The Housemaid (2010)

Official Zhuk Rating: 6.9 bananas

fun to watch, a bit too slow at times, slightly unrealistic, yet intriguing.

surprising ending for a revenge part of the movie, probably the most poorly thought out revenge in all Korean movies.

at one point during our viewing YinYin had to check how much running time is left in the film, because compared to an average Korean revenge stuff there was not enough time, hence the bad ending of the film. it simply needed more time and thought to complete it.

Bedevilled (2010)

Official Zhuk Rating: 8.1 bananas

User Reviews

Wherever you go ...

15 November 2010 | by kosmasp – See all my reviews

It is difficult to describe the movie. Actually to describe what is attractive and/or exciting about the movie for me. You could say that it begins more than slow, but will build up and be very disturbing toward the end. I'm not gonna give anything away from the story, but if you have seen some Korean movies, you might know what you are getting yourself into here!

It is sort of a character study and a very weird and dark social commentary to (if you want it to be). I liked the group dynamic, I liked the grey tones, I liked that it was different. I can't guarantee though that you will like it. And it might not be the ideal choice to start getting to know Korean cinema.

Epic Day

The day started with 4 bad nightmares during sleep.

But ended up being an awesome day with good company.

Awesome "love, love time" at The G.I., minus one small "short white shorts" incident.

After some good snacks and long walk, we met up with VFS and 50!

Our evening started at the 50's headquarters with some great banana peels.

Democracy ruled and we ended up walking to a Japanese restaurant.

Had a ton of meats and downed four beers each with 50!

\

Oh, almost done with season of the most literally epic TV show ever. The Game Of Thrones! Such an exciting and high budget series. Can not wait to see the season finale!

Almost forgot this,

Big Game Season 2:

The Banana Tree

Official Zhuk Rating: 9/10 bananas

Pretentious crap

by bcherkaski (Wed Jun 1 2011 14:28:54) Ignore this User | Report Abuse Omg I can't believe I wasted two hours of my life over this. Ok, the middle part (where there was actual ACTING and a STORY) was bearable - but all that crap in the beginning and the end and those stupid whispers. All the "artsy" pretentious crap really made me want to move to the next door theater where the Hangover 2 was showing....

Re: Pretentious crap

by alaska69504 (Wed Jun 1 2011 15:06:02) Ignore this User | Report Abuse Yeah, too bad he didn't put "Omg" in the modern part of the film. That wouldn't have been pretentious. Pretentious is the kneejerk word every collegeboy tool uses when something goes for the mind and not just the genitals. Once in a while it is the right word, in this case, given the true definition, it's quite inappropriate and again merely a kneejerk word. Terry Malick was translating Heidegger when most people are consumed with how to score a six pack and where to park their uglies for eight or ten seconds. He has a proven track record of taking on big questions with vision, artistry, tenderness and courage. Like other magnificent artists, artists who take risks to find something new under the sun, he is not for everyone or for all times and situations. Tree Of Life in particular takes risks, has embarrassing moments, and could have been better given more time than the film business ever allows anyone. The mere fact that so many people, including many with decades of discriminating taste, are finding so much good and special in this film, whatever the nitpicks may be, more or less removes the massively overused word of pretentious from being a helpful or useful or anywhere near correct critique. Ponderous? Of course, in part. Enigmatic? Maybe. Need more viewings before you could ever decry that. Bombastic? I thought the music was in the beginning parts, but I withhold judgment until I see it more times. We have that rare filmmaker who really wants to take on the very and ultimately unknowable mysteries of creation, incarnation, family, love, deity and soul. That rare artist who goes beyond language and typical cinematic tools of inquiry--who really wants "acting" all the time, it's rank fakery in the end--to seek meaning and guidance during an increasingly tragic era of inestimable loss and suffering when the very species itself is on the brink of collapse or some new, perhaps even more compromised survival. Yes, you wasted your time. Yes, the whispers and tree shots have become too rote in Terry's films and no one has yet explained why this supremely talented and intelligent man and the great geniuses he works with have not disabused him of the notion that he should use such tropes so often. Yet, he has the courage of his own convictions and vision. He isn't trying to please us first, this is anything but a work of entertainment--which confuses and perplexes and baffles those who really only want that, even when they think they are taking in a more highbrow film or piece of music or work of literature. Malick wants us to experience his journey with these questions so that we might have something resembling a more aspected roadmap for our own journey up Calvary or out into the Cosmos, for most of life doesn't offer any such thing, just junk food and deceptions and the products of greed and mindless titillation. This film is a means, not an end. There will be many who don't appreciate it for that reason alone. Pretentious will be the word used most. Our schools and churches and even most of our art just doesn't offer any real help with the mysteries anymore, but you needn't like the film, and complaints and criticisms can be valid. Yet to damn the film on IMDB with near-meaningless and arguably incorrect cliches like "artsy" and "pretentious" while very barely providing one single minor example of the spoken tone of a fragment of dialog probably reveals a lot more about your pretensions and faculties than Terry Malick's. Forgive if I seem ad hominem, that's not the case, but I'm just tired of jejune observations and the obvious, worn out cliche words used to advance them over and over again. They waste time. My advice is never to attend another Malick film as long as you live, don't read Heidegger or Wittgenstein, avoid Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot like the AIDS, and try not to listen to anything beyond 4/4 time and without a partially clad singer. There's a whole ton of what any Tom, Dick or Harry might term pretentiousness out there waiting to defile your sensibilities. To put it all another way: Omg, whatEVER, better luck with Hangover 2! + User Reviews 7 June 2011 | by ruiresende84 (ruiresende84@gmail.com) (Porto, Portugal) – See all my reviews How do you watch such a film? You've got to lower any defenses you have. You've got to not allow yourself to try to make a sense out of everything you see. You've got to take it all, and let it enter you, just as smoothly as the film enters dinosaurs, cells, planetary evolution, or a simple living room of a troubled family. Make no judgements, consider nothing except the pure experience of being there, wherever the film takes you. Search no explanation, for there was no real rational reason other than intuition for images to be as they are. Imagine a film about everything, with a remote storyline that talks about every theme, in every possible time of the world. Imagine a film without a beginning or an ending. Circular meta-narratives, where you can pick up on any spot (i mean any) and you can create whatever inner narrative you want. A sky of images (like the mosaic poster of the film) where you can pick your own choices, and create whatever story you like. Or you can choose to frame the more palpable story visible in the film in whatever fashion you want. Up to you. The challenge is that you have to test the limits of your own imagination to live the film in its full extent. Nothing is predefined. Go wherever you want. Now imagine all that delivered by someone who spent his entire film life trying to walk around the idea of plain old narrative layering. The absolute master of unrelated narratives, of off-screen details. The man who films hands and corn fields when he wants to say love; Who shoots the universe to build one of the most powerful expressions of intimacy, of mind's solitude in the film world. Contrast. I don't know if this is the best film ever made. It probably is the strongest experience in film world that i got first hand, while it was coming out, new. What is it? a film inside Sean Penn's head? a Story framed in the universe? part of it? metaphor for it? I've heard a lot about how this film is a kind of 2001. I don't think so. Kubrick and Malick are 2 different kinds, 2 different approaches, purposes, different process, and different outcomes. Kubrick bends narratives to a point of perfection. Obsessive. Chess leaked all over filmmaking. Malick is the other end of the stick. Pure visual intuition, enhanced by Malick's intellectual background. Just because both directors are little fond of public appearances, and because both this and 2001 feature planets, that doesn't bring the films closer. In 1963, Cortázar published one of the most important books of the last century, Hopscotch. The title of this comment is related to its original title, in Spanish. I think this film and that book have similar aspirations. Trace your path, you have the chapters, but you have to make an order out of them. How this is done is in pure mastery of every tool of film conception. Every image counts, each shot was taken care with competence and passion, each frame, each camera move - Lubezki has worked with Malick, Iñarritu, Cuarón. Each collaboration adds a lot to what is being done. He really can read the director's aspirations, and deliver nothing short of mastery. At this time he has entered enough important projects to be considered one of the best cinematographers ever.The editing is world class. Every cut, whether the space virtual shots or the family scenes, matter to the narrative, whatever that is. What takes this to a whole new level is how, in this film, Malick tops his already incredible leverage of music. Editing has always equally present the visual as well as the sound scapes. Watch it, let it get absorbed. This film demands an incredible lot from you, as viewer. It demands that you be a different person after watching you, that indeed you may change your generic approach to film- watching, or at least that you accommodate in you a new way to watch films. On a basic level it's about Malick's intuitions. On another level, it's about what you get on screen. But ultimately it's all about how you place yourself in the universe proposed. My opinion: 5/5 http://www.7eyes.wordpress.com

Martyrs (2008)

On the very simple level a horror film that makes you sweat and hold on very tight!

Yet the first half of it can be a complete wash or at least shortened by a lot.

Well, the whole film can be a short feature.

Because there is only one topic and it all unravels in the ending.

Good question (answer) raised by the director. But it is nothing new to me personally. Although i am very glad it made me think a little deeper.

Made me immune to about 99% of horrorfilms.

DonSnowblood 1 month ago 46

...whispers something like, "My suffering is pointless, for I am nothing except a human who has lived among other humans on a small planet in a universe of infinite grandeur and scale. My material life is over, but this affects little now that I have been forced out of it by your insane attempts to contact a higher power that does not exist; there is a higher existence to be sure, but it is only comprehensible in terms of an understanding of nature that stretches through space-time far, far beyond the narrow expanse in which we exist. Here, now, for humans...there is only the value of humanity and there is only the meaning that our own valuation of ourselves and others provides. You have beaten that value out of me; I am nothing now, aside from some matter that is best understood on this larger scale. My suffering is over, for you have removed any humanity - and this any values or concerns I might have had - from me. But in the process you have violated all that could be of meaning to humans in this life, and there is no existence for the human soul after this life has been stripped away from us. So your experiments have been nothing more than exercises in brutality, pursued in the name of a non-existent God under the assumption of a false metaphysics. I have seen what lies beyond, and it is grand. But your efforts in this life have been pointless; as a human, which is all you ever could or will be, you have been a villainous murderer; on a grander scale, you are just some matter or energy locally concentrated in a small region of space-time; the "you" you think of is nothing at all, really, and is as much a part of a false ontology as the god in whose name you confusedly believe to exist"

i love this game

Game 2 of the NBA Finals started as a showcase of the talents that Heat have:

but everyone seemed to forger this man, and its should be hard to do so based on what he did in these playoffs so far:

MVP! MVP! M-V-P!

eM wE pE

Congratz!

Night Time May 21st, 2011

Time. Privacy. No, not really.

Death. Closer.

Push. Push. Push. Away!

Sacrifices. Tough.

Honesty. Yes. Communication. Work-In-Progress.

All Is Well.

Maturity. Understanding. Prevails.

I Saw the Devil (2010)

Official Zhuk Rating: 8.1/10 bananas

Haunting but beautiful.

18 November 2010 | by inkgrenade (Canada) – See all my reviews

Whenever I see a negative review of "I Saw the Devil", the critic always mentions (scornfully) that the movie is ultra violent and portrays women in horrifying circumstances. Yes it is, and yes it does.

But this isn't a Hollywood slasher flick. The kills in this movie are not gratifying and aren't meant to be. The women being killed are not scantily clad models running through forests from men wearing masks. There is nothing pleasant or "cool" about these scenes; they make the viewer uncomfortable, they unsettle, they bring one's mind into very dark places. It gives us a peek into the madness that every man is capable of, and does so realistically and without pulling its punches. This brutal realism makes people uncomfortable, and prompts negative reviews. This is understandable, but unfortunate. I believe that a movie should be judged on more than the amount of blood the viewer is comfortable seeing on-screen. To these people, please, do not watch Korean revenge thrillers if you are uncomfortable with torture or blood.

But enough of that rambling. This movie is excellent. Beautiful cinematography contrasts the stark, dimly lit scenes where the murders, or gritty fight scenes, occur. The camera work is simple but effective; the viewer is often treated to close-ups of both Byung-hun Lee and Mik-sik Choi, and their facial expressions tell us more than dialogue ever could. There is also contrast between Lee and Choi. Lee, clean and stoic, and Choi, filthy and madly expressive. They compliment each other very well, and play off of each others strengths effectively.

The story itself is typical of revenge films, but fantastic in its execution. Lee's character experiences a profound loss at the hands of Choi's character, and in the process of seeking revenge begins to resemble the man he so hates. The line between "victim" and "aggressor" becomes blurred between both characters. This is where the film shines. There is no black and white in "I Saw the Devil"; the viewer is left with shades of grey.

As for the acting, it was all done very well. As I mentioned, Lee and Choi work well together, and all supporting cast members did an excellent job. Choi portrays his character in an incredibly convincing manner, shifting suddenly from calmness to manic anger, but never in a way that feels unnatural or forced. Lee's character is quiet and much less expressive, but he does very well in showing immense amounts of emotion through just his eyes or subtle movements of his body. A memorable performance from them both.

As for flaws, the only thing I can think of is the strange, perhaps unrealistic behaviour of the police. Lee is a member of the NIS, and is very skilled when it comes to remaining hidden, but that shouldn't make him untouchable when directly provoking police officers or driving on the wrong side of the street. Still, though, it's a very trivial complaint that isn't worth a deducted point.

A confident 10/10 from me. If you are comfortable seeing serial murder portrayed realistically, and are able to appreciate more than just gore, please, do yourself a favour and watch this film.

Koreans and their revenge stories!

They have truly made an art out of this genre.

Ever since the "Oldboy" i have seen a lot of them.

This one does top it all, not in an emotional way as "Oldboy" did, but is the visual violence and horror.

Can't wait till i get to see "Chaser"

In My Own Way

or as the original name by the author:

Coincidence of Opposites

by Alan Watts

How To Train Your Dragon*

Official Zhuk Rating: 7.84 bananas

v.v.zhuk

so what?
it is February the eleventh, two thousand eleven.

days run on each other as a sweet blur of weightlessness.
one could see his own life going by this way with a smile on his deathbed.

(to be continued)

e.e.cummings

since feeling is first
who pays any attention
to the syntax of things
will never wholly kiss you;

wholly to be a fool
while Spring is in the world

my blood approves,
and kisses are a better fate
than wisdom
lady i swear by all flowers. Don't cry
- the best gesture of my brain is less than
your eyelids' flutter which says

we are for each other; then
laugh, leaning back in my arms
for life's not a paragraph

And death i think is no parenthesis

I am a dreamer, and there is two (+) of us...

What is trust?

How is it measured?

Does it change knowing that it has a high chance of being broken? (just based on the facts of human relations and history)

Are we really that simple and at the same time loving animals that we do it over and over again?

Like a salmon that swims upstream only to die at the end?

I love fairy tales written in the country of Beetlejuice.

Cue in John Lennon!

Blue "Real" Valentine

The Official Zhuk Rating: 9.1/10 bananas

camera work!

acting!

reality!

music!

Higher Level of "Like"?!?

Marley Who? Bob!

I wanna love you and treat you right;
I wanna love you every day and every night:
We'll be together with a roof right over our heads;
We'll share the shelter of my single bed;
We'll share the same room, yeah! - for Jah provide the bread.
Is this love - is this love - is this love -
Is this love that I'm feelin'?
Is this love - is this love - is this love -
Is this love that I'm feelin'?
I wanna know - wanna know - wanna know now!
I got to know - got to know - got to know now!

I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I - I'm willing and able,
So I throw my cards on your table!
I wanna love you - I wanna love and treat - love and treat you right;
I wanna love you every day and every night:
We'll be together, yeah! - with a roof right over our heads;
We'll share the shelter, yeah, oh now! - of my single bed;
We'll share the same room, yeah! - for Jah provide the bread.

Is this love - is this love - is this love -
Is this love that I'm feelin'?
Is this love - is this love - is this love -
Is this love that I'm feelin'?
Wo-o-o-oah! Oh yes, I know; yes, I know - yes, I know now!
Yes, I know; yes, I know - yes, I know now!

I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I - I'm willing and able,
So I throw my cards on your table!
See: I wanna love ya, I wanna love and treat ya -
Love and treat ya right.
I wanna love you every day and every night:
We'll be together, with a roof right over our heads!
We'll share the shelter of my single bed;
We'll share the same room, yeah! Jah provide the bread.
We'll share the shelter of my single bed -

Happy January 17th, 2011!

i am yours now

i don't ever want to leave

i've been found out...

The xx

VCR, DVD, BlueRay, Window, Blank Space, Sunset, Sunrise, etc...

You, you still have all the answers

and you, you still have them too

and we, we live half in the day time

and we, we live half at night

Watch things on VCRs, with me and talk about big love

I think we're superstars, you say you think we are the best thing

But you, you just know, you just do

When i find myself by the sea, in another's company by the sea

When I go out the pier, gonna die and have no fear

Because you, you just know, you just do

Watch things on VCRs, with me and talk about big love

I think we're superstars, you say you think we are the best thing

But you, you just know, you just do

Every Day Is a Present!

Games, changes and fears

When will they go from here

When will they stop

I belive that fate has brought us here

And we should be together babe

But we're not

I play it off, but I'm dreaming of you

And I'll try to keep my cool, but I'm feenin'

I try to say goodbye and I choke

Try to walk away and I stumble

Though I try to hide it, it's clear

My world crumbles when you are not here

Goodbye and I choke

I try to walk away and I stumble

Though I try to hide it, it's clear

My world crumbles when you are not here

I may appear to be free

But I'm just a prisoner of your love

And I may seem all right and smile when you leave

But my smiles are just a front

Just a front, hey

I play it off, but I'm dreaming of you

And I'll try to keep my cool, but I'm feenin'

I try to say goodbye and I choke

Try to walk away and I stumble

Though I try to hide it, it's clear

My world crumbles when you are not here

Goodbye and I choke

I try to walk away and I stumble

Though I try to hide it, it's clear

My world crumbles when you are not here

Here is my confession

May I be your possession

Boy, I need your touch

Your love, kisses and such

With all my might I try

But this I can't deny

Deny

I play it off, but I'm dreaming of you

(but I'm dreaming of you babe)

And I'll keep my cool, but I'm feenin'

I try to say goodbye and I choke (yeah)

Try to walk away and I stumble

Though I try to hide, it's clear

My world crumbles when you are not near

(when you are not near aahh)

Goodbye and I choke (yeah, yeah, yeah)

I try to walk away and I stumble (hey, hey, hey)

Though I try to hide it, it's clear (say it Lord)

My world crumbles when you are not here

Goodbye and I choke (I'm choking)

I try to walk away and I stumbe

Though I try to hide it, it's clear

My world crumbles when you are not near

(when you are not near, yeah, yeah yeah)

Yeah, yeah..

The One And Only I.M.

Start wearing purple wearing purple
Start wearing purple for me now
All your sanity and wits they will all vanish
I promise, it's just a matter of time...

So yeah, ha

Start wearing purple wearing purple (he)
Start wearing purple for me now
All your sanity and wits they will all vanish
I promise, it's just a matter of time...

I know you since you where at twenty, and I was twenty,
but thought that some years from now
a purple little little lady would be perfect
for dirty old and useless clown...

So yeah, ha

Start wearing purple wearing purple
Start wearing purple for me now
All your sanity and wits they will all vanish
I promise, it's just a matter of time...

So yeah, I know it all from Diogenes to the Foucault
from Lozgechkin to Passepartout
I ja kljanus obossav dva paltza - chto ty!
shto muzyka poshla ot "zvukov moo"


Start wearing purple wearing purple (da da da da da)
Start wearing purple for me now

Start wearing purple for me now!

All your sanity and wits they will all vanish
I promise, it's just a matter of time...

So Vio-Vio-Violetta! Etta! Va-va-va-vaja dama ti moja!
Eh podayte nam karetu, vot etu, i mi poedem k ebenjam!

So yeah, ah start wearing purple wearing purple
Start wearing purple for me now
All your sanity and wits, they will all vanish
I promise, it's just a matter of time!...

In 2 Deep

When your alarm clock wakes you up at 5 o clock in the morn and realize that there was a snowstorm over night and that you have to go to work in half an hour, but first you got to shovel your driveway, and it's cold and wet, and then go to work to shovel the walkway there,

You're in 2 deep

You go on fb and tell people about how you cooked for NHL players at work and describe how "buff" they were and "big eyes" they had,

You're in 2 deep

If you drafted Chauncey Billups with the 3rd overall pick in the first round of your fantasy draft before John Wall and Rudy Gay,

You're in 2 deep

If you go x-country skiing for the first time and you go up big a$$ hills and wonder why the easy course is so difficult, and then when you get to the top you find out that you're actually on the black diamond,

You're in 2 deep

Johan Blaze If you spent 10 years in post-secondary and you are still working for less than 20 bux an hour...lol naaaaaaaah I won't go there just yet!

For Musika Lovers

This is the most amazing blog:

http://hypem.com/#!/zeitgeist/2010/

In 2009 i found out about this and have learned to love so much more bands and different styles of music. They post 50 best albums of the year and you can actually listen to all of them from there!

Down Time

this will never end

cause i want more

more, give me more, give me more

this will never end

cause i want more

more, give me more, give me more

if i had a heart i could love you

if i had a voice i would sing

after the night when i wake up

i'll see what tomorrow brings

if i had a voice i would sing

dangling feet from window frame

will i ever ever reach the floor?

more, give me more, give me more

crushed and filled with all i found underneath and inside

just to come around

more, give me more, give me more

if i had a voice i would sing

"SMD"

Night Time, Day Time!

if you did not laugh or at least smile at some of these...