Recommended: Welterweights, Tier 2
Submitted by jim on Thu, 05/24/2001 - 12:22
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- Army of Darkness (1993) ... Bruce Campbell hefts this movie onto his mighty chin--I mean shoulders--and carries it gloriously through the first hysterical and ridiculous two-thirds. It bogs down in the final third, but I was already sold by then.
- Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001) ... The best French 18th century costume drama kung-fu voodoo werewolf mystery movie I've ever seen. While I realize that's a tongue-in-cheek empty compliment, and that such a genre train wreck will perhaps have limited appeal, I thought this movie was a ton of fun. A bit talky and I really hope none of the philosophizing is supposed to be taken seriously, but I was throughly entertained for all 2:20. It was ridiculous. I loved it.
- Enter the Dragon (1973) ... A silly movie that is redeemed by showcasing Bruce Lee to good effect. He was taken from us much too soon.
- Face/Off (1997) ... A pretty good (if absurd) action movie that benefits quite a bit from the obvious glee Travolta and Cage take in playing each other when flip-flopping faces and personalities. Thank goodness they hammed it up.
- The Fifth Element (1997) ... I rewatched this in 2002, as I'd forgotten how much fun it is. It includes some very memorable futuristic scenes (the coolest being the floating noodle shop), some good action, and a goofy "save the world from ultimate evil" plot. When this was made Bruce Willis still had a sense of mischief about his characters that seems to have disappeared now. And I think I'm going to just have to give up and admit that I like Chris Tucker. Milla Jovovich was surprisingly good (although I'm not sure why I had any expectations about her one way or another), and Gary Oldman is always perfect in roles that are improved by being over-played.
- Goldeneye (1995) ... Once again, I'm probably suffering from my recency favortism, but I thought this was definitely a top 20-25% Bond movie. Brosnan delivers, and the action scenes here stack up with anything else the franchise has to offer. Someday I'll have to do a Bond marathon so I can once again distinguish between the movies within the Connery clump and the Moore clump. Then I'll rank 'em. Someday.
- The Legend of Drunken Master (1994) ... One of the better Jackie Chan vehicles. Kinda slapsticky in parts (particularly the beginning), but we are shuttled between the excellect fight scenes efficiently enough.
- Die Hard (1988) ... To see it for the first time at 18 is to love it. To see it 12 years later, ummm, not quite so much. But still an excellent example of the breed, and Alan Rickman steals the movie with a timeless bad-guy performance
- Fist of Legend (1994) ... It makes me sad that Jet Li has been subjected to such poor editing and choreography since trying to make it in American movies. All those I've seen have been unimpressive at best, and even several of his Hong Kong efforts have only moderately impressed me. I was beginning to wonder if there was any substance behind the hype. Then I watched Fist of Legend. Wonderful mostly down-to-earth fight scenes that reminded me how much I generally don't care for the wire-fu that's all the rage these days. Li's body control is so perfect he can make me envious just rising from a kneel - how is it possible to have such perfect posture without being at all stiff? I believe this movie is essentially a remake of Fist of Fury (not Fists of Fury - confused yet?), which I'm now going to have to see again as an adult (must have been 14 the last time). A side comment: it's really amazing that Woo-ping Yuen could make the non-martial artists of The Matrix look so good, but the fights there (while highly enjoyable) pale by comparison to his work with a pro like Li. Oh, as is usually the case, the dubbing sucks.
- La Femme Nikita (1990) ...
- Lethal Weapon (1987) ... Gibson and Glover were so enjoyable in this action/comedy/buddy-cop movie that they spawned a franchise that went way downhill after #2. That's forgivable, considering how much fun this one is.
- The Mask of Zorro (1998) ... This movie reminds my of the old Kung Fu movies I enjoy so much . . . The aging master takes on an impetuous disciple. Much training and adventure ensues. Fun from beginning to end.
- The Matrix Reloaded (2003) ... Okay, let me get this off my chest: the original Matrix had plenty of portentous and scenery-chewingly (or woodenly) delivered dialog and reams of pseudo-religious popcorn philosophy. Bullet-time, while undeniably cool and ground-breaking, still looked like CGI. That the sequel would also have these things should surprise or dismay no one (unless you were expecting a totally different movie like, say, Driving Miss Daisy). So yes, the sequel has all this same hokey stuff, plus the much-complained-about (deservedly, IMO) rave scene. It also opens with a bang and then grinds to an expository halt for like 30 minutes. But then it really gets rolling and it's a ton of fun. While I've read plenty of "it looked like a video game" complaints about The Burly Brawl, I thought it was wonderful, and thought it only looked Final Fantasy-ish when they incorporated bullet-time on top of the other layers of already impressive, technically daunting stuff. I'd rather watch ambitious FX fall a bit short than watch rehashes of the same-old-same-old. Yes, Neo could have just flown away and avoided the whole fight, but who wants to watch a movie in which the hero runs away when confronted by his nemesis? The highway chase was spectacular. I even enjoyed the opening credit sequence where we zoom out from the matrix code to see the mundane object it's powering. The plot is not nearly as tight, and may indeed contain gaping holes, but then again I've only seen half the movie, so I'm going to reserve judgement until November (stick around through the credits to see a preview!). Speaking of which, what a treat to look forward to this trilogy wrapping up then, followed by Lord of the Rings concluding in December!
- The Negotiator (1998) ... Except for one ludicrous scene (where Jackson is standing in the window shouting at the snipers) this is an action movie with a pretty good head on its shoulders. It doesn't always turn out well when good actors try their hand at actioners, but Spacey and Jackson pull it off here.
- Ong-bak (2003) ... The plot is thin and to describe the acting as mediocre would perhaps be charitable. While the opening tree climbing sequence is impressive, the first half of the movie failed to engage me. Even the wonderful foot-chase sequence was marred by the distracting multi-angle instant replays of the admittedly more-impressive moments. But eventually I was overwhelmed and won over. Good gravy the stunts! The fights! The complete and utter lack of wires and CGI! Moves that I've only seen faked via those devices are done for real here. And hey, if a guy is brave enough to do a ridiculously athletic split-legged baseball slide under a rolling truck (!), who am I to begrudge him a few instant replays?
- Pirates of the Caribbean (2003) ... Despite being 20 (or even 30!) minutes too long, this movie is a hoot; everything a summer brain-washout should be. Why? Johnny Depp. I've been thinking about this off and on since last night, and I've come to the conclusion that never has an actor made such a difference in the end result of a movie. Without Depp, it's just another summer ho-hummer. With him, it's a winner, albeit one that really could have used an editor. I can't imagine the role played differently, and I can't imagine another actor playing it the same way and making it work.
- Predator (1987) ... Hmm, I write this 15 years later and I have to wonder how the f/x held up. The thing I remember about this movie is how cool the creature was. It definitely steals the movie from Arnie and co., but he and his marines have just enough personality to make them getting picked off interesting.
- Robocop (1987) ... I always feel like a bit of a ghoul for liking anything Verhoeven puts out, and this is no exception. Darkly funny and ultra-gratuitously violent, it's still a clever satire of a future crime-ridden (both street and corporate) society.
- The Rock (1996) ... The best of the Bruckheimer actioners. Not that that's saying much, but this one does deliver on the action and hammed-up characters. Fun stuff, in a lazy brain-dead days of summer kind of way.
- Rumble in the Bronx (1995) ... The bad guys are goofy, but the fight scenes in this movie are remarkably resourceful, beautifully demonstrating the "use whatever happens to be at hand in a creative fashion" fighting style.
- Shanghai Knights (2003) ... I'm pretty sure I liked the original more than most critics or Jackie Chan fans, and I think I'm in the same boat with the sequel. They both hit my funny bone just right (except for insulting my intelligence by hammering home the references at the end) and this sequel features some really enjoyable fight scenes and homages. The two best ones happen kinda early (the revolving door and singin' in the rain), and the movie runs out of gas a bit in the final third-to-quarter, but I didn't mind much. The whole thing has an Abbott & Costello feel about it, and that is played to good effect. Great outtakes on this one too.
- Shanghai Noon (2000) ... As a kung-fu movie, this one is somewhat bland, but as a comedy it's terrific. Jackie Chan has found in Owen Wilson the perfect comic partner.
- Speed (1994) ...
- Spiderman (2002) ... I haven't read the Spiderman comic since I was a kid, but if recollection serves the movie is pretty darn faithful to the source, and certainly the essence of Spiderman is captured quite well - fear of bringing harm to his loved ones, a love/hate relationship with the public, teen angst, etc. All those themes are intact and handled pretty well in an appropriately comic-bookish way. I was afraid the action scenes would either be rehashed Matrix bullet-cam or Woo-Ping Yeun wire-fu, and while they were definitely derivative of those influences, they were fresh enough to be quite enjoyable. I'm a bit surprised at the glowing raves and BO record-shattering since it really doesn't transcend the comic book source, but it is pretty darn fun.
- Tombstone (1993) ... This movie begins and ends with Val Kilmer's portrayal of Doc Holliday. He single-handedly elevates this movie from a forgettable also-ran western to something memorable. It helps that everybody else ranged from competent to good, but he really carried the day. He was so strong here that it's taken me a long time to believe that in general I don't care for his performances.
- X-Men (2000) ... A fine cinematic translation of a comic book. Or at least, I assume it is, having never read the comic. Well-cast, well-paced, and enjoyable. I think I slightly preferred this to Spiderman, but since I only have three tiers, they get listed together.
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Ahhh,Enter the Dragon thats one of my first movie memories. My Dad loves Bruce Lee. Thanks for conjuring up some happy memories.