Reviews

The Hong Kong film industry is a mixed bag with one side of the spectrum containing half decent films with fairly good acting and plot, and the other side containing complete and utter tosh story lines with the only redemption being the fighting. Hong Kong triad films (of which there are millions which gives you an indication of the type of people you will find in Hong Kong...) mostly fall into the 2nd tosh category. The only exception was Indecent Proposal... I mean, Internal Affairs 1 (and possibly 2...) which someone in America loved so much that they did an American version.

Donnie Yen has also starred in million of Hong Kong films. As someone mentioned, his career is also the same mixed bag. In recent years he has been involved in some respectful titles (Yip Man, Return of Chen Zhen, Painted Skin and Dragon Tiger gate amongst others). The problem is, he is known for his martial arts ability and poorly underused (or recognised) for his acting.

But I can't help but feel that he has been forced into being in this film. No-one in their right mind would choose to be in this pile of rubbish, much less a HK A-star.

Personally, there was one good thing about this movie. Despite being utter rubbish and a waste of 90 minutes it is STILL better than the rubbish that is called Iron Man 3, and that is why I gave Special ID 2/10. God knows how that other rubbish ended up as top grosser of 2013...

This is a feature film version of the Yang army story which is one of the legendary stories passed down from generation to generation amongst the Chinese population. The fact is, the film will not raise any kind of excitement or appreciation for anyone else other than Chinese people. For example, many reviewers do not even know that there are multiple versions of this story portrayed in multiple TV series. "So what?", they ask... well because you have something to compare to and once again, I stress that its all down to appreciation of the history of the story which most critics will have lacked.

It is true that there are similarities to 300 and Troy but this is executed with style. In fact, I would use the word "Style" to describe this remake. It has a stylish look and feel to it which saved what could have been disaster. The cast features a few big names who struggle to exert their screen presence due to the vast number of prominent characters. To my surprise none of the actors and actresses impressed me with their performances, which I found merely adequate. Instead, I was more impressed by the sets and choreography as well as the movie score. The cast features two big names, Ekin Cheng and Raymond Lam, who I had expected to shine. Instead they are allowed to fall back on their wooden acting (both are guilty of this acting style) which left the rest to veteran HK actor, Adam Cheng. Unfortunately Adam Cheng tends to excel in roles that are less serious, and I felt that someone with more physical presence was needed for the role of the General.

But still, I gave this film 10/10 purely in an effort to balance up the poor ratings given by the clueless. I was half expecting someone to confuse this film with "Saving Private Ryan". I never thought anyone would own up to it....

As most reviews have mentioned this is a refreshing and original variation on the vampire theme which does not fall flat on its face. I went in with the knowledge that Neil Jordan was also responsible for "Interview with a vampire" all those years ago. Byzantium had a similar feel to that.

Without giving away too much of the plot, we see two vampire who have opposing ideals. In this way, we see a stark similarity to the contrast between Lestat and Louis. We never truly find out how they became vampires but this mystery was actually best left untouched.

The only weakness for me was, I did not feel anything for any of the characters. There were romantic sub plots but these were so cold. In fact, the tone of the film was very cold and barren.

I watched this without being aware that it is based on a book. However, I an a fan of Guy Pearce and he played this role with his usual proficiency. The story and plot were solid and engaging, and the faint touches of humour gave a well-rounded polish to a low budget title which holds its own very well.

The usual elements of a good thriller plot are there. The pub scenes were probably the best and certainly produced the most chuckles.

If there was any complaint, it would probably be that Guy Pearce was too good looking for this role, and I felt that someone moodier and beefier might have done it more justice.

The title was obviously chosen to attract audiences but apart from the (very) loose connection to the Vikings, this has nothing to do with Thor. Indeed, the tribe could have been any other and it would not have mattered.

The acting was sub-standard with the best performance being from the dying King who manages to survive the entire duration of the quest despite us being told that his stomach contents are leaking out...

The storyline had potential but unfortunately ended up being extremely strange and needless. Characters behaved strangely without explanation. They also casted the wrong actor for the lead role. His acting was not terrible (in that I mean I have seen much worse than him in Hollywood blockbusters....), but they should have chosen someone with more physical presence.

In a nutshell, this is probably not worth your time watching but I can't say that its abysmal either when you take the budget into consideration. Pound for pound, it is still better than Man of Steel and a hundred times better than the rubbish that is called Iron Man 3.

Considering the regurgitated titles that have been coming out, that are coming out and that will come out, this movie gets 10/10 for me for originality, storyline plot, acting and food for thought. And all this achieved with a fraction of the budget needed for Man of Steel and the rubbish that is called Iron Man 3.

For people who enjoy films that make them think deeply about various issues, this is that film. It needs concentration throughout and the controversy theme will cause rifts with many people.

This is also a film that relies not only on one or two lead characters, but all the roles have their place and importance.

To summarise, I am very impressed and this is a rare titles in this day and age.

This low budget title is the third film of the D & D series. In terms of budget, storyline and effects it matches what we got with the second title. I would probably compare it with Armageddon 2 as the style is a close match.

The acting is not great but not terrible either. The plot and formula is very loyal to the D & D world, and it was cute to see some stereotypical elements being thrown in :) The lead actor makes for a perfect Paladin, and the rest of the characters portrayed their D & D roles quite faultlessly.

The ending could have been better and could actually have been engineered for a sequel.

In contrast to the "most useful" reviews, I actually agree with the critics. The budget clearly went into the action and for this, I score the movie 10 out of 10. The fight scenes are an incredible match for what you see in the cartoons, and I was very impressed. Unfortunately, there were only two other positive aspects for me:

1. Russell Crowe, who gave a surprisingly good portrayal of Jor-El.

2. Although I disliked the rest of the movie, it is still better than the rubbish that is called "Iron Man 3".

Although you could argue that this was the Superman from an alternate age, I did not get any kind of feeling for the actor's portrayal. Disappointing since he obviously felt bad after losing the 2006 role to a relatively unknown actor who, in my opinion, did a better job of playing Superman than he did. We waited 7 years for him to do a better job and yet, we get a lifeless wooden performance instead. That said, Amy Adams was no better. Both the leads gave very wooden lifeless performances which was a big big letdown. For me, the lead actor and actress had no chemistry whatsoever.

I normally hate reboots but after watching this version of Superman, I can't wait for another reboot.... the decision to pull the plug on Brandon Routh was a stupid one.

It's far too late to say this now and besides, I won't be the first to say it. Neither am I the first to fall into the trap of either:

a. Believing some fool who told me that it's the best of the trilogy.

b. Feeling the need to complete the series.

c. Ignoring the bad reviews here and deciding to make up my own mind.

Now I just feel that I have wasted the price of a cinema ticket :(

I'm just sad that most (if not all) Marvel fans would have seen this film already and are sharing the exact sentiments which I have.

Lesson learned is, trust the reviews when more than a dozen say a film is bad...

People will always compare it with the LOTR trilogy, consciously or otherwise. And that is the biggest challenge facing the Hobbit trilogy. After watching it my first comment was, it should have been made before the LOTR trilogy.

As a film on its own, it is overall a very impressive effort. I read many reviews which criticised the inflation of certain scenes to make up the 3 hours and I entirely agree. I also agree that certain characters did not need to be in the film. But when I saw the Warner Brothers and MGM logos at the start of the film, I did wonder what level of control Peter Jackson had over the script content...

The Hobbit should not be a trilogy and the films do not need to be 3 hours duration each. There is no need to force the story to match the LOTR trilogy. I dread to think what extra material is going to be included in the Director's cut...

Another film that made me so angry for wasting 2 hours. This is truly one of the worse martial arts films I've ever watched. It lacks everything except fighting. Fight scene after fight scene with no purpose. It is a huge shame because Ong Bak 1 was such a good film when compared with this pile of trash. Even Ong Bak: Tom Yum Gung featured the same style of humour which balances the intense fight scenes.

Tony Jaa utters about 2 sentences in the entire film whilst trying to showcase his skill of weaponry in the style which is put to shame by better films made by the Shaw Brothers. We just get to see scene after scene of the invincible Tony Jaa fighting his way through "martial arts experts" whilst being severely injured.

I lack the words to go any further. Don't waste your valuable time on this rubbish. I won't be watching any more Tony Jaa films after this.

I only found out that this film is directed by the same person who directed 'Ringu' after I watched the film. It all fell into place why the film's atmosphere matched that of it's predecessor. Using water as it's main disturbing element, the director brings forth a dark and dank shooting location within the confines of an apartment building. Whilst watching this film, I constantly found myself drawing comparisons to 'Ringu' simply because the mood, storyline, music and even the conclusion were all too similar. In this sense, the film lacks complete originality. Whereas 'Ringu' managed to rescue itself from ridicule by injecting an urban myth as it's malevolent force, 'Dark Water' has no such luxury. Like a friend commented, this film could've been made as a 45 min Outer Limits episode. If you're a big fan of 'Ringu', you may wish to watch this film for completeness sake. Otherwise, steer clear.

The film begins in Japan where a man (Leslie Cheung) proposes to a woman (Takako Tokiwa). Unfortunately, the man dies in a tragic car accident and the girl is left very depressed. Unable to let go of the past, she decides to visit the man's home country (Hong Kong). During her visit to his HK offices, she bumps into an undercover cop who bears an uncanny resemblance to her boyfriend.

This film is basically a romance mixed in with a police story that is quite frankly filler material. Leslie Cheung plays a character (Sek Gar Bo) who has been driven into his work through grief at losing his girlfriend. Takako Tokiwa plays the female lead (Hitomi) who becomes immersed in Gar Bo's problems. There is a cameo appearance from Michelle Yeoh whose screen presence never ceases to amaze me. Her brief performance alone almost made the movie worth watching. Takako Tokiwa puts on a cute Cantonese accent, and with her charming eyes, she will no doubt keep Japanese girl fetishists smiling.

I first came across this film upon the shelves of a VCD shop way before it was released in London. I must admit that I was attracted to the cover and I actually did not watch the movie as a movie until about a month ago when it was shown in the Prince Charles cinema. Like a typical Japanese movie, it begins very slowly and the tension is minimal. We see the main character as a middle-aged individual who lives a lonely life together with his son. When his son begins dating, he decides to do the same. But in today's modern society, a traditional yet beautiful Japanese female is few and far between (*sigh*) and his friends comes up with a wacky idea on how to find such a person. Takashi Miike's film puts a dark edge on the subject of blind dating as the take home message could be along the lines of: You never can know what the other person is hiding. Now we all know that this is true in every given situation - after all, when has any of your partners ever fully opened themselves up to you? More to the point, when have YOU ever fully opened yourselves up to any of your partners? Most films that deliver this topic does so in a mildly shocking manner with revelations taking the form of adultry, devil-worshipping or gender swopping, amongst others. Instead, Takashi Miike decides to use something else that is a lot darker , and he goes to prove that the Japanese really are the world's leaders in wide-angle psychology (in other words, they have a vivid sense of imagination and they realise their fantasies). There are a lot of elements in the film that are unexplained but this is not the point. The point of the film is to shock since it is both a psychological thriller and a blood/gore fest for the horror fan. I personally found another angle of the film which drew me in, but that is another review for another day.

Like some films, I came to this one having heard all the hype and bonanza. To be honest I hadn't planned on watching it until the DVD came out - I tend not stay away from films that have received a lot of hype. Apart from one single negative review (from someone who does not lack cynicism at the worst of times I might add), everyone else had given this film the thumbs-up. So I sat in anticipation. The slow start certainly made me wonder what all the fuss was all about. But gradually, the film began to unwrap and it displayed some impressive cinematography. We're also given a lot of martial arts scenes where reels upon reels of strings must have been used up to achieve the ridiculous flying sequences. I've watched many an Oriental martial arts movie in my lifetime and never before have I seen such spectacular heights. The one piece of credit I will give to the action is the lack of fake sound effects whch are often the bane of martial arts movies (yes, even Bruce Lee fight scenes. ESPECIALLY Bruce Lee fight scenes!). The main bulk of the acting is actually done by Michelle Yeoh and Zhang Zi Yi who both put in extremely intense performances. I've always viewed Yeoh as ranking alongside the likes of Maggie Cheung and Anita Mui (Funnily enough, they all made a film together). The way in which they express emotion is something that most Hong Kong movies sadly lack-but then, most HK movies are action-orientated. Zhang portrays a somewhat different character to Yeoh's. being younger, we see a brash, rebellious and brave individual who yearns to break free of tradition. In a way, Ang Lee is providing a picture of The modern Oriental female's inclination in life. In Zhang's character, we see both innocence and petulence and this is why the audience is immediately taken to her. As for action, I wrote off all the fight scenes except for two - the one where they are trying to take down the baddie, and the one in the courtyard between Yeoh and Zhang. The latter was breathtaking and is amongst the best I've ever seen. I suspect that there were various ideas for the film's ending. I suspect this because I would've chosen a different ending myself. I must confess that I did not understand the point of it until a friend explained what she thought it meant. And if it is what she thought, then I'd have to say that whoever decided upon the ending must have lost the plot. After all, there is a limit to romanticism which one can objectively justify, even in a romantic storyline. To put it another way: If the film was animated, then the ending would've been apt.

It's true that movies adapted from arcade games have never had an original or involved storyline. All of them rely on action and special effects to carry them through . However, each movie has it's own style. Mortal Kombat followed a similar storyline to 'Enter The Dragon' where a group of warriors travelled to a deserted island and kicked the bad guy's butt. Street Fighter has stayed on the anime canvas all the way through this (apart from the s*** which featured Jean Claude Van Damme which I personally do not count as a movie) and the first feature made in Japan was a great success even though there wasn't a great storyline. The thing that did it for me was the character portrayal and the relationship between Ryu and Ken. I remember being so disappointed when they did not fight each other. In addition, the touching flashbacks to their past really added to the film's magnetism. As many a SF2 fan would know, the original Japanese script and soundtrack was taken by Manga and translated into English. The soundtrack was completely wiped and replaced with grunge metal. Imagine my disapointment when I found that SF Alpha contained the same sounding grunge. It became apparent to me that this was a Manga-produced project and it really shows in the difference in drawings. For instance, Ryu does not look Japanese at all. Whoever designed his facial profile should be lynched and whoever decided to give him blue eyes should be slashed to pieces as well. Ken, on the other hand, looks far better (though by no means an improvement on his original look in the first movie). Aside from all this, the film focuses far too much on Ryu's personal struggle with is powers. They really should've gone with sticking to a good guys vs bad guys storyline. A few characters from the Alpha game are featured but are cameo roles to make up the numbers. Chun Li is also present but the animators seem more interested in drawing her crotch than anything else. To summarise, disappointing storyline, disappointing animation and even worse soundtrack. Manga should've left this to the 'real' experts in anime.