Tetsuo II: Body Hammer, Review

Tetsuo II: Body Hammer , is not quite as graphic, and artsy as original Tetsuo. The metal guy's son is kidnapped by some bad guys who are led by a twisted man. We are given insight in to this man's unhappy childhood. We are not told how he comes to induce his own cybernetic transformation with an injection of some unknown substance. It's not entirely clear to me why he kidnaps this little boy, but the result of this event sends metal guy into an emotional rage that causes him to transform into a hulk of deformed killing metal. The bad guy leads a bunch of skinheads, who work out in between doing their master's bidding.

The sound track was not as good as the first. I will rate this one 2.5/5 acorns.

Being sucked into TV has diminshed my movie going. I am sucked in by Sopranos, American Idol, Medium, Boston Legal, Komyo ga Tsuji, and 24. The room cleaning in preparation for the remodel is moving on slowly. How did I collect so much stuff?

Minotaur and Fools Rush In Review

Minotaur is a 2005 made for SciFi Channel movie. It was just okay. The characters are kind of boring and once trapped in the labyrinth with the creature just don't seem to know what to do. The story idea itself wasn't so bad but not very original. The beginning reminded me of Dragonslayer in that kids (virgins) are being sacrificed to a monster, but the king's son is being spared. His girlfriend was one of the one taken and he dreams of her and a leper eggs him on to go to the land of the Minotauer to rescue her. I like the scenes when the bad guys come to kidnap the kids, but once in the land of the Minotauer it becomes a bit of a snore. I got a lot of knitting done watching this one. I'll rate it 1.5/5 acorns.
Rutgar Hauer is supposed to be in this one, but I couldn't spot him. I think he was hidden behind a large beard.

Fool's Rush In was a romantic comedy with Selma Hayek and Matthew Perry. I have been a fan of Selma ever since she slithered on in From Dawn to Dusk. The movie itself was like most romantic comedies, cute, contrived and happily ended. I will give it 2/5 acorns.

My brain is turning to mush this weekend.

Tetsuo, Review

Tetsuo is a 1988 movie directed by Shinya Tsukamoto. He is probably more well know for Koroshiya (Ichi the Killer). Tetsuo is a very graphic, black and white movie, about a man who mutates into a metal monster after he cuts him self shaving. Now if that isn't a good reason to stop shaving I don't know what would be. I couldn't quite figure out where the other metal guy came from, but he lives in the sewer as far as a I can tell, and of course we all know that the Ninja Turtles mutated down there, so it's not so far fetched that a metal monster could also. A couple reviews I read suggested that the sewer metal man is also homosexual. Anyway, being that this is a Japanese movie and both metal men suffer from extreme adjustment disorders, you can assume, there is no happy ending here. But, there is a sequel. I will watch that another day.
The music is quite interesting and matches the black and white images. All the actors have very expressive faces.
I will rate this movie 3/5 acorns. It is not for the squeamish.

Only Yesterday, Review

I have been obsessing lately on how I'm trapped in eight grade emotionally and I keep thinking of this animated movie from Hayao Miyazaki's Studio Ghibli. The director and author of the screenplay is Isao Takahata of Grave of the Fireflies fame.

The synopsis from Nausicaa.net states, "Only Yesterday revolves around Taeko, a single woman working a desk job in Tokyo in 1982, taking a vacation in the countryside with the family of her sister in-law. During her vacation, Taeko finds herself looking back at her time as a young schoolgirl growing up in 1966. The film flips back and forth between the two time periods with a lot of nostalgia and beautiful country scenery as Taeko sorts out her flashbacks and tries to make some tough decisions about her future."

There really isn't a lot of action in this movie, but it is never dull and obviously still speaks to me even though I haven't watched it for a while. The "Country Road" theme is from my time and so familiar.

I will rate it 4 of 5 acorns.

Chasing Secrets and The Promise, Review

Chasing Secrets is a made for TV movie that sucked me in on Lifetime TV this am. I hate it when movies make me cry because they are so touching. I must view it as a sign that I am weak or something.

I remember getting sucked in to an old movie years ago. I was staying up pretty late channel surfing (or probably knob turning, ahem, as it was probably before the remote, gasp). I don't know the name of the movie. I don't remember any actors or actresses. I do remember it was a black and white movie maybe around the Rebecca time, or maybe even before. It was about two children from different social levels who meet and pledge true love to each other for eternity. After they are separated, the women marries (I think she heard he was dead or something) and when the guy shows up he ends up killing her husband and is sentenced to life in prision. He survives by having her visit him in his dreams and when he dies they are walking amongst flowers heaven. It was the kind of movie that I always chastise myself for staying up to 3am to see the end.

I would give that movie a half acorn if I knew what it was called. But then, I digress.

Chasing Secrets is sappy in the way Lifetime movies are. I know I get sucked in to these shows because the stories are very nice and actors and actresses are usually people who exude goodness or are thoroughly depraved. It really helps to know who the good guys are and who the bad guys are.

In this story a young "white trash" child grows up in a very abusive family. The family supports itself by using the child's mom as "bait" in a bar, and when she goes out the fella, her grandfather bushwhacks him and robs him. The child runs down a path one day and meets a black family who provide her with the parenting and love she never had. The movie ends with her returning years later, successful in life, love and family and telling the tale to her daughter.

Shen she opens a present left by the family, it is the apron made with love with her name embroidered on it. Waaaah! The tears came. And I swear, I'm not pregnant! I'll rate this 3/5 acorns.

BTW, this movie was much better then The Promise.
This was a very sappy Chinese action/comedy/romance/fantasy, that was just a little too corny and over the top. A man from the Land of Snow becomes a slave after his village is destroyed when he is a child. He doesn't remember who he is or where he comes from. He becomes the slave of a general and the general uses him to get the woman he loves from the King. Because the slave is dressed in the general's armor, it is assumed the general is the assassin. The woman also started as an urchin who in an encounter with a goddess promises that she will forsake love for riches, until time runs backward, blah blah blah. Well I won't bore you with more, but the slave from the Land of Snow can really run fast! I will rate it 2/5 acorns because I love the costumes and the scenary. The fight scenes are all bogus. Rent this, don't buy it:)