Jjakpae aka The City of Violence (Seung-wan Ryoo, 2006)

Somehow classic story about broken friendship and betrayed loyalty told in action style. Although is sounds familiar it doesn't really tries to copy John Woo and has its own aesthetic and fight choreography.

6/10

Tae-poong aka Typhoon (Kyung-Taek Kwak, 2005)

Good action/drama flick about modern terrorists in Korea. Maybe a bit too long but not boring at all since there's lots of shit going on.

Liked a gloomy dark atmosphere and the fact that main characters are not stereotyped. The whole cast did a good job, especially actress who played bad guy's elder sister was impressive.

6/10

Tourist Trap (David Schmoeller, 1979)

Nice old-skool slasher, it falls into "mad scientist" category.

It's a bit above average because of its dark atmosphere and good suspense but could certainly use a bit more gruesome killings.

But in any case, it was nice to see Tanya Roberts running around in her short jeans for one hour. What a babe she was!

5/10

Alien 3 (David Fincher, 1992)

By far the best one of the sequels and – I know it’s a blasphemy – in some ways even better than original one! It has that old and gritty and warned-out feeling that first one captured so well and we all love (fuck that high techno CGI Cameron’s action shit!). It gets even better with claustrophobic shots of shafts and corridors chases with creature’s POV camera works.

It does start a bit slowly but we are rewarded for our waiting with the best scene of the movie. It’s at the funeral when Dillon is giving “ashes to ashes” speech and simultaneously alien rips apart that poor dog. It’s simply brilliant and it reminded me somehow about ending of the first Godfather.

Then it turns into action/slasher and most of the killings are great and gory enough, especially for high budget Hollywood blockbuster. First massacre is my favorite following by sneaky dispatching of Pete Postlethwaite. He didn’t see it coming at all!

Action is masterfully intertwined with Ripley’s “motherhood” story and this gives movie really cool tone. One of the convicts has a remark about her not being married and having children and – voila – next thing you know she carries an embryo. I wonder if pro-life fanatics would change their attitude after seeing this masterpiece. Or maybe not – she does end up in the lake of fire, doesn’t she? In any case - that "close up" of Ripley and alien is gotta be one of the coolest shots in the film history!

So good to see it after a while, cannot believe it’s been 20 years already. It hasn’t aged a bit, it’s still flawless! 

And such a shame about David Fincher - after this one he made one more masterpiece in Se7en and then sadly disappeared from my radar.

9/10

Himizu (Shion Sono, 2011)

Cold Fish and Guilty of Romance were among my last year’s favorite movies and I was really looking forward to seeing his new one. This is not as crazy as hate trilogy (nothing really is) but it is still quality.

It's centered around this kid who is left by his parents and spends his time in some cottage on the shore surrounded by other people left homeless after that tsunami disaster. His friend Keiko who comes from even more fucked up home falls in love with him and tries to help him out but he keep rejecting her.

Main theme (I think) is problem of future-less youth in Japan. It's told in Shion Sono's signature way with lots of violence, screaming, arty camera work and occasional undecipherable dialogues.

Will probably see it again when it comes out on DVD.

7/10

Killer Joe (William Friedkin, 2011)

Ok, Friedkin's most well known movies are French Connection and Exorcist but my favorite one was To Live and Die in LA. Total masterpiece and 3rd on my all-time police corruption list, after Gangsters and Police.

That was until I saw this nasty masterpiece. It is of course movie of the year, there's no question about it. I cannot see it possible that anytime soon something as good as this will come out. Btw - last time I've said that and needed to correct myself was in 1995 after seeing Se7en and shortly after seeing Ususal Suspects. But I'm digressing again. Let's finally go to Joe.

It's main theme is violence. And not in arty-farty way of some psychological inner struggles or shit like that. It is simply aggressive and violent and dirty movie that I think doesn't even try to entertain. But amazingly is not exploitative (not for the most part anyways) and Friedkin uses violence just as another tool for driving the story. Good example of this are both killings which are not even shown. Which btw once again proves that images can be more horrifying if they are left to viewer to imagine and interpret. Skillful director certainly doesn't need gallons of CGI-ed blood... Pure fucking Violence is also used for finally establishing Joe as total psychopath. McConaughey was great through entire film but didn't really cross that final line of insanity. So when KFC box was opened we knew he was a real deal.

Basically just everything works here, from the story to the direction and the cast. Juno Temple as Dottie is certainly discovery and it was great to see Gina Gershon again. Fell in love with her when I saw her in  Bound.

Required multiple viewing, can't wait to get it on DVD with hopefully Friedkin's commnetary.

10/10

Alex Higgins - The Peoples Champion

Pretty standard, talking heads type BBC documentary about enfant terrible of snooker. If you're fan of the game, you have probably already seen it. Otherwise I encourage you to check it out because guy was really and truly insane.

And make sure you have few cans of Guinness in the fridge!

6/10