Thursday, July 13, 2006
THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS: TOKYO DRIFT
Featuring: Lucas Black, Bow Wow, Brian Tee
Brief Synopsis: Young American man gets kicked to Japan after illegally racing. Guess what he does over there...
Comments: If you are male, the likelihood is that you will enjoy this film. Expensive, modified racing cars with exciting race/chase sequences and girls with very short skirts makes this a teenage boys' dream. It's never going to win an Oscar nomination but you know that it's not that sort of film so go, watch and enjoy.
It was a good move to show the young man learning how to drift - if only to deter the average Malaysian wannabe boy racer from wrecking his car and tyres! This wasn't the only educational part of the film - seeing Japan from the American point of view was also interesting (the fact that the leading man was thrown into a whole new culture alone) and something I could discuss with one of my (Japanese) language students.
Things to learn from this film: If you wear a very short skirt, you will get noticed even if you are damned ugly (thanks to my other half for that!).
Rating: 7/10
Featuring: Lucas Black, Bow Wow, Brian Tee
Brief Synopsis: Young American man gets kicked to Japan after illegally racing. Guess what he does over there...
Comments: If you are male, the likelihood is that you will enjoy this film. Expensive, modified racing cars with exciting race/chase sequences and girls with very short skirts makes this a teenage boys' dream. It's never going to win an Oscar nomination but you know that it's not that sort of film so go, watch and enjoy.
It was a good move to show the young man learning how to drift - if only to deter the average Malaysian wannabe boy racer from wrecking his car and tyres! This wasn't the only educational part of the film - seeing Japan from the American point of view was also interesting (the fact that the leading man was thrown into a whole new culture alone) and something I could discuss with one of my (Japanese) language students.
Things to learn from this film: If you wear a very short skirt, you will get noticed even if you are damned ugly (thanks to my other half for that!).
Rating: 7/10
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
CARS
Featuring: Owen Wilson, Paul Newman, Sally Carrera (an appropriate name!)
Brief Synopsis: A sporty young racecar finds himself in the middle of the countryside after several wrong turns.
Comments: This was a film that I felt my son could watch which is always a bit of a distraction because you spend half your time keeping an eye on him trying to make sure he doesn't misbehave by continually kicking the seat in front of him! Generally it's a fun film with the young gun learning that life isn't just about getting to the top but about relationships in life (something some people forget once they start earning) which is a good moral lesson for every young person to learn (yawn).
The cars themselves are actually quite realistic and the characters have more depth than your average Hollywood character which is worrying seeing as the former are computer generated images and the latter are humans! There are a few parts where the conversations get a bit lengthy which is easy to gauge because my 6 year old gets a bit restless and starts flapping his seat about. My favourite cars have to be the boy racers who gently send the Mack to lullaby land - it's a shame they didn't make another appearance in the film. It was also fun to collect the McDonald's toys - has a film ever had a chance to make better more money from it's toys? Actually maybe during the Toy Story series...!
Things to learn from this film: The person who crosses the finish line first isn't always the winner.
Rating: 6/10
Featuring: Owen Wilson, Paul Newman, Sally Carrera (an appropriate name!)
Brief Synopsis: A sporty young racecar finds himself in the middle of the countryside after several wrong turns.
Comments: This was a film that I felt my son could watch which is always a bit of a distraction because you spend half your time keeping an eye on him trying to make sure he doesn't misbehave by continually kicking the seat in front of him! Generally it's a fun film with the young gun learning that life isn't just about getting to the top but about relationships in life (something some people forget once they start earning) which is a good moral lesson for every young person to learn (yawn).
The cars themselves are actually quite realistic and the characters have more depth than your average Hollywood character which is worrying seeing as the former are computer generated images and the latter are humans! There are a few parts where the conversations get a bit lengthy which is easy to gauge because my 6 year old gets a bit restless and starts flapping his seat about. My favourite cars have to be the boy racers who gently send the Mack to lullaby land - it's a shame they didn't make another appearance in the film. It was also fun to collect the McDonald's toys - has a film ever had a chance to make better more money from it's toys? Actually maybe during the Toy Story series...!
Things to learn from this film: The person who crosses the finish line first isn't always the winner.
Rating: 6/10
