Lion's Roar technique
Spent yesterday cleaning, getting the car washed, shopping, and then a lovely evening with friends. Went to the Horse Brass for fish and chips, then saw Kung Fu Hustle. I was a big fan of Shaolin Soccer and this continues Chow's wonderful use of CGI to tell his stories.
Regal Cinema has this annoying thing called the Twenty, where you pay extraordinary ticekt prices to watch 20 minutes of commercials masquerading as news/entertainment. Put me a bit off my lunch, as did the previews (None of which I can remember, since they were mostly generic horror/action titles.). I try and avoid Regal if I can help it, though there are few non-Regal theaters in this town.
Anyway, after all that crap was over, we got to watch the one of the best films I've seen all year. Kung Fu Hustle demonstrates Chow's underdogs triumphing over adversity—a common theme from King of Comedy and even God of Gamblers. (Which reminds me, the latter is evidently back in a better print. My copy has some really shitty subtitles but the new one has ones you can actually read. God of Gamblers has Chow and Chow Yun-Fat. What more could you ask for, other than Shu Qi?) There are secret kung fu masters. A lollipop as plot point, the first on-screen ramune drink I can remember. Great chase scenes that combine Bullit with the Road Runner and Coyote. Evil Blues Brothers with musical instruments of doom.
It was a toss-up between that and Hitchhiker's Guide, which I am also interested in seeing. My mom asked me if I was going to go see it, since that I read and re-read that book a lot as a kid. It's getting mixed reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, but they are trending up as more reviews show up. Mostly I want to see it for Stephen Fry and Alan Rickman.
My trip to the mall today reminded me why I hate going. None of the items I wanted were there, neither the last two volumes of Planetes nor a copy of LEGO Star Wars. So I had to resort to Amazon for my retail therapy fix.
I hope that Lucas and LEGO notice how well their game is selling, and make one about the first trilogy of films. You know, the ones that people want to watch.
