which is your favourite: arnold schwarzenegger film?

[Zzyzx]

Definately Predator :D

 

[zagzig]

I went with Predator because I recall being on the edge of my seat watching it as a kid. I also rate the original Terminator and T2, but T3 was shite...

 

[who_can_say]

I vote Junior, only coz I LOVE Emma Thompson.

Were I to vote on *his* acting skills, possibly Total Recall

 

[Excido]

"two weeks....two...weeks...twwoooo...weeekkkkss"

 

[moonyham]

T2 /thread

 

[tambourine-man]

Ah man.... so dificult to choose. He might not be a thespian, but he's made so many great action flicks.

Thanks.

I'm surprised how many people voted T2. It's a great film but it isn't perfect. Edward Furlong's portrayal of John Conner detracts enormously for me. But it's not his fault, it's Cameron. In fact JC pretty much always has one element in his films that kind of ruin them. {Aliens=macho marines, The Abyss=the ending, etc...}

I don't think JC can write very well. Hell the last three things he wrote are "Terminator: The Sarah Conner Cronichles", "Terminator 3" and "Dark Angel". Whereas The Running Man/ Total Recall are written by Stephen King and Philip K Dick respectively. I'm genuinely surprised such a substantial amount of the votes go to JC flicks (T2 and True Lies).

Totally agree. Good analysis. T2 is a great film and a fantastic role for Arnold, but it isn't his best. Predator is easily a beter film.

i voted total recall. almost went for kindergarten cop simply cuz the "it is not a tumah!" line cracks me up every time...

Hahaha!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mzqf0MdmOEc

I voted for Red Heat. James Belushi is frequently hilarious as the sweaty, reluctant partner of the Soviet hardass who regards him with equal disdain. Their mutually distrustful relationship adequately reflects the tensions of the cold war and always brings back good memories of watching this as a kid (underaged viewing, of course).

It was a reasonably novel take on the "odd couple" cop-buddy genre of the 1980's and manages to avoid overt cultural characatures, yet wholly embraces the reciprocal bigotry of the two lead characters. It's beautifully shot in places (both the heat of Chicago and the chill of Moscow blow straight through the screen) and Walter Hill's characters really defined their archtypes, going on to create the mould for a million other cop films (if Peter Boyle didn't define the stressed-out, permanantly shouting Police Commander... I don't know who does). Laurence Fishburn is equally solid in the role of the greasy Lt. Charlie Stobbs.

If you get a chance to watch it, make sure you get the uncensored and uncut version in all it's gloriously bloody overkill mentality. Massive guns, huge bodycount, perfect audio, and an unmitigated, rippling Arnold.

 

[AmorRoark]

I voted Terminator 3 but I totally forgot about Total Recall...that would definitely be my favorite.

I don't mean to be harsh but...

ARE. YOU. SERIOUS??????? I thought that film was so amazingly unmatchably bad.

 

[tambourine-man]

Yeah, I was gonna quote it and call him on that... but I felt mean doing so.

I managed to convince myself it was a typo.

 

[His Name Is Frank]

I don't think JC can write very well. Hell the last three things he wrote are "Terminator: The Sarah Conner Cronichles", "Terminator 3" and "Dark Angel". Whereas The Running Man/ Total Recall are written by Stephen King and Philip K Dick respectively. I'm genuinely surprised such a substantial amount of the votes go to JC flicks (T2 and True Lies).

If you're going to slam James Cameron's writing, do it for something he actually wrote. He is credited on Dark Angel because he came up with the concept of the show. He had nothing to do with T3 or The Sarah Connor Chronicles either. He's only credited because he created the characters and storylines in Terminator and T2.

I think the last thing he actually wrote was Titanic and that was over ten years ago.

 

[tambourine-man]

I think the last thing he actually wrote was Titanic...

Not the most robust defense of his case...

 

[TheDeceased]

I made reference to a number of things that he'd written. When I looked at imdb.com it listed 'Dark Angel' under his writing credits. He wrote the story for the pilot and directed it as well as coming up with the concept of the show. As for T3 and The Sarah Conner Chronicles, I guess he allowed them to happen. But you're right, he didn't write them.

I don't think he's the worst writer to have ever lived. There are concepts throughout his films that I've really liked. Conceptually he's interesting, but I find his characters fairly one dimensional and some of the lines he writes for them to be truly cringeworthy. Particularly the male bravada type stuff.

Also I think that he overdoes the strong female I'm-going-to-play-with-the-big-boys character. There seems to be one in practically everything he writes. Aliens= the female marine who is always being ripped on for being a woman, Terminator series= Sarah Conner, The Abyss= Ed Harris' ex-wife, Dark Angel= title character. I don't mean to sound sexist and I'm not saying that women can't be the hero, but I just think he overdoes it that's all.

I'm a big fan of Philip K Dick (and Paul Verhoeven) on the other hand and regard Total Recall to be, by a huge margin, the best film that Shwarzenegger was involved with. I was surprised that people liked T2 more, which (aside from harbouring one of the worst teenage characters ever written) is chock full of fairly cheesy Star Trek/ Isaac Asmimov like dialogue about the relationship between humans and cyborgs.

I didn't mean to offend anyone, I was just surprised about how many people had voted for James Cameron films. To me he's kind of like an (admittedly preferable version of) Michael Bay.

 

[AmorRoark]

^ I can see the comparison between Cameron and Michael Bay. I *hate* Michael Bay.