Movies That Were Probably Made By a Spasm of Six Year-Olds on Acid: The Top 75 Action Films Poll Results Thread

Mad Max & Ronin

I dig Predator but I havent seen it in forever.

"If it bleeds, we can kill it."

Particularly if it bleeds the kind of stuff that's inside glowsticks.

Maybe don't reach for the lasers with that one.

i think my first PG-13 movie i saw in the theater was Robin Hood Prince of Thieves. i went with like 12 bros for my 12th birthday party then we had a sleep over at my house it was awesome.

this was not the first PG-13 movie i went to, but i was 13 when i skipped my afternoon classes & snuck into a matinee screening. thing is i couldn't tell you much abt the show b/c i'm pretty sure i was french-kissing my girlfriend through literally the entire movie.

you ghostin us, mothafucka

actually, I prob did the same thing when I went to see ghost! i was like the disco stu of the mall cineplex back then..

I'm noticing my relative age on this thread... I was 16 when E.T. was released - right when those differences between a "kid's movie" and something that seemed more important and/or underground was hugely important. Consequently, I didn't like E.T. and still don't care for it now. Blade Runner, The Thing, Poltergeist, Conan, Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid, Star Trek II, Endangered Species, and Tron were my faves that year.

i loved e.t. and blade runner and poltergeist and dead men don't wear plaid and tron that year. they were all the same year? wow. tron gave me a headache though. probably sat too close to the screen.

How can anyone possibly think that Conan is "more important" than anything? Makes ET seem like Tolstoy.

i don't think i actually saw the thing at the movies. probably wanted to and nobody would take me.

conan was kind of amazing!

i dunno, i was a metal fan...

I just saw Conan again a few months ago, and it was largely a weird combo of the ridiculous and dull.

So, the guesses for what's next, from the list of nominees. First, pouring out a 40 for

Brotherhood of the Wolf
Hard Target
Serenity
The Long Kiss Goodnight

All of which I love dearly, but I think their chance is gone.

Then the ones that seem guaranteed a slot. Unfortunately there's 30 for 24 slots, even counting vote splitting

A Fistful of Dollars / For a Few Dollars More / The Good, the Bad and the Ugly - I figure that at least one of these will place, Once Upon A Time In The West is good but surely not the only Morricone?
Aliens
Bad Boys
Battle Royale
Bullet in the Head / Face/Off / Hard Boiled - Much as above, I don't imagine The Killer will be the only Woooo

Children of Men
Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon
Die Hard
Escape From New York
Gladiator

Heat
Inception
Independence Day
Kill Bill Volume 1 (Tarantino, 2003) - Vote splitting might kill this? I can't see anyone voting for 2 above 1, though?
Lethal Weapon

Men in Black
Point Blank
Point Break
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Robocop

Ronin
Starship Troopers
Taking of Pelham 123
Terminator
Terminator 2

The Road Warrior
The Seven Samurai
Top Gun
The Transporter
Under Siege

I guess there's a bunch where either we think the defintion of Action Movies is 80's led or not - maybe Predator is the high-water mark and there'll be no Lethal Weapon / Point Break / Top Gun / Under Siege.

Also one of the things I like about the poll results we're seeing is that it's not like you sometimes see where it's two polls superimposed on each other - the 70s America films have backers from the same pool as the Hong Kong action flicks and the 80s Classic Action and the modern films. It makes it harder to say "no that's defintely the high water mark of that genre", because they've nearly all crossed over out of any imagined contituency.

aliens will definitely be top 5 imo

my top 10 prediction: aliens, hard boiled, children of men, ronin, heat, die hard, raiders ... ....

don't know what the last 2 would be

also, hero's not on that list? hero's not gonna place? KFH places and not hero? ;_;

the only one that im really pulling for that im sorta worried wont make it is point break

i hate that forecasting stuff. just let the results wash over you

can't you see i'm trying to boost my ilx cred

Given the number of insanely awesome films on that hypothetical leftovers list, there's going to be a whole bunch of A+ action left on the cutting room floor.

I might've maybe should have put Hero on the list, it kind of passed me by. Though it and KFH are only really comparable on the broadest of terms!

The one that I've heard people repping for that I actually wouldn't be surprised if doesn't make it is Children of Men - it obviously has a bunch of guns, but I just really don't consider it an Action Film, even considering the wiiiide net cast on this thread.

I'll be happy if Ronin doesn't make the top ten - I really didn't get on with its Blokey Honor and Honorable Blokes. I'll be esctatic if Heat doesn't, but not holding my breath. Maybe I just don't like Robert DeNiro?

so children of men is an ilx classik? i must have been absent that day. don't get me wrong, i dig it a ton, but i never would have thought to nominate it.

i definitely DO remember ronin and heat being ilx canon. both of which i also like a bunch, neither of which i voted for. cuz i wouldn't want to marry them. maybe a second marriage...

was the untouchables nominated? i can't remember.

if starship troopers isn't top five then this isn't the ilx i know and mostly love.

I want SST to be in the top 5 but I don'tw ant to set myself up for disappointment

untouchables was def nommed. I said your friend... died like a stuck Irish pig.

The forecasting stuff is purely a tension device, it increases the awareness that each new name on the list is tightening the noose on the others. Ideally we'll get to the end of tomorrow and there'll be 11 top ten films - in all likelihood it'll be dayo's list + a Terminator or two and maybe Starship Troopers, and then a loong drop off to say Bad Boys - stuff that I might think could be top-25 but no-one thinks will be top-10.

jeez, under siege. too bad you couldn't vote for one dude instead of a movie. like, segal could be his own vote. the van damme vote, etc. cuz i feel like bronson won't be repped here and if he got his own vote, then all would be good.

I'm terrified that votes were split between under siege/under siege 2

Bronson. Knew I should've voted for Death Wish 3.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuKeUAavpnU

Under Siege needs to get all the Under Siege votes because #2 is dummmmmmm.

eric bogosian hijacks a train w/a cynical monologue iirc?

seagal movies you may have missed:

2002 Half Past Dead Sasha Petrosevitch
2003 The Foreigner Jonathan Cold
Out for a Kill Prof. Robert Burns
Belly of the Beast Jake Hopper
2004 Out of Reach William Lansing
Clementine Jack Miller
2005 Into the Sun Travis Hunter
Submerged Chris Cody
Today You Die Harlan Banks
Black Dawn Jonathan Cold
2006 Mercenary for Justice John Seeger
Shadow Man Jack Foster
Attack Force Cmdr. Marshall Lawson
2007 Flight of Fury John Sands
Urban Justice Simon Ballister
2008 Pistol Whipped Matt Conlin
The Onion Movie Cock Puncher
Kill Switch Jacob
2009 Against the Dark Tao
Driven to Kill Ruslan
The Keeper Roland Sallinger
2009– Steven Seagal: Lawman (himself)
2010 A Dangerous Man Shane Daniels
Machete Torrez
Born to Raise Hell Samuel Axel
2011 True Justice Elijah Kane
Skin Trade

I don't see First Blood getting mentioned much. Is it falling off people's radar because it doesn't have Rambo in the title or because they don't think much of it as an action film?

I swear Half Past Dead is a Troy McClure movie.

I watched first blood recently and I wasn't that impressed, predator was the better 'dudes in a jungle' movie

first blood is legend. i should have voted for deliverance. and southern comfort.

I really like First Blood.

Also a multitude of xxxposts to Josh In Chicago, re Conan: oh Conan's important. I don't remember seeing ET punch a camel. Any severed heads in ET? NO. I REST MY CASE.

Conan peaks with the camel punch. The rest is bad snake FX, iirc.

rong

i keep missing the end of omar's daily countdowns cos they end at 3-4am local time and opening up this thread every morning when i get to work is always a pleasure. except for the part where time & tide doesn't show up. and while it is an awesome movie i feel like it's not getting into the top 25 ;_;

i am v tempted to start watching these from the first i have not seen to the last

i enjoy morbs's 'action is not a genre' stance - in some way that's what makes this list so interesting, i think, way more so than a list of 'best sf movies' or whatever. (the formal definitions proffered upthread are pretty neat, tho -- 'action' a genre like 'lyric poetry' is a genre, not like 'crime' is a genre)

you know this is the most fun big poll i've read by miles and miles. so many great memories shared, so much warm nostalgia, so may lols! i really appreciate the work that Omar has been putting into this.

... just sayin.

also, hero's not on that list? hero's not gonna place? KFH places and not hero? ;_;

oh dude that would have been on my ballot, sorry for not voting

I really didn't get on with its Blokey Honor and Honorable Blokes.

Awwwwww! For me, this is one of the necessary components of an action movie.

I like that we can both love the genre while needing opposite things from it, though.