Eight Rooks

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• Commented on First Images Arrive From Satoshi Kon's THE DREAMING MACHINE (YUME MIRU KIKAI)
  Shows how memorable I found Tokyo Godfathers since it completely slipped my mind. It had some good bits, true, but never really rose that far above mediocrity; it's the kind of thing where if it were a live-action Hollywood...
  November 20, 2009 6:24 PM
• Commented on First Images Arrive From Satoshi Kon's THE DREAMING MACHINE (YUME MIRU KIKAI)
  It's an interesting redesign, but it's hard to get too excited about it... I still can't get on with Kon. I found Perfect Blue wildly over-rated and while Paprika was a great improvement it was still glib, shallow, inconsistent and...
  November 19, 2009 5:05 PM
• Commented on PHOBIA 2 Review
  Should read 'Ryu Ga Gotoku' trades, heh. Still can't get used to switching from BB to HTML....
  November 17, 2009 9:20 PM
• Commented on PHOBIA 2 Review
  I'd say any Asian horror is seen as a far easier sell than any of those four. I wouldn't be entirely surprised if Wall Man never leaves Japan, trades on the popularity of the games and the third and fourth...
  November 17, 2009 9:19 PM
• Commented on Stunning First Images From Thai Period Epic BANG RAJAN 2!
  Going by the ending of the first film I'm assuming it's not much of a direct sequel, so I wonder if there's any reason to use the name other than to trade on the popularity of the legend/story/whatever in their...
  November 17, 2009 3:32 PM
• Posted Sodium Babies to Movies
  November 14, 2009 12:43 PM
• Posted LIFF '09: SODIUM BABIES review to Reviews
  (Screened as part of the 23rd Leeds International Film Festival running from 4th-22nd November 2009.)What makes the Decaillon Brothers' vampire thriller Sodium Babies so special? It's an obvious calling card, yes, messy, gaudy and hyper-kinetic, throwing every low-budget editing...
  November 14, 2009 12:36 PM
• Posted Sodium Babies to Galleries
  Stills, (French) poster art and character onesheets for the 2009 French vampire thriller Sodium Babies....
  November 14, 2009 12:31 PM
• Commented on LIFF '09: THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO review
  Heh, yes, I did wonder precisely what to call it here. I thought most people would know the English title of the book, though, terrible or not. 'Millennium' seems to draw associations with the TV series....
  November 13, 2009 12:43 PM
• Posted LIFF '09: Italy's PATHOS takes the Melies for short film! to News
  As well as the feature films competing for the Silver Melies at the 23rd Leeds International Film Festival, there were also seven shorts in competition to be nominated for a chance to go on to win their own Melies D'Or....
  November 13, 2009 10:11 AM
• Posted The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo to Movies
  November 13, 2009 8:33 AM
• Posted LIFF '09: THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO review to Reviews
  (Screened as part of the 23rd Leeds International Film Festival running from 4th-22nd November 2009.)Yes, it comes with baggage. How could it not? In one sense Swedish author Stieg Larsson assured himself a place in history when he died...
  November 13, 2009 8:25 AM
• Commented on It's in the Game
  I did consider that when I was writing it, though in a weird way Rez is... sort of conventional, really. And I love the game dearly but it doesn't suggest to me that you could mess around with the basic...
  November 12, 2009 7:11 PM
• Posted LIFF '09: INVITATION ONLY review to Reviews
  (Bumping this review before the film screens as part of the 23rd Leeds International Film Festival, 14/11/09 at 4am as part of the Night of the Dead event, and again 15/11/09 at 2pm. While I wasn't blown away, I...
  November 12, 2009 5:22 PM
• Posted LIFF '09: LOW LIGHTS (ARTIMOS ŠVIESOS) review to Reviews
  (Screened as part of the 23rd Leeds International Film Festival running from 4th-22nd November 2009.)Two cars, three people and a city after dark. It's not a great deal to work with, and it's hardly the most original idea ever conceived...
  November 12, 2009 4:11 PM
• Commented on It's in the Game
  Those videos are pretty interesting. DICE did talk about how the game doesn't really resemble an actual first-person view - Faith (the heroine) would be a mutant if her limbs were actually in the necessary position to swing into the...
  November 12, 2009 3:49 PM
• Posted LIFF '09: Philip Ridley's HEARTLESS takes the Silver Melies! to News
  We came, we saw, we decided - I was honoured (and pretty surprised, to be honest!) to be invited to sit on the jury at the 23rd Leeds International Film Festival to select the winner of the Silver Melies...
  November 12, 2009 11:34 AM
• Posted LIFF '09: Discount tickets for FANOMENON FILMMAKERS' DAY 13/11/09! to News
  Short notice unless you're in the area, more than likely, but on the offchance - the good people at the 23rd Leeds International Film Festival (still ongoing until the 22nd November) would like to let you know about their upcoming...
  November 11, 2009 12:55 PM
• Posted Low Lights to Movies
  November 11, 2009 10:19 AM
• Posted LOW LIGHTS to Galleries
  Production stills and poster art for the 2009 Lithuanian drama Low Lights (aka Artimos Šviesos)....
  November 11, 2009 10:09 AM
• Posted LIFF '09: Let's just drive! Trailer and stills for LOW LIGHTS to News
  This was the big surprise of the 23rd Leeds International Film Festival for me so far: the UK premiere of Lithuanian director Ignas Miškinis' strange little road movie Low Lights (Artimos Šviesos). The (gushing) review's coming, but for the...
  November 11, 2009 10:02 AM
• Posted LIFF '09: THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE (1st Sequence) review to Reviews
  (Screened as part of the 23rd Leeds International Film Festival running from 4th-22nd November 2009.) It's not quite what prospective audiences may well be thinking. Yes, Tom Six's The Human Centipede is bizarre and not a little disturbing; yes,...
  November 11, 2009 9:38 AM
• Posted LIFF '09: LA HORDE review to Reviews
  (Screened as part of the 23rd Leeds International Film Festival running from 4th-22nd November 2009.) It's always frustrating to see a director missing the point. Manly and self-righteous though most of eighties action cinema was, the best films of...
  November 11, 2009 9:25 AM
• Posted LIFF '09: HIDDEN (SKJULT) review to Reviews
  (Screened as part of the 23rd Leeds International Film Festival running from 4th-22nd November 2009.)Cliches have their place. No matter what a great many people argue the familiar doesn't automatically lose all its power to affect just because it's...
  November 11, 2009 9:09 AM
• Commented on It's in the Game
  Heh, at least you still got something out of it! I adore that song - much as I love the game, Wet certainly has horrible, horrible flaws but the soundtrack's not one of them. I did try and write this...
  November 10, 2009 9:40 PM
• Posted It's in the Game to Galleries
  Screenshots (of varying quality) and artwork for the titles featured in the Twitch-o-Meter article It's in the Game....
  November 10, 2009 8:37 PM
• Posted It's in the Game to Featured
  Nice and simple idea here (I'm sure someone else has already done it); for years gamers have deplored Hollywood plundering their beloved hobby for inspiration and picking all the wrong ideas, with IP after IP farmed out to disinterested...
  November 10, 2009 7:53 PM
• Commented on GENIUS PARTY BEYOND DVD Review
  Eh, I repeat I didn't like Gala or Moondrive much - Gala especially I still cannot get behind syncing music played onscreen and music on the soundtrack to totally different instruments. I just don't agree it works at all. But...
  November 5, 2009 7:25 PM
• Commented on Elias Koteas joins cast of LET ME IN
  Uh, spoilers much, you two? Not to mention - and to join in ruining it...
  November 3, 2009 4:39 PM
• Commented on Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time trailer
  On the current videogame prince - Nolan North deserves to be on the big screen for sure, but probably not for this film, no. :D...
  November 3, 2009 6:44 AM
• Commented on Elias Koteas joins cast of LET ME IN
  Oh, I'd be impressed if they did go down that route, and the cast does look interesting. Just that even judging any finished film on its own merits I still think the story as presented in the book is...
  November 3, 2009 6:43 AM
• Commented on Elias Koteas joins cast of LET ME IN
  Ah. I was wondering who that character was... kudos for more accuracy than I was expecting, then, but still not really reassuring me. The film is much better than the book (I've skim read most of it); probably the...
  November 3, 2009 3:09 AM
• Commented on Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time trailer
  Wax, the game seems to be taking most of the plot from #1 plus bits and pieces from #2 and #3 so to be fair to Bruckheimer for once, the Prince in the first trilogy of games - it's a...
  November 3, 2009 12:03 AM
• Commented on Kenji Kamiyama's EDEN OF THE EAST Goes Feature Length With THE KING OF EDEN
  Good to hear. Still one of the best series in years, and one of the only series from Production IG I've ever actually liked, let alone enjoyed....
  November 1, 2009 7:27 PM
• Posted Wheat to Movies
  October 30, 2009 5:13 PM
• Posted WHEAT review to Reviews
  The Battle of Changping was one of the decisive military engagements between the rival dynasties of Warring States period China; it all but wiped out the losing side, and still ranks as one of the deadliest confrontations in history....
  October 30, 2009 5:02 PM
• Posted Wheat to Galleries
  Stills and poster art from the 2009 mainland period drama Wheat....
  October 30, 2009 4:55 PM
• Posted The Black Cannon Incident to Galleries
  (Low-quality) stills and cover artwork from the 1985 mainland Chinese satire The Black Cannon Incident....
  October 30, 2009 4:47 PM
• Posted The Black Cannon Incident to Movies
  October 30, 2009 4:39 PM
• Posted Huang Jianxin's THE BLACK CANNON INCIDENT (1985) review to Reviews
  (Though he's now (indirectly) best known in the West for The Founding of a Republic making the PRC very large sums of money, director Huang Jianxin remains one of Chinese cinema's best-kept secrets. In the hope of pointing out...
  October 30, 2009 4:17 PM
• Commented on [J-FILM REVIEWS] ゴエモン (Goemon)
  Hmmm. Hadn't actually watched that trailer up until now... there's some very pretty imagery, sure, but not much hint of any real style. I find it very easy to believe X's review - Casshern was not without some merit...
  October 27, 2009 6:35 PM
• Commented on TIANANMEN review
  Oh, it's very... harmonious, believe me. :D...
  October 27, 2009 9:05 AM
• Commented on TIANANMEN review
  Nah, objectively it's simply too polished to call dreadful. But it is effectively out-and-out propaganda, and I wouldn't blame anyone for wanting to steer well clear. I just liked Red Cherry quite a bit (as a film it's a...
  October 26, 2009 10:15 PM
• Commented on A Look at Madhouse's マイマイ新子と千年の魔法 (Mai Mai Miracle)
  Uh, Sunao Katabuchi also did Princess Arete, which though visually the direction was, shall we say, workmanlike still pretty much gets him a free pass forever. It certainly doesn't come under 'sketchy' or 'all over the place' in my book....
  October 26, 2009 5:19 PM
• Posted Tiananmen to Galleries
  Stills and poster art from the 2009 mainland Chinese 'main melody' (propaganda) film Tiananmen....
  October 26, 2009 4:58 PM
• Posted Tiananmen to Movies
  October 26, 2009 4:58 PM
• Posted TIANANMEN review to Reviews
  Is there any other Chinese word viewed in quite the same way by the rest of the world? Regardless of precisely what happened on June 4th, 1989, it is generally accepted the PRC have a vested interest in putting...
  October 26, 2009 4:53 PM
• Posted Little Moth to Galleries
  Stills from the 2007 mainland Chinese drama Little Moth....
  October 26, 2009 4:31 PM
• Posted Little Moth to Movies
  October 26, 2009 4:30 PM
• Posted LITTLE MOTH review to Reviews
  Arthouse cinema the world over is often attacked for wallowing in misery for its own sake (witness the critical reception for Michael Haneke's recent Western remake of his own Funny Games, or the backlash against Alessandro Innaritu and Guillermo...
  October 26, 2009 4:26 PM