Reviews

Speed 3 Jacke Chan style

Speed 3 Jacke Chan style

I watched. I got tired. Speed 3 Jacke Chan style. Extremely spectacular, sometimes stained. If you want to see it because of Yang Yang or Zuzhaiting you will be disappointed. No participant will have a continuous time longer than 5 minutes. There are no complex characters or character development. There is good, there is bad, there is father, there is a friend, there is an enemy, there is a beautiful woman, there is action and action and action ....
I cried with laughter ... but sometimes I was more in pain.
Your chances of watching again are zero.
The characters worked hard in this film.
All my appreciation to the actors.

JC: My disciple!
ML: How many students do you have?
JC: Many many ....... hahaha (laugh)

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Wholesome Dog Movie with a Twist

A classic Japanese Slice-of-life that will serve you all the wholesomeness in a cup of tea with some teary-eyed cake on the side! Something to watch on an Airplane ride or during dusk with some coffee or over the kitchen counter while you prepare lunch.

While there are several "Life of a Dog" movies out there, this may be the first time I've come across the life of a Guide Dog. No need for dangerous situations where the dog heroically rescues the owner's baby from a burning house. The daily life of a blind person is an adventure in itself. You are not only observing Quill's life but even witnessing the feelings of the foster parents, the trainer, the blind people, and their families.

Quill is shown as an oddly stoic personality that gets energized with compliments that make him quite a charming Guide Dog. He's lucky to have had the kindest people around. Don't all dogs have this aura of getting out the angel within us?

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Bad

I actually can't believe I am writing a negative review, despite having a moderate expectation going into this movie hoping for a decent plot and quirky humor.

Plot: Unfortunately, the plot was terrible. I was unable to feel any emotional connection to the movie even at the climax. The story felt incomplete and unauthentic. The entire plot revolves around having Sora Aoi as the reason to why the main male lead does everything that he does (we all know her past, and the director/producers seem to want to use this as the focal point of the movie - EXTREMELY DULL AND UNCONVINCING). All the characters lack substance and backstory, so you don't feel the connection to the plot and characters.

Acting: Okay for most characters. I honestly blame most of this to the genuinely awful plot. You can't really do a great job "acting" if the plot was quite flawed and ridiculous from the start. There is nothing valuable for the actors/actresses to portray.

Jokes: I think a lot of the jokes were buried in popular Thai jargon that makes it hard for non-Thai speakers to understand. However, in general they seemed to be really random without much purpose to push the plot forward. It seemed like the director/producers were doing a lazy job trying to slot jokes in for entertainment value rather than working on a solid plot.

Conclusion: I would not recommend this movie.

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just plain fighting but it was fun

About story, it was about office lady gang who are fighting for best place, in place of usual school gang fighting. At first between their company, and after that other company come and try to best them.
Story is nothing to boast about but .....

It was fun to watch and not boring.

Fighting and more fighting, the whole movie is packed with plain fist fight and fight scene are fun to watch.

If you're looking for fist fight movie, you'll draw into this movie.

One thing to watch out. If you don't like manga style movie, this one is not for you. It's complete Japan manga style fist fight movie.

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I Am Keiko is an ambient, existentialist, and experimental film in which the titular character existentially waits for her 22nd birthday while also reminiscing the death of her late father. In spite of the seriousness of his subjects, Sono still manages to include some comedic tones in his films. It was also evident here, though, the darkness and the comedy were more subtle as this film turned out to be rather ambient. There were numerous stillness and quietness that perhaps Sono intentionally gave allowance for his audience to think and ponder also in between the film.

I think this is the very allure of slow and ambient films for me. Some might consider such as boring, but I think it's rather empathetic, understanding, and thoughtful; to have the filmmaker not only give you the questions, then, also give you absolute answers or options after. Rather, they give you only questions and time to have yourself ponder with the character and perhaps figure out the answer on your own.

"I am dying for my life."

22:22

I am Danforens. I am Danij. I am Dani.
She is Keiko. She turned 22.
I, too, will be 22 this November.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7...17...60.
Keiko is one minute older.
She kept counting.
I, too, likes to count in my head
for no apparent reason.

She waited for her birthday.
She hoped to be reborn after.
I don't wait for my birthday.
I can start again today.
Though, I am not certain how to.

22:29

We have lived for 7 minutes more.
And 7 minutes closer to death.
Each passing moment,
we are dying for living.
"I am dying for my life."

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SO - far" was sadly tragic

Wow ... this is a composite of 5 different and unconnected stories and it is pretty "out there" and is definitely a case of VIEWER BEWARE for some of the stories.

The first story "Kazari and Yoko" was absolutely brutal, confronting, FU and twisted.
🌟 TRIGGER WARNING 🌟for those sensitive of parental child abuse, maternal filicide, bullying.

The second story "Seven Rooms" was "serial killer Texas Chainsaw massacre" scary as hell without the blood and gore. It was a cleverly written piece - frightening, really sad and hopeful all at the same time.

The third story "SO - far" was sadly tragic ... there should be some kind of vetting system before parents have kids. Claude Debussy's "Claire de Lune" plays throughout this story ... its gentle tones belies the tragedy in the little boy's life and how he deals with it. It is a very moving short story with a twist. For people who, as a child, have acted as a mediator to their dysfunctional parents, this may strike a very sad chord for you.

The fourth story "Hidamari no Shi" is an anime and was my favourite story out of the set. I liked the plot concept for this story ... it reminded me of a documentary I saw many years ago on Foxtel History Channel ... I think it was called "Life Without People". I thought this story was very poignant ... what is life, does life only mean something if it is conceived/defined by/held in the mind of a human? The photo of the scientist and woman and then the black screen in the last scene was a very powerful one ... well I thought so anyway.

The fifth story "Murakami Jun" was kind of a sadistic, dumped lover, morbid, "CSI Body Farm" kind of mystery. The image that stays in my mind the most is the flip book of pictures showing the progressive decay of his ex-lover. Weird shit ...

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A Warning To All Parents & Guardians

Overall: Quite a simple short movie, low budget, small cast, but definitely got me worked up. Makes you wonder how there is always a dark bleak side even in the happiest neighborhood.

It depicts the worries of a single parent and how the fear of her daughter's safety follows her in her actions and her dreams (or nightmares rather). It truly represents the reality of what every parent/guardian goes through for their children and how they must never stop thinking about their child's safety no matter what happens or who they may be with.

Cast & Production: The acting was on point and all 3 actors played out their part well. The production was simple and realistic.

[SPOILER-ISH but not really]
The Ending: Some folks may find the ending vague. Some may consider it kinda indie or artistic so the viewers can make their own assumptions. It certainly leaves you hanging no matter what your perspective is.

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You may ask why? And the film seems to answer with....

Life is short, people are bad, religion persecutes us and requires us to sacrifice ourselves eternally (no matter which religious body one is subscribed), the world of gay men is filled with aging vampires who want to suck the beauty and youth from the naive and wide eyed. No matter what our end may be (fate), the journey there still matters. Our lust and greed will actually consume us, (His death was his decision for money he didn't need and after, his remains are cannibalized-literally consumed).

In short nothing new, morals and topics covered much more in-depth and with more resonance elsewhere, and without erotically charged graphic gang rape, pornographic bloody body dismemberment and cannibalization.

So possibly the grotesque and shocking scenes are meant to haunt you and create a greater impact of these themes...but IMO detract and over-shadow the topics at hand.

Though, out of everything, the interviews at the end have the most impact. Is the director willingly stating that he is as much of a monster as what he depicts in an almost slap in the face to his own actors as they share their own life dreams on turning 30, sitting nude, exposed, and being exploited for the film he is making now? Or are all of them still in character and meant to drive home the fact that men, or people, in this world are truly as naive and lost as our protagonist was?

Most interesting to me, was that upon the first cross, all in the white of innocence, our main character is duped, tied down, and forced into being gang raped by 30 men. While his last scene he is a willing participant who undresses himself and puts himself on the red cross, an active agent in his own death and ultimate perversion. We never really get to see this transition in character and mindset of our protagonist, it just happens.

There are many things that don't add up in the story.

The character of his brother is never explained. They aren't blood related but its simply stated that they are as true as brother's can be. But when and how did they meet? Why are they so close? What is the purpose of this character existing? One of the large underlying themes is that he is alone with he weight of caring for his ailing mother, ye then there is the brother character which doesn't fit and isn't explained. If they are so close that he will not participate in the gang rape, why will he cower and watch and not try to free his "brother?" What was the point of him throwing himself in the way at the very end for the last perpetrator? Why isn't he the manager instead of the man that is? Why does he continue to allow his brother to perform sex work after seeing what was done to him? We will never know the answers....

As many reviewers have brought up outside of MDL, why is the protagonist so blindly trusting of his manager? Almost every ill-fated event that transpires in the film is at the hands of his manager. And yet, our protagonist and his "brother", keep the manager as if family, calling him uncle, and sharing their fortune with him, up to the point that manager arranges himself a lofty payout by putting our protagonist in a snuff film, and walking away with half the remains which he cooks up for dinner. And apparently the "brother" still never suspects or goes after him after our main character suddenly disappears and this guy becomes filthy rich, because it takes the creepy Buddhist who arranges the aforementioned earlier gang rape to exact revenge in the final scene of the film.

Any rational person would have never had contact with the manager after he stands idle watching rape and going for the money they make off it, before trying to help the demolished main character.

How does our main character never show trauma? His virginity is taken in violence by people he knows and trusted in a group act that leaves him bedridden. But then once his body is healed, he returns to his life and all relationships as if nothing ever happened, and actually becomes at peace with doing sex work and using his body for money. He also easily finds himself in romantic relationships. It is all very bizarre and unbelievable. Psychology having no place in the story.

Religion is superficial here, while Buddhism gets a bit more in-depth, the most tragic events occur upon and around christian iconography. Yet, little is said about either in any substantial way. There is a witch, who's mysticism has more screen time. In the end, all the fate and troubles are boiled down to past lives. So while the "secular" scare our protagonist with hell and shame and he is sacrificed both sexually and physically upon crosses, it is all done at the will of Karma and Buddhism so nothing here comes out unscathed.

With all this said, I think if you watch the film it will haunt you a bit. So the director probably feels successful in creating such in his audience. But, with the messages he seems to want to press upon us, and a story that is pretending to have much to say and not be just an excuse to watch beautiful men run around nude and doing sexual things, this creation sadly fails, and quite fantastically.

Even worse The world has seemed to not care about any message. In trying to find the film you will likely end-up on some porn sites where watchers have edited together the graphic sex to be something for masturbation. And can there be anything more perfect than a film the uses sex work and gang rape to show the utter destruction of its main character, and then those very scenes be used by the world for arousal, proving that the world really is as heinous as the film suggests. And maybe, just maybe the director didn't use the best methods to tell such a story.

Then again, one of the actors is a famous porn star, so maybe this being the films legacy, is the exact META statement of our society he was aiming, again bringing us back to the interviews before the final credits and what exactly was he trying to get across with them.

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Change of feelings throughout the movie just like the characters :)

I decided to watch this because of lee dong wook and because of the story line. I mean a person who changes every single day? Never heard of this kind of story. I watched it and oh my god I loveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee this movie! Hyo Joo's acting is just spectacular. I expected this movie would be a fun one like I was eager to know how this guy actually cope with his condition? It's like a roller coaster of feelings when watching this. Similar to the character, your feelings when watching this changes too (idk maybe it's just me). It's 2 hours long but it doesn't feel boring or dragging. It paces just perfectly. Overall is just great!

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the perfect movie when you're bored

If you need some time to kill and you don't want to invest into a new drama, then look no further because Mission Possible is the one. The story is nothing special, typical crime plot with undercover agents etc. The story really shines with the leads, especially the ML. He's one of the few actors that can go from goofy to serious in a second, as seen in Guardians & Hello Me. He does the same thing here, as casually drops Red Velvet references while trying to save Korea from arms trafficking. The chemistry between the leads is alright, I liked the FL, but I think the ML really shined for me. I think my favorite scene in the movie was when one of the villians was revealed to be a Yeri Stan. All in all, it's your basic comedy action film with a lot of humor, some great acting, and a ton of red velvet references.

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Lovely rom-com with a deep message

Leveling with y'all, I have to confess that, these days, I often get the feeling that being "normal" means either transforming into one of those ruthless wolves who roam our society looking for prey (as the old saying goes, "the scum that comes on top") or else becoming one of those decerebrated "pod people" who constitute the aforementioned wolves' elective prey. The alternative is simply not being "normal" and choosing instead to be yourself, using your own brain and moral values to find your own place in life, regardless of what the wolves and the flock think of us.
And that's, in a nutshell, the surprisingly deep message conveyed by this light, lovely rom-com.
The funny leads take the whole movie to realize how much they're done for each other, being the true, free individuals that they both are, instead of chasing, respectively, the cold-blooded, manipulative wolf (the toymaking CEO) and the wolf's prey - who chose to be his victim (the CEO's bethroted).
The discussions between the leads are the real gem of this movie, thanks to the great script and to the equally great performances delivered by Kiyohara Kaya and Narita Ryo - and if those exchanges happen to reminisce you of such great rom-coms as "The African Queen" (Bogart & K. Hepburn) or, to stay in Japan, "Saigo Kara Nibanme no Koi" (Nakai & Koizumi), well, that's simply 'cause nothing really new happens in cinema, it's just a matter of how the old ingredients are assembled...and this time, the "kitchen" did a very good job indeed! 10/10 ^___-

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Wonderful movie!

STORY: In a world where the competition rules, working hard and a lot is the only way to be successful. But sometimes (or, to be more correct, many times) this way of working (and if there is also a violent boss) it can be too much. Then, the exhaustion leads the life and the only option is suicide. To end all. The movie is about Aoyoma who finds himself in this situation. He is helped by Yamamoto. And from that moment the story starts. It is a fantastic beautiful story about healing their souls, one for each other, finding the motivation to move forward and finding the happiness. The end made me cry. I was so emotional…..
Narushima Izuro, the one who wrote the script, did an excellent job! The dialogues were perfect. Even the silence was perfect!

ACTING: Everybody did an excellent job! EVERYBODY! Mai actors, support actors – all!
Every scene was very well played. I laughed a lot! I cried! I felt so much due to their acting. Was pure and simple wonderful. A good script can save the actor. Here, both were very good. I can’t ask anything more!

MUSIC:: It was good for this kind of movie. But what is still in my mind is the song from the end. Perfect song! I love it!

RE-WATCH VALUE/ OVERALL: It was a fantastic movie, it moved my heart. The plot was consistent, well written and spoken and how they manage to save each other, how they manage to repair their souls and move further was overwhelming. I will let some time to pass and then I will watch it again and I am sure I will like it again!

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A candle-lit beauty. Definitely one of the prettiest films i've seen!

Woah, what a film! The cinematography is just AMAZING; it's set a totally new standard for me as my first Hou Hsiao-Hsien film. I highly recommend looking for a restored version to give this movie the justice it deserves. The framework is ingenius; the colors, costumes and sets are captured in a way that just engulfs you & leaves you feeling like you were there... it's very interesting! Now, under this undeniable beauty you have the stories and lives of our flower girls. Each girl has her own problems and routes to reach their freedoms & goals. This film does a good job of giving hints and small tastes of what life was really like for courtesans of this time. And ofcourse the actors really sealed the deal; the portrayals were pretty spot-on and genuine. Overall, Flowers of Shanghai is a visual masterpiece & I am grateful such a gem exists. xx

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