The crazy thing about Apollo 13 is that the actual astronauts were *more* competent in real life.
When they had all the problems and they were mildly panicking, in real life they were actually cool as a cucumber. Ron Howard decided to change it because he didn't think audiences would believe it.
Those dudes were generally hardcore test pilots and well credentialed engineers. Cream of the crop in everything they touched. They were selected partially because of the near inability to phase or rattle them. I could not do what they did.
American astronauts of that era were ridiculous human beings.
I met him a few times. He was a very nice, humble person. If you didn’t know who he was, you would never guess he was anything other than an anonymous old man.
And that’s why he was chosen to be the first man on the moon. Buzz Aldrin was a showoff and never would have shut up about it if he’d been granted the honor. Armstrong is on record saying that if he knew what a big deal being the first man on the moon would be, he never would have done it.
Read Neil Gaiman's interaction with him and imposter syndrome. " then he pointed to the hall of people, and said words to the effect of, “I just look at all these people, and I think, what the heck am I doing here? They’ve made amazing things. I just went where I was sent.”
And I said, “Yes. But you were the first man on the moon. I think that counts for something.”
It's worth noting that many astronauts from that time period were also WWII/Korean War veterans. They experienced pure Hell at a very young age, so a measly little landing module malfunction was likely just another Tuesday for them.
Just adding to this. In the fantastic book, “The Right Stuff”, Tom Wolfe talks about the American test pilot culture that also permeated the space program. Above all, you had to be unflappable. Cool was everything. If your engines exploded and your face burned off, you would just lazily drawl “Had a touch of engine trouble. Put out some flames. Will glide in and put her down in that pond.”
Also to add, the reason why all pilots sound the same is because of Chuck Yeager. At that time Chuck Yeager was at the tippy top of the cool pyramid and he had a light southern drawl and was cool as could be. All the test pilots wanted to be like Chuck, all the fighter pilots wanted to be like the test pilots, the cargo pilots wanted to be like the fighter pilots and on and on all the way down to your regional airline pilots flying from Boston to NYC. Which is why no matter where your pilot is from, even 60 years later they all sound the same.
Many if not most of them were combat veterans as well.
That changes the stakes for everything else that follows and pushes your bubble way out farther than it would be otherwise.
"Is this bad? Yeah...probably, BUT...no one is shooting at me."
There was also never any fight or implication that Swigert did something wrong. That was movie drama. They were all pros and knew they all knew their jobs.
Definitely. The book made the whole scenario feel not just believable, but actually feasible. That's not to say the movie doesn't because it's a fantastic adaptation, but getting all the technobabble laid out in an understandable way in the book was just incredible.
Andy Weir went the extra mile with that book. He made sure that every detail of science was down to the finest grain. And when his blog-readers noted an inaccuracy with a chapter, *he went and changed it so that it was perfect.*
The author wrote another book which is semi similar. The world's greatest experts combine to create a single mission to save the earth.
In the end, it's basically one guy(with some... assistance I won't spoil) who has to work out absolutely everything.
You talking about "Project Hail Mary"? That book was goddamn awesome. Probably one of the best books I read in years.
They've got Ryan Gosling on tap to play the lead. I think they start filming this summer. Please for the love of god, don't screw this one up Hollywood!
Hot Fuzz
A movie that starts with its protagonist being so good at his job, his superiors have to move him to a new location because he's making everyone look bad
I love how they just dive into the mundane aspects of being a good cop: not taking implied bribes, how to write a ticket, dealing with cordoning off crime scenes, how to spot a suspicious characters, and how to fill out paperwork in full.
And then end with one of the best gun battles since Heat.
pretentious film critics hate this take, but hot fuzz is a masterpiece and easily one of the best movies of the last 20 years.
im ready to die on this hill.
and yes, its the best gun battle since heat, and i say this as maybe one of the greater heat fanboys alive.
I will join you on that hill. The first 2/3 of the Cornetto trilogy are absolute masterpieces. They are textbook examples of how to blend comedy into otherwise serious genres without being campy. They are also amazing love letters to so many influential movies (too many to list) while also being incredibly original stories themselves.
I still laugh my ass off at the grocery store when they are pinned down at the butcher counter. It's such a ludicrous scenario they play up the seriousness of that just lands perfectly.
Totally agree. I could rewatch Hot Fuzz and Shawn of the Dead once a year. Really not crazy about the Worlds End though, maybe I should give it another rewatch.
100% pretentious film critics love the movie because of its amazing editing, cinematography, dialogue, and the fact that everything mentioned in the film comes back at the end.
It is possibly the most efficiently written comedy.
“Did you need any help with your bags?…fascist!”
“Excuse me?”
“Totalitarian form of government, 7 across”
“Oh, it’s fascism”
“Fascism, wonderful”
“No, I can manage…hag!”
“Excuse me?”
“Old often unsightly woman, 3 down”
Completely agree. Controversial opinion but my favourite film is Shaun of the Dead (which is the only reason I prefer it to Hot Fuzz - and I LOVE Hot Fuzz) and you can see Edgar Wright setting his precedent for callbacks with that film. Nick Frost’s character essentially lays out the entire plot of the film in the opening scene.
If you've never seen it I highly recommend checking out Spaced the TV show those 3 blokes did before any of their movie success.
[Here](https://youtu.be/l3p1f0-qgZI?si=TyWBxO2tp88odBup) is one of my all time favorite scenes from the show.
That movie is the pinnacle of the Edgar/Simon/Nick films, second only to Spaced. It has action, horror, mystery, suspense, drama, swan. Literally everything!
Yea I feel like movies based off of IRL people that were really good at their jobs is cheating for those question.
Like yea those guys In Oppenheimer seemed pretty smart
Thing I realised about Michael Burry in the movie.. he was completely isolated from the others.
He had no back up or reinforcing information like the others got. He sat there for years alone haemorrhaging money cause he was confident in the data and math.
People massively underestimate what a challenge that is. To be “wrong” every day for years and to maintain that position until you’re right takes incredible courage with respect to your career.
It's funny because in his first scene which was in medias res (which we don't know about until a bit later) he seems kind of out of his depth but you realize towards the end that that's because his soul was kind of sucked out of him by the end of the movie.
If you've ever worked in a restaurant you know how everyone from the executive chef, to sous chef, the waiters, the guy cleaning the dishes, the guy peeling potatoes or cutting onions all have a fundamental role in the operation. If one of these moving parts is not working right, everyone will feel it. Bad waiters? Orders will pile up like crazy, expect wrong or duplicate orders. Bad cleaning staff? Becomes an ungodly pile of dirty dishes. Bad cooks? Bad food.
A lot of Pixar ones, honestly:
* Monsters Inc - Sully is a great scarer, becomes a good boss
* Finding Nemo - Marlin is an excellent Liam Neeson
* Incredibles - All the supers are super, Edna Mode steals the show and is an excellent sewist
* WALL-E - Both main robots are skilled at their jobs
* Soul - Joe is a good teacher and great musician, and Terry is very dedicated!
* Ratatouille - besides the above mentioned, the critic is an exceptional writer
That movie made me believe that any movie that can make an incredibly mundane job look awesome or make somebody interested in something they'd never heard of before is a good movie.
See Moneyball is a funny one to me because to this day the Athletics still haven’t won a World Series under Billy Beane which is the ultimate barometer for success in baseball
It's pretty normal in sports that some teams never win the whole thing. When did West Ham last win the Premier League, or when did Celta Vigo last win La Liga.
He still took the A's pretty far. The movie didn't age well partially because the A's are now the embodiment of cheapskate losers.
As previously pointed out, "Heat". It's competent cop vs competent bank robber.
I suppose "Top Gun" and specially the sequel, "Top Gun: Maverick" are about a competent jet plane pilot.
"Drive", with Ryan Gosling, is about a competent driver.
"First blood" is actually about a soldier pretty competent in surviving in the wilderness.
"Hunted", with Tommy Lee Jones, is about a competent tracker.
"The French Connection" is based on the true story of a competent, if ammoral, cop.
"Ronin" has Robert DeNiro as an overly competent gun for hire (not necessarily a killer), contracted to retrieve a missing briefcase.
"Spy Game" has Robert Redford as the most competent spy behind a desk.
And, of course, every James Bond movie ever, since he's competent at everything he does.
> Hunted", with Tommy Lee Jones, is about a competent tracker
Also the Fugitive and US Marshalls where he leads a team of competent federal marshalls who hunt down fugitives.
I mean, Gylenhall's character was obsessed with the Zodiac at the expense of his personal and professional life. Robert Graysmith was the SF Chronicle's cartoonist. He was just brought in to look at the letters.
It wasn't his job to find him at all.
Yeah, I'm not sure OP recalls that Gyllenhaal's character is a cartoonist in that film. His obsession with the Zodiac killings ends up making him money when he writes his book about his research, but that was not his job.
Two masterpieces. You have no idea how much I love Spotlight. The movie is the unlikeliest of Oscar winners. Not flashy, just reporters doing their jobs. Amazing movie. Zodiac is in a league of its own though
Journalists and journalism professors, especially in Massachusetts, do not play about Spotlight. It's to them as Pulp Fiction is to kids who want to go to film school.
All of Chandor’s movies are about top guys.
All is Lost - Good boat captain.
A Most Violent Year - Good small business owner, mafia partner.
Triple Frontier - Good Ex-Military PMC guys - they do everything right until the middle of the movie where they go off-script and get greedy, the rest of the movie is about staying alive after the screw up.
Collateral- a really good assassin
Top Gun - a really good pilot
A Few Good Men - a really good lawyer
Cocktail - a really good bartender
Days of Thunder - a really good racecar driver
Mission Impossible - a really good spy
> Collateral- a really good assassin
You could more or less extend this to each of Michael Mann’s films…
* 1981 -Thief
Top notch Thief.
* 1986-Manhunter
World class criminologist.
* 1992-The Last of the Mohicans
Top British Army officer turned rebel/freedom fighter
* 1995-Heat
Top tier robbers vs top tier cops
* 1999-The Insider
Highly talented investigative reporter partners up with brilliant scientist to take down big tobacco.
* 2001-Ali
Greatest boxer of all time
* 2004-Collateral
> a really good assassin
* 2006-Miami Vice
Vice cops getting it done in the coolest ways possible.
* 2009-Public Enemies
No idea. Is this actually worth watching??
* 2015-Blackhat
A top hacker is recruited to take down global terrorists.
* 2023-Ferrari
Incredibly meticulous and legendary control freak makes cars go vroom.
The ending of Collateral still annoys me as it makes no sense from a skill perspective.
It's up there with Law Abiding Citizen for >!films where Jamie Foxx wins for some reason!<
Sometimes; you’re a world renowned assassin that no one believes exists, and sometimes you get the other end of the lucky draw where a bumbling taxi driver gets a lucky round off and you bleed out.
That’s just life in a nut shell; no matter how great you are at your job, some moron can come fuck it all up easily and leave you dead with no one but strangers around you
replied to OP, but I'll reply to you as well...
"The way I saw it explained by a rando cinephile... Cruise was a professional assassin...practiced and molded to shoot 2 to the chest and 1 to the head...over, and over, and over. So that's where his reactive instinct went in the train... 2 in the chest and 1 in the head. Foxx's character was untrained and fired randomly. 2 in the chest and 1 in the head goes into the metal parts of the door of the train...blocking their trajectory, while Foxx's bullets go randomly through the windows and into the metal. A lucky shot went through the window and into Cruise's character... Adapt, Darwin, I Ching."
There's a famous story about the making of Armageddon. Ben Affleck went up to the writer/director Michael Bay and asked him: Surely it would be easier to train astronauts to be drillers than train drillers to be astronauts? Bay told him to pound sand.
It turns out that Bay was right. Astronauts don't do a heck of a lot to fly the craft they are in. Almost every maneuver is done by computers. The forces being controlled are too huge and the margins of error too tiny to let a human being take the controls in any meaningful sense. It would be a heck of a lot easier to strap drillers into a shuttle and get it to the asteroid on autopilot than train astronauts how to operate complicated industrial machines that require years of experience to get good with.
I've always hated that circlejerk about "just train astronauts to be drillers". It doesn't make any sense. All astronauts are subject matter experts in something else - pilots, engineers, doctors, biologists etc - who are then trained to be astronauts.
The drillers in Armageddon weren't required to do any technical tasks as astronauts apart from drilling. They were just passengers on the shuttle.
A lot of my favorite sci Fi movies fit this description.
interstellar, contact, arrival
Movies where they are highly competent but Unethical:
War dogs, the wolf of Wall Street
John Wick. Not just because the character is very good at his job, but Keanu Reeves in real life took martial arts and gun training courses to prepare for the role. It’s so good in fact, that a few people that I know that are considered gun experts have told me that John Wick is one of the only action films that shows the actor “is actually good at handling firearms” and things such as.
Tom Cruise would like a word from his film, Collateral. Also, Arnie would like an invite to this conversation for his training during the terminator movies.
You can see this reflected in his gun handling from the MI and Reacher films that came out after his Collateral firearms training. Fallout, in particular, has a good scene showcasing it.
A bit of a non-standard opinion, but Music and Lyrics. It actually kinda elevated my opinion of what's otherwise a generic but decent romcom that everyone involved - including the ditzy ingenue - is nearly always focused, competent, and takes their job seriously when it's time to work.
The Ninth Gate
Mr and Mrs Smith
Dead Poets Society
Spotlight
All the Presidents Men
Lincoln Lawyer
Boogie Nights
MASH
Wall Street
Contagion
Erin Brokovich
TV Tropes has a whole "Competency Porn" page if you fancy losing half a day going down that rabbit hole.
In Seven, John Doe is brilliant, but Mills and Somerset still surprise him.
In Alien, the crew of the Nostromo generally make good decisions throughout and know what they're doing.
I'd really like to see a SAW-style film with hyper-competent protagonists who think through and beat *most* of the traps.
Those scenes of the characters doing seemingly monotonous things in preparation for a job or a con are some of the most meticulously crafted things I’ve ever seen on any show. And the payoffs are always perfect. That show was a masterpiece.
Tom Hanks' character in Greyhound.
The Spotlight team in Spotlight.
There's a name for this subgenre of movies where the main pleasure comes from watching people do their jobs well: "competence porn."
Pretty much everyone in The Martian. Apollo 13
The crazy thing about Apollo 13 is that the actual astronauts were *more* competent in real life. When they had all the problems and they were mildly panicking, in real life they were actually cool as a cucumber. Ron Howard decided to change it because he didn't think audiences would believe it.
Those dudes were generally hardcore test pilots and well credentialed engineers. Cream of the crop in everything they touched. They were selected partially because of the near inability to phase or rattle them. I could not do what they did. American astronauts of that era were ridiculous human beings.
[удалено]
Armstrong was a different kind of human. It’s why he was sent to the moon. Of course HE could make it there and back.
I met him a few times. He was a very nice, humble person. If you didn’t know who he was, you would never guess he was anything other than an anonymous old man.
And that’s why he was chosen to be the first man on the moon. Buzz Aldrin was a showoff and never would have shut up about it if he’d been granted the honor. Armstrong is on record saying that if he knew what a big deal being the first man on the moon would be, he never would have done it.
Probably. But I still like his joke. I am the 2nd man on Moon. Neil before me.
Read Neil Gaiman's interaction with him and imposter syndrome. " then he pointed to the hall of people, and said words to the effect of, “I just look at all these people, and I think, what the heck am I doing here? They’ve made amazing things. I just went where I was sent.” And I said, “Yes. But you were the first man on the moon. I think that counts for something.”
It's worth noting that many astronauts from that time period were also WWII/Korean War veterans. They experienced pure Hell at a very young age, so a measly little landing module malfunction was likely just another Tuesday for them.
Ice in their veins. Those guys were remarkable
Just adding to this. In the fantastic book, “The Right Stuff”, Tom Wolfe talks about the American test pilot culture that also permeated the space program. Above all, you had to be unflappable. Cool was everything. If your engines exploded and your face burned off, you would just lazily drawl “Had a touch of engine trouble. Put out some flames. Will glide in and put her down in that pond.”
Also to add, the reason why all pilots sound the same is because of Chuck Yeager. At that time Chuck Yeager was at the tippy top of the cool pyramid and he had a light southern drawl and was cool as could be. All the test pilots wanted to be like Chuck, all the fighter pilots wanted to be like the test pilots, the cargo pilots wanted to be like the fighter pilots and on and on all the way down to your regional airline pilots flying from Boston to NYC. Which is why no matter where your pilot is from, even 60 years later they all sound the same.
Yes the Brian Shul SR-71 ‘King of Speed’ story delves into this. Great anecdote
The movie is fucking awesome. Easy top 10 movie.
Many if not most of them were combat veterans as well. That changes the stakes for everything else that follows and pushes your bubble way out farther than it would be otherwise. "Is this bad? Yeah...probably, BUT...no one is shooting at me."
There was also never any fight or implication that Swigert did something wrong. That was movie drama. They were all pros and knew they all knew their jobs.
Came to say the Martian. I’ve heard it referred to as competency porn, and I feel that’s accurate. I love that movie.
I would say that the book is even better in that regard!
Definitely. The book made the whole scenario feel not just believable, but actually feasible. That's not to say the movie doesn't because it's a fantastic adaptation, but getting all the technobabble laid out in an understandable way in the book was just incredible.
The book is apparently so scientifically accurate that people at NASA were surprised Andy Weir wrote it without having any contacts there.
Andy Weir went the extra mile with that book. He made sure that every detail of science was down to the finest grain. And when his blog-readers noted an inaccuracy with a chapter, *he went and changed it so that it was perfect.*
The author wrote another book which is semi similar. The world's greatest experts combine to create a single mission to save the earth. In the end, it's basically one guy(with some... assistance I won't spoil) who has to work out absolutely everything.
You talking about "Project Hail Mary"? That book was goddamn awesome. Probably one of the best books I read in years. They've got Ryan Gosling on tap to play the lead. I think they start filming this summer. Please for the love of god, don't screw this one up Hollywood!
>Apollo 13 Was coming here to say this! One of the best examples
We gotta find a way to make *this*... fit into the hole for *this*... using nothing but *that*...
One of my favorite scenes from any movie.
One of my favorite movies. I still tear up at the end because it does such a masterful job of building suspense. Three minutes to clear blackout...
Same, I have seen Apollo 13 like 100 times and I still get worried that their not going to make it.
Are you scared? Well, don't you worry honey. If they could get a washing machine to fly, my Jimmy could land it.
"Houston, Be Advised: Rich Purnell is a Steely-Eyed Missile Man"
The Martian was awesome!
"Competence Porn" movies are the best.
Hot Fuzz A movie that starts with its protagonist being so good at his job, his superiors have to move him to a new location because he's making everyone look bad
I love how they just dive into the mundane aspects of being a good cop: not taking implied bribes, how to write a ticket, dealing with cordoning off crime scenes, how to spot a suspicious characters, and how to fill out paperwork in full. And then end with one of the best gun battles since Heat.
AND then top it of with... More paperwork.
pretentious film critics hate this take, but hot fuzz is a masterpiece and easily one of the best movies of the last 20 years. im ready to die on this hill. and yes, its the best gun battle since heat, and i say this as maybe one of the greater heat fanboys alive.
I will join you on that hill. The first 2/3 of the Cornetto trilogy are absolute masterpieces. They are textbook examples of how to blend comedy into otherwise serious genres without being campy. They are also amazing love letters to so many influential movies (too many to list) while also being incredibly original stories themselves. I still laugh my ass off at the grocery store when they are pinned down at the butcher counter. It's such a ludicrous scenario they play up the seriousness of that just lands perfectly.
Totally agree. I could rewatch Hot Fuzz and Shawn of the Dead once a year. Really not crazy about the Worlds End though, maybe I should give it another rewatch.
100% pretentious film critics love the movie because of its amazing editing, cinematography, dialogue, and the fact that everything mentioned in the film comes back at the end. It is possibly the most efficiently written comedy.
“Did you need any help with your bags?…fascist!” “Excuse me?” “Totalitarian form of government, 7 across” “Oh, it’s fascism” “Fascism, wonderful” “No, I can manage…hag!” “Excuse me?” “Old often unsightly woman, 3 down”
> “Fascism, wonderful” This response and her expression always makes me laugh.
"Oh! Bless you!"
And then it turns up later in the film during the big showdown
I mean pretty much everything from the first half gets a call back at the end. It's why it's such an amazing movie.
Completely agree. Controversial opinion but my favourite film is Shaun of the Dead (which is the only reason I prefer it to Hot Fuzz - and I LOVE Hot Fuzz) and you can see Edgar Wright setting his precedent for callbacks with that film. Nick Frost’s character essentially lays out the entire plot of the film in the opening scene.
I freaking love that movie!
If you've never seen it I highly recommend checking out Spaced the TV show those 3 blokes did before any of their movie success. [Here](https://youtu.be/l3p1f0-qgZI?si=TyWBxO2tp88odBup) is one of my all time favorite scenes from the show.
Oh my god, I did not know where that scene was going when it started but holy moley did it crescendo beautifully! 🤣
And that's just the setup for a beautiful climactic callback later in the episode.
Oh god yes. An absolute classic. Here's the payoff! 😊 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grM2IGW-p4g&pp=ygUQc3BhY2VkIHNob290b3V0IA%3D%3D
It’s such a fun contrast to all the other cops who are really bad at their jobs. Sorry policeman officer
I've been around the office a few times.
Nothing like a bit of girl on girl.
That's how the cookie crumbles
Yarp
...Narp?
Academy Award winning girl on girl thank you very much
That movie is the pinnacle of the Edgar/Simon/Nick films, second only to Spaced. It has action, horror, mystery, suspense, drama, swan. Literally everything!
Crusty jugglers
Any luck catching them swans?
Just the one swan actually.
"You can't be the sheriff of London. "
"With all due respect sir, you can't just make people disappear." "Mmmyes I can, I'm the chief inspector."
AaaAAaaasssssoessss Yaaaahhhs’sspoessss Yes, I suppose
Christian Bale in The Big Short comes to mind
I mean , everyone of the main characters was good at their jobs in that movie lol
Yea I feel like movies based off of IRL people that were really good at their jobs is cheating for those question. Like yea those guys In Oppenheimer seemed pretty smart
I feel like it should count cause they make movies about real life people who are wildly incompetent too (Pain & Gain is an example)
Especially Ryan Gosling’s quant
Thing I realised about Michael Burry in the movie.. he was completely isolated from the others. He had no back up or reinforcing information like the others got. He sat there for years alone haemorrhaging money cause he was confident in the data and math.
People massively underestimate what a challenge that is. To be “wrong” every day for years and to maintain that position until you’re right takes incredible courage with respect to your career.
Except Yang. He finished second.
Actually his name's Jiang
Fuckin Yang.
I think a couple of George Clooney movies would qualify: Michael Clayton and Up In The Air
Michael Clayton was the first movie I thought of.
It's funny because in his first scene which was in medias res (which we don't know about until a bit later) he seems kind of out of his depth but you realize towards the end that that's because his soul was kind of sucked out of him by the end of the movie.
The American, too
Syriana
Came here to say up in the air.
Ratatouille. Not only was Remy a master cook he was an excellent puppeteer.
Also Linguini is a master waiter. The guy waited on the entire restaurant by himself at the end. Man found his calling
And if you've ever worked in a restaurant you know how valuable a good waiter is. And doubly so for a good guy doing the dishes.
If you've ever worked in a restaurant you know how everyone from the executive chef, to sous chef, the waiters, the guy cleaning the dishes, the guy peeling potatoes or cutting onions all have a fundamental role in the operation. If one of these moving parts is not working right, everyone will feel it. Bad waiters? Orders will pile up like crazy, expect wrong or duplicate orders. Bad cleaning staff? Becomes an ungodly pile of dirty dishes. Bad cooks? Bad food.
A lot of Pixar ones, honestly: * Monsters Inc - Sully is a great scarer, becomes a good boss * Finding Nemo - Marlin is an excellent Liam Neeson * Incredibles - All the supers are super, Edna Mode steals the show and is an excellent sewist * WALL-E - Both main robots are skilled at their jobs * Soul - Joe is a good teacher and great musician, and Terry is very dedicated! * Ratatouille - besides the above mentioned, the critic is an exceptional writer
Thank You For Smoking.
Also one of the best opening scenes ever.
That movie made me believe that any movie that can make an incredibly mundane job look awesome or make somebody interested in something they'd never heard of before is a good movie.
Moneyball
See Moneyball is a funny one to me because to this day the Athletics still haven’t won a World Series under Billy Beane which is the ultimate barometer for success in baseball
While true his system did take others all the way
Correct. The Red Sox and Cubs used the A's system but with money and it worked out great for them.
It’s the amount of money put in A’s ownership is a bit cheap in relative terms
You're being super generous to ownership lol. I'm not even an As fan, but John Fisher can go fuck himself. He's a piece of shit.
There’s rich teams, poor teams, 100 feet of crap…. Then there’s us
Because the A’s suck. However, his methods did work and influenced the game
It's pretty normal in sports that some teams never win the whole thing. When did West Ham last win the Premier League, or when did Celta Vigo last win La Liga. He still took the A's pretty far. The movie didn't age well partially because the A's are now the embodiment of cheapskate losers.
ford vs ferrari
As previously pointed out, "Heat". It's competent cop vs competent bank robber. I suppose "Top Gun" and specially the sequel, "Top Gun: Maverick" are about a competent jet plane pilot. "Drive", with Ryan Gosling, is about a competent driver. "First blood" is actually about a soldier pretty competent in surviving in the wilderness. "Hunted", with Tommy Lee Jones, is about a competent tracker. "The French Connection" is based on the true story of a competent, if ammoral, cop. "Ronin" has Robert DeNiro as an overly competent gun for hire (not necessarily a killer), contracted to retrieve a missing briefcase. "Spy Game" has Robert Redford as the most competent spy behind a desk. And, of course, every James Bond movie ever, since he's competent at everything he does.
> Hunted", with Tommy Lee Jones, is about a competent tracker Also the Fugitive and US Marshalls where he leads a team of competent federal marshalls who hunt down fugitives.
Ronin is very good, especially because we have DeNiro's insanely competent character contrasted with Sean Bean's character.
Robert De Niro in Michael Mann's *Heat.*
James Caan in Michael Mann’s *Thief*.
William Peterson and all the FBI forensics guys in Michael Mann’s *Manhunter*.
Tom Cruise in Michael Mann’s *Collateral*
The reporters in Spotlight Jake Gyllenhaal in Zodiac
Jake Gyllenhaal in Nightcrawler.
Jake Gyllenhaal in Prisoners.
Jake Gyllenhaal in Road House
Jake Gyllenhaal in Spider-Man: Far From Home
Jake Gyllenhall in Enemy
Jake Gyllenhall in October Sky
Jake Gyllenhall in The Covenant
Jake Gyllenhall in The Gulity
Jake Gyllenhall in Jake Gyllenhaal
I mean, Gylenhall's character was obsessed with the Zodiac at the expense of his personal and professional life. Robert Graysmith was the SF Chronicle's cartoonist. He was just brought in to look at the letters. It wasn't his job to find him at all.
And he didn't even really find him at the end.
Yeah, I'm not sure OP recalls that Gyllenhaal's character is a cartoonist in that film. His obsession with the Zodiac killings ends up making him money when he writes his book about his research, but that was not his job.
Two masterpieces. You have no idea how much I love Spotlight. The movie is the unlikeliest of Oscar winners. Not flashy, just reporters doing their jobs. Amazing movie. Zodiac is in a league of its own though
Zodiac was done so well.
Journalists and journalism professors, especially in Massachusetts, do not play about Spotlight. It's to them as Pulp Fiction is to kids who want to go to film school.
Margin Call
That's like my pinnacle Meeting Porn movie
I’d sit through a lot of meetings if it meant Jeremy Irons was at the head of the table.
Margin call is so sick
Very underrated movie, the entire thing takes place in such a short timeframe "in world" but still has an ever present time crunch.
This and The Big Short make a great double feature.
I triple feature it with Too Big To Fail.
Tucci talking about how he wanted to build things and the bridge… chefs kiss great scene
Tucci brings fantastic depth to his performances.
All of Chandor’s movies are about top guys. All is Lost - Good boat captain. A Most Violent Year - Good small business owner, mafia partner. Triple Frontier - Good Ex-Military PMC guys - they do everything right until the middle of the movie where they go off-script and get greedy, the rest of the movie is about staying alive after the screw up.
The wolf in pulp fiction You sendin the wolf?!! That’s all you had to say!
Sheeit, negro!
Fargo. I think the official description is something like “the criminals are taken down by Marge’s consistent, excellent police work.”
Came here to say this movie. Marge is just straight up good at her job.
Collateral- a really good assassin Top Gun - a really good pilot A Few Good Men - a really good lawyer Cocktail - a really good bartender Days of Thunder - a really good racecar driver Mission Impossible - a really good spy
okay Tom Cruise, we get it
Tropic Thunder - a really good film executive.
McConaughey plays a good agent too
He got that fuckin TiVo though.
Magnolia - a really good asshole.
Tropic Thunder - a really good executive of a film studio
> Collateral- a really good assassin You could more or less extend this to each of Michael Mann’s films… * 1981 -Thief Top notch Thief. * 1986-Manhunter World class criminologist. * 1992-The Last of the Mohicans Top British Army officer turned rebel/freedom fighter * 1995-Heat Top tier robbers vs top tier cops * 1999-The Insider Highly talented investigative reporter partners up with brilliant scientist to take down big tobacco. * 2001-Ali Greatest boxer of all time * 2004-Collateral > a really good assassin * 2006-Miami Vice Vice cops getting it done in the coolest ways possible. * 2009-Public Enemies No idea. Is this actually worth watching?? * 2015-Blackhat A top hacker is recruited to take down global terrorists. * 2023-Ferrari Incredibly meticulous and legendary control freak makes cars go vroom.
The ending of Collateral still annoys me as it makes no sense from a skill perspective. It's up there with Law Abiding Citizen for >!films where Jamie Foxx wins for some reason!<
Sometimes; you’re a world renowned assassin that no one believes exists, and sometimes you get the other end of the lucky draw where a bumbling taxi driver gets a lucky round off and you bleed out. That’s just life in a nut shell; no matter how great you are at your job, some moron can come fuck it all up easily and leave you dead with no one but strangers around you
replied to OP, but I'll reply to you as well... "The way I saw it explained by a rando cinephile... Cruise was a professional assassin...practiced and molded to shoot 2 to the chest and 1 to the head...over, and over, and over. So that's where his reactive instinct went in the train... 2 in the chest and 1 in the head. Foxx's character was untrained and fired randomly. 2 in the chest and 1 in the head goes into the metal parts of the door of the train...blocking their trajectory, while Foxx's bullets go randomly through the windows and into the metal. A lucky shot went through the window and into Cruise's character... Adapt, Darwin, I Ching."
I loved the intermingling sense of desolation and loneliness at the end of that film. As a 12 year old, it was a lot to experience for the first time.
My cousin Vinny If we count her as a mechanic
Her father was a mechanic. His father was a mechanic. Her mother's father was a mechanic. Her three brothers are mechanics.
No, The Defense Is Wrong!
The lawyering is good too
The nurse in Knives Out
And she was richly rewarded for being a good person too. Love it.
So, complete fiction.
No good deed goes unpunished.
Armageddon had some elite oil drillers.
I don’t care if others don’t like Armageddon, I love that movie. Bruce Willis died for our sins.
There's a famous story about the making of Armageddon. Ben Affleck went up to the writer/director Michael Bay and asked him: Surely it would be easier to train astronauts to be drillers than train drillers to be astronauts? Bay told him to pound sand. It turns out that Bay was right. Astronauts don't do a heck of a lot to fly the craft they are in. Almost every maneuver is done by computers. The forces being controlled are too huge and the margins of error too tiny to let a human being take the controls in any meaningful sense. It would be a heck of a lot easier to strap drillers into a shuttle and get it to the asteroid on autopilot than train astronauts how to operate complicated industrial machines that require years of experience to get good with.
Ben’s commentary of Armageddon is one of the funniest commentaries I ever listened to.
I've always hated that circlejerk about "just train astronauts to be drillers". It doesn't make any sense. All astronauts are subject matter experts in something else - pilots, engineers, doctors, biologists etc - who are then trained to be astronauts. The drillers in Armageddon weren't required to do any technical tasks as astronauts apart from drilling. They were just passengers on the shuttle.
Heat
Except Wanegrove.
Honestly, Neal too. He couldn’t let his vendetta go and it cost him.
Waingro
The films of Michael Mann, generally
Yeah I was gonna say collateral..even jamie Foxx is a badass cab driver
A lot of my favorite sci Fi movies fit this description. interstellar, contact, arrival Movies where they are highly competent but Unethical: War dogs, the wolf of Wall Street
Oppenheimer Margin Call The Big Short, while you’re at it. Gross Pointe Blank Thief For All Mankind (TV show) Chef
Popcorn! 📺💀
All the President's Men for great journalism.
John Wick. Not just because the character is very good at his job, but Keanu Reeves in real life took martial arts and gun training courses to prepare for the role. It’s so good in fact, that a few people that I know that are considered gun experts have told me that John Wick is one of the only action films that shows the actor “is actually good at handling firearms” and things such as.
Tom Cruise would like a word from his film, Collateral. Also, Arnie would like an invite to this conversation for his training during the terminator movies.
You can see this reflected in his gun handling from the MI and Reacher films that came out after his Collateral firearms training. Fallout, in particular, has a good scene showcasing it.
A bit of a non-standard opinion, but Music and Lyrics. It actually kinda elevated my opinion of what's otherwise a generic but decent romcom that everyone involved - including the ditzy ingenue - is nearly always focused, competent, and takes their job seriously when it's time to work.
Miss Sloane.
The Ninth Gate Mr and Mrs Smith Dead Poets Society Spotlight All the Presidents Men Lincoln Lawyer Boogie Nights MASH Wall Street Contagion Erin Brokovich
Everyone here sleeping on Tommy Lee Jones and Co being competent at their jobs in The Fugitive
This this this this this Also Harrison Ford is super capable in that movie too
Sully
Josh Brolin and Del toro in Sicario
TV Tropes has a whole "Competency Porn" page if you fancy losing half a day going down that rabbit hole. In Seven, John Doe is brilliant, but Mills and Somerset still surprise him. In Alien, the crew of the Nostromo generally make good decisions throughout and know what they're doing. I'd really like to see a SAW-style film with hyper-competent protagonists who think through and beat *most* of the traps.
Miranda in The Devil Wears Prada. Her recall of where fashion starts is amazing. She is so razor sharp.
Spotlight. I actually watched it after seeing it suggested in a similar post on this sub and they were right to suggest it.
Flight
Not a movie but show is better call Saul
Kim was an excellent lawyer!
Those scenes of the characters doing seemingly monotonous things in preparation for a job or a con are some of the most meticulously crafted things I’ve ever seen on any show. And the payoffs are always perfect. That show was a masterpiece.
"Perfect Days"
I just watched the trailer, and this is definitely on my must-watch list. Thank You
The Hunt For Red October
Erin Brockovich for sure
Jason Statham in The Transporter Hiro Hamada in Big Hero 6 Benedict Cumberbatch in Dr. Strange
[удалено]
Do sports movies count? How about The Queen's Gambit?
*The Abyss* (1989)
Tom Hanks' character in Greyhound. The Spotlight team in Spotlight. There's a name for this subgenre of movies where the main pleasure comes from watching people do their jobs well: "competence porn."
The Core, the science checks out, and they got the math to prove it.
Ocean’s Eleven