Bullets 'n' Babes

Mad Detective - 3.5/5
Very intelligently made. Lau Ching-wan's as the 'mad detective' is both funny and tragic.

I have really been neglecting Johnnie To films during the last year. Currently catching up on them.

The Chaser 4-4.5/5

Very depressing film, not one to watch if you want a pick-me-upper! However, it is also very good. Doesn't follow the usual murder-thriller conventions, so is less predictable than most other films in this genre. Great performances and unexpected scenes. While not a film I'm likely to watch again in a rush, it is still an excellent film. UK R2 release from Metrodome, out Feb. 2nd.

Hopefully going to watch Metrodome's release of The Warlords soon. Been out of the Asian film loop for quite some time so don't know too much about this one, but hope it is good!

I watched "The Chaser" at the Fantasy Filmfest last year and when it ended it received standing ovations. Great film and as you said a very unusual thriller. The killer admits to have killed all the women after 20 minutes into the film. At that point I didn't know what more to expect of the storyline.

The Warlords 3.5/5

I'll be honest, this wasn't quite the film I was expecting/hoping for. The battle scenes that were there, were quite epic, brutal and bloody and very entertaining, but there was too much of the deep brotherly stares at each other and the knowing nods etc. Jet Li did look quite funny dressed up in his big bulky general's outfit.

It was decent enough, but I think I had built it up too much in my head, so was left somewhat underwhelmed...

I didn't have any preconceptions about Warlords, but came out of it feeling the same. The film just didn't work - despie Jet's perfomance being so strong.

The Machine Girl (Japan, 2008) – 2,5/5
Director Noboru Iguchi continues exploring his 'limbs replaced with guns' fetish (his 2006 film Sukeban Boy featured a girl with machine gun legs) in this festival favourite. A ninja-yakuza family kills a high school girl's brother and leaves her with one arm, but she strikes back with a newly installed machine gun arm. Seifuku / machine gun combination has produced some masterworks before, but this one falls a bit short. Iguchi loads the film with amusing splatter effects, but he lack that sense of style and technical expertise that the great exploitation filmmakers possess. Nevertheless, the film is built on good grounds and entertains enough to deserve one viewing.

Hajirai Machine Girl (Japan, 2008) – 2,5/5
This 22 minute spin off to The Machine Girl stars Noriko Kijima as a girl who gets a machine gun inserted into her, uhm, butt. Many characters from the main feature come back from the dead and appear in Hajirai Machine Girl. There isn’t much gore, but the film is thrice as ridiculous as The Machine Girl. It’s also slightly more sexually toned, although Kijima being a gravure idol don’t expect anything more than bikini close ups. Very dumb entertainment.

My Mighty Princess (Korea - 2007 - By Kwak Jae-Young with Shin Mina): 2 / 5

Kinda like a cross between My Sassy Girl and Arahan.
Only not very good.

There are too many flashbacks in the second half of the film. Granted, they are necessary to fill in the blanks, but they completely destroy the pace.
There is no leading man. There are two guys, and they're both difficult to identify with because one of them is uninteresting and the other is...well...you don't even know "what" he is before the final act.

But the worst is the clumsy and poorly constructed character development scenes. By the time you get to the final fight, you probably won't give a shit about the people who are fighting.
That reminded me of House of Flying Daggers. Andy Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro fighting in the snow for Zhang Ziyi. Three unsympathetic characters who spend most of their time lying and deceiving people.
Hell, I don't care about who wins, just get it over with! Come on, Yimou! You can kill them both for all I care.

Still, the first part of the film is decent. Some of the jokes work, others don't.
And at least the wire-fu stuff looks good. Hong-Kong action director Dion Lam knows what he's doing.

Oh, and look out for a hilarious (if you get it) cameo by Cha Tae-Hyun.

Chocolate 3/5

One of the most un-PC martial art films ever! ish. Or at least having one mentally handicapped kid fight another one was! Still, smoe decent fighting in there, which was entertaining to watch, but I just didn't find it that believable. Not that this girl learnt it all, but that she was strong enough to fight with that much power. When Tony Jaa does it, he's built very solidly, so I can believe and feel the power when he hits someone... but it just wasn't there for this girl. She'd probably still kick my ass in real life though. Entertaining, but not much more.

Isn't it all real though, so presumably she can?

I've been meaning to check it out, it looks good. I'm not really a fan of Ong-Bak/TYG. Any chance I'd like it?

It is kinda more of the same, but with a petite female in the lead... the character is also mentally handicapped, which does throw an alternative spin on it a bit!

The action didn't look as bone crunching as the likes of Ong Bak (not seen TYG).

As for it being real... no, I don't see how it could be. There were hits where the guys being hit were sliding back a reasonable distance, too much (I think) for one little girl to have been able to do. But that's just my opinion.

Can't believe noone here is raving about Legendary Assassin! Top film.

Thanks Degeneration.

luckystars wrote:Can't believe noone here is raving about Legendary Assassin! Top film.

Why arent you raving it, so we can all get excited and will feel the need to check it out!?

Watermelon (Japan, 2005) – 3/5
Ryuichi Honda’s companion piece to My Wife’s Shell (both films take place at the same time, and sometimes you can spot scenes and objects from one film on the background of another). Runa Akatsuki plays a woman who’s sick and tired of her big breasts that men can’t take their eyes off. She decides to marry the first man who doesn’t stare at her breasts. Quite a likable and funny little film with an enjoyable supporting performance by Hiroshi Yamamoto (who was terrific in the early Nobuhiro Yamashita movies). The only real minus is some contrast boosting that hurts the otherwise nice looking 2.35:1 cinematography in some scenes.

Legendary Assassin (2008) 4/5

Co-Directed and starring Wu Jing. Excellent contempory martial arts/revenge pic. Wu Jing stars as Bo/Bruce a skilled fighter with an unknown agenda which unfolds during the movie. Not a straight forward story, Legendary Assassin leaves you with something to think about at the end. So good I watched it twice the day it arrived (HK 1 disc edition, excellent English subs + DTS).

Co produced by Seasonal Films (Drunken Master, Snake in the Eagles Shadow) and co presented by the legendary producer Ng See Yuen(!), the movie features a solid cast - including a guest appearence by the lovely Kara Hui (the end credits also give thanks to her and John Sham).

While some will be quick to say Legenday Assassin features less-than groundbreaking action scenes, it wins on story, charm and emotive contect. From opinions I've seen on other forums people are saying this film is a stinker because the fights look wire assisted etc. - but to judge a film on just one aspect of the whole is never the smartest way to go about things.

Legenday Assassin is fresh, touching, stirring, exciting, is nicely filmed and has an excellent soundtrack. It's not however like most other HK action movies of today - overly polished, too cute or bland.

Check it out

Can't believe noone here is raving about Legendary Assassin!

Sorry to say this but it's because there's nothing to rave about anyway. LA is what I call a typical bad move for Wu Jing showcase. Wu Jing's recent movies after SPL always tend to have mediocre scripts, direction, acting, music; pretty much every aspect of filmmaking in these movies aren't enough engaging and involving and it doesn't help when things get too overdramatized to the point of bringing out something (which doesn't either). I think this is what makes the movie unattractive to most as they've already seen enough of that and want to see something fresher from him.

I don't where Wu Jing will go next, hopefully (seems barely though) maybe Jeff Lau will give him better exploitation in the upcoming robot movie. But as long as he sticks with these b-people who will keep turning his talent less and less spectacular, I'll consider giving up watching his movies.

I think it's his best work since SPL.

The Fearless Hyena: 4/5

I enjoyed it Jackie's role isn't that far removed from "disobedient youth" of Drunken Master and other similar titles, he's shown to be a good fighter in this one though and not actually lazy.
James Tien (I think) plays Jackie's grandpa in rather unconvincing old man make-up
For some reason The Pink Panther theme (!) plays at one point, and I also noticed a piece of music used in Iron Fisted Monk (or its trailer).
The HKL transfer seems stretched and looked wierd and wrong in places. Isn't it a Mandarin film?
Surprised the commentary isnt listed on the box.
Was "Eight Legged Quilin - (sp?) a bad guy? At the end Jackie says he wants to look after him/help him etc and he says "You're more likely to trick me" Maybe it was just because JC was acting crazy

grim_tales wrote:Isn't it a Mandarin film?

No. Cantonese.

Surprised the commentary isnt listed on the box.

Who's the commentator?

My eyes probably wouldn't notice minor streching, but I recall the HKL transfer looking quite good. And the clean mono track stayed in sync appart from one scene in the middle of the film where I thought the audio was slightly off but some other people never noticed anything. Great disc. Great film.

The commentator is Andrew Staton (sp?)
I thought that in one part of the film it looked really stretched. As for language, I think I'm getting confused with "Shaolin Wooden Men" which features Cantonese on the HKL disc but should be Mandarin.

Andrew Staton's commentaries are awful, his Northern accent is really grating too. I'd replace Northern with where he's from, if I knew.

bradavon wrote:Andrew Staton's commentaries are awful, his Northern accent is really grating too. I'd replace Northern with where he's from, if I knew.

Us Northerners feel the same way about Southern twang but we are usually far too polite to criticise it in public !

I said his accent, not all Northern accents. Very different! I'd hardly have said I hate all North Accents when there are so many.

Since when can you speak for the entire Northern population?

grim_tales wrote:The commentator is Andrew Staton (sp?)

That explains why they didn't mention it on the cover.

bradavon wrote:I said his accent, not all Northern accents. Very different! I'd hardly have said I hate all North Accents when there are so many.

I think it might be Yorkshire? I only heard him on one track a while back and that was enough.

Since when can you speak for the entire Northern population?

Didn't you hear? Sam was elected spokesman for all northerners just yesterday.