Recent viewings - Goemon, President's Last Bang, Fish Story

	Goemon by Kazuaki Kiriya (2009) Japan This movie is from the same guy that directed Casshern which was, as I recall, a pretty average movie but with a unique presentation (lots of CG) and one hell of a crazy fight scene! Basically he did the same kind of movie here with a big difference: this time the story is much more interesting (in comparison to Casshern's long and winded story). Goemon is basically a Japanese Robin Hood and of course he's an awesome fighter! It's his story intertwined with  Nobunaga Oda, Hideyoshi Toyotomi and Hattori Hanzo. The fight scenes in this movie are incredible and like his previous work the look of the movie is unique. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. And yeah the soldiers at the end really really look like stormtroopers! 7/10 imdb: link
	President's Last Bang, The by Im-Sang-soo (2005) Korea Historical drama, with some humor, about the last moments of S.Korean dictator Park Chung-hee who was killed by his own staff during a late dinner party. Even if I'm not well versed in Korean history, this movie was interesting for it's very dark sense of humor and historical sense. I loved seeing how characters reacted to this sudden event and how the perpetrators played it cool until the end. They all knew they'd get caught but they were convinced that their action was for the greater cause, which arguably it was. Park Chung-hee was S. Korea's dictator from 1961 to 1979. Interesting quote from the assassin (Kim Jae-Kyu) who was subsequently hanged after trial: "I shot the heart of Yusin Constitution like a beast. I did that for democracy of this country. Nothing more nothing less." 7/10 imdb: link
	Fish Story by Yoshihiro Nakamura (2009) Japan Incredibly absurd story spanning a couple of generations with a band, behind a song called Fish Story, as common thread. Basically a comet will hit earth in the present time and a record shop owner plays the Fish Story album. The story is so crazy you have to just see it! One of the weirdest movies I've seen in a while; but weird in a good way! There are some slow moments (like in all Japanese movies it seems these days) but it's quite entertaining. 8/10 imdb: link