Like us on Facebook!
Recent Reviews
- Godzilla Minus One (2023)
- Midnight (2021)
- Magnificent Warriors (1987)
- Odd Couple (1979)
- Three (2016)
- Dreadnaught (1981)
- Decision to Leave (2022)
- Once Upon a Time in China & America (1997)
- Bad Guy
- Dali & Cocky Prince
- A Korean Odyssey
- Special Delivery (2022)
- Hwarang
- My Girlfriend Is A Gumiho
- Strong Girl Bong Soon
Recent Articles
Elsewhere on the Web
Departures (Okuribito) (2008)
Every human culture has its own death ritual, and if most of us thought about it much, we probably never considered how something common to every human on the planet can be regarded so differently. Because death, as equalising as it is, is a very personal thing. It’s difficult to understand someone else’s grief, difficult to face it in others and difficult to deal with it within one’s self. So, for a film to treat the topic of death, grief … (read more)
Comments Off on Departures (Okuribito) (2008)
Love Collage aka Collage of Our Lives (2003)
Love Collage, otherwise known as Collage of Our Lives, is a surprising film in a lot of ways. Maybe it’s the title. One would expect something exceedingly sappy and romantic from a movie called Love Collage, where attractive, full-of-potential boy meets attractive, out-of reach girl, moons over her for a while until she finally realises how wonderful he really is, and they live happily ever after.
But actually, that’s what Love Collage isn’t; a love story. Rather … (read more)
Comments Off on Love Collage aka Collage of Our Lives (2003)
Push (2009)
You might think you’re seeing things, clicked on the wrong link, become a victim of the internet’s mysterious powers of redirection, but before you check your bookmarks and call your ISP, just let me say this: Push is possibly the most Cantonese film America has ever made. Surprised? I certainly was. I honestly wasn’t sure “it’s set in Hong Kong” was enough of a reason for me to go but I went, and actually, this is one film not so … (read more)
Comments Off on Push (2009)
Ichi (2008)
Zatoichi is a legendary blind masseur and sword master, a fictional character who has appeared in numerous Japanese movies and television shows. The original films starred Shintaro Katsu, and many of them have now become classics. In 2003, Takeshi Kitano gave his own interpretation of the character in Zatoichi, a hugely entertaining movie. And now, the Zatoichi legend lives on with Ichi, a ‘re-imagining’ of the Zatoichi tale that features a young swordswoman.
In ancient times, troupes of … (read more)
Comments Off on Ichi (2008)
Haeundae (2009)
Haeundae is this year’s enormous Korean film: a big-budget blockbuster, it sold more than ten million tickets domestically, the first film to do so since The Host a couple of years ago. It’s also apparently Korea’s first disaster film, and takes as its subject the idea of a megatsunami threatening Haeundae Beach, which sees millions of visitors a year.
The film follows several sets of characters living in Haeundae: there’s Man-sik (Sol Kyung-gu), a local who looks after Yeon-hee (Ha … (read more)
Comments Off on Haeundae (2009)
Baccano! (2007)
Sometimes you have to wonder if anime is getting just a little too clever for its own good. After all, its basic function is to entertain, and I’ll be the first to argue that being entertained should not necessarily preclude having to think. But Baccano!, based on an award-winning novella by Ryohgo Narita, is entertainment that not only demands thought, but seems to do almost everything in its power to make that as challenging an undertaking as possible.… (read more)
Comments Off on Baccano! (2007)
Sword of Alexander (2007)
Usually for the site I end up reviewing anime titles, however lately I’ve been branching out and I guess experimenting with other titles. 13: Game of Death was one such title. Imprint was another. With Sword of Alexander it feels a little like coming home to anime as the story, action and special effects all feel like it’s a live action adaptation of an anime or Manga. It’s not though. It’s based on a novel. I still believe it would … (read more)
Comments Off on Sword of Alexander (2007)
Crows Zero (2007)
‘Another round of violence has broken out at Suzuran Boys’ High School in Japan. The school has now been turned into a battlefield, and for its students, their peer groups have become armies and classmates are now comrades.‘ No, this is not the latest news headlines on Heroic News. It is actually the setting for Takashi Miike’s hit movie Crows Zero, also known as Crows: Episode 0.
Crows Zero tells the story of the students at … (read more)
Comments Off on Crows Zero (2007)