The Happiness of the Katakuris

Catching Up With A Director Segment

This month's director is Takashi Miike
and tonight I saw another good film.
It's Miike's musical:


The Happiness of the Katakuris
This is one of my favorite Takashi Miike films now.
Gotta have this on the shelf.
There's hardly any gore and violent scenes,
but, it's a weird original story with music.
The songs are hilarious.
I was cracking up very hard at the
"the zombies dancing scene."
This has different genres (animation, musical,
and comedy).

I haven't yet seen a bad movie from Takashi Miike.
He's got a lot of weird ones and some that
you have to be in the mood to watch.
So, from my most favorite film to least favorite,
here's the list:
1. Ichi The Killer
2. Audition
3. Happiness of the Katakuris
4. Dead or Alive
5. Fudoh: The New Generation
6. Graveyard of Honor
7. Sukiyake Western Django
8. The Great Yokai War
9. Bird People in China
10. One Missed Call
11. Gozu
12. Izo
13. Full Metal Yakuza
14. Visitor Q
(Visitor Q is his most disturbing film, but still okay.
Just have to be mentally in the mood to see it.)

Now, here's the trailer for The Happiness of the Katakuris:

The Great Yokai War

Catching Up With A Director Segment

(Takashi Miike Month)

The fourth Miike film this month is
his Fantasy/Children movie:


The Great Yokai War
Loved it.
This is supposed to be for kids but
it's not really a typical kids movie.
If you were to put a little bit of
"The Neverending Story" with a little bit
of the "Harry Potter" movies with Guillermo Del Toro's
characters in a blender and add some Miike in there,
you get "The Great Yokai War."
It was dark, it was weird, and I love the bizarre characters.

The story was alright. But, seeing all these images,
made it all worth it.
I think it's worth buying, but I'm a sucker for Asian cinema
and especially with weird characters.

Full Metal Yakuza

Catching Up With A Director Segment

(Takashi Miike Month)

The third Miike film to see this month is his
yakuza sci-fi flick:

Full Metal Yakuza
Typical Miike flick especially the ending.
I like the concept.
Didn't enjoy it as much as I wanted to.
I thought this was going to be a bit more crazy.
But, I give it props for being different.

An okay movie in my book.
No other comments.

Graveyard Of Honor

Catching Up With A Director Segment

This month's director is Takashi Miike.

This morning, I decided to watch his yakuza drama:

Graveyard Of Honor
This is a remake of a japanese classic under the same name.
This is one of the best yakuza flicks I've ever seen.
It's not the usual Miike's over the top yakuza flick,
but, I did see his style in here.
This one has a serious tone and it's very slow and
character driven.
This reminded me of Sonatine mixed with Scarface.
But, Tony Montana don't have anything on Rikuo Ishimatsu.
This dude is more psycho and ruthless and very
non-likeable.

This is a movie that will grow on me.
It wasn't exactly love at first sight,
but it's a start of a beautiful friendship.

One Missed Call

Catching Up With A Director Segment

July is almost over but haven't done a
director segment yet.
Since I've been watching a lot of Asian films
this month, I might as well pick an Asian director
to catch up to this month.
This month's director is Takashi Miike.
This guy comes up with an average of 4 movies
per year.
Most of them are violent yakuza films.
For these last days of July, I'll be watching five films
from Miike. Each film will be a different genre.
I'll do a horror, musical, a children's movie, a yakuza sci fi, and a yakuza drama.

The only films I've seen from this director are:
Audition
Ichi the Killer
Visitor Q
Fudoh: The New Generation
Dead or Alive
Sukiyake Western Django
Izo
Bird People in China
Gozu

Tonight's movie is a horror.


One Missed Call
This is the original Japanese version.
I haven't seen the American remake.
This was some spooky stuff.
It didn't quite feel like a Takashi Miike film,
but it was well made.
The imagery of these "ghosts" are crazy.
There's a lot similarities between this
"The Grudge" and "The Ring" (haven't seen the
Japanese version of these two but I imagine
it was the same thing).

Favorite part: the hands and face that appear
in the kitchen cabinet.
Might have some nightmares tonight.
Overall:
A little better than okay for a Miike film.

Ip Man

New Release Tuesdays Presents:

Ip Man
Bravo.
This kung fu masterpiece met my expectations.
It was everything I hoped it would be.
No surprises there in that department.
Ever since late last year when I first heard
about this through a ButtNumbAThon review,
I knew this was going to be something special.
Now, I can officially say that this is
one of the best kung fu films I've ever seen.
I don't know if this is my number one best,
but for sure it's on my top five of all time.
The one vs. ten scene was my favorite.
Also got to mention the sound on this sucker.
Excellent freaking sound.

Must have for the kung fu section.

Mother

Mother
Bad ass Korean flick!!
A must buy for Asian fans.
It was a bit strange, it was original,
and good surprises.
Love the style!!
The lady that plays "the mother"
gave a fantastic performance, in my opinion.
Now, I have another perfect movie to watch
on Mother's Day.

This is the same director who did another one
of my Korean favorites, The Host.
Great stuff!!

Mad Dog Morgan / Howling III

Friday at the Grindhouse Presents:
An Ozploitation Double Feature


Mad Dog Morgan
Before I get started with my comments,
I want to say that I first heard about these two films
when I saw the documentary, "Not Quite Hollywood."
Out of curiosity, I wanted to check these out.
Both this film and Howling III were directed
by the same director.
As far as Mad Dog Morgan, I thought it was not
as good as the documentary made it seem to be
for grindhouse fans.
Dennis Hopper was alright. I honestly thought
he was going to be crazier than what I saw.
There's some strong scenes, but as a
grindhouse picture, I didn't like it.

Hopper fans check it out.
Others, beware.




Howling III
This was a little better than the previous film.
It's so bad that it's kinda good comes into play.
The one scene that attracted me to this is part
of a movie within this movie.
This guy takes the young wolf girl to the theater
and they see a movie that has some bad ass parts.
I wish this movie was like that movie they saw.
But, cheesy dialogue and cheesy scenes
makes this one quite bit enjoyable.
Not a grindhouse classic, but something
to entertain the grindhouse fans.

If you're not into grindhouse films, don't watch this at all.
Grindhouse fans: not highly recommended but it's
alright to take a peek. Them Aussies go kinda out there
with their movies, not quite hollywood.

The Losers (2010)

The Losers
Fun movie.
Felt like it was rushed at times.
It wasn't perfect.
It was semi-predictable.
But, good popcorn entertainment flick.
Gotta love the scene with the "Midnight Train"
song by Journey. Can't go wrong.
Not one character stands out to me,
but as a whole, I didn't mind this team.

"Take that, you evil corrupted government official."
That's what I got from this plus bubble-gum.

The God of Cookery

The God of Cookery
There hasn't been one Stephen Chow film that
I did not like. This is another great classic
that I finally got to see tonight.
His usual style of comedy is on here as well
as some kung fu.
The story here reminded me of his later well known
works (Kung Fu Hustle and Shaolin Soccer).
This one is up there with King of Comedy.
Fantastic film that gets even better
as the story unfolds.
The way they told it was weird but cool.
Of course, you got to have some over the top scenes
that Chow's known for.

If you happen to find a copy of this, buy it with the quickness.
Let me document here that Stephen Chow is my
favorite Hong Kong director.

Cop Out (2010)

New Release Tuesdays Presents:

Cop Out

A little disappointing but that was expected.
I'm here to be honest.

I wanted to like this movie because I'm a

fan of Kevin Smith.
I like some parts of the movie.

But, overall, I just didn't feel it.
I knew not to take seriously.
I like some of the stupidity here just like

other Kevin Smith films.

I just didn't think it worked as a whole.
This is the first time that he directed

a movie that someone else wrote,

but still, this affects his credibility.

And since I'm being honest, I might as well throw in that,

I actually liked Jersey Girl (the most hated Smith movie by

most people). So, in other words, this one is below Jersey Girl

for me. Of course, I'll eventually have to buy this for

the Kevin Smith collection. Others beware.

Give 'Em Hell, Malone

Give 'Em Hell, Malone
Not bad but not great.
If the rest of the movie was just like the first 5 minutes,
this would of been kick ass.
There's some good moments throughout
this cheesy film noir flick.
I enjoyed some of the style,
but like I said, it wasn't great.
It's got that graphic novel feel with
some exaggeration. I didn't mind that.
I didn't like the plot and twist towards
the end. It felt a bit lazy.

A cheap bottle of whiskey goes well with this movie.
Hopefully, it will make you forget some of this.
And that's a good thing.

Youth in Revolt

Youth in Revolt
The best thing about this movie is the soundtrack.
The story was okay.
Enjoyed the first half.
Michael Cera plays the usual sweet virgin
and all the cameos were okay.
But, the soundtrack rocks.
Just had to write that one more time.

Good one night stand movie!
It would be kind of lame if you want to see it again.

Primer

Primer
This was a nice little low budget sci-fi flick.
Reminded me a little of a bad ass independent
movie called, Timecrimes.
It was kinda hard to pick up some of the story,
but in the end, I think I got it.

For some reason, my brain wanted another mind shattering movie
after last night's Inception movie.
This did okay.

Inception (2010)

Inception
The brain damage that Memento caused
me when I first saw it in 2002 equals
the same amount of brain damage that
Inception has caused me today.
That's what made Memento my favorite
Christopher Nolan film.
And that's the reason why this could be
my number one favorite movie this year.
I write that "this could be" because I have
to watch it several more times to come up
with that conclusion.
Most likely, this will be the best film I've seen this year so far.
I'm human. I have to watch it again.
Duh, this is supposed to be the kind of film
that you enjoy more and more after mutiple views.
Kudos to Christopher Nolan who has not disappointed.

I'm going crazy right now.
So, I'm going to stop.
Maybe, I'll watch Shutter Island
to calm the nerves
(another great film this year starring DiCaprio).

Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit

(I decided to have Animation Night this morning because
I have an appointment with Inception tonight.)

Animation Night Presents:

Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
I been wanting to watch this Animation for quite some time.
Very cool.
Short and simple.
Basically, it has the warewolf theme with no wolves just rabbits.
Found it clever and charming.
Need to train my dog Mr. Peeps to be more like Gromit.
Have him help me invent some cool gadgets.

Fun stuff.

Django Kill, If You Live, Shoot!

Spaghetti Western Night Presents:

Django Kill, If You Live, Shoot!
It starts out typical but it doesn't turn out
like the typical spaghetti western.
It had a lot of things to say about racism in the beginning.
I like some of the music and certain scenes.
Would love to see the uncensored digital version,
but unfortunately all I can find today was a used up VHS.
Some of the violent scenes were distorted.
I was left a bit confused at the end.
What was the point of The Stranger?
In the end, he left with his horse empty handed.
Was it that his presence in that town sorted out
the mess between people?
I guess. Didn't like the way it turned out.

Might have to revisit this on DVD one day, but for

now, I didn't enjoy it as much as I wanted to.

For the record, Tomas Milian is my third favorite spaghetti

western actor (next to Lee Van Cleef and Eastwood).

Terribly Happy

New Release Tuesdays Presents:

Terribly Happy
A little badass movie from Denmark with a so-so ending.
It felt like a cross between Western and Film Noir.
The drinking scene towards the end was crazy.
Made me feel a little drunk even though
I was only drinking a coke.
Love the shots and the characters.
The dvd cover compares it to Blood Simple
from the Coens and Blue Velvet from Lynch.
I didn't feel any Lynch in there but definitely
felt little bit of the Coens.

Good stuff.

Battle League Horumo

Battle League Horumo
Definitely weird Japanese stuff.
Original, but weird.
That's something that I love about Japanese cinema:
They're not afraid to create something different
(unlike all the remakes and sequels from Hollywood).
Did it work? In this case, I didn't love it as much,
but I simply have respect for it.
They're some cool scenes, but the overall tone of this movie,
I thought they could of done a lot better.
Could of been just a tad more entertaining.

Cool moves, but I won't be playing Horumo anytime soon.
This is at most, a decent rental if you're an Asian film junkie.
If not, don't bother.

He's Just Not That Into You

Linda's Chick Flick Night Presents:


He's Just Not That Into You
I actually enjoyed this chick flick.
Linda loved it. A lot better than some of the previous
chick flicks we saw.
At first I wasn't feeling it then little by little
I didn't mind the story.
It has the typical chick flick ending.
You know, the part when the girl says, "awwe!!"

It's good to have some sweets with every chick flick
event. This movie went well with the wife with
some cupcakes from Hey Cupcake. Might be a tradition.

Samurai Avenger: The Blind Wolf

Samurai Avenger: The Blind Wolf
Ridiculously and cheesy low budget samurai fun.
That sentence says it all.
I went in with low expectations, I came out

with an alright feeling.
Of course, by watching the trailer, I knew not to take

this seriously.
The script was lame but I got used to it after a while.
Love the short zombie samurai scene.

This is another one of those films that pay tribute

to grindhouse flicks.

Like "Bitch Slap" and "Sukiyake Western Django."
I personally wouldn't buy it unless I find it for 5 bucks.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

New Release Tuesdays Presents:


The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Love me a good original story with some
strong scenes that makes me want to shout out loud.
Wait a minute, I did do that.
This was long but the story unravels good.
A good whodunit movie.
This would of been on my top ten favorite list of 2009
if I saw it last year.
Love the tattoo scene. Not giving anything away.
It looks like the second part will be coming out this year.
I also heard that they want to do an American remake.
There should be a rule on how long Hollywood needs to
wait to do a remake.

Strong and entertaining mystery.
Check this movie out before they start doing the remake starring
Angelina Jolie or something.

Burma VJ: Reporting From A Closed Country

Documentary Night Presents:


Burma VJ: Reporting From A Closed Country
As a photojournalist, I give these guys lots of props.
They're the real deal.
We're so lucky to live in a country where they allow us
to film any little crap and get heavy rotation on Youtube.
Now, if you're in Burma trying to get your footage out there,
it's a matter of life and death.
This documentary wasn't as violent as I thought it was going to be.
It's informational like the average documentary.

I wouldn't buy this.
But, good to see once just to give yourself knowledge
of the world around you.
The monks are braver than I imagined.

The White Ribbon

The White Ribbon
This morning I woke up to watch this long, slow,
but not boring German film.
With that said, I didn't think it was all that great.
I'm sure it's great to others, but this wasn't for me.
While I did like some of the scenes, others
left me incomplete.
Two kudos for this film. One goes to all the actors
who were very convincing.
And the second kudos to some of those long
wonderful shots.

Wanting to see a long foreign drama on a cloudy day,
this might be alright. But, don't expect anything special.