Hippie Heaven

Advantages: excellent hang-out place
Disadvantages: none

...Pai is a beautiful little village way up in the mountains. It is accessable by bus from Chiang Mai or Mae Hong Son, but even though its less than 100 miles from Chiang Mai it takes about 3 1/2 hours due to the winding mountain roads. The Mae Hong Son road is even worse. Try to sit at the back so you can't see the road ahead...it's pretty hair-raising. Pai has no traffic, good roads, and lots of little places to eat and stay. Just past the school there are a cluster of guest houses on the river that will rent you a bungalow for about 200 baht a night. The food has a definite hippie influence, so you can eat hummus and nutburgers to your heart's content. Essential travel items are also quite cheap here. There are many elephant trekking companies out here, but many of them are poorly run. Check them out before you book...

JeffSumm 04.09.2001 · Read review
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Review of Pai (Thailand)

Disneyland Pais here we come

Advantages: Bargins, Bargins, and more Bargins
Disadvantages: Dont always get what you are expecting

......

hilljo 24.02.2003 · Read review
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Review of ebay.co.uk

Kill Bill Vol. 2 - can it cut it?

Advantages: Amazing music, sharp script
Disadvantages: Last third drags on a bit

...the music is kept to a minimum (if there is any at all) so you can hear every time the blade swooshes past the camera very clearly. There's still an eastern feel though, as we are introduced to Pai Mei, who teaches The Bride how to be an ruthless killing machine. It is filmed just like a 70's martial arts movie, with similar music and fast close ups. A great treat if you remember those movies fondly. A few negatives though, the ending can seem to drag on a bit, and the final of the Bride/Elle fight was a bit of an anti-climax, especially after one of the most tense, exciting and anticipation lifting pieces of music I've ever heard, as the bride and Elle stare each other out, with the camera slowly moving in until you see the whites of their eyes (a nod to Sergio Leone)...

Walter_Kovacs 19.12.2008 · Read review
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Review of Kill Bill Vol.2 (DVD)

Let's get ratty

Advantages: Superb thrash & punk throughout
Disadvantages: None

...enjoyable tracks are undoubtedly of a native theme - Brasil, Amazonia Never More and Land of Carnival. There are two versions of the album, one in Portuguese and one in English and it was this album that made the album more well known, undoubtedly their best work and a classic album in my eyes. 1. Amazônia nunca mais/ Amazon never more 2. Retrocesso/ Backwards 3. AIDS, pop, repressão/ AIDS, pop, repression 4. Lei do silêncio/ Law of the silence 5. S.O.S. país falido/ S.O.S. broken country 6. Gil Goma/ Gil Coma 7. Beber até morrer/ Drink' till you die 8. Plano furado II/ Fucked plan II 9. Heroína suicída/ Suicide heroin 10. Crianças sem futuro/ Children without future 11. Farsa nacionalista/ Nationalist farse 12. Traidor/ Traitor 13. Porcos sanguinários/ Bloody pigs 14. Vida animal/ Animal life 15. O fim/ The end 16. Máquina...

dangaroo 03.12.2008 · Read review
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Review of Brasil [Digipak] - Ratos De Porao

Big trouble in little china town

Advantages: good entertaining movie with action and adventure
Disadvantages: a little 'dodgy' in parts

...Director: John Carpenter Producer: Larry . Franco Writers: Gary Goldman, David Z. Weinstein and W.D. Richter Stars: Kurt Russel, Kim Cattrall, Dennis Dun, James Hong and Victor Wong Released in the summer of 1986 this hour and forty minute movie follows the life of a truck driver who happens upon some 'Big trouble in Little China' town. **BRIEF PLOT** Jack Burton, (played by Kurt Russell) is a truck driver with a simple life, the love of money, drinking, Gambling and his beloved Truck, until one day when he and his friend Wang Chi, (played by Dennis Dun) go to the local airport to pick up Wang's girlfriend, Miao Yin (played by Suzee Pai). Unfortunately, at exactly the same time, a group from Chinatown grab Maio Yin from the Airport with the intention of using her for an ancient ritual regarding a 2000 year old...

blissman70 09.09.2008 · Read review
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Review of Big Trouble In Little China (DVD)

The best film of 2003

Advantages: A Truly feel good film
Disadvantages: I cried at the cinema-a public place!!

...(Rawiri Paratene) is chief, but his son Pourangi(Cliff Curtis) does not want to take over the title, and when Pourangi has a daughter,Pai,(Keisha Castle Hughes) she is blamed for not being male and therefore not being able to carry on the tradition. The grandfather needs a successor, so sets about trying to teach the first born sons of the villagers all the rituals and knowledge they need to take over. Although he is nice to Pai, she is not a first born son and dismisses her attempts to join in the training. When things start to go wrong for the village, Koro blames Pai and she knows she must prove to him she is worthy of his love and is prepared to make the ultimate sacrafice. Castle-Hughes gives an utterly beautiful performance as 12 year old Pai, and one which I defy anyone, grown men included, not to shed at least a tear (I shed...

nancymac 27.08.2003 · Read review
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Review of Whale Rider (DVD)

Try the ride - you'll love it.

Advantages: Strong and moving storyline, great performances
Disadvantages: You can only see it for the first time once.

...only child, Pai, in the care of Koro. Unfortunately for Koro, Pai is a girl. She loves her grandfather and simply wants to make him proud of her. This she does by trying to train in the Maori ways, in order that she would be a suitable chief. This has the opposite effect on Koro though, who is so firmly entrenched in the idea of male dominance that he sees Pai?s behaviour as disrespect. He concentrates his efforts on training the young males in the village who all prove to be unsuitable for the task. As the community comes across difficult times, Pai takes a dramatic opportunity to prove her love for her grandfather and that she is chief material. This is a beautifully shot film with great cinematography and a storyline that maintains your interest throughout and never crosses the line into over-sentimentality. The star of this film is...

petea101 21.04.2004 · Read review
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Review of Whale Rider (DVD)

Pretty girl with 3 eyes

Advantages: Very nice story
Disadvantages: A bit short, could have had expansions in many areas

...This anime is also known as 'Sazan Eyes', this is a story about Yakumo Fujii, who was just like any other 16-year-old Japanese high school student. Well, his father did disappear in Tibet four years ago while searching for a legendary race of three-eyed beings, and Yakumo was forced to take a job as a "waitress" in a gay bar to support himself. But that was nothing compared to the strange girl Yakumo literally ran into one day on the way to work. She called herself Pai, and she carried a letter that Yakumo's father wrote just before he died. The note claimed that Pai was the last of the three-eyed race Prof. Fujii had spent his life searching for, a race with the power of eternal youth, the Sanjiyan Unkara. Of course, Yakumo did not believe in monsters, and Pai certainly didn't look like a supernatural creature. In fact, she was kind...

Kinny 29.01.2001 (27.01.2001) · Read review
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Review of Sazan aizu (3x3 Eyes)

Hope for the future!

Advantages: Emotive, engaging, Brilliant
Disadvantages: none

...Whale Rider, Te Kaieke Tohora (in Maori). * The film* Rated PG 13+ A thought provoking, magical and emotive film adapted from the book by Witi Ihimaera. Screenplay by Niki Caro. The film quickly grips the viewer?s interest with a heart-rending opening scene. The coinciding narrative of Keisha Castle-Hughes enlightens us to the long awaited cultural event that is taking place. Paikea "Pai" Apirana is an 11 year old Maori girl, a member of the Ngati Porou tribe living with her traditionally bound grandparents. Cultural foundations depict a patriarchal community; one in which Pai has to fight to fulfil her destiny. We are taken through the film with haunting music and in parts, the narrative of Keisha Castle-Hughes explaining to us the legend of Paikea. Paikea is the mythic ancestor of the Ngati Porou tribe. It is...

madel09 14.02.2004 · Read review
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Review of Whale Rider (DVD)

A worthy mainstream effort

Advantages: They have taken the best from some loved icons and made it their own
Disadvantages: Is it ground breaking enough to crack a tough genre?

...Being a new listener of the Gaslight Anthem, this was my first experience of their somewhat original sound. Firing up the CD, i immediatly listened to their title track 59 sound, the stand out track of the album. The song, much in the same vain of their heroes Alkaline trio, is about death and loss. However, the song remains somewhat upbeat and positive. The fantastic husky vocals remind you of Matt Skibia of Alkaline Trio, but has enough originality to pull off his own sound. Having introduced myself to the album, i familerised myself with the other tracks. The opening track Great Expectations, with a quick tempo and sing along lyrics paied with a distinct country sound, draws you into the album, and sets the atmosphere well. However, It does not stand out compared to the outstanding title track which comes next! As mentioned earlier...

feralspecies 17.11.2008 · Read review
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Review of '59 Sound, The - Gaslight Anthem (The)