Apparently someone heard my wish back in my old Mortal Kombat movie review, and finally made something based on the game worthy of the effort! At least that's what I thought, until I realized there have been plenty of sequels since the 1995 failure, and since I didn't know about any of them I guess none of them are any good. I could be wrong though, only way to know for sure is to watch them, so when I have some extra time (not today), I will do so. For now, here's a quick review of the mini TV-series from last year (or movie, as some call it, even though the credits roll after each episode).

It's a good series, or movie... or whatever you wish to call it. After watching the cinematic versions of other classic games such as Tekken and Street Fighter however, it falls short. Sure the fighting sequences are nice, the effects are stylish, and the scenery is varied. Yet the atmosphere is always dark and somehow the plot doesn't captivate me at all. It's not cliche, it just isn't very interesting. Maybe I'm not Mortal Kombat fan enough for this movie, but it didn't really cut it for me. It was good, but at the same time disappointing. I'll give it a...

 rated 3/5: not bad

The official title seems to be just Adventures Of Tintin, but I'll go with the added Secret Of The Unicorn since I sincerely hope this is just the first in a series of remakes following the whole series. :)

Overall, this movie was great. The graphics took a few seconds to get used to with the realistic yet strangely unrealistic character faces, and I never got used to Milou. Something about his eyes, or his face, it just doesn't feel as energetic as it does in the comic. I did get used to Milou being called Snowy instead of Milou, but I'd rather they had stayed with the original name. All the other characters have origi... of wait, what happened to Dupont & Dupont? Did they just cut out all these French names to Americanize the movie? I'd rather they stay true to the original script, but setting those minor grievances aside...

Read on...

Yamakasi! 2 is more known as Les Fille Villes or The Great Adventure, as you may know it as in English. It's not a continuation of the previous movie even though it stars the same characters. In fact it is actually a prequel. It tells a tale of how they all met, though really, we don't get to know jackshit about any of them.

Still, it's a good movie, in many ways much better than the original. Maybe because there's a girl involved? Nah, there's just a lot more action. The ending may seem a bit strange with all those people fighting and no one getting killed, except that one guy that commits seppuku, it's just not realistic at all. All the gangs get together and a big war breaks out. There's a whole lot of knifes but still nobody's slashed up. They should have either realisticized that part a bit or left it out completely.Otherwise, great movie! If you liked the first one, you'll like this one!

 rated 4/5: fo shizzle

Shaolin takes place in China, in a time when the land is at war and lords are trying to expand their power by fighting against neighboring lands. Though Shaolin is the theme, the main character is Hao Jie, a young arrogant general with great power. He kills a rival on temple ground and sneers at the masters, but after his family is suddenly killed he takes refuge with them anyway and learns how wrong he was. He tries to better himself, but can't escape fate, who arrives one day in a form similar to his old one on the temple grounds to kill him.

It's a sad story, even with Jackie Chan in it, and it ends with the whole temple getting burned to the ground and monks lying strewn around the grounds slaughtered like chess pieces wiped off a board. Our main character rests in the hands of Buddha, and his rival finally realizes what a fool he was, but it's too late. Jackie Chan and a group of children take refuge in the mountains though; where there's life there's hope. Shaolin lives on!

Is it just me or have all HK movies lately being historical? What about a Shaolin movie in modern day? Have martial arts dying out in the 'real' word? I hope not! Anyway, this is a great movie. If you've seen Little Big Soldier or Flowers Of War or IP Man or any of similar movies you know what to expect.

 rated 5/5: friggin awesome

I thought I had watched pretty much all Jackie Chan movies, and especially his old ones (except for a few that are virtually impossible to find, such as the ones where he's a child actor) but low and behold the gold, I found Dragon Fist, from 1979. It's one of Lo Wei's movies, the director that knew Jackie's potential and starred him in a bunch of movies but never managed to make him a hit.

The movie features the classic Hong-Kong movie master fights master, master dies, student avenges master plot. If you like old school Kung-Fu movies (I do) it's a real find. There's lot of fights, lots of old buildings, lots of techniques demonstrated through the hacky one-move-at-a-time choreography that everyone used at this time.

Any recommendations on other good less known movies?

 rated 3/5: not bad

Columbiana is an action movie in style with Leon The Professional. Seeing as it was made by the same movie director, Luc Besson, I'd say it is an attempt at revitalizing the classic. Luc has done a lot to make this into a good movie. He's chosen a great main character, he's captured the atmosphere in the various location, he's matched colors and textures and created a variable beautiful and glum environment, and the special effects are absolutely perfect. The gunfire smoke, the bullet holes, the blood, everything keeps a good balance between realism and chaos, not too much nor too little destruction and mayhem. Read on...