Tony Jaa does it again

tom-yum-goong
Honor of the Beast
The Protector


Now don't be fooled by this repackaging. This is Tom-Yum-Goong (honor of the Beast) in a new box, with a new title. It's brought to the Americas by Quintin Tarintino. For those of you who know who Tony Jaa is, well your are in for a treat in this film. Not as many cool stunts as in Ong-Bak, but still, very fun to watch. And, yes, there are no strings or wires. He does all his own stunts. That guy can almost fly.

Anyway, an amazing bunch of fights with a bit of story holding them together. No nudity. That's kind of a minus, because Thai girls are hot... but Tony Jaa has a thing about honor, respect, and courtesy. He (like Jacky Chan) never has nudity in their films. Just fights, and great stunts.

A fantastic film, but not quite Ong-Bak.
If you liked Ong-Bak, you'll have fun with this one. Just don't be fooled by the package, and buy it twice.

-Bradley

Crank is unstoppable

Crank is one of those films you just have to love. It looks like the people who did House of the Dead worked on it.
It uses so many strange or juvenile clips that it screams "guy Film". From the very beginning when you see the titles that look like a 1980's video game, to the standing around with a hard on jokes, to the cutting off of limbs as easy as they do in Kill Bill. These guys took all the cheesy things guys like and just through them into a film. there is just enough story to keep everything going.

Basically, the film starts off with the killer getting poisoned. Now, he has 1 hour to die, so he's going to spend it trying to get to the guy that poisoned him. The only thing keeping him alive are the things that every guy goes to guy film to see: boobs, fights, crashes, drugs, and chases. A director one said " whenever a film is going South, I put in an explosion, a bare breast, or a chase scene, and it brings the audience back on track." These guys took that and ran with it.
Fun and .... well... fun. Think of MI3 with less story, less budget, and more action.

See it.

-Bradley

Primeval Better then a Poke in the Eye

Despite it getting panned in by the critics, I found Primeval to be a refreshing change in Horror/action films. It is not your regular Hack and slash. It is not your regular Horror with too much comedy. It's a nice balance of all of them. If you enjoyed Lake Placid, Relic, Serpent and the Rainbow, or Anaconda, then you will love this.
It's not all guts, and it's not all fake scares. The director tried really hard to break away from the cliches of horror films. First off, who is worse, the monster or the people? Who is going to die? Is it the hero, the bad guy, the hot girl, or the comedy relief? Most of these questions are a given in most horror films. But in Primeval, they are all up for grabs.
If you have the extra money, and you feel like seeing a film that will not have you hating yourself for seeing it, then Primeval is it. Not preachy. Not over stupid. Not over gory. Not a crying film, or a "Hey look, I'm trying to be artsy" Film.
Not as good as something like X-Men, but something I will buy on DVD when it comes out.
Have fun out there.

-Bradley