Has as much relation to the 1978 Sammo Hung film of the same title as Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans does to its own source. Donnie Yen wears a fat suit, so this has novelty on its side, but frankly he could and should have been fatter. Contains middling fights and laffs.
I don't often get a chance to see a Wong Jing production at my local multiplex, so I was grateful for the opportunity.
SONIC THE HEDGEHOG (Fowler, 2020): Rowdy Tuesday night crowd at the Cineplex Yonge & Dundas. When James Marsden said, “All I care about is protecting people I love,” someone in the audience yelled: “GAY!!!!” A true grindhouse experience.
As visually exciting as a late-period David DeCoteau movie, and Sonic is charmless, but there are a few decent set pieces, and it’s competent enough. It was also nice to see Jim Carrey. He had some good mugging and at one point talked like Ace Ventura, which made me happy. It was like seeing an old friend.
Robert Bresson famously said, "Not beautiful images, but necessary images." At 89, Clint Eastwood has systematically stripped virtually all "prettiness" from his films - and in so doing, has found a certain kind of beauty. There are some filmmakers who inspire you to look a little differently at your surroundings. David Lynch is one. Jodorowsky is another. And so too is Eastwood, whose films illuminate the poetry in the crappy offices, diners, lobbies, parks, and apartment buildings that surround us.…
Honestly there’s something touching about the fact that Kevin Smith plucked Jason Mewes out of obscurity 25 years ago and now here he is all these years later still playing the same character. He’s America’s Antoine Doinel.
