Wednesday, October 19, 2011
I, THE AUDIENCE: Demolition Man
The One Sandra Bullock Will Be Remembered For
Strapped to the chair and the bomb is ticking.
So I was browsing the Instant Watch choices on Netflix. I was in the mood for a science fiction movie, something like "Red Planet" or "Ghosts of Mars" or "Outland" or "Supernova."
The situation was not of your picking.
Something fun. A movie that made sense or was actually good would have been nice but was not absolutely necessary. I would have settled for "Zardoz" or the remake of "Rollerball."
You say that this wasn't in your plan.
And there it was! Ready to be watched on my computer with a simple click!
You don't mess around with the ...
Demolition Man!
I have been wanting to see it for years.
I'm a walking nightmare ...
It came out in 1993, at a time when I lived in Hollywood and saw pretty much every movie I wanted to see. The fact that I did not see "Demolition Man" in 1993 probably means that I did not particularly want to see it then. Which makes sense. There are so many action/science fiction/fantasy movies in the course of the average year that you can't see them all.
An arsenal of doom ...
I was not much of a Sylvester Stallone fan back then. (I've come to appreciate him a lot more since then, not so much as an actor, but as a performer. He's quite a performer. He's so awesome in "Night Hawks"!)
I kill conversation as I walk into a room.
And who was Sandra Bullock in 1993? ("Speed" was still few years away. And her Oscar was far, far in the future.)
I'm a three-line whip ...
And as for Wesley Snipes, I have nothing against him. He's quite good in "Demolition Man." But I don't run out and see a movie for Wesley Snipes.
I'm the sort of thing they ban ...
But I saw a few scenes of "Demolition Man" on cable when it wasn't more than a few years old and I was intrigued. I've been wanting to see it ever since.
I'm a walking disaster ...
I was not disappointed. As a matter of fact, I very much enjoyed this wonderfully dumb movie. It never takes itself seriously, and I found the script full of amusing dialogue, mostly spoken by Sandra Bullock, playing a cop in Southern California in the 2030s, a time very different from our own, with its own peculiarities and hang-ups. (Sandra's very good in this. She steals the show. She's the one who should be locked up in the cryo-prison for such blatant theft. This is the one she'll be remembered for, despite her Oscar for "The Blind Side.")
I'm The Demolition Man.
Stallone is also fun to watch, all growly and scowly, doing that thing with his lower lip to express confusion, anger, frustration and other emotions, some of which are hard to identify.
Demolition Man
And Wesley Snipes is also good, all crazy and psycho and Dennis Rodman-y.
Demolition Man
I enjoyed it. Sure, you can wear yourself out getting picky about things that don't make sense, if you're so inclined. But it was a lot of fun, and I'm not going to give it a negative review just because it's not "The Grapes of Wrath."
Demolition Man
I don't know if it's a forgotten film. But I never hear people talk about it. I'm mentioning it here, hoping movie-watchers will give it a try. I'm kind of surprised it doesn't have a cult following. It's just that kind of film.
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Strapped to the chair and the bomb is ticking.
So I was browsing the Instant Watch choices on Netflix. I was in the mood for a science fiction movie, something like "Red Planet" or "Ghosts of Mars" or "Outland" or "Supernova."
The situation was not of your picking.
Something fun. A movie that made sense or was actually good would have been nice but was not absolutely necessary. I would have settled for "Zardoz" or the remake of "Rollerball."
You say that this wasn't in your plan.
And there it was! Ready to be watched on my computer with a simple click!
You don't mess around with the ...
Demolition Man!
I have been wanting to see it for years.
I'm a walking nightmare ...
It came out in 1993, at a time when I lived in Hollywood and saw pretty much every movie I wanted to see. The fact that I did not see "Demolition Man" in 1993 probably means that I did not particularly want to see it then. Which makes sense. There are so many action/science fiction/fantasy movies in the course of the average year that you can't see them all.
An arsenal of doom ...
I was not much of a Sylvester Stallone fan back then. (I've come to appreciate him a lot more since then, not so much as an actor, but as a performer. He's quite a performer. He's so awesome in "Night Hawks"!)
I kill conversation as I walk into a room.
And who was Sandra Bullock in 1993? ("Speed" was still few years away. And her Oscar was far, far in the future.)
I'm a three-line whip ...
And as for Wesley Snipes, I have nothing against him. He's quite good in "Demolition Man." But I don't run out and see a movie for Wesley Snipes.
I'm the sort of thing they ban ...
But I saw a few scenes of "Demolition Man" on cable when it wasn't more than a few years old and I was intrigued. I've been wanting to see it ever since.
I'm a walking disaster ...
I was not disappointed. As a matter of fact, I very much enjoyed this wonderfully dumb movie. It never takes itself seriously, and I found the script full of amusing dialogue, mostly spoken by Sandra Bullock, playing a cop in Southern California in the 2030s, a time very different from our own, with its own peculiarities and hang-ups. (Sandra's very good in this. She steals the show. She's the one who should be locked up in the cryo-prison for such blatant theft. This is the one she'll be remembered for, despite her Oscar for "The Blind Side.")
I'm The Demolition Man.
Stallone is also fun to watch, all growly and scowly, doing that thing with his lower lip to express confusion, anger, frustration and other emotions, some of which are hard to identify.
Demolition Man
And Wesley Snipes is also good, all crazy and psycho and Dennis Rodman-y.
Demolition Man
I enjoyed it. Sure, you can wear yourself out getting picky about things that don't make sense, if you're so inclined. But it was a lot of fun, and I'm not going to give it a negative review just because it's not "The Grapes of Wrath."
Demolition Man
I don't know if it's a forgotten film. But I never hear people talk about it. I'm mentioning it here, hoping movie-watchers will give it a try. I'm kind of surprised it doesn't have a cult following. It's just that kind of film.
