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Why Don't You Play in Hell? (Sion Sono, 2013)


Takuma

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Trailer:

Looks boring. Bad sign when there's CGI blood already in the trailer. I hope the film is better.

Reviews from Venice:

"Comes pretty damn close to Love Exposure in its renegade spirit and leaps of imagination." - Film Business Asia

Tedious, over-the-top gorefest - Variety

A madcap salute to cinema and yakuzas - Hollywood Reporter

A classic cult title that will keep midnight movie fans entertained and amused - Screen Daily

A gore-filled joy - The Telegraph

Aspiring midnight movie is suitably manic but lacks real feeling - Hitfix

...in a truly spectacular extended melée that sees CGI blood and limbs flying - The Playlist

anyone receptive to the works of John Woo, Johnnie To or Takeshi Kitano will undoubtedly find much to enjoy - Cine Vue

I'll see for myself at the end of the month.

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Watched in cinema on Saturday. Disappointing. Has promise and many good scenes, but the ending is a CGI blood mess beyond belief. I can't believe Sono is now doing that kind of CGI crap that is such a disgrace to real action cinema.

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how are the action scenes? good fights or just over the top blood fest with no real fighting?

There is basically just one (plus some smaller bits), and it's mostly comedic mayhem and splatter (comedic enough to earn the film pg-12 in Japan, although no other country would ever rate it that low). So don't watch it for action.

Tak Sakaguchi is kinda awesome as a Japanese Bruce Lee wannabe, though.

There's a lot of fun references. The film Tak and guys are filming within the film is Blood of the Wolves - a movie Sono and Sakaguchi were to co-direct and probably even started filming but never finished. Also, in the movie theater scene they play The Room, which is a Sono film from the early 90's. Mickey Curtis plays the projectionist.

The best thing about the film is Fumi Nikaido. Japanese pretty girls tough playing tough usually end up being just cute with zero credibility, but Nikaido is simply amazing. Guys are gonna be in love.

It's just a shame that the film is so uneven. It doesn't find any proper balance - too many characters, some embarrassing comedy acts, recycled music from older Sono films, and the when the ending comes you get about 3000 liters of blood and it's all CGI.

It's a better film than the last few Sono's, but a far cry from the amazing Sono films like Hazard, Noriko's Dinner Table, Suicide Club, and Love Exposure.

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OpiumKungFuCracker

Film Festivals are raving over this film, guess it's a mixed bag. I'm still going to see it, the question is how? Takuma, any ideas this film gets distribution in the states? A bad Sion Sono film is better than 90% of the films released in Hollywood.

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Film Festivals are raving over this film, guess it's a mixed bag. I'm still going to see it, the question is how? Takuma, any ideas this film gets distribution in the states? A bad Sion Sono film is better than 90% of the films released in Hollywood.

Yeah, it will.

- http://www.austinchronicle.com/blogs/screens/2013-09-02/drafthouse-asks-us-why-dont-you-play-in-hell/

I'm amazed by how 95% of web critics seem to love CGI blood. I've read about 15 reviews of Why Don't You Play in Hell, and only one mentioned that almost all blood in the film is CGI, and even that review wasn't all that critical about it.

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Funny thing, I ended up seeing this in cinema for the second time (had 3 hours to kill while waiting for the gf, the film played at that exact time, in the same building I were in, and I had review responsibility for Monday anyway).

In some ways more enjoyable on the second time when I knew not to expect too much. Basically: the first 30 min kicks major ass. Sono samples his music selection like Tarantino in his best days. Halfway slows down a bit. The ending is lame with tons of CGI and could also benefit from better editing.

In a nutshell, it is a disappointing film, nowhere near Sono's best movies, but it has lots of good things to it too, especially parts of the soundtrack and some actors.

Here's the fantastic toothpaste commercial from the film:

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sifu iron perm

Just got back, rather splendid film, the last few chapters of it were pure entertainment.

Japan's bruce lee!!! Although, he did remind me of bruce le ala true game of death.

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Just got back, rather splendid film, the last few chapters of it were pure entertainment.

You weren't bothered by the CGI blood?

I felt the film started really strong but after halfway it got worse scene by scene.

Btw, do you know which version you saw? The Japanese theatrical version runs 130 min (+- 1 min), the original Venice print was 119 min and lacked ending credits (roughly 4 min). Some sources like IMDb list 126 min but that's probably a mistake...

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sifu iron perm
You weren't bothered by the CGI blood?

I felt the film started really strong but after halfway it got worse scene by scene.

Btw, do you know which version you saw? The Japanese theatrical version runs 130 min (+- 1 min), the original Venice print was 119 min and lacked ending credits (roughly 4 min). Some sources like IMDb list 126 min but that's probably a mistake...

I saw the version with credits..

the cgi blood was not my liking but I go used to it, the tongue kiss bit was cool..

the film is mish mash but I enjoyed the last part with the build up to the war!

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Doctor Schnabel von Rom
dvd up for pre order now. release date 3.12.14

where? in which country? with englisch subs? looking forward to the movie. the japanese disc will not have englisch subs, a pity:-(

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SPOILERS

Anyone care to explain the ending to me? They almost all died, but were at the premiere? Then he yells cut at the very end? I'm a bit on the lost side on the ending to this one. Reminded me the Tim and Erick movie with the ending.

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US BD January 27th

http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=15257

SPOILERS

Anyone care to explain the ending to me? They almost all died, but were at the premiere? Then he yells cut at the very end? I'm a bit on the lost side on the ending to this one. Reminded me the Tim and Erick movie with the ending.

Sorry, all I can remember about the last 20 min is that it sucked :tongue:

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