Solo Movie Showtime!

Having been on vacation this past week, I've had the unique opportunity to catch up on some "solo-movie-viewing time," which is to say that I've rented (either from the library or "video store"--an increasingly anachronistic term if ever there was one!) some movies I knew my wife would in no way want to watch, but I wanted to see. As you might suspect, these are generally of the action-karate-sci-fi-monster genre. A couple quick thoughts (not really reviews) along with the trailers for the first couple:



Last weekend, while perusing the aisles at the video store for a "family film" (we eventually settled the "way-too-soon" and forgettable W.), the Western version of the trailer for Chocolate (2008) came on the in-store flat screens. I have never seen Ong Bak or the other film references in the American teaser, but the music and action seemed compelling, if a little over the top. Much like the film itself, the Thai trailer was a better representation of the actual film, a surprisingly layered storied of a young autistic girl who... surprise!... also has a photographic memory when it comes to martial arts.

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed my initial "Thai-martial-arts-action-film-experience" as much as I did, but I'm now hoping to check out the other films by director Prachya Pinkaew... maybe during Spring Break in six weeks. (Of course it didn't hurt that the film's star, Yanin "Jeeja" Vismistananda was a charismatic screen presence who could both act and perform her own stunts--a danger the results of which are captured in "bloopers" during the closing credits.)

As a quick aside, while the DVD I rented had an English dubbed version available for viewing, I enjoyed watching the film with subtitles... it just seems to be a fairer representation of the actors performance and the director's vision to hear the intonation of lines as intended... an important consideration even in an action movie!



"Back in the 'all or nothing days', the 'vanishing point' days,
the 'dirty Larry crazy Mary' days, the 'white lion fever days'...
real cars smashed into real cars, with real dumb people drivin'em."
At the risk of sounding like a weirdo, I've long had an infatuation with films made in the style of 1970's exploitation flicks, likely the result of my parents taking me to R rated movies as a young child... thanks, Mom and Dad! With that in mind, I finally got around to finishing something I started almost two years ago...

I borrowed this film from one of my local public libraries--an excellent place to get many types of films for FREE! I actually saw Grindhouse (2007) in theaters when it was released many moons ago, but as I was alone and at a lat show didn't make it through the second have of the double feature... Deeth Proof. While I found the visuals and (some) dialogue entertaining, it played very long and likely would be a better rental than theater show.

Have you seen any entertaining movies lately?

Laissez les bon temps rouler!