Joined: 15 Jun 2004 Posts: 46182 Location: Los Skandolous, California Country:
Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 6:33 am Post subject:
I forgot to mention that I also saw the film, Akanezora. A touching movie which takes place during 18th century. The acting by the main players...Masaki Uchino (the lecherous professor from Grumpy Gene among other shows) and Miki Nakatani was really good. The story is easy to relate to and the characters were quite human and realistically portrayed. The film had many moving scenes. Highly recommended.
Joined: 15 Jun 2004 Posts: 46182 Location: Los Skandolous, California Country:
Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2008 1:09 am Post subject:
from the film, Chanko
Occasional laughs and congenial atmosphere are challenged by a weak script and an overlong running time in innocuous and light comedy "Sumo Hot Pot -- Chanko." Pic reps another round helmer Toshiki Sato, an icon in Japan's pink (softcore porn) industry, has sought with regular films. Unfortunately, similar territory has been covered to more humorous effect by Masayuki Suo ("Shall We Dance") in "Sumo Do, Sumo Don't" (1992). Pic released locally to mild biz last year but could find favor with good-natured family-themed fests.
Brazilian exchange student Carabera (Ricaya Spooner) is trying to stop the languishing sumo wrestling club at East Hiroshima University from disappearing altogether. In an effort to boost club membership, he recruits emotionally repressed cutie Yuka (Atsuko Sudo) and two bickering American and Kazakhastan students for upcoming university championships. Sumo regime has cultural interest, but yarn needs steroids and a trim to get it to contender status. Pic affirms Japanese culture with a gentle warning for Nipponese girls who fall in love with foreigners. Helming is flat-footed and like Sato's pink films, thesps may have been chosen for their wrestling ability. Tech credits qualify, but are not winners.
Joined: 20 Apr 2008 Posts: 21 Location: Chicago Country:
Posted: Sun Apr 20, 2008 5:35 am Post subject:
Summer Time Machine Blues -- 8.5/10 -- It made time travel seem a lot less exciting than in other movies--probably because it takes a more realistic (and sometimes confusing) approach. I was expecting more laughs and character interaction, but that's okay. It would be a terrific movie to watch on a lazy summer day. My only suggestion would be that the cast should have been smaller. There were only two or three familiar faces among the friends (Eita, Ueno Juri), so many of the remaining characters sort of disappeared from my memory. Too much was being done in the film for me to get to know the characters' personalities.
University of Laughs -- 9/10 -- This is the film that made me notice Mitani Koki's name. I had seen and enjoyed Welcome back, Mr. McDonald; however, I never looked into the other films that Mitani directed and/or wrote. I absolutely LOVE movies that have few characters, lots of dialogue, and a limited setting (which is often the case with movies based off plays). The script is fantastic. Although Inagaki Goro's character shows strong development as he grows closer to the censor, I felt that his performance could have been better. I'm glad there are literally almost no lines said by characters other than the two leads.
University of Laughs -- 9/10 -- This is the film that made me notice Mitani Koki's name. I had seen and enjoyed Welcome back, Mr. McDonald; however, I never looked into the other films that Mitani directed and/or wrote.
If you are a fan of Mitani Koki's works, I'd also recommend Uchoten Hotel and Minna no Ie (Everyone's House), both of which he wrote and directed.
You should also definitely watch Ohsama no Resutoran (King's Restaurant), a dorama series he wrote back in 1995. The entire series takes place within the confines of a restaurant--it is the funniest, wittiest, most intelligently written comedy dorama I have seen, with a perfectly-cast, highly talented ensemble cast.
He also wrote Furuhata Ninzaburo, a clever detective series very reminiscient of Columbo.
Joined: 15 Jun 2004 Posts: 46182 Location: Los Skandolous, California Country:
Posted: Sun Apr 20, 2008 9:36 am Post subject:
Recently saw Welcome to the Quiet Room. I wasn't very impressed. While the movie wasn't horrible the execution was about as schizophrenic as the the characters in the film. The pacing was off and they tried to tie everything up in the last instance rather quickly after an hour and half of languishing cinema. Lots of star players in this film but I was expecting more. I daresay Kudo Kankuro is better with a pen in his hand than as an actor in front of the camera. I'm sure some people really enjoyed this film so I can not pan it outright, because it did have its moments but overall....lacking.
Last edited by Tu_triky on Sun Apr 20, 2008 4:20 pm; edited 1 time in total
Summer Time Machine Blues -- 8.5/10 -- It made time travel seem a lot less exciting than in other movies--probably because it takes a more realistic (and sometimes confusing) approach. I was expecting more laughs and character interaction, but that's okay. It would be a terrific movie to watch on a lazy summer day. My only suggestion would be that the cast should have been smaller. There were only two or three familiar faces among the friends (Eita, Ueno Juri), so many of the remaining characters sort of disappeared from my memory. Too much was being done in the film for me to get to know the characters' personalities.
Probably because there was so much complexity in the past/present/future scenes that you were trying to figure things out rather thanreally focus on the characters... It needs several viewings to really get everything sorted.
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Posts: 3125 Location: S.F. Bay Area Country:
Posted: Sun Apr 20, 2008 3:03 pm Post subject:
I just watched Jigyaku no Uta (Happily Ever After)
The copy I have is poor... to make it worse, the screen is covered with Chinese hard subs.
I haven't been able to find English subs for it yet.
And I still thought it was wonderful.
The movie was Directed and co-written by Yukihiko Tsutsumi. The goof ball who brought us "Keizoku" "Trick" "Stand Up" and "2LDK" et. al..
The stars are: Miki Nakatani, Hiroshi Abe, and Toshiyuki Nishida
Some people will be disappointed that this movie isn't a straight, 2 dimentional, cartoonish comedy all the way through.
I wasn't.
This is a romantic comedy. And the leads are Miki, as a plain, homely woman (they put moles all over her face, and even gave her a wart on the side of her nose) who seems to have lived her life under a cloud of bad luck. And the man she loves, Hiroshi. A quasi sociopathic, low level yakusa thug. The guy who'd be listed as "third thug from the left" in most yakusa movies.
And of course Nishida, who plays Miki's dad. One of the more unsuccessful career criminals in the history of movies.
These are not the most conventional of characters for a love story. But this director, and these actors made the movie a joy for me to watch... even though I couldn't understand two thirds of the dialogue. _________________
Manga is to Literature
what Graffiti is to Art
Last edited by Geezer on Fri May 30, 2008 2:44 pm; edited 1 time in total
Joined: 20 Apr 2008 Posts: 21 Location: Chicago Country:
Posted: Sun Apr 20, 2008 9:43 pm Post subject:
shin2 wrote:
If you are a fan of Mitani Koki's works, I'd also recommend Uchoten Hotel and Minna no Ie (Everyone's House), both of which he wrote and directed.
You should also definitely watch Ohsama no Resutoran (King's Restaurant), a dorama series he wrote back in 1995. The entire series takes place within the confines of a restaurant--it is the funniest, wittiest, most intelligently written comedy dorama I have seen, with a perfectly-cast, highly talented ensemble cast.
He also wrote Furuhata Ninzaburo, a clever detective series very reminiscient of Columbo.
Thanks for the recommendations! The first two movies are available on Netflix, I think. Sadly, I have no idea where to watch the dramas you mentioned. Maybe I'll find a torrent somewhere.
Joined: 26 Mar 2007 Posts: 2061 Location: Melbourne Country:
Posted: Sun Apr 20, 2008 9:58 pm Post subject:
queenofpainting wrote:
Thanks for the recommendations! The first two movies are available on Netflix, I think. Sadly, I have no idea where to watch the dramas you mentioned. Maybe I'll find a torrent somewhere.
You can find King's restaurant at d-addicts.com. If there are no seed, there is a livejournal community with direct download links.
Joined: 26 Mar 2007 Posts: 2061 Location: Melbourne Country:
Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2008 10:18 pm Post subject:
Just watched HERO the movie. I thought it was pretty average. I enjoyed the series a lot, the first 4 episodes were so much better than the movie... perhaps I got used to the format?
It wasn't bad, the story was easy to follow but I had a few problems with it. The ending was too rushed, I was completely confused about the verdict. I thought the story lacked focus, it tried to incorporate too many characters instead of following the formula in the series where Kurya Kohei and the case was pretty much all it was concerned with. There were a lot of dramatic moments where there just weren't much impact, it was either too obvious for me, or perhaps the themes got a bit too familiar, so it was pretty flat until the last third of the film.
Enough with the panning, what I liked about the film... I enjoyed the investigative trail I guess.
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subs seem not be ready yet. Arigatou! 
