Joined: Nov 2010
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hyvel,
the only equation that bothers me is
4 = 5
If for some unclear reason you don't know what I'm talking about I'll make your life easier:
‘Do you remember,’ he went on, ‘writing in your diary, "Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four"?’
‘Yes,’ said Winston.
O’Brien held up his left hand, its back towards Winston with the thumb hidden and the four fingers extended ‘How many fingers am I holding up, Winston?’
‘Four.’
‘And if the Party says that it is not four but five - then how many?’
Edited: 2014-09-28, 3:00 am
Joined: Jul 2007
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謝罪の王様 (Shazai no Ou-sama, The King of Apologies)
It was on TV, so I watched it. Hmm... it was okay, but the one story where they tried to deal with a sexual harassment case came across as really off-putting from my POV. It looked like they were attacking the victim-- the person with a real axe to grind-- for taking action against a guy who really needed to have action taken against him. Dunno. That bit felt really... "ugh" to me. His insensitivity, KY, and general creepiness was kind of funny, but what they did to the woman involved wasn't funny at all. They made her feel like, "Hey, if you go after me, I'll be ruined!" rather than, "Hey, I'm really sorry I was a total and utter ass, and made you feel really uncomfortable."
Otherwise, it was an okay movie. The whole exploration of why people apologize so profusely, and the cultural differences surrounding whether you apologize or how you apologize were interesting, and I laughed a few times at some of the jokes. Especially the divorced celebrity couple trying to apologize for their son's behavior. And the son's media apology was pretty funny, too (17... 18... 19... 20).
Joined: May 2014
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Battle Royale was the last movie I saw and I watched it on Amazon Instant video as it was one of the movies that were free to watch with a prime membership. Despite being very gory, it was more creepy and emotional than scary. By that I mean I jumped with fright about twice. It had an epic feel about it that was very un-hollywood in the way that it didn't try to make every part of every scene dramatic, so that the transition from calm time that you cherished in face of the violence to another killing was all the more shocking. That sort of sensitive un-adulterated pacing is something I appreciate and I seem to only find it in older films and foreign films. In particular I liked the scene in the kitchen of the light house, because of how such a relatively small problem managed to quickly escalate into a huge slaughter in a naturally paced yet chaotic way and how it all came out of their moment of content. Quite harrowing. Also enjoyed the final scene starring the teacher because it revealed him in the way his stone-like face never could and yet raised all sorts of questions about him that I'm still trying to answer now.
8.5/10. Highly recommended for everyone except the particularly squeamish, and if you have Amazon prime or another service that offers it free within it's membership, I see no reason not to watch it.
Edited: 2014-09-28, 12:28 pm
Joined: May 2014
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If you feel that Battle Royale was one of his worst films, I would like to know what you consider to be Fukasaku's best, because I'm sure I'd like to watch them, if they're really so much better.
Joined: Dec 2013
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Black Dynamite (2009)
10/10
Just watch it.
Joined: Jul 2012
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Just watched I Am Legend (dubbed in Japanese on TV - good dub, I thought. Made Will Smith sound much manlier(?) than usual). I've seen it before - it was actually better on rewatch, though the last third or so is pretty poor. And, of course, the book is vastly superior. Don't know why Hollywood had to take such a good story and make it into a generic zombie apocalypse. Given that 28 Days Later exists it's redundant - might as well have just told the original.
Edited: 2014-10-03, 9:10 am
Joined: Oct 2010
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black coal thin ice (2014) - "An ex cop and his ex partner decide to follow up on investigation of a series of murders that ended their careers and shamed them, when identical murders begin again."
brilliant chinese neo-noir, an original blend of genre tropes, visual abstractions and (soc)realist procede. like in all best crazy noir film('the big sleep' and 'lady from shanghai', for example), story is extremely convulted and sometimes illogical. main actor, fan liao, is perfect as messed up ex-cop and there are some amazing directorial choices (like that POV shot that jumps 5 years in the future).
2014 is turning out to be a great year for movies.
Joined: Mar 2014
Posts: 784
The last movie I saw was "Exodus". It STANK! I only went because I wanted to see the "plagues" (man eating crocodiles, swarms of locusts, invasion by millions of frogs, being afflicted with boils etc.) that were "visited upon" the Egyptians as punishment for not letting their Hebrew slaves go free.
I expected hilarious, over the top special effects but they weren't even mildly amusing. Or even disturbing.
Joined: Jul 2009
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Wood Job. Japanese movie about a guy who fails an exam and sees a girl on an advertisement for a lumber agency and decides to go there to work and find the girl. Much better than expected, and certainly better than most Japanese films.
7/10
Joined: Nov 2011
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I saw Kurosawa's "Ran" for the first time. I enjoyed it immensely, but not as much as Seven Samurai or Ikiru. 7/10
Edited: 2015-01-04, 5:24 pm
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Forgot to also rate the previous movie I saw, which was Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Inferno. 2/10. Such garbage. Not to mention I hate heroes who think they're above killing villains (e.g. Batman). I feel like I remember enjoying the first live action film from a few years ago but it was probably crap too.
Joined: Mar 2014
Posts: 784
TheVinster Wrote:Wood Job. Japanese movie about a guy who fails an exam and sees a girl on an advertisement for a lumber agency and decides to go there to work and find the girl. Much better than expected, and certainly better than most Japanese films.
7/10
That's an intriguing concept (applying for a job because you saw someone you thought you liked in one of their ads). But what if after you finally get the job you discover that the object of your obsession has quit and moved on to another company?
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The Bourne supremacy 7/10
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Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Inferno 6/10
Still not great, but better than the last one. Good enough that I'll watch the final installment.
Shield of Straw 5/10
There are some good parts, but overall it's not one of Miike's better efforts. Writing is about on the level of your average TV drama. It's probably what dooms the whole movie. If you want to watch a Miike movie, just pick something else. There's plenty to choose from.
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