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Narshty --

//Whatrever// Whatever.

(and no its not a lobotomy but a tissue sample)

Tissue? From his brain?

(And I'd have taken your one-word response more seriously if you'd spelled it correctly.)

nevermind the amphibious monster.
it's a self-conscious monster movie, it's ok to have some fun.

come on,

Spoiler

when the guy was going to throw the moltov cocktail at the moster and it slipped out of his hand.

comedy gold.
but to each his own.

Narshty wrote:Tissue? From his brain?

They need a sample of brain tissue to see if the supposed virus in "hiding" there -- since it isn't anywhere else in his system or in anyone else's.

Narshty wrote:(And I'd have taken your one-word response more seriously if you'd spelled it correctly.)

Fixed. Whatever

It's only a tissue sample? Dammit, that was one of my favorite parts -- that the main character was always three steps behind everyone else, but all he really needed was a lobotomy!!! Narshty, I'll agree that the falling down mourning scene was a bit overdone, but the lobotomy thing? C'mon, that's comedy gold!

-Toilet Dcuk

toiletduck! wrote:I'll agree that the falling down mourning scene was a bit overdone, but the lobotomy thing? C'mon, that's comedy gold!

The mourning scene may not be as overdone as we might expect -- the mourning scene in "Ad Lib Night" (not a comedy) is pretty over the top. In any event, my Korean-filled audience thought this scene was pretty funny.

The Host is boring if it's taken seriously. Since it's marketed as a monster movie, I just kicked back and enjoyed whatever it offered. The monster was cool and the characters were very likeable. It was fun and I didn't take the movie seriously. It's been a long while since we had a decent monster movie so I give The Host some credit. It's better than Jackson's really boringKing Kong at least.

Michael wrote:The Host is boring if it's taken seriously. Since it's marketed as a monster movie, I just kicked back and enjoyed whatever it offered. The monster was cool and the characters were very likeable. It was fun and I didn't take the movie seriously. It's been a long while since we had a decent monster movie so I give The Host some credit. It's better than Jackson's King Kong at least.

See, I was really hoping for a balls-out monster movie, with beasties running around and causing all sorts of wacky havoc, and all I got was some drippy family drama with a touch of po-faced politics thrown in to boot. The advertising campaign was a textbook bait-and-switch.

Narshty wrote:See, I was really hoping for a balls-out monster movie, with beasties running around and causing all sorts of wacky havoc, and all I got was some drippy family drama with a touch of po-faced politics thrown in to boot. The advertising campaign was a textbook bait-and-switch.

in that case, i'm glad i didn't see any marketing for it either.

seriously though, how much of our viewing is influenced by marketing or audience. if you're watching a sitcom without a laugh track, you're probably going to be less likely to laugh or think something is funny. if you're going into a film expecting to see one thing and you see another, that's not the film's fault. it didn't make any expectations, the marketing and hoopla did. really, how much of our opinion is based on the film?

just a vague question that i don't know the answer to

See, I was really hoping for a balls-out monster movie, with beasties running around and causing all sorts of wacky havoc..

Did we see the same movie? The Host didn't take more than 5 minutes to get straight to the monster wiping out the river beach. Sure, The Host is Little Miss Sunshine-ish but that didn't bother me a bit. Oh, come on. Look at Jackson's King Kong. The Host can't be that bad and ridiculous compared to this.

One of the things I MOST appreciate about Bong Joon-Ho's films is his ability to throw so much into the mix so seamlessly, he alternates and weaves between genres, moods and tone like perhaps no other modern director. I for one think he pulls it off each and every time, and must heartily disagree with Antoine Doinel and Narshty.

Just to add a bit of balance to the latter part of this thread - I saw it at a sold out session of around 600-800 people at MIFF mid 2006, and the atmosphere in the cinema was explosive. We were all in tears of laughter and it ended up being one of the most popular films of the Festival!

I'd be interested to know whether the detractors of this film have seen Joon-Ho's other films, Memories Of Murder and Barking Dogs Never Bite? Memories Of Murder in particular is to me a perfect, flawless film... and one of if not the greatest serial killer / detective flick ever made. All I can add is that his style of filmmaking carries across all three, and you must better understand his style before jumping so quickly at The Host. He's a genius, and one of the best in the world right now if you ask me.

I agree completely with soma's assessment of BONG Joon-ho's work. I would only add that I still love his first film ("Barking Dogs Never Bite") best -- not least because of BAE Doo-na's absolutely wonderful performance. ;~}

Michael wrote:

See, I was really hoping for a balls-out monster movie, with beasties running around and causing all sorts of wacky havoc..

Did we see the same movie? The Host didn't take more than 5 minutes to get straight to the monster wiping out the river beach. Sure, The Host is Little Miss Sunshine-ish but that didn't bother me a bit. Oh, come on. Look at Jackson's King Kong. The Host can't be that bad and ridiculous compared to this.

A miscast, overwrought mess though King Kong was, I didn't feel it over-reached in quite as agonising a manner as The Host and of the two I'd rather sit through Jackson's Folly once more. The appearance of the monster was a huge disappointment. It just jumped out and started lolloping around in broad daylight, and that was the majority of the monster action in the film. I thought it shot its wad too quickly.

None of the characters or situation managed to grab me on a human level. I sat there, it did its thing on the screen, we saw each other but never met.

soma wrote:All I can add is that his style of filmmaking carries across all three, and you must better understand his style before jumping so quickly at The Host. He's a genius, and one of the best in the world right now if you ask me.

I've seen movies that didn't floor me first time round, but planted something in my brain that made me go back and have another look. When I think of The Host, the memories of frustration and tedium, where one's cinema seat feels like a prison chair, just come flooding back.

soma wrote:Memories Of Murder in particular is to me a perfect, flawless film... and one of if not the greatest serial killer / detective flick ever made.

That's exactly the reason why The Host is a huge disappointment, for me at least, as I expected so much from the movie after having loved and admired Memories of Murder. The Host conforms to too many genre cliches to make one believe that it's supposed to be a tongue-in-cheek parody. And the comedy? My God. What bad taste.

franco wrote:

soma wrote:Memories Of Murder in particular is to me a perfect, flawless film... and one of if not the greatest serial killer / detective flick ever made.

That's exactly the reason why The Host is a huge disappointment, for me at least, as I expected so much from the movie after having loved and admired Memories of Murder. The Host conforms to too many genre cliches to make one believe that it's supposed to be a tongue-in-cheek parody. And the comedy? My God. What bad taste.

I might have never even known about Memories of Murder if I hadn't seen The Host, which would have been too bad because I absolutely loved MoM. I can see someone being disappointed by seeing The Host afterwards, but I didn't think it was a bad movie. There were certain things about it that I liked a lot, and that's what led me to look up some of the other movies Bong Joon-ho had done.

domino harvey wrote:Of course

I hope Bong gets lots of money for this -- and uses it to make some more good movies of his own.

Michael Kerpan wrote:I agree completely with soma's assessment of BONG Joon-ho's work. I would only add that I still love his first film ("Barking Dogs Never Bite") best -- not least because of BAE Doo-na's absolutely wonderful performance. ;~}

MEK (or anyone else), to your knowledge is Barking Dogs Never Bite available on English-subtitled DVD? My web searching only turns up a variety of copies (at a variety of prices) all from one site I've never heard of and looks suspicious (GlobalEasySell [dot] com). I liked The Host, loved Memories of Murder, and adored Bong's short Incoherence, so I'm anxious to get a copy of BDNB if there's one to be had.

The Korean edition is apparently OOP, which isn't surprising given the way their DVD market works. The HK and Thai versions have English subs and are still available (from DDDHouse and eThaiCD), as is the much pricier R4 from Madman. I can't vouch for the quality of any of these, although DVD Compare says the HK version has a "very good" transfer (albeit no 5.1 audio for the Korean track).

The Host was the subject of one of the most 'rediculous' reviews I have ever seen. It was in a British SF magazine and the argument presented in the review can be summarised as follows : "It's not original because it's too much like Godzilla, and besides you see the monster at the beginning rather than the end of the film, thus demonstrating that the director is completely ignorant of the genre". Only with shorter words.

I agree with the remarks up-thread about how great a director Bong is. Memories of Murder is one of the best films to come out of Asia in decades.

So I picked up the German blu ray of The Host, which comes bundled with a blu-ray of Barking Dogs Never Bite. I basically got it for Barking Dogs on blu ray.

But the damn thing will not play in my Sherwood all-region player. Has anyone else encountered this problem? There's no region coding information on the disc, and the Barking Dogs disc is full 1080p, according to the box.