Monday, December 29, 2003
Movie Reviews: Freaky Friday and The Medallion
Christmas night we watched two of our presents, DVDs of Freaky Friday with Jamie Lee Curtis and The Medallion with Jackie Chan.
I had been surprised by the good things I read about Freaky Friday when it came out and I did enjoy the movie. Just in case there is anyone who hasn't seen any of the previous versions, a mother and daughter are having trouble understanding each other's problems and a spell causes them to switch bodies. In these movies it's all about the leads ability to make you believe that they have switched. The daughter, played by Lindsay Lohan does a good job of portraying the straight-laced mannerisms used by Jamie Lee Curtis during the film's set up. Meanwhile Jamie Lee gets to go off portraying her 16-year-old daughter. The romantic interests of each do a good job of reacting to the confusion that ensues as the mother and daughter try to lead each other's lives. It's a fun romp and well worth the time.
Next on our double feature was The Medallion. Well, I'm not sure how disappointed I was as it's a pretty standard Hollywood Jackie Chan movie, nevertheless I think this one had an even bigger problem than usual in the character played by Lee Evans. The plot outline is that Jackie is a cop and is on the trail of some bad guys (amazing, I know). In this case, the bad guys are after a Golden Child wanna be who has a Medallion that he can use to grant superhuman strength and immortality. Both Jackie and the the bad guy ([Julian Sands] - yikes!) end up with the powers so we get to see a bunch of wirework fighting, which really is just OK. There are a few good fight scenes but not enough. The "comic" relief is provided by the aforementioned Lee Evans. Ugh, I know it's a fantasy, I really do, but does that mean we have to believe that someone this stupid could become a high ranking Interpol officer. It was kind of insulting. I guess the saddest part is that, like with all of Jackie's recent movies, the outtakes during the closing credits was the most entertaining part of the film. Not enough to make me think that I would have rather used the time for something else.
I had been surprised by the good things I read about Freaky Friday when it came out and I did enjoy the movie. Just in case there is anyone who hasn't seen any of the previous versions, a mother and daughter are having trouble understanding each other's problems and a spell causes them to switch bodies. In these movies it's all about the leads ability to make you believe that they have switched. The daughter, played by Lindsay Lohan does a good job of portraying the straight-laced mannerisms used by Jamie Lee Curtis during the film's set up. Meanwhile Jamie Lee gets to go off portraying her 16-year-old daughter. The romantic interests of each do a good job of reacting to the confusion that ensues as the mother and daughter try to lead each other's lives. It's a fun romp and well worth the time.
Next on our double feature was The Medallion. Well, I'm not sure how disappointed I was as it's a pretty standard Hollywood Jackie Chan movie, nevertheless I think this one had an even bigger problem than usual in the character played by Lee Evans. The plot outline is that Jackie is a cop and is on the trail of some bad guys (amazing, I know). In this case, the bad guys are after a Golden Child wanna be who has a Medallion that he can use to grant superhuman strength and immortality. Both Jackie and the the bad guy ([Julian Sands] - yikes!) end up with the powers so we get to see a bunch of wirework fighting, which really is just OK. There are a few good fight scenes but not enough. The "comic" relief is provided by the aforementioned Lee Evans. Ugh, I know it's a fantasy, I really do, but does that mean we have to believe that someone this stupid could become a high ranking Interpol officer. It was kind of insulting. I guess the saddest part is that, like with all of Jackie's recent movies, the outtakes during the closing credits was the most entertaining part of the film. Not enough to make me think that I would have rather used the time for something else.
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