April 24, 2005
-
Kung Fu Hustle (Gong Fu) is a very entertaining movie. Stephen Chow, straight off the heels of Shaolin Soccer, does a great homage to the many Kung Fu films in the world, adds his blend of humor, and to Bruce Lee
(just look at the heroic pose he does towards the end of the film).
There are many things that makes this movie good, memorable characters,
great ecentric humor, and the excellent fight sequences that uses some
great special effects for a Hong Kong film. The characters have
some incredible abilities in the movie that verge on the fantastical,
the humor has sequences that is straight out of a cartoon, and the
martial arts scenes just leaves a nice grin on your face. I believe movie critic Roger Ebert
described this film like a mix of Bugs Bunny, Buster Keaton, Bruce Lee,
and the Matrix. Honestly, that is a great description for the
movie. Awesome movie, one of the greats out right now, and deserves an
A-.—————
The Thirteenth Floor was a nice pleasant surprise. It came out around the same time that the first Matrix
was out, and was clearly overshadowed by it. Which is unfortunate,
because while the plot concept is similar to the Matrix, this one is
treated more like a sci-fi mystery more than an epic saga. The concept
of a virtual world is an interesting one, and this one adds a nice
addition to the theory. The story itself is nicely done and works
well, but the characters are more or less generic to a sci-fi movie.
This movie is definitely worth watching though, even though it looks
like it isn’t. B+—————-
In The Company Of Men is one of those movies that generate a lot of
discussions among people. The subject matter is pretty harsh, yet very
much realistic and totally relatable to most anyone; especially men.
This is a very low budget film and it really really shows. The
music and camera work is almost non existent, which gives us a lot of
scenes where we see two characters talking in one static shot for a
minute or two. That can make the movie drag a little more than it
should, but it’s the dialouge that will keep a person engrossed.
Definitely not a movie you want to see with a woman and for that
matter, some men may not like it either. B-
