Anyone seen the new Mean Machine yet?

[Chief Brody]

Worth a watch?

[Mr Flibble]

erm, I'm off to see it tomorrow myself, so any opinions would be great.

To be honest, I think it looks like a right load of edited but our lass wants to watch it - god knows why.

I just can't take Vinny Jones seriously as an actor, no depth - all his roles up to date have been the same. Only upside is we're using gift certificates to get in to see it.

Really not looking forward to this one - I'd much rather see LOTR again :(

[McMikey]

I saw it yesterday, I really enjoyed it, don't expect anything new but it is a lot more enjoyable than the 51st state IMHO. I thought Jason Statham was good as the "legendary monk" tho I think at some point I noticed him slip out of his Scottish accent into cockney:) I also thought the two Bob's were good.

It's actually a remake of a Burt Reynold film that apparently had the same name here tho it's known as "The longest yard" in America and was the same story but with American Football but I've not seen that tho.

[Boink!]

The Mean Machine with Burt Reynolds is one of my favorite films and has one of the most "on the edge of your seat" last ten minutes of action.
The only drawback is that when it is shown on TV [usually ITV] a classic line said by Richard Kiel is cut. Boo!

Boink!:p

[GrossePointeJack]

I caught this today and i have to say it wasn't that bad to be honest.

Anyway - a review.

The first half was pretty poor i thought, comedy coppers and every prison cliche you can think of. Seeing as he's arrested in the beginning you guaranteed to hear the line

"You're nicked SUNSHINE!"

And you do hear it - though thankfully you're spared the whole trial and stuff and go straight to the prison. Then it's boring for a while and before you know it the 'training scenes' arrive and they lighten up the film and then the game comes on.

Then the film gets better.

Much better in fact - though the stars for me were the commentators - i won't reveal too much here but i will say that the performances are decent all round and as long as you like violence you'll like the game itself.

Though the best line from the trailer has for some reason been dubbed over...

Commentator 1: It's looking hot out there Bob.

Commentator 2: (deadpan) Oh yes, very Rio De Jenerio.

For some stupid reason they replace "Rio..." with "Rock and Roll" and it just sounds crap.

Anyway, worth seeing if Lord Of The Rings is sold out.

[Mike]

I haven't seen the remake but the original enormously enjoyable. Directed by one of Hollywood's most underrated talents, Robert Aldrich, and starring Burt Reynolds at the peak of his career, it's essential viewing with a very funny, politically aware script (largely through the parallels between Eddie Albert's prison warden and Nixon) and some incredibly exciting sports action. Up there with "Slap Shot" in the sports movie genre.

There is a region 1 disc but I was warned against buying it due to the allegedly low quality of the transfer.

[camino_real]

Saw this today and it's OK. Very cliched and not one ounce of originality throughout its length. Vinnie Jones is terrible but he's surrounded by solid supporting actors (most of which you'll have seen on TV at one time or another) and a nice turn from David Hemmings, who seems to be making a small comeback to screen acting.

The second half is better than the first but, as in so many films, too much use of flashy direction and slow motion ruined any tension the movie may have had. There are also some obvious gaps in the plotting a result of some judicious cutting methinks. 4/10 (mostly for the football commentary.)

[Mr Flibble]

Saw it on Saturday, and to be fair, it's better than I expected it to be :)

Some good comedic moments, especially the commentators during the final match. but it ain't perfect and some characters where there for no real apparent reason other than the sake of it (like the character played by that lass from Alan Partridge for a start) but all in all, not too bad.

Worth a watch IMHO :)

[silent g]

Real surprise in a post xmas night out.

I loved Burt's origonal "the longest yard" ( it wasn't called mean machine by the way)

Good 90 minute movie, well worth a look, even if like me you hate soccer........

worth watching for The monk alone



nice work fella

[Morpheus2000]

Vinnie Jones is Mean Machine and he gets thrown into prison for drink driving and assaulting a police officer. Danny (Mean Machine) is an ex-footballer who is asked to train the inmates in a match against the guards. It's supposedly a remake of a Burt Reynolds' film.

I actually thought this was very good, pleasantly surprised. Moves along very nicely and quite amusing in parts. You'll recognise some faces, David Kelly plays a fellow inmate. It's a bit like The Shawshank Redemption meets Escape to Victory, worth a butchers.

[SPB]

Originally posted by silent g
Real surprise in a post xmas night out.

I loved Burt's origonal "the longest yard" ( it wasn't called mean machine by the way)

Good 90 minute movie, well worth a look, even if like me you hate soccer........

worth watching for The monk alone


nice work fella

Oh yes it was (in the UK) as McMikey said in the post above. And thats football not soccer :D

Excuse my padantic mood. SPB

[welshmatt]

It was definetly called Mean Machine here. I think it was on BBC 1 last summer.

[Shaun666]

IT WAS AWFUL

[Raphph]

check out my dvd times review of it (links in my sig)

[Lorne.t]

Watched this last night on TV and thought it was far more entertaining than it deserved to be.
I suppose a good ensemble of character actors helped to lift the movie.

[mgb_dvd]

Watched this on a plane without sound - there is one brilliant touch.
In the orginal the coach is murdered by an exploding light bulb - in this one he goes into the cell, you have a close up of the light bulb, a close up of the switch, then the light goes on perfectly normally - then he gets shot/stabbed, or something