Conference bookie::movies

    
    Feb. 16th, if I remember from the previews this weekend.
    
    Patty

    Saw it on the opening day and thought it was great.  John Travolta and 
    Christian Slater were both good I thought.  This is one that I would
    recommend seeing.
    
    Pete
    

    
    Went to see on opening day and I gotta agree with the previous 
    note......this movie was f*@#$ing great.  Coming from director
    John Woo you'd expect nothing less.
    
    Travolta looks to be in pretty good shape....doesn't have the 
    gut from the Look Who's Talking flicks.
    And Slater, well, he pulled it off pretty nicely.
    
    I gotta say, if you're looking for a good action flick, 
    check it out.
    
    Rick
    

    Saw it, liked it.  It was fun.  It had Christian Slater, whom I like. 
    It had a train, which I like.  It had a heroine who wasn't eye candy
    (cute, but not gorgeous) and who was as heroic as the hero, which I
    liked.  It was directed by John Woo and had Woo-isms, which I liked.
    
    And John Travolta was fairly amusing as the villian.  Howie Long, who
    looks pretty good in a black T-shirt and camopants, was pretty
    entertaining, too.  
    
    Not high art, mind you, but fun.  
    
    Disappointing soundtrack, though.
    
    
    *** out of ****
    
    
    kim

My first reply in this conference, I'm so proud...

 I saw Broken Arrow this weekend. It was okay. A typical example of today's 
"Action Movies", lots of explosions and a good smattering of some fairly funny 
lines. It wasn't a standout movie, though it didn't disappoint. We knew what 
we were laying our money for, and we got it.

 I admit that Christian Slater is one of my favorite young actors so I was more 
than willing to cut the movie some slack, though like I said it didn't need it. 
The first thing my wife said after the movie was..."Boy that was loud.". And as 
usual she was quite correct. I noticed more in this movie the use of brute 
volume to try and shock and excite the audience. Admittedly I don't go to the 
movies that often, and this was the first "Action Movie" I've seen in the 
theatre for quite a while, so I'm sure that had an effect on my impression.

 So that was my experience during the movie, I have this nasty habit of 
thinking about movies after I've seen them, trying to piece together some
of the loose ends and reviewing the plot progression. Broken Arrow suffers
with this type of activity. The plot holes and leaps into the realm of disbelief
are enourmous. In other words, a typical example of today's "Action movies", 
where plot is secondary to actors and explosions. 


For action fans - **** out of ******
Overall         - **1/2 out of *****

Chuck

    ** out of *****
    
    Very disappointing movie overall.  Woo should be thanking his lucky
    stars for the casting, otherwise, this is a total dog.  
    
    I agree with the previous noter's comments that this movie suffers from
    thinking of it afterwards, and take it one step further; the movie 
    suffers from this during it.  
    
    On the plus side, Travolta was great.  I'm sure we'll be hearing a lot
    of:  "Yeah, ain't it cool." 
    
    -Bill 

    
    
    
        I went to see this movie yesterday.A classic action fest,with great
    performances from one and all.
    Im a big John Woo fan, in my mind the gretest action film director,in
    parts you can see the producers have told Woo to calm the action a bit
    from his usual style (for instance in The Killer his hero manages to 
    kill off a small army,not just the usual little band of terrorists).
    There is still the great stand-off scenes which Woo has made his own.
         Travolta gives an outstanding OTT performance as bad(non-European)
    guy terrorist and Christian Slater proves to the doubters he can play
    the great action hero.
        This is Die Hard in the desert, a copper mine and on a train all
    rolled into one big thermonuclear sized action flick.
        If big explosions is your cup of tea this is your movie and if
    youve never heard of John Woo check out some of his other movies such 
    as The Killer,A Better Tomorrow and what I consider the best action
    film ever Hard Boiled all starring the great Chow Yun Fat.
    
    
    
      P.S.Check out how many helicopters get trashed in Broken Arrow.
          perhaps Woo was getting a bonus for exploding choppers .
           
                             (ooo-err missus)
    

    
    
    I agree with .8
    
    the movie was enjoyable and I like Travolta as the bad guy.
    I always seem to find something missing in Christian Slater's acting.
    I don't know what it is...but the portrayals just seem so plain...
    
    
    Chris_who_enjoyed the flick
    :)

    Yup - good mindless action movie, with Travolta as cool as ever.  Just
    ignore the gaping plot holes and enjoy!
    
    Mikef
    
    3.785 out of 6.397

    
    
    Again, agreement that it was mind candy, but I enjoyed it.  What I
    liked best was the female co-star who was actually allowed to hold her
    own and not just be "icing on the cake" so to speak.  I think she and
    Slater did well together and would not mind seeing them work together
    again.
    
    Just a quick comment....Some of Travolta's smiles and grins reminded me
    of his days as Vinnie Barbarino.....
    
    A now a quick question wich I hope will not de-rail this topic...
    but...did John Woo also direct Hard Target with JCVD?
    

    re .11  (Did John Woo direct "Hard Target"?)
    
    
    Yep.
    
    
    Cheers,
    
    
    kim

    re-1
    
    As far as I recall, Samantha Mathis and Christian Slater starred
    together in Pump up the Volume.  This is a good movie which is worth
    renting anyway...
    
    Mikef

    
    I saw this movie last night and I thought the plot was a little ropey
    in parts, however this didn't stop me enjoying it immensely.  There
    were enough exploding vehicles to take your mind off the fact that all
    these bullets were flying and nobody important seemed to get shot (bit
    like the A-team in that respect).  Excellent escapism although I didn't
    think Slater and Travolta interacted that well, for people who were
    supposed to be friends, they were a little cold towards one another. 
    Samantha Mathis was a good choice for the role because she actually
    looked as though she be useful in a fight.
    
    All-in-all worth a watch.
    
    
    
    I.

    
    
    re -1
    
    I agree, Travolta and Slater didn't come off as being friends at all!
    
    Chris
    :)

    I was seduced into seeing this movie based on my expectation that there
    would be a lot of footage related to the stealth bomber.  Boy was I
    disappointed!  After that part of the movie was over I have to say that
    this was one of the worst movies I can ever recall seeing.  The heroics
    of the good guys were unbelievably laughable - but I was the only one
    in the theatre who was laughing.  Perhaps this is typical of John Woo's
    productions.  I just found it incredibly thin and poorly done.  It
    seems like anyone who is convinced that this is a good movie is
    suffering from the emperor's new clothes syndrome.  I wonder why they
    even bothered to make this movie.    

    
    ::burger
    
    You're one of those people that sits outside Nellis airforce base on a
    deckchair aren't you?   :^)
    
    
    I thought this was good but only because I was prepared for a thin plot
    supported with lots of big bangs.  If I'd gone in to see it with high
    hopes, I might have come out with the same opinion as you, so I can see
    how it could happen.  It happened to me with "reservoir dogs" which all
    my friends rave about yet I refuse to acknowledge its existence.
    
    
    I.

    Kurt Russell/Steven Segal film:  Executive Decision (listed elsewhere
    here in the Movie Notes)
    
    Be advised the Stealth plane is not considered a Stealth Bomber in the 
    movie; it is modified into something else.  And, it is in the movie
    just a little shorter than Segal, which is not very long.
    
    -Bill

    I thought this film was excellent in a mindless, lots of explosions,
    thin plot, who cares? kind of way. If you are expecting Battleship
    Potemkin, then you will be dissapointed, sometimes it's nice to see a
    film that requires minimal effort to watch. I've seen plenty of
    intellectually stimulating films recently, and basically it's nice to
    have an undemanding film to watch.
    
    *** out of ****
    
    dickie

    
    <--  my sentiments exactly.
    
    
    Our local cinema had a sign saying "please check your brain in at the
    door" on the way in.
    
    
    :^)

    Yep! Samantha Mathis was Amy in Jack and Sarah

    I just saw this a few weeks ago and I loved it.  I enjoy John Woo's
    work and this was exactly what I expected from him.  Lots of gratuitous
    shooting, explosions and the like.  Perfect escapist movie fare.  I
    recall a large tub of popcorn and a diet soft drink to complete the
    experience.   :^)
    
    *** out of **** for me
    
    Velda
    

Saw it on a cross channel ferry a coupla weeks ago - loved it ! I agree that the
plot is a bit tissue-like in its thinness, but...

*** SEXIST MODE ON ***
 it had lots of explosions and a gorgeous babe. Definitely one for the boys !
*** SEXIST MODE OFF ***

Simes.

    
    ok rental, glad I didn't pay to see it in a theater.
    

    I rented'er last night (Broken Arrow that is)  and I liked it!
    
    Action -   8.5
    Story  -   6.5
    Acting -   7.0
    ---------------
    
    Sum    -   7.3
    
    Possible spoilers:
    
    I found the action really picked up during the mining scenes.  Really
    cool fights, (both hand to hand or with weapons), especially the train
    thing!
    
    Ya gotta love EX-Raider Howie "you da' man" Long!  

	I also caught this one on video recently and after scanning
	the existing replies the following paragraph from .11
	closely matched my opinion .....

> Again, agreement that it was mind candy, but I enjoyed it.  What I
> liked best was the female co-star who was actually allowed to hold her
> own and not just be "icing on the cake" so to speak.  I think she and
> Slater did well together and would not mind seeing them work together
> again.

	.... that this film strongly reminded me of "Speed", at
	least in respect to the relationship between Slater/Mathis
	(except for some reason I don't find Mathis attractive).

	In any case, this was a good flick, like previous noters
	said, lots of action, and a plot.

	Spoiler warnings behind the <FF>:

	I'm not sure I buy the nuclear explosion bit in the copper mine
	being safe.  And certainly not with a "river" flowing right through
	the mine which would pick up radiation and then carry it down
	stream into the open air (and likely the river flows into
	other water supplies for drinking/irrigation/etc).