Reviews

Light Hearted Fun

I ran across this on Viki and decided to give it a go based on the premise alone. I am an absolute sucker for love at first sight stories and I don't mind any of the inevitable cheesiness that comes with it. Thankfully, this is light on the cheese because the ML and FL don't spend that much romantic time together. He meets her and falls in love and then spends the ENTIRE movie trying to prove himself worthy of her love. Whole months elapse during this period, so you can assume this is a long term effort because everyone around him says so. Again, there aren't that many scenes between the ML and FL, but you know the ML is working hard for her love because that's they whole point and plot of the movie. Because this is an an action/comedy/romance then there are some fight scenes, which are surprisingly well done all things considering. Overall, the movie had a nice blend of everything I liked. I wished there was more chemistry between the ML and FL, but again that's not really the point. We aren't meant to understand why this particular woman lights his fire, you just know that she does, so really you don't need that many scenes with her to convey that point. If you're looking for an out and out romance with all that entails, then you should probably pass on this; though, you may want to give it a try. I laughed at loud at certain parts and the ML is quite easy on the eyes. Theres's also a nice height difference between him and the girl, which looks very cute on screen, especially when she calls him a yeti...lol

Read More

A twisted yet entertaining look into the yakuza world

The Blood of Wolves duology can be described in three words: Violent, over-the-top and exciting. While the first movie was all three of them together, Last of the Wolves takes (also known as The Blood of Wolves Level 2) the wacky violence and the idea of controlling a ruthless and unpredictable hierarchy for your own benefit, and turns it up to eleven.

Set a few years after the events of the first movie and into the early 90s, we follow the journey of protagonist Hioka Shūichi (played by Matsuzaka Tori) who took the place of his mentor Ōgami as the secret autarch of Hiroshima's criminal underworld. His past experiences turned him from a well-intentioned idealist into a cold, calculating cynic who tricks and manipulates the local yakuza into staying obedient to him. However, things take a turn for the worse when Uebayashi Shigehiro (played by Suzuki Ryohei) gets released from prison with plans to avenge the death of his patriarch Irako and gain back the power his family has lost during his stint in jail. His presence rattles the perfect order Hioka preserved in the past few years, and he decides to send his friend Chinta (played by Murakami Nijiro) to work as a mole in Uebayashi's gang and help him gather information on his future plans. With the aid of Chinta and a mild-mannered veteran detective called Seshima (played by Nakamura Baijaku), Hioka investigates the matter to keep the lid on his activities as fast as possible, and also begins to find buried secrets that will shake him to the core...

The first thing you need to know about the movie is that it's BLOODY. If you can't stomach graphic violence then I recommend you sit this one out. Our introduction scene to Uebayashi's true character is so graphic that it's ridiculous, and the movie reminds us of that over and over again (Let's say he has a thing for eyes). The acting has a great balance of over-the-top anger typical for yakuza movies, but also more subtle moments of grief, sadness and loneliness. Matsuzaka Tori does an incredible job portraying Hioka as a jaded, self-serving but also well-intentioned man, and makes sure to give him depth that keeps him from being too unsympathetic. Suzuki Ryohei's performance as Uebayashi was enjoyable as much as it was disturbing, showing us just how vile and deranged his character really is. Returning actors Nakamura Shidō II, Takito Kenichi and Otoo Takuma also do a great job with their roles, but my favorite has to be Murakami Nijiro as Chinta. His downward spiral is absolutely heartbreaking and I guarantee you'll wish you could have given him the biggest hug by the end. Nishino Nanase's performance was a bit lackluster, but it's one of her first so I'll be easy on her.
The plot is unpredictable and exciting, with many twists and turns that slowly fall into place and keep you on your toes, and the final fight between our protagonist and antagonist is cathartic as hell. I really liked that while the color scheme is more muted than the vibrant palette of the first movie, the lively feeling of nighttime Hiroshima still makes the story feel more grounded in reality despite the crazy action, but also make the scenes of depravity, death and corruption a lot bleaker.

Overall, this is a violent but still very fun experience to try if you're in a mood for a yakuza flick that feels like it's pulled straight out of the 90s. Just make sure you're not eating anything when it gets to the grisly parts.

Read More

This is a Shaw Brothers production so the choreography was on point. I really loved the beginning fight scene with the rope action... VERY WELL DONE!

The Special FX are terrible even for 1984. I was going to give that a pass but I can't. I mean, the fake blood, the strobe lights...NO!

I really enjoyed the first 40 minutes of this thing but after that the story just didn't really hold my interests and I thought the secondary plot was dumb. I mean, a guy did sell his soul to the devil so what was I expecting? I don't know but I think b/c most of the good action and story happened prior I was just a little disappointed.

Also, inquiring minds want to know what the wardrobe/costumes department was thinking by putting the male lead in that damn clown costume. Just a weird choice. I did like the demon costumes though. There were some really funny scenes but overall very below average martial arts flick.

Read More

English tramslation of clinchamps's review: La cuisine est ici le chemin de la vie,...I agree!

Tampopo (Dandelion in Japanese) holds a small ramen gargotte. She is a widow with a son who is bullied by his friends from primary school. One day a tanker truck stops and the driver and his teammate go to eat. As the two men find ramen bad and they seem to know anything about them (especially Goro the cowboy-looking driver), she asks them to teach her.

This learning will give rise to several digressions all as tasty as each other, because for the Japanese, Cooking is an art in its own right, like Pottery or Sabre and this film is the very essence of Japan. The narration is anything but linear: we walk through this film by crossing different characters more or less connected to the story, or even not at all like the yakuza in white suit and his mistress. Cooking as an art where all the senses are put to use is the very plot of the film (the yakuza and his mistress prove to us that the pleasures of the palate are closely linked to other pleasures!)

We meet all walks of life from clodos to a rich bourgeois and the common link is always the culinary art. Little by little the gargotte of Tampopo will become a small restaurant where people queue, because everything is linked: the appearance of the kitchen, the look of the stove make the kitchen even better! And as this film is Japanese, of course the ending is perfect, positive, (Ah! the scene of learning how to eat spaghetti without noise, or the one where tramps sing...) happy, but with a light and sweet melancholy, when the tanker goes away for the last time on its highway!

This movie is a magic potion, a slice of pure happiness that should be reimbursed by Social Security. Impossible not to finish it with a smile on your face with the irrepressible desire to put yourself in the stove.


By the way, Miyamoto Nobuko is the former wife of the late director Itami Juzo...

According to a online video interview of Miyamoto Nobuko about the movie, she said that her husband kept asking her about her opinion as to what people would think about a movie about this topic or that topic, or a movie about ramen.

Her rely to him was, "Why don't you just make the movie and see what the people think about it."...so he finally did and created a comedy to last an eternity!

There was criticism about the vignette not being 'cohesive'...it is a comedy! It doesn't have to be cohesive!

Itami Juzo is partially mocking the chefs and their secrets to making the perfect ramen. He is also portraying the Japanese city as the scene of a Western; with cowboys riding delivery trucks rather than horses; with individuals becoming jilted at the tought somenes 'stole' their ramen secrests, which they did, time and time again!

One reviewer complained about a turtle being killed; HOW DO YOU THINK ANIMALS ARE PREPARED BEFORE YOU EAT THEIR MEAT??

Cows are killed before the beef in your grocery store sells it to you, and pigs are slaughtered

Someone kills the cow and processes the meat into hamburgers!

The same process is done for pigs, lamb, birds, sheep, et al. Animals 'die' and their meat processed before you eat it!

The main and support cast worked well together and there was just enough drama to make the comedic parts funnier.

There was also criticism of the egg and oyster: take alook at daytime Japanese television and teh 'egg and oyster' sccenes are NOTHNIG campared to daily Japanese sexual hijinxs on Japanese daytime television!

This film reminds me of "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966)" and
It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963)...so funny and so universal!

Read More

From the moment the film opens with a black clad narrator in front of a curtain you know you are in for a different movie experience. The Ballad of Narayama is a colorful stylized kabuki inspired film that felt more like an elaborate stage play. New backgrounds dropped, scenes faded to black all on a meticulously created stage. A sing song narrator guided the audience through this strange land where the elderly were carried up to the mountaintop to die once they reached the age of 70.

The story focused on Orin, a kind, industrious grandmother who was about to turn 70. She set her affairs to order, including finding a wife for her widower son, Tatsuhei. He loved his mother and was in no hurry to carry her up the mountain. His son, Kesakichi, on the other hand, was a greedy, lazy and obviously shortsighted young man who wanted grandma gone. Orin knew that adding to the family meant more mouths to feed bolstering her resolve to do her duty.

The ungrateful grandson created a song about his grandmother and her 33 demon teeth which the villagers picked up on and sang throughout the film. Orin, embarrassed to meet the god on the mountain with a healthy mouth took matters into her own hands.

As gracefully as Orin was facing her end, Mata, an elderly neighbor steadfastly refused to take the journey up the mountain. His family kicked him out cutting him off from their food supply.

Eventually, the new year came. Orin and her son were given the traditional rules.
1) Don’t talk on Narayama
2) Let no one see you leave
3) Never look back once dropping off the family member

Tatsuhei broken-heartedly carried his mother on the arduous journey, spurred on by not only his sense of duty and tradition but also his mother’s resolute silent acceptance leaving him no room to back out of his deadly task.

On top of the mountain the film differentiated from assisted suicide and murder. Splitting hairs when leaving someone to die of starvation and exposure.

The story highlighted group needs and tradition over the individual’s. Tragedy collided with tradition and sorrow with ceremony. Ironically, Orin was the most productive and resourceful member of her family but at 70 she was expected to make the fatal trip.

Every scene in this film was lush and lovingly created. Lighting was used in a variety of manners to highlight the mood and conversations. There were a few close-up shots of the actors but mostly they were seen at a distance as if in a play. Both dialogue and silence were used to good effect. I can’t say I enjoyed the traditional music but it fit the film perfectly.

This film’s style will not be for everyone. It took some adjustment for me to be absorbed. The obvious stage nature worked to keep me at a distance. Yet, the story did resonate as human nature and survival was put on display. The role extreme poverty played in the development of traditions, treatment of the elderly and the nature of a mother’s sacrifice were touched on. The film was beautifully shot yet it felt like there should have been an opening to question whether traditions need to be blindly accepted or perhaps reevaluated at times. It was hard to be too judgmental of the impoverished village when modern societies are not much more merciful to their elderly.

Read More

This is a movie about 3 BFFs since childhood: Shuta, Michiru & Saku. Saku dies of an heart attack in high school and since then, Shuta and Michiru's ways part, they never see each other again, both feeling guilty about what happened. But then, one day, Shuta finds a way to travel back in time and change the past. But it comes at a cost.

At first, I didn't think I would cry as much as I did because the first 2/3 or so of the movie are actually quite funny. I started feeling a little wobbly when Kyoko, the time traveler stuck outside of time for over 60 years, told Shuta about the consequences of changing the past - the loss of all memories. Everything gets rewritten. Everyone forgets the time traveler and he/she forgets them. And Shuta still decides to save Saku because he wants Saku to live, even at the cost of becoming a stranger to both him and Michiru...

And then, the scene at the train station. When Shuta saves Saku and they manage to catch Michiru before leaving and Shuta thinks that Michiru loves Saku and that Saku loves Michiru and so he's okay with them forgetting him because they will have each other, so it's okay, everything is okay...

But then, in the very last moments before everything gets rewritten, Shuta finds out that Michiru was never in love with Saku, she was in love with him, with Shuta, and Saku knew that. Shuta's realization... When he started crying - his friends' shock because they didn't get why! - when he managed to ask Michiru to smile at him if they ever meet again, even if she didn't remember him, when he told Saku he was entrusting Michiru to him - and in the next moment, they forgot all about him... Yeah, that's when I started bawling like a little kid.

Also, Kyoko's tears. Her, "I will remember you..."

And then the last scene on the beach, when Michiru and Saku met Shuta there, strangers to each other... The way they looked, like an old married couple, sweet but, well, boring, to be honest. It showed how different their life was without Shuta in it. But Shuta felt also a little different, so... peaceful. I think that if he remembered what he had done, he would still find it worth it.

Gosh, this movie. My head's aching from all the crying I did.

Read More

Pleasantly surprised

Give it a shot, without thinking further, if that is what you are wondering.
I was pleasantly surprised. I decided to watch because it looked like an easy watch, and it was, but I was pleasantly surprised because it wasn't this type of silly Jap romance movie with plots/scenes that didn't always make sense. Well, a few times it was a typical Jap romance teen movie with some cheesy scenes, but the story and acting was actually really good and interesting. It was a perfect balance!
I ESPECIALLY loved that the movie did not have anything overly dramatic. It had some obstacles but they were realistic and not overbearing. I was able to appreciate everything and not feel drained from following the story. I think it was a big plus.

Side note, but each cast is uniquely beautiful like wow. And their acting is great and natural.
I also appreciated the many details in the movie. But it's up to you to notice them, so go watch it :)

Read More

Pretentious skin surrounded by modern pressure

Chun Woohee's performance is really captivating especially in this type of psychological thriller genre. She's able to pull in every little attention to details and carry the whole heavy ambience of the movie, just like her previous work in "Vertigo", but this time even a more formidable upgrade with a blend of spicy mystery and horror in it. The cinematic effect of it is extremely eerie and scary, which works quite effectively in some of the best mental scenes ever in a korean movie, because who knows exactly what we are underneath this pretentious skin surrounded by modern pressure.

Read More

I had a lot of free time to waste, so I did....

Like, wth did I just see. Well again, its not like I didn't know that this movie is shit, but yea, I was in a mood like "Lets watch some trash"...lol. This movie is the best example of how to make a 1hr 30 min movie out of story that contains only one line. Death Bell 1 is better than this.
I can't believe Ji Chang Wook starred in this movie, lol, guess most succesfull actors somewhat start from a trash project like this. Apart from him I saw other successful actors in it who did fantastic jobs with good scripts, like, Kim Bo Mi in Angel's last Mission, Son Ho Jun in Go Back couple.
So, yea, sure watch it.

Read More

Gong Li’s Lady Zhou was the linchpin between the man who would become China’s first emperor and the assassin who would try to exterminate him.

The Emperor and the Assassin is a nearly three hour epic tale of Ying Zheng’s tribulations, some self-created, as he faced the last two states of Zhou and Yan in his bid to unite the states by virtue of annihilating them in battle. He also faced coup attempts from within.

The film was divided into chapters, some more captivating than others. There were times the story meandered and slowed to a lull, others dealt with deadly secrets, battles, and changing loyalties. Even though there were emotional performances by the main actors I found I never cared enough about them as they faced dire consequences.

Gong Li was ethereal as Lady Zhou, the childhood friend and stabilizing force on the emperor who had to come to grips with his increasingly murderous and unstable behavior. Li Xue Jian‘s performance as the emperor came across as more emotionally unhinged than conflicted. Zhang Feng Yi‘s nuanced performance as the stoic assassin had just the right amount of gravitas. Some of the side characters, like Xue Jian’s Ying came across as overwrought.

The sets were high caliber and grand. The costumes tended more toward rustic materials for the majority of characters befitting the ancient times. Numerous extras and war equipment gave the battles a realistic look. The only complaints I have about the cinematography were the harsh yellow casts for most of the film with only a few scenes using strong blue filters to break it up. Lots of smoky backgrounds with the yellow filters tended to wash everything and one out. The editing could be choppy as well in places.

I will leave it up to others to judge the historical correctness the film portrayed. As a work of art it was entertaining for the most part even though I never connected emotionally with any of the characters. The story felt stronger when Gong Li was on screen and weaker when the emperor was weeping and gnashing his teeth. There was enough treachery, angst, and mass deaths to keep it interesting if not emotionally compelling.

Read More

"Plot What Plot" The Movie

What the actual hell did I just watch?

I like several actors who are in it and I was excited to watch something with Sehun in it, but honestly without a stable plot it was hard to enjoy. The (and I hesitate to even call them this) emotional beats felt completely unearned and the music was a successful in copying Hans Zimmer without being sued. I did laugh at some of the utter nonsense i.e. the penguins, but at the same time I feel like I wasted two hours I could've spent watching literally anything else. Wouldn't recommend, but would recommend someone cutting the funny bits and making a compilation for people to watch and enjoy.

Read More

She met him to bringout the best in him

I wonder what it would be really like if Zhou Xiaoqi actually never met You Yongci. Probably he would never become a teacher and not aims to become a better swimmer either. The FL however was not that likeable, the way she rejected him and never ever valued his love in a true manner, she was his crush and that was the reason why even after so much rejection he still went after her but if we see through into her character more deeply and the place from where she was coming from was pretty dark! She had her own baggage along with her so it was really hard for her to realize the good intentions at that point maybe when they were in highschool. I still wishes that they might have ended up together. ?

It could be a better ending... I get this point that the movie is trying to deliver this message that nobody can be with us forever. Some people leave their footsteps on our heart during this journey of life and we meet them again and again only to get separated one day. They are just not for us. We give all our best to keep them into our life longer, however they leave because their time with us is over. They have only came to our life to take us to some destination... that certain point of life where we can't go on our own!

Read More

Did it really happen or was it only in her mind?

I just got done watching this on Tubitv and, it was an interesting watch. I really like cinema from the past so, it was interesting watching this movie that came out in the 80s. In the beginning it started with the main character needing some help at home so, the husband brings back someone who was from another town to let her live with them and be a housekeeper also. In the beginning she was happy to have an extra hand to help out but, after a while she started to get paranoid that the housekeeper was having an affair with her husband and, also trying to kill her. When it came to the part about her husband having an affair it felt vague and unreal. I really couldn't tell if he really was or not because, every time she sneaked to catch them in the act it felt surreal. I just couldn't really tell or not? Then she started to get paranoid that Mi-ok was trying to kill her because, when she was outside a flowerpot almost hit her. That was the first attempt to try to kill her and, then the second one was when Mi-ok left the gas on in the kitchen. Was it an accident when she did it? She did say she wanted to live there forever so, I could see that being possible for her to want to kill Seon Hee so, she can always have a place to live. I really like the ending how it showed she went crazy and, the aftermath that was left by it.

Read More