SUMMERFEST '22: BNAT Fave Double Features III - "All Out of Bubblegum" Double

Today's movies have come here to kick ass and chew bubblegum. And they're all out of bubblegum.

The Dragon Lives Again (1977) (rewatch)

Played at BNAT 15 (2013)

Trailers: Sting of the Dragon Masters; Fist of Fear, Touch of Death

I love this wild-ass movie. One of many “Brucesploitation” movies to come out in the wake of Bruce Lee’s death, this one sees "Bruce Lee" arriving in the afterlife. They explain that when you die, your body changes, which is why our Bruce Lee doesn’t look like the real one. Off-brand Bruce meets a bunch of other off-brand cultural icons (James Bond, The Godfather, Popeye, Caine from Kung Fu, Dracula, The Exorcist, and even Emmanuelle). Bruce teams up with some of them and fights against others, and the whole thing is peppered with Bruce Lee dick jokes. Two drawbacks to this rewatch. First, this is a movie best experienced with a group, which made my solo viewing not as awesome as it could have been. Second, this movie is in dire need of a higher-quality home version. The DVD is ripped from a VHS and it is near unwatchable.

Kick-Ass (2010) (rewatch)

Played at BNAT 11 (2009)

Trailers: Lucky Seven, Kingsman

This was such a blast to see at BNAT and I still remember all the beats we went nuts for all those years ago. After recently seeing Thor: Love and Thunder and its use of “November Rain,” I couldn’t help feeling a twinge of sadness that that needle drop couldn’t be used in this movie (that and “Planet Krypton” as Dave looks at himself in the mirror with the suit on – both music cues were part of the working print we saw). I still can’t get over all the pearl-clutching from when this movie first came out from people who did not understand the tone of this movie at all. Maybe the biggest change between when I first saw this and today’s rewatch is that I have become a devoted Sparks fan in the years since. I did not like “This Town Ain’t Big Enough for Both of Us” at ALL when I heard it in this movie. It was too weird and I didn’t understand the lyrics and what was that falsetto all about ... bleh. I can’t tell you how differently I feel now. In a movie full of happy moments, hearing the opening strains of that song is one of my happiest.

Side Note: If you've never seen it, by all means check out the trailer for Lucky Seven, which I played before Kick-Ass and which is one of the more hilarious and insane trailers I've ever seen for a mind-bogglingly brutal kids movie.