“While filming Glass [in 2019], staffers worked around him by cutting and editing and having him overdub lines because he struggled to remember and/or deliver them,” an insider reveals. “In most scenes on Glass he’s hooded, and they used stand-in and body doubles to replace him. On set, he wouldn’t smile and was always chaperoned by an assistant to guide him while walking.” Man, reality is depressing.
Bruce Willis is not at fault for trying to cash out as much as possible before kicking the bucket, and RLM is not at fault for making fun of him before the full story of his illness came out.
Nor would they be now. The films are ludicrously bad and worthy of nothing but mockery. If people want to criticize, aim it at the hacks making the films, his agent, even his family for letting it continue. The guy has generational wealth, he wasn't doing these for the money, but the people convincing him to definitely were.
@@YevOnegin Bruce Willis himself is not beyond mockery either, even now that he came out publicly with the illness. The illness does not impede his decision to cash in on his name, he still with sound mind decided to do that, and everyone still should be able to mock him.
Of course he's at fault, these movies are just a big middle finger to his fans. He completely ruined his legacy and credibility as an actor and pretty much ripped off the people who loved him to make a quick buck
@@YevOneginHis old movies were nothing like these new fake movies, at least he was in scenes with other actors in "Hostage" and "Red" and "Looper" were actually great movies
I know quite a few people who worked on Apex. Most of the movie was shot with a picture double on Vancouver Island, with Bruce's coverage being shot by a different unit in Washington. The Vancouver Island shoot turned into an absolute nightmare, as they had hired an entirely unqualified non-union special effects department, which led to a couple of incidents where pyrotechnics went off without the crew on set being notified beforehand. This led to most of the camera department walking off the show, taking their carts and personal kits but leaving the rented gear behind. The rest of the movie was shot by the DP with the help of anyone who had any camera experience from the other departments. They were also unable to hire any union stunt performers or extras as an indie production during early covid, so most of the bad guys getting shot are actually random crew members in costume. Jay is right in that Bruce's lines are being read to him through an earwig by the script supervisor, but unfortunately this is more due to dementia issues than laziness. The guy couldn't remember his lines if he tried, and often has issues interpreting direction and the instructions being given to him. I don't know Bruce or his motivations, but having worked with Kris Kristofferson who was still acting well into his mental decline, I can tell you that Kris truly loved acting and being on set and wanted to do it as long as he could. Bruce taking part in that stage play suggests to me that there's a shred of that attitude in him as well, but I can't deny that taking millions of dollars in exchange for two or three day shoots smacks of cashing in on his fame while he still has the chance.
I don’t know anyone who worked on Apex but I have friends whose friends and acquaintances worked on it. I heard basically the same thing you’re describing.
Oh, that gives me a sad sheen over all these movies. I love Ralphthemoviemaker's reviews of all these, I thought Bruce Willis was phoning it in because he lost his passion for acting, I had no idea about his neurological degeneration.
I think you’re bang on about his motivations. He was really good in a quality film like Moonrise Kingdom, but it’s clear that making all this junk is 100% cynical.
@@LadyTylerBioRodriguez Scarily similar incident. A couple people suffered permanent hearing damage after squibs went off indoors while noone was wearing earplugs.
They should, considering this video is factually inaccurate Now That We Know Better. They should at least make another video to apologize for this considering the man had an actual mental problem.
I am credited as the Key Set PA on Cosmic Sin. I can attest that you two are completely accurate of your description and mindset on to how these films are made and BW in them. It was a crazy 2 week shoot, right before the pandemic of 2020, and I'd love to tell me more. Long time fan of RLM, first time commenter
My roommate and I watched it when it first hit Netflix and we were just astounded at how little Bruce Willis mattered to the "plot". How long was he ever there for?
This probably isn't something anyone usually mentions but i wanna thank RLM for not flooding their videos with ad time. Every other channel I watch has triple the advertisement breaks in 20 min videos than you guys put on in 70. And thank you for always making great content
These are the exact kind of movies my dad and brother watch downstairs in the living room while I'm upstairs in my room watching the latest episode of Half in the Bag.
@@ordinator7203 my dad introduced me to film thru films like Taxi Driver and The Godfather. For some reason every time I visit him he's got on some schlock, most recently Ginger Dead Man starring Gary Busey. I don't know where he went wrong
So a few years ago I was in Atlantic City with my family and we saw the lounge singer Wayne Neuton. Took my old mother who listened to him when she was young and I brought a copy of fallout NV for him to sign (he is the dj in that game) now he was an old man and could totally just have phoned in a performance. He was at a small venue compared to his Vegas shows and it wasn’t even marketed well so there was a lot of space. Instead he just did 3 hours of jokes and songs and hung out with everyone. It was a very fun time for everyone. That’s a guy who is a pro. Brings his a game to every show. I even got to speak to him after the show and he brought up how him being fallout has lead to him getting lots of young male gaming nerds showing up to his acts and asking him to songs from the game and he loved it. Made him feel super relevant! He signed my platinum chip and I got a picture. I bring this up cause It’s just sad seeing Bruce just give up. Fans are fans because they like seeing people perform! It’s all about energy!
@@speed0spank it was really fun. My mom just yelled at him to play danke shane and he nearly fell over laughing! And then he sang it! He also sang my spurs go jingle jangle! It was a great time.
@@Poormrworry He was, he was one of the soldiers refuelling the plane at Korea, i think one of the drafts was to have an ensemble cast including him and that would have been his last big role, i think
"Thank god that's done. Where's my cigar." "Bruce, we gotta go into the forest" "I don't wanna go into a forest. I want a cigar." "There'll be a cigar in the forest." "Fine. But I better get a nice sitdown with it."
Dolph Lundgren made that argument a number of years ago about the kind of work he does. He could either move to LA, get a small part in a big movie and go from there, or he can do cheap movies in eastern Europe; he can write them, direct them, star in them, whatever he wants, makes enough money to live comfortably, and gets to spend more time with his family.
Eric Roberts is in the same boat where he'll go from doing 5 to up to over a dozen of these bad Red Box films in a single year. Eric's rule is that has to be paid $100,000 a role no matter how little screen time he gets. He gets to show up to set for a day and a half and moves onto the next film while making 100 grand a pop. It's not a bad hustle.
I kept watching that thinking "that is not Bruce's voice and is delivered in such a weird, disconnected way." I've decided that either Bruce couldn't get the line or they changed it later or his mic didn't work, etc. And they had to fix it in editing and just had the director say it and then modulate it.
My dad was a boom operator on Moonlighting, the Bruce Willis sitcom from the 80s. He said he would always chill with the crew, eat lunch with them, hang out, because he hadn't done Die Hard yet so he wasn't a superstar or anything like that. The other lead in the show, Cybill Shepard, would have these long drawn-out diva freakouts that shut the production down for hours. One time Bruce said to my dad and a few coworkers "If I ever make it in this business and start acting like that, next time we work together you have permission to come up to me and punch me in the face." So over the years he quickly gained the reputation of a total asshole and never got that punch. Clearly he doesn't deserve the punch anymore. but it's still a funny story.
I'd like to think I'd be alright if I was a A list star getting into the best places with everyone telling me how great I am but I fear the reality is that I'd end up behaving like an absolute asshole.
@@anonymouse740 it’s just like how bipolar people can’t tell they’re bipolar. Then again some say “money corrupts all” but I believe “money reveals all”. I do think the actor lifestyle does make you out of touch with the average person.
Shit, hearing the brief rundown of the guy behind them being hunted by the mob and hated by Hollywood... I want "Geezer Teaser" to be the name of the movie about *him.*
This one hurts. I'm old enough to remember Bruce Willis as more than an "action star". He had range, he was very good on comedies like Blind Date or Moonlighting. Then he did Die Hard and became an action star but he was charismatic and charming as a lead. And he is in some of my favorite movies of all time like Pulp Fiction, Four Rooms, 12 Monkeys, The Fifth Element, Unbreakable, Sin City... I wish he retired in the 2010's.
Honestly, I can't fault them for this video in hindsight. They didn't know. Barely anyone outside of his family and some other people knew of Bruce's aphasia. But it also makes the weird editing of the films and Bruce's level of involvement make way more sense now unfortunately.
Yeah him having an earpiece in to be fed lines makes a lot more sense now. He wasn't being too lazy to bother learning his lines, he actually had trouble remembering them.
@@friendlybetty the dude can still remember concepts and ideas. He had the forethought to bang out as much as he could, while he was still able to. He knows he is having trouble reading, so he has someone else do that for him. All of this would be erased, of course, if it was found out someone was taking advantage of him. But he seems to have a very supporting family structure
@@chyang2690 the main question is why does he have the disorder, because it’s usually caused by something else- dementia, tumors, stroke or head injury.
Somebody should make the movie "Geezer Teezer" about an aging Hollywood actor who's in deep with the mob and needs to make all these terrible movies. and get Bruce Willis to star in it.
Yeah, I don't know, honestly, if you've never sat down and tried to watch a Neil Breen film from start to finish, then you're kind of missing out. They're like watching someone's film made on Microsoft PowerPoint. These Bruce Willis films are just... Loathsome. Breen fails at movies, but there's a passion and drive there. These are competent film producers, not content with lowering the bar to the ground, have dug a 30 feet deep hole, and throwing it down there instead.
@@d3l3tes00n If you’d watch the director’s commentary track there’s a long segment where they reveal that Rich Evans is just a digitally de-aged Mike Stoklasa.
He once called Shark Exorcist, a sleazy fetish film with a possibly underage girl fondling a plastic shark, the Best of the Worst. This is completely on brand. Mike gets off on inflicting psychic trauma on others.
Mike can't help himself, I think his pathological incapable of not referencing Star Trek. His phone call bit with the Double dumbass line is a from Star trek A voyage home. It's sad I know every single reference he makes... I need help
Like Mike didn't know the character was Lt. Hawk. Least believable aspect of this video, including that any of these are "movies". They all look like the fake movie posters you'd see in a TV show or a real movie LOL!
I’m glad Jay acknowledges Neal McDonough as a pro. Every time I see him in a movie or TV show, he’s always the highlight. As far as I’m concerned, he’s a hidden gem in a chest of national treasures.
Check him out as Dave Williams in season 5 of Desperate Housewives. Hes awkward, menacing and oddly sympathetic. He gives you a great "fake smile that slowly changes to a sinister look as the music swells" before every commercial break.
I completely agree. I first saw him in Suits, where his performance/character was one of my favourite aspects of the otherwise pretty lackluster middle and later seasons. Then he ended up turning up in a bunch of (otherwise mediocre) things I watched (Altererd Carbon, the new Resident Evil schlockfest, etc) where - as you said - he was consistently the highlight.
I was hoping RLM would cover this since i've seen Ralphthemoviemaker cover and watch/review some of those Movies Finally it happened! Prost & Cheers from the Snow-Covered Bavarian Alps where i currently can't leave my House without having to dig a Tunnel through the Snow Also maybe i'm going insane but besides the usual Animal & Nature Noises around here, i also keep hearing some beast that sounds a lot like Rich laughing (Send Help)
He probably doesn't want the fame. Sure it probably means a lesser paycheck, but something tells me that Bruce's double was paid well before Bruce retired.
It just occurred to me: That whole trope of the grizzled cop whose wife is dead....kind of loses its impact when the cop is 66. In an action movie, the dead wife is what turns the young idealistic cop into the dead-eyed veteran with nothing left to lose. But when you and your wife are both senior citizens, that narrative doesn't really play. "My wife died...because we're an elderly couple, and that's just kind of what happens."
“My wife died… ever since then I’ve been bitter, resentful of the unfairness of this world.” “I’m so sorry. All these years must’ve been so hard on you.” “It was last week, died of heart disease, but yeah.”
60s is still relatively young to die in a post-industrial country. The average age of death is the late 70s in the US and early 80s in Canada, Germany, Japan, the UK, etc. Plus Bruce Willis' characters could have wives that are younger than them too, in their 50s or even 40s.
I remember my mom getting a job at Arby's because she was bored. Just bored out of her skull after retiring. She was friends with the family that owned it and just worked in drive-through chatting with strangers. I always wonder about these aging actors who just do any movie that comes along. Rather than being in any financial distress, are they just bored?
If Bruce was really bored and not going after the money, he could play in movies of young aspiring directors for less money. His motives are kinda hard to grasp and the earpiece thing sort of points to early onset mental decline or something similar
@@tite93 Dunno about mental decline but he does have a second young family with a housewife type. Plus his and Demi Moore's kids are now struggling actors that he may still supporting. I can see him prioritizing leaving them a healthy inheritance over a Hollywood legacy
@@jakestroll6518 dude's worth approximately 250 million dollars, that seems like more than enough inheritance for more than two families with quite a bit to spare. Of course, the rich only want to get richer, but is it worth getting into these projects and tarnishing the craft? I'm not sure
@@TheSiprianus you know what he meant, greed is human nature, the difference is richer people have more potential to make money and are therefore potentially more greedy.
Some of the actors like Grillo and Neal have talked about how these films have budgets up to $20M but the actual production budget is between $400-800K. Most of the money goes to the producers and someone like Bruce, it’s clearly a scam but no one says anything because they’re all getting paid. Grillo made $300K for 5 days of work and said everyone was aware they were making shit but they’re moving so fast they have no time to think about embarrassment.
@@lowserver2 Like Kb0w said, moving from one cheap shit movie to another at the speed of light. They don't have integrity, they are fine as long as they get paid. Be it from cheap tax credit flick or propaganda from totalitarian hellhole.
The ironic thing about their Cher metaphor is that I saw her about three years ago and even in her seventies she put on an INCREDIBLE theatrical show with costume changes for EVERY song (in itself would be extremely tiring!), along with revolving set pieces and video effects. An example of a TRUE artist who wanted to give HER ALL for the audience's enjoyment.
The Razzies just gave Bruce Willis his own category: "Worst Performance by Bruce Willis in a 2021 Movie", which includes 8 out of the 11 movies, presumably the other 3 were released in 2020. Though not the most important thing in the world, I do hope these movies get more exposed for what they are and avoided.
That Bruce has an unfortunate diagnosis does not prevent all thwse movies from being absolutely shit. Their criticism of bad movies, made cheaply, using tricks so that Bruce is barely in them, is valid criticism.
Willis' acting in these movies is remarkable to watch, they're like performances made up entirely of the "Part time" take from Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
This makes me think of the story of Ian McKellen being depressed and nearly retiring while on the set of the Hobbit trilogy. Where he was miserable being on a green screen by himself and being told to react to things, which he did to the best of his ability because he's a professional. He was on the verge of tears and thought "I'm an actor, I'm supposed to work with other actors." You can tell with Bruce Willis he doesn't like being on these sets but he doesn't mask his contempt at all. It's just sad to watch.
interesting....because in shakespeare, there are many soliloquies where the actor is on stage by himself so kind of a dumb thing to get depressed about...unless you are saying that sir ian sucks as an actor that he cant pretend....because that is all acting is...pretending you do know that he wasnt a real wizard...right
@@thewkovacs316 a fascinating read into my comment. I don't believe I called Sir Ian a bad actor and was just recalling an anecdote that had some parallels to the story of Bruce Willis working in Apex. As for the soliloquies they indeed are often done with oneself on stage but you also have a live audience there with you who are responding to your work. It's even better when a director let's an actor engage directly with the audience during those speeches. Sir Ian is a man of theatre so he much prefers the immediate reaction of someone of something there when playing a scene. He's not the only one who gets frustrated purely by green screen work, Ewan McGregor considered it a nightmare as well on the prequels.
McKellen hated acting at ping pong balls most specifically, I remember. acting to someone's face, which is reacting to you, is so different. Bruce Willis isn't contemptful though. He's going through dementia or Alzheimer's. Read through the comments.
There you go, we now know why. He probably wanted to make a few bucks before being forced to quit. He was a very charismatic and memorable actor for years, sad to see him go out like that.
@@chech5774 it happens. The same way a lot of professional athletes go bankrupt when they retire. It's difficult to change lifestyles when your level of income reduces.
16:43 Randal Emmett’s career and the making of these Bruce Willis movies 19:42 Edward drake 20:15 the directors 22:27 how Bruce Willis makes his money 23:00 the producers feed him his lines 30:00 apex 46:06 breach 54:24 American siege
"Bruce, i appreciate all the help so much, but these medical bills just keep piling up..." Bruce Willis; "Say no more, brother. Consider me on the next plane to Atlanta."
Neal McDonough has a special place in my heart. He pops up at the most random times/places, but he's always fantastic. Definitely one of my favorite actors.
He's an outright national treasure (I'm assuming at least, not actually sure his nationality but as a Canadian/American dual citizen I'm sure I should be saluting Neal McDonough either way)
I love this channel. And I'm serious when I say, there have been rumours that Bruce may be experiencing early onset dementia/Alzheimer's. And that either low-grade unscrupulous "filmmakers" are taking full advantage of his vulnerability, or he's taking roles where be can be given one line of dialogue at a time due to his memory problems. It would make a lot of sense given the steep drop in quality of his films, which seemed to happen very suddenly. Hopefully he's getting all the help and support he needs. I doubt he needs the money. Maybe carrying on making films, despite their bad quality, is keeping him happy and/or feeling useful.
If he's doing as much work as he can while still cognitively functional, that's legitimately sad. As far as money goes, you'd be surprised at how even A list actors can end up broke at the end of their careers if they have poor investment and spending habits. Robert DeNiro does a ton of crap now because he's not good with money and still needs to work. Bruce Willis might be in a similar situation.
It's kind of interesting comparing Bruce Willis' performances chronologically in this list, knowing what we know now. Breach is one of the earlier films and came out in late 2020. He probably had more cylinders firing at that point. Apex came out in November 2021 about a year later and... oh my. It's rough. He inadvertently documented his decline. I love the man, so I find this rather sad. Thanks for all the good memories, Bruce. Heal and rest. You've done your part. Still, I think Jay and Mike are right. We probably shouldn't watch any of these. It is a movie factory grinding out low budget efforts, each one banking almost entirely on an aged movie star. That having been said, Breach with a few more weeks of production time and half of Bruce Willis' paycheck used instead for creature effects, better sets, and a fight scene choreographer would have probably been a bona-fide good B movie. These movies wouldn't exist without the aged movie star propping them up, but such said star sucks it dry like a leech and drains it of its potential to actually be good in the first place. It's kind of a no-win, really.
This is more or less what I thought. "Breach" was filmed late 2019, Apex a full year later. Director who filmed "Out of Death" in 2020, and then "Wrong Place" in 2021, said in interview that Bruce had declined noticeably between the films. I have seen "Breach" and as long as Bruce is playing the drunk janitor, he is doing okay. He interacts with the cast and sort of tries to get the character over. The middle part of the movie, when the crew tries to figure what is going on, is honestly not that bad. But once the action starts, it's clear Bruce is out of it. He mostly just stands around confusedly, unable to do anything physical. And the movie falls apart towards the end too.
I was reading an interview with one of the screenwriters for one of these Bruce Willis movies (I think Cosmic Sin), where the guy said he was called up by his buddy who was having coffee with Bruce and Bruce mentioned wanting to do a sci-fi movie. So his buddy is like 'Do you have a scifi script?', and the screenwriter was just like 'yeah, totally' and then went home and wrote the entire script in one night. It really explains a lot when you realize the scripts for these films were probably written in a few hours and most likely weren't even spell-checked.
Once society has collapsed entirely they’ll just be sitting around a camp eating beans out of a can and discussing bad movies they saw 20 years ago. And I’ll sit there and listen
Watching these scenes is eerie now; his acting style is definitely "a guy struggling to speak". Aphasia is more of a symptom than an illness per se. Something, probably a small stroke, affected the speech center. Sadly this means more strokes might be coming. My mom spent months last year working with an old friend who had aphasia from a stroke; she didn't make it to the end of the year. Hopefully Mr. Willis fares better.
No stroke, he had progressive aphasia and had known for a few years. These movies were made to build up a stockpile of cash before he had to stop because he physically can’t even do the bare minimum anymore.
@@jameshamilton5849 Having an illness doesn't absolve him from basically defrauding his fans to get cash for himself/his family. If I get diagnosed with cancer, do I have the right to defraud others to benefit my family? Bruce willingly and knowingly trashed his name and legacy to cash out. He deserves the ridicule in this video even if RLM made it after the statement about Aphasia.
Fun fact: In Portugal (where I'm from), those type of movies get theatrical releases lol. I've watched some of them with my friends (like the format best of the worst), and - as you would expect - they're awful. Our reactions are a mix of laughter and pure shock. Bruce Willis double works more than he does.
LMAO why?? Portugal is a small country and there's already so many big hollywood movies every week to fill the cinemas how are these movies getting in? what's the demand? who's these for?
I work in the Vancouver film industry and can confirm from coworkers who worked on some of these movies that out of about 20 shoot days each Mr. Willis was on set for about three to four days. He comes in like an airstrike and basically he bangs out his scenes and the crew tries to shoot a movie around it. The crew is comprised of essentially non-union 20 somethings. Mr. Willis' salary is indeed most of the budget. The film industry here is filled with low-budget film production companies headed by (in some cases criminal) rich people who collect most of the profit and crunch their crews with extremely long hours and then underpay them and people trying to break into the industry take the jobs because they have no other options. It's a sickness. It's why I'm back in college at 25.
Years ago I worked on a film called Six Ways to Kill Your Lover. We shot the whole thing, most of us working for free 18 hours a day for a week just for the credit. Director got bored and never released it. No credit. Yay! It was interesting being part of it, but quite sad.
Oh god, that's depressing. Here in Germany we're always kind of jealous of countries with better movie industries, but I guess more funding doesn't automatically make things better.
I would actually say that is a benefit for people trying to break in. Trying to hire union workers for productions like this would be too expensive and the production wpuldnt happen. Unions are just gatekeepers
@@edd542 it isn't since days worked on non union productions don't cross over into union days. I did sound and I skipped working non union and went right for IATSE big productions and started getting my days right away...people get tricked into working bottom of the barrel gigs when they don't have to... besides, the competing union ACFC does a lot of lower budget work since they have cheaper rates and still has health benefits etc
@@edd542 I wasn't objecting to working for free. I objected to getting no credit for the work. I'm especially annoyed because with the help of a local butcher and a great make up team I made a stunt neck using a mix of meat. It looked totally real in close up. And the Director wouldn't even shoot it. Stand by props budget £25. And I was so tired I can't even credit the butcher - thanks again lads, couldn't have done it without you.
I love these guys, they are the best form of therapy as a filmmaker/lover. That being said, this video is the reason Bruce Willis' family went public about his cognitive decline. I felt bad for laughing so hard during my view. Bruce Willis was, at one time, in my opinion....THE single most underrated actor in Hollywood. Thanks for the thread
Seems like the last movie he genuinely tried in was _Looper_ in 2012. I would say _"Poor Bruce,"_ but then again he's making $1 million to phone it in for a day... Pretty good gig if you ask me.
He has a bit part in Motherless Brooklyn (2019). It's not his best work, but he's not bad in it. Once you get past Edward Norton's tourettes act, it's actually a pretty decent movie. It might end up being the last decent movie Bruce Willis appears in.
I'd take that job with an earpiece. He's not killing people; it's just a movie among millions of others. The worst that happens is that people stop watching it and didn't get their $5 worth.
I would quit everything to be made fun of all day to get a mil per shit movie. In the end he's rich chilling on a yacht, laughing not giving a shit. I want no worries money, fuck it sounds great.
Apart from a few duds Bruce Willis really did crush it in the late 80’s and 90’s - Die hard trilogy, Pulp Fiction, 12 Monkeys, The Fifth Element, Armageddon, The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable. Most actors would kill for a body of work as good as that. Makes his downfall even more sad.
@@mosaicmind88 based on onset stories, he seems to be suffering from dementia (can't remember lines, linereading stage directions, forgetting he's filming a movie) but wants to keep acting.
So sad to see a guy getting $1 million a day. Just tragic. If Bruce want's to be a clown, I'll laugh and point and throw offal at him. You might have seen me nailing him in the face with a cow liver. It was all over the news.
Regarding the moving earpiece, I imagine what we are seeing is shots being flipped on the horizontal axis in post to correct for line crossing due to sloppy direction.
This was my first thought as well, I'd look for tell tale flipped things: a license plate, a steering wheel, any signage anywhere, right handed people suddenly turning left handed
I thought that they just kept shooting Bruce Willis from one angle, to save having to move any equipment, upset the talent by asking him to move, or having to apply makeup to both sides of his face. Then they flipped the video in post-production for "variety".
@@the81kid For sure he wouldn’t do any more takes and they were like, “But we need you form the other angle” and he was like “fix it in post” and fucked off to his trailer.
Couldn't stop laughing at the intro where Mike asks "how do you not know who Plinket is?" because I'm imagining a scenario irl where Mike is like "Don't you know who I am? Im the guy who reviewed Star Wars while pretending to be an elderly mental patient!"
@@stirgy4312 The complicated origin story is that Rich originally played Plinkett in some old short films he and Mike made. Mike then reused the character for the Plinkett reviews, basing the voice on Rich's performance. Now Rich has reprised the role of Mr. Plinkett for Half in the Bag. So Rich is the original Plinkett, but Mike does the voice for the Plinkett reviews.
My cousin was a driver for Bruce on the Georgia locations. He said Bruce would show up for a just a few days and film every scene. He said Bruce was a nice guy.
why are people giving RLM grief about this video? they are not the only movie reviewers to point out that something was clearly not right with his performance in movies over the last year or two. that is the job of an actor. regardless of the cause, if you are no longer able to deliver lines and play a role with any level of conviction, then you are not doing well at that job. they were not insulting him as a person. they were merely pointing out that he has been giving incredibly lackluster performances of late, and that he is delivering his lines as though they were being fed to him... which, turns out, was the case. so, now they should delete this video because... turns out they were right? seriously?
It'd be like if you went to work all day and sat on your ass for 12 hours while your co-worker was outside in the hot sun for 12 hours and you both make the same amount of money. It's not right.
I don't think there's anything wrong about Bruce Willis exploiting his stardom to earn a few easy bucks (MILLIONS), especially since he's probably trying to do what he can for his family's finances if he passes away. Nothing wrong with RLM roasting Bruce for his shitty acting, too, given they had no clue what he was going through
@@DoctorCyan It's a slippery slope we don't want to see actors start going down. Actors and film makers used to care and have pride in there work and most of the time all the movies were great. Now a days everything has gone down hill so much that we barely get a few great movies a year. They should have pride in their work and if they're too old to do it anymore then retire or do a different job that they can handle. If other old or failed actors see Bruce doing it and making money soon everyone will be doing it and people will be getting nothing but crap movies kinda like how it is getting now. I respect your opinion but I don't see it as a good thing at all.
Bruce Willis can do whatever he wants, but he is up to scrutiny like everyone else, his illness doesn't figure much into it. People need to understand that Aphasia is a disorder that only affects language processing. It does not affect judgment and decision making. Bruce decided to do all these fake movies IN SOUND MIND, exploited his fame and his fans to cash out. He willingly trashed his legacy and people have every right to point it out and blame him for it. Even if RLM did this exact video today knowing his illness, the critique is absolutely spot on and isn't diminished at all. I mean, how can people be so dumb? If I get diagnosed with cancer today, do I have the right to just flat out defraud people to get money so I can "take care of my family"? Do people still have logical reasoning intact?
In regards the bomb/flashbang weird editing Jay mentions at 1:02:15 it's almost exactly like how a videogame shows how flashbangs work. That weird freeze frame of Willis is meant to be the image burnt onto your retinas. Utterly bizarre choice for a movie but that's my best guess.
I really love these kinds of Half in the Bags that are more broad than just a single review. I don’t mean _just_ as in the other episodes are bad, but these more discussion type episodes are always so interesting to watch. Also, I’m impressed Mike almost made it halfway through the episode before mentioning Star Trek.
Just announced his retirement due to suffering from Aphasia. As many have said, he was putting money in the bank before retiring. Can’t blame him for that.
Well, when you watch a B (or even worse) movie that is sold as an A movie with an A listed movie star, then yeah, it's a bit misleading and taking advantage of the audience. So yeah, you can blame him for that.
@@scottmatznick3140 id feel awfully if I wat taking 90 percent of the budget while the people doing physical about around me on set are making pennies. your moral compass is non existent.
Bruce Willis is so checked out that he never is 100% present anywhere. As with his tomatoe ratings about 20% is the highest he will go for movie productions these days.
The thing that's admirable about Cage's work and why he occasionally finds himself in good films is that he seems to only work with directors/writers he trusts and likes, and still gives his all in the roles he's given. Look at Pig and Color Out of Space. The former by a first-time writer/director and the latter by someone who Hollywood had passed by decades prior.
Yeah I don’t think he deserves to really be in the same vein as someone like Bruce Willis. Cage made a lot of shitty movies, but he seems to at least give a shit in the work and in trying stuff out. Grand Isle, that RLM showed in this video as an example of a recent “Teaser Geezer” from Cage, is actually a pretty batshit insane movie in a lot of ways, with some crazy ideas. It’s not great, but I wouldn’t call it generic like these Willis movies.
I think the worst Cage movie in the recent years was better rated than all of these Willis movies. While he was part of quite some trash, his acting isn't the problem. He is still 100% behind his job. Last year I was able to see Pig in cinema and it was definitely his best role in recent years.
For what it's worth the Color out of Space director (Richard Stanley) wasn't doing anything too noteworthy aside from his involvement as writer and director of island of Dr. Moreau 1996, which was known to be a massive flop, suffered development hell and he was fired from part way through. That whole thing probably left him pretty cynical. Now that he has returned it's been revealed he's a wife beater so, color out of space aside, I wouldn't be expecting anything new of his career.
@@oldbroken1 yeah but nothing like bruce willis. and willys wonderland he was actually a producer of that movie. in fact a lot of the movies he has been in he had a hand behind the scenes. cage at least cares and puts effort and thats admirable.
Oh man, that part where they're showing Bruce Willis talking to the hologram. That's really, really bad. Even a normal person can tell he's given no sense of direction about what's happening and just being given lines. And the knowledge of his illness really makes a lot of these scenes they're showing pretty sad.
do you think you might just be projecting? like come the fuck on. he's not late stage Alzheimer's. as someone who's grandfather has been going through crippling alzheimers let me be honest with you and that Bruce has no excuse to use his issues for pity. and stop acting like the whole "has to be given lines" is some sort of sad tragedy, its what countless actors do and its what bruce has been doing for DECADES. he's simply lazy and has no soul anymore for acting.
gives me hope they eventually talk about Steven Seagals inability to walk up and down the stairs. He will definitely be the next tlc star on my 600 lbs life
I think Bruce Willis is now the new Cameron Mitchell in terms of just doing the bare minimum and just sitting down on set and being fed his lines. Priceless!!
Yeah but Cameron Mitchell was a joy to watch even when he was bad and or in crap he would make a bad film better by his very presence meanwhile Willis is so lazy and uninterested that it’s a slog to get through
People definitely buy these things. We get loads of them traded into the store I work at. Always got a bunch of the real lowest trash shite in stock. You'd be amazed how little most people know about film releases. They'll honestly see Apex on the shelf and assume they missed some big Bruce Willis film release.
Yeah, because after a certain point in your life you really don't pay attention to film releases or new music. Not just pay less attention but also have less time. And you can live your life without ever seeing ads now. Some major releases have come and gone that I NEVER heard of. So, I wouldn't begrudge people not knowing about movies coming out and just assuming if a big name is in it then they missed something.
It also might be that the covers for these movies kind of make them look like they exist within the same sphere as all of those action-movies starring the likes of Scott Adkins, Michael Jai White, Frank Grillo, etc. which tend to be pretty good as far as straight-to-streaming action movies go.
I'd be willing to bet that the people who buy those movies don't actually watch them. They give them as gifts to people. A lot of the trash movies I own were gifted to me by people who had never even heard of what they bought.
I'd like to think this video kick started Willis and family into letting him enjoy his retirement just a little bit faster. Sometimes you have to shine a light on a plight, if only someone had done this for Stan Lee maybe there wouldn't have been someone stealing his literal blood for signatures.
@@vietnamd0820 Sometimes you just need a reality check to make you realize "What am I doing?" I mean, if you were an old man suffering from an illness that meant that you were barely even aware of what was even going on you'd probably want someone to point out that you've been the star of 11 crappy movies all filmed within a very short time frame.
Really makes you appreciate the fabulous performance Gilliam got out of Willis in 12 Monkeys. It's nuanced, emotional, intelligent, as well as very physical. Opposite of lazy and uncaring. In retrospect, that may have been his peak as an actor.
The most hilarious thing I can think of about these "Geezer Teaser" movies is picturing the director saying, "Hey, can we get a second take on that one?" and Bruce/Nic/Stallone telling them to fuck off. The million dollar check only covers the one day, if you want second takes they better find another million bucks.
Don't even put Nicolas in the same sentence as Willis, his output is way better. Mandy and Pig alone are better than 99% (at best) of what Bruce has been in for like the past decade.
@@roundabout468 friggin Willy's Wonderland is already better. Pig is on a whole other level. Like its a real movie, with a artistic choice and deep story. You can't even compare that to the trash that Apex is.
From the three you mention, only Bruce does that. Fun fact; his character was written off Expendables 3 because he actually demanded 1 million per shooting day, and Sly told him to go fuck himself.
My going hypothesis is that a SciFi movie for them might be counterintuitive cheaper and easier to make. Having it be "SciFi" means you can assemble inexpensive styrofoam sets, bath everything in unnatural light, and insert relatively inexpensive special effects (like the holograms, people beaming in) instead of having to do these things practically (i.e. coordinating actors, showing people arriving at the Apex hunt via helicopter, truck, etc). None of the SciFi movies do anything particularly scifi-worthy that wouldn't also work as a less scifi-y movie
I wonder how much he gets paid for these things since I seriously doubt they'd be able to do his ridiculous demands from a few years back of being paid a million dollars a day for every day he worked. I remember when he threw a fit because for one of the Expendables movies they only paid him 3 MILLION for 4 days of work. What a piece of shit.
I love the fact that in Apex they gave him a bright red jacket, choosing the pragmatism of stand-in continuity over the logical absurdity of him wearing that while being hunted in the woods.
Seeing them speculate about him is sad now. But at least we know he was just trying to cash in a little before he couldn’t work anymore. Dementia is a nightmare.
@@gabbyprincip1575. For me, the Citizen Cane of bad cinema would be A Twisted pair trilogy staring: Breen: of course Willis: The Ferrari driving best friend Nicolas Cage: The edgy assassin who is hired to kill breen but turns on his mafia boss Travolta: The evil hacker trying to keep breen from revealing the truth. Burt Ward: The evil overlord who is upset with kooze’s failures Cameron Mitchell (Deep fake): The chief of the alien agency that turned breen into AI. He’s super angry about all the mess happening on earth and the fact that breen has jammed the space door between Earth and his realm open.
Honestly I'm hoping for the day when the latest Hollywood financing scam involves making intentionally bad movies like a film version of The Producers so all the studios hire Breen and the Birdemic director and people like them and give them 50 million dollar budgets. It's gonna happen at some point and it's going to be glorious.
Bullshit. One time my roommate and I decided to watch "Mom and Dad" because it was a crappy Nic Cage movie, and we ended up absolutely loving it. As a comedy, obviously. But there's no way that movie was trying to be a serious horror.
I disagree. Cameron Mitchell is lauded by the b-movie community because he elevated the shlock he was in and became essentially the highlight of the movie. Bruce Willis doesn’t elevate any of this stuff in fact he’s just bringing it all down. If he actually tried and did some silly over the top acting, we might get some worth-while kookiness or something out of it, however everyone of these films is irredeemable garbage. Cameron Mitchell is totally different in that regard.
Having a dozen opening company logos is also very common in European film where its impossible to make anything with a decent budget without a network of cross national co-production to max out the number of government film funds you can get grants from.
I mean sure but for European film funds specifically you need to fill out a whole bunch of paperwork and a lot of them have stipulations about X% of the crew/cast needing to be from their nation (which means a lot of producers spend their time putting together the exact right formula for maximizing the number of funds they can get a bit of money from) and basically none of the funds ever provide 100% of the budget and none of them give you any money unless secondary funding is also secure. That secondary funding usually coming from pre-sales.
Depends which. Some big budget movies generally only get two/three studios attached to them. I remember seeing the latest live-action Pinocchio with Benigni and it only had three. Spanish movies, on the other hand, have at least four production companies backing each of them and then you get the obligatory "financed by ICO/financed by the Spanish Culture Ministry" placard.
@@spillanegottleib1681 I don't even think you need to be a scumbag for it, if you have a chance for extra money I don't think it's a bad thing to get it
There will always be Paris. "Forget Paris". That was such a boring horrible movie. I wonder why I just suddenly thought of that. "City Slickers" was good, that "Home Alone" guy was in it.
since 2017 it's been said (unconfirmed) that Willis has early onset dementia, therefore has trouble remembering lines or follow directional instructions, this has led to him taking on as much work as possible, getting paid while he can, before he is unable to.
I have a friend who worked on a Bruce Willis movie recently. Apparently he has advanced dementia and is trying to work while he can. He has handlers with him at all times.
@@eddyk3 He hadn't been formally diagnosed but he's suffering from early onset memory loss - it's not quite dementia yet but they can tell he's starting to fade.
This was one of the first RLM videos to pop up as a recommendation and i had no idea what was going on at the beginning but I enjoyed the movie reviews. I went back and watched all half in the bags over the last few months, now i finally know what's going on in this video. What a ride!
If you want to watch the start and end parts compiled into one video check out 'Half in the Bag: The Movie' on a channel called Trouchelle. Someone edited all the story bits together, it's great to see.
“While filming Glass [in 2019], staffers worked around him by cutting and editing and having him overdub lines because he struggled to remember and/or deliver them,” an insider reveals. “In most scenes on Glass he’s hooded, and they used stand-in and body doubles to replace him. On set, he wouldn’t smile and was always chaperoned by an assistant to guide him while walking.”
Man, reality is depressing.
I was wondering why he had hardly any lines in the movie.
this is super depressing, poor Bruce
How the mighty have fallen.
Never look behind the curtain of actors/movies/tv shows etc.
It will usually spoil the endproduct if only a little.
I had no idea. I'm now convinced that this isn't merely a sign of laziness, but someone in actual mental decline.
You do realise that as Bruce doesn’t interact with any other actors in Apex all his scenes could easily be replaced with Rich Evans.
they should.
This would turn Apex into a cinematic masterpiece
Make that fan edit!!
Palpatine gif: do it
Do it
Bruce Willis is not at fault for trying to cash out as much as possible before kicking the bucket, and RLM is not at fault for making fun of him before the full story of his illness came out.
Nor would they be now. The films are ludicrously bad and worthy of nothing but mockery. If people want to criticize, aim it at the hacks making the films, his agent, even his family for letting it continue. The guy has generational wealth, he wasn't doing these for the money, but the people convincing him to definitely were.
@@YevOnegin Bruce Willis himself is not beyond mockery either, even now that he came out publicly with the illness. The illness does not impede his decision to cash in on his name, he still with sound mind decided to do that, and everyone still should be able to mock him.
@@zxbc1 agreed. Besides, he started his endless run of starring in trash 20 years ago when he overnight decided he was the next Clint Eastwood.
Of course he's at fault, these movies are just a big middle finger to his fans. He completely ruined his legacy and credibility as an actor and pretty much ripped off the people who loved him to make a quick buck
@@YevOneginHis old movies were nothing like these new fake movies, at least he was in scenes with other actors in "Hostage" and "Red" and "Looper" were actually great movies
"Do you have a script?"
"Fuck no. But I got a poster."
CRIME STINKS
The smell of penetration
"He KNoWs the truth!"
"It opens on Redbox in three weeks!"
This is EXACTLY what turtle would say
I know quite a few people who worked on Apex. Most of the movie was shot with a picture double on Vancouver Island, with Bruce's coverage being shot by a different unit in Washington. The Vancouver Island shoot turned into an absolute nightmare, as they had hired an entirely unqualified non-union special effects department, which led to a couple of incidents where pyrotechnics went off without the crew on set being notified beforehand. This led to most of the camera department walking off the show, taking their carts and personal kits but leaving the rented gear behind. The rest of the movie was shot by the DP with the help of anyone who had any camera experience from the other departments. They were also unable to hire any union stunt performers or extras as an indie production during early covid, so most of the bad guys getting shot are actually random crew members in costume.
Jay is right in that Bruce's lines are being read to him through an earwig by the script supervisor, but unfortunately this is more due to dementia issues than laziness. The guy couldn't remember his lines if he tried, and often has issues interpreting direction and the instructions being given to him.
I don't know Bruce or his motivations, but having worked with Kris Kristofferson who was still acting well into his mental decline, I can tell you that Kris truly loved acting and being on set and wanted to do it as long as he could. Bruce taking part in that stage play suggests to me that there's a shred of that attitude in him as well, but I can't deny that taking millions of dollars in exchange for two or three day shoots smacks of cashing in on his fame while he still has the chance.
I don’t know anyone who worked on Apex but I have friends whose friends and acquaintances worked on it. I heard basically the same thing you’re describing.
Oh, that gives me a sad sheen over all these movies. I love Ralphthemoviemaker's reviews of all these, I thought Bruce Willis was phoning it in because he lost his passion for acting, I had no idea about his neurological degeneration.
Holy shit this sounds one accident away from being like that Alec Baldwin movie where he accidentally shot the cinematographer.
I think you’re bang on about his motivations. He was really good in a quality film like Moonrise Kingdom, but it’s clear that making all this junk is 100% cynical.
@@LadyTylerBioRodriguez Scarily similar incident. A couple people suffered permanent hearing damage after squibs went off indoors while noone was wearing earplugs.
Look at big shot Rich Evans. All coming in at the beginning, eating up 90% of the budget never to be seen again.
well, he IS the only reason these guys get views.
he's the face of the franchise.
It's so dense
He's a funnier character than we've ever had
@@lenonel3286 It's gonna be great
You know, he was on Ellen
Had a baby three weeks ago. Mikes voice makes my baby cry. This is funny to me.
You should see the effect Mike's voice has on William Shatner, there are tapes.
This is funny to me as well
What is your baby's opinion of rich evans hyena cackle?
Mike's soul speaks through the baby.
I also want to know what the baby thinks of Rich's witch cackle
Don't delete this video.
They should, considering this video is factually inaccurate Now That We Know Better. They should at least make another video to apologize for this considering the man had an actual mental problem.
don't delete this comment
@@VegPoop Don't delete this reply.
@@akaaccount don't delete this reply to a reply
okay but really though don't delete the video
I am credited as the Key Set PA on Cosmic Sin. I can attest that you two are completely accurate of your description and mindset on to how these films are made and BW in them. It was a crazy 2 week shoot, right before the pandemic of 2020, and I'd love to tell me more. Long time fan of RLM, first time commenter
My roommate and I watched it when it first hit Netflix and we were just astounded at how little Bruce Willis mattered to the "plot". How long was he ever there for?
Tell us more!!
How was the crafty?
Upvote this comment so RLM can see this!!
Algorithm
This probably isn't something anyone usually mentions but i wanna thank RLM for not flooding their videos with ad time. Every other channel I watch has triple the advertisement breaks in 20 min videos than you guys put on in 70. And thank you for always making great content
Agree with this. Some channels are unwatchable now because of the ads.
Ads? You saw ads?
@Jonathan Jones their sketches are alright. Very subtle humors.
@@andersonwang1746 Subtle humors, especially the phlegm and bile.
It's gotten so bad lately. Ads before the video and then another set less than 3 minutes in. Bless RLM.
These are the exact kind of movies my dad and brother watch downstairs in the living room while I'm upstairs in my room watching the latest episode of Half in the Bag.
That is kind of sad. Y'all should watch either one of the two or both together.
Watch? like watching unironically? Thats really sad, you should go down and watch a good film with your family instead of watching these hack frauds.
Dont kill them
@@ordinator7203 my dad introduced me to film thru films like Taxi Driver and The Godfather. For some reason every time I visit him he's got on some schlock, most recently Ginger Dead Man starring Gary Busey.
I don't know where he went wrong
@@uncooked146 I suppose it is a little sad. But we just have different tastes a lot of the time.
So a few years ago I was in Atlantic City with my family and we saw the lounge singer Wayne Neuton. Took my old mother who listened to him when she was young and I brought a copy of fallout NV for him to sign (he is the dj in that game) now he was an old man and could totally just have phoned in a performance. He was at a small venue compared to his Vegas shows and it wasn’t even marketed well so there was a lot of space. Instead he just did 3 hours of jokes and songs and hung out with everyone. It was a very fun time for everyone. That’s a guy who is a pro. Brings his a game to every show. I even got to speak to him after the show and he brought up how him being fallout has lead to him getting lots of young male gaming nerds showing up to his acts and asking him to songs from the game and he loved it. Made him feel super relevant! He signed my platinum chip and I got a picture. I bring this up cause It’s just sad seeing Bruce just give up. Fans are fans because they like seeing people perform! It’s all about energy!
Omg that's so awesome
It's sad to see the man go out like that after World War Z
@@TheLakabanzaichrg Bruce Willis wasn’t in world war z that was brad Pitt. I think Pitt did a fine job in that movie considering all the reshoots.
@@speed0spank it was really fun. My mom just yelled at him to play danke shane and he nearly fell over laughing! And then he sang it! He also sang my spurs go jingle jangle! It was a great time.
@@Poormrworry He was, he was one of the soldiers refuelling the plane at Korea, i think one of the drafts was to have an ensemble cast including him and that would have been his last big role, i think
"Thank god that's done. Where's my cigar."
"Bruce, we gotta go into the forest"
"I don't wanna go into a forest. I want a cigar."
"There'll be a cigar in the forest."
"Fine. But I better get a nice sitdown with it."
🤣...
Dolph Lundgren made that argument a number of years ago about the kind of work he does. He could either move to LA, get a small part in a big movie and go from there, or he can do cheap movies in eastern Europe; he can write them, direct them, star in them, whatever he wants, makes enough money to live comfortably, and gets to spend more time with his family.
sounds like an awesome life ngl, might even make a great movie every once in awhile.
Fair point.
Eric Roberts is in the same boat where he'll go from doing 5 to up to over a dozen of these bad Red Box films in a single year. Eric's rule is that has to be paid $100,000 a role no matter how little screen time he gets. He gets to show up to set for a day and a half and moves onto the next film while making 100 grand a pop. It's not a bad hustle.
he's a scientist, so., first principles.
@@indoorgangster he is not a scientist... Only has a degree in chemical engineering
12:42 The "I'll take you anytime PUNK" fake Bruce voice with the stand-in rigidly facing the garage door is so, so good
I kept watching that thinking "that is not Bruce's voice and is delivered in such a weird, disconnected way." I've decided that either Bruce couldn't get the line or they changed it later or his mic didn't work, etc. And they had to fix it in editing and just had the director say it and then modulate it.
With his hand flapping
It is actually Brian Cranston in Malcolm in the middle, talking to Reeze
Even the hand tell me that, but then it would be Walter White.
Note sure
Hit us up with a time code, my man!
@@VictorHarderHesel Sorry dude! 12:42
My dad was a boom operator on Moonlighting, the Bruce Willis sitcom from the 80s. He said he would always chill with the crew, eat lunch with them, hang out, because he hadn't done Die Hard yet so he wasn't a superstar or anything like that. The other lead in the show, Cybill Shepard, would have these long drawn-out diva freakouts that shut the production down for hours. One time Bruce said to my dad and a few coworkers "If I ever make it in this business and start acting like that, next time we work together you have permission to come up to me and punch me in the face."
So over the years he quickly gained the reputation of a total asshole and never got that punch. Clearly he doesn't deserve the punch anymore. but it's still a funny story.
I'd like to think I'd be alright if I was a A list star getting into the best places with everyone telling me how great I am but I fear the reality is that I'd end up behaving like an absolute asshole.
Kevin Smith has a great Bruce story related to that.
Big if true
@@anonymouse740 it’s just like how bipolar people can’t tell they’re bipolar. Then again some say “money corrupts all” but I believe “money reveals all”. I do think the actor lifestyle does make you out of touch with the average person.
@@anonymouse740 a wise man knows his limitations :D
"Geezer Teaser" is SUCH a good name for this genre of movie. I'm so glad someone smarter than me came up with such a good name for them.
Shit, hearing the brief rundown of the guy behind them being hunted by the mob and hated by Hollywood... I want "Geezer Teaser" to be the name of the movie about *him.*
The film equivalent of the term "boomer shooter." Except Boomer Shooters are usually good. Well, decent.
GEEZER SLEAZER
I prefer ‘Geriaction film’
@@Memoquin You have killed me with your joke, I hope you're happy with yourself.
I'm starting to question whether these guys know ANYTHING about VCR repair.
What? Of course they do, they've been doing VCR repair for more than a decade.
@@machinegun7547 they've been TALKING about VCR repair for more than a decade. But have you ever actually seen them FIX one? 🤔 really makes you think.
@@machinegun7547 singular VCR
they are working at a vcr repair shop, of course they know, duh
And yet they know plenty about Victor C. Schmekldorff [sp].
This one hurts. I'm old enough to remember Bruce Willis as more than an "action star". He had range, he was very good on comedies like Blind Date or Moonlighting. Then he did Die Hard and became an action star but he was charismatic and charming as a lead. And he is in some of my favorite movies of all time like Pulp Fiction, Four Rooms, 12 Monkeys, The Fifth Element, Unbreakable, Sin City... I wish he retired in the 2010's.
He did, his body didn't get the message. Now he's breaking down in front of our eyes.
@@FlameOnTheBeat Frankly, Rian Johnson should've retired after Looper.
@@richardgadberry8398 i disagree i really like Knives Out.
He has a distict style and seems to be passionate about what he makes so no.
@@laughingatnothing4642 just dont give him franchises and hes golden
@@laughingatnothing4642 Three words: The. Last. Jedi.
Honestly, I can't fault them for this video in hindsight. They didn't know. Barely anyone outside of his family and some other people knew of Bruce's aphasia. But it also makes the weird editing of the films and Bruce's level of involvement make way more sense now unfortunately.
Yeah him having an earpiece in to be fed lines makes a lot more sense now. He wasn't being too lazy to bother learning his lines, he actually had trouble remembering them.
@@friendlybetty the dude can still remember concepts and ideas. He had the forethought to bang out as much as he could, while he was still able to. He knows he is having trouble reading, so he has someone else do that for him. All of this would be erased, of course, if it was found out someone was taking advantage of him. But he seems to have a very supporting family structure
@@chyang2690 the main question is why does he have the disorder, because it’s usually caused by something else- dementia, tumors, stroke or head injury.
Definitely makes sense now. Sad situation.
@@lawrencescales9864 That's the main question? Weird. Like, why is that important for you to know?
Somebody should make the movie "Geezer Teezer" about an aging Hollywood actor who's in deep with the mob and needs to make all these terrible movies. and get Bruce Willis to star in it.
Oooh meta
Isn't there a Nic Cage Movie with Nic Cage as Nic Cage about Nic Cage coming?
@@crovax175 There sure as hell is one with John Malkovich.
Sort of like JCVD, starring Jean-Claude Van Damme as an aging Jean-Claude Van Damme.
well, at least we know he'll accept the role
Finally, some filmmakers who learned their craft from Neil Breen's Five Film Retrospective. You can see the production value.
Neil Breen would say Bruce Willis is way too unprofessional for one of his productions. He's trying to win a Razzie someday.
Mr. Breen is actualy better. He at least tries to say something, in an original way.
These "movies" can't even do that.
Yeah, I don't know, honestly, if you've never sat down and tried to watch a Neil Breen film from start to finish, then you're kind of missing out. They're like watching someone's film made on Microsoft PowerPoint.
These Bruce Willis films are just... Loathsome. Breen fails at movies, but there's a passion and drive there. These are competent film producers, not content with lowering the bar to the ground, have dug a 30 feet deep hole, and throwing it down there instead.
you makes my day ^^
"Find underpaid, overworked non-union voiceover talent to do the work Mr. Willis refuses to, in a PROFESSIONAL MANNER."
The cgi is superb. It almost looks like they are at the soundstage at the same time.
I always thought Rich was just a cgi character
@@d3l3tes00n If you’d watch the director’s commentary track there’s a long segment where they reveal that Rich Evans is just a digitally de-aged Mike Stoklasa.
Fun Fact: The actors portraying 'Mike' and 'Jay' haven't physically been in a room together since 2002.
Wow did ilm do the cgi work its amazing!?
Playing it kind'a fast and loose with the words "almost" and "looks" there.
Mike went on Vudu and gave two of these movies 5 star reviews to trick people into watching them. What a bastard.
unforgivable
He once called Shark Exorcist, a sleazy fetish film with a possibly underage girl fondling a plastic shark, the Best of the Worst. This is completely on brand. Mike gets off on inflicting psychic trauma on others.
Thanks for typing out what he said in the video
Mike's "was he in Star Trek" line was as convincing as a Bruce Willis delivery. We know you knew Mike! We know!
Super underrated comment. 🤣🤣🤣
Mike can't help himself, I think his pathological incapable of not referencing Star Trek. His phone call bit with the Double dumbass line is a from Star trek A voyage home.
It's sad I know every single reference he makes... I need help
Like Mike didn't know the character was Lt. Hawk. Least believable aspect of this video, including that any of these are "movies". They all look like the fake movie posters you'd see in a TV show or a real movie LOL!
@@BloodyBobJr I hear you, we need an AA for Trekers.
What does he take us for, a bunch of double dumbasses?
I’m glad Jay acknowledges Neal McDonough as a pro. Every time I see him in a movie or TV show, he’s always the highlight. As far as I’m concerned, he’s a hidden gem in a chest of national treasures.
I've been a fan of his since Band of Brothers and Star Trek: First Contact
Check him out as Dave Williams in season 5 of Desperate Housewives. Hes awkward, menacing and oddly sympathetic. He gives you a great "fake smile that slowly changes to a sinister look as the music swells" before every commercial break.
He's even in the MCU!
I completely agree. I first saw him in Suits, where his performance/character was one of my favourite aspects of the otherwise pretty lackluster middle and later seasons. Then he ended up turning up in a bunch of (otherwise mediocre) things I watched (Altererd Carbon, the new Resident Evil schlockfest, etc) where - as you said - he was consistently the highlight.
Very underrated character actor! Great in Band of Brothers
I feel like this is the perfect topic for you guys to cover.
Yeah, exactly. Not any of the new movies released, this.
@@tonypio9815 what?
Bruce is definitely half in the bag
I was hoping RLM would cover this since i've seen Ralphthemoviemaker cover and watch/review some of those Movies
Finally it happened!
Prost & Cheers from the Snow-Covered Bavarian Alps where i currently can't leave my House without having to dig a Tunnel through the Snow
Also maybe i'm going insane but besides the usual Animal & Nature Noises around here, i also keep hearing some beast that sounds a lot like Rich laughing (Send Help)
Reminds me of their video on Sandler. Interesting to see how slimy and or unmotivated some people with a big name can get
Bruce willis' double should just be his own actor by now
He probably doesn't want the fame. Sure it probably means a lesser paycheck, but something tells me that Bruce's double was paid well before Bruce retired.
It just occurred to me:
That whole trope of the grizzled cop whose wife is dead....kind of loses its impact when the cop is 66. In an action movie, the dead wife is what turns the young idealistic cop into the dead-eyed veteran with nothing left to lose. But when you and your wife are both senior citizens, that narrative doesn't really play. "My wife died...because we're an elderly couple, and that's just kind of what happens."
Lol'd imagining the movie coming to a sudden end after that last sentence. 😂 great comment
WOW....That's pretty ageist of you....
“My wife died… ever since then I’ve been bitter, resentful of the unfairness of this world.”
“I’m so sorry. All these years must’ve been so hard on you.”
“It was last week, died of heart disease, but yeah.”
60s is still relatively young to die in a post-industrial country.
The average age of death is the late 70s in the US and early 80s in Canada, Germany, Japan, the UK, etc.
Plus Bruce Willis' characters could have wives that are younger than them too, in their 50s or even 40s.
You are also forgetting the denial that a lot of older men live in.
Think about Trump talking about how strong and healthy he is.
I remember my mom getting a job at Arby's because she was bored. Just bored out of her skull after retiring. She was friends with the family that owned it and just worked in drive-through chatting with strangers. I always wonder about these aging actors who just do any movie that comes along. Rather than being in any financial distress, are they just bored?
If Bruce was really bored and not going after the money, he could play in movies of young aspiring directors for less money. His motives are kinda hard to grasp and the earpiece thing sort of points to early onset mental decline or something similar
@@tite93 Dunno about mental decline but he does have a second young family with a housewife type. Plus his and Demi Moore's kids are now struggling actors that he may still supporting. I can see him prioritizing leaving them a healthy inheritance over a Hollywood legacy
@@jakestroll6518 dude's worth approximately 250 million dollars, that seems like more than enough inheritance for more than two families with quite a bit to spare. Of course, the rich only want to get richer, but is it worth getting into these projects and tarnishing the craft? I'm not sure
You make a great point. Good thought.
@@TheSiprianus you know what he meant, greed is human nature, the difference is richer people have more potential to make money and are therefore potentially more greedy.
Some of the actors like Grillo and Neal have talked about how these films have budgets up to $20M but the actual production budget is between $400-800K. Most of the money goes to the producers and someone like Bruce, it’s clearly a scam but no one says anything because they’re all getting paid. Grillo made $300K for 5 days of work and said everyone was aware they were making shit but they’re moving so fast they have no time to think about embarrassment.
Films for money laundering basically
At least Uwe Boll bothered to get an IP out of some hapless video game company.
This shit is as bad as the Adam Sandler "pay to watch me and my friends go on vacation" shtick.
Frank grillo was involved in a China propaganda movie lmao
@@lowserver2 Like Kb0w said, moving from one cheap shit movie to another at the speed of light. They don't have integrity, they are fine as long as they get paid. Be it from cheap tax credit flick or propaganda from totalitarian hellhole.
Mr. Plinkett’s entrance being met with thunderous applause is one of my favorite recurring jokes
The ironic thing about their Cher metaphor is that I saw her about three years ago and even in her seventies she put on an INCREDIBLE theatrical show with costume changes for EVERY song (in itself would be extremely tiring!), along with revolving set pieces and video effects. An example of a TRUE artist who wanted to give HER ALL for the audience's enjoyment.
Well, he DID say "What if you turned up to...", not that she actually does that?
Cher's a legend
Passionate professional
Cher is awesome
Same, saw her in concert in 2017. Sharp, funny and put on a great show.
The Razzies just gave Bruce Willis his own category: "Worst Performance by Bruce Willis in a 2021 Movie", which includes 8 out of the 11 movies, presumably the other 3 were released in 2020. Though not the most important thing in the world, I do hope these movies get more exposed for what they are and avoided.
I just feel bad for the people who have to watch all of the movies to decide which is the worst one for the award.
@@colbunkmust They might just say "All of them". That or ask Mike and Jay
Bruce was once a charismatic New York stage actor. Thats all I got
@@jakestroll6518 When?
Bro, your comment made me lmao for like a good 15 seconds twice. Once for reading it, and again for realizing you weren't kidding.
I wonder if that guy was stoked to tell his friends, "I played Bruce Willis from behind in a movie last week!"
"He goes into the shower and... I'm his ass."
Or the other guy who played Bruce Willis blurry from the front, lol.
And they'd all say, "So were we!"
Or 'I am Bruce Willis' body, just not his literal face'
I'll take you anytime, punk!
That Bruce has an unfortunate diagnosis does not prevent all thwse movies from being absolutely shit. Their criticism of bad movies, made cheaply, using tricks so that Bruce is barely in them, is valid criticism.
Yes but most people aren’t talking about that
They're even worse now considering how the producers and directors have used Bruce Willis.
Willis' acting in these movies is remarkable to watch, they're like performances made up entirely of the "Part time" take from Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
My brother and I still say, "part time" like that in normal conversations.
"Double Agents!"
@Poisonedblade me and my sis do that, too 😄😄😄
@@Poisonedblade Why'd you use that take?
@@adamfrisk956 Y'know, the worst one?
My 31 year old roommate from last year unironically loves these movies. He's seen them all. I wish him all the best.
I found my doppelganger, I guess.
Or did you wish him "Awl D Best"?
This makes me think of the story of Ian McKellen being depressed and nearly retiring while on the set of the Hobbit trilogy. Where he was miserable being on a green screen by himself and being told to react to things, which he did to the best of his ability because he's a professional. He was on the verge of tears and thought "I'm an actor, I'm supposed to work with other actors."
You can tell with Bruce Willis he doesn't like being on these sets but he doesn't mask his contempt at all. It's just sad to watch.
interesting....because in shakespeare, there are many soliloquies where the actor is on stage by himself
so kind of a dumb thing to get depressed about...unless you are saying that sir ian sucks as an actor that he cant pretend....because that is all acting is...pretending
you do know that he wasnt a real wizard...right
@@thewkovacs316 a fascinating read into my comment. I don't believe I called Sir Ian a bad actor and was just recalling an anecdote that had some parallels to the story of Bruce Willis working in Apex.
As for the soliloquies they indeed are often done with oneself on stage but you also have a live audience there with you who are responding to your work. It's even better when a director let's an actor engage directly with the audience during those speeches. Sir Ian is a man of theatre so he much prefers the immediate reaction of someone of something there when playing a scene.
He's not the only one who gets frustrated purely by green screen work, Ewan McGregor considered it a nightmare as well on the prequels.
McKellen hated acting at ping pong balls most specifically, I remember.
acting to someone's face, which is reacting to you, is so different.
Bruce Willis isn't contemptful though. He's going through dementia or Alzheimer's. Read through the comments.
I think Bruce Willis doesn’t like working with other people either
I guess that's one positive of CATS: even as nightmarish as they turned out, he was interacting with other actors on set
There you go, we now know why. He probably wanted to make a few bucks before being forced to quit. He was a very charismatic and memorable actor for years, sad to see him go out like that.
Good to know I'm not the only one who came back to this video after the news... Getting old sucks ass
Bruce Willis wasn’t set for life by the 90s? Did he blow all of his money?
@@chech5774 it happens. The same way a lot of professional athletes go bankrupt when they retire. It's difficult to change lifestyles when your level of income reduces.
@@chech5774 maybe he didn't invest or spent too much on his lifestyle. Plus he's got a huge family
@@friendlybetty When you make a deal with the devil, when you're told to work you find a way to work...or else.
Jay's incredulity at the poor production quality, "Are we sure *we* didn't work on this movie?" haha
that was amazing ! are we sure Rich Evans didn`t create the sets for all these movies ?
16:43 Randal Emmett’s career and the making of these Bruce Willis movies
19:42 Edward drake
20:15 the directors
22:27 how Bruce Willis makes his money
23:00 the producers feed him his lines
30:00 apex
46:06 breach
54:24 American siege
I like to imagine Bruce just really likes his body double and wants to keep him employed, so he keeps taking these roles .
I love the idea of him having just one that he has a lifelong bond with
Once Upon a Time in Cheap Filming Locations
This is my headcanon for these movies now. Good guy Bruce.
"Bruce, i appreciate all the help so much, but these medical bills just keep piling up..."
Bruce Willis; "Say no more, brother. Consider me on the next plane to Atlanta."
That's oddly heartwarming.
I think this is the first time they’ve actually concluded a storyline on half in the bag
The gay wedding storyline had a conclusion. It is one of few though
This has got to be one of my favorite Half in the Bag episodes EVER.
It's crazy how well that postironic laughtrack works. I want to see more sitcom Half in the Bag
Impressive that you know this before having seen the episode
Video: *posted 3 hours ago*
This comment: *posted 3 hours ago*
Video length: 1:10:00
why the fuck you lyyin'
why you always lyyyin'
And most depressing.. **slide whistle**
Hack frauds discussing hack frauds. It's a perfect circle.
Neal McDonough has a special place in my heart. He pops up at the most random times/places, but he's always fantastic. Definitely one of my favorite actors.
For me he will always be Bill Compton of Easy Company, Band of Brothers
He was good in Arrow
I'll always remember him as Robert Quarles in Justified.
His performance in season 5 of Desperate Housewives is friggin surreal.
He's an outright national treasure (I'm assuming at least, not actually sure his nationality but as a Canadian/American dual citizen I'm sure I should be saluting Neal McDonough either way)
I love this channel. And I'm serious when I say, there have been rumours that Bruce may be experiencing early onset dementia/Alzheimer's. And that either low-grade unscrupulous "filmmakers" are taking full advantage of his vulnerability, or he's taking roles where be can be given one line of dialogue at a time due to his memory problems.
It would make a lot of sense given the steep drop in quality of his films, which seemed to happen very suddenly.
Hopefully he's getting all the help and support he needs. I doubt he needs the money. Maybe carrying on making films, despite their bad quality, is keeping him happy and/or feeling useful.
It's either that or he's an alcoholic
i believe it tbh
@@RogueAstro85 and if he was? Let's not judge yeah? World's a cruel enough place.
@@JimElford I'm not judging. Both would be sad situations
If he's doing as much work as he can while still cognitively functional, that's legitimately sad.
As far as money goes, you'd be surprised at how even A list actors can end up broke at the end of their careers if they have poor investment and spending habits.
Robert DeNiro does a ton of crap now because he's not good with money and still needs to work. Bruce Willis might be in a similar situation.
It's kind of interesting comparing Bruce Willis' performances chronologically in this list, knowing what we know now. Breach is one of the earlier films and came out in late 2020. He probably had more cylinders firing at that point. Apex came out in November 2021 about a year later and... oh my. It's rough. He inadvertently documented his decline. I love the man, so I find this rather sad. Thanks for all the good memories, Bruce. Heal and rest. You've done your part.
Still, I think Jay and Mike are right. We probably shouldn't watch any of these. It is a movie factory grinding out low budget efforts, each one banking almost entirely on an aged movie star.
That having been said, Breach with a few more weeks of production time and half of Bruce Willis' paycheck used instead for creature effects, better sets, and a fight scene choreographer would have probably been a bona-fide good B movie. These movies wouldn't exist without the aged movie star propping them up, but such said star sucks it dry like a leech and drains it of its potential to actually be good in the first place. It's kind of a no-win, really.
This is more or less what I thought. "Breach" was filmed late 2019, Apex a full year later. Director who filmed "Out of Death" in 2020, and then "Wrong Place" in 2021, said in interview that Bruce had declined noticeably between the films.
I have seen "Breach" and as long as Bruce is playing the drunk janitor, he is doing okay. He interacts with the cast and sort of tries to get the character over. The middle part of the movie, when the crew tries to figure what is going on, is honestly not that bad. But once the action starts, it's clear Bruce is out of it. He mostly just stands around confusedly, unable to do anything physical. And the movie falls apart towards the end too.
I was reading an interview with one of the screenwriters for one of these Bruce Willis movies (I think Cosmic Sin), where the guy said he was called up by his buddy who was having coffee with Bruce and Bruce mentioned wanting to do a sci-fi movie. So his buddy is like 'Do you have a scifi script?', and the screenwriter was just like 'yeah, totally' and then went home and wrote the entire script in one night. It really explains a lot when you realize the scripts for these films were probably written in a few hours and most likely weren't even spell-checked.
Man, they've even managed to ruin fan fiction. And that's saying something.
I'm choosing to take this anecdote from the "go-getter screenwriter finally getting his break" perspective.
As long as these two guys are still casually discussing movies they hate, I'll know things can't be that bad
They talk about aging actors making dodgy movies abroad on the cheap AND THEY DON'T EVEN MENTION ALEC BALDWIN...???
@THE VIOLINIST Let’s not kick a man when he’s down
@@seankoontz4235 Good point; I don't have a ballistic vest...
Once society has collapsed entirely they’ll just be sitting around a camp eating beans out of a can and discussing bad movies they saw 20 years ago. And I’ll sit there and listen
To be fair, they would continue doing this in the face of an extinction level event. So I don’t know if this is a great barometer tbh
Man, Bruce is becoming another Steven Seagal times ten. Even he hasn't crank out this much shit in his direct to video career.
Have enjoyed a few of Seagal’s DTVs. Have yet to enjoy any of Bruce’s.
Well, at least Bruce Willis isn't a rapist. I think.
Seagal's still the king of sitting down for 90% of the time he's on screen.
At least Bruce can maintain the same accent throughout a single movie.
Steven Seagal would crank out more films but that would require standing up.
Watching these scenes is eerie now; his acting style is definitely "a guy struggling to speak".
Aphasia is more of a symptom than an illness per se. Something, probably a small stroke, affected the speech center. Sadly this means more strokes might be coming. My mom spent months last year working with an old friend who had aphasia from a stroke; she didn't make it to the end of the year. Hopefully Mr. Willis fares better.
For the family to release a statement, I think the larger stroke may have occurred already, unfortunately.
No stroke, he had progressive aphasia and had known for a few years. These movies were made to build up a stockpile of cash before he had to stop because he physically can’t even do the bare minimum anymore.
I thought the same thing. Now it all makes sense
@@Sarah8561 Yeah when I wrote this comment the article didn't specify the type. Terrible stuff either way.
@@jameshamilton5849 Having an illness doesn't absolve him from basically defrauding his fans to get cash for himself/his family. If I get diagnosed with cancer, do I have the right to defraud others to benefit my family? Bruce willingly and knowingly trashed his name and legacy to cash out. He deserves the ridicule in this video even if RLM made it after the statement about Aphasia.
Fun fact: In Portugal (where I'm from), those type of movies get theatrical releases lol. I've watched some of them with my friends (like the format best of the worst), and - as you would expect - they're awful. Our reactions are a mix of laughter and pure shock. Bruce Willis double works more than he does.
You poor people...
Paying to watch garbage!!
Ngl, I'm surprised it has a theatrical release in an European country.
I heard that some of these movies got a theatrical release in the Netherlands, but I did not have the chance to check it out...
LMAO why?? Portugal is a small country and there's already so many big hollywood movies every week to fill the cinemas how are these movies getting in? what's the demand? who's these for?
I work in the Vancouver film industry and can confirm from coworkers who worked on some of these movies that out of about 20 shoot days each Mr. Willis was on set for about three to four days. He comes in like an airstrike and basically he bangs out his scenes and the crew tries to shoot a movie around it. The crew is comprised of essentially non-union 20 somethings. Mr. Willis' salary is indeed most of the budget. The film industry here is filled with low-budget film production companies headed by (in some cases criminal) rich people who collect most of the profit and crunch their crews with extremely long hours and then underpay them and people trying to break into the industry take the jobs because they have no other options. It's a sickness. It's why I'm back in college at 25.
Years ago I worked on a film called Six Ways to Kill Your Lover. We shot the whole thing, most of us working for free 18 hours a day for a week just for the credit. Director got bored and never released it. No credit. Yay! It was interesting being part of it, but quite sad.
Oh god, that's depressing. Here in Germany we're always kind of jealous of countries with better movie industries, but I guess more funding doesn't automatically make things better.
I would actually say that is a benefit for people trying to break in. Trying to hire union workers for productions like this would be too expensive and the production wpuldnt happen. Unions are just gatekeepers
@@edd542 it isn't since days worked on non union productions don't cross over into union days. I did sound and I skipped working non union and went right for IATSE big productions and started getting my days right away...people get tricked into working bottom of the barrel gigs when they don't have to... besides, the competing union ACFC does a lot of lower budget work since they have cheaper rates and still has health benefits etc
@@edd542 I wasn't objecting to working for free. I objected to getting no credit for the work. I'm especially annoyed because with the help of a local butcher and a great make up team I made a stunt neck using a mix of meat. It looked totally real in close up. And the Director wouldn't even shoot it. Stand by props budget £25. And I was so tired I can't even credit the butcher - thanks again lads, couldn't have done it without you.
I love these kinds of episodes, like the Blumhouse breakdown and the jack and Jill revelations, thanks for another great episode!
With movies like these, the "business" in Show Business is more interesting than the "show".
Oh and of course the Resident Evil mind-breaking
Next they could do a series of episodes exposing a bunch of fraud hacks, call it "The Mike In The Mirror".
I love these guys, they are the best form of therapy as a filmmaker/lover.
That being said, this video is the reason Bruce Willis' family went public about his cognitive decline. I felt bad for laughing so hard during my view.
Bruce Willis was, at one time, in my opinion....THE single most underrated actor in Hollywood.
Thanks for the thread
Seems like the last movie he genuinely tried in was _Looper_ in 2012. I would say _"Poor Bruce,"_ but then again he's making $1 million to phone it in for a day... Pretty good gig if you ask me.
He has a bit part in Motherless Brooklyn (2019). It's not his best work, but he's not bad in it. Once you get past Edward Norton's tourettes act, it's actually a pretty decent movie. It might end up being the last decent movie Bruce Willis appears in.
I'd take that job with an earpiece. He's not killing people; it's just a movie among millions of others. The worst that happens is that people stop watching it and didn't get their $5 worth.
Looper and Moonrise Kingdom in 2012, so almost 10 years now
Glass (2019)?
I would quit everything to be made fun of all day to get a mil per shit movie. In the end he's rich chilling on a yacht, laughing not giving a shit. I want no worries money, fuck it sounds great.
Apart from a few duds Bruce Willis really did crush it in the late 80’s and 90’s - Die hard trilogy, Pulp Fiction, 12 Monkeys, The Fifth Element, Armageddon, The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable. Most actors would kill for a body of work as good as that. Makes his downfall even more sad.
Last Boy Scout is a good one too
@@mosaicmind88 thinking that too. Maybe he’s done with the whole celebrity thing and just wants the paycheck.
@@mosaicmind88 based on onset stories, he seems to be suffering from dementia (can't remember lines, linereading stage directions, forgetting he's filming a movie) but wants to keep acting.
@@PejmanMan dementia is all the rage these days.
So sad to see a guy getting $1 million a day. Just tragic.
If Bruce want's to be a clown, I'll laugh and point and throw offal at him. You might have seen me nailing him in the face with a cow liver. It was all over the news.
Regarding the moving earpiece, I imagine what we are seeing is shots being flipped on the horizontal axis in post to correct for line crossing due to sloppy direction.
You'd think filmmakers would have realised that.
You're thinking one step too far, man.
This was my first thought as well, I'd look for tell tale flipped things: a license plate, a steering wheel, any signage anywhere, right handed people suddenly turning left handed
I thought that they just kept shooting Bruce Willis from one angle, to save having to move any equipment, upset the talent by asking him to move, or having to apply makeup to both sides of his face. Then they flipped the video in post-production for "variety".
@@the81kid For sure he wouldn’t do any more takes and they were like, “But we need you form the other angle” and he was like “fix it in post” and fucked off to his trailer.
Couldn't stop laughing at the intro where Mike asks "how do you not know who Plinket is?" because I'm imagining a scenario irl where Mike is like "Don't you know who I am? Im the guy who reviewed Star Wars while pretending to be an elderly mental patient!"
Who's Mike?
@@stirgy4312 The complicated origin story is that Rich originally played Plinkett in some old short films he and Mike made. Mike then reused the character for the Plinkett reviews, basing the voice on Rich's performance. Now Rich has reprised the role of Mr. Plinkett for Half in the Bag. So Rich is the original Plinkett, but Mike does the voice for the Plinkett reviews.
My cousin was a driver for Bruce on the Georgia locations. He said Bruce would show up for a just a few days and film every scene. He said Bruce was a nice guy.
If only Uwe Boll's career lasted long enough to utilize current day Bruce Willis. They would've made magic together.
Uncle Uwe made two very good movies in his career: 1968 Tunnel Rats and Darfur / Attack on Darfur, both made in South Africa.
Boring magic
@@trevormoses5061 I still have a softspot for Postal. It is really stupid, but that's pretty close to the game, so it fits.
@@biglevian the postal movie still sucked, but yeah, i giggled here and there and even liked it a little and i don't even have a good excuse for this.
uwe is the second best german export
Congrats to Bruce Willis for getting his own category at the Razzies
The whole scheme is coming crashing down.
It's an amazing achievement. Does Seagal have his own razzie category because it feels downright disrespectful if he doesn't!
Holy shit Edis, never thought I’d bump into you here
@@giygas79 I can be everywhere while at the same time lying dormant in my room
why are people giving RLM grief about this video? they are not the only movie reviewers to point out that something was clearly not right with his performance in movies over the last year or two. that is the job of an actor. regardless of the cause, if you are no longer able to deliver lines and play a role with any level of conviction, then you are not doing well at that job. they were not insulting him as a person. they were merely pointing out that he has been giving incredibly lackluster performances of late, and that he is delivering his lines as though they were being fed to him... which, turns out, was the case. so, now they should delete this video because... turns out they were right? seriously?
It'd be like if you went to work all day and sat on your ass for 12 hours while your co-worker was outside in the hot sun for 12 hours and you both make the same amount of money. It's not right.
I don't think there's anything wrong about Bruce Willis exploiting his stardom to earn a few easy bucks (MILLIONS), especially since he's probably trying to do what he can for his family's finances if he passes away. Nothing wrong with RLM roasting Bruce for his shitty acting, too, given they had no clue what he was going through
@@DoctorCyan It's a slippery slope we don't want to see actors start going down. Actors and film makers used to care and have pride in there work and most of the time all the movies were great. Now a days everything has gone down hill so much that we barely get a few great movies a year. They should have pride in their work and if they're too old to do it anymore then retire or do a different job that they can handle. If other old or failed actors see Bruce doing it and making money soon everyone will be doing it and people will be getting nothing but crap movies kinda like how it is getting now. I respect your opinion but I don't see it as a good thing at all.
Bruce Willis can do whatever he wants, but he is up to scrutiny like everyone else, his illness doesn't figure much into it. People need to understand that Aphasia is a disorder that only affects language processing. It does not affect judgment and decision making. Bruce decided to do all these fake movies IN SOUND MIND, exploited his fame and his fans to cash out. He willingly trashed his legacy and people have every right to point it out and blame him for it. Even if RLM did this exact video today knowing his illness, the critique is absolutely spot on and isn't diminished at all. I mean, how can people be so dumb? If I get diagnosed with cancer today, do I have the right to just flat out defraud people to get money so I can "take care of my family"? Do people still have logical reasoning intact?
@@DoctorCyan
Even if they knew I wouldn't fault them. The performances and the way he's edited in are still awful and funny to watch
In regards the bomb/flashbang weird editing Jay mentions at 1:02:15 it's almost exactly like how a videogame shows how flashbangs work. That weird freeze frame of Willis is meant to be the image burnt onto your retinas. Utterly bizarre choice for a movie but that's my best guess.
@@rottingcorpse6565 misinformed because they didn't know it was meant to mimick a video game flashbang?
@@rottingcorpse6565 I doubt the average gun owner has had their retinas exposed to a flashbang lol
I really love these kinds of Half in the Bags that are more broad than just a single review. I don’t mean _just_ as in the other episodes are bad, but these more discussion type episodes are always so interesting to watch.
Also, I’m impressed Mike almost made it halfway through the episode before mentioning Star Trek.
Mike quotes Star Trek IV 'The Voyage Home' at 45 seconds.
@@richardhuggett8249 I stand corrected then
“He’s actually kind of trying.” -Mike
They need to put that blurb on the movie.
Next to his 5-star rating? :-D
Just announced his retirement due to suffering from Aphasia. As many have said, he was putting money in the bank before retiring. Can’t blame him for that.
Well he still exploited his status to do barely any work and take a majority of the wages of the cast, but I guess it's for a somewhat good cause
@@avebave6550 ok? Nobody cares about the rest of the cast being in the movie. He is THE selling point.
Well, when you watch a B (or even worse) movie that is sold as an A movie with an A listed movie star, then yeah, it's a bit misleading and taking advantage of the audience. So yeah, you can blame him for that.
@@avebave6550 The only A-list actor in a movie was paid the most out of everyone? STOP THE PRESSES
@@scottmatznick3140 id feel awfully if I wat taking 90 percent of the budget while the people doing physical about around me on set are making pennies. your moral compass is non existent.
Even when Willis is actually interacting with other actors in the same shots in these movies it still comes off like they're being filmed separately.
Bruce Willis is so checked out that he never is 100% present anywhere. As with his tomatoe ratings about 20% is the highest he will go for movie productions these days.
Unbelievable Bruce Willis has 10 more direct-to-video movies coming out still
12!
@@micksplace I wish ya´ll were lying
The IMDB in-production list is 'impressive'.
The thing that's admirable about Cage's work and why he occasionally finds himself in good films is that he seems to only work with directors/writers he trusts and likes, and still gives his all in the roles he's given. Look at Pig and Color Out of Space. The former by a first-time writer/director and the latter by someone who Hollywood had passed by decades prior.
Yeah I don’t think he deserves to really be in the same vein as someone like Bruce Willis. Cage made a lot of shitty movies, but he seems to at least give a shit in the work and in trying stuff out.
Grand Isle, that RLM showed in this video as an example of a recent “Teaser Geezer” from Cage, is actually a pretty batshit insane movie in a lot of ways, with some crazy ideas. It’s not great, but I wouldn’t call it generic like these Willis movies.
I think the worst Cage movie in the recent years was better rated than all of these Willis movies. While he was part of quite some trash, his acting isn't the problem. He is still 100% behind his job.
Last year I was able to see Pig in cinema and it was definitely his best role in recent years.
For what it's worth the Color out of Space director (Richard Stanley) wasn't doing anything too noteworthy aside from his involvement as writer and director of island of Dr. Moreau 1996, which was known to be a massive flop, suffered development hell and he was fired from part way through.
That whole thing probably left him pretty cynical.
Now that he has returned it's been revealed he's a wife beater so, color out of space aside, I wouldn't be expecting anything new of his career.
@@frool76 You obviously didn't watch Willy's Wonderland. Worst film he's made, imo.
@@oldbroken1 yeah but nothing like bruce willis. and willys wonderland he was actually a producer of that movie. in fact a lot of the movies he has been in he had a hand behind the scenes. cage at least cares and puts effort and thats admirable.
Oh man, that part where they're showing Bruce Willis talking to the hologram. That's really, really bad. Even a normal person can tell he's given no sense of direction about what's happening and just being given lines.
And the knowledge of his illness really makes a lot of these scenes they're showing pretty sad.
do you think you might just be projecting? like come the fuck on. he's not late stage Alzheimer's. as someone who's grandfather has been going through crippling alzheimers let me be honest with you and that Bruce has no excuse to use his issues for pity. and stop acting like the whole "has to be given lines" is some sort of sad tragedy, its what countless actors do and its what bruce has been doing for DECADES. he's simply lazy and has no soul anymore for acting.
I don't think anyone except a ghoul would watch these movies now.
I'm glad they made some money for Bruce's family.
I was hoping to one day see RLM tackle this mountain of shit.
The ultimate cinematic universe.
I was hoping for Scream 5...
gives me hope they eventually talk about Steven Seagals inability to walk up and down the stairs. He will definitely be the next tlc star on my 600 lbs life
Shame Ralph the movie maker has covered both very well already
Nothing shit about it. Most of these are fantastic movies
I think Bruce Willis is now the new Cameron Mitchell in terms of just doing the bare minimum and just sitting down on set and being fed his lines. Priceless!!
If only he did his scenes drunk!
Cameron "the man" Mitchell.....legend(darily) bad. He was good in Hombre (1967) though.
Yeah but Cameron Mitchell was a joy to watch even when he was bad and or in crap
he would make a bad film better by his very presence
meanwhile Willis is so lazy and uninterested that it’s a slog to get through
@@mckenzie.latham91 True. True.
People definitely buy these things. We get loads of them traded into the store I work at. Always got a bunch of the real lowest trash shite in stock. You'd be amazed how little most people know about film releases. They'll honestly see Apex on the shelf and assume they missed some big Bruce Willis film release.
That’s because those idiot customers spend all day on their phones on social media, but act like looking up something on Google is beyond them. Smh…
It's the Blumhouse model. You pump out this low budget shlock and if even one of them "makes it" then they're set for another year.
Yeah, because after a certain point in your life you really don't pay attention to film releases or new music. Not just pay less attention but also have less time. And you can live your life without ever seeing ads now. Some major releases have come and gone that I NEVER heard of. So, I wouldn't begrudge people not knowing about movies coming out and just assuming if a big name is in it then they missed something.
It also might be that the covers for these movies kind of make them look like they exist within the same sphere as all of those action-movies starring the likes of Scott Adkins, Michael Jai White, Frank Grillo, etc. which tend to be pretty good as far as straight-to-streaming action movies go.
I'd be willing to bet that the people who buy those movies don't actually watch them. They give them as gifts to people. A lot of the trash movies I own were gifted to me by people who had never even heard of what they bought.
I'd like to think this video kick started Willis and family into letting him enjoy his retirement just a little bit faster.
Sometimes you have to shine a light on a plight, if only someone had done this for Stan Lee maybe there wouldn't have been someone stealing his literal blood for signatures.
I think RLM did have something to do with Willis’ retirement…they really illustrated how terrible these movies are
@@vietnamd0820 Sometimes you just need a reality check to make you realize "What am I doing?"
I mean, if you were an old man suffering from an illness that meant that you were barely even aware of what was even going on you'd probably want someone to point out that you've been the star of 11 crappy movies all filmed within a very short time frame.
Really makes you appreciate the fabulous performance Gilliam got out of Willis in 12 Monkeys. It's nuanced, emotional, intelligent, as well as very physical. Opposite of lazy and uncaring. In retrospect, that may have been his peak as an actor.
I liked him in Death becomes her.
12 Monkeys (ATG Sci Fi), Sixth Sense were def peak Williams, although my favorite has to be Die Hard with a Vengeance.
I believe the director of that film made a list of Bruce Willis clichés and told Bruce not to do any of them. Of course, that could just be a rumour.
27 years ago
Good point! . Although I did like him in Unbreakable. But thinking about it, he was basically the same in every Shamalan movie...
The most hilarious thing I can think of about these "Geezer Teaser" movies is picturing the director saying, "Hey, can we get a second take on that one?" and Bruce/Nic/Stallone telling them to fuck off. The million dollar check only covers the one day, if you want second takes they better find another million bucks.
Don't even put Nicolas in the same sentence as Willis, his output is way better. Mandy and Pig alone are better than 99% (at best) of what Bruce has been in for like the past decade.
@@roundabout468 friggin Willy's Wonderland is already better. Pig is on a whole other level. Like its a real movie, with a artistic choice and deep story. You can't even compare that to the trash that Apex is.
@@roundabout468 The colour purple? I think that was the name of the film/remake with Nic. That was pretty damn great too
From the three you mention, only Bruce does that.
Fun fact; his character was written off Expendables 3 because he actually demanded 1 million per shooting day, and Sly told him to go fuck himself.
@@HunterMearo The Colour Purple is a great Steven Spielberg film from 85, you're thinking of Color Out of Space I think
The last Bruce Willis movie I've seen was probably Looper, and that was 10 years ago.
"Looper"
"10 years ago"
I had to check.
Damn. 💀
And it was ok
Now he just seems to be in a loop of doing shitty movies. Oh well.
Looper was pretty good!
@@RickJaeger I was thinking of Moonrise Kingdom as well when I tried to think of him actually trying.
My going hypothesis is that a SciFi movie for them might be counterintuitive cheaper and easier to make. Having it be "SciFi" means you can assemble inexpensive styrofoam sets, bath everything in unnatural light, and insert relatively inexpensive special effects (like the holograms, people beaming in) instead of having to do these things practically (i.e. coordinating actors, showing people arriving at the Apex hunt via helicopter, truck, etc). None of the SciFi movies do anything particularly scifi-worthy that wouldn't also work as a less scifi-y movie
Before watching this I think the entire RLM fandom should donate a dollar so we can have Willis in Space Cop 2.
Two bucks. We need that nude but tasteful butt shot.
@@LembeckIsStaying They can just use Jack as a stand-in for that.
@The Elder One day is all you need! Would be worth it.
Its actually quite impressive how many excuses for paych- *I mean* movies Bruce Willis makes in a year. What a timeless legend
He’s truly a national treasure
Still need to see a Bruce/Cage combo would be legendary.
I wonder how much he gets paid for these things since I seriously doubt they'd be able to do his ridiculous demands from a few years back of being paid a million dollars a day for every day he worked.
I remember when he threw a fit because for one of the Expendables movies they only paid him 3 MILLION for 4 days of work. What a piece of shit.
He's taking inspiration from
Steven Segal.
He did about 642 movies
in 10 years.
Actually "Paycheck" sounds like a title for one of these movies.
Is there a movie called "Paycheck"? I'm googlying it right now.
I love the fact that in Apex they gave him a bright red jacket, choosing the pragmatism of stand-in continuity over the logical absurdity of him wearing that while being hunted in the woods.
Seeing them speculate about him is sad now. But at least we know he was just trying to cash in a little before he couldn’t work anymore. Dementia is a nightmare.
They're finally taking a deep dive into the treasure trove that is Bruce Willis direct to DVD movies. This will be fun.
My body is ready
*Direct to dumpster
AT-STs!
Bruce Willis made a deal with Mephistopheles for his success, but if he ever stops making movies he will be taken to hell.
And his hell would be watching all his own movies for eternity.
You mean Mr Mistoffelees
Nicolas Cage has a similar deal, but with the IRS instead of Mephistopheles
@@mabusestestament "Meh-fist-oh-leez"?
@@AmazingThor same bureau different department
This makes me so happy, because literally 3 days ago I was googling 'why does Bruce Willis apear in so many bad movies'.
Bruce has aphasia and now retired and these films we're his last, sad curtain call but an iconic career.
Bruce Willis is becoming our age's Cameron Mitchell. Looking forward to BEST OF THE WORST: RED BOX. Make it happen, you legends
Red Box Roulette Needs to be a thing now on BOTW.
Coincidentally, I just saw Rifftrax's presentation of Supersonic Man last night, featuring Cameron Mitchell!
If they do I hope they watch the movie White Space.
These guys REALLY need to hand over the reigns to Neil Breen. Just imagine twisted pair with Bruce Willis as Kooze.
Steven Seagal vs Bruce Willis directed by Niel Breen is my Avengers
@@gabbyprincip1575. For me, the Citizen Cane of bad cinema would be A Twisted pair trilogy staring:
Breen: of course
Willis: The Ferrari driving best friend
Nicolas Cage: The edgy assassin who is hired to kill breen but turns on his mafia boss
Travolta: The evil hacker trying to keep breen from revealing the truth.
Burt Ward: The evil overlord who is upset with kooze’s failures
Cameron Mitchell (Deep fake): The chief of the alien agency that turned breen into AI. He’s super angry about all the mess happening on earth and the fact that breen has jammed the space door between Earth and his realm open.
Honestly I'm hoping for the day when the latest Hollywood financing scam involves making intentionally bad movies like a film version of The Producers so all the studios hire Breen and the Birdemic director and people like them and give them 50 million dollar budgets. It's gonna happen at some point and it's going to be glorious.
What am I? Yippie ki yay am I?
KOOZE
We need a Bruce Willis vs. Nick Cage video from red letter media. They owe me personally after all, I paid for and sat through a viewing of Space Cop.
@@Parasiteve yeah I don't like Nicolas Cage at all but at least he puts in some effort. seagal and Willis just sleep walk through the movie
I know you meant Nick Cage, but now I'm picturing deathmatch wrestler Nick Gage beating the shit out of Bruce Willis and shouting MDK ALL DAY!
A bug-eyed Nic Cage yells at a stone-faced Bruce Willis for 90 minutes? Sort of a land of contrasts, no?
Bullshit. One time my roommate and I decided to watch "Mom and Dad" because it was a crappy Nic Cage movie, and we ended up absolutely loving it. As a comedy, obviously. But there's no way that movie was trying to be a serious horror.
@@djangofett4879 nick cage can actually act though when he wants to.
These are the kinda movies I imagine my uncle watches in his retirement home without knowing what it is
I stumbled on these on Amazon Prime a few months ago; it's great seeing our generation's Cameron Mitchell in action.
If Bruce Willis yells to close the f-kin door, you do it!
@@jbarbeau92 I mean, you never know; Bruce might just be the “low-energy disinterested” type of drunk.
I disagree. Cameron Mitchell is lauded by the b-movie community because he elevated the shlock he was in and became essentially the highlight of the movie.
Bruce Willis doesn’t elevate any of this stuff in fact he’s just bringing it all down. If he actually tried and did some silly over the top acting, we might get some worth-while kookiness or something out of it, however everyone of these films is irredeemable garbage. Cameron Mitchell is totally different in that regard.
This is the unofficial sequel to your Adam Sandler take down from years ago - please do more of these
Having a dozen opening company logos is also very common in European film where its impossible to make anything with a decent budget without a network of cross national co-production to max out the number of government film funds you can get grants from.
There is so much free money just floating around if you can become enough of a scumbag to reach out and grab it.
I mean sure but for European film funds specifically you need to fill out a whole bunch of paperwork and a lot of them have stipulations about X% of the crew/cast needing to be from their nation (which means a lot of producers spend their time putting together the exact right formula for maximizing the number of funds they can get a bit of money from) and basically none of the funds ever provide 100% of the budget and none of them give you any money unless secondary funding is also secure. That secondary funding usually coming from pre-sales.
Depends which. Some big budget movies generally only get two/three studios attached to them. I remember seeing the latest live-action Pinocchio with Benigni and it only had three. Spanish movies, on the other hand, have at least four production companies backing each of them and then you get the obligatory "financed by ICO/financed by the Spanish Culture Ministry" placard.
Asian market films also have a ton of company logos up front as well, likely for the same reason.
@@spillanegottleib1681 I don't even think you need to be a scumbag for it, if you have a chance for extra money I don't think it's a bad thing to get it
They fucking predicted Bruce Willis being the first person to sign away a digital clone
He was one of my favorite actors growing up. This is unbelievably depressing.
There will always be Paris. "Forget Paris". That was such a boring horrible movie. I wonder why I just suddenly thought of that. "City Slickers" was good, that "Home Alone" guy was in it.
Exhibit A: Brandan Fraser
since 2017 it's been said (unconfirmed) that Willis has early onset dementia, therefore has trouble remembering lines or follow directional instructions, this has led to him taking on as much work as possible, getting paid while he can, before he is unable to.
It’s the first time he’s been early onset.
@@danpalmer5451 I can't not laugh at this
And now it's fully confirmed that he indeed has dementia.
I have a friend who worked on a Bruce Willis movie recently. Apparently he has advanced dementia and is trying to work while he can. He has handlers with him at all times.
Sad if true.
@@eddyk3 He hadn't been formally diagnosed but he's suffering from early onset memory loss - it's not quite dementia yet but they can tell he's starting to fade.
@@rottingcorpse6565 Wake up, Joe Biden.
This was one of the first RLM videos to pop up as a recommendation and i had no idea what was going on at the beginning but I enjoyed the movie reviews. I went back and watched all half in the bags over the last few months, now i finally know what's going on in this video. What a ride!
If you want to watch the start and end parts compiled into one video check out 'Half in the Bag: The Movie' on a channel called Trouchelle. Someone edited all the story bits together, it's great to see.
@@MisterAki43 haha nice