WINDSTRUCK (2004)

I think WINDSTRUCK could be considered a spiritual sibling to MY SASSY GIRL. Not only does it feature the same director, writer, lead actress and a cameo by the lead actor, but at moments it even covers some of the same emotional ground. That said, it's a really good movie, but it cannot compare to MSG.

Ji-hyun Jun is a cop and one day she arrests the wrong man (twice) for purse snatching. Naturally, he takes a liking to her and volunteers for a police helper program and is partnered with her. After one very eventful night on patrol they are bf/gf. This is the best part of the movie. I really, really enjoyed all of their little adventures and games they play together...then things take a serious turn and it's a fucking bummer for the entire last half of the movie. I was getting fucking depressed over the whole thing then comes the final scene and it was great, I couldn't help but smile.

WINDSTRUCK is a good movie and if it had just kept the happiness of the first half going for the entire movie it would have been a classic. The sad scenes were just too much of a bummer for me.

If you like romantic comedies then it's definitely worth a watch, but only after you've watched MY SASSY GIRL a few times.

Jae-young Kwak and Ji-hyun Jun on set...

UNINVITED (2003)

This is not a horror movie, it took me about half an hour to figure this out, but it's actually a drama using images of ghosts and nightmarish memories to tell the story of two different people, both dealing with personal demons, that happen to cross paths. Jeong-won falls asleep on the subway. He suddenly wakes up and just manages to jump out the door before it closes. As he looks back in the train he see two little girls sleeping, but they don't look right...the train drives off. The next day he here's on the radio that two little girls were found dead on the train that morning. Later at work he's hit on the head. When he get's home he starts seeing visions of the little girls in his apartment.

A year ago, Yeon, saw her baby murdered and ever since she's developed narcolepsy and passes out all the time.

A few days after his accident Jeong-won is doing some work at a psychiatrist office when he sees a Yeon and she captures his attention (it doesn't hurt that she probably the most beauitful woman in the world). As fate would have it she is a parishioner at his father's church and one evening, when he's visiting his father, Jeong-won is asked to give Yeon a ride home. They slowly strike up a strange relationship and from here on out things start to get kinda fuzzy for me.

I enjoyed the story, even if Ji-hyun Jun's role was too small, and I think maybe the moral of the story is if you allow tragedy to cut you too deeply you'll end up not living the rest of your life to it's full potential. I could be completely wrong, cause these two people went through some shit that was fucking rough and I really don't see how you could easily get over something like that. Personally I would just kill myself.

Maybe I'm completely wrong. If the story sounds interesting then you should check it out, but be warned it's slow and the ending is not a happy one.

DEATH NOTE: L CHANGE THE WORLD (2008)

Yawn. This entire movie is about L. Now I like L, but without his nemesis, Light, he's kinda boring. As you remember from the end of Part 2 L wrote his own name in the Death Note saying that he would die peacefully in 23 days. This is the story of what happens during that time.

It's entertaining, but without Light or Misa (my god she was hot!) or Ryuk the whole thing is disappointing. It's like if there was an episode of "Buffy" starring only Giles. Honestly, if you're a big DEATH NOTE fan I would just skip this film, it's just going to disappoint you. As a stand alone film it's OK, but still boring. Skip it.

I guess I could tell you the plot: L has to stop some terrorist from releasing a deadly virus that will kill everybody on the planet. Of course, if he didn't burn the Death Note at the beginning of the movie he could just kill them. Then again that would be against L's morals.

Part 1
Part 2

DEATH NOTE: THE LAST NAME (2006)

What's up with that Red Hot Chili Peppers song?!  It seemed completely out of place during the closing credits of the first film, but now, not only is it in the closing titles of this second film, but it's played during the opening of the film as well!  It doesn't make any sense.  This is a Japanese language film about death and murder and they start the film with some upbeat California rock song?  It's completely out of place, but it does bring to mind a great movie game: Most Inappropriate Closing Credit Songs (that would completely ruin the mood).  A few examples:

The B-52's - "Love Shack", THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT

The Monkees - (Theme from) The Monkees, PLANET OF THE APES

DMX - "Party Up (Up In Here)", ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST

Bruce Springsteen - "Glory Days", BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN (2005)

Ghostemane - "Venom", AN AMERICAN TAIL: FIEVEL GOES WEST

The Proclaimers - "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" - THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE III (FINAL SEQUENCE)

$uicideBoy$ - "My Flaws Burn Through My Skin Like Demonic Flames from Hell, AMERICAN PIE

Papa Roach - "Last Resort", THE HOURS

Three 6 Mafia - "Who the Crunkest", LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL
They Might Be Giants - "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)", MIDSOMMAR

100 gecs - “money machine”, SAVING PRIVATE RYAN

100 gecs - “stupid horse”, THE GODFATHER

100 gecs - sympathy 4 the grinch, MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET

The J. Geils Band - “Centerfold”, HEREDITARY

Elvis Presley - “Jailhouse Rock”, THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION
Alphaville - "Forever Young", SALO, OR THE 120 DAYS OF SODOM (1975)

GFOTY - “Tongue”, FATAL ATTRACTION

The B-52's - "Rock Lobster", JAWS

Celine Dion - "My Heart Will Go On", A SERBIAN FILM
"Weird Al" Yankovic - "Eat It", LA GRANDE BOUFFE (1973)
Fleetwood Mac - "Second Hand News", THE PERFECT STORM

...the list is endless really.

Anyway, this second Death Note film starts out strong as fuck.  As you remember, the first film ended on a cliffhanger that left the viewer going "Ohhh, shit!!!", but then the second film takes the excitement even further with the introduction of a second Kira!  "Ohhh, double-shit!!!"  It's awesome.  I was on the edge of my seat for the first half of the film, but then things get overly complicated and the ending drags on forever.  It was disappointing.

I still really like this film and watch it occasionally, but usually stop about 3/4 of the way through.

Part 1 - Death Note (2006)
Part 3 - Death Note: L Change the World (2008)

THE CROOKED WAY (1949)

Eddie Rice (John Payne) has all kinds of problems. First and foremost is he’s been in a military hospital in San Francisco for the last 5 years with total amnesia thanks to a hunk of metal he got stuck in his noodle back in the big WWII. The doctors have done all they can do, so, since he enlisted in Los Angeles, the military gives him a pat on the back and a train ticket to LA. He gets to LA and literally as he’s walking out of the train depot, the coppers pick him up and take him to the police station. There they inform him that he’s a gangster and not wanted in town. As he’s leaving the police station, the “only in movies” coincidences continue and who else but his wife sees him! Naturally, she calls the local kingpin and he and his men beat the crap out of Eddie and toss him down a fire escape! Being an idiot, none of this is enough to convince Eddie to leave town. No siree Bob. As soon as he wakes up on the fire escape (probably covered in pigeon poop and cat piss), Eddie starts a one-man war with the local gangsters. And by “war”, I mean Eddie getting knocked unconscious multiple more times.

I like THE CROOKED WAY. It's a watchable older noir with cool cinematography by John Alton, but the there just isn't enough story to properly fill the runtime and Eddie is way too dumb to have any sympathy for.