herbiehancock

Original Title : ...All the Marbles Year : 1981 Director : Robert Aldrich Writer : Mel Frohman IMDb : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081964/ Genre : Drama, Wrestling synopsis: Harry manages The California Dolls, a female wrestling tag team endlessly touring America. He is also romantically involved with one of them. Their fortunes seem on the slide (particularly when Harry accepts an engagement involving mud wrestling!) but then the big grudge match beckons. Oh what could have been. I'm sure I have said that about films on my blog before, but it really applies to ...All the Marbles. This film was on the verge several times of being something special, but some tragic editing left it feeling very, very unfulfilling. There are so many stories here that are touched upon, but never are they taken anywhere. Harry ( Peter Falk ) and Iris' ( Vicki Frederick ) apparent love affair. Molly's ( Laurene Landon ) entire background and drug problem. Harry's problems with gambling. The t...

Original Title : Night and the City Year : 1950 Director : Jules Dassin Writer : Jo Eisinger (screenplay), Gerald Kersh (novel) IMDb : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042788/ Genre : Crime, Wrestling synopsis: Harry Fabian (Richard Widmark) is a London hustler with ambitious plans that never work out. One day, when he encounters the most famous Greco-Roman wrestler in the world, Gregorius, at a London wrestling arena run by his son Kristo, he dreams up a scheme that he thinks will finally be his ticket to financial independence. As Fabian attempts to con everyone around him to get his scheme to work, he of course only ends up conning himself. I'm really stretching out this wrestling theme... Jesus Christ! I stumbled across Night and the City late in my wrestling film search game, and I have to say that this is not the sort of film one would expect in the genre. If you've been reading the reviews of these I have written, you will understand this definitely. Night and the City is ...

Original Title : Yeokdosan Year : 2004 Director : Hae-sung Song Writer : Hae-sung Song IMDb : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0435931/ Genre : Drama, Sport Biography synopsis: A chronicle of the life of Korean-born wrestler Rikidozan, who, after being barred from Japanese wrestling because of his ethnic origins, became a sensation in the United States in the 1950s and then the father or pro-wrestling and a national hero in Japan. After my huge intro a couple days ago, I'll bet you were expecting Body Slam or something, yeah? Well, I am using Foul King as a jumping off point into the world of pro-wrestling cinema and diving immediately into another Korean wrestling film, this one a serious drama. Serious dramas like Rikidozan, similarly to The Wrestler from 2008, are few and far between. This is due to the fact probably that pro-wrestling really isn't taken seriously (and probably rightfully so) by most people. Usually a serious wrestling story will be one of the shady underside of...

Original Title : Milyang Year : 2007 Director : Chang-dong Lee Writer : Chang-dong Lee , Chong-jun Yi (novel) IMDb : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0817225/ Genre : Drama synopsis: Sin-ae moves with her son Jun to Miryang, the town where her dead husband was born. As she tries to come to herself and set out on new foundations, another tragic event overturns her life. Two things on the top here... One, I am not exactly sure how to review this film. The major plot points are really the shifts in the main character's "religious journey" instead of just events happening. For this reason, you may want to assume that there are spoilers contained within. I will try my best though to keep it spoiler-free. To be fair though, it is difficult to spoil this film as the performances are the driving force as opposed to the actual events. Secondly, the posters for this film are goddamn atrocious. This is the most understated, quiet Kang-ho Song film I will review here. In trying to figure...

Original Title : Salinui chueok Year : 2003 Director : Joon-ho Bong Writer : Joon-ho Bong , Kwang-rim Kim , Sung Bo Shim IMDb : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0353969/ Genre : Crime, Drama synopsis: South Korea in 1986 under the military dictatorship: Two rural cops and a special detective from the capital investigate a series of brutal rape murder. Their crude measures become more desperate with each new corpse found. Based on a true case. Kang-ho Song month, limited as it may be, rolls on with another fantastic entry in Memories of Murder. This film, for various reasons, took me forever to finally finish, at no fault whatsoever to the film itself. But I am so glad I finally finished it today! Since it is his month here afterall, we will start with Mr. Song and his again phenomenal performance. He plays a rural detective, Doo-man Park, who is a little chubby, a little lazy, and a little too sure of his investigative skills. What has fallen into his lap in his little Korean village is a s...

Before I begin here, I want to thank Mr. Coffin Jon of Varied Celluloid (a weekly genre-centric videocast on Livestream) and Large William of The Gentlemen's Guide to Midnite Cinema for helping me out with Korean name structure (?) this week. I honestly had no clue which name was first or last, and was calling people by their first names instead of last simply out of confusion. So Mr. SONG, this is your theme month. And Jon and Will, this review is dedicated to you both! Original Title : Gongdong gyeongbi guyeok JSA Year : 2000 Director : Chan-wook Park Writer : Seong-san Jeong , Hyeon-seok Kim , Mu-yeong Lee , Chan-wook Park , Sang-yeon Park (novel "DMZ") IMDb : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0260991/ Genre : Drama synopsis: In the DMZ separating North and South Korea, two North Korean soldiers have been killed, supposedly by one South Korean soldier. But the 11 bullets found in the bodies, together with the 5 remaining bullets in the assassin's magazine clip, amount...