Mrs Snowman is away tonight, which means I can kick back at home and watch whatever I want.
What I want to watch is something exciting or thrilling. I’m a fan of the Marvel movies, and am up to date except for the new Thor film. Likewise, I’m up to date with the DCEU except for Justice League.
Whenever I find myself in this position, I always end up suffering from choice overload, scrolling through page after page of movies. So I’m looking for suggestions to narrow things down. The Marvel movies are a good touchstone; action, but with humour and heart. I Also really enjoyed the first Kingsman (that’s a thought - I wonder if the sequel is out on demand yet?). I’d probably prefer something reasonably recent. “Action” is quite a broad church though; it could have superheroes, spies, the military - as long as it is at least in part exciting. I should mention that while I’m fine with Deadpool style gore, I’m not into out and out horror.
I have access to Netflix and Amazon Prime, plus whatever my cable provider Virgin Movies has available on demand. I don’t mind if there’s a rental charge, so it’s not limited to the free stuff on Amazon.
I just watched Rawhide starring Tyrone Power on some channel I’m getting here in Grand Cayman. Was pretty cold how they shot Uncle Joe from Petticoat Junction in the back. Plenty of action and suspense. Black and White. Now off to the beach.
Pair it with Kiss Kiss Bang Bang or The Long Kiss Goodnight for an action Christmas double feature. Hot Fuzz is a good one, too, but the action is satirical and deliberately over the top.
Kingsman: The Golden Circle just came available Tuesday… I haven’t had a chance to sit and watch it yet, but it is on the list.
In a more serious turn, if you haven’t seen them yet (and you like martial arts) then I can’t recommend Ip Man 1, 2 and 3 (with Donnie Yen) strongly enough. Seriously great movies, IMHO.
If you’re up for some swordplay I recommend Rob Roy. I rarely talk to anyone that’s seen it. Tim Roth is great as a really bad, bad villain. Not sure if it’s available on any of the platforms you listed.
Not a lot of humor, but you can’t beat The Raid: Redemption for awesome fights: cops raid a building to arrest a drug lord and then get trapped in the building and have to fight their way to the top to get him and get out.
Hard to go wrong with Jackie Chan’s Rumble In The Bronx, too.
If you never saw Gladiator, queue that one up. Just watching the first 20 minutes will give you one of the biggest adrenaline rushes a movie can deliver.
I watched Big Trouble In Little China with my grandson (he was 14 at the time). The story was moving pretty quickly and then, when they reach the alleyway for the first time, I told him: “Ah, good, now the action starts.” He rejoined, “But there’s been plenty of action.” I smiled and said, “Hang on.” He’s 16 and it remains one of his favorites.
I’ll second that. The swordplay is quite impressive.
There are so many sub-genres that it is very hard to come up with action movies that fit all tastes. The John Wick movies are fine, if you like non-stop blood and that sort of thing.
On the other hand, I like to settle in with something like Unstoppable every so often. Nothing outstanding (though Denzel does his usual good job), but it has a lot of action and can be viewed with pretty much every age group (including my folks, if they were still around). You learn a little about trains, too.
