Brad Nelson
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עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Post by Brad Nelson on Oct 4, 2022 6:42:40 GMT -8
The Last Boy ScoutBruce Willis has been making literally dozens of direct-to-video movies in the last few years and it would not be polite to comment on their quality. This run of direct-to-video is probably explained by the fact that he has some kind of degenerative brain disorder. He's having a last hurrah and/or trying to build a bigger nest egg while he can. We wish him the best for a cure. So I decided to do a bit of a Bruce Willis retrospective. I was looking at the list of his best movies as provided by Ranker.com and there are several that I've never seen, including The Last Boy Scout. I rented that via Apple TV last night for three bucks. The movie is a buddy-buddy film where Willis plays the hard-bitten private eye and Damon Wayan plays the ex NFL quarterback whose girlfriend (Halle Berry...this film put her on the map) is under threat by someone. There are a lot of good Chandler-like lines. And the plot works pretty well until the end where they add on a bit too much. But then this is a Willis movie. There are one-liners, f-bombs, and explosions in abundance. And although I do think the movie comes a bit off the rails near the end even for this type, it slides nicely on those rails of a dark action, almost noir-ish, comedy for most of the movie.
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Brad Nelson
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עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Post by Brad Nelson on Oct 4, 2022 6:53:58 GMT -8
I'm not sure if this was direct-to-video, but 2016's Marauders is a Bruce Willis film from the late period that isn't half bad. I think I caught this one on HBO although it may also be available on a free streaming channel on Roku. Do a search. This is much more of a Christopher Meloni movie (best known for his work in Law & Order). He plays a hard-bitten FBI boss who is after a gang of brutal bank robbers. Willis plays the owner of CEO of the banks getting robbed. I found the plot complex and convoluted. There are rogue military guys out there who seem to be connected to this. Old scores are being settled. But it bounces around in this theme with so many what-if's that I lost track and really stopped caring for who did what and why. But the hard-bitten FBI boss carries the movie. Willis' role is relatively small and decidedly unimportant. But it was still at least moderately fun to watch as an action flick. |
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Post by artraveler on Oct 4, 2022 8:05:04 GMT -8
Willis is suffering from a cognitive disease and as I understand it has retired from the movie business. It is easy to see that his last few years his performance has been somewhat wooden. The Bruce Willis of Dir Hard is not the same as even the Bruce Willis of the Last Boy Scout.
I hope he has as pleasant a retirement as possible.
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Brad Nelson
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עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Post by Brad Nelson on Oct 4, 2022 10:37:53 GMT -8
Life (and Demi Moore) takes its toll. One source I read said that during the explosion of direct-to-video releases, they had it worked out (at least with one of his production teams) where he would show up for a day or two and film all his shots. For reportedly a million dollars, that's pretty good wages.
I just finished Live Free or Die Hard. You can find it for free on Tubi TV. It's an over-the-top action flick. When your hero is wrestling around on the outside of an F-35 jet after the pilot has ejected (McClane can have that effect on equipment), you know you're talking over-the-top. But it's all in good fun.
The wooden performance of Timothy Olyphant (Deadwood) will not soon make us forget the truly spectacular villainous role of Alan Rickman in the original Die Hard.
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Brad Nelson
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עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Post by Brad Nelson on Oct 4, 2022 10:41:22 GMT -8
I had seen that Motherless Brooklyn was available free for streaming. I know I've never seen that one. I'll have to give it a go.
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Brad Nelson
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עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Post by Brad Nelson on Oct 5, 2022 7:21:08 GMT -8
The Bruce Willis marathon continues with 2010's stylish RED comedy-spy thriller. You can find this on HBO. It's an old plot device but done here as well as anywhere: An ex special forces guy (and his old team) is being hunted down by someone in order to cover up something. Morgan Freeman (insufferable of late, but okay in this), Helen Mirren, and John Malkovich make for a strong cast as Willis' old teammates. And, of course, an innocent girl gets caught up in this. A cliché, for sure, but Mary-Louise Parker plays it to good and somewhat understated comic effect. Stylish, unrealistic, but still a lot of fun. I had seen this once many years back. But I don't know if I've seen RED 2 which is the sequel with most of the same cast. Action movies can be at their best when they don't take themselves too seriously. This is one of them. |
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Brad Nelson
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עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Post by Brad Nelson on Oct 6, 2022 7:05:33 GMT -8
The Bruce Willis marathons stalls with Armageddon. I got about halfway through this and little has happened besides the initial meteor shower that hit the east coast. From there, J.J. Abrams and his fellow "writers" are drawing things out. We are supposed to be enthralled that a bunch of blue-collar miners are in a fish-out-of-water experience as they train for a mission in space to blow up the impending asteroid. And we're also supposed to be enthralled at bar fights and constant streams of very low-brow dialogue. As soon as I saw J.J. Abrams' name in the credits I knew there was likely going to be a problem. If there was a poster child for the dumbing down of movies, his face would be front-and-center on that poster. So I moved onto watching The Big Sleep with Humphrey Bogart. As one reviewer said, it helps to go to the Wiki article on the movie and read the plot. It gets complicated. I don't think I have the heart to go back and try to finish Armageddon. I see what it's all about. |
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Brad Nelson
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עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Post by Brad Nelson on Oct 6, 2022 15:05:12 GMT -8
I was thinking about reading the book. I may do that when I finish the one I'm on. Let's face it, the movie is Humphrey Bogart. He's terrific in it. He carries a convoluted plat. You don't really care who did what. You just like to see him battle through it. There are some good lines here and there but probably not as good as Too Have and Have Not or Key Largo. I can understand Bogie going with the elder sister (Becall). But Carmen was a nice slutty little thing.   I thought the romance between Bogie and Becall was a little forced in this one. It's probably done better in the book I suppose. |
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Brad Nelson
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עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Post by Brad Nelson on Oct 6, 2022 15:42:38 GMT -8
I'm sure it wasn't. After reading the trivia section for the movie at IMDB, they added (about a year later) a bunch of scenes between Bogie and Becall to capitalize on the success of their earlier film, To Have and Have Not. Plus…
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