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Reviews
Romeo Must Die (2000)
Bugs Bunny can do that too.
What we expect movie characters to be capable of has a lot to do with the type of movie it is and what kind of characters they are. If I'm watching Superman, I'm expecting to see a guy flying around doing amazing physical feats. In a movie like The Crow, there is no precedent set for what a person coming back from the dead would be capable of, so seeing Brandon Lee's character disappear into thin air and magically heal after being shot is acceptable.
However, in a movie where the characters are mere mortals, regardless of their fighting ability, there are limits to what we can accept. Jet Lee is certainly a talented martial artist, but unless he has a big "S" on his chest or he's a ghost, I don't want to see him doing twenty flips while kicking everyone in the head or defying gravity while running up a wall. I wonder where he hid his cape.
What if Mel Gibson suddenly sprouted wings and flew off the top of that building with the jumper in Lethal Weapon? Would have made the movie pretty stupid, huh? A little more reality in Romeo Must Die instead of all the wire tricks would have made it much better and a whole lot more believable.
That turned an otherwise pretty good movie into a cartoon, and if I want to see a cartoon, I'll opt for the classic WB masterpieces where I can accept the amazing physical capabilities of a smart-ass rabbit and an obsessive coyote.
Noises Off... (1992)
Comedy masterpiece!
You may have to see it a few times to catch it all, as it is very fast paced, but there's not very many movies that have made me laugh so much. An amazing cast with amazing acting. Often overlooked is the ability to maintain character without busting up laughing at what your co-star is doing...especially during long takes, which this movie has many of. The late, great John Ritter's performance is the glue that holds it all together, and Michael Caine's depiction of the pained and tormented director is brilliant. It is also a great show of diversity for the late Christopher Reeve, who is much more Clark Kent than Superman in this show. Nicolette Sheridan in her undies is certainly not hard to look at either!
Highly recommended...but don't just see it once, as I wrote before. It was a bit confusing on my first one. It is also fairly family-friendly, with only a couple obscenities exclaimed by Michael Caine in hilariously funny moments of frustration.