Friday, June 6, 2008

By Special Request

So, way back when a friend of mine asked me to list a bunch of action movies I absolutely thought he must watch. My recommendations for action movies tend to be a little odd. They are generally obscure, could never be classified as "good" movies, and are either somewhat exploitative or just plain wierd. I'm intentionally not focusing on the "best" or "most popular" movies for this list. Lets face it, if you watch movies regularly or are a guy, you should have already seen Die Hard, Bourne, Indy, and every movie starring Jackie Chan.

so...

Cynthia's list of semi-obscure action movies I'm not even slightly embarrassed to say I've seen.

5) Fifth Element- yes i know this is a "terrible" movie. But it has entertained me on numerous occaisons and it's nice to see where Milla Jovovitch started. I watch it almost every time it comes on tv. Plus, chris tucker is hilarious.

4) Grindhouse- I love Tarantino. and whilst Death Proof may not have been his best movie, it is certainly entertaining and better than a lot of other action movies. Planet Terror is a superb throwback to all the weird low budget movies of the past (right now the only one I can think of is killer klowns from mars, but you know what I mean).

3)Shoot 'Em Up- Clive Owen KILLS A MAN WITH A CARROT. 'nuff said.

2) Crank- I have a mad crush on jason statham. He first surfaced in Guy Ritchie's Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and then again in Snatch. His movie the Bank Job was probably one of the best bank robbery movies to come out in a long time. He also played a small part in the remake of the Italian Job and was the lead in the Transporter movies. I could probably make this whole list about movies that Statham was in. But Crank is where I first fell in love with him. It's easily the most outlandish of his movies. I love it.

1) Leon: The Professional- this movie is probably the least odd of the movies on the list. Still, I'm always surprised by the number of people who haven't seen it. It is a classic starring Jean Reno as an assassin who is trying to protect a small girl from... somebody, Gary Oldman (<3!) as a cop chasing them, and Natalie Portman as the 12 year old girl. Turns out Portman was amazing even before she hit puberty.


This could be way longer, but I'm technically supposed to be doing work right now...

So yeah, that's my list... for my second "By Special Request" I'm gonna make a list of webcomics, as requested by Erin.

6 comments:

SeanCollier said...

I myself have an odd affinity for Crank. Weird thing, though: they're working on Crank 2. Still with Jason Statham. So apparently he survived.

Anonymous said...

Fifth element is the only one of those I've seen, which makes me fearful to watch the rest of the list. Still, High Fidelity and Hot Fuzz were amazing, so I guess you've earned my trust. I'll check 'em out. Thanks babe.
~Dan

Terry_Casey said...

I WHOLEHEARTEDLY DISAGREE AND AM ASHAMED TO READ THIS.

Jackie Chan was in The Tuxedo, which, yes, I own, but that does not qualify it as a movie anyone should have to see. Though I guess you could argue that Jennifer Love Hewitt cancels him out.

Terry_Casey said...

Besides that though, nice. Looks like I've got a summer list.

cynthia said...

when i said all jackie chan movies i was referring to the good ones. I try to pretend the tuxedo never happened.

Anonymous said...

P.S. If you haven't already seen it, check out the series Firefly, and the movie Serenity. Also, if you ever get the chance, watch the rest of Cowboy Bebop. It really is worthwhile.