Reviews

Spiritwalker – one of the best fantasy action films with exceptional acting techniques

Outstanding. I went to watch Spiritwalker at NYAFF (New York Asian Film Festival) because of the main lead Yoon Kye Sang, who is one of the best South Korean actors when it comes to action movies. By the time it ended, I was really impressed with the story and the performance of all the actors, including the supporting ones. The movie itself is excellent. For those who watched The Outlaws, already know how talented Yoon Kye Sang is in action roles. For those who didn’t watch it, I highly recommend both. For a good reason it won the Daniel A. Craft Award for Excellence in Action Cinema. I won’t spoil it, but it has everything that it needs to be a successful movie, full of action combined with subtle comedy, and delivers some strong messages. I cannot wait for it to be released in theater to watch it again.

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Entertainment value very low, educational and representation value high

This movie feels like an educational movie to support HBTQ+ people with disabilities. The entire movie is in sign language and is really well done which makes it a bit heard to watch for those who are used to using their hearing, the surrounding sounds stick out in an almost painful way. the story itself is kind of sad and sweet at the same time and they do a pretty okay job showing diversity as well as these people as competent people worthy of love as well as a variety of responses people may get from society and loved ones all good and important issues pretty well done but does not really grab the average viewers attention. I do however hope that it is shown to many teens and that it can educate people as well as give hope to people struggling with their sexuality and/or living in a closed environment urging them to find a safe place with loving people. So all in all I am happy this exists but not much more and I know the entertainment business should be able to do this better, but seeing how hard it is to find this type of representation I guess I kind of get the feel of Ill take what I can get...

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The Grotesque Mansion is a short movie consisting of five chapters, with the final one serving as a narration throughout the whole film. None of the stories are well explained or concluded, making them seem like scary stories we tell each other at night when we are kids - it’s not about the well constructed plot, but the atmosphere.

The thing that I loved about the directing was how all the cases were linked together - each chapter had a scene we already saw in a previous story, but from a different perspective.

Chapter 1 - Room 504 - The Writer
One of the weakest plots of all the 5 chapters. While the small details in the background added to the eerie atmosphere, overall I was not impressed. The story was not scary at all, but I have to appreciate the acting from Lee Chang Hoon, who played a driven writer on the edge, because his writing has not been going too smoothly lately. I could feel his frustration.

Chapter 2 - Room 907 - The Pharmacist
The best of all the chapters. From the interesting story, to the creepy visuals - I was sold. The setup for the plot reminded me a little bit of P.T., with the radio station giving news about the murder. The loop of the characters’ actions and the corridor shots that made it seem as if I am there observing the situation, made this my favorite part of the movie.

Chapter 3 - Room 708 - The Salesman
Annabelle, but creepier. Except for the "companion" making me uncomfortable, there is not much to say about this chapter. The pictures created for some scenes were nice, but overall it was more entertaining than scary.

Chapter 4 - Room 604 - The Student
Trigger warning for gross body horror. Pimples and a lot of weird stuff happening to the face of one of the characters. Rather nauseating. That said, the body horror was quite well made - no complaints on my part about the effects and makeup. The story is rather simple, and focuses more on the visual aspect of it.

Final chapter - Room 1504 - The Caretaker
Had one of the scariest scenes from the whole movie - the elevator moment got me on the edge of my seat. The Caretaker concludes the story is a coherent way that makes sense, while leaving a door open for a possible sequel.

Overall, The Grotesque Mansion is just a simple and easy watch. Good for an evening when you might be a bit tired and you want to be entertained, but without forcing your brain to do any work.

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Frustrating!

The Story: The flow was good, it's a good thriller movie that makes you feel like you are the one getting chased. It keeps you on your toes. Although there are parts that made me exasperated because of the stupidity of almost all of the civilians or extra characters. In real life, the reactions of the civilians might not be possible at all.

Acting/Cast: The casts are superb, it's like the movie was tailored for the casts themselves. There are no parts were you feel like their emotions are lacking.

Music: I can't really remember any music being played during the movie. I don't know if it's because I'm too focused on the movie or if it's because the music isn't memorable at all.

Rewatch Value: Personally, I don't think I will watch this again. Movies like these are only good during the first time watching.

Overall: The movie is great, I get the frustration of the other viewers who reviewed and said it sucks because of the lack of realness when it comes to the reaction of the civilians but besides those, I still think this movie is worth to watch.

PS. I kinda don't like how it ended. It feels like the guy had an easy way out of what he did.

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Fight scenes continue to impress

8/22/2021

The fight scenes in Kenshin movies never fail to impress me. They are fast and exciting, compared to the Chinese irritating slow-motion fight scenes that I dislike so much (esp. in wuxia dramas). The fight choreography is amazing. This movie has more group fighting than 1:1 fights. I personally enjoy the previous movies 1:1 fights and this movie only has one in the final half hour of the movie. The fight scene background music continues to bring excitement to the scenes and if you have watched previous movies, you are no stranger to that amazing musical score.

Unfortunately, I don't think the plot of this movie is as amazing as the previous movies. I feel that they really don't need a "final" movie to the existing trilogy. As much as I love the Rurouni Kenshin movies and Satoh Takeru, this feels like an independent movie to gather most of the previous characters together. There are two characters from the previous movie that are brought back, but it didn't really provide much information or background story to their roles in this movie.

This 2-hour movie goes by fast. I enjoy how Kenshin's former love story was told, without too many words but you get all the feelings. There's a lot of quietness to slow down the exciting fight scenes and let you really feel the emotions of the story. Then the pace picks back up with fight scenes and explosions.

I still enjoy this movie but I don't think it's as good as the last couple ones.

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This is wonderful

I didn't expect this to be that good based on the rating here but this is such a beautiful and affirming story. The central love story is slow burn but there is wonderful chemistry, and the dynamic between them is quite different than we've seen in a BL before.

This is a rural setting, and while the characterization and story is more realistic than a typical BL, there is still the element of fantasy that defines the genre.

At first I didn't really find Yamato all that appealing, but it didn't take long for him to win me over. The story is about one man trying to find his place in the world, and another who has, but due to his past is too afraid of being abandoned to open himself up to love, and the resolution of this is beautiful, with an especially nice touch of it hingeing on the love and kindness of a stranger.

I really need to watch it again as there was a lot of symbolism and shading that I only half caught because too much of my attention had to go to reading subtitles, but the director's gradual ramping of the warmth of the film as it progressed was artful.

A lot of people have described this as "laid-back", but I didn't feel it that way - I thought the coiled despair and fear of all the main characters was a palpable tension that underlaid the film until its end. There is zero external drama in this - it's entirely character-driven, which is what a good drama should be.

One negative, at least for me, was the score. It wasn't just entirely Western, it was very specifically Irish, which felt out of place - especially the use of the song Oh Danny Boy and the instrumentation. It didn't have to be gagaku or all played on koto, but I didn't understand this decision and it was a bit jarring and even annoying at times.

I have the story and acting a 9.5, the music a 6, and rewatch value 10 - in fact I'm going to rewatch it right now.

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shallow story with a good cast

Okay, so i decided to watch this movie because Xiao Zhan is playing the main roll. And he plays it great!
The story is pretty shallow tho, a lot of unanswered questions are remaining in the end and the whole thing doesn't really make sense tbh. What I like about it is that Xiao Zhan is playing no hero or someone who is just naturally super talented. He's just a normal dude who happens to be caught up in this whole mess. It's no typical "the good people win and all the demons die" story, rather the opposite and that's just way more interesting in my opinion!

The cast is nice, beside Xiao Zhan we also see Li Qin, who plays the main roll in many other famous dramas!
Music is great, really can't say anything bad about it!
Visual FXs are uhm yeah really bad, but I didn't expect them to be good in the first place since this is clearly a low budget movie, so it's okay.

All in all Xiao Zhan really carries the whole movie and he looks pretty damn cool in it, especially in the end. I think it was kinda worth watching just for that lol. It's also quite funny, so i don't regret watching it :)

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first off donno who or what Nu'est r, so just by reading the comments came to know they a K-Pop group. and as didn't know any of the actors involved, didn't know if they newbies or have acted in other "stuff" (well the only one i recognized was Serizawa Tateto as seen him as a side-character in loads of stuff. Kinami Haruka also looks familiar, but for the life off me couldn't pinpoint where have seen her. as in which dramas or movies) - now that, that's off my chest i so didn't accept to enjoy this movie - heck reading some of the comments, though it would either bore or disappoint me. Not the case, this was really good and well acted, if we talking newbies - good job by all!

this the type of movie that's more mellow and snail-paced, dialogue is minimal and u have to give it - the character's time to unfold, and u little by little start to see who they r and what makes them tick. that was the case here, so if ur not into long pauses and reading facial expressions, then u might be bored - cause not much is happening on screen - or so it seems to people who enjoy fast-paced, dialogue packet movies.

loved how even though each individual that seemed like an island at the start, when the story developed u saw how they were all connected to each other - oblivious to each other's connection they still were changed and even evolved through their connections - when they got closer or further apart. its like they were all connected by an invisible string when one "pulled", each had a minor shift in their own lives . it was sweet and magical in a way. the cause and effect shown - how our actions be it a word or a look, effect others around us that we don't even know r connected to us -

for sure a rewatch as this is totally my type of movie - just sit back and watch the movie unfold - everyone takes their time - nothing rushed. clams me idk guess just my cup of tea - find these type of movies very relaxing. plus this one was sweet, funny and heartwarming - so happily recommend.

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The Chinese Boxer is widely referred to as the first "modern" weaponless kung fu movie. Kwan Tak Hing and his 100 Wong Fei Hung movies from the 50's and 60's might differ on that opinion. The Chinese Boxer, written, directed by and starring Jimmy Wang Yu did set the template for the many kung fu movies which followed and it's success led to many others like it, opening the door for Bruce Lee.

Jimmy Wang Yu played the top student at a kung fu school. A disgruntled former student returned after learning judo and roughed up a bunch of students and then was promptly dispatched when the master showed up. The master explained that while kung fu was used for sport and self defense, karate was used for killing. Later, the former student showed back up with a crew of Japanese karate experts led by Lo Lieh in a bad wig. The karate experts went on a killing and eye gouging rampage in the school only leaving a few wounded alive, including Jimmy's Lei Ming. The karate thugs seized the opportunity to take over the town and made it into an illicit gambling den.

The familiar plot ensued. After Lei Ming recovered, he secretly learned the Iron Fist technique and light body skills. Then it was his turn to to on a bloody rampage. The fights were okay, Jimmy wasn't a martial artist and it showed. Blood spurted a plenty and the movie sported a high body count. Lei Ming taking on a bunch of katana wielding samurais in the the tall grass was entertaining. Too many of the fights were chop and block and not terribly fast. Lo Lieh, as always, had great screen charisma even if he wasn't on screen much and was required to do some screaming that seemed out of place.

The sets were all very nice and most were nicely destroyed with fists, kicks, and bodies thrown through them. Fake snow and real snow abounded. It's one of the few final fight scenes I've seen where there was snow and ice on the ground which seemed hazardous for the actors and crew. You could tell where they cleared a few areas off down to the dirt to provide a better place to spar.

It was fun to see these actors when they were very young, aside from Wang Yu and Lo Lieh, Chen Sing, Yuen Woo Ping, and Chen Kuan Tai, among many well known martial artist bit players were in the background.

There was an unnecessary rape scene that took away from the movie for me. Also several birds were killed which left a bad taste as well.

Jimmy's acting wasn't as stiff in this movie as in others I've seen him in and his directing was quite good. As a first entry into the "modern" kung fu era it was a respectable entry and worth watching for the historical implications at the very least.

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Being right next to the person you genuinely love is all that matters.

i came across this on netflix and i thought it would just be like any other movie. you know, those you just watch to pass time. But it’s 2am now and i’m bawling my eyes out & my nose is blocked af. i didn’t realise i’ve been tearing up painfully while watching the movie.

As y’all know, the male lead is a gangster and i was really irritated watching his scenes at the start. He was violent, aggressive & vulgar. However, my heart softened when i realised he had a heart of gold. I wondered if he saved or harmed the universe in his past life, to be trapped with an ill-fated life & at the same time, blessed with a kind, pure & genuine soul. A guy who sacrificed without yearning for any acknowledgement or rewards. Really, the world doesn’t deserve him. Ahhhh Roy chiu acted really well and his emotions really brought me with him in the movie. He’s really really good.

The female lead expressed herself so well too, i could precisely feel the way her heart melted at every touching moment she witnessed & feel the same way her heart crashed at every painful moment she suffered. It made me feel that the female character was so strong for even….. existing. ❤️

This love between them was passionate, fiery, yet, f*king painful. It’s so beautiful, i can’t get my eyes off them. I yearn for a love as beautiful as theirs.

Anyway, y’all really need to watch to understand those feels. & will i watch again? yea, when i need a good cry.

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The exposure of something intimate

Nominated for the Palme d'Or
Won Best Director at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival

I must have watched this film at least 6 times, one of them recently in 2021 a special event on an open summer cinema in Athens. Each time is better than before.
A couple from a “private hell” traveling, living, working, loving, hating in Argentina.
A relationship in breakdown and the arise of the most human fears and inner screams over the edge of the world.
A turbulent cycle of destruction and recreation, of hope and despair, of a world falling apart again and again.
A small but yet endless world through the colors of emotions or a black and white scenery of inner fears of emptiness.
A title inspired by the Turtles' 1967 song “happy together”… a song so romantic and happy on its own but yet so dark and omnibus when it is combined within this film.
Even a political view of the world and the significant dates of Hong Kong.
This story has no spoilers because no one is capable to put in words what you will feel when you see this drop of light.

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