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January 25, 2008

Film Friday: We Liked His Son Better, Really

2008_01_25_rambo.jpg

So, who else remembers that Rambo III was about Rambo going to Afghanistan to help the Taliban, huh? We do (and apparently the Sun’s Jim Slotek does too). It’s rather a shame that Sylvester Stallone hasn’t seen fit to continue from that point and deal with the consequences of the conflict, instead jumping straight to Burma/Myanmar for, as far as the reviews tell us, an absolute ton of incredibly graphic (and meaningless) violence. Eye’s Adam Nayman leads the charge with (by far) the most disgusted review: "Rambo is simply reprehensible."

We’re sure it is! But is it really more reprehensible than the works of Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer? We sat through both Date Movie and Epic Movie and managed to laugh roughly one and a half times. We’ve got high hopes for Meet the Spartans, the latest work they’ve decided to inflict upon us, and think we might actually manage to double the amount of laughs so far (a whole three laughs across three movies!) thanks to a few of the cameos (we like MADtv, and we’re not ashamed to admit it), but still.

Let’s move on, neatly skipping new releases Waiter, Untraceable, and They Wait while we do so. We will mention All Hat, however, as it’s Canadian, and also (well, to be honestly, mostly) because its name reminds us of the South Park episode "Free Hat." That’s not really a positive thing, and the film itself is "a mere pleasant time-waster" according to NOW’s Andrew Dowler.

If you’re looking for something more specifically local, there’s How She Move, a Toronto-set coming of age drama about step-dancing. It’s nice to see films made in Toronto and set in Toronto, but these kind of films are so clichéd now that they leave us utterly cold. Metro’s Chris Atchison finds the film hard to recommend, noting, "How She Move simply lacks the originality to make it worth stepping into a movie theatre to watch."

This week, the Royal is showing Jia Zhang-ke's latest film, Still Life, and the Bloor shows The Rape of Europa, for those of you interested in what those naughty Nazis did with all of the art they stole (well, the stuff that they liked, anyway.) Cinematheque Ontario begins Canada’s Top Ten tonight, and the screenings are mostly sold out, but it does look like there are still tickets available for the screening of Eastern Promises, tonight at 9:30 p.m.


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Comments (9)

One small correction -- I didn't review "How She Move" in today's Metro; that was Chris Atchison.

I just got back from "Meet the Spartans", though, and dear god is it terrible. They should just call these things "Your Money is Now Our Money".

(Yes, I check in every Friday to see whether I've been quoted. I am a very insecure person and require constant validation. Such is the way of the film writer.)

 

Fixed! Sorry Norm!

I love that Mastodon song.

 

but still Meet the Spartans stars Sean Maguire from Eastenders and Grange Hill, I feel my British ex-pat roots tingling at the thought.
Adam Nayman uses the word "tool" in his review of Rambo. It is probably one of the harshest reviews of his I have ever read.

 

It wasn't the Taliban that Rambo helped out in part 3. It was just the regular Afghan mujahideen that was repelling the Soviet invasion. The Taliban came in after the Soviets left.

Nor does Jim Slotek say it's the Taliban. Come on.

 

Norm Wilner: you couldn't figure out that "Meet the Spartans" was going to suck from the ads???? Sheesh!

At least with "Rambo" you KNOW what you are getting: mayhem, blood, violence, and Sly kickin' ass. You want subtext and subtlety? Piss off and go watch Keira Knightly prance around!

Sly said he wanted to find someplace that the character would fit and that is also a trouble spot that most people don't have a lot of info on. To do so he actually consulted some real mercenaries. It makes perfect sense to choose Mynamar as the charcter has returned to the jungle, the only place he feels safe and at home.

I, for one, who grew up on in the 80's on a steady diet of action movies (Bruce Willis, Arnie, Sly, Chuck Norris before his born-again phase), welcome the return of Rambo!

 

AnarchX, I'm with you. Growing up in the 80s, one couldn't escape these "reprehensible" action movies. The absence of these films from present-day culture has been... unsettling. I, for one, take great comfort in the return of Rambo. Even if I don't get around to seeing it until it's shown late some night on City TV.

 

I briefly considered watching All Hat at Carlton today and then decided against it. Good thing.

 

"...Rambo going to Afghanistan to help the Taliban[/mujahideen]..."

James Bond does the same thing in The Living Daylights.

 

A.O. Scott at the NY TImes gave it a fairly good review.http://movies.nytimes.com/2008/01/25/movies/25ramb.html

 
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