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The Thing (2011)
Decent.
Based on J.D Campbells story " Who Goes There", The Thing is a remake of a John Carpenter movie by the same name, which is again a remake of a Howard Hawks movie " The Thing From Another World". Even though its sometimes considered a prequel to Carpenter version, others insist its a continuation. When it could be both, or neither. Now that I have confused the hell out of you, lets get down to the review.
Heijningen's The Thing, sticks closer to the John Carpenter version, both visually and story wise so it would be impossible to not compare them. While the story is basically the same, the pacing, in which its told, is completely different, unlike Carpenters version Heijningen's Thing doesn't build up any momentum, it never lets the cold barren environment really creep in, before it shows the alien, which is frozen just a few inches beneath the ice. Funny how the team is able to locate the alien-ship several km below the surface but not the alien itself, which is visible to the naked eye, anyways. So before you know it, the story has already kicked in, and we have monster on the loose, unlike the book, or the carpenter version where the monster is never clearly defined, in this version it is your average generic CGI "crab-insect-alien". Even though they stick to the formula of The Thing being a virus which clones its victims likeness, it makes it less scary, and ninja like, when you just show the damn thing, and not to forget, it looks like crap.
The First half of the movie is your average generic alien movie, but then it gets back to its roots, and thats where things get good. The cast consist mostly of Scandinavian actors, mostly Norwegians, with the exception of the lead, Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Scott Pilgrim VS The World), Joel Edgerton (Warrior) and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (G.I Joe) and a few others. Having a female lead character was a clever idea to change it from the earlier versions and keep the story fresh, her character is likable, and she does a good job with the role.
This was also the Hollywood debut of plenty Norwegian actors such as Trond Espen Seim (Varg Veum), Jørgen Langhelle (Elling) to name a few, but surprisingly the character who stole the show for me personally, was the character named "Peder", played by Stig Henrik Hoff, he plays both a serious character, and the comedic relief. Most of their lines are in Norwegian.
Ill keep it short and sum it up.
Its inferior to both the Hawks, and the Carpenter version, but that doesn't mean its a bad movie, The production value is decent, its what you would expect from a contemporary remake, the alien effects are all CGI, it doesn't look organic at all, but still serves the purpose. The cast is OK, could be worse, and the direction is not praiseworthy but for a debut, its pretty damn good. An entertaining flick, with gross-out effects, decent acting, and Stig Henrik Hoff screaming "Faen I Helvete!" with a flame thrower, half the time, Check it out.
Tetsuo: The Bullet Man (2009)
For Die-Hard fans only
Similar to the first two movies, Bullet Man is an alternate retelling of the same story. (avoiding spoilers) The protagonist is alienated in the big city, and "something" triggers a mechanical mutation which results into a physical transformation. Plotwise its what you'd expect in a Tetsuo-film.
Bullet Man is certainly among Tsukamoto's most experimental films, but in a completely different way, due to its casting decisions, and the bold choice of shooting the dialog entirely in English(with few exceptions), unlike Takashi Miike's Sukiyaki Western Django, the dialog in this movie is in fact comprehensible. Its very obvious that Tsukamoto was aiming for a broader audience, but it didn't work quite as well.
I must admit that I was skeptical to Bossick in the lead role, but he is actually very well casted, his character is different from Taguchi, but still similar, he is a bit more stable, but furious at the same time.
Akiko Monou as Bossick's wife on the other hand doesn't work that well, its a dull performance mostly because of her dialog being in English. The chemistry between the two leads isn't present either, but this gets better as the film progresses, and then there is good old Shinya Tsukamoto as " The Guy " you'd be disappointed that he doesn't reprise his role as the metal fetishist, but he still play a pretty bad-ass character, and its a great performance.
The digital look of the film is not working in its favor at all, yet there are lots of trademark shots from the previous films, like the close ups of machinery etc, and Chu Ishikawa's industrial theme, are all present, and its shot in the same frenetic manner, but the gritty, and raw 16mm look is absent.
The Bullet Man, seems more like an American remake of the first film, it has this mainstream feel to it, and doesn't rely that much on symbolism and metaphors, like the first two films. Another big letdown is, this time there is no mutated counterpart for protagonist to fight, instead we have a bunch of army guys.
I would still recommend this to all Tsukamoto fans. It's different, and not among his best, but that doesn't necessarily mean that its bad. Check it out. 6/10
Lucky Luke (2009)
A wasted opportunity
I must admit I had really high hopes for this one, and to be honest this is probably the best live action Lucky Luke movie I've seen, and I've seen em all. There are some funny scenes, and instances where it pays homage to the source material.
Now.
Cast wasn't bad, specially Billy The Kid, he was spot on, acting was well... alright I'll ...accept, costume could not have been better, seriously a solid 9 out of 10 for costumes, the set was very good, Daisy Town looked fantastic,.... so why such a low rating? if the freaking thing just had a damn plot! Its just random scenes, they "look" pretty cool, but doesn't always serve any purpose, the writing is VERY cheap.
Its like something happens, the music hints its something dramatic/beautiful or even a plot twist, and you don't get it, then it cuts to flashback that shows you why its a twist,(this happens at least twice) its like what if in Fight Club SPOILER ALERT! if Ed Norton is told he is Durden, without establishing the character of Pitt, and then in a cheap flashback its explained that he thought Pitt was Durden all this time(Im aware of that, the flashback actually occurs), but as if its the first and only time we see Pitt. END SPOILER .... and you are never sure what its trying to be. A western, spaghetti western, a spoof, Is it a comedy?, well there is a kid who witness the brutal murder of his parents, and is therefore seeking revenge, but our hero never kills anyone, so what in the holy name of God almighty, is he going to do when he finds the killer? it makes no sense, and the revenge theme is absent throughout the movie except maybe 4 minutes, near the end.
The first half of the movie isn't horrible, the second half on the other hand, is cheap, doesn't make much sense, tries to be clever, and is plain boring.
Its really sad, because it could have been a great film, they had the budget and the actors, what a wasted opportunity, if you are a fan you would be very disappointed, if you are not a fan then you are definitely going to be disappointed, because it wouldn't even have any nostalgic value.
Ikiru (1952)
"An emotional journey with Takashi Shimura"
Ikiru is a classic piece of cinema about a man who starts "to live" when he finds out that his days are soon over, directed by non other than the great Akira Kurosawa.
"Ikiru" is a tragedy about a man named Kanji Watanabe (Shimura), who works as a bureaucrat. Kanji spends his whole working life doing nothing, just like his colleagues, and finds out one day that he has stomach cancer and will die in few days. Knowing that life will end very soon, he tries to live.
"Ikiru" is very radical in its style of narrative, for its time. The film starts with a third person narrative, that tell us about the character's situation, It simplify the story, so we don't have too use to much time, or put too much effort, to get into the protagonist's dilemma. Another example is a scene where we see how the officers reply the people who come in with questions and complaints. The scenes are shot in a very "documentary" sort of way, where it looks like that the officers are replying to the same question, a technique later used in documentary shows.
The plot of the film is new for it's time, and starts right on the subject. The script is a bit confusing though, because the story focus on the character, and then goes to the world he is living in, where it makes you think that it changed it's focus to the "system", on the society, and not this particular individual, and then it comes back to the protagonist. It gives the character more dept and makes him more real, that makes sense, until a part of the film ,where it jumps back to the society again. Other than that, the sequences are set chronologically in order , with a few flashbacks that gives the protagonist, and other characters a lot of development. It gives us a better understanding of relationships between the individual characters.
The cinematography, and usage of the camera gives a lot development and dept to the protagonist, and his situation. Throughout the film there are several close-ups, and extreme-close-up-shots, of Kanji. Showing us his facial expression, that shows depression, emptiness, illness, loneliness, and delivers an overall tragic feel. An example is during a conversation with a female colleague at a restaurant. The film also have a scene, just after he finds out about his illness, where shots fades into each other to create a disturbed atmosphere, this effect is used by other directors in later films, an example is the opening scene of 1980s, "Tetsou" by Shinya Tsukamoto. The flashback scenes are very clear, again thanks to the cinematography, where the picture dissolve to the flashback, Visually the story is easy to follow.
Most of the characters in this film are " types ", instead of individuals, for example you got the "happy girl", "the mean boss", "the selfish son" , and so on. The characters are developed in a very "Henrik Ibsen" sort of way (a famous Scandinavian dramatist). The actors portrayed the roles very well, but the only well developed character is the protagonist. Takashi Shimura, who portrays Kanji Watanabe, menages to express Kanji's feelings through facial expressions. Because the character itself talks very unclear. That gives us a disturbing feeling of, that this man can't express his pain. The character is so real, that we actually sympathize with him. Antoher impressive thing with his character is how he develops through the film. Everything from his voice to his ability to talk, gives us an view of his condition. Shimura's acting was also appreciated internationally, and he was nominated for BAFTA award for best foreign actor (1952). The cast of this film is seen in almost every Kurosawa film, to name up a few examples : Seiji Miyaguchi, Minoru Chiaki, Daisuke Kato, Isao Kimura, Katamari Fujiwara, Takashi Shimura etc., but their roles are very different from the other films, that underlines their versatility, and is maybe the reason why Kurosawa works with them frequently.
The setting is very different from Kurosawa's atmospheric samurai films, that made him so famous. The story is set in a "westernized" Tokyo. Everything from the characters's clothes and hairstyles, to the music they listen to, and the clubs they go to, is pretty western. An example is a scene, where Kanji, visits a club, the girls are wearing western skirts, are listening to jazz, and dancing in a way like they did in the US, back in the 50s. In a early interview with Kurosawa, he mentioned that one of his autheurs in his films are "the theme itself" ( Ref. "Reading A Japanese Film: Cinema In Contex", by Keiko I.McDonald ). A question, that "Why can't people live happy together"?. He claimed that this question is raised in all of his films, there are "places", in this film as well, where this question is raised, an example on that is, the relationship between Kanji, and his son.
Overall the film offers some wonderful effects, and great performances, and an interesting plot, on the contrary side, the focus of the film is a bit unclear, what or who, it is about. The protagonist or the society he is living in?
Rockman X6 (2001)
The Best Mega Man ever!
Mega Man X6 is the best MMX. The story continues where X5 ends. Zero sacrifice himself to save the world, but the explosion of the space colony destroys much of the earth anyway, so X must fight once again to save the world from it's enemies. This sequel to the super hit CAPCOM series offer much. Such as custom boost options, dimension swaps,X's "extra weapon" ,and a lot more as we follow X, not to forget that Zero has his own story, and his own boost parts. New armors, new weapons, where X and Zero must co-operate to unlock the new stuff and features. This game has everything you expect from a sequel. All in all MegaMan X6 is a bad ass, and a must for every Megaman Fan.
Braveheart (1995)
Absolutely beautiful!
Braveheart is a epic story of Sir Willaim Wallace, who fought for a free Scotland. This Mel Gibson version contains some fictional swings, to make the character more heroic. This movie is absolutely beautiful, one of the most beautiful music score of all time. A movie that contains everything, romance,drama, comedy, tragedy, war, defeat and victory. How villagers becomes warriors, how warriors become heroes, and how heroes becomes legends. Braveheart is story about a son who lose his father, a brother who lose his brother, a husband who lose his wife, but he still keep fighting for the thing he loves more than anything.... his country.
Zebraman (2004)
Believe it or not this is an Takashi Miike film!
Believe it or not this is an Takashi Miike film! Zebraman is the tender side of Miike. About a junior high school teacher who fails as a teacher. No one understands him beside his new student. Miike message through this film is "belive in your dreams". In the movie when he is talking to his son, he says that I should have a bike, every hero should have one. Miike was always fascinated of bikes, he actually wanted to be a pro. You can still see that it's a Miike in some scenes, specially the one where they find a dead-body twisted. The best scene in the movie is near the end when Zebraman becomes a real hero, good effects, not a the original theme but in the scene mentioned earlier (when he becomes a real hero) is pretty cool, overall Zebraman is a nice family film, in fact the only Miike film you can watch with your family or your girlfriend. Watch this movie!
Izo (2004)
Very Symbolic
Only Takashi Miike could make a film like that. This movie is very symbolic, and bizarre. Izo is story about an evil spirit, who once was an assassin, who travel trough time and realms, to avenge his death. Miike have expressed his feelings in a very unnatural way. The question is what is "Izo"?, there are many answers to the question, my personal opinion is that, Izo is the Japanese part of the second world war, and japan in war situation trough the history, and the cruelty of the human nature, he is the dark side of every person. Miike show you clues pretty clear in the movie. When he kills his first victim he ask him, are you so brutal because you are human or human because you are brutal?(cruelty of the human nature). He shows also how religion can be misused, in personal interest and how hypocritical it can be. In the scene where he kills his own mother is also an symbolic example, his mother says "killing me is like killing yourself Izo", when a population corrupts and destroy there country they destroy there own system...they destroy themselves. The whole thing start to make sense if we relate it to the second world war. In the beginning Izo looks like an ordinary person ,cool, but later on he becomes more fierce, he even kills children and innocent people, civilian people are those who suffer the most in a war. With other words the war from the Japanese side didn't look like bad thing, but later on they saw the cruelty of the war. In the end Izo do look like a monster, with a mask, evolution... changes of war how it changes in a negative way, mask is an accessory, just like the army used armored weapon in later wars.
Izo is brilliant movie, I'm not saying that everyone going to like it, because entertainment for everyone does not exist. A must for Miike fans ;)
Time Crisis 4 (2006)
Namco Classic Rocks again!
Another sequel to the ever-cool Time Crisis, In each Time Crisis game, there is a mortal threat to the world. The V.S.S.E, a covert "problem-solving" organization, must send its highly-skilled agents in to clear the way. The first Time Crisis had three stages with four screens each. The second and third installment has three stages each with three screens. The fourth installment adds a prologue with the three stages each with three screens. In the third and fourth installments, supporters from various organizations come in to assist the V.S.S.E. agents either in their mission, or jump in to protect their covert "problem-solving" reputation.
this new TC has much more to offer than the last one, new features as "bug killing", quite annoying actually, and my favorite, the machine-gun segment. Between the 3 rounds, the machine-gun segment comes twice, you shot everything in your way,without running out of ammo, and yes you don't have 2 reload your gun, and the third new feature is 3 screen battle, where you have to defend yourself form front, and both left and right side, can be pretty challenging sometimes. Beside the new things, the game has also those oldies we love it for!
Soulcalibur III (2005)
Soul Calibur.....3!
Soul Calibur is more solid than it ever was... with the new character creation, and the bad-ass chronicle of the sword mode on the home version.
The arcade version is more complete, even though the character roster is smaller than the home version, this version is definitely the more pretty of the two, eliminating all of the "goofy/unrealistic" fighting styles found in the home version. If you were in any way disappointed with the home version, or perhaps thought it was "too much," you might find a much more likable and straight forward game of Soul Calibur in the arcade. Think you have what it takes to become a Legend?
Street Fighter EX (1996)
The first 3-D Street Fighter
With SFEX, Capcom decided to bring their popular 2D fighting game franchise into 3D... While it was interesting to see some of the classic Street Fighters finally make it to 3D form, the gameplay didn't live up to it's 2D counterpart. Some of the "priority" basic attacks are the same among ALL characters, and definitely brings the appeal down. Ryu's theme is different, Ken's theme is different and guile's theme is different, that's NOT good capcom.
The game still features some cool new characters and super moves. Definitely a nice attempt by Capcom, but they still needed some practice on 3D fighting games.
Street Fighter EX2 (1998)
The sequel to SFEX adds a few new Characters and features....
The sequel to SFEX adds a few new features, such as the Excel (custom combo) system, as well as the Meteor Combo. Definitely a valid upgrade to the EX series, in addition to the new characters. The theme's are still a problem, the graphics are not of the best, but with a more balanced roster, the game has become a little more appealing to long time SF fans. Some of the characters have been more developed ( from the ex series ) and that's a good thing, But the game still feels kinda clunky. So all in all Street fighter Ex 2 is a average beat-em'up game, better then the first one, but still only for the die hard fans, and still far away from my expectations.
Street Fighter (1994)
If you are a Street Fighter fan, do yourself a favour, DON'T WATCH THIS MOVIE!
First of all some questions?, why didn't Sagat fought Ryu?, who is Captain Sawada?you know in the game they had moves..Hado-ken, Shiryuken,sonic-boom..remember?WHERE ARE THE MOVES?,Balrog with the good guys and Blanka is Charlie???! Oh dear, where is the "real" storyline??? the movie could have been much much better.....wrong cast, wrong storyline,they should have casted Dolph Lundgren as Guile, Antonio Sabato Jr as Ken Masters,Brian Thompson Victor Sagat,Balrog: they could have talked with the one this design was based on, or "a big black guy"? ,Ryu: an unknown, well trained Asian dude, is that too much to ask for?,Akuma: BOLO YEUNG! and there was no space for either DeeJay or T-Hawk in the story, sorry guys....they had no role, they didn't look like the characters.
E. Honda, Vega (couldn't they just color his hair blond!?), Chun Li, Cammy and Zangief was OK.....less complains.
Don't know why they just could not follow the original story? a quick overview of master Gouken and Akuma, Sagat Vs Ryu, and then over to the Bison crisis, with RYU in the attention, not Guile, and just one scene of Ryu with evil intent..... Something like the anime sequel? If you just want to see a movie, go ahead, if you are fan of the series like me, it's not something for you. I hope, and are pretty sure that most of the SF fans will agree with my comment.