Back to the Future and Ronin
This weekend I watched Back to the Future on DVD and streamed Ronin from Netflix.
I had seen Back to the Future before but it was maybe 15+ years ago. The word that keeps coming to mind when I think of how to describe my impressions is fun. Back to the Future was a really fun movie. I wish there were more fun movies, it seems to be a rare quality in a movie…
I’m pondering what made it have that quality. I’m not sure. Maybe it was upbeat without being too silly. In any case, it is something I will keep in mind while I’m watching movies over the next couple of months.
I’m looking forward to seeing Back to the Future II again as well. After all, we are now closing in on the future that was portrayed in the movie. 2015 I think… It will be fun to see how close we get to the fictional future.
The was the first time I saw Ronin directed by John Frankenheimer. I’m not sure what took me so long. It has a lot going for it. Great actors, great director, great action, etc… It was also fun, but all the killing tempers the fun factor for me and turns it into something else like exciting.
After watching Ronin, I’ve added some of the older Frankenheimer movies to my Netflix queue. I haven’t seen many of them but I feel like I aught to. It sounds like they all have high speed chases so I’ll have to get them on DVD instead of streaming them since DVD handles the action better.
Robert De Niro has that same tough guy / steady voice coolness thing going on that Denzel Washington has. Have they ever been in a movie together? It would be fun to see them try to out cool each other. Heat had that unforgettable De Niro vs Al Pacino staring contest, but I’d like to see something similar with Denzel.
Speaking of staring contests, did you catch the one in Public Enemies? It seems that Michael Mann (Heat & Public Enemies) likes Alpha Male stare downs almost as much as John Frankenheimer liked car chases and Roland Emmerich likes to blow stuff up. Everyone’s got to have their thing I guess.
Tags: action, Al Pacino, Back to the Future, fun, John Frankenheimer, Public Enemies, Robert De Niro, Robert Zemeckis
“The 3D timelines look absolutely stunning”
Hi Adam,
I love BTTF and remember vividly when I first saw it back in the 80s (when I was 14!). It encapsulates the perfect idea of a fun movie in the 80s, with its cool effects, wonderful Silvestri score, humour, a dash of romance, and Huey Lewis’s Power of Love.
What’s even better is that it manages to transcend age differences in the audience too. I loved it when I saw it as a mid-teen and even now still love it as I near 40. The storytelling is perfect and the filmmaking is just right. I even have the paperback novelisation, read literally hundreds of times, which is a lovely book, more than a mere novella. As a teen I saw things that I loved in the whole film, and had a crush on Lea Thompson, as I got older I saw different things that I loved in the film as I gained more life experience, and I still have a crush on Lea Thompson! Wonderful film.
As for Ronin, wow, that’s a very cool film. Not seen it in years, but very memorable. Love the action, the acting, the car chases and the story. It’s a movie made for men; leather jackets, car chases, guns, and De Niro. Glad you like it.
Elliot, I totally agree with your comments. I forgot to mention the score in Back to the Future but I agree it is a memorable part of the movie.
I should also mention that the DVD I rented had a lot of great commentary and interviews. Recommended for fans like us who are appreciating it with new perspective.