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elsajeniMovies seen recently, but not yet reviewed: Around The World In 80 Days, Saved!, Fahrenheit 9/11, The Terminal, and Spider-Man 2. So let's get on that reviewing thing, because at this rate I'm going to be writing reviews of summer movies well into December.
Around The World In 80 Days. Why did I see this movie, you ask? Well, for one thing, my grandmother wanted to see it; for another, I am ridiculously fond of Jackie Chan and will support any movie he appears in, whether or not it's any good (one exception: Shanghai Knights, which was so bad that not even I could forgive it), and in fact would marry him immediately if the opportunity presented itself. That said, I went into this movie expecting it to absolutely suck. I went in expecting that, when I came out, I would be moaning "Why, Jackie? Why?" and the like.
It didn't suck that much, really. And I know that doesn't sound like a good review, but, well... I enjoyed this movie. I enjoyed the fight scenes more than I've enjoyed a Jackie Chan fight scene in quite some time, because recently he's made a string of movies in which most of his fight scenes are done by a special effect (so unmemorable that I can't even think of their titles, but one of them had something to do with a tuxedo and was so shameful that I had to pretend the script was written by extraterrestrial lizards in order to avoid the shame of sharing their species or their planet of origin), and in this one they're actually done by Jackie Chan and, let's face it, the man is unbelievable. Admittedly, the plot is beyond ridiculous-- there's some kind of incomprehensible conspiracy about taking over Jackie Chan's village in China, and something about a jade Buddha statue, and ninjas, and a random French chick-- but the movie is just, well, likeable.
Things I particularly liked in this movie:
1) A particular stunt, in which Jackie Chan is handcuffed to an inept and corrupt police officer and somehow does... something... and there's flipping involved, and... I don't know, but how does he do that shit?
2) In the scenes taking place in Jackie Chan's village in China (yes, of course there were scenes taking place in Jackie Chan's village in China, weren't you listening when I recapped the, well, the alleged plot?), I actually understood a few very small fragments of dialogue in Chinese and was so ridiculously proud of myself that I unthinkingly took a bite of movie-theater pretzel, the taste of which will never leave me, but still, I understood something!
3) The fact that all the English guys keep pronouncing "Buddha" as "Butter." Hee!
4) The gleefully random cameos. Some are larger than others-- Arnold Schwarzenegger, for instance, gets a five-minute segment in a hot tub, whereas John Cleese appears just long enough for you to say, "Hey, that's John Cleese!"-- but overall, this is one of the things that leads me to my overall assessment of this movie:
It knows it's ridiculous. It knows it's never going to make an AFI Official List of the Best Movies Ever. And it doesn't care, because it's having fun.
I empathize. If you do, too, see this movie. Oh, but try to put every trace of the actual book out of your mind beforehand; otherwise you'll give yourself a headache with thoughts like "But... but why is she French?"
Tomorrow: Saved!
Around The World In 80 Days. Why did I see this movie, you ask? Well, for one thing, my grandmother wanted to see it; for another, I am ridiculously fond of Jackie Chan and will support any movie he appears in, whether or not it's any good (one exception: Shanghai Knights, which was so bad that not even I could forgive it), and in fact would marry him immediately if the opportunity presented itself. That said, I went into this movie expecting it to absolutely suck. I went in expecting that, when I came out, I would be moaning "Why, Jackie? Why?" and the like.
It didn't suck that much, really. And I know that doesn't sound like a good review, but, well... I enjoyed this movie. I enjoyed the fight scenes more than I've enjoyed a Jackie Chan fight scene in quite some time, because recently he's made a string of movies in which most of his fight scenes are done by a special effect (so unmemorable that I can't even think of their titles, but one of them had something to do with a tuxedo and was so shameful that I had to pretend the script was written by extraterrestrial lizards in order to avoid the shame of sharing their species or their planet of origin), and in this one they're actually done by Jackie Chan and, let's face it, the man is unbelievable. Admittedly, the plot is beyond ridiculous-- there's some kind of incomprehensible conspiracy about taking over Jackie Chan's village in China, and something about a jade Buddha statue, and ninjas, and a random French chick-- but the movie is just, well, likeable.
Things I particularly liked in this movie:
1) A particular stunt, in which Jackie Chan is handcuffed to an inept and corrupt police officer and somehow does... something... and there's flipping involved, and... I don't know, but how does he do that shit?
2) In the scenes taking place in Jackie Chan's village in China (yes, of course there were scenes taking place in Jackie Chan's village in China, weren't you listening when I recapped the, well, the alleged plot?), I actually understood a few very small fragments of dialogue in Chinese and was so ridiculously proud of myself that I unthinkingly took a bite of movie-theater pretzel, the taste of which will never leave me, but still, I understood something!
3) The fact that all the English guys keep pronouncing "Buddha" as "Butter." Hee!
4) The gleefully random cameos. Some are larger than others-- Arnold Schwarzenegger, for instance, gets a five-minute segment in a hot tub, whereas John Cleese appears just long enough for you to say, "Hey, that's John Cleese!"-- but overall, this is one of the things that leads me to my overall assessment of this movie:
It knows it's ridiculous. It knows it's never going to make an AFI Official List of the Best Movies Ever. And it doesn't care, because it's having fun.
I empathize. If you do, too, see this movie. Oh, but try to put every trace of the actual book out of your mind beforehand; otherwise you'll give yourself a headache with thoughts like "But... but why is she French?"
Tomorrow: Saved!