Current music: Chris Knox - "Break"
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GEN-X COPS (1999) - d. Benny Chan
When I wrote about 'The Vampire Effect' a couple of months ago, I talked about how the big thing in HK right now is to make movies with name brand pop stars. I caught a show on AMC a couple of weeks ago which confirmed that, and also explained that producers no longer care if someone can kung fu, because they can teach the kung fu, but they can't teach Teen Beat looks.
'Gen-X Cops' would be a standard bearer for the converted pop-star genre, then. At least three of the leads in this film, Nicholas Tse, Stephen Fung, and Grace Yip, started in music, and their acting proves that out. The only real upside of the pop-star films is that the budgets are pretty big, and the endless string of car chases and explosions in 'Gen-X' is an effective counterweight to a lot of silliness. It's not a great movie, it's not necessarily a good movie, but it's a fun movie, and the energy is high, even when some sequences are too confused for words. It's a good thing that Benny Chan was behind the camera, and that Eric Tsang shows up in a thankless role. Kudos for the dumbest death by parachute scene you'll ever see. Reservations aside, I will be checking out 'Gen-Y Cops,' if only because I'm lately enjoying Asian popcorn crap a lot more than American popcorn crap.
DREAMSCAPE (1984) - d. Joseph Ruben
I loved this movie when I was a kid. It doesn't hold up perfectly, but it's not a total disaster, either. The movie stars Dennis Quaid, Max von Sydow, and Kate Capshaw's hair. They're all doing research on entering people's dreams through a combo of high-tech science and guys with ESP (like DQ's character). It's silly as hell and only deepens the mystery of Hollywood's obsession with the saxophone in the 1980s (Clarence Clemmons?), but it's good nostalgia, and the snake man is still scarier than shit.
THE LADYKILLERS (1955) - d. Alexander Mackendrick
I was expecting better. It's good, but without Alec Guinness - who made a number of Ealing comedies - it would be a nothing. Same plot as the Coen Brothers remake, except it's in England. Maybe I'm being too critical, but I went in expecting a classic, and I'm not convinced that I got it.
Since I'm too bored to explain what an Ealing comedy is - Screenonline Ealing
And here's a general overview of Ealing Studios - BBC Article
SHREK 2 (2004) - d. Andrew Adamson, Kelly Asbury, Conrad Vernon
I thought the original was okay, relatively funny, but wildly over-hyped. The sequel made me desperately miss 'Shrek 1' and was lazy, stupid, dull, lazy, and poorly animated. It was also lazy. Antonio Banderas' Puss In Boots is the only redemption for an otherwise shit movie.
People are sheep. Especially Petey, who should definitely know better.
PETE'S DRAGON (1977) - d. Don Chaffey
If anyone was reading this, they might wonder why I've seen a bunch of kids' movies this week. I just spent the weekend with my little brothers and sisters, and we caught up on some viewing. 'Pete's Dragon' was a huge let-down. I'll still watch it with my kids, but my seven year-old brother was too old for it, and it looks ancient for a film made in 1977 (a great year). I take back everything I said about it being better than 'Jack the Giant Killer.' The dragon still looks cool.
PETER PAN (2003) - d. P.J. Hogan
Congratulations, P.J. Hogan, you've managed to make the most sexed-up 'Peter Pan' never to appear on Cinemax (and there's still time for that). The movie itself is pretty good, but that leotard has NAMBLA written all over it, and I seriously wouldn't have been surprised if Peter and Wendy hadn't whipped out the Kiwi-Strawberry massage oil on the El Train (to the 'Risky Business' soundtrack, of course). The kids liked it.
DARK STAR (1974) - d. John Carpenter
If you're going to watch a movie that's a spoof of '2001: A Space Odyssey,' you should probably have seen '2001: A Space Odyssey.' With that said, this is Carpenter's first feature, started while he was still at USC. It's amateurish and inconsistent, but features great special-effects by Dan O'Bannon (of 'Return of the Living Dead'/I'm-still-getting-paid-for-'Alien' fame), good sense of humor, etc. It was a bit of a reach for a first-time director to try to make a film about being bored while you're out in space, though. How could it not end up boring? And I watched the new, shorter version.
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