Tuesday 18 Jun
 
 

Ninja III: The Domination

Don't ask why Ninja III: The Domination begins with a ninja assault on a municipal golf course. Just be grateful it does. You also may wonder why its sex scene employs a can of V8: Don't question it. Just lie back and enjoy it.
06/14/2013 | Comments 0

Lifeforce

Tobe Hooper got a raw deal. The director of horror hits The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and Poltergeist didn't deserve to be sent to movie jail for 1985's Lifeforce. It's a well-crafted, well-intentioned work that was mismarketed and misunderstood, losing a bundle of money and soon sending Hooper into the lands of episodic television and direct-to-video features.
06/14/2013 | Comments 0

Dead Souls

With Dead Souls, we can prove something about the Chiller cable network's original features that Remains could not: Source material is not to blame for their pervasive generic nature — it's the economy, stupid.
06/11/2013 | Comments 0

The Philadelphia Experiment

There's a theory about remakes that perhaps Hollywood should stop remaking good movies and instead remake the bad ones, so that they may be improved. The problem with that theory is one runs the risk of the remake being bad, too. Case in point: The Philadelphia Experiment.
06/12/2013 | Comments 0

Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters

A few surprising things about Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters:
• It comes from MTV Films,
• is produced by Will Ferrell,
• and is as fun as its title is dumb.
06/11/2013 | Comments 0
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Action

Kung Fu Dunk


It's kung fu and basketball? How could this go wrong?

Rod Lott January 26th, 2011  

Most critics agree “The Green Hornet” has no sting, but that its Kato, Taiwanese pop star Jay Chou, is its greatest redeeming factor. For even more of him in action, local moviegoers have one chance only as the Oklahoma City Museum of Art screens his fifth film, 2008’s “Kung Fu Dunk,” at 7:30 p.m. Thursday.

Roughly (read: unofficially) based on the “Slam Dunk” manga and anime series, the Hong Kong flick finds its center in Fang Shijie, orphaned as an infant and raised in a martial arts school where he is taught the “Altering Universe” fighting style. This allows for the disassembly and reshaping of atomic particles at will, giving the user the ability to freeze and reverse time.

Ergo, Shijie (Chou) uses it for mad hoops skillz. The kid can’t miss!

With a homeless man (Eric Tsang, the “Infernal Affairs” trilogy) serving as his agent and surrogate father, Shijie is admitted to First University as an Oliver Twist-style hard case, whereupon the press dubs him as “The Basketball Orphan.” He clashes with arrogant teammates jealous of his court prowess, thereby threatening their chances at coming together to win the championship.

You know exactly what will happen, but seeing it play out is all the fun, and the scene in which Shijie’s masters use their gravity defying moves on a rival team is nothing if not fun. While there’s an overreliance on silly slapstick, there’s also plenty of impossible action as only the Asians can deliver.

“Dunk” is not up to the greatness of Stephen Chow’s “Shaolin Soccer,” but how often do such films hit the big screen here? Represent.

 
  • Currently 3.5/5 Stars.
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