Category: Comedy
Handsome Suit
Comedy, Japan, 2008
Director: Tsutomu Hanabusa
Muga Tsukaji ... Takuro Ohki
Keiko Kitagawa
Shosuke Tanihara
Story line:
A kind-hearted but ugly looking and almost revolting man who owns a small noodle shop, he was selected by the suit company owner to try out his latest invention - The "handsome suit", once you wear it, you become handsome instantly. So he was taking advantage of his new look to pursue dreams that would not have been possible otherwise. At the same time, he is still trying to find his true love, would he succeed? What would he learn from this?
My review:
Very cheesy story, but never mind, have a good laugh watching it anyway. And yes the movie is trying to make a point, don't judge someone by his/her look, again a bit clich?, again never mind still a enjoyable film
Shall we kiss? Un baiser s'il vous pla?t
Romantic comedy, France 2007
Director: Emmanuel Mouret
Virginie Ledoyen ... Judith
Emmanuel Mouret ... Nicolas
Julie Gayet ... ?milie
Micha?l Cohen ... Gabriel
Fr?d?rique Bel ... Caline
Stefano Accorsi ... Claudio
Story: Emilie was out of her home town and met a stranger Gabriel who gave her a lift. They ended up spending the day together and had dinner together, just when they were going to part and say goodbye for the night, Gabriel tried to kiss her and she resisted. She then tried to explain to Gabriel how something that happened to her friends made her very hesitant in kissing him. She told him the story of her friends - it was about Nicolas and Judith who started off as just very good friends and how a bizarre request of Nicolas has set them onto a dangerous emotional/physical journey, it has something to do with a certain kiss between them ...
My review:
We were given free tickets of this movie at the premier of the Hong Kong international film festival in March 2008. Tickets were provided by French Tourism board to French alumni association of Hong Kong. The director/leading actor Emmanuel Mouret was there too.
A nice and wonderful comedy that makes fun of friendship, love, husband, wife, lovers, kisses and sex. Sounds like all the good ingredients for a romantic comedy. There were no shortage of funny situation and carefully crafted script
Touch - Cartoon 1984-1985
Type: Cartoon Drama, Japan 1984-1985
My rating: 5
Key characters:
Minami Asakura, Tatsuya Uesugi, Kazuya Uesugi
Story:
Based on the comic book by Mitsuru Adachi. Kazuya (younger) and Tatsuya (elder) are twin brothers, Minami is the girl next door, the three of them were born in the same year and grew up together. Both brothers love Minami. She has a wish which becomes the common goal of the twin brothers that is to go to Koshien Stadium to play baseball. To do so, they must represent their high school and win the regional competition. Tatsuya doesn't want to compete with his brother and thus he quits baseball, Kazuya is a great talented baseball player and has led the school team to the regional final, soon Minami's dream will be realised by Kazuya but she is clear on who she loves - she loves Tatsuya the kind-hearted elder brother who supposed to be inferior to the younger twin only because he always let the younger brother to win. Kazuya is also a kind-hearted younger brother who always wishes the best thing for his brother and Minami. On the day of the final game, something happened and Kazuya did not turn up... Tatsuya has to step up and work hard to make minami's dream come true...
My review:
Touch is one of my all time favourite cartoon. I have always loved this comic by Mitsuru Adachi, this TV cartoon has become a classic. Kazuya and Tatsuya are good and loving brothers, Minami is the kind of girl every boy dreams about. Mitsuru has created many touching and clever plots in the story with many other interesting characters surrounding Kazuya, Tatsuya and Minami, including Harada, a friend who always say something wise despite his big, rough and scary look, Nitta the star player of the rival baseball team.
You are the one
Filipino Philippine Tagalog DVD You Are The One (buy from Amazon)
Romantic Comedy, Philippine, 2006
Director: Cathy Garcia-Molina
My rating: 3
Key actors/actresses:
Toni Gonzaga ... Sally Malasmas
Sam Milby ... Will Derby/Vernard Garcia
Story:
Sally lives and works in Manila while her parents and elder sister live in USA. Her family wants her to join them in USA, she is not so sure but she applies anyway because her mother is not well and needed to be taken care of. At the US embassay, her application was rejected by the US officer Will, who is young and handsome. While she has a crush on this young man, she also hates him for rejecting her application. She has her chance of revenge, Will was adopted by US parents and he needs to look up some information on his biological parents, he ends up at the department where Sally works and she plays tricks on him at first. Eventually, she actually goes out of her way to help him and the two of them starts on a journey to look for Will's real parents and romance is in the air, but things are never so smooth as it first seems...
My review:
I got this DVD as a gift from a friend in Philippines. It is very funny and entertaining, old fashion clean fun (well, most of the time anyway), with a warm touch.
Stranger of mine
Type: Drama, Comedy, Japan 2005
Director: Kenji Uchida
My rating: 4
Key actors/actresses:
Yasuhi Nakamura .... Takeshi Miyata
Reika Kirishima .... Maki Kuwata
S? Yamanaka .... Yusuke Kanda
Yuka Itaya .... Ayumi Kurata
Kisuke Yamashita .... Asai
Posted by Dominic
Story:
Faith has brought a self-pity woman who just decided to leave her fiance, a salary-man who still misses the woman that dumped him 6 months ago, a private detective, a con woman and the gangster leader together, though they don't know it themselves. Their story intertwine and it all happens in one strange evening. As the story unfolds, you will know things are never as simple as they look.
My review:
Very clever plot and the story is being told backward, as we go back in time, the dots are connected. This reminds me so much of "Momento", though completely different story. Highly entertaining!
Trick
Type: Comedy Drama Suspense, Japan 2000
Director: K?ji Makita
My rating: 3
Key actors/actresses:
Yukie Nakama .... Naoko Yamada
Hiroshi Abe .... Jiro Ueda
Katsuhisa Namase .... Kenz? Yabe
Posted by Dominic
Story:
Yukie is a bad magician, no one watches her show. Her father was a magician too. One day she was asked by a couple from a very strange village to go to their village and pretend to be god. She is so down and out of luck that she decided to take this assignment. Her friend Hiroshi who is a professor who is also going to the same village trying to unearth some hidden treasure. The villagers believe that the village is cursed and every 300 years there will be a big disaster and this is the year. Yukie and Hiroshi are going to meet with some strange people, some of the them like Yukie are here to pretend that they are god...
My review:
A funny black comedy, quite entertaining. There is a TV drama of the same name. This is the movie edition.
The dinner game
The Dinner Game (buy from Amazon)
Type: Comedy, France 1998
Director: Francis Veber
My rating: 4
Key actors/actresses:
Thierry Lhermitte .... Pierre Brochant
Jacques Villeret .... Fran?ois Pignon
Francis Huster .... Just Leblanc
Daniel Pr?vost .... Cheval
Alexandra Vandernoot .... Christine Brochant
Story:
A bunch of friends play a dinner game every Wednesday, each one brings a guest and whoever's guest is the most stupid idiot wins. So they all look out for idiots. With a little help from a friend, Pierre finds at the last minute an idoit called Pignon, Pierre thinks he has a winner! Pignon arrives at Pierre's place and they are going to leave for the dinner party, the problem is Pierre hurt his back and he is going to miss the dinner. Pierre soon realises his nightmare has just begun from the moment he invites Pignon
My review:
A very funny storyline and carefully crafted script, highly entertaining!
Everybody has secrets
Everybody Has Secrets (2004) (buy from Amazon)
Type: Comedy Drama, South Korea 2004
Director: Hyeon-su Jang
My rating: 3
Key actors/actresses:
Byung-hun Lee .... Choi Su-hyeon
Sang Mi Chu .... Han Ji-yeong
Hyo-jin Kim .... Han Mi-yeong
Ji-Woo Choi .... Han Seon-yeong
Yongnyeo Seonwoo .... Mother
Story:
A story about how one man encounters and goes out with the youngest sister out of 3 sisters ends up secretly having affairs with all 3 sisters. Each sisters have very different personalities but all end up loving the same guy, the eldest sister is married with kid and the 2nd sister is a typical 'bookworm' type of girl with thick glasses and always studying and the youngest sister is an energetic person who sings at clubs for a living.
My review:
A funny comedy about adultary affairs. I have seen a Spanish comedy called The Age of beauty where the guy had affairs with each of the 4 sisters.
Art museum by the zoo
Type: Comedy Romantic, South Korea 1998
Director: Jeong-hyang Lee
My rating: 3
Key actors/actresses:
Eun-ha Shim .... Chun-Hi
Sung-jae Lee .... Chul-su
Sung-kee Ahn .... In-Gong
Story:
Two strangers under some unforeseen circumstances are forced to stay in the same house and they didn't get along at the beginning, but soon things began to turn for the better and love is in the air...
My review:
You guessed it, happy ending, boy and girl fell in love and lived happily thereafter...
Jam Films (7 short movies)
Type: Comedy Drama Romantic SciFi Suspense, Japan 2002
Director: See below
My rating: 5
Key actors/actresses:
Directors: Daizaburo Hanada ("Opening"), J么ji Iida ("Cold Sleep"), Shunji Iwai ("Arita"), Ryuhei Kitamura ("The Messenger - Requiem for the Dead"), Rokuro Mochizuki ("Pandora - Hong Kong Leg"), Tetsuo Shinohara ("Kendama"), Yukihiko Tsutsumi ("Hijiki"), Isao Yukisada ("Justice")
Natsuko Akiyama .... ("Hijiki")
Kuranosuke Sasaki .... ("Hijiki")
Megumi Takahashi .... ('Hijiki')
Megumi Uziie .... ('Hijiki' & 'Kendama')
Masayoshi Yamazaki .... ("Kendama")
Ryoko Shinohara .... ("Kendama")
Hirofumi Arai .... ('Justice')
Haruka Ayase .... ("Justice")
Hitomi Kurihara .... ('Justice')
Akifumi Miura .... ('Justice')
Christian Storms .... ('Justice')
Satoshi Tsumabuki .... ("Justice"
Ryoko Hirosue .... ("Arita")
Kazuki Kitamura .... ("The Messenger - Requiem for the Dead")
Tak Sakaguchi .... ('The Messenger - Requiem for the Dead')
Kanae Uotani .... The messenger ('The Messenger - Requiem for the Dead')
Akaji Maro .... ("Pandora - Hong Kong Leg")
Takami Yoshimoto .... ("Pandora - Hong Kong Leg")Takao Osawa .... ("Cold Sleep")
Samuel Pop .... ('Cold Sleep')
Albert Smith .... ('Cold Sleep')
Tomomi Tsunoda .... ("Cold Sleep")
Yasutaka Tsutsui .... ('Cold Sleep')
Posted by Dominic
Story:
7 stories by 7 different directors, comedy, suspense, sci-fi, romantic, you name it. Quite fun to watch 7 short pieces.
My review:
Quite fun to watch 7 short pieces. All nicely made, since each has only about 15 mins, they have to impress the audience pretty much from the beginning. I won't spoiled you with the details of the storyline.