What Have You Just Seen... Marks Out of 5

RickyTheDragonSteamboat · Post by **RickyTheDragonSteamboat** » 17 Jan 2007, 21:56

The Protector (aka Tom-Yum-Goong) 3/5
Having seen the uncut Asian version atleast a dozen times, I must say that I was quite surprised at how much I actually enjoyed the shorter US cut. I'm not defending the butchering or re-subbing (and re-dubbing LOL) but ultimately T-Y-G does benefit from being cut. I'm not sure if it needed 27 minutes taken out but I guess that's why they packaged it with the longer cut for those it may concern. Watching the US cut, I noticed the editing and pacing are much better. We no longer see Kham chasing Johnny (who's driving) only to have them all magically appear on a bridge 5 seconds later on foot. No more out-of-place news footage with Thai reporters speaking terrible English. All the terrible acting by the Aussie cast has been re-looped or in some instances toally removed. Wongkamlao's street market monologue has been removed and his English has been redubbed. In fact much of the Thai cast except for Kham and his father (who dies in this version LOL!) are dubbed into English with very bad Asian accents. All in all, for what it is, The Protector is still very entertaining.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 18 Jan 2007, 09:17

One Foot In The Grave 1990 Chrsitmas Special (Season 2) - 4/5

As with most OFITG specials, it seems overlong yet this was a fine combination of some classic rants from Victor, touching scenes (It was Christmas) and black humour.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 18 Jan 2007, 09:27

Life on Mars - S1 - Episode 5 and 6... 4/5

Good episodes but Episode 6 is REALLY dark in comparison to the rest of them withn not much humour.

slasher13 · Post by **slasher13** » 18 Jan 2007, 12:29

Moon Warrior - 3/5
Pretty good fantasy swordplay movie with Andy Lau and Anita Mui. I enjoyed the look of the film and there are some nice fight scenes. Story is okay, music is great. The ending is a bit confusing then... as it end without telling you what happened to one other key player

I enjoyed it thou, nice bit of 90's HK movie

tom2681 · Post by **tom2681** » 18 Jan 2007, 12:51

it end without telling you what happened to one other key player

Huh ?

SPOILER
They're all dead, except Andy Lau. Who are you referring to ?
SPOILER

dragonhero005 · Post by **dragonhero005** » 18 Jan 2007, 13:34

The most memorable films I watched over the last few weeks:

El Mariachi

Great film by Robert Rodriguez. Haven`t had such a funny time for a long time.
Great fun!

4/5

Too many ways to be Nr. 1

Now what a strange movie that was. But I really liked it. It´s just funny to see how they exaggerate everything and parody the triads (f.e.: cutting off fingers...).
I also liked the idea that the camera is being moved the way the pictures truly get the feeling of a scene. One scene is even shot upside down.
Also a very good movie that maybe is a little too hectic at some points.
It`s a pity there`s no good DVD for it out there...

Babel

Easily the best film I´ve seen over the last few years, if not the best film I have ever seen!
Can´t stop gushing over it. What a great movie!

5.5/5

thelostdragon · Post by **thelostdragon** » 18 Jan 2007, 14:04

The Host - 4.5/5
Wonderful.

slasher13 · Post by **slasher13** » 18 Jan 2007, 15:44

tom2681 wrote:
it end without telling you what happened to one other key player
Huh ?

SPOILER
They're all dead, except Andy Lau. Who are you referring to ?
SPOILER

SPOILER
The King really, you really really don't seem him dead on the floor, he does look up..
SPOILER

Cheers for that Tom, beautiful scenery and action, but that it. Now i'm off to watch Swordmans

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 18 Jan 2007, 16:00

SPOILER
We're mean to assume he's dead. It's a real downer of an ending I'm afraid.
SPOILER

slasher13 · Post by **slasher13** » 18 Jan 2007, 16:21

Markgway wrote:SPOILER
We're mean to assume he's dead. It's a real downer of an ending I'm afraid.
SPOILER

Ahhhh..... I see, thanks for clearing that up.

Just Watched:
Warrior King - 3.5/5
Tony Jaa is very very good in this, but I prefer Ong Bak. This movie really really felt like a videogame, especially the scene where he is fighting guys all the way to the top of the illegal restaurant. You can just picture that from Double Dragon. Just brutal action in this, and the guy is very very talented, hope this continue. Like the Jacky Chan scene in the Airport (Take it, its not really him but a lookalike). The elephants are cute, and liked the simply story with them, I think the elephant steal the show, they are very very well trained. Can't wait to see what Tony Jaa next project is.
BTW read a damning review on DD release of this movie. Quite glad I got HKL version instead, I do like Bey Logan and his commentary for HKL, but like most people I wish they respect other director work, if the movie is slow, let it be slow, it the director wish (Although there are some director who are never happy - George that is you

)

Knetan · Post by **Knetan** » 18 Jan 2007, 17:12

hey,

Too many ways to be Nr. 1

Kind of a Lola Rennt in HK and one of Francis Ng's funniest performances. Great, big idiot.

dragonhero005 · Post by **dragonhero005** » 18 Jan 2007, 19:54

Knetan wrote:hey,

Too many ways to be Nr. 1
Kind of a Lola Rennt in HK and one of Francis Ng's funniest performances. Great, big idiot.

Agreed.
Francis was hilarious!

That movie`d deserve a better DVD release.

Knetan · Post by **Knetan** » 18 Jan 2007, 21:03

hey,

I'll take what I can get. Not counting most Fortune Star products.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 19 Jan 2007, 09:51

How do you do a spoiler? Just change the text to white?

Breakfast at Tiffany's - 3.5/5

I found this a bit slow and it dragged at times TBH

However one of the highlights of the film is definitely Hepburn herself, who is truly beautiful, and superb as carefree yet naive (I would say) 19 year old playgirl Holly. Brad called her performance "magical" and I would agree.
Another plus is the music - you will fall in love with the Oscar winning theme "Moon River"

I didnt like the Mr. Yunioshi character though

Lazy racist stereotyping. If a real Japanese guy had been cast and not acted in such a negative way, always being angry, having a characture accent, buck teeth etc.. it would have been better.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 19 Jan 2007, 15:17

grim_tales wrote:How do you do a spoiler? Just change the text to white?

Breakfast at Tiffany's - 3.5/5

I found this a bit slow and it dragged at times TBH However one of the highlights of the film is definitely Hepburn herself, who is truly beautiful, and superb as carefree yet naive (I would say) 19 year old playgirl Holly. Brad called her performance "magical" and I would agree.
Another plus is the music - you will fall in love with the Oscar winning theme "Moon River"
I didnt like the Mr. Yunioshi character though Lazy racist stereotyping. If a real Japanese guy had been cast and not acted in such a negative way, always being angry, having a characture accent, buck teeth etc.. it would have been better.

It's a very episodic film, but it is very charming IMO. Hepburn is marvellous in the film; but the more underrated performance came from The A-Team's Hannibal (I forget the actor's name), he was quite good in that role.

Capote and Edwards did a good job with the daring and realistic characters (she was a whore who had run away from her husband and he was the older woman's boy toy) and presented them in an such a way as to not upset the audience's more conservative sensibilities of the day.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 19 Jan 2007, 15:39

Didn't know that Eva, thanks. Agree about the film being charming

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 19 Jan 2007, 18:25

grim_tales wrote:Didn't know that Eva, thanks.

You didn't know what?

I was just giving my opinion of the film.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 19 Jan 2007, 18:50

I didnt know how the film was changed compared with the novel

Lourdes · Post by **Lourdes** » 19 Jan 2007, 19:50

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
I was forced into watching this. Some cousin of my girlfriends worked on some part of it so I have to get screwed. Kyoto Animation produce series that are a slight cut above the usual dross that are made to a much higher standard. But it's still not something I'd ever want to watch volountarily.

Umizaru 2
The original was pretty good. Solid and formulaic, this one is partly like that but mostly bullshit melodrama as you'd expect from anyything that was big domestically.
I cannot express how much I want to hit Ai Katô. This isn't a joke or exaggeration, when I picture her in my mind I feel this surge of emotion supporting the idea of slapping her about.
Fucking Japanese people and their melodrama nonsense with crap casts.

Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion
So bad it's actually quite good. Guilty pleasure I suppose. But there were some really good bits, the shower and hat sequences looked and played out excellently.

Female Convict Scorpion Jailhouse 41
Failed attempt at more of the above.

Scrap Heaven
A Korean making Japanese films hmmmm. Lee Sang-il consistently delivers the worst aspects of both countries contemporary filmmaking. I knew what I was in for from the very first frame, no joke. But I did watch about 25 mins before ejecting it to be completely sure.

My Beautiful Girl Mari
Very nice film and it's good to see animation from somewhere over than Japan. Some parts of the plot didn't seem to be fully realised, but really, it was delightful.

Knetan · Post by **Knetan** » 19 Jan 2007, 21:50

hey,

Yesterday You, Yesterday Me 2/5

Jacob Cheung handles the final entry in the otherwise excellent "Banana Ripening"-series (first two entries being Yesteryou, Yesterme, Yesterday & Over The Rainbow, Under The Skirt) but John Tang's Bo's final steps into adulthood equals themes and messages already heard in the first films. Touching and racy elements are there as per the series checklist but Cheung does his thing on autopilot sadly.

http://www.sogoodreviews.com/reviews/ye ... terday.htm
http://www.sogoodreviews.com/reviews/o2 ... therainbow

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 20 Jan 2007, 02:57

grim_tales wrote:I didnt know how the film was changed compared with the novel

Huh? How did you extract that from my post? I never said nor meant to imply such a thing.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 20 Jan 2007, 09:18

Oh sorry Eva, this quote made me think characters were changed or something:

Capote and Edwards did a good job with the daring and realistic characters (she was a whore who had run away from her husband and he was the older woman's boy toy) and presented them in an such a way as to not upset the audience's more conservative sensibilities of the day.

dragonhero005 · Post by **dragonhero005** » 20 Jan 2007, 15:47

The Prestige

Nice movie, but I disliked the ending a little.

SPOILERS

That "cloning-stuff was just way over the top. I prefer realism.

SPOILERS OVER

But overall quite good. I`ll give 0.5 extra points for Scarlett`s outstanding boobies....

3.5/5

Taegukgi - Brotherhood

Wow. A true big-budgeter. Quite unlike for an Asian film. Have to say that I liked it. Jang Dong-gun and Won Bin were very good. Too bad Choi Min-sik`s apperance was rather short...
Brotherhood really shows how horrible war is and some scenes are truly disgusting. Haven`t seen such a horribly brutal movie for a long time.
Due to the fact that it was on TV two days ago I watched it with the German dub, I´m sure I would have enjoyed it more, with the orignal track...

Nevertheless: 4/5

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 20 Jan 2007, 15:57

Nothing about The Prestige is real I wish people would stop saying that. Don't forget spoilers!

Knetan · Post by **Knetan** » 20 Jan 2007, 16:53

hey,

See-Bar (aka God Father) 1/5

Early Chow Yun-Fat vehicle and expectedly not any good material comes out of this low-budget exercise directed by Dennis Yu (The Beasts). Has elements of gambling, a lightherated atmos but it doesn't translate to even camp cinema. Still, no one will be ruined if they decide to watch this early screen appearance by the God of Actors.