The Flowers of War Review

The world has so much history to offer that seeing a movie tell a story about a horrible event in history can leave you speechless and pondering over why things like that could happen. The movie ‘The Flowers of War’  did just that, it made me feel speecheless. Telling an emotional story about the rape of Nanking in 1937 and the brutal nature of an invading army and the inhumane behavior the army conducted towards civilians.

John Miller played by Christian Bale

The story starts with an American mortician named John Miller played by Academy Award winner Christian Bale. Who is sent to Nanking to prepare the body of a father of a church, but arrives during the time when the Japanese army invades the capital of China, Nanking. John barely survives and finds himself stranded in a church full of school girls and a bunch of prostitutes who took refuge in the church. Eventually, the Japanese army enters the church and begins hunting down the school girls to conduct sexual pleasures. John struggles with this and tries to put a stop to it by pretending to be the father of the church to stop the Japanese soliders, but is ignored.

Yu Mo played by Ni Ni

After further events the Japanese army leaves them in peace until the Japanese Chief Commander requests the presence of the school girls to attend a celebration. John refuses but is given no choice in the matter. John knows full well what will happen to the school girls, so he moves ahead with his escape plans, which leads to the sacrifice of the women he falls in love with named Yu Mo played by Ni Ni.  

This is an emotional story about the struggles of a bunch of church school girls and prostitutes and the sacrifices they made to keep each other safe. There are moments in this movie you are left with watery eyes and full of anger. In some parts of the movie I was left speechless. I could not believe this was allowed to happen back then, but then again, inhumane actions towards civilians still happens today.

Overall, the cast presented a captivating, heartwarming performance that left you feeling remorse, anger and sadness throughout the movie. ‘The Flowers of War’ is a must watch for it is a dramatic portrayal of a horrific time we should never forget.

I give ‘The Flowers of War’ an imp score of 4 out 4 smiles.  Excellent entertainment. A must watch!

Sector 7 Review

Being a fan of movies I get cravings for certain movie genres and I get into this phase where I start exploring the internet for movies I may be curious about. A few nights back I was interested in watching a monster/horror movie and I came across this movie called ‘Sector 7’. 

Sector 7 is a South Korean movie about a crew of oil workers stationed on an oil platform somewhere in the ocean seas. The movie starts off with a flashback about an oil exploration that goes wrong. Several years later a new expedition begins in the same location in the area called Sector 7. 

Cha played by Ji-won Ha 

The movie casts a number of unknowns, along with a lead actress named Ji-won Ha who plays the main character Cha / Hae-jun. Cha is obsessed in finding oil and making it big. After several attempts, she and the captain don’t see eye to eye and the captain informs the crew the project will be closing down. Cha is furious and declares she will stay and continue the search for oil. This causes tensions with the captain and the arrival of Cha’s uncle, who has a past history with Sector 7. Leading to events that brings a path of death, chaos and a monster hunting for prey.

The cast didn’t do a bad job; it’s the lack of blood, gore and scary moments that made this movie feel like it was rated G. The monster was creative, but lacked a menacing and horrible presence. The monster attacks could have used a bit more creativity, blood and gore. I don’t believe I ever noticed the tentacles being used as a weapon except to grab people. Oh, wait! There was one moment where it stabbed someone to grab them, but that was mostly it. And I don’t believe I noticed anyone getting mauled or torn apart visually by the monster. The TV show, ‘The Walking Dead’ had better cinematic gore with zombies than this movie. That’s pretty sad given a TV show can out shine a movie in the gore department.

Overall, it was an ok movie, with great action scenes to make it worth renting. However, Sector 7 was to timid to be considered a horror movie, and to mild to be a monster thriller that I am used to watching. Also note this is a foreign movie with subtitles. If you don't enjoy reading during a movie, then I would consider skipping this movie.

I give ‘Sector 7’ an imp score of 2 out of 4 smiles.

Elite Squad: The Enemy Within Review

It's always exciting to watch a foreign movie with subtitles, especially a crime thriller that's new. We have so many crime shows in the US its getting so saturated that we are seeing less refreshing stories. I am not saying Elite Squad is a ground breaking story, for we have seen this type of story told many times. What probably makes this movie so enjoyable is the different atmosphere it presents and a glimpse of what crime could be like in a different country.

Elite Squad: The Enemy Within is a foreign crime, drama, thriller that escalates with a bloody invasion of the BOPE in the High-Security Penitentiary Bangu 1 in Rio de Janeiro. The incident gets criticized when the skull officer in charge Lieutenant-Colonel Roberto Nascimento played by Wagner Moura and his second in command Captain Andre Matias played by Andre Ramiro are accused by the Human Rights member Diogo Fraga for unjust executions of prisoners. This creates chaos that leads to Matias being transferred to the corrupt Military Police, while Nascimento is recognized and promoted to work with the intelligence group of the Secretary of Security. Nascimento service eventually leads to expelling several drug gangs from heavily influenced slums, but creates an even worse adversary protected by political influence leading to mass killings and betrayal. 

Overall, this movie was the biggest box office film of Brazil and I can see why. The movie was action packed, the acting was superb with plots and twists that kept you on your toes providing an enjoyable crime thriller every step of the way. The only reason you may not enjoy this movie is the subtitles. Given there is a lot going on, reading while watching can be a disruption to the great film work this movie presents.

I give 'Elite Squad' an Imp Score of 3 out of 4 smiles. Great Entertainment worth watching!