Dog Bite Dog (product link) Crime / Drama I love this--enjoy it more and more with each viewing. Brutal film, and Sam Lee's role is unlike anything he's been attached to.
Ponyo On The Cliff By The Sea (product link) Animation / Fantasy If you're a fan of "Castle In The Sky", "My Neighbor Totoro", or "Valley Of The Wind", you're in for a treat. This is classic Miyazaki.
Note: this review refers to the Singapore Limited Edition DVD by Musictronic.
If there is one film that undoubtedly deserved a more comprehensive treatment on DVD, it's "Dobermann". After years of shitty, severely cut bootlegs, we finally see a release worth owning.
"Dobermann" is a low budget French gem that most definitely deserves its cult following and outshines numerous Hollywood blockbusters. The movie obviously is heavily influenced by Hong Kong action cinema, but the French aspects are there also. The majority of the cast is tolerable, while there are a few stand-out performances worth mentioning. Monica is looking insanely attractive. Vincent is (as always) brilliant. However, Tcheky Karyo steals the show playing the obnoxious inspector.
Also, I was surprised to see Romain Duris in such a wacky role. I loved him in "The Spanish Apartment" and "Russian Dolls", so it was definitely a treat seeing him in earlier work.
For fans of: "Crying Freeman", "Natural Born Killers", "Hard Boiled", "La Femme Nikita", "Brother" (Kitano), "Pulp Fiction", etc.
Les Poupees Russes (product link) Romance / Comedy A sequel to "The Spanish Apartment". Personally I prefer this movie over the original, but both are highly ranked as two of my favorite films.
Horsemen (product link) Mystery / Thriller There's some major talent working here, but the movie's plot is just not crafted well at all. I can't stress this enough. From start to finish I was just completely and utterly bored with the movie.
Champion (product link) Drama / Action/Adventure I'm kinda' upset with myself for waiting so long to finally see this movie, because it's fantastic. It's so much more than a boxing movie.
Azumi (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure Kitamura has been involved with numerous projects that I admit I'm not crazy over, but one of the few films that I adore would be "Azumi".
My Boss, My Hero [2001] (product link) Action/Adventure / Comedy Extremely underrated film in my opinion. The sequel "My Boss, My Teacher" is just enjoyable.
Tokyo Shock Martial Arts Pack [3-Disc Set] (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure Great offer. This set includes something for everyone. Personally, "The 7 Grandmasters" stands out as my personal favorite.
Sympathy For Lady Vengeance (product link) Thriller / Crime I'm slowly starting to appreciate this movie more and more with each viewing. I can't recommend this movie enough.
Sheitan (product link) Horror / Dark Comedy As many people likely know, Vincent Cassel is one of the most diverse actors around. While most of the cast are just so-so, Vincent delivers a wonderful over-the-top performance with such zaniness and colorful vocab. The dude really stretches his legs here and proves he can handle all types of roles.
As Tears Go By (product link) Drama / Triad Like the majority of Wong Kar Wai films, the style is deliberately slow and plodding but keeps your attention. Andy Lau really delivers a mean punch in this role.
The Bride With White Hair (product link) Martial Arts / Fantasy There's no doubt about how stylish the movie is. It's one of Ronny Wu's better films, and while I enjoyed the fight/kung-fu sequences and highly realistic swordplay, the plot itself doesn't really do much for me.
The Killer [1989] (product link) Bullet Ballet / Drama Even though the movie is more of a pseudo-remake of Le "Samourai", in my opinion this is Woo's masterpiece. No holds barred explosive action movie--not to mention this film is extremely violent and brutal. That's usually how I prefer my action films.
Wing Chun (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure For a Yuen Wo-Ping film the action seems slightly toned down and the vignettes and embarrassing awkward sexual humor just add to my dislike for this movie.
The Story Of Ricky (product link) Horror / Action/Adventure Next to Peter Jackson's "Braindead", this is surly one of the goriest movies of the 90's. The legendary "head crush" scene will leave gore hounds pleased.
The new wave of French horror films continues to dominate and break all sorts of taboos. This is hands-down the most shocking movie yet. Just thinking about certain scenes gives me the heebie-jeebies!
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READER COMMENTS
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Your comments are 100% correct. But I still don't understand what there is to "enjoy" in this film. Sadistic torture and abuse, that's it. What's to enjoy? Blech.
Chanbara Beauty: The Movie (product link) Horror / Action/Adventure I'm not familiar with the video games, but I enjoyed the movie overall--though I don't think it's gonna reach cult status any time soon, like "The Machine Girl". To sum of things short: it's a fun flick--a movie I would break out during a party to show friends.
Cooley High (product link) Drama / Comedy Great film. I've been on a somewhat big Blaxploitation kick here lately, and this one of the more memorable titles.
This film has endured so many hardships and distributor troubles. I remember seeing one of the first stills in Fangoria back in late 2006/early 2007, so I expected the movie to be arriving summer 2007 but nothing ever came... I waited and waited until finally in December 2008 I obtained a copy of the movie and, within 10 minutes of viewing, I was ready to cry. I waited 2+ fucking years for this pile of shit?
"The Mutant Chronicles" was shot on a very low budget and entirely in digital! I'm not for sure if that was the best decision with the amount of money involved. With fully digitally shot action films being released more frequently these days, and in superb quality (I.E. "300", "Sin City", "Sky Captain...Tomorrow", etc.), this film looks absolutely ridiculous for the most part.
Honestly, this type of movie is more fitting for the Sci-Fi Channel, but maybe it will earn a place among fans of the RPG and comic.
"The Good, The Bad, The Weird" is hands down one of my favorite films of 2008. From the very time it was announced, this project earned my "most anticipated movie of the year" spot. Oh sure, I've seen other Asian directors take a shot at the western genre, but nothing really satisfied me other than "Tears Of The Black Tiger". "Sukiyaki Western Django" was a complete bore in my opinion. Anyhow, considering I had previously viewed "A Bittersweet Life" and adored it, I had full confidence the director could pull off something wonderful, especially with the cast that signed on (more on that later).
Anyhow, the film has many references to Euro-westerns, specifically, "The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly", but still it manages to keep things fresh during its entire duration--and this film is pretty lengthy. Oh and the surprise ending really, er, surprised me? Ha ha.
The cast? One word: phenomenal. You literally have some of the GREATEST Korean male actors involved, and each star works their character brilliantly. Song Kang-Ho ("Memories Of Murder", "JSA") flat out levels any project he is attached to. I don't know if anyone else agrees, and I don't mean to swing off this dude's nuts, but he is seriously one of the greatest performers alive.
Cold Prey (product link) Horror / Thriller If this film was released in the early 80's, it would have been a huge cult hit, praised among horror junkies. Some may think the timing for the movie is off, but I disagree. Personally, I enjoyed the movie (I picked up the US DVD release). It's something fresh and worth viewing, especially if you're fed up with unnecessary remakes, sequels and "torture porn". The sequel should be hitting US shelves shortly.
Infernal Affairs 2: The Legend (product link) Drama / Crime The triology is well praised among many, and the first film gains the most attention; but personally I found part 2 the more enjoyable. Don't get me started on part 3, it's trash.
Rec (product link) Horror / Thriller I came across teasers/trailers/clips for this movie way back in late 2007 and immediately made a huge effort to keep up-to-date with all the production. In fact "[REC]" was hands down one of my most sought after movies of 2008. Once being released, the film caught a lot of attention; and after winning numerous awards, the online buzz/hype started. When I was able to get ahold of a copy, I was overall pleased with the outcome of the project.
I'm not too pumped for the sequel, however, and I have yet to watch the U.S. remake, "Quarantine". From what I've read in Fangoria, "Quarantine" is almost indentical to "[REC]", so why bother subsituting a carbon copy for the original?
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