April 2012

Review: War of the Arrows (2011)

This film is one I tuned into quite by random, clicking on the suggestions that Netflix provides (and which are usually quite inaccurate).  Luckily, this one proved to be worth my time.  War of the Arrows is a Korean film, set during the historical period of the second Manchurian invasion of Korea.  The basic set-up revolves around a boy and his sister whose father is declared a traitor and killed, forcing them to run and hide with a friend of the family.

This is just the intro, however, and most of the film involves the grown pair of siblings, the brother Nam-Yi (Hae-il Park) and his sister Ja-In (Moon Chae-Won).  The other main character is the adoptive brother of the pair, Kim Min-soon (Seung-yong Ryoo).  There are also a few generic buddies that come along for the ride and provide some combat support and a bit of comedy relief.

Review - District 13: Ultimatum

 

This film is the follow-up to Luc Besson’s original District 13, a movie about a bad-ass parkour guy from a French mega-ghetto and a good guy super-cop who gets mixed up with him and ends up helping him stop the bad guys from destroyed said ghetto.  The ghetto, of course, is the titular District 13.  While I enjoyed the first one to some degree (mainly because of all the parkour that was going on), this second installment was just a waste of time.

The new movie’s plot involves the same two bad-ass heroes running around, shooting guns, busting some serious martial arts moves and doing a bit of parkour.  Once again, bad guys want to destroy the ghetto, though this time the goal is to turn the rubble that remains into a real estate project to make tons of cash.  Damien Tomaso (Cyril Raffaelli) and Leito (David Belle) come together again to stop them.

Review: The Butcher, the Chef and the Swordsman (2010)

 

Billed as an action-comedy, The Butcher, the Chef and the Swordsman is a Chinese film that defies genre.  The only certainty is that it is set in the ancient days of China and does indeed contain its fair share of action.  Other than that, it’s a mixture of action, comedy, musical, farce, historical drama and video game.  Some examples of the strange style of this film include a rap/hip-hop chorus done by a group of prostitutes and a heavy metal theme song for a crazy bearded warrior.

Review: Meatball Machine (2005)

 

Before you even consider watching the movie Meatball Machine, ask yourself one question: Do I deserve the pain I am about to put myself through?  For the sado-masochist, this flick might be just what the doctor ordered.  For the rest of us, it is an exercise in misery.  Ok, so maybe those who really enjoy the worst of sci-fi B-films will get a kick out of this, but somehow I feel even that genre has a great number of more watchable films.

First of all, Meatball Machine is a strange blend of sci-fi, horror, action and… well, hentai.  The Japanese love their tentacles and these aliens are covered in them.  There is even a scene between one of the aliens and… OK, I’ll just refrain from talking about it.