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I watch on average more than 2 movies a day. I consume movies, with a strong focus on foreign fares (mostly Asian) and off-beat oddities. I built this site to keep track of my DVD collection, write reviews, maintain a blog where i write weekly about the US Box office numbers and various movie-related news, keep track of every movie i watch, collect DVD covers and set-up virtual shelves and so on. RatingMovies.ComŽ was born and grew from there.
I made all those sophisticated tools available to anybody so you can do all of this too. This is a site for film and DVD enthusiasts (i.e. freaks) where you can build your own communities, with your very own movie and dvd lists, reviews, blogs and RSS feed, mailing lists, a home page like this one, and even keep track of movies your friends borrowed from you.
2011.09.09 - What Does Horror Mean To You? at Brutal As Hell
I am starting to write this article right after I just finished watching Dario Argento?s Stendhal Syndrome for the third time in about two years. I am fascinated by it because it is likely Argento?s last good/great film (Dracula 3D doesn?t look very promising so far), and because surprisingly, what disturbs me the most is the brutality of the film and that Dario put his own daughter Asia at the center of it. Talk about a Freudian setup. Additionally, the movie is gorgeous. Yes, its use of digital effects is very crude, even for the time, but the film is otherwise very polished in the greatest Argento tradition. I appreciate that. I also appreciate Asia greatly....
2011.08.25 - Not Quite Hollywood review at Brutal As Hell
Documentaries about films are a tricky affair. Either they have to be about an incredible film, or the documentary itself has to be cool and uncover little known nuggets about a cult classic, or they have to paint an epic movement and give you tons of information, references, and cool interviews. Not Quite Hollywood is of the latter kind, but unlike the recent American Grindhouse, it manages to pile on so much energy, laughs, outrageous interviews and cool film bits...
I have three kids, three boys who are 11, 8 and 2. To be frank, it?s a strange feeling. I deeply love them, but on a regular basis, I am overwhelmed with fantasies of throwing them out the window to get rid of them plain and simple. Kids forever change your life so that at the most visceral level, your life is no longer yours...
I remember having a conversation one day with a friend i was "educating" in Asian cinema, and giving him a few films, including Hong-Kong, Macau, Mainland and Taiwan. He laughed at the fact that i was making a distinction for something that to him was just "Chinese" films. However, each of those "Chinese" regions have a distinct coloration that permeates their film industry. In the span of a few months, i have seen five really outstanding Taiwanese films. I must admit i have a weakness for films coming from Taiwan: they have a very artsy European feel in terms of the subject matters they touch, their slower pace, and their more contemplative nature. In that respect, they break away from the rest of Asia, although independent South Korean fares come close.
So here, i am going to cover those 5 films briefly: Prince Of Tears, How Are You Dad?, Hear Me, Tears, and Yang Yang. They are all from 2009, a prolific year for Taiwan, and cover epic historical landscapes, intimate personal relationships, quirky romances, and destructive obsessions.
Prince Of Tears (2009) is a fantastic film from renowned director Yonfan. With a large body of work focusing mostly on small independent films with gays and lesbians often at the center, Yonfan this time produced a stunning glossy piece of high Art. Lush and ornate, every single frame in the film will have you go "Wow!". Costumes, sets, art direction, cinematography are all simply stunning. The grand scale of the production is only matched by the grand scale of a troubling period of history the film portrays. The White Terror in Taiwan was traumatizing for the country, and wasn't officially acknowledged and condemned till 1995. In short, after a devastating government-led massacre of 10's of thousands in 1947, the government declared Martial Law and thousands of people continued to simply disappeared, be imprisoned, and/or executed for decades to follow, under suspicion of being Communists. "Thousands" may not feel like much, but at the time, you have to understand that adjusted for population, it's as if McCarthism in the US had resulted in over 400,000 violent political assassinations! And i am using lower-bound estimates from what i could gather.
In this film, we follow a love triangle that gets caught into this political nightmare, with disastrous consequences. The film's scale is epic, but the story focuses on a few characters and their relationships with one another, giving that period in history a very human and personal face. The film is unnerving as it under its gorgeous looks, it displays some of the most horrible human emotions and mob behaviors, misplaced ideas of national honor and counter-revolutionary impulses that are at least as detestable as the revolutionary impulses that were happening on the mainland right about the same time. This film could have fallen into so many traps, and maybe it did as i must admit i am no expert in the matter, but at least in broad strokes, around themes that anyone can relate to, the film did not fall into glorifying Communists in some way, or Mao's mainland government. This is not a left-wing statement about how the Reactionaries are worse than the Revolutionaries, or something to that effect. This is not Steven Soderbergh's Che. Instead, the film focuses on the mechanics of any such horrible political climates, the bribes, the influences, and the inexorable march of time that swallows inconsiderately the helpless, no matter which side those horrors happen on.
I remember having a conversation one day with a friend i was "educating" in Asian cinema, and giving him a few films, including Hong-Kong, Macau, Mainland and Taiwan. He laughed at the fact that i was making a distinction for something that to him was just "Chinese" films. However, each of those "Chinese" regions have a distinct coloration that permeates their film industry. In the span of a few months, i have seen five really outstanding Taiwanese films. I must admit i have a weakness for films coming from Taiwan: they have a very artsy European feel in terms of the subject matters they touch, their slower pace, and their more contemplative nature. In that respect, they break away from the rest of Asia, although independent South Korean fares come close.
So here, i am going to cover those 5 films briefly: Prince Of Tears, How Are You Dad?, Hear Me, Tears, and Yang Yang. They are all from 2009, a prolific year for Taiwan, and cover epic historical landscapes, intimate personal relationships, quirky romances, and destructive obsessions.
Tears (2009) had me stumped for a minute as it started with a moody crime that could have taken place in a Hong Kong gangster film. Quickly though, the film got back into Taiwanese territory with a more contemplative character study of an older detective trying to find redemption after getting assigned to a young woman's murder. Known around the Police force as a merciless interrogator who has honed very violent and effective methods of interrogation, the man is a ball of violence that has turned into contempt and indifference as he aged. But that one case, that one corpse of a beautiful young woman, has an indelible effect on him. This is likely one of his last cases, and as his investigation progresses, he meets several of the girl's friends, including a young woman whose father he helped frame many years back.
This is a fascinating movie with powerful performances anchoring a dramatic story put together with very cool visuals and creative cinematography and sound design. The finale is particularly well put together and powerful. This is a cop story that is classic Hong Kong, yet with a sensibility and pace that is again so typically Taiwanese. Highly recommended, and perhaps one of the better films of 2009 worldwide.
I remember having a conversation one day with a friend i was "educating" in Asian cinema, and giving him a few films, including Hong-Kong, Macau, Mainland and Taiwan. He laughed at the fact that i was making a distinction for something that to him was just "Chinese" films. However, each of those "Chinese" regions have a distinct coloration that permeates their film industry. In the span of a few months, i have seen five really outstanding Taiwanese films. I must admit i have a weakness for films coming from Taiwan: they have a very artsy European feel in terms of the subject matters they touch, their slower pace, and their more contemplative nature. In that respect, they break away from the rest of Asia, although independent South Korean fares come close.
So here, i am going to cover those 5 films briefly: Prince Of Tears, How Are You Dad?, Hear Me, Tears, and Yang Yang. They are all from 2009, a prolific year for Taiwan, and cover epic historical landscapes, intimate personal relationships, quirky romances, and destructive obsessions.
Hear Me (2009) is a romantic comedy that should make you simply happy. It's quirky, sweet, and innocent in a way that American romantic comedies no longer are. The story follows a handsome hard working delivery boy who falls in love with a cute deaf girl whose sister is preparing for a big Swimming competition. Although the film follows a pretty traditional structure (happy, sad, happy again), it is done with a distinct Asian sensibility of falling in love and just holding hands, meeting parents who are all so supportive and so on.
This is a simple film, with great performances, that will make you smile. Is there anything groundbreaking there? No. But the chemistry between the two leads, and all the little things that happen to them is just so well woven together. At the end of the day, that's the strength of this film, and sometimes, you just want to sit, relax, and watch something genuinely sweet and nice. This film delivers just that.
I remember having a conversation one day with a friend i was "educating" in Asian cinema, and giving him a few films, including Hong-Kong, Macau, Mainland and Taiwan. He laughed at the fact that i was making a distinction for something that to him was just "Chinese" films. However, each of those "Chinese" regions have a distinct coloration that permeates their film industry. In the span of a few months, i have seen five really outstanding Taiwanese films. I must admit i have a weakness for films coming from Taiwan: they have a very artsy European feel in terms of the subject matters they touch, their slower pace, and their more contemplative nature. In that respect, they break away from the rest of Asia, although independent South Korean fares come close.
So here, i am going to cover those 5 films briefly: Prince Of Tears, How Are You Dad?, Hear Me, Tears, and Yang Yang. They are all from 2009, a prolific year for Taiwan, and cover epic historical landscapes, intimate personal relationships, quirky romances, and destructive obsessions.
How Are You Dad? (2009) is an anthology of 10 short stories about dads. Some are poignant, some are cute and funny, some are contemplative and philosophical. I think anyone watching this film will find at least one story that will touch them. I did. I mean, who doesn't have a strong, even if difficult, relationship with their parents, and i feel that father stories are pretty rare. When one is done, and done well, it's a pleasure. This is a fun film to watch, that epitomizes the definition of bitter-sweet. The cast is generally very competent, and the production value varies greatly from piece to piece. A few are marvelously creative visually speaking, while others are fairly plain video shoots.
I wish i had more to write about this, but going into each of the shorts is not really practical, and given that they are each about 10 minutes, they focus on one angle of a relationship, or one emotion, or a particularly simple event that binds. There are definitely a few gems here, and i highly recommend it. To note, this is not a family movie though as some subject matter are pretty intense.
I remember having a conversation one day with a friend i was "educating" in Asian cinema, and giving him a few films, including Hong-Kong, Macau, Mainland and Taiwan. He laughed at the fact that i was making a distinction for something that to him was just "Chinese" films. However, each of those "Chinese" regions have a distinct coloration that permeates their film industry. In the span of a few months, i have seen five really outstanding Taiwanese films. I must admit i have a weakness for films coming from Taiwan: they have a very artsy European feel in terms of the subject matters they touch, their slower pace, and their more contemplative nature. In that respect, they break away from the rest of Asia, although independent South Korean fares come close.
So here, i am going to cover those 5 films briefly: Prince Of Tears, How Are You Dad?, Hear Me, Tears, and Yang Yang. They are all from 2009, a prolific year for Taiwan, and cover epic historical landscapes, intimate personal relationships, quirky romances, and destructive obsessions.
Yang Yang (2009) is prototypical small-scale Taiwanese film, and, talking about French cinema earlier, makes that connection very palatable. Yang Yang, the titular character is a young aspiring actress of mixed origins. From a French father she never met and a Chinese mother, she exerts a fascination for the crowd of independent filmmakers she encounters. Although she doesn't speak a word of French, the roles she keeps on being proposed are for obscure semi-pompous independent films that cast her as a tortuous French woman. The film follows her daily life, her ups and downs, her friends and foes, and the crazy directors she encounters, all the while her mother is finally about to get remarried with a man who is an accomplished coach, with an accomplished track athlete as a daughter.
This is a subdued film, with long pauses of contemplative cinematography around its characters, with little or no dialogue. The camera lingers around and captures what's going on with a natural grace. The acting is very realistic and Sandrine Pinna in the main role is simply fantastic in portraying the vulnerability of the character, caught up in her dream to act in spite of the psychological abuse she undergoes under tyrannical and sometimes incompetent directors and staff. Her performance is really the backbone of this film.
On the minus side, the film is at times pretty chaotic, often going into subplots that lead to nowhere, or editing that seems just plain strange. But maybe those are part of the charms of such a film, that is completely artsy-feely. If those bore you, don't even bother here. The Taiwanese style of film making will simply exacerbate everything you dislike about the genre.
This is a film about films, taking you across the land of Taiwanese independent filmmaking, which, unsurprisingly, is no different from anywhere else in many ways. The same issues about money, schedules, and incompetent bums who think they are hot shit, abound in Yang Yang's daily life. Her rare trait makes her attractive for the industry, and one hopes it will bring her a big break one day in spite of her own issues that seem to always get in the way.
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