Ann Hui’s Night And Fog A Disappointment

Star Trek (2009) – I was really looking forward to the Star Trek reboot given the raving reviews stateside and I must say I wasn’t disappointed. J.J. Abrams imbues this 2009 version with great energy less all the cheesy dialogue that made the previous movies quite cringe-inducing at times. Without any A-list stars in the leading roles works in the film’s favor and in fact the relatively unknown cast delivers solid performance – we can see how they grow into the characters. The movie never really slows down as crisis after crisis hits the crew of the Enterprise and I must say the space fleet battles are the best yet in any of the Star Trek series. My pick for the best blockbuster for the summer so far! Highly recommended.

Terminator Salvation – many film buffs probably squirmed at the idea that McG was going to direct this 4th installment of the Terminator franchise but the casting of Christian Bale in the leading role as John Connor gave some hope. Terminator Salvation isn’t as hopelessly boring as Terminator 3, but fails to generate the excitement of T2 or the original. We’ve seen robots bashing each other around in the Transformers two summers ago, there aren’t any new jaw dropping special effects … and the plot fails to deliver any surprises either. The film remains a passable popcorn movie but won’t be crowned top dog among this summer’s blockbusters.

Duplicity – Hollywood has run out of ideas (and new stars) for successful romantic comedies so they created a new genre – the romantic thriller. Julia Roberts and Clive Owen star as ex-CIA and ex MI6 operatives who have fallen in love, and given up their secret service jobs in order to make a quick buck in the world of corporate espionage. Alternating between romance and thriller, Duplicity should provide enough serpentine plot twists and romantic interludes to keep both guys and chicks happy. Recommended.

Night And Fog 天水圍的夜與霧 – I found Night And Fog a disappointment as part 2 of acclaimed Hong Kong director Ann Hui’s probe into life in the working class Tin Shui Wai 天水圍. Her earlier film followed the mundane life of a blue collar mother working to support her son – that movie never succumbed to melodrama and delivered a slice of life about making a living in one of Hong Kong more troubled neighborhoods with honesty and a lot of heart.

Night And Fog, however, although based on a real life tragedy, quickly falls into genre movie territory with Hui adding an overt layer of social commentary on top of the proceedings. The film focuses on an unemployed construction worker played by Simon Yam – his distrust of his significantly younger Szechuan wife ultimately leads to the tragic slaughtering of his wife and two children. Although Yam has really blossomed into a subtle actor in many of Johnnie To’s movies, here he is reverting back to the “madman pervert” role he played so often in exploitation movies back in the 1990s.

Zack Synder’s Watchmen lives up to expectations

The eagerly awaited Watchmen finally hit the screens in Hong Kong on 12 March in 2 versions – an edited cut for normal screening and a category III cut for IMAX at MegaBox. I actually did not realize that 2 different cuts were being shown as the publicity material never highlighted this and ended up seeing the shorter version at Pacific Place on Saturday morning.

Watchmen is adapted from a graphic novel largely considered to be seminal and one of the best graphic novels ever written. Created by the highly regarded UK writer Alan Moore, the graphic novel is bleak, plot-driven, and plays down standard action based heroics. Moore became disillusioned with Hollywood adaptations of his works after the disappointments of the atrocious League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen and V For Vendetta and disowned this project. Zack Synder’s film, however, remains close the spirit of the graphic novel and is the best cinematic version of Moore’s work to date.

Set in 1985, the film starts with imminent nuclear war between the US and USSR. Watchmen features an alternate history where Nixon won the Vietnam War with the help of superheroes and even changed the legislation to allow for his running for the presidency after his second term. After winning the Vietnam War, masked heroes are forced to retire. With the doomsday clock countdown looming in the background, former masked heroes are being assassinated and a plot to change the course of human history takes place.

As can be expected from a blockbuster movie these days, the special effects are excellent and the largely un-famous cast all seem perfectly cast for their respective roles. The use of these lesser known actors works well and we focus on the characters’ development – a crucial aspect of all of Moore’s works. An A-list star might have easily ruined the project. There really aren’t too many action set-pieces but the fist fights are brutal and violent. The soundtrack works less well in my opinion: the use for overly familiar music comes across like clichés. A few of the songs are heavily associated with other iconic films – their use here seem like afterthoughts and diminishes the impact in my eyes. I can understand the use of 80s pop music in the film, but blasting Jimi Hendrix’s version of All Along The Watchtower, a classic 60s rocker in the climatic scene, felt out of place.

I mentioned earlier that I saw an edited version of the film – the one I saw had approximately 4 minutes shaved off. It was extremely evident that the major scene that was cut was the steamy sex scene between the Night Owl and the Silk Spectre. The full frontal shots of Dr Manhattan were not cut and while his genitals were clearly visible I would say they weren’t prominently displayed. Still, I was extremely annoyed by the fact that I did not see the full cut for the movie. What’s worse is that the cuts were done haphazardly, and it was impossible to NOT notice the jumps visually and in the soundtrack. Shame of the Hong Kong distributors!

Overall, I would say that Synder’s Watchmen is an excellent addition to the recent crop of comic book adaptations. I personally prefer his previous movie, the rowdy adaptation of Frank Miller’s 300. Many people consider Watchmen un-filmable and the project did go through alot of legal wrangling; the finished product, fortunately, is a respectable film, which while not be as polished and mainstream as Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, deserves to be seen.

Recommended!

Watchmen trailer song from Batman and Robin!

For those interested – the song featured on the Watchmen trailer is actually an alternate version of The Smashing Pumpkin’s The Beginning Is The End Is The Beginning. The original version of the song features a faster tempo, rocks harder, and was used in Joel Schumacher’s film Batman and Robin. The alternate cut of the song slows down the tempo to create a much moodier and depressive atmosphere.

Both versions of the song can be found on the soundtrack of Batman and Robin, but NOT on the Watchmen soundtrack CD.

Korean thriller The Chaser lives up to the hype

Korean blockbuster The Chaser hit the screens in Hong Kong recently but seems to have failed to garner interest on the level of Park Chan-wook’s Old Boy. A big winner at the 45th Daejong Awards, The Chaser took home the Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor awards earlier this year. It also made a decent impact when screened at Cannes this year, and a Hollywood remake is already in progress.

The Chaser’s premise is quite straight-forward : a call girl is missing and her pimp is out looking for her. The pimp used to be a cop and he finds and catches the psychotic man who has killed a couple of his girls. This happens pretty much in the first third of the film; the remaining time is spent trying to find where the criminal has locked up the call girl as she may still be alive. On one hand, our protagonist pimp is trying to save the call girl, and on the other hand, the policemen struggle to find enough solid evidence to put the serial killer behind bars for good.

The Chaser’s so-called originality is in its focus on finding the victim and not on catching the killer and explaining his psychology (though there are one or two brief scenes about this). The film is director Na Hong-jin’s debut and it lacks the strong visual pizzazz. of his compatriot Park Chan-wook’s works. The only scene that stuck in my mind was the brutal fate of the call girl.

Reception of the film in the west has been mixed so far. Some critics don’t see what the fuss is all about while others praise the film as a refreshing take of a tired genre. Personally, I found the 120+ minute film enjoyable and it is a solid film if stylistically unsophisticated (which I think works in its favour).

Recommended for fans of serial killers and Korean blockbusters.

To’s Sparrow soars – Kwok’s The Moss fails to excite

Sparrow 文雀 – Much publicity surrounded this Johnny To film as it made its debut at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Sparrow is supposed to be an elegy to the old Hong Kong – but I’m not sure it works well at that. It is however a very entertaining film – very little dialogue yet totally engrossing. Kelly Lin cons Simon Yam and his pickpocket colleagues into helping her regain her freedom by stealing her passport locked into her husband’s safe. To’s usual ensemble of actors are present here, from Simon Yam to Lam Ka Tung and the ubiquitous Lam Suet. Kelly Lin is also given more to do than most actresses in To’s crime capers. For me, Sparrow resembles Jean-Pierre Melville’s Bob le Flambeur in its insistence on being light-hearted at the core despite the presence of a few unsavory characters. Very good and highly recommended.

The Moss 青苔 – Director Kwok Chi Kin’s previous film The Pye Dog 野‧良犬 won some accolades at the Hong Kong Film Awards this year and Kwok was nominated for a Best New Director Award (though he lost), so I became interested in his latest film. The trailer looked interesting – Shawn Yue is a cop who will do anything to survive on the streets. Make no mistake Yue’s character is not likeable. Trouble starts when the son of a gang’s leader is missing and Yue is “assigned” the task of locating him. Shit piles up quickly . . . and the plot breaks down! The 2nd half of the film falls back on cliches like a reclusive assassin, betrayals within the various gangs etc. I did not find the film particularly intriguing.

The Incredible Hulk fails to smash box office records

Marvel’s 2008 re-launch of their Hulk franchise was supposed to be more “mainstream” than Ang Lee’s previous take. By mainstream, Marvel was probably thinking of improving box office receipts. Ironic, then, that the film’s US opening weekend box office actually fared worse than Lee’s Hulk.

The Incredible Hulk basically follows the same updated storyline – scientist Bruce Banner is bombarded with gamma rays and turns into the Hulk when he becomes angry or when his pulse rate spikes.

Plot: It is immediately evident that Marvel wanted this new film to contain as little exposition as possible as one action scene follows another. The script and directing pays tribute to the 1970s TV series with Banner as a loner on the run. The visuals of Banner changing into the Hulk – the dark shot of Banner’s face with his eyes glowing green – is a direct reference to Bill Bixby.

Action: The studios hired Louis Leterrier (Jet Li’s Danny The Dog, The Transporter) to helm this project hoping it would turn out to be an action extravaganza – but I found the action unexciting with a been-there-seen-that feel. The opening chase thru the slums of Brazil is far inferior to the one in Casino Royale. The special effects are serviceable but not exceptional. On the positive side, the film is closer to the comic than Ang Lee’s version, and features crowd pleasers like Hulk’s thunder-clap and the big green monster shouting “Hulk smash!”.

Cast: I was surprised when Marvel cast Ed Norton in the role of Bruce Banner. The end result, however, is disappointing. I actually like Eric Bana more as Banner and also preferred Jennifer Connelly to Liv Tyler. The rest of the cast was unexceptional – no standouts.

Interesting note – Brazilian jujitsu master Rickson Gracie makes a brief appearance as Bruce Banner’s instructor, teaching him breathing exercises. The roller credits, however, bill him as an aikido instructor!

Fan pleasers: Marvel’s recent productions have all included minor scenes foreshadowing the imminent Avengers movie. In The Incredible Hulk, we get specific mentions of the super soldier formula / serum that was used on Captain America and a brief scene with Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr). Nice for fans, I suppose.

In short, The Incredible Hulk is a brainless and unexceptional action blockbuster. Not a hit but not a total miss either (miles better than Daredevil!)

Fukasaku’s Battles Without Honor & Humanity

And talking about convoluted plots, I really doubt anything matches Kinji Fukasaku’s (深作欣二) legendary Battles Without Honor And Humanity a.k.a. The Yakuza Papers (Jingi naki Tatakai). Fukasaku made a total of 5 films in the series and the double dealings and change in alliances between the yakuza oyabuns, captains and their families are horrendously difficult to follow. The amazing and amusing thing about this is it does not detract from the enjoyment of the films at all. (Home Vision Entertainment’s DVDs include a nice diagram to highlight the allegiances).

During its time, Fukasaku’s Battles Without Honor And Humanity was supposed to reveal the yakuza for the scum and thugs that they really were; the more traditional Japanese yakuza films normally portray the underworld as a place where honor and loyalty meant everything. Fukasaku turns this notion upside down with his Battles Without Honor and Humanity films, and the often weak looking bosses turn out to be nastiest schemers who control the more physically commanding captains of the underworld families. Of course, today, the films come across as nothing more than entertainment – but very riveting gangster films these are!

The star of the series is of course the iconic Bunta Sugawara. But I particularly liked Hiroki Matsukata’s Sakai from the first film – he wears the cool Japanese gangster look (with shades and trenchcoat) that surely must have fueled the imaginations of many a Japanese youngster.

So far I have seen the first 3 films in the series. The first film traces the forming of the modern yakuza families after Japan’s defeat in WWII and how they used the black market to build their families. The second film (subtitled Deadly Fight in Hiroshima) is a minor detour that features a young Sonny Chiba. The third film (subtitled The Proxy Wars) gets back on track with Sugawara’s Shozo Hirono once again taking center stage.

All 3 films are excellent. Highly recommended.

Bunta Sugaware as Shozo Hirono

Hiroki Matsukata as Tetsuya Sakai

Tsui Hark’s 深海尋人: convoluted and simply boring

Tsui Hark used to be one of Hong Kong’s most innovative film-makers during the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s, but his recent projects have failed to capture the creativity and vitality of his earlier works. In the last few months, The Missing 深海尋人 – Tsui’s latest film – received decent press exposure, not because of overwhelming interest in the production, but because of Isabella Leong’s alleged refusal to participate in promotional activities. I went to see the film today, the first day of its screening in Hong Kong, and I was rather disappointed; it turned out that the film is aptly titled as it in fact is very missing in plot and direction.

The plot of The Missing is overly convoluted and offers too many twists in the final act, so much so that it becomes annoying. Personally, I though Hark could have wrapped up the film without the final act, which renders all the previous plot turns irrelevant. At nearly 2 hours in duration, the film is needlessly long too. Basically what happens is a couple who are about to get married go scuba diving but the male dies. Details of how the boyfriend dies is withheld – the girlfriend cannot recall how tragedy struck and believes she is seeing ghosts. But is she losing her mind or do spirits really exist? You get the drift . . .

I don’t require films to be technically outstanding, boast brilliant acting or riveting plots in order to like them. In fact, I very much enjoy B-grade films with confusing plots as they often offer more entertainment and creativity (within and outside genre conventions). For me, the problem with The Missing is it is an unimaginative B-grader masquerading as a big budget project. While it has more than its share of genre cliches, the film has none of the vibrancy of a good B-grade film (like Tsui’s early creations). The film is directionless and there is no real emotional core, so viewers will not care about any of the characters. Hark also cannot decide whether the film ought to be a straight thriller, a horror or a romance; the tone shifts back and forth, and the films end up not being satisfactory for fans of any of those genres. Technically, the much touted underwater photography is under-whelming and the sound effects are too loud (as if the sound editor wanted to test the low frequency output of his cinema system – this will no doubt be a selling point for the imminent DVD release). The performances by the 2 core actresses Angelica Lee and Isabella Leong are serviceable but hardly outstanding. Lee is a likable actress and was much better in The Eye.

Also, an awful theme song gets played ad infinitum during the film. In short, the film is a letdown. Not recommended. Go see Tsui’s The Butterfly Murders (vintage HK New Wave) or his last great film The Blade instead.

2008 Summer Blockbusters : Round 1

Speed Racer – From the directors of the Matrix Trilogy comes this eye candy adaptation of a classic 1960s Japanese cartoon about racing cars (which I watched as a kid). Targeted at young kids, the film is ridiculously colourful, offers non-stop action, and rather juvenile comic relief. For some reason, I found the film enjoyable for the laughs more than the action or special effects! My 9-year-old nephew enjoyed it, especially the low-brow comedy. Also, the movie IS better than the trailer, which is a rarity these days. Recommended, but viewers who dislike music video style hyper editing ought to stay away.

Iron Man – Marvel comics’ first full fledged film as production house, Iron Man delivers in spades and can perhaps be justly called the best comic adaptation to date. Robert Downey Jr. is impeccable as the arrogant Tony Stark (great casting!)and keeps the film fired up even when the titular armor is not on screen. The film features a solid script and decent action – none of the effects here are cutting edge, but they are well thought out and because viewers care about the characters, the fights generated excitement. Highly recommended.

Forbidden Kingdom – Most viewers in Hong Kong and China looked upon this bastardized tale with contempt but I had to see it to find out just how awful the movie would be. What the Hollywood studios have done is basically slap together various elements of Chinese folklore and incorporate it into a coming-of-age tale for an American teenager. Although the movie stars Jet Li and Jacky Chan with fight choreography by Yuen Woo Ping, the action and fights are stale by Hong Kong standards (though they might still dazzle the viewer with no experience of the classic kung fu films). And what is it with the eye shadow on the villains? This is totally reminiscent of bad kung fu TV dramas of the 1980s! Not recommended.

Winner of Round 1 is IRON MAN

Blood Brothers : fails to live up to expectations

Produced by John Woo, Blood Brothers 天堂口 is your basic village kids goes to big city (in this case Shanghai), hang out with the city’s number one gangster, fall in love with the boss’ lady, and eventually turn on each other. The film does feature marquee names Daniel Wu, Shu Qi, Chen Chang and Liu Ye. Production values aspire to be of blockbuster level. The director Alexi Tan is a relative newcomer and seems to be content with paying tribute to John Woo: this means Blood Brothers has the requisite Woo ingredients (which Woo basically inherited from Chang Cheh) including male bonding (and the eventual dilemmas like choosing between sworn brothers and women) and over-the-top gunfights. Problem is we’ve seen all this before and nothing here really excites. In his prime Woo managed to overcome clichéd plots with charismatic stars and then-groundbreaking action heroics. Tan can’t really out gunplay Woo nor does he manage to tweak the heavy-handed themes to make Blood Brothers a riveting story of betrayal.

The actors can’t manage to turn things around either. Daniel Wu comes across as too wussy for a hero and Chen Chang too posy. Chang’s character bears the name Mark (the only Western name used in the film), so I suppose this is some form of homage to Chow Yun Fat’s classic Mark in A Better Tomorrow. Unfortunately, Chang has none of the swagger Chow Yun Fat had in his prime; Chang can be a thoughtful actor but he feels out of place in this type of action romp.

Other disappointments include a repetitive music theme (which I didn’t find moving at all, though it really tries hard), and stale action choreography from Philip Kwok (classic Shaw actor and the psycho killer Mad Dog in Woo’s last Hong Kong film Hard Boiled). I felt the movie was badly paced and the final act rather unconvincing.

Having kept up with the film’s production and the promo stills, I was looking forward to a solid period picture. Today, however, I came out of the cinema disappointed. I can’t really recommend Blood Brothers as entertaining – on the other hand, it is not outright bad. Just mediocre and not original. I am now hoping that Ang Lee’s Lust, Caution will fare better.

Flash Point : Donnie Yen does MMA

Make no mistake, the primary reason most people go to see Flash Point will be for Donnie Yen’s action choreography and on-screen execution of those scenes. And on both counts Flash Point delivers.

Yen has been trying to re-vitalize Hong Kong action films with more contemporary fighting techniques; he discards the wire heavy theatrics of the 80s and 90s for a more realistic approach that incorporates elements of judo, Brazilian jujitsu, Muay Thai as well as more traditional boxing and high kicks – this is what is called mixed martial arts (MMA). He introduced this approach in last year’s SPL and develops it in Flash Point. Yen shows plenty of business acumen in incorporating MMA elements in his films; MMA is the fastest growing sport in the US and already extremely popular in Japan. Flash Point received extensive coverage in English language blogs because of Yen’s reputation overseas and response to his contemporary fight scenes has so far been positive.

But back to the movie. Flash Point features a simple and direct plot. A trio of Vietnamese gangsters led by Ja Ge (Ray Lui) out muscle local gangs with their reckless and violent methods. Jun Ma’s (Donnie Yen) partner Wilson (Louis Koo) is an undercover agent close to Ja, and when Ja is caught and put to trial, his gang decides to kill all the witnesses. They soon discover that Wilson is a cop and proceed to threaten him by kidnapping his pregnant girlfriend. With major witnesses dead, Ja gets off easy – this leads Jun to take matters into his own hands, confronting Ja’s brother Tony (Collin Chau) in a bloody battle.

I felt Flash Point’s dramatic elements were superior to the heavy handed SPL. The action doesn’t really kick in till the second half of the film, but this didn’t pose as a problem for me as I sort of liked the way the plot builds towards a showdown at the end. There are two major action scenes – Yen vs Xing Yu (he was in Stephen Chow’s Kung Fu) and Yen vs Collin Chau (he played Seraph in Matrix Reloaded and Matrix Revolutions). The fight with Xing Yu involved more punches and kicks while the climatic duel with Collin Chau is a full fledged MMA fight. I saw Muay Thai knee and elbow strikes, straight armbars, leg locks, toe holds, rear naked chokes, German supplexs and triangle leg locks!!

This is by far the best action film I have seen in a while. Highly recommended for MMA fans!

La Terza Madre to premiere in Toronto

I am real envious of folks living in Toronto! Dario Argento’s La Terza Madre – the final instalment of the Three Witches Trilogy that includes Suspiria and Inferno – will première at the Midnight Madness section of this year’s Toronto Film Festival. If the film fares well with critics and film-goers, I just might get lucky enough for it to be included in next year’s Hong Kong Film Festival. I have seen most of Argento’s films but only on DVD and it would really be great if I could experience this one on a large screen.

The writers at Twitch are obviously equally excited about Argento’s latest film and have been providing loads of info about the film. Apart from starring Asia Argento and Dario Nicolodi, the film will feature a score by former Goblin member Claudio Simonetti (who also provided a large part of the soundtrack for Phenomena). Twitch has also posted a fascinating interview with Dario Argento – it provides plenty of insight into this latest film as well as why the DVD for Four Flies On Grey Velvet will probably not be available in the short term (damn!).

Previous post on La Terza Madre

Optimus Prime kicks ass!!

Hollywood has transformed (pun unintended!) yet another 80s kiddy franchise into a box office monster. Transformers owe their origins to a Japanese line of toys that was acquired by Hasbro; it was then subsequently animated into a popular TV cartoon series in 1984 and drawn into comics by several publishers including Marvel Comics. Dreamworks became intrigued by the possibilities of creating a live action version with the maestro of over-the-top mayhem Michael Bay helming the project.

In the early days of production, when pictures of a re-vamped Optimus Prime leaked out onto the web, hard core fans were enraged. Many film buffs were also sceptical of whether Michael Bay could make a decent film out of the rather ludicrous back story created for kids in the 1980s. All these doubts were more or less swept away when the film finally hit the streets in early July. Transformers, the movie, did extremely well and topped the box office charts in numerous countries.

I finally saw the movie yesterday. I must admit that the film exceeded my expectations: the plot was not totally horrendous; comic relief moments weren’t corny; and the special effects were of course awesome. Although the film’s running time of over 140 minutes means that Bay could probably have trimmed it down, Transformers nevertheless did not feel boring and there weren’t really many filler scenes at all. As the robots are the stars of the film, Transformers does not feature an A-list cast and probably the only one who is receiving decent exposure is Megan Fox, the other major eye candy apart from the computer effects. The stand outs among the robots are Bumblebee, Optimus Prime, Blackout, Frenzy and Megatron. I did find the battles between the Autobots and Decepticons truly dazzling and this proves that with ever improving computer visuals, animation action can now be realistically recreated as live action.

The major complaint I have regards the transformation process of the robots from their various camouflage identities. Growing up on Japanese animation, I expected a logical twist and turn of the car parts when the Camaro transforms into Bumblebee. The movie, however, gives us a “disintegration” of the Camaro, lots of camera shaking and loud sound effects, and cuts back to a robot that has finished transforming!! I can’t see how the car becomes a robot, how the doors become the arms or how the hood becomes the torso. Definitely unsatisfactory.

Overall, an enjoyable robot movie that lives up to the blockbuster label. Recommended.

Here’s a video clip of the commercial for the original Japanese toy on which Optimus Prime is based.

Death Proof : Tarantino aces this one!

Palace IFC has been organizing midnight screenings of Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof over the last few weeks. Originally the second half of the Grindhouse project with Robert Rodriguez, Tarantino re-edited his part of the double bill and debuted this cut at this year’s Cannes Film Festival as Death Proof. The version currently showing in Hong Kong is Tarantino’s newer cut – in essence Tarantino expands the original version from Grindhouse with more back story. New scenes not in the Grindhouse cut include a lap dance, a sexual negotiation on a rainy porch and a more detailed intro to the characters the latter part of the film focuses on. This extended new cut clocks in at 114 minutes, a substantial 27 minutes more than the “compact” version in Grindhouse.

Death Proof is the kind of film that my parents would not understand. There isn’t much of a plot like most 1970s drive-in exploitation films. Stuntman Mike (Kurt Russell) drives a reinforced stunt car around the backwaters of the US and aimlessly hounds and runs over cute chicks. This is not the type of film that cares about the psychology of a maniac; the film much rather focuses on the ridiculous thrills of reckless driving and cute chicks. Old folks are also likely to be thrown off by the intentional jump cuts and audio drop outs that mimic the atrocious drive-in experience.

To be honest, I wasn’t expecting very much with Death Proof, mainly B-grade guilty pleasures and a decent soundtrack. But the film turned out to be surprising well written and fun. Tarantino’s trademark dialogue remains sharp and fascinating and apart from the references to cult favourites, the fast cars and hot chicks also prove to be crowd pleasers. While the film is dominated by a group of relatively unknown actresses and there are certainly some T&A moments, Tarantino manages to steer the film from the exploitative roots of the films he pays homage to. Death Proof can be split into two halves, and I definitely prefer the second half : the actresses seem looser, have more chemistry and the dialogue was funnier. Kurt Russell is excellent as stuntman Mike and Zoe Ball, a real life stunt double actually delivers a very entertaining turn in the second part of the film. Also of note is Mary Elizabeth Winstead, who is also currently getting quite a bit of exposure as Bruce Willis’s daughter in the new Die Hard film. Very highly recommended.

Good German : bad imitation of classic 40s thrillers

On paper, The Good German looked like a promising project : recreating the noirish cinema of classic 1940s studio productions. To mimic the working conditions of these films, Steven Soderbergh shot the film in black and white under a tight budget and even managed to locate a few vintage 1940s camera lens. For the plot, Soderbergh chose Joseph Kanon’s novel set in Berlin immediately after the defeat of Nazi Germany, when both Americans and Soviets tried to poach as many German scientists as possible for their own agendas.

The Good German never made it to the screens in Hong Kong. And when the local region DVD came out a few weeks ago, I knew the film distributors had given up on this film’s chance of securing any decent box office in the territory. After watching the DVD, I can see why. There is very little chemistry between the actors, the direction seems too obviously an imitation of classic noir thrillers and the cinematography is over saturated. The entire film feels too much like a formal exercise on Soderbergh’s part. Some scenes are supposed to be homages to recognized classics like The Third Man and Casablanca, I suppose, but they often just seem like pale imitations, leaving the viewer unsatisfied. I felt the actors were also miscast – Blanchett wasn’t really success at being a German femme fatale, Maguire falls flat as a scheming dirt bag and Clooney can’t replicate the world weariness of say a Humphrey Bogart. A total disappointment.

Afro Samurai : retro-futuristic actioner rocks

Afro Samurai is one of those modern concoctions that you just know will take place some day – a Japanese animation made exclusively for an US network. Featuring typical Japanese themes, yet voiced by immediately recognizable American actors and a hip hop fuelled soundtrack, even the title of Afro Samurai indicates the bastard nature of this violent animation.

Set in a retro-futuristic wild west, Afro Samurai sets out to the avenge the death of his father by challenging the current No.1 fighter Justice, the man who slaughtered Afro Samurai Sr. Along the way, Afro Samurai is challenged by what seems like a group of monks known as the Empty 7 – in these battles Afro Samurai crosses swords with ninjas, terminator robots and a cybernetic friend from his childhood.

Created by Gonzo Studios (Basilisk, Samurai 7), Afro Samurai delivers very beautiful graphics with a very sharp colour scheme and well choreographed action sequences. The pace of the series remains fast throughout the handful of episodes, despite several flashbacks establishing Afro Samurai’s childhood. Many of the characters in the series remain mysterious but this is the kind of animation in which questions about how they came to be like that are better left off the table. Key characters are amusing, in particular Ninja Ninja (Afro Samurai’s motor mouth imaginary friend) and Kuma (the teddy bear headed assassin). Samuel L. Jackson does an excellent job voicing Ninja Ninja, delivering a sort of Tarantino feel to the dialogue. I bought the Director’s Cut DVD which keeps the swearing and gruesome / violent fights intact. I was very impressed with the gate fold package for the Director’s Cut; it was made with high quality paper bound of stiff cardboard and features awesome artwork.

In concluding, if you like animations like Ninja Scroll, Trigun and Cowboy Bebop, you are likely to be entertained by Afro Samurai. Recommended.