Oh shit, I went on a rampage last night.
First was Michael Jackson's Moonwalker. Who's seen it? Weirdest shit ever. Do yourself a favor and skip to the middle for the Smooth Criminal video, which is the only good thing in the movie, but also truly awesome in its own right.
Next I watched Jackie Chan's Mr. Nice Guy. Not one of his better outings, but still more entertaining than most of his Hollywood crap. The way the movie ends on the slow motion giant dump truck tantrum is lame though. No boss fight = huge let down.
Then it was time for Yojimbo. I've never seen an entire Kurosawa flick before, and this seemed as good as any to start with. A little long in the tooth, and it dragged in parts but overall I liked it enough to consider checking out some of his other stuff. The swordplay is hilarious, but it gets the point across.
And talk about ending on a bad note... Fist of the North Star, with a cast comprised entirely of B-movie all-stars from across the ages, and Malcolm McDowell, who you must admit has done his fair share of trash over the years, but he's also got plenty of good work under his belt, so you can kind of forgive the guy. Anyway, if you haven't seen this, you pretty much have to. It's really bad, but you can tell they actually put some effort into making it, with the sets, the costumes, and the special effects. It was made in a time before all your problems could be solved by some quick and dirty CG, and the film's complete lack of it really works in its favor. Yes, the acting is still unforgivably awful, and within the confines of the film the story and character motivations really make no sense, but if you're looking for some cheesy '90s magic, you could do a lot worse.
