——Walking Tall——

(B)

This movie is an interesting breed: its closest relation would be the glut of exploitation drive-in movies of the 70’s and building on that concept, this film feels like a Cliffnotes version of Bufford Pusser’s life. Don’t expect deep character development or, well, any character development that doesn’t directly relate to some ass kickin’. This movie is less concerned with making the motivations of The Rock’s character believable than with brushing aside boring plot to get to the next set piece. And on that level this movie really works. It’s not deep. It won’t leave you thinking once you walk out of the theater. Some things (like the completely unnecessary and rushed romance) are going to seem really silly. But honestly, if you are watching this movie are you looking for deep Oscar worthy writing and acting, or do you want to see the Rock kick some ass and get all the bad guys? That’s what I thought. The Rock delivers in spades, and his performance in this film (combined with everything else I’ve seen him do so far) makes me really hope to God that he becomes the next Arnold.

——The Girl Next Door——

(B)

This movie starts off a little rocky but by the end you totally warm up to it. That is, if you don’t find the whole teen sex comedy genre vomit inducing, which I thankfully don’t. It is stupid at times, it loves the whole porn star plot a little too much, and it isn’t incredibly original. Somehow it manages to remain funny and charming though, probably because it never really takes itself too seriously. The turning point of the film is really when Elisha Cuthbert’s ex-producer comes to bring her back to the biz. The actor who plays him reminds me of Ryan Seacrest combined with Bill Paxton (and is just as hilarious to watch as Paxton), and if you find that image as amusing as I did you’ll love this film. It’s not great, but entertaining enough to make me feel like I got my money’s worth.

And then there is Cuthbert, who is just…hot. Hot, hot, HOT.

——Kill Bill Volume 1——

(A+)

——Kill Bill Volume 2——

(A+)

I got my copy of Volume 1 in the mail just in time to watch it before going out to see Volume 2 for the first time, which was great because these films really two parts of a whole and not just two separate films. Watch one without the other and you may find some things lacking, but put the two together, yin and yang, and you can really start to appreciate the genius that is Tarantino’s ode to grind house cinema. It’s all just amazing from start to finish.

Watching Volume 2 for the first time was a bit of a surprise, since it was so completely polar opposite to Volume 1. 1 was almost nonstop relentless violence, one amazing action sequence after another, with the segment with Sonny Chiba being the only real part of the film that was just talking that led to no one dying. 2 is almost the exact opposite, being mostly talking with occasional explosions of violence. Any other director and I’d think that would be disappointing, but Tarantino fills each sequence with such explosive energy that you really don’t care that it is almost two hours before Uma kills someone. Mucho kudos goes to David Carradine, who fills each word with a viper’s touch that whenever he talks it is almost like watching another fight.

The other great thing about this film is how Tarantino plays with the genre conventions. Everything is like something you saw in another movie, only cooler and done with much more purpose. The structure of this film is genius. In Volume 1 let the audience know how bad the Bride wants revenge, then in Volume 2 surprise the audience by showing them how much is really at stake. It’s pretty much the reverse of the normal formula and dammit if that just doesn’t work better that way. When Uma finds her daughter instead of Bill when she enters his place it just knocks your socks off.

Not surprisingly, all of the actors are awesome. Gordon Liu is genius as Pai Mei. Darryl Hannah just builds on her great performance from the first film, and she has the only real fight in the whole film. And what a doosie of a fight it is. You’ll be hard pressed to find another fight out there just as brutal. Carradine and Uma light the place on fire. The real surprise though is Budd, Bill’s little brother. I still don’t really know what to think of him. He’s obviously one of the bad guys, but he’s a cowboy wearing a white hat and overall he comes off much better than anyone else in the films. He’s a mystery though, and a damn fun one to try and figure out.

I could go on and on about these movies, but why should I? They’re awesome. Go see them. Go see them again. Have a good time.

——Musa, the Warrior——

(B+)

This is a really cool Korean film, set in medieval China with lots of great fights a la something like Gladiator or Braveheart. It’s shot well, acted well, and the action is really cool. The only thing is, when I got done watching it I was still wondering, “What the hell was this actually about?” I still have no idea what the whole point of the thing was. Don’t help the Chinese or you’ll all end up dying? That’s about the best I can do. Still, if you have a craving for some cool feudal violence, check this movie out.