Leglessbird Movie Guide

SciFi, Thriller, USA, 2009
Chris Carmack ... Sam Reide
Rachel Miner ... Jenna Reide
Melissa Jones ... Vicki
Kevin Yon ... Harry Goldburg

Story line:
Sam has the ability to time travel and he can alter the course of events. While trying to solve the mystery of his girlfriend's death, he messed up, the more he tried to find out the more women became victims. Would he ever find the truth?

My review:
This is the 3rd of the butterfly effect series, I must say I still like the 1st one most, this one is pretty good also. The story is full of twists and turns and always keep you guessing...

Horror, Thriller, Japan 2008
Director: Hideo Nakata

Cast
Kenichi Matsuyama - L
Shunji Fujimura - Watari
Mayuko Fukuda - Maki
Sei Hiraizumi - Dr. Koichi Matsudo
Renji Ishibashi - Shin Kagami
Yuta Kanai - Tamotsu Yoshizawa
Youki Kudoh - Dr. Kujo
Bokuzo Masana - Asao Konishi
Kiyotaka Nanbara
Megumi Sato - Hatsune Misawa
Masanobu Takashima

L saves the world again on a separate mission...

Building on the Character "L" from Death Note, this is a story about the last 23 days of L since he signed his own death warrant by writing his name into the "Death note".

Azumi Uncut 2 Disc Limited Edition (buy from Amazon)Type, Country, Year: Adventure / Drama / Fantasy / Thriller, Japanese, 2005

Director: Shusuke Kaneko

My rating: 3

Key actors/actresses:
Aya Ueto ... Azumi
Yuma Ishigaki ... Nagara

Chiaki Kuriyama ... Kozue
Shun Oguri ... Ginkaku
Kenichi Endo ... Kinkaku (as Kenichi Endou)

Kai Shishido ... Hanzou

Story:
Continuing the story from Azumi 1, having killed 2 out of 3 of the warlords, Azumi and one remaining assassin must complete their mission to kill the last warlord but he is not going to sit and wait for their attack, in fact he has his own protection and attack team in the form of ninjas. He proactively launch attack on the buddest monk and on Azumi and her friends...

My review:
Yet more killing scenes and Azumi struggles on whether she should continue her mission and to understand the meaning of mission.

Though a bit repeatative, nonetheless the movie is pretty entertaining, especially if you like assassins vs ninja type of movie.

Azumi (buy from Amazon)
Type, Country, Year: Adventure/ Drama/ Fantasy/ Thriller, Japanese, 2003

Director: Ryuhei Kitamura

My rating: 3

Key actors/actresses:
Aya Ueto ... Azumi
Shun Oguri ... Nachi
Hiroki Narimiya ... Ukiha
Kenji Kohashi ... Hyuga
Takatoshi Kaneko ... Amagi
Yuma Ishigaki ... Nagara

Story:
At the end of the war, the Buddist monk of the country fears that in order to have long lasting peace, he must eliminate all the warlords, he asks the General to hide and secretly trains 10 kids to become assassins. Years later these assassins are ready to take on their mission to kill the three warlords who threaten peace. But their first mission to test their readiness is to kill their best friends who they have known and trained together since childhood. Azumi the only girl in the group (and the strongest) has to kill her boyfriend to prove her loyalty. The remaining 5 follow their master and try to accomplish their mission, but they soon find out that it is not as easy as they think...

My review:
I must say I find the master of the assassins very stupid, I mean halving your resource before you start and inducing doubts and questions in the surviving assassins as a result is hardly a smart move. This also contribute to the difficulty they have later. Too much repeatitive and senseless killing in the movie. Azumi's much exaggerated killing ability is hardly convincing.

The Butterfly Effect 2 (buy from Amazon)
Drama, Thriller, USA, 2006

Director: John R. Leonetti

My rating: 2
Key actors/actresses:
Eric Lively ... Nick Larson

Erica Durance ... Julie Miller

Dustin Milligan ... Trevor Eastman

Gina Holden ... Amanda
Story:
Julie died a year ago in a car accident where her boyfriend Nick was driving the car. Nick still misses her terribly, he suddenly realizes he has this ability to go back and change the past by staring at old photos. But every time he changes something, it seemingly becomes better only to find out that something disastrous follows...

My review:
A bit disappointed actually because the plot is not new while the first Butterfly effect delivered a much better and more interesting story

Hard Candy (buy from Amazon)

Drama, USA, 2005

Director: David Slade

My rating: 3
Key actors/actresses:
Patrick Wilson ... Jeff Kohlver
Ellen Page ... Hayley Stark
Story:
Hayler is a supposedly 14-year old girl who has been lured by a grown-up photographer Jeff via internet chat room. But don't worry about Hayler, because Jeff is into a big surprise, he soon find out Hayler is a hard candy. His nightmare has just begun, he cannot even imagine what lies ahead...

My review:
Quite a powerful and interesting plot, full of twists and turns, even shocking at points. Splendid acting from Ellen Page.

Zatoichi /Sonatine Double Bill (buy from Amazon)
Type: Drama Thriller, Japan 2003

Director: Takeshi Kitano

My rating: 4

Key actors/actresses:
Takeshi Kitano .... Zatoichi/Ichi (as Beat Takeshi)
Tadanobu Asano .... Hattori Genosuke
Michiyo Ookusu .... Aunt O-Ume
Gadarukanaru Taka .... Shinkichi

Posted by Dominic
Story:
Zatoichi is a blind swordsman who earns his living by giving massages and gambling. In this movie, Zatoichi is up against a gang which runs the town and has a very able swordsman in the gang. Zatoichi is helping a brother and sister whose parents were killed by the gangsters many years ago.

My review:
Very good performance by Takeshi as you would expect. The blind swordsman is a very well known story in Japan, this is yet another blind swordsman story played by a fine actor.

36 Quai des Orfevres (Original French Version with English Subtitles) (buy from Amazon)
Type: Drama, France 2004

Director: Olivier Marchal

My rating: 3

Key actors/actresses:
Daniel Auteuil .... L?o Vrinks
G?rard Depardieu .... Denis Klein
Andr? Dussollier .... Robert Mancini
Roschdy Zem .... Hugo Silien
Valeria Golino .... Camille Vrinks
Posted by Dominic
Story:
For months, Paris police is trying to solve a gang of violent armed robberies. Vrinks and Denis are both top police officers who are competing to be the next chief. The race is on, Vrinks takes the risk and relies on a tip-off of a convic, though solves the case but got him into serious trouble. Denis disregards the protocol and results in deaths of fellow officers during gun fight. Denis in defending himself, pushes Vrinks deep into trouble and gets thrown in jail. Denis becomes the new chief...

My review:
Good actors but with such an interesting plot, I expect the movie to be more intense. I didn't find the movie was capturing my attention.

Type: Thriller, Japan 2002

Director: Yoshimitsu Morita

My rating: 3
Key actors/actresses:
Masahiro Nakai .... Koichi Amikawa
Kanji Tsuda .... Hiromi Kurihashi
Takashi Fujii .... Kazuaki Takai
Tsutomu Yamazaki .... Yoshio Arima
Yoshino Kimura .... Shigeko Maehata

Posted by Dominic
Story:
A seriel killer is on the loose, the victims are all young woman, tortured then killed. The police has no clue, the killer even calls the TV station during live shows to challenge the policy. The killer contacted an old man who's daughter was one of the victims, the old man is determined to find out who he is...

My review:
I won't spoil it by telling you the plot, the seriel killing is not so straight forward. Interesting way of telling a story, certainly non-linear and the director slowly connecting the dots for you, the movies didn't grasp my attention at all time, at points, it can be confusing to some as the story was told twice from different perspectives.

The Butterfly Effect (Infinifilm Edition) (buy from Amazon)
Type: Thriller, Suspense, USA 2004

Director:Eric Bress, J. Mackye Gruber

My rating: 4

Key actors/actresses:
Ashton Kutcher .... Evan Treborn
Melora Walters .... Andrea Treborn
Amy Smart .... Kayleigh Miller
Elden Henson .... Lenny Kagan
William Lee Scott .... Tommy Miller

Posted by Dominic
Story:
It is said that the moving of the the butterfly's wing can trigger a storm far far away.

Evan's father is locked up in a mental institution and Evan himself is having black outs at critical moments, his mother is worried that Evan will follow the footsteps of his father. Doctor suggests that he should keep a dairy to record the events before and after the black outs. When Evan grows up, he soon realises he is able to alter his past by reading his dairy, but can he control the results, the changes have far reaching consequences that is totally un-anticipated...

My review:
The beginning of this movie was quite scary and I like the plot very much, particularly the ending of the movie.

Don't we all want to be able to change something in the past, but how can we control the consequences, how do we know that what we are experiencing now is the optimal result? Be content with present!