September's films (67 - 76)
67) DOA: Dead Or Alive - exploitative, mindless, excessive wire-fu, and yet oh so very entertaining. Probably bears no resemblance to the source material, but who cares? Also, Devon Aoki is not remotely attractive. Seriously. Whoever cast her should be taken out and shot. I would have happily settled for a Chinese actress to play the Japanese ninja instead, someone that looked less alien.
68) Casablanca - despite watching a massive number of films, I've seen very few made before the 80s and so a fellow film buff made me watch this. I'd watched bits of it on TV before but never really paid attention. Shame on me. I knew the basic plot and what have you, but what really surprised me was the sharp dialogue and the sheer presence of Bogart. Well deserving of its accolades.
69) Yugo The Negotiator - the first of the films I saw in the Firecracker Asian Festival. Anything low-key like this had to feature DVDs, and this was 2+ hour long stitched together OVA anime series. Yugo is a top negotiator who is hired to rescue a hostage held in the mountains of Pakistan. An interesting premise but it was spread out far too thinly.
70) The Bow - more minimalism from Kim Ki-Duk as part of the Firecracker Festival. An old man lives on a boat with a young girl. They bring fishers to the boat and he counts the days off until she comes of age and he can marry her. Sparse dialogue, long shots of the sea, the boat drifting in the water, and a very bizarre ending. I seem to like this more than other critics of Ki-Duk's work, but it really isn't a patch on 3-Iron and Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter...And Spring.
71) Pan's Labyrinth - I liked this a lot, even though I seem to have passed on the analysis going around LJ. Apparently I'm a big softy for thinking it was all real. :P
72) Guns And Talks - another Firecracker Festival film, this is a comedy thriller about a group of hitmen who run into troubles when one of them falls in love with his target and another decides to take on a suicidal job purely because the customer is a newsreader beloved of the group. It's silly, slapstick in places, but not overly stylised and doesn't outstay its welcome, ludicrously implausible finale aside.
73) The Host - and another, and one of only two films shown that wasn't obviously a DVD. Rampaging monster flick done Korean style, with Song Kang Ho out to rescue his stolen teenage daughter with the help of his dysfunctional family. The science is just as stupid as any Western film (we've developed this gas that'll kill the beast dead, along with any other living thing except, um, except humans. Right) and it's a little too farcical at times for the dramatic bits to have any emotional impact, but the WETA-created beastie is impressive to watch, in particular its rather unique way of getting around town, and it's interesting to see a big budget Hollywood-style film done in the Far East.
74) Election 2 - the final Firecracker Festival film, and the best of the bunch in my opinion. Following on from the events of the previous film, the incumbent head of the Triad gang is determined to change the ancient traditions and serve another 2 years of office. Everyone else's choice for the job is trying to get out of the criminal life by setting up a legitimate business on the mainland, but when that goes sour due to an incompetent underling, he sets himself up as a contender and proves every bit as ruthless in competing for the job. Gritty, realistic and very very good, a trilogy that seems to be improving with each installment unlike the disappointing Infernal Affairs sequels.
75) Crank - adrenaline fuelled revenge flick that is hyper-edited to the point of nausea, Statham provides a suitably OTT performance as the terminally poisoned hitman, but to be honest I expected a far higher bodycount. Not a patch on any similar film made in the 80s (eg: Stallone/Arnie and their ilk). Those were the days!
76) Clerks II - hysterically funny from start to finish, even with a slightly more serious slant to the life of now 30-something slackers with no real purpose in life. Rosario Dawson is clearly the best thing about it, but Jay and Silent Bob come close to stealing the show again.
EDIT: Whoops. I posted to the wrong journal. That should have gone to 52filmchallenge so I've reposted it over there ( link), which is going to make this entry look faintly redundant now. Oh well.
68) Casablanca - despite watching a massive number of films, I've seen very few made before the 80s and so a fellow film buff made me watch this. I'd watched bits of it on TV before but never really paid attention. Shame on me. I knew the basic plot and what have you, but what really surprised me was the sharp dialogue and the sheer presence of Bogart. Well deserving of its accolades.
69) Yugo The Negotiator - the first of the films I saw in the Firecracker Asian Festival. Anything low-key like this had to feature DVDs, and this was 2+ hour long stitched together OVA anime series. Yugo is a top negotiator who is hired to rescue a hostage held in the mountains of Pakistan. An interesting premise but it was spread out far too thinly.
70) The Bow - more minimalism from Kim Ki-Duk as part of the Firecracker Festival. An old man lives on a boat with a young girl. They bring fishers to the boat and he counts the days off until she comes of age and he can marry her. Sparse dialogue, long shots of the sea, the boat drifting in the water, and a very bizarre ending. I seem to like this more than other critics of Ki-Duk's work, but it really isn't a patch on 3-Iron and Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter...And Spring.
71) Pan's Labyrinth - I liked this a lot, even though I seem to have passed on the analysis going around LJ. Apparently I'm a big softy for thinking it was all real. :P
72) Guns And Talks - another Firecracker Festival film, this is a comedy thriller about a group of hitmen who run into troubles when one of them falls in love with his target and another decides to take on a suicidal job purely because the customer is a newsreader beloved of the group. It's silly, slapstick in places, but not overly stylised and doesn't outstay its welcome, ludicrously implausible finale aside.
73) The Host - and another, and one of only two films shown that wasn't obviously a DVD. Rampaging monster flick done Korean style, with Song Kang Ho out to rescue his stolen teenage daughter with the help of his dysfunctional family. The science is just as stupid as any Western film (we've developed this gas that'll kill the beast dead, along with any other living thing except, um, except humans. Right) and it's a little too farcical at times for the dramatic bits to have any emotional impact, but the WETA-created beastie is impressive to watch, in particular its rather unique way of getting around town, and it's interesting to see a big budget Hollywood-style film done in the Far East.
74) Election 2 - the final Firecracker Festival film, and the best of the bunch in my opinion. Following on from the events of the previous film, the incumbent head of the Triad gang is determined to change the ancient traditions and serve another 2 years of office. Everyone else's choice for the job is trying to get out of the criminal life by setting up a legitimate business on the mainland, but when that goes sour due to an incompetent underling, he sets himself up as a contender and proves every bit as ruthless in competing for the job. Gritty, realistic and very very good, a trilogy that seems to be improving with each installment unlike the disappointing Infernal Affairs sequels.
75) Crank - adrenaline fuelled revenge flick that is hyper-edited to the point of nausea, Statham provides a suitably OTT performance as the terminally poisoned hitman, but to be honest I expected a far higher bodycount. Not a patch on any similar film made in the 80s (eg: Stallone/Arnie and their ilk). Those were the days!
76) Clerks II - hysterically funny from start to finish, even with a slightly more serious slant to the life of now 30-something slackers with no real purpose in life. Rosario Dawson is clearly the best thing about it, but Jay and Silent Bob come close to stealing the show again.
EDIT: Whoops. I posted to the wrong journal. That should have gone to 52filmchallenge so I've reposted it over there ( link), which is going to make this entry look faintly redundant now. Oh well.