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Another 'xXx' Rave comes in!!! Could it be'
Hey folks, Harry here... Had a friend over tonight and watched as she spilt about six gallons of drool over the thought of Vin Diesel - specifically her memories of Vin at BNAT 1 in tears over the crowd reaction - and how that warmed her heart and created undying love and adulation for the man whose voice is not spoken, but forged. Here's another look that paints a pretty picture of xXx...
Hey Harry,
I managed to sneak a look at a work print of XXX today. We were told that the sound was a bit off and that the credits weren't there. As far as the sound goes, all I noticed was that a few lines were missing, but seriously... we ain't here to hear the fancy dialogue.
XXX is all about Vin Diesel being the badass we all know he is, and goddamn does this movie deliver. I don't know if Rob Cohen is improving as a director, but I'll be damned if he hasn't raised himself many notches when it comes to working with Vin Diesel.
The plot is fairly simple, the NSA is trying to get info on a wealthy anarchist, Yorgi (Martin Czokas), who they believe plans to use biological weapons against the world. The problem is that agents manage to get killed on the job. In comes Sam "Bad Motherfucker" Jackson with the idea to send in a US criminal who would 1) have the skills to do the job, and 2) be able to blend in with said bad guys.
Everything that happens afterwards are a series of situations that just let the star of the film do what he does best, eat the scene like mad.
As far as comparing this film with The Fast and the Furious, there are a few things that make this superior. The first is that the pacing is right where it should be, no awkward moments of forced dialogue before we get to Vin again. It's not that the other characters in the film are that interesting, they aren't, they don't have to be. Secondly, I think the action feels a lot more dynamic, and boy is it all shot beautifully. wait'll you see a certain scene that'll give snowboarders everywhere sweaty palms. Third, as much as I enjoyed BT's techno-score for F&F, I far prefered the moods that Randy Edelman was able to create combined with the electronic sounds of the film.
Quick re-cap. Vin Diesel is cool, the stunts are cool, the tech stuff is cool, the look of the film is fantastic, and by the way, does Vin Diesel have a clause in his contract that says he shall always return home to a party in any film he's in? Just something to ponder over.
Anonymous Seattle Resident
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...that doesn't sell the film for me any more than saying a punch in the jaw is superior to repeated kicks to the groin.
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'cept Vin ain't dead, but why waste a good pun. Looks good, but I do want a cameo by Evel. Stuntcrazies are the coolest action heroes. Maybe Johnny Knoxville can be a sidekick in the inevitable sequel, as a stuntcrazy who's crazier than Vin is!
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1. fat(that's not fat...it's called muscle - you probably don't know what that is)
2. ugly(and sly, arnold, chuck(norris), steven, and bruce(willis) are handsome?) Women find him attractive. I could give a shit. I just want him to
kill stuff and say funny lines that make me laugh at the carnage.
3. bald(yeah...and?)
4. lifeless eyes(sly could play in a live action version of Garfield...what's your point?)
5. can't act(Jet Li, Van Damme, Sly, Arnold, Steven, etc.
Vin is a good actor. Him, Giovanni Ribisi, Paul Giamatti, and Barry Pepper were standouts to me in SPR. I will go see XXX, because I want to see a badass beat the shit out of people and say corny catchphrases.
I AM MF! :oP -
Whats wrong with you guys!? Don't you think it's great that these kind of movies are even made. Avtion movies are not the only genre that I like but hey...it's an ACTION movie!! OK!! Who cares about if Vin is a great actor? Personally i think Vin is really cool, and I don't care if he's gay, which I don't think he is. And it's better to see Vin than Arnold, Sly, Bruce or someone alse of those old weak fucks. Stop whining people! If you don't think this movie will rock, then simply just don't watch it. I'm so tired of talkbackers who just write "this will suck" or "Vin sucks" or Vin is gay" or something in that intelligence level. Go and do something else. Please!
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Travolta DID associate himself with a really awful film. It was called BATTLEFIELD EARTH.
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If only that was the tagline...
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Jul 29, 2002 12:42:05 PM CDT
The Fast and the Furious was awful, incredibly dull all the way
by tristan_megistus
...pretty lame. If you want to see Vin Diesel playing in a good role, watch "Pitch Black". XXX seems to have potential, though, but I despise the fact that the studio has already begun the pre-production of a sequel. A little too arrogant on their part, I think.
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He's as charming as The Rock, but with a cool, almost friendly confidence without being as cocky. Matthew McConnehey's performance as Van Zan was impressive, to be sure, but it reeked just a little much of macho posturing. The thing about Vin is that he smiles and turns on the charm, and god if it doesn't look like he's even TRYING to be a badass, the same way Arnold could just stand there back in his Terminator days, and that alone would make him look like a total badass. Y'know, this movie is starting to sell me over more and more. It just looks like a helluva lot of fun. Could it be that Revolution Studios finally did something right instead of throwing their money into crap like the weak matrix rip-off "The One" and the my-eyes-are-bleeding-this-sucks-so-bad "The Animal"?
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I like "The Vin" or whatever you wanna call him. He has charisma like Tom Hanks has acting skills. Thats fine bye me, but I ain't a hater. You people remind me of my friend who used too bitch about how Leonardo Dicaprio was a shit actor and a faget. I made him sit thru WEGGrape and BBdiaries! He dont say shit anymore but still thinks he is gay :) "Bunch of Snot-Nosed fagets around here"
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Diesel is the new millennium hero, and that is that. Because of his mixed heritage, he can play to both black and white audiences.Because of his ambiguous look, he also can play to both hetero and homo audiences. I didn't realize he was already in his 30s, however, which means he better crank 'em out while the cranking's good.
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When i saw the trailer for this movie two things happened simultaneously. One was I damn near wretched at how not so good it was gonna be and the second thing to happen was me to lean over to my buddies and forecast that this movie would open number 1 and by a ton. Will this movie make a crap load of cash? You bet your ass. Is it gonna be high quality cinema? Absolutely not. Now I understand people arent here to see Shindlers List but christ if youre looking for fun rent some horror flicks. Check out Evil Dead 2. If you wanna see a bad ass beat some ass rent From Dusk Till Dawn, rent shaft. There are so many better places to go than see this movie. No amount of glowing reviews could make me want to plop down my hard earned cash for this piece of crap. And no the Fast and the Furious was not a good movie. It was not a fun movie. It was the biggest piece of cinematic crap I've seen since It's Pat (how ironic considering Vin's "questionable sexuality") Any movie containing a scene of saying grace to car parts needs to be shut down immediately. And to the "haters" who question Vin's sexuality. Who gives a crap if hes gay or not? Clive Barker is gay and hes the fuckin shit, there were serious Gay overtones in Fight Club but that didnt stop it from being the best movie of the last 5 years. Hate this movie and this man cuz hes representative of all those assholes in high school who pick on kids weaker than them so they can make their cheerleader girlfriend laugh. Hate it cuz it's like a two hour long overindulgent mountain dew commercial. Don't hate it cuz hes gay.
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I am somewhat surprised that someone who knows, or has worked for or with Vin hasn't spoken on his behalf. As a long-ago, long-time resident of New York in the 80's who spent far too much time out at night, I had quite a bit of contact with Vin. He was indeed a bouncer for many years, but he was not, as his bio/P.R. suggests, a "heavy." He is, in fact, not that big, screen magic notwithstanding, and high-end clubs like Xenon, Heartbreak, Limelight, etc. in the 80's had plenty of hard-core "coolers" who would have stomped him, and any other mortal into gravel. Vin worked almost exclusively as a doorman/screener, and he was well known for his general good humor in a profession dominated by assholes. In other words, while his muscles are almost entirely cosmetic, his general charm isn't. I can't, or won't, speak to his presumed talent, and I am no fan of mindless action, but one of the key requirements for success in any industry is "E.Q." or emotional I.Q., which often manifests as a kind of easy-going optimism, cheeriness without sentiment...well, charm is really the operative word. And the Vin Diesel I knew in the 80's had this quality in spades. I am not remotely surprised that he is doing so well, and am frankly jealous.
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I appreciated the comments from the person who knew Vin back when.
Those remarks confirm something I caught onto right away with the guy. He is genuinely pleasant and most importantly, he is very intelligent. I enjoy his movies and I enjoy his interviews. He comes across as someone I would really enjoy sitting down and talking with about anything at all. I would bet you it would be a pleasant and stimulating conversation too. Better and more interesting than all the pointless, jealous bullshit and dreck that gets thrown around by some of the cretins that I have seen posting here. FEH! -
Look, man, telling people that if they want quality thrills, chills,'n spills to go rent something like Evil Dead 2 you are whacked. Evil Dead 2 was kinda crappy. And the reason most people would want to go see xXx is because they want a big budget, fun-to-see thrill ride, not a gore fest with no coherent plot. Not to say that xXx's plot will be any great shakes, of course. I mean, why knock on people just because they want to see a huge-scale action flick? I can see whiners like you now..."Oh, they must not have any taste if they see some stupid tripe like xXx. The buffoons. They obviously have no appreciation for true cinema. Fetch me my perrier, Manfred." Gimme a break. If people want to go see something stupid and forgettable, but cool and enjoyable, that's their perogative.And, by the way, I've seen the movie, and it is both stupid and cool. Fun and forgetable. Better than Evil Dead 2 in the thrills department. Also, Vin Diesel isn't half bad. Not great, but not horrible, either.
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Jul 29, 2002 9:10:06 PM CDT
You have a better chance of selling me on "JAR JAR, THE MUSICAL"
by supreme nothing
Yeah, I quess if you think Fred Durst is a cool guy and your knowledge of "extreme sports" comes from Mountain dew commercials. This is a poseur movie for the shopping mall demographic, nothing more.
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I dig Vin. There, I said it. And I'm not gay. There I said it. Having said that, I now want to say that I think Vin would be cool in the B.A. role in the A-Team flick. Don't make him as stupid as the Mr. T version, but keep the quirks. He probably won't be pitying any fools, though. That's the T's riff. But he could still be the resident bad-ass motherfucker that bitches about Mad Dog Murdock's (played by Sam Rockwell) flying and general craziness all the time. Mel Gibson would be Hannibal, and Owen Wilson would be Face Man. Halle Berry could be Amy, or whatever the chick's name was. The bad guys would be played by Walken, Spacey, and Nicholson. Get Robert Rodriguez to direct, throw in Pacino as the General who is always chasing them, and you've got a hit. And Antonio Banderas can make a cameo as the Latino guy who was on the show later.
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What a fuckin' crybaby you've become! I think they kidnapped the real Harry Knowles, and replaced him with a bloated whiner. You piss and moan about everything now. Boo-hoo, Paul Andersonis a hack! Goldmember sucks and Undercover Brother was soooo much better. Tomb Raider is gonna BLOW because they have a SHARK (CAN YOU BELIEVE IT!!!) that's gonna SAVE Angelina Jolie!!! Waaaaaa!! What happened to the love of films? The joy of seeing movies that are so bad they're good? Movies that are great, because of their sheer spectacle? Now, all you talk about is box office, and how unfair everything is. Get over yourself. Enjoy the show!
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don't mean to differ, but owen wilson as "Face"? wilson's name doesn't actually pop into mind when i think of an actor to play Face considering the mangled shnozz he has hanging off his visage. i'm not suggesting Freddie Prinze Jr. for the role(though i'm sure miramax is), but owen wilson?
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I am not a high brow cinema elitist in the smallest sense of the word. If people want to see this piece of crap go for it, it's your 8 bucks. What I was getting at is that I like many other film fans don't want to listen to you Diesel fans tell us how hes the shit and xXx will be the greatest franchise in 20 years and blah blah blah. And as far as Evil Dead 2 goes....I didnt say it was a better movie in my earlier post but I'm sure as hell saying it now. Apparantly the plot of one of the more influential horror films from the 80s is so much more incoherent than "big guy saves world bangs girl the end". Jesus what was I thinking...with such stellar lines as "I want all of that in here" I must be on crack to think that a film that has a MASSIVE fan following from everyone from frat boys to fuckin Ebert could possibly stand up next to "Bond does Meth"...silly me...
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As far as people wanting big budget fast paced bullshit goes thats the freaking problem with the film industry right now. Studios will fork over god knows how much cash to make this but when Aronofsky needs a solid budget to make something original they get cold feet and almost pull out. Movies like this are why people have zero attention span and why people can watch actually films and not get what's going on. Christ read between the lines once in awhile...
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Tom Cruise. But then I thought they should get someone a little funnier. And I think Owen could pull it off. He could charm the ladies. Some girls like a big nose.
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Hey, its always been that way. In the Roman era, they went to watch gladiators spill each other's guts. Sure, there were plays to watch also, but which do you think got the bigger draw (hint: think in terms of seating)? The colusseum, of course. I'm sure the culturally elite of the time frowned upon such vulgar displays just as you frown on the big-budget action flicks now. And yeah, it sucks that better movies have trouble being made for lack of funds. But not all action movies are bad, and not all "serious" or "dramatic" movies are good. Some are good, some are bad, and some are in-between. There's no way to know until the movie is actually made.
So frown upon the ignorant masses if you must, and their terrible grip on the Hollywood money-making machine, but that's the state of the world. Love it, leave it, or put up with it. -
Women like him because he is famous, and because women like him. It wouldn't matter if that WERE fat and not muscle, if he looked like a well-groomed fanboy (as opposed to a BO-reeking, fly-attracting, taco-sauce-stained, magic-playing, skid-marking, looking-at-comics-while-wanking, talkback-posting TYPICAL fanboy)...women would still dig him because he is FAMOUS. Even if he WERE into undeniably UGLY territory, fame would still win him some attention.
Also, from the trailers, the impression I get is that VD's character is best described as a giant walking-talking TESTICLE. I think women may dig that, too.
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