A night in with a film

Dark and miserable looking outside last night I decided to stay in. I didn't fancy reading and sans PS3 that meant a film; but what did I fancy?

Something that didn't make me think - so out goes "Donnie Darko" et al. Hmm action, but no zombies; out goes "Resident Evil: Extinction". Something light; out goes Bourne. After 2012 something that won't make me wince every five minutes due to plot illogic; out goes "Transformers" and "Die Hard 4.0". Something a couple of hours long that won't make me want to continue; out goes "Battlestar Galactica".

I ended up with "Shaolin Soccer" and I'm glad. The dubbed version because I couldn't be arsed with subtitles, but still a wonderfully made film with so many nods to the styles of other genres such as Westerns and musicals. Though what does it say when I find the idea of footballs catching on fire or players leaping 50 feet into the air less mind-bending than most of the events in 2012 or Die Hard 4.0?

I mean of course it's stupid, but this is an obviously fictional universe (the bad guys are called "Team Evil" for Christ's sake) yet everything conforms to its own internal logic. It's just a delight to watch with so many 'this is a film' in-jokes. I still laugh at the scene where Chow is crawling on the football pitch it's almost "Police Squad" level.

I'm not sure if I prefer this to the other Stephen Chow film I own "Kung Fu Hustle"; tough call. "Shaolin Soccer" makes me laugh more so I'll go with that.