What asian film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Markgway
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Post by Markgway »

bradavon wrote:Chingmy Yau is gorgeous but I wanted to see her well tits and ass god damn it :D. What was with all the covering up of her boobs???
She didn't do nudity. Only sexy tease.
And what the bloody hell was up with the paedophiles locked in the cellar scene? As if all paedophiles are sex crazed loons, surely it must've struck the film-makers as odd that a paedophile of all people would find a grown adult sexually arousing.
Brad, stop looking for logic. NK is an exceptionally dumb film even for Wong Jing. :D
HungFist wrote:Naked Killer is far better than Naked Weapon.
Nah. Both are cheesefests, but NW is slicker, and has better action.
Knetan wrote:Naked Killer is pure Wong Jing genius and "genius" :D
I'm glad you put the inverted commas in there. :wink:
Last edited by Markgway on 31 May 2008, 19:52, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Markgway »

Knetan wrote:hey, Patrick Tam's The Sword is essential viewing. Best Wuxia ever made.
I thought it was average. There's about 100 better Shaw Bros wuxias.
The Sword from 1971 starring Jimmy Wang Yu is the one from Crash Cinema and is coincidentally probably as good if not a better Wuxia. There we talk about splendid majestic design and atmosphere, carefully crafted. Don't let the Crash print featuring the good ol' cinema subs discopurage you. You'll get used to it and you'll be totally immersed.
That was worse than the 1980 version. If you wanna see a classic Wang Yu "sword" film check out 1968's The Sword of Swords.
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Post by bradavon »

gasteropod wrote:It's kind of a 'uhm' I think lol
Thanks. That is surprising.
HungFist wrote:The last time I checked Naked Killer was made in 1992
Really? It feels like an 80s movie.
Markgway wrote:She didn't do nudity. Only sexy tease.
For a film that has NOTHING else going for it I expect lots of T&A god damn it :D. I would've been happy then.
Markgway wrote:Brad, stop looking for logic. NK is an exceptionally dumb film even for Wong Jing. :D
True. I always find it almost impossible to switch off my logic part of my brain :D. I seriously wonder how some people manage to so easily.
Markgway wrote:Nah. Both are cheesefests, but NW is slicker, and has better action.
Agreed.
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Post by tom2681 »

There's no english equivalent to the "ng" sound.
IMO, the closest one would be "on".
Carrie Ng should sound a lot like "Carry on" (or "Carry un").
I used to be "the man who loves the movies you hate".
Now I'm just "that weird french guy with a cat avatar who comes to BnB once a year for no reason and then disappears again".
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Post by gasteropod »

tom2681 wrote:There's no english equivalent to the "ng" sound.
IMO, the closest one would be "on".
Carrie Ng should sound a lot like "Carry on" (or "Carry un").
On the HKL commentaries they pronounced Richard Ng's name 'Richard mhm'.
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Post by HungFist »

Love Hotel (Japan, 1985) – 4/5
Why would the greatest japanese director of the 80’s want visit Nikkatsu’s roman porno factory in the middle of his most creative period is anybody’s guess. The outcome however is less suprising, in other words; brilliant. Shinji Somai based his film on screenplay by Takashi Ishii about a man whose company goes bankrupt and wife is raped in front of him by the loansharks. He wants to commit suicide but finds himself too weak for that. Two years later he has become a poor taxi driver and meets a woman named Nami who might understand his feelings. Appart from the graphic opening Somai’s sad and beautiful character drama goes against every Nikkatsu cliché. The impressive cinematography is by the future Shunji Iwai collaborator Noboru Shinoda, and Somai plays Momoe Yamaguchi’s Yoru he against the moody night images.
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Post by bradavon »

tom2681 wrote:There's no english equivalent to the "ng" sound.
IMO, the closest one would be "on".
Carrie Ng should sound a lot like "Carry on" (or "Carry un").
So is it Urm, On or Un?

Being the closest we can get to it. Bey is pretty good at speaking Chinese so he may know too.
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Post by Shingster »

I wouldn't use Bey Logan as a benchmark for how Cantonese is supposed to be pronounced, he freely acknowledges that his canto isn't particularly great.

Out of the 3 Urm is closest to a phonetic spelling of the right sound, think of it like a Mnn kind of sound.
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Post by bradavon »

Thanks. Phonetic is all I'm interested in.
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Post by Markgway »

'Ooohnnng' is about right.

Seriously. 8)
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Post by Beat TG »

Love Battlefield (2004)

A doctor named Ka Yiu (Eason Chan) falls for a woman named Ching (Niki Chow) while helping her retrieve her shoe she dropped in a lake. For some time on, they engage to each other and plan to travel somewhere outside Hong Kong. Ching takes the choice of going to Europe and Yiu accepts her decision and asks his friend Chow Chow (Raymond Wong) arrange a car for transport. The next day when they're about to leave, Yiu discovers the car's gone and wants to report the crime while Ching insists him to forget it and go anyway but Yiu objects. This leads to an argument where Ching, because of Yiu's stubbornness, quits their relationship before both leave on their own. As Yiu is on his way to the police station, he suddenly sees the car that was missing and drops off to take a look. As he realizes that the car was stolen by a criminal, a gang (Wang Zhiwen leading the pack) show up and take Yiu as hostage while they pursue the goal to make through a deal. This results a complicated situation as Yiu must help the criminals while Ching, after realizing that Yiu is held hostage, gets involved searching for him.

Soi Cheang nails it! With an unlikely combination of romance, crime and drama, he manages to intensify these genres elements blended into the story and found a great way balancing them in between to make the experience very believable as well as executed in the right moment and the result is gratifying and very touchy. The performances is also great, especially from Niki Chow who at first glance got me the impression that her role was just a typical flower vase role while it turned out to be more substantial than that. Thumbs up! Eason Chan, being someone I've never seen in any movie before, looked so intense and engaging himself when acting and he sold as well. In fact, every character in this movie is well characterized and developed, including the villains whom besides having this code of showing hatred towards those opposite their natures also had morals and feelings towards each other. Soi Cheang sure knows what he's doing and has a sense of film-making that just drags you into his stories, as they are told from typical outside surface to fascinating/twisted/experimental inside. Overall, with excellent talents in front of and behind the camera (credits goes to Soi Cheang and scriptwriters Szeto Kam Yuen and Jack Ng for making this happen), LOVE BATTLEFIELD is exceptional and unique that might leave huge impression when seen in its' context/meanings and direction. Rating: 9.5/10
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Post by tom2681 »

Origin / Gin-iro no kami no Agito (Japan - 2006 - Gonzo): 2 / 5

Let's see...
Nature-loving people vs. Evil forest: That's Nausicaa.
Love story between local boy and girl from a distant land: Laputa, Castle in the Sky.
Spirit of the Forest: Mononoke.

Yep, this is definitely a Miyazaki rip-off.
The plot is a bit light and the characters aren't interesting, but the music and the quality of the animation make it watchable.

Worth a glance, but not much more.
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Post by EvaUnit02 »

Really, you're surprised that a Gonzo production sucks?
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Post by tom2681 »

It was my first Gonzo film.
I had no expectations whatsoever. :)
I used to be "the man who loves the movies you hate".
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Post by HungFist »

Gonzo? Is that some Hunter S. Thompson thing?
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Post by bradavon »

The last time I checked Gonzo was a vile form of pornography.
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Post by Shingster »

HungFist wrote:Gonzo? Is that some Hunter S. Thompson thing?
Yeah I assume they named their company after the American slang term, which has been used in connection to Thompson's work.
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Post by Beat TG »

Loving You (1995)

Lau Chun Hoi (Sean Lau) is a cop is on his long-going case to bust a criminal named Gwan (Tok Chung-Wa) suspected for drug trafficking and has placed an undercover to secure the situation. But everything goes terribly wrong leading to the undercover killed and Gwan vanished with no money and coke. Later the same day, Lau's girlfriend Carman (Carman Lee) wants to talk to him over at her mom's about something big but Lau is at a nightclub busy drinking and hooking up with a woman making him miss Carman's occasion. The next day, when he finally meet her, she reveals that she's pregnant with another man and the outcome gets nasty when Lau goes crazy and decides to leave her out of his life and just move on. Unfortunately, Gwan shows up take revenge and is able to strike at right moment, confronting Lau at a restaurant and shoots him in the head leaving him seriously injured. The life that awaits him won't be easy as he has to compensate for the Force, fix his relationship and deal with Gwan once at for all.

Quite an impressive pre-Milkyway movie with Johnnie To and co; scriptwriter Yau Nai Hoi, co-director Law Wing Cheong and cinematographer Cheng Siu-Keung starting to develop their individual styles that later on established Milkyway Image the way it is today. Plus some regulars (Lam Suet, Wong Wa-Wo, Yuen Bun, Ruby Wong and small-part actors Lam Kwok-Git, Lu Ching-Ting and Chiu Chi-Shing) can be seen here and there which was nice. The running time (84 min) for the movie doesn't do justice though and obviously make the movie look rushed, filled with some plot holes and under-develop the characters alot and that's the problem of this movie. But things still doesn't get too affected and I guess Johnnie To intended to go straight to the point with his message so things still work, with the flaws. Sean Lau... What can I say about this guy? He always gives his best shot on acting and here he does his usual excellence fare emotionally and intensively. Carman Lee is great here too (hardly a surprise after her smashing performance in THE ODD ONE DIES) acting at her peak and looks very different from her flower vase roles looking effective as well as attractive (as she did in LIFELINE, another great pre-Milkyway outing by To) whenever she appears on the screen. Aside the involving story and character development, the movie also provide some good action scenes and stunt work (courtesy of Yuen Bun) and gives something extra to keep the movie going and if your know your thing, just sit back and enjoy the ride. Overall, while it's flawed LOVING YOU fascinates and is a step of what the Milkyway crew was able to cook up before they took their styles up several levels. Rating: 7.5/10
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Post by bradavon »

Beat, you couldn't add some more paragraphs please into your reviews? I like lengthy reviews but I find yours a bit hard to read, extra paragraphs should help.

I cannot believe I'm daring to say this, someone is bound to have something negative to say about it. It's just a suggestion btw :).
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Post by Beat TG »

I've been too lazy lately with lengthy reviews, but sure thing. I'll try! :D
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Post by bradavon »

Just a few extra carriage returns will do it. I like reading your reviews though. I prefer lengthy ones to short one sentence reviews.

Thanks btw.
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Post by Shingster »

Ignore bradavon Beat TG, there's nothing wrong with the length of your paragraphs. Taking advice on grammar from him would be like taking advice on dancing from Stephen Hawking
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Post by bradavon »

Shingster wrote:Ignore bradavon Beat TG, there's nothing wrong with the length of your paragraphs.
Was that necessary?

I knew someone wouldn't be able resist taking a jab, clearly I worded it as merely a suggestion. You say there isn't a problem with them. I was just suggesting it would be nice if there were a few more, if "anyone" else had asked you wouldn't have said anything, talk about deliberately singly me out. Give it a rest!

Honestly I cannot say anything right sometimes, select members deliberately pick at my comments for things to find fault with. It wasn't like I demanded paragraphs be added. I wasn't even really commenting on Beat's grammar :roll:.
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Post by tom2681 »

Gotta agree (just a little bit) with Brad here.
Beat's reviews are kind of hard to read.

But hey, every member writes in his own way.
I used to be "the man who loves the movies you hate".
Now I'm just "that weird french guy with a cat avatar who comes to BnB once a year for no reason and then disappears again".
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Post by bradavon »

tom2681 wrote:But hey, every member writes in his own way.
Definitely! It was just a suggestion, nothing more.
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