LOTS O'REVIEWS

I've seen a bunch of movies recently and thought I'd just get all the reviewing out of the way in a manner that doesn't slow down your life.

NIGHTMARE DETECTIVE - people are mixed on Shinya Tsukamoto's most mainstream movie to date. I thought it was one of three great movies I saw at Pusan. It's the X-FILES meets NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET with great remake potential and a lot more humor than I had anticipated. Who would've thought that Tsukamoto could become the Soderbergh of Japan?

THE GIRL WHO LEAPT THROUGH TIME - absolutely fantastic. Limited animation, but a great story. If you've got any tolerance for high school tales then this flick's for you. Why aren't American teen movies this good?

MEMORIES OF MATSUKO - it's CITIZEN KANE meets MOULIN ROUGE from the director of KAMIKAZE GIRLS and I haven't seen a better film all year.

DORM - this Thai ghost story is better than most and has some nice character development as well as an emotionally murky and dark plot. But I could do without the final reel that wraps up every single loose end while playing inspirational muzak.

BRAVE STORY - Fuji TV's big budget animated film is perfectly fine. It looks pretty, it's well-animated, the story is reasonably engaging, but there was a real "been there, done that" feel to it.

YO YO GIRL COP - is it possible that a movie with lesbian schoolgirl suicide bombers can be boring? Yes.

PAVILION SALAMANDRE - every now and then a movie from another planet lands in my DVD player. Not bizarre like FUNKY FOREST but a definite result of looking at the world via the ninth dimension. Is it good? Is it bad? Can't tell. But it's definitely unique and weaves a loopy hypno-spell all its own.