JackDevoe Reviews

Ultraviolet (2006)

All about Milla Jovovich part 3!

[10/10 · 3 March 2006]

I'm one of the few people who liked the RESIDENT EVIL films, and I was expected an amped up version of what I saw Milla do in the past. 2 years, I've waited for this continuation of Gun-Kata and the results are pleasing.

The story is easy to follow and has only one plot, Milla protects a child and has to overthrow the corrupt government. It's nothing new, but it moves quickly, and there are great action scenes ahead.

Kurt Wimmer, Mike Smith and Hiro Koda choreographed some very unique action scenes that feature Milla Jovovich doing what Christian Bale did in EQUILIBRIUM just as well, and employing a lot of meleé weapons work and dodging her enemies attacks so that they kill each other instead. It was like watching violent dance sequences.

Kurt Wimmer didn't set out to make a "masterpiece." He just wanted to showcase everything that he's a fan of. As a result, we got a cool looking action packed movie.

9 out of 10

King Arthur (2004)

Awesome knight movie. Negative reviews are wrong!

[10/10 · 4 January 2005]

I watched the director's cut of KING ARTHUR, so I can't compare it to the PG-13 version. I purposely held off seeing it until the director's cut came out because I didn't want to see a choppy movie with missing scenes.

I am so glad I held off. I can't believe how much hate is directed towards this film. THe dialog is not "painful" or "sickening." It's actually very good. Not profound, but the characters get their points across, and what they say is meaningful.

One of the things I liked about the movie is how much social relevance it holds today. Arthur and the knights serve religious fanatics who want to rule everything, and they think God is on their side. Sounds very familiar to certain people. It's great to see the Knights of the Round table show how much they are against greed and conformism.

Clive Owen is such a cool King Arthur. Normally, this would be a generic role, but he seems to make Hollywood roles more appealing with his rough voice and rugged stare. I wish that more focus was shown for him. (He's the title of the movie!) THe movie opens up with Lancelot joining the Knights, and when it came to the action scenes, other characters seemed to get more focus than Clive. It must have been easy to get confused on who to focus more on: Lance or Art? They are both cool people.

Stellen Skarsgard was also great. He also had a generic part, but did cool things with it. He just stood there looking terrifying, and when it was time for him to go to action, he wouldn't do a fancy pose or any fighting stance. He would just plant himself into the ground, and be so intimidating. He used basic sword techniques, and then just pull surprise moves out of nowhere.

The action scenes were awesome. I could see them pretty clearly, and the the choreography was great. I hate thinking of how they looked as PG-13 scenes. Keira Knightly who looks like such a frail woman looks amazing. She handle a Bow and arrow almost as good as Legolas, and she totally handles herself in closed quartered combat. (CQC) the whole cast does. Each Knight had great distinctive fighting styles, and it was simply cool.

Ignore the negative reviews and whoever hated this movie, too bad. Get the Diector's Cut DVD like I have.

U.S. Seals II (2001 Video)

Awesome fight choreography! Why do so many people hate this?

[8/10 · 17 January 2004]

I'm surprised at the number of people who have bashed this movie to pieces. They base their opinions off of logic too, which is completely inappropriate for this type of movie. Yes, the script is badly written, there are a lot of factual errors, this isn't an accurate portrayal of SEAL type stuff, yes all that is obvious.

The reason why this movie exists is to present Hong Kong style action to America. Former Jackie Chan Stunt Team member, Andy Cheng designs some of the best fight scenes in recent years. While CHARLIE'S ANGELS: FULL THROTTLE, TOMB RAIDER 2, and THE MUSKETEER suffer from having no sense of action, US SEALS knows how to deliver the goods. It's interesting to note how a lot of weapon-work was employed in the action scenes. I was expecting more hand to hand style combat. The movie takes a while to get going, but the fights are well worth waiting for. Especially in a scene where the good guys are confronted by 100 henchmen, and have to fight all of them off. It was reminiscent of the big action sequence in TAI-CHI MASTER (1993).

The director Issac Florentine is one of the few people working in the video market who does a good job. Unlike a lot of other directors, he takes pride in his job, and does his best to make cool movies. (COLD HARVEST and SPECIAL FORCES)

It's safe to say though, that this movie is only meant for people who like lots of cool action. Everyone else is better off staying away.

Belly of the Beast (2003 Video)

I can't believe this was a cool movie!

[31 December 2003]

After watching Steve's last two movies, THE FOREIGNER and OUT FOR A KILL, I had no hope for this one. I've openly expressed how BELLY was going to be horrible. I'm now wishing that I bit my own tongue. I guess since I had such animosity about how this film would turn out, it helped me enjoy it more.

Steven Segal is in a much finer form. Even though he is occasionally doubled a few times in the action scenes, he does as much of the action as possible, and looks good doing it. Ace action director, Ching Sui-Tung made him look good. Watching Segal do all his signature Aikido (Mixed in with Kung-Fu) moves provided a bit of nostalgia, this combined with Ching Sui-Tung's camera work and choreography was very nice. BELLY OF THE BEAST seemed to be some generic action film that some other director wouldn't have been able to save, but then I was reminded of how creative Ching Sui-Tung is.

NAKED WEAPON, his previous directorial effort is a movie I liked only because the action scenes were hyperkinetic, over-the-top, fun. The rest of that movie though featured bad acting and diologue, and a worse script. BELLY manages to improve in these areas. No, the movie won't win an Oscar for anything, but the presentation is good. We're also treated to a subplot where Segal's partner Byron Mann is a former CIA agent who accidently killed a woman holding her baby during a shoot-out. He feels horrible, and becomes a monk in Thailand to atone for his actions. Steven also feels bad for not backing him up. The two actors manage to have pretty good interaction, which is a rarity in Segal films.

One of the villains is Tom Wu who was awesome. He's excellent in Muy Thai Kickboxing, and a very compotent actor. He should deffinately be added to the list of promising new action stars.

OUT FOR A KILL and THE FOREIGNER were movies I didn't like at all because the scripts, acting, dialogue, and directing were very bad. The action scenes suffered from poor editing, and Segal being too out of shape to perform well. I'm guessing he had enough time to practice his martial arts in between movies, and try to work out more. For some reason though, Steve has a love interest who's young enough to be his daughter. I didn't think they worked as a couple, and they even have a love scene (Thankfully inexplicit.) That poor girl.

Anyways, I recommend this movie. If this is the direction Steve's career is going, I'm all for it.

8 out of 10

Out for a Kill (2003 Video)

Potential to be Seagal's 2and comeback, but not very good

[3/10 · 21 August 2003]

This movie is better than THE FOREIGNER and HALF PAST DEAD, but that doesn't mean it brings back memories of ABOVE THE LAW. The movie is very inexpensive looking. Despite that fact, director Michael Oblowitz insisted on doing effects that wouldn't look good. There was a scene where the two DEA agents tracking Seagal down look up in the sky with binoculars to see him flying a plane. The background the two actors are standing in front of is obviously fake. That's really pathetic when a movie's budget is so low, that the filmakers can't afford to shoot a simple outdoor scene. Obviously fake backgrounds pop up throughout the whole movie, and it's distracting.

Oblowitz's earlier film, THE BREED utilized fake backgrounds very well. That was a low budget film that made great use of it's low budget despite having bad acting and action scenes. With this movie, Oblowitz tries to make a direct-to-video action movie look arty, but it just doesn't work. It's obvious that a lot of Hong Kong talent was involved in this movie, but they wee not put to very good use. The villains spend more time sitting around a table talking about what they're gonna do that actually doing something. They pretty much wait for Seagal to kill them. In the early days, it was great seeing Steve bust out with his Aikido moves on people.

One thing that bothers me about him though is that he's always the "invincible" hero. He'll probably get punched once or twice or get a minor wound, but otherwise his oponents pose very little threat to him. There's no joy in watching a hero accomplish his goals when he has nothing challenging to face. We just watch a guy walk from the start to the finish line without anything bad getting in his way.(Then again, in his movies a friend or loved one will have died and it hurts Steven on the inside. Even though never looks sad about it.) Bruce Willis or Jet Li are more sympathetic heroes because they work to get to their goals. They overcome great challenges.

Sometimes Steve's Aikido mixed in well with the Kung Fu in this movie. But the bad guys ultimately look more talented than him. Steve has this one fight scene with a Monkey Kung Fu fighter. He is doing all these wire moves all over the place while Steve is stuck with having to stand in one spot doing nothing spectacular. There was a shot where Steve actually had to be doubled because he couldn't keep up with his opponent. The Monkey fighter also had to work differently so that it would look like Seagal could handle him. It didn't look convincing. There was a similair problem in a swordfight scene with Steve against two monks. The rest of the action though, it filmed in dark rooms with lots of close-ups so it's pointless to talk about it.

The other cast members don't fare too well either. The Asian gangsters don't look like they like being in this movie. That added on to the impression that they were waiting to die. Michelle Goh as one of the DEA agents was kind of weak. I could see her being a very good actress in a movie with good material but they way she dilivered bad lines like "I'll just wait while you stick that needle in Baldy's skull" was cringe inducing.

I can't wait to see what BELLY OF THE BEAST, UNLEASHED, and YAKUZA are gonna be like. If it's true that guys like Ching Siu Tung, Ringo Lam, Donnie Yen, and Corey Yuen are invovled in those films, it would be interesting to see how they work with Steven Seagal.

Oh yeah, there was a part when Steven said "hello" in Chinese, but the subtitle translated it into "A**hole." ???!!

3 out of 10

Lessons for an Assassin (2003)

A heads up to people who like finding lost gems.

[4/10 · 13 August 2003]

It was easy for me to think that a movie I've never heard of starring Shannon Lee with action choreography by Koichi Sakamoto would be cool. I wasn't expecting much. I was fine with an awful plot as long as the action was cool. But this IS a very bad film. It is extrmely slow moving, and there wasn't much reason to like Richard Vitalli who turned out ot be the star instead of Shannon. He is a very stupid character in this movie. It's amazing to see how he drastically changes through the course of the film. I realize it was supposed to be part of his character to be some lazy and incompotent man who becomes cool ala FEMME NIKITA, but it wasn't enjoyable here. Shannon has the best lines in the movie. She did her best to shine and to make this movie watchable. But the material she has to work with is so awful, that it hurts her performance. Seeing her fight again was great, but she had to go against very stupid stunt men who did not know how to fight. Koichi couldn't direct the action the way he usually does (DRIVE) because of this same problem. He didn't even have the rest of the Alpha Stunt Team with him. Action directors can't direct action by themselves. They have to have a team of other people. This is why guys like Yuen Woo Ping and Sammo Hung are so good at it.

This is an unfortunate film that shows that the people involved must have needed money. Shannon Lee showed she had great potential to be an action star with ENTER THE EAGLES. This is not a good way to follow that movie up. Stick with that movie and DRIVE for real good action.

Gigli (2003)

The only positive review of this movie

[8/10 · 8 August 2003]

Maybe there's 2 other people who like this movie, but oh well. ANyways, what's up with all the negative reviews and the other horrible things that have happened because of the reaction this movie received? From beginning to end, I though GIGLI was very enjoyable, well acted, well written with great diologue, and had a good pace.

Ben Affleck was having a good time with his role. Some people may say he doesn't have that tough guy persona, but he showed it really well here. Weather he was being a wisecracker or getting angry, he put in a great performance. Jennifer Lopez was excellent as Ricki. This is her best role. (That might not sound right to many people out there, but I mean it, and it's saying a lot.) Her delivery of her lines was great. And of course she and Ben had very very good chemestry. It is hard to beleive that they weren't in love at the time of this film. It was kind of like watching Tom Cruise and Penelope Cruz in VANILLA SKY where you could see both actors falling for each other. Such a thing was a joy to watch.

The movie had the feeling of GET SHORTY or OUT OF SIGHT with it's quirkyness. Even something of a HUDSON HAWK feel. (Another horribly blasted movie which was really a great film. Maybe these two have something in common.) Christopher Walken and Al Pacino come in to deliver their own monologues. I always love watching Chris act. He is so funny. Al was his usual self, and I never get tired of his acting.

I don't know what it is that people hate about this movie. Maybe it's because too many people are offended by how much Ben and Jenn are given so much attention because of their real life relationship. I really don't know what that has to do with hating a movie. Maybe it's because people expected something big?

Like what?

It's really sad that few people will be able to see into this film as being entertaining. Martin Brest hasn't directed a movie in 5 years. (MEET JOE BLACK, A very underrated film) I get the feeling that he won't be able to direct another movie for a long time. He is a very good director. The producer, Joe Roth is saying the movie's failure is his fault too, so that's a sign that Martin will be blacklisted because of this. What kind of injustice is that? Ben and Jenn will probably have to apologize about this movie too. It's a good thing they already have other movies coming out, or else their careers could be seriously hurt.

ATTENTION ALL OPEN MINDED PEOPLE: This isn't the best movie of the year,

but there really is a good movie in here.

8 out of 10

Jackie Chan: My Stunts (1999 Video)

Very informative, but it's hard to respect Jackie

[24 July 2003]

I learned a lot about the film making techniques in this documentary. Jackie's use of props and camera angles is very clever. But Jackie does seem to pat himself on the back too much.

When he talks about the stuntmen who were seriously hurt in the bus sequence of POLICE STORY, he refers to it in a joking manner. I'm pretty sure those men didn't appreciate being crippled and made fun of.

The scene where Jackie is coreographing Ron Smoorenberg in WHO AM I is insulting. Somehow, it's a common practice in Hong Kong to double actors not because of saftey concerns or because an actor can't do a move, but because an actor can not perform the way the coreographer wants them to perform. Ron was very capable of doing his own action in WHO AM I, but when Jackie was directign his fight with him, he was getting mad at him for not following his rythym. People may say that Ron was the one not keeping up with Jackie, but the fact was that Jackie could not keep up with Ron. As a martial artist, it's a very bad thing if you can't keep up with an opponent's movements, and that reflects badly on Jackie. Rather than work with Ron's skills and limitations, Jackie had him doubled by Bradley James Allen. It seemed pointless to hire Ron for WHO AM I if he was just going ot be doubled for scenes he could easily pulled off, but Jackie showed off how selfish he is in this segment.

Yuen Biao, Jackie's longtime friend in Peking Opera and HK cinema is much more deserving of Jackie's success. He is a better actor, more charming, a better martial artist, and a better stuntman. If only he was willing to learn English, he could be much bigger in the US.

Ultimate Fights from the Movies (2002 Video)

Good effort. A little more thought would be better.

[19 July 2003]

It was a great idea to have a DVD with a bunch of fight scenes in it. However, that was the only thing wrong with this DVD. It seems as if the makers just picked out fight scenes from random films. Granted, they chose some great scenes, but I don't think they truly took the time to come up with the best movie fights. DRUNKEN MASTER 2 and FIST OF LEGEND definately belong here. But it was a shame that they only show a few minutes of these two fight scenes. Even BLACK MASK and the awesome THE KILLER suffer from this. It was embarassing to include that so called fight in "The Player's Club." That was a waste of space. Plus all the fight scenes except CROUCHING TIGER were in full frame, so they weren't even presented in their full glory. It would have been nice too if FIST OF LEGEND, DM2, BLACK MASK, THE KILLER, and RUMBLE IN THE BRONX could be presented in their original soundtracks.

The rest of the DVD is great. The audio commentary by James Lew and Tsui Hark (What was he doing here) was interesting to listen to. I also welcomed the documentary on "How to make a fight scene." One of these days, a better compilation DVD will be made.

Stripperella (2003–2004)

Almost like the animated CLERKS, Very welcome!

[10 July 2003]

I was afraid this would be like VIP, only animated. But this is actually a quality show. There is a wonderful mix of trash, CLERKS humor, BATMAN-like art, action, and it's just fun. Pam puts on her best performance here. I wish BARB WIRE was as good as this show. Stan Lee's influence is wonderful too. He even has a small role in the show as an isolated scientist who invents object that already exist. LOL

Really fun show. I watch it all the time. 8/10

Shanghai Shanghai (1990)

A serious update on this gem

[8/10 · 23 March 2003]

It's amazing to find these films which sadly end up getting lost in the sea of other HK films. This movie certainly does not deserve to be overlooked. SHANGHAI, SHANGHAI has great production values. The location shooting in Shanghai was really nice. Seeing Yuen Biao as the star again is always welcomed. Seeing how he can hold a movie together like he did in RIGHTING WRONGS and ICEMAN COMMETH, how much more proof do we need that he should be one of today's leading men in film? (Sammo Hung says that Yuen isn't willing to learn English, which is why we haven't seen him in an American film.) The cast is great. Yuen Biao becomes friends with an acrobatic troupe, and they all have great chemestry together. He also performs well with George Lam who plays his brother. Sammo Hung also stars as the movie's villain. He acts his part real well. At first he only seems to be ruthless as he's only cruel to the other bad men in the movie, but then it becomes apparant that he doesn't care for the people of Shanghai, and is only interested in building his already huge empire. A real selling point for this movie was Anita Mui. She was excelent. She has such charm and elegance, and her scenes with George Lam who's also her love interest are nice to watch. She even has two classic scenes in which she has a tango dance with Yuen Biao which is really a fight scene. Then in the finale, we see he take on a group of henchmen in wonderful fashion. She looked better here than she did in MY FATHER IS A HERO and THE HEROIC TRIO. Anita was doing the majority of her own fighting, and moved gracefully. To add on to the finale was the one on one with Yuen Biao and Sammo Hung. I'm sure these two have had many fight scenes with each other before, but this one is top notch. Excelent choreography. The action may not come in bucketloads, but when the scenes do occur, it's worth the price of the movie, and the good acting and story telling back it up nicely.

8 out of 10

The Princess Blade (2001)

Great movie, but the doubling was awful.

[15 March 2003]

When I saw the preview to this movie, I was blown away, however, it's a rule with any movie that one should keep their expectations low before watching it, and that's what I did. Yumiko Shaku was really cool in her portrayal of Yuki. The acting was good all around. The sets were nice, and the camera techniques looked really interesting. The story was written just like a Samurai film. And of course, Donnie Yen's action choreography was a big plus. The only thing that was wrong with this movie though, was the continuous use of fight doubles. Yumiko only performs about 3 or 4 moves in this movie, and the rest of the time, she's doubled by a man. This ruined the whole illusion that she was a deadly fighter. Donnie Yen went on record to say that he wasn't totally pleased with the outcome of the film. He wanted to work a lot with the actors, but the producers didn't give him enough time to train them for the film. He ended up using his stunt team in place of the actors. It seems a bit odd that a film about Samurai would star a bunch of actors with no martial arts expirience. I beleive that if one is to make an action film, the actors should have already have previous expirience, or the actors should be trained to perform on camera like in THE MATRIX. The more I think of it, the fights were good, but not elaborative enough. Then there's and ending which I didn't like. This would have been a much better film if Yumiko did the majority of her own fighting. (As well as the other actors) There is a sequel comming out soon, so maybe that'll make up for the ending and the bad doubling. Yumiko may not have to depend so much on doubles this time.

5 out of 10

Broken Arrow (1996)

My first intro to Woo was great!

[10/10 · 14 March 2003]

I did not know who John Woo was when I first saw this movie in the theatres. But I loved this movie. I watched it four times on the big screen. And this was even before I knew that Woo's HK works and later films were twice a extravagant.

I've heard that Woo's fans didn't like this movie because it was too tame for him. (Limited double gun action and so forth) While I would have liked this movie even more if Woo went all out like in THE KILLER or HARD-BOILED, he showed that he doesn't need to depend on bullet ballet film making to create cool action scenes. Relying on a "gimmick" is what kills some film makers, and Woo is a man who doesn't need to rely on his creation. (WINDTALKERS is another film that doesn't need HK styled action to look good) I was glad that his other traits were able to go on film. The standoff scene with Christian Slater and Samantha Mathis where he has the gun and she has a knife was put to great effect. And even though it seems odd that a park ranger would know a thing or two about combat, it made sense for Mathis' character since she was that type of "actiony" person. (I'd be fighting and shooting it out if I were a park ranger.) The use of slow motion was cool too. All of the sequences of things blowing up were awesome, and didn't rely on CGI as movies of today do. (Even though some of them use it correctly.) Of course the performances of the actors were all great. What else can I say other than John Travolta's vilainous performance was slick, and that Slater made a great action hero? (I hope he's the star of another cool action film. It was nice seeing his brief role in WINDTALKERS, but he needs more.) Samantha Mathis was really cool. Wo says he's always wanted to make a strong female character, and he really came close with her. The movie also features one of the best Hollywood fight scenes with the showdown between Slater and Travolta. Even after the "Asian Invasian" seeing this fight scene is still a good watch. This is still on my list of best action films.

10 of 10

Gedo (2000 Video)

The fights were good

[5 March 2003]

Everyone says this movie is awful. They rightfully say so. Gary Daniel's previous movies do range from terrible to good cheesy fun. (The fight scenes are the best thing about his "good" films.) I knew this movie wasn't gonna be that great, but I never thought it would actually have a worse script than BLOODMOON and COLD HARVEST. (These two are his best films because of their excelent fight coordination.) The film makers didn't even know what was going on. It's like the whole cast and crew was wandering around not knowing what to do in this film. However, the action is great. Akihiro Noguchi of COLD HARVEST returns to direct the fight scenes, and even has help from Koichi Sakamoto of DRIVE. If there was more action though, and if it was longer, (It's not painfully short.) that would have been better. The scenes just seemed too short for their own good. (Similar to the problem in the FATAL FURY anime series which had awesome but short fight scenes) Gary Daniels even gets to exchange a few blows with veteran stuntman James Lew. But after those few kicks and punches, he's down like a sack of potatoes. Even George Cheung was once again wasted. (He's a great martial artist, but his skills are BARELY used in the MARTIAL ARTS films he's in. What exactly is up with that.) THe sound effects weren't the best either. Punches and kicks seemed too quiet. (And I don't think they were going for the same effect like in CROUCHING TIGER) But whoever this Kiyoshi Nakajo is, who makes his US debut as Domoto, he rocks. He has an awesome screen presense, and handles a sword masterfully. He was the best actor in this whole film, and made it worth watching even more. Another intersting aspect of this film is that A great portion of it is in Japanese too. THat was a very good idea to have a film in English and Japanese, as it gave a good mix. The Japanese scenes were better acted than the English ones. I suggest renting this movie on one dollar day when you have nothing better to do, and just skip to the action scenes. I personally can't get enough of martial arts action, and weather the movie is good or not, as long as it features good fight choreography, it's worth watching.

Daredevil (2003)

Keep up the good comic book movies!

[8/10 · 18 February 2003]

I had very mixed feelings before I saw this movie. I was wondering if it was going to be good. I was right. Ben Affleck was very good in his performance. Many felt that he didn't fit the Daredevil role, but he showed that he could play it to near perfection. The previews didn't show how serious Affleck was in his role, and this gave hima chance to prove people wrong. Jennifer Garner is making a great transition from TV to film, and she was great as Elektra. She and Ben shared great chemestry, and their foreplay/fight scene was very well filmed. (I thought it was the best fight scene in the whole film.) Special effects were put to very good use for the most part. The scene where Daredevil first "saw Elektra's face" in the rain was great. It realy showed how the two characters were falling for each other. I don't remember the details of Daredevil's powers, but I don't know if they were completely dumbed down for the movie. They seemed to have been presented correctly, and it was realy cool how Daredevil knew to start dodging the moment a bad guy's hand touched his weapon. Colin Ferrel and Michael Clark Duncan played great villains. I would have liked to have seen Bullseye's original costume, but he was still sickingly cool. I liked how he even made reference to how he wanted a costume. Michael Clark Duncan was the best choice for Kingpin. Considering how many white actors who could have played him are either good at acting but physically incapable or physically capable but bad at acting, Duncan was able to fill both voids, so it didn't matter that he wasn't white. ( And I'm not the first to think so) I admit the fight scenes could have been filmed better, but they weren't awful. Some special effects where Daredevil and Bullseye turn into CGI made me think back to BLADE 2's weakness, but fortunately it was short. DAREDEVIL is another film where it's fight scenes use the technique of shooting too close and editing too fast, but I knew beforehand that this wasn't a martial arts film. (I would have saw TAI CHI MASTER instead) But the fight scenes overall were good enough. I wish the movie was a bit longer though. 96 minutes just didn't seem like enough time, and another 30 minutes would have given the film makers the oportunity to show more. But this wasn't a horrible thing either. I'm glad I watched this movie, and I reccomend it to all the people who kept their minds open to DAREDEVIL.

8 out of 10

Moulin Rouge! (2001)

I also love "Moulin Rouge!"

[10/10 · 7 December 2002]

I wish I could come up with some better lines on why this movie is excellent, but I was blown away, aamazed, my eyes gleamed through the whole film, I gladly added a new favorite movie to my big list. Everything was just so grand. The best thing about MOULIN ROUGE was the fact that Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman did their own singing. Ewan had such a beautiful voice. It was so emotional. He talks of releasing his own album, and I hope he does. I hear of people who say that the movie rips off so many songs, but that's not the case. MOULIN ROUGE does not take credit for these songs. The essense of the songs were used to bring out the theme of the movie, and the peopel who created these songs are given full credit, especially for having created such meaningful music in the first place. Besides singing wonderfully, Ewan and Nicole gave wonderful performances. I think Ewan should have been nominated for best actor at the Acadamy. And then he should have won. (Even though Denzel was great.) Jim Broadbent was also a fantastic note. His character of Harold Zidler was outrageous. He had so much energy, and was extremely theatrical. I loved his antics. Richard Roxburgh was also very good in playing a weasly villain. His mustache and floppy hair really added to his rodent like features that just made him so irritatingly evil, that I wanted him to lose in the end. I hope everyone realizes that the four themes of this movie are true, and I hope that they spread to everyone. I can honestly say that I was inspired after watching MOULIN ROUGE. While I don't isolate myself into movies, I do believe that they teach us how things should be, and MOULIN ROUGE is no exception of a film that shows us true meanings in life. I can't stress enough how much I love this film. SPECTACULAR, SPECTACULAR!

10 out of 10!

Ballistic Kiss (1998)

Donnie Yen is a martial and cinematic artist

[10/10 · 23 October 2002]

Chances are, I probably would have been disappointed if I thought this was going to be an action packed slam bang ride like HARD-BOILED. I knew ahead of time that BALLISTIC KISS was refered to as an "arty" action film. Donnie Yen is one of the best movie martial artists out there. I had no idea that he had such a cinematic eye though. After seeing SHANGHAI AFFAIRS and LEGEND OF

THE WOLF, I noticed his real passion for film making, so I could only imagine what BALLISTIC KISS was gonna be like. From the beginning of the movie, it was obvious that this wasn't a typical HK production. The intro to the movie was like an american noir film with the way the lighting and camera shots were used when Donnie Yen is talking to the radio show host. The cinematography was of particular note. Donnie used a lot of blues and reds. Everything was shown as being gloomy. Wong Kai-Fai was a great collaborator with Yen. Many things about this film are unconventional. The action for instance is shot with neo noirism , and the editing works. Some people may find the editing to be too choppy/fast, but it worked for what Yen was trying ot present. Even the undercranking (Which I normally disapprove of) was appropriate. I didn't even mind that guns in the film shot more bullets than they really do. The editing and sense of action made the movie look sureal. BALLISTIC KISS is kind of like a combination between what John Woo and Wong Kar-Wai would do. The story is also something. This isn't about a killer trying to go straight. In this movie, Donnie's character of Cat Lee has no sense of redemption. He just wants revenge against his partner who betrayed him, and if he dies while doing it, so be it. The only thing that would probably save him from that fate is his attraction for a cop played by Annie Wu. While Cat thinks about her and how wonderful things would be if they were together, he doesn't have an optimistic view of the future. One of his sayings is "No one is innocent." He thinks the world won't get better, and his sense of peace only exists in his mind. But the gloomyness of the film is not what the theme is. It doesn't mean that the rest of us have nothing to look forward too. In fact, it tells us the opposite. The lives these people lead are not the lives we have to leave. Even though it also expresses a common theme of "even trusted friends are capable of betrayal," there's no reason to be sad from seeing this movie. Bey Logan (Who I've had the honor to meet.) wrote a great script. Many people hate this film. But the strange thing is that the reasons for why people hate it are the reasons why I like it. It's self-indulgent, the editing is sureal, like I said: it's unconventional. This movie is definitely not for everyone, but if you're an "arty" type person with an open mind, you may like it. It's not fully arty though. There's a good combination of mainstream film making to go along with it. This is Donnie Yen's best performance. He gives of a great sense of a tragic hero without having to go over the top. Annie Wu plays off him very nicely. The relationship that develops between them is more like mutual respect than "deep romance." But there's still romance there nontheless. While Donnie Yen's best martial art performance is in IN THE LINE OF DUTY IV, his best film overall is BALLISTIC KISS.

10 out of 10

The Transporter (2002)

The cooks made a fantastic broth!

[10/10 · 14 October 2002]

I thought that THE TRANSPORTERwas flowing with coolness. Jason Statham

made a great leading man. He had a very smooth performance. He was very

honorable, he never lost his cool,and another unique thing about him was that he never killed anybody unless he seriously had no other choice. It was a

change from other movies where the good guy just kills all his enemies. Plus, he was VERY impressive with his martial arts. He was so good at it, he could

probably beat Keanu Reeves in a fight. (Or even have a better chance against

Jet Li than he did before in THE ONE.)

People say Shu Qi was annoying in the film, but I thought she was cute. Her

performance was very fitting to her character in the film, so it6 made sense that she wasn't a confidant, Julia Roberts type of character.

Corey Yuen's best modern work can be seen here. He actually did a better job

with the action scenes here than in KISS OF THE DRAGON. He didn't even

have to make blatant references to his other works in this film. His ideas were much more frsh this time. It made me think of the days of RIGHTING WRONGs

and FONG SAI YUK.

Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen have also written their best screenplay

since THE FIFTH ELEMENT. The movie had a very European feel to it, and no

Hollywood fluff got in the way. One way to sum this movie up is to say that it's a French/American Kung Fu film. It's the best action film I've seen this year.

Pearl Harbor (2001)

One of the best of 2001

[10/10 · 29 August 2002]

I don't care if a movie is 3 hours long, or if every little historical detail is not 100% accurate. I know the film makers were not making this movie for the sake of "pretty actors prancing around in a bogus movie." I know for a fact that Michael Bay set out to make a great film. He dropped out of this movie twice before getting what he wanted. While this movie is also around to bring in money, it was also meant to be good. Michael Bay was at his best in the director's chair. The visuals were fantastic. The cinematography was comparable to SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, where bright colors are not so apparent. The dialog was not cheesy. Even though some story-telling elements are basic, it's all worded differently by the actors who do a great job. Ben Affleck is one of my new favorite actors. Over the years he's matured as a real serious actor. Josh Hartnet has still got it too. Kate Beckinsale did a nice job too, and it's hard to believe that she was difficult to work with in this movie. Even though it was a small role, it was nice to see Dan Aykroyd. (Did I spell it right?) He had something of a serious presentation with the few lines he had, and made his extended cameo more noticable than it normally would be. Alec Baldwin was also a good touch to the movie. I only wish to see him more as a leading man than a suporting man. The special effects looked very real. I could not tell what was computer animation and what was real. This was especially effective during the big moment of the movie. The seemingly 40 minute battle sequence at Pearl Harbor was one of the most intense sequences in any movie. This scene alone is worth the whole movie. It has been a long time since I held tightly to the seat, pushed against the cushions, and had to catch my breath when the scene was over. Plus it wasn't glorified to a stupid level. The sequence didn't make it look like the Americans won. But it did show how they were able to take a stand as best they could during the horrible battle. They at least lost while giving the Japanese everything they got. Another great touch was how old WWII footage would be shown, and how the movie was filmed within it. And how it would fade from old film to new film in between scenes. This movie was critically panned simply because people got their hopes up WAY too high. A movie shouldn't fail because of this. It seems like people would like movies better if they weren't so ready for "the best thing in the world." PEARL HARBOR isn't the best, but it's one of the best of 2001.

Windtalkers (2002)

Fantastic. Even with so many war films recently made, original in it's own way

[10/10 · 18 June 2002]

I've waited for this movie since before MI2 came out. I was hoping for the day it would get released. I've been a big fan of John Woo for years, and I was happy that Nicolas Cage became his American equivilant for Chow Yun-Fat. Of course, I was also happy to see that Cristian Slater was being given a chance back at the screen again. Sadly though, considering a unspectacular 14 million dollar opening and cynical views from the public, this movie may be a failure this summer. Many people are saying WINDTALKERS is a SAVING PRIVATE RYAN wanabe, has clich'ed acting and plot devices, and is predictable. This is all wrong. If one understands John Woo, it's obvious that he doesn't try to rip people off. Some people say one of the cliches is when a soldier gives his wife's ring to his friend saying "give this to her if I don't make it." It would have been cliche if his friend took the ring. But instead he told him to put it back on his finger and say something along the lines of. "You're not gonna die. Don't even joke about it." Nic Cage did much more than "put in his usual method performance." He was much different from his character from the other WW2 film of last year, CAPTAIN CORELLI'S MANDOLIN. In that movie he was a very passionate, loving man who had no real sense of violence. In WINDTALKERS, he is the oposite. He's cynical, cold, and unlikable. All because of watching his men die in front of him when he wanted to really pull them away from battle, but didn't because he was "following orders." This wasn't a "typical" Nic Cage performance. People also say Adam Beach was a total amature. He wasn't. Ben played a nice, naive man. He didn't want to fight, and we saw the pain in his face whenever he watched anyone die. We slowly watch him go from being a nice man to becoming hardened. He starts to become like Nic Cage, and when Cage sees this in Beach, he realizes how negative his additude is and how things would be if everyone had his additude. He doesn't realize it until a while into the film, but he realizes nevertheless. Also important, is how we are told about how important the Navajo Code Talkers were during WW2. We were never told this before, and it's time we knew now, and I'm happy that Woo showed us. The action is on it's own merrit. It doesn't copy, and Woo is able to show that he doesn't need dual pistols and fancy dodging and flying to showcase balletic action. HE took a totally different approach and still maintained his sense of original action direction. Such as when Beach and his Navajo friend run out of bullets and show their skills with the knife. Also, the famous "John Woo standoff" where Beach and a Japanese soldier point their guns at each other ready to fire is put to new use. It's not like in THE KILLER, FACE/OFF, or HARD-BOILED. It was shown differently, and not just for the sake of a standoff. It showed Beach's fear in killing a man, and the soldier's hesitation. It's not predictable who's gonna die either. Some of the more important people had unlikely fates. (Not a spoiler.) WINDTALKERS deserves success, and I only hope it gets more as time goes by.

10 out of 10

Rollerball (2002)

Brutally exciting and fun

[8/10 · 16 May 2002]

Having not seen the original ROLLERBALL, there's nothing to compare to. As a stand-alone film, it's very enjoyable. It's been a while since John McTiernan has directed a film. His last ones were the remade THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR and 13th WARRIOR. Here, it's thought that John has returned to what he does best, and it was nice to see a film that was surprisingly good. At first glance ROLLERBALL looks like it's going for the "MATRIX effects" that so many movies, shows, and commercials have been using too much, but John has stuck to his own methods of film making, and hasn't "sold out." Every action scene was not filmed in any over- outlandish style, and that was a star swinging high point. Chris Klien seems more accustomed to comedy, but here, he's starting to learn the ropes as a man of action. Though his youth is apparent within his role, he makes it through as a hero. LL Cool J has proven himself to be a compotent actor long ago, and he still has his own brand of charisma. Rebecca Romjin-Stamos also commands the screen as a tough Rollerball player who happens to have a romantic relationship with Klien's character. Another nice touch was the international casting and locations through the whole film. It gave a great mix. Especially with the great Jean Reno as the villain who always does good in the movies he's in. The rest of the villains are also great. They're cruel and it's a relief when they get what they deserve. For a PG-13 rated film, it was surprisingly violent. It's hard to believe that the theatrical version was edited from the original which supposedly has more violence.

But if the MPAA is getting lax, so what? One less movie getting too much hasslement. The action is brutal and pounding. When one concentrates fully on the film, it's like actually being in the arena with all the fierce action going on all around. When someone gets struck, it's felt by the viewer. But the standout action scene is a chase through darkness where it's totally pitch black and scene through nightvision lenses. This was a great method, because the atmosphere would be ruined by Hollywood lighting effects. This added on to wondering if Chris Klien and LL Cool J are gonna get away from the bas guys. The small roles were also cool. Like seeing WWE's Vince's son, Shane McMahon for one full second. (Blink and he'll be gone.) And surprisingly, former wrestling commentator Paul Heyman had a bigger role that thought, and has some funny lines. All in all, this is John McTiernan's best film in a long time. ROLLERBALL is not something that should be thought too hard about, but should be taken with consideration and excitement.

8 out of 10