Around the World in 80 Days

[The Guardian]

The wife and I saw this movie this evening. I did not have high expectations, not being a Jackie Chan fan either.

First thing---forget Jules Verne. This movie is "based" on his novel, but the points of congruence with the novel are slim; like the character's names. And a wager. Otherwise, artistic liberties were hugely taken.

Second thing---this ain't a bad show. I laughed quite a bit in a few spots; SC's dapper "Englishman" was quite the contrast to Chan. Plenty of ridiculous slapstick comedy here and there. And some of the deadpan lines...hilarious!

Third thing---Jackie Chan may be getting up there in years, but the fight choreography was extremely well done. I was impressed.

Overall...light on plot, after all, we know Phineas Fogg wins his bet, but an entertaining two hours nonetheless. The movie is not nearly as bad as the critics make the film out to be. Probably about a 7.8/10 --- Amusing summer popcorn fare.

[sinceabout]

It was definitely content-lite, but I liked it and thought the reviewers were a bit harsh. Never having seen Jackie Chan before, I had no expectations and found him to be pretty entertaining.

Now what you really need to do is drag yourself out to see Spidey 2. 8) If I can take seven 12-13 year olds to the sneak preview midnight show on opening day, then you ought to be able to make it sometime this week.

[Satan]

Never having seen Jackie Chan before, I had no expectations and found him to be pretty entertaining.

:o

You gotta see Shanghai Noon (http://www.allmovie.com/cg/avg.dll?p=avg&sql=1:187110) ;D

[WCP]

The absolute best thing about Jackie Chan movies are the out-takes they show after the movies how he FUBAR's some of his moves and the way he messes up his lines. For example in Shanghai Noon, one of the out-takes he says he was looking for his "baby sitter." He meant "baby sister." He barely speaks English.

[The Guardian]

Not likely. I am heading for the mountains for two weeks at noon today. I see Spidey's opened HUGE, probably on its way to beating Titanic. And the critics seem to think this Spidey is better than the first one.

[WCP]

And the critics seem to think this Spidey is better than the first one.


It better be. The first one got a 10 on the Suck-o-meter.

Do you realize Spidey 1 had only ONE erect nipple shot? You have no idea how much that pissed me off.

[sinceabout]

Lance- Hope you enjoy your two weeks respite. :)

Forgot to mention- The cutscenes in Around the World were pretty neat. I liked the blending of fantasy with reality.

Also the supervillian was very chic. Good fun.

Yes, Spidey's opened well but I'm afraid that at the early showing that I went to the five billion or so college students who attended it laughed at all the wrong places and were impervious to the genre that Marvel tried so hard to wrestle back from Hollywood. They simply didn't understand heroism or vigorous humanism.

Perhaps that's just South Florida, where everybody is a hasbody and nobody is an anybody, or just a general malaise in the culture.

Sky- I will try to wrestle any copy Blockbuster has of Shanghai next Tuesday. Thanks for the heads-up. If it's awful, I will come back and whine a ton. ;)