Day 272 - Greenchair 2013(Korean)

 

"

Moon-Hee studied in the USA before returning to South Korea. She now runs an art institute. Moon-Hee has lived separately from her husband, because her husband doesn't want to divorce. Moon-Hee has an intimate relationship with her long-time lover In-Gyu and Professor Yoon.
Meanwhile, Moon-Hee’s  student Joo-Won always draws Moon-Hee’s face during class. When Joo-Won was young, his grandmother took him to a wedding. There, he saw Moon-Hee for the first time in a wedding dress. Joo-Won fell in love with her at first sight. To finally meet her, he takes her class. "

The first green chair was a thousand times better as it had depth and decent sex scenes. This film features bad camera choices, poor acting and dull sex scenes that leaving you bored rather than excited. Sadly we will not be able to see another green chair since the director was killed in the 2013 in a car accident. I will say that some of the acting towards the later half of the movie was decent enough for me to give this film 1 star. I enjoyed the plot a lot but wish it was used differently.

1/5

Day 271 - Dangerously excited (Korean)

"
Han Dae-hee (Yoon Je-moon) is a low level city government employee in the Mapo district of Seoul. His department handles various issues like trash, noise, and public safety. Dae-hee isn't married, nor does he have a girlfriend at the moment. He also doesn't have many hobbies. Dae-hee enjoys memorizing facts from books to impress his colleagues and watching television until falling asleep. You can say he is conservative and his job at the city government office suits him well.
Within the Mapo district lies the Hongdae area famous for the thriving indie rock music scene. Dae-hee leaves with a co-worker to talk with a band who has received numerous complaints from neighbors about loud noise in a residential neighborhood.
The band is practicing for their next album which is coming out in the upcoming days. They are disheartened when Dae-hee and his co-worker informs them they have to stop playing in their rented basement. During their talk, a man comes by and offers the band to rent his attic room for a generous price. Dae-hee and his co-worker knows something is fishy, but just go about their business.
The next day, the band discovers their musical instruments and rent money stolen by the con man who offered to rent his apartment. Meanwhile, they become angry at civil worker Dae-hee who introduced them to the con man. They go visit Dae-hee at his office."

Its nice to see Yoon Je-moon in a starring film for the first time. He really made this film interesting and I like the fact he doesn't play a bad guy in the film. I enjoyed seeing the character change present in the film mainly with Han Dae-hee. Everyone else was bland which caused the value of the film to go down. The plot was horribly used and the ending leaves you feeling cheated. I suggest you don't watch this film.

1/5

Day 270 - 2424 (Korean)

"
Park Tae-ho Jung Woong-In is running an underground organization, which specializes in the smuggling of jewellery. In order to bust the crime ring, the police assigns an undercover agent to join the group who discovers evidence for the alleged illegal proceedings of the gang. Tae-ho who does not want to get caught, hides the jewellery, which is worth 3 billion won in display objects and plans to transport everything out of Korea. Therefore, the police launches a mission called 2424 (which means movement in Korean) under the supervision of Choi Doo-chil Jeon Kwang-Leol to solve the case. However, both the police and the mob lose track of the precious jewels during the course of transport; thus a dramatic search on both sides ensues "

An off the wall comedy that crash lands in the trash can. There are a few laughable moments but the rest of the film seems so forced that nothing works. I do like the romance that buds between the female cop and the male mover. It really is the only thing to like about this movie, I was expecting something good but I was let down.


1.5/5

Day 269 - Looking for a Star (Hong Kong)

 

"It is love at first sight when Sam chances upon a feisty, fast-talking woman with the odd name of Milan (Shu Qi) at a Macau casino. But the catch is, she is a part-time Baccarat dealer and a full-time cabaret dancer, “careers” not exactly congruent with his station in life. Fallen in love against all odds, this mismatched couple soon makes headline in all media which turn Milan into an It girl overnight."

 

A romantic comedy that starts off slow and only goes a little faster later on. This film features two amazing leads Andy Lau and Shu Qi. I wish that their love story could have been better with a tad bit more drama. I enjoyed watching these two perform together, it almost seemed natural and I hope they will star in another movie together. Not only do we get to witness their love story we also see the love stories of Sam's (Andy Lau) chauffeur who falls in love with a single mother and Sam's secretary who falls for a poor man. The two added love stories add depth to the film but it felt like the film needed more drama in order to evoke true emotions. Shu Qi was excellent in this film, its no wonder she is my favorite actress.

 

2/5

Day 268 - Broken (Korean)

 

"Widower Lee Sang-hyeon lives a quiet life with his 15-year-old daughter Su-jin. But one day she is abducted and raped, and her corpse is found at a derelict public bathhouse. Sang-hyeon is left helpless in the face of his daughter's death, with nothing left to cling on to but his feelings of anger and despair. The investigation into his daughter's death is progressing slowly, so restless and unable to sit quiet any longer, he decides to take matters into his own hands. Sang-hyeon receives an anonymous text message with information on the culprit, including an address where the sender claims Sang-hyeon would find electronic evidence of the crime; when he gets there, he sees a man, Kim Cheol-yong laughing as he watches a video showing Su-jin's rape and murder. Sang-hyeon accidentally kills Cheol-yong in a fit of rage, and upon learning that Cheol-yong had an accomplice, becomes hellbent on finding the second rapist/murderer. Upon examining Cheol-yong's murder scene, Jang Eok-gwan, the detective who leads the investigation into Su-jin's murder, realizes that Sang-hyeon was the killer and sets out on his trail"

 

A thought provoking film that will you leave you questioning society. Not only is it a thriller but it is a thriller with a heart. Jung Jae-young was able to successfully express the characters emotions perfectly to the point that you feel for him. I enjoyed the film quite a lot but it was heart wrenching at times thanks to the wonderful acting and powerful images. Lee Sung-min did a great job as a supporting actor which would be pretty hard. He was able to express the conflicted emotions that a detective feels. This two actors were able to make this movie great, this film had a great casting director. Broken is Lee Jeong-ho's second movie as a director and it doesn't show. He was able to tell a touching/conflicted story.

 

 

3/5

Day 267 - Fall Guy (Japanese-1982)

 

"Ginshiro visits the cramped apartment of Yasu with his actress girlfriend Konatsu (Keiko Matsuzaka), begging Yasu to marry Konatsu because she is pregnant, and the story could ruin Ginshiro's already waning career. Expressing this fact depresses Ginshiro, who demands Yasu watch as he forcibly has sex with Konatsu"

 

This is a romantic comedy film that is over the top but still manages to have a heart. The film was excellent I enjoyed Mitsuru Hirata's performance as Yasu. He was excellent and it was quite enjoyable to see him act. Keiko Matsuzaka was such a beauty and a good actress. I hope I can find more movies from them. I suggest this film to those that like Japanese comedies with a mix of romance.

 

 

3/5

Day 266 -The Grandmaster (Hong Kong)

 

"The film chronicles the life of the Wing Chun grandmaster Ip Man from the 1930s in Foshan, his flight to Hong Kong after the Second Sino-Japanese War, and the events leading to his death."

 

A nice martial arts film but it lacks to have the power of Wilson Yip's IP Man. The whole time I watched this film I was comparing it to Yips and this film failed to be even close as good as his. I like Tony Leung but I kind of felt he needed more realism in his movies, it was wasn't really exciting to see him perform. Zhang Ziyi gave the best performance in the film, she kind of overshadowed Tony Leung with her wonderful performance. The story was excellent as was the sets, costume designs, and make up. I suggest this film to those that like martial art films that are more than just fighting.

 

 

 

2/5