Movies Seen Recently: The Machine Girl, Trilogy of Terror, The Transporter

The Machine Girl (2008) – Very gory, very silly movie about a Japanese schoolgirl raising her younger brother alone; when the brother is bullied to death just for kicks by the son of a sadistic yakuza ninja, she goes on the warpath — and even having her arm cut off doesn’t stop her, as the mechanic father of her brother’s best friend (also bullied to death) makes an automatic weapon to fit on her stump.

As with most things Japanese, there are moments which break from the general tenor (which was none too serious to begin with) and takes us into BatCrap Insane Country for a few minutes; the Drill Bra is one of those moments.

Trilogy of Terror (1975) – I’m sure it seems petty that, every time I discuss any movie containing the late Karen Black, I always have to remark on how unattractive she is. I have nothing against her.  Really.  In every role I’ve seen her in, she’s performed well, and especially in those underwritten roles from the cheaper end of the budgetary spectrum, she seems more than willing to add enough energy to overcome the poor script.  But every time I see her — especially in roles from the 1970s — I can’t overlook the fact that, for practically a decade and more, she was promoted as a beautiful romantic lead or femme fatale.  Truly, the seventies were a time in which pop culture as a whole was demonstrably skewed.

In any case: This is the famous TV-movie in which Black starred as a different character in each of three segments based on stories by Richard Matheson. I say “famous,” even though the majority is forgettable: The first story (as adapted for the screen, anyway) is pointless, and the second is completely obvious from about twenty seconds in (probably even more so given the gimmick tying together the three stories).  It’s the third segment that everyone remembers, with Black stuck in her apartment being chased by a possessed Zuni fetish doll.  It was so much the claim to fame that, when Trilogy of Terror 2 was similarly produced for TV in 1996 (with Lysette Anthony doing the “one actress in three roles” shtick), the Zuni fetish doll was again the focus of the third story.

The Transporter (2002) – Observations from positive to negative:

• With Jason Statham as the star, Corey Yuen as co-director, and Luc Besson as co-writer, the action and chase scenes are understandably impressive.
• The premise is good: Statham is a man who makes a living transporting don’t-ask-don’t-tell packages for French underworld characters, keeping his nose clean by living by a strict set of rules.
• The obligatory romance is, well, obligatory.
• The story gets lost in the weeds — the rules, which are a big presence in the first twenty minutes, disappear once they get broken.  A better storyline would have made either their deliberate observance or equally deliberate violation a part of the third act.
• The dialog was either written by stupid people, or for stupid people.
• The resolution is a jarring end to the story. Boom, the end, credits.

So, yeah, some good action scenes…

Abandoned movies: The Willies, Four of the Apocalypse