Reviews

This Fukushi Sota movie is labeled a bromance but let me tell you, the B in this bromance is very, very, VERY silent. Probably the most silent B in the existence of bromance.

It's a truly beautiful but also a very difficult movie to watch. It deals with themes like power harassment, suicide and depression. Takashi's (Kudo Asuka) road to peace and healing is long and ugly, luckily he has Yamamoto (Fukushi Sota) by his side every time he needs a shoulder to lean on. And it's just so wonderful!

Most of the movie is told from Takashi's POV, it's not until the end that Takashi delves into Yamamoto's life and the terrible tragedy that Yamamoto had to live with is revealed. The scene where Takashi goes digging into Yamamoto's life and finds out the truth is so, so beautiful because we finally get to see Yamamoto's POV, at least a little.

And the ending is just... fairy tale like. It's the happiest of endings, it truly is.

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Them boys like chicken fr

I really like this movie, the acting is kind of hammed up and cheesy at times which plays in it's favor. The way they get so immersed into their side job that and even straight up ignore the stakeouts was pretty funny, as well as realistic. They seemed kind of downtrodden and like they had given up until that final arc. I was even rooting for them to keep the store and hoping it would be their main job since it brought them some amount of happiness even though the work was getting to them. Really happy with how this movie ended, but all in all I'd say it's in a weird in-between of being a good and really good movie. But that's entirely up to my own personal tastes and not at the fault of the movie itself. I recommend it, and can see myself coming back to it in the future for a rewatch which is cool. I don't normally feel like movies have much rewatch value

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I'm slightly confused … and uncomfortable.

I feel like I've seen this plot quite a few times - two young people get into a toxic relationship where they just use each other

For the ML, he is dealing with grief and is very closed off, and because of that, he is outcasted. For the FL, truthfully, I'm not sure what her backstory is. Somehow, these two characters form a sexual relationship. And although he claims to like her, he treats her like shit. And she denies liking him for a while.

I feel like this film is hypersexualised. From what I know, the source material involves a lot of sex. And this has quite a bit as well. But I need I remind you, these kids are MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS!! They're not even in high school. They're around 14-15 for a majority of this film. And I'm watching them have sex... It's weird, and honestly, feels unnecessary. They could have aged them up to at least high schoolers

Like I already mentioned, the plot feels stale and overused, and doesn't add anything new to coming of age films. I have given it a high re-watch value because I do want to eventually watch it again and try to understand it better, and maybe gain a new perspective.

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A disappointing book-to-film adaptation

Unfortunately, I don't think I can recommend this film to anyone. For the people who have also read the book, you'll be disappointed in the execution. And for the people who haven't, you'll be confused with most of the scenes.

It's a film following Toru, a reserved university student who finds himself liking two girls - Naoko, who is dealing with mental health issues; and Midori, a fellow student who is a bit of an enigma. Whilst in the book Toru is very introspective and is able to analyse the relationship dynamics he has with the other characters, film Toru is mostly just a bit contemplative. Clearly, it is very character driven.

Despite that, it seems as if some characters have been toned down a lot. So we end up with a bunch of characters that more or less feel the same in terms of tone, mannerisms, personality, etc. This makes quite a few of the interactions slightly bland at times. Toru, Natsumi, and Midori were probably the most true to the original source material, and were best cast in my opinion.

The problem with this film is that it is very disjointed. From the perspective of someone who has read the book, it feels as of I'm in a literature class and have been given a handful of extracts of the book and I've been made to try and decipher what is happening. It lacks I'm both cohesion, and coherence.

The problem with the lack of structure means that a lot of scenes don't make sense. Since some scenes are cut out to not be too long, we're left with shortened scenes which don't add anything to the plot. For example, a scene between Toru and Midori's father is cut. Instead, we're introduced to him, only for him to stop being mentioned after 3 or so minutes. This leads to a lack of development for many characters, including Naoko's friend, Reika, making their presence seem pointless. The lack of explanation for many scenes invoking certain characters just leads to confusion. And for the scenes included from the book, the dialogue is a carbon copy from the book, not adding anything new, once again, leading to many gaps which are not explained.

And despite leaving a lot out from the book, it is a painfully long film. Since not much happens in the book, the film wasn't able to capture enough of the characters' situations and feelings well enough in order for the film to be the least bit engaging. And mentioned before, some of the characters felt the same.

Although the music fit, it easily could have put me to sleep, especially during the scenes where the characters are having a quiet and slow conversation.

Another thing to note is that it's a particularly quiet film to the point that I can hear the wind and trees more than the characters' voices. However, there are few moments where suddenly, characters are shouting, which caught me off guard since I had turned up the volume quite a bit in order to hear them.

If this was remade today, I do think that it would be a lot better. The only problem is that the author has very sexist views which bleed into his work (including this one), so it would be interesting to see how those aspects (i.e. the male gaze) are improved upon or changed without taking from the overall meaning or plot. Also, as a heads up, Toru has sex with nearly every woman within a 5 mile radius of him, or at least thinks about it. The only exception is Natsumi, who in my opinion, is someone Toru respects and sees almost as a sister in my opinion (at least in the book).

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This is actually a hard film to watch and recommend. Because of that, please do check the tags before watching. This is a complicated film to talk about since is deals with domestic abuse. However, it's an important film.

It follows a man who starts stalking someone he previously went to university with, only to find out that she's a victim of domestic abuse. The ML (Naoto) isn't necessarily a great character. For one, he stalks her, and invades her privacy, and even befriends her. Whilst this isn't told from the perspective of the victim (the FL - Chihiro) , we are still able to catch glimpses, from the Naoto's perspective, where you can see how her trauma affects her. And the abuse does get very graphic, which is why I tend to skip over those parts if I do re-watch it. However, the choice not to censor it is important in my opinion, because it shows what victims experience, and it shouldn't just be sugar-coated.

Another thing I would like to mention is memory, and one's perception of their own memory. Without going into much detail, we see many flashbacks of their university days and the interactions they had. Seeing the importance of those interactions explains why (not justifies) why he chose to stalk her after seeing her all those years later.

There's also a slight plot twist at one point which I thought was interesting and engaging. There is also another side character whose is slightly eccentric. In my opinion, the importance of his character is to show he people (including him and Naoto) latch onto something in times of need and in turn, they provide an emotional anchor for them. However, in this case, it isn't as simple as finding a band through a song that means a lot to you. Here, we see the extreme version, along with the extreme choices some people will make, especially if that anchor is being threatened to be taken away from them.

If this is something you are interested in, please check it out. Because of this film that I first watched last year, I have gained an interest in the main characters. Also, I hope you like my analysis in the paragraph above and are able to take away your own meaning from this film in the same way I have :)

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A good remake

This is a solid remake. I know it's originally based off of a Spanish movie, but I've only seen the Korean one. So, first things first, in terms of the two, I definitely recommend the Chinese version.

This film felt purposeful. There is a motive to wanting to tell this story. If you wait until the end, there are some comments made about how women constantly feel unsafe living alone because of the possibility of bad things happening. And this film chose to help audiences understand this.

In terms of the plot, there was a lot. The Korean version felt a bit too obvious, But this version had quite a few red herrings, and there were so many people the main character (not the audience) could trust. The stakes were higher because of this.

Additionally, it was actually quite terrifying at times. Just thinking about the possibility of being in her position is enough to make anyone scared. And this film really captured that. At times, you see her do small things to make it seem like there's a man home because she already felt unsafe. And despite that, she is still targeted.

All in all, it achieved its goal and in my opinion, was a successful adaptation that didn't follow its Korean counterpart

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Beautiful ordinary people family story

Wow, I really enjoy watching "The Last Bloom", it is truly a beautiful ordinary family story. My heart goes out to Kim In Hee, the daughter-in-law/wife/mother/sister/sister-in-law that does everything for the family in her unsung heroine manner. it tells a story about a woman, Kim In Hee, that has a doctor husband that loses his medical license when his patient dies, she also has two adult children. Her daughter is dating a married man and her son's fiancee that thinks she is pregnant. I love her sister-in-law, Shin Sun Ae that really cares about In Hee. When In Hee knows she is dying, she tries everything to make sure her family could live comfortably when she dies. I recommend watching this film.

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Immersive experience that makes you part of the plot.

Incantation is a 2022 found footage horror movie directed by Kevin Ko, loosely inspired by a real life case that happened in Kaohsiung in 2005. That said, the real events give more of a framework for the plot, and nothing that actually happened in the movie was related to real events. Apparently, it’s not easy to find any truly reliable info about it in English.

Incantation might have one of the best opening sequences of any horror I have ever seen. By directly addressing the viewer, presenting the optical illusions in the context of the power of will and personal framing, and by asking the viewers for help - it’s hard not to feel the immediate immersion. Breaking of the 4th wall is an aspect that comes back quite a number of times during the movie, which made me far more engaged than I initially thought I would be.

What about the plot? We are presented with two different timelines - present time of Ronan trying to gain the custody of her daughter and the bond with her, and the past timeline explaining the fear and ritual she was a part of a few years ago. As much as it’s a horror, it’s also a drama - showcasing the variety of emotions a parent can feel in relation to their child, and the actions they are willing to take to help them.

Are the scares actually scary? Truth to be told, the few jump scares I’ve got were a bit disappointing? The core value of the show is the eerie atmosphere, which was built in a perfect way. From the start we know, the plot is leading to some awful events, so even the happy and warm moments between the mother and daughter feel bitter.

Incantation is a movie that obviously cares about the details of world building. The Buddha-Mother, hand gestures associated with it, chant, symbols and rituals were well designed and planned - created a cohesive picture of that fictional spiritual belief. That’s why, even though I knew it’s not real, it was impossible not to feel affected by what's happening on screen - especially during the “directly addressing the audience” moments. The minor detail I was especially impressed by, was the use of the after-image closer to the end of the movie. Small, clever trick that felt like the last nail in the coffin for me.

The acting was perfect. While all the adults did an amazing job, with Ina Tsai portraying the conflicted emotions, fear, desperation and hope in a clear and realistic manner, the one that surprised me the most was the little girl Huang Sin-ting who played Dodo. Not only was her performance great, it was amazing to see a child act like a child in a horror movie. Why they always try to present the kids as demons incarnated with cold and detached behavior is beyond me.

Any flaws? I do believe the movie was slightly too long. Keeping it around 90 minutes instead of 110 would be preferable for the pacing to feel more tight. While I understand it was important to present the relationship between Ruo Nan and Dodo in great detail, the moments diluted the tension quite a few times. Personally, I could do without a few jump scares, especially the “cheaper” looking ones - the movie just did not need them.

Best to watch for scares: alone, evening/night, headphones on, no distractions.
Best to watch for the analysis: buddy watch, talking about the symbolism as the movie progresses, trying to predict the outcome.

Trigger warning; trypophobia, child neglect/child harm, body horror, gore.
The movie has some rather… gross moments. Also, might be too much for people who strongly believe in the supernatural - I can see it messing up with someone a bit.

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A horror-comedy film leaning more to the comedy side.

A horror-comedy film leaning more to the comedy side. If you can't watch horror movies but still want to watch somehow then this movie is for you. It doesn't have much jumpscares and not that scary, more of fun than scary. But the ghost make up is still on point. Kodus to the special effects team! The OSTs are actually good and could become a favorite song. And the lead characters are so good in acting! They look so good in camera and has the face that could become the next big thing in Korean dramas. The leading man is so handsome! I honestly think this movie was made to enhance anticipation to the drama version. Looking forward to the drama!

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A lot of emotions.

Oh boy, where do I start with this? This movie was amazing. Throughout this movie it consisted of teamwork, body swapping, unexpected ending but tears of emotion definitely.

The storyline was beautiful. This movie consisted of Rin ending up and swapping into Taketo’s body after a tragedy happens and him trying to reach his girlfriend by a song. (Will not go into full detail to not spoil!)

I mainly watched this for Dori, as he is one of my favourite actors. I was tearful when he was singing and the memories of Rin and his girlfriend made me emotional as each appeared. This story may be common among body swapping or typical stories, but this one never fails to impress me. In the end, I actually loved every character that was in the story.

The actors, casting and everything was picked out carefully and I praise each actor that played their role according to their character. Rin’s girlfriends actor acted accordingly with emotion and made me relieved as in many Jdramas, with their FLs, many do not show much emotion when in a relationship. The actors impressed me with the teamwork on making songs, emotions, different ways to work together and more.

The end had also made me emotional as it was highly unexpected indeed. I just wished there was an alternative ending where it wasn’t unexpected. Overall, I have no issue with this movie and I really love this.

As for rewatching this, I think that I will only ever watch this if I want to go into an emotional ride again. This definitely made me cry like a baby when Dori was singing. His singing is so beautiful, he is an angel indeed.

If you are looking for something to watch with body swapping and band related songs, then this one is for you.

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When heaven and Earth are opposed, the result is destruction

Gamera: The Revenge of Iris is a good old fashioned monster mash with real stakes and believable monsters. I realize the ridiculousness of that statement when talking about a giant tusked turtle. This film is easily the best of the Gamera films I've watched. No annoying 8-year-old, just amazing Kaiju and realistic fights and consequences.

The story was complex and at times convoluted. G3 brought back a few characters from the first two of this trilogy, added some teens, a scientist, a priestess, a nihilistic dude, and the requisite small minded bureaucrats and military. Because of the collateral damage caused by Gamera in the beginning of this film and the two previous films, the government has determined he's simply too destructive to let live. Bad timing as the Gyaoses have started popping up all over the world. Even worse a nemesis in a cave is about to hatch and feed on a teenage girl's hatred of Gamera and need for revenge. She names the nemesis Iris after her dearly departed cat. Gamera save us from a vengeful teenage girl!

There is a lot of mumbo-jumbo about Gamera being created to hold Mana, the life energy of the earth and his nemesis being the opposite, a real destroyer. I appreciate the writer's desire to give us some meaning behind the monsters, but honestly, I never did quite grasp all of the talk about their version of The Force. Philosophically, the movie touched on things like is the enemy of my enemy really my friend or a necessary evil? Is Gamera a good guy if his protection costs tens of thousands to lose their lives? And does the cost seem acceptable as long as it's not your loved ones and home destroyed?

More than almost any Kaiju movie since Godzilla 1954 the humans were truly important and integral to the story, in fact the nemesis Iris, would not have been as threatening without Ayana the teenage girl's hatred to feed upon. The acting while not award worthy was enough to draw you into the story and give emotional heft to the actions being played across the screen.

Iris was a lovely, menacing terror to behold, it would make almost any Kaiju envious at the care taken in creating it. Gamera, well, Gamera will always be a giant turtle with tusks that can shoot flames. The fights were immediate, brutal, and up close. The scenes of the humans trapped in a giant building as the two went mano y tentacles was spectacular. The perspective and size of the monsters with the tiny humans below gave real suspense to the scenes. No cardboard buildings destroyed in this film, there was a lot of detail in the buildings crushed during the giants' fights. There were problems with a few scenes during the fights but overall the CGI and miniature work were excellent especially for a pre-2000 movie.

Gamera 3 gave us more compelling humans and stories while not sacrificing what people came to see: visually stunning monster spectacles across the cities and skies. Unlike earlier Gamera movies this one was dark and aimed more at adults. Even with the darker mood, G3 was a fun fast paced ride




7/21/22

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Hell has no fury like a monkey scorned!

Ape Girl must have been a fever dream of writer Hou Cheng because it was several bananas short of a bunch. A combination slapstick, beauty makeover, cross-species (?) kung fu flick with little coherent writing made almost bearable by a simian performance from little known actress Chin Feng Ling. It was burdened by an abundance of over the top cringey humor and in the version I watched almost unintelligible dubbing for some of the characters.


Some spoilers follow---
A kung fu master finds a girl in the jungle who had been raised by apes or is an ape, the story changes back and forth from scene to scene on what she actually is. Ape Girl is hairy and has a tail but otherwise looks like a human, a human trying out for the Broadway show "Cats". The apes in the first scene looked like Teletubbies on crack. The master takes her back home, teaches her to speak and write and refines her natural monkey kung fu. Like a curious kung fu monkey she gets into trouble wherever she goes and in one scene is helped out by the 4th Prince played by kung fu legend Chen Sing. She falls in love with him, follows him, and is brought on as his bodyguard. The Prince is charming and attentive, but it's Chen Sing so we know he will have a nefarious plan waiting to hatch. The Prince is attacked by an assassin, Lo Lieh, another kung fu legend, and the two fight it out. Chen Sing never met a shirt he didn't want to take off, but unlike the striking Bruce Lee, no one was every hoping he'd rip his shirt off in a fight. His nefarious plan is revealed when he tricks Ape Girl into retrieving the emperor's will so that he can change it so that he will inherit the crown.

When our little Ape Girl discovers the Prince thinks she's ugly in two shakes of a monkey's tail she rushes to the Master's friend to have the ultimate depilation treatment. The treatment takes place over three days which is interrupted by the Master, leaving her smooth and beautiful but with a tail still attached. The Master hadn't wanted her to transform because then like all other girls she would fall in love and have her heart broken. The Master trains her how to use her tail in kung fu, I kid you not, and confines her to his property.

Ultimately, she finds out about the Prince's betrayal. For some reason Lo Lieh has changed teams and is a bad guy now and the 8 Heroes show up out of nowhere and it's on like Monkey Kong with Chen taking his shirt off---again!

The fight choreography by Wang Tai Lang was engaging for the most part. Chin Feng Ling was quite athletic and nimble. She seemed to take delight in her monkeyisms and playful fighting. And when it was time to strangle people with her tail she was up for that, too. Lo Lieh and Chen Sing are two of my favorite old school stars and I was delighted to watch them fight each other. Ape Girl swung about with occasional wire-fu but most of the other fighters kept their feet on the ground.

The quality of this old Taiwanese movie has degraded. It didn't look like a big budget film to begin with. For the most part it was on par with a lot of these old martial arts movies made there. The soundtrack was funky 1970's music that could have come straight out of a US cop show.

I wish I could say this was more fun than a barrel of monkeys, but there was just too much monkeying around with the script leaving all logic scattered about like a three day bad banana binge. If the cringey humor hadn't gone on fur so long, I might have enjoyed it more. The fight scenes were fun and Chin was interesting to watch in them, the rest of the movie was painfully bad. If you run across this movie, before it makes a monkey out of you, find the nearest vine and swing far, far away.






7/21/22

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“Soft” psychological thriller/university melodrama

A brilliant, arrogant student with crazy-low empathy skills manipulates things around him to suit his whims. He has zero patience for suffering fools and never directly goes after anyone, but…he’s always the one pulling strings, and it usually ends badly for whoever crosses him. Like, sometimes “badly” on a scary level.

A fellow student who notices his manipulations jumps to conclusions about him and calls him out on something, making her the next target of his machinations. Although after he observes her a while (while tormenting her), he realizes she’s actually a fun and fascinating person, he decides he likes her (instead of viewing her as human trash or disposable pawns like he seems to see everyone else), and he starts to pursue her…which then follows that he starts manipulating things in and around her life, as well. Always for her own good, of course. Always to help or support her. Regardless of who else it might hurt.

There are difficult family relationships, societal expectations’ commentary, etc., and not many super-healthy relationships, but the show always keeps you wanting to watch more. Psychological suspense, but I liked that it wasn’t a VERY tense psych thriller, just mildly tense. The happy ending is there, but only just barely—you have to watch carefully in the last few seconds to catch it.

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I wanna eat that emperor chicken

I am one of those who watched the Chinese remake Lobster Cop, first and overall kind of liked it, but when I watched the Original Korean Movie “Extreme Jobs” I was stunned. I felt like what crap did the Chinese do to such a good movie. The original movie is 1000 times better.

Story: “Extreme job” which is running the restaurant is their undercover but it also shows how they are trapped in the crime while trying to entrap a criminal gang.

Acting: the actors seem to be made for the characters. They not just acted but they lived the characters. Their dialogues and expressions were spot on. Actors looked unattractive with rugged and rough language, but that was the beauty. They are not on some fashion show, but cops who catch criminals so their personalities and looks suited them.

Humor: is extremely good. It is situational-based and not forced. Every act feels like my jaw would drop laughing.

Action: it is awesome. I just love it. They fight like humans, not superheroes. They get hurt and bruised but they continue with all their might

Music: in action movies what counts as music, gunshots or the fight squeaks, or walking with shoe sounds. Otherwise, BGM is done finely.

Rewatch: this movie is worth rewatching. It can make one laugh and happy.

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