Downtown Khazan: Ice Cold Utopia

[bruceleegreyhulk]

[Len Ikari145]

[bruceleegreyhulk]

I watched two episodes of Ninja Kamui. It's seriously awesome.

[Dark Soul # 7]

spoilers:

Is it wrong that I think Deku and Shigaraki should've shared memories earlier? IMO, it would've made his desire to save Shigaraki make more sense and on Shigaraki's side, it could've helped destabalize AFO from the inside. Granted I'm not sure how that would've happened other than maybe their clash at the previous war but I think that would've been some better buildup if Deku had seen how hard Little Tenko had it in his past, reinforcing his desire to save him now that he understands him. What do you guys think?

end of spoilers

spoilers:

While I do see the merit in that approach, and acknowledge that the setup for this and a few other scenarios in this arc could've been improved. I quite like how this was built up to. Deku's struggle with Shigaraki from the previous war is that he doesn't understand him. During that conflict he saw Shigaraki the way everybody else sees him. A monster who is out to kill and destroy because there's nothing in his heart but hatred for the world. Then they had a fight in their inner worlds. Deku saw how AFO treated Shigaraki and that deep within that hate-fuelled monster there was a crying little boy. And just like that Deku's instinct to save kicked in. But he still didn't know the details about what Shigaraki had gone through. He still didn't understand what brought Shigaraki to this point. He saw the monster and the crying child and wanted to understand what happened. That's why he went out to gain a better understanding of villains during his "vigilante" phase. So while I can see the benefits of the memory sharing being used earlier. I like how things have been built up to this point. And I equally excited to see how Shigaraki reacts to Deku's memories.

end of spoilers

[bruceleegreyhulk]

Ninja Kamui is like Ninja Scroll meets John Wick in the best way possible.

[Len Ikari145]

Ninja Kamui is like Ninja Scroll meets John Wick in the best way possible.

It also has visible MGS aesthetics.

[Len Ikari145]

Ah Cutman; The Waspinator of Ruby Spears Megaman.

[bruceleegreyhulk]

[Postmania]

Watched the Legend of the Shadowless Sword (2005) that ends with this fun little climactic (12 minute) scene tonight. Gives a pretty broad view of the movie, but tbh the promise in scenes like this is almost always better than the execution overall. Very much a movie that's carried forward by the concepts instead of actually doing the work to make them strong.



Still, it has some neat (in terms of dramatic style, not so much other aspects) fights when it focuses on it

[Sharpandpointies]

Watched the Legend of the Shadowless Sword (2005) that ends with this fun little climactic (12 minute) scene tonight. Gives a pretty broad view of the movie, but tbh the promise in scenes like this is almost always better than the execution overall. Very much a movie that's carried forward by the concepts instead of actually doing the work to make them strong.



Still, it has some neat (in terms of dramatic style, not so much other aspects) fights when it focuses on it

Korean martial art movies are always fun. All of the wushu stuff, four times the blood and death.

But yeah, the execution of this one is...not great. I mean, it's 2005, Korean stuff has improved immensely since then, but even for 2005? I remember movies much better than this one back then. Musa the Warrior, for example, was done in 2001, and while they didn't attempt the wirework and qi stuff in that - was more 'realistic' - the fights were an order of magnitude better.

Things I did like:

1. As you say, the dramatic style was good. Stuff that happened in the fights, how the central character wins, all of that? Good stuff. Badly done, sadly.
2. Costumes and equipment. One thing I DO like about Korean stuff - as opposed to a lot of older (not so much the newer, this has improved a lot) martial art movies from other countries - is that the weapons look REAL. Heavy, steel stuff. And the costumes are really nice.
3. Extremely powerful woman character. Okay, this is awesome, because normally in Korean movies/TV the women are pretty useless. Even when they fight, they're less-strong and less-important in the fights. One of my favourites - Alchemy of Souls - sets up the central woman character to be this unstoppable juggernaut of an assassin, then immediately nerfs her for the rest of the series by stuffing her soul into a normal, untrained body. Low point in an otherwise great show.

But here, the character is clearly stronger than everyone. I mean, sure, they have the male lead win the fight. But before that, the woman is kicking the main villain's ass after he demonstrates himself to be ridiculously powerful. She utterly crushes the antagonist woman, and cuts up the main villain while sustaining no injuries, the main villain looking pretty perturbed about that. This, while poisoned. And the only reason she gets hurt to the point where the male lead needs to win the fight (against an already-injured main villain, thanks to her) is that the antagonist woman character sacrifices herself to allow the main villain to get a big shot in. Also the poison.

Honestly, quite shocking and refreshing to see in a Korean fighting movie.

Arahan did this kind of okay as well. Sure, the male lead is more powerful than the woman (usual 'chosen one' BS), but she's his teacher and the only reason the villain loses in the end is because they fight him together.

...Arahan is also a classic example of 'Korea does not care about Western ideas of genre, they do their thing.' It goes from what is apparently a martial arts comedy to a dead-serious, murderous drama. Par for the course for Korean entertainment, where a TV show that is billed as 'rom-com' by Westerners has a serial killer (complete with gruesome, explicit killing) or some kind of other horrifying thing pop up in the middle of it and be an important part of the overarching plot.

[Postmania]

Korean martial art movies are always fun. All of the wushu stuff, four times the blood and death.

But yeah, the execution of this one is...not great. I mean, it's 2005, Korean stuff has improved immensely since then, but even for 2005? I remember movies much better than this one back then. Musa the Warrior, for example, was done in 2001, and while they didn't attempt the wirework and qi stuff in that - was more 'realistic' - the fights were an order of magnitude better.

For sure. I do like some of the things that happen in the fights but overall is a bit muddled because of too many cuts and such. Haven't heard of Musa, will have to put that on the list.

Things I did like:

1. As you say, the dramatic style was good. Stuff that happened in the fights, how the central character wins, all of that? Good stuff. Badly done, sadly.
3. Extremely powerful woman character. Okay, this is awesome, because normally in Korean movies/TV the women are pretty useless. Even when they fight, they're less-strong and less-important in the fights. One of my favourites - Alchemy of Souls - sets up the central woman character to be this unstoppable juggernaut of an assassin, then immediately nerfs her for the rest of the series by stuffing her soul into a normal, untrained body. Low point in an otherwise great show.

But here, the character is clearly stronger than everyone. I mean, sure, they have the male lead win the fight. But before that, the woman is kicking the main villain's ass after he demonstrates himself to be ridiculously powerful. She utterly crushes the antagonist woman, and cuts up the main villain while sustaining no injuries, the main villain looking pretty perturbed about that. This, while poisoned. And the only reason she gets hurt to the point where the male lead needs to win the fight (against an already-injured main villain, thanks to her) is that the antagonist woman character sacrifices herself to allow the main villain to get a big shot in. Also the poison.

Honestly, quite shocking and refreshing to see in a Korean fighting movie.

Yeah that aspect is pretty neat. It's also kind of interesting the way the male protagonist is presented in the movie. In it he is

A) An Important Figure obviously (the classic trope of the royal heir in exile who now has to return and take things back from invaders)
B) An Accomplished General despite the time of his activity being basically when he was the teen you see in the flashback
C) Presented as quite a skilled fighter, originally carried the sword the female lead takes up here, does some stylish stuff here and previously.

Despite all that, in most of the movie he is basically a fetch quest who is tossed around and injured by the (named at least, not the generic) minions of the big bad/outclassed in most fights and often has to be saved by the Female Lead. It's like a reversal in some ways.

That and the whole concept of the journey is drawing on some other old fun tropes, where he and the bodygaurd are supposed to be in a sort of mentor type role where she has to convince him to take up his duty while he is resistant to the whole idea. At some points it seemed to be tilting towards a more standard relationship but keeps it from any actual romance (almost certainly for the better seeing the age difference/prior relationship shown in flashback tbh). And of course all the villain stuff although pretty obvious was done in a fun way like the whole "My henchwoman who is only on this path because of me and sacrificed everything in the process who in a previous scene I seemed to have an emotional reaction to is just a tool that I will stab through for a momentary advantage".

It's some cool ideas that I think work for me more than some of the other martial arts type things I've seen recently. But the problem is as I mentioned it's kind of like a good sketch that doesn't have any of the details filled in. I think this story would probably be pretty cool in a more elongated format like an anime, or miniseries but because the movie is a little less than 2 hours the way its done is kind of bare bones and has a lot of Characters Telling You How They Feel and Their Motivations.

Arahan did this kind of okay as well. Sure, the male lead is more powerful than the woman (usual 'chosen one' BS), but she's his teacher and the only reason the villain loses in the end is because they fight him together.

...Arahan is also a classic example of 'Korea does not care about Western ideas of genre, they do their thing.' It goes from what is apparently a martial arts comedy to a dead-serious, murderous drama. Par for the course for Korean entertainment, where a TV show that is billed as 'rom-com' by Westerners has a serial killer (complete with gruesome, explicit killing) or some kind of other horrifying thing pop up in the middle of it and be an important part of the overarching plot.

That's also something I think I haven't seen. Another for the list!

Yeah I mentioned before I like their films when they manage to make that work or be fun. I actually recently watched a recent (2023 or so) film that did something like that but that one was a big miss, because it's a rom-com where one of thelovers is a killer and shows no real signs of stopping or being trustworthy really which also made the person interested in the other seems either callous or selfish by proxy, so it made the romance part fall flat.

Oh and I guess in terms of recent movies that I recall being fun in fights

This little scene from the 2010 Reign of The Assassins flick. Odd/weird because it's one of the only ones I recall in recent viewing that thought slow motion wasn't quite enough and gives you a full freeze frame to see the needle/details. Also has a fun plot element which is sadly wasted later on of spoilers:

the person in the fight being shown as a secret warrior, but in fact, the whole initial plot in the movie is that Michelle Yeoh is in fact a secret assassin hiding her identity from her husband in the clip, who the entire previous runtime of the film is presented as an innocent peasant. The waste part comes from how after this scene Michelle Yeoh's character is essentially in a coma and does not interact with him, until she wakes up, but by that time *he* is basically in a coma/paralysis state and does not interact with her. So no fighting each other, no fighting alongside each other, no talking about the whole secret aspect. Then she defeats the big bad and saves her husband, but the movie ends there so they don't have many further interactions.

end of spoilers

And this fair bit older scene which is really more of a kata than anything in some ways but is real fun

[Sharpandpointies]

For sure. I do like some of the things that happen in the fights but overall is a bit muddled because of too many cuts and such. Haven't heard of Musa, will have to put that on the list.

Korean action-drama, as usual quite depressing in some ways.

Yeah that aspect is pretty neat. It's also kind of interesting the way the male protagonist is presented in the movie. In it he is

A) An Important Figure obviously (the classic trope of the royal heir in exile who now has to return and take things back from invaders)
B) An Accomplished General despite the time of his activity being basically when he was the teen you see in the flashback
C) Presented as quite a skilled fighter, originally carried the sword the female lead takes up here, does some stylish stuff here and previously.

Despite all that, in most of the movie he is basically a fetch quest who is tossed around and injured by the (named at least, not the generic) minions of the big bad/outclassed in most fights and often has to be saved by the Female Lead. It's like a reversal in some ways.

That and the whole concept of the journey is drawing on some other old fun tropes, where he and the bodygaurd are supposed to be in a sort of mentor type role where she has to convince him to take up his duty while he is resistant to the whole idea. At some points it seemed to be tilting towards a more standard relationship but keeps it from any actual romance (almost certainly for the better seeing the age difference/prior relationship shown in flashback tbh). And of course all the villain stuff although pretty obvious was done in a fun way like the whole "My henchwoman who is only on this path because of me and sacrificed everything in the process who in a previous scene I seemed to have an emotional reaction to is just a tool that I will stab through for a momentary advantage".

It's some cool ideas that I think work for me more than some of the other martial arts type things I've seen recently. But the problem is as I mentioned it's kind of like a good sketch that doesn't have any of the details filled in. I think this story would probably be pretty cool in a more elongated format like an anime, or miniseries but because the movie is a little less than 2 hours the way its done is kind of bare bones and has a lot of Characters Telling You How They Feel and Their Motivations.

Hm. Lots of reversal, there, but a lot of things I can see being a big disappointment. Your analogy of sketching is pretty good, from what I saw. Even the fight sequence, as interesting as some of the stuff IN it (the ideas) was weak.

I've seen LOADS of good fight sequences in Korean stuff (cripes, some of their even more rom-commy TV shows have great fight sequences for what the show is), but this wasn't it.

That's also something I think I haven't seen. Another for the list!

It's good. Some genuine hilarious moments. Some really good humor. Some unfortunate clichés. Some interesting stuff about 'qi-using martial artists in a modern world'. It's older, so the F/X aren't super-awesome like they are now, but they're decent, and the movie makes the most of what they CAN do.

Yeah I mentioned before I like their films when they manage to make that work or be fun. I actually recently watched a recent (2023 or so) film that did something like that but that one was a big miss, because it's a rom-com where one of thelovers is a killer and shows no real signs of stopping or being trustworthy really which also made the person interested in the other seems either callous or selfish by proxy, so it made the romance part fall flat.

Yeah, that's not so good.

I look at other stuff, like TV shows: Crash Landing On You, Alchemy of Souls, that kind of thing. These are clearly marked as Rom-coms, but have a core of action, or fantasy action, that is also clearly part of the show. And drama. Lots of drama, despite the funny stuff.

I rather like that Korean stuff isn't pigeon-holed into genres. Makes it interesting.

*watches* Yeah, that older one is classic Shaw Brothers/Golden Harvest old school martial art stuff (psst, it's Chinese, 'form' not 'kata'). ^_^

I'll have to check out the other one when I have time. Thanks!

This little scene from the 2010 Reign of The Assassins flick. Odd/weird because it's one of the only ones I recall in recent viewing that thought slow motion wasn't quite enough and gives you a full freeze frame to see the needle/details

And this fair bit older scene which is really more of a kata than anything in some ways but is real fun[/QUOTE]

[Len Ikari145]

Seven Deadly Sin - 4KOA: Welp, I called it: spoilers:

Nasiens is a girl and there are further hints that she's King and Diane's missing child.

end of spoilers

[Dark Soul # 7]

Seven Deadly Sin - 4KOA: Welp, I called it: spoilers:

Nasiens is a girl and there are further hints that she's King and Diane's missing child.

end of spoilers

I think most people called the first bit. Haven't even considered the second one to be honest.

spoilers:

Mertyl being unaffected by Nasiens poison and needing a pill to seemingly calm himself down feels like it's a set up for something.

end of spoilers

[Iron_Twister]

And so I bit the bullet.

Coming soon, Shredder and his motley team of villains (and a celebrity chef) will be facing a massive lawsuit against a cracked team of lawyers well paid by Splinter for the traumatizing acts Team Shredder committed on the Turtles back in November.

Can Shredder, Ramsay, Vegeta, and Bundy get the case dismissed?

It's all War Games now.

I honestly think I might need to explain the really complicated story of Team Shredder current woes.

November 2023, on the eve of Thanksgiving, Oroku Saki aka The Shredder wanted to fight against his long time archenemy The Ninja Turtles. However his usual crew mostly don't want to lose on Thanksgiving of all things and politely declined. So Shredder gathered the best guys he could find:

1. Gordon Ramsay. Shredder was impressed with Gordon entire resume along with the whole notion of getting a celebrity chef in the team and invited him first. Gordon wasn't too keen on the whole subject...Until he found out the revolting pizza toppings the Turtles enjoy and it immediately turn him into a villain because of it.

2. Vegeta. After losing to the Earthman from Texas Hank Hill three times, Vegeta is now an embittered weirdo who spends his days antagonizing any random person passing by his property and having multiple accounts on social media just to post slander (mostly on Hank). Hearing bout Shredder, Vegeta simply met Shredder and Ramsay at the parking lot and demanded they put him in the match.

3. Al Bundy. Shredder simply walked into the shoe store and asked Al if he really wants to spend Thanksgiving with his family.

And so, Team Shredder aka The Unlikely Schmucks was created and by some weird Thanksgiving miracle defied the odds and defeated the Turtles in combat via elimination tag. High on their victory, Shredder was about his threat of dining on turtle soup so very much a reality as Team Shredder beat and dragged the Turtles backstage that's a little too close to the infamous segment between Val Venis and Kaientai (...Nuff said). The police immediately intervened and arrested Team Shredder, spending Thanksgiving in prison.

...Months later, karma has come as Splinter revealed the night since has traumatized the TMNT. In fact, they were scared straight, enough to suddenly mature and grew to be law abiding citizens away from their habits. The Adult Mutant Civilan Turtles.

And naturally this also destroyed their marketing. Outraged, Splinter has filed a major lawsuit on Shredder. Seeing how Shredder facing a major 80s franchise juggernaut, odds aren't good. Knowing this isn't in his favor and that even his defense team isn't exactly on his side, Shredder pulls out the trial by combat card in a desperate measure. Calling for anyone to help him (as again his usual crew are barred from use, aid comes from again his unlikely comrades once more ready to throw hands for the sake of their friend.

Also, losing cool parties in the technodrome is a no go.