My name is Indy and this is either a diary so that I can remember all the many films I watch. I write a little note just to remember what I felt or what bits i enjoyed or to remind me what the film was even about.
Also! if you actually are reading this, and think you know a movie that I might enjoy, please send me a reccomendation! I have loved watching films from random reccomendations! I do not have a guestbook or email setup at current, but leave me a message on the neocities page?
I enjoyed almost every movie I have seen (except you, garden state), but here is a list of some of the greatest:
In this poetic and atmospheric horror fable, set in a village in war-torn medieval Japan, a malevolent spirit has been ripping out the throats of itinerant samurai. When a military hero is sent to dispatch the unseen force, he finds that he must struggle with his own personal demons as well. From Kaneto Shindo, director of the terror classic ONIBABA, KURONEKO (BLACK CAT) is a spectacularly eerie twilight tale with a shocking feminist angle, evoked through ghostly special effects and exquisite cinematography.
This house sorry was a delightful twist on the samurai tales I'm used to watching. Kuroneko actually also had some incredible wire effects that fit seamlessly into it's ghosts. well deserving of is Criterion collection.
Mother, this is your son, Roger Thornhill...No, no, Mother. I have not been drinking. No, no. These two men, they poured a whole bottle of bourbon into me. No, they didn't give me a chaser.
Alfred Hitchcock you let me down. I really was expecting a round the world chase of Kerry Grant being chased by a biplane because that's the only scene I know, but the plot of him just being horny for a girl the whole time. Kerry Grant did do pretty good though, the film just wasn't what I wanted.
Sing is a skilled Shaolin kung fu devotee whose amazing 'leg of steel' catches the eye of a soccer coach. Together they assemble a squad of Sing's former Shaolin brothers inspired by the big-money prize in a national soccer competition. Using an unlikely mix of martial arts and newfound soccer skills, it seems an unbeatable combination ... until they must face the dreaded Team Evil in the ultimate battle for the title.
I really love Kung Fu will unite and save the world plots. Kung Fu hustle was a better piece of work but Shaolin soccer is a fantastic flick for anyone wanting more, and I want more.
blurb
A rewatch, but also my first rewatch since reading the book. This movie remains so beautiful and an incredible piece of work, probably Disney's best.
A grand-scale adventure as only Akira Kurosawa could make one, The Hidden Fortress stars the inimitable Toshiro Mifune as a general charged with guarding his defeated clan’s princess (a fierce Misa Uehara) as the two smuggle royal treasure across hostile territory. Accompanying them are a pair of bumbling, conniving peasants who may or may not be their friends. This rip-roaring ride is among the director’s most beloved films and was a primary influence on George Lucas’s Star Wars. The Hidden Fortress delivers Kurosawa’s trademark deft blend of wry humor, breathtaking action, and compassionate humanity.
Hidden fortress took me a while to really get hooked but it really just takes its time to set up these incredible stakes that our heroes must go on. Beautiful scenes and incredible score. this was the best Kurosawa so far in terms of sheer enjoyment.
Andrew returns to his hometown for the funeral of his mother, a journey that reconnects him with past friends. The trip coincides with his decision to stop taking his powerful antidepressants. A chance meeting with Sam - a girl also suffering from various maladies - opens up the possibility of rekindling emotional attachments, confronting his psychologist father, and perhaps beginning a new life.
Garden state really missed me. I was told by a few people going in that yeah it's a cult film but with some stuff that's aged poorly. That's usually true for a lot of experimental stuff, but yeah. But I really couldn't just ignore it in this movie, it really took me out of this film. I really struggled with the premise, it's not some film about going off your meds and having a manic pixie dream girl fix you but also that's exactly what it is?
Kurosawa's follow up to YOJIMBO sees the return of Toshiro Mifune as Sanjuro. Nune young and naive samurai are attempting to stop corruption in their local clan with the evidence of the strange sanjuro to guide them. With plenty of action amongst this light-hearted comedy, Sanjuro is an examination of the manners, protocol and politics in feudal Japan- and also boasts one of the fastest and most breathtaking climactic duels in cinema history.
Toshiro Mifune does an incredible performance and has an incredible character here, but by my knowledge it got stitched together into the narrative after Yojimbo, which was better. Sorry to compare them, but having watched the previous and unfortunately for knowing that peice of trivia I felt distracted knowing hwo good the original Yojimbo was. Thats my general take with film trivia, I love more to watch things blind. Its great, but you dont get as much of that action and movement and wind there is in the other Kurosawas, which is GOATed and probably unfair that we always expect.
The tale of an eccentric band of culinary ronin who guide the widow of a noodle-shop owner on her quest for the perfect recipe, this rapturous “ramen western” by Japanese director Juzo Itami is an entertaining, genre-bending adventure underpinned by a deft satire of the way social conventions distort the most natural of human urges—our appetites. Interspersing the efforts of Tampopo (Nobuko Miyamoto) and friends to make her café a success with the erotic exploits of a gastronome gangster and glimpses of food culture both high and low, the sweet, sexy, and surreal Tampopo is a lavishly inclusive paean to the sensual joys of nourishment, and one of the most mouthwatering examples of food on film ever made.
This is a rewatch. I saw it once and elevated this to my top 5 films of all time. I got shown this last year and fell in love. I love ramen, I love the blind pursuit of perfection, both to cook and both to taste. I like the lustfulness of good food. I truly beleive that cooking is all there is to life. This is a heist film, this is a samurai film [westerns are just bootleg samurai films], this is an impressionist film, and i love all these layers but my god its just a sendup of what it is to eat, to live, to cook and why thats important. everything stitches together to that message in the end.
The Flavour of Green Tea over Rice [1952
Takeo, a bored and flighty socialite, is sick of her dull husband who was raised in the country. Cruelly referring to him as "dull-chan", Takeo leaves for a giggly weekend away with some girlgriends, where they swap stories about their husbands over cups of sake. Takeo's neice setsuko - who is visiting while her mother arranges a marriage for her - accompanies the owmen on their retreat and disturbed by this glimpse of her own future, becomes disenchanted with the prospect of arranged marriage. The films title refers to an inexpensive japanese dish, with the reference serving to remind the characters and the audience about life's simple pleasures. Just as the characters appreciate the delicate flavour green tea over rice, so may we enjoy the delicacy of Ozu's masterful direction, and marvel at the simplicity of his minimalist approach.
These Yasujito Ozu films are incredible. so little gets spoken to how much we get painted of these people. In our character study, we go from loving to hating to loving characters, and they need only the lens not any force of character change for these moments. I think our takeaway is that yeah arranged marriage is tough but it is very important that we cook together actually, this couple is from a class where they never step into their kitchen at all. Titling the film about the dish is no accident, Im glad this metaphor was explained on the back of the cover because it really sets up out conclusion here. I knew this would be a good borrow because I've watched the DVD get some traffic in and out of the DVD store these past months.
The true story of the inseparable Von Erich brothers, who made history in the intensely competitive world of professional wrestling in the early 1980s. Through tragedy and triumph, under the shadow of their domineering father and coach, the brothers seek larger-than-life immortality on the biggest stage in sports.
I'm so glad hes not my dad. This film is sad and tragic and depressing but I felt pretty good just knowing that I have a really good dad and I don't have to go though this constant torture he put his kids through. Though, at the end, I realise maybe he's my granddad. Maybe there is something here my dad has suffered, and I did bawl my eyes out. Did not notice that was zac effron. I also did not comprehend how that was not Gene Wilder. They remade a Wonka film and they didn't use this guy???? fr.
Mary "mouse" Bradford has just arrived at Perkins Girls College. For the first time in her sheltered life mouse must now fend for herself away from home. her two senior roommates, the striking, sharp-witted Paulie (piper perabo) and the charming and beautiful Tory (jessica Pare_), quickly adopt mouse. the three girls bond and soon create their own universe within the school. But this world comes crashing down when Tory and Pauli are inadvertently found to be lovers. Tory can't handle the pressure from her parents and peers while Paulie can't handle losing Tory. Mouse is caught with the role of accomplice and confessor and is left torn between her two friends. Through this sensual and violent struggle, Mouse is about to discover what it means to be in love and how far her friends will go to save that love.
Spoilers, one of them dies. I spoil it because like, its kinda a late hayes code twist. We could be really sympathetic towards paulie and for almost all the movie tori is really painted as the villian for denying her sexuality. Having paulie die though and suffer all the consequences really flips that though, and sends a distasteful message imo. Our side characters even confess, that its current year [2001] and its fine to be gay. This speaks to me though, because I mean my own experience being gay in a world thats reaady to be accepting but you still kinda have the trauma from growing up in a world thats not, and by god even though im a bit of a critic they kinda do get the manic breakup nervous breakdown pretty accurate. every lesbian has one of these its like character building. I think thats why the spinster teachers dont actually intervene properly, assuming its all normal and healthy for paulie to be going through. Maybe thats it, it left a bad taste in me because I have been through the exact drama. The film is actually really nicely directed, cast and performed, its just that the story is an old book from 1993 and kinda weird. plus also, this film got me back on the violent femmes, which a friend listened to on repeat the summer we hung out. hes gay now, and so am I, but we didnt know back then.
A group of teenagers try to sort out their lives and emotions while bizarre experiences happen to each one, including alien abductions, bad acid trips, bisexual experiences, suicides, bizarre deaths, and a rape by a TV star. All of this happens before "the greatest party of the year".
I've been to this party like 80 times. I've experienced half the nights of what these characters have gone through. Its the late 2010s/20s and even though this is like the most nineties bisexual film ever it is still just culture today. That yin and yang between self insulgence and self destruction. Also, I love how everyones bedroom is just this surrealist space. I had a good weekend after watching this film..
A profoundly stirring evocation of elemental humanity and universal heartbreak, Tokyo Story is the crowning achievement of the unparalleled Yasujiro Ozu. The film, which follows an aging couple’s journey to visit their grown children in bustling postwar Tokyo, surveys the rich and complex world of family life with the director’s customary delicacy and incisive perspective on social mores. Featuring lovely performances from Ozu regulars Chishu Ryu and Setsuko Hara, Tokyo Story plumbs and deepens the director’s recurring theme of generational conflict, creating what is without question one of cinema’s mightiest masterpieces.
There were tears. This old couple is so sweet and so nice. And this feels like such a cinefile thing to say and I hate that but my god the shots the composition the simple cameras the frames the idk this one kinda actually deserves that claim as the GOAT of films. No more comment, watch this gorgeous piece.
Legendary Japanese actor Toshiro Mifune returns for his 9th collaboration withmaster director Akira Kurosawa in Yojimbo, a film that has inspired countless filmmakers. The plot of this film was literally stolen by the great 'spaghetti western' director Sergio Leone and remade as the classic 'a fistful of dollars' in 1964'. Yojimbo is the story of a samurai who wanders into a town in turmoil. pitting the town's two warring clans against eachother, the mysterious samurai plays a profitable yet dangerous game. Yojimbo is laced with expert swrodplay, black humour and a wonderfully atmospheric score from Masura Sato. Toshiro Mifune gives a towering performance as the samurai who is equally deadly with his wits as with his blade.
God Akira Kurosawa films just go so hard. Where does he actually get all the wind for his shots?? Yeah seven samurai was great but I'd continue to recommend everything else first because the 3 hour runtime was hard, this feature is a palatable 110 minutes and the score is incredible.
I'm a Cyborg but that's Ok [2006]
With his masterful, multi-award-winning vengeance trilogy, Park Chan Wook won accolades at home and abroad, and became the object of cult for many film fans, from the grindhouse aficionado to the arthouse purist. Following the anger and violence of Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, and Old Boy, however, Park was ready for something new - a romantic comedy, albeit one like no other. For his whimsically titled I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK, the director enlisted versatile actress Lim Soo Jung (Lump Sugar, Tale of Two Sisters) and film newcomer Jung Ji Hoon, better known to fans across Asia as Rain, as his mentally ill romantic leads. A cyborg romantic comedy starring Rain? If anyone can pull it off, it's Park Chan Wook!
He could fix me.
When a powerful new internet Digimon hatches and begins to consume data at an alarming rate, the Digidestined kids chosen to save the digital world must put an end to the destruction beore the damage becomes irreversible and worldwide communication halts forever. As computer-based missiles are launched, and a wayward Digimon kidnaps the digidestined, only the combined efforts of a worldwide netwrok of kids and a new group of Digidestined can rescue the others and stop global disaster.
I didn't grow up with digimon, the only think I knew was that unlike pokemon they have to poop. This was an important detail that the film also did explain to me. Thankfully I had friends with me who did grow up with digimon to fully hype me for this film and i'll be honest, digimon kinda does go way harder than pokemon. Shoutout to Val for the VHS tape.
kids in america goes so hard.
Get set for an unforgettable adventure featuring all-new Pokemon! an ancient legend comes true when powerful Pokemon Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres are disturbed after centuries of harmony. As the very forces of nature come unbalanced, life on earth depends on the unlikely teaming of the mythical pokemon Lugia and a mysterious "chosen one" foretold in the legend. Can Ash Ketchum summon the ocurage to save the day? See how one person can make all the difference. VHS Includes the mini movie: Pikachu's rescue adventure.
Shoutout to this VHS tape from Evie, this is possibly in the worst condition of any VHS I own. Pikachu's rescue adventure is a fever dream; this is the second time I have watched the film actually however I still sort of lose my mind and get distracted by other things.
Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah [2001]
The horror of the Pacific War and specter of Godzilla have all become a distant memory for Japan. However, the destruction of a US submarine raises alarms for Admiral Tachibana. His estranged daughter Yuri, is working on a pseudo documentary when she comes across the legend of the three guardian monsters. The guardians are awaken by an old man, Hirotoshi Isayama, who informs Yuri that Godzilla, embodying the restless souls of the victims of Pacific War, has returned to destroy the nation for having forgotten the suffering of the war. As Yuri and her colleagues investigate, Admiral Tachibana and the guardian monsters attempt to defeat an unstoppable and vengeful Godzilla
they made mothra less fluffy! grr!. boo. I thought godzilla v mothra had such a nonsensical filler plot with the two little women from outer space but there was still kinda a message trying to happen there about like maybe don't pollute the planet? maybe, godzilla v mothra v kind ghidorah is better by virtue of having seemingly no underlying theme; an hour of plot happens and then mothra and king ghidorah still just -show up- and just fight. I still totally had a good time watching this but also have to dock it points for not having the o.g. godzilla orchestral hook play every time he shows up.
Lupin the Third: the Mystery of Mamo [1978]
Sometimes, being able to put together a world-class art collection takes a thief... this time it takes an extraordinary thief! In Transylvania, Lupin III, the notorious international thief, is hung and no one is more surprised to learn of that than Lupin III himself, who was alive and well and nowhere near that area at that time. The answer to that mystery, begins to surface when Lupin gets a seemingly ordinary pebble from an Egyptian pyramid for his would-be girlfriend, Fujiko, the mercenary thief, who is in the employ of a mysterious figure known only as Mamo. Intrigued by this bizarre request, Lupin decides to get involved and finds himself in an international chase that has a greater scope and danger than he has ever faced.
I watched this straight after coming back from getting my wisdom teeth out under general anasthetic. Safe to say I don't remember much at all, but this was still a great expereince I am sure.
blurb
After I watched fitzcarraldo, the greatest horror of film of all time (just due to the anticipation of watching that cable under tension for so long) I learnt that they actually used a bulldozer to pull the boat. The documentary points out that actually, the bulldozer only /helped/ pull the boat, and barely did so. its still being manually winched by the tribe present, and its still a miracle that Werner Herzog didn't kill everyone on set. man went so hard for making this film despite all setbacks and odds.
From the legendary Studio Ghibli and Academy Award®-winning director Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away) comes a new critically-acclaimed fantasy adventure. After losing his mother during the war, young Mahito moves to his family's estate in the countryside. There, a series of mysterious events lead him to a secluded and ancient tower, home to a mischievous gray heron. When Mahito's new stepmother disappears, he follows the gray heron into the tower, and enters a fantastic world shared by the living and the dead. As he embarks on an epic journey with the heron as his guide, Mahito must uncover the secrets of this world, and the truth about himself. Featuring the voices of Christian Bale, Dave Bautista, Gemma Chan, Willem Dafoe, Karen Fukuhara, Mark Hamill, Robert Pattinson and Florence Pugh.
Perhaps I've mentioned my lament before of not growing up with the studio Ghibli films, I really wish I had. This film was hugely important to me to be able to see in theatres for the first time, and it was a beautiful emotional experience to be able to be there. My other confession is that I don't seem to get ghibli films the way people around me do; I really don't ever feel up to date on the studio's lore and the production behind them etc, and even for what I have learned I always seem to come away understanding the film only for what I have seen. I get lost in the storyline and tangents and plot but that makes me feel more engrossed; I feel just like I would as a child navigating these strange magical worlds just as I do this strange magical world we already do live in. I tear up whenever joe hisaishi's score comes back to centre focus, his music is magical and breathtaking and it takes me back to a powerful moment in my life I got to see him live back when I was first discovering the whole Ghibli catalogue. The long, drawn out opening of Mahito exploring his new place, wandering ruins and chasing monsters feels most like what I remember my own childhood as; this is a coming of age film where I most truly see my own strange and weird childhood.
Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie [2017]
blurb
Ok so, I watched this on my plex, where it is setup to show you some of the rotten tomatoes reviews. I hate review aggregates like that, because it pulls from critics who are just useless people with newspaper collumns often dumb conservatives. Some chump gives this film a thumbs down because it 'espouses no moral values'. uhhhhhhhhh Mr. Krupp is that you?? how do you watch this film and think school as an authoritarian institution is healthy? george and harold, rather, Dav Pilkey, the original author was right on the money however many years ago to go after the schooling process and critique the ways it is set up to dismantle creativity, free thinking and imagination. George and harold are heroes and important role models for children everywhere. I wish this film took off more, It got a lot of praise back then for its mixed media animation and I still think thats timeless and hence I've gone back to it. captain underpants is walking so the new puss in poots and spidermans can run. deeply emotionally touching film, more than most of the other stuff I have in this watchlist.
Get ready for an exhilarating ride of a lifetime! Join Tulio and Miguel and their hilarious horse Altivo as they set sail, map in hand, in search for golden treasurein DreamWorks' all-star adventure, The Road to El Dorado!
Got my hands on a mint shwrinkrapped VHS copy of this for a watch party and wow, VHS is still crunchy even when its nevr been played. Yeah, this film is incredibly gay. Dremaworks were on point for that. maybe my childhood would have been better with more depictions of bromances like this..
Eko Eko Azarak: Wizard of Darkness [1995]
Misa Kuroi is an adorable high-school girl who arrives at her new school when it is falling under an evil supernatural force. Trying to figure out who's behind the supernatural attack, Misa also has to deal with assumptions by her fellow classmates that believe she is the one behind it all. Misa and twelve other students are kept late after school hours one day to retake an exam. Then, after sunset, the entire school is deserted, and the students find themselves trapped inside and their teacher no where to be found. One by one, the thirteen students are picked up and disposed of in horrific and graphic fashion. It is up to Misa to try and gain the trust of her fellow students so that she can protect them and stop the evil before it's too late.
A transfer student and amateur witch shows up at school and the kids put a hex on a pervert teacher. the kids are then suddenly banished to he backrooms. What if instead of a school shooter, you had to deal with a school dark magician? This was not R rated because of violence...
sorry, couldnt find a blurb or dvd cover for this short little indie b grade zombie flick. its pretty cool how they did it all in one big long take.
Actually watched this for the first time earlier in the year and forgot to add it to my diary. Its a short movie, watched it this time with my mum we just needed some quick viewing. watched it before with a friend who likewise promised me a nice quick film. I recommend this movie a lot its very entertaining dont bother trying to find out more there isnt much about it online.
Weird: the Al Yankovic Story [2022]
Daniel Radcliffe is "Weird Al" Yankovic in the unexaggerated true story about the greatest musician and sex symbol of our time. The film also stars Evan Rachel Wood as Madonna and Rainn Wilson as Dr. Demento. From the big screen to Broadway, the telling of music stars' lives is all the rage. Now comes the outrageous biopic of the unique artist who gained fame and fortune by parodying hit songs. A true-life story about the man who turned twisting popular lyrics into a hugely successful career had to be equally twisted, befitting the man, the myth, the legend known to the world as "Weird Al" Yankovic.
I love Daniel Radcliffe films. I love jack black films. I love the works of weird al. I have watched this twice before but this rewatch still has me laugh my head off and cry also (when he hides his hawaiian shirt? and when his dad reveals one? ouch ahh my emotions why did they queercode polka so hard?). If it had its theatrical release last year it could honestly have taken on everything everywhere all at once for greatest film 2022 for me.
This extraordinary debut from documentarian Bing Liu weaves a story of skateboarding, friendship, and fathers and sons into a coming-of-age journey of courageous vulnerability. Over the course of several years and with his camera always at the ready, Liu records the rocky paths into adulthood of Keire and Zack, two friends from his own skateboarding community in Rockford, Illinois. As he does so, deeper parallels gradually emerge that ultimately draw the filmmaker into a heartrending confrontation with his own past. With an eye for images of exhilarating poetry and a keen emotional sensitivity, Minding the Gap is a powerfully cathartic portrait of fledgling lives forged in trauma and fighting to break free.
Crap. I had watched this before and didn't remember it. again, thats the whole point of this blog. I think it only clicked for me when I got to the end again. It's not really a skateboarding documentary, or maybe it is. I like this reverse shot. This film probably really does deserve its praise and acclaim as a really dam good peice of documentary filmmaking.
Keith Carradine and Harvey Keitel star in this dramatic film about two officers in Napoleon's army who violently confront eachother in a series of savage duels. The duels begin as a reaction to a minor incident that escalate into a consuming passion that rules the lives of both men for a period of 30 years. Based on Joseph Conrad's story, the Duellists explores themes of obsession, honor and violence.
Came into this film knowing its praise for some of the best swordfighting scenes in cinema. Delighted by a drama that more or less follows the blurb directly, and is beuautifully added to by great costume design and artful camerawork. It is a shame that in my last days of being on facebook, I had watched many of these fight scenes as sludge content by facebook 'reels' or whatever. The time you have to consume hours upon hours of sludge content you could just be watching these movies. the digital attention wars kill the soul.
Jacques Tati's gloriously choreographed, nearly wordless comedies about confusion in the age of technology reached their creative apex with Playtime. Fort his monumental achievement, a near three year long, bank breaking production, Tati again thrust the endearingly clumsy resolutely old-fashioned Monsieur Hulot, along with a host of other lost souls into a bafflingly modernist Paris. With every inch of its superwide frame crammed with hilarity and inventiveness, Playtime is a lastimg align="middle" class="still" testament to a modern age tiptoeing on the edge of oblivion.
A journey ever thinner into the vaneer holding hyperconsumerist postmodernist capitalism and its tourists. a bit of a fever dream but a fun watch and reflection while myself exploring Bangkok, purposefully avoiding the weird touristy westernised parts. Im also reading some anthony bourdain at the moment, some essays driving hate into certain parts of degustation and more particularly, restaurant goers and the hour long restaurant scene was actually a great watch.
Princess Mononoke (もののけ姫 , Mononoke Hime) is the 10th feature-length animated film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki and animated by Studio Ghibli for Tokuma Shoten, Nippon Television Network and Dentsu, and distributed by Toho. It is considered one of Miyazaki's masterpieces, taking sixteen years to design and three years to produce, with a recorded box office revenue of ¥19.3 billion yen, breaking box office records in Japanese cinemas at that time. It is a jidaigeki (period drama) set in late Muromachi period of Japan, and centers on the struggle between the supernatural guardians of a forest and the humans who consume its resources, as seen by the outsider Ashitaka. Mononoke (物の怪) is not a name, but a general term in Japanese for a spirit or monster.
I cry every time I watch princess mononoke, usually at the end. This time I helf back tears almost all the way through. I hold this as one of my favorite films of all time. I now have the soundtrack on vinyl, which always takes me back to seeing joe hisaishi perfrom live. This time i reminisced about my childhood spent in the country, where I would play pretend forest princess or nomadic hunter in my imagination. this film i sheer beauty to me.
During the Japanese invasion of China, a wealthy martial artist is forced to leave his home when his city is occupied. With little means of providing for themselves, Ip Man and the remaining members of the city must find a way to survive.
Was that the same courtyard set they used in fearless? these kung fu movies are all beginning to blur together to me. Certainly, ip man had incredible kung fu fighting. I mean no criticisim, but i spent much time thinking back to devils on the doorstep for movies about the sino-japanese war. that was a really good film.
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World [2003]
During the Napoleonic Wars, a brash British captain pushes his ship and crew to their limits in pursuit of a formidable French war vessel around South America.
this film is absolutely a love story between the titular master and commander. honestly satisfied me more than our flag means death (full of annoying binge cliffhangers and not enough pirate ship scenes).
The second film by director Satoshi Kon and screenwriter Sadayuki Murai recalls Perfect Blue, but Millennium Actress is a more complex, subtle, and sophisticated work that evokes the history of Japanese cinema. After nearly 30 years of living in strict seclusion, the aged film star Chioyoko Fujiwara grants an interview to journalist Genya Tachibana. As their conversation begins, Kan intercuts scenes from Chioyoko's films with her memories of pursuing the mysterious artist she met as a young girl. Accompanied by his blasé cameraman, Tashibana finds himself within Chioyoko's memories and films, alternately observing and aiding the woman he adores. Kon's skillful direction and subtle use of color strengthen the intriguing story: Chioyoko's memories are rendered in shades of gray, with hints of muted color highlighting the overall composition.
Am I watching all these because they are Satoshi Kon films (beautiful surreal storytelling and animation) or because they are scored by Susumu Hirasawa and brought to some more impressive level through sound.
Laputa: Castle in the Sky [1986]
A young boy and a girl with a magic crystal must race against pirates and foreign agents in a search for a legendary floating castle.
I'm still only just getting through the ghibli films as an adult and am so regretful these were not in my childhood. This film gives me all the more reason to get a Teto tattoo. I feel like this one has been the ghibliest movie yet; young princess heroine has to do environmentalism and save the world and be anti-war and theres flying ships for miyazaki to draw and theres lots of the budget in animating the food scenes and joe hisaishi did an amazing job too.
A pawn tries to get rid of a traitorous minister, Qin Hui, when he leads an army to the border for talks with a Jurchen mission.
Hey, I recognise that palace grounds, thats the same place Yimou Zhang used in raise the red lantern. Probably the most amound of twists and doublecrosses and lies and subterfuge and drama out of any of the Yimou Zhang I've watched yet. I support the choice of modern chinese hardcore rap walking montage in Song Era historical drama. watched on a plane where someone in the row in front of me had also put it on but was a few minutes ahead.
Beat Takeshi lives the busy, and sometimes surreal, life of a show biz celebrity. But his blond lookalike named kitano, a shy convenience store cashier, is still an unknown actor waiting for his big break. After crossing paths with Beat and a series of frustrating auditions, Kitano seems to mysteriously fall intoa fantasy state highlighted by aspects of Beat's real life and violent onscreen persona...
"But doctor, I am a lookalike of the great pagliacci..."
"Oh, then have this gun and shoot at the visages of your own anxieties and fears"
I love Beat Takeshi and want to slowly get through his catalogue. Borrowed this one at random and my god I love a tasteful impressionist cinema. A good watch if you know a bit about Beat Takeshi himself.
Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior [2003]
In a poor Thai village, the sacred statue of Ong Bak watches over its inhabitants, who feel safe and secure in its presence. When a former villager steals the statue's head to sell it to the the underworld, the villagers are fearful of the consequences, and pin their hopes on Ting (Jaa), a gifted but reluctant Muay Thai boxer. Ting is charged with travelling to the seedy streets of Bangkok, to and fight and reclaim Ong Bak for his village.
Martial artist has moral code that forbids him to receive money from fights, but is so good at fighting that people just want to pay him. conflict ensues.
They aren't overselling Tony Jaa actually. Maybe while im in bangkok next month I can fulfill my fantasies of glassing someone in a fight.
1930s Korea, in the period of Japanese occupation, a new girl (Sookee) is hired as a handmaiden to a Japanese heiress (Hideko) who lives a secluded life on a large countryside estate with her domineering Uncle (Kouzuki). But the maid has a secret. She is a pickpocket recruited by a swindler posing as a Japanese Count to help him seduce the Lady to elope with him, rob her of her fortune, and lock her up in a madhouse. The plan seems to proceed according to plan until Sookee and Hideko discover some unexpected emotions.
Dam. I need a Handmaiden. My Kinsey score is probably higher than I remember. This was worth watching in bluray quality.
Oh Dae-Su, an obnoxious drunk abducted on a rainy night in 1988, wakes up in a strange, windowless hotel room. Kept under lock and key for an unknown reason, Oh Dae-Su's invisible captors keep him fed and systematically sedated to avert suicide, providing only a colour television to keep him company. And after fifteen long years in captivity, perplexed Oh Dae-Su finds himself released. Now, his pitiless abductors encourage Oh Dae-Su to track down the ones behind the mysterious kidnapping and finally get his brutal, longed-for revenge on the unknown tormentor. However, who would hate Oh Dae-Su so much that he would deny him a quick and clean death?
Can you guess the common theme of the double feature watch party this and the above movie had? My wisdom teeth where coming in right as this movie started, and watching peoples teeth get pulled out with hammers was frankly satisfying and pleasurable viewing experience rather than body horror.
A mysterious outsider's quiet life is turned upside down when he returns to his childhood home to carry out an act of vengeance. Proving himself an amateur assassin, he winds up in a brutal fight to protect his estranged family.
what if you went to do a revenge movie, but the people you revenged upon also revenge movie you? Cannot remember who reccomended this one to mee but this was a baller indie action thriller.
A minister of a small congregation in upstate New York grapples with mounting despair brought on by tragedy, worldly concerns and a tormented past.
Yeah, I get it that if he did do the ending you are built up to it doesnt really create the systemic change required. but dammit i still wanted that rather than him just doing kissies. Had been watching a heap of moral orel before this too, and think a lot about the process of secular people confronting the corruption within their faith and practice but trying to retain the core morality that once was.
Twenty-Five years following his untimely death, Bruce Lee remains the movies' supreme martial arts star. And Enter The Dragon, Fully Restored in sterio for the first time and containing 3 minutes not included in the original U.S. theatrical release, stands the test of time as the most popular martial arts epic in film history. Entor the Dragon takes Lee to the island fortress of a criminal warlord, whose martial arts academy covers up opium-smuggling and prostitution activities. To avenge the death of his sister, Lee infiltrates the stronghold and enters the Han's brutal martial arts tournament-a breathtaking visual feast of competitions fusing skills in karate, judo, tai kwan do, tai chi chuan and hapkido, staged by Lee himself.
Reminds me a lot more of a bond film, but im always here to watch Bruce Lee beat people up. The last fight was pretty theatrical actually. The VHS copy I have is in the poorest condition of any so far, with the bottom of the frame being very shaky; maybe not the best viewing experience ill finally confess.
Business is blooming at Mushnik's Flower Shop. Customers are rushing in to see the exotic potted plant called Audrey II. But if they knew the truth, they'd rush right out again for Audrey II is more vampire than vegetable! It's a "mean, green mother from outer space" who's about to fill Mushnik's little shop with kooky horrors!
I first saw this at like, age 21 in my brief stint in a queer share house. My only memory was my bisexual neighbour being really really turned on by Audrey II. Can't remember why. Having a VHS watch party with some more queer friends I remembered why this is a queer movie. Do we need to unpack our sadomasochistic tendencies? This watch party included the youtube copy of the original theatrical ending, but man. VHS looks so much better than streaming compression.
Not just your basic, average, ordinary, run of the mill, ho-hum fairytale... A young boy, bedridden with the flu, is less than thrilled when his grandfather arrives to read aloud the book, "the Princess Bride". The story recounts the adventures of Buttercup, the most beautiful woman in the world, and Westley, the man she loves, in the fairytale kingdom of Florin. The old grandfather promises everything. "Fencing. Fighting. Torture. Revenge. Giants. Bad men. Best men. Monsters of all shapes and sizes. Chases. Escapes. True Love. Miracles..."
maybe i dont have to write anything I just like keeping the list really and also like cmon its the princess bride its one of my all time favourite films the only difference was this was on VHS and this was my first time watching this since reading the book but its a classic and I enjoyed it all the same. westley remains cute.
Somebody said get a life. so they did. Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis turn into an Oscar-nominated performances as best friends on a desperate flight across the American Southwest after a tragic incident at a roadside bar. With a retermined detective (Harvey Keitel) on their trail, a sweet-talking hitchiker (Brad Pitt) in their path and a string of crimes in their wake, their journey alternates between hilarious, high-octane joy ride and an empowering personal odyssey.
Im currently distracting myself from study by doing a little bit of website curation but I can't actually complete these dvd diary enteries without the box covers because thats the part I put into italics.
Shigeharu Aoyama owns a video production company. His wife died seven years ago. When his son, shigehiko, suggests he should think about re-marrying before he gets too old, Aoyama decides to take his advice. HE seeks help from his friend and colleague, Yoshikawa, whose idea is simple: they can use a casting session for a no-go project to audition for potential wives. Aoyama spends secretive evenings looking through the selection of application forms and photographs, and finds himseld inexctricably drawn to the image of a 24-year-old ex-dacer, Asami Yamasaki. On the day of the auditio, her charm and obedient nature make such an impact upon Aoyama that he arranges to see her again. AS the relationship between the two develops, Yoshikawa becomes uneasy about his friend's choice and, conducting his own investigatio ninto Asami's past, sets out to prove that she is ot who she claims to be. After spending many romantic evenings with Asami, Aoyama becomes increasingly convinved that she is the woman for him. However, his romantic ideals are about to be shattered in the most unimaginably cruel way, as the woman of his dreams takes him deep into her sadistic, vengeful world.
'hey derek, idk what to borrow this week what have you got'
'oh have you seen audition its meant to be really good its a bit graphic but you go for that stuff before I havent seen it actually'
'yeah sure lets go'
Yeah. dam this is a graphic film but it was really cool too. I never touch horror stuff naturally so blind reccomendatios go hard. Reading the blurb, I expect this film to be a hollywood style man accidentally gets into bdsm then finds out he enjoys it style romp. Instead, we follow the plot of a filmmaker who harvey-weisteins himself a wife, and instead of ending with a male fantasy our protagonist questions his role in perpetrating an abuse dynamic a little bit too late and we really do get an unimaginably cruel and not sexy ending. this is either a 0/10 or 10/10 for quentin tarantino, a man gets his foot cut off.
Set in the American coloies during the brutal Anglo-French war of 1757, this fierce romantic adventure chroicles the story of Hawkeye, a white ma raised by Mohicans, who became entangled in a raging battle between the two rival nations. Exhilarating and exciting, The Last of the Mohicans is adventure on a grand scale, with heart-stopping action, sizzling romance, spectacular battle scees and a superb cast including Academy Award winner Daniel Day-lewis, Madeleine Stowe and Wes Studi. An epic adventure of love and loyalty, it's the yltimate in entertainment and on no account should be missed.
Bought this for a dollar on VHS. Watched it with the family. Had always wanted to see it because I knew the score was baller and the battle scenes had some production behind them. Was pretty impressed by the black powder pyrotechnics. Can confirm that the score is baller. Add this one to the list of films that I had probably seen the ending to on SBS, but had no persistent memory of. All the more reason I keep this diary.
Bursting with energy, hyper-kinetic fight action and stunning imagery, New dragon gate Inn tells the story of a fabled resistance fighter, Zhou Huaian and his heroic struggle against despotic euuch and master swordsman Cao Shao-qin, played with considerable menace by martial arts supremo Donnie Yen.
I borrowed this because I blew my mind over the the dvd cover that I had somehow not seen this and remember seeing this. Somehow this is an entirely different film from the other flying swords of dragon gate. Maybe it was a prequel? Idk. I'm here for the fight scenes. I'll say I enjoyed the newest one more because of my crush on Jet Li, but Donnie Yen did an incredible job here and the final fight is actually perhaps one of the greatest in wuxia history that you need the stakes of watching the entire film to fully appreciate.
Hara-kiri: Death of a Samurai [2011]
From visionary auter Takeshi Miike (13 Assassins, icha the killer) comes the story of a mysterious samurai who arrives at the doorstep of his feudal lord requesting hoorable death by ritual suicide in his courtyard. I forgot to transcribe the dvd cover before I returned it, and this is all the legible blurb I can get in english from internet web search.
Turns out I was reccomended to watch Harakiri [1962]. I mean, this was alright, but the fact it was a remake possibly explains the strong start followed by a bit of a pacing issue. I am assured this happened to another friend that the first friend had reccomended this to. I asked the rental store owner if he had the original, he tells me he had recently tried to purchase a bluray copy from france but on its arrival discovered it had only had french subtitles. Wild. This stuff could genuinely become lost media if not for his work.
Winner of the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festiva;
this dark comedy from director Jiang Wen takes a fresh look at life under occupation at the end of WWII. Jiang Wen also stars as Ma Dasan,a peasant who one night at gunpoint is compelled to shelter two prisoners. One is a captured Japanese Soldier who wants to be killed and the other is a Chinese interpreter who wants to stay alive. As the days turn to months, Ma Dasan and his fellow villagers keep their unwanted guests hidden from the Japanese forces, while deciding wheter or not to execute them. The film's bold cimematography is matched only by its approach to the subject matter, which in turn attracted the unwanted attention fo the Chinese censors who ultimately banned it from chinese screens.
Through some circumstances, an occupied villiage ends up with prisoners of their own oppressors that they must torture and imprison and perhaps also kill. Can the peasantry commit such inhumanity? comedy ensues. Can the prisoners recognise the humanity of their captors? do these two factions triumph over the language and cultural barrier to recognise their indifferences and find peace among eachother? Will racism be solved, and each nation put down its arms? no, actually. When the japanese prisoners return their commanding officer hosts a big party for the villiage as an excuse to do another nanking before the imperial army surrenders (or after). And if you thought the chinese were off the hook, they summarily execute all 'collaboraters' who ever got along with the japanese. USA sits by. Most war films just seem to stop abruptly at surrender but this extra hour of the film was actualyl quite enthralling, taking us into today where the memory of this war and the tensions and vendetta are not forgiven or forgotten. War is a bit stupid. The film gets praised for being a sino-japanese war film that is not nationalist or racist decry against the other side. Maybe its lifting up both people yet condemning everyone. Idk, but happy to have expereinced this very good piece of cinema on history I want to be more versed in.
Inspired by Pu Song-ling's legendary collection of horror stories in Liaozhai Zhiyi, Mr. Vampire is a multi leveleld kaleidoscopic action adventure which combines the supernatural elements of black comedy and award winning action in one of the most successful Hong Kong pictures ever made. A sell-out attraction at many film festivals around the World, Mr Vampire continues to be one of the classics of the genre and has become a firm favorite with television audeinces inthe UK, attracting impressive ratings each time it is shown. Now remastered for the first time on DVD, enjoy the physical brilliance of leading-man Chin Siu-ho, the stunning art design of Lam Sai-kan and the innovative direction of Ricky Lau in this flamboyant and thoroughly entertaining fable of the chinese supernatural, which was also so successful that it spawned an entire sub-genre of movies, laying tribute at its door!
The best I can do to describe the niche genre this film spawned is scooby doo and jojos bizarre adventure as a live action martial arts ancient chinese geomancy film with actually kinda good comedy and fights . Our protagonists ensure the correct auspicious burial of the dead and kill zombies using rice and string and also some dude forgets to save his brother from death because he got so down bad for ghost pussy.
Also far out, western occultism and witchcraft is so lame like 'ooh horoscopes and crystals' like nah bro get into chinese geomancy sweetie its not your mercury retrograde screwing your life up its the elemental disharmony of your bedroom and your chinese zodiac quick you must eat sticky rice and recite six buddhist sutra respective of your zodiac year and stab your ex with a sword forged from coins and charged under the moon.
Rin is a seemingly normal japanese high school girl, but on her sixteenth birthday everything in her life changes. After witnessing her mothers face blown into bits and her fathers severed head falling into her birthday cake, rins dormant mutant abilities are awakened!
Fleeing and fighting her way through the hometown, she discovers a group of girls who were also born as mutants, calling themselves the "Hiruko". The team hone their skills under their demented leader, Kisaragi, for one purpose: to take revenge on the Japanese who have been persecuting their breed for ages, and to take over japan and transform it into a land for mutants only!
Only ex-porn directors can truly manage the gratuiotous perverse violence. The film is not directly pornographic, but the thrill of hyperviolence on the cinema screen is not that distinct a desire. This film is batshit insane but actually has really good setup and payoff when you reflect on it. This film answers what the question marvel was too afriad to tell, what if the X-men did a jihad?
Also shoutout to the scene where we discover a shopping mall owner is not actually a martial artist but a full blown magic cultivator yet still gets immediately slaughtered by mutant highschooler. Setup and payoff.
Peru, Iquitos is a town islated in the middle class="still"of the jungle at the turn of the century. On the outskirts, a few shacks are rotting in the mud. In the center are the splendid houses of the nouveaux-riches rubber barons. It is in this setting, rich in grotesque contrast, that Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald - Fitzcarraldo, as the natives call him - has his dream of bringing together Enrico Caruso and Sarah Bernhardt for one great celebration of Grand Opera. To finance his fantastic dream, Fitzcarraldo decides to exploit a vast area of rubber trees growing beyond the impassable Ucayala Falls. To circumvent this barrier, he literally has his huge steamboat lifted over a mountain from one branch of the river to the other. With the aid of a tribe of Indians and bewitched by records featuring the voice of the greatest singer of all time, Fitzcarraldo fights fever, mosquitos and suffocating heat to achieve the impossible
I'm sorry. I can't give you a review of Fitzcarraldo. I instead can only give you my highest praise; this film is a spectacle unlike anything else for comparison exploring the insane lengths of man in his goals, the unmatched horror of an insecure cable under tension, and also knowing the backstory behind this films production can really elevate the viewing experience.
A team of elite martial arts and combat fighters code named Fantasy Mission Force set out on a secret mission. the team includes kung fu expert, Jackie Chan. The mission: to recover an Army monetary fund which has been stolen by the enemy. To achieve the mission, JAckie must stop a bevy of fighting expoerts including a femme fatal [sic] and an evil traitor within the team.
I really could not follow the plot of Fantasy Mission Force. Surely the dub translation has done it no favours, but there is definitely some plot and editing problems here. I mean this not as a criticism; this is a cult classic with honestly thrilling B grade special effects and A grade Jackie fight choreography that is probably only enhanced by the inability to follow who is who in the story. Beloved cult tv show B-grade action homage Danger 5 reeks of this film, everything bad about it has been loved and enjoyed by many others.
He thought it was over. After fighting his way out of a building filled with gangsters and madmen - a fight that left the bodies of police and gangsters alike piled in the halls - a rookie Jakarta cop Rama thought it was done and he could resume a normal life. He couldn't be more wrong. Formidable though they may have been, Rama's opponents in that fateful building where nothing compared to the small fish swiumming in a pond of much larger chaos he ever dreamed possible. And his triumph over the small fry has attracted the attention of the predators further up the food chain.
Not as wall to wall action as the first, but far more diverse in what it achieves. The camera and stuntment are both achieving even more brutal feats than the first. While the mafia corruption plot takes longer to develop, The Raid 2 is probably very smart in not recycling the plot device of its predecessor, instead allowing even more brutal and cool villians and fights. It is too hard to find and enjoy R18 action violence like this.
Inspired by an amazing true story from the Siamese War, Bang Rajan is an epic cinematic masterpiece, which celebrates the legendary courage, sacrifice and ingenuity of a single group of village warriors who stood up to the imperialist might of the invading Burmese army in 1765. Partly 'The Alamo', partlt 'The Seven Samurai', Bang Rajan is simultaneously heart rending, savage and inspirational: a true glowing testament to the timeless resilience of the human spirit. Now, discover the truth behind one of the greatest true legends of all time on this feature-packed special edition DVD.
my god the drip on these hunky men with their incredible haircuts. Nationalistic historic war epics often have great budgets and resources put in to them. A little bit of war glorificiation makes for good film actually, and is really nice to enjoy from countries outside the west. The vastly outnumbered town of Bang Rajan, and the refugees accomodated make a final stand against the rape and pillage of their homelands by the militarily superiour burmese. History is not rewritten, but a tale is told of the towns many legendary heroes.
A giant meteorite hurtles through outer space, on a colission course with Earth ! It plunges into the sea setting off a chain reaction of violent earthquakes, landslides and volcanic eruptions on the face of the planet. Deep beneath the sea, a slumbering beast awakens once more - Godzilla ! King of Monsters ! The Japanese Environmental Bureau despatch young Takuya Fujito, a disreputable 'treasure hunter', to investigate a strange occurace near the site of the meteors landing. A land slide has revealed a mysterious sphere, buried deep in the mountanside for thousands of years. However Takuya and his compaios discover more tha they bargained for whe they meet the last, two survivig members of an ancient race, the Cosmos, whose duty is to guard the Earth from destruction. They are the guardians of the sphere - in reality the egg of mothra. The egg is to be taken back to tokyo for study, but before they can reach safety, Godzilla appears, forcing the egg to hatch, and a titanic battle esues. But there is one more surpise awaiting the people of Japan...Godzilla was not the only monster to awaken after the meteorites fiery landing - Mothra's ancient enemy, the dreaded Battra, joins in the fight. How ca the people of earth withstand the attacking fury of not one, not two but three giant monsters ! Once more, cities crumble and people flee in terror before the advance of Godzilla. As the battles proceed through the towns of Japan, the situation grows more and more desparate. Could this be the end? How ca they defeat this trio of rampaging beasts? The answer could come from a most unexpected source. Godzilla vs Mothra is a classic Godzilla action at it's finest. With each battle more awe inspiring than the last.
WHERE CAN I BUY PLUSH TOY MOTHRA I NEED HER!!!!
yes, that is the fr movie blurb btw. all that plot happens. it is useful buildup to inevitably be made irrelevent once the fighting finally begins. our only hope for humanity to deal with climate change is that Mothra is real and we anger her, and after she crushes our means of pollution may she give our people forgiveness. I have this one on VHS, one day I hope to also find Mothra Vs Godzilla [1964]. We watched it twice, the second time watching the fight sequences as backing visuals to 10,000 GECS, which slaps.
Superstar Jet Li headlines this action-packed film, his final martial arts epic. The film reteams him with the producer Bill Kong ("Hero") and action director and choreographer Yuen Wo Ping ("The Matrix" and "Kill Bill"). Li playst the real-life martial arts legend Huo Yuanjia, who became the most famous fighter in all of China at the turn of the 20th Century. Huo faced increfible personal tragedy but ultimately fought his way out of darkness and into history, forever defining himself at a torunament for the honour of his country and the true spirit of martial arts.
Yeah, its a bit of a trope or cliche to explore the 'martial arts is actually about discipline and self restraint', But this was the film that I think actually clicked it for me and elevated that message. Once again Jet li steals my heart. I think I actually want to join my university wushu club, if I wasn't already curious before.
Aguirre: The Wrath of God [1972]
The most famed and well-regarded collaboration between New German Cinema director Werner Herzog and his frequent leading man, Klaus Kinski, this epic historical drama was legendary for the arduousness of its on-location filming and the convincing zealous obsession employed by Kinski in playing the title role. Exhausted ad near to admitting failure in its quest for riches, the 1650-1651 expeditio of spanish conquistador Gonzalo Pizarro bogs down in the perilous jungles of Peru. As a last ditch effort to locate treasure, Pizarro orders a party to scout ahead for signs of El Dorado, the fabled seven cities of gold. In command are a trio of nobles, Pedro de Ursua, fernando de Guzman and lope de Aguirre. Travelling by river raft, the explorers are besieged by hostile natives, disease, starvation and treacherous waters. Crazed with greed and mad with power, Aguirre takes over the enterprize, slaughtering any that oppose him. ature and Aguirre's own unquechable thirst for glory ultimately reder him insande, in charge of nothing but a raft of corpses and chattering monkeys. Aguirre, der zorn gottes was inspired by the real-life journals of a preist, Brother Gaspar de Carvajal who accompanied Pizarro on his ill-fated mission.
I owned the soundtrack for years, enjoying the wonderful ethreal and somehow theocratic synthesizer mantra. Fate had me listen to it recently not on my vinyl copy, but a video link with its accompanying place in the Werner Herzog conquistador epic. A madman is pushed beyond all humanity and self-preservation in order to be the first to commit atrocities to the people of south america; Fearing that if failed, the prize will simply be reaped by someone else.
Oh, also I got to about the horse scene and hot hit with the uncany dejavu of having once watched the back half of this on SBS many many years ago. Lots of these old films do that for me, and I never know when to trust it. It used to be that I'd find SBS foreign films a delightful background distraction from the pains of adolescence, though never had the capacity to immerse myself in free to air scheduling. I wonder if my propensity for dejavu is my short memory overlapping with the long-term memories I am forming convincing me things always happen twice, or some weird fate has life always circling back on thoughts and experiences, like I'm trapped in an eddy current on a raft fated to die in the amazon.
Taboo [1999] alt title: Gohatto
I this thrilling drama by the legendary japanese director Nagisa Oshima (In the realm of the senses and Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence), Japan's rigid samurai code is threateed by the emotional whirlwinds of passion and desire. Set in 1985 Kyoto, the story ceters on a samurai militia unit that fiercely defends the shoguate. Desperately in need of new recruits, the unit enlists 18-year-old Kano, a fearless warrior whose mesmerizing good looks immediately intrigue his fellow students, superiors and eve his captain (Beat Takeshi, Fireworks and Brother). Before long, Kano's bewitching beauty stirs up jealousy and competition within the militia. After a series of mysterious murders provoke further suspicion, disorder erupts. The visually tantalizing sword fights become eroticized rituals devoted to the forces of sex and death, exploding into a final image of exquisite beauty and fury.
This might be the greatest samurai film of all time. A young gorgeous twink gets recruited into a samurai clan, and all its members start to swoon. Each elder attempts to hide his crush for fears of the ramifications and infighting that will ensue. Such, our suspenseful thrill as an audience is determining each persons romantic stake given anybody's heterosexuality is doubtable. And who will the lovely Kano choose to reciprocate with, what ramifications among the clan structure will this have? The cinematography and fight choreography are both impeccable, but most of all its this gorgeous suspenseful leitmotif building the tension with every rumor. Taboo is not a feelgood lgbt pride post-Hays code celebration. Nor is it some homophobic condemnation; Lust, irrespective of sexuality is at odds with the samurai way. This film is the first film I have ever encountered that has just stoppped to recognise that the gay love triangle, or quadrangle, or octangle etc. just has exceptionally greater power at putting drama onto the big screen.
Two cops, two girls and a neon city.
Ditched by a girl he can't forget, cop no 223, picks up a be-wigged and mysterious woman in a late night bar, little dreaming she's a big time heroin smuggler in deep trouble. Set largely in the infamous Chunking Mansions. In the second story, cop no 663 played by Hong Kong star Tony Leung, is so broken up over an airhostess who's abandoned him that he initially completely fails to notice that the girl who works in the midight express has a massive crush on him and has started breaking into his apartment to clean, add extra fish to his tank and put sleeping pills in his water...
Is love a pleasure much like our food, enjoyable but fleeting and inevitably to expire, though we enjoy it irregardless? or is love like some travel destination, that we uhhh travel to and from lovers and we break into their houses sometimes and do manic ADHD stuff idk maybe I didn't get this film but I certainly deeply enjoyed it and want to go back to working in a kebab shop. We watched damsel's in distress recently at the cinema, a friend's favourite film who all they told me going in was that it was 'like a slice of cucumber in a cold glass of water". I guess Chungking Express is like when they put the lime in your beer on a hot day.
In Dead Ringers, David Cronenberg tells the chilling story of identical twin gynecologists- suave Elliot and sensitive Beverly, bipolar sides of one personality- who share the same practice, the same apartment, the same women. When a new patient, glamorous actress Claire Niveaus, challenges their eerie bond, they descend into a whirlpool of sexual confusion, drugs and madness. Jeremy Iron's tour-de-force performance-- as both twins-- raises disturbing questions about the nature of personal identity.
Jeremy Irons got won some awards for best actor. I wonder which of the two roles got nominated?
Okay, let me set the scene. A week ago I borrow antiviral based on interest of a friend. This prompts the man who runs the DVD store to tell me a beautiful infodump about the Cronenbergs. The DVD store has all genre but the most prominent collections are horror and foreign film, being his personal tastes in film collecting. He tells me his favourite Cronenberg film is Dead Ringers, says something about Jeremy Irons that I miss, and that even though its a Cronenberg it is much more a thriller, though the horror elements mean he can't reccomend it to most people. "If you wanna watch antiviral though, you should watch this., I'll chuck it in for free if you want". I politely decline, I had already rented more films that week than I think I could acheive.
Jump cut, one week later. I anticipate my quest, and when he offers me again I accept. The night before i must return the films, I endure to make sure I have done my homework and can sincerely answer the impending conversation I will have with my sagely DVD archivist. It's a good movie, it gets me hooked as soon as I realise what is going on; Jeremy Irons playing a set of twins on film using groundbreaking filmography technique. The dissocitive acting to oneself creates this persistent illusion: are they both real? the twins exchange identities and wardrobes frequently, what will the twist be? not to spoil anything, but the real twist is that this is playing off a real story, I realise as I do my research after the film.
Come time to return, he asks me how I liked it, and I attempt to infodump both profound critique and my knowledge of the extratextual aspects of the film. "Oh I did't know that", he answers. "I just saw it and thought it was cool". Kinda based opinion ngl. I have been played.
Maybe my lesson is to shy back from reflexive film critique. Should just put a: "yeah this was fun" or equivalent after every film here.
An epic adventure ful of intrigue, secret identities and masked swordsmen. Treachery is afoot whe a faction of court officials attempt to overthrow the Ming Dynasty. To stop the impending revolt, a secret group of assassins led by Ko (Michelle Yeoh), Sing (Tony Leung), and Yip Cheung (Donnie Yen) must infiltrate the enemy.
A powerful martial artist seeks retirement with just an ordinary ditzy girl. Michelle Yeoh leads a martial arts sect and has a crush on said man going into retirement. There may have been another character who had a crush on Michelle. There was some kid who studied the way of basketball and became a kung fu master. Theres a love triangle here, which is hard to follow given a poor subtitle track. Even harder for the people who just don't get wuxia genre conventions. Also, this DVD has michelle's final suicide scene cut, which confuses the ending and subverts an expectation since set for Yimou Zhang films.
I noticed only one 'critic' review on rotten tomatos, by 'Paul Chambers'. It reads
It would have been less of a yawn to watch more fully-developed characters and plotting. More substance and less midair kicks.
You want.. less? midair kicks paul? even in spite of its age this film has incredibly high quality wuxia sword fantasy fight scenes and effects. You came in to a martial arts movie and you wanted it to have LESS midair kicks? This makes no sense, paul. Who the fuck even are you, paul? Allegedly, paul was once some TV anchor and since runs a film column with shit film reviews. A common criticism he has is of 'unnecesary swearing'. unlike butterfly and sword, he thought The Meg [2018] was a perfectly okay action flick for you to go and see.
I'm going to go on the contrary to this paul shmuck. I really liked butterfly and sword. the wuxia powers were incredibly creative. of the Yimou Zhang films, however, do leave this one to the back of your watchlist while you learn to appreciate good hong kong cinema first, and also maybe track down the full cut with good translation if possible. Screw people like paul.
Curse of the Golden Flower [2006]
From the director of Hero and House of Flying Daggers, comes teh stuing epic about the folly of war and the disintegration of one family under the weight of unrequited love, unforgivable betrayals, and never-ending thirst for power. On the eve of the Chong Yong Festival, golden flowers fill the imperial palace and whe the emperor (Chow Yun Fat) unexpectedly returs to his Empress (Gong Li) and two sons, the tension is clear in his lavish kingdom. His absece has give rise to illicit love affairs, dangerous alliances, and malicious conspiracies; all of which threaten to overthrow his power. However, it may well be the Emperor's own dark secret that threates him most of all. As teh secrets of the Imperial family uravel against this backdrop of breathtaking opulence and grandeur, a attack on the palace by a myriad of armoured warriors results in a spectacular climax wrought with thrilling action and epic tragedy.
Maybe my love of wuxia and martial arts cinema is actually very specificcally a love for Yimou Zhang film? The plots, subterfuge, combat, incredible orchestrations, costuming, set design and shot compisition all come out in every Zhang feature so far, and scratch a very specific itch in me it seems. There seems to be a trend that all must die in the end, except those who suffer in life the tragedy of their dead love, though predicting how the twist unravels is still a gripping journey. Certainly, I had become convinced at one point that there were parralels to the history of ascension of Wu Zetain, the greatest girlboss concubine. Additionally, our suffering empress concubine protagonist carries even more drama following raise the red lantern. Loved this film it is definitely one of the Yimou Zhang films of all time.
Syd March is an employee of the Lucas Clinic, a company that sells injections of live viruses harvested from sick celebrities, to fans who wish to fulfill their obsessive desire for real intimacy with their idols. As well as working for them, Syd also supplements his income by smuggling viruses out of the clinic in his own body in order to sell them on the black market. Constatly ill and losing his edge, Syd becomes careless and infects himself with an unusual virus carried by superstar Hannah Geist. When the news breaks taht Haah has died, Syd realises that the virus running rampant in his system, will soon kill him too. Hallucinating and struggling to remain in control, syd must race to solve the mystery surrounding Hanah's death if he hopes to avoid suffering the same fate.
A critque of the parasocial relationship with which we hold celebrities from way back in 2012. Shinji, played Syd March, played by Caleb Landry Jones finds himself in the room of a seemingly unconscious woman. complicated psychosexual exploration ensues.
This film used a nasal swab as a medium for body horror, which either has a profound increase in body horror or is just too normalized in the post covid age. Additionally, maybe working as a nurse makes me immune to much of the body horror present. Irregardless, this film is incredibly well shot. I had no idea that the cronenberg's were more than one person until I picked this up.
Writte by, directed by, produced by and starring Jon Favreau - Chef features an all-star cast including Sofia Vergara, Scarlet Johansson, John Leguizamo, Bobby Cannavale, Dustin Hoffman, Oliver Platt and Robert Downey Jr. When Chef Car; Casper suddenly quits his job at a prominent Los Angeles restaurant after refusing to comprimise his creative integrity for its controlling owner, he is left to figure out whats next. Finding himself in Miami, he teams up with his ex-wife, his friend, and his son to launch a food truck. Taking to the road, Chef Carl goes back to his roots to reignite his passion for the kitchen - and zest for life and love.
My Deja vu tripped, so I must have seen part of this once already, though I am sure not since I worked as a chef myself. It feels weird to relate to chef casper at the beginning, given he behaves much like an ass, but the journey from the professional kitchen space into rediscovering the joy of food you have as an individual is a journey I have shared. While going into this knowing it had high acclaim, I honestly had no idea what it was. The setup of a tense drama only to subvert it with a feel good movie is probably nicer than any feel good movie I know. The ending felt wrong, I thought casper was supposed to turn down the restaurant offer as a part of his personal growth? what about the movie taught us that the cycle wouldn't repeat here? it felt shoehorned in, and doesn't deserve much more criticism. Certainly strange in [current age] to watch a movie about the positive and negative aspects of the once independent twitter.
From Zhang Yimoi (Hero) "China's most daring and exciting director" (Los Angeles Times) and celebrated screenwriter i Zhe comes an Oscar-nominated masterpeice of stark beauty and fatal intrigue. Originally baned in mainland China for its dark depiction of Chinese society, Raise the Red Lanter is "a film of astonishing beauty and terror"(los Angeles Times) that will captivate you from start to finish.
In 1920's China, women had few options. So following th edeath of her father, Songlian (Gong Li,Memoirs of a Geisha), a beautiful nineteen-year old college student agrees to marry a wealthy nobleman. She is to be wife number four at his estate, where daily life revolves aroud an ancient family custom: the master raises a red lantern outside the house of the wife with whom he desires to spend the night. On the surface there is harmony between the wives, but trapped inside their gilded cages, with nothing to do but compete for their husbads favor, the four "sisters" are drawn into a web of petty rivalries that soon escalate into treachery...and tragedy.
A masterpeice from Zhang Yimoi, though not at all the wuxia I am used to from HERO. This was a gripping thriller, near psychological horror. I miscalculated the rutime, but could not turn away from the tragedy unfolding for sleep. Impeccable screewriting and cinematography both in one.
Ryan Gosling stars as a Hollywood stunt driver for movies by day who moonlights a sa wheelman for criminals by night. Though a loner by nature, "Driver" can't help falling in love with his beautiful neighbor Irene (Carey Mulliga), a young mother dragged into a dangerous uderworld by the return of her ex-convict husband. After a heist goes wrong, driver finds himself driving a defense for the girl he loves, tailgated by a sindicate of deadly serious criminals (albert Brooks and Ron Perlman). Soon he realizes the gangsters are after more than the bag of cash and is forced to shift gears and go on the offese.
Fresh from a early screening of Barbie [2023] I decide its time I finally watch Ryan Gosling in Drive. I think I had this film confused with Taxi Driver? or all the fast and furious I have been watching. No, Ryan gosling essentially reprises his role as manic pixie dream boy and just, 'drives' around. Baller film actually. Carey Mulligan plays the sexiest lamp a screenplay has ever concocted. He's just ken.
Redline is about the biggest and most deadly racing tournament in the universe. Only held once every five years, everyone wants to stake their clame to fame, including JP, a reckless dare-devil driver oblivious to speed limits with hi sultra-customized car - all the while, organized crime and militaristic govornments want to leverage the race to their own ends. Amongst the other elite rival drivers in the torunament, JP falls for the allurig Sooshee - but will she prove his undoing, or ca a high speed romance survive a mass destruction race?
What's not been said before? Incredible racing anime with incredible style in animation. And its got Space Dandy in it! I think.
The shot of sonoshee with her boobs out watching TV isn't the male gaze. It's lore accurate for a single woman at home. Don't ask why I know this. She's just like me fr fr.
Prepare to enter the realm of fantasy and imagination wher reality and dreams collide in a kaleidoscopic mindscape of sheer visual genius. The magical tale centers on a revolutionary machine that allows scientists to enter and record a subject's dream. After being stolen, a fearless detective and brilliant therapist join forces to recover this device before it falls into the hands of a "dream terrorist" in this gripping anime thriller from acclaimed director Satoshi Kon
Paprika: ...the Internet and dreams are similar. They're areas where the repressed conscious mind escapes.
No blurb can fully sell this. A detective has to investigate the murder of his alter-ego. A literal manic pixie dream girl fights for hope and healing across multiple peoples subconscious. It has been a while since a film has properly hooked me within the first 5 minutes, the soundtrack is incredible. Almost splatooncore, in a way. I remember hating inside out when I first watched it, though it seemed to get heaps of praise. Theres way better depictions of the mind, dreams etc in media, certainly having grow up with Tim Schafer's Psychonauts I thought. Paprika has if not the best dream sequences in cinema. I have to rate this film as a must see.
In Jakarta, Indonesia, Lieutenant Wahyu organizes the invasion of an apartment building that is the safe house of the powerful and cruel drug lord Tama and his gang. The SWAT team breaks in the building but one lookout sees and warns the gangsters and the police force is trapped on the seventh floor. They learn that Lt. Wahyu has not informed his superiors about the operation. Now the police officers have to fight with limited ammunition against the armed and dangerous gangsters.
About 20 minutes of gun movie, and 90 minutes brutal MMA. Yeah its like DREDD in its synopsis. but it Isn't DREDD. Its a whole different violent adventure. watched this from a good reccomentation.
Killer Condom [1996]Alternate title: Kondom des Grauens
New York. A living, squirming, and worst of all, biting condom grips the city in a phrophylactic panic. Especially hard hit is gay detective Luigi Mackeroni (Udo Samel). As chomped corpses pile up, no one believes his carniverous contraceptive theory. Then, when mackeroni loses a testicle to the latex menace, his pursuit becomes personal. He blows the lid off a cult of supervillians bet on eliminating New York's sexual deviants. Their weapon: the Killer Condom. Based on ralph Kong's celebrated comic book, Killer condom is an over-the-top internationally acclaimed German import from producer Ralph Dietrich's Ascot Elite Entertainment). Audiences at the Berlin Film Festival cheered the movie's kinky, kinetic blend of crime drama, sci fi, horrific special effects and outrageous humor. Alien and Species designer H.R. Giger, Killer Condm's creative consultant renders an incredible universe for director Martin Walz' explosive action sequences. And the ferociously realized title character supplies the film with a frightening, unforgettavle bite.
I want to write an entire essay about this film, and will. Stay tuned. In brief, I drew to this B grade german horror-noir on the shelf at the mention of gar detective luigi mackeroni. Is this film an AIDS allegory? (yes, it turns out, I'll still write that essay though). Banger DVD menu song.
Battles Without Honour and Humanity [1973]
this nihilistic chronicle of gang-wars that ravaged Hiroshima in post-war Japan centres around the character Sugawara. Based on the prison diary of Yakuza involved in the wars [Kozo Mino], Sugawara is distinguished through extreme, callous brutality. The villainous godfather Yamamori initiates him into his ruthless gang, which inevitably wins the power struggle through titanic, gruesome battles. Once more Japans highly distinguished director of ultra violence, Fukasaku, elevates brutality and abrupt editing, to new levels as he emphasises the degeneration of the feudal samuri's code of ethics.
oh, look, its a film that inspired quentin tarantino that doesn't have a toe sucking scene. so far that has been really rare. rude of me to make any mention of the man or western cinema generally on Fukasaku's masterpeice. set very deliberately against the backdrop of postwar Hiroshima, this film explains the descent of the samurai code as a product of the post war, post atomic bombing scarcity, hoarding and black markets. Shot in 1973, this film also uses the genuine backdrop of a post-war japan, using genuine shots of ruined buildings that left me shocked the most. Priced at a higher weekly rate than most other from the DVD store, this film was worth it in value.
5 Centimetres Per Second [2007]
Begining with the lyrical image of cherry blossoms falling at 5 centimetres a secong, Makoto Shinkai paints a brethtakingle vivid tableu of young love, desire, loss, and hope. Told in three heartbreaking chapters, we follow the young dreamer Takaki through his life as cruel winters, cold techology, silence, and, finally, adult obligations and responsibility to converge to crush the delicate petals of true love. Finding beauty in everyday objects and moments, Shinkai reveals he is a master of animation and haunting, beautiful storytelling. Fall in love with this gorgeous, thoughtful film, hailed by critics and audiences alike for its beauty, truth, and innovation in animation
from the director of 'Your name' (I have not seen) I decided to watch another film that was not 'your name' because although a friend alleges all films are similar in theme, maybe I can just as easily explore a lesser known as I should get around to watching 'your name'. This is a 63 minute long collection of shorts, which is really pleasant when watching so many rented DVDs in a week. This friend and I caught Suzume [2023] recently, and I was blown aback by the animation and soundtrack. 5 centimetres per second was warned to me as a sad film, but I was able to hold through. I think you need that experience of a love lost to distance and responsibility, It certainly asked me to search through my heart. god the skies are so beautiful in all Shinkai works i've seen so far.
The Most Dangerous Game [1932]
After their luxury cabin cruiser crashes on a reef, Bob Rainsford finds himself washed ashore on a remote island. He finds a fortress-like house, and the owner, Count Zaroff, seems to be quite welcoming. Apart from Zaroff's servant Ivan, the only other people present are Eve Trowbridge and her brother Martin, also survivors of their own shipwreck. Other survivors are missing, however, and Rainsford soon learns why. Zaroff releases them into his jungle island and then hunts them down in his grisly outdoor chess game. Then after Martin disappears Bob realizes that he and Eve are to be the next pawns in Zaroff's deadly game.
I wanted to watch this just because I think I quote the title an obscene amount. Another film that I recovered the memory of watching half on SBS a very long time before. Not to read homerotic subtext into everything, but their is something kinda suss about hunting, and the way men from the thirties hate women and only go hunting with the boys. Count Zaroff explains that he can only get hard with a woman after a day of hunting men. maybe there is something he should unpack there.
I Want to [1979] Alternate title: G.I. Samurai
A Squadron of Japanese soldiers find themselves transported through time to Japan's feudal period ... 400 years in the past, where rival samurai clans are battling to make their leader the supreme shogun. The Squad leader, Lt Iba (Chiba), sees this as the perfect opportunity to realize his dream of becoming the ruler of Japan, to acheive this, he teams his troops up with those of Kagatori, a samurai who also aspires to become Shogun using their high tech modern weaponry to rule Japan.
A squadron of mechanised 'coast guard' soldiers encounter a mysterious time rift on a beach. GI samurai wastes no time setting up why such a thing might happen. you understand the premise and don't need a logical explanation. Once timetravelled back to the past, Chiba's platoon, armed with a tank, helicopter, patrol boat, jeep and half track, join with a samurai faction and attempt to conquer Japan. Many time travel films bog themselves on time travel paradoxes, and must not disturb the past because it will impact the future. Unknowning of what cursed them to be sent to the past, the platoon instead decide that they must do as much as possible to disturb the past, angering the gods and forcing them to be returned to the present. while in feudal Japan, part of the platoon decided to go rogue and commit war crimes. Lt Iba is forced to put them down. then he decides he too wants to commit war crimes, but commits less bad ones. this DVD purports to contain an extra 39 minutes of footage not previously seen in the US, which was probably all action scenes that were not cut. Lt Iba and Kagatori have a gay romance (subtext only) and rule japan together, unless one goes mad in their quest for power. This film ends very anti war, in spite of the seemed glorification of violence.
I think I will convert to the Sonny Chiba cult, this is an impressive B movie with a beautiful sensation for violence. so beutiful to enjoy the glorification of war outside the US military industrial complex.
Shot in Lagos in 1982, this documentary carries us from the "Kalakuta Republic" to thje mythical "Shrine" nightclub. The film includes previously unpublished versions of ITT, Army Arrangement, Power Show and Authority Stealing ('Live' at The Shrine).
I fell in love with fela kuti after watching this documentary many years ago on SBS. Every song by the man is incredible, but the way most people would be introduced to fela possibly disregards the incredible political activism and musical pioneering he undertook; spotify only ever reccomends artists most conventional, 'western' style music, and while all lyrics are wonderful, each related to a real political issue that is powerful to understand. besides, I think his music was meant to be enjoyed live, and video is perhaps the best medium we have.
this will not show up on plex, because it does not have an IMDB. i will likely enter it as another film, at some date.
Yo-Ho-Ho! Cast off for hilarious high-seas adventure with all your favourite Muppets in the swashbuckling send-up of Robert Louis Stevenson's immortal tale! The fun begins when young jim Hawkins, with pals Gonzo, Rizzo and otorious one-leggd pirate Long John Silver(Tim Curry - The three musketeers) board a rickety ship on a quest for buried treasure. Commanded by the dashing captain smollet (Kermit the Frog) and his all-muppet crew, the motley buch sails for a remote island. There, Silver and his mutinous clan od cut-throats kidnap young jim and his treasure map! Although Smollett stages a heroic rescue, he's no match for the island quee of the warthogs - none other tha his scorned lost love Bejamina Gun (Miss Piggy). Wide crtical acclaim, dazzling musical numbers and irreverent madcap humour make MUPPET TREASURE ISLAD a richly entertaiing film for all ages!
I keep this film as one of my favorite films of all time, a muppets adventure carried by the incredible performance of Tim curry, who everyone I speak to would want as their dad. I've probably seen this far too much, so it was pleasant to have friends with me to laugh at the jokes and ejoy the musical numbers each for their first times. I read the original novel recently, so my watch experience was new as well, comparing the source material and enjoying how it has been adapted. Fun facts about this film I know: jim hawkins hit puberty halfway through production, most of his songs are ADR from recordings preproduction. Rizzo and Gonzo were originally supposed to be called Jim and Hawkins, but a child jim hawkins was written in later. Tim curry was so dedicate to his performance that he amputated a leg for the role.
Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance [1972]
In feudal Japan, samurai Ogami Itto is entrusted by the Shogu as official executioner for the royal court. His skill with a sword is terrifying and absolute. Falsely accused of treason by the evil Yagyu clan, Ogami is stripped of his position and his wife is murdered by Yagyu Assassins. with his infant son Daigoro, Ogami sets out on a brutal and bloody path of revenge. No longer a Royal samurai and son... - now they are lone wolf and cub.
Every film that allegedly inspires quentin tarantino has a feet scene. this film also has a cuckoldry scene, where kidnapping bandits force a samurai to have sex with a sex worker is bad for him because it dishonours his samurai code or something, he does the sex so well he gets a permanent ally and wins the day. It's a fun premise, with the samurai forced to carry a child where he goes, and some awesome fight scenes, but some weird fetish stuff interwoven. I might watch the other films at some date.
Dodging speeding cars, crazed cabbies and eight million cranky pedestrians is all i a day's work for Wilee (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), the best of new york's agile and aggressive bicycle messengers. It takes a special breed to ride the fixie bike. Riders who are equal part skilled cyclists and nutcases who risk becoming a smear on the pavement every time they head into traffic. But a guy who puts his life on the line everyday is about to get more than even he is used to when his last envelope of the day - a routine "premium rush" run - turns into a life or death chase through the streets of manhattan. Also starring Michael Shannon, Dania Ramirez and Jamie Chung.
*Record scratch* *freeze frame* You may be wondering what drove me to watch this film. I thought to myself, I wonder what film started the cold open to baba'oriley that has since become a film trope. Premium rush is a enjoyably average film, that had a good screenplay but not enough time in the writers room and a really weird visual pallete. I've watched too much VHS lately that stuff just looks wierd on digital medium or shot with digital camera, and I know too much about actual messenger bike culture to really immerse myself. Still, watching average movies is the delightful thing we dont get anymore in our curret way of enjoying film, and I had fun. at the end of the day, I really just wanted to listen to baba'oriley.
as an urban cyclist myself, I also have the future vision to calculate traffic traversals as Wilee, this is lore accurate. great performance by michael shannon.
February 17 to March 3, 1860, inside Edo castle. A group of assassins wait by Sakurada Gate to kill the lord of the House of Ii, a powerful man in the Tokugawa government, which has ruled Japan for 300 years. They suspect a traitor in their midst, and their suspicions fall on Niiro, an impoverished ronin who dreams of samurai status, and Kurihara, an aristocratic samurai who befriends Niiro. Niiro longs to identify his father, knowing he is a high-ranking official who will disclose himself only if Niiro achieves samurai status. With American ships in Japan's harbors, cynicism among the assassins, and change in the air, Niiro resolves to reach ends that may prove ephemeral.
I think i figured out what irks me about lauding seven samurai as one of the greatest films. Its reductive of the entire samurai genre, full of incredible titles like this. Seven samurai is epic, I'll have you know, but what makes it so great particulary is doing really good at what hollywood films ofte do wrong. I reccomend samurai assassin over seven samurai to anyone wanting to enjoy old samurai films based on its shorter runtime.
A chronicle of New York's drag scene in the 1980s, focusing on balls, voguing and the ambitions and dreams of those who gave the era its warmth and vitality.
I thought I was going to be watching this for the first time. Yet as I did, I found it in my memory, as one of those old SBS documentaries I shamefully watched as a closeted teen knowing I saw myself.
I decided to pick this up as I had heard it mentioned as a critical documentary in sharing the lived experiences of queer people and help breaking down people's fear and misconseption at the time. Letting people know we are human, perhaps being the only way to confront homophobic people both back then and now, as we live through draconian laws being passed accross the world.
I deeply reccomend this documentary, not only for having a banger soundtrack, but as 'ball culture' increasingly gets mentioned in our current discourse I feel its important that everyone actually knows what that means. Paris is burning takes place at a turning point, where television is emerging, and designer fashion corrupting the community, personality and individuality of drag. This is the world before Rupaul's dragrace, but as society is, not one we can just jump back to.
Rest in Peace Venus, you inspired me.
54 high school girls throw themselves in front of a subway train. This appears to be only the beginning of a string of suicides around the country. Does the new all-girl group Desert have anything to do with it? Detective Kuroda tries to find the answer, which isn't as simple as one could hope.
I borrowed this based simply on the dvd, expecting some sort of strange Japanese dark-humour high school comedy. Suicide club is actually a a surrealist cinema on what it means to be living. Fundamentally everyone comes away with their own interpretation, dividing it's fans and critics based on their understanding. Certainly, the quality of the subtitles and my knowledge of the nuances of 90's Japanese culture inhibit my own interpretation from necessarily matching what the author may intend, but it is surrealist and I think allowed to be subjective. I deeply reccomend its viewing, if you can bear the subject matter. Read into it yourself however you choose. Do you really want to hear my understanding?
"what is your connection to you"?
Suicide Club [2001] depicts spontaneous mass suicides, as if by social contagion, often juxtaposed with phones, the internet, or pop songs about phones and the internet. The horror of the film is never one secret entity, but the force that anyone, can end their lives at their will. We the viewer, are often asked what it means to be connected to everyone around us, what it is to be present in our own lives, and if techonology, cultural pressure, and homogeneity are effectively killing ourselves by robbing us of our connection with other people.
Writer and director Marjane Satrapi draws a poignant story about a young girl in Iran during the Islamic Revolution, whe peoples hopes were dashed as fundamentalists took power.
I think I has been shown this film before, when I took a semester of a media degree. It screened at a time when I was overwhelmed by other responsibilities that I never properly absorbed it. I think it has stuck on my rewatch list since. Watching it now I know so much more about the iranian revolution than I did then. Good film loved the animation.
The Fast and the Furious [2001] [VHS]
Set in the fierce and frenzied world of Los Angeles illegal street racing, where winning is the way to power, THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS is a pure fast-paced, adrenaline-fuelled car action. Paul walker (the Skuls) stars as a rookie cop who goes undercover, posing as a racing member in nvin diesel's team (pitch black), in order to investigate a series of hijackings. walker finds himself in jeopardy, when some of the gang become suspicious of him, and he has to choose where his loyalties lie...
Buckle up and take a ride with this sizzling young cast also featuring award winning Michelle Rodriguez and sexy Jordana Brewster. The Fast and the Furious is the high energy roller-coaster drive of the year!
This film is a queer allegory. Brian (paul walker) is hiding his secret identity from the bros around him. Vin diesel also has a secret life he is hiding form Brian. A constant will they wont they homoerotic love story, Vin takes brian into his family and professes his love of drag. Can Brian save Vin from his bad boy lifestyle? can he fix him?
EX LAPD cop Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker) teams up with his ex-con friend Roman Pearce (Tyrese Gibson) and works with undercover U.S. Customs Service agent Monica Fuentes (Eva Mendes) to bring Miami-based drug lord Carter Verone (Cole Hauser) down.
The hastily made sequel to fast and the furious is allegedly the worst of the entire franchise. Vin diesel does not feature. Instead Brian now has to try and get back with an old ex boyfriend of his to help solve a police case and clear his name. This film however had one of the greatest DVD menus of all time, prompting us to 'get in' to a car, setting the UI colour of the following menu. We turned on 'animated anectodes', which was like a directors commentary track but basically subtitles. Some were dissapointed at the lack of animation occuring in these factoids. They were also poorly researched, and that added to our viewing pleasure.
Flying Swords of Dragon Gate [2011]
Martial Arts legend Jet Li stars as Ming Dynasty General Zhao, who wages battle against the evil, power hungry warlord commander yu. The two master warriors clash at the infamous Dragon Inn, a remote desert outpost and rumore location of a legendary lost city of treasures beneath the sand. in the maelstrom of a massive storm, the lost city is revealed and the scene is set for an epic final showdown between heroic swordsmen, imperial assassins and mercenary treasure hunters.
Like Swordsman II, this is yet another film where Jet Li fights an evil eunuch warlord. I am sensing a pattern. I don't know if jet li is necessary condemmning the immasculinity of the eunuch lifestyle, I'm personally all for our genderless villian queer icons. I think I am running out of high budget practical effects wuxia films, this film employed computer animation that I beleive was already dated for its time. Still, that makes it kinda campy, and I was able to enjoy the silliness of some of the animated fights.
It is the year 2029. Technology has advanced so far that cyborgs are commonplace. In addition, human brains can connect to the internet directly. Major Motoko Kusanagi is an officer in Section 9, an elite, secretive police division that deals with special operations, including counter terrorism and cyber crime. She is currently on the trail of the Puppet Master, a cyber criminal who hacks into the brains of cyborgs in order to obtain information and to commit other crimes.
I get why this film was reccomended to me so much. The art was beautiful, soundtrack incredible and screenplay still holding up as a fascinating science fiction today. I'd kill to get this song playing through my vinyl setup.
Croughing Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Wo hu cang long) [2000]
In early nineteenth-century China, in the waning years of the Qing dynasty, the renowned swordsman who yearns for enlightenment, Li Mu Bai, decides to give up his legendary Green Destiny sword: the sharp four-hundred-year-old blade of heroes. To mark the end of a blood-stained career, Li entrusts the excellent female warrior, Yu Shu Lien, with the precious weapon to deliver it to Governor Yu; however, once there, an audacious and nimble masked thief manages to steal it. As Shu Lien is hot on the trail of the skilled burglar, unrequited loves; fervent passions; an unconquerable desire for freedom, and bitter loose ends stand in the way. Can Mu Bai shake off his violent past?
On rewatch, I still don't think I fully understand Lo's sacrifice at the end of the film. The wish is to return to the love life back on the steppe. I think I am too hot for Dark cloud and it clouds my interpretation. Certainly, having watched many of these golden age wuxia films it seems certain that no lovers must be together come the end of our narrative. Kinda based.
Yuki's family is nearly wiped out before she is born due to the machinations of a band of criminals. These criminals kidnap and brutalize her mother but leave her alive. Later her mother ends up in prison with only revenge to keep her alive. She creates an instrument for this revenge by purposefully getting pregnant. Though she dies in childbirth, she makes sure that the child will be raised as an assassin to kill the criminals who destroyed her family. Young Yuki never knows the love of a family but only killing and revenge
Hilariously, the DVD for Lady Snowblood II got placed into the lady snowblood case at the video store. A humble mistake that frankly entertains me.
Lady snowblood it a beautifully composed revenge film, the frame creatively painted in the colour pallete of blood. The costuming, set design also served cunt. Very punchy. Also a beautiful releif to have the female protagonist, and no love story or 'male-gaze'. She's just a ruthless killer girlboss, on the hunt for revenge.
I did not complete my viewing of snowblood II, it was a busy week. though I understand how quentin tarantino came to be inspired by absolutely rip off snowblood, as the sequel features a full minute M/F toe-sucking scene. Nothing the guy does is homage, its basically just all stolen imo
Coraline is a delightful stop motion film from the people who also did Kubo and the Two Strings. Ever since having blue hair and a yellow raincoat, people have called me Coraline all the time. It is a film I never watched as a child, and was betrayed by having an absolutely frightening trailer. The actual film is a playful and magical exploration of acceptance with the parents we have and something something childhood. The storybook art styling takes me back to Tim Schafer and Psychonauts, and is incredibly pretty and timeless.
A veteran samurai, who has fallen on hard times, answers a village's request for protection from bandits. He gathers 6 other samurai to help him, and they teach the townspeople how to defend themselves, and they supply the samurai with three small meals a day. The film culminates in a giant battle when 40 bandits attack the village.
I am normally tentative about anything general film and cinema buffs reccomend or idolise. They were correct on this one, Seven samurai is indeed a masterpeice. I fucked up however, thinking that 200 minutes is like, just over an hour. It is actually over three. I was up till ass in the morning on a worknight trying to finish this film, but despite my desire to sleep I was enthralled in the story the whole time. I could not stop.
Swordsman II (Siu ngo gong woo: Dung Fong Bat Bai) [1992]
Jet Li and his sister are part of a travelling martial arts sect, on their way to live a life of seclusion at a far away mountain. They are embroiled to stop a warlord who is about to conquer the world. Said warlord possesses a magical scroll that transforms them into the power of yin and transitions into a woman, eventually becoming so addicted to power that she transitions full time.
Drunken Master (Zui quan) [1978]
Jackie Chan plays a naughty child and lacks no kung fu discipline. After accidentally sexually harassing his cousin, Jackie is punished by becoming the desciple of a distant relative, a kung fu master who draws all power from being drunk. More Jackie chan action comedy ensues. Eventually, Jackie learns to drink and follow the 8 drunken masters, and avenges his name.
The Machine Girl (Kataude mashin garu) [2008]
A pulpy B-movie revenge flick, tells the story of how our elevator-pitched amputee schoolgirl with a machine gun arm came to be. Originally a do-no-harm big sister, she is instantly radicalised to violence at the murder of her brother by a yakuza's son. Trashy, the gore is still hilarious and the violence incredibly imaginative. A lady has a bra with mining drills attatched and uses it to maim the breasts of another woman.
Starring Jet Li (Cradle 2 The Grave, Romeo Must Die) in a visually stunning martial arts epic where a fearless warrior rises up to defy an empire and unite a nation! With supernatural skill...and no fear...a nameless soldier (Jet Li) embarks on a mision of revenge against the fearsom army that massacred his people. Now, to acheive the justice he seeks, he must take on the empire's most ruthless assassins and reach the enemy he has sworn to defeat! Acclaimed by critics and honoured with numerous international film awards, this motion picure was nominated for both an Oscar and Golden Globe as Best Foreign Language Film (2002)
One of my favorite Wuxia films, mostly for soundtrack reasons. on my first viewing, Hero didn't originally catch my attention until the end of our first act when our twists and subterfuge is revealed, and we start seeing the world through different perspectives and colours. Then, this film immediately transforms to an on the edge of your seat watch as everything starts getting unravelled. We also watched the dvd making of, but ignored the presented by quentin tarantino bonus feature. Why the hell does tarantino get to put his name on this work? as we watch through all this asian cinema we constantly see material he plainly rips off.
Fist of Fury (Jing wu men) [1972]
In what many enthusiasts consider to be the 'ultimate martial arts movie', Bruce plays the fictional character of Chen Jun, a student of legendary real-life martial astist Fok Yun gap. In an epic tale of national rivalries, Lee is a true force of nature as he battles against Japanese Imperialist forces determined to sunjugate his people. In the most electrifying performance of his career, Bruce Lee demonstrates complete mastery of his art in scene after scene pf the most realistic and brutal unarmed combat ever filmed!!
In contrast to Jackie's work, where he tries to start his protagonist from the bottom and work his way up, Bruce Lee doesn't hold back to present himself as an absolute master of martial arts. After an incredible opening fight scene Lee makes light work of a rival martial arts school, he instead battles chivalry, honour, loyalty to his brethren. The 70s soundtrack went hard, and I'm pretty sure tarantino borrowed from it later. Heck, he stole so much from these hong kong classics. Many of the DVD's I borrowed this week title their blurbs with 'quentin tarantino presents...'. I have redacted such considering he doesn't deserve his name on much of this art.
Police Story (Ging chaat goo si) [1985]
Featuring a top notch cast, which includes multi award-winning actress Brigitte Lin & Maggie Cheung, Director Chan combines a compelling storyline of an honest cop on the run from a false muder charge with dynamic visuals and full-blooded fight action which is electrified with emotional uncerscoring.
In the case of this particular project the price of excellence was high, with many of Jackie's elete stunt team being seriously injured during the course of principal photography. The opening bus sequence alone sent 4 stunt players to hospital for a long term vacation, and Jackie has been unable to get insurance for any of his Hong Kong projects ever since.
Kung fu does not constititute undue force. Not mentioned on the dvd cover was the sheer pain Jackie went through on this film as well; I rented this not knowing this was the one with the mall scene, that left him with second degree burns, pelvic dislocation, and a chronic pain he has said on interview he has endured ever since. This film was an incredible serving of both Jackie's lighthearted playful tricks and mastery of violent and highly technical stunts. In the current age of CG cinema everyone I know is crying out for practical effects, and Jackie Chan is by far one of the masters. Also he beats up a lawyer too and I think that was based.
House of Flying Daggers (Shi mian mai fu) [2004]
A romantic police captain breaks a beautiful member of a rebel group out of prison to help her rejoin her fellows, but things are not what they seem.
I beleive I tried to torrent this some time ago but found a result that was either too compressed, lacking its original audio or perhaps the right subtitle track. I am so so glad I rented it and got to enjoy it in DVD quality. This film is total cinema, And has reignited a Wuxia binge. Captain "Wind" Jin was really hot, and I too would betray my revolutionary cause to fall in love with him.
Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams [2002]
The Cortez siblings set out for a mysterious island, where they encounter a genetic scientist and a set of rival spy kids.
The first spy kids sequel sets out in a very strange new direction. With a higher budget, this film deploys much more computer generated imagery than its predecessor. Though watching this on DVD rather than VHS, the medium does far less to hide any improvement. While excited to see steve buscemi and his famous line, His star power is very far underutilised compared to Alan Cumming. This film may not have been necessary to bridge the gap between 1 and 3, though 3 was not avaliable to rent unfortunately.
Using high tech gadgets, two kids have to save their reactivated OSS top spy parents when they're taken by an evil, high tech enemy.
We watched this on a VHS tape found in a cupboard of a friend's sharehouse. VHS artificing is so much more beautiful than anything I have streamed in the past decade, and we were enraptured by the film all the way through. Antinio Banderas is incredbile, But it is Alan Cumming who puts his whole pussy into this film, making every one of his scenes in this forgotten kids movie rival the works of shakespeare.
I havent written blog posts about the following but have been watching so many that I feel the need to keep a watchlist for my own memory
