Highly Recommended
Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons (2013) (Chinese Fantasy Action/Comedy) (repeat viewing) – Two hunters (one mediocre and the other proficient) cross paths while fighting human-demon hybrids. This starts off with a very lengthy, creative, insane sea monster attack. Soon after, there’s a completely outrageous fight with a vicious pig demon. This film has such infectious energy, and the humor is actually funny. Shu Qi is not exactly an elite actress, but she’s fantastic in this role. This also has one of the best portrayals of the Monkey King that I’ve ever seen in a Chinese film. The CGI isn’t always convincing, but the positives far outweight the negatives. Director Stephen Chow gives us a crowd-pleasing genre-bender that expertly blends light and dark tones together. It has been reported that this “family” movie made little kids cry out of fear!
The Quiet Family (1998) (Korean Comedy) (repeat viewing) – Ji-woon Kim directs this film about a family who opens a lodge, only to be met with a series of unfortunate events that lead to the deaths of their guests, the family’s response to which is to secretly bury them in the nearby forest to avoid a shutdown of their business. This is a simplistic kind of humor, but it definitely works. Seeing Kang-ho Song and Choi-min Sik together in this comedy is definitely a treat. Ho-kyeong Ko is also really good, but she left the film industry at a young age. Takashi Miike remade this into “Happiness of the Katakuris.”
Recommended
Big Bang Love, Juvenile A (2006) (Japanese Drama/Thriller) (repeat viewing) – Ryuhei Matsuda and Masanobu Ando star in this dramatic thriller surrounding the investigation of a murder within a prison. Many of the set designs and special effects create a science fiction environment, while the score is predominantly atmospheric. Much of the style and structure are different from a typical crime film. For instance, question-and-answer sessions consist of written inquiry followed by verbal monologue by the interviewee. Character development is strong and the use of ambiguity is restricted to visual symbolism while the investigation itself is neatly wrapped up. Takashi Miike has offered a refreshing movie with some novelty.
Harakiri: Death of a Samurai (aka Ichimei) (2011) (Japanese Drama) (repeat viewing) – Takashi Miike directs this tale of revenge, honor and disgrace, centering on a poverty-stricken samurai who discovers the fate of his ronin son-in-law, setting in motion a tense showdown of vengeance against the house of a feudal lord. This is a remake of the 1962 original, so this is very similar in story but more grimy and visceral in style. It is very effective at showing that many of these people had lived in poverty. Consequently, this does get pretty dark in tone. Deliberately-paced but everything is developed nicely and the acting is top notch. Ebizo Ichikawa is fantastic in the lead role. Hikari Mitsushima and Eita are all great in this as well.
The Inerasable (2015) (Japanese Horror) – I (Yuko Takeuchi) is a mystery novel writer who receives a letter from Kubo (Ai Hashimoto), a reader of her novel and a university student. Her letter states that she hears odd sounds from a room in her apartment. I becomes interested by the letter and they begin to investigate, learning of people that lived in the apartment and their experiences of suicide and murder. Lots of narration here, but this movie does a good job of setting up the horror (there are some neat little foreshadowing events too). The scare tactics are legitimately creepy and nicely directed. They have some similarities to “Pulse”, and that is a good thing. Viewed without subtitles, but I’m gonna buy a subtitled DVD soon and rewatch it.
Cyber City Oedo 808 (1990) (Japanese Anime Action/Thriller) (repeat viewing) – This anime is an OVA (3 episodes, 40 minutes each) and is about three convicts who are allowed to reduce their prison sentences if they perform dangerous cop work (liking taking out cyborgs, vampires, and such). The writing isn’t especially strong, but I watched the English dub which is hilarious in its rampant vulgarity. We’re talking an endless supply of gut-wrenchingly riotous dialogue with some of the surliest anime characters you’ll ever see (they even curse at the robots!). The action is fairly cool and the animation is good. The second episode (involving the human vs. cyborg battle in the tower) is my personal favorite of the three.
The Wild Bunch (1969) (American Western Action/Drama) – Director Sam Peckinpah’s western epic tells the story of a bunch of aging outlaws whose botched plans to pull off one last job forces them to collude with a crooked Mexican general – leading to ugly bloodshed. This has a few big shootouts to enjoy, with a big bodycount. The direction and editing are generally good, but there are too many close-up shots and quick edits that made the geography and positioning of characters difficult to follow during some of the shootouts. The characters are all slimy and the film hits you over the head with it, but it’s still good stuff.
Not Recommended
Cold War 2 (2016) (Chinese Thriller/Drama/Action) – Picking up some time after the events in the first movie, our protagonist is now the Commissioner of Police after the successful rescue operation. However, things turn bad when his wife and daughter are kidnapped. This has a recognizable cast of Aaron Kwok, Chow Yun Fat, and Eddie Peng. Unfortunately, there is a lot of dry dialogue to sit thru, which really kills the pacing. The story simply isn’t interesting enough. There’s one good action scene near the mid-point (a shootout in a traffic tunnel) and a decent one near the end, but that’s not enough.
Moonlight (2016) (American Drama) – Growing up in drug-soaked Miami, a young man struggles to make his way thru adolescence while also grappling with being gay. This story is broken into three sections, each dealing with a different stage in the protagonist’s life. Unfortunately, each stage is less interesting than the last. Stage 1 – the “kid” years – starts off fairly well, mostly because Mahershala Ali helps to carry things (too bad he only has about 10 minutes of screentime). Things already begin to run out of gas during the second act. All of the characters, including the protagonist, are shallow, stereotypical caricatures with no depth whatsoever. Everyone in this movie could be completely described in one short sentence. With that said, there is some pretty good interaction between them, which is driven primarily by the acting and the theme of bullying, but the script is wafer thin. There’s simply not enough content or character development to carry a 110 minute film. It gets outright boring during act 3 and ends on a whimper.
Manchester by the Sea (2016) (American Drama) – A depressed uncle is asked to take care of his teenage nephew after the boy's father dies. This is a 137-minute movie about nothing. This is simply a compilation of awkward, repetitive moments between characters. The end. Environments are drab and the dialogue is underwhelming. Good luck sitting through this.
