A Late, and Long Awaited Dark knight Review

Finally went to see it w/ my bf who promised me, but didn't have time to take me earlier.

Anything I say has prolly already been heard so I'll cut out the fat and leave you w/ the short, SHORT version:

-I loved every character. Everyone was just awesome in the film. EVERYONE. I'm throwing extra love to Gary Oldman tho cuz he's fucking sassy.
-Had the perfect amount of explosions. YES.
-Dug the Batmobile (I haven't seen the 1st Batman flick so this was new to me) and the bike. SLICK.
-Wow....Gotham City has daytime hours? XD
-Didn't see the Watchmen trailer. T_T
-I love a good detective film.

All in all, I spent $8.25 (we fortunately caught matinee cuz it was Labor Day), and I would have paid LA prices (in the neighborhood of $15) to see it. Totally worth the money.

*Told you it was short, Lunies. XD*

Halloween Advent Calender, Day 4

Movie Review: Oan Hon/Spirits


Well, I've reviewed films before here (and a particular holiday special that will never be mentioned in this household), and most of them were horror movies. Wait...I think all of them were. Which brings us inorexibly to our happyfuntime advent calender to all things haloweeny and deliciously horrific. Note my extremely huge Silent Hill movie poster to my left, and to our right is a naked pig. Sorry, I needed a away out of that intro.

Ghosts. Its a subject that I've been interested with in an on-off again relationship, not unlike Ross and Rachel of Friends. Well, its been a part of my life since Ultra Magnus told me to stay tuned to this station to learn about these....unsolved mysteries. I mean Robert Stack. No, I mean Ultra Magnus.

Why? No, you're not going to hear of my amazing story in which I had a close encounter of the see-through kind. In fact, I've pretty much never had a "real" supernatural encounter in my entire life. And by real, I don't mean finding a away to justify dust specks in a church as a ghostly monk or the slamming and noises in the house as the cat getting into trouble, or even the fact that a mere power outage on a single part of the house might make my Wii suddenly turn on. What I'm typing makes sense, you just need to read it 18 billion times in a row. I'm counting.

I think my obsession with anything that starts out with "so, there's this story of this place, see...." stems from that mere fact that I've never seen anything ghostly in my 24 years of being alive. Its not that I don't believe in that stuff; I do, and to an unnerving to total strangers degree. I'm not looking to prove this to skeptics. I'm not a skeptic. I'm just obsessed in knowing if there is indeed another side to this life than the one I can see and touch. I don't know, mayhaps my hunger to see something unexplainable is just one of those human natures.

Nah, I just wanna see ghosts play Wii Sports, who am I kidding?


So, this lengthy (and getting to be more so in the nearest furture) rant on how I'm never going to see ghosts segues (SAT word) into my review of a movie called "Spirits" AKA Oan Hon (w/ a lil carrot over the "o" in Hon). My bf recommended it to me in lieu of driving up and down Pacheco Pass hoping for dead indians. Its a Vietnamese ghost story of the traditional persuasion.

By now we've all been there and back with out long haired yurei (garden variety female Japanese spirit, usually in white, occasionally vengeful) terrizing anyone foolish enough to get ten yards within their property. Hell, Asian ghosts have the tendency to follow you home just to be the family's breadwinner (American ghosts, indeed Western ones are quite lazy and content in staying in a single place. That's what my friend told me anyway, before donning his Predator costume for the new AvP movie). Well, this movie has a few. 3 to be exact. And the best part? One's a little girl. YES.


Loc, the movie's main character.

Now, to keep the review chewable, I've decided to kinda spoil but give you highlights as to why this movie was better than most horror movies I've seen as of late. And now, onto my favorite parts of "Spirits".

1)Hoa
This is the first ghost you see in the film, and one that you see (thankfully) precious little of until the climax of the first story. "The Visitor" starts with wandering author Loc, whom will be a central character in all three vignettes ("The Visitor", "Only Child", and "The Diviner"; each arc can stand alone and be a part of the whole movie). Hoa is a pretty and vulnerable girl who lives in a seemingly abandoned house. Yes. A grown man decides to live in a house that not only makes more noise than a collapsing house full of weeping women, but also decides to sleep with its only occupant, whom he sees exclusively at night. I don't know about you, but if I only saw someone at night, I'd either think they were a vampire, ghost, or is playing too much WoW, none of which are good things to look for in a girl you want to sleep with.
And sleep with Hoa Loc does. And in the end, when we do find that she is indeed dead, we get a delicious "hitchhiker ghost" ending, albeit a bit different. Hoa has been dead for a few weeks, and has manipulated Loc into freeing her bound soul, Loc's sanity be damned. While the viewers may have copped to Hoa's deadness from the get go, we do not fathom that a) she is the unnamed narrator that begs to be loved by Loc, or b) has been manipulating the whole situation to free herself, an unusually selfish reason for a ghost to have.
Hoa represents a breed of spirit that has emotions, and can think for itself, and can plan like any living person does. Its a departure from the vengeful, single-track minded ghosts we've seen before; Hoa does more than ensnare people; she USES them. She appears weak, but is, in reality, completely in control of the situation the whole time. The line between the dead and living is that much more blurred in "Spirits".

2) Cinematography
I prefered the original "Ju-On" to "The Grudge" for the simple fact that it had better camera angles. The scene in the elevator where the Toshio appears on multiple floors is so much better with the camera angle in the Japanese version than the American one. On the other hand, the cinematography for "The Ring" was superior to its source "Ringu" (with the exception of the last scene where our ghost comes out the TV, the Japanese version was subtler).
"Spirits" has great shots, despite filming difficulties. My favorite is as follows:
Linh, Loc's new wife, and whom has moved into Hoa's old house, is haunted by noises of giggling and things falling in the house. So she, like any smart horror movie character, looks out her window:

Now, upon first viewing, we see nothing. But having watched this scene more than once, allow me to point out that there is indeed someone out there.

Riiiiiight there. But unless you were looking, you wouldn't see it. Its not until we get our requisite lightning flash:

That we see our ghost. Of course you called it, but holy cow, I still jumped. Best part? She stands there for a considerable amount of time, through multiple flashes until she is faded out, and you barely notice her disappearance.

American horror movies rarely have that kind of effect. That girl is JUST standing there. That's all she's doing. But fuck me if it didn't have me hang sheets over my window because I still don't have curtains despite living in my room for the better part of the year.

3)THE LITTLE GIRL
And what good horror movie doesn't have a little girl ghost? To all you Yellow Fever Lolicons, remember: one day, they just might up and die, and then come after you.

Sure, she LOOKS like your garden variety lil ghost girl. BUt this is hip deep into story 2 ("Only Child"), and Linh has already woken up with blood all over herself. We know that sooner or later, Loli Ghost is gonna rear her ugly head.
And rear it does.

Look at that. LOOK AT IT. Jesus Christ.

JESUS CHRIST.
What's worse? This particular ghost is the product of Linh's many abortions. Karma is a theme in "Spirits", and its all but thrust into your face every 5 minutes. Its the main thread in the whole movie, that the evils you have done before will come back to you. And come back they do. You see, when the ghost is finally exorcized, Linh gets pregnant with Loc's child (they've been trying for the whole second story). However, when she's born, she's a complete invalid, unable to walk, talk, feed herself, or anything. Trying to wash her hands of the previous ghost and her abortions, Linh is punished by having a burden instead of the child she and Loc so desperately wanted.
And you know what else else? After begging to her child that she's tired, the little girl turns to her and tells her "Then why don't you throw me into the river like you did those other times?"
Yes. The ghost of her aborted baby(ies) has come back to haunt her in the living. If she could not be acknowledged in death, then she will be acknowledged in life.


JESUS CHRIST.

There's more (like a great scene of Linh and her daughter in the final chapter "The Diviner"), but I've already given over the better parts. For an Asian horror flick, it rolls with the conventions you're used to, but also pulls some fast ones. I'm unfamiliar with Vietnamese ghost stories, but I find the whole karma and reincarnation themes refreshing. I also have come to the conclusion of never crossing a Vietnamese woman in my entire life. But I'm glad to have gotten to experience this particular culture's ghost culture. Its new. Its fresh. And its scary as all get out.
I recommend "Spirits" to anyone who likes a good ghost story. Its got a little Konami horror effects (The Silent Hill Twitch, anyone), but its got a whole lotta emotion and creativity.

Some of You Need One, So I'm Selling Lives for Wholesale!

Kozumi's Quote of the Week:
"Black Belt! Hit Sir-Armor-of-Gothic here until he stops thinking conscious thoughts."
--White Mage, 8-Bit Theater, ep. 131: I Love Punch Arts

Been working on the movie, so I've been away fromm the net of inter-ness. The Fatal Frame 3 release party is this week. ^^ Yay for Rei and co.

Those on the forum, word association is tops. 33 pages and swelling. XD

AniCross is the best game ever. Hands down. I say this as I haven't picked up my Harvest Moon: Another Wonderful Life. But whatever. It needs to rain more in my town.

Can't wait til the tallies have been tallied and we find out if my AMV made it in the finals at Fatal World. Speaking of which, I'm making another one, to a song by The Pillows (of FLCL fame) cuz they're fucking sassy. So far, I've done 3, with the first in the retooling department.

I've been getting out more, by swimming. Everyone should go out more too. It makes one feel better when doing things outside. Save a TV, go outside.

Save a horse. Ride a cowboy.

My Space and Friendster have showed me that being 8 degrees of separation from people you never thought you knew makes this world a truely small experience.

I'll be away for a week, starting the 6th, and ending on the 12th. Not that this matters as I rarely update anymore, but anyway. I'll miss everyone on the forum the most, but getting away from certain people will be a complete blessing. The internet can only block so much annoyance.

Well, I'll post later, when there's more to talk about. Summer is boring and pleasantly calm. I love summer.

*Til next time, lunies!*

I Thought It Was Pronounced as"Pehn-iss"

Kozumi's Quote of the Week:
"Its a word that starts with a P and ends with an '-enis'."
--Tamago, overheard in the car.

I got a shiny new sketchbook!! *hugs sketch book* ^^ Wheee..! Anyway, its summer and this is a time for all of us to do 1 of 2 things: go swimming, or watch an immnse amount of movies. Or go to theme parks and fry off a few layers of skin.

Loki: That's 3.

*dropkick* Shut up shrimp before I consign you to the heap of cross-playing comic character Hel I call a shiny new SKETCHBOOK!

Syndelin: Ah, bookending parallels. Its things like this that almost make this blog seem like its written days in advance.
Aro: When in reality it really isn't in the slightest.

Ah good. Syn's here so today we can review a movie! Joy upon joys!

Aro: If you're one that takes pleasure in torment and torture.
Ashton: Spoken like a true uke, Card Boy.

Syndelin: Ok then. Of the movies recently seen, both on the big screen and on the littler one in the house, one really takes the cake in giving us all the biggest mind-fuck and the most frequent WTF moments since RanLune's first bad movie ordeal: The Star Wars Holiday Special (June 2, 2003, for those who missed it). And believe me, I've been watching some pretty weird things and this isn't counting Shopping Arcade Abenobashi. We've seen Van Helsing, The Stepford Wives, Hellboy, Kill Bill Vols 1& 2, Dodgeball, Stargate, The Life of Brian, and other big screen hits that even made me wonder about my sanity (Dodgeball is definiently one of them), but even Dodgeball doesn't campaire to this movie. No, this movie has made me wonder if playing a bit too many video games inspired not only the makers but myself to sit through its entirety. And wonder why I'd never seen anything like it when something so simple could be produced with so little money. No folks, this movie isn't Evil Dead, but it definently can give Raimi a run for his bad B movie zombie flick money.
This movie was Versus.
At first, this movie was casually mentioned in "polite" conversation with a certain Monkey King--

Loki-chan: You kidding me? "Polite" conversation??
Rya: As polite as verbal abuse is with you.
Loki-chan: Bite me.

Syndelin: -_- Um....causally mentioned as being something like a better ED, if possible, because not only was it shot for something like $8,000 (US $$, don't ask for a conversion back because we suck at math), but it takes all the coolest things about the movie (bad ass hero, zombies, and lots and lots of guns, baby) and does them 5 notches better.

Aro: Leon Kennedy's anti-zombie" arsenal and big-ass boomsticks?
Loki: Check.
Kozumi: I'm guessing $1,200.
Aro: B List actors with good acting ability for B list?
Loki Check.
Kozumi: Um, call it $3,000 or so.
Aro: Hot chick?
Loki Check baby.
Kozumi: .......not touching that one. -_-
Aro: Gallons of fake blood and body parts?
Loki: Check.
Kozumi: $500. There was a sale at Spirt after Halloween.
Aro: Kick-ass movie?
Loki: Check.
Kozumi: Priceless.

Syndelin: You people need a life. Anyway. Need a plot synopses? Think Evil Dead w/ a dash of Resident Evil, without the tree rape scene, but with smarter zombies, Fatal Frame-esque Hell Holes and more ressurection than a 5 hour special on The Passion of the Christ.

Dio: We're all going to Hell for that. And you're all coming with us. ^^
Loki-chan: You want it easier? Its got blood, lotsa blood and guns. BFGs. Its got Yakuza zombies who can USE the guns they died with, hot chicks, an even hotter lead and knife-weilding maniacs.

Syndelin: Hey!! This is my review! Push off! Anyway. So, there's 666 gates to Hell and one of them happens to be in this forest, aptly dubbed the Forest of Ressurection. An escaped convict finds himself in the middle of some Yakuza operation, saves the psychic heroine and, w/ aforementioned Yakuza, guns and knife-weilding manic, engage in some good ol' zombie ass-kicking. Oh, and there's some plot going on about destiny and ressurection (both the undead kind and the Nirvana type).
I was weary of such a film. One: we don't like zombies. Two: After Evil Dead and Resident Evil, I vowed never to sit through a zombie flick ever again. Three: .......wait there wasn't a three.
But then, I have an insatiable appetite for odd films, especially foreign ones, and that goes double for asian action flicks. Ok, zombies....but, smart zombies who can fight. Ok, horror...but its Japanese Horror, the best kind there is...'cept maybe Russian. And French.
Well, it wasn't until Tamago decided to buy it and force it on us unsupectingly after the GameBoy SP for Aise died while playing Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles that we bit the bullet and sat down to watch it. And you know what? I'd never had so many WTF?! moments in my entire life.
First off, I could tell it was low-budget. The lighting, the fact that everything happened solely in the forest, and the inexperienced actors in the first 15 minutes of the film. Add that to the fact that there was absolutely NO background info given on ANY of the characters (Yakuza, cute hostage girl, hot escaped convict.....it was so shallow, even a 3 year old couldn't drown in it), and I was waiting for something ultra l4mx0r to happen. Then, the quirky angles and one chara (from this point on, known henceforth as Happy, cuz that's the antithesis for such a....character) actually got me interested, despite feeling absolutely lost by random Yakuza and opening scenes of monks and zombified samurai. From there, the forest works its magic on a hapless lackey and Poof! Zombie attack scene. Not bad, a lil on the cheesy side, but I didn't have time to worry about that, cuz the protagonist of the story started to strip a dead guy for his threads, AKA: the trenchcoat, every bad-ass's fashion staple.
Then we shed a small, minute amount of light on the plot: the hostage girl is psychic! And the hero-protagonist seems to be called to this place becuase of, as she so haltingly puts it, destiny, whose is entertwined with her own (of course). And the moment we get knee-deep into the cheese, the movie makes with the action. Because little do our unsuspecting Yakuza and fleeing pair know that this forest does something to people, specifically the dead ones. You see, it makes them into walking, groaning, limping undead minons of HELL. Which is all fine and good for our action hungry Happy and his trigger sensitive partner, a bespectacled cutie whom made all of us question his sexuality....or indeed choice in teammates. Meanwhile, the designated Comedy Relief Dude makes with the panicking. And none too soon, as the fleeing pair encounter another member of the mob, and the other 3 say hello to some old friends....well, victims who've been offed by the mob over the years and had been dumped rather unceremoniously in the Forest of Ressurection.
After the slightly bland dialogue and weak plot points, I was wondering if the whole movie would be just as cheesy as a dish of shrimp linguini from Red Lobster. After all, the movie was starting to feel a bit like the Blair Witch Project, with 10 better acting and 10 less shakey cam action. But just as thing boring, the movie switches from l4mxor to all out r0x0r j00r b0x0rz, ass-kicking Battle Royale action. When the denizens of the forest get a lil grumpy over the drama and the Yakuza stamping all over thier makeshift graveyard, heads start rolling. And guts, intestines, arms, you say it and it goes flying.
Its not until this scene thhat I ever thought about what Japanese horror gave to me. Ok, an innate fear of TVs, unmarked videos and ultra-disturbing visuals and situations that makes Kubrik's Clockwork Orange and Pink Floyd's The Wall seem like a PBS program. Not just fear...but ph34r. But this movie also gave me somthing to enjoy, and that is all out ass-kicking, head rolling, stupid funny, WTF crazycool action fight scenes. Fuck Resident Evil, fuck Night of the Living Dead, Versus WILL blow your zombie blasting conceptions through the window Rush Hour 2 style. There simply isn't enough space to describe the innate coolness that these scenes just drip with; the action scenes are simply something you have to see for yourself. Then...you pinch yourself and remember thaat this was shot with less money than a year at Stanford. To quote VigJillante Jill: "Holy RoboJesus WTF".
The action takes breaks, sandwiched bewteen a slightly confusing and sometimes flimsy plot of destiny and ressurection and outlandish and ridculous comedy slices from Comedy Relief Dude and two cops after our escaped convict (or, as I called them, Beavis and Butthead). Sometimes upraoishly funny, other times out of place and just" WTH was that??", these small scenes didn't take away from the real story or action, but it didn't really add to it most of the time. It did serve its purpose like a slice of ginger between sushi; it cleansed the pallete so that another action packed ass-kicking could easily be tasted without too much sensory overloead. And there was a LOT to swallow, with each fight bringing something new to the mix, something unexpected. And as the movie raced along, the story became a little clearer.
The action and drama (in addition to exploding zombies and Battle Royale smackdowns) barely slowed down to the last epic battle between the protagonist and his rival, the mysterious man who held all the answers and seemed almost godly powerful. The answers, too, are given generously during climax times, so that the whole plot connects and the effort isn't wasted in wondering WTH these guys were fighting and what the hell the girl has to do with their destiny. And the gates to Hell.
The music jammed to techno battle type music that puts The Matrix to shame (but then, Matrix had help from its sequels XD), and it set the tones for the battles nicely. Despite being shot exclusively in the forest with few cameras and lighting help, it never got to Blair Witch Project bad. For a low-budget zombie flick, it didn't do so shabby. The accting was a bit cardboard starting out, but the characters got more interesting once you got a handle on what was going one, sorta (and you gave up wrapping your mind around the almost backgroundless character stories).
All in all, Versus is a strong movie for what it is on the surface: a B rate, low-budget zombie flick. Cross Battle Royale, Devil May Cry, and Evil Dead together and you have the startings for Verses. I personally loved this movie and it has rose to be come one of the top 10 in my book. If you like low plot, high action, zombies, guns, and crazy ass Yakuza, then Versus is definently for you. Sam Raimi, Quenten Tarantino, eat your hearts out. 10 out of 10. Watch it. Its good, unclean and harmful fun for the whole family.

*Til next time, Zombies!*