What in the hell is this?
Uhhhhhhh... Ok the Obi-Wan standup part was funny.
Last night I tried watching Uzumaki (The Vortex/Spiral). I only made it just past the half-way point and then I fell asleep. The plot is just completely unremarkable. It's about people in a small town becoming obsessed with spiral signs and their obsession consuming them and leading them to their death. It really is no less stupid than it sounds. I liked some of the visual style, the cinematography, the setting and the acting, but I don't think it'll be enough of a draw for me to watch the rest of it.
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bugsonglass said:Last night I tried watching Uzumaki (The Vortex/Spiral). I only made it just past the half-way point and then I fell asleep. The plot is just completely unremarkable. It's about people in a small town becoming obsessed with spiral signs and their obsession consuming them and leading them to their death. It really is no less stupid than it sounds. I liked some of the visual style, the cinematography, the setting and the acting, but I don't think it'll be enough of a draw for me to watch the rest of it.
Read the manga it's based on (It's written by Junji Ito, which is one of the most famous horror manga writers), it's much more clear than the movie and it still haves that beautifully grotesque visual design. As far as I know they cut a lot of stuff in the movie.
Stupid? Stupidly awesome/hilarious.
Right. I Saw The Devil...
GG and Juan are right. Brilliant film, I loved it. Not so much a serial killer flick, more of a psychological revenge thriller. Very very tense and thought the violence was not gratuitous or out of place. Not sure what to say about the ending. My initial reaction was ... "It's very unsatisfactory and it just won't do", but thinking about it a bit further. There was nothing he could really do. It was true that "he'd already lost".
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Killerjuan77 said:
Read the manga it's based on (It's written by Junji Ito, which is one of the most famous horror manga writers), it's much more clear than the movie and it still haves that beautifully grotesque visual design. As far as I know they cut a lot of stuff in the movie.
Can you hook a brotha up to a good source for manga?
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bugsonglass said:Right. I Saw The Devil...
GG and Juan are right. Brilliant film, I loved it. Not so much a serial killer flick, more of a psychological revenge thriller. Very very tense and thought the violence was not gratuitous or out of place. Not sure what to say about the ending. My initial reaction was ... "It's very unsatisfactory and it just won't do", but thinking about it a bit further. There was nothing he could really do. It was true that "he'd already lost".
I loved it, what a concept eh? A Bourne like spy implants a GPS in his girlfriends killer so he can appear at any time and kick the living shit out of him? The whole Korean revenge thing is spot on, no one today is doing revenge films like them and I love the whole notion that revenge is ultimately futile.
Kim Jee Woon is the director, he's also done some other notable Korean flicks, most of which I have seen or own (apart from the shorts). His new film is his english language debut The Last Stand starring Arnie. These are his films from most recent to oldest
- The Last Stand (post-production)
- Doomsday Book (a segment)
- I Saw the Devil
- The Good, the Bad, the Weird
- A Bittersweet Life
- A Tale of Two Sisters
- Three (segment "Memories")
- Coming Out (short)
- The Foul King (B) An average unachieving office worker finds an outlet, training to become a Korean wrestler - can be slow in places and funny in others
- The Quiet Family (D) You may know Miike's The Happiness of the Katakuris, that was a musical remake of this film about Hotel owners who have to cover up deaths in their hotel
I reviewed the four best in the DVD collection thread. What I like about Woon is that his films are often completely different in genre, one a drama about a wrestlet tinged with sadness, the other a horror movie, the next a Korean western action pic, then a serial killer/thriller fim, etc
The most painful scene is the slicing of the achilles tendon. It reminded me of "that scene" in Mr Vengeance.
I saw Tale of Two Sisters a few years ago. Think I need to watch it again. I hadn't realised it was the same director. Will try to locate TGTBTW and ABL
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gamingeek said:I loved it, what a concept eh? A Bourne like spy implants a GPS in his girlfriends killer so he can appear at any time and kick the living shit out of him? The whole Korean revenge thing is spot on, no one today is doing revenge films like them and I love the whole notion that revenge is ultimately futile.
Yes, you're totally right about Korean revenge films. There's still several I need to watch. Quite excited.
- Bedevilled (Which Juan mentioned in the other thread)
- The Chaser
- The Man from Nowhere
- Blades of Blood
- Bittersweet Life (which you were just telling me)
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bugsonglass said:I saw Tale of Two Sisters a few years ago.
I watched that film thinking, meh. What? Boring.
Then at the end I was like whoooooooooooooooooaaaaaaaa.
bugsonglass said:Yes, you're totally right about Korean revenge films. There's still several I need to watch. Quite excited.
- Bedevilled (Which Juan mentioned in the other thread)
- The Chaser
- The Man from Nowhere
- Blades of Blood
- Bittersweet Life (which you were just telling me)
The Man from Nowhere comes off as a Bittersweet Life knock off, several years too late. It's solid though. There is another film called No Mercy that I just posted a review for in the hype thread. The Chaser is pretty dark and in tone quite bludgeoning, it's not quite intelligent or sharp but it does have impact. I'll have to look into Blades of Blood as I haven't heard of it. There is a film called Public Enemy and its sequel. I saw the first and it's decent, notable for the ending where you really, really root for this murdering asshole to get beaten to a pulp. I don't think I've seen a more satisfying comeuppance scene in a movie and it seems like the kind of thing only south east asia would dare do in a film.
bugsonglass said:Yes, you're totally right about Korean revenge films. There's still several I need to watch. Quite excited.
- Bedevilled (Which Juan mentioned in the other thread)
- The Chaser
- The Man from Nowhere
- Blades of Blood
- Bittersweet Life (which you were just telling me)
Add Mother to that list, it's also really good.
Anyways, for the Uzumaki manga check this, this and this. I'll try to find a download later on to save you 30+ bucks. But yeah, the manga is much more clear and since it's not limited by the fact that an average movie is usually 90-120 minutes long it actually explains almost everything that's shown on the movie and also develops other things as well.
Killerjuan77 said:
Add Mother to that list, it's also really good.
I was really looking forward to Mother as it's from one of my favourite directors, loved Memories of Murder and the Host but Mother was good up until near the end which left me morally uneasy. You think one thing through the whole movie then that is flipped and your legs are taken.
Ah Blades of Blood, now I remember, I crossed it off my list because I did not like the King and the Clown, his earlier film.
Killerjuan77 said:
Add Mother to that list, it's also really good.Anyways, for the Uzumaki manga check this, this and this. I'll try to find a download later on to save you 30+ bucks
. But yeah, the manga is much more clear and since it's not limited by the fact that an average movie is usually 90-120 minutes long it actually explains almost everything that's shown on the movie and also develops other things as well.
That's kind of what I had in mind, but don't worry about it. Google is a friend to all.
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Foolz said:
Thanks foolz. Also found a download for it in jpgs. Will check which is easier to read. Looks stupid. Stupidly awesome/hilarious 
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Checked another film off GG's list. Saw "True Legend". First film directed by Yuen Woo-ping after 15 years of just doing (the most brilliantly awesome) fight choreographies. It's a thoroughly enjoyable movie. And it did take me back to the somewhat more innocent kung-fu films of my childhood. Definitely an A film for me. Good mix of styles and a big nod to Woo-ping's Drunken Master style obsessions during the last half hour of the film or so. They don't make many like this anymore.
edit: Methinks it's time to finally watch Fearless next!
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bugsonglass said:Checked another film off GG's list. Saw "True Legend". First film directed by Yuen Woo-ping after 15 years of just doing (the most brilliantly awesome) fight choreographies. It's a thoroughly enjoyable movie. And it did take me back to the somewhat more innocent kung-fu films of my childhood. Definitely an A film for me. Good mix of styles and a big nod to Woo-ping's Drunken Master style obsessions during the last half hour of the film or so. They don't make many like this anymore.
edit: Methinks it's time to finally watch Fearless next!
I did find it weird that the main story seemed to end after an hour and then it became almost a totally different film for the last half hour or so. Loved the beggining of the movie, the swordplay, wow. Wish it didn't have the CGI daggers but the sword play was wild, the way they clashed and swung with such precision and power. If only Star Wars could have had lightsabre fights like that.
In China the film is Called the Legend of Beggar So.
Beggar So, is the originator of the Drunken Style of fighting, one of the ten Tigers of Canton who defined certain styles of martial arts. I liked True Legend, I wasn't expecting a good movie based on the 90s Woo-Ping film I saw years ago, but the camera work, effects and script were all on another level of what I expected from him in particular. It's a shame this film didn't do better at the box office, Vincent Zhao is pretty spectacular as an action hero and IMO easily stands up to Donnie Yen for a modern action star they could use.
I didn't like how they funked up the main bad guy with weirdo armour and white skin and stuff. Could have done without that. I would love to see a whole movie like the first scene in the film, maybe with So's band of elite fighters in a war situation, doing more daring raids and stuff.
Fearless is awesome, try and see the directors cut if availible.
I saw the War of Arrows
Better than I expected, a very tense and enjoyable action film. Considering there are no cars, guns or explosions it's remarkable how much tension and excitement they can wring out of a movie about shooting arrows at each other. It kinda reminds me of a hardnosed no-nonsense Korean version of Van Dammes Hard Target movie.
The story is fairly conventional, this guys village is raided by the chinese emporer and this Korean dude goes to raise hell and get his sister back. There is one immensely cool scene with the main good guy and the emporer which I wont spoil.
It's pretty much an action movie and an enjoyable one at that.