Category: Movies

Firstly. Yes. I did enjoy “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”. In my original article (now lost to editing hell) I was perhaps a bit too harsh about a few elements, but I did think it was a good enjoyable summer movie.

But even saying that, I still hate the CGI, the nuclear fridge (something that has now spawned its own viral), the gophers, the swinging Indy Jones Junior. And it seems looking around the Internet most people tend to agree.

So, I thought I’d list some notable parodies I’ve seen around the Internet. Some of them are fun, some of them are just plain dumb. But if you can take a joke, and have a sense of humor then you’ll enjoy these – otherwise, look away now. (more…)

An enjoyable summer action-adventure romp.

[NOTE: Edited on 26 May 2008: Removing spoilers]

Its been 18 years since the last “Indiana Jones” movie, and the one question everyone has is, “is it worth the wait”?” Yes, and no.

Set in the “red-scare” era of 1950’s America, Doctor Jones is forced by Russian agents (replacing the cartoon Nazi agents) to help them raid a top secret US warehouse housing artifacts and in the process helps them recover a highly secretive artifact, one that resembles a Crystal skull. (more…)

General cinema fans will be impressed, but hardcore fans will be disappointed.

Although I don’t usually fall for movie hype, I must admit the hype for the “Jackie and Jet project” was something that I eagerly awaiting for.

For the past few months I’ve been blogging articles about the fabled “Jackie and Jet” project, “The Forbidden Kingdom”, asking myself all sorts of questions, What kind of duel role the two legends of action would have? Would Jackie break the mould and star as a villain? Would the Jackie and Jet fight be a throwback to the fights of the late 80s? Was this “Jackie and Jet project” going to be their answer to Donnie Yen’s superb “SPL” and “Flashpoint”?

For the first time in their respective careers, both Jackie Chan and Jet Li star in this eagerly awaiting movie pairing. Directed by Rob Minkoff, the movie is based upon the classic Chinese fable “Monkey” and is a fantasy-action-adventure movie that takes ideas from Jet Li’s “Hero” as well as the world-wide smash, “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”. (more…)

This is another look at the upcoming Jet Li/Jackie Chan project, “The Forbidden Kingdom”, and is a follow up to my article “Jackie vs Jet: The Forbidden Kingdom: A preview“.

The Forbidden Kingdom is the widely anticipated movie which will see both Jackie Chan and Jet Li in the same movie for the first time in movie history.

The recently released Americanised-heavy trailer has worried many pundits that the movie will have actually very little on-screen time between Jackie and Jet. Some fans are worried that the on-screen fight sequences between Chan and Li will be short, quick and ultimately unsatisfying, whilst others express concern that an American-focused approach will take away the heart and soul of what should be a great movie. Indeed, both Jackie and Jet have told fans to keep expectations low.

Having said that, another trailer I’ve seen seem to give a much more romantic, Crouching-tiger-coming-of-age feel to the movie.

For me, the coming-of-age style works better than than the Americanised version, because it tells a story that the other doesn’t, also it gives you the impression it’s going to be a good, well-written story.

Yes, I am disappointed with the American-point-of-view of the plot/story, but it could work incredibly well.

We’ll know later on in 2008 when Forbidden Kingdom is released.

If you’re interested in reading up on Hong Kong style movies, I recommend Bey Logan’s blog on Dragon Dynasty.

Links;

• Forbidden Kingdom – Trailer #1
• Forbidden Kingdom – Trailer #2
• Forbidden Kingdom – IMDB
• Bey Logan Blog

Karate Kid III is the lamest movie I’ve ever seen.

Released in 1989, the third-part of the Karate Kid trilogy (yes, I know there was a fourth that was even crappier than this) sees Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) returning with Miyagi from their trip to Okinawa and suddenly get involved with John Kreese’s desire for revenge over the loss of his karate school.

With Kreese still bitter and angry, he visits an old army buddy in the shape of millionaire Terry Silver who vows to get revenge on both Miyagi and LaRusso, and – ever the business opportunist, realises the full business potential of getting into the karate school game.

To this end, Silver hires Karate Kid “bad boy” Mike Barnes, and hatches a plot to unstablize the relationship (more on this later) between Miyagi and LaRusso and forcing LaRusso into defending his championship again. However Miyagi flatly refuses to train LaRusso.
(more…)

Here is the latest John Rambo Poster, courtesy of IGN.com

Links;

• John Rambo (IMDB)
• John Rambo Trailer (Youtube)
• John Rambo Poster (IGN)

Even with its flaws, “New Police Story” is an excellent action film that beats Chan’s Hollywood’s efforts in every way conceivable.

Released in 2004, Jackie Chan’s “New Police Story” is the tale of the fall, and rise of Inspector Wing (Chan) of the Hong Kong Police Force whose over-confidence is shattered when he loses his entire team to an assault by a group of 5 psychopath teenage killers hell-bent on robbing banks and then waiting around for the arriving police to kill police officers for kicks.

When his entire team is killed, Wing becomes a hapless drunk, feeling guilty for the deaths of his team and his friends, and unable to keep his relationship with his girlfriend, and ultimately sinks into depression until a young cocky “policeman” helps Chan get back on his feet, break the case, and ultimately arrest those responsible.
(more…)

When you think of big-name on-screen collaborations, one normally thinks of “Heat“, where Robert De Niro and Al Pacino were sharing the big screen for the first time since “The Godfather part II” (Although in that movie they were never seen together at the same time), and there are rumours that De Niro and Pacino will team up again.

But until then, the one movie paring that many fans are eagerly awaiting is the on-screen collaboration between martial art stars Jackie Chan and Jet Li.

The “Jackie and Jet project” has been inactive for well over 10 years. Throughout the years, Chan and Li have often been quoted as wanting to work together, but haven’t because of clashing schedules, or because a good enough project wasn’t available.

A lot of people believe that the relationship between Jackie and Jet was at its worst after the Jet Li movie “High Risk” (1995), where Jacky Cheung parodied the Jackie Chan persona to the point where Li had to apologise for the over-the-top parody that bordered mockery.
(more…)

After seeing the piss-poor Rush Hour 3, and seeing the rather despondent face of Jackie Chan, I began to wonder whether we will ever see any genuine “innovation” in action movies…

I’m wondering, after the Die Hard 4.0’s and the Rush Hour 3’s of this world, whether action movies are destined to be teenage-friendly, or filled with cartoon violence which doesn’t amount to much.

Of course there is the odd exception to the rule, “The Bourne Identity” triology immediately springs to mind. But apart from that, I can’t think of another action movie that really breaks the boundaries of the “template action movie”.

Naturally when raising such an article, one would often point to the “Kung fu” genre. The “Hong Kong movie industry” (an umbrella term to cover movies coming as far away as Korea, Japan, Philippines and Thailand), is awash with kung fu action movies – most of which have generic plots, or action sequences that don’t push the boundaries.

Part of the problem is piracy, which is endemic of the Chinese mainland and the surrounding countries. Even as Jackie Chan himself has noted, piracy is getting worse; and is affecting movie production, resulting in studios pumping out template action movies surrounding the “John Woo” school of gun-play, which is almost 10 years out of date, or the inclusion of mafia’s, triads and gangsters.

Fortunately this doesn’t mean there aren’t people out there trying to do something different, or be innovative.

One could easily point to Tony Jaa of Thailand. His bone-crunching action really set the world talking in 2003 with “Ong Bak”; but Jaa’s movies any real plot. And the world has yet to see if Jaa can bring anything else to the world other than missing Buddha heads (Ong Bak) and missing Elephants (The Protector)…

Jet Li, who’s new upcoming film “War” should be a hoot; but will it bring anything new to the table? I think War will be a good action movie – and of course the long awaited “Jackie Chan vs Jet Li” movie, “The Forbidden Kingdom” will soon finish production – but I have a feeling this won’t be as good as everyone expects.

So, the only one left is Donnie Yen. His latest movie, “Dao huo xian” (AKA: “Flash Point” or “City Without Mercy”) is really cleaning up at the box offices in the east – and it has already been picked up by International studios. Billed as a “sort-of” sequel to Yen’s massive “SPL”, Flash point is almost all about innovation – especially with the inclusion of MMA (or mixed martial arts) which Yen last used in the movie “SPL”.

I do like Yen’s ability to innovate, and I think MMA could be one of the missing ingredients; that said – any movie, be it action or otherwise, needs a good story, good characterisations and that quintessential “X-factor”.

That said, I think action movies do need to change. If anything “The Bourne Identity”, “SPL”, “Die Hard” and “Flash Point” styles of movies should the reason to believe that change is not only inevitable, its happening.

Links and resources;

• Donnie Yen’s “Flash Point” official website, trailer #1, making of…,
• FlashPoint article on “Kung fu cinema”
• Donnie Yen’s “SPL” on Youtube
• Jet Li’s “War” trailer on Youtube
• Jackie&Jet Project: The Forbidden Kingdom
• Donnie Yen talks about “Flash Point”

“Rush Hour 3, AKA: Chris Tucker: The Movie”

“Rush Hour 3” is by-the-numbers summer action movie, but by the the time you’ve left and revisited the other prequels, you’ll soon realise just how shallow, empty and pointless this movie really is.

Caught up in development hell, script rewrites and complex salary negotiations, “Rush Hour 3” was always going to be a complex affair. The word was that Chris Tucker wanted $20 million and top-billing for his part.

It seems that his bargaining worked, because instead of a fun summer action movie, we got Chris Tucker yelling, screaming and zinging everyone in sight with his huge voice and overpowering everyone with his ego.

Yes, Chris Tucker in this movie was funny. But he was in almost 90% of the movie… and it seemed it was I was watching “Chris Tucker: The Movie”.

The plot of this movie is that the Ambassador of the first Rush Hour is shot by a sniper; leaving clues that ultimately lead to Paris – where Lee and Carter get mixed up with the Triads and Lee’s brother.

The plot of this movie is very similar to that of the first “Rush Hour” movie, indeed the Ambassador, his daughter and the whole secretive Triad Mafia all make an appearance in both Rush Hour and Rush Hour 3, indeed – the plot twist at the end (a plot twist that you can see coming a mile off) is even ripped off from the first movie.

Asides from the ripped-off plot and Tucker’s loud voice, Chan is left to do very little; there is none of the trademark Chan stunts, none of the flashy martial arts — Chan is Tucker’s “Kato”, a sidekick to Tucker’s movie; Asides from a few “freerunning” parts and a few fight sequences, Chan doesn’t do very much at all!

There is also a heck of a lot of CGI in this movie, the para-sailing stunt is so obviously CGI enhanced, and the fight on the structures of the Effiel Tower..

Maybe it was the budget, maybe the film was very rushed (it certainly felt that way), maybe the studio didn’t want high octane stunts and wanted it more “family friendly”… maybe Chan is getting very old and can’t do the same stunts that his fans expect from every movie he does — whatever the reason, the fact that Chan’s role is diminished and reduced is really depressing, annoying and frustrating – given that you’ve paid good movie to see a good action movie.

Sometimes I wonder if audiences will get bored of the family-safe action movies such as Die Hard 4.0 and Rush Hour 3… I hope that audiences will demand real action, and not this kind of template mess, which I feel does not add value to either action, or comedy movies.

Yes, “Rush Hour 3” is funny, there are some really good sequences, but asides from Tucker’s loud, egomaniac character; there is nothing to see in this movie, and I would advise you to watch it when it comes available to rent.

Overall: 3/10