Go Jackie

Jackie Chan's New Police Story fuckin' rocks.

A quote from Labbit-Dog: "really liked it. not for the storyline, but for the old fashioned action that many of us have not seen in a while. the action actually reminds me of my childhood when action movies are really action movies. no special effects."

And it really is. Remember Rumble in the Bronx, Police Story 3, etc.? They were awesome. They were also made almost a decade ago, and in between then and now his movies have gotten progressively worse. Of course Hollywood has had a huge hand in bastardizing his brand of action. The Medallion and The Tuxedo (I won't even dignify those with links) were as annoying and useless as that piece of toilet paper that got stuck on the side of the toilet and wouldn't go down with the rest of the mess.

But hey, now he's back in his element and totally kicking ass.

In which movie recently have you seen someone ride a bike down the side of a building? And someone else rollerblade down the side of that same building after him? And then two people abseiling down after them, using a pair of handcuffs and a stick as hooks? It's so ridiculously breathtaking it just boggles the mind. And the movie's full of those "No, they didn't just do that!" moments, which makes me very happy.

And for those of you who love your Legos, one of the climactic fights takes place in a hall where there's a huge Lego exhibit. Cue destruction of giant Lego dinosaur.

Of course there's a lot of hoohah about him stretching his "dramatic muscles" by having many emotional scenes which require him to look pained and cry. Unfortunately he isn't quite as convincing as when he's hitting someone in the face. In fact, I'd rather someone just keep hitting him in the face, at least then I won't be able to see the bad acting.

I know the plot's not supposed to matter much in these movies, but ugh, the melodrama's piled on thicker than Great-Aunt Petuna's shag carpet. If a girl had a bomb strapped to her and her boyfriend was trying to save her, I don't think anyone in the right mind would cover the timer, look their boyfriend in the eye and ask him if he loved her. What sunk it was that not only did he say "yes", but that "yes, I love you" made everyone watching in the police station cry. I couldn't help it, I let loose with a belly-laugh. And so did half the audience at least.

On another note, I also caught Imelda, the new documentary on Imelda Marcos, former first lady of the Philippines. She's a really fascinating character, and often, you can't make up your mind whether she's certifiably insane, delusional, or is incredibly lucid and politically savvy underneath the ditzy facede. If you don't know her story, look it up online, it's pretty unbelievable.

But then again, rigged elections aren't exactly new in the world. Case in point, Dubya.