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Kumo no mukô, yakusoku no basho (2004)
Fundamentally underwhelming
After years of postponing watching this, I finally sat down and gave it a watch. The movie itself is greatly lacking in terms of exposure, character development and plot. Give me a pair of scissors and I will cut it down into a 15min short film without skipping anything remotely important.
The film centers around the promise two characters make, but doesn't really develop these characters well. Yes, we get to know that she has a bit of a crush on him and vice versa, but we only know so through a little bit of dialogue that might just as well have been a breach of the 4th wall. Show, don't tell. For some random reason these characters are allegedly tied together by this promise - even after not seeing each other for 3 years and having spent very little time together before. Around all that are a sci-fi AND a geopolitical story line that are both just as poorly developed.
The film has stunning visuals, but those won't fool me into believing to having seen something beautiful or well thought out.
TLDR: Average film with lots of issues and lack of heart.
Kill 'em All (2012)
The Asylum does it again
The German cover of this movie boldly advertises:"Saw meets Battle Royale". That is pretty much all you need to know, because from there it is just cheesy acting, lack of story and a combination of fight scenes. It is hard to hate this movie, after all you know what you're in for if you know the studio which released it. It contains such dialogue gems like "Four are more than one.", gently reminding the audience of the first grade/kindergarden. The choreography/fight scenes were rather well executed.
It gets 3 out of 10 because it really is a trash film, if you are however into those go check it out, you might have a good laugh ;).
Warm Bodies (2013)
This has about as much to do with zombies as the long drink has
I walked into this movie not expecting much, but a little something. The intro was pretty nicely done and I expected it to not be as dire and gory as say The Walking Dead or Dawn of the Dead. I also didn't mind the idea that R serves as the narrator even though as a character he can't talk initially. Then the humans come into play. The group R first encounters is pretty much your every-slasher-movie-college-road-trip. There are no signs of any kind of training to fight against zombies or act as a group (yes, like playing Left4Dead with 12yos). I was willing to accept the fact that R would fall for Julie, that's the premise of the movie after all. Then however it starts going downhill.... rapidly. R is housing (as of now I will start counting face palm in brackets, so this is 1) in an abandoned airplane. He is opening the door (2) and keeps Julie there. His love interest in her is somewhat developed but still hard to believe. He slowly learns to speak again, yet when he and Julie encounter other Zombies M completely out of nothing can talk at the same level as R can (3). What follows is the typical drama of them getting to know each other better and her leaving him when he tells her he killed her boyfriend. On a side not here. Julie is maybe the worst female character I have seen in a movie for years. Now I'm a guy, but every feminist must have been going through the roof seeing her. R is constantly saying he will protect her, she cannot take care of herself and instead of properly mourning over her dead boyfriend she befriends R, but then again tries to run away from him and what not. Horrible character. Anyhow, R is going to meet her in the human complex (by this time all of the regular zombies have magically stopped eating humans/brains (4)). R easily gets into the human complex and meets with Julie (yeah, build a concrete wall that is 20m high, but conveniently oversee a gap (5) and don't smell the dead guy in the rotting clothes (6)). A group of bonies attacks the human complex looking for R and Julie, what motivates them is however completely unclear, same as what led them there (7). R and Julie escape from them and eventually leap into a pool, with R serving as a kind of cover for Julie. They get back up and R gets shot in the chest. Now, I don't know what you'd do if the water around you is turning red with the blood of a loved one - Julie however starts screaming happily and enthusiastically that R can bleed (8). Then the zombies befriend the humans, come back to live and blah blah blah (9 ad infinitum).
The movie as a whole has no real suspense. There is little to no violence involved either. R is an interesting character that however gets struck by plot holes, Julie is anything but a character, nothing makes her sympathetic. The other characters are also pretty one dimensional.
Well, that's all I can say. Don't waste your money going to the movies to see this. It is pretty much this year's Prometheus - great trailer, shitty movie. I was very disappointed