[ Ratings: * - Will show up on "Mystery Science Theatre 3000" | ** - What was I thinking? ]
[ *** - Pretty good - get it on video! | **** - Very good! See it! | ***** - Wow! What a movie! ]
NOTE: Except for a few subtitles, the whole film uses dubbed english, giving you either a better or worse experience, depending how seriously you take the dialogue. :) (Hint: don't)
The story is that Chan's character comes to New York to help in his uncle's grocery store for a week. During this time, he gets a local gang against him when he stops them from shoplifting and vandalising the store. The dialogue ain't exactly Shakespeare, as Chan tells the last gang member, "If you come back, I will beat you up again", before he lets him go. He goes through a few good fight scenes against this gang before they almost kill him in an alley by bombarding him with glass bottles. (Chan was apparently really cut shooting this scene. I'm not surprised, since he does all his own stunts!)
The fight with the gang culminates after Chan goes to their hang out to have it out with their boss. Yet another great fight scene, followed by some really cheesy dialogue, where Chan says "you are all the scum of the earth!".
I've been a Bruce Lee fan for some time, and I guess I went into "Rumble" kinda expecting a Bruce Lee style shit-kicker, complete with the intense and stolid fighting presence of a Bruce Lee deveotee. I learned from others though, that Chan is not one of those Lee (Li, Le, etc.) clones, but has a style of acting, fighting, and turning on an audience that is much different than Lee's, so no more comparisons. "Rumble" was a lot of fun to watch, and contains some of the most hilarious, inventive, and manic fight scenes I've ever witnessed. Chan has the ability to come off as a tough guy, acrobat, action hero, and a talented physical comedian on par with greats like Buster Keaton.
Chan has been the number one action hero in Asia for many years (and has been working in films for something like 30 years!?!), and this film is obviously his big chance to crack North America wide open. I hope he is successful, as he brings a fun factor to the action flick that is very refreshing.
As if seeing all the fantastic stunt action isn't enough, there's a nice sequence at the end of the movie when the credits roll, where you see all the outtakes of Chan's stunt sequences, and MAN are people (mostly Chan) getting injured in this production! Chan gives a "thumbs up" to the crowd - but he's not being self-congratulatory about this - I think this guy really enjoys himself, and it shows in the film.
Check out www.rumble.com to see this movie's official web site.
Penn is acused of participating in the raping and killing of two teenagers. His accomplice had a better lawyer and hence escaped death row, but Penn was not so lucky.
However, the story is much more complex after their initial meeting, as Sarandon'd character finds herself in the middle between the killer and the families of the victims. The theme of redemption is shown strongly, as Penn suffers the agony of coming to terms with the sufferring he caused others, and for Sarandon as she deals with the anger from the victim's families and the abandonment of her community because of her sympathetic relationship with Penn.
In the end, the movie takes no one set position regarding the death penalty, showing both killer and victims as sympathetic characters, sufferring through poverty and other problems in their own right. It's left to the audience to form their own opinions about whether killing is a correct punishment for the crime of killing.
The animatatronics, puppetry, and CG used to make the animals talk is good enough to be totally transparent, allowing you to get very involved in a great little story about the realities of farm life as seen by the animals.
There's a lot of good messages in "Babe" about tolerance, love, and belonging. I found it got a little too sappy and preachy in parts, (the mice announcing each new "chapter" for example) but overall, this is a good story about human and animal nature, and not judging a book (or a pig) by it's cover.
This film was directed by a person who has known Crumb for some 25 years, and the sensitivity to the man and his background shows through in the quality of the camerawork, editing, and overall visual approach.
On a more personal, emotional level, this film paints a portrait of a person(ality) who is constantly expressing (directly or not) the conflicts and hypocracies that exist both inside and outside himself. "Crumb" is about the forces and events that have shaped one particular artist and even more strikingly, his family.
In addition to being introduced to Crumb, his art, and it's many themes and styles, we are introduced to his older brother Charles, a shy and fascinating character who, in middle age, lives at home with his mother in the protection of the family home, his hundreds of books (which he was in the process of re-reading), and what seems to be a regimen of self-absorption and almost tounge-in-cheek self-deprecation. Although Charles and Robert appear to smile and laugh off the memories of a traumatic childhood and their painful adolesence, it's obvious that the jokes are deadly serious.
We are also introduced later on to Crumb's younger brother Max, who appears to be an extremely talented painter, although he balances this with accounts of his own socially deviant tendancies that make it obvious that Robert is by far the healithiest of the lot!
Overall, the message of this film is one of duality and the thin line between the rational and irrational act. The film shows much of the duality of Crumb's personality through interviews with friends, associates, critics, and old girlfriends. It quickly becomes apparent that this film is not trying to elevate Crumb to any kind of hero status, as the weak or questionable aspects of his own behaviour (although much less unnacceptable that those of his brothers) are brought to light honestly and with a humour that still communicates a genuine fondness for the subject.
I think Robert Crumb, the artist and man, makes one hell of an impression in his own soft spoken and somewhat off-beat manner, and should be applauded for consenting to such a frank view of his life. I think "Crumb" the movie shows a lot of honesty and courage, and did it mostly with a dark humour that had me and everyone else in the theatre laughing ourselves to tears at the most painful of moments.
I heartily recommend "Crumb".