BuddhaWake

your right there isn't anything hot out right now. I am both those things of arrogant people that have a condesending attitude every time they post here. but is ok, because everyone acts like Chaser and Good Bad Weird are two masterpieces when they are average at best but because these are negative views they are not allowed here or you have to defend your viewpoint to the death when comments such as "masterpiece" "greatest movie ever" "I came in my pants while watching it" don't require any other thought. and no I don't know Brian, but if you come here and to dvd talk enought you know. just like anyone here knows toddly by now and his tongue in cheeck manner of posting and aswering. I also recomend you reread what has been posted. besides what's the fucking point since the OP hasn't even bother to comment further than the initial post about what he has seen or the many films mentioned here whether as a HOT or COLD or LUKE WARM.

goood. got it. so as long as they are positive statements or ones you agree with, then explanations are not needed or further discussion alowed. I'll make a note for next time. Now to condense everything.

COLD: Chaser
COLD: Good Bad Weird
HOT:.... nothing so far this year for me. yet to see Thirst.
HOT: Dharm. I don't have to explain myself because is a positive statement so i'm on the clear. and is indian so only 3 people would care and they have all seen it.

edit it to add one, Ip Man and while many didn't like Warlords I enjoyed it.

toddly6666

Brian, it's called poor writing, poor acting, and poor filmmaking - no one wants to see that. Just because it's a foreign movie, it shouldn't get any bonus points for being foreign or "exotic". A bad film is a bad film.

I just watched Bad Boys 2 the other day, a film that I thought was forgettable after I saw it in the theater. But after watching it on DVD, this really is a great piece of filmmaking for its genre - excellent filming, the actors have good chemistry with each other, good flow, no filler, and great action. It's very cliche to disresrespect typical Hollywood blockbuster-type films, but even these films are hard to be copied by other countries. Even The Day After Tomorrow is better than HAEUNDAE.

flixtime

Which puts him one up on both eXcentris and Brian T. toddly's thoughts on Asian film aren't exactly a revelation to regulars around here. Some people appear capable of letting him have his opinion...and others feel they have some right to toss personal jabs at him. And Brian T's comments towards toddly are indeed a carryover from a thread in Movie Talk a short while back (where toddly and the original poster of that thread's use of the word "retard" again was an issue for Brian T (just one among a number of issues in that thread)). Given all the insults directed towards toddly, he deserves credit for the way he has handled himself.

His most recent 2008 movie was just released to Korean DVD, so at least in that sense the mention is topical (accidental or not).

As I expect you are aware, dust-ups between toddly and others have occured in the past, and he has explained his position. What great contributions have eXcentris and Brian T made as of late to the International forum? If there input is primarily going to be about chastising toddly, then I can do without it. Brian T made comments about how he wants to focus on positive discussion. Well, have a look at the thread for THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE WEIRD. He stated a lengthy positive opinion of the film. Much later after the DVD release, at least a couple of folks posted 1 or 2-line comments about how they thought it was a great movie. I then followed with a slightly longer negative opinion. And yet, he chose to engage me in conversation about what little I did like, when he easily could have opted to draw out further discussion about the merits of the film from those who posted that they liked it.

Why the jab at BuddhaWake, he certainly wasn't the source of this thread going off track...at least a couple of us were sick and tired of the attacks on toddly and chose to speak up about it (after Brian T chose to open it up again)...you get what you give. Some people think toddly is daft with his opinion on films and how he expresses that opinion...yet I don't recall great instances of toddly launching personal insults at other members of this forum...the personal venom seems to flow one way - from others towards him...if he were writing for Cahiers du Cinema then the complaints would be justified, but this forum to me is about casual movie talk with your buddies...from my stance the "fun" in this thread started to disappear beginning with the comment from eXcentris and finally Brian T (coming after a couple of others had already commented to just leave it be and write disagreement off to nothing more serious than personal tastes). Finally, to my eyes, toddly makes a lot of positive contributions to the International forum, and I respect that he states his opinion on both things he likes and things he doesn't like.

As evidenced by this post, complaining about people is an easy thing to do.

toddly6666

What was Brian and I talking about in Movie Talk? I know i've used the word "retard" more than once before. haha....Well, when it comes to me talking about Wong Kar Wai, I do expect fans getting nasty with me because I have no understanding of how anyone can like his amateurish work. The best thing he's ever done was the commercial for Samsung.


I just bought the DVD of JOURNEY FROM THE FALL for $8 from Blockbuster's closing-down sales. I haven't watched it yet though...

flixtime

It was back in Movie Talk in early-mid August. Some fellow posted about needing help to identify a Korean drama. You chimed in with your usual - given what has transpired, I think we can now label them as "provocative" - statements on Korean cinema...including multipe uses of "retard" towards your favorite Korean actor. More than one person, including Brian T, took exception to your comments. Brian T was successful in getting the original poster - who had also used the term "retard" - to go back and change it to "mentally challenged".

flixtime

Well, to be fair, that sort of feedback kind of stands on its own...I sure as heck don't want to know any of the details...though I do wonder if it has anything to do with Maria Ozawa...in which case I'd be very jealous.

indiephantom

I thought THE CHASER was terrific.

zombeaner

I guess I am just retarded. I enjoyed The Chaser. The Good, The Bad, and The Weird was one of the more fun films I've seen this year with some amazing cinematography. Ip Man was a lot of fun with some great action sequences. Haeundae was also fun if you don't take it too seriously. There is a lot of hate on this thread.

BuddhaWake

the chaser was too formulaic and the portagonist acted out of character on more than one occasion just for the purpose of getting the movie moving in a certain direction. so it was average. I should change the cold to luke warm i guess since it wasn't a total waste of time but it not one i would revisit. since negative comments about movies hurt people fragile state I'll just say that The Chaser is the BEST KOREAN MOVIE named the Chaser EVER. This of course is just an opinion and everyone is entitled to one or two.

zombeaner

I'm not fragile, I just don't agree. The hate on this thread has been vehement, especially when considering that it is being directed at films. Some on this thread act like "The Chaser" slept with their girlfriend. It isn't the Holocaust, it is just a movie you didn't like.

BuddhaWake

well, it is the best korean movie call the chaser that i've seen. and there is no hate about films in this thread. I haven't said once I hated any movie ever, in this thread nor any other. Zombeaner, i didn't mean any offense towards you. I just quoted you and indiephantom regarding the chaser because I felt like saying why i didn't like it. since people "want" and "expect" only positive comments I made sure there was a positive in my comments for them to take with them.

slop101

I really liked Ip Man, and it's a couple years old now, but Johnny To's Exiled is probably one of my favorite modern-day Hong Kong movies. I just bought the blu-ray and it gets better with repeated viewing.

eXcentris

"Exiled" is probably the last Asian film I really liked. But then again, I haven't really followed Asian cinema in the past couple of years. Anyway, I just put in an order for "The Chaser", "Ip Man" and "Accident" so we'll see how it goes.

P.S. I don't see how being a "contributor" should automatically grant you a free pass to pollute threads with nonsense without expecting others to respond. You reap what you sow.

toddly6666

EXCENTRIS,
IP MAN is awesome - that's one of the best Asian films with good story and amazing action....

BuddhaWake

just remembered 2 hot ones. The Magic Hour and I'd Rather Be a Shellfish both from Japan. todd, you would like Magic Hour. flix, you would like both.

toddly6666

hmmm....i dont know. The trailer for the film looks awful. It reminds me of a Japanese RADIOLAND MURDERS, which is one Lucas-written film that is more painful than his Star Wars prequels....

nitin77

Exiled is indeed an excellent film, had not like Johnnie To before that.

BuddhaWake

never seen radioland murders (know nothing about it) but this one is a comedy and is pretty light and fun.

logboy

there's always lots of good Asian films around. problem is, I think people too often wait for things to get covered in a way which brings the films to life a little more. as much as we might hate hype, it's an extension of how we both naturally sometimes gravitate towards similar things. I think those moments of hearing about a film that everyone seems to be talking about are sometimes genuine, and they can be misleading too. some spend time trying to convince others of a films value in order to reassure themselves by thinking others saying they enjoyed it creates a common sense it's worthy of a wider appeal into which they fit in.

there's so many Asian films each year that the sites covering them converge around films in a random way that shows the language barrier stops each picking it's own choices and makes it look as though the films they could cover are the films it's right to be covering. picking out stuff in isolation can make film into powerful independant experiences that suit us in our own right, but the search for such films can leave us with lots of hollow or mediocre experiences as we try to balance between our own choices and the choices we make that match the idea of people finding choices that coincide.

newginafets

The Chaser is AWESOME!

visitor Q

How "AWESOME" is it!???? Sorry to ask for any expression, but seriously.

The last Korean films I've witnessed positive reviews for were Seven Days, Our Town and May 18 but was let down for various reasons. Each had its own problems especially Seven Days (most notably filming and editing) and May 18 (loses itself in melodrama and self importance).

Care to chime in on which components make The Chaser "AWESOME"?? Not trying to be sarcastic, I would genuinely like to know ....

Thanks.

slop101

"Awesome" is the wrong word to describe The Chaser - it's hyperbole and suggests that it's some slam-ban action/adventure. It's not. It's a fairly subdued and almost somber character piece that deals with an ex-cop who's become a down and out pimp and a serial killer that's targeted hookers. It's pretty well-written and acted, but if it were an American film, it would probably be straight-to-video after a festival circuit, and maybe a limited release in art-house theaters if it was lucky.

visitor Q

That's not necessarily a bad thing at all, especially if it were an American film as you put it. I'm just tired of flashy, borderline dizzy aspiring camera work, sloppy editing and/or heavily convoluted plots. Seven Days was heavily guilty of all of this and it's a damn shame. '01-'05 was the Korean renaissance but their leanings have become more Hollywood. It's over and I'd like to get back to basics. So I'm very wary of contemporary Korean cinema in general ...which is too bad. Maybe I should give Chaser a shot.

slop101

Didn't mean it as a bad thing. But it's not a "big" movie by any means, which is what a lot people seemed to be labeling it as. If you're tired of the flashy stuff, you should like Chaser. It does have a little bit of everything: suspense, action, humor, drama, etc.

newginafets

Well, if you happen to love Oldboy, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance or Memories of Murder, then you will definitely enjoy this one. Well, it's definitely far way better than recent Law Abiding Citizen if you want to compare with Hollywood movie.