Bullets 'n' Babes

The Hidden Blade ***.5

Very good drama about an honourable Samurai.

Markgway wrote:The Hidden Blade ***.5

Very good drama about an honourable Samurai.

I recorded it last week from BBC4. Haven't watched it yet...

It's Twilight Samurai but with different characters.

Markgway wrote:The Hidden Blade ***.5

Very good drama about an honourable Samurai.

If you enjoyed this I recommend you to watch "Love and Honor" next which also directed by Yoji Yamada.

As soon as it's on BBC4...

Revenge of the Zebra Mini-Skirt Police (Japan, 2010) – 3/5
Takashi Miike’s highly political superhero adventure Zebraman 2 was packed with more mini-skirt villains than one movie could take. Busy drooling over Riisa Naka’s curves, the attention stealing Zebra Mini-Skirt Police trio was given their own 41 minute spin off movie. Shot quick and cheap by Miike’s former assistant director Kenichiro Nishiumi, it’s not a bad one at all. Nishiumi relies on traditional budget effects: girls, skirts, and roundhouse kicks that seemingly break three bones every time. It does have a bit of home video look to it, but thankfully it’s the case of sharp digi-video. Real merits are non-existent, but the shamelessly entertaining mix won’t get boring in just 41 minutes.
In more detail: https://www.bulletsnbabesdvd.com/forums/ ... 60#p153160

Tokyo X Erotica (Japan, 2001) – 3/5
Sex. Tiananmen Massacre. Human rabbits. Tokyo Subway Attack. Superman. Takahisa Zeze’s avant garde pink film is a complete crossfire mindfuck. It goes from criminally dull zero-worth pink dirtie to the most jaw droppingly beautiful punk film ending. God, life, sex, death, birth. Shot on digi-video, appallingly ugly in places, breathtakingly spot on in others. How many people is Takahisa Zeze exactly?

Mr Vampire 2 **.5

Gave this a third chance as it was on MATV and actually found something to enjoy. The comedy and action was pretty decent but the cutesy kid stuff was still so annoying.

Mr Vampire Saga 4 **

Action was good but the two priests bickering all the time was a bit lame.

APPINESS wrote:Mr Vampire 2 **.5

Gave this a third chance as it was on MATV and actually found something to enjoy. The comedy and action was pretty decent but the cutesy kid stuff was still so annoying.

Mr Vampire Saga 4 **

Action was good but the two priests bickering all the time was a bit lame.

Part 1: Excellent, classic
Part 2: Fun and cool, under-rated
Part 3: Same old shit, lacks punch, over-rated. Richard Ng rules, though.
Part 4: The best sequel, great action, very funny, Loletta Lee is amazing

a bit of Hiroko look there, too

I rated the series as follows:

1. ****
2. ***
3. **.5
4. **
5. **.5 (Vampire Vs Vampire)
9. *.5 (Mr. Vampire 1992)

I need to revisit the whole Mr Vampire series!

Anyone got a spare Saga 4 on Deltamac DVD?

Bollocks! Wrong forum.

Ong Bak 3: 1.5/5

Oh dear.
Just rather dull and pretty boring IMO, not much fighting in the movie. Jaa is obviously a good fighter, as the original Ong Bak showed, yet the fights here are spoiled by too much slow motion and possible CGI
WTF was that ending all about with time being rewound? Too much supernatural/curse stuff for me

grim_tales wrote:WTF was that ending all about with time being rewound? Too much supernatural/curse stuff for me

In my opinion it was a matter of not being able to decide between two ideas for how to stage the final fight, so they just did both.
When he started training I thought that the film was finally starting to become interesting. I enjoyed that training sequence. But that was about it.

bradavon wrote:Bollocks! Wrong forum.

We've been telling you that for years, yet you keep coming back!!!

Confucius. 5.5/10

Visually 'nice' and well acted but exceedingly slow and thinly plotted. I made it to the end and I wouldn't be as harsh as to say I was bored throughout, but I was close to it! Even saying it was a good advert for the Cinese tourist board would be stretching it a bit..

I have Confucius but not yet watched it.

"Confucius" was a huge waste of time for me. And I'm saying this as a CYF fan.

Yuriko’s Aroma (Japan, 2010) - 2.5/5
A middle aged woman falls for a high school boy – in the scent of his sweat to be exact. Clumsy in places, Yuriko’s Aroma still manages a fair amount of things in quite different fashion than most genre efforts. Originality and humor take it pretty far. Director / screenwriter Kota Yoshida handles his vehicle until eventually crashing into a pool of standard drama cliché. Good cast, Noriko Eguchi especially (who played similar part in Moon and Cherry) fairs well whenever the storyline allows fresh air, that is, during the first half of the 73 minute movie.

Third (Japan, 1978) – 4/5
Prison and reform school films tend to be a genre with certain limitations to originality. Kim Chapiron’s Dog Pound (2010) was a recent example of this, with practically nothing new to add to the genre. Yoichi Higashi’s 1978 ATG production Third, however, feels fresh even today. The most important factors are terrific cinematography and skillful structure where storyline goes back and forth between present and past. The film even manages to be one of the best school girl prostitution depictions, despite all main characters being male. Michi Tanaka’s heavy soundtrack is also a standout. The musically talented girl started as Shuji Terayama’s secretary. Not a useless girl she wasn’t.

Round up

Magnificent Butcher 9.5/10
Still one of the best. Dark tone to the humour but that's vintage Sammo. Action and production is flawless.

Wing Chun 8.5/10
Great action comedy. Silly and fun. Some really good action and humor. Story is a bit dumb, makes the film forgettable but still a fun watch!

Enter The Phoenix 7.5/10
Surprisingly enjoyable Triad comic gay drama with a martial arts! I expected something far more bad taste and got a entertaining film with a great cast and some good action thrown in!

True Legend 7/10
Actually really enjoyed this, aside from being slightly thrown by the 'Fearless' copycat tournament. Chiu Man Chuk still has star appeal. UK Blu-Ray has a very dodgy cut for a horsefall..

Empress and the Warriors 6/10
Naff but still enjoyable for the most part - falls flat at the end. Donnie Yen is there but his action looks choreographed on a limited timeframe.. good one for the kids

Language debate:
https://www.bulletsnbabesdvd.com/forums/ ... f=8&t=5889

HungFist wrote:Language debate:
https://www.bulletsnbabesdvd.com/forums/ ... f=8&t=5889

Damn Hung. Your English sucks...

I missed the original debate but I'd like to carry it on now.
Everyone ready?

Cold Fish (Japan, 2010) – 4/5
For years now, Sion Sono has been the best director working in Japan. His serial killer film Cold Fish draws inspiration from the 1993 Saitama murder cases, with typical Sono elements from drum heavy soundtrack to social criticism and heavy Christian references thrown in. Nevertheless, it’s more of a story-film than Sono’s usual high-atmosphere and somewhat freely structured works. Characters are taken to emotional extremes – the noisiness is the film’s only real flaw – but the acting performances are superb. The film comes with notable financial success potential, despite essentially being a pitch black exercise in nihilism. JP and UK theatrical distribution are in the process, with US following later.

In (hell of a lot) more detail:
http://sketchesofcinema.wordpress.com/2 ... cold-fish/

Cream Lemon: Mata no hi no Ami (Japan, 2006) – 2/5
The 4th film in the manga-adaptation series dealing with forbidden love between brother and sister does not live up to its beautiful trailer. Like Nobuhiro Yamashita’s terrific opening installment it not much of a pink film, although perhaps advertised as one. The problem is that the characters and storyline are both relatively dull. Director Shinya Nishimura aims at darker drama but merely comes out with dislikable characters. There are some nice images, though, as well as stylish theme music, and Yuria Hidaka. The amazingly cute AV star (is that a contradiction? I think it is!) is blessed with a face that makes look like an 11 year old in the official artwork – thankfully more like 17 in the film. In fact, she was 23 at the time of making. Her face is nice to look at, but it’s quite obvious why she hasn’t been hailed as character actress.

Love Fight (Japan, 2008) – 1.5/5
Violent girls could be a fun start for a romantic comedy, were Love Fight either romantic or funny. Vision-free studio employee Izuru Narushima’s film fails at both. The opening is decent, with crybaby Kento Hayashi caught in love triangle between roundhouse kicker Kii Kitano and the adorable Shoko Fujimura. It somewhat works until the film does an A-grade dive to B-grade drama. Even the older generation with boxing champ Takao Ohsawa and his long lost love interest are brought in for extra tears. Fujimura goes for complete waste – why she gets ignored by the protagonist throughout the film is a mystery – and the storyline goes for every TV-drama cliché in the book. Making matters worse, the misery no less than 126 minutes in length.

HungFist wrote:
Cold Fish (Japan, 2010) – 4/5
In (hell of a lot) more detail:
http://sketchesofcinema.wordpress.com/2 ... cold-fish/

I know I (partly) mentioned it elsewhere, but having Yoshihiro Nishimura and The Sushi Typhoon link to my blog, and Cold Fish screenwriter Yoshiki Takahashi "liking" the facebook link... now I'm almost afraid to write honest reviews from now on