twenty four seven

let's get ready to rumble...



the film that brought shane meadows into the spotlight as someone to watch. for some reason i've only just got round to watching this, even though his next film, 'a room for romeo brass', has been one of my favourites for quite a while.

the film tells the story of darcy (bob hoskins), a man in his fifties who starts a boxing club to get some of the local lads, in his small industrial town, off the streets. the film avoids the easy cliches, is packed with great dialogue and filled with a great cast of meadows' usuals, a few of soap opera's best and a host of unknowns.

great stuff...

the dvd is £5.99 from play.com

20 : 30 : 40

three coins in a fountain...



xiao jie (anglica lee) is in her twenties, she's just arrived in taipei, dreaming of being a popstar and she's paired off with tong (kate yeung), by producer shi ge (anthony wong). the two soon become friends...

xiang xiang (rene lui) is an air hostess in her thirties, she travels constantly, but always has a choice of suitors upon her return to taiwan. lately, she's become sick of this lifestyle and now wants stability and love...

lily shi (sylvia chang) is a florist, she's in her forties, recently divorced and finding that life on the singles circuit isn't as simple as you'd think...

with sylvia chang in the director's chair and the three leads all having contributed to the original story; the film is fun, sweet, sad and very watchable indeed. the three stories cross each other's path every now and again, but just in passing. the film ambles along and simply allows itself the time it needs to tell it's story.

good stuff.

the dvd is hk$49 from buyoyo.com

trapped in the closet (chapter 1-12)

i think i may have just hurt myself...



after seeing a couple of selected highlights on charlie brooker's, excellent, 'screen wipe', i had no choice but to rush out and order r kelly's 'trapped in the closet'...

'trapped in the closet' is r kelly's hip-hopera; a strange amalgam of r'n'b video, opera, music theatre and soap opera. the twelve chapters tell of one crazy morning in the life of sylvester (kelly) and his lover and her husband and his lover, not forgetting, his wife and her lover and his lover and her lover...

i have just finished watching this and my my did i laugh. having read the blurb, watched the behind the scenes footage and most of kelly's commentary, i can confirm that this is one of the most unintentionally hilarious things that anyone, anywhere, has ever created. kelly seems to be entirely oblivious to the absolute hilarity of what he has created. his main concern, during the commentary, is to keep pointing out that everything rhymes, he claims to be not quite sure how this happened and even suggests that people may not even realise this is so, simply because they're so hooked into the story.

the man is delusional. i'm also pretty sure that he's claiming that he's a genius. if he'd intended it to be this funny, then he would've been a genius and, as i read someone else say; i'm not sure i could live with the fact that r kelly is one of the greatest geniuses of comedy, the world has ever seen...

"he walks up to the closet
he comes up to the closet
now he's at the closet
now he's opening the closet..."

genius...

the dvd is $13.17 from dvdpacific.com

legend of the mountain

wine, sutras and drumming...



this is the fourth film i've watched, from legendary director, king hu. 'come drink with me' was pretty good, 'dragon inn' was better and 'a touch of zen' is a masterpiece; i'd probably place 'legend of the mountain' somewhere between 'dragon inn' and 'a touch of zen'. that's very good...

shih jun, a king hu regular, plays a scholar named ho, who's been charged with translating an ancient sutra. to undertake the translation, ho travels to a deserted fortress, where he can concentrate on his work. this doesn't exactly work out as ho soon becomes embroiled in the mysterious atmosphere of the fort and it's residents...

now, this film is all about the atmosphere and king hu creates it in spades; the soundtrack, sets, cinematography and scenery all add so much to the film. i'd love to have seen this at the cinema when it first came out, i imagine it would have had an even bigger impact.

great stuff...

the dvd is hk$54 from buyoyo.com

chihwaseon

wine, women and painting...



the ninety-eighth feature from one of korea's most lauded directors; im kwon-taek, tells the story of jang seung-up, played with the intensity you'd expect from choi min-sik. the film is a beautifully crafted production; the cinematography, music, direction and performances are all excellent.

the film attempts to cover over fifty years of an extremely turbulent time in korea's history: from the crumbling of the choseun dynasty to the peasant's revolt. this it does with mixed success, although it does provide both a backdrop to jang's life and a constantly shifting set of pressures. jang was a commoner, who's painting won great acclaim, even if he never sought it; his advancement as an artist, women and wine were his only pleasures and desires.

the film has been criticised for it's coldness, but i'd disagree and praise it's distinct lack of melodrama. it is both engaging and inspiring.

the cheap thai dvd is $7.50 from ethaicd.com

land of the dead

quadrilogy of the dead...



well, it's just about better than 'day of the dead' and that's about as good as it gets. romero adds a new postscript to his 'dead' series, with the tale of a fenced off community, where the rich and corrupt live in an escapist fantasy and the common man is condemned to live in slums. things take a turn for the worse when zombies start to get smart...

some nice touches, a couple of less nice touches and show stealing performance from robert joy, even though he just seems to be doing an impression of that bloke from 'everybody loves raymond'. this isn't a bad thing, especially when simon baker looks a little too much like jamie oliver to like...

reasonable.

the dvd is £7.99 from play.com

cannibal holocaust

ban this sick filth!!!



ruggero deodato's 'cannibal holocaust' is a notorious piece of cinema; it's been banned in over a dozen countries and heavily cut, where it hasn't. despite having seen many 'video nasties', i'd never seen it; i was aware that there was some kind of documentary / found footage element to the film and i'd seen the image of the girl on the spike, that was it.

now, as a nice 25th anniversary set has emerged, i thought i'd let my curiosity get the better of me and give it a watch. i have to say, whilst sitting down to watch it, i was feeling quite tense in anticipation of what i was about to watch.

so, what's it about? an anthropologist (robert kerman)from a new york university is given the task of travelling to south america. here, he must trace the route taken by a four person film crew, into the amazon jungle, in an attempt to document cannibal tribes. with his two guides, he makes good progress and has some of the harsh realities, of this different world, exposed to him. eventually, they locate a tribe who have the film canisters of the now dead crew. the second half of the film traces the journey of the film crew, through viewings of the found footage...

"today people want sensationalism; the more you rape their senses the happier they are."

now, this is a quote from a tv executive, who wants to air the footage on television. it's also a very handy thought to have in your mind when watching the film, both for what you are experiencing and the motivation of deodato. 'mondo cane' and it's follow ups (filmed between 1962 and 1971) are collections of footage from africa, which include eccentric, bizarre and disturbing material. these films are genuinely exploitative and contain both real and faked footage.

so, deodato sets out to make a film that combines spectacle and criticism; although viewing the film, along with the legend that accompanies it, makes you question whether deodato has succeeded in his expressing his criticism, or succumbed to delivering spectacle. i'd go with the former, but would find it hard to deny that the later does rear it's very ugly head.

you definitely sympathise with the anthropologist; without being overtly pc (or the 1980 equivalent), he expresses the disgust of the viewer and is intoxicated by the the amazon, without condemning the societies that exist there. on the other side of the coin, the film crew are vile and go beyond the manufacture of spectacle, indulging in rape and murder. you may think that this all sounds fine, in terms of deodato's motivation; it's the inclusion of scenes involving animals that are questionable to say the least.

on the whole, despite the difficulty in watching some scenes, i was willing to go with the director on this one. just...

the film itself, is gound-breaking, in terms of it's structure and the devices it uses. the special effects are pretty damn good, showing just the right amount and leaving just the right amount to your imagination; the girl on the spike will always remain an iconic image of cinema. oh, and riz ortolani's soundtrack is fantastic.

grindhouse have made done an excellent job with this dvd. the first disc has the film, available with commentary or a version that edits out the animal cruelty. the second disc has a very interesting documentary and excellent interviews with kerman and gabriel yorke (the leader of the film's film crew); one of the italian stars seems to have no idea what the film is about, kerman talks of his arguments with deodato and yorke tells of his bizarre casting, his trip to colombia and his uncertainty about whether it was actually a snuff film. i'm looking forward to the deodato / kerman commentary.

the dvd is $17.07 from dvdpacific.com

double trouble

almost, but not quite family fare...



eric tsang directs this slightly odd comedy. john shum is yau; he's also merlin the magician, but that's slightly less important. bun bun (sui bun bun, that big eyed kid from 'magic crystal') is an orphan, who likes sneaking away from the orphanage and getting up to mischief. one day, he stumbles across merlin the magician's act and witnesses his assistant (sylvia chang) stealing from an audience member; he tries to get a cut from her, she's having none of it and bun bun calls the police.

the assistant is merlin's, or should i say yau's, sister, who's been running up some huge gambling debts and ends up in jail after. yau attempts to rob a pawn shop to pay off her debts, now the collectors are knocking on his door. unfortunately things go wrong and he ends up running away from the police. by coincidence, he runs into bun bun; who helps him escape, in return for taking him in. so starts a strange relationship and a mini crime spree...

this is quite an odd premise for a film; but it kind of works in the usual way that hong kong cinema manages to pull off more unconventional plot arcs. it's pretty funny at times, it's also moving in places and there's something about john shum, that makes yau very likeable.

the dvd is hk$70 at buyoyo.com

duelist

swords, dance, romance...



'duelist' marks the return of lee myung-se after six years away, following 'nowhere to hide'; a film which people loved for it's unconventional approach to it's genre, it's humour and it's visual stylisation. these, however, seem to be the reasons that a lot of people seem to hate 'duelist'...

the film tells the story of a small group of police who are investigating an influx of forged coins into the economy. namsoon (ha ji-won) and ahn (ahn sung-kee) begin tracking sad eyes (kang dong-won), a mysterious assassin; but when namsoon and sad eyes meet, they find that they are strangely attracted to each other...

now, i thought this was great. the story, based on a manga, has been stripped down to highlight the characters and relationship of namsoon and sad eyes; two opposites, who find themselves drawn to each other. the two clash on a couple of occasions and the ultra-stylisation of their fighting is more like dance, than swordplay. the visuals of the film are, on the whole, truly stunning.

now, the humour of the film, which seems to have drawn a lot of criticism, worked well for me: it was a strange combination of quirky korean comedy and that which you'd expect to find in older hong kong comedies. as i'm a fan of both, this was a nice little twist.

ahn sung-kee never lets you down and ha ji-won is great as the highly strung and impetuous young police detective. the visual choreography and editing are a joy to watch and the set / costume design are quite beautiful. nice soundtrack too. the film has such a sense of style, of fun and beauty; i find myself sitting here, wanting to watch it again...

great stuff...

the dvd is hk$52 from buyoyo.com

stoner

this could have been one of the biggest asian films ever...



picture the scene; it's 1973, 'enter the dragon' has just been completed, bruce lee is at his peak. sonny chiba had just finished filming 'the street fighter' and it is four years since george lazenby starred as james bond in 'o.h.m.s.s.'.

lee and lazenby have just signed the contract to star together in a film that is set to have the biggest budget of any asian production, chiba is en route from japan, ready to add his signature to the project. the film is 'the shrine of ultimate bliss', the tag-line is "it's lee, it's lazenby, it's bruce versus bond".

as chiba's plane is coming in to land, it is announced that bruce lee has died. chiba returns to japan, unwilling to participate in the project without lee. lazenby has no option (and probably no other work lined up), so he continues with the project; the budget is cut, the story is changed and the film is now to be titled 'stoner'.

lazenby is stoner, an australian cop who's been working on breaking up a drug-ring in sydney; he's gotten too close to them and they've lured his girlfriend into their world and killed her with an overdose of 'happy pills'. he sets off to hong kong for revenge. meanwhile, in taiwan li shao hu (angela mao), a cop, is being sent to investigate the drug-ring after they've been using taiwanese boats to smuggle their wares. the two arrive in hong kong and track the drug-ring to a local temple; running in to various henchmen, led by sammo hung, along the way.

the version i watched was sourced from the us vhs and fully dubbed into english. apparently, the hong kong version has a mixed english / cantonese soundtrack and 15-25 minutes extra footage; including more angela mao, extended fight sequences, some more nudity and a sammo sex-scene...

the film itself is fairly decent, but it was only given a hong kong release, not the worldwide release that it would have received, had lee not died. it's a sleazy, psychedelic exploitation flick, with some kung-fu action thrown in for good measure. lazenby actually looks pretty good, sammo does some good work and angela mao is on pretty good form.

ideally, i'd like to see a nice dvd of the hong kong print appear, but i'm not sure that'll ever happen. still, it's definitely an interesting curio...

unofficial dvds can be picked up on ebay

the king and the clown

who's a pretty boy then...



this year's surprise hit in korea; topping the box office with over 12 million tickets sold. the story of two clowns; one, androgynous, sensitive and softly spoken(gong gil - played by lee jun gi) , the other, tough, ambitious and out-spoken (jang saeng - played by gam woo sung). the pair flee from a small time rural troupe, who's boss is pimping out to interested men to boost their takings.

the pair flee to seoul where they team up with another small time company, who they persuade to satirise the king. in doing so, they win popularity, but soon get into trouble with the authorities. they petition their captors to allow them to perform for the king; after all, if he is amused by their act, it can't be that bad...

the clowns become a hit with the king, but this king is a loose cannon who is stifled by his ministers and disliked by the nation. as the favour of the clowns grows, they become entangled in the affairs of the palace and almost puppets of the king. meanwhile, the relationship between gong gil and the rest of the minstrels becomes strained as he becomes a favourite of the king, who is clearly enamoured.

as tension grows between the king, the ministers, his courtesan, the clowns and gong gil, the situation seems to be spiralling out of control and something will have to give as gong gil becomes more distant from jang saeng and the king descends into madness; whilst the ministers become increasingly disillusioned with the actions of the king and his relationship with the clowns. the king is based on a famously unhinged and notorious king who wielded his power with little reasoning.

the original korean title translates as 'the king's man'; a reference to the homo-eroticism which underlies both of gong gil's relationships: with the king and jang saeng. the film has been credited with ushering in a new tolerance for homosexuality, something that is still held as being taboo in a largely confucian society.

i thought this was fantastic; like the excellent 'memories of murder' and 'welcome to dongmakgol', a local play has been turned into a finely crafted piece of outstanding cinema. all the performances in the film are nigh on flawless; the comedy and drama are mixed effortlessly, provoking laughter, creating tension and even a slight welling in the eyes towards he film's climax.

highly recommended, as is the beautiful special edition dvd; three discs - 'theatrical cut', 'extended cut' and special features - plus the soundtrack cd, photo album and postcards...

available for $35.99 at dvdfromkorea.com

her fatal ways

better than expected...



now, this was surprisingly good fun. essentially it's a fish out of water / opposites attract cop movie. carol cheng escorts a fugitive / witness from the mainland to hong kong, where she hands him over to (big) tony leung, a hong kong cop. when the witness escapes cheng and leung head after him, together...

sure, it's a little dated, sure it's packed full with stereotypes, but it's also got quite a sweet quality to it, carol cheng is ace, tony leung rarely lets you down and alfred cheung seems a lot less annoying than i remember. all in all, an enjoyable little film...

i was also amused to learn that "dandan noodles" exist...

the dvd is hk$27 at buyoyo.com

alien : resurrection

back, once again...



after ripley died in the final scene of 'alien 3', it was always going to be tricky to bring her back in any credible form for this film. still, jean-pierre jeunet makes it as plausible as possible; this ripley is the eighth attempted clone, made from blood samples she'd left behind. i like this ripley, she's a human / alien hybrid, with a bit of an attitude; played with relish, once again, by sigourney weaver.

the film takes place in an outer space research facility, where genetics experts are attempting to clone the aliens; for research into their immune systems and as possible slaves. the man leading the research facility has 'employed' a band of space pirates to bring them humans, who they can impregnate with aliens. amongst the pirates is annalee (winona ryder), a terrorist who is set on destroying the aliens, before things get, inevitably, out of hand.

she fails and the remnants of the research facility staff and the pirates are left to fight against the aliens...

now, this film is pretty much tacked on to the end of a trilogy that had run it's course, but, as i said before, jeunet makes a pretty good stab at making it credible. in a way, he succeeds; the film manages to graft itself on to the end of the trilogy and entertains, even if it does ask the audience to take a bit of a leap of faith.

jeunet's visual flair, direction and the help of his usual entourage (including ron perlman and dominique pinon), plus weaver and ryder, make this very watchable.

as good as you could expect it to be.

the dvd is part of the 'alien quadrilogy' box-set, available for a very reasonable £16.99 from play.vom

operation billionaires

a bit of a mess...



based on the true story of hong kong kidnapper cheung tze-keung, despite the disclaimer at the beginning of the film; his role goes to simon yam and his name gets changed to cheung chi-ho.

cheung is an affluent, nice guy (he loves his mum), kidnapper who abducts the children of wealthy business men. things are pretty simple for cheung; his kidnappings go smoothly, no-one gets hurt and he gets his cash. the victims seem uninterested in the hassle of pressing charges, but the police are still annoyed with cheung, as he's pulled the wool over their eyes one too many times.

cheung befriends cyclone (berg ng), a bit of a psycho, but a gangster who bonds with the amiable cheung. the pair become partners, but things go awry when cheung's right-hand man, slut hung (patrick tam), gets caught having sex with cyclone's right-hand man's girlfriend (sherming yiu).

now, this film is only just 80 minutes long, everything just seems to be getting ready to kick-off, but it all just kinda fizzles out. it seems to want to include some sex and violence, but it remains quite restrained; a bad idea in hindsight. it's watchable, but not particularly great.

a damp squib...

the dvd is hk$19 from buyoyo.com

days of being little kings

summer in a small town...



now, i bought this as it was ultra-cheap and the title 'days of being little things' intrigued me. i soon discovered i'd misread the title and it was 'days of being little kings'...

if i was being cruel; i'd probably say that this film looks as if it could've been shot and edited entirely on a mobile phone. if i'm being less cruel; i'd describe it as lo-fi film making - there's dust and dirt on the camera lens and it was probably shot on a bog standard digital camcorder. oh, and when the kids scream, the sound breaks up really badly. but hey, i guess there's not much money around for indie film-makers in china.

now, it takes you about fifteen minutes to get over the absolute cheapness of the film and the way that the kids are clearly not actors (the majority of the 'extras' spend all their screen time staring directly at the camera), then you may begin to enjoy this.

the film is a string of childhood memories, all from the summer before school started. two brothers and their sister play, have fun, fight and generally do things that kids do in small, rural villages, in mainland china. for that reason alone, it's interesting.

relatively enjoyable, in the end, but hard work in the beginning.

the dvd is hk$22 at buyoyo.com

the legend of wisely

monks, thieves, triads and aliens?



'the legend of wisely' came out on the same day as 'armour of god' and had a theatrical run, that lasted only a week less. both have a similar feel, but 'the legend of wisely' has more of a fantasy element, isn't as good and has sam hui (playing wisely) instead of jackie. that isn't to say that it isn't good though; who doesn't want to see hong kong, nepal and egypt hosting battles between monks and triads?

david (teddy robin, also the director) tricks wisely into helping him steal the mysterious and magical dragon pearl from a group of monks. david then dumps wisely and runs off to the triads with the pearl, before being taken by the mysterious howard hope (bruce baron). luckily wisely doesn't bear a grudge and teams up with sue (joey wong) to go rescue, both david and the dragon pearl...

this is pretty enjoyable stuff, just the right mixture of silliness, action, fantasy and running around exotic locations. the action is pretty good and i really quite enjoy the hokey special effects of mid-eighties hong kong.

a good, fun film...

the dvd is hk$23 from buyoyo.com

doom

now that's a bit of fun...



now, i don't know what it is, but i'm always willing to watch a film where a crack commando unit is trapped in some kind of complex, along with some kind of dangerous beasties. it's a classic formula. luckily, 'doom' also has the rock in it...

so yep, it's fun. there's some quality monsters, nice gore, a couple of laughs, a couple of jumps and some big guns.

grrr!

dvd from hmv, part of their 3 for £15 sale...

barton fink

"we're gonna sneak into an 'r'-rated movie!!!"



apparently a little project that the coens rattled off, whilst suffering from writer's block during their work on 'miller's crossing'. essentially it's the tale of an idealistic writer (john tuturro) who moves to hollywood, with a studio contract and ends up writing a wrestling picture. his neighbour (john goodman), in his dingy hotel is his only companion, apart from writer's block...

now, i'm not sure why it's taken me so long to watch this film, but i've finally watched it. i liked it; it's not going to be my favourite coen brothers film and it's not going to be my least favourite.

the dvd is £1.99 from hmv.co.uk

blood rain

now, this wasn't received well...



despite the extremely mixed reviews, i was always interested in giving this a watch; it sounded interesting and it certainly looked pretty...

'blood rain' is set on a tiny, but extremely affluent island. it's wealth comes from a paper mill that produces high quality paper. once a year, the mill delivers a tribute (a ship full of paper) to the king, but this year the ship is set on fire. a priestess dies after seemingly being possessed by the former mill owner kang; who was accused of being catholic and killed, along with his family. now, people are being killed in the same way that kang's family were.

a team of investigators arrive on the island and attempt to unravel the cause of the fire, stop the murders and prove that they are not being undertaken by the ghost of kang...

now, i've read some absolute slatings of this film, but i quite enjoyed it; essentially, it's a nicely executed murder mystery. the film does look great, you can see why it won set design and costume awards. there's also an unexpected, but welcome dose of gore; i always wondered what someone being drawn and quartered would look like...

now, where the film probably gets a bad press from, is it's complexity. some of the finer details were lost on me; the pace and the number of characters, plus the depth of the events that were unfolding were often difficult to keep up with.

i'll probably give it another watch to see if i fare better during a second viewing.

i really don't think that this film deserves it's poor reputation. if you want to give it a chance, but don't want to buy the pricey korean dvd, a cheaper thai release is available. unfortunately, the english subtitles will only display with the thai dub; you can get round this with a quick re-authoring though...

the thai disc is $8.50 from ethaicd.com, the korean disc is $24.99 from dvdfromkorea.com

the power of kangwon province

more of the same...



the fourth hong sang-soo film i've watched, one that's been on my 'to watch' pile for quite a while too. it's his second film and it follows what would become the model for his future films; well, 'on the occasion of remembering the turning gate' and 'a tale of cinema'.

the first half of the film follows three girls on a weekend trip to kangwon province; the mooch around, get drunk and argue. one of them becomes friendly with a cop and visits him again a few weeks later. the second half of the film follows a teacher who travels to kangwon province with his friend; they mooch around, get drunk and argue. there's a slight overlap between the two stories. eventually a larger connection is revealed...

it's okay, but it's not as good as 'the day a pig fell into the well' (his first feature) or the excellent 'on the occasion of remembering the turning gate'. recommended to hong sang-soo fans only.

the dvd (fullscreen)is $0.99 from dvdfromkorea.com, the remastered (widescreen) version is $15.21

to die in san hilario

not what i expected...



i think that i'd been reading reviews of a couple of spanish horror films, when i chanced upon the thai disc of 'to die in san hilario', so i decided to make a purchase. then, whilst reviewing my order, i realised that it was, in fact, a comedy...

so, 'to die in san hilario', a comedy from actress, turned director, laura mana. the people of san hilario are waiting the arrival of german cortes, a man who is looking to revive the town's tradition of hosting glorious funerals. unfortunately, german dies en route, but a hapless gangster ends up jumping from the passing train, he'd hitched a ride on, and is mistaken for german...

a beautiful, charming, funny and magical film. highly recommended...

the dvd is $10.50 from ethaicd.com

oh, and it's just come on at cinemas in the uk.

killing words

b l o o d y h e l l . . .



'palabras encadenadas', or 'killing words', is the second feature from spanish actress, turned director, laura mana. i decided to buy this (and her first film 'compassionate sex') after i watched the excellent 'to die in san hilario'.

whilst 'to die in san hilario' is a quirky and charming tale; 'killing words' is a tense, gripping thriller, it could not be more different.

the credits begin with an extreme close up of the pixels on a television, a video is playing. as the camera pulls back, we see a man, sitting in a chair, calmly talking about murdering an old woman. the detailed description ends, the television is turned off. in the blackness of the screen, we can see the reflection of a woman in a red dress; she is gagged and tied to a chair. the man from the video walks over to her, tells her that she shouldn't have any misconceptions; he is going to kill her...

and so it begins...

laura mana succeeds in creating a complex thriller, that is delivered with such simplicity, it just draws you right in. the beauty of the location, the seemingly effortless visual flair and the fantastic performances of dario grandinetti and goya toledo deserve attention. ninety minutes fly by.

excellent stuff. highly recommended.

the dvd is $12.75 at dvdpacific.com

alien 3

poor ripley...



well, i'd forgotten that this was a fincher effort, even if he did disown it. i just watched the 'special edition' version, that attempts to re-create fincher's original cut. it would seem that fincher's falling out with the studio was so bad, that he was the only one, of the four directors, who refused to participate in the creation of the 'alien quadrilogy' box-set, that contains both theatrical and director's cuts of the films.

now, i remember being quite unimpressed when i first saw this; it had some good moments, but the film as a whole just didn't really do it for me. after about twelve years, watching the 'special edition', i found myself enjoying the film a lot more. it's no 'alien' or 'aliens', but they're very hard to live up to; still, i think it fits into the series nicely.

it's more of a return to the atmosphere and dialogue heavy 'alien', as opposed to the all-out-action of 'aliens', which works well, considering the troubles that the script and production experienced. the main things that let down the film are the dodgy digital effects, which just look poor.

i look forward to re-watching 'alien : resurrection'; i've only seen that one once before...

the dvd is part of the 'alien quadrilogy' box-set, available for a very reasonable £16.99 from play.com

who's that knocking at my door?

i don't know...



scorsese's first feature, essentially a third draft of his final student work 'bring on the dancing girls', who's story a group of friends in new york was fleshed out with a love story, becoming 'i call first' and finally, with the addition of some 'skin', 'who's that knocking at my door.

the film follows j.r. (harvey keitel) as, away from his circle of friends, begins a relationship with a girl (zina bethune). the violence, sleaze and throwaway sex of j.r.'s circle is a million miles away from his relationship with the girl, their discussions about film and their falling in love. when the girl reveals some of her past to j.r., the two worlds collide and j.r.'s catholic guilt catches up with him.

an interesting pre-cursor to 'mean streets' and scorsese's subsequent body of work; catholicism, love, italian-americans, intricate editing, a great soundtrack and amazing characterisation throughout, are just some of the scorsese trademarks that are even present here. keitel and bethune also deserve credit.

good stuff, indeed...

part of the excellent 'martin scorsese collection', available for $39.75 at dvdpacific.com

double fattiness

they're not pizzas...



lydia sum is hsiao feng the owner of a pizza shop, which she runs with her husband, tse shu (bill tung) and son, sonny (eric tsang). an evil property developer wants to buy their shop and house as he plans to turn it into a new commercial centre; hsiao feng isn't selling. whilst out delivering pizzas sonny bumps into diana (maggie cheung) who has just been mugged by gordon chan; sonny soon falls for diana...

things take a twist when hsiao feng dies from a heart attack, but manages to avoid death, possessing the body of someone who's recently been killed; it just so happens that diana has been killed in a bus accident. so, when diana turns up at the pizza shop, she's in love with tse shu, but being pursued by sonny...

it's pretty standard, mildly random, kinda silly, hong kong comedy fare, but it's a pretty good set up and you can't go wrong with four such strong leads. lydia sum is great as the larger than life matriarch, bill tung is as dependable as ever and how can you not like eric tsang? as for maggie cheung, she does a good job as diana and a diana who's been possessed by several people throughout the course of the film.

good stuff...

the dvd is hk$35 from buyoyo.com

the librarian : the quest for the spear

funtastic...



flynn carsen (noah 'dr carter' wyle) is a student; he's been a student all of his adult life and has over twenty degrees to his name. one day, his lecturer asks him to leave his course, creating a six month window where he'll be ineligible to start another. he is lost.

that is, until, he receives an application to be a librarian at the municipal library. he arrives and after a strange interview by jane 'kate & allie' curtin, he gets the job. bob newhart then informs flynn that he will be 'the librarian', not 'a librarian' and takes him to the library: a high security underground archive that contains pandora's box, the arc, excalibur and other fantastical items.

things seem pretty sweet for flynn, until his first day; someone has stolen one third of the spear of destiny!!! flynn must now decipher an ancient language and travel the world to locate the other two thirds of the spear. if he fails and they fall into the hands of the evil serpent brotherhood, led by kyle maclachlan and kelly hu. helping him on his way is the high-kicking sonya walger...

now, i expected this to be a bit of a crappy tv movie, which was a little slice of brainless fun. in fact, it was a good tv movie. there is plenty of humour, a slice of campness and a self-aware sense of humour. the film is a lot of fun and it seems like everyone involved had a lot of fun making it.

i was pleased to read that 'the librarian 2 : return to king solomon's mines' is currently in production and helmed by jonathan 'commander riker' frakes.

tip top!

the dvd is $13.66 at dvdpacific.com

once upon a time, a hero in china

silly or daft...



this is a pretty silly parody of wong fei-hung, based around the premise that he isn't a great martial artist, doctor or lover (not that i remember thinking he was...). so, alan tam plays the incapable wong, whilst eric tsang, ng man-tat and simon yam cover him in the fields of martial arts, medicine and love, respectively.

wong has to cope with squabbling, the arrival of aunt yee (teresa mo) and the constant threat of his old enemy, ken (tony leung ka-fai), who wants to become the number one fighter in fu-shan.

this film starts off reasonably, but you soon get the impression that it's going downhill. that is, until the arrival of teresa mo, who ties in all the other characters and breathes a bit of life into the film. there's a few chuckles and it does get better as it progresses.

it's okay...

the dvd is hk$35 from buyoyo.com

tony takitani

technical illustration, jazz and clothing...



tony has always been a lonely child; his mother died after his birth and his father was a consistently absent jazz trombonist. tony embraced art, but was only engaged by technical illustration, which he adopted a career in. one day he meets eiko, a woman who he falls in love with only to discover that she is addicted to buying the clothes that she wears so well...

a very beautiful, funny and touching film about people and loneliness. great cinematography, great style, great performances, great music.

great stuff, a real little gem.

the dvd is hk$82 at buyoyo.com

american splendor

jazz records and comics...



harvey pekar was filing clerk at a hospital; divorced, he spent his free time reading books, comic books, listening to jazz records and visiting garage sales to replenish his stocks of said items. one day he bumps into robert crumb, an aspiring comic book artist who's work inspires harvey.

harvey begins to write a comic strip called 'american splendor'. the comic charts harvey's life and the people he knows; the film does just that too...

the film is a mixture of standard bio-pic fare, with some added bits and bobs from the real harvey thrown in for good measure. paul giamatti does an unsurprisingly good job of portraying harvey; the film is interesting, funny, moving and inspiring in a strange way.

excellent stuff.

dvd £5.99 at play.com

nana

cats and dogs...



based on the manga, that sold over 22 million copies in japan, 'nana' is the story of two girls who meet by chance on the train to tokyo. they discover that they are both called 'nana' and keep each other company for the long journey.

nana komatsu (aoi miyazaki) is a sweet natured romantic who has saved up so that she can move to tokyo to be near her boyfriend who is studying art there. nana osaki (mika nakashima) is a budding rock vocalist, who is moving to tokyo with dreams of forging a career, after the collapse of her last band.

the two part when they arrive in tokyo, but meet by chance whilst viewing an apartment and, despite their differences, decide to share an apartment. as one nana struggles to keep up her relationship with her boyfriend, the other forms a new band, but still harbours feelings for her ex-boyfriend, who left her band when he was recruited by hit band 'trapnest'...

i suppose this is a 'chick-flick'; the magazine it appeared in - cookie - is japan's most popular weekly girl's comic. still, i loved it. it's just made with such genuine sentiment, that i wasn't even bothered by the crappy music that both bands churn out. i think the director (kentaro ohtani) shared my opinion as they frequently faded to some, much preferred, classical fare.

the relationship between miyazaki's fluffy, puppy dog like nana and nakashima's independent, cat like nana is completely believable and, along with the quietly observed narrative of the film, make it a little gem.

oh, and aoi miyazaki is thoroughly charming...

the dvd is hk$88 at buyoyo.com

flying dagger

carry on swordsmen...



chu yen-ping directs a bawdy wong jing script to create a silly slice of nonsensical, wu xia, fantasy fun. tony leung (ka-fai) stars as the bounty hunter big dagger, ably assisted by little dagger (jimmy lin), although they're plagued by big and little bewitchment (sharla cheung and gloria yip), who keep stealing their bounties from under their noses.

big and little dagger are charged with capturing nine tail fox (jackie cheung) and flying cat (maggie cheung), who are charged with killing the daughter of a local dignitary. big and little bewitchment set out to get a piece of the action, but all is not as it seems...

this is a pretty silly, but quite funny and certainly fun comedy, with a dose of stylised swordplay (courtesy of ching sui-tung) thrown in. the action isn't great, but the film's focus lies on the humour, rather than the action which it parodies.

a great cast, having a lot of fun with the material, makes this a very enjoyable watch.

the dvd is only hk$21 from buyoyo.com

pauly shore is dead

no, not really...



after watching mexico play in the world cup, i commented on how one of their players looked like pauly shore; star of such seminal (err, not really) comedy films of the early '90s. any how, it reminded me that i'd been meaning to get round to ordering the dvd of 'pauly shore is dead'; a film pauly shore wrote, directed and starred (as himself) in. so i did...

the film tells of pauly's life after his fox sitcom got cancelled after one show. pauly's life takes a turn for the worse; he loses his fiance, manager, agent and house. pauly moves back in with his mother and, inspired by the ghost of sam kinison, he decides to fake his own death to increase his popularity. everything's going to play, until pauly is discovered and sent to prison...

now, i only ever saw half of 'california man' and 'son-in-law', but i did watch 'bio-dome' and quite enjoyed pauly shore's comedy stylings, kinda. he was a bit crappy really. i never saw his sitcom (i'm sure i'm not the only one) or any of his mtv shows. this didn't impair my enjoyment of this film though.

this is a really well made slice of self-deprecation, which is pretty damn funny. the multitude of cameos probably helps, of which there are too many to list, but you can have a look on imdb

good stuff.

dvd only $5.78 from dvdpacific.com