He’s reputedly going after The Rock for Doc Savage, and I would love to see Johnson get to do Shane Black dialogue - I think that’d be a great match.
I agree! I’d love a sequel.
AWell, I don’t think that’s in the cards, unfortunately…
Finally got to see this today. Surprised to see so many people being down on it-- I had a blast.
I’d agree the tragic back stories and plot mechanics were not much more than wallpaper. But when that’s in service of a shaggy comedy where you get to see characters with great chemistry bounce off each other and crack wise amongst some inventive action pieces, I don’t especially give a damn. That it’s by way of two actors you don’t associate with funny makes it even better.
Weird habit I have, when a movie’s as consistently funny as this one, the dumbest, most throwaway joke will hit me harder than anything else.
Here it was, “Hey, how’d you know my name is Buddy?”
I about had a fit for a solid minute. I managed to keep it quiet, but my wife leaned over to ask what the hell was wrong with me.
Yeah I really had a blast with this as well. It doesn’t have the same polished feel that KKBB had but in it’s own broader way it works like gangbusters. Lots of great humour and good chemistry between the leads, and I really liked the mystery plotline.
I think that was confirmed? Which is a match made in my loincloth.
Considering that he singles out the guy coming back at the end of Die Hard as the movie’s lone flaw in that Writer’s Panel interview (20 years after dissing it in Last Action Hero), I think that the henchmen pop-up is one of Black’s least favorite tropes.
Definitely this. But also this:
It’s a lot of fun, but it does play like a slower, less meta KKBB, with solid lead performances in the place of bravura ones. Crowe acquits himself quite well (the equanimity cutaway really is transcendent), but Healy just isn’t half the character Gay Perry is. And Gosling does do surprisingly well with the physical comedy, but I don’t think he can pull off the drunken sleaze. Not that he’s bad at playing drunk per se, but this was an RDJ, and Gosling is just too handsome, too mild, too…well, Canadian, to really sell the shabby burnout on the page. The movie works in spite of this, but I think The Nice Guys simultaneously proves that comedy is within Gosling’s wheelhouse, but “fuck up” is not.
Doesn’t he dislike that one because Karl was definitely dead?
The point was that Healy didn’t kill John Boy.
But point taken!
A[quote name=“Schwartz” url=“/community/t/155439/the-nice-guys-2016-discussion-thread/100#post_4075547”]
Considering that he singles out the guy coming back at the end of Die Hard as the movie’s lone flaw in that Writer’s Panel interview (20 years after dissing it in Last Action Hero), I think that the henchmen pop-up is one of Black’s least favorite tropes.
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But how else was Sergeant Powell going to learn to kill again?
Funny, I once saw Black on a panel with Jeb Stuart. You’d think his problem with Karl would’ve come up, but I don’t think it did.
ETA: Just occurred to me that Karl popping back up to take another shot at the hero happens in nearly the same fashion in the novel, so that’s not even strictly a movie cliché in that instance…
But Karl had a hand inside the chain! It fits: McLane had the gun, the best move was to play dead at that point.
Speaking of Doc Savage, considering how the guy’s famous for his team of sidekicks, I wonder if Black could Avengers together some of his old buddies. Not RDJ, of course, but Val Kilmer, Russell Crowe, Mel Gibson, all backing up the Rock… manliest movie of all time.
That was quite fun. Super Shane Black-y though. So much so that I could easily see turning people, not as into his style as I am, off.
But into his style I am.
The thing I hate about this (and I love Die Hard, top 5 of all time for me), is he almost immediately shoots another innocent kid. Like, I imagine he felt pretty good about taking down Karl for half a second, but then he whips around and McClane has to jump in to stop Trigger Happy Powell from blowing away Argyle. I believe he was included in Die Hard 2 just to assure me that he didn’t commit suicide that very night.
AIt is a weird, almost - comedy beat: dramatic hero shot for Powell, that big swell of music; then the very next thing is McClane having to say, whoa, don’t shoot that guy.
MichaelM posted this Elvis Mitchell interview with Black in the podcast thread. Thought I should share it here too. It’s pretty good:
The party was an amazing setpiece. Black has upped his game as a (technical) director. Maybe working with Marvel rubbed off a little in a good way.
I really liked this and i agree that the flow of the party scene was perfect.
Which brings me to the big finale - i think this was edited for time reasons in the first half, based on two things i didn’t get:
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How exactly does Crowe’s character find the half-dead projectionist? He suddenly (at least for me) wanders around in this basement/ back-alley-style area and there he immediately checks out the garbage dump, where he finds the guy half covered. Felt weird to me, like someone pointed out to him where the projectionist was to be found. Maybe i missed something?
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What makes that showcar explode? John Boy was shooting at the window/ projector about 5 stories up and he dindn’t aim this badly at Gosling’s house. I could easily mark this up as random chaos happening, but Black usually doesn’t do this kind of thing, he makes a point of letting all these little beats escalate logically.
These are just nitpicks or points i didn’t get. Overall i liked this a bit less than KKBB and about as much as LBS (which i like very much)
One weird moment: When after the “tell us and he won’t do it again”-gag the barkeeper just keeps on helping them with information - like they passed some kind of initiation and they had his respect now. I would have let these assholes run into their misery after one of them hit my head on the bar.
John Boy threw a grenade under it.
Oh, i totally missed that. Thanks.
AAnd a bartender told Crowe where John Boy and Chet went together.
Finally saw this. Loved it.
Although it admittedly felt like a spiritual successor to KKBB. In that I got the sense Black reaaally wanted Kilmer and Downey back, but Crowe and Gosling are the b-team, and will have to do. Just slap a goatee on Gosling, and we’re good to go.
I saw this with my mom. I thought it was pretty good. She agreed.
A[quote name=“Freeman” url=“/community/t/155439/the-nice-guys-2016-discussion-thread/60#post_4070089”]I might be seeing a movie later today with my mom. She’s not a prude by any means, but how’s the violence and sex in this? Are we approaching Wolf of Wall Street or is it totally OK?
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Do not see this with your mum, unless she’s into anal.