Having not seen the movie you couldn't say? Didn't you chew out maul2 in the video game thread for this kind of argument? The two movies are definitely similar, not quite so much like Yojimbo and A Fistful of Dollars, but they have almost the same third act, and some scenes are arguably directly taken from City on Fire. One that comes to mind is both films feature the Mr Orange character firing two pistols into a cop car. I remember the shots being very similar as well - and it's not like we've seen that same situation in films before or since so it hardly constitutes a common element.

But I wouldn't say it's anything nefarious on Tarantino's part. Way back when this was made, not many Westerners had ever seen a Hong Kong movie, let alone City on Fire, so it didn't much sense for Tarantino to talk about the influence. Nowadays it's a lot different. He can say Kill Bill follows Lady Snowblood and folk can just look it up on the internet to see what he's talking about. They can also get a hold of that movie much more easily now than back in the 90s. Not sure what it was like in the US, but I remember having a hell of a time getting Hong Kong movies on VHS in the UK. Jackie Chan and John Woo? Some, but Ringo Lam?

"I swear to God, I'll pistol whip the next guy who says shenanigans!"

I've mentioned before that maybe you guys could do some more historical or fantasy movies to balance the sci-fi, has Gladiator been talked about before?

Also, any plans for Speed and Red Dawn?

In no world can Commando ever be considered bad. Definitely one of my favourites too Shifty, that Predator, Conan and Running Man are my favourite of Arnold's historical documents.

I really like Dune, it's hard not to be taken in by its scope and story - and that fantastic cast!

For me, I'd probably say The 13th Warrior. It's got a few problems and suffers a bit especially in the third act but it's one of only two viking movies that are actually worth watching (the other being The Vikings with Kirk Douglas and Tony Curtis).

And maybe Doom, the one with Karl Urban and the Rock. I liked that one, though it appears to be widely regarded as a pile of dog shite.

My favourite line from this is actually "Oh, I'm sorry, did I break your concentration?" Very easy to slip into conversation.

DOES he LOOK like A BITCH?!

I look forward to the day when all the DiF names have other meanings.

Sylvester Stallone (The Specialist)

Barry Pepper.

Arh nah! I lose.

This is just... well it's mighty tough. A good way to feel both silly and stupid at the same time!

The official Word (as of 2011 or last I heard) was that the stormtroopers at the time of the OT were a mixture of clones and recruits. But this may change depending on what side of the bed Lucas wakes up on tomorrow.

I don't think any are clones and don't like the idea. It's just not very effective on a dramatic level. The terror of the stormtroopers is that they are faceless fanatics who have given up their identity (or had it taken from them) in service to a sorceror Emperor. That says something about the Empire. Not just the emperor himself but about the regime. There's the obvious echo with our own history, evil doesn't just come from the top but manifests in the lowest soldier - all due to environment that encourages such behaviour. When our heroes take up the fight, they're not fighting just the emperor, they're fighting the regime and what it does to people, what it makes or forces them to be. Guys like Tarkin who thrive on power.

If they're just 'built that way' and all share the same features, it reduces them to the level of robots. The evil becomes limited to just the man with the controls, which actually lessens the overall impact he has on the world. After all, the villain hasn't infected anyone with his evil, he hasn't manipulate others to follow him, he isn't drawing the worst out of others for his own gain - he's just punching commands into a program and it gets done.

That's quite possibly my favourite picture of the day. Thanks Teague.

For years my brother's been drawing parallels between Osama Bind Laden and Obi Wan Kenobi. Both follow a crazy religion, hide out in the desert, and send young men off to fight against oppressive empires.

And yeah, both have 3 names!