Couch Potato

Taking a break from music (and having a sick girlfriend at home) I caught up on my movies while also checking out several TV pilots that you all will be watching in the Fall. I'll clue you in on what I'm liking and what I'm not.

First off, though still ill, Irene (A real trooper!) mustered up the strength to see COLLATERAL with me on Saturday night. It's very very entertaining, but ultimately is a bit over the top. Cruise is good and occasionally scary, and while Jamie Foxx is starting to display the traits of a young Denzel, the role he played was better suited for someone of Denzel's age. They should have made Foxx look a bit older to get the character across better. Jada Smith, who I normally don't like (and can never figure out that middle name of hers), is entering a hott phase, which is never a bad thing. She was really good in this, though she didn't do much. Michael Mann, a brilliant director, has a knack for making LA look like the coolest place on the planet, when it is, in fact a wackass town. It's incredible how he films the worst parts of Los Angeles and makes it look "cool". CONSTANTINE is like this as well (and a much better movie). Anyhow, COLLATERAL was satisfying, yet cartoony, but was ultimately good fun.

The rest of my movie viewing was all straight out of Hong Kong:

First off was Johnny To's new film BREAKING NEWS, which is a great semi-satire/political statement on the media and how it effects modern police tactics. As it progresses with its "Die Hard in an Apartment Building" storyline, the police and criminals use the media and the internet against one another and it's very clever in it's execution. Simply put, I loved this film. It was smart and energetic and with the exception of the annoying as fuck Kelly Chen, the film was cast perfectly. I was happy to see Simon Yam (the Deniro to Johnny To's Scorcese) in a cameo and I think casting non-to regulars in the main roles was a smart choice. With movies like this, the superior PTU, and the stunning RUNNING ON KARMA, Johnny To has become HK's most diverse, daring and interesting director. He's the best thing to happen to HK cinema in a long time!

Next was the lighter ENTER THE PHEONIX, which features many of HK's younger stars (including Irene'sfave supporting actor Chapman To) and is directed by first time director and popular young star Stephen Fung (who looks like he could be a young and better looking Jackie Chan). it's a triad based identity switch comedy with gay overtones. Sounds like a lot, yeah? Well, its really ambitious, perhaps a bit too ambitious. Daniel Wu, who I watched a lot of this weekend, is a good looking young guy who can actually act and he plays the role of the gay son of a dead triad leader with a lot of emotion and wit. He reminded me of a young Yuen Biao (one of my all time faves, of course) and sure enough Yuen Biao plays his dad in it! To say I marked out for this would be an understatment. The long lost Third Brother (along with Jackie and Sammo Hung) really brings some much needed emotional weight to the proceedings and grounds the film in his all to brief moments on screen. if anyone in HK cinema deserves a comeback, its Yuen Biao, who was so awesome in his movies with Jackie and Sammo and in classics like PRODIGAL SON, ON THE RUN, and his best film bar none: RIGHTING WRONGS. Anyway, the rest of the movie was light and fun and it breezed by with some fun cameos, best of which was Jackie himself in the very last frame. In 2004, seeing Jackie and Yuen in the same movie is enough to make me smile.

Last but not least was the critically acclaimed ONE NIGHT IN MONGKOK, which again stars Daniel Wu, this time as a country bumpkin hitman who has come to HK to assassinate a triad leader while also searching for his lost love. The amazing, beautiful and underrated (and supposedly underfed) Cecillia Cheung plays the hooker he befriends along the way. This is more of an ensemble piece in which different stories intertwine throughout the most densely pouplated city in the world, Monkok. No one is clean in the movie, especially the cops, who do anything to cover their own flaws. The movie is dark, nasty and violent and is the first movie of that kind to really stir me in awhile. I think Cecillia gets a bum rap as an actress as she is GREAT in this (and also in RUNNING ON KARMA) and Daniel Wu could be, with some experience, the next Andy Lau. I can't recommend this movie any more highly. Probably the edgiest thing I've seen in awhile. GREAT stuff.

For more about these movies, check out http://www.lovehkfilm.com, which in my expert opinion is the best HK review site on the net.

I then turned my attention from HK Cinema to American Television and checked out 3 new shows that some of you will be watching in the coming season:

THE MOUNTIAN is typical WB fare except this time at a ski resort. Not a terrible plot, but the acting is so so, and Oliver Hudson, who I usually like, is kinda flat here. Basically its about a family fighting to keep the resort alive after the death of the family patriarch. Skinner from X-Files is the bad guy and Barbara Hershey, who has gone through a terrible face lift, plays the mother to the family of good guys. The show is filled with women who would make great ingrediants for a dope bowl of ass soup, and thats the best thing going for this. Not terrible, it's set up very well actually, but not something I'm going to be DVRing in September.

One show that is without a doubt on my must DVR list this season is LIFE AS WE KNOW IT (formerly knowin as DOIN' IT), which is an excellent modern coming of age series focused on three horny teenage boys who can only think about, well, doin' it. While the show seems like a straight up sex comedy while going into Ferris Bueller territory with the 3 leads breaking the fourth wall to talk to the audience, halfway into it the show takes a dramatic turn and suddenly pours on tons of depth for all of the characters. It's EXTREMELY well done. The cast of total unknowns helps as well as they are not all WB pretty kid types and it helps make it seem more real. Kelly Osbourne (!) is part of the ensemble is shockingly good as the "fat chick" who one of the boys really likes but is afraid to date for fear of being made fun of for dating the fat chick. This is a show full of surprises and funny moments, but has a lot of depth and out our of nowhere (but not out of place) character development which makes this my top choice for the 04 season (along with Drea D'matteo in JOEY, cause she is just the best). I learned after that certain writers from FREAKS AND GEEKS are involved with this show which explains a lot, and explains why ABC will probably cancel it quick because its smart, edgy and intelligent: things we normally don't associate with network television these days.

The third show is the highly touted JACK AND BOBBY, which is a smart and original show about two brothers (one in High School, the other just starting) in the year 2004, one of whom will become president of the United States 40 years from now. The show contains interstitals from the year 2049 in which they discuss the life of said president and how events in his younger life helped form the man he becomes. VERY clever. The two boys, though WB pretty, CAN act, which is good, but Christine Lahti as their overbearing and pothead mom needs to bring it down a few notches. She's a pain in the ass. Anyway, the set up is great, but my only complaint is that they reveal which brother will become president by the time the episode was over, which I think was a huge mistake. They could have milked this one for ages, and now it just becomes not "which one becomes president", but "what makes him president". I think they may have jumped the shark with this one, but knowing the writers involved with this show, I have a feeling that my minor issues will disappear as the show progresses. This is one to watch!

In other TV news, Dan Hamill's favourite actor and former bandmate of Vincent Gallo, LUKAS HAAS, has joined the cast of 24 this season. I have a feeling that with the show being revamped, this could be a much stronger season than last.

Anyhow, I've rambled WAY too much and now you have Matt back to keep you occupied with his tales of gayness while I prepare for vacation.

F