Surprisingly enjoya...
 

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Surprisingly enjoyable 'popcorn' films

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You know - the sort that won't ever win awards and kinda flew under the radar a bit.

Can I start with 'The Hitman's Bodyguard' – I watched it last night and found it great fun (with Samuel L Jackson stealing the show just bu being Samuel L Jackson, Motherf&^%$r). Some really funny moments and great action sequences.


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 9:25 am
AD, MoreCashThanDash, Houns and 7 people reacted
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The latest Roadhouse. It's so over the top stupid that it's enjoyable. This is coming from an absolute film snob.


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 9:28 am
althepal, fasthaggis, fasthaggis and 1 people reacted
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"Nobody", it's a ridiculous load of nonsense, but my god is it good fun 🙂


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 9:40 am
fettlin, prawny, integra and 29 people reacted
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The latest Mission Impossible. The train scene alone is just incredible, edge of the seat stuff - even if you know Ethan will manage, somehow to survive it all. Great film


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 9:46 am
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Came here to say 'Nobody'. @verses beat me to it


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 9:50 am
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Posted : 19/04/2024 10:03 am
 Drac
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The latest Roadhouse. It’s so over the top stupid that it’s enjoyable. This is coming from an absolute film snob.

It starts of pretty good, then McGregor appears.

Easy to watch popcorn film:

Obvious choice is Top Gun: Maverick

Easy go to one The Gentleman


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 10:04 am
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The Meg. Everything that you would expect in a film about Jason Statham and a giant shark.


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 10:08 am
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+1 The Gentleman - great film.

The Gentleman 2024 TV Series is just as good.


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 10:12 am
walowiz, ElShalimo, AD and 9 people reacted
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The Meg was fun, not seen the sequel yet! Also really enjoyed The Beekeeper.


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 10:13 am
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We watched Barbenheimer on a transatlantic flight, the first half was a great popcorn film, but the second act was pretty heavy going.

Brave creative choice.

Notable mention for all of the Fast and Furious films from 5 onwards.

And Cold Pursuit, the most fun of Liam Neeson's Action Uncle series.


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 10:17 am
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Extraction / Extraction 2 on Netflix.


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 10:30 am
AD and AD reacted
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Bullet Train

The Lost City (not usually a big fan of Daniel Radcliffe but enjoyed his performance in this)

Pretty much anything with Jason Statham. Remove brain, preferably pack it away somewhere under lock and key to keep it safe, and enjoy.


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 10:42 am
stevie750, TheFlyingOx, Daffy and 5 people reacted
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Kiss kiss bang bang

The nice guys

+1 for Bullet train


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 10:44 am
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Notable mention for all of the Fast and Furious films from 5 onwards.
yeah, I love these. Ever since The Rock got on board, they morphed into silly-spy-caper style films, which just ratchet up the ridiculousness each time 😃


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 10:45 am
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Some good suggestions so far, I'll add Free Guy to the list, great fun, ridiculous but great fun 😀


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 10:48 am
prawny, stevie750, AD and 11 people reacted
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Battleship. Awful film and stupid premise, makes the original Top Gun look accurate and well written.

But a guilty pleasure. Watched it only the other night and perfectly suits 4k on a big screen at home with a couple of beers.


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 10:51 am
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Came to say Roadhouse too. Not as good as or really anything to do with the original but fun in a stupid way.

Brother in Law reckons it’s the most 80’s type action film since the 80’s. This is a good thing.


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 10:52 am
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There are some films that, if I spot them in the schedule at 9pm, I'll always end up watching them all the way through.

Edge of Tomorrow.

Captain America: Winter Soldier

Mad Max: Fury Road

Master and Commander


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 10:54 am
milan b., funkmasterp, colournoise and 7 people reacted
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I always think Cruise works better in his ‘b’ movies than the blockbuster ones. I’ve switched off Mission Impossible films halfway through, same with the truly awful Maverick nonsense - they are just too overblown. But Edge of Tomorrow, American Made, Collateral and even Oblivion are all very watchable.

I also really like the Neil Blokamp movies - obviously District 9 but also Chappie and Elysium. All these are great for switch brain off don’t look too hard for plot holes approach!


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 10:54 am
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@jeffl

Good call, I enjoy battleship too.

I'll add Pacific Rim and Love and Monsters to the list too.


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 10:56 am
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The Meg 2 is excellent. It lives up to what the first Meg promised but failed to deliver.

Cocaine Bear obviously. Wildly entertaining with a slightly undramatic ending. The opposite of Meg 2 which crosses into the realms of lunacy and keeps going.


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 10:59 am
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District 9 is one of the most entertaining movies ever made, just for the repeated use of the word 'prawns' in the Saffer accent. 🙂

A lot of Cruise's stuff pops up in my 'brain out and enjoy' category - Oblivion, as you say, MI3 (the best one in the series, IMO), Minority Report, even the Reacher ones, if you can get past the physical issues.

I love the first two Star Trek reboots as well, and I'll always stick with 'Star Trek: First Contact' if that pops up.

I’ll add Pacific Rim

Good call. First one is great fun.


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 11:00 am
TheFlyingOx, stumpyjon, stumpyjon and 1 people reacted
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OP nailed it with Hitman for me - discovered it when MrsMC was flicking round the channels one evening and now one of our favourite "brain out" movies


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 11:01 am
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Aliens, despite being a decent film also makes it into the brain-out fun ride category.

As a blast from the past - Tremors - ridiculous fun all the way!


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 11:03 am
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It starts of pretty good, then McGregor appears.

Yes, but he's so bad it's good. It's so ridiculously over the top. I can only assume they fed him more cocaine than a normal day then let him do whatever he wanted


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 11:22 am
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And Cold Pursuit, the most fun of Liam Neeson’s Action Uncle series.

Came here to say this. Extremely dumb, does not **** around with subplots and artsy nonsense like that, just Liam Neeson on a single-minded mission of vengeance.

Edge of Tomorrow is fun, but it's pretty high-concept compared to Cold Pursuit.


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 11:33 am
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American Graffiti - touch of an imaginary nostalgia.


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 11:33 am
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Ahh yes, Bullet Train – I must remember to watch that the next time my wife is out for the evening. I'd forgotten about it altogether.


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 11:37 am
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+1 on We're the Millers. Great Film.

Bad Teacher also very good.

Sing & Sing II are great animated films.


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 11:41 am
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Along Came Polly is another of Jennifer Aniston's films that is much more fun than it should be.


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 11:43 am
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Bad Teacher also very good.

And The Bad Santa. And The Bad Lieutenant. And Bad Boy Bubby.


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 11:58 am
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It starts of pretty good, then McGregor appears.
Yes, but he’s so bad it’s good. It’s so ridiculously over the top. I can only assume they fed him more cocaine than a normal day then let him do whatever he wanted

Is that what he actually sounds like when he talks  in real life?


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 11:58 am
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The Lost City (not usually a big fan of Daniel Radcliffe but enjoyed his performance in this)

Taking of Radcliffe, I enjoyed Guns Akimbo.  It is utterly stupid of course, but it's fun.


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 11:59 am
verses and verses reacted
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Boss Level and Guns Akimbo both delivered popcorn fun, a little under the radar due to covid / streaming only release.


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 11:59 am
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Ooh! I'd forgotten about Boss Level, really good, Tomorrow War too.

There's a film with Ryan Reynolds where he's talking to the heads of Anna Kendrick and someone else in his fridge, can't remember the name though.

6 underground, ludicrous, marvellous.


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 12:10 pm
 jwt
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As already mentioned above

Boss Level - (John Wick meets Groundhog Day)


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 12:19 pm
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The new Indiana jones film - dial of destiny

Surprisingly good fun


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 12:24 pm
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I think it got slated by people who compared it to the original manga stuff, but I enjoyed Ghost in the Shell

And in a loosely similar vein; Alita: battle angel.


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 12:25 pm
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I liked "Upgrade"


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 12:41 pm
 gray
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The new Indiana jones film – dial of destiny

Surprisingly good fun

Agreed! I watched that on a plane.

I'll suggest "Office Christmas Party" on Netflix. Very very silly and delightfully rude in parts. Excellent fun.


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 12:41 pm
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Jennifer's body
Zombieland 1 and 2
Scream films (maybe not 2)

Are my simple suggestions, I got quickly bored of the new Roadhouse movie.


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 12:42 pm
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There’s a film with Ryan Reynolds where he’s talking to the heads of Anna Kendrick and someone else in his fridge, can’t remember the name though.

The Voices.


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 12:48 pm
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There’s a film with Ryan Reynolds where he’s talking to the heads of Anna Kendrick and someone else in his fridge, can’t remember the name though.

The Voices

stumbled across it a few months ago and enjoyed


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 12:49 pm
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snowpiercer


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 12:56 pm
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@nickc @gifferkev

cheers, that was the one


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 1:04 pm
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American Graffiti – touch of an imaginary nostalgia.

I'm not sure one of the greatest films of all time is the theme we're going for here


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 1:29 pm
thols2, avdave2, avdave2 and 1 people reacted
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Someone mentioned the new one but Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is, in my opinion, the finest action adventure movie ever made.

For pure entertainment value Starship Troopers takes some beating, and the first Transformers film has no right to be as good as it is.


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 1:57 pm
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Super Troopers.

Crikey that's old now.


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 1:58 pm
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I had a run of watching the five films Denzel Washington made with Tony Scott, including Unstoppable, Deja Vu and Man on Fire, Denzel does a good popcorn action flick...


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 2:03 pm
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The original 90's Mummy film with Brendan Fraiser, a total romp throughout if you can forgive the very 'of its time' CGI.

At the risk of stating the obvious, the early Marvel films, before they got a bit tied up in their own lore, were fantastic for this, explosions, quips, everything moving along at a brisk pace, peaking with the first Avengers film which even my wife begrudgingly enjoyed.

The George Clooney Oceans 11 and Ocean's 13 were both great as well (12 was RUBBISH!).


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 2:31 pm
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Crank & Crank 2, Statham classics.


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 2:57 pm
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Shoot ‘Em Up is good fun.


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 3:03 pm
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Statham classics

Synonym for popcorn classics.


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 3:11 pm
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Terminator and Terminator 2 - but they are just good movies.  In fact lots of Arnie films,  Totally Recall, Twins, True Lies etc.

Point Break - original one


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 3:12 pm
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Anything with Tom  Cruise in.

Also, big shout out to The Meg. Totally stupid, totally entertaining.


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 3:23 pm
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*Terminator and Terminator 2*

Those really don't qualify to be mentioned on this thread (especially T2) :O

Crazy to think T2 is 32 years old though.


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 3:24 pm
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For pure entertainment value Starship Troopers takes some beating

Starship Troopers is pretty sophisticated satire I think.


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 3:25 pm
funkmasterp, dudeofdoom, colournoise and 3 people reacted
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*Starship Troopers is pretty sophisticated satire I think.*

It is. It also has boobies.

I like boobies.


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 3:35 pm
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Starship Troopers is pretty sophisticated satire I think

I was going to post it earlier, but then I realized that it was a satiric art movie that parodied fascism, but is generally misunderstood as fascist propaganda.

But it's great popcorn.


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 3:36 pm
 crab
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I thought Godzilla vs Kong was quite a watchable piece of utter nonsense. Kong using an aircraft carrier like a surf board, complete with Godzilla and his laser breath, what’s not to like?


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 3:42 pm
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Free fire

A knights tale

Red (1 & 2)

You kill me

chappie


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 3:43 pm
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I was going to post it earlier, but then I realized that it was a satiric art movie that parodied fascism, but is generally misunderstood as fascist propaganda.

Bit like Fight Club attracts lots of Tyler Duerden fanboys, who miss the point that he isn't supposed to be an example of perfect manliness.


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 3:44 pm
thols2, colournoise, colournoise and 1 people reacted
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Bit like Fight Club attracts lots of Tyler Duerden fanboys, who miss the point that he isn’t supposed to be an example of perfect manliness.

Yeah, I was going to post Fightclub earlier too, but then realized it was an artsy movie that is misunderstood as popcorn.


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 3:47 pm
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If you can get the original Grindhouse double bill that features Planet Terror and Death Proof, that's a perfect popcorn treat, complete with trailers for films that don't exist.

The feature length Death Proof is bloody hard work in comparison.


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 3:51 pm
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johndohFree Member
*Starship Troopers is pretty sophisticated satire I think.*

It is. It also has boobies.

I like boobies.

Also, Michael Ironside, the perfect 80s action movie actor. See Total Recall, Scanners, Highlander 2 and lots of other top quality nonsense.


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 3:53 pm
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My wife and I watch suckerpunch once a year. Tron legacy too.


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 4:04 pm
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For a few years my daughter and I have had a Thursday action film night so there is some good inspiration here. She just turned 17 so I might not have long left.

I picked up 2012 on Blu Ray last week and that was surprisingly fun in the way that it is so ridiculous.

Blade gets a revisit from us


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 4:10 pm
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Galaxy Quest always makes me chuckle, they all appear to thoroughly enjoy taking the piss and I enjoy watching them do it.

Random vote for Bend it Like Beckham - it's daft, it's twee, but it also makes some quite clever points about identity and culture which lifts it, in my opinion


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 4:15 pm
milan b., thols2, olddog and 3 people reacted
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Evolution is another great one. Absolutely daft fun


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 4:16 pm
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Blade gets a revisit from us

Blade II, shurely?


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 4:28 pm
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Midnight Run (not the awful censored version).

48 Hours.

Rewatched both recently and they stand up.


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 4:29 pm
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I don't mind watching Lucy, Kick Ass and Deadpool. Not necessarily in that order and sometimes not from the beginning if they are already part way through when on the telly. Rarely eat popcorn whilst watching them, but might have a pint.


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 4:42 pm
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I like the Kingsmen films, but they probably don't fit in to the 'Under the radar' criteria.

I caught 'Ghost Stories' (the 2018 Warp one) on Saturday night, I'll need to watch that one again.

Others from my childhood that I remember being good (but perhaps weren't) -

Top Secret (1984 - Val Kilmer) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_Secret!

Bullshot (1983) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullshot_(film) - I've yet to meet anyone outside of our family that has seen this. Probably watched it 100+ times as we lived abroad and this was 'hilarious' and we had a copy on VHS


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 4:58 pm
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I love the Fast and Furious films. Not even guilty pleasures, they're just so brightly coloured and loud and stupid, I can't resist.


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 5:03 pm
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Thor Ragnarok - Silly comic book film but enjoyable and flows well. Cate Blanchett is brilliant.


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 5:59 pm
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+1 for Kiss Kiss Bang Bang


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 7:26 pm
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Under the radar and entertaining?

Purely Belter


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 7:42 pm
 nbt
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I recall both Top Secret and Bullshot.

I'll offer up The Long Kiss Goodnight and The Old Guard, but both are quite big as it were. I recall being amused by I'm Gonna Git You Sucka, back in the day


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 7:45 pm
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The Voices is good but I don’t think it falls under Popcorn flick. Another vote for the original Point Break here. All three Guardians of the Galaxy films are great. Much better than Star Wars in my opinion.


 
Posted : 19/04/2024 8:00 pm
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