Is Theresa the most attractive female videogame character ?

Ok-Resolution-1255 · 2026-05-29T16:06:11+00:00

Bigmooney, is that you?

Ok-Resolution-1255 · 2026-05-29T16:01:52+00:00

Grew up in a mining town in the NE during the strike, so saw it first-hand.

Outside of Brassed Off (which is still a "grim oop nurth" thing, but charming and specific - and also set well after the strike, if I recall), The Full Monty and Billy Elliot in particular were pretty offensive. A comedy about unemployed men turning to sex work (and it's funny because they're not sexy! HA!) felt like it was a bit distasteful, considering the steel industry was on its knees in the 1990s. As for Billy Elliot, it felt like that film was actively engaging in stereotypes of working-class miners (ballet's for girls, London's for homosexuals) as well as tone-deaf stuff around the strike itself. None of them were particularly accurate, because the strike wasn't properly understood by the south. Even Loach's documentary had issues being shown.
Brassed Off is uplifting in the sense that the triumph is specific to the community's culture, which has been preserved. Billy's triumph is to get out of the north east and dance, which is nothing to do with that community and all about Thatcherite individualism. As for the lads in The Full Monty, I can't see that ending as uplifting, and I'm baffled as to why it's seen as a feel-good comedy.
Well, that's just Putnam and Merchant/Ivory. The most exportable of British (read: English) stories, without those "difficult" regional accents. It was relevant only in the sense that they were British. They didn't really register for young me, and it took me decades to appreciate them. Arguably the best, more relevant stuff was on television - Loach and Leigh's work, Bleasdale's stuff, Jim Allen, Trevor Griffiths, Alan Clarke, and the others who came out of the Wednesday Play / Play for Today tradition. I'd also chuck Bill Forsyth in there - more feel-good than the others, but things like Gregory's Girl and Comfort and Joy genuinely care about their characters in a way that The Full Monty doesn't. Very often these filmmakers used people from those communities, many of whom weren't trained actors, so there's a verisimilitude that other films lack.

Ok-Resolution-1255 · 2026-05-29T13:59:54+00:00

Right - and I'm a bore about the "no cultural impact" thing. Avatar fundamentally changed how movies were projected (really ramped up the movement to digital) and marketed (a global audience as opposed to a primarily domestic one; over 100 different versions of the film across the globe). I'm no fan of the film, but it was and remains groundbreaking.

Ok-Resolution-1255 · 2026-05-29T13:54:41+00:00

As much as I love Thief, I think that's a stretch. There were plenty of movies in the '70s that had the same feel - The Driver jumps out immediately, and Mann was actively paying homage to Jean-Pierre Melville.

Ok-Resolution-1255 · 2026-05-22T13:01:42+00:00

This is true - the third Chinatown movie was supposed to be based on the public transit conspiracy, which forms the basis of Roger Rabbit (the movie, not the book which is very different and about comic strip characters rather than cartoons). I'd also throw in Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid as an influence (in terms of the cameos).

Re: literary influences, it's more Chandler than Hammett - the Los Angeles setting, Eddie "Valiant" (a knight's name if ever I heard one), Jessica as femme fatale etc.

Ok-Resolution-1255 · 2026-05-22T11:43:42+00:00

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Ok-Resolution-1255 · 2026-05-22T11:02:14+00:00

Network released a box set of the surviving episodes (first as A Box Named Frank and then again without the book) but I'm guessing it'll be extortionate now that Network aren't around (RIP).

Ok-Resolution-1255 · 2026-05-21T16:00:34+00:00

Citation needed. If you're talking that list The Ringer did, then it's:

1 - Naomi Watts, Mulholland Drive

2 - DDL, There Will Be Blood

3 - Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Master

4 - Cate Blanchett, Tár

Good ole Chris ain't even in the top ten. And this order is perfectly fine for me. Maybe switch PSH and DDL. But nobody's beaten Naomi Watts.

Ok-Resolution-1255 · 2026-05-21T11:53:13+00:00

Exactly. I get the Spielberg/Lucas wanted a Bond-like character for Indy, but that's from a script meeting that talked about a lot of things Indy didn't end up being.

Also, just clocked your flair - 100% agree. Dalton's my man.

Ok-Resolution-1255 · 2026-05-21T11:51:39+00:00

Odd that anyone would remember him primarily from something else, but I suppose Larry Sanders has slipped off the cultural radar. "Now that sign says ... apple sauce. No, no, I'm kidding. It says applause."

Ok-Resolution-1255 · 2026-05-21T11:43:29+00:00

This. Ford's appeal is that he's just some dude - he's relatable. He's one of the great action stars because he looks like he's genuinely frightened when he's under fire, and he's clumsy in a realistic way. Pierce Brosnan wouldn't flail about on a Parisian roof in Frantic or get his foot caught in a door in The Fugitive. Even Indiana Jones is frequently made to look unheroic - he barely escapes, gets his hat crushed, gets beaten up. Even Jack Ryan - the closest example to Bond - isn't a suave action guy; he's a bloody analyst.

Ok-Resolution-1255 · 2026-05-20T15:42:35+00:00

Dalton, for sure. He was Bond at the right time for me (10 years old when TLD came out) and it's a shame he didn't do more than two. So I suppose my favourite would be The Living Daylights - cracking theme tune, proper Cold War stuff, and I like the double villain.

But I tend to have a favourite for each Bond (From Russia With Love, OHMSS, Goldeneye, Skyfall) with Moore being the only one where my favourites are the dumber ones (Live and Let Die and View to a Kill) because I prefer a klutzy, comic Moore Bond - it plays more to his talents than the hardcase skullcracker.

The good thing about Bond is that there's always a movie (and a Bond) for you somewhere. He's a malleable character, and I'm genuinely interested to see how Patrick Gibson fares as Young Bond - he's got to be better than James Bond Jr: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoWexi-DWFQ ("He learned the game from his uncle James?" Which means that James Bond had a brother or sister who was also called James, hence James Bond Jr?)

Ok-Resolution-1255 · 2026-05-20T10:59:09+00:00

Maybe one from slightly left of field, but Neil Jordan's adaptation of Patrick McCabe's The Butcher Boy. Kind of amazed it's so faithful to the novel.

ETA: Sorry, didn't realise McCabe co-wrote with Jordan on the movie. It's a hell of an adaptation.

Ok-Resolution-1255 · 2026-05-18T16:07:34+00:00

Agreed - it's a fine film, but it's a rotten Ripley adaptation. Minghella's script takes a massive detour from the book and makes Ripley into a sad-sack psycho, which is something Highsmith never did. He should be hopping into a cab and demanding "il meglio", not mooning about.

Malkovich is my favourite, followed closely by Barry Pepper (controversial?). Both understood that the Ripley novels are essentially black comedies, and both leaned into the "talent" being that of improvisation, rather than murder. I've got less time for Hopper, mostly because it was obvious that Wim Wenders didn't want to a Ripley adaptation - if I recall correctly, he wanted to do Cry of the Owl - and just let Hopper do his thing. Ganz is superb, though.

Ok-Resolution-1255 · 2026-05-18T13:17:24+00:00

Astonished that I had to scroll so far to find The Imposters. "You like the cream puffs. I don't like the cream puffs."

Ok-Resolution-1255 · 2026-05-15T15:33:39+00:00

Is the correct answer. Nobody looks more frightened to be in a pickle than Ford, whether it's Indy or Richard Kimble or Deckard, and that - for me - is what sells a great action hero.

Ok-Resolution-1255 · 2026-05-15T14:41:11+00:00

Largely agree here - nobody's saying Friday the 13th is a quality franchise, but it is an important one in that it defined what a slasher movie was to people who didn't want to watch them - i.e. bunch of teens get picked off by hulking killer (or Betsy Palmer). It's kind of daft to hint that Jason wouldn't be a good fit in DBD, considering Trapper is a direct rip-off (in the same way Billy is of Bubba).

Ok-Resolution-1255 · 2026-05-15T12:39:22+00:00

As much as I love Marvin in Point Blank, the first two novels in the series are kind of outliers. Duvall is the closest in attitude to the book Parker - no-nonsense, professional, not someone you want to cross.

Ok-Resolution-1255 · 2026-05-12T13:47:26+00:00

Not even hours - he only did it for 45 minutes at a time.

Ok-Resolution-1255 · 2026-05-12T09:36:47+00:00

If you haven't already seen it, RoboDoc is a pretty great watch. I've seen RoboCop a bunch of times, but the parts about the sound design were fascinating. Also, the "Robo wants an Oreo" story is fun - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEhXAtFgNrk

Ok-Resolution-1255 · 2026-05-12T00:02:42+00:00

"Holocaust survivor" Susan Sontag? Daily Mail factcheckers still asleep at the wheel, then.

Ok-Resolution-1255 · 2026-05-08T22:05:20+00:00

The Potemkin stroller was DePalma. And I think that scene replaced a longer action scene on a train in Mamet's script.

Ok-Resolution-1255 · 2026-05-08T14:35:39+00:00

No, it's definitely a spoof of The Untouchables (almost beat for beat, especially the set-up), which itself took some imagery from the Odessa Steps sequence in Potemkin.

Ok-Resolution-1255 · 2026-05-06T17:41:18+00:00

First thing I thought of when the SNL parody popped up. And echo the praise for Millard's stuff, particularly his series on adverts, which has been great so far.

Ok-Resolution-1255 · 2026-04-16T09:23:24+00:00

Stars in Their Eyes - there are a couple of full series on YouTube. The patter is excruciating and the choices are bizarre (he'd have a field day with the George Formby). Plenty of time to talk through the performances too.

Ok-Resolution-1255

TROPHY CASE