Re: What Did You Watch? 2024-12-27 (Friday)

On 12/28/2024 2:24 PM, Adam H. Kerman wrote:

Arthur Lipscomb  <arthur@alum.calberkeley.org> wrote:

On 12/28/2024 10:06 AM, Adam H. Kerman wrote:

Arthur Lipscomb <arthur@alum.calberkeley.org> wrote:
>

I watched:

>

La Femme Nikita (4K disc)  1990 action movie written and directed by Luc
Besson.  Anne Parillaud stars as Nikita, a junkie who reaches a point of
no return in her criminal life after she murders a cop during a robbery.
   The French government then fakes her death and retrains her as an
assassin, as well as how to behave more ladylike.  For her first
assignment they send her into a restaurant to assassinate someone, but
intentionally sabotage the hit to see how she reacts to the situation.
  From there she falls in love while working as a highly trained
government assassin and struggles to live her new life with her new
love.  Jean Reno costars as a "cleaner."

>

Laon: The Professional (4K disc) 1994 action movie written and directed
by Luc Besson. . . .

>

Colombiana (blu-ray) 2011 action movie written by Luc Besson and
starring Zoe Saldana as a woman who when she was a young girl saw her
entire family murdered in front of her by a drug cartel.  She then gets
her uncle to train her to become a killer.  Since her uncle is a killer
himself, it's not much of a hard ask and he agrees without much
persuasion.  Although he does convince her to also go to school since
she's a little girl.  Flashforward to present day and Zoe is a
professional hit woman out for revenge.  If I didn't know any better,
I'd swear Luc wrote this to be a sequel to Léon: The Professional, with
Zoe essentially playing a grown-up Natalie Portman's character.  Anyway,
it's a very solid revenge action flick with Zoe laying waste to anyone
who gets in her way as she's out for revenge against the cartel who
murdered her parents all those years ago.

>

Anna (4K disc)  2019 action movie written and directed by Luc Besson.
Sasha Luss (Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets) stars as a
junkie who reaches a point of no return in her criminal life after
people die during a robbery.  The Russian government then retrains her
as an assassin, as well as how to behave more ladylike.  For her first
assignment they send her into a restaurant to assassinate someone, but
intentionally sabotage the hit to see how reacts to the situation.  From
there she falls in love while working as a highly trained government
assassin and struggles to live her new life with her new love.  I could
have sworn I once saw a different movie written and directed by Luc
Besson with a similar plot, but I'm sure he wouldn't recycle his own
ideas over and over again.  Anyway, as movies written and directed by
Luc Besson about a junkie the government recruits and retrains to be an
assassin go, this is a pretty good one.

>

How many of the movies directed by Luc Besson in my collection should I
watch this week?

>
Arthur, I don't see how you can tell the difference among La Femme
Nikita remakes and Fifth Element remakes. Luc Besson is stuck in a rut.
>

>
The Fifth Element is *nothing* like Nikata!  Now, Anna on the other hand
is almost a remake.

 I agree The Fifth ELement is nothing like Nikita. I'm saying he's been
remaking both movies.

Both movies?  Why he has variety.  I mean he did Taken, and Taken 2, and Taken 3, and the Taken TV series.  OK, bad example.  But he also The Transporter, and Transporter 2, and Transporter 3, and Transporter 4, and The Transporter TV series.  OK, another bad example.  I mean, he doesn't *just* do action movies and sequels?  I got one.  He did District B13, and District B13 part 2, and the District B13 American remake.  Give me a minute, I'm going to think of something original. I've got it.  He made that martial arts movie with Jet Li.  And that other martial arts movie with Jet Li.   OK, you win, he does just keep making the same movies over and over again.  But at least he make stuff go boom.  Me like stuff go boom.  Me watch latest Luc Besson movie where he make stuff go boom.  ;-)