Thirst Review August 17, 2009 Let's see... it's been a while since our last review, but we are still alive. The review this time is for Park Chan-wook's brand new horror/drama Thirst. I am a huge fan of Park, and the film was a joy to watch. As I mention in the review, there has been some very intriguing news from Korea this past week. This year, two Korean films premiered at Cannes. Park Chan-wook's Thirst and Bong Joon-ho's Mother. As of this past week, it has been announced that Bong Joon-ho's film has been selected as the Korean entry for the academy awards. "Six films were initially chosen as candidates. The others were "A Frozen Flower" by Yoo Ha, "Thirst" by Park Chan-wook, "Breathless" by Yang Ik-joon, "Old Partner" by Lee Chung-ryoul, and "Bronze Medalist" by Park Geon-yong. The KFC said, "The final decision came down to choosing between "Mother - 2009" and "Breathless", and based on the artistry of the film, the influence of the distributor, the reputation of the director and the level of recognition of the film, we chose "Mother - 2009" in the end." Hancinema.net Stealth Evolution gets a makeover October 14, 2008 Here at Stealth Evolution, we are like hopeless drunks who can't seem to make up their mind:  on or off the wagon?  Once again we're back and this time the site is being reverted/updated to a different look, with plans... once again on the horizon. The update should be finished within a day or two with new reviews to come.  Of course I can't leave without adding in a little relevant Asian film news, so here we go with a little news about a relatively big star in South Korea (the dad from The Host): "Movie star Song Kang-ho is starring as a vampire in the new movie "Bat".  This movie has been filmed in Australia last month and finished in Korea for a total of 5 months.  Song is the repected priest, "Sang-hyeon" who volunteered a secret non-profit vaccine research organization in Africa where he was given an unidentifiable blood sample and became a vampire." -Hancinema.net Teenager Hooker Became Killing Machine in Daehakroh Review! March 8, 2008 God damn that's a long ass title! Anyway, we're back with our first update of 2008, yahoo! I know we always say how we'll update more whenever we actually post an update, and after all of these lies I'm starting to feel a bit guilty. But today we have an update, a new brand spanking review of Nam Ki-Woong's directorial debut! This man is a somewhat underground filmmaker with a unique style yet an indistinct perspective. If only he could figure out how to follow a freaking narrative. The movie is entitled Teenage Hooker Became Killing Machine in Daehokroh. I just also wanted to give a shoutout to Ikkicon. I recently attended this anime convention back in early February. I've been to a lot of conventions, and this one is certainly holding promise for local central Texans. I hope these guys can keep it up! I'd go into more detail, but I'll let the review do that. In other news, Film "Crossing", directed by Kim Tae-gyoon and starring Cha In-pyo, will finally be released four years since it was filmed. This is the first South Korean film to portray the lives of ordinary citizens in North Korea. The film was shot at secret locations in South Korea, China, and Mongolia. "Crossing" is based on a true story of North Korean refugees who attempted to break into the Spanish embassy in Beijing in 2002. Cha will play the role of the father who had to leave North Korea in search of medicine and food for his family. His eleven-year-old son will be played by child actor Shin Myeong-cheol, who beat out 600 competitors to win the part. The film follows their dangerous search for each other. The makers of "Crossing" will hold a press conference on March 18th to unveil the film for the first time. -Hancinema.net A Pre-Thanksgiving Update November 13, 2007 Within the next two weeks, we will be posting a list (similar to our Asian Halloween Movie Recommendations) of Asian films that go along with the general spirit of Thanksgiving--we also plan on making numerous other themed recommendations. Just this past week the fourth annual Austin Asian Film Festival went on, and I attended a couple days of it. The organizers strive to represent both American and foreign Asian filmmakers. I highly encourage local residents to take note of next year's festival. Moving on... what Animal House loving film fan could resist the original Sex is Zero? Well, the sequel to Sex is Zero is coming out in Korea on December 13, but Hancinema.net has a rather bizarre bit of information surrounding the movie. "An actress, who will feature in a Korean film scheduled to open next month, has drawn media attention because she has changed her gender. Lee Sea-yoon, 28, who previously went under the name of Lee Dae-hak, will appear in the sequel to "Sex Is Zero" to be released nationwide on Dec. 13. Reportedly, Lee underwent a sex change operation earlier this year. The actress is still legally registered as a male. She has not made any contact with anyone since her sex change became known to the public Friday, "I am still afraid of showing up before the audience, who may see me with a biased view", a movie official delivered Lee's message on her behalf. The movie production, a sequel to "Sex Is Zero", also faced barriers in promoting the film because many media outlets here have given more weight to the transsexual entertainer rather than the new comic movie." -Hancinema.net Asian Halloween Movie Recommendations! October 30, 2007 Ahh, Halloween is tomorrow, and that means... horror themed recommendations! On the right-hand portion of the page we are offering you our suggestions for Asian horror films. So far we have four recommendations up, and more will be coming over the next few days. Have a great halloween! Refer to this link for our Asian Halloween Movie Recommendations. And also read this news from Hancinema.net. "Hero", a Japanese blockbuster set to hit Korean theaters on Nov. 1, may not strike many Korean viewers as a masterpiece. But if you are a fan of the original 2001 Fuji TV series, and are familiar with its trademark humor, its subtlety in the use of seemingly small details, and its evocative settings, it would take some kind of almost heroic self-restraint not to go see this film. In the movie, Kohei Kuryu (Takuya Kimura), a young prosecutor who is addicted to buying sundry stuff that he sees advertised on TV, returns to the Josai Branch of the Tokyo public prosecutor's office, and reunites with his former colleagues, including his former loyal assistant, Maiko Amamiya (Takako Matsu). His comeback after a six-year hiatus gets off to a seemingly smooth start, as he is assigned to a simple manslaughter case. What happened is that a blond security guard unintentionally beat an innocent man to death. The guard then escaped in a van, but was later arrested, and confessed to assaulting..." -Hancinema The long sleep breaks... October 18, 2007 A lot has happened over the past six months since we stopped updating the site, and a lot is going to change on the site within the upcoming weeks. We have plans to change and broaden the content of the website. Essentially, the site will still serve as our outlet of interests in Anime and Asian Films. The change will occur in a shift of focus on films we consider to be weird, bizarre, grotesque, unique, and ultimately interesting. The plans are still being laid out and within a few weeks everything should be changed to the new format. Also, I recently attended Fantastic Fest at the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin, Texas. I have to commend those guys there for selecting a great bunch of Asian films (I made it my mission to see every Asian film that played). They had a great range, and I highly reommend the festival to anyone in the Austin area. Keep checking back, very soon our weird interests will consume the website... Tenchi Muyo in Love II Review April 21, 2007 Hello there! There's still some reviews that need posting, so in keeping with that trend, we have another one from our yesteryears to post. Tonight it's the 1999 anime film, Tenchi Muyo in Love II. This is my personal favorite of any and all Tenchi productions. In other cool Asian film news, Hancinema is reporting that there will be two--count em' two--Korean films competing at Cannes this year. Here's the report straight from Hancinema.net: "Two homegrown films about love have been invited to compete in this year's Cannes International Film Festival, the films' distributors said Thursday. The two are "Secret Sunshine", the fourth feature film directed by Lee Chang-dong, and "Breath" the fourteenth film of director Kim Ki-duk." - Hancinema.net Nodame Cantabile First Impression March 26, 2007 So a few days and some procrastination later, We're finally posting my first impression of the show Nodame Cantabile. Both somewhat reminscent of Honey and Clover and absolutely hilarious, Nodame is a must to check out for those looking for a good comedy. Big news was announced on the 19th as Studio Ghibli announced its newest film to be directed by Hayao Miyazaki. Animenewsservice.com reports: "This marks [Miyazaki's] first return to the director's chair in 4 years. At that time he made Howl's Moving Castle which grossed 19.6 billion Yen at the box office, drawing in excess of 15 million people. The plot will based on an entirely original screenplay and tell the story of "goldfish princess" and a 5 year boy who lives in a seaside town and vows to become a man." Planning for a release in July of 2008 (sadly before Gedo Senki/ Tales from Earthsea has its US debut), Ghibli will be starting work on the movie as soon as possible. "The theme will be "Little Mermaid" with a thick Japanese twist." (ANS) We're excited to see how things unfold. Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid Review March 8, 2007 Tonight, We finally get back to posting new reviews with the 2005 anime Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid. Though it could have been better, the sequel proves to out-perform the original. A decent series worthy of checking out if you have some free time. A Trailer for Paprika went up on Apple's site last week. For those that don't know, Paprika is the newest film by Satoshi Kon (Perfect Blue, Millennium Actress, Tokyo Godfathers). If you look towards the bottom of the page you can see Apple reports the movie to hit theatres on May 25th. Judging from the reports from the various film festivals around the world and the quality of Kon's other movies, I'm expecting a great hit. It's a shame we still need to wait two months, but I'm excited nonetheless. After I finish up editing it, expect to see my impression of Nodame Cantabile within the next couple of days. More reviews to come in the next couple of weeks. Armitage: Dual-Matrix Review February 24, 2007 I know we said we would be posting a newer review this week, however we have one more older review to post. This week it's my review of Armitage: Dual-Matrix from late 2004. While we're not too sure how this underwhelming movie made it past production, one thing is for sure: this movie is absolutely horrible. Be sure to avoid it if you have the chance. Makoto Shinkai's Byousoku 5 Centimeters (5 Cetimeters per second) a chain of short stories about their distance premiers in Tokyo on March 3rd. For those that were lucky enough to catch it, the first portion of the three-part movie premiered online for Yahoo! Premium members on February 16th. Gauging from the first part, this movie will be one you do not want to miss. Those interested can view a trailer on the official website. As some of you may know, here at Stealth Evolution, we currently have two dedicated staff writers bringing reviews to you. If you, or anyone you know is interested in joining our team, feel free to head over to the Contact Us page and send either Face or myself an email for more details. More reviews and possibly an impression or two (depending on my motivation) to come this week. Suicide Club Review February 15, 2007 Tonight another review originally posted three years ago is being refeatured on the website. This time it's the Japanese 2002 horror film, Suicide Club. Over the past 5 years, this film has generated a lot of interest as well as a fair amount of controversy. Expect some brand new reviews to also be posted this following week. Here's something interesting I saw over at Hancinema.net the other day: "ImaginAsian Entertainment, founded by four Korean-Americans in 2003, is betting Asian pop culture will attract American audiences of all ethnic backgrounds and find its way into mainstream culture. Korean dramas such as "Full House", "Winter Sonata" and "Princess Hours" are already hits with American audiences who watch ImaginAsian Television (IATV), the first 24-hour, national, Asian American network. "We know from the feedback we receive from the network that Korean dramas are very popular with our audience and not only among native-speaking Koreans, but for Koreans and Asians that don't speak the language at all and even non-Asians as well", ImaginAsian CEO Michael Hong said in an e-mail interview with The Korea Times." - Hancinema.net Ping Pong Club Review February 12, 2007 I was reading about the Berlin Film Festival today and it seems a new Korean film is attracting quite a bit of attention. It's called I'm a Cyborg, But That's Ok. Here's what Hancinema.net posted earlier today on their website: "Director Park Chan-wook's "I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK" has drawn much interest from the press at the Berlin International Film Festival, which opened on Feb. 7. A throng of reporters came to the preview of the film, which was submitted to the festival's competition section, on Feb. 9. Many reporters also attended the press conference held after the preview to cover it. Reporters showed particular interest in the film's peculiar subject matter, plot and description of violence. They asked Jeong Ji-hoon (singer Rain), who played the lead, how he as a top singer felt about his first appearance in a movie." In regard to the website, I know I said we'd be posting live action reviews for the next few weeks, but then I had a sudden change of heart. So, here is our review of Ping Pong Club. My inner-toilet-humor-self fell in love with this anime's unrelenting scatological humor. It's just my cup of tea. Naked Weapon Review February 05, 2007 While this review is not necessarily new, it has not been featured on the website in nearly three years. So over the course of the next few weeks, we will be featuring reviews that have not been available on the website due to our previous downtime a few years prior. Moving onto the review itself, Naked Weapon is one of those movies you watch not because you want to, but because it helps you understand the full spectrum of film malfeasance. My goal here today in featuring this review is to warn people about Ching Siu-Ting's 2002 atrocity. AnimeNewsNetwork.com is reporting that Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo will be having its American premiere March 3, 2007. "The North American theatrical debut of Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo (The Girl Who Leapt Through Time) will take place at the New York International Children's Film Festival on March 3 at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $10." More reviews will be posted in the soon to be future. We will also be featuring several more Live Action Asian reviews this month that have not been available for over 2 years. Elfen Lied Review February 02, 2007 Okay, so we took a longer break than we intended over the holidays. Don't take that to mean we're giving up though. Expect to see more reviews from Face and myself within the next couple of weeks. Today, I reviewed the 2005 hit Elfen Lied. Despite its shortcomings, it proves to be a series worthy of checking out. Be sure to read the review and give the show a shot! Just make sure you can handle the liberal use of animated violence. In other news, AnimeNewsNetwork is reporting that the Live Action version of Mushishi is a huge hit at the Sundance Film Festival. "Toho Entertainment, the company handling distribution of the Mushishi (Bugmaster) live-action film, announced on Janurary 23rd that they have received 10 offers from companies wanting to distribute the film overseas. The film is directed by Katsuhiro Otomo (better known for Anime films such as Akira) and stars Odagiri Joe." -AnimeNewsNetwork.com With Toho Entertainment already recieving 10 offers to distribute the film, Mushishi may prove to be a great adaptation of the manga and anime. Hopefully the movie won't disappoint. Kanon First Impression December 02, 2006 Well, I admit it... we've been lazy. It's been nearly a month since our last update, and that will be changing shortly. The end of the semester is quickly approaching; there are currently less than two weeks remaining. Very exciting. Anyway, we will be returning to our former review output of at least one review per week very shortly. Today, however, Aisakku has written his impressions of the new anime series, Kanon. It appears that it will likely be more of the same general shoujo-fare, but it could be worth a look. In other anime news, AnimeNewsNetwork is reporting that this year 16 animated features will be eligible for nomination at the Golden Globe awards. A maximum of three, however, can be nominated. Here's their front-page blurb: "The HFPA has decided to include a Best Animated Feature category at the Golden Globes, starting with the 64th Annual Golden Globes, which will be given out on January 15. The HFPA has now announced that 16 animated features are eligible for the award there is no indication as to how many, if any, of those are anime. A maximum of 3 animated features can be nominated. The nominees will be announced on December 14. Thanks Daniel." -AnimeNewsNetwork.com A Millionaire's First Love Review November 07, 2006 I let off some steam today, reviewing the not surprisingly awful teen love fantasy flick, A Millionaire's First Love. Could this movie be any worse? This crapfest may have in fact reached the pinnacle of suck. Read my review for more. There's some interesting news from the Korean film industry today. The horror flick, The Host is going to be remade in America. "From the United States, film magazines reported that the record-setting film would be remade in English. Universal Pictures bought the remake rights." - Hancinema.net I don't know if this is going to have a positive outcome or not. Generally speaking, American remakes of Asian films have been subpar at best. With My Sassy Girl being remade by Dreamworks for a 2007 release, I think this upcoming year could have some interesting surprises. More from Hancinema.net: "The Host" has received international acclaim recently both for freshly reviving the tradition of sci-fi monster movies and for skillfully integrating social and political allegory. In Korea, it broke the record for the most-attended film in theaters 38 days after its release, beating the previous 12.3 million-viewer record held by "The King and the Clown". Visit their site for all the newest Korean film news. My Sassy Girl Review November 06, 2006 Today, I reviewed the incredibly popular 2001 Korean film, My Sassy Girl. I found this film to be amazingly hilarious, but at the same time a bit of a let down. Read the review for more. Also, at the bottom of this page (and by tomorrow on every page) there will be links to all of our affiliates. Currently, our only affiliate is AnimeUKNews.net. If you're a webmaster and are interested in affiliating, check out the Contact Us page. In anime/Japanese live-action news, it appears there is going to be a Blood: The Last Vampire live-action version. According to AnimeNewsNetwork.com, Ronny Yu will be directing it. "Production I.G has announced that 'Blood the Last Vampire,' produced in 2000, will be made into a live action movie by company French Pathe. Production I.G has given it's consent. Pathe will spend approximately 20 million Euro (US$25 million) on the production. With shooting scheduled to start in January 2007, a worldwide theatrical release is expected in spring 2008." - ANN Thirst Thirst is a thrilling movie, and its appeal is obvious. It is a refreshing, licentious concoction of ensanguined horror, hypnotic drama and rhythmically placed burlesque moments. More »     Time and Tide Time and Tide is a maniacally muddled, insanely awesome action film by the master martial arts director, Tsui Hark. It's a cinematic libertine, with a plot that doesn't make any sense, with characters whose substance is unconventially deep... More »     Teenage Hooker Became Killing Machine in Daehakroh Teenage Hooker Became Killing Machine in Daehakroh is more like a 50 minute music video, featuring Cherry Bikini living out their lusty lyrics with the Supreme Beings of Leisure in some maniac-filled dystopian future than... More »     R-Point Four years before Bong Joon-Ho catapulted international audiences onto tenterhooks with his mesmerizing Memories of Murder, writer Su-chang Kong helped kickstart the Korean wave by dishing out a bloodbath of madness with... More »     Retribution Kiyoshi Kurosawa is and has always been an anomaly: almost all of his films follow the exact same narrative structure with nearly all of the same actors, and yet each and every one of his projects have been successful. It would... More »     Never Belongs to Me The Korean film industry is currently in an extended period of swank blockbuster success, but a Machiavellian man by the name of Nam Ki-Woong seems to be trying his very best to soft-pedal that image. His first two entries... More »     Exte: Hair Extensions First there was mass suicide in the delightfully gloomy Suicide Circle; then there was warped, monstrous and downright kinky incestual child abuse in the infinitely bizarre Strange Circus... and now... there is killer... More »     Crazy Lips Our first recommendation falls under the direct-to-video category, which in Japan is referred to as V-cinema. This industry has come a long way since the emergence of such directors as Takashi Miike and Takashi Shimizu... More »     Tenchi Muyo in Love II The everlasting saga of Tenchi Muyo, after multiple spin offs and three movies, finally comes to an end with Tenchi Forever--but don't be fooled, it doesn't really end anything. More »     Nodame Cantabile From Nodame's insane thoughts and antics to the debauched Franz von Stresemann's hardly conductor-like behavior, Nodame is worth watching for the simple fact that it absolutely overflows with hilarity... More »     Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid The drama may be decent, the comedy refreshing, and the mecha action itself well animated without giving off a "super-epic" feel, but the problems of the series lies within several plot holes, weak characters and poor planning in several areas. More »     Armitage: Dual-Matrix Overflowing with excess one-liners, annoying, overplayed cliches, and blatant copying of other movies, Armitage: Dual-Matrix fails to even be mediocre... More »     Suicide Club Suicide Club has been one of the most oft-discussed horror films of the 21st century, not only as a vividly original macabre tale, but as a gruesome, blackly... More »     Ping Pong Club It's about Maeno and Izawa dressing up in panda suits. It's about missions to steal panties. It's about getting revenge, even if that means dressing in drag... More »     Naked Weapon The film moves along with an immature desire to kick ass no matter how unjustified it feels, and ass it will kick--quite possibly yours. The story follows... More »     Elfen Lied With one of the most graphic scenes of violence in recent animation, Elfen Lied slaps the unsuspecting with complete shock and does a complete 180 minutes later... More »     Kanon At this point into the series I have one simple thought: there's nothing special here. Perhaps it's the fact that the episode count has practically doubled... More »     A Millionaire's First Love Above all, my primary complaint with this movie is how it repeatedly falls flat on its face. There is nothing even remotely convincing about the relationship... More »     My Sassy Girl From there, their moonstruck adventures begin, with Kyun-Woo's world slowly unraveling into an unpredictable mayhem as he attempts to make... More »     Supermarket Woman While the average person may not be even remotely interested in the inner-workings of a supermarket, Itami creates a movie within a world of its own...     Please Visit our Affiliates Anime UK News