——Y Tu Mama Tambien——

(A)

I enjoyed watching this movie even more the second go around. The more you think about it, the more layers the film possesses. For example, one of the main boys talks about not wanting to go to college for economics and instead wants to become a writer. And yet he has had no real experiences in his life needed to become a successful writer. The voice over that comes out of nowhere to explain certain things to the audience helps flesh out scenes where we would know no more than what we were shown. For instance, when they drive by some crosses on the side of the road, the voice over lets us know all about the accident that happened years before, and that gives the story a kind of experience beyond the story. Stories are happening all around us. And when the boys can’t handle where their story is heading, woken up to their situation by a woman who is struggling with her own unknown story, they stop seeing each other. He gives up his dream of being a writer to go to school for economics. It’s one of those things you maybe don’t pick up on every detail the first time around, but really enjoy noticing the second viewing.

——Princess Blade——

(C-)

This movie starts out on a really high note with an awesome battle sequence containing several men with samurai swords ambushing a car and killing everyone inside, including a cool slo-mo shot of the main character spinning in the air to avoid bullets, which ricochet off of her sword. There are a few more cool action sequences, but unfortunately they are few and far between, and stuck between an extremely lame and boring plot.

The plot feels right out of a Final Fantasy game, only not as cool. Before the kick ass action sequence mentioned above, there is like a two minute section of film just of exposition, aka someone reading writing on a screen. It goes on FOREVER. The whole movie is like that. Scenes of dialog are shot like you would anime, with a nice composition where nothing moves except for the actors’ mouths. Major dullsville. This movie was based on like a 2,000 page manga series, and it feels exactly like a compressed 2,000 page manga series. While it looks like a cool music video, unless you are a hardcore action fan I wouldn’t give this more than a single rental.

——The Big Boss (AKA Fists of Fury)——

(B-)

I’d rate this movie a little higher but the story is just too simple for too long to make most of it entertaining, which is a shame because this is still a really kick ass Bruce Lee movie. It’s also a shame Lee died so early, since if he had lived at least another ten more years things might have turned out a little different for the kung fu genre. Hong Kong was ready to explode into a major worldwide film mecca, and kung fu would have entered into Hollywood mainstream. Unfortunately he died too young and kung fu became a passing fad, putting Hong Kong kung fu back decades until something like the Matrix came out.

Anyway, back to the movie. Bruce Lee moves in with his cousins to work at an ice factory and stay out of trouble. The ice factory is just a front for drug running though, and workers start disappearing when they figure this out. Unfortunately Lee has made a promise not to fight anymore, which kills the movie since the first half of the movie suffers monumentally from his lack of signature ass kicking. As it is though, the final 20-30 minutes of the film are amazing. Bruce Lee seriously kicks ass better than anyone I can think of. He’s just that cool. So damn fast, it’s amazing. Anyway, I can’t wait to check out the rest of the box set.

——Underworld——

(B+)

This movie was surprisingly a lot better than I was led to believe it would be. While it does have some fatal flaws and I can see why a lot of people didn’t like it (seriously, does it make any sense that the vampires are the ones hunting down the lycans when the vampires are about as threatening as a wet puppy while the lycans appear to be neigh invincible?) I thought it was still pretty damn cool. The movie looks magnificent, from the cinematography that looks like an amazing Chris Cunningham video to the amazing sets and costumes and even the werewolves, which surprisingly look pretty bitching. Even the story was pretty great…up to a point. Which brings me to where the movie’s shortcomings are. The final twenty minutes or so of the movie where everything is revealed just suck. The movie was so much more interesting with some gaps in the narrative and some of the mysteries left unanswered. The writing was just so piss poor at the end that it looked like the writer took a dump on an otherwise cool movie. This isn’t really a great A movie, but a fantastic B movie. I’d see it again.

——Cold Mountain——

(A-)

I actually liked this movie more the second go around (my dad wanted to see it). Some things still annoyed me, like the pretentious way the love scene is cut together and the way that Jude Law and Nicole Kidman don’t seem to go together at all. But the fact that they are almost in none of the movie together benefits the film immensely. Rene is still fantastic, and the battle sequence is brilliantly put together. I think it’s pretty worth seeing for those who haven’t already seen it.

——Spellbound——

(A)

Not the Hitchcock movie I reviewed a few months ago, but the new documentary on the National Spelling Bee. I really liked how this was put together like a great Hollywood blockbuster and yet stayed true to its documentary routes in finding eight very different but all interesting kids. Some are complete nerds, but others are actually pretty well rounded and extremely likable people. The documentary does an excellent job of making everyone three dimensional, and its just amazing that they happened to pick kids who ranked so high (and even won) the Bee. Worth seeing, even if you don’t like documentaries.

——Buffalo Soldiers——

(B)

This was a movie that was delayed quite a bit after September 11th, mainly because it painted the military in an ugly light, but I think more so because it’s a crappy movie. The good guy isn’t very likable, and the bad guy is even more unlikable. The storyline is actually pretty interesting, but it is handled so poorly they you don’t really want to root for anyone, since the person you’re suppose to like is a total asshole. This is all right, but if you are looking for a movie like this to watch, I recommend you rewatch Three Kings instead.