Netflix Customer Reviews

Young & Restless in China

Most of what's in the news these days about China is how all the products we buy have lead in them, how they are consuming a lot of fossil fuels and making a lot of pollution, etc, etc. Most don't realize that most of the negatives we hear are generally caused by their Government and not the common folk.I'm sure the reverse is true when people think about America and it's problems.So, as this Doc. follows its selection of people you get an idea of how the common people have to deal with the social, political and economic changes that are sweeping that country. It starts around four years ago and even includes some aspects of how they got ready for the current Olympics and the impact that had on a few of the subjects. Some of them succeeded in their dreams, some fail or are forced to take a step back and some are still struggling to get somewhere closer to whatever they are striving for.It is nowhere a complete picture of the changing Chinese landscape but just aglimpse into a few lives.

Zarkorr! The Invader

Even as a rubber suit monster flick, this wasn't that good.The people that made this one got all their ideas from the Godzilla and friends films from the early 60's-70's Japanese films.Our hero gets the barest of info, from an imitation fairy girl like in the Mothra films, that he is chosen to save the Earth from Zarkorr who seems to be a test for the fitness of Earth to survive. That's like saying if you can beat up Andre the Giant we won't kill you. Anyways, he is given a clue as to how to beat Zarkorr. And let me say the to beat Zarkorr is a complete copout. He gathers some friend who sort of help him and that is that. The miniatures do look fairly well made but when all the stomping is going on there are not any of the usual people running in fear of being stepped on so it's just the rubber suit man on an empty lot stepping on small buildings. I wouldn't watch it again but if you like these types of features then give it a try. Or maybe wait and see if it comes up on instant watch. At least then youre only wasting the bandwidth and not a rental space.

Yu-Gi-Oh

OK. So I grew up with Yu-Gi-Oh so that probably explains my like for it. I never got into the card game but the cartoon satisfied the need most kids have nowadays to collect items. Cards(any type of game), comics, toys etc. The plots were not overly complex but they did get some depth in at times. They did have a cookie cutter feel to them though. Yugi(or sometimes other characters) would get in a card battle, start losing but then at the last moment figure out a way to beat their opponent. There are exception episodes to this and that cookie cutter way is not exactly bad but just be prepared for it. The show also probably filled some need for kids imagination to actually come to life. What kid doesn't want some game they are playing to have real impact. Being that this series is 12 years old I'm not sure how well it plays to the kids growing up today. And yes this is the "Americanised" version but being as that is all that I have ever seen I'm ok with it. However, you can see at times the editing that went on to make it safe for our sensitive eyes. In one scene some guards are pointing their hands towards a character but they are in a grip like they were obviously holding guns. For most people this season would be 3 stars and future seasons do delve more into the mythology of the card game but for nolstagia's sake I give it 4 stars.

Yoga & Kung Fu Girl

I don't know if this Soft Bone Technique is real or not but the way they show it in the film and the moves they do it can't really be that effective. As far as the fight scenes go, they really aren't that great. The opponents just go slow enough to set up the girl to show off some slow, flexible moves, not exactly martial arts. The main girl is deaf/mute and does sign language which it seems everyone knows and can understand. It seems to be set in early China but they show current playing cards and a soccer ball. It's no doubt that the actors are flexible but it's not enough to make the film watchable.

The Yard Sale

This movie tries, I'll give it that much. The plot description isn't exact but it is close enough. There are a few Spanish actors you may recognize but mostly this is an Indie film. There were a few moments where I actually laughed out loud, a few more where I laughed at the situation they were trying to create rather than the actual punchline, but mostly it was a little flat. This is best described as a Mexican version of the Friday movies with Ice Cube but not as good. As a recommendation I would say watch it only if you really,really like some of the actors or if you feel the need to support Indie/Spanish films/actors. Otherwise this is a 2.25 to 2.5 star film.

You Talkin' to Me?

Not totally sure what this movie wanted to be. Its listed as a comedy but there werent that many lol moments. Its more of a drama. The caharacter Bronson wants to be actor so bad that he moves from New York to Hollywood. Unforunately this being the late 80s all they seem to want is the blonde haired blue eyed look. Bronson, having based his acting on the likes of De niro(Taxi Dirver being the main) is left out. So he goes from one extreme to another and takes the look of a surfer dude. He gets mixed up with a racist producer and starts to have an identity crisis. There are a few plot points that propel the movie forward that you can see coming a mile away. This is kind of interesting from the point of character actors and how they may get stuck in that role if they are not careful.This film also has the feeling that it wants to have a say about race relations but if so it doesnt do it very well. 2.5*

Yellow River Fighter

In long ago China and area is split between 3 warlords. The hero saves one but doing so puts him in under suspicion of another. To prevent him from joining that first warlord the other attacks the heros village and kills his family so he is off for revenge. Made in '88 so rhe transfer quality is not that great. The action and fight sequences are ok, nothing special. The punches, kicks and weapons can be seen missing well away from the actors. I even saw a couple of action scenes repeated. The story is also familiar not anything special. If you are a super fan of the martial arts you may like this but otherwise it is not worth it.

Young Master

This is a great movie for the Jackie Chan fans out there, and even ones not familiar with his work yet. This film marks his directorial debut and he knows how to showcase his strengths. It is great to see him in his prime not only for the martial arts but acrobatics and stunts he does. He doesn't go crazy like his later stunts like jumping to buildings from the one next to it but his skill does show through. He also showcases his humor. From facial expressions to awkward moments to doing funny things with his body. People have compared him(and I think maybe he himself also) to the likes of Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin. He also pits himself against some of the then top martial artists at that time all with varying styles. It allows him to change to various styles and use various props to overcome his opponents. This is a great film. On a technical note NF has this movie in two entries. THE YOUNG MASTER has only the original voice work with English subtitles. However, YOUNG MASTER which is this film has English voice over's and also English subtitles. Other than that they are the same film as I couldn't see any quality difference between the two. Not an issue for me as I can watch a film with just subtitles but some people don't like that so here is the warning for those people to pick this film and not the other one.

The Young Master

This is a great movie for the Jackie Chan fans out there, and even ones not familiar with his work yet. This film marks his directorial debut and he knows how to showcase his strengths. It is great to see him in his prime not only for the martial arts but acrobatics and stunts he does. He doesn't go crazy like his later stunts like jumping to buildings from the one next to it but his skill does show through. He also showcases his humor. From facial expressions to awkward moments to doing funny things with his body. People have compared him(and I think maybe he himself also) to the likes of Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin. He also pits himself against some of the then top martial artists at that time all with varying styles. It allows him to change to various styles and use various props to overcome his opponents. This is a great film. On a technical note NF has this movie in two entries. THE YOUNG MASTER which is this film has only the original voice work with English subtitles. However, YOUNG MASTER has English voice over's and also English subtitles. Other than that they are the same film as I couldn't see any quality difference between the two. Not an issue for me as I can watch a film with just subtitles but some people don't like that so here is the warning for those people to pick the other film and not this one.

Your Kung Fu is no Good

This part of the review is for the first disc Deadly Kick. Ignore the average rating of 1.7 Stars at your peril. This movies kung fu is is not only no Good, it is terrible, laughable, lame. I could do most of the moves. I am not even sure what the plot was about but the main character was in jail, got out and got involved in some stuff. That is literally what i could understand about the film. He apparently has kung fu based off of a snake, a eagle and lion. But there is no art in these martial moves. And the would he inflicts look more like dog scratches than a mortal wound. Avoid this subpar martial art flick. ok, disc 2 is called Kill Line. Basically 4 guys save a dying man who tells them of 2 million dollars hidden away. 3 guys trick one of them(who for some reason goes to jail). The money is hidden and the one guys family is killed to try and find it so he gets out to get revenge. He is like an Asian charles bronson only less so. THere isnt even any kung fu unless you count a bar fight with a couple of kicks and punches.THe movie doesnt even end well, they do a story paragraph ending telling what happens. Avoid this also.

You Move You Die

They try to make a "cool" movie but it ends up being a subpar indie flick. You can see the influence of movies like Snatch, Lock stock, The way of the Gun, Reservoir Dogs and such. They wanted it to be like that but it isn't. It isn't terrible but it is not as good as it is trying to be. The acting is ok as it seems to be relatively unknowns trying tho sharpen their chops. the story could have been great and it had it's moments. I did LOL at some of the scenes but without the acing most fell flat. With a little better budget the action of course could have been better but it is what it was. I wanted to like this film but it just wasn't all there.

Young Hercules

Young Hercules is a prequel to the Hercules tv series. It features some characters like Eolus and jason that appeared in the series as younger versions. It also has some of the same characters like Ares and Dischord with the same actors as on the series. We see Hercules training and how some of his friendships formed that showed up on the series. Since it was made by the same people that made the series it has the same feel to it - from the acting and lines to the action sequences.That said, it does not have the same charisma that the series had. This maybe due to the writing/directing or it could be that Sorbo and the others are not in it as it features some general unknowns. AS a con it does the whole shaky camera zooming in/out and moving around to much. It got annoying after a bit. If you liked Hercules you will enjoy this probably. It has the same campy jokes, it fills in some backstory for the characters and it has the usual crazy action scenes. Not as great as the series but worh a watch.

Yongary, Monster from the Deep

Cashing in on the Godzilla(Gojira) money train is Yongary who is basically a cheap Godzilla. It really is almost the same design. Just add spikes on the back and tail, add some upwards tusks in the mouth and a horn on the nose of Godzilla and you have Yongary. The roar even sounds almost the same.He even has a flame breath but instead of an effect it is an actual flame thrower.You can see the nozzle when they do a close up of him blasting away. The transfer is not that great bit it is as good as I would expect from what was probably a budget monster movie back then. I would doubt that they planned on dvd tech. The story is the usual natural disaster turns into a big monster. A kid despite the danger goes to see the monster, and of course discovers something that may stop it. If your a fan of men in rubber suits this may be for you. You even get a dancing Yongary, not even Godzilla did that.

Young Bruce Lee: The Little Dragon

A "documentary?" i guess. With a stroll through Bruce Lee's life starting from his work as a child up to his rise in Hollywood. The early movies are in terrible quality, sound also, but I guess that may be expected. Mainly this has preview clips of his movies and even clips of stand ins and impersonators. This was really hard to sit through and I wasn't even able to watch all of it. The presentation was boring and there wasn't anything that you couldn't learn from better documentaries or even good books about his life.

Zen Noir

This movie suprised me. At first it seems as if it will be a spoof on the noir genre with a gumshoe detective trying to solve a murder mystery at a Buddhist temple. He even does the talking to himself/audience thing narrating the story. But he does it in a self deprecating way , he even has a line about why he talks like he does. Once he gets to the temple though it started to deviate from what I thought it was going to be. He starts to question the monks but of course being the way that Zen is his questions just lead to open ended answers and more questions. The detective starts to question, reality, I would say as the investigation goes on. This leads him away from the case and more into questions about life and meaning. There is a little bit of backstory to him which relates to the end story. Kim Chan wraps up the story at the end in a way only a Zen master can. This film is a bit slow in pace but I think thought provoking and worthwhile.

You Know My Name

This movie is classified as a western but being set in the mid 20's its on the border of 2 eras. I didn't know to much about Bill Tilghman and his career so whether this tells a good story about him is up to debate. It is really only about what could be called his last story as his fame after him film gets around he is hired to lean up an oil digging community as it is trying to become a full fledged town. Tilghman looks out of place as most everyone has an automobile and he still rides his horse but his style of law enforcement still works well. He gets noticed by a corrupt Federal agent as he is cleaning up the moonshiners and prostitutes. There is a little bit of gunfighting but no real shootouts. In the end Tilghman starts the process but after a certain event at the end it is the townspeople who get inspired to finally get the crooks and lowlifes out. A medium paced film with no big buildup but an ending as only it could be as it is based on a real life story. Sam elliott is one of those few actors, like Tom Selleck in later years, who seems born to play a cowboy type.

Zegapain

This series started out as another "A group picks a chosen one to battle in a mech" but as of disk 2 turned out to be something else. reality is not what it seems and when Kyo finds out he has to rconcile his mind with what he knows, or think he knows, to that which is. Kyo gets picked by a group called Cerebrum to help fight an alien invasion in what appears to be another land, another dimension or the future. Kyo of course does not believe this and thinks he is being pulled into some virtual reality game with no consequences. As the story progresses he comes to realize it is not a game and there are grave consequences when he fails. The aliens are trying to terraform the planet and Cerebrum is trying to stop them. This isn't a terrible anime and with disk 3 coming out it may get bumped up a star but as it is now it's worth a 3 star.

Zoo

As I usually like Japanese story telling I feel this one came up short for me. Story 1 - Twin who are treated very differently get a taste for what the other gets. Story 2 - 7 people are kdnapped and locked in seven different rooms only connected by a drainage stream in the floor. They have no idea who the others are or why they are there but they all want to get out. Reminds me of hostel a little bit but there is nothing realy graphic in this story. I liked this one the most. Story 3 - The slowest on in my opinion, 2 parents seems to think the other has died so they no longer see each other and only their kid can see both. Story 4 - An animation movie about robot built like a young girl/teenager. HAving to learn about life and death and what she is. Story 5 - Is probably the one closest to the horror genre.Even with that said I couldn't watch it for long, it just did not hold my attention. This set of movies had more psychological than horror to it so any one wanting to be scared should know that.

Zurdo

This movie tries to be more than a simple marble challange. Zurdo(Lefty in Spanish I think) is a young boy who is somewhat of a town hero due noone being able to beat him at marbles. In a round about way he gets challenged to a game by a nerby city's champion with the whole town pulling together to bet on him. Of course everyone but the town millionaire needs the money, especially Zudo's mother. AS the story goes on there are corrupt officials, gang members who turn into paid protectors, redemption to a yong crush interest for Zurdo and hope for the city. There is a twist at the end which you will probably see coming. I liked this movie just for the interesting story presentation. You may enjoy it as well.

Zombie Campout

It's like they grabbed some people from a mall and asked them if they wanted to be in a film. Camcorder quality, no acting skills and they tease nudity but never show anything. That would not be an issue if they were not so ovious about it. There was even a scene where they had a girl change clothes in front of a bush but when she bent down for the bottoms they actually moved a branch each time she bent down to keep her covered but face visible. I can't say how this ended because after that I stopped watching this "movie". Stay away!

Zombie 4: After Death

They need to just nuke this island if it will avoid any more of these films. I don't think it is ever explained why the soldiers are there(silly me looking for reasons in this plot).If these guys are mercanaries then they must work cheap because their skills suck. Although they do have a never ending magazine for their rifles. To save on cost it just looks like they put the zombies in dirty rags, covered most of their faces but left enought to peek through and had them continously spit out some green kool aid or something as their blood. And they move quick for zombies. But not in the good way like the 28 days later movies, they just moved like people in rags. I would say avoid this movie, it is not worth the punishement.

Zentrix: Vol. 1: Out of Time

An ok animation in cgi. Felt like it was made for young kids and mostly girls which is fine but being as that I am neither a young kid nor a girl it did not hold my interest. Basically a city Ai goes all Skynet on the citizens and tries to take over. The king sets it up so that his daughter, the princess, can go back in time to stop the change in the AI from the beginning. Unfortunately she gets reverted to an 8 year old girl but at least she still has her mech to battle with due to the AI sending agent robots back to stop her again ala Skynet.

Zombie 5: Killing Birds

This movie doesn't really have anything to do with the other Zombie movies. A vietnam vet comes home and finds his wife with another man. He kills them both and some neighbors who stop by(bad luck all aroung on this morning). The neighbors had a baby which he takes and turns into to a hospital. The vet/his wife also seem to keep birds. Several years later some college kids get some kind of grant to study rare birds or something which leads them to the vets house(apparently the cops in this town are pretty lazy about finding the murdered of 4 people). Killer birds ensues. Avoid this one.

Zombie Death House

A Vietnam vet comes home and gets a job as a driver for a mob boss. Of course he falls for the boss's woman, the boss finds out and kills the woman, frames the vet and sends him to jail. A jail which happens to have both the mob bosses little brother and a secret military experiment to test some virus or something. The test subject breaks loose and starts infect and killing everyone he comes into contact with. During this somehow the vet gains the loyalty of the other prisoners over the mob bosses brother and takes over the prison. Bad acting,bad fight scenes, bad effects. Throw in a brief nude scene by a young Tane Mcclure and you got a movie to only watch if you got a free space on your que, nothing else to do and like these types of movies.

Zombie Lake

What to say?You got your French nudity. You got your 80's special effects. You got your Zombie plot. Well, some kind of plot. It take splace in some German town, some Nazis get killed but one falls in love before he dies. They get tossed in the town lake and then for some reason they don't like the naked ladies swimming in the lake so they come out and kill anything near it. Like I said the effects are 80's so that means paint the actors green, apply some rubbercement/latex(did they have that type of latex back then) and have them shamble around. Definately not scary and on the line of being laughably bad and just being bad. Watch at your own risk.