Topic: 2010 December Marathon - Discussion thread

[Tom]

I have finished rewatching the GTO series.

[Tom]

I have watched Girl of Time today.

[Tom]

I have watched 2009: Lost Memories now.

[Tom]

Instant Swamp (2009/Japan) IMDb FusionMediaSales, Third Window Films (United Kingdom) Director: Satoshi Miki Writing: Satoshi Miki (Writer) Length: 120 min. Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85 Audio: Japanese: Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround Subtitles: English

Stars:
Kumiko Asô
Morio Kazama
Ryô Kase
Shôko Aida
Takashi Sasano

Plot:
Miki Satoshi's follow-up to film festival hit the 'Adrift in Tokyo' stars the beautiful Kumiko Aso a Haname, a lively young journalist blessed with an exceedingly vivid imaginative working for a woman's magazine on the brink of bankruptcy. Her daily diet of gloopy health drinks aren't enough to shield her from what she perceives as a particularly severe run of bad luck, which all began on her eighth birthday when her father stormed out of the house, not only abandoning her, but flinging all her toys into a nearby swamp, including a cat talisman which she thinks must have been cursed. Haname sets out to retrieve her lost possesions, a quest which reacquaints her with her father, now a hippie working a junk shop who goes under the name 'Light Bulb', and brings her into contact with a punk named Gus.

Extras:

• Bonus Trailers
• Scene Access
• Trailers

My Thoughts:

As expected, a quirky comedy. Nothing laugh out loud funny, but these characters are amusing to watch.

Rating:

[Tom]

Turtles Are Surprisingly Fast Swimmers (2005/Japan) IMDb | Wikipedia FusionMediaSales, Third Window Films (United Kingdom) Director: Miki Satoshi Writing: Miki Satoshi (Writer) Length: 90 min. Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85 Audio: Japanese: Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround Subtitles: English

Stars:
Ueno Juri
Aoi Yu
Iwamatsu Ryo
Fuse Eri
Matsushige Yutaka

Plot:
Suzume Katakura is an ordinary housewife. Her husband has been sent overseas on business, and although he phones her regularly, he is more concerned with the health and welfare of his pet turtle. The days pass monotonously, it is as though no one pays her any attention, not even her husband.

The ordinariness of he life is interrupted one day when she spots a flyer in a stairway advertising for spies. Intrigued, Suzume phones the number. Three days later she is instructed to go to a run down apartment. she is greeted by a man and woman, he is unemployed; she is a shopping mall announcer. They claim to be working for a foreign state, and just like Suzume they are ordinary people who lead ordinary lives. The couple persuade Suzume to become a secret agent too. They virtually force 5 million Yen on to Suzume, and so begins her life as a spy.

Extras:

• Scene Access
• Trailers

My Thoughts:

Similar to Instant Swamp, this movie lives from fun character moments instead of a overall story.

Rating:

[Tom]

Don (1978/India) IMDb | Wikipedia Spark Video (United Kingdom) Director: Chandra Barot Writing: Salim Javed (Story By), Salim Javed (Screenwriter) Length: 166 min. Video: Full Frame 1.33:1 Audio: Hindi: Dolby Digital 5.1 Subtitles: Dutch, English, French

Stars:
Amitabh Bachchan as Don
Zeenat Aman
Pran
Ifrikhar
Om Shivpuri

Plot:
When ruthless Don (Amitabh Bachchan) is killed by the police, the DSP (Iftekhar) is afraid that another "Don" will take over when the rest of the gang come of know of his death, so he, unbeknown to the rest of the police force, recruits Don's lookalike Vijay (also Amitabh Bachchan) to become the real Don. Vijay is, at first reluctant, but when promised that two children he is caring for, will be looked after and educated, he agrees. He is successfully re-located back with his gang by feigning injuries, and loss of memory. He soon recuperates. Then fate takes an unexpected turn when the DSP is killed and Vinay becomes the suspect: his role as the Don ends, as his gang comes to know he is a fraud: Vijay must run for his life - both from the police and Don's gang - for his life, and the life of the two children.

Awards:
Won:

Filmfare Awards (1979)		Best Actor Award (Amitabh Bachchan)
Filmfare Awards (1979)		Best Female Playback Award ("Ye Mera Dil Pyar Ka Deewana": Asha Bhosle)
Filmfare Awards (1979)		Best Male Playback Award ("Khaike Paan Banaraswala": Kishore Kumar)

Nominated:

Filmfare Awards (1979)		Best Lyricist Award ("Khaike Paan": Anjaan)
Filmfare Awards (1979)		Best Music Director Award (Kalyanji Anandji)

Extras:

• Music Videos
• Scene Access

My Thoughts:

Last year in this place I have reviewed "Don: The Chase Begins Again". So I thought I would review the original "Don" this year. So far this is my oldest Bollywood movie in my collection. It stars Amitabh Bachchan ("Black") in his prime. He was his generation's Shah Rukh Khan. He reminded me a lot of his son Abhishek Bachchan.
I enjoyed this movie. Especially in the beginning it reminded me of early Bond movies, if Bond were the bad guy. Don's simple self-introduction "Don" had more impact than Bond's "Bond. James Bond", in my opinion. There are a lot of simularities to its remake, of course. Although the remake put in more twists. I was surprised that the main twist of the remake wasn't part of the original.

Rating:

[Tom]

I have watched Loving Annabelle now.

[Tom]

I have rewatched Taare Zameen Par now.

[Tom]

I have rewatched Chak De! India.

[Tom]

I have rewatched Battle Royale (though this time around the Blu-ray version) and Clerks II.

[Achim]

I have rewatched Battle Royale (though this time around the Blu-ray version)

So what did you think of the picture quality? I haven't had a chance to check mine yet...

[Tom]

It was okay. But nothing to write home about. A little on the soft side. But definately a big improvement over my DVD version.

[Achim]

It was okay. But nothing to write home about. A little on the soft side. But definately a big improvement over my DVD version.

Yes, that's what most reviews seem to say. On it's own merits not a very good transfer, but much better than previous DVDs... I had the UK release from Tartan, which was the "Director's Cut". Well, it is not a mass market movie, so I guess they didn't want to risk spending too much on the transfer.

[Tom]

Gokusen: The Movie (2009/Japan) IMDb | Wikipedia Panasia Films (Hong Kong) Director: Toya Sato Writing: Kozueko Morimoto (Original Material By), Michiru Egashira (Screenwriter), Yuko Matsuda (Screenwriter) Length: 118 min. Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35 Audio: Japanese: Dolby Digital EX 5.1 (Matrixed 6.1), Japanese: DTS ES 6.1 (Discrete), Cantonese: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Subtitles: Chinese, English

Stars:
Yukie Nakama
Kazuya Kamenashi
Katsuhisa Namase
Yuya Takaki
Haruma Miura

Plot:
Wearing jerseys, glasses, and pigtails, passionate high school teacher Kumiko Yamaguchi (Yukie Nakama), a.k.a. Yankumi, has now been a teacher for seven years. In the spring, Yamato Ogata (Yuya Takaki), Ren Kazama (Haruma Miura), Kengo Honjo (Hideo Ishiguro), Rikiya Ichimura (Junta Nakama), Satoru Kuraki (Akito Kiriyama), and Shunsuke Kamiya (Shohei Miura) have graduated from Akado High School, where Kumiko has been teaching for a year. She is now overseeing the new students of Class 3D, who still have not opened up to her and are giving her a hard time.

Extras:

• Scene Access
• Trailers

My Thoughts:

This movie concludes (so far) the live-action adaption of Gokusen. After three seasons and two specials spanning seven years, this theatrical movie acts as a final farewell to the fans. I can only recommend it to fans, as this movie is mostly here for getting as much of the cast and running gags back as possible. Yankumi has a new class here with the class of the third season just having graduated. Both classes play a rather big role here, but we also see a lot of the characters from the first two seasons in cameos (with one notable absence)

Rating:

[Tom]

My Boss, My Hero (2001/South Korea) IMDb | Wikipedia Winson Entertainment (Hong Kong) Director: Yun Je-gyun Writing: Ha Won-jun (Writer), Kim Yun-hi (Writer), Yun Je-gyun (Writer) Length: 98 min. Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85 Audio: Korean: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo, Korean: Dolby Digital 5.1, Cantonese: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Subtitles: Chinese, English

Stars:
Jeong Jun-ho as Kye Doo-sik
Jeong Ung-in as Kim Sang-doo
Jeong Un-taeck as Dae Gah-ri
Park Jun-gyu as Jo Bong-pal
Oh Seung-eun as Lee Yoon-joo

Plot:
Kye Doo-sik (Jeong Jun-Ho), is a gang vice leader, after dropping out from high school. But Doo-sik's stunted education makes him the laughing stick of the gang, and he's commanded to return to his studies by his boss. Disguised as a 19 year old, Doo-sik has a hard time at school: he's whipped, blackmailed and bullied by both teachers and students ten years his junior. But before long, Doo-sik begins to notice violent corruption in the school. The school foundation director is funded by a gang organisation, and demands that teachers give rich students good marks so that they can get into top colleges. The loathsome director sexually harasses female teachers and defends a student's mother who beat a teacher. When a student Doo-sik knows is beaten to a pulp then expelled, Doo-sik rallies his henchmen and fellow students and sets out for revenge.

Extras:

• Scene Access

My Thoughts:

After recently watching Gokusen and GTO again, I stumbled across this movie which sounded like a similar premise. Instead of a tough teacher (with gangster background in the case of Gokusen), a student with gangster background comes to school. I expected more of a comedy, but this movie is more serious with him dealing with a corrupt school.

Rating: