Loose adaption of Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” set in China during the 10. Century. Some may find it too long or just plain boring, but for me “The Banquet” was a great and epic piece of art with expensive set-design, beautiful costumes, beautiful Wu-Xia-Martial-Arts and an even more beautiful Zhang Ziyi. Almost a masterpiece, made “Hero” look pretty small in some occasions, then again, some of the plot-twists were a bit too ambivalent for my taste, in other words, I didn’t quite get it. But great acting and rich colours more than made up for what it lacks, and the haunting voice by Credits-Song-Artist Jane Zhang was just the exclamation-mark to an otherwise perfect movie with an even more perfect ending.
Another live action version of japanese manga/anime/tv series… I don’t know what. Pretty decent detective/drama/comedy but lacks the punch. There’s some funny jokes, the plot is both clever and stupid, the cast is okay… The film entertains but is a bit underwhelming at times. Nothing too special.
Weakest entry into the Pinky Violence-Franchise so far, or maybe I just watched them movies in the wrong order. Plot was engaging, though, some interesting characters, more Yakuza than Exploitation, more Violence than Pink, then again, not enough violence at all. Alas, no one gets raped, some funny moments in the beginning, but it all gets pretty melancholic towards the end. A quite cool and omnipresent 70s-Athmosphere (funky wardrobe, sad songs) made this a fairly enjoyable movie, after all. The showdown offered some stylish female sword-wielding action, but without those much-desired bloodsprays their vengeful rampage had a slightly hollow and irritating feel to it. The rest is above mediocre Yakuza-Crime-Drama with an attractive cast (Reiko Oshida, yummie).
[quote=“Hung Fist”]
Not quite as enjoyable as I remembered. Too much â€?lets make something hip and hope people will think we’re coolâ€? attitude. All those ’whooh’ sound effect whenever someone nods his head and the cliché scenes of a bystander commenting the film’s events… God, you must really be proud of yourself. But there’s a lot of good, too. Anna Tsuchiya is still wonderful, and we absolutely need a film where the main character walks around looking like this. They should’ve done this film with a straight face, that would’ve been cool. It’s really a shame how much potential is wasted, like that shot of Kyoko in the train, it’s like 7 seconds when it should’ve been 2 minutes. The close up shots at the end are wonderful, and so is the idea of borrowing music from Fukasaku’s yakuza epic during the early scenes.
Woah, just noticed you’re talking about “Kamikaze Girls” here. Would you perhaps care to include the international title in future times? Otherwise I think a 3/5 is pretty much blasphemous. 
I read the original novel by Novala Takemoto and I can only say, that they did a way superior job with the movie-adaption while still keeping it’s spirit. It’s all there, and then some.
Get down, nothing to be excited about, the colourful title is perhaps the most entertaining part about it. Not a stinker, though, just a very ordinary softcore erotic-thriller and rape-scenes luckily limited to the uttermost neccessary degree for the plot. Takes itself rather seriously, okay story-line, okay acting with some even more okay plot-twists in the end. Even got some tastefully filmed sex-scenes and most of the time women like to step out of their clothes willingly. Expect some immature dialogue, though, since this has Wong Jing written all over it. Didn’t got me horny, but wasn’t bored either. Don’t watch this if you’re not absolutely have to.
Mediocre movie. I did expect a lot more action and less hysterical ideas. Stuff like the cannibalistic kitchen-staff was certainly funny, but a little too much for my taste. This is something you watch for the sake of characters and plot, I didn’t found them too interesting, though. The Martial Arts hat a strong fokus on Wire-Fu, pretty exciting, yet a little chaotic, with the last twenty minutes featuring some rather sweet choreographies and very nice visuals (vortical swordplay in a sandstorm). And just because of that insanely over-the-top showdown starring Donnie Yen as an evil Uber-Eunuch (!) I’ll make this a recommendation nevertheless. And I liked Maggie Cheung’s sometimes teasing, sometimes coquettish performance. Makes me wanna check out the original.
Many people don’t know what a great old school director John Woo was. It’s true it was never his favourite genre, but his style was perfect for it. Woo’s films are all about honor, death and sacrifice, and in case of his old school films that applied to both the characters/story and the film itself. You can feel you’re watching something great that no more exists (the old school genre). There’s some certain melancholy, as if Woo knew the genre would soon change and die. This was even more perfectly captured in his later wuxia masterpiece Last Hurrah for Chivalry. Hand of Death isn’t nearly as good as Last Hurrah, but it’s still a very solid and enjoyable martial arts piece loaded with great figh scenes and also, unlike most old school films, almost completely lacking humour.
Andy Lau stars as a dying thief in this incredibly stylish thriller from Johnnie To. Some of the plot turns don’t convince and the the early scenes feauture some unnecessary speed ups, but little mistakes like that don’t change the fact that this is one the most enjoyable Hong Kong films of the late 90’s. Fast paced, extremely clever and mostly lacking unnecessary violence. Highly recommended.
Why didn’t shoot Ringo Lam more all-out-Action like this one, other movies following the intense spirit and style of “Full Contact”? This is his first and only (traditional) Martial-Arts-Film so far, and it’s a great one. A gothic Kung-Fu Adventure that made me feel pretty nostalgic, talk about all those mean traps straight out of an Indiana Jones Feature . . . just one set-piece, though, a gloomy and maze-like Dungeon-Facility, but colourful lighting and lots of details made up a very tense and thick athmosphere. There’s lots of highly acrobatic fights with some Wire-Fu support, filmed in an always exciting and never hectic way. Plot is rather simple and only makes use of already well-tried elements, yet moves forward at an incredibly fast-paced and dramatic rate. Occasional over-the-top humour and lots of grim and bloody splatter-SFX made “Burning Paradise” a fully satisfying and entertaining experience till the last minute.
Asian horror meets psychological drama in this ambitious but failed attempt to combine genres and create something intelligent. Poorly executed with all the worst elements of Asian new wave horror included (the dead children, the childhood traumas…), not to mention all the other cheap effects (the high contrast white & grey shot of the main character at the end) and some embarrassingly bad plot turns. It’s a shame really because the psychological side, which is the core of the film, often shows some promise.
Warm little film about five 19-20 year old Korean girls. Doesn’t go as deep as the best films in the genre, but remains a nicely realistic throughout. Excellent cast, but I have to admit I would’ve enjoyed the film more if I shared the same passion towards Korea than I do towards Japan.
- TV
Angela Mao stars in this Chinese Lady Snowblood remake. Lacks the emotion and the technical brilliancy that made its predecessor so great, but the action scenes are good. Angela Mao can kick ass, although she lack the elegance of Meiko Kaji… and the charisma of Etsuko Shihomi who remains the queen of the martial arts cinema. The soundtrack features some effective pieces.
- dvd/Joy Sales
Kinji Fukasaku wraps his original Jingi naki tatakai series up with this satisfying final episode. A huge leap up from messy fourth part, this fifth episode is probably the least confusing in the series. Not quite as effective as the first two, but the plot is catchy and conclution is epic as it should.
- dvd/HVE
Daniel Lee’s modern day remake of the Shaw-Brothers Classic “One armed Swordsman” actually should have been the greatest Sword Fighting movie ever done, or if Triads-Societies battling each others with sharp blades doesn’t sound like a damn fucking cool idea to you, get home. But sadly the movie gets spoiled by stoic characters, stupid MTV-editing full of annoying close-ups, and a total absence of comprehensible action-choreography. And whoever told directors, that a blurry and spinning super slo-mo is a way cool thing to be frequently applied in action-movies, should be shot. No, wait, stabbed. Or better even, have his arm cut off.
Kinji Fukasaku helms a massive, 2 hour 40 minute epic about the destruction of the Ako clan. Not the greatest jidai geki film ever made, but always entertaining and sometimes bigger than life, too. Violent and realistic swordplay choreographed by Shinichi Chiba combined with impressive story and good looking visuals. The supporting cast features several legendary actors like Tetsuro Tamba, Toshiro Mifune and Chiba himself.
This is quite a recommendation as long as you’re deep into the idols-scene of japanese eighties. To me the “cult”-aspect kinda remained a mystery, though. Also the arthouse-direction by Shinji Somai is a mixed bag, some long takes were brilliant (Motorcycle scene), others were just plain tedious. And when there’s people talking I wanna see faces, not Total-Perspectives. Otherwise the mix-up between Hiroko-Cuteness and a serious type of storytelling worked good, but beware that “Sailor Fuku to Kikanju” combines more elements of a Coming-of-Age Drama than a typical Yakuza-Flick. And while everything in between is dithering somewhere between “kawaii” and “so-so”, only the first twenty minutes and the showdown are truly “kaikan”.
Shinichi Chiba co-stars in this excellent fifth instalment in the Truck Yaro series. While western audiences tend to relate Norifumi Suzuki (who directed all 10 films) to exploitation films, Truck Yaro is what he’s best known for in Japan. He’s very good at directing slick action comedies with a healthy dose of drama. It’s also great to see Bunta Sugawara doing comedy after all those nihilistic and extremely violent yakuza epics. The fight scene between Sugawara and Chiba is comedy gold, especially if you’re familiar with their more traditional roles.
My first “real” Bruce Lee Movie turned out to be a satisfying experience, not so much because of the fight-scenes (they’re quite rare, in fact), but because of his immensely charismatic appearance. So cool, almost makes Sonny Chiba look like a whining pussy. And while the story about workers disappearing in an ice factory somewhere in Thailand doesn’t exactly shine with originality, it’s always very dramatic and engaging. The Martial Arts skills by the supportive cast suffered from a slightly bumpy choreography, some weird cuts here and there, I’ve seen better, but it’s all good when “The Man” finally gets to lift his legs high into the air: no endless hit-block-hit Combos around here, but most brutal Knife Kung-Fu and shattering roundhouse-kicks. If Bruce Lee was to be my enemy, his yipping battle-cries alone would be enough to make me pee my pants. Sidenote of doubtful relevance: the leading girl was extremely beautiful.
Once again I’m totally lost for words. This movie was one of the best entries into the Pinky Violence Franchise so far (nothing beats “Sex and Fury”, though). It’s Yakuzas all over, but of the mindblowingly colourful and entertaining kind. The good stuff, it’s all there: furious Shootouts, engaging 70s Vibes, Gritty Cat-Fights (can you handle Miki AND Reiko fighting each other TWICE in one movie?), Tattooed Titties Galore, and one hell of a suspenseful story. Showdown was one of the most satisfying and uncompromising ones I’ve ever seen in a Pinky Violence Movie. One torture scene went farther than I actually wanted it too, though, but since I almost expected something like that it wasn’t too bad, besides, afterwards it’s Sweet Female Revenge all over. Just the chainsaw kinda came as a surprise.
Back from hibernation!
A pleasant surprise. Given the booming business of Asian horror, I expected this one to fit the norm of the regular “I see dead people” movies. But what I got instead was a unique and entertaining supernatural love story. Skillfully shot along with subtle performances by Nicholas Tse and Kar Yan Lam, the film just breezes by fast and nicely. Especially given all the heavy tasks at hand which include a dance competition and a battle between departed souls and underworld authorities(!)
Certainly one of the most successfully imaginative and joyful things I’ve seen from Hong Kong in a while. This is the 2nd feature I’ve seen from Dante Lam (The other being
Way underrated Heroic Bloodshed by the Pang-Brothers. Pretty conventional but emotional storyline about a deaf-mute killer, exploiting already well-known revenge/friendship/love-interest parts from other movies. Believable characters made the drama-part quite tangible for me. Sadly, the over-stylized cinematography was of the flashy MTV-kind: sometimes it’s cool, in other occasions it takes away a lot of intensity and tension. Most of the action-scenes were pretty inventive, though, one “A better Tomorrow”-inspired shootout was showing off some particularly cool camera-gimmicks. Violence is quite bloody and just as satisfying, one very melodramatic twist in the showdown finally saved the day. There might be a love/hate thingy going on with this movie, but for me, concerning modern day Heroic Bloodshed, “Bangkok Dangerous” is right up the level of “A War named Desire”.
- German DVD
Ah, what a sweet, simple movie. It’s about a Girl Spy from North-Korea, who works undercover in a Burger-King in Seoul. But because of her good looks all the guys from around kinda fall in love with her. This is the sort of silly comedy, that is saved by such huge amount of old-school charme, you can’t help but loving it. Don’t be mislead by the cover of the DVD, though: “Spy Girl” is not an action movie (although it’s featuring some Quick-Cut Pseudo Kung-Fu Fights), just a very simple romantic comedy. No deep feelings, but lots of cute situations. And one very touching scene on a train, involving a tape and a portable stereo-system. The ending of the movie is typically Korean, with questions left open, yet somehow fully satisfying. No cheap sexual annotations around here, even the North-vs-South subject matter has been toned down on a rather friendly and comic level.
- HK DVD
Jet Li is a writer of pulpy Adventure novels with his alter ego acting as the main hero, while in real life he’s trying to solve some serious relationship-issues with his girlfriend. Naturally the Adventure part taking place in a fictional scenario (and thankfully using up most of the movie’s screentime) is the more entertaining one of those two storylines. Unfortunately plot-twists gradually become more random and ridiculous, so atmospheric visuals and fight-scenes remain as the only redeeming factor. Action focuses on effect and not so much on realism, Jet Li battling a Ninja-Squad is a blast, though. The “Indiana Jones”-feel is there, but without the suspense or energy. SFX are looking good and carry a certain trashy charm to them, while events in the real world stick to being a rather dull affair. Some good jokes here and there, but in the end there’s nothing really to remember. Subtitles on the HK-DVD are of worst kind imaginably, they make no sense at all.
I read the original novel by Novala Takemoto and I can only say, that they did a way superior job with the movie-adaption while still keeping it’s spirit. It’s all there, and then some.