I clearly remember one of the first times I formulated and defended an opinion in opposition to my parents: I was ten years old and we had all just seen <a target='_blank' href='http://us.imdb.com/Title?0080745'>Flash Gordon</a>. They hated it, apparently because it was gross and pointless. I, on the other hand, thought that the spaceships and fighting and stuff were cool and - more importantly - I vigorously argued the point.

But my response to this film ran deeper than nascent teenage rebellion. A big part of the film's power over me was Queen's soundtrack. The thump-thump-thump-thump of the 'Flash' theme heightened the drama for me in a way I didn't really understand at the time. Looking back, it was clearly sowing the seeds of rock n' roll awakening (which would reach full bloom a year later with the purchase of an "I Love Rock n' Roll" 45).

And then, of course, there was Princess Aura. The TV show "Friends" has joked about the effect Princess Leia's metal bikini had on the emerging sexuality of millions of pubescent boys. However, those of us who were there know that three full years before Return of the Jedi, our preteen ids had already been sent through the spin cycle by Princess Aura and the film's bondage and S&M overtones.

In short, seeing Flash Gordon in 1980 was for me nothing less than the discovery of rebellion, rock n' roll, and sex. Maybe that's the real reason my parents didn't like it.

<center><img src='images/flashgordon.jpg'></center>

<i>Flash Gordon is playing this <a target='_blank' href='http://www.hkinsf.com/4star/midnites0503.html'>Saturday at midnight at the Four Star Theater</a> in San Francisco.</i>

I finally saw <a href='http://us.imdb.com/Title?0280477'>Better Luck Tomorrow</a> this weekend and simply cannot understand the critical praise that has been lavished on it. The premise (high school overachievers by day, suburban gangsters by night) is interesting enough and could have made for a good film, but this isn't it. I don't care what it's trying to do to challenge Asian American stereotypes - this movie sucks ass.

There was just so much wrong here I don't even know where to begin. It utterly fails to explore (or even plausibly explain) how and why these kids become part-time thugs. As a result, their subsequent violence feels weirdly forced and lacks any emotional impact (either on the audience or the characters). And the lead character (Ben) is absolutely unwatchable throughout - I'm supposed to believe this vacant mama's boy is some kind of badass? Somebody made some nice choices for soundtrack - Olympia rockers IQU, Mocket, and Emily's Sassy Lime all make appearances - but that's about the only good thing I can say about this trainwreck of a film.

<b>There is no Plot</b>

I also saw <a href='http://us.imdb.com/Title?0234215'>The Matrix: Reloaded</a> this weekend. This was pretty entertaining, but it's far from being a worthy successor to the original. Most of the action sequences were exceptionally good (it ups the ante on <i>To Live and Die in LA</i> with a chase going the wrong way on the freeway on a Ducati - too cool) - but the plot is muddled and the armchair philosophers who wrote the wooden dialog need to be shot. And it looks like the world outside the matrix is just going to turn out to be another part of the matrix when 'Matrix: Revolutions' comes out in November - lame.

I'm told that the guy in this video was using his high school's video camera and then forgot to take the tape with him:

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a target='_blank' href='http://www2.violated.net/Star_Wars_Kid.wmv'>watch this first</a>

Some cruel individual found the piece and apparently decided to have some fun with it.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a target='_blank' href='http://www2.violated.net/Star_Wars_Kid_Remix.wmv'>watch this second</a>

I know this will probably get me a few extra years in Purgatory, but it's just too funny.

<i>If you're having trouble viewing these, try right-clicking, choose Save As..., and then open the file directly with your movie player (e.g. Windows Media Player).</i>

This is the last film I saw at the SFIFF was <a target='_blank' href='http://us.imdb.com/Title?0283900'>Spanish Apartment</a> and it may be the one I liked best. It's a pretty straightfoward comedy about a Parisian college student who takes years off from school to study abroad in Barcelona. There, he finds lodging in a cramped apartment shared by a motley assortment of students from all over Europe. He quickly settles in and all manner of hijinks and affairs (and very little studying) ensue. It's kind of like a two-hour episode of <i>Friends</i> except that it's actually well-written and funny.

A persistent theme throughout is that of identifying the culture of a federated Europe; at a few points, I actually felt like it hit me over the head with this ("gee, look at the kooky people from different countries who don't always get along but still share a common bond...blah blah blah"). In that context, I couldn't help but wonder why Eastern Europe wasn't invited to the party. Maybe there really aren't any Romanians studying in Spain, I dunno.

Americans, on the other hand, are not so fortunate as to be completely overlooked. The token Yankee is a guitar-slinging cowboy boytoy from Santa Fe, who is (justifiably) referred to as 'stupid American' at least once and whose few lines consist primarily of howling like a dog. His appearance is brief, though, and really didn't bother me very much.

However, it wouldn't have bothered me at all had the film not gone out of its way to dismantle this sort of stereotype as it is applied to Europeans. This occurs when a younger brother visits the crew and quickly alienates himself from everyone with his insensitive cariacatures of various European nationalities (the anal German, the messy Italian, the mumbling Frenchman). The filmmakers clearly <i>want</i> the audience to be irritated because in the backlash against these ridiculous stereotypes, they will be better able to recognize their own European-ness.

American stereotypes, however, are apparently still fair game, and it just feels like a cheap shot. Because of this, and contrary to some claims, I would argue that this film is <i>not</i> about promoting cross-border understanding generally; rather, it's exclusively about forging a European identity (and a Western European one, at that).

This is just (lengthy) quibbling, though; I really did find this film funny and enjoyable. And being an American in the age of Freedom Fries, I suppose I don't have much license to pout, anyway.