Thursday, April 16, 2015

Thursday Movie Picks: Police Movies


Calling all blogs, calling all blogs, [cshh] this week's theme for the Thursday Movie Picks meme is Police Movies [cshh] to find out how to participate click the link to Wandering Through the Shelves [cshh] now check out my picks [cshh]...


Hard Boiled
(1992)
Officer Tequila is a one man army of a cop out to get the bad guys who killed his partner. What you really need to know is that this is Chow Yun Fat starring in a John Woo flick in which they are both at their ridiculous best. Emphasis on the word ridiculous. There are enough bullets fired here to win a war with a small nation and maybe a handful of reloads. And it's magnificent, go-for-broke action.


Deep Cover
(1992)
As the title suggests, our hero goes deep undercover to bust up a drug ring. He goes so deep, well, you just have to see it. In that role is none other than Laurence Fishburne who turns in the second of what would become an amazing trio of performances. His work in Boyz N the Hood came immediately before and his Oscar nominated turn in What's Love Got to Do with It immediately followed. Here, he gets to let it all hang out as the story's protagonist and truly carries us with him into some very dark depths.


The Raid: Redemption/The Raid 2
(2011/2014)
The first movie has almost no story, the second has too much, but both are just all sorts of awesome. In that first flick, we follow Rama (Iko Uwais) and a bunch of other cops, 20 in all, as they infiltrate an apartment building run by the biggest gangster in the city. We start off with twenty or thirty minutes of gun-porn and then switch over to martial arts and the thing never lets up. The fight choreography really is some of the best of all time and yeah, blood and guts everywhere. Yes, the people who made Dredd should be paying those who made this. The sequel picks up immediately after the first. This time Rama is tasked to go undercover so he can infiltrate the biggest crime operation in the city. That's pretty all you need to know. Well, that and that the filmmakers will never run out of ideas for ways to mutilate the human body.


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22 comments:

  1. Fun picks from outside the box!

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  2. Both Raid movies were awesome, I'm wondering how they're going to top the second one.

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    1. It will be difficult, but I can't wait to see what they come up with.

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  3. Deep Cover is a very, very, very underrated film. Because of that film, we were introduced to Snoop with its title track from Dre. And of course, the two Raid films... the 2nd one was one of the best cinematic experiences.... ever!

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    1. Glad to see some love for Deep Cover. I totally agree. And yeah, the title track is playing in my head right now. Both of the Raid films were unbelievable cinematic experiences. I'm seriously waiting on #3.

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  4. I haven't seen any of these. (That's happening to me a lot today) I always hear people rave about The Raid. I think I'll eventually have to check that out. All of these sound interesting.

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    1. If you're at all an action fan and don't mind some serious brutality, you owe it to yourself to see The Raid flicks.

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  5. I can't say I agree with all these, but I will give you credit for managing to think outside the box and pick three not-so-obvious ones (I tried to do that on my own but Hot Fuzz turned out to be more popular than I expected). I guess I should also give you points for adding some diversity by choosing two Asian films. I've never actually seen either of The Raid films, though I have seen Dredd (which contrary to popular belief is not actually a rip-off, it just came out around the same time). They do sound pretty intense, though, although with a bunch of guys in SWAT uniforms I get the feeling it gets really hard to tell everyone apart sometimes.

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    1. I know how you feel about Hard Boiled, lol. As for The Raid movies, they are extremely intense. Don't worry about the SWAT unis. I can definitively say you'll have no problem telling who is who. After all, there are only a few important characters. And the helmets don't last that long. Just don't go looking for strong female characters here.

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  6. "The first movie has almost no story, the second has too much, but both are just all sorts of awesome" - Yep! Exactly how I feel! Though I don't think the lack of story in the first is a bad thing but too much story in the second one was.

    The choreography of the fight sequences are truly spectacular, but really sells the film for me is the sound effects. You hear every breaking bone, every smashing of skull, every hit, every kick, it's bloody amazing.

    Haven't seen the other two, mind.

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  7. I commend your taste, I love all of these. The Raid movies blew my mind, best action I've seen in ages.

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  8. I haven't seen any of these, but I have always wanted to see Hard Boiled. Also, I really want to see these Raid movies. They get talked about all the time.

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    1. Definitely, absoposifuckinlutely see both installments of The Raid.

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  9. Unfortunately I haven't seen any of these but Deep Cover sound like the one I'd enjoy the most.

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    1. It is a fine entry into the subgenre of uundercover cop flicks.

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  10. Hard Boiled! YES! That is such a fun and watchable movie. John Woo really peaked on it.

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    1. A very fun film to watch. I agree, this is the height of Woo's career.

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  11. Haven't watch any of these. Your picks seem to be more of the actiony cop movies right, not really something I often watch; Dredd is one of the rare ones I watched just because it was said to be a pleasant surprise by almost everyone.

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    1. Deep Cover is actually more of an undercover cop drama in the vein of Donnie Brasco. The other two, yeah, those are both pure action.

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