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doctorboat
Dislikes: Crappy remakes of awesome Asian movies.
Top 5: Hope, I Saw The Devil, Saving Private Ryan, The Road Home, Oldboy.
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An error has ocurred. Please try againAlthough I mainly stick with Korea, Japan & China, I'm not against venturing out to check out films from Thailand, Taiwan, Hong Kong etc. Similar to genres, although my favourites are Dramas, RomDramas and Thrillers.. I will watch anything. And I believe each country has it's strengths. Japan has Shomin-Geki, great Horror, and is the king of Animation. Korea has some of the best Dramas and Thrillers. Whereas China has brilliant Romance and Action. Some of my favourite directors from the far-east are Zhang Yimou, Kim Jee-Woon, Sion Sono, Park Chan-Wook, Hirokazu Koreeda, and Bong Joon-Ho. Actors would be Sol Kyung-Gu, Jackie Chan, Ken Watanabe, Choi Min-Sik, Song Kang-Ho, Jun Kunimura & Lee Byung-Hun. And for actresses Zhang Ziyi, Chun Woo-Hee, Suzu Hirose, Bae Doona, Han Hyo-Joo, Hikari Mitsushima, Zhou Dongyu & Fumi Nikaido.
Chances are if you like some of the films on my list, you should be able to find something else similar. These are my personal favourites, not necessarily what I believe to be the greatest Asian films ever made.
Reviews
USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage (2016)
An event which deserves a top quality film.. sadly, this isn't it.
"We have learned to forgive eachother as former adversaries. Perhaps one day we can forgive ourselves as men". This is actually a great scene. But that is about as good as it gets. If all the acting/writing was as good throughout as it was here, you could be a bit more forgiving towards the CGI.
But damn that CGI. I can look past the planes.. the sharks.. but when your ship looks dodgy half the time. That's poor. 40m USD on the budget, should be doing better. A small bit I noticed was near the beginning as the ship is leaving, it sails under the Golden Gate bridge, but it seems they forgot to do any effects for the ships wake. That's taking the term smooth-sailing to a new level.
Acting in general.. fine, average, meh. Completely middle of the road. The story deserves better. But if you just want a fun Nic Cage film, it's not quite bad enough. It's a shame either way. The best probably was Yutaka Takeuchi in his 5 minutes of screen time. Although I do appreciate the scenes onboard the Japanese sub, that they actually had the actors speak Japanese. Wish more War films bothered to actually do that. Gives it a little more authenticity.
As for subplots, you've seen them all before. And done better. The writing for the characters was generally weak, you probably won't care for anyone as they are all so cliché. If you like historical dramas it may be worth checking out anyway, you get the meat of the story. Just don't have too high expectations for much else.
Uahan Geojinmal (2014)
A fairly typical 'bulling at school drama'.. But one that is well worth your time.
Usually films that fit into the genre tend to sway towards 'what happened?' or 'why did this happen?', Thread of Lies takes the route of how it impacts those around her. While there is still the mystery on the side, it doesn't feel like the focal point. While still being a school drama (partly told through flashback), it is just as good as a character drama.
And characters is it's strongest element. From the 4 lead actresses down to the supporting cast, everyone was good. Standout's for me being Kim Hyang-Gi (Cheon-Ji), Chun Woo-Hee (Mi-Ran) & Kim Hie-Ae (Hyeon-Sook). Credit to the writers and director too, I felt the pacing was good, easy to follow but always finding out more and more towards character motivations.
And yes, being Korean it has a few quirky, lighthearted scenes. But it's never too crazy and fit's the characters personalities. And I'm fine with that, if not we would all be boarding the train to Depressionville. The score was decent too, it was kept soothing and it never went to overpowering levels.. even during emotional embraces and such. Which is a nice change of pace as there are many films which will try and burst your eardrums.
Overall a very solid film from top to bottom. You will not find many schoolroom dramas better, I would recommend to any drama fan out there.
The Great Wall (2016)
Uhh it was good.. but not great.
I watched 'The Great Wall' Because of Zhang Yimou. He is my favourite director, so I had hopes that I would be pleasantly surprised by this movie. Out of the 13 films of his I have seen so far, it probably is my least favourite. But it had it's moments.
Pros: Of course the cinematography, it's pretty awesome throughout the film. With enough natural beauty combined with some great action- shots. The action is decent. With only a few of close-ups and a small amount of edits, so you can see what is going on. Plus 'The Nameless Order' are entertaining to watch when you see the contraptions/techniques they use. The set is brilliant, along with the costume design. Red for Archers, Blue for Crane troops. I've got time for that. Most of the acting is good. Jing Tian as Commander Lin was the standout for me. Considering the language barrier, you shouldn't expect top levels of delivery. But generally, its alright. The score is also fairly solid.
Cons: Willem Dafoe. Why was he here? Who knows.. The Taoties are pretty poor. Generally a pretty dull design, and special effects that are nothing to right home about. Sometimes they look okay, but other times they completely clash with the awesome set/costumes and you can see how average they look. Matt Damon's accent. Its okay most of the time, but he has random lines which come out as American.. I think I heard some Scottish in there on occasion? The pace was completely off. It says 103 mins, but the credits start at 92 mins. It's too short for what it wanted to accomplish. It rushes from point to point, with little to no explanation as to why. Things just happen because they need to happen that way. And we must get there somehow! And I think because of this it seems the plot has problems. I think the plot is actually not bad, There's just not enough time to tell it all.
Conclusion: If you want a fun, short action/fantasy film, you will probably get some enjoyment here. If you want an interesting world with a deep story, it's too short for that and you would be better of finding something else.
So-won (2013)
The biggest emotional roller-coaster out there..
After watching this film for the fourth time, I have decided to write a review. After the first watch, it went straight into my top 10. After multiple viewings, I gained more respect for it. But we must remember a good premise doesn't make a good film.. You still need execution.
And yes.. It was executed well. First off credit to Lee Joon-Ik for taking this film in the right direction, he could of gone into police investigations and court battles.. But instead decided to take this tragic true-story and go down the route of love and support from family, friends and community. The score and cinematography will not blow you away, but it fits the theme and tone perfectly.
Sol Kyung-Gu (Dong-Hoon), Uhm Ji-Won (Mi-Hee) & Lee Re (So-Won/Hope) are all outstanding. Throughout the entirety of the film, they don't miss a beat. Never have actors made me feel for characters they way those three did and continue to. They rest of the supporting cast is also very solid in their performances.
You may think after the first time that the emotional impact would wear off, but Hope has brought tears to my eyes every time (during three different scenes too, but always scenes between Sol Kyung-Gu and Lee Re. The chemistry is real!). Yet it is the only film to make me shed a tear.
I believe this is both the happiest and saddest film I have watched. Tears of happiness, tears of sadness.. and incredible outrage. No film has ever come close to making me feel like this. I don't think another will either. A true masterpiece of a drama.
A Wednesday (2008)
Worst movie in the top 250..
There are a few films in the 'Top 250' that I do not care for, but that could be because I wasn't engrossed in the story, or didn't find the characters compelling.. I wouldn't call them bad though.. 'A Wednesday' is the exception.
How it currently has an 8.4 is beyond me. It has a few okay moments, and the plot isn't the worst. But the execution was straight up bad. Some of the acting is awful, with some truly terrible writing.. some of the delivery of lines was just horrendous (Albeit pretty funny). The score sucks, the sound effects sound like they are ripped from a 90's fighting game. They actually made the fight scenes pretty entertaining (If that was what they were going for, they succeeded).
If like me you are curious as you have seen it on the Top 250, do yourself a favour and don't bother. It really isn't worth it. I learnt that the hard way.
Lights Out (2016)
Could of been good.. ended up being underwhelming
Heard some decent things about this film, and for a horror.. it's 6.4 rating isn't exactly bad. Gave it a shot, but it came up disappointing.
It first starts off as a bit of a jump scare fest. And when a film tries to do that to you within a couple a minutes, you know it will do it for the rest of the film.. and it did. So you will always see them coming from a mile off. They actually had a relatively interesting 'ghost'.. nothing particularly new, but there was potential. I was hoping they would tell you more about Diana, but all the focus was on the family and apparently there was no time for the most interesting part of the movie.
Certainly not the worst horror film I have seen, it's just average. It could of been a potential Ju-On, but a lack of backstory really hurts it.