I can’t solve your dilemma, but I can attest that listening to the Prometheopsis before I watched Prometheus made for a much more entertaining experience overall. ;)
Thanks for the pod! I was constantly 10 seconds behind any reference starting with the Douglas Adams school of mathematics, but the pod almost justifies the movie existing, certainly lessening the pain of having watched the film.
Tony Jaa sadly never has elevated himself beyond an average martial arts action hero. The first Ong Bak movie is a very solid movie, that even manages to have a lot of charm to it, despite its rather brutal tone. It also has a lot of Jackie Chan-ish physical work (but less heart) and even comedy. I heartily recommend it. Sadly, none of the other Tony Jaa movies I’ve seen are worth watching. They are mere shoddy padding for action scenes. Admittely I stopped watching them after Warrior King 2, but nothing indicates any of the recent movies are worth it.
Although I’m kind of tempted to watch the Nick Cage Jiu Jitsu monstrosity.
I thought the me-no-taur is the American pronunciation and the my-no-taur is the UK pronunciation. Since minotaurs come from the island of Minos, I’ve always considered the me-no the “authentic” pronunciation.
So I saw this, so I could enjoy the pod.
It’s shit! Surprise! I agree with all the criticisms, W.S.Anderson is incredibly inept. The whole “chocolate” thing is a prime example, as are the terrible reaction shots to CG, especially Jovovich’s reaction to the cat flirting with her.
Ron Perlman…so, I like Ron Perlman, and I don’t want to be that guy, but…he has a look to him, and when you dress him up in a caveman outfit, it’s funny, and not in a good way.
The cat was cute, but the scene with it is lifted from the game, and is not as good as that, so. Eh.
I did like that the Handler from MH:World appeared, and she’s adorable.
Also Tony Jaa is thaipecast, huh
Right? She was obviously told to react as if something cute and fluffy and adorable had just done something cute, fluffy, and adorable. But then then they CG in a manly cat-pirate being really creepy. And so she comes across as a total perv for creepy manly cat-pirates awkwardly trying to flirt with her.
So incredibly, stupidly, carelessly tone deaf.
Honestly, you’d think Perlman would hold up better under a dumb costume, but at a certain point, the dumbness of the costume just overwhelms the guy. And this was a dude who walked around in a whole movie with dopey sawed-off horns on his head and pulled it off!
I didn’t remember that’s what she was until I was watching @Jason_McMaster livestream Monster Hunter a few days ago and she showed up. I was, all, like, ‘hey, she’s from the movie!’
Ha, well played!
-Tom
Ooh, I forgot that was Russel Mulcahy, who most people probably know as the Highlander guy. But those people didn’t grow up with Razorback, which I consider an iconic 80s creature-feature:
Written by Everett De Roche, of course, another fixture of 70s and 80s Australian movies. I need to rewatch Extinction. What’s the one where Milla shoots quarters out of a sawed-off shotgun at a bunch of zombies in slo-mo? I think that’s my current favorite.
Incidentally, Paul Greengrass stole that gimmick for his News of the World movie, except it was Tom Hanks instead of Milla Jovovich, it was rapers instead of zombies, and it was dimes instead of quarters .
I’m pretty sure he has. I don’t know what he said to imply otherwise, but if he hasn’t seen it, I’ll berate him and then watch it again on his behalf.
-Tom
I would advise against it. You’ll think less of a lot of good people if you do it! Speaking of, does anyone here remember when Frank Grillo’s career wasn’t a joke? What happened to the guy who was doing stuff like The Grey, Warrior, and Wheelman? :(
Wait, now you’re breaking my head. The island is obviously named after the minotaur – MIN-o-tar – so it’s pronounced “MIN-ohs”. Like “minnows”, but without the W, right?
I blame the Bison Teens for making it so complicated.
-Tom
Honestly, the movie’s most impressive achievement is managing to make Ron F’n Perlman look so bad. I literally gasped when I first saw him on screen.
Oh, it was just the bit in the podcast where you were explaining the style of music associated with Carpenter Brut. It just sounded like he didn’t know from the context, since you didn’t proffer up Blood Machines. Probably just me reading too much into that.
Force him to (re)watch it from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.
That was Afterlife, aka ‘the fourth one’ aka ‘the prison one’. The quarter-shotgun is probably the only thing I really remember about it other than the prison setting. Though I think she only shoots it one time? I remember feeling somewhat disappointed. I was hoping to see a room full of zombies torn to shreds, and instead we got a grimy money shot all over some bloke in the prison showers.
Not to be that guy - but I’m totally going to be that guy - Resident Evil: Apocalypse (a.k.a. the second one) wasn’t directed by Anderson either.
Heh, whaddya know. Though I rewatched the trailer and didn’t recognise any of it. Maybe I missed it in my RE binge session, always a risk when you don’t include numbers in the titles of your umpteen sequels. Or maybe its just aka ‘the forgettable one’.
Wheelman was such a pleasant surprise when I saw it. IMDB lists 7 (seven) 2021 movies for Mr. Grillo, and the casts in most seem rather perfectly serious. Also some people seem to like Boss Level.
Yes, like minnows with the oh-vowel being different. I’ve never learned the phonetic alphabet properly, so I was just trying to construct how it would roughly sound. Minotaur indeed comes from Minos + taurus, the bull of Minos.
Seven movies in a year sounds about right given what he’s doing with his career. Because Point Blank, Beyond Skyline, Black and Blue, Jiu Jjitsu, Body Brokers, and Boss Level are all pretty bad. And then there’s Cosmic Sin. The kindest thing I can say about Cosmic Sin is that it has an appropriate title. Grillo and/or his agent don’t seem to be very discerning these days. :(
-Tom
Is Frank Grillo—I don’t mean this as an insult—someone whose career will benefit from taking fewer projects? He’s got that “I can be in anything and make it work” attitude. Also his MCU arc is done so there’s no use holding out for that.
Well, dude is easily set for life, but he’s going to route of trashy action movies. I don’t associate his name with quality like I did after discovering him in Warrior, and then being delighted at his character arc in The Grey, and being especially delighted at what a great leading man he was in Wheelman. Most of the stuff he’s done since then has been junk, and while it’s great that he’s in demand, I suspect that demand is going to wane over the next several years.
Basically, if wants paychecks, his career is fine. But if he wants to work with top tier directors and casts, if he wants to put butts in seats at theaters, if he wants to ever be considered a Serious Actor, if he wants to make the kind of money movie stars make, he’s blowing it. Worst of all, if he wants to be a name that makes Tom Chick watch a movie, he’s really blowing it!
-Tom
Does Frank Grillo, 55 year old actor who looks like a hundred other middle aged white male actors and whose last leading role was a Netflix movie four years ago, really have that many roles offered to him? I assume he takes the jobs he can get.
Only he and his agency know for sure, but I’m guessing that he has had a ton of options since Warrior.
And I dispute that he looks like a hundred other white male actors. He’s got a chiseled face, amazing hair, and he’s in great shape. Well, okay, that is like a hundred other white male actors, so fair point. :)
-Tom
I think my life needs a Woman Woman 1984 opsis.
I watched it based on the recommendation that it was the best video game adapation since Sonic. It was kinda meh. I guess I’ll watch almost anything with Milla Jovovich but still, meh. I never played Monster Hunter so probably extra reason for the meh.
How many have there been?