I'm catching up a little on John Woo's oeuvre, so I thought I'd check out Once a Thief (1991). It stars Chow Yun Fat, along with Leslie Cheung and Cherie Chung.
It starts with the trio in France, light-heartedly stealing a painting while it is being transported by truck. It’s a bold, high-tech and successful robbery. It was going to be their last, but their adoptive father has one more heist for them. In the course of this caper, Fat is killed.
We get their back story in flashbacks - they were street kids, raised by a harsh criminal to steal for him. They also had a kindly cop as mentor, but stayed loyal to their father. As they grew up, Fat and Chung fell in love. Now with Fat dead, Cheung and Chung become lovers.
Now, I’m going to do some spoilering, but I suppose most people who would watch this, already have. At a tense moment, Fat turns up alive! Yes, alive and in a wheelchair. He’s reformed, just wants to be left alone, and seems to be happy that Cheung and Chung are together. He even offers to help out with the latest heist, providing a distraction by wheelchair disco dancing. I didn’t know what to think of this - has he become a Saintly Cripple trope?
Then, in the last act, it gets even weirder. As their father is getting ready to steal what his adopted kids have stolen, and maybe kill them, Fat jumps out of the wheelchair and starts fighting. It was a trick all along. Their cop mentor shows up, there’s a long, great fight, and the good guys all live happily ever after. And I am left shaking my head, going, “Wha?”
Overall, this is a pretty light, breezy movie. The leads are charming and fun, especially Fat. Without the twists, this would be a decent caper movie, almost a comedy. With the twists, it’s kind of a head scratcher. Glad I saw it.
Tuesday, June 26, 2018
Monday, June 25, 2018
Broadsides and Battle Droids
OK, I've seen Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005). That brings me up to date on the prequels.
You know, I'm not going to say much about this. It isn't a great movie, although it may be the best of the prequel trilogy. The tale of Anakin's fall and Vader's rise never worked for me - I couldn't see the psychology. But I do want to say one thing:
George Lucas does great space battles. There are several in this movie, and they mostly look like they could be gracing the cover of a paperback I really want to read. The scene with two cruisers passing at close range and exchanging broadsides was great - right out of a classic pirate movie. Of course, the tactic makes no sense in space, but who cares? It looks great.
I was about as excited over the big fight on the lava planet as I was over the similar fight in Jupiter Ascending. I don't remember much else about the movie. But I might even watch this again - maybe even the whole trilogy - just because of the visuals and space battles.
You know, I'm not going to say much about this. It isn't a great movie, although it may be the best of the prequel trilogy. The tale of Anakin's fall and Vader's rise never worked for me - I couldn't see the psychology. But I do want to say one thing:
George Lucas does great space battles. There are several in this movie, and they mostly look like they could be gracing the cover of a paperback I really want to read. The scene with two cruisers passing at close range and exchanging broadsides was great - right out of a classic pirate movie. Of course, the tactic makes no sense in space, but who cares? It looks great.
I was about as excited over the big fight on the lava planet as I was over the similar fight in Jupiter Ascending. I don't remember much else about the movie. But I might even watch this again - maybe even the whole trilogy - just because of the visuals and space battles.
Sunday, June 24, 2018
Action and Romance
The Villainess (2017) has an amazing opening: A long, no-cuts (OK, invisible cuts only) fight scene, where one fighter takes out countless opponents in an warehouse lab, filmed from her point of view, as if with a GoPro. Without spoilers, I can say that the movie ends with a similar bravura fight scene. So it’s kind of weird that there is a Korean rom-com in the middle.
The fighter/protagonist is Kim Ok-bin. She kills the last guy by wrapping a rope around his neck and jumping out a window, using him as her anchor. Then she passes out. She comes to in what seems to be a clinic, but when she tries to escape, she runs into a kitchen, a stage, a classroom... After they play a few mind games with her, she finds she is in a secret training camp for assassins. They tell her she is pregnant, and can live a happy life with her child if she will just do a few jobs for them.
She delivers her baby, a daughter, and becomes a covert assassin. She lives in a simple apartment, and meets her neighbor, a cute guy who is geeky yet insistent. But we know that he is the agent sent to keep her under watch. And here is the rom-com part. He is falling in love with her for real, but if he reveals his true identity, she will probably kill him. And she can do it.
We get Kim's history in pieces and flashbacks - she saw her father murdered, she was raised by gangsters and married one. When he is killed at their wedding, she goes berserk. Murders at weddings are a recurring theme here - is this common in Korean cinema?
The rom-com aspect is strange - they don't seem to be playing it for laughs so much as just regular drama. Maybe I'm reading too much into the form.
But the action scene are truly outstanding, in the modern style. The long tracking shot for action reminds me of Tony Jaa's Tom Yum Goong stair fight, the fights in The Raid, and of course the "one-take" fight in Atomic Blonde (because they both use some of the same tricks to cover up cuts). It's brutal, but beautiful.
The fighter/protagonist is Kim Ok-bin. She kills the last guy by wrapping a rope around his neck and jumping out a window, using him as her anchor. Then she passes out. She comes to in what seems to be a clinic, but when she tries to escape, she runs into a kitchen, a stage, a classroom... After they play a few mind games with her, she finds she is in a secret training camp for assassins. They tell her she is pregnant, and can live a happy life with her child if she will just do a few jobs for them.
She delivers her baby, a daughter, and becomes a covert assassin. She lives in a simple apartment, and meets her neighbor, a cute guy who is geeky yet insistent. But we know that he is the agent sent to keep her under watch. And here is the rom-com part. He is falling in love with her for real, but if he reveals his true identity, she will probably kill him. And she can do it.
We get Kim's history in pieces and flashbacks - she saw her father murdered, she was raised by gangsters and married one. When he is killed at their wedding, she goes berserk. Murders at weddings are a recurring theme here - is this common in Korean cinema?
The rom-com aspect is strange - they don't seem to be playing it for laughs so much as just regular drama. Maybe I'm reading too much into the form.
But the action scene are truly outstanding, in the modern style. The long tracking shot for action reminds me of Tony Jaa's Tom Yum Goong stair fight, the fights in The Raid, and of course the "one-take" fight in Atomic Blonde (because they both use some of the same tricks to cover up cuts). It's brutal, but beautiful.
Monday, June 18, 2018
Mexican Getaway
The Getaway (1972) is a Paul Newman vehicle. Ms. Spenser took a pass, so I figured I'd watch, and if there were a lot of hot muscle cars, I'd watch it with her later.
It starts with Newman in prison, going crazy. He is denied parole. His girl Ali McGraw visits him, and he tells her he wants to get out. She goes to a connected business man and boom, his parole comes through. Now he is out, but he owes the boss a job - knock over a little bank in Texas. Of course, that goes wrong, someone gets shot, but McGraw and Newman get away with half a million.
When they take it to the businessman to get their cut, he tells Newman that it was a setup from the start, and tells McGraw to go ahead and shoot Newman. But she shoots the businessman - which Newman likes better than the alternative, but still thinks is pretty troublesome. So now they are running from the police and the mob.
They steal a car, then find out that their names and faces are all over the news. All hands are against them, their old friends want them or the money, and they need to get to Mexico.
Now, this is a Sam Peckinpah movie, with a script by Walter Hill from a story by Jim Thompson. So you can imagine how grim and tough this is. Also, it's kind of aimless - at one point, McGraw is putting the money in a train station locker and a random grifter boosts it. Newman spots him, and chases him to a train, then loses him, then finds him again, etc. This turns out to be just a tense digression, when Newman comes back to McGraw with the money.
Also, there weren't a lot of hot car chases, mostly just wrecks involving wrecks. And most disappointingly - SPOILER - they get to Mexico safely. For such a gritty, violent, downbeat movie, this just seems weird.
It starts with Newman in prison, going crazy. He is denied parole. His girl Ali McGraw visits him, and he tells her he wants to get out. She goes to a connected business man and boom, his parole comes through. Now he is out, but he owes the boss a job - knock over a little bank in Texas. Of course, that goes wrong, someone gets shot, but McGraw and Newman get away with half a million.
When they take it to the businessman to get their cut, he tells Newman that it was a setup from the start, and tells McGraw to go ahead and shoot Newman. But she shoots the businessman - which Newman likes better than the alternative, but still thinks is pretty troublesome. So now they are running from the police and the mob.
They steal a car, then find out that their names and faces are all over the news. All hands are against them, their old friends want them or the money, and they need to get to Mexico.
Now, this is a Sam Peckinpah movie, with a script by Walter Hill from a story by Jim Thompson. So you can imagine how grim and tough this is. Also, it's kind of aimless - at one point, McGraw is putting the money in a train station locker and a random grifter boosts it. Newman spots him, and chases him to a train, then loses him, then finds him again, etc. This turns out to be just a tense digression, when Newman comes back to McGraw with the money.
Also, there weren't a lot of hot car chases, mostly just wrecks involving wrecks. And most disappointingly - SPOILER - they get to Mexico safely. For such a gritty, violent, downbeat movie, this just seems weird.
Thursday, June 14, 2018
Middling Michelle
The martial arts fest continues with Magnificent Warriors (1987), starring my favorite female martial arts star, Michelle Yeoh.
The time is during the Japanese invasion of Manchuria. Yeoh is a pilot and adventurer, who flies into a remote town to extract the headman, who is fighting for the resistance. She quickly runs into Richard Ng, a comic relief character actor seen in the Lucky Stars movies. He is a drifter and a grifter, but she thinks he is her contact. We eventually meet her contact, a real secret agent. When they find the headman, he doesn't want to be extracted - he wants to make sure the Japanese don't build the poison gas factory they have planned for the town.
Because of her period flight jacket and bullwhip weapon, you will see Yeoh as something of an Indiana Jones figure. But mostly, she is just herself - a beautiful, kickass woman. The action is pretty much the whole story, with bullwhip, rope dagger, machine gun, and dynamite.
But this is pretty middling Michelle Yeoh - only her fifth role, five years before Heroic Trio. Also, the sets burned down before shooting, so the look was quite a bit cheaper than planned. But it has Yeoh, and that makes up for a lot.
The time is during the Japanese invasion of Manchuria. Yeoh is a pilot and adventurer, who flies into a remote town to extract the headman, who is fighting for the resistance. She quickly runs into Richard Ng, a comic relief character actor seen in the Lucky Stars movies. He is a drifter and a grifter, but she thinks he is her contact. We eventually meet her contact, a real secret agent. When they find the headman, he doesn't want to be extracted - he wants to make sure the Japanese don't build the poison gas factory they have planned for the town.
Because of her period flight jacket and bullwhip weapon, you will see Yeoh as something of an Indiana Jones figure. But mostly, she is just herself - a beautiful, kickass woman. The action is pretty much the whole story, with bullwhip, rope dagger, machine gun, and dynamite.
But this is pretty middling Michelle Yeoh - only her fifth role, five years before Heroic Trio. Also, the sets burned down before shooting, so the look was quite a bit cheaper than planned. But it has Yeoh, and that makes up for a lot.
Mid-level Chan
Ms. Spenser is off for a little while, so I'm watching "guy" movies, mostly martial arts flicks, because she doesn't care for them. First up, a Jackie Chan racing movie, Thunderbolt (1995).
Jackie is a junkyard mechanic and racecar driver who commandeers a reporter's car (with her in it) to help the Hong Kong police catch a street racer. It turns out that the driver is a Euro-trash criminal, but his crooked lawyer gets him sprung. He revenges himself on Jackie by trashing his junkyard and kidnapping his two sisters. Then he offers to release them if Jackie will race him in Japan.
This is not one of his best, or worst, films. He was nursing an injury from Rumble in the Bronx, so the fighting is a little lower key, with racing filling in. Also, when the bad guys come to wreck the junkyard, Jackie does all right at first, but really gets put through the wringer. I don't think I like seeing him beaten so badly - it's almost realistic.
What I do like about Jackie Chan fights is that there is always something more than the fight moves - a theme, a style, a statement. There is a fight in a pachinko parlor that has the theme of Verticality - Jackie is always moving up a level, or feinting up and dropping down a level. He goes on top of the pachinko machines, goes up and down stairs, and finally uses some decorative ceiling thingies as trampolines. I don't know if he says, let's do something with level, or if it just flows like that, but I love it.
The racing isn't bad either. There starting chase at night in Hong Kong is pretty thrilling. The final race, maybe not so much. But there was a nice touch when Jackie crashes his car before the big race and Mitsubishi, his long time partner, comes through with a hot car and a supply of tires. It's just kinds of sweet.
Jackie is a junkyard mechanic and racecar driver who commandeers a reporter's car (with her in it) to help the Hong Kong police catch a street racer. It turns out that the driver is a Euro-trash criminal, but his crooked lawyer gets him sprung. He revenges himself on Jackie by trashing his junkyard and kidnapping his two sisters. Then he offers to release them if Jackie will race him in Japan.
This is not one of his best, or worst, films. He was nursing an injury from Rumble in the Bronx, so the fighting is a little lower key, with racing filling in. Also, when the bad guys come to wreck the junkyard, Jackie does all right at first, but really gets put through the wringer. I don't think I like seeing him beaten so badly - it's almost realistic.
What I do like about Jackie Chan fights is that there is always something more than the fight moves - a theme, a style, a statement. There is a fight in a pachinko parlor that has the theme of Verticality - Jackie is always moving up a level, or feinting up and dropping down a level. He goes on top of the pachinko machines, goes up and down stairs, and finally uses some decorative ceiling thingies as trampolines. I don't know if he says, let's do something with level, or if it just flows like that, but I love it.
The racing isn't bad either. There starting chase at night in Hong Kong is pretty thrilling. The final race, maybe not so much. But there was a nice touch when Jackie crashes his car before the big race and Mitsubishi, his long time partner, comes through with a hot car and a supply of tires. It's just kinds of sweet.
Tuesday, June 12, 2018
The Greatest Show on Fire
You know, Ms. Spenser (I can't get used to calling her Dr.) says that I am evil and love making her watch terrible movies. But I like musicals, and I wanted to see Hugh Jackman sing and dance, so I queued up The Greatest Showman (2017).
It stars Jackman as P.T. Barnum, as he rises from orphaned tailor's apprentice to the greatest showman, by empowering/exploiting freaks. We were about 3-4 songs in when Ms. Spenser asked me again "Why do you hate me so much?" and my evil laughter rang hollow. Because as much as I was torturing her, I was only torturing myself. Because, aside from anything else you can say about this movie, the songs are TERRIBLE.
I don't know what this genre of music is called - it seems rooted on Broadway, but has just a touch of hip-hop and modern pop. It is everything I despise about Katy Perry, and Les Miz, and America's Got Talent, and Disney musicals not involving Lin Manuel Miranda, and I don't know what all, because I avoid it whenever I can. So I came to my senses, and we turned it off. The first movie we didn't watch all the way through since we started Netflix, I think.
Instead, we put on our new disk of Streets of Fire, the Walter Hill rock dystopia, starring Michael Pare (Eddie and the Cruisers) as the guy who comes to town because his ex-girl friend, rock singer Diane Lane, has been kidnapped by Willem Dafoe - wearing yellow rubber waders and wielding a sledgehammer. We also have Rick Moranis as the obnoxious agent who thinks he is Lane's boyfriend, and singer Amy Madigan as a soldier of fortune who just needed a job.
I had remembered Streets of Fire as kind of a misfire - also really confusing. It seems to be set in the 1950s or maybe the dystopian future, where it's always raining and nighttime. But this time through it seemed pretty straightforward. Also, I had remembered there being music, but I hadn't remembered how great it was - Ry Cooder doing the score, the Blasters doing 2 numbers on stage, and a fictional doo-wop group doing the hit, "I Can Dream About You." Ok, Michael Pare isn't that great a hero, but I can live with that.
So, about The Greatest Disappointment - it didn't seem like a bad movie. I felt something for Keala Settle, the bearded lady, who has a song about acceptance for freaks. But I just can't take that style of music. Also, the dancing was crap, mostly just wandering around. If you like it, I apologize. But mostly I apologize to Ms. Spenser, and hope she someday forgives me.
It stars Jackman as P.T. Barnum, as he rises from orphaned tailor's apprentice to the greatest showman, by empowering/exploiting freaks. We were about 3-4 songs in when Ms. Spenser asked me again "Why do you hate me so much?" and my evil laughter rang hollow. Because as much as I was torturing her, I was only torturing myself. Because, aside from anything else you can say about this movie, the songs are TERRIBLE.
I don't know what this genre of music is called - it seems rooted on Broadway, but has just a touch of hip-hop and modern pop. It is everything I despise about Katy Perry, and Les Miz, and America's Got Talent, and Disney musicals not involving Lin Manuel Miranda, and I don't know what all, because I avoid it whenever I can. So I came to my senses, and we turned it off. The first movie we didn't watch all the way through since we started Netflix, I think.
Instead, we put on our new disk of Streets of Fire, the Walter Hill rock dystopia, starring Michael Pare (Eddie and the Cruisers) as the guy who comes to town because his ex-girl friend, rock singer Diane Lane, has been kidnapped by Willem Dafoe - wearing yellow rubber waders and wielding a sledgehammer. We also have Rick Moranis as the obnoxious agent who thinks he is Lane's boyfriend, and singer Amy Madigan as a soldier of fortune who just needed a job.
I had remembered Streets of Fire as kind of a misfire - also really confusing. It seems to be set in the 1950s or maybe the dystopian future, where it's always raining and nighttime. But this time through it seemed pretty straightforward. Also, I had remembered there being music, but I hadn't remembered how great it was - Ry Cooder doing the score, the Blasters doing 2 numbers on stage, and a fictional doo-wop group doing the hit, "I Can Dream About You." Ok, Michael Pare isn't that great a hero, but I can live with that.
So, about The Greatest Disappointment - it didn't seem like a bad movie. I felt something for Keala Settle, the bearded lady, who has a song about acceptance for freaks. But I just can't take that style of music. Also, the dancing was crap, mostly just wandering around. If you like it, I apologize. But mostly I apologize to Ms. Spenser, and hope she someday forgives me.
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