AKA see previous review or image title.

Michelle Yeoh's still at it! With good company of the legendary Cynthia Rothrock in this one, when she was in her prime and really earned her B-movie goddess title. I miss these days. Yeoh's not bad either of course. She seems like a whole new person compared to how she was in the first movie. New haircut. New tan. New smile and everything. Like either she had a great vacation or gained a well-earned dose of confidence since.

She and Cynthia jump through glass walls like it's air, chasing a killer and a misplaced microfilm item, with comedic help from mainly Hoi Mang, John Sham and Hark Tsui, and are joined by if for just a short moment icons Sammo Hung and Fat Chung (or was I about to mention somewhere else as the second one here...?). Eddie Maher gets a real fight scene too for once, as do the bosses' most memorable henchmen. I oughta remember names better.

Compared to all other movies in the series this definitely comes across as the one with the highest budget, and polish, and at least a few death-defying stunts just in the final showdown. Do wonder what really happened to the guy who crashed through the glass fountain too, and the stuntman who flipped over the edge. Sometimes wish they had a behind the scenes bit after so you know they're okay...

Feels like the comedic elements somewhat interfere with what's really otherwise an unusually intense plotline, but the entertainment's there too in the moment. And it ends with a moment, as a lot of these movies do. Not with the all red threads tied up conclusively, but the one, that one's definitely done.

 rated 4.5/5: almost awesome

(more…)

They really should've worked on timing the endings better with these, but up till the final moment at least this was a top-notch flick. Donnie Yen in his prime. Tai Chi boxing. Old master Cheung-Yan Yuen. Shun-Yee Yuen as the villainous Killer Bird. Best fireworks fight I've seen so far, a bike fight that rivals the Jackie Chan stuff in Project A, some bad-ass puppetry and mime-type breakdancing ahead of its time, and whatever happened to the fat Tai Chi lady? She was really good too. Played by Lydia Shum for reference.

Unfortunately there are loose ends, but the pacing's great, the tale of family and vengeance doesn't feel as cliche here as it does in some of these movies, and uplifting and more serious moments take turns throughout. Good balance. It might seem a little unnaturally crude and finite sometimes, but such is life right? In a way it feels like we've been distanced from the essentials.

Drunken Boxing might be the one people will remember of these two, but this one's definitely worth coming back to too. Another Kung Fu classic. Only here it's: Tai Chi.

 rated 4/5: fo shizzle

Requested a shark with purple shades and scars eating a carrot; coasting around a calm blue ocean cove, and here he is! Courtesy of @TheShokBlok.

He's the ocean boss with the dopest jaws - a death defying beast who feasts on basil and leeks, in the grizzliest abyss of wilderness - the sleekest peep in the deep. Seemingly equally awesome as Frozen was.... yet a bit more summery. ;) Get some sun and be. Free like bumblebee! Till the cold and thunderous fall...

Happy Summer y'all!

Need some songs for the summer? I gotcha.

(more…)

How much can you do in a day?! I don't know, but I've been doing some unintentional experimentation within the realm of productivity lately, as a precursor to the great trip I'm now just about to head out on.

The other day I posted 66 new (though I've been watching and writing up drafts for them sporadically throughout the year so far) movie reviews, and additional ones on 21 Jump street, 22 Jump Street, Black Panther, Return To House On Haunted Hill, Machete, Tiger Cage 1 and 2 and In the Line Of Duty 3 and 4.

More ITLOD reviews later. Realized I'd reviewed them all already after preparing new posts for them, and those take some extra time to combine.

I'll go through the new ones I posted after summer too. Public reminder.

I'm pretty impressed with myself though. Was thinking I'd go for a hundred but as it turns out I didn't actually have a full hundred lined up so...

Hey have I mentioned I've been back at the cinema again?

Watched this great thing the other week at Westfield's Mall of Scandinavia. Throwing the company name out here too in case it's international.

It's a pretty luxurious establishment compared to the standard mall around here, with a gigantic mirror entrance, grand fountains and icicle chandeliers and bathrooms like I wish we had at home and wouldn't mind the traveling time just to visit... but the construction's sub-par. Apparently it's a fire hazard. The roof was on the verge of caving in the winter after it was built... anyway it's a nice place - and the nearest place - and a large place so there's room to socially distance - so that's where I went.

The seating was sparse, they had a pretty creative typographical hand-sanitizer and social distancing promo before the film, and all new commercials (all enjoyable too - didn't realize I've actually been missing the commercials), and trailers for a brand new Guy Richie movie I have to see (last time I was at a cinema it was for an early screening of this) and a Furious 9 (will also see) trailer with a little covid message built-in that felt suitably personal even though the movie franchise as a whole just seems to be getting way overblown and unrelatable lately but this movie was a blast. And we were less than ten people in the room.

Also got my old contest-entry artwork An Isle A Minit converted to pixel recently thanks to @IdiotOnTheInternet! Finally got some ISRC codes registered with IFPI for last year's mixtape! Finally finished a batch of background art for @Mabelma that I should've been done with months ago! I'm about to voice a few lines for an upcoming game project right after I post this and here is an an article on the complex issue of Flash, of its life and death, and moving on, and the NG community, with an appreciable amount of recognizable usernames in quotes - among them one epic scripture a la the master @FUNKbrs. Yours truly though not included. Should've posted in more relevant threads back in the day.

The article's a little long but good. Good read.

@ChibiWilli's doing comissions too. I should've mentioned this months ago.

Check it out anyhow. You could get a spot in his book too.

In more real news I think I saw a short-tailed weasel or mink the other day, attended a two day midsummer party (saw said animal briefly on the way home from the first half of said party), and went road tripping with my nephew in the middle of a heatwave recently with 32°C outside and no air-conditioning in the car. We blasted EUROPE's Wings of Change on the highway with windows rolled down entirely, stopped for a swim in Gävle and finally arrived for a short weekend in Östersund at 2:35 AM Saturday morning. It rained all Saturday. Drove back on Sunday.

At the point of arrival it was just 5°C up there btw. Soo cool. And I don't mean that metaphorically. But I do too. Wish I could've stayed longer.

It was a short but memorable trip. We drank incredible amounts of H2O along the way, and I'm impressed I didn't pass out or get heatstroke during the drive.

The way back was better considering we were heading from the coldest point to the warmest one at a pace where the warmest one had also substantially cooled down before we reached it, and a new trip's coming up soon now! A longer one this time. So I'll see you in a bit.

Time to finally jump offline and wander... in time.

Woo! It's not just around Christmas apparently. We passed the most recent thousandth in the middle of the year this time. Spring, 2021, probably? The count's up at 3,152 now and counting...

Not sure why I see the need to post about numbers like this. As if the social involvement on a blog is the best indication of accomplishment and reach, or the writing itself a quality measured by number more so than wisdom and/or witticism, but regardless of the reason I do have a thing for numbers! It seems the higher they are the worthier a cause for celebration, and in this dystopian world of ours we can use any cause we get can't we?

It is nice this place still garners a little activity too; maybe more so now than in a while now...

If you haven't ever left a comment here before why not leave one today!

I'll be back to respond in a couple months or so.