Review Roundup: BANGKOK DANGEROUS, PING PONG PLAYA
If I were Nicolas Cage (and I most definitely am not), here’s how I would’ve prepared for Bangkok Dangerous. 1) Watch The Rock. 2) Watch Gone in Sixty Seconds. 3) Then watch Leaving Las Vegas. 4) Watch Adaptation. 5) Weep gently. 6) Feel better by counting that big bag of money from Lionsgate. 7) Grow hair before shoot.
And that leads us to this weekend’s roundup. It’s slim everybody. Like Kate Moss slim.
:: BANGKOK DANGEROUS
Rotten Tomatoes: 6 / 100
Metacritic: (only 3 reviews, all negative)
filmcritic.com: 1.5 / 5
Don’t worry Nic, we’ll work on the script…
Here’s another major release with few preview screenings or reviews. And that’s almost always bad news.
Bangkok Dangerous is actually a remake of a 1999 Hong Kong original, both films directed by The Pang Brothers. They’ve done solid work with the spooky The Eye, and crap with the dull teen chiller The Messengers (see my review).
Critics accuse this American version of turning a solid plot — hired killer works out contracts in Thailand — into a super boring film. And we’ve already gone through the whole Nic Cage issue. Hey, a brother’s gotta pay the mortgage: Cage’s name is attached to nine films scheduled for 2009 release.
:: PING PONG PLAYA
Rotten Tomatoes: 62 / 100
Metacritic: 54 / 100
filmcritic.com: 3 / 5
This comedy, about a Chinese-American with identity and table-tennis issues, is sweet and culturally aware — but not terribly funny. Couldn’t there have been some interesting synchronicity if the film were released during the Olympic Games? So why didn’t IFC pull the trigger four weeks ago? Perhaps it have gotten overwhelmed in the middle of the summer rush. Read my Ping Pong Playa review.
This one is real big on opportunity and short on taking advantage of it. It’s cute for kids — in fact they’ll get some real laughs. But you probably won’t.
:: THE POOL
Rotten Tomatoes: 94 / 100
Metacritic: 77 / 100
Director Chris Smith made his mark with two documentaries: American Movie (1999), about a clueless guy trying to make his own horror movie, and the lukewarm Home Movie (2001), chronicling folks with weird abodes (Errol Morris would’ve made this one a winner, in my opinion).
Now, this fiction entry from Smith centers on an Indian boy who longs to swim in the pool of a well-off family. For his work on The Pool, Smith won a Special Jury Prize at Sundance 2007, awarded for “singularity of vision.” Maybe it’d make a great double-feature with Danny Boyle’s upcoming Slumdog Millionaire…
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Other Posts of Interest
- The Ubiquitous Nicolas Cage
- Trailer Tuesday: BANGKOK DANGEROUS
- Independent Film Fest Boston Preview: PING PONG PLAYA, CRAWFORD, TIMECRIMES
- Review Roundup: ZOHAN, KUNG FU PANDA
- Ben Kingsley, TRANSSIBERIAN Kick Off IFFBoston
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Atleast the name “Bangkok Dangerous” sounds cool!
[…] to be no let up in Cage’s “I’ll do it!” schedule. As we mentioned in last week’s Review Roundup, Cage’s name is listed — as the lead actor, mind you — on nine movies scheduled […]