Dvader said:Of course I saw it by choice.
I'm just trying to understand what makes you go the cinema to watch a subtitled, thai action movie and its sequel - as IMO there are far better Asian movies and far better Asian Action movies too, but you don't really seek them out or see the recommended ones?
As for your review, the last bit sounds the same as the first film, too little character development. Personally I think there is no one out there as good as Yuen Woo Ping at action choreography - Fearless/The Matrix/True Legend/The Grandmaster/Once Upon a Time in China/Crouching Tiger etc
I don't quite know why you're pumped about 5 minutes of fighting near the end? There are other films with far longer fight scenes near the end. Anyway, thanks for the review I will definetly see it, but I didn't rate the first movie that much, or Gareth Evans previous film, although the Raid was much better than that.
gamingeek said:I'm just trying to understand what makes you go the cinema to watch a subtitled, thai action movie and its sequel - as IMO there are far better Asian movies and far better Asian Action movies too, but you don't really seek them out or see the recommended ones?
As for your review, the last bit sounds the same as the first film, too little character development. Personally I think there is no one out there as good as Yuen Woo Ping at action choreography - Fearless/The Matrix/True Legend/The Grandmaster/Once Upon a Time in China/Crouching Tiger etc
I don't quite know why you're pumped about 5 minutes of fighting near the end? There are other films with far longer fight scenes near the end. Anyway, thanks for the review I will definetly see it, but I didn't rate the first movie that much, or Gareth Evans previous film, although the Raid was much better than that.
Cause other movies don't get the attention this one does. It gets covered on every movie site. Everyone claiming it is the in the top 3 action movies of all time. It wins awards at film festivals. And it actually comes out in theaters.
If there are better action films than this then no one here is talking about them. There is a reason why this movie got so much attention and others don't.
And i have seen a lot of movie fights, nothing as intense, brutal and as beautiful to watch then this one and the three man brawl in the first film.
Dvader said:Cause other movies don't get the attention this one does. It gets covered on every movie site. Everyone claiming it is the in the top 3 action movies of all time.
I see.
After the Raid I didn't agree it was in the top 3 of all time, I don't even think it would be in my top 10. Like you my idea of a great action movie has story and characters to elevate the action elements too. The Raid and Merantau (Evans previous movie) were fairly bland in the story dept. There are a lot of Asian movies which win awards at festivals though, if you keep track and they are usually availible to rent or stream anywhere. I talk about them all the time, you act like you've been sticking your fingers in your ears 
for the past 5 years.
Dvader said:And i have seen a lot of movie fights, nothing as intense, brutal and as beautiful to watch then this one and the three man brawl in the first film.
I haven't seen the second film obviously, but the 3 man fight from the first wouldn't be classed as beautiful by me. Intense and brutal yes, but in terms of beauty no one does it better than the Chinese. I also think there are other thai and Korean movies with better action. Depends on if you're talking fighting or gun fights etc. If you want to watch the City of Violence, the last 30-40 minutes of the film is pure fighting, with two facing off with a hundred. If you want to see some amazing gun fights then watch Hard Boiled or a Better Tommorrow 2.
There's also a pretty crappy thai film called Chocolate, but the last half hour fight is a spectacle to behold, based on the side of a building. A very good Korean movie called The Thieves also has a similar scene near the end but with much better stuntwork and it's actually a great movie. It starts out like some asian Oceans 11 but flips halfway through into a taut thriller.
Still there are better movies all around like The Message or Red Cliff 1 and 2, The Host and critically acclaimed award winner The Gallants.
If you like the brutal Thai style then Ong Bak 1, 2 and the crappy 3 are there to watch. And Tom Yum Goong is good too.
GG I think you are missing the most important part of my post, this movie actually came out to theaters here. I am not going to go out of my way to watch these movies, either they come to me or forget it. Video stores are dead and netflix wont have them all.
Well I just finished True Detective, like Vader said it's a decent show but no better than some of the other stuff on tv these days. I found the ending somewhat underwhelming.
SPOILERS
At the end of it all they shot one fat guy and arrested his crazy fat lady. When you build up to a cult and conspiracies you need to follow through with that, so it felt unsatisfying overall. Oh yeah and the fat guys miracle tomahawk axe to the chest move was highly improbable.
/SPOILERS
The series started off slow but got better, in the end though perhaps it was a bit overhyped. I understand why the left it like that in the end, good doesn't always end up winning etc, so I guess it's more realistic in that sense.
One fatal flaw: Marty and Rustie being all pally and chummy again. Guy fucks your wife - you can't be on talking terms let alone friendly terms. Regardless of whether they were drunk, stoned or whatever and regardless of whether she was a whore or even if she tripped, fell and landed on his dick. There are many reasons why the show was ultimately disappointing and underwhelming but that was somewhat glaring.
___
Listen to Wu-Tang and watch Kung-Fu
bugsonglass said:One fatal flaw: Marty and Rustie being all pally and chummy again. Guy fucks your wife - you can't be on talking terms let alone friendly terms. Regardless of whether they were drunk, stoned or whatever and regardless of whether she was a whore or even if she tripped, fell and landed on his dick. There are many reasons why the show was ultimately disappointing and underwhelming but that was somewhat glaring.
That was a long time ago and Woody had been banging various chicks anyway so he can't stay that mad forever.
I saw the Lion King for the first time. It was okay, I didn't enjoy it that much. The story was too simple and I was pretty bored for the first 40 minutes or so. It's not as good as Beauty and the Beast, Mulan or the Hunchback. Animation was nice. I guess my logic circuits just kept asking, why are all these animals worshiping the Lions as leaders when they'll rip you to shreds and cannibalise your corpse?
Also when Mufasa appeared in the cloud it was just weird like some Lion GOD speaking from another dimension or something. Just felt really bizaare to me. Also, at the end, how did the barren landscape magically get green and lush again?
Dvader said:GG I think you are missing the most important part of my post, this movie actually came out to theaters here. I am not going to go out of my way to watch these movies, either they come to me or forget it. Video stores are dead and netflix wont have them all.
It's easy enough to rent them, here at least. No postal dvd service where you are?
Anyway I'm just curious, not trying to bust your chops. I'm just surprised when you come out of leftfield and say: I just saw 13 Assasins! And I'm like... what? Why that and not this? Like I was watching an anime last night and there was a trailer for Summer Wars and BAM right in the kisser it won best movie at 4 different festivals. And I post yearly awards from LoveHKfilm, Pan Asian Awards, HK critics society etc. It's not that had to get a read on what's good to watch. You could just ask me.
I'm just sad I can't share more great experiences with the people I love here. There are highly entertaining movies I know you guys would enjoy like Redline,Tai Chi Zero/Hero or Journey into the West, Wuxia, The Great Magician, Red Cliff, The Gallants etc and they've all upped their game, matching Hollywood in production and special effects etc.
I just got the new Detective Dee movie, it's a prequel called Young Detective Dee.
Also if you like the Heroic Bloodshed genre (John Woo style) then you would probably enjoy Johnnie To's: Exiled.
It's more of a slow mo style but very high quality and a quasi sequel to his earler movie The Mission but that's not that great although some people love it.
13 assassins was on Netflix streaming, I don't do the physical copy stuff. I generally don't care to read subtitles but I will make some exceptions. And I am bias with the award winning, award winning at stuff like sundance or American awards. It's easier to win a Hong Kong award if it's a Hong Kong movie
and I like going to the theater to watch movies as well.
Dvader said:13 assassins was on Netflix streaming, I don't do the physical copy stuff.
Why not? Is there no Blockbuster postal service or anything? For me with these movies I would rather buy from abroad, I get the dvds usually months before they ever release in the west and I get to keep them - or sell them on. Rather than going to some specialist niche cinema, pay to see it there and pay again to own it on dvd. Otherwise I just rent what ever is released here.
Dvader said:And I am bias with the award winning, award winning at stuff like sundance or American awards. It's easier to win a Hong Kong award if it's a Hong Kong movie
And it's easier to win an American award if it's an American movie. Case in point, every year the USA Oscars gives the best animation award to a USA Dreamworks or Disney Pixar feature, despite it being generic kids crap, most of the time. With far better films released from Japan. And also the best foreign film award at the Oscars limits countries to a couple to one entry each.
And it's easier for a foreign film to win an American award, if the movie demonstrates American film sensibilities.
But it's not just Hong Kong critics awarding HK movies, there are Pan Asian awards which cross continents and multiple countries. Many of these Asian films also win big at European awards too. Oldboy won at Cannes for instance. Tons of movies win at Fantasia. Summer Wars won at Asian, European and American festivals.
What I notice is that the Asian movies that get U.S attention usually get attention for their level of violence or action, the more violence the more exposure it gets.
Also, if you don't like reading subtitles you should at least check out the English dubbed animations. It just seems hinky that the first Kim Jee Woon you see is The Last Stand which is a pretty average meh movie, one of his worst, when his last movie was one of his best: the korean serial killing thriller: I Saw the Devil.
You have to pay extra to have netflix delivery . Pretty much all rental services are dead here . Blockbuster is gone.
i did not see last stand cause I knew the director, I saw it cause it had arnold. Does his other movies have Arnold? Noooo. 
That video was really funny.
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Dvader said:
Nice article thanks. My theory is that people went to see the first movie on hype, found it wasn't that great (as the hype at least) so didn't come back for more.
Trailer for Batman Assault on Arkham.
Mark Hamill is back as Joker.
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Of course I saw it by choice.
Ok real review time, I enjoyed this one more than the first cause the first felt like it was too much action, no time to breathe. This is a full on crime drama with insane action. It felt like I was watching Yakuza the movie with the different crime families and their personal relationships within them. It all builds up to the most insane fights you have ever seen. The final battle is literally 5 minutes long of non stop fighting. Some lady went to the bathroom about a minute into the fight, she arrived back and they were still kicking each others asses and it lasted for another few minuts.
Who ever this director is he has raised the bar for martial arts films, there is nothing out there like this. The way the camera catches every hit, every broken bone. You never lose track of the action. The sound makes every impact feel real. There is a flow to the combat that keeps the energy going deep into longer battles. This movie has a lot of locations so they were able to have much more variety in the kinds of action the movie has. There is a hammer fight that shits all over Oldboy.
My only personal issue with these movies is that they are not exactly my style of action movie. I obviously grew up on American cinema, I love my action starts to have a personality. I like them to say cheesy one liners. I want to root for them because of who they are as well as to see a great fight. The main character here still has the personality of a board, he hardly says anything, hardly has any character development. The other characters around him though get much deeper character archs, especially the son of the crime lord, he did an amazing job in this movie. I guess these movies are just too dry, too serious without much else going for them except that the action is just OMG THAT IS THE MOST AMAZING THING I HAVE EVER SEEN.
That said there is no way to watch this and not be super pumped up when you walk out of the theater. The credits rolled and I had my jaw on the floor. I wanted to fight 30 dudes right there and then. There needs to be a video game that feels like that when you fight, Yakuza is the closest thing but that games action is so stiff.