The first follow-up to The 36th Chamber still features Gordon Liu in the lead role, but it’s mostly a parody of the original film. The more films I see with Gordon Liu, the more I realize just how great a screen presence he was. He carries this one with both his fighting skill and ability to play for laughs. In fact, outside of the final showdown, there is very little kung-fu fighting. One of the main characters is wearing massive false teeth for no reason at all. If not for that, this would have been a pretty decent mix of stunts and humor. That one detail really cheapens the whole affair.
I decided to watch this anime on a whim after revisiting The Girl Who Leapt Through Time the other night. The concept is something that probably every kid thought of at one time or another: what would it be like if gravity reversed itself? With it’s twisting perspective and constant threat of “falling” into the sky, this film was disorienting and made my stomach turn. As someone with acrophobia, even standing at the base of a skyscraper gives me vertigo so your results may vary. The actual details of the plot are kind of dumb and the revelations presented are never really explained in a satisfactory manner. There is also the uneven voice acting you’d expect from a second tier anime (IMHO, only Miyazaki is first tier). But the clever idea and neat visuals were enough to keep me interested until the end.
I assume most of the people who seek this movie out come to it the same way I did. This is the film that Steve Oedekerk used as the basis for his 2002 spoof Kung Pow: Enter the Fist. I love Kung Pow. I realize that around half of that movie is groan inducing gags (okay, maybe more than half), but buried in it are moments of sheer comedic genius. Most of those moments come from the redubbing and CGI manipulation of Tiger and Crane Fists. Surprisingly, the original is a fun film with a bit of blood, a great villain, and some solid fights. The lead actor, with his doughy physique, is obviously is not a real martial artist but it doesn’t matter much. Master Betty must be stopped!
This live action adaptation of The Girl Who Leapt Through Time bears little resemblance to the original anime version. The cartoon was a wild, Groundhog’s Day-like series of time twists while this one just uses time travel to establish the setting and characters of a simple, but effective love story. The sci-fi elements eventually creep back in, but by that time you don’t really care. They just serve to remind us of all the glaring plot holes. Yet the characters are fun to watch and the acting is good. And you know what, the sci-fi stuff is just there to trick us dudes into watching (and liking) a sappy chick flick.
Like previous Telltale series, this is not so much a game as it is an interactive cartoon. Yes, to a degree, player choices don’t matter, and all paths seem to lead to the same destination (as far as I can tell). However, there is far more variation and consequence than most point and click adventures offer. In hindsight, adventure puzzles, as fun as they sometimes are, only hinder storytelling and don’t help you live inside a character’s head the way the Telltale dialogue system does.
Tales from the Borderlands benefits from the wonderfully unique world created by Gearbox in Borderlands 1 & 2. It’s like Mad Max meets Firefly. In this case the focus is more on the wisecracking and swashbuckling of the latter. The characters are fun and likable, and their dialogue is genuinely funny and fresh. On top of that is the stylish, cell-shaded art direction from the original games. Also included are the off-the-wall character introductions and typographical blasts. These title sequences are a real treat and a highlight of each episode.
The story, even though it’s basically a standard heist adventure, is gripping. That’s something that is missing from the actual Borderlands games. After finishing, I got the itch to jump back into Borderlands 2 and after twenty minutes of running around and engaging in repetitive gun battles, I soon remembered why I stopped playing. For me, story is the key. Another superb outing from Telltale Games.
The third film in the 36th Chambers series changes the tone to comedy (apparently the second sequel is also a parody, but I haven’t seen that one yet). The new hero, Fang Shiyu, is supposed to be a know-it-all wit (ala Bill Murray in Stripes) but ends up just being unlikable and annoying. It’s the sort of inane comedic performance you would expect from a Disney Channel kids’ sitcom. The film makes up for it in its acrobatic kung-fu and colorful, over-the-top finale.
This movie made it to America in the wake of Crouching Tiger and has much of the same stylishness. Doesn’t quite pack the same wallop though. But it has its fair share of dramatic art direction and is awash in solid colors and exciting slow-mo fight sequences. The final fight in the snow is memorable and the story in generally is pretty chick-flickish for a Kung Fu film.
This is a classic Kung-Fu film from the Shaw Brothers that doesn’t quite have the artistic flair that I look for in these films. It does, however, establish the blueprint for the story of the young fighter training in order to enact revenge. Most of the film is said training, each test chamber more ridiculous than the last.
An excellent and worthy sequel to the original series of films. It’s probably better than Return of the Jedi or at least it doesn’t have as many cringe-worthy moments. I was able to overlook some of the hammy acting from old actors and the few CGI moments of yuckiness, but, overall, a decent apology letter to fans for the prequels. Apology accepted Captain Needa.
After The Walking Dead (especially season two… which I apparently forgot to review. Well, it was great.), I was pretty much sold on the Telltale choose-your-own-adventure game formula. These games are really like watching a TV show in which you’re forced to pay close attention to what’s going on and have a say in how the characters interact with eachother. So far, the stories and characters have been engaging and satisfying.
I began The Wolf Among Us without knowing anything about the comic series on which it is based. As far as I knew it was the story of a werewolf living in the big city. It’s not. The conceit here is that all the characters are from fairy tales and myths and are trying to get by along side the humans in New York. Wolf is actually The Big Bad Wolf of Little Red Riding Hood and The Three Little Pigs fame, now a film noir style PI investigating a series of murders. Sounds completely ridiculous, but somehow it all works and I loved every second of it. If I had any criticism, it’s that the choices were not nearly as gut-wrenching as they were in The Walking Dead, but, that aside, it’s an excellent interactive experience (not really a “game” per se).
