A Chinese Odyssey Part One: Pandora's Box (Sai yau gei: Dai yat baak ling yat wui ji - Yut gwong bou haap)

Release Year: 1994

Director: Jeffrey Lau

Review: You need to be in a special kind of mood to enjoy a slapstick comedy combined with a fantasy adventure about Buddhist mythology.  It's a bizarre mix of awful special effects and mediocre kung-fu with an equally convoluted story.  The Monkey King, which is literally is a half-man, half-monkey hybrid, is punished for disobeying his master and imprisoned for 500 years.  The story then jumps to the present day where Joker (Stephen Chow), is a leader of a group of bandits who are invaded by a beautiful woman.  The woman turns out to be a spider demon who is later accompanied by her demon sister.  It's revealed that they are searching for the Monkey King so that they can capture his master, the Longevity Monk.  Or at least thats what I could get from the plot.

There was romance, there was fighting and there was humor.  All the best ingredients for a perfect stew of entertainment.  Unfortunately something goes terribly wrong.  The movie feels like an extended episode of the 'Power Rangers', only with a story which is less satisfying.  Contributing to the mess is a series of awful costumes, and even worse physical humor.  Stephen Chow getting his crotch stomped on to put out a fire was almost funny once, but it was annoying after about the third time.  I might even put it on a lower level then the 'Power Rangers' because there I could at least enjoy a somewhat competent story arc.  Here, director Jeffrey Lau, continually left me confused with what was happening, and thoroughly uninterested once I did piece things together.  Even after two viewings I had a hard time stringing together a cohesive plot.  The pacing is completely off and rips you out of the story.  It's hard to enjoy a movie where you are constantly trying to figure out the basic plot.

Altogether it was a frustrating watch.  I wanted to like this, and there were a few scenes which showed what kind of movie it could have been.  The first encounter with the spider demon was intense, engaging you in the action, building up to the anticipated conflict.  This wasn't the standard formula unfortunately.  They seemed more concerned with putting in lame gags than interesting action, and ultimately the humor never worked for me.  What I was left with was a action-comedy, where the action was anemic and the comedy fell flat, leaving only a surreal fantasy which went over my head.  The film stopped abruptly to be continued in part two, but I think I've seen enough.
Rating: 2/5

Three Colors: Red (Trois couleurs: Rouge)

Release Year: 1994

Review: The final and most magnificent in a breathtaking trilogy, 'Red' is a masterpiece in every sense of the word.  The third color deals with the theme of Fraternity.  Irène Jacob plays Valentine, an almost impossibly kind, goodnatured, woman who meets the antitheses of herself in a retired, Gregory House-type judge who spies on his neighbors.  There is something magical about the way the film unfolds, where the Valentine's warmth sucks you in investing you in the outcome of her life.  The theme is explored primarily in the relationship between Valentine and the judge, who develop a close, but platonic relationship.  As a sub-thread throughout is the idea of predestination, and whether there is more than just blind luck driving our lives.  What makes this film, as well as the trilogy, is the sheer brilliance of Kieślowski at making every scene intricate and important.  There is not a scene wasted here, and every scene is beautiful in its own right.  What makes this the best of three is the cinematography, which is easily some of the best I've seen.  The way the camera moves tells its own story and the colors are intoxicating.  The audio commentary kept bringing up connections between this and another brilliantly shot film, The Conformist.  Like the Conformist, every shot is set up like a painting, with so much care and thought going into how they can force as much meaning out of every scene.  Red is an inspired, stunning and nearly perfect film in every sense.

[First Review, Nov 20 2008]
Review: This is the first film in the trilogy and first film by Krzysztof Kieslowski that I've seen, and if his other work is anything like this, it won't be my last. The beauty of this films lies in the details. The audience slowly gathers clues to what is unraveling. It's as if Kieslowski presents you with a blank canvas and gradually, and meticulously paints a a picture for you. Its not until the final scene you get to step back and realize what a masterpiece has unfolded before your eyes.

Rating: 5/5

Three Colors: White (Trzy kolory: Bialy)

Release Year: 1994

Director: Krzysztof Kieslowski

Review: The second chapter in  Krzysztof Kieślowski's "Three Colors" Trilogy.  Karol Karol (Or Charlie Charlie in English, a reference to Chaplin's Tramp character) is a man who is down on his luck.  Due to his impotence his wife is divorcing him.  Stripped of all money, property, identification and dignity, Karol escapes from Paris to his native Poland where he sets out starting a new life and begins planning his revenge on his ex-wife.  

The theme of equality matches the title color, and as with the rest of the trilogy is explored on several levels.  On the surface White is a revenge film.  Karol is humiliated, and he wants to get revenge.  Revenge is taking his ex-wife down to his level, making her equal to him.  In another sense the equality is shown in a totally new light in the last scene of the film.  Without spoiling the movie, it brings a new perspective on equality as a theme in the film.  As always there are the usual Kieślowski motifs, such as unreferenced flash forwards and the concept of rebirth.   In each one of the films in the trilogy, there is a rebirth of a character, where they are brought to the point where they might as well be dead, but are brought back from the brink and are seen in a new light.  These little touches are part of what connects the films and make them such wonderful experiences.

Out of the three films, 'White' is the least visually stunning.  While still a good looking film, it doesn't carry the same pop as the others.  Perhaps it's because White is a harder to color to blend into scenes, but the color seemed less prominently featured.  I feel that White isn't as strong visually or thematically, but the most interesting plot wise.  It has the most cohesive story arch with enough comedy contained that its probably the most enjoyable film on the surface.
Rating: 4/5

Leon (The Professional)

Release Year: 1994

Review:  Luc Besson has knack for writing absolutely ridiculous plot premises and creating wonderful movies out of them, and Leon is no different. Despite the fact that the movie is about a young girl who is hanging around an assassin, the film manages to be touching and grounded. If you can halt your brain from thinking about how absurd the plot is, this is a really great film that is a lot of fun.

Rating: 4/5

Wyatt Earp

Release Year: 1994
Review: A fairy well made western about a fascinating character in a remarkable time in US history. I had problems with the movie itself, from the acting to the dialog, but the story held me in. The movie is quite long winded, and never terribly enthralling, yet it does its job of telling its story and perhaps the length was necessary given the enormity of all the events that took place in Wyatt Earp's fascinating life. If nothing else it piqued my interest in the real life characters portrayed, and made me want to learn more about that time period.
Rating: 3/5