Wasn’t Beni buried alive under Hamunaptra at the end of the first movie? With flesh-eating scarabs closing in around him as the lights went out? I suppose anything’s possible in lega-sequel land, but seems odd to bring him back.

Love me some O’Conner though, so I can’t be that upset.

All good. Its even more of an odd cameo given he WASN’T an unknown at the time.

Yeah, Statham had several roles of various sizes under his belt by the time Collateral was coming out. The Transporter came out in 2002, so he had already been the face of an action franchise by that point, not to mention his prior work with Ritchie.

I mean, there’s a pretty critical casting of minor illusion that he’s responsible for. And, it was pointed out to me, that the various instances of him cajoling the party along, especially when the flashier members are having doubts, is basically Bardic Inspiration. Which I think is a neat way of handling it.

I can only offer my own opinion and admit that my preferences lean towards maximalist entertainment in any case; but, when the scope just kept escalating, I was along for the ride. The reveal of who techbro douche’s mother is made me laugh out loud, alone in my house. I was caught completely off guard. I expected the movie to be lean and mean, budget allowing for one or two major set pieces per act, but it seemed eager to outdo itself at every turn. It wasn’t going to let a little something like “logic” slow it down. Once I realized that the writer was Kurt Wimmer, it all started to click. He’s the writer-director behind the 2002 Christian Bale gunkata shoot-em-up Equilibrium and 2006’s Ultraviolet. Both of which I think are inarguable as high-concept camp. Whether you think they’re good, on the other hand, is going to be far more subjective haha.

Ah! That explains not seeing it, thank you for sharing!

Link? I just looked through their recent vids, but I didn’t seen anything that mentioned either Statham or Die Hard, but I’m curious to hear what they have to say.

Considering the glut of post-Die Hard movies which were variations of “Die Hard on a BLANK” (bus=Speed, plane=Air Force One, etc.), literalizing that concept as a visual gag is the exact sort of “this might be so stupid it’s actually clever” high-concept camp that I LIVE for from Statham. See also: The Beekeeper.

I’ve been absently working my way through BTAS over the past couple months and I have what I think may be a pretty hot take, so bear with me. While all of the praise that gets heaped on BTAS for its mature and sober storytelling in its best episodes (such as Heart of Ice or Feat of Clay), while absolutely a cut far and above typical “Saturday Morning Cartoon” fare of its day, is still ultimately hampered by the expectations of its format.

Put another way, BTAS is absolutely a groundbreaking work of Western animation and deserves most of the laurels it gets, but we mustn’t miss the forest for the tree here. As good as it is when it’s at its best, BTAS remains a childen’s cartoon. Taking the basic treatment of BTAS’ Clayface origin, but recontextualizing it in a different, somewhat less constrained, medium could absolutely result in a novel perspective.

That being said, super powered origin story is ALSO potentially a very formulaic medium, so it’s incumbent upon the filmmakers to still do something interesting, but I think the potential is there.

Could be bias I suppose, but this one has a proven track record in my experience. Not only was it my introduction to Herzog, but I’ve had very good success getting other people on board with his particular documentarian style.

Excited for once a decade reminder that Cruise is, in fact, capable of playing something other than his star persona when he chooses to do so.

Saw it last night and I think it’s sitting just below the Evil Dead remake for me in a ranking of the three newer films, but that comes with a pretty tremendous caveat regarding the central thematic conceit they chose to underpin the story. That, and I’m against any pet murder, so two pretty big caveats, which makes weird that I otherwise pretty much had a ball.

Fair play, mission accomplished. Truth be told no run of mine has gotten to the point where my characters have the chance to be amoral. More characters than I care to admit have perished before even finding the first dungeon.

Bruh, that’d be the end of my run right there. This character charmed a big kitty cat to become their companion, then abused the animal’s trust by slurping up its life force to the point of death?? That character’s thirst is not mine, and we are DEFINITELY not water-siblings lol

“Get in here! New asshole slang just dropped!”

If you’re amenable, what crosspollination between The Division and Ghost Recon would you like to see?

“classic movie” “80s to 2000s”

MFW

Pity party dispensed with, I’ll take a shot in the dark and make a few recommendations.

If you want to keep rolling on the Chan train, you should check out some of his Hong Kong work. Police Story is, I think, when Jackie really started to exert primary creative control over his movies, and contains a couple of my favorite stunts (both with and without Jackie). If you are curious to see something slightly earlier, Wheels on Meals is a collab between Chan and his Peking Opera School buddies Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao. It features a real cracker jack fight between Chan and Benny ‘The Jet’ Urquidez, who was among the best martial artists in the world at the time. Chan cites that fight as one of the best in his career. Police Story 3 (aka Supercop), earns a mention as well, because it becomes a two-hander with Jackie and pre-Hollywood Michelle Yeoh kicking an incredible amount of ass.

Outside the realm of HK martial arts movies though:

Tremors (1990) - Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward have to fight prehistoric subterranean carnivorous worms in order to move on from their dead end jobs in a dead end town. It’s a perfect movie.

Tommy Boy (1995) - Chris Farley and David Spade are salesman for a car part manufacturer which is anchoring their Rust Belt town. Under threat of a hostile takeover and subsequent plant closure, they have to go on the road to sell enough parts to keep the doors open. Hijinks ensue. I assume this is a movie which everyone has seen, but I guess it’s theoretically possible this is new to you. Light recommend for the spiritual followup Black Sheep from the following year. Not as good, but if you like Farley and Spade’s dynamic, it gives you more of that.

Leon: The Professional (1994) - Crook bloke alert for Luc Besson notwithstanding, this is still a really good action-thiller. Jean Reno is a hitman who seems somewhat simple-minded. He does his work, drinks milk, and takes care of his plant. Unfortunately, when tragedy befalls the family of a pre-teen girl (Natalie Portman) in the form of a visit from the unhinged DEA Agent Stansfield (Gary Oldman), he winds up becoming responsible for her.

Pitch Black (2000): Before he was Family ™, Vin Diesel was Richard B. Riddick: a sociopathic anti-hero with surgically altered eyes and a penchant for knives. The ship he’s being transported on crashlands on a seemingly deserted planet with three suns, creating perpetual daylight. However, while searching for a way off, the survivors of the shipwreck discover a lasting darkness is coming, and there might be something worse than an escaped murderer stalking them in the dark. Radha Mitchell, Cole Houser, and Keith David co-star. Very good shit, but I’m a mark, because I even liked the Chronicles of Riddick sequel and the video games they made. So, grain of salt and all, but I think it’s a good sci fi creature feature.

Way of the Gun (2000) - this is one of those “you’ll love it or you’ll despise it” sorta movies. As I understand it, it was intentionally written as a reaction to the wave of Tarantino-imitators that crawled out of the woodwork during the 90s. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: two amoral (yet inexplicably philosophical) criminal drifters get hired to do a job which turns out to be far more complicated than they bargained on, and they have to think on their feet if they want to live to see their payday, frequently pontificating at length about what they should do next and why. Now, strip out any effort to make these pompous fuck ups likable. Remind the audience at every turn that these are bad guys who are, at best, half as smart as they think they are. Oh well, at least you’ll get some cool, John Woo-inspired gunfights, right? No! You’ll get realistic, non-cinematic gunplay, complete with meticulously tracked round counts and extended sequences of seeking cover! (Actually, given the John Wickification of action movies, this might not have impact anymore, but it was a radical departure at the time.) Stars Ryan Phillippe, Benicio Del Toro, Juliette Lewis, Taye Diggs, and James Caan. Special appearance by Sarah Silverman for a memorable scene.

Edit to Add Something Completely Different:

My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002) - its a really solid little romantic comedy which became a titan of the box office. I think it’s still among the most profitable movies of all time. At the time of its release, I was not much for rom coms, but when I went back to it years later, I found it to be a perfectly comfy bit of pleasant fluff.

10 Things I Hate About You (1999) - Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, but 1999 Seattle. Heath Ledger and Julia Stiles star. Easily the best of the late-90s “reimaginations” of Shakespeare, imo, including the ones that won Oscars. Absolutely carried by the stars’ charisma, but the script is packed with clever jokes and there’s a killer soundtrack.

And what a design it is. Obviously it’s guys or gals in suits and stilts, but it’s a cut above what you might expect for an early 2000s indie creature feature.

I’m surprised it didn’t make your rewatch list. It is, to me, the Platonic form of this type of creature feature, in the same way that Tremors is the Platonic form of the “creatures come to a small town” version. Nobody’s winning awards for innovation necessarily, but there’s merit to simply executing familiar tropes at a high level. Not an annual rewatch, but I dust it off every few years.

You know what the chain of command is? It’s the chain I beat you with until you follow my ruttin’ commands!