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

Knetan · Post by **Knetan** » 06 Dec 2006, 17:55

hey,

I Love Miss Fox 3/5

Stephan Yip directed the off-beat, black Category III comedy Mad Stylist (featuring the wild sight of Michael Wong and Kent Cheng singing "Diana" together) in 1997 but those sensibilities existed earlier on, in particular to great, big overloaded effect this other Category III rated comedy.

Lourdes · Post by **Lourdes** » 07 Dec 2006, 01:34

Berserk - 2.5/5
Feel free to miss it but it's still reasonably watchable if you can tolerate how much they cheap out on the animation and constant mid-battle conversations. I understand why Japanese warred for hundreds of years. I believe it must have been illegal to kill anybody without 5 minutes of boasting for every three strikes. The average fight in Berserk goes like this:
MUHAHA MUHAHA Charge him!
AGH GAH UHHKKKSSKKFASEF
MUHAHA MUHAHA HE IS TIRED CHARGE HIM
AGH GAH UHHKKKSSKKFASEF
MUHAHA MUHAHA Surround him
AGH GAH UHHKKKSSKKFASEF
MUHAHAHA he is injured try again!
AGH GAH UHHKKKSSKKFASEF
MUHAHA REATREAT MUHAHA

Seems this is the case with all shounen manga based anime. They have to fill the pages somehow so they end up having nice chats about who has the fancier belt buckles. It's just not for me. Shing only likes the manga because it also has tentacle rape.

dragonhero005 · Post by **dragonhero005** » 07 Dec 2006, 15:01

Fly me to Polaris

I knew this was going to be a very schmalzy movie, but it even topped my expectations. Cecilia Cheung and the others (I especially liked Eric Tsang's role, although it was just small, very much) did a good job and the movie is a lot of fun.
What I think wasted the end is that really bad special effect. That would not have been necessary. As well as Autumn's "conclusion" and one more scene with Onion calling the radio. I really think that made a loss of atmosphere at that point.
Although it's very commercial, I have to say that I wasn't completely untouched.
Fly me to Polaris definitely is a true HK-movie. Nowhere else in the world such over-dramatic movies get made.

3.5/5

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 07 Dec 2006, 15:51

Cecilia's performance gave me a lump in throat in additional to the usual lump in my shorts.

dragonhero005 · Post by **dragonhero005** » 07 Dec 2006, 16:34

Markgway wrote:Cecilia's performance gave me a lump in throat in additional to the usual lump in my shorts.

Yup! She definitely is a great actress. And a great woman!

Knetan · Post by **Knetan** » 07 Dec 2006, 17:12

hey,

Jingle Ma sure knew no restraint on that one...

Knetan · Post by **Knetan** » 07 Dec 2006, 17:39

hey,

Best Friend Of the Cops 1/5

Cheap cinema concerning conman conning cops. Crap.

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 07 Dec 2006, 18:03

Miami Vice

**.5/4

Not bad TV-to-film transition.

Colin Farrell was alright, but Jamie Foxx made almost zero impression. Gong Li is beautiful, though her English was a bit worse than I expected.

The script was a bit pedestrian and two of the sub-plots weren't even wrapped up - is there a sequel in the works?

The highly-touted gunfight at the end fizzled for me and there was a definite lack of quality action.

10 mins could've been shaved off the run time if they'd reduced the number of shots of speedboats crossing water.

And the end credits were entirely illegible.

Knetan · Post by **Knetan** » 07 Dec 2006, 18:05

hey,

Gong Li is beautiful, though her English was a bit worse than I expected.

In that regard she worked better in The Chinese Box as she wasn't forced to try and make it sound "clean" (for lack of a better word).

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 07 Dec 2006, 18:10

I understood most of what she said, but rarely in Hollywood movies do you hear the main female lead speak broken English. I guess Mann must really have wanted her.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 07 Dec 2006, 18:28

I'd rate the film the same as you Mark (3-ish out of 5).

True, Gong Li is hot considering her age

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 07 Dec 2006, 19:10

Gong Li is beautiful, though her English was a bit worse than I expected.

Oddly it's fine in Memoirs of a Geisha. Gong Li is fucking stunning, far more attractive (like Monica Belucci) than women half her age.

Which cut did you watch Mark?

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 07 Dec 2006, 20:15

She Me Love/Fucking Amal

8 out of 10

It's the second time I've seen it and it's still a wonderful little gem. It feels so real and depicts how so many teenagers feel growing up so well. All the people are perfectly cast and unlike American teenager flicks act like real people would.

I never planned to watched it again but after putting it on for a few minutes I ended up doing just that. Lukas Moodysson is a fantastic director. Pity all DVDs suck, including the R1 I picked up.

Knetan · Post by **Knetan** » 07 Dec 2006, 20:19

hey,

English title is "Show Me Love", brad. Named after the Robyn tune in the end credits.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 07 Dec 2006, 20:37

Oops sorry I know that, that was a typo since corrected. Have you seen it?

It and Lilya 4-ever are such good films (Lilya 4-ever is outstanding). I also have his other 2 films (Together and A Hole in My Heart) but haven't seen them yet. A Hole in My Heart looks disturbing as does his latest Container.

I always thought it was named Show me Love as Fucking Amal wouldn't exactly sell it.

HungFist · Post by **HungFist** » 07 Dec 2006, 20:39

and the swedish title is Fucking Åmål

great movie, yeah. Saw it in school when I was 13. Our swedish teacher wanted to show us a swedish movie.

Still not as good as Lilja 4-Ever, which is Moodyssons true masterpiece. But the films are very different I'm sure there are people who prefer Åmål.

Haven't had guts to watch Ett Hål i mitt hjärta yet. Should rent it some day.

EDIT: damn you guys are so fast. This is the millionth time I write a reply and when I get it ready that person has already made another post...

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 07 Dec 2006, 20:58

HungFist wrote:and the swedish title is Fucking Åmål

My keyboard doesn't have one of those characters

Saw it in school when I was 13. Our swedish teacher wanted to show us a swedish movie.

I wish I was shown films when I was at school. Is Swedish the main second language you learn at school?

For us it's French and in my school also German later on, personally now I wish it was Spanish (which I think you "could" do).

HungFist wrote:Still not as good as Lilja 4-Ever, which is Moodyssons true masterpiece. But the films are very different I'm sure there are people who prefer Åmål.

Do you have the Scandinavian DVD? It has a Moodysson commentary which never left Scandinavia

HungFist wrote:Haven't had guts to watch Ett Hål i mitt hjärta yet. Should rent it some day.

I presume you're talking about "A Hole in My Heart" and agreed it looks extreme. I hear so is his latest.

I do hear Together is also a joy like Fucking Amal.

Knetan · Post by **Knetan** » 07 Dec 2006, 21:04

hey,

Lukas has nothing else to prove, according to himself, so he's now gone the arthouse (Container) and extreme assault route (A Hole In My Heart). But Fucking Åmål, Tillsammans and Lilja 4-Ever are terrific. All in their own respective ways.

FYI, the commentary mentioned is not the best as Moodysson's mostly rambles on with the odd, worthwhile anecdote thrown in. He's always been a reluctant speaker anyway and always wanted to challenge the system (hence him giving the finger to the audience when accepting his awards for Åmål).

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 07 Dec 2006, 21:10

Cheers Knetan, interesting stuff. Have you seen Container? Any good? Most of Lilja 4-Ever was extreme but so powerful, raw and heart-breaking.

HungFist · Post by **HungFist** » 07 Dec 2006, 21:13

bradavon wrote:
HungFist wrote:and the swedish title is Fucking Åmål
My keyboard doesn't have one of those characters

I know, sorry

bradavon wrote:
HungFist wrote:Saw it in school when I was 13. Our swedish teacher wanted to show us a swedish movie.
I wish I was shown films when I was at school. Is Swedish the main second language you learn at school?

Swedish or english. Swedish was the main second language I studied at school. But definitely not the main second language I learnt. I started studying swedish on the second grade (wanna hear the reason? There was an african girl living next door and she could speak finnish and english, and I had a friend who could speak swedish... so I chose swedish so that us guys could speak without her understanding. True story. It sounded like a great plan at the age of 7. But it lead to a serious lack of motivation later. I never learnt anything. Started hating the whole language (Sorry, Ken, your language sucks

)

bradavon wrote:
HungFist wrote:Still not as good as Lilja 4-Ever, which is Moodyssons true masterpiece. But the films are very different I'm sure there are people who prefer Åmål.
Do you have the Scandinavian DVD? It has a Moodysson commentary which never left Scandinavia

No, I don't own any of his films. I'll get the Finnish dvds some day

Knetan · Post by **Knetan** » 07 Dec 2006, 21:17

hey,

not seen Container or Hole In My Heart yet. Guess it somehow got low on the priority list since I heard so many conflicting opinions of it. HOLE sounds too extreme to actually register as poignant but reading about the characters does make it sound intriguing. Container sounds abstract. There's even two soundtracks to it I believe, one narrated in Swedish and one in English. Not a distributor thing I believe, just Moodysson's request.

Here's the famed pic from the Guldbagge awards. After accepting the award, I believe he complained about how culture isn't endorsed and really got nowhere with anyone as these events are usually super-stale.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 07 Dec 2006, 21:22

HOLE sounds too extreme to actually register as poignant but reading about the characters does make it sound intriguing.

I thought the same and based on his previous I want to check it out. It's had some woeful reviews.

There's even two soundtracks to it I believe, one narrated in Swedish and one in English. Not a distributor thing I believe, just Moodysson's request.

Weird. Doesn't it have speech otherwise? As it's director approved I'd like the English one then.

Cheers for the pic, what is that on his head? Playboy bunny ears, Moodysson style

. He has a point about culture. Are the Guldbagge awards your Oscars?

Knetan · Post by **Knetan** » 07 Dec 2006, 21:26

hey,

Weird. Doesn't it have speech otherwise? As it's director approved I'd like the English one then.

I don't remember as such but I THINK, it's actually not a dialogue movie at all. Moodysson actually pushed for people to watch his art exhibition first or after to fully get his intention. Little people did, not surprising as he now is working even farther away from the mainstream. He can survive and I think he's happy this way. Recently published a collection of poems also.

Cheers for the pic, what is that on his head? Playboy bunny ears, Moodysson style Very Happy . He has a point about culture. Are the Guldbagge awards your Oscars?

Yes, those are bunny ears of some sort. His way of....doing something.

The Guldbagge awards are indeed our Oscars but as Swedish film is not giving us a lot of gems each year, the nominess are hard to come by. Still, always something each year to acknowledge. Shame STORM wasn't.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 07 Dec 2006, 21:40

Fat lot of chance the exhibition will come to the UK

Thanks again.

Knetan · Post by **Knetan** » 07 Dec 2006, 21:44

hey,

Container opened small. The exhibition even smaller and it wasn't really advertised as a dual experience you know? Moodysson merely put up the exhibition in Stockholm (don't think it expanded) and just let it work on its own basically. I can admire the bravery and he should be thankful he can take the risks because this certainly isn't about money.