Flight Movies (5): Offbeat Killer Boxes: Me and a Gentleman Whispering Line 6
This time the airline was Taiwan’s official carrier China Airlines. Their online entertainment system isn’t that different, although I noticed that loading games takes quite a while. But who plays old mobile phone games on an in-flight entertainment system? All planes were also equipped with a power plug and a USB-A port.
Hiroshi Abe Quest
I’m still trying to watch every production with actor/former model Hiroshi Abe in it, so I was happy to spot Offbeat Cops (2022) in the collection. Abe plays an unconventional cop, whose methods soon get him „promoted“ to the police’s music corps. Obviously he will stumble, but he will also become a better person, father, musician, and catch a criminal at the end. Abe has played such characters so many times, but Offbeat Cops still entertained me.
After Godzilla, Ultraman also got the „Shin“ treatment. Unlike Shin Godzilla, bureaucracy plays a less prominent role in Shin Ultraman. It’s an origin story that drops various baddies for Ultraman to fight. The film mixes lots of CGI shots with classic miniature practical effects.
The Killer is a 2022 movie from Korea about a retired hitman who has to look after the teenage daughter of his girlfriend’s friend. Naturally, she gets into trouble. This felt very similar to John Wick to me, including the overpowered protagonists. Runtime is only 95 minutes.
More Korean + Japanese films
Kazunari Ninomiya stars in Tang and Me. He finds a unique robot near his home, which he calls Tang. Together, they try to find Tang’s owner/creator. Tang and Me is a familiar, kid-friendly story. The special effects are quite impressive.
The Box is another short Korean movie (93 minutes). It’s essentially a road movie about a talented musician who is afraid to perform in front of an audience and a former hit producer. The titular box is put over the musician to get him over his fear. The journey is of course to get him out of the box.
6/45 was the biggest surprise. Looking at the poster I was expecting a very dumb Korean comedy that I’d probably skip after ten minutes. But the story about a winning lottery ticket and how both North and South have to work together to get the big prize, is actually really funny. It’s well acted nonsense that had me laughing in my seat. Needless to say, all the great plans by the soldiers spiral out of control.
Unthinkable stories
First Gentleman is the story of an ornithologist married to the leader of a minority opposition party. He goes out on a field trip to an isolated place (no cell phone connection!). When he returns, Japan has changed. His wife Rinko won the election and is about to become the new prime minister. He has some adjustment problems, but less than expected.
Whisper of the Heart is a sort-of sequel/retelling of the Ghibli movie. The latter is one of my least favourite Ghibli movies. The inclusion of „Country Roads“ is annoying and the development of the relationship between the two teenagers didn’t convince me.
The live action movie is set up as a sequel but actually spends much time retelling the story. No annoying „Country Roads“! But despite almost two hours runtime, the movie hasn’t much to tell. Why are Shizuku und Seiji so madly in love that they live a ten-year long distance relationship? Seiji remains especially underdeveloped.
There were two On the Line movies available. I chose the Korean one. It’s about an ex-cop who loses a lot of money due to voice phishing. He then infiltrates the criminal organisation. Ok movie, very predictable.
