MovieComment

Hard Boiled

Posted by Player under Action

This is another classic John Woo film which probably not many people in the US know about. The film stars Chow Yun-Fat as the typical badass cop, Tequila. The plot is pretty thin and by the last thirty minutes of the film you wonder why there is even a plot because the best part of this film is in fact the last thirty minutes and the final scenes are all about guns, guns, guns, and more guns!

The story starts out with Tequila involved in an undercover sting operation to arrest some gangsters who are dealing in illegal arms. We see that the cops end up up killing their own sometimes, because sometimes they can’t tell who is an undercover cop and who is just a gangster. The story then develops into Tequila’s relationship with an undercover cop who has infiltrated the gangs and their shared interest in bringing down the main bad guy. This eventually leads to the last thirty minutes of the film in which the gangster is cornered and he has an entire hospital rigged with explosives and he is going to kill everyone.

The ballet of gunfire violence then really begins and you see Tequila with a baby infant in one hand and a gun in the other as he dodges machine gun fire, explosions, and fire. The gunfire is just endless, and unbelievable! One of the main bad guys only has one eye, and yet he manages to kill everyone he comes across except the main characters of the film. If you wonder why John Woo is known for his violent footage, these action sequences will permanently answer that question for you. You will never see anything that even resembles this violent montage in an American film!

For movie fans that love action films, Woo delivers a stunning and explosive landscape that will truly delight. Think of Die-Hard, but with less plot and more guns.

Alas the DVD release of this film has some shortcomings. I could not even get the DTS track to play and some of the overdubs are just plain bad for some of the languages. The video also seemed less than stellar, but sharper than VHS quality. Available now, is a better Hard Boiled Criterion Edition as well as an even newer Hard Boiled (Two-Disc Ultimate Edition).

He Got Game

Posted by Player under Drama

In He Got Game, director Spike Lee tells the story of a promising young athlete Jesus Shuttlesworth and his convict father, Jake, played by Denzel Washington. Jesus is at a crossroads where he must decide on entering the pro NBA league or going to college. He does not know which college either and is being prodded by everyone. To make matters worse his father, Jake, just happens to show up to help him with his decision, but just like everyone else in his life, he also wants something from him.

Jake is a failure of a man. He not only lost his family, but he drove him son further away from him and he must try to rekindle some sort of relationship with his son, not just for his sake, but also for his son to move on. At the same time, Jake also sees that while his son has become a man, he also failed him as a father.

At the center of everything is the game of basketball, the greatness and simplicity of the game, and all the superficialness and greed that happens if you are a superstar in it.

Visually, the film features some superstar appearances from Shaq, Jordan, Reggie Miller and other basketball celebrities. There’s also some nudity that makes the film not appropiate for younger viewers.

The DVD is pretty bare, only a trailer and the feature film are included. The audio for the feature film is Dolby Digital and the score for the film is mostly a combination of rap songs by Public Enemy, but in between, Lee throws in some other tracks to make the film sound more unique than just another rap scored film.

In conclusion, probably not Washington’s greatest performance, but definitely one of the better dramatic films you can see in regards to being a basketball movie, and overall a highly enjoyable drama.

Monsters, Inc

Posted by Player under Animation

When I took my son to view this movie in the theatres, it was a bit disappointing. We had a lot of high hopes for the film and when it did not live up to our expectations, of say ToyStory2 (Pixar’s last animation film), the result was a less than enthusiastic review. However the 2-disc DVD is a different story.

First a review, the story in Monsters, Inc is the old “there’s a monster is in my room” story which little kids often tell their parents about. Except that in this movie, it is true, there are monsters in a different world that enter through portal doors and scare kids in order to get their screams, which they in turn use as energy to power their world. The movie depicts a blue-green furry giant known as Sully (played by John Goodman) and his green one-eyed friend known as Mike Wazowski (played by Billy Crystal) as they deal with Boo (a little girl who has sneaked into the monster world). Along the way Sully learns about children and why it is wrong to scare them. The film has some tender moments for both child and parent and the humor is mostly aimed at younger children.

Due to the plot and humor, Monsters, Inc. does not reach the popularity of ToyStory2 which is Pixar’s best film to date. However, the DVD brings a lot more to the home viewing experience than most films, if you have children that is. At home, both my 4 year old and his younger partner in crime of 17 months thoroughly enjoy the film (quietly), which is amazing to watch if you are a parent.

Unlike the theatre, the DVD manages to have brighter and more accurate color. The video image is nothing short of spectacular and in widescreen mode the 5.1 enhanced Dolby Digital soundtrack has a lot of depth. From the smooth jazz music to the crashing sound effects, to the flying fur, the DVD movie experience is much better than the theatre, and isn’t that why you bought a DVD player in the first place?

If you have younger kids, I highly recommend you get Monsters, Inc and ToyStory2. They are Pixar’s best films to date. Bug’s Life and ToyStory1, are also good films, but I for one don’t recommend those for adult viewing. Another animated movie that will quiet the kids is Nickelodeon’s Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius.

Kill Bill: Volume One

Posted by Player under Action

The 4th Film by Tarentino, was received by many critics as nothing more than a violent montage of blood and other upsetting images, but the film actually is a little deeper than that, and while older audiences might find the film less than entertaining, younger audiences will certainly be drawn to it’s coolness. However as with most things, the truth lies somewhere in between.

There’s something unique about Uma Thurman. From her long toes and fingers, to the way that blood shimmers just right from her angled cheek bones, assail your doubts, Tarentino has made Thurman a screen goddess. From every frame, from every bit of color, and from every angle, Kill Bill is the inner vision of a haunted mind that is in love with the look and feel of film. This is a well planned, well laid out, well thought out, and perhaps the life work of Tarentino’s career. The movie itself is greater than the sum of its parts, it’s not spectacular in idea, dialogue, or anything particular, it is in how all the pieces fit in the end that makes it a very good film. Kill Bill is about revenge, nothing more, and nothing less… or is it?

The story follows the tale of a woman who has been betrayed by her former gang. The terrible tragedy that befalls her only makes her determine to avenge her enemies, that is at least after she wakes up from her coma. We follow on her treacherous path of vengeance, as she kills two of her main assailants.

“Do You Find Me Sadistic?”

Within the film, Tarentino manages to include the chopping of many body parts, stabbing, a scalping, rape, and even an animated petaphile situation. All this is enough to make some people walk out of the theatre, probably those who expected colorful dialogue along the lines of Pulp Fiction, but instead got a very visual oriented film, where the dialogue plays second to action and cinematography, but Tarentino’s text does imply some things. Like in the first question uttered by an invisible Bill, “Do you find me sadistic?” Taking pleasure in cruel acts is not what Bill is all about, or at least that is his argument, so perhaps Tarentino is not also sadistic. Maybe there is more.

“I assure you this is me, at my most masochistic.”

Perhaps it is not about taking pleasure at violence, but instead to be willing to subject oneself to the most unpleasant of things, to see the world through the eyes of the victim. But why would we do this, why would Bill do this, perhaps that is the question.

There is a sense that things always balance themselves out in the end. In action films, the good guy never wants to kill, he ends up having to do it, to restore balance and order. In Kill Bill, revenge is about resolving the wrong that was committed. In the end the bad guys have to die, they know it, Black Mamba (our heroine) knows it, and so does the audience. There must be balance.

Which of course leads me to think about the Suzie homemaker character that Vivica Fox plays as Veretta Green. A homemaker married to a doctor, who coaches little league, and who use to be a professional killer. When her past catches up to her, she knows there has to be a retribution.

In the end no one escapes.

If we are to take Kill Bill as a masochistic text, we can identify then with the victim, and all the violence and unpleasant images speak more about why we should care, why we should be more compassionate, and why we should Kill Bill, than about how we are insensitive to violence or each other.