Americanized John Woo is so weird I love it. Even when it starts to feel like self parody the man can direct the hell out of an action sequence. Con Air rides on its stacked ensemble for the most part. I'll take Woo wildness over Michael Bay light.

handsbloodyhands wrote: Wed Jan 12, 2022 1:34 pm Con Air has a superior cast BUT but Face/Off is way way way more bananas and WTF in good to great ways.

Agree wholeheartedly.

penningtron wrote: Wed Jan 12, 2022 11:54 am I don't know if either of these are 'peak Cage craziness' but I liked Con Air for what it was. (not that I plan on re-watching)

I fully endorse rewatching Face/Off. We just rewatched it a few months ago and it was a blast. In fact, it might be my favorite thing I watched in 2021. I hated it at the time, but I just didn't get it. It's pretty obvious to me now that John Woo did this so over-the-top on purpose to fully make fun of the genre and Hollywood. There is no way the acting in this wasn't purposeful in that intent. And the concept is ridiculous. It reminds me a lot of the fake movie that gets made in The Player that ends up staring Bruce Willis.

Bat shit crazy and I love it.

Sidebar -

A creative team has been working on a reboot of Face/Off for a while now. From what they have said, every meeting where they are trying to outline the general lay of the land for the studio ends with the studio essentially saying "Alright. We have no clue what the heck you are even talking about."

zircona1 wrote: Wed Jan 12, 2022 11:05 am

Krev wrote: Wed Jan 12, 2022 11:02 am I don't know if you could have this conversation without including The Rock, which completes the late-90's-Cage schlock trilogy.

The Rock is better than the two survey choices.

I pick Face/Off, for the superior action sequences.

Come to think of it...

8mm

Just as bonkers in a totally different way.

Krev wrote: Wed Jan 12, 2022 2:23 pm As an aside, was Connery better in The Rock or Highlander?

Accounting for that it works as sequel to a totally unrelated film?

The Rock

numberthirty wrote: Wed Jan 12, 2022 5:59 pm Sidebar -

A creative team has been working on a reboot of Face/Off for a while now. From what they have said, every meeting where they are trying to outline the general lay of the land for the studio ends with the studio essentially saying "Alright. We have no clue what the heck you are even talking about."

Considering there's the blueprint of an existing feature, that's astonishingly stupid. Even for the average development exec.

tommy wrote: Wed Jan 12, 2022 4:17 pm I fully endorse rewatching Face/Off. We just rewatched it a few months ago and it was a blast. In fact, it might be my favorite thing I watched in 2021. I hated it at the time, but I just didn't get it. It's pretty obvious to me now that John Woo did this so over-the-top on purpose to fully make fun of the genre and Hollywood. There is no way the acting in this wasn't purposeful in that intent. And the concept is ridiculous. It reminds me a lot of the fake movie that gets made in The Player that ends up staring Bruce Willis.

Bat shit crazy and I love it.

Face/Off is the best American John Woo movie, and it is a very good movie overall for the reasons given. I would make the case that all the US John Woo movies up to and including MI 2 are good. Anybody who enjoys Verhoeven's satirical genre exercises should give them a second chance. Also Travolta might be outdoing Cage here, but between the two of them, there is no question that ALL the scenery is chewed..

I don't care for The Rock (by famed hack, Michael Bay) or Con Air.

numberthirty wrote: Wed Jan 12, 2022 11:21 pm

zircona1 wrote: Wed Jan 12, 2022 11:05 am

Krev wrote: Wed Jan 12, 2022 11:02 am I don't know if you could have this conversation without including The Rock, which completes the late-90's-Cage schlock trilogy.

The Rock is better than the two survey choices.

I pick Face/Off, for the superior action sequences.

Come to think of it...

8mm

Just as bonkers in a totally different way.

Oh yeah, I remember that movie. Written by the guy who wrote Se7en and directed by Joel Schumacher. I saw it in the theater, but I didn't like it as much as I thought I would.

However, the scene where Cage is in the house and Aphex Twin's 'Come To Daddy' starts playing suddenly - that was quite jump-scary.

numberthirty wrote: Wed Jan 12, 2022 11:23 pm

Krev wrote: Wed Jan 12, 2022 2:23 pm As an aside, was Connery better in The Rock or Highlander?

Accounting for that it works as sequel to a totally unrelated film?

The Rock

+1

I'm going to vote Face/Off, if for nothing else than my memories of Alessandro Nivola's performance in it. And Nick Cassavetes, who has the best line.