Bullets 'n' Babes

Thanks for the welcome

Lucky Stars Go Places 2/5

Where to begin. The old lucky stars have been replaced by a new group of dimwitted policemen. The old lucky stars worked because each character was clearly defined and each of the actors gave good performances. You had the stupid one, the mean one, the crazy one, the lady’s man and the silent strong type. In this film you have the crooked lecherous cop, the tall skinny coward, another coward, a martial artist and one with a great sense of smell who loves dogs. They don’t give bad performances but it is difficult to like any of them. Especially when, in the worst scene of the film, the crooked cop rapes the maid thinking she is their trainer and the maid then falls in love with him. The other ‘cops’ just thought it was funny, nothing wrong with that at all. In the other films they didn’t actually rape anyone and I felt they stepped over the mark. The other films also had nice looking female leads to play off of but in this one she just seemed bored. She did do some nice fighting in it but not enough.

You don’t really get any great action scenes in this one. Each of the other films had some iconic moments like Michiko in her fight with Sibelle Hu and Sammo with his tennis rackets. The action scenes were ok with Andy Lau showing his stuff, and Sammo letting loose at the end.

The best thing was the interplay between Sammo, Karl Maka and his wife. It did raise a little smile.

The DVD (Joy Sales)
I think a lot of the humor must have been lost on me, as the subtitles were simply atrocious in places. I totally lost the thread of what people were saying. Otherwise the picture and sound were simply ok.

Ip Man - 4.5/5
Great movie! One of the best martial arts films ever made!

Panic in High School (Japan, 1978) – 2,5/5
Sogo Ishii was given a chance to remake his original student film as a feature length movie for Nikkatsu. No doubt it sounded like a good deal for both parties; a 21 year old director getting an experienced studio to back him up, and Nikkatsu, now mostly stuck with their pink film production, investing on a rising talent. But Ishii, who shot the film together with co-director Yukihiro Sawada, was not pleased with the results. Although the film does feature many reconizable scenes and elements Ishii’s input appears to have been toned down to some extent. The storyline of a student who goes mad and attacks his school also can’t quite carry a 94 minute film. However, a failure Panic in High School is not. The first and especially the last third are quite effective. And, unfortunately, the film has only become more timely 30 years after its release.

Burst City (Japan, 1982) – 1/5
Sogo Ishii and Toei first collaborated in 1980, when Toei distributed Ishii’s brilliant graduation work Crazy Thunder Road. Two years later the studio hired Ishii to make another film for them. What Ishii did, basically, was take the money and shoot a post apocalyptic, 2 hour punk rock concert. Traditional narrative is almost completely lost and rock, riots and real life bands take over. A hugely influencial piece that no doubt features a lot to enjoy to those who share Ishii’s state of mind. To casual viewers, however, Ishii’s self-righteous freak show played in fast motion is likely to be an unbearable experience.

Electric Dragon 80 000 V (Japan, 2001) – 2,5/5
Sogo Ishii is from a distant planet located in another universe. Many of his films don’t follow any known patterns or rules. Electric Dragon 80 000 V stars Tadanobu Asano as an 80 000 volt dragon detective madman who encounters Thunderbolt Buddha (Masatoshi Nagase). Impressively shot in black and white – reminding Ishii’s 1981 film Shuffle – with music by Ishii and Asano’s noise band Mach 1.67, and a typical 50 minute running time. Works.

Bullet Train (Japan, 1975) – 3/5
Junya Sato helms an entertaining all star cast in a thriller that preceeded Speed (1994) by nearly 20 years. A group of criminals (lead by Ken Takakura) insert a bomb into a bullet train. If the speed falls under 80 km/h the bomb will explode. The train company staff (Takashi Shimura, Fumio Watanabe) give guidance to the train captain (Shinichi Chiba) while the police (Tetsuro Tamba) are trying to capture the criminals before it’s too late. Clocking at 150 minutes Sato’s film is more of a character driven thriller-drama than a fast paced action film. Most of the movie takes place outside the bullet train. Keep your eyes open open for brief appearances by numerous stars like Etsuko Shohomi, Yumiko Katayama and Yumi Takigawa.

Never Give Up (Japan, 1978) – 3/5
Ken Takakura and Hiroko Yakushimaru together, what more could you ask for? Well, a thoroughly good movie. Producer Haruki Kadokawa spent millions on equipment borrowed from the US army to create a modern action epic. Yet both the action and storytelling are clumsy. The the original storyline – adapted from a novel by Seiichi Morimura – is, however, rather well constructed and remains interesting till the end. But the main attraction is of course seeing the greatest idol of the 80’s – in her very first movie role even – and one of the most legendary Japanese actors of all time in one movie. That’s no small merit for a film, even if the rest isn’t as good as it ought to be.

Hapkido 3/5

Old school 70's GH kung fu actioner is really nothing special but gains a star for it's great cast of familar faces, Angelo Mao,Sammo,Wang-In-Sik, Paul Wei,Ji Han Jae,Carter Wong,Bruce Liang etc...hey even Jackie Chan's in there! The plot is a little reminiscent of Fist Of Fury, a trio of hapkido experts return from Korea and set up a martial arts school which doesn't go down too well with the local japanese one....cue lots of (fairly average) fights. I saw a little animal cruelty in there,hope it wasn't real A decent transfer from HKL.

A little reminiscent of Fist of Fury is the understatement of the century. I think you're being extremely unfair on the action as well, it was way above average for 1972.

Fist of Fury kicks Hap Ki Do's ass.

But HapKiDo is damn good too. It feels fresher but that's probably just because Fist was at one time of the few martial arts films I had so I watched it into the ground!

Hapkido was one of Angela's best films. Still not as good as FOF though.

VAMPIRE VS VAMPIRE 3/5

What a pleasant surprise this film was. At the beginning I thought it was going to be as bad as Mr Vampire 2 because of the little kid vampire. Luckily the kid only plays a supporting role. The action scenes were short but sweet and the comedy was actually pretty funny. It helped that the subtitles were pretty good on the Joy Sales DVD. The special effects were pretty poor and it ends quite abruptly, like they ran out of time or money.

Maybe Lam Ching-Ying made this film because he was disappointed with the other Mr Vampire sequels. It’s a shame he didn’t direct more films.

I re-watched the first half of that a few months ago and then sold it. But I'm not selling Mr. Vampire 2, which is good, or especially Mr. Vampire 4, which is great. Part 3 is ok.

hey,

It’s a shame he didn’t direct more films.

He did. The Green Hornet in 93 or 94. Pretty piss poor film though.

Millennium Actress: 4.5/5

Satoshi Kon rules! The wraith was pretty freaky. Loved the music in it which is similar to music in his other stuff like Paprika and Paranoia Agent.

Susumu Hirasawa, fantastic composer. For me Millenium Actress is Kon's masterwork, a wonderful celebration of the history of Japanese cinema.

Shingster wrote:Susumu Hirasawa, fantastic composer. For me Millenium Actress is Kon's masterwork, a wonderful celebration of the history of Japanese cinema.

I even managed to make my dad sit through it. He's a 55+ year old old school firechief who thinks animation = disney = kids films.

He watched Oldboy, too, but I don't think he could follow it perfectly. Perhaps a good thing...

He likes films like My Sassy Girl, Windstruck and Nana. Actually he prefered Nana over Linda 3, that damn old fool

HungFist wrote:who thinks animation = disney = kids films

My Mum rented Persepolis and said she wouldn't watch it for exactly the same reason, she didn't realise before renting it. I tried to convince her otherwise but most Western people are so indoctrinated to thinking. I doubt she bothered.

Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence: 4.5/5

Finally got round to watching this and I prefer it to the original. I'd quite like to see Ghost in the Shell 2.0, and since it's coming out on Blu-ray in the UK in August I'll probably get that, and keep my DVD of the original film so that I have both versions.

Sukeban: Escape From Reform School (Japan, 1973) – 3/5
Sadao Nakajima takes over and delivers laidback reform school / girls on the run film. It's heavier on erotic content and a bit less graphic in terms of violence than Suzuki's entries, but for a genre fan this is a solid treat.

Sukeban: Diamond Showdown (Japan, 1974) – 3/5
Ikuo Sekimoto directs the 6th girl boss movie. An easy going action film with a touch of sadism thrown in. Reiko Ike's gang put holes into male yakuzas and have fun with Carol's Funky Monkey Baby rocking the soundtrack.

Sukeban – Crazy Ball Game (Japan, 1974) – 3/5
The last Sukeban film throws in a new lead face; Yuko Kano. She does good job taking over the gang... and running topless on the beach with the girls. Ema Ryoko's star moment is in the beginning when her school girl gang confronts Kano's girls.

Ghost in shell 2: Innocence was ok. It had beautiful animation. I just found the quoting of many famous authors a little annoying. And the plot was a little confusing in places. I enjoyed the first one more because it was more of an action piece.

First Strike (extended version) 3/5

As much as I hate to say this, the extended version didn’t work as well as the shorter version. The extra dialogue scenes were ok and the original dub was nice to hear but some of the extra footage just slowed the whole film down, especially the under water fight that seemed to go on for ages. Maybe I was in the wrong mood to watch it so I will probably give the longer version another shot.

Loved the international cut (shorter version) when I saw it many years ago, it was just a shame about the dubbing. I'd give the shorter version 4/5.

That's interesting... I felt the opposite.

I enjoyed the original cut more than the abridged version which scrapped what little plot and coherency there was.

Not a classic film, but a bit underrated actually.

I always enjoyed the US cut but really wanted the HK one, still have never seen the original cut due to no decent release of it.

The best version is the Mei Ah VCD.

Uncut, Cantonese with English & Chinese subs, letterboxed scope.

There's no such thing as a "best version VCD", they're virtually always unwatchable, when it's Chinese movies anyway.

Checking this, the Taiwanese one is the only one worth owning:

http://www.dvdcompare.net/comparisons/film.php?fid=492

I'd take Mandarin over unwatchable VCD with so poor subs you cannot read them any day.

hey,

Hong Kong laserdisc is the best.

Try sticking that in a DVD or BD Player . Laserdisc, like VCD and VHS are non-formats for me. I don't care how good they are, they're not DVD or BD.

hey,

classic.

More fun for the rest of us.

Agreed. First Strike is great pop corn fun for me

The Underdog Knight (4.5/5)
Although not without flaws, TUK is one of the best HK movies I've seen in the last couple of years. It's really hard to critique a film that simply excels in telling a simple story really very well, but The Underdog Knight simply does that. I did feel the final act of the film was somewhat muddled and would not be at all surprised if it suffered from slight studio cuts to speed things up. However don't let that put you off - this one needs to be in your collection

EDIT: Found a trailer online: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KiO701QU-A