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

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 21 Aug 2007, 14:49

"Unbreakable" is awesome.

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 21 Aug 2007, 16:29

Knetan wrote:hey,

Back Alley Princess 0/5

Overlong and unbearable, Lo Wei's 2 hour+ is prime example of skipping altogether or if you're very unforgiving, fast forward it all...even Han Ying-chieh, his whip and his whores.

I actually liked this.

Knetan · Post by **Knetan** » 21 Aug 2007, 17:55

hey,

oh this I gotta hear. Go on, Mark...

saltysam · Post by **saltysam** » 21 Aug 2007, 18:48

Karate Warriors 2.5/5

Decent Chiba actioner,overly sentimental at times with a supporting samurai character who seems to belong in a different movie. unfortunately english dub only on this one.

Red Dragon (hd-dvd) 3/5

Decent but inferior remake of Manhunter but better than i expected from Brett Ratner.He's helped by a uniformly excellent cast though. I still think Brian Cox is the best Lecter. HD-DVD transfer is decent but not from the top tier of quality.

romerojpg · Post by **romerojpg** » 21 Aug 2007, 18:57

saltysam wrote:
Red Dragon (hd-dvd) 3/5

Decent but inferior remake of Manhunter but better than i expected from Brett Ratner.He's helped by a uniformly excellent cast though. I still think Brian Cox is the best Lecter. HD-DVD transfer is decent but not from the top tier of quality.

I thought the same of the film, good, but pointless to me as Manhunter did it perfect for me

worth one watch, but never again for me.

Sad thing is Red Dragon made more in its opening wekeend than Manhunter ever made in 20 years

Maybe if the HD DVD was £1

saltysam · Post by **saltysam** » 21 Aug 2007, 19:18

i paid £9 for it,not bad.i'll keep it.

HungFist · Post by **HungFist** » 21 Aug 2007, 19:54

Karate Warriors – 3,5/5
Kazuhiko Yamaguchi’s Yojimbo modernization stars Sonny Chiba as a karate warrior entering a small town ruled by two gangs (lead by Hideo Murota and Tatsuo Umemiya). More conflicts are caused by the second lone wolf, a Kozure okami esque samurai warrior played by Isao Natsuyagi. Supporting roles include several Chiba requlars plus a cameo by our favourite karate lady. The movie is probably best remembered for its inventive use of slow motion and the explosive mix of karate and swordplay action.
(eng dub)

Arahan – 2/5
Appart from a few standout scenes the first hour is garbage. Bloody awful screenwriting and directing. Every time the movie is about the get interesting the story takes a painful miss turn. Overuse of slow motion and cgi doesn’t help either. Action gets better towards the end, although the only real good fight is the restautant scene. The comedy bits are thankfully fantastic and one of the two main attractions, the other being the female lead, Yoon So-yi. She’s a very nice gal, even if a bit violent type (yeah, My Sassy Girl influences are heavy here). The charismatic villain Jung Doo-hong is criminally misused.

Rumble in the Bronx – 3/5
Pretty decent mid 90’s Jackie film that suffers from unnecessary sadism. Ironically my favourite scenes were the romantic parts with Anita Mui and Françoise Yip. Speaking of Yip, her cage dance was great. She looked very beautiful in that red bikini and totally avoided all sluttiness. The action scenes are pretty basic stuff except from the electrifying ending.
(US cut in Cantonese/English)

Rica – 4/5
Weak start, but 15 minutes in and you’ll realize Toho’s take on the bad girl genre is a fucking fusion of good things. Toei’s glossy visuals may be missing, but Rica’s rough mix of girl gang violence and high school films is spicy enough work on its own. Proper plot is nowhere to be found but the surprisingly firm backstory compensates. The main star Rika Aoki easily rivals her Toei sisters, and also performs two great songs.

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 22 Aug 2007, 00:44

Casino Royale. Still a 5 outta 5 movie. Best Bond movie since... well... ever I guess. Daniel Craig definately should have at least been nominated for an oscar. But TBH, a small golden statue would be too little to do justice to that performance. Just amazing.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 22 Aug 2007, 02:01

Casino Royale is 20 minute too long TBH. I don't know what should be cut, but definitely not the poker game.

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 22 Aug 2007, 02:08

I never thought the Poker game was too long.

That's the crux of the story.

I don't mind long films if they're entertaining and keep moving and I felt this one did.

I think maybe it's the final act - if anything - which drags but there's no way of avoiding it really.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 22 Aug 2007, 02:31

The love story is a wee bit contrived don't you think? Open to everyone.

I liked Red Dragon too. You'd never know it was a Bret Ratner film.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 22 Aug 2007, 04:03

bradavon wrote:The love story is a wee bit contrived don't you think? Open to everyone.

AH-HA! Lose all the shit in Venice! That's what should've gone.

degeneration · Post by **degeneration** » 22 Aug 2007, 16:13

Ninja In The Dragon's Den 3/5

Some good action helping to pad out about 5 minutes worth of plot.

Knetan · Post by **Knetan** » 22 Aug 2007, 21:10

hey,

still waiting Mark for your view on Back Alley Princess because you do remember having one...not just the rating you decided upon once upon a time?

Am genuinely curious...

degeneration · Post by **degeneration** » 22 Aug 2007, 21:35

The Bourne Ultimatum 4/5 for everything about the film EXCEPT the GOD DAMN SHAKY CAM!!!

Why the hell do they have to have the unsteady camera on shots that are meant to be focused on a person's face, when that person isn't even moving? It didn't ruin the film, just made quite a number of scenes uncomfortable and annoying. The amera was also too close in the Bourne-Desh fight.

Other than that, thought it was a really good film. Enjoyed it lots.

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 23 Aug 2007, 03:06

Knetan wrote:still waiting Mark for your view on Back Alley Princess because you do remember having one...not just the rating you decided upon once upon a time? Am genuinely curious...

Um... I liked it. It was fun and had a great cast. The Chinese New Year-style comedy and action just seemed to work for me. I don't really remember exactly what I wrote but I gave it ***/4. I'd like to see the sequel. No disrespect to Polly but she looked more like a boy than these actresses usually do.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 23 Aug 2007, 07:23

England v Germany - 2.5 - 3/5

Typical England performance really. Started off well and got worse later. Can't really blame Robinson for the 2nd German goal. A mix of good, mediocre and bad.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 23 Aug 2007, 07:44

The Bourne Ultimatum - 4/5
Terrific seat-of-your-pants chase film. A lean and fit script, great editing, impressively choreographed fights and stunts. Definitely the best Hollywood blockbuster of the year (not a hard achievement considering the stacks of shit that we've had in 2007).

IMO The shaky cam worked (but I sat in the very back row, centre). I easily followed what was going on (even though I had less than 3 hours sleep the night before); probably helped that I've seen both Supremacy and United 93 several times on DVD.

Greengrass' political commentary was a welcome addition (albeit it being terribly blunt and high school essay level) and added a tiny bit more depth. Don't expect something on par with United 93 though, lol.

Knetan · Post by **Knetan** » 23 Aug 2007, 19:00

hey,

Parking Service 1.5/5

It's an event when Danny Lee attempts another role other than a cop but the attempts at making a flick with his inspiring, warm character is a rather failed one. Mark?

Legendary Couple 3/5

Makes little sense, is poorly acted, scripted and even directed by Peter Ngor (usually a cinematographer but also the director Erotic Ghost Story II and a supporting actor in Viva Erotica...playing the cinematographer!). But this Hong Kong take on Natural Born Killers turns out to be a lot of B-grade fun the longer we get into it. A full blown cartoon by the time we reach the end. Mark?

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 23 Aug 2007, 20:49

Mock the Week - 4.5/5

HungFist · Post by **HungFist** » 23 Aug 2007, 21:28

Hana to hebi – 1,5/5
Masaru Konuma’s original Flower and Snake is a 74 minute torture fest with little artistic or visual ambition. The story, the characters and the content all vary between silly, akward and repulsive. Naomi Tani’s suffering goes way beyond the borders of good taste, although the cult starlet still manages to bring some life into the movie. Unfortunately it’s not enough as the movie is total garbage for the most part.

Kite – 3,5/5
Yasuomi Umetsu’s violent and sexually graphic female assassin anime has seen the light of the day in quite a few differing versions. The uncut version features a few brief hard core shots plus sexual violence toward someone who despite the dvd cover statements looks everything but 18 years old. The content is thankfully well written into the story, and the characters are suprisingly interesting. Stylish action thriller for those who can deal with questionable content.

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 23 Aug 2007, 22:11

Knetan wrote:hey,

Parking Service 1.5/5

It's an event when Danny Lee attempts another role other than a cop but the attempts at making a flick with his inspiring, warm character is a rather failed one. Mark?

Sorry, not seen it, but Legendary Couple was dog shit!

thelostdragon · Post by **thelostdragon** » 24 Aug 2007, 01:14

Protégé - 4/5
If you think that since "Infernal Affairs" the undercover stories have been done to death in HK, you're wrong.

Knetan · Post by **Knetan** » 24 Aug 2007, 04:09

hey,

but Legendary Couple was dog shit!

Yep. But even dog shit can be fun.

captainjoe · Post by **captainjoe** » 24 Aug 2007, 06:28

Robocop 2: 2/5

It's an okay movie by itself but compared to the orginal it is nowhere near as good. Afer waching it I really wanted some Nuke for some reason.