Seb-15
Lifetime Total
10+
Lifetime Trivia
1+
Reviews
Longa noite (2019)
Plotless pedantry
The first principle of a film is that it should have a semblance of a plot. A person does an action in a place. This falls down right away as a film. At minimum we must have some kind of story to tell. It'sa film, not a collection of pet photos. If you take the immaculate scenery they have found and took them and printed them and made "Galicia At Night" it would be a gorgeous photo book. But as a movie this offers nothing.
A hyper minimalist saunter through Franco-Spain in an unspecified time by unspecified people somehow stretches the 90 minutes runtime into a long tedious slog. Characters were never get the name of muse conversationally about a time we don't know about. Every shot feels 10-90 seconds too long and too lingering, as if the director knew the Arthouse crowd will eat up a 50 second closeup of a cow breathing. But films that dabbled in self-importance usually accompany their grandeur with more than Chiaroscuro visuals of a forest.
Hopefully some people will enjoy the visuals or be looking for a collection of short stories about life in Spain, but for me it was a real struggle. Will not be revisiting.
A hyper minimalist saunter through Franco-Spain in an unspecified time by unspecified people somehow stretches the 90 minutes runtime into a long tedious slog. Characters were never get the name of muse conversationally about a time we don't know about. Every shot feels 10-90 seconds too long and too lingering, as if the director knew the Arthouse crowd will eat up a 50 second closeup of a cow breathing. But films that dabbled in self-importance usually accompany their grandeur with more than Chiaroscuro visuals of a forest.
Hopefully some people will enjoy the visuals or be looking for a collection of short stories about life in Spain, but for me it was a real struggle. Will not be revisiting.
Umibe no eigakan - Kinema no tamatebako (2019)
A visually confusing, auditory assault that somehow is incredible
As an avid Japanese cinema guy, I've seen my fair share of great films, from the sublime Kurosawa epics to the modern horror, drama and historical samurai sword-and-sandals films we sometimes are blessed with. What I have never seen is a film that is somehow 3 hours long, and yet is also somehow one of the fastest paced films I've come across. It is in equal measures incredible visually, in that I will forever remember the visuals. They aren't cutting edge CGI scenes depicted, and yet every janky goldfish floating in a spaceship, random camera lense refocus, and amateur hour photoshop visual is somehow pleasing to the eye. The sound is 100% mis-synched and I presume on purpose to reflect olden films and the visual medium. There's a great visual gag on subtitled films as well, which is then also offset with smelly fart gags.
The story is simple enough, 3 moviegoers and a fourth young innocent girl, Noriko, are sucked into the war films they are watching, playing out little vignettes from spoofs of wartime classics. The acting is incredible, in that it somehow works despite being over the top, unsynched, and at times unhinged. The directing is superb, because I don't have a single doubt that in the 3 years it took to make this while the Director was dying of lung cancer, he was meticulous and every random floating goldfish and fart joke, every heartfelt love confession, each brutal rape scene, all have a role to play in the service of two key things.
The first is a genuine overt love for cinema, the power to move and the power to mislead, and in doing so to still arrive at a truth that, at its best, elevates us all and has the power to shape our future. With his nods to film-making, to classics in Japanese cinema, to nods to film-makers who perished too early in war themselves, Obayashi is both paying tribute and asserting the importance of the works of fiction on society.
The second, more overt and yet also more difficult to stomach, is the agony and at times evil of war, through the lens of atrocities committed during war, after the war, and the impact of this on people. There is no shortage of people having the worst brought out of them through the wars they are involved in, and our hapless protagonists interactions with them all.
Fundamentally, having some understanding of Japanese can go a long way as the subtitles fail to capture the on-screen written Japanese for several key scenes, and the importance of seeing an Okinawa-based dialogue alongside the Japanese subtitles alongside the English ones are pretty challenging. But also, the importance of the Boshin War on Japan and the removal of the Tokugawa shogunate, bringing forth the Meiji era of modernization of Japan, as well as the Sino-Japanese war and the fighting in Manchuria are central to the importance of the anti-war message. Indeed, as noted in some critic reviews, Western audiences probably only start to feel more at home once you get to World War II, the Okinawa draft experience and the bombing of Hiroshima, as easy references. It's also where those who have visited Hiroshima start to feel a sinking feeling as the people on screen in the final moments are those made most famous in the museum including what appears to be the crane girl, and the burned soldiers, and culminating in the scene of the shadow on the steps, an image that cannot be forgotten once seen. These effective moments are incredibly moving and chilling, which is a weird feeling in a film that announces itself with enthusiastic reading of the opening credits, puts in a fake intermission, and even thanks some random actor who couldn't be there, which is never really explored. I can't tell if that is a genuine thank you to an actor who could not travel, or if this is just more fiction to harken back to the olden days.
The mixture of silly slapstick, crazy cuts, deep and profound moments in Japanese history, crucial poems from a wartime poems, and an unconventional narrative with the very serious and dour tones of war as the film progresses are something that shouldn't work. I should be rating it 1/10 for visuals for what is "janky" CGI, or 1/10 for sound that simply will not synch to the actors speaking the lines, or 1/10 for the narrative structure that is all over the shop. But it works, I don't know how, but it absolutely works. It's a masterpiece of cinema, an ode the joys of film, a tribute to those whose life goal was to make great films, and a fitting end to an incredible career by Obayashi, who sadly couldn't see his work get a general release. It was ironically scheduled for domestic release on the day he died, but was pulled due to the pandemic.
I cannot recommend highly enough that people watch this, and I do think that you need to get through the full film as there's a strong turn for the "familiar" that comes with moving into Okinawa 1941 that might help those not as familiar with Japanese history.
The story is simple enough, 3 moviegoers and a fourth young innocent girl, Noriko, are sucked into the war films they are watching, playing out little vignettes from spoofs of wartime classics. The acting is incredible, in that it somehow works despite being over the top, unsynched, and at times unhinged. The directing is superb, because I don't have a single doubt that in the 3 years it took to make this while the Director was dying of lung cancer, he was meticulous and every random floating goldfish and fart joke, every heartfelt love confession, each brutal rape scene, all have a role to play in the service of two key things.
The first is a genuine overt love for cinema, the power to move and the power to mislead, and in doing so to still arrive at a truth that, at its best, elevates us all and has the power to shape our future. With his nods to film-making, to classics in Japanese cinema, to nods to film-makers who perished too early in war themselves, Obayashi is both paying tribute and asserting the importance of the works of fiction on society.
The second, more overt and yet also more difficult to stomach, is the agony and at times evil of war, through the lens of atrocities committed during war, after the war, and the impact of this on people. There is no shortage of people having the worst brought out of them through the wars they are involved in, and our hapless protagonists interactions with them all.
Fundamentally, having some understanding of Japanese can go a long way as the subtitles fail to capture the on-screen written Japanese for several key scenes, and the importance of seeing an Okinawa-based dialogue alongside the Japanese subtitles alongside the English ones are pretty challenging. But also, the importance of the Boshin War on Japan and the removal of the Tokugawa shogunate, bringing forth the Meiji era of modernization of Japan, as well as the Sino-Japanese war and the fighting in Manchuria are central to the importance of the anti-war message. Indeed, as noted in some critic reviews, Western audiences probably only start to feel more at home once you get to World War II, the Okinawa draft experience and the bombing of Hiroshima, as easy references. It's also where those who have visited Hiroshima start to feel a sinking feeling as the people on screen in the final moments are those made most famous in the museum including what appears to be the crane girl, and the burned soldiers, and culminating in the scene of the shadow on the steps, an image that cannot be forgotten once seen. These effective moments are incredibly moving and chilling, which is a weird feeling in a film that announces itself with enthusiastic reading of the opening credits, puts in a fake intermission, and even thanks some random actor who couldn't be there, which is never really explored. I can't tell if that is a genuine thank you to an actor who could not travel, or if this is just more fiction to harken back to the olden days.
The mixture of silly slapstick, crazy cuts, deep and profound moments in Japanese history, crucial poems from a wartime poems, and an unconventional narrative with the very serious and dour tones of war as the film progresses are something that shouldn't work. I should be rating it 1/10 for visuals for what is "janky" CGI, or 1/10 for sound that simply will not synch to the actors speaking the lines, or 1/10 for the narrative structure that is all over the shop. But it works, I don't know how, but it absolutely works. It's a masterpiece of cinema, an ode the joys of film, a tribute to those whose life goal was to make great films, and a fitting end to an incredible career by Obayashi, who sadly couldn't see his work get a general release. It was ironically scheduled for domestic release on the day he died, but was pulled due to the pandemic.
I cannot recommend highly enough that people watch this, and I do think that you need to get through the full film as there's a strong turn for the "familiar" that comes with moving into Okinawa 1941 that might help those not as familiar with Japanese history.
House of the Dead (2003)
Interesting but flawed action-film with a horror theme
It is always amusing to watch a horror film that shows an eagerness to impress, even if at times it loses its focus on just how to do that. That is exactly what House of the Dead holds. There are some flaws, sometimes serious, sometimes minor, which can lend themselves to keeping this film from being spectacular.
The film is in essence a prequel to everyone favourite shoot-em-up game, helping to set the stage for why the evil doctor we all know became interested with death and life, and how he might have gotten interested in this very phenomena. The film itself begins, rather confusingly, with one of our protagonists, the one who matters the most. He is on the island of death, about to be joined by a few more colorful teens.
The teens are on their way to attend a massive rave, which is perhaps not as massive as we would like, but for $7 million total budget, I'm quite happy Uwe Boll didn't spend too much money or time on making this rave look like something stupendous. Besides, how often haven't we heard something be called 'party of the millennium' because it got 2 kegs instead of 1. I digress. The teens arrive on the deserted island courtesy of the ever-impressive Jurgen Prochnow, dressed as though he stepped off Das Boot a few years later, yet again a very clever stroke by Uwe Boll. Some lame jokes about being called Captain Kirk is cleared up by the wielding of a very large knife. Kirk and his side-kick and comical rip-off, Clint Howard, agree to take the teens out to the rave, and of course gets drawn into the madness. They get a few scenes to get used to the island, and then the story kicks off.
This is where Boll has either stumbled across something brilliant, or perhaps missed the note from Romero about what zombies should be like. However it is where he hits the Game square on the head. The action sequences begin, and continue as you see effectively hundreds of cool-looking zombies dispatched by an array of firearms. Inbetween cool shooting scenes you get to find a bit more back-story to the island and a bit more character development, though admittedly I care about them no more than I cared about most of the NOES kids or the F13 Jason-fodder. Still, I appreciate the token effort. It also builds into the climactic fight-scene, a massive FX-laden shoot-out. Boll has discovered a new toy here, and he uses it to good effect, though he could've done without repeating it too often. Still, it shows Jurgen Prochnow blowing away a good array of nasty creatures. For those of us who loved the game, you have to love seeing zombies being blown away left right and center as they try to approach for that deadly bite. I loved this scene, it pretty much ratified the whole film for me.
From here we would move into the resolution of the film, where we manage to tie together the back-story, game-plot, and the plot itself into a singular finale.
So why is this film being lauded as the worst film ever? I have no idea. If you look at horror films and some action films from cinematic history, this is well-acted by the main characters, has a lot of action, a lot of time put into its zombies and blood, and has some funky shots in it. Are there flaws? Absolutely. I'm not a fan of the soundtrack, some of the sound is poorly balanced, and there could've been a few more scenes in the end, but overall, this is a perfectly watchable film.
Sadly, most people won't give it a shot because of the great fun that is 'Uwe Boll hatred' on the internet. It's silly and childish, and if you want to be taken seriously, watch this film and form your own opinions, don't just feed off a poorly made hate-campaign against a perfectly competent film-maker.
The film is in essence a prequel to everyone favourite shoot-em-up game, helping to set the stage for why the evil doctor we all know became interested with death and life, and how he might have gotten interested in this very phenomena. The film itself begins, rather confusingly, with one of our protagonists, the one who matters the most. He is on the island of death, about to be joined by a few more colorful teens.
The teens are on their way to attend a massive rave, which is perhaps not as massive as we would like, but for $7 million total budget, I'm quite happy Uwe Boll didn't spend too much money or time on making this rave look like something stupendous. Besides, how often haven't we heard something be called 'party of the millennium' because it got 2 kegs instead of 1. I digress. The teens arrive on the deserted island courtesy of the ever-impressive Jurgen Prochnow, dressed as though he stepped off Das Boot a few years later, yet again a very clever stroke by Uwe Boll. Some lame jokes about being called Captain Kirk is cleared up by the wielding of a very large knife. Kirk and his side-kick and comical rip-off, Clint Howard, agree to take the teens out to the rave, and of course gets drawn into the madness. They get a few scenes to get used to the island, and then the story kicks off.
This is where Boll has either stumbled across something brilliant, or perhaps missed the note from Romero about what zombies should be like. However it is where he hits the Game square on the head. The action sequences begin, and continue as you see effectively hundreds of cool-looking zombies dispatched by an array of firearms. Inbetween cool shooting scenes you get to find a bit more back-story to the island and a bit more character development, though admittedly I care about them no more than I cared about most of the NOES kids or the F13 Jason-fodder. Still, I appreciate the token effort. It also builds into the climactic fight-scene, a massive FX-laden shoot-out. Boll has discovered a new toy here, and he uses it to good effect, though he could've done without repeating it too often. Still, it shows Jurgen Prochnow blowing away a good array of nasty creatures. For those of us who loved the game, you have to love seeing zombies being blown away left right and center as they try to approach for that deadly bite. I loved this scene, it pretty much ratified the whole film for me.
From here we would move into the resolution of the film, where we manage to tie together the back-story, game-plot, and the plot itself into a singular finale.
So why is this film being lauded as the worst film ever? I have no idea. If you look at horror films and some action films from cinematic history, this is well-acted by the main characters, has a lot of action, a lot of time put into its zombies and blood, and has some funky shots in it. Are there flaws? Absolutely. I'm not a fan of the soundtrack, some of the sound is poorly balanced, and there could've been a few more scenes in the end, but overall, this is a perfectly watchable film.
Sadly, most people won't give it a shot because of the great fun that is 'Uwe Boll hatred' on the internet. It's silly and childish, and if you want to be taken seriously, watch this film and form your own opinions, don't just feed off a poorly made hate-campaign against a perfectly competent film-maker.
Ashura-jô no hitomi (2005)
Astonishing Japanese film brings back theater to the Cinema
Set in Japan, Ashura is the story of Demons taking over the earth. The premise is far more complicated, but the arching storyline should not be forgotten. Japan is in turmoil, with Demons occupying human form roaming the lands. Generally speaking Demons look and act like humans, but are evil. The Japanese word they use is not just demons, but rather the classical form of 'ogre' which is a mythological creature of some historic stature. We're talking about creatures that would appear more like gods than simple ugly child-eating monsters.
However in human form all that remains is the green eyes and green teeth, which appear when put under any sort of stress. In order to save the world from Demons there are Demon-slayers. Trained and skilled warriors who can spot and defeat most every kind of demon, and who guard the passage-way between the realm of hell and that of the real world. These are the basic premises.
The story begins with a festival in a local town. Amid these festivities, 3 men ride in, dressed in all black, seemingly intent on doing harm. The villagers run, excepting those which are demonic in nature, who turn green-eyed and try to kill them. The Demon-Slayers end up killing off the majority of the demons. From here the story gets interesting. The whole essence of the story begins when at the gate to hell a fortune-telling demon appears before the 3 gate-keepers, revealing the arrival of Ashura. With it, comes the end of the reign of man, and begins the reign of demons. Ashura however requires some form of birthing process, the first step of which occurred during the opening battle, but which won't be revealed to you until you see the film. The 3 demon-slayers are a wise old man, a powerful yet unprincipled man, and a skilled and compassionate warrior. Immediately you can see the split between them, the old man wanting to stop the demons, the powerful one wanting to bend them to his increasing ego maniacal wishes and the third looking to stop the second. Along the way he meets a woman who he begins to take fancy to, and believes himself to have a special relationship with. She in turn is a brigand who is good-natured, sought after by authorities. When the two finally meet face to face, he places his hand on her shoulder, and suddenly she is scathed by a mark on her shoulder. Needless to say, the mark is not a good sign. What ensues is a battle for earth, a battle between both good and evil, as it should be, but also between good and good itself.
The point for me of this film became something other than what I thought it would. I came in thinking it would either be a fast-paced action style film with demons, or a horror film with macabre evil and foul creatures the likes of which would be seen in Ringu and Ju-on. I was however mistaken in the best possible way. The story it seemed to me is an adaptation of a very old Japanese play, and it plays itself out as such, combining the essentially action driven adrenaline scenes with a great concept, an amazing narrative, and a style which makes you compelled to think rather than just sit wallowing in gore. Many scenes are painted with luxurious dialogue between two characters the likes of which will never be seen in a Hollywood film. It becomes a practically theatrical experience which takes your breath away.
The film makes use of some immaculate scenery and camera-work comparable to many great Samurai films of our days, but adding to it a well-thought and classical plot. With great acting, great music, and thoroughly stunning scenes, its a must watch in my book.
That being said, it does need the disclaimer that it is not for everyone. Its not cheap thrills horror, its not balls to the wall action. Its a horror style play thats been filmed. It has very much to say and takes the time to do so, flying in the face of the conventional one-liners. Like Japanese plays, the exchanges between the characters can last for many minutes before they come together for a quick yet marvelous battle scene. If you can enjoy such a thing, this is a masterpiece. If your idea of a good film is slasher flicks with little plot and excessive nudity, then you can easily watch something else.
Overall, this film to me is a unique and amazing one, which keeps you riveted and amused. it has good writing, good acting, and good direction. It is all in all a solidly great film.
However in human form all that remains is the green eyes and green teeth, which appear when put under any sort of stress. In order to save the world from Demons there are Demon-slayers. Trained and skilled warriors who can spot and defeat most every kind of demon, and who guard the passage-way between the realm of hell and that of the real world. These are the basic premises.
The story begins with a festival in a local town. Amid these festivities, 3 men ride in, dressed in all black, seemingly intent on doing harm. The villagers run, excepting those which are demonic in nature, who turn green-eyed and try to kill them. The Demon-Slayers end up killing off the majority of the demons. From here the story gets interesting. The whole essence of the story begins when at the gate to hell a fortune-telling demon appears before the 3 gate-keepers, revealing the arrival of Ashura. With it, comes the end of the reign of man, and begins the reign of demons. Ashura however requires some form of birthing process, the first step of which occurred during the opening battle, but which won't be revealed to you until you see the film. The 3 demon-slayers are a wise old man, a powerful yet unprincipled man, and a skilled and compassionate warrior. Immediately you can see the split between them, the old man wanting to stop the demons, the powerful one wanting to bend them to his increasing ego maniacal wishes and the third looking to stop the second. Along the way he meets a woman who he begins to take fancy to, and believes himself to have a special relationship with. She in turn is a brigand who is good-natured, sought after by authorities. When the two finally meet face to face, he places his hand on her shoulder, and suddenly she is scathed by a mark on her shoulder. Needless to say, the mark is not a good sign. What ensues is a battle for earth, a battle between both good and evil, as it should be, but also between good and good itself.
The point for me of this film became something other than what I thought it would. I came in thinking it would either be a fast-paced action style film with demons, or a horror film with macabre evil and foul creatures the likes of which would be seen in Ringu and Ju-on. I was however mistaken in the best possible way. The story it seemed to me is an adaptation of a very old Japanese play, and it plays itself out as such, combining the essentially action driven adrenaline scenes with a great concept, an amazing narrative, and a style which makes you compelled to think rather than just sit wallowing in gore. Many scenes are painted with luxurious dialogue between two characters the likes of which will never be seen in a Hollywood film. It becomes a practically theatrical experience which takes your breath away.
The film makes use of some immaculate scenery and camera-work comparable to many great Samurai films of our days, but adding to it a well-thought and classical plot. With great acting, great music, and thoroughly stunning scenes, its a must watch in my book.
That being said, it does need the disclaimer that it is not for everyone. Its not cheap thrills horror, its not balls to the wall action. Its a horror style play thats been filmed. It has very much to say and takes the time to do so, flying in the face of the conventional one-liners. Like Japanese plays, the exchanges between the characters can last for many minutes before they come together for a quick yet marvelous battle scene. If you can enjoy such a thing, this is a masterpiece. If your idea of a good film is slasher flicks with little plot and excessive nudity, then you can easily watch something else.
Overall, this film to me is a unique and amazing one, which keeps you riveted and amused. it has good writing, good acting, and good direction. It is all in all a solidly great film.
The Godfather Trilogy: 1901-1980 (1992)
A very powerful trilogy of Mafia Life
This movie was one of the best movie I have ever seen! Featuring
great plots, great acting performances by Marlon Brando, Robert
Duval, and Al Pacino! The story of Michael Corleone as a Mafia
boss is one of the best series ever created! If you haven't seen
it, you most definitely should.
great plots, great acting performances by Marlon Brando, Robert
Duval, and Al Pacino! The story of Michael Corleone as a Mafia
boss is one of the best series ever created! If you haven't seen
it, you most definitely should.