The Wages of Fear
It’s the classic movie that Sorcerer was based upon. I liked the first act of this version much better. The truck driving scenes where tension-filled but nowhere near as intense as the remake’s bridge scene.
Le Samouraï
I watched this after every commentary on my John Woo blu-rays said that he based much of his style on this movie. Not so much the action as the look and feel of the anti-hero who lives by a code of honor. I loved how so much of the story is told purely through visuals rather than dialogue.
Gorgeous
A young Taiwanese woman finds a message in a bottle and decides to track down the author in Hong Kong only to discover he’s gay. Then she randomly meets a rich trader (played by Jackie Chan) and the romantic comedy with a man twice her age ensues. There is also a plot about the rivalry between Chan and his brother that has to be resolved with fighting a short American kickboxer. The fights are well executed but ultimately pointless and shoehorned in. The rest of the movie is spent cringing at the May/December romance.
Red Dead Redemption on PC
You play as John Marston, a reformed cowboy outlaw whose family is being held hostage in order to get him to kill his old gang partners. There’s not much more to it than that. Kill the first guy and then there’s another boss to hunt down. This all plays out in a massive open-world with tons of desert scruff to explore.
The problem I have with the Rockstar Games’ open-world formula is that, despite the freedom you are given, you are pinned into playing the missions exactly as designed. This is as opposed to a game like Fallout where you can approach obstacles with violence, stealth or intelligence. In essence, this is a middling movie western story in which you perform tasks just to see the next cutscene.
While there is an “honor” system, the story almost demands you play as the good guy. I was less inclined to just instigate mayhem like I would in GTA. Even though you are forced to align with obviously corrupt characters and kill peasants, etc., you remain the virtuous hero trying to save his family.
Yet, despite all my criticisms, I enjoyed the various shootouts and the simple bullet-time gun mechanics. The world is big and beautiful and exactly the environment you’d see in a classic western. Much of the side challenges amount to collectable quests or gambling simulations. Each is fun for a while, but I didn’t have the time or energy to go through the game 100%. I’m wondering if the sequel offers more depth.
Big Trouble in Little China
With its wall-to-wall kung-fu and monster effects, I would have loved this film if I saw it when I was eleven years old. There isn’t any depth to the characters and it’s mostly heroes go from action set piece A to action set piece B. Everything looks great and it’s still fun to watch and that’s about all you need.
RSPK (Recurrent Spontaneous Psychokinesis) - Wood Engraving
RSPK (Recurrent Spontaneous Psychokinesis) is a parapsychological term for “poltergeist” activity, describing the involuntary, repeated movement of objects or noises attributed to the unconscious mental influence of a living person. It is usually tied to rebellious teenagers or disgruntled employees. So, yes, it’s complete nonsense.
The Police Are Blundering in the Dark
The most stomach churning thing about this Italian thriller is the mid-seventies fashion and hairstyles. A couple of models have gone missing and a journalist arrives on the scene to do nothing. The wheelchair-bound, afro-luxe photographer has found a way to photograph people’s minds and then solves the crime. The end. There’s about thirty minutes of movie here and the rest is boring filler.
City on Fire
So, yes, Reservoir Dogs shares a lot with this movie. And by a lot I mean the last ten minutes. The remaining ninety minutes are more about police tactics and Chow Yun Fat’s relationship troubles. It all flows together nicely, but doesn’t feel as imminently re-watchable as a John Woo film from the same era.
The Inspector Wears Skirts
The opening five minutes are great: Cynthia Rothrock killing a bunch of ninjas. Then it becomes a lame Police Academy wannabe film about female recruits. The jokes suck, there’s no action, and it all just falls flat. The predictable final sequence offers no thrills and there is no payoff after the hour or so of training sequences.
Stranglehold on PC
Stranglehold is the video game sequel to John Woo’s Hard-boiled. What it actually is is a Max Payne clone. That’s not all that bad because Max Payne’s bullet-time mechanic was one of the most fun innovations in gaming and it was itself a rip-off of everything John Woo. What’s missing is the themes of brotherhood and honor that permeated all of Woo’s gun-fu masterpieces. Instead we get a forgettable “rescue the damsel in distress” plot. That said, the action mechanics were enough to hold me through the relatively short single player campaign.