A Plethora of New Reviews at the Blog

[hman]

Well, I'm a bit pressed for time, but I have a bunch of new reviews at my blog (http://blog.360.yahoo.com/drngor).

They include:

Hot War (1998) - A modern-day terrorist thriller with some pre-Matrix digital training scenes. Some slick action, but a forgettable film overall.

The Warlords (2006) - Jet Li's latest Chinese film is a remake of "Blood Brothers" with Ti Lung, David Chiang, and Chen Kuan Tai. A historical drama about three friends in the Qing army during the Taiping rebellion. Jet fans may be disappointed with the lack of action from him (thought what he does is pretty good), but it's his best acting job yet.

Kid with the Golden Arm - I thought it was a fun, easy-to-watch film. I just wish choreographer Robert Tai had tried a little harder to get Philip Kwok to do some convincing drunken fist boxing.

Ultraviolet - Milla Jovavich is a convincing femme fatale, but the story isn't compelling and the action is all style and little actual substance.

Transporter 2 - Excellent action from Corey Yuen; some of his best work since the 1990s. The fire hose scene is a lot better than a similar one in "Romeo Must Die."

[hman]

I made a resolution that I'll watch five more kung fu movies (as it's practically the only type of movie I watch now in my free time) and then take a break from the genre from several months. I'll be posting the reviews of the movies at my blog. The first one is already up.

#5 - The Deadly Mantis - In a nutshell, the fights range from solid to very good; the story is compelling but could've been developed more.

[hman]

#3 - My School Mate the Barbarian - Mainly a high school movie that reminds me of films like "Class Act" (friendship between nerdy kid and rough, thuggish type). There are some over the top fighting scenes and a finale that tries to incorporate moves from the "Rival Schools" games. Basic fluff at best.

[hman]

#2 - Flying Dagger

Not Zhang Ziyi's "House of Flying Daggers", but a 1993 wuxia-comedy brought to us by Chu Yen-Ping, the same visionary who gave us Jackie Chan's "Fantasy Mission Force." In spite of the typical weird HK comedy, the plot is thankfully less complicated than most wuxia films made during the 1990s. As far as the action's concerned, if you like "Butterfly and Sword" or "Heroic Trio", you'll enjoy this one.