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

Knetan · Post by **Knetan** » 22 Jul 2007, 23:07

hey,

it is. Filmark didn't employ any cut and paste fun on this. Lee Tso Nam's vision alltogether.

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 22 Jul 2007, 23:26

OK. I understand.

Filmark didn't cut 'n' paste... but they didn't produce it either.

They just bought the distribution rights.

I'm not sure who the prod. co were but I think they were Taiwanese (maybe even Hong Kong?)

Knetan · Post by **Knetan** » 22 Jul 2007, 23:35

hey,

there were cut and paste movies from Filmark I'm sure. Robo Vampire being one.

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 23 Jul 2007, 02:56

Yeah, lol, I meant they didn't cut 'n' paste this movie.

Sometimes it's hard to communicate by type.

A good rule of thumb is to avoid anything marked as Filmark or IFD Arts unless you know it's an original.

Knetan · Post by **Knetan** » 23 Jul 2007, 04:31

hey,

A good rule of thumb is to avoid anything marked as Filmark or IFD Arts unless you know it's an original.

says YOU.

HungFist · Post by **HungFist** » 23 Jul 2007, 12:25

Knetan wrote: Challenge Of The Lady Ninja 4/5

No official dvd release available?

Knetan · Post by **Knetan** » 23 Jul 2007, 13:49

hey,

no. Bootleg called Chinese Super Ninjas 2 is fullscreen and cut but I got my fully widescreen version illegally downloaded. PM if you want more details...I guess.

Knetan · Post by **Knetan** » 23 Jul 2007, 16:00

hey,

Ninja In The Killing Field 3/5

Although the original Thai movie Filmark combined with their gwailo ninja material makes the pace stall at points, whenever Filmark DO inject their craziness, it's all gold. Louis Roth and Stuart Steen (and their doubles) squaring off towards the sees us experiencing a severed hand still being used as a explosive device and the editing is unusually well done for a Filmark patchwork.

As usual, a wonderfully narrated trailer was cut to promote the film:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKY6fuuf-Kg

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 23 Jul 2007, 16:36

Knetan wrote:
A good rule of thumb is to avoid anything marked as Filmark or IFD Arts unless you know it's an original.
says YOU.

So you actually like these cobbled together "efforts"??

If someone took a shit on a piece of celluloid you'd give it four stars!!

romerojpg · Post by **romerojpg** » 23 Jul 2007, 17:07

saltysam wrote: Hot Fuzz (hd-dvd) 3/5

Not as good as Shaun Of The Dead but still a very entertaining flick, some funny homages to Point Break & Bad Boys 2 and some good action sequences.Downsides would be length ( it's overlong) and the plot such as it is veers towards the preposterous at times. comparing the hd-dvd to the plain dvd is like night & day, the hd transfer blows the SD ouut of the water here.

Nahh your totally like WRONG! as Brad heard its great, so it must be

I thought about the same as you, good, but no Shaun.

Knetan · Post by **Knetan** » 23 Jul 2007, 17:10

hey,

Like is a relative term, so is good and bad. I'm thoroughly entertained by the IFD/FIlmark concept or ideas if you will, the so good it's bad-filmmaking, eclectic nature etc. Lai and Tang knew exactly what they were doing and back then definitely knew how to throw together a good time. What critics in general seems to have a huuuuge problem with, looking at any type of film, is that the flip flop between good, bad, fun, terrible in film MUST equal a bad grade and a bad time.

But then again, who needs to explain to anyone what is right and wrong. Just go about things your way and let others do the same.

thelostdragon · Post by **thelostdragon** » 23 Jul 2007, 20:44

I didn't enjoy "Shaun of the Dead" as much as others did to be honest. "Hot Fuzz" was very funny, though.

@Ken:
I don't know who it was, but some member on some board once wrote that there is no such thing as a film that is so bad that it's good. A film is either good or bad, period. I agree as I feel the whole "so-bad-it's-good"-talk is only for those who feel too embarrassed to admit that they liked a certain film.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 24 Jul 2007, 12:32

Paprika - 5/5
Brilliance and perfection. Will buy the BD. The print I saw was thoroughly flogged, prolly from touring all around the globe.

Many familiar voices. TBH even though the performance differences of Paprika and Atsuko Chiba were very apparent, they both still sounded like Faye Valentine. Megumi proves that once again that she has great range though. Nice to hear Akio Ohtsuda playing something different from his typecast badass roles.

gasteropod · Post by **gasteropod** » 24 Jul 2007, 15:52

I want to see that, I will buy the BD if it's not region-locked.

tom2681 · Post by **tom2681** » 24 Jul 2007, 16:33

Eva wrote:Paprika - 5/5
Brilliance and perfection

Hell yeah.

Knetan · Post by **Knetan** » 24 Jul 2007, 19:40

hey,

After This Our Exile - Director's Cut - 4/5

Patrick Tam's return to Hong Kong cinema after a 17 year absence in the capacity of director is a tough watch of a family drama. Not only because it's long but he doesn't flinch in his portrayal of family units turning their back on children and parenting being seriously out of whack. The centerpiece is a little boy and the question becomes, will all this hurt, dysfunction and abuse lead to any light at the end of the tunnel? Little Gow Ian Iskander is terrific and flanked by equally excellent performances by Aaron Kwok and Charlie Yeong.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 25 Jul 2007, 17:45

Inland Empire - 2.5/5
Let's be honest it was too fucking long for one. 3-hours long and totally self-indulgent. The shit load of stifiled dialogue delivery + reaction shots didn't help much.

On a plus side, Lynch's direction of individual setpieces was superb. The visual limitations of digital camera footage was overcome and the resulting cinematography was marvellous (as was the score+soundtrack).

saltysam · Post by **saltysam** » 25 Jul 2007, 18:15

300 (hd-dvd) 3.5/5

Excellent if far fetched entertainment, the nearly 2hr run time flys by. This isn't hd-dvd demo material though,it's very grainy at times,i assume an artistic choice by the director.

romerojpg · Post by **romerojpg** » 25 Jul 2007, 19:05

Its odd about 300, its a very insane transfer from what I am hearing. Grain isnt a bad thing, but people will assume grain means poor picture a lot of the time. The detailed reviews of it says its a perfect transfer, even down to the grain, which indeed seems to be part of the films look. I cannot remember the grain at the cinema, but hey I was so blown away by its overall look its hard to remember some things

Try the dvd flip side see what that looks like, the grain may look even worse.

Remember how Dawn of the Dead remake looked, stunning looking, but strange

he likes his filters, grain, contrast stuff

gasteropod · Post by **gasteropod** » 25 Jul 2007, 19:25

saltysam wrote: 300 (hd-dvd) 3.5/5

Excellent if far fetched entertainment, the nearly 2hr run time flys by. This isn't hd-dvd demo material though,it's very grainy at times,i assume an artistic choice by the director.

From what I've read, it is superior to the Pirates film in terms of HD transfer. Grain is indeed a good thing, it's a part of the film, get over it!

saltysam · Post by **saltysam** » 25 Jul 2007, 20:35

gasteropod wrote:
saltysam wrote: 300 (hd-dvd) 3.5/5

Excellent if far fetched entertainment, the nearly 2hr run time flys by. This isn't hd-dvd demo material though,it's very grainy at times,i assume an artistic choice by the director.
From what I've read, it is superior to the Pirates film in terms of HD transfer. Grain is indeed a good thing, it's a part of the film, get over it!

get over what?

i said it wasn't hd demo material, ie i wouldn't use it to show off hd to someone- and i have well over 60 hd & blu-ray discs so i know what i'm on about. Pirates is far better,i should know i have both discs unlike you who has "read" about it 8)

gasteropod · Post by **gasteropod** » 25 Jul 2007, 21:53

Haha, I didn't mean to come across as harsh or anything. That is true, I own neither disc, but it just annoys me when people speak of film grain as if it is a bad thing

. Yeah, I believe it was a review on DVD Talk that said the transfer of 300 is better than Pirates. All subjective, though, isn't it!

romerojpg · Post by **romerojpg** » 25 Jul 2007, 22:32

Yeah but DVDTalk is that the best place to look at reviews? theres far better, qualified reviwers out there to me. Some sites are shit at reviweing and have no clue what they are talking about, some dont even have the equipment to do it justice. Or worse are fools who have no clue at all about picture.

Grain can make some films never look "Great" in a showy way, as hell it can distract at times on certain films where you just want a perfect transfer. If it distracts you, thats not a perfect transfer for me

still its the film makers fault

blame them muppets wrong film stock

Lourdes · Post by **Lourdes** » 25 Jul 2007, 23:13

Grain is God.

Knetan · Post by **Knetan** » 26 Jul 2007, 11:46

hey,

Sweet Surrender 1.5/5

Frankie Chan's comedy of love between inlaws gets saved very late by Ku Feng and Sek Kin. The former especially is lovely as the stern father but this late coherence means a lot of incoherent comedy lacking any type of unfocused 80s charm. Someone called Wong Kar-wai co-wrote.