Tanbalarai Reviews

Police Story 2 (1988)

as good as Police Story 1

[8/10 · 7 March 2024]

Whenever I watch a Jackie Chan movie, I am always amazed at the power of screenwriter Edward Tan's ideas. Even if the story doesn't make sense, or the details are not right, he covers it up with the fun of the idea. His method is to put in a lot of interesting scenes. I like it. I also like the fact that there are two climaxes in this film. The idea used in the first climax is really clever. The suspense of how to escape from the predicament was great. The way he escaped was convincing. The climax of the film was very exciting. The letter reading scene was also interesting. The idea of this scene was also effective and made the film shine. There was action, male passion, love, and gags. The drama of his girlfriend's misunderstanding and the drama of the pursuit of the murderer were linked very well. Edward Tan is one of the top ten original screenwriters in the history of cinema, isn't he? The last part of the flame was inspired by Akira Kurosawa's Ran?...very beautiful flame. It was very beautiful when you look up at the flames from below. The flames spread all over the walls of the room... Movie fans, you should watch movies with a projector. Otherwise, it's so regrettable.

The Cincinnati Kid (1965)

This is a great actor!

[8/10 · 23 January 2024]

The story is too thin.

Still, almost all of the charm of this movie, which makes me so shiver, is the charm of the actors.

I really got a kick out of the last scene when Ray Charles' voice came on. Everything was calculated and set up so that the song fits perfectly. I was hooked.

The supporting cast was good too, two actresses that are right up my alley.

I enjoyed the movie a lot because I knew the rules of poker very well.

The scene where he visits her house was very charming. McQueen's vulnerability comes out and it's very charming. Her parents are initially miffed, whether it is because he is a buffoon or a gambler. And McQueen is quiet, hardly speaking at all. But with just one word, he wins the hearts of the parents. This kind of scene can only be done by a great actor. That's why this movie is a masterpiece.

The Last Duel (2021)

Too slow

[1/10 · 23 January 2024]

It is too late to show what the main character has to do.

There are no elements of the main character that should be loved. What is so attractive about this man that the audience will fall in love with him? In the first place, the actor Matt Damon himself is not enough. Hollywood has not produced a single actor who can play a leading role in an entertainment blockbuster for more than 20 years.

The antagonist's character is ambiguous... He seems like a nice guy until the middle of the movie, but why does he suddenly become like that? I don't know if it was love or lust.

There was nothing interesting in the episodes... There was no effort to make each scene interesting. And the same scene is repeated three times. The writer should have been more sensitive to the fact that this story is boring for the audience.

If the story is told from three different perspectives, the truth and justice of the fact must be seen differently from each of the perspectives.

I think the sets and costumes were great.

The backlit shots had a lot of flare. I think it was probably shot with an old lens, but I think the coating is ruined. Maybe they should ask the actors to cut down a little on their fees and re-coat the lens. It can be done with a few million yen. In Japan, that is.

But still, the scores are disproportionately high to the quality of the work. It's how many people get drunk just on the name of the maestro.

I wish I could give you a business reference.

An Autumn Afternoon (1962)

You are being fooled by this film

[10/10 · 2 January 2024]

This film is indeed, as you said, a beautiful film filled with the joys and sorrows of ordinary people's lives. It is hard to get bored with it, even though it seems like you would get bored with it right away. There are a series of subtly interesting episodes, and it is a work of taste that will not bore you until the very end.

But is that really what this movie is all about?

If so, is it really necessary to take the characters head-on like this?

There is a remarkable shot at the beginning of the film. Smoke is swirling behind the protagonist, who is responding calmly. We must not miss this shot.

The human face is designed to express emotion, but it can also fake emotion.

The film contains two episodes of "lies," which clearly suggest the theme or antithesis of the film. It is as if the viewer is being challenged to see through the entire film... to detect the "lie". I cannot for the life of me believe that this film is just a humanistic story.

It is eerie that the film always focuses on the characters from the front, which gradually makes them seem less and less human. The characters are always saying these things and smiling, but I wonder if they really are.... In fact, it is rare for a human being to have a heart-to-heart communication with another person or to share an emotional response. The synchronization of the mind is not total, but only a part of it. And it is a very joyful thing to know that a part of your heart has been understood. As I watch each and every scene of this film, I try to deduce what these characters must be thinking. That is how I savored this film.

This film is ranked third or fourth among Yasujiro Ozu's works, but I would recommend it as No. 1.

Project A 2 (1987)

They would really be thieves

[6/10 · 30 December 2023]

The three-decker split script is difficult to understand. Let me explain.

1 The story is about police corruption.

This has been neatly cleared up by arresting the boss. However, we have seen many movies where this is not cleaned up neatly. So it is not refreshing to be told that it has been cleaned up here. The next section begins as it is.

2 The story is about revolutionaries who turned out to be thieves.

This is another one of those movies that I've seen a lot of. It is hard to believe that they were really revolutionaries. We have to go on to the next section with that dragging on.

3 The fight against the secret police of the Qing Dynasty who are trying to catch the revolutionaries.

I'm not sure about the setting of this period. I don't know about before Sun Yat-sen showed up or before the People's Republic of China was formed.

It is not clear because of this.

However, Jackie Chan played a big role and it was an enjoyable movie. I will watch it again someday. It would be more enjoyable if I knew the story.

Jackie Chan is a very hardworking man. I didn't think that even the chili pepper was real!

Armour of God 2: Operation Condor (1991)

I like Chinese Lady

[6/10 · 27 December 2023]

A double heroine story, which Jackie is good at, maybe it's not that Jackie Chan is good at it, but that thewritere's good at. It seems that the general evaluation of this screenwriter is not very high, but I rate him highly. What should you do if the script is too short? It is common sense to include violence, erotica, and gags. Even if you know that, you can't do it well. This screenwriter is very good at it. This allows even vague scripts to be turned into nice movies. Writing a movie script is very difficult and it doesn't always turn out to be a masterpiece. Shouldn't this be enough?

I'm an oriental, so I thought this Chinese lady was the sexiest. I'd like to know who Westerners think is the sexiest. By the way, the beautiful woman he meets again in the desert is Japanese.

RED (2010)

It's not funny.

[4/10 · 22 December 2023]

Basically, I am uncomfortable with movies that killing people as if it's fun. Unless there is something great that makes me want to forgive them just this once. The only thing that was interesting was the initial "I'm in love with the guy just by his voice" setup. The longer it went on, the more boring it became.

And I don't feel like the main character has any motivation to do what he has to do. They keep bringing in new characters because the story isn't interesting enough, but it's also cheap and annoying. It's impossible to make a story like this last for 120 minutes. It would have been better to end it in 80 minutes.

Holiday Inn (1942)

You should see this on Christmas Eve

[9/10 · 12 December 2023]

What a wonderful actress!

I think the script for the scene where she first appears is very bland and boring, but it had a huge impact. I think it was the power of the actress. I was instantly captivated by the actress.

The whole story is the same kind of stuff that you would see in many films, but it's very well written. I have never seen such a well done film with this kind of story. I can only say that I was overwhelmed by it. Although the performances of the actors are responsible for much of the charm of the film, the script is undoubtedly excellent.

The actors, the actress, the script... I hope such a great movie will be talked about for a hundred years!

1917 (2019)

The Power of Camera Work

[7/10 · 28 May 2021]

It is natural that if the script is interesting, the movie will be interesting. If you can make a very interesting movie out of a not-so-interesting script, you are a great filmmaker.

If it hadn't been for this camerawork, I probably would have been too bored to watch the movie. I probably wouldn't have been drawn in at all. The fact that the film boldly starts with this camerawork from the very beginning is what drew me in and made me feel for the main character without question. I wonder how much opposition the director must have faced when he said, "I'm going to shoot the whole film in one cut from start to finish..." It must have taken a tremendous effort to make the film, but it was worth it. The director's sense that this script would only come alive with this kind of direction, that this script must be directed in this way, was spot on.

As I watched the last credits screen, I felt that something was being conveyed to me, even though I did not understand what the film was trying to convey. I guess that's what movies are all about. But maybe the emotion of the last scene was mostly created by the music. I'm not sure about that. I guess that's what movies are all about.

For those of you who are interested in camerawork after watching this, I recommend Hitchcock's "Rope," a milestone of one-cut films. I also recommend "Young and Innocent," where the intention of the camera work shines through.

Ready or Not (I) (2019)

I got pretty bored along the way but...

[6/10 · 12 November 2020]

I don't know if it was fun or boring, but the cleverness and wits of the direction made it work. The comedic touch and the use of nice music were good.

Chinatown (1974)

I recommend you don't watch it.

[5/10 · 2 November 2020]

The last scene was a messy aftertaste. I didn't really know what they were doing because the story was too intricate. I don't know who and who is involved in the case. There's too much room for ambiguity as to what level the police are being bribed to, or if contacting the FBI would work, or if it would be more interesting to leak the media. How is it possible that one of the masterminds of a conspiracy of this magnitude could have committed a murder on his own? Well, the highlight of the film is Jack Nicholson's performance and the music.

Mulan (1998)

It's only 87 minutes of great adventure.

[8/10 · 25 October 2020]

From my generation, I'd like to say one thing. This is Disney! I knew the main plot of the story and I felt the time before the main character go on her big adventure was very long. I wondered if it was OK to be so slow in only 87 minute films. But my afraid was unfounded. It looked like it was redundant at the beginning, but the whole thing was very well balanced. Each episode wasn't too elaborate. Rather, it looks like a shoddy job. But I think it was really an elaborate script. ... She did a great adventure that I felt at the last scene. The Chinese 2009 version of Mulan was also a masterpiece, and I thought this one was as good as that. I thought Zootopia was interesting and I like The Incredible Family. And even compared to those, I thought this Mulan was just as good. Other than Cinderella and Peter Pan and other works of yesteryear, maybe this is the best one.

Mulan: Rise of a Warrior (2009)

A example of a battle film.

[8/10 · 16 October 2020]

I thought the script was well written, mixing human drama and battle scenes. Especially the climax part. The action is not just to heighten the action, but it is linked to the emotional climax of the main character. I felt the scriptwriter's high policy of writing a human drama. The story as a whole unfolds surprisingly quickly, like a digest of an epic drama. I felt some awkwardness in that area. However, by the end of the film, you won't care about that at all. I think it's a splendid example of digest-type screenplay. The cheesy suspense subject matter to attract the audience to the protagonist at the beginning of the film is different from the subject matter to move the story forward afterwards. I thought the handling of that theme transfer was a high point of the script's skill. Though it might have been easy to write because it has been made into a movie many times in the past... The man looks a bit dumb, but the actresses are more impressive for that. The whole thing has a legendary feel to it and I found it is a beautiful story that will stay in your heart so long.

Commando (1985)

It was fun enough.

[7/10 · 15 October 2020]

It was an interesting movie with a very simple script that I could easily enjoy. I was wondering how it was possible to watch this movie with such a simple script without getting bored. I guess it's because of the kidnapping genre. Also, I think it's because of Schwarzenegger's charm when he made his debut. Many action scenes are made it unnecessarily longer. This film is probably the rare thing that a screenwriter should not copy the script, but it's an interesting movie. Schwarzenegger is too strong and he isn't hit the bullets anyway. I wasn't sure what that island Schwarzenegger was attacking was. But that didn't matter in this movie. The most noteworthy thing in this film is the existence of black heroine. I think it was quite innovative rather than unusual to have a black heroine in this era. It made the movie feel wild and very good.

Non-Stop (2014)

It was unusually boring for a hijacking.

[4/10 · 9 October 2020]

How did the killer get access to our hero's cell phone? How did the captain of the plane die? If he is sure somebody sent the text message, why didn't he ask? 'Didn't the person next to you use the cellphone five minutes ago?' I was expecting a very interesting mystery at the end, but I'm disappointed. I felt that the criminal was found out suddenly and in a very conventional way. I couldn't understand the motive of the murderer at all. In fact, I didn't understand what he was saying. I'm surprised they didn't duel in the planning stages. If they're going to make a movie like this, they should have at least think up an interesting way of how the captain was killed. I thought he was going to kill himself. The first one was also too well timed, as advertised, so suicide was the only way to go, right? I thought they were all involved who got deaths. There's a lot of interesting hints in advance and then it doesn't end up satisfactory. It's like a con.

Ran (1985)

This is terrible.

[1/10 · 6 October 2020]

After reading the script written by Kurosawa, the scriptwriter Hideo Oguni advised him as follows He said, "The audience is different today than when King Lear was written. In Shakespeare's time, the audience knew firsthand how important a powerful king was. They knew how tragic it was that he was dying and that his sons were fighting one another. In the audience minds, there was always the fear of invasion from another country. But that's not the case for today's moviegoers. The script has to explain that how the King was strong, how he was smart, how he was feared, how he was loved... Shinobu Hashimoto, the screenwriter famous for "Seven Samurai" and "Seppuku", also expressed the same opinion in his autobiography. But Kurosawa ignored their advice and made the film as he had written it. Even though the masterpiece he made in his prime was made thanks to their advice... And then they made this terrible failure. In the original story, there is a character named Kent. That person tries to protect Lear. It shows how good King Lear was, how respected he was and how important a position he still holds today. In trying to protect King Lear, that means simultaneously trying to protect the nation. Whether it would work or not was very thrilling to the audience at the time. Shakespeare used this kind of device in his works, but Kurosawa did not. In his script, Kent was reduced in size and the misery of the King was magnified. The reality of the drama as a large scale drama was lost and it became a mere drama about an old man becoming miserable. If the king, who had been wielding the power, suddenly became an old geezer, the people around him would be more panicked. In the original story, the children were his daughters, so their rash behavior, ignorant of politics, was realistic. And there was prudence in the behavior of their husbands. In the 'Ran', the new kings are acting like morons as the daughters of King Lear. The new king and his entourage should have behaved more cautiously because they were afraid of the former king's influence. If the story was depicted in such a way, the potential of the third son when he teamed up with the former King would be implied and the audience would be able to enjoy the movie to the end even if the former King become more miserable for a while. ... The pictures are not beautiful at all and the acting is at the level of arts and crafts. This is a bad movie of a bad movie.

Chappie (2015)

Columbus' egg

[8/10 · 2 October 2020]

If I could write such an interesting script, I'd be very happy to be a screenwriter. In the beginning it looked like a computer programmer was the main character and then gradually the robot became the main character. I thought the transition was brilliant and the process was very interesting. The robot is the protagonist, so it's hard to make the character, but it was really well written and realistic. Furthermore, not only the main character but also the supporting characters were well written. The way the balance between their good and bad attitudes was well drawn. This made the drama of the climax even more exciting. Since the robot is the main character, the casting was well controlled so that the other supporting characters would not spoil the main characters. Movie scripts basically show what the main character has to do early on. But this script is not like that. We don't know where the protagonists are going until the middle of the story. Still, I enjoyed watching the process, each episode, because it was interesting. It would be good for the scriptwriter to realize how important it is to have interesting episodes. If I had to say a drawback, I think it's possible for a robot of this type to change batteries or recharge its batteries. It was also hard to understand why they couldn't save their consciousness as data. But I didn't care much about the details because the whole story was well-drawn. The director seems to be the type of person who spends a lot of time on the script. I hope he'll take his time to make another interesting film.

Furious 7 (2015)

It's good to see so many good women out there.

[6/10 · 1 October 2020]

Every woman that came out of the movie, from the sexy lady in the first race place to the powerful, dynamite bodied queen, were a good women. It was also fun to watch them as they were full of women appearing in what looked like service shots. However, I had no idea what the story was about. I think this is a movie that only fans of the series and those who love the main character before they see the movie will enjoy. In a stand-alone film, the protagonist is usually set up in a sorry position. It's fair to say that the element of sympathy is essential in order to attract the audience to the protagonist. In the case of the series, the protagonist is the hero, so he doesn't have that situation. In the case of a series, it's important to create a person who has that situation. In this film, the writers seem to have forgotten that. Also, there are too rough details and the way the situation is resolved became boring. However, this is the kind of movie I want to see. I don't want to see a classy movie. I want to see erotic and wild movies. In that sense, I want to support the direction of this film. I hope the director gets a good script advisor so he can make more interesting ones.

Absolute Power (1997)

A fine piece of work with a protagonist of an age that is difficult for the protagonist.

[7/10 · 29 September 2020]

Clint Eastwood, a major actor, stars in the film, but the place in this film. The main character is not a big guy but a small guy. And he gets involved in a big case that he shouldn't handle.... Then a young woman gets involved and it became a very attractive movie. It's not unrealistic and glamorous that an old man can be popular with young women, but it's modestly and realistically portrayed, which gave me a dream and a sadness, which was very good. The part which Eastwood wanted to show is here I believe. Fighting the enemy is like a box or wrapping paper, but if the box or wrapping paper is not well made, you can't enjoy what's inside. This movie is a movie wrapped in enough boxes and wrapping paper to enjoy what's inside.

Enter the Dragon (1973)

I like this movie as my second favorite of Bruce Lee's

[9/10 · 27 September 2020]

I was in junior high school when I saw it for the first time. I remember I was already freaking out. I started working out at home the next day after I saw the Bruce Lee movie. It's still going on, in a way. How many people in the world today do karate, kickboxing and weightlifting? If it weren't for Bruce Lee, not as many people would have been into muscle building and martial arts as they were. It's been more than 50 years since Bruce Lee's death. But even today, there isn't a young man anywhere who doesn't know the name Bruce Lee. What a wonderful thing that would be. It's a minor point, but there's one thing I'd like to ask you movie fans. It's that gesture of giving a thumbs up to let someone know it worked. Bruce Lee does it in this movie. The gesture may have originated from this movie, right? If anyone knows if that's true or not, I'd love to know.

Warrior (2011)

A typical family drama

[5/10 · 26 September 2020]

Shouldn't it have been a fight between strangers, not a fight between brothers? After all, the writer couldn't write a story well unless he had something in common with the people they were fighting? It's a shame that it's turned into a family drama because the subject matter is interesting. I think family dramas are easy to set up. That's because it's easy to explain the motivation of the main character. What do they fight for? For my family. Like. As soon as the story gets a little bit stuck, they turn it into a family drama. Well, from a business point of view, if it's a family drama, there might not be many mistakes, but as a movie fan, I'm tired of watching family dramas. The director also made a movie called The Accountant. I like that movie better than this one. However, that movie also had a pretty big theme of brothers in the last part of the movie. I wonder if this director can only write about brothers? Normally, I'd think they'd try to avoid story overlap. If you haven't made a bunch of movies yet the story is similar, I have to suspect that your talent is already exhausted. It's wrong that the storyline is that an amateur who isn't in the world rankings but an amateur can get an opportunity to battle against in a major tournament.

First Blood (1982)

That's far from a war action movie.

[8/10 · 26 September 2020]

It's a shame that after Part 2, the film becomes an action-activist drama set in a war, but this is different. This is an anti-war film in the form of an action movie. No, this film should not be confined to the framework of an anti-war film. What can I say? There are a lot of great films about what happened to soldiers in the Vietnam War, when he came back but I think this wild film is the best of them.

The Outlaws (2017)

It's overwhelmingly interesting.

[8/10 · 19 September 2020]

It is very successful in presenting the main character first. And it's characterization itself is very good. Then comes the bad guy, I thought small the ideas are very effective and ingenious in many places. I felt that even though the whole story was so conventional, the layers of detail made the movie look like something new. If they can get a better cameraman and spend more money on lighting and cinematography, this director surpass Hollywood in quality. However, there is no need for him to be compared to Hollywood. I want Korean films to develop on their own terms. It's a pity that we can't grasp the size of the organization of these bad guys and it looks like they are just hoodlums rioting on the strength of their fights. Also, I feel that the mechanism of the climax was not very creative. But the overall flow of the film was so overwhelming that you can appreciate it without worrying too much about such small things. What a interesting original story movie!! As a Japanese, I was jealous of Korea. By the way, who is the director, Kang Yoon-sung? Is it a man or a woman? How old is he or she? No information at all. And I'm looking forward to Kang Yoon-sung's next film.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013)

Pretty good work

[7/10 · 19 September 2020]

It didn't depict what exactly the main character's work in the company. So how valuable is he to the company, or what does the company and the job mean to him I didn't understand fully. It's a shame that the story didn't show how hard he worked for the company because he like his job and the company. I think it would have been more interesting if those things were depicted in the story. Also, the importance of that one piece of the film is not well written. For example, all the other pictures were scraps and that one could be the only one that would be on the cover. Or depict the trust of him to the photographer. If so, I think I would have understood the situation better. I don't think the situation as a whole was well explained. It was just the flow of the story and the atmosphere around the main character and all that kind of stuff that made me understand what was going on in the movie. Those things made up the story in the lack of explanation and I was able to get into the film. Personally, I don't like movies that are obviously aiming at masterpieces like this one. But if you're not a cynical movie fan like me, I think you'll be impressed by this movie, so I'm happy to recommend this to you.

Scent of a Woman (1992)

Al Pacino 52. Hooah!

[7/10 · 17 September 2020]

I guess he's about 62 years old for the role. I'm right in the middle of that age range, so I can't stand this movie. Al Pacino is a very interesting actor who plays a lot of roles. I thought this film is one of the most unusual ones. He plays it very well. The scene that becomes the turning point was very good. I think an incompetent director would have put a close-up of a body part in that scene, but this director didn't do that. The scene was very emotionally directed and the music was wonderful and moving. By the way, the striking actress who came out in the middle of the film, Gabrielle Anwar, is super sexy.I've definitely seen this actress before, so I had to look her up. But I couldn't find any movies that I remember seeing. Maybe some of the movies I looked up was the one, but for the life of me, I can't remember which ones I saw. It's strange, isn't it, that I've completely forgotten the movies I've seen, but I can remember the faces of the actresses. A good woman is a really good thing. A man works hard to have a good woman to sleep with. That's not an impure motive, but a great motive. That's what I thought of when I saw this movie. It would be bad if your wife found out, though.