Change Your Image
NicWester
Reviews
Siu Lam juk kau (2001)
Controversial Statement!
First off, a quick review of the movie itself. In a word: awesome. It's one of those movies you can watch over and over again and continue to laugh at the same parts. As time goes on you even begin to do anticipatory laughs because you know the part to which you're looking forward will be coming up soon.
Now for the controversial statement-- Mirimax owns the rights and will release a dubbed and slightly altered version of this to theaters in August. Moreover, it's going to be marketed as a kid's movie. And there is NOTHING wrong with that. Shaolin Soccer would work very well as a kid's movie. So more power to them for doing the re-edit. My only complaint about the domestic release is that much of the charm of the movie came from the awful subtitling job with such memorable quotes as "The soccer is over there." But that's an acceptable casualty.
If you want the original version, it's not as if it's too difficult to find. I got a (legitimate) regionless Hong Kong relase with English subtitles for less than the official US release will cost when it comes out. Get it for yourself. But the one that comes out in August? Get that for your kids. Everyone's happy.
Top Secret! (1984)
It's good.
The one line summary says it all, really. There are funnier movies out there, such as the later Naked Gun and Airplane movies, but Top Secret is still good. If you don't like Airplane or Naked Gun or Hot Shots, then odds are you won't like Top Secret either.
Like the movies to which it is often compared, Top Secret is filled with a dozen jokes, gags and/or puns in nearly every frame. Even if you don't see them initially, I assure you that they are there, especially if you speak either German or Yiddish or if you've seen more spy movies, film noir, Elvis musicals, war movies or westerns than is healthy.
Val Kilmer plays Nick Rivers, an American singer on his way to East Germany to perform at the government's request. This actually is the one flaw with the movie... Since he's a singer, that means... Val Kilmer sings... Argh. But, thanks to the wonders of DVD, I can now skip through that with barely a wince. From there he becomes involved in an East German plot to ressurect the third reich, and what would a movie with Nazis in it be without the resistance movement? Of course all the resistance fighters are French for some reason... But that's just the type of warped movie you're looking for. For a serious movie person, all the logical leaps and bounds will cause their heads to explode, but if you're that serious, you wouldn't watch this anyhow.
So I give this movie two ratings. On the one hand, there's the rating for the casual viewer who is just looking to laugh a bit-- There it's an 8/10, one point knocked off for each song break (except the first, which is actually good). But if you're looking for a serious movie with social commentary... 1/10. Frankly, though, if you're looking for that, why are you in the slapstick section of your video store?
Basutado!! Ankoku no hakaishin (1992)
Well worth a rental.
I seriously can't believe more people haven't seen this anime. I seem to be the only one to have even voted for it yet. Not so good considering it's 10 years old.
This one has everything: great characters, great plot, the usual. At parts it can be a little predictable, and for a few minutes in one of the early episodes, it gets embarassingly hentai-like... But it's over real quick and the rest of the series more than makes up for it. The only other complain I have is that it ended too early, but since the producer squandered all his funds on assorted powders, all illegal, there isn't much that can be done. Someone once said that they were close to finding another producer... But that may just be a rumor.