Reviews

What are those rockets that are being shot in the sky everyday? And why is everyone around Saeko acting so weird? Or is just her period? Who is Saeko? Saeko is a normal Highschool girl who wants to change the world, but everyone around her behaves kinda funny; her father stinks, her friends are barring her way, her teacher's a pervert. And Saeko's angry; not to say, hopping mad. But she doesn't know why. Maybe she's just having her period, after all ... Director Yuya Ishii confronts us with a wonderfully bizarre, yet oddly familiar reality which could very well be our own. We see the world through Saeko's eyes as she's trying to cope with everyday situations and her final days in school. "Girl Sparks" is one of those incredibly catchy and honest Coming-of-Age stories like they can only come from Japan. The humor feels fresh, the dialog is terrific, the pacing perfect, while still delivering a kind of bittersweet feeling of nostalgia. Ishii's camera-work is down-to-earth and realistic, the acting is as believable as it gets. Definitely among the best up-to-date films of relevance I've seen in a theater this year. Now all that's left for us to do is pray that this infinitely charming gem will eventually find its way on a subtitled DVD. Aaah, I dare not to hope ...

I always thought this would be a long and boring Talking-Heads flick full of static interior takes, dude, I was wrong. "Election" is a highly fascinating and thoroughly captivating thriller-drama, taking a deep and realistic view behind the origins of Triads-Rituals. Characters are constantly on the move, and although as a viewer you kinda always remain an outsider, it's still possible to feel the suspense coming from certain decisions and ambitions of the characters. Furthermore Johnnie To succeeds in creating some truly opulent images due to meticulously composed lighting and atmospheric light-shadow contrasts. Although there's hardly any action, the ending is still shocking in it's ruthless depicting of brutality. Cool movie that deserves more attention, and I came to like the minimalistic acoustic guitar score quite a bit.

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 screen time) is the more entertaining one of those two story lines. 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.

Twenty minutes of additional footage serve the movie well. Imprudently applied Kitsch remains, though, so does Riki Takeuchi's overacting and that non-subtle Social Message, but now they're all easier to bear, because of 1) deeper insight into certain character background, 2) extended Afghanistan footage, and 3) more headshots, yay. As crude Sledgehammer-Satire with a brainless Blockbuster-Look I can now co-exist with "Battle Royale 2" rather well. And I love Ai Maeda in her Army-Outfit: with strands of hair boldly hanging into her face, while carrying a huge Assault Rifle, she could've escaped right of a Manga Comic Book, which actually fits the tone of the movie quite well; "Starship Troopers without bugs" is also fine. So if you feel like watching "Battle Royale 2", please forget everything about the first one, exclusively allow the Director's Cut to enter your DVD-Player, and before hitting the "Play"-Button, it's imperative to memorize some kind of "Logic in movies sucks"-Mantra. Then, and only then even that conciliatory Ending Solution doesn't hurt as much anymore.

Maybe the one and only movie with a theme about Embroidery, that still can be considered "cool". Kyoko Fukada as cute Lolita-look Aficionado and Anna Tsuchia in a tough Biker-Gang Wardrobe make up a most strange, yet sympathetic pair of friends. Makes you laugh, makes you feel warm, yeah, even nostalgic. "Kamikaze Girls" is the archetypal essence of Manga-Culture come alive, pure J-Pop Fanservice in psychedelic, overbidding videoclip visuals (including one hysterical Anime story sequence), and one of those rare movies, where you don't ever want to see the credits. Also features a great entrance by my favorite Pin-up Idol Eiko Koike.

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 ****ing 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.

Epic disaster movie, but totally different from Hollywood-Stuff (may be a budget thing, too). It's more about personal drama and the Big Picture than all-out Smashing Mayhem and people running around, screaming and dying. The actual Sinking of Japan takes place in a few short destruction-sequences throughout the movie and they are superbly executed (for Japanese standards), in between it's all about Love, Hope, and Sorrow in lofty dialog. Kou Shibasaki and her good looks remain the best thing about this movie. One perfect Farewell-Scene is being spoiled by stupid R'nB-Music, the ending had me crying with affection, though, I suck.

Creative dismemberment of human bodies doesn't automatically achieve a humorous effect. Doggedly told story, no sense for style or truly funny slapstick. Furthermore I felt disappointed that they didn't make it a real Kung-Fu Movie; instead almost every Fight Scene instantly switches to some ultra-bloody Finishing Move, and the Showdown in the kitchen is nothing but grossed-out Bad Taste. Visually-wise "Story of Ricky" is quite competent, though, some sufficiently "sparkling" images here and there, also prosthetic Splatter-SFX came about as rather convincing. Gore-Afficionados most certainly will find them entertaining to watch. May as well be, that this movie is so Bad it's almost Good, but after all the Hype the last thing I wanted to see was a bad movie.

Not too bad Action-Comedy by Danny Pang, starring Ekin Cheng, Ekin Cheng and the always charming Charlene Choi. A homosexual fashion-designer from Hong-Kong (Ekin Cheng) has to close a deal with a Triads-Boss in Thailand, otherwise his twin brother (Ekin Cheng, who after a fatal car-crash lies in a hospital) will lose all his property plus a finger. Yeah, it's shallow comedy and the CGI during a "Bad Boys 2"-style car chase sucks, but characters come along rather likable and there are a couple of really good jokes (Homo-Cheng giving styling tips to the sulky father-in-law of his brother), so if you're equipped with a big forgetting heart and don't mind Not thinking a lot, you're in for some pretty amusing 90 minutes. Some (tame) shootouts have the camera concentrating on slow-motion posing, rather than actual bullets flying, and if you look closely, you'll notice a terrific cross-over-reference to Pang Brothers' "Ab-normal Beauty".

Surprisingly solid Ninja-mainstream with lots of okay CGI and a drawn out "Romeo and Julia"-side plot. Fight scenes are short, yet effectively executed and rely heavily on various Anime-like Special Abilities of the Ninja-Protagonists. I love the flair, has quite an "X-Men"-Feeling as well, plus a tragic twist in a finale which works better than any Final Showdown Stuff would have. How perfect the ending really is, I only came to notice after having watched the movie a second time. Outstanding and moving performance by Yukie Nakama. Also pay attention for a most beautiful ballad by Ayumi Hamasaki, which is playing during the Credits.

"My girlfriend kicked his dick with no mercy, isn't it great?"

The good thing about a movie starring Chingmy Yau is, it still may be as bad as it gets, but it has at least one redeeming factor, and that is, uh, Chingmy Yau. This "Naked Killer" Follow-up is colorful mainstream Exploitation including borderline Bad Taste and an action-packed finale with an insanely satisfying solution. Add a fellatio-technique called "Ice-Fire-Stance", Milk-Advertisement featuring female mercenaries blowing things up in the jungle, Simon Yam, a chainsaw and excessive rape: typical Wong-Jing-Madness. Surprisingly suspenseful thriller-plot, though.

One of the most nihilistic and brutal films I've ever seen, but also one of the most tragic and moving ones. This is an action-melodrama like the world has never seen it before. Sometimes the plot got me close to tears, while in the next moment delivering shocking revelations like a bone-crunching blow to the guts. Chilling performance by Edison Chen. The story of a HK-Cop and a Cambodian killer hunting each other down, while bit by bit losing their humanity, is a strong one. Featuring very little dialog in favor of haunting imagery and gritty camera-work, "Dog bite Dog" is pure HK-Bloodshed without the Heroism.

Reactionary Kung-Fu Revenge-Movie, thats quite heavy on the Anti-Americanism. On the one hand you got US-Soldiers racking pregnant women or kicking the crap out of invalid Rikscha-Drivers, on the other hand there's Jet Li fighting for the Honor of his compatriots. Action features some extremely gritty and bone-breaking choreographies in the best tradition of Tony Jaa. Story is quite emotional, full of unfortunate romantic involvement, good people dying, and kitschy depiction of friendship and affection. In the melodramatic scenes Hate and Pity are taken to the next level of Extremes. The MiramAxe-Version is short on some footage where people are getting peed on; wasn't too angry about missing that out, though.

Pacy as hell Kung-Fu-Comedy with "Twins Effect"-like humor, but tighter and funnier in every possible way. If you thought, Wire-Fu can't be exciting, think again: Yuen Woo-Ping has put together some incredible powerful and extensive choreographies employing wide-ranged techniques, while still giving his actors enough groundwork in order to make them seem believable. Even darling Gillian Chung gets her legs high enough in the air to make a scary opponent for her enemies. Anthony Wong's roguish imitation of a Bruce Lee-like Fighting-Style had me cracking up in an instant, and that Caucasian kid's high-velocity handling of the Pole was nothing short of awesome. "House of Fury" is Prime Exampel of how a modern day Kung-Fu-Flick should look like.