Bullets 'n' Babes

Mark do you have the Dragon Dynasty DVD of Come Drink With Me?

Not yet. Waiting for it to get cheap so I can replace my IVL.

Fair enough The music on the menu sounds very familliar BTW, I think HKL have also used it.

Dragon Tiger Gate - 2.5/5
A dud. I'm rather diappointed. Only giving 2.5/5 for the decent fight scenes.

grim_tales wrote:Fair enough The music on the menu sounds very familliar BTW, I think HKL have also used it.

hey,

fingers crossed it's the "This shit's gangsta" tune from the She Shoots Straight menus.

L:Change the World (JP)

Latest in the live action Death Note series, was really interested to see where Hideo Nakata would take this one but it seems all he has brought to the series is a bigger budget, its lost a bit of its charm but still decent enough. 3.5/5

I must admit the live action Death Note films were so shit I don't really hold out any hope for the sequel even with the idea of Nakata giving is own take on the Death note universe (which was never that fleshed out to easily encompass a spin off film anyway!)

INVISIBLE TARGET **/4

Great stunts (performed by the actors themselves) and action violence, but that's it. The actors look bored, and it's not entirely surprising given the invisible plot.

BROTHERS (2007) *.5/4

Not good gangster sibling melodrama. Eason Chan's acting is woeful, Miu Kiu-Wai's matured quite well though.

Knetan wrote:

grim_tales wrote:Fair enough The music on the menu sounds very familliar BTW, I think HKL have also used it.

hey,

fingers crossed it's the "This shit's gangsta" tune from the She Shoots Straight menus.

Would be cool if it was but I dont think its that

One Armed Swordsman (1967): 4/5

Video/subs on the Dragon Dynasty might have been a port of IVL, I'm not sure. Some of the trailers used on the disc look like old Grindhouse US trailers and are quite funny
I enjoyed the film very much. I could see why its so important/influential. However, it is rather long (longer than I thought it would be considering the story is actually quite simple).

The Chaser - Fuck about, if there is any movie you watch this year then make it this! K-Cinema has been pretty shit in recent years but this is a real gem. 5/5


@Shing - The DN series have always been a guilty pleasure of mine, thing is it took until L:CTW to understand how shit they were! Go figure eh?

Angel Target (Japan, 1991) – 1,5/5
Early 90’s girls with (machine) guns entertainment from Japan. Obviously made for video distribution without major production values. The beginning is terribly boring, despite there being a silly caucasian businessman who becomes a victim of an extortion plot. The leading three woman hit squad lacks personality and kick, too. Quality improves during the second half when the film introduces ninja attacts and splattery gunplay. Shame about the first 40 minutes which bring the overall rating down. Worth a watch if you've got the fast forward option available.

Tokyo Garbage Girl (Japan, 2000) – 3/5
Former pink director Ryuichi Hiroki’s contribution to the 6 part Love Cinema series. Shot on digital and looking good, but the film’s young and unhappy slacker characters can be a bit hard to connect with. It depends on the viewer’s own personality to some extent, though. Acting is fine. There’s a tiny bit of unneeded indie drama hippiness to the production, but generally Hiroki’s cinematic touch is pleasing. Some scenes, like the night restaurant sequence and the ending, are terrific.

Vibrator (Japan, 2003) – 3/5
Hiroki’s road movie feels almost like a follow up to the director’s earlier film Tokyo Garbage Girl. Although they are not related, thematically and technically Vibrator is like the next stop on the same road. The characters are about 10 years older but with similar problems in life, only seen from a more mature perspective. The full screen presentation of the predecessor has been replaced with a more crisp – although still adequately grainy and intimate - widescreen HD image. The director’s slight angst is visible, but his approach is still easily more interesting than that of those dry and bland blockbuster directors that dominate most of the box office. Vibrator works best in the beginning. The middle part goes down a bit, but the ending is rather satisfying. Nao Omori and Shinobu Terajima give convincing performances as a truck driver and drifter girl who decide to hoop up for some time in the lack of better things to do in their life.

Love on Sunday (Japan, 2006) – 3/5
After several darker themed (although beautifully shot) films Hiroki takes a lighter turn. Love on Sunday is a rather good high school drama, not overly mainstream on all areas but far more accessible to casual viewers than most of the director’s films. The screenplay has some problems, especially one unconvincing supporting character, but Hiroki gets close enough to the characters without too much underlining. The visual look works, too, a bit surprising considering I’m not a fan of boosted contrasts. But the film looks gritty and homemade enough to set it appart from most other, overly polished youth films. Don’t go expecting anything too special, and you may be positively surprised. It’s a conventional character circle seen through Hiroki’s observant eyes. Takami Mizuhashi’s performance in the lead role is very good.

Shaolin Martial Arts (Hong Kong, 1974) – 3,5/5
To be perfectly honest this beloved Chang Cheh classic has a rather boring start. The plotting and storyline seem hardly exciting and there’s no real focus on any specific character. The most enjoyable scenes are those silly comedic bits involving a couple of cute girls... somewhat unexpected in Cheh’s overly masculine world. Thankfully the film turns far more interesting after the first half an hour. Our heroes (lead by the charmant Alexander Fu Sheng and Chi Kuan-chi) travel to study under a variety of martial arts masters who can teach them the techniques that can be used to beat the seemingly invincible enemy. From this point on the film concentrates on showcasing lengthy and exceptionally good (partly thanks to the epic score) training sequences. The choreography is by Liu Chia Liang.

Disciples of Shaolin (Hong Kong, 1975) – 3/5
Despite the title, this entry in Chang Cheh’s Shaolin series has little to do with the actual Shaolin. Instead it’s a rags to riches tale of a naive young man (Alexander Fu Sheng) who follows his brother (Chi Kuan-Chi) to town and finds his kung fu skills can earn him more name than any normal work. Disciples of Shaolin is not as action packed as some of Cheh’s films. The story and character’s are given as much focus as the action. Early on the film feels like it could move at faster pace, but later the build up pays off. Acting is not too bad, even if the film still wouldn’t entirely convince as a drama feature. The soundtrack, although not very memorable as a whole, has its moments. The film was also one of the last collaborations between Chang Cheh and Liu Chia Liang. Liang’s action choreography is typically enjoyable with Fu Sheng in top form. The film’s most memorable – and brutal – fight scene is seen through sepia colour filters.

The New Shaolin Boxers (Hong Kong, 1976) – 2/5
Alexander Fu Sheng star vehicle that lacks coherent plot and decent characters. That may not sound like a huge flaw in a kung fu film, but here the problem is nearly fatal. Fu Sheng plays a man who defends innocent people from gangs and street punks. His actions, however, only make matters worse as the villains pay back by attacting his close ones. But our hero doesn’t seem understand, he thinks his duty is to defend people with kung fu whenever he happens to be around. This makes the character hard to like and some scenes rather frustrating. Otherwise the pic is quality Shaw Bros production. The final fight is also very good... and thankfully features villains (Wang Lung Wei and Leung Kar Yan) evil enough for the audience to take the hero’s side for a change. Another memorable part is the choy lee fut demonstration in the beginning. The style is later used in the film. Directorial credit goes to Chang Cheh and Wu Ma (credited as joint director).

All three films suffer from awful pacing and music scoring in places.

The latter two films aren't part of Chang's Shaolin Cycle - despite the misleading English titles.

Ivan Drago wrote:All three films suffer from awful pacing and music scoring in places.

You could apply that description to a good chunk of HK action cinema.

Return Of The Streetfighter: 4/5

Great stuff Chiba is like a meaner Bruce Lee There are some great scenes. A 15 cert is quite lenient IMO.

EvaUnit02 wrote:

Ivan Drago wrote:All three films suffer from awful pacing and music scoring in places.

You could apply that description to a good chunk of HK action cinema.

Not really imo. Even some of the weaker HK movies can be fun and zany. These films are technically well made but awfully dull in places, the music not helping by being either non existant or very innapropiate

The Machine Girl 3/5

Over the top japanese gorefest is very slight but nevertheless very entertaining.simple plot,girl's brother is tortured and killed by a the nasty son of a yakuza clan,she vows revenge and ends up with a machine gun for an arm.cue mucho severed limbs and vast amounts of arterial spray. rather cheaply made and some of the acting is weak but this is worth checking out.

grim_tales wrote:Return Of The Streetfighter: 4/5

Great stuff Chiba is like a meaner Bruce Lee There are some great scenes. A 15 cert is quite lenient IMO.

I love the eyeballs moment!

Yeah, enjoyed that bit

Love/Juice (Japan, 2000) – 2,5/5
Directorial debut by Kaze Shindo (Kaneto Shindo’s granddaughter). Not bad, although you can clearly see it’s the director’s first film. Mika Okuno and Chika Fujimura play Chinatsu and Kyoko, two young women living together. They are friends, but Chinatsu is also more or less in love with Kyoko. Kyoko would prefer finding a boyfriend. The relationship between these characters is interesting and mostly well handled, no sentimential love dorama here. In fact the problem is the opposite, Shindo goes to the other end and turns the film into a slightly cliched ”realistic character drama” with a couple of unwelcome ”dramatic turns”. But appart from a few scenes the film is enjoyable enough to follow. The grainy visual outlook (very similar to Iwai’s Swallowtail Butterfly) is never bad for this sort of film although it doesn’t really add anything special here. Fujimura and Okuno, whose character is the more interesting of the two, are fine in their roles.

Umoregi (Japan, 2005) – 3/5
With no previous experience of Kohei Oguri’s work I had no expectations other than what the beautiful dvd package created. Umoregi is indeed a beautiful film. There’s no specific storyline, only a small village preparing for an annual festival. For my taste a stronger character focus might have worked better, but on the other hand the film never feels forced or obliged to follow the traditional storytelling formula. Many scenes have a slightly dream-like atmosphere. For example in my favourite scene, where we see two of the film’s characters on a playground at night time, the backgrounds look almost as if they were miniature models (although they are not). I had the same feeling in some other scenes, too. There’s certain simplicity and quietness to many shots that sets Oguri’s style appart from other directors.

Tai Chi Master 3/5

Enjoyable mid-90's Jet Li film probably lacks a really decent fight or 2,the action is ok but nothing special.Michelle Yeoh is good in her supporting role and the film is well worth getting. This Dragon Dynasty release looks fine to me with barely a blemish on the source material.