Mild movie disgruntlement.
Apr. 1st, 2002 09:11 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
camwynRented a few movies to watch this weekend, as I mentioned in the post about Iron Monkey. Iron Monkey, of course, kicked MUCH ASS. Both literally and figuratively. I haven't bought it yet, but that's because I'm going to FKO this weekend and want to rein in my spending before I go. Might buy it in Canada - a surprising number of my souvenirs are things that I could have gotten at home, but are nonetheless special because of where I bought them. Anyway, Iron Monkey was cool, and something about it - probably quite a few somethings - is gonna show up in VicMage.Asia, I just haven't decided what yet.
The other movies this weekend, though... the other movies did not fare so well. The first was Rush Hour. This movie did not make me happy. Chris Tucker was moderately annoying, but given his performance in The Fifth Element, he was positively sedate. I could've dealt with that, I suppose, but he was only the symptom of a larger problem, namely: the American bits weren't entertaining. At all. At least not to me. I've never been a big fan of the genre whose movies can be summed up like this:
Roguish Cop: Oo! A case! And it is hard!
Authorities: Bad cop. You can't have the case.
RC: Screw you, I'm doing it anyway.
Authorities: *splutter* Bad! We'll fire you!
RC: Look, I have solved the case.
Authorities: ...
Every time - every single time - Americans appeared on screen, that genre of cop flick came crashing down on the movie and sent whatever enjoyment I had screeching to a halt. I've watched parts of Beverly Hills Cop, although not all of it, and I enjoyed that; that was because I was in awe of Eddie Murphy. The little I saw of Axel Foley convinced me fairly quickly he belonged in the pantheon of modern American tricksters, alongside Ferris Bueller (whom my high school Forensics team prayed to as the God of Liars when we needed particular eloquence at a match) and Wile E. Coyote. Chris Tucker's character seemed to be trying very hard to be like him, but it didn't work for me. Too shrill, not enough style, too many bugged-out eyes, I don't know. The American cops and FBI all seemed to be badly drawn caricatures, too, and entirely too arbitrary to be believable. I could've dealt with them a bit better if I had any kind of sense that they were acting like real or even semi-real cops, rather than People Set Up For Chris Tucker To Prove Wrong. Nothing there at all.
Jackie Chan, on the other hand, felt weirdly restrained. I mean, sure, he had that neat escape sequence when Chris Tucker was driving him around the city after picking him up at the airport, but for the most part Jackie seemed entirely too serious to be his usual self. I don't know what it was. By the time the movie was an hour along, I was so unnerved by the lack of enjoyment I was experiencing that I tried fast forwarding to the fight scenes. It wasn't worth it. Maybe if Tom Wilkinson's part had been written a bit better, or if they'd come up with a way to train HIM for the hand-to-hand scenes. That would have been cool. I still look at him and think 'that's the one![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
cadhla says is a boggan in The Full Monty', so the idea of him having to fight Jackie Chan is just inherently amusing. Sadly, though, this did not happen. I gave up before the final fight scene and wished I'd just bought Iron Monkey already.
The other movie I rented this weekend that did not make me as happy as I had thought was Mulan. I've seen this one before. I enjoyed it in the theatres. I'm not sure what happened since then... probably it has something to do with my rampaging case of Sinophilia running head-on into Disney stuff that I remembered fondly, combined with the 'oooo' factor I had experienced when watching Great Conquest: The Romance Of The Three Kingdoms, another animated epic of ancient China. The Disney flick was much more stylized and much more clearly targeted at a young American audience, rather than at adults or even older teenagers. I tend to feel kids can handle much, much more than people give them credit for, so Mooshu and the cricket alike grated on my nerves this time, as did several other things. The songs weren't even all that great, although I really liked them the first time. I mean, it's a good movie... it just wasn't a spectacular movie. I dunno. I would've felt better if I'd rented it at Dollar Video instead of Blockbuster, I guess.
I will admit that the visual design of the Huns gave me some ideas for VicMage.Asia. Tibet's not a nice place, in that world. And I really did like the use of rocket weapons, that's always a nice historical touch. And I just plain like the look of Chinese armor, so the rendition of the soldiers in battle gear was cool - and much simpler than the stuff that made my arm drop off when I drew it for my web page. (Then again, that was ceremonial or parade wear, not battle gear.) Ah, well.
Today's pulp survival tip is #9: If you're headed for your goal and encounter a room where the floor is alive with snakes, bugs, or any other kind of crawling creature, give real consideration to finding an alternative route. You might still have to cross the bugs - but you'll probably have to make a fast escape and you'll be much happier if you don't need to worry about running away from bugs or snakes as well as people and/or the Supernatural Menace.
The other movies this weekend, though... the other movies did not fare so well. The first was Rush Hour. This movie did not make me happy. Chris Tucker was moderately annoying, but given his performance in The Fifth Element, he was positively sedate. I could've dealt with that, I suppose, but he was only the symptom of a larger problem, namely: the American bits weren't entertaining. At all. At least not to me. I've never been a big fan of the genre whose movies can be summed up like this:
Roguish Cop: Oo! A case! And it is hard!
Authorities: Bad cop. You can't have the case.
RC: Screw you, I'm doing it anyway.
Authorities: *splutter* Bad! We'll fire you!
RC: Look, I have solved the case.
Authorities: ...
Every time - every single time - Americans appeared on screen, that genre of cop flick came crashing down on the movie and sent whatever enjoyment I had screeching to a halt. I've watched parts of Beverly Hills Cop, although not all of it, and I enjoyed that; that was because I was in awe of Eddie Murphy. The little I saw of Axel Foley convinced me fairly quickly he belonged in the pantheon of modern American tricksters, alongside Ferris Bueller (whom my high school Forensics team prayed to as the God of Liars when we needed particular eloquence at a match) and Wile E. Coyote. Chris Tucker's character seemed to be trying very hard to be like him, but it didn't work for me. Too shrill, not enough style, too many bugged-out eyes, I don't know. The American cops and FBI all seemed to be badly drawn caricatures, too, and entirely too arbitrary to be believable. I could've dealt with them a bit better if I had any kind of sense that they were acting like real or even semi-real cops, rather than People Set Up For Chris Tucker To Prove Wrong. Nothing there at all.
Jackie Chan, on the other hand, felt weirdly restrained. I mean, sure, he had that neat escape sequence when Chris Tucker was driving him around the city after picking him up at the airport, but for the most part Jackie seemed entirely too serious to be his usual self. I don't know what it was. By the time the movie was an hour along, I was so unnerved by the lack of enjoyment I was experiencing that I tried fast forwarding to the fight scenes. It wasn't worth it. Maybe if Tom Wilkinson's part had been written a bit better, or if they'd come up with a way to train HIM for the hand-to-hand scenes. That would have been cool. I still look at him and think 'that's the one
cadhla says is a boggan in The Full Monty', so the idea of him having to fight Jackie Chan is just inherently amusing. Sadly, though, this did not happen. I gave up before the final fight scene and wished I'd just bought Iron Monkey already.The other movie I rented this weekend that did not make me as happy as I had thought was Mulan. I've seen this one before. I enjoyed it in the theatres. I'm not sure what happened since then... probably it has something to do with my rampaging case of Sinophilia running head-on into Disney stuff that I remembered fondly, combined with the 'oooo' factor I had experienced when watching Great Conquest: The Romance Of The Three Kingdoms, another animated epic of ancient China. The Disney flick was much more stylized and much more clearly targeted at a young American audience, rather than at adults or even older teenagers. I tend to feel kids can handle much, much more than people give them credit for, so Mooshu and the cricket alike grated on my nerves this time, as did several other things. The songs weren't even all that great, although I really liked them the first time. I mean, it's a good movie... it just wasn't a spectacular movie. I dunno. I would've felt better if I'd rented it at Dollar Video instead of Blockbuster, I guess.
I will admit that the visual design of the Huns gave me some ideas for VicMage.Asia. Tibet's not a nice place, in that world. And I really did like the use of rocket weapons, that's always a nice historical touch. And I just plain like the look of Chinese armor, so the rendition of the soldiers in battle gear was cool - and much simpler than the stuff that made my arm drop off when I drew it for my web page. (Then again, that was ceremonial or parade wear, not battle gear.) Ah, well.
Today's pulp survival tip is #9: If you're headed for your goal and encounter a room where the floor is alive with snakes, bugs, or any other kind of crawling creature, give real consideration to finding an alternative route. You might still have to cross the bugs - but you'll probably have to make a fast escape and you'll be much happier if you don't need to worry about running away from bugs or snakes as well as people and/or the Supernatural Menace.
