"Better Than Sex" is yet another mostly bedroom two-hander on a relationship, like "About Last Night" and "Breaking Up," but is quite charmingly done in a frank and funny tone.

With a gimmick of a time-bound, three-day relationship setting the limits, the talking to the camera by the two lovers and their friends works as a way to show what's going through their heads. This technique is especially useful when dealing with the visual problem foreign movies have grappled with but American movies have avoided since "Klute" (especially "Pretty Woman"): how to show when sex changes with feelings.

There is a touch of magic realism with a bemused cab driver, but she also could be their whimsical thoughts.

The Australian actors are not of the pencil-thin/gym worked-out American variety, but are lustily and cheerily robust as we see quite a bit of them.

What was confusing was the order their days together are presented -- did my projectionist mix up the reels or was the print I saw mixed up? At one point one character says "We've already had our first fight," which hadn't happened yet, and he leaves with a bag he hadn't brought over. But then later both the fight and the bag appear. I also got confused as to what was which with an indication of "The Third Day" vs. "The Last Day." There's a possibility it was shown out of order for emotional effect, but then I think the changed red sheets didn't appear at the end.

The Aussie pop songs are nice, but incidental and hardly noticeable.

(originally written 11/17/2001)


I think that every boys/mans and women in the world should watch this film...because it 's quite true...and you will learn a lot about the opposite sex;) it's also quite original in the way it is filmed, the interviews...you have a lot of different point of views which are quite representative ...I'm speaking about women's point of view, of course...and i wonder if it's the same for boys. it may be not famous but it's worse to see it, believe me! Watch it either in couple or with friends...it doesn't matter as u can speak about it together! I've seen it with a friend, we had a lot of fun...than I saw it with my boyfriend, it was interesting...


This movie shows that love really conquers all in life.People may try to feel that they are only sexually attracted to one another but they later on realize that this attraction is much more emotional rather than physical.Also,it also make us realize that people may find someone not only who can make them happy in bed but also in real life. This movie also tells us how relationships are whether they are a one-night stand or a serious one.It makes us realize the difference between the two and how two people fall for one another upon meeting each other at night.With regards to acting,Susie Porter did a very good job and so did her partner.Also,the film was very realistic in its presentation.


Well it's not Gone with the Wind, that's for sure! This movie features a woman with one change of underwear who apparently never leaves her apartment, and a bloke who looks better in a wedding dress than I ever did. Plus a mystic cab driver with nothing better to do than hang around waiting for them. And they don't eat in three days.

But leaving aside the practicalities, I enjoyed it immensely, although I'm not sure I can define why. My teen age kids bought me this DVD for Mother's Day - or to be more exact, I bought it and instructed my kids to give it to me. My motives are probably too murky to discuss here.

But having only seen David Wenham previously as Faramir in The Lord of the Rings, in drag as Audrey in Moulin Rouge and as the dubious Carl in Van Helsing ( a movie of quite excruciating badness), it was rather disconcerting to hear his real accent. I mean I knew in theory that Wenham was Australian, but hearing him sound quite so much like Richie Benaud, the cricket commentator whose dulcet tones take me straight back to childhood and my late father's obsession with the thud of leather on willow, was almost more than I could handle.

But I'm digressing. The movie. Lots of fun sex, which is always a good thing if well done, and this is pretty well done, especially towards the end of the movie as the couple really get into each other, lots of comments on men and women, (if a little clichéd), and a happy ending, and it never takes itself too seriously. It is a little heavy handed in places - I'm thinking here of the close ups of the women's mouths prior to the blow job in bath scene. Not subtle. Not a great work of art, but mildly erotic, entertaining and quite funny.

And when evaluating their various past relationships, the script never plunges into the kind of overwrought pathos that would be obligatory in Hollywood. When Cin discovers the photo in Josh's wallet, I was horribly afraid we'd get an explanation of the "love of my life killed in a tragic auto wreck" variety. Instead we get a quite refreshing "she messed me about so I moved to London" line. Real life, for all that it's mundane.

David Wenham does "bemused everyman" to perfection as Josh, and is obviously an actor of huge range. Susie Porter (who is gorgeous) is both vulnerable and tough where necessary as Cin. They look like real people, and seem just as dim-witted as the rest of us. I shall watch it again.


This film from first time writer/director Jonathan Teplitzky is an ambitious venture and one that succeeds very well.

It follows the trials and tribulations of a "one night stand" that goes that little bit further.

Supurb acting from lead actors David Wenham and Susie Porter as well as a slick and funny script from Teplitzky make this a brilliant film. It leaves the audience in no doubt as to what is, indeed, Better Than Sex.


I loved this movie as there were so many moments people in their late 20 somethings and 30 somethings could relate to. There's plenty of laughs and a few moments that leave you nodding, realising the right emotion has been touched and going: "Yep, been there and felt exactly that."


This is the third time i have seen this film, and i absolutely adore it :). It's so fresh, sexy and real. I would just crawl into the cinema seat, with my love and simply enjoy it. :) The photo session of the film is the one of the best, okay, they don't use such a camera and scenes to produce such shots there and then, but i don't care, it mixes great i think. The fact that both Josh and Cynthia is so usual gives the film an authentic look. :) Great sex scenes and the usual differences between man and woman on display. :)


...after some very difficult (nude!) roles in FEELING SEXY and (in particular) THE MONKEY'S MASK. Wenham is also good - after appearing in various bit-parts, his major break came in THE BOYS, closely followed by A LITTLE BIT OF SOUL and MOLOKAI: now, of course, he's a household name.

This is by no means a brilliant film: it lulls occasionally, and there's something annoyingly trivial about watching a couple of young people talk about their new relationship - universal, but still trivial. However, first-time director Teplitzky manages to create a very open feeling, and drag us into the story with the use of obvious, but (again) universal, angsts. Yes, you can spot the "ending" from a mile away - though of course half the fun in these realist films is predicting what might come next - but if there's one reason to see it, it's Kris McQuade (you might know her from the FIELDS OF FIRE trilogy) as the taxi driver: unmissable.


It's always instructive to watch films released no more than a year apart, tackling an identical subject, with many ideas in common, yet made in different countries and causally unrelated: take Australia's "Better Than Sex", and France's "A Pornographic Affair". It hurts to say it, but the French completely outclassed us. (AND they got in first.) But you don't have to see the French film to work out what's wrong with this one. English critic Cosmo Landsman put it best: "There's nothing here you couldn't learn by reading 'Cosmopolitan'."

I have nothing against 'Cosmopolitan', but before starting work on a project like this you must decide if you wants to create a "How Compatible Are You?" quiz, or a work of art; its one or the other. They bathe the paper on which 'Cosmopolitan' magazines are printed in a kind of aesthetic disinfectant, and this film has gone through a similar process. The acting is good. It's the one feature of Australian films... And, I should admit, there's enough real humour to make it all wash down easily. But I got the uncomfortable feeling afterwards that I hadn't seen a movie at all. The taxi driver, who could have been a delightful fantasy element, was instead an embarrassingly naked cop-out, and that's what the device of interviewing the central protagonists turned out to be, too. Two films handled it much better: "When Harry Met Sally", and the French film. There was a point to the device in both cases. In "When Harry..." it's an outside-the-narrative device, placing the two central characters in the context of a larger world; in the French film, it's an INSIDE-the-narrative device, letting us know that the central characters have since reflected on the past. In "Better Than Sex" it's just a clumsy extravagance.


In 2005 Pascal Thomas adapted an Agatha Christie story for the screen, signed up Catherine Frot and Andre Dussollier for the leads and enjoyed the minor success which prompted him to do it again ergo Zero Hour. In my case top-billed Danielle Darrieux - still acting in her ninety first year - was all the inducement I needed to get it up at the box office and the fact that Thomas has made another competent film is a bonus. If you like movies in which the actors wear timeless, well-cut clothes, move in a well-appointed château with a seascape thrown in for good measure and behave in obligatory mysterious ways so that an eventual murder has been long anticipated then you won't be disappointed. Chiara Mastroianni, looking more like her father every day is also on hand to remind us what we lost when her father died and if she bears only a passing resemblance to her mother that's not so important because mum Catherine Deneuve is still very much with us. It's doubtful if Chiara will ever achieve the iconic status of her parents but she gets acting jobs because casting directors and producers know she can deliver rather than because of her genes. An enjoyable romp.


Towards Zero is not one of Agatha Christie's more famous novels, but for a murder mystery lover it is almost an essential read. It has been several years since I read it, but I very distinctly remember how much I enjoyed it as well as the plot and the substantial twist.

This French movie adaptation is set in present day Bretagne, but other than that remains - rather surprisingly - true to the book, more so than, for example, the Diana Rigg version of Evil Under The Sun. All important plot points remain intact. Not that this in itself signifies a great movie. Au contraire, vraiment - while the cinematography, setting, music and pacing are more or less good, many of the actors overact their characters to the point of becoming caricatures instead. The shrewish wife or the maid (vaguely reminiscent of Nancy Walker's Yetta in Murder By Death, nevertheless wholly unsuitable for a serious murder mystery) are best examples of this. Danielle Darrieux is, quite unsurprisingly, not among those, and her much too brief appearance as Aunt Camilla is the only real performance in the picture. François Morel as the detective comes close to one, but not quite close enough.

Final verdict: Entertaining murder mystery with some hammy performances, fast pacing and a great twist by Dame Agatha herself. Also useful as a French listening comprehension practice, especially if you're as lucky as I am and your copy lacks subtitles.


I approached this movie with some skepticism: although France is to be commended for being pretty much the only country in the world right now that still produces films based on the works of Agatha Christie and releases them theatrically (the British Poirot and Miss Marple series are still running, of course, but they're made for TV), "Towards Zero" is directed by Pascal Thomas, whose previous Christie adaptation, the 2005 "By The Pricking Of My Thumbs", was about as dull as a film can possibly be. Thankfully, "Towards Zero" is much better. The main reason for this is simple: instead of being a talkathon with secondary mystery elements like "Thumbs", this is a good old-fashioned whodunit with nearly all of the typical elements of the genre in place: a luxurious mansion, a large but limited number of suspects, a cunning police inspector, family secrets, intense emotions and rivalries, red herrings, etc. The solution is unpredictable, even though it is based on the kind of double-deception that Christie has used quite a few other times in her stories. The cast is good, with the best performance award going to Laura Smet for her infuriatingly impulsive and impulsively sexy character. The locations and the settings are beautiful. A nostalgically enjoyable movie. *** out of 4.


Cannon was an excellent tv movie and resulted in a successful series that ran for 5yrs.

William Conrad was brilliant as the overweight Private Eye Frank Cannon.

He proved that you didn't have to be good looking or a super hero to be a good detective.

So he was fat, so what, he was an everyman detective and an ordinary guy that you might see in the street who happened to be overweight.

Despite this he proved he was intelligent, quick witted and he had a number of smarts to outwit his opponents, but he was also capable of looking after himself physically when the situation arose (he was an expert in karate, being overweight does not mean you can't handle the rough stuff when you need to, my judo instructor was 19st, the same weight as Cannon, but boy could he move fast when performing various judo throws and moves).

I am 19st myself, but I know that I can look after myself when need be, with my experience of judo.

Remember Cannon was cunning and knew that his size might get in the way of the physical rough stuff, so he planned his moves carefully and used short swift karate & judo moves to gain the upper hand of his opponents.

He proved that a fat man could look after himself and that he was more than capable when it was needed to deal with violent crooks.

If he was ever attacked and beaten up, he usually got his revenge at the end of the story one way or another.

Also it has to be remembered that Cannon carried a gun. He was an expert with firearms and an excellent marksman (as was William Conrad in real life)and was a competent driver in his Lincoln Continental.

All in all Cannon was another good tv detective series of the 70's, which sadly has given way to the over violent and over done crime films & television series of today, which to my mind lack story content of these old tv detective series of yesterday, which had good story content without the need for over the top violence.

I hope to see video releases of this series soon.


Unlike more recent detective series that are little more than an hour of car chases, graphic bomb scenes and other gratuitous violence, Cannon showed a detective carefully and cleverly going about the business of solving perplexing crimes. Moreover, unlike The Rockford Files and others which strain credibility by portraying a supposedly successful detective as always having trouble paying his bills, Cannon shows a very successful detective surrounded by the trappings of success such as a beautiful Mark IV and an expensive penthouse apartment. All in all a great series.


"Cannon" was probably the least pompous of the original entries in television's anti- establishment police/private-eye subgenre; setting the stage for "Harry-O" and "The Rockford Files". Rotund actor William Conrad played the title character; dubbed "Cannonball" in Mad Magazine's satire of the series. After years as the voice-over narrator of "The Fugitive" and "Rocky and Bullwinkle", Conrad finally was allowed to be on-screen and is said to have incorporated a lot of his own quirky characteristics into the Frank Cannon character.

Frank is a detective who only takes a case when he feels like it or his pressed for cash to maintain his expensive epicurean lifestyle (i.e. adventures in eating). Most of the action in the series is in the form of car chases; there is some fighting but almost no running. Lacking a handsome co-star "Cannon's" producers were obviously ceding most potential female viewers to the other networks during this time slot; which is generally a good thing for those in the target demographic as there are no compromises to expand the audience.

"Cannon" was a quality Quinn Martin production with logical situations, good suspense, and fast pacing.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

Episode 1 (14 Sept 71) "Salinas Jackpot" - Tom Skeritt, Sharon Acker; Episode 2 (21 Sept 71) "Death Chain" Episode 3 (28 Sept 71) "Call Unicorn" - Wayne Rogers; Episode 4 (5 Oct 71) "Country Blues - Clu Gulager, David Huddleston, Joan Van Ark; Episode 5 (12 Oct 71) "Scream of Silence"; Episode 6 (19 Oct 71) "Fool's Gold," L.Q. Jones; Episode 7 26 Oct 71) "Girl In the Electric Coffin" Kim Hunter; Episode 8 (9 Nov 71) "Dead Pigeon"; Episode 9 16 Nov 71) "Lonely Place to Die"; Episode 10 (23 Nov 71) "No Pockets in the Shroud," Roy Scheider, Linda Marsh; Episode 11 (30 Jan 72) "Stone, Cold Dead," Richard Anderson; Episode 12 (7 Dec 71) "Death is a Double Cross"


The great memories of childhood included playing sports and watching television (it was ALWAYS on when I was in the house!!). For my money, the 70's produced the best shows, detective/cop series in particular: Starsky and Hutch, Baretta, Kojak, S.W.A.T. Barnaby Jones, The Rookies etc... And of course "Cannon".The plot has been described already: William Conrad starred as Frank Cannon, a heavy set private detective who took (and invariably solved) cases of interest. Aside from occasional help from his police contacts in gathering some facts from time to time, Cannon worked alone and relied on intelligence and the occasional Gun play to get things done. Presented in the trademark "Quinn Martin format" of "Acts I, II, III, IV, Cannon was thoroughly enjoyable. The fun in watching today lies in the many great character actors of the day (many of whom appeared on every show of the decade, it seems!), the "sterile" violence and the personal childhood memories the show holds. A great way to spend an hour.


I love detective shows. One can watch Cannon on TV Land. I never saw a detective show with a fat, out of shape protagonist. The same formulated detective series, of running around asking question, with the usual confrontational climax. The viewer is assaulted with the out of the blue investigation breaks leading to figuring out the case. The usual plot devices of a found phone number, or random run in with character directs the story. The weired musical score sets a strange tone! A very 70's show because of the music, cloths, social message, and characters. The quality of filming and acting has come a long why from the 70's. Still a interesting show 7 out of 10 spy cams for Cannon.


Throughout the 1970's Denmark had only one TV Channel. We had Rockford, Kojak, Columbo, and McCloud, but no Frank Cannon. Those of us who could watch West German TV, though, had a chance to enjoy the Frank Cannon series, if we could live with the fact that he spoke German. German TV dubbed (and still do)very much anything foreign into German. It was also the time before a VCR would be found in every home. Had it not been for that, I would probably had ignored the language barrier and recorded the shows for keeps. I just loved to watch him cruise around in the Lincoln Mark IV and solve crimes. Is there anyone who can help me with tapes with this series? Kind regards Mogens


In 1974, an American secret agent takes a blood sample from a werewolf in Budapest, then returns to the U.S., where he inject himself with it (!), kills a few people, is captured by the evil Colonel Miller (Barry Bostwick, who's awful) and cryogenically frozen. 20 years later at the "U.S. Secret Operations Center," a group of doctors experimenting with synthetic, metallic skin are given the frozen cadaver as a test subject, resulting in a red-eyed creature that looks like a cross between PREDATOR, Sonic the Hedgehog and the ALIEN monster. It's kept strapped to a bed with what appears to be Saran Wrap, escapes and starts killing again, but a few resourceful doctors melt up some silver just in time to load up a high-powered bazooka (conveniently found on the premises) and blow the sucker into a zillion bloody pieces.

The John Carl Buechler FX are alright (but silly!) and the whole scenario is pretty old (despite the werewolf angle) but there are a few good parts and I liked it OK watching it on cable at about 3 in the morning.


Joel Grey is remarkably fine as the lead in The Yeomen of the Guard. You probably remember his superb acting in Cabaret with Liza Minnelli. In Yeomen, Joel Grey is equally fine and steals the show with its gaiety and despondency as he loses his girl. This is one of the finer operettas by Gilbert and Sullivan. The songs are quite memorable. I wholeheartedly recommend this to lovers of musicals. Joel Grey is stupendous!


Do you ever wonder how long videotapes will last? I recorded this from Public Broadcasting (PBS) over 16 years ago, and have no record that I've watched the tape since. It ran almost perfectly. The Closed Captions - essential for G&S productions - were a bit garbled, but that might not be the fault of the tape.

Anyone expecting a typical Gilbert and Sullivan comic operetta is likely to be disappointed or even offended by "Yeomen." It's much more in the Grand Opera tradition, except that the Prima Donna survives. It's pretty much a disaster for some of the other principals, however.

This production is part of the "Compleat Gilbert and Sullivan" made-for-video series of 1982 and thereabouts, made in the UK and distributed in the U.S. through PBS by WGBH-Boston.

This "Yeomen" is very well done and aside from the fact that it's not a "happy-ending" story in some respects, is, in its way, very entertaining. It's well worth seeing, if you can find it.


A perfect cast in an almost perfect rendition of this masterpiece of tragi-comic operettas, does full vocal and histrionic justice to both Gilbert and Sullivan, with perhaps one exception: Joel Grey. I'm sure most fans would agree that Martyn Green's interpretation of Jack Point is definitive. Grey, wisely in my opinion, makes no attempt to imitate Green, but strikes out on his own  a decision that will please more people than it irritates  to give a far more subtle account of this sad, lonely, self-mocking clown.

However, it's Alfred Marks in the showy role of Wilfred Shadbolt, the assistant torturer, who walks away with both acting and singing honors, although Elizabeth Gale as the newlywed Elsie and Claire Powell as the passionate "sister" Phoebe, are not far behind. A few critics have quarreled with Elizabeth Bainbridge's more dignified Dame, but I thought she carried herself magnificently. To my mind, a panto Dame is out of place in the Tower of London. There is enough humor in the piece already  albeit humor of a cruel, sardonic, sarcastic and satirical sort.

Although intended primarily for television transmission, a great deal of money has been most creatively spent on this production. The costumes, the sets, the crowds of colorful extras constantly dazzle the eye, while Sullivan's captivating and rousing music was never more superbly rendered than it is here by the London Symphony Orchestra. Camera director Dave Heather is to be heartily commended for his excellent work in bringing the full resources at his disposal so persuasively to the small screen. Unlike the usual TV hacks, he uses close-ups sparingly to conserve their dramatic impact and smoothly allows the camera not only to focus on the wider scene but even to employ extended long shots (a double no-no on TV) when these are emotionally warranted.


Although I wished it had included all of the songs from the opera, this production was still a good way to get acquainted with the "Yeomen of the Guard." The sets and costumes were very well-done. Missing from this performance were both of Fairfax's solos, as well as "when a wooer goes a-wooing", "strange adventure" and the duet "Rapture, rapture."

Joel Gray is a very nimble Jack Point. My favorite portrayal was Alfred Marks as Wilfrid Shadbolt. His duet with Gray, "hereupon we've both agreed," was my favorite number. Elizabeth Gale made a very touching Elsie, singing with a lot of emotion. Fairfax did the most he could with his role, considering both of his solos were left out.


I thought this production was very satisfying dramatically and nearly as satisfying musically. I did have some reservations about Joel Grey who I thought didn't quite have the style (some Broadway shtick crept in now and then, of course.) but he acted very well and on the whole did a "yeoman" job. Even though Elizabeth Bainbridge was a very dignified Dame Carruthers, her character was perhaps meant to be a bit more of a gorgon. But her approach worked in general. Sets and costumes were excellent.

Apart from missing the ensemble "Strange Adventure" I thought the music was well served. The DVD was nothing special but the irritation quality of Doug Jr. was kept to a minimum except in one spot.

8 out of 10.


Yeomen of the Guard is especially fine because Joel Grey is such a superb actor who conveys the sadness and folly of loving someone who fails to return your love. It is a melancholy but realistic story of love unrequited. The entire cast is superb. The set is excellent. This is one of the finest Gilbert and Sullivan movies brought to TV.

 Give it a try. You will also enjoy this story and its wonderful music.


This is a chilling film made with minimal resources that grabs you by the jugular and doesn't let go - a family tragedy that reeks of Shakespeare. A father has died leaving two sets of sons behind (by different mothers). The older sons were abandoned when young and when they turn up at the funeral held by the younger sons, old hostilities surface. Much of the narrative unfolds without explicit explanation, and often with minimal dialogue. We get into the minds of the various protagonists largely by their actions.

Set in the cotton-growing region of Arkansas, it gives a view of Americans struggling in semi-rural life. The film cast is mostly with unknown actors and this is a strength that adds a level of realism to a film. While there is a sense of dreaded inevitability throughout, there is also plenty of room for the unexpected, but not in a contrived Hollywood manner. The film is both very well written and impeccably directed. Remarkably, this is a directorial debut by Jeff Nichols who also wrote and produced the film. He is definitely a talent to watch.

As a slight negative, I don't know if it was the film or the venue, but the visuals and sound didn't seem quite up to scratch. This bothered me slightly at the start, but once the story got into gear (pretty early in the piece), it was barely noticeable. I found the music enjoyable, adding ambiance without being in your face.

I saw Shotgun Stories at the Melbourne International Film Festival.


Powerful drama, seems like a Greek tragedy, about poor rural life in Arkansas with no way out for every character to explore and find their dreams and how this way of life drive them to desperation, loneliness and human loss for two families. Acting in silence from the unknown but very solid in their roles Michael Shannon (Son), Douglas Ligon (Boy) and Barlow Jacobs (Kid) as the three brothers. First Attempt to direct from Jeff Nichols (who also wrote the script and produced the movie) ,with beautiful cinematography, winner of New American Cinema Award in Seattle International Film Festival, this is a chilling, tragic and original story to see.


Shotgun Stories (2007) ****

Having been ignored and pushed aside by big studios and distributors, and overshadowed by big money makers, Jeff Nichols Shotgun Stories has gotten limited release. As much as I enjoy finding the hidden gems, it always makes me a little bit sad to see a film so great passed over. Filmed primarily in 2004, and released last year, Shotgun Stories has gotten a nice word of mouth and critical following. Roger Ebert announced it would play at his Overlooked Film Festival, and recently published a 4 star review.

The film centers on Son Hayes and his brothers, Boy and Kid. They were given their names by their alcoholic deadbeat father, who birthed them, left them as if they were never born, then reformed his ways, stopped drinking, became a born again Christian and fathered a new family. The boys were left, as Son says, to be "raised by a hateful woman," who taught them to hate their fathers new family, and they do. When their father dies, the brothers show up at his funeral, make an impromptu speech, which the new sons, with proper names, do not take kindly to.

Writer/director Nichols handles his film with the greatest of care. Not a word of dialogue is uttered that seems implausible. Nothing is wasted on exposition. For instance, what we know about the Father, we learn only through the brief speech made by Son at the funeral. It feels real, it feels to the point, and best of all, in a few short words it never feels like exposition. Nichols takes his time, never rushing, but wasting nothing. The end result is a visceral experience. The actors all deliver excellent performances, especially Michael Shannon, who seems to be off and on in a lot of roles. Here he is definitely on.

This film gets under your skin, takes you into the world of these characters and never lets you go. There are deaths in the film, and when it happens midway through, a sense of loss, of sadness, and of rage is felt by the audience for the remainder.

It never boils down into a standard revenge film, but simply muddles in the mundane and sad lives of its characters. Although this film exudes a sense of sadness that few other films could aspire to, its not depressing. I would not dare reveal the films resolution, only to say that it comes sensibly, after a moment of great realization. Nichols shows himself to be a serious filmmaker to watch in the future. This is a profound and wise film. And a great one too


Ever want to know how those supposed family feuds happen, when two groups end up killing each other on site? Stories of these age-old battles have been curiously explored in literature such as Huckleberry Fin which tackles the subject with daring accuracy. This is the first film to show us not only a convincing portrayal of one of these family feuds, but showing us how they start; often by human beings who are hot-headed and overly defensive, potential bad-seeds which can take the whole family down with them, and in a poor society that allows such aggression to ferment and be propelled forward onto another family. I think it is important to note that there are no real villains in this film, only people offended and wanting satisfaction for their own grief.

Now to judge it more as a physical film, the lead actor is terrific and captivates us throughout the entire film. The other actors give solid performances but not stand-out ones. The sound design is masterful, and much needed for there is a lot of silence, and not a lot of dialogue, yet the sound design keeps us on edge whenever we need to be. Direction is fine, and the writer/director obviously knows where to pull his punches without overdoing it (so he doesn't labour his points and thus overall message of the film).

I don't agree with the soundtrack, and I think it takes away from the film a little. A few too many sequences of beautiful cinematography with music goes a little longer than necessary, but this is nitpicking and overall an excellent and original film.


This was a great film. I expected slow and uninteresting. But I really loved it. Michael Shannon is a stud. This guy is going to be huge. Great performance. I'm shocked he didn't get Oscar nod consideration for this - but given the apparent lack of viewers, it's understandable I supposed. Nichols has a great script. He sticks to his desire to battle convention and really let the story unfold slowly. I was really impressed. I've read other comments on here about people becoming frustrated with the nod to Terrence Malick - and I completely understand that, and I suspect there will be several more nods to Malick thanks to the NC School of the Arts, but this was a great movie. I've been watching David Gordon Green's movies this week and now this one - and they both attended the same school and I suspect there was a lot of Malick-like influence from the professors.


Shotgun Stories, Jeff Nichol's impressive directorial debut, is an intense portrayal of a host of social ills in the Southern US: poverty, lawlessness, broken homes and guns. Set in a town in Arkansas, the film picks up the story of three brothers, all young men, named Son, Kid and Boy. The father of this unfortunate trio abandoned them when they were at a young age and they grew up in the home of a bitter, vindictive mother. Of the three, Son is the least hopeless case in a truly dysfunctional trio, but his relationship with his girlfriend and pre-teenage son is decidedly rocky due to his gambling addiction. The shared rapport between the brothers is one of the few comforts in a bleak situation and it makes the subsequent tragedies all the more painful to watch.

The tragedy begins to unfold when the three brothers learn of the death of their father. When they turn up to the funeral they confront the four brothers that their father raised after he left his first family behind. The unpleasant encounter at the funeral stokes up the resentments on each side and initiates an escalating blood feud. The reprisals become increasingly violent as new weapons are used to settle the scores: words, fists, knives and, lastly, inexorably, guns. The violent clashes are filmed only fleetingly, rather than in voyeuristic close-up detail, but the tragic consequences are felt with sickening force on both sides of the family. It is telling that the police intervene only once during a fight and do so without leaving their car  vigilantism is left unchecked. A further tragedy in all of this is that the young child fathered by Son is witness to so much of the violence.

The landscape of the American South is beautifully observed in Shotgun Stories; the fecundity of the cotton fields and the warm glow of golden sun on the fields are contrasted with images of sewage flowing into rivers and lily pads decaying in muddy ponds. The bittersweet soundtrack complements the mixed imagery, using a simple palate of acoustic guitar and cello to considerable effect and playing again and again in your ears long after the credits roll. In the final scenes, the desperately sad and tragic events wind up in a curious ending, neither happy nor sad, but about as heartening a cinematic experience as I have had this year.


Shotgun Stories is a very raw and gritty approach to naturalistic type A storytelling. It reminded me of a contemporary redneck version of the Montague/Capulet rivalry. In general, the story focuses on the hostility and ugliness of human nature yet without being obnoxious or judgmental. It is simply an attempt to portray as objectively as possible the impacts that certain social issues have on society, including: poverty, child abuse, divorce, addiction, spousal infidelity, anger, revenge, and unforgiveness. However, it is not motivated by any political agenda to entice social reform. Instead, it allows viewers to decide what the core issues at stake are as well as provide solutions for the world's most troubling social epidemics. Succinctly put, this film shows how life is for many people who live under less than fortunate circumstances.

I never found any of the characters to be morally repulsive. Rather, I felt compassion for them. It was sad to see how most were earnestly trying to live as best they could, yet were constantly swept away by the incessant waves of human frailty. An example of this is when Son throws away his gambling addiction in order to salvage his broken relationship with his girlfriend. After solving this problem, another charges against him when he realizes his brother was murdered by the opposite side of his step-family. The battle then becomes if whether he'll be able to bridle his feelings of revenge. One frailty after the next, Son, like many of the other characters, is tested on how resilient he really is.

In this sense, the film merely illuminates the weakness of the human condition, given all of its vulnerabilities, rather than stereotype a given group of people as morally depraved. In other words, I do not believe the filmmakers were trying to point fingers at any group, let alone personality type as being evil. I don't believe many people will walk away from this film saying, "Gee, that one guy was so awful because of such-and-such." I think people will recognize that these characters were simply victims of poor social circumstances. The film was showing that there are reasons for people behaving in less than tolerable ways, and often times understandable reasons. Therefore, unless people have the full story of these characters, and more importantly, the lives of "real" everyday people, they would be wise to withhold unrighteous judgment.

The characters in this story are highly dysfunctional victims of destitution due to a lack of strong parental care when they were younger. Consequently, there wasn't really one person to blame for each character flaw, yet ironically each character shifted responsibility to avoid being blamed for the step-family's eventual downfall. Abusive parents spawned abusive children, which eventually sparked the civil war within the step-family. A memorable yet haunting monologue given by Son is when he blames his cold-hearted mother for the violent rivalry within the family: "You taught us to hate those kidsand now look what's happened." This line demonstrates the seriousness of causality and its potentially detrimental effects when children are raised to hate others because of an unforgiving heart. The film's moral purpose, then, was to show the precarious consequences of what happens when the family is destroyed. Since families are the moral fabric of societies, all societal plagues can be traced back to the destruction of the family.


This film is not an action movie like the title might imply, far from in in fact, it is slow moving yet relentless in it's growing tension. You feel that it will all reach a breaking point eventually and that's what kept me interested, along with very believable performance from the entire case. I don't want to get into any of the plot for fear of spoiling anything so I won't. I knew very little going in and I think that was for the best. I'm not trying to make it sound like this is a film full of big twists, because it's not, but what it is, is a film of moments, key moments that define the film, it's story and it's characters. These moments at times are surprises and other times inevitability. All said this story is well done, I do believe it could have been done better by a different cast and some rewrites, but that's not to say that this is a bad film at all, for what it was and what it had it all feels both good and right.


I must start by explaining the summary comment. I put this in the DVD at 11:30pm after watching the Superbowl and doing the required beer drinking that goes with that. I was pretty sure I would be re-watching "Shotgun Stories" in the morning as I planned to fall asleep. I was amazed that a very slow moving, no real action to speak of movie did such a great job of keeping my interest up. Kicked it out of the DVD at 1:00am, reminded myself to find out who the star was and see what else he had been in since I do not remember him from anything. Michael Shannon is a great friggin actor. I had no interest at all in "Revolutionary Road" but will see it now just to watch his Oscar nominated work.

"Shotgun Stories" is well worth the hour and a half. You may find yourselves waiting for something big to happen and then realize it did without the gun play or explosions.


Mike Nichols is of a new breed, inspired by a classic breed of stand-up film makers. "Shotgun Stories" is one of those films for those with patience and appreciation of beauty in every day life. When you see those shots of the American landscape through the lens, they are so much more than just this small town where some people happen to live.

Gripes with such films is that they aren't entertaining to many people, that nothing really happens or that too little goes on with a dragging pace. If you want to see cars explode and people do drugs, this isn't the film for you.

"Shotgun Stories" is about two families who share the same Father. He passes away, and the family he left ignites in a battle against the family he was a part of for the second half of his life. The feud is so natural, so human, and so emotional that it is hard to find a way out of it for the boys as they are sent closer to the edge. The only possible answer is what comes next, death.

Michael Shannon gives a fantastically reserved performance as Son Hayes, as he has been building on great performances in supporting roles, but getting no recognition for his stand-out lead performance in "Bug". It is clear that he is one to watch.

If you are a fan of Terrence Malick, David Gordon Green, or Andrew Dominik's "The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford", this should be on your list to see.Shotgun Stories


I wonder about Liberation Entertainment, the film's distributor. Along with last year's "Stephanie Daley," they have proved to have great film taste. But do these guys know anything about marketing? Both films came and went in a flash, and after seeing both these films, it's hard to believe that could be possible. Thankfully, something like NetFlix exists, because otherwise, I would never have seen either picture. And as "Stephanie Daley" was probably the best little-seen movie last year in America, I think that "honor" is going to go to "Shotgun Stories" this year.

A modern day Hatfields versus the McCoys, with a bit of a twist...they're also related to each other. Understated plot and performances...this is a gem of a movie that film fans will find well worth the effort to seek out.


I've seen Michael Shannon in too many movies to mention, but he may get his due this year with an Oscar nomination for Revolutionary Road. This indie, shot in the State I spent a lot of my growing up years in, is an excellent performance for him. Most of the others in this movie about family tension and revenge are new to acting.

Wars between families and clans are nothing new. There are the famous Hatfields and McCoys, and I just watched L' Héritage (The Legacy) that had the same subject. Here, a daddy left three sons and went off to start a new family. They come together at the funeral, but the abandoned clan set off a feud when they dissed the old man.

It was a slow movie, with a few fights, and it verged on exploding, but family wins out and bloodshed is minimal.


This film, seeming so simple on the surface, was a profound study of how people's lives are affected by judgment and rejection. Two families of sons, same father, different mothers, have spent their respective lives "knowing" that they belonged either to the favored family or to the rejected family. The reason that one family was so bitterly rejected is never really known, and it doesn't need to be explained. The movie is about the effect this has had on the self-worth of the characters. Who can say how one group can be judged as worthy, and the other as unworthy? As American as this story is, it made me think of the Middle East conflict, where sons of different mothers are fighting and killing each other. It was so telling how the older sons had names that weren't even really names, merely descriptions, while the younger sons had actual names as though they were the true human beings. I found the ending to be hopeful, and I appreciated how the child who sat on the porch with his dad and uncle DID have a real person's name, yet was at once "boy, kid, son."

I viewed this film at the Palm Springs Film Festival, where many audience members came up to the director afterward to say, "I'm not from Arkansas, but I know these people." I loved the air conditioner scene, the inspiration for which Mr. Nichols said he actually witnessed in real life.

I see that this is scheduled for limited US release on Mar 26. I hope a lot of people get a chance to see it.


Here is a good film where the director makes artistic choices, shapes the material, and never goes for the sensational. The acting is very natural and the setting is interesting (small-town Arkansas.) But, having seen it two weeks ago, I've already forgotten most of the narrative. In too many scenes, the dialogue is just too ordinary and the antagonism between the characters is too plateaued. The basic plot is a blood feud between two sets of half-brothers. Outside of the feud, their lives seem to center on tapedecks, burgers, and boozing. You get the parched quality of small-town Ozarks life, but that doesn't necessarily lend to dramatic form. The scars on lead character Son's back could have been a recurring motif (and meant more); in the director's commentary you learn why that plan was abandoned. A good film which lacks the extra fire that makes you want to return to it.


A great story that should have been a great movie. It's unfortunately pretty poorly directed, and the writing could have been tighter. I can still appreciate it for what it is, and hopefully writer/director Nichols, whose debut this is, will come up with something as good in the future and do better by it. Michael Shannon, Douglas Ligon and Barlow Jacobs play three men named Son, Boy and Kid. Their father left them when they were kids, which led to their mother abandoning them emotionally. Son, the oldest, basically raised them, and their lives are pretty lousy, though seemingly normal for the setting, rural Arkansas. When they hear their father has died, the three men attend his funeral and speak badly of the man who couldn't have cared less about them. This deeply offends the old man's second family, consisting of four brothers, and a war begins between them. What the film really has going for it is the great characterizations, very well performed by mostly amateurs. I pegged Michael Shannon last year, with his performances in Bug and Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, as being one of this generation's finest actors, and he does well by that promise here. Nichols almost undoes it all with awkward pacing and way too much wallowing in the town's redneckiness. The film is mostly pitched as a serious indie with copious comic moments, all involving how trashy everyone is. The movie probably does not play well in the South. I think maybe the script's biggest problem is that it really contains only one idea, and Nichols doesn't want to spend it all in one place.


I do not say these words lightly.

I saw Breakfast of Aliens in a pre-release screening at Boston's 24-hour science fiction movie marathon. Let's just say it's a crowd that appreciates the occasional schlock B-movie, and that (lack of) quality is no object to enjoyment. Ed Wood, rubber suit monsters? Prime marathon material.

Breakfast, is not. As the credits rolled, the crowd began to chant "THAT SUCKED! THAT SUCKED! THAT SUCKED!" and could not be hushed for several minutes.

Breakfast is un-funny, dreary, and just a mess from start to finish. There is no joy mixed with the pain in this one. It's gross, it's unpleasant, and it's not the bad you can love to hate. It's just the bad you hate.

Luckily for you, I don't think it was ever released, never mind released on video. Potential distributors out there? Just Say No.


Glad to see that I'm not the only one who was in this movie/invested in it that has never seen a dime for it. I was in this movie as well, I won't say who I played, but the best thing is to try to make it a drinking game, that's what I did with my friends when they insisted on seeing it. Honestly, the original script was better than what this turned out to be. I still can't believe that someone is out there distributing the movie, I mean it's even up for rent on Netflix! Oh, and one little discrepancy with IMDb, the movie was only distributed (who knew, not me definitely) in 1993, it was actually made in 1987 or 1988. Oh well, even though I signed on to be in a quaint little comedy I wound up being in a schlocky horror movie. Chock it up as something to tell my kids.


I would say for making a movie during the writer's strike, on a very limited budget, this film managed to satisfy the crowd that I sat in when I first viewed it. It was shown on a college campus in 1993, and many enjoyed it so much they returned to watch it again. Keep in mind, it was made 13 years ago. Technology today has given even the low budget filmmakers the opportunity to enhance their product and accomplish things never possible in the past. It did cross genres, which is a no-no to some, but there are many other films that have done the same thing with much success. I think every filmmaker should be applauded for their work, no matter how good or bad the public views their art. There are so many components that can make or break a film, through editing, and on through distribution. So, please give this film a break. Grab a bowl of cereal and have fun with it!


Just rented this on Netflix because a friend had recommended it. It's not your typical...well anything. It's part horror, part comedy, part Marx Brothers, Coen Brothers, John Waters. And it's pretty good, especially if you like zany off the wall stuff. In many ways, it's groundbreaking...foreshadowing the confluence of horror and comedy that's so popular now (i.e. Scary Movie). Vic Dunlop is a stand up comedy legend, having worked the stages of NY and LA and having taught many of today's hot shot comedians. It's really interesting to see him in an earlier incarnation on screen rather than onstage. Worth a look, especially for fans of wacky comedies and movies that are just different.


I don't know why people actually liked this movie just for a bit? Maybe because of the big breasted teens? There is NO plot, almost nothing is happening and it drags on and on. I'm a big B-movie fan and I don't care if the acting or the fx are bad (sometimes it makes movies even more fun!) but nothing is happening in this movie. So AVOID this one! I warned you!


This is a modern version of a 1970s sleazy exploitation movie. Somebody went and got all the satanic talismans, upside-down crosses, lots of candles, and the kind of satanic nick-nacks that you can find at a Flea Market, novelty shops, or occult book store.

What is up with the candles? There must have been a clearance sale on candles when the Special Effects department went shopping. Every time I see one of those movies were a scene has hundreds of candles lit, I wonder how uncomfortable was it for the actors and film crew? So many candles even on a film set must give off a lot of heat. Has anyone ever met a person (or cult) who really lights up their house with hundreds of candles? Talk about a fire hazard!

Devil's Prey features lots of T & A teasing, skimpy outfits, and bare breasts if you rent the video (I saw it on TV where the breasts are fuzzed out). This movie is boring except when the really cute young ladies are prancing about, especially if you are viewing the film without the censorship-fuzzies. If you watch the TV version, then this movie is very very boring because all you can see are bouncing fuzzies.

The plot is that a bunch of marginal youths who are into drugs and drug dealing get stuck in a satanic cult's land when their vehicle breaks down. They are captured by the cow-cult and scheduled to be sacrificed to the cow-god or something. There are a few bad guys who love to dress up in the ceremonial garb, laugh demoniacally, and they like to look at each other with demonic smirks. There is a bad girl who is sinfully cute, and if this movie were a swimsuit video it would have been a lot better.


Five friends (Susan (Ashley Jones), David (Charlie O'Connel), Samantha (the horrible Jennifer Lyons), Erik (Brian Kirkwood) and Joe (Rashaan Nall)) are invited to go to a rave party in a distant location. In the party, Erik starts dealing drugs and David fights with a local, and the group is invited to leave immediately the place. In the way back home, in a lack of attention of David while driving, he hits Fawn (Elena Lyons) on the road. He stops the car and they rescue the girl. Fawn is hurt and tells them that she was escaping from some fanatics for Satan, who wanted to sacrifice her. While going to the hospital, a large van chases their car and throws it out of the road, in a field. The maniacs capture Joe, but the rest of the group escapes. In the morning, they successfully reach a small town, meet the local minister Seth (Patrick Bergin) and the sheriff (Tim Thomerson) and report what happened along the night. Many absurd surprises happen with them in the town. This film is a dreadful teen movie, having a screenplay full of flaws and ridiculous dialogs. The ham `actress' Jennifer Lyons has a terrible tone of voice, her character is ridiculous and her lines are unbelievable. Some parts of the story are reasonable, but in a certain point of the plot, it becomes so unreasonable that even a fan like me of horror movie gets completely disappointed. Things happen without explanation or further consequence. My vote is four.

Title (Brazil): `Sombras do Mal' (`Shadows of Evil')


You know you're in trouble when you can spot continuity errors in the opening sequence of a film (check out the disappearing bra) without even looking for them. "Devil's Prey" is otherwise a well-shot movie, but it's just hokum of the ninth degree. The devil worshippers are a joke compared to the satanic cults in other horror films (and, although they clearly outnumber the heroes, they persist in attacking them one by one), and I hope Patrick Bergin knows that, after a role like this, his career has little hope of reviving. (*1/2)


Five L.A. teens make the mistake of accepting an anonymous invitation to attend a backwoods rave called 'Straight to Hell' and, wouldn't you know it, that's just what the local sect of Satanists had in mind when they lured them there! Before you can say trite morality lesson, the kids (who've apparently burned too many brain cells as is) are run off the road by a van and chased around in the woods by hooded, masked cult members who want to sacrifice them to gain immortality. After the token black fifth wheel is snuffed out, the survivors (plus a young woman who escaped an earlier sacrifice attempt) stumble onto a very small town inhabited by (surprise!) more Satanists and it's time for round two.

Don't waste your time with this irritating semi-throwback to 1970s drive-in horror films. The movie doesn't look bad, a few of the actresses are pretty hot and it has one effective plot shift near the middle, but those things are a dime a dozen in horror films and not nearly enough to sustain interest during the entire length of this stupid, boring movie.


I saw this movie on Sci-Fi a while ago and it sucked. The acting sucked, the directing sucked and even the landscaped sucked- everything sucked. It's about this cult that attacks people and uses them as sacrifices to the devil. At least, I think that's what it's about, I could care less really. It's a movie full of flaws, bad acting and it's not even scary. It's just one of those movies that you will find at your movie store on DVD with a crappy cover, still there (no one rents it) with no good reviews on the front of it. I could go on and on about how much "Devil's Prey" sucked but then I would be wasting my time as I did when I watched this poor excuse for a horror movie. The blood is fake in this film as is the acting. Bottom line, don't watch "Devil's Prey".


Film starts with an intriguing premise: a group of teens is terrorized after a party by a pack of masked Satanic cult members known as the Shadows. Their nerves are frazzled throughout the night as the cult members close in on them.

But then morning comes, and what could've been an interesting horror film degenerates into a talky, predictable, seen-it-all-before cliche.

*1/2 out of ****


As somebody else stated so well, this is a complete waste of time and money. B-movies can be very entertaining indeed but there is nothing here that appeals to me. Over-exposure of breasts, depicting drug use in a way that is far from reality and poor acting - none of those mentioned appeals to me, sorry. If it appeals to you perhaps this flick is for you. Was there even a plot? I cannot remember myself noticing it if there ever was one. I consider this one to be a complete failure as regards making a college flick with goals set on appealing to young people.

2/10 - my advice is stay away from this one!


I gave it a 2 because the actors were OK, the actresses quite pretty and they seemed to make at least a half-hearted effort.

The rest of the movie however is awful. There's little suspense other than the odd shock, the plot is poor, the script awful and the production value horrendous.

I've tried really hard to be generous with this one but have found it difficult. It's also quite perturbing to see Jerry O'Connell's brother in this movie as there are flashes when one thinks it's him, but then the realisation seeps in that it's just someone who looks like him!

Avoid. Don't even waste your money on renting this one.


Devil's Prey is not a high budget movie, yet still there are thrills and twists which I enjoyed watching. In my opinion, the violence and sexual content isn't raw; it's mildly presented and if you're over 18 years of age, it's no big deal.

The movie is never boring as we see a group of seven twenty-somethings first at a party who then get drugged and attempted to be captured and murdered by a group of loony satanics; there's a twist in the tail here as two of the young twenty-something "friends" are in fact part of the satanic group drafted in to capture the others.

This I didn't get until almost the end, when to my surprise, they were uncovered! There are other characters in this movie who you sense from the start they're "in with it", and like in "Race With The Devil", the satanic loonies are more part of the town than an isolated group.

It's a good film, low budget yes, but well acted and worth renting. I gave it 7 out of 10. More than the average 3 it currently received while I wrote this review. I still cannot believe how low the rating is!


"Devil's Prey" (2001) is the first movie to show the brutal reality of devil worship and virgin sacrifice-dull, boring, and stupid. It is an amalgam of vile scenes scotch-taped together to form a motion picture. A gang of devil worshipers, led by Seth the local minister, doesn't like a gang of ravers, led by David (Charlie O'Connel). Driving away from the rave, David runs over Seth's girlfriend Fawn (Elena Lyons) who is mysteriously immune from blunt object trauma and who just gets into David's car.

In retaliation Seth forces David's car off the road and Seth's friends hit Joe (one of David's closest friends) with their car; Joe too is mysteriously unhurt from the collision but loses his glasses. In retaliation David's gang begins killing a bunch of girls because they are dressed in long black robes and running around in the woods at night with sharp objects. In retaliation Seth's gang sacrifices Samantha (Jennifer Lyons) because she speaks with the voice of Rocky the Flying Squirrel and they figure she must be a virgin. There's a lot of avenging going on. By the end David's gang seems to have pretty much wiped out all the citizens of a small California town along with Seth and Fawn. But you can't be sure because they come back in one of those moronically tacked on endings.

The movie nicely balances scenes of Jennifer Lyon's tight abs with charming shots of the little chapel in the dell, so there's something for everybody. But frankly, there just wasn't enough virgin sacrificing.

But seriously, "Devil's Prey" may not be the worst ever example in the horror genre but you are unlikely to randomly chance on anything worse than this mess. It relies on its target audience's inability to recall misdirection devices that have been in use for decades. You immediately know that the seemingly normal townspeople are in league with the devil worshipers and that Fawn is their high priestess. Fawn's revelation is so predictable that even cheating by introducing impossible things that point in the opposite direction cannot disguise it.

Devil's Prey is an illogical story lamely masked by confusing plot elements. It relies on poor lighting and minimal close-ups to mask poor performances and direction. There is a puzzling lack of intensity, suspense, and fast pacing as each scene seems to get mired down in extended shots-all this extra air apparently was necessary to get the running length up to 90 minutes.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.


Not much to say about this film. Why do they make these? And for whom? Typical "horror" film with a non-existent plot and awful acting. And the beginning, although the best part of the film with loads of good looking babes, is exceptionally pointless. A group of teenagers go to a party outside city and are later on chased by satan worshippers. Makes you shake your head in disbelief. Not much of a tension anywhere in the film. And the chemistry between the leading roles doesn't work. I don't even want to tell anything about the rest of the film, because someone might be surprised about the turnaround in the plot. I personally could not watch the whole movie because I started feeling nausea. But this movie can be used as a test. If someone can watch it, he/she could have a future in...Hollywood?


I love horror films and blonde hotties. I got this to see Jennifer Lyons but was disappointed to see no breasts and she was not too sexy nor could she act! This movie was ridiculous after the rave party It went on and ON CHEAP and predictable Didn't look to bad but the rest of the movie and the killers were played out fast. People running around tring to kill for what reason? Devils Cult? The ending was pretty good but this movie took too long to get to the end.. And Jennifer didn't look that great


This is one of the greatest horror movies I have seen this year... It made me feel that I was back in the 1980's... You could almost feel the pain and fear of the young people who is hunted and used for a higher purpose... It is great to see that it is still possible to make movies this way...


I dig this kinda movie way more than the big budget Hollywood horror films, and it's just as spooky. A bunch of masked devil worshippers chasing people around the woods is about the jist of this flick, but there's more to it, with some cool plot twists that I didn't see coming. Some great photography sequences at the rave party scene.


Ashley Jones is an exact lookalike for Jennifer Love Hewitt.

when i was watching the movie i kept thinking Mmmm...Jennifer.

low down on the film - it is about some people who get stranded in a small town. and end up running into some kind of cult/satanists who try and kill them. then they try to escape the cult and get the **** out of dodge.

rating for Ashley Jones 12/10.

rating for the movie 7/10.


You know, I've never been a big fan of rap culture, but I thought that the film in question, "Stop Snitchin', Stop Lying", while it does have some incredibly stupid and/or unintentionally hilarious parts, actually was enjoyable enough for me to watch all the way through. Basically, the film chronicles rapper The Game ( I will call him Mr. Watkins from now on, because that's his real name) as he goes on his "world tour" (now that I think about it, I don't think he went anywhere except for Norway and the U.S., but what do I know), and tries to find 50 Cent, so he can try to get him to explain why he ratted out a member of the group (I think that's what it was). Along the way, Mr. Watkins explains his life story to the audience, gets arrested in North Carolina, meets a veritable group of fans from all over the U.S., and tries to dispel the rumors of his breakup with 50 Cent and the "G-Unit" (to which Mr. Watkins now effectively calls the "G-UNOT"). Needless to say, it does get a little dry at times, and there are parts which are funny like you wouldn't believe (Atkins making an impassioned plea to 50 Cent to help him release Irv Gotti, the supposed "re-enactment" of 50 Cent confessing to a police officer, the guy being driven around yelling at some woman who is supposedly a man) and the video quality is very shoddy. However, the one thing I took away from this experience is that Mr. Watkins genuinely loves his fans. And, bless his soul, he seems to do a lot for them. We see in this film that Watkins personally reads fan mail and signs copies of every album sent to him (before sending them back), and that he's not above meeting new faces and friends on the street. I don't think I've ever seen one rap artist do that, and, to be honest, when Mr. Watkins said he was doing all this for the fans, I believed him. He may get a bad rap because of his narcissistic and childish demeanor, and he may be a very rich person, but he loves his work and the people who respect his work, and personally, I think that's the only thing that matters.

Bottom Line: If you're a fan of The Game or of rap music in general, give this one a look. It's a heck of a lot better than that "Get Rich Or Die Trying" film.


Stop Snitchin - Stop Lyin is the most controversial DVD in hip hop history. Multi-platinum rapper The Game is in rare form giving the world an inside look at what really went down after leaving his popular "unit" and dropping "300 Bars," including the beginnings of the "G-UNot" movement. In "Stop Snitchin - Stop Lyin," The Game candidly talks about his rap career, personal life, ex-label mates, and exposes the truth about the fall out with his former crew with help from the Black Wall Street camp and numerous other celebrities. There are no secrets kept inside this DVD, The Game exposes the whole truth and then some along his mission to hunt down "five-0" that takes him from Los Angeles through New York City (including a stop to the G-UNot billboard in Jamaica Queens), finally ending in Farmington, Connecticut outside of 50's house in a final show down between The Game against the unit you must see to believe!


This is one of the best documentaries I've seen since Farenheit 9/11, Game exposes the truth about this lousy piece of garbage name G-Unit, game delivers one of his best performances as he exposes the lies, the deceptions and the evil surrounds this horrible group and pop rap group Pistol Pete from Terror Squad also delivers here as the person who exposed tony yayo as a coward, you know people always say you should listen to music like G-Unit, because it's good for hip hop's soul, it's not good, it is hateful, disgraceful, shameful and truly unbelievably tasteless, I Bet these stupid stans don't even know what real hip hop is, all they listen to is garbage like this, it's a shame that tupac and biggie & big pun turning on their graves and probably laughing at how pathetic the mainstream hip hop has become and especially for someone like fifty cent that is ruining it.

Stop Snitchin, Stop Lyin is a classic masterpiece of all proportions, it's one of the year's DVD's.


Yo I'm not a huge fan of The Game, but as a avid listener of hip-hop music and it's many offspring, I've been following the beef he and his Black Wall Street crew has with 50 Cent and G-Unit. Listening to interviews involving both sides, it seemed like nothing more than two chiefs arguing about who should have more feathers. Nothing wrong with that. After purchasing and viewing the Stop Snitchin' Stop Lyin' DVD, I felt that it solidified all I had heard to be true about the whole 'kicking out' of The Game from G-Unit. Game wasn't gonna be a pawn of 50's like certain other members of G-Unit. He definitely showed that he has the talent and the mind state of a Boss. On the DVD he enters Queens, NY, the "home" of Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson and leaves without a scratch on his face because it seemed like 50's own hood doesn't respect him. On the DVD there's proof of 50's alleged snitchin' and putting someone in prison for a very long time. "Don't Snitch" is a code in the streets (a place 50 must've forgotten about) that shouldn't be broken and a guy that has made a career off of being a "street-dude" broke that code. There are two sides to every story so if you want to hear The Game's side and you're in the mood for drama and comedy wrapped into one, then grab the DVD! It's 100% biased so purchase at your own risk!


This is a passing of the torch in Hip Hop.. The so-called "King" of New York vs. The King of L.A.. U can tell that Game put a lot of energy into the making of this DVD, and is setting his mark in the Hip Hop world for being the one who destroyed G-Unit. With the flop of Yayo's album, the destruction of the little street credibility that 50 cent had left, and exposing Olivia and Lloyd Banks as being true homosexuals, this DVD is a perfect recipe for the ending of a super group! This reminds me of Ice Cube vs. NWA.. Anyways, the humor is on point, the facts are 90% authentic, and the exclusive scenes are very entertaining, this has to be my favorite Hip Hop DVD of this decade!! Highly recommended, 10/10..


well i was a pretty big fan of G-unit after Get Rich or die trying. Then Game came out, yea when he came out with G-Unit i was psyched. Imagine a true west coast blood along with G-unit! "that would be the modern day NWA" yea the documentary came strong. it was a true hip-hop classic. Then the massacre came out, i wasn't a big fan of that but I thought okay w/e its mediocre. then came the beef at HOT 97 and 50 tried to make Game look bad, can u believe how he talked about the other members of G-Unit? wow that really showed 50's personality. Anyway 300 bars killed it. 50 tried to put out 300 shots which was junk and didn't personally address any of the beef. Well now Game came out with Stop Snitchin Stop Lyin the DVD/CD. he really showed that he had a connection with the fans, something 50 has lost. I don't think 50 could go out to Wilmington and Brazil and get the same kind of love game was getting in south Jamaica queens. point proved...


OK lets start this off with some positive input. If you follow music closely and your into the who's who of music then you will enjoy this. I am into meeting celebs and i like to see how celebs react with the general population...I like The Game and i heard all the controversy over this DVD. i have been waiting to see this DVD since November 04. i heard 50 and G unit's side of the story....now it was Game's turn. i liked seeing the Game interact with fans the way he did..he seemed like a nice guy, he seems like he knows where he came from and shows his fans appreciation. ON the other hand its kind of repeating itself over and over again on the DVD about the beef. The DVD has some funny moments and some serious moments....if you like music and rap you then you should def like this DVD.


Goodness me, what a fantastic movie. Caught the world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival and the entire theater laughed until they cried. Amazingly directed, HILARIOUSLY funny, it blends a 1930s gangster stylishness into a Hong Kong kung fu movie to astonishing results. Who would've thought you could top Shaolin Soccer? Not me, until I saw this movie. Stephen Chow pulled it off. Chow's comedic timing gets better and better with every movie he makes, and while his films are depending more and more on CGI these days, and makes this movie much more a fantasy kung fu film than a traditional one, it hardly detracts from the enjoyable experience. Make it your mission to see this film - it will be one of the most entertaining you ever see. I can't remember the last film I enjoyed myself in more. My eyes still hurt from wiping away tears of laughter. Seriously.


In general, it's a movie which puts tribute to all the Kung Fu Movie.

Some argue that Stephen uses a lots of old jokes and routines in this movie that makes it a little bit weak on the script. However, I think it's one of his best. He doesn't make as many dirty jokes as usual, but you can really learn his philosophy through this two-hours movie and have a very good laugh at the same time. If you really watch the movie carefully, you will know what kung-fu is. Stephen Chow truly understands kung-fu, in my opinion, and it a sure thing that he crazies about it.

It's not a common kung-fu movie like "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" or "Hero". Stephen Chow uses his own way to express kung-fu. I sincerely recommend this movie to those who still has the slightest hesitation whether you should watch this movie or not.Just Go!!!!!!!!!! You won't regret it!!!!


Kung Fu Hustle was one of the most visually imaginative and unique movies I have seen in quite some time. Upon first viewing the trailer, I thought we would have another Kung Pow: Enter The Fist on our hands but, boy, was I wrong. Unlike Kung Pow, the jokes did not grow tired on me and the special effects were definitely top notch. The scene with the two assassins playing that stringed instrument (don't know the name of it) in such a way that it kills was incredible.

Although there was not much to the story, it was not non-existent, either. There was a simple story happening which made sense for what we were watching. Even the jokes with the subtitles came across as funny, and from my experience, humor does not translate as easily as this movie would have you believe. It borrowed or spoofed a bit from Spider-Man and The Matrix as well, which was a bit unexpected for this film, initially. At least for me.

To be honest, I could enjoy this movie without sound or subtitles, too. It was that appealing to the eye. It would be a good background movie for a party or poker game which could catch your eye at any moment and still hold your attention. It could also be great if you feel like a good comedy. I was entertained throughout and even though I was dead tired when I saw it in the theater, it held my interest all the way to the end. 9/10


Before we went to see this movie we had heard about many good reviews of it. After spending approximate 100mins in the movie theater we were extremely satisfied and entertained. This movie is even better than we have expected. There were full of laughters almost from the beginning to the end in the theater.

Stephen Chow displays his talent as both a director and an actor. It maintains the previous Chow's style and humor as in other movies, such as "Xi Ju Zhi Wang" and "Xing Yun Yi Tiao Long", while those CGIs were not expected. In Chow's movie, what the Chinese people like is that it says no to super heroes. It just tells the stories of ordinary people, particularly those people leading insignificant and unsuccessful lives.

Several characters in this movie were played by popular Kung-Fu stars, in the 1980's - 1990's in China. Stephen Chow shows respects to them, as the way he respects Bruce Lee.

Above all, Kung-Fu Hustle is a movie with great hilarity, stunning CGI effects, fantastic Kung-Fu, and the lives of ordinary people. I give it 9 out of 10. Highly recommended!

Now this movie is in theaters in Europe and North America. The recent comments have shown a good sign already.Best wishes to Stephen Chow! Hope western people like this movie as well.


I liked Shaolin Soccer, it was full of laughs and Stephen Chow has done it again with Kung Fu Hustle. It's not in the same vein as Shaolin Soccer and it is not a belly full of laughs, but it certainly emphasised his love of action movies especially Martial Art movies. The film pays homage to all those Hong Kong Martial Arts Serials, Bruce Lee and the action genre in general. I would even say that Kung Fu Hustle is a more refined Shoalin Soccer in terms of storyline, action sequences and acting.

The setting is great with some nice scenes of old Hong Kong and the way people used to live. The fight scenes were pretty good, especially at the start with the three masters fighting the Axe Gang. Okay, the story was predictable but that didn't take away the enjoyment one bit.

Overall, it is a highly recommended movie to watch and I can't wait for his next film.


In the wildly imaginative and action-packed Kung Fu Hustle, petty thief Sing (Stephen Chow) aspires to be a ruthless gangster. Stumbling across a gang-controlled apartment to extort money from the locals who are actually kung fu masters in disguise. Sing's actions attracts the notorious Axe Gang, and set off a relentless chain of events that brings the clans together in an explosive battle.

From kung fu showdowns to dance sequences featuring tuxedoed mobsters, you've never seen martial arts action this outrageous! With jaw-dropping fight sequences by Yeun Wo Ping (famed action choreographer of Kill Bill Vol.1 & 2 and The Matrix) Kung Fu Hustle will blow you away! Chow's movie is set in 1940s Guangdong Province, China. Chow plays Ah-xing, a street rascal who fools around constantly. He is good at talking glibly, but at the core he is feeble-minded and stuck in poverty with an unknown future. So, it doesn't look good for A-xing at the beginning of the movie.

It doesn't get any better, either a little later as we discover it is A-xing's goal is to become a member of the notorious Axe Gang, the fiercest, cruelest and most widespread gang of the city.

One day when A-xing goes into a slum, Pig Cage Town, to do his usual extortion, he witnesses a real clash between two gangs: the Axe Gang is clearing out a local gang that has not shown allegiance to the Axe. A-xing realizes the slum residents -- including the plump landlady and her skinny and wimpy-looking husband -- have each turned into kung-fu masters to fight against the large group of gangs.

A-xing then realizes this is a battle between good and evil and that he is called to choose one side.

Stephen Chow continues his unique comedy style, twisting the slapstick jokes and reinterpreting them with his composed face. In Kung Fu Hustle, Chow intensifies the self-torture sequences and creates more funny points in his suffering. For example, when Chow shows his characters practising kung-fu while faced by a middle-aged woman in the slum, he is quickly kicked in the groin. He is also stabbed by three flying daggers which were supposedly aimed at his enemy and is later bitten in the face by two poisonous snakes. Through all these trials he manages to survive for another day.

Apart from creativity, Kung Fu Hustle has also demonstrated a higher quality comedy than his early 1990s works such as Fight Back to School (1991) and King of Beggars (1992). The cinematography is more sophisticated, with an authentic 1930s aura. And like Shaolin Soccer, Kung Fu Hustle heavily adopts computer graphics to present special effects such as the snake, daggers and flying axes.


I saw this movie yesterday and it is definitely one of the best movies that was made in the history of Hong Kong. The plot itself is simple, and the storyline is all about kung fu. Yet, it is not just a funny comedy about kung fu. It is more than that. Somehow it is similar to Harry Potter (in this case is wizard) or animations by Hayao Miyazaki in which a world of imagination is created. The characters in the film are so funny and classic. Most of them appeared in some of Stephen Chow's movies before but because the context of every movie is different, the overall result is hilarious. This is a movie that make Hong Kong people proud. I hope it will be a box office success in other countries too. I think I'll definitely buy the movie DVD for my personal collection.


This is one of the most richly imaginative, creative, downright enjoyable movies I've ever seen. I haven't enjoyed myself this much since Pulp Fiction.

It took me a while to figure out who the hero was. First I thought it was the barber guy who got himself constantly smacked about by the landlady. I suppose it's because he looked so dim, he therefore had to be a kung fu master in disguise. I've read some of the other posts, and everyone seems to think the knife scene was the funniest. I didn't expect to come to this movie for a laugh, but the knife scene almost killed me. Luckily it was just me and my friend in the movie theatre, so I could let it all out.

If you go to the movies to free your imagination, then this is the movie for you. Stay away from people who say it's far-fetched and unrealistic. If they want realism, they should go to the laundromat.


I have mostly good things to say about Stephen Chow's latest movie.

Kung Fu Hustle, for the most part, is unlike Chow's previous, award-winning action-comedy, Shaolin Soccer, although he has obviously continued the martial arts theme and expanded (massively) his repertoire of sfx.

I am a Chow fan, beginning from the times when he relied on a deadpan expression, toilet humour, spoofs of other movies and books, and good-ending, heart-warming, small-town/village boy-makes-good story lines.

Some of those elements are noticeably absent in KFH. Ng Man Tat is missing, as is the customary female attraction (the main female character has little screen time). The cast of SS is back (excepting Ng), and the goalkeeper of that movie in particular has a roaring time here as the leader of Axe Gang.

But of course, when it comes to KFH, one must talk about the sfx. In themselves they are creatively-done and quite out of the world. As part of the film, one might ask, has Chow stumbled into the cinematic abyss that has caught so many of Hollywood's directors who dabble in the black arts of sfx? Thankfully, the answer is no. True, KFH, unlike SS, is weak on story and characters, which has been characteristic of recent Western yawns such as Van Helsing, Blade Trinity etc. In this, Chow has stepped away from the formula which made SS not just a sfx extravaganza but a successful story. In contrast KFH is a bundle of action sequences thrown together to showcase the sfx.

But the wit and cheekiness of Chow remains. It is gratifying that the fun and sarcasm that has been a hallmark of his acting career have translated themselves well into films that he has produced and directed.

So in KFH we have Chow spoofing the clichés of Chinese martial arts stories: the retired martial arts couple who become petty scrooge and lecher, the heroes who save the neighbourhood (one of them gay) end up getting dispatched soon after, and the con beggar who sells a wu ling mi ji to a naive boy.

Because of the spoofs, the sfx don't become spectacles in themselves, but help to drive the madness upward. Highly-skilled sitar players strum out blades and ghouls in battle, a pugilist using the Toad's Skill croaks and blows out his lower mouth like one, Chow ascends into the skies as he masters the Buddha's Palm with a eagle in the distance, the engrossing mass battle with the black-clad Axe Gangsters, lifted from the Matrix movies. It is all mad, irreverent and at times even affecting.

Still, I do yearn for the good o' Chow. The sfx are fun and crazy. But surely the funniest bit in the film has got to be the knife-throwing sequence. That is good o' Chow. So I don't mind, just bring on the Chow, be it old or new, in the next year.


After nearly two decades of avoiding kung fu movies, a copy of this one was pressed into my hands by a very dear friend... who then extracted a promise from me that I'd take the time that night to sit and watch it. I was less than enthusiastic when I tossed it into the drive of my Athlon, but a promise is a promise, after all. Five minutes later, a nuclear strike warning in my town couldn't have torn me away from the screen, and it's been watched a dozen times since.

There's always been a certain cheesiness to Hong Kong cinema, but on rare occasions a writer or director will directly tap a nerve and somehow weave that directly into the story: 'Kung Fu Hustle' is one of those films. This piece isn't simply a 'standard' kung fu movie; it's a romance, a sweeping portrait of good-versus-evil, and a moral lesson on the use of power. The comedic bits are so well integrated into the story that it flows smoothly from one tone to another. The fight choreography is stellar, and special care was taken to make sure that every character in the piece is human. There're no 'perfect' people or places, and it somehow makes the wire fighting that appears in parts seem believable. The acting is excellent and the camera work is all rock steady.

Feeling jaded? Burdened? Wonder if it's possible for one person to make a difference? Settle in with a copy of this film, and believe...


my friendly neighbourhood video store manager recommended this film to me and so i rented it, since he's never steered me wrong before. the packaging claims the film has a "Tarantino-like" quality to it. but what decided it for me was that i recognized the choreographer; the same man who choreographed CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN DRAGON, Woo Ping Yuen. and to my surprise, i thoroughly enjoyed this movie. it DID have a Tarantino-like edge to it. it also had a touch of The Matrix, and a pinch of the romance in Braveheart, and the magical quality we saw in Crouching Tiger. this movie had me belly-laughing, it was so funny! a self-parody, it mixes fantasy, comedy, and great action sequences very well and has a magical quality as i said that i really appreciated. i found it unconventional, touching, and absolutely HILARIOUS. subtitled in English, these movies have come a long long way from the chop-sake films i used to take in in the seventies in Chinese theatres where the subtitling was unintentionally hilarious. Kung-Fu Hustle wasn't a one-note film. it covered a number of territories and covered them surprisingly well. if you've never seen a Chinese action film before, and are used to Jackie Chan films, you may not know what to make of this film. but i can almost guarantee that it will make you laugh out loud. great cast with uniquely drawn characters, great un-stereotyped hero, sweet heroine, flying martial arts, Shakespearean "aside" characters, fantasy, terrific comedy, and an abrupt ending. i found myself wishing for more. all in all, completely enjoyable.


Being a complete sourpuss when it comes to most comedic film offerings from the last three decades (though I attribute a lot of that to inanity rather than taking full credit for being a wet blanket), I find that when there is a film that makes me laugh so hard that I am concerned about the possibility of a stroke, I have no choice but to rave about it. So having said that, consider this a rave review of Stephen Chow's "Kung Fu Hustle".

While the film itself was entertaining, the prospect of summarizing the scattered plot is not. Set in 1940's Shanghai, "Kung Fu Hustle" basically centers on a tenement ruled over by a mean, chain-smoking landlady (Qiu Yuen) and her whipped husband (Wah Yuen). When someone deigns to complain about the fact that they don't have enough water to take a quick shower, she pounds them senseless, with everyone standing by completely helpless. Flip to another part of town, where the notorious "Axe Gang", a deadly bunch of dancing, axe wielding guys are wreaking havoc on a city that can't even be protected by the police. The two areas of town don't concern themselves with one another until a wannabe member of the Axe Gang, Sing (Stephen Chow) and his sidekick (Chi Chung Lam) poses as a member in the tenement to extort money, causing a series of events to occur in the tenement that wind up with most of the Axe Gang either killed or injured and Brother Sum (Kwok Kuen Chan), the leader of the gang, to do everything in his power to wreak revenge on both the tenement and its occupants, particularly those who act as its safeguards.

As I mentioned earlier, there were a lot of parts that I found so funny that I was either finding myself almost lightheaded from laughing so hard, or finding myself obnoxious because I would struggle to recoup in order to read the subtitles in time to not miss anything. While there are several movie "in jokes" (even one dedicated to Chow's prior film "Shaolin Soccer") it was the sight gags that really did it for me. The chase between Landlady and Sing and especially the knife scene with Sing and his sidekick were brilliant slapstick. A lot of the action was extremely over the top, and complimented by some pretty decent CGI work.

While anyone who has seen "Shaolin Soccer" knows that Chow does not employ a normal cast of "heroes", it was still interesting to see that for the most part, almost anyone who could have heroic qualities attributed to them did not fit the "normal" model. As a matter of fact, several of the major players in the film were middle aged or even elderly, a notion that is both funny and refreshing for anyone who looks for something a little different in their heroes. Surprisingly, there was also a very well conceived scene in the middle of the film involving two professional assassins who are trying to kill the main defenders of the tenement that I found to actually be a pretty kick-ass action sequence. Despite a couple of gags here and there, until the end when the Landlady got involved, the scene was playing off like something I would say "cooool" in an awed tone about in a Tarantino film or something. So while the film was overall one of the funniest I've seen in recent memory, there were a couple of great moments of highly stylized action.

"Kung Fu Hustle" wasn't a perfect film by any means, but the criticisms I have about it are completely nitpicky. For instance, the romance between Sing and the mute girl was just kind of thrown in, though some of it was necessary for background on his character. And a purely aesthetic complaint; I wanted more dancing by the Axe Gang. Chow shouldn't have teased us with the little bit that they danced and then abruptly take it away for the rest of the film. Hey, it's a review  I've got to air the good and the bad.

But since the good outweighs the bad exponentially, I highly recommend "Kung Fu Hustle" to just about anyone because of both its action and comedic elements. For making me laugh to the point of near-aneurysm, "Kung Fu Hustle" gets a solid 8/10.


Hi all, I started watching Kung-fu hustle out of sheer boredom on my flight to Japan. I expected it to be another boring martial arts movie with clichéd story lines and bad acting. What I found was an amazingly entertaining, crazy, novel story with slap-stick comedy that had me laughing my *ss off loud. Stephen Chow is definitely putting China on the world cinema map with his genre of movies. The action is of course not real and has used computer effects - but I don't believe Chow is trying impress everyone just by having real martial arts a la Ongbak. He is an entertainer like Jackie Chan was in his prime. He even takes a cheeky punt at western movies like the Matrix and Spider-man which is pretty cool. The story of Kung-fu hustle itself is set in a sort of 70's China and people like me who love travelling and different cultures get a real feel of being in China. The story throws up a lot of crazy surprises like that of a children's fairy tale and is very funny and refreshing. I watched Kung-fu hustle a few times now and bought it on DVD and cant wait for his next movie. Kung-fu hustle gets a well deserved 9/10


A dream of a kid? Remember the bum who sell manuals? If the story about Sing really happens, bum shall be some 20 years older than he first showed up when Sing was a small kid. But at the ending part, he looks the same age with before, trying to sell some "more powerful" kung fu manuals. There may be other explanations, but to read this part in a real-life way, it means he is the one who is selling dream manuals, and Sing is just like normal people who just bought one and then,made a dream.

Most importantly, the changing age of adult Sing and the Deaf girl back to young kid at the ending part gave a huge hint that they still at their kid age throughout the movie. The Butt boy, Bucktooth Jane, tailor, landlord etc showed in the end also implies that they are not legendary guys in the movie, they are just normal people like u and me. All the stories are a dream done by young Sing. He has evil minds indeed, but he wishes to be a good guy, he wishes greater power will happen to him so that can save at least his girlfriend, and then if possible, save the world. This is a dream not only for him, it is a dream for all movie fans, and also a dream for people in normal life.

We go to theatres so we also have dreams. This film is 10 out of 10, because it gives us many implications. One of them is: there are many ways to make a dream. Don't know how? Here is one!


I don't know where to start with this movie. My expectations were blown away. In fact, I wasn't sure what to expect. But let me tell you that the experience was worth more than my disgustingly overpriced admission. With the popcorn and drink on top of it.

Perhaps i'll start with the least important element of the movie. Firstly, Kung Fu Hustle has officially replaced all other overblown martial arts films by a long shot. The fighting in this movie is spectacular. Half the fights are so loaded with creativity it makes fighting movies look like something you've seen for the first time. The CG is great. The other half are part parodies of other films, and they are hilarious as well as spectacular. In fact, I need to see this a second time because there are a ton of movie references in it I don't think I've caught yet. Depending on your library of watched films, you'll catch more of them. I got quite a few and they were well done.

And here's the most important part about this movie. This is where Kung Fu Hustle succeeds where so many other martial arts movies fail. It has a believable, simple, touching, intertwined and well flowing story. I can't tell you how many times where I've walked out of a martial arts - or even action - movie, and been immensely disappointed because the fighting and explosions were great, but the rest of it simply fell short. These movies are typically way unbalanced.

But Stephen Chow is talented enough to take both elements of the movie to their rightful place. I don't know how he did it, but it worked. The acting is incredibly enjoyable. The plot is likable. The fighting will make your jaw drop. And all the fighting actually has something to do with the story. It's absolutely amazing.

If you're tired of action movies not making the mark, go see this one. Now. 10/10.


I gave this movie a "10" because I just thoroughly enjoyed this movie! I won't go into details about the story because there are plenty of other comments that do that. What I will say is that even though I read a couple of good reviews about this movie, I wasn't prepared for what a wonderful experience sitting through this movie would give me. While the plot was fairly simple and it was definitely an action film, there were just so many things that surprised me throughout the movie. There were times in the film where I had to applaud - it was such a "feel good" movie and I left the theater with the same HUGE smile on my face that was on my face for about 90% of the movie.

If you haven't seen this film yet, don't read anything else about it - just GO so you can experience it for yourself without anybody's opinions coloring your judgment. GO and see this film. It's pure entertainment.


This movie has everything--comedy, drama, pathos, incredible action, slapstick, great acting, a great story, wildly inventive absurdity, actual thematic threads (a long gone element in US films), moments of sheer poetry, and genuine heart. In true HK style, it has a bit of everything. Not only was it a much, much better martial arts film than either the more respected "Hero" or "House of Flying Daggers," it was a much better film, period. In fact, "Kung Fu Hustle" was one of the best movies of any kind I've seen this year.

It's great that Columbia Pictures/Sony Classics gave this movie a US release with only minor cuts (which, now that I've seen the uncut HK version, should have been left in). But it is obvious that they had no idea how to market it, though they spent a lot of money trying. They pushed it only for its comedic elements, positioning it in the media as a wacky spoof of Kung Fu movies, like "Blazing Saddles" was for westerns--which it is not!

But I don't really blame Columbia for Kung Fu Hustles weak stateside box office--I blame those morons at Miramax! Yeah, you heard me you two! I think that this great movie would have found a much bigger audience if Miramax, the US distributor of Chow's previous film, "Shaolin Soccer," hadn't so utterly botched that film's US release, showing it heavily cut in only a couple of theatres before dumping it unceremoniously onto video. While not all Americans are familiar with the conventions of the HK Kung Fu flicks of the Seventies (which admittedly does help when viewing Kung Fu Hustle) EVERYONE in the US knows soccer. I think Soccer could have been a US smash along the lines of Crouching Tiger, if handled properly.

In a perfect world, the more easily digestible "Shaolin Soccer" would have been Chow's huge US hit, paving the way in the American public imagination for this far superior follow up. If Chow had become the US star he should have a couple of years ago, Americans would have lined up for Hustle even if they had never seen a kung fu movie in their lives. But it was not to be. People didn't know who Chow was and couldn't tell what kind of film was being marketed; they went into the theatres expecting to see a dumbass gross out parody and left disappointed.

It's just not right that more folks in the US haven't seen this great film. Let's hope for a second life in the USA from good DVD sales.

ps--and by the way, I don't think Kung Fu Hustle is really doing parodies of either The Matrix or Reservoir Dogs as is way too often mentioned in reviews. Both of those flicks borrowed HEAVILY from previous Hong Kong movies so I think it much more likely that Chow was referencing the original Hong Kong movies, with which he and other Asians would be most familiar, not the American imitators.