Kung-Pow: Enter the Fist is a neat idea for a movie that fails in its execution. It's a re-dubbed and re-edited kung-fu movie. The film's writer/director/star Steve Oedekerk is then digitally inserted into the footage in place of the original actor, sort of like they did in Forrest Gump. In a way the film is ahead of its time, predicting the remix culture of YouTube, as well as the obnoxious and juvenile humor most remix videos employ. And much like YouTube remix videos, Kung-Pow seems to have been created by an immature middle schooler.
For every funny joke in Kung-Pow, there are 25 stupid ones rushing in to crush any enjoyment the viewer may be experiencing. At its best, the film recontextualizes the old footage into jokes. For example, in the original film a character goes into a coughing fit due to his failing health. The filmmakers digitally inserted a bug into the film, which then flies into the man's mouth, making it appear as if that was the trigger of his cough. But clever manipulations of the material are few and far between. Most of the jokes consist of "what if I made this character have a silly sounding voice?"" or "what if I made this character say something really stupid in a silly sounding voice?". When the jokes aren't being immature, they're just obvious potshots. There's a extended sequence in which Oedekerk fights a poorly-animated CG cow in a cheap parody of The Matrix. The film's climax is a stupid joke about the French. The list goes on.
Steve Oedekerk, writer of the Nutty Professor remake, Ace Ventura 2, and Bruce Almighty is no stranger to stupid and juvenile humor. Despite their lowbrow jokes, at least those movies were competently made. Kung-Pow feels like a collection of all the jokes Oedekerk cut from his other movies for being too stupid. The movie barely even clocks in at 75 minutes long, and the last few minutes are actually a fake trailer for the movie's sequel. For a movie that is largely the passion project of one man, he sure did get lazy putting it all together.
I have seen criticisms against Kung-Pow suggesting that the film may have worked better as a short skit as opposed to a feature-length film. I feel that a movie like this could actually work if more thought was put into the jokes, and less time was spent playing fart noises over old footage. I really like the concept of this film, so it really disappoints me that the execution was so shoddy. There are enough jokes that actually work that have me convinced the idea could be pulled off if given to the right creative team. If the idea of the film interests you, it's worth looking in to because it's the only one of its kind, but don't expect much from it.
December 8, 2015
December 6, 2015
Movie Review- Mad Max: Fury Road
I am not a fan of the Mad Max movies, and their enduring cult status is somewhat baffling to me. I had no interest watching Mad Max: Fury Road, but critical and fan reception of the film was so overwhelmingly positive, I felt compelled to see it for fear of missing out. Before watching the series' fourth installment, I decided to revisit the original trilogy to see if perhaps I would find some value in the series that I had previously missed. In doing so I was only reminded of why I disliked the films to begin with.
The first two films are too ambitious for their tiny budgets, and as such fail to deliver on the promise of grand car chases through post-apocalyptic desert landscapes. The third film, Beyond Thunderdome benefits greatly from a higher budget, finally portraying an engaging and visually-pleasing desert locale in the market settlement of Bartertown. Unfortunately the plot derails after the first act and returns to the series' biggest problem: boring stories and uninteresting characters. Thoroughly discouraged at this point, I trudged ahead into Fury Road. Shock of all shocks, I still don't like this series.
I am mystified as to this series' appeal. There aren't many good post-apocalyptic films out there, so perhaps fans of that genre are content to settle with what the Mad Max movies have to offer. Perhaps the series is appealing in the same way that some people find monster truck rallies appealing. I am generally not a fan of watching cars go fast and smash things, unless I have reason to be involved in what's going on. The Mad Max movies fail to engage me on a level that I can stay interested in repetitive vehicular carnage.
As previously mentioned, the first two Mad Max are very low-budget and thus the extent of the vehicle stunts are little more than watching a NASCAR accident. Beyond Thunderdome was a slight improvement with a train chase scene that at least looked expensive, even if it left me feeling empty. Fury Road has been pumped up with a bloated Hollywood blockbuster budget, which is finally enough money to give this series the scope and scale director George Miller has been trying to accomplish. Unfortunately that doesn't fix the boring characters, threadbare plot, and uninteresting action scenes.
Mad Max himself barely participates in the movie; his role feels tacked on as an afterthought, and Tom Hardy seemed to be half-asleep during his scenes (I don't doubt that he was added in to secure a larger budget because of the franchise appeal). The film is more about Imperator Furiosa, played with varying degrees of disinterest by Charlize Theron.We're supposed to care about her character because she nobly decides to rescue a group of sex slaves, but she doesn't exhibit any likable traits or do anything else of interest. Despite being more of a main character than Max, Furiosa does almost nothing other than drive throughout the film. At least Max has the decency to actually participate in the 3rd act fight scene.
The film's villains are basically recycled from the previous three films. An army of zany-looking guys in souped-up cars that huff spray paint. Yawn. There's an attempt at depth with the villains at least. Apparently they're all cancer-ridden child soldiers, but the movie doesn't spend enough time developing this idea to make it truly interesting. The big baddie, the stupidly-named Immortan Joe, has a cool looking breathing apparatus, at least.
The Mad Max series has always been light on plot, and Fury Road is no exception. The film is more or less an extended chase scene punctuated with the occasional shootout or fistfight. That's not inherently a problem. Plenty of action movies, such as The Raid: Redemption or most Shaw Brothers productions have been able to get by on little more than clunky exposition to link the fight scenes together. The problem is that Fury Road''s action scenes lack the finesse or intensity of a kung-fu movie, or even the over-the-top machismo of Schwarzenegger-type action movies.
American action films are in a sad state. They are choppy, shaky messes full of boring choreography. I feel that too many critics give Fury Road too much slack because we are in an era of action movies that can't be bothered to actually create action. Fury Road at least attempts to make competent action scenes, but still falls into the same trappings of modern action movies. The editing at times in the movie is an atrocious eyesore. During the movie's chase scenes, the frame rate will suddenly drop to a jittery mess. Apparently this is Miller's homage to silent films. Put your homages somewhere more appropriate, please. In an action movie it's distracting and disorienting. There's still a lot of shaky-cam used in the action scenes, which when compounded with the frame rate drops, leaves me reaching for a bottle of Tylenol.
I'll give the film credit; despite the uninteresting plot and characters, at least the designs are interesting this time around. All that money has been put to good use. The cars are all neat to look at, and the army of Quan Chi lookalikes are pretty unique as far as movie villains go. The desert locales are gorgeously shot, too. There are lot of swooping, spectacular wide shots that help to convey the epic grandeur that George Miller has spent three films trying to capture. Fury Road is boring, but at least it's nice to look at.
Perhaps I'm biased. I don't like the Mad Max series, so maybe I'm not the best person to judge the merits of the series' fourth installment. But as a fan of action movies, and just movies in general, I can tell you this movie is not that great. Even compared to its colleagues, Fury Road is only slightly more competent than The Fast and the Furious. I just don't get the hype.
The first two films are too ambitious for their tiny budgets, and as such fail to deliver on the promise of grand car chases through post-apocalyptic desert landscapes. The third film, Beyond Thunderdome benefits greatly from a higher budget, finally portraying an engaging and visually-pleasing desert locale in the market settlement of Bartertown. Unfortunately the plot derails after the first act and returns to the series' biggest problem: boring stories and uninteresting characters. Thoroughly discouraged at this point, I trudged ahead into Fury Road. Shock of all shocks, I still don't like this series.
I am mystified as to this series' appeal. There aren't many good post-apocalyptic films out there, so perhaps fans of that genre are content to settle with what the Mad Max movies have to offer. Perhaps the series is appealing in the same way that some people find monster truck rallies appealing. I am generally not a fan of watching cars go fast and smash things, unless I have reason to be involved in what's going on. The Mad Max movies fail to engage me on a level that I can stay interested in repetitive vehicular carnage.
As previously mentioned, the first two Mad Max are very low-budget and thus the extent of the vehicle stunts are little more than watching a NASCAR accident. Beyond Thunderdome was a slight improvement with a train chase scene that at least looked expensive, even if it left me feeling empty. Fury Road has been pumped up with a bloated Hollywood blockbuster budget, which is finally enough money to give this series the scope and scale director George Miller has been trying to accomplish. Unfortunately that doesn't fix the boring characters, threadbare plot, and uninteresting action scenes.
Mad Max himself barely participates in the movie; his role feels tacked on as an afterthought, and Tom Hardy seemed to be half-asleep during his scenes (I don't doubt that he was added in to secure a larger budget because of the franchise appeal). The film is more about Imperator Furiosa, played with varying degrees of disinterest by Charlize Theron.We're supposed to care about her character because she nobly decides to rescue a group of sex slaves, but she doesn't exhibit any likable traits or do anything else of interest. Despite being more of a main character than Max, Furiosa does almost nothing other than drive throughout the film. At least Max has the decency to actually participate in the 3rd act fight scene.
The film's villains are basically recycled from the previous three films. An army of zany-looking guys in souped-up cars that huff spray paint. Yawn. There's an attempt at depth with the villains at least. Apparently they're all cancer-ridden child soldiers, but the movie doesn't spend enough time developing this idea to make it truly interesting. The big baddie, the stupidly-named Immortan Joe, has a cool looking breathing apparatus, at least.
The Mad Max series has always been light on plot, and Fury Road is no exception. The film is more or less an extended chase scene punctuated with the occasional shootout or fistfight. That's not inherently a problem. Plenty of action movies, such as The Raid: Redemption or most Shaw Brothers productions have been able to get by on little more than clunky exposition to link the fight scenes together. The problem is that Fury Road''s action scenes lack the finesse or intensity of a kung-fu movie, or even the over-the-top machismo of Schwarzenegger-type action movies.
American action films are in a sad state. They are choppy, shaky messes full of boring choreography. I feel that too many critics give Fury Road too much slack because we are in an era of action movies that can't be bothered to actually create action. Fury Road at least attempts to make competent action scenes, but still falls into the same trappings of modern action movies. The editing at times in the movie is an atrocious eyesore. During the movie's chase scenes, the frame rate will suddenly drop to a jittery mess. Apparently this is Miller's homage to silent films. Put your homages somewhere more appropriate, please. In an action movie it's distracting and disorienting. There's still a lot of shaky-cam used in the action scenes, which when compounded with the frame rate drops, leaves me reaching for a bottle of Tylenol.
I'll give the film credit; despite the uninteresting plot and characters, at least the designs are interesting this time around. All that money has been put to good use. The cars are all neat to look at, and the army of Quan Chi lookalikes are pretty unique as far as movie villains go. The desert locales are gorgeously shot, too. There are lot of swooping, spectacular wide shots that help to convey the epic grandeur that George Miller has spent three films trying to capture. Fury Road is boring, but at least it's nice to look at.
Perhaps I'm biased. I don't like the Mad Max series, so maybe I'm not the best person to judge the merits of the series' fourth installment. But as a fan of action movies, and just movies in general, I can tell you this movie is not that great. Even compared to its colleagues, Fury Road is only slightly more competent than The Fast and the Furious. I just don't get the hype.
Movie Review- Punisher: War Zone
Punisher: War Zone is one of the few comic book movies to ever do justice to the source material. The movie is campy and overly violent, but in doing so is largely faithful to the spirit of the comics. I have not seen the previous two standalone Punisher films, so I can't speak to their quality, but with the bar set by War Zone, I can't imagine they are very good in comparison.
I feel like superhero movies these days all look the same. Punisher has the benefit of a unique visual style. It looks as gritty as a digital film can possibly look, and the lighting is colorful and stylized. Often the lighting opts for a single color to fill the scene, a look I do not enjoy, but I still appreciate the unique visuals put forth.
In addition to a stylized production design, the movie is filled with extremely stylized action scenes and violence. The biggest criticism I have seen lobbed against War Zone is the excessive violence. I can't deny that the film is extremely violent, nauseatingly so at times. But the action scenes are a cut above the typical superhero fight scene. The opening scene in which the Punisher hangs upside down from a chandelier and unleashes an assault on a mafia dinner party is a particular treat.
The movie is very to-the-point with what it offers. If you are interested in seeing a relatively faithful adaptation of the Punisher comics or enjoy violent action movies, this is worth checking out.
I feel like superhero movies these days all look the same. Punisher has the benefit of a unique visual style. It looks as gritty as a digital film can possibly look, and the lighting is colorful and stylized. Often the lighting opts for a single color to fill the scene, a look I do not enjoy, but I still appreciate the unique visuals put forth.
In addition to a stylized production design, the movie is filled with extremely stylized action scenes and violence. The biggest criticism I have seen lobbed against War Zone is the excessive violence. I can't deny that the film is extremely violent, nauseatingly so at times. But the action scenes are a cut above the typical superhero fight scene. The opening scene in which the Punisher hangs upside down from a chandelier and unleashes an assault on a mafia dinner party is a particular treat.
The movie is very to-the-point with what it offers. If you are interested in seeing a relatively faithful adaptation of the Punisher comics or enjoy violent action movies, this is worth checking out.
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