Review XXIII - Guns & Talks

Review XXIII
Guns & Talks (2001)

I tend to watch a lot of Korean films, but I watch ones that have actors I've seen somewhere before. Take for example Jang Jin's Killerdeului suda aka Guns & Talks. After I watched Won Bin's The Man from Nowhere, I really brought it upon myself to watch Guns & Talks. Then when I found out Shin Ha-kyun was also in the film, I reminded myself I had to watch it. However, I only recently watched it after many months because I procrastinate a lot when it comes to watching movies. Instead of doing an assignment, I took two hours and fifteen minutes to watch this film.

Ha-yun (Won Bin), his older brother, Sang-yun (Shin Hyun-jun), and his two friends, Jae-young (Jeong Jae-yeong and Jung-woo (Shin Ha-kyun) are a group of assassins. However, they're not your average hitmen - they always used contracts, someone helps them out with picking their weapons, and often question why someone should be killed. The film follows them through different jobs while two detectives try to pin them down.

It's a funny, cute film. It doesn't really bring out any thought provoking moments, but it gives you a good laugh, as well as some nice perspectives on love. I thought the film was a bit long considering it's just a film about assassins and their mishaps, not being suspenseful really, but it didn't in particularly drag either. I thought Jeong Jae-yeong's character wasn't developped enough, especially given the length, but the other characters were pretty well developped. I thought the acting was decent, nothing spectacular, but nothing I really can complain about, except maybe the "talks" in the title. Seems off to me... It was just overall a cute, dark comedy, and though it wasn't really special, I really enjoyed it.

I'd give the film a seven point eight on ten. It's a bit of a high rating, but I liked it a lot. Maybe I was in the right mood while watching it and that's why I loved it so, but I would still recommend it as a fun film to watch with friends. If you like guns and... talks, then check it out!

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Review XXII - Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins

Review XXII
Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins (1985)

Although I enjoy super cheesy films, I don't seem to watch them often. I tend to avoid them in the theatres because spending fifteen bucks on a forgettable film isn't what I would call enjoyable, and when they finally come out on DVD, I forget about them. However, I remember before I started going out with my boyfriend and I was hanging out at his dad's house, he presented this eighties' action film on a VHS (whooah!), claiming it was awesome. We started watching it, but never finished it. Maybe a year or two later, I finally watched it again, and man, it was hilarious. I watched it again last night, and I decided I'd post a review about Guy Hamilton's Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins before I review anything else. Yay, eighties' cheese!

Meet Remo Williams (Fred Ward) - before he was Mr. Makin, a tough cop, but he's chosen to be part of a super secret government organization out to clean up the scum on the Earth. With the help of Conn MacCleary (J.A. Preston), Harold Smith (Wilford Brimley), Maj. Rayner Fleming (Kate Mulgrew), and Chiun (Joel Grey), a Korean Sinanju master, Remo Williams will hopefully succeed in his first mission - bringing down George Grove (Charles Cioffi) and his malfactured weapons being used for the United States Army.

I'd give the film seven stars on ten. If you like action films, and you like a good laugh, go for this film. It's cute, cheesy, and pretty lame, but it works. You can't go into a film like this expecting something more than what it delivers, so you're definitely satisfied. It does bother me a bit that they had a white man play Chiun, a Korean, but the make-up is deserving of its Oscar nomination. Check it out for a good laugh; it's worth it for the snickering construction worker!

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Quick Note

I just wanted to leave this quick note that I have some movies I need to review, but I went on vacation and have started school again, so I'll get to them as soon as I can.

-Alex

Review XXI - Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

Review XXI
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)

I'm not a trekkie, and I've only watched a few episodes from the original Star Trek series and two films. It's funny to watch (and George Takei and William Shatner are so young!), and the techno babble is just crazy (quantum - that's their reasoning for everything, haha), but hey, it's fun to watch on a rainy day. Even if you aren't familiar with Star Trek, you'll probably recognize the infamous Khan scream. Remember in my Reservoir Dogs review when I mentioned it was playing at a theatre about an hour away? The theatre has a "Most Wanted Mondays" where they play an old film that we, the people, vote to play on a Monday. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan played yesterday, and since my boyfriend is a pretty big Star Trek fan, and I had seen the film before, we decided to go see it. We sat down in a decently full theatre and watched Nicholas Meyer's masterpiece (I couldn't think of another word to use).

The film takes place in the 23rd century, and Admiral James T. Kirk (William Shatner) is feeling old. When he's given the opportunity to tag along for a three week long training session aboard the Enterprise, he accepts, with Dr. Leonard McCoy (DeForest Kelley), Captain Spock (Leonard Nimoy), communications officer Uhura (Nichelle Nichols), chief engineer Montgomery Scott (James Doohan), and helmsman Hikaru Sulu (George Takei) by his side. However, when an old enemy, Khan (Ricardo Montalbán) returns in order to get revenge on Kirk using an instrument that could be birth, or death, of a planet, Kirk is finally forced to face death head on.

If you've ever seen Star Trek before, you know it's cheesy. While we watched the film, whenever William Shatner delivered a line that sounded so overdone, everyone in the theatre erupted in laughter. We also shared a sorrowful moment at the end, and it was one of the most interesting and best experiences I've ever had in a theatre. Anyway, back to the film... It's nothing spectacular, but it was a huge hit. It also has an interesting idea behind it - a device that is genesis - it can take a planet in the Goldilocks Zone that lacks atmosphere and water to sustain life and create a habitable planet. However, if the planet contains any type of life, that life will be destroyed in order to create a new environment. I don't know, I always thought the idea was really cool. Then Khan's need for revenge as he blames Kirk for the death of his wife - well, it's typical, but it's good. Khan isn't just an asshole for the sake of being an asshole; instead, he's a man who is overcome with vengeance because he loved his wife so much, and he will stop at nothing to destroy Kirk. It's not the most complicated plot, but it's well done. I also don't want to reveal the ending, but jeez, am I proud that they actually did it. Most directors don't have the guts to do what they did. And no, they were not expecting a followup the way the third film ended up being, so I'm still amazed by their decision.

The acting can be pretty hammy (Shatner... pauses... for... effect.), as I mentioned, but it's Star Trek style so I had no problem with it. Not all the acting is bad, but don't go in expecting award-winning acting. They also never explain by Saavik (Kirstie Alley), a trainee, acts out emotionally, even though she's supposed to be a Vulcan (Spock's race, who, logically, do not believe in acting out emotionally). Apparently she's part Vulcan and part Romulan, so she has trouble controlling her emotions. This is something that is important to explaining her character, but, for whatever reason, they kept it out.

I'd give the film a seven point eight on ten. Maybe I'm being a bit generous, but it is kind of nostalgic, and the experience at the theatre watching it the second time was spectacular, so I really enjoyed it. I also liked seeing Merritt Butrick in the film, who plays the son of Kirk and Carol Marcus (Bibi Besch), even if I only know him from one show, heh... Anyway, it's worth a watch, even if you haven't ever seen any Star Trek episodes. Still, I don't think it's a film you would necessarily appreciate without having any knowledge of the series beforehand because it would just seem like a typical, cheesy science fiction film. I can't say that for sure though. Live long and prosper!

Review XX - Ghostbusters

Review XX
Ghostbusters (1984)

I've been watching quite a few movies, but I've fallen behind on reviewing them. Anyway, I remember loving Ivan Reitman's Ghostbusters as a kid. I hadn't watched it in a few years, but I watched it last week for the fourth or fifth time.

Dr. Peter Venkman (Bill Murray), Dr. Raymond Stantz (Dan Aykroyd), and Dr. Egon Spengler (Harold Ramis) are kicked out of university because of their lack of proper and fruitful research. They start a business of catching paranormal entities, only to find out that something bigger is brewing in New York City, and Venkman will stop at nothing to make sure Dana Barrett (Sigourney Weaver) notices him.

It's a cheesy film, and it's a typical eighties' film, but it's cute and enjoyable. Now that I watched it again, I caught on to some of the innuendos in the film (gate keeper, key master), which made me laugh. Really, there's not much to say because it's a childhood film. Even if it was bad, it's hard for me to focus on that because it's a nostalgic film for me. I mean, really, it's a simple film, and I find the characters aren't necessarily given a lot of back story. I find Winston Zeddmore (Ernie Hudson) is just there, but we still barely see him. I know the point of the film is the ghosts, but all I get is a little bit of information on the characters. Still, as I said, it's not something I really care about that much because it's only made to entertain, and because it has a nostalgic value to it, and it has aged well, it's hard for me to really complain about anything because nothing bothers me about it that much. There are problems, but with a film like this, there's nothing that actually bothered me about it.

I'd give the film a seven point seven on ten. It's entertaining, funny, but nothing extraordinary. If you also like Rick Moranis, he's in it, which is cool! If you've never watched the film, go watch it. I mean really, who doesn't know the line, "Who ya gonna call"?

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Review XIX - Clerks II

Review XIX
Clerks II (2006)

A long time ago (two months ago), I reviewed Clerks from Kevin Smith. After watching and reviewing the film, I really got into the mood of watching the sequel again. I couldn't find it anywhere (I had put it on a DVD) and couldn't be bothered to re-download it. There was a huge thunderstorm last night, and I lost my Internet connection for a little while. I decided to watch a movie instead of playing Minecraft. During my search, I found Gentlemen Broncos, but more important, Clerks II! Thus I sat down to watch the sequel for the second time.

Dante (Brian O'Halloran) heads out to open the Quick Stop only to find that the store is on fire. Randall (Jeff Anderson), it turns out, left the coffee pot on after closing up. The two end up getting employed at Mooby's, a fast food restaurant, only to be surrounded, once again, by some new, weird, and annoying customers. Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (Kevin Smith) are back, as well as some new friends including Dante's new fiancee, Emma (Jennifer Schwalbach Smith), Dante and Randall's boss, Becky (Rosario Dawson), and Elias (Trevor Fehrman), a very peculiar co-worker at Mooby's.

The first time I watched this film, I loved it. I loved it even more after watching it a second time because I got to re-hear jokes I found hilarious the first time, and appreciate them even more the second time. I also, cough, was also more informed about certain events that happen in the film since I last watched it, so it also added some more hilarity to the film. The acting is way better in this film than Clerks, and though the dialogue isn't necessarily as witty, it's still amazing, and I laughed a lot. I also liked the new characters that were added in, and I found I appreciated Jay and Silent Bob a lot more in this film. In Clerks, I found they were more of just a little side bit, but in this film, they were better incorporated with the main characters.

Overall I'd give the film an eight on ten, just as I did Clerks. I can't say which one I prefer because I felt both films were a bit different, but were both really good. While Clerks is more safe to watch around family and friends, I'm warning you that you should probably only watch this film with a close friend because it can be pretty graphic. Someone told me they watched it with their parents - by god, I feel for them.

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Review XVIII - The Seventh Seal

Review XVIII
The Seventh Seal (1957)

If you don't know who Ingmar Bergman is, you're missing out on one of the greatest directors that ever helped produce cinema. Alright, I have to be honest... I had only watched one other Ingmar Bergman film before this one (it was Wild Strawberries, aka Smultronstället), but I'm going to go ahead and make that statement anyway for two reasons. The first reason being that I did watch two films now and both made me think AND made me feel, which is extremely rare for a film to do. The second reason being that I have read enough about the man to see I'm not alone on this. Of course, the second reason isn't always valid since we all have different tastes, but if a director's films are still praised today, even if they were made over fifty years ago, and they're praised by people all over the world, then you can usually guess the director is at least good. Anyway, here is one film of his splendid collection called The Seventh Seal, or Det sjunde inseglet, starring Max von Sydow, Nils Poppe, Bibi Andersson, Gunnar Björnstrand, and Bengt Ekerot.

Antonius Block (Max von Sydow) meets Death (Bengt Ekerot) during his travels across Sweden with his squire, Jöns (Gunnar Björnstrand) in 14th century in the midst of the Black Plague. He asks to play chess with Death, saying that if he wins the match, he will be allowed to live a longer life. He continuously postpones the game, trying to find out the meaning of life and where one goes once they die. During his journey, he meets Mia (Bibi Andersson), Jof (Nils Poppe), Blacksmith Plog (Åke Fridell), as well as others who try to find meaning in life as the black plague kills people around them.

That synopsis doesn't really do the film justice because it only reveals the surface of this film. As I mentioned, this film made me think, as well as evoked an emotional response. A man is desperately trying to figure out what happens after death because he himself is about to die. He's living in a time where people are dying by the thousands, claiming a god is punishing them. It's interesting because it's not just, "Oh, I'm going to heaven." Instead, we actually get a film that questions the existence of a god, especially in the time of a major crisis. Since I am not very knowledgeable of Swedish culture, especially in the fifties', only of North American culture, I find this amazing. I rarely see a film question what happens after death today, let alone over fifty years ago. I love it. The acting is also good, and I love the personification of Death, which has become stereotypical apparently. I know we see Death in Last Action Hero, but anyway...

I loved the way the film was shot as well. Not only was I enjoying the dialogue, I enjoyed the cinematography. I definitely have a thing for black and white films since I find they're beautiful, but this one was also well shot. It was beautiful to look at, and that definitely made the film even more enjoyable.

I'd give the film eight point three stars on ten. I really enjoyed it. I can't give it justice with just talking about it, so go watch it - it's definitely worth it.

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