akatemple of reviews

Wrecked (2010)
Directed by: Michael Greenspan
Written by: Christopher Dodd

A man (Adrien Brody) wakes up and finds himself in a wrecked car, looking in the mirror he can see his face is badly broken and bloody, his leg is trapped and the door to the car will not open. Trying to get his bearings the man starts looking around, there is a body that looks like it has been thrown from the car there is also a body in the back seat. If this wasn’t bad enough the man seems to have amnesia and has no idea how he got there or if he even knows the obviously dead people around him. Searching the car or where he can reach from where he is trapped turns up a pistol that was hidden under the driver’s seat and a credit card with the name Raymond Plazzy, is the man Raymond Plazzy? Finally getting the door open and turning the radio on which still works amazingly the man is sitting outside the car when a news alert comes across the radio about a bank robbery that ended with the bank teller and a security guard being shot, one of the suspects names they say on the radio is Raymond Plazzy.



This is when things start to get confusing and interesting, the man doesn’t remember anything so he has no idea if he is Raymond or not, or if he had anything to do with the robbery and shootings. The man’s leg is really messed up from where it was trapped, he makes some splints and rig’s them together so he can move around. If his present situation wasn’t bad enough at the moment there is also a very big Mountain Lion (or some other large feline, I am not sure.) which has already taken the other two bodies and seems to want him. He realizes that if he crawls back to the road and gets caught then his life is over, so he heads for a nice long walk down the mountain down a river, this part I really did not understand. After walking/crawling for a long time (it’s hard to tell time and days in this film because it just never tells you how long it’s been) it turns out he’s been going in circles and winds up right back at the crashed car.

The man is having hallucinations all through the movie that really annoyed me until they made sense at the very end, and there are some really good twists in the film. I really liked this movie it kind of reminded me of Buried as it is a one man film, if you’re looking for action and violence then this is not something you would enjoy, but this is a pretty good Psychological Thriller.

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Fright Night (1985)
Directed by: Tom Holland
Written by: Tom Holland

For me this was the first time getting to enjoy this classic vampire flick, I thought I should watch this first before I watch the Collin Farrell remake. This movie starts out like most 80’s teen horror movies with the high school boyfriend and girlfriend Charley (William Ragsdale) and Amy (better known to most as Marcy D’Arcy from Married with Children) getting into a stupid fight because he would rather spy on the neighbor then have sex with the girl. While watching his neighbor out his window Charley sees them moving a casket into the basement of the house next door, after asking his mom it turns out that someone just bought the house a Jerry Dandrige (much better know to me as Prince Humperdinck). Charley’s favorite TV show is Fright Night, it is kind of a late night black and white horror film marathon hosted by Peter Vincent (Roddy McDowall) the great Vampire Killer. After telling his best friend Evil Ed (Stephen Geoffreys), who is such an annoying character and his girlfriend that he is going to go into the neighbors house that night and kill the vampire his first thought is to go to the local TV studio and try and find Mr. Vincent. Mr. Vincent says he believes in Vampires until he realizes that Charley is serious then decides the kid is insane and drives off. Amy and Evil Ed decide to track down Mr. Vincent themselves and wind up paying him to go with Charley just to help prove that Mr. Dandrige is not a Vampire hoping that Charley will just drop the idea and everything can get back to normal. When they all go inside of Mr. Dandrige’s house it becomes apparent really quickly that Charley was right all along and they must kill the Vampire.



Oh yeah and Charley’s girlfriend Amy is identical to a painting of an old flame that the Vampire has in his house, so there is a different kind of romantic twist in this movie. I enjoyed this movie, it was cheesy and had really bad acting but that’s what a 1985 horror film should have IMO. Evil Ed is such an annoying character, you will really hate him from the first time he is introduced. The special effects were not that bad at the end with the vampire waking up out of his coffin (definitely my favorite scene) and just the ending in general. The only really bad thing I have to say is that there was not enough action and the final fight scene was way too easy and much too short. If you are one of the few who have not seen the movie then please go and watch it.

AGAIN TO SAVE YOUR EYES FROM THE HORROR I WILL JUST PUT ILLUSTRATIONS FROM THE BOOK.

The Three Investigators and the Secret of Terror Castle (2009)
Directed by: Florian Baxmeyer
Written by: Philip LaZebnik and Aaron Mendelsohn

I wrote a short review of the last Three Investigators movie recently and even though it was horrible in every way I had to watch the second one (technically first if you go by the books) just because I am a huge fan of the original books so this review is going to be more of a comparison of the movie to the book. The best thing I have to say is that it is great that they kept the same characters from the book, Jupiter Jones, Bob Andrews, and Pete Crenshaw, but that is the only thing they kept from the book other then the title. In the book it was a Castle (thus the title), in the movie it was a large house. They went and threw another romantic childish love interest in the movie which is just wrong if you’ve read the books. In the movie they find a 8mm video tape and it turns out that it is Jupiters dead parents leaving a message that he must go to Terror Castle and finish solving the puzzle, while trying to get to the house they meet up with a backwoods sheriff and his daughter who believes that she and Bob were lovers in another lifetime.



The sheriff is obviously trying to keep the kids from the house for a reason but the boys sneak back and enter the house, in the movie the owner of the house is long dead but he was an inventor and has rigged his entire house to run on steam power, such as a moving hallway to save you the trouble of walking, automatic doors, automatic coat rack, and even a roll top desk that opens for your convenience (it is just plain ridiculous). Eventually you find out that the Sheriff and another masked man are trying to figure out the puzzle also and that is why they want the kids to stay away, however the kids outsmart the adults and find the secret basement first and thus finding the prize. I can’t tell anymore about the ending without giving away to much, but I still say just to not watch this movie and go find the book, because everything I just wrote about the story in the movie is absolutely not in the book, none of it and that is a really good thing.

In Bruges (2008)
Directed by: Martin McDonagh
Written by: Martin McDonagh

Two hit men, Ray (Colin Farrell) and Ken (Brendan Gleeson) are on a sort of makeshift holiday in Bruges, Belgium after a hit gone wrong. While awaiting word from their boss, Harry (Ralph Fiennes), Ken is interested in sightseeing and the history of the place, while Ray couldn't be more unimpressed and can't wait to just get to the bars for some pints. Ray is bored with the whole place, he’s also got a guilty conscience since it was his fault that the hit got screwed up. Ken is the older and more mature one, he enjoys art, architecture and learning about the local architecture, I think he knew what was coming so he was using this time to relax and have a brief respite from what he knows is a powder keg waiting to explode. I am not a huge Colin Farrell fan but I found his acting in this to be excellent and it was nice that he got to play an Irish character so he actually got to use his native accent. When Ray’s mistake is finally revealed it is quite a heartbreaking story, I thought that Farrell managed to portray Ray’s guilt and his attempt at redemption in a very moving way, I also love that Ray is charming, annoying, childish, and totally screwed up nut about to crack. Gleeson’s acting is also very convincing in playing the exact opposite as the quiet, calm person. He seems to be tired of the whole business of death but he knows he’s got to do what has to be done even if it means coming to blows with his evil boss Harry. When Harry is offered the Uzi his riff is hilarious about how he’s not in LA looking to go on a drive by and shoot twelve ten year olds.





The movie has a great ending, the kind of ending I love and I think I can say that without giving away too much since I do not believe I have voiced my opinion about the type of endings I love, it is very emotional and has an interesting twist right at the end. Oh yeah I haven’t mentioned the racist midget (Dwarf) who while on a cocaine bender starts going off on a rant about how there’s a war coming between the black people and the white people and not to mention the Vietnamese people, I should probably just stop there before I get into trouble but I thought the midget did the perfect job as some great comic relief. If you haven’t watched this movie then I really suggest you do.

Red Cliff (2008)
Directed by: John Woo
Written by: John Woo and Khan Chan

The year is 208 AD. After years of civil war, a deathly calm has fallen of northern China. One by one, the rebel warlords have met their end under the sword of Prime Minister Cao Cao. Now, even the Han Emperor bows before his power. Yet from the south, a challenge is heard. Two leaders arise against Cao Cao's tyranny, the aging Liu Bei, and the inexperienced Sun Quan. So Cao Cao petitions the Emperor to brand these men as traders, and declare a new war against the peaceful Southlands.

I watched this movie a couple years ago and got it again thinking that I was getting the International version but wound up with the Theatrical version which I had seen before. I was disappointed but I watched it again anyways because it is just the kind of Epic Asian film with huge battles that I love, when you are watching this you might think that this was a movie written by Sun Tzu the famous writer of the Art of War (500 BC), this movie is all about military battle planning and strategies to use against your enemy. The only thing I bad I have to say about this movie is that there is only one character that you really get an emotional attachment too and that was Zhuge Liang (Takashi Kaneshiro from House of Flying Daggers and more).



Tony Leung (from Hero) did play an excellent part as Viceroy Zhou Yu, all the acting was really well done but again I only felt connected with the one character. The movie is all about the Great North trying to take over the peaceful and very beautiful south land’s, Cao Cao is the great and undefeated General of the North who is sent south with over eight hundred thousand soldiers again a much much smaller army in the south. The main battle takes place at Red Cliff, this is where Zhuge Liang who is the master military advisor shows how talented he is and that he can predict the weather by knowing history (weather patterns) and paying attention to the movement and shape of the clouds, Liang uses this knowledge to try to change the odds in the favor of the greatly out numbered south. Anyone who likes epic medieval war films I think would really like this movie.

Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970)
Directed by: Joseph Sargent
Written by: James Bridges and D.F. Jones

This is another example of a movie I should have watched years ago but anyways. At the beginning of the movie we learn that the United States has completed there self-sufficient, impregnable, impervious, A.I computer called Colossus, the Brainchild of Dr. Charles Forbin (Braeden). The purpose of this computer is to automate the defense system for the United States thereby completely remove the annoying human element from the decision making process regarding nuclear weapons. The thinking behind that is that we can’t trust ourselves with that kind of power because humans are volatile, erratic, and usually use their emotions to make decisions rather than making logical decisions. When they flip the switch on Colossus they are basically opening Pandora’s Box, Colossus discovers that the Russians have also came up with their own version called Guardian and the two computers begin communicating with each other and eventually combine there computing resources to become one ever-growing, faster learning god like mechanical entity that decides that humans have their uses but should not be left in charge of managing themselves or the planet, so the computer decides to take control of everything and uses nuclear annihilation as it’s means to an end. Dr. Forbin must find a way of stopping Colossus before the computer can turn the human race into slaves, once Colossus realizes this he keeps the Dr. locked in his room unless absolutely needed, but is nice enough to give the good Dr. some female companionship when Colossus decides he needs it.



I thought this was a really good movie, considering that this film came out in 1970 it seems like maybe this was a catalyst for the Terminator or Matrix films, in that the system created by humans surpasses it’s programming and reaches the point of self realization, and basically making humans it’s bitch. If you haven’t seen this movie then I highly recommend watching this.

Before the Fall (2008)
Directed by: F. Javier Gutierrez
Written by: Juan Velarde

This is a Pre-Apacolyptic movie, and a kind of interesting one at that, the movie starts with the people of a small village learning about the meteor coming towards Earth and nobody can do anything about it, so they say everyone will be dead in a few days. But the Apocalyptic part of it only takes like five percent of the movie, the rest of the story lies somewhere else. When all the panic from the meteor starts getting everybody moving the police abandon their post allowing everyone to escape from prison, this normally would be just part of the ordeal but the main character Ale and his mother have something else to worry about. Ale’s brother Tomas put a man in prison a number of years back and the man always swore he would kill Tomas and his family, Ale’s mother finds out about the prison breaks and knows this is going to happen. Ale’s mother goes to see her grandkids and spend some time with them before the end of the world, the kids do not know about the news and Tomas their father is out of town. After the death of one of the last remaining family members Ale knows that the convict is close and goes into fortifying there little house to keep the kids safe. The convict does show up and finds out that Tomas is out of town and not there so he decides to try and pick off the kids and Ale one by one.



This was a good movie and a good story but the world is coming to an end and they only bring it up at the beginning of the movie, so I think it just goes without saying that the ending to this movie sucks and just leaves you wanting to know more

Harsh Times (2005)
Directed by: David Ayer
Written by: David Ayer

This is another one of those movies I watched when I was really faded so I decided to watch it again seeing as I don’t remember anything from my first viewing. I really liked this movie I am a big fan of Christian Bale and Freddy Rodriguez. Jim (Christian Bale) is an ex army ranger who was honorably discharged trying to find a job as a cop in Los Angeles, his best friend Mike (Freddy Rodriguez) is also looking for a job just to make his girlfriend happy, but when these two get together the job hunting goes out the window and they just spend the day drinking and smoking. You can tell from the beginning that Jim is the Alpha Male in this movie, also that he is quite crazy and always getting himself into crazy and sometimes dangerous situations. They never really say in the film but I am guessing that Jim is dealing with PTSD after coming back from Iraq, this explains a lot about the way he behaves and some of the flashbacks that happen during the film. Jim does not get a job with the police but instead get’s offered a job with the DEA and is going to have to take a drug test, the scene with the saline solution and the turkey bayster just made me hurt all over. After Jim gets the job he wants to take Mike and another of his friends down to Mexico to see his girlfriend and get a couple nights of partying under their belt before they both have to get serious with their new jobs. This is where it just starts going crazy, Jim seriously starts to lose his mind and Mike is barely able to control him, I really can’t say anymore about the ending without giving away to much.



I really liked this movie I thought it was great acting by Christian Bale and especially Freddy Rodriguez. I wish they had of said why he was honorably discharged out of the army maybe that would have answered the question of why Jim is so messed up. American Psycho was definitely where Christian Bale got to show off how great he is at playing a psycho but Harsh Times gave Bale another chance to show what he can do to make you (the audience) scared about what he is going to do next which happens in quite a few scenes in this movie. If you haven’t seen this it does not matter what Genre you are into everyone should watch this.

"Harsh Times" was worth watching solely for this Christian Bale quote:

"Damn, those are bad-ass kicks, dawg. You're lucky you got little bitch feet, or
else I'd be stompin' around in them mother f*ckers."

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Dumplings (2004)
Directed by: Fruit Chan
Written by: Pik Wah Li

A wealthy woman, Mrs. Lee is losing her good looks and she fears her husband as well. To try and boost her looks and self-esteem she tries to find Aunt Mei (Bai Ling) a local chef, Mei cooks special dumplings which she claims to help you look more youthful. From the beginning Mrs. Lee is aware that Mei uses unborn fetuses “imported” from the abortion clinic where Mei used to work. Mrs. Lee keeps seeking more powerful youthful remedies and turns out she is in luck, Mei performs a black market abortion on a girl five months pregnant who was impregnated by her father. There was a really disturbing part when Mei reveals that she has done more than 30,000 abortions in China.
Mrs. Lee get’s a look in the kitchen and sees the fetus, being initially disgusted and leaving (rookie mistake, you never look in the kitchen at a Chinese restaurant) but wanting to look young she later comes back for the delicious fetus dumplings which Mrs. Lee devours, and has an amazing affect on her libido making her husband temporarily happy. There is a disturbing flashback where they show the young girl and her mother walking, the girl collapses on the road and the mother can only watch as the girl whispers “I don’t want to die” then slips away (never really sais but I am guessing it’s from a ruptured uterus from the abortion).



When Mrs. Lee starts smelling like fish in front of her friends she gets really embarrassed and immediately calls Mei, Mei tells her that the inbred fetuses are the most potent causing the smell. Mr. Lee overhears the conversation and goes to see Mei himself, he decides to try a dumpling for himself to see if it works and then has some crazy sex with Mei finding out that she is really sixty-four years old (but she looks like Bai Ling) and credits her youthfulness to her cannibalism. Mrs. Lee realizes that she cannot stay young without more and more of Mei’s dumplings, however by now Mei is now Mr. Lee’s mistress and ignores any pleas for more dumplings from Mrs. Lee. Cutting to the apartment of the girl with the inbred fetus the police break in and find that the mother has stabbed her sick husband nearly to death. I did not make the connection but in the movie somehow the police while searching the apartment they find out Mei’s identity and raid her apartment but Mei has already fled. The ending is disturbing (not that the rest of the movie isn’t) and has a twist ending that I thought was good and fitting for the movie.

The Man From Earth (2007)
Directed by: Richard Schenkman
Written by: Jerome Bixby

As professor John Oldman (David Smith) is getting ready to leave town after being there for only ten years all of his good friends, a biologist, a archeologist, a psychiatrist and other professor’s come by to see him off. Not with the best judgment he starts to propose a topic of a person starting off as a caveman and not dying, what would that person experience and how would that affect everything. This movie gets into a lot of religious discussion as John sais he was a caveman and just kept living, eventually studying with Buddha and then becoming whom we know today as Jesus Christ. There is much more to the story then that according to John, he goes on to tell that history changes the more and more stories are passed down and rewritten and so on. The part about him being Jesus was really interesting to me because it was just such an interesting thing to think about, he said that the Bible got it all wrong and that he was just doing the stuff Buddha had taught him, basically being a good person, he says that the Sermon on the Mount was not that big of a deal, a few people were there but most of them left. John cannot scar so when asked to see the nail holes in his hands that is his answer also that they did not use nails but rope to tie him up, the discussion can go on forever if you ask me.



John has no proof to give anyone so the movie is really just a long and interesting philosophical debate about whether or not this is even possible. The ending is amazing and sad, this film really leaves you with stuff to think about and discuss with others, probably getting yourself into a huge argument but that’s just how good I thought this was, it is worth it.

Nice review of Man From Earth. I actually picked that up on DVD a few years ago for a couple of pounds but still not got round to watching it. Will need to do so one of these days

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Kingdom of Heaven. With the cast they had here, it could've been amazing. But it fell kinda short.. I give it a 2.8/5

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WHY. SO. SERIOUS?

Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame (2010)
Directed by: Hark Tsui
Written by: Kuo-fu Chen and Jialu Zhang

Wu Zetian is about to become China’s first Empress and is building a giant standing Buddha that will be completed for the inauguration. Very weird murders start happening where people start catching fire and burning from the inside out, Wu Zetian is forced to bring in the best detective even though he is in prison for treason because he was against Wu becoming Empress. Detective Dee (Lau) has to put aside his feeling about the empire and try and solve the mystery of the Phantom Flame. There are some excellent fight scenes and some of your usual bizarre Asian characters thrown in such as an 6 armed enemy which turns out to be three people and can split into three and go back and fight as one person when it wants, definitely my favorite enemy and fight scene in the movie. The talking Deer and fighting Deer are also interesting and kind of disturbing if you’re an animal lover because Detective Dee has to fight the Deer in one scene.



You find out that there is more to this mystery then the first impression you get, there are different factions who want the throne and ones that strictly oppose Wu Zetian from taking the throne. The tag-line says Crouching Tiger meets Sherlock Holmes and that is a really good description that I can’t say anything bad about, if you like Asian martial arts and crazy enemy’s and weapons then this is a really great movie, I liked this a lot and suggest this to all fans of this Genre.

The Horseman (2008)
Directed by: Steven Kastrissios
Written by: Steven Kastrissios

I randomly put this movie on my Netflix Queue because it sounded like something I would be interested in and I am really glad that I did. The story starts out with Christian (Peter Marshall) beating the crap out of someone with a crowbar, taking a video, covering the room and guy with gasoline and setting everything on fire. You quickly learn that the video was a underground porn movie that his daughter was involved in right before she was killed, the rest of the film is Christian traveling around New Zealand tracking down everyone that was involved in the film. Along the way he befriends Alice who is a down on her luck teenager that he tries to help and protect by giving her fatherly type advice.



This is a fairly low budget movie, you can tell because of the way they filmed the torture and fighting scenes, it worked for this movie because it left more to your imagination. Even though the budget was low the brutality of the torture and fighting is very realistic and in certain scenes you almost feel sorry for the bad guys until Christian finds out the rest of the story then you find yourself really wanting Christian to just kill everyone that had anything to do with his daughter. Sadly what happened to his daughter is probably not far from the truth that happens to a lot of young girls in real life. Christian is a ass kicking character but not in a cheesy way where he kills all these people and does not get a scratch, he gets his face kicked in during probably half the movie along with the bad guys. This movie is brutal but if you like that kind of stuff like me then you should watch this.

Feast (2005)
Directed by: John Gulager
Written by: Marcus Dunstan, and Patrick Melton

Honeykid brought this movie to my attention, but until I watched it I had no idea what this was about or anything about the story at all, also HK did not mention that this movie has Henry Rollins in it. The movie starts in a dive bar in the middle of nowhere and starts introducing the characters you will be watching for the next little bit. I thought I would put the introductions the same way they do in the movie, it’s not an original idea for a movie to do this to the characters but I liked the humorous swing that they put on these so I apologize for the extra room it is going to take up, but let’s get started…

Name: Bozo
Job: Not Likely
Occupation: Town Jackass
Life Expectancy: Dead by Dawn

Name: Harley Mom
Fun Fact: Robbing Bar in Ten Minutes
Life Expectancy: Wild Card

Name: Hot Wheels
Occupation: Selling Fireworks to 7th Graders
Life Expectancy: They Wouldn’t Kill A Cripple, Would They?

Name: Coach (my idol Henry Rollins)
Occupation: Motivational Speaker
Reputation: The Poor Man’s Tony Robbins
Life Expectancy: Stay Far, Far Away

Name: Grandma
Fun Fact: Blew Mick Jagger… Recently
Life Expectancy: May Be Dead Already

Name: Jason Mewes (it is Jason Mewes aka Jay from Jay and Silent Bob)
Occupation: Actor
Life Expectancy: Already Surpassed Expectations

Name: Beer Guy (Judah Friedlander – 30 Rock)
Occupation: Beer Guy & Part Time Host at Red Lobster
Life Expectancy: Losers and Dorks go First… He’s Both

Name: Bartender
Fun Fact: Shot 4 Times, Stabbed 6 Times, Bit by 1 Squirrel
Life Expectancy: Horrifying Death in 70 Minutes

Name: Tuffy
Occupation: Career Waitress
Job: Single Mom
Life Expectancy: Expects Nothing From Life

Name: Vet
Fun Facts: Has Never Had Fun
Life Expectancy: Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell

Name: Bossman
Vibe: Mean, Stoned and Horny
Life Expectancy: Regular or Extra Crispy

Name: Honey Pie
Occupation: Actress/Singer/Dancer/Model
Fun Fact: Dying To Get Out Of Town
Life Expectancy: May Get Her Wish

Name: Cody
Occupation: Tax Break
Skill: Can Fit Into Tight Spaces
Life Expectancy: A Wonderful, Full Life

After the lineup of the films main characters who are all obviously locals and regulars at the bar some action starts to happen and in pops…

Name: Hero
Occupation: Kicking Ass
Life Expectancy: Pretty F*cking Good

Hero charges in with a gun (completely Bruce Campbell Evil Dead 2 style) in one hand and a dead Alien/Monster in the other telling everybody that a storm from hell is about to come down on the bar, upon hearing this then exactly that starts happening. We start off with a lot of blood (always a good beginning), an amputation and a couple of people get shot by accident, wow these people that it just spent the first bit of the movie taking all the trouble to introduce are starting to drop like flies already, also and I don’t consider this a spoiler since it’s so close to the beginning of the movie but the one just introduced as Hero immediately dies right after the introduction. Just before they get the first alien taken care of something I found disturbing and funny happened and the alien starts dry humping the stuffed Deer head on the wall. 15 minutes into the movie and someone else pops in uninvited and another introduction takes place…

Name: Heroine
Occupation: Wear Tanktop, Tote Shotgun, Save Day.
Life Expectancy: Hopefully Better Than The Last Hero

Even with all the guns that everyone seems to have in the bar they do not seem to really do any good against the monsters, people continue dying, seriously I thought they were going to run out of actors 30 minutes in. There is some comedy to balance out the horror for example the monster puking green stuff mixed with maggots, ok it’s gross humor but that’s the kind of movie this is, oh yeah and the monsters having sex on the hood of the car and then immediately after dropping a baby onto the ground, or slamming a monsters penis in a door and then cutting it off, yeah it’s pretty much all dark comedy. Well now I thought I was through with this but then it’s time for another introduction…

Name: Heroine 2
Occupation: Childless Mother
Fun Fact: Dealing With The Loss Fairly Well
Life Expectancy: Let’s All Hope For The Best This Time

I could not find a picture of Henry Rollins in the Pink Sweats so I just thought I'd put an awesome picture of him on here instead.


As with all movies where a group of people are trapped in a confined space throughout the movie everyone starts having personal problems or personality problems with other people leading to violence amongst themselves, makes sense to save the monsters the trouble and just do it to yourselves. The movie is great, tons of blood and gore throughout, enough to please any horror/monster movie fan. And I have to give this a really good rating just for Henry Rollins wearing a pair of very Pink sweatpants then having his head used as a battering ram. Thanks HK for making me aware of this movie I really thought it was great.

The Football Factory (2004)
Directed by: Nick Love
Written by: Nick Love and John King

So being an American it is hard for me to grasp the point of these football organizations or firms I believe they called themselves, also what is even more mind blowing to me is that these firms or whatever they are called actually exist to some extent, not saying that this movie is a documentary. I watched Green Street Hooligans a while back and when I started this film I immediately was reminded of it, the main difference in my opinion was Green Street Hooligans was more of a youthful thing whereas The Football Factory is more grown up and older people that are involved in these “firms”. As I said I am American so if I am getting this wrong that they really exist just let me know and I will correct my mistake.



I am a big fan of Danny Dyer who plays the main character who is going through something big in his life, everyone telling him that he needs to grow up and stop kicking peoples face’s in. Dyer’s character starts thinking he is having some kind of breakdown because he starts seeing things on TV and Billboards that he thinks are talking directly about him, also he keeps having the same nightmare over and over where he is the one getting kicked in the face. The movie is basically building up to the big match between their team (it never sais exactly where this takes place so I have no idea) and their arch rivals, basically planning how they are going to beat the piss out of the other people that really is what this movie is about. There is a sad kind of side story about Dyer’s grandfather and his best friend, they had went through WWII together and bean best friends ever since. They have plans to move to Australia and live out there few remaining days drinking and enjoying the girls in bikinis. This was a good movie but just boggled my mind that people would actually go through all the trouble just to beat the crap out of another group of people over a football match, still I suggest if you have not seen this then you should watch it.

Memories of Murder (2003)



I have been trying to figure out how to sum up a brief summary of this movie as well as my feelings about this movie. I will start with the beginning of the movie, 1986 South Korea's first serial killer strikes and a dead body is found in a ditch in I guess what you would call the backwoods of South Korea. I am kind of bored with the movie already, there is no blood in a serial killer movie and the story is just starting off really slow. An investigator from Seoul comes to the small town to help out the police with the obvious disaproval of the local police. I thought it was interesting but I am not sure how true of how they depicted police interigations in South Korea at the time, but honestly I would completely believe that is not far from the truth, I think that American police wish that they could get away with doing some of that roughing up stuff sometimes. The interigations are quite brutal and basically they kept you in the basement at the Police Headquarters with no food or water, sometimes hanging you upside down until you confess to the crime wether you comitted it or not, so yeah it's not the most effective way to go about that.
Murders continue to happen and patterns start to emerge one of which is that the women that are killed are always wearing red shirts or tops, also that it is always raining and the same song is always requested on the radio just before the killings happen. They try to lure him out on rainy night using a female police officer dressed in a red dress on a rainy night, nothing happens, something that is a continuing theme it seems in this movie. I really wanted to like this movie but it was just way to long and drawn out, and the fact that a lot of this film is just botched police work and interogations that go nowhere. The movie is way over 2 hours long and should have been condensed down to 90+ minutes IMO.



I probably would have enjoyed this movie much more but the DVD that I got was dubbed which I always hate, and because of thin walls and annoying neighbors I had to use the subtitles anyways, normally there would be nothing wrong with that except that the subtitles did not match the dubbed dialoge and that just annoyed me so much. If you are going to watch this movie then make sure you do not get a dubbed copy.


The DVD copy I got.

I can see that you and I have different movie tastes

Seriously the dubbed part killed it for me and I meant to put it in the review but I was really disappointed in the ending, but being dubbed and the subtitles not matching the dubbed speech I may have gotten it completely wrong.