Action Movies
I was catching up on the Entertainment Weekly Magazine and they were ranking the 25 best action movies of all time. Curious, I flipped to that page, and (though I’m embarrassed to admit it), yes, I had seen every movie on the list save one. I missed THE WILD BUNCH. I must commend the editors of EW because they agreed with me on the first two spots. Number one DIE HARD, number two, ALIENS. I guess I really am the action chick but I love this stuff.
I will go see art films — THE PIANIST, THE PIANO, PAN’S LABYRINTH, THE HISTORY BOYS, but I’m a sucker for a well done action film. The problem with most of them is that they have begun to forget the script and characters and try to pull it off by relying solely on special effects.
And yes, come Monday (my social calendar is full for the weekend) I’m heading out to see the new Die Hard movie, and I’ll probably see TRANSFORMERS unless the reviews just slag it. I’ll clense my pallette with Surf’s Up and Ratatouille, but it’s hot outside and it’s time for BDF (Big Dumb Fun), and blowing up sh** real good.
Melinda
July 1st, 2007 at 9:25 am
Lol, my guilty pleasure ares old Erroll Flynn movies, Spaghetti Western and those sandal films that butcher Roman history even worse than Gladiator.
Oh, and RTL2 bought the Rome series. Looking forward to that one.
July 1st, 2007 at 4:26 pm
I assume you saw the third Pirates movie? I just saw it for the first time yesterday. Wow. Best film trilogy ever? I think maybe …
July 1st, 2007 at 10:32 pm
Gabriele, are you talking about the HBO Rome series? It was _great_. Especially the first season. The second season felt rushed because they had hoped to have three seasons, but because the show was so massively expensive HBO decided to only have it run for two.
July 1st, 2007 at 11:00 pm
I saw that list, and as near as I can figure, I’ve seen a dozen of the films on it. But my favorite action film wasn’t on it. It’s probably an idiosyncratic choice: Streets of Fire. I like everything in it from the opening sequence where the heroine sings about the joys of nihilism and is then rudely interrupted by some actual nihilists, to the climactic duel with sledgehammers. It has one of my favorite hero/sidekick relationships, too.
July 2nd, 2007 at 11:26 am
Melinda, yes that one. It’s going to be dubbed, though, and I hate dubbing, but to get away from that I’d have to move back to Sweden.
Most movies I buy on DVD where I can pick the English version. I don’t like crowds, either, so watching movies in the theatre isn’t that much fun.
July 2nd, 2007 at 12:40 pm
Not liking crowds would make a theater an uncomfortable experience. I’m doing the NetFlix thing. (We’re currently watching DEAD LIKE ME a wonderful Showtime series), and while I’m enjoying the convenience I really miss going out to the movies. I like to go to the theater and share the experience with a bunch of other people. Comedies seem funnier, the action more heightened, the scary part scarier when you’re riding on the other people’s emotions.
July 3rd, 2007 at 3:46 pm
Sharing such events with the right people can be fun, I suppose, but I’ve never met the right ones. I’m quite the loner.
RTL2 has stared running a trailer and set up a website. It looks like it’s going to be fun.
Btw, in case you haven’t been on my blog for some time, here’s what happens if one gives me Roman tools to play with.
I so want some Roman gear now, though I’d prefer lorica segmentata to chain mail, because I - unlike the Romans - like chocolate a bit too much and the segmentata covers that a bit. 
July 3rd, 2007 at 10:25 pm
I have been to your site and saw the picture of you in the Roman armor. You looked incredibly cute. I’ve always wanted mail shirt. Some of the work was so beautiful. I’ve only held a piece of mail once (something an SCA guy had made) and I loved the way it flowed through the hands.
I used to fence and I started again when we moved to Santa Fe, but it’s a very serious club. There were no other woman and everyone was far more advanced than me. I found the modern style doesn’t stress my broken left ankle as badly as the more formal French method. (I had a horse slip and fall in the mud and crush my left ankle. I still have three pins in it, and I can tell you when it’s going to turn cold
) A story for another time.
Anyway, I love your photos. They make me desperate to travel again. I’m contemplating a trip back to Germany and Holland to look for a horse after the show season ends.
July 4th, 2007 at 11:25 am
Lol, I wasn’t sure how often you check my blog, since you have so many hedgehogs to brush in your life.
I love mail, but it doesn’t cover the fact I have those two friends there, and I doubt the Romans wanted girls in their army. They had that on the other side, according to some sources. There’s more than on mention of Celtic and German women running into battle with bare boobs and taunting the men to greater deeds. I don’t think it represents cultural facts, though, more a literary topos. The motive stays alive until Eginhard’s Vita Caroli Magni where he says the same about the Saxon women Charlemagne fought; and Eginhard was influenced by Roman literary tradition.
Thank you for the compliment. Should I ever get published, I’ll have my author photo taken in Roman armour. One needs something different these days.