Kill Chiba

Kill Chiba

We had a Sonny “The Street Fighter” Chiba marathon last night. I was a little hesitant about it, because it was a boxed set of three films, entitled The Kill Chiba Collection. The box is yellow with a black racing stripe down the right margin, with a picture of Sonny Chiba next to it .I was worried because I figured it’s just some company putting together some crummy movies to make some dough off of the very well made, Kill Bill films. I figured they’d be awful, terrible films worse than Full Circle. But my favorite guy in the entire world, my brother Jason, bought it for me so I would never ever voice this opinion out loud and risk hurting his feelings. My fears turned out to be totally unfounded, and I had a really great time.



First up was The Bullet Train. It was okay, not my favorite flick in the set or ever, but not bad. Imagine Speed on an extremely fast train, without Keanu Reeves, Sandra Bullock, Jeff Daniels, and last but not least the villainous Dennis Hopper (soon to be seen on NBC’s-I think- E-Ring). Which is where this movie fails, by not having actors like the ones mentioned above to keep us entertained. That and the filmmakers couldn’t seem to decide whose story they wanted to tell, the good guys’ or bad guy’s. The villain in this flick actually turns out to not be so bad, and is one of the more likeable characters in the film. When the railway authorities inevitably track him down, I found myself wishing that he would get away, which he almost did, but goes out in a fashion similar to that of my uncle, Bobby DeNiro’s character does in Heat.




Second was, The Executioner, aka Hell Fist. This was an awesome flick, not great in the sense that it’s a great film, but great in the fact that I had a really great time watching it. The plot is kind of complex for a film that’s meant to be a straightforward martial arts flick. It’s hilarious though. If Hollywood put out more action flicks like this one, they wouldn’t have lost so much money this year. The action sequences are great, I can totally see where Quentin Tarantino was coming from now, with all the gore and eye gouging etc. Plus it is so funny, and not in a stupid or retarded way that only gets those under thirteen to laugh and not groan with the anxiety of wasting six bucks on a flick that seems like preschoolers put together on a day off-see Dukes of Hazzard and the Walking Tall remake. This movie has some truly great moments, a lot of it character driven, another thing Hollywood could learn to add to its flicks. Plus there’s a little gratuitous nudity, which in flicks like this goes a long way.


The third and final film of the night was Golgo 13: Assignment Kowloon. Not a bad movie, but not as good as The Executioner. Sonny Chiba plays Golgo 13, taken from the Bible-Golgo for Golgotha, and 13 because the “13th man gave Christ the crown of thorns-a hitman who goes around killing people, or trying to for most of the movie. His motivation is never really revealed, but in flicks like this, also with a little gratuitous nudity, who cares. Right? Anyway, much to the chagrin of the cops, Golgo 13 kills off the baddies and gets away, to fight another day.

Roswell: Crazy and sex, lies, & videotape

Crushing

I am totally crushing on Reese Witherspoon. You know that feeling that makes you feel light, and happy whenever you see your crush? Well I’ve got it, and I can’t figure out why. I’m not usually into short, perky blondes, with megawatt smiles; there’s just something about her-or at least the personality she puts forth in her films-that has me madly “in love” with her. Especially when I watched Legally Blonde and it’s dumb ass sequel. I thought I was over her until Monday when I watched above movies and began crushing all over again. It’s probably just because I’ve checked out a bunch of the flicks she’s been in from the library, but when I watch them I go into that light-headed giggly mode and feel like a thirteen year old girl at a Motley Crue concert. I’m sure it will pass like all the others, once I’m passed the Witherspoon section of the library system, like all the rest. It’s just been a really, really long time since I’ve had an actual, straight up crush with nothing else going on (I’m talking years here people) so I guess I’m just not used to it.

Is Puberty the End of Talent?

Is Puberty the End of Talent?

Is there something about puberty that just ruins an actress’s talent? Now, I’m not trying to be sexist or anything like that-I’d be bitching about male actors if there were any talented actors under the age of thirty working in relatively accessible films or television, except for Hayden Christensen-it’s just something that I’m noticing more and more.




First of all there was last week when I saw Natalie Portman's marvelous performance in Beautiful Girls. She also does great in Leon and later on in her career in Anywhere But Here-both excellent films. But then in movies like Star Wars it’s like all of that wonderful natural talent has disappeared. Granted, she doesn’t have the best dialogue or character to work with, or director for that matter, but still, some of that old talent should show through. Come to think of it, pretty much everyone but the CGI characters are wooden in that movie. Liam Neeson and Ewan McGregor have excuses though as the Jedi aren’t supposed to show emotion and remain passive. And Jake Lloyd, the kid who played Anakin is one of the worst and annoying child actors I’ve ever seen. So that leaves Ms. Portman as the only human character to empathize with. And, unfortunately, it’s just not there in her performance. Of course, she does pick up in the other two installments, but the naturalistic nuances of style are still not like her earlier work. Maybe it’s the daunting task of being in a movie with such high expectations from the entire global community and whatever extraterrestrial life forms may have picked up the signal when the films were broadcast. Of course, I haven’t seen Closer, or anything non Star Wars she’s done since Anywhere But Here, so maybe the Star Wars performances were just a fluke.


Which brings me to my next point. I’ve never been a huge fan of Reese Witherspoon; I didn’t really care one way or the other. I’d only seen her in a few movies, and while she wasn’t bad, I didn’t see anything spectacular in her performances. Her role in Pleasantville, for instance, anyone could have done. Last night (Monday) I was watching the first two things she did, The Man in the Moon (not to be confused with the Jim Carrey flick) and Wildflowers and I was completely blown away. While Wildflowers is a so so made for TV movie, Withersoon, along with Patricia Arquette, bring the movie up. But what really got me, and has forever contracted me as a Reese Witherspoon fan is The Man in the Moon, her first film. She’s terrific, and such a natural that I forgot I was watching a film and felt like I was experiencing it as the character Witherspoon plays in the film. There are no mannered affectations in her performance, just a simple and naturalistic style that I wish more actors had. Even some of the greats could learn a thing or two from her performance in this movie. Then a few years later she’s in Freeway, not a bad film, but her performance lacks the naturalness of her earlier work. Here’s hoping she has some movies coming out that showcase this talent instead of the crappy flicks she’s been in lately.

And that’s the way it is at the Rabbit Hole.

Film Update

Film Update

I just finished watching the final rough cut of my film, The Interrogation. And with legal pad in hand, I am prepared to make a few minor adjustments, and after years of waiting, should have a cut ready to show people.

Family Affair

Family Affair

Jason and I had another DVD and pizza party last night.

We started the night with Dangerous Curves (new), a Carradine family affair as it starred brothers David and Robert, and Marina Carradine (David’s wife). The film isn’t that great, but don’t tell my brother as he’s the one who bought it for me. Robert Carradine plays a lawyer, John Burnside, who spies an ex-lover, Stella (Maxine Bahns), in the background of a photo he’s researching for another case. What exactly she did to spurn him I’m not sure and why exactly he drops his big case to go off to Ireland/doubling for who knows where in America, looking for her, I’m not sure; but all of this he does. Once he arrives in this mysterious locale, Burnside discovers that Stella is mixed up with all kinds of baddies, what exactly they do is not clear, except for the arms dealer with the fake Russian accent who’s two female lackeys have a disturbing love for chopping off penises and keeping them preserved in glass jars. There’s an empty jar on their shelf with John Burnside’s name on it. Involved in all this is Stella’s neighbor who thinks Burnside is a murderer because he sees Burnside standing over the dead body of some dude in Stella’s apartment, Stella has conveniently fled the scene. Another wacky character in the mix is Lemmy (David Carradine) who is head over heels in love with Stella. David Carradine must be good friends with Roger Corman, because he makes a total fool of himself in this flick. Although it’s a nice change from the hard edged characters he’s played recently and adds several humorous and touching scenes to the wanna be film noir flick. Maxine Bahns, who was Ed Burn’s leading lady till he broke up with her, is delightful at Stella, who screws both of her suitors in the end, although not in the way they hoped. Throughout the entire movie I was trying to figure out who she was, and didn’t find out until the end when I checked the Bio extra feature on the disc.

Since the next movie, Knocking on Death’s Door, is a horror flick, we decided to wait until it got darker to watch it, to bide our time we watched the last episode of the first season of 21 Jumpstreet. Tom Hanson, Johnny Depp’s character, goes undercover in a gang of “punks”-we’re talking 80’s punks here guys-to disband the gang and get the dirt on their leader so he can be put in prison and his influence taken away from the simple minded teenagers of his gang. Let’s face it; Johnny Depp’s earlier work isn’t that great. Anyone who has seen this series or Nightmare on Elm Street can testify to that, but in this episode, the talent that he has cultivated and made him the artist he is today, is finally becoming apparent. It’s really cool to watch him grow as an actor on the show. Included on this disc were some “bonus” interviews. The most interesting interview was the one with the show’s creator, in which he explains how the show got started and how Johnny Depp almost never got his break with this show.

The next flick on the night’s schedule was, Knocking on Death’s Door, another David Carradine/Roger Corman project. The problem with this film is that the filmmakers take it seriously and there’s none of the campy humor that makes these flicks fun, and turning it into an average horror movie. Once again, characters appear and disappear for no apparent reason, and several minor plot points don’t make much sense. There’s nowhere near enough nudity, although there is a hot masturbation scene, in which the lead female, (Kimberly Rowe) does herself, although all we get to see is her hand moving beneath her jeans.

Jason took a little nap during Knocking on Death’s Door, and was feeling refreshed enough to suggest watching another movie, so I popped in G. I. Jane, which I was going to watch anyway, whether he had woken up or not. Jason’s seen it before and has a copy of is own, so I didn’t think it would matter. The films not bad, but all I can say is who cares? I mean, Demi Moore’s character is not really likeable.

The real story, I think, is with Viggo Mortensen’s character. He’s the interesting one; he’s the one I want to know more about. Why does this actor not get more work? He’s a terrific actor. The whole poetic side to his character in the movie was his own invention. The book of D. H. Lawrence poems he gives to Demi Moore’s character at the end is his own, personal copy, or was until he passed it on. It adds a totally new and different side to the character and the film. He picked the perfect poem to use considering the element and themes of the film. Besides, what other actor working today could make playing the typical military hard-on into such an interesting and complex character. Even the great Robert DeNiro does not do as well in Men of Honor. And I have it on good authority that in The Lord of the Rings movies, each actor was given two swords, a “stunt” sword which was light to make it less tiring on them for the fight sequences, and a “hero” sword which was used for all the close ups and was the weight of a regular sword, i. e. pretty damn heavy. Guess which one our Viggo used the entire time. That’s correct, the hero sword, no wussy stunt swords for this actor. He used the hero sword, by the way, to capture the fatigue that his character would really be feeling. Oh, if only other actors would take lessons from this guy, Hollywood might actually be making some money.

Viggo Moretensen in G. I. Jane

Movie of the Week: 8 Femmes

Movie of the Week: 8 Femmes

8 Femmes, or 8 Women to my non French speaking readers, is a delightful comedy/murder mystery from across the sea. The film is based on a French musical, which is apparent in the film from the dialogue and more obviously from the musical numbers.
Marcel is the man of the house and has eight women (hence the title) in his life, all of which have some motive for killing him. I won’t go into the details here, as many of them will give away important plot points that I will leave you to discover on your own. One morning, Marcel’s youngest daughter rushes downstairs shouting that she has just found her father in his bed, a knife sticking out of his back. Mayhem ensues as each character’s motive for murder is revealed in classic fashion. Each revelation is done with such style that the melodramaticness of the film is willingly overlooked. That’s about as much I can write about the film without giving the ending away, so to find out more, you’ll just have to check the movie out, which I highly recommend you do.
The musical sequences are all executed with a unique style that fits the character singing. All eight of the women serenade us in a theatrical style befitting their character. The lyrics of each song reveal much about the character who sings them, and helps to make these women sympathetic to the audience. My favorites include the songs performed by Emmanuelle Beart and Ludivine Sagnier.
I was surprised that an American studio had not attempted to adapt this charming and hilarious film into a big budget American film. However, I am glad that no such thing has occurred and hope that it never does. 8 Women could never be pulled off as an American film; it just wouldn’t work. Part of the magic of the film is its European flavor. It might possibly work if the songs were left out, but the musical numbers are such a darling part of the film and the characters that it would be like hacking the film to pieces to leave them out. And America, unfortunately, does not have the wide range of talent in the many generations the film would need. 8 Femmes has talent from the older Catherine Deneuve and Fanny Ardant to the younger generations such as Ludivine Sagnier and Virginie Ledoyan. I cringe just picturing in my mind the cast an American studio would put together, ruining this wonderful film.

4 stars out of 5

Eye update.

The lens is out! I reapat, the lens is out!

For all of those worried about me, I got the errant contact lens out earlier this morning. I finally found it hiding in the top left corner of my left eye socket. That was after pulling and yanking at a clear membrane on the other side of my eye which looked suspiciously like my wayward lens. When I discovered this I went into dry heaves with thoughts of how much damage I could have done to my precious baby blues. But alas, the darn little thing was just out of reach, teasing me with its closeness. Finally, it worked its way down where I could just pluck it out with the tips of my fingers.

Thanks to all of those who wrote with their condolences.

Jason and I had a DVD and pizza party tonight. Actually we started around 10:00 pm last night and ended at 5:45 this morning. We usually only have time for about three movies, sometimes less as one of us, usually my brother falls asleep somewhere between the beginning of the second movie or the end of the third. I usually try to have a theme, (e. g. for Halloween we watch horror flicks, Christmas, we watch movies with a Christmas theme) or an actor that connects all three movies. Tonight’s connector was Uma Thurman.



We started the night off with Where the Heart Is (new), a charmingly sweet, European style film about a rich man in the demolition business (Dabney Coleman) who kicks his three grown children (1 boy and 2 girls (Uma Thurman and Suzy Amis) out of the house and sets them up in a condemned building on property he owns, but which he cannot tear down because some activists talked the city into making the building into a landmark because it’s so old. Most of the film is about how the three siblings survive on their own and attempt to make money by taking in boarders, only two of whom have any money to pay rent. The film ends with their father loosing his business and all of his money and assets, forcing him and his wife to move in with their three abandoned children. Everything works out however when they find a loophole that allows them to blow up the building under cover of a thunderstorm and Mr McBain gets all of his assets and most of his money back, minus what he had to use to pay off his debts. The storyline and acting are often melodramatic, but it works in this film. The epilogue of the film seems contrived; the filmmakers wrap everything up to neatly so that all but one of the main and supporting characters paired off with one another. The standout performance goes to Captain Von Trapp himself, Christopher Plummer, as Shitty the homeless magician which Uma Thurman’s character takes into the apartment building. He brings vitality to every scene he’s in and always has a laugh. Uma Thurman is also very funny, too bad she doesn’t get a chance to be funny more often. And I’m going to take this moment to be a guy and say that Uma Thurman has the nicest legs I have ever seen. And I ask, why couldn’t I have been born about ten years earlier and crossed paths with this beautiful woman?

Next up was Beautiful Girls, a film with much promise, which it fails to deliver. I did not care about most of the characters until about 37 minutes into the movie, when they all started acting like the buddies that they are supposed to be while serenading Uma Thurman’s character. That spirit of camaraderie is quickly lost though and I was bored again until the scenes between Timothy Hutton and Uma Thurman, and the scenes between Timothy Hutton and Natalie Portman. It’s sort of like the writer couldn’t figure out whose story he wanted to tell. It’s obvious that Timothy Hutton’s character is the main character, but an abundance of screen time is given to the lives of minor and supporting characters, which in most cases are not acted or written well enough for me to care about them. There is an entire scene that does not fit into the movie and makes absolutely no sense in the frame of the film. It seems that it was created entirely to give Rosie O’Donnell, who is more obnoxious than ever, more screen time than her character would have otherwise. And I still can’t figure out what Uma Thurman’s character is in the movie for. She’s in the film a total of fifteen minutes if that much, and is mainly there for a few of the main characters to open up to. Then she disappears, with just as little explanation for her parting as for her being there in the first place. The best plot line of the movie and disturbingly so is the romance between the 30 something Hutton and the 13 year old Natalie Portman character, Marty, named for a grandfather she never knew. Both actors play their scenes together wonderfully; Hutton truly captures the adolescent awkwardness of romance. While thankfully nothing comes of their mutual attraction, it is one of the purest relationships in cinematic history. And I could not help wishing that Hutton would leave his stuffy big city girlfriend (Anabeth Gish) and runaway with Marty like the star-crossed lovers they appear to be. Portman definitely steals this film, with her talent and deft blending of innocence and awakening sexuality. I can’t help but wonder where this talent went when it came time to make Star Wars Episode I, perhaps Portman’s worst and most wooden performance. I mean, it makes sense for the Jedi’s not to show emotion cause they’re not supposed to, and that kid Lucas cast as Anakin is awful; leaving it up to Portman to show some emotion.

Finishing off the night was Henry & June (new). Truth be told, the main reason I bought this movie was because I had some inside information that Uma Thurman gets naked in it and has sex with another chick, which we all know is every straight guys fantasy. Maybe not Uma Thurman, but ya know what I’m talking about. The film is just an average biopic about Henry Miller, his wife June, and some French broad they meet up with while Miller, who wrote Tropic of Cancer, is in France trying to write his novel. How much of this flick can be believed is another matter. First of all, it’s based on the journal of the French chick Miller has an affair with, Anaise Nin, so whatever happens is colored by her own perspective and feelings. Then that’s adapted by a writer who undoubtedly took his or her own liberties with the diary Henry & June is also the first film ever to receive an NC-17 rating for all of you movie trivia hounds out there. Which I think is an unfair rating. First of all, the sex isn’t very graphic, and no full frontal. I’ve seen more nudity and more graphic sex in R movies like The Piano. I guess there is more of it in Henry & June. Maybe that’s why. The sex is actually what saves this movie from being average. The sex is more about passion and love than just getting off, or the mad animal like sex that is the cornerstone of XXX flicks. The sex is very sensual and erotic, something one doesn’t see often in movies, which is nice. The acting is good as well, though I wouldn’t go so far as to call it stellar. The lead, Maria de Medeiros, does well as Anaise Nin, although her large doe-eyes give the character a belying innocence. Uma Thurman is terrific as the sultry and sexy June Miller. She really captures all dimensions of this complex character and adds a stable, although not quite natural Brooklyn accent. It’s difficult to believe that this film and Where the Heart Is came out the same year, because of the polar opposites of her characters. Richard E. Grant, turns in a good but average performance as Anaise’s husband, Hugo. An old favorite of mine, Fred Ward, from Remo Williams and Tremors, plays the novelist Henry Miller. It was difficult for me to get used to Ward in a serious dramatic role after seeing him dozens of times in the above films and other oddball comedies. But once he removed his hat to reveal a badly shaven head that was supposed to indicate the real Miller’s baldness (you can see stubble in all but a few scenes, the hair he does have is too neat to be naturally bordering a bald spot) I was able to get into it more. And once the introduction was over and Ward was given room to act, I totally forgot I was watching Fred Ward. After waking Jason up, we closed the night out by watching and 16 shot to 31, and episode from the 21 Jump Street Season 1 DVD. And I didn’t get to sleep until about 6 pm at night. Mostly worried about the contact lens stuck in my eye, and after I got it out, what damage may have been done to the contact looking membrane on my eyeball.

Just minutes before the end of Henry and June, I wiped a little too hard at my eye, which was irritated by my contact lens, and the lens is now traveling somewhere around my eye socket.

I'm so thrilled to finally make Jeff's blog that I'm posting the picture he put on his blog on mine.

I'm the handsome guy on the left. Jeff is the dashing dude in the light blue shirt.

Nothing seemed to go right for me this week. The worst was an accumulation of frustration that I’ve been dealing with since May. May is when I sent my application into ---, since then I have had the displeasure of dealing with several morons, who continually transferred me to the wrong departments. Monday I finally got everything straightened out, all holds off etc…, and ready to register for classes. I’ve spent ten hours or more this week online checking on which classed I need for my major (thank you very much advisor for not telling me), which classes are available this semester, etc. And just when I thought everything was going to go smoothly and I would have no trouble, I spend even more time on the website adding classes only to find out that all the classes I want or need are closed. Then to put the icing on the cake, my pseudo date with my good friend J. L. gets cancelled. I’ve been looking forward to it all week and just when I find out I can go, I find out he can’t. It’s awful. Anyway, that’s all for today. I promise the postings will get better.