Rush Hour 3 (4½ Stars)

I watched "Rush Hour" and "Rush Hour 2" back to back in 2022, but I waited four years to watch the third film. It was a mistake to wait so long, but maybe it was wise to have a gap. The first two films are masterpieces. The third film is good, I'd say very good, but in a direct comparison with the first two films it falls short.

Instead of building on the strengths of its predecessors, "Rush Hour 3" settles for repeating the formula with less energy and lower stakes. The only thing in its favour is that there are more laughs. It's still watchable thanks to its stars, but it's easily the weakest entry in the trilogy.

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The Fifth Element (5 Stars)

This is the February choice for the "Best of Cinema" series. It's a film that I'd practically forgotten after not watching it for so long. I know that I had it on VHS tape, but I stopped watching videotapes in April 2008. I know the date so precisely because that's when I moved house, and I connected my VCR player but never used it. At that time I rebought all my favourite films on DVD, but not "The Fifth Element". No idea why.

When seeing the film this evening I recognised a few scenes, but I'd totally forgotten the plot. That meant it was like a new film to me.

There's a great evil that comes to the Earth once every 5000 years. This evil power can only be defeated with a secret weapon that's been entrusted to priests, who've been passing the secret from one generation to the next for thousands of years. The weapon is made up of four stones that represent the four elements, fire, water, earth and air. To function, a fifth element will be added when the time comes.

In the year 2263 a giant fireball is approaching the Earth. A woman appears, Leeloo, who claims to be the fifth element. The trouble is that the stones have disappeared. Clues have to be followed to find them. Leeloo is assisted by a taxi driver called Korben Dallas.

The film is campy and highly infeasible, but that's what makes it so good. I should never have forgotten it.

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Jackie Brown (5 Stars)

After watching an underwhelming film in the cinema this afternoon, I thought it was a good idea to pick another film from my top 100 film list. What better choice than "Jackie Brown", currently in 34th place? It's an homage to the blaxploitation films of the 1970's, but let's be honest: were any of the blaxploitation films half as good as "Jackie Brown"? It's a classic, considered by many to be Quentin Tarantino's best film.

One small criticism I have is that the film needs to be remastered. Many of the scenes are slightly blurred. A film like this deserves to be presented in the best possible quality.

I like pictures of a beautiful woman when the camera is pointing up at her. It makes the woman look like a Goddess. And that's what Pam Grier is. She's a Goddess. She's a giant among women, beautiful and powerful.

Success Rate:  + 4.2

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Jackie Brown (5 Stars)

Quentin Tarantino has said that he'll only make ten films. So far he's made nine films, which means his next film will be his last. He claims that most directors end their career with poor films, and these are the films they'll always be remembered for. He wants to stop while he's at his peak. I think he has too little faith in himself. I could name many directors who have remained good after making many films, starting with Alfred Hitchcock and Steven Spielberg.

On the other hand, I think Quentin has already passed his peak. If you look at my top 100 films list, you'll see that it contains seven of his nine films. The two films missing from the list are his last two films, "Hateful Eight" and "Once upon a time in Hollywood". I'm not saying that they're bad films, but they're not up to the quality of his earlier films. "The Hateful Eight" lacks the detailed character development of films like "Jackie Brown", while "Once upon a time in Hollywood" seems to lack direction. Quentin himself says that "Death Proof" is his weakest film, but I strongly disagree. It could have been slightly improved by making the car chase longer, but I can't say anything else against it.

Today I watched "Jackie Brown" using the enhanced trivia track, a text commentary while the film is running. I don't want to write anything more about the film after reviewing it five times already, so I'll just talk about one thing in the text commentary:

"As Jackie is walking towards Max Cherry, the song playing is Natural High, performed by Bloodstone. Quentin Tarantino says this is one of the greatest soul ballads of the 1970's. According to Quentin, when white audiences hear this song, they think Max is falling in love with Jackie, but when black audiences hear this song, the audience is falling in love with Jackie".

I don't understand why Quentin thinks white and black audiences react differently when hearing the song. It doesn't make sense. It's obvious to me that the song is played to show Max is falling in love with Jackie at first sight. That isn't just because I'm white. And why does Quentin think only black audiences would fall in love with Jackie? I had a crush on her for years.

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Rush Hour 2 (5 Stars)

I just looked at my previous reviews of "Rush Hour 2", and I realised that I introduced all of them with a photo of Zhang Ziyi. Maybe I should do something different this time. Or maybe not. She's far more attractive than Jackie Chan or Chris Tucker. If you disagree with me I'll hit you over the head with a printing plate.

"Rush Hour 2" wasn't included in my original top 100 film list. I suspected at the time that I'd made a mistake in omitting it. Now I've made up for it. It's in 92nd place in my new list that I'll publish later today. When I compare the first two films, "Rush Hour 2" has better fight scenes, but "Rush Hour" has more comedy. I can't really say which of the two is a better film, but I've put "Rush Hour" higher in my list. For now, at least. The one thing you can never expect from me as a film blogger is consistency.

The first film was a crime thriller, but "Rush Hour 2" has more of the feeling of an international spy thriller. It begins in Hong Kong, then moves to Los Angeles and finally Las Vegas. The story is about fake money created with genuine printing plates that were stolen from the Shah of Persia. That's the only thing I'd fault in the story: why would the American government allow the Shah to print US dollars? I'll let it go, just this once. Don't bring the printing plates back in "Rush Hour 4". Better still, don't make "Rush Hour 4" at all!

What's made Chris Tucker so happy?

28 Chinese girls in a massage parlour! One for every day in February. But I think Chris is greedy. I'd be happy with Zhang Ziyi for the whole month.

While watching the film I was drinking a bottle of Rolf Willy Samtrot Spätlese, which is currently my favourite wine. I've been so fascinated by the taste that I didn't pay attention to the aroma until today. The bouquet is overpoweringly sweet, much sweeter than the taste itself. I sat smelling it for long minutes before I took my first sip. Strangely, after beginning to drink the wine the smell was no longer as strong. There must be a technical reason for that. I'll drink some more tomorrow and delay the first sip for as long as possible.

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Rush Hour (5 Stars)

"Rush Hour" is the ultimate buddy cop movie. Two policemen come together from different sides of the world, with different styles and different attitudes, but both dedicated to fight crime. The film moves seamlessly from action to comedy and back again. When I first presented my top 100 films list it barely made the cut, down in 99th place, but I've decided to move it up a few places. It's a film I can watch again and again.

Earlier this month I said that I'd watch one of my top 100 films every week. I've adjusted that slightly. I'll watch five of my top 100 films every month. That should get me through them all once every two years.

Chris Tucker was raised as a Pentecostal, and a few years ago he founded his own church where he acts as pastor. One of the gimmicks of his church is that the church choir is made up of pregnant women. That's weird. It means that singers are sacked after giving birth, and if they want to get back in the choir they have to get pregnant again fast. But what do you expect from a man with a face as crazy as Chris Tucker?

Success Rate:  + 5.4

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Jackie Brown (5 Stars)

Dancer's Top Films #41

This is an amazing film. I've written about it a few times, usually concentrating on Pam Grier. Today I'll do something different. In an early scene Ordell Robbie (Samuel L. Jackson) is showing his partner Louis Gara (Robert De Niro) a film featuring the guns he sells. This film, called "Chicks who love guns", is included in full in the Blu-ray's special features. Here's a small gallery of the girls in the film with their weapons of choice.

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Hi, I'm Sidney. I'm a personal trainer and Miss Orange County finalist, and this is my Tec-9. The popular Tec-9 is designed after the Russian KG-99 submachine gun. It boasts 32 rounds of 9 mm firepower and can spit bullets at a rate of 700 rounds per minute. Made in America, the Tec-9 is most often used by police SWAT teams and military personnel. Because it's both compact and lightweight, the Tec-9 acquires its target with ease, making this little brute the perfect choice for home defence. I love my Tec-9.

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Hi, I'm Cindy. I'm a student and a part-time actress, and I'd like to show you my Steyr AUG. AUG stands for Army Universal Gun. A primary design emphasis behind this weapon was for use from vehicles. Talk about versatile, it goes from a 223 to a 9 mm carbine with no tools. The Steyr AUG is a snap to use.

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I'm Gloria. I'm a full time model and actress. You might remember me from "Girls just wanna have guns". This is the famous AK-47. With over 50 million manufactured in ten countries, the AK-47 is the most popular assault rifle in the world. This is the Chinese model. You can tell by the extra rivets running through the metal struts. Nothing gets between me and my AK.

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Hi, I'm Brittany. I'm part-time actress, dancer and model. This is the Italian Beretta model 12S. It shoots 500 rounds of full metal jacket 9 mm Luger at 1270 feet per second. At 10 pounds it's really heavy for such a small gun, but the weight and balance really reduce muzzle rise during firing. I've never held anything that felt so strong and confident.

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Hi there, I'm Tammy Jo. I'm an exotic dancer and a calendar girl for a national chain of tyre wholesalers. This is the Mossberg 500, a 12 gauge pump-action shotgun. It's made in America, just like me. It holds five shells in the magazine, one in the pipe and can fire a round as fast as I pump the slide. It's got an 18 inch standard chunk barrel and weighs in about six and a half pounds dry. The Mossberg comes in handy when you don't have much time to aim and you've got plenty of close range stopping power. You'll love the thrill of having this much raw power in your hands.

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As in Quentin Tarantino's last two films, there's a scene where people look into a car trunk. There's a similar scene in "Death Proof".

Success Rate:  + 4.2

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Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk (5 Stars)

On 23rd October 2004 the 19-year-old soldier Billy Lynn attempted to save his sergeant's life in Iraq. In the process, he killed an Iraqi terrorist in hand to hand combat. This was filmed, and he became a big hero in America. His unit, nicknamed the Bravo squad, goes on a tour in the USA, culminating in a halftime performance at the Dallas Cowboys football game on Thanksgiving.

Billy, while not actually suffering from PTSD, is in a daze. The stress doesn't come from his tour of Iraq, it comes from his treatment back home. The day when his sergeant died in his arms was the worst day of his life, but everyone talks about it in glowing terms. Everyone asks him about it, but it's a day he wishes he could forget.

Many critics are against the film because it isn't what they expect. They look at the box, and they assume it's an anti-war film. It isn't. It isn't a pro-war film either. The war in Iraq is just the background to the story. What's relevant is the way Billy and his unit are treated in America. Billy doesn't feel like a hero. He just wants to be left alone.

Click here for a more detailed review.

I already owned the film on Blu-ray, but I rebought it on 4K after watching "Gemini Man". It was worth the money. These are the only two films to have been released with a speed of 60 frames per second. This sets them apart from all other films ever released. The picture quality is amazing. "Gemini Man" profits more from the high frame rate, because most of the picture has bright scenes, but "Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk" still excels.

If you own a 4K Blu-ray player, you need to buy these two films. They're essential to display the best that 4K can offer. They're the future of films. It will take years for other films to catch up with what these two films offer.

Success Rate:  - 1.3

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Rush Hour 3 (4½ Stars)

This film doesn't appeal to me quite as much as the two previous films. It's funnier than the first two films, especially the first half, but that's the problem I have with it. I find that there's too much comedy and not enough action. There aren't as many of the fights in which Jackie Chan excels.

It's also a matter of the placement of the comedy. In the first film Chris Tucker was the comedian, and Jackie Chan was the straight guy, apart from his fights, which are always comical. In the second film we had comedy from Jackie Chan. In this film he's even funnier. He should have remained the straight guy.

This was the least successful film in the Rush Hour series, only scoring a 0.1 success rate after 5.4 and 1.9 for the first two parts. This led to the series being cancelled, which is a shame, because I think there were a lot of ideas that could still have been used. In recent years there have been talks about making a new film, possibly a spin-off without Jackie Chan. That worries me. I have my doubts that it will be a good film. Let sleeping dogs lie.

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Rush Hour 2 (5 Stars)

The second film in the Rush Hour trilogy was released in 2001, three years after the first film, although the action takes place only a few days after the end of the first film. Detective Yan Lee (Jackie Chan) has returned home to Hong Kong, while Detective James Carter (Chris Tucker) is also in Hong Kong on holiday. Carter's main interest is in meeting sexy Chinese girls. There's nothing wrong with that, but the sexiest girl that he meets is Hu Li (Zhang Ziyi), who would rather kill him than kiss him.

The film is about an ex-cop who's become a gangster. He's acquired original printing plates for US dollars that can make money that's indistinguishable from the real thing. It's being laundered via a Las Vegas casino, the Red Dragon. It's the perfect plan. The casino receives millions of dollars every week, and it pays out millions as well, so the fake notes just have to be swapped for the good notes.

As in the first film, there are a lot of inappropriate jokes that border on racism. I'm surprised that people still have enough of a sense of humour to accept the jokes today, 20 years later. Everyone is becoming more politically correct, although I prefer to call them uptight.

This film isn't in my top 100 films list, but maybe it should be. Watching it today, it seems every bit as good as "Rush Hour". It's a matter of taste. Both films are a mix of action and comedy, but in the second film the comedy is more in the foreground. I need to figure out a way to add extra films to my Top 100 without removing any films that are already in the list.

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Rush Hour (5 Stars)

Dancer's Top Films #99

I'm moving on to the next film in my top 100 films list. Comparing the first two films alone should be enough to show that my taste in films can't be pigeon holed. "Bella Martha" is a slow-moving family drama, whereas "Rush Hour" is a fast-paced action thriller.

"Rush Hour" is a perfect buddy cop movie. Two policemen from different cultures with different styles unite to solve a big crime. That's a formula that's been repeated many times over, but I don't think it's ever been done as successfully as in "Rush Hour". Yan Lee (Jackie Chan) is a serious detective from Hong Kong. James Carter (Chris Tucker) is a reckless, fast-talking detective in the Los Angeles Police Department. They team up to search for the daughter of the Chinese consul in Los Angeles. She's been kidnapped on the way to school and is being held to ransom for $50 million. Chinese diplomats must have a lot of money!

The consul insists that Lee should join the investigation, but the FBI wants to handle the case by themselves. Carter is assigned to babysit Lee and keep him away from the action. Lee refuses this, and Carter has to follow Lee around as he solves the case more quickly than the incompetent FBI. The comedy is non-stop, and the kung fu action is just as humorous. It's an incredible film.

"Rush Hour" was made in 1998 and is the first film of a trilogy. The other two films are almost as good, but they haven't made their way into my top 100 list. Maybe I should have made it a top 200 list. I'll watch the other two films soon to see if I made a mistake.

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