Author Topic: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts  (Read 561581 times)

smirnoff

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #360 on: February 13, 2009, 07:37:41 PM »
I just sat down and caught up on some of the recent vedicts.

Pix I had a great time reading your Round One Resurrection Forecast, Films 6 - 10. Some day I'm gunna check out Justice, My Foot!

Worm, you always do a good job. To me A Single Spark sounds like it would've made a better documentary. I'm going to look for one, because the story of Jeon Tae-Il sounds interesting.

Wilson
, maybe it's just the picture but something about Tokyo Fist gave me a fight club vibe. Am I way off?

Melvil, your breakdown of Birdcage Inn cracked me up.

Well done everybody.

Wilson

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #361 on: February 13, 2009, 08:34:17 PM »
I just sat down and caught up on some of the recent vedicts.



Wilson
, maybe it's just the picture but something about Tokyo Fist gave me a fight club vibe. Am I way off?

Well done everybody.

No, there is a slight Fight Club feeling in there with the director seemingly trying to portray the idea that the characters lived are only alive when they are boxing.  It's not anywhere near effective as Fight Club, but it's interesting nonetheless.  You could also draw comparisons to Fight Club, Raging Bull and David Cronenberg's Crash and while I didn't think it was great, it's definitely worthy of a place in the next round.

roujin

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #362 on: February 13, 2009, 10:27:24 PM »
roujin's 7th excursion into this wilderness of downloading and musicality of the spirit... or his 7th verdict

Rebels of a Neon God vs. Chinpira

Chinpira (Shinji Aoyama, 1996)

hmmm, this movie. This Movie. Oh, yeah. It's all over the place, basically. It's sort of this asshole-meets-older-guy-who-takes-him-under-his-wings-moviefilm with dashes of yakuza crap and dashes of weirdo romance and dashes of some good ole Asian Minimalism™. Really, it starts off with him beating up some random guy in a really dumb-lookin' set cuz he was doing some drug (and because he just can't control his own badassness!). In reality, the guy's just a douchebag. Gets in everyone's business looking to prove how badass he is. "I'm not against the boss, I'm against you..." OH CINECAST!. It culminates in this really weird scene on the top of a parking garage where he defends the wife of some random Yakuza. It's shot from a distance in a single take that goes from conversation to random fighting to stabbing to crying. I think it's a stupid scene (since it really has almost no point to it) and it's distracting because all you can think about it is "oh, wow, they really held this shot for a long ass time..." plus I don't think it even serves a purpose narratively or stylistically... it's just clumsy and useless... although its oddity is probably what makes it interesting to me. The film's relationships and characters are completely weird, too. The Young Douchebag from the Country is so tired and devoid of any personality aside from his behavior. Sure, he's assigned a back story (which is shown at random intervals... and we don't even realize it's a flashback until later...) and given some sort of motives... but it's really hamfisted and the guy just basically starts being a prick to everyone. Not interesting. His mentor person is some random old dude who (CINECAST! I gotta upload this now... their first meeting is so rife with homosexual intent that it's kinda ridiculous) has him join his bookie business out of the blue and their "bonding period" is spent in children's playgrounds, hanging out, being weird together (sounds good but it isn't). The old dude won't join the Yakuza because he's too old and a coward (something his protege calls him a million times). But, of course, when given the opportunity to seduce his boss' wife HE TAKES IT (in one of the most awkward sex scenes I've ever seen... its inclusion... totally mindboggling...). Anyway, enough rambling about stupid plot elements. All these things made the experience of watching this film kinda weirdly entertaining to me. The weird rhythm, totally unmotivated story, clumsy visuals (to me) make it sort of bad but I still had some kind of fun with it (mainly cuz I thought the parts with the Douchebag and his girlfriend were cute) but then comes the ending which is stupid in all the bad, bad ways. Not even charming stupid like Young and Dangerous... more like offensive stupid that just ruins an okay movie like Metade Fumaca. I'm guessing Aoyama only started to be interesting with Eureka then...

oh, this movie is worse than Kikujiro. HAVE FUN, PIX!!!

oh, oops did I just spoil the verdict? too bad.

Rebels of a Neon God (Tsai Ming-Liang, 1992)

So, Tsai does a Wong Kar-Wai movie? Cuz this is kinda what this feels like. Or, more accurately, it's his youth picture. There's that trademark stillness and stuff but there's so much movement than in any of his latest films (musical sequences in The Wayward Cloud not counted). And when I say youth film, I think you should get the idea that it's basically about young dudes riding bikes, lot of smoking cigarettes, staring off into space Asian Ennui ™. But it's good! Very good! For all those reasons and more, I guess. Basically, well, there's no basically, actually. Now I feel weird about this. There's two parallels stories being told. One about Hsiao-Kang about how he's quitting his school and about his general awkwardness around his parents. The other about a couple of dudes who steal coins from phone booths and other stuff and use the coins to play arcade games (and then a girl comes along...). Of course, these story lines intersect... but in a totally weird and playful way (which turns into something else later on...). It's just Lee Kang Sheng observing. And going places just to see these people there. And, weirdly, that's something I can relate to... (like there's this one scene where they all get drunk and go to a motel cuz they don't know where the girl lives, they throw her on the bed and just sit around watching porn on the TV for a little while, just exhausted... THAT MAKES PERFECT SENSE TO ME AND I DON'T KNOW WHY). People are strange and weird and the things they do or don't do don't make sense to me but when the film finishes and you see a door opening you know things might just turn out awwwwwriiiiiiiiiiiight. You're all horrible people. Now watch this and stuff.

Now let's jump around in our undewear. Okay? okay.

worm@work

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #363 on: February 13, 2009, 10:31:51 PM »
Rebels of a Neon God (Tsai Ming-Liang, 1992)

So, Tsai does a Wong Kar-Wai movie?

Okay, I am officially turned on by this statement!

1SO

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #364 on: February 13, 2009, 10:39:23 PM »

oh, this movie is worse than Kikujiro.


Worse than one of the more delightfully playful good time films in recent asian cinema?  Many films are worse then that.

worm@work

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #365 on: February 13, 2009, 10:39:39 PM »
roujin's 7th excursion into this wilderness of downloading and musicality of the spirit... or his 7th verdict

Rebels of a Neon God vs. Chinpira



Huh? That first screenshot with the mirror looks pretty great though!

Quote from: roujin
Chinpira (Shinji Aoyama, 1996)

His mentor person is some random old dude who (CINECAST! I gotta upload this now... their first meeting is so rife with homosexual intent that it's kinda ridiculous) has him join his bookie business out of the blue and their "bonding period" is spent in children's playgrounds, hanging out, being weird together (sounds good but it isn't).

Hmmm, I can't believe you :(. That sounds truly awesome .

Quote from: roujin
Rebels of a Neon God (Tsai Ming-Liang, 1992)

And when I say youth film, I think you should get the idea that it's basically about young dudes riding bikes, lot of smoking cigarettes, staring off into space Asian Ennui ™. But it's good! Very good!  You're all horrible people. Now watch this and stuff.

This sounds soooo perfect. I was rooting for Tsai without watching either of the movies. I need to watch this now.

roujin

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #366 on: February 13, 2009, 10:46:17 PM »
His mentor person is some random old dude who (CINECAST! I gotta upload this now... their first meeting is so rife with homosexual intent that it's kinda ridiculous) has him join his bookie business out of the blue and their "bonding period" is spent in children's playgrounds, hanging out, being weird together (sounds good but it isn't).
Hmmm, I can't believe you :(. That sounds truly awesome .

I think I made it sound too good. It's really stupid. There's a scene where they run around the playground laughing like crazy FOR NO REASON. Then one of them starts calling the other Daddy, and the older dude slaps him and the young one slaps him back. THEN THEY ALL LAUGH ABOUT IT.

worm@work

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #367 on: February 13, 2009, 10:48:01 PM »
His mentor person is some random old dude who (CINECAST! I gotta upload this now... their first meeting is so rife with homosexual intent that it's kinda ridiculous) has him join his bookie business out of the blue and their "bonding period" is spent in children's playgrounds, hanging out, being weird together (sounds good but it isn't).
Hmmm, I can't believe you :(. That sounds truly awesome .

I think I made it sound too good. It's really stupid. There's a scene where they run around the playground laughing like crazy FOR NO REASON. Then one of them starts calling the other Daddy, and the older dude slaps him and the young one slaps him back. THEN THEY ALL LAUGH ABOUT IT.

Yeah, Still sounds so great :D! *lol*
« Last Edit: February 13, 2009, 10:52:30 PM by worm@work »

smirnoff

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #368 on: February 13, 2009, 11:00:25 PM »
Martial Arts Movies & Me
(disclaimer: feel free to skip all this, but for some reason I feel the need to outline my history with Martial Arts Cinema before I get into the specifics of this match up)

It was only matter of time before I got a match up like this one. With eighty plus years of film history to it's credit, the martial arts genre has covered as many themes, styles, countries and cultures one can imagine. It's a vast category of film when you stop to think about it. If I say martial arts movie, one might first imagine of old men with long white beards, soaring sabre fights, and cryptic dialogue. But of course if you keep thinking about it you realize it encapsulates so much more than that. It's a genre unbound by time and location, unlike, say, westerns, and it's influence on cinema as a whole is at least as pervasive. Yes, love 'em or hate 'em, there is no arguing their legitimacy.

Personally, I love 'em, though my experience with the genre isn't extensive. My first exposure, as far as I can remember, came when I was 11. That may sound kind of old, but my family wasn't really into movies back when I was still counting my age in half-years. We rarely went to the theatre and at home we had a small 13" fuzz box with rabbit ears. Video rental was unheard of at our house, and we didn't own a VCR anyways. Frankly I don't know how we survived :). However, thinking about it now I do recall borrowing a VCR from my grandparents on a few special occasions. Like New Years Eve, oh what a great days those were. The one night of the year when bedtime didn't exist, and to make matters better we'd watch 3 or 4 movies back to back! It was a treat I tell ya.

But enough of that. At 11 years old I watched Rumble in the Bronx (IN THEATRES!) with my dad. I don't recall what the old man thought of it, but I certainly enjoyed it. The notion that one man skilled in the martial arts could subdue both a gang of street thugs AND a major crime syndicate by himself, without a gun (which previous action movies taught me was essential), never struck me is far-fetched. What was so great about it was the inventiveness of the fighting. Beating people up with not just his fists and feet, but using skis, refrigerators, grocery carts, and whatever else was lying around. It was like nothing I'd ever seen. And to top it all off you get that signature blooper real at the end. It was one of the funnest theater going experiences I've ever had. I went on to watch all of the Jackie Chan I could get my hands on (which wasn't that much), and in later years discovered Bruce Lee for the first time in Enter the Dragon. From there I saw the Bloodsports, Karate Kids, and other popular movies.

Like I said earlier though, my enjoyment of the genre hasn't been all that extensive. I've really only seen the stuff that was strongly marketed to, or made for, western audiences. And despite the ease with which you can now get your hands on obscure, but important, landmarks in martial arts cinema, I've not been motived to do so.  I've always been content with what I could find in theatres or on DVD. Between the recent films like Crouching Tiger, Hero, and Flying Daggers, and the endlessly rewatchable classics, I don't find myself starved for content. With that in mind, I'll take on this match up.


The Blade aka: Dao (Hark Tsui, 1995)

Hmm, how best to convey what experiencing this movie was like...

Think of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. Ah, what a sublime bit of work that was. Okay, now visualize watching it at x2 speed, and x8 zoom. Got it? On top of that imagine the cameraman has the worst case of the shakes ever known to man. If you have a particularly vivid imagination I apologize, but it was necessary. I'm hardly exaggerating either. Visually this is one of the most incomprehensible action movies I've ever seen. I'd read that it had incredible fight choreography, but I'm not sure how anyone would know it! And it's not just the fights that are hard to follow. Each scene is so loosely stitched together you end up having to rewind if you care enough to keep the story straight.

If you read a history of the groundbreaking directors of Kung Fu movies you might come across the name Hark Tsui. Behind Wong Kar Wai, Hark Tsui has the second most films in the top 100 Chinese Motion Pictures list (5 in total), as ranked by the Hong Kong Film Awards. He was recently just the fourth Chinese director to sit on the board of judges at Cannes. I should say though, his reputation did not precede him. I read all of this after watching the film. Nevertheless, the man clearly has a feather or two in his cap. That's why I'm so perplexed by this movie. I think of traditional Kung-Fu movies and certain things come to mind; Wildly melodramatic acting, grandiose legends of Arthurian magnitude, and ingenious choreography. The Blade contains these elements to varying degrees. Had they not been torpedoed by the crumby camera work and editing I think this could've been a serviceable film. In my eyes, it's a creative disaster. Maybe that's just me though. I guess it's possible the director was intentionally vague when showing the combat, believing that out of the chaos of sound and quick cuts one would imagine the scene as he or she saw fit. If that's the case, which I strongly believe it is not, then I just have no taste for it.

It's apparent that this movie isn't exactly working with the budget of a hollywood blockbuster. Not a problem necessary, in fact I was expecting it, the stereotype for kung fu movies is that they require a larger than usual leap of the imagination. That can be part of their charm, whether you make the leap or not. Sort of like a good B movie. The problem with The Blade is that it does not intend to be a B movie. It takes itself seriously. So you lose out on the cheesy fun, and you are left with sub par production. An unfortunate exchange. Add to this the problems I mentioned earlier and you end up with an rather tiresome experience.






Supercop aka: Police Story III (Stanley Tong, 1992)

Have I seen Police Story I & II? No. Does it matter? Not in the least.

This movie is downright fun. Jackie is recruited by Interpol to go undercover and infiltrate a crime syndicate. They ask for a Supercop and they get one. The plot doesn't really thicken, but it works well enough to drive the movie forward. Just like so many of Jackie's movies this one is pretty lighthearted. People are getting punched, and kicked, and shot, but only the bad guys ever get killed. There's three types of action in this movie (hand to hand combat, gunplay, and stunts) and you get an equal dose of each. It's all handled with the usual comedic touch. At times it does get a little silly, but even then it's charming. The stunts, from themost innocent looking to the most hair raising, are all pretty impressive.

One the of the best parts of this movie was Michelle Yeoh. Gorgeous, lethal and smart. I pretty much fell in love. She's always great. Her and Jackie had good chemistry together. It was a nice change of pace to pair Jackie up with somebody just as capable as he is. She performed some awesome stunts of her own.

There's really not much else to say about this one other than it's fun and it's moving on to the second round. It might be said than if you've seen one Jackie Chan movie you've seen 'em all, but that's just not true. There are some stinkers and some really good ones, and even the bad ones are passable because the action is always new and creative. This wasn't the best but it's still something I'll probably watch again when I feel like having a good time.

Oh and there aren't any Apache helicopters in this movie like the poster suggests, so don't get your hopes up.  :D


Conclusion: SUPERCOP wins easily.

« Last Edit: June 18, 2016, 11:05:10 PM by smirnoff »

worm@work

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #369 on: February 13, 2009, 11:09:00 PM »
I thoroughly enjoyed that preamble smirnoff :D. Nice verdict too!