Will he be back? Arnold Schwarzenegger could return to films

[bradavon]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2010/dec ... s-comeback

A great idea in theory but action films have changed a lot in the past 7 years (i.e - largely going down hill). I think I'd prefer he finished on a "relative" high.

[saltysam]

he didn't really finish on a high though did he? He needs to come back, if he watched Expendables he'll know he hasn't much to beat.

[Yi-Long]

I think he should try some serious acting. Try a nice serious role in a western or something as a silent strong bad sheriff or whatever. Not too much dialogue. Not too much action. Transforming that stillness into power.

[Markgway]

Arnie hasn't made a great movie since T2. Some decent ones (like Eraser) but no classics. If he makes a comeback I hope he comes close to recapturing old glory. Not sure with what project. I think they key might be in finding the right director. Cameron is too busy fucking about with 3D so maybe he should knock on Verhoeven's door. Not Total Recall 2 but some similarly smart and violent.

[Yi-Long]

Verhoeven is a piece of shit director who got lucky with a couple of scripts.

[gasteropod]

Put dat cookie down!!

[Markgway]

Verhoeven is a piece of shit director who got lucky with a couple of scripts.

[HungFist]

Verhoeven is a piece of shit director who got lucky with a couple of scripts.

[grim_tales]

Didnt you like True Lies Mark? Good film imo

[luckystars]

Verhoeven is a piece of shit director who got lucky with a couple of scripts.

You kiss your mother with that mouth?!?!!

[Yi-Long]

Verhoeven is a piece of shit director who got lucky with a couple of scripts.

You kiss your mother with that mouth?!?!!

Not even on her birthday!

But I'm serious about Verhoeven. The quality of Robocop was in the script. Not in the acting, not in the cinematography, not in the soundtrack, etc etc.

Basic Instinct isn't a great movie, but because of Stone's beaver we all know about it.

That's what Verhoeven does. He makes mediocre movies yet raises the hype and awareness of them by adding cheap shockvalue. Exploding eyeballs, 3 breasted women, lots of nudity, extreme violence, etc etc. I don't rate him highly at all. In fact, I feel every one of those movies probably could have been a lot better if they would have had a different director attached to them...

[grim_tales]

Total Recall is a great movie because of Arnie, and Verhoevens direction, and without him BI would be standard channel 5 fare but it's a good movie.
And don't forget Robocop!

[gasteropod]

And he's kind of proved himself with Black Book (not that I've seen it).

[grim_tales]

I havent seen it either - have you seen The Fourth Man? Until Black Book this was his last Dutch movie, probably gave him ideas for Basic Instinct.

[luckystars]

He makes mediocre movies yet raises the hype and awareness of them by adding cheap shockvalue. Exploding eyeballs, 3 breasted women, lots of nudity, extreme violence, etc etc. I don't rate him highly at all. In fact, I feel every one of those movies probably could have been a lot better if they would have had a different director attached to them...

Robocop = 10/10 legendary classic.

Starship Troopers = Brilliant.
Black Book = Brilliant.
Soldier of Orange = Brilliant.

Total Recall = Genre classic.

Hollow Man = Guilty pleasure B-film.


Not really sounding like a shit Director to me. I make you right about something, he does love blood/gore/fucking/tits/bush/more fucking/tits/more bush/gore/more blood.

The guy makes a great films with an adult kick that may not be for some people, but if you don't like blood how about some tits?

[bradavon]

Arnie hasn't made a great movie since T2. Some decent ones (like Eraser) but no classics.

True Lies? But that was only a year later. He's like DeNiro and Pacino though, his highs were "so high", I can forgive his lows.

Verhoeven is a piece of shit director who got lucky with a couple of scripts.

Agreed. Totally overrated.

Total Recall is a great movie because of Arnie, and Verhoevens direction

It's okay. Basic Instinct is easily his best, the rest are all trashy (so is Basic Instinct to an extent too). I've not seen Black Book either.

[HungFist]

Verhoeven is a cool guy. Who else is shooting movies buck naked???

[grim_tales]

True Lies came out in 1994, before Eraser. IMO Total Recall and Robocop are Verhoeven's best films. Basic Instinct is also a good movie, not just because of him though but excellent performances from Michael Douglas and Sharon Stone. Very good score too.

[Markgway]

True Lies was quite good, but overlong and misogynist.

Verhoeven makes entertaining movies. Even his most shit one (Showgirls, natch) is so bad it's entertaining. I'd rather watch that than some of the pretentious waffle that gets nominated for awards.

[bradavon]

True Lies was quite good, but overlong and misogynist.

Why do you say it was misogynist? An interesting observation.

[Markgway]

Why do you say it was misogynist? An interesting observation.

This article touches on it:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog ... -true-lies

[bradavon]

An interesting point of view. I disagree though, she's about to have an affair, so I'd want to find out if my wife is or not. He's also reading way too much into it, as later comments say Cameron is in no way saying "this is acceptable behaviour". I'd put it down to (at most) one man's sick sexual fantasy (pimp your wife out). I largely agree with Wilberforce's comments in that article too.

Conversely I found Sin City very misogynistic but no one else seems to.

The Guardian is left wing right? I think it must be because I "usually" agree and like the writing it produces. It's easily the best of the newspaper websites, partly because the website itself is clear and uncluttered.

[Shingster]

That guardian article is a load of bollocks, yes the whole contrived "spy dance" subplot makes absolutely no logical sense given the husband is essentially subjugating his wife into a scenario that should have made her feel sexually vulnerable, but the scene doesn't play out that way does it? It's been a while since I watched it but don't they portray it has something that empowers her? Either way, to label True Lies as misogynistic because the humour is a bit fucked up in one sequence would be like those nipples in the 90s who wanted Home Alone given an adult rating because the slapstick was pretty extreme.

I must admit though, only Mark could be so uptight as to label a James Cameron action comedy as misogynistic, I think if there's one male director working in America who you should just assume doesn't have a problem with women and isn't trying to insult them, it's him. At worst True Lies is merely misguided, and let's not forget that it's a fecking remake of a FRENCH film, so that may just explain the humour right there . I swear Mark could get offended watching Bambi!

[grim_tales]

To label it misogynist just because of one sequence seems a bit OTT - in Arnie's mind what he does is justified IIRC, because he thinks Jamie Lee Curtis is having an affair (and she kind of does actually because she likes being an agent).

[bradavon]

What's the original called Shing? Is it faithful?

Whatever happened to the DVD SE and/or BD?