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shaolin soccer
4.5/5 another banger, -0.5 only because I didn't like it as much as kung fu hustle and I've got to give the pinnacle its due.
A very feel good, hilarious ride, this gave me some much needed laughs when I was feeling a bit down. Not that that's all that unusual—I feel a bit down a lot. Maybe everyone does. I can't complain though, I've been much better now that I'm older and further away from the negative thinking patterns of my early 20s, and it's been easier to find joy in the small things without feeling like I'm trying to force myself. But I am who I am, and I've always gotten into my head too easily. Especially in times like now, when I can't move my body in the ways I wish. My brain knows that I am lucky, that it is something worth revering that I can move still in many ways, and mostly without pain. And that it is particularly self-centered to feel sorry for myself when my grandma's been bedridden for almost 4 months and just took her first steps since her fall a couple days ago. And I am grateful. I just... I'm also... It still hurts me, I suppose.
And I think that despite all the time that's passed, there's a part of me still scared that one day I will wake up and not be able to walk. Even though in the past decade there's been no time that's even come close to that time after high school.
And there's another part of me that rages at the timing of it. It feels like every time I start to grow stronger, when I see the first results come to fruition and cautiously allow myself to start to hope that I can invest in moving my body more without consequence, without losing all the results of my efforts, something like this happens again. And even knowing that it could be much much worse only offers so much comfort.
Some days I feel like a fake person. It's easy to project cheer on the surface when that's all it is, skin-deep.
But that's enough moping for today. Back to the movie. This movie made me laugh, and it didn't feel fake, so I'm grateful for that.
It was ridiculous, but that was the joy of it. Like kung fu hustle, this movie felt incredibly self-aware. It knew that its characters and their moves were thoroughly unbelievable, a la prince of tennis style, but made that part of the fun with increasingly outlandish scenes. There was little to no realism, but that wasn't the point. We weren't here for the real. We were here for the funny, the strange, the unbelievable. And in those, shaolin soccer delivered. The plot was straightforward and predictable, but in this case I don't think that was a negative. I'd argue that it was only around this simpler plot that the movie was able to support such a colorful cast of characters and throw them together without losing the narrative. And besides, even if we saw 90% of the plot coming, it still felt good, didn't it? At least it did for me.
Shaolin soccer didn't really pull at the heartstrings or have quite the highs and lows of kung fu hustle for me, but I don't think it was necessarily meant to. For pure laughs, this movie slaps.
A very feel good, hilarious ride, this gave me some much needed laughs when I was feeling a bit down. Not that that's all that unusual—I feel a bit down a lot. Maybe everyone does. I can't complain though, I've been much better now that I'm older and further away from the negative thinking patterns of my early 20s, and it's been easier to find joy in the small things without feeling like I'm trying to force myself. But I am who I am, and I've always gotten into my head too easily. Especially in times like now, when I can't move my body in the ways I wish. My brain knows that I am lucky, that it is something worth revering that I can move still in many ways, and mostly without pain. And that it is particularly self-centered to feel sorry for myself when my grandma's been bedridden for almost 4 months and just took her first steps since her fall a couple days ago. And I am grateful. I just... I'm also... It still hurts me, I suppose.
And I think that despite all the time that's passed, there's a part of me still scared that one day I will wake up and not be able to walk. Even though in the past decade there's been no time that's even come close to that time after high school.
And there's another part of me that rages at the timing of it. It feels like every time I start to grow stronger, when I see the first results come to fruition and cautiously allow myself to start to hope that I can invest in moving my body more without consequence, without losing all the results of my efforts, something like this happens again. And even knowing that it could be much much worse only offers so much comfort.
Some days I feel like a fake person. It's easy to project cheer on the surface when that's all it is, skin-deep.
But that's enough moping for today. Back to the movie. This movie made me laugh, and it didn't feel fake, so I'm grateful for that.
It was ridiculous, but that was the joy of it. Like kung fu hustle, this movie felt incredibly self-aware. It knew that its characters and their moves were thoroughly unbelievable, a la prince of tennis style, but made that part of the fun with increasingly outlandish scenes. There was little to no realism, but that wasn't the point. We weren't here for the real. We were here for the funny, the strange, the unbelievable. And in those, shaolin soccer delivered. The plot was straightforward and predictable, but in this case I don't think that was a negative. I'd argue that it was only around this simpler plot that the movie was able to support such a colorful cast of characters and throw them together without losing the narrative. And besides, even if we saw 90% of the plot coming, it still felt good, didn't it? At least it did for me.
Shaolin soccer didn't really pull at the heartstrings or have quite the highs and lows of kung fu hustle for me, but I don't think it was necessarily meant to. For pure laughs, this movie slaps.