Some more reviews and a little story.

[dean]

Of course, I've been told recently that my story telling abilities lack definition and relative coherance, but I'm using it as a nifty segway into the next slab of reviews:

Today was a very boring day for me.  I had uni 9-5 for one subject, and have a three hour break in the middle of it all, so I go and wander around, go shopping in the CBD [my uni's pretty much in the city] and decide that, 'what the hell, I've got time to burn, I'll go watch a movie!'

I remember a while back a post about seeing movies by yourself and I have to say, it was rather fun to kick back and relax for a few hours and let my mind recover from the day.  The fact that there weren't many people there helped alot as well.  There's just something liberating about going to a movie by yourself.  I'd imagine it's something like strutting around your home naked when you're all alone for the first time, but perhaps that's for another topic all together...

The end. [real crap story I know, but hey, I warned ya!]

Anyway, getting onto the actual point, the film I saw was:


Unleashed [ Louis Leterrier, 2005]

The story of Jet Li/Danny, who is treated like a dog by his gangster master: Every time his 'uncle' Bart [Bob Hoskins] takes off his collar, Danny goes and beats the hell out of everybody, and good ol' Bart collects his payments.  Danny's life is one like a dog; he lives in a cage, and has the barest of essentials to go by in life, with his few treasured possessions a teddy bear, a book with the alphabet in it and a toy bear.

Anyway, to cut it short, Danny escapes his master after another gangster exacts a painful revenge on Bart and his cronies [Danny included] courtesy of a driveby shooting.  He ends up living with a blind piano tuner Sam [Morgan Freeman] who Danny had met earlier, and his stepdaughter Victoria.  Together Sam and Victoria try and rebuild Danny's life by actually treating him right.  Of course, throw in the fact that Bart is alive and after Danny and you have a recipe for a showdown of some kind.

I quite liked this film, especially when compared to Jet Li's recent films [which were good, or at least I enjoyed them, but not really that great]. By the way, by that I mean Hollywood films, I’m not counting non-English speaking Jet Li films! The films starts with a pretty nice action sequence and has a few more thrown in later, but that wasn't really what I enjoyed [though it sure helped]  What I quite liked was Jet Li in this film: he really was quite good playing the naive, innocent Danny.  Especially with some of his lines, which were quite well executed.

Sure there are some obvious problems, like how a blind man brought the bloodied Danny home after he got shot in the driveby and why he let this strange man into his home in the first place, but those are relatively insignificant.  By far the best film I’ve seen Li do in recent years, and some of the fight scenes were quite well done, especially a particularly brutal close combat fight in a bathroom.


Mulholland Drive [David Lynch, 2001]

Once again a film shown in my surrealism and film class, and one people in the cinema studies department at uni always go a little crazy about.  This is a film about an aspiring actress [Naomi Watts] who just moved to L.A, and who suddenly meets ‘Rita’ who has lost her memory and was squatting in Watts’ aunt’s apartment.  Rita, as we have found out from the start of the movie, was about to be shot when, courtesy of drunken teens, the car she was in is hit, and she escapes with her life, but no recollection of who she is.  Basically the majority of the film is Watts trying to get an acting job whilst helping Rita find out who she is.  The last quarter, or third of the film suddenly goes off on a sharp tangent, and is completely, well, surreal and nutty.

This, I’m guessing, has something to do with the fact that the movie was originally filmed as a pilot to a TV series, and Lynch tacked on the ending when the TV deal fell through and made it into a movie.

Like I mentioned, in every cinema subject I have studied so far, at least once per subject somebody mentions Mulholland Drive and a ‘what the hell is it about’ sort of thing.  Personally I don’t know what the big deal is.  Maybe that’s because I’m used to watching bad movies in which I suppress the urge to yell out in anguish about what the hell is going on in the film I’m watching so I’m not screaming obscenities at the TV all night.

Anyway, overall I liked the film; anything weird is good in my books just in general.  But like I said, I generally do not understand why people think it is so fantastic: it is good, sure, and I quite liked it, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to go out and try and figure out what the hell it all meant, and whether or not the first part is a dream or vice versa.  It just does not weigh on my mind that much.  Well, not too much…


Kung Fu Hustle [Stephen Chow, 2005, well, 2005 here…]

After watching the first 15 or so minutes of this film at the start of the year, I finally got around to finishing it by going to see it at the cinema last night.

Basically Stephen Chow is a gangster wannabe who is going around town trying to get money out of poor outer-limits townsfolk by pretending to be a part of the much feared and well known ‘Axe Gang.’  Of course, in true comedic fashion he gets his butt whipped, but in the process runs into the real Axe Gang, who also proceed to get their butts whipped by the poor farmers of this tenement, three of whom we discover are martial arts masters who display not only keen fighting skill, but absolute ignorance to the fact that they had been living side by side.  So in a course of revenge, the Axe Gang leader tries to exact his revenge on this tenement, with Stephen Chow kind of caught in the middle of this all.

Anyway, this movie was overall a hell of a lot of fun, and despite its overuse of CGI, I think that it actually benefits from it: everything is so cartoony, from the action sequences to just general silly stuff added in [like a great Shining reference] that it just makes me chuckle.  A friend who I saw it with summed it up well: ‘It’s so ridiculously brilliant.’

And ridiculous it is, and brilliant, well, that’s up to you all to decide for yourselves, though considering most of our tastes here at this site, I’m pretty sure its to most people’s tastes here!

[Ash]

dean wrote:

> I remember a while back a post about seeing movies by yourself
> and I have to say, it was rather fun to kick back and relax for
> a few hours and let my mind recover from the day.  The fact
> that there weren't many people there helped alot as well.
> There's just something liberating about going to a movie by
> yourself.  I'd imagine it's something like strutting around
> your home naked when you're all alone for the first time, but
> perhaps that's for another topic all together...


Ahem!
I wrote that one.
It was the , "Off To the Movies By Yourself"[/url] thread I wrote on 6/12/04 over a year ago.

Hell yes!!  It's great to go to a movie by yourself!
I wish other people could do it but most cannot or will not due to their own insecurities.
Many will not because they think that other movie patrons there will see them alone and think they're a loser.  
f**k that!
"Screw what other people think" I say!

I recently went to see "Land of the Dead" and had the entire screen to myself.
When the screen told me to turn my cell phone off I just laughed.  
I was the only one there.  And yes, I did get a call from a buddy while sitting there alone.

I tell you now, I haven't felt bliss like that in years.

I've now gotten to the point where I prefer to see a film on the big screen by myself.
Still, whenever I tell people that I do this, they look at me like I'm crazy.
I want to tell them that they're saying more about themselves than they probably realize and that I wonder more about them than they do me but it'd do no good.

A man who truly has honor and confidence in himself, goes to a movie by himself!



Post Edited (08-31-05 06:10)

[dean]

>>>A man who truly has honor and confidence in himself, goes to a movie by himself!

Only a true loser would say something like that! :-P

I guess seeing a movie on your own is a matter of personal choice: whilst I do enjoy watching movies by myself, most times I find it best to go see a film with friends so we can discuss the movie afterwards, or at the very least, keep each other company by acting like yahoos if it's no good.  Since most of my friends can have quite passionate discussions on the topic of movies, no matter how lame or boring it is, makes for interesting conversation.

Besides, if you are seeing a very popular movie that's just been released, it's good to at least have someone waiting in the line with you to keep you company!  Having a conversation about the 'real' themes of Lord Of the Rings, such as Merry and Pippin's inherant drug problems, whilst waiting 1/2 an hour in a line for the movie where people are either laughing with you or trying to figure out whether you are actually being serious or not makes it alot more fun than just lazing around with a pair of headphones on.

The good thing about seeing a movie by yourself is that you can't complain that you didn't get to see a movie you wanted to see because noone wanted to go with you, or you couldn't organise it in time or whatever.

So I guess they have their good points and bad points!

[oh god, I sense another 'lost' Ashthecat off-topic post getting ressurected...]

[Ash]

dean wrote:

> "Besides, if you are seeing a very popular movie that's just
> been released, it's good to at least have someone waiting in
> the line with you to keep you company! "

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Dude, I'm the type of guy who will start talking to total strangers standing in front of me or behind me in line.  Or both at the same time!
I remember waaay back in '98 when I went to see "Saving Private Ryan" by myself.  
I had the whole damn line engaged in conversation.  It was dead silent before I started up.
That was awesome!
It doesn't matter if they make eye contact, if I even hear them talking about a movie I know well or even the one we're about to see l, I politely butt in.

I have no qualms about it.   I'm bold that way.
So much so that I tend to embarass any friends that might be with me.
I did it recently when I went to see "The Devil's Rejects."
A group of friends directly behind my buddy & I were talking about, "House Of 1000 Corpses" and I literally jumped in on their conversation.  
They were talking about the "FISHBOY!" scene and I couldn't resist.
They welcomed it and chatted back.  We all pitched in our criticisms and opinions for the few minutes we had to stand in line.
And you know what?  It made the whole moviegoing experience that much better!
My buddy didn't say a word the entire time.  He only asked me if I knew them when we were in our seats.
I told him I didn't.



Post Edited (08-31-05 07:15)

[dean]

That's so true, making conversation with random strangers at any event, be it movies, sports of the theatre [have some class all those who snickered] makes the whole thing seem that much more fun.

Especially if you find that they have the same tastes as you.  These single-serving friends can make an otherwise dull experience like lining up a story-worthy moment, or just something to look back on with fond memories.

That and if you need to bum a ciggarette off them, it certainly helps!