Posted in Captain America Blogathon, tagged Aliens, Die Hard, District 13, Enter The Dragon, Hard Boiled, Lethal Weapon, Point Break, Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Matrix, The Terminator on March 27, 2014| 2 Comments »
Cap’ is clearly an action guy so for my third list of recommendations I have gone for action movies:
Enter The Dragon (1973)
Raiders Of the Lost Ark (1981)
The Terminator (1984)
Aliens (1986)
Lethal Weapon (1987) 
Die Hard (1988)
Point Break (1991)
Hard Boiled (1992)
The Matrix (1999)
District 13 (2004)
Posted in Lists and Top 10’s, tagged 300, Apocalypto, Avengers Assemble, Batman Begins, Battle Royale, Best Action Movies since Die Hard, Blade II, Casino Royale, crouching tiger hidden dragon, Desperado, Die Hard, District 13, Doomsday, Gladiator, Hard Boiled, Kill Bill vol 1, Nikita, Point Break, Run Lola Run, Serenity, Speed, Taxi, Terminator 2 Judgment Day, The Bourne Identity, The Crow, The Matrix, Total Recall on September 29, 2013| 8 Comments »
On episode 5 of the Film Don’t Hurt podcast Kai and Dylan talk about a list devised on The Vulture of the best 25 action movies since die hard. You can see what they came up with HERE. While I don’t disagree with any of there list (except Suppercop that I haven’t seen) I have my own ideas so thought I would come up with my own list. Die Hard is probably my favourite action movie. I have stated many times that it reinvented the genre. While this is largely true, if you look at it from a different point of view, it also killed the genre. Through the 70’s and 80’s action meant big men like Stallone, Schwarzenegger or Lundgren. With Die Hard Bruce Willis made it possible for the everyman to be an action hero. Then through the 90’s things changed with the rise of comic book movies and directors like Michael Bay and Roland Emmerich who just want to blow shit up. I like comic book movies but am a board of blowing shit up movies as reflected in my list. It was surprisingly difficult, there are at least another fifteen movies I would have liked to have included. I couldn’t decide on the order for the list. The best movies or the ones that represent the genre best. I decided to go for a chronological list, firstly for simplicity but I also think it gives an interesting overview of the changes in the genre. I used the same three simple rules:
Not every movie with action in it is an action movie. (it had to be a film that wouldn’t make any sense if you took all the action scenes out)
Only one film per franchise.
No animation.
Nikita (1990)
Total Recall (1990)
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
Point Break (1991)
Hard Boiled (1992)
Speed (1994)
The Crow (1994)
Desperado (1995)
Run Lola Run (1998)
Taxi (1998)
The Matrix (1999)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
Gladiator (2000)
Battle Royale (2000)
Blade II (2002)
The Bourne Identity (2002)
Kill Bill Vol. 1 (2003)
District 13 (2004)
Serenity (2005)
Batman Begins (2005) (I prefer The Dark Knight but Batman Begins is more of an action film)
Casino Royale (2006)
Apocalypto (2006)
300 (2006)
Doomsday (2008)
Avengers Assemble (2012)
Posted in My Movie Year, tagged 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, American History X, Army of Darkness, Batman Returns, Before Sunrise, Blade, Bound, Cape Fear, Crash, Cube, Dazed and Confused, Delicatessen, Ed Wood, Eyes Wide Shut, Fight Club, Go, Hard Boiled, Heat, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, Jackie Brown, L.A. Confidential, Leon, Miller's Crossing, Nikita, Point Break, Pulp Fiction, Pusher, Reservoir Dogs, Romeo + Juliet, Run Lola Run, Saving Private Ryan, Schindler's List, Se7en, Terminator 2 Judgment Day, The Big Lebowski, The City of Lost Children, The English Patient, The Fifth Element, The Ice Storm, The Matrix, The Shawshank Redemption, The Silence of the Lambs, The Straight Story, Three Colors Blue, Three Colours: Red, Tie Me Down, Tie Me Up, True Romance, Twelve Monkeys, Unforgiven, Wild at Heart on April 12, 2012| 2 Comments »
I’m not sure the 90’s is the best decade for movies but it is certainly consistent! Without any padding to make up the numbers every year of the decade has at least five great films to be in contention.
1990: Nikita, Wild at Heart, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, Miller’s Crossing, Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!
1991: Point Break, The Silence of the Lambs, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Cape Fear, Delicatessen
1992: Reservoir Dogs, Unforgiven, Batman Returns, Army of Darkness, Hard Boiled 
1993: Army of Darkness, Three Colours: Blue, Schindler’s List, Dazed and Confused, True Romance
1994: Pulp Fiction, The Shawshank Redemption, Leon, Three Colours: Red, Ed Wood
1995: Heat, Se7en, Twelve Monkeys, Before Sunrise, The City of Lost Children
1996: Bound, Crash, The English Patient, Pusher, Romeo + Juliet
1997: L.A. Confidential, Jackie Brown, The Ice Storm (forget Wushu and gay cowboys, this is Ang Lee‘s best film), Cube, The Fifth Element
1998: Saving Private Ryan, Run Lola Run, Blade, The Big Lebowski, American History X
1999: Fight Club, The Matrix, Go, Eyes Wide Shut, The Straight Story
