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If you thought the film's confusing central premise was the result of bad filmmaking, you're wrong - it is the fault of the US government. The original version of this film centered around a private army who went to war to defend Western democracy and protect US interests in the Gulf of Oman. However, when the filmmakers wanted to use military vehicles for the film, the Pentagon expressed their reservations with the film's message and use of real countries. A letter written by USMC Colonel Michael Sheridan states, "The basic storyline that a private army exists in the US, available as “the court of final appeal” to besiege free world governments, is rather incredible. The United States Government(USG) has clearly demonstrated that such organizations are illegal and subject to prosecution. However, should an agency of the USG support the film production by providing military equipment, such support might be construed as tacit acceptance of the concept, at least by those who wish to embarrass the USG. Furthermore, when the storyline includes employment of the private army in support of the “only country standing between hostile forces and the straits through which the world’s oil supplies pass” (a relatively clear reference to Oman), the sensitivity of this incredible story is raised. Countries in that region are sufficiently xenophobic and suspicious of US intentions with regard to oil in the region that we would not want to provide even a gratuitous basis for reinforcing their concerns. Therefore, it would not be in the best interests of the USG to support the production of this film." After several negotiations, the film was changed to have the conflict be between two fictional countries - the peaceful Republic of Sardun and their aggressive neighbor Gamibia. In exchange, both the Air Force and the National Guard ended up supporting the film, renting out men and vehicles on a ‘courtesy’ basis and charging full rates (the Air Force alone charging nearly $167,000). Images of all of the official correspondence between the filmmakers and the government can be seen in this article from SpyCulture.

So did anyone else notice in the first scene the Megaforce is revealed that one of the stunt drivers almost completely bites ass on his bike and crashes? It looks like his front tire hits one of the blown up bits of those balls they were shooting and lost traction to where he almost wiped out on the desert terrain. Also, there is probably now worse way for a weaponized vehicle to have a main attack than by forcing the riders to have to be in a wheelie for their main action of shooting machine guns and missles.Not only is it incredibly inaccurate to fire, but the rider is already doing a bit of work to keep themselves level on a single wheel, so why not make their vehicle more unstable by having the front end of said vehicle launching all types of high velocity projectiles from it. The movie did have some success though as inspiration for such things like Team America: World Police after Trey Parker showcased his knowledge of the film during a DVD commentary, and the flying bike would later become a vehicle that could be purchased in Grand Theft Auto 5 Online.

I've spent some time this morning watching 3DO commercials in hopew of figuring out which one Paul might have auditioned for. Fortunately, the 3DO failed pretty early and almost all the commercials were voice over graphics. I can't confidently say this commercial was the one Paul auditioned for, but it seems likely.

Once again thanks to my fellow forum-mates who have indulged my passion, I guess is the word? for this movie. I just listened to the episode - well done, guys - and I wanted to raise the following points in the hopes of clarifying a few things: 1) as someone points out, no one gets killed (or even seriously hurt) in this movie about two battling bands of mercenaries - with the very notable exception of a mortar crew who intend to blow up the command centre van thing. The Robert Forster looking guy in the van notices them and FUCKING VAPORIZES them with some weapon that is never mentioned again. So Jason, not only do they have lasers, they have some kind of Dr. Manhattan particle beam at their disposal. 2) Star Trek: The Motion Picture came out in 1980 I think, two years before Megaforce, starring Persis Khambatta (Major Zara) in the role of Ilia, who is the original version of Counsellor Troi from Star Trek: The Next Generation. She is also in an awful movie called Warrior of the Lost World starring Robert Ginty and Donald Pleasance, which takes place in a postapocalyptic 80s setting where the hero rides a super-powered motorcycle. 3) Ace's headband. My theory is that however period appropriate it looked at the time, I think it actually had a practical purpose - to show which person was Ace when he was driving around with a helmet on during the action scenes. 4) Probably the single most useful piece of advice I have ever seen about watching Megaforce is this: think of Burt Reynolds in the lead roles, because it was almost certainly written for him. Especially Duke, the way he talks and jokes around, the cigar work, the silly giggling laugh- Henry Silva does a wonderful Burt Reynolds impression here. Now, why didn't Burt do his pal's movie? Did he get a look at the script and somehow know it would bomb? 5) there was a passing mention of Fast & Furious films but I just remembered making this point way back when we did Hobbs and Shaw: what if the shadowy organization that creates super Idris Elba in H&S is just whatever Megaforce has turned into since 1982, and the mysterious voice in H&S is Barry Bostwick? Just saying. Thanks as always for a fun episode, I hope that my fellow forum posters enjoyed it too. [Edited to add point 5 ]

As it happens I've just started my own little amateur film podcast, so to help the OP out I'll ensure my next episode does a feature on Marxist European cinema, with in-depth reviews of Bertolucci's 1900, The Battle of Algiers and basically everything by Ken Loach

Pierce Brosnan is quoted as saying he saw Meryl had already signed on and went ahead and did it without actually knowing wtf he was signing up for lol.

Yeah, that is a weird moment that gets kind of buried in the Very Impressive Victory the MFers have just pulled off. When I watched it last night I thought "man, I hope no one was doing maintenance on that helicopter." Hopefully Egg has some really good sensor tech on those rocket bikes.

F, marry, kill: Meryl Streep, Christine Baranski, Julie Walters Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Stellan Skateboard

Been awhile since I posted here. I am lucky to have my parents two blocks away from me, so I have family to spend time with, although I am also pretty much the only person they see in person every day, so it’s overwhelming sometimes. Our entertainment tastes don’t exactly match (my dad) could spend the whole evening watching the news/PBS shows like Father Brown), so it’s a bit of a chore finding something that entertains everyone equally. I’ve done a decent job, but suggestions are always welcome.... what we’ve been watching recently: Schitt’s Creek—we’re new to this one, but enjoying it. The Blues Brothers (holds up surprisingly well) Stumptown Pain and Glory (the latest Almodovar, which was quite good) Brooklyn Nine-Nine (unfortunately the season seems to have halted) Too many TV shows that we’ve started, are good, but have a hard time feeling compelled to continue (Mrs. America, Ramy, Dead to Me). If there are any particularly great episodes of these, I might keep going). If it were up to me, I’d juice it up with thrillers or pulpier shit, but I have to appeal to people who are in their 70s. I know this isn’t really a problem—world being what it is—but it is....mundane I think the new Kumail Nanjiani movie is on tonight, maybe we’ll watch that....

https://anchor.fm/james-adamson

This is the Megaforce army

Am I the only one who thought they were going to go to the bone zone in the middle of the skydive?

I think we have 8 left, right? I've got 92 down Yea, a bunch of us on here have Letterboxd lists: Here's my list https://letterboxd.com/almostaghost/list/my-unspooled-afi-list-order/ I'll still fiddle with it over the remaining movies though, and there's a couple I'm already thinking I should rewatch!

There was a lot of insane stuff in this movie they didn't have time to discuss, like the 2 dimensional sets and the sketchy, half-finished-looking animations that would fly by. There's exposition happening and suddenly a cartoon dog with sunglasses materializes and makes goofy noises. Incidentally when I was looking for that screenshot I saw there's a short part in Holly's house where Brad Pitt looks in a funhouse mirror and it distorts him to have the a similar look as he does at the end when he becomes a cartoon. That's called foreshadowing and it means this movie is art. Do we think Brad Pitt's horrible acting was due to having nothing to act against? He was still pretty bad when the other human was around

I searched the forum like four times because the thought that this movie hadn't been recommended yet seemed insane. A bunch of fantastic actors including Mary Steenburgen, Jeff Goldbum and Lance Henriksen do their best to save this incredibly strange movie about an albino kid with electricity powers. Highlights include silverware towers, deer telepathy and lots of grown men crying.