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

[HungFist]

Hung, do you ever sleep?

Just wondering...

Lately, way too little.

Actually I've only watched 5 or 6 movies this month because I've been quite busy. The Terrifying Girls' movies I actually watched almost 2 months ago, but only now I've found time to restructure my notes into reviews and take screencaps. Sorry for the delay.

[degeneration]

Barking Dogs Never Bite 1.5/5

Nothing special at all. Not much happens in the film, and it does seem to have a rather dodgy message on animal cruelty... I was somewhat underwhelmed and moderately bored.

[gasteropod]

Aw what Degen, I love that film! And I pray for a domestic release too, surprised it hasn't since Bong Joon Ho has become popular with The Host etc.

[HungFist]

I Love Maria (Hong Kong, 1988) – 2/5
Tsui Hark and John Sham are not the most typical leading pair for a sci-fi action film. But then, sci-fi action really isn’t the most typical genre in Hong Kong. Misleadingly titled I Love Maria has its moments – the special effects and robots are surprisingly well done – but doesn’t fulfill its potential. The execution is too messy and frenzy even Hong Kong standards, and the action scenes fail to impress. The jokes are hilarious, though.

Go, Go Second Time Virgin (Japan, 1969) – 3/5
One of Koji Wakamatsu most famous films, Go Go Second Time Virgin is probably closer to French New Wave than Japanese Pink Cinema. A young woman (referred in the opening credits simply as “a girl”) is raped on a rooftop. A boy witnesses the crime, neither taking part nor trying to help her. The next morning the girl and the boy start talking. The rest of the film takes place entirely in that one building, mostly on the roof. Characterization and audio-visual output are the key elements. Apart from two scenes the film is in black and white. The soundtrack is a combination of various types of music, ranging from jazz to rock. There isn’t much sex, although female lead Mimi Kozakura spends half of the film naked. But Wakamatsu’s camera is more documentaristic than voyeuristic; nudity becomes natural before long, and this helps to concentrate on the characters. Wakamatsu’s social commentary adds to the film, but doesn’t carry it on its own. In the end Go Go doesn’t provide anything exceptionally memorable, but it remains quite interesting most of its 65 minute running time.

[thelostdragon]

Mother - 4/5
After "Barking Dogs Never Bite", "Memories of Murder" and "The Host" this is Bong Joon-Ho's next film. It must have been really tough on the director to maintain the high quality standard of his films. "Memories of Murder" is one of my favourite films ever and "The Host" was just an awesome film to watch. So the expectations for "Mother" were huge.
"Mother" is about a woman in her mid-fifties (wonderfully played by Kim Hye-Ja) who is working hard all day to take care of her mentally retarded son (Won Bin). When a school girl in the neighbourhood is killed he is accused of murder and put in jail. I can't say that the mother goes all Liam Neeson ala "Taken", but she takes things into her own hands and starts investigating, even if that means she gets to the point at which she needs to hire a local gangster to beat the shit (or rather their teeth) out of two "witnesses".
While I wouldn't call "Mother" the best Bong Joon-Ho-film, it certainly is one of the best Korean films I have seen this year.
"Mother" is South Korea's official submission to the 82nd Academy Award's Foreign Language in 2010.

Trailer (English subtitles):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rDeNM-M8p8&fmt=18

[gasteropod]

Ah cool, didn't realise his new one was out

[grim_tales]

Fist of Fury: 5/5

A classic that never gets old. Loads of iconic scenes. Awesome

[HungFist]

Sukeban Deka: Dirty Mary (Japan, 1974) 1,5/5
Yasuharu Hasebe directed this Dirty Harry inspired crime film for Nikkatsu before he had fully decided whether to follow the studio on their new pink path. Officially a Nikkatsu Roman Porno production, the film is certainly short on sex by the studio’s standards. The mainstream friendly screenplay could in fact pass as one of the numerous Dirty Harry sequels. Hasebe’s film is not a rip off, but certainly a film of the same genre. It’s only a shame that Dirty Mary doesn’t pack much punch; the car chase mayhem depicted in the poster art is nowhere to be found, and the storyline following a female cop and a villain blackmailing his victims with dirty photos often loses its interest. Aside from the strong ending, the film’s only asset is the main character. 1970’s genre cinema is full of fearless karate heroines, but Mary stands out as slightly more realistic protagonist. A super cop she isn’t, but she can stand up against the male opponents most of the time. A touch of genuine feminism, perhaps? It didn’t take Hasebe long to lose his female fans, though; Rape! 13th Hour, and other violent pink classics were just a few years ahead, and would compensate for the financial failure of Sukeban Deka: Dirty Mary (not related to Shinji Wada’s Sukeban Deka manga that rocked the world two years later, btw)

[saltysam]

Ip Man BD 3/5

2nd viewing of this one for me,it's decent but not great.Some well done action scenes and some very good performances.i look forward to the sequel.The UK BD looks fine to me,some scenes seem drained of colour,i guess that's an artistic choice.i found a couple of the deleted scenes interesting,as it showed the fates of 3 pivotal characters from the film.

[HungFist]

Subway Serial Rape: Lover Hunting (Japan, 1988) – 3/5
The 4th and final film in the Subway Serial Rape series is a good example of Japanese pink cinema being used as platform for something completely else. With a graphic subway rape scene in the beginning (actually serving as starting point for the storyline) and a handful of boring sex scenes thrown in, the film easily fulfills the genre requirements. However, what is beneath is a hard hitting and even intelligent media satire. The film shows how crime becomes business when a TV news station publishes the footage of the rape. Their reporters take it as their responsibility to solve the crime in live broadcasting… without asking the victim’s permission, and even adjusting the course of events, all in the name of higher ratings. The genre pitfalls do clearly hurt the first half of the movie, but with the final third as powerful as this it’s hard not to be impressed. Adding a final touch to the film is the irony; the scenario of greedy television producers providing shock footage to the viewers isn’t all that different from real life exploitation movie producers and their paying customers. Why are you watching a movie called Subway Serial Rape, and how far is the studio willing to go to catch your interest?!

[thelostdragon]

Shinjuku Incident - 4/5
Jackie Chan's best film in a long time. Although, I guess the credit is more due to director Derek Yee. He knows how to get what he wants from his actors and for this film, Jackie stepped back in terms of dictating around the director. He fully trusted the director and even action director Chin Kar-lok. Jackie supposedly didn't add or correct one movement to Chin's action. That said, the film is in no way similar to the usual Jackie Chan-flicks. This is a tragic Yakuza drama with emotional performances that are not over the top, but rather touching.
Quite brutal as well. I don't think I have ever seen a JC film showing such graphic violence.

[Markgway]

Shinjuku was moderately good, I guess, but not the breakthrough I hoped for.

[saltysam]

Red Cliff Pt 1 BD 4/5

Very good (so far) Woo epic is filled with plenty of grand battles,interesting characters and is very well written. looking forward to Pt 2. The EIV BD looks fine but be aware there are 10 minutes of unskippable (at least on my tevion) trailers before you get to the movie.

[bradavon]

10 fucking minutes! .

I believe it's the same transfer at the HK BD, obviously without the watermark though.

[saltysam]

10 fucking minutes! .

.

yep,3 trailers for Final Destination/Crossing Over/Shadowless Sword. it's especially annoying given the length of Red Cliff,you set aside a few hours to view then get 10 minutes of this forced down you

[thelostdragon]

LOL, you could fast-forward the trailers in the beginning of any VHS in the old days. Welcome to the future...

[grim_tales]

10 minutes of trailers?!

[HungFist]

Initial D (Hong Kong, 2005) – 1/5
Infernal Affairs duo Alan Mak and Andrew Lau adapted a Japanese manga into a Chinese movie. The result is drift racing and teen romance without spark. Most disappointingly the racing scenes are sub-par, filled with so many reaction shots, flashbacks, and cuts to other people that the focus is no longer on the driving and cars. Furthermore, the music is terrible, and there’s ugly CGI and constant talk (either “race commentary”, or nerve wrecking comic sidekicks) during all of the driving scenes. The actors are made of wood, with Anthony Wong being a minor exception. He’s not good, but at least manages to fish some laughs every now and then. Nippon goddess Anne Suzuki’s presence is mainly a theoretical asset; her character is uninteresting, dubbed in Chinese, and the much awaited swimming suit scene very short.

[Yi-Long]

Red Cliff Pt 1 BD 3.5/5

Very good (so far) Woo epic is filled with plenty of grand battles,interesting characters and is very well written. looking forward to Pt 2. The EIV BD looks fine but be aware there are 10 minutes of unskippable (at least on my tevion) trailers before you get to the movie.

That kinda bullshit should be forbidden by law.

[saltysam]

Red Cliff Pt 2 BD 4/5

Excellent conclusion to this epic tale,great to see Woo back on form.One of my favourites of the year.Thankfully on this 2nd disc there is no forced trailer nonsense

[Markgway]

That's funny I'm in the middle of watching Red Cliff II. I stopped last night because I got tired after an hour (nothing to do with the film it was just late). So far I think I preferred the first part which was excellent. Part 2 is very good too but a smidgen less so than 1.

[thelostdragon]

In part 2 I found that side story odd with that dumb soldier and the spy girl claiming to be a male soldier. WTF? Very untypical of a John Woo-film.

[HungFist]

Part 2 was clearly better, with the focus on war strategies and hilarious humor. Part 1 was mostly good but it had some god awful scenes, like the symbolic tiger scene, or the embarrasing love scene.

[saltysam]

though split in two it really should be considered as one movie,no?

[romerojpg]

I will be watching it as one long film thats for sure, soon when I have all that time spare haha hate watching things in bits, try watching all serfies of films in one go as well.