[Finally]

Just got through with the spring quarter of classes here at school. Pulled off some decent grades this time. I get three weeks off and then summer classes begin. Twenty quarter hours worth of classes, that is. And about 20 more hours at work every week. This is going to be a busy summer… I need to try to get a car, but I can’t afford one. But if I had more hours at work I could afford one. But I can’t get more hours at work until I get a car of my own to use as transportation. But I can’t get a car until I can afford one…

[Good Movie]

I rented Dragons Forever from Blockbuster yesterday. I’d seen it once before about a year ago, but after I mentioned it in respect to the combination of Jackie Chan, Samo Hung, and Yuen Biao I figured I might as well watch it again. All in all, this is a pretty good movie, both storywise and actionwise. As I noted last time when I talked about Yuen Biao not quite fitting into the trio in Project A (which I wound up picking up from Best Buy, hehe), Biao did a much better job in this film of fitting in with his two cohorts. You can’t really tell in the action sequences, though – the only way I can really tell how someone fits with someone else in an action scene is to see them fighting simultaneously a la Chan/Hung from Project A. Granted, you can’t have something like that everywhere, but it’s nice to have the indication somewhere along the line. However, the characters themselves gave Biao a better chance at completing the puzzle. (Maybe it’s the fact that there’s a four year time period between this movie and Project A.) This time, Chan plays a respectable lawyer who represents a chemical company that’s polluting a nearby pond. Hung plays the seedy quasi-legal kinda guy and Biao plays the part of a lunatic. When the owner of the pond decides to take legal action against the chemical company, Chan asks both Biao and Hung to monitor the owner of the pond. However, after Hung mistakes Biao to be a burglar, the traditional Chan-esque slapstick routines begin between the three main characters. This is a classic example of why I like the Chan/Hung/Biao combination. They act so well with each other. As the story progresses, Chan falls in love with the cousin of the pond owner and Hung falls in love with the pond owner herself. The conflict of legal and romantic interest creates a bit of a sub-plot toward the end as Hung and Biao turn against Chan and go try to gather evidence against the chemical company themselves. This all results in the last battle in a main area of a factory (looks like they were producing drugs, I guess) where all three team up to save the day.

I really thought the martial arts efforts in this one could have used a bit more… uh, snazz, for lack of a better word. Most of the fights were any combination of Chan/Hung/Biao against about 20 opponents, and none of them sported any real spectacular stunts. However, I do have to say that most of the one on one combat scenes were really good. While most of them were Chan and/or Hung and/or Biao fighting amongst themselves, they were coreographed quite nicely and made for very entertaining scenes. The last battle itself has three phases – the first where Hung takes on about 10 guys then gets subdued with a shot of some drug – the second where Biao takes on 10 more guys and then gets knocked out by one of the main bad guys – and the third where Chan takes on the main bad guy and his legal client. Overall, like I said before, good, but not great. My verdict:

• Preferred format: DVD, no subtitles
• Action scenes: 6/10
• Stunts: 5/10
• Story: 9/10
• Lack of Old-School Kung Fu: 10/10 (one of the main bad guys breaks into some Kung Fu poses – the only reason they didn’t bother me was because I was too busy laughing at how goofy he looked.)
• Overall: 7.5/10

No single element makes this a great movie. Everything was more or less average. However, sometimes the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. This is a must-see.

[Holy Shit]

Got your attention, didn’t it? That’s what I said when I walked into work last Friday and say a near-mint condition copy of Magic Knight Rayearth sitting on one of the counters. I had taken my copy into work in hopes of being able to play a little bit of the game during some downtime, so I got a little sneaky and swapped the disc (which was slightly scuffed on the data surface) and the instructions (missing sticker in the back) for the perfect ones. Teehee. My new copy of Magic Knight Rayearth looks damn near close to like it’s never been used before. That’s always a good thing! While I’m on that, I found a copy of Albert Odyssey in almost identical condition as well. I gave no hesitation to grabbing that one as well. (I paid for it, of course. :)) Anyways, Albert Odyssey is shaping out to be a pretty decent roleplaying game. I had no idea Sunsoft was able to do something like this, but they did, and they did a damn fine job! This game plays a lot like Final Fantasy 6 in terms of graphics, battle, and whatnot. Storyline is pretty good so far, too. Alas, I am just a few hours into the game right now and can’t really give more in-depth opinions just right now. All in good time, though…!

[Recent Aquisitions]

• Tenchi the Movie – Tenchi Muyo in Love (expect a segment on this in a near-future rant)
• Jackie Chan’s Project A (bought this one!)
• Mr. Nice Guy (might rant on this one when I get bored)
• As I mentioned, Albert Odyssey

[Closing]

I would like to close this rant out with this thought:

Just remember, if someone farts, be sure you’re breathing through your nose when it happens. Basically a fart is particles of shit floating through the air… So… You wouldn’t want shit in your mouth, would you?

Don’t ask me, I’m just the messenger. Take care, thanks for reading!