For most of Bitter Balcony’s readers hearing about "Ponyo" might not be exactly what they are hoping to read. However, I was impressed this heartwarming and highly creative Miyazaki film captures and expressively displays the joyful essence of youthful imagination.
Sure, it made it to the big screen. I saw the poster and I admit, I quickly forgot about the film.
Getting a moment to sit down and dedicate time towards watching a “kids movie” is time that is hard to come by. However if you enjoyed "My Neighbor Totoro" you will find that "Ponyo" and her cute habits are a great compliment to that sort of experience.
 |
Ninja Assassin (2009)
Should this Ninja Assassin keep his Ass-assin in the shadows or step into the light to slay some (insert name of jackass here) meatsack? You didn’t think we would hit “ass” twice in a sentence did you? (Ha, we just said “hit” and “ass.”) The Wachowski brothers, er siblings, are back in a production capacity. They "Speed Racer"ed their way to a flop after finding some vendetta in advance with the very well done “V for Vendetta.” Now they bring us some assassin ninjas who will assassinate ninjas in all the bloody-good ways possible. Some (read: we) say they are washed up, but after seeing “Ninja Assassin” we’d like to think there is at least one more better-than-decent movie left in the future. This movie only qualifies for the “decent” part, but it’s a fun ride. |
Read More
 |
Terminator: Salvation
First, we’ll start this “Terminator Salvation” review with saying that this series should have ended at “T-2”. It is with some hesitation that the Bitter Balcony peeps even found “T-3”enjoyable. The series should never have happened beyond the first two – and this film should have remained something that lived on only in our imagination. “Terminator Salvation” spins around Kyle Reese (Anthony Yelchin), John Connor (Christian Bale), and Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington). Connor is more of a peon than we were lead to believe he was in the past films, which is in itself, a letdown. |
Read More
Did you know Bitter Balcony has a User Submitted section and they can become part of our front page for all to see?
Follow these few simple steps and review away!
1. Create an account HERE.
2. Confirm your account via the email you receive.
3. Return to Bitter Balcony, sign in and click HERE or in the menu on the right (pictured below).
Read More
 |
Cloverfield
Hollywood has stolen, er, “re-imagined” Asian cinema, most notably in mediocre horror films with no cultural base to translate the themes conveyed by their Far East predecessors. While cute Japanese girl-ghosts haunt the reception of dumb American teenagers’ cell phones, we can look back at 1998's monster dung “Godzilla” (fan-reviewed on Bitter Balcony on Sept 30th) as a prior failure to adapt a Japanese icon into American lore. Terrorizing poorly developed disaster movie archetype characters, calamity master (in more ways than he'll ever know) Roland Emmerich made the menacing “Godzilla” as threatening as Minilla. Thankfully, “Godzilla” tanked at the box office, putting the American update peacefully to rest at the bottom of the Hudson River. |
