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Reviews
Honogurai mizu no soko kara (2002)
Not Bad...
Not good either. I can't understand all the positive reviews on here. They must have watched a different movie than me.
Positives? The acting was pretty good. It was directed and made expertly.
Negatives? The story, the details, the pacing... most everything else. Slow and depressing are the best words to describe this mess. One bad thing after another happens. It's relentless in things going wrong. Thing after thing is piled on until the main character, the one you've been with the entire movie, dies and becomes a ghost. Then the movie tries to make it seem good because she's protecting the daughter. Then she get's to live with her a-hole father. I guess all is sunny and good now. No.
Then there are things that are bad storytelling. I dont believe that anyone would sleep through water dripping on their face. Always taking the creepy elevator when there are stairs. Leaving her daughter alone often at the wrong time. Staying in this terrible apartment. Renting it in the first place.
The flashbacks to the mom's youth were very jarring and not presented well. The first time you saw it, I was like, "who's this? This isn't Ikuko." Took research to figure that out.
Tômei ningen (1954)
Unfortunately No Happy Ending Here
I want to start off by saying that this film is available on the internet archive website to watch for free. There are two versions - one that has subtitles and the other that does not.
I like this movie and would have given it a higher rating if it had a happy ending - or one that wasn't this down. The poor blind girl is really put through the wringer. She is not going to get a break in this movie. However, I do believe that this movie is quite well made and has good story. It's definitely got heart, and I like that, but it doesn't follow it through. Why couldn't he get the singer, they adopt the girl, and then live happily ever after? The people of Japan must really like their downer endings. I don't think that girl is getting her music box.
Along with good acting, there are some good effects here. Eiji Tsuburaya is just starting to make his name known with Godzilla, but this is good also. Not a lot of effects, but they work well.
This is one of four altered human movies of the Showa Era produced by Toho - at least that I know of. They are this one along with The Secret of the Telegian, The Human Vapor, and the H-Man. I enjoyed all of them and all are worth a watch. Not sure which I enjoyed most. This one is different from the others because the affected man is actually a good person. You can't say that about the others.
Kyûteî Hanî: The Live (2007)
Good but could have been better...
I just watched all 26 episodes on blu-ray - buy quick while it's still reasonably priced. Mikie Hara is great as Honey - beautiful, upbeat, and fills out the costume as you would expect one to do if they are playing Cutie Honey. I liked Eriko Sato as Honey in the 2004 movie better and I liked that movie better overall; however, this series obviously gives more depth to the characters being 26 episodes versus the 90-some-minute film.
I like the addition of the "sisters" here. There is a good dynamic here and it gives Honey something and someone to work off of here rather than just villains. Nat is more of a minor character here. I liked her, but they could have done more with her. Seiji, the detective best friend, started off OK, but became annoying very quickly. He is really the only one who over-acts. Sure, the action is over-the-top and rediculous most of the time. The girls are all fine actors and do a good job carrying the series despite Seiji's terrible performances. Maybe he's a good actor and we have to blame the director and writers - I don't know.
There is some lazy writing to be found here. Some weak story lines where the characters have to be stupid to make the story work - existance tax, really?! And there was another story with a problem that could have been solved by the characters just talking to each other. The computerized effects are weak, but the make-up and practical stunts are good for the most part.
I found myself liking the dynamic between the "sisters" a lot and that is the best part about this series. Mikie Hara is great as I said, but I found myself liking Miki's (Ayame Misaki) character best. She is quite different than Honey and that is a good contrast. She was a more downbeat and dark person, and probably more relatable.
The ending was OK... I won't spoil it here, but I was hoping for a different ending. I predicted some of how it ended, but not all. I would recommend this; however, I would recommend watching the 2004 movie first. I like Honey much better in live action and would like seeing a higher budget, more serious adaptation of this material. Of course, we still need a happy-go-lucky Honey.
Esupai (1974)
Not Bad...
Just watched this movie for the first time and it was OK. It was in Japanese with English subtitles which, in my opinion, is the only way to watch foreign live-action movies. To explain the missing scenes in the English dub, I'll give a more accurate account. Yoshio is bound to a chair while a mesmerised Maria is dancing in a very sexy outfit and one of the bad guys comes to her and they start to kiss, but Yoshio gets enraged by this and rips out his tongue. Which is why the bad guy is wearing a mask. This action also breaks Maria out of her trance. Later you see a flashback scene where Maria is remembering and her shirt gets ripped open in the flashback. Seems unecessary and stuck in the movie just to have a topless scene. She looked great in the sexy outfit and we didn't reallty need this.
The movie, as you might suspect, has some unbelievable scenes and it really feels these were not needed to be shown in this way. The first scene in the movie where the bad guy shoots 4 people on a moving train when he had limited mobility sitting in a car. Also, ESP and Telekinesis are one thing(s), but they went as far as teleportation and that was just a conveinient plot device that could have been avoided.
On the positive side, the movie has a James Bond feel and you do have some globe trotting and an over-the-top performance by your head bad guy. There is also some surprising violence. A gun that looks like it blows people to pieces when you see it happens but then in the aftermath, they are just bloody with normal gunshot wounds.