Two Days In April

Wow!  This was really something to see.  Okay, full on dude film...unless you are a mother (of an NFL dreaming boy) who doesn't want her son treated like a piece of meat and needs a bit more ammunition for her case.  So this film follows 4 college football players from the end of their final college football season to the start of mini camps at the pro level.

The film covers what is at stake and all the stuff that they go through and must train for beyond what they did in college: Pro Days, Senior Bowls, Interviews, the Combine, etc.  There are shots and scenes that dehumanize them and just make them animals.  Slave trade is what it is.  The last part of the film covers each of the four in their houses, hotel rooms, etc. as they watch the 2006 NFL draft and hope to be called in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd rounds and beyond.  I never knew the gap in salary and how much difference there was.

This was a gripping film.  I got to 11:00 PM a few nights with a 4:30 AM wake up the next day but could not stop watching.  Wow, it was something.  The filming was great, the acting (there was none), the script (there was none), the editing/directing...heck, SEE THIS!

Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen

At the beginning of this one, I was "Wow, oh man, this is great, oh wow!" but the weirdy thing was that during the day, I didn't find myself eager to get home and turn it back on and all.  It may have been the start of 2 kids in baseball, swimming, and cub scouts that had me worn out, trampled and looking like a piece of road kill bacon.  Not sure, but I did finish it.

Donnie Yen, who is in just about the last 10 films I have seen was in this one too and his fight action is awesome!  He has some of that floating/flying Hidden Tiger stuff going on but not so much that you are thinking to yourself, "Hey, now I know what those opium dens were for: dreaming up floaty fight scenes."

I kept thinking that the mask and all were like Bruce Lee in "The Green Hornet" TV show and yep!, there was a comparison and some connections.  Still good and this is a film that I can recommend, but not one that I would jump up and down and rave for.

Acting was good, directing was good, writing rocked, and the music...eh, okay.  Cinematography was awesome!

Ip Man: 2

Hold the phone!  Not since the Rocky series have I been so into a final fight!  Wow, awesome fight scenes and fights and wow!  Donnie Yen translated into English is Steven Segal: kidding he is not but he reminds me of Segal.  What I like about Segal is none of the Van Damme.'beaten to within an inch of his life only to rise at the last second and kick butt' stuff.  No, with Segal, you get, boom boom bad guy down!  Nice, I like it.  Donnie Yen as Ip Man is like that and also like Segal, there is nothing but a calm expression on his face as he puts a full on beat down onto his opponent. 

The acting is good until it breaks from the English subtitles and the Brits begin speaking English.  The only other flaw I saw/heard was the occassional time when the music was so bad I was able to actually notice how bad it was.  Other than that, the cinematography is great, the directing was great and the action scenes just rocked!  Script, good again until the English start speaking...then it is kind of cheesy.  Cool dealio is the surprise pupil Ip Man gets at the movie's end

OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies

Holy Wow!  This was just as good if not better than the first...or should I say second.  It turns out that this doolie was done 3 years prior to "OSS 117: Lost in Rio" (2009).  Funny as heck and, well, you have to see it.  Jean Dujardin is the James Bondy dude OSS 117 and he just kicks in the role.  The over done pauses, moves, expressions, etc. just rock.  It takes a second, but you say to yourself, "Oh man, that was so dead on to the over dramatic moves that were used in the films of the '50's.

See it.  Acting, script, cinematography, directing, and score all just click beautifully!

OSS 117: Lost in Rio

See it.  It is like the Austin Powers series but isn't.  It is more like James Bond meets Inspector Clouseau and together, the possess the social awareness of Napolean Dynamite.  Though done in 2009, the film goes way back to the late 50's style spy films with grainy film, decor, and all and it is well done.  The acting is awesome (campy), the cinematography and sound track are great, and the script nails it.  It has the PC subtlety of Airplane! (1980) and is just funny.

This by far one of the best films that I have seen in a long time.  It is just funny.

A World without Thieves

The acting, the cinematography, writing, and directing, aside from a few glitches, were good; however, the score was awful.  It bounced between what would be the backing track of the Chinese version of "Days of our Lives" to something you would hear during a fight scene between Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek.   It was so bad that not only was it noticeable, it detracted.

In short, an amazingly oblivious dude befriends/is befriended by two thieves (pick pockets, car thieves, etc) during a train ride to his home village which is far away.  With him is a good deal of money that he has made by restoring a monastery and which is he plans to use to start a life with his new wife who is back home.  The thieves are torn between wanting to EASILY rip him off or use him as the first paver in their road to salvation and forgiveness by protecting him from the other thieves they can see but oblivious dude can't.

True Legend

Ah my friends, I have been away for too long.  I strayed into the mainstream movies and drowned but have been returned to the shore of obscure films and this is one. 

The fight scenes were awesome and there were some strange characters to dig as well, but I can't go hog wild and recommend this.  Now, when I watch a film of this genre, I am in it for more than just the fight scenes and stuff.  That explains why the Bruce Lee "Dragon" series is not something I am all goo goo over.  Same goes for nudie movies...can't watch those because the one aspect they tout ain't enough to carry the bad acting, writing, directing, cinematography, and music.

This movie had good/great directing, writing, cinematography and music; however, it was just lacking something.  Perhaps the plot was just not too gripping.  If you dig fight stuff, this is pretty okay though!  Oh yeah, there is a loose historical dealio here on the Wushu style of fighting.