Bad Boys, The Eye 2, & The Lovers of the Arctic Circle

Bad Boys is just one of the most misogynistic films ever made. I know, I know: he's complaining about misogyny again. But look at the film: all the female characters are either prostitutes, ballbreakers, or insane. While the guys are always far smarter than the women. Of course, the film isn't really meant to hold up to scrutiny of the sort of: why the hell are Martin Lawrence and Will Smith still on duty after the shootout at the apartment or the shootout at the club? Oh, that's right, because they're magical cops who don't have to, you know, answer to any higher law. Like their superiors. Or the amount of bullets fired that don't hit anyone. It's the Stormtrooper Syndrome. Also, I wanted to complain about how many times both one of the Titular Bad Boys (TBB) and a Non-Titular Bad Guy pointed guns at each other at the same time, and the TBB is able to not only fire first, but fire off a stupid one-liner before the NTBG is unable to come close to firing. Also, explosions are stupid. Or at least explosions for the sake of exploding things are stupid. As are cars that magically go from reverse to forwards without any chance, the fact that anyone finds Martin Lawrence funny, and that this film was remotely successful.

The Eye 2 is a sequel to one of the better Asian horror films, and although it does have the long-haired female ghost that so many others do, this one is far less about frights than about a look at life and death. But it also has Qi Shu, giving another performance worthy of her labia... I mean... Oh damn. She's quite good, and Eugenia Yuan is suitably creepy. The problem is that, although clearly a much higher budget than The Eye, the plot drags, we wonder just how everything is actually happening (how exactly did she not die after throwing herself off a building multiple times?), and just in general, it is less than the sum of its parts. Even if one of those parts sees ghosts.

The Lovers of the Arctic Circle is a great love story, filled with coincidences fulfilled, and sometimes not, a circular plotline that perfectly matches the title. It's the story of two eight-year olds who meet strange and, as they grow up, the various coincidences that so clearly point to them being right for each other. And the demon red bus that keeps getting in the way. Palindromes, scenes from just one or both perspectives at the same time, and circles are just so important. And then there's the final twist, slightly foreshadowed at the beginning and near the middle, with scenes that aren't entirely what they seem. It was written and directed by Julio Medem, who did Sex and Lucia, the best film I've ever seen with a mud-covered man becoming erect on screen. This is only slightly less sensual than that film (which is actually impressive considering the title of that film has sex in it), but it had me under its spell, acknowledging my main problem with it (the extreme coincidences necessary to further the plot), but doing it in a charming way that doesn't seem so completely random, and messes with my (and the characters') expectations just enough. Yeah, I am a sucker for the romance, but I just loved this film and then the ending hit, and I realized it was the way to end it.