The Long Road

07/03/2003 Archived Entry: "Terminate"

Just watched Terminators 1 and 2 in preparation for tomorrow night’s viewing of Terminator 3. I also took a 30 minute jog in between so I didn’t vegetate all night. Anyways, I hadn’t seen Terminator 1 in ages so this was the first time in a long time. I noticed that the two movies are tremendously similar. Here are some things they have in common.

“come with me if you want to live”
robot walking out of flaming wreckage
car chase with a big 18 wheeler
end fight in some king of factory (which have a whole bunch of similar moments)
a Terminator gets into a vehicle and tells the driver “get out”

I don’t have a point with these similarities, just that they exist. Also, after watching T2, it’s amazing to see how well it still holds up to movies and effects of today. I think T2 has one of the best ending of any movie; it’s open ended yet doesn’t scream for a sequel, something T3 is BOUND to do. My reservations for T3 mainly comes from the fact that it seems so unnecessary, T1 and T2 seem like a complete story. Nevertheless, T3 is getting some pretty good reviews here, here, here and here so I guess it won’t be all that bad! =)

Replies: 8 comments

I kust wanna point out that the first review linked mentions as a fact that Rocky III is a great movie...
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ok, T3 might be very good, who knows! i must say that i don't feel that thrilled about it.. to me it's not much more than yet another follow-up; matrix 2, xmen 2, 2 fast 2 furious, charlies angels 2, t3... well!
some might say that its part of some trilogy, but i really dont feel that it's gonna be The Return of the Jedi or The Return of The King of the terminator saga; probably nearer of Rambo III and Jurassic Park 3 :). in any cases, I won't be surprised if i see a close-up of a Coca-cola can during a fight scene!

i'd really like something new and unexpected! the last movies i saw that surprised me were Diner Rush and 28 days later. i recommend them to anyone who is tired of shwarzenneger-like action movies or scream-like horror movies.

I also cant wait to go to the Fantasia Festival see some low budget ultraoriginal b-movies!
you should come too, Thai, read the sinospys of Ichi the Killer :)

Posted by Étienne @ 07/03/2003 12:51 AM EST

I watched 'Maid in Manhattan' this past weekend. While thinking about the familiar feel of the predictable romantic comedy, I realized I hadn't watched one in a long time. In fact, most of the movies I've been watching lately are those that aren't the typical movies and I've really liked them. They each have such a different feel to them that they feel like different movies. As opposed to watching the Jennifer Lopez movie which felt like most romantic comedies.

I dunno, I know I'll probably like all the action movies out there but it's nice to sit down and watch something like 'Ken Park' or 'Another Heaven' and it not be the same as everything else (though, of course I had my issues with each of them, too).

What the hell is my point? I'm not sure. You two started me thinking about movies and similarities.

Posted by Romer @ 07/03/2003 04:09 AM EST

Remember that 28 Days Later had many many close-ups of Pepsi cans! I’ve read about Ichi the Killer a while ago…it sounds very disturbing, isn’t it a pretty old film?

Read Roger Ebert’s review of T3, he does a pretty good job talking about how T3 is different from T1 and T2 in that T3 falls more into the ‘mindless action’ movie genre.

Not that I don’t enjoy mindless action movies, but it’s so rare to get something truly smart and original that when one does come along it is truly a breath of fresh air.

Movies like “Maid in Manhattan” are only for people with girlfriends…

Posted by Rayne @ 07/03/2003 02:21 PM EST

girlfriends, eh? right...

do i have anything worthwhile to contribute to this? probably not.

Posted by shawnathan @ 07/03/2003 03:25 PM EST

*shakes fist at un-worthwhile post*

Posted by Rayne @ 07/03/2003 04:07 PM EST

lol, for my part i try to avoid watching as much romantic comedies as i can...

...not very successfully tho, since Emilie loves them :'(

i think i could teach new filmmakers how to shoot this kind of movies (if there was anything to teach), i know them by heart before even seeing them. There's usually no thrill to a romantic comedy, or else it wouldn't be a romantic comedy. Usually if there's as guy and a girl on the cover of a movie, you don't have to try figuring who's ending with who in the movie, just HOW whey are going to end up with each other. Usually they follow pretty much the same predictable patterns (not liking each others at first, jealousy/cheating w. ex-or-current-girl-or-boy-friend, a happy bright-colored scene with mute voices but cheerful music, etc, etc!)

Also, since no one really cares about the characters' "feelings" (the "" are important:P), the romantic comedies always involve pathetic attempts at originality about the settings of the characters or situations parallel to their love affair, which usually is the only motive for watching this romantic comedy instead of that other, since they are usually the same in essence... arghhhh, i really can't stand these movies, they leave me soooo empty!!

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Ichi the Killer was made in 2001 so it is a bit old, but it was never featured in montreal before. Have you seen it featured in Ottawa Thai?

heres a few other movies/animes that interest me at the film festival

Movies:
Dead End
Burning Paradise
Aragami
Accion Mutante
2LDK
Lucky
My sassy girl

animes:
Cowboy bebop
FLCL
(i've seen them both, very good!)

go and read their review/synopsis at: http://www.fantasiafestival.com/2003/en/films/film_index.php?lang=en

Posted by Étienne @ 07/03/2003 04:41 PM EST

maid in manhattan maid me yawn

*snickers*

i watched it back to back with how to lose a guy in 10 days ... how to lose a guy was soooo much better

t3 better be good for it's budget ... i wonder how much they spent on advertising in addition to the 170 mill for filming

Posted by melpie @ 07/03/2003 05:42 PM EST

according to Box Office MoJo T3 cost 200$ million and marketing it cost 40$ million. much moolah.

Just saw T3, will have thoughts on it soon-ish.

Posted by Rayne @ 07/04/2003 12:08 AM EST