Back in the early Aughts, I came across a Japanese movie in a video store dollar bin called ADRENALINE DRIVE. It turned out to be a peculiar comedy/romance/yakuza thriller and become a brief staple of past movie nights. I recently watched it again, and was surprised at how well it held up. I was curious to see what that film's director-- Shinobu Yaguchi-- had been up to since then, and eventually ended up with a copy of the oddly named…
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The Emoji Movie 2017
Day TWO of the EMOJI MOVIE EXPERIENCE. Today's focus: This Movie's 3D is Bullshit and It Has A Secret Satanic Plotline
But first, you may notice half a star added to the rating of this movie. I should come clean. I went with the flow of the crowd that says this movie should be terrible. It really isn't. It's at least base-line competently made. It has the occasional laughable moment. It has sins and offenses, but they're pretty much the…
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Mickey 17 2025
- Love Bong Joon Ho's willingness to go silly, but a lot of this didn't hit for me.
- Not saying Steve Yuen with a moustache looks like an scumbag, but Steve Yeun with that moustache is a perfect scumbag.
- Envy that South Korean view that you can prosecute tyrants with due process.
- Macarons are not a sin.Comedy 52x25: 2/53
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O.C. and Stiggs 1987
Hearing about this, I was really curious how Robert Altman would handle an 80s teen comedy. Honestly, it seems like the genre is almost an afterthought for him. The focus is more on satirizing conservative American values and consumerism than teenage hijinx. Sprinkle in some BREWSTER McCLOUD/M*A*S*H*-level absurdism.
It's mostly fun, though some dated homophobic/racist humor makes watching this a bummer at times. Extra frustrating is that the filmmakers bring in this bigotry to show how terrible certain characters are, but still peddle in these stereotypes for laughs.
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Ito 2021
I feel like most movies of this type would focus on one, maybe two hooks, while this juggles three -- maid cafes, sishamen playing, characters speaking in the Tsugaru dialect. In the case of the latter, it was interesting to see how translators tried to convey this nuance that would fly over the head of non-native speakers.
It's quite heartening to see Ren Komai find her groove throughout this, as well as shred in the finale, but also to see the community that builds up around the cafe.
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Yatterman 2009
Miike combining cloying children's entertainment and being horny on main. It's certainly my jam, though I'm wondering which demographic that cocktail's being served up to.
KAMIKAZE GIRLS' Kyoko Fukada gets to play a leather-clad baddy and we get the closest thing to live action Wario and Waluigi. It gets weighed down by its pacing unfortunately, but it's still a helluva ride.
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