BRIEF MOVIE RECOMMENDATIONS FOR CASUAL MOVIEGOERS


Monday, December 31, 2007

Merry Belated X-mas and a Contented New Year!

Well, after Bhutto's very recent death, and reading other people's round-up of 2007, full of embarrassing events like athletes getting exposed for using drugs, celebrities using drugs, celebrities getting exposed, terrorists all around the world trying to outdo each other (truly believing their every pointless mass murder would bringing them a step closer to world domination, essentially ripping off S.P.E.C.T.R.E.'s idea), weather's going crazy all year and polar bears are drowning because we listened to Bush and because Chris Weitz screwed up The Golden Compass (I thought this was a sure-win movie that would have popularise the polar teddies and save them from Man's stupidity, but it turns out you can't really fight one stupidity with another), I can't really say "Happy New Year" now, can I?

The year 2007 also seems to be sort of an above-average year for the movies. True, there are much more stuff that worked and entertained than 2006's, but I don't remember seeing a single movie that knocked me over with a big wow, like what V for Vendetta and Borat did. Then again, I haven't seen the Judd Apatow comedies Knocked Up and Superbad yet, nor have I taken a glimpse at any of the Oscar baits of the year (Coen Bros' No Country for Old Men, Juno, There Will Be Blood, Away From Her, I'm Not There, Sean Penn's Into The Wild, etc.) Oh wait, there's Eye in the Sky from Johnnie To's crime movie factory, which did wow me, so it's not a total lost!

But 2008 looks to be one exciting year for movies. It's still smothered with sequels and remakes, but these sequels and remakes are far more interesting, because 1) there's a new Batman sequel from the guys who did Batman Begins, 2) there's Lost's J. J. Abrams doing a Star Trek reboot, 3) like McClane, action veterans Rambo and Indy are back for one last hurrah, 4) Rambo 4, Indy 4, Batman 2, Hellboy 2, Sin City 2, Craig's James Bond part 2, Harold and Kumar 2, Harry Potter 6 and X-files 2 aren't exactly sequels we're not excited about, and 5) there is also a pretty interesting line-up of originals and adaptations like Stephen Chow's sci-fi CJ7, giant monster flick Cloverfield, Iron Man, the Wachowski's Speed Racer, Valkyrie, Pixar's Wall*E and, err Dragonball (but it's produced by Stephen Chow!).

What else can a Big Movie Freak say but please, please don't f*** it up, 2008?

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

(Unedited) review on fantastic 4- rise of the silver surfer


Hi guys,

Before I start, allow me to confess that I am not a big fan of fantastic four, but I will be as objective as possible.

I do have to admit that I have enjoyed the first installment of the Fanstastic Four, as I wasn't a die hard fan of the comic book, hence I took it as any other action movie, simple storyline of good versus bad, with the good guy being a brilliant doctor (Dr.Dean Richards : Ioan Gruffurdd
) pitching a high risk space project to a successful industrialist (Victor Von Doom : Julian Mcmahon), who happens to be his uni buddy, he agrees and ropes in his assistant (sue storm : Jessica Alba) and also ropes in Johnny Storm (Chris Evans) and of course, lets not forget Ben Grimm (Micheal Chicklis). They are up in space and a freak cosmic storm hits them, they are back home and they realise that they have superpowers.
In the meantime, while the Fantastic Four team is gelling, Victor Von Doom is facing real world corporate problems, looming bankruptcy and drought of financial backers.

The first movie was nice due to the special effects, Julian Mcmahon performance as Victor was not bad though the human torch, aka Cris Evans was rather over the top at times. Though I personally did not find Dr.Dean Richards performance as a nerd, entertaining at all.
With the Rise of the Silver surfer, It was actually much better compared to the first, especially in the beginning when you have planets being destroyed and a white light zooming through space. And Dr.Doom's return to movie, just when we though he was finished, was not too shabby either.
The downfall of the movie, in my opinion, is the ending of the movie. Especially when the silver surfer has a change of heart and decised to save earth by destroying himself and his master. I really found the Silver surfer character rather cool, as he is invincible and all powerful, totally focused in destroying planets for the singular purpose of serving his master and has no conscience or feeling so to speak, or thats how the movie made you believe at the start of the movie.
Another archillies heel of this movie is the sappy romantic moments between Dr.Dean Richards and Sue Storm, rather sad actually.
And I found the human torch entertaining when he was a torch, not as Jonny storm.
The sucky moments is when they unveiled their 'Dodge' flying 'Thingamagic', and when it splits into four pieces and drew the no.four in the sky, that just 'killed' the movies for me.

All in all, a rather average movie, suitable for those who either loves Jessica Alba or are die hard fans of Fantastic Four

Spoovan

Friday, December 21, 2007

Dragonball live-action movie!

Producer's Stephen Chow, director's Final Destination director James Wong, and stars' the kid from War of the Worlds, Spike from Buffy, the Phantom of the Opera's love, and, what the hell, Chow Yun Fat as the horny old man, Master Roshi?? This should be really interesting. See the cast and cartoon comparison below. Tentatively opens on 15 August 2008.




Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Early X-mas present: The Hobbit a go with Jackson and co.!

New Line, MGM and Peter Jackson are finally joining forces to adapt J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit, the prequel to the Lord of the Rings trilogy! Though it was obvious Peter Jackson and co. would have been the right people to do the material justice, a lawsuit Jackson filed against New Line for money owed two years ago threatened to stop that from ever happening. It is likely that personal feelings were cast aside after New Line's latest attempt to start a new franchise out of Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass proved to be less than stellar at the box office. Despite this most welcomed development, there is no firm indication that Jackson would direct the two-parter prequel. He's only mentioned as executive producer. Personally, it defeats the purpose of all the drama and uproar and petitions to get his involvement, only to have him sit on the sidelines as producer. It's his directorial knack for creating Middle Earth that got people all stoked, and having just his name appearing in the credits somewhere won't be enough. At least LOTR effects house WETA and maybe LOTR composer Howard Shore (another strained relationship when Jackson fired him from King Kong) will be back to keep the LOTR ambience consistent.

Sam Raimi has expressed interest in directing The Hobbit before, while people are suggesting directors like Alfonso Cuaron, Guillermo del Toro and Terry Gilliam in the comment sections of other sites if Jackson is truly not back on the director's seat. Cuaron's an interesting idea, though, but I'm for Jackson all the way, because it makes sense, not because I'm a raving PJ fanboy. Honest.

Saturday, December 15, 2007

The 65th Golden Globes Award Nominees

Wow, seven Best Picture nominees, and I haven't seen a single one of them! That's probably because none of them has been shown in Singapore yet. Most award-baiting movies are released in the year after it premiered in the US, making it difficult for me to put them on my Best Movies list. Should I hold my Best Movies of 2007 list till I've seen these movies, which may be released as late as March 2008, or do I throw them into the 2008 list instead, but that will make my list out of sync with what goes on in the American film industry? Let's say if I stayed strictly chronological, and I found No Country For Old Men to be the best movie released in 2008, wouldn't it be a little weird to see it competing for the best pic position on my 2008 list, which will only be completed in 2009, one long year after all the hype about it has already passed?

The best solution, I think would be to delay the BMF list till after the Oscar nominees are announced (January 22, 2008). Let's make it a tentative February 2, so that I have some time to catch up on whatever's left that needs watching. It'll give me time to catch some of the Golden Horse winners too, which should have all been released on DVDs by then. If you haven't noticed, I'm a purist in terms of watching movies in their original language, and in Singapore you can only legally watch a Hong Kong movie in Cantonese when they're released on DVD with a Cantonese track included. It's likely that Stephen Chow's CJ7 won't make it into my 2007 list despite being released within the new window period, but I consider CJ7 to be a 2008 movie anyway, so it's no biggie.

Back to the Globes. What I like about the Golden Globes is that it has special categories that separate the dramas from the comedies and musicals. Not that it's trying to give fair playing ground to these genres or something, but to provide a spotlight for movies that may not make the limited five-nominee space for the Oscar best pic trophy. I'm eager to watch American Gangster, No Country for Old Men, Eastern Promises, Across the Universe, Juno, Sweeney Todd, Charlie Wilson's War, and ok, maybe Atonement. Though I haven't seen it, but from what I've heard about it Bee Movie doesn't seem like the type to deserve a nom, and Persepolis should have been in its place instead of competing against live-action flicks in the Best Foreign Film category, which will likely be won by either Lust, Caution or The Kite Runner, both really big critics and awards favourites. Unable to comment on the rest until I've seen the movies.

Anyway, enough of my ranting. Here's the link to the Globe noms, or go directly to the official Globe site here.

Monday, December 10, 2007

The 44th Taipei Golden Horse Award Winners

The winners were announced on Saturday, 8th December, and as expected, Lust, Caution was the big winner of the night, bagging statuettes in the best film score, makeup and costume, adapted screenplay, new performer, actor, director and picture categories. It's a small compensation for being snubbed at the Oscars, but frankly it's sad to see revered directors like Lee and Martin Scorsese obsess over the Academy Awards. They don't need the gold, bald men to prove to us how awesome they already are.

Ang Lee was also awarded the Outstanding Taiwanese Filmmaker of the Year trophy. Frankly, they should have given him this last year for Brokeback Mountain, which is a far more significant movie milestone than Lust, Caution could ever be.

See my truncated list, or go to the Golden Horse main site for the complete winner's list.

Monday, December 3, 2007

The annual LOTR cash-in continues...

Last year I wrote an article about movie studios' attempts to ride on the fantasy revival fad brought about by the Lord of the Rings movies. The Chronicles of Narnia was one successful endeavour, but last year's Eragon wasn't, though I was optimistic about it.

Of course, the company who started it all couldn't just sit still and let everyone else ride on its success. Planning to start another lucrative franchise (in case things don't work out with LOTR prequel The Hobbit), New Line is releasing fantasy epic The Golden Compass this week. Based on the first book of Philip Pullman's award-winning His Dark Materials trilogy, the story revolves around two kids who find adventures travelling between parallel universes. A break from the usual medieval Nordic settings in many fantasy movies, The Golden Compass offers steampunk-influenced technology, locales and fashion senses. Think Full Metal Alchemist, or... er... Wild Wild West. Some of the main characters apparently possess creatures which they could summon, something like a Pokemon, called "daemons". Pok-emon, da-emon, get the connection? Um, no, I haven't read this book either.

As much as Narnia was lauded by religious groups for its positive Christian references, Pullman's works were derided for its atheistic messages. Naturally, the movie adaptation is also getting a lot of unwarranted attention and comments, despite the fact that it's not even released yet. Who knows how much of the purported anti-Catholic stuff from the book got translated on to the big screen? But it's an easier target for overzealous people (who are even planning to boycott the premiere), because it hasn't made as much money or name as J. K. Rowling and her pro-witchcraft Harry Potter mega-franchise. It's likely that the controversy would only spark the public's curiosity to New Line's box-office advantage. But, like what I once felt about Eragon, I hope that there is a good movie somewhere amidst the PR frenzy, and that director Chris Weitz (he of American Pie fame) has more up his sleeves than just dick and fart jokes.

New BMF Review: Face/Off!

John Woo's best American movie? Read what The Big Movie Freak has to say!
Click here!

Saturday, November 24, 2007

A videogame that finally makes you cry


I came across this comic strip from a link on Penny-Arcade.com's site. See it here first before continuing. Though it could all be exploitatively made up, but even if it is, it's still a stroke of dramatic genius, giving example of how videogames can transcend its role as being merely a brainless button-mashing apparatus, and also how it's not always all about f***ing killfests Halo or Grand Theft Auto. And as games become more social and open-ended in nature, it creates avenues for completely unique, personal and sometimes even heartfelt experiences for each gamer, like the one purportedly experienced by the comic artist.
To those not familiar with the game pictured above, yes, the game does allow you to do all the stuff shown in the comic, so they're not made-up story devices to lure out the eye juices.
Check out Penny Arcade's funny response to this comic here.
See other people's comments here.

Friday, November 23, 2007

Hardcore Star Wars merchandise!

Check this out! A projector shaped like R2-D2, with a remote embedded in a Millennium Falcon, and if I didn't read it wrong, accompanying sound system with TIE Fighters as the speakers! Got this pics from Aintitcool.com here. Rich geeks, get more infos here.

DVD Watch #2

Christmas is just around the corner, and what better time to drop some hints onto your friends about what you're hoping to see most in your X-mas stockings! (Preferably those that'll be too big to fit into said feetwear; refer to pic, ahem!)
DVD highlights for the month:
  • Live Free or Die Hard (Unrated Edition) - the full R-rated version, yippee-ki-yay!
  • The Jason Bourne Collection (The Bourne Identity/ The Bourne Supremacy/ The Bourne Ultimatum)
  • Blade Runner (Five-Disc Ultimate Collector's Edition) - the final, final, FINAL director's cut plus other not-so final versions in one package!
  • Ocean's Thirteen (Widescreen Edition)
  • Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Widescreen Two-Disc Special Edition) - just for that awesome wizards fight scene!
  • The Simpsons Movie (Widescreen Edition)
  • James Bond Ultimate Collector's Set - from Dr. No to the new Casino Royale with Daniel Craig, sans the old Casino Royale and Never Say Never Again. Older Bonds' video are remastered, while a bonus disc is included for each movie. Gotta catch 'em all!
  • The X-Files: The Ultimate Collection - cost-effective if you want to own the entire series and leave no stone unturned!
  • Star Trek: The Next Generation - Complete Series - to boldly buy what no jock has bought before!

Tuya's Marriage and Blind Mountain are kicked off the Golden Horse! (Part 2)


Stupid me for not doing a more thorough research before putting up the recent Golden Horse post. Apparently, the two scrapped contenders depict rural China in less than flattering ways. I'm sure that has got absolutely nothing to do with their removals from the Golden Horse nom list.

More info on Tuya's here, and Blind here.

Tuya's Marriage and Blind Mountain are kicked off the Golden Horse!

Some belated news: Golden Horse contenders, Tuya's Marriage and Blind Mountain, both PRC productions, have been withdrawn from this year's Golden Horse competition. The reasons for this are vague, something about being "pressured" by China's State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT). You can read the Variety article here to derive your own conclusions. The Golden Horse committee's statement on this wasn't really enlightening either, promising to "have a discussion after this year’s award ceremony to come up with a solution for new rules of submission". Whatever happened to selecting movies for competition because they happened to be just plain good? If you're able to decipher the BS, please feel free to share it here.
Big winners for these omissions include drug-themed thriller Protege, now getting nods for Best Director and Original Screenplay, while The Sun Also Rises director Kiang Wen and Kidnap star Rene Liu were added into the Best Director and Actress categories respectively.

Microsoft, Bungie sued for crashing gamer's Xbox360!



Apparently, some guy is trying his luck to squeeze US$5 mil out of Microsoft's cash cow by suing Bill and co. and even the guys who put Master Chief together for making his console "crash, freeze or lock up".

Digital Journal article is here.

Singapore's Today Online article over here.

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Friday, November 2, 2007

Lust, Caution now R-rated!


After a few weeks of showing a censored version tame enough for the lucrative teen market, the powers that be are finally releasing an R-rated Lust, Caution for the adults and movie connoiseurs. Based on how well the movie performed in Taiwan and Hong Kong, you could say Lust, Caution is the adult Transformers of the year, though maybe somebody at the top misread this as being literally like Transformers in terms of drawing in the adolescent crowd, prompting this misinformed person to apply for an NC-16 rating. I'm not sure if the mature audiences who unwittingly saw the neutered version would pay again to watch the movie, albeit with more Tony Leung nakedness. These disgruntled folks probably got an uncensored copy of Ang Lee's thriller from JB by now. I'm glad I held out for the R-rated version, but then again if the grown-ups and aficionados aren't coming, I dread that I might be sitting alongside patrons of Yangtze theatre next Wednesday. Click here for the schedule, ah pek!

Monday, October 29, 2007

The 44th Taipei Golden Horse Award Nominees

Gurmit Singh, Golden Horse Best Actor Nominee
  • Sorry for the long hiatus. Been busy grappling with life issues, but am now back on track, first with the announcement of the nominees for Taiwan's Golden Horse Awards. Click here for the complete list.
  • After getting snubbed by some major award bodies (e.g. Oscars) for being neither Hong Kong nor Taiwanese enough (huh?), Ang Lee's Lust, Caution finally gets its day, with eleven Golden Horse nominations including (not surprisingly) Best Feature Film and Best Director. Other than The Home Song Stories, I haven't heard of the other three Best Features. Also, zero Hong Kong films for best pic. Good time for other filmmakers to nab some statuettes before Johnnie To and Stephen Chow dominate the award show next year with Mad Detective and A Hope/CJ7 respectively.
  • The big eye-catcher is our very own Gurmit Singh's Best Actor nomination for his performance in Just Follow Law. His movie also garnered a Best Original Screenplay nod, so I guess I'm watching the movie after all. Strangely, the hugely popular 881, which I thought would be the bigger Singapore highlight at the awards, was only acknowledged for its loud, garish costume designs. For a movie about the Chinese Hungry Ghost Festival and with Hokkien/Teochew musical numbers, you would think it should do better at a Taiwanese film competition, of all places. Oh well, there is still the Best Foreign Film Oscar...
  • Been itching to watch Eye in the Sky, and now its noms for Best Director, Supporting Actress and Film Score may finally make me get off my lazy butt and go rent the DVD.
  • Aaron Kwok seems bent on taking over Anthony "the Chinese Meryl Streep" Wong's position as most prolific Golden Horse winner/nominee, nabbing another Best Actor nom three years straight. But he'll need all the luck in the world to win this one, because you don't need to be a detective to know who's more likely to win this year's award (hint: he won Best Actor for Infernal Affairs).

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Techno BullS**t: Another Alternative to Normal Handhelds


Some things are really nice to have if you got extra $$$... But then again, usefulness will depend on what you intend to do with it... Mobile Porn anyone?
Nice website, but took awhile to load... BMF, u should learn how to do this flash animation crap... The Link...

Techno Crap: Dell's XPS

Finally a PC (non Mac) that looks as good as an iMac. Looking forward for all future PCs to look like this... The Link...

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Star Trek 11: The Casting (so far)













Just a bit of backstory for those who're unaware: similar to the Christian Bale Batman movie, Paramount is rebooting the Star Trek franchise, with Alias and Lost creator J. J. Abrams as director (he last helmed Mission: Impossible 3). Below is a pictorial match-up of the prequel's cast with their original counterparts. Apart from Karl Urban as "Bones", the rest are more or less confirmed for their respective roles.


Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Techno-babble: Nokia can also be Touched!

Since many have been "touching" the iPhone, it is only a matter of time before Nokia gets horny and longs for some of the "touching" action as well. But the difference is that with the "Tactile Feedback" you will be able to feel the response, thus making both the user and the phone even more "excited" then ever... Ahhhh... Read more from the Link

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Techno-babble: Here Zunney Zunney Zunney... Sit, Good Dog!

Zune 2!!! Looks cool! :) Wat else can I say? Well at least it is not some "iPervert" that requires some "Touching" here and there to get it "turned on".
Anyway, it is funny how companies think that they can get us to keep buying portable players even if we already own like three unused portables at home. Check this YouTube Zune 2 Demo. Link here.

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Another Johnnie To collaboration: this time with TWO other screen legends, Tsui Hark and Ringo Lam!


Dream team, or too much cooks spoiling the broth? Either ways, I'm highly anticipating this collaborative effort by three of Hong Kong's best directors, which stars Simon Yam and Louis Koo. See the official site here.

Monday, October 1, 2007

Stephen Chow's The Hope coming Jan 31!

In his next movie, Stephen Chow goes after aliens from outer space! Expect a lot of fun to be poked at the expense of our intergalactic neighbours, while I'm not holding my breath for parodies of everything from Close Encounters of the Third Kind to Alien (what else?). Chow's not unfamiliar with ETs - for Chow fans who've seen more than just Kung Fu Hustle, there's a hilarious alien autopsy gag in Forbidden City Cop, which also involves another favourite HK comedian of mine, Cheung Tat-Ming. The Hope has formidable shoes to fill after Chow's award-winning, critically-lauded and damn-entertaining Kung Fu Hustle. However it turns out, at least it'll still be a million times funnier than the barrage of awful HK comedies Wong Jing and co. churn out every year. The Hope is due January 31st, 2008.
Release date news from Variety Asia.

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

DVD Watch #1


It was fun posting about the Serenity DVD release, so why not make it a regular thing, I thought? Thus, here it is, the first DVD Watch post, dedicated to bring you the news of the latest DVD of your favourite blockbusters (and not-so-blockbusters).
Between now to November, keep an eye out for:
  • Fantastic Four - Rise of the Silver Surfer: The Power Cosmic Edition (2-Disc)
  • Grindhouse Presents, Death Proof: Extended and Unrated (2-Disc)
  • Grindhouse Presents, Planet Terror: Extended and Unrated (2-Disc)
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, 2-Disc Limited Edition
  • Ratatouille (?)
  • Spider-man 3, 2-Disc Special Edition
  • Transformers, 2-Disc Special Edition

Will post more info on the discs' special features once they're available. So many DVDs, so little income. Sigh...

Saturday, September 22, 2007

Star Wars CG television series


"So it's kind of a PG-13 animated TV series, which is something that has never been done before and obviously doesn't fit in any of the conventional slots that these things fall into. In that, it's very different, and I think it's very exciting."

Friday, September 21, 2007

Funny Sh**! Console rundown!

Techno-babble: Robot Car My Ass...


A whole bunch of “chips” just to drive this car! If I had the money, I would probably pay a “driver” to drive me around instead of the “Robot”. Excluding the chips & shits, I don’t see much room available for the passengers… The things people do when they have too much time & money… And to think that we are paying for this development eventually when we buy their products! - The Link

Techno-babble: Little Boobs... Oops, I mean "Little Book"




This little “notebook” device might be useful to “The BMF”. With a great battery life and super-ultra portable, there will be no stopping “The BMF” from blogging (& bullsh***ing) on-the-job or on-the-bowl (toilet that is…).
By the way, don’t expect Quake 4 on this machine, but I assure you Solitaire or FreeCell will be enjoyable-man!
I believe it is on sale at our local “Uncle Sim Lim” for a little above S$1,000. Great inve$tment, join the geeky side of life…

Techno-babble: Here mouse-y, mouse-y, mouse-y...

“Holy breast mouse-y Batman…”
I really don’t have any idea why would someone need this? However, a small minority of the male population might be “fully grown” out of this… The Link
(in life, almost everything has two meanings)

Justice League: The Movie is a go!


Well, at least Warner Bros. sounds determined about it. What's certain is that George Miller of Happy Feet, Babe and the Mad Max trilogy fame, is directing. They're still iffy about whether the movie's live-action or animated, while the actor playing the current celluloid Batman, the Grammaton Cleric Christian Bale himself didn't sound too keen about it. Keep an eye out for this in 2009 - this is going to be a tough one to pull off.
Read the original article from Variety.com here. Thanks to Empireonline.com.

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Johnnie To + Chow Yun Fat = BADASS!!!


Is this a dream? Am I hearing it right? Johnnie To, he of Election and The Mission and Expect the Unexpected, and the greatest Chinese badass actor, Chow Yun Fat, together in the same movie? Don't take it just from me, read this article!
(Thanks to The Golden Rock for the news.)

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Dai-nipponjin! (no relations to the Tech Freak)



Wanted to share this news from Aintitcool.com about a crazy Ultraman-type Japanese movie showing at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) right now. It's called Dai-nipponjin, and it's about a loser guy who turns into a 50-foot giant who looks like a cross between The Rock and Sun Goku (see pic above). When he's a regular sized guy, he actually carries his giant spandex underwear around on his back (see below). He protects Japan by fighting other giant creatures: one resembles an old guy with a comb-over and giant rubberbands as arms. Yes, it's supposed to be funny. Read more about it here, or go to the Jap site by clicking here or the above pic.

Monday, September 17, 2007

Shoot 'em up!


If you read Roger Ebert's review on the upcoming action flick Shoot 'Em Up, then it must have spoiled the movie for you like it did for me, revealing what a crazy f***ed-up movie this is (but in a good way). In tandem with the upcoming release of this American homage to John Woo's mother-of-all-action-movies Hard Boiled, FHM has compiled a list of the top ten best shootouts in movie history. But it's a real travesty that they didn't include a single shootout sequence from Hard Boiled in their top ten.
Elsewhere, Will2k listed the top five best death by gunshot scenes at the bottom of his L.A. Confidential review last year, republished again here for your enjoyment:
Will2k's top 5 best deaths by gunshot (in his own words)
  1. The Godfather (the toll booth scene death - 100 bullets sprayed? - copied by Chow Yuen Fat in A Better Tomorrow)
  2. The Godfather II (Don Fanucci - killed by Vito Corleone (Robert De Niro) )
  3. L. A. Confidential (Jack Vincennes - Kevin Spacey death)
  4. Unforgiven (Gene Hackman's death by Clint Eastwood)
  5. A Better Tomorrow II - Chow Yuen Fat vs. Sunglasses Assassin (the one who killed Leslie Cheung a.k.a. Ah Kit)