The Last Circus

God help me.  Spain is just shooting missiles of twisted stuff across its borders and into my red envelope queue.  What the heck.  The last Spanish movie I saw (which I saw right before this) was "The Skin I Live In," and wow, this one was just as macabre.

It took several nights to watch, yet I did keep watching and finished it.  Really, I don't know how or where to start in reviewing this other than the basics: script was good, directing was good, cinematography was good, acting was great, and music was, well, I don't remember it too much which means it did not get in the way.  Okay, dude whose father was a clown becomes a clown and is paired with a sadistic clown who abuses the s#$t out of his girlfriend.  New clown falls for the girlfriend and she falls for him and sadistic clown catches wind of it and then a whole circus of s%*t hits the fan.  New clown then unleashes the 5 gallon Sparklets bottle of unreleased rage he has been filling throughout his life in the span of a week or two.

Gory, crazy, and actually reminded me of Hammurabi settling a dispute of 2 women; both claiming to have birthed an infant and both wanting possession of the child.  It will be hard for this film to find a home as the cover intimates standard B movie crap with cleavage and gore, but the level of acting will be far beyond what purveyors of that genre expect and there won't be enough gore for them either.  On the other hand, the acting and plot are of a level that is more A+ stuff, yet the gore is enough that the purveyors of this will be turned off.

The Skin I Live In

Holy crap.  This is one of the most twisted weird disturbing movies that I have seen in a very long time.  This thing was like a dog pooping.  It is disturbing but you still watch.  Thank goodness it ended and other little red envelopes of love have shown up.  Frankenstein meets the cast of Jerry Springer.

Banderas is great as are all the actors in this film.  The directing, script, music, and cinematography were all great, but man, this was such a twisted film.  If you are ready for just some weird weirdness, this is it.

I am torn on recommending this as it was so well done and I also consider a good movie as one that will hang in your mind for a long time, but man, this was bizarre!

Ong Bak 3

Awesome!  1 was okay, 2 was much better, and 3, wow.  It was really good.  1 was not really the first in the series of these flicks, but 2 and 3 were a series and 3 was one of those rare dealios in which the second in a series kicks over the first.  The writing, the directing, the acting, the cinematography, etc. were awesome.  The only goofer was the soundtrack.  On a few occasions, it was music that was so off that you said, "What the hell is that" and it pulled you away from the on screen acting.  When a soundtrack does that, you have a bad one.

The fighting style of Tony Jaa (leader of the film) is really different and something else.  There was Shakespeare's Hamlet, a series of subplots, Rocky etc. all twisted in here.  It was a total experience and introduction to a culture/time that was way foreign and really intriguing.  Petchtai Wongkamlao who was in the first Ong Bak (2003) was in this one too and played a really good role as a crazy dude.  Funny as...well, funny.

Ong Bak 2

Okay, I don't know Thai, but I do know from deduction that "Ong Bak" translated into English means, "No concept of time or chronology."  This is the second in the series and is called "The Beginning" but seriously, "Ong Bak (1 I guess)" 2003 was in 21st century and 2 is in, heck, 18th maybe?  Weird, so it is the beginning and if it is, who the hell is this dude...Methuselah?

Whatever, timing, chronology, laws of medicine and possible blood loss (and ability to remain conscious) aside, not bad.  In fact, this was better than the first.  The fighting style is insane and Tony Jaa is something.  The style is pretty different from the Jett Li, Bruce Lee, and Jackie Chan stuff and may even be more cooler.  Bad gig for the hero is that, "man, can't this guy catch a break?"  Okay, directing good, acting good, music good, cinematagraphy good, and the script...make sure you go subtittles and not dubbed....good.

I would recommend it!

Ong-Bak

Wow, although the standard "righteous out of place dude is and takes down bad established dudes and converts those on the fence" plot, this was okay...okay enough to get me to order the next 2.  What is knarliest about this is the fighting.  I am always into a good Kung Fu/Karate movie but after awhile, they get a bit tedious...especially within one fight, either dude is beaten about the head, face, and neck with chains, 2x4's, feet, shins, etc. over and over and keeps going.

There was a bit of that stuff here, but the fighting style was wild!  It is Muay Thai and definitely different.  Tony Jaa also tosses in some parkour to keep it interesting as well.  This is not something to really go out of the way for, but it was pretty good.  Acting was all good, directing is fine, music...well, it didn't get in the way, script was subtitles and not bad and cinematography was good in that there were no dark spots or anything.  The only annoying part was the girl's voice.  God, that was annoying.

Goon

SEE THIS!  It is Rocky (1976), Slap Shot (1997)-Hanson Brothers' action on steroids, and My Bodyguard (1980) all rolled into one.  With so many little red envelope treats showing up in my house, I forget what I have ordered and have gotten into the practice of bailing on the description the DVD's envelope has and just popping the disc in the player and watching.  Goon, what the heck is this about and within 10 minutes of watching the film, I got it. 

Hesitation ensued when Seann William Scott (Stifler fame from the American Pie series) first popped up on screen, I was bummed.  In the American Pie films, he has been good, but all the stuff I have seen him in since then has been lacking.  He pulled it off here!!  Whew.  Scott is hired as a goon/enforcer for a farm team and for the most part, we follow him as he Gumps his way through the film...funny, funny.  Liev Schreiber is here as well. He has become one of my favorite actors and he rocks here!  He is the hockey league's premier goon and the film culminates with the battle royale they have within a playoff elimination game.  Last headliner is Jay Baruchel.  I saw him in The Sorcerer's Apprentice (2010) with Nicolas Cage...had to watch that as the kids wanted to see it... I am such a good dad.   Baruchel in Apprentice is the timid, shy, whiz kid.  In Goon, way different; raunchy, rude, crass, and hilarious.  Awesome.

Acting is good, directing is great, script is just fantastic (as in one scene, Scott's girlfriend runs up to him crying and in trying to figure out what's wrong, he asks, "what's wrong, why are you crying, did you just see Rudy (1993)), and cinematography is dead on: well lit and nothing is missed or hard to see.  Lastly, what is the cherry on this syrupy sundae of love is the soundtrack....it is full on Canadian style power rock the like of Rush, Y & T, and Triumph!

See this!!!!

Little Big Soldier

A few days have passed since I saw this and I keep thinking about it.  Right after it ended, I was not really moved to much, but afterwards, yeah, it was okay.  More to the point, "Hey, that was Jackie Chan?!"  In this role he still had some of the goofy stuff that has paid great dividends for him here in the States, but there was much more. 

The acting was really good, the cinematography great, the directing was good and the script...hell, I have no idea, it was Chinese so for all I know, they could have been using the script from "Dumb and Dumber."  The only goofer would have to be the sub titles were sometimes a bit tough to read and also, there were scenes with a lot of action and dialogue so I probably missed some stuff here and there.  All good though.  As for the soundtrack, no issues with it.  I didn't even notice it and when that happens, it means the music actually supported the film well.

I can't recommend the film with all sorts of excitement and raves, but it was a good dealio.