Blog Archives

009 Re: Cyborg (2012)

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Posted on October 4, 2013 by Deni

If a term for the way in which a single anime is capable of flipping seamlessly and without warning between heart-racing action and mind-bending existentialism hasn’t been invented yet, I propose that we call it 009 Re: Cyborg. Of course, the problem there is that once there’s a term, we’ll have to name the condition of being utterly unable to grasp it, because watching this animated feature, I’m pretty sure I was suffering just that.

All the elements of … (read more)

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Ghost in the Shell: Arise (2013)

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Posted on October 3, 2013 by Justin

Here at Heroic Cinema, we’ve got a lot of love for the evergreen Ghost in the Shell universe. It seems to sprout a new variation every few years, and they’re always worth watching.

Akira and the original Ghost in the Shell film were my personal introduction to anime, many years ago, and I remember how refreshing it was to find cinematic visions of cyberpunk science fiction that just dumped you headlong into the mirrorshades-and-AI future, posing the sort of questions … (read more)

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Evangelion 3.0: You Can (Not) Redo (2013)

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Posted on October 2, 2013 by Samson

One of the highlights for me at the Reel Anime Festival in 2010 was Evangelion 2.0: You Can (Not) Advance, the exhilarating second part in the new theatrical version of the landmark anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion. Since that time, I have been eagerly anticipating the release of the next part. And now, thanks to the good people at Madman who have decided to run the Reel Anime Festival again this year instead of 2014 (as it has … (read more)

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Pluto (2012)

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Posted on September 1, 2013 by Justin

Last year’s Korean Film Festival in Australia (KOFFIA) brought us three very different films that shone a light on the pressure (shading towards the horror, in some cases) of high school in South Korea: the harrowing true story Silenced, the wistful, nuanced drama Bleak Night and the snarling animated film The King of Pigs.

This year they have programmed Pluto, another feature film that takes the pressure-cooker environment of the final years of high school as … (read more)

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A Werewolf Boy (2012)

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Posted on August 25, 2013 by Justin

This year’s opening film for the Korean Film Festival in Australia, which I caught at the sold-out KOFFIA opening night in Sydney, is Jo Sung-hee’s A Werewolf Boy. It’s a great choice for an opening film — it’s a genre crossover (romantic melodrama with werewolves!) with stars in lead roles, it’s got a fresh new talent in the director’s chair, and it made serious bank back home: Werewolf Boy sold more than seven million tickets in South Korea, and … (read more)

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Architecture 101 (2012)

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Posted on August 18, 2013 by Samson

The popular Korean Film Festival in Australia (KOFFIA) is already underway in Brisbane, with Sydney and Melbourne soon to follow. So far already, our Editor has reviewed the period drama Masquerade, while fellow Team Heroic members have written about the thrillers Berlin File and The Tower. Screening this afternoon is the 2012 smash hit romance film Architecture 101, which I have had the pleasure of catching, and I am pleased to tell you that if you are … (read more)

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Masquerade (2012)

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Posted on August 14, 2013 by Justin

Superstar Lee Byung-hun (JSA, A Bittersweet Life, I Saw the Devil) gets to play the leading role twice over in Masquerade, a lavish South Korean costume drama set during the turbulent rule of King Gwang-hae of the Joseon Dynasty. (Wikipedia pegs this as 1608-1623, for those as ignorant of Korean history as I am.)

One role is that of young King Gwang-hae himself, maintaining his grip on his feuding court through political intrigue and … (read more)

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The Tower (2012)

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Posted on August 13, 2013 by John Snadden

The Tower is South Korea’s first attempt at a full-on disaster movie, and overall it’s pretty good but does bear a strong resemblance to the Hollywood pic The Towering Inferno, widely seen as the peak title in this 1970s movie subgenre.

It’s also the latest film from director Kim Ji-hoon, whose most recent pic was the underwater-monster feature Sector 7, which did big business at the box-office.

Christmas Eve in Seoul sees the public debut of the Tower … (read more)

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