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Reviews
Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire (2023)
Another Copy without Attribution
Rebel Moon Part 1
What's with the lack of imagination these days? Much the way Avatar: The Way of Water is a rewrite of "Swiss Family Robinson", Rebel Moon is a rewrite of "Battle Beyond the Stars" (1980) which was a rewrite of "The Magnificent Seven" (1960) which was a rewrite of the great "Seven Samurai" (1954). Obviously, the new film's idea was to put as much effects into it to make it seem new.
Sadly, so far I enjoyed the science fiction of "Battle Beyond the Stars" more then this. That script by John Sayles and film also gave credit to its history. The villagers were called the Akira (after Seven Samurai director Akira Kurosawa) and had actor Robert Vaughn (who had appeared in The Magnificent Seven).
Ultimately, for those who have not enjoyed any of the earlier films, Rebel Moon should be enjoyable enough. For the rest of us, it is a poor steal and pretty obvious why George Lucas would not have approved it as a Star Wars film.
These might be spoilers but they are mere guesses...
You can almost guess the second part. Let's assume the quirky heroic part played by Toshiro Mifune and Charles Bronson (one of his best performances) is going to be the robot, who will die in the end leaving everyone sad despite the heroes having made the day and saved the village. Then to make the theme work, we will find out that Princess Issa is not dead but actually spared and still able to bring compassion and rebirth to the empire. Of course that has shades of the Russian assasignation of Russian Tsar Nicholas II's daughter Anastasia who was falsely believed to have survived the Russian Revolution.
Miss Tulip Stays the Night (1955)
Lightweight but entertaining Dors vehicle
Since this is film stars Diana Dors the title seems to be a sexy comedy but it's not what you think. Diana Dors is the wife of a mystery writer, Patrick Holt, who is experiencing writer's block. Ms. Dors has rented a cottage for the in the country to help. But their peaceful refuge is invaded by the demanding elderly Miss Tulip who claims she is being stalked and demands they do what they can to make her comfortable in their cottage. When things run to murder and the police arrive, writer husband is hard pressed to investigate the mystery while being demeaned by police inspector Joss Ambler. The real fun is between Dors and brow-beaten constable Jack Hulbert. While the lightweight mystery unfolds, Dors and Hulbert keep a light comic element working. It's not any great shakes, but fun to watch Dors' comic talent shine.
Gogo chilship (2008)
A entertaining tale of adolescent discovery versus oppressive government. And a history lesson about Korea's turbulent 1980's.
I was expecting a fun music story and another great performance by Shin Min-a. Go Go 70's is much more than a music film. It hides a warning which applies to every society which tips the governmental scales towards a dictatorship or a rule of law based on religious morality. It is the story of a generation of young people who have just found their freedom from childhood and need to express themselves. And a country ready to suppress that freedom for control of the public.
Korea was going into a full on dictatorship with Park Chung-hee going from president to dictator by announcing martial law to avoid being outvoted as president. He also felt it important to keep the U. S. military in Korea to help protect against North Korea (so he joined the U. S. in the Vietnam War, sending 350,000 Korean troops to war). Our hero is up for conscription into the Korean army but decided to dodge the draft.
Those U. S. troops brought American music and ideas with them which gave a generation of Korean youth an idea of freedom. The film captures a group of young people, just entering adulthood, the first chance to be free of school and parents. Rock and Roll? Not yet. Since most of the U. S. soldiers stationed in Korea were Afro-American (a commentary on American social bias), our young Korean musicians grab onto Soul Music and are successful but underpaid in the tiny clubs. While bandleader/singer Sang-kyu and guitarist Man-sik are satisfied their groupie, Mimi (played by standout actress Shin Min-a), can see a bigger and better future by entering a Seoul rock and roll contest run by a rock journalist, Lee Byeong-wook, who wants to emulate U. S. entrepreneur Bill Graham.
Entrepreneur Lee Byeong-wook opens a post-curfew nightclub called Nirvana. It is only when Mini adds her fashion sense and go go dance moves to stir up the audience that the group, the Devils, take off. And Go-Go becomes the word, causing hundreds of all-late night rock clubs. The Devils and Mimi are flying high. But this means young people across Korea are out partying all night and not being controlled by Park Chung-hee's martial law and his highly authoritarian Yushin Constitution.
In order to control youth, Park Chung-hee outlaws the Go-Go clubs, effectively breaking up the Devils. The law forces all young men to cut their long hair or have them arrested and forceably clipped. Beaten and shorn, the Devils decide to have one last blow-out, illegal big concert. While the concert rocks the house, a huge troop in SWAT armor arrives to break up the concert...
Fortunately America dodged a wanna-be dictator and rock 'n roll and youth rebellion remain legal. Sadly Russia and China are not so lucky as Tsar Putin and Emperor Xi Jinping have the iron hand. Great film! Worth the viewing.
Ajeossi (2010)
Digging deeper into society
While there is a correlation between this film and Besson's Leon the Professional, I feel that this film updates the concerns of society from bad cops to something greater and more visceral , the move from simple gangster-ism, to drug dealer, to trafficker in human parts. Man's inhumanity to man has evolved (or devolved) down to the lowest depths. Here we reach the lowest of the low mankind can achieve, total inhumanity.
Of course, the story is coincidentally involving someone of great violent expertise. This is a long standing trope of the genre. Sadly, in reality, people are being traded for their organs because no one with the training to stop it is paying attention. Thus, a film which shows someone who gives a damn doing something about it.