Missing

I fancied a horror style last night and was recommended this.

A couple (Director Hong played by Son Geon-woo and Hyeon-ah played by Jeon Se-hong) spend a day in a secluded village and decide to visit the restaurant of Pan-gon (played by Moon Seong-geun). This proves to be the biggest mistake they”ll make  as they are both attacked by Pan-gon and Hyeon-ah is forced to be his slave. Hyeon-ah’s concerned sister Hyeon-jeong (played by Choo ja-hyeon) goes on the hunt to find her however risks falling into pan-gon’s trap too.

This is a very fast paced horror and  was a hell of a lot more disturbing than I thought it would be, at points I must confess I did have to get the cushions to hide behind. Moon Seong-geun was excellent as the menacing psychopath. I also found myself shouting at the telly especially at Hyeon-jeong as I have seen way to many horror/stalker style films.

This film for me went quite quickly and was okay, it wasn’t the best horror I have seen, however it was by no way the worst, and I will say that never before have I seen cake used in a film the way it is used in this one.

You asking?

Psychic (or Haunters)

This was one that I had been looking foward to after seeing the trailers.

Psychic is the story  Cho-in (Kang Dong-won) who has the power to control people with his mind. After his parents try to kill him because of his unusual gift he hides away from society, but does use people to do things for him (without them knowing about it) this is until he comes across Kyu-nam (Ko soo) who seems to be the only person he can’t control. Cho-in is angered by this and the two of them battle each other for control.

This was an enjoyable film and very different to anything I have seen recently, I do like a bit of supernatural, and I loved Kyu-nam’s two friends Bubba (played by Abu Dod) and Al (Enes Kaya) both speaking seemingly flawless Korean (I may be corrected on this however), my one criticism was the ending where I was a little confused, but I do  not want to give anything away.

I would say though if you fancy something which is a little bit spooky but with a sense of humour then I would give this a watch.

They're watching you

The Man From Nowhere

Won bin proving that no matter how hard life gets, you can still do good hair.

Was asked my opinion on this film as had heard mixed reviews so here we go. Won bin plays Tae-sik Cha, who is an ex special agent who now lives pretty much as a recluse, his only friend is a little girl called So-mi (Sae-ron Kim) whose seems to live quite an independent life (mainly cos her mother Hyo-jeong is out trafficking drugs) Tae-sik without intention gets caught up in Hyo-jeongs antics, and when both her and So-mi are kidnapped he faces a race against time to save them.

The film is quite entertaining and is quite pretty to look at however I did find myself getting a bit lost halfway through,  this was probably because so much was going on, at times I was thinking oh what just happened there, but it did get back on track towards the end.

On the whole I found The Man From Nowhere enjoyable enough but may need to watch it again to make sense of the middle bit.

Because you're worth it

Bedeviled

A week off with the flu can only mean one thing…. a chance to catch up with some movies. I kicked of my duvet-athon with Bedeviled

Hae-won (Seong-won Ji) is struggling with life and after witnessing an attempted murder plus work troubles she is told by her manager to take a bit of holiday, she decides to visit the remote island of Moodo, where she had visited relatives as a girl. Her childhood friend Bok-nam (Yeong-hie Seo) is delighted that she has returned though Hae-won quickly realises all is not well on the island.

The film is almost like a two parter, the first half explaining the characters and how they are to each other and with Bok-nam the islanders are particularly nasty treating her slave. At some points I found this quite difficult to watch.

The second half however is all out gore fest, and we see how someone can be tortured to the point they lose it.

I would recommend this if you have a strong stomach and can take something which at times is very hard going. Though I would say that Yeong -hie Seo was brilliant in what must have been a very hard role to play.

YOU WANT SOME!!

Searching For The Elephant

This is a film I had know nothing about, however have recently learned that the actress playing Hye-mi (Jang Ja-yeon) committed suicide this year which is very sad to know 😦

Searching for the Elephant is a tale about the wealthy 30somethings and their vain and materialistic lifestyles. It focuses on 3 close friends, but as with most things that look good on top we soon seen that their lives are far from perfect. The film deals with mainly with mental illness and sex addiction and has two main stories running in it Hyeon-woo (Jan Hyeok) who is struggling with mental issues, and how he finds inner peace in the most unlikely of circumstances. The second is his friend Min-seok and his constant infidelity. The female leads are strong and Hwang Woo-seul-hye is excellent as Dr Jang, but as mentioned it is quite tragic knowing what happened to Jang Ja-yeon.

This film ticks  all the boxes, and is even a little gruesome in parts, but then has the ability to flash to the totally bizarre and funny. At points I did find myself getting a little lost however I thoroughly enjoyed it and would highly recommend this as it covered so many different areas.

Greed is err....

10 of my favourite Korean films

I didn’t wanna call this my top 10 as I really cannot pick a favourite, am also frustrated as quite a few were bubbling such as The Host, Oldboy,  Hello Murder & The Good The Bad The Weird  (This was my first experience of Korean cinema). I also came away from my usual Horrors by leaving out both Death Bell & Phone.

Anywho’s here are 10 of my fave watches (in no particular order)

1) The Chaser

2) Memories of Murder

3) Thirst

4) Sympathy for Lady Vengeance

5) My Sassy Girl

6) Kiss Me Kill Me

7) Brotherhood

8 ) Mother

9) No Mercy

10) I Saw The Devil

Phew that was hard, let me know if you agree and please feel free to comment

Film Recap

First of all apologies for not paying attention to this I will try and keep on top of what I have been watching from now on.

In my absence I have managed to see some really good films, some turkeys (Triangle WTF)  and just some that err should never see the light of day (yes Serbian film I am looking at you).

am still trying to piece together my top 10 but am finding it a little tricky this year. So I am gonna start with some that I have really enjoyed, the first you will probably laugh at when I say I absolutely loved Piranha 3D . Yes it was cheesy, yes you got to see Kelly Brooks boobs but it was such good fun I was actually clapping in the cinema and cheering at points. Another piece of cinema gold was Ji-woon Kim’s fantastic I Saw The Devil this was an awesome piece of cinema and I feel privileged that I was able to see it. Byung-hun Lee was fantastic as a grief stricken man hell bent on revenge and I would recommend this highly, though be warned as it is very very violent and did leave me at times wanting things to hide behind, also viewed has been Jackass 3D The highlights for me in this was the opening sequence and a rather pissed off ram, The Housemaid which I thought was very good although a very twisted film. This told the tale of a woman employed but a rich professional family who embarks on an affair with the Husband which proved to be her downfall, Do-yeon Jeon was excellent but the film did have me shouting at the telly in parts. 71 Into The Fire I thoroughly enjoyed along with Machete although that should not be taken too seriously.

Have also managed to catch a few documentaries while I have been ignoring you too, Most notably was the awesome Gasland which had a few things to say about natural gas companies and how they live alongside local residents and make their tap water set on fire in some cases.  Best Worst Movie Ever was a good fun documentary about a film called Troll 2 which makes Howard The Duck look Oscar material.

Mentions to the the difficult to watch Enter The Void which nearly blinded me is a story about a drug dealer who is killed and watches over his sister, sometimes a little more than he should. 7 Days A french film in which a father goes to extreme lengths to avenge the death of his daughter. It is very good but incredibly harrowing and not at all for the faint hearted.

I hope that this little run through is useful and sorry for neglecting my duties.xxx

 

 

The Joneses

Another film about family on the to watch list

David Duchovny  and Demi More play Steve and Kate Jones. They have moved into the perfect house and have two perfect kids Jenn and Mick (played by Amber Heard and Ben Hollingsworth) and are the envy of their local community flashing off all of their designer products, clothes and lifestyle. This seemly perfect family though have a secret and they are not being totally honest with their new neighbours, and when it gets out none of them are prepared for the truth about the Joneses.

This film is something totally different, its funny without being laugh out loud and does have a message about societies obsession with consumerism. The lifestyle they actually lead behind closed doors is quite lonely however it is quite difficult to feel sorry for them. Demi Moore and David Duchovny have very good on screen chemistry however the ending disappointed me somewhat as was very typical of Hollywood.

I would recommend if you just want something nice and light thats not too taxing, and a little different.

The Joneses

City Island

A film I knew nothing about but was told it was worth watching.

The film is about the Rizzo family and their totally messed up unit Vince (Andy Garcia) is the father prison guard and secret aspiring actor,  His wife Joyce (Julianna Margulies) is a bored and neglected housewife and their children, have their own secrets.  The family’s separate lives though all come out when Vince brings home one of the convicts  Tony (Played by Steven Strait) and on his meeting with another drama class student Molly (Emily Mortimer).

To go too much into this film would spoil it so I am not going to do that, but I will say that the acting is first class from all the cast. The film is also very funny especially with regards to Vince Jr’ s (Ezra Miller) storyline, and also has some great twists and turns to keep you hooked throughout. It was  good to watch something having no idea what it was going to be about and not reading any reviews.

I was totally impressed by this and thoroughly enjoyed it so I would say if you want something about a totally disfunctional  family then I would recommend highly.  Good fun.

How To Train Your Dragon

After hearing so many people say it was good I thought I would curl up with the cat and give it a watch.

The story is about young Viking Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) who dreams of hunting dragons and becoming a respected warrior like his father Stoick (Voiced by Gerard Butler). The trouble is poor Hiccup lacks in Viking build and aggression, however he manages to capture a dragon (Toothless) and ends up befriending it. It is then up to both toothless and Hiccup to prove that the Vikings perception of  the dragons is wrong and they are not the all out beasties that they are believed to be.

This film is probably one of the sweetest and best animations I have ever seen.  Toothless is definitely up there as my favourite animated characters ever (and not because he in some ways resembles my cat 🙂 ), The voices of the actors was excellent, and the film did not try to be anything other than just a good animated story. There was no references to pop culture which was refreshing (films such as shrek are guilty of this and it can get tiresome)

My only regret is that I did not get to see this in 3D as I can imagine it would have been awesome, however a fantastic movie and a total must see, I loved it.

He just has to get to know you