Nope. It does sound like something the 80s could have gotten away with that couldn't anymore....most likely.
Things you're tired of seeing in movies
- Thread starter Joosh
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drusselmeyer
Master Member
To Live and Die in LA isn't about the agents. Listen to the theme song by Wang Chung to understand the film.
It is off-center like Big Trouble in Little China: Jack Burton was the sidekick!
It is off-center like Big Trouble in Little China: Jack Burton was the sidekick!
Then they need to make a whole bunch of those; really cheese the audience off!!!
Ahh … To Live and die in LA, what a gem. William Friedkin-after the Exorcist and the French Connection. Willem Dafoe before Platoon. William Peterson before CSI. John Turtorro. Essentially a west coast Miami Vice with an 8 minute Friedkin car chase thrown in for good measure. Music composed by Wang Chung. Brutal and violent in a perfectly 80’s way. The list goes on.
Movies and directors like this don’t exist anymore. TLADILA could NOT get made today. It feels a little Michael Mann-ish but that’s because Peterson is in his Manhunter a couple years later.(also an underrated 80’s gem featuring Hannibal Lecter before Silence of the Lambs). But I digress, sorry.
Go check out To live and Die in L.A. and pine for days when directors had vision and movies took chances.
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Steven Seagal could still do that ending, no problem.
What would not get funded today is a good quality version of that movie.
Riceball
Master Member
I think that would depend a lot on who the director is and whether or not the project is something that a particular director/writer shopped around to different studios of if the idea originated from the studio. If the idea came from a big named director, somebody with a lot of clout I could see a studio actually greenlighting the project. Even now a days Hollywood does seem to greenlight the big drama set piece movie once or twice a year. For instance, I've been seeing lots of ads for some big western type movie that's due out sometime soonish that has a big named director (I forget whom) and an all star cast that does not look like the usual fluff piece, popcorn movie that we normally see.
A vastly overlooked classic. It deserves that status for just the freeway car chase and the airport foot chase alone. The fight choreo was outstanding and the film goes places you don't expect. Great dialogue, too.
The airport chase had that terrific tracking shot of Peterson chasing Turturro and runs on the divider between the walkways. LAX never gave them permission. It was a stolen shot - where Peterson "apologized" to authorities and Friedkin "reprimanded" him for the authorities. LOL.
Seriously. Who does foot chases this kinetic and suspenseful nowadays? This is just in the beginning.
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Friedkin (in front of airport authority guy) “don’t run on the raised escalator rail divider”
Also Freidkin (to Peterson outside of airport authority guy earshot) “do whatever you feel you need to do”
The rest is history in that vid clip. CLASSIC.
The Goon
Sr Member
He was exceptional. That's the first film that I really noticed him enough to look for him in upcoming films. I forgot he was also in Raging Bull before this.I had forgotten John Turturro was ever that young.
Around that time there was a really good interview he had with Terry Gross on NPR where he was plugging his personal indie film, Mac, which was a tribute to his dad who was in construction. It's touching how he talks about his dad. Mac (1992) is a hidden gem. It's funny and moving and the best movie about construction I can think of.
Riceball
Master Member
Getting back on topic.
I get kind of annoyed how most sci-fi IPs involving a military, or in the case of Star Trek a para-military, force everybody wears what in the real world would be a service dress uniform or even full dress uniform. While many do look cool, they're very impractical and kind of uncomfortable to wear for long periods and to work in. I think that Star Trek Enterprise had some of the most realistic and practical uniform for serving aboard a starship.
I get kind of annoyed how most sci-fi IPs involving a military, or in the case of Star Trek a para-military, force everybody wears what in the real world would be a service dress uniform or even full dress uniform. While many do look cool, they're very impractical and kind of uncomfortable to wear for long periods and to work in. I think that Star Trek Enterprise had some of the most realistic and practical uniform for serving aboard a starship.
p51
Sr Member
Yeah, but think of what combat uniforms looked like over the past century. The US Marine dress blues, for example, was a uniform Marines fought in until just after 1900.
Just a little wrench here..... Hussars. Rank begets F A N C Y !!!! Yes, the grunts sometimes have gruntwear, with the exception of P51's examples, column soldiers were impressive for thousands of years. Working attire, non combat, definitely down a few categories of style, very casual. But in every instance, in real history, rank gains adornment per level. At no time would the captain of the ship wear the same attire as a grunt but just in a different color. Communication is key. Authority is paramount. Communication from an authority cannot be left to ruin because someone doesn't recognize the rank of the speaker. I can suspend disbelief and run with color equals rank but historically this does not seem to have occurred. But, even though many grunts have worn grunt attire, many over hundreds of years, worked daily jobs in very sharp dress uniforms. So much history and so many examples from both views, hard to pinpoint a true average.
Lightning
Master Member
The TNG uniform is equivalent to class A, but the Voyager uniforms are in service at the same time and are the Class B equivalent. The Voyager style is replaced by the First Contact style, but The TNG class A is still in service until after the Dominion War when it is replaced by the Lower Decks uniforms.
Riceball
Master Member
I wouldn't say that because, aside from Generations, we never see the crews of the Enterprise D, Voyager, or DS9 switch back and forth between the 2 designs. The Enterprise crew always wore their style of uniforms, Voyager there's, and DS9 started out with Voyager style uniforms but later moved to 1st Contact style uniforms. So this suggests to me that they're all completely different uniforms and not different classes of uniform.
As for the Lower Decks style uniform, that's unique to the Cerritos or at least the crews of Cali class ships. When they showed Riker and the Titan, everybody there were wearing the First Contact style uniforms and when Boimler later transferred to the Titan he wore the same style of uniform as the rest of the crew aboard the Titan. So the LD style uniform is not standard issue and did not replace the 1st Contact style uniforms. At best, they're a new uniform that they're looking to make standard and are currently field testing them on Cali class ships.
Regardless, my point still stands. People in Trek and other sci-fi franchises are still running around in the equivalent of service dress uniforms instead of something more comfortable and practical like the blue coveralls that the US Navy has started to issue for standard wear aboard ships for both enlisted and officers. Before that, officers and Chiefs wore khakis that didn't seem too uncomfortable, although not as practical as the coveralls are. And if we go back to the age of sail, yes, officers wore what would be the equivalent of dress uniforms now a days, but not the enlisted personnel who did all of the work. Officers could get away with the uniforms they wore because they wouldn't be doing any of the work, they'd just stand around and supervise. On the ground that's a different matter, but linear warfare was different than modern warfare and troops back then didn't regularly run around diving for cover. Besides, by the late 19th century simpler, less elaborate uniforms were coming into being, at least for enlisted personnel with drab colored uniforms starting to come into being by the early 30th century.
Lightning
Master Member
Personally, I fail to see how the Voyager and FC uniforms are at all formal. Or uncomfortable for that matter (in universe). Its a very simple design.
Also I didn't say the Lower Decks uniforms replaced the First Contact ones. I said they replaced the Next Generation (Mandarin Collar) uniforms. Other data points in addition to Generations include, Sisco changing into TNG style while at Starfleet Command in "Homefront", and a single officer wearing the TNG uniform surrounded by the First Contact style during the Domimion surrender ceremony on DS9.
It appears that individual commanders decide which of the class A or B their crew wears.
Picard Class A
Riker Class B
Janeway Class B
Starfleet Command Class A
Freeman Class A (Cali class gets no respect so they dress more formally to compensate)
drusselmeyer
Master Member
Inappropriate nudity/lack of appropriate nudity. This is more of a complaint about people not doing their homework when it comes to correct cultural attire. I.e. Fantasy creatures are not going to bend to prudish societal rules nor are most ordinary humans going to get naked in clearly life threatening environments.
This problem is pretty common and most likely based on projected market forces rather than artistic license.
This problem is pretty common and most likely based on projected market forces rather than artistic license.
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