Reviews

Self destruction

The epitome of humanity's self-destructive nature in its raw, chaotic form all delivered via Kinji Fukasaku's ultraviolent, handheld stylistic blitzkrieg. The title says it all. There's a true sense of lawlessness at the heart of Battles Without Honor and Humanity, one that applies the electric shock treatment to lobotomise any romantic notions of gangsterdom. A dog-eat-dog world of violent, craven thugs and corrupt law enforcers, here the traditional codes of humanity and group loyalty on which Japan's postwar foundations were built are revealed to be a sham. There's some truly superb acting here from everyone involved, although Bunta Sugawara is a clear scene-stealer, a diverse cast of characters who offer a different perspective with their own viewpoints. Fukasaku demonstrates his great skill as a director, and his technique perfectly fits the movie's tone. Using a fast-paced, erratic, nearly chaotic style the action scenes offer us that taste of brutality we wouldn't have felt had the film been directed more traditionally. Fukasaku strays from the established formula of people getting killed fast and easy with one or two bullets instead he shows us an alternative to that: a slow, painful exercise, one that more accurately portrays the yakuza's violent lifestyle. Yet there are no large body counts, the battles are often predetermined with one side attacking an individual or small group from the other, by surprise and in overwhelming force. There really is no honour in the Japanese underworld. Bright, brash, violent and bloody terrific it's hard not to see how Battles Without Honor and Humanity triumphs, a brilliantly, violent tale about the dark and unforgiving nature of the Japanese crime syndicate that once it starts, never stops.

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Jack Sparrow comeback?

"The Pirates 2: Last Royal Treasure" is a great choice for those who enjoy adventure films with a pirate theme. If you're a fan of "Pirates of the Caribbean," I highly recommend watching this movie. It's like a Korean interpretation (in the best sense).

The main character, played by Kang Ha Neul, is particularly impressive. His character is incredibly charismatic: funny, a bit cringy, but at the same time very interesting and multi-faceted. His behavior and mannerisms are reminiscent of Jack Sparrow, which adds extra charm to the film.

The plot captures your attention from the very first minute: pirates embark on a dangerous journey in search of treasure, facing numerous challenges and enemies along the way. The film has it all—action, humor, unexpected twists, thrilling sea scenes, and well-developed characters.

This movie isn’t just entertainment but also an opportunity to immerse yourself in the atmosphere of Korean cinema, which once again proves its ability to create high-quality stories.

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Could've been way better.

Warriors of Future is a fast-paced dystopian sci-fi with quality alien design and adequate special effects. The ending is conclusive and satisfying, but the world-building and the story are uninspiring. It's not a must-watch, but I still recommend this for people who want to watch an easy-to-follow sci-fi.

The alien looks disgusting, stinky, and uncanny. The alien looks like a Frankenstein of cockroach, lizard, crab, and a praying mantis. Their body moves peculiarly. When I focused on their movements, my skin crawled. They're the best thing coming out of this movie. The special effects are equally good, and the sound effects are okay. There's nothing much to be said about the soundtrack.

There is a lot of room for improvement. Although the cast are capable actors and actresses, the characters look dead. None of the characters are brought alive. Also, only Skunk has remarkable character growth.

The movie can go further with the world design. The lack of colour-grading makes the world look ordinary, not post-apocalyptic. The constant back and forth between the past and present affects the pacing and makes it feel draggy. There are soap opera-like repeated, dramatic flashbacks that feel out of place. It further reduces the sci-fi feel the movie is supposed to exude.

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Disappointing

Going into this movie, I had high expectations. Despite the first two crows zero movies being a bit too old for my taste, I surprisingly enjoyed them. The actions were intense, the characters were well fleshed out, had good acting and a pretty good storyline. So, despite the lower rating for crows explode, I still decided to watch this movie without any prejudice because of how good the first two movies are. However, this movie has a lot of issues for me.

It felt like there was too much going on and I could not focus on the main characters. There was so many different stories with different characters. It all just felt a bit too much and disjointed. There was parts where I was rather annoyed and just started skipping them so that I can get to Suzuran's story.

The action scenes that I was excited for didn't particularly impress me either. In fact, I would say that it's not on-par with the predecessors at all. I couldn't believe that this was a part of the crows zero saga. The main characters were pretty boring too. I did not root for any of the main characters and didn't get attached to any of them either, but I think that's due to the fact that they didn't get enough screen time to actually connect with the audience.

Overall, It's not bad per se, but I wouldn't call it good either. If you liked the first two movies and are expecting the same for this one, I would recommend completely getting rid of those expectations since it will only cause disappointment. Maybe I would've liked this better if I hadn't had such high hopes for this one

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Stories missed the mark

Dec 2024
A quite poignant watch at times, which made me wonder what it might be like if this were ever possible. I'm honestly not sure it would be a good thing at all, especially after some of this film.

Memories can sometimes focus on the solely positive aspects of those we love and don'thave physically with us anymore. AI 'copies' would perhaps be nearer the wished for than reality.

The various stories of the diverse characters in this are quite different, with hidden elements. Not all the characters are likeable, the pace is slow and it isn't jolly, that's for sure.

It's hard to review really, without giving plot lines away, so I'll just say that I found it a little hard going at times and confusing at others. It was definitely held together by the excellent cast.

Bit disappointed overall, tbh, but I always think others should give stuff a go, as different strokes for different folks.

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'Star Appeal': much more than intergalactic love

The innovative Chinese filmmaker, film scholar, screenwriter, novelist, activist and gay academic Cui Zi En, known worldwide for his films 'Zhi tongzhi' (2009), 'Jiu yue' (2001), 'Feeding Boys, Ayaya' (2003 ), 'Chou jue deng chang' ('Enter the Clowns'), 2001, 'Nannan nünü - Nan Nan Nü Nü' ('Men and Women'), 1999, 'Queer China, Comrade China' (2008), among others, he creates with 'Star Appeal' (Xingxing xiangxi xi', 2004), the first completely gay Chinese science fiction film, with this fantastical story of a lonely alien, nicknamed "ET", who learns a tender lesson in earthly love after being taken in by Xiao Bo, a curious bisexual.
The first time I saw the film, about 10 years ago, it made me discover a new meaning to love. It made me see that love knows no boundaries. It led me to understand that love, that feeling we experience towards another person, to whom we wish all the best and towards whom we feel a special connection, breaks walls, shortens distances, overcomes difficulties and moves forward in harmony. Love, healthy and intelligent, nourishes, allows us to grow and goes beyond distances.
'Star Appeal' tells a story in which love plays a great role, together with a desire to improve, to know the world around us, to find oneself. This is the case of "ET", a being who claims to be from Mars and who has been sent to Earth to learn everything possible about the physical interaction between the inhabitants of our planet.
The first thing that comes to mind when reviewing this film is a phrase from the science fiction film 'Interstellar', directed and written by brothers Christopher and Jonathan Nolan, in 2014: "Love knows no limits of time and space." Well, this beautiful and symbolic film tells us about that, about love in its various forms where two people from distant worlds can come to love each other.
To demonstrate that in the same way that love does not understand age, trauma, gender, race, nor borders or any other obstacle, Cu Zi En, recognized as a pioneering figure of the so-called New Chinese Queer Cinema, summoned Yu Bo (not to be confused with the actor of the same name whose alias Apolio Yu), to star in the film released in China in 2004 and shown four years later in the United States, in which he proposes an endearing love story of two beings from different planets, since one is an Earthling and the other claims to be from Mars.
On this occasion, Cui Zi En's fetish actor is once again named Xiao Bo, as happened previously in three of the Chinese filmmaker's films: 'Men and Women' (1999), 'The Old Testament', 2001, and 'Enter the Clowns' (2002).
The first act of the film introduces us to the life of Xiao Bo and his encounter with the interstellar visitor. In this way we will learn that Xiao Bo coincidentally meets a strange, naked being on a deserted road who claims to be a Martian. Showing himself to be a lost man, Xiao Bo decides to protect him and takes him home to teach him a thing or two about life on Earth.
"ET" (role played by Guifeng Wang), as the stranger will soon be called by his human hosts, soon reveals that he has been sent to this planet to learn about the lives of Earthlings and their way of relating to each other.
We discover that the bisexual Xiao Bo has a girlfriend named Wenwen (Xiwen Zhang) and a boyfriend named Xiao Jian (Jian Hou), but neither of them is particularly excited that Xiao Bo has brought home such an enigmatic visitor.
While Wenwen doesn't believe that "ET" is an alien at all, Xiao Jian also has doubts. For his part, Xiao Bo is the only one who firmly believes in the identity of the stranger, so he promises to protect him and do everything possible to take him to see Earth. To do this, he is responsible for teaching him several languages, mathematics, geography, world history, art and natural sciences.
The two become closer and closer and eventually fall in love. For their part, Xiao Bo's boyfriend and girlfriend also develop feelings for the visitor.
One of the "great sins" of the film may be the dialogue between some characters, especially when trying to understand and approach the strange visitor and learn about his space journey, but let's be honest, if they didn't do it this way, there would be very little People would understand what is happening, which is why I see it as a point in their favor, since even with this detail many people continue to wonder what they just saw.
It is then that the cinematographic experience becomes something magical again in the middle act, when the viewer discovers that a jealous Wenwen tries to win back Xiao Bo's love, but when her plans to win back fail, she conceives revenge on her boyfriend by seducing the alien to have a son with him. While trying to seduce "ET", he falls into a deep coma. Upon learning of the situation, Xiao Bo comes to the rescue and accidentally says "I love you", a phrase also used by Martians. Hearing "ET" these words, he wakes up.
Even so, it is the third act of 'Star Appeal' that gives value to everything we see in the film, leaving an echo resounding in our heads long after having seen the film: Xiao Bo teaching an alien of which has fallen in love with various aspects of life on Earth, the true meaning of Earthly Love and what the physical limitations of humans are, before "ET" undertakes the journey back to his home planet to take with him the exciting discoveries.
But "ET" is not far behind in "being reciprocal and giving back lessons" and, on the eve of his return to Mars, he uses the same supreme human way of expressing love and makes love to Xiao Bo. Through this, dedicates his Martian love to Xiao Bo.
Already in the epilogue, not long after "ET" has left Earth, Xiao Bo, who was "infected" by a certain Martian quality while making love, returns to the place where they met and discovers the way to Mars.
The film shows us real and raw feelings (although not in the most subtle way or perhaps if we compare it with much more recent cinema) wrapped in a space epic. The 86 minutes of footage are enough to establish the idea that love can be understood as a love that remains, even though the person you love is somewhere else, as a mature love capable of facing the difficulties that arise are presented or how, if desired, one can travel to the other side of the Universe to reunite with the loved one.
Both Xiao Bo and "ET" are capable of learning to cope with what happens that they cannot control, in addition to doing everything they can to ensure that the circumstances that occur do not prevent love.
Focusing a lot on plot details (such as Wenwen trying to win back Xiao Bo's love by seducing "ET" to have a child with him, or how she pretends to be from Jupiter and even thinks she speaks his language to approach the visitor, space travel...) is not seeing what is behind everything that Cu Zi En presents to us and it would be not fully enjoying the wonderful and exciting experience of seeing the film for the first time, or watching it again, as is my case .
In a few words, I want to say that although it seems that this is a gray film and that its low budget has condemned it to oblivion (judging by the comments and the low rating on MDL and other virtual platforms), 'Star Appeal' is a film full of hope that bets on the value of the human spirit and the strength of love, no matter how cheesy this may sound.
Despite encountering the odd radio romance here and there, I loved the ending, where the negative turns Earth into an alien planet.
This painfully romantic and charmingly reflective film leaves us trapped looking into outer space..., or rather, traveling along a deserted road, waiting to see if one day we will encounter a strange being, equally naked, solitary, claiming to come from another planet... a being who without a doubt, if we have an encounter with him, we will nickname "ET", to whom by expressing earthly love we will learn about Martian love.

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Is it Love? or is it just an addiction?

So this is a story about the extremely impulsive chef, who pretty much forgets all decency to cling on to the object of his obsession and the person, who forgot about herself and became that object... until she finally realised being that object is not really good for her.

However as addcitions go, once tempted it is a little bit to easy to relapse...

Either that or it is a story about true love, second chances, holding on no matter what.... Love will find a way... What once was broken can be fixed.

Or maybe it is both?

A thing this movie does pretty well is show that love is not always enough, and that there is indeed a love that brings both down when it should be making you stronger and better.

I am not relally sure if they ever get to showing love at all or if we just get to witness a bunch of people with obsession... But somehow these people seem to call it love.

That said, it kept my attention, leads and friends in this are mostly charming, the kisses are decent and the food and scenery is lovely.

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The questions that were never asked, the answers that were never heard.

As humans we have an awful tendency to fill the blanks with things that fit our own perception. We are both egocentric thinking our view is the correct one, but also think we are insignificant and our actions don’t have much impact. And we are wrong.

I went into this movie knowing close to nothing and it was a perfect choice. Rather than just watching a movie, I felt like I was learning important life lessons, forced to face my own shortcomings and reflect on my own biases. I felt the whole range of emotions and I don’t think I’ll stop feeling them any time soon.

It’s a movie that will confuse you, touch you, teach you and most likely humble you. The movie is divided into clear chapters that uncover layers of perspectives and depth.

The performances were phenomenal. There are no words to describe how well all the characters were presented. Extreme props to the youngest cast who in my eyes carried the heart and soul of the whole movie.

Directing? Perfection. The way the message of the movie became so clear with every minute, even if initially I was so confused. The way it highlights the importance of the context. The way everything mattered.

I’m one to write essay-long reviews, but I’m honestly still wrapping my head around what I just finished watching and I think I will be in that state for some time. This movie calls for a discussion and brainstorming of the ideas, opinions and perspectives. It’s a story with a huge impact if you pay attention. It’s a movie on human nature, our flaws and mistakes. Strangely, I also think it’s a movie about cognitive laziness and how it affects us and people around us.

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simple yet emotional: a heartwarming story

I found "Love Child" by chance and decided to give it a try - and I'm glad I did!

The story is simple: a young couple trying to navigate life with their autistic child.
The characters don't really have a deep personality (but they honestly don't have to); Ayla was a model student and dreams of becoming a lawyer while Paolo wants to be a filmmaker. Still, the characters are easily likable and the watcher can relate to their actions. The movie mostly follows the daily life of the family and the troubles they face - so don't expect much drama.

Despite the simple story and characters, it manages to connect the story of Ayla's and Paolo's relationship and the story between Kali and his parents nicely. The story progresses in a good pace, never leaving me feel bored while watching. Furthermore, the acting and the visuals (e.g. the coloring) capture the feelings this movie wants to portray perfectly.

Do I recommend this movie? Obviously yes - if you're in for a simple but emotional story!

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has its cute moments, but offers nothing new

I haven't watched the original film they based this on, but it seems to have a very simple plot. I feel like stories like these would have been more charming in the early 2000s, but all of it now is predictable. It didn't have anything particularly unexpected that set it apart from other romance films already put out. What could have made it better for me was if they showed more of the characters' nuances and thoughts.. and fleshed out their relationships. What made the ML truly care about the FL so much? What connection did they build from those surface level interactions? I like the actors in this film, but I couldn't really root for their characters because we're not given a chance to understand their intentions.. they didn't even know much about each other?

Visually, this film is so pretty! I wanted to take a screenshot of every scene.. it is all so pleasing to the eye.. god knows I WIIIISH the story was a bit better 😭

Final verdict: It is a cute little lighthearted film to watch on a slow day. It offers nothing much else though.

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"Do you remember my hand?"

The film Eros contained three short films, the first of which was, The Hand by Wong Kar Wai. Wong Kar Wai is one of those mood directors like Zhang Yi Mou. I don’t always connect emotionally with Wong’s films while still appreciating his unique style. I’m always happy when one clicks with me, and this short erotic film starring Gong Li and Chang Chen did just that.

Xiao Zhang is a tailor apprentice whose first customer is the beautiful prostitute, Miss Hua. He hears her at work while he waits in the sitting room. Miss Hua recognizes that he’s never touched a woman before. Much as the title implies, she touches him, launching his career and an obsession. He begins to take her measurements by hand, literally, memorizing every line of her body. Zhang creates beautiful works of art for her to wear even as her source of income begins to wane.

WKW used many of his techniques-dim lighting, rain, reflections, and close-ups of his gorgeous actors. Gong Li as always was mesmerizing to watch. Chang Chen as the tailor in love with a woman he could never have was stunning. It was a WKW film so I was already braced for a heartbreaking story of unrequited love. And he didn’t fail to bring the angst and the pain. He also brought the erotica without showing much skin. Gong Li and Chang Chen turned up the heat to scorching merely being in proximity to each other.

The Hand was a feast for the eyes and senses. Short, with a shot straight to the heart, wrapped in WKW’s usual style, dripping with barely concealed longing and desire. If you are a fan of WKW’s work and don’t mind erotica, this is definitely a film to try.

11 January 2025

Trigger warnings: The introduction by sexual act with a hand, is the most graphic scene, though not overly so. There is a bare bottom. Sex was often alluded to, with sound effects for those who are sensitive to such things.

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No plot, mid jumpscares.

If you're looking for a good story, this isn't the movie for you. There's nothing crazy about it, some characters might have had a bit of an interesting backstory and relationships between each other … but the male lead was completely missing one. There's way too many scenes that make you question why things happened the way it did.

If you're just looking for a scare, the only thing you'll be getting is mid jump scares with basic horror sound effects and music. The amount of work put into the CGI for the monsters and ghosts are not very good for 2021.

I do not recommend this movie to anyone. I think it would've been better off released as a drama as it doesn't explain the plot very well with the amount of time given.
I started this movie for Chani and Park Yoo-na, but was disappointed with horrible everything.

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