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October 11th, 2009
 | 11:44 pm - By the way...
What's with all these HK dramas the last couple years taking place before the handover for no readily apparent reason? Especially when all the characters either use super-thin laptops or have tiny flip-top cell phones?
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August 9th, 2009
 | 08:51 pm - Shorter movie review: _Shamo_
OH MY GOD THAT WAS DEPRESSING
DEPRESSINGLY AWESOME
?
At times.
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May 11th, 2009
| 08:54 pm - SIFF, again
I've gone over the SIFF schedule in a bit more detail; and altho I haven't added a lot more films that I want to see (only one or two), I figured I could just throw out some opinions on why I want to watch films (you have to come up with your own reasons). All links are to the SIFF page for a movie, many of them feature trailers for the film if you are interested (I apologize that their trailers appear to have been run through a decreased production quality filter). I've placed the movies I'm most interested in at the top, and I've tried to label my own must-sees in bold.
Please please PLEASE let me know if you are interested in going out to movies with us in general, or in seeing any movies with us in specific. I will do my best to make group arrangements, problem involving an email list of something facebook-y, and will probably be putting movies up on my google calendar as I decide to commit to showings. If you will be in Seattle during part of SIFF (Doc!) and want to force us to commit to seeing something with you, go ahead and let us know.
Any questions? Let me know.
Anyways, here we go:
The Beast Stalker
Hong Kong, directed by Dante Lam
Reasons to watch
* It's an HK cop actioner: SLAM DUNK!
* It's directed by Dante Lam, of Beast Cops, Hit Team, and, um... The Twins Effect fame.
* It stars Nic Tse (who has gone from being surprisingly good at acting & action to being one of HK's top action stars) & Nick Cheung (who I think got the HK film award for best actor for this performance).
* Listed on lovehkfilm.com's top 10 of 2008. And you know I listen to Kozo!
* Must-see.
Showings: 4 PM, Friday 22 May @ Neptune; 7 PM, Wednesday 27 May @ Harvard Exit; 11 AM, Saturday 30 May @ Uptown Cinema
Black Dynamite
USA, directed by Scott Sanders
For some reason, they don't have the trailer up on the SIFF website. Watch it here. Having seen that, if you don't feel a burning need to see this movie you not only have no soul, you are also dedicated to helping The Man keep your brother man down. Must-see!
Showings: 9:30 PM, Friday 5 June @ Egyptian; Midnight, Saturday 6 June @ Egyptian (my preferred showing time).
The Clone Returns Home
Japan, directed by Kanji Nakajima
I hadn't heard of this before, but the description is intriguing and the trailer is enthralling. You should watch it. Not a must-see, but definitely a film I'm very very interested in seeing.
Showings: 9:30 PM, Thursday 4 June @ Uptown Cinema; 4 PM Tuesday 10 June @ Admiral; 9:30 PM, Saturday 13 June @ Egyptian.
Daytime Drinking
South Korea, directed by Noh Young-seok
Click on the link. Read the description, watch the trailer, then come back here. So: which showing would you like to aim for?
Showings: 4 PM, Tuesday 26 May @ Egyptian; 9:45 PM, Monday 1 June @ SIFF Cinema.
Dead Snow
Norway, directed by Tommy Wirkola
Nazi zombies? Nazi zombies! NAZI ZOMBIES! NAZI ZOMBIES!!! Must-see.
Showings: Midnight, Saturday 23 May @ Egyptian (would be my preferred showing, except I hope to be holding a birthday party somewhere that night); 9:30 PM, Wednesday 27 May @ Pacific Place Cinema.
I Sell the Dead
USA, directed by Glenn McQuaid
It's got a catchy title, it features a hobbit AND Ron Perlman, the description sounds cool, and the trailer looks awesome. Also, midnight showing at Egyptian might work out. Grave robbers + undead = Must-see.
Showings: Midnight, Friday 22 May @ Egyptian; 9:30 PM, Monday 25 May @ Neptune.
Sniper
As I said in my previous post, this movie got a last-minute re-write in the editing room last year after CameraGate (or PenisGate, or EdisonChenGate, or whatever they call it) hit the big time in HK. Regardless, it's an HK cop actioner so it's a must-see.
Showings: 9:30 PM, Monday 1 June @ Egyptian; 9:30 PM, Wednesday 3 June @ Egyptian.
Warlords
Hong Kong, directed by Peter Chan
Another movie so must-seeable that it requires a list:
* Directed by Peter Chan, of Perhaps Love, Comrades: Almost a Love Story, and Who's the Woman, Who's the Man fame.
* Starring Jet Li, Andy Lau, and Takeshi Kaneshiro
* An epic historical war & brotherhood film from Hong Kong
* It's totally AWESOME!
* I own a pirated DVD I accidentally bought in Chinatown last Christmas, so I would be morally obliged to give them my money even if I didn't want to see it again in the theater of my own volition.
Showings: 9:45 PM, Saturday 23 May @ Neptune; 9:30 PM, Monday 25 May @ Egyptian.
Yes, I Can See Dead People
Hong Kong, directed by David Lee
Okay, you've got me, it's only on the list because A: it's from Hong Kong, and B: it's an excuse for a midnight movie. I would like to point out that midnight Hong Kong movies is probably my favorite thing in the entire universe. Hence, must-see. I do hear it's eminently watchable (the beginning of the lovehkfilm review is "You probably expect nothing from this movie...surprise, you get more than nothing!")
Showings: Midnight, Saturday 30 May @ Egyptian; 9:30 PM, Tuesday 2 June @ Uptown Cinema; 9:45 PM, Friday 5 June @ Admiral
Less interested, but still interested:
Breathless
South Korea, directed by Yang Ik-june
I don't have a lot to say about this: the pitch sounds interesting, the trailer looks interesting. It's a low-probability of attendance for me, but if someone else were particularly interested or it fit into a schedule around a couple other films I would give it a shot.
Showings: 9:15 PM, Thursday 11 June @ SIFF Cinema; 9:30 PM, Saturday 13 June @ SIFF Cinema
Bronson
United Kingdom, directed by Nicolas Winding Refn
I haven't heard of this before, but the description sounds pretty interesting. Another one I'll watch if karma lines up and won't cry if it doesn't.
Showings: 9:30 PM Saturday 23 May @ Uptown Cinema; 9:30 PM Tuesday 26 May @ Neptune
Forever Enthralled
China, directed by Chen Kaige
You mostly have me at "Chinese movie" alone. "Movie about a Peking Opera star" and I'm completely sold. "Directed by Chen Kaige" would pique my interest. Of course, we have all three, and I'm pretty certain I want to see this. Why only "pretty certain"? From what I've read, the second half drags a little, and that might have something to do with the fact that this is the half carried by Leon Lai and Zhang Ziyi. Throw in the facts that it's over two hours long and Chinese Censors = no Leon Lai/Zhang Ziyi sex scene, and I'm more ambivalent then I might be otherwise. Still: definitely interested, and desire on the part of others to see this movie would go a long way. Watch the trailer, let me know what you think.
Showings: 9:15 PM, Sunday 7 June @ Uptown Cinema; 9:15 PM, Wednesday 10 June @ Admiral; 3 PM, Saturday 13 June @ Cinerama
Hansel and Gretel
South Korea, directed by Yim Phil-sung
I've heard good things about it on the tubes, and the trailer looks pretty kick-ass.
Showings: 9:15 PM, Wednesday 27 May @ Neptune; 3:30 PM, Friday 29 May @ Egyptian; 9:30 PM, Sunday 7 June @ Admiral.
Inju, the Beast in the Shadow
France, directed by Barbet Schroeder
Based on a novel by Edogawa Rampo? I'm halfway there. Sounds okay from the description, and the trailer takes me another ~25% of the way there. Unlike the trailer, I hope the actual film has subtitles. That's another 10% right there, right?
Showings: 6:30 PM, Thursday 4 June @ Egyptian; 1:15 PM, Saturday 6 June @ Uptown Cinema; 4:15 PM, Friday 12 June @ Cinerama
Miao Miao
Hong Kong (but really Taiwan, I think), directed by Hsiao-Tse Cheng
Apparently this was made by a bunch of people who've worked with Wong Kar-Wai; but the list doesn't include WKW himself, Christopher Doyle, or the stellar casts he surrounds himself with, which are a lot of the reasons to go see WKW films. Based on the trailer, this doesn't look like it brings a lot new to the table, but I could see the ladies or those who like consuming teen-oriented fare being quite interested in this. And it looks pretty damned gorgeous. Not something I'll push hard for, but certainly something I'd love to get dragged along to.
Showings: 4:30 PM, Friday 29 May @ SIFF Cinema; 7 PM, Tuesday 2 June @ Egyptian Theater.
Moon
UK, directed by Duncan Jones
Starring Sam Rockwell, this sounds pretty awesome and I've heard consistently awesome things about it. The only thing that keeps this from being at the top of the list is the certainty that I'll have the option to catch this in the theater later this summer. But if you want to catch it NOW, I'm certainly persuadable.
Showings: 7 PM, Tuesday 26 May @ Egyptian; 4:15 PM, Wednesday 27 May @ SIFF Cinema.
My Dear Enemy
South Korea, directed by Lee Yoon-ki
It looks a bit slight and a bit romcommy, but it's definitely got potential. Give the trailer a spin and see what you think.
Showings: 6:30 PM, Sunday 24 May @ Harvard Exit; 1:30 PM, Monday 25 May @ Harvard Exit
Once Upon a Time in the West
USA, directed by Sergio Leone
Based on a script by Bernardo Bertolucci and Dario Argento, this is the Greatest Western Ever Made. Every chance offered by fate to see this in the theater should be taken quite seriously.
Showing: 1:30 PM, Friday 6 June @ Harvard Exit
OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies
France, directed by Michel Hazanavicius (the first name I've had to just copy and paste!)
This spy comedy has gotten a lot of really really good press, and this is an outdoor showing. That has a lot of potential. Also, they're showing the sequel, but only at the closing night gala, which is expensive. Curses!
Showing: 9 PM, Friday 6 June @ Juanita Beach Park
Wild Rose
An early Chinese silent film? SOLD!
Showings: 1:30 PM, Monday 25 May @ Egyptian (okay, that's probably not going to happen)
ZMD: Zombies of Mass Destruction
Okay, this movie is solely on here because of the title. It does sound pretty cool, tho.
Showings: 9:15 PM, Tuesday 2 June @ SIFF Cinema; 10:00 PM, Thursday 4 June @ Kirkland Performance Center
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May 7th, 2009
 | 11:53 pm - SIFF's coming up
It's that time of year again...
The SIFF schedule was released to day, and I've been meaning to go through it ALL DAY, but have been too busy. So I'm just quick skimming through the online calendar to see what there is to see. I'll put up a more comprehensive list with explanations of why I want to see things later, hopefully.
Friday, 22 May:
4 PM: Beast Stalker, directed by Dante Lam @ Neptune
Midnight: I Sell the Dead @ Egyptian
Saturday, 23 May:
9:30 PM: Bronson @ Uptown Cinema
9:45 PM: Warlords @ Neptune
Midnight: Dead Snow (The Nazi zombie movie) @ Egyptian
Sunday, 24 May:
11:00 AM: The Third Man @ Harvard Exit
Monday, 25 May:
1:30 PM: Wild Rose @ Egyptian
9:30 PM: Warlords @ Egyptian
9:30 PM: I Sell the Dead @ Neptune
Tuesday, 26 May:
4 PM: Daytime Drinking @ Egyptian
7 PM: Moon @ Egyptian
9:30 PM: Bronson @ Neptune
Wednesday, 27 May:
4:15 PM: Moon @ SIFF Cinema
7 PM: Beast Stalker @ Harvard Exit
9:30 PM: Dead Snow @ Pacific Place Cinema
9:15 PM: Hansel and Gretel @ Neptune
Thursday, 28 May:
Nuthin'
Friday, 29 May:
3:30 PM: Hansel and Gretel @ Egyptian
4:30 PM: Miao Miao @ SIFF Cinema
Saturday, 30 May:
11 AM: Beast Stalker @ Uptown Cinema
Midnight: Yes, I Can See Dead People @ Egyptian
Sunday, 31 May:
Nuthin'
Monday, 1 June:
9:30 PM: The Sniper @ Egyptian (This movie was supposed to come out ~last summer, but it co-starred Edison Chen before his penis became world-famous, so it went in for a drastic re-edit and premiered at the HK International Film Festival a couple weeks ago. So, pseudo-coup, I guess?)
9:45 PM: Daytime Drinking @ SIFF Cinema
Tuesday, 2 June:
9:15 PM: ZMD: Zombies of Mass Destruction @ SIFF Cinema
9:30 PM: Yes, I Can See Dead People @ Uptown Cinema
Wednesday, 3 June:
9:30 PM: The Sniper @ Egyptian
Thursday, 4 June:
10 PM: ZMD: Zombies of Mass Destruction @ Kirkland Performance Center
9:30 PM: The Clone Returns Home @ Uptown Cinema
Friday, 5 June:
9:45 PM: Yes, I Can See Dead People @ Admiral Theater
9:30 PM: Black Dynamite @ Egyptian
Saturday, 6 June:
1:15 PM: Inju, the Beast in the Shadow @ Uptown Cinema
9 PM: OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies @ Juanita Beach Park
Midnight: Black Dynamite @ Egyptian
Sunday, 7 June:
9:30 PM: Hansel and Gretel @ Admiral Theater
9:15 PM: Forever Enthralled @ Uptown Cinema
Monday, 8 June:
Nuthin
Tuesday, 9 June:
Nuthin
Wednesday, 10 June:
4:00 PM: The Clone Returns Home @ Admiral Theater
9:15 PM: Forever Enthralled @ Admiral Theater
Thursday, 11 June:
Nuthin
Friday, 12 June:
4:15 PM: Inju, the Beast in Shadow @ Cinerama
Saturday, 13 June:
1:30 PM: Once Upon a Time in the West @ Harvard Exit
3 PM: Forever Enthralled @ Cinerama
9:30 PM: The Clone Returns Home @ Egyptian
Sunday, 14 June:
Nuthin
***
This is just a cursory overview. If you see anything you think I missed or should know about, feel free to throw a shout-out. Ditto if you have opinions about what movies I should/shouldn't see from my list or if you are a Seattlite and might be interested in tagging along. In the next week or so, I'll grab the SIFF flier and go through it and the website a bit more comprehensively.
Gut reaction: The only real "must-sees" in terms of things I had prior interest in are Beast Stalker, Dead Snow, and Black Dynamite. I'm interested in Moon, but I'm also confident it will do get at least a couple weeks to a month at a Landmark theatre in the area at some point over the summer; I already have Warlords on DVD, but I would TOTALLY love to see it on the big screen. I had some milder prior interest in Forever Enthralled, altho I don't remember why (I didn't that Chen Kaige directed, I don't know if that alters my interest levels at all), and I'll almost definitely go see Sniper just for kicksplosions. I feel sort of let down that most of the HK and South Korean fare are things that even I haven't heard of, and especially in the latter regard that most of the fare seem to be marginally interesting & romcommish. I'll have to track down more info, tho, to see if I'm wrong.
It's also worth noting that my devotion to twitchfilms over the last year has been at a nadir, so there may be things that I've missed from the list but should be excited about without realizing it.
Movies that I want to see based on the title alone: I Sell the Dead, Yes, I Can See Dead People, ZMD: Zombies of Mass Destruction, and The Clone Returns Home.
A couple films that I was really sort of hoping they'd have:
* Red Cliff 1 & 2 (I already have 1 on DVD, but it would be awesome just to see it on the big screen or to get to see BOTH before the US re-edit comes out)
* The Good, the Bad, and the Weird (I've had a stiffy for this movie for a year or two now... it's getting pretty sore.)
* Ip Man
* The Way We Are
* Kung Fu Hip Hop or Kung Fu Dunk or Shaolin Girl (yes, by all accounts, they were awful. SHUT. UP.)
* Achilles and the Tortoise
* Or any of a billion other Asian movies that came out last year.
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May 6th, 2009
| 06:03 pm
The Netflix synopsis of last year's Benny Chan thriller Connected (emphasis mine):
In the first Chinese remake of an American blockbuster, helmer Benny Chan updates the 2004 thriller Cellular, with Louis Koo starring as a single dad debt collector who becomes embroiled in intrigue when he responds to a stranger's plea for help. An out-of-the-blue phone call from a woman claiming to be held by kidnappers sets off a chain of events that will terrify and test the beleaguered man in this action-packed adventure.
WHAAAAAAAAAAAT?!?!?!?!!?
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January 30th, 2009
| 08:54 pm
Currently watching the copy of Warlords I picked up in SF.
A: It is obviously a pirate. This makes me sad.
B: The subtitles on this may be the worst I've ever seen. Jet Li just gave a huge dramatic speech about, um, something, that totally didn't make sense on the first time through. And I say this as a fluent speaker of badly translated HK English!
"Throw up the sponge?"
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September 21st, 2008
| 10:42 pm - Movie Night
Cris, Chase & I all went to see Red Heroine tonight at SIFF. The short version: Red Heroine is--so they claim, at least--the oldest surviving wuxia pian, an entry from a 13-part series. Live music was provided by the Devil Music Ensemble, a group that is touring with the film.
It was pretty fantastic: although it isn't obviously amazing in and of itself as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is, or as clearly influential in a single viewing as Metropolis (sorry: these are the silent films I'm fluent in); unlike those it actually feels like a movie in and of itself. In retrospect, the narrative seemed surprisingly clear for a film of its time. Although the presence of the live music may have something to do with that: I'm fairly sure that all of my previous viewings of silent film have been of actually silent copies. Also, the music was really good.
It was interesting to discover how much better subtitles in Chinese films have gotten over the years, and how differently wrong they were. This may somehow have something to do with translating from Mandarin (as I assume they were doing) rather than Cantonese: I don't think I've ever seen a movie filmed in Mandarin that wasn't translated professionally and thus bereft of Level Two humor. The errors seemed to be more focused on gross errors of grammar, whereas the actually words used were usually accurate (although many were misspelled, replaced with homophones, or slightly bizarre while technically accurate, like using "Generalissimo" for the leader of the army). (Although honestly, with High Risk running in the background because we couldn't remember that people in HK movies use the word "despise" to replace underestimate & I knew an example occurred in the first scene; I may have overestimated the grammar competence of more modern HK films.) My two favorite examples from the movie got written down:
* No one could bear for her deep lamentation.
* "Are you not care to revenge?"
The other interesting thing about the movie is the different structuring of the narrative than I anticipated. So the first arc of the movie is "heroine attempts to escape invading army with grandmother, gets kidnapped while her grandmother is killed; she is then rescued from rape by the White Monkey who then offers to train her in the 'military arts" so she can gain revenge." The last arc of the movie is, unsurprisingly, "heroine gets revenge while saving her neighbors from death & worse." So what would you guess happens in the second act? My guess would have been "heroine goes to the White Monkey's mountain lair and trains in the military arts." I'd be wrong. In fact, she doesn't appear in the second act at all, which is actually the meat of the movie. Instead, the film focuses on her next-door neighbors and their travails as the generalissimo of the occupying army conspires to charge the father with treason so as to force the daughter to marry him. There are lots of possible reasons for this to be the case: budgetary, as it would involve additional sets; practical, as it would be too difficult to film the additional fighting scenes for training, &c. But I've been thinking of it as artistic in nature: that the filmmakers thought that the second act was more interesting as presented than some boring montage sequence would have been.
On a side note, the film was introduced by Richard Meyer--author of Ruan Ling-Yu: The Goddess of Shanghai--who I just established was not Ric Meyers (whom I've never seen a photo of). The main interesting note from his talk was a bit of introduction to the period in which the movie was made: apparently at the time, the Nationalist Government (and in looking up their name, discovered that Chiang Kai-shek was known as "the Generalissimo," explaining that bit) had started censoring wuxia films because the narratives have always traditionally been anti-government. As a result, the movie makers started casting female leads on the theory that they'd be allowed to get away with more. They were right, and it stuck. I don't know if this explains why women were still the traditional stars of wuxia pian into the mid-60s. But it's pretty interesting regardless.
Anyways, the group is touring with it so if you get a chance to see it at a theater near you, you should totally check it out. It's totally worth the $15.
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September 5th, 2008
 | 06:56 pm - A couple months worth of quick movie reviews for no particular reason
...based on a combination of my Netflix rental list and the ratings list on my Netflix friends page, since the latter seems to be non-comprehensive and the former doesn't include movies I've watched in other venues:
* Blood Brothers dir. by Alexi Tan, 2007. On the one hand, it's not as good as I'd hoped given the hype while it was in production and the phenomenal trailer; on the other, it's nowhere near as bad as I thought it would be based on the reviews it got when it came out. It's as gorgeous as the trailer promised and is--as was made clear during production--clearly inspired by John Woo's (who produced) Bullet in the Head. But that film offered a clear, forceful narrative about well-defined characters who were backed into a corner and forced to make decisions with unfortunate consequences. This one... didn't. Expanding the first hour of the movie into a two hour narrative and forcing the extra space to be spent on better building of characters would have made a better movie, but it's difficult for me to begrudge it the last half hour, even if it did end up in the obvious place. Also, it's probably better in reality than it was for me because I realized a half hour in that I had difficulty distinguishing two of the main actors (Chen Chang and... Ye Liu, maybe?) just because I wasn't previously acquainted with them and there were enough scenes in which their character was not clear enough to carry it out, so their roles--which were pretty critical--got a bit muddled for me.
Recommended, with reservations.
* Lawyer Lawyer starring Stephen Chow, 1997. I gave it three stars on Netflix, which for an HK movie starring Stephen Chow is pretty much the kiss of death. There's nothing wrong with it, it's just more-or-less indistinguishable from a bunch of other Stephen Chow movies from the same era (King of Beggars, the Royal Tramp movies, Forbidden City Cop...) whose primary advantage is that they came out first. If you want to watch a Stephen Chow movie, it's good enough. If you've already seen the previously listed movies, the best I can say is that it's not a waste of your time.
Not recommended, except for people (like me) who want to see every Stephen Chow movie.
* The Tiger Blade dir. Theeratorn Siriphunvaraporn, 2005. I only returned this a month ago? Wow, this movie was apparently pretty forgettable. Um, I remember it being somewhat vague and vapid. I also recall liking the feel that it wasn't a fantasy movie so much as a cop movie from a universe where Buddhist magic worked, and this was blasely but not extensively incorporated into crime and police work.
Recommended for people who want to watch every Thai action movie or every new martial arts movie.
* Heroes of the East dir. Lau-Kar Leung, 1979. This movie was great. Really really sweet. It's got a great one-sentence pitch, which becomes even better when you discover it to be a action romcom in the tradition only HK can bring to the table. Also, it's great as a product of the times insomuch as it's clearly a movie whose twin themes are cultural tolerance/understanding and the inherent superiority of Chinese culture (as demonstrated by its martial traditions), and the movie gives you enough nudges and winks to make it clear that they're in on the joke without making the contradiction the focus of the film.
Recommended for everyone.
* Forbidden City Cop dir. Stephen Chow, 1996. Not quite as good as I remember it, but still pretty sweet. I would say that From Beijing With Love is plainly superior. I was really shocked looking back to go, "Oh hey! Carina Lau is in this!"
Recommended for Stephen Chow fans.
* King of Beggars dir. Gordon Chan, 1992. My memory is definitely a bit fuzzy at this point, but it was definitely pretty good. I will always be grateful to it for the realization that Beggar So aka So Hat Yi is some sort of actual mythical/legendary figure, not just a generic name given to beggars in every other historical martial arts movie (Drunken Master, Heroes of the East, Fist of the Red Dragon aka Heroes Among Heroes, &c...).
Recommended for Stephen Chow fans.
* The Girl Who Knew Too Much dir. Mario Bava, 1963. Definitely Bava's Hitchcock film, for better or worse. Very much one of those movies I spend the whole time talking over, mocking it for inconsequentialities, then realize at the end that it was actually pretty decent.
Recommended only for Bava die-hards. If you haven't bought the boxed set, you probably shouldn't bother.
Gotta run. To be continued...?
EDIT (continued):
Evil Aliens dir. Jake West, 2005. We were constantly going back on forth on whether this movie was awesome with some awful moments or awful with some awesome moments. I don't know if people ever still drink beer and watch movies at Phlabra's place after Cahoots on Saturdays, but if they do Phil should rent this and show it to them. Abra will have to close her eyes a couple times, and everyone will say "I can't believe they did that!" a dozen times or so, and hopefully the majority of them will be with glee.
You will weep with joy the first time you see an alien get run over by a combine.
Amazons vs. Superheroes dir. Alfonso Brescia, 1975. This movie is just fucked up. Seriously, totally off the wall.
Mildly recommended for people who want to watch a movie just because it's a bad idea.
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August 26th, 2008
| 12:37 am - KFG Tonite
Kung Fu Grindhouse was tonight, I discovered at the last minute. Almost didn't go because the first movie was Fist of Legend and I knew that A:) since a real US release that's unedited and with a Cantonese language track (and probably a little remastering) is about to come out, I'd be watching that soon, and B:) since that version is not out yet, they'd probably be showing the Miramax (I think) dub. But I decided to give Chase a call and head out anyway, on the theory that I needed the socialization.
I was right.
We caught the tail end of FoL, and the dubbing is less irritating when you're just watching the final fight scene. The second movie was Evil Aliens, which is A: totally fucked up, and B: something Phil needs to first watch and then show to other people after plying them with alcohol. Discussing with Chase on the way home, we both agreed that we spent the entire movie wavering between "awful movie with some awesome moments" and "awesome movie with some awful moments." There's also a fair amount of sheer WTFness and a healthy dose of gore. Ultimately, two thumbs up because there's too much awesome not to.
After the second movie, I went outside and met Tom Peyer of Hourman fame. That was pretty random.
The final movie was Amazons and Supermen, a 1974 Shaw Bros. / Cine Italia production. It's... pretty much pure WTF. Our hero is Dharma, an immortal guardian who lives in a mountain and protects the people of the valley in return for offerings of food, but only the right food ("Remember: no peppers, no protection!"). Except, he's actually just the latest in a 400-year long train of random perfectly normal guys who have been trained to pretend to be immortal to protect the people of the valley (and get free food). Except that--as far as I could tell--he does have the ability to jump off a cliff and survive... and also jump up cliffs and survive. Anyways, the amazons start raiding the local villages to try and force Dharma to explain to them the secrets of the eternal flame that granted his immortality, so he has to recruit some assistance from a black guy and an asian dude.
Somewhere along the way, he invents flame throwers and mortars. This movie is pretty effed up, but it also has its moments of manic genius. It totally should have been in the 50 martial arts movies box, and it would have been awesome in that context.
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