Lifer Movies

Title: The Good, the Bad and the Weird Rating: 4/5 Genre: Western, Action, Comedy Starring: Kang-Ho Song (“Thirst,” “The Host”), Byung-Hun Lee (Bittersweet Life, JSA), Woo-Sung Jung Director: Ji-Woon Kim Language: Korean Man-gil : "The bounty on your head is 300 won." Yoon Tae-goo : "What? I'm only worth a piano? " It's felt as though its been a while since I sat down to watch a film but when I spotted this on sale cheaply I knew I couldn't let it pass by. From the same genre-hopping director that brought us one of the better horror films to be released this decade, a “Tale of Two Sisters,” and the perhaps slightly disappointing revenge-laden gangster film, “A Bittersweet Life,” comes this epic re-imagining of one of the most revered Spaghetti Western films to date. Except this isn't just Korean's pretending to be Clint Eastwood in the desolate dust-bowl of Manchuria but a non-stop roller-coaster ride of blazing guns and comic timing a...

Title: Ergo Proxy Rating: 4/5 Genre: Animé, Sci-Fi, Drama, Mystery Duration: 25mins (23 Episodes) Director: Shuko Murase Still my mind is reeling from the complex plot posed by Ergo Proxy; this is not the kind of storyline that ever makes itself clear with many important plot details requiring a little thought to reach the logical conclusion; it wont explicitly tell you the answer to many of the riddles repeated throughout the course of the series but for the attentive they are present and waiting to be put into their proper context. Naturally experience with the notion of a dystopian world such as this from other such films – the likes of Dark City, Blade Runner, and perhaps a sprinkling of Dune all spring to mind – will make the transition into this world far more painless as whilst many of the many facets for the directors philosophical ranting feels explored by others before, the manner they are seamlessly combined with devious and mysterious characters comes close to drawin...

Title: Iron Man II Rating: 3/5 Genre: Action Starring: Robert Downey Jr, Don Cheadle, Scarlett Johannson, Mickey Rourke Director: Jon Favreau “Sir, I'm gonna have to ask you to exit the donut.” Whilst everyone was raving about Dark Knight, I remember being far more impressed by Iron Man; the film that didn't meander pretending to be deeply dramatic or more intelligent than an action should be but instead cut through the crap to get to the fun parts, but with the sequel it feels as though they've tried to improve on the last by 'doing more.' What I'm essentially trying to subtly point out is that what they've done is put all the crap back in and stuffed it to the point of bursting, resulting in more than a few pacing issues that if not for the wealth of interest in the surrounding sub-plots could quickly become overtly tedious. Without spending too long on the synopsis, we quickly learn that Tony Stark (Downey) is being poisoned by the palladium in...

Title: Decadent Evil Rating: 1.5/5 Genre: Horror Starring: Debra Mayer, Phil Fondacaro Director: Charles Band Particularly after the the first part of my double-barrelled return to the world of reviewing, as you read this you may begin to wonder about the comparatively low score but this is a case where it is justified. I love a decent vampire flick as much as the next guy – in fact I probably like them too much – and this is anything if a bastardisation of the genre filled with sparkling pansies and ogrish women, but this mere fact alone does little to upgrade it from one of the lowest breeds of film. This is a film that didn't just miss the bullseye but damn near failed to hit the dartboard, and with an opening segment set in a strip club it wouldn't be too difficult to mistake this for a bad porno (if not for the acting which even Ron Jeremy would be ashamed of). The plot is hardly original; some woman decides to leave her coven in Eastern Europe for the land of opp...

Title: Gore Gore Girls Rating: 4/5 Genre: Horror (Comedy) Starring: Frank Kress, Amy Farrell Director: Herschell Gordon Lewis It is perhaps only a matter of time before the chief horror reviewer of this blog will change hands, myself taking the place of the regular horror hound as when work becomes slow, I find myself drifting towards the TV, and as luck would have it the horror channel happens to be amongst the few channels available at my fingertips. A channel devoted almost entirely to 70s and 80s horror; low budget extravaganza's filled with excessive violence and nudity, all wrapped in a delightfully low budget shell, and so whilst not always my genre of choice, you can be rest assured that there will be more to come. And there are possibly few better places to start than with this; the last of this notorious Horror directors work (until his return 30 years on with 'Blood Feast II') and be rest assured he wanted to retire with a bang. Following the story of a ...