But that's just my point! You she obeys! She obeys you! There's obeying going on right under my nose!

Wash ,'War Stories'


Buffista Movies 4: Straight to Video  

A place to talk about movies--old and new, good and bad, high art and high cheese. It's the place to place your kittens on the award winners, gossip about upcoming fims and discuss DVD releases and extras. Spoiler policy: White font all plot-related discussion until a movie's been in wide release two weeks, and keep the major HSQ in white font until two weeks after the video/DVD release.


DavidS - Apr 26, 2005 10:06:31 am PDT #2207 of 10002
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."

For those of you who haven't seen City on Fire, here's a synopsis. It's pretty much Reservoir Dogs in plot:

In 1987, Hong Kong director Ringo (Full Contact) Lam made a film called City On Fire, starring Chow Yun-Fat as a heavily conflicted cop who goes undercover with a gang of thieves who plan to rob a jewelry exchange. Members are strictly forbidden to swap names or backgrounds, but Chow is befriended by career criminal Danny Lee, and suffers pangs of guilt over the fact that "doing his job" will mean betraying him.

The heist goes sour when another thief starts shooting hostages, and the cops appear out of nowhere. Chow, wounded in the stomach, reflexively kills his attacker -- a cop -- and is rescued by Lee, who stands in the path of an oncoming police truck, gun in either hand, and calmly riddles its occupants with bullets. After taking refuge in a deserted warehouse, the gang's boss decides there's a police informant among them: Chow. Lee comes to his buddy's defense, triggering a three-way stand-off that ends in a hail of bullets. As Lee holds the dying Chow in his arms, Chow tearfully admits he's a cop, then waits for Lee to finish him off.


Sean K - Apr 26, 2005 10:11:28 am PDT #2208 of 10002
You can't leave me to my own devices; my devices are Nap and Eat. -Zenkitty

Wow. That's exactly RD.


sumi - Apr 26, 2005 10:11:57 am PDT #2209 of 10002
Art Crawl!!!

Zathura looks like fun.


Steph L. - Apr 26, 2005 10:13:09 am PDT #2210 of 10002
I look more rad than Lutheranism

SEAN! He's aliiiiiiive!


Sean K - Apr 26, 2005 10:15:14 am PDT #2211 of 10002
You can't leave me to my own devices; my devices are Nap and Eat. -Zenkitty

Hi Teppy! Yes, I live.


DavidS - Apr 26, 2005 10:16:09 am PDT #2212 of 10002
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."

Wow. That's exactly RD.

That's why there was a big stink by cult movie fans when Reservoir Dogs first came out. They felt QT should have at least acknowledged how much plot he took from City on Fire. Chris Gore at Film Threat made it a big issue.

Some of QTs more famous lines have been directly lifted from other movies too. For example, the line in Pulp Fiction by Marcellus: "I'm going to get a hard man with pliers and a blowtorch" comes directly from the 70s crime film Charley Varrick. But not the "get medieval on your ass" part.


Steph L. - Apr 26, 2005 10:16:52 am PDT #2213 of 10002
I look more rad than Lutheranism

Hi Teppy! Yes, I live.

How goes the living, out in the land of starlets and back lots?


Sean K - Apr 26, 2005 10:26:58 am PDT #2214 of 10002
You can't leave me to my own devices; my devices are Nap and Eat. -Zenkitty

It goes okay. Trying to find more work, as the work I have is not enough and also ending soon.


Frankenbuddha - Apr 26, 2005 10:33:47 am PDT #2215 of 10002
"We are the Goon Squad and we're coming to town...Beep! Beep!" - David Bowie, "Fashion"

Yeah, the plot of RD is definitely CoF, but I think the jumbled time structure was all QT (well, by way of the Killing, sort of), as was the mixmaster blend of pop culture references, and the great conceit that an undercover cop basically needs to be a really good method actor.

And the casting was cool.


Scrappy - Apr 26, 2005 10:43:07 am PDT #2216 of 10002
Life moves pretty fast. You don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.

I am a big QT fan. Except the dude should never ever act. REALLY not his forte.