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Reviews
K-19: The Widowmaker (2002)
Your mother could do better. Unless your mother's Kathryn Bigelow.
It's long, it's boring, it's full of bad Russian accents and possibly the worst, most mundane, trivial, pedestrian performances I've ever seen from two of Hollywood's finest: Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson. I didn't expect much from this bland anti-red piece of cinema, but I at least expected it to be moderately entertaining. And it was about as visually stunning as a pancake. A burnt pancake.
There didn't really seem to be any attempt to create any characters that went any further than the surly, authoritarian Captain played by Harrison Ford and the charismatic other Captain (so-called) played by Liam Neeson. Naturally, the two occasionally clashed unspectacularly and this generally led to nothing in particular. Every single other 'character' in the film was merely a footnote. They seemed to be in the film merely because the film's leads needed other people to tell to do other things, like load torpedoes needlessly, over and over.
In essence, the film seemed to be just another way for an American filmmaker to put one more nail in the Cold War coffin. The message was simply this: the Russians are cold, incompetent and arrogant. We've been told this before, so did we really need to hear it one more time in such an inartistic hash of a way?
So, go and watch Blade Runner or Schindler's List instead.
Bo bui gai wak (2006)
Jackie Genius!
I think the best way to sum up this film is with the simple description: 'Raising Arizona' in Cantonese. What it lacks in Coen Brothers-esquire snappy dialogue (which it really doesn't lack that much; Jackie Chan again proving to be a talented writer), it makes up for with clever, funny set pieces that any other man over 50 would probably find quite hard to pull off. You've got to admire him for that, even if you don't like his films. But, I do. So, I admire him a lot. What we've got here is your basic 'Burglars-capture-baby-and-learn-to-love-him' with martial arts and stunts to put CGI animation to shame. Jackie Chan still has it. Let's just pray that he continues to have it for a good long while to come.
To sum it up, I'd rather watch this film one hundred times than most of the drivel of the equivalent 'budget' that comes out of Hollywood. Adam Sandler, eat your heart out. You're not Jackie Chan.
The Big Lebowski (1998)
One of the funniest films I've ever watched.
Well, the film is simply quite brilliant. A very clever story with some very clever twists...some of the most quotable lines to exist in a film...some of the greatest actors...Steve Buscemi, for example, creates an astonishingly likeable and believable character with so very few lines in comparison to either Goodman as Walter or Bridges as 'The Dude'. The dialogue is quick and witty, as one might expect from any Coen Brothers movie and, arguably, every line in the film is immensely funny, due to the excellent writing and the excellent delivery by each of the actors. If you haven't see this film, you're in for a treat. And if you have seen this film, I expect you've seen it more than once. I really can't see any reason to dislike this film and would deem it one of the greatest filming achievements of our age. So, do see it. It's bloody good.