Kill Bill: Vol. 2
The Bride (Uma Thurman) continues following the dead bodies left in her wake as she closes in on Bill (David Carradine) to seek revenge for his trying to kill her. But whose left? There's Budd (Michael Madsen), AKA: Sidewinder, and Elle Driver (Daryl Hannah), AKA: California Mountain Snake, to get through before she can get to Bill. I won't give away anything about their final conflicts, but things don't go as smoothly for the Bride this time around. We do learn more about the Wedding Chapel Massacre and The Bride's training with Pai Mei (Chia Hui Liu), a Kung Fu master with almost supernatural powers. But "Volume 2" unfortunately gives up on the first film's non-stop action for longer dialogue bouts instead—some of it good, some of it drawn out way too long. One thing I found grabbing my attention this go round was the background music and cinematography. I've always enjoyed QT's visual style but noticed some things new like his cropping the film frame to different widths for close-ups. His music has always been special and this outing offers more interesting and entertaining choices. You'll also notice his extended use of white, glowing light bathing characters in many scenes. Then there's David Carradine, looking more like his famous character-actor father. He emits a great screen presence as he spurts forth dialogue you can hear coming directly from Quentin Tarantino's mind. Michael Madsen (everyone's favorite bad guy) sheds his usual street smart city self for a shit kicker persona, as equally bad-assed, done as equally well. I enjoyed watching him speak, watching him period. The other thing I enjoyed was the cast of background characters like the Organ Player (Samuel L. Jackson,) the strip-joint bartender (Sid Haig), and Madsen's grave-digging buddy. Should you see it,? Of course, especially if you've seen "Volume 1." But if you haven't seen the first part, I recommend you rent it before seeing "Volume 2" so you understand everything the Bride has been through.

King Kong (2005)
Peter Jackson has admitted, as have so many other famous directors and special effects wizards of today, that the one film that inspired him to be a movie maker was the 1933 King Kong. It was always his dream to remake the movie icon classic so that young audiences of today could get the same thrill and inspiration he got from the original. Well, Peter Jackson finally got to fulfill that childhood dream with this remake. I say "remake" and not reimagined because it is obvious that Jackson made every effort to keep the charm and magic of the original in his remake, and that he did. He followed the original plot very closely and the few changes he did make only added some substance, probably necessary for modern viewers. While Carl Denham (superbly played by Jack Black) is intact, the character Jack Driscoll (well played by Adrien Brody) is now a playwright instead of the first mate. Jackson also adds a leading man to Denham's planned film project—Bruce Baxter (Kyle Chandler)—which helps with that substance I mentioned. The one character to gain the most substance was Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts), who actually has more lines (although all the screams are intact) and much more interaction with Kong—the biggest change Jackson makes to the original script. Kong is less monster this time around and more primate. Ann actually communicates with Kong to the point that a relationship blossoms between the beauty and the beast. If audiences are willing to accept this relationship through their suspension of disbelief then they'll be fine, otherwise, they might have one "small" problem with this film—the extra sentimentality. For me, that issue was easy to overlook because I was having too much fun. Skull Island is badder this time around with really nasty natives, stampeding dinosaurs, Kong fighting three T. Rex's instead of one, giant spiders . . . you get the point. And Jackson's recreating of a 1930's depression era New York is sheer magic, especially when watching Kong rampage through the snow-covered streets. And for those of you who know every line and scene from the original, you'll get some special kicks out of seeing lines from the original used, like when Jackson's Denham has Ann rehearsing on the ship and the lines are from the original film. Another homage to the original was when Jackson's Denham introduces his Eighth Wonder of the World and they recreate, on the stage, the scene from the 1933 version where Ann is offered to Kong, complete with coconut-wearing natives and music from the original classic. Even the nearly three-hour length was not an issue as this story flew by. All in all, there's plenty intact from the original to give Kong fans thrills and enough new action and special effects to capture CGI-savvy audiences of today, if they can get past the extra sentimentality.

Knockaround Guys
What's the son of a mob boss gonna do with his life? He doesn't have what it takes to be a mobster and no one will give him a chance to be a sports agent. This is Matty (Barry Pepper) Demaret's dilemma in "Knockaround Guys." Thanks to his mob father's friend, Teddy (John Malkovich) Deserve, Matty gets one more shot at being a mob guy by having one of his friends (Seth Green as Marbles) pick up and deliver a large amount of mob money. But when Marbles loses the money, Matty and friends (Vin Diesel, Andrew Davoli) must head out to Montana to retrieve the lost loot. Malkovich and Dennis Hopper (the Mob Boss) are hysterical with their over-the-top Brooklyn accents (I know, I'm from Brooklyn) and mobster personas, starting this "gangster coming-of-age" story as a comedy of errors, complete with a "Bill and Ted" team stealing the mob's money. But when the local cops get involved, things get down and dirty leaving us with a well-done, tight little film that's worth every minute. Matty gets a lesson in life and we get an enjoyable campy gangsta-thriller that's worth a look. I ain't kiddin', yous guys!

Kung Fu Hustle
Veteran Hong Kong actor Stephen Chow and director (Shaolin Soccer), co-writer (Kung Fu Hustle) brings the Hong Kong martial arts genre full circle by stealing from America films. America has been ripping these guys off for some time, so now, Stephen Chow takes the best parts of Hong Kong martial arts cinema and steals ideas from back director Quentin Tarentino's Kill Bill films to bring us one of the funniest, most enjoyable films I've seen in a long time. It's 1940s Hong Kong and the Axe Gang (with Kwok Kuen Chan as their leader, Brother Sum) takes over the town during the films ten-minute hook to set the stage. Now you know what you're going to get and can't wait for more. There's only one place that the gang has yet to infiltrate, a slum area called "The Pig Sty." But when some of the gangs' flunkies make their move, they find the slums hide some Kung Fu masters (a gay tailor, a peasant, and a cook) of their own. Add subplots about a wanna-be Axe Gang Banger, Sing (Stephen Chow) and his incompetent sidekick (Chi Chung Lam), as well as one about the slum's landlord (Wah Yuen) and landlady (Qiu Yuen) and you get Kill Bill meets the Roadrunner Cartoon with martial arts fantasy action that's a laugh riot. Expect flying fists and feet, and special effects that will dazzle you. I laughed out loud more than once in disbelief and applauded when the film ended. See this one in the theaters if you can, but definitely rent it when it becomes available on DVD.