James’ Top 5 films in 2006

Posted on December 24, 2006 by James

1. Invisible Waves: Otherworldly, quiescent, full of continuity errors and technical goofs, hardly anything happens, and it’s green – I love it.

2. The Host: Gets away with breaking the rules – shows us the monster in broad daylight, blurs the distinction between good and evil, and obliges us to accept incompetence and idiocy as a routine aspect of our lives.

3. Linda, Linda, Linda: Bae Do-na shows Korean actors working abroad how to avoid Jackie Chan … (read more)

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Mark-gor’s Top 5 films in 2006

Posted on December 24, 2006 by Mark Morrison

1. Exiled: Johnnie To’s best film since Running Out of Time, a superb and cyclical story driven by fine characters, set beautifully on Macau. The best black comedy heroic gangster-western of this or any year.

2. The Host: Big budget big monster Korean blockbuster totally delivered on the tsunami of its own hype with an unexpectedly intimate story of a small family versus a big problem.

3. Gankutsuo: Every time a new disc of this arrives we … (read more)

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Deni’s Top 5 films for 2006

Posted on December 24, 2006 by Deni

1. Gankutsuo: An exotic passion-play with a sci-fi twist; Albert is the perfect sacrificial victim and the Count is the perfect flawed monster. The classics never looked so good!

2. Election 2: And I thought Election was good! Louis Koo made me change my mind about him (good). And minced meat (bad).

3. Starfish Hotel: Dark and dreamlike, all its elements part of a deeper whole. Gorgeous and fascinating.

4. Hold up Down/Dead Run: … (read more)

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Wo Hu (Operation Undercover) (2006)

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Posted on December 18, 2006 by Eugene

Once more we find outselves at the shady underbelly of Hong Kong society with the Triads that inhabit them. The stalwarts of Eric Tsang, Francis Ng, Jordan Chan and Shawn Yu populate this world of crime and violence as once again Hong Kong produces another film about the neverending battle between the police and the triads.

In the most cynical of modes, this is no doubt a cash-in upon recent quality productions more deserving of the spotlight, but it nonetheless … (read more)

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Drunken Angel (1948)

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Posted on December 17, 2006 by James

This is one of my favourite Akira Kurosawa’s movies set in contemporaneous times – not a saumrai in sight, although Toshiro Mifune appears almost as animalistic and out of control here in his first collaboration with Kurosawa as he does in some of his most famous samurai roles (Rashomon, Seven Samurai, Throne of Blood, Yojimbo). He is not the drunkard of the movie’s translated title, however. The alcoholic is Takashi Shimura’s doctor, Sanada, whose contempt … (read more)

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Samurai 1: Musashi Miyamoto (1954)

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Posted on December 9, 2006 by Angus

Like all good reviewers I’m reviewing the first film (Samurai 1) after the second one (Samurai 2), don’t worry I did watch them in the right order.

This is the great first episode of the famous trilogy based on the life of Musashi Miyamoto, its star, everyone’s favourite screen samurai, Toshiro Mifune (well, mine at least).

Musashi really existed, but much like Wong Fei Hung in China his life has been mythologized and his story has … (read more)

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The Samurai (1962)

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Posted on December 9, 2006 by Deni

This 4th story arc of the 1960’s Senkoska Film Company television series, The Fuma Ninjas, is as you would probably expect it to be. Dubbed into English but disappointingly without the option of the original language and subtitles, it is still a moderately entertaining instalment of one of the most popular chambara (Japanese period action) shows ever to air in Japan. In this arc of the series, Shintaro (Koichi Ose), the charismatic and undefeatable samurai, almost takes a back … (read more)

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Samurai 2: Duel at Ichijoji Temple (1955)

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Posted on December 9, 2006 by Angus

A few years ago I decided to work my way through the classics of cinema. Many of them I really enjoyed, but there were some that were a bit of a struggle to sit through, at the end I would say that was a bit of a struggle, but it was a worthy film. The Samurai Trilogy was on my list but I hadn’t been able to get to it (partly because of the lack of availability, which has been … (read more)

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