Change Your Image
KBeee
Reviews
Foundation (2021)
Sound quality
I was enjoying this show, but I was annoyed by a terrible "Whirring" sound throughout all of the soundtrack.
I asked my brother "What's that horrible noise?" and he said
"Don't worry about that. It's just the sound of Isaac Asimov spinning in his grave"
DIY SOS (1999)
DIY SOS - The Big Build
DIY SOS started as a low budget TV show where a presenter (Nick Knowles) and a small team of builders and a designer would come to the rescue of a home owner that'd started a Do It Yourself renovation, but was unable to finish it for various reasons. It degenerated into almost a parody of itself, featuring more about the builders antics than the actual building or repair work.
Then it evolved.
It became DIY SOS The Big Build. This is a totally different beast.
The same presenter, and the same core of builders suddenly became the heart of a much bigger and important venture. Each episode, a deserving family, due to illness or disability, would have their home renovated to make their lives a little easier. Whether it's making the house wheelchair accessible, or a complete internal rebuild, local trades and builders giving their free time would descend and transform the house in 9 days, to give hope to the owners of a better, or at least a less terrible future. The amount of good will displayed by ordinary people is heart warming in these often self-centred times, and makes for an uplifting TV programme.
Gokudô heiki (2011)
Over the top mayhem
If you liked Machine Girl, Tokyo Gore Police or Versus you'll love this.
Starting with an homage to Rambo, Tak Sakaguchi's "Yakuza Weapon" quickly ascends to the realms of tongue-in-cheek over the top violence and gore that only Asian cinema seems to reach.
Tak Sakaguchi plays Shozo Iwaki, the son of a Japanese Yakuza boss, who returns to Japan after 4 years as a mercenary in South America to avenge his fathers death.
If a Hollywood Good Guy can implausibly be missed by a machine gun at point blank range, or outrun an explosion in slow motion, then Shozo can be missed or dodge 10 automatics, and surf the explosion to the Baddies tent! Plus homing sticks of dynamite... catching RPG's in your bare hands... spikes on the bottom of his shoes that'll put a hole right through your head... you get my drift.
It's hilarious. Many laugh out loud moments, and spontaneous applause at the end (only the third time I've heard that in a UK cinema).
Highly recommended.
On a side note, there is one scene where Shozo walks up a stairway killing all the foes he meets on his way, that was supposed to be shot in one take after 2 hours rehearsal, but they needed 2 takes because Tak broke his neck during the first take!
That's dedication for you.
Taketori monogatari (1987)
Close Encounters of the Bamboo Cutters Kind
The old Japanese folktale of the Bamboo Cutter is here reinterpreted to make Kaguya an alien visitor. Sticking fairly closely to the original 9th century tale of a bamboo cutter finding a mysterious baby girl, this film puts a modern spin onto it by turning the beautiful visitor from the moon into an alien entity lost from a crashed spaceship. Sounds silly, but.... It keeps the original story but "explains" what really happened to our modern sensibilities. I'd have preferred the more traditional folktale ending, but despite the Close Encounters of the Third Kind finale, this film still shines some light into that REALLY alien world, Heian Japan.
Sennen no koi - Hikaru Genji monogatari (2001)
A new twist on Genji
Bringing Genji Monogatari to the screen was never going to be easy.
How can you take a 1000 year old book, set in a world that is more outlandish to modern people than any alien civilisation depicted in a Sci-Fi movie, and make it interesting to a modern audience?
Of course, The Tale of Genji is full of sex which helps, and another way is to tone down the the differences between Heian Japan, and the modern world - No fashionably blackened teeth here, and interaction between the sexes instead of Court ladies being always hidden from male view and communicating through poetry. Murasaki Shikibu is even pictured riding in a carriage with 2 men!!! The real Murasaki (whoever she really was) would rather have died than do that. Oh, and having The Shining Prince played by a girl is an interesting twist. And strangely... it works! Even the occasional pop song seem to blend into this fantasy world without jarring too much.
It's not really The Tale of Genji, it's more of the tale of Murasaki writing The Tale of Genji, with excerpts from the book shown throughout depicting the life and many loves of The Shining Prince.
As one of the few films that try to portray pre-samurai Heian Japan, I found it interesting just for that. Sure it's not a Great film, but it's enjoyable enough. There are a few moments of humour, the costumes are beautiful, and so are most of the girls (and Genji).