DVD Collectors Online

The Life of Oharu, a review by Antares

The Life of Oharu (1952) 89/100 - There's a moment in Kurosawa's Shichinin no samurai, when a coolie who's sharing the barn with the farmers proclaims..."I'd rather be dead than live a farmer's life". Well, after watching The Life of Oharu, I can say that I'd rather be dead than live the life of a woman in feudal Japan. Objectified, subservient and without any rights of property, a woman's life in medieval Japan was no better than a dog's. Kinuyo Tanaka gives a memorable performance, but probably should have shared the leading role with a younger, teenage actress for the early scenes in Kyoto and Edo. As great an actress as she was, she really can't pull off 15 - 18 years old, when she herself, just passed 40 years of age. As with other Mizoguchi films, the cinematography is gorgeous and his use of a 'floating camera' style, gives the film a haunting sadness and beauty at the same time. I would have loved to give it a higher rating, but the transitions between certain parts in Oharu's life are not smooth, making the film seem a bit episodic. I was also a bit unmoved by the ending of the film. Through the breadth of this film, Oharu goes from lady-in-waiting, to courtesan, to concubine, to prostitute and finally beggar nun. In a society where disgrace and losing face are treated just as horrifically as murder or treason, Oharu accepts these injustices as fate. I would have loved to have seen her race past her son's retainers and proclaim to him that she was the woman who gave him life, and in keeping with the film's theme, having him disavow himself of her. Thus, finally broken by this last indignity, she takes her life in the garden of her son's palace. The last thought in her mind being that she is now free to join Katsunosuke in eternal love in the afterlife.

What the color coding means...

Teal = Masterpiece
Dark Green = Classic or someday will be
Lime Green = A good, entertaining film
Orange = Average
Red = Cinemuck
Brown = The color of crap, which this film is

(From Antares' Short Summations on February 28th, 2014)

Warrior King, a review by Achim

Title:Warrior King [Tom yum goong]
Year: 2005
Director: Prachya Pinkaew
Rating: 18
Length: 106 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1
Audio: Thai: Dolby Digital: 5.1, Thai: DTS: 5.1
Subtitles: English

Stars:
Tony Jaa
Petchtai Wongkamlao [Phetthtai Wongkhamlao]
Bongkod Kongmalai
Jin Xing
Nathan Jones [Nathan B. Jones]

Plot:
Hot on the heels of his incredible ass-kicking performance in Ong-bak, the greatest action hero of the decade, Tony Jaa, is back in Warrior King - with a bigger budget, a Western setting and even more of his amazing trademark "no wireworks, no CGI, no stunt doubles" action!
Thai village boy, Kham's peaceful world is rocked when illegal animal smugglers kidnap his precious pet elephants, stealing them away to the seedy underworld of Australia's Sydney to meet a dubious end. They have picked the wrong guy to mess with: the elephants are like family to Kham, and he sets out to bring them back, beating to a pulp anyone who stands in his way.
His journey pitches him against one fierce opponent after another, each more skilled and deadly then the last- the perfect recipe for the most bone-crunching , jaw-dropping action ever!

Extras:
Scene Access
Feature Trailers
Featurettes
Multi-angle

A Thai action flick with Tony Jaa. Oddly paced, it seems to run out of steam at about 45min in (not that I expected a deep story from this movie...). However, they then threw in some more plot elements to get the movie along to the end at a breakneck pace again. While in overall the story just serves it's purpose, it was involving enough to keep me entertained between the fight sequences; what more can you ask. Along with all of that comes a animal rights message, not overly heavy handed, just enough to get your brain going a little bit.

The fight sequences are the real focus of this film. They are quite violent, which is enhanced by the sound design (lots of bone crunching noises which occasionally made me flinch on the couch ) and big thuds for the fists or feet landing on opponent's body parts. Most impressive is the scene where the fight goes up on a big round staircase, filmed in one continuous shot which is approx. 4min long; must have been a stunt coordinator's nightmare but came out incredibly well The final fight is extremely vicious and pits Tony first against a horde of minions and then against some rather large western guys. It goes on for a long time without outstaying its welcome. Loads of broken bones in this one, I still wonder whether it was well applied prosthetics or CGI.

So, nothing that will cause long discussions afterwards, but if you are looking for well done martial arts with a punch behind them (pun partially intended), then look no further.



(From Achim's entirely random reviews on July 13th, 2010)

Tom's Random Star Trek Reviews, a review by Tom

Star Trek: The Next Generation
6.01 Time's Arrow: Part Two
Writer: Jeri Taylor (Screenwriter), Joe Menosky (Original Material By)
Director: Les Landau
Cast: Patrick Stewart (Capt. Jean-Luc Picard), Jonathan Frakes (Cmdr. William Riker), LeVar Burton (Lt. Cmdr. Geordi La Forge), Michael Dorn (Lieutenant Worf), Gates McFadden (Dr. Beverly Crusher), Marina Sirtis (Counselor Deanna Troi), Brent Spiner (Lt. Commander Data), Jerry Hardin (Samuel Clemens), Pamela Kosh (Mrs. Carmichael), William Boyett (Policeman), Michael Aron (Jack the Bellboy), James Gleason (Dr. Appollinaire), Mary Stein (Alien Nurse), Alexander Enberg (Young Reporter), Whoopi Goldberg (Guinan), Bill Cho Lee (Male Patient)

A good conclusion to this two-parter. I always liked how Mark Twain gets confronted with the future he thought impossible.

Rating:

(From Tom's Random Star Trek Reviews on October 31st, 2011)