dame_cabeza Reviews

Crank (2006)

Not the BEST, far from it, but definitely the best time you'll have this year

[10/10 · 3 September 2006]

This is another Snakes on the Plane but more over the top...yup they rank up there when it comes to entertainment Cinematography was probably the best i've seen in an action movie, every camera trick possible is thrown in there but yet..unlike Domino or Man on Fire..it did NOT annoy me. Those who came for fight scenes might be a little disappointed, they weren't bad, the action was interesting enough to keep everything going, just that I know some people might be looking for Transporter-style fights. Statham's more of a...use gun whenever possible or some environmental object kinda guy here... But hey there's creative use of a corpse, a butcher knife and a sewing machine Plot? illogical from beginning, the ending was intentionally campy (i won't spoil it) but it made me laugh, but on the bright side it's extremely fast paced, straightforward, and there's not one moment where you'll be excited, entertained or laughing your ass off. Yes there were so many good moments in the movie that I can't really name my best part of the movie Crank will never get an Oscar..it does not want to get an Oscar...Crank is far from an intelligent film...but the movie manages to turn your brain off for you...but it does its job EXTREMELY well..and that's 90 minutes of excitement

P.S. Why is it that in 2 movies in a row, he fights a Hispanic guy on an aircraft in the end?

Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior (2003)

A refreshing action movie

[10/10 · 27 August 2004]

After seeing recent crap action movies where its just an excuse for the action but the action is so bad that you can't see whats going on (Catwoman, Riddick, Bourne Supremacy was a good movie but it still suffers from the same problem) and seeing where Jackie Chan has gone (*cough* Medallion) I always wondered if there were Actually still any real stuntpeople, well after watching Ongbak, the answer is yes. Just like every crappy action movie, its just an excuse for action, but the action is awesome, good camera angles, long cuts, you can see whats going on, Tony Jaa doesn't have the acting range of Jackie Chan but he can definitely match w/ Jet Li physically, he moves fast, hes flexible, and you KNOW he hits hard. I don't understand one of hte IMDb reviewers saying that every fight looked the same except with different people, every fight had a different memorable stunt, from Tony Jaa jumping over different stuff while being chased Jackie Chan style, ACTUALLY having his legs on fire and kicking, to the final scene where he knee drops the guy THROUGH the floor (ouch...) I hope Tony stays AWAY from Hollywood or else they'll put him on wires like every other Asian talent that arrived in Hollywood within the last 15 years.

Bet Your Life (2004 TV Movie)

Script looks REALLY rushed but at least its not boring

[4 August 2004]

This movie at first seems like a movie that was made just for the sake of debuting two actors, both do a decent job of playing their characters, acting-wise at least, the female lead has the "tough/good looking chick" look down. Billy Zane manages to keep his cool like most of his movies so although his character has probably been done before, he still keeps it interesting with his facial expressions representing one who is truly "sick." After the plot is introduced the action (chases/shootouts/which I'll get to later) is almost non-stop until the end, (very good pacing IMO) while it all has been done before, at least you CAN see what's going on unlike some recent over-edited movies like Catwoman (yes recent movies have lowered my standards by a LOT)

The bad parts? Well a LOT of improbabilities, if Billy Zane's character always hunts people (this isn't his first time) why is he such a horrible shot? The sequence when hes on the helicopter chasing the male lead down the bridge with a Grenade launcher and keeps on missing, why didn't he think of moving closer (while not too close) to get a better aim? Also I know that Billy Zane although obviously not Jet Li or Jackie Chan is somewhat competent in martial arts since he already did that (crappy) TV film Invincible(he sure knows how to keep that evil grin on as well, whether in fight scenes or shootouts) so why didn't the casting director pick somebody who knew martial arts (I was rooting for one such person during "Next Action Star" Ilram Choi since he already has experience in doing movies as well) as well as be able to act to keep up with Billy Zane instead of cutting to a different shot once every move, i mean this IS just an excuse for an action movie right? why not make the action as good as possible? But at least they learned NOT to keep the camera way too close (unlike Catwoman or Bourne Supremacy) or like i said before edit to the point where you can't see whats going on, it just should've been better

This is a decent excuse for a TV action movie, much better than whatever else is on TV, but i expected better action, fortunately they didn't make anybody pay 9 bucks just to see it in theaters, i just enjoyed it for what it is, a movie that was made just for the sake of a movie.