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We Were Hoping It Might Go Away...But That RED DAWN Remake Now Has A Writer And A Director!!
Merrick here...
Carl Ellsworth will script MGM's remake of RED DAWN (1984), John Milius' paranoid thriller chronicling guerrilla resistance against an invasion of the United States by nasty commies.
Ellsworth recently scripted a film adaption of the Y: THE LAST MAN comic, as well as Wes Craven's RED EYE.
"The tone is going to be very intense, very much keeping in mind the post-9/11 world that we're in," says Ellsworth, who was 11 when the original was released. "As 'Red Dawn' scared the heck out of people in 1984, we feel that the world is kind of already filled with a lot of paranoia and unease, so why not scare the hell out of people again?"
...says Ellsworth in THIS ARTICLE in The Hollywood Reporter.
Dan Bradley will direct the new RED DAWN. Bradley's mammoth career includes Second Unit Direction of...and/or stunt coordination on...titles like SPIDER-MANs 2+ & 3, BOURNEs SUPREMACY & ULTIMATUM, QUANTUM OF SOLACE, and...well...INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL.
You can find our initial report about the announcement of this remake HERE.
Still no word on which current "threat to the United States" will invade us this time around, or if Russia will once again draw the short straw. The choices of bad guys seem limited if The Powers That Be hope to retain the film's title.
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+ Expand All
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Or darn close.
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The Soviet Union reforms? I think a more modern updated might be called Crescent Moon. Even better, Canada invades. Turns out they had a gigantic hidden army. Who knew?
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Jul 09, 2008 10:33:23 AM CDT
It is OBVIOUS: China will team up with Mexico and Invade through
by stlfilmwire
Yep, China will team up with Mexico and invade through the border. I imagine that is how it would go. Hmm.
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So who, exactly, is going to invade?
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Thank goodness. For a minute there I thought people might give a shit about this dumb ass paranoid bullshit. the first clusterfuck did enough damage to this country. And why hell isn't the guy who wrote Y doing that script???
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pussy ass hollywood won't have the balls to make the invaders middle-eastern, Chinese or any other non-white race, despite the fact those are the only realistic threats. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if they made it some domestic group of skinheads.
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is if the corporations tried to enslave the masses through Blackwater-like paid mercenaries. That would be pretty cool.
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That little wannabe gun nut would be the first one taken down by professional soldiers with real assault weapons.
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Personally, even as a 15yr old masturbating nightly to visions of Lea Thompson I found it silly and more than just a little far fetched. The Russian motives were never made clear, the Russian/Cuban strategic plan as explained was logistically unworkable, and I never for one minute believed a bunch of low brow, wife beater and letterman jacket wearing, Pabst swilling hicks could take on a well trained group of Russian Spetsnaz.
Really...Red Dawn was as believable as claiming the Sun is made of Ice. -
bring back the Red Menace! Terrorists are pussies compared to the commies.
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Where's our fucking script????
I heard they are already casting the good natured crack dealing baby killing heroic gang members that form the core of the American Urban resistance- roles. I think they are screwing us on this one!!!! -
...make them a coalition of Micronesians, Inuit and Trinidadians controlled by financiers from Lichtenstein or some such off the wall thing.
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We've been looking all over the fucking place for for bin Laden, and all this time he's just hiding out somewhere in the mid-west planning the CRESCENT MOON invasion. In all seriousness though, I bet you 20 bucks that instead of using China, Mexico or Islamic terrorists, it's going to be some dumbass shit like a gang of rednecks, some euro trash badguy forming an army of mercenaries, some dumbass corporation, or some retarded like ex-KGB guy or something. mark my words
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LOL that really made me laugh. I like your idea.
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..that invades- because yeah- hollywood is too PC pussy to even fictitiously make any one race or nation the 'bad guy', and to be honest, i think world tension is a little to high to be doing it too.
it will probably be an internal communist or militant faction of whities or a mixed bunch. -
Which basically stuck a pin in the jingoistic, America under attack flick?
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Durka durka.
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Why can't they just say "wrote"?
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Red Dawn? Seriously? The original is so dated, it's hilarious! If it's not Soviets, the title doesn't even make since. But if it is Soviets...in 2008...? Ack! My brain hurts!
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That's the airplane movie, right? I've seen that and I had no idea.
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If you want another invasion (U.S.A.), just call it a different title. Why does it have to be Red Dawn?
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Jul 09, 2008 11:14:38 AM CDT
As for this movie, it's pretty obvious what the premise will be.
by rev_skarekroe
Obama wins the election and then sells America out to his terrorist Islamic masters. Also, he taxes everyone to poverty to pay for social programs. So in a sense, the villains are terrorists AND communists.
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Dat is exactly what we wanted you to think!
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I mean, a Soviet invasion in 2008? Talk about a surprise attack!
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Holy Bug Spit, who thought up this lame-ass notion? Our current enemy, alQueda, would have to hijack more airplanes and then parachute(?) down with their devastating weapons of choice, fully automatic box-cutters!!Erm, eco-terrorist who'll attack used car lots full of SUV's? Green Dawn?
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When will it stop?
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They already own us through their loans.
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Quite impressive, especially with the shotty.
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Americans...and our inflated sense of self importance in the 21 century LOL!
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It's the one where the USA aggressively invades a sovereign nation and the insurgency is against us... oh wait a minute...
btw, that dip in the youtube video really needs to learn how to aim his firearms. Just making things go boom is lame, a civilized man treats his weapon like a woman- as in, he knows how to hold her. -
"100 million screaming Chinamen."
"Last I heard there were a billion screaming Chinamen."
"...there were." -
I'm curious now
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..I'm sure it's a piece of crap
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Honestly, who will the bad guys be? In the original Red Dawn, it was the Russians with the help of the Cubans, Nicaraguans, and I think it was Afghan fighters (in that reality the USSR was able to fully take over Afghanistan). So there's no more USSR which means they'll either go into a heavy backstory in which the USSR is back, or they could do the whole South and Central American alliance that Hugo Chavez wants to consolidate, or they could go with China. How about a new idea that's not based on something we've all seen before?
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Obviously the only realistic enemy: Jewish Illuminati wielding influence over the media, banking and government takes over the country from the inside... a complicit Congress ties up our forces overseas Jews initiate the takeover via mercs. Stalwart Midwestern defenders of the American way rise up in rebellion. OR MARTIANS. either way.
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But this Ellsworth has all the depth of a kiddie pool / Toby Keith song.
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After all, Spielberg didn't really "kill" her off in the movie. This gives him a chance to bring her back from the "dead", wearing her big, honking strap-on, leading an army of aliens.
Remaking Red Dawn is such a hideously Bad Idea, I thought I'd think of a Hideously Bad Plot Device.
I challenge anyone to top me! Well, okay, other than making Manthong LeBeouf as head of the Wolverines. -
This time they go with Canada. Or would that be a remake of Canadian Bacon?
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With big mustaches and sombreros! Eeeepa! Eeeepa! Undelay! Eeepa!
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Wolverine.but we didn't kill any Soviet/Cuban invaders.
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Do we really need this remade?
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Patrick Swayze must be rolling over in his grave...
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Lotta bad mouthing of the original "Red Dawn". Can't agree. John Millius' original film was a brilliantly made film that certainly shocked and entertained in equal measure. You youngsters among us might not remember the USSR, but it really existed, forcibly took over a good portion of Europe, and held it for almost half a century. At the time Red Dawn was made, we now know, the USSR had its back against the wall, and the idea that they might have tried a last chance invasion wasn't really that far fetched. One of the interesting things about the original film is that the audience is never given a full picture of the war, whether nukes were used (likely)and how much territory was actually taken by the Russians. Remember that the Soviets didn't win in Red Dawn, so it isn't a question of whether a Soviet takeover of the US was possible, because it didn't happen in the movie, it is a question of whether such an invasion would have occurred at all. Sure, in retrospect, we know it didn't happen, but it could have, and we know now that the Soviets had planned just such an invasion, on paper, as well as any number of other scenarios. They tell you never to corner a racoon if you see you in your yard, because a cornered racoon will come at you, because they don't see any other alternative. That's who the Soviets were when the original was released, and the people with the power in the USSR really didn't want to lose it. In any of the infinite number of alternative universes that Quantum Theory mandates, Red Dawn did happen. BTW, to the poster who somehow equates Colorado gun owning high school athletes with wife beating, get a grip dude. Just because we aren't all a bunch of pansy ass liberal wussies doesn't make us all wife beaters. Sure, you shit your pants if someone looks at you funny, but that isn't most Americans, you smelly hacky sack playing piece of garbage. The vast majority of this country is made up of loyal, corageous people, and if an invasion ever comes, it will be the people between LA and NYC who save your sorry Dave Matthews listening asses. As far as the original film goes, several standout scenes: Ben Johnson in one of his last roles, Harry Dean Stanton in the drive in/concentration camp yelling, "AVENGE ME BOYS", the intimation that Lea Thompson and Jennifer Grey were anally raped, and the unbearably moving final scene in which Patrick Swayze cradles his dead brother as he walks past the head commie bastard. For any action/revenge film, it must past the " " bastard test, in which you insert the name of the person/group to hate. As much as any film, Red Dawn passes with flying colors, as in, "Those fucking commie BASTARDS!" And for those who don't remember, Millius wrote the screenplay for Apocalypse Now and directed Conan, as well as the great Big Wednesday and Return of the King. What have you written and directed you chickenshit commie loving Red Dawn hating bastards?
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That Walter Sobczak makes it into the movie as he wrote and directed the first one...I mean John Milius.
Shut the fuck up, Donny.
Maybe Nihilists will be the invaders? -
Just thought i'd share that, Comrades.
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Until the US files are unsealed. You will see that we had plans for invasion just like the Soviets. Obviously, any invasion by either side would have necessitated the use of nukes. While it is true that mutually assured destruction has worked, the problem that can arise is that either 1. the other side thinks they see some weakness that they can exploit, and avoid destruction (if not the loss of millions) or 2. they don't care. Neither occurred, obviously, but that doesn't mean we didn't get close, and more times than we know about. Look at the history of the Cuban missile crisis and it is truly frightening how close that was to being an all out nuclear war. As General Ripper said, in one of the greatest lines in any film, "But I will say no more than ten to twenty million killed. Depending on the breaks." Strangelove is hilarious, and scary, because it understands the essential male psyche, which has lead to untold death and hardship upon the earth. Our history as a species is one of endless war, often wars that, in retrospect, could not have been won, but they were fought anyway. So, as unlikely as victory would have been, I do not think we can discount the idea that war with the Soviets was a possibility. Back to the film, since it is told from the point of view of the young freedom fighters, we don't know if there was an invasion in Europe or the middle or far east or not. Frankly, the actual plausibility of the attack is really irrelevant to the film, because a film only needs to be successful at having the audience suspend its disbelief, and I can tell you, that when I saw that film as a fairly liberal, very intelligent high school student, it WORKED. When they spray the classroom with bullets, and murder the kids inside, it did scare me. Sure, maybe afterward you looked back and picked holes in it, but when that film was on the screen it just blew you away. Without any hesitation, I consider Red Dawn a classic of the Reagan era, a true window into who we were, and what we believed, what frightened us at night, and of our hopes for ourselves, what we might be if the time ever came for us to fight for our freedom.
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http://youtube.com/watch?v=6dsKoP1cRnk
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So Native Americans invade what used to be theirs? It has to be China I guess or Cuba? Castro's last action is invading the US. I'm with a lot of other posters here, I bet any money it will be either: Russia again, skin heads, an evil corporation of white ass holes or the Germans because they are too easy. No way will they do a US invaded movie with bad guys who are not white. They will never do it!
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Red Dawn and War Games... two great little dumb movies of the era to be nostalgic for.
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Hmm. Middle East plunges into turmoil. Oil exports are tightly capped. NATO dissolves, because Europe is more and more at odds with America.
The American economy hits a really rough patch, and China's is booming, until the USA puts strong tariffs in place on imported Chinese goods. Hostilities mount; the USA begins tapping into oil reserves in the continental US that have been left fallow until now. The Chinese need oil, but both the Middle East and the US won't sell to them. Their economy halts, so they get a neutrality pledge from Russia and Europe, and come in through Alaska and the Pacific Northwest. -
Why would you call Dan Bradley a hack director? He hasn't helmed a film yet. He, however, has been a Second Unit Director for some very impressive films. If you've ever worked on a film, which you clearly haven't, you would know that The Second Unit Director plays a pivotal role, often doing as much directing as the Director.
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are only the tip of the iceberg. This isn't Area 51 conspiracy shit, it is just a fact that many, if not most, of what was going on during the Reagan presidency is still classified. The military does what the military does, and planning for any number of possible situations is one of the things they do, one of the things they should do. So, maybe I'm wrong (I don't think so, I have a relative who worked for the Atomic Energy Commission for twenty years), but "more will be revealed". And "memories of murder" doesn't know what he is talking about. Reagan's actions were not based on jingoistic fantasies, and even an idiot can see in retrospect that not only wasn't the military buildup unnecessary, it broke the back of the Soviets. Not with a bang, but with a whimper did the Soviet empire end, as their empty wallets brought about their defeat. Those wallets were empty because we made them empty. I agree that in Red Dawn we were the "vietcong", but I think Milius was making a more general film about freedom fighters, and specifically about how young American kids would respond to an invasion. Great movie.
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"We'll tear your soul apart!"
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Just because it is a remake does not mean it will be set now. What happens if they just remake the movie still set in the same time period? Wait that would probably bomb.
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Too bad you can't remake WarGames. I can't see a credible approach to that material. And, yes, I am nostalgic for the 80s. I was never a big fan of Red Dawn, however. The Soviets were expansionist, oppressive, backstabbing, lying bastard who weren't reactive--they wanted nuclear superiority to the US, they just couldn't achieve it. But unless they were planning on invading us through Alaska and Canada, I'm not sure how any invasion would have worked. And us invading Russia? Perhaps we learned something from Hitler's disasterous attempt to conquer the Soviet Union. They decimated Hitler's forces, and cost Hitler the war. Or that saved us from atom bombing Germany, is another "what if" way to look at it.But unless this is some sort of alternate-history take, I really don't see the point.
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Never knows what he's talking about!I kid, I kid.
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Who has more reason to want to invade the US but the people who had it before you guys? We only got beaten back in 1776 because our King at the Time was insane and sent hardly any troops to help out the colonial army. Here's the plan. The UK gets the US involved in a full scale war with Iran and the US sends most of their troops to the Middle East. While this is all happening, the UK sneaks their better trained military in through Canada and uses their allies in India to help with the invasion - 1 billion screaling Indians who hate the US for portraying them as Kwik E Mart owners.
As soon as the US is secured, we give every illegal immigrant a Visa in return for helping defend the Country from the returning troops. Ha, you guys will probably prefer to be run by a country with free medical care and no chance of some like Bush being elected.
Not that i've thought about this ... -
he was one bada$$ cubano
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Unless it's a period piece: 1980's. You know...when the Russians were our enemies...
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Ignoring the fact that you're named after a director who has maybe 1 or 2 not shitty films, I'm sure this film will be fantastic.
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Carrie, Blow Out, Scarface, Carlito's way, Body Double, Untouchables, Dressed to kill, Casualties of War, Raisng Cain and Mission Impossible.
10 films of brilliance, how did you miss those?! -
with those barflies commenting on each dropped nuke "oh no! hey louie gimme another drink". "who won the world series?" "duh bears, yah does cuddly bearcubs"
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One day we Americans wake up to find that injuns have used their casino profits to buy up housing while the market is fucked. Seems more likely to happen than the Cubans taking over a town in Colorado...
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...so the idea of a movie about an invasion from Muslim fundamentalists is extremely far-fetched. The logistics of Russia, post Soviet Union, pulling off such a feat is also a bit of a stretch. Granted they're slowly rebuilding, but I still wouldn't buy it. I'm willing to bet that the enemy in the Red Dawn remake will be the People's Liberation Army in China. China has a huge army (around 3 million), is a Communist country, a booming nation on the verge of being a super power. Oh yeah, and they have a red flag, so the film's original title can remain the same
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of the US economy.
It's already running.
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so it can be easily beaten by TEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENS.
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the local cinema for the 25th anniversary of WarGames. I think they're re-releasing it. Sorry but that movie has not aged well due to changes in technology. For its time it was great, but its time is over.
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really should be scripted by brian k vaughan
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They already OWN us, thanks to our current debtor nation status. China has bought our country out from under us. As Lenin said, "
The capitalist will sell you the rope to hang him with." -
of course it's gonna be set in the 80's - when ELSE could it POSSIBLY be set?
Actually, from memory, wasn't there a title card at the beginning of the original which set a VERY similar scene to the premise for Tom Clancy's RED STORM RISING?
That book is (now) hopelessly outdated (like Red Dawn, actually) but was a reasonably CREDIBLE account of how the Cold War COULD have turned into a conventional war - with both superpowers trying NOT to get nuclear.
Maybe this new version will be even more like Clancy's book? -
HOw are they possibly going to make this believable? I seem to remember Russians PARACHUTING into middle-class suburban neighborhoods and just fucking opening fire. Is that accurate? I haven't seen this in probably twenty years (shit I'm old)...
Now, with all our gizmos and internets and doodads no one really has much disbelief left to suspend when it comes to plot points of that nature, right? I can believe that the Russians, excuse me, the Soviets have been secretly conspiring and stockpiling a massive war machine since the early 90's, but what I CAN'T believe is that an infantry invasion on the US mainland would work, much less even happen. How did they get the planes over our airspace? Was NORAD on a coffee break?
Sorry to be so nerdtastic, but this is ridiculous.
And to those of you ACTUALLY WANTING THE INVADERS TO BE MIDDLE EASTERN, all I have to say is, don't talk. Don't write anything down that anyone will ever read. Just sit there and look pretty, the less you say the better kind of life you'll have. Your silence may be mistaken for some kind of depth of character. Seriously, heed this advice and you'll go far. Well, at least further than you would have otherwise. -
Or out for a week? The first one was dumber than dirt, I doubt the remake will be any better.
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That game was great. It was sort of a spiritual succesor to Red Dawn. It was set in the 80's in New York during an invasion.
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This time, the invaders are home grown.
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In today's Hollywood climate, the US will be crippled by a terrorist with a dirty bomb taking out DC and maybe even New York or some such in revenge for Iraq. The US will become nothing more than a bunch of scavengers while some Bin Laden typeunifies the Middle east in an invasion of the Great Satan.
The idea would appeal to everyone. Those who are against US foreign policy will appreciate the chickens coming home to roost while conservatives who want revenge for 9/11 will go for the America fights back no matter what aspect. -
...and then, like now, it's the USA everyone should be afraid of, not whatever, ill-conceived, stereotyped villians the film makers trot out. (I'm just guessing but I predict people of middle east descent, call me crazy.) Pathetic.
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If they have balls they use Black Water style Mercenaries financed by an former Right-Wing politican to regain power and to build an Orwell like government.
And then the Wolverines kick in to fighting for Freedom wherever is trouble... oh no that was G.I. Joe -
Are you shitting me? DePalma is the most respected hack in the industry for some reason I cannot fathom
"Carrie [mediocre], Blow Out [waste of time], Scarface [decent], Carlito's way [mediocre], Body Double [silly movie, not sure if that was intent], Untouchables [excellent], Dressed to kill [Angie Dickinson scenes only reason to see film], Casualties of War [sucked], Raisng Cain [didn't see] and Mission Impossible [sucked]. 10 films of brilliance"
These films were hardly brilliant.
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And you forgot Redacted, The Black Dahlia, Femme Fatale, Mission to Mars, Snake Eyes.
I think Scarface sucks personally. It's gratutious bullshit with hammy acting. I'll gice you Carrie and The Untouchables, but Carlito's Way? Please. -
Seriously, what do we have? We've stopped mining for gold and diamonds, our coal is no longer the fuel that powers the planet, and we're already giving away our food.
Seems to me if I have a country that is hell-bent on invading and taking over another country, Im going to pick Saudi Arabia or Iran - at least they got something of value.
It will probably be some 'made up' Red Bandana Brigade of rogue soviet terrorists (because middle eastern terrorists are so unpolitically correct, amirite?) and we'll be invaded not by some country, but by a multi-national coalition of thugs and criminals. -
The Simpsons route. They've faked the collapse of communism. And now they're BACK!
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They'll set it in Iraq and tell it from the Iraqis perspective. Then they can call it "Red, White and Blue Dawn".
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That's the best way to describe a remake of Red Dawn. Wolverines!!
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I saw the poster for the 20th anniversary re-release of war games too, and it said something about the remake too. I think its Wargames - Dead code and is direct to dvd. No info to back this up though.
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Fuckin A he is and me right along with him...
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Give me a fucking break...Is going to be shit
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