BEST HOLOCAUST MOVIE EVER!

Little is known worldwide about one of the bloodiest conflicts of the 20th century, The Second Sino-Chinese war, that began in 1937 spanning all the way to 1945. During that war many fierce atrocities have been made by Japanese, amongst which the so called Nanking massacre ranks as one of the goriest.

Nanking was the capital of China and fell in to Japanese arms in 1937, resulting in thousands dead soldiers and civilians, as well as some 300.000 women raped. That’s right, 300 THOUSAND.

Young Chuan Lu directs his epic war drama masterpiece around those historical facts bringing us some of the creepiest, most brutal and heart stabbing individual stories behind the numbers of casualties. Camera is simply flawless, climaxing the massive scenes and wide angles as well as the effervescent focus exchange. Screenplay is the world for itself, bringing some of the most striking characters into the genre of war drama, a short but mighty Chinese soldier Lu (Buster Keaton like Ye Liu), unbelievably potent Sino-civilians Mr. Tang (Wei Fan) and Mrs. Jiang (Yuanyuan Gao), as well as the immortal male lead, Japanese soldier Kadokawa (Hideo Nakaizumi). Performances will be extraordinary, as well as the timeless lines overflowing from every major scene and twist in the story. The patriotism will be omnipresent, but so discreet and reduced to a symbolic level that you won’t even sense it. There will even be a place for some seed of hope. Tiny one, but undoubted.

Forget about „Schindler's list”, „Pianist” or even the „Son of Saul”.  Chinese „Nanjing! Nanjing!” (original title) is the ultimate war movie, war drama and holocaust drama!

„City of life and death” is one of those movies that you will be able to watch only once, but also one the flicks that you’ll remember for life. I’ll guarantee that.

CITY OF LIFE AND DEATH - 10/10

FOTO: saminaik.files.wordpress.com

ULTRA NAIVE

At the beginning, I want to be clear. „Sunny” isn't just a teenage movie. It can't be, because it tackles some more serious subjects through the lens of the girl's gang reunion after 25 years. And it does it in a naive, corny and non-convincing way.

When you add the traditional Asian overacting all the way, not even a down-to –earth humor fails to elevate the movie above the low level it follows from the beginning to the very end.

„Sunny” is just a bad movie in every major aspect and deserves a far lower rating that it currently bears.

SUNNY - 1/10

FOTO: 1.viki.io

DEJA VU

Horror movies are in a huge crisis. Huge. Especially those revolving around exorcism.

When it hit theatres , „The Conjuring” was something of a refreshment, going back to the roots of the genre and subgenre. However, even then it was obvious that won't be the last one of documentary-like stories about the religious exorcist married couple (Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson).

The second part of the franchise brought us nothing new, plainly switching the location to London and repeating all the frames, cuts and scary sounds of the first one. The only major difference being the very end, blunt even by the subgenre's standards.

„The Conjuring 2” is just a repeating of the same concept without any significant novelties.

THE CONJURING - 3/10

FOTO: assets2.ignimgs.com

MODERN DAY KOREAN WESTERN

Koreans wouldn't be what they are in the world of cinema if they hadn't included some of the most stunning ideas into the modern screenwriting.

This especially goes for the motif of revenge and resurrection that is one of the basic ones in this great Asian cinematography. When those basics are incorporated into a love story, there are places for some great concepts and twists that stand out from the rigid form of the genre on other continents.

A reformed ex-convict, Taesik (Jeong-suHan), will have its vendetta and a traditionally overacted ending to his story, but that won't hurt the overall impression of this movie.

„Sunflower” is a classical western story about honor and revenge done the modern Korean way.

SUNFLOWER - 6/10

FOTO: 1.bp.blogspot.com

ANOTHER SLUMP

Oilnado. Sandnado. Nukenado.

Think of the bizzare combination, Ian Ziering will deliver it in its fourth part of a hugely amusing f-production saga about the sharks trapped up in a tornado.

However, phraseology will be the best thing in „Sharknado: The Fourth awakens”, lacking trademark lines and scenes that made us laugh our hearts out.

„Sharknado 4: The Fourth awakens” is one of the weaker parts of a otherwise great franchise.

SHARKNADO 4: THE FOURTH AWAKENS - 3/10

FOTO: tvinsider.com

NICELY ACTED ROMANCE

Not being the film romance lover, I seldomly grant the genr some praise. However, this small Korean indie story about the disfigoured girl (Su-jeong Lim) and a boy (Rae-won Kim) that fall for her is a solid exception from that rule.

Although pathetic in its concept, the story resolves nicely, with some really decent scenes and subplots. The strong ending adds to the well acted roles and gives a wholehearted experience of the traditionally non-inventive genre.

„...ing” is a solid, pretty strong romantic story that has been nicely acted.

...ING - 5/10

FOTO: hancinema.net

UNDERESTIMATED QUALITY SF

Some movies must be watched two times to get a clear image of their quality and some movies must be watched on a high quality print.

I underestimated Danny Boyle's „Sunshine” first time I saw it on a theatrical screener and I shouldn't have done that.

It has a decently convincing story about the spaceship en route to the dying Sun to reignite it with a nuclear bomb. Production is high end and the CGI is really, really great. International b-production cast is solid, lead by the young and aspiring Cillian Murphy. Subplots and the very ending are pretty much something we already saw and relies heavily on the Kubrick's „Odyssey”, but that fact doesn't represent a major issue due to trademark high quality work behind the camera by Danny Boyle.

„Sunshine” is pretty obscure and hugely underestimated piece of modern SF that can be compared to the genre's glorious predecessors.

SUNSHINE - 7/10

FOTO: screenmusings.org

YUCK!

They are young, beautiful, meant for each other, but also very different. Because this is a Korean romantic drama, the roles are switched: she is the one being rude, misfit and difficult to comprehend while he is being a cissy.

However, he and the entire script that finishes in one of the most tackiest places ever is just so corny that even the genre lovers will be having a hard time following the story.

„My sassy girl” doesn't deserve the credits and the buzz it has, being too tacky and blunt even by European and US standards.

MY SASSY GIRL - 2/10

FOTO: mintmovie.com

„JUST” A GOOD EFFORT

A whole movie shot in a single cut?

A masterful feat in directing (Sebastian Schipper) and a exhausting task for the actors. And where are the screenwriters in that?

The answer is, pretty much nowhere.

„Victoria” is a highly unconvincing story about a young Spanish girl Victoria and her night in Berlin spent in a company of four street lowlives that takes a dramatically wrong turn during a breaking and entering that would leave you wondering whether the entire flick could have been significantly shorter.

„Victoria” is a huge directing accomplishment and nothing more than that.

VICTORIA - 5/10

FOTO: filmint.nu

TOO CORNY

Love traingle is one of the most frequent motifs in the romantic drama genre. There are all sorts of those traingles, but Koreans tend to sharpen their edges a bit. Especially when you mix a young artist, an Interpol agent and a professional hitman in a story about the unrequited love.

However, Korean wouldn't have earned their reputation without some tragical twists, but sadly, leaving the rest of the script to roll in a mud of deja vus, common places and really, really tacky outcomes.

„Daisy” can be watched even by a non-demanding European romantic drama lover.

DAISY - 3/10

FOTO: hancinema.net