Category Archives: review

Waterboys

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Next Mini-Review: “Waterboys”, the Japanese film about a male high-school synchronised swimming team. It is essentially an entirely predictable goofball comedy with a (for western tastes) slightly skewed sense of humour. I needed the first half of the film to get used to this sort of humour and up until that point was quite unsure whether I would like the film or not, but after that point turned out to be very good fun and had me laughing out loud plenty of times. Props to the actors who have put an awful lot of work into their final performance (as can be witnessed in the “Making Of”). Should be taken with a pinch of salt as the humour will not be everyone’s cup of tea (salt and tea? yuck!), otherwise very enjoyable.
The quality of the (again anamorphic) Korean 2-disc release is very good but as always only the main feature is subtitled, included audio tracks are Dolby 5.1 and 2.0

Hero

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Mini-Review of “Hero”, directed by Zhang Yimou: Very, very impressive. Incredible scenery, nicely choreographed fights, intensive colours and quite surprisingly a touching dilemma on many levels. I’ve heard many people think it’s “too much like ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon'”, but I strongly disagree with that statement; although there are undeniable similarities (e.g. Zhang Ziyi and similar music by Tan Dun). Not for people in a hurry, otherwise well recommended!
The (anamorphic) picture of the 2-disc Hong Kong (Region 3) release is awesome (and it needs to be to fully appreciate the awesome cinematography), available audio tracks consist of DTS and Dolby 5.1 (add the EX-suffix if you believe in marketing); the English subtitles are good and well-timed, although the translated names take a minute of getting used to.

Ping Pong IS Table Tennis

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The Japanese DVD release of “Ping Pong” has (in addition to English subtitles for the main film) a music only audio-track which saved me from buying the soundtrack. The second disc with extras is not subtitled but nevertheless quite interesting (side-stories, special effects, table-tennis background, …). It is also anamorphic. Well worth it!

Projects? Phhht!

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In spite of my last CTM project (Computing Techniques & Modelling), I watched the Japanese live-action film “Ping Pong” yesterday and it is very good. On the surface it is about a high-school table-tennis club, but in reality it is more about the friendship of two unequal members of the club. The actual table-tennis is good (and looks real) but the focus is not on the matches but on the players, which works really well (although I wanted Mr. Tsukimoto to win in the end). The main-characters are believable and well-acted, which cannot be said for some of the supporting cast; but it never drags down the movie. The soundtrack consists of ambient-techno (most of which is by “Supercar”) which works surprisingly well. The R3-release unfortunately is not anamorphic but otherwise looks flawless w/ a high bit-rate and good english subs…

2^6 Episodes of Go

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Actually watched “Hikaru no Go” up to episode 64 (from scratch) and I must say I very much enjoyed it. The middle arc with the pro-exams was a bit long and arduous, but they always managed to surprise me and the last batch of epsiodes (45+) was very good and daring in many ways… Can’t wait to see how it goes on! Although I still (think) I prefer “Hajime no Ippo” as it is for a slightly more mature audience (but I’ve seen much less of it); but “Hikaru no Go” gets more mature as well as you see characters aging, progress and change.

Shivers of Joy

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My copy of Yoko Kanno’s “Ghost in the Shell – Stand Alone Complex O.S.T.” arrived, and it is too good to be true… 😉
It contains whole range of styles, one track in particular owes a lot to Björk’s “Hyperballad”, but they all stand very well on their own. The 2nd part of Track 12 – “Silent Cruise” is my absolute favourite though; it mixes strings from the Warsaw Symphony Orchestra with electronic sounds and beats. It’s so good I get a shiver down my spine everytime I listen to it… <sigh>
There are quite a few tracks with English lyrics (even printed in English in the booklet) which are dangerously catchy, so you’ll have to be careful not to get caught singing nonsense-lyrics… 😉
Absolutely recommended!