What did you just watch (live action)?

Chocolate

The fight choreography was excellent, the best I've seen in awhile. It was over the top, yet done so well that it was believable. The special features are great to watch. They even have some during the credits. Definitley watch the credits. You wouldn't believe what some of the actors had to go through to film this. Strangely enough; the excellent action is combined with an excellent storyline. More often than not, these two facets don't ride tandem. Yanin "Jeeja" Vismistananda was awesome as the autistic savant Zen. Watching her mimic some of martial art's greatest was a real treat.

Mushi-Shi The Movie

This one was a real mind bender. I think more will be cleared up for me when I watch the anime series. The cinematography was gorgeous. What a cool color palette. There were a lot of muted colors. That leads me to say that it's reminiscent of Tim Burton's work, but Mushi-Shi is it's own beast. I believe that Mushi-Shi used some sort of distinctive filming technique. Blemishes in the film could be seen occasionally, harkening back to the films of yore. It really lent to the overall feel of the film. I'm under the assumption they were put in there purposefully. The Mushi themselves were very well done. Nothing felt out of place. Kudos to the special effects team. My favorite were Tanyu's "characters".

I rewatched House Of The Flying Daggers yesterday. It was good to see it again as I hadn't watched it in quite some time, love the beauty song(that is what the DVD scene is titled anyway, don't know the real title of it) in it.

I've never seen HOFD, but was very tempted when it was initially released. Would you recommend it to a fan of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and Hero?

Yes, I would recommend it to someone who is a fan of those two films. Out of those two I find it has more in common with CTHD, but is more story driven. So if you are looking for a lot of action like in Hero and CTHD then you might be a little disappointed.

I'm watching the k-drama "My Wife is a Superwoman." I picked it randomly but it's really good. It's a story about coporate lifestyle and the backstabbing that comes with it. K-drama's are so good at pitting people against each other. I recognized Yoon Sang-hyeon from My Fair Lady (RS listing). He plays a real bastard this time. Anyways, the title come from a wife who's willing to do anything to help her husband succeed at a Fortune 500 company. She wasn't a very nice person in the past and now her bad karma is making life difficult for her and her husband.

I'm watching the best live action comedy ever.Downtown no Gaki no Tsukai, im rewatching the hospital batsu game and trying to finish the spy batsu game. pretty much i'm watching lots of random stuff by them.

And if you haven't watched there stuff, go right now WATCH IT. start with the older stuff first you can find a list of it on wikipedia.

I'm up to episode 11 of the kdrama Couple or Trouble. It's supposed to be based on a hollywood movie, Overboard, which I never saw (I'm not a fan of Goldie Hawn). The show is good but lacks the tension between characters which makes romantic comedies great.

Watching the k-drama Fireworks. I think it's listed as a romance comedy but it's more serious romance. Yes, another absurdly improbable love triangle/pentagon/etc. The translation is a bit weird. Men and women are calling each other "fellow" in a sort of derogatory way. They also use the word "aigoo" a lot leaving it untranslated. Up to episode 17. Yeah, I'm hooked.

Godzilla Vs Biollante (on VHS) just cause it's been awhile since I watched it.
Really Biollante does not do much to Godzilla & it's pretty much the Military that actually beat Godzilla (which does not happen too often).

BTW there is a glimmer of hope for this 20 plus year old movie to finally get on Blu-Ray & DVD before the end of 2012. Miramax & Echo Bridge are working on it.

There is also a very slim chance the other Godzilla movie, Godzilla 1985 which is still only on VHS (in the USA) might get a DVD as well.
Echo Bridge employee on Toho Kingdom boards has said that since Anchor Bay had the license at one time, they might be able to get it cheap.
Hopefully that's a go for it!

With the hype for Pacific Rim & Legendary Pictures Godzilla (most likely in 2014) they would be silly not to get a bunch of new DVDs & Blu-Rays ready for Godzilla. Hopefully including non-flipper versions of several of the '90s Godzilla movies (some of which were full-screen), and a version of Godzilla 2000 that does have the Japanese version on it (the only version they have is dub only). Plus it would be nice to get the Japanese version of King Kong Vs Godzilla (but I am not holding my breath).

Verus Ultimate Edition

... ... ... WTF!

Did you not love it..?

Oh, hells yeah! I was just like: "WTF!" I tried not to wrap my head around it too much, and just sat back and enjoyed the ride.

Godzilla Vs Megalon, still super cheesy, super silly, and just plain fun.
They finally let us know (via subs) what the heck the guy was singing in the infamous "Jet Jaguar" song at the end.

Looks pretty good, sounds great (finally stereo), and despite the obvious stock footage from other Godzilla movies it holds up pretty decent.

The funniest part is when Godzilla does what I call "the dropkick of doom" twice. He literally flys feet first about 30' and kicks Megalon while Jet Jaguar is holding him.

Overall I am very glad that Media Blasters at least got to put out the movie on DVD. Even if they don't get to go back & add a bunch of special features it's worth the effort. Though still not sure why it took Toho so darn long to let them release this, since it was supposed to come out in late November/December of last year...

Finished up City Hunter Not a bad series with a few twists along the way.

Sophie's Revenge

This was pretty much just a spur of the moment watch as I seen Zhang Ziyi was in it she plays Sophie. It is a romantic comedy, so it was a little weird seeing her play a comedy character as even in other comedies she is in you don't really see any of the comedy coming from her.

It plays out like a normal revenge romantic comedy, but with a nice little twist at the end. I didn't see it totally coming so that was nice little surprised. If you are a fan of Korean Romantic Comedies I would give it a shot. If you aren't you may want to stay away from it.

Finished up a rewatch of Country Princess recently. Still enjoy that one each time i see it.

Just started getting into Prosecuter Princess. So far it's been pretty good. A nice mix of comedy and drama.

I just watched one of the most hilariously bad movies I have ever seen. I had seen it once before but at that time I had a bit too much to drink and fell asleep so I didn't remember anything specific about it. When I saw it available cheap on Amazon I threw it on another order to get free shipping.

The title of this cinematic treasure is Super Infra-Man (released as Infra-Man in the US), and it comes to us courtesy of the Shaw Brothers of Hong Kong. Apparently Ultra-Man was very successful in Hong Kong so they figured they could mix it up with Kung Fu and get...a spastic train wreck of a movie. Toss in a bizarre English dub that renames all the characters for no reason, makes the film make even less sense than it already did (my copy has the original Mandarin version as well) and, in one scene, actually forgets to dub several lines of dialog.

The film begins with a family driving along who suddenly see a monster. They stop, the monster disappears, then a huge crack appears in the road and swallows the car with Dad in it (Mom and the kids get out). Next we get a scene with people running around some cardboard buildings which are on fire. These two scenes are meant to represent that monsters are attacking all over the world and killing millions. Professor Cheng (Liu in the Chinese version) arrives at the Science Center to find a throng of reporters asking him what's going on; having no answers, he blows them off and goes inside, where he receives a transmission from the evil Princess Dragon Mom (Elzebub in the Chinese), who demands (surprise!) that mankind surrender. When she is refused, she, her flabby assistant SheDemon (WitchEye), a bunch of expendable minions in skeleton suits (called "skeletons" in the original, called "hey you" in the dub) and some mutant monsters (who have names in the original but are also just referred to as "you" in the dub, even though the original US version had a scene in the credits giving them all new names) attack the Science Center where the Professor is operating on Rei Ma to turn him into Infra-man, because only a superhero can save the earth now.

According to the Wikipedia page on this crap, several prominent critics gave this good reviews, which boggles my mind. Don't get me wrong, the movie is entertaining if, like me, you like bad films (or if you're a five-year-old). Some Japanese companies helped with sets and costumes. I will say, most of the sets are pretty good. The costumes are another matter, particularly the ones for the monsters, which would embarass a fifth-grader going trick-or-treating. There are also some incredibly stupid things in this movie. For example, early on the bad guys capture one of the Science Center guys and brainwash him, then send him back. Based on his behavior he could have a sign on his chest saying "I've been brainwashed" but even though Rei Ma is suspicious and someone is told to watch him, he is allowed to move freely about so he can steal the plans for Infra-Man. Man, even Killers From Space* wasn't that stupid. Then there's the sound effects. Whenever there's a fight scene, the punches and karate chops are made to sound like car doors slamming-even when they don't land. There were scenes where I actually wondered if the foley guys were watching the film when they did their work. The special effects are lame as well. Every time Rei Ma transforms, he suddenly seems to teleport to where he stands in front of a blue backdrop. I actually wonder if they intended to use a blue-screen process then forgot to finish it by matting in the proper background. After this we get a shot of Infra-Man lying on a (clearly visible) glass table to simulate flight, even though he has nowhere to go as the enemy is right in front of him. He also has a number of super powers with varying degrees of silliness. The one I like is his special kick move, which he has to charge up by doing (at least three) back flips. Then rockets shoot out of his heels, but instead of sending him flying backwards as the laws of physics would indicate, he flies toward his enemy and blows them up. One of the great moments in the English dub-a Moment of Zen, if you will-is where the Professor tells Rei Ma he will give Infra-Man Thunder Ball Fists; Rei Ma replies "I can have such a thing?".

Needless to say, good triumphs over evil in the end, but not before one final bit of stupidity from Our Hero. Facing the evil Dragon Mom in her Dragon form (another silly costume), Infra-Man uses the Deadly Light Blades installed in his Flashing Thunder Fists to cut her head off, only to have it grow back. So he cuts it off again, and it grows back again, and again...five times he has to do this before he gets the drift and uses his Thunder Ball Fists (come on, do you think they would make a big deal about them and not use them?).

If you like movies that are insanely bad, then you should definitely check this one out. The DVD also includes a metric ton of trailers; unfortunately, most are in Chinese with no subtitles. There is also an interview with the director but that is a .pdf and you'll need to stick the disc in your computer to read it.

*In Killers From Space a nuclear scientist dies in a plane crash and is resurrected and brainwashed by aliens. When he shows up at the base with no memory and a scar on his chest, he is first confined to the hospital and then sent home, as he is regarded as a security risk. Mind you, this does not stop him from stealing the data, but at least they try (if you've never seen this piece of cowflop, know that it is one of the worst sci-fi movies ever-if you must see for yourself I recommend the Film Crew version).

Excellent review oldcharlie55.

I agree with kiku. That was a great review. It's movies like those that makes me wish MST3K was still around.

I remember when that show first started. I used to sit up till the wee hours of the morning watching it.

I recently watched the K-Horror film "Bestseller" on Amazon Instant video. It was pretty standard Asian horror in my book with a few twists thrown in to keep it from being completely predictable. Quite honestly I'm surprised no one has decided to remake this in America. Not because it was good, but because it fits into the genre the way everything else they've remade so far has.

America has really gone more to the gory side since the days of The Ring being a big hit in America. I doubt such a title would do any where as good now a days.

I follow the horror/gore scene closely so I know enough to know that "torture porn" will go in and out. Found footage is still fairly strong at the moment but is probably on its way out. Plus with all the violence in the media lately I wouldn't be surprised if the PG-13 horror stuff would become more prominent in theaters soon.

I still stand by the opinion that the American Ring film is far more entertaining than the Japanese original (which I find to be quite dull).
On the flip side, I really enjoyed the original Dark Water and can't give a sh** about the remake.

What did you think about the remake of The Grudge?

I like Sam Raimi, so I can find elements to appreciate,.. But I generally don't have a strong opinion of any sort with it.

Yeah. I mainly went to see it at the theater because it marked Raimi's return to the horror genre. But it didn't really leave much of an impression other than making me want to watch the Evil Dead trilogy again.

Speaking of which, tomorrow is the release of Evil Dead remake!

I know. So awesome. They would never get away with doing a remake of Dead Alive the unrated version though. Or Peter Jackson's other early NZ titles like Bad Taste and Meet the Feebles.
To be honest, I was worried about the remake until I saw they had Bruce Campbell's seal of approval. I still haven't lived down the utter crap that Cabin in the Woods was.

Just finished RightStuf live action label's "Finding Mr. Destiny"

It is your normal Korean Romantic Comedy. It was enjoyable and had all the things you expect from the genre even down to the ending. If you are a fan of this type of film then I would at least give it a watch.

Good to see 5 Point filling in the Korean film gap.

Sevi: Meet The Feebles: Do we even want a remake of this? Haha. Not a bad film to introduce people for the wacky factor, but I think it pretty much did what it set to to do the first time around. That said, I certainly wouldn't mind a BD release of any of Peter Jackson's classics.
Dead Alive is absolutely a zombie favorite. It just gets everything right.
Bad Taste, much like Meet The Feebles, I like to thing is better served for having the goofy rubber prosthetic masks & backyard special effects. All, in my opinion, were quite impressive, given the assumed budget & experience on hand.

Most recent watch for me was House. A very goofy/silly Japanese horror/comedy that is simply utterly insane. Be careful of the trailer, it has just the slightest bit of nudity.


You will either enjoy the movie for being wild & crazy weird or you will find it to be a horrid & stupid mess. If you like the concept of a silly horror film, enjoy the trailer, but want something a bit more promising: I 100% recommend and hold in very high regard Takashi Miike's Happiness of the Katakuris.

I think I just blew a fuse! I don't know which one of those vids blew my mind more.

Detroit Metal City

Go to DMC! Go to DMC! Suffice it to say, it was a real treat to see the transfer to live action. What a riot. They did a surprisingly good job. Kenichi Matsuyama was outstanding. His duel with Gene Simmons has to be seen to be believed.