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Monday, June 30, 2008

Please Teach Me English (영어완전정복/Yeongeo wanjeonjeongbok-2003)

please teach me english
Starring:
Na-yeong Lee - Na, Yeong-ju
Hyuk Jang - Park, Moon-su
Supporting Cast
Angela Kelly - Catherine
In-mun Kim - Yeong-ju's grandfather
Mun-hee Na - Moon-su's mother
Seok-yong Jeong
Jae-hyeong Jeon
Doo-hong Jung
Beom-su Lee - Passenger on the subway
Hae-jin Yu
Ju-bong Choi
Yong-geon Kim
Yeong-ae Kim
Hyo-eun Hwang
Sang-hun Jeong

please_teach_me_english_

As shy, awkward and, frankly, nerdy as she is, 25 year old public official Na Young-ju has little hope of landing a boyfriend. But then a game of chance designates her as the member of her office staff who will take English courses—much to her horror. In the same class, she encounters show salesman Park Moon-su, who fancies himself a dashing ladies’ man. He’s studying English in part to communicate with his long-lost American sister, but mostly for the purpose of wielding exotic pick-up lines, and is soon deploying them at the less-than-impressed Cathy, the pretty Australian teaching the class. But while Park flirts with Cathy, it’s Young-ju who finds herself mooning after the handsome if self-absorbed fellow.


ROFLMAO! Is English really that hard? Imagine an English speaking person learning Korean. That's me. That's HARD!! I don't think I'll ever learn.

English being the "international" language, I'm told is taught as a primary second language in most non-English speaking countries. I took Espanol and Francais. LOL! I'm now teaching myself Japanese....slooooooowly.

This movie had me rolling on the floor laughing. It was the sweetest and cutest thing I've seen in awhile. At the end, *sigh*.....................So sweet!

This was an ingenious idea to have them learn English and fall in love at the same time. I have to admit though, poor Jang Hyuk, really doesn't speaka da English well. But it was endearing as he sputtered it out.....*sigh*


Jang Hyuk
Photobucket
Umm? Is it getting a little hot in here? OMG! Umm, he's getting better and BIGGER! OMG! OMG!

The Chaser (추격자 /Chugyeogja-2008)

The Chaser
Starring:
Yun-seok Kim - Jung-ho
Jung-woo Ha - Young-Min Ji
Supporting Cast
Yeong-hie Seo - Mi-jin
Hyo-ju Park - Detective Eun-shil Oh
In-gi Jeong - Detective Gil-woo Lee
Yu-jeong Kim - Mi-jin's daughter
Bon-woong Ko - Meathead
Yeong-seon Kim - Young-min's sister
Hee-seon Son - Grocery store owner

Ex-detective pimp Jung-ho is angry because his girls keep disappearing without clearing their debts. One night, he gets a call from a customer and sends Mi-jin. But when Mi-jin meets the customer, Jung-ho realizes the phone number of the customer matches that of the calls the missing girls got last. As something smells fishy, he searches for her. During his search, Jung-ho dents a car in the alley. When Jung-ho spots blood splattered on the driver’s shirt, he senses the man, Young-min, is the suspect. After an intense chase, Jung-ho finally catches Young-min. But because of Jung-ho’s pretense as a cop, they are both taken to the police station. At the station, he bluntly tells the policemen that he has killed the missing women, and the last girl, Mi-jin, may still be alive. As the police force is obsessed with a random search for corpses, Jung-ho is the only one who believes Mi-jin is still alive. With only 12 hours left to detain the serial killer without a warrant, Jung-ho’s hunt begins.


What a ride! This wasn't by any means the best movie but it was good enough to keep me interested. Okay, I was a little bummed because I was hoping for things to turn out the way I wanted it to. LOL! Of course not! This is a Korean drama. It never works out right at the end.

Of course, they get some fresh eye-candy to play the part of the villain. Ugh! They are either the villains or gay. LOL! Ha Jung Woo looks all innocent as he plays the part of Ji Young-min. He's lonely. He needs a prostitute. He can't get "it" up. So he kills all the girls he calls. Except one doesn't die like he planned. Her boss is pissed and wants her back. Lucky enough, he is a former police detective and has a few help from the old days.

As he searches for his "employee" and discovers that he can't find her and that she never told him that she had a daughter. Now time is running out to save her because the little girl is the only family of the missing woman.

Some really good stuff. Some really GROSS parts. I don't like gross. But in all, it was fun to watch the police and Jung-ho rush around Seoul to save the woman.

Ha Jung Woo
Ha Jung WooHa Jung WooHa Jung Woo

Loss Time Life: Detective ( ロス:タイム:ライフ -2008)

Episode 2
Loss Time Life
Starring:
Koyama Keiichiro as Tsunami Kota
Hiraizumi Sei as Gomi Shinzo
Waki Tomohiro
Yamaguchi Miyako
Tanaka Tetsushi
Yazawa Kouji
Hayashida Mari (林田麻里)
Sakai Mari (酒井麻吏)
Mizumori Kota (水森コウ太)

The title is taken from the Japanese term for stoppage time in soccer. In each episode, the lead character will be in a situation where he or she is about to die. Time suddenly stops and a mysterious group of referees appears, who grants the protagonist extra time based on the time wasted during that person's life. The story will explore the ways that each of the characters decides to spend that extra time. -- Tokyograph

Can I possibly cry anymore? This one has me hiccupping, catching my breath. The tears flow like rain.

A rookie detective is put together with a veteran detective who is days from retirement.

Tsunami Kota has just been assigned to Detective Gomi who takes cases slowly. While Tsunami is ready to take cases head on at full speed...expected out of newbies. While assigned with Det. Gomi, Tsunami learns that Gomi's daughter was killed at a bank and that Det. Gomi on his personal time has been trying to capture the killer.

While sitting at a coffee shop, they witness a purse snatching and the guy is the suspected killer in the bank robbery/murder. They are on the chase. Tsunami corners the suspect, the suspect pulls out a gun and shoots twice.....one headed for Tsunami and one headed for Gomi. At the same time, Tsunami shoots once.

Given a little over 3 hours of loss time, Tsunami learns about Gomi's family after visiting his home. Before leaving, Gomi's wife hands Tsunami a large envelope.

While thinking there is no hope to capture the suspect, he gets a phone call from his mother. His mother living in Hiroshima calls him on a constant basis. Her husband/his father has already passed away and Tsunami living far away leaves her lonely living in the country. At this time, Tsunami realizes that this is there last phone call and makes use of it because the last few times he has been short with her.

Given another chance, he realizes that in the envelope is a fake passport. After putting 2 and 2 together, Tsunami rushes off to arrest the suspect. Seeing a fellow officer/friend, he takes the bike he was riding and a bullet-proof vest and takes off back to the scene of Loss Time started.

Realizing that 2 shots were fired and not one, Tsunami gives Det. Gomi the vest and gets back into position when the shots were fired.

Suspect arrested.

Koyama Keiichiro
Koyama Keiichirokoyama keiichiroKoyama Russ-K

Loss Time Life: Cameraman ( ロス:タイム:ライフ -2008)

Episode 1
Loss Time Life
Starring:
Eita as Nakayama Haruhiko
Koichi Mantaro as Shinoda
Fukiishi Kazue as Iwata Yuriko
Oshima Yoko
Nakagome Sachiko (中込佐知子)
Inagaki Rinka (稲垣鈴夏)

The title is taken from the Japanese term for stoppage time in soccer. In each episode, the lead character will be in a situation where he or she is about to die. Time suddenly stops and a mysterious group of referees appears, who grants the protagonist extra time based on the time wasted during that person's life. The story will explore the ways that each of the characters decides to spend that extra time. -- Tokyograph

Inspiring but yet sad depiction of getting a second chance to right a wrong or finish what you started before you die.

This first episode had me bawling my eyes out. They are still red and puffy mind you.

Eita plays the character, Nakayama Haruhiko, who is a newspaper cameraman who reports the scene in his pictures. But yet, his pictures, even though accurate accounts, never truly told the human side of the story. After given an assignment to investigate a drug bust, things get scary and he's caught by a gun wielding drug pusher. The drug pusher shoots and then time stops before the bullet hits him in the head. Haruhiko is given the chance to make use of this time to fulfill the things he wanted to do.

After helping a woman give birth, he decides to find his ex-girlfriend who left him because he chose his job over her. At this time, he calls her and a little girl answers the phone. It's his ex's daughter. Saddened, he gives up and goes to the nearest park and witness his ex and the little girl playing. Sometime later the little girl comes over and talks to him and discovers the little girl is HIS daughter. Before his time is up, he takes a picture of himself and gives her the camera. Then proceeds back to the scene of his death.

His time is up.................

9 Souls (ナイン・ソウルズ-2003)

9 souls
Starring:

Koji Chihara
Yoshio Harada ... Torakichi
Asami Imajuku ... Kishin
Jun Inoue
Itsuji Itao
Misaki Ito
Jun Kunimura
Kotomi Kyono
Akaji Maro
Ryuhei Matsuda ... Michiru
Takako Matsu
Onimaru ... Shishido
Kiyohiko Shibukawa ... Saruwatari (as Kee)
Anne Suzuki
Mame Yamada ... Shiratori
Eita ... Michiru's brother

A convict in an isolated prison stumbles upon a hole in the wall and nine men break out. Some of the escapees have a definite goal but for others it is just a spur of the moment decision. Each of the convicts is carrying a baggage of difficult memories. The men take a van from someone they know and head for a primary school near Mt. Fuji to pick up some hidden loot, but when they get to the school, all they find is a small glass key in a time capsule. The men are dumbfounded. But, as they continue on their journey they begin to experience a strange new sense of possibility. Their thoughts turn towards the unfinished business in their lives before they were locked up and one by one they decide to act. But where will their resolutions lead them?



Surprise, surprise!! This was really good. A bit slow but that really doesn't bother me if the script and acting are good. Ryu-san is Rhu-san as usual. The perfect part I think for this. Those sad eyes are perfect for this role. He did kill his father, after all. He doesn't speak much in the movie but then that is okay. It's what his body says that makes the perfect point. LOL! It was a bit funny when they all dressed up in drag. Ryu-san was so kawaii!!!

Another shocker of the film, and trust me I did some searching on this and they don't even mention him in any reviews, is Eita. I got all excited and bubbly when I saw that Michiru's (Ryuhei's) brother was Eita. *sigh* This was not the typical role for him. He plays the loud, obnoxious, spoiled, out-of-control, bad boy wannabe thug. I about spewed my Diet Mountain Dew on my brand new sofa when I saw him. Let's just say in one scene Michiru walks in on his brother getting a blow job, that blew my mind. It's so hard to see him in this role but yet he did the part so well.

The movie starts off with Michiru killing his father. It ends with Michiru...................

It was funny but in a weird sort of way. All of the men had endearing qualities even though all of them killed somebody in their own fashion and reasoning. You learn to like them even though they are murderers and hope that they survive...........................

Eita
EitaEitaEita

Matsuda Ryuhei
ryuhei matsuda

Sunday, June 29, 2008

Hard Luck Hero (2003)

Hard Luck Hero
Starring:
Junichi Okada - Takashi Asai
Yoshihiko Inohara - Naoto Ishii
Masayuki Sakamoto - Tadashi Ikeyama
Hiroshi Nagano - Kenta Kishimoto
Go Morita - Kenji Fujita
Ken Miyake - Yuji Fujita
Sansei Shiomi - Tetsuo Mishima
Susumu Terajima - Shingo Shibata

Japanese pop superstars V6 make their feature-film debut in Sabu's Hard Luck Hero. The project began as an idea for a music video, but was expanded into a feature. Asai (Junichi Okada) is working in a restaurant when his frantic co-worker Ishii (Yoshihiko Inohara) comes to him to ask a big favor. Ishii is involved in fixing a kickboxing match, but his Thai fighter, who is supposed to lose in the second round, is a no-show. Asai reluctantly agrees to fill in. Meanwhile, two young salarymen, Ikeyama (Masayuki Sakamoto) and Kishimoto (Hiroshi Nagano), looking for a new place to eat lunch, have unfortunately settled on the café where the kickboxing match is to take place, and are joined at their table by a yakuza boss and his henchman. Fujita (Go Morita) and Kudo (Ken Miyake) are two punks who need to pay off a debt, and take up a dare to steal the boss' briefcase. Naturally, the kickboxing match does not go off without a hitch. Bullets fly, and soon all six young men are on the run, with yakuza and the cops chasing after them. Sabu cuts back to the action at the match again and again, showing it from each pair's perspective, until the audience has a clear picture of everything that went wrong. Kudo has a potentially fatal gunshot wound, and Fujita is desperate to save him. On the run, Kishimoto begins to regret his decision to give up auto racing, while Asai and Ishii are simply trying to survive.

This in actuality was an extended music video from what I've read. This mini movie is no more than maybe an hour long...if that. V6 has a knack for comedy. Their timing is always perfect and innocently believable. Maybe that is why they have been together for as long as they have.

With lots of flashbacks to intertwine with each pair of V6 members who were teamed up together, shows how they were all connected in someway.

It's a fun, quick movie to kill the time and make you smile. *smiles*
V6
V6v6!v6

Casshern (キャシャーン, Kyashān-2004)

casshern
Starring:
Yusuke Iseya - Tetsuya Azuma/Casshern
Kumiko Aso - Luna Kozuki
Akira Terao - Dr. Kotaro Azuma
Kanako Higuchi - Midori Azuma
Fumiyo Kohinata - Dr. Kozuki
Hiroyuki Miyasako - Akubon
Mayumi Sada - Sagurê
Jun Kaname - Barashin
Hidetoshi Nishijima - Lieutenant Colonel Kamijo
Mitsuhiro Oikawa - Kaoru Naito
Susumu Terajima - Sakamoto
Mayu Tsuruta - Burai's wife
Ryo - San Ikegami
Tetsuji Tamayama - Sekiguchi
Yoko Moriguchi - Luna's mother
Miku Sato

Casshern is based on a Japanese TV-series. In it, the viewer is transported into the future where they world has just seen a big war between an army from the East and an army from Europe. The East won, even though there are still rebellious factions that try to overthrow the government. The war has ravaged the world, and more than ever there is a need for peace and harmony. A scientist is conducting research into a new technology, that can rejuvante bodies and make mankind feel more alive again. The government is not interested in this technology, since they fear it could endanger their position, and the scientist is forced to work together with a sinister organization. As you can probably guess, something goes wrong and before you know it a group of all-powerful superhumans roam the planet, intent on destroying everything and everybody, so that they can rebuild the planet from the ground up.
Enter Casshern, the son of the scientist responsible for these problems. He had died during the war, but his body came back to life in the same way the superhumans did. He gets a special super-armor in order to fight the superhumans and battle commences, especially when he discovers that the superhumans are for some reason holding his mother hostage.


Hmm? I bought this and finally watched it. I have to say there are some fansubbers out there who would do a way better job than this professional junk. LOL!

This movie is for an appreciating taste. This movie left me with a headache. It was good......for some people. I couldn't really get into it. I really tried but about found myself going to sleep. My oldest son seemed to like it.....I think.

Lots of action. Very, very, very fast paced. I think that is what made my head spin. I couldn't seem to catch up. There was tooooooo much going on and the story didn't seem like it was being held together. Something wasn't right with this movie.

This was Frankenstein meets Star Wars meets Tron. The visual effects didn't help one bit. I think that was bit of a distraction too. It was dark and the color red was prominent. This was a Japanese movie....the effects should have been over par. They weren't. Where was George Lucas when they needed him?

There was definite eye candy. Tetsuji-san only had a bit part. Ugh! He was dead in about 30 minutes of the movie. Damn!

Iseya Yusuke
Yusuke IseyaYusuke IseyaYusuke Iseya

Kaname Jun
Kaname Jun

Tamayama Tetsuji
Tamayama TetsujiTamayama TetsujiTamayama TetsujiTamayama Tetsuji

Pray (Purei/プレイ-2005)

Pray
Starring:
Katsuya Kobayashi
Fumiyo Kohinata
Sanae Miyata
Asami Mizukawa - Maki
Mitsuyoshi Shinoda - Yasuda
Tetsuji Tamayama - Mitsuru
Toshiyuki Toyonaga - Shima

Mitsuru and his girlfriend Maki are down on their luck with nothing left to lose. In a last ditch effort to scrape up some cash, they decide to kidnap a school girl and ransom her to her parents. They hide out in an abandoned elementary school, and everything is going fine.

Until the girl runs off and the parents claim their daughter died a year ago. They're not going to pay.

Then Mitsuru's ne'er-do-well friends show up, and the fun really starts. They're meaner, tougher, and more desperate than Mitsuru. And since the ransom plan is off, they begin devising other things to do with the poor school girl.

This trailer has two. The first is the trailer to Pray (Purei).
This movie was a little creepy. I had to have my son watch it with me. It wasn't scary to him. I'm a wuss. Remember that. I'll admit, I squeaked a few times. I'll admit, that I closed my eyes a few times. But in all, it wasn't SCARY. Like I said it was CREEPY.

I had to watch this because one of my favorite Japanese actors was in this. I'll watch any movie he is in...and that includes horrors. Tetsuji-san never let me down. That man rocks. I know there is a lot of you who are in agreement with me. LOL! *sigh* *toes curling*

Okay, there was a weepy moment at the end. Of course, my son who is watching this movie with me is giggling because his mother is sniffling and all teary-eyed. I can't help it.

This movie is quite slow. Some might say even boring. Stick with it. Revelations abound at the end. Whew!

Enjoy!

Tamayama Tetsuji
Tetsuji Tamayamatetsuji tamayamacloseup tetsuji tamayama
*goosebumps all over*

Battle Royale(Batoru rowaiaru-2000)

Battle Royale

Starring:
Takeshi Kitano - Kitano (as Beat Takeshi)
Shin Kusaka - Yoshio Akamatsu - Boys #1
Ren Matsuzawa - Keita Iijima - Boys #2
Gouki Nishimura - Tatsumichi Ohki - Boys #3
Shigehiro Yamaguchi - Toshimori Oda - Boys #4
Taro Yamamoto - Shougo Kawada - Boys #5
Masanobu Ando - Kazuo Kiriyama - Boys #6
Yukihiro Kotani - Yoshitoki Kuninobu - Boys #7
Osamu Ohnishi - Youji Kuramoto - Boys #8
Yuuki Masuda - Hiroshi Kuronaga - Boys #9
Shirou Gou - Ryuhei Sasagawa - Boys #10
Sousuke Takaoka - Hiroki Sugimura - Boys #11
Yutaka Shimada - Yutaka Seto - Boys #12
Junichi Naitou - Yuichiro Takiguchi - Boys #13
Shigeki Hirokawa - Shou Tsukioka - Boys #14
Tatsuya Fujiwara - Shuya Nanahara - Boys #15
Hirohito Honda - Kazushi Niida - Boys #16
Yousuke Shibata - Mitsuru Numai - Boys #17
Satoshi Yokomichi - Tadakatsu Hatagami - Boys #18
Takashi Tsukamoto - Shinji Mimura - Boys #19
Ryou Nitta - Kyouichi Motobuchi - Boys #20
Yasuomi Sano - Kazuhiko Yamamoto - Boys #21
Tsuyako Kinoshita - Mizuho Inada - Girls #1
Eri Ishikawa - Yukie Utsumi - Girls #2
Sayaka Ikeda - Megumi Etou - Girls #3
Tomomi Shimaki - Sakura Ogawa - Girls #4
Tamaki Mihara - Izumi Kanai - Girls #5
Yukari Kanasawa - Yukiko Kitano - Girls #6
Misao Kato - Yumiko Kusaka - Girls #7
Takayo Mimura - Kayoko Kotohiki - Girls #8
Hitomi Hyuga - Yuko Sakaki - Girls #9
Anna Nagata - Hirono Shimizu - Girls #10
Kou Shibasaki - Mitsuko Souma - Girls #11
Satomi Ishii - Haruka Tanizawa - Girls #12
Chiaki Kuriyama - Takako Chigusa - Girls #13
Haruka Nomiyama - Mayumi Tendou - Girls #14
Aki Maeda - Noriko Nakagawa - Girls #15
Satomi Hanamura - Yuka Nakagawa - Girls #16
Sayaka Kamiya - Satomi Noda - Girls #17
Aki Inoue - Fumiyo Fujiyoshi - Girls #18
Asami Kanai - Chisato Matsui - Girls #19
Mai Sekiguchi - Kaori Minami - Girls #20
Takako Baba - Yoshimi Yahagi - Girls #21
Ai Iwamura - Girl - won last BR
Ai Maeda - Shiori, Kitano's daughter (voice)
Minami - Keiko
Michiko Yamamura - Reporter
Gou Ryugawa - Lieutenant Anjo
Takashi Taniguchi - Nanahara's father
Ken Nakaide - Mr. Hayashida - Home-room teacher of Class 3-B
Kanako Fukaura - Bus conductress (Basugaido)
Yuko Miyamura - Training Video Girl


Battle Royale

Battle Royale

At the dawn of the new millennium, Japan is in a state of collapse. Unemployment is endemic and school violence is out of control. The beleaguered government retaliates with Battle Royale... Each year, a randomly chosen class is pitted against itself on an abandoned island in a cruel game of survival. The rules of the game are simple: 1) it lasts three days; 2) Each player starts with food, water and a "weapon"; 3) if more than one player survives, everyone dies (by detonating special electronic necklaces; 4) there is no escape. Takeshi Kitano plays a downtrodden teacher turned Battle Royale operation leader. As the game progresses, terror and panic challenge the students' fragile trust in each other. But despite the game's brutality, the adolescent players remain obsessed with their crushes, their petty grudges - and their dreams...

I finally broke down and watched this. I'm not a girl who likes gore, horror, or intense thrillers. But everyone, and I mean everyone, keeps telling me that this was an awesome movie. Soooooooo...............................

Yeah, I watched it. Okay, Nobu's death was too much. Then there was the guy who's head was cut off and used to encase a hand grenade. But from other than those two instances....it was reeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaally good. I was so happy to see Takashi-san, Ando-san and Taro-san. I love those guys! Tatsuya-san, I was never really a great fan of his because his character in Death Note just wasn't right. From that point on I've avoided his movies and/or dramas. Okay, my bad. He did a really good job in this one. Maybe Kira just wasn't the right character for him in Death Note. Or I could blame the writer's in that one because they totally annihilated that anime/manga movie. But I digress.....Death Note for another time.

I just couldn't imagine having to kill my boyfriend or friends. That's just insane. The part where the girls in the lighthouse "lost it" was very, unimaginably believable. And very sad. The trust was walking a thin line.....and "boom" it was lost in a second.

This was a very good movie all around. Scary, horrible, horrific, and just terribly sad.

Masanobu Ando

Tsukamoto Takashi

Tsukamoto TakashiTakashi TsukamotoTakashi TsukamotoTakashi TsukamotoTakashi Tsukamoto

Fujiwara Tatsuya

Tatsuya FujiwaraTatsuya FujiwaraTatsuya FujiwaraTatsuya Fujiwara