Dragons All the Way Down

Just a quick note on Dragon Fist (1979), a Jackie Chan movie that Amazon Prime suggested the we "finish watching" = we auto-started this and you didn't watch it - why?

Anyway, Jackie is a student at a good martial arts studio, but another teacher shows up to challenge the master. This teacher beats master so badly that he dies. So Jackie takes his master's wife and daughter to go get revenge.

But when he gets to the other teacher's school, he apologizes sincerely, and reveals that he has cut off his own leg as penance. Jackie isn't really satisfied, but what can he do? Fight a one-legged amn?

So Jackie settles in with his late master's family. To take care of them, he goes to work for another master, and gets into the war between this guy and another master. When he figures out who the bad guys are, it might be too late.

This is a relatively early film for Jackie Chan. It's a bit on the dark side, with no real good guys once the master is killed. There aren't any jokes or funny stunts or fights. Some of the fights seem a little weak, although Jackie delivers throughout. Director Lo Wei is pretty influential (Fists of Fury), but I don't this is one of his best. It doesn't use Jackie to his best advantage. But still fun 

All for One

I'm a sucker for a Three Musketeers movie, so I was pretty psyched for the recent French version: The Three Musketeers: D’Artagnan (2023).

I should give a quick plot synopsis, but it's pretty much the story that you know. I also won't be listing the cast, because I don't recognize a single actor, except Vincent Cassel as Athos and Eva Green as Milady. A few points of interest:

• In the first scene where D'Artagnan fights in the inn courtyard, he is shot and left for dead, and has to crawl out of his shallow grave. The whole fight takes place in a rainstorm, and there is a lot of mud.
• Porthos tries to seduce D'Artagnan - yes, he swings both ways, sometimes with Aramis (?).
• There was a bit more Cmdr. Treville in this one - he even fights with the Musketeers sometimes. 
• It ends on a cliffhanger, with Constance abducted and D'Artagnan knocked out.

This was a decent swashbuckler, with some nice modern touches. I thought the amount of dirt, mud, and brown clothing a little excessive. But mostly I found it a little generic. Athos was olde than the others,  but Aramis isn't particularly handsome and Porthos wasn't that portly. D'Artagnan didn't have a lot of character either. Even Milady was a bit plain. 

A lot of the time, I found myself comparing this to the Richard Lester version, which was much more vivid, with stronger characters and clearer motivations. Maybe the problem was that I was watching in translation, and missing some of the subtleties. Maybe this just wasn't my style. 

But I'll probably watch the sequel. 

Ghost Face

This was a random pick Ghost Killer (2024) - Japanese action with a comedy twist.

It starts with a fight in an alley - four against one, Masanori Mimoto, in fast, almost silent hand to hand combat. Mimoto has defeated the four when he is shot.

Then we meet Akari Takashi, an ordinary college girl who works in a restaurant and has terrible dates with "influencers". On her way home one day, she notices a shell casing and picks it up. It came from the bullet that killed Mimoto in the opening. 

When she gets home, she meets her friend Ayaka Higashino, whose boyfriend has been knocking her around. When they go inside, she sees Mimoto in the apartment and freaks out. But Higashino can't see him - he's a ghost. It appears that he can't be released from the mortal coil until he can avenge himself. And he will need her help.

First, he shows her that he can help her. It turns out that he can take over her body and use his excellent fighting skills to help her beat up bullies like Higashino's boyfriend. He was a paid killer for an "antisocial organization". She doesn't like the association, but it does turn out to be handy. 

There are two things going for this movie. First is the fight choreography, by directort Kensuke Sonomoto, who seems to be getting a good name in the action genre, along with Yugo Sakamoto, who wrote this. The second is the "average college girl" dropped into the yakuza milieu. There are some cute scenes where she is punching someone out (under ghost control), and complaining about how much it hurts her fists. 

I enjoyed this, although I'm not sure how well they executed on this second part. Not sure they have the Japanese teen girl thing completely figured out. Or maybe it's me that's wrong. But the action was flawless. I'll definitely look up a few more of their films. 

Everyone Knows It's Windy

After watching Spinal Tap II, we had an urge to watch A Mighty Wind (2003). We mainly wanted to refresh our memory and then watch the commentary track.

This is a Christopher Guest mockumentaty, much in the style of Spinal Tap. A great manager of folk acts has died, and his son (Bob Balaban) wants to put on a memorial concert with his biggest bands: The Folksmen, The Main Street Singers, and of course, Mitch and Mickey. 

The Folksmen are Harry Shearer, Michael McKean, and Christoper Guest (same lineup as Spinal Tap). They are basically the Kingston Trio, three preppy guys singing train songs, phony calypso and of course, songs of the Spanish Civil War. 

The New Main Street Singers are basically the New Christie Minstrels, and have a similar complicated back story. The original band was a neuf-tet, a combo of a quartet and a quintet. The reformed around the one surviving member, and the new group includes a long-time fan, an ex-porn star, now witch, and Parker Posey, daughter of a founding member, taken in off the streets. Their sound is peppy and polished. 

Then there's Mitch (Eugene Levy) and Mickey (Catherine O'Hara), a romantic duet who had broken up years ago. I'm reminded of Richard and Linda Thompson, but more so to Ian and Sylvia. My reason: Mickey and Silvia (Love is Strange) x Ian and Silvia (Four Strong Winds) = Mitch and Mickey. After the breakup, Mickey settled down, married an catheter salesman and model train enthusiast. Mitch went insane - but he's doing much better now. He can koind of talk coherently and everything. 

Their big song, A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow, has them kiss at the last chorus. But will they on the night, or will they leave the audience hanging? Or will Mitch even show up?

Now, I was alive and a fan during the big Folk Music Scare of the 60s. I have continued to be, and it's plain that these guys love the milieu as much as me, or anyone. They get so many little details right. For example, when they are interviewing O'Hara as Mickey, the camera holds on her twisting the clunky rings on her hands. This could just be a character beat, but it also reminded me of Joan Baez, whose partnership with Bob Dylan was famously fraught. Just adding another layer. 

The music, by the way, was great - and the actors played their instruments and sang their own songs. In fact, they sang them live on film, and according to the commentary, some scenes used the first take. The members practiced alone, then came together to play the song, and that's what was used. Mitch and Mickey's Next to You is a particularly sweet song. 

This isn't even to mention Fred Willard as a lame ex-kid star, or Jennifer Coolidge as ... it's hard to say what she is. And many more great improvisors in tiny scenes.

A mighty good film. 

You Know, For Kids

The Blank Check podcast did their Coen Brothers series a while ago. But I still hadn't rewatched The Hudsucker Proxy (1994), and had the urge, so pulled it out.

It is set in New York, 1958. Tim Robbins is a recent college graduate from Muncie, Indiana. He has come to New York to find work, but everything on offer requires experience. But fate, and the city wind, blows an ad for a mailroom job at Hudsucker Industries. He is hired and introduced to the chaotic, rule-bound, cut-throat world of the Hudsucker mailroom. 

Meanwhile, in the boardroom at the top of the Hudsucker Building, the annual report shows that the company is thriving in all areas. But the chairman and founder takes this opportunity to climb up on the conference table, take a long running start, and jump through the window to his death. 

One of the directors, Paul Newman, realizes that the founders shares will be sold to the public in a months time. The board will lose control of the company - unless they can depress the stock price by enough so that they can buy up the shares. All they need is a patsy - a figurehead so dopey it will scare off investors.

While the board is brainstorming nincompoops, Robbins is tasked with delivering a Blue Letter - a top-priority communication between board members to be delivered directly into Mr. Newman's hand. But when he gets to see Newman, instead of delivering the letter, he shows him his big idea: a sketch of a circle. "You know, for the kids." Newman has found his patsy, or proxy. 

So Robbins becomes the President of Hudsucker Industries. The press is puzzled - girl reporter Jennifer Jason Leigh thinks he's a phony, just pretending to be an idiot. She goes undercover as another Muncie girl, looking for a chance to get ahead. It's right out of Mr. Deeds Goes to Town. 

Leigh is the hero of this movie for me. She does a brilliant Katherine Hepburn mid-Atlantic accent, while talking thirteen to the dozen in snappy patter. The newsroom scenes with buddy Bruce Campbell and editor John Mahoney are very faithful to the screwball comedies this is clearly referencing. I've mentioned Mr. Deeds, but you get plenty of His Girl Friday, and even a touch of The Lady Eve. I've heard that the Coens' direction was mostly, "Faster."

So this was a lot of fun, although maybe Robbins could have been a little less clueless. I'd call it lesser Coen, which just shows how good their films are. 

Chin Chin

As I mentioned, Ms. Spenser visited Ischia, Italy, which inspired us to watch The Talented Mr. Ripley. The movie was filmed partly in Ischia, which they called "Mongibella". Coincidentally, a local shop had an sale on some Italian blood orange juice, brand name Mongibella. So I bought some, and made a simple cocktail:

Mongibella

3-4 oz. blood orange juice

2 oz. gin

Mix in a highball glass with ice. Add

1 dollop of pomegranate molasses (can sub grenadine)

Top with sparkling water

Wrong Way

I've mentioned the Goes Wrong Show before, but it was only on a trip to NYC that I found there's a Broadway verion. 

And we just found Peter Pan Goes Wrong (2016).

The concept is pretty simple. An amateur theatrical troupe puts on a play and it goes wrong. In this case, a Christmas presentation of Peter pan, David Suchet narrating. But it isn't a pantomime ("Oh, yes it is!", "Oh, no it isn't!") Some of the things going wrong are obvious: the flight harnesses, for example. Everyone plays several parts, and the costume changes don't always work. Props fail. One actor is tongue tied, and one has a large headset so he can be fed lines. 

Some are more unexpected. Tinkerbell gets electrocuted by her light costume (the audience believes in fairies, so she gets better). Also, the actor playing Pan is put out of commission by a harness failure, leading to almost everyone taking a turn. 

But Pan lives, and so does the girl crushed in a prop. And the kid playing the crocodile, who no one likes, gets to save the day. And when David Suchet is crushed, the tongue tied girl reads the final monologue successfully. It's a Christmas miracle. 

Next time we're in NYC, we'll try for tickets.