Tang's 2002 Summer Movie Roundup:

This is one of the best summers for movies that I can recall. So many
good movies are coming out that even I have gone out and seen a few
of them. Here's what I've seen, and my impressions:


Attack of the Clones:
**oo
The fifth installment in the Star Wars series is easily superior to
the Phantom Menace, but isn't near the level of the original 3. There
are some very good scenes accompanied by a riveting score, but the
film also contains the absolute worst romance scenes I have ever
witnessed, and there are multiple appearances by that notorious bounty
hunter Fokwata Clishea. Good parts + really bad parts = a mediocre film,
but if you like the series storyline or simply nice visuals, it's worth
seeing for the good parts.


The Bourne Identity:
****
A fast-paced spy thriller about an amnesiac spy who doesn't know
he's a spy and his spy agency trying to eliminate their wayward
property. While the Sum of All Fears tries to be intellectual,
this is a pure action film and a good one. There is a good dose
of mystery as the hero tries to find out who he is and what he
was doing before he lost his memory.


Enigma:
***o
The enigma in this film, set in World War 2's Bletchley Park, is not
so much the machine but the girl. Former girlfriend to one of Britain's
top codebreakers, the man went insane after their breakup and he returns
from mental health leave to find that she has disappeared two days
earlier. Was she a spy, or has something even more sinister happened,
or is it even anything to be concerned about? Meanwhile, the Germans
have changed their code to one that the Allies haven't broken yet,
and the Allies lose their intelligence advantage necessary to maintain
shipping across the Atlantic. This is a fairly good mystery film with
a touch of romance.


The Sum of All Fears:
**oo
Just because folks in the Bush administration wanted to block the
release of this film doesn't mean it's any good. Actually, it's not
that bad, and holds a good story until the end when it falls apart
with a whiny hippie rant that is totally out of character for someone
who is supposed to know something about how world affairs work and
which wouldn't help the situation.


Undercover Brother:
****
I used to think the Wayans brothers' work was pretty good, with In
Living Colour and I'm Gonna Git You Sucka, before everything they
did was utter crap. This movie is better than anything that the
Wayans' have ever done; in fact, it's better than everything the
Wayans' have ever done combined and counting only the good jokes.
It plays heavily on racial stereotypes, 1970s stereotypes, and action
movie stereotypes, managing to be extremely funny without the type of
worthless potty humour that is considered "Black humour" these days.
It's definitely worth seeing if you aren't afraid of jokes about
racial stereotypes and race relations. The worst of the movie is
some horrible overunderacting by Chris Kattan as a half-spastic psycho,
but he makes up for it by being perfect for the final fight scene.


Windtalkers:
***o
If you don't like seeing people getting blown to bloody smithereens
every two minutes, skip this film. It seems the makers were trying to
one-up Saving Private Ryan for Most Gory War Film, as a Marine unit
is graphically mowed down until the number of survivors at the end
of the movie can be counted on one hand. This film is about the
Navajo code of World War 2, making it stand out as an uncommon war film
that sets out to glorify logistics over leadership or strength.
Unfortunately, the examples given of the talkers' skills are only
to call in shelling and bombing strikes against enemy artillery,
something that the code is unnecessary for; if the enemy listens in,
they stop shelling to run away and half of your problem is solved. 
The code talkers would be much more important in maintaining
communication on units' positions and things like that, but that
doesn't make stuff go boom for the big screen.

 

Stuff I'm thinking of seeing that isn't out yet:

The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys
Minority Report
Reign of Fire
Signs