Red Cliff (赤壁 -2008)

Starring:
Tony Leung Chiu Wai - Zhou Yu
Takeshi Kaneshiro - Zhuge Liang
Chen Chang - Sun Quan
Wei Zhao - Sun Shangxiang
Koyuki
Shido Nakamura - Gan Ning
Fengyi Zhang - Cao Cao
Jun Hu - Zhao Yun
Chiling Lin - Xiao Qiao
Yong You - Liu Bei
Dawei Tong - Sun Shucai
Jia Song - Li Ji
Yong Hou - Lu Su
Chun Sun
Qingxiang Wang - Kong Rong
Jiang Tong - Li Tong

It's A.D. 208 China. Rival states Shu and Wu join hands against their common enemy, the evil and ambitious General Cao Cao of the Wei kingdom, but are seriously outnumbered by his million-strong army. But with the charismatic leadership of Gen. Zhou Yu (Tony Leung), the perfect strategy of scholar Zhuge Liang (Takeshi Kaneshiro), and the support of emperor Sun Quan (Chen Chang), they manage to declare a small victory. While Cao Cao scoffs at this as no big deal, it adds fuel to his fury.



Wow! Stunning art work from master director John Woo. Totally spectacular.

I've been reading and reading and evidently this is an all-time grossing film and most money ever spent on a Chinese masterpiece. Yeah, masterpiece. I said it. Chinese and masterpiece usually doesn't spill out of my lips. So you'll probably won't hear me say it again.

From the beginning till the end....end would be figuratively because this movie isn't over. Yeah, a number two is coming out. How do I know? Because at the end....it says "To Be Continued." Duh! That my friend really pissed me off because I want to see the end....NOW!!!! Why should I have to wait any longer for this?

I was pleasantly shocked to see Nakamura Shido in this. First, he's Japanese and I didn't know he could speak Chinese. Woooooah Nelly! Yeah, yeah. I know that don't mean nothin' cuz Takeshi-kun speaks it fluently too. But then, he's half Taiwanese, so he's got the handicap, ya know?

Back to the movie......It was visually stunning. The action was abundant. The acting was expectedly top notch. The only gripe other than the ending is that Takeshi-kun had not one fighting scene. Okay, he's a scholar/strategist in the movie but that shouldn't stop him from kickin' ass. So maybe Part Two he'll get that chance. Oh yeah, another thing that bugged me....this was supposed to be A.D. 208. It seemed like this era could have been more along the lines of somewhere along the lines of 1300-1500's. I'm no historian so I could be absolutely wrong.....ehh.

Other than that this movie is really worth sitting down, eating popcorn, and chillin'. Definitely a really good movie.

Neighbor No. 13 (隣人１３号, Rinjin 13-gô -2005)

Starring:
Shido Nakamura - 13-gô / No. 13
Shun Oguri - Jûzô Murasaki
Hirofumi Arai - Tôru Akai
Yumi Yoshimura - Nozomi Akai
Tomoya Ishii - Hajime Seki
Minoru Matsumoto - Shinigami / God of Death
Hitori Gekidan - Comedian on TV
Mitsuru Murata
Takashi Miike - Kaneda

"That was the other me who's in my body."

Juzo Murasaki is a young introvert who's moved to a new town where he has a new job.

On his first day at a construction site he meets his foreman and realises that, to his quiet horror, the foreman is no other than Toru Akai.

Akai was solely responsible for making Juzo's life hell by bullying him for years at school. It soon becomes clear that Akai - now a married man with a kid - hasn't changed one bit. He's still a callous, mean-streaked bully who's bent on mistreating people under his control. Although he doesn't recognise his former victim, he automatically adds Juzo to his list of victims at the construction site.

When Juzo discovers that Akai lives upstairs from him at their apartment block, he's started to feel the effects of his traumatic experiences of being bullied by Akai and his crones.

These effects give strength to his alter ego - a scarred, mentally deranged man named No. 13 - that slowly takes over Juzo to start a highly orchestrated vengeance against those who hurt Juzo, past and present.

OMG! This movie was totally wigged out! I was not expecting a totally new Oguri Shun. Okay, not new but a totally different character than his norm. Sweet, innocent, cute, nice, romantic......and so on.

If there was one movie that maximized the anti-bullying campaign it would be this one. DEFINITELY!

This movie harnassed the main theme that what comes around goes around. But, revenge doesn't always work the way you want it to. There are responsibilities from everyone not just the affected and the affectors.

OH! The naked Oguri Shun was a definite plus. He dances naked! LOL!

Oguri Shun