Blog Archives

A Million (2009)

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Posted on May 9, 2011 by Alison

What would you do for a million dollars? Among the things I wouldn’t do is take part in a reality show – I think I’d rather eat my own toenails, or anyone else’s toenails for that matter. But unlike cranky folk like me, there’s a lot of people who’d like nothing better than to spend several weeks exposing their every breath to millions of viewers. Even when the ‘reality’ involves spending 7 days in the Australian outback, in an arduous … (read more)

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Ip Man: The Legend is Born (2010)

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Posted on April 16, 2011 by Alan

Recently I watched Monsters, Gareth Edwards’ reasonably low-budget sci-fi and romance flick. Getting over the being-bashed-on-the-head subtext about racial inequality and the U.S.’ view of the poor and foreigners alike as ‘alien’, the film has a very gorgeous sense of cinematography. The landscapes are verdant, the cityscapes alive, rusted, and full of movement. Edwards’ film captures beautiful moments with economy and subtlety.

Why mention this? Because unfortunately the very next film I watched, immediately afterwards, was this film, Ip … (read more)

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Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen (2010)

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Posted on March 7, 2011 by Justin

The role of Chen Zhen is a storied one in Hong Kong film. First played by Bruce Lee in (arguably his best film) Fist of Fury, the fictional vengeful student of real-life martial artist Huo Yuan Jia has been played by Jet Li (in Fist of Legend, also a classic), and in television adaptations by Donnie Yen, Bruce Leung and Jordan Chan. Fist of Fury’s original director Lo Wei also went on to make a sequel, 1976’s … (read more)

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Yatterman (2009)

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Posted on February 23, 2011 by Alan

Years ago, I saw Takashi Miike’s Gozu. When the film finished a certain reviewer behind me laughed for about a minute, then drew breath and exclaimed “What the f*ck was that all about?”

That’s Miike for you. And so welcome to Yatterman, a film that’s kind of like inserting that weird popping candy into your eyeballs. But not, as it happens, a WTF flick for the right reasons.

Yatterman was originally a ’70s anime on the telly that … (read more)

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Ong Bak 3 (2010)

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Posted on February 3, 2011 by Justin

Tony Jaa returns to our screens in another Ong Bak film, released here in Australia on DVD by Eastern Eye. And unlike Ong Bak 2, which shared nothing with its predecessor but the name and the lead actor, volume 3 picks up directly where the last one left off (so the rest of this review contains spoilers for that one — you can’t say I didn’t warn you!)

We begin the film with our hero Tien (Jaa) in chains, … (read more)

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Raging Phoenix (2009)

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Posted on January 17, 2011 by Justin

I spun up the disc for Raging Phoenix with some reservations. I’d seen the trailer and formed a number of assumptions: martial arts film, female lead, some sort of custom mixture of Muay Thai and hip-hop dancing. The latter sounds like something thrown into the mix by a marketing executive early in production: we’ve got to appeal to a younger crowd, people, so you’re gonna add some b-boy stylings and perhaps chuck a music video or two in there … (read more)

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Sumo Do, Sumo Don’t (1992)

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Posted on January 8, 2011 by Samson

I like sports movies, and I love Japanese sports movies. They are often touching, usually inspiring, and almost always entertaining. Sumo Do Sumo Don’t was one of the first sports movies that I have ever seen, and what a fine example of the genre it still is. I have had the joy of seeing this film again with its release on DVD in Australia, and here are my thoughts some 15 years on from the time I first saw it … (read more)

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Kamui (2009)

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Posted on September 20, 2010 by Deni

There are levels of disappointment in this world. We all should know this by now. Finding out your latest crush is not at all like you thought is somewhere around the level of a mild case of indigestion. Not getting that pay rise you’d hoped for registers somewhere around that punch-to-the-gut level. Discovering the last Tim Tam is gone is upping the ante somewhat to the equivalent of a great gaping hole in existence, worse if it directly follows the … (read more)

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