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Pecsi-Istvan
Reviews
Kuro no tenshi Vol. 1 (1998)
Cheap blood runs slow
For starters let me say that you usually got what you pay for, and purchasing this movie won't be one of your biggest expenses. The DVD itself comes in a paper sleeve. To give further rise to the customer's suspicion, the front cover claims that this movie would be Takashi Ishii's response to Quentin Tarantino, while the back states that The Black Angel served as a pattern for Quentin's Kill Bill. Just pick the one you like the most. Furthermore, take this line: 'Accompany the last assassinatrix to her final mission.' Why on Earth would our heroine be the last female to kill for money? Will she do something that makes her job less attractive to other females? Will we see an atomic blast in the end which tears our little planet, and its entire population with it, apart?
Fans of Jericho be advised, you won't see ascending mushroom clouds this time. And the Black Angel is not a carrier adviser. It also turns out that she is not killing for money, but instead, out of revenge. Luckily or not, she is the only one whose motives are absolutely clear. Having said that, we can't really see, apart from one case, any character development throughout the movie. What we can see are scenes that can be familiar from Kill Bill, namely, massacres of armed personal body guards who are practically waiting for their rounds to be killed. However, long minutes are inserted between those action-filled fragments, which can cast a bored expression on your face. For example, we can learn that, in Japan, organized crime has close ties with politics and the police - however, this is the case for almost every country in the world. Overall, the movie is able to add up nothing or very little to what you might already know about Japan. I also have to mention the art director's work: he did a really good job when he set up a television on a puddle - at least he made me smile. The free adaptation of the yellow bulldozer from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is also a notable point.
In short: mindless massacres, flat storyline, no character development, no educational content, very limited humor.
Lost: He's Our You (2009)
There are 7 minutes from the Lost of which I could recommend to everyone. 3 of them are from this episode.
Once upon a time, without watching or reading about it, based upon its ads, I have thought that the Lost is a pure, Survivor-like reality show costumed as a series. However that opinion became a subject to change: the pilot episode, as it featured a doctor in the leading role, made me think that the Lost is a not-so-juicy mix of a reality show and E.R. Most of my mates shared this opinion, so they quit watching it. However, being masochist enough, I have continued to watch the further episodes alone. And then in Walkabout, for my surprise, the series introduced the mystical character of John Locke in such a way that it easily made me an addict. However, convincing my friends of the series worth watching couldn't be done by spoiling the whole story. Therefore I have started to seek for a relatively short, few minutes long slice of Lost of which I could recommend them to watch. Firstly, I have found what I was looking for in the second season...
Make someone imagine a deserted island with no food on it, but fish and fruits - and the people who are forced to eat that stuff for 40 days. Some of them are already left on a raft. It's a good point to make your "victim" familiar with the faces of its passengers. Then make him/her watch Hurley's dream in Everybody Hates Hugo.
My second recommendation happens to be a dream also: Locke's one in Cabin Fever. You don't even have to compose a story for this one. It is essential.
The third and final one is the interrogation from this episode. To interpret it, it is enough to know that Sayid is a time traveler who have been captured by men from the past whom destiny he knows and is telling them the truth. Excellent play, well done music.
One thing is surely common in these shots: their exquisite grotesqueness.