The Anno influence
Chronicling the bloodiest and most pointless last stand of the Pacific Theatre, The Battle of Okinawa is far more well-known nowadays for essentially giving Hideaki Anno his career. Told in a quasi-documentary-like format, with black and white newsreel footage juxtaposed with narration from Kiyoshi Kobayashi over the dramatic scenes, Kihachi Okamoto manages to expertly balance horrific authenticity with few artistic liberties taken along the way. It's a film that captures an essence of bravery, lunacy and hollow childlike subservience, as well as the sheer devastating horror that gets increasingly desperate and progressively violent the longer it goes on, the final 5-minutes alone comparable to the likes of Saving Private Ryan in its entirety; Okamoto pulls no punches in the graphic details with his cynical, dark sense of humour coming out in full force. With incredible performance from its cast, most notably Tetsurō Tanba and Tatsuya Nakadai, a fantastic if limited score by Masaru Satō and energetic direction, The Battle of Okinawa is an incredible epic, one of exhaustive and continual bombardment that takes no prisoners leaving the camera smeared with blood by its dramatic end.Was this review helpful to you?
Icy beauty
Underneath all its gorgeously cold and snowy landscapes lies a film designed to make you feel warm inside even with the uncomfortably cruel realities and melancholic tone it proudly parades. Despite being so innocently titled, Station from the get-go doesn't just tug at your heartstrings, it grasps them firmly in its hands and refuses to let go until you've wept multiple times. Director Yasuo Furuhata utilises Daisaku Kimura's photography with such wickedness, piercing deep into your psyche through a cosy sense of atmosphere; combing a quiet, emotional drama with a gritty and exciting detective thriller, all the while Ryudo Uzaki's stunning musical score mesmerises and dances gently throughout the film's runtime. It's with Station we find the insurmountable Ken Takakura once again on top form, a man of unchallengeable masculinity who still manages to project great sensitivity beneath his stoic outer surface. As professional and fatalistic as it is subtle and cryptic, Station lights up the screen with a glow comparable to that of a warm log fire.Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Based on a true story...
If you have ever watched HOPE this is along the same lines as that story only it is an ex convict's abuse towards an entire family of three. The "sexual abuse" occurs more or less after he grooms the 7 year old, I suppose, and has her parents hanging by a thread with all his threats and taking over their household.
Remember this is a movie not a drama series so don't expect it to be so in-depth.
We don't see a lot, but enough to know exactly what is going on. No problems for me there!
Good luck to finding this in English!
The main male lead that played the part of the ex con in this one is in a number of other movies and series including "What Happens To My Family" - he looks so different in this one in comparison to the cold faced son (doctor) he played in the other one. Not as handsome for some reason.
But it does show what a great actor he can be - and he is!
I was so hoping it wouldn't be him as the "baddie" doing the damage, but rather the "baddie" coming to the family's rescue like the pawn shop owner in "Man From Nowhere"
Nope!
Great watch, but not as gut wrenching as HOPE.
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This review may contain spoilers
The power of three
I like Ma Dong Seok when he portrays action movies his chubbyness makes him even more cute. It's like he is trained enough to fight non- human in Train to Busan hehehe... I love the action scenes in this drama the fighting and gun fights are very well executed. It's amazing that only 3 person that fight that bad community.Dr. Yang is so desperate to save her daughter's life the he uses different kind of subjects for his experiment no matter of he risk other people's life.
Good thing Ji Wan and Nam San the great hunter come to save Su na. In saving Su na they need to fight those bad guys, they are not only saving Su na but the entire community that has been abducted by Dr. Yang's people.
Lee Jun Young shows his action moves here I'm starting to like him already.
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Beautiful story and excellence acting!
I am so grateful to have found this film and decided to watch it. A unique experience when watching this, the story is interesting and very warm, and the way it is conveyed is also good, I rarely see someone who works in funeral services in films/dramas so this gave me a new point of view. Crying in most of the scenes :( This film is very good in terms of story and the acting of the actors is also very good, especially the child actresses. ZYL acted very well, bringing his emotions and sadness to the audience. Very worth watching!"There is nothing more important than death in life"
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Visually Orgasmic With Brilliant Colors and Fight Scenes
The storyline is very simple.Revenge for a female friend.
Revenge for all those that came before or after her.
The cinematography is what makes this movie. The spins, the angles, and the brilliantly placed COLORS. Like something straight out of the Cyberpunk world: there are neons that highlight and low-light the entire film. It's fast-paced, and the angles are perfectly planned like something straight out of a well-drawn graphic novel. It doesn't require a heavy amount of brain-power, but is an absolute feast for the eyes. I would definitely suggest you watch. For any videographer, photographer, artist, or even for your one-time viewer. You won't be sorry you spent your time watching it.
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Lousy Chase
I can't make anything out of this movie. Serial killers is just low-life butchers. He just wants to kill women. And police with proper high-tech Korean technology can catch a killer because our lousy serial killer threw 12 tons of evidence at the crime scene. It's like he doesn't care about anything because he himself called the police after committing murder.In the meaty part of the movie, both the killer and the brother had infinite chances to kill each other or the deaf girl. But they just threaten each other with knives. It's a mess. They're just trying to make the audience emotional by portraying meaningless scenes, which can't be performed when a serial killer is after you. Normal people seem to not understand anything; they just take anything at face value.
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Underrated movie right here
I honestly love this movie and I definitely recommend this to all of yous who are planning to watch this, my honest review on this movie is 100% truthful and I absolutely love this and this is for sure my comfort movie and the amount of times I've rewatched this movie is like a thousand times. I definitely recommend this Japanese movie. I honestly couldn't believe I didn't hear about this drama before. Waiting for spring is such an underrated Japanese movie. I encourage all of yous to watch this movie because I know you will love it. I'm honestly shocked on how not that much people know about this movie, I hope all of you will watch this and you will see how it's so underrated.Was this review helpful to you?
umm sorry whats it all about?
The political plot, the names and all the scheming are quite hard to follow honestly... I was expecting more action, i.e. fight scenes, but the prosecutor in this movie cannot fight!The bad guy who takes all the credit for this movie doesnt play anything spectacular, he just changes his looks according to the social status and thats it. The gore scenes dont add to the value of the movie... Honestly, something doesnt add up here. I got the general idea, good guys and bad guys striving to get their hands on some important compromising papers, easy women entertaining the rich - and what else? Some bromance developing in the process, right? And we should just wow at the thought that the prosecutor and the hoodlum become friends... Wow NOT! Just another trope...
Watch and imagine how good it couldve been if saved by grace! Which is not the case...
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This review may contain spoilers
Matagal na rin ako di nanuod na mga Filipino filmsThe story is simple yet it is captivating...
Presentation specially if you're not expecting anything is a big plus
plot twist....
Overall story and it's presentation is realistic...
The finale brought me to tears
The little girls acting is very good also the baby who is very cute and beautiful
It may be a low budget but for me it's breath of fresh air...
The characters and dialogue are good, I like the supporting cast...
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This is how GARO should be directed and written.
A very enjoyable movie to watch. Keita Amemiya was born to direct GARO (after all, he's its creator). The fluidity of the combat and the effects are exactly as GARO should be. The screenplay is infinitely better than 'The One Who Shines In The Darkness' that precedes this story. It's not even fair to make a comparison. The idea that eliminating the 'Horrors' while considering the evil they cause would also mean eliminating the greatest source of evil in the human world: humanity itself, is very well explored. It demonstrates this delicate line that the Makai priests and warriors have to deal with. It's very interesting to see the story unfold. For the first time, it made me care about the characters Ryuga and Rian. An essential film for GARO fans.Was this review helpful to you?
Before you watch Cat's Eye the anime...
When I was young, I watched several episodes of the Cat's Eye anime, but I was never able to finish it. I plan to watch the anime soon. Having said that, upon seeing that it has a live action movie, I decided to check it out.******************************************
The premise of Cat's Eye is as follows:
It follows the story of three sisters, Rui, Ai, and Hitomi. They are daughters of a well-renowned painter who went missing. They are stealing his paintings in the hope of finding clues on where their father is.
Now Hitomi is in a relationship with Toshio, the detective who is pursuing Cat's Eye. How will he deal with the truth once he finds out that his beloved is the one he would love to arrest?
******************************************
Both the movie and the anime (and the manga for that matter) follow the same premise. I don't know how the anime and manga end, but the movie ends in a bitter note, a twist that I did not expect nor like.
That said, it's still worth watching this movie if and only if you plan on watching the anime. The music as well as the heist involved are fun and somehow captures what made the anime great, or at least worth watching.
There might be some stuff in the movie that may not be pleasing. Some of the physics seem implausible, such as how did a cat-shaped balloon suddenly appeared in one of their escape sequence? Could they really plan ahead their escape route such that it will appear just in the nick of time? Is it remote-controlled?
The actresses portraying the sisters are just as lovely as their anime counterparts, but their costumes look ridiculous.
As I mentioned, it's worth watching before diving into the anime series. The movie was released a decade after the anime's run, but I can imagine that it was a letdown if you've watched the anime and/or read the manga first.
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Punch, chop, yawn, shoot, punch, chop...
Mindless, cartoonishly violent melee-fest movies, even those that recycle mad scientist and power hungry soldier antagonists, can be great fun. And "Badlands Hunters" has lots of ingredients for a successful martial arts brawl-a-thon.The setting, a post-apocalyptic wasteland? Check.
Comic relief sidekick? Check.
Young, innocent hope for survival? Check.
A steady stream of gangsters and baddies entering from all sides to be dispatched with a single blow or wound? Checkity, check, check.
And a Michelle Yeoh type martial arts badass female? Ahn Ji Hye crushes this.
But "Badlands Hunters" never quite puts all the pieces together for very long. Instead, it's much like the populace constantly seeking morsels of food and a bit of clean water, the fun appears sporadically and, when it does, too briefly. Part of the issue is that the first half frequently sidetracks for small laughs or plot devices that later turn out not all useful. Another part of it is that there's simply far too much invested in transitioning Roh Jeong Eui's young hope-for-humanity from a wasteland origin to the apartment building as utopia/evil mad scientist's laboratory.
The main issue, sadly, is that the big action star in the middle of it, the legendary Ma Don Seok, doesn't seem all that invested in what he's doing. Or at least not very often. The character is meant to be stoic and business-like. That's expected. But having such a character as a baseline really only works as a contrast to when they are shaken out of their typical personality and a fire inside of them is ignited, the intensity ramps up and they get super mad and go bonkers getting even. That never happens here. It's martial arts and knife fighting and shooting machine guns with all the vibrancy and fireworks of stapling insurance adjuster reports together.
Punch. Stab. Shoot. [sigh]
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If you're bored: this is a great watch.
I don't think this deserves 5 stars. It really isn't that bad.The cinematography and characters were nice. I liked them. I enjoyed the plot, and even though some things were predictable, it wasn't as bad as some other shows. The fight scenes were also well-made. Yes, there isn't huge character development, but this is not surprising for a movie.
Some parts of the movie didn't make much sense, which is one negative aspect of the movie. Some things could have been explained better or delved into more. Though it isn't that big of a problem. I would like a second movie, but I don't think it will happen.
Aside from that, I recommend this movie. It's a great watch.
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This review may contain spoilers
Fantasy movie with lots of CGI, fighting and an emphasis on family, friendship and love
Its a typical story about the main character being part of an evil organization/sect and after leaving them, finding a new group of people, that show him a different side of life, than the violence and cruelty he was used to. The simpler family life is disturbed, as the evil organization is still chasing after their "traitor" and sins of the past lead to attacks from another party.Watching it, without expecting anything deep, the movie is entertaining enough, providing a mix of action and a found family theme, a little bit of romance in addition. Nothing to complain about the music or production in general. Surely not a "must-watch", but okay to pass the time in my opinion.
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