One Piece Movie: The Great Gold Pirate (2000)

Taking place between the 18th and 19th episode of the anime series, the 1st One Piece movie finds Luffy, Zoro, Usopp and Nami on the hunt for the treasure of the Great Gold Pirate Woonan but find that another pirate captain El Drago and his cronies also want it. The Going Merry crew must find a way to stop them from achieving their goal.

The first in the annually released One Piece movie series. It’s got a nice plot (OK so it’s just a stereotypical treasure chase story but it’s so entertaining) that’s full of excitement, comedy and character development that everybody expects from this superb anime series. The strength of this movie is by far the characters who are all very likeable!! It’s a goofy, silly and fun adventure anime that won’t disappoint.

I couldn’t find a trailer for the movie but thought the 2nd Japanese OP might suffice instead!

Sadako’s Rating: 4 stars out of 5

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Power Kids (2009)

A group of 5 street kids live and teach Muay Thai in a temple with their master. One of them has a heart problem and during an incident his condition worsens and is rushed to hospital. His only hope is a heart transplant. By sheer luck, one is found in a hospital many miles away and is due to be transported. But the hospital finds itself under attack from a terrorist group called the Tealaw Party who demands some concessions from the Thai government. With the hospital unable to transport the heart and unless it is safely transplanted into a patient’s body in 4 hours it will be deemed useless. The kids cannot stand by and watch their friend die so they take it upon themselves to go to the hospital, take on the terrorists and get the much needed heart. But can they survive taking on such a group who are armed with machine guns?

From the team behind Chocolate and Raging Phoenix comes this very good action movie. It might sound on paper like it’s a family movie and whilst at times it does act like one, you soon find out it’s not with people being shot at point blank range and plenty of swearing coming from the kids themselves! The child actors are so endearing with 2 of them displaying incredible martial arts ability. The action is short but great and as with all Thai movies such as this one is creative. The only downside is the poor acting by 1 Western actor – very cringeworthy and embarrasing I might add and the short running time of the movie. It only clocks in at 73 mins.

Overall though, I really enjoyed Power Kids and it entertained me a lot. It might not have the ‘wow’ factor that Tony Jaa and Jeeja Yanin movies have produced but it’s still a lot of fun. Definitely worth checking out.

Sadako’s Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5

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Somtum (2008)

Ex WWE wrestler and 7 foot giant Nathan Jones is Barney, a docile man who after a drunken night out finds his passport has been stolen in Pattaya, Thailand. He befriends two sisters who will help him find his passport. At their mothers restaurant they find that Barney goes crazy when he eats a spicy dish called ‘somtum’. He destroys the restaurant but vows that in order to make it up to them he’ll do whatever it takes to rebuild the restaurant. Meanwhile some bad guys get a precious diamond stolen by one of the sisters and want it back. The paths of Barney, the sisters and the bad guys are about to converge but who will come out of the melee intact?

What an incredible Thai comedy/action/martial arts movie this is. You don’t really need to watch it with subtitles as half of the dialogue is in English and the plot is easy to follow. It’s such a good light-hearted movie with some awesome fights throughout. The stand-out star has to be the pint sized girl Sasisa Jindamanee. I’ve no idea how old she is – maybe 14 or 15 years old but she is such a nimble martial artist and a joy to watch. She even gets involved in a Thai boxing match with an adult male in the movie. A new Thai action girl is born! I’d love to see her in a movie with Jeeja Yanin.

If you love Thai action movies, there’s no doubt you’ll enjoy this one. It’s awesome even if the final fight at the climax which sees a Lear-type jet being destroyed is rather far fetched!! Two thumbs up!

Sadako’s Rating: 4 stars out of 5

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Mezzo Forte (1998)

If you’ve ever seen Umetsu’s 2 other anime movies (Kite and Kite Liberator) then you’ll have a pretty good idea what Mezzo Forte is all about. The story concerns a trio of mercernaries with a female assassin Mikura that’s hired to do a job and kidnap a nasty baseball team owner. However, the job goes wrong and they find out that he’s been killed. The man’s psychotic and dangerous daughter believing that her father is still alive seeks out Mikura and her 2 compatriots with her own brand of twisted violence.

Mezzo Forte is an interesting ultraviolent anime that’s good enough to pass 55 mins of your time. The action is slick though a bit too far fetched at times such as Mikura kicking a man through a wall! The animation is pretty good too. Those that like Umetsu’s other work will want to check this out.

No trailer but I found this instead.

Sadako’s Rating: 3 stars out of 5

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Ip Man 2:Legend Of The Grandmaster (2010)

Donnie Yen returns as Wing Chun grandmaster Yip Man. After the war he moves with his family to Hong Kong where he sets up a martial arts school. Initially no students turn up and life is difficult with no money coming to his family. Eventually though things pick up with many students joining after an endorsement from one of his followers. But rival schools start stirring up trouble and even worse the British has sent one of their top boxers called The Twister to challenge the Chinese to a boxing match. When one Chinese master dies at the Twister’s hands, Yip Man seeks retribution and to restore the honour of Chinese martial arts by challenging The Twister to a match in the ring. Can he beat a person that no-one else has managed to even put on the canvas?

An incredible sequel. Donnie Yen is excellent as Yip Man with Sammo Hung also wonderful in a supporting role as Master Hong. There’s an amazing exchange between Yen and Hung on a round table exchanging strikes and blows which is breathtaking to watch. The fight choreography throughout is awesome. It has a good and interesting plot. There’s even a epilogue which introduces Bruce Lee and how he became Yip Man’s student at 16 years old. A solid martial arts movie which is very enjoyable and entertaining.

Sadako’s Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

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Lalapipo (2009)

A bizarre but funny comedy which follows 6 different people who all end up in the Japanese sex industry with their stories all interweaving somehow. The stories are well paced and cleverly structured, never going on too long or offering normal conclusions or obvious endings. Lalapipo is a twisted, dark and offbeat comedy movie that’s for sure and it probably won’t appeal for everybody but I found it to be quite amusing. There’s some wacky surreal moments such as the green puppet which represents one man’s talking penis!!! The characters though a bit strange are made to be sympathetic to the viewers. Those that want to watch a comedy with a difference should give this movie a go.

Sadako’s Rating: 3 stars out of 5

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Appleseed Ex Machina (2007)

The third Appleseed movie centers on a new bioroid Tereus who is ordered to be Deunan’s new partner when Briareos is injured. The problem for Deunan is because they’ve used Briareos DNA to create Tereus, he looks the same as Briareos before much of his body was turned to machine. Humans and bioroids are turning violent and crazy thanks to a new multimedia device attached to the brain called Connexus. Deunan, Tereus and Briareos must stop the creators of the device.

This CGI anime looks fantastic – the next stage in anime perhaps? I’ve never seen such a gorgeous looking CGI movie since FF:The Spirits Within. There’s a fast and furious opening in which cyborg terrorists hold some hostages in a large church with a fantastic storming of the church by E.S.W.A.T forces. The movie has a complex and exciting storyline with many action sequences but maybe that’s due to John Woo as producer – you can see he had a hand in this production due to several trademark images of his e.g two handed gun battles and white doves! I thought Appleseed: Ex Machina was superb.

Sadako’s Rating: 4 stars out of 5

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Eat The Schoolgirl:Osaka Telephone Club (1997)

From the director of zombie splatterfest Stacy comes this nasty, ultra-violent exploitation movie. It follows 2 men who work for a small yakuza group. One is addicted to phone sex and the other man who is obviously mentally ill keeps seeing a vision of a naked angel-like woman in his apartment who tells him to kill so dressed as a schoolgirl he goes on a mad killing spree and gets a sexual thrill from doing so! This is a very sick, brutal and disturbing movie. The plot is a mess and doesn’t make any sense whatsoever. If you get a kick out of seeing these type of movies then you’ll enjoy it otherwise this will only appeal to fans of Japanese extreme cinema.

Sadako’s Rating: 1.5 stars out of 5

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Running Out Of Time (1999)

Andy Lau is Cheung, a man with terminal cancer who has only 72 hours to live. With nothing to lose before he dies, he starts a cat and mouse game with a police negotiator Inspector Ho and targets a crime syndicate who killed his father by stealing a precious diamond from them.

Director Johnny To gives us an excellent thriller with a brilliant performance from Andy Lau as Cheung and Lau Ching-Wan as Inspector Ho. Those familiar with To’s movies will know what to expect – it’s full of twists and turns. The plot is interesting plus the chemistry between the 2 leading men is superb. The soundtrack especially the main theme is beautiful to listen. It’s a clever and very enjoyable movie that HK movie fans should watch.

Sadako’s Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5

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Tora San I:Our Lovable Tramp (1969)

Kiyoshi Atsumi is Torajiro who returns home after 20 years in the wilderness after he ran away. Staying with his aunt and uncle because his parents have died, he begins to oversee his sister’s marriage. But Tora-san has a habit of putting his foot in it a bit too much without realising what an idiot he is. His intentions are good but he goes overboard after drinking and spoils his sister’s chance of marriage. This infuriates his aunt and uncle. He’s outstayed his welcome. Tora-san leaves and resurfaces in Nara where he bumps into a woman from his hometown out on a trip with her father. He falls big time for her and follows her back to his hometown to start interfering once more with people’s lives. Will Tora-san ever learn?

This is the first of 48 movies about Tora-san that was made over 25 years. Tora-san is a flawed individual – childlike, petulant, funny but a pain in the ass for his family but likeable nevertheless. Kiyoshi Atsumi is great as Tora-san – the character is obnoxious and downright rude in some of his behaviour but somehow the viewer manages to sympathise with his non-existent love-life. Whilst this movie is never a laugh-out-loud encounter, it does have a couple of humourous moments to make it very watchable. I’m sure I’ll watch one or two of the others in the future.

Sadako’s Rating: 3 stars out of 5

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Nodame Cantabile The Movie Part 1 (2009)

The first of 2 movies to end one of the best doramas ever seen on Japanese television. Still based in Paris after winning a prestigious competition, Chiaki is appointed as conductor to the Marlet orchestra which is in dire straits with members quitting and a debut performance with them that goes down like a lead balloon! He has a massive task on his hands to get everybody to perform together as one and to restore pride to his flamboyant mentor Stressman’s former orchestra. Can Chiaki pull it off?

Nodame Cantabile was a dorama series that proved to be a massive hit in Japan with fans demanding for more. A 2-part TV special wasn’t enough for them so to finally close the antics of Chiaki and Nodame 2 movies have been made – Part 1 was released in December 2009 with Part 2 coming out in April 2010. This review is only about Part . It continues the journey about both of them overcoming adversity in their profession although this one concentrates more about Chiaki than about Nodame (the 2nd movie will focus more on her). For myself, the music has always been one of the best things about Nodame Cantabile which started a bit of a renaissance in Japan’s younger generation in appreciating classical music. Tamaki Hiroshi and Juri Ueno slip back in their roles like they’d never been away and are ably supported by Becki, Yu Yamada and Eita. The comedy element which was so prevailent in the series doesn’t really come to the fore in this movie – there’s still some humour but it’s not as much as I would have liked. I still enjoyed this movie a lot and I can’t wait to see how it finally finishes in Part 2. Highly recommended for Nodame Cantabile fans.

Sadako’s Rating: 4 stars out of 5

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The Sanctuary (2009)

In the early 1900s in Thailand, a group of thieves steal some precious royal antiques from the King and bury the loot so that no-one else can find them. In the present day, a Thai man Kirk finds one of the antiques close to his village but is instantly targeted by foreign criminals and unfortunately killed in a skirmish. The criminals posing as a mineral extraction team manage to locate the other antiques – they hope to make a lot of money by selling them on the black market. But they didn’t count on Kirk’s brother Krit and a young female journalist who are determined that the criminals who have their country’s national treasures will not be able to get away and flee across the border.

If you’re expecting anything like Ong Bak then you’re in for a big disappointment. The main actor who plays Krit may look good in his fights but he’s got nothing on Tony Jaa or even Jeeja Yanin for that matter. The action whilst plentiful offer nothing new to the Thai action genre and after a while you’ll get tired of this movie. The acting isn’t that good especially from the foreign contingent. Luckily the story moves along at a good pace to keep the action flowing as it’s only 80 mins long. Average at best.

Sadako’s Rating: 2.5 stars out of 5

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Higanjima (2009)

Teenager Akira hears that his big brother Atsushi who’s been missing for over 2 years could be alive on an island called Higanjima which is overrun by vampires. Aided by a mysterious woman named Rei, Akira and his friends travel to the island on a rescue mission but quickly find themselves in over their heads as they are quickly rounded up and thrown into cells by the bloodsucking hoard to be used as food for later. Escaping from their cells, Akira finds his brother alive and well. Atsushi has joined the human resistance movement on the island who are trying to destroy the vampires. He has more reason than the rest for doing this as he was responsible for releasing the head vampire Miyabi from his prison inside a shrine. Can Akira and his friends manage to escape from the island of the undead with their lives intact?

An all action vampire bloodfest movie. Although the formula for this wonderful movie has been seen countless times before, the brilliant energetic set-pieces by director Kim Tae-Gyun makes this a cut above the rest. I don’t think anything topped the opening dramatic action scene though. What spoils the movie however is a rather unnecessary monster near the climax which just looks plain bad on screen. The acting is adequate enough but nobody really stands out for me. There’s plenty of gore scenes for those that like their horror – decapitations, swords run through bodies, an arrow through the eye amongst others. It ends on a bit of a cliffhanger that could mean a sequel is on the cards. I would imagine that most J-horror fans will enjoy it but the leading male might annoy some as he does whine and cry quite a lot. Still I’d recommend this.

Sadako’s Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5

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Metropolis (2001)

Inspired partly by Fritz Lang’s classic tale, this excellent anime is set in the future as young Kenichi rescues a girl from a laboratory fire in the sprawling city of Metropolis. Seemingly with amnesia, Kenichi tries to help Tima but both are unaware that she’s a robot who’s been built to eventually take control of the city by the Duke Red and used as a weapon against the people. His adopted son Rock isn’t too pleased that an android is to be ruler so he takes it upon himself to find Tima and destroy her and all robots he comes across.

This is such a stunning animated movie. The detail and the vastness of the city of Metropolis is brilliantly captured on screen. And as for the music – that is something else. It’s perfect for this movie and the use of Ray Charles’ classic song I Can’t Stop Loving You at a pivotal scene near the climax is genius. This movie also presents the viewer with a wonderful story-line exploring human emotions, a grand industrial view of the future and the dangers of the technology that comes with it, not to mention a superb ending that will not disappoint. Metropolis is one of the greatest anime movies you’ll come across and should not be missed.

Sadako’s Rating: 5 stars out of 5

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Tamami:The Baby’s Curse (2008)

Yoko is reunited with her parents after 12 years at their large mansion in a forest. Her father is normal and caring unlike her mother who has had a mental breakdown of sorts and thinks her 2nd child Tamami is still alive. She gives Yoko the cold shoulder, insisting she isn’t her child. But odd things are happening in the mansion and before long Yoko comes face to face with her hideously deformed mutant sister who has a deep grudge against her and will stop at nothing to kill her.

What starts out as a mystery thriller movie changes into a gore-filled horror in the 2nd half as the two sisters tear into each other and anybody getting in their way is killed too. Tamami starts out really slow but gradually builds until the long battle between the two sisters kicks off. The mutant baby is unbelievably ugly and totally evil. The hatred it has for it’s beautiful sister is deep. It might not be the best J-horror you’ll come across but it’s a change from the usual ‘evil girl with long dark hair’ villain you’ll encounter in many Japanese movies.

Sadako’s Rating: 3 out of 5

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