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

dragonhero005 · Post by **dragonhero005** » 28 Jun 2006, 16:18

Moment of Romance

Wow! I didn´t expect this movie to be so good, although it had been recommended to me very often.
I simply can´t get the theme song out of my head. I´m also whistling it at the moment.
Moment of Romance is almost perfect... besides the great music and very good performances by the leading actors it also has a very strong ending.

Now I can understand, why you like it so much LD

5/5

PS: Are the two sequals worth watching?

Knetan · Post by **Knetan** » 28 Jun 2006, 17:07

hey,

neither sequel is a related one, despite Wu Chien-lien appearing in all films. 2nd is a basic re-thread but with less of a charismatic leading man in the form of Aaron Kwok. It lacks an emotional and violent punch. I.e. the Johnnie To and Ringo Lam touch that was felt in the first film. I heard a rumour that either of those parties ghost-directed part of AMOR which is ironic since it's a well established fact Benny Chan handled a lot of Fatal Love, a movie credited to Leung Po-Chi.

Johnnie To directed AMOR3, more of an traditional Hollywood war romance but the scope production is fine on the grand scale and seeing the teaming of Andy Lau/Wu Chien-lien again is great. Typical of Johnnie To though at this time, the film goes in a few notches too much melodramatic overdrive.

http://www.sogoodreviews.com/reviews/m.htm#romanceII

thelostdragon · Post by **thelostdragon** » 28 Jun 2006, 17:51

ReconFive wrote:
thelostdragon wrote:Typhoon - 3/5
What a shame. Expected a lot more. The trailer made it look so brilliant.
hmm interesting
Could you give alittle more detail on what you didn't like about it?

A review on my website will be posted soon.

I was really looking forward to seeing this...

Believe me, me too.

thelostdragon · Post by **thelostdragon** » 28 Jun 2006, 17:53

dragonhero005 wrote:Moment of Romance

Now I can understand, why you like it so much LD

5/5

Good to hear you enjoyed it.

dragonhero005 · Post by **dragonhero005** » 28 Jun 2006, 19:35

Thanks for the information, Knetan. Good Reviews, by the way...

It´s a shame Aaron Kwok is the leading man in part two... he´s just as you said... less charismatic - in my eyes he´s a lousy actor.

BTW: Wu Chien-lien and Andy Lau teamed up very often (The Adventurers, Jiang Hu, AMOR 1+3...).
They weren´t together in real life, were they?

Knetan · Post by **Knetan** » 28 Jun 2006, 20:07

hey,

Aaron can at select times be very likeable, especially recently in Throw Down. But at the height of the cinema boom, these guys just moved from vehicle to vehicle, some not able to show off charisma constantly or ever...even young Andy Lau. Something happened in AMOR though.

As far as I know, Lau and Wu were only a screen couple so to say. Another Chow Yun-fat/Cherie Chung if you will. Wu, one of my favourite actresses, had a knack for achieving fine chemistry with her male co-stars.

BiscLimpkit · Post by **BiscLimpkit** » 28 Jun 2006, 20:44

Shen wrote: Cradle 2 the Grave - 3/5

hmm...interesting...not quite what i expected, certainly not as cheesy.

it had some good action, but wasnt an amazing movie..just average...although the little fight with the tiny guy was funny..

One of the shittest shit-fests I have ever seen. DMX rapping to his baby, "Angels east, Angels west" - lmao, had me in stiches.

The Lake House 3/5

Just seen the remake and actually, it's pretty decent. I'm sure I would have enjoyed this a lot more if I hadn't seen the original. The two are quite similar in style - both opting for a sombre mood and wonderful photography. There appeared to be a bit more humour in the Lake House.

However I personally preferred the Korean version, mostly because it felt more original watching it for the first time. Also I think the US version makes the film easier to understand - especially the mailbox/time travel part. It started to get a bit like instant messaging - I can't remember the Korean version looking so comical.

Lastly, the peformances were satisfactory but the Korean actors definitely appeared more heart-felt. Keanu does well but there are one or two scenes, which look unintentionally humourous when he acts all sentimental.

So yeah, not bad but I'm more interested in a decent DVD of the Korean original.

PS: The attic thing is so true.

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 28 Jun 2006, 22:54

I thought 'A Moment of Romance 2' was rather good, and a nice companion to the original. I like Wu Chien Lien, mind you. Not seen Part 3, which is supposed to be awful.

Shen · Post by **Shen** » 29 Jun 2006, 00:45

Volcano High - 3.5/5

only got so high becuase of the special effects...they were quite cool. but it was lacking a clear and strong story, decent fights...they were ok but nothing spectacular. im so glad i didnt pay much for this dvd, otherwise i'd have been really dissapointed.

at points it was very tedious to watch too, but well it was enjoyable in some sense... :mrgreen:

brooce-leroy · Post by **brooce-leroy** » 29 Jun 2006, 14:13

BiscLimpkit wrote:Keanu does well but there are one or two scenes, which look unintentionally humourous when he acts all sentimental.

Some might say that is the story of his career.

Hostel 3/5

This is the second time I've watched this, and the flaws were more apparent. It's not bad as a gory, exploitation type flick, but the main problem is that the characters are not very sympathetic and couldn't care less about them. The ending is also totally implausible.

ReconFive · Post by **ReconFive** » 29 Jun 2006, 17:26

brooce-leroy wrote:Hostel 3/5
the characters are not very sympathetic and couldn't care less about them.

Except poor Kana. As adsurd as the rest of the movie was, that was the one thing that really got me.. because she was just completely innocent.

The ending is also totally implausible.

Agreed.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 29 Jun 2006, 17:31

Eli Roth = complete hack.

ReconFive · Post by **ReconFive** » 29 Jun 2006, 17:46

EvaUnit02 wrote:Eli Roth = complete hack.

Yeah i think i have agree there.
..and what makes it even worse is that he is going to be extremely successful in hollywood.

Kurgan · Post by **Kurgan** » 29 Jun 2006, 19:22

Apparently Tarantino and Rodriguez have signed him up to do some 'ad-breaks' for their new film Grindhouse. As far as I can recall, it's a film of two halves; Quentin doing one and Robert the other.

BiscLimpkit · Post by **BiscLimpkit** » 29 Jun 2006, 22:57

I quite liked Cabin Fever. Not seen Hostel.

Thank You for Smoking 4.5/5

Guys see this movie right now. Honestly, it's one of the funniest satires I've seen. Contrary to the how it may be portrayed in the trailer, the film is more about challenging an arguement instead of exploiting smokers. Just noticed something interesting on the imdb trivia:

"No one is shown smoking a cigarette throughout the entire movie."

The screenplay is very clever and provides an unbiased viewpoint on a particular subject, which happens to be smoking but really, it can be applied to anything. Fresh, witty dialogue and layers of humour top off what could be one of the finest politically incorrect titles of recent years.

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 30 Jun 2006, 00:52

Anyone else getting bored with the Tarantino/Rodriguez style of shallow, sadistic filmmaking?

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 30 Jun 2006, 03:03

Yes, post-modern filmmaking is all ho-hum now.

slasher13 · Post by **slasher13** » 30 Jun 2006, 09:28

grim_tales wrote:Zinda - 2.5/5

Didnt think this was as a total disaster given how compelling Oldboy was, but its nowhere as suspenseful as Oldboy. The performance of the lead character called "Bala" in this one is a shadow of Choi Min-sik (Oh Daesu), not as emotive or expressive and maybe this is just because I'm not used to Indian movies, but I found it distracting how characters were speaking almost all Hindi and would slip the odd word/line of English in.
The film lacks the haunting music of Oldboy as well.
An important plot point was removed Didnt the original involve incest?

Not as violent as the original though the part where Reema (the "Mido" character in the original?) sets herself on fire when the younger Bala mistakenly says she'll screw anyone for $15 is quite terrifying and upsetting. Did Oldboy end with Oh Daesu's daughter being spared?

Hey Grim, this is always the way, where people will speak Hindi, and slip in english. It been like that for ages. The ending would not be suitable for an indian audience, which is why they had to make some changes. I did think that Sanjay Dutt played the character very well. I have a hugh fan of his, from way back. He is excellent in Saajan, a very old love story movie. I knew he would not be as good as Choi Min-sik in this role, but I liked him. Yes the daughter did get spared, Choi Min-sik ended up being with her, and forgetting his past..

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 30 Jun 2006, 10:12

Slasher,
Thanks

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 30 Jun 2006, 10:13

Kurgan wrote:Apparently Tarantino and Rodriguez have signed him up to do some 'ad-breaks' for their new film Grindhouse. As far as I can recall, it's a film of two halves; Quentin doing one and Robert the other.

Like From Dusk Til Dawn then?

1st half - a Tarantino film
2nd half - a Rodriguez flick

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 30 Jun 2006, 14:39

Or...

50% Tarantino
50% Rodriguez
100% Pants

8)

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 30 Jun 2006, 15:11

That's harsh - it was good fun from what I remember (though silly). Don't you like Rodriguez films (El Mariachi etc?)

saltysam · Post by **saltysam** » 30 Jun 2006, 17:22

from dusk till dawn is great,in fact i think i'll replace my single disc with the 2 disc one in the music zone sale

romerojpg · Post by **romerojpg** » 30 Jun 2006, 18:59

Its a masterpiece.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 30 Jun 2006, 19:05

We knew you'd say that

It was good fun.