shattering_glass47 Reviews

Re-cycle (2006)

A dull salad bowl that still needs more tomato.

[6/10 · 4 January 2011]

Recycle is about a female writer who faces weird occurrences ever since she started to writer a new book. She's also facing relationship problems with her ex-husband.

The reason I called this a salad bowl is because, as I watched the movie 'blind'(not knowing what exactly it is), I thought it's gonna be the typical girl-haunted-by-ghost horror movie. The first half of the movie is just painful to watch. If you watched horror movies, you know the typical drill. Weird shadows moving, sudden trumpet-loud noises, ghost appear behind the character, character turns and disappear. It's a freakin piously-text-book horror techniques.

The second half of the film made me happy since it was a lot better, with an interesting premise but the first painful half left quite a scar. By then, I thought I was watching The Fall or Narnia, a fantasy-riddle movie. The places and the music fits so very well with a fantasy movie. Now throw in the relationship part, the twist part- you got a salad bowl.

The premise of the movie is that all the unwanted, unfulfilled, abandoned, forgotten things are transported to a whole new spiritual world. It's a very exciting one to look at but some are horrible.

For example, the first place was some slums with zombies. Clichéd, dull and boring. The last place was just some rocky mountains with floating rocks, again, what is noteworthy here? I just didn't find any! The interesting places are the "tunnel", "bookland" "toyland","playground land" and "graveyard".

Sadly, for some of these places like bookland, playground and toyland, the characters just pass by them without developing and expanding more about the land. Who are the people there? What are the people doing with the books there? What's with the slums? The character while at the slums just look around, chased by zombies, moved on the next place. Running? Yes. Exposition? Explanation? Expanding? None.

Just one last thing...What's with the overkill of onions?? I mean zombies! It's the only thing chasing after the character. Is zombies all that's is abondened as we know? We abandoned models after they get old, we abandoned soldiers at war, we abandoned old people in the shelter, the homeless in the alley, the whores in the gutter, the average teenager who committed suicide, the crippled in their hospital bed. But what's chasing the characters 90% of the movie? Zom-bies.

Soo (2007)

An enjoyable movie if you focus on fights

[6/10 · 2 January 2011]

The fights are pretty much what I enjoyed in Soo. Raw, brutal fight using baseball bat, knives and metal pipes. This fights looks like they're not acting at all, it's a brawl out with chocking, eye-piercing, ducking, rolling, etc etc. Like Chaser, Bittersweet and Oldboy, I can only put the fight to be very realistic, imo.

The rest are just bad and close to decent. I didn't try to scrutinize the story when I realized the plot holes keep getting bigger and bigger, enabling me to enjoy the movie.

The revenge story is nothing new but the progress isn't noteworthy at all, not enjoyable really. Male lead is just bland as vanilla, female lead was given the ridiculous role of making advances to the male lead which she sees as a replacement. And the male lead just 'accepts' it, despite being seen as an image and not as himself. This scripted part just annoys me.

The ending is just terrible and confusing. despite being sliced up pretty badly, the hero still managed to walk away from the bloodbath. Why did the female lead started shooting? And all of the sudden she started weeping, as scripted as that can be.The movie didn't end beautifully or epicly, just at some dark dirty corner! Soo is a sadly mediocre compared to other revenge tales like Sympathy from Lady Vengeance, Oldboy, Bittersweet Life and Chaser. If you like a good fight though, go ahead!

Ink (I) (2009)

A Fantastic Fantasy Film

[10/10 · 31 May 2010]

At first when I heard of Ink, I didn't think much of it. It's something like a stone beside the road. After watching this, I was mesmerized by the amazing visual, great action, top-notch acting and costumes, etc etc.

The starting scene between the father and daughter was strong and emotional, seeing a mature person, all grown, married and old being told to role-play for his daughter.

The action scene does not disappoint. It's mostly fist-fights with blunt weapons, but vigorous and action-packed.

The costume of the incubus i.e. the bad guys was amazing. Creepy and evil.

The whole story leave the audience clueless, but the pieces of the puzzles falls in their places. It's a warm-hearted story, sad to an extent. The twist ending exploits time-traveling cliché, but imo, the twist isn't the main supporting column for the plot.

Overall, Ink is a great fantasy flick, on par with Pan's labyrinth, The Fall and Mirrormask(which seems like a sister to Ink). Watch this and spread the word.

The Perfect Sleep (2009)

It's a fun film to watch.

[10/10 · 8 May 2010]

I'm not "Noir expert", just a movie-goer who watches and enjoy.

The film with its dark atmosphere is heavy on narrative, I found it like-able thanks to the good voice-over and witty lines. The tone can be condescending sometimes, whether it interrupts your joy depends if you can take it.

There's also plenty of stylish moments. The film isn't straightforward,scenes are cut here and there, there's flashbacks in metaphorical ways. But there's good flow, the movie doesn't change the picture every 1 seconds, no annoying constant cuts. The soundtrack is spot-on. The setting is so-so, but one of the mansion shown has a pleasant, vintage architecture.

I find the narrator aka mad monk like-able, but not the female protagonist(it's her looks...). The narrator tends to be witty often. There's other interesting characters like a kung-fu captain and an eccentric killer doctor, who often quote Hamlet's words: If it be now, tis not to come. If it be not to come, it will be now. "If it be not now, yet it will come. Good sirs, the readiness is all." The story centers around 3 orphans. The story isn't groundbreaking and there's weak plot structure (again, don't take the story seriously, enjoy the ride). While there's action involving gunfights, hand to hand combat, it's not occurring every second. It's enjoyable although it occurs quickly. The dialogs aren't dumb, for lack of better words. It's smart and witty, sometimes eccentric(see killer doctor). Although it can seem... superfluous.

Overall, witty script, stylish presentation and likable characters.

Tamami: The Baby's Curse (2008)

Terrible and Cheesy!

[4/10 · 27 March 2010]

Tamami starts out good. Creepy, slow, mysterious. A common yet potent ingredient for an Asian horror movie. The heroin was a beauty and one character, the old day act brilliantly as a creepy, serious...old lady, duh. The movie features an amazing eerie soundtrack, but that's as far as the praises go.

The acting is terrible. Sometimes the actors go with the over-the-top shouting, syllable by syllable. Unnecessary and cheesy.

The plot is usual B-grade horror movie. We have a mutant baby (Tamami), why it's mutant was never told. Why it's evil, also - no, it's not evil. Just misunderstood, as the baby's mother say, "She's just a baby." Any of you remember how many people you killed while you're a baby, with elaborated vine traps and stuffing your victims in inconspicuous places?? The movie tries too hard. It starts as typical Asian horror and ends as an incredibly cheesy Western B-grade horror.

The villain is just BAD, cheesy bad which the cheese has gone rotten and filled with maggots. At first, you don't see the baby's face. Sometimes glimpses. Then, you're treated to the whole thing via CGI which was ridiculous as the heroin and villain duke it out, girly style. The villain is the most ridiculous looking thing in the movie, annd it's in title! Avoid this movie.

Shattered Lives (2009 Video)

A grim story of a family gone FUBAR

[7/10 · 28 December 2009]

You can't spell Shattered Lives with hate , hatred , shatter , sad , and lie . These words , slowly emerging during the opening , pretty much sums up this movie(maybe abit) . The movie opens with blood and gore , making you ax , why ? SL is a mix movie , drama-horror . It has a low-budget feel to it based on my instincts . Not horror-drama , drama is emphasized . It tells of a family gone wrong in two stages , from the main character perspective . When she's young and when she's older(teen) .

Let's start from young . You have a little girl in soon-to-be troubled family . She's a cute little thing and delivers good performance . There will be some horror aspect in terms of demon clowns . They are creepy , scary , and their dialogues are flowery . Then we have the father and mother , average acting . It doesn't take very long for everything to spiral into oblivion ( due to lies) , so the pacing isn't so bad except some family-talks(boring imo) . Silence is well-used to create a depressing atmosphere , you can feel the tension .

The 2nd stage , MC gets older . This 2nd half didn't seem pretty good , maybe due to lack of demon clowns . Tho they do appear .The story wasn't quite strong in this one . This part is allocated from revenge(hatred) . From there , the opening of the movie will make sense .

At the end , you will be served with a grim ending , where everything pretty much shatters apart .

An enjoyable drama mixed with horror movie , an above-average movie .

Martyrs (2008)

Tedious , boring , unsympathetic , repulsive

[1/10 · 28 December 2009]

Before I watched Martyrs , I was in an extremely good mood . I finished Cemetery Man and pick this movie , praised highly but I approached with prejudice as IMDb reviewers had let me down before(No Country for old men) . And they did it again .

The movie left me disappointed and mad to the point I registered on IMDb just to write this review . Truly this movie was worthy of its praises ! The movie starts off good , with average amount of horror , blood and action . It was exciting and the rescue of a *tortured survivor* was a nice touch . It was good seeing Anna , the MC care for the survivor but things went FUBAR . The survivor dies , the 2nd MC dies . After that , everything is predictable . You'll know what happens to MC but what you won't know is how tedious the movie gets .

2nd half kicks in and you'll be treated with torture scenes . Not violent , I watched Hostel and Cannibal Holoucast . Martyrs aren't that violent . But these scenes are long-winded , repetitive , they become tedious and boring . Suddenly you felt , what's the point ? Just stop ! Certain quarters believe that all this is to instil hope , by the viewer , towards the MC(anna) . Yet the MC was unsympathetic , little background and backstory . She was just another teen trapped in horror movie .

Quantity over quality , equals large dropped in entertainment and good amount of boringness . The torture scenes shouldn't have been that long , time should be allocated for more character development .

Repulsive ? Because the movie simply glorifies torture . Torture will free you , give you the sight of afterlife . The messages are obvious in the torture scenes . I'm not a masochist , so the scenes simply becomes repulsive . I fast forwaded the slapping and punching scenes , but never did that in Cannibal Holoucast because they didn't glorify torture in terms of religion and spiritual .

At the end , the ending was left ambiguous . The film had a weak story , it's basically women tortured by group consist of elites so that the women reached a point of insanity and see a vision of afterlife . The blame falls on the writer..yes ? Not , not if you provide an ambiguous ending . Viewers will have to form an interpretation , and thus the blame shifts to the viewers , dividing the audience into 2 . Those who dislike simply because they saw the core of this hollow trash . Those who like it because the ambiguous plot becomes a cotton wool that blinds their judgment .

Indubitably , the ambiguity was a nice touch but when you see past that , the movie was terrible and disappointing . The high ratings of this movie unveils more masks , showing how viewers are easily swayed by ambiguous plot . Or is it because of the glorified torture ? coming from a movie said to be of *new era* *highly philosophical* *disturbing* ... Utterly repulsive . What has our society become ?