Public Enemy (2002)

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Posted on March 11, 2007 by James

There’s no mistaking it, director Kang Woo-suk excels in spraying testosterone, like John Woo’s bullets, all over the screen. Public Enemy is a brutal and quite bizarre mix of audience-pleasing suspense, violence and laughs.

If he were just a bad-mouthing, savage maniac, Seol’s cop would be a sort of Dirty Harry, but one that hadn’t showered and shaved in a month. As it stands, he’s also something of an underdog, unkindly pursued by the DA and internal affairs for his … (read more)

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Psycho Diver (1997)

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Posted on March 11, 2007 by Andy

When I saw the DVD case for Psycho Diver my expectations were set. Its stylish combination of black, blue greys and greens immediately evoked an emotive mood of a fluid subconscious. The box stills of bloodied bandages, a cadaver-colored body and a knife-wielding woman – read sex and death – reinforced the notion of mental fragmentation. I was there. I wanted to see Bosujima, the Psycho Diver, tramping around in somebody’s subconscious encountering all kinds of disturbing imagery. If … (read more)

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The Protector (1985, Jackie Chan)

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Posted on March 11, 2007 by Alison

Don’t watch this film. Really. If you do, I may have to come around and slap you silly.

First, the plot: my garden furniture could do better. That probably goes for a lot of the acting as well. Add in racism, sexism, an overwhelming sense of anti-humour (that cancels out, ohhh, years of humorous things), crap action choreography, filming apparently cunningly designed to miss every single bit of action in the fight scenes, some ridiculous caricatures, and a complete wastage … (read more)

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Project A (1983)

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Posted on March 11, 2007 by Justin

Project A, made in 1983, marked Jackie Chan’s return to the Hong Kong film industry after his first attempt to crack the American film market (resulting in Battle Creek Brawl and a cameo in Cannonball Run). It reunited the three opera school brothers — Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao — in a huge period comedy with a very liberal dose of action scenes, and earned a ridiculous amount of money at the HK box office at … (read more)

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Porco Rosso (1992)

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Posted on March 11, 2007 by Ching Yee

Yes, I know what you’re thinking, is this yet another review that waxes lyrical about the genius of Hayao Miyazaki?
Well, guess what, you win a million dollars!
Well, you would if I had the money in the first place!

But how could I not? Porco Rosso is one of my favourite Miyazaki films and worth every damn cent you didn’t get from me. A spirited film that surprises and fills you with a sense of elation each time you … (read more)

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Planetes (2003)

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Posted on March 11, 2007 by Andy

Science Fiction tends to portray the future in one of two ways: there’s the idealized, hang-the-expense future where doors are automatic and cars float. Alternatively, there are the dystopic or apocalyptic visions where humanity has slipped on the razor’s edge on which it is so precariously balanced into destroying itself and its environment – often over something as trivial as the best ways to get cars to hover.

Planetes eschews these approaches. Instead it presents a perfectly possible future where … (read more)

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Perfect Blue (1998)

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Posted on March 11, 2007 by Mark Morrison

A hallucinogenic animated thriller about a pop idol who changes careers to acting. She goes from tiny roles to demeaning roles, and then things get stranger.

The film explores the whole idol phenomenon – who are you, a person or the public’s idea of a person? What happens when you want to become your real self?

The plot is intricately enmeshed with that of the soap opera being filmed within the film. Throw in a few layered dream sequences and … (read more)

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Peacemaker (2003)

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Posted on March 11, 2007 by Deni

It might seem like something of an oxymoron calling a series about the Shinsengumi — Japan’s most infamous police force — Peacemaker. If you’ve seen any of the Samurai X OAVs or the Rurouni Kenshin TV series, you’ll already be familiar with — at least in vague, creatively licensed terms — the main players in this well known period in Japanese history. During the death-throes of a two hundred year-long period of isolation for Japan from the outside world, … (read more)

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