kagyakusha Reviews

Insidious (I) (2010)

Most Unintentionally Hilarious Movie of 2010

[12 November 2011]

I watched this because I was told it would be "terrifying." I was told wrong. But I did laugh for a significant portion of this movie because: 1. The big bad was Darth Maul. 2. Darth Maul is apparently a Tiny Tim fan. 3. There are Mormon Ghostbusters. Go figure!

The scene where "Darth Maul" was supposed to be "really scary" in The Further was just really darned funny. Also, why did the little kid ghost like Tiny Tim too...or was it just "Darth Maul" in disguise?

The ending was just ludicrous, and involved a "plot twist" that had a not-so-frightening character (the old woman) that appeared only in the very last quarter of the movie. It was also extremely predictable -- I knew for a long time that a) some demon/ghost/thing would get into a body in the real world, and b) that OMG! the dad's hatred of being photographed would be important. I just think that if they wanted the old lady to be super-scary that they could have introduced her sooner, and made it more ambiguous.

Other than that, Insidious is a GREAT comedy. I'm just not sure that's what they intended.

Natural City (2003)

Not just derivative...this film rips off Blade Runner...poorly.

[1/10 · 24 November 2007]

I rented this movie because I adore Ji-tae Yu - I think he's a wonderful actor. Unfortunately, the material he was given here was just not up to par. The movie goes beyond just being an homage and at several points DIRECTLY rips off Blade Runner (the stripclub, the eatery, etc etc) I could even have liked it in spite of its blatant lifting of Blade Runner's scenes, had it not also had a meagre created world in comparison to the original, and more importantly, had it had a sympathetic main character. R is a drunken lout who we are supposed to believe 'loves' his (replicant!) doll Ria...but we are shown no evidence to actually support this except for his protestations. Ria herself has no personality. Cyon is the only character which I felt in any way sympathetic towards, and for most of the movie she's being horribly abused (raped, kidnapped TWICE, repeatedly attempting to kill her/steal her body etc etc). There's just not much about this that is worthwhile.

Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (2006)

GREAT Movie!

[9/10 · 25 April 2007]

I highly highly recommend this movie. It's a black comedy/mockumentary/horror movie that's bloody hilarious. I LOVED it. I can't recommend it enough!!! If you're a horror film junkie, or even if you're not (for example, my boyfriend doesn't particularly like horror films but is fond of intelligent comedy and was right beside me laughing for this one) you should DEFINITELY see this movie! It's so respectful of the genre at the same time that it plays with it... Nathan Baesel, who says he was inspired by Anthony Hopkins' Hannibal Lecter really pulls off charming and cheery -- not copying Lecter, but applying the influence to create a new and lovable serial killer (this is what makes him both funny AND creepy - it's impossible not to like him!).

Kurosagi (2006)

Amazing Series!

[10/10 · 26 January 2007]

When I first heard about this series, I was a bit worried about watching it -- because I thought that my view of it might be coloured by the fact that I loved Nobuta wo Produce, the series that YamaP and Horikita Maki were in previously. I realised very quickly in the first episode that these two actors were so talented that there was no way I could mistake them for the same characters that they played before. They've made their characters sympathetic and intriguing where another actor might have made the same characters clichéd and boring. The secondary characters are just as interesting -- Yukari is one of those characters that you love to hate...and Katsuragi is a constantly manipulative old coot with a million tricks up his sleeve -- it's because of characters like these, as well as a rich and varied storyline that I can't help but insist that everyone go out and watch this show!! They don't make doramas like this every day!