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PaperclipPerfector  1mo ago (text post)   3131 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for March 6, 2026

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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Dredd, as mentioned.

The Raid: Redemption and its sequel. Absolutely insane Indonesian martial arts flick, but the director is Welsh. Launched several of its actors to greater fame. It will probably ruin any other modern martials arts movies for you. I don't know how they filmed that without anyone dying.

Mad Max: Fury Road. Watch the rest of the series too, but this one set a new standard for cinematic balls-to-the-wall action.

The Bourne Trilogy. Okay, there are more movies... and they're not terrible. BUT the story and character arc of the original three are perfectly executed. Great action (especially the 3rd) but a lot of people really dislike Greengrass' shaky-cam style in the second and third. Bail out if you're getting motion sickness, it doesn't get better.

Hot Fuzz. Probably in the running for the best action-comedy of ALL TIME and the jokes and interlocked plot elements are so dense you'll need to watch like 3 times to catch most of 'em.

Upgrade. Very 80's-coded... but they put effort into using modern techniques and it should surprise you a few times with how clever it is.

Shoot 'Em Up. Parody of a particular brand of late-90's early-2000s action schlock that is self aware but not offensively so. I love the soundtrack, personally.

The Expendables 1 and 2 (skip 3 and 4). Equal parts funny but inelegant satire of 80's action movies and a loving tribute/sendoff to some of the top stars of the era. Tried and very much failed to pass the torch to a new generation of action stars. I blame superhero movies.

Taken. This movie doomed Liam Neeson to doing action roles for 20 years. Everyone really only knows THAT scene, but the whole thing is quite the entertaining ride.

300. My God. Its like the purest distillation of "12 year old boys playing with action figures" movie I've ever seen, but Zack Snyder was BORN to make this film. It has a distinct look and feel that has simply never been replicated since.

Hardcore Henry. Also not a movie for those sensitive to motion sickness, but extremely impressive achievement that falls just a tad short of greatness, but is also full of "how the hell did they film that" moments.

Some Honorable Mentions:

The Accountant

Crank (and the sequel)

Equilibrium

Kingsman: The Secret Service. This movie justifies its existence on THAT church scene alone.

The Edge of Tomorrow.

I think you would really like Snowpiercer if you haven't seen it. Also, @FtttG if you want foreign but don't mind zombies, Train to Busan is pretty fun.

TENET is absolutely moronic in its plot but is a fun movie visually and action wise. Inception too I think makes that list even though it's not intrinsically an action movie, yeah? Well, maybe not. Not sure.

I'm curious how y'all feel about the modern set of Mission Impossibles. I feel like in a lot of ways them (and maybe the Fast and Furious movies, to a worse and lesser extent, plus maybe marvel if you stretch) are the inheritors of the movie niche the 80's type action movies inhabited, even though vibe-wise and spiritually they are plainly very different.

Funny, the only Mission Impossible film I've seen is the first one. Brian de Palma is such an inconsistent director. Scarface is an obvious masterpiece, and Carrie is great, but The Untouchables is overrated as hell, and despite being marketed as thrillers both Blow Out and Body Double were so boring I turned them off halfway through. I was fully onboard for the first half of Mission Impossible when it's a tense, nervy thriller, but by the time the climax rolled around and it had turned into a silly action film I'd completely lost interest. The Prague operation that opens the film and the climax on the train feel like they belong to two completely different movies: it's no surprise it went into production without a finished screenplay.

Curious if any of the sequels are any good.

So, there are the original 3 which are far different in feel, almost feels like a different series. And then there's a small gap, and then starting with Rogue Nation you have another set of 5 (clustered a bit plotwise as a set of 3 and then a final set of 2), and now they're basically done (at least, with Tom Cruise as lead). They're at times gimmicky especially plotwise, quality is variable, but they are in my opinion all quite fun, solid popcorn movies. Fallout in particular, I think even standalone, is actually one of the best action films of the 2010s, in terms of the fights and visuals. So if you're interested, start with Ghost Protocol, if you're just curious, maybe try Fallout directly.

Curious if any of the sequels are any good.

I remember the 4th one being a nonsensical mess plot-wise, even by action film standards, but being very competent as an action movie. There's a part involving a chase in a dust storm, and the direction is such (by Brad Bird) that it's easy to keep track of everyone and what they're doing despite it feeling like it should be a confusing mess. Oh, and Cruise climbs some big building.

Oh, that was the one with Simon Pegg, wasn’t it? I remember it being good. The action was rather formulaic - if any plan was announced explicitly or implicitly, you could guarantee something would go horribly wrong within five minutes - but it was just really nice to see someone who had a very good formula apply it so well.

The action was rather formulaic - if any plan was announced explicitly or implicitly, you could guarantee something would go horribly wrong within five minutes

Are there many movies that don't follow that trope? If so, how? It seems like an exceptionally difficult cliche for screenwriters to avoid. If you announce the plan and nothing goes wrong, you just wasted everybody's time telling them something redundantly before you show the same thing later. If you don't announce the plan and something goes wrong, you've just confused everybody. If you announce a plan and it seems to go wrong but the real plan is going right then the added levels of contrivance are just a more played-out and mockable trope.

Inception, Ocean's 11, Rogue One, Now You See Me, there are definitely a few that pull of a flawless plan either in full or for at least 10-15 uninterrupted minutes of screen time. There's also at least one "perfect heist" type movies where the meat of the story takes place after the money gets stolen according to plan, but for the life of me I can't remember the name. Most of these are emotionally a kind of "competence porn" (although that phrase usually seems to be used to describe books, for which "things go according to plans" is actually decently common in my experience).

Or, occasionally, it's because the actual plan is just a little too complicated to explain purely visually. And actually, if you saw this quote recently, it may be trending this way even if the explanation isn't required at all:

Matt Damon Says Netflix Wants Movies to Restate the ‘Plot Three or Four Times in the Dialogue’ Because Viewers are on ‘Their Phones While They’re Watching’

But overall, yeah, it's a fair and usually correct point you make.

There's also at least one "perfect heist" type movies where the meat of the story takes place after the money gets stolen according to plan, but for the life of me I can't remember the name.

The Great Train Robbery works this way, IIRC.

There's also at least one "perfect heist" type movies where the meat of the story takes place after the money gets stolen according to plan, but for the life of me I can't remember the name.

The Italian Job may count.

The MI series truly peaked with 4. Tom climbing the Burj Khalifa still puckers my butthole to watch.

After that they had the formula perfected so they remain extremely entertaining and work on the strength of their script and the chemistry Tom has with everyone. So they're all eminently watchable.

I love 50% of your list, and haven't watched the other 50%, but it's all going on my list.

Buddy and I watched Raid II and then took a lunch and watched Winter Soldier in theater for both. Should’ve done it the other way - still one of my least favorite comic book films.

Raid II is just film perfection.

Saw Raid II in theaters and was BLOWN AWAY. High expectations from the first one and they topped it in every conceivable way.

Even the goofy bits (girl with hammers and batboy) worked really well in-context.

That giant brawl in the mud pit at the prison is one of my favorite scenes because all the 'skill' sort of goes out the window as everyone is slipping around barely able to stand, but the brutality of the moves are still fully there. Another of those "how are those guys not dead?" movies.

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