Lurker > Johnbobb

ELIMINATED
Icon of Sin (DOOM)

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/6/6/5/AAS3NhAADyGx.jpg

Robazoid posted...

Mephisto should be safe I think.

you're right, corrected that

Doing scenario 4 and realizing Ash Blair was the guy from scenario 3 using the name of his matchbook was such a great moment

UNSAFE [10]
[1] Beelzeboss (Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny)
[1] Black Phillip (The VVitch)
[1] Chernabog (Fantasia)
[1] Devimon (Digimon)
[1] Icon of Sin (DOOM)
[1] Mephisto (Marvel Comics)
[1] Minion (Twisted Metal)
[1] Satan (Dante's Inferno)
[1] Satan (South Park)
[1] Satan (The Binding of Isaac)

him

Lou

got it and started it tonight

just finished the 4th scenario and I'm really digging it

and yeah the art is hideous but that's part of the charm

UNSAFE [24]
[1] Beelzeboss (Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny)
[1] Black Phillip (The VVitch)
[0] Chernabog (Fantasia)
[1] Devil (Tekken 2)
[0] Devimon (Digimon)
[0] Diablo (Diablo)
[0] HIM (The Powerpuff Girls)
[1] Icon of Sin (DOOM)
[1] Lou (Guitar Hero 3)
[1] Lucifer (Helltaker)
[1] Lucifer (Supernatural)
[0] Mephisto (Marvel Comics)
[0] Minion (Twisted Metal)
[0] Mundus (Devil May Cry)
[0] Pac-Devil (Pac-Man World Rally)
[1] Satan (Dante's Inferno)
[1] Satan (Ghosts n Goblins)
[1] Satan (Haxan)
[1] Satan (Paradise Lost)
[1] Satan (South Park)
[1] Satan (The Binding of Isaac)
[1] The Devil (Bedazzled)
[1] The Devil (Cuphead)
[0] Zorc Necrophades (Yu-Gi-Oh!)

Beelzeboss

Code Monkeys
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8GadTlsXp4
https://imgur.com/a/ytGmyYN

Outlier Ranking

rockus: 63
Poke: 50
plasma: 48
ssbm: 45
Snake: 44
Mythiot: 35
Vis: 28
John: 24
seginus: 24
Karo: 23
Tangy: 16

The only real movement here is Snake, who drops from 2nd down to 5th

Vis
This movie really TRIED to be interesting, and I think it had the potential to be soif it didnt take itself so goddamn seriously. All the secondary and side characters are weird and quirky, which worksbut then all the main characters are played SO straight that the frenetic pace and offbeat plot fall flat. There are four or five factions, and the worst is Josh Hartnett. He literally says in the movie that he has a psychological condition that prevents him from caring about bad shit going on around him, which means he NEVER fucking reacts to the AWFUL things being done to him. Now granted, this is all in service to an EXTREMELY obvious twist ending (he was the kid from the opening sequence. GASP), and it makes me wonder why Im supposed to care this flat, unfeeling semi-goofball. Plus theres a whole subplot about tricking a gay guy into going on a date, so as to assassinate him? Smokin Aces did this SORT of energy SO much better, because it understood that you need to have interesting personalities in your movie about multiple factions all gunning for each other at once.

Tangy
This movie tries so hard to be cool I swear to god. It sucks too, cause normally I enjoy these movies quite a bit. I think the most glaring issue here is Harnett, hes supposed to come off as cool and witty, but he mostly just acts like a douchebag. While it did lead to some humor every time he got shit on, its clear were supposed to think hes badass by the end and hes just not. The plot twist also wasnt great. Spoiling your own movie in the beginning is always a risk, but if it works the payoff can be huge. Here its especially frustrating, because all the stuff with Freeman and Kingsley is so good, that once it ties back into Harnett were basically told that theyre the dumbest mob bosses of all time. Like do they not keep tabs on their hitmen after a job? Dont they usually need to see the body? Also how did they not find anything for Lucy Liu to do!? Her character had such a fun personality and was insanely likable, she would've been great as a twist villain, but noooo we need a romantic interest for the lead. Josh Hartnett is so charming theres no way someone doesnt fall head over heels for him after only meeting like twice. God I could barf. Its a good thing Freeman and Kingsely were here to liven things up though, otherwise this wouldve been a ringer for dead last.

John
what the fuck is even happening here? I don't ask because the movie is too difficult or complex, but because nobody in the movie particuarly seems to know. The writer definitely doesn't seem to know. But what the writer really doesn't know is how to write a joke that's actually funny. Holy shit there were so many "pause for laughter" moments that this movie felt like it needed a sitcom laugh track for its constant awful jokes. So much talent is involved in this and it's almost entirely wasted on a terrible script. The only thing keeping this nonsense from the bottom of my list is just how incredible Lucy Liu is here.

Snake
What if we made Pulp Fiction but made it suck? Slevin is a wannabe of a wannabe, with smug annoying characters, thinks-its-smart dialogue, and whip-snap editing tricking you into thinking it's funnier than it is. I thought I liked this movie when I first saw it but I'm just not digging it at all anymore. I think its the one bad movie on the list.

Mythiot
Well, the sets were interesting, and Slevin and Lucy Liu have some cute moments together. That said, I really disliked this one, with a laughably implausible plot that puts Nolan, Fincher, Tarantino, Guy Ritchie, and Joss Whedon in a blender and pours the mess on your head. The dialogue tries so hard to be clever and funny and ends up being embarrassingly cringey. I still have no idea what the Shmoo has to do with anything.

rockus
A hodgepodge of better movie references and ideas which it isnt smart enough, or slick enough, or shot well enough to pull off. Hartnett and Liu have some fun chemistry together in a few scenes. Might be the only bad film on the list.

25. Lucky Number Slevin (2006)
Directed by: Paul McGuigan
Runtime: 1h 50m
Score: 227

ssbm: 7
plasma: 8
Poke: 9
Karo: 20
seginus: 20
Vis: 21
Tangy: 25
John: 27
Snake: 30
Mythiot: 30
rockus: 30

ssbm
Rating: B+

This movie is really fun to watch. Outside of the beginning (which only makes sense by the time you finish the story), this movie captures your attention from beginning to end. Slevin is a really fun protagonist. His quips are mostly pretty good and his romance with Lindsey is charming. He has a real "aw shucks how'd I get into this situation" vibe to him and it keeps the movie fun. Both The Boss and The Rabbi are fun antagonists, especially The Rabbi. I just love how he has a story for just about any situation. It really sells the "rabbi but gangster" vibe. Lindsey's plot is cute, but also pretty intriguing as you're trying to figure out Goodkat and what happened to Nick.

Of course, the ending is what really propels this movie. For those who don't know, this is a better version of The Usual Suspects. Everything mentioned earlier in the movie is involved in the true ending, where Slevin has deceived the characters and the audience of his true intentions. It's a great feeling to see all the missing puzzle pieces click into a neat puzzle, including puzzle pieces that you thought were in the right area but were actually completely wrong. I love all the flashbacks during the reveal and how it all nicely lines up.

As much praise I heap onto it, though, this movie absolutely has a ceiling. And that ceiling is what keeps it at (lucky) #7. It just doesn't feel deep. The themes in the movie are kinda paper-thin and it definitely relies on spectacle. That's not a bad thing. I even think this movie benefits from repeat watchings and it's not a one-and-done. It's just a fact that it's not deeper than the other movies I ranked higher than it.

plasma
What is it with the year 2006 and mistaken-identity movies? First The Departed, then Lucky Number Slevin, and you can also include The Prestige as well. Im not sure why mistaken-identity was such a go-to topic that year, but it did give us some excellent movies. And, yes, Lucky Number Slevin is excellent. Rough around the edges, sure, but I was both gripped and amused the entire time.

Best part was that I didnt see the plot twist coming. I shouldve, but I didnt. Josh Hartnett completely sold me on the idea that he was this innocent, aw-shucks unlucky guy who ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time while wearing only a towel. Even when he shot the Fairy later on, I still thought Hartnett was the puppet rather than the puppet master. In fact, I thought Lucy Liu (who was adorable in this movie) was the one to be wary of. But when the twist hitdamnI was completely thrown against the wall.

Praise aside, Lucky Number Slevin is not perfect. The plot is contrived at times, messy at others. It relies on hit-and-miss humor to keep the scenario believable. And as for the ending, I thought it was a bit much to fake Lucy Lius death. Sure, it fits with the storys theme of deception, but when Lucy was shot in the morgue, that moment had impact. It felt like an agonizing sacrifice, something that needed to happen in order for this wild plan to succeed. Showing her alive at the end didnt ring true to me. It felt like cheating, as if the producers said, Hey, we need a happy ending here. Find a way to bring her back.

Still, theres no denying that Lucky Number Slevin is a blast and arguably the most fun movie on this list. Ironically, this story about mistaken-identity has its own identity, and it clearly distinguishes itself from the twenty-six films that preceded it. B+

Poke
Tempting to rank it #7th but I'll put it at 9. It's a great, fun film. Full of twists and laughs. Always a joy to watch, even if you know what's coming.

Karo
Basically there's a weird guy in an apartment that doesn't belong to him and he has a really really really stupid name. Criminals seem to be after him for reasons he can't seem to understand and he gets himself randomly hired as a hitman somehow. The film's convoluted plot lacks focus and lacks even more believability that this overly complicated revenge plan would somehow work against these two jaded career criminals.
It turned out to not be the Tyler Durden kind of thing that I was expecting it to be, but now it's a Boba Fett kind of thing I guess and to hell with it this isn't a very good movie.

seginus
There's a lighthearted tone to this one that keeps it fresh. Hartnett and Liu actually make a fun couple that surprisingly stands as one of the more inoffensive romances on the list, and Freeman/Kingsley bring a winking prestige to their dueling moguls act that lights up the second half. Sometimes the plot tries too hard to misdirect, er, 'Kansas City Shuffle' the audience in service of superfluous twist reveals and it ends up backfiring. And it shoves a few too many other media references into the character's dialogue - James Bond, Andy Griffith, Columbo, North By Northwest. Yes guys, it's like you're in a movie or something. I'm surprised Bruce Willis' character didn't say "Hey, this reminds me of when I did Last Man Standing!"

Devil tekken

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/4/2/6/AAS3NhAADyDC.jpg

Rules (mostly copy/pasted from SMFFFC):

- You personally (no bots/scripts/lending of accounts) can save 1 character per hour.
- A character needs 2 votes to be saved.
- Saves must be clearly understandable to count. If you save "Satan" or "Lucifer" with no further context your save will be ignored.
- Last 1 character unsaved is eliminated.
- No alts, no rallying, no post deletion/editing (unless correcting an update), no spoiler tags, no offering to save for next round saves.
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- If you want to update, make sure it's accurate.
- Only Johnbobb can start up new topics.
- Community Rule is in effect. Deliberate rules violations will result in bans.

UNSAFE [31]
[0] Beelzeboss (Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny)
[0] Beelzebub (Darkwing Duck)
[0] Black Phillip (The VVitch)
[0] Chernabog (Fantasia)
[0] Dark Heart (Care Bears Movie II: A New Generation)
[0] Dark Prince/Satan (Puyo Puyo)
[0] Devil (Tekken 2)
[0] Devimon (Digimon)
[0] Diablo (Diablo)
[0] HIM (The Powerpuff Girls)
[0] Icon of Sin (DOOM)
[0] Lou (Guitar Hero 3)
[0] Lucifer (Helltaker)
[0] Lucifer (Supernatural)
[0] Mephisto (Marvel Comics)
[0] Minion (Twisted Metal)
[0] Mundus (Devil May Cry)
[0] Ned Flanders as the Devil (The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror)
[0] Pac-Devil (Pac-Man World Rally)
[0] Robot Devil (Futurama)
[0] Sadao Maou (The Devil is a Part-Timer)
[0] Satan (Dante's Inferno)
[0] Satan (Ghosts n Goblins)
[0] Satan (Haxan)
[0] Satan (Paradise Lost)
[0] Satan (South Park)
[0] Satan (The Binding of Isaac)
[0] The Devil (Bedazzled)
[0] The Devil (Charlie Daniels - The Devil Went Down To Georgia)
[0] The Devil (Cuphead)
[0] Zorc Necrophades (Yu-Gi-Oh!)

ELIMINATED
32. Beelz (Stephen Lynch - Beelz)
33. Dabura (Dragonball Z)
34. Satan (Persona)
35. Satan (Cygames)
36. The Devil (Slingo)
37. The Ruler of Heck (Rockos Modern Life)
38. The Red Guy (Cow and Chicken)
39. Giratina (Pokemon)
40. The Devil, y'know, from The Bible (SnapCube's Real Time Fandub of Shadow the Hedgehog)
41. Satanael (Persona)
42. Blackheart (Marvel)
43. Shinnok (Mortal Kombat)
44. Truck Satan (Clustertruck)
45. Rodin (Bayonetta)
46. Louisa Ferre (Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey)
47. Lucifer Morningstar (Lucifer TV series)
48. Lucifer (Persona)
49. Lucifer/The Devil (The Rolling Stones - Sympathy for the Devil)
50. Darkness (Legend)

It's definitely on topic!

Archer
SpongeBob
X-men

Greendale school flag

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HP1Atb8nAGY

ELIMINATED:
Beelz (Stephen Lynch - Beelz)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BeYXjBfrdg

rip me

Oh no I forgot to save Beelz!

UNSAFE [7]
[1] Beelz (Stephen Lynch - Beelz)
[1] Devimon (Digimon)
[1] Icon of Sin (DOOM)
[1] Mephisto (Marvel Comics)
[1] Minion (Twisted Metal)
[1] Satan (Dante's Inferno)
[1] Satan (Ghosts n Goblins)

Outlier Ranking

rockus: 58
Snake: 39
Poke: 34
plasma: 31
Mythiot: 30
ssbm: 27
Vis: 24
John: 22
seginus: 19
Karo: 18
Tangy: 16

Pokewars continues to shuffle inconsistently throughout the list, while Karo flinches and rockus rides comfortably on top

John
A lot of the long films on this list (and yeah, there's a LOT of them, I'm sorry) I might argue needed their length to really develop their characters, tell their sweeping narratives, and so forth. American Gangster, I would argue, did not need nearly the time it took, and of the 3 hour films, this is perhaps the only one where at more than a few times I checked how much time was left. Many of the gangster epics will do one of two things: 1. focus almost entirely on a single character, documenting their rise and fall, or 2. focus on an entire mob family or even community and examining how everyone interacts with everyone else. American Gangster attempts something ever so slightly different, focusing on TWO characters and their respective rises and falls in relation to each other. It's hardly the first film to do this, and it's a solid approach, but the issue is that for that structure to work, those two characters need to be endlessly compelling. Frank is, for the most part, but Richie? I loved Crowe in things like A Beautiful Mind and Gladiator and Master and Commander, but here, he's a drag more often than not. How am I supposed to get invested in this man's custody battle for his kid when even he himself can barely be bothered to remember that that subplot is happening. There's just not enough weight here to make it the epic it wants to be, despite some really solid moments sprinkled throughout.

Snake
Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe put in the work here, but as far as gangster movies go this isn't one of the most compelling on the list. The themes are fantastic, but it suffers from substandard writing, direction, and some pretty lazy cinematography. Of course, Hollywood injected details and liberties don't really make the story stand out as much as it should either.

ssbm
Rating: D-

This is the most whatever movie on this list. I felt nothing watching this. To me, it was just a series of actions done by Frank and Richie. It's interesting seeing how Frank rose to the top. Admittedly, I feel like Frank doesn't really have much of a personality other than "go-getter." I think Richie's a more interesting character, in that he's this noble police officer, but his personal life is all sorts of messed up. The politics is interesting, especially in the second half. I like that the corrupt NYC cop, Trupo, is an antagonist to both Frank and Richie for different reasons. Richie having to deal with the military as he gets closer to figuring out how Frank gets his heroin to the US is interesting too.

But honestly, the most interesting part of the movie is the last 30 minutes or so, where Frank and Richie finally meet. We get a good conversation between the two and, more importantly, a rapport is built between them. They work together to clean up the corruption in the NY police. Richie then becomes a defense attorney and lowers Frank's 70-year sentence to 15-years. I wish that was the movie I watched! That's really interesting! Unfortunately, most of it is done in montage and those "true story" captions at the end of the movie.

26. American Gangster (2007)
Directed by: Ridley Scott
Runtime: 2h 40m
Score: 236

Poke: 13
Vis: 17
plasma: 17
Karo: 19
rockus: 21
seginus: 22
Tangy: 24
John: 25
Snake: 25
Mythiot: 25
ssbm: 28

Poke
I do love a good "rise to power" story. And this one is partly based on a real-life person. So that's extra cool. Great performances from Denzel and Russell. A lengthy-but-doesn't-feel-that-way film.

Vis
Id actually seen this one before, and I remembered that one scene where Frank gets back at Idris Elba for talking shit earlier in the film, by killing him in broad daylight (sidenote: there is a STUNNING lack of murder in this movie). But watching it a second time, it just drags a little bit. Id forgotten about the Russell Crowe half of the film, honestly, and thats ACTUALLY the more interesting half (barely). This is based on a true story, so the narrative cant embellish THAT much, but at the same time, it couldve used a little more movie magic as it were. I think for a film thats nearly three hours long, it suffers from the fact that its trying to tell two, interconnected stories at once, and it leads to neither one being quite as good as perhaps they could have been solo.

The Frank story is okay, but its also largely calm. Once Frank takes control of his own family as it were, hes largely unscathed until the ending. Theres no rise and fall so much as a rise, a single mistake, and then everything extends out from that single mistake (wearing a pimp coat after warning his brother against doing exactly that). Meanwhile, the Roberts story just has him being an uncompromising boy scout until hes appointed head of the drug task force, and its just a long, slow process of him gathering information and evidence. Again, either of these stories, if focused on, could have been interesting. But having them both simultaneously watered them both down a little bit. That first hour was ALL set-up for both characters before the actual meat of the plot started, and the movie didnt need to be that bloated (also, the ending was just a little too long as well.) The premise was interesting, since it was cool to see the rise of a black mafioso, but it just wasnt the most intriguing story.

plasma
The lovechild of Scarface and The Untouchables. Or maybe its what The Untouchables wouldve been if Al Capone got an extra hour of screen time. Either way, this felt like a modernized take on two of the 80s movies we watched. I have to admit that at this stage of the project, American Gangster struck me as derivative. Other than the Harlem/Vietnam-era setting and the occasional economics lesson, this one didnt do a whole lot to distinguish itself from the other crime epics on our list.

That said, this is still a solid film. What I loved most was the relationship between Frank Lucas (Denzel) and Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe). Though they dont meet face-to-face until their intense interrogation/courtroom confrontation, the buildup is great.

Lucas is characterized as a man who breaks countless laws in order to gain power, comfort, and family stability. Not only is he business-savvy, but hes smart enough to be low-key about his actions. On the contrary, Roberts is Mr. Incorruptible while on the job, turning down unmarked money and making noise in an effort to clean up the streets. Though a good cop, Roberts is a woeful family man who cheats on his wife and fails to make time for his kid. The juxtaposition of the two lead characters raises some interesting questions about honesty, integrity, and what it takes to achieve happiness.

In the end Roberts wins by capturing Lucas and convincing him to name names. Lucas is released from prison fifteen years later as a reward for exposing a shitload of corrupt DEA agents and NY cops. On the day of Lucas release, Roberts is waiting for him, and we see a meeting between two men whose lives were shaped and shattered by crime. Theres a bittersweetness to the ending that only works because of how well both men were portrayed, and I gotta give the movie props for that. C+

Karo
A black man who wishes to be Italian becomes king of the new york dope trade thanks to his signature drug Blue Magic, after which he then gets sued by Walter White for copyright infringement.
Opposing him is this detective whom the movie tries to portray as this honest honorable cop, but he is a self-righteous douchenozzle who, just to name a few things, engages in racial profiling, desecrates the bodies of fallen soldiers, covers up a murder perpetrated by a fellow officer, and brutally beats a taxi driver unconscious so he can hijack his cab and chase after a suspect.
Eventually Lucas gets caught and rats out every police officer he paid off in what is I guess is supposed to be an uplifting ending featuring something like Joe Bidens idea of police reform. 'by golly, we'll take all those crooked cops and we'll.. we'll show them what for!'

rockus
A great cast and some talented directing from Ridley Scott elevate a crime empire establishing narrative that weve probably heard and seen too many times. But what it lacks in originality it makes up for in style and another great turn from Denzel Washington. I might be ranking this a little low but its a crowded field with a lot of solid films that I like quite a bit.

seginus
Denzel is entertaining when he's in full sarcastic "MY man" mode, but on the whole, Ridley Scott's modern epic never really rose above par for the course. It's serviceable as a dramatization of a true story - with a grain of salt for the details of course - but I don't think it adds much to the genre at this point and in that sense probably loses a lot from being watched consecutively after a bunch of other gangster movies. Don't think this one justified itself being near 3 hours, either!

Tangy
Ugh how many times do we have to see the whole cop that wants to do things the right way. This is such an obnoxiously common trope and I hate seeing it. Sure it works in some movies, hell theres like three on this list alone that shows the trope can work, it just needs to be done right. I think the problem here is Frank Lucas immediately comes off as the more likable character (partially thanks to Denzel of course). This might have been the point to juxtapose him against the police force, but I dont buy it. They had a perfectly good source of that with Brolins character. They were probably just too afraid to make Lucas the clear cut protagonist and Im angry about it. If you take out
Crowes character (and with the film being over two and half hours they are absolutely able to do so) this absolutely cracks the top 15 at least.

Him

UNSAFE [15]
[1] Beelz (Stephen Lynch - Beelz)
[1] Black Phillip (The VVitch)
[1] Chernabog (Fantasia)
[1] Devil (Tekken 2)
[1] Devimon (Digimon)
[1] Diablo (Diablo)
[0] HIM (The Powerpuff Girls)
[1] Icon of Sin (DOOM)
[1] Mephisto (Marvel Comics)
[0] Minion (Twisted Metal)
[1] Mundus (Devil May Cry)
[1] Pac-Devil (Pac-Man World Rally)
[1] Satan (Dante's Inferno)
[1] Satan (Ghosts n Goblins)
[1] Zorc Necrophades (Yu-Gi-Oh!)

Lou

Outlier Ranking

rockus: 53
Snake: 38
Mythiot: 29
ssbm: 25
plasma: 22
Poke: 21
John: 21
Vis: 15
seginus: 15
Tangy: 14
Karo: 11

sorry rockus

also sorry to anyone trying to compete with rockus

Vis
Im not one of those people who automatically hates old movies for being old. A good, old-time movie can still get my praise. This, however, did not. The first movie I watched for this list didnt do a whole lot for me. Its less than ninety minutes long, and feels like a bare-bones version of future crime movies that have a much greater amount of substance to them. The end title card makes a lot of sense for the structure of this film though: its a morality story for thirties audiences about the dangers of letting your kids get away with petty crimes early on, because theyll grow up to be massive scumbags who get killed by the mob. But as a morality story, I feel like they didnt care AS much about content.

The general plot follows Tom Powers, going from a punk little kid, to running with cheap criminals, to getting into the bootlegging and protection racket, until he eventually has his downfall. This is a fine storyline and Im not going to take points off for being a standard rise and fall plot, because this came well before many similar plots, so this is really the forebearer. And I also get that telling a characters life story over time means youre going to shift scenes a lot. But where this film falls flat for me is just HOW disjointed the scene transitions are. This is a relatively short movie, yet it feels like its comprised of a series of two-minutes scenes that start and immediately cut to something else. Were never given a long enough time in any individual scene to breath, and it makes the plot feel very choppy, and the characters feel simplistic as a result. Its just not entirely my cup of tea, is all.

Poke
Funny how a scene from The Simpsons that I saw years ago can make more sense when I see where they took it from (the slamming the orange in someone's face). Another good Cagney performance.

Snake
The original gangster movie. James Cagney is brilliant. The film is a sprawling epic, covering years of crime and a psychological bend in the character of Tom Powers. It's basically the blueprint for all gangster films to come, since it captures the lifestyle and character archetypes, but at the same time it doesn't glorify it, though some rushed plot points might better be seen as a launchpad to what gangster films can and should be later on down the line.

Tangy
This one took a bit to get moving, but once it did it kept a solid pace. Honestly I have to thank Cagney for this, his performance worked wonders in keeping me invested. My favorite aspect about him was how he just became more and more confident as the film continued. Its overall a pretty neutral film though and theres not enough here for me to really put it higher.

John
I always try to avoid reading reviews about a film until after I've had the chance to form my own opinion, but that doesn't mean I don't read reviews. And reading the reviews for this one is difficult, because sometimes, people are full of shit. Sometimes critics, in an effort to recognize an old film's influence (and there is plenty of influence here) will praise those older movies for aspects that honestly just don't exist. Doing it first is not the same as doing it best, and while The Public Enemy did a good job of establishing tropes of the genre that would be replicated down the line (most notably, the cycle of a young kid with grey morals getting drawn in by an adult gangster with money to go around) what it didn't do a good job with was basically everything else. The performances here are atrocious to the point that it borders on comedic.

27. The Public Enemy (1931)
Directed by: William A. Wellman
Runtime: 1h 36m
Score: 240

rockus: 9
Mythiot: 15
plasma: 16
seginus: 21
Karo: 22
ssbm: 23
Vis: 24
Poke: 26
Snake: 27
Tangy: 28
John: 29

rockus
One of my favorite 1930s gangster films and probably my second favorite Cagney gangster movie. Its pre-code era allows it to get away with some pretty dark and brutal depictions of violence for the time that it wouldnt be able to just a few years later. That sequence of Cagney walking in the rain is still an all-timer, its relentless sound of the downpour only broken up briefly by the bursts of gunfire and muffled screams. A classic and probably Wellmans best film I think Ive seen.

Mythiot
The dated nature of early talkies and occasional cheesiness of the acting in this film hold it back some, but it didn't prepare for how raw it could get. All the scenes where Tom Powers and his fellow thugs are roughing someone up and making their way through gang politics are gold and I have to give major credit for that final scene still being able to shock me despite its age.

plasma
What a surprise this was! When I first saw our list I thought, Yep, those 30s movies are locks for my Bottom 5, but The Public Enemy strong-armed me into rethinking that idea.

James Cagney delivers a bang-up performance here, but what impressed me most was the pacing. This movie absolutely zips. There are countless well-timed cuts, and no scene overstays its welcome. Not only does this make for an enjoyable watching experience, but it also serves as a commentary on gangster life: its fun, its fast, its over before you know it.

Great characterization in this one, too. Quite a few mobsters are introduced in this slim, 84-minute movie, yet Putty Nose, Paddy, and Nail all leap off the screen. Solid performances across the board, and each stands out as memorable.

Another thing that wowed me was the gritty, unsafe nature of the story world. Right off the bat, Limpy Larry gets gunned down in the street by a cop. Later on, Cagney shoves a grapefruit in his girlfriends face. Then he executes a guy over his piano (right after leaving a buddys wedding). Even some of the nonviolent moments, like when Cagney wordlessly marches behind the bar counter and drains all the taps, contribute to that nasty, unsafe atmosphere.

What holds this movie back is its goofy, clumsy moments. It seems like every end table is rigged to explode when touched, and punches often land with more comedy than drama. The scene at the fur shop with the stuffed bear aged hideously, and there is an abundance of bad dialogue that ranges from preachy to info-dumpy.

Still, this is a fun whirlwind of a crime story that follows two young ruffians who grow into a pair of charismatic yet morally-drained assholes. Thankfully the movie doesnt attempt to reform its antiheroes in hopes of delivering a happy ending. The final scene, though predictable, hits with impact and honesty. B

seginus
Cagney is a great anti-hero, an entertaining creep. The Hays code-guided moral messaging may be preachy but I honestly don't mind it given how often people have taken the wrong messages out of gangster movies since then. This was a solid template setter to start the list out with, the classic rise and demise of criminal ambition.

Karo
A really old black and white gangster movie featuring the 1930's equivalent of 3D, people who can talk.
Anyway, it manages to tell a fairly compelling story of these two individuals as they go from child petty thieves to brutal mob enforcers during the prohibition era.
It seems to be bizarrely trying to push the envelope yet as the same time tiptoes around meekly cowering in fear of enraging their christian moralfascist overlords. Heehee, we did that thing last night. It's a thing people do at night. I bet you can't guess what it is, heeheehee.
On the topic of censorship, most plot-important scenes of violence occur awkwardly off-screen, except for the few that don't for some reason. Is there like some studio mandate that you can't show more than two people being shot per movie? What the fuck.
It is an old but passable film from the pre-code era that holds up about as much as you can hope for in something that ancient.

ssbm
Rating: C-

With these 1930s movies, I'm more distracted by just how different filmmaking was back then compared to modern times. I'm also pretty interested in just how different society looked back then, especially in this movie, as its a historical movie even back in the 1930s. It goes through the 1910s with World War I as it explores Tom's childhood and life. The most interesting thing about The Public Enemy is Tom and Mike's relationship at home, especially with their mother. Tom is the successful son, while Mike struggles with life despite being a decorated war hero. But Tom, of course, gets all his money from being a gangster, which he hides from his mother. I also found the ending pretty compelling, where Tom finally starts to consider changing his ways, only to end up dead and shipped straight to his family home, where Mike struggles what to do with the body.

Aside from that, The Public Enemy doesn't really have too many compelling scenes. Tom's character is kinda weird. He cheats on his girlfriend and is pretty annoyed with her when she seems perfectly fine. He even smashes a grapefruit in her face, a famous scene for....reasons I don't know why. I do think the early scenes where Putty Nose sets them up is pretty amusing. I have no idea why Tom shoots the taxidermied bear, as if there would be a live bear in the middle of a building. I guess it's to show Tom's lack of experience at this age, but I just found it silly.

1. Represent
2. Life's a Bitch
3. NY State of Mind
4. One Time 4 Your Mind
5. Memory Lane (Sittin' in da Park)
6. The World is Yours
7. One Love
8. Halftime
9. It Ain't Hard to Tell
10. The Genesis

pretty much any song on this album would be the best song on most other albums

Devil Tekken

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/5/3/8/AAS3NhAADx1K.jpg

Rules (mostly copy/pasted from SMFFFC):

- You personally (no bots/scripts/lending of accounts) can save 1 character per hour.
- A character needs 2 votes to be saved.
- Saves must be clearly understandable to count. If you save "Satan" or "Lucifer" with no further context your save will be ignored.
- Last 1 character unsaved is eliminated.
- No alts, no rallying, no post deletion/editing (unless correcting an update), no spoiler tags, no offering to save for next round saves.
- You may only trade saves for other saves within this contest. This means no buying/selling saves, no trading outside things for saves, no trades involving future contests.
- If you want to update, make sure it's accurate.
- Only Johnbobb can start up new topics.
- Community Rule is in effect. Deliberate rules violations will result in bans.

UNSAFE [32]
[0] Beelz (Stephen Lynch - Beelz)
[0] Beelzeboss (Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny)
[0] Beelzebub (Darkwing Duck)
[0] Black Phillip (The VVitch)
[0] Chernabog (Fantasia)
[0] Dark Heart (Care Bears Movie II: A New Generation)
[0] Dark Prince/Satan (Puyo Puyo)
[0] Devil (Tekken 2)
[0] Devimon (Digimon)
[0] Diablo (Diablo)
[0] HIM (The Powerpuff Girls)
[0] Icon of Sin (DOOM)
[0] Lou (Guitar Hero 3)
[0] Lucifer (Helltaker)
[0] Lucifer (Supernatural)
[0] Mephisto (Marvel Comics)
[0] Minion (Twisted Metal)
[0] Mundus (Devil May Cry)
[0] Ned Flanders as the Devil (The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror)
[0] Pac-Devil (Pac-Man World Rally)
[0] Robot Devil (Futurama)
[0] Sadao Maou (The Devil is a Part-Timer)
[0] Satan (Dante's Inferno)
[0] Satan (Ghosts n Goblins)
[0] Satan (Haxan)
[0] Satan (Paradise Lost)
[0] Satan (South Park)
[0] Satan (The Binding of Isaac)
[0] The Devil (Bedazzled)
[0] The Devil (Charlie Daniels - The Devil Went Down To Georgia)
[0] The Devil (Cuphead)
[0] Zorc Necrophades (Yu-Gi-Oh!)

ELIMINATED
33. Dabura (Dragonball Z)
34. Satan (Persona)
35. Satan (Cygames)
36. The Devil (Slingo)
37. The Ruler of Heck (Rockos Modern Life)
38. The Red Guy (Cow and Chicken)
39. Giratina (Pokemon)
40. The Devil, y'know, from The Bible (SnapCube's Real Time Fandub of Shadow the Hedgehog)
41. Satanael (Persona)
42. Blackheart (Marvel)
43. Shinnok (Mortal Kombat)
44. Truck Satan (Clustertruck)
45. Rodin (Bayonetta)
46. Louisa Ferre (Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey)
47. Lucifer Morningstar (Lucifer TV series)
48. Lucifer (Persona)
49. Lucifer/The Devil (The Rolling Stones - Sympathy for the Devil)
50. Darkness (Legend)

LinkMarioSamus posted...

I saw the Italian Job remake with family and enjoyed it fine enough without being blown away.

The only two movies I've ever seen released in 1969 are True Grit and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. I liked both movies about equally.

Gotta go see Midnight Cowboy and Easy Rider

Punch
Movies
Aqua
Rick

KCF0107 posted...

It is also on PC

yeah that might be something for if I ever get a steam deck because my laptop can't handle like any game above a simple indie

ELIMINATED
Dabura (Dragonball Z)

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/8/8/5/AAS3NhAADxq9.jpg

UNSAFE (6)
[1] Chernabog (Fantasia)
[0] Dabura (Dragonball Z)
[1] Devil (Tekken 2)
[1] Icon of Sin (DOOM)
[1] Mundus (Devil May Cry)
[1] Satan (The Binding of Isaac)

Italian Senate Tifa memes

Beelz

Outlier Ranking

Snake: 38
rockus: 35
ssbm: 21
Poke: 20
John: 19
Mythiot: 17
Tangy: 13
Vis: 12
plasma: 11
seginus: 9
Karo: 6

Just as soon as rockus got first place, he loses it to Snake in a close battle apart from the rest of the crowd. Meanwhile, Poke jumps from last place all the way up to 4th in what is probably the biggest placement change we'll see in a single ranking all contest

plasma
Im not letting director Peter Collinson anywhere near my caror any car, for that matter. Yes, Im aware hes been dead since 1980, but his sadistic car-destruction fetish has likely tethered his spirit to the engines of every Mini Cooper, Jaguar, and Aston Martin out there. You can bet hes itching to launch those vehicles off the nearest cliff and into a perpetual tumble down a mountainside. This man has deep unfixable issues, and European automotive execs should have his gravesite under 24-hour surveillance. God help us all.

Anyway, The Italian Job is a heist-comedy that failed to impress mepartly because British humor isnt my jam and partly because the early scenes do a poor job at establishing tone and introducing the cast (I went into this movie completely blind).

The opening scene sets a tone that suits a Bond film, and thus I anticipated we were headed for a Bond-esque British crime drama. Not so. Instead we got a comedy.

Anyway, after the prologue, were introduced to Michael Caines character, whos exiting jail when we first meet him. Since Ive been conditioned to think of Michael Caine as Batmans butler for the past 17 years, I didnt peg him for a criminal (honestly, I thought he was some sort of undercover cop trying to manipulate prisoners like in White Heat). When I learned that Michael Caine was, in fact, a criminal with a connection to the man who died in the prologue, my mental immune system went apeshit. Meanwhile, several rapid-fire scenes depicted Caines post-prison lifestyle and introduced other characters I didnt care about.

And therein lies the movies chief problemI didnt give a damn about anyone in it.

Ill admit this movie contains fun spectacles like the preparation sequence and the escape sequence. Visually, I enjoyed these parts, and theres something undeniably iconic about the red, white, and blue Mini Coopers driving off with the gold. Ill also admit I had a few laughs and liked the ambiguous ending. But not enough to save this one from my Bottom Five. D-

Karo
A bunch of dipshits plan a gold heist in an incredibly stupid 'plot' from this 'comedy' that thinks it is 'funny' and has 'characters' that are well 'written'.
Like their whole plan is imbecilic and should not work by any stretch of the imagination, its like woo woo we're gonna cause a traffic jam and then just roll up armed with nothing but spray-paint and baseball bats and hijack the armored car because it is guarded by people more incompetent than imperial stormtroopers. Danny Ocean could have made a better plan when he was five fucking years old for christ's sake.
Also, there's that whole thing with the mafia that they just up and forget all about. Like, you begin the whole movie with a scene setting them up as these big shots who are not to be messed with, but then they just suddenly don't exist anymore? But hey, why not end the movie with a way too long car chase, some british blokes singing badly, and a tired cartoon gag scenario thats been done a million times. Blimey.
It is a comedy with no humor. It is a heist film with no intelligence. It is a crime movie with no stakes. It is a trainwreck that should be stored deep underground with nuclear waste lest it contaminate the adjacent film reels.
I'd honestly say that not only would I much rather watch The Nut Job, but that it is also probably a better movie by most measurable metrics.

ssbm
Rating: D-

I'll be blunt. There's one reason to like this movie and that's the 10 minute car chase at the end of the movie. That scene is cool to watch and probably even cooler to produce. There's really no other car chase scene like it. There's a lot of good gags in the car chase scene too. But aside from that, this movie just kinda sucks. There's a lot of casual sexism, with the worst of it being Benny Hill's professor character, who just has a fetish for big women. It's really low-hanging fruit.

It's also just pointless. I don't understand the first third of this movie. Charlie is out of jail and is trying to get Mr. Bridger to go along with his heist and, eventually, it works. Okay? Why did the first third need to go into this? I don't even know who Mr. Bridger is supposed to be. Is he a crime boss? A CEO? A politician? All three? He just seems to be "important guy" and that's it. The second third of the movie is practicing the heist and...it's not very interesting. Probably because the heist isn't very interesting! It goes very smoothly, in fact, despite an Italian mob being on full alert of their presence!

The cliffhanger ending is kinda stupid. It's the only thing that really punishes the criminals in this movie, but it seems a little forced. I also don't get why they put all 3 cars into this giant bus when they could have...driven 3 separate cars. Seems a lot smarter, considering the area is full of dangerous curves!

28. The Italian Job (1969)
Directed by: Peter Collinson
Runtime: 1h 39m
Score: 243

Poke: 10
Snake: 14
Tangy: 18
Vis: 19
John: 24
Mythiot: 24
rockus: 24
seginus: 24
plasma: 28
Karo: 29
ssbm: 29

Poke
British, car chases, Michael Caine. It's tailor-made for me. It's witty, it's got that 60's British sexiness. It's got a literal cliffhanger!

Snake
Funny and irreverent, The Italian Jobs gorgeous color palette and sly, witty humor supports quick, pulse-pounding action with easy to recognize iconography thats just a pure joy to watch. Really amazing ending too - proving crime can be as funny as it can be thrilling or violent.

Tangy
Honestly the only thing that matters in this movie is the last third. Yeah Michael Caines great and all, but the true star here is the mini coops. Seeing these goofy little cars escape the police by outsmarting them instead of outrunning them was a rare treat that you usually dont get in action movies. Pretty impressive that they managed to do something like this back in 69 no less. Also that ending though, seems awfully familiar to a certain Guy Ritchie movie hmmmm.

Vis
It is very interesting (and fun) watching these older films in order, because Ive seen a lot of organized crime movies, and you get to really experience the genesis of a lot of the tropes that exist far beyond their originators. Now, going into this, I was a bit worried that this would be tainted in some way by me having seen the 2003 remake first, but I still found it comfortably enjoyable. Theres something fascinating about watching a group of intelligent people (or one intelligent person) plot out a complete heist from start to finish, and then executing it to perfection. Even with the mafia trying to push their scare tactics on Michael Caine, he boldly executed his plan all the same, not giving a fuck about his own safety.

The one criticism I have about the film is how it also feels TOO perfect. Like, it starts with a murder, but then the victim hands over information vital to executing a planned heist to Michael Caine, and from that point on, there are very few hiccups. Yes, I mentioned the mob stepping in to destroy a trio of back-up cars and put some fear in the gang, but other than that, nothing else really hinders them. If anything, the mobs involvement only destroyed cars that were already a back-up plan for if things went wrong. But then nothing went wrong. I think the professor got arrested for groping a woman, but that plot thread never got picked up again. So yeah, there was a distinct lack of stakes, since everything worked perfectly. There was no improvisation, and no accounting for unforeseen issues. Up until the ending, it was the perfect crime. Its still cool, but its the same reason why I prefer Natalie Anderson to Kim Spradlin as a Survivor winner: its more interesting when the winner has to account for mistakes, rather than playing a perfect and dominant game.

John
I liked the Italian Job. I don't think I should've put The Italian Job on this list, and had I seen it beforehand, I probably wouldn't have. The idea of a comedy heist film about conmen working for the British mob trying to rob the Italian government under threat of the mafia sounded like a great inclusion on paper, but I was under the misconception that both the British mob and the Italian mafia had a much more significant role in this film. Did it even ever say WHY the Italian mafia were after them? I mean, they weren't robbing the mafia, just the goverment in a heist that by all means needn't have involved the mafia. I'm sure there is good reason the mafia would've had issues with some British gangsters coming to their country to steal from their goverment, but really I found myself wishing there was more focus on the clash between the two countries' criminal organizations.
Is that to say this is a bad movie? Absolutely not! The opening scene is one of the best of any film on this list, the humor almost always hits, and Michael Caine is consistently great. But on what is, in my opinion, a list of some incredible films, The Italian Job can't quite hold up to them.

Mythiot
It's at its best when it goes for full-on silliness instead of James Bond with slightly more jokes, as such the film can drag quite a bit in the second act, but the grand finale is so much fun, leading up to what might be one of the funniest endings I've ever seen in film.
I wouldn't worry too much about them, they are the "SELF-PRESERVATION SO SY IT TEE!" after all.

rockus
Clever and mostly pretty fun heist movie with a young and rather charming Michael Caine at the helm of its ensemble. Some of the lengthy extended car chase sequence gets a little silly but there are few surface level aspects of the movies that are as purely entertaining as a cool practical car chase. A memorable finale helps cap off a rather enjoyable movie overall.

seginus
Vintage Michael Caine is a treat and now I see why he was the pick for Austin Powers' dad, as this character is every bit the swingin' hip Bond type those movies were spoofing. And after years of seeing him in sad, serious Nolan roles it's fun to go back to him turning up the charm for a lighthearted caper. But even Caine is second billing to the famous car chase of this movie. The car chase is absolutely bonkers and makes the Mini Cooper look like the coolest piece of British engineering since the Spitfire. It's a great payoff, and I love that it goes on for so long without cutting inside the cockpits for banter or exposition, it's just pure stunt driving spectacle.

There are some weaknesses though. Wafer-thin secondary characters, plot threads that lead nowhere (where's the mafia at the end?), the cliffhanger ending feels like a cop-out. And I know the venerable Quincy Jones did the soundtrack, but damn if "this is the self-preservation society" x50 wasn't a grating anthem. It's like if "All-Star" by Smashmouth wasn't catchy. Sorry Quincy!

Accidentally posted Vis and Karo's Little Caesar scores, it should've been

Karo: 26
Vis: 30

Outlier Ranking

rockus: 31
Snake: 24
ssbm: 20
John: 15
Mythiot: 13
plasma: 11
seginus: 5
Karo: 5
Vis: 3
Tangy: 3
Poke: 2

UNSAFE (13)
[1] Beelz (Stephen Lynch - Beelz)
[0] Chernabog (Fantasia)
[0] Dabura (Dragonball Z)
[1] Devil (Tekken 2)
[1] Devimon (Digimon)
[1] Icon of Sin (DOOM)
[0] Minion (Twisted Metal)
[1] Mundus (Devil May Cry)
[1] Satan (Ghosts n Goblins)
[1] Satan (Paradise Lost)
[1] Satan (South Park)
[1] Satan (The Binding of Isaac)
[1] Zorc Necrophades (Yu-Gi-Oh!)

updating shortly

I still really want to play Tell Me Why. Damn you Xbox exclusivity

Lou

BetrayedTangy posted...

Staying with Public Enemy

Also whoever correctly guesses Casino should totally win a Jackpot.

guess it every time and you'll eventually be right!