Recently Seen, Part 2 (Mar 2017)

[Zelena]

Comrade Z may like/comment this.

The world would really be a better place if you were an ESPN International sportscaster. I don't even know if there is an "ESPN International." Didn't you just recently get into Volleyball at the last Olympics? I recall something with that. I don't think you're going to win any converts to your fanatical sect here, but I like how your comments about that subject are just completely different than what anybody else would say about it.

She's 29 and still cute, do the math.

I wager you must be a really tall guy if you find these chicks "cute" lol. Cute, I don't know, but that sports-bra is doing a heck of a job.

I would say 'you should be writing this stuff for a living' but I think the days of writing for a living are over. However, if I was you, I would fake some kind of press credential and jive-talk my way into free tickets to go watch those games in Tokyo. The Japanese would be too confused and polite to turn you away. Would be an experience.

 

[divemaster13]

I don't watch volleyball, except during the Olympics. I enjoy it then. Quite a bit. I always root for the Asian teams, because, well, because of sights like the below...

(and yes, I think she's cute!)

 

[sitenoise]

@Zelena I'm actually a small guy, and it is hard to think of them as 'cute'. It's more about their personalities, and people look smaller on video (across the court from Russians). That retiree, Saori, is Japan's tallest player but also one of the most femininely girly girls in all of Volleyball. I thought you might like that J-volleyball sort of mirrors their cinema in that when there was a chance to have fun they were at a loss.

Also, from a business perspective, Korea, for example, knows they are selling something. Soft Power. They light their stadiums brighter and look better (cuter) in HD. How can it be that Thailand, the Philippines, Viet-freaking-Nam pump out HD streams for all their matches and Japan doesn't? This entity DAZN seems to control Japan Sports broadcasting (and I use the term 'broad' casting loosely ). So they are businessmen assholes but it must be rooted in culture as well. When you watch the big international events, no one ever says Japan is the best team but almost everybody says they are the most fun to watch (and the most technically proficient). Why doesn't Japan use that? Why don't they promote it? Because some foreign guy like me might get to watch a volleyball game without paying for it? Ah well, rambly me.

ps - not looking for converts. I just need to get this stuff off my chest. I am fanatical about it. The VB forums are full of sports guys who only look at statistics. For me it's Asian Cinema with great characters and sweet drama.

 

[sitenoise]

oh yeah, Billy Crystal.

 

[plsletitrain]

I used to watch Philippine colleges womens' volleyball and I've quite enjoyed it. But I can't seem to love it as much as sitenoise does. The only Filipino volleybelle I found (I have high standards for beauty) is Gretchen Ho from Ateneo de Manila University:

 

[sitenoise]

very pretty girl

 

[Zelena]

'broad' casting

Lol.

volleybelle

Lol.

 

[divemaster13]

Watched The Wailing last night. I knew next to nothing going into it; only that it was a haunting/possession-type horror with a lot of buzz about it. So I had no pressures or influences on what I was about to see.

And...I'm not sure what to think. I wanted to like it more. First off, the parts that were good were VERY good. Every scene with the little girl was excellent. And the two scenes of the shaman ritual were absolutely riveting. Some other scenes, especially in the last 30 minutes or so were likewise very intense.

However, much of the movie was so...frustrating. Frustrating because it didn't have to be so bad. There's no reason why the main character and his cohorts had to be so inept. Going for a few laughs here and there is one thing, but making them so cartoonish took me right out of the movie time and time again. I could give example after example, but don't feel like spoiler-boxing a wall of text.

And the plot doesn't add up. I don't mind movies (in fact, I pretty much love movies) where a second viewing allows you to put more pieces together. Movies like Mulholland Dr., Inception, Memento, The Sixth Sense, Jacob's Ladder, A Tale of Two Sisters, etc. Lots of satisfying "aha!" moments upon repeat viewings. Even if an ending is open for interpretation (Inception) where different people will have different takes, that's okay too, as long as the director plays fair. However, with The Wailing, I have no confidence that anything will start to add up. Why? Because apparently the director didn't put anything in there to add up! (and didn't really care). It seemed he was satisfied with merely stringing scenes together (hoping that the audience will like the good scenes so much, they'll forgive him for all the stupid ones), that he didn't give a fuck if it all failed to make a cohesive movie. If I interpret the goings-on one way, there are earlier scenes that do not support (and actively contradict) that interpretation. However, if I interpret the goings on a different way, there are scenes that actively contradict that interpretation. I don't feel like investing another 2.5 hours trying to "understand" what the director has clearly made impossible to understand. But I'll probably watch the shaman exorcism scenes again because that was some of the most amazing spectacle I've ever seen. Absolutely fantastic.

First half of the movie, which mostly features the retarded cop: 2 / 5
Last half of the movie: 4 / 5
Overall: 3 / 5

(shaman scenes: 10 / 5)

 

[Zelena]

Bad Guys Always Die (China/Korea 2015)
A joint China-Korea production, and you know that that means: Chinese money trying to glom off of Korean mojo. This was on youtube; I found it entertaining and kind of fun. It definitely has that ragtag feel of contemporary Chinese middle-budget mainstream commercial movies. That means, it's made by a bunch of ernest, hardworking young Chinese people who don't have a lot of creativity and don't really know or care or properly understand what the rules of filmmaking are, technically, culturally, or in terms of story tropes. Directed and written by some Chinese kid.

This is a typical Korean thriller, for the most part, leavened with a big dollop of very welcome humor. Some kind of dirty-money scheme gone wrong. Some Chinese tourists bungle into the middle of it. The leads were not very strong actors, the script wasn't very clever, but the supporting cast and the humor was fun -- I laughed -- and it leans heavily on coincidences and surprises to keep it snappy. Like most films, it drags in the middle third. Always up for some Korean entertainment and keeping up with what's [not] going on in Chinese cinema, I had a good time: it was a (weighted) 7.12.
Full movie:

 

[sitenoise]

And the plot doesn't add up. I don't mind movies (in fact, I pretty much love movies) where a second viewing allows you to put more pieces together

A frustrating movie with a large dollop of kick-buttness. I don't know if you read my review of this but it's almost in complete agreement with yours. What happened for me, as time went by and I distanced myself from the experience of watching it, is that I let go of all the problems, especially of plot and story, and just liked the good scenes so much I forgave the bad ones. I don't think a second viewing would enlighten or illuminate much because it isn't meant, or it isn't put together well enough, to provide for that. The problem is that it comes off like it should be, or wants to be, cohesive. Once you let go of that notion, or requirement, you can love it! Weird, but true.

This is a film that deserves its own thread. We went round and round about it. Maybe I'll repost my review in a thread.

 

[sitenoise]

009-1: The End of the Beginning [2013] • Japan
Director: Koichi Sakamoto (of Kamen Rider fame)
2.17911/10

​

Every once in a while you give something like this a chance. It delivers what's on the tin: hot girl with guns in her boobs (which have to be bared in order to shoot--but you never see them); a hotter girl who shows up to choreograph fight the main hot girl; a stupid ugly kid (for demographics) who can't act, playing the bad guy; lots of blood; a convoluted, incomprehensible plot; a few explosions; over-the-top sound effects to things like someone turning their head; and that guy who's in all these movies. It's all here, and then you realize why it's only every once in a while you give something like this a chance.

​

Pieta in the Toilet (Toire no Pieta) [2015] • Japan
Director: Daishi Matsunaga (no fame)
6.52-8.752/10

Lots of inspirational moments, but they are fleeting. On purpose. It's a little slow and long for most to get attached to. One of those films that is a lot better than the experience of it.

A (commercially) failed artist diagnosed with a terminal disease accepts his fate. The denouement, while lovely and wonderful, doesn't lift the pathway that leads to it high enough.

Flick has one of my favorite J-characters and one of my least favorite J-characters. Favorite is a precocious and sassy teenage girl who is wiser than the adults in the room. Least favorite is an obnoxious guy, even if he's quiet about it, who forces his plans on other people. I'm getting a little tired of Lily Franky.

The main guy who isn't an artist but can draw really well, played by a guy from a J-rock band, drives in low gear the whole film. I believe he was instructed to do this for effect.

Mad props to Hana Sugisaki who owns the screen as the precocious and sassy schoolgirl our not-artist wonders about on his way to death. You'll wish she had more screen time, not only for her performance but because her character might have illuminated things more. I think the director deliberately frustrates us as a way of showing, not telling. I could list a dozen scenes and a handful of characters I wanted more of.

Quality-wise, the film pushes a 8.752. Cinematography is excellent. You'll know it's better than your time spent with it. Experience-wise it's a 6.ish. Sugisaki kicks it up a notch. More of her would increase the experience score.

​

 

[plsletitrain]

Maybe I'll repost my review in a thread.

Did you save a copy of our discussions on that? I remember having watched it round the same time as you, after ebo recommended it but I cannot remember for the life of me what I wrote there.

 

[sitenoise]

You and I went back and forth on who was naughty and who was nice. I didn't save the thread but maybe it's on one of those sites that attempted to archive the boards.

 

[plsletitrain]

Ah yeah, thought it was gonna be a The Village (M. Night Shyamalan) thing but it wasn't. Would make for a good rewatch.

 

[Zelena]

One of those films that is a lot better than the experience of it.

[searches for the nose-picking emoji]. Looks like a seven to me.

I'm getting a little tired of Lily Franky.

I dig it.

drives in low gear the whole film. I believe he was instructed to do this for effect.

Drives his motorcycle in low gear? How annoying. And it's probably one of those lame little 250's that's supposed to look like a Harley 1100.
Too bad -- it looks extremely Japanese, and like everything out of Japan now, great photography. But I don't think I'm gonna watch it.

 

[plsletitrain]

Am I the only one who LOLd at this:

Director: Daishi Matsunaga (no fame) --emphasis mine

 

[sitenoise]

I lol'd when I typed it. But to be fair I think we'll see more from the director. He just chose to keep this one off the happy train. And I think "Toilet" in Japanese is more like "Washroom" in American. A little less soiled in the imagination but, still. He's plantin' roots.

 

[plsletitrain]

Hehe I wouldn't want to be introduced as the *drumroll* "Director with no fame" .

 

[divemaster13]

re: The Wailing

I don't think a second viewing would enlighten or illuminate much because it isn't meant, or it isn't put together well enough, to provide for that. The problem is that it comes off like it should be, or wants to be, cohesive.

That's pretty much it, exactly. It's like having a 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle with 87 pieces missing. No matter how many times you start over trying to put it together, you won't be able to fill in the holes. The overall picture will be there, but important parts will never be filled in to tell the complete story. I totally agree that the main problem here is that the movie is framed and plotted "like it should be, or wants to be, cohesive." If he would have had the balls to just say, screw it, here are some bitchin' scenes and I'm in on the joke that it doesn't add up, it would be easier to stomach.

But, as it is, I do forgive him for that. What I don't forgive him for is the bumbling stupidity of the main cop character and his cohorts. I'm used to the genre mismashes in Korean films. Sexy comedy turns into melodrama; or lighthearted romance turns into emotional death scenes; and even action-horror being interspersed with "bumbling cop comedy" (Chaw, for instance). But this movie really needed to set some ground rules. The stupidity of the main characters over and over again kept taking me out of the movie to the extent that I was riffing it in my head rather than enjoying it, and I hardly EVER do that. I'm one of those who will give a director all sorts of benefit of the doubt when it comes to plot and character, if I feel like he's trying to engage me. Here, I felt like a date being stood up.

But overall I did enjoy it and am glad I watched it. I'm sure if I watched it again I could bump it up to 3.5, because the scenes that were good were so damned good.