“Dracula: Prince Of Darkness” is another fun horror flick from Hammer. It is the third film in their “Dracula” series and the second to feature Christopher Lee (“The Man With The Golden Gun”, “The Mummy”) in the lead role.

A group of English tourists are warned to stay away from a castle but they decide to ignore the advice and visit it. They find a surprisingly warm reception but then one of them is killed so that their blood can be used to resurrect Count Dracula (Lee). Now, the foul beast is loose once again and out for more blood. Dracula’s new reign of terror must be brought to an end.

Christopher Lee does a good job as Dracula but he’s not actually in all that much of the movie. I mean, the title is “Dracula: Prince Of Darkness” so I was hoping to see him appear in quite a lot of it. Also, Dracula never speaks in this film and I think that is a real shame. The way they defeat him is pretty cheesy but in a fun way. The other characters are moderately enjoyable including a clergyman that is determined to stop Dracula. Dracula’s assistant is okay but nothing special.

“Dracula: Prince Of Darkness” is not amazing or anything like that but it delivers the goods. If you like seeing creepy castles as well as wicked vampire creatures then this is the movie for you. The Hammer films are very unlikely to actually scare anybody but they are entertaining. If you have seen any of the other Hammer “Dracula” films then you know what to expect from this one. I won’t spoil it but I think this film introduced a whole new way to kill vampires in movies. Once you find out what it is, you almost feel sorry for Dracula because he seems just so darn vulnerable.

Before “South Park”, the creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone made a little movie named “Orgazmo”. It has some decent laughs in it but ultimately lacks the wit and charm of their later creations.

In “Orgazmo”, a Mormon by the name of Joe Young (Parker) is in L.A. trying to recruit people to his faith but he finds himself being cast in a pornographic film. He reluctantly accepts because he needs the $20,000 so he and his girlfriend can be married in the temple at Salt Lake City. Joe portrays a superhero, named Orgazmo, as he blasts bad guys with a special ray gun that gives people orgasms but the film becomes his success and that’s when the movie we’re watching goes downhill.

Parker is likeable and amusing as Joe Young. You can tell this as the scenes involving him dressed in a ridiculous costume next to some attractive women are very funny because you’re not looking at the girls but Parker’s facial expressions. Most comedies forget that you should be looking at something that’s funny and instead force you to look at the stuff that gets the film its age rating. Parker’s greatness is spoilt by the other characters, even Matt Stone as a homosexual lighting man, named Dave. The film would work better if the other characters were less obnoxious and just generally less gross.

“Orgazmo” works up until a point in the film where its gimmick runs out so this probably would have worked better as a “South Park” episode rather than a feature-length picture. Despite Parker’s efforts, the other characters don’t provide a single second of laughter. “Orgazmo” isn’t as smart of hard-hitting as “South Park” and that really shows here as it ends up being about as witty as the duo’s other mediocre picture “BASEketball”. Had this film shown us a few more things about Mormons and thrown in some more clever gags then this would have been a good film.

He dodges a large group of bad guys chasing him in cars while he rides a motorcycle through a box factory and he has the time to save a baby. Who could this be? It’s of course Jackie Chan (“Project A”, “Chinese Zodiac”) and “Operation Condor” is yet another enjoyable film from him.

In “Operation Condor”, Chan goes on a mission with several glamorous ladies to find gold hidden by the Nazis during World War II. It is believed to be in the Egyptian desert. Heck, maybe it is some gold left there by the same Nazis from the “Indiana Jones” films.

Jackie Chan is known for his outrageous stunts and fight scenes. This one features a few intriguing sequences (such as one in a room with a giant fan) yet I don’t feel it’s among his best work. I have to point out that the characters aren’t too horrendous and thankfully, most of the screen time seems dedicated to the action. The bad guys are pretty standard. There’s a goofy duo that are out to get Chan and his friends but never put up much a fight. When you see them, you’ll instantly be reminded of at least a dozen or so other films to know what style of characters I’m on about.

“Operation Condor” has a gag in which a girl’s towel gets removed and the scene is later repeated with a different girl and on both occasions the nudity is more than implied. It’s a bit risqué for a Chan film, I thought. Although amusing moments, they seemed to detract from the more family friendly approach found in the rest of the film. “Operation Condor” is a fun film but it’s not as fun as some of his other hits such as “Rumble In The Bronx” and “Who Am I?”. However, if you’ve seen those movies then where’s the harm in seeing “Operation Condor”?

“Operation Chromite” is a really entertaining movie based on the Korean War. This film so the focus is on the local troops and not the Americans or any of the other foreign participants in the conflict. It’s a South Korean film made on a budget that would be tiny compared to an American war film but it looks almost as good as “Saving Private Ryan” or “Enemy At The Gates”.

General MacArthur (Liam Neeson “Schindler’s List”, “The Grey”) plans the United Nations invasion of the Korean peninsula to repel the North Korean forces. He dispatches a team of spies to Incheon to gain intelligence on mines placed at sea by the enemy troops. Their mission must be a success if the U.N. soldiers have any hope of invading Korea.

Although Liam Neeson is obviously the most famous face here, he isn’t all that much of the film. He does a really good job but I’m glad that he wasn’t the focus of the movie. It would have been a big mistake to take you away from the action and keep you in the boardrooms for too long. Jung-Jae Lee (“The Face Reader”) is great as Jang Hak-Soo. The other characters are all good including the bad guys. There is one brief scene where somebody is playing Kim Il-Sung.

The movie “Inchon” covered the same battle but was bashed by critics and flopped at the box-office while “Operation Chromite” has received some praise. Not enough praise as far I’m concerned though because this is a very impressive war movie. It looks great, the action sequences are very exciting, the dialog is frequently interesting and I think the pacing is also great. The movie has apparently been heavily criticised by North Korea but what do you expect from them? If you from anywhere outside North Korea, I’m sure you’ll enjoy this film.

“Only Yesterday” is not a bad film by any stretch of the imagination, in fact it’s actually quite good. However, “Only Yesterday” is a Studio Ghibli film and after seeing “Princess Mononoke”, “Spirited Away” and “Howl’s Moving Castle”, you go into “Only Yesterday” with very high expectations. It is also a movie that is fairly grounded in reality, containing no fantastic worlds or creatures, so I’m not sure that even needed to be an animated movie, I’m sure live-action would have worked just as well.

In “Only Yesterday”, a Tokyo officer worker by the name Taeko decides to have her holiday in the beautiful Japanese countryside. She begins to reminisce about a specific period of her childhood and this leads her to wonder what significance her memories have.

We get to see Taeko as a woman in her late twenties and as a ten-year-old. A few particularly touching moments have her actually visualise her younger self hanging around nearby. They do not interact with one another but somehow that makes it more powerful. The Taeko character is a little bland at times, this is contrast to other Studio Ghibli leads such as Chihiro in “Spirited Away” and Kiki in “Kiki’s Delivery Service”. The other characters are a little weak. The animation on the characters looks impressive.

“Only Yesterday” is a nice little film and I did enjoy it, it’s just that the name Studio Ghibli implies that you are in for something really special. A lot of people love this movie but I do not see many pointing to it as one of the best anime films in the way that people do with regards to “Spirited Away” or “Howl’s Moving Castle”. The animation is great but the colours seem to have been faded at times and again I question why this was not just a live-action film because the animation adds very little to the experience. Fans of anime movies and those looking for a charming little film about life should be entertained by “Only Yesterday”.

“Onibaba” is a sinister film from Japan. It’s a pretty nightmarish piece but it’s very engaging considering how little actually happens. Interestingly, I feel the film could have worked even better if it were shorter and a little tighter or if it were a little longer and even more subtle.

Set in feudal Japan during a war, an elderly peasant woman (Nobuko Otowa “Epitome”) and her daughter-in-law (Jitsuko Yoshimura) survive by killing samurai and selling their items for food. The younger woman engages in a sexual relationship with their neighbour (Kei Satô “Harakiri”) so the old woman becomes increasingly bitter, fearing that she will be abandoned.

The film mainly focuses on the three main characters. I think they are all pretty good as they are all believably flawed individuals in a terrible situation. The war is raging and they are doing what they can to survive and fulfil their most basic urges, no matter what the consequences are. The interactions between the characters are rather fascinating at times. Later in the film, the old woman encounters a samurai wearing a strange mask. The mask is the iconic image from this movie. Maybe the movie could have been improved by having the masked samurai appear in it for longer as his scenes do feel a little rushed.

“Onibaba” is an unsettling picture the achieves a lot with very little. For a film from the 1960s, there is quite a lot of nudity and it’s very violent (it’s not graphic violence though). The film could have worked had they cut out some of the scenes in the first half but it could have also have been improved by adding more to the second half. Either way, I think that as it is, it’s not quite as satisfying as it could be. I think it’s still a great movie and worth checking out.

“Ong-Bak” is a delightful martial arts flick starring Tony Jaa, Thailand’s answer to Jackie Chan (“Police Story”). While it isn’t a terrific film, this is a fun and ambitious action film that features lots of exciting stunts so action movie purists are going to have a good time.

In “Ong-Bak”, the head of a sacred statue is stolen from a village and martial artist Ting (Jaa) is sent to Bangkok to retrieve it. There he teams up with his cousin, who has seemingly abandoned the quiet and spiritual lifestyle of the countryside. The two of them help to uncover a criminal operation where many sacred artefacts from across the country are being stolen.

Tony Jaa can kick and punch like the best of martial arts superstars and he is also able to pull off some very impressive stunts. However, the film is able to make him likeable as he never wants to fight but is always forced into defending himself and those around him. My only complaint is that he doesn’t have a lot of personality here and maybe that’s more the script’s fault than him. Some of the other characters are okay but I didn’t like the main villain who speaks with a electrolarynx.

“Ong-Bak” starts a little slow but after the first act, things really start to pick up speed with lots of terrific action sequences. The filmmakers are smart enough to include a mixture of hand-to-hand combat, daring stunts and car chasing so it’s very clear that the people behind “Ong-Bak” are very familiar with Jackie Chan’s films. Before the film’s release in Europe and America, Steven Seagal (“Under Siege”) saw “Ong-Bak” and allegedly wanted to release it under his production company with additional scenes featuring him as Jaa’s mentor… thankfully that didn’t happen. If you consider yourself a martial arts movie fan then you simply have to check out “Ong-Bak”.

I have heard that the “One Piece” manga (Japanese comic) has sold hundreds of millions of copies and that the anime has several hundred episodes. I’m not very familiar with “One Piece” so I hoped “One Piece: The Movie” would help show me what I have apparently been missing. It’s definitely better than “Pokémon” but not as entertaining as “Dragon Ball Z”.

Monkey D. Luffy has the power to stretch his limbs and has set his sights on becoming the ‘King of the Pirates’. On his epic quest, a group of thieves steal his treasure and this leads him to an island believed to be home to the treasure of a great pirate.

I did not really know the “One Piece” characters coming into this film. Monkey D. Luffy might be the silliest name for a protagonist in an action franchise that I have ever heard. The villains are not going to stick in your minds for very long after you finish watching this movie. A lot of the comedic interactions between the characters are underwhelming. The animation on the characters appears to be consistent with the little that I have seen of the series; it’s good but nothing ground-breaking.

Some of the action sequences are fairly creative given the abilities of Luffy and his friend Zoro fights holding two swords in his hands and a third between his teeth. However, I did not find the overall adventure very engaging. Maybe those that are more familiar with the show and the comics will have a lot more fun with this. I cannot imagine this film being enjoyed by those that do not care for anime or no nothing about “One Piece”. There are lots of other “One Piece” films out there but this is the first one so maybe at some point I will check out another one.

“One Missed Call” is another Japanese horror movie about ghosts. If you have seen “Ringu”, “Ju-On: The Grudge” and/or “Dark Water” then you know what to expect. Like the other films I have just mentioned, “One Missed Call” would later get an American remake.

In “One Missed Call”, people start receiving voicemail messages from themselves in the near future at the exact moment that they die. Each time somebody dies, a contact from the dead person’s phone becomes the next target. Just like “Ringu” gave us the killer videotape, “One Missed Call” gives us the killer voicemail. Is there any way to stop the killing? What murky secrets must be uncovered?

Although they are not exactly brimming with personality, the characters in Japanese horror films are usually far less annoying than characters in your average American horror flick. The ghost in “One Missed Called” is almost exactly the same as the ghost in “Ringu” and “Ju-On: The Grudge” as it is a pale woman with long dark hair that crawls around like a contortionist. I get that this is part of Japanese culture and mythology but it’s getting a little repetitive seeing the same form of creature again and again.

“One Missed Call” certainly contains some pretty chilling moments but a lot of it felt really slow and it seemed to tread on a lot of the same territory as lots of the other Japanese horror movies. If you like this type of film and you have not yet got bored with the ghostly pale woman idea then maybe “One Missed Call” is a movie that you will not want to miss. For everybody else, I think you should just stick to “Ringu” and “Ju-On: The Grudge”. I have heard that the American remake of this one is absolutely awful so if you are going to see one version, probably go for this one.

The American remake of “One Missed Call” is sometimes credited with ending the short-lived trend of American remakes of Japanese horror movies. The original “One Missed Call” felt way too similar to “Ringu” and “Ju-On: The Grudge” to be interesting but it did at least have a few creepy moments. The American remake is just unsatisfying with horrible special effects.

Just like the original “One Missed Call”, we find that people are receiving voicemail from themselves in the future at the moment they die. Each time somebody dies, a contact in their phone receives a voicemail. Can this terrible cycle be broken? It’s a race against time as death will soon come to those that have received the voicemail.

The characters are really boring. None of them are remotely remarkable. The only good thing is that they are not always complete idiots. They do at least try to do things like take the batteries out of their phones in the hope that it will stop the voicemail from being left on their device. I complained that the original version just had another pale lady with dark hair like several other Japanese horror movies but the ghost in this one just looks awful.

Even fans of the American remakes of Japanese horror flicks tend to find this one the weakest and maybe the big problem is that the original is not all that great either. There’s a formula to these movies and it just feels like it had been used too many times. It also does not help that the special effects here look really cheap and nasty. It becomes hard to find any of the visuals disturbing because everything looks so synthetic. There are countless worse horror films out there but I certainly do not recommend the American “One Missed Call”. If you are going to see one version of this then see the Japanese one.