——Lost in Translation——

(A)

What I really like about this movie is that it has something that you almost never see in other films, a firm appreciation of tone. This movie is all about tone, making you feel exactly the same as the characters on screen. There is definitely that feeling of being there in Japan, lost. Some have unfairly accused it of making fun of the Japanese at times, which is unfortunate because I think they are missing that subtle (or maybe not so subtle) distinction of just not understanding the culture. I, in fact, think Sofia goes to great lengths to show the beauty of the Japanese as well as their peculiarities, which you would find in any culture foreign to your own.

I also really appreciate in this film one of the very few true and adult relationships put to screen. Here are two characters who don’t hook up just because they can or because they want to. They have actual and real baggage. Also I just love that they develop a relationship that is based on more than just sex, but a very real and touching mutual admiration and understanding that grows into a friendship between two kindred souls. Excellent stuff.

——Game of Death——

(C-)

This movie has great intentions–to take footage Bruce Lee filmed before his death that he had planed turning into a film–and comes out with a horrible film that just doesn’t work. I could probably write about all of the things that I hated about this movie for several pages, but I don’t think anyone really cares, so I’ll try to stick to just the main points.

First of all, the soundtrack sucks. Not only does this movie feature the most depressing theme for an action movie ever, but then it keeps playing that theme over and over for the entire movie. I’m not even sure I know if there was another musical cue in the whole film. Then there is the fact that the movie has plot holes that are miles wide as the filmmakers try to work around the fact that they don’t have Bruce Lee and the fact that they have no idea how to get to the footage that they already DO have. It’s pretty painful. All of the actors chosen for this movie suck. They couldn’t act their way out of a paper bag, which is a shame as this movie was Lee’s send off film.

To hide the fact that 90% of the film was shot without Lee they do things like shoot his body double from behind or put him behind giant sunglasses (everyone knows that Uma’s yellow tracksuit in Kill Bill came from this movie, but what you probably didn’t know was that the giant sunglasses she got from Buck were also from this movie). While this does an OK job of hiding the fact that that isn’t really Bruce, it just looks like shit. To try and salvage that a little they cut in footage from his other films for close ups, but if you look real closely the set almost never matches. And while the stand-in does a valiant job of trying to step into Lee’s shoes, in some of the battles it is embarrassingly apparent that that isn’t him fighting, and while they try to bust out a greatest hits collection of his best moves, watching the slow ungraceful stand-in only makes you appreciate Lee’s talent even more.

So 90% of this movie is total shit. Why even watch this movie? Well when you finally get to the end and they actually put in the fight choreography that Lee shot before his death, you realize that you are watching some of the best fight choreography ever, and in my opinion Lee’s best work. For fifteen minutes this horror of a film, if you can even call it that, becomes brilliant as Lee shows us what he’s really made of. It’s fantastic. Any fan of Lee’s need only buy Enter the Dragon and The Chinese Connection, but make sure you at least find this movie and fast forward to the end, because it is totally worth it.

——Empire Records——

(D)

Oh God, this movie was horrible. I’ve seen this type of movie a thousand times before and each and every time that movie had something better than anything in this film. The writer is in total cliché heaven and doesn’t manage to give a single character a single interesting character trait. He also is driving the film under the assumption that not only can every character solve all of their briefly mentioned problems in a single day, but some how it is the store itself that helps them to overcome. It’s absurd, the whole thing. It doesn’t help that everyone seems to be a freaky idiot either. Even the soundtrack isn’t THAT great. Like the film it lacks any cohesive force to hold it together and just pulls apart in a million directions. Gah, I hated this movie.

——American Dragons——

(D)

The first ten minutes of this movie make it look promising enough, but after Bob, Donna’s dad from That 70’s Show shows up as a mob boss I knew this movie was in trouble. Turns out the whole thing is just one really bad East meets West, buddy cop movie. The Yakuza and the Mob are going at it in NYC, and a cop from Korea comes over to help out our undercover cop played by Michael Biehn. But for some reason Biehn hates the Korean guy from the start (even though he was the one who asked for help) and the Korean guy won’t tell Biehn any of the things he knows (even though that was the whole reason he came to NYC in the first place). It all makes no sense, and then they beat each other up and are instantly best friends. Huh? Unfortunately the plot and dialog stay that stupid for the remainder of the film.

On a plus note, this movie does contain one of the more hilarious mob hits I’ve ever seen put on film. It takes place in a bowling alley while Don Giavani plays for no apparent reason on the TVs over the seating. Why, I couldn’t even begin to understand. But it is pretty hilarious.

——F/X——

(C)

This movie isn’t really that great, but it is good enough to offer enough mindless entertainment to keep you entertained for two hours. A Special F/X designer gets hired by the justice department to fake a mob hit, but then everyone is trying to kill him. The first two thirds of the movie contain a pretty entertaining thriller, but then when Brian Denahy the cop starts getting more screen time, the movie takes a dive. God bless his soul, I love him, but Brian Denahy just can’t act. He plays a lame cliché cop trying to figure out what the hell is going on, and does all that, and yet you couldn’t care less. Thankfully the final act of the film is delightfully absurd. The actor playing the F/X guy looks remarkably like Ryan Stiles from Drew Carey and Whose Line, and so when he starts killing bad guys with special effects you can’t help picturing Ryan doing it, and the whole thing takes on this extremely hilarious and yet macabre edge. It doesn’t help that what he is doing is really demented, and when you think about it, highly against the law. I wouldn’t recommend anyone go out of their way to see this, but if it’s on and you have nothing else to do, you could do a lot worse than watch this.

——Tattooed Life——

(A-)

For a while I was beginning to think that this Seijun Suzuki film was going to be a bust. Although it had a good Shakespearean plot and every shot looked expertly and painterly composed, there was none of the crazed wackiness that made Branded to Kill and Tokyo Drifter such fun movies to watch. It was still a good genre film, but not really much more or anything special. Then about halfway through the movie some Godard like shock cuts would appear briefly, not really acting as anything special, but signaling that this wasn’t just another genre film. But then you get to the final act, and all hell (genius) breaks loose.

The story is about two brothers in I’d have to guess pre-WWII Japan. Tetsu is a yakuza who gets betrayed by his employer when his brother, an aspiring artist, comes to his rescue, killing the attacker. Not willing to betray his brother or go to art school after what has happened, the two brothers decide to try to go to Manchuria. Before they can get on the boat, however, a man cons them out of their money, and thus they have to join a construction crew to try and make the money back. There the two brothers fall in love with sisters, but in true Shakespearean fashion their past actions and fatale character flaws come back to betray them.

And that’s where Seijun Suzuki’s true genius comes out to shine. He shoots each scene of revenge with lighting not unlike that a stage director would use, and his compositions become beyond perfect. Tetsu slashes his way through yakuza in an orgy of violence that definitely ranks as some of my all-time most favorite direction. The whole thing just looks amazing. The more Suzuki films I see, the more I want to see. He’s quickly becoming one of my favorite directors. Check this movie out.

——CQ——

(B-)

Roman Coppola has a lot of great ideas bouncing around in his head, but unlike his sister or father he is unable to pull them together into anything resembling a unified whole. This movie is just a mess. Although it was fun to watch and well done, I have no idea what the whole thing is suppose to be about. Well that’s not exactly true. I know what he’s trying to do, but he comes nowhere near actually achieving or earning what he wants. What you are left with is just a hodgepodge of good ideas that are about as organized and well put together as the two films that are made in the film. Like those movies, it’s a miracle this movie even ends at all.

What I think would have been much more interesting is if Roman had decided to just make the Codename Dragonfly movie that you see snippets of them making in the film (there is actually a “complete” fifteen minute version of the Codename Dragonfly film on the DVD). That movie just looks so damn cool. I love Dragonfly’s retro pink catsuit and Billy Zane’s Che revolutionary Mister E and the fact that for no apparent reason other than it looks cool it snows on the moon. It looks fantastically too, like a sci-fi female Austin Powers, as shot by Kubrick. He should have just made that movie into a feature. In fact I’m kind of glad he didn’t, because I kind of want to write my own Codename Dragonfly script now. Besides Dragonfly though, this movie is crap.