Author Archives: Dennis

Fahrenheit 9/11 [2004]

Director: Michael Moore
Actor: Michael Moore

A lot of differing opinions have been given on Michael Moore’s latest documentary, but say what you want about this piece, if it doesn’t make you at least question what happened, then you’re walking with blinders on. Sure, there hasn’t been such a good propagandist since Leny Riefenstahl, but Moore’s incredibly sloppy and everyone who simply believes he’s speaking truth, or sees fact in what he offers are walking with those same blinders on.

Everything he offers is entirely suggestive while there’s very little actual proof. He asks you to think about all these facts that, when put together, paint a tremendously bleak picture of George W. Bush’s presidential administration and the hypocracy of a few very powerful corporations and government contractors.

Personally, I think that perhaps some of it is true, some of it isn’t, but there’s just so much questionable stuff that happened that the law of large numbers suggests, as Moore does, that at least some of it is true. While there’s no proof of what, at least it offers a little insight in that it happens. Whether it happened less under Clinton, Bush Sr., Reagan, Carter, Nixon, Johnson, Kennedy, and whoever else I left out tracing that far back is not to be concluded. I think that everyone’s opinions are going to be strengthened, no matter what they are. Whether you’re a Republican, Democrat, conservative, liberal, socialist, communist, everyone will say “See!” So in that the movie doesn’t achieve what it clearly set out to achieve; “Anyone but Bush.”

One thing I would like to remark is that with such a growing anti-American sentiment around the world, this movie plays into the hands of those people, too. It’s not just American bias and views that are strengthened (dare I say confirmed), but it’s foreign bias and views as well.

Walking Tall [2004]

Director: Kevin Bray
Actor: The Rock, Johnny Knoxville

This is a story inspired by the exploits of Sherrif Bufford Pusser who was the inspiration for the 70s show, also called Walking Tall.

Rock, an ex-special forces seargent, comes back from service to the town where he grew up, and finds that the mill that used to bring most of the money, work and trade into town has been closed town by his old high-school friend Hamilton and that Hamilton now runs a casino. He hooks up with all of his old friends for a “friendly” game of football and afterwards accepts an invitation by Hamilton – who now owns the current largest supplier of work and trade, a casino – to come and enjoy himself with his friends at his new establishment. While there he is confronted with what he’s suspected all along; that home is no longer the home he knew, and that the town is rotten to the core, with drug use and corruption running rampant. When he discovers one of his friends is getting cheated out of his money by one of the croupiers at the craps table he gets into a fight with the casino’s security guards who not only decide to “teach him a lesson” but also, upon finding out he’s former special forces, decide to give him “special treatment,” by carving him up. They leave him for dead. The Rock wouldn’t be the Rock if he didn’t survive beyond all expectations and he comes to a relatively full recovery.

When his nephew OD’s on crystal meth, sold to him and his friends by some of the casino security guards he decides to take a two-by-four and pay a visit to the casino. There he beats the snot out of all the casino security personel, leaving them as broken and battered as some of the slot machines he decides to tear up on his way out. He gets arrested and tried in court. When given the chance to explain himself, and show the scars running all up and down his torso, curtesy of the “special treatment” he got, he is acquitted and cleared of all charges. He decides to run for the office of sherrif, seeing as how the old sherrif is on Hamilton’s payroll. Public support is big and he gets elected and promptly makes his best friend, an ex-rock-star-wannabe-recovering-addict played by Johnny Knoxville of Jackass fame, a deputy. Together the two of them decide to clean up the town.

I thought this was a good, though simple film. There were a couple of things that pleasantly surprised me. For instance, the camera work, though overal nothing special, really managed to deliver some relatively unique shots. One of them worth mentioning is when Rock falls out of a first floor window. Another thing that I thought was cool is the fact that the Rock isn’t made to be entirely super-human, which was nice. And then there was the world’s inept shoot-out between a wounded Johnny Knoxville and one of the casino’s thugs. Hilarious!

Ying Xiong (Hero) [2002]

Director: Yimou Zhang
Actor: Jet Li, Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Maggie Cheung, Ziyi Zhang, Daoming Chen, Donnie Yen

Namless (Jet Li), a swordsman of unimaginable power has killed three of the kingdom’s most feared and dangerous assassins and is granted with an audience of the man they vowed to kill; the emperor. There he recalls the story of his victories. His stories are that of unbridled passion and sacrifice.

Not since Feng Yun Xiong Ba Tian Xia [Stormriders] has there been such a beautiful, fulfilling traditional Chinese martial art film. It’s heavy on wire-action and mythical Kung Fu, so beware of that if that’s not your thing, but the sheer beauty of the film will more than make up for it. The story is powerful enough to help you suspend your disbelief if the beauty of the film won’t be enough.

Oh, and Donnie Yen should get more screenplay, even if he is an arrogant bastard in real life.

Ong-Bak [2003]

Director: Prachya Pinkaew
Actor: Tony Jaa

Ting, a young bumpkin from a small village in rural Thailand is the village’s Muy Thai fanatic. He’s a good kid, wants to do good, and devotes his life to Muy Thai and Buddha. He is forbidden by the Buddhist priest of his town to use his Muy Thai for his own advancement. The village is experiencing a heavy drought and everything is done to appease Buddha. It is because of that desire to please Buddha that the priest decides to reject the offer from a big mucker from Bangkok to buy a small religious icon. In retaliation of that rejection he and his thugs decide to take the head of the Buddha statue in their temple in the middle of the night. Distraught, the village decides to send the young volunteer Ting to Bangkok.

Insert 90 minutes of shitbox acting and storyline, but with the most brutal and well choreographed, non-wire martial arts action I’ve seen in a long, long time.

Grifter, go and rent this film whenever you can find it on DVD.

Mindhunters [2004]

Director: Renny Harlin
Actor: Val Kilmer, Christian Slater, Jonny Lee Miller, LL Cool J

When this film was over, I thought; “What a waste of 106 minutes.” Now that I’ve given it some thought I realise I was too harsh on this film. It really doesn’t hit the spot that it wants to, but it’s not altogether bad. Jonny Lee Miller (a.k.a. Sick Boy in Trainspotting, and Dade in Hackers) was back, and I always enjoy seeing him. LL Cool J is making a bit of a name for himself and Christian Slater and Val Kilmer…well, they were put on the bill like Steven Seagal was put on the bill of Critical Decision; in order to add a few well-known names to an almost no-name cast.

The story is about a group of young, up-and-coming FBI profilers – those are the used-to-be-the-coolest-law-enforcement-profession since forensic detective took over when CSI started becoming popular. These profilers make an educated guess as to what profile the perpetrator fits so that a hunt for them is made easier. They are required to get into the mindset of often very disturbed sociopaths in order to be a step ahead of them. Supposedly, really good profilers know what a sociopath is going to do before the sociopath does. Anyway.

They are being taught by Val Kilmer’s character, an eccentric veteran profiler whose methods are considered questionable by his superiors. But he gets the job done, and he gets it done well, so they give him plenty of leeway. One of the perks of his job is that he gets access to a military training island, secluded from the rest of the world, in order to stage a realistic profiling case where the killer is at large and the group has to find him.

The fun starts when people in the group are being killed off by incredibly elaborate traps, set by the killer. They find out that training time is over, and that it’s all for real. Worse yet, as time progresses it looks more and more like the killer is one of them.

See it when you’re bored. That way you won’t be disappointed.