Redefining over the top

Tonight, we prepped for the Sunday fireworks show. Because of my hurt back, I couldn't lift any of the boxes, so all I did was direct traffic, leaving me feeling completely and utterly useless and a failure. The others did great work, however, and we ended with two vans loaded with over 1,200 pounds of fireworks. The show should be spectacular!

We then retired to my house to eat take-out Chinese and watch a DVD. In keeping with the explosive nature of the 'works, we opted for a Takashi Miike film, Dead or Alive, that none of us had ever seen. (If you don't know Miike and you enjoy strange, ultraviolent Asian cinema, you must check him out.)

Dead or Alive redefined what over the top means to me--and I have seen many, many, many over the top movies. This strange beast of a film is weirder, delivers more violence, and breaks more taboos in its insanely long opening montage than most films ever achieve. Over and over and over again one of us would exclaim our disbelief at some new bit of screen weirdness. I won't spoil the ending for you, but I must note that just when you thought it could not possibly go any further, it takes another gigantic step into strangeness.

You either desperately need to see this movie, or you should never let it near you. You'll have to decide in which camp you belong.