White: The Melody of the Curse. (2011) 8/10

"The Kick" 7/10

A Korean family moves to Thailand to open a Taekwondo gym. Here they run into a gang of thugs who has stolen a rare knife... and the party begins.


Has all the signs of a Prachya Pinkaew flick. Awsome choreography, insane stunt-kicks, something getting stolen, and Petchtai Wongkamlao. Only 1 important thing was missing. Tony Jaa. The only person who can make this kind of movie look convincing with his speed and power.
That being said, the young korean fellow in the lead role was VERY, very talented.

Can't really find a lot of negative things to say about The Kick other than the lack of Tony Jaa. The pacing was good, the story was simple (as expected), lots of talented martial artists including the girl from Chocolate, and it had its funny moments. But..

I found it quite odd that Pinkaew had chosen to make a movie with Korean and Thai actors speaking korean and thai. Not that i know any of the languages, but it didn't sound like they had i single word in common.

Also a lot of the gang members ran around with their faces hidden behind scarves so the audience wouldn't notice how few actors/stuntmen Pinkaew was using in this flick. Looked freakin weird.


Oh yea, and the few (thank god) added dancing sequences was incredibly gay.

The Raid - Bone crunching action that moves along at a frantic pace,some inventive moves elevate the film above your average beat 'em up. 8/10

Re-watched Chan-wook Park's segment "Cut" from Three... Extremes (2004).

The shock value certainly didn't resonate with me as much as it had the first time I had seen it (which, admittedly, was years ago). Was nice to see my Korean boyfriend, Byung-hun Lee, though, and it made me want to watch I Saw the Devil again.

I think the direction is great as well as the set - I think I probably had just built it up in my memory. Not as rewatchable as, say Oldboy, which now I want to rewatch again too.

Reincarnation

I really should get more Asian horror movies....

Gandu (2010)

As far I've seen Bengali films, I think this is the 1st ever attempt by a Bengali filmmaker to enroll the 'Bangla cinema' into the exploitation genre of movies that has passed its golden era in European, American & Asian (Japanese) film-circle between late 60s to 70s. The abusive & raw nature in dialogs or character attributes with the backdrop of a gritty lifestyle or dark realism as well as use of explicit sex & violence to manipulate/force or more precisely exploit the viewers to 'taste & feel' the vicious & darkest corner of life...are some basic features in any exploitation movie. And on that ground, GANDU succeeds moderately, IMO. The problem is GANDU is a little exploitation drama that comes with an art house treatment all over. As they have dared to break some boundaries for Bengali cinema, particularly regarding sex and the form & mood of dialogs, lyrics & characters, I think it'd be better to work with a little bit of more drama and a complete story. The film begins with all the frustration, anger & helplessness of poor 'talented' Gandu and it even ends with those same things. Meantime, the viewers become part of Gandu's acid trip which results those delusions of winning a lottery ticket, getting offer from a band and even that 'colorful' explicit sex scene. The cast delivered overall a pretty convincing as well as daring performances, quite worth to check out. Even the characters were interesting & had some great potential to offer something truly memorable but the film suffers for its inconsistent, vague & repetitive storyline; probably due to its excessive art-film approach. The masturbation, sex scenes & the songs added some shock value, which is new & 'exciting' for a Bangla movie & I guess most of the viewers will remember GANDU for those elements only, not for the characters or a story. Too much close up shots & fragmented scenes kinda ruined the mood of watching a sensible movie. I was expecting to join with Gandu & his Bruce Lee fan-friend Ricksha (my favorite character in the movie) in a 'real life' feel crazy ride (not a acid trip) that might go either way...a rise or more downfalls for Gandu. But neither happened & left me frustrated for a 'story'; not a portrayal of a lost youth who is desperately trying to find & prove himself in surroundings that's filled with financial & sexual deprivation in almost every corner of a 'colorless' world.

>>: B

You spelled Gandhi wrong.

LOL! Nope, I spelled it right! Gandu is a hindi or Indian-Bengali word for Asshole or loser!:D

Finally watched Battle Royale

The Ring Virus (1999) is very good korean horror movies. Ring movie fans would like this movie. ring virus is more brutal and other movies in this series.

the road. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2063008/

was ok, reminded me a little bit like dead end. 6/10

Coldfish.

Brutal, gory crime film.

Three...Extremes. Loved it.

A Tale Of Two Sisters for the second time-loved it loads more as I noticed a lot I didn't pick up on the first viewing and I'm sure I'll unscramble more layers on a third viewing at some point in the future.

"Versus"

... OMMFG, it is so badass!

Battle Royale

Golgo Fucking 13. Anyone else a fan of Golgo 13?

Girl Hell. Weird, but I kinda liked it.... Although I couldn't find a version with subtitles that would download, so I watched the entire thing not knowing what they were saying..

Wow I couldn't do that-I've tried but it annoys me too much. I can manage watching the odd scene here and there like with the full uncut version of Phenomena (Integral Version) I have which has some bits in Italian but not too much I couldn't watch an entire movie like that tho.

The Host, anyone who doesn't know it's about A monster emerges from a River and starts attacking people. Got a 7 on imdb :)

I have seen "Zatoichi : The Blind swords man 2003" Its decent movie of Zatoichi series. It's fun to watch swords fight with some comedy and suspense.

Ninja Scroll

I love it, and can't wait for the second one

Ok I enjoyed A Tale A Two Sisters so much for the second time I watched it again for a third time lol :)

Last Asian Horror I have seen is "Bedevilled" (2010).

Although I haven't read the manga I watched Uzumaki. I didn't fully understand it and that may of been because I haven't read the manga. I was hyped up about the movie I've read its super scary and what not. To me it wasn't all that scary. To me it was real cheesy but maybe it was meant to be that way.
I've been finding more Asian horror through the library systems I can rent from anywhere in ohio even if its not in any branch I'm in through interloans I love it cause my library has a poor selection. Ok ill stop rambling now

Three...Extremes this one is going to need another viewing. I understood "Dumplings" but "cut" and "box" were a little different. I was tired by the time "box" came on so I think that's why I didn't get it but "cut" I really didn't understand. I still have the full version of "dumplings" to watch as I watch the shorter version of it.

I would agree that "Cut" was my least fave of the three as well but yeah watch Box a second time-I think you will appreciate more on a second viewing.

"The Chaser" 8/10

If it hadn't been for the totally incompetent police department this movie would've been 30 minutes shorter. For shame.

That being said, The Chaser is one suspenseful crime story with some memorable brutal scenes. Reminded me in many ways of "I Saw The Devil".

Persona 4: The Movie

Have you played the game? Does it stack up well?

A Tale of Two Sisters. Bleargh.

Very well, actually. I've been a fan of the Megami Tensei series as a whole

Black Magic (1975) Been years since I saw this Shaw Brothers occult horror. Wasn't as insane as I remembered it watching this time around but still quite fun and reliably panicky.

Hansel and Gretel, a Korean movie, for me. I already wrote a review about it, but in a nutshell, I really enjoyed it! I thought they did a really good job with the fairy tale atmosphere.

http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p...ps480df12d.gif

"Merantau" 6-7/10

Very similar to Ong-Bak but without any awsome jump kicks. So all in all..... meh.

Did have a few insane stunts tho. My favorite being the jump and fall from a tall building. The way it was filmed was super cool.

Muoi

Didn't care for it, I didn't think it was scary at all. I thought it was pretty boring.

Carved The Slit Mouthed Woman-Harrowing and unsettling Japanese supernatural horror. Low budget but comes with a bleak, sepia-esque toned cinematography that greatly enhances the brutality of the violence. Subtle performances are also the key here-they are never over-dramaticized, the characters are quite natural (or naturally unnatural when needed), refreshingly flawed and measured. Kudos for not shying away from the true horrors of the subject matter where many gloss and sugar-coat it.

The last seen Asian (actually from Asia, not a remake) movie was A Tale of Two Sisters (which I watched yesterday). The film was a great psychological thriller with a very interesting plot and really good acting. Additionally, its use of suspense was brilliant. There were several scenes that were quite scary. The scariest scene being the dining room scene after they invited some relative over for dinner.

301, 302 (1995)

A slow burn drama-thriller from South Korea that centers around only 2 characters with their sad but interesting back stories. Not great but a decent watch overall.

>>: B