Black House (2007)

>>: B

The Grudge 2 (2006). i am thinking this franchise is played out. Hard to be scary when we are all familiar with the main villains in the deal. The darkroom scene was kinda cool though. Ashe.
derek

Thirst

An enjoyable vampire film overall with plenty of dark humor, sex and gore. But I did think it was just a bit too long, and some of it I just found kind of annoying. I didn't love it, but I did like it.

Public Enemy/Gonggongui jeog (2002). A superbly dark and funny Korean cop story. The beginning dialogue seems a bit much at the beginning, but its purpose is humorously worth it. The story is not your typically convoluted Korean twist upon twist flick, but instead a pretty solid story that is simply well told. Instead of being twisty, it uses dark, and even crass, humor as well as some wonderful side characters to spice it up. There was no dearth of violence as well. The acting was awesome, the direction great, labba labba labba. Overall, this was some pretty good stuff. Ashe.
derek

probably my fav, along with spring, summer, autumn, winter...and spring

Noroi: The Curse

It was alright. Kind of long. Some things could have been left out and the movie would have been all the same to me.

The Warrior AKA Musa (2001). An epic war story that was kinda long and maybe a little predictable, but the way in which the story unfolds makes for a wonderful watching experience. There are lots of characters to keep track of, but not too many such that it becomes arduously confusing. In fact, many side characters get enough screen time to keep us interested and concerned. Of course, it the main characters that we really care about, despite their flaws, or maybe because of them. The battle scenes themselves are awesome, with some blissful slow motion to better appreciate the blood splattering violence. The villains themselves are not protrayed as scum dogs, but instead just devout warriors on the other side of the battle line. Overall a wonderful though violent movie experience. Ashe.
derek

Stacy (2001). At first glance, this appears to be an amateurish take on zombie gore. But something is amiss. As bad as it is, there cannot help but noticed an underlying philosophic message that threatens to be reavealing if the viewer only has a little faith. With camerawork that is almost too awful, and with washed-out film that is like watching your tv with sunlight filtering in the room, this mess of a story relays an underlying message almost as unsettleing as the movie itself. Combining notions of Christian love, zombies and the resultant low-budget gore, dirty old man love, then sprinkled with tributes to American zombie icon Bruce Campbell and George Romero, this flick is somehow entertaining, enjoyable, and endearing. With a goofy love story turned hard rock turned love story score, this sick little venture lures the viewer in and then sucker punches him with its ultimate message, an uppercut to the sexual subconscious brain.

The Forbidden Kingdom(2008). A must see if only to watch Jackie Chan and Jet Li together for the first time on film. Too bad the movie was not epic as such an endeavor should have been. The acting was great, as were the fights, especially between the two. The story was pretty good if predictable. There was just something missing that should have been there. Either way it was enjoyable nonetheless. Ashe.
derek

Beautiful Boxer (2003). Tough call for a guy that hates most romance or love story flicks, this movie turned out to be beautiful and touching in all of the right ways. Without being in your face, this splendid movie takes very sensitive material and portrays it in a ways that gets the viewer wanting more. The fight scenes themselves are pretty good, but this is not a martial arts flick, but a story in which Thai kick boxing happens to be a central element. The acting was top notch, and i was surprised to read that the lead was played by a real life boxer and this was his first acting role, at least in a film. An amazing movie all around, don't let the genre scare ya away, or you will only be missing out on a great movie experience on the human spirit. Ashe.
derek