Japanese Movies/Discussion/Recommendations

BMW,

Yeah, well... I just couldn't let that pass.

No offense meant... and people's personal tastes are their own and just as valid for them as mine are for me.

But Itami was a freakin' genius.

bmwracer wrote:
Cool. Give us a review when you get chance, Pemu...

Reviews have been mixed here in the States... :sweat:

Will do. I didn't watch the movie that night, instead I went to watch a bunch of the 70's movies from Bud Spencer and Terence Hill :hehe:
Cutie Honey (a silly sailor moon like) and Wonderful Life I shall watch. I'm taking a little break from jdrama (watched all the completed dramas I have, hehe).

Pemu wrote:instead I went to watch a bunch of the 70's movies from Bud Spencer and Terence Hill :hehe:
Cutie Honey (a silly sailor moon like) and Wonderful Life I shall watch.

i'm pretty sure you'll like cutie honey, especially sato erico in the outfit. :naughty: otherthan that, it's fairly like SM live.

Finished Wonderful Life in the morning, took me 4 installments to finish, a 4x 30 min installment, 3 days, hehe. The movie was either boring or I just happened to watch it at late nights :hehe: Nonetheless, a very slow paced movie, not exactly my taste.

niko2x wrote:i'm pretty sure you'll like cutie honey, especially sato erico in the outfit. :naughty: otherthan that, it's fairly like SM live.

I'll appreciate the more even higher if nudity exists in the scenes :naughty:
Hehe, in my wildest dreams :mrgreen:
I hear the movie is pretty entertainin but as the end looms, the whole thing goes bizarre, correct?

DVD Beaver comparison of When the Last Sword is Drawn (Mibu Gishi Den): http://www.compare.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDCompare10/when_the_last_sword_is_drawn.htm

[image] [image]

Yo,
Laugh all you want, but I bought a copy of Shall We Dance this weekend:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0002V7S34/qid=1113252102/sr=8-2/ref=pd_csp_2/103-5113293-1268635?v=glance&s=dvd&n=507846

4 score & 7 years ago, I took ballroom dancing with my GF in college.
-PCM

PCM, no laughing here. You got the right version. :say_yes:

pcmodem wrote:Yo,
Laugh all you want, but I bought a copy of Shall We Dance this weekend:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0002V7S34/qid=1113252102/sr=8-2/ref=pd_csp_2/103-5113293-1268635?v=glance&s=dvd&n=507846

Cool. I'm not laughing. I bought my copy the day it was released... :D

Trvia note: Yakusho Koji played Musashi in a TV drama series back in the early 80's... Wish I had taped that.

pcmodem wrote:Yo,
Laugh all you want, but I bought a copy of Shall We Dance this weekend:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0002V7S34/qid=1113252102/sr=8-2/ref=pd_csp_2/103-5113293-1268635?v=glance&s=dvd&n=507846

4 score & 7 years ago, I took ballroom dancing with my GF in college.
-PCM

That must have been a wonderful learning experience :hehe:

Geezer wrote:

But what really struck me is that in 1982, Keiko Matsuzaka was a freakin' goddess.

You can see her now playing Kiyomori's wife in Yoshitsune, and it's clear that she's still a good looking older lady.

As she was the good looking older lady in "Proof of the Man", and in the movie, "The Happiness of the Katakuris".

But in 1982... she was spectacular.

Apparently, she's still wowwing people today: http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/waiwai/face/0504/08matsuzaka.html

dochira wrote:Apparently, she's still wowwing people today: http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/waiwai/face/0504/08matsuzaka.html

Very nice. The pic appears to be sorta soft-focusy/doctored, though... :sweat:

I think I was more shocked to read what she is doing in her movies today. But more power to her if she is still willing to do them.

dochira wrote:I think I was more shocked to read what she is doing in her movies today. But more power to her if she is still willing to do them.

I'm sure there's some strategy/publicity ploy to it... If it was some tepid, middle-of-the-road drama, it wouldn't be getting this kinda press...

I can't dance...
Don't ask me.

But I can watch movies.

A while ago I mentioned that I had "Doppelganger" on order from netflix.

Well, it finally arrived... and I have to admit... I don't have much good to say about it.

Okay, Koji Yakusho is in it. And he's just flat out a movie star.

Right. So much for the good I have to say about this movie.

I was fairly interested in it half way through because I couldn't figure out where it was going, or what the writer/director was trying to say. What story he was trying to tell.

By the end I still couldn't figure it out, and I was annoyed with the ending, so I turned to the DVD commentary... listened to the interview with director Kiuoshi Kurosawa... and I came away saying, "you gotta be kidding."

This thing is set up like a horror movie. I looks like a horror movie, is paced like a horror movie... he thought it looked too much like a horror movie... and somewhere into the first few weeks of shooting... he decided he wanted to make it into a feel good comedy about the uplifting of the human spirit. (I got those words from the director.)

Kind of tough to do when you as a director don't have a sense of humor, don't have the first clue how to make a comedy... and oh yeah, there were all those murders. All those scenes where characters beat each other to death with either hammers or wrenches. Yeah, funny stuff.

Stupid movie. Poorly conceived. Moronic ending. And enough holes in the story to drive a fleet of trucks through.

I'm being too subtle again.

Doppelganger is a very bad movie.

Oh, I also watched the rerelease of Toshiro Mifune's "Incident at Blood Pass"

I figured it was a can't miss. Mifune was playing Yojimbo again, and Katsu Shintaro was in it (though not playing Zatoichi).

Good movie, ruined by a lousy ending.

The movie had all this great stuff going for it. It was well fimed, it had terrific actors, playing interesting characters. And there seemed to be a complex story working.

And then, it was almost like the writer quit before handing in the ending, or they ran out of time, or money... because the ending was... abrupt, to say the least. And more than a little unsatisfying.[/i]

Geezer wrote:Oh, I also watched the rerelease of Toshiro Mifune's "Incident at Blood Pass"

I figured it was a can't miss. Mifune was playing Yojimbo again, and Katsu Shintaro was in it (though not playing Zatoichi).

Good movie, ruined by a lousy ending.

The movie had all this great stuff going for it. It was well fimed, it had terrific actors, playing interesting characters. And there seemed to be a complex story working.

And then, it was almost like the writer quit before handing in the ending, or they ran out of time, or money... because the ending was... abrupt, to say the least. And more than a little unsatisfying.[/i]

Hmm, Now I'm a bit hesitant to buy the DVD... :sweat:

Anybody picked up Kagemusha yet? Worth buying? How are Lucas's and Copolla's comments?

BMW,

Mifune was terrific. And Katsushin's turn as the bad guy was outstanding.

But if you have a chance, rent it before buying it. I know I don't feel any desire to add it to my collection.

Manny,

I've got Kagemusha on my netflix list as well. Should come in next week.

If no one else posts anyting before then, I'll let you know what I thought.

The Man wrote:Anybody picked up Kagemusha yet? Worth buying? How are Lucas's and Copolla's comments?

Got my copy a couple of weeks ago... Excellent movie.

Haven't had the chance to watch it again with the commentary track on, nor have I watched the stuff on the second disc, but it should be good. :)