Agreement:100% of 2 voters agree with Ian Mac's reviews Gender: Male Location: United Kingdom Lists:WISH LIST (34)
Bio: I love films, mostly Japanese,Koreand and Chinese.My favourite directors/Actors are,
Takashi Miike,Takashu Kitano,and Sion Sono.
American directors I like include Clint Eastwood and Tarantino, and I also like from my own country Ridley Scott.
My tastes very from romantic and whimsical Nana to the weird and wonderful Strange Circus. Throw in to the mix the tragic but beautiful Dolls by Kitano and the visually stunning future in Bladerunner you can see I am open to any good film.
Meatball Machine (product link) Horror / Science Fiction "Dead or Alive" meets "Tetsuo". The plot is basic and the acting won't win any awards, but the film is a fast-paced gorefest which hooks the viewer, and as the carnage becomes more intense so the viewer is reeled in. If you can overlook the film's shortcomings and focus on its exhuberant violence--including close-ups to make you cringe--it is a worthwhile piece of popcorn (and ketchup) entertainment.
Strange Circus (product link) Mystery / Erotica Strange Circus, "strange film". Sion Sono has succeeded in making the repulsive subject matter of child abuse compulsive viewing. The movie succeeds for two main reasons, the first being the imaginative story woven from the basic premise which takes you off at unexpected but intriguing tangents. The second reason the movie grips you and doesn't let go is the performance of Masumi Miyazaki. She plays the deeply troubled mother with a general subdued level of emotion which therefore increases the heightened emotions when she flies into a rage at her daughter, and the hopelessness of the daughter when the same actress portrays the child character for the more disturbing scenes.
Once you have accepted that you have to expect the unexpected, this film will keep you captivated and surprised until the end.
The Last Love Song On This Little Planet (product link) Drama / Romance This is the live action version of the anime SHE The Ultimate Weapon. A kind of teenage coming of age movie where a cute Japanese schoolgirl hides a terrible secret, but falls in love with a student who tries to help her beat the system. In this instance the system is the army. Good CGI makes for an exciting story, but the tragedy of the two main characters and their ever decreasing numbers of friends who fall victim to the war that could be the end for mankind make this much more than a sci-fi action movie. There is a sadness to main character Chisai, who is desperate in her yearning to be an innocent schoolgirl in a peaceful little town, but is the ultimate weapon.
Nightmare Detective (product link) Horror / Thriller Dark and foreboding, and that is just the atmosphere in the real world in this top class horror/fantasy. A female detective asks for the nightmare detective to assist in solving unfathomable murders apparently committed in the victims' dreams. The police detective fits in with her team like a square peg, the nightmare detective is a loner who has had enough of entering people's dreams.
The real world is grey and the cityscape overwhelming, and this landscape is the same when the victims dream. They are chased and hacked and sliced in some very energetic, fast and furious sequences.
The tension builds as one person after another tries to escape from their dreams, and the time is coming for the female detective and her unwilling but chivalrous ally.
Cyborg Girl (product link) Romance / Science Fiction Haruka Ayase is the sexiest cyborg to have appeared on screen. The film's beginning lulls you into a false sense of expectation. During the first ten to fifteen minutes, I expected to watch a slapstick comedy about a nerd being incapable of impressing the pretty girl who actually does find him attractive (and in this instance happens to be a cyborg). I would have been satisfied with that, but then without realising I was being sucked in, an hour had passed and I was totally engrossed in a romantic comedy where the characters were important to me, and as further events in the film unfolded became more enchanted by the cyborg, and more apprehensive about getting the happy ending I wanted. The comedy is funny, the special effects very good and the characters warm, and the life dramas touching.
Excellent movie!
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READER COMMENTS
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It's a lot better than the first 15 minutes makes it seem. I'm glad I didn't turn it off, as I alsmost did. A refreshingly good movie.
GTO was my favourite manga in book form. In this series it took me a short time getting accustomed to the look of the Onizuka, as I already had an image in my imagination from the books that was different. Once the adventures unfolded in the series (it didn't take long) the image in my head was gone and the actor on screen was Onizuka.
Always fighting the system, always defending his students, portraying an image of a ruffian with no morals who resorts to violence all the time when in fact the opposite is true. The most moral teacher in the school who uses his brains or his students' brains to solve the many issues that appear throughout this series.
Being a TV show, don't expect the highest production values, but the plots are good, the acting is good, and the resolutions--however unforseen at the beginning of each episode--are always the ones a you would hope for. This series is an enjoyable way to spend a few hours.
See reviews for the TV show as this is two episodes at once. Enjoyable adventures of a teacher unlike any teacher I ever knew. Shame there aren't teachers like Onizuka in schools.
Linda Linda Linda (product link) Comedy / Drama Three girls need to learn a song to play in front of school as part of leaving ceremony. The events leading up to this include fall outs, falling asleep in class, lots of practicing and bonding, mini disasters befalling the main characters... The girl chosen to sing isn't even Japanese but a Korean exchange student who often has misunderstandings when conversing in Japanese. The song they choose is called "Linda, Linda, Linda" (by the Bluetones, a Japanese punk band).
A feel good film, with warm characters, and a great song for them to learn and play.
Closed Note (product link) Drama / Romance A nice film. Nothing offensive, in a gentle romantic movie which could have had its running time cut by up to half an hour. Yuko Takeuchi is sweet as always and her name on the movie was the reason I bought it, and I wasn't disappointed.
Death Row Girls (product link) Erotica / Thriller Having purchased the calendars and photo books, I thought I would try the Aki Hoshino movie.It is okay. Little violence, a little nudity, no more or less than I expected. Some extras on the [Switchblade Pictures] DVD would have made me feel I was getting good value for money, alas the disc just contained the less-than 90 minute movie.
The First Contact (product link) Comedy / Action/Adventure Weirdest film I have seen. Some very funny moments and the actors looked like they were having fun, but I am not sure how much fun I was having trying to understand what was going on. Imaginative and ambient but ultimately I didn't get it; but if you like "different", this could be for you.
Harakiri [1990] (product link) Horror / Erotica Once you've seen one, you've seen them all. The nihilistic side of my personality thought this would be a good purchase and triumphed over the practical argument of whether it would be woth the money. I think there are far better purchases to be had at HKFlix than this one, and ultimately feel I should have chosen more wisely.
Heaven's Bookstore (product link) Drama / Romance Yuko Takeuchi. If her name is on the DVD cover, it's a safe bet you aren't going to be disappointed. She is a soild actress in emotional/love-themed movies, and this could be the best of them. Having enjoyed "Be With You" and "Closed Note", I am moving through her repertoire and am enjoying every minute of her films.
Tamayama Tutsuji is charismatic playing the lead opposite Yuko, and as is so often the case, there is something about the pace of Japanese dramas that sets them apart from Hollywood ones, and in my opinion generally sets them above their Hollywood counterparts.
Thirty Lies Or So (product link) Comedy / Romance Very good actors acting. A bit like the first "Oceans" film, it was enjoyable, but I felt that the actors had a lot more fun making it than I had watching it. Miki Nakatani is gorgeous and plays a sassy female in this and, like the other castmembers, gives a fine performance; but the too clever plot of who is conning whom among the gang gripped me at the beginning but ultimately left me disappointed.
Nanking (product link) Documentary / War Probably the best documentary I have watched on the subject of war/atrocities of war.
Actors read from letters/diaries/documents ot the time, survivors both Chinese and Japanese recall the events, and film footage from the time make this a rounded, informative, harrowing documentary about the Japanese invasion of Nanking and the attrocities the Japanese committed against the Chinese as witnessed by human beings.
Looking at news footage from this or any other attrocities of war, you do feel detached from the events. This documentary gives humanity to those who suffered by using actors to represent people who were there and who recorded the events firsthand and draws you in, puts the scale of the events into perspective, and makes you care about the suffering and death it is presenting onscreen 70+ years on.
Ditto (product link) Drama Nice film about a radio geek girl sending messages to a boy (teenagers) and arranging to meet once the friendship grows. When the time comes to meet, he is waiting at the clock but can't see her; she is waiting at the clock but can't see him.
They are living in different years but the radio messages are kind of going through time.
Totally ridiculous but captivating. How can they become lovers? How can they even meet each other? Once you suspend disbelief and get with the program, you will want to stick with these two warm characters to find out.
Crying Out Love, In The Centre Of The World (product link) Romance / Drama Beautifully told love story, using flashbacks to paint a picture of a man's true love many years ago. He needs to exorcise the ghosts of his past true love as he is about to commit to marriage with a woman who adores him but whom he can't love until he comes to terms with his past.
Female Prisoner: Caged! (product link) Crime / Erotica Japanese women in a prison environment suffering in the same way the women do in any other movie of this nature. This is one of the better offerings of this type of film, so if you want to try a female prisoner movie for the first time, this would be a good one to try.
If you are already a fan of this type of movie, this should already be in your collection.
A Day On The Planet (product link) Romance / Drama Dark humor abounds as various stories are interwoven in this film which takes a snapshot of one day in the lives of ordinary people. It is a good job that these ordinary people have got themselves into extraordinary situations, ranging from mildly amusing to "I have to rewind that and watch it again straight away" funny. The tempo of the film is slow, but the events always keep it bubbling along nicely, and the characters do seem true to life.
Inside (product link) Horror / Thriller Nail-bitingly tense, sufficiently gory horror from France. A top-notch thriller/horror where a few things don't add up but the pace is so fast that before you can dwell on this you are already grimacing with anticipation of what will happen next.
Train Man [Film] (product link) Comedy / Romance Geek falls in love. Because he is a geek, message boards play a huge part in this movie, and his whole ottaku/computer world existence is challenged by his feelings for a beautiful girl he met on a train under unusual circumstances. Miki Nakatani is the girl, and so I can relate to him on this because I would give up my DVD collection and pretty much everything else for her.
A charming funny love story slightly different to the norm and thoroughly enjoyable.
Love Letter [1995] (product link) Drama / Romance Terrific movie. A touching, well acted movie which succeeds in pulling your heart strings as the plot unfolds.
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