Joined: 30 Jun 2004 Posts: 470 Location: Monrovia, CA (Southern CA) Country:
Posted: Mon Oct 25, 2004 7:47 am Post subject:
thetenken wrote:
Supposedly the final cut isn't even complete yet, but there are pirated copies out already, dubbed in Mandarin. The final cut is supposed to be in Cantonese, Mandarin, and Japanese.
The pre-order of 12/24 from YesAsia seems legite though. Which, if it's not out yet in the theatres, means it's not going to have a very long theatrical window before DVD (or perhaps it's just a straight to DVD release). Typical US window is 6 months. Anyone know what a typical window is in Japan (theatrical -> DVD)?
Joined: 28 Nov 2002 Posts: 3286 Location: Ten Carat 5-19-1 Hiroo, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-0012, Japan Country:
Posted: Mon Oct 25, 2004 12:03 pm Post subject:
do u think it's worth my money buy this Akira Kurosawa stuff i know i heard his name before
AK Dreams - 2 Vcds
AK High & Low - 3 Vcds
AK Kagemusha - 3 Vcds
AK Ran - 3 Vcds
AK Rashomon - 2 Vcds
AK Sanjuro - 2 Vcds
AK Seven Samurai 4 Vcds
AK Yojimbo - 2 Vcds
Joined: 30 Jun 2004 Posts: 470 Location: Monrovia, CA (Southern CA) Country:
Posted: Mon Oct 25, 2004 1:36 pm Post subject:
zchendevlemh wrote:
do u think it's worth my money buy this Akira Kurosawa stuff i know i heard his name before
AK Dreams - 2 Vcds
AK High & Low - 3 Vcds
AK Kagemusha - 3 Vcds
AK Ran - 3 Vcds
AK Rashomon - 2 Vcds
AK Sanjuro - 2 Vcds
AK Seven Samurai 4 Vcds
AK Yojimbo - 2 Vcds
He's a legendary Japanese filmmaker. Inspired many US directors of today including Lucas (ex: Star Wars - http://www.jitterbug.com/origins/kurosawa.html) and probably Spielberg. Whether it's worth your money depends on how much it is and what you like. Are they not available on DVD?
Joined: 28 Nov 2002 Posts: 3286 Location: Ten Carat 5-19-1 Hiroo, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-0012, Japan Country:
Posted: Mon Oct 25, 2004 2:11 pm Post subject:
gregsan wrote:
He's a legendary Japanese filmmaker. Inspired many US directors of today including Lucas (ex: Star Wars - http://www.jitterbug.com/origins/kurosawa.html) and probably Spielberg. Whether it's worth your money depends on how much it is and what you like. Are they not available on DVD?
Joined: 30 Jun 2004 Posts: 470 Location: Monrovia, CA (Southern CA) Country:
Posted: Tue Oct 26, 2004 12:32 am Post subject:
bmwracer wrote:
BTW, you left out Coppola and Eastwood.
Yeah...I was just going off the top of my head. Star Wars was what sticks out. Probably you could find a good 10-15 major director's influenced by Kurosawa.
He's a legendary Japanese filmmaker. Inspired many US directors of today including Lucas (ex: Star Wars - http://www.jitterbug.com/origins/kurosawa.html) and probably Spielberg. Whether it's worth your money depends on how much it is and what you like. Are they not available on DVD?
When Spielberg was interviewed on Inside the Actor's Studio, he said that before he would begin a new movie, he would always watch David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia and Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai for inspiration and technique.
Joined: 10 Jul 2003 Posts: 1249 Location: USA Country:
Posted: Tue Oct 26, 2004 9:27 am Post subject:
I just watched Azumi!
Director Ryuhei Kitamura (director of the worldwide zombie/yakuza cult hit Versus and of the upcoming Godzilla: Final Wars which includes superhero MUTANTS, apparently [no, not THOSE superhero mutants]) Azumi is another �berrific effort from him. If you're into that whole "Battle at Sekigahara" (calling all Musashi-era fans) and Ieyasu stuff AND you like a bit of slightly fantasy-tinged expert/slashing swordplay, if you like films that almost prevents you from blinking so as to not miss a millisecond, then Azumi is for ya'll's.
Minor spoiler ahead if you wanna know the first part of the film: the film starts out nicely, with a disillusioned samurai gathering up kids left orphaned from the various wars around Japan at the time. Their formal education ends up being the arts of the blade, basically training them to be assassins in order to kill wicked warlords and anyone else who might threaten further instability of Japan, and the young crew soon become so proficient, they don't realize how better they are than their blade-wielding counterparts beyond the mountain where they've lived, trained, and never left . . . 'til one day their samurai sensei gives them a final exam that makes even the most interested action/adventure/swordplay fans CRINGE at the prospect in question.
Some outstanding performances come from Joe Odagiri, all dressed in white, carrying a rose (which gave him an air of a tokusatsu villain if you ask me) no handguards on his katana weapon as he claims he never has to make defensive moves. Really, really begs to be told, "eh, somet'ing wrong with YOU, bruddah" in that role. Just brilliant. Expect an over-the-top performance from Odagiri whose penchant for reckless, though funny sometimes, evil makes you wonder why the heck he does his share of heartthrob projects when THIS is the kinda role he should be doing; the ever-popular in-his-own-class Naoto Takenaka (famous for his role as the wigged Tomio Aoki character from the original Japanese Shall We Dance) as a calmly deceitful and unforgiving warlord that Azumi and crew are charged with assassinating (one of the warlords they are charged with assassinating, that is, and a very strong-looking (good to see him again) Yoshio Harada as Gessai, the said assassins' sensei -- now, those of you who don't watch too much Japanese film might remember him from the 1995 Christopher Lambert vehicle The Hunted in the role of Lambert's samurai protector and sensei.
There're spats of really funny humor in this film. That's one of the good things about a Ryuhei Kitamura -- his comedy, however dark it started out (and, it still is in some respects, hehehe), is becoming more deadpanned, more refined.
But it's the action that's the star of the show. Cuts from a katanayou've never seen before (just ask the aforementioned Odagiri charcter). There's lots of it and it's well-done, and it's a great buttered popcorn and soda flick. Period. Do not miss this one.
You J-pop fans'll recognize Ueto Aya as the western coat-wearing, swift and lethal assassin whose name shares the title of this really great film. YOU WILL BELIEVE a J-pop performer can be as lethal as a 007, and if Japan cinema's still looking for their own James Bond or Indiana Jones franchise, then they can stop looking because Azumi does more than enough to fill that order.
I understand that this film is Kitamura's first with a big budget, and he certainly delivers.
Joined: 19 Mar 2004 Posts: 4016 Location: Honolulu, HI Country:
Posted: Tue Oct 26, 2004 9:56 am Post subject:
I already bought this movie (got the deluxe edition!) and loved it! Lots of sword action and eye candy for me! I thought Ueto Aya did a really good job in the movie and I'm looking forward to seeing Azumi 2 next year! _________________
Joined: 10 Jul 2003 Posts: 1249 Location: USA Country:
Posted: Tue Oct 26, 2004 10:00 am Post subject:
Rinrin wrote:
I already bought this movie (got the deluxe edition!) and loved it! Lots of sword action and eye candy for me! I thought Ueto Aya did a really good job in the movie and I'm looking forward to seeing Azumi 2 next year!
Hahha, oh, yeah, now I know to buy this one on DVD, but, movie theatres still have value, yeah? Azumi's one o'them films you must needs see on the big screen, all that big sound and fightings, haha.
Hoping that HIFF DOES get Azumi 2, I had no idea that was coming up. Thanks, Rinrin.
When Spielberg was interviewed on Inside the Actor's Studio, he said that before he would begin a new movie, he would always watch David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia and Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai for inspiration and technique.
Two great choices... And two pretty long movies, too.
Joined: 17 Nov 2002 Posts: 93 Location: Austria/Europe Country:
Posted: Sat Oct 30, 2004 5:19 am Post subject:
Tonight I watched Tokyo Zance.
It's not one movie but a collection of 7 short movies made by 6 diffrent directors.
All of the stories are pretty weird, amusing but also with a thoughtfull background.
You'll get to meet dancing dolls, old men dressed up fruitsy while making a race, a talking skale that works in an onsen for woman and thinks about girl's problems with their weight, and much much more
It's really funny, kinda reminded me a little bit of "Jam Films" and it can definetely catch up with it ^^
Joined: 10 Jul 2003 Posts: 1249 Location: USA Country:
Posted: Sat Oct 30, 2004 5:40 am Post subject:
Cutie Honey at the 2004 Hawaii International Film Festival (HIFF), going on this week.
I heard about this Cutie Honey (from Japan cinema) which I gather is based on an anime and, I kinda' gotta say this one was, uh, er, entertaining to say the least.
To me, Cutie Honey was a fun film. I dunno if I'd necessarily call it a "family fun-oriented film." Well, go check out a few online reviews, if any, before deciding to take the family or not. I thought the shots of the film's female lead (as said superhero "Cutie Honey") of Eriko Sato were tasteful enough . . . then again, I'm sorta' biased because The Man can STARE at an Eriko Sato all day, OK, hahah.
So, anyway, I was pleasantly surprised to see the Warner Brothers logo and intro' appear at the beginning of the film, following the HIFF 2004 "trailer" that precedes all of its screenings, I guess; I suppose WB does East Asia films as well. Didn't seem like a mistake as the Japanese trailer-label for Cutie Honey immediately followed and so did the start of the film.
Cutie Honey's in the vein of Japanese TV and/or movie super heroes like your Kikaida and/or Kamen Rider, etc., with a few differences: 1) there's no cool mask to hide her face (and who the heck would want to, if you've ever seen an Eriko Sato [SSSSHHHHHWING!!!]) and 2) the fact is, unlike most Japanese TV superheroes . . . hmmm . . . how can I put it . . . the fact that Eriko Sato's quite beautiful, and, to be conservative about it, the film banks on that. The synopsis goes more into it: http://www.hiff.org/filmlisting_tickets/synopsis.php?mid=3405&pid=CUTI&sid=.
Much like your human Kamen Rider human alter ego belt or other device used to transform them into their super hero persona, Honey Kisaragi (the obligatory human name for Cutie Honey; see after she was fatally injured in a car accident, her daddy saved her by essentially turning her into a robot and/or android) wears a choker with a small pink (and, by the way, her color is "pink"; keep that in mind, it's gonna' be important in a few minutes) heart on the side of it. Honey turns into Cutie Honey by pressing two fingers and yelling "Honeyyyyyyyyyy FLASH!!!" and goes around being a super-hero (yeah, no kidding) and she can really eat up bunches of those wrapped musubis you can find at Longs or wherever, but, Cutey Honey gets 'em from the convenience store in her town and also from folks at work who bribe her with those snacks so that she can DO their work. She also needs food for energy, etc., even thought she's a robot. Oh, well, Robocop needed his own . . . what was it called? That baby food-like substance to keep HIM going.
Cutie Honey's nemesis is the Panther Claw gang, consisting of tons of fedora'd, gold handgun-wielding henchmen, and the following super villains: Gold Claw, Cobalt Claw, Black Claw, and Scarlet Claw. See a pattern here? Their respective super-villain outfits are way more colorful than their names, even. Oh, yeah, and there IS the inevitable powerful arch-enemy in charge, of course, that Cutie Honey has to face. Black Claw, as his name would suggest, is not only the only male enemy in the Panther Claw gang, but, busts out into a big-band tune 'fore his fight with Cutie Honey.
She's also armed with a sword and there is a bunch of sword play in this film, too. Not half as much blood, methinks, as the Azumi film I previously mentioned.
Now, if this film sounds like it's all in fun, it is, of course.
But what got me is that there was a kind of a moral at the end that concerns, what, existence and all. And then some. I couldn't believe how seemless the transition from kinetic action and humor could nicely go into a substantive statement of sorts. I was kinda' laughing quietly to myself because I was thinking, "wow, this film actually has some kinda' message, meaning to it . . ." to state it simply, at least. I mean, messages in over-the-top superhero/comedy films might not be anything new, but, this one had me thinking for some reason. I dunno if you end up seeing this one, you tell me if you felt something.
Overall, it's kinda' lighthearted, but it's an Eriko Sato vehicle, too (more on that in a minute). Japanese pop music-ish soundtrack. The majority of the film features costumes that are colorful, a private eye and detectives and cops who are slapstick, when Kisaragi changes into Cutey Honey, there's cool animation that accompanies the change, and, to me, the level of fighting wasn't too far off what you'd see in a Power Rangers (or the aforementioned Kikaida) TV show. There is one sorta' frightening part where the arch-enemy tries to win Cutey Honey over to the side of the Panther Claw organization. The majority of the film is kinda' like, say, The Mask or that TV show The Tick or Jackie Chan's City Hunter, and, be advised that it IS an Eriko Sato vehicle if you ask me (what does THAT mean exactly? Well, Sato IS quite beautiful and, I think she's got a few posters out there, and, well, I'll just quote directly from the HIFF synopsis: ". . . Cute Honey's hot!" Yeah, she sure is) so, if you don't like any of this kinda' thing, then, Cutie Honey might not be for you.
Japanese celeb' (and does she have a sashinshu out there as well?) Eriko Sato stars in the role of "Cutie Honey." Oh, did I mention that Eriko Sato is in this film already? Well, you can't mention enough of an Eriko Sato. Eriko Sato. See? Siiigggggh. Cutie honey indeed.
Joined: 08 Jan 2004 Posts: 1529 Location: United States Country:
Posted: Mon Nov 01, 2004 2:11 am Post subject:
So yeah, I finally got to sit down and watch Shall We Dance in its entirety. All I have to say is, what a great movie! This definetely gets my seal of approval.
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