Reviews

Turtle vs Bat

Gamera vs Gyaos is the third installment in the Showa era for Gamera. It features the two Kaiju, the requisite annoying child, and a Kaiju merry-go-round with a fountain of pink bubbling "blood".

After Gyaos emerges from an active volcano, the giant, bloody battles are on! Gyaos is able to split things in half with his laser-like sonic sounds. He can't turn his head and like a vampire, avoids the sun. Gyaos also enjoys eating people when he's not carving up planes and buildings with his beams. Gamera acts as the good guy in this movie battling this fierce opponent. There is a subplot about people wanting to build a road and the "greedy" farmers and villagers who apparently want to be paid well for their land and being displaced.

The humans, with the exception of the annoying child, do a good job in their various roles trying and failing to stop Gyaos. When there's a terror on the loose only a turtle can handle the job!

The rubber suits were not very good. Gyaos was a poor man's attempt at Rodan. Gamera's wires were visible on several occasions. The special effects, even for 1967 were rudimentary at best. Having said that, Gamera's spinning fiery flying was fun to watch.

The one positive I would say about this movie is that the monsters are on screen more often than not and there were several battles. Though with the exception of the blood letting and people falling to their deaths or being eaten and the giant vat of blood used to lure Gyaos into the daylight, this felt like a children's movie. If you can watch it with a child-like fascination it might prove entertaining. I found it unintentionally humorous, but I'm not sure that is a reason to recommend this movie.

Read More

Road trip story with four guys

Overall: Three friends (and one potential hook up) go on a road trip. I'm grading this on a curve as it's from 2008, low budget and addressed a couple important topics. Watched on gagaoolala.

Content warnings: homophobia (internal & external), a transphobic comment

What I Liked
- that they addressed the topics of HIV, jobs/poverty and homophobia
- the intro song which is played throughout was fun to listen to
- favorite line "change is the most permanent thing in this world"

Room For Improvement
- it appears that Michael got closure but the way he went about it was bad
- I think they could have cut some scenes out or made them shorter and then developed the characters and their relationships with one another more
- the subs had some errors/I didn't understand a few things
- the night scenes were too dark and it was difficult to see

Read More

Plot is a vehicle for NSFW scenes

Overall: An interesting premise, but it ends up feeling like just a way to show explicit NSFW scenes. Watched on gagaoolala. It's only an hour and 10 minutes so it's not a huge time investment if you like watching steamy scenes. 

Content warnings: there are very five sexually explicit scenes, 1 dub con

What I Liked
- I liked the sister and wish we could have seen more development of her/their relationship
- the overall premise is interesting, it just needed to be delved into more instead of NSFW scenes
- the color grading, how in the past it was more grey scale. It can be difficult for me to tell when flashbacks happen, but it was very clear in this short(er) movie. 
- that ending scene seems pretty unrealistic but I quite liked it

Room For Improvement
- I wish there was more development/explanation of what was happening with the protagonist's romantic relationship. We mostly get ghosting/ignoring and then just a little at the end. There is an apology, but for what? What happened between them?
- odd, why is the protagonist sleeping in the living room of his parents' house - aren't there at least two bedrooms?
- odd, why wouldn't the protagonist push for the name of the movie where he is named after a character? He just drops it, I'd want to know the movie if it were me...

Read More

Mismatched couple who mature...too late!

I personally would like to see kids in Junior/Senior High to watch this in class and talk about it...

The cinematography and support actors/actresses did a good job filling in the spaces but not taking focus off of the couple in question.

The movie shows two immature teenagers (Zhou Xiao Qi aka Greg Hsu and You Yong Ci
aka Zhang Ruo Nan)), the male reckless and the female insecure, cross-matched and continually losing each other.

Her requesting him not to fight anymore shows she wanted him to be around for her; and not in and out of her life. He was awestruck with puppy love grew a little more mature when he agreed not to fight anymore (but at the time, he didn't know this!)...

A drunken father finding his wife and her his daughter, forced her and her mother on another move, something that the young girl grew tired of, but I thought it was caring of her to tell him to leave while the crowd watched her clean up the broken glass; she knew in her heart that her stability with another move was threatened. I felt that she was thinking of him at this time.

He gained the impetus to go to college, seeing her photograph on pictures of university life; but alas, she is already dating someone else and another separation ensues when he forces the soccer star to reveal his two-timing promise that he made to two separate women!

Again, as a swimming star, they meet again, and an injury forces him to give up his main goal in life....what is funny, nothing would have happened had he swam the race!

Fast forward to two lovebirds finally living together, with a reality check when his injuries prevent his stardom and large endorsements. I personally think had he not been so worried about his athletic injuries and taken a stable low-paying job, the ending would have been totally different. You Yong Ci unfortunately hears his lamenting about meeting her in a conversation with his friend, which brings back all her insecurities and seeing him as her father who was never there for her. Last separation...

The loss of You Yong Ci and the fact that he had to get a stable job to pay the rent taught him many lessons about his past and gave him the the ability to mature...but too late for reuniting with his former over.

The meeting with You Yong Ci on her wedding day shows how much more mature BOTH parties were.

You Yong Ci laughs when he says he is a master thief, and thanks him for coming to her wedding; both appear to be at ease, even though they broke up a few years ago...she is smiling while they talk.

His statements he made to her shows the maturity he gained having a low-paying but steady job as he had to deal with other kids like him in high school:

"You look wonderful in your wedding dress"

"I used to be a fool...worrying over the future...while wasting the present."

"You're more mature" (what he is saying to me, is that HE is more mature)"

"But today, I want no more regrets"

"But when you called me by my name...then in a fleeting moment...then I was back when I was seventeen."

All these statements - to me - show that he will be ready to have another lasting relationship in the future, but not with You Yong Ci ...I believe that the character of You Yong Ci realizes he finally gained the maturity to have a meaningful relationship..., but not with her.

The supporting actors did a fantastic job as well, and I would recommend this movie, especially to youthful couples...what wasn't said in the movie was that the individual must die as any couple matures.

Read More

I am.... confused.

This movie is your pretty basic "bad guy turned good" but the storyline itself was new to me... yet... not. It's weird. Like I feel like I've seen it but I don't think I have. Unless I have but just don't remember so I'm just going to say it's new to me. lol
I actually liked the whole reset day thing. Lol That's how you know you really hate someone... when you try to kill them multiple ways. Haha But other than that, the movie wasn't much.

I honestly thought there was no way in hell I would ever like He Zhi Zhou, and I was right. Because even when they helped him to not be a total dick, he was still a dick. When she said he should compliment her, he insulted her then tried to make it better with backhanded compliments. Are you freaking serious? Ugh. It was at that moment I knew I really would never like his character.

I freaking loved Shen Xi and Dou Dou though. Oh my gah lol that friendship is pure goals. I loved that no matter what, they could rely and bounce off of each other. Lol I loved their characters and story together more than anything else, honestly. Dou Dou is the reason you should always listen to your astrology friends!!! lol XD IYKYK

I hated the ending. It didn't make sense to me. At all. Like I want to lay it all out but I don't want to give the ending away but for real... what the hell was that ending? I feel robbed. It was like they didn't know what to do past a certain point so they just said "do anything, we need a ending". and left it at that.

I wanted to rate this higher because I did still enjoy it, but there was just to much going against it that I couldn't rate it anymore.

Read More

I guess I'll start this off with ... it wasn't bad, per-say.. but it wasn't amazing either.
For me it was a movie to pass the time, I guess. The love story was cute but There really wasn't much in words of "unique" other than it's probably the first time I've seen a snake demon like that. Lol

I really can't hate on the movie to much but I do with the pace had been better and the back stories had been told on some characters. I don't know why I found it kinda annoying that it was pretty cut and dry "bad guys - bad. Good guys - good" without any reasons as to why? Lol

Glad I got a chance to watch this but wouldn't say I would watch it again.

Read More

This is an amazing movie starring Iwata Takanori and Mackenyu. For me, it's as beautiful in its tragedy as Rurouni Kenshin: The Beginning. I'm not going to talk about the plot because the slow unraveling of Makoto's "master plan" is the whole point of the movie, it's really well paced and it's better to go in unspoiled. What I am going to talk about is my heart, in itty bitty pieces...

This movie is also known under the title The End of the Tiny World and said tiny world is that of Iwata Takanori's Kida. Like he said to the girl he loved, Yocchi, "My world is really tiny. It's just me and you and Makoto." (Paraphrasing!) And the movie is about how his tiny world ended and he was left with nothing. It's heartbreaking.

And Iwata Takanori is mesmerizing to watch here. Seeing his Kida turn from a small town mechanic into a self-assured negotiator for the mob, to someone who pulls a gun and fires it without blinking, that's a thing to behold.

A truly unforgettable movie. Small, almost intimate yet unforgettable.

Read More

Fresh is Best

The plot of this story is unique to me. Original concept. From introduction of each character they are fully developed with minimal film time. Emotional investment and attachment for Zen starts with Phatchatorn's young Zen and only continues to grow thru the movie. The time and effort, study and research, Yanin puts into this part, gives her complete authenticity and creditability. Body language and manner of verbal iterations are typical autistic behavior. Yanin brings her youth, diminutive size (5ft2in, 90 lb), and the explosive power of her martial arts . The styles of martial arts she portrayed required further research. Tributes to Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan are beautifully choreographed . Yanin's fight scenes display masterful talent, unique attacks, and brutal reality. Prachya Pinkaew is famous for his skill as a director, and with Yanin , he reached new heights. Yanin herself comments on the dangers of the choreography and fight scenes. The cut outs at the end of the movie demonstrate the risks. Coming out of Thailand , this movie is a standout for its inclusiveness of crossdresser/transgender actors. Their parts are seamless and natural, just another character in the scene. The amount of masterful talent of Yanin's physical skills, original concept, directing , choreography, and inclusiveness makes this movie unique, fresh and the best.

Read More

Yanin having fun

Yanin is impressive with her physical skills. The amount of pain and injury she endures in Chocolate and Raging Phoenix is just brutal. This movie is just miles away from the pain. I love the fun that comes out in this movie. Yanin smiles a ton, beautiful to see. She has off beat funny in her. It look's like she just has a blast making this film. This is the perfect film to watch for campy content, with ass kicking, ass kickin from Yanin. Petchtai Wongkamlao is a huge presence. He brings his timely humor into every scene, and at the same time that steadfast experienced persona you see in his other movies.

Read More

cute wlw couple

It had a nice main couple, but I just have a problem with the fact that the first lead changes her mind so fast. She was in love with the man one second and the next she was kissing the second lead. I think it would have been ironic if the two guys got together too. I want to watch the second one and the two mini series. Hopefully it explains everything better. I did not understand why they were in a club thing or why they had to run in it.

Movie link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2ZlzH8eQW4
Second Movie link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87fuvX9EIco
Mini Series link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkOUSdQmxzM&list=PLQ4do7_VUwmp_bb_KFuHEO2VTi6x1ivPI
Second Mini Series link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3QtHsm8KXc&list=PLQ4do7_VUwmrcJO7MBTS7mGKQpd5S29f1

Read More

Not exactly like the Fatal Frame games, but still great

I love this movie. It is one of my favorite wlw movies. I'm obsessed with the two leads. They are so attractive. So many wlw couples throughout. I loved the story. The plot twist was so good. I'm not too good at predicting things, so it might have been a little predictable. To me it wasn't predictable at all. I was in love with the leads relationship. I honestly hope they make a spinoff of them, or some of the couples in the photograph room. They don't use a camera in it- which is a big part of the Fatal Frame series. I personally feel like it could be a stand alone movie.

Read More