perfectly framed shots for the most desired impact. It is proof positive (much like The Raid) that you do not need a large budget to put up crazy action sequences.
I’m not even going to go into the plot of this, other than to say it takes place in a dusty little Mexican town run by a gentlemanly gang leader. Antonio Banderas comes to town, all hell breaks loose, many bullets are exchanged, explosions. I do think the film holds me the distinction of having the single best introduction to a new actress ever.
Going into the film, I had no idea who Salma Hayek was. Her first scene happened, and it was as if a new star had materialized right in front of me. The scene practically begs, “did we get your attention”? After that, she practically steals every scene.
I won’t argue that this isn’t a silly movie. I mean guitar cases are used as rocket launchers and Gatling guns, and pistols have the impact of cannon fire. Instead it joins the ranks of movies like Commando, where you love them for how over the top they are, as well as how solid the action sequences are put together.
Heat – 1995
I love this movie so much, and yet a rarely watch it. It is emotionally draining for me. I view it much like I view Shawshank Redemption; excellent movies that are too long to just casually sit through, but incredibly rewarding when you do.
I could have just as easily put this into the category of Heist Movies, but ultimately it is about a code among men. It doesn’t even bother to pick sides between good and bad guys. You long for there to be a way for both sides to win, which obviously can’t happen. And that sucks.
The movie is about a master thief and the detective trying to catch him. They are two sides of the same coin, and one does not exist without the other. Michael Mann toys with the audience, holding back on giving the audience what it wants, which is a scene between Pacino and DeNiro. When that does happen, he never shows them in the same shot together. Brilliant audience manipulation.
Of course the most famous scene is the streets of Los Angeles gun shoot out. It is riveting for its sound design and cold detachment. It hit me like a ton of bricks, and I remember when it finally finished, you could feel the theater collectively breath again. That scene alone should be a master class in how to shoot gun battles.
True Romance – 1993
Probably my favorite Tarantino film, even though he only wrote it and didn’t direct. This is for me the very definition of a guy’s version of a chick flick. It ultimately is a romantic movie, once you get past all the graphic violence, pimps, whores, drugs, and gangsters.
The hero of the movie, Clarence, is a comic book / film geek, which speaks directly to the very audience watching. He falls instantly in love with a girl, decides to defend her honor in a fashion that is as gutsy as it is stupid, and then spends the rest of the movie unwittingly leaving a trail of chaos.
The movie alternates between being quite funny to brutal, often within the same scene. The epitome of this is the scene between Hopper and Walken. It starts off with very witty dialogue, and slowly turns into a situation where there is no hope of reprieve. These moments of violence are almost always conscience decisions by those on the receiving end. They can either go out like a man, or go out like a wuss. No one over chooses the latter option.
I’m not going to go so far as to say I shed a tear by the end of this flick, but if I had it would be justified. Like I said, it is the guy equivalent of a chick flick. I think Tarantino’s own career has obviously overshadowed this, yet I wonder if it’d be held in higher esteem had this been one he directed himself, maybe some time after Pulp Fiction.
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang – 2005
Also known as Robert Downey Jr.’s come back. If you don’t know who Shane Black is, he wrote many of the best action movies of the late 80’s, early 90’s. This is his directorial debut, and it plays like a love letter to fans of his earlier work. This is a tour de force of amazing dialogue, spoken like only RDJ can, oozing sarcasm.
This is also one of those movies that break the 4th wall. It knows you are watching a movie and is not afraid to sit down and watch along with you. By the end, you only wish you could be as cool as RDJ and Val Kilmer. Because it is quirky and small budgeted though, I think it will always just be a cult film, which is a shame as it deserves so much more notoriety. I just know the movie is an adrenaline shot right into my happy place.
The Departed – 2006
Don’t look now; I just put an Oscar winning Best Picture on my list. Say what? How is this a movie needing attention? Because it was an unlikely winner, and will always be overshadowed by Scorsese’s other movies.
The original film this was adapted from was a Hong Kong movie called Infernal Affairs. Yep, I’d seen it, and it was fantastic. For the life of me I couldn’t figure out how an American version would be able to remotely be as effective. Try this on for size…while watching, knowing full well what was going to happen, I was still gob smacked when those things happened anyways. I got so absorbed in The Departed, I practically forgot I had already seen the foreign original.
Along with Heat, this is a manly man kind of movie through and through. Bad guy pretends to be good to infiltrate the police; good guy pretends to be bad to infiltrate the mob. By the end, lines are so blurred as to who is really good and who is really bad, it’s heartbreaking. You don’t come out of this kind of movie pumping your fist and feeling good about yourself. And I wouldn’t want it any other way.
Only 2 more posts to go! Next time, movies you're better off not knowing a thing about before watching.
Have you missed a previous post? Here they are!
Pt.1 - Comedies
Pt.2 - Heists and Cons
Pt.3 - Foreign
Pt.4 - Sci Fi
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