Jackass 3D (Jeff Tremaine)

The so-called professionals.

After not seeing some 'Jackass' antics for a long while (being tired and slightly irritated of it are some of the reasons why), here they go again. But this time, these 'out of proportions and out of taste' gang, which is particularly known for physical extremities and their inclination towards the utterly disgusting and the absurd, ironically conforms with the movie experience-enhancing craze that is the 3D technology.

I'm not so sure if the film really needed that 3D add-on as the stunts performed in it were too alarmingly death-defying on their own that it can immediately hit some pretty large nausea-inducing nerves without even giving the entire promise that those s**ts and stuff would look like they will fly right into your face. But come on, this is the movie biz, therefore, money is in the other end of the rainbow, so although I can't quite see the true necessity of 3D (I even think the slow-motion scenes were good enough without any added unaligned reds and blues), I fully understand it.

"Jackass 3D" is almost virtually the same compared to its two full-length predecessors, but with many scrap-worthy segments even made shorter to give way for more rambunctious, mind-numbing, and vomit-inspiring acts, you can see the behind-the-scenes will that they have gathered and put up together just to finish up the film by way of how they have inserted numerous 2-minute parts just to compensate with the requisite running time of a full-length feature.

But watch out for that Steve-O-manned finale. After a decade of forcing their derring-do, daredevil-wannabe selves (I still can't fathom how they brand themselves as professionals. Professionals of what?) to put toy cars in their rectum, defecate and eat, eat and puke and defecate and puke some more, the film's said finale (the Porta Potty Bungee) really exemplifies their spent sweat and blood. And as Chris Pontius aptly emphasized, "That had it all - it had danger, it had s**t, it had puke, I mean that's what this show's all about." Spot on indeed.

Then there's this scene near the beginning of the film where one of them asked what they were doing on a farm with a bunch of stinging bees. "Making a hit movie", said the other. Their outlandish pseudo-bravery, showboating and penchants for pranks are all notches higher than the average person, but their capacity for reason clearly isn't. But with the kind of film/show "Jackass" is, do they even need any?

FINAL RATING

The Legend of Drunken Master (Chia-Liang Liu)

Drunken and victorious.

Simply put, Jackie Chan at his most relentless best, using every tricks from his disposal and utilizing almost all the prop techniques that he had shown in his documentary film "My Stunts" into great effect. Yes, it's Mr. Chan's finest moment, in terms of fight sequences.

But when we talk about the plot itself and the seemingly weird over-the-top response of the characters in certain situations (really, doing all of it for the sake of some pesky artifacts? Sending hordes of axe-wielding militia to attack an old man and an incompetent martial artist?), "The Legend of Drunken Master" (or "Drunken Master II" for those very concerned with continuity) still has some issues.

Jackie Chan, known for combining flawlessly choreographed fight scenes with slapstick comedy, has not faltered in a single scene, and at times, even convincingly shifting from overtly animated laugh riots into sudden dramatic pathos. Some may call this 'transitionally implausible" to execute. But for Jackie Chan (he's playing Wong Fei-hong in this film again, by the way), who's got lots more to cover than cheaply-conceived emotions (such as a stint on literally playing with the wonders of fire), nothing is complex when great 'timing' is involved.

This is martial arts cinema at its peak. No wires, no majestic philosophical notions about heaven and earth. Just the Buster Keaton-inspired Jackie Chan with lots of guts, a talent to showcase and, inserting the excitement and almost spell-bound sensation that I have felt while watching the climactic showdown in an extremely combustible steel factory, some breath to take.

FINAL RATING