It's that time again... time for movie reviews. As a rule, I generally avoid the theatre, except for
very special occasions (see :
Thor Movie Review). I also don't care for very many mainstream movies anymore. I've just had enough of the same old recycled Hollywood crap.... OK, so maybe I still enjoy watching that crap once in awhile, but I don't like to pay $13 a pop to see the latest, greatest load of exploding mega-crap in the theatre, no matter whether it's in 3-D, Digital 3-D, Real D or any other type of D. Don't make me pay $3 extra just so I can experience gunfights, explosions and robots transforming into vehicles right in front of my face. More often than not, at the usual breakneck pace of today's "blockbusters", to me it's all just sensory overload - everything is simply too flashy, noisy, blurry and highly forgettable.
I like to hang back and listen to the buzz about new movies before seeing them, and I'll almost always wait for the DVD or (even better) Netflix. Even movies that I really want to see, like the final
Harry Potter film,
Green Lantern and
Captain America, well... they kind of get put on the back burner. I guess you could say that movies are not priority for me right now. (I haven't seen any of the previously mentioned films yet, BTW.)
So what does the pickiest movie watcher in North America actually watch? Foreign movies are usually a good bet for me. It just seems to me that they are a lot less predictable and a good deal more enlightening -
ie: you can actually see what the rest of the world is like outside of Hollywood's skewed perspective... Even though a lot of overseas film studios may try desperately to emulate the American movie styles and templates, there's a much better chance that you'll actually see something truly original. Don't get me wrong - I don't watch foreign movies because I'm some sort of hoity-toity movie
connoisseur... I rarely (if ever) will watch a movie because it was nominated for or won some sort of Hollywood Pat-on-the-Back Award. (Seriously, who the f**k cares?) I just want to see something different... and I guess it makes me feel good to want to be different.
OK, so you're tired of listening to me rag on the American film industry... yeah, yeah - I know. Boo-hoo... poor rich American Studio execs.... whose ever going to stand up for them?
I've always gravitated towards Asian cinema, especially Japanese and Chinese. To me,
Japan=Godzilla and
China=Bruce Lee. Obviously there are a lot more things to be said and remembered about these two countries, but I would never have cared if it weren't for these two movie stars. (Anyone who tells me that Godzilla is not a star deserves a punch in the throat - Bruce Lee style.) It seems I have learned about Asian cultures through badly-dubbed kung-fu and giant monster movies. I have gained awareness of some of the crazy stuff that people have come up with on the other side of the planet. What kind of whacked-out Japanese dude came up with
Mothra? What the hell was
he smokin'? And who came up with the concept of wire stunts in martial arts movies? I dunno, but it sure looks cool! Of course there's a downside to those cultures too... let's not forget about
Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, or Tibet and all that
...
I believe someone once said that you can tell a lot about people by the movies they watch (or at least I'm saying it now). Well, go ahead and try to get in
my head and try to figure
me out...
Good luck with that!
***************************
IP MAN
Ip who? What's an Ip? Actually, it's the guy's name... a real guy - the main character, portrayed by actor and martial arts master Donnie Yen. The real life Ip Man (or
Yip Man) was the man who introduced Bruce Lee to martial arts, specifically the highly-defensive
Wing Chun (or
Snake/Crane) style, many fundamentals of which Lee later built upon when developing his own
Jeet Kune Do (the Way of the Intercepting Fist). In any case, Donnie Yen is spectacular at this form of fighting. Combined with his screen presence, he makes for a very humble, likable hero who rises from oppression to defend the honor of his fellow countrymen.
The film takes place during the Japanese occupation of China in the 1930s. Ip Man is an established Wing Chun master, with his own school and students, and is well-known as a peaceful man who generally avoids conflict and does what is right, even defending local businesses from wandering thugs. When the Japanese arrive and take over, they bully the local populace and force them into servitude. To make matters worse, the Japanese general has a thing for trying to prove that Japanese
Karate is superior to Chinese
Kung Fu. Many fight scenes later, we inevitably get to see Ip Man whoop his ass big time, Snake/Crane-style. Of course this doesn't like, end the Sino-Japanese war or anything... but the movie still has a relatively happy ending after that.
Ip Man was a huge box office success worldwide, and lives up to all the things that the above poster says. Although it took me awhile to get around to seeing it, I was quite impressed with both the martial arts and the storyline in this film.
Y'all don't mess with the Ip Man.
A
****************************************
IP MAN 2
Of course, I had to see the sequel. Having fled his hometown of Foshan, Ip Man relocates to Hong Kong to open up a new martial arts school. There he faces opposition from the resident kung fu masters, several of whom he must duel in order to win the right to move his practice to the city. He gains a small but dedicated group of followers, but also forms a bitter rivalry with the head kung fu boss in town, who has ties with the British Army stationed in Hong Kong.
The main conflict in the movie comes when a western boxing champion comes to the city to try to beat all of the kung fu masters in an exhibition tournament. Ip Man's former rival now turned friend, having grown tired of the foreigners' insolence, fights the Brit boxer and dies in the ring (a la Apollo Creed). This leaves Ip Man as the last hope to once again defend the honor of his fellow Chinese citizens. Needless to say, we get to see him fight in the ring and defeat the champion soundly. It all plays out pretty much like
Rocky III, complete with ringside pep talks, training sequences, a concerned but devoted wife and plenty of brutal beatings... only things missing are Mr. T and
The Eye of the Tiger.
Just like the first movie, this really doesn't have anything to do with Bruce Lee, but at the very end of the film, a young student arrives at Ip Man's door wanting to learn kung fu, so he can "beat people up". Wonder who that's supposed to be?
I truly enjoyed this movie, almost as much as the first one. If
Ip Man 2 weren't so derivative of the
Rocky movies, I'd have rated it higher. Regardless, it's exciting and the kung fu is absolutely top-notch.
B+
*********************************
CURSE OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER
This film is not quite what I was expecting - with Chow Yun Fat in the lead role, you'd expect a great deal of kung fu action. There are only perhaps one or two fight scenes in the movie. Instead of being full of martial arts,
Curse of the Golden Flower is more of an epic, historical piece - an almost Shakespearean drama centered around the Royal Court of Emperor Ping. The whole thing takes place in the Forbidden City as the Emperor arrives home from his latest conquests. Full of political intrigue, dark family secrets and covert love affairs, beautiful costumes, spectacular settings and mass battle scenes, this film keeps one watching with interest right until the very end. Although not as immersive as the Japanese masterpiece
Kagemusha, it does provide a revealing look into the bizarre world of Chinese Imperial Court life. Although it's not the kung fu epic I was expecting, I recommend this movie to anyone who (like me) is fascinated with Oriental culture and history.
B
**************************
MONGOL
Some of us may have seen Discovery or History Channel specials about Mongolia and it's unique culture, but I for one have never before seen a full-length feature on the subject. Mongol is the life story of history's most famous Mongol, Genghis Khan (known as Temujin in this film). We follow him from childhood as the son of the reigning Khan, and then to his later life as slave and fugitive... and through his rise to power as the supreme chieftain of the unified Mongol clans. This story couldn't be any more different than Curse of the Golden Flower, even though they are both grand historical Asian epics, and the Mongolian lifestyle contrasts sharply to the grandiose flare of the Chinese Imperial family.
Mongol is actually a Russian-made film, and is truly well-scripted and beautifully filmed on location in and around the Mongolian Steppes. There's lots of battle scenes and a cast of colorful characters.
B+
***********************************
YOJIMBO
Meanwhile, back in Feudal Japan...
Yojimbo is a classic samurai film by the legendary Japanese filmmaker,
Akira Kurosawa. Although not as highly regarded as
Seven Samurai, like that film this one also served as an inspiration for classic Western (ie:Cowboy) movies of the 1960s. It's about a masterless samurai (or
Ronin) who arrives in a village controlled by warring crime lords who run the local gambling outfits. Each of the two factions try to hire the protagonist as a bodyguard/enforcer to bully the other into submission. The samurai smartly plays both sides against each other, protecting the common people and fulfilling his own interests in the process. I can't really explain much more without telling the whole story, but let's just say that it's violent, exotic, exciting and funny all at the same time.
I am now a firm believer in the great works of Kurosawa, and after awhile, it becomes easy to see why all those American directors stole so many of his ideas...
A-
************************************
GODZILLA'S REVENGE
I have include this film in this post for a few reasons - first of all, I am a huge Godzilla fan. If you don't believe me, go
here. Secondly, I noticed that every movie mentioned so far has gotten a positive review. Thirdly, you just
can't write an article about Asian Cinema without mentioning Godzilla.
So here it is - my first (and likely only) negative review of a Godzilla movie. (Yeah - I'm amazed too.) Most of Godzilla's Revenge (also known as All Monsters Attack in Japan) is either stock footage from other G films or unused material from earlier projects. It's all slapped together with a wraparound story about a little boy being chased by bad guys who bumps his head and dreams of going to Monster Island, where he meets Godzilla's son Minya (who shrinks to kid-size and speaks bad cartoony English). We get to see Godzilla fight a bunch of cheap-looking monsters, and somehow this allows the boy to deal with his own problems in the real world and save the day.
Of course, all this sounds pretty stupid, and it is. Not that other Godzilla movies aren't full of the same brand of stupidity, but this definitely clocks in as the worst movie in the entire franchise. I wasn't expecting amazing special effects or anything, but the monster suits are so pathetic in this one and the script is so lame that it's pretty obvious that Toho Studios put it together in a matter of weeks - if not days. Avoid this one. If you want to see a
good (but still stupid) Godzilla movie, check out the far superior
Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah - Giant Monsters All-Out Attack .
D-
(Lowest rating for a Godzilla movie ever - can't give it an F, since it's still Godzilla)
*******************************
I hope you feel a little more enlightened after reading this, and I hope you seek out some of these great Asian films. Subtitle haters beware!! All but one of these films is subtitled, and the one that is dubbed in English should be avoided anyway. I know a lot of folks don't like to read while watching a movie, but you read this, didn't you? What's the big deal?
Whatever type of movies you watch, enjoy -
May the Force be with you...
