You're teamed up with the rabbi (Last Action Hero)
Last Action Hero (1993), John Tiernan. Apr. 15, 1pm. View count: One.
This was an amusing movie. It was much better than I'd expected, really, and has had the effect of heightening my respect for the director (who directed Predator, Dies Hard I and III, and the Hunt for Red October, entertainingly enough) due to the self-awareness displayed. These movies are much better in retrospect now. Paul Verhoeven could have directed this movie (sort of... it would probably have had a much harder edge to it. Perhaps I should say I'd like to see how Verhoeven would have handled it), and this pleases me.
I sort of want to hurt Tarantino's feelings by suggesting that this movie, grounded in a history of actual action movies, is the stronger for its director's previous work (Tarantino not having a list of 'serious' genre movies under his belt before going for the mashup/parody/homages). I mean, Last Action Hero wasn't a brilliant piece of film or anything, but it was able to successfully walk the line between self-awareness and in-world immersion. I suppose it felt more like a straight-faced hilarious movie, as opposed to... a hilarious straight-faced one? If you get my meaning at all. There was a good ratio of action to reflection-on-action, and the movie-physics concepts were amusingly played. It's possible that its Early 90s face gives it more of an authentic feel now than it did at the time, but there's downsides to this as well (meaningless celebrity cameos, requisite over-clever child protagonist (Young Tarantino Chronicles, as we pegged him early on)).
This remains, however, a Better Than It Had To Be movie. Also, Ian McKellan has a small role! Very well-cast.
This was an amusing movie. It was much better than I'd expected, really, and has had the effect of heightening my respect for the director (who directed Predator, Dies Hard I and III, and the Hunt for Red October, entertainingly enough) due to the self-awareness displayed. These movies are much better in retrospect now. Paul Verhoeven could have directed this movie (sort of... it would probably have had a much harder edge to it. Perhaps I should say I'd like to see how Verhoeven would have handled it), and this pleases me.
I sort of want to hurt Tarantino's feelings by suggesting that this movie, grounded in a history of actual action movies, is the stronger for its director's previous work (Tarantino not having a list of 'serious' genre movies under his belt before going for the mashup/parody/homages). I mean, Last Action Hero wasn't a brilliant piece of film or anything, but it was able to successfully walk the line between self-awareness and in-world immersion. I suppose it felt more like a straight-faced hilarious movie, as opposed to... a hilarious straight-faced one? If you get my meaning at all. There was a good ratio of action to reflection-on-action, and the movie-physics concepts were amusingly played. It's possible that its Early 90s face gives it more of an authentic feel now than it did at the time, but there's downsides to this as well (meaningless celebrity cameos, requisite over-clever child protagonist (Young Tarantino Chronicles, as we pegged him early on)).
This remains, however, a Better Than It Had To Be movie. Also, Ian McKellan has a small role! Very well-cast.