TIME CRIMES – Pop quiz. 1) How many Hectors were running around at the end of the movie? 2) What theatre at Saint Anthony Main did “Time Crimes” screen in? 3) Which Hector looks like a cross between Darkman and a Slipknot groupie?

TRIANGLE – In the words of the mighty rock (?) group Extreme, there are “Three Sides To Every Story” and just like that album, this movie works less than 1/3 of the time. Tsui Hark, Ringo Lam and Johnny To all take the reins for about 30 minutes and see what they can do to abuse the three bumbling leads of this movie. I think Johnny To had the toughest job attempting to clean up the narrative in the last third of the film and he succeded in doing so by tying up the muddled plotting of the first two acts with gunfire. This was by far the most entertaining bit and shook both me and my sister (Hey, Sophie…remember that time we went to a good movie together?) from our comfortable slumber.
THE VISITOR – Well acted, well shot and the characters develop nicely. The film gets a bit long in the second half for me but that’s probably because I was having more fun watching Walter’s relationship with Tarek. Had Tarek played the banjo instead of drums there would have been a great opportunity for some dueling banjos action long absent from the silver screen.

THE POPE’S TOILET – I was hoping it would be half as funny as his hat but instead it just circled the drain. What a depressing movie.

SON OF RAMBOW – Brilliant from tops to tails. Son of Rambow opens May 9th at the Uptown Theatre. Enjoy.

THE FORBIDDEN KINGDOM – The long awaited on-screen pairing of Jackie Chan and Jet Li. Fan boy nerds are upset because they somehow feel slighted that this has happened so late in the game for the two screen legends and that there isn’t more bloodshed (Shut your gaping mouth holes, fan boy nerds…you are never happy yet defend George Lucas to the grave so therefore your credibility is nil and you are always wrong. Always. It’s nice outside, go play.). Chan and Li look like they are having more fun than they’ve had in years. Rob Minkoff studied up on HK cinema and adds some great fantasy flourishes to this mostly family friendly film. It’s like Tsui Hark’s version of The Karate Kid. Plenty of action and humor.

For those keeping score at home this posting contains mention of Tsui Hark three times.

Tonight it’s MONDO BONDO and a party at The Red Stag.

Show me your Drunken Boxing in the comment section!

This post was written by Chris Grap, Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008 at 10:49 am and is filed under Diversionary Tactics, Film Festivals, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.