Iron Man by Jon Favreau (2008)
May 3rd, 2008
I had been greatly looking forward to this film for some time, not only because of the excellent looking trailers, but because Iron Man was one of the main comic books that I read for many, many years, and that has not served me well in the past. An example being the Spiderman films, which I didn’t enjoy in the least, having been the very first comic book that I ever read. So I did go into the theater with great trepidation, though I did go to the Arclight theater which had the films Audi and Iron Man’s armor from the film to check out. And I must say for once they have done right. Not only does this film feel true to the original comic book (though updated for modern times), but it is just a great summer popcorn film, with a good story, great cast, and amazing effects. This is the best movie of the year so far, and most likely the best Super Hero movie ever made, even topping the recent Batman film (though I was a much bigger fan of Marvel comics than DC to begin with). This is just a great film all the way around, really an absolute must see. And make sure to stay through the credits to see an extra scene and a great cameo that will link this film to the rest of the Marvel lineup now that Marvel is producing all their own films. If this is how good there self produced films will be, I am looking forward to the rest, and certainly hope that Robert Downey Jr. plays Iron Man in the Avengers film! RUSH, DON’T WALK TO SEE THIS FILM!
Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is a billionaire industrialist making advanced weaponry for the military with his Stark Industries, with little regard for what his weapons are used for. He not only runs the company, but is also the chief technologist. On a trip to Afghanistan to show off his newest missile system his convoy is hit by terrorists using his own weapons, and Stark is taken prisoner, but he has shrapnel in his chest, closing on his heart that will kill him if he doesn’t do something. The terrorists, run by a man called Raza (Faran Tahir) want him to build weapons for them, and he is given the help of another prisoner a Dr. Yinesen (Shaun Toub). The Doctor has done surgery on Stark and has wired up a magnet into his chest to hold back the metal fragments, but he is currently hooked up to a car battery to keep the magnets charged. Stark explains his plans to build armor to the Doctor, and builds an advanced power supply that they wire into his body, and then they build a suit of powered armor powered by the device, for which to escape, but they need more time to start the Armor, so Yinesen gives his life, and Stark powers the suite and manages to escape, crashing into the desert next to a US Patrol led by his friend Lt. Colonel Jim Rhodes (Terrence Howard), but the broken armor is left, and Raza is able to recover it.
REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…
Alien Nation: Ultimate Movie Collection created by Kenneth Johnson (1994-1997)
April 25th, 2008
The 5 Television Films which continued on the Alien Nation TV Series after the show was cancelled, letting them end the cliffhanger, and expand the story to a point where it could end and not leave too much hanging. These 5 movies, DARK HORIZON, BODY AND SOUL, MILLENNIUM, THE ENEMY WITHIN and THE UDARA LEGACY all seem slightly higher budget (Sikes now has a holster instead of keeping his gun in his jeans, and the cop cars seem better and they helicopters) and really do bring more to the story, and I am really glad and amazed that FOX did this instead of just ending the show where the season ended on a cliffhanger.
The story continues with Detectives Matthew Sikes (Gary Graham) and Newcomer George Francisco), and this time George’s wife and daughter Susan (Michele Scarabelli) and daughter Emily (Lauren Woodland) are poisoned by Purists, and the detectives have to figure things out to save them, and Matt’s Tenctonese girlfriend Cathy (Terri Treas) ends up getting help from a strange Tenctonese who helps her, but turns out to be a military Overseer, there to bring all the slaves back, and the humans with them.
REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…
Once Upon a Time in Corea 원스 어폰 어 타임 by Jeong Yong-ki (정용기) [2008]
April 24th, 2008
A wacky romantic action film set during the period of brutal Japanese Oppression of Korea that never really seems to know where it is going, or what it is about. It has some impressive set pieces and looks great, but never delves too deeply into fact that many of these characters are turning against their open people, but then it is a silly caper type flick. It just seems that it doesn’t walk this edge to well. The film looks slick, but is not too impressive over all, a very very light popcorn piece set during much more serious times.
The film takes place during the end of World War 2 in Japanese occupied Korea, turning many Koreans into Japanese sympathizers with Japanese names who turned their back on their own people. The head of the Japanese occupation is obsessed with finding the amazing 2000 carat diamond called the Light of Dong Bang, which they have finally located, and plan on sending back to Japan, but 2 thieves are after it. One is a Jazz Singer names Choon-ja [Lee Bo-yeong (이보영)] a Japanese business man called Yamada [Kim Su-hyeon (김수현)]. Of course this puts the two butting heads, and running along side two idiot freedom fighters who are trying to take out the head of the Japanese occupation.
REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS….
Beowulf by Robert Zemekis (2007)
April 24th, 2008
I had wanted to see this in the theater, and especially in 3D, but Kelly was scared that the 3D would make her sick, so I held off and ended up getting this cheap on the discontinued HD DVD Disc which tends to clean up the banding you get in these computer generated movies on DVD, and certainly did wonders here. And the animation here is pretty amazing, and looks great, and very lifelike, and you can easily tell who the actors are supposed to be (though Ray Winstone sure looks skinny and buff), but for me this movie really begs why, because I am sure this process was actually more costly than doing this in live actrion and adding Grendal and the monsters as effects, and I can’t really say that having it al animated added anything to the story. With science fiction movies like Final Fantasy you can understand because the cost of the sets and the high tech equipment would be too much, but for a medieval story like this, it could easily be done live action with some CG wizardry. Sure you might not be able to get some of these actors to play these parts, as I said Ray Winstone is not this buff or young, and you probably could not get Angelina Jolie to go naked for this, but it could still easily be done, and would probably have looked better overall. I can’t speak as too the adaption as honestly I don’t know it, but this film is decent, but nothing too amazing. Good graphics, but could be so much better.
King Hrothgar (Anthony Hopkings) has a blight on his lands, he is married to a beautiful young woman named Walthow (RObin Wright Penn) and has many people including his follower Unferth (John Malkovich). His wife won’t touch him, and in a night of drunken revelry in their famous hall, an evil creature named Grendel (Crispin Glover) attacks and kills many people. The people are in despair, but from the ocean a brave knight named Beowulf (Ray Winstone) and his men including his right hand Wiglaf (Brendan Gleeson) come to help rid the land of their monster.
REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…
Alien Nation the Complete TV Series created by Kenneth Johnson (1989-1990)
April 23rd, 2008
I loved the 1988 film when it came out, and was a huge fan of the series when it came on in 1989, and was sad to see it leave the air. Sure it is a bit cheesy at times, veering from Monster of the Week to what new revelations about these aliens will their be this week, but it has great and likeable characters, that really grow with you. And I have to say it is too bad I didn’t see the made for TV movies that continued the series when they came out, but I am glad they are available now (even if they don’t always directly follow continuity from the series or from each other). Sure this show shows that it was made in the 1980’s, but it does deal with some very real world things, like racism and bigotry, and that thread is what made it such a good show, and intertwines with elements like Alien Reproduction, that makes it enjoyable to watch even today.
The show starts just after the movie, which takes place 5 years after an Alien Spacecraft landed in the Mohave desert carrying 250,000 Tenctonses Slaves, an Alien race bred to be adaptable with heightened senses and strength and dexterity. After a long quarantine the Tentonses Newcomers have been released and live in Los Angeles, though many people don’t like them, specifically the Earth first Purists, who want to keep these slags in their slagtown. The series follows a slightly bigoted detective named Matthew Sikes (Gary Graham) who after his partner was killed is partnered with the first Newcomer detective George Francisco (Eric Pierpoint). And through the series we see their friendship grow as they each learn more about each other.
REVIEW CONTAINS SOME SPOILERS…
The Forbidden Kingdom by Rob Minkoff (2008)
April 20th, 2008
I have been excited to see this film since I initially heard that Jackie Chan and Jet Li were finally teaming up in a film, though of course the fact that it is an American film in English did damper my enthusiasm, but I must say there fight alone is worth the price of admission, even with a 50 something Jackie and a 40 something Jet Li. And honestly I enjoyed most of the rest of the film as well. It is an enjoyable popcorn adventure film that both kids and martial arts fans can enjoy (thanks to the fight choreography by Yuen Woo Ping). The worst things are the acting of the gang members members in the modern New York section, which is on par with gangs in other Jackie Chan movies, which is to say absolutely terrible, and their distortion of the story of the Monkey King, which starts out alright, but ends with the Monkey King a hero, and skips the whole thing of him rampaging through heaven and being put under a mountain, and only being released by the Buddha Guan Yu to help the monk get the scriptures, nor the fact that basically only he was strong enough to pick up his staff. I know Western Audiences won’t know the difference, but I have read 3 of the 6 books, and seen many movies, and I wish they had tried to keep the Monkey King more accurate. Still overall I did enjoy the film. The writer and/or director fans of Hong Kong martial arts films with all their references to old Shaw films (from the opening title sequence to one of the Monkey King films showing on the lead characters TV), but characters are also borrowed from Classic Hong Kong films, like the Bride with White Hair (originally portrayed by Bridgitte Lynn Chin Hsia), and Golden Sparrow (originally portrayed by Chen Pei Pei). And while the story is simple, it is still fun. The film has good action, great looking locales, and decent enough performances. This is certainly worth going to see, and I will certainly get ti again when it comes out on video..
The film starts with the Monkey King (Jet Li) high on some mountain peaks doing battle with his fearsome staff, but quickly we realize it is a dream of a young white kid named Jason Tripiitikas (Michael Angarano from Sky High). Jason heads out to his favorite haunt, a Chinese pawn shop in Chinatown where he purchases Chinese martial arts films from an old man he has befriended named Old Hop (Jackie Chan Siu Chun). Jason sees into a back room where there is a staff just like the one the Monkey King had in his dream, and Old Hop tells him that it is a staff that has been there since his grandfathers time, and it from some gangs and needs to be returned to it’s rightful owner. Jason leaves and sees a girl, and is bragging about martial arts when a gang shows up led by Lupo (Morgan Benoit), who beat up Jason, and then take him back to Hop’s to help them break in. They get in and end up shooting Hop, and Jason grabs the staff and runs, but they corner him on the roof, but before they can kill him, the staff throws him back and he falls, and wakes up in ancient China in a village. Jason doesn’t speak Chinese, so he is in trouble when soldiers attack, and runs, and is only saved by a wanderer who fights in drunken style named Lu Yan (Jackie Chan).
REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…
Ashes to Ashes created by Matthew Graham and Ashley Pharoah (2008)
April 16th, 2008
The brand new spin-off to the amazing BBC series LIFE ON MARS. This one with the Gene Genie, Gene Hunt, now in London, and it is an enjoyable series, though not near.y as good as LIFE ON MARS. In fact Gene seems to have changed allot, and where he would have never have taken so much shit from Sam, he lets Alex go on and on. Where Sam seemed like a great cop, Alex doesn’t ever meld into the reality, and just does her own thing, if I were Gene I would have fired her long ago, but instead their is this huge sexual tension and Gene seems emasculated by Alex. And Alex’s whole obsession goes on too much, as the show is the best when Gene and his crew are kicking some ass, and not when Alex is whining and doing something with her mother. I still liked it, but it nothing as compared to the show that it is based on. I downloaded the torrents for this because I wanted to see this, but have already pre-ordered the British BBC DVD.
DI Alex Drake (Keelry Hawes) is police psychologist in present day London, whose leaves her daughter in the car as she goes to talk to a mad man named Arthur Layton (Sean Harris) who is waving a gun, and that seems to know something about her parents death in a car bomb in 1981. She has been studying the case of the suicide of DCI Sam Tyler who had found himself in 1973 in a car accident and after awakening jumped from a building and died in the coma. Alex goes in to talk to Leyton, but she is taken by the mad man, and is shot in the head. Alex wakes up in 1981 at a party, and ends up being a new DI working with DCI Gene Hunt (Philip Glenister) who after the death of Sam Tyler after being his DI for 7 years transfered to London. Along with Gene Hunt have transfered Ray Carling (Dean Andrews) and Chris Skelton (Marshall Lancaster) who is now the tech guy. Rounding out the team is Chris’s girlfriend WPC Sharon ‘Shaz’ Granger (Montserrat Lombard).
REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…
Remembrance of the Daleks by Ben Aaronovitch (1988)
April 15th, 2008
My first experience with the seventh Doctor, Sylvester McCoy, who seems a throwback to the earlier older Doctors, except has a modern British Punk companion Ace (Sophie Aldred) who is the toughest companion since the warrior Leela, a 1980’s punk girl with a backpack a bat and a huge boom box. An enjoyable adventure, and in it we first see Daleks able to elevate, or fly and go up stairs. McCoy makes a good doctor, he is a good actor and enjoyable.
The Doctor and Ace arrive in Shoreditch in 1963 and see a strange high tech van that is tracing magnetic fluctuations at Coal Hill School. They meet Professor Jensen (Pamela Salem) and Sergeant Mike Smith (Dursley McLinden) who seems interested in going out with Ace. They are quickly summoned to another source of magnetic fluctuations, and they find Group Captain Gillmore (Simon Williams) who is going up against a grey Dalek. The Doctor uses Ace’s Nitro-9 explosives to destroy the Dalek. Gilmore’s troops who are taking the Dalek remains are attacked by Mr. Ratcliffe (George Sewell) and his men, and the Dalek is taken. The Doctor goes to the school to search and find a Dalek transportation platform in the basement, and The Doctor tells Ace they Daleks are traveling here to get the Hand of Omega. A gold Dalek comes out of the transmat device, and Ace is detained by the school Headmaster (Michael Sheard), and the doctor is almost killed.
REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…
Priceless (Hors De Prix) by Perre Salvadori (2006)
March 30th, 2008
I have dyeing to see a movie for quite some time, but there has been absolutely nothing out since last year, so when I heard a new Audrey Tautou movie, I knew I had to rush out and see it, and was not disappointed (and yes I have watched many movies in between this and the last review, but have been working so much and planning the honeymoon that I haven’t had a chance to do all the reviews that I have been planning to do). This is a wonderfully twisted very French Romantic Comedy that is a twist on Breakfast at Tiffany’s and is well worth seeing, in fact I would easily say it is the best film I have seen this year. It is a wonderful and hysterical romantic romp, only hurt by the fact the always cute Tautou is so skinny here you can see her ribs and her spine, and that is too much. This girl needs to eat some food with butter, or maybe even a hamburger, I mean being that skinny can not be healthy at all!
Jean (Gad Elmaleh) works at an expensive hotel in Paris, doing every duty imaginable from walking the guests dogs to working as bartender at the posh bar. At the hotel is a young and beautiful (if too skinny) gold-digger named Irène (Audrey Tautou), who’s “boyfriend” the old but rich Jacques (Vernon Dobtcheff) has fallen asleep on her, so she heads down to the hotel bar. Jean meanwhile has been forced to drink with and smoke a 100 Euros Cigar with a patron, so passed out on a couch, Irène mistakes him for a rich man. Jean pretends to sneak behind the bar and make her drinks, then takes her up to the nicest suite in the hotel and sleeps with her, but she is gone in the morning, having left with Jacques. A year later Irène and Jacques return to the hotel, and Jacques gives her an engagement ring. Jean is again in his tuxedo, waiting tables, but when he sees her, he pulls his tie, and plays the rich man, sneaking off, and once again sees her at the hotel bar and sleeps with her again. That morning Irène sneaks out, but Jacques is up, and he takes her engagement ring and kicks her out, so she returns to Jean, pretending she left Jacques for him, but they are quickly caught when a family is brought into the suite, and they are found in bed, and he is exposed as a hotel worker.
REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…
2 Days in Paris written and directed by Julie Delpy (2007)
March 25th, 2008
I really had high hopes for this film, and wanted to watch it with my lovely fiancee Kelly because we are both such big fans of BEFORE SUNRISE and BEFORE SUNSET, which this seemed to be a spiritual sequel too, but she couldn’t watch it because it is all handheld and too shaky for her, so I watched it on my own. And while I enjoyed it, the characters annoyed me more than made me love them (as had happened in the earlier films) and I couldn’t see why these two were really together to begin with. I just didn’t believe the relationship so much, and that made the film not so special.
Marion (Julie Delpy) and Jack (Adam Goldberg) are on a European Trip and heading to Paris before they return to New York to meet her family and for her to catch up with old friends, but things don’t go so well and start to draw them apart. She is a photographer, but on this vacation he annoyingly takes pictures of everything, and he seems to complain about everything. They meet her family, her mother Anna (Marie Pillet) who had a thing with Jim Morrison, Father Jeannot (Albert Delpy) and sister Rose (Aleksia Landeau), and things get off to a rocky start right away, especially when Jack learns she sent photos with him naked except a balloon tied to his genitals to the family, and it gets worse when he finds a similar photo of another guy in her apartment.
REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS….
Strawberry Shortcakes by Yazaki Hitoshi (2006)
March 19th, 2008
A film based on the manga by Nananan Kiriko, this is a tale of yearning for love and hope following a group of women whose lives at least slightly intersect in the cold and impersonal world of modern Japan. It is a film that slow simmers, where it starts off slow, showing little glimpses into these women’s lives, but also taking you from a non-caring observer to a person with a vested interest in these women’s lives, loves and hopes. This film certainly makes Tokyo seem a lonely place one can get lost in, but still it does have a glimmer of hope in there, and ends on a high rather than a low. A godo film, and I hope to see more out of Yazaki because he did a great job with these actresses.
The film follows 4 different women living in Tokyo, Satoko (Ikewaki Chizuru) who works as a receptionist at an escort agency, and Akiyo (Nakamura Yuko) who works as a prostitute. And an OL or Office Ladey named Chihiro (Nakagoshi Noriko) and her freelance artist roommate named Toko (Nananan Kiriko). And these girls are all out in their own ways to find love and hope and happiness, but they have to find themselves first.
REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…
Revelation of the Daleks by Graeme Harper (1985)
March 18th, 2008
My first Colin Baker adventure (well I remember seeing him as a kid, and being totally disturbed), and I enjoyed it, though it is certainly quite different, but still the Doctor, and still enjoyable. And this is the first time I have seen an American companion with Peri (Nicola Bryant), and it is a great contrast to this more aristocratic doctor. Not an amazing story, but enjoyable.
The Doctor (Colin Baker) and his companion Peri (Nicola Byrant) land on the planet Necros to go to the funeral of an old friend at a suspended animation facility called Tranquil Repose, which is also supplying food to the poor of the galaxy, and so a very important place. They are attacked by a mutant who tells them that someone named the Great Healer experimented on him and caused his genetic mutation. A strange disc jokey (Alexai Sayle) is acting like a 60’s rock DJ, and monitoring what goes on, as he DJ’s for the people in suspended animation. A couple enters the facility looking for the man the Doctor is visiting Arthur Stengos, these are his daughter Natasha (Bridget Lynch-Blosse) and Grigory (Stephen Flynn). They find some experiments, and aDalek casing with a mutant creature inside, who turns out to by Arthur (Alec Linstead) who is becoming a Dalek. A woman named Kara (Eleanor Bron) owns the company, but is under the heal of the Great Healer who turns out to be Davros (Terry Maooloy) who is taking her profits. Kara hires a contract mercenary named Orcini (William Guant) and his squire Bostcok (John Ogwen) who she sends to kill Davros. Meanwhile the Doctor and Peri meet Tasambeker (Jenny Tomasin), and Peri wants to the DJ, and the Doctor finds a statue of himself at the facility as a dead person and it falls on him.
REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…
Resurrection of the Daleks by Matthew Robinson (1984)
March 17th, 2008
I went on a Dalek kick and picked up basically all of the available DALEK episodes of Dr. Who, and thus also got an intro to a bunch of the Doctors that I didn’t know, and I have just started to get to know, and Peter Davison is one I only recently got to know, and while he is nothing compared to Tom Baker, he and Janet Fielding are an interesting pair, and I enjoyed this return to the Daleks, as it really seems like a sequel to the last Tom Baker Dalek episode Destiny of the Daleks. This is an enjoyable episode though not amazing. The humanoid Daleks seems strange, but do foreshadow what would happen in the current Doctor Who series. Not my favorite Doctor, but it seems, I do enjoy most of Doctor Who, and at least in some way I like all of the Doctors, or maybe I just like the Tardis.
The Doctor (Peter Davison) along with his companions Tegan (Janet Fielding) and Turlough (Mark Stickson) get stuck in a time vortek that is sending them to London in 1984. Meanwhile some strange London police led by Commander Lytton (Maurice Colbourne) gun down some strange humanoids, but two escape Galloway (William Sleigh) and Quartermaster Sergeant Stein (Rodney Bewes), who go into a warehouse, where Galloway is killed. Lytton heads back to a warship in space and prepares to attack a prison space station. The humans on the prison ship have only one Prisoner, and prepare for the attack, setting up what defense that they can. Lytton and his men break into the cell and manage to release Davros (Terry Molloy) from his cryogenic sleep that the fourth doctor put him in. The Doctor and his companions meat Stein, and befriend him. They search the warehouse, and find alien artifacts and Turlough ends up going through the Time Corrider and ends on the Dalek ship.
REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…
Appleseed Ex Machina directed by Shinji Aramaki (2007)
March 13th, 2008
A John Woo produced CG sequel to the last Appleseed film, that far exceeds the original film, even if it does have a some rough edges. Still it is nice to finally have some good character development in Duenan and Briareos, even fi their friends Hitomi and Yoshi are given second thrift. The film has great action, the computer graphics are top notch (even if the compression is a little ugly, with some nasty gradients and compression on this disc). The biggest complaint I have with this disc, is the subtitles are in fact dub titles, meaning they are taken from the English Language track instead of being what the original Japanese were. This is a horrible rookie mistake by Warner, and is exactly what real anime fans hate. So I ended up watching the English dub of the film. If you like Mechs and high tech John Woo style action, you will certainly enjoy this film, and I am really looking forward to the third film in the series. I like how the technology has been updated as the Appleseed Manga is from the 1980’s and this is the 21st century.
Once again in the post apocalyptic future, where the world is totally at war, there exists a city nation named Olympus, which is a supposed Utopian Metropolis run by Gaia a vast artificial intelligence computer. The society is kept Utopian by being run by genetically engineered humans called bioroids whose DNA has suppressed strong and negative emotions to keep an ordered society. Things of course are not always orderly, so the Country has not only police, but a Special Forces called ES.W.A.T. The two top soldiers are a team consisting of the lovely blond Duenan Knute and her cyborg partner Briareos, and they were lovers before he was so wounded to become a full body cyborg. The film starts with the team helping out another country with some terrorists, and of course Duenan rushes in as she always does, but these terrorists are different and turn out to be all cyborgs, though they manage to take them all out, but then the cyborgs start to explode, so Briareo pushes Duenan out, but he is caught in the blast and badly hurt. He is still alive, but must have his body worked on, so Duenan is given a new partner, one that will severally complicate things.
REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…
Doctor Who Story 010 The Dalek Invasion of Earth by Richard Martin (1964)
March 12th, 2008
This is the earliest episode of Doctor Who I have ever seen, and the only one with the first Doctor and his granddaughter Susan, and the basic story was remade into the 2 movies Dr. Who and the Daleks and Saleks Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. which change the story and make it actually Doctor Who from Earth. This actually starts the second season of Doctor Who and while the quality of the black and white video is quite low, it is surprising how much of the original Who is still in the story (even if he didn’t become a Timelord until the second Doctor, and the third Doctor that talked about Gallifrey). And the Daleks improved, but these are the basic ones (actually there second appearance) that have not really changed till this day. Cool to see. Damn I would love to see the entire Doctor Who series.
The Doctor (William Hartnell) materializes the Tardis on Earth in London, though not quite sure of the time, though he is supposed to return Ian Chesterton (William Russell) and Barbara Wright (Jacqueline Hill) to their home, and they get out with the Doctor’s niece Susan Foreman (Carol Anne Ford). London is curiously silent. Susan tries to climb a wall, but slips and twists her ankle, and causes the bridge to fall and cover the entrance to the Tardis. The Doctor and Ian head off to check out a warehouse across the way, and find a calendar marked 2164 and a dead body with a strange appliance attached to his head, a Roboman. Meanwhile Susuan and Barbara get taken by human freedom fighters to their hiding place. The Doctor and Ian decide to return to the Tardis when they see a flying saucer over the city, but they find the girls have gone, and then Robomen surround them, and a Dalek emerges from the water, as they have conquerd Earth. The Dalek orders them taken to the Landing area.
REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILER…
Doctor Who Story 104 Destiny of the Daleks by Ken Grieve (1979)
March 6th, 2008
A mediocre Tom Baker adventure as Doctor Who. Enjoyable that it has the Daleks and is the first episode of the second Romana (Lalla Ward who had just played Princess AStra in the Armageddon Factor and who ended up marrying Baker for a short period), but obviously low budget, and not too hard workout out. I love when for set pieces they have little spot lights on stands. I mean that doesn’t throw you out at all does it? Still it was Tom Baker Doctor who, so I still had fun watching it.
Using the randomizer so as not to run into enemy hands, the Tardis lands a planet that is strangely familiar to the Doctor (Tom Baker). K-9 is suffering from Laryngitis, and Romana (Lalla Ward) comes out in the form of Princess Astra having just regenerated, the Doctor wants her to take another form, but this is the one she wants, so he relents, and the two head out. The planet has very high levels of radiation, so they take pills and head out, but their are seismic disturbances and explosions. They watch some humanoids burry a body, and then watch a spaceship come and land and half burry itself in the sand, they are going to investigate, but explosions make them enter ruins, where a girder falls on the doctor. Romana goes back to get K-9, but discovers that the Tardis has been partially burried, and when she returns, the Doctor is gone. The Doctor has been taken by a silver haired high tech race called the Movellans. Romana sees a man, and runs to hide and ends up captured by the Daleks.
REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…
Doctor Who Story 081 Planet of Evil by David Maloney (1975)
March 4th, 2008
A classic Tom Baker Doctor Who with Elisabeth Sladen as his companion. This one has elements of both Forbidden Planet and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and really has 4 enemies that the Doctor must Deal with or befriend. This is a great one, and I love the planetary sets as well as the space ship they end up on. Not only that but Sladen was so much more an equal to the doctor than Billie Piper could ever be. This is must see for all Tom Baker fans.
The TARDIS picks up a distress call, and ends up on the planet Zeta Minor, where a Morestran Scientific expedition had fallen to an invisible killer that takes the bodies and then brings them back completely drained of life. A military mission from Soresnosn arrives, and finds Professor Sorenson (Frederick Jaeger) still alive, though a bit manic and unwilling to give up his antimatter work. The squad takes the Doctor captive, thinking he is the killer, and beam the Tardis to their ship with Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen) inside of it.
REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…
My Blueberry Nights by Wong Kar Wai (2007)
March 3rd, 2008
I have been so excited to see Wong Kar Wai’s American Feature Debut, and have to say I was a bit disappointed. While this film is ostensibly a single film, it feels more like 3 films stuck together with an actress without the chops to make it one film. In fact Nora Jones acting, while it improved through the film, was just not nearly up to snuff with the other actors. And in fact the other ancillary actors are all amazing.Wong Kar Wai got out his past amazing level of performance with the great actors. Jude Law, David Stratharin, Natalie Portman and Rachel Weisz have never been better, and the only problem is that Nora Jones is just kind of their as the audience, much like Charlie Sheen’s character was like in PLATOON. She acts as the audience, and just doesn’t match with these other amazing performances. In fact for the first time I really noticed the transitions to Wong Kar Wai’s ubiquitous Frame Step Technique, which I normally love, but here at times it felt jarring. That is not to say I hated this film, I enjoyed it, and the supporting actors were fantastic, but still it felt more like Wiong Kar Wai light, and is one of my least favorite Wong Kar Wai films (not saying too much since he is my favorite director).
The film starts with the British owner of a cafe in New York named Jeremy (Jude Law) has a run in with a customer named Elizabeth (Norah Jones) who is trying to find out if her ex is cheating on her, and of course he is. Jeremy keeps keys for people with Ex’s, so they don’t have to think about them, and he takes Elizabeth’s keys. Elizabeth eats blueberry pie with him, and he starts to like her. She then returns to get her keys back, but instead gets the story of all the keys, including his key about a missing Russian girl. When she leaves she gets mugged, and he gets hit by customers fighting. And finally Elizabeth leaves, and leaves Jeremy period, leaving for Memphis, Tennessee to forget her boyfriend.
REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…
Lovers’ Concerto 연애소설 written and directed by Lee Han (이한) 2002
February 28th, 2008
An enjoyable and quit depressing Korean Melodrama. I picked this up to see the performance of the beautiful Lee Eun-joo who was so great in Taegukgi and the Scarlet Letter (in with she played nude), and who shortly thereafter slit her her wrists and hung herself in a depression over those nude scenes. It really is a tragedy because she was really turning into a great young actress. The film itself is very well done and enjoyable and through I knew it was melodrama I didn’t expect ti to go quite where it did, and it was quite moving and sad. Well worth checking out, especially since YA Entertainment has a region 1 DVD of the film available.
Ji-hwan [Cha Tae-hyeon (차태현) from My Sassy Girl] receives a mysterious letter in the mail with no return address, but is a photo of children playing, and it reminds him of his past, and particularly two women. We cut back 5 years to where Ji-hwan is a literature undergraduate working at a cafe whose favorite hobby is photography. He spots a gorgeous woman outside the window and instantly falls in love, and wants to photograph her, but her best friend walks in the way.. These girls are Soo-in [Son Ye-jin (손예진)] and her best friend Gyung-hee [Lee Eun-joo (이은주)]. Ji Hwan doesn’t say anything in time, so he awakens his friend who owns the cafe and runs on a bike after girls who are in a taxi. He manages to catch up and goes inside and professes his love to Soo-in (though it is obvious that Gyung-hee likes him). Soon-in tells him he is making her uncomfortable, so he leaves, but goes and buys a clock, and turns back the time by and hour and has a waiter give them a note, saying he wishes he could turn back time an hour, but hopes when they meet again, they can meet as best friends.
REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…
Life on Mars created by Matthew Graham, Tony Jordan and Ashley Pharoah (2006-2007)
February 26th, 2008
I started watching this show because I had seen John Simm on Doctor Who playing the Master in the new series Season 3 ending, and I was really impressed with him as an actor. And I saw that he had another BBC series playing on BBC America, and this was LIFE ON MARS, which I caught up starting with the second season, and was blown away. Once I finished, I tried to find the first series on DVD, but it isn’t released in the US, so I downloaded the first series via Torrents, and watched them on my iPhone. And again this whole series is just so damn good, that I ended up picking up the DVD’s from Amazon UK (A Region 3 PAL disc since my OPPO easily converts PAL discs to play on NTSC). This is such a great show. Not only is it an excellent 70’s cop drama, but it also has science fiction elements, and elements of mental instability as well. It is also a tale of a man who has lost his humanity, and through a bizarre set of circumstances, starts to get it back, but also to teach his humanity what it can use of his clinical self. Really of my favorite shows, I just wish it wasn’t only 2 series long, though at least ASHES TO ASHES is on now, which continues the story of DCI Hunt, but now in the 80’s. Damn this is a great show! And I love seeing it how it was, with racism and sexism and a great soundtrack, because that is how it was.
The first episode of the first series starts off with DCI (that is Detective Chief Inspector) Sam Tyler (John Simm) is leading a murder investigation in 2006 Manchester. Sam is cold an analytical, and never listens to his gut. His girlfriend works for him, she is named Maya (Archie Panjabi), and she stills believe in her gut, and that causes her to be taken by the killer. Sam starts to freak out, and stops his car, and gets out, while the David Bowie song Life on Mars plays on his ipod, and he gets hit by a car. Sam wakes up in the same location in 1973, where he finds out he is a DI (Detective Inspector) working for a gruff, alcoholic self proclaimed Sheriff of Manchester. This is Gene Hunt (Philip Glenister) who is known to his people as Guv. Working for the Governor is his DS (Detective Sergeant) Ray Carling (Dean Andrews) who instantly hates Sam because he wanted his job, and Chris Skelton (Marshall Lancaster) the young coper who just wants to learn from whomever is his boss. Sam gets thrown right into a murder case, and one in the same place as the one he was investigating in 2006, but he is still messed up, so he talks to a Female Cop named Annie Cartwright (Liz White) who is super cute, though a bit overweight, and there is instantly a bit of attraction. Sam talks to her about being from the future, and she tries to calm him down, having a psychology degree himself. Sam meanwhile keeps having visions of someone in red running through a forrest, and he is also hearing voices that make him believe that he is not in the past, but is in actually in a coma in 2006, and he has to figure out what is going on, to be able to get back to his life. Rounding out the cast is Nelson (Tony Marshall) the Jamaican who owns their local pub, and who is another guiding voice for Sam.
REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…
Kekko Kammen by Nagime Takafumi (2004)
February 23rd, 2008
A ridiculously low budget titillating japanese send up of fan service with a nude super hero who saves the woman at a school for television journalists. Also known as Kekko Kamen new, and the film has the wrong listing at IMDB, listing the stats for the next film Kekko Kamen: Mangurifon no gyakushu. This film has bad effects, topless (when full nudity is shown it is blurred by bright light coming from the crotch. This is almost too bad to be good, but still has some ridiculous fun to it.
A young japanese expat from New Zealand named Mayumi (Hoshino Aki) has returned to new Zealand to attend the Mangriffon School for young Journalists, but is having a hard time because she does not know Kanji. The teachers are in fact sadists who use a torture room in the basement to punish their students. Mayumi is soon tortured, but is saved by a naked superhero named Kekko Kamen (Mori Misaki).
REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…
Happiness 행복 written and directed by Heo Jin-ho (허진호) 2007
February 23rd, 2008
Another sad romance from Heo Jin Ho. I enjoyed his Christmas in August and April Snow, and going in you know it is going to be a painful experience, and this one lived up to that. And I did enjoy this dark film, but honestly the biggest problem is that I just didn’t like the main character. He is just an evil cad, and while he finally does have some semblance of change at the end, he really is just a bastard throughout, and couldn’t even get over himself to help a dyeing woman. What an evil bastard. I did enjoy the film, but overall it is just a painful watch.
Yeong-jae (Hwang Jeong-min 황정민) is an alcoholic chain smoking night club owner, who is just falling apart. His girlfriend Su-yeon (Kong Hyo-jin 공효진)) is sick of him, and leaves him when he tells her is leaving for overseas for a year or two. He sells his business to his best friend, also lies to his mother about going overseas, and then heads to a small town where there is a place called the Hotel Hope, which rehabilitates and helps sick people. He drinks some soju, and has a cigarette, pissing off a beautiful girl named Eun-hi (Im Soo-jeong 임수정). He then heads up to the rehab, but really doesn’t take it seriously, even though he has liver sorosis, though he still sneaks drinks and smokes. His roommate has lung cancer and snores. Slowly though he develops a relationship with the beautiful Eun-hi who has bad lungs, and can die from exertion. She slowly falls in love with him, and he likes her, and they end up moving in together in a small place outside of the facility, and living a small simple life, but he is not happy, while she is ecstatic, and wants him to promise to stay with her until she dies.
REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…
May 18 화려한 휴가 by Kim Ji-hoon (김지훈) 2008
February 22nd, 2008
A big budget epic, that was Korea’s highest grossing film, and I an see why. This is a fictional story based on the true events based on the Gwangju massacre that occurred between May 18th and May 27th, 1980 in South Korea in a period of martial law. An event where the exact fatalities are still not known, but many people were killed. This is an enjoyable film, though of course sad, and of course you know a bigger tragedy is coming as the film goes on. I enjoyed this film because I liked the characters and grew to care about them, which made their impending doom so much harder to take. A well done and gorgeous film, and an enjoyable watch, even if you know what will inevitably come. And amazing to think that this was happening in Korea in 1980, a country I think of as a democratic nation. Of course we are giving up our human rights freely in the name of fighting terror at this point, which is pretty scary in it’s own.
In 1980 a Korean General Chun Doo-hwan declared Martial law in South Korea, and he sent the armed forces around the country to set up in all the universities to put down any so called revolutionaries who would protest. We meet a taxie driver named Min-woo (Kim Sang-kyeong 김상경 from Memories of Murder) who hangs with his best friend a loud taxi driver, and takes care of his high school student brother named Jin-woo (Lee Joon-ki 이준기). Min-woo pines for a local nurse named Shin-ae (Lee Yo-won 이요원) who goes to church with Jin-woo, and whose father is an military commander named Heung-su (Ahn Seong-gi 안성기) who also happens to be Min-woo’s boss. Min-woo figures out a plan to get Shin-ae to go the movies with him by using Jin-woo to get her to go, but outside the students are protesting, and the military starts using deadly force, and when the theater gets smoke grenades coming into, they go outside, and the military turns on them, and they barely manage to get away. The militaries use of lethal force, and the fact that they are indiscriminate in their violence, attacking anyone who is out and in front of them, turns the people against the military, and they all start to go out and protest.
REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…
Genghis Khan: To the Ends of the Earth and Sea by Sawai Shinichiro (2007)
February 20th, 2008
A Japanese Epic blockbuster of the story of the great Mongol General, that is an enjoyable popcorn film, but does not seem deep at all. The film feels more like a plastic Hollywood film than a great epic, as the film has an almost all Japanese cast, and is all in Japanese and sounds like a samurai film in the performances and dialogue. And the film never has much depth to it, glossing over emotions, even in things like him meeting his second wife. It fells rushed, but the battles are pretty damn intense, with some amazing horse stunts, and there must have been endless extras (it was the most expensive Japanese film of all time, even if it did bomb). I enjoyed it, but wouldn’t recommend it to many.
In the year 1162 the Mongolian tribes are not united, they all fight with each other, and even steal women from each other, and the leader of the Borjigin tribe Yesugei-Baatar (Hosaka Naoki) steals Houlun (Wakamura Mayumi) from a man of the Merkit tribe, and makes her his wife, though she hopes that her husband will return for her, though he doesn’t. 9 Months later she has a boy and her husband names him Temujin (when grown he will be played by Sorimachi Takashi) and though people think he is Merkit, he takes him as his son. When the boy is 14, and he and Houlun have had more children, he takes Temujin to go and find a wife, and ends up getting engaged to the daughter of a friend of his named Bolte (Kikukawa Rei). He then makes friends with her childhood friend Jamuqa (Hirayama Yuskue), and they make a bond as brothers for life, but then Temujin gets a message that his father has been killed by a poisoned arrow, and he must return home quickly.
REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS...
Sicko written and directed by Michael Moore (2007)
February 16th, 2008
Moore’s amazing follow up to Fahrenheit 9/11 is this time about the American Health Care industry, and it instead of being killed was in fact universally lauded, even liked by FOX News. This is an a film about the American Health Care system, ranked very low in the world, and the only high level country to not have a universal health care system. The film talks about the people unable to get healthcare, but mainly focuses on the people who have health insurance and who have been denied care for various reasons. It then goes into the universal health care systems of other countries like Canada, England and France. In fact the film is so powerful it made me cry, especially as an American with a pre-existing possibly fatal heart condition who is unable to get health care.