X-Men: The Last Stand, Review

A scientist finds a "cure" for mutants. He wanted his son to be "normal" and the he sets up his laboratory on Alcatraz to product a substance that neutralizes their power. This causes a split amongst the mutants. Half believe they have no disease and the others want so much to be like the rest of family. Rogue longs to be able to touch another human

Jean, who gave her life in the previous episode comes back to life but she has changed and is quite scary now. Magneto is his ole slimey self, going after the formula for the cure to help him neutralize his enemies. Wolvarine is back looking very buff and fuzzy, blades all polished.

The showdown is very cool and action packed.

All in all it was a very entertaining movie. I felt like crying in a couple of parts (but I'm not telling!).

I will give it a 3.5/5 acorns.

I suspect I haven't seen the end of the X-men yet, even thought it was the Last Stand.

I really like Rogues and Jeans sweaters.

Dogora, Review

Dogora is a Toho movie that combines sci-fi and spoofs yakuza movies at the same time. "Johnny Yuma" must not have been available for this one, so Robert Dunham plays the token American. The monsters aren't the usual rubber ones but are more like jellyfish that turn into rocks. The dubbing is bad and the acting stilted. It is really like two movies and the sci-fi part is pretty good. The "young soldier" scientist comes up with the solution to the alien invasion and that is pretty cool.

I will rate this 2.5/5...a cheesy delight.

Running Wild, Review

Ya-soo stars Sang-woo Kwon, from My Tutor Friend and Ji-tae Yu from Oldboy. Yu is a very anal policeman trying to bring to justice a ganster who has become a political figure. Kwon is out to avenge his half brother who was gunned down by the same man's hitman. His mother is dying in a hospital. These two actors are very good, the fight scenes were pretty convincing, but somehow this movie did not grab me. I will rate it 2/5 acorns.

While watching this movie, I kept reflecting on the scenes on the golf course and at the driving range. I'm beginning to wonder if golf is connected somehow to the Korean underworld or is it just Seoul? (as many movies are filmed at Seoul Film Studio Complex, I guess that is the equivalent of Hollywood). I must confess, though, I don't really know if there IS a Korean underworld and if there is, what it is really like.


Now that all my shows have ended for the season, except for the NHK Taiga drama, Komyo ga Tsuji, I hope to get my movie going mojo back. There are X-men to see and Codes to figure out. I'm sure as summer grows hotter, I'll need to seek out the AC!

Goyokin, Review

Goyokin is the gold and silver mined for the Tokugawa Shogunate and shipped by boat to Edo.

This movie stars 3 actors so familiar to me during the formative years of my love for samurai movies...Tatsuya Nakadai, Kinnosuke Nakamura, and Tetsuro Tamba. Nakadai plays so well a ronin haunted by a crime perpetrated by his brother-in-law, played by Tamba, to uphold the domain of their Lord. Nakamura is an undercover Bakafu agent investigating the disappearance of a whole town.

The filming is classic for it's time...artful waves, fire, rain and snow...well choreographed fight scenes with tense, quiet moments preceding swift and final blades...all very well done indeed.

And, there is the "inappropiate" laughter, the idea of duty before love, the geyser like gushing blood, melting into the white snow.

I was happy to come across this gem. I give it 3.5/5 acorns.

Three Seasons, Review

This movie follows several stories about life in Vietnam. One is an American ex-GI looking for his daughter, another is a pedicab driver who falls in love with a prostitute, another is a street child and the last a young girl who sells white lotuses for a poet who suffers from leprosy.

The stories don't really come together like some ensemble flicks. The filmography is very poetic. There are some messages to be read into the stories.

Not much action, but pleasing to watch.
I will rate it 3/5 acorns.

On The Run, Review

This is an older Chinese action flick about a detective who investigates the murder of his wife, a police woman, by a cool hitlady. He and the hitlady get handcuffed together and end up running from everybody-corrupt cops, drug lords and the police. She explains that she kills for money, not really getting into who the victim is. He has a very cute daughter who warms the heart of this hitlady, but of course that doesn't spoil her aim.

I was knitting during the movie and that always alters my ratings. I notice Internet Movie Database rates this a 7.4. I give it 2/5 acorns.

Laundry, Review

Teru fell into a manhole when he was little and has a scar on his head and his brain. His grandma knitted him a hat that he never takes off, because if he does he will have a "spasm". He works at his grandma's coin operated laundry, making sure no one steals anything and cleaning up. One day a sad, beautiful woman comes in to do her laundry and leaves behind an article of clothing. He closes up the laundry and returns it to her. She invites him in and holds his hand, obviously wounded and lonely.

Her story is that she always wanted to move to Tokyo and work in a flower shop. While there she falls in love with a delivery man. When he dumps her because his wife is having a baby, she is crushed and starts stealing. Eventually she moves to the end of the busline to live. Teru follows her there to return her blood-stained dress-blood stained from an attempted suicide.

The actor playing Teru wipes his nose much in the way deCaprio did in "What's Eating Gilbert Grape" to indicate he is mentally challenged.

The question is can these two people get together and have a good life together? And what about the pigeons?

Oh yeah, there are pigeons. On his way to return the blood stained dressed, Teru hitches a ride with a surly man who likes Teru and gives him his card inviting him to call if he ever needs help. It turns out he does wedding pigeons.

There were some cute moments and characters in this movie, but it didn't quite work for me. I will rate it 2/5 acorns.

My Mother the Mermaid, Review

My Mother the Mermaid is a about a woman who goes in search of her father after he goes missing. She hates her life, and can't decide about her boyfriend. Her mother is a foul mouthed masseuse. She finds her father in the fishing village on the island where her parents were from. Somehow she is transported back in time and meets her mother and father in their 20s and gets to watch their romance blossom.

Not everyone is fortunate enough to let go of baggage from their first family. This is a story of one person who manages to let go and move forward. It is also a story of how love can be smothered and forgotten by the desire for material things.

I will give it 3/5 acorns.

Space Amoeba, Review

Now I'm very fond of rubber Japanese monsters like Godzilla, I mean who isn't? and Space Amoeba has Gezora, Ganime, and Kameba, but this movie was not the best in terms of story, acting and action. Perhaps that is why it has 4 other AKAs listed in The Internet Movie Database. I was expecting more from the octopus, crab and turtle mutated and taken over by space aliens.
I will have to give this only 2/5 acorns. Maybe if Nick Adams or Raymond Burr had made an appearance it would have helped. Maybe if I watched it with the Japanese audio it would have helped. Lotta maybes. Maybe not.

Yikes, I'm reading a book!

(image from Mandarava.com, hope they don't mind)

Yup, it has been known to happen, I'm reading a book, "Kitchen Table Wisdom" by Rachel Naomi Remen, MD. One of her stories talks about the Dancing Shiva. The God is dancing on a little man who has his attention on a leaf in his hands. She explains that in this session she attended everyone wanted to know about the little man The man, is caught up in the material world, and is oblivious to the fact that a glorious God is dancing on his back.

This book was actually recommended by one of the shrinks at work, and appealed to because it is "Stories That Heal". For me the focus was in the word "stories" as in short, as in, may be read by someone sucked in at work and with short attention span.

The message I got from this story? "Must be present to win". I also got another candidate for my values bracelet. Possibility.

Well to change gears now, I was very happy to see Molly Ringwald on Medium on Monday. I was wondering where she went. Perhaps having a family and living life. I hope so. But it was great seeing her.

Shadowless Sword, Review

Muyeong geom is a historical fiction action movie by director Young-jun Kim. He also directed Bichunmoo. I love these period movies because I learn a little bit of history which I was always bad at in Junior High. And, of course, although my grandfather is from Korea, I know almost nothing about Korean history, pre-Mash-time. Maybe it's time to research that branch of the family.
The problem I had with this movie was that the aerial antics of the fight scenes is way overdone, in my opinion. There were some cool moments, such as the exploding people ala Fist of North Star...the poignant pause before body parts spurt everywhere, and stone pillars crashing down. The costumes and scenary are beautiful. And, there is a story line that I could follow. I will rate this 2.5/5 acorns.