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Reviews
Tin Cup (1996)
Practically unwatchable in the modern era
Like a lot of 80s movies this 90s attempt to cash in on Kevin Costner's sports movie appeal did not age well. Costner's character remains pretty unlikable throughout. Renée Russo's reprises her Major League role as a woman pretending to be strong and independent but quickly returns to being arm candy for a cute but toxic athlete. The dialogue is cringeworthy most of the movie, the timing is bad, the comedy isn't funny, and the sports scenes are not actually very good. The only saving grace is the iconic final scene where Costner keeps stubbornly hitting his failed shot again and again, throwing away a U. S. Open victory and proving that his character has not made any kind of arc, but ironically providing one of the most unexpected endings in a sports comedy movie by avoiding the predictable "protagonist underdog wins it all" trope. I hadn't seen it since it first came out, and that ending alone had stuck in my head, fooling me into thinking more highly of the film than it deserved. I rented it tonight and skipped through most of the middle third. Comedies are supposed to be 90 minutes long... this slow moving, babbling mess is appallingly over two hours. Definitely not worth sitting through.
Hot Fuzz (2007)
Absolutely brilliant
Wright/Pegg/Frost are absolutely brilliant together. Watching either of their two feature films, I find myself pacing the room, raving about the genius behind a certain set of quick cuts, or the framing of a shot, or the delivery of a line -- even if I'm the only person in the room. It's hard to put my finger on why these guys' satires are so much funnier and more intelligent than Hollywood attempts at parody; all I know is that they never seem to stop and wink at the audience, if you know what I mean. Adding to the mix is Wright's directorial abilities, which are absolutely spot on. Well, there I go raving again. I'm actually jealous of these guys, they are so good at what they do.
Hung Hei Kwun: Siu Lam ng zou (1994)
I thought this was sub-par, even for the genre
I liked the "Once Upon a Time in China" series, but I hated this dubbed version of Legend of the New Shaolin. The script is dull, silly (as opposed to humorous) and has a lot of inconsistencies and illogical actions. The thin plot is not particularly interesting, the dialog is incredibly campy and made worse by perhaps the worst dub voice acting I've ever heard (Jet Li's monotone dub actor actually... pauses to... let his Chinese... lips... catch up... to his English... words). The fight scenes -- hello, the whole POINT -- are not particularly good. Jet Li restricts himself to using a "magic" spear through the whole film, does too much wire work and not enough actual demonstration of his awesome talent, and the constant quick camera cuts make it hard to really follow and admire the action. There's a lot more blood than I'm used to in this genre, too. Also, Li spends virtually the whole movie fighting an "invincible" guy, who looks like Pinhead minus the pins, smeared with peanut butter, and who drives around in a ridiculous-looking armadillo version of the Batmobile. These fights are pointless and boring because you already know the "immortal" bad guy can't be beaten by Li's kung fu, and you eventually see his cause of death coming from ten minutes away -- and even that is implausible. I won't spoil the ending, but hey, early in the film the guy lies on a big cartoonish bundle of dynamite straight out of a Roadrunner cartoon and isn't killed by the explosion, so the way they eventually kill him shouldn't work, either (I don't consider that a spoiler, you know darn well the #1 bad guy must die horribly at the end of every action film). So, anyway... bad script, bad dialog, HORRIBLE dubbing (and no option for original Chinese with subtitles), less than enthralling fight scenes, and more blood and guts than usual. What's to like?