Noriko's Dinner Table

Noriko's Dinner Table
This is a sequel to Suicide Club.
It references the scene where the 54 girls jump
to their deaths at the train station.
This movie was way too long.
It focuses on the drama of two sisters who joined
this Suicide Circle but that's not really about suicide.
It's about having an alternate family.
To be honest, I found most of it to be boring.
There's a couple of standout scenes but I think
this movie should of been an hour shorter.
The pacing drags off after half and hour.

Some of it felt surreal.
The ending was so and so.
Despite the positive reviews on this, my personal advice,
just stick to the first movie better.

Alien 3 / Panic Room

A David Fincher Double Feature.

These are the only two movies I haven't seen
from Fincher.
I started a David Fincher section in my dvd shelf.
So, I had to get these.


Alien 3
A little disappointing.
I heard negative things about this movie
and went in with low expectations.
The part where Ripley finds out that she has an alien inside her
wasn't convincing. It felt a bit rushed.
And the Terminator 2 ending ripoff wasn't cool either.
But, I think this came out during the same time as T2.

I got this out of the way.
I understand this is a studio film and not a Fincher film,
but still thought this could of been a lot more.



Panic Room
Great visuals and shots.
Definitely a lot better and entertaining
than Alien 3.
But, it's one of those one night stand kind of movies.
I thought all the actors were great.
The only part I didn't like was
the part where the ex husband shows up and
surprises the burglars.
The burglars weren't very convincing that they were
really surprised. It felt random.
But, kudos to all those long shots, even though they
were cgi.

Now I've seen all the Fincher films.
I say half of his films are badass.
The other half are so and so.

A Bittersweet Life

A Bittersweet Life
We got ourselves another winner here from Kim Ji-Woon.
This gangster drama was awesome.
At first, I thought this was going to be predictable,
but it has its surprises and its punches.
Love those last 30 minutes with all that gangster shooting.
The whole thing felt poetic.
I put this one up there with The Good The Bad The Weird
and I Saw The Devil.
The intro to this right away
had gangster written all over it.
Beautiful music.

Man, I can't wait for this to officially come out on DVD
here in the U.S.
I am now officially a member of Vulcan Video.
That's where I picked this up from.
This past Tuesday, I went to I Luv Video
to see if they had Mesrine: Killer Instinct.
Surprisingly, they didn't have it.
I strolled into Vulcan out of curiosity,
and there it was. So I got a membership
and at the same time, by coincidence, I saw this movie
sitting on a shelf near me. I knew I had to check it out.
Props to Vulcan Video for pleasing my addiction.

The Blood Spattered Bride / I Dismember Mama

FRIDAY AT THE GRINDHOUSE

Backstory:
The other day I saw a used copy of The Blood Spattered Bride
for sale. I always wanted to see it and my grindhouse
night was coming up so i decided to buy it
and see it with another movie like it.
The movie was going to be Hatchet for the Honeymoon.
Then a few days before the event,
upon internet research, I found out that during the grindhouse era,
The Blood Spattered Bride was shown as a double feature
with a movie called, I Dismember Mama.
So I decided to go with that as a tribute to that era.
Picked up "I Dismember Mama" from I Luv Video and here we are.

Here's a clip I found on youtube regarding both movies:





The Blood Spattered Bride
Weird stuff here.
It got my interest in the first half,
but then it got really bloody interesting in the
second half.
Definitely has the grindhouse feel all the way.
My favorite part, well the scene that
is shown on the cover (which happens
in the first half).
This can be considered a vampire movie
even though it's not a full on vampire movie.
Few blood scenes, lots of nudity, and a quick ending.
Decent to have for the grindhouse section.
FYI: Quentin Tarantino referenced this title
as a title for one of the Kill Bill chapters.

It gets confusing but still fun for a midnight screening.




I Dismember Mama
For some reason, I thought this one was going to be more crazy and
messed up than the last film.
But, a little disappointing.
There's hardly any kills and if there is,
we don't see anything really.
I do like the 70's music on here.
Some sleazy scenes.
Cheesy plot.
It didn't quite deliver for me in the end.
I was expecting to see some gore
and was waiting for this killer to actually
do what the title of the movie states.
But, neither of those happened.

On the positive side,
this was very weird and trashy.
Perfect for 3am screening.
But only to experience once
and then forget about it.
Time to move on!!

Hard Revenge, Milly / Hard Revenge, Milly: Bloody Battle

Hard Revenge, Milly
Man, this fooled me.
It was under 50 minutes long.
According to imdb, this is still considered a feature.
Well, I'm here to report that this short movie
was more like an extended prologue to the next movie,
Hard Revenge, Milly:Bloody Battle.
This had some cheesy moments.
Milly cuts the head off this guy and
his body still manages to shoot some rounds around the room.
That's the kind of stuff you only see
in movies from Troma.
My favorite kill:
She makes carnitas out this dude at the end there.
Too ridiculous.
The story wasn't all that.


And because it was unexpectedly a short movie,
I decided to watch the next Hard Revenge Milly tonight.




Hard Revenge, Milly: Bloody Battle
This played at Fantastic Fest 09.
The intro gave us a quick recap from the first movie.
And the story continues.
This story gets a little better here.
Not as ridiculously bloody like the first one but
keeps its cheesiness.
Well, it didn't blow me away.
I guess you see one and you've seen them all.
Unless you're a big fan of Machine Girl,
Tokyo Gore Police, and others like it,
there's no other reason to see this.
I'll save you the trouble.

Mesrine: Killer Instinct

NEW RELEASE TUESDAY

Mesrine: Killer Instinct

Bravo!!!
A must for fans and collectors of Gangster cinema.
Love everything about this.
The tension, the suspense, the smoothness
and roughness of these characters.
Man, Vincent Cassel, great actor.
I like his acting in Ocean's 12, Irrerversible,
Eastern Promises, and Black Swan.
But, in this movie here, best performance yet.
And it's only part one.
One of my favorite gangster scenes has to be the
scene where Mesrine stabs the Arab and buries him alive.
And after that we go to another scene with a slow love
song and I swear I wanted to cry
with all this cinematic love and excitement.

Once again, bravo. Part 2 comes out on DVD
next month, entitled, Mesrine: Public Enemy #1.
I'm there!!

The Substitute

The Substitute
Clever and spooky alien film from Denmark.
I guess you can call it, the Danish Faculty movie.
This was a big hit at Fantastic Fest a few years ago.
I can see why. Good freaking moments like
this alien teacher eating a live chicken and
another scene where she shrinks this man
and then eats him.
And what about the moment where all the children
are on the bus with their mouths open
because she stopped the bus with some kind of alien power?
Good stuff.
The ending was a little choppy
but overall, decent to have for the Alien section.
Speaking of alien movies,
this is the year of for Aliens.
There's at least six I want to see:
Battle: Los Angeles (March)
Paul (March)
Cowboys and Aliens (July)
Super 8 (sometime this summer I guess)
Extraterrestre (Fantastic Fest 2011)
The Thing Prequel (October)

Fantastic time!!

Julie & Julia

Julie & Julia
The reason for watching this is that it's part of a rough
deal that I made.
Don't want to discuss that deal here,
but, I'm a man of my word, so here's my proof that I saw this.
This actually wasn't bad.
I say bad because, at first glance and all,
this ain't my type of movie.
But, actually checking this out was good.
Wanted to eat everything this Julia lady was cooking.
Don't know much about her except for this movie.
My favorite dish that looked the most tastiest
has got to be beef bourguignon.
Need to try that one day.
I like the way they told this story.
Back and forth between the two females here
in two different time periods.

Charming moments and the kind of movie
you have to drink some wine to.
Being a blogger myself, I kind of understand some
of the things the character, Julie, was going through
in her mind. For example, Julie wants to stay true to her blog
no matter if there's anyone watching or not.
So she committed to it.
She had to have some kind of an imaginary audience.
That's what I do with this blog and a few others that I have.
So thanks for reading, my imaginary audience,
and anyone else who happen to be reading this.

Still Crazy

Still Crazy
Alright comedy!!
I never heard of it until a few weeks
when one of my co-workers was talking about it and let me borrow it.
There's one part that I thought was really funny.
It's the part where they're back on-stage
for the first time in years. And they sucked as a band.
The rest was so and so.
I guess, I'm not much into comedy from the U.K.
(Excluding Shaun of the Dead, of course).

Even though, I've never seen it,
this might be a good double feature with the Spinal Tap
mockumentary.

Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer

Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer
Well, it got awesome the last 25 minutes of the film.
The first hour kinda sucked a little.
When I'm going to see a movie with a title like this,
I expect to see some crazy stuff.
I was waiting for the monster parts, I was waiting for the gore.
I had to wait patiently for the bloody climax.
It was alright, though.
Never heard about this movie until I researched Fantastic Fest
movies from the past.
I came across this one and another movie I'm going to watch
next week called, The Substitute.
Supposed to be some crazy stuff too.
But, need to lower my expectations, I guess.
I like that this felt like an 80's movie.
We got Robert Englund in here for god sakes.
It started out good with the Bobby Darin song,
"Beyond the Sea" while the monster was killing
Jack's family.
The plot was a little too easy.

I wish this could of been more fun for me.
I wonder why it got honorable mention at Fantastic Fest
a few years ago? Then again, seeing this at a theater
with a whole bunch of badass cinema fans, would
have probably make the experience better.
Speaking of Fantastic Fest, the countdown is
7 months and four days for Fantastic Fest 2011.

The Yakuza Papers Vol. 1: Battles Without Honor and Humanity

YAKUZA NIGHT THURSDAY

Every third Thursday of every month of this year,
I'll be watching a yakuza flick.
Love the yakuza genre but haven't really seen a whole lot.
There's a lot of classics out there.
This will help me explore these Japanese movies.
I'll be watching a few from directors,
Kinji Fukasaku, and Takashi Miike, as well other
yakuza flicks from the 60's and to the present.

Tonight is another movie from Kinji Fukasaku:


The Yakuza Papers Vol. 1: Battles Without Honor and Humanity
Man, oh man, this is probably the
best yakuza flick I've ever seen.
With my yakuza research, this title kept coming
up on top yakuza films.
In fact, Kinji Fukasaku is known as the
master of yakuza films.
What Sergio Leone did to Spaghetti Westerns,
is what Kinji Fukasaku did to the yakuza genre.
There's five parts to this big story.
After seeing part one, I'm hooked.
This is packed with yakuza traditions and violence.
Love everything about it, never a dull moment.
There's lots of shootout scenes.
Lots of kills.
Love that the ending gave us somewhat of
a little tease of things to come.

Next month, we'll look at part two of this series.
For now, I toast with an imaginary bottle of sake
to this great night.

This is the only trailer I can find.
It has German subtitles or something.

Unstoppable

New Release Tuesday was supposed to be yesterday,
but due to work, it was pushed back for tonight.


Unstoppable
Adrenaline rush by Tony Scott.
Hell of a lot better than his last film,
The Taking of Pelhalm 123 remake.
Didn't like the sappy backstory to Chris Pine's character,
but, the action of chasing this train made up for it.
Rosario Dawson cooler than ever.
My heart was pounding in some of these sequences.
As usual, very fast paced editing like other Scott films.
One thing that bothered me was the media coverage for
this. I work for the media industry, and what I saw here
was too exaggerated and too unrealistic.
We got news helicopters chasing this train,
and every reporter gaining access to every location
and interviews with officials. In real life,
there would be no official interviews to the press
until the situation is under control.

Other than that, great popcorn movie.

Flipped

Flipped
Sweet cute story we have here.
Perfect for Valentine's Day.
From Rob Reiner, the guy who brought us
"Stand By Me." This one has the same kind
of Oldies music.
At first, I didn't like going back and forth between
the boy's perspective and the girl's perspective,
but after a while, it got interesting telling the story that way.
The only other thing that bothered me was the boy's father,
that one guy that came out in Revenge of the Nerds.
I think his acting and character could of been better.

But, overall, enjoyed this good little story.
Set the mood for a decent day.

South of the Border

South of the Border
I liked it.
The intro reminded me a little of Michael Moore.
But, this is Oliver Stone, one of my favorite directors
of all time. Actually, I was a bigger Stone fan back
in high school than I am now.
Here, he is attacking the media once again
about how they politically shape everyone's thoughts
and make most of the world believe who are the bad guys.
Learned a little bit and got the chance
to know some of these leaders around South America.

If you're a Che Guevarra fan like me, you will enjoy this.
But, if you're a fan of Fox News and stuff like that,
all I can say, don't bother with this one, because
no matter what, there's always going to be something
to be mad about.

It's Complicated

LINDA'S SATURDAY MOVIE PICK


It's Complicated
Not as bad as I expected.
Definitely not a movie I would ever pick
but that's the point of Linda's Saturday Pick.
Every once in a while, Linda watches some of the movies
that I see everyday. She likes some of the stuff that I like.
But, for those other movies, that I won't give a chance to,
this is her chance to screen it for me.
Some funny moments on here.
Good acting by Meryl Streep.
Not a big fan of hers, but I liked her here.
My favorite part, of course, when they smoke a doobie.
Good times, my friends.
One or two more scenes like that, would of made this
a stoner movie.

If you're a wine lover, this movie might go good with that.
Other than that, no reason to watch this unless,
(if you're a guy) your better half makes you watch it.
I guess it's okay for you females too.
Raise a toast goodnight!

A Woman, A Gun, And A Noodle Shop

A Woman, A Gun, and A Noodle Shop
This is an Asian remake to Blood Simple (one of my favorite
films from the Coen Brothers).
It's very hard to top the original.
This one didn't even come close.
This felt more like a parody at times,
while other times were serious.
I love the beautiful imagery and
the fact that they set this in older Asian times
rather than doing a modern piece.
The sounds were great.
But, overall, it left me with an alright feeling.
Just wanted to see this because I was curious to see
how they adapted "Blood Simple."

If you never seen Blood Simple, shame on you,
great first film and dark comedy from the Coen Brothers.
Love the song "It's the same old song" by the Four Tops.
This Chinese version is at your own risk.

The Graduate

SHAME ON ME NIGHT

[The second Wednesday of every month
I'll see a movie that I am ashamed
to admit I've never seen before.
A movie that most have seen
and it's usually referenced in pop culture.
As a fan of cinema, I shouldn't have missed
these movies, but I did, and shame on me.
This will give me the chance to catch up on those
movies.]

Because Valentine's Day lands on this month,
I focused on "romantic" movies
that guys like or that are part of the story.
I had a hard time coming up with five romantic
movies that I'm ashamed for not having seen.
These were the picks:
Annie Hall
The Graduate
Dracula
Weird Science
High Fidelity

The Graduate wins by majority vote from my film experts.

Runner Up: Dracula


The Graduate
Shame on me people.
This morning I woke up to finally see this classic.
The only thing I knew about it was that in
Wayne's World 2, they spoof this movie.
This was great.
I believe there was only four songs on here,
but, they kept on repeating them throughout the whole movie.
The first half wasn't much of a romantic story
but the third act delivered on that part.
Love that whole sequence of him rescuing his love
before she's married (exactly what Wayne's World spoofed).

I now I can say I saw this film.
No more being ridiculed by some of my peeps.
Definitely, a must have for the collection.

Middle Men

NEW RELEASE TUESDAY


Middle Men
Fun movie.
Great memorable dialogue.
It's got the same attitude like the movie, Blow.
It's even narrated kind of like Blow.
And it also reminds me of another side to The Social Network.
Love the casting.
Can't go wrong with bringing Boris from "Snatch"
to play the big Russian boss
and James Caan as a washed up hustler.
Seriously, this was a good time.
There were times that were a bit silly, but,
overall, I felt like this delivered.

This has a little bit of everything:
a little dark comedy, laugh out loud comedy, and a little bit
of gangster. Music was badass too.
Couple of Rolling Stones songs doesn't hurt either.

A Hard Day's Night

MUSICAL MONDAY

[To expand my knowledge in this genre and for the sake of trying something
different, every first Monday of every month this year, I'll be checking out a
musical I've never seen before.]

A Hard Day's Night

Didn't feel like the usual musical but
I enjoyed it.
Yesterday, I saw Nowhere Boy, and I just
couldn't help but choose this at the last minute
for this month's musical night.
A few good known Beatles songs and there's few
more that I haven't heard in a great while.
Like some of the smart humor on here.
Would of wanted to see more random musical sequences.
My favorite part: Paul's grandfather in the movie kills a pigeon.
Favorite musical sequence:
"Can't Buy Me Love."

Short, simple, and another great movie
for fans of The Beatles.

Nowhere Boy

Nowhere Boy
Great drama.
Aaron Johnson from Kick Ass does
a wonderful performance here
playing the early years of John Lennon.
This focuses on his relationship with his mother
and aunt and the early days of his band.
He meets Paul McCartney and George Harrison
here and it shows the start of a legendary band.
This has some emotional scenes for me.
Love the music like Jay Hawkins song,
"I Put A Spell on You."

A must see for fans of The Beatles.
You're in the mood for a new drama, check it out.

Monsters

Monsters
An alright drama flick with a couple
of suspenseful scenes.
We see a monster (actually an alien) in the
beginning of the film. It dies.
We see a few glimpses of other monsters throughout
the film. Couple of teases.
But, mostly we're following this guy and girl
through northern Mexico and the fear they have to live with.
Love the concept, but the movie didn't do
full on delivery for me.
The last monster scene could of been a lot better.

When they first enter the infected area,
that reminded me of Jurassic Park.
And I thought that this was going to blow
me away after that.
Maybe not by monsters but with the story as a whole.
It just left me with an okay feeling,
I guess.

Antichrist

Antichrist
What the hell did I just watch?
A movie that may have lots of meanings
and interpretations.
Lars Von Trier has done it again,
but, this time less enjoyable.
I've only seen three other films from him.
Dancer in the Dark was trippy and
Dogville and Manderlay were good in their own way.
I didn't know what to expect with Antichrist.
I've seen way worse and more controversial films.
I guess what makes this one hardcore was
those sexually explicit scenes.
The part that was messed up was when "She"
cuts her own "pleasure" thing off.
That was a crazy moment.
Lots of crazy imagery here.
Never going to a cabin in the middle of the woods,
I can tell you that much.

I don't straight out recommend this film.
If you want to feel some creepiness and some
surrealism, check this out.

Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zen

Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zen
This is one of the movies I missed out on last year's
Fantastic Fest. I had the ticket to go but due
to a car problem in the middle of the day, I missed out on it.
Well, thanks to I Luv Video for having an international copy
of this movie, got to see this tonight.
Donnie Yen kicks ass like usual.
Fast punches.
This one didn't feel like a kung fu flick.
There was some great martial art scenes but
it was mostly war stuff.
It gets a little bloody.
Lots of guns and explosions.
The final showdown at the end was pretty awesome.
The story was okay.

This feels like a sequel to Fist of Legend,
but according to research, it's a sequel to a Donnie Yen
TV series called, Fists of Fury.
I actually prefer Ip Man 2 more than this one.
And of course, you can't beat the first Ip Man.
Good entertainment.