Dreamlogic.net’s Summer Wrap-Up. Movies, Games, and Books
The weather has turned, schools are back in session, and workloads have shifted back to high gear. It’s safe to say summer is officially over. In an effort to catch up with the ever mounting number of things we checked out but never reviewed, including movies, games, and books, here’s a wrap-up of the notable summer entries.
Mainstream Films
The Condemned . While everyone was checking out Grindhouse, a genuine grindhouse film snuck into mainstream theaters. The bastard child of Terminal Island, Cannibal Holocaust, and Battle Royale, The Condemned is an ugly, mean spirited, savage little piece of low-budget action cinema. It’s not particularly good – or even interesting – but at least it never puts on airs or attempts any sort of tongue in cheek self-justification. Raw, violent, and refreshingly direct, this is the closest you’ll get to grindhouse cinema this year.
War . Jet Li so lied. The second film to feature Jet Li and Jason Statham, and the first to follow Jet Li’s “last action film ever,” War is the most tedious action film this side of Death Proof. While only two hours long, the film felt easily double that. The War of the title is not between Li and Statham, but Yakuza and Triad gangs in San Francisco. In fact, the two never actually interact, save for a three minute fight toward the end of the film. The film does get bonus points for being shot in the city (San Francisco’s Yakuza district? Funny. I never knew there was such a thing), but the terrible pacing, surplus of Statham, and completely ludicrous ending totally grounded any hope of enjoying this film. Skip it at all costs.
Rush Hour 3 . Okay. So, Jackie Chan’s getting a bit slow in his old age, and Brett Rattner’s films are easily some of the least thrilling in his vast library (well, Rush Hour 2 was pretty good), but this was actually a bit better than I thought it would be. It’d definitely not on the same level as New Police Story, or even Rob-B-Hood, but at least the film maintained a decent sense of fun, even if the action sequences were few and far between. It was cool to see Hiroyuki Sanada (Shogun’s Ninja, The Promise) returning to a bit of martial arts and acrobatics, and Youki Kudoh (Picture Bride, Takashi Miike’s Imprint) had a cool turn as a knife wielding hench-woman. And the film relied a little less on racial humor than the others (but not by much). I especially liked the jokes regarding the worldwide perception of Americans (“I want to know what it’s like to be an American! I want to know what it fells like to kill without conscience.” ), and Barry Bonds. Rush Hour 3 may be the least in the series, but at least I wasn’t kicking myself afterwards for having watched it.
Vacancy . If this film has a message, it’s to listen to your wife. Seriously, I lost count of the times Kate Beckinsale offered sensible advice that Luke Wilson did not take, and later regretted. Hitchcockian snuff-themed thrillers have been done better before with Mute Witness and Tesis, but Vacancy did have its moments. Frank Whalley, Jr. does a decent job as the creepy hotel owner, and the dynamic between Beckinsale and Wilson was pretty believable. Though, to be honest, my whole suspension of disbelief was ruined once Kris asked me whether I thought the two of them would survive the film (you know, industry “no death” contracts and all that). Still, it’s short, stylish, and decently creepy. If you’re feeling up to it, check it out ‘round Halloween.
Bourne Ultimatum . If there’s one thing about the Bourne films is that they make you feel just like Jason Bourne the moment you leave the theater. You remember something exciting happened, perhaps a chase or a fist fight, but you can’t remember the particulars of who was involved or why. Seriously, the majority of the film is a blur, but I remember having quite a bit of fun while watching it. There’s an awesome car chase, an awesome rooftop chase, and Bourne totally leads the CIA on a wild goose chase…But wait. Didn’t that also happen in the other two? Check it out, then maybe check it out again just to make sure you’ve seen it.
Shoot ‘Em Up . I almost forgot about this one, and I saw it only two weeks ago. Shoot ‘Em Up is a pretty respectable action comedy, lampooning all the action greats while offering a healthy dose of etiquette and nutritional lessons (I especially liked the bits about the luxury car owners and signaling lane changes). The film starts out referencing Hard Boiled and Time and Tide, but rather than becoming a pure “homage” piece (read: ripoff/collage art), it spins off into its own absurd and twisted realm. To give you an idea, there’s a bit with Monica Bellucci and a lactation fetishist, numerous bits with carrots being used as weapons, and a nasty bit of torture that makes Hostel look tame. Add to that skydiving shootouts, a baby in peril, and loads upon loads of questionable humor. Not all hit their mark, but a very respectable number do. I’m definitely interested in checking out the Unrated DVD.
Games
John Woo’s Stranglehold . The videogame sequel to Hard Boiled has just about as much thought put into its story as its predecessor (that script’s details weren’t resolved until well over a month into shooting. To give you an idea of how much it changed: The original story involved Tony Leung as a baby killer.), but man, it’s a whole lot of fun. Controlling Chow Yun-Fat and shooting insane amounts of endless ammo in bullet-time (oh, I’m sorry. “Tequila” time), is a ridiculous little thrill. The game is not at all deep (it has puzzles, but the solutions involve shooting things), and the levels are a bit over-long and repetitive, but that kind of keeps with Woo’s films. Stranglehold is an awesome game. Check it out.
Books
Almost Transparent Blue, by Ryu Murakami . Almost transparent story. Really, there’e nothing here. Just 150 pages of twenty-somethings doing drugs, hanging out, having orgies, and sometimes all three at once. There are no real character arcs, no real realizations; just a succession of increasingly disturbing episodes. Skip it.
Modernization and Revolution in China: From the Opium Wars to World Power (Third Edition), by June Grasso, Jay Corrin, and Michael Kort . I was actually assigned this book in an Asian history course I took over the summer, and after the course had completed, I made sure to finish the book. As the title suggests, the book is a comprehensive history of China from the warring states periods to their current status as Economic superpower. The book is well written, and far more interesting than your standard history book. Anyone hoping to participate in intelligent discussion of contemporary Chinese and Chinese/US politics would do well to pick it up.
That’s it! Our slate is now clean.
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