K-20: Legend of the Mask

K-20:  Legend of the Mask  aka  The Fiend with 20 Faces
Japan (2008)
Starring:  Takeshi Kaneshiro, Takako Matsu, Toru Nakamura
Award:  2009 Hochi Film Award
I went on this long hunt for foreign superhero movies and K-20:  The Fiend with 20 Faces emerged.

From his humble beginnings Heikichi Endo is forced to move from being Japan's number one circus act to becoming Japan's number one enemy.  With his name in ruin Heikichi trains to gain the skills required to capture the man who set him up.

This Japanese fantasy movie is pretty cool.  There's some fun stunts, a few decent scenes, a number of good laughs, some drama, a couple of scenes that beg for the audience's emotions, and a bit of scientific mystery.  Sure there were parts that didn't really jive and some scenes where the helicopters looked like little remote control helicopters, but it was worth overlooking that.

I would have watched this even if it had horrible reviews, just because it is a foreign superhero movie.  Regardless of why I would have watched it though, I'm glad I did.

20th Century Boys

20th Century Boys 1: Beginning of the End
20-seiki shônen: Honkaku kagaku bôken eiga


20th Century Boys 2:  The Last Hope
20-seiki shônen: Dai 2 shô - Saigo no kibô


20th Century Boys 3:  Redemption
20-seiki shônen: Saishû-shô - Bokura no hata


This is a series of three movies produced from 2008-2009 from Japan.  The movies is based on an award winning magna series called Yawara written by Naoki Urasawa.

When my week long venture of watching these three was over I was happy.  I can see why this might have been a huge success in Japan.  It was kind of gory and in some ways seriously creepy.  The story continuously develops and devolves as more and more information lost in the minds of the group who wrote a story during their childhood.  This is the story of one man, Friend, who climbed to the top of the religious/global political ladders and a group of childhood friends who must gather together years later to fight against the evil that Friend is unleashing on the world.  

Aside from being a super long story this set of movies was cool.  The special effects left a little to be desired and the style of filming was a little different, but all in all for another take on the end of the world it was worth the watch.  I don't think I'll watch it twice though.   

Delhi 6

Delhi-6
India (2009)
Starring:  Waheeda Rehman, Abhishek Bachchan, Sonam Kapoor

Roshan was born to a Muslim mother and a Hindi father.  He was raised in America and when his grandmother takes ill he is the only one that is willing to travel back to the city the family came from.  He willingly thrusts himself into a world where he placed between two major religions, a culture unlike any he has ever dreamed of, beliefs and customs that people are willing to die to defend, and a black monkey.  As he discovers the roots of his family, meets his parents old friends, and his family's oldest supporters Roshan's life completely changes the more he is immersed in his new world.

This movie depicts culture shock in a wonderful light.  It partially shows the edges of the boundaries that different religions, castes, races, and cultures create simply by being.  It's full of good humor, song, dance, and of course a Bollywood love story - but, it also has a bit of racial and religious clashing.  In the arena of Bollywood movies I found Delhi-6 a good one; finally a movie where I didn't feel like I wasted my time for the first time in a week!

Loong Boonmee raleuk chat - Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives

 

Loong Boonmee raleuk chat - Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives
Thailand (2010)
Starring:  Thanapat Saisaymar, Jenjira Pongpas, and Sakda Kaewbuadee
Awards:  2011 Best Film (Asian Film Awards), 2010 Palme d'Or (Cannes Film Festival), 2010 TFCA Award (Toronto Film Critics Association Awards)

Ok, so generally I see that a movie which carries a generally accepted set of genre tags such as comedy, drama, and fantasy and then the awards that were won along with a few other nominations and I think, "wow that might be a good movie.  To get such attention from everyone this one at least has some potential."

I don't know if it was that I couldn't identify the title with the occurrences within this movie or if it was a cross between the ghost, the monkey spirit, the guy who mated with the monkey spirit, or the catfish god having sex with a princess. . . but, this movie didn't really impress me.  

Bajo Aguas Tranquilas - Beneath Still Waters

Bajo Aguas Tranquilas - Beneath Still Waters
Spain (2005)
Starring:  Michael McKell, Raquel Merono, Charlotte Salt

Beneath still waters was...

There were some parts where you could tell some great imagination came into play during the script writing.  There were some parts that were kind of, semi, maybe partially a little creepy.  That's about it.  By the time this movie was over with I felt like it was a complete waste of time.  If you are snowed in with no alcohol, no internet, a pen, a dvd player, and a TV that get's no network channels, and this DVD - take the pen and use the DVD as a surface for some artistic outlet and doodle on it.

Guru

Guru aka Gurukant
India (2007)
Starring:  Mithun Chakraborty, Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai

Guru is a movie that has sat in my collection for months, once again I should have watched it sooner.

This movie is about a villager who left his family and went to Turkey to work at a young age.  His father never accepted that he would become anything.  When he was to receive a promotion he saw little sense in continuing to work for someone else while remaining poor and quit working to go back home and follow a dream.  From that point forward the story unfolds.  Unlike many Bollywood movies that go on and on and on while playing out the plot with nothing new being introduced, Guru was constantly brining new issues or causes into the movie all the way through.  Also unlike many Bollywood movies, Guru is not a sappy love story all the way through; granted the love story does play a main part in the movie, but it is not the focus.  There are a few cute dance scenes which of course I love just because they involve the beautiful Aishwarya Rai.

This movie was about overcoming obstacles.  It depicted how much having the right person at your side can make all of the difference while enforcing that without determination you will never reach your goals.

All in all I have to say I really enjoyed this movie.  Partially because of the messages the movie contains and partially because of it's uniqueness as a Bollywood flick.

Quote:  If you're with me I can beat the whole world.
              If law can be made in a day, it can be changed in a day.
              Think big, think ahead, and think fast.

Ninja's Creed

Ninja's Creed aka Royal Kill
USA (2009)
Starring:  Alexander Wraith, Gail Kim, and Lalaine

I'm not even going to go through the trouble of finding a trailer and embedding it.  While there was a reason to watch Alien vs Ninja, I can think of no reason to watch this movie.

Ninja's Creed started out with some amazing scenery and I thought to myself, "maybe all of the other critics are wrong and it's just an under appreciated movie."  Nope. . . I don't even know how this movie received funding.

Alien vs Ninja

Alien vs. Ninja
Japan (2010)
Starring:  Mika Hijii, Ben Hiura, and Shuji Kashiwabara

This came around in the San Diego Asian Film Festival last year and I was bummed that I didn't see it.  I spent months looking for it and finally Netflix put it on streaming.  For all of the time that I spent looking for this movie it wasn't worth the wait.  With that said, if you feel like watching a mindless flick with a little gore and some funny but off kilter humor it's worthwhile.

All in all you can make the decision.  I watched it once, but I won't watch it twice. Mika herself was more worth watching in the movie then the movie itself. . .