Asian Cinema Drifter - Asian film reviews for your unspoiled amusement

Police Story 2 review

2008-10-03T00:25:00.000-07:00

It may be an exercise in futility to attempt a worthy sequel to Police Story. Still, Chan gives a valiant effort continuing Chan Ka Kui’s life after he apprehends the first film’s troublesome drug dealer. Kicking off with an exciting highlight reel to recap some of the more daring parts of the last film, we’re set up for a fall when the sequel can’t measure up to these scenes of which we were just reminded. The departure of the last antagonist removes a truly memorable threat from Police Story 2, which would have been especially effective as Chan finds himself in Spider-man esque situations trying to protect the ones he loves from his enemies.

Despite the absence of Brigitte Lin, and the spotlight on Maggie Cheung and her character’s relationship with Ka Kui, certain emotion is lacking as it altogether feels a tad bit contrived. Coupled with the fact that the comedy seemed dimmed down as well, fans of the first will be a bit underwhelmed. While the plot doesn’t create too rousing fight scenarios, most of the actual hand-to-hand combat has improved with the lightning quick punches choreographed in a comprehensible fashion. The choice of locations was a plus as well with a restaurant, playground and explosive warehouse that’d make you want to pick a fight there yourself. The usual environment interaction is there, top-notch and still completely unique to classic Jackie films. Police Story 2 isn’t a bad film by any means, it’s still way above average as a standalone work. It just unfortunately suffers from sequelitis that repeats all the elements we came to love from the first, but fails to top it with the zest we’d hope for in a sequel.

A-

Police Story review

2008-10-03T00:06:00.000-07:00

After a botched police drug bust, Chan Ka Kui arrests Selina Fong, secretary to the suspected drug boss. When she agrees to testify against her boss, Chan is assigned to protect her despite her ambiguous motives, while trying to keep his job and upholding the honor of the police force.

As the other landmark series in quintessential 80’s Jackie, Chan crafts another piece to prove he’s one of the few worthy to direct his films. There’s the indescribable aura to the film (and Police Story 2 to a lesser amount) in this combination of 80’s camp, crime drama and Jackie’s unique action touch. Layered with apparently standard cop tactics and less than surprising traitor plot twists, Police Story simply contains things that can never be duplicated. Down to the cheesy, yet catchy cop music or the flawless blend of comedy and action, these elements were solely products of their industry and time. The stunning opener hardly relies on Jackie’s fighting prowess and more on the glorification of stunts and ridiculous explosions. Movies are not made like this anymore.

Action-wise, the crazy stunts and subtle environment oriented fighting is at its best, especially with a mall showdown that just keeps on pushing, satisfying your prayers that it never ends. The film straddles the line between comedy and drama as it shows a satirical view of the silly parts of police life, while it depicts the bold strength of commitment and sense of duty earnestly. It even ties in cute bits of romance with Jackie’s all too pathetic relationship with Maggie Cheung as May, and the necessary bits of vulgar misunderstanding in Chan’s job to protect Brigitte Lin’s character. As carefree, entertainment based experiences go, Police Story stands near the top as a classic. If you’re going to watch one Jackie movie, this may just have to be it.

A

Volcano High review

2008-10-02T23:48:00.000-07:00

Kim Kyeong-su is on his 9th high school and on the verge of failure for his repeated assault offences amongst other expulsion-worthy behavior. At Volcano High, his last chance at success, he sets restraints on himself in a school that by chance happens to revolve around the strength of the children. You see, there was a “Great Teacher” war in this post-apocalyptic world and the school was left in chaos with a secret manuscript legend that would endow the script’s finder with the power to create peace. While attempting to win over the most beautiful girl in the school (and head of the Kendo club for kicks), and dealing with the emergence of new oppressive teachers quelling the mad rushes for power, Kyeong-su finds himself questioning his role and the responsibilities of his powers.

Calling his powers subtle wouldn’t exactly quite cut it. When he’s not engaging in all out energy projectile hurling showdowns, Kyeong-su enjoys the complete control of water, various other CGI enhanced traits and long walks on the beach. While this isn’t your average high school student, this isn’t your average high school either. The best parts of Volcano High come from the amusement at seeing the Kendo club stand off on their own against a rising faction exercising power to control the school, or joining forces with the Rugby Club to defeat the Weightlifting Club in a complicated set of alliances. It’s nostalgic, high school fantasy manga material, where kids are allowed to fight in school, challenge the best and hold the title in their class.

The lighter, first act accentuates these traits and is naturally interesting when Kyeong-su, as the new student, finds himself in a number of funny situations, enhanced by the school’s quirky characters. The film may not be as laugh-out-loud funny as it intends, but some of the intense over-acting and the bits of corny or legitimate humor can often bring a smile to your face. It’s nice and all when the glitz and wackiness isn’t constrained by a plot that soon governs the film. When the time finally comes to lay down a conflict and actually tell a story, the film’s appeal slowly wanes, only to be minimally maintained by the occasional goofiness of Jang Hyuk

Even the traditionally “cool” segments of the film aren’t nearly as stylish as we expect and contain painful flaws. The action has the right tempo and energy, but it never feels genuine with its combination of awkward CGI and poor wire moments. It’s a messy overflow of too many elements attempting to mimic the Matrix or something, but completely lacking its polish. Glossy cinematography and flashy effects do enhance the visuals, but the cheesy looking effects stick out like a sore thumb. It is too earnest to be camp, but too amateur to be taken seriously.

While the fighting fails spectacularly, the premise offers a wide range of creative characters with memorable personalities. Still, the main characters all lose their charm and the film has little draw. It’s wonderful that Kim Tae-gyun could get a movie like this made in Korea back then, but in the tradition of action films, Volcano High is missing a lot of key elements and heart.

D

Throwdown Review

2008-10-02T23:25:00.000-07:00

Sze-to, a former judo champion, present drunken club owner, owes a great deal of money to his bosses and makes the wise decision to gamble what he has away, probably while under the influence. In comes Tony, the eager newcomer giddy to challenge anyone and everyone including Sze-to because of his alluring reputation. Also arriving at the nightclub is the homeless Mona, desperate to kick-start a singing career by getting a job at the club. When the bills and judo rivals start to pile up, Sze-to finds himself pressured to question his reasons for quitting in the first place.

The Good?
Throwdown is one of the very few mainstream Judo films in existence and Johnny To manages to capture the appeal to this martial art, despite its less than spectacular visuals He focuses on flashier aspects from intense flipping, counter-flipping, counter-counter-flipping and more intricate tossing fight sequences smoothly strung together. Even while characters don’t have an opponent, we’re treated to interesting training sequences of fighters flipping themselves and almost dancing through the streets in what look like violent gymnastic floor exercises.

The film has a dedication to Judo and elements of the martial arts genre, taking a modern day look at a classical concept and paying homage especially to Akira Kurosawa, whose first film, Sanshiro Sugata, was about a judo fighter. When we thought the idea of challenging dojo masters to duels was over, along comes Tony Leung Ka-fai to fight all takers and lay down an invitation.

To dives into an unexpectedly rich, slower atmosphere with scenes accompanied by sweepingly rich operatic scores, jazzy tunes, and gorgeous, vacant, nighttime Hong Kong streets.

The Bad?
While the film is stunning visually, it is difficult to take the script seriously with its silly themes and clichéd characters. Mona dreams of making it big. Sze-To has mysterious remorse and reluctance to fight. These character moments make the film drag, while the best scenes have little to do with the narrative’s ultimate goal and simply exist for aesthetic pleasure.

B

Shall We Dance? review

2008-09-04T14:38:00.000-07:00

Sugiyama feels the pain of a mundane day job and little in life to look forward to after accomplishing the standard goals for a socially restricted middle-class father. On his way home, almost in response to his wife’s unheard suggestion that he enjoy himself, a dance studio with a beautiful woman inside catches his attention from the train. With an awkward and less than satisfactory start, Sugiyama begins questioning his decisions and deals with his growing passion for dance, which grants him indescribable feelings of bliss.

The Good?
The film has a very strong premise. For international audiences, it sets up the almost-taboo nature of ballroom dancing in the country because of its intimacy and public displays that render it embarrassing. For a male to be participating in this female activity is unheard of, so it becomes a strong conflict when Sugiyama falls into this world.

Director Masayuki Suo makes the dancing comical, accessible and appealing to newcomers. As cheesy and overdone as it is, the amateur to adept story is still inspiring and entertaining, complete with elegantly edited waltz montages of Sugiyama improving in the studio, or dancing at work or in the train station.

The film has an unexpectedly rich comedic side from deadpan humor to awkward situation comedy and recurring gags. If it's not funny, it's definitely a light, fun time.

More characters slowly enter the fray, from an obstinate partnerless dancer, Toyoko to the double-life leading Aoki, who is a quiet, refined office worker in the day and a lavish wig-wearing, energetic dancer by night. They offer a strong variety and contrast to our main character and some amusing subplots. Mostly, there's a sense of warmth to be had from all these characters, whose lives have been touched by Sugiyama's simple act of impulse to dance one evening.

The Bad?
The inclusion of all these extra characters draws some attention away from Sugiyama. He's the easiest for us to understand and empathize with, so the sub-plots sometimes leave us itching to return to his main development.

A-

Just One Look review

2008-09-04T13:56:00.000-07:00

Between selling sugarcane and watching movies every week, Fan and Ming, two youths of a small Hong Kong island, fall for a drummer girl at a festival. Meanwhile, Fan also dealing with issues of his own past, begins to take notice of a mysterious girl clad in white, and makes an effort to win her affection.

The Good?
This is an odd and unexpected film in the Hong Kong film industry. Riley Yip sucks the viewer into a very particular nostalgic period to make his own American Graffiti or Dazed and Confused. Yip lets us drift along, building a day in the life mentality capturing Fan's group of friends occupy themselves with films, elaborate rat deaths and the occasional gang war with silly little fights.

The film is built on strong, situational character moments. Genres are seamlessly blended as the story moves from comedy and romance to bits of action, revenge and drama. Once in a while, the film feels like it is stretching itself thin, but the audience is living life and coming of age with these characters, so it feels very natural as well.

The cast does a fine job making their characters the most likable and engrossing elements of the film. Charlene Choi and Wong You Nam are the most naturally convincing of the kids, with light, breezy scenes of cute teen love. Gillian Chung and Shawn Yue are stuck with conveying the deeper, more substantial relationship. It doesn't fit as well, but they do the best they can.

Anthony Wong steals the show as the antagonist with a flawless performance ending the film with more depth than anyone else in the cast. He can anger you to the edge and win your heart over in the blink of an eye.

The Bad?
Gillian Chung and Shawn Yue's relationship gets too serious and melodramatic and feels out of place. The actors struggle to find a healthy medium for it within the story, partly because of a script that gives them very little to build the romance on.

B+

Protege de La Rose Noire review

2008-09-04T13:36:00.000-07:00

Charlene, a homeless alien and Gillian, a homeless student with a temper, both discover an ad for a job providing food and housing. Enlisting a friendly taxi driver to take them up to an enormous gothic house, they find themselves victim to the strange owner, Rose, who imprisons and subsequently trains them as superheroes.

The Good?
Charlene Choi and Gillian Chung are charming because this film was built for them of course. The few highlights involve the two from Charlene's awkward and odd dances to showcase her alien powers, to the two in Jackie Chan 70's haircuts performing Drunken Master training montage parodies.

The film might be unintentionally funny at times. It's hysterical to watch for the bad humor and try to determine the writer's mode of thought for each particular joke. The film also parodies the Matrix with another bullet time joke. That's not particularly funny, but the fact that someone in the world thinks it is funny and invested in that joke for a major motion picture is hilarious.

Donnie Yen's little sister, Chris Yen, can actually do martial arts. She has the occasionally attractive action sequence. Did Donnie direct this film solely for her reel?

The Bad?
The list is too long. The film is filled with horrible jokes and gags like a clunky robot running through scenes trying to cut off male genitalia. The jokes aren't authentically good enough to even get a smile nor obviously bad enough for the sake of ironic humor. It's just painful.

The plot is nearly incoherent. It feels like a group of ten-year olds penned it after eating a bulk order of pixie sticks.

The characters are all horribly annoying, and do nothing but hurt the reputations of the actors playing them, from Ekin Cheng to Teresa Mo.

If you're sick of the Twins at this point, their charm will not work. You'll want to kill yourself.

As interesting as evil bikini-clad antagonists, killer schoolgirls, Robin and Shiu Hung Hui with a cleaning obsession sound, the film somehow manages to fail. Really.

F+

Chinese Odyssey 2002

2008-09-04T13:34:00.000-07:00

Yi Long (Tony Leung), known as “Bully the Kid” in his childhood village of Meilong, is avoided for his reputation when he returns after a two year trip of wandering. Determined to find a husband for his tomboyish sister, he discovers an escaped princess, (Faye Wong) unbeknownst to him, who is disguised as a man, and he proceeds to set up the relationship. Princess begins to have feelings for him as Yi Long's sister begins to fall for the Princess. While Yi Long is confused about his feelings, the princess’s brother enters the confusing love triangle. In the meantime the queen is set on forcing both the royal siblings back to the palace to marry worthy royalty.

The Good?
Jeffery Lau directs the film as if it were a serious, engaging story and throws in hysterical jokes every once in a while to catch the audience off-guard. The film is a spoof in terms of genre, but its slow rate of gags defies the conventions. Lau gives the audience just long enough to settle back into the plot before effectively debunking it with another silly bit.

It walks along a thin line of pastiche, using respected elements such as Shakespearean plot devices, wu-xia settings and Wong Kar Wai stylistic choices, with a light tone that imitates these films, but is aware of their ridiculous and cliché aspects. The cast helps with slight overacting, while also opening up to actually allow the audience to invest in the characters.

Great technical elements from a catchy soundtrack and musical dance number to gorgeous cinematography, sets and costumes.

The Bad?
The last fifteen-twenty minutes of the film become complete melodrama without an ounce of humor. Rather than build on the lovable relationships and tone of the film, the film takes itself way to seriously with uncomfortable Tony Leung poetic monologues. The film just needed to be consistent.

B+

Audition review

2008-09-03T08:11:00.000-07:00

Shigeharu Aoyama (Ryo Ishibashi) has been living a dismal life ever since his wife died a few years ago. His friend Yasuhisa Yoshikawa (Jun Kunimura) presents him with a clever ploy to get a new relationship going. They stage a fake audition for a supposed acting role and interview each candidate until Aoyama takes special notice in Asami Yamazaki (Eihi Shiina) whom he calls and they hit it off.

The Good?
Takashi Miike's suckerpunch genre twist defines this film. He paints a sweet, earnest romance where there is something a little unsettling and 180's the film into a completely different genre to intensify the shock and make the horror real.

The cast is small but effective. Ryo Ishibashi gets a good, well-fleshed out starring role, and newcomer Eihi Shiina does a fantastic job pulling off the versatility that her character requires.

It's great to see Miike go in a different, non-yakuza direction and give his film substance along with pure insanity. Scenes from this film will stick in your mind forever and haunt you. That's the best horror films can ask for.

The Bad?
Miike occasionally goes a little overboard with arty storytelling techniques and cliché methods of conveying information. The second half has scenes that are a little inconsistent and unclear, and it doesn't make us uncomfortable as it does confused.

A

Infernal Affairs review

2008-09-03T08:04:00.000-07:00

The film that revitalized the Hong Kong film industry presents a brilliant “why didn’t I think of that?” premise, realistic and earnest character development through perfect performances from a star studded cast, stirring visuals and tense execution to thrill the viewer to the very end.

For those unaware, Infernal Affairs tells the story of two moles, Ming (Andy Lau) and Yan (Tony Leung Chiu Wai). Ming, a highly honored officer is truly a mole placed by his triad boss, Sam (Eric Tsang), years ago to infiltrate the police. Yan in turn is a tough and skilled cop chosen to infiltrate Sam’s gang with a trustworthy position after years on the job. Both walk the thin line of good and evil and struggle internally with their identities, while delivering non-stop entertainment in a fast-paced dual cat and mouse game. There’s no one person responsible for the quality of the slick crime thriller, as Andrew Lau’s encompassing direction takes glimpses at the well-written parallelism in the main character’s lives and respective organizations. It could be Leung winning our compassion by putting up with one hazardous situation after another to win back his life. Or Lau with a debatable mix of good and evil, always one step ahead with his cleverness. All these interconnected elements make up the blueprints for a successful film anywhere. Careful attention to every contribution is what helped piece together this blockbuster that can only make you sit back and try to come up with an idea just as ingenious as this.

A

Samurai 3 review

2008-09-03T07:39:00.000-07:00

Still on his wandering quest with his apprentice, the now humble Musashi Miyamoto receives an offer from the Shogun to become his teacher of swordplay. Meanwhile, the skillful and ambitious Kojiro Sasaki challenges him to a duel to finally settle who Japan's greatest swordsman is. While dealing with Otsu's and Akemi’s love and seeking enlightenment in unlikely places, Miyamoto prepares for the fight of a lifetime.

The Good?
The passion. All four dedicated main characters struggle to achieve what they've been seeking the entire trilogy and they find themselves at odds with each other. Inagaki juxtaposes the suppressed, straight-faced culture against these two swordsmen who dream passionately of becoming the best, and against the two women's utmost devotion to Miyamoto.

The change in lighting is a godsend. This film eliminates the messy night-time action and chooses beautiful sunshine filled scenery to glorify Japan. These wondrous settings in front of beaches, waterfalls, rainbows and verdant forests make for captivating, epic and emotional backdrops to fittingly end the trilogy.

The final fight uses the beach especially well with a memorable, tracking camera following two strafing samurai running down the length of the beach, reading each other's moves against a colorful sunset background. Inagaki handles the historically famous climax, as it should be.

Miyamoto and Otsu. Inagaki is a master of endings. Not with action, but an endearing, timeless romance filled with growth, restraint and tragic cleverness that remind us why this series is a classic.

The Bad?
Suddenly, Kojiro Sasaki has become Miyamoto's lifetime rival between the second and third films. Japanese audiences (along with those familiar with the history) won't have as big a problem with this sudden jump, but more build-up scenes illustrating this are essential.

A

One Missed Call review

2008-09-01T15:33:00.000-07:00

While at a bar, Yumi’s (Kou Shibasaki) friend Yoko’s cell phone rings with a call coming from itself. Upon checking the message (dated two days in advance at a specific time) they hear Yoko’s voice followed by a scream and the sounds of her apparent death. Disregarded as a prank call at first, things begin to become serious when the death really occurs two days later and Yumi and her friends discover that whatever killed her is using her phonebook to choose its next victims.

Call it an ode or a rip-off, Miike’s commercial decent into true Japanese horror can work on some level. With a generic story highly reminiscent of Ringu and Ju-on, the film may have you second-guess his directorial credit. Nevertheless, One Missed Call is a strong genre film that has its ups and downs and rotting flesh for if nothing else, a fine continuation of an apparently dying horror wave.

The beginning of the film starts off familiarly enough with the usual skepticism and character naivety standard for horror films. There’s little to note here in terms of uniqueness aside from the transition to the cell phone to even further scar the general populace and add on to the fear Ringu created. Still, Miike knows what the audience is expecting and he moves the plot along so we don't get hung up on the usual, annoying details and can right into the action.

The fun begins in the second half. The film gets spookier with gore shots and antagonist revelations akin to Takashi Shimizu’s creepy wandering ghosts. There’s a rather original bit with a television broadcast that is one of those creative ideas that’s always on your mind in horror films but never gets tackled until Miike comes along here. The film isn't nightmare caliber scary, but if the overall premise doesn’t frighten you, or the atmospheric tension and victims screams don’t creep you out, there are cheap shots that can make you jump while watching this at noon on your TV.

Kou Shibasaki is the star and we know she can act, so it’s no surprise she does a fine job here. Even though there's rarely any suspense and mystery to horror films with a big name main character or two and a supporting cast of monster fodder, here it hardly matters. Simply Miike's name gives the film limitless possibilities. Her male companion in the film is played well by Shinichi Tsutsumi who has a rather abrupt introduction but fits along well. Aside from Kazue Fukiishi as Yumi’s friend Natsumi, whose fear can shake you up more than the actual killings, the rest of the cast isn’t given enough focus and can be best described as good screamers.

Though the film lacks originality, Miike does a good job of capturing the essentials of the genre. With a solid script, cast and technical crew, One Missed Call simply offers an interesting experience with a cell phone ring you’ll remember and an ending that leaves you with an indescribable combination of thoughts and feelings. Even if it doesn’t have the expected magic of Miike and J-Horror, its pretty darn good in convincing us it does.

B

Il Mare review

2008-09-01T15:01:00.000-07:00

Upon moving into his newly built Il Mare house in 1997, Sung-hyun finds a letter waiting for him in his mailbox, dated 1999. In that year, Eun-ju leaves a letter to the next occupant presenting them with a forwarding address for her mail. Strangely enough, it finds its way to the past, sparking a mysterious and intimate relationship separated by time.

Oddly, Il Mare was released in the same year as Ditto, but presents a more original look at this slowly-losing-its-cleverness premise. Instead of rehashing the ham radio idea from Frequency, the film makes creative use of a mailbox. The premise has its limitations because the conversations can't exist in real-time like in Ditto, but Lee Hyun-seung cleverly directs and edits the film to accentuate this key difference. For these lonely characters, letter writing and reading is paradoxically a social and solo activity and Lee takes advantage of this idea to strengthen the film's themes and structure.

The film is monologue heavy as letters are exchanged and read together to simulate conversation between the two characters. Lee turns these potentially boring scenes into atmospheric montages that engulf us in a mesh of beautiful seaside scenery and melancholy piano scores. These moments make the film magical, contrasting the characters' dreary lives with the little joy the daily letters bring. The scenery even reflects this as the Il Mare house transforms from a lonely house on a desolate dry beach to a gorgeous residence on the water with the high tide.

Il Mare has the uncanny ability to elevate the most insignificant scenes, be it the rush of seeing a character put on earmuffs or simply a tense, long walk as we anticipate the words of the next letter. There are times when we can be as bored as the characters are, when we have those day in the life montages, but they dwindle down soon and don’t seem to matter once the relationship intensifies.

Both actors deliver fine performances. Jeon Ji-Hyun as the peculiarly subdued Eun-ju works quite convincingly. Her quiet lovelorn personality shows her range as an actress. Lee Jung-Jae is good as well and offers us some achingly painful scenes with the utmost awkwardness. The characters are fleshed out and maintain a steady consistency, but this occasionally gets annoying as Eun-ju complains about her lost love. The delivery of her repetitive testaments of it show hints of cleverness and originality but never fully reaches the level it should to engage us, especially with the amount of time spent on the subject.

Given the obvious paradoxes and potentially painful interpretation of time-travel films, Il Mare falls victim to a cop-out and illogical solution during the climax. Most of the plot is handled smoothly enough to keep us from really questioning the logistics of the situation. We just accept it as a magical “love story” and put our focus in the characters. Coupled with the creative use of a simple mailbox, even the cheesiest scenes can make you smile. But the ending could have gone in two distinct directions, and they make a poor decision here. Even so, it is difficult to shake off the emotion and tension of everything leading up to the climax, and those strong feelings do reflect the hold the rest of the film has on us.

B

My Tutor Friend review

2008-09-01T14:37:00.000-07:00

After her father loses his job and her mother is forced to work to support the family, college student, Su-Wan (Kim Ha-neul) must take up a painful job of tutoring high schoolers. She soon finds herself teaching a rich 21-year-old delinquent, Ji-Hoon, who has been held back for two years and refuses to cooperate.

The Good?
The characters. Kim Ha-neul is perfect in her sweet-natured awkward role in direct contrast to the moody, confrontational Kwon Sang-woo as Ji-hoon. They grow on us and the film's best moments consist of the two of them alone in argument with vague signs of friendship emerging, and then disappearing completely when they lapse into arguments again and threaten each other with death.

The plot isn't logically structured, so it doesn't resemble your average teen comedy. It focuses on unexpected elements at times, some that work, some that don't. But in either case, it's nice that the film tries to be a little distinctive at times.

The film is entertaining despite its shortcomings. It's nicely polished and a light, breezy, all-over-the-place watch for viewers to just sit back and amuse themselves without worry.

The Bad?
The film feels a lot longer because they throw in all these unexpected, and often unnecessary scenes. There are decently choreographed action scenes that feel elaborate and out-of-place. At one point, Ji-hoon copies Jet Li's Kiss of the Dragon pool ball kick.

The comedy does not work. It's either bad translation or poorly written dialogue, but there aren't many real laugh-out-loud moments.

B+

Running Out of Time review

2008-08-29T07:56:00.000-07:00

Cheung (Andy Lau) a man diagnosed with cancer given only fourteen days to live decides to fill them with a complicated three day game involving hostage negotiator Ho. Full of diamond heists, identity confusion and clever revenge driven cons, Ho is in it to win by arresting Cheung.

The Good?
Andy Lau steals the show. He combines the smooth, witty criminal with the vulnerable blood coughing terminal patient to create a character you can't help but root for and love.

Johnnie To pulls off the unexpected humor very well, making it one of the film's best qualities. Anything from cross-dressing and mistaken sexual identities to silly, clever tricks, Suet Lam gags and moments of awkwardness are scattered throughout the film.

The film handles the standard conventions of crime and cat and mouse dramas well, such as the cop/criminal cooperation from the Negotiator or the respectful relationship between the two in The Killer. There is a sense of familiarity, and "been-there, done that" moments in the film, but it benefits from being able to handle these solidly.

A clever script with interesting heist scenes consisting of 'unexpected' turns. Fans of films like 2001's Ocean's Eleven will find themselves at home.

The Bad?
The lack of originality in many areas lessens the impact of surprising plot twists and clever ploys. It stays safe and makes reliable choices, but it keeps this good film from becoming a great film.

B

Initial D: The Movie (Anime 3rd stage) review

2008-08-29T07:54:00.000-07:00

Takumi, the breakthrough talented Toyota ’86 driver is nearing graduation. Dealing with his relationship problems with Mogi Natsuki, settling unfinished rivalries, questioning his dreams and an offer by Takahashi Ryosuke, Takumi drives us through the seasons in a stylish transition to his future after school in the 4th stage.

The Good?
This is a continuation of the series we’ve grown to love. It maintains all the conventions, pushes the story forward and gives us more of what we want.

In the end, Initial D is primarily a character drama. It’s exciting to watch the races, but solely because of the conflicts between the characters behind the wheel, and what fate the outcome will hold for them. Takumi’s conflicted “love life” adds to the amounting drama and makes thestory even more engaging.

The Bad?
Newcomers will want to catch up by watching the 39 or so episodes that lead up to this movie. The film treats us to flashbacks to remind us what Takumi’s been through, but nothing really substantial and beyond neat racing music video style excerpts.

The series does get progressively worse, mainly because it is hard to recreate the underdog magic that makes the first two seasons so appealing. It’s an impossible task, but the writers have still done a good job at continuing the story to lead to a very interesting prospect in the series that follows the film.

A-

God of Cookery review

2008-08-29T07:32:00.000-07:00

Stephen Chow (played by Stephen Chow), the proclaimed God of Cookery sits high and mighty in a life of fame, passing his stern judgment down upon up-and-coming cooks. When a rival chef publicly reveals him to be a con-man with little actual cooking skill, the former cuisine king is reduced to starting at the bottom again, befriending shop owners and using “Pissing Beef Balls” to work himself up back to the title of the true ‘God of Cookery.’

The Good?
Chow has a talent for the classic gags from food in the face to cheesy “look-over-there” jokes. It’s universally hilarious and consistently silly. There’s a general layer of camp to the film that allows occasional serious, dramatic moments to stand right next absurd kung-fu battles in the middle of cooking

The cast gives a perfect performance complete with tacky dialogue. Karen Mok and her unattractive makeup job and toughness, or Vincent Kok and his hilarious transformation from an elevator defecating loser to the coolest chef in town. Or the arrogant but still likable Chow, down to the nose-picking school “girl.” All the characters, including the minor ones are a joy to watch and have something unique about them.

This film is about as refined as it gets for a Stephen Chow film. Chow works within a standard story structure and the film is for the most part, normal and comprehensible.

The Bad?
There’s one completely out-of-place awkward flashback element to the finale that tries to maintain and even up the ridiculousness of the film, but it feels almost anticlimactic and leaves us on a bad note. The film is still a hysterical comedy, but it could have done without this.

B+

Shiri review

2008-08-29T07:20:00.000-07:00

Two of South Korea’s best special agents uncover killings in connection to an apparent resurfacing of Hee, North Korea’s best sniper and assassin. Upon the discovery of a highly trained North Korean Special Forces team’s plot to detonate a dangerous new explosive in the South, the agents and counter-must stop any potential threat that will further escalate the North and South Korean conflict.

The Good?
An A-list cast of Song Kang-ho, Han Suk-kyu, Kim Yun-jin and Choi Min-sik put in great performances all around. Granted it’s an action movie and there isn’t much room for acting, but this is a film to see for the stars.

The film has a solid, fast-paced plot full of twists and constant shoot-outs, typical of the genre and handled well. One of the agents (Ryu) has a personal matter that although predictable, is a nice twist that grabs our attention.

The Bad?
Although it’s hard to find anything wrong with the film, it is hard to fall in love with it as well. Perhaps because the film isn’t breaking any new ground with a typical plot full of Heat type shoot-outs, 10 explosives planted around the city and threats of moles in the agency.

In the end, the film is forgettable because there is no heart in the characters. The makings of an extra layer of emotion are there, but the film doesn’t take advantage of it. Without any charming, likeable or even interesting characters, it is hard to truly care about where the plot will go, despite the exciting action.

B

Last Life in the Universe review

2008-08-28T23:33:00.000-07:00

Kenji, (Tadanobu Asano) a suicidal Japanese librarian in Thailand lives an indifferent life, consistently stopped from entering what he expects to be a blissful death. Unfazed by a series of tragic events and drawn to a Thai woman (Sinitta Boonyasak) who appears to be his complete opposite, things begin to slowly change for the two as they connect with one another.

The Good?
The atmosphere. Pen-Ek Ratanaruang creates a dream-like atmosphere with solid Christopher Doyle cinematography and a subtle, captivating score. It’s a perfect stylistic choice to put us in the mind of these characters aimlessly floating through life, their minds constantly pre-occupied with life and death.

The characters are very unique and likeable. Tadanobu Asano puts in a great performance as the obsessive-compulsive Kenji that earns our sympathy very early on with his understandable state of mind explained by interior monologues.

Sinitta Boonyasak also puts in a good performance as a snarky, rude woman dealing with tough emotional problems. They have a lovely relationship filled with many not-your-average-relationship moments that set it apart and show subtle chemistry.

The Bad?
The film’s plot sometimes doesn’t particularly exist. Character may wander and laze around for long periods of time without any real action pushing them to develop. It works thematically, but also gets a little slow.

Occasionally, the woman, Noi has some character problems. It isn’t as easy to empathize with her because the film doesn’t set up her other relationships and background information. It’s hard to believe her reactions at times because we don’t know enough about her without the luxury of internal monologues.

A-

Getting Any? review

2008-08-28T23:21:00.000-07:00

Asao, a perverted middle-aged man full of sexual fantasies decides a car is a necessity to act out these dreams. Along the way, with tons of screw-ups and blessings, he finds himself in all sorts of situations involving filmmaking, yakuza, crazy scientists and more.

The Good?
This film is hysterical. It’s the Kitano Japan first began to know and love. He focuses on all-out slapstick cartoon-y comedy filled with sexual humor, pop culture parody and absurdly weird gags.

The film throws joke after joke at the audience constantly. The plot feels like a cross between Woody Allen’s Take the Money and Run and a Roadrunner cartoon as Asao simply tries ploy after ploy to acquire money, a car and sex.

The humor is universal. For frequent Japanese filmgoers, you’ll be able to spot the Zatoichi, Lone Wolf and Jo Shishido references, but if you don’t, there are plenty of classic gags from people slipping on objects to just sheer sci-fi ridiculousness.

The Bad?
The plot structure is nothing to phone home about. It gets predictable and is simply a 90-minute compilation of random events with Asao that go horribly wrong. But it’s completely forgivable. It’s not like Airplane or Naked Gun had particularly compelling plots either.

The last twenty minutes go significantly downhill. There’s a sudden drop off in humor and the film drags a little. Maybe the jokes simply get boring. Maybe they ran out of material. Either way, it’s a sour note to end on.

B+

Dolls review

2008-08-28T22:27:00.000-07:00

Dolls tells three love stories of flawed relationships tied together by the dominating tale of a groom-to-be’s return to a past love he mistreated. One sub-story deals with an old yakuza boss returning to his eccentrically faithful love from the past, and another about a fan’s obsession and relationship with a pop star.

The Good?
Technically, this film is gorgeous. It’s full of beautiful seasonal scenery and images of vivid, meticulous color choice. There are flashes of classical Japanese culture with masks, puppets, music and exotic locations, but we’re reminded of the modern setting with a flashy J-pop music video as well. The visuals, coupled with Joe Hisaishi’s ambiance creates a strongly wistful mood.

The main story is very touching. Kitano tells a potentially melodramatic story in a very minimalist, contemplative style full of long, silent walks and frequent staring. The relationship is heartbreaking, yet their actions are so slight and restrained.

The film is rich with symbolism and multiple, dense layers of meaning. It is endlessly interpretable. Even though Kitano has made dramatic movies in the past, this is his most serious one to date. There’s only one joke.

The Bad?
While the main story captures our hearts, the other two relationships, although unique, fail to create that same connection. Both of these minor relationships are built on a really odd foundation that can easily weird us out in a few instances and it is hard to earn back the empathy.

The film is very slow, sometimes without much reason. It can be a trial to sit through and isn’t conventionally entertaining. The viewer must be prepared and in a certain state of mind.

B+

Fulltime Killer review

2008-08-28T22:12:00.000-07:00

Tok (Andy Lau), a highly skilled eccentric assassin is after the #1 hitman spot for Asia in order to become a living legend. Occupying the spot is O (Takashi Sorimachi), the fundamental opposite of Tok, as a solemn and serious killer insightfully exploring the workings of his job. Both seem to fall for Chin (Kelly Lin), while dealing with their rivalry and the full-forced pursuit of the police led by Lee (Simon Yam).

The Good?
This movie is a clear love letter from Johnnie To and Wai Ka Fai to their favorite action films. The action is a joy to watch as they approach these scenes with enthusiasm that isn’t necessarily fresh with all the slow motion action, blaring classical scores and standard police shoot-out settings. But they love what they are doing and they get it right.

Lau and Sorimachi portray their characters distinctively. Lau captures his character’s ecstasy when he succeeds at his job, while Sorimachi counters with a stolid, seasoned assassin’s look .

The Bad?
Kelly Lin as Chin is supposed to be the connecting character, the love that ties both assassins together and creates tension with a triangle. While the two assassins are great on their own, Lin’s wooden performance makes their love for her completely unbelievable. There’s no chemistry, whatsoever. In the middle of the film, one of the characters outright says that she has transformed from her quiet, unemotional demeanor. But nope! She’s consistently boring.

The plot takes some pretty embarrassing turns to tie up lose ends and wrap up the story. Simon Yam’s cop character suddenly takes the main role as he begins to write a novel based on the events of the film. He even talks about making it into a film and how he tritely struggles to “end a story when it hasn’t ended.”

The plot begins with a great premise, but it’s disappointing as it just gradually goes downhill from there.

B/B-

The Bird People of China review

2008-08-28T22:02:00.000-07:00

It’s not necessarily expectations of another perverse, stylish gore-fest that hurt Takashi Miike’s The Bird People in China, but rather a slowly paced script, ineffective in holding our attention. We follow a Japanese businessman whose company sends him to report on the jade findings of a small village in rural China. Accompanied by a guide and a yakuza member, whom the business owes money to, he finds himself stranded at the village after a series of mishaps and soons discover the secrets of the place. The film kicks off with a stirring start revealing a moody emptiness to the city and tying in bits of dry Miike humor ranging from hallucinogenics and defective steering wheel gags to sudden acts of comic violence. The film’s purpose is clear as characters comment on the village’s innocence, the peacefulness of nature and the blessed ignorance of a technologically free location in the world.

While Miike conveys this message, the story is tiring and mundane with a few uninteresting subplots masked under the guise of glorious verdant cinematography. Miike deserves credit for the move away from his usual work and the success in creating a definitive, serene mood for the film. While the beginning and ending are very striking moments, the lack of plot action and poor character development makes most of the film difficult to sit through.

C-

Casshern review

2008-08-28T21:56:00.000-07:00

In a future world, a costly but victorious war for the Greater Asian empire (against Europe) leads to pollution, terrorist threats, and totalitarianism. Dr. Azuma (Akira Terao) plays a scientist in the pursuit of curing his ill wife, pushing the advancement of his Neocell research, which allows any parts of the body to be rejuvenated or reconstructed. Lightning unexpectedly strikes creating a group of mutants who are threatened by the uncompassionate government and are forced to retreat to a base where they construct thousands of advanced robots. Dr. Azuma’s son Tetsuya, reconstructed with a strong robotic body is forced to battle the mutants and return peace to the world.

The Good?
The film’s addictive trailer making the rounds online highlights the main selling points. Casshern’s technical achievement with a 5-6 million dollar budget is astounding. The viewer can really feel this dark, engaging futuristic atmosphere thanks to the rock and classical music infused soundtrack and the gorgeously bleak, polished cinematography.

The film updates and deepens its goofy 70’s anime source material with a larger agenda for contemporary audiences. Kazuaki Kiriya squeezes in as many themes and messages as he can, providing commentary on global issues and philosophy, including but not limited to, war, terrorism, existence, humanity, pollution, government, and of course love.

What little action the film has, is definitely worth the wait. Kiriya uses standard anime conventions and techniques in the live-action film medium to great success. This film is visual bliss and has a fresh, striking take on anime adaptations.

The Bad?
You can’t help but feel disappointed as the film winds down and characters continue to ramble on. The film’s newfound depth results in unnecessary, strained explanations when the director’s imagery would have been suitable enough.

The film drags because it is not balanced well and viewers will be annoyed when it gets preachy with repetitive anti-war footage and repetitive monologues deciphering humanity, instead of rewarding with action and a satisfying climax. Perhaps this is the marketing division’s fault, perhaps the source material called for more action, but in either case, viewers will not get exactly what they expect.

B

2LDK review

2008-08-28T21:50:00.000-07:00

Bless the duel concept. A major filmmaker challenge between Ryuhei Kitamura and Yukihiko Tsutsumi over who can create the best duel film. Using only two characters and an enclosed environment, they both managed to ultimately make very different films, entertaining in their own respects.

2LDK is the more creative venture, placing its emphasis on dark comedy over action as two upcoming actress roommates share an apartment together, while vying for the same part. The audience delves into their environment with the girls battling over boyfriends, house responsibilities, and friends’ respect solely within the confines of these 2 bedrooms, Living room, dining room and kitchen. We take glimpses at their pasts, families, personalities and goals and eventually, their growing distaste for each other's presence expressed by interior monologues with bitter thoughts that completely contrast their sweet words.

The hate slowly rises to the inevitable climactic duel, which manages to be brutal and over-the-top as the gorgeous apartment is reduced to piles of glass and blood stained floors. Two seemingly weak females are thrown into walls, hit by metal toilet covers in the head, and electrocuted.

The main problems may be the uneventful build-ups and lack of the actresses’ charisma in preparation for the final bout, but coming away from the film, we feel like we've witnessed a fresh piece of filmmaking and a pretty damn entertaining movie if nothing else.

B+