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[enthusiastick]

I did catch Kung Fu Hustle last night with Dave A and Scott. It was everything I hoped it would be and more. Actually that's not true; there was in point of fact less dancing in the movie than I had anticipated. But as kung fu comedies go it was sublime. It played with a bunch of different styles in a deeply entertaining way, it kept both the hits and the laughs coming, and it flaunted the laws of physics in favor of cartoon-ism. It just goes to show that in this particular genre there might not be such a thing as "over the top."

Prior to the movie I saw a preview for Nochnoy dozor, aka the Night Watch, a Russian horror/action flick made last year which is apparently seeing an American re-release. According to what I've read thus far its the first in a trilogy (the second film, the Day Watch is in production, whereas shooting for the final installment the Dusk Watch has not yet begun.) The Penny Arcade boys were kind enough to post this link to the trailer today.

The premise of the movie is that 1,000 years ago the forces of good and the forces of evil forged a truce, or at the very least agreed to a formal state of détente. They divided up the world between the period of night and day, and both sides formed organizations to police the other. Fast forward to now, when there's some sort of prophesy being fulfilled that involves a Messianic figure and possibly one final war to decide it all.

The look of this trailer just struck me, overwhelmingly. If the movie is anywhere near as visually stunning as these few minutes of footage make it look, then I'm there no matter how bad the reviews are. Its rare enough that we get a movie that sets mages and vampires and shapeshifters in a modern setting and handles them with any degree of appropriate flavor; for it to be so damn pretty on top of that means it has really caught my attention. So keep your eyes peeled out there.

Comments

[rollick.livejournal.com]

Coincidentally, I ran across the trailer to "Night Watch" on the Apple trailers site a few days ago, and I remain very curious about it. I'm trying not to be TOO curious, since who knows when or if it'll play here and when or if the other movies might make it out, but if I get the chance, I'll certainly be seeing it. I'm particularly curious how it compares to Underworld.

[sleetfall.livejournal.com]

i just caught kung fu hustle as well... and you're right, there definitely was not as much dancing as anticipated. But still a wonderful movie! And I saw the preview for Night Watch as well... it did look really good. We'll have to see it this summer when it comes out.