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Reviews
The Dukes of Hazzard (2005)
another fine film from the main man of the "Broken Lizard"
Before I review the remake of the critically panned "The Dukes Of Hazzard" I have to admit I am huge fan of Jay Chandrasekhr and his broken lizard troupe and their films. I mention this because the broken lizard connection save this movie and earn it a passing grade. I will also admit that i had never seen the original Dukes so had no allegiance or pre-conceived ideas of the film. Dukes is pure eye candy and moves along at a very heady pace with little slowdown and plenty of yee Haw Ing car chasing to push it past the slow paced "Starsky and Hutch" Johnny Knoxville and Sean William Scott prove to be an excellent buddy combination with knoxville putting plenty of effort to his womanizing duke and Scott use his well crafted "Stiffler" to great effect. Jessica Simpsons Daisy Duke is passable and thankfully very little dialog needed , Willie nelson's role isn't much more than viagra and weed jokes always good comedic fodder. Burt Reynolds cant muster even enough charisma to out do his pimping white suit as boss hogg. As i mentioned the stars are the broken lizard troupe who get the biggest laughs and "MOTHER OF GOD" are they funny.
Jay Chandraskah delivers a fun and entertaining very UN-PC fun that people will hate but people not every movie has to change your life or give you some deep insight into the universe some can just be fun and dukes of hazzard is the perfect example.
Gin gwai 2 (2004)
Danny and Oxide Pang have come for your mind
Many Asian film fans cringe at the mention of their cult hero director crossing to the dark side of Hollywood and that their mojo will get lost in the mainstream money driven machine that is Hollywood. Recent news of the pang brothers making their mainstream debut sometime in 2006 and a remake of "The Eye" in production fans will think that the Pang Brothers may be the next victim. The Pang Brothers could easily be the exception to the rule and "The Eye 2" is a fine example.
The story centers around Joey a troubled young woman whose recent troubles in the romance department led to a bottched suicide attempt as Joey recovers she attempts to get her life on track she discovers she is with child. After her suicide attempt Joey begins having vision and strange occurncess begin to plague her and her unborn child.
"The Eye 2" is more a reworking of the original idea than a sequel as no knowledge of the original is required. Anyone who has seen a Pang Brothers film will know of their amazing visual style of story telling and both eye films have been a fine example of this. This is best part of "The Eye 2" much of this film is visual with very little dialouge but the visual effects flow fast and furious this is pure fun horror at it's best. The Pang Brothers are becoming jack of all trades and "The Eye 2" is great victory lap that packs visual scares to the max and delivers one of the best horror movies in years.
Azumi (2003)
Kitamura again works his magic
Auzmi is the story of young girl who has spent most of her young life preparing for a mission that will bring peace to her war raveged country. Azumi trains under the watchfull eye of her master Jiji, until one day Jiji annouces that the time has come for the group to embark on their mission.
Azumi is directed by Ryuhei Kitamura who came to recognition for his eye popping visceral thrill fest Verses. Azumi is a much more grounded plot that still contains all of Kitamura visual thrills and his underlying themes of fate, vengeance and destiny. Fans of Verses know of Kitamura's Brilliant eye for sword play and inventivnes of camera angles, Azumi has all theses in abundance and never let's up even despite it's lengthey running time. The battles are the star of the film and draw the audience into the world of Azumi very quickly and leave the viewer satisfied. The movie definitely has heart and devotes plenty of time not to character devlopment but to establishing the themes of the film.
While not as instantly enjoyable as Verses, Azumi has many of the trademarks that made verses the cult film it deserved to be innventive swordplay, high energy camera work, music video style editing and enough of Kitamura's magic dust to leave fans wanting more
Sing si lip yan (1993)
Jackie Chan and Wong Jing a meeting of the minds
This movie is very silly than again it is a Wong Jing film a man who has made a living out of plunging new depths silliness. Jackie Chan Made this film back to back with Chi Kirk Wongs "Crime Story" the polar opposite of the slapstick fare of City Hunter.
City Hunter is much more a Wong Jing film than a Jackie Chan film which has both it's good and bad points. Wong Jing set design and color combinations deserving high praise also his use of humor complements Jackie Chan's style very well. The inventiveness of Wong Jing makes your head spin sometimes but there are some true gems the Bruce lee inspired fight is an excellent way to again bring these two legends together.
Fans of Jackie Chan will be surprised by some of the casual gun play and sexual innuendo which are usually big no-no's in Chan but common in Wong Jing films. Wong Jing's Slapsick humor carries the film but bring's down Chan's usual stunt's and brilliant fight choreography which is the biggest disappointment of the film. Richard Norton is brilliant as Don Mac and Garry Daniels and this is main problem Chan is teamed with two brilliant martial art fighters and most fights fall flat although the final battle is worth the wait.
Special mention must be made of the audio commentary on the HKL DVD by expert Bey Logan adds a new layer to the film the man sure does know his stuff. City Hunter is definitely a odd film in the Chan catalog but is still highly enjoyable slapstick fun
Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985)
Shut your mouth you dildo and finish your f**king slop
After the bizarre ending in part 4 some of the weirdness was always going to seep into this instalment. We again join Tommy Jarvis who has not adjust to life post-Jason at all he has become more less mute and living in a bizarrely normal halfway house. As the kids start dropping like flies it becomes apparent that Jason might be wrongfully accused this time around, however this is more an underlying story point than the dominating theme as this a fairly standard Friday the 13.
Very run of the mill slasher movie that tries to make changes almost on the fly as little consideration is given to explain these points. I think special mention should be made of the brutality of this film by far the most violent of all the Friday the 13 with some almost takashi Mike style violence in places. Most of the actors earn their B-movie badge for this one special mention to some of the bit parts of the mother and son rednecks and the broken down greasers who provide laughs in their limited roles.
Friday the 13th part 5 a new beginning is a very serious and violent slasher movie that attempts to break the mold but end's up only half filling the cup.
Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984)
The Final Chapter who's stupid idea was that
No slasher movie should ever be entitled by "The Final chapter". But don't let that stop you from a highly enjoyable slasher movie that has much to enjoy and rejoice in. Friday the 13 takes place very shortly after the events of part 3 as we first met tommy Jarvis (a recurring character in the franchise) here played by a young Corey Feldman who live along the famous crystal lake with his family. We then met our team of teen protagonist on their summer vacation and staying next door to the Jarvis family.
Fans of Friday the 13th know little plot is ever covered which is what makes the franchise so enjoyable. Few horror movie franchises were so stepped in 80s culture than the Friday the 13th series but again this what makes these movies so enjoyable the "me" genertation characters are just so much fun to watch and viewers will be awaiting their grim demise with masochistic glee.
Friday the 13 part 4 is a great representation of the franchise with it's trademarks in abundance great repeated viewing for fans and a good starting point for people only familiar with Jason last few disappointing outings.
Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995)
Halloween with a super-government conspiracey
There was an uncomfortable trend in the slasher movie franchises where you had to give a supernatural twist to your maniac and a deeper meaning to what turned them into homicdal maniacs. Halloween 6 gives equal time to both it's slasher franchise and the bizare add-on story of the secret of Michael Myers. Halloween 6 doesn't suffer to much from it's very small budget and the production values are very good and plenty of inventivness in the kills keep the hardcore fans in their place. Like most of the Halloween films there are very few big names in the film apart from Paul Rudd as the messed up Tommy Doyle (Jamie Lee's Baby Sitting Assignment from Halloween) and a very frail Donald Plesence in his cult hero role as Dr Loomis. Plesenace frailty and alling health give his performance much more weight that carries the film through to it's gripping climax.
Halloween 6 should have been fitting end to the franchise but instead has been almost blacklisted in the franchise due to it's huge side step in the story. Look past the supernatural storyline and you have a highly enjoyable halloween film that should satisfy long term fans.
Halloween: Resurrection (2002)
Halloween 8 misses the mark big time
Halloween 8 Resurrection should really entitled Halloween 8 destruction of a franchise or how to kill a franchise in 90 minutes. Halloween 8 is an awful movie that is devoided of any orginality or redeeming qualties (Trya Banks is smoking hot, but is little more than an extra with a line or two). Halloween 8 spits on everything that previous movies have worked hard to preserve since John Carpenters genre inventing original, the worst Halloween 8 actually think's it has the goods.
H8 had an impressive budget (due to the healthy box office of the last film) but squanders it on actors that add nothing to the movie but prolong their own dismial carrers. Busta Rhymes actually proves a good leading man until becoming undone by his own ego, most of the other actors have tongue firmly pressed in their check and most phone it in. Jamie Lee Curtis deserves special mention as she almost displays hate for her iconic cult character and cant wait to put to the whole franchise in the past.
As a fan of the franchise the biggest problem I had was an arrogance to acknowledge previous movies in the series and tries to forge it's own path that leaves Michael Myers holding his dick in his hand. Halloween 8 Resurrection come across as a scream hybrid that wont satisfy casual fans or die hards and as the final reel fades out everyone will be thinking "That would never happen".
Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989)
This Time There Ready
Halloween 5 continues the story of Jamie Myers the niece of Michael Myers who has started to follow in her uncle's footsteps since the last time we saw her. Halloween 5 is one of the more cold movies in the franchise little remorse is shown by any of the characters involved which leaves the movie feeling rather flat. Halloween 5 should be prasied for it's inventivnes towards the Michael Myers character very few franchises 5 movies would be willing to portray the homicidal manic as someone with feelings and emotions (this would have been a great movies for some backstory on the character). Most of the actors in the film don't really conect with their characters instead they paradoy previous characters even Donald Plescence performance lacks the passions of his previous performance. Halloween 5 is an enjoyable film that is really only for fans of the series but is not the best representation of the great Halloween franchise.
Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988)
The Night He Came Home
Halloween 4 fits somewhere between Halloween 1 and Halloween 2 with equal time given to both character development and equal parts terror and blood shed. Halloween 4 is a film firmly set in slasher mode which may disappoint fans of carpenters Halloween films as Michael displays many Jason-esquire tendencies that make and break the film in places. Like most slasher movies the actors smile and scream in the right and places and die like good piggies except for the brilliant Donald Pleasence who's Tortured Dr Loomis set the Halloween franchise apart from it's counterparts. Loomis steal every scence he is in and his tortured scream will leave you with chills. Halloween 4 is highly enjoyable and fun slasher movie that will appeal to fans of the genre rather than fans of the original films.