Electric Dreamstate

Jackie Chan and Jet Li are the pillars of the Hong Kong and Chinese marital arts flicks making there way to North America in the last fifteen years or so. Too bad that they waited until they were old to team up.

The Plot:
Jason Tripitikas (Michael Angarano, the poor man's Shia LaBeouf) is a kid from Boston who likes Kung Fu movies. He gets roughed-up by street thugs, finds a magical staff and falls off a roof. When he wakes up he's in The Forbidden Kingdom, a version of ancient mythological China. Now, with the help of a drunk and possibly immortal vagabond (Chan), a kind-of assholish monk (Li) and a love interest who talks only in the third person (Yifei Liu), he must return the magic staff to the Monkey King (also Li) and defeat the evil Jade Warlord (Collin Chou).

Good:
• The action is better than most American produced martial arts movies (this is probably because of the Chinese funding and choreography).
• It's certainly Jackie Chan's best American movie.
• The pace is somewhat breezy. It doesn't drag.
• It plays the hero's quest angle fairly well.
• It's kind of fun how they explain Chan and Li playing multiple roles.

Bad:
• You can really see the political aspect between how much presence Jackie Chan and Jet Li have in the film. About 20 minutes in it seems strange that Li's monk character hasn't been introduced yet (although he has showed up as the Monkey King), and I realized that it was because that would have unbalanced the movie towards Li and away from Chan. On the same note, the fight between Li and Chan is quite good (considering how old they are), but ends in such a draw as to seem pointless.
• The story arc of the movie is fairly predictable.
• The white lead is bland.
• When kung fu shows up in the "real world" at the end of the movie, it seems out of place.

Overall:
Not something to go out of your way to see if you aren't a fan of the genre, but not crazy terrible like some were predicting it would be. It does work fairly well as an actiony kids movie.

Unlike other times of the year, summer movie season has a certain imperative to it. While I can rent a copy of Zodiac months late and still have the same enrapturing experience I would have had in the theatre, a summer movie is really best enjoyed on the largest screen possible and with a somewhat rowdy audience. This summer is absolutely packed with movies, and some of them are so mindbogglingly stupid that I might have to use tricks to get people to come and see them with me.

May 2:
Iron Man
This one will be fairly easy. There's a good amount of buzz going around about it and people seem interested. Also, as the first blockbuster of the season, people aren't fatigued yet.

May 9:
Speed Racer
And we run into trouble right here. Ostensibly a kids movie and a crack dream at the same time, Speed Racer doesn't appeal to everyone. Personally I really want to see the epic acid-trippy primary-colour car-orgy being sold here, but others might not be as interested.

May 16:
Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
Eh, I could take or leave this one, but I'm kind of interested because I absolutely do not remember the plot of Caspian. There is fighting, and this is where the talking mouse Reep-a-cheep shows up I think.

May 23:
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
This one is easy, everyone wants to see a new Indiana Jones movie. The real challenge is getting them to wait until Saturday to see it (I work Friday nights).

June 13:
The Incredible Hulk
A few weeks off (the Sex and the City movie is in between) leads us to our first double week. I secretly really want to see the new Hulk movie. Yes the directing will be workman like compared to Ang Lee's Hulk (by far the most visually interesting modern superhero movie regardless of what you felt about the overall product), and the movie is supposedly 1/5th fight scene (set on Younge Street, New York). But that doesn't matter. The 13-year-old inside of me wants to see Hulk Smash.

The Happening
Even harder to sell than The Incredible Hulk, The Happening is the latest from pretentious genre auteur M. Night Shyamalan. I found something to like in three of Shyamalan's major releases (with two being good movies), and I'm interested to see if he can pull his career together.

June 20:
Get Smart
I think that Carrel can make this work. And I have a soft spot for the Rock. Also I don't want The Love Guru to win the weekend.

June 27:
Wall•E
This Pixar animated movie has almost no talking (or characters at all other than the titular Wall•E) for, supposedly, the first third to half of the film. Hopefully I can convince people that to go to a kids movie with no talking. I think the novelty may do it.

July 4:
Hancock
The good-olde July 4th Will Smith movie. Sure this looks stupider than stupid ... but he picks up a whale and throws it into a boat! Woooo! Woooo!

July 11:
Hellboy II
Being sandwiched between Hancock and The Dark Knight isn't the greatest for Hellboy II's chances, either in the box office or for getting my friends to see it with me. The first movie was fine, if unexceptional, but the second doesn't have to be bogged down by introductory origin crap. Also evil Nazis and Cthulhu.

July 18:
The Dark Knight
This one won't be a problem. Even those who didn't like Christopher Nolan's 2005 take on Batman will probably want to see Heath Ledger's final role. Next!

July 25:
X Files: I Want To Believe
The problem here is that a) many people left the X Files with a fairly sour taste in their mouths (people say it was the last two seasons, but it was really the last four or so) b) the show has so much baggage from the mythology episodes that no one knows what's going on and c) many people are unaware this is coming out. Getting people to care will be tough, even if the movie is a "monster of the week" type story in the style of the early seasons.

August 8:
Pineapple Express
The problem with Pineapple Express isn't that people don't want to see it, it's that I don't think they really understand what it is. As far as I can tell it's fully an action-comedy with an emphasis on the "action" part. Audiences seem to think it's another Apatow stoner comedy. Will the bait be pulled away too soon for the switch to work?

The summer movie season is almost upon us, and once again I return to this blog. Let's start out with a nice point form review of last weekend's Judd Apatow Brand™ comedy, Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

The Plot:
Peter Bretter (Jason Segal) is a music composer on the CSI-esque show Crime Scene: Scene of the Crime and dating one of the stars of the show Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell). She dumps him and he goes on vacation to forget her ... only she's at the same resort as him with her new boyfriend.

Good:
• Some hilarious moments, many related to full-frontal male nudity.
• Did a good job making the sentimental scenes have jokes in them, and remain funny.
• All of the leads acquitted themselves well. Surprisingly Mila Kunis was probably the stand-out, having finally outgrown her Jackie character from That 70s Show.
• Stays funny throughout, despite being a bit long.

Bad:
• Unfortunately the plot focuses on several sitcom like contrivances (the fact that they're at the same resort, they have rooms next to each other, ect).
• It is a little bit long.
• Although it fulfills the Apatow formula fairly well (R-rated jokes, characters with depth, kind-of more sincere than you expect), it has become a formula at this point and isn't as surprising.

Overall:
The film is hilarious, but will be just as worth while on video.