Asian Movies I've Watched Part 9 (Sep 14 - Mar 16)

What a shame that this movie is awful. I actually liked Part 1 quite a lot. Characters were developed, story was set up, really creepy looking ghoulish giants as the enemy. Unfortunately, Part 2 is not as good as the first. Too much talking in the first hour and not enough action. If viewers are still awake during the final hour they're treated to a rumble between 3 Titans which should have been exciting but it isn't. The acting by the young cast is also ridiculously OTT. I really wanted to like this movie but I just couldn't. All the good work done in the first movie was destroyed in this one. A complete botch job by the filmmakers. Not worth bothering with really.

This is a notorious Japanese exploitation movie from 1982 about 3 depraved sickos who hijack a bus full of teen girls on their way to a retreat and proceed to rape all of the beautiful girls. All the ugly ones are dumped on the side of a road! It's ridiculously over-the-top with a poor plot which serves as an excuse for all of the raping to take place. Even though it only lasts for just over an hour I felt it was a waste of time. For pinku fan completists only

This is definitely a Korean attempt to combine a Korean style drama and a military style of Top Gun. If you're hoping to see all out action you'll have to wait for the 2nd half of the movie as the 1st half focuses on a cocky pilot and his attempts to romance his female plane mechanic. Once that's out of the way there's some serious and intense action scenes. The CG dogfighting in Seoul and the strike at Wonsan base is really amazing and looks realistic. It's just a shame that a lot of the movie drags too much that goes into nowhere. Overall this movie is pure entertainment, where the story didn't really do much, with odd screwball comedy thrown around but it does provide one heck of an adrenaline ride at times. Could've been a whole lot better.

A martial arts/action/comedy/musical flick, spoken almost entirely in rap verse! The movie has been described as "the world's first battle rap musical" and who can disagree with that! The movie tells the story of a futuristic Japan, divided into territorial gangs; until one gang leader breaks the truce. It's one of the craziest, and most bizarrely original movies, I've seen. It won't surprise you that this has been written and directed by none other than Sion Sono.

The movie is really weird, and definitely not for everyone, but I like 'weird'; and I found myself really enjoying it. The movie took a little while for me to get into, at first it's pretty jarring; but once I was 'hooked', I was completely involved and thoroughly entertained! The action is brutally violent, and many scenes are pretty twisted and sadistic; but it's also filled with catchy hip-hop music, and beautifully choreographed fight scenes. The performances are great, and the visuals are always interesting to look at. The movie is sure to become a beloved cult classic, by many genre fans.

Ghost in the Shell is one of the most enduring and beloved anime franchises, also widely known for inspiration for the Matrix. It's also one of the most reworked franchises, with many iterations and alternate versions, which aren't entirely accessible for some viewers. If one can pass this hindrance, the literal New Movie possesses high quality sci-fi with excellent artworks and voice acting. Although it's a continuation from the Arise TV anime (which I haven't watched) I didn't feel I was lost with the plot at all. It's still got more or less the same principal characters as before. The CGI anime is utterly gorgeous. The action is fluid and inclusion of 3D effect looks admirably fitting. Voice actors do wonderful jobs here, especially the veteran Maaya Sakamoto who delivers wide range of emotions. Fans of GITS should enjoy this new movie. It's action packed with a great storyline. Go check it out.

The 11th Detective Conan adventure finds him and his gang on the trail of treasure on Koumi Island that's been left behind 300 years previously by famous pirates Anne Bonny and Mary Read. Of course there are some bad guys that also want to get their hands on the treasure. Although I wouldn't say this is the best Conan movie I've seen it's got it's share of thrills and excitement to keep any fan happy. There's even a nod to another anime in Lupin III with a car chase right at the beginning but this has nothing to do with the main story though.

Another beautiful anime movie from Studio Ghibli. The story appears from the outset to be a coming of age story, with the focus being a young girl discovering her past in a far off place, through the mysterious Marnie who lives in a big mansion across some marshlands.

This movie carries all of the hall marks as you would expect from Studio Ghibli: attention to detail, a strong story, well fleshed out characters, a great score, gorgeous visuals. This list reads as a standard for Ghibli animation, but what we should appreciate is that most movies fail to attain any of the points listed above, Ghibli achieves this with each and every one of their movies, and this is not attained effortlessly, but what we see when we watch a Ghibli movie are master craftsmen at the peak of their creative powers striving for perfection in hand drawn animation. Another excellent movie which comes highly recommended.

So the master thief Lupin The Third finally gets a live action movie. The filmmakers didn't do too badly with this effort although it drags way too long for my liking. What's good about this movie is it doesn't concern itself with slavishly following the original manga and isn't afraid to make radical changes or new additions to serve the strengths of the movie medium. So, you don't have to read the manga or watched the anime to understand what's going in this movie.

Oguri Shun's performance was great. He nailed the role. The other characters hit their character's tone, too. Fans complained when Meisa Kuroki got the role of femme fatale Fujiko but I think she was excellent and smoking hot! Asano Tadanobu was also fantastic as Inspector Zenigata. The story is a lot of fun to watch as well. Overall, it was an entertaining movie.

Director Sion Sono likes to push boundaries with his movies and this one is no exception! Just 5 minutes into the movie and we have 2 busloads of Japanese teen schoolgirls that have been cut in half by some weird wind - and that's just the beginning of some weird shit that goes down!! Trying to understand what the plot is all about is another thing altogether as I have no idea what's going on but that's OK as the ultra-gory (bucket loads of blood is spilled!) and surreal scenes kept my attention. This movie is a head-scratcher alright and only the director knows what he was trying to tell the viewer.

In an alternate reality where all guns and nuclear weapons have been outlawed, Ray, Miki, Mari and Arisa - four female warriors armed with samurai swords and trained in the martial arts—defend their world against The Guru, a power hungry villain from a parallel universe whose army of obedient masked soldiers regard (and fear) him as a god. To avoid arousing suspicion while they search for the Guru's inter-dimensional wormhole, the girls go undercover as J-pop group The i.Dolls.

The plot for Danger Dolls is, to be frank, rather weak, doing very little new or of interest with its alternate dimension theme; however, I doubt very much that most viewers—the majority of whom I imagine will be male—will let the lack of originality stop them from having a good time, since the story allows for plenty of well choreographed fighting and swordplay from the girls, who are extremely cute, very flexible, and who wear outfits designed to please! Danger Dolls moves along at a decent lick and never bores, although the swordplay is completely devoid of bloodshed, the fatal hacking and slashing severely in need of some juicy arterial spray. It was a fun movie which I enjoyed

By now the Ju-On franchise has well and truly ran out of steam so it's no surprise that this supposedly final entry does little to breathe new life into blue boy Toshio's story. It's very predictable and follows the same pattern as previous entries such as following the perpectives of several characters who each die a nasty death at the hands of Toshio and his deranged mother. It's OK to watch if you've been a fan since the beginning but what little suspense and terror it has it buried within clumsy effects and outdated forced jump scares. It's time to really pull the plug on this franchise. It was fun whilst it lasted.

I rather enjoyed Part 1 and Part 2 didn't disappoint me either as Shinichi and his alien hand Migi along with the police battle to stop the alien hosts from taking over his city. It's got a strong storyline which builds to a good conclusion with great acting from the cast. This isn't a family friendly movie as there's a lot of gory deaths. I know a lot of people are disappointed with Part 2 as there's no pay-off of sorts but I disagree. Yes, Part 1 set things up nicely with a massacre at the school near the end and this movie is more or less a series of showdowns between Shinichi and the aliens but I felt satisfied about how things panned out. The ending is a bit of a cop-out and it should have been more exciting and dramatic but there we go. If you enjoyed Part 1 I feel you'll like this one too.

The popular Attack On Titan anime/manga finally transferred to a live action movie but it divided opinion among hardcore fans who thought the storyline was changed too much from the original source material. I've never seen the anime series or read the manga so I didn't really care about all that. I enjoyed the movie, perhaps not as much as I thought I would thanks to things dragging out in the middle but it was still good. The filmmakers have tried to cram as much as they could into 90 mins. The special effects were awesome and the Titans themselves were fantastic - terrifying and menacing. The movie might not be perfect but I'm still looking forward to seeing Part 2.

Kanta is a 19-year-old labour worker who only went far as middle school. He’s now hooked on alcohol while playing around. Kanta develops feelings for Yasuko, who works in a used bookstore, but he has never had a girlfriend or, currently, any friends. Kanta also meets Shoji who he becomes friends with. Jealousy soon threatens their friendship.

Based on the novel by author Kenta Nishimura, The Drudgery Train starts out as a rather peculiar comedy that steadily transforms into a tale of following one’s true dreams regardless of the obstacles placed in their way. Director Nobuhiro Yamashita, known famously for his popular quirky comedy Linda Linda Linda, delivers a similar sense of humour with this movie albeit with a much darker tinge. The Drudgery Train isn’t necessarily a good spirited viewing experience for the most part, instead focusing on the minute details of a man whose life hasn’t exactly gone the way he wants it too, and with little-to-no desire as to improving his situation. Where the movie succeeds is how it reflects the dire situation of such a man with that of his peers, provoking him to reevaluate the floundering state of his own life.

The two leading actors are great but it was nice to see former AKB48 idol Atsuko Maeda deliver a sparkling performance as a bookstore worker. Despite being a little bit depressing, I rather enjoyed this movie.

Taking place 100 years after the end of Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger in the year 2114, the Deboss Legion has returned - consisting of the thousand-faced priest Ghaos, remorseful knight Athreban, submission knight Sneldo and jealousy knight Hoshigairon. To battle them Candelira, the new Wise Goddess, forms a brand new Kyoruger team made up on the ancestors of our original heroes.

This is one of the worst Sentai movies I've ever seen. I know it's targeted towards children but a lot of the previous movies have been a little serious but this one is extremely childish with it's pathetic humour. The new team isn't that likeable as they act like idiots most of the time. It's time for Sentai movie writers to look at the past and recreate exciting and thrilling movies once again not like this crapfest. Don't bother with it.

A psychologically warped man able to stop people dead in their tracks with his laser-like stare becomes upset when a removalist guy, busy working on his moving van, fails to freeze with the rest. The mover, Shuichi, also has an uncanny ability to recover from injuries, as the man with the powerful stare (who must remain anonymous) discovers when Shuichi is miraculously healed after being struck by a speeding car — an injury that would instantly kill any ordinary mortal. Rather than sue the driver, Kumoi, the now-unemployed Shuichi asks him for a job and is soon working happily with the kindly Kumoi and his gorgeous daughter Kanae. But his sociopathic nemesis is not yet done with him.

This is a remake of Kim Min-seok’s 2010 South Korean hit Haunters. Being a fan of Asian cinema I'm used to things not making a whole lot of sense much of the time. However, Monsterz takes the cake when it comes to sheer stupidity. The plot holes are also large and in abundance. There are questions you'll ask yourself such as why Shuichi isn't effected by the mind-control, or how he can regenerate his body after horrific and fatal injuries, isn't touched upon, leaving the viewer completely ignorant. Despite this, I still enjoyed this movie to a degree. The acting is decent enough. It's not great but it's a nice time-waster.

Forget the famous Rurouni Kenshin TV series. This has nothing to do with it. Well, yes, it's supposed to be a prequel, but the tone, mood and depth of it makes it a completely different story. It's a lyric and very adult tale about love, death, politics and betrayal that deserved, not only a theatrical release, but also massive exposure. The storyline is fantastic. Layer over layer of meaning and symbolism create a tight, dark and deep tale. Nothing is said, nothing is shown that doesn't bear deep significance, be it a cryptic sentence, a shot of a child's toy or a slash through the face. The movie is a historical epic, but history isn't shown directly to the viewer, it isn't spelled out for you. We focus on the characters. They go through history, sometimes they even change it, but we are not shown the politics and the fights for power. We stay with Kenshin, an assassin, a mere pawn in those fights. We see the killing and then we hear the vague echoes of what it causes. The story is moved forward, but we have to build it back together with the information we receive through Kenshin's eyes. This is quite simply one of the best violent anime movies you'll ever see so don't miss out.

This movie captures the Chinese landscape with a touch of love, love that the filmmakers had for their people and their culture which fuses with the sorghum fields and the folk songs they sing when they are happy or when they are in pain and anguish, beautifully. I felt the Japanese effect or the tyrannical force with which they subdued the Chinese should have been shown a little more, it all happened in a jiffy. The storytelling is pretty but fails to connect on many levels. Like the transition of a poor village girl into a strong distillery owner and the level of trust and love she is shown by the workers and the sudden infatuation that develops and is accepted between her and Yu. Also the way we are shown the attack sequence was not at all engaging, it only had slow-mo shots of people falling/running but the final shot of redness surrounding Yu and his son was brilliant. Watch it, for you'll get a peek into Chinese culture, the position of women in it, their traditions and songs and most importantly the red wine, red like blood mingling to mark a jarringly tough Chinese wartime life.

Set in the Philipines, Lethal Panther 2 is a fairly good early-90s martial-arts action flick which sees a reckless cop hunting down the nasty criminals who killed his wife. A rather cheap looking production with almost no artistic merit, this movie relies on the quality and quantity of its action. But whilst there is no shortage of fisticuffs, gun fights and explosions, the quality is just not there. The endless battles are desperately lacking in originality or excitement, with poor editing and mundane direction making this movie a real chore at times to sit through.

The usually impressive Yukari Oshima is totally wasted, with her natural athletic ability overshadowed by some excruciatingly bad wire-work. The ballistic action scenes are an unimpressive mixture of 'slow-motion flying-through-the-air-whilst-shooting' heroics, crazy vehicle stunts, and endless bad guys lining up to be shot. Although touted as a 'girls with guns' movie it isn't one. It's not too bad of an action movie but you'll easily find better ones to enjoy.

A young woman named Izumi suffers the loss of her boyfriend Junichi, who died from a fatal motorcycle accident. The shock from her boyfriend's sudden death causes Izumi to lose her memory from the time of the accident. A lawyer named Makiko then helps Izumi to remember the final moments of her boyfriend's life.

It's a sad yet heart-warming movie with a simple and perhaps typical story (accident, death, memory, life, etc..). In this case remembering and moving on work hand in hand, so it's a movie about living and closure as much as it is about loss and grief. Narrations, thoughts, dreams and flashbacks move the story along at a slow but steady pace. Keiko Kitagawa is brilliant as the young woman who wants to know what happened on that day of the accident. Those after a bit of a tear-jerker will find a lot to like in this movie.

A brother and sister initiate a personal project to find out more about their grandfather, a World War II kamikaze pilot. When they discover their grandfather was universally regarded as a coward, their enthusiasm begins to wane. But the brother persists, discovering there is more to the story.

This is a subtle movie, foregrounding the personal consequences of war for rounded, authentic characters. In the process, the film astutely stays away from either justifying or apologising for Japan's war actions. Jun'ichi Okada is a revelation as the pilot instructor who attempts to save his young charges from the excesses of his superiors, often at great personal sacrifice. He makes a promise to his wife, but then seems to compromise it in order to be loyal to his men. The resolution of this conflict makes for a powerful and well-plotted storyline. The flashbacks to the war are engaging and dramatic. Eien no Zero shows ordinary people living extraordinary lives in extraordinary circumstances. A thoughtful, emotional movie that, casting a couple of flaws and sentimentality aside, proves cathartic and thought-provoking in equal measure. Recommended.

Another fest of ass-kicking from Hong Kong superstar Donnie Yen. Yen plays a masked freedom fighter battling against Imperial Japanese forces during their occupation of Shanghai during the 1920s, and the movie is a rousing, action-packed slice of superlative entertainment.

Okay, so the action doesn't quite have the edge of some of Yen's other movie, but generally speaking it's very good indeed. There's a particular viciousness to the scenes involving Yen going around and battling or murdering his beleaguered city's oppressors, and an involved, conspiracy style-storyline means that nobody can truly be trusted. The ending, which builds to one final bout with the enemy, is predictable in the extreme but nonetheless crowd-pleasing and hugely entertaining. Donnie Yen sleepwalks through his role a bit, having played this type of character loads over the years, but he's given strong support in the likes of established names such as Shawn Yue, Anthony Wong and Shu Qi. The fast-paced story is handled well by Andrew Lau. A great movie for fans of Donnie Yen.

It seems there are 2 versions of this movie: a US and a HK one. It's the HK version I saw. The movie features an awesome line-up of bona fide martial arts stars (Cynthia Rothrock/Yukari Oshima) but very little in the way of genuine acting talent; normally, this doesn't bother me too much, just so long as the action comes thick and fast. The fight scenes aren't too bad but considering that I'd watched another of director Godrey Ho's action movies recently, this one was slightly disappointing in the fact that the action scenes are too short and the plot is all over the place. Even the finale in which the good guys square off against the villains was a let down. It's still entertaining to watch but it's definitely not one of Godfrey Ho's best movies.

The third and last installment depicting the adventures of mixed-blood juvenile delinquent Rica (Aoki), has very much run out of ideas and is playing out the string: it’s no surprise the series ended here, all but taking Aoki’s career with it. As there was a new director on board, he took the series in a completely different direction from the previous 2 entries with more comedic elements being introduced which is poor to say the least. Had this movie been played straight it might have been better but the awful humour brings it down. A disappointing end to the trilogy.

Awesome girls with guns actioner from director Godfrey Ho. The story revolves around the greedy nephew of a crime lord, who has his uncle bumped off so that he can take over the business. There are several plot threads which include his wish to also bump off the stepson of his dead uncle, and eliminate the assassins he hired (in order to tie up loose ends). Meanwhile, a cop (Sibelle Hu), is out to arrest any or all of the bad guys. This movie has all the right ingredients for a kick ass action movie: sexy female assassins, machine gun toting bad guys, and faceless goons in suits and sunglasses ripe for the killing. The storyline might be a bit of a mess and the gratitious sleaze/nudity scenes rather unnecessary but the action is incredible. The scenes come thick and fast every 10 mins with blood spurting gunfights and martial arts fights. The 3 female leads in Sibelle Hu, Maria Jo and Yoko Miyamoto are fantastic. It might not be the best Girls With Guns movie you'll come across but it's definitely well worth checking out.

This is the live action adaptation of the famous Studio Ghibli anime movie. The original, animated version of Kiki's Delivery Service is so pitch-perfect that it doesn't seem possible that they'd dare come out with a live-action version. Only rarely does a live-action version of an anime equal the original. With live-action, it's almost like trying to translate from one language to another; some of the actors are good (and others ordinary), and the story conveys only some of the wide- eyed wonder of the original. Fuka Koshiba has a petulant optimism (and a little brattiness) the fills out the title character; JiJi, the talking black cat could have played a bigger part of the movie. Fans of Japanese film will notice a few interesting casting choices - like Asano Tadanobu and Rie Miyazawa. I thought some of the subplots including the transporting of a baby hippo to a doctor on an island during a typhoon was awful. I'm sure a lot of people will like it a lot and I'm not saying it's a bad movie but I preferred the original much more than this one.

Yet another crossover movie featuring the Super Sentai teams, Kamen Rider heroes and the Space Sheriff Police. A new evil organization known as Space Shocker, which are led by the magic-using Space Ikadevil and Space Spider Man threatens the Earth by causing an unknown phenomenon. The Space Sheriffs Gavan type-G and Sharivan are sent to execute all magic-users on Earth in response to the threat and begins to attack Kamen Riders Wizard and Beast. The Space Crime Syndicate Madou, who were once defeated by the original Sharivan return, to cause even more havoc in the world. During this, Yoko finds a mysterious little robot called Psycholon which Space Shocker and the Madou are after for unknown reasons.

If you've seen the other crossover movies that have been released over the years you'll know what to expect. You'll see a lot of old faces teaming up to fight a big bad threat and there's the obligatory giant robot battle at the end. The formula for these kind of movies which has worked for so long doesn't stray from it's usual path. You'll know exactly how things will pan out and how it will all end. It's just an excuse to see the whole gamut of super heroes from the past. It's a very enjoyable movie with a lot of pyrotechnics going off. Due to the success of this kind of movie it is virtually guaranteed that this kind of crossover movie will continue in the future too.

Yukari Oshima plays a detective who is kidnapped and held hostage by a team of Mainland agents led by Waise Lee. Called The Golden Corps, they are chasing a traitor who is attempting to sell stolen gold in HK. Despite a promising plot and cast, the action is sparse and much of the story involves the comic antics of both The Golden Corps and Yukari’s HK police colleagues. An extended gambling sequence (by which The Golden Corps attempts to raise money to hire and informant) is distracting. Yukari spends a considerable amount of time tied up with a sock stuffed in her mouth, and also flirts with Waise Lee. The movie is somewhat redeemed by an incongruously bloody final shootout. Overall it's only an average Asian action movie

The 8th Zatoichi movie benefits from a particularly strong and emotional Shintaro Katsu performance. In this movie he takes charge of an infant whose mother is killed by a group of yakuza meaning to kill Zatoichi. He also joins up with a fallen woman, and this dysfunctional family attempts to return the child to its father who doesn't want his offspring back. The relationship that Zatoichi develops with the unwanted child is quite moving, and the final battle scene takes on added poignance after the blind masseur is forced to leave the baby in the care of a monk. Great stuff.

The sequel to Tokyo: The Last Megalopolis. The story starts out at the end of World War II. Tokyo lies in ruins due to repeated fire-bombings from the American army. However, one surviving magic-user brings together a new group of mystics. His plan is to "turn defeat into victory" by using spiritual psychic powers to assassinate the evil world leaders from a distance. Unfortunately, the surge of spiritual energy along with the repeated horror of all those who endured the nightmare of the fire-bombings, rouses up all the souls of the dead, whose resentment and anger come together and revive Yasunori Kato. Now it's up to a young apprentice of the psychic magic user to stop Kato before the evil sorcerer ruins their plans for victory. Kato also seems intent on torturing and gaining revenge on Yukiko (his "daughter" from the previous story), whose all grown-up now and works as a nurse in a hospital.

This movie is definitely more gory than the first movie which concentrated on the fantasy aspect. There are some nasty deaths on show. Even though I somewhat enjoyed the story here, I really did prefer the fast paced aspect of the first much better. Kato (the bad guy) seems to have changed a little bit from before as well. It would be best for viewers to check out The Last Megalopolis first before seeing this one. Not too bad a movie but could have been a lot better.

A good Japanese horror movie which movies between the present and the past. The story concerns two sisters who are attacked by a band of vicious samurai in a village. They kill themselves rather than be subjected to being murdered by the villains but one of the sisters' boyfriend who is with them refuses to do so. The sisters return back to haunt him as ghosts, still trying to get him to sacrifice his life and join them in death. Though there are some scenes of violence, and, late in the movie ghostly retribution, the movie is really about the timeless nature of love and how it can exist even after death. The actors all give terrific performances and there are some fun special effects, and mercifully very few unwanted comic moments, as you find in some movie of this type from Japan. This isn't your typical J-horror movie so if you fancy seeing something new in the genre give this a whirl.

I've liked the majority of Ozu's movies but this one left me cold for some reason. It deals with a very serious social problem of the time - the return of those away at war. Frequently supposed dead and often delayed by years after the war's end, returning soldiers came back to families that had had to make all manner of compromises and sacrifices related to their absence. Often the returnees found that their wives had re-married, or worse...

It's unusual to find any kind of physical family violence in his movies but it happens in this one. It's a bit shocking if you're used to seeing some of his other work. Acting wise - the cast are solid in their performances. It's just a shame the story didn't do anything for me.

A classic Ozu movie. Ozu's films are perfect - they touch us with rare warmth, soft enveloping tenderness and power of human emotions not necessarily with striking visual or sound effects. "Floating Weeds" is a remake of earlier silent black and white Ozu's film "The Story of Floating Weeds". The story is simple: an aging, traveling actor who is the manager of a kabuki troupe returns to a remote village where he secretly meets his former lover and her 19 year old illegitimate son, to whom he is known as "uncle." The older man finds happiness in communicating with his son who turned to be a fine young man. His current mistress, filled with jealousy because of his attachment to his secret family, hires a young beautiful girl, the member of a troupe to seduce a boy. Something in this story attracted Ozu so much that he remade the film twenty five years later. The story has all the elements of a Shakespearean tragedy played out among people living simple, workaday lives: deceit, jealousy, betrayal, vengeance, love, hope. It's all there. The acting by an all-star cast (at the time) of Japanese actors, including the gorgeous Ayako Wakao, is uniformly excellent. For classic Japanese cinema fans this is a must see.

Probably the worst Gamera movie ever made and the 7th overall! Basic plot involves an alien space ship (a giant shark/swordfish hybrid) led by an evil sorceress named Zigra. Then you pretty much predict what will happen, they try to take over the Earth and Gamera must save the Earth. There are so many alien invading science fiction movies that this one is nothing special. In fact it is really bad. The little kids in this movie are so annoying - in fact this isn't the only Gamera movie to feature annoying brats! This movie is woefully inept and it is truly beyond awful.

Kimura Elctrical Company is a consumer electronics firm that develops an interest in autonomous robotics, and gives its three man research department some 3 months to create something miraculous. It's about 1 week to go live and demonstrate their newest robot product at the robotics expo, but within the first five minutes of the story, all their hard work goes up in smoke and out the window, literally. To salvage the company and their careers, the trio hatch a desperate plot, and that's to get a human person dress up as their New Shiokaze creation, so that they can get through what was thought to be a one-time demo, to buy time while they create another prototype.

This was a good and very funny Japanese comedy. The strong points of the movie are its sympathetic and humorous moments in many hilarious slapstick situations when the brand new robot suddenly reveals a couple of weird abilities that put a lot of pressure on the untalented and somewhat lazy creators who have many challenges to hide their biggest secret and make the world believe that their robot is a real one and not only a disguised human. This scenario is nothing original but keeps the entertainment on a high until the very end. It's a Japanese actor with a foreign name of Mickey Curtis that plays the main role of a 70 year old inside a robot costume. His character is an unusual and stubborn senior movie hero who slips into the costume of a robot and suddenly gets to escape his boring and lonesome life to become a star. In the end, this is a very different kind of your usual robot movie that convinces with a solid acting and a couple of good ideas. Go check it out.

Filmed entirely in a desolate field, Violent Virgin opens with two cars traveling along a dusty road. Three men and three women, apparently members of a gang, have a couple bound and blindfolded. After they reach their demonstration, they drag the man and woman, whose names we soon learn are Hoshi and Hanako, out of the cars and dump them on the ground. It seems that Hanako was the boss's girl, but she eloped with Hoshi. Captured, it seems that they are going to be murdered, but not before they are humiliated by the other gang members. Their clothes are eventually stripped off and Hanako is tied to a cross. Hoshi is informed that the big boss has ordered that he be made into the "boss" for the day. The male members of the gang refer to Hoshi as "boss" and each of the female members intend to have sex with him before he is killed. However, Hoshi strangles the first prostitute and runs. After this, things really begin to become bizarre.

It would be too easy to call Violent Virgin a disturbing movie. The quality of acting and the surreal setting of the setting keeps the viewer from being truly drawn into it, but it does touch on a number of issues that the viewer cannot help but ponder after the movie, almost mercifully, comes to an end, such as the distinction between man and beast and how thin the wall separating the two might truly be. While I cannot recommend this movie to the casual viewer of Japanese cinema, it might be an interesting movie to view for those interested in Japanese New Wave or those interested in a director who is often considered to be an outcast amongst outcasts. It was too weird for my liking.

Set just after the end of WWII, an escaped wounded black American soldier goes on the run after killing a fellow colleague who was white. He hides out in the ruins of a half demolished church with a lowlife Japanese criminal who loves black jazz music. Together they try and avoid the American MP's and the Japanese authorities who are after them. This movie feels like Hell In The Pacific in that you've got 2 people who can't communicate but help each other out. It shows the racism at the time in Japan that was shown against black people. The story is interesting and it has an exciting conclusion. Great acting from the leading pair especially from Chico Rolands.

I've been a big fan of the newest Keizoku drama series and movies so I really wanted to see the original to find out if that was just as good. I can say that both series/movies have the same quirky offbeat humour. There seems to be more characters in the team this time round. The only character to link the past and present series is the Chief - Nonomura played by the same actor. Whereas in the latest series he is dating a young female police officer, in this one he is seen dating a young schoolgirl which is a little bit creepy if I'm being honest. The storyline is a continuation from the series (which I haven't seen yet)and finds the 2 leads Shibata and Mayama squaring off against their arch enemy Asakura on an island where the dead seem to be appearing. If you like the new Keizoku series then check out the original.

This quirky comedy from Satoshi Miki is all about people with problems. It features a collection of weirdos with hilarious psychological disorders, and there's something comforting and familiar about all of them. I've got hang-ups, and I'll bet you've got them too. That identification with unique quirks and strange little obsessions is what makes the movie a minor little joy - though hopefully, nobody you know is as weird as the oddballs you'll find on display here.

Satoshi Miki gives every character and every issue some pause for reflection, but nothing approaching a hard-hitting message ever occurs. The pace of the film is never given to excitement or action, seeming to reflect the humdrum banality of modern Japanese life, which is skewered here affectionately. The movie is mostly droll screwball silliness from start-to-finish and I really enjoyed it for that too.

The story is simple, young Jirô gets his family killed, falsely accused of the murders and starts investigating into who and why his family was murdered. He quickly realizes that he is a foundling and the people responsible for the killings has very dangerous agenda. This movie is basically a action melodrama where the director/screenwriter tries to fit in as much storyline as possible in the shortest amount of time. Therefore the viewer is served a very long, confusing, erratic storyline that sometimes doesn't make any sense at all. The the action sequences are very visually striking and surreal. All in all this movie is worth watching for fans of anime, action, and Samurai/Ninja flicks.

A below average heroic bloodshed movie. Max Mok and his partner on the street, Wing-Ching Cheung, try to slowly climb up the Triad ladder to make bigger bucks with higher stakes illegal operations. Cheung is a gambling addict however, and when massive debt befalls onto him, Mok as his partner takes equal responsibility for such debt. A Triad boss is much too aggressive to allow both Mok and Cheung alive, in which the movie follows Mok's consequential tragedy and vengeance to kill the Triad boss.

Max Mok performs well as a rising wanna-be triad thug, however the material falls short to deliver any punch to his dialogue. Other characters around him are flat, thus the audience's connection with the movie dwindles. Apart from the last 10 mins, this is a mostly bland and dull movie.

A widower's teenage daughter is murdered. A mysterious phone call tells him who the killers are and he plots revenge. The story is primarily focused on whether we should punish juveniles who commit adult crimes with adult sentences. Or should juveniles get away with it in the interests of their repentance and return to to society. It's a very good Japanese police drama with a top Japanese cast of actors. Not like your over the top Hollywood stuff. This is more real life and it's a problem that many countries, not only Japan, face today. There were flaws in the movie, and it was necessarily slow-moving at times, especially when it needed to show just how anguish the father was experiencing, but on the whole well worth a look.

There's nothing guilty about this pleasure, the best in the Red Peony series so far and an evocative glimpse into Meji-period Japan. With its genre feel well established, this comes off feeling more like a classic western than a standard yakuza flick. Oryu, a wandering gambler known for her skill and beauty, must deal with corrupt bosses, reform a cheater for the sake of her blind daughter, and try to save a university student from certain doom after the boy falls prey to a cheat.

Director Tai Kato, a minor master of genre movies, delivers a narrative with texture and emotional impact. The cast is solid and convincing with Sumiko Fuji having settled down nicely by now in her third outing as Oryu. Ken Takakura also gives a good performance. Great stuff.

An ex-police captain recruits three men -- fearsome ninja master Ryuichi Koga (Sonny Chiba in fine fierce form), former detective turned lethal assassin Takeshi Hayato (the excellent Makoto Sato), and klutzy low-rent criminal Ichiro Sakuta (a hilarious comic turn by Eiji Go) to take down a deadly Yakuza crime lord. The trio soon rack up a massive body count as they tear their way through the seamy Japanese underworld.

Writer/director Teruo Ishii keeps the taut and absorbing story moving along at a brisk pace, maintains a tough gritty tone throughout, stages the plentiful and exciting martial arts fights with rip-snorting go-for-the-throat touches, delivers a satisfying smattering of tasty gratuitous female nudity, and further sweetens the whole deal with amusing touches of campy humour. The lovely Yutaka Nakajima provides lots of delightful spark as the sassy Emi. The moments of bloody'n'brutal violence pack a savage punch. Hajime Kaburagi's funky-chilling score hits the get-down groovy spot. Yoshikazu Yamasawa's dynamic widescreen cinematography gives this picture a stirring extra kick. Recommended viewing for fans of deliciously chopsocky trash.

This is the first ever Vietnamese movie I've seen and what a great one it is too. It's a slam-bang martial arts romp that has pretty much everything you want in a cinematic experience. Excitement, romance, escapes, betrayals and much much more all jammed into just over an hour and a half of breakneck pacing. Set in the seldom used backdrop of France's colonisation of Vietnam, the movie starts off almost immediately with a chaotic assassination setpiece and doesn't let up from there. The characters are believable and you hold a rooting interest for them throughout the running time of the movie. Some of the bone-crunching action is so fast-paced and so well-choreographed that you'd swear these crazy guys were fighting for real. If you're looking for your fix of action, look no further than The Rebel.

This is a confusing but action packed thriller in which a load of diamonds are stolen and various people try their best to get their mitts on them. As an action movie there are several good set pieces. The plot is confusing as you have no idea which side some people are on and there are several twists to make you scratch your head even further. Despite this, I really liked this movie. It may not be as well known as other HK movies during this period but it's worth giving it a go.

This is the sequel to the kids comedy that Takashi Miike directed back in 2011. I wasn't too keen on that one but I thought I'd give this a go just in case it might be better. No such luck. Whilst I'm sure this will appeal to kids and families alike due to it's crazy plot and low brow humour it didn't do anything to me. I found the characters annoying, the comedy not particularly funny and it tries too hard to be clever. This movie didn't hold my interest one bit and after an hour I'd gotten so bored I switched it off. Useless.

This adult Tokusatsu movie is about a dimension police agency led by a woman named Ai and her trusty android Bridge who is trying to stop a terrorist group DOUBT who is crossing into 3 parallel worlds and causing havoc. The movie felt to me like a continuation of a TV series as viewers are thrown into the plot with hardly any introduction. The shapely Ai wears a skimpy uniform which will no doubt please male viewers and there's an obligatory shower scene to show off her body as well. I was slightly confused as to what was going on in the story but the action sequences in which there are plenty keeps things ticking and makes you forget the ropey special effects that are sometimes shown. The largely female cast though you wouldn't call their acting brilliant are OK. It was a decent enough movie. Fans of Tokusatsu shows should enjoy it.

The 2nd Gamera movie and this time it's in colour. In this movie, Gamera is released from his rocket prison and returns to Earth, destroying a dam. Then an expedition takes place to a tropical jungle where a group of guys finds a rare jewel. It turns out that it is really an egg. This egg is exposed to a heat lamp and a giant monster is created as a result. This monster, Barugon, goes on a violent rampage throughout the city. Soon Gamera shows up to battle Barugon, Barugon employing his freeze blast to stop Gamera cold in his tracks. With Gamera frozen humans try to stop Barugon but nothing seems to work. Soon Gamera must come to the rescue to save humanity from Barugon.

Unlike the later Gamera movies which would feature annoying kids cheering on their turtle hero, this one thankfully doesn't have any and is quite serious in tone. It takes a while for action to get going and the plot moves slowly at the beginning. Its about an hour until you get some good kaiju action. I felt that Gamera was relegated to playing second fiddle to the horned lizard Barugon as you don't really seem him throughout most of the movie. I also didn't think there was enough destruction scenes. It's not too bad but other Gamera movies I've seen are slightly better.

A disappointing anime movie in which you're never really sure what's going on. The plot is a one enormous hole: you can figure that something is definitely happening, but you cannot say what and for what reason. The characters are one-dimensional and have absolutely no development along the movie. The initial conflict is somewhat interesting and even intriguing but it leads to nowhere: the protagonists talk a lot, but in the end you get none explanation.
So, I was left utterly confused and therefore irritated. Didn't enjoy it one bit.