and sometimes you go back to the well

and sometimes you do Reindeer Games

exactly my thought after seeing The Forgotten the other night.

I've got this long list of films on my netflix list that are sitting in queue to show up and bitchslap me. i know this is all self-induced, because, well, i choose the films. i guess i could always just clear my queue and add only academy award films and grand scale epics, but what would be the fun in that? and since i've been known to pick a lemon now and again, i know i'm the only one who's to blame, but how often do i have to get kicked in the head to learn? well, we'll see.

this was a film that started with such potential to do something really decent (not great, but decent) and they did the one thing that i thought was TOO cliche, even for a hollywood movie. **SPOILER** they made it aliens. yup, aliens. i kept going back to this ongoing joke that Any and i have about films. can't figure out what's going on? Aliens is always the answer. unfortunately, this was not a joke, it was the fucking plot.

me: WTF? it's fucking aliens.
stacy: no, that's to easy, it's gotta be . . . WTF? it's fucking aliens.
me: pass me the tequilla.

No kidding, it's fucking aliens. i'd have been better off watchin Bring it On. at least that had cheerleaders.

I also caught Ong Bak yesterday afternoon. You have to like martial arts films and have a tolerance for really bad writing to appreicate this, but the action was off tha hizzuk. Tony Jaa makes Jet Li and Jackie Chan look like bitches. it's got the obligatory cool stunts like him hurdling four of five cars in a row while being chased by a mob, but the real action starts halfway thru the film and never quits. and this guy is a bulldozer. i've never seen hits this hard in a film. and the movie makes liberal use of multi-angled, slo-mo action shots to show you the hard hits at least three times in a row so you can feel the real impact of this guy whooping ass. and he seriously fucks some people up in this. he uses a form of martial arts called muay thai which is very basic with no fancy moves, but good use of the arms and legs for impact and damage. i found myself cringing in a dozen scenes.

fifteen buck little man, put that shit in my hand . . .