Bullets 'n' Babes

The City of Violence: 4/5

Really liked this. Some cracking fights (though there is quite a bit of slow motion), IMO the one on one fights were better than the streetfights. I also loved the music, which seemed almost spaghetti Western-like and eerie, with it's guitars (electric and acoustic) and trumpets.
The characters are friends in the flashbacks, but then one becomes the "bad guy" of the piece.

Iceman Cometh: 4/5

Was not expecting much after reading a few reviews (not many fights, bad comedy) but I thoroughly enjoyed it! Maggie Cheung was good as ever, she was really good in these types of comedies. Yuen Biao is awesome, and Yuen Wah is just a badass. The first shot of him walking the streets of modern HK had me in stitches.

What I found suprising is the 15 cert on the DVD. WTF? Lots of references to rape, and even a few rapes scenes in there, although not explicit still pretty wrong for a 15.

One of the rapes used to be cut for the '18' cert MIHK video.

Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani? (Japan, 2005) – 3,5/5
2015. A virus causing depression and despair, and ultimately leading to suicide, has taken the lives of 3 million Japanese. Two new age musicians (Tadanobu Asano and Masaya Nakahara) have been able to fight the symptoms through noice. Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani differs from most other apocalyptic visions in its minimalism; there’s no doomsday imagery, and the seashore setting looks almost normal, only people have become even fewer than before. Appart from a couple of short scenes in the beginning and a few flashbacks only 6 actors appear in the film. The slow pace is welcome, and the lengthy noice creation sessions will test the audience’s patience. Unfortunately the director has also felt the need to add childish sci-fi content and ”weird” supporting characters. The originality is strong enough to carry over most of these flaws, though.

Ashes of Time: 1/5

I so want that 90mins back!

Redux, International or HK Cut?

HK cut. Maybe it needs repeat viewings? I just found it rather pointless, tedious and pretentious. Only thing I liked was that it was parodied in My Sassy Girl

Oh yeah, that was good . I found parts of it the same as you but I did watch the awful HK DVD so it wasn't giving it a fair chance.

NORIKO'S DINNER TABLE (Japan, 2005)
Sion Sono takes his "Suicide Club"-Mythology to the next level. Or that before. Whatever. At times a strange hybrid between remake, prequel, a sequel, then again something like a spin-off offering an alternate, more mature take on the theme. Anyway, it's more character-oriented, offers deep psychological insight, not so much a mystery-thriller than a coming-of-age drama with a twist, exploring themes like loss of identity, juvenile confusion and a struggling search for something stable in life to cling to. Furthermore "Noriko's Dinner Table" plays a lot more firmly rooted in comprehensible reality than "Sucide Club" was; the typical Sion Sono strangeness is still there, though, but this time strictly originating from characters' decisions/thoughts, respectively appearing as metaphors. Just expect to be reading lots(!) of subtitles plus a runtime of almost three hours, but in the end it was absolutely worth it (thankfully without that ultimate moral/meaning being served on a silver platter). Has a subtle, but quite effective acoustic guitar soundtrack.

Are you Hungfist's brother Diceman? .

More like a spoiled Doppelganger.

I really need to see Noriko as Suicide Club is terrific. Pretty much the only good horror movie the Japanese have made during the past 15 years.

They've both just applied to become gym teachers in a Japanese all-girl school.

I knew diceman wouldn't be able to keep a secret :x

Hopefully not in my school. Grim's already tried to join. They thought he was a pupil .

Markgway wrote:They've both just applied to become gym teachers in a Japanese all-girl school.

bradavon wrote:Hopefully not in my school.

aha. Should've known this

I tried to join your school Brad?

It's called sarcasm .

bradavon wrote:Hopefully not in my school.

Your school is Japanese all-girl?

Grim's already tried to join. They thought he was a pupil .

It's the long black hair covering his face.

bradavon wrote:It's called sarcasm .

Actually it's not.

Will you to just have sex and stop this constant bitching.

I'm game if you are .

I didnt know Mark was a ladyboy....

hey,

Rule #1 - 3-5/5
Oh you've seen and heard it all before in this mixture of the buddy cop formula/chase for a serial murderer/horror/ghost story but Kelvin Tong's Shawn Yue/Ekin Cheng vehicle knows exactly what it's doing. It's therefore exactly as deep as it wants to and gives us a VERY doomsday-filled and truly exciting time as the duo chases ghosts possessing humans in modern day Hong Kong. A terrifying concept as these two cops are forced to kill innocents in order to stop the hopping between shells if you will. And Ekin Cheng (and Yue) gives us low-key acting as well as suitable intensity. Exactly as the script calls for. Underrated gem of the year.

Negative Happy Chainsaw Edge (Japan, 2007) – 4/5
Nana meets Leatherface. Takuji Kitamura’s action/drama/comedy comes with some of the most exciting action scenes of the recent years.