2LDK

Country: Japan
Release Year: 2002
Genre: Dark Comedy
Language Format: Japanese
Running Time: 70 minutes

[Cast]
Maho Nonami
Daisuke Kizaki
Eiko Koike

[Writer / Director]
Yukihiko Tsutsumi


Back in 2002. Two premiere contemporary japanese directors went on a duel. Not the type one would think of like a duel to the death.

No.

It was more of a friendly duel, the weapon of choice:

Movie Cameras.

The rules:

A movie with two main characters, in a confined space. The whole movie is to take place in this aforementioned space. No more...No less!

The directors that went head to head were Ryuhei Kitamura and Yukihiko Tsutsumi.

Thus, the duel became...

Kitamura-san : ARAGAMI (Action / Fantasy)
vs.
Tsutsumi-san : 2LDK (Dark Comedy)

Ryuhei Kitamura is the more popular one considering he's produced blockbusters such as AZUMI(2003),AZUMI 2(2003), SKY HIGH(2003), ALIVE(2002), GODZILLA:FINAL WARS(2004)and of course...the zombie-martial arts cult classic, VERSUS(2000)a personal favorite of yours truly!!!

Ryuhei Kitamura is understandably the favored one when this clash of the ultimate directors was being promoted. However i'll talk more about Kitamura-san and ARAGAMI, the movie he entered later on. In the meantime, right now we'll talk about Yukihiko Tsutsumi's 2LDK(2002)

First off let me just say that Eiko Koike is an absolute beauty!!! Plus she can act too! But this movie is not just about her of course. Her co-star slash roommate in the movie Maho Nonami is also pretty, although not as cute as Koike-chan. She can however hold her own when it comes to ass-kicking, because that's what she does to her roomate Eiko Koike. These two girls demonstrates the meaning of absolute rage towards another person may they be an acquaintant or in this case a roomate!!!

Think of 2LDK sort of like a "mini-BATTLE ROYALE!" I know that's a cheap way of describing this awesome film but just imagine it for a second. BATTLE ROYALE takes place on a deserted island where kids were on a battle royale-kill or be killed type of situation. As for 2LDK it's not an island but the apartment instead. The scenario is the same...where the two lovely ladies go on a battle royale-eque-ish, kill or be killed scenario. It's true, the plot is very simple, and a blast to watch!!!

To give you an overview here's the scenario:
Two attractive young girls are being housed in an apartment type complex that has 2 bedrooms, 2 living rooms, 2 dining rooms, and 2 kitchens...hence the title 2LDK.

Faith it seems is not without a sense of irony, you see they're both aspiring actresses, and they're both auditioning for the same part thus, the jealousy, and all-out hatred towards each other ensues.

Each, and every scene that happens in the movie from beginning to the very end is a masterpiece. Tsutsumi-san is a genius let me state this now. It is without a doubt that Tsutsumi-san had a vision to keep the viewers interest at an all-time high as you watch 2LDK. The way he does it is very clever, for instance he takes a normal conversation between the two ladies. What would've have been an otherwise boring scene is only spruced-up by Tsutsumi-san by enabling their thoughts of each other audible....to the viewers that is.

For example, while Maho's characters is talking about her exploits of the day Eiko's character is thinking and while she's thinking the viewer is able to hear what she's 'REALLY' thinking. Eiko's character's thoughts is amplified and we learn she's checkin' out Maho's character's very expensive, and shallow taste in clothing and accessories. Meanwhile, while Maho's character is chatting her 'REAL' thoughts is also amplified and the viewer is also able to hear what she's thinking of Eiko. It's safe to say that both of their thoughts about each other are'nt very friendly to say the least. On the contrary, we not only see how different these two women are. We can also hear how different they both are.

Very clever storytelling indeed!!!

The very obvious MacGuffin here is both of the Ladies reserved jealousy, and hatred towards each other. This the formula that drives this film. As per the Duel rules, the whole entire movie takes place inside the apartment, and Tsutsumi-san didn't have a problem with that at all!

The hatred of the girls towards each other starts from simple evil thoughts, and as the movie moves along so does the hurt that these two ladies bring upon themseleves.
The fight gets progressively more physical, and the damage more brutal. Let's just say there's stabbings, electricutions, chainsaw, melee' attacks with a very heavy, and blunt objects, egg throwings, body slams, the list goes on...

...this movie is so whacked out you will be taken for a shocking, and joyous ride as you watch these two ladies attempt to kill each other over a movie part. Truly spectacular filmmaking. It's also safe to say 2LDK is the undisputed winner of the duel. I saw ARAGAMI first because Kitamura-san directed it he was clearly my favorite to win the contest however, after seeing 2LDK I now have a new found respect for Yukihiko Tsutsumi-san's filmmaking vision.

2LDK is an new-breed of visionary movie making at its most limited. Tsutsumi-san showed the world that despite a very limited budget, and a very limited amount of resources, and not to mention set spaces as per duel rules. Anyone, provided they have the same vision as Tsutsumi-san, is still able to make a movie that's engaging as it is indulging for our guilty pleasure senses.

No doubt 2LDK is a guilty pleasure!!! It's just so damn good. It's the type of movie that will stick in your head, and in your thoughts long after you've watched it. No doubt you'll talk about it because it's different, yet brilliant!!!

2LDK is indeed without a doubt, another japanese cult-classic!!!

FINAL FANTASY VII : ADVENT CHILDREN

Country: Japan
Release Year: 2005
Genre: CGI Animation / Sci-Fi / Action / Adventure
Lanugage: Japanese
Running Time: 101 minutes

[Cast]
Shotaro Morikubo
Steve Staley
Toru Ôkawa
Quinton Flynn
Keiji Fujiwara
Crispin Freeman
Taiten Kusunoki
Yûji Kishi
Dave Wittenberg
Kenji Nomura
Shogo Suzuki
Masahiro Kobayashi
Kazuyuki Yama
Yumi Kakazu
Greg Ellis

[Music Composer]
Nobuo Uematsu

[Art Director]
Yusuke Naora

[Directors]
Tetsuya Nomura
Takeshi Nozue


If there's ever a movie to be made to do justice to its original idea, in this case a world cult phenomenon that is FINAL FANTASY VII for the first generation Playstation.

FINAL FANTASY VII:ADVENT CHILDREN (2005)
Is that film.

Unlike the 2001 CGI fantastique FINAL FANTASY:SPIRITS WITHIN(2001), FINAL FANTASY VII:ADVENT CHILDREN pays homage to the groundbreaking Playstation RPG classic that was released way back when...1997 to be exact! I know...I stood in one of the many lines that formed the release day of the Playstation game.

SQUARE-ENIX has never disappointed in terms of the storyline, although convoluted at times it never deterred me from enjoying their masterful creation, and unsurpassed storytelling. In terms of their CGI mastery? Well...let me put it this way. Disney, Dreamworks SKG, and PIXAR has got nothing on them!!!

Period.

Hayao Miyazaki's Studio Ghibli does but then again they're mostly traditional hand-drawn animation, and not so much CGI. Then again, Miyazaki-san doesn't need to!

FINAL FANTASY VII:ADVENT CHILDREN has set the standard for ultimate CGI wizardry.
But let's not get ahead of ourselves shall we? Okay. First. The storyline stays true to the Playstation game in fact, it continues from where the game left off. A casual viewer who isn't familiar with the game will still enjoy it's wonderul absorbing storyline, and jaw-dropping computer animation. However...viewers who aren't familiar with the series will lack that certain special 'Oomph!'

Gamers, you know what I mean!!!



But, for the viewers slash gamers out there who watches this flick will no doubt get a very explainable kick out of the many homages SQUARE-ENIX, has scattered throughout the movie. There are many, many references to the game for example:
there's a battle scene between Tifa, and one of the Kadaj brothers and after the scene a barely audible but familiar jingle comes into play.

This is no surprise but, the very clever way SQUARE-ENIX has incorporated this, and many other familiar themes exclusively for us...gamers is without-a-doubt a personal thank you to all who has enjoyed not just the Final Fantasy VII series but the entire Final Fantasy Franchise.

(Pic courtesy of IGN)

Now to the technical side. The CGI. What can I say? It's almost as if you're watching a FMV intro of one of their FINAL FANTASY GAMES except for a whole 101 minutes!!! The CGI's are Jaw-dropping to say the least, you won't believe your eyes!
Everything from facial expressions, body motion, the environments everything is so life-like.



The fact that SQUARE-ENIX was able to include every single main characters in the game was an absolute blast to watch, seeing them in full action is a complete and utter amazement!!! I was yelling and screaming when I saw my favorite character YUFFIE, what a hottie! Even seeing the aeon BAHAMUT (dragon that is summoned to assist in battles) in full motion glory is stunning! This is how a game-based movie is supposed to be done!!! If only there were able to include all of the aeons in the game, now that would be sweet! SHIVA, anyone???



The music. Thanks to Nobuo Uematsu. The music is so vivid, and so rich that it makes this movie all the more engrossing. Let's face it, the music element is important in the games, and indeed in the movie there's no exception. The music composition is Nobuo-san's best work yet.

It features many intense action scenes that does the series the justice it desrves. If only the games turned-based battle scenes is as intense! But anyways, action fans will love it, drama fans will enjoy it, and gamers will embrace it.



My rants, and ravings will not do this movie justice. All I can say is, "GO, SEE THE MOVIE!!!" I can't stress this enough. "GO SEE THE MOVIE!!!" Although I do have one suggestion, that is watch the FINAL FANTASY VII:ADVENT CHILDREN in its original Japanese language. With english subtitles of course for all you non-japanese speakers so don't cheat yourself!!!



Kudos to SQUARE-ENIX, FINAL FANTASY VII:ADVENT CHILDREN will remain for a long time as one of their many monumental achievements to come.

ONG BAK

Alternate Title: Ong Bak:Muay Thai Warrior
Country: Thailand
Release Year: 2003
Genre: Martial Arts / Action / Adventure
Lanugage: Thai
Running Time: 105 minutes PAL Original UNCUT Thai Rlease


[Cast]
Tony Jaa
Petchtai Wongkamlao
Pumwaree Yodkamol
Suchao Pongwilai
Wannakit Sirioput
Chumphorn Thepphithak
Chatthapong Pantanaunkul
Chatewut Watcharakhun
Rungrawee Barijindakul
Nudhapol Asavabhakhin
Pornpimol Chookanthong
Udom Chouncheun
Boonsri Yindee
Arirat Ratanakaitkosol
Woravit Tanochitsirikul

[Director]
Prachya Pinkaew

"HANDS DOWN THE ULTIMATE MUAY THAI MARTIAL ARTS ACTION FLICK!!!"

Simply put, this movie will BLOW YOUR MIND!!!

Have you ever seen a movie and thought to yourself...wow, can it get any better than this?...the answer is, YES!!!!



Ladies and Gentlemen upon seeing ONG BAK (2003) we the people of the world have just played witness in the exhibition, and demonstration of perhaps the next greatest living legend in the action hero realm. Tony Jaa shows the world the beauty, and the exquisite art of perhaps the most feared martial arts style in the world. Muay Thai, also known as Kick Boxing. Muay Thai sounds a lot better to me, and of course authentic since that is the proper term for it.

Before ONG BAK, I swore I thought I've seen the very best in martial arts flick in Jet Li's FIST OF LEGEND (1994) I never knew that my wishes...actually the wishes of all martial arts action aficionados that another groundbreaking martial arts action film is to arise in our lifetime. After seeing ONG BAK I must say, it is absolutely the rightful heir to the king of martial arts action films.



What is so unique ONG BAK is that, Tony Jaa re-introduces the deadly art to the world. I have to be honest with you the image that is imprinted in my brain whenever I hear kickboxing is mentioned, the first actor who comes to mind is...'Jeane Claude Van Damme!. Yup, it's because of the movie BLOODSPORT (1989) Mind you, I'm not a hater of his, in fact I did enjoy BLOODSPORT and a few of his other flicks. However for some reason, he just didn't fit the right Kickboxing persona.

Tony Jaa on the other hand being a Thai himself, and a real-life Muay Thai practicioner, and former stunt man fits that persona perfectly!!! What better person to show the world how Muay Thai is supposed to be represented to the world? Who better than a natural born Muay Thai martial artist that is Tony Jaa. Watching him in action is an absolute martial arts movie lovers dream come true!



He is a living legend, probably one of Thailand's living national treasure. He's already compared to the great Jackie Chan. All of Tony Jaa's stunts require no wire-works, no stunt doubles, and nothing fake about the action scenes. All of the stuntmen in the movie actually get hurt because there is no safety-net, and no soft cushion when they hit the ground after being pummelled by Tony Jaa's character Ting. His action style is similar to Jackie's as well, most if not all of the action sequences are filmed in just one take! Super-cool!!!

Also, the actual impact of the high flying kicks, and fierce punches that Tony executes are so frickin' real as it hits the actual body parts of the villains in the flick. Watching Tony do his thing is no doubt an absolute wonder, as he lays down the law to the baddies his own Muay Thai way. Like Jackie Chan, Tony Jaa has total control of the environment his fighting on. He can climb walls with ease, walk on people effortlessly, and literally jump over cars like it was jumping over a curb.
Flips, tumbles, somersaults, he does it all in this movie. Without a doubt, a lot of people got injured in the making of this flick. No doubt about it.

The editing of some of the jaw-dropping scenes repeats itself about three times just to show us that, that is really Tony Jaa performing his OWN STUNTS! You gotta see the scene in the marketplace when Ting, along with Humlae played by the hilarious Petchtai Wongkamlao, and the super cute Pumwaree Yodkamol as Muay when they get chased by a group of baddies, that's when you really see what Tony Jaa is capable of.



Come to think of it, ALL of the ACTION SEQUENCES are SIGHT TO BEHOLD...MUAY THAI ACTION BEYOND BELIEF!!!

I mean he does spectacular scenes that up until now, we only get to see whenever we watch Jackie Chan flicks. Why? Well because only Tony Jaa, and Jackie Chan has the balls, will, and natural born skills to perform stunts like leaping from one wall to the other, perform aerial backward somersault double flying kick to the back of the head type of moves making all of the ultra-difficult stunts look easy. This is what sets other martial art movies out there apart from the work of these two icons. The absolute dedication to their craft. Doing their own stunts, nothing more...nothing less.

Seriously, Tony Jaa is the next action superstar, there is no exception!!! He is the NEXT-LEVEL in action martial arts mayhem.



ONG BAK's story is very simple. A bad guy steals the head of a buddha statue. The buddha's name is ONG BAK, the god of agriculture I believe because as soon as the head is stolen the villagers crops begin to wither, and die. They experience dry weather, and drought causing famine in the village. The only way to get back in the swing of things is retrieve ONG BAK's head in order to restore order in the village.

Thus, they send Ting played by Tony Jaa on a mission to retrieve the ONG BAK head, and kick major ass using his Muay Thai skills along the way. Simple enough for you?

"!!!ABSO-FRICKIN-LUTELY!!!"

Seeing this movie once is enough to blow your mind, but seeing it multiple times to watch all of the great out-of-this-world stunts performed by Tony Jaa will absolutely mess with your martial art loving senses!!! I've never seen a martial art movie with incredibly insane stunts like in ONG BAK.



There's scenes where Tony's feet is on fire,'REAL FIRE! and there he goes doing his stunts like nothing while both of his feet is being char-broiled, he does the side-helicopter kick to the badguy's face. I'm sure that the guy he kicked also got burned. Although Tony's feet were engulfed in flames I'm sure he had some sort of protection for it. The guy he kicked however I don't think he's so lucky as it didn't appear that he have anything to protect him from the flames coming from Tony' feet. Nothing to buffer the flames off his face, but the scene looks awesome beyond belief!!! Oh and there's a scene where Tony takes on a few fighters inside an illegal or legal...fighting match. I don't know the exact laws in Bangkok.



He fights this Japanese-looking guy who uses Kung Fu, another who uses brute force, and some dude who uses ANYTHING, and EVERYTHING as a WEAPON!!! Also, in watching this flick just when you thought it's over, another jaw-dropping action scene will happen, undeniably unbelievable!!! There's no question, anyone who watches ONG BAK, will have an absolute blast!!! So get ready for the next level in martial arts movies, and welcome our next action superstar, Tony Jaa. He resurrects a once forgotten martial art, and brings a new-found image and, respect, to the deadly art of Muay Thai.

In ONG BAK, Tony Jaa shows us the exquisite beauty, and grace of Thailand's most precious, deadly art of the Muay Thai Martial Art. At the same time making this film indeed a definitive modern martial arts classic!!!

MY KUNG FU SWEETHEART

Country: Hong Kong, China
Release Year: 2006
Genre: Martial Arts Comedy
Language: Cantonese
Running Time: 90 minutes

[Cast]
Yuen Wah
Yuen Qiu
Cecilia Cheung Pak-Chi
Leo Koo Kui-Kei
Wong Yat-Fei
Wong Jing

[Director]
Wong Jing


"CECILIA CHEUNG AND GANG STARS IN THIS CRAZY ROMP FILLED WITH SILLY GAGS MIXED WITH ULTRA-COOL MARTIAL ARTS ACTION, OH AND DID I MENTION CECILIA CHEUNG!!!"



Love him or hate him Wong Jing to me still delivers!!! He's not one of Hong Kong's finest directors or anything but boy does he have a wild imagination! I mean he's produced, and directed some of the funniest movies Hong Kong cinema has to offer.
I'm not a devoted fan of his or anything, but I'd still watch any movie he does it just would'nt be the first choice on the list. However, I just finished watching MY KUNG FU SWEETHEART (2006) and wow, was it fun!

If there is ever a movie one should not take seriously, it's this film. It's a very unbelievable, believable story. What I mean is, you know this movie was made suitable for all ages. Don't be fooled by Cecilia Cheung's bath scene on the DVD cover. It's nothing. This movie is indeed for all ages. The movie pokes fun at all Kung Fu cliches. Death healing palms technique, bath healing technique, Shaolin 18 Bronzemen breakdancing...yeah that's right, Shaolin breakdancing, etc.

The whole movie is almost like a Kung Fu satire mixed with great choreographed Kung Fu action. It's a light-hearted fun at the movies basically. Something to watch when you wanna laugh at silly looking gags, I mean some of the jokes are kinda corny but you still find yourself at least I did, laughing at the screen. It's almost as if Wong Jing wanted it to be a corny funny flick! I mean the movie features a Big Bird type of character! It's basically a guy literally in a Hawk suit! It's Phoebe's, played by Cecilia Cheung pet bird.

I know, I know let's move on...

...there's a whole lot of IN YOUR FACE gags, and silly comedy, and sometimes very corny scenes, but their meant to be there. For instance, a scene where Phoebe's parents are fighting this one bad-ass with a white hair and there's a lot of chaos going on. The whole place their fighting on is getting trashed Phoebe, and Dragon played by Leo Koo, recieves a double drop kick from the powerful white haired bad guy. As both of them hit the pavement with blood gushing from their mouths, that's when an out of place confession of love comes pouring out from Dragon's mouth and unto Phoebe's teary eyed acceptance of his love towards her.

It's silly moments like this that will drive you completely insane, it will make you think like....wait a sec...this is not really happening is it?...but then as soon as you're about to puke from all the corny-ness Phoebe's dad played by the awesome Yuen Wah, drops from the sky and in the middle of Dragon's, and Phoebe's love moment, and tells them "...hey you two, this is not the time for that help me kick this guys butt, and you can have all the time in the world..."

That's when I felt like, 'oh yeah this is a silly comedy filled with silly gags, and stupid humor', only then you'll move on to the next crazy scene. Watching MY KUNG FU SWEETHEART is fun, and anyone with a good sense of humor will get a joy out of its schizoprenic humor.

Evidently, Wong Jing wanted this flick to be a pure martial arts comedy. Indeed he does succeed on this note. Casting Cecilia Cheung is always a good move in any production, even if it is a convoluted CGI filled story like LEGEND OF ZU (2001) Honestly, she was the many reasons why I saw that flick aside from the CGI's oh and having Zhang Ziyi in the cast is also a big plus.

MY KUNG FU SWEETHEART is well worth watching. There are scenes that has crazy and stupid humor but that's the way it was meant to be executed.

It's the type of comedy done with a NO-NONSENSE delivery similar to Stephen Chow's crazy humor style ala' ROYAL TRAMP 1&2 (1992-1993)and his most recent ones, SHAOLIN SOCCER (2001), and KUNG FU HUSTLE (2005) the execution of the humor is not quite dead-on but it's pretty close.

Other scenes like the guy in the Hawk suit inside the bathroom using the toilet while reading a porn magazine. Really I'm not kidding! The suit is cheap-looking may I add. Yes, it's corny but it's so funny you'll literally laugh at all the sillyness of everything that's going on in the flick.

All the scenes with Cecilia Cheung are awesome, even the 14 year old girl that played as her in the beginning of the movie is good, what a cute little thing!!! Also worth mentioning is the guy that played as Dragon's best friend in the movie, I couldn't find his name although I've seen him in other Hong Kong flicks in the past he was pretty good, and very funny.

In conclusion, all the zany-ness of this flick will drive you absolutely insane, while laughing your butt off at the same time.

LES FILS DU VENT

Alternate Title: The Great Challenge (International Title)
Country: France
Release Year: 2004
Genre: Action / Adventure
Language: French
Running Time: 90 minutes

[Cast]
Williams Belle
Châu Belle Dinh
Malik Diouf
Yann Hnautra
Guylain N'Guba-Boyeke
Charles Perrière
Laurent Piemontesi
Elodie Yung
Santi Sudaros
Burt Kwouk
Ian Kay
Charles Jarman
Gary Stoner

[Director]
Julien Seri


LES FILS DU VENT (2004)or better known as THE GREAT CHALLENGE had the potential to be a great Action slash Martial Arts film that the Yamakasi Team wanted it to be. It even had a young attractive cast to propel the story, because the Yamakasi Team a.k.a Urban Ninjas who scale walls, leap dangerous tall buildings without a single hesitation is no doubt ultra-cool!

As far as the acting, everyone did a decent job. The action sequences were kind of slow compared to today's standards but after all, this is a movie made to showcase not kung fu-esque techniques, or thai kickboxing moves ala' Tony Jaa in films like ONG BAK (2003), and TOM YUM GOONG (2005)no, this is a movie made to highlight the Urban Ninjas death-defying aerial leaps, and unbelievable acrobatic wall-scaling abilities properly presented in their first Luc Besson produced movie attempt in YAMAKASI (2001) the Urban Ninjas continue their propaganda in LES FILS DU VENT to show the world just why we should care about their sport. It's a good thing that YAMAKASI was released first, because after seeing LES FILS DU VENT it will make you forget about the Urban Ninjas in no time.



Unfortunately, LES FILS DU VENT was not produced by Luc Besson nor did he have anything to do with its production therefore, it lost a lot of the appeal of what made YAMAKASI such a joy to watch! First, and foremost LES FILS DU VENT's story was nothing but a mediocre script aimed at pre-teen audience, in other words it was a mindless hodge-podge of a story that is just too childish to bare. However it did a have an excellence premise: (The Yakuza based in Thailand wants to occupy the Triads' turf so they employ the services of a wannabe low ranking leaderless gang to kill off the Triads head boss) yeah I know it's been done before but so what? If this project was given to a competent director LES FILS DU VENT would have been awesome.

Another thing that I'll gripe about is the amateur-ish camera placements. This much is true, the camera man or whoever was in charge of the camera during the filming of the action sequences did not know how to capture the otherwise awesome action that was being performed by the Urban Ninjas, and the stunt team. Julien Seri obviously did not learn anything from Luc Besson nor did he even attempt to make sure the stunts were being filmed properly. He should have made sure that it was doing justice to the Yamakasi Team. Sadly, he failed.

Oh yeah....there's another thing. Why oh why did he have to make this movie so damn dramatic? I mean really, the symphonic chinese-esque composition used in some of the scenes are so over-dramatic It just made this movie so corny!!! It was sometimes painful to watch...really it was!



The Urban Ninjas did their part. They are awesome to begin with, the action choreograpy was no doubt excellent. It just wasn't filmed right, and because of this the otherwise jaw-dropping effect it would've given the audience was instead tarnished by Julien Seri's amateur-ish direction. Ultimately he is the one to blame for this film's rather lackluster action, and mediocre cinematography

However I must add that Elodie Yung, she played as Tsu is an absolute beauty. She is definitely a future super star in the making. If she get the right parts in key fims she will rise like the hot lava from a raging volcano. I do hope she gets offers from Hong Kong directors like Johnnie To, Tsui Hark, Fruit Chan, how awesome it would be if she starred in Wong Kar Wai films!!! She has the right look, and charisma to play parts in Action films, Comedy, Romance, and Drama. I hope she does well in the future.

Aside from the Yamakasi Team's great stunts, Elodie Yung is really the only reason to watch LES FILS DU VENT. I really wish there were other reasons I can give but there is none. I'm not saying to avoid LES FILS DU VENT like the plague or anything, I'm saying this is a type of movie that is perfect as a rental, it certainly does'nt offer anything else for us to look back to other than what was mentioned at the beginning of this paragraph. So give LES FILS DU VENT a chance just don't say, I didn't warn you.

WATERBOYS

Country: Japan
Release Year: 2001
Genre: Comedy
Language: Japanese
Running Time: 90 minutes


[Cast]
Satoshi Tsumabuki
Naoto Takenaka
Hiroshi Tamaki
Akifumi Miura
Koen Kondo
Takatoshi Kaneko
Aya Hirayama
Kaori Manabe
Takashi Kawamura
Hiroshi Matsunaga
Yûya Nishikawa
Katsuyuki Yamazaki
Taiyô Sugiura
Koutarou Tanaka
Makoto Ishihara
Naoshi Saitô


[Director]
Shinobu Yaguchi

WATERBOYS is a type of movie that is hard to not like. It's a movie that contains a number of different funny scenes that it will quickly tickle your funny bones in no time. What could be funnier than five high school japanese boys who goes on a quest in to learning the basics, and mastering the art of...Synchronized Swimming???
Yes you read right! This movie is about High School boys doing synchro-swimming, and it's frickin' hilarious!!!



What ensues is some of the funniest, yet simplest hilarious humor ever written, and presented on the silver screens in Japanese Cinema. This is the movie that SWING GIRLS (2004) borrows most if not, all of its humor. So if you liked SWING GIRLS chances are you're gonna love WATERBOYS, and vice versa.



The beauty in watching WATERBOYS is that the movie looks like a regular J-Dram-edy, but the further you watch you'll slowly realize that the humor being thrown at you is sometimes funny, other times it's a laugh-out loud comedy. Wait until you see the audition scene by the pool when the boys tries to show their stuff to their school Principal played by Tetta Sugimoto, and the Dolphin Trainer played hilariously by Naoto Takenaka. Takenaka-san has never disappointed me yet, any movie that I've seen him in he's always delivered! This scene is one of the funniest in the movie, but definitely not the last.

Another element that will stick to you is the wonderful soundtrack that is used.
The music in some of the scenes are so memorable because it fits what is happening on screen. In essence, it helps illustrate, and heightens the otherwise normal scene.
For instance, the scenes were the Dolphin Trainer agrees to train the boys to become better synchronized swimmers by teaching them rythm. What beter way to learn than to practice on a DANCE,DANCE, REVOLUTION arcade machine! The soda-pop japanese song is so corny yet, so cute!

Like SWING GIRLS, Shinobu Yaguchi weaves a tapestry of different troubling, and not so troubling scenarios for the boys to overcome, and endure. There is never a dull moment in watching WATERBOYS because the movie keeps the boys rolling from one predicament, to the next. The obvious MacGuffin in this flick is Suzuki played with wonderful innocent, and geeky delight by Satoshi Tsumabuki. Although his character is a dork, you can't help but like the guy, and his four other friends as well.



Aya Hirayama is so adorable in this flick, she plays Shizuko. She likes Suzuki, and Suzuki likes her too but was put off when he learn that she's skilled at Karate. In fact after finding out that she can crush a soda can effortlessly with one hand he was completely terrified of her. Besides, he's also ashamed in way to tell her that he's participating in an All Boys Synchronized Swimming meet. In his thinking, being part of an All Boys Syncronized Swimming pretty much doomed his chances with Shizuko, or so he thought!



No doubt anyone who watches this movie will be completely absorbed, and completely entertained. It's just a simple story with no CGI's or anything. This makes viewing this japanese comedic gem a blast! Sometimes less, is more! Shinobu Yaguchi in my opinion, has mastered the simplest things in life, are sometimes the funniest of all, because his humor is the type that can happen to anyone therefore it's very easy for an individual to be able to relate with the boys. Especially with all of the everyday ordeals they had to go through. It could simply happen to anyone.

If you haven't seen a good-quality comedy in a long while, you should definitely check out WATERBOYS. If you haven't seen any foreign comedy, it might as well be WATERBOYS. Either way, anyone who gives this movie a try will no doubt enjoy this japanese comedy about the teenage life in rural Japan...mixed with Synchronized Swimming that is.

DRAGON SQUAD

Alternate Title: Maang Lung
Country: Hong Kong, China
Release Year: 2005
Genre: Martial Arts Action / Gunplay / Crime
Language: Cantonese / English
Running Time: 111 minutes

[Cast]
Sammo Hung Kam-Bo
Michael Biehn
Jun-ho Heo
Lawrence Chou
Vanness Wu
Simon Yam
Shawn Yue
Maggie Q
Wah Yuen
Yu Xia
Shengyi Huang
Bingbing Li
Andy On

[Director]
Daniel Lee


"HIGH FLYING KICKS...HARD HITTING FISTICUFFS...GUN BLASTIN'...ACTION OVERDRIVE!!!"

Action Aficionados rejoice! Your prayers have been answered!!!

DRAGON SQUAD (2005) is an action packed movie lovers dream come true!!!

It has everything an action movie should have: a decent storyline, an attractive young cast, veteran actors, international actors, hard-hitting fisticuffs action, and loud, explosive gunplay.

DRAGON SQUAD moves at an extremely fast pace. There is never a dull moment. As soon as the movie starts rolling you don't have to wait too long before an action scene takes hold of your undivided attention. There is so much going on in the movie, so much movement, it's almost hard to keep up with the movie's plot. No worries, the movie's storyline is simple, not convoluted.

Daniel Lee has done a very clever job in keeping your interest glued from one plot, to the next. Also, he must've been watching recent Tony Scott movies like MAN ON FIRE (2004), and DOMINO (2005) as of late because the similarities of filmaking element is present. Tony Scott's style is somewhat like watching a movie on an acid trip. His fondness for overexposure, zooming in and out, brief flashes, and placements of dynamic camera angles is also present in DRAGON SQUAD.
Thus, Daniel Lee incoporated his own Tony Scott-ish style of filmmaking.

Some movie-goers will probably be turned off by the style, but movie lovers like me actually embrace it. I must admit, the continous flashbacks for each characters background images everytime the camera does a close up on each one of them did get quite repetetive, but in no way did it lessen my enjoyment of the film. In fact, it only enhanced it.

Also Daniel Lee, painted more of a serious approach in the direction, and storytelling of this movie. There isn't an ounce of humor present. The movie was meant to be taken seriously, which is easy to do because the action packed sequences is simply breathtaking.

There is a lot of key martial arts sequences in DRAGON SQUAD. Particularly the fight scene between Sammo Hung, and Jun-ho Heo is jaw-dropping to say the least. They battle several times over the course of the movie, but their last fight scene is truly spectacular! Wait, I'm not finished talking about the battle sequences yet...

...the Gun Battles in this movie is...masterfully directed, I mean it's truly frickin' awesome!!! There are several Gun Battles in this movie, all of them are breathtaking but the Gun Battle towards the end in particular is without a doubt, the best gunplay action I've seen in a movie to date!

I especially enjoyed the Sniper versus Sniper Gun Battle scene at the rooftops. I've watched that scene over and over, and I just can't get enough of it. What I really enjoyed in DRAGON SQUAD is the mixture of Action Packed Sequences it goes from Gun Battles to Martial Arts, and back and forth.

The acting is also on par. None of the actors will win a Golden Horse award or anything but at least everyones' acting is believable considering it has an all star cast. At first I was skeptical when I heard Michael Biehn is starring in a Hong Kong Action movie, I always get weary when a Hollywood actor stars in Hong Kong films. They all come off stiff for some reason. But he did a decent job, after all he is somewhat a veteran in Hollywood.

Korean Actor Jun-ho Heo was excellent, he absolutely blew me away with his performance as a pyschopatic soldier. Maggie Q, was the perfect actress to play as the elusive sniper. Sammo Hung, is always a stunner whenever he is given a chance to show his ass-kicking skills and in DRAGON SQUAD there is absolutely no exception indeed!

In short, Daniel Lee succeeded in molding both Martial Arts, and Gunplay, and incoporated it in to a sleek, stylish, Hong Kong action movie. There is no doubt one will enjoy DRAGON SQUAD, especially if you are an action fan.

There is only one way to watch DRAGON SQUAD and that is to watch it LOUD...VERY LOUD!
If you own a decent Home Theatre Surround Sound System you definitely have to watch it LOUD in Surround Sound. If you can watch it in DTS (the MeiAh R3 DVD has this feature!) then you would be in for a real treat!

After watching DRAGON SQUAD, there is no doubt that the actions scenes will stay in your head for a long, long while. Until something better comes along that is!

THE PROMISE

Alternate Titles: Wu Ji (MandarinTitle) Mo Gik (Cantonese Title)
The Promise (International Title)
Country: Hong Kong, China
Release Year: 2005
Genre: Fantasy / Drama / Romance
Language: Mandarin
Running Time: 128 minutes (Original UNCUT Chinese Version)


[Cast]

Dong-Kun Jang
Hiroyuki Sanada
Cecilia Cheung
Nicholas Tse
Ye Liu
Hong Chen
Cheng Qian


[Director]
Chen Kaige



THE PROMISE (2005) is a movie that one will either LOVE or HATE.

It is a movie out of pure fantasy, that should not be taken seriously. In Asian Cinema, flying stunts are done tastefully for cinematic impact. Especially in modern Kung Fu movies, sometimes wire-works are used to lift the actors off the ground for continous often exaggarated action.

THE PROMISE incoporates the use of wire-works to send the actors high up in the sky.
There are tons of battle sequences especially in the beginning with the introduction of General Guangming played by Japanese Mega-Star Hiroyuki Sanada, and Kunlun the slave played by another Box-Office Star this time from South Korea, Dong Kun-Jang.

The battle scenes are extraordinarily massive, however there some obvious signs of computer generated soldiers but none too distracting. Guangming's fight scenes is simply spectacular, he's choice of weapon is the ball and chain 'ala GoGo's choice of weapon in KILL BILL (2003).

The special effects during Kunlun's race against the wild bulls is way-over exaggarated. His scene is the turning point in the movie whether one will continue to watch this flick, or not!

It all comes down to this, if the person watching is used to Asian Cinema, then they will continue to watch it. But, if the person watching is not used to Asian Cinema, and finds over-exaggarated movies just too unbelievable then that person might not watch the rest of the movie.

To be honest, to me this is more of an Art film, it is just so elaborately made. The careful attention to the colors of the environment, the costumes, set pieces, everything is coordinated.

The locale is jaw-dropping. The majestic waterfalls, the crimson sunset, the list goes on. Director Chen Kaige, appears to have had a certain artistic vision when making this film. It's almost as if you are watching a live-action Anime.

The casting of the ultra-sexy, mega-super-star goddess Cecilia Cheung as The Princess Quincheng is perfect. Actually, everyone that was casted including Nicholas Tse as Wuhuan, and Ye Liu as Snow Wolf, everyone was perfect for their role, and everyone did an excellent job in the acting department.

More importantly, the language spoken in the film is Mandarin, and everyone in the cast including Hiroyuki Sanada who is Japanese, and Jang Dong-Gun who is Korean, are both speaking in Mandarin. And they both speak it fluently! At least it appeared in the film anyway that they are because they did an awesome acting job. Very convincing, and very absorbing. Their efforts in speaking the language themselves instead of cheap voice-overs only heightened the films storytelling precision.

The soundtrack, the composition is truly a masterpiece of its own right. It perfectly sets the tone, to accompany the epic tale of what's being presented on screen.

THE PROMISE reminds me of another artsy but action-packed film directed by Zhang Yimou, HERO (2002). THE PROMISE has a very similar style in terms of the careful costume, and color selection. Even the action scenes are somewhat reminiscent of the actions scenes in HERO, but in much less occurences.

THE PROMISE after all is more of a romantic slash fantasy epic tale. It is based on a famous Chinese novel, it was only a matter of time before someone thought of making it into a major motion picture. What better director than Chen Kaige. He certainly did an excellent job with the execution of the production of this film.

From the moment the film starts you'll know right away that this movie had a very high budget pocket book. It has some of the best eye-candy ever conceived. The CGI effects is so clean, so crisp, that it must be viewed with a High Definition Television to be truly appreciated.

Like the scenes with Hong Chen, as the Goddess Manshen. The effects done on her is amazing, the effects are so real, so life-like it makes one realize we are truly in the next level when it comes to special effects at the movies.

The make-up, and the costumes that Cecilia Cheung, Hiroyuki Sanada, and Nicholas Tse wore on the set of the film is so spectacular, so stunning the team should win an oscar equivalent award for all of their efforts.

I must add that Cecilia Cheung looked so beautiful in this film, as she always does in all of her movies.

THE PROMISE is no exception.

Again, it is important to understand that THE PROMISE despite the early action scenes in the beginning of the movie, is more of a somewhat slow romantic melodrama. So action aficionados, don't expect a lot of high-flying action because Chen Kaige kept it to a minimum.

Also, the action in this movie is meant to be more artistic like, 'ala the high-flying action scenes in Ang Lee's CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON (2001) so if high flying action turns you off, then this movie probably isn't for you.

But if you do appreciate art movies, and don't mind over-exaggarated action scenes, and have an open mind when it comes to storytelling then don't waist another minute. Go see THE PROMISE as soon as possible!!!

To sum it all up, THE PROMISE is masterfully produced in terms of the technical, as well as the artistical skills of everyone involved. Thus, THE PROMISE is a modern classic, and a cinematic triumph.