Joined: 13 Apr 2007 Posts: 12121 Location: It was fun while it lasted. Country:
Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2010 9:00 am Post subject:
Took a break from all the football yesterday and checked out a couple movies. One good and one not so good, first the good:
Railways, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1292561/, this is the old "big city salaryman goes back to his small town roots" storyline. Kiichi Nakai plays the salaryman, actually an upper level manager. His mother has some medical issues, he has to go back to the small town where he grew up, and along with some other events decides to stay. He goes through training to become conductor on the local train line. I liked it, Nakai was good, good supporting cast as well. My only minor quibble was they didn't give Reiko Takashima enough to do as his wife, but otherwise I liked it.
The not-so-good was Shodo Girls, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1571242/, shodo meaning "calligraphy". This is essentially the same storyline we've seen in Hula Girls and Swing Girls. The only difference being that in those two movies the girls were complete novices at what they were doing. In Shodo Girls, Riko Narumi is the head of her high school calligraphy club, the daughter of a calligraphy master and she's been doing calligraphy all her life. One of the girls in the club tries to get her interested in "performance calligraphy" but Narumi is too much of a traditionalist. But, we know eventually she'll come around, because if she doesn't, we got no movie. Of course we have to have the big competition as the climax. If you're a Riko Narumi fan, you'll probably want to watch it, but otherwise, stick with the original, give Hula Girls another watch.
Joined: 13 Apr 2007 Posts: 12121 Location: It was fun while it lasted. Country:
Posted: Tue Dec 07, 2010 12:21 am Post subject:
"Space Battleship Yamato" earns nearly 1 billion in first 5 days
Mon, December 6, 2010
Film distributor Toho has announced the box office results for the live-action "Space Battleship Yamato" movie, which opened on 440 screens in Japan last week. Over the 5-day period between its opening on December 1 (Wednesday) and December 5 (Sunday), the film earned a total of 943,995,550 yen from 791,012 viewers.
Based on a survey administered by computer and mobile phone, Toho also announced some statistics about the viewing demographic. The audience was approximately 52% male and 48% female. The bulk of the viewers (44.4%) were in their 40s, with the next largest age groups being the 30s (19.0%), 50s (15.1%), and 20s (12.9%). As for occupation, 54.5% said they were company employees, while 16.3% were housewives.
The survey also asked viewers about their reasons for watching the movie. At 31.9%, the most common response was that they wanted to see a live-action version of "Yamato." 21.7% said they watched it because they liked the original "Yamato" anime series, and 15.8% said they went because it starred SMAP's Takuya Kimura. 5.3% replied that they watched it because of the special effects.
Narumi Riko is a young actress who's got potential, but after seeing her in Tsumi Toka Batsu Toka (Crime or Punishment), a 2009 comedy, I wish she'd make better choices in what movies to do. It's the second Narumi film I've seen, and both were entirely forgettable. This one tries too hard to be too quirky. It's not a horrible movie, but it's not very good either.
Yeap I agree with you.. She's definitely a young actress with tonnes of potential and when she starts getting casted in the right shows with the right scripts with the ability to help her shine through, she's gonna be BIG!
shin2 wrote:
Narumi Riko is a young actress who's got potential, but after seeing her in Tsumi Toka Batsu Toka (Crime or Punishment), a 2009 comedy, I wish she'd make better choices in what movies to do. It's the second Narumi film I've seen, and both were entirely forgettable. This one tries too hard to be too quirky. It's not a horrible movie, but it's not very good either.
Yokohama Film Festival awards: Takashi Miike's "13 Assassins" takes Best Picture
Sat, December 11, 2010 (1:41am EST)
The 32nd Yokohama Film Festival has announced its award winners.
Takashi Miike's "13 Assassins" earned three awards including Best Picture, and it topped the festival's "Best Ten" list for the year.
The award winners are:
•Best Picture: "13 Assassins"
•Best Director: Takashi Miike ("13 Assassins," "Zebraman 2")
•Best New Director: Yuya Ishii ("Kawa no Soko Kara Konnichiwa," "Kimi to Arukou"), Masaaki Taniguchi ("Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo")
•Best Screenplay: Daisuke Tengan ("13 Assassins")
•Best Cinematography: Jun Fukumoto ("Kondo wa Aisaika," "Parade")
•Best Actor: Etsushi Toyokawa ("Kondo wa Aisaika," "Hisshiken Torisashi")
•Best Actress: Hikari Mitsushima ("Kawa no Soko Kara Konnichiwa," "Kakera")
•Best Supporting Actor: Renji Ishibashi ("Kondo wa Aisaika," "Parade," "Yukizuri no Machi," "Outrage," "Ningen Shikkaku")
•Best Supporting Actress: Yui Natsukawa ("Kokou no Mesu")
•Best Newcomer: Osamu Mukai ("BECK," "Hanamizuki"), Hiroko Sato ("Nude no Yoru")
•Special Prize: Hiroki Matsukata
The Best Ten list:
1."13 Assassins" (Takashi Miike)
2."Kokuhaku" (Tetsuya Nakashima)
3."Akunin" (Sang-il Lee)
4."Kawa no Soko Kara Konnichiwa" (Yuya Ishii)
5."Kondo wa Aisaika" (Isao Yukisada)
6."Hisshiken Torisashi" (Hideyuki Hirayama)
7."Kokou no Mesu" (Izuru Narushima)
8."Nude no Yoru" (Takashi Ishii)
9."Permanent Nobara" (Daihachi Yoshida)
10."Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo" (Masaaki Taniguchi)
Masaharu Kobayashi's "Haru to no Tabi" was named as a runner-up for the list.
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