Infernal Affairs 2 ( 2003 )
How do you go about making a sequel when all but one character was killed off in the first film? Why, you do a prequel of course. The drawback to prequels is that they must lead up to the original, and therefore limited in how that story can be told. Unless you are Chang Cheh making a prequel to Five Shaolin Masters ( 1974 ) and decide "F#$k it! I know the villain Ma Fu Yee is alive in the first film, but I am killing him off in the prequel as well!" Complain all you want about how George Lucas supposedly screwed up the Star Wars prequels, but he not only gave us films that matched the continuity of the original films, but he took a story that we all knew the conclusion of and threw in a few twists we were not expecting. Who could have seen that midichlorians thing coming?
Coming up with a good prequel is almost impossible. Even Godfather Part II only got away with the prequel thing by also being a continuation. It is rarely the case that a story had an amazing backstory that needed to be told. Prequels usually exist out of desperation. The original story was a one shot and popular characters were killed off. They are rarely any good. So it always a surprise when a film maker pulls it off, as was done with Infernal Affairs 2
Instead of the two moles being the focus, the sequel centers around Anthony Wong's police inspector and Eric Tsang's gang leader, who in this film we see rise up to the leader of the triads. And even though you are well aware some characters will meet their demise as they no longer exited in the original, this film has a lot of genuine surprises, some which change the dynamics of the first film. It is not as good as the first film in the series, but is an excellent follow-up.
The Car ( 1977 )
I included this film on my top 25 list for the Horror Film LoC. Not because I ever found it frightening, but for the fun factor of a demon possessed demon car that for no reason shows up in a desert town and begins running over and killing the residents. I liked it back then, but would I still like it today? There are a lot of television show and movies I loved as a kid that turned out to be crap when I watched them as an adult. And this movie made a lot of year end lists for worst movie.
Perhaps because this was supposed to be the next Jaws. Released amidst such ripoff films as Grizzly ( 1976 ), Piranha ( 1978 ), Tentacles ( 1977 ) and Orca ( 1977 ), this was being called by many the automobile version of Jaws. Actually, it seems more of a rip-off of Spielberg's earlier film Dual ( 1971 ), and was very possible greenlit by Universal as a follow-up vehicle for the director. ( No pun intended. ) But instead he did Close Encounters for another studio.
Well, maybe I am being generous after watching those really awfully superhero mockbusters ( which I will be getting back to next week ) but The Car is not a bad film. The acting, directing and budget is as good as any 70s film. The film moves along, so there were not really any dead spots to bore me. And while I would not say I found it as fun as I did as a kid, it was still fun. And there were still those two lines I got a kick out of, back then as I did last night. One when an old lady for no reason yells "Cat Poo!" at the car as it drives off. The other said by actor Eddie Little Sky playing a Native American deputy. As we cut to a scene in the sheriff station house, Eddie is on the phone when some racists redkneck calls in and tells him "Why don't you quit playing sheriff and go back to what you people do best?" And Eddie responds "If I do, White Eyes, you're gonna be in a heap of big trouble, because I'm gonna track you down and shoot an arrow straight up your ass!"
The White Gorilla ( 1945 )
With Saturday Night Live on hiatus for the Olympics I once again had time for a second movie, once again dipping into my "Son's of Kong" box set of public domain black & white films that have gorillas. This week another jungle film from poverty row studio Frase & Merrick, who also produced The Savage Girl with the same director Harry L. Fraser. Otherwise, studio, director and cast did nothing other than cheap B Westerns for most of their careers. Two notable cast members in this film. Ray Corrigan, better known as Crash Corrigan in most of his films ( including the serial Undersea Kingdom ) and Francis Ford, brother of legendary director John Ford.
Perhaps the cheapest of the cheap jungle films ever, about the only thing the producer paid for was the White Gorilla costume. You can tell how cheap this movie is when it's theme and background music is lifted from the Batman serial. ( Which Harry L. Fraser wrote the screenplay for. ) But then it gets even cheaper. A group of explorers are about to leave a jungle training post on an expedition to find a lost explorer when the lost explorer's guide ( Crash ) wanders in and collapses. He awakes to say that his condition was due to a run in with the jungle's legendary white gorilla. The other explorers want to hear about it, as well as what happened to the lost explorer. So he tells his story in flashbacks, which just happen to be footage of other actors lifted from a silent serial Perils of the Jungle ( 1927 ). In his flashback Crash is always conveniently watching from a distance. The silent movie footage is intercut with new footage of Crash and someone in a white gorilla costume. ( Actually, that was also Crash, who began his career playing gorillas in movies before finding minor success in Westerns. ) The silent movie footage has nothing to do with Crash's white gorilla story, and is just there to pad out the ten minutes of footage actually shot for this film. It is all so ridiculous that the film has it's cheesey entertainment value.
Topic: What was the last movie you watched? (Read 1540582 times)
