Director: Michel Gondry
Starring:Jack Black as the paranoid and hopeless Jerry, Mos Def as the retarded, naive and underestimated Mike, Danny Glower as Elroy - the outdated owner of a video shop and Melonie Diaz as the youngish beautiful Alma with others.
Screen date (US): 2008
Date seen: 03.08.08 Reviewed by: neko
Trailer:
Review: I got interested in this film watching the trailer that went all trough Europe at the time. Of course I shouldn’t, but then again - it seemed as a nice plot for a good story.
Be Kind Rewind happens to be another waste of my time. What advertising, Hollywood money and known actors do to you - they tend to do to me as well. They abuse me with false marketing, and makes me feel good when I finally see their movie. But when I go as far as to see a film, at least I don’t swallow it whole. If I - in a second of insanity - ate at McDonald’s and my advertised burger tasted like this, I would complain!!
See the trailer for the story. I’ll bring my opinion for you. Honestly, I was seriously considering turning the whole film off before half an hour had gone by. But the said abusers had promised me hilarious parodies of well known Hollywood classics, so I continued. The first 30 minutes of the movie could easily have been cut out. I despite the new trend in Hollywood, being that the characters should talk over each other so that it seems like it’s a natural conversation. I can’t catch a word of what they’re saying, and I get embarrassed. I never talk like that with my friends, unless I’m sickly drunk. Not to mention Mos Def as Mike, I can’t figure out a single word he says. I really don’t understand why he needs to play mentally retarded in his films. Even if he is. It really doesn’t do any good.
Just after the first horrid 30 minutes, they decide to start doing the fun stuff. And it works! I laughed out loud two times. But after those 7 minutes of joy, the film started moving downwards again. You know what’s going to happen for the rest of the movie, you just cross your fingers that it’s something amusing. Something that really would make your time worth while. But it never comes.
7 minutes of laughs just doesn’t do it for me. Don’t see this movie! If you like fun parts and despites cheap stories, see the trailer. I think the ones producing the trailer of this film should get more money that the (hopefully) soon-to-be retired Michel Gondry.
In words: video shop, VHS, tape, losers, business, some laughs, community
Reminds me of: I really wanted to buy a video camera and be creative for about one minute. I haven’t felt that since The Blair Witch Project. I guess I could call it an original then. I honest to god hope that the sequel is better!! And that it never comes…
Trivia: Think you can get magnetized from breaking in to a power station? Think again. Jeez.
Director: Fruit Chan
Starring:Tsuyoshi Abe as Dong Dong or “God of Toilets”, Ma Zhe as his friend Tony, Hyuk Jang as Kim, In-seong Jo as Cho amongst others.
Screen date (Kor): 2002
Date seen: 31.07.08 Reviewed by: neko
Trailer:
Review: This filmis incredible. It’s no masterpiece, it’s not a blockbuster. But it is certainly unforgettable. It’s original in both it’s narrative form and visual composition. I can’t recommend this movie to anyone the way I could recommend universal films like Kamikaze Girls or 200 Pounds Beauty.
Public Toilet has it’s own audience. The story revolves around young Dong Dong and his loose friends who is searching for the same thing trough the whole film, just in different places. And of course, public toilets. Chan has written and directed a story about friendship, family, culture and globalization with life and death as the unison.
I did read a few reviews of Public Toilet before I decided to spend time on it myself (yes, I know I shouldn’t). The one thing that intrigued me, was that the reviewer’s didn’t seem to get much out of this film. I did. I have already mentioned what Public Toilet is about. The only problem with this movie (for the general audience) is that it’s pace is very slow. Chan tells a very important story, but you really need to focus to understand it. And it isn’t something that seems important these days. It could very well have been a hot topic when he wrote it in the beginning of the 21st century, but I really couldn’t say. It’s not something new. And when the pace of the film is as slow as it is, I’m afraid the genius Chan could loose a few followers. For those of you who has seen Hollywood Hong Kong and don’t understand this movie, please don’t loose faith in Chan.
This film leaves me with so many mixed feelings. I enjoyed it, but I still expected something more. I’d recommend it to anyone who enjoys Chan, anyone who needs to get some confirmation on the facts of life, and anyone who has a lot of time to spare and don’t easily get bored.
In words: globalization, sickness, fellowship, life, death, faith, toilet
Reminds me of: Nothing really. Chan is an original.
Trivia: At a train station in India, the name Bush is painted on a sign, which has nothing to do with the movie. Or at least you would think so. What happened in 2001/2002?
MRS. PARKER AND THE VICIOUS CIRCLE Director: Alan Rudolph Starring: Jennifer Jason Leigh, Matthew Broderick, Campbell Scott, Gwyneth Paltrow Screen date (US): 1994
Date seen: 25.07.08 Review by: dorizjeltzin
Trailer:
Review: I love biographic movies, specially early 20th century, specially America. For me mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle is the film that made it for me. The movies I usually enjoy the most are the once I accidentally drop by while I’m watching TV and that suddenly struck me as interesting. The problem with these movies are that you mostly only see parts of it and really have to struggle to find it later in life. I spent years to find this movie again, but the first time I saw it really made an impression.
The movie tells the life and times story of New Yorkwriter Dorothy parker with a special focus on the Colorful twenties. A question I like to ask myself is if I rather would like to be an artist with a miserable life, but great affection on the future, or an artist that was great in its time but forgotten in is future. If I where to pick the first one, I would be mrs. Parker. She wasn’t named the Queen of Sarcasm for nothing. Just because she is the coolest little lady ever. The movie almost seems to be built on quotes and is like a cavalcade of snobbery. Still the setting with the vicious circle as the coolest group of people ever it totally is the place you want to be.
In words: Flappers, probation and All that Jazz.
Quote: “The sun went dim, and the moon turned black, cause I loved him, and he did not love me back” Dorothy Parker.
Created by:Andrew Cosby & Jaime Paglia Starring:Colin Ferguson as the extremely relaxed US Marshal (soon to be sheriff) Jack Carter, Salli Richardson-Whitfield as Carter’s and Eureka’s babysitter Allison Blake, Jordan Hinson as Zoe Carter - the rebellious daughter, as well as a lot of other great actors both known and unknown. Screen date (US): 2006
Date seen: 19.07.08 Reviewed by: neko
Trailer:
Review: OK, this is a television series, not a film. It’s harder to evaluate, both since they usually pick up or drop down in quality by the season (or sometimes episode), and you never know what to expect. I’m reviewing Eureka based on the pilot and the 2nd episode. I do this because that’s how I decide if I’m personally going to follow a series or not. With Entourage for instance, I needed to see the first four episodes before deciding to keep watching. And then again, I didn’t actually start to love the series until late in the first season.
But Eureka worked for me. It’s a science fiction series, with a few gags in between. It’s somewhat like a Disney film, but then again more like Desperate Housewives. I can’t really decide where to put this, but it’s safe to say that the plot for a TV series is original enough for me to get interested.
The plot: Jack Carter is a US Marshal, driving his rebellious daughter Zoe home after she once again escaped from his separated wife, and on top of that pretended to be an air stewardess. A serious offense of course, and Carter has enough on his mind when suddenly a dog appears in the middle of nowhere. He manages to steer clear, but crash into a tree. After walking all trough the night, they get to a quiet small town. Seemingly. But this small town is Eureka, hidden by the government to foster the greatest minds of the nation into developing all sorts of new inventions. Carter is an easy-going guy, and doesn’t mind much that 5 year olds read advanced science, pieces of motorhomes vanishes into thin air or that everything really is a bit off. He gets sucked into a somewhat big case when the sheriff looses his leg, and with his relaxed temper, charming smile, and quick wits, he impresses and overcomes even the smartest of scientists in this little town. Finally solving the case and getting the old sheriff back on his feet, he returns back home, only to be promoted. To sheriff of Eureka.
There’s potential for a nice love story or two in here, there’s the strange characters that you know is up to no good, there’s family issues, bizarre happenings and lots of geeks and cool gadgets. The tempo of the episodes is fairly relaxed, and although Carter didn’t have time to shower or brush his teeth for two days in the pilot, I didn’t flex a muscle. I liked that! This is something you could watch any time of the day - it’s pure entertainment.
Director: Kim Yong-hwa Starring: Kim Ah-joong as the incredibly beautiful Jenny (Hanna when in fatsuit) and Joo Jin-mo as the handsome manager, amongst other great actors and actresses. Screen date (Kor): 2006
Date seen: 18.07.08 Reviewed by: neko
Trailer:
Review: Where should I start? Maybe I should begin with proclaiming that this is the best feel-good romantic comedy I’ve ever seen? I guess I got your attention?
The plot starts out quite simple, and you’ll know how the story will develop from the very beginning. But it’s the things that happen in between that makes 200 Pounds Beauty such a great film! That’s why I don’t mind spoiling the story:
Ah-joong with the fatsuit (Hanna) is a fat, ugly girl with a very low self-conscience. Of course it doesn’t help that her two only talents is her job as a phone sex operator and being the (well hidden) voice of the very famous lip sync pop star Ammy. Especially when she has the biggest (no pun intended) crush on Ammy’s manager, played by Jin-mo. As she overhears Ammy and the manager talking about how they only use Hanna to make money, she decides to kill herself. But as she lies in bed waiting for the apartment to fill up with gas, one of her most demanding regulars calls her up for some more phone sex. She remembers that he’s a plastic surgeon, and the next day she heads to his office to extort him to transfer her into the girl she thinks others wants her to be.
Hanna is no more, the girl who comes out from the bandages is now Jenny - incredibly beautiful. Strange Korean music starts to play when men fall for her, and the stage is set for a lot of good laughs. Jenny decides to spy on her big love, the manager, and does so with great effort. Finally she auditions for him, and suddenly she’s famous. No wonder! When she sings the movies theme song Maria, I got shivers trough my entire body!
Jenny’s popularity rises and she almost gets her prince and the kingdom too. But Ammy is jealous, and somehow finds out that Jenny really is Hanna. Jenny tries to hide her old self to the extreme, and almost ruins everything. Of course it all ends well, but it’s important to see that this is a story not only about love, music and laughs - but also about accepting yourself as you are. A well used story in the film industry, but still so very important, especially in a country like Korea!
I love this movie for how it made me feel so incredibly happy and moved that I laughed out loud and even shed a few tears! I enjoyed it for it’s beautiful music, especially the way Maria was preformed. And I didn’t tire of it, even tough I’ve heard the story before. Because it always found ways to surprise me, ways I haven’t seen been done before in this kind of film. See it today or any day, and buy a copy for your mom and friends!
In words: love, music, confidence, friendship, culture, popularity, plastic surgery, idol, family
Reminds me of: This sets the standard for future movies.
Trivia: In Korea, it’s not unusual to marry your daughter to Vietnamese men if she’s overweight. It is in fact so popular, that it has become a million dollar industry doing dating services between the two countries.
Director:Josh Lowell & Peter Mortimer Starring:Chris Sharma amongst others. Screen date (US): 2007
Date seen: 18.07.08 Reviewed by: neko
Trailer:
Review: King Lines is THE best climbing video I’ve seen. Actually, I stumbled across the trailer on youtube, and I was sold. I HAD to see this film!
The plot revolves around Chris Sharma, a climbing legend. Lowell and Mortimer’s sponsors brings Sharma around the world looking for his perfect climb. He search trough the rocks of Greece and Malta in Europe before he boulders a bit in the US, climbs a few routes with his childhood gym trainer, and trek for days trough the Venezuelan jungle to find a hidden, magical bouldering spot. In between, there’s some partying documented with hand held cameras, a competition in Barcelona, and a flashback and short introduction to Sharma’s climbing career. Parts of this movie is set up to be a deifying of Sharma, but I’m sure he didn’t want it to be like this.
Mostly it’s just about the climbing. And it’s so intense, I even had to take off my socks. I usually get sweaty palms when watching masters in action, but this is the first time my feet started sweating. I was tense all trough the 64 minutes of this movie, and I felt so great afterwards - I was on top of the world with Sharma by my side! Highly recommended!
In words: climbing, rock, adventure, sending, routes, party, chris sharma, legend, sport
Reminds me of: Other climbing movies of course, but they don’t quite match this.
Quote: Sharma: Putting everything on hold, I might just stay here. Live up at Clark Mountain. I might just go crazy.
Director:Jin-gyu Cho Starring: Eun-Kyung Shin as pretty gangster wife Cha Eun-jin, Sang-Myeon Park as the husband Kang Su-il, Jae-mo Ahn as the comical new recruit Bada and In-kwon Kim as his friend - or the other way around. Screen date (Kor): 2001
Date seen: 17.07.08 Reviewed by: neko
Trailer (Korean):
Review: We get introduced to Eun-jin trough a legend about the “company” told to a new recruit. She comes forth as an untouchable woman - the boss of 50 gangsters, and goes by the name “big brother”. But fortunately, the serious beginning of this film isn’t there to set the theme for the day. This is a mild comedy with a small mix of martial art. Before we get to even know Eun-jin, some of her gangsters has finally found her long lost sister, and Eun-jin goes to see her in the hospital. It becomes clear that she is dying, and has a final wish for her younger sister. She wants her to get married.
Let the fun begin! Let’s be honest, it’s not that much fun. The story is quite simple - strong, tough mob leader has to marry normal salary man, brings trouble to work, won’t have sex, don’t know wifely duties, disappear to fight rival gangs and abuses husband.And it’s not getting harder to follow. Altough the older sisters demands become even worse during the film, they only create a bigger frame to play around with. There’s a few twists and turns in the story to look for, but they’re just relating to the inevitable results of karma, with not much deeper meaning than that. This is a basic romantic comedy with some heavy fighting scenes, lot’s of pranks and low humor, and it’d be safe to advice it to anyone looking trough their film rack on a Tuesday night.
In words: gangsters, marriage, comedy, martial art, mafia, fighting, love, family, loss
Reminds me of: One of those simple comedies that frequent my local TV channel once a week.
Quote: Cha Eun-jin : Where have all the good men gone? Why is it so difficult to get married?
HOLLYWOOD HONG KONG Heung gong yau gok hor lei wood
Director: Fruit Chan Starring: Xun Zhuo as the beautiful Tung Tung, You-Nam Wong as the pimp-gone-wrong, Sze Ping Leung as the naive and good-hearted Tiny Chu and Glen Chin as Mr. Chu, amongst other great characters. Screen date (HK): 2001
Date seen: 16.07.08 Reviewed by: neko
Trailer (Chinese):
Review: I saw this movie about four or five years ago, and I’ve been thinking of it ever since. I was finally lucky enough to get a hold of it, and to enjoy it once more. If this film doesn’t come out as one of the top ten dramas of the 21st century, then it’s just because not enough people know about it yet. But then again, to classify this as just a drama would be unfair. I’m also looking at an art movie, with serious black humor and social importance.
The story starts out with the family Chu, who runs a pig roasting shop in a Hong Kong shanty town. This isn’t your ordinary family, mind you - but it is obvious that these people are content with their life. We also get introduced to a young couple a few shacks away. It soon becomes obvious that this 18 year old boy is the local pimp, and his girlfriend/merchandise is one of his plans to be something big in this world. As he goes out to meet a new hooker, he sends his own girl to an overnight stay at Mr. Chu - a regular customer. The connection between our characters is established. The hooker he meets calls herself Tung Tung, played by the marvelous Xun Zhuo. She shares her dreams with this guy, and he can’t help but fall in love. This is no ordinary night.
From here, the story escalates. Tung Tung meets little Tiny Chu, who is deprived of friends as he has to work with the family business in his spare time. Tiny Chu welcomes Tung Tung with the happy-go-lucky naiveness of a child, and thus the web around our characters in this little shanty town is spun. This little quiet place on earth will never be the same again.
This is a story about family, friendship, dreams and love. But also about loss, social class and the development of a metropolis. This film is one of my all time favorites, and I would advice everyone to see it!
In words: Pigs, family, love, friendship, swing, flag, development, shanty town, big city, social class, new blood, affairs, dreams, barbecue, sex.
Reminds me of: No move I’ve ever seen.
Trivia: You-Nam Wong is a member of a popular Hong Kong boyband, and has starred in several movies. One of the newer ones is called Playboy Cops. Sounds interesting?
Starring:Chang-jeong as the looser high school student that has no real friends, but still get the girlfriend. And the beautiful Ha Ji-won as the girl.
Screen date (Kor): 2002
Date seen: 11.07.08 Reviewed by: neko
Trailer:
Review: I had read that this movie was American Pie - only Korean and sooo much better. I enjoy both Korean movies and high school comedies, so of course I was interested.
Nothing bad said about Korean culture, but how can a movie that brought 4 million Koreans to the cinemas in 2002 - making it the 5th most popular film the same year - be so horrifyingly bad??!
I won’t go into detail about the plot, because there’s not much to say. The whole film is embarrassingly filled with no content what so ever. This is an absolute waste of my time, and I actually had to turn the movie off when I was halfway trough.
The only plausible reason I’d ever recommend this film, is that Korean girls are really pretty. And there’s lots of them here, as in every high school film. If you think that’s worth wasting 96 minutes of your life for - then be my guest.
In words: High-School, Korean, sex IS zero, Avoid at all cost.
Reminds me of: Of course I see the parallels to American Pie, but this is in a class way below even the horrid American Pie 3.
With: Heather Graham, The Dad from Gilmore Girls, Dr. Cristina Yang from Grey Anatomy, Dr. Sam Bennett from Private Practice.
Review by: dorizjeltzin
Trailer:
When I roll the dice it shows a movie worth a 3 pointer, something that match very well with the film. The film tells a story about a young independent woman who hate weddings(Graham), but suddenly become editor of a wedding magazine. Voila, idealistic conflict. Naturally she have to work with this lame guy that is the exact opposite of he (Rory’s Dad).
The set up is a classic romantic comedy. They did a big job on colorful costumes and scenography, which match the genre very well (theres something about Mary, How to get dumped in 10days etc.) What still drags the movie down is that it don’t really match the comedy part at all, and even if it looks and acts funny it isn’t. The dialog is very serious, and the crazy parts becomes tragic instead of funny. Like the supposedly embarrassing funny scene where the bridesmaid is rolling around in a fountain gets ruined when the hero of the film come in and act like she is an alcoholic and give the whole scene a negative vibe. And so the film goes. He is not overwhelmed by her craziness, but by her drunkenness. What still makes the movie worth a 3 pointer is the fact that even if the story and actors was kind of lame, it never got to boring. Funny outfits and hairdos totally did it. And it’s always nice to see so many tv-stars in a real movie.
i can’t wait for the sequell: Why is mummy smelling funny?
BE KIND REWIND
Posted by neko
Posted by neko
Posted by dorizjeltzin
