THE MIAMI CONNECTION (Y. K. Kim & Park Woo-sung, 1987)
Film Society of Lincoln Center, Walter Reade Theater
165 West 65th St. at Amsterdam Ave.
Saturday, July 7, 11:15 pm
212-875-5601
www.filmlinc.com
www.subwaycinema.com
Ever since Bruce Lee became a superstar in America in such action flicks as Fist of Fury, Enter the Dragon, and Game of Death, there has been an unending search for the next martial arts master to become a cinematic superhero in the United States. Over the years, there have been hits and misses with Jackie Chan, Sonny Chiba, Jet Li, Tony Jaa, Stephen Chow, and others, each one showing off his remarkable adeptness at karate, judo, jiu-jitsu, Muay Thai, or other disciplines in movies both good and not-so-good. It has also led to such good and not-so-good Hollywood films as The Karate Kid and the unforgettable Gymkata. One of the lesser-known attempts involved Korean taekwondo grandmaster Y. K. Kim and a little 1987 film that is being resurrected from the near-dead, looking to become a cult classic in a new HD version. Directed by Kim with Park Woo-sung, The Miami Connection stars Kim as a high school student and taekwondo teacher who is also the guitarist in the band Dragon Sound, which gets into a heated, violent battle against a group of men led by a tough-talking dude who looks like G.I. Joe with Kung Fu Grip and is dangerously overprotective of his sister, who sings in the band. With its 1980s hairstyles, insipidly bad music, ridiculous story lines, and absurd taekwondo scenes, The Miami Connection has plenty of potential to become an underground cult classic as it turns twenty-five. The movie is screening Saturday night at 11:15 as part of the New York Asian Film Festival at Lincoln Center, with Grandmaster Kim on hand to talk about the movie — but beware, as today he is a very successful motivational speaker.
With all the movies, TV series, and everything else, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan just might be the best thing that has ever come out of Star Trek land. We’re talking the Genesis project here, earwigs, Kirk’s offspring, Khan’s superior intellect, Kirstie Alley as a Vulcan, Spock bending the truth, the Kobayashi Maru no-win scenario, and Kirk screaming out his enemy’s name in unforgettable fashion, a classic movie moment. Everybody’s on board the USS Enterprise for this journey, including Dr. Leonard McCoy (DeForest Kelley), Montgomery Scott (James Doohan), Hikaru Sulu (George Takei), Lt. Uhura (Nichelle Nichols), Chekhov (Walter Koenig), Captain Spock (Leonard Nimoy), and Admiral James T. Kirk (William Shatner). The enemy is the conniving but brilliant Khan Noonien Singh, played with delightful relish by Ricardo Montalban, returning from an episode of the original television series. Just the way Montalban pronounces “Kirk” is worth the price of admission; the film serves up a bevy of memorable quotes throughout. The ending is both surprising and surprisingly heartwarming, laying the groundwork for the third film. The Wrath of Khan is about loyalty, friendship, honor, honesty, midlife crisis, fathers and sons, aging — and a bunch of great characters coming together yet again to do a far, far better thing than they have ever done before, or since.
Based on the 2010 book by Don Winslow, Oliver Stone’s Savages is a sort of Jules and Jim meets Breaking Bad by way of Pulp Fiction, Saw, and Blow but falls far short of all of those far superior works. Taylor Kitsch and Aaron Taylor-Johnson star as childhood friends Chon, a former Navy SEAL with a violent streak just waiting to explode, and Ben, a surfer dude who is making the most potent pot around. They live with and share O (Blake Lively), a carefree woman who loves them both as they run an easygoing marijuana operation in Laguna Beach. When Elena “La Reina” Sanchez (Salma Hayek), head of the vicious Baja Cartel, gets wind of Chon and Ben’s extraordinary weed, she first sends her lawyer, Alex (Demián Bichir), to them to make a deal, but when they reject it, they next have to face the dark, brooding Lado (Benicio del Toro), who enjoys such things as torture and killing. As the film spins out of control, its only saving grace is the occasional appearances of John Travolta as Dennis, a pleasant but corrupt DEA agent who just might know a lot more than he’s telling. The primary problem with Savages is that it is filled with characters who are hard to care about in any way or have sympathy for at all, whether they’re over-the-top evil or treacly sweet. Each side calls the other savages, and because that is indeed true, the film feels lost from the start. Once again Stone shows himself to be an immensely talented but frustrating filmmaker choosing style over substance. But things significantly improve whenever Travolta is on-screen, playing Dennis with a wry sense of humor and un-Travolta-like hair.
Having given up on life following the death of his wife, wayward samurai Nomi Kanjuro (first-time actor Takaaki Nomi) roams nineteenth-century Japan with an empty scabbard, running away from confrontation while accepting the verbal wrath of his extremely embarrassed nine-year-old daughter, Tae (Sea Kumada). After surviving three fanciful and fantastical — and far too silly and stylized — attacks by a trio of oddball bounty hunters (Ryo, Rolly, and Zennosuke Fukkin), Nomi is arrested and brought to a castle where the boy prince has not cracked even the hint of a smile since the recent death of his mother. Nomi is faced with the 30-Day Feat — every day for a month, he has the opportunity to try to make the prince smile. If Nomi fails, he must commit a very public seppuku. And so begins a comic series of events in which the dour Nomi, who barely ever speaks, turns into a kind of dark clown, but it’s clear that it’s going to take something very special to end the prince’s dilemma. Written and directed by Hitoshi Matsumoto (Big Man Japan, 