Death Note - Japan

          Director:  Shusuke Kaneko

          Year:  2006

          Plot:  “A battle between the world's 2 greatest minds begins when Light Yagami finds the Death Note, a notebook with the power to kill, and decides to rid the world of criminals.”

          Now seen as this is about some of my favorite movies, I just have to do a few posts on the Death Note live action movies.  Now of course, Death Note was originally a anime, but this is the movie they made with real people.  I have to say that I watched these movies before actually really watching the anime or reading the manga.

          From what I heard some people say, if you have read the manga or watched the anime, you might not like this movie.  I do know that they changed a few things from the manga, one being that L is one of the main character in all three of the movies, and Mello never makes an appearance at all.

          I really did enjoy this movie.  I know Ryuk isn’t the embodiment of amazing cgi, but he isn’t that bad either.  As far as cgi goes in Asian live action movies, he was actually really good.  I also love the character.  Even someone who hates foreign movies loved Death Note mostly because of Ryuk.

          Now for acting.  I know that many seem to think that the acting in this movie was horrible, but I haven’t quite seen this.  Sure there are points where Light gets a little too theatrical, but it works out later in the story.  I also have to mention that some people have issues with Light simply because the actor is short.  Alright, I know Light is supposed to be tall and all, but I would rather have a short but good actor over one cast just because they’re tall.

          I also think that Ken'ichi Matsuyama who plays L did an amazing job.  I don’t know too many that would be able to act out all of L’s quirks.  I know he was only supposed to be in part of Death Note, but really, who would want to get rid of him?  I mean especially when Ken'ichi did so well playing him.

          I can’t really say all that much more because this is only one piece of the puzzle, but I would like to mention the point that some other people brought up to me before.  Apparently, the things that happen in the movie are illogical.  I find fault in this idea.  The things are really quite logical (besides a killer notebook and death god).  Light is very intelligent and plans everything out.  I was able to understand fully how everything came about, and what slight mistakes led to the ultimate ending.

          I loved this movie.  It was really interesting to watch to see how Light was going to get out of the various problems he runs into.  I’m sure there are plenty of faults between the manga/anime and this live action, but you really have to take into account that the anime/mang was allowed to be a lot longer.  These movies are really only two movies from the manga, and a lot had to be taken out.  The third, is not based off the manga/anime, but a separate story involving L.

Moon Child - Japan

          Director:  Takahisa Zeze
          Year:  2003
          Plot:  "In the year 2014, Japan has collapsed economically and its people have emigrated in large numbers to other parts of the world.  In a corner in Asia, there is a little street called Mallepa, a big melting pot where Asians such as Hongkongers, Taiwanese and Japanese live together.  Here people fought for order, food and freedom.  This was where Shou, raised as an orphan and Kei, who could live forever, met and became the best of friends.  However, they were unable to escape from the fight for power involving gangs of different ethnicity on the street of Mallepa."


          I decided that this should be my next post.  I absolutely loved this movie.  I admit I watched it as a fangirl.  I absolutely love Gackt and Hyde (both are Jrock musicians).  Yes, I watched it simply because they were in it.  Forgive me for my fangirl tendencies.  I promise not to base too much of this post on fangirl obsessed opinions.  I swear I will talk about the movie and not just Gackt and Hyde.


          This movie has something for just about everyone, because of this, it could have been a complete flop.  The thing is, everything worked great together.  I don't really like sappy movies (though there is a few I can handle).  I have always been more of an action, adventure and horror sort of girl.  It really surprised me that I got so into this movie.  Sure there are action scenes that are good, but the story does in fact rely on a very emotional base.  I guess it is the fact that it has the elements of fantasy and action that allow me to appreciate the emotional part.
          I absolutely loved the connection between Sho and Kei.  They were so close, and I just got so addicted to it.  It was all so sweet.  Kei was always so distraught, being a vampire seems to do that lately, but it isn't just the part about being a monster that caused his angst.  I have always had issues with the vampires who hate who they are simply because they drink blood.  In Moon Child, most of Kei's problems are because he cares so much for Sho.  He sits back and watches his friend grow up, knowing that one day he will die and leave Kei all alone again.  This is the part that really got me.  There is not much to the world when you are alone, and no matter how long you live, you won't be happy without even one person.
         Now onto the action scenes.  I actually liked the scenes in this movie.  I am usually not really into gun fights, they're okay, but not the greatest.  In this one I have to say the gun fights didn't get too boring to me.  There was always at least one thing that peaked my interest, like where the picture from below comes from.  I just found that scene to be rather cool.  I know some people disagree with me, but that's all right.  My favorite action scenes though are the ones where Sho gets a little physical rather than just using a gun.  He is very entertaining to watch, especially when he goes to kick someone and misses.  It is rather funny.  Yes this movie even has a little bit of humor.  I must say that I crack up every time I see Kei dancing with the dead guy.
          This one of the rare movies that makes me cry.  At first I thought it was simply because of my obsession with Gackt, but I don't think it is only about Gackt.  After all, I would think it would have stopped having an effect on me after I knew what happens to his character.  The fact is that every time I watch this movie, I end up crying.  It is the story that really hits me and not just the fact that something happens to one of my favorite musicians.  No matter how many times I end up crying because of this movie, I still can't resist watching it.
          I have to say one more thing about this movie.  There is a scene where Sho runs out of bullets.  Now the way he reloads is very cool (not realistic but still).  I was watching this movie while my dad came over to grab something.  He hates foreign movies because he doesn't like to read.  The fact is that he looked at the TV just as this scene came on, and he was hooked.  He ended up borrowing the movie from me and was surprised to find that he liked it for more than just the action scenes.  Like I said, there is a little bit for everyone.


          I absolutely love this movie.  It is great every time I watch it.  It happens to be one of my all time favorites.  I hope there wasn't too much in this post that seems too fangirl-ish.  I'm obsessive, but I really do like this movie for actual reasons and not just because Gackt and Hyde are awesome.  n.n

Raging Phoenix - Thailand

          Director:  Rashane Limtrakul
          Year:  2009
          Plot:  "A violent gang is abducting women around Thailand.  Sanim and his friends, having had loved ones abducted, have joined together to break the gang of kidnappers.  In a botched kidnap attempt, Deu is saved by Sanim's crew.  After learning their unique martial arts style, Deu helps lure the gang into an epic battle to save the women across Thailand."


          So I would like to start with the movie that has caught my attention lately.  That movie is of course Raging Phoenix staring JeeJa Yanin.  I am aware that some find this movie boring and such, but I have a hard time figuring out why.
           This is a martial arts movie, with apparently bad wire work, though I haven't noticed it.  Many have claimed that this is a bad movie because of a poor story-line.  Again, I do not see this.  Sure the whole perfume idea is quite out there, but the story as a whole is really good.  Mostly I have found that it is guys who really hate this movie.  The movie really comes down to the fact of if you can connect to Deu or not.  If you can connect to her character, this is a wonderful movie simply because you care for her and want her to succeed.  If you don't really connect, I can see how this movie might be a little lack luster to you.
          I definitely connected with Deu, and loved this movie.  For me it was really hard not to care for her.  She lost her father (previous to the movie), her mother wasn't around, she got kicked out of a band, and her boyfriend was cheating on her.  Given all of that it is hard not to want things to get better for her, at least for me.
          So I should probably talk about the fight scenes since this is a martial arts movie.  Like I mentioned, people have talked about horrible wire work in this movie.  I really haven't seen it.  I suppose it is because I was more focused on the characters because I got attached, rather than how their bodies looked exactly during certain moves.  I was not on the look out for this even after hearing about it before seeing the movie.  I really couldn't see a point during the fights that looked like bad wire work, but maybe I just wasn't paying attention.
          I really did enjoy the fighting scenes.  They are really unique.  It is not too often that a person can break dance in the middle of a fight and not look completely crazy.  The dancing seems to fit rather well into the story and fights.  Being that the characters are pretty much drunk through the entire movie, it isn't too hard to believe that they wouldn't be fighting in a traditional way.  Because of the way that they fight, it comes off as rather humorous for most of the movie.  It is only at the latter half of the movie that they completely abandon this light-hearted style and turn to more brutal fighting.
          I have to say that my favorite fight scene is actually the one Deu fights on the beach after suffering another abandonment.  It is rather pretty to watch with the spray of the water around them.  Though that scene is rather brutal, I still found it rather beautiful to watch.
          I have one more thing to mention about this movie, and that is the special effects.  Many people have critiqued this movie mostly because of the few scenes when special effects are used.  I do not understand this critiquing.  I have watched plenty of Asian movies and know that their special effects aren't very good.  The fact is that most would rather do the things the practical way rather than using special effects.  This is why when they do use special effects, it looks rather crappy.  To be able to not take those scenes as simply crappy effects, you must understand why they aren't done well.  I find that I can easily excuse the poor effect because I know that all the other stuff is done in practical ways.


          I rather enjoyed this movie.  It is one of my favorite martial arts movies (I have an affinity to this genre).  Though I wouldn't say that it is better than one of my many favorite Jet Li movies (simply due to the weird perfume idea), I still place it in the same category (good martial arts movies).  I also have to say that I like the idea of a woman being the best martial artist out of a group of men that comes into play in this movie.  A girl has got to love that, after all, women are usually the damsels in distress not the hero.