Monday, February 13, 2006

A Damn Good Kung Fu Fighting Crook

January 27, 2006

I got to watch two very different, but very entertaining movies.

Volcano High
Or Whasango, is a Korean film that is set in an alternate world where the people are Korean, the culture is modern Japanese, and the writing system is in Chinese. Here, people have super powers and students have managed to take over the schools, which means pandemonium all around. And since I’m too lazy to go into film critic mode, I’m just going to say that watching the movie is like watching anime -- complete with clichés like gang rivalry, torpe main characters who turn out to be “the one” and strange hairstyles – but with real people.

The movie was very well made. They got everything just right. Excellent casting -- everyone, even the extras, acted in that over the top way associated with anime, making it funny, not corny. The production design was wonderful. They created a world that was strange yet familiar. It reminded me of Brazil, but not as freaky. The plot is nothing spectacular, but you kind forget about it amidst all the insanity. I wish there were more fight scenes, though, but then, there are a lot of things I wished for after watching Whasango. Like supernatural powers. Or a membership in the kendo club. Or really good tea.

Volcano high rocks, for reals!

Temptation Island

Have finally gotten to see Joey Gosiengfiao’s camp classic. No more will I be in the dark when people make obscure comments about damn good crooks and double bitches. It makes me wonder what happened to the cast, though. Of all of them, I think only Dina Bonnevie is the only one still in showbiz. It makes me wonder why we weren’t shown this in film school. But then, we weren’t shown any of Eddie Romero’s B movies in film school either.

3 comments:

Luis K. said...

Apparently there's a butchered, Americanized version of Whasango, from the people at MTV -- with Snoop Dogg, Li'l Jon, etc., doing the voices! It almost sounds interesting, but all the reviews indicate that it really, really sucks. "Where martial arts and hip-hop collide," indeed. ;p

Luis K. said...

Checked out the imdb page for Temptation Island -- not much info, but clicking on the individual links for cast members reveals that for most of the actresses involved, this was their last (or second-to-the-last) film. Just goes to show that consuming human flesh doesn't pay, unless you're Dina Bonnevie.

Siddharth Razdan said...

Oh! Good!