I can never keep these two movies straight (probably because I haven't seen either one). One of them is supposed to be good. Which one is it?

"One of them is supposed to be good."

This is news to me and I'm pretty sure I've seen them both.

-Tom

Point Break has its moments. Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze star. It's about surfer bandits.

Skipped Hudson Hawk completely. It's about how to make a bad movie and still get paid.

-DavidCPA

Point Break is the one that's good. Patrick Swayze is a zen-master xtreme sports fanatic who leads a band of skydiving surfers as they rob banks to fund their search for the ultimate kick. A pre-secret-marriage-to-David-Geffen Keanu Reeves stars as Johnny Utah, the undercover cop who's sent to infiltrate the gang, then ends up becoming one of them. Or is he? 100% pure adrenaline!

I like Point Break. The director, Katherine Bigelow, also made the underrated Strange Days. She's also the director of K-19: The Widowmaker which will star Harrison Ford. It's the true story of the first Soviet nuclear sub that suffered a reactor incident on its maiden voyage.

--Dave

Bruce,
you will dislike both intensely. I'm certain of that.

-Andrew

Point Break is one the 20 best movies of all time. Easily. But for you Bruce, I would suggest the Patrick Swayze philosophical action film, road house (another top 20). It is the exciting tale of a NYC philosophy grad out in the real world, running a clean bar and kicking serious ass.

In point break Swayze is only a philosophical surfer, I do not think he received a formal degree in philosophy.

Other top choices would be black dog (ex-con, trucker, philosopher) and Swayze Dancing (just simply the sexy man himself teaching you his philosophies through dance moves. Think dirty dancing minus the annoying dialogue).

Chet

"I would suggest the Patrick Swayze philosophical action film, road house (another top 20)."

I used to work in a video store (Lost Weekend Video in San Francisco) that had a section called Double Feature Dare. The idea was you'd get two movies for the price of one, but they were a preselected pairing. Favorites included such duos as Booty Call/Howard's End, Spice World/Dune, Beloved/Hated, Free Willy/The American President, and hundreds of others over the years that I have forgotten.

For awhile, Cocktail/Roadhouse were available as a double feature. I was working one night when a guy came to the counter, very upset that he couldn't just rent Road House. He made a big fuss about it. It was funny.

-Ron

I like Point Break for a couple of reasons.

1) Katherine Bigelow is the most underrated action director around. If only she could find a script worthy of her talents.

2) Gary Busey. The "Gary Busey Law" clearly states that any movie becomes more fun the moment Busey enters it, and less fun the moment his character leaves it. Want proof? Watch "The Firm."

Point Break is dumb and goofy, but the photography is gorgeous, there's a great chase sequence on foot with the pogo-cams/steadicams or whatever they used, and the surfing scenes achieve a kind of mystical nostalgic tone. Plus the Anthony Keidis cameo is a treat.

Hudson Hawk (which is *nothing* like Point Break, btw) is a little too self-aware for its own good, and it goes on too long, but it is redeemed by the hilarious Richard E. Grant. I also like the bit where Bruce Willis and Danny Aiello sing "Would you like to swing on a star."

Thank you! I will try both of these excellent films!

I'll concur on this: Point Break is a good movie. And the cinematography of the surfing scenes, in particular, is outstanding.

Not to mention a full, rich Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. Very odd for a movie of that era (~1991)!

Well worth a rental if you haven't seen it.

"Not to mention a full, rich Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. Very odd for a movie of that era (~1991)! "

That's because it was remastered for DVD. The first Dolby Digital movie was Batman Returns in 1992. Jurassic Park was the first movie in DTS.

Yeah, but choosing to remaster a movie like Point Break is ALSO weird. So many movies near that 1991-1992 cutoff point _don't_ get remastered sound. I'm just shocked that Point Break merits a "director's cut" or "special edition" or something.

Point Break was a successful movie and continues to do reasonable business even today on video. I think it warrants it. It might also have to do with the above mentioned Harrison Ford starring flick that the director is currently making. Studios pay attention to little things like that when they look at their back catalog for extra revenue.

Which brings up a point that we haven't yet discussed on this board...why is it that game companies completely ignore their back catalog and are consistently unable to maintain "evergreen" games? Technology is certainly a factor, but many would argue that some of the best games of yesteryear would still look and play great today with minimal reworking. X-Com anyone? When will the game industry stop ignoring its past and build some history that new gamers can grab onto?

--Dave

Jeff Atwood --

Well, James Cameron was involved in Point Break (executive producer or something), so maybe his high-tech pedigree had something to do with getting a Dolby Digital transfer. Or maybe, given Keanu's current cachet (Matrix and, er, Hardball), it was felt it was worth the expense...

Dave-- I think id software has this down pat. Have you seen their Xmas lineup? They're more or less much re-releasing every title they've done over the last 10 years. Sheesh.

Blizzard does this reasonably well, too.

But I hear you. In particular I hear Mark Asher's plaintive wail for a modern re-release of X-Com. It would be nice to have an X-Com with updated graphics and modern OS support..

"It would be nice to have an X-Com with updated graphics and modern OS support.."

Agreed. And that's about it. There aren't many games that merit updating. Most genres are heavily reliant on technology. A technological update of Falcon 3.0 would be a huge undertaking. Same with Doom. Or Red Baron. Or Wolfenstein 3D. There are a small number of strategy games that would still be great today, but most "classics" would seem crude when compared to the games they inspired.

When discussing games that should be updated, people inevitably mention X-COM. And they're right. It would be great to get a modern version with new graphics (or not) and no difficulty bug. But what other games? Other than X-COM, and maybe Master of Magic, what other games warrant such an update? I have a hard time believing there are more than 3 or 4 that don't have a superior modern equivalent. Most classics were only great for their time. Like The Warriors.

-Ron

Well, I'd like to see an updated Archon and Dark Legions, both with better graphics and Internet play. I'd like the original MOO redone with new graphics and maybe some new races added.

I'd like a new version of Missionforce Cyberstorm with Internet play.

There aren't too many, really. You can probably go back to the DOS days and find a lot -- the gold box games, Sword of Aragon, Car Wars, Ogre, etc.

Oh, another one -- Privateer. I'd love an updated Privateer.

The difference, though, is do you really want just an updated version? Or do you want a new version? I guess that was my original point. Have you played Privateer lately? They'd have to do more than a graphic and sound update to make it fun today.

Missionforce Cyberstorm: Yes!

But many of the other games you list would have the same problems. A new game heavily based on an old game is a different thing than a graphic swap and modern OS support.

-Ron

I'd love to see Star Contol II redone. I'd settle for something similar to what Origin did for Wing Commander I-III, optimize them to run under Windows. I'd also like to see Their Finest Hour get that treatment.

Bullfrog's "Dungeon Keeper II" was really nothing more than an update of Dungeon Keeper I, and a damn fine one at that. They tweaked the gameplay, updated the graphics, and added a few new spells/creatures/traps, but at it's heart it was the same exact game.

If they remade X-Com in the same way, I'd preorder that puppy this instant.

Unfortunatly, most RTS games in the past 5 years have been remakes of Command & Conquer or Warcraft II/Starcraft (Starcraft was just Warcraft II with new races, crystals instead of wood and gas instead of gold).

I agree with everyone. If they make the new X-com, the slow moving will help all of the games, not only Max Payne. Players will always buy the new games because the old games are not so good, even though many people like them! When people play the old games they are only wondering why the good ideas are not there?

Greetz

The combats also.

I forgot to say it.

Greetz

"When people play the old games they are only wondering why the good ideas are not there?"

I'm not so sure it's the lack of good ideas so much as that the good ideas of most older games have been picked up and used in modern games.

And the combats, of course.

-Ron

Psst...hey you guys...Tom secretly LOVES Hudson Hawk. He's a huge fan of it. He particularly loves the part where Andie McDowell makes those cute dolphin noises. And he's forever singing "Swing On A Star" at Shoot Club.

Don't tell him I said this.

Amanpour

Actually, the dolphin scene was pretty funny.

Also worth the price of rental:

"Bunny! Ball-ball!" (or whatever the little rat-dog was called)

"Money will always be paper, but GOLD will always be GOLD!"

(James Coburn re: the CIA): "We blow up space shuttles for breakfast."

Hudson Hawk was a bloated ego-trip vanity project, but it was a lot more fun than most bloated ego-trip vanity projects tend to be.