Road House (spoilers inside)

[superdog]

Super rainy here in Jersey yesterday. So did a little movie marathon.

Rewatched the old Road House and then I watched the new.

If you grew up like me, you loved the original. It was an epic movie, masterfully done…for what it was.

I loved fight movies. Still do, but now I need more to a film. The old one stood up. I could literally recite half of it. It was just that big of an influence on me. I even bounced in college after his style. Always being nice. I was the guy at the door. And the guy the sent to diffuse situations.

The new one had its moments. And Jake G was great in the role. The movie was fun. But it was ruined by stupid parts.

The band continues to play during a massive brawl? And really, the minute Conor McGregor showed up the movie just got cheesy. I’m no fan of his. But I grudgingly respect the brand he built. He was so bad in this. Literally every scene he was in was ruined.

Didn’t have to be that way either. The dumb grin on his face. Even from his first scene jumping out of the window in the buff to avoid the husband…

If he was that tough he’d not have jumped. And if he did, he’d have gathered his clothes first.

I was not thrilled when they announced the remake. But I got pumped along the way. Too bad. Could have been so good.

[Blansky]

Funny you say that. During the 1980s, my buddy and I used to go to Westwood in LA, on Friday afternoons on the day that movies came out.

We always felt that Roadhouse was pretty cheesy and in fact we used to sarcastically say that any move we saw after that, “well it was no Roadhouse”, pretending Roadhouse was some high standard.

I haven’t seen it since so I guess I should give it another try. Strange anyone would do a remake.

[austinp]

Love the original Roadhouse!

“Pain don’t hurt.”


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[sickened1]

For a remake, i didn't expect much. It's good for a what it is... an hour and a half of a remake. but Jake G's tattoo did acknowledge the late Patrick Swayze from the original Roadhouse.

Road House Remake's Hidden Nod To Patrick Swayze's Original Character

[superdog]

Originally Posted by austinp

Love the original Roadhouse!

“Pain don’t hurt.”


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Best line. So many good ones.

[superdog]

Originally Posted by sickened1

For a remake, i didn't expect much. It's good for a what it is... an hour and a half of a remake. but Jake G's tattoo did acknowledge the late Patrick Swayze from the original Roadhouse.

Road House Remake's Hidden Nod To Patrick Swayze's Original Character

I didn’t either, but I was hopeful.

Definitely paid homage to the original in a few ways. I appreciated that.

[Jackie Daytona]

Glad for the movie review. Lazy weekend here and was debating watching it in sort of a …”why not” sort of way.

Sounds like the best method watch this is to rewatch the original and stop there. Lol

[Yobber76]

[QUOTE=Blansky;13200474]Funny you say that. During the 1980s, my buddy and I used to go to Westwood in LA, on Friday afternoons on the day that movies came out.

We always felt that Roadhouse was pretty cheesy and in fact we used to sarcastically say that any move we saw after that, “well it was no Roadhouse”, pretending Roadhouse was some high standard.

"Ditto"

Oh wait, that's another Swayze movie!

[brandrea]

Sam Elliott’s Wade Garrett was so good

[TK-710]

Conor was painfully terrible.
It could have been an otherwise decent movie but he was very bad. Jake Gyllenhaal on the other hand is becoming one of those actors that can’t miss and is talented enough to carry a movie with an actor as bad as Conor in it.

I’m glad I watched it…for free.

[Rock]

By chance, I re-watched the original "Roadhouse" a couple of weeks ago. I thought I enjoyed it 30 years ago but this time I just thought it was stupid and unbearably cheesy.
Thank Dog I have never lived anywhere with morons like the people in that movie.
I couldn't see how any movie reprising that original could be any better.
(why didn't he just get a Cab to work?)

[HHIslander]

I’m not gonna see the remake, it’s like the remaking of Red Dawn. You can’t improve perfection. But I found the “spoilers” tag hilarious. Like it’s got a plot.

[1William]

Thanks for the review.

[TRS1]

Originally Posted by HHIslander

I’m not gonna see the remake, it’s like the remaking of Red Dawn. You can’t improve perfection. But I found the “spoilers” tag hilarious. Like it’s got a plot.

Agreed.

[andrewjb88]

never seen the original so will watch them both.

[BLACKHORSE 6]

Originally Posted by HHIslander

I’m not gonna see the remake, it’s like the remaking of Red Dawn. You can’t improve perfection. But I found the “spoilers” tag hilarious. Like it’s got a plot.

This.

I wonder if Hollywood is running out of ideas, so they go to a classic movie with a fan base and remake it. At worst it won’t be a flop and at best it’ll make them some money.

[AzPaul]

Before the original Roadhouse, never fully understood the unseemly world of rowdy nightclub bouncing. To ne it was as much a documentary as it was entertainment.

[superdog]

Originally Posted by HHIslander

I’m not gonna see the remake, it’s like the remaking of Red Dawn. You can’t improve perfection. But I found the “spoilers” tag hilarious. Like it’s got a plot.

lmao. good point.

but hey, folks always find a way to get mad at something.

truth is, there are some good parts. sadly, Connor just ruins the entirety of it.

edit to add I agree on Red Dawn. I could not get through 10 minutes of the remake. Another Swayze 80's masterpiece.

[superdog]

Originally Posted by BLACKHORSE 6

This.

I wonder if Hollywood is running out of ideas, so they go to a classic movie with a fan base and remake it. At worst it won’t be a flop and at best it’ll make them some money.

for certain.

[superdog]

Originally Posted by andrewjb88

never seen the original so will watch them both.

it is worth watching. especially the first one. if you like a fun, fight movie with 80's flare you will love it.

clearly it is not for everyone. but I loved it, and I still love it. I am certain to watch it at minimum a few more times in my lifetime.

[superdog]

Originally Posted by TK-710

Conor was painfully terrible.
It could have been an otherwise decent movie but he was very bad. Jake Gyllenhaal on the other hand is becoming one of those actors that can’t miss and is talented enough to carry a movie with an actor as bad as Conor in it.

I’m glad I watched it…for free.

best way to put it. it was painful to watch his scenes.

and yeah, they avoided the big screen for a reason I suppose. this would have been a monster bomb.

[brandrea]

So Connor should stick to MMA?

[Maleg]

Originally Posted by BLACKHORSE 6

This.

I wonder if Hollywood is running out of ideas, so they go to a classic movie with a fan base and remake it. At worst it won’t be a flop and at best it’ll make them some money.

I think they ran out of new material in the 1940’s. Everything after that is an unattributed remake of an old story line. Attributing the remake is all marketing to grab the original fan base.

[superdog]

I read this online....

I thought it was a pretty good synopsis.


Typical shallow, incongruent nonsense that underlines just how bad movies are today compared to their pre gen z counterparts. From the opening scene your left rolling your eyes.

Dalton is a supposed famous ex fighter, down and out, hustling for money at a street beef event where he gets a blade stuck in him. This apparently happens all the time. So much so he can hold a full conversation and Rambo his wound using gaffa tape. Right...he's Wolverine, is he? This took me out of the reality straight away. Anyone who lives in London's knife crime hubs watching this would be howling.

None of the actors seem like genuine tough guys. No deep voices, lived exteriors or masculinity. A lot of fresh faced, floppy haired ah schucks types chosen due to their tween appeal.

The world itself is totally contrived. Why is this bar so rough? Are the people in the town just mental? Because every two seconds this Burning Man festival of well-dressed Hollywood extras from a Benetton ad get rowdy for absolutely no reason.

In the original we saw a real Road House with actual truck drivers and southern boys getting drunk and nasty in a way that felt believable. And it's not the era. My home town now is bloody rough.

Also, which struggling bar owner is shelling out 20k for a months work to a guy who's not even a trained bouncer? He doesn't even train them. One if the best parts of the original was watching Dalton use his smarts and skill to take out the trash, showing the other struggling staff how it's done. You saw them turn the place around. In this one that aspect is barely expressed.

There's also the now obligatory diversity and inclusion casting, gender swapping and affirmative action stuff we've come to just accept in Hollywood these days. When will Hollywood learn that we want believable characters without the agenda? No one cares what colour or genitals someone has. But please make characters grounded in reality. Actors should be chosen for their ability and well-suited vibe. The bar owner in this is just bad.

Then there's Conor. He does have a very believable aura about him. But that's jettisoned by some terrible direction and editing. His voice sounds odd and over dubbed. And he hams it up big time. Some of lines are very funny. But, there's something just so silly about him here. Is he a cartoon or a real bona fide terminator? Hard to know. Because this film's tone can shift quite readily.

Lastly, this much talked about '4 pass effect' is supposed to capture the fights in a way that looks real. I dunno. It just looks like poor CGI to me. Fights in movies aren't supposed to look like violence in real life. It's it's own language. I like the old van damme movies, for example, where everyone has iron chins and zero defensive technique. Its cinematic and dramatic. Here it goes for realism but falls short because it can't be real. It just feels more fake.

None of the human reactions in this film feel natural. From the bar bands who just play like nothing is happening, to Conor's permanent maniaxhal grin, to Jake's transition from non-plussed low energy geniality guy to cold blooded murderer.

Anyway. Watch it for a laugh but don't forget to pray for forgiveness to Patrick Swayze. The original still holds up as an absolute gem. God I miss the old days.

[Blansky]

The strongest guys I ever met were not gym/beach muscle guys either. They were farm boys, who'd been throwing bales of hay and farm equipment around all their lives.

Often they were also wirey, low body fat, tough and mean. Somewhat like the Sam Elliot character in the original.

[-dustin]

I'll have to watch the original. Once McGregor made his debut, I started to question if this was a legit remake, or over the top satire.

Jake G got ripped. And I thought that other dude was Joe Burrow at first.

[Jimmy 2 Times]

Me and the wife are headed to Glass Key next winter for a holiday.

[TK-710]

Originally Posted by Jimmy 2 Times

Me and the wife are headed to Glass Key next winter for a holiday.

From what I’ve seen, in this movie, I’ll save you the time: No it is not safe to wear your Rolex.

[Boopie]

I never saw the original because it looked so bad and cheesy. Every time we saw a movie in the theater (which was often back then) there was a trailer for “Road House.” Not a single one of our friends back then saw it and recommended it. We actually just got around to watching “Point Break” for the first time, with our kids. Ouch! Nostalgia made it fun, but it was so very terribly bad. So, I’m wary about seeing the original “Road House.”

That being said, our boys are huge MMA fans, so they put in their request to watch the new one on last weekend’s family movie night.

If you’re in the mood for highbrow Ingmar Bergman cinema, or a completely realistic dramatic film that takes no artistic license, skip this one. But, if you want to watch an entertaining action/fight movie, this fits the bill. “Die Hard,” it’s not (a movie we actually saw brand new in the theater), but I don’t think it’s trying to be. It reminded me a lot of the recent “Bullet Train,” which was entertaining.

[m j b]

Interesting thread. With apologies to Seth (OP) I thought the original movie was kind of stupid, with a ridiculous script that had so many logic holes in it that it just wasn't worth thinking about. That said, the movie was entertaining and really, isn't that the point of a movie? The ones that are all preachy or trying to push an agenda or a real "art film" just turn me off. I guess I'm too shallow.

I had no idea that there was a remake of "Red Dawn". That movie also has some huge logic holes in the script, but looking back on it, it had spectacular casting and was also very entertaining. Who can forget Harry Dean Stanton screaming at his sons, "avenge me, boys! Avenge me!" Awesome.

Speaking of movies, I finally finished watching Oppenheimer this weekend. The wife gave up after 20 minutes because she couldn't follow the dialogue. I confess that I too had trouble, but I changed TeeVees from the family room (soundbar) to my "media room" which has a real sound system. I also started to read the book last year but OMG I couldn't get through that tome. Over 3 hours long, and again the performances were outstanding and the film is really good but it took me 4 tries to get through it all. I can't imagine watching it in a theater. And it was kind of confusing and unlike the book, glossed over a lot of his faults (although to their credit they did show the part where he tried to kill one of his profs) and that he was very likely a bit crazy. Not a movie I want to watch again, honestly.

Unlike, say, a Jimmy Bond movie which are infinitely re-watchable (except for that horrible remake that Connery did after he went bankrupt) or "Midnight Run" which is a hilarious movie with DeNiro and Charles Grodin and Dennis Farino and John Ashton and Joe Pantoliano and Yaphet Kotto (another great cast).

But I digress.