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Reviews
Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)
Best movie I've seen this year
I'm super glad that I was able to catch this film in Japan. After hearing how the American version was different in a few places, I was happy gloat in the fact that I got to see (at least) one scene that didn't make the American cut (as far as I have found out).
The way the movie opened was possibly one of the more distressing things I can think of. If the beginning didn't creep you out a little bit then there is something wrong with you. I was already feeling a bit uncomfortable before the first image of The Bride even appeared on screen.
The main reason why I enjoyed this movie so much is that I too am a pretty big fan of the kind of movies that Kill Bill pays tribute to. I found it quite enjoyable to see Tarantino's vision of these movies and the simple idea of a movie about revenge made it that much more effective. I can't begin to recall how many old kung fu flicks I've seen that had this basic concept at it's core.
Once again, Tarantino has managed to pick music that only makes the movie better. It may seem odd to some people, but I thought that the contrast of the music with the images was just too cool.
All the actors worked well in their parts, but I was particularly taken with Sonny Chiba's character. It was hilarious to hear his English dialogue, especially the line "My English is very good." in his rather thick Japanese accent.
If you are a fan of old kung fu flicks and the like, this movie is a must see.
Ritânâ (2002)
Not again...
Once again Japan has produced another worthless movie made to be "stylish." It seems to me that the only kind of movie being produced or released since The Matrix has tried to too stylish for it's own good.
This movie has so many problems that it's hard to list them all. The most depressing thing about this movie is the fact that it might have been decent if it weren't made in Japan. Wait a second, scratch that thought. For all the money that Japanese films companies have you'd think that they would be able to use it to make a movie with higher production quality than some of the stuff they show on TV in the U.S.
As for the opening of the movie with the "English speaking" actors, I think that the movie company pulled the first 20 foreigners they saw on the streets of Tokyo and asked them if they wanted to be in a movie. The quality of those "actors" is something that can be compared to 10 year olds making a home video about being Spider-man, or the X-Men. Even the one person that I recognized as a TV "talent" in Japan was proved that he could only ever be a talent in Japan. I won't say anything bad about Ann Suzuki's English in this movie. After all it's better than about 90% of the Japanese kids that have studied it for 6 years (at a minimum).
The cast of this movie is packed with the typical over acting type that seems to run rampant throughout Japan. I find that all villains in Japanese movies tend to the be crazy eyed twitchy types that have a knack for shouting out their laughs. This was the kind of acting that belongs in a B movie and not a "high budget" action movie.
I'll end this little tirade with a complaint about the aliens. Not only were they possibly the silliest looking aliens since Mac (from Mac & Me) they were, you guessed it, CG. What ever happened to the fine art of making a puppet? Jim Henson created some of the most memorable characters of movie history without the use of a computer. Why can't we go back to that?
Siu Lam juk kau (2001)
Goofy in all ways imaginable
Okay, I'll admit it. This movie was worth a chuckle or two, and since it wasn't made to be a serious kung-fu flick I can see how a lot of people enjoyed it. I've seen more than my fair share of movies like this and it pretty much delivered what I was expecting it to. It's not packed full of high paced, dare-devil kung-fu action, and the story is as dopey as expected.
If you want to watch this movie to kill some time and be lightly amused by all means do so. Don't expect this movie to have a ground breaking story or stellar fight sequences. It's not that kind of movie and it wasn't intended to be.
Equilibrium (2002)
Ugh...another movie trying to be too stylish
Ever since the release of the Matrix there has been an over abundance of movies that have tried to be "slick" or "stylish" and I must say, it's rather disappointing that movies are straying from trying to be actual decent movies.
People can complain all they want about not comparing this movie to the Matrix, but there is no way that people will not see comparisons, no matter how different the movies may be.
My problem is that this movie doesn't try and create anything particularly new. Jon Woo has better gun battles in all his movies (even the mediocre ones) than even the best gun fight in this movie. It has yet another character discovering what his "fate" is. No offense, but this has been done to death, and Equilibrium doesn't even try and put a new twist on it.
I was less than impressed with the action sequences, especially the "training" fight between Bale and Diggs. As sad as this is to say, Star Wars had better sword fights.
As for the story, if I want to think about a controlled society I'll go read 1984 or Brave New World. Those two books do a better job of dealing with the subject than just about any movie can do, or has done to date.
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
Too many changes for me to enjoy.
Being a fan of LotR for a long time now, and after reading it through several times as well, I was disappointed with the changes that were made in this installment of the movie trilogy.
I feel that the changes made in this movie didn't help in any way to advance the plot, nor make it easier to understand for people that have never read the books. Certain changes are unforgivable in my mind as well (Changing the noble character of Faramir in the books, to something along the lines of Boromir = totally unnecessary).
Once again PJ has expanded the role of Arwen, to my chagrin. However, including her part didn't change any plot points in the story, which I guess I can accept.
The numerous changes to the Helms Deep side of the story (Saruman controlling Theoden,and Eomer's exile; just to name a few) while being minor in some cases, are still totally unneeded. Why on earth did they create an elf army to help out?!?!?!?!?
I will admit that PJ was able to handle the duality of Gollum/Smeagol quite well. He was one of the few parts of the movie I truly enjoyed (Sean Astin's portrayal of Samwise being the other).
While the battle sequence was neat in parts, the unfortunate comic relief that they included irritated me greatly. There are only so many times you can throw in a dwarf tossing joke into a movie (and so far they've had 2 too many, including the one in Fellowship).
I can see how this movie would be enjoyable to people that have never read the books, but I believe that Tolkein fans worldwide let out a universal grumble at many of these changes.
Rupan sansei: Fûma ichizoku no inbô (1987)
Lupin and a Ninja clan, what else could you want?
This Lupin film ranks up there with "Castle of Cagliostro" in terms of fun, but it's still doesn't have as much charm as Cagliostro. This Lupin movie did have one of the best car chases I've seen, including a drive through, not around or near, but through an onsen (Japanese bath house/hot spring).
I thought it was nice to see a Lupin movie that focused on one of the other characters. Not to be left out of course, is the action with the Fuma clan was rather entertaining (especially inside the cave).
I'll rank this as number 2 out of the 8 Lupin movies I've seen.
Mou man tai 2 (2002)
Mediocre Japanese parody film.
After seeing the first Mou man tai (or "No Problem") movie starring the Japanese comedian Takashi Okamura, I thought that I'd give the sequel a try. While it did have a few amusing moments, it wasn't as enjoyable as the first.
Not a great movie, but if you've seen the first one you may want to watch the second one...or maybe not. Knowledge of Japanese is helpful but not necessary for the slap stick elements of the movie
Red Shadow: Akakage (2001)
Kind of nifty but not a classic
I saw this for the first time in a theater in Tokyo and was amused by the update styles of fighting and the comedy relief that the movie offered (not to mention the cute ninja chick making mouse noises; Get your minds out of the gutter). Upon second viewing, after it's release to video (with a poor subtitling job) I've come to the conclusion that there a few problems with it. However, I don't like to ruin movies for people so, I'll just say that it's an enjoyable, and campy ninja flick even though there are some things that need to be explained a little better. In the subtitled version at least.
Don't watch this movie if you're looking for a serious, Kurosawa type period piece. It's meant to be silly and go into it knowing that.