What Asian film should I watch tonight?

[Dominic]

Bullet in the Head is awesome - an epic, like The Deer Hunter.

[diebitter]

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Bullet in the Head is awesome - an epic, like The Deer Hunter.

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Yah, I know it's awesome, just doesn't seem well known, from the voting [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

And, darn, I can't find it or Tae Guk Gi now! [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] I did find Lady Snowblood and Five Fingers of Death though, which I should have put in the vote.

Talk about a cock-up [img]/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img]

[ditto]

Battle Royale - top

or the Japanese version of the ring : Ringu

[Blarg]

Tae Guk Gi is probably the best of those by a considerable margin, but I haven't seen all of them, just almost all. Serious stuff, though.

Ong Bak is good fun, but sometimes feels a bit like recycled Jackie Chan.

The remake of Zatoichi is really a lot of fun. The tapdance scene in the end is, well, inexplicable and incredibly long.

Hero is great fun and visually absolutely incredible, but feels a bit artificial in its construction.

Bullet in the Head I have to see again. Everybody loves it but it didn't wow me, and it sounds like I'm the only guy it didn't. I suppose I should sit through it again to see if that changes.

Audition, I didn't see, and I didn't see the first Zatoichi, either.

For all around good film, I'd put Tae Guk Gi substantially above all the ones here that I have seen. It's quite moving, and the action scenes are the best I've ever seen in a war flick by a very, very long way. They leave the ones in Saving Private Ryan in the dust, for me. Much more concentrated and intimate, less patchy switching around for effect. You really see the thing itself, not an idea of it or presentation of it, in comparison. Absolutely convincing.

[diebitter]

So, Hero wins. Thanks for all the comments, they'll inform my decision about what order to watch the rest in.

Thanks all!

Infernal Affairs is an absolute must-see. They're remaking it with Damon, DiCaprio, Jack Nicholson and Martin Sheen, and I don't see how the new one can possibly compete.

Gary

[Olof]

Audition, then you'll get to see the lovely lady in my avatar in action.

[pryor15]

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old boy

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off-topic, my rommate's friend was over last night and he brought this guy he knows b/c he needed a ride. anyway, the guy's really creepy and seems to think i enjoy his company. i very clearly don't. so i'm reading 2+2 and this guy comes in and sits on my bed (b/c it's the only thing to sit on in my room) and starts talking to me about this movie for an hour and a half. dude just wouldn't leave, even though i wasn't contributing anything to the conversation and wasn't even looking in his direction. hell, i don't even know what color shirt he was wearing. it was really annoying.

[Blarg]

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Infernal Affairs is an absolute must-see. They're remaking it with Damon, DiCaprio, Jack Nicholson and Martin Sheen, and I don't see how the new one can possibly compete.

Gary

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Hmm thanks for the heads up. I went to check the netflix customer reviews on it and all but the third got rave reviews. The third got average reviews but was said to wrap up all the loose ends well. So I put all three on my list.

[Luzion]

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Audition, I didn't see, and I didn't see the first Zatoichi, either./quote]

Just to clarify, there were over 25 Zatoichi movies made. I think almost all of them were in black and white. I got a chance to watch a bunch of them on IFC. The new one isnt bad either, though I thought the choice to use CG blood was a little weird.

I recommend Tae Guk Gi. Someone also proposed Infernal Affairs and even though its not on the poll, I recommend that too.