Kite

Oops, I posted this on the wrong blog. It should have been posted here.

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Tonight I watched "Kite". I had never heard of it before, or the anime that came before it.


It started off gory enough. I found out the impetus of the main character quickly enough. Samuel Jackson is in it!!!! Damn!

Sawa, the main character, is out for revenge. Someone killed her father, a cop, and mother. Jackson is her father's partner.

The film has a gritty look to it. Gangs running the streets. Lots of violence.

The acting so far is kind of shite. The action is waning. Damn she just ganked the fucker! Damn, a dildo gun! Ok. It just got a bit better.

The plot is kind of blah. She kills someone who will lead her to the one who killed her parents. Then SJ gives her a drug to make her forget everything. But she remembers ... something.

Meh ... it is hard to get into this movie. It is too jumpy. The fight scenes are pretty good though. It kind of helps make up for everything else. But not really enough.

God damn. Stun gun to the nuts!!! God damn!!!!

Yet I keep having to skip forward for some reason.

Ok, the skewer up the nose was great.

Too predictable.

Oh fuck it. Had to just stop watching this one.

I want my time back.

Game of Death

A big big thank you to Gusts of Popular Feeling for the post about "Game of Death". As he mentions it is in a Top Ten list of greatest movies never made.

When I first saw this I was all agog. It was a great story. An unfinished movie that could have been epic! Damn! Then I remembered watching Game of Death and the elation waned. Was this BS? Did someone screw up and think a movie that was made wasn't? What the kimchi?!?!? I was perplexed so I consulted that cornucopia of movie knowledge the Internet Movie Data Base.

Lo and beheld, there WAS a Game of Death film released, with Bruce Lee, somewhat, in it. Six years after Lee's death director Bruce Clouse took what Bruce had filmed in 1972 and made a movie around it using new cast members. This included two stand ins, whose faces are never fully seen. Footage of Lee's actual funeral was used in the movie. I knew I had seen it! But it wasn't the film Lee planned on making.

The film was originally planned to be filmed at Beopjusa. SongniSan is one of my favourite places in South Korea. I went there, and Beopjusa, many times.  I loved the video link from YouTube GoPF provided. It was interesting to see how the movie was planned to be made . And the views it was supposed to represent, such as No Style v.s. Style.

It is a shame that Clouse made that mash up. I wish we could have seen the movie Lee wanted to make. Now I am going to have to have a Bruce Lee festival next weekend.

Gangster Movies

Koreans seem to love Gangster movies as much as we do in the West. The difference I have found is in the genre of movie. Most Korean gangster movies I have seen are comedies while most Western ones have been drama or action movies. Well, there was "Mickey Blue Eyes" but that piece of shit sucked big time. Most of the Korean gangster comedies have a lot of action in them.

The first Korean movie I watched was "My Wife is a Gangster". It was good. The action scenes were damn good. I had wanted to see Shiri or JSA but they were rented out. Which ended up being a good thing. It got me hooked on Korean gangster movies. :) I wasn't as impressed with the sequel and the third movie in the series actually had nothing to do with the first two. It did have one of my favourite Chinese actresses in it though, Shu Qi.

The next one I saw translated to "Kick the Moon". It took place in Kyeongju and was also good. Interesting storyline, the school tough guy becomes a teacher and the school brain/nerd becomes a gangster. They both fall for the same woman. Hilarity and a lot of violence ensues. ;)

There are lots more out there like "My Boss is my Hero" and the sequel "My Boss, My Student", "I Married the Mob" (which also had a sequel). If you are looking for a good comedy I highly recommend these films and most other Korean gangster comedies.

Korean Movies

For all our negative banter back and forth Anonymous, aka AnonyJohn, aka (Anonymous) John on Dave's site was right when he said there are some great Korean movies out there. I don't see as many now as I used to for some strange reason. ;)

The 1st Korean movie I ever watched was "My Wife Is A Gangster." Some of my adult students (University age) had recommended it to me. This was the start of a strange love affair I have had with Korean gangster comedies. It was hard to understand some of the jokes in it because my knowledge of Korean culture was so low at the time, not that I am an expert now. The fight scenes were great. I have gone backed and watched it a few times since then and still enjoy it.

The first Korean movie I saw in a theater was "Phone". I will leave out some of the stupidity that was encountered as this post is about the movies not the mookery. While I couldn't understand much of what was said I was still able to follow the movie. Overall, I really enjoyed it. The little girl scared the bejeesus out me with her scream. As soon as it was out on DVD I rented it and watched it again. It was even better than the 1st time.

I still watch the odd Korean movie, thanks to the internet, and even recommend some of them to friends here.

Asian Movie Website

If you are looking for Asian movies in torrent format try out Asia Torrents. They have a LOT of movies from all over Asia, recent as well as older ones. If you are like me and enjoy the old Shaw Brothers kung fu movies you will love the site. Most of the movies I got either had subtitles hard coded in the video or available as a separate download.

Shit Koreans Do... At The Theatre

I was at the movies today. I went to see the new "Harry Potter" film. I quite enjoy the books and the movies. I wasn't aware of Harry Potter until I went to Korea in 2000. I started to see stories on the news about kids lined up to buy each new book as it came out, and dismissed it as something that I was too old for.
But during my first year in Korea, I became desperate for things to read. I picked up the first Potter book and I never looked back.
Watching the latest film, I became aware of a family of mooks sitting behind me. The little girl asked questions about what was happening every five minutes, which her mom did her best to answer. Neither one of her parents asked her to be quiet, and her persistent whispering went on and on. The dad was not impressed with the film at all, and complained loudly as soon as the end credits started to roll. Things like "garbage" and "waste of time" and so on. The little girl seemed like she enjoyed the films; I wondered what she thought of what her dad had to say.
The rest of the audience was pretty well behaved. There weren't any other talkers and nobody fiddled with their cell phones at all. There were a couple of times when some kids left to go to the bathroom, but they returned to their seats with little hullabaloo.
How different from a Korean movie theatre!
The amount of mookish behaviour that goes in there has to be seen to be believed. People coming in late, people going in and out all through the film, kids running up and down the aisles, people talking, people talking/texting on their cell phones - it was no wonder Flint and I went to fewer and fewer films as time went by.
Once, when we went to see "Miami Vice," it was like we were surrounded by mooks who came to the movie expressly to talk to their friends on the phone. Silly Flint and I had actually come to see the film, and nothing else.
I was sitting next to a woman who just would not leave her phone alone. I finally leaned over and started yakking in her ear, "Who is it? Is is for me? If it's for me, I'll talk."
She shut the phone off, but she was not happy. Her big plan to get back at me was to wait until I took a swig from my drink, and then fill the cup holder on the armrest between us with her own bottle of water.
I chucked it on the floor.
She started chattering away at me, and I said something like, "I'm trying to watch the film!" I kept expecting her boyfriend to do something about me. What I didn't realize was that he had made a motion to put me in my place, but Flint had loomed up behind me. The boyfriend scuttled back into his seat like a turtle retreating into his shell.
There's nothing so frightening as Flint when he looms... or smiles.
Well, that was the "high point" of our theatre-going experience in the Land of Morning Calm and Afternoon Difficulty.
After Flint left Korea, I did go to a couple of movies with our mutual friend Spock, and whenever the usual mookish behaviour began, I took to throwing popcorn at the offending mook.
The look on their faces... still convulses me with howls of derisive laughter!

1958 Horror of Dracula

I just watched the 1958 Hammer horror film "Horror of Dracula."

When it starts off you expect it to follow the "Dracula" story written by Bram Stoker. If that is the story you want you will be disappointed. Quite early in it veers from that. Without divulging the whole story it has elements of the original story but a lot of artistic license is taken.

For example Harker's fiance is Lucy. And he goes to castle Dracula knowing what Dracula is. His goal from the first moment is to kill Dracula.

While it diverges from the original novel it is a good movie.

The acting is good. Christopher Lee makes a great Dracula. This is actually his first performance as Dracula and sets the bar for any future Dracula. Peter Cushing as van Helsing is damn good too.

As long as you don't expect the novel or the movie "Bram Stoker's Dracula"I recommend this movie. If you do you won't like it. The whole Lucy and her tomb take is different and interesting. All in all this is an interesting movie. It is an interesting version of a classic horror story.

Gran Torino

I love that movie. Clint Eastwood's character reminds me of my dad in many ways. The movie actually helped me understand my dad in some ways.

One of the scenes that made me laugh was when Thao was walking home reading a book and a Mexican gang starts harassing him. His cousin is riding with some of his Hmong gang and sees it. They pull up beside them and BOTH groups start yelling at each to go back to their own country. The inanity of it was just too funny. :)

I can't remember another movie that disgusted me (the racism), enlightened me, made me laugh, AND made me cry before.

Some of the quotes ... damn ... :)