The Axe Gang

The Axe Gang
Originally uploaded by groonk.

It's been some time now since my last movie review. Truth be told, I have not watched many recently. However, the long em>Raya week gave me the chance to catch up on some marathon DVD-watching.

Kung Fu Hustle
I finally watched this. I've been told it's very good. I've been told it's very bad. My brother loved it so much that he bought the soundtrack. I think he was just impressed by the Axe Gang Boss' dance routine in the opening. But I liked that too. SK on the other hand, hated it. She watched it in the cinema and couldn't believe why she was the only person not laughing. In my opinion, it's a good Kung Fu flick, but not an exceptionally good comedy. It's very stylized and it does capture the essence of cowboy flicks well. As usual, Stephen Chow reused many of his old stuff with some renewed twists to good effect. Details aplenty. I especially liked the gu zheng assassins scene. And the ending fight did remind me of the Matrix: Reloaded Neo vs berlambak Agent Smith duke-fest. And for some reason, the ass-exposing hair stylist and the effeminate tailor had quite some airtime...
Memorable quotes:
"I see you have a prejudice against be-spectacled people. Especially gold-rimmed be-spectacled people."

Lucky Number Slevin
Another gangster movie. A little off beat. A convoluted tale of revenge with Witty dialogue. Kinda like Snatch and Layer Cake. For some reason, there must be some blasphemous reference to the Virgin Mary. Morgan Freeman is always great. Was kinda surprised by the ending. And I'm sure Josh Hartnett's towel scene and Lucy Liu trying to act all cute-sy, wute-sy won the movie many fans.
Memorable quotes:
"Why is he called the Rabbi? Because he's a rabbi."
"Why is he called the Fairy? Because he's a fairy."

Brokeback Mountain
Yup, it took me this long to actually watch this sad tale of high-altitude, sheep-witnessed forbidden love between Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist. After the whole "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon" fiasco, I had a little trepidation with Ang Lee. I was right to be cautious, the movie is really slow. Not "watching-sap-dry" slow, but slow. Like little, giggling schoolgirls, SK and HP actually fast-forwarded to the frantic love scene in the tent and was sorely disappointed. "Why black-black one?!" I guess long term "relationships" do really work with some f*ck fest in the great outdoors a couple of times a year. And Ennis' mumbling... Aieee. Anyway, what was the reason that Jack Twist was killed? A pissed off father-in-law? Great movie or not, the word "brokeback" has somehow evolved into an adjective in everyday lingo.
Noteworthy scene:
Ennis Del Mar hugging the late Jack Twist's shirt, sobbing and taking a looong whiff.

Transamerica
Felicity HUffman plays the part of a conservative transexual woman to a T. The voice, the face. Reaffirms the fact that some transexual women are more feminine than biological women (think Korea's Harisu) and some biological women are butcher than most men (dykes excluded). On the verge of her gender reassignment operation, she finds out that she has a hustler of a son. So she goes on a cross-country trip with him (to get him outta her hair) and in process learn many things about each other. A transexual Tumbleweeds of sorts, without the escaping from failed relationships bit.
Memorable quotes:
"Put this on, it'll give mum a fit. I may be a transexual, but I'm not a transvestite."

Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World
About Albert Brooks, a comedian who goes to India and Pakistan to write a 500-page report for a government commission. Not funny. Don't bother.

On top of al this, I also watched some old Stephen Chow movies since my sister bought the whole collection on 13 DVDs or so (I think Venge bought this at Citrus Park some time back). I found Wui Wan Yeh extremely hilarious. Vengeful ghosts, a headless gramma, a ghost-detecting lily, priceless. I'll pace myself. He may be funny, but too much of a good thing....