New review is up: DOA Dead of Alive
Complete with movie clip and lots of photos as the film is mostly visual.
Do you want Search?
Random Post
Search
Search
DOA: Dead or Alive (Review)
DOA: Dead or Alive
2006
Directed by Corey Yuen
DOA: Dead or Alive is not a movie. It is not a video game. It is a music video. A ninety minute music video with no discernable song (except maybe “I like the way you move” as it is used during one montage.) But you don’t need a song, you just need lots of women bouncing around in micro-clothes, and dozens of action sequences with posing shots. Actually, there is a movie a lot like this one, but instead of just being mindless action, Hero went a step farther and goes all commie in the end. DOA goes all “Let’s be friends!” and then goes back to sword-wielding chicks in spandex. That’s not to say DOA is any good. However, I was expecting it to be so horrible, that when it turned out to be passable I was pleasantly surprised. Sure, I’ll never watch it again, but there are many films I won’t be watching again, for I don’t have the time. Speaking of Hero, several of the scenes here are directly lifted from that film, as well as movies such as Crouching Tiger, Kill Bill, and Charlie’s Angels. Just part of the flash in the pan fun of DOA. But the imitations are not complete nor memorable on their own, giving another reason why there is little value in rewatching this film.
DOA: Dead or Alive is based on a series of video games, fighting video games mostly. These games have plots, as much of plots as fighting games can have, and the film chooses to ignore much of it. As I have never played the game nor care about the original story, it is not a big deal to me, but I remember a few people making a big stink when this came out. As some people complain about everything, they were easily ignored. They probably would have attacked the Q*Bert cartoon had it aired while they were alive. One of the main drawing points of the video games is the many teenage girls that bounce around and jiggle while beating the crap out of gigantic opponents. DOA games also spawned the ridiculous DOA Extreme Volleyball games, where you watch the female characters run around on an island, playing mini-games and buying ever-more revealing bikinis for the girls. Obviously a game for very lonely men. Fan service triumphed and there was plenty of volleyball in the DOA movie, but as they are real girls I am not complaining.
The movie plot itself is ludicrous. The DOA tournament is held, which randomly invites the world’s greatest fighters by some sort of flying invitation/blade that always seems to invite people just after a cool action sequence. They are then set against each other for a $10 million prize, but organizer Donovan may have another agenda. Realistic? Of course not, but much of this movie is not, so no bother. Luckily, some Wikipedia nerd has chosen to tell us that one of the major factual errors in the film is that a ninja clan would not be staffed by hundreds of armed soldiers. He seems not to have taken issue with the nanobot/magic sunglasses technology, which should tell you something about Wikipedia. The biggest flaw he found in a movie that opens with a girl fly-walking over hundreds of troops, diving off a sword, flying over a wall, ripping off her clothes to reveal a backpack, which opens to reveal a hang glider, and gets an invitation to the DOA tournament thrown at her by someone who was watching all this. But, yeah, too many armed guards for a ninja clan. Thanks Asperger McVirgin! People with too much time on their hands aside, the film is rife with several other problems, most noticeably the fact no one seems to get any injury at all, despite constantly being punched and thrown through walls. Hardly a bruise is to be found. It’s all fun and games until someone gets a paper cut. This would spoil all the fun, so just ignore the lack of wounds and go with it. Director Corey Yuen is a Hong Kong import, best known in the US for The Transporter, but best known to me for So Close.
Exploitation DVD news from Toho
News of some exploitation DVDs coming to America (even though they aren’t even being released in Japan! For once it pays to be in Region 1)
1970s sex and violence trilogy comes to DVD
Author: Keith Aiken
Source: Media Blasters, Inc.
Special Thanks to Richard York, Oki Miyano, and Anthony RomeroHalf-breed Rica was born under a very bad sign. Her mother was raped by American GIs and Rica was the result. Rica herself was raped by Hirose, one of her mother’s johns, at an early age. Scarred for life from Day One, Rica was practically raised with a knife in her hand and hate in her heart for all men!
Soon Rica is mixed up in a world of trouble, running with gangs, scrapping with hoodlums and excelling in the ways of the underworld. But no matter how many times she ends up in jail or gets manhandled by thugs, nothing can stand in the way of her ultimate goal: Revenge! –Plot synopsis for RICA
Media Blasters has acquired rights to Toho’s RICA series, and will be bringing all three films to DVD. The first movie, RICA (Konketsuji Rika, aka RIKA THE MIXED-BLOOD GIRL, 1972), will go on sale August 14, with street dates for RICA: LONELY WANDERER (Konketsuji* Rika: Hitoriyuku Sasuraitabi, 1973) and RICA: JUVENILE’S LULLABY (Konketsuji Rika: Hamagure Komoriuta, 1973) to be announced.
Made at the height of “pinky violence†fever in Japan, RICA was produced by Office 203 and the Modern Movie Association, and released theatrically by Toho on November 26, 1972. The film was based on the manga by Taro Bonten (who has a cameo role in the movie). The screenplay was written by Kaneto Shindo, who is famous in Japan for such films as THE TALE OF GENJI (Genji Monogatari, 1951), CHILDREN OF HIROSHIMA (Gembaku no Ko, 1952), LUCKY DRAGON NO. 5 (Daigo Fukuryu-Maru, 1959), BLACK LIZARD (Kurotakage, 1962), THE WHALE GOD (Kujiro Gami, 1962), MANJI (1964), ONIBABA (1964), and DEATHQUAKE (Jishin Retto, 1980).
More English materials for RICA. © 1972 Toho Co., Ltd.
RICA was directed by Ko Nakahira. A graduate of Tokyo University, Nakahira joined Shochiku has an assistant director in 1948, then moved to Nikkatsu 1954. He made his directorial debut with CRAZED FRUIT (Kurutta Kajitsu, 1956) and primarily focused on social commentary and action films such as TEMPTATION (1957), FLESH IS WEAK (1957), THE GIRLS AND THE STUDENTS (1960), HE AND I (Aitsu to Watashi, 1961), THESE YOUNG PEOPLE: BAD AND TERRIBLE (1962), BRIGHT SEA (Hikaru Umi, 1963), WHIRLPOOL OF FLESH (Onna no Uzu to Fuchi to Nagare, 1964), and THE DEVIL’S LEFT HAND (1966).
Lead actress Rika Aoki followed the RICA series with STUDENT GANGSTER (Gakusei Yakuza, 1974), but apparently retired from acting by the mid-1970s. The supporting cast includes Ryuhei Uchida (THE HUMAN CONDITION II, THE THIRTEEN ASSASSINS, CONFLAGRATION), Masumi Muneta, Fuminoro Sato, Taiji Tonoyama (THE TALE OF GENJI, GATE OF HELL, HOGS AND BATTLESHIPS, ONIBABA, STRAY DOG), Mizuho Suzuki (SUBMERSION OF JAPAN, PROPHECIES OF NOSTRADAMUS, BULLET TRAIN, GODZILLA 1985), and Urufu Ohtsuki (BRAIN 17).
According to reports, Toho’s international division screened RICA at a handful of theaters in the United States. The film quickly faded into obscurity, and the upcoming Media Blasters release is the first time it will be available on DVD.
Rather than release RICA as part of their ‘Tokyo Shock’ DVD line (as was the case with most of their Toho DVDs), Media Blasters has decided to make the film the first Japanese title from the company’s ‘Exploitation Digital’ label. Media Blasters feels that RICA’s subject matter is more in line with Exploitation Digital’s “sleazy Euro†titles like DIVINE EMANUELLE and PORNO HOLOCAUST than other Toho movies like ATRAGON, FRANKENSTEIN CONQUERS THE WORLD, and GOYOKIN.
RICA (1972)
Exploitation Digital’s First Japanese Film!
2.35:1 Anamorphic
Japanese Mono with English Subtitles
Release Date: 8/14/2007EXTRAS:
Photo Gallery
Trailers for the RICA Trilogy- RICA, RICA: LONELY WANDERER, RICA: JUVENILE’S LULLABY* “Konketsuji†was a derogatory Japanese term for Amerasians.
New Review – Ultra Q episodes 3 and 4!
Two new Ultra Q episodes are up (The Gift from Space and The Mammoth Flower ), with movies for each. With the giant space slugs be the end of Earth? Will a giant flower do anything threatening to fill 24 minutes of airtime? Find the answers to these and more as we continue our journey through Ultra Q episodes! Sorry the review is a little late, I was out of town.
Ultra Q – Episodes 3 and 4 (Review)
Ultra Q Episodes 3 and 4
The Gift from Space and The Mammoth Flower
1966
Episode 3 The Gift from Space directed by Hajime Tsuburaya
Episode 4 The Mammoth Flower directed by Koji Kajita
Once again we dip into the world of Ultra Q, the Japanese TV series. A precursor to the Ultraman series, Ultra Q features many giant monsters that our plucky heroes have to deal with. Previously we have gone over the first two episodes, and now we deal with episodes 3 and 4. In addition to the 28 episodes of Ultra Q, a movie was produced in 1990 titledUltra Q: Star of Legend. A follow up series aired in 2004 titled Ultra Q: Dark Fantasy.
Tsuburaya Productions Co. created the TV series, which started to air in 1966. Before it became Ultra Q, however, it was known as Unbalance. As it became less Twilight Zone and more monsters, the name turned out to be a problem, but luckily a sports move called the Ultra C was gaining popularity, and thus Ultra Q was coined. Several artifacts of the original concept remain, including the very Twilight Zone-ish main title theme, as well as a narrator (but one used less frequently.) Several episodes would be somewhat independent stories that barely featured the main characters, and still other episodes would have ambiguous endings.
Thanks to recent Region 2 DVD release, these shows are now available to a whole new generation. However, they aren’t available to me in their entirety, as there are no English subtitles! But that’s where making up what we don’t understand comes in. Plot synopses and visual clues help us get the gist of the episodes, but the subtle parts we are just winging. That actually makes the show a bit better, as if we found out something was lamer than we though we might not like it as much. Such is the way of things.
Main Characters:
|
The main cast list is done, so we jump into the episodes!
Episode 3: The Gift from Space
Episode three of Ultra Q gives us a new main character and the most Twilight Zone ending so far. But it is still a solid episode, and the monster from Mars Natnegon has become one of the signature monsters from the series. This episode also is the first involving aliens in the Ultra-universe, who will turn out to be very pesky indeed with their constant monster attacks. Stupid aliens! I shake my fist at you! Invade some other planet for once. I hear Neptune is nice, or Krankor. First the guest cast, and then let’s get started with the episode.
New webcounter
Sitemeter suddenly decided to put a bunch of tracking cookies (not normal ones, these border on spyware!) in its javascript code. I had been using them for around 9 months to track my traffic, but the addition of the tracking cookies at the end of March suddenly made my site slower. I was unaware that it was due to sitemeter, and thought the webhost was just being crappy. Lo and behold, a friend clued me in that the site was asking to put in a tracking cooking in Opera, a browser I don’t test the site in (Firefox and IE don’t pull up an alarm.) Slowing down my site is a crime against TarsTarkas.NET! We don’t get hurt, we get even, and dumped sitemeter like the dog it is! We welcome the new webtracker, StatCounter!
To show how the sitemeter tracking cookie worked, I got another notch up on the sitemeter today, despite removing the code three days ago. 77,732 is what sitemeter will go to rest as.