South Korean comedy, action & fried chicken: Byeong-heon Lee's genre-mash, EXTREME JOB

Of all movie genres, so they say, comedy has the most difficult time crossing cultures. TrustMovies thought about this old saw while viewing the new genre-jumper, EXTREME JOB from South Korea, which turns out to be a pretty odd mix of comedy and violent action.

As directed by Byeong-heon Lee (no writing credit is translated via English subtitles, nor does any writing credit appear on the film's IMDB site), the movie's first half is mostly comedy, while the second part is pretty much violent action scenes. Interestingly enough, the comedic portion works best, with the humor alternately broad and somewhat more subtle, abetted in both cases by noteworthy comedic performances.

Director Lee (shown at right) keeps the comedic action flowing smartly and amusingly, as our team of barely-heroes and a single heroine (above and below) foul up one maneuver after another, much to the dismay of their lawman boss.

There are competing cop teams here, with ours clearly the underdog, and fairly soon the boys and girl have set up shop watching the bad-guy drug-runners from the bizarre home base of a low-end, take-out, fried-chicken establishment.

Via the usual coincidental-if-manipulative plot machinations, the team ends up buying the restaurant and coming up with such a fabulous fried-chicken recipe that the place becomes a record-breaking crowd pleaser.

The five leading performers here are each good/funny enough to often surmount the silliness on view and make the movie at least watchable. But even their good work isn't quite enough to compensate for some really ridiculous plot devices that crop up during the second half.

By the time it is revealed -- with literally nothing to back this up -- that each member of our dumb-ass team is a crack martial arts fighter of one sort or another, you'll be scratching your head and murmuring, Huh?, even as they are taking out what amounts to a small army of villains. Ah, well, it's the movies, right?

Extreme Job goes on too long, too. By the time we reach the final fighting match between the hero and his nemesis, you'll be hoping someone cries "uncle" as soon as at all possible. Still, for those willing to suspend disbelief, logic and pretty much all else, the movie may just pass muster.

From CJ Entertainment and running 111 minutes, Extreme Job opened this past Friday in Los Angeles and Buena Park and will hit major cities all across the US and Canada this Friday, February 1. To locate a theater near you, click here, and then click on Find a Theater, then keep clicking on View More until you locate something near you.

Martial arts/Bruce Lee fans: Don't let George Nolfi's BIRTH OF THE DRAGON get by you

While TrustMovies' daughter and grandkids were visiting, daughter -- who is a big martial arts enthusiast and practitioner (as is our son-in-law and their children) -- insisted we watch a movie entitled BIRTH OF THE DRAGON, which all of them had already seen but did not mind viewing again. We did -- and were more than just pleasantly surprised. This is one of those films that got a terrible critical response but that audiences enjoyed more than three times that of the critics. More important, it offers a view of that martial arts idol/icon, Bruce Lee, that knocks him down a peg or two while making clear what a wonder he was, even if, concerning his martial arts philosophy/spirit, this guy had some major learning still to do.

Set in San Francisco back in the 1960s, the movie -- directed by George Nolfi (shown, left) and based on an article, Bruce Lee's Toughest Fight, written by Michael Dorgan, which was then adapted by screenwriters Steven J. Rivele and Christopher Wilkinson -- proves a model of this kind of film-making: smart, fast-moving and able to beautifully juggle its several themes and plot-lines so that we easily follow them while coming to also care about its several protagonists.

I suspect that some, perhaps many, of Bruce Lee's fans were angry at the depiction of their hero shown here, for Mr. Lee in his younger days, while clearly a martial arts force to contend with, might also have been just too cocky and smart-assed for his own good. Certainly as played (and very well, too) by the fast, skilled and sexy Philip Ng (below), the character seems more than capable of being the champion he so clearly was, while needing a lot of help in the humility/attitude department.

Playing opposite Mr. Ng with equal skill and charisma is the wonderful actor Yu Xia, below, who takes the role of kung-fu master Wong Jack Man -- the fellow Mr Lee must cajole into fighting him -- and fills it so completely with his remarkable combination of strength and modesty that you're likely to become a convert before the movie ends.

Lee imagines that Wong Jack Man has come all the way across the ocean to learn what Lee is up to and perhaps dissuade him from teaching the ancient Asian art to westerners. But things are much more complicated (or, depending upon how you view it, much simpler) that that, and this grand master proves to be just about everything that Lee is not and yet somehow aspires to be.

The fight, up to which everything is leading and which provides the film with its terrific climax and even better denouement, is brought about by two other characters who prove crucial to the plot, as well as to the great charm and sweetness of the film. Lee has a student (Billy Magnussen, above) who falls in love with a newcomer from China (Qu Jingjing, below, left) and wants desperately to help the girl pay off her "debt" to the sleazebags who brought her to the USA and by whom she is now employed.

This love story, in other hands, might come off as standard and obvious, but thanks to the work of the writers and director and especially to Magnussen, who unveils things we've not seen previously in this actor, the character seems remarkably sweet, naive and caring, alternately pig-headed and kind. It's a lovely performance, and so we root for this young couple much more that we do, say, for other more obvious lovers (the pair in the recent and utterly manipulative movie, The Mountain Between Us, for instance).

The fight and its aftermath are also handled with style, grace and intelligence. Connoisseurs will appreciate the "moves" on view, but the heart of the matter is devoted to the how and why of things. Exactly who wins the fight is especially succulent. What we get here is so much better than what we're consistently fed via our mainstream/blockbuster/fantasy-world nonsense.

The Birth of the Dragon is full of kung-fu, all right, but it is also rich with competing philosophies and ideas -- about everything from martial arts to the ways in which we might choose to live our lives. It's a lovely piece of work, and it should have been a lot more popular than it was. But, no: We live in a time of mostly super-hero fantasy trash, it seems. In any case, you can (and should) check this movie out yourself. It's available on home video now -- via DVD or streaming.

From South Korea: action, violence and the game of GO in Jo Bum-gu's twisty THE DIVINE MOVE

Making its DVD/Blu-ray debut (it looks quite good in the latter format), THE DIVINE MOVE, from South Korean filmmaker Jo Bum-gu (aka Cho Beom-gu on the IMDB) turns out to be a revenge thriller incorporating everything from violent action to low-end comedy, romance and especially gaming (both meanings: game-playing and conning), with the game of GO played throughout.

Never fear: If you have not played GO (as I have not), you can still follow the movie easily, and there is much to enjoy in the visual flair with which the director, shown at left, informs his film -- along with the screenplay from Yu Sung-hyub, his first, which is full of fun, fighting and family matters, in addition to chapter headings that appear to be taken from The Art of War -- or maybe The Art of GO. Whichever, the film begins with a Go championship, soon after which, the loser, a young man with a no-good older brother who seem to be constantly getting into jams, is tricked into helping his brother cheat to win an important playoff. Unfortunately, the other player is also cheating. (In this movie, just about every game is played by four people: the two obvious players and two more hidden from view who can electronically give their legal counterparts advice.)

The outcome of all this sends out hero to prison, where he manages to learn martial arts, as well as practicing his gaming. When he finally gets out, our nerdy, puny guy has turned into a ripped and sexy action hero played by Jung Woo-sung (standing, above, whom you may remember from The Good, the Bad, the Weird).

The mostly low-level comedy is provided by a character (Kim In-kwon, center, above) who earlier crapped out on older brother and has a motor mouth most often in use.

Romance comes via a good-looking young woman (Lee Si-young, at right), in hock to the film's major bad guy (a fine and frightening Lee Beom-sum, below, left). Along the way, our hero also recruits a couple of other characters necessary to his plans -- a blind but very talented GO player, and another fellow missing a hand who nonetheless comports himself quite well in the construction and fighting modes.

At times the film resembles an Asian version of either the older or newer Ocean's 11, what with the various crew members chosen for their particular skill and smarts.

The movie even introduces a poor, abused child (below), evidently kidnapped into gaming slavery due to her great skill at GO. But this is not a social protest movie. It ticks off various situations in passing but does nothing more with each of them than what any movie devoted to action and thrills would manage.

Mr. Jo keeps that action alternating nicely with the violence, comedy, gaming and romance, and the result is a fine and frisky couple of hours featuring a number of nice set pieces -- such as the game and fight that take place in a warehouse, below, in which the temperature keeps plummeting and escape seems unlikely.

The Divine Move, from CJ Entertainment and running just under two hours, hits the streets on DVD and Blu-ray this coming Tuesday, March 17 -- for sale and/or rental.

A fantasy documentary? Matthew Bauckman and Jaret Belliveau's KUNG FU ELLIOT qualifies

Some documentaries seem utterly fueled by the necessity to be born, to take shape, to... appear! Some of the best docs that TrustMovies has seen this year -- Code Black and The Internet's Own Boy, as well as the about-to-open 20,000 Days on Earth and Art and Craft certainly qualify for that description. They -- and their subjects -- are either so strange, important, vital or necessary that it would seem they simply must see the light of day. And so they have. On the other hand comes along a "maybe" documentary such as KUNG-FU ELLIOT, with a subject (that guy of the title) so unbelievable, if kind of creepy and phony that, you wonder, after a time, if you are not seeing another faux/mock piece of work like Exit Through the Gift Shop -- but without even half the smarts and appeal that Banksy brought to that little film.

As directed and "written" by a couple of Canadians -- Matthew Bauckman (at right) and Jaret Belliveau (below) -- who've worked on a number of other films, Kung Fu Elliot is one of those how-dumb-can-people-come? documentaries that beggars belief almost from the first scene, as we meet a fellow named Elliot "White Lightning" Scott who is supposedly a champion Canadian martial artist. While his martial arts moves couldn't fool even my grandkids into believing he's anything like "the real thing," our two documentarians appear to believe the guy or

at least take his word on faith. After a short while, the viewer can't help but wonder why. Is this a case of making fun of one's subject for the entertainment of the arthouse/doc film masses (not all that numerous in any case)? Or are our two Canuck moviemakers actually dumb enough that they believe Elliot? (I am told my the movie's publicist that they are definitely not.) Either way, an intelligent viewer is going to be given almost immediate pause. Yes, Elliot is kind of fun in his fairly stupid, can-anyone-be-this-dumb? manner, but we've already seen this semi-cynical stuff a number of times previously, and it doesn't take long before our laughter rings a little hollow.

Sure, Elliot, above, has a kind of reverse charisma with his so-so body, semi-attractive face and minimal understanding of martial arts. But the deeper we and the moviemakers get into the guy's "plan" -- to make a DIY martial arts thriller called Blood Fight that will set him on a course to become Canada's first movie action hero -- the less possible it all seems. While one can draw some cheap humor from this by laughing at folk not smart enough to realize their weakness, one can also begin to feel "used."

Meeting his girlfriend Linda (above), a lady who has a sour puss for the entire length of the movie (it only grows more sour, for good reason, as the months pass), and his seemingly duped co-actors, one of whom is shown below, only adds to the questionable "fun."

When, at last, the movie turns darker, wise heads will be murmuring, "Finally!", as we move into the home stretch. Once the film has arrived at its conclusion, with the expected update on what happened to the various folk we've just seen, a number of ideas will be jostling for space and importance inside your head, self-delusion chief among these.

Except there may be no self-delusion here at all. Elliot has known all along of what he's is and is not capable. Note the scene when we see him clad in just a pair of tight underwear, as he adjusts his cock and preens a bit. Later he notes that he's got the equipment to do porn films but maybe just not the interest.

There may indeed be some surprises here, but not, I think, for the seasoned film-goer. What has remained on the filmmakers' cutting-room floor may be even more interesting that what we have already seen, and it is difficult to believe that Messieurs Bauckman and Belliveau were not unaware of what kind of fellow they had in tow from pretty early on in the game. While it is eventually clear that we cannot trust our Elliot, I unfortunately have some doubt about trusting these filmmakers, too.

Kung Fu Elliot, a kind of fantasy documentary that runs 88 minutes, has been playing the festival circuit for the past year or so, and will soon play at the soon-to-begin Fantastic Fest, so take note, those of you in the Austin, Texas, area. Next comes the Raindance fest in London. To see where else this film will play (or has played), simply click here and scroll down.

Stream it! Tsui Hark's YOUNG DETECTIVE DEE: RISE OF THE SEA DRAGON -- beauty in action

Imagine, if you will, Creature from the Black Lagoon, given a full-bore Asian update -- with all the color and pyrotechnics and undersea/up-on-land, ancient maritime/ martial arts action you could require, plus a sweet love story, and a plot that goes the original maybe ten times better, while morphing into a lovely fairy tale for kids and teens -- and you just might have an idea of the great beauty and fun to be found in Tsui Hark's delightful sequel to his original (and also delightful) Detective Dee movie, YOUNG DETECTIVE DEE: RISE OF THE SEA DRAGON.

Made in 3D (just as was the original Black Lagoon guy, back in 1954), the riot of color in gorgeous compositions and set pieces may be one of those rare sequels to outdo its original -- which was also pretty damned good. Mr. Tsui (shown at left), a Vietnam-born filmmaker who has worked mostly in China and for a short time here in the U.S.has quite a record as producer, director, writer, even actor and editor. As they say, he knows the ropes. As both spectacle and big-budget moviemaking, YDD: ROTSD delivers the good as well as just about anything else TrustMovies has seen in a long time. I have no idea of what this film cost to make, but I swear that every penny is up there on the screen -- in beauty and pleasure.

In the original Dee, the character was older (played by Andy Lau), super-smart of course, and still able to fight. Here, as a young man (Mark Chao, above), he's equally smart, fit and rather sexy in his own quiet manner. The story features not only the titular sea monster but that Black Lagoon-like creature, as well, and it's his tale of love for a prized courtesan that helps bring the movie to added life.

We also see again that iron-willed and not-so-nice Empress, embodied by the powerful Carina Lau (below), and our hero find himself up against a combination foe/friend/soul-mate who is constantly getting in his way and then helping him, along with sundry other characters, good and evil. For pulchritude, there a lovely actress named Angelababy (above, but isn't she embarrassed to sport  a moniker like that?)

Betrayals, battles, and one knockout sequence in which our heroes must fight for their lives while scaling a sheer cliff, there's all this and more. Then midway along we discover that our hero has one vey sizeable weak point -- not helpful in battling at sea.

There's some humor here, too, plus sets and costumes of such bountiful glory as to be immediate Oscar qualifiers (if the Academy members ever deigned to see a movie like this one), and even end credits that features yet more laughs -- if you're inclined to sit through the extra ten minutes.

The special effects department has come up with a fabulous sea monster, and the concluding battle is terrific. This movie took me back to my childhood with its enormous sense of charm and wonder, though of course we never saw anything this spectacular in those days. It puts Hollywood's supposed blockbusters mostly to shame.

YDD:ROTSD (in Chinese with English subtitles and running two hours and 14 minutes), which is said to have received a limited theatrical run here in the U.S. but seems to have managed to get no reviews at all, is available to view now via Netfix streaming (where it looks simply ravishing in high definition -- even without the 3D) and elsewhere, too. If you're in the mood, moviewise, to be a kid again, don't miss it.

THE GRANDMASTER's Blu-ray/DVDebut: Wong Kar Wai's gorgeous & moving ode to martial arts

The name Wong Kar Wai sure does set a lot us critics' hearts aflutter. We adore his ultra-romantic, color-saturated films full of love, longing and renunciation, among other things. "Other things" this time would include, surprisingly, the martial arts and the history of that famous Grand-master (and teacher of Bruce Lee), known as Ip Man. Mr. Wong may have a special place in the hearts of American film critics, but that place does not yet include most American audiences. On Rotten Tomatoes, for instance, THE GRANDMASTER garners an 75% approval rating from critics, but only 61% from audiences. Well, maybe they'll come around in time....

Meanwhile, those of us who love Wong's work -- the filmmaker is shown at left -- can exult in his latest, just now arriving on DVD and Blu-ray. This is a decidedly different kind of film from anything I've seen by this director, while maintaining Wong's signature style. The film is almost ceremonial in its quietude and pacing, and because it is dealing with historic characters of great note and importance to Chinese history and culture, the filmmaker has chosen two of the most iconic performers working in Chinese film to play the leads, Tony Leung and Zhang Ziyi. Both actors do what is possibly the most subtle and brilliant work of their careers in this film.

Watching Leung (above) and Zhang (at right) offer the smallest of facial expressions -- a half smile, eyes lowering quietly -- to the largest effect is alternately powerful and enchanting, a veritable primer in film acting. When Wong trains his camera on these two faces, you simply can't look away. The moments toward movie's end set in a heroin den make up one of the great, heart-breaking romantic scenes in motion picture history, with Ms Zhang's stunning work topping everything she's so far accomplished. The actress never pushes the heroin daze; it's barely there. But it is there, and it colors, ever so slightly, all else.

What Wong has managed here is to fuse his usual filmic beauty with Chinese philosophy and now martial arts to what seems a near unbeatable combination. The stunning fight scenes are performed more slowly than we are used to so that many more steps can be observed and thus appreciated. The filmmaker's ability to offer graceful, precise and masterful mise en scène is something to marvel at, it seems to me.

What may prevent complete acceptance of The Grandmaster is Wong's use of narration, both verbal and written via title cards, to help tell the story. The movie runs 108 minutes but would probably have lasted more like three or four hours, had the filmmaker decided to give us his tale in a more typical show-not-tell fashion. This use of narration did not bother me, for I found it added to the ceremonial/historical aspect, but others of you may object. (My spouse certainly did. "This is the last martial arts movie I ever want to see!" was his annoyed, post-film judgment. But then, he's never enjoyed martial arts movies all that much.)

What you won't object to, I think, is the movie's sublime beauty and near-hypnotic use of camera movement. There are a number of great visual filmmakers working today, but no one does it quite like Wong Kar Wai.

The Grandmaster -- from Anchor Bay Entertainment and The Weinstein Company -- arrives on DVD and Blu-ray this coming Tuesday, March 4, for sale and rental.

Holy hotpants --- it's women killing women!!! Line up, perverts, for Josh Waller's RAZE

Hey -- it's The Most Dangerous Game all over again! Only this time, in RAZE, it's being played by the gals -- with the guys actually in control of the ladies, of course. Imagine this: An organization of the very wealthy kidnaps a bunch of women, imprisons them and forces them to fight each other to the death until only one survives. Why would the women agree to this? Because, if they don't, those nasty bad-guys will not only kill them but their daughters/mothers/ husbands/or some other much-loved-target. These "death matches" are of course viewed by an audience of the very wealthy (you can bet they're all Republicans) for their delectation and entertainment. Oh, yes -- and we viewers might just possibly be entertained by all this, too, right?
God, no -- perish the thought!

I feel I must quote here from the press kit for Josh Waller's new film -- the filmmaker is pictured at left -- in which Mr. Waller tells us that, although his movie "could have easily gone the way of exploitation," (I'll give you a moment to pick yourself up off the floor and stop laughing) "we decided to take a much more elevated approach to it." Right. Sometimes the camera looks at all the violence from up above.

Further thoughts: "...some of my influences aren't necessarily references to horror or action films, but more the films of Stanley Kubrick, Kinji Fukasaku, and more recently, Quentin Tarantino."

What, no Ozu? By the way, Mr. Waller: Both Kukasaku (who did Battle Royale) and Tarantino could easily be described as horror or action filmmakers, too, with nary a nose, I suspect, being put out of joint.

Well, then: We now know that watching Raze -- in which match after match after match has one women brutally killing another -- is not exploitative. I am so relieved. What is it, then? A kind of confined-space movie, a variation on the women-in-prison film, a martial arts extravaganza, a thriller of sorts, and -- if you were being particularly obtuse, you might even call it feminist.

My daughter, who attended the press screening with me and knows a thing or two about martial arts, says that the movie definitely gets its moves right. So this, along with some fancy and fast editing, makes the fight scenes look real (though in the still, shown at right, the muscles look a little limp to be actually engaged in struggle). A nod is given early on to how these women ended up where they are, and we get a cursory look at their captors, the man and woman (Doug Jones and Sherilyn Fenn, below) who head this creepy and uber-entitled group, as well as at the male guards who keep our ladies in line.

As to the characterization of these poor women themselves, we're mostly given the standard cliff notes versions: They come in varieties of hard, sweet, nasty, nice and naive -- and all, eventually, dead. Except maybe that final contestant. But since we're dealing here with people in charge who haven't the foggiest notion of morality, justice, right, wrong, good, bad, or any fashion sense (they must be Republicans), we pretty much realize that this is not going to end well.

The cast is led by New Zealand gymnast/martial artist/stuntwoman Zoë Bell, shown above and below, who has yet to add actress to her credentials. She's not bad (and she certainly executes her moves with consummate skill) but she mostly keep a single expression going throughout the film.

Also in the cast are Rachel Nichols (shown below), Tracie Thoms and Rebecca Marshall (shown at bottom), along with Bruce Thomas as the guard you love to hate the most. Everyone does the expected, and if there are no surprises, neither are there any screw-ups. We thought we noticed Rosario Dawson in the movie, too (always a good reason to see any film), but her part is so small that if you blink twice in quick succession, you'll miss it.

Raze is such an ugly movie in just about every way that recommending it proves difficult. It's not badly
done so much as revoltingly imagined. This is the Roman Colosseum in microcosm, with the spectacle reduced to simple killing: no lions, gladiators or weapons on view. And since it's all women killing women for the delectation of the "one percent," you can add an extra layer of sleaze and perversion.

The movie's also mostly humor-free, but there is one whoppingly (and intentionally) hilarious

joke toward the finale. Each fight is introduced with a label:  "Jamie vs Teresa" and so forth, until the final one, which should make you laugh out loud.

Raze, from IFC Midnight and lasting 87 relatively lengthy minutes, opens in theaters this Friday, January 10, and will simultaneously be available via VOD. In NYC, look for it at the IFC Center; in L.A. it will play the Sundance Sunset Cinemas. To see all currently scheduled playdates, click here.