Bullets 'n' Babes

Markgway wrote:Yes, Sammo did all the choreography for the "new" fight sequences. Yuen Biao was "Billy Lo's" acrobatic double.

Thanks IM and Mark
On the Chinese print, Sammo is given a credit as one of the action choreographers alongside Bruce.

Jack Dee Live at the Apollo (last night on BBC1) - 4.5/5

Brilliant

The 40 Year Old Virgin 3/5

Some funny moments in there, but other than that it was just quite average. Certainly not worth the 7.7 average rating on IMDB.

Degen did you see the Jack Dee programme (on BBC1 last night)? The gags about the dentists were brilliant (I'd just been to the dentist in fact ) The nursery school/homework routine was funny as well

The Wedding Crashers - 3/5
The best Hollywood comedy I've seen since Meet the Parents IMO. I found it a very funny flick and I normally despise gross-out comedies or anything with Owen Wilson (except Wes Anderson films), Ben Stiller (except Meet the Parents), or Vince Vaughn, etc.

EvaUnit02 wrote:The best Hollywood comedy I've seen since Meet the Parents IMO.

Is that actually a recommendation??

Blessing Bell - 3/5
Directed by Sabu, this is a nice film about the day in a life of a simple man. An awful lot happens to him which you would never believe if he told you by the end of the day. Very calm film as well.

I Live in Fear - Record of a Living Being - 3.5/5
Directed by the late Akira Kurosawa in 1955, this story is about an old business man (Toshiro Mifune) who is afraid of another nuclear attack on Japan. He wants to take his family and emigrate to Brazil, but they are against the idea and seek the help of an objective third party. What they make of this man is so terrible to watch, not because it is badly made, but very well enacted by Mifune.

BTW, I didn't realise it was Mifune until I read it. I'm really amazed they managed to give him such an old look. He didn't even look that old in "Shogun".
Takashi Shimura is there as well.

Markgway wrote:

EvaUnit02 wrote:The best Hollywood comedy I've seen since Meet the Parents IMO.

Is that actually a recommendation??

No, just my opinion. Note the "IMO".

4 Weddings and a Funeral 4/5

Still found this quite funny, with quite a number of laugh out loud moments. Glad I originally saw this before Huge Grant became really annoying. However, when you look at it, the morals of the film are so so so so so so so wrong! Basically it is saying that you'll get happiness if you are either a complete slut who sleeps with everyone and anyone (practically), cheats on your fiancee and disrupts a wedding or if you are someone completely lusting after someone you don't know but had a couple of one-night stands with, and choose to go with someone who likes you, who you've already hurt emotionally, then tell them that you don't want them at the wedding alter.

Still, is quite funny!

degeneration wrote:Basically it is saying that you'll get happiness if you are either a complete slut who sleeps with everyone and anyone (practically), cheats on your fiancee and disrupts a wedding or if you are someone completely lusting after someone you don't know but had a couple of one-night stands with, and choose to go with someone who likes you, who you've already hurt emotionally, then tell them that you don't want them at the wedding alter.

...And they'll live happily together (for the indefinite future!)

The Iceman Cometh - 3.5/5

Pretty good adventure somewhat reminiscent of Zu Warriors (but I liked this better) Yuen Biao is charismatic/clueless (delete as applicable ) as the Ming Dynasty warrior transported to modern times who winds up falling for hooker Maggie Cheung. As expected, he doesnt know what electric lights/a microwave/TV is etc, which allows for lots of fish out of water comedy at the beginning of the film that HK audiences seem to love.

The fights are good, interesting when reaching the modern day they are more realistic and its not wuxia style fighting. Biao is very athletic and impressive in the fight scenes with Yuen Wah

Its not explained how Biao got back through time to Maggie at the end, after returning to the 1600's - huh?

grim_tales wrote:Its not explained how Biao got back through time to Maggie at the end, after returning to the 1600's - huh?

He is supposed to be the reincarnation.

Oh I get it
Like the George Lam lookalike is supposed to be the reincarnation of the 1600's bad guy

grim_tales wrote:The fights are good, interesting when reaching the modern day they are more realistic and its not wuxia style fighting. Biao is very athletic and impressive in the fight scenes with Yuen Wah

So he loses the ability to defy gravity/fly when transported to modern times? LOL.

I dont know if he "loses" it, we just dont see it.
And there is the bit when he is given the 7 Poisons or something which breaks his kung fu apparently.

Heavens Soldiers - 3/5
Honestly, i can't believe i'm giving this a 3 out of 5. Overall its a pretty bad film, with potential to have been MUCH better. The movie opens with negotiations taking place reguarding a nuclear warhead that has been made in a joint opperation by both north and south Korea, during some kind of secret alliance. When it looks as if they will be handing it over to the US, the north Koreans steal the warhead (of course).
Anyway, when a south Korean squad is sent after the northern soldiers, in a middle of a battle they are caught in a time warp because of some comet passing by the earth, and it takes them all back to 15th century Korea during a crutial time in the country's history. They run into Yi Sun Shin, a real historical figure who lead the fight against Japanese invasion forces. He is not yet a general, and he has not even been able to pass the "military test" needed in order to join the army. The soldiers help him find the courage to be the leader he's destined to be, and end up fighting along side him against barbarians (the generic bad guys).

The script makes absolutely no reference to the possibility of the timeline being affected by the soldiers interfering with Yi Sun Shin or fighting in a battle using modern weapons etc.. and also sheds no light on why exactly this comet transported them through time. Most of the dialog is badly written (although some of it may have just been the subtitles), and there are countless things that just don't make any sense.

However, dispite all this i have to admit that i found the last 30 minutes to be very entertaining, when both the north and south Korean soldiers decide to stay behind and help Yi Sun Shin fight off the barbarians. This portion seems to be where 80% of the budget was spent also, as the battles look very good. Also of note is the terrific, rousing, theme-heavy soundtrack, which really helps. I also thought the ending was pretty cool.

Overall, i found that the last 30 minutes made up for the lame middle portion, and even though it makes little to no sense and can easly be looked at as a 'bad' film... i enjoyed watching it. Recommended as cornball fun, nothing more.

Duel to the Death - 2.5/5

Wierdly this seemed a bit dull and slow moving in places IMO, even though its only 86 minutes long
To be fair this was Ching Siu Tung's first film (I think), but why put a drunken beggar character in when he contributes nothing to the story?
However the period detail and costumes are outstanding, and the ninja fight in the forest and the finale fight was especially good.
There are lots of wierd ways of showing ninjas, exploding ones, naked female ninjas..

What??? Only 2.5? He he he! Another example of how opinions about this film split. I know people who'd give it 1/5. Personally, I absolutely love it and after I watched it, I gave it 4.5/5. Don't want to go into detail, as I have written a review for it on my website, but everything is cool from start to finish. I agree about Casanova Wong's character, though. He wasn't necessary in terms of the storyline.

Happy Gilmore 4.5/5

Still my favourite Adam Sandler film. In this he does what he does best, is angry, loud and aggresive. Funny as hell in places, and stupid as hell, but well worth watching!

I would give Duel to the Dead 1 as its crap in every way, a dire film.

I agree with you about the forest fight LD (where a guy gets beheaded). Tops
Love the OTT finale

ReconFive wrote:Heavens Soldiers - 3/5
Honestly, i can't believe i'm giving this a 3 out of 5. Overall its a pretty bad film, with potential to have been MUCH better. The movie opens with negotiations taking place reguarding a nuclear warhead that has been made in a joint opperation by both north and south Korea, during some kind of secret alliance. When it looks as if they will be handing it over to the US, the north Koreans steal the warhead (of course).
Anyway, when a south Korean squad is sent after the northern soldiers, in a middle of a battle they are caught in a time warp because of some comet passing by the earth, and it takes them all back to 15th century Korea during a crutial time in the country's history. They run into Yi Sun Shin, a real historical figure who lead the fight against Japanese invasion forces. He is not yet a general, and he has not even been able to pass the "military test" needed in order to join the army. The soldiers help him find the courage to be the leader he's destined to be, and end up fighting along side him against barbarians (the generic bad guys).

The script makes absolutely no reference to the possibility of the timeline being affected by the soldiers interfering with Yi Sun Shin or fighting in a battle using modern weapons etc.. and also sheds no light on why exactly this comet transported them through time. Most of the dialog is badly written (although some of it may have just been the subtitles), and there are countless things that just don't make any sense.

However, dispite all this i have to admit that i found the last 30 minutes to be very entertaining, when both the north and south Korean soldiers decide to stay behind and help Yi Sun Shin fight off the barbarians. This portion seems to be where 80% of the budget was spent also, as the battles look very good. Also of note is the terrific, rousing, theme-heavy soundtrack, which really helps. I also thought the ending was pretty cool.

Overall, i found that the last 30 minutes made up for the lame middle portion, and even though it makes little to no sense and can easly be looked at as a 'bad' film... i enjoyed watching it. Recommended as cornball fun, nothing more.

Ah crap. I really wanted this movie to be good.

Thanks for checking it out...

Interesting to hear your thoughts about the score for DTTD, LD. IMO it didnt work very well, as it felt wierd having electronic music in a period movie. (I felt the same way about Bichunmoo's electric guitar score).

grim_tales wrote:Interesting to hear your thoughts about the score for DTTD, LD. IMO it didnt work very well, as it felt wierd having electronic music in a period movie. (I felt the same way about Bichunmoo's electric guitar score).

Whoa, I love the soundtrack from "Bichunmoo". Another period film which makes use of sythesizer music is "Ashes of Time" from Wong Kar Wai. Frankie Chan wrote a perfectly fitting score in my opinion and I wish there where more movies (even modern films) in which 80's synthesizer music was used.

And romero, do you realy think it is crap in EVERY aspect? Because you should give it another 0.5 for the cinematography. The fights have been captured very well in my opinion. For example the fight in the desert or the scene in which the guy from Japan walks towards the camera with the blurry image... kinda like it was used in "Kill Bill Vol. 2".

Awesome film in my opinion, especially when you consider the fact that it is Ching Siu-tung's FIRST movie.