action movie freak    
 

The GOOD
Action Movies

Oorah!

2 Fast 2 Furious
2 Guns
3 Days to Kill
13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi
16 Blocks
48 Hours
300
Above The Law
Act of Valor

Alex Cross
Alien
(not "Action")
Aliens
Alien Resurrection
American Sniper
Avengers: Age of Ultron
Avengers: Endgame
Bad Boys
Bad Boys II
Battleship
Beverly Hills Cop
Black Dog
Black Hawk Down
Blade Runner (not "Action")
Born To Fight
Braveheart
Broken Arrow
Bullet to the Head
Captain America:
The First Avenger
Captain America:
The Winter Soldier
Captain America:
Civil War
Casino Royale
Centurion
Charity Hurts
City of Industry
Clear and Present Danger
Cliffhanger
Cobra
COLOMBiANA
Commando
Conan The Barbarian
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Deadpool
Death Race 2000
Demolition Man
Die Hard
Die Hard 2
Die Hard: With A Vengeance
Dirty Harry
District B13
Domino
Dragon Eyes
El Gringo
Enter The Dragon
Excalibur (not "Action")

Executive Decision
Exit Wounds
 Face/Off
Fantastic Four
Fast & Furious
Fast Five
Fast 6
Faster

Final Destination 2
First Blood
Furious 7
Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance
G.I. Joe: Retaliation
G.I. Joe: The Rise of the Cobra
Gladiator
Gone in 60 Seconds
Hansel & Gretel:
Witch Hunters
 Hardcore Henry
Hard to Kill
Haywire
Heat
(1986)
Heat (1995)
Hero
Hobo With A Shotgun
Homefront
Hot Fuzz
Hulk
Hunter Killer
Indiana Jones and the
Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Indiana Jones and the
Last Crusade
Indiana Jones and the
Temple of Doom
Ironclad

Iron Man
Iron Man 2
Iron Man 3
Jack Reacher
Jack Reacher: Never Go Back
Jackie Chan's First Strike
Jason and The Argonauts
John Wick
Judge Dredd
Jupiter Ascending
Jurassic Park
Jurassic Park III
Jurassic World
Kill Bill: Vol 1
Killtro
King Kong (1976)
King Kong (2005)
Kingsman: The Secret Service
Kiss of the Dragon
Kung Fu Hustle
Lethal Weapon
Lethal Weapon 2
Lethal Weapon 3
Lethal Weapon 4
Let the Bullets Fly
Live Free or Die Hard
London Has Fallen
Lone Survivor
LOTR: The Fellowship of The Ring
LOTR: The Two Towers
LOTR: The Return of The King
Mad Max
Mad Max: Fury Road
Mad Max 2:
The Road Warrior
Mandrill

Man On Fire
Marked For Death
Men In Black
Men in Black II
Men In Black 3
Merantau
Midnight Run
Minority Report
Mirageman
Mission: Impossible
Mission: Impossible II
Mission: Impossible III
Mission: Impossible -
Ghost Protocol
Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation
Mission: Impossible - Fallout
Money Train
Montana
Need for Speed
Ninja Assassin
Non-Stop
Olympus Has Fallen
On Deadly Ground
Ong-bak
Ong bak 2
Ong Bak 3
Out for Justice
Parker
Patriot Games
Pitch Black
Point Blank
Point of No Return
Predator
Predators

The Predator
Quantum of Solace
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Rambo: First Blood Part II

Rambo III
Rambo
Raw Deal
Red Dawn (2012)
Red Dawn (1984)
Ride Along
Robocop
Romancing The Stone
Romeo Must Die
Rumble in The Bronx
Runaway
Rush Hour
Rush Hour 2
Rush Hour 3
Sabotage
Sceptre
Sinners and Saints
Sharky's Machine
Sicario
Skyfall
Smokey and The Bandit
Snitch
Snowpiercer
Solomon Kane

Speed
Spy
Starship Troopers
Star Trek
Star Trek:
The Motion Picture
Star Trek:
The Wrath of Khan
Star Trek:
The Voyage Home
Star Wars: Episode IV
- A New Hope
Star Wars: Episode V
 - The Empire Strikes Back
Star Wars: Episode VI
- Return of The Jedi
Star Wars: Episode I
- The Phantom Menace
Star Wars: Episode II
- Attack of the Clones
Star Wars: Episode III
- Revenge of the Sith
Stick
Superman
Superman Returns
Takers
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
Terminator Salvation
The A-Team

The Amazing Spider-Man
The Avengers
The Avengers:
Age of Ultron
The Bourne Identity
The Bourne Supremacy
The Bourne Ultimatum
The Chronicles of Riddick
The Dark Knight Rises
The Equalizer
The Expendables

The Expendables 2
The Expendables 3
The Fast and The Furious
The Fast and The Furious:
Tokyo Drift
The Fugitive
The Gauntlet
The Good, The Bad, The Weird
The Gray Man
The Heat
The Hurt Locker
The Last Stand
The Legend of Drunken Master
The Long Kiss Goodnight
The Lost World: Jurassic Park

The Man From U.N.C.L.E.
The Matrix
The Matrix Reloaded
The Matrix Revolutions
The Mummy
The Mummy Returns
The Mummy: Tomb of the
Dragon Emperor
The Predator
The Professional
The Punisher
The Rock
The Rundown
The Terminator
The Transporter
The Warrior's Way
They Live
Thor
Thor: The Dark World
To Live and Die in L.A.
Total Recall (1990)
Transformers
Transformers:
Dark of the Moon

Transformers:
Age of Ultron
Transporter 2
Transporter 3
Triple Threat
Tron
True Lies
Unchained
Under Siege
Under Siege 2: Dark Territory
Undisputed II: Last Man Standing
 Un
disputed III: Redemption
Universal Soldier
Universal Soldier:
The Return
Universal Soldier: Regeneration
Walking Tall
Wanted
War
World War Z
Wu Xia
X-Men
X-Men 2
X-Men: The Last Stand
X-Men Origins: Wolverine

 

What are the Action Movie Essentials?

»At least one BIG, beefy, good looking HERO . . .
(male or female) They can be a one-man force of destruction, or lead a group of other big, beefy types. No girly men or wimpy chicks!

 

. . . Who's on the Right Side Whatever side they're on is the right side. Even when they're 'bad' they're not really bad, or there are worse people the Hero is fighting. Action Movies that deliver the most satisfying experience do so when there are lessons to be taught.

. . . With Skills Whatever the movie's about, it usually comes down to mano a mano, but the more things our Hero's proficient at, the better. We want to be impressed that they know how to use every weapon with accuracy, and how to operate any vehicle. Examples: Ripley operating the powerloader in Aliens, and the total BAD ASS Johnny Strong in Sinners & Saints, which shows how important it is to be able to shoot with accuracy in an epic gun battle in the street.




. . . Who Makes a BIG DOG Entrance One of my favorite aspects of the Hero is the BIG DOG Entrance. It can seem naturally dramatic like Indiana Jones' face moving from shade to sunlight in the intro of Raiders, or staged to great effect like Morpheus' introduction with lightning and thunder in The Matrix. It can also be understated yet breathtaking like the very female shot of the edge of Ripley's sleeping face becoming the planet's surface in Aliens. You know it when you see it, and there's no doubt who's in charge. Best of the best: Dutch smoking a cigar in a red shirt, getting off the helicopter last in Predator.

»Explosions and Chases
With vehicle chases, a mayhem factor is a plus. The more public property destroyed, the more pedestrians nearly run over, landmarks knocked down, buildings driven through, and the more vehicles totaled along the way, the more we like it. "[We] feel the need for speed." High-speed chases are their own Action Movie Subgenre, but fast cars aren't the only things we want to see in a Chase Movie. Examples: One of the best Bond Movie chases is Pierce Brosnan smashing a tank through St. Petersburg in GoldenEye. The A Good Day to Die Hard chase scene is insane, but we're not invested . . . Another is the Terminator 3 chase scene, with multiple levels of holy crapness and real fear of being caught up to by that thing! Plus they're both crazy indestructible, so ramp up the damage!


Explosions are required. Blow shit up! I would say that's why we love Rambo movies so much—50% Stallone, 50% explosions.


»Boy Toys

Gadgets 
We don't mind if our Hero has a little help when it has a cool factor. Who didn't love the sessions Bond had with "Q"?!  From a homing pill to Little Nellie to the fully-loaded Aston Martin DB5, nothing is what it seems:
pens, watch, shoes, sunglasses. It's the closest thing to magic, the most fun use of technology, and even more ways to kill!  (List of Bond Movie Gadgets)  Examples: Exploding chewing gum from Mission: Impossible. And how cool was the hallway illusion in Ghost Protocol!?

Weapons Another thing we love about Action Movies is the use of the latest and greatest weapons: the stuff that doesn't belong on the streets; the shit they make up just for the movie (more reasons to love Predator); no-limit firepower to decimate the bad guys like The Expendables' AA12.  And we'll take quantity over quality so our Hero never runs out of weapons like the fully loaded walking arsenals Neo and Trinity are in The Matrix (Who needs to reload?), or the hilariously over-prepared Tackleberry or Rosewood (Police Academy and Beverly Hills Cop). By the way, if you've never heard this scene from The Matrix in Surround Sound, you'll want to buy Surround Sound after you do . . .


Vehicles Anything with the Wow-I-wish-I-had-that factor. Examples: The GTO from XXX or any James Bond car. Blurring the line between reality and fantasy, tricked-out machines help our Hero do more. Start with a car, but we want to see yachts, planes, tanks, spaceships, submarines, helicopters, semis, motorcycles, you name it. (Like "Shock and Awe" from The Expendables 2—There's a Land Rover Defender under there somewhere.)

The Expendables 2 Shock and Awe Land Rover Defender

If it moves, mount weapons on it, and let's go!



»A Close Quarters Fight
Hailed as the best Bond close-quarters fight (until Spectre?), the battle between Sean Connery and Robert Shaw in From Russia With Love is typical of this Action Movie staple. Captain America 'threw down' and decimated a pack of henchmen in an elevator in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, much like elevator scene in the the woefully underrated Quantum of Solace. From the colorful and creative hallway fight with Jason Statham against two men wielding axes (beautifully shot from every angle but most cleverly from above) in The Transporter, to The Raid: Redemption's car fight scene or to the nearly impossibly tight fight scene in the prison  bathroom stall—it doesn't matter where you are, when the shit hits the fan, it's on!

 

»A High Killcount
Bad men dying in lots of different ways. Oh yeah, we count how many. The  more different ways people die in the film, the better we like it. In Rambo, he kills 81! (Here's AllOuttaBubbleGum.com's @Kain424's Rambo killcount from their YouTube channel with the same name.)

»The Gnarly Kill  
Beyond painful, it makes every an Action Movie Freak squirm just a little. We like lots of ordinary kills, but there's got to be at least one that makes the audience exclaim in appreciation. Example: Rambo III's exploding 'piñata'. And that's why you gotta have the "R" rating!


»Trash Talking
True Action Movies have to have it! Even with all of the above, the Hero's got to rub it in somebody's face. Confidence is good but Cockiness is better. He's good, he knows it, and you're gonna hear about it. Example: Any Steven Seagal movie.  Even more fun is when they talk trash to build up the Hero's Bad-Ass Reputation. The more other characters talk about and fear the Hero, the more fun it is when he finally throws down. Example: R. Lee Ermey's speech before Seagal marches in and blows the place to hell in On Deadly Ground. If the movie's great but nobody's face got rubbed in it, we leave the theater feeling slightly unsatisfied.


»Cheesy One-Liners
The most essential Action Movie ingredient has to be the Cheesy One-Liners. I don't even have to pick one. You've already said your favorite out loud. It's the one thing that bothers the non-Action-Movie-Freaks the most. They complain that it's a cliché. No, it's an Essential! What good is being a total Bad Ass if you have to keep quiet about it.  Save that for War movies and Westerns. Here are my favorite Action Movie Quotes. Without doubt, the most famous of all is (say it with me) "Yippee-ki-yay, motherfucker!"

»Camaraderie and Dominance
Appreciation and respect from other guys while being the Big Dog, the Alpha Male, the Captain of the Team. Let's be real, guys have a dog mentality and love being in a pack. They need that bonding. If there's a group of big guys, and we're not sure which one is the real star or the Hero of the movie, that's a problem. The movie won't be nearly as good. Example: Even with a cast as great as the one in The Expendables, you know who's the star, and with women, there can be only one 'Baddest Bitch'.  (Here's the best Dominance scene I've seen. Statham throws down!!)


»A Whiner 
Part of the camaraderie and dominance is the contrast of the Hero with The Whiner.  Heroism highlighted by cowardice. Example:  There is no better, or more-loved portrayal of a whiner than Bill Paxton as Private Hudson in Aliens. "Game over, man. Game over."


and the reason for it all . . .

»The RUSH!!
A really GOOD Action Movie must make you leave the theater feeling PUMPED UP!  That's what we go for. And that's why we don't want the downer ending like Elysium. Life is a game. We came to win!

With all that in mind, here are a few of The BEST Action Movies . . .

 

GOOD Action Movies
This is a partial listing of just the major movies that are the most popular. tom cruise newpaper headline Tom Crusing at 5,000 feet
 

 

 

Mission: Impossible Movies

Tom Cruise has cemented the top good Action Movies position for me with the Mission: Impossible series. This series has always been a little ahead of its time. I remember having that realization after M:I 3, and they have continued to Wow! me, and I frequently re-watch them all. The first movie is just perfect!  I love every second of it. The second is John Woo! John Woo! And Ethan is such a bad ass in it.

The Mission: Impossible movies deliver everything the Bond movies do (incredible cars, exotic locations. beautiful people in elegant clothes, high-stakes danger, etc., plus more humor), and the M:I  theme song in its many mutations is ever cooler than the Bond theme. (Love the Tiësto remix.)

As a "Secret Agent", Ethan Hunt brings everything we loved James Bond for—more, since they gave up gadgets—along with the elements that make the Jason Bourne movies so popular, and he's not the ladies man Bond used to be.  Not only is Ethan Hunt the coolest, but Tom has brought some kick-ass female characters to major roles in these films as well.  Ilsa Faust, most recently, was impressive as hell!  Love him for that.

For Action with a capital "A" who can compare to Tom? There really is no one like him.  There are the big, more muscular Action Figures but Tom keeps maintains the leading-man sophistication with everything he does. Plus, he just makes some really cool choices.  Few people know what Action Movie Freaks like Tom does. The thing I think I enjoy the most is the 'impossible' element that gets described and then they add that's it's even worse than that.

 

Tom does a lot of his own stunts.  Just take a look at these memorable moments (click on the photo to find out more). 

 Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible trapeze scene Tom Cruise rock climbing in Mission: Impossible 2 Tom Cruise bridge explosion in Misison: Impossible 3 Tom Cruise outside the Burj Khalifa in Dubai

And there are so many more indelible images stuck in our minds (the helicopter blade near his neck in Mission:Impossible (1996), the mind-blowing motorcycle stunt work in John Woo's Mission: Impossible II (2000), him running flat out in Mission: Impossible III (2006)—something that's become a staple, the car crashing and flipping over him in the sandstorm in Mission:Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011), and I am sure you have your favorites [like him hanging onto the side of an airplane in Mission:Impossible - Rogue Nation 2015)].  Click the photo below to find out how the stunt was done.

Tom Cruise strapped to a plane when it takes off for real in Mission Impossible Rouge Nation

Mission: Impossible - Fallout  hits theatres July, 27th 2018. It's sure to be over the top. These movies stand the test of time and for pure Action entertainment, you can't top Mission: Impossible movies.  And don't disagree with me, Kittridge, because . . .  you've never seen me very upset!  Seriously, the world is his oyster—Tom Cruise I mean (Ethan Hunt or not).

 


 

John Wick Movies 

Now that there are 2 of them, and the 2nd one is arguably better than the first. I like the first one so much, it's hard to choose John Wick: Chapter 2 over John Wick, but there is so much to love about the second one that takes it to another level. Really, did you imagine the Action could be that good? It's 87eleven and all but the American muscle opening car chase is a such high bar to rise to, you wonder how good the rest of the movie could be but the Action sequences keep on coming.

Kudos to Keanu Reeves for all the target practice he put in. Sure makes those head shots look real. Aaaah, so much to love. The pencil!! We finally get to see him use a pencil for more than one Gnarly Kill.  He's commented that John Wick: Chapter 3 will be 'Escape from New York'. Got to wonder how literal that comment is in terms of plot and Action.

How cool is this poster . . .

 

 


 

James BOND Movies 

For decades, our once-yearly Action injection. The British bad ass with every resource the U.K. had to offer. The ordinary man as super hero. With training, you too could don an impeccably tailored suit, jump into a pimped-out foreign sports car, and leave a trail of dead bodies and broken hearts in your pursuit of evil bent on world domination.  The highest possible stakes always hooked us. Save the world, James!

Licensed to kill. There's a concept. The ultimate weapon, the various incarnations of the character reflected the times. The latest, Daniel Craig, used free running in the intro to Casino Royale. Finally, a Bond who seemed physically lethal. LOVED loved loved that the guy was the 'bikini babe' for once, emerging from the ocean like Ursula Andress did in Dr. No.

There are so many great Bond movies—each of them enjoyable for different reasons. Here are my favorites:


 Skyfall
 Casino Royale
 Quantum of Solace
 Live and Let Die
 GoldenEye
 Goldfinger . . .

It's hard to stop listing them. As popular a franchise as Action may ever have. The formula for these movies encompasses all the aspects of the GOOD Action movie, and we waited each year with great anticipation for the new car, the latest gadgets, and the cheesy one liners (I know you know this one below . . . ). Bond Movies are an Action Movie Subgenre all their own!


Skyfall was fantastic (even with what they make fun of here, it satisfied with extreme Bond-iness)! And "Spectre"  (6 Nov 2015) and "Bond 25" are coming up and the stories are supposed to be linked. Daniel Craig has signed on for both but we'll probably get a new Bond after that. Any guesses on who?  Tell me on Facebook . . .

How about Scotsman Paul Telfer ?

 


 

Guardians of the Galaxy Star Lord character posterGuardians of the Galaxy Movies

You didn't think it could be as good as it was. It was SO MUCH FUN!  Chris Pratt gets a lot of the credit for being such a down-to-earth-yet-bad-ass hero. How refreshing it was to leave the theater having enjoyed the movie so completely. Nothing to nit pick. Just sheer Saturday matinee Summer fun.

Writer/Director James Gunn returns for Vol. 2, but Nicole Perlman was not listed on the script this time around. (She was listed as doing a treatment for a Black Widow movie!)

 Guardians of the Galaxy
 Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

 

 

 

 

 


 

Deadpool

What a hit!  As anti-female as I found it, and anti-love, I still enjoyed the hell out of it and paid to see it twice. They treated Gina Carano as badly as they did in Fast & Furious 6. What am I talking about? The nip slip. The fact that his girlfriend is a hooker. The teenage girl jokes. But who cares. The Action was fan-fucking-tastic.  It was raunchy, and after a long phase of Action Movies that should have been rated "R" and weren't, it was refreshing to be back in the muck. 

Ryan Reynolds has signed on for the next 2 movies. That's great because he so owned the role it's hard to imagine anyone else would have been that good. Since 2016 was a dry year for Action Movies, this movie was even more of a stand out. 

 Deadpool
 Deadpool 2
 Deadpool 3

 

 


 

 

 

RAMBO Series

I'd BE Rambo if I could be. Okay I'm too afraid to be Rambo, but if I was Rambo, I wouldn't be afraid of anything. He's not just a Super Soldier, he's an army. 3 words: wall of mud. He's so capable and skilled that weapons seem like toys or accessories. It's more than a little sad that he's a Vietnam vet having a hard time in a reality that doesn't involve killing . . . 

"When you're pushed, killing's as easy as breathing."
 

We Action Movie Freaks are a blood thirsty lot. We want someone to push him just so we can watch all hell break loose. STALLONE!  (Seriously—That's a sentence.)

All the movies are great but Rambo III holds a special place in my heart.
First Blood (comments at the end regarding Rambo 5)
Rambo: First Blood Part II
Rambo III
Rambo, and woo-hoo! . . .
Rambo:Last Blood  Yes, No?! Please? but not that name.
 


 


 

STAR WARS Series

I doooo love the Action/Sci-fi combo. It's so Saturday-afternoon-matinee good! The first, first lines I ever learned:  "Did you hear that? They've shut down the main reactor. We'll be destroyed for sure. This is madness!"

Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope  Nobody's cooler than Darth Vader. Maybe some day something will come along—won't that be exciting!

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back  The Death Star and Imperial Walkers have to be on everyone's list of favorites. They were/are just breathtaking. 

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi  Ewoks—not so much. 

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace  Everyone hated Jar Jar Binks.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones  Loved Watto! and Yoda the mother-fing bad ass with a light saber! At the midnight showing (the night before release) that I went to, the moment he whipped out his light saber and started fighting got the biggest crowd reaction of anything in the movie.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith  The movie that brought the story full circle. It was great to see what came before but I think the performance of Hayden Christensen hurt the movie. I didn't care for Natalie Portman in her role either.  They're amazingly beautiful but both came off as not experienced enough for their roles and  had no chemistry.  Hate on me for that if you must.

Star Wars Episode VIII cast

Star Wars: Episode VII: The Force Awakens. . . Of course we'd love to see solo movies about Han Solo and  Boba Fett! You know everyone will go see them. I was most psyched for Oscar Isaac. What a talent!! He blew me away in Sucker Punch and everything after. But, surprise, surprise, Daisy Ridley was large and in charge. It was AMAZING to see a girl in the driver's seat, and Han Solo's Millennium Falcon at that. I would not have thought it would end that way. I really loved that they made us excited to see the next installment (as they should).

You know you want to go to Disney's Star Wars theme park. How cool is that?! How long before we have a Jabba the Hutt movie, or a Greedo movie, or, a Chirrut Îmwe (Donnie Yen) movie.

Star Wars theme park Disneyworld

Star Wars cast

 


 

INDIANA JONES Quadrilogy

Mola Ram toy figure
Raiders of the Lost Ark golden idol sceneThe Bible of Adventure, Chapters 1, 2, 3, and 4.
I think they should have left it alone but we'll see if Stephen Spielberg sees it through. He's gotten our hopes up before on things and then passed them off to someone else or just let go. 


Raiders of the Lost Ark 
Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom 
Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade  and 
Indiana Jones and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Indiana Jones 5  Harrison Ford and Steven Spielberg(!) are on board

 


 

ALIEN Phenomenon

Aaaah, the Action-Adventure / Sci-Fi / Horror Combo Meal!  Intergalactic Size! Tasty. As good as Alien was, Aliens proved a sequel can be better.

However, Alien³ disappointed us all (weren't you secretly hoping somehow the Colonial Marines in Aliens would come back to life—that it was all just a nightmare?).

Alien Resurrection grew on me. Hated it at first but love it now, and it deserves special attention.  How cool is it that Sigourney Weaver actually made that basketball shot?! I made that my first-ever blog post.

Alien
Aliens
Alien³
Alien vs. Predator
Alien: Resurrection
Alien vs. Predator
Prometheus
Alien: Covenant

I think the popularity of the series can be attributed in large part to our incredible fear of the creature. It spawned a ridiculous amount of spin-offs as if we would never tire of it.  Finally Ridley Scott said no more, and went in a different creature direction with Prometheus.  After seeing it, I am still undecided about it being an "Alien" movie without the Alien. I suspect our biggest fear, deep down, is something human-like . . . The good news is Prometheus sure opened the door for lots more to come. Whether it will be any good remains to be seen. I was not happy with Prometheus, but then, it wasn't an Action Movie. 

And neither will this be: "Untitled Neill Blomkamp Alien Project" (2017). It looks dark and weird and I already hate it.

I really don't get why there hasn't been a movie focused on the Colonial Marines. That's the shit we ate up!!

 


DIE HARD Series

What a great series! The first is the best (but the fourth is a close second) and features probably the most-popular action movie quote:


"Come out to the coast, we'll get together, have a few laughs . . . " 
LOL okay, not that one, I know.  This one:



"Yippee-ki-yay Mother Fucker!"

John McClane's cowboy cop antics personify the American Hero spirit. He's determined, resourceful, and recklessly fearless. At times you wonder whether he just believes in himself that completely, or whether he's just going for it, living in the moment and making it up as he goes along. The main reason we like this character so much is that he's the average man, and that makes us all feel like we would be heroes if we were in his shoes (or bare feet).  He's everyone's favorite SUPER COP (one of my Action Movie subgenres).

Die Hard
Die Hard 2
(aka "Die Harder")
Die Hard: With A Vengeance
Live Free or Die Hard
  
but not . . .
A Good Day to Die Hard

Die Hard Year One

 

THE EXPENDABLES Trilogy + . . .  
To have so many of our Action Figures in one movie just blew our minds. Stallone KNOWS Action. In the documentary on the making of The Expendables Mr. Stallone gives us all we need to know on Action Movies and what makes them great. These movies are so enjoyable because he knows what we want and gives us to us in spades. I hope there are more than 3 . . .

The Expendables
The Expendables 2

The Expendables 3
 
The Expendables 4

 




The MATRIX Trilogy

The first one was a masterpiece and should stand alone. A perfect movie. The second and third, while welcome and really good, never surpassed the first.

The Matrixred pill and blue pill from The Matrix movie
The Matrix Reloaded
The Matrix Revolutions

It should never be re-made.

I was re-watching old Star Trek episodes and the idea for The Matrix was apparent in the pilot episode: "The Cage", and in "The Enemy Within".

 

 

 


 

Arnold as the Terminator

The TERMINATOR Quadrilogy + . . .

It doesn't get much more Bad Ass than this:  After the semi chasing the motorcycle crashes in the aqueduct, the T-2 emerges through the flames. As one audience member in my showing shouted out in amazement and appreciation . . . "Unscathed!"

These movies have it all. An Action/Horror/SciFi trinity, they opened a can of our worst fears:  Killer robots, a nuclear apocalypse, the end of civilization, domination by machines, and various unstoppable terminators masquerading as human. The guns and machines alone are cool, but add Arnold and it's Action Movie history. And surprise, surprise, the sequels just kept getting better and better. Twenty minutes in to T3 and I felt like I already had double-the-ticket-price worth of entertainment. Terminator Salvation didn't quite measure up, but it had tremendous shoes to fill.  I still really enjoyed it, bought it and watched it several times after.

What we're waiting for is "the war" when the robots take over. What are they waiting for?! Give it to us already. 

The Terminator
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
Terminator Salvation
Terminator: Genisys



 

Nicolas Cage's star on the Hollywood Walk of FameThe ROCK

"Welcome to The Rock!"
Starring . . .

  • Nicolas Cage

  • Sean Connery

  • Ed Harris

  • Michael Biehn

  • David Morse

  • William Forsyth

  • John ("Dr. Cox") McGinley

  • Danny Nucci, and more! This movie is WAY underrated. It has it all . . . and, Nicholas Cage's delivery is as entertaining as it gets. Like so many really good Action Movies, it's filmed in San Francisco (even better: on Alcatraz Island). Bruckheimer's best blockbuster! Although some might argue for Bad Boys 2. 

More love for The Rock . . .

 


 

 

JACK REACHER Movies

Tom Cruise knows Action Movies. Covering all the Action Movie Essentials, Tom's Action Movie Bad Ass status is as bona fide as it can get with these movies.  Not only is Tom an Action Movie Bad Ass but, he brings Bad Ass female characters to life as well.  Here's Cobie Smulders as Army Major Susan Turner in an all-out fight. [This character, and the character of Ilsa Faust in Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol are just two of the reasons Tom Cruise is nominated as an Action Rebel by the Artemis Women in Action Film Festival.]

From IMDb:  "Jack Reacher is a fictional protagonist of a series of novels, novellas, and short stories, by British author Lee Child. A former Major in the United States Army Military Police Corps, Reacher roams the United States taking odd jobs and investigating suspicious and frequently dangerous situations. Most of the novels are set in the United States, in locales ranging from major metropolitan areas like New York City and Los Angeles to small towns in the Midwestern and Southern United States. To date, Reacher's travels outside the US have taken him to rural England (The Hard Way), London (Personal), and Paris, France.

Paramount Pictures hired Academy-Award-nominated screenwriter Josh Olson to adapt One Shot, under the title Jack Reacher. Christopher McQuarrie, Oscar-winning screenwriter for The Usual Suspects was then brought in to re-write Olson's draft. It was announced in July 2011 that Tom Cruise - a 5' 7" tall actor - would play Reacher, who is 6' 5" tall in the books. Lee Child was quoted as saying, 'Reacher's size in the books is a metaphor for an unstoppable force, which Cruise portrays in his own way.' "

That is too true!  Plus, it's not as cool if a giant guy beats up on people, now is it? These movies fall under the subgenre Super Soldier.  The character of Jack Reacher is just a really, 'good' guy. It's the hero thing in spades. Doing the right thing is really satisfying to watch. Doesn't hurt that the Action, especially the Fight Scenes, are all-out, creative, and look painful as hell LOL.

Jack Reacher
Jack Reacher: Never Go Back

 


 

BAD BOYS Series

Wise cracking was never so good as when Martin and Will Smith get together to get on each other's nerves.  I love these movies (partly because they are filmed in Miami). The Action is top notch . . . MICHAEL BAY! If you love Bad Boys, but never saw Hot Fuzz, drop everything and watch it. The credits list Don Abbatiello, Hank Amos, Jennifer Badger, Charlie Brewer, Janine Mitchell, Michale Trisler, and Jeff Brockton as "stunt driver (uncredited)".  WOW! No credit. That was the best thing about this movie and they get no credit. Hollywood!  They need to put the outtakes in the credits and show which stuntmen did which stunt. We want to see that! Jackie Chan's career is proof of that.

Bad Boys
Bad Boys II
Bad Boys for Life is now set for 2018.

 




The DIRTY HARRY Series

Often (so often) imitated, but never equaled. The wise-ass, big-gun, no-bullshit movie hero we all wish we could be, but don't have Clint's attitude to pull off.  I never get tired of watching him chew on that hot dog while walking and shooting.  Can't a guy even grab a quick lunch?  "Nobody, I mean nobody, puts ketchup on a hot dog."  (And, forgive me, Mr. Schwarzenegger, but it was a hot dog, not a hamburger.) 

Dirty Harry
Magnum Force
Sudden Impact
The Enforcer
Welcome to the Jungle (Yes, that's Jim Carrey doing Clint Eastwood  . . . )


 




STAR TREK Movies

About as inconsistently good or bad as the Batman movies. Loved the 2nd movie, and the 4th, but none of the others until 2009's tribute to the original TV Series that delivered everything you loved the original show for.

Wrath of Khan owes much of its appeal to  Moby Dick and to Ricardo Montalaban (sadly, every time I hear his name I hear "soft Corinthian leather"). 

My picks: 

Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
Star Trek
Star Trek Into Darkness
Star Trek Beyond



X-Men movie charactersX-MEN Movies
The Mutant idea is so cool . . . someday we may mutate into superheroes. It's so easy to identify with being on the outside of society—when you're a teenager, you sometimes feel like a mutant. The whole series owes a great deal of its appeal to the comic books, of course, but Hugh Jackman's intensity and the special effects are the bulk of it for me. I'd had enough after The Wolverine and didn't see X-Men: Days of Future Past, however, I enjoyed The Wolverine. I think Hugh Jackman was borderline on age. I didn't think he should do another one but then along came the trailer for Logan, and wow!

X-Men:  X2
X-Men: The Last Stand
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
X-Men First Class
The Wolverine
X-Men: Days of Future Past . . . I stopped watching after this one. REALLY didn't want to see Jennifer Lawrence.
Logan

 


RIDDICK Series

That's right: "Richard B. Riddick, convicted felon, murderer." The bad guy as good guy.

"You made 3 mistakes . . ."
One of the most quotable series ever.

And an airborne, spinning, double-bladed decapitation!  What a fight scene!! If you're not overly impressed, then give Vin Diesel the credit for making it look possible.  I'd love to know the fight choreographer who came up with that!  That whole prisoners, guards, and "them" fight scene is as good as it gets.

Pitch Black
The Chronicles of Riddick

Animated: The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury
Riddick did not go to the Underverse, so what was the point?!

The Chronicles of Riddick lenser

 


 

cast from Predator

PREDATOR Movies

They're really big men with really big guns, and they're scared—what chance do you have?

"RUN!! GO! Get to the chopper!"
"Get to da chappaaaa!"
"Bill-lee get me a way outta dis hohl"

Pred-da-ta has got to be one of the best-ever Arnold-accent movies! So quotable, so cool. It doesn't get any better than this! The MUSIC!!! The creature—Stan Winston's genius (RIP) "If it bleeds, we can kill it." Apparently, only Arnold can. Love the military speak:

"We move. Five-meter spread. No sound."

Predator  (Predator 2 sucked!)
Alien vs. Predator
Predators
took us back to the jungle! 

The Predator—being billed as a sequel—is being directed by Shane Black "Hawkins".

 



Iron Man Movies
The culmination of so many years of wanting to see our comic book heroes onscreen. In The Avengers, when they all formed a circle in the street to work together as a team it was like the joy of reading comics just jumped off the pages and came to life!  The Avengers movie really delivered in every way. The Hulk was the star of the show, but the movie came off as 'Iron Man 3' because Robert Downey, Jr. really held his own among all the super heroes. 

Iron Man
Iron Man 2
Iron Man 3
  


 




The Avengers Movies
The culmination of so many years of wanting to see our comic book heroes onscreen. In The Avengers, when they all formed a circle ("assemble") in the street to work together as a team it was like the joy of reading comics just jumped off the pages and came to life!  The Avengers movie really delivered in every way. The Hulk was the star of the show, but the movie came off as 'Iron Man 3' because Robert Downey, Jr. really held his own among all the super heroes. 

Thor
Captain America: The First Avenger
The Avengers
Thor: The Dark World
Avengers: Age of Ultron

In the works: Avengers: Infinity War - Part I (2018)

 

 



 

300

A beautifully stylized look at ancient warfare and a moving portrayal of a mythical battle, 300 was a love affair with the male form and athleticism. A slo-mo show of graceful strength and a pageant of death, this movie celebrated the stuff the legend was made of: A last-stand fight of raw power, and dying with honor despite being impossibly outnumbered (plus holy shitness on the killing and violence level!). 

300 


(300: Rise of an Empire sucked!)

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

Starship Troopers tatoos

Dizzy aka Isabel Flores from RoughnecksSTARSHIP TROOPERS
The oh-so-pretty Casper Van Dien, and my favorite female character "'Dizzy' Flores". A great movie followed by an addicting CGI TV series with a killer intro: Roughnecks: The Starship Troopers Chronicles. (Sadly, Starship Troopers 2 should have just been a play, not an Action/Adventure/Horror movie, and Starship Troopers 3: Marauder was released straight to DVD.)  The first movie is a classic though, and regardless of the sequels, it's often imitated and deserves a special place here.

Starship Troopers
Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation 
Not good.
Starship Troopers 3: Marauders (haven't seen it yet)

" . . . but they will face an enemy more devastating than any ever imagined" with the worst, weakest weapons possible. lol LOVE this movie!



Transporter the movie stunt

The TRANSPORTER Triology 

Luc Besson
is so awesome. He not only wrote this series, he also wrote:
(1990) La Femme Nikita (also the Director)
(1993) Point of No Return (kick-ass remake of La Femme Nikita)
(1994) Leon: The Professional (also the Director)
(1997) The Fifth Element (also the Director)
(1998) Taxi
(2000) Taxi 2 [and the "scenario" for Taxi 3 (2003) and Taxi 4 (2007)]
(2002) The Transporter (writing credit shared with Robert Mark Kamen)
(2004) District B13
(2008) Taken, Taken (2012)
(2011) Colombiana (directed by Transporter 3's Director Olivier Megaton)
(2012) Lockout (Cool idea—should have been good—but yikes! was it bad)
(2014) 3 Days to Kill (super-underrated: Kevin Costner killed!)
(2015) Lucy (Scarlett Johansson gave solid performance and raked it in at the box office doing better than The Rock in Hercules. How's that for grrrl power!?)

And that's just the good stuff I've seen.  He really got the French to the top of the Action Movie game, and hit it out of the park with this everyman's Bond, James Bond. "Rule Number 2: No Names." Yeah, he's too cool for that shit.  (All real stunt, too, in the first one! Impressive!!)  Directors Louis Leterrier and Corey Yuen have lots of fun with this. Love Besson's mix of Comedy with Action. Out of everyone I know, he seems to 'get' the Action fan best.  He knows what we want and delivers, never leaving out the cheese. Gotta have the cheese! Rub their face in it.  He also wrote Lockout (2012), which looked like it would be exactly the kind of movie Action Movie Freaks were hungry for, but it disappointed. I think if it had an Actor with more muscles and more attitude, and there was a bit more to getting the girl out, it might have satisfied. 

The Transporter series never disappoint and I've watched them over and over and still do. 

The Transporter
Transporter 2
Transporter 3

The Transporter Refueled introduced us to a father-son duo (much like the dynamic between Inspector Tarconi and Frank Martin) that was really enjoyable. It seemed like a hommage to the first movie, and was nonetheless enjoyable even though Ed Skrein is no Jason Statham. He did a good job, but the shoes were awfully big to fill. Maybe the second one will give us some distance for him to make it his own. My audience clapped after. If you're a Transporter lover, it satisfied.

 



Ninja Assassin Rain does a flip

NINJA ASSASSIN
A virtuoso performance by Jong Ji-hoon aka "Rain" as "Raizo".  One of the most intense opening scenes ever, the blood-splatter title set the tone on this freight train to injury. Raizo takes a beating and then some. Seems as much about what he can take as what he can dish out, but you have to dish more to win, and does he! A full sampling of fighting skills and weapons are on display. I just kept thinking "One wrong move and something or someone's getting sliced for real. The ending/fight scene features fire as a character in breathtaking shot after breathtaking shot. Rain, Yuen Woo Ping, and 87eleven set the bar really high with this one.

Ninja Assassin

 

 


Excalibur cherry blossoms scene of knights riding to O Fortuna

 

EXCALIBUR
Like beauty seen only in dreams! The scenery, the armor, the actors/characters, the colors of the sky, the sense of mystery and the mystical. Of course, a truly great story to begin with, but what a vision of it. The knights on horses thundering through the alee of cherry blossoms to "O Fortuna" was pure magic . . . as in the charm of making "Anál nathrach, orth' bháis's bethad, do chél dénmha" uh-huh. Well, that clears it up. Sounds like ah nal nahd drrrach ooothbas bethood dockiel tienveh to me. This movie is the stuff childhood fantasies are made of.  It enchants every time I watch it. Nicol Williamson as Merlin steals the show. Love narrated movies. They have a more personal, I'm-telling-you-a-story feeling. And: gory battle scenes! (nothing was as good for me until Braveheart).

Excalibur

 


 

Robocop movie poster ROBOCOP Movies

Nice legs! It seemed like people thought of Robocop as a 'cute little movie' but it has become a cult classic. People LOVE it. As recently as Cop Out, Tracy Morgan used a line from it as part of his hilarious homage ("hommidge") scenes.

Part of it must be our fascination with robots and machines, and maybe the popularity of the robot dance (kidding) because the way he moves is a big part of the appeal. The rest must be his total UNSTOPPABILITY! He's the kind of cop cops need to be. Shoot at him, it won't do you any good. There's a sense of humor to the whole thing, especially when the bigger machine gets taken out. The biggest part of why we loved him was (of course) the machine's humanity—It's still the cop who died under there, and he remembers who killed him. Peter Weller has a great face for this and an awesome voice. His voice adds as much to it as Harrison Ford's narration does to Blade Runner. The movie didn't take itself too seriously and that's why it worked. They were having fun, we were having fun. It was one of those campy cool '80s movies like Runaway starring Tom Selleck and Gene Simmons. For sheer action, it's still fun to watch on a Saturday afternoon.

It helps that it was directed by Paul Verhoeven (Total Recall and Starship Troopers). "Dead or alive, you're coming with me!"

Joel Kinnaman played RoboCop in the remake and he was good (although the movie was disappointing overall). And, they are building a Robocop statue in Detroit (I contributed). Here is a link to the kickstarter project

Robocop (1987)
RoboCop (2014)

When a glimpse of the new armor came out, there were a lot of fans who did not like it.  Not robot-y enough I suspect. Too Batman-ish? But then . . . they showed that they are going to have the original armor too. THAT was so important. The movie looked like they really know ACTION and delivered on the action alone.  LOVE that robotic walk. They had a great cast with Gary Olman, Michael Keaton, and Samuel L. Jackson, which should have made it a notch above, but they did not play on his humanity enough which is what makes it work . . .

 


Fast and Furious cars take off

The FAST & The FURIOUS Series

The Car Chase/Race series with the best cars, and a Skank-a-palooza.

"Muscle beats Import, every time."  

These movies are just so much fun.  The cast is great, and since The Rock joined the ensemble, it's not going away. 

Watching Fast Five at midnight on Thursday with a MIAMI crowd was one of the most fun movie-going experiences I've ever had.  The crowd was so into the whole movie, but cheered the most for Tego Calederon and Don Omar.  Nowhere else in North America is the crowd so appreciative of the reggaeton element. This article does a good job of explaining it.

1 The Fast and The Furious
2 2 Fast 2 Furious
3 The Fast & The Furious: Tokyo Drift
4 Fast & Furious
5 Fast Five

6 Fast 6  Follow the movie on instagram.
7 Fast & Furious 7 +Jason Statham, +Kurt Russell , +Tony Jaa, +Djimon  Hounsou, +Ronda Rousey, -Paul Walker :(

Furious 8 NOW SHOWING! If you ask me (which you did by reading my site :-D), these movies were born out of the much-maligned (but awesome) Action Movie classic Gone in 60 Seconds. They took everything good out of that movie and franchised it.

Paul Walker Fast & Furious 7

 


 

Transformers movie Scorponok comes out of the sandTRANSFORMERS Series
Transformers kicked ass!  When Scorponok comes out of the sand . . . and when Barricade gets a running start and transforms into the police car in mid-air it was worth the whole movie! The Autobots vs. Decepticons thing is great, and you know everyone was just waiting to see the Deceptions. The bad guys are definitely the cooler machines.

After watching the original Transformers cartoon series, I became the BIGGEST fan of the sequel "Beast Wars"! Optimus Prime, Megatron (the best evil sarcastic bad-ass ever), Waspenator, Rat Trap, Scorponok, Dinobot . . . Maximals versus Predacons. Doubt it would make as good a movie series though. 

Everyone hated the second Transformers. How bad was it? This bad.  Like a defibrillator to the chest Transformers: Dark of the Moon recharged 3D, and how!  Eye-popping 3D scene after eye-popping 3D scene.  All Michael Bay needs now is a script as good as The Rock was.

Transformers
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
Transformers: Age of Extinction

In Age of Extinction, the Decepticons were too absent and John Goodman. That being said, O. M. G. my eyes and ears took days to recover! It was incredible. Just when I thought they were done, and had peaked, the pushed it beyond all imagining. Even though they borrowed from other movies, they were packing it in (the "kitchen sink" and the whole house neighborhood).

Michael Bay has said he will not direct any more Transformers movies. I think they've run their course, but don't hate on them to me, because SHUT UP AND EAT YOUR AWESOME!  And . . . He changed his mind because here comes:

Transformers: The Last Knight

 


 

Blade Runner movie L.A. street scene

BLADE RUNNER
I know, I know, it's not "Action" but it's so good, so influential . . . A movie so impressive, poetic, and visually stunning, there could not be a follow-up. The absolute coolest look and sets for its time and for a long time after. Entering the theater to enter another world was never more satisfying than seeing this movie on the big screen. We were totally transported to an alien society and futuristic culture of clones and cops. The big argument about this movie is whether Harrison Ford's character knows he's a replicant or not. I think it's clear when Gaff leaves Deckard the origami unicorn, he's telling him he is, and this is why Deckard runs away with Rachel.  What this life might be like for them and how much time they have, are questions we kind of don't want answered (no sequel) because it parallels our own fear of death. We are all replicants because we don't know when our time will end, or when our memories will be washed away "like tears in the rain".

A complete story (not an installment); a work of art that does, and should (no remakes!), stand alone.

Blade Runner
Blade Runner 2049 "Thirty years after the events of the first film, a new blade runner, LAPD Officer K (Ryan Gosling), unearths a long-buried secret that has the potential to plunge what's left of society into chaos. K's discovery leads him on a quest to find Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford), a former LAPD blade runner who has been missing for 30 years."


 

Jason and the Argonauts skeletons

JASON and the ARGONAUTS

For its time (1963), this movie had so many cool special effects that it still holds up today.  For me it was all about the skeletons. This movie (plus Bruce Lee and "kung fu" movies, "The Bridge On The River Kwai", and "Force 10 From Navarrone", and where do I stop. . . ) probably started my love of Action Movies.  The action is freakily good (and awesomely timed) considering a lot of it is stop motion.  If you've never seen it, I have no doubt you'll love it. It's the kind of Saturday afternoon movie that kept you inside when it wasn't raining. Yesterday's Clash of the Titans.

Jason and The Argonauts

This is just a short list.  Check the HIT LIST for much more . . .


 

More to come . . . still working on it . . . . . . . .  



Fellow Freaks 
 

87Eleven Action Design | Chad Stahelski + David Leitch
The Action Elite  Eoin Friel
Action Fanatix
ActionFest  (please bring it back . . . ) | Aaron Norris, Bill Banowsky, Dennis Berman
ActionFlix
Action Reloaded  | Jeff Turner
Alex in Wonderland | Female Action Films/Girls WIth Guns list
AvP Central
AllOuttaBubbleGum  | Brenton Haysom + Tyler Hanson
  Artemis Women in Action Film Festival
Black Ops | Toys
  City on Fire
Exploding Helicopter
Explosive Action
Headquarters 10 | Matthew Kiernan
  Herve Attia
IMCDb Internet Movie Cars Database
IMFDb Internet Movie Firearms Database
IMPDb Internet Movie Plane Database
Iron Dragon TV Action Fest
John J. Rambo
Kain's Korner/Kain's Quest | Brenton Haysom
The London Action Festival  Year 2: June 21-25, 2023
Magnolia Pictures
Man In Hat  | Peter Kaplowski
 
Fandango Movie Clips
Outlaw Vern
Poisonous Monkeys
Predator The Hunted
Rantbo's Repository Ty Guy on Letterboxd | Ty Hanson
Ric Meyers
The Riddick Archive
Screen Junkies
Stallone Zone
The Stunt Pod

Xombie Dirge
Star Store
zeroplate at CHUD


  

Contact Me
ripley@actionmoviefreak.com


Trash talking since 2009


©2009-2023

 


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