asian/foreign movies(and remakes)

7/10 This is one of those films I could see if roomies wernt woried bout what happened the next day and finnally had it out..lol. Short film(bout an hour) but makes its point. Spends 1st part builting up to the fight.going from catty,to vindictive, to "ITS ON GIRL".Me personally I kinda think there both insaine,just differnt extreams.When every thing goes sideways..it REALLY goes sideways.More grafic then silly..but still a good watch.

9/10 I kinda went into this film cold turkey. I had no idea what it was about,or even what kind of film it was. I herd it was a good film. So I decided to give it a try. Turns out that was really the best way to do it. This film at heart is a old school "Hitchcock" film .It moves slowly at its own pace,like it feels there is no reason to rush. It doesnt need to anyways , and this film is feals more flleshed out for it. It gives it time to develop chars, realy set the setting for the story,all the while dragging you into it. So you reach for the cheese in this mouse trap.However it does not snap shut yet. The plot starts to really move,and decide to stick around wanting to know more about it ,but still fealing safe.By the time the game kicks in and you realise its time to get out of doge,Its too late., You cant leave. You stand stunned, you got the cheese and the mouse traptrap never sprung..so what happened? Thats how all good "Hitchcock" films work, You never see it coming. When you realise the flypaper that was put on the trap to keep you from getting away. Theres nothing left to do but sit back....cause your going for the full ride.

This I thought was a remake of 13-Tzameti. I still now dont know if its a remake, a sequel. a clone, or a condence that have the same name (the film claims it was made after a manga). I really liked 13 Tzameti , so it had a lot to live up too. It didnt disappoint me. It starts of showing us a nobody who's life is in chaos, money is frelled, work laid him off, girl left him, and he might as well end it all now. Then he gets the call.. "We can fix it all, all you have to do is play a little game" The point of this film really is what would you do for money? 13 challenges, at any time you can walk away-but empty handed- doesnt seem so bad. These arnt your "Fear Factor" kinda challenges though, these are very pointed challenges desigend to test how much of your self your willing to give up for money. The price gets very high believe me. By the time he gets to the 10th challenge there is so little of him left inside... he has to keep going, or it would have all been for nothing. As the end finally comes,t he money really doent matter that much anymore. That is the point I think the film is trying to make..and it makes it well. Deffentally a good watch.

8/10 It was a dark and stormy night....



Short film..but is more of a good thing then a bad. Director(Kitamura) has a bad habbit in all of his films of building...building some more...build after that...LETS GO CRAZY..nope just kidding..keep building..Till you want them to throw off the gloves and go bat **** allready. Its forgiveabe cause he does such great films otherwise. Great chars .great sets, etc. Pluss their not so heavy handed in this one as a lot of films like it I see.. You can be gloomy and still be edgy.Thing I really liked was the persona of the main villian(?) in the story. Hes WAY wasnt all uber evil... just relaxed, even silly in a way, wanting to get the most out of his guest/victim as he could. The sceene with the hero choising his wepon was priceless.
All and all a good film

2/10 This film kinda seriously rubbed me wrong. Looked cool from previews and heard good stuff about it. However after seeing it... It's like they did one really good (if unnecessarily graphic) scene, then went... well, guess we need to make a movie around it. The scene itself has good special effects, acting, and although extremely morbid, still top notch. The rest of the film, however, is almost amateur. The acting, camera work, plot... It almost seems like a different film. I'm not saying its a bad try. It's just they needed to put as much effort in the rest of the film as they did in that one scene.

9/10 ...Can we say razor wire?

Now you prob got a reaction of WTF? to that..and thats about how to decribe this best.I found out about this film oddly enougf from a docmentarry about fav horror films from different famious peeps in hollywood.This one was suggested by Rob Zombie(this is also the film that got me into "Mikes films"). I admit most this film is build up.But unlikelike most films like this you arnt screaming for it to "get to the cilmax already" Starts with a simple premise..then the signs start showing up...signs something is REALLY wrong with the force here..About half way your screaming at the guy to notice SOMETHING...Yet the film keeps going on...as the dread builds and builds.... with you more and more aware of something REALLY bad coming down the pipe.When it finally comes loose and it flys free,you almost kinda feal burned because your not really shure what just hit you.This film will make you think twice the next time you say.."sweet little asian girl". Sweet film,a must see for any one with a desire to be taken on a rolercoaster ride in a film...Just watch out,that 1st dip is a doosie.

7/10 I saw the trailer for this and it just screamed "watch me". It had Action , martial arts, instering characters, cool sets , nice story, a "sweet little asian girl" who can be all demure...yet still kick your ****, serious storyline.. but with just the right touch of "cheese". After seeing the film, it got almost all of it right. Oddly what it messed up was a lack of "cheese". Believe me, the cheeze potential was there. The film starts out...

For years now every thing has been good with the force. For every one has been working hard in our asian "scout" troop .They have been in it since they were young to be "good little assassins". Every one is shiny and happy as they learn the skills they will need to become the best little killers they can be. This is not your averarge "scout " troop though, this is a troop of ...EVIL. For to get their final merit badge they are forced to pair up with their best friends......and kill each other. DOOM....DOOM....DOOM!!! AND GLOOM!!!! MUAHAHAHHHA!!!!!

Now I admit its not as bad as im making it out to be(even though that IS the intro part of the plot). But maybe it should have been, at least a little. Now if you can forgive our merry little group of high schoolers after school club, the rest is believable. The acting is good. The sets are really well done. You can tell some one put a lot of time in this to do it right. BUT, It is SOOO heavy handed. I was actually overjoyed when the arch baddy showed up because he WAS so over the top. It helped balance out the rest of the film. Take a film like "Seven" for example. It was one of the most razor blade films ever made. It however was also cut with some more light hearted stuff (the shaving of the nipple crack for example) to keep the film instering instead of just deppressing. The light hearted scenes also made the darker ones look more intense when it was set right against the lighter parts. Thats one of the good reasons of cheese...keeps the film from taking it self TOO seriously and gives it a contrast too it instead of just coming off gloomy. I admit you dont need "cheese" to do this, you can cut it with some thing else, but the point is valid none the less. All and all a good film, just needed some more balance too it. The final fight scene btw was sweet.

7/10 Well we have some good news and some bad news on this one. Good news first. They fixed my major complaint with the first movie. They cut the "Doom and Gloom" with some sillyness. They even did it with out going TOO far over the top. The female ninja's breast plate for example. Another example was the enemy army 's "mini-bosses" (really liked them). Hell, they even BLATANTLY riped off a character from "Ninja scroll"...but it fit real well. Now the bad news. The rest of the movie suffered a bit for it. Not that the rest of the movie sucked, just not quite as top notch. The sets were nice, but not as grand scale. Plot? Well they figured you kinda got it all in the first movie, so why bother explaining it again. "SHE HAS TO KILL THE GENERAL"....enough said. They lessened the doom and gloom , but threw in a liberal dose of angst instead. With a "whole new" shiny flashback system to beat it into your head. Ill admit though my only real gripe with the film is really at the end, were our hero just kinda went brain dead all of a sudden. In the first film they had a huge fight scene. It was the climax of the film and they did it well. In this one she suffers one death too many and decides to put a end to it once and for all. In the first film she had help, tactics, and I dont know...a plan? In this one she just walks up to the army base (in plain site in full view) and starts hacking away. I know it was , It was a enemy tech she got hit by in the last scene. Thats why her brain cells slid out her ears and made her do the "WTF are you doing ?" fight. Ya thats it, it all makes sense now. Might even explaine the rest of the movie too.

9/10 Really like how they did this one.followed the book well,seamed realistic,and dent seem hard to belive.Theres a spical version of this-tartian one -that got this film banned stateside for the longest time(under age sex sceene).but most of the recent ones dont have it.No worries though does fine with out it(although if you find one of the ones with it ..HANG ON TO IT..its worth a quite a bit on e-bay).Makes me wounder if some day this might happen RL side...and I thought I hated highschool. Its also easyer to see the movie then the book scence its easyer to keep every one strait on who is who(had to write it down).One thing I liked bout the film was the different aproaches/ideas on how to surivive. They went ranging from stealth,bribes,not playing,groups,bribes,etc. All with varing results. All and all a good flick

8/10 This one, I admit, I've been advoiding for quite a while now. It looked like one of the multitudes of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon "clones, which although I like these kinda films, rarely are they even in the same league as the orinagal. So today, I saw it was going to be playing on the movie channels and decided to give it a try. I was very suprised to find that it not only wasn't a clone; it was a differnt style film all together. This one is about palace intregue and all the chaos that can snowball from it. Now I admit that a film about politics can put off some people. Without something to cut it with... it can be very, very, very, VERY boring. Don't worry, it's not only got a compelling story, it's got plenty of other things to spice it up: murder, martial arts, sex, incest, cival war, betrayal... These are just a few of the spices thrown into the mix. Another thing, although the film is very serious, it doesn't really take itself THAT seriously. In the end, after all the smoke clears, the servants (all 10,000 of them) rush in to clean up the mess. Flowers are brought in, carpets are thrown out... and in a few minutes, you'd never know what just went down. Then, off in the distance, you can hear, "12:00... It's the hour of the Purple Moose. Anyone that is still alive, it is time to start the festival."

7/10 This one is kind of an odd review for me. No, it's not as bad as that sounds. It's got a good story, good acting, good writing. It's believable. More importantly... it's NOT heavy-handed. You even really enjoy following the story. The ending (my big problem with a lot of Asian films) is a nice twist, but without being totally out of sync with the rest of the film or fealing like it was added last minute just to mess with you. I honestly like the film. However, although it doesn't do anything wrong, it doesn't do anything really right either. It's a good story, but doent really hold you in suspence. It's a good ghost story ,but doesn't keep you at the edge of your seat wondering what's going to happen next. It's a good plot (like I said, I like the end) but it doesn't keep you guessing. It's a decent film, all and all. I do reccommend it. I just wish it had an extra... "something" that would have made it great.

9/10 I went into this with a bad vibe. this was a sequel to "The Eye" , but it wasnt really a sequel. It didnt have the same characters, or storyline. The trailer looked REALLY bad. Pluss I really liked "The Eye" and want really in the mood to see them mess the series up. I was surprised to see not only did they not mess it up, they fixed most of the problems I had with the first one. Now the first one wasnt a bad film, actually really liked it, but it was missing "something". This one however had the extra "oomph" the other one lacked. As I said earlier, Its not a direct sequel. Instead it is based on a asian belief system for life/death that really fits wel with the original's feel (and in a really creepy way). It doent spell out what is going on in the film and does a good job keeping you guessing till the end. Its kinda one of those you might want to see twice. Once to see the film,and try to figure out what the &^%* is going on before they spell it out for you. The second time when you know whats going on and can see the fim in the right context. Definitaly a good film with the same spirit of the original, but with the "creepyness " the first one lacked.

Ki-duk kim has a thing for twisted love storys,and this one is no exception...wow...However it really does not come off that way. In fact it actually seams like one of his lighter films. A down on his luck guy with nothing to live for meets a quiet recluse in charge of a fishing lake. You even really like the main characters. The girl is done really well in a way that be easy to mess up or overdo. She doent speak(at all) but she is MORE then able to be heard or understood. Witch fits the film really well actually. Even in the silence, whole volumes are being said. Thats kinda the point of the story I think. Its not what you say ,but what you do/feel/show that matters really. This is a tragic love story though. One of our lovers has lost his faith in love. The other has not really felt it in so long shes kinda fuzzy on what it is anymore. In its own quiet way this film draws you in and makes you really feel for the characters. Be warned though, that is just the bait on a fisherman's hook here. Letting you eat the bait and really sink you teeth into this film. For when this film jerks, it jerks HARD. Leaving you writhing and gasping for air on the dock wondering WTF? just happened. Great film, but not for the sqeemish.

8/10 I saw the trailer for this and was expecting an action film in the vien of Blade runner>I was supersised to find its accually a love story...of sorts.The main character "love" has a fatal "condishion" that is going to kill her in a matter of days.Its both tottal and Irreversable.But there might be a way to save her...for a price.The film brings up a valid question,how many lives would you be willing to ruin to save the one you love?Could you just stand and watch them fade away before your eyes?Or even if you did save them,would they still love you?In hindsite Im kinda glad they took a different route.Keeps it from being another clone and worthy of being in the same universe.Although I admit This film wasnt what I expected walking into it. It was deffentally a nice supersise.

9/10 This is a collection of 4 shorts by "Rampo" a famious writer (director?) known for his really "different" storys/shorts. I usally advoid collections as a rule cause they're usally just groups of B-movies clumped togther in the hope they'll do better as a group then by themselves. Let me tell you now... this one not only stands out, it is MORE than capable of standing on its own 2 feet. The 1st story, "Mars Cannal," I admit is a very odd peice with no sound (yes, your dvd is working) that shows a very non-sexy sex scene (kinda the point, I think). It's definitely the weakest of the 4. The 2nd one, "Mirror Hell," is a nice neo-noir murder mystery. Acting is good, atmosphere is great, and characters have the nior feel down cold. Even the main character's wife (who's only on like 10 seconds and is bound in a wheel chair) drips style. The 3rd film, "Catapiller" is definitely an odd film. Very interesting, but doesn't make a lot of sense. Don't worry, it's just the way it sucks you in to it. The more you get into the story, the more sense it makes.... but the more sense it makes, the freaker it gets. By the time it's all clear to you, it's too late to untangle this short from your mind. I admit, if I was in the same situation as the main character, I'd probably lose it too. I'd like to think though that I'd not have taken it "THAT" far. The 4th one, "Crawling Bugs," despite being last it's the real gem of the group. And I warn you, this tale will leave a mark on even the most jadded film viewer. Starts out predictably enough. Guy has crush on film star, crush leads to obsession, obsession leads to kidnapping, kidnapping goes wrong, and some one dies. But rather than ending the story there, that's where this one really begins. Trust me, by the end youll have some new wrinkles in your brain you're never really going to get ironed out. All and all, what makes it stand out from all the other "collections" is top rate writing, acting, sets, and a very good understanding of what makes us go "TWITCH" inside.

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ok had to think for a moment on this one....
If audition just remineded you of you last 3 ex girlfriends, dead or alive seris brings back fond memorys of your neiborhood back home, gozu brings back the happy days your mom just to put liquid acid in your corn flakes as a kid,and save the green planet was just talking bout "THE MAN DAMMIT" we have a winner for you....
This is "mikes" version of the tv reality show stuff.. Trust me Al Bundy dint realise how good he had it.......