——The Wedding Singer——

(A-)

Definitely among Adam Sandler’s best films, this is one of the few movies where he doesn’t actually act like a jackass and is instead just a really fun quirky guy to be around. The film has a real nice sweet romance that isn’t going to make the male audience gag, and the eighties soundtrack somehow manages to balance the fine line of actually making fun of the era and embracing it at the same time. And then there is Drew Barrymore. Before this film I had a really low opinion of her, but really she’s never been funnier or cuter than in this film. I doubt I was the only one to fall in love with her with Sandler’s wedding singer. A great comedy.

——The Outlaw Josey Wales——

(A-)

Clint Eastwood hasn’t quite become a master director yet and the plot can get a little hokey at times, but otherwise this is a really fun episodic Western. I kind of wished that the plot dealt a little more with the change from farm family man to Confederate outlaw or dealt more with his feelings of revenge, but I did like that the plot was ultimately about a man who lost his soul regaining it again by developing his own surrogate family with some Indians and pilgrims that he picks up running from the Union. In doing this the enemy isn’t the Union army but the loss of loyalty and traditional values. It’s more of a rally against the quickly approaching modernization and the alienation that it causes than a promotion of the Confederate agenda, and I really liked that. A nice Western.

——Once Upon a Time in the West——

(A+)

Before the Spring of 2002 I really loathed Westerns and paid them no heed. I wouldn’t be caught dead renting or going to the theater to see a Western. Sure I liked my space and samurai Westerns, and my Cowboy Bebop, but the Western as a Western just seemed like a dull dry genre to me. Then I watched The Good, The Bad and The Ugly and my perceptions of the genre were seriously changed. Leone did with the genre exactly what I wanted to see in a Western, and as a director he did things with the camera and editing that completely blew my mind. This was definitely something different. Although I liked Fistful of Dollars and A Few Dollars More they weren’t quite the same experience as when I saw TG,TB,ATU. And then I finally got to see Once Upon a Time in the West.

I love everything about this movie. The soundtrack is amazing. The acting great. Leone gets shots even more impressive than those in TGTBATU. Somehow he gets a close up on the eyes even closer than before. And then there is the editing. What I love about Leone’s style is that he can take a showdown and turn it into an Olympic event of anticipation. He prolongs the moment as long as humanly possible, ever growing the tension until you get to that moment where you are like, “why the hell am I even watching this?” and then BAM! He shows you why you are watching this and totally makes it worth it. He slows time down to almost a standstill and then cuts to furious action in the blink of an eye. Leone has taken the Japanese style of using time and changed it into an amazing hyper-real art.

I love the fact that until at least an hour into the film you still don’t even know what the hell it is about. Leone’s been too busy setting up all of the pieces and drawing you into this world that he hasn’t even bothered with plot yet. He’ll get to it eventually, but first you have to create the world. The opening sequence is astounding in what it does. It seems to condense High Noon into a ten-minute short film that’s all about style. It’s kind of brilliant what he does, using the tedium of boredom to built tension for whenever the train gets there, while all the while we don’t know who’s on the train but we can’t wait for them to get off. And it’s just shot so damn beautifully.

I could keep going but I don’t really see a point. You know I think it’s awesome. This is must see cinema.

——Invincible Shaolin——

(A-)

Damn it, the Manchus are at it again. This time they want to get rid of the Shaolin schools so they bring in three superior members of the Northern Shaolin to come in and challenge the Southern Shaolin, and the Southern school is soundly beaten. The Manchu general then kills the three Southern Shaolin members and makes it look as if the North had done it. Obviously you now know where this is all going. Although the plot isn’t very deep it’s really well handled, and the training sequences that take up the majority of the middle of the film are pretty awesome to watch. Stallone training in Russia in Rocky IV ain’t got nothing on the guy training for the Mantis style. While this movie won’t blow your mind it is still a really solid piece of entertainment with some great kung fu in it.

——The Bodyguard——

(B-)

This Sonny Chiba movie is actually pretty unspectacular, thanks to the crap factory that is the Japanese B-movie industry. There is some all right action in it and some random nudity, but nothing really any better than what you could get in the Street Fighter movies. The movie is notable for two things though: The movie opens with the quote from the Bible Jules likes to say before he kills someone in Pulp Fiction (this movie is where Quentin got it) only in the line at the end that starts “And you will know that I am the Lord…” instead of the Lord it says SONNY CHIBA as THE BODYGUARD. I found that quite amusing. Also as the movie starts it shows random people in the woods doing karate moves, all the while chanting VIVA CHIBA, VIVA CHIBA…etc. Funny stuff.

Anyway, the plot is that Sonny Chiba plays interestingly enough a character called Sonny Chiba, who is halfway between being the movie star Chiba and the character he plays in the Street Fighter films. He wants to take down drug dealers in Japan, and of course the easiest way to do that is to go on TV and become the bodyguard of someone who knows something about drug dealers. Based on some flawed piece of logic I never picked up on, he never actually ASKS her what she knows, and instead just kicks the asses of those yakuza that try to kill her. I think that’s where the movie lost me. Also I’m sick of him being in these movies where he fights gangs with guns, instead of just kicking ass, Chiba style. Anyway, this movie is all right, but nothing to write home about.

——The Silence——

(A)

I finally finished up Ingmar Bergman’s film trilogy, and this might just be my favorite one of the bunch (for those with bad memory, the other two were Through a Glass Darkly and Winter Light). This film continues the spiritual crisis theme of the last two films but the religion is much more abstract here. It’s as if Bergman has finally been able to wrestle away from his Christian roots and is finally able to talk about the self in a way that is much more comfortable for him. Instead the story is about two sisters that represent two sides of the psyche, the sensual and the practical, and how they deal with each other in a hostile environment.

The one sister is a translator but is sick. The two of them go to this unnamed country in a time of war presumably to get away because of her sickness, but the actual reason is never revealed. They don’t speak the same language in this country either, which is where the silence of the title comes from. The more sensual sister has come with her son but is quite fed up with her sister’s self-righteous ways, coming with her more out of feeling of duty than of love. The movie deals with how the three main characters deal with being alone in this strange country.

The cinematography of this film is brilliant and beautiful, the characters interesting and full of depth, and the film full of deep thought while at the same time being strangely erotic. If you are sick of Hollywood trash and want a really good film actually about something, this is the place to go.

——The Last Samurai——

(A-)

Although this film is pretty predictable and has a few flaws it is also insanely well made and fun to watch. The only real problem I had with it was the ending, in that it should have ended on the battlefield and instead goes on for a little bit more in an effort to make the movie more easily acceptable for American audiences, or some bullshit like that. It turns all Hollywood and completely unrealistic and is horrible. That said, if you just walk out after the last battle scene you’re treated to quite an excellent movie.

The fights are the real highlight on this movie. While the final battle skews dangerously close to Braveheart land the rest of them are just a pure delight to watch. The battle in the forest is pretty intense, but really my favorite battle was the one where ninjas invaded the village to kill the samurai leader. First of all, NINJAS! I was totally not expecting ninjas, and they were awesome. But also there are some amazing sword fights as they try to fight the ninjas off, including room to room battles of like three to two where when the one group would be killed, another would jump through a wall and the fighting would get even more intense. I was incredibly impressed with the sequence and would see the film again if just to see that fight. But the rest of the movie is excellent too. A tad bit predictable, but entirely enjoyable old-school film making.

——Dragon Princess——

(B)

A few disclaimers first. One, there is no dragon, nor is the main character a princess. Also, although the title card claims this is Sonny Chiba’s Dragon Princess he’s really not in the movie long, having one really good fight and then dying ten minutes in. That all said, this is probably one of the more purely enjoyable Chiba movies I’ve seen thus far. Just a bare minimum of plot (daughter has to avenge Chiba’s/father’s death) and lots of premium ass kicking. It’s not great but it is fun enough to keep you from turning it off and switching to something else. The lead actress is attractive, acts all right and can kick ass with the best of them (and she gets lots of opportunities). The plot can be at times groan inducing (at one point a fat man with crazy, puffy long hair steals her wallet. She kicks his ass. Later a gang is hitting up the local businesses and he goes to her for help. What this has to do with anything is beyond me. Oh, did I mention that his day job is selling porn on the street corner?) but its simple enough that you don’t really care. A good movie to watch on a lazy day.

Bonus: For no reason that I could tell, there is a random scene added in where a man in a tank top cut off at the middle and short-shorts dances with a naked woman in a small room with a band. I’m still scratching my head as to what it means in the parameters of the story, but it’s still pretty funny.