comment #1

Edward says ...

This is making me even more interested in seeing Scott's take on Pelham 123

comment #2

LexG says ...

FUCK yeah. Where most other 60-something directors have disappeared up their own ass filming movies about rich white Westside yuppies and their failing marriages, Tony and Ridley and Michael Mann are out there scouring gritty neighborhoods and cranking up hip-hop and consistently rewriting the language of film. Always evolving and always staying plugged in to contemporary sensibilities, yout culture, and the clash of American junk culture and Euro-sheened art sensibilities.

In fact, I'd argue Tony, by keeping it looser and pulpier, has entered a more interesting run of late than Mann, who's kinda repeating himself just a little and in his hermetic Zen criminal world (which is awesome), or even Ridley, who can be a little more straightforward at times beyond throwing up a hazy, dusty brown tint.

Tony Scott: Pure pulp awesomeness and entertainment in every frame. Even Manohla Dargis has written quite eloquently on it, about how "serious" film critics deride the guy but many would secretly admit he makes more entertaining movies than just about anyone in the game.

And "Man on Fire" and "Domino" was the greatest blitzkreig one-two punch of the decade... forget Soderbergh's BrockoTraffic year. Who wants to watch that shit again? I realize this is a minority opinion and I won't convince anyone of it, so unlike actionman, who likes to bounce these kind of arguments back and forth, I realize it's futile to convince any one of this.

But at the very least the guy has major chops, keeps relevant well into his older years, and gets the best actors going. Must be doing something right.

VIVA LA TONY. THE BETTER SCOTT.

comment #3

maxfm says ...

I always enjoyed the original -- particularly the look on Matthau's face in the very last frame.

It's good to hear this might bring Scott around to his Man on Fire vibe.

Cool.

comment #4

televisiontears says ...

LexG, I'll agree that Tony has kind of been ghettoized and perhaps unfairly brushed aside by elitists, but "consistently rewriting the language of film"? Come on.

comment #5

Joe Gillis says ...

I disagree with Wells more often than not, but he's absolutely dead-on right about this one. This is just a good movie, plain and simple. Initially, I thought I liked it 'cause I expected so little from it--I love the original with a passion and thought nothing could top it--and it's only recently I realized (happily, at that) that this flick works BETTER than the original. Not only that, but it's the most restrained Tony Scott's been in a long time. The previews make it appear more "Domino-y" than it really is.

comment #6

LexG says ...

Television, yeah, maybe that sounds like some pretentious bullshit (I bristled re-reading it), but Scott was right there in that 1983 British ad man era that changed the look of movies for years to come and STILL informs how modern spectacle movies look... His Bruckheimer flicks set the template for many of the Bay, West, Fuqua, Peter Berg visual schemes... More recently, the kind of cutting, film stocks, grain, tinting and flash-cuts from Man on Fire and Domino we see all over the place. To some degree he was taking some elements of Mereilles in City of God and tweaking them, but there's no doubt he mainstreamed a lot of these moves.

Hell, I'd say a LOT of "Slumdog Millionaire" apes its style from Tony. Those shots near the end of Salim in the pile of cash and the shootout are 99.999% lit, cut, and angled like Tony shots.

But when a journeyman like Boyle does it, he gets an Oscar... When Tony does it (first), he's a crass hack?

comment #7

Circumvrent says ...

I haven't given this movie a thought, but now I'm interested.

comment #8

Chicago48 says ...

Does it end the same way? I just saw the original again last year, very popcornish, but if you know the ending....why see the remake?

comment #9

drbob says ...

I find it hard to believe that John Travolta could be a bigger bad ass than Robert Shaw, but damn if I won't give him a try.

comment #10

MilkMan says ...

John Travolta is about as scary as an Apricot tart with creme fraiche ice cream. With the exception of Welcome Back Kotter and Blow Out, he is as unambitious and lazy a movie star as I have ever seen. Being a good actor is about the last thing he is concerned with. I would see a movie with him in it if it was about Chesley Sullsberger. I bet that's a role he would give a shit about. But a Fu Manchu, a black leather jacket and a watch cap does not connote "badass" to me. I don't know if they show him driving a car in the movie, but if they do, I'm sure it's a GTO or something. Because that's what tough guys drive, right? And what's up with famous guys from New Jersey adopting a Kentucky farmhand accent once they hit middle age? Springsteen, Jovi, Sandler, Travolta...they all sound like they just got done baling hay and playing catch with their old man.

comment #11

Travis Crabtree says ...

I'm pleasantly surprised. (assuming it is that good)

Love the original, but I never really thought it a sacrilege to remake it. It's a fantastic movie and a fun relic of dirty, early 70's New Yawk, but it's not like it was ever (or meant to be thought of) as a "classic". I mean, it's not like remaking "The Godfather" or something like that.

I assumed the new one would be bad because a lot of new movies kind of suck, particularly remakes. (bigger! louder! flashier!)

Perhaps it'll be a "Transformers" for people over the age of 15.

comment #12

MilkMan says ...

Oh, and by the way: the Muzak version of "All By Myself" is much better than the original. Makes me cry every single time.

comment #13

Travis Crabtree says ...

Fuck you, MilkMan.

(and you're mostly right, goddam it.)

comment #14

Uzi says ...

Did Tony Scott blow you or something? Your year-after-year adoration of this hack's nonsense, at the expense of a genuinely original and gritty New York thriller-comedy, is just an embarrassment, Wells.

comment #15

LexG says ...

MilkMan, HUGE Travolta fan here for my entire life basically so didn't appreciate the first half of that, but the GTO rant is DEAD-ON... Maybe a Challenger or Hemi Cuda as well. And the farmhand thing is pretty funny.

But, really? No Saturday Night Fever, Carrie, Pulp Fiction, Face/Off, etc etc? I even thought he was extremely entertaining in Basic.

comment #16

btwnproductions says ...

What I like about the original is that there's very little in the way of "rationales or backstories"--the kind of thing remakes always add to bring a modern-day "complexity" to the retelling. It seems to be happening moment-to-moment, as chaotically (and as amusingly) as if you were there.

And it is a movie of its time. I have to admit I bristle at movies that seem to hunger for a return of the street crime-ridden 70s New York, like THE BRAVE ONE. As a New Yorker I prefer watching them in time capsule form.

comment #17

MilkMan says ...

Fuck, LEX, I forgot about Carrie. He was really good in Carrie. As for Pulp Fiction, I will argue that Samuel L. Jackson owns that movie. Not a Fever fan. I have tried to watch it repeatedly since I saw it as a kid and I cannot make it through the first half-hour. I mean, he's doing a pensive, dyspeptic Barbarino. Grease doesn't age very well either. And I can't say I'm a huge fan of Denzel's. He seems bored to me since Training Day. So why am I in this thread, popping off about a movie I don't want to see starring actors I don't like? Because I'm on my lunch break and I ate my DiGornio Meatball Flat-Melt way too quickly.

comment #18

COCO says ...

Good.....now the summer begins!!!
An adult...fast paced....kick ass....one for us.
Great Scott!!
The brothers Scott may end up ruling the decade.

comment #19

Chase Kahn says ...

Milkman's right, Denzel has been in a paycheck daze ever since "Training Day" which was the first time that he ever really broke out of character.

I'm sure he's basically Frank Lucas on a budget who rides the subway to work and likes the Yankees.

comment #20

George Prager says ...

I loved MAN ON FIRE, turned off DOMINO after Knightley said "lapdance." Fucking pathetic.

comment #21

btwnproductions says ...

Washington/Scott are turning into the millenial Dietrich/von Sternberg. They're beginning work on their fifth film, the appropriately titled UNSTOPPABLE.

comment #22

BoshBarnetWonkyDonkey says ...

TOP GUN is a fucking classic. Tony receives a lifetime pass for that alone.

comment #23

raygo says ...

Technically, I think it's a handlebar, not a Fu Manchu ... which would be a nice segue to David Carradine ... if only.

Russell is to Ridley what Denzel is to Tony ...

comment #24

Ghost072 says ...

I'm still trying to figure out how Tony Scott is somehow now a better and more influential filmmaker than his brother and Michael Mann, but Danny Boyle is a "journeyman." How can a guy who has already directed in more genres than most directors do in a lifetime (and well, I might add) be a "journeyman?" Also, I'd put Shallow Grave, 28 Days Later, Trainspotting, Millions and Slumdog Millionaire up against any five of Tony Scott. And that's leaving out Sunshine, which I thought was criminally underrated.

comment #25

MilkMan says ...

If Denzel is the new Marlene, does that mean he has to fuck Mick Jagger?

comment #26

Scott Mendelson says ...

While I certainly enjoy Broken Arrow and Travolta's nutcase villain, I still think his best villainous turn is Face/Off, which remains my favorite pure action movie of the 1990s (has anyone in that cast, be it Travolta Cage, or Joan Allen, ever been better in genre work?).

Glad to hear it's a winner, but your comments on the original have be rethinking my decision to show my wife the 1974 version first. Alas, the 1998 NBC TV remake is not on DVD. Pretty interesting case that one has: Vincent D'Onofrio, Edward James Olmos, Donnie Wahlberg, Richard Schiff, and Lorraine Bracco.

comment #27

MilkMan says ...

Trainspotting kills everything that Tony Scott has ever done, most of what Ridley has done save Alien and Blade Runner, and is on par (not in the stylistic sense of course, because Boyle and Mann are world's apart when it comes to that) with the best of Mann, i.e., Thief, Manhunter, Heat and Miami Vice. I never get tired of Trainspotting. It moves like a bullet train, is funny and sexy, has indelible characters (ROBERT CARLYLE being the absolute standout) and has a killer soundtrack.

comment #28

MilkMan says ...

I am gay.

comment #29

dangovich says ...

Man on Fire was good once you get past the casting of Dakota Fanning as a Mexican.

comment #30

poseidon72 says ...

I would be shocked if you were right! I doubt it. Did Travolta's character electracute himself on the 3rd rail like Shaw did in the 74 version.I doubt they would have the guts to go there. Did somebody snezze at the end? I doubt they went with that also. Im glad you liked it though.

comment #31

MilkMan says ...

Random question: how come no one ever uses any Fleetwood Mac in movies? Is it because they play them every five minutes on the radio? Because I can't think of a better way to evoke that lazy, hazy, golden light aura of the 70s than to play some Fleetwood Mac.

comment #32

MilkMan says ...

Now I sound like Larry King.

comment #33

rr3333 says ...

Time for Milkman to take a break from hijacking this thread & go make a delivery to a lonely housewife.

;-)

Loved the original. Cant see how I'll like Denzel better than Matthau, but we'll see ...

comment #34

MilkMan says ...

Sorry. I didn't mean to. I'll go away for a while. Later.

comment #35

Ghost072 says ...

Couldn't agree more about Trainspotting, Milkman, and about Fleetwood Mac. I played Grand Theft Auto IV a while back (which plays like a bit like a Tony Scott or 2nd tier Mann film) and whenever "Seventeen" came on the in-game radio, the drama of the game shot up tenfold. "Gold Dust Woman" is a very cinematic song, too.

comment #36

Rod32303 says ...

Fuck the motherfucking haters.

Lazy since "Training Day"???? You motherfuckers obviously didn't see the admirable to brilliant PERFORMANCES (not necessarily that the films were great) in the remake of Manchurian, or Inside Man or even The Great Debaters, all solid work. And his Frank Lucas is still a bad bitch. I hope it makes a mint.

Fuckin' haters.

comment #37

televisiontears says ...

Relax, Rod32303. Relax.

comment #38

George Prager says ...

I know what MIlkMan is saying. "Albatross" was used in MAN ON WIRE, but that was the 60s Peter Green Fleetwood Mac. Not the same thing I guess.

comment #39

rr3333 says ...

While we're at it, where's the love for 'Bread' or 'Air Supply' in today's blockbusters ?

comment #40

Scott Mendelson says ...

As far as post Training Day Denzel Washington, he's had more hits than misses. I was rather moved by Antoine Fisher. I was lucky to have not seen the previews, so I was genuinely affected by the climax of that little gem. It may not be Washington's flashiest performance, but it's a remarkably fine little movie. He's also quite good in The Manchurian Candidate remake, although Liev Schreiber steals the show in that one. And Inside Man is a blast, while Out of Time is a fun piece of old school film noir (at some point, I'll need to see The Great Debaters). Ironically, the only major disappointment for me in that period was American Gangster.

comment #41

lipranzer says ...

Tony Scott "re-writing the language of film?" The same man who embodied the worst of 80's excess with TOP GUN (sorry, I think it can only be enjoyed for the homoerotic subtext as illustrated in SLEEP WITH ME) and BEVERLY HILLS COP II, and who has made films as sleazy and sexist as REVENGE, THE LAST BOY SCOUT, and THE FAN, not to mention as heavy-handed as CRIMSON TIDE (one of the most overrated films of the 1990's, in my opinion), and reaching his nadir with MAN ON FIRE (you know, where all the bad guys are swarthy, and the victim is a blond, blue-eyed girl just in case WE DIDN'T GET IT)? I'm sorry, but I can't get behind that view. The only Tony Scott films I can recommend to anyone are TRUE ROMANCE, ENEMY OF THE STATE (both had good scripts and good performances), and his film for BMW'S THE HIRE series, and to a lesser extent, SPY GAME (where Redford was enjoyable). Any comparison to Michael Mann, let alone Danny Boyle, is ludicrous.

comment #42

MilkMan says ...

Smiley Face made nice use of REO Speedwagon. And Bread's "London Bridge" could really add some nice texture to the right scene. But I don't know how you use Air Supply unironically. You would really have to have a super light touch to make it work.

comment #43

DeeZee says ...

"unquestionably better film"

But how does it compare to Quentin's remake, I mean, homage?

LexG: I'm kind of leery of him moving the Warriors remake to L.A., though, since you can't actually run away from gangs here on a train. Also, Domino sucks, and is a horrible remake of Barb Wire.

"To some degree he was taking some elements of Mereilles in City of God and tweaking them"

I think you mean Boyz N the Hood, since City of God is the same movie, but in Brazil.

"No Saturday Night Fever, Carrie, Pulp Fiction, Face/Off, etc etc? I even thought he was extremely entertaining in Basic."

Saturday Night Fever's a bit confused about where it wants to go with the story. Travolta's decent in it, but the director doesn't really want to do much with his character, other than having him emote every once in a while. But, hey, that gimmick worked for Leo...Carrie's not really his movie; he also ends up being more of a background character to Thurma and Jackson in Pulp Fiction; I'll give you Face/Off, but Cage ends up chewing most of the scenery.

Milkman: I remember getting ridiculed for saying RHPS was better than Grease, but Travolta's falsetto voice is aggravating; and the rest of the cast-members come off as rejected extras for Happy Days. So I still stand by my argument.

Ghost: Boyle's the British equivalent of Luc Besson-a feel-good European hack.

Rod: Manchurian Candidate '04 is a pale imitation of the original and Denzel was wasted on it.

comment #44

actionman says ...

domino is a masterpiece

denzel was terrific in the manchurian remake

can't wait for pelham

comment #45

actionman says ...

oh, and tony and denzel beamed up captain kirk for unstoppable

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118004528.html?categoryid=13&cs=1

comment #46

Myles says ...

Domino is a masterpiece?

Um, no.

It's unwatchable.

comment #47

VictorLazlo says ...

Oh hell no DZ, you have to answer for this:

"I think you mean Boyz N the Hood, since City of God is the same movie, but in Brazil."

How are they the same? THey feature brown skinned teens with guns?

comment #48

VictorLazlo says ...

I hope Tony Scott is over his "City of God" phase.

CITY OF GOD was a story about a community full of life, danger, sex, verve and rhythm and the editing and cinematography reflected that. MAN ON FIRE was a plodding, joyless revenge flick with the cosmetics of CIty of God tacked on for no apparent reason other than "movies set in third world slums should be shot like CIty of God"

comment #49

DeeZee says ...

Victor: No, they're just the same in that they're both dramas about growing up in ghettos.

comment #50

alynch says ...

The Last Boy Scout kicks ass.

comment #51

MilkMan says ...

Thank Shane Black for the Last Boy Scout, not Tony Scott.

comment #52

BurmaShave says ...

Wow.

comment #53

actionlover says ...

Greatest Movies of All Time

1. Citizen Kane
2. Potemkin (or so I'm told)
3. Domino
4. Transformers
5. Casablanca
6. Watchmen
7. Transformers 2
8. - 20. Star Wars

comment #54

actionman says ...

domino is a perfect movie. i've watched it countless times. it's hardly unwatchable.

comment #55

Chase Kahn says ...

Let me rephrase my Denzel diss -- he hasn't been necessarily BAD in his post-"Training Day" stuff, but it just all blurs together into the same act, I can't tell the performances apart.

And am I the only one who thinks "28 Days Later" is Boyle's best film? I don't think it's even close, I have a stiffy for that movie...

comment #56

Chase Kahn says ...

"City of God" is overrated. Maybe it's because everytime I think of it, I think of Ebert's quote which read something like: "You won't see a better movie in your life" -- or something of the sort.

comment #57

BurmaShave says ...

I've thought about it, and there's no way this movie is better. It can't be, it doesn't have Tony Roberts. But I'm pleased to know at least that it's very good.

comment #58

MilkMan says ...

I don't know Chase. I feel like I'm the only one who prefers 28 Weeks Later to 28 Days Later.

comment #59

Chase Kahn says ...

That's a crime, Milk -- 28 Weeks Later is two hours of John Murphy's "House in a Heartbeat" on loop.

comment #60

MilkMan says ...

What's that, Chase?

comment #61

Chase Kahn says ...

That's the closing piece that's used at the end of "28 Days Later". All I can remember from "Weeks" is that song used ad-nauseum.

comment #62

actionman says ...

Loved Weeks. Was OK on Days.

comment #63

Chase Kahn says ...

Man, you guys have it backwards...

comment #64

CitizenKanedforChewingGum says ...

Gotta agree with MM on the Shane Black love. I'd also give him most of the credit for Lethal Weapon being enjoyable and transcending -- as much as it can -- its tired, good cop-bad cop routine. Of course, the Glover-Gibson chemistry can't be overlooked, either...

I'm not going to say it's the superior movie,, but I think you could probably make a case for 28 Weeks Later being more rewatchable than the first. It's trashier, pulpier, faster-paced, and more fun than the original.

As a serious film, I don't think 28DL really finds its footing until the third act, where the main characters end up at the military complex. I know that is where a lot of horror fans bail out, but I think that's actually the point where the film's social commentary -- which is really what Boyle seems so hard to be striving for -- finally starts to come together.

comment #65

televisiontears says ...

Am I the only one who though Sunshine was great?

comment #66

Chase Kahn says ...

Kaned -- I'm with you there, the third act of "Days" is what makes that film work. I've always thought that. I still don't think "Weeks" is very good, though -- it almost felt like a tribute to Boyle's film, like a fan-made feature.

And I liked "Sunshine" alot, as well. Ending is pretty weak, but the first 90 minutes are pretty damn good. Murphy has done great scores for both "Days" and "Sunshine"...

comment #67

CitizenKanedforChewingGum says ...

The first hour of Sunshine is a fucking masterpiece.

The drop-off beginning at the end of the second/beginning of the third act is pretty damn steep (I remember barely resisting the temptation to give the ol' Skywalker "Nooooo" in the theater), so it says a lot about the success of the first part of the movie that it still manages to wind up rating highly as a damn good piece of science fiction overall.

comment #68

Travis Crabtree says ...

Whoa, excuse me. I ate some bad pizza or something. I think I'm hallucinating. I see funny colored dots swirling around my head. I thought I heard someone say that "Domino" was a "perfect movie" and a "masterpiece" and that "The Last Boy Scout" rocked. I need to lay down.

comment #69

K. Bowen says ...

See the funny thing is, on this one, Actionman is exactly right. Man on FIre and Domino are both brilliant films. There are only a handful of critics, cineastes, etc. who realize it right now. But it's a pretty vocal and intelligent minority. And they have the additional value of being right. :)

I think 28 Weeks Later is an answer to Children of Men. They have the same basic plot. But .... eveyrone thinks the baby is the great hope in CoM. Even Cuaron. The interesting twist on that in 28 Weeks is that eveyrone thinks the kids are the great hope, and go to these great lenghts to protect them, but [SPOILER] they turn out to be the carriers of the disease. It basically accuses Cuaron's film of being naive. It's like Fresnadillo and Cuaron are having a basic disagreement about human nature.

comment #70

K. Bowen says ...

"MAN ON FIRE was a plodding, joyless revenge flick with the cosmetics of CIty of God tacked on for no apparent reason other than "movies set in third world slums should be shot like CIty of God".

See people miscategorize MAN ON FIRE as a straightforward revenge flick, but it's not. It's not DEATH WISH. It's THE SEARCHERS and/or TAXI DRIVER updated to dissect the post-9/11 mentality. If you're watching the film correctly, you're either questioning his actions, or being so tightly wound into his subjective experience that the twist at the end pull the moral authority out from under you.

The color distortion is meant to signal and mirror the subjective distorition that's taking place in the narrative. It's not just there b/c that's how you shoot Third World slums.

comment #71

MilkMan says ...

I agree with K. 28 Weeks Later is definitely a fatalist's delight. It's about the stages of Apocalypse. Fresnadillo says there is no way anyone is getting out alive. Cuaron says yes you can, so follow me. And that's what we do. Hitch a ride with Cuaron. CoM is a good rollercoaster of a movie. 28 Weeks Later is about the series of confined spaces one has to survive when there is total chaos. And the chaos never really stops in 28 Weeks Later. The movie is tight. It doesn't stop to bury the dead. When you die in 28 Weeks Later you are dead and that's not our problem so we are out of here. Each movie has it's own engine. I prefer the 28 Weeks Later model.

comment #72

K. Bowen says ...

A pair of really interesting pro-Tony Scott essays.

http://www.ejumpcut.org/currentissue/DominoKnapp/index.html

http://www.cinema-scope.com/cs29/feat_peransonandhuber_scott.html

comment #73

BurmaShave says ...

THE LAST BOY SCOUT is undeniable. His later films are debatable, but Tony Scott was pretty much the tits until THE FAN.

comment #74

mtgilchrist says ...

Just when I thought I was agreeing with Wells more often than not, he hated Drag Me To hell and hated this. Pelham is pretty awful, actually - just pointless in a way that recalls Tony Scott's worst movies. There's a car "chase" in the film that exists only to have a massive crash for Wells' mouth-breathers, the characters are only "developed" as lazy plot devices (Washington is instructed to leave so that Travolta can kill someone and create some suspense before he comes back, etc.), and the whole thing has no procedural authenticity, by which I only mean it neither feels like a real reaction to this situation or even an appropriately cinematic one. Rest assured I've spoiled nothing of the plot, since there isn't one to spoil.

Oh, and DeeZee, you are just wrong about Saturday Night Fever. That film is a work of brilliance with one of the great, complex characters of the 1970s. In how many other movies have you seen a guy win "the contest" he's been practicing for the entire movies, and then go, "fuck that - they were better than us," give the trophy and the prize money to the people he thought were better, and storm out on his friends and the life he thought he wanted in absolute disgust.

comment #75

MilkMan says ...

Staying Alive ruined SNF's legacy. It really did. I am not kidding.

comment #76

Yuval says ...

Domino is a great movie ("masterpiece" is a bit of a stretch) but I really hated Man on Fire.

comment #77

Ghost072 says ...

John Murphy is incredibly underrated. His Sunshine score is amazing, the soundtrack and "The End," in particular, from 28 Days Later is amazing, and "Who Are You" from the Miami Vice soundtrack is amazing. I realize that is a lot of amazing in one paragraph, but seriously, John Murphy is Thomas Newman in his Shawshank - Six Feet Under - American Beauty - Road to Perdition run, which is a pretty amazing fucking run, IMO. Ok, I admit I'm drunk, but it had to be said. If my life could be scored by Murphy or Newman, it would be infinitely more interesting.

As far as Domino and Man on Fire goes, Tony should have quit when he was ahead, IMO.

comment #78

moorish says ...

Domino is an AWFUL movie. Unwatchable shite. Man On Fire is fucking great, though.

As for Pelham, if the remake really is better than the original I will be amazed. Though this review is a big boost - yesterday I'd have just settled for the flick not being totally crap.

comment #79

btwnproductions says ...

A decent review, but also a something of a reality check:

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117940415.html?categoryid=31&cs=1

comment #80

hcat says ...

Domino goes on the list of films that had the elements that could have made them masterpieces but got lost in translation (Proof of Life, Reveloutionary Road, and the Saddest Music in the World also make the list).

And Saturday Night Fever is near perfect (never saw Staying Alive so nothing was ruined for me). If you look at leading man performances from the early eighties, particularly the work of Richard Gere and Eric Roberts, you can see all them going for all the same notes that Travolta hit as Tony. I consider Travolta more of a Matinee Star than an actual actor but he actually left a mark in SNF.

comment #81

Kanye West says ...

I'd like to pop in and second the: 28 Weeks > 28 Days.

comment #82

George Prager says ...

DOMINO is part of that mid-naughites genre where waif-like women that Tyne Daly could break in half with one hand tied behind her back are "kicking ass". So pathetic and unrealistic.

comment #83

COCO says ...

When is ''28 Months Later" going to be made?

comment #84

Travis Crabtree says ...

Again, I agree with Prager. (oy)

The "Girl Power" thing got old pretty fast

I cheered with the rest of the theater when Trinity kicked the shit out of those cops at the beginning of the Matrix, but by the time I saw Drew Barrymore doing it in Charlies Angels Full Throttle (shut up, I saw it on an airplane) I realized it had gotten ridiculous

comment #85

Chase Kahn says ...

Now "28 Weeks Later" is greater than "Children of Men" ?!?!?! Oh boy, I better just stop... good night and good luck...

comment #86

MilkMan says ...

No one said 28WL was better than CoM. They're both really good End of the World movies. And totally different in their aims.

comment #87

George Prager says ...

But it is better. CHILDREN OF MEN was extremely boring and pretentious.

comment #88

MilkMan says ...

Well, there you go. George has a definite opinion about the subject.

comment #89

Baron Munchausen-by-Proxy says ...

To be honest, though, Prager and Crabby are overlooking the fact that, due to improvements in digital imagery, waif-like MEN were presented as ass-kickers just as often as "the girls" were over the naughties. It was just as silly as when the girls were - perhaps it was easier to overlook when you're doing that unconscious 'boy identifying with the male hero' thing.

Unless you really, really want to believe that Shia, Tobey Maguire, Johnny Depp, Chris Evans, Elijah Wood, Ed Norton, Orlando, etc., etc., are truly hyperathletic ass-kickers in real life.

comment #90

DeeZee says ...

gil: "In how many other movies have you seen a guy win "the contest" he's been practicing for the entire movies, and then go, "fuck that - they were better than us," give the trophy and the prize money to the people he thought were better, and storm out on his friends and the life he thought he wanted in absolute disgust."

That would be fine if that was the end of the movie, but it drags on into pointless sub-plots.

Baron: You really need to see Depp in Lost in La Mancha before you make fun of his build. I can also buy Chris Evans as an ass-kicker-at least compared to Justin Long or Ashton Kutcher-but Ed Norton just seems like a poser.

comment #91

kermsroomy says ...

This reviewer is a category 5 moron. He can't be more than 25 years old.