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'What, pray tell, is this?' you may ask. Well, the main character, a Seoul city detective, is planning a sex change to become a woman. But that's just half of the plot. This is just his private life. On duty, in the eyes of everyone else, he is an extremely violent police man. This guy refuses to use his gun or his handcuffs to arrest criminals, but rather he punches the crap out of them. Even if there is room full of bodyguards (like in the opening scene), he will use everything else as weapon to litteraly demolish 15 guys, before punching the main gangster to within an inch of his life. In this scene alone features more throat slashing than I'd expect in the entire duration of a standard american action film.
The middle of the film handles the personal aspect of the character, until, in typical South Korean tradition, all hell breaks loose in the last 40 minutes and the body count piles up to the point of making the Bond franchise jealous. The main guy just goes on full rambo mode, with 2 knives in each hands and just stabs to death any bad guy he comes across.
As for actor portraying the lead role, he is simply astonishing. Try to picture a guy as criminally good looking as Pierce Brosnan, but who fights as good as Daniel Craig's Bond would, and better still, moves like an ox as Sean Connery did. I've never seen this actor before, but in the first scene alone he made a lasting impression on me.
A lot of east Asian and south east Asian action movies put Hollywood movies to embarrassing shame. You should check out these 2 awesome Korean movies, a bitter sweet life and the man from nowhere.
Just finished The Divine Move. This South Korean film centers on the board game 'baduk', known as 'Go' in the english world. The movie switches from several style. At the start it's a prison movie, with a lot of fights (the main guy taking on 7/8 guys by himself and demolishes them), and then it turns into a full on revenge flick for the last 90 minutes. The hero uses not only his fighting techniques, but his brain, as he takes down an underground, gangster controlled 'Go' industry.
Lots of tension during the Go battles (IMO something the americans directors would struggle with, but here they succeed effortlessly), and then there are a lot of extremely brutal fight. The last one is very memorable, as in a confined environment the hero will take on atleast 15 guys, while about 15 minutes prior to this, one of his ally decided to face off a half dozen bad guys who were armed with baseball bats and metal bars.
Entertaining B-movie style thriller starring Nicole Kidman and Colin Firth.
Horror fans will spot the clichés and nods to Hitchcock a mile off. However the story is engaging enough and benefits from excellent performances from Kidman, Firth (particularly good) and Marc Strong.
Another South Korean crime film, and is it beyond excellent. 15 years ago, a serial killer claimed the lives of 10 women. He's been hunted ever since by a detective who is obsessed by the case. But, after 15 years, the case reaches the statute of limitations, and with no-one convicted, the official hunt for the murderer is over. Now, the day after the statute of limitations, a guy starts claiming he is the killer and releases a book about all his murders from 15 years ago. So the film is basically about 'did he do it or not?'. Then, about half way through the movie, the story flips on it's head, and you are in for an absolute thrill ride.
This movie, for the first 90 minutes, is just as good as who-dunnit classics like 'Se7en' an 'Usual Suspects'. Finally, a post-1990's crime movie to the level of these epic films? Well, you'd be wrong, as the last 30 minutes of the film is the most intense sequence I've ever seen, and IMO makes me rate this film higher than Se7en and Usual Suspect. This film is a total masterclass on how to do a crime/detective movie. You better hang yourself tight, as the the last 3rd of the movie is 200% edge-of-your-seat stuff.
It's a shame this movie is not as well known as Se7en and Usual Suspects, as it shows that no matter how good Hollywood can get, these South Korean guys have a few tricks up their sleeves to teach them a lesson. This is a must-see movie.
A Company Man (2012. Yet another South Korean action film, this time about a hitman who gets into trouble and is forced to be on the run from this company. The main actor is a pleasure to watch, cool as ice, looking very slick in his suit, and when he needs to up the ant, he sure can demolish any guy that gets in his way.
The last 20 minutes or so are pure, flat-out action, with some huge fist fights and gun fights. The body count of those 20 minutes is also very high.
Nameless Gangster (2012). You liked 'Casino' and 'Goodfellas'? This is for you! This is South Korea's answer to the gangster films. The story is simple: in the early 1980's, a civil servant working in a shipping dock stumbles unto a sizeable load of crystal meth, and decides to team up with a local gangster. They slowly but surely climb up the ladder, only to become the most powerful crime partnership in Busan.
The main actor is played by Choi Min-sik, most know as the hero in 'Oldboy' and the bad guy in 'I Saw The Devil' . Here, he gives the performance of a lifetime, as the comical, yet very ill tempered wannabe gangster, who is thirsty for power.
And if you still aren't 100% excited for this film (looking at you, Creasy47 and @DarthDimi), let me tell you this: when these gangsters have a problem with a competitor, do they bring out the machine guns? No! They assemble an army of 20/30 guys armed with baseball bats, and send them to seriously kick the butts of the opposition. And when the police conducts raids on the gangsters? They also bring baseball bats to beat up some gansters before locking them up in the paddy wagon. When a gangster has a problem with someone on his own crew, they simply reach for a weapon (hammer, bottle, ashtray) and smash the guy's face several times.
I have not been this amazed by an asian movie since 'I Saw The Devil'. It is not surprising this film features Choi Min-sik (from I Saw The Devil, Oldboy and Nameless Gangster) in one of the lead roles. This time he plays a lead detective determined to take down a major gangster organisation. This film tells the face-off between the police force and the mob, seen through the eyes of a police informant deep undercover in this criminal organisation. The entire cast gives a stellar performance, especially Choi Min-sik as a cool-as-ice lead detective.
If you love crime/gansgter movies, and you hold Coppola and Scorsese to high regard, this is film is totally for you. Once again the asians show Hollywood how it's done. If you loved 'The Chaser' and 'I Saw The Devil', this is another masterpiece from South Korea.
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Introduction
A remarkable woman, an icon, a beauty in every way, Audrey Hepburn was once described as having but one flaw: her constant lust for smoking. Other than that, she was perfect. One might say she was bigger than Hollywood itself. The first film I ever saw her in was Breakfast at Tiffany's. And I fell in love with Audrey. She starred in 20 films, the last of which, Always, a Steven Spielberg film in which she is credited as making a 'special appearance'. Then there are some TV films, only one of which, Love Among Thieves, will slip into this retrospective. Between '48 and '52, she played bit parts in six films which can easily be neglected for this purpose too. It all began with Roman Holiday...
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<center><font color = darkblue size = 6>Roman Holiday (1953)</font></center>
Directed by: William Wyler
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When young and stunningly beautiful Princess Ann (Audrey) visits Rome for official affairs controlled by rigid protocol, she rebels and wanders off into the world of normal people. The only problem is that she just received a dose of something to help her sleep and so she appears quite drunk. American Reporter Joe Bradley (Gregory Peck) finds her in a most vulnerable state and gives her shelter for the night, only after the fact discovering she's in fact the royal he is scheduled to interview. Deciding he might have a shot at a pretty big exclusive, he pretends not to recognize her and takes her on a wonderful day through the romantic city of Rome. But his interest in the princess may not stay professional...
Roman Holiday is sweet like strawberries and fresh like mint, a happy feel-good experience even if you, like me, are usually not into romantic films very much. Combining the grace and youthful energy of Audrey with the wonderful talent of Gregory Peck, Roman Holiday is pure magic all the way through. It is rumoured that Peck had a thing for Audrey and insisted that this practically unknown girl had her name on the posters next to his. It's also rumoured that he was instrumental in getting Audrey an Oscar for her performance in Roman Holiday. It's definitely an impressive way to start a career in Hollywood.
Roman Holiday is a beautiful film and in my opinion Wyler's best after Ben-Hur. It never fails to put a smile on my face, no matter how often I watch it. A heart-warming experience and one I recommend to everyone.
<font color = red>Final score:</font> 9,5/10
Score card:
Roman Holiday (1953): 9,5/10
I can't recall the last time a movie dive-bombed as severely as this film did in the final 30 minutes. The last act of the film is one of the worst endings of recent memory.
Before the dreadful ending, the movie never really was better than decent for me. The only true highlight of the film was Colin Firth, classing it up as he can be expected to do. But underdeveloped characters were abound (the girl), incredibly sloppy moments occurred (random Kingsman trainee showing up at the end) obvious forced drama contained no tension (the mom trying to kill the baby), most of the humor not containing Firth either fell flat or was truly embarrassing, Taron Egerton was nondescript at best and annoying at worst, and the plot...oh man, the plot.
I understand that this was a half-send up of the spy genre, but all the references to Bond (and others) were forced and cringeworthy. For a true send up of the action genre, Hot Fuzz wipes Kingsman all over the floor.
My mind officially checked out of the movie when the Princess
And for the record, I was not insulted as a Bond fan of this film's treatment of the genre or anything like that. I was insulted, however, buy the painfully sloppy filmmaking.
This is South Korea, so expect to see several scenes of gangsters taking down other gangsters using baseball bats and metal bars. The final showoff in the mud and rain is fantastic. The movie has a great pace, the story is really interesting, and there is always something going on. The body count is sky high in this film. If you enjoy 'Nameless Gangster' and 'New World', you should watch this film too.
An interesting concept and quite well done. Kept my attention without any problems all the way through. I didn't know what it was about, which was a very good thing indeed.
Frozen River
Watched this for Melissa Leo, basically, and having heard good things about the movie (without having a clue what it was about - which is how I like it).
This is one of those movies where things are shitty to begin with and then more shit happens and things get worse. Poverty and desperation. Families and communities disintegrating. Though very different stories and all, this belongs in the same general type in a way that Winter's Bone and Out Of The Furnace - though compared to those this was quite cheerful and optimistic, I suppose, and less violent, too. Not saying this was actually cheerful at all, of course, but it's relative... These aren't the kind of movies where everything just magically turns out alright and people are presumed to live happily ever after, but... Scott Cooper thinks his movie (Out Of The Furnace) had an optimistic ending. I don't know if anybody agrees with him, I sure don't. That final scene was just crushing and I didn't manage to detect any optimism even after reading his views before watching it for the second time. In this one I could see a glimmer of hope, characters given a fair chance to move forward somehow in the future.
In case it wasn't clear, I did like this a lot - as I did its even more misery-filled cousins. The story was interesting and had several unusual elements, which made it unpredictable as well, and it felt very believable and real. The actors were good (especially Leo).
The whole movie is set in one location - the radio/tv broadcast building. The only footage we can see of the outside is what is seen from the windows, and the tv footage of people on location outside.
Let's just say this movie has almost no action, yet has the same amount of edge-of-seat stuff for 90 minutes than you'd expect in a Die Hard film. Even with no action and in single location, the South Koreans make more epic thrillers than Americans with endless chase scenes and fist fights.
This is one of best asian thrillers I've seen. And the main actor (the radio host) is a well known actor, and a true badass - he plays the serial killer in 'The Chaser' and the main gangster in 'Nameless Gangster'.
This is another must-watch film if you love thriller movies. South Korean cinema at its finest.
Finally got round to watching this last night.
Despite some good scenes (the ending was great) I was disappointed overall. It felt, much like the female lead's character, too artificial and corporate.
I may start with 'Confession of Murder'. Your review had me very excited to watch it! I just have so many other things on my plate to watch first; the list grows and grows.
I never tire of seeing this film and it one I can highly recommend to anyone who likes a great story well told. A joy to watch.
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<center><font color = darkblue size = 6>Sabrina (1954)</font></center>
Directed by: Billy Wilder
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Sabrina Fairchild (Audrey) is the daughter of the chauffeur of the rich Larrabee family and she's madly in love with David, the Larrabee's playboy son (William Holden). But since David hardly notices her, Sabrina leaves for a two year culinary training in Paris. Upon her return, Sabrina has become elegance personified and suddenly David is interested in her. But the Larrabees have other plans with David's bachelor status and so the older brother, Linus (Humphrey Bogart) tries to steer Sabrina away from David. That strategic move, however, might have some unpredictable side-effects...
They don't make 'em like this any more. Subtle comedy, great romance and the finest acting one can have; eat that, modern-day chick flick! Sabrina is absolutely wonderful. Bogart and Hepburn are two of my favourite actors in the history of film and to see them together in this romantic fairytale sends my blood running faster. Hollywood gossip has it that Holden and Hepburn isolated themselves from Bogart between shoots. Some say Bogart responded by dismissing their performances as inferior to his. Whatever is true of this, the fact remains that there's nothing but magic on screen and all three of these actors give themselves 100 %.
Again I must admit this genre is hardly my comfort zone, yet I'm sucked in like a dust particle in a vacuum cleaner. Because the stars shine so bright and the few comedic touches are right up my alley, Sabrina is a film I can watch countless times. Like Roman Holiday, I consider Sabrina about as perfect as they come. Audrey Hepburn is so beautiful and sweet in this film, it's impossible not to fall in love with her. Here's another film I recommend to all.
<font color = red>Final score:</font> 9,5/10
Score card:
Sabrina (1954): 9,5/10
Roman Holiday (1953): 9,5/10
Finally, after a quarter of a century, we get another terrific Terminator movie.
=D>