Trigger

Public Enemy - S. Korea

This was an interesting police movie not too unlike Memories of a Murder. It's not as good as Memories, but it does have its own charm. It's about a cop who gets the job done through brute force and violence. We find him trying to catch a killer. He's like a Charles Bronson meets Columbo type of cop who stumbles around blindly trying to solve the case and relentlessly harassing his prime suspect and beating up gangsters along the way. His killer is a high profile executive socialite/sociopath (kinda like American Psycho) but nobody believes he is guilty.

It's pretty decent and those of you who like this genre will probably dig this. Except for the fact that it was shot mostly during the day, it kinda felt like a good Johnny To film at times. Overall, the film deserves a 7/10 and a recommend as a rental at least. The korean DVD is a nice 2 disc with good subs, video and 5.1 audio.


Surprise! - S. Korea

Trying to catch up on my backlog I checked this one out... it's a cute little light romance flick. The initial premise is somewhat hard to swallow, but if you can get past that the rest is pretty good. It starts out slow, it's fairly predictable and the acting is remedial, but it still manages to be charming.

Basically, a girl who works at a salon asks her co-worker/friend to go pick up her boyfriend at the airport and keep him occupied all day while she convinces her bigoted father to accept her "half-breed" boyfriend and so she can prepare for his birthday surprise party. She can't let on that she's keeping him busy on purpose - this alone should've lead to more comedy than it did - lots of missed opportunities here as well as the rest of the film.

In the end, the film is just slightly above average and deserves a low 6/10. It's probably worth a rental if you're in the mood for some fluff romance flick with your chick and you don't want her to cry and you've seen all the good HK romance flicks.

The korean dvd comes with some decent extras - nothing mindblowing - and the video is good (the blacks may be a little on the green side, but you wouldn't notice since once the film starts you don't really see any black), the audio is good (includes a 2.0 and a 5.1) and the subtitles are very good (except that they don't subtitle a scene where they show a text message on a phone - but it wasn't that important anyway).

flashburn

Hey Trigger, just wondering if you had gotten Legend Of The Evil Lake yet? What about Onmyoji? Those are two I am thinking about picking up.

Trigger

Not yet, they shipped on Friday I think... or last week sometime... I should get them on Monday or Tuesday.

DVD Smurf

Thanks for Scent of a Man, I will nominate you as an honor DVDTalker if I could...

Thanks again,

Cheers

DVD Smurf

Trigger

A few more mailers need to arrive, but I think I sent 2 out already. I'm pretty sure I have one more available if someone wants it... email me.

Also - I got 2 shipments today, so I'll be reviewing again.

RaMMaR

i wholeheartedly agree - when it ended i had a lump in my throat (okay i got a little teary eyed too ). You know what's inevitably going to happen, but the couple is so ingratiating, you just can't help but root for them.
Question:


i'm also looking forward to your review of Legend Of The Evil Lake.

Ooh... if you have another DVD up for grabs: [email protected]

Trigger

Spoiler for ...ing - don't read if you haven't seen it.

RaMMaR

Quote:

Originally posted by Trigger
Spoiler for ...ing - don't read if you haven't seen it.

Spoiler:

holy crap - yeah, that was the whole point... he was being paid to be her friend, but he refused the money at the end because he actually loved her.

Okay, thanks - that part i wasn't too sure about.
{returns to just arrived Shaw Bros. films. Hanging entrails and broken bones i can deal with - broken hearts? That's a whole 'nother thing.}

Master Killer

I am curious on what you got. Would you mind listing the DVDs you received in those shipments?

Trigger

Already listed em...

Giles

when you get the chance to watching it, please review Battlefield Baseball - what is this actually about?

Trigger

I'll watch a few tomorrow, but tonight all I could get to was My Love Ssagajy : 100 Days with Mr. Arrogant Limited Edition

It's about a high school girl who kicks a can and hits a rich college kid in the face while he's driving and makes him crash his car. He decides to make her pay for it - since she has no money, he decides to make her his slave for 100 days (the math works out to $3000 damage at $30 per day for 100 days). She reluctantly agrees and they torture each other and fall in love... ppthththtttt...

The acting in this film... wait - I can't say "acting" as that doesn't quite describe it... The mugging in this film is poor at best. It's as though everyone went to the Matthew Lillard & Jim Carey school of acting. Don't know how to act? Make a stupid face! The film had quite a few funny moments and a cute ending, but after awhile the mugging got to be far too much to take and the story dragged on for what seemed like an eternity. Now, I like long movies and korean films tend to be long... normally I like this, but at some point someone's gotta tell them that not every film has to be over 2 hours long. At least it seemed that long. I'm not even sure. I kept almost nodding off during the last 5-10 minutes or so. It's not entirely the movies fault - cuz I'm really tired right now.

Basically, this film is average at best - and probably worse than that - but it did have its moments. There are better movies out there for sure. This one tries to be My Tutor Friend, but fails... go see that instead. This one gets a very low 5/10 and if it even looks at me the wrong way, I'll bump it down to a 4. I suppose it could work as a rental cuz it is kinda funny and has a somewhat charming story. As I said - my biggest gripe was the poor acting... not that this is the first korean movie with bad acting or anything, just that it's pretty thick here.



Okay - for tomorrow - I'm going to try and watch Battlefield Baseball and Legend of Evil Lake and Nabi and Acacia and Ice Rain and Onmyoji. But in reality I'll probably only get to see 2 or 3 of them. I know alot of you are pulling for Legend of Evil Lake, but that'll be a hard sell to my friend who I'm watching these with. We'll see.

flashburn

I was very dissapointed in Battlefield Baseball. In the end, it was nothing special. I think my expectations for the movie might of been a little unrealistic, however. It does seem that many people have felt the same way about it though.

RaMMaR

[

Quote:

Originally posted by flashburn
I was very dissapointed in Battlefield Baseball. In the end, it was nothing special. I think my expectations for the movie might of been a little unrealistic, however. It does seem that many people have felt the same way about it though.

i probably would've/could've enjoyed it more if i was drunk. Am i glad i didn't opt for the more expensive boxed set!

Trigger

Allright - watched 4 films - here's the reviews... (not that it matters, but this is the order I watched them in too)

Legend of Evil Lake - s. korea

Period fantasy film... LOEL tells the story of a love triangle between a queen, a general and a peasant girl. Queen loves the General and the General loves the peasant girl. The Queen's advisors warn her that the peasant girl's father was associated with the rebellion. Oh yeah, and there's this evil lake. The film actually starts off 1000 years earlier at the site of this lake where this clan of wizards or what have you is killed and banished to the lake... it isn't spoken of again for another hour. I guess I shouldn't complain as there was enough character development. The film tried to be Crouching Tiger Hidden Bride With White Hair, but didn't quite live up to it.

The acting was decent and the cinematography, effects, and stunts were adequate. The fighting was pretty average as well. Now, the story was pretty interesting and I can't say this was a bad film. My friend thought it was quite boring, but she doesn't seem to like period films in general. I thought it was fairly good and I'd give it a 6.5/10.

There's plenty of severed arms and legs and heads and some under the cover squishy and flying people and rape and buckets of blood and demonic posession and magic powers. If that sort of thing appeals to you and you've seen everything else, then by all means, pick it up. The gore factor was pretty high (when it was on screen), but it wasn't anything too shocking. The DVD transfer was good in both sound and video and the subtitles were fine.

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Battlefield Baseball - japan

As many have stated - this isn't what you're expecting. That's not to say it's a bad film. Well... it is a bad film, but in a good way. That is to say - there is a specific audience for this film... if you are familiar with Troma films and you like the ciche of the whole thing, this will surely appeal to you. Terrible effects, goofy scenarios, under budget with over the top ambitions, and a plot that goes absolutely nowhere... even though it seems fairly clear that they're trying to make a profound statement by the end.

Anyway - this is about a school that has a promising baseball team, but gets scheduled to play against the most feared team in the world who plays the game with no rules just so they can have a means to legally murder people. Sounds stupid because it is. A new transfer to the school has sworn to never play baseball again after accidently killing his father with his powerful pitch... His arrival causes the school to buzz with rumors of his wild adventures - reminded me of Three O'Clock High.

I thought it was pretty funny and having seen lots of Troma films, I was comfortable with the level of suck of this film... it was part intentional and part bugetary issues I'm sure. The DVD even has an intro by the author of the comic book this was based on - and even that was very Troma-esque. Battlefield Baseball seemed like it aspired to be a Troma release. Perhaps Lloyd will pick it up for a US release. I wouldn't be surprised. Anyhow, I give this a 6/10... as Troma films go, this is about an 8/10.

The DVD quality reflects the quality of the film... rental or wait for a release from another region. Certainly not worth the price tag.

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Acacia - s. korea

Strange horror film about a couple that thinks they cannot conceive a child on their own so they adopt a 6 year old boy who likes to draw and is just creepy in general. Acacia is a type of tree and one of these grows outside their house, but hasn't had leaves or blossoms in several years. The boy develops a fixation on this tree and starts to think the tree is his real mother (well, that her spirit is in the tree or some such thing). Soon, the couple succeeds in conceiving a child and their adopted son gets jealous and lonely and spiteful. Their son goes missing and the family turns in on itself...

Acacia has some really great imagery and solid moments... There's a few good scares and some good creeps. The story is pretty good and you may not see it coming. The acting is good as well here. It almost feels like the film wanted to be another Tale of Two Sisters with a completely unique story. I can't say it succeeded, but it was still good. Overall, I give it a 7/10 and can recommend it. It's certainly better than reviews would have you believe. Although there are problems with it -



The DVD is solid - if you can find it - it's numbered and supposedly limited in release. I understand the movie was a disaster in korea, like so many other movies.


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Spy Girl - s. korea

This film was a sort of comedy about a girl who is a spy from North Korea sent South on a mission to find a fellow spy who had fled to S. Korea with some money. It's a somewhat typical fish out of water story with a love interest. She takes on a job at Burger King and is considered by all the school boys as the most beautiful girl in town and one boy in particular falls head over heels for her.

A k-comedy without horrible overacting and ape faced mugging... quite refreshing. Once again though, someone needs to tell them that not all movies have to be over 2 hours long.

It's a cute film and worth watching... it probably wouldn't be what you're expecting from looking at the title or cover, but it is pretty good. It's a little like My Wife is a Gangster, but not as good and not as fun. Overall, I give it a 7.5/10. I recommend it.

The DVD is nice in picture, sound, subs, etc...

Alien Redrum

Glad you gave Acacia solid marks as I just ordered it yesterday completely blind.

I liked the cover, I liked the screen grabs DVDAsian posted. I needed about 20 bucks to get free shipping (as I had ordered Ju-On 2 as well).

Now I don't feel so worried.

flashburn

Hey Trigger,
Would you be interested in selling your copy of Legend of the Evil Lake? Let me know....by the way..check your hotmail account.

Trigger

ygm flashburn... I think I'm gonna hang on to my copy of LOEL, but it's still widely available. It's also the type of film that HK will probably release, so you might want to wait to see if they do.

IC_Freeze

trigger, still have scent of man dvd available? would like to get one if so... [email protected].
thanks

Trigger

Okay - watched a couple tonight... I tried watching Ice Rain, but I was expecting some mountain climbing adventure and it looked more like a slow drama where not much happens and I wasn't in the mood, so I popped something else in... perhaps another time for that film.

Taxi 3 - france

Pretty much the entire cast returns for the third film in the Taxi franchise. This film plays out like a family reunion - not unlike Lethal Weapon 4 did. It was more on the funny side and focused less on the story and driving action scenes. While there are a few decent set pieces and stunts, none of it matched the first two. There seemed to be an effort to go bigger on everything, maybe they went too big... the cops were dumber, the heist they had to foil was more elaborate, and the characters were more like cartoon versions of themselves.

It was stupid, but entertaining. It was also pretty funny - as long as you take it as a comedy. They kinda tried everything and perhaps they tried too hard as much of the comedy fell flat. Ultimately, I liked it. I'd give it a 6/10. Worth seeing.

The r3 korean 2-disc is nice... picture and sound are superior to the first two that I have on r3 HK DVDs. The DTS track seemed indistinguishable from the DD5.1 track, but I got alot of DTS dropout from this disc for some reason... good thing the DD5.1 was solid. The picture was good too. The subtitles were well done, but seemed incomplete in a few scenes. No biggie to me.

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Anna in Kung Fu Land - HK

Meriam and Ekin team up in another convoluted confusing pile of half-assed crap that is the recent trend from HK. Ekin works for some advertising company that has to advertise some crap energy drink, so they decide to organize a kung fu tournament where the grand prize is 5 million USD (where the fock do they get 5 million dollars in the first place?). For some reason, Ekin travels to Japan to get a Japanese Shaolin master to join the competition (how? why? I don't know). The Japanese Shaolin master's daughter - played by Meriam - is assigned to go in his stead because he is nearsighted. Then, out of nowhere, Meriam is all of a sudden a traffic cop and Ekin makes out with her for no reason. Of course, Ekin is cheating on his cop girlfriend back home. Meriam falls in love with him and decides to enter the competition (again - as if the first time wasn't good enough). They arrive back in HK and there's a bit of farce concerning Ekin juggling two women (whoop-de-doo). The competition is just as silly with entrants being as unique as generic video game characters.

Performances were shit for the most part - although Ekin showed some signs of life which is something new for him. Meriam was her usual self, but not as funny. The fighting ranged from kinda good to shit... too much wire-work (I don't mind wirework, but when it's done poorly it's intolerable) and far too many CG effects. What the hell has happened to HK cinema? It's turned to crap almost across the board - hasn't been hardly any good films released in HK in the last 2 years... I don't get it.

This wasn't a total loss... some of the scenes were quite funny and there were a few good action scenes - in particular a scene where the contestants were eating at the free breakfast buffet and it turned into a plate throwing kung fu battle. The film just couldn't keep it up though and by the halfway mark, I wanted it to be over. Overall, I give this a 4/10 - I can't suggest buying it, but perhaps a rental for Meriam fans who need a fix. Don't expect much.

The DVD is pretty good... Tai Seng put out the one I have. I don't know if it's a rebadge of a HK release, but the making-of was subtitled which was a nice surprise. The sound, video and subs were good as well. The DTS track was bass heavy though while the dialogue was quiet.

Trigger

Paul - your mailer came today and will be picked up by my postman tomorrow.

Trigger

I've been watching some here and there... here's some that I watched, but haven't commented on yet. I have a new shipment coming in, so I'll start on those probably after I get back from E3... maybe a new thread is in order? I never know when to start a new thread. Sometimes it seems that after 40 or 50 posts, people stop coming in. Anyway - here's what's on my next order followed by some quick thoughts on stuff I watched.

Juon 2
Elixir Of Love
Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring
Happy Funeral Director (2 copies for free)
Samaria
Dogville
Once Upon A Time In Highschool
Happy Ero Christmas
Silver Hawk
Leaving Me Loving You
Protege de la Rose Noire (I don't know what posessed me to order this piece of crap)
Magic Kitchen
Wonderful Days Limited Original Edition

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Onmyoji S.E - Japanese period demons and magic film. I just finished watching it, so it should be freshest in my mind, but honestly I can't think of what to say about it. It wasn't very good. Low-budget, bad acting, bad effects, and a story that went all over the place. It was like a bad modern made-for-tv movie... cable tv... like, sci-fi channel. My friend gave it a 6.5, but I give it a 4.5 or a 5.

I've tried to start this paragraph like 5 times now to tell you what the film is about, but I just don't have it in me. It's just not worth it I don't think. I'll discuss it later if someone wants - maybe if I sleep on it. *shrug*

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Il Mare Special Edition - Not gonna review the film, just know that it's beautiful and wonderful and awesome. This DVD is also wonderful. The packaging and presentation are fantastic and I'm glad I upgraded from the original Spectrum. Totally worth upgrading.

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Black Hawk Down R3 Superbit - Again, not gonna review this film, but this DVD has amazing sound and picture of course. The packaging is great and there's enough extras here to keep you busy for a long time.

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Hulk R3 - Kickass packaging - giant plastic box with Hulk's fist coming through. Really a display piece for a collector who likes this film. I thought it was pretty good up until the end (which was complete garbage). People were pretty split on this film though and since it's not a foreign release, I won't get into it. The DVD is absolutely worth buying though - great picture and sound and tons of extras.

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Blue R3 - Korean film about a pair of buddies who grew up together and entered the military together and became deep sea divers. It's a decent film that kinda falls apart near the end. They must have not hired any military advisors or else they completely wrote around their advice because it lacked any sort of realism whatsoever. I think I'd rate it slightly above average - 5.5 or something. It's been too long now since I watched it so I don't recall exactly what I was thinking.

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Predator R3 - watched every single extra and listened to most of the commentary... skipped watching the film with the sound though because I have seen it like a million times. The extras are really cool - lots of featurettes and interviews from a few years ago. The commentary was horrible though - John McT rambles along at a slow pace and talks about pretty much everything that was covered in the other extras. He does have a few interesting things to say about gun violence and suggested that he had all sorts of integrity because he filmed this scene where they tear up the forest with all this gunfire, but they weren't firing at a person... and he mentions how he does the same in Die Hard where they shoot at the glass instead of people (oh yea, he really kept the violence out of that one ). Then he goes on to suggest that others who worked on the film went on to make their own movies and copied that same scene where they cut up the jungle with gunfire except they put the people back in front of the bullets... and THEN he goes on to say "and people wonder why we have things like Columbine". WHAT!? He's an idiot and he has an ego. I mean, he made some really really awesome films in his day, but god - what a dick. Ok - sorry for that rant. Apart from the crappy commentary (which was crappy even without that comment and others like it), the DVD is great - It's probably the same as the other regions that ended up with a 2-disc SE.

dleedlee

On .ing Special LE, do you think the extras are worth it? I'd rather get a cheaper regular edition, since most of the extras are useless to me. Anyone know when a standard edition is going to be released.

Trigger

the neat-o packaging is a waste of money... just get the whatever edition of it. I haven't watched any of the extras on the second disc, but I doubt they have english subs.

divemaster

YesAsia's latest free DVD offer is for "Love Bakery" which I have never heard of or seen any comments on at all. I think you picked this up at one point and was wondering if you ever watched it.

I'm trying to decide if I should place an order with YesAsia soon, or wait and see what the next DVD on this promotion will be.