A La Mala

I don't remember where or when we saw the trailer for this movie, but we thought it looked good, then we forgot about it. When driving between Austin and Fort Worth we passed the dollar theater in Round Rock that we used to go to and Ross noticed that A La Mala was playing. We went and saw it this week. We both loved it. The movie is mostly in Spanish--with subtitles of course--and the English parts are translated into Spanish subtitles, which I thought was hilarious. The translations were actually pretty good. Of course they didn't translate everything, they never do. This was a sweet and very funny movie. I highly recommend it.

It stars two really attractive actors. They are hot! Aislinn Derbez is the lead, and her father, Eugenio Derbez makes a cameo appearance. We saw him plugging his film Instructions Not Included on Craig Ferguson's show, but then, again, forgot about it. We noticed it on Netflix and watched it. Excellent! I highly recommend it if you haven't seen it yet.

Journey to the West

When I saw this photo as the graphic for Journey to the West I immediately added it to my Netflix queue. I had no idea what it was about, but I knew it would be good. This movie was awesome. Yeah, it was corny in a lot of spots, and at times the graphics/special effects were laughable, but I loved it. This movie was in Mandarin with subtitles. I like that. I like trying to pick out words that I know.

The movie was very funny and starred Qi Shu, who you might recognize from the 2002 Transporter movie. The story, writing, and acting were all pretty good. I just kept finding myself saying "I love it, this movie is awesome! This movie doesn't pull any punches!" Journey is the perfect movie for a lot of laughs, but I'll warn you: Even though it is a comedy, it is like every other foreign film. It ain't all happily ever after.

Many Movies

In the last two weeks I've seen a lot of movies--both at the theaters and on Netflix. Here's a rundown:

• X-Men: Days of Future Past: Despite the time travel aspect, I enjoyed the movie. Of course seeing Hugh Jackman naked was a plus.
• Raid 2: It was no Raid, but it was good. I was really confused at the start of the movie, and a woman in the theater shushed us and glared at us the whole time. That took away from the experience. Still, it was a good movie.
• Captain America 2: Ross really liked this one. I liked it too, but it lacked the eye candy that X-Men so graciously provided. And it is so annoying when the good guys catch a bad guy and they don't shoot him so he gets away or does something bad. Or, when they knock a bad guy down and he later gets back up and does more bad guy stuff. Hello---immobilize/double tap bad guys!!!
• Divergent: This movie is okay---it gets me thinking again about creating a book/movie/merchandizing franchise. I liked the movie, and so did Ross, but he over-analyzed it and got annoyed.
• Non-stop: Typical Liam Neeson movie--"There's no time!" I really liked this action-packed movie. It was fun, if I didn't think too much about it or analyze it too much. 
• Dragon/Wu Xia: Great fight scenes and a story reminiscent of History of Violence. I watched this one without Ross, but made him watch the opening fight scene and then the blow by blow of the fight scene given by the story's detective.
• The Eagle: I have a soft spot for any movie with Romans, Knights, Dragons, that sort of thing. This movie is about Romans in Britain. I thought it was going to be a cheesy B rate, but it featured Tatum Channing and well written story. I don't know why I have trouble imagining Britons as tribes. I guess I just think of them either as knights or as tea-drinking colonialists.
• Ravenous: this 1999 film set during the Mexican-American war is an odd one. I'm still unsure if this was supposed to be a comedy or a horror film, but I had fun with it. I enjoyed the performances by Neal McDonough and Jeremy Davis, who are both in Justified.
• Operation Condor 2: Armour of the Gods: This Jackie Chan movie was actually filmed before Operation Condor, which we also recently watched. Armour of the Gods sucked. It was fun to see Jackie Chan so young, and with a really short hair cut, but that's it. This movie isn't really worth the time to watch it---just skip to the outtakes, they really are the best part of the film.
• Operation Condor on the other hand was a good movie. It had a Nazi story line. I seem to also be attracted to any stories, movies, books, etc. about Jews and/or Nazis. Ross and I enjoyed it. I just wish it had been subtitled instead of dubbed.
• Curse of the Dragon Slayer: Here is my predilection for bad dragon movies getting the better of me. It wasn't a very good movie. It was better than Scorpion King 3, which we couldn't even finish. I think we turned that off after 10 minutes. It was horrible.
• Dragon Crusaders: This Asylum film was bad, but exactly what I was looking for--a cheesy B rate about dragons and crusaders. Just the thing to watch on a Sunday afternoon.
• Juan of the Dead: This is an awesomely funny zombie movie set in Cuba. This film is only available on Netflix DVD.
• Warm Bodies: I had forgotten about this movie, and my friend Charlie had recommended Juan and this one as good zombie movies--I told him about Dead Snow. Warm Bodies is a sweet zombie movie, also only available on Netflix DVD.

Plaza Film Festival: Third Time's the Charm: Thief of Bagdad

I went with Laura, Kitson, and Jhetlyn to see the 1940 version of The Thief of Bagdad.  I didn't have high hopes.  I was actually looking forward to a cheesy B-rate film.  Turns out this movie cost 2 million dollars to make back in 1939.  And it shows.

The movie wasn't really cheesy at all until the genie came onto the scene.  The scenes of him flying (mostly done with an action figure) were painful.  Other than that I really loved this movie.

The story was great and Conrad Veidt as Jaffar was convincingly evil.  The costumes were beautiful.  Check out June Duprez as the Princess.  She's wearing a little corset and a bolero.  I thought at any moment there might be a wardrobe malfunction!

This movie ran smoothly.  No glitches or snags.  I guess third time was the charm.

On Sunday they showed the 1920, silent version of the movie with live organ accompaniment.  I really wish I could have seen that one--but I was already back in Austin. Unfortunately the 1940 version is not available on Netflix.  The 1920 version is available, and I have added it to my queue.

War of the Arrows: Movie Review

Saturday I watched some things on my Netflix cue as I cleaned house. War of the Arrows was engaging. As his father instructed him to, Nam Yi fights to protect his sister to the end. I didn't understand the historical/political context, but that didn't really matter.  This movie is packed with archery and action.  It made the Hunger Games archery look elementary.  The love story is minor and doesn't take away from the action.  In fact I am pleased to report that there was no kissing.

DVD: Intacto

We've had the Netflix DVD of Intacto for a long time.  When we tried to watch it we had all kinds of trouble--neither laptop would play it.  Ross fixed my laptop and we finally watched it today.

Intacto is a foreign film--mostly in Spanish.  In fact, the Spaniard Spanish was very easy to follow. Intacto is a movie about luck and fate. The lucky people steal luck from the unlucky and compete against each other to see who is the luckiest.  It is kind of dark.  I liked it.

AFF Review: Shorts 9: The View from the Outside

The Austin Film Festival shows short film in themed batches that last about 90 minutes in total.  My first batch of shorts was themed The View from the Outside.  One of the great things about seeing a bunch of film at once that I hadn't really thought about is that some of the films are foreign films--and you know I loves me my foreign films.  Four of the seven films were foreign and my two favorites were from Spain and New Zealand.

Voice Over, from Spain, was oddly voiced over in French. It was funny and surprising.  It had a timed element that I appreciated and the voice over reminded me of those Dos Equis commercials about the Most Interesting Man in the World.

Whakatiki, from New Zealand, was my favorite short of the group.  I think it was because I connected with the water scene at the beginning, and I'm a total sucker for the only line Kiri, the main character, has in the film.  This one was moving.  Tears were streaming down my face, and it wasn't just 'cause I didn't take my pills.

Movie Review: Raid Redemption

I saw Nicole's review (but didn't watch the trailer) and I instantly wanted to see this movie. I was really disappointed to learn that the movie wasn't playing anywhere in the Bmore area.  Nicole suggested that we add the movie to our already planned dinner in DC, so last night after a great dinner with Nicole and Ryan at Rasika we all went to see The Raid Redemption.

Yeah, the movie is so good that Nicole and Ryan wanted to see it a second time, and they are now contemplating seeing it a third time. The movie is so intense that I'm not sure Ross could handle seeing it in the theater a second time--he would stop breathing during the fight scenes, and there were many, many, excellently choreographed fight scenes.

I don't know how to describe this movie. It is the most awesome movie I've seen in years. Best fight scenes ever! I think originally this movie was only showing in DC, LA, and NYC. Ross checked last night, and it is now showing more widely. This move is very violent. If you don't mind violence and like martial arts movies then this is a movie for you. If you are looking for a complicated story line and character build up, then you will be disappointed (this movie does not have, or need them).

I give this movie 2 thumbs, and two freakishly large big toes up. Go see it!

Funny Chinese Movies

 Kung Fu Mahjong

Kung Fu Mahjong was a silly movie with the same couple from Kung Fu Hussle. It was funny, over the top slapstick, but did have a couple of serious moments. A good instant watch on Netflix for a Sunday afternoon with nothing to do.

The Butcher, The Cook, and the Swordsman

The Butcher, The Cook, and the Swordsman was a better story and a little less silly than Kung Fu Mahjong. A little. There is a ridiculous scene where a bunch of whores rap a dumb song to the Butcher.  I really enjoyed this movie--also available on Netflix instant watch. They spoke slowly enough that I could catch a word here and there. Both movies were subtitled, but I couldn't understand anything in Kung Fu Mahjong because it was Cantonese.