BiffMan

Rock on. Completely stunning and spot-on Bond theme, would be happy for her to take another crack at it.

Apparently I've not seen this since the theater, as I remember very few details aside from the Terminator Chick, and Arnold is in stupidly, crazy-good shape for the 55-ish year old dude he was at the time. It's still not a particularly memorable movie. Nothing specifically wrong with it, just doesn't have the thought-provoking aspects of the first one or the coolness factor of the second. When you get down to it, I mostly noticed it obviously wasn't made by James Cameron. Certainly plenty of fun action to be had and the early chase sequence with the crane truck is a nice cringe-inducing good time. The long rear shot where the crane goes by taking out telephone poles and cars is damned impressive. Problem is that, even in an Arnold movie, it takes more than a couple of decent action sequences to make a movie. Past that, there's effectively no character building, very little humor, and an unfortunate complete whiff of a story opportunity. Showing how Judgement Day came about was what the trailers promised and what the show is obviously leading up to, but instead we get a pretty standard chase movie with a few extremely cool shots of humanity getting taken out tacked onto the end. I do like that they didn't try to radically alter the future for the 3rd time running or anything, but seems like there was so much more potential than finally was realized. Biggest issue aside from the yawner of a story is the supporting cast. Claire is just fine and the standout of the bunch, but the dude playing John is just ugh and the Terminator Chick is horrible. I get that she's trying to go all Robert Patrick, but all she does is show how damned good he did at the role by comparison. She's not menacing, she's not all that convincing as a machine, and really brings squat to the table. Arnold is predictably great in his 3rd outing as the Terminator. As I mentioned, it's truly staggering how good of shape he's in nearly 20 years after the first movie. He's not quite as massive as his previous outings, but that took some kind of crazy bravado to go around in the buff at age 55 and he completely pulls it off. Aside from looking a little bit older, particularly once half his scalp is melted off, he's perfectly believable as the same Cyberdyne model from before. Much like T2, he didn't feel quite as robotic as the first, but it's not to the point of distraction. He definitely seems to have been having more fun with this and he at least put in honest work on his part and didn't just phone it in. Ahnold Quotient - 8 Back in his iconic role, some fun one-liners, showing off the bod, and blowing a hell of a lot of shit up. Some fun play on his famous lines with "She'll be back" or the Elton John sunglasses at the beginning. Rewatchability - Rarely It's another one that I really don't need to see again anytime soon. It was fun, but I'd have to have watched the hell out of the first two and be tired of them before I'd go to this one. Just doesn't offer up much fun beyond the good chase sequence early on.

Exactly the year I thought of when I saw the thread. To add to those you mentioned: Fast Times, Porky's, Tootsie, Best Little Whorehouse, Ghandi, Firefox, The World According to Garp, Airplane II... It just goes on and on. Crazy year.

Sorry, I meant was it Cohen's guys going after Dragna, vice versa, or going after the squad. I see from Wikipedia it was the hit on the squad and was re-shot as the Chinatown scene.

I enjoyed it as a period piece and it was pretty immersive in that regard and fun to see the Hollywood of that era. Plot and acting wise.... meh.B-

I'd completely forgotten this was that movie. Plot-wise, who was supposed to be shooting who in the theater?

That's like saying you'd take gonorrhea over syphilis. They're both still nasty.

The third in a row of the Arnold movies I skipped at the theater after being bitch-slapped by Batman & Robin. While it's not a bad film, it's not particularly memorable either. The blame for that probably lies as much in the product as the timing. Originally due to be released in October of 2001 and quietly pushed back and reworked when the thought of terrorists trying to bomb buildings in the US forever took on a different flavor. I remember hearing about this at the time and remember some of the early posters showing a building complete with fire and smoke billowing out of it. Not such a fun thing to watch a movie about at the time. All things being equal, it's probably best that this didn't come out beforehand or I'm sure blame would have been heaped on it for giving people ideas, regardless of how long they'd already been planning. I give full props to Warner Brothers for the re-edit, tasteful change in advertising, and pushed back release date. Okay, enough of the unpleasant memories... The first 3/4 of this was actually pretty decent and had me along for the ride. I was fully onboard and digging it and it wasn't until they get back to the US to try to head off the captain from Sunshine blowing shit up that they lost me. No particular plausibility issues, I just didn't much care about the whole twist/reveal bit and the race to stop the baddies felt rushed and just all around meh. Hell, even that wasn't all bad and I was okay when Arnold detonates an explosion in the building to stop someone from detonating an explosion in the building, but then we have to go over into Unnecessary Drama (said in a singsong voice) land. This is a frequent failing of movies and I'm sure everyone has experienced this at one time or another. Things are at their fever pitch, the good guys are about to win, but wait! It's not over! Oh noes! Gollum falls into crack of Mt Doom and the heroes win! But then Frodo needlessly falls in after him! Will Sam save him?!? Just stop it and end the movie. You already gave the payoff, don't screw it up by trying to sustain the excitement longer than merited. Rather than increasing my enjoyment, that just makes me go 'ugh' and completely takes me out of the movie. Arnold did a damn fine job looking numb and grief-stricken at the beginning of the film. If you've ever suffered a devastating personal loss, you've seen that look in the mirror. Spot-on and by far the biggest depth of emotion I've seen out of him in his career. He did equally well at the transition from despair to vengeance. Oddly enough, it's his emoting early on that really works in this film, it's only once it goes to full action/thriller that my apathy kicked in. He does his thing well and they did an admirable job tailoring the way he fights back to his character's firefighting/bomb unit experience. About half way through, I started realizing they might just have him fight off a bunch of rebels without suddenly revealing that the firefighter also did a tour in Nam and learned heavy weaponry use from John Rambo. And they did! Got a little contrived at the end, but for the most part fit the character well and was a nice that they didn't literally go all Commando on it like they easily could have. Ahnold Quotient - 4 It's fun to have him get through the whole movie without using a gun, and it actually works just fine with the story, but that's not Ahnold. Don't think we had a single one-liner. He does however use multiple IEDs to take out a cocaine farm, uses a punctured gas line to take flambe the baddies, and gets to imbed an axe in a guy's heart. So he's got that going for him. Which is nice. Rewatchability - No thanks Didn't feel like I wasted my time and actually quite enjoyed bits of it, particularly Arnold's acting early on. But much like Eraser, there's just not enough going on to keep maintain my interest and I don't see myself unlocking additional layers to the movie through rewatch. Was fun to see another Arnold movie I'd never seen though!

"Try and stay dead this time" Lo and behold, a completely pleasant surprise! I knew very little about this one coming in, but found it to be quite fun, well paced, and reasonably well acted by all. The effects are pretty dated and the color matching is distracting, but otherwise it felt like a typical big budget Arnold movie. I'm probably going to over-state my surprise, but coming off the last few movies, I was really expecting an active irritant or a snoozer at best, and was genuinely entertained. Pretty much the hidden semi-gem I'd been hoping to find in my Arnold marathon and I'm very glad I gave it a try. Like many Arnold movies, this proved a challenge to my ability to suspend disbelief, but for the most part I was able to shut the "Hey, that can't happen!" part of my brain off and just enjoy a fun sci-fi action flick. Honestly, other than the complete BS of "clone blanks", the rest of the sci-fi and story were quite self-consistent and worked well. The near future they present was surprisingly engaging and plausible without going over the top or beating you over the head that it was The Future; it merely serves as the backdrop to the story. The morality of cloning was touched on without getting overly preachy and for me was just enough to give motivation to the characters and provide some fun food for thought. After the last few movies, I was beginning to wonder if Arnold still had it in him or not, but this was a real return to form for him. He showed some nice range, excellent timing and humor, great physical acting, and seemed to be really into his role again. He was again wonderfully open and direct with just the right amount of snarkiness without crossing into cheesiness. Heck, I even thought he pulled off the dual-role scenes pretty well and found his bomb making scene with his clone to be one of the high points. Also one of the more star-studded casts I've seen in any of his movies. He's had the occasional top draw co-star, but this one was riddled with lots of "hey, I know that guy!" people and everyone turned in great performances. Robert Duvall was particularly touching in his scenes with his ailing wife. The quality of supporting cast in this gives time to take a break from the action and I found myself enjoying the character moments every bit as much or more than the action. Ahnold Quotient - 7 Much more understated than the typical Arnold movie, but still full of charisma, one-liners, great action, and lots of shit blowing up. Rewatchability - Sure Did I mention I was pleasantly surprised? The sci-fi worked for me, Arnold was a lot of fun, and the supporting cast was great. I don't think this is one I'd want to watch annually or anything, but I'm interested in watching it again right now. Certainly would be happy to recommend it to an Arnold or action movie fan.

Much better than I anticipated. No plot to speak of, but good brainless fun with solid performances from a great cast. It's not going to win awards or anything, but that was an enjoyable enough way to spend 2 hours.B-

"Between your faith and my Glock 9mm, I'll take my Glock" Still reeling from the after-effects of Batman & Robin, but excited to be seeing another Arnold movie I've never seen before. Not sure why I gave this a miss the first time around in theaters, but I'm sure it had something to do with having seen Batman & Robin, being an obvious Y2K cash-grab, and not looking at all good. It's certainly not at all good, but it's thankfully not in the same league as Batman & Robin or The Villain. I do have a bit of a soft spot for supernatural prophecy stuff when done well, which unfortunately is not the case here. It's at least a passably interesting underpinning to an overtly action-oriented film with a weak attempt at horror, but they missed the mark at sparking my imagination. Hell, even The Omen III, as forgettable as it was, had a very cool prophecy/discovery angle to it that livened up an otherwise dreary and predictable movie. No such luck here. This movie actively demands you stop trying to make sense out of it and to kindly overlook a massive amount of plot holes and non-sensical character actions. I'd catch myself periodically saying "Hey, wait a minute... that's stupid" but was mostly successful and shutting off rational thought and just going along for the ride. The supporting cast is adequate enough, they just seem to mostly be going through the motions. Gabriel normally kicks ass in pretty much anything he's in, and while he does have some occasional moments of spark, he largely sleepwalks his way through it. Likewise with Kevin Pollak, who I generally quite like. He has some good one liners and a reasonably decent rapport with Arnold, he's just not given much to do. Robin Tunney is usally very good, but here has sadly reverted to the "dull surprise" acting of her early career. Sven sighting: Sven shows up again as one of the thugs who breaks into Arnold's apartment when he relives the past. He not only survives another Arnold movie, he helps murder Arnold's wife and young daughter. Must be revenge for all those times Arnold's offed him in previous films. Given how dull the rest of the film was, I was pleasantly surprised to find Arnold turning in a pretty good performance. He's a little wooden (can hardly blame him given the script) but has some honest-to-goodness acting on display. He's pretty dull for the first half of the movie, but shows some of the old Arnold panache from the mid-point onward. Particularly enjoyed his religious debate with Rod Steiger when he brings Robin to the church. Actually got a few smiles and laughs out of that sequence and put me in a better mood for the silly shenanigans of the last half. He also surely set the record for the most times Satan has been shot with projectile weapons in a single film. Ahnold Quotient - 6 Very few one-liners, little muscle-showing, and I'd probably have gone quite a bit lower if not for the crazy amount of "Aaauuuaaaggghhhh!" going on in this one. Quite possibly the most I've seen in any of his films. Otherwise completely forgettable from an Ahnold standpoint. Rewatchability - No thanks Plot holes aside, it's not a particularly cringe-worthy film, but it's also not at all a good one either. I don't feel I wasted my time watching it and was actually entertained here and there throughout. No real point in watching it again and it's not something I would recommend anyone else give a try.

Here it is... the biggie. The movie that retroactively changed my opinion of most of Arnold's work. Certainly one of the biggest first-viewing letdown theatrical experiences I've ever had this side of Crystal Skull. Perhaps like Skull, I'll warm to it upon rewatch. I understand that's not remotely likely for something rated 3.6 on IMDB, but I'm optimistic this can't possibly be as bad as The Villain. Think I'll have to call it a draw. The Villain and Batman &Robin are each reprehensibly bad in their own way. The comparison is notable given that I think Arnold turns in a better acting performance in The Villain. I really can't be bothered to go into the myriad of reasons why this is as bad as it is. Most of that ground has been covered far more eloquently than I could by a great many people over the years, so let's just stay focused on Arnold's part in the crime. I've just watched 22 other movies of his over the past few months and have been surprised at just how well he acted in many of those; certainly much better than I had remembered. If anything, his performance in Batman & Robin is actually much, much worse than I recalled. Wouldn't have thought that possible, but it is what it is. His delivery goes way beyond a simple attempt at camp and is just groan-inducingly grating, self-absorbed, phone-it-in bad. I was looking for that moment where the Arnold spark comes through, but it never happens. I was also trying to look for a method to the madness or see if he was just intentionally playing up the role in a certain way like the last half of Running Man, but nope. It's just crap. It's like a masterclass in how not to act in a motion picture. The real question is why? Perhaps I'll find out what was going on in his life around this time if I ever get around to reading his book, but my guess is that it just sorta happened. I've always assumed that fame and fortune had finally gone completely to his head and he stopped caring. I'm sure a huge steaming pile of the blame rests squarely on the narrow shoulders of Joel Schumacher, but one person can't possible ruin a movie this comprehensively. It takes a real team effort and I have to think that everyone pulled together to realize this film exactly as Joel had imagined it: I collective 'fuck you' to the superhero genre. Even so, Arnold's had several real duds of movies, but he almost always (The Villain aside) brought his charisma, timing, or eagerness to please along. Mostly this seems to cinch my argument that Arnold's performances are as good as his director's ability to wring one out of him. Ahnold Quotient - 10 For better or for worse, this is another definitive Ahnold performance. It's all here: one-liners, expressions, an impressive amount of "Aaauuuaaaggghhh!" going on, and lots of action and shit blowing up. If you've seen this movie, you can't help but think of it when you think of Arnold. Once seen, some things can't be un-seen. Rewatchability - Fuck you I think I would actually have to be paid to watch it again, and a fair amount at that. I only made it 19 minutes in, around the time they make Bane (remarkable how eerily similar TDKR's portrayal of Bane is to Batman & Robin's), when I had to stop for the day. I managed to get the rest of the way through it today, but I was honestly this close to saying "fuck it", giving up on this crusade, and just waiting for The Last Stand to come out.

Roxanne (1987) please

Not as creepy as Carpenter's best work, but a solid film. A good place to learn that most important life lesson of all - Never look up with your mouth open.B

Oddly enough, I actually like this movie better these days then when it originally came out. Caulkin really annoyed the crap out of me when I first saw it, and while he still does, there's quite a lot to like here. The ending is of course great, but I find it's the stuff with the scary old man next door that I really connect with. The shot where he's reunited with his family at the end is a good payoff.Watched it for the first time with my 7 & 8 year old kids this Christmas and both liked it quite a bit. Naturally loving the slapstick at the end, but enjoying the full movie as well. Guess it's officially a classic if it can hop generations and still entertain.B

Hard to pick a favorite Carpenter film since they're so different covering such a wide range of material, but if I had to, it would likely be this one. Gets better and better with each re-watch, endlessly quotable, and one of Kurt's more entertaining roles. Damned funny with so many fun wink & nods to the classic martial arts movies.(points to Chinese writing on wall)"What does that say?""Hell of the Boiling Oil""You're kidding.""Yeah, I am. It says 'keep out'."

Love this film. Not too serious, an excellent sci-fi underpinning, and Roddy doing a full suplex on his buddy in an alley. A-

I was intrigued and looking forward to this one. Kirk Douglas, Ann-Margret and her cleavage, Arnold, and one of Hal Needham's early films! That should be at least good mindless fun. Sure, I've never heard much about it, but how bad can it be? Pretty damn bad as it turns out. When you see a character named Parody Jones in the titles, then shortly afterward see Mel Tillis and Paul Lynne both in the cast, you know exactly what kind of film you're in for. But hey, I like Mel and Paul just fine. Unfortunately by the time the boulder falls off the cliff and actually lands on Kirk, I've had it. The painting a fake tunnel on the cliff wall and having Arnold and Ann-Margaret drive through it RR-style is just grating by that point. I think all of that could have worked in the proper hands, those hands just should have been someone other than Hal's. So Hal debuts with the very solid Smokey and the Bandit, then the fun, if indulgently semi-autobiographical, Hooper... and then he plops this out. I can see where this might have seemed fun on paper: let's do something like Blazing Saddles, but go over the top and make it like a Road Runner cartoon. Fair enough. But you have to actually do something with that premise. Like a story or at least some fun dialogue and characters. What we got was something with less plot that your average RR cartoon and 1/10th the humor. Sure, there were some half-way decent stunts and Kirk Douglas actually seems to be having a lot of fun and is actually pretty good given what he was asked to do, but it's all groan-inducingly bland and forgettable. I hope Kirk did have so at least someone got some enjoyment out of it. The casting of Arnold as Handsome Stranger (that's not an untitled character or anything, that's actually his name) had potential and should have given fun opportunites to play up his size, but he's completely wasted here. I'd say that perhaps he couldn't get his lines down or they had to trim his part down or something, but he did just fine in Stay Hungry. They just didn't write squat for him or make any meaningful use of him. He's got some seriously wooden acting in this, but I really don't know how much to blame him and how much to blame script, story, and directing. This might be the biggest waste of talent between the 3 leads I've ever seen. Kurt's at least having fun and Ann-Margret is scaldingly hot as always, but otherwise... blargh. Special nod to Ann-Margret and her scene-stealing cleavage throughout. Next to Kurt hamming it up, easily the best thing about the film. Her character is pretty thinly written, but she really plays it up and was quite a lot of fun to watch. I've always enjoyed her in everything I've ever seen her in and this is no exception. Ahnold Quotient: -5 He really might as well not have been in the movie. Other than a couple of times where Ann-Margret or Kurt notice he's strong, we get nada. Very little dialogue, intentionally little humor, and absolutely nothing memorable. Good or bad, Arnold's always memorable, so you do have to be impressed how thoroughly they under-utilized him here. Rewatchability - Hell no I've seen worse films, but I think this is now the worst Arnold film I've seen. I'd thought that distinction was going to rest soundly on Raw Deal or Batman & Robin, but neither of them are as consistently poor as this was. It's possible that I wasn't in the right frame of mind and that made the jokes fall even flatter. That happened the first time I saw Spaceballs and The Naked Gun. Nearly walked out of the theater on both and now love them dearly. Somehow I don't think that's going to be the case with this one.

Doh! Man, those two blur together in my mind. Yes, JP3 ending was incredibly rushed.

Yeah, a bit contrived just to give us that moment of the Japanese businessmen running down the street as the T-Rex chases them. I actually enjoyed that moment, but it had no place in what is otherwise a fairly straight film.

I've never seen this one, and about all I knew about it coming in was that Arnold portrays a bodybuilder (!!), won a Golden Globe for best acting debut (in his 2nd film, apparently no one else wants to acknowledge the existence of Hercules in New York either) and that it somehow had Jeff Bridges and Sally Field in it. Granted, this is pre-Tron Jeff (which we all know is where he truly became a legend), and pre-Smokey & the Bandit Sally, but that's still some decent talent to put with an unknown like Arnold. While Pumping Iron was filmed before Stay Hungry, this one was released first due to the delays in getting PI completed, so Arnold's not a household name at this point. I admit I'd judged the movie by the DVD cover and was prepared for another Hercules-type exploitation movie and I couldn't have been more wrong. Not only does this actually have a plot, some quality acting by a surprising ensemble cast (R.G. Armstrong, Scatman Crothers, Robert Englund (!?), Roger E Mosley, and even a young Joanna Cassidy and Ed Bagely Jr), but Arnold is fully clothed for 90% of the movie. Not kidding. He doesn't take his shirt off until... the Mr Universe competition at the end of the movie. As if that weren't enough, the crazy bastards that made this film gave him dialogue! Like probably 20x as many spoken words as Conan (it would be fun to do that count sometime), and I'll be damned, he actually handles himself very well. I don't know if I'd agree it was a GG-winning performance, as I'd have given that to the kid from The Omen, but I completely understand his being nominated. Sure, there's the occasional stumbling through lines, but there's also that wonderful genuine nature that Arnold shows so well over the next 2 decades, and some quality emotion. There's a great scene near the end where he's paraded as the fiddle-playing Mr Universe contestent in front of Jeff's snooty country club friends (you have to watch for that to make sense) and when they start heckling him, he gives a completely awesome expression and a great delivery of a polite "F* you, wer'e done here" comment to the crowd. Vulnerability, angst, humor... Acting! I would be remiss if I didn't comment on the completely wacky ending: As the Mr Universe contest is reaching it's conclusion and they're just about to announce the winner, Arnold naturally has to tear out of there barefoot and run over to his nearby gym to stop the owner from drugging and raping Sally Field before trying to kill Jeff with any piece of gym equipment he can get his hands on. The usual sort of stuff. What moves the ending into "WTF?" land is the rest of the Mr Universe contestents tearing out after him and then proceeding to run aimlessly through the streets. Complete with posing for the crowd, initially at their request, including 4 guys flexing as they go by on the top of a bus. Typical Hollywood ending. I'd love to have sat in on that planning session. Ahnold Quotient - 4 Pretty much no nod & wink or one-liners to be had, but that's not surprising with this early of a film. We do get to see him in his '75-76 form flexing and posing, but it's legitimately for a contest and that contest even serves the story. Rewatchability - Perhaps If you'd asked me part-way through, I'd have said no thanks because the film is very heavily rooted in the 70s and pretty dated, but as the movie progresses it did actually grab me and started entertaining. Jeff is very solid, and showing some impressive physical stuntwork during the gym fight sequence. Hell, I'd watch it again just to see his crazy parkour move in the stairwell when the gym owner tosses a barbell down at him. I don't think I need to do it again anytime soon, but I'll return to this one at least once more.

That's one of the biggest points of debate between my wife and I. She's lived and loved Les Mis ever since the original broadway production, but I've largely been oblivious to it before seeing a travelling "Broadway" version of it in the summer and then the movie. Javert's a bit of a dick, and I get the whole sworn to uphold the law thing, but all in all I really like his character. His suicide really came out of left field for me in the stage show. It's a little better here due to Crowe's excellent acting letting me see the transition a bit better. Still feels rushed for a character that's otherwise so methodical and calculating. Ultimately what I enjoyed most about the movie was that, on the whole, the motivations of the characters make a lot more sense to me when you get the subtlety of expressions in a movie compared to the stage. I connected with the material way better than I did with the stage version. But Javert's suicide is still a stretch. Take a breath, go arrest someone, and calm down a bit before you climb up on anything high.

Pity they won't. Those scenes hang on expressions, timing, and movement and that's all Andy. Would it be any different if he was wearing a costume instead?

Agreed, and I think simply using a mix of the two would work out fine for most things. Go 48fps for the fast action and heavy panning shots, keep it at 24fps to maintain that sense of "theater" and grandeur for static and character-heavy shots. 3D computer animation is where 48fps would really shine, although that'll suck for the studios when they need twice as much computing time to render the movie. Would look pretty stunning though.