In this video, Faye Wong (王菲) and Li Yapeng (李亚鹏) deliver heartfelt thank you speeches. Faye’s is, as usual, compact and thoughtful; LYP’s is moving.
done

Some observations from the video and the event in general:

• Na Ying (那英) and Eason Chan (陈奕迅) performed at the event, and clips are included in the video.
• Katie Chen (陈家瑛), Faye’s manager, won the vase that was painted by Tong Tong (竇靖童) and Li Yan (李嫣). She said, “Faye Wong’s daughters are like my granddaughters, and as a grandmother, I am very happy to have their work.”
• Carina Lau (刘嘉玲) showed up in a striking yellow coat.
• Carina’s husband, Tony Leung Chiu-Wai (梁朝偉), was a no-show.
• Vicki Zhao (赵薇), too, was a no-show. (Na Ying, Carina, and Vicki are Faye’s closest friends.)
• Chow Yun-Fat (周润发) and his wife, Chen Hui Lin (陈荟莲), after a lot of pre-event hype, failed to show. Rumors are rife re the reasons. In one of the articles, I read that he made remarks to the press that were “critical” of the fundraiser. Still, he donated valuable photographs for the auction.
• Small S’s (小S, 徐熙娣, Xu Xi Di) kissing of Faye was probably the most sensational event of the evening.

What can I say? I love making lists, and this time, I included pictures! One can never have too many Tony Leung pictures. Movies like Infernal Affairs, Hero, Red Cliff, In the Mood for Love, and the rest of the many Wong Kar Wai movies that Tony Leung filmed with the internationally known auteur are fairly well known, but he also made some really good lesser known movies that shouldn’t be missed. The following is a list of five such films, but please keep in mind that this is not all-inclusive because Tony Gor has quite a lengthy filmography and there are still quite a few of his works I’ve yet to see.

This post is brought to you by Tony Leung, who is outraged that I didn’t include Ashes of Time on my list and is about to open a can of whoop ass. Excuse me.

Dr. Mack 流氓醫生 (1995)

Poignant. Intelligent. Sexy. Unconventional. Hilarious. These characteristics could very well sum up the movie as well be an apt description of the eponymous character of Dr. Mack. Tony Leung plays him effortlessly in this comedy about a compassionate, if cynical doctor who’s stripped of his medical license after taking the blame for a colleague, whose negligence almost caused a patient’s death had Dr. Mack not stepped in. Instead of letting this deter him, he sets up a clinic in a cloistered, but poor neighborhood in Hong Kong, caring for prostitutes, gangsters, the elderly, and of course the poor who would otherwise not be able to afford healthcare. To the uptight doctors unaccustomed to his ways, Dr. Mack is a 流氓, a roguish affront to their strict, often burdensome rules, but to the people he cares for, he is their savior, showing that we don’t always have to follow by the rules to do the right thing. The only complaint I have about this movie is that it’s slightly bogged down by a superfluous  love triangle that seemed like it was meant to garner an emotional response, but I only found it tedious.

Killer scene: A doctor gets a shot in the ass (by a gun, that is), among many other lulzy moments.

He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Father 新難兄難弟 (1993)

Two Tony Leungs in one movie? Yes, please. Tony Leung Chiu Wai’s character is a self-absorbed, insensitive man who’s ashamed and resentful of his cash strapped and terribly ordinary father (played by Tony Leung Ka Fai), until a fall into a magic pothole (no kidding) brings him back in time where he gets to meet the younger version of his father. His father’s optimism and compassion soon changes his son’s opinion of him and along the way, changes him as a person as well. This feel-good comedy could have drowned itself in saccharine cheesiness, but fortunately, the film never takes itself seriously enough for it to go there. This film also popularized  the very catchy mantra, “人人为我，我为人人” (Everyone for me, I for everyone) that Tony Leung Ka Fai’s character constantly chants to remind both himself and others the beauty of looking out for others and reciprocating kindness. The time traveling aspect seemed lazily thought out (what’s the most hassle-free way to get our protagonist back into the past? is what I imagine to have been the question floating around the writers’ brainstorming table), but as a sci-fi enthusiast, I still totally dig.

Killer scene: In a hilarious, hammy segment, the two Tonys cross-dresses as females.

People’s Hero 人民英雄 (1989)

An uncompromising suspense thriller that blurs our perception of  good guys and bad guys. Unlike the other films on the list, Tony Leung only had a small part in this one. The real star of the show is Ti Lung, who plays an ex-con holding a bank hostage when he seizes the opportunity after a failed attempt from Tony Leung’s lowlife character.  The tension builds slowly, taking the time for ample character development, and it all pays off in a climatic, unexpected finish that left me feeling like I’ve been kicked in the gut. Repeatedly.

Killer Scene: The climax, which I won’t divulge because…well, you’ll see.

Hardboiled 辣手神探 (1992)

Actually, anyone who’s into Hong Kong cinema probably seen this movie before, so it doesn’t exactly meet the requirements for this list, but I just love it so much that I’m putting it in here anyway so that I can fangirl about it. This was supposed to be Chow Yun Fat’s movie,  but Tony Leung steals every scene right from under him with his low-key, yet absolutely mind-blowing portrayal of a disillusioned undercover cop forced to make difficult, heartbreaking choices that blur the line of morality. In fact,  I would go so far to say that his performance, besides the crazy gun action, anchors the movie.

Killer scene: This film was my first lesson in being schooled in the John Woo Way of Directing aka he never does  anything halfway. Hardboiled contains some of the most crazy, meticulously staged, gun battles you will ever see anywhere, and in a hospital with babies no less. The sheer insanity of it just boggles the mind.

Chinese Odyssey 2002 天下無雙 (2002)

If anyone felt violated after watching Lust, Caution and need to scrub out the image of evil!Tony from their brain, this is the place to go. This Wong Kar Wai produced comedy was a Lunar New Year offering, typically meant to cater to an audience who are fresh off new year celebrations and just want to park their brains at the door and have a good time at the theatres, so logic and plot are often sacrificed in favor of the lolz. Chinese Odyssey 2002 is a costume drama about a pair of siblings played by Tony Leung and Vicki Zhao who find themselves entangled with the Ming dynasty royal family when they fall in love with the other pair of siblings in the movie, the crowned prince and his rebellious sister. General anachronistic shenanigans ensue and fun is have by all. Tony Leung has been in his fair share of melodramas, especially towards the later half of his career, so it’s great when you get to see him in a comedy or two, and in the process be reminded just how much of a range Tony Leung has as an actor.

Killer Scene: Tony Leung picking his nose. There were plenty of other hilarious moments, including a body switch a la Freaky Friday between Tony Leung and Faye Wong (yeah, it’s that kind of movie), but for some reason, the nose picking is the only scene I distinctly remember.

Picture credits: LoveHKfilm.com and Baidu

Faye Wong (王菲)  and Li Yapeng (李亚鹏) will be holding the 2009 Smile Angel Fund charity dinner on December 18 in Beijing. According to director Zhang Jizhong (张纪中), the hosts for the event will be Chow Yun-Fat (周润发) and his wife, Chen Hui Lin (陈荟莲). (See photo below, L-R, of Chow Yun-Fat, his wife, and LYP, at a press conference on 25 Nov 2009.)

Guests will include Faye’s long time friends Tony Leung (梁朝偉), Carina Lau (刘嘉玲), and  Na Ying (那英).

Among items up for auction is a vase  that’s painted by Faye and LYP’s daughters, Dou Jingtong (竇靖童) and Li Yan (李嫣). (Source:  People.com, 15 Dec. 2009)

Nearing the end of this list, I still find myself remembering movies that should have been included here. A recent Twitter chat about John Woo’s Red Cliff made me re-examine my decision to leave the first half of the two-part series out of the list. I loved it dearly last year, and it made me insanely excited for the second movie this year, but I couldn’t in good conscience include it. Part of that is because of my “nothing from 2009″ rule. As half of the complete tale came out now, it can be excluded, though that’s a bit mean. The main reason is that while the first part promised much, the second didn’t deliver.

Don’t get me wrong, it still features high drama, enormous battles, cool character moments, and intimate emotional interludes, but there is a terribly annoying sub-plot featuring Sun Shangxiang, and the final act runs out of energy before the final inconclusive moments. It’s a great deal of fun, and taken together with the first is still a remarkable achievement, but there is nothing to rival the Battle of Eight Trigrams from the first half. It’s possible I will enjoy it more on second viewing, but that’s not happening any time soon. This list is taking up a lot of my time right now and after that I’ve got a full couple of weeks. Something to do with this big Hexmass thing everyone is celebrating.

Getting down to the last ten movies, it gets harder and harder to rank them. I spent about an hour on Friday just moving numbers 8, 9 and 10 back and forth, agonising over the choice as if it were a grievous error to get this wrong. By now, the difference in affection for these movies is almost insignificant: I very nearly think of all of these movies as the best of the decade, and each viewing of them would push them towards the top of the list without causing much grief. It will probably always be in flux, but these ten will almost certainly remain in some capacity, with only maybe Ratatouille usurping any of them.

10. Children of Men

Alfonso Cuaron’s thrilling adaptation of P.D. James’ novel came from nowhere and took me completely by surprise. With no advance word and only a hastily released trailer, I ended up seeing this cold and couldn’t believe my eyes. Commenting on topical concerns with an accuracy that must have been the result of some kind of supernatural prescience during its filming, this retelling of the myth of Christ’s birth says more about modern British life than any number of hand-wringing state-of-the-nation mini-series on UK TV, and certainly with more confidence than anything from the terminally ill British film industry. More than that it’s a bravura piece of cinema, with Cuaron trotting out numerous technically accomplished setpieces as if it ain’t no thing. It rewrites the rules of the action genre, strengthens the argument that SF is the genre best capable of commenting on contemporary issues, and restores your faith in humanity’s capacity for goodness.

Best Moment: Our hero (Theo, played by Clive Owen) and his pregnant companion Kee (Clare-Hope Ashitey) are trapped in the decrepit Bexhill-on-Sea concentration camp when a riot breaks out. As the British army moves in to quash the rebellion, the camera follows Theo through the carnage in a single shot. Cineastes everywhere had seizures of pleasure at the technical brilliance on display, but only the ones who don’t understand how sight works, of course. [/bitter]

9. Fight Club

Apparently this was the movie that was going to be responsible for the downfall of society. Upon release David Fincher’s adaptation of Chuck Pahlaniuk’s uproarious novel was famously treated like radioactive material by Alexander Walker, but embraced by almost everyone else as a breath of fresh air. On the surface it can be taken as a celebration of empty-headed machismo and fashionable nihilism, but the surprisingly wacky tone and endearing slapstick performances by Brad Pitt and Edward Norton expose it for what it really is: a satire on anarchic impulses and male narcissism, and an exploration of how paranoia can lead disaffected men into doing terrible deeds. Until Chris Morris’ Four Lions comes out, this is the funniest movie about terrorism made. Nevertheless, I’ll be honest. The thing I love most about it is the visual imagination, with Fincher gaily tearing apart the rulebook and treating his audience to an audio-visual collage of joyful unpredictability.

Best Moment: After the reveal of Tyler Durden’s true identity, our narrator gets to indulge in a panicky race against time to thwart his evil plan. For something as potentially dark as this, it’s amazing to think that Fincher manages to create such a fun movie, and the final twenty minutes of the movie are arguably the most entertaining. Edward Norton has never been as likeable as he is here, brandishing a gun while in boxer shorts and yelling about “lead salad!”

8. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

When Ang Lee’s martial arts romance was released in the UK, there were complaints that it was nothing special. Just another wuxia movie, except this time it’s directed by a “respectable” filmmaker, which means critics suddenly suddenly take note of the genre. To martial arts fans in the West, Hong Kong productions were often rough and ready, and arguably part of their appeal was reconciling our cultural expectations with what — to us — seems like bizarre sidetracking (anyone who has seen a Chinese wuxia horror movie like Encounters of the Spooky Kind or Mr. Vampire will know what I’m talking about). Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was, to some, a betrayal of that clumsy aesthetic, but that argument is borne of madness. This emotionally rich tale of duty and love would have been an exceptional historical romance already, thanks to Lee’s elegant visuals and his command of his superb cast. The breathtaking martial arts action was the cherry on top, and to see these beautifully choreographed fight scenes filmed with such care and reverence should have delighted fans of the genre. In his review, Peter Bradshaw said, “Frankly, this is what Phantom Menace was supposed to feel like.” This sums up my post-screening euphoria perfectly. If only all five books in Wang Dulu’s Crane-Iron series had been filmed like this, I would have been first in line for each.

Best Moment: When I first saw this movie, the earliest fight scene between Zhang Ziyi’s Jen and Michelle Yeoh’s Yu Shu-lien brought gales of laughter from a cynical London audience, enraging me so much I very nearly stood up to berate the hooting idiots around me. It’s a testament to the scene’s power that a moment later I was drawn back to the battle raging onscreen. Woo-ping Yuen excelled himself with what could be the most exhilarating and thrilling fight scene of the decade.

7. Being John Malkovich

A movie about people taking over a celebrity’s body, written by a former sitcom writer, and directed by a guy famous for making videos about talking dogs? I was certainly looking forward to seeing it, but I expected little more than a fun diversion with a John Malkovich cameo. The movie I saw was possibly the biggest surprise I’ve ever had in a cinema, one that detonated a bomb inside my head. What we were given was a complex, coherent fantasy unlike anything ever made before, something with a faultless internal logic that seemed to have been beamed in from another universe. Instead of a meta-textual pop cultural frippery we got a treatise on identity, love, obsession, celebrity culture, jealousy, and control, all while Charlie Kaufman and Spike Jonze told a hilarious and creepy story about a group of immortals using a metaphysical bridge to colonise new bodies. Describing the crazy ideas makes it sound like a game, but it was more than just intellectual trickery for the sake of itself. There was real reflection on what humans are, telling self-lacerating truths about how awful we could be, which built to a tragic finale. Even better than the rush of ideas driven to logical but unfamiliar conclusions, or its emotional fearlessness, was the sense that the rules had been changed. Any kind of story was now fair game, if it could be done as well as this.

Best Moment: Just the short description of the central idea — a portal allows you to control John Malkovich’s mind — could fuel a movie, but Kaufman is willing to explore every possible storytelling avenue of that idea, sending the plot in directions no one could have predicted. Part way through the movie, he gives us an utterly logical variation on the portal trick, but one that surprises right until it happens. Of course Kaufman had to send Malkovich into his own mind, but you only realise he had to do that after he has done it. It’s simultaneously hilarious and terrifying, and totally unforgettable.

6. Lord of the Rings

A cheat to combine the three movies as one, but a cheat that makes a kind of sense. Peter Jackson filmed all three films back to back, and stuck together they work as a complete movie, especially in their extended forms. Considering them in this way also mitigates objections about the length of Return of the King’s final act — with its endless goodbyes — and the compromises in structure necessary to make The Two Towers feel like a complete film. Not that those problems were ever in danger of overshadowing the successes of this project, which stands as possibly the most ambitious and thrilling movie trilogy ever made. Jackson and his co-writers Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens did such great work adapting Tolkein’s dry prose into a living, breathing vision that it’s tempting to say the books never achieved all they could until these New Zealanders came along.

It is to Jackson’s credit that he did the one thing necessary to make it all work: he had to take it seriously. Without a shred of cynicism, he portrayed numerous wrenching emotional moments with total conviction and treated his characters like the Middle-Earth heroes we always dreamed they would be. For that alone the trilogy would signify a welcome sea-change after years of half-hearted and jokey action men diluted the idea of noble heroism, but Jackson’s masterstroke was simple: he merely brought his usual intelligence and meticulous nature to the table instead of just doing the bare minimum to get the film made. He gave 100%, and 100% Jackson commitment is the nearest thing we have to a guarantee of total satisfaction. If you don’t buy into it, fair enough. If you do, the trilogy stands like the Eighth Wonder of the World. Can its spectacle ever be topped?

Best Moment: Jackson is the master of the big setpiece, usually by breaking these huge scenes down into smaller, still satisfying setpieces that add up to a greater whole. The Mines of Moria sequence features the superb cave troll fight followed by the race down crumbling stairs and then Gandalf’s showdown with the Balrog. The Siege at Helm’s Deep includes shenanigans with Aragorn and Gimli, the arrival of the elves, and Legolas going batshit. Best of all, the enormous Siege of Minas Tirith is followed immediately with the Battle for Pelennor Fields and then the Ride of the Rohirrim. When I saw this for the first time at Leicester Square Odeon, you could hear the sound of 1500 people sobbing over the thunder of hooves and clashing metal. It was a perfect moment.

A few minutes later, after Legolas did this, our cheering and applause almost brought down the roof:

And we’re almost there. If you have any complaints about my decision to take the Lord of the Rings trilogy as one movie, please address them to my ASS. (I’m kidding. The comment box beneath is just fine. Feel free to argue your cases: I welcome the debate.)

Legendary action film director John Woo hasn’t given up on a movie adaptation of Stranglehold, the game he made with Midway as a sequel to his Hong Kong bullet ballet classic Hard Boiled. In an interview with Cinematical, Woo was quick to note, “We are going to make that into a movie” when the topic of the game came up.

When the topic of making another, different game was broached, Woo — whose latest film, Red Cliff, saw theatrical release Stateside November 22 — said that he doesn’t currently have any plans to, for obvious reasons. “I don’t have that much time, even though I want to make one again,” he said, “But for the moment, I also am producing two movies. One is shooting in Taiwan. One is shooting in Shanghai. So I am quite busy these days.”

bron: www.chief.be [10-12-2009], www.gamedaily.com [8-12-2009]

Here’s a Top Ten list for you to chew on, dear reader:

As 2009 draws to a close, the chic thing to do is to create a Top Ten list for the decade.  Here at Bacon Makes It Better, we are more concerned with the larger scope of things;  how about an all-time list about one of our favorite subjects?  Hoo-ray for cinema!

No other artistic medium requires more collaboration than cinema.  Where an author needs only a pen and a page (and a good agent), a filmmaker enlists the efforts of a small army:  writers for a script, a cinematographer for his visuals, a production assistant to fetch his BLT, etc.

In the process of making movies, no other relationship is more critical than the director and his lead actor.  Most times, the relationship is merely a working arrangement.   For the duration of the shoot, the director and his lead talent merely co-exist.  They tolerate each others’ egos with the comforting knowledge that after six more weeks of shooting, they’ll be vacationing at separate Caribbean destinations.

Other times, the relationship becomes volatile; like the time that George Clooney and Director David O. Russell got into a fist fight on the set of Three Kings.

But sometimes– and this is more the exception than the rule– great miracles occur.

Cinema history is full of these wonderful moments when space and time grind to a resounding halt; when the cosmos aligns perfectly to allow a director and his lead actor to produce an amazing movie with an unforgettable performance.  And when the chemistry is good, the final product shows.  Lucky for us– the movie-going fan– when a director finds this connection, he usually works with the lead actor again.  The result is a series of work that defines careers and elevates reputations to legendary status.

That is the service of this post; to recognize the Top 10 All-Time Cinematic Collaborations between a Director and a Lead Actor:

10.  John Woo & Chow Yun Fat (A Better Tomorrow, A Better Tomorrow II, Hard Boiled, The Killer)

Woo created the template for the modern action film.  The requisite ingredient?  An unapologetic, bad ass male lead.  Chow Yun Fat was that guy.  Who knew bullets and blood in hyper slow-mo could be so beautiful?

9.  Frank Capra & James Stewart (Mr. Deeds Goes To Washington, It’s A Wonderful Life, You Can’t Take It With You)

Capra had a knack for stories about the principled, every-day man overcoming long odds.  Stewart was the man who made us believe, even when all hope seemed lost.  Together, they combined for such classics as It’s A Wonderful Life and Mr. Deeds Goes To Washington.  The filibuster scene in Mr. Deeds validates their position on this list.

8.  Spike Lee & Denzel Washington (Mo’ Betta Blues, He Got Game, Malcolm X)

Before Washington became seduced by the action blockbuster genre, he made some really great movies!  Under Lee’s actor-friendly direction, Washington’s performances flourished.  Malcolm X is the best work of either artist.

7.  Elia Kazan & Marlon Brando (A Streetcar Named Desire, Viva Zapata!, On The Waterfront)

Post World War II movie audiences universally rejected the idealism that popularized the musicals and comedies of earlier times.  They craved qualities in movies that were more identifiable to their daily struggles.  Kazan and Brando collaborated to provide the grit and realism they sought.  And in the process, the two artists pushed cinema into a brave new direction.

6.  Woody Allen & Diane Keaton (Annie Hall, Manhattan, Interiors, Play It Again, Sam, Love And Death, Sleeper, Manhattan Murder Mystery, Radio Days)

It still seems that after all these years– and a thousand movies later– Allen is still trying to recapture the magic of his earlier successes.  The same can be said of Keaton.  And why not?  The chemistry of these two talents working in the same movie is a delight to behold.  Every romantic comedy made after 1979– to a greater or lesser degree– has a bit of Annie Hall in it.

5. Billy Wider & Jack Lemmon (Some Like It Hot, The Apartment, Erma La Douce, Avanti!)

Watching these two cinematic luminaries collaborate was like watching Magic dish to Kareem, McMahon feed Carson or Robin carry Batman’s utility belt.

4.  Francis Ford Coppola & Al Pacino (The Godfather; The Godfather, Part II;  The Godfather, Part III)

Proof that even the most combustible of relationships can yield high quality cinema.  Coppola and Pacino may have teamed up only three times for one role– but what a role it was!  Without Michael Corleone there is no modern mobster genre.  Tony Soprano had better kneel down and start kissing ring fingers.

3.  Tim Burton & Johnny Depp (Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood, The Corpse Bride, Sweeney Todd, Sleepy Hollow, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory)

A bold visual style and fearless acting.  When combined, as in the case of Burton and Depp, the results can be both haunting and memorable.  Actors give their best performance when they are free from constraints.  Burton provides the environment for Depp’s talent to roam free.

2.  Akira Kurosawa & Toshiro Mifune (Yojimbo, Sichinin no Samurai, Rashomon)

Only Mifune– with his silent restraint or his over-the-top Kabuki style– could project the meticulous vision of Kurosawa, the undisputed sinsei of cinema.  Said the great Kurosawa of Mifune, “I am proud of nothing I have done other than with him.”

1.  Martin Scorsese & Robert DeNiro (Mean Streets, Raging Bull, Taxi Driver, Goodfellas, King Of Comedy, Casino)

Their careers followed the same arc; first as struggling amateurs, then as rising stars, appropriately as Oscar winners, ultimately as the greatest creative force to collaborate in cinema.  Always trusting each other, never compromising on passion and intensity.  Nine times they have worked together; each film an undeniable classic.

Just Missed The Cut:

John Hughes & Molly Ringwald (Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Pretty In Pink)

Joel and Ethan Coen & John Goodman (Raising Arizona, Barton Fink, O Brother, Where Art Thou?)

Orson Welles & Himself (Citizen Kane, The Magnificent Ambersons, Touch of Evil)

Agree?  Disagree?  Agree to disagree?  Tell me about it!

As I said in my previous post, this list has been kinda rushed, due to initial reservations about the project. This has meant that I’ve missed some great movies off, and now that I’m committed to doing the list, these movies have to remain excluded so that I don’t invalidate the previous part of the list. Oh, it’s all so confusing! I shall endeavour to cover those missed movies as I go along.

Actually, my decision to leave off Hideo Nakata’s Ringu and Gore Verbinski’s US remake The Ring is because I can never decide which version is my favourite. I go back and forth on this one a lot. Nakata is better at generating an atmosphere of dread, and was the guy who kickstarted the popularity of the J-Horror genre. Nevertheless, Verbinski’s version is stronger than it has any right to be — partially because Naomi Watts is so good in it — and his interpretation of the dreaded video and the effect it has on its victims is more unsettling. Actually, that’s putting it mildly. The first time you see a victim slumped inside a closet, it’ll put the fear of God into you, it’s so horrifying. Unable to decide which version should be included, I chickened out and didn’t put either in. Terrible cowardice, really. Consider both movies “included”, in a sub-category or in some list-tesseract or something.

Anyway, here are the next 15 films in the list. As before, some of these movies are a little low because I’ve only seen them once and never really got to grips with them the way other people have. As my experience of them is limited I cannot figure out if this is because I don’t like them as much as everyone else or my initial opinion was adversely affected by the chatter surrounding them. In time, they may move up or down, but for now, as this is a snapshot of my opinion now, this is where they stay. Again, there are no movies from 2009 on here. I need some distance from them to know if they would qualify. Even the year’s worth of leeway I’ve given myself is not enough. While compiling this list The Dark Knight (my favourite movie of 2009)  has jumped up and down the high end of the list several times. I won’t be able to make a firm decision on that for a while. And so, with those caveats, here are numbers 90-76.

90. Spartan

Before co-creating The Unit with Shawn Ryan, David Mamet made this, a clenched fist pretending to be a movie. Val Kilmer is brutally effective as a man doing a job no one wants him to do, spitting Mamet’s truncated, macho dialogue with withering and riveting intensity. A manly, manly movie.

89. South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut

The TV show still cranks out occasional classic episodes (Red Sleigh Down, Cartoon Wars, Imaginationland), but the big screen expansion of Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s satirical universe might still be its finest hour. Brilliantly making fun of censors, prudes, and warmongers, it even manages to give us some of the best showtunes of the decade.

88. Curse of the Golden Flower

Critics seemed baffled by the lack of martial arts action in Zhang Yimou’s courtly drama, but who needs it? There’s enough intrigue, betrayal, madness and riotous colour here to fuel a dozen movies. Just for Gong Li’s incredible performance, this movie demands reappraisal, and that’s before we get to the ninja action and Chow Yun-Fat in Furious-Anger-mode.

87. Syriana

It’s a toss-up between this and Traffic for inclusion on this list. Stephen Gaghan’s complex multi-strand exploration of how our demand for oil affects all our lives does have a weak sub-plot featuring Jeffrey Wright, but that’s better than the ill-judged Michael Douglas thread in Soderbergh’s movie. Both are great, but Syriana – with its thrilling final act – just edges it. (Consider Traffic no. 107.)

86. The Matrix Reloaded

The Wachowski Siblings managed to alienate the majority of their fans by attempting to expand the initial Matrix movie beyond its resonant but uncomplicated monomythic plot. Though the franchise ran out of steam in the third installment, for the length of this hallucinogenic movie it still seemed like they were telling the best story ever told. Plus, you know, Morpheus used a katana.

85. Hot Fuzz

Enormously entertaining on first viewing, Edgar Wright’s pitch-perfect homage to hyper-aggressive US cop movies gets better with every rewatch. The effort put into its intricate plotting is a joy to behold, and the casting could not be more impressive. A Who’s Who of British character actors having the time of their lives = film heaven.

84. Jindabyne

Taking the same starting point as one of the threads from Altman’s Short Cuts (Raymond Carver’s short story So Much Water So Close to Home), Ray Lawrence spins a tale of marital discord and touches on themes of racial and gender politics with a deft hand. Gabriel Byrne and Laura Linney give two of their most complex performances.

83. Once

The most grounded, unspectacular musical ever made, John Carney’s tale of two musicians making music amid the urban isolation of Dublin won the hearts of audiences across the world. Its ambitions were slight, but Hansard and Irglová’s gorgeous music gave Once an emotional heft that dwarfed almost everything else released that year.

82. The Hunted

Before Bourne, there was this William Friedkin-helmed cat-and-mouse actioner, pared down to the bone in much the same way as Walter Hill’s action classics. Tommy Lee Jones and Benicio Del Toro are near-silent killing machines destined to fight to the death, with all other considerations ignored. Easily Friedkin’s best film since The Exorcist.

81. The Orphanage

Conjuring the same atmosphere of impending dread as Robert Wise and Jack Clayton did with classic ghost movies The Haunting and The Innocents, Juan Antonio Bayona’s directorial debut managed to provide chilling scares and heartbreaking tragedy in equal measure.

80. The Constant Gardener

On the surface Fernando Meirelles’ environmental thriller was just another tale of corporate intrigue, but Rachel Weisz’s Oscar-winning performance — and Ralph Fiennes’ superb turn as her bereaved husband — turned it into something more interesting and melancholic: a meditation on how love can ruin a life once the object of adoration has gone.

79. [Rec]

Of all the camcorder horror movies of this decade, perhaps the most successful was Jaume Balaguero and Paco Plaza’s claustrophobic virus-zombie effort. Though less wide-ranging than Cloverfield, Blair Witch, or the thematically similar 28 Days/Years Later movies, it did one thing better than all of them: it was scary throughout, and utterly terrifying at the end.

78. No Country For Old Men

The Coens hewed so close to their source material that it would have been hard to mess it up, but even so, their direction was exemplary, conjuring up numerous exhausting setpieces and an iconic representation of chaotic evil from Javier Bardem as Anton Chigurh. It managed something you would think impossible: improving on the work of Cormac McCarthy.

77. There Will Be Blood

Paul Thomas Anderson deserves plaudits for taking such overwhelming thematic material and boiling it down into a tale of how greed can ruin one man’s soul. What makes Daniel Day Lewis’ work as Daniel Plainview so special is not the pyrotechnics, but the hint that by the end of his life he is so lost that he doesn’t care. It’s as chilling as a horror movie plot.

76. The Darjeeling Limited

A trek across India by three estranged brothers tested the patience of many viewers, either by presenting a view of American obliviousness abroad that lacked necessary satirical pointers, or by relying on too many Andersonian tics. To this viewer, the jokes, the narrative gameplaying, and Robert Yeoman’s gorgeous photography, were enough.

Okay, that was a bit less overwrought. More to come, if WordPress will ever stop crashing. ::grumble grumble::

]]> http://shadesofcaruso.wordpress.com/2009/12/04/the-last-action-rodent/ Fri, 04 Dec 2009 22:28:15 +0000 admiralneck http://shadesofcaruso.wordpress.com/2009/12/04/the-last-action-rodent/

Shades of Caruso makes no bones about its enjoyment of truly bad movies, and our search for the right kind of cinematic dreck means we watch a lot of movies that are dismissed by critics. This approach has pros and cons. While something that feels like it was made in a kind of mass delirium (e.g. Obsessed, My Sister’s Keeper) can be a real source of pleasure, films that are merely formulaic and boring (e.g. Bangkok Dangerous, The Boat That Rocked) can really defeat us. Nevertheless, while our hunt for something terrible is a pretty cynical way of watching films, there is another reason to do it. Critics watch even more films than we do, and as a kind of cerebral shortcut will make assumptions about movies — especially genre movies — before seeing them.

I’ll happily give any genre movie a chance, hoping to stumble upon something that has been dismissed en masse which contains some purpose or highlight that has been overlooked. Occasionally, we watch a movie that got shortshrift for hiding a greater ambition under generic trappings, and this makes the effort of watching the chaff of cinema worthwhile. That said, though I’m obviously some kind of wonderful saint for doing this, it’s easy to aim my anger at critics who treat childrens’ movies with this kind of frustrated huffing and puffing, as I don’t have to put up with the same amount of cynical, poorly thought-through tripe that clogs multiplexes during holidays. It’s all well and good going to see Pixar movies or my beloved Speed Racer, but what about the rest?

In the interest of fairness, I recently subjected myself to Dragonball Evolution, the caucasian-ised live-action version of Akira Toriyama’s manga. Directed by James Wong of X-Files fame, it tells the hackneyed tale of a nerd boy with a secret past and no parents trying to find a series of MacGuffins before they are claimed by a poorly sketched bad guy who will use the MacGuffins to destroy the world or enslave it or maybe both depending on who is re-telling the expositional bits about evil magicians and aliens and monsters and dragons etc. Much as I try to give every film a fair shake, and will admit that even really terrible movies have some redeeming qualities, when something is lazy and pointless, I’ll grant that. Dragonball Evolution certainly qualifies as the biggest waste of time I’ve subjected myself to in a long while, and even managed to make me temporarily not like Chow Yun Fat. Unacceptable!

Any critic who had just had to see that feeble collection of cliches and cheap effects would have been forgiven for groaning at the thought of an incredibly expensive and aggressively marketed spy movie aimed at kids. Hoyt Yeatman’s guinea-pig spy action epic G-Force has several strikes against it immediately. It’s a kid’s movie not made by Pixar. It has a premise — intelligent guinea pigs working as spies against an evil corporation — that sounds unworkable. It has a starry cast, which is often a way of adding clout to a movie that might otherwise be some cookie-cutter money-making exercise. It’s full of CGI. It’s the sort of movie that’s built to create a line of merchandising to further bankrupt parents everywhere. The trailer is full of awful jokes and crashing explosions. Nic Cage is in it and the received wisdom, lazily trotted out by people who don’t have the time to inspect this claim, is that he’s crap nowadays. What could be more unappealing than this?

Worst of all, it’s produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, who — in the eyes of much of the critical community — is the enemy of good taste and art, a galumphing unsubtle populist who doesn’t care about educating audiences or giving them breathing space between hectic, orange-tinted action scenes. His movies cost millions and make billions, and that lowest-common denominator approach to filmmaking has debased our culture to such an extent that no one learns anything any more. Bruckheimer is a name now automatically attached to any discussion about the soul-deadening dreadfulness of contemporary commercial filmmaking, a one-man blame-magnet. While Michael Bay destroys the art of direction, Bruckheimer destroys the possibility of thought-provoking adult cinema with his roller-coaster ride ethos and relentless tide of tightly plotted fireworks displays. Never forget, he once made a movie based on a theme park ride.

Of course, it’s best we forget that the theme park movie — Pirates of The Caribbean — was enormously entertaining and not to mention made with real skill and love of the swashbuckling movies of old. It’s also best to forget that while it’s undeniable that a lot of Bruckheimer movies are not that great, he has also been responsible for the first Beverly Hills Cop — a pacy comedy-thriller that still holds up well — as well as the excellent Fail-Safe-esque Crimson Tide, prescient surveillance thriller Enemy of the State, and the endearing bombast of The Rock. The ratio of bad movies to good is probably not something I should think about too hard while constructing an argument for his movies, but even though he has delivered some awful, lazy movies, he has also given us some gems. These are never considered when rushing to denounce him as the worst thing to ever happen to popular cinema.

Of his previous movies Con Air might well be my favourite, though this is treated like the absolute bottom of the barrel by many. Those who do praise it usually refer to it as a guilty pleasure movie, “so bad it’s kinda good”. Those who hate it consider it especially tasteless and garish, the dumbest film Bruckheimer has produced. Perhaps it deserves a slot beside Starship Troopers as a satire that many people didn’t get, though Troopers had a higher aspiration than Simon West and Scott Rosenberg’s action comedy. It’s plainly obvious that the movie is making fun of action movie memes and expectations, with a cast of supervillains standing between our whiter-than-white hero (Cameron Poe, played by a hilarious Nicolas Cage) and a reunion with the daughter he has never met.

Very nearly every scene is played for broad laughs, with a nice compliment of sly gags running in the background. It makes fun of movies that fetishise serial killers — Steve Buscemi’s character is awful, but not much worse than the widely-adored Hannibal Lecter — not to mention the moral equivalence of good and bad. For instance, Poe might be a hero, but he’s also a killer himself, as are many “heroes” in action movies. We also get to see an action-liberal (as Bruckheimer is a Republican, it’s amusing to see a sandal-wearing pencil-pusher saving the day several times), and one of the most extreme and hilariously protracted “Bad-Guy-Deaths” ever, as John Malkovich’s Cyrus Grissom is stabbed, thrown through a building, electrocuted, and then has his head crushed. This play on the delightfully ghoulish tradition in action movies to have the villain killed in outrageous fashion might be my favourite moment in all of Bruckheimer’s movies.

This interest in picking apart the conventions of his own movies is similar to that shown by 90s action producer Joel Silver, whose movies were so formulaic he could afford to make fun of that template three times over. The Last Action Hero is exactly the kind of genre deconstruction Shane Black does better than anyone, and the movie managed to pull of the difficult trick of showing its plot machinery while still working as an exciting and hilarious crowd-pleaser. Demolition Man had as much fun playing with action movie tropes as it did with the idea of a joyless politically-correct world gone mad.

More notoriously, Hudson Hawk set those conventions in a deeply absurd world that paid homage to 60s spoofery (e.g. The Pink Panther, the Flint movies) as well as Silver’s actioners. Both movies suffered the same fate as Con Air, their satire missed or ignored by audiences and critics alike. Making fun of these solid conventions is a tough trick to pull off. Trey Parker and Matt Stone had to use puppets to make sure the comedic point of Team America: World Police wasn’t missed.

To this list of action satires can be added G-Force. Though it’s not as successful at making fun of the stable it comes from as the other movies mentioned above, it is still silly and self-lacerating enough to stand alongside them. The film opens with a team of secret agents infiltrating the home of Leonard Saber (Bill Nighy, excellent as usual), the shady owner of electronics and appliances firm Saberling Industries (is this a nod to director Brad Silberling? And if so, why?). Though the mission is successful, their mentor — FBI scientist Ben (a subdued Zach Galafianakis) – has operated without authorisation from the supervisor he is trying to impress (Will Arnett, not given enough to do), and the team is disbanded. Separated from Ben, team leader Darwin (Hott Sam Rockwell) rallies his colleagues and tries to prove the nefariousness of Saber while eluding Arnett’s agent goons, who seek to capture the team to use in experiments.

Bit harsh, but then the team is made up of guinea-pigs (and Nicholas Cage’s mole computer expert Speckles). As you can imagine, a lot of the comedy in the movie comes from the sight of well-animated guinea-pigs wise-cracking and getting into various scrapes involving grappling hooks, skateboards and motorised exercise balls. There are also almost unbearable wisecracks and cultural catchphrases quoted at depressing length as in the worst kind of sub-par cheap-skate animation: if there is anything that made my enjoyment of the movie drop to worrying depths, it was the stream of unfunny puns from Blaster (Tracy Morgan).

The movie is at is funniest when it plays things as straight as possible, with the team of tiny mammals acting like stereotypical covert spies and computer experts, spewing tech-speak as if they were action movie archetypes. Such straight-faced chatter is overused in modern movies and usually bears only a passing resemblance to real life: many of my favourite moments in 24 come from hearing CTU computer experts panicking over opening sockets and tasking satellites. Nevertheless, we take it for granted that this is how these people speak, until these words come out of the mouths of CGI guinea-pigs. Re-contextualised, the absurdity of these action movies — and the oeuvre of Bruckheimer — is exposed to the light of scrutiny.

Better than that is the flirty sparring between Darwin, Blaster, and female guinea pig Juarez (Penélope Cruz). Not only does she rebel against a young girl’s attempts to feminise her with dresses and make-up (a refreshing change to see a female character unsoftened by this kind of brainwashing), she also plays both men off each other in order to win their affection on her terms.  It genuinely sounds like a romantic sub-plot from another movie drafted in without alteration. The effect is discombobulating.

I wasn’t the only person delighted by this playfulness. The Guardian’s David Cox (the only critic working on that paper who seemed to understand what Tarantino was trying to do with Inglourious Basterds) wrote an excellent piece about G-Force’s satirical bent, while pretty much every other critic waved it away with a bleat about how it was mere summer-movie kids fodder with not a thought in its mind. Tasha Robinson of the AV Club stated:

Pointing out G-Force’s plot holes would be redundant; it’s more hole than plot, and more videogame commercial and exhausted-old-trope clearinghouse than film. Events follow each other with a sublime disregard for coherence or story continuity.

Thus missing the point. Her comments about the plot are especially aggravating as screenwriters Cormac and Marianne Wibberley have done a good job of emulating the tried-and-true action plots of recent times, and from where I was sitting it seemed watertight.

Even more surprising was the considerable emotional charge therein. While I was less invested in the sub-plot involving team leader Darwin and his brother Hurley (Jon Favreau), the final act revelations about the villain and the true reason for his evil plotting is unexpectedly powerful. Though even I would baulk at claiming the movie is some kind of classic, or even one of the year’s best, I cannot lie about the effect the final fifteen minutes had on me. In those moments what had been a fun diversion with a cunning sense of its own absurdity became a real dramatic triumph, helped by first-time director Yeatman’s nifty handling of the final act action scenes. The sight of an enormous robot rising out of Bill Nighy’s estate and raining space debris down on FBI officers is an image I won’t be forgetting any time soon.

I strongly feel a little gem has been ignored in the rush to damn a movie for wasting the time of critics who would much rather be watching L’Avventura. Bruckheimer is man enough to know that the product he churns out has a formula. Here he has given Yeatman and the Wibberleys permission to have fun with that template, and we’re all the better for it. Even the seemingly lazy witticisms could be seen to be digs at the usual macho catchphrases of action heroes, though I’ll admit they truly do test the patience.

Nevertheless, even if that is a satirical dig too far, the voicework is spirited enough to dispel the audience’s annoyance. I’m tempted to say this is worth renting just to listen to an almost unrecognisable Nicolas Cage, channeling his Charlie Bodell voice. His work is almost solely responsible for G-Force’s most satisfying moments and, along with his turn in Herzog’s Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, signals a real return to form. For that, and for exceeding my expectations so completely, I shall seek to defend G-Force from lazy criticism from now until someone comes up with an equation proving me wrong.

Actors: Depp Johnny,Bloom Orlando,Rush Geoffrey,Pryce Jonathan,Nighy Bill,Chow Yun-Fat,Hollander Tom,Skarsgard Stellan,McNally Kevin,Crook Mackenzie,Arenberg Lee,Klebba Martin,Ellis Greg,Davenport Jack,Action,Adventure,Comedy,Fantasy,

Download Nintendo DS games roms?
Where can I Download every Nintendo DS games roms for free? Games I’m interested include: My Western Horse rom, MySims – Party rom, Mystery Detective rom, Mystery Mansion rom, Nacho Libre rom, Nadia – Megafun Land rom, Naruto – Ninja Destiny II – European Version rom, Need for Speed – ProStreet rom, New Super Mario Bros. rom, New Touch Party Game rom, Nintendo DS Browser rom, Nintendo Touch Golf – Birdie Challenge rom, Nintendogs: Best Friends rom, Nintendogs: Chihuahua and Friends rom, Nintendogs: Dachshund and Friends rom, Nintendogs: Dalmatian and Friends rom, Nintendogs: Labrador and Friends rom, Ontamarama rom, Paint By DS rom, Party Carnival rom, Pass Your Driving Theory Test rom, Pawly Pets – My Vet Practice rom, Peppa Pig – The Game rom, Personal Trainer Cooking rom, Personal Yoga Training rom, PES 6 – Pro Evolution Soccer [v01] rom, Peter Pan’s Playground rom, Petz – My Baby Panda rom, Petz – My Kitten Family rom, Petz – My Monkey Family rom, Petz – My Puppy Family rom, Petz My Horse Family rom, Phantasy Star 0 rom, Phoenix Wright – Ace Attorney rom, Pic Pic rom, PictoImage rom, Pippa Funnell 2 – Farm Adventures rom, Pirates – Duels on the High Seas rom, Pirates of the Caribbean – At World’s End rom, Pirates of the Caribbean – Dead Man’s Chest rom, Planet Rescue – Animal Emergency rom, Planet Rescue – Endangered Island rom, Planet Rescue – Ocean Patrol rom, Playmobil – Pirate a L’abordage! rom, Pokemon Diamond rom, Pokemon Link! rom, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness rom, Pokemon Pearl rom, Pokemon Platinum rom, PokerDome – Poker Master rom, Pony Friends – New Mini Ponies [v01] rom, Postman Pat rom, Powershot Pinball Constructor rom, Princess Lillifee – Fairy Magic rom, Professor Brainmaniac rom, Professor Heinz Wolff’s Gravity rom, Professor Kageyama’s Maths Training rom, Project Rub rom, Puppy Luv – Animal Tycoon rom, Purr Pals rom, Puzzle League DS rom, Race Driver – Create & Race rom, Race Driver – GRID rom, Rafa Nadal Tennis rom, Ragnarok Online DS rom, Real Adventure – Pet Vet rom, Real Adventure – Wild Horses rom, Real Football 2008 rom, Real Football 2009 rom, Real Stories – Fashionshop rom, Retro Atari Classics rom, Retro Game Challenge rom, Rhythm ‘n Notes rom, Riding Academy – The Deciding Tournament rom, Riding Star 3 rom, Road to Vegas rom, Rondo of Swords rom, Runaway The Dream of the Turtle rom, Rune Factory – A Fantasy Harvest Moon rom, Safari Adventures Africa rom, Sam Power – Footballer rom, Sam Power – Handyman rom, Scotland Yard – Hunting Mister X rom, Scrabble Interactive – 2007 Edition rom, Scrabble Interactive – 2009 Edition rom, Secret Files – Tunguska rom, Sega Presents – Touch Darts rom, Shining Stars – Super Starcade rom, Sight Training rom, Sokoban DS rom

Download every NDS rom starting with M
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Ryo Cloud Strife | Nov 20, 2009

http://www.3roms.com/

Quinton | Nov 20, 2009

Actors: Depp Johnny,Bloom Orlando,Rush Geoffrey,Pryce Jonathan,Nighy Bill,Chow Yun-Fat,Hollander Tom,Skarsgard Stellan,McNally Kevin,Crook Mackenzie,Arenberg Lee,Klebba Martin,Ellis Greg,Davenport Jack,Action,Adventure,Comedy,Fantasy,

how much mony can i get from selling these games at game stop?
im planning on selling these games at game stop if any one would tell me the total cash i will get after i sell these games
p.s:im trying to get little big planet will i have the mony?
marvel ultimate alliance(ps3)
pirates of the Caribbean at worlds end(ps3)
motor storm(ps3)
Cabelas trophy bucks(xbox360)
madden 07(xbox360)
NBA 2k6(xbox360)
NBA live 07(xbox360)
FIFA07 soccer(xbox360)
oblivion game of the year edition(ps3)

Green-eyed Chikorita | Nov 04, 2009

Actors: Chow Yun-Fat,Felton Tom,Alwi Syed,Kim Randall Duk,Lim Kay Siu,Chin Keith,Maniam Mano,Palmer Geoffrey,Stewart Bill,Drama,History,Romance,

What should these parents name their kids?
I saw You Know You Love Me do one, and I thought I’d try my own.

1) Luke and Katie Clancy are expecting a little girl. They want either a colour name or a flower name that isn’t too common. The middle names should be classic, feminine names.

2) Shannon and Marcus King are expecting fraternal boy/girl twins. Marcus loves the ocean and Shannon loves nature, so they want the names to reflect their hobbies.

3) Joseph and Anna are expecting a little girl. They would like a modern name that is different but not crazy. They want the middle names to be a common filler name.

4) Siobhan is a single mother of 3, Jessica Rose, Josef Oliver and Luke Eric. She found out she was pregnant with a boy just after she got a divorce from her husband. She wants the name to begin with either a J or an L and the middle name to be Irish.
You Know You Love Me is a user on here who did something like this

Hope you like em!
Melissa | Nov 14, 2009

"I saw You Know You Love Me do one, and I thought I’d try my own."
what does that mean? what is You Know You Love Me?
Sophie | Nov 14, 2009

2. Jasper Cole & Kaiya Pearl

3. Elissa Marie

4. John Colin
Anne | Nov 14, 2009

2) Dillon Troy (Dillon means born from the ocean, Troy means water) and Skylar Lillian (Sky for short, and Lily as the flower.)

3) Evangeline Marie.

4) Justin Brody.
Jessica | Nov 14, 2009

Lottie | Nov 14, 2009

Fun game, thanks!
ClassAct7 | Nov 14, 2009

Callie Skye and River Wind

Aaliyah Marie

Landon Ivery
Hayley-Rae: No Wrong Answers | Nov 14, 2009

Acacia Louise
http://www.anbg.gov.au/gnp/gnp2/acacia-s pectabilis600.jpg (Picture of an acacia flower)

2) Shannon and Marcus King are expecting fraternal boy/girl twins. Marcus loves the ocean and Shannon loves nature, so they want the names to reflect their hobbies.

Forrest Kai (Forrest speaks for itself, Kai means ocean)
Kiandra Marina (Kiandra means magical water, Marina is where the ships would dock)

3) Joseph and Anna are expecting a little girl. They would like a modern name that is different but not crazy. They want the middle names to be a common filler name.

Taryn Elizabeth

4) Siobhan is a single mother of 3, Jessica Rose, Josef Oliver and Luke Eric. She found out she was pregnant with a boy just after she got a divorce from her husband. She wants the name to begin with either a J or an L and the middle name to be Irish.

Landon Peter (Peter is Irish)
J_L | Nov 14, 2009

Actors: Chow Yun-Fat,Felton Tom,Alwi Syed,Kim Randall Duk,Lim Kay Siu,Chin Keith,Maniam Mano,Palmer Geoffrey,Stewart Bill,Drama,History,Romance,

Is this true about Afrikaner history?
Ive just read that which is posted below and would like to know what you all think?
"During these years of prosperity, South Africa was attracting the attention of British evangelicals, who were pushing to free the nonwhite races. In 1835 the damnable Brits passed an insane piece of civil rights legislation called Ordinance 50, in which all policies of racial segregation were banned, the Negro was given full citizenship to vote, severe taxes were imposed, the prohibition of their native language, Afrikaans, and the stipulation that any repeal or amendments could only be done in England. This law of race traitors left the Afrikaners (the White Christians) feeling that they had lost control over their lives and destiny to a foreign power arrayed against them on the side of those who were not of their race.

Missionaries from the Anglican church, headed by the Queen, preached a radical pro-Negro policy advocating interracial marriage. As an example to others, many missionaries and demented Whites in the Cape Colony married Black women and founded interracial schools. They urged the Black and White children to socialize with each other. They brazenly paraded the children through the streets with signs saying ‘we are of one blood’. The Voortrekkers or Boers knew that the blasphemy of institutionalized miscegenation would doom their culture. They defied the demands of the British to return to the coastal cities, and those within proximity to the Cape Colony, unable to survive or comprehend these liberal ideas, abandoned their businesses and farms, which were quickly pilfered by wandering free Negros and British carpetbaggers grabbing property for their own use. Negro tribes were now pouring into South Africa to take advantage of the British order that no retaliation be taken against Blacks who raped, looted and murdered Whites. The colonial magistrate actually ordered that the rampaging Blacks be considered innocent because, if they were treated with tolerance, they would behave properly.

Anna Steenkamp recorded that the British had placed the Negros on an equal footing with the Christians, contrary to the laws of God so that it was intolerable for any decent Christian to bow down beneath such a yoke "wherefore we withdrew in order thus to preserve our doctrines in purity. " Imbued with this spirit, some 12,000 Afrikaners packed their bags and loaded their covered wagons and left the colony, and started the famous ‘Great Trek’ into the unknown desolate lands of the north. At the same time, the Zulus were moving south into the same area. Being that they were not indigenous to this area, the land could not have been stolen from them.

The fierce Zulu warriors were at the peak of their power and knew no mercy. Often the Zulus would pretend friendship or ask for a truce, and then would brutally slaughter the emissaries. They would surround White farming communities and attack with spears and hatchets. Women and children would be raped and then tortured to death. The most famous of massacres, which prompted Blood River, was February 5, 1838, when the Voortrekkers tried to negotiate a land settlement with the Zulu king, Dengane. As the treacherous savages received Piet Retief and 70 unarmed Boers in their encampment, that evening, while feasting and celebrating the signing of a treaty ceding land to the Whites, the Zulus butchered every single man. In the months to follow, the Zulus went on the warpath, attacking and killing as many as 500 men, women and children at several other locations in the Natal area. "

The rest of it…is all new to my ears.

| Oct 29, 2009

por Luiz Alexandre

John Woo já tinha se reinventado em Hong Kong e seus filmes já haviam virado referência e contribuíram para a criação do gênero conhecido como “Heroic Bloodshed” (algo como “Sangria Heróica”), envolvendo um homem ou mais empunhando pistolas e enfrentando os inimigos mais desonrados da China. O tipo de cinema que o Chang Che fazia na década de 70, seus honrados espadachins que iam até o limite pelo que acreditavam, muitas vezes perdendo suas vidas, ganhou uma nova abordagem: eles passaram a usar pistolas, roupas elegantes, eram homens das ruas, solitários, anacrônicos, capazes de derrubar cem homens armadas até os dentes com muita desenvoltura, caso isso fosse necessário.

Depois de tantos trabalhos envolvendo membros da tríade, Woo começava a ser criticado por, veja só, glorificar essas organizações. Foi então que decidiu fazer um filme novo com uma pequena mudança: em vez do pistoleiro ser um homem ligado a uma organização criminosa, dessa vez o protagonista seria um policial. Contando novamente com o astro que ajudou a criar, Chow Yun Fat, dessa vez o homem de ação é o Inspetor “Tequila” Yuen, um sujeito durão e corajoso que quando não está trocando tiros e caçando criminosos toca saxofone em um bar de Jazz. Ele investiga as ações de um chefe criminoso chamado Johnny Wong (interpretado pelo xará Anthony Wong) que está contrabandeando armas. Em sua busca por justiça conhecerá o enigmático Tony, feito pelo também xará Tony Leung Chiu Wai, que já havia trabalhado com Woo em Bala na Cabeça. Tony na verdade é um policial infiltrado na gangue de Wong, cujo único contato na polícia é o Superintendente Pang (Philip Chan, que na vida real também é um oficial de polícia), que também é chefe de Tequila. Depois de uns estranhamentos iniciais, envolvendo até mesmo a namorada de Tequila, os dois decicem unir suas forças contra o cruel Wong, investindo todo o seu poder de fogo e, porque não, “cavalice” contra os tríades.

Não vou enrolar muito, o filme é simplesmente fantástico. As cenas de ação, com “lutas de pistola” tão bem coreografadas quanto um filme dos Venoms, que se fazem representados pelo magnífico personagem de Philip Kwok, o pistoleiro de um olho só, Mad Dog, que trabalha para Wong e uma curta participação de Lo Meng.

Aliás, Kwok, um velho conhecido dos fãs de Kung Fu Old School, exala carisma e virilidade com seu personagem. Assim como Tequila e Tony, Mad Dog é um homem com habilidades muito acima da de um homem comum, que apesar de trabalhar com um dos indivíduos mais perversos de Hong Kong, não suja suas mãos com sangue inocente. È o velho “bandido com senso moral” que mesmo velhos cineastas como Howard Hawks gostavam de trabalhar, e aqui Woo não fez feio.

Mas o destaque vai pra parceria entre o esquentado Tequila e o sofrido Tony, O primeiro ganha nossa simpatia pelo seu jeito “fuck you” todo especial de ser, pela maneira desajeitada com que tenta voltar com sua namorada, os ciúmes que sente com as flores que recebe (na verdade um artifício de Tony para mandar pistas para a polícia nos cartões que acompanham as flores), sem contar sua incrível habilidade de encarar milhões de inimigos sozinho. Além do nome fantástico, o personagem deve ter sido feito do mesmo material que indivíduos como Paul Kersey, John Matrix e Dirty Harry Calahan, ou seja, um sujeito durão até o osso como os bons da velha escola.

Já Tony, também um exímio guerreiro, sofre com o fato de ser obrigado a se passar por um bandido, tendo que trair a confiança daqueles que ama, como o Sr. Hoi (o falecido Hoi Shan Kwan) que sempre o acolheu como um filho. A cena em que ele mata o velho tríade para conquistar a confiança de Wong. Aliás, se Chow Yun Fat rouba o show com sua marra e malandragem, Leung, que provavelmente está para o drama como Jackie Chan está para as artes marciais, consegue ser cool, durão e sensível, criando uma persona ainda mais rica que Chow.

As grandiosas cenas de ação estão presentes por toda a película, com três destaques: a cena de abertura, no restaurante, com Tequila e seus colegas trocando chumbo pesado contra os tríades, a cena de invasão de um galpão pela gangue de Johnny Mo, acompanhada pelo enfrentamento de Tequila e a antológica e longuíssima batalha no hospital que serve de fachada para os bandidos, em especial o duelo de armas entre Mad Dog contra os dois policiais e uma cena de vários minutos, sem cortes, mostrando Tequila e Tony derrubando vários criminosos a bala. Inacreditável que algumas das belas cenas de violência estilizada deste filme, como a cena de Tequila descendo as escadas se apoiando no corrimão, tenham sido elaboradas de improviso. John Woo nem precisava de tanto após a feitura de Bala na Cabeça e The Killer, mas outra vez mais ele mostrou que sua fama não era apenas hype. Do início ao fim, o que vemos aqui não são apenas chineses violentos trocando “gentilezas”, mas homens de honra indo em direção ao inferno para enfrentar o mau. Contando apenas com um ao outro e nada mais. Howard Hawks, Sam Peckinpah e Chang Che devem estar orgulhosos!

Dragonball: Evolution 2009

Director: James Wong

Writer: Ben Ramsey

Starring Justin Chatwin, Chow Yun Fat, Emmy Rossum, Jamie Chung, James Marsters and Ernie Hudson

    Let me say something right up front before I review this film.  I never got into the popular anime series that this film is based on, I have seen a few episodes and the series just never grabbed me.  So, my review of this will be of a novice and not a fan of the series.  I will be judging the film on its own merit and not the connection to the anime.  That being said, I really enjoyed this, it was a light and fun action packed kung fu film with a great hammy performance by Chow Yun Fat.  The choreography in the film is very good, though it could have used more fight scenes and less comedy and set up. It really helped that they picked a great actor to play the head villain, James Marsters, anything he does he brings a higher level of style and class with it than most actors can ever muster.

    The plot basics are this, we meet Goku (Chatwin) who is being trained in martial arts by his grandfather.  He has issues at school though, cause his grandfather will not allow him to fight back.  This all changes when his grandfather is attacked by some people who are looking for something called the Dragonballs.  Before his grandfather dies Goku promises him to find the great Master Roshi (Fat) and to find and protect all 7 of the Dragonballs for the evil lord Piccolo (Marsters) who wants to use them to destroy the world.  He finds Roshi and teams up with other like minded fighters to put an end too the tyranny of Piccolo, but he does not know the full story and will he be able to man up enough in the end to beat him or is he doomed to failure.

    This is a fun and enjoyable film.  Wong’s direction is light and frothy , which is a perfect match for the subject material.  He never lets it get too bogged own in seriousness for its own good.  The script is pretty simplistic and that works in its favor.  You get enough characterization to feel for the characters but never too much that it slows the plot down.  Because first and foremost this is a plot driven film.  The cast is very good, with a great performance by Fat, he is very funny and as always charismatic.  Marsters as the main bad guy Piccolo is great too and he chews his scenes with relish.  Chatwin is a decent protagonist but he is overshadowed by these 2 actors.  The action sequence and the SFX are done very well.  The fight scenes are fast and furious but you never get the sense that the characters are ever in any real danger.  That is good for the kids that this film is aimed at, but it may leave more adult viewers wanting more.  This is a fun family friendly kung fu film, but if you are expecting anything more, you will be sorely disappointed.

This one gets 3 out of 5

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Actors: Chow Yun-Fat,Leung Chiu Wai Tony,Chan Philip,Wong Chau-Sang Anthony,Kwan Hoi-Shan,Lam Bowie,Lam Bowie,Woo John,Kwok Philip,Tung Wei,Au-Yeung Bobbie,Ng Shui Ting,Lo Meng,Lau Kong,Action,Crime,Drama,Thriller,

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Will this help me lose weight?
Ok…I am 20 and I am 5′6 and 165. I had a baby 11 months ago and I have only lost about 10 pounds that I gained myself during the pregnancy. I really want to lose the weight but I can’t seem to stay away from food! I haven’t been gaining weight though so that’s good! Anyway… I can’t afford the gym for about another few weeks but will this eating plan help me get a jump on my weight loss? And will I notice any difference in a few weeks? Because I can’t get motivated without any results!
Breakfast: fried egg sandwich.
lunch: turkey sandwich and hard boiled egg.
Snack: apple or cup if rice
dinner: either- 1. Chicken and side of rice
2. Chicken and side of pasta
3. Chicken burrito (no cheese and few beans)
4. Some type of salad.
I will also drink about 4 bottles of water a day. If I’ve stuck to my diet I will go out for some frozen yougurt every once in a while to keep myself happy

will this work? Thanks!!

Red Cliff Movie. Trailers, Film Clips, and more!

Legendary Hong Kong action specialist John Woo and international superstar Tony Leung reunite for their first feature film together since 1992’s Hard-Boiled with this historical drama set during the decisive 208 A.D. battle that heralded the end of the Han Dynasty. Adapted in part from the beloved Chinese tome Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Red Cliff opens in the year 208 A.D., just as prime minister-turned-general Cao Cao (Zhang Fengyi) seeks permission from Han Dynasty emperor Xian (Wang Ning) to organize a southward-bound mission designed to silence troublesome warlords Liu Bei (You Yong) and Sun Quan (Chang Chen). As the expedition gets under way, Cao Cao’s troops rain destruction on Liu Bei’s army, forcing the latter to retreat and convincing Liu Bei’s military strategist Zhuge Liang (Takeshi Kaneshiro) that their only hope for victory is to form an alliance with Sun Quan. Increasingly aware of the monumental struggle ahead, both sides begin preparing for the battle that will ultimately shape the future of an entire nation. Originally envisioned as a single film, Red Cliff was eventually split into two parts due to an excessive running time that approached five hours.

Regissören Jiang Wen, och skådespelarna Cow Yun-Fat och Ge You avslöjade en del om den kommande actionkomedin “Let the Bullets Fly” i en presskonferens nyligen i Peking.

“Jag spelar en skojare som blir bortrövad av en bandit som spelas av Jiang Wen” sade Ge You.

“Jag är stadens gangsterledare. Man kan till och med köpa en kanon av mig” replikerade Chow Yun-Fat.

Jiang Wen var förtegen om handlingen och avslöjade inte mycket trots många ivriga frågor av journalisterna. Vad det är för film verkar de vara osams om. You Ge berättade att Jiang Wen hade instruerat honom att spela en allvarlig roll, och därför kan han inte se någon humor i den. Chow Yun-Fat däremot sade att kampscenerna är humoristiska.

Hur det än blir så får du vänta till sena 2010 för att få veta svaret. Jiang Wen är en av Fastlandskinas mest begåvade skådespelare och har på senare år visat sig vara en riktigt duktig regissör. Så om allt går bra kan det här bli riktigt underhållande film.

Källa CRI

FilmMedia Filmblogg

Radha Mitchell and Jonathan Rhys Meyers open the door to a new life.

(Sony Classics) Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Radha Mitchell, Chow Yun Fat, Michelle Yeoh, Guang Li, Matt Walker, Ping Su, David Wenham. Directed by Roger Spottiswoode

War brings out the worst in us. Greed, bloodlust, cowardice, brutality, all of these things surface once the shooting starts. However, war also can bring out the best in us, and in the most unlikely of people.

George Hogg (Rhys Meyers) is a confirmed pacifist and a British reporter with a yen for adventure but not a ton of experience. He travels to China to report on the Japanese invasion there in 1938. China had been in the midst of a civil war between the communists and the nationalist regime, but all that was put aside when a common energy emerged.

Along with fellow reporters Andy Fisher (Walker) and Eddie Wei (Su), Hogg manages to finagle their way into a medical supply transportation mission from the Red Cross into the besieged city of Nanking (called Nanjing more properly in the film). There, he witnesses first hand the atrocities of the Japanese army against the Chinese citizenry and captures it on film before he himself is captured. The Japanese commander seems inclined to release his prisoner back to Britain until the contents of his camera are discovered. Hogg is then marched off to be executed, but is saved by communist intelligence agent Chen Hansheng (Fat). During their escape, he witnesses the execution of his colleagues and in his shock, gives away their position. He is wounded and Hansheng only just manages to get them away in the nick of time.

Hansheng leaves him in the care of American nurse Lee Pearson (Mitchell) who has become a de facto caregiver to the displaced refugees of Nanjing. His wounds are not fatal but severe enough that he can’t travel back to England and tell the world what is going on in China, as Hansheng wants him to do. Instead, she sends him to the tiny village of Huang Shi where there is an orphanage, forgotten in the panicked exodus before the Japanese military invasion. She leaves him there to look after the children, who have almost no food and less learning. He is charged to provide them with both.

At first Hogg is uncomfortable with his new position and the children are none too happy with the situation either. In fact, they lead him out and attempt to beat him to death with sticks until a timely return by Pearson who admonishes the kids that if they don’t leave him alone and let him take charge, she will never return leaving them without medicine and food. Reluctantly, the kids agree to the deal.

There is a great deal of mistrust on both sides but as they warm to each other, Hogg proves to be resourceful. He manages to get a rusty old generator working, providing the orphanage with light. He strikes a deal with black marketeer Mrs. Wang (Yeoh) to provide seeds so that the orphanage can grow their own food. In return, he gives her half the harvest to sell on the black market.

Their little community is thriving when the news comes that the nationalist army is coming through and intends to conscript all of the older male children to fight in their army against the Japanese and the communists (talk about ambitious). Hogg, realizing that he can no longer stay in their little sanctuary, determines to move the children to safety. He finds a place on the edge of the Gobi desert so obscure, so out of the way that it is almost a sure thing that nobody will bother them there. The trouble is that the site is 700 miles away and they have no transportation. They must get there on foot.

Director Spottiswoode, whose resume includes Tomorrow Never Dies and The 6^th Day, makes good use of the Chinese locations and even better use of Chinese cinematographer Xiaoding Zhao. Zhao, the man behind the camera for such Chinese epics as Curse of the Golden Flower, Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles and House of Flying Daggers, is well able to capture the gorgeous vistas of the Gobi and the hills, forests and plains around Nanjing, but also the horrors of the war. The two make for a jarring counterpoint.

Rhys Meyers, so good as Henry VIII in the Showtime series “The Tudors,” is solid as Hogg. A man with the courage of his convictions but lacking the experience to know when he’s in over his head, he nonetheless changes from a plucky adventurer more consumed with making a mark on the world into a man of resourcefulness and responsibility who realizes that when you make a mark on a child, you’ve made a mark on the future just as indelibly as he wished to in his previous life. Mitchell is likewise solid as the hard-as-nails Pearson.

I was more taken with Fat and Yeoh. The two have a natural chemistry as you may remember from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and their all-too-brief time onscreen together here is memorable. They have very different roles; Fat as an agent who is James Bond on the outside but has deep convictions about his cause and a great deal of love for people. Yeoh is the opposite – somewhat cool and reserved on the outside but similarly soft on the inside. These are simply put two of the finest actors on the planet and it’s a shame they don’t get the props they deserve on this side of the Pacific.

The problem I have with this biopic, as I do with most biopics, is the unnecessary license the filmmakers take with history. One of the major historical characters in the film, for example, is shown dying heroically of wounds suffered in an aerial attack but history show that the character died instead of tetanus incurred when the character stubbed their toe playing basketball after which the toe became infected. Also, the orphans tend to be more stock characters than anything else; if they had been fleshed out more, it would have made for a more interesting dynamic.

Don’t get me wrong; this is a solid bit of filmmaking. Despite the license taken occasionally here, most of the events actually happened. George Hogg was a real guy and he did lead a group of orphans on a 700 mile journey. He also wrote a book about his experiences called “I See a New China” that is worth a read. His story translates well cinematically, although it doesn’t appear that the movie used his book extensively to fact check. Because of that, this isn’t a movie you need to see urgently, but it is still a movie worth seeing.

WHY RENT THIS: It’s a tremendous story from a historical event relatively unknown in the West. Gorgeous cinematography and outstanding performances from most of the cast make this a worthwhile endeavor.

WHY RENT SOMETHING ELSE: As is usual with Hollywood biopics, much historical misrepresentation, some of it fairly unnecessary.

FAMILY VALUES: Violence and brutality are everywhere in this representation of the Rape of Nanking; definitely not for more impressionable sorts.

TRIVIAL PURSUIT: The role of Lee Pearson is loosely based on Rewi Allen and Kathleen Hall, two nurses from New Zealand who were close to Hogg during this period.

NOTABLE DVD EXTRAS: None listed.

FINAL RATING: 7/10

TOMORROW: The Syrian Bride

Um apanhado dos filmes vistos nessa semana:

Adeus, Dragon Inn (Goodbye, Dragon Inn), dir. Tsai Ming-Liang

Demora muito a engrenar, mas tem lá seu interesse pelo vazio completo da sala de cinema. Seria uma analogia ao espetáculo cinematográfico contemporâneo?

Quanto Dura o Amor?, dir. Roberto Moreira

As grandes transformações da protagonista não são compartilhadas com o espectador.

Sukiyaki Western Django, dir. Takashi Miike

História em quadrinhos, com molho tarantinesco em dose cavalar, levada ao paroxismo. Sacou?

A Mulher sem Cabeça (La Mujer sin Cabeza), dir. Lucrecia Martel

A grande ironista do cinema latino-americano aposta na questão do visto e do não visto para falar sobre o que existe ou não e o papel da percepção, sempre deficiente. O cinemascope opressor e a personagem que parece vagar sozinha no quadro em meio a fantasmas, o som cheio de alarmes falsos colorem o jogo. Parece até pesado, mas é a grande ironia da cineasta argentina.

Singularidades de uma Rapariga Loura, dir. Manoel de Oliveira

Doce surpresa. Um filme cheio de alegria e simplicidade.

Vencer (Vincere), dir. Marco Bellocchio

Um melodrama dos mais bem dirigidos. Não há invencionices, nem cafonagens modernosas. É filme das antigas, mas nunca antigo. Reflete sobre a história, o totalitarismo e a construção do imaginário (do qual a história também faz parte). Bellocchio faz barba e cabelo numa das obras-primas do ano.

Besouro, dir. João Daniel Tikhomiroff

O Tigre e o Dragão revisitado, sem a sensibilidade de Ang Lee, sem a presença de Chow Yun-Fat, com um roteiro primário de tão amador e recheado da cafonice do filme taiwanês. Mas tudo bem, as lutas são sensacionais. Fica o exemplo.

The Children of Huang Shi tells the true story of George Hogg who is a young English reporter in China during the Japanese occupation of 1937.  Eventually, he and another journalist manage to infiltrate into an area where they are not welcome disguised as Red Cross workers. Luckily, he is rescued by Chow Yun-Fat’s character who plays a Chinese Communist guerrilla. Eventually these three will shepherd the orphans across the Gobi Desert to safety. Beautifully filmed, the movie portrays mid-twentieth century China against breathtaking vistas and crowded cities amidst ancient buildings and sweeping deserts.

Somewhere between 20 to 30 million Chinese died at the hands of the Japanese invaders between 1937 and 1945, creating a degree of animosity between the two countries that persists to this day. This might be why as a U.S. movie goer, this movie has probably flown above your radar as it is only getting promotion in China.  Do see this film, if you are at all interested in Asian history, and children, and the inspiration of a life lived well. During the first 25 minutes or so of the story, it appears that the film will be an action thriller, but the heart of the story reveals the transformative power of self-sacrifice & caring in a hostile political and physical environment. However, The Children of Huang Shi doesn’t stray far from the formula of epic period pieces.

This had potential to be a very good movie. The material was interesting. It just fell short of my expectations. It was downright boring at times. The film may not be engaging or informative enough to be worth recommending, but some fine supporting performances make the movie easy enough to sit through. There are times, when the story feels as if its trying to manipulate you, with one dramatic development here or the death of a major character there. I will say though that it is refrshing to see a movie where the hero can go through the whole movie without killing anyone.

For all that, it is an affecting portrait and a strong story with a compelling backdrop, and Chinese cinematographer Xiaoding Zhao makes the gorgeous locations look magnificent.  Yet for a film set in a murderous war, we see far more of the rugged beauty of China than of the savagery of the Japanese invasion. It’s also quite a shame that Chow Yun-Fat’s screen time is rather limited as he disappears for most of the picture following his introduction. All in all, I can give this film a passing grade and a slight recommendation.

por Bruno C. Martino

Contrariando uma regra implícita de vários filmes de sucesso chineses, Alvo Duplo 2 continua a contar a saga dos três personagens ao invés de só pegar o título e contar uma outra história. Ainda bem! Aqui, Ho (Ti Lung) está cumprindo pena na cadeia e é recrutado pela polícia para investigar um antigo patrão, Leung (Dean Shek) ao mesmo tempo em que seu irmão Kit (Leslie Cheung) se aproxima da filha de Leung para investigar o homem. Só que a única conclusão a que chegam é que Leung largou a vida de pilantragem e decidiu ser um homem e empresário honesto. O problema é que seus sócios não pensam assim, e após um atentado contra sua vida, Leung é acusado de assassinado e resolve fugir para Nova Iorque. Quando seu sócio Ko (Shan Kwan)- o verdadeiro pilantra do esquema – descobre seu paradeiro, manda matar a filha de Leung e envia mercenários para Nova Iorque pra dar cabo do sujeito. Leung acaba se safando de novo só que desiludido com a vida e ao ver seu amigo padre ser assassinado, entra em choque se transformando numa espécie de autista, que passa a ser cuidado por Ken (Chow Yun Fat). Depois de mais um atentado onde escapa, Leung milagrosamente sai do estado vegetativo que estava e pega em armas ao lado de Ken e Ho contra Ko.

Escrito por John Woo e Tsui Hark, o segundo capítulo da série soa um pouco desleixado em relação ao anterior (repararam nesse meu resumo como o filme é basicamente um bando de capangas tentando pegar Leung em diferentes momentos?). O roteiro não sabe onde focar, se é no personagem de Shek ou no trio de amigos. Curioso é que o carisma de Chow Yun Fat na série foi tão grande que Hark e Woo conseguiram até arrumar um lugar pro ator na seqüência do filme (já que no primeiro seu personagem original havia morrido). Só que arrumaram uma desculpa das mais esdrúxulas, tipo de novela mexicana: Ken é o irmão gêmeo de Mark (o personagem interpretado por Chow Yun Fat no original)! Não que isso faça muita diferença, já que o que importa é ter Yun Fat distribuindo tiros durante o filme. Curiosamente Ken ainda serve como alívio cômico, diferente do amargurado e trágico Mark. Mas assim como o outro é cool até a medula, como quando usa o sobretudo furado de balas do irmão falecido.

Alvo Duplo II sofreu diversas remontagens e foi alvo de diferenças criativas entre seus roteiristas, talvez daí se expliquem algumas seqüências desnecessárias ou que se estendem demais, o maior foco no personagem de Dean Shek e o trio principal praticamente apagado. Mas mesmo apagado, os outros atores ainda têm tempo de mostrar serviço como Ti Lung, sempre carismático, e Leslie Cheung aqui dividido entre o amor da esposa que teve um filho e o ofício de policial. A cena em que Kit batiza a filha por telefone, já vale para o personagem deixar sua marca na série. E Ken Tsang reprisa seu papel (o de dono da oficina mecânica) com a competência de sempre (deixem eu ser um pouco tiete: eu adoro esse ator!!)

Mas é no quesito ação que todos os problemas de roteiro, montagem e diferenças criativas são esquecidos. A seqüência de ação no hotel, onde Ken deve proteger Lung de mais uma leva de assassinos é emocionante, e a seqüência final na mansão de Ko é uma das mais antológicas que já vi, com direito a três personagens contra um exército de capangas, onde Chow Yun Fat joga granadas a torto e a direito e Ti Lung acaba com malfeitores a golpes de espada! Sem contar que o rol de vilões ainda conta com um fortão empunhando um machado medieval (!!!) e um pistoleiro que sempre anda de óculos escuros. Este rivaliza com o matador caolho de Fervura Máxima como um dos vilões mais legais de um filme de John Woo. As seqüências de ação são tão boas, que o coreógrafo Ching Siu Tung (de Chinese Ghost Story) foi indicado ao Hong Kong Film Awards.

Dizem que Woo nunca gostou de fazer seqüências de seus filmes e só fez esse porque Dean Shek estava numa situação financeira não muito boa, e como ele foi co-fundador da Cinema City que produziu este e o primeiro Alvo Duplo (e acolheu Woo após sua saída da Golden Harvest), talvez o diretor achou que devesse prestar essa ajuda ao seu produtor e conhecido desde os tempos da Shaw Bros.

A série ainda tem uma parte 3, dessa vez capitaneada por Tsui Hark sendo esta um prelúdio do primeiro filme. E em 1994, o diretor Wong Jing daria um revival na série com Return to a Better Tomorrow (lançado aqui como A Fúria do Crime), uma lástima que além de não ter nenhum personagem dos originais ainda é estrelado por Ekin Cheng, um ator por quem nunca simpatizei. Estou dando 4 “Van Cleefs”, mais pelas cenas de ação do que pelo resto! Valem a pena!

por Ronald Perrone

Alvo Duplo é um dos filmes mais importantes da carreira de John Woo e demonstra que No Coração do Perigo não foi um acidente de percurso em termos de liberdade criativa. Em 1986, Woo se juntou com o produtor Tsui Hark e  os dois realizaram este clássico instantâneo. O filme ganhou a maior atenção internacional do que qualquer outro trabalho do diretor até aquele período, reinventou do cinema de ação de Hong Kong redefinindo o subgênero Heroic Bloodshed e serviu de trampolim para que o ator Chow Yun Fat se tornasse um astro.

O roteiro é inspirado no filme The Story of a Discharged Prisoner, de 1967, dirigido por Patrick Lung Kong, e conta uma estória repleta de cargas emotivas sobre dois integrantes do sindicato do crime de Hong Kong: Ho, vivido por Ti Lung, um dos grandes nomes do cinema de kung fu, e Mark (Chow Yun Fat) que trabalham juntos na divisão de falsificação de dinheiro da organização. Ainda há outro personagem importante na trama, Kit (Leslie Cheung), irmão caçula de Ho, que nem imagina o primogênito de seu pai trabalhando no crime organizado e acabou de se graduar na polícia.

Após uma tragédia que afeta profundamente a vida desses três personagens, John Woo mapeia a narrativa com fortes doses de conflitos psicológicos, estruturados como um melodrama, um detalhe explorado que acabou se tornando característico do diretor em seus filmes seguintes, como Just Heroes e Bala na Cabeça, procurando trabalhar o sentimentalismo ao extremo, utilizando-se sempre dos mesmos mecanismos: amizade, confiança, perdão, redenção, fraternidade, que é onde Woo encontra base para extrair a força da sua dramaturgia.

A construção de personagens profundos e o elenco contribuem bastante no resultado, especialmente Chow Yun Fat e Ti Lung, que estão notáveis em seus papéis. Fat, inclusive, foi um dos mais beneficiados pela sua participação em Alvo Duplo. Saiu apontado como autêntico homem de ação dos filmes de HK, seus óculos escuros e o sobretudo ao estilo  Alain Delon em O Samurai, de Jean Pierre Melville, virou moda entre os jovens da época. Só faltou saírem queimando dinheiro para acender o cigarro, como na emblemática cena em que o personagem também o faz.

Se Chow Yun Fat está impecável e esbanja carisma em cena, é Ti Lung quem, na verdade, carrega o filme nas costas como o protagonista, com seus conflitos pessoais densos e uma atuação digna de maior reconhecimento. E tudo isso engrandece o filme de John Woo, mas o que realmente chama a atenção mesmo são as aguardadas sequências de tiroteios. Woo ainda não havia atingido o seu paroxismo para tais cenas, como já aconteceria em The Killer e Fervura Máxima, mas são muito elegantes em Alvo Duplo, com boas coreografias, uso da câmera lenta e a consagração da imagem do homem com duas pistolas nas mãos distribuindo chumbo nos bandidos.

Alvo Duplo é obrigatório para conhecer as raízes da reputação de John Woo como mestre do cinema de ação. Certamente não é o melhor filme do diretor, que ao longo dos anos fez algumas obras primas do gênero Heroic Bloodshed, mas não deixa de ser indispensável e dá pra ter uma noção do que o sujeito é capaz de fazer.

Bulletproof Monk 2003

Director: Paul Hunter

Writers: Ethan Reiff and Cyrus Voris

Starring Chow Yun Fat, Seann William Scott, Jamie King, Karel Roden, Victoria Smurfit, Mako and Marcus Jean Pirae

    Chow Yun Fat in a martial arts centric film makes it a given that I will see it.  I was a little wary of this one though, since I don’t connect martial arts action with Seann William Scott.  Thankfully though, this film combines high octane fights with some great comedic elements, and they could not have got anyone better than Scott for this kind of role.  The film is fast paced, but has just the right amounts of down time that a action film like this needs.  Fat is a great mentor to the burgeoning talent of Scott’s character and it is a hoot to watch their interactions.  The plot is something reminiscent of the likes of Indiana Jones and it fits really well in the fantastic world of this film.  This is a film that meshes all its ingredients together well and at the end you have a fun as hell action film.

    The plot basics are this. the film opens at the end of World War II where a Tibetan monk (Fat) has passed the final tests to guard a ancient scroll that can either help or hinder mankind.  Suddenly, the temple is attacked by a group of Nazis led by Strucker (Roden).  The monk escapes and is adept at evading the Nazi for 60 years.  Flash forward to the present day, where the monk is till being chased by the Nazi and his goons and he runs into Karl (Scott) a pickpocket that the monk sees much potential in and he decides to stick with him and see how he develops.  This leads to Karl allying himself up with another street person, Jade (King).  It all leads to the Monk being captured by Strucker and getting superpowers and youth from the scrolls, and now it is up to the Monk and Karl to put a stop to Strucker once and for all, but will Karl be up to the task?

    This is a damn good action film.  The direction by Hunter is very fast paced and frenetic, which really works in tandem with the story.  Hunter’s past work is in music videos and that really works to his benefit on this film.  The script is good too, very funny when needed and moving the plot quickly as needed too.  The characterization of the 3 main characters is quite believable.  The cast is great too, Fat as the monk is very believable and charming.  Scott as Karl, the flawed hero, does a expert job, balancing humor and action very deftly.  King as the romantic interest is very good too and she holds her own in the fight scenes as well.  Roden, as the Nazi heavy is quite despicable and very fun to watch.  The action sequences in the film are great, my personal favorite was Karl’s fight with Mr. Funktastic, was very well staged and a delight to watch.  This is definitely recommended to martial arts fans and specifically to fans of Jackie Chan or Sammo Hung, as the film is very similar to some of their more comedic films.

This one gets 3 out of 5 

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por Ronald Perrone

Rajada de Fogo tem uma certa importância especial para a carreira de John Woo, não em relação ao filme em si, mas por proporcionar a continuidade de seu trabalho no cinema. Woo havia acabado a parceria com Tsui Hark; montou sua própria produtora cujo primeiro filme, Bala na Cabeça, embora seja uma grande obra, não foi um sucesso comercial; precisava urgentemente de um filme seguro, que não precisasse correr riscos e que tivesse um bom retorno financeiro. Contratou dois atores com quem já havia trabalhado antes e que possuíam grande apelo popular, Chow Yun-Fat  e Leslie Cheung, desenvolveu uma estória simples sobre roubo de obras de artes, incrementou com cenas de ação eletrizantes, acrescentou toques de melodrama adicionados de um humor pastelão. Acabou acertando em cheio. Rajada de Fogo é um dos filmes mais comerciais de John Woo, um interessante híbrido de ação e comédia que garantiu um público amplo nos cinemas. O filme é, realmente, bastante divertido, embora algumas situações de comédia não funcionem tão bem no meio dessa mistura toda. Os atores estão ótimos, em especial a dupla protagonista, com o falecido Leslie Cheung bastante carismático e Chow Yun Fat totalmente à vontade em seu papel, que carrega boas doses dramáticas e cômicas durante o decorrer da estória. E ainda há a bela Cherie Chung se colocando no meio do triangulo amoroso, embora a força narrativa se concentre na amizade dos dois protagonistas.

Rajada de Fogo, no fim das contas, não chega a ir muito longe dentro da filmografia de Woo, mas é um entretenimento agradável que atende as expectativas do publico menos exigente e não deixa de divertir os fãs do diretor. O filme rendeu quatro vezes mais que seu trabalho anterior, Bala na Cabeça, e permitiu que Woo realizasse sua obra prima, Fervura Máxima, e preparasse para o seu exílio nos Estados Unidos.