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Post by grubl on Apr 12, 2010 12:33:36 GMT -5
Does anyone really now consider BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA and BUCKAROO BANZAI masterpieces? Maybe cult curios. Mayb e worth a laugh, but come on.
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Post by james on Apr 12, 2010 13:25:47 GMT -5
I love both (Carpenter's film a bit more than the latter). What was terrific about Little China in 1985, which might not be quite as subversive now, is the way the film upends the macho action genre along racial lines. Like Derrick and Tom mentioned, the film starts with the illusion that Kurt Russell is the hero and Dennis Dun the sidekick - and then the formula is flipped over. Russell plays the character to the hilt knowing this (he did something similar in Death Proof).
If you look at American movies in the 80's, there's the most well known stream of glossy blockbusters and "high concept" star vehicles (Top Gun, etc.) that are often really dull (or unintenionally hilarious). Underneath, you have a less-celebrated stream of subversive films, usually (but not always) low-budget, that often satirize and/or critique the very same values celebrated by the blockbusters and high concepts.
I'd consider Big Trouble in Little China as one of those Buckaroo Banzai, not so much, although God knows it's different that the typical 80's movie coming out of Holywood. (Also, Day of the Dead, Night of the Comet, The 'Burbs and Repo Man, to name a few others).
I could include They Live, but I agree with Tom that the movie suffers from half-working as a vehicle for Roddy Piper. Also, generally, I think Carpenter came up with a good concept but didn't think it through as thoroughly as he should have (George Romero might have done a better job with it).
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Post by grubl on Apr 12, 2010 15:55:50 GMT -5
The only film you mentioned that I find watchable is REPO MAN; very smart, very well made, strong performances, spot on dialogue.
No doubt, the '80s and90's were almost total shit for movies. Subervise on its' own, isn't enough for me.
I will add, having never heard of Roddy Piper before seeing it, I thought that THEY LIVE was a lot of fun.
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Post by Derrick on Apr 12, 2010 18:24:29 GMT -5
james said it a lot better than I could have and with less wordage. I agree with everything he said and yes, I consider BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA and BUCKAROO BANZAI masterpieces of their genre.
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Post by grubl on Apr 12, 2010 18:46:03 GMT -5
I hate to always come off as negative. I truly love film and it makes me very critical. I do enjoy listening to what you guys have to say. But, those two films, I just don't get it. I love Ed Wood, I'm open to schlock.
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Post by Derrick on Apr 12, 2010 18:52:25 GMT -5
I hate to always come off as negative. I truly love film and it makes me very critical. I do enjoy listening to what you guys have to say. But, those two films, I just don't get it. I love Ed Wood, I'm open to schlock. I absolutely LOVE that you don't like everything I do, grubl. THAT is what makes BETTER IN THE DARK so much fun. Tom and and I encourage everybody who listens to us to disagree and debate. That is the only way we truly learn. By the exchanging of IDEAS. |
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Post by stacyd on Apr 12, 2010 22:23:45 GMT -5
BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA came along on home video at just the right time. Much like Army of Darkness, I watched this film on VHS in my aunt and uncle's basement with my cousin and some friends and we ate it up with a spoon. At the time I never picked up on the fact that Kurt Russel was meant to be the sidekick, I just saw him as the Blundering Hero when compared to Dennis Dun's Martial Arts Master. It was like an issue of Marvel Team-Up with Jack Burton as the wisecracking, slightly inept Spider-Man having to deal with Kung-Fu magic and mysticism alongside Iron Fist or Shang-Chi. He's good in his environment, but here he's so completely out of his depth that he comes off as a total boob.
BUCKAROO BANZAI I came to much, much later on in life, and I immediately fell in love with its demented sensibility. As a guy who reads comics like Alan Moore's Tom Strong and the Doc Savage paperbacks it was easy to see Buckaroo and his Hong Kong Kavaliers as the modern-day descendants of pulp heroes like Doc and the Fabulous Five. And John Lithgow's performance as Dr. Lizardo. . .oh my God. That is the true face of cheesy, epic, go-for-broke supervillainy at it's finest. The whole film crackles with this optimistic energy that by the end, as the heroes are making their pimp stride to. . .uh. . .someplace. . .you just want to join in. That world is the kind of world I'd love to explore further and escape into, but sadly. BUCKAROO BANAZAI VS. THE WORLD CRIME LEAGUE seems forever out of reach. Ah well. . .
Stac
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Post by tombitd on Apr 12, 2010 23:18:21 GMT -5
[quote author=stacyd board=episode79 thread=384 post=1359 time=1271129025 That world is the kind of world I'd love to explore further and escape into, but sadly. BUCKAROO BANAZAI VS. THE WORLD CRIME LEAGUE seems forever out of reach. Ah well. . .
[/quote]
Waaaay back when I was in college, I was sent by the college newspaper to interview Earl Rousch. During that interview, Rousch revealed that the 'Buckaroo Banzai vs. The World Crime League' thing was never intended to be made.
And if you pick up the anniversary DVD, you get a strange featurette about the making of the film where Rousch insists that the film was just an adaptation of the real adventures of the real Dr. Banzai...
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Post by stacyd on Apr 13, 2010 0:14:44 GMT -5
Dang. Still, it's probably for the best: Weller is far too long in the tooth now to play Buckaroo and I doubt that lightning-in-a-bottle energy could be captured twice.
I noticed that too. . .which was a fun little conceit but at the same time I was like "C'mon Earl, take us behind the curtain into your process huh? What were your influences?" but he wasn't budging from the notion that Buckaroo was a real person. Very odd.
Stac
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