Cool News
AICN Japan: Zatoichi (Shochiku); Project 28 (Testujin); The Last Samurai; Sekaino Chushin De Ai O Sakebu
Father Geek here with another timely report dug from the depths of my bursting at the seams E-mail accounts. This time I have found pigmon's latest weekly column on Japanese Cinema buried in that maze of 10s of thousands of virus laden mails that have flooded Geek Headquarters in the last week. We haven't caught the bug on any of the AICN computers, buuuuuut many of our readers have, and as a result there has been a tsunami of infected messages unknowingly forwarded our way by the spam happy worm's unwilling hosts...
NEWS
*Tom Cruise will visit Japan on the 28th, and the press conference for "The Last Samurai" will be
held prior to the world premiere on the same day -- Ken Watanabe ,Hiroyuki Sanada ,
Koyuki and others will also attend. This is the first time he visits Japan since last October for the
press conference and shooting in Japanese locations. Although Tom Cruise has
visited Japan several times for PR of his other movies until now, this is the first
time that 2 visits to Japan are carried out for the same movie.
Moreover, although the invitation letter to a press conference held at home in Japan
is usually manufactured at home, this time it was manufactured in the U.S.
Tom Cruise plans to show never-before-seen–footage from the film at this
press conference.
* "Project 28" is go. Based on famous cartoon in 60's " Testujin 28 Gou",gets
green lights for production.There will be no man in the suits robot,there will
be only CG robots.Japanese top rated CG artists assembled for "Project 28".The
boy who will control giant robot is played by 13 years old Soriyo Ikematsu
("Last Samurai").Shooting will continue to October for next year release.
* Director Isao Yukisada("GO") will start shooting his new film, "Sekaino
Chushin De Ai O Sakebu"
next month. Kou Shibasaki ("GO")will be playing main character of this love
story film. Toho plans to release this film next summer.
* "Zatoichi" press conference was held before the Japan premiere on August
19th. Director/Actor
Takeshi Kitano, producer Masayuki Mori and actor Tadanobu Asano attended this
press conference. Takeshi suggests that he uses rhythm very carefuly from the
beginning to the last in this film.
Only common thing from the old Zatoichi franchise is that he is blind. Best scene from this
press conference was that when one reporter asked about how he feels about
being selected at upcoming Venezia Film Festival, Takeshi said that if the projector
stopped at the middle of screening like last year, he would kill all the people
with his sword. Of course he was just kidding... I assume.
REVIEWS
* "Zatoichi"(Shochiku) directed by Takeshi Kitano
"Zatoichi" is very different from Takeshi's past films. They are 1)first
period film, 2)lots of camera movement, 3)simple story, 4)hip hop style music and 5)very colourful. Takeshi always wanted to shoot a period film and chooses the right
material for the project. He concludes that this new Zatoich is different from old Zatoich which
was played by Shintaro Katsu. That's why he dyes this character's hair blond. Cool hair style
and cool kimono (supervised by Yoji Yamamoto and designed by Kazuko Kurosawa, a
daughter of late Akira Kurosawa) makes new kind of Japanese period hero.
Story
line is so simple. Zatoich comes to the village which is ruled by gang
s.Zatoichi fights and kills all for innocent village people. That's it. Even kids can
understand this film (rated 12,no one age under 12 can see this film, due to
strong violence).
Shooting style is so fast. There are lots of
tracking(dolly)shots,and even editing is so speedy. Sword fights is also so fast. You don't have
time to blink your eyes for some scene. Climax battle between Zatoichi and
samurai (Tadanobu Asano) was one of the fastest battles in samurai movie history.
You
will see plenty of blood on this movie ,like other Takeshi Kitano violence
movies. When you look at his past works very carefully, Takeshi likes to use lots of
blue colour. His last movie,"Dolls" , uses lots of red colour. This time, Navy
blue which is what Zatoichi's kimono colour is based on, and each 'kimono represents
their personality which makes the movie very colourful.
Finally music style on
"Zatoichi" is very pop, hip hop infulenced music has been used. Even when farmers plant
rice, that noise synchonized well sound and visual.
Humor is also very good on
this movie. You will laugh a lot at many scenes. Those who watch the
trailer, there is a tap dancing sequence. That scene is a festival at the end of the movie
which works very well. You will see most of characters on the movie at this scene...
except Zatoichi.This is first time Takeshi shoots a movie which is for all
the movie goers... This is a big winner!
BOXOFFICE
Annnnd this week's winners are...
- 1(1) Bayside Shakedown 2
- 2(2) Pirates of Caribbean
- 3(New )HERO
- 4(3) Terminator 3:Rise of The Machines
- 5(New )Kamen Rider 555:Paradise Lost
That's all for this week.
See ya at the movies!
Coolpigmon@aol.com
- 1(1) Bayside Shakedown 2
- 2(2) Pirates of Caribbean
- 3(New )HERO
- 4(3) Terminator 3:Rise of The Machines
- 5(New )Kamen Rider 555:Paradise Lost
That's all for this week.
See ya at the movies!
Coolpigmon@aol.com
Coolpigmon@aol.com
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+ Expand All
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Please don't suck.
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Got my tickets just waiting to try and get a spot at this film. Fingers crossed.
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Can not wait to see this, from the trailer this looks like it's going to be so much fun. But what the hell is this Bayside Shakedown movie? Is it cool or what? Hey, btw, not that it's Japanese, but Tell Me Something is on Sundance right now. Good friggin' movie. Happiness of the Katakuris was on before, but I was at a concert watching some lesbian singers get their grrl on so I missed it. But hey, the beauty of DVD right? And it was a pretty kick ass show. Quick question before I go: Besides Asian Cult Cinema, where else can I get Asian DVDs? Preferably all region, I've got a really nice player and I don't want to have to get a new one if I don't have to. Thanks all. Time for bed.
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Seriously, I'm surprised more people don't know this. If you want to find lots of great Asian movies go to your local China town. There is usually one in every town, Unless you live in a small community the selection is usually prety good and the prices are amazing. You can pick up DVD's for as little as $8. Watch out though, a lot of them are really bad knock offs. You can usually tell by the packaging, cheap packaging usually equals shitty quality. Pick up the FOUL KING if you find it, it's a great Korean film.
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There's plenty of places on the internet to get legit, all region HK discs, such as www.dddhouse.com, www.pokerindustries.com, www.hivizone.com, www.yesasia.com. No offense, but if it doesn't play all regions, then it's not really than nice a DVD player. You can drop well under a hundred for something that'll play any DVD in the world - the cost factor is so low at this point that locking yourself to any one region is pointless (I've gotten better customer service from Malata and Cyberhome than I EVER did from Sony or Pioneer), and if it breaks, it's so cheap to replace that it really doesn't matter. I'm totally happy with my Cyberhome 500, progressive scan, all region, PAL to NTSC converting, 80 buck player. Picture's great on it, too, once they got the bugs worked out of the early units. You'll need it for the uncut Korean Region 3 version of VOLCANO HIGH, the top-shelf comic book adaptation MTV is destroying for Region One.
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She played the sickle-wielding slut in Battle Royale (visit http://www.battleroyalefilm.net, btw). Bayside Shakedown 2 is the sequel to the movie incarnation of a popular TV cop show. You can check out DVDAsian.com and Aznfilms.com for Asian DVD's. Yes, you should get a region-free player; dvdrhelp.com has a database of hacks for a lot of models. And finally, Volcano High IMO was all flash and no substance--it's perfect for MTV, and its destruction is no big loss to Asian cinema.
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All flash and no substance? I respectfully disagree - it has a lot to say about how schools are frequently more about creating conformity and an easily controlled population than they are about education. Education should give people the tools to think for themselves, instead of telling them what to think. "Get ready to recieve your new education!" - it's not empty posturing on the part of a bad-ass villian in a leather trenchcoat, it's what's going on right now. The film's pretty blunt about it, too. Sure, it's mostly flash, but there is a degree of substance at work here - and the film is a lot of fun - bringing the warring clans motif of classic martial arts films into a sort-of-modern high-school setting. The characters here are remarkably human, and it was a stroke of brilliance to play the hero of the film as basically a dork, instead of a cooler-than-thou stiff like we usually get in things like this. The ending battle is a doozy, too - the first time I saw the film I thought it went on too long, but on repeat viewings it seems just right. It ain't RASHOMON, but it certainly deserves a better fate than what MTV must have in mind for it. And do we really want MTV doing this sort of shit at all? It's bad when Miramax does it, and it's bad (probably worse) when MTV does it. Next time, it might be a film you DO like - which is why the time to raise hell is NOW.
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BAYSIDE SHAKEDOWN is from Robot, makers of the wonderful SPACE TRAVELERS, the fun JUVENILE, and the lackluster RETURNER. It's based on a TV show revolving around a police station, which I haven't seen. The first movie was enjoyable - though probably much more so to fans of the TV show. It mixed comedy, suspense, and drama very well, and repeat viewings are kind to it. The ending is VERY melodramatic, but that's probably what the TV audience wanted to see. The first one broke US$100 million at the Japanese box office. It was released on all-region DVD with English subtitles by the now-defunct(?) Ocean Shores company in Hong Kong - this disc is probably out of print, so if you see it, grab it. You can do a lot worse for 15 bucks.
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Aug 24, 2003 11:37:44 PM CDT
Holy fearless hyenas in hippopotamus skin komodos dancing the Ch
by neosamurai85
Kurosawa
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The Last Dragon
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Sho' Nuff! I've got Volcano High on VCD and yes, it was a definitely a good idea to have the hero be sort of a goofball. I didn't see all that the guy above me saw in it, to me it was just a fun kung fuin' energy blastin' Ryang Jang thinkin' he's Vegetain' romp of a good time. If MTV doesn't mangle it too badly, it'll be fun seeing it on a big screen. Or is just going to be direct to video? Gah! Why did Reebok go with Owen? Giggs! I know van Nistlerooy's with Nike but why didn't you go with GIGGS! (Sorry, commercial.) I'm in Wisconsin, so Chinatowns are a little hard to come by, but thanks to all for the websites. After I wake up tomorrow from my bratwurst and Michelob Ultra induced slumber I'll be sure to check them out. Hey, who saw 2009 Lost Memories? I just rented it and damn did I enjoy it. Good times. Btw, I figured out I'll just buy that memory card adapter for PS2 that lets you play all region DVDs. (Sorry, but I scored a really nice Philips 5 disc player in the box for $80 on clearance from Blockbuster, don't want to give it up!)
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Straight to MTV. They've already announced they're re-cutting it - and the version they have was already cut from 121 to 99 minutes. Dubbed with "American actors". Rescored with MTV's idea of hip-hop, which isn't really hip-hop at all in my opinion. Like my man General Bertanand in TAXI 2 said: "C'est un catastrophe."
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What's this all about? Please give info where to get it! Thanks!
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While I maintain, based on my experiences with it, that it's one of the worst DVD players on the planet, it can, with a little help from a boot-disc called DVD Region X, be made all region. www.lik-sang.com has it for around $20 shipped. I'd still put the money towards a $80 Cyberhome 500 rather than the DVD Region X, which can be finicky to set up. Region X won't help you with playing PAL on an NTSC TV - the Cyberhome will, even maintaining the correct aspect ratio on 16:9 enhanced PAL discs.
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Pick up the wonderful cyberhome form your local WHSMITHS. It costs under
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Oh & Volcano high is so-so....Returner sucks ass!
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