A Deep Dive into Weirdo Cinema [3] Quiz

Answer: Shaolin Soccer

Filmed in Hong Kong, this early 2000s, sports fusion movie combined Stephen Chow's martial arts prowess with the popular sport of soccer and a heavy dose of comedy. Not unlike his later film, "Kung Fu Hustle", it brings a joking eye to the contents, allowing his Shaolin monk character to use his all-powerful techniques to lead a team of soccer players in Hong Kong.

"Shaolin Soccer" was massively popular, topping box office earnings lists until Chow's "Kung Fu Hustle" three years later. It won many awards at home in Hong Kong and was a massive success both critically and financially. The creators of "Avatar: The Last Airbender", cited the film as inspiration for some of the movements of the characters in their cartoon series which, in itself, became quite beloved.

Answer: Slender Man

Putting late 2010s scream queen Joey King into the starring role, "Slender Man" attempted, quite late, to capitalize on the modern urban legend of a creature that has no discernible reason for being. Popularized by online memes and a subsequent indie video game, Slender Man appears as a faceless, featureless being in a crisp suit. By the time the film came out in 2018, the panic had subsided on the being. Nevertheless, the movie attempted to persist, resulting in a major critical panning and a Razzie nomination.

At the very least, the film is an example of how to strike an iron when it's already cooled. Despite being late to the party, it helped continue to legitimize the acting career of Joey King who, originally, got her start in acting nearly a decade earlier. By the time 2018 hit with "The Kissing Booth", she'd built up enough major credits to start starring in her own features-- this included-- even if some were duds.

Answer: The Fifth Element

Destined to be a sci-fi cult classic from the word go, "The Fifth Element" was released in 1997 with Bruce Willis in the lead role as Korben Dallas, a cab driver and former Special Forces operative who gets embroiled in a plot that hangs Earth's fate in the balance, and it all starts (for him at least), when Milla Jovovich's Leeloo crash lands through the roof of his New York City flying cab.

It's an absurd film that takes viewers from Earth to the planets beyond with new technologies that never feel out of place. Also starring Chris Tucker, Gary Oldman, and Ian Holm, it may be considered director Luc Besson's signature film (in a career of major oddities). Considering how wild and wacky it all really was, it's unsurprising that critics were divided on it. Nonetheless, its excess not only showed in the film, but in the box office.

Answer: Gymkata

As absurd as it sounds "Gymkata" manages to play up its angle almost flawlessly-- as in "this is so absurd it might just work". Featuring Olympic gymnast Kurt Thomas in the lead role as Johnathan Cabot who is...well, a gymnast... he's approached by a government agency and asked to participate in "The Game", a deadly competition that will require all of his abilities to overcome. If he wins, he'll get a wish...and walk away with his life. Naturally, the government wants Cabot to win so that he can wish for satellites that can give the U.S. early warning of nuclear attacks. Not a humble wish, in my opinion.

And the ludicrousness doesn't stop there. Partway through the film, for about ten minutes, Cabot makes his way through 'The Village of Crazies' and literally pommel horses his way to success, evading the maniacs and continuing on.

Besides the fact that this movie was based on a book called "The Terrible Game", there should be nothing else to say. Everyone should see this movie-- it's bonkers.

Answer: New York

Though the third movie starring Charles Bronson in the series, "Death Wish 3", released in 1985, was the last film in the series to be directed by UK director Michael Winner. This one upped the ante once again, bringing Bronson's character, Paul Kersey, to New York City to provide his rough and tough vigilante justice to the mean streets of Brooklyn to fight off a large gang. What follows is deeply problematic as characters are set upon by gang members and Bronson himself in ruthless fashion. At one point, the major female lead is punched in the face before her car rolls down a hill and explodes. It's a merciless action revenge film, but then, aren't all of them?

Reception to the film was wildly negative, in many ways due to Bronson's complete lack of emotion throughout. Action scenes are executed by him, then 64-years-old, with near-boredom and monotony while, all the while, gang members are swarming East New York. Bronson would return for "Death Wish 4: The Crackdown" in 1987

Answer: A church

Simply by noting that this movie was created by The Asylum, you can get a bit of a gauge for the expectation here. Created, as is the case with most Asylum movies, with the intent to snag the audience off a more popular, legitimate film, "Sunday School Musical" nips at the heels of the popular Disney film "High School Musical" by giving the idea a Christian spin. Featuring a group of kids creating a choir to raise money for their church, the stakes seem pretty low as a whole.

Interestingly, director Rachel Lee Goldenberg is also known for directing the Will Ferrell/Kristen Wiig Lifetime movie "Deadly Adoption" in 2015.

Answer: John Lennon

Particularly unique because of how out-there director Jodorowsky takes his imagery, "The Holy Mountain" is a cinematic dose of weird. Premiering at Cannes in 1973, the movie featured all manner of uncomfortable, perverse symbolism throughout and was brought into being due to Jodorowsky's decision to go as experimental as possible (even dosing the cast with psilocybin at times).

The film itself follows a man who, after climbing a tower, meets an Alchemist and his assistant who take him on as an apprentice. The three of them subsequently set out to find the peak of the Holy Mountain, meeting seven other people along the way, each of whom is meant to represent a planet. It's a solid two hours of avant-garde moviegoing, that's for sure.

Answer: Justin Chatwin

The 2000s really had a hard time with anime and manga adaptations, and "Dragonball: Evolution", releasing in 2008, didn't help top the needle in the right direction. Starring a number of reputable actors like Justin Chatwin, Emmy Rossum, and Chow Yun-Fat, the reimagined take on "Dragonball" left a ton to be desired by fans, especially since it portrayed Goku as older, gave him Yun-Fat as a Master Roshi mentor, and covered the entirety of the show's first arc with little fanfare.

In the movie, Goku and the others collect the Dragonballs, which can grant them one wish, but obviously, the world's out to get them-- especially the bad guys (specifically James Marsters' Piccolo this time). The creator of the original "Dragon Ball", Akira Toriyama, suggested not treating it as canon, insisting that the movie didn't have the characteristics of actual "Dragon Ball" material. Originally, the studio planned for seven films in the series. They only made the one.

Answer: One Missed Call

Okay-- let's figure this one out. "One Missed Call", featured a series of supernatural murders, each of which involved the victims receiving a phone call that came through with a mysterious ringtone. When they died, they would phone the next victim and the cycle would continue on and on. But this started with the death of a child of true evil intent, who lived in a room with millipedes and weird dolls. And somehow all those things are hallucinations now. Yikes.

Based on the Takashi Miike J-horror film "Chakushin Ari" (which wasn't that bad!), "One Missed Call" is one to miss. Attaining the rare 0% Rotten Tomatoes score, it's contrived and exactly the wrong type of way to remake a J-horror film, especially so deep into the J-horror wave that occurred in the 2000s. The studio, fearing the backlash, refused to give critics early screenings and placed the movie up for release in early January before it faded into complete obscurity. But what a ride.

Answer: True

Pushing hard into being both a satire of 1980's action films while, in itself, being a pretty solid action movie, "Kung Fury" goes so far as to give its lead character, played by David Sandberg, the name 'Kung Fury', alluding to his obvious capabilities. Managing to be almost completely funded through Kickstarter, it successfully made its way to a premiere at Cannes as a short film (clocking in at only thirty minutes).

The movie features Fury going back in time (thanks Hackerman!) to fight Adolf Hitler with his kung fu powers. At one point, a Tyrannosaurus fights Hitler's own mechanical creation, the Reichsadler. It's all very over-the-top. But that's what makes it worthwhile-- it's so excessively '80s it hurts.