I finally pulled out one of the movies that I purchased a few months ago, but never have gotten around to watching.  (Hey, you have to take advantage of those Amazon specials as they come up.)  The movie was Island in the Sky starring John Wayne.  The film was produced by his production company, Wayne/Fellows Productions, and he is one of the two producers.  The story involves the emergency landing of a World War Two-era Douglas C-47 Skytrain in Labrador due to the buildup of ice on the wings and the search and rescue of the crew members.  It was actually a very riveting film with some amazing photography. 

I’m not your typical John Wayne fan.  I like his films, the ones I’ve seen, but I won’t go out of my way to watch one.  My dad, on the other hand, is a die-hard fan and has most likely seen all of his movies multiple times.  I was very pleased with John’s performance here.  He didn’t portray the character with the usual machismo you normally associate with a John Wayne role.  You saw fear and uncertainty.  It was a great role.  James Arness also starred as well as some relatively unknown actors that would later gain fame through television:  Mike Connors (Mannix) and Fess Parker (Daniel Boone).  Carl “Alfalfa” Switzer also had a small somewhat comedic role as the copilot of one of the rescue aircraft.  This is a film that I would whole heartedly recommend to anyone.

DVD Cover for Island in the Sky

Talk about a fantasy film!  Many people have wanted to see a movie with Jackie Chan and Jet Li together ever since their names became common place in the American movie industry, and maybe even beyond that.  The Forbidden Kingdom is a film for those who love a good fairy tale as well as martial arts afficianados.  The film has a feel of “The Neverending Story” meets “The Wizard of Oz” to it.  I really liked it.  

Jason, played by Michael Angarano, is a fan of martial arts films.  He lives in Boston and is friends with an elderly Chinese pawn shop owner, Hop, who supplies him with DVDs.  During this latest visit, he notices an antique staff, which Hop informs him is waiting to be returned to its rightful owner.  After the visit, he’s confronted by bullies who force him to return so they can rob the place.  After a fight where Hop is badly injured, Jason grabs to staff to keep it safe, but is then carried back to ancient China.  After being chased from a village, he meets Lu Yan, who helps him fight off the attackers.  Jackie Chan stars as Lu Yan, the Drunken Immortal.  They then begin an adventure to return the staff to the Monkey King who 500 years earlier was tricked by the Jade Warlord, Colin Chou.  Along the way, they are befriended by Golden Sparrow, Liu Yifei, and meet up with the Silent Monk, played by Jet Li.

I hate spoiling films for people and can never decide what is too much, so this will have to be it for this review.  My movie reviews will be always be bare bones and give the briefest of synopsis.  Can you really call it a review then?  Anyway, if you’ve seen this movie, let me know what you thought of it.

The Forbidden Kingdom