I’m still trying to decide what about “Salt” annoyed me more, the goofy turn of events in the second half that had me gawking in sheer disbelief, or the insistence by the writers to include an ending that fades to black right in the middle of a big turn of events as if to leave a “To Be Continued” assuring audiences that there will be a sequel. Not only is this trend absolutely obnoxious (I pay to see whole movies, not parts of movies), but if there really is no sequel to “Salt” (god willing), then the entire closing scene is just a pointless wide open door left for us to presume what occurred after the writers decided we’d had enough story for now.
Tag Archives: Martial Arts
The Losers (2010)
I’ve never actually read the graphic novel “The Losers” is based on and sometimes that’s a good thing, since a film adaptation tends to garner its own flavor and narrative path from its source material and that can be said for the film adaptation of “The Losers” a movie that doesn’t try for Oscar gold or even legendary status but instead tries to make us laugh and cheer about as much as humanly possible in the ninety minutes it greets us with an array of bad asses, each with their own skill, who have a bone to pick with their government. Like “The A-Team,” this group of soldiers were all framed for a crime they didn’t commit, and deemed dead after a failed assassination attempt, disband and lose touch.
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (2010)
“Scott, if your life had a face, I’d punch it.” – Kim Pine
The stellar Edgar Wright has finally made it to the American shores by way of a cult series of graphic novels and in typical Wright-fashion, he’s not prone to just making any movie that would appeal to an audience of the PG-13 sector. “Scott Pilgrim vs. The World” is self aware. It’s so self-aware it’s aware that it’s self-aware and makes its audience aware of its self-awareness by reminding us of its self-awareness with an often self-aware sense of humor that very few will get. Leave it up to Wright to make a broad mainstream teen film that will only appeal to a cult audience as “Scott Pilgrim vs. The World” is basically about the modern generation. It’s pure unadulterated pop culture overload with ideals that are simplified and set to the tune of classic video games.
Tekken (2010)
Someone somewhere figured that we as movie lovers and action buffs needed or would have wanted a “Tekken” movie–even if no one asked for it. Because as we are all aware, the “Mortal Kombat,” “Double Dragon,” and “Street Fighter” movies were all so amazing and rich in bone crunching action and sharp cinematic prowess that we just had to have a fifth tier video game franchise with fairly forgettable characters lacking any iconic sensibilities be turned in to action heroes for a potential film franchise. And not surprisingly this isn’t making the rounds in theaters any time soon. Movie websites have reported on this film for a short time and since then the word’s been slim to none on its quality.
Black Dynamite (2009)
Pointless exposition, redundant dialogue, hammy acting, racial paranoia, cartoonish action scenes, continuity problems, absurd sub-plots that go absolutely nowhere, if you’ve ever seen blaxploitation films before, you’ll realize that Scott Sanders “Black Dynamite” is a pretty brilliant satire of the grindhouse sub-genre that managed to influence dozens of filmmakers and actors across the board. While the Wayans brothers paid tribute to the genre in “I’m Gonna Git You Sucka,” director Scott Sanders manages to rise above their level providing a both a spoof, satire, and loving tribute to the sub-genre that takes every single device from the sub-genre that we love and hate and throws it in to a story that’s about as ridiculous as most of the blaxploitation films from the seventies. As most comedy should be, Sanders and Jai White don’t play this spoof with a wacky atmosphere.
Kiss of the Dragon (2001)
Like most American audiences, I was introduced to Jet Li in “Lethal Weapon 4” where he stole the show from every cast member in the final film of the franchise as the vicious Wah Sing Ku who engages in a battle with Riggs and Murtaugh at the end of the movie. And like every other American after the movie I sought out Li’s previous works and was pretty much under whelmed. The man’s past works range from mediocre to plain idiotic and America didn’t do much for him with movies like “The One,” “Cradle 2 The Grave,” and “Romeo Must Die” all of which were packed with CGI and hip hop references stifling Li’s potential. When allowed to work on his own terms though, Li pulled off some rather incredible pieces of martial arts cinema, one of which is “Kiss of the Dragon.”
Underworld: The Rise of the Lycans (2009)
I guess there was nowhere else to go with the series after the first two films pretty much accomplished all that it could. “Underworld” has been a very mediocre film franchise but with a surprisingly interesting mythos involving lycans and vampires and to prevent us from watching a repeat story similar to the first two, we instead get a prequel, the story of the feud between the lycans and the vampires that we only got a taste of in the first “Underworld.” While “Rise of the Lycans” does have its problems, the special effects can sometimes become some great eye candy that makes up for the poor story.