great topic. Mine is the car chase in The Corruptor, that one amazes me every time I see it, esp. the way it ends. 

That's got a hell of a car chase in it :) 

1 - alright I guess
2 - best of the 3
3 - wtf this garbage

And that's the way it is. 

car chases off the top of my head...

highway chase in matrix 2
tumbler chase in batman begins

those are the two that stick out the most for me. both have great music during too. 

I actually didn't like the tumbler chase in batman begins although the tumbler itself was awesome: it was obviously way too heavy to go across rooftops, plus nolan hadn't really found his stride as an action director yet.

the reason I thought the first matrix was overrated, was the annoyingly condescending marketing, the style over substance (though the substance was alright), and the fact it overshadowed better, more cerebral films on similar themes from the same time (dark city, thirteenth floor, existenz). Nolan said he wrote Inception as a response to all of these themes and I could see stuff from all of them in there, including the matrix. Inception wasn't as awesome as I was expecting given how much I enjoyed most of his earlier movies, but it did do a lot of interesting things, dicaprio was good, his girlfriend's death due to a certain idea was really clever, and that hallway scene was some of the coolest shit ever. still, hopefully nolan works on some of his weaknesses for his next film, especially his lack of using women as real major characters. a different cinematography and music style would be welcome as well. 

I thought that was pretty suspenseful. Good, dark, claustrophobic atmosphere. Certainly different. Good ending too.

I've been in a horror mood lately and have been watching shitloads. Seen all these in the last few weeks:

Bad Biology (2008) [RA the Rugged Man]
Clive Barkers Book Of Blood (2008)
Cujo (1983) [Stephen King]
Drag Me To Hell (2009)
Eaten Alive (1980)
Fright Night (1985)
Happy Birthday to Me (1981)
Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988)
Last House on Dead End Street (1977)
Les Diaboliques (1955)
Phantasm (1979)
Rage aka Rabid (1977) [Cronenberg]
The Serpant and The Rainbow (1988) [Wes Craven]
The Stuff (1985)
Toolbox Murders (2004) [Tobe Hooper]

Nothing great there, all 6 and below.

I suppose Toolbox Murders, Phantasm, The Stuff, Book Of Blood and Fright Night would all be worth a single viewing if your really bored.

As for Les Diaboliques (1955) being #184 on imdb's top 250 list, and the third best horror of all time, that's a joke. It was a slow suspense thriller, completely predictable by todays standards.

Finally watched Bergman's Persona the other day too, not a bad film for a single viewing. 

Here's a few more I've watched in the last month:

Hot Tub Time Machine (2010)
just another typical comedy, 5/10.

Iron Man 2 (2010)
wtf? Ironman 1 ate this crap for breakfast. I hope Avengers isn't this bad.

Prince Of Persia - Sands Of Time (2010)
Yawn. Was looking forward to this but in the end the whole premise was irratating.

Splice (2009)
Probably the best movie i've seen out of this batch, and all those horror ones above, though that's not saying much. Fuck the mongrel-alien sex scene was hot. Best movie sex scene of 2009, yes!

The Expendables (2010)
I know it got awful reviews, but it wasn't too bad for an action flick. 6/10.

The Strangers (2008)
A single murder scene stretched out over an entire film. Good suspense bits, but the plot was far too thin. And what's with not even seeing Gemma Wards face?!

Vampires Suck (2010)
I knew it'd suck. The writers behind it need to be kicked out of hollywood. 

Les Diaboliques, although I agree its not horror as such. But as far as suspense films go, it is very masterfully made IMHO. and you know actually has characters and stuff.

Best car chases? I'll be back :) 

I actually didn't like the tumbler chase in batman begins although the tumbler itself was awesome: it was obviously way too heavy to go across rooftops, plus nolan hadn't really found his stride as an action director yet.

the weight of the thing vs roof tops didn't even bother me a bit. what did bother me was the ridiculous amounts of property damage along with law enforcement injury (and possibly death? a few cruisers flip right over and land upside down).

ok, sure, bruce will probably find some way to funnel money back to repair the damage he caused, and sure, some of those police officers may have been dirty, but there's no guarantee there.
otoh, this kind of property damage level seems to always occur in superhero films and no one seems to even notice. :P 

Super heroes are the real villains. 

just think of what Snyder is going to do with superman, in terms of property damage. lol. dudes chucking skyscrapers full of people at each other I'd imagine.


at least alfred told bruce he was being an asshole in Begins. but yeah that whole scene also shows the problem that even if batman won't kill, he definitely will create situations in which people, including cops and bystanders, will die. 

The Incredibles was great. And Watchmen.

ps : car chase list to come after work. 

You guys really like talking about batman and matrix huh. Personally I thought Memento and Inception are in different leagues to the Batman movies. The best thing about The Dark Knight was the music. Although barely enough to save the terrible version of Batman that Nolan & Bale created. Could he be any more of a stiff? Still better than 99% of other comic-to-movies though.

The Matrix is to young males what Twilight is to young females. The last 10mins of the first one was good. I think V for Vendetta was more of a complete movie, that actually made logical sense and didn't feel like it was masturbating to it's own awesomeness.

As for Inception, I know some people don't seem to like it, but I thought it was brilliant. Doesn't make my top 10, due to some miscasting (apart from Leonardo who can do no wrong these days) and too many holes in the plot, but has to be one of the best movies of 2010.

Speaking of superhero movies, I'm looking forward to seeing what Aronofsky does with Wolverine 2. That'll be weird. Thank god he ditched the Robocop reboot. 

Korean action-comedy-western. Pretty good/humorous, if you're into that Korean/Japanese manga style of humor and cool, but the action scenes were pretty awesome really. You could probably get the gist of what is going on without subtitles, but they make the talky parts a lot more interesting to sit through. Also a funny little social commentary based on what the 'treasure' is, unless I just totally read too much into it. I give it 4/5, but probably would give it higher if I paid attention through the whole thing and not just during the action scenes. 

The Good The Bad The Weird 

with no real narrative, but the action scenes are definitely amazingly shot and choregraphed. But you have to know what you're expecting. 

I've already attacked V for Vendetta multiple times on here, but it's just a melodramatic lefty-whiny version of the matrix which imo was overrated and overshadowed much better films. I have no idea how you can consider Inception better than The Dark Knight, TDK was amazing, despite the hype. "Terrible version of Batman?" what! beating up all the guys in the mob-owned club, throwing the mob boss off the roof, tracking the corrupt accountant to hong kong and pwning his ass? TDK Batman was awesome.

agree on Aronofsky: Robocop's a retarded property and I'm glad he's off it. If he does a Wolverine thing not at all connected to the original, that could be cool. He just wants a comic property since Nolan beat him to the Batman reboot. He should be patient, wait 10 years and do his own reboot. Then again Wolverine is probably 2nd to Batman in terms of the potential of the material to be both popular and somewhat dark, though the realistic edge just isn't there. 

Watching the super mega nerdgasm endless directors extended cut of Watchmen was a bloody idiotic idea. 

I thought the original watchmen was too long, and I regret watching both it and 300; both had amazing-seeming trailers which suckered me into paying to see a movie with the occasional amazing action scene and an incomprehensible, ridiculous, over-manly story, full of hollywood cliches and a script set up only to serve action. The only reason I think the new superman will be good is that Nolan will be in control of the story, and Snyder will only do the action, which he is admittedly good at. That and I don't care about the superman property or what happens to it, it's not like Batman where I think they got it "right" or "horribly wrong." 

lots of potential.
I really get a lot of enjoyment from the satirical aspects of what's his names works. I really think he is underrated as a satirist and film maker. not perfect, but pretty good. 

is good fun, as is Staarship Troopers.

Right, car chases. Only going to go back 15 yrs or so, theres a number of good ones before that but I dont think there'd be too much interest in those.

So from that period to now, Ronin set the standard IMHO with its 2 brilliantly shot car chases through narrow european streets. No reliance on fast editing to generate excitement, just a couple of killer car chases.

Since then, Matrix Reloaded definitely had a ripper, the only good scene in the movie too.

I'm also a big fan of the rainstorm car chase shot from the inside of the car in the otherwise only above average We Own the Night.

The TDK and BB car chases were ok but no shot that well. One thing Nolan hasnt quite mastered yet is action scenes, shot too clost to the action and generally chaotically.

The Bourne Supremacy had a decent chase at at the end, even though I'm not a huge fan of the choppy editing style used. But it was definitely exciting.

The best car chase since Ronin though has to be the one in the middle of The Town. Its absolutely spectacularly shot and great to watch on a big screen. The movie also ha the best shootouts since Heat. 

good picks for car chases, I need to add PATHFINDER (lol yes not so great a movie - but it features the only MEDIEVAL CAR CHASE I can think of). 

Re my disappointment in batman's character. It wasn't so much his action sequences and toughness, but more that he was just a really dull character. He had no life to him. I found him to be an unlikable ass, at least in TDK. Bruce Wayne should be charismatic and debonair. Hell, a bit more like James Bond (pre Daniel Craig) would have been fine!

I did still love TDK and BB, BB more so because it showed the beginnings of Batman.

One thing that annoyed me in TDK was, considering this reboot features normal villains, rather than super-villains, Two Face running around with half his face missing was a bit unrealistic for me.

Watchmen was I loved, but way too long and slow paced to watch again. An extended directors cut would be a nightmare.

While Batman has a bigger universe built around him, I think Wolverine is a more likable superhero than Batman. So if Aronosky can create a darker, much more realistic movie with The Wolverine, it'll be a winner. Obviously it's not as bigger movie franchise as Batman, but Nolan had to follow the abysmal Batman & Robin. At least Wolverine Origins was better than that. 

Oh and by the way, watched Martyrs last night, a french horror. Best horror i've seen in years, since probably The Ring and A Tale Of Two Sisters
(j-versions not the US jokes). 

was hilarious. Had pretty good laughs most of the way through, and defo less scary than the US's "The Ring."