Sensational

Such an impressive film for a first-time filmmaker. I was blown away by it and I know quite a few film directors who all think Joachim Trier is a huge talent. It's an amazing portrayal of the mind of an artist, but done in an unpretentious manner with humour and understanding for his young characters. I read a review in the New York Times that said it was one of the best films that she had seen in ages. Couldn't agree more!

Simply stunning

Quite simply a visual feast, the attention to detail and the mood set by the back drops are remarkable. Simple and engaging tales very skillfuly told. Highly recomended.

the last of the best

seris four is amazing, i can't hide the fact, however you should know, it is the last great seris, after this one it just rolls down hill until it dies at episode 220, unfortunately they will go through several seris of fillers before anything interesting happens.

but anyway, seris four is the best, if you're going to get any of the naruto seris, get this one, this seris firt does the very satisfying job of rounding up the cliff hangar left in the wake of seris three, after everyone recovers and the hokage's funeral is delt with this seris is one long chase as subordinates of orochimaru 'steal' sasuke following his recovery from the battle with gaara, it features great fights such as choji's only good fight, which is amazing by the way, neji in all his glory aswel as kiba.

but the fights to really look out for are of-course, rock lee vs kimimaru and gaara vs kimimaru, and the awesome final conflict of sasuke vs naruto.

For lovers of film

Out of prison, ultra sensitive from isolation to the menace of freedom where people eat meat using forks that go into their mouths without bleeding - welcome to the world of Franz Biebekopf.
The narrative is occasionaly progressed by the use of title overlays like a silent movie. We feel comfortable as well as anxious to know of the destiny of the protagonist. All is allegorical, the stories, the characters, the sudden storms and darkness. Even Franz's voice-over adds layers to our experience. The laughter and the sense of utter disconnection is palpable. Compelling. A proper film with a roving camera that loves the story it witnesses unfolding.
Then we see his terrible crime. A long time before he wears an armband. Underground tensions, literally. Is it him or is it Berlin?
It is a film about the power of words to read an individual wrong. The power of words to bind individuals together - out of loneliness. Driven from one confinement to another our protagonist is doomed by others and his inability to articulate his self.
Fassbinder's film is totally compelling. He drives its narrative using the full power of cinema. This is no TV movie. It may be 4:3 aspect ratio and barely stereo sound but each scene is delivered with care and never is our vision bored or are our ears ignored. True art explodes humanity. Berlin Alexanderplatz is true art.

Undoubtedly the worst film I have ever seen

No this film is not life imitating art in the slightest. It's ridden with stereotypical cliche's. All films have characters but this film tries very very hard to be social commentary but fails as an attempt to mock a British subculture. You laugh at the people in this film, so if it was slapstick and intended humour then that would be fine but you're left laughing at social circumstance where people struggle with life. You're laughing at identity and character and you're laughing at people who generally are having a hard time through life.

It's an awful film all over. I am sure"some" members of the British Asian audience will laugh at it to distance themselves from obviously non-existent British Asian stereotypes. Delusions. British Audiences will laugh it to mock Asians.

Generally, others will avoid it and see it for the mess of film making that it is.

Avoid.

Better than some of those famous Anime

If you are fed up with the usual anime fair, then this is for you. It stretches the genre with different art style and a whole new idea as far as story goes. Characters are"real" and believable, there motivations understandable. Recommended.

What a great film!

Over 45 years old and yet so fresh and alive, nearly three hours running time and no lenghts, full of emotion and drama and so genuinely humane, filmed in black and white and yet so vibrantly colourful.
It goes right under the skin where it matters.

Heartwarming all the way

Not a typical Bollywood movie, but the way the story was reprised by the two lead actors warms your heart throughout the movie whenever they both appear together.

Even if not for the far fetch story line (far fetch - that's typical Bollywood and Walt Disney anytime!), you can just be more than contented watching their amazing chemistry over and over.

Heartwarming in cold winter nights - highly recommended for the coming holidays.

The Ring, The Grudge Etc

This film does not break any new ground but has a good story and the ending is satisfying. If you like The Ring, The Grudge etc then you will enjoy this.

Solid Snake

The Serpent is a French thriller on the same bus as Hidden (Cache) and Tell No One. Vincent Mandel, a well-off fashion photographer in the middle of divorcing his frankly irritating wife, bumps into an old school friend, Joseph Plender, a shifty private investigator, and soon finds himself on the business end of a professional blackmailing racket. Sex leads to murder leads to all sorts of crazy stuff which Mandel is unable to explain without sounding like a lunatic. Pure Hitchcock.

The acting is all top notch, though obviously it's a little harder to tell with subtitles. Some of the characters are stock thriller elements (the lawyer, the ex-cop) and are a bit uninteresting but the two leads, Mandel (Yvan Attel) and Plender (Clovis Cornillac), are entertaining enough to carry them. Mandel's character, who, like the lead in Tell No One, is a bit of a dull everyman, is saved by having a sympathetic and charismatic leading man. Plender starts out as an annoying bad guy by numbers with a goatee and a leather jacket and everything, but the script uses it as a clever little device which does actually have a lot to do with his character. Visually, The Serpent isn't anything like as beautiful as Tell No One but it is a striking looking film with lots of cool ideas that keep things fun when the plot takes a turn for the predictable every now and again. My only real complaint with the film is the grating horror movie music which has been chucked onto the soundtrack. All tinkly pianos and cast offs from old X Files episodes. It does everything short of"Dun Dun DUN!" when the bad guy shows up.

I don't know how much it would hold up to a repeat viewing, but The Serpent's well worth a crack if you like Tell No One, Frantic or even a bit of Dario Argento. It's not amazingly original or brilliantly made or anything like that, but it gets enough right to be an entertaining couple of hours.

Family, Love and Weddings in Contemporary India.

Mira Nair delivers an interesting and insightful alternative to traditional Bollywood fare in `Monsoon Wedding'. Contemporary India is rendered in a humorous, insightful and touching manner, in a film that revolves around an affluent family's wedding preparations for their daughter. While tackling the influence of Western culture on India's younger generation and depicting their sexual relationships, Nair's film also has nods towards a more traditional India encapsulated in the alternative wedding of a maid/servant. Similarly `Monsoon Wedding' possesses all the colour, vitality and music of any good Bollywood movie, while still satisfying a Western audience more used to love and sex depicted in a physical, rather than symbolic manner. This is an extremely touching film that embraces some presumably risqué issues for an Indian film, namely, adultery, sexual desire, and child abuse. However don't worry it all comes good in the end with a wonderfully bold, colourful and musical ending when the guests dance with gusto and all the aplomb of a Bollywood musical. One word of warning, I had to watch this film twice in order to fully appreciate its subtler aspects, and the dialogue that seems to flit between Indian languages (subtitled) and English can be difficult to follow. But persevere because this is an extremely rewarding experience.

Blood, monsters and swords

Monsters, blood, swords and the potential destruction of the world. Good stuff!

It's also most of what"Tokko" is made up with, along with a generous amount of totally gratuitous cleavage. It's fairly funny, very violent, pretty well-written and its solidly suspenseful storyline is only marred by an ending that... isn't. Almost is, but isn't.

Five years ago, a hole appeared in front of a Machida apartment complex. Savage demonic creatures emerged and slaughtered almost everyone in the building.

Ranmaru Shindo is on his first day's duty as a cop, when his team is attacked by zombies controlled by demon larvae. They're only saved by the intervention of sword-wielding cops from the mysterious division, TOKKO. One of them is a childhood friend of Ranmaru's, Sakura, who has been haunting his dreams recently.

He becomes convinced that the zombies and TOKKO are connected to the Machida massacre... and the strange tattoo that's appeared on his arm. Of course, he's right -- turns out demons are flooding into our world courtesy of a shattered alchemist's box. But thanks to demon symbiotes -- like the one on Ranmaru's arm -- TOKKO is able to fight and kill them.

So naturally Ranmaru is transferred into TOKKO, and he turns out to be stronger and more skilled than anyone suspected. But his investigations into the alchemist box and the Machida massacre become more dangerous when a sinister old man becomes involved -- and Ranmaru faces losing more than his soul.

The first half of"Tokko" is a sort of detective story wrapped in supernatural trappings, but the second half is when things really heat up. Basically, the whole world will be devoured by demons unless our heroes stop them... except they have demons in their own bodies. What a mess.

But it's a fun mess -- lots of creepy cliffhangers, spraying gore, dismembered bodies, zombies, monstrously carnivorous demons, swords, and (for the boys) utterly gratuitous boobery. And once Ranmaru settles into Tokko, things start getting even more violent than before. Basically that's the core of the series, along with the detective work.

But it has some solid atmosphere as well, especially in the second half -- Sakura fighting the"evil Ranmaru," the horrific climactic battle, and walls crawling with demons. And it has some funny dialogue, usually from Kunikida ("I was told you were hooked on a respirator in ICU, stoned out of your skull on a morphine drip, and ****ing the bed from your internal injuries!""I have a really good doctor...?").

So what's the problem? Well, there's only half an ending. The immediate storyline is nicely wrapped up in the last episode, but there are still some flapping threads. And the last few seconds drag the plot right back out. It's pretty clear they intended to continue the anime, but sadly that didn't happen.

Ranmaru is a pretty typical action-anime hero -- he's sort of boyish and cute, but can be a brutal fighter when the story demands. Sakura is a bit too mysterious to be an engaging love interest, but Kureha, Ryoko and the kooky Saya all are interesting. And Kunikida is a pretty hilarious character -- a foul-mouthed, womanizing, tough-as-nails police chief who says everything in a dull roar.

"Tokko" is all blood, skin and swords, with lots of action and an interesting detective story. Just don't expect much closure at the finale.

worth every minute!

First off, i found this a LONG movie. You definitely need the advertised 'Intermission' when it comes else it'd be easy to lose concentration and interest. Which would be a shame, because this is a fantastic movie! As a recent Bollywood convert this pretty much sums up what its all about. The dance numbers look good and are excellently choreographed, the songs are catchy..but of course the plot is what's important. At points light and absurd but at others heartbreaking, it keeps you hooked the whole way through. The acting is excellent too. a great all-rounder anybody can enjoy!

How big an anime fan are you?

I bought this recently and thought kool ... lets give it a whirl and lil peek to see how it is ... mmm .... i fell asleep (seriously) about half way through the first one, the action was so on and off all the time and the story plot i found the first time through ... you were like ... what the hell .... if this is all about karas (who are the protectors of citys, each one has there own)then why the hell is a demon killing its own kind? ... and didn't karas just get its arms sliced off?!

Anyway the first one ... graphics pretty kool, action when there is some is great and as i said its a lil on off how you follow it through ... i've watched karas about three times since and the more i watch it the more i seem to like it but hey ... i'm just odd lmao

K Karas 2 rockz ... i mean this is fast paced, hard core and the fight scenes are great ... in regards to the demons and Karas, the art work is great and they look how they oughta look ... i could not stop watching this and the build up to the end was quite a twist .... to become a karas the main charcter hasto choose if he is will to sacrifice all to save the many and he does the decision in style.

This double pack, thats what i bought, has its ups and downs but def is worth a watch and the bigger an anime fan you are ... i think personaly, the more you will get outta it.