The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift- Nnnggh... It's amazing how much Tokyo resembles Southern Los Angeles, isn't it? I'm comparing this franchise to the porn movie franchise, since they both drop in the story as an afterthought to why people are REALLY watching these type of movies. However, the race scenes in this case disappoint since the way they're set up don't build any tension or release in the audience. As a travelogue to an exotic land, it falls apart as well, since it was pretty much filmed in L.A., and you don't get any sense of dislocation. (The only idea we get the lead is in a foreign country is a brief bit where he doesn't understand Japanese for 'slippers'.) My Japanese-Canadian roommate also informs me that: 1) Japanese classrooms don't have cafeterias, 2) Non-native speakers don't take school classes with everyone else, 3) Not every Japanese native speaks fluent English, 4) The lead character's Navy officer dad couldn't possibly afford to live in Tokyo on what he makes, 5) and so on...
Lucky Number Sleven- For this type of 'Thriller-with-a-twist' to be successful, you can't see the twist coming in the first fifteen minutes of the movie. Also, Josh Harnett seems incredibly miscast. He's one of the most inexpressive actors this side of Steven Segall. We need to feel the character's mounting tension to draw us in, and he doesn't do it. Also, if you're going to cast powerhouses like Ben Kingsley and Morgan Freeman, give 'em something to do besides monologue behind a desk. And finally, is it just me, or is Bruce Willis starting to turn into Christopher Walken?
Coming up... An exceedingly anal list of my top ten (well, thirteen) movies of all time, and why... (list subject to change)
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