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ローゼンメイデン 
I am not a Trekkie. I've tried to watch several episodes of the different series but the show as a whole never appealed to me. I just think there are too much jargons thrown at me with each episode. Plus, I couldn't keep up with the various characters populating the series. Having said that, I do have general awareness of several characters mostly because they usually are more prolific than the others. When the news of the new casts were first released, for some reason I got a sudden desire to see this film. I don't know why. I just took one look at the new casts and thought that they will work well. There's a palpable chemistry between all of the new cast members even more so than the original cast members. I'll talk more about this a bit later but fast forward a few months later, I finally saw the movie. I didn't have much expectation since I can't remember ever enjoying any Star Trek TV episode or movie. However, by the end of the film, I was blown away. The film is not going to win any academy award for best writing but it was a fun, enjoyable ride from start to finish.
I used to hate horror when I was a kid but then I got exposed to more and more horror films, so eventually I'm addicted to the scare and the thrill. Anyway, I just got myself the entire season of Supernatural on DVD so I can catch up with the series. Prior to this, I didn't watch the series on a consistent basis and the episodes that I've seen weren't that scary, which is a cardinal sin in horror series. I used to watch this horror series called Friday the 13th, which was awesome and must not be confused with that slasher flick starring Jason and his hockey mask. And then there was The X-Files and that was quite good too from time to time. Supernatural, however, left me rather cold in terms of horror. That is until I watched the series right from the start. There are actually some good stuff early in the season and some episodes are surprisingly terrifying and gory. Maybe as the series became more popular, the writers tone down the scare and violence.
I apologize for the lack of post lately. I know it's been 3 months since my last post but unfortunately blogging is the last thing that I should be doing these days. I've been having problem with real life ranging from personal, health and financial (not necessarily in that order). Everything has just been a big mess in the past few months and I have no choice but to deal with these problems because it affects my life directly. I also can't just churn out entries like it's nothing. Even a simple entry like this took me around an hour to make. One hour which I can use to do house hunting, for example, since I'm about to be evicted out of my current residence in the next two months.
Anyway, I did saw this trailer for the upcoming Terminator Salvation. Personally, the hype for this film kind of died a bit when Christian Bale went off on a rampage on the DP. As someone who's been a recipient of such abuse in life, I can't help but lose a bit of respect for anyone who abuses others like that. The only thing that still attracts me to the film is the presence of Sam Worthington, who is a very, very, talented Australian actor. I was very happy when I noticed that in the past few weeks, his name is suddenly given a more prominent marque position next to Christian Bale, suggesting that the producer has the confidence in him to carry the film.
Worthington will play the role of Marcus Wright, a man who can't seem to remember his past or where he came from. This trailer is quite a spoiler because it finally reveals that Marcus is actually a Terminator, albeit one who actually has the ability to have emotion. I'm guessing the writer want to take the Battlestar Galactica route by featuring human-like Terminator. It'll be interesting to see how Marcus came about since he was never mentioned in the original Terminator timeline. There's a theory that due to the events that Sarah Connor initiated in the first two movies, the timeline mutates and leads to the future that John Connor can't recognize anymore.
I have major interest in timeline-related stories. I once read a book called Flashforward, where the story is about a group of people who through a freak of accident, saw a brief flash of their future. The rest of the story then deals with the repercussion of the knowledge. What if you know your future and can decide if you want it to go that way or not? Lately I've been thinking about this because I feel that I've made some mistakes in my life which I wish I can undo if I had known they'd go that way. But I can't change what has transpired and it's really painful to realize that all you can do is to learn from that mistake. Anyway, enjoy the trailer if you haven't seen it.
Terminator Salvation - Trailer 3 (various size)
BaleOut Remix (because no Terminator Salvation post should be without this remix)
November 24, 2008 | 
19 Comments
I finally saw this film over the weekend and it turns out to be a good Bond movie, at least for me. It's not as entertaining nor impressive as Casino Royale but I think it's a lot better than any of Brosnan's Bond adventures. Having said that, the film is not for those who have short attention span. The story moves at a very fast pace and you have to pay attention to the scant little dialogues scattered all over the film. But if you actually engage your brain while watching it, I don't think you'll have problem understanding the story, which is actually easy to understand. That's why I can't help but rolling my eyes when the so-called 'critics' and fans claimed that the movie's plot is hard to understand. If you don't pay attention then obviously you're going to have difficulty catching up with the film. I also don't understand the complaints about the lack of Bond's elements. I personally don't care if the gun barrell is at the start or at the end of the movie. I'm also glad that neither Q nor MoneyPenny actually present in this movie. Most of all, thank God for the lack of cheesy and tacky lines.
Quantum of Solace trailers (various sizes, MOV)
The Dark Knight trailers (various sizes/types)
This turns out to be a pretty good entry in Batman franchise. Ever since Memento, I knew that Christopher Nolan is really up for the task of adapting dark series like Batman. I also think he's done a good job in making Batman as interesting as the villains that he must face. In other Batman films, Batman is usually just the character who has to fix the mess that has been created by the villains. The only exception to this is Batman Returns, because in that film Batman becomes personally involved with his nemesis (Catwoman). As a result, there are some interesting interactions between the two. Speaking of Batman Returns, one thing that I miss from this new reboot is the gothic buildings that characterize Burton's films. I just think Batman fits better in that kind of setting than modern-day setting that Nolan has used in his Batman films. Anyway, before I go further, please be aware that anything below the cut might contain some spoilers.
Quantum of Solace - Teaser Trailer (Quicktime, various size) | YouTube version
Obviously this post has nothing to do whatsoever with anime so if you only like anime, feel free to skip this one. For everyone else, EON finally released the teaser trailer for James Bond 007's latest movie, Quantum of Solace. First thing first, if you're wondering about the title, the meaning is simple: a little comfort. It refers to what Bond probably would want after the incident that happened in the previous Bond installment, Casino Royale. It's unfortunate that Eva Green won't be in this film since she was really fantastic in Casino Royale. However, Gemma Arterton (St.Trinian's) and Olga Kurylenko (Hitman) are pretty good choices for Bond girls as well. The trailer looks pretty good as well, IMO. I was concerned that the writers will turn Bond into a perfect Ken doll now that he's a fully-fledged agent. Much to my relief, the guy still bleeds and gets bruised from his fight just like in Casino Royale. And with Craig acting as Bond, I hope the storyline holds up as well. I don't think there's anything else I can say but hit the cut for tons of screencaps of the trailer.
I've been very reluctant to jump on to the HD bandwagon mostly because my television is still SDTV and a good HDTV will cost me a lot of money. Besides, I often wondered if it's worth it, since the majority of games don't look that impressive or HD-like, IMO. I actually tried to fight the urge to buy this particular console and I'm still suffering from a little bit of buyer's remorse. However, I really wanted the Hagane (Gun Metal) version of PS3 so I figure this is a good excuse to jump into the HD market. Much to my delight, it's totally worth it. The picture looks unbelievable even though my TV is only SDTV. As for MGS4, I've always wanted to play a game where the storyline is seamless with the game and this game offers that exact experience. I know a lot of people dislike having long cut scenes in their game but I love it since the enjoyment that I derive from a game is not only from its interactivity but also from the story that it is trying to tell. Without a story, a game will feel kind of hollow and an unfulfilling experience for me. Besides, it's really hard to tell where the cut scenes end and when the game starts in MGS4. The transition between the two elements is so smooth that it's impressive.
Update: The episode has ended. Will do proper review after I get through the other 3 episodes.
I'm watching the last episode of Last Friends right now. So I thought I'll do a no-frills blog of the episode right away since I'm quite far behind with the episodes. I have no idea of the events that transpired beforehand, so forgive me if I make some mistakes. I also missed some of the earlier scenes from this episode. Don't worry, I'll do a proper review of episode 11 later on. I'm afraid you have to keep pressing "reload" to get new content here.
Thanks to some commenters, I'm reminded that there will be some interesting drama adaptation coming this Spring. The one that might be of interest to Nodame Cantabile drama fans is probably Last Friends because this is a drama starring Ueno Juri, Eita, and Mizukawa Asami. It's like a Nodame Cantabile drama reunion except one without Tamaki Hiroshi. I'm also interested to see Zettai Kareshi since this is Watase Yuu's adaptation of the same manga. I find it amusing because the story is about a girl who falls in love with a robot. I wonder if this means Fushigi Yuugi will be adapted next (imagine the "Miaka!!" and "Tamahome!!" lines that the actors get to say in the drama). Anyway, Zettai Kareshi stars Aibu Saki, who's reunited with her Rengatta co-star, Hayami Mokomichi, who plays the robot in question. There are also other titles like Osen, which stars Aoi Yuu. What I have here are brief descriptions of Japanese dramas that I'm interested in, as well as the actors who are involved in them. I'll probably give the first episode of several series a try but I'm not sure yet if I'm going to cover them permanently. The list below are not comprehensive but if you're interested to see what else are on offer, Tokyo Graph and Drama Wiki have the complete list. With that said, which dramas you'll be watching this season?
Source: Tokyo Graph | Drama Wiki
December 24, 2007 | 12 Comments
As one of my Christmas presents, I got Blade Runner: The Final Cut special edition briefcase. This is one hell of awesome boxset, if you can call it that because it's more than that. I'll talk more about this next time after I have the chance to take photos of the boxset. For now, however, I just want to jot down my thoughts on the film. I didn't actually like Blade Runner the first and second time I watched it. My first exposure to the film happened because I was a student of media studies and Blade Runner was one of the requisite film noir that I had to watch. I fell asleep the first time I watched it. I didn't have the patience for the slow burning nature of the film. The same thing happened again when I tried to watch the film for the second time. Fast forward a few years later, I played the video game inspired by the film. I enjoyed the game immensely and from that game, I got a thorough understanding of how the world of Blade Runner works. Armed with this new interest from the game, I tried to watch the film again. This time around I loved the film and actually able to grasp its finer details. Anyway, before I go further, be aware that this article contains spoilers.
December 22, 2007 | 15 Comments
Hachikuro 15-Sec CM (YouTube video)
Hachikuro 30-Sec CM (YouTube video)
It's obvious that I've been living in a cave that I didn't even know until now that there will be a Honey and Clover live action drama coming up on the 8th of January next year. Just when I thought they can't milk this even more, Fuji TV proved me wrong. If the movie was good, I might have been more receptive towards this one but the movie was a disaster so I'm wary about this drama. Thankfully they get the casting of Takemoto right this time around. Ikuta Toma definitely looks more like Takemoto than Sakurai Shou. And it's not like Shou was an acting powerhouse in the first place so he will not be missed. Unfortunately they decide to cast Narimiya Hiroki as Morita. Sorry to his fangirls but I dislike him very much. I find his 'acting' to be the worst part of NANA: the movie. I wish they had cast Eita as Morita. As for the rest, the girls who'll play Hagu and Ayu and the guy who'll play Mayama look okay. Also, that Hirai Ken's theme song is awesome.
Well, I now have seen Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. In general, I'm far more satisfied with the film than the book but they both are better than the 6th book, The Half-Blood Prince. If I have to compare the series with something else, I think the series suffers from the same problem that plague long-running Shounen anime series. From book 6 and forward, the series ended up with some unnecessary paddings which slows down the pace of the series. This is the danger of setting a specific target for a series completion. The series can appear rushed or padded. I think it would have been better if Rowling had ended the series naturally instead of aiming to achieve certain book numbers. Anyway, below are my attempt at reviewing the 5th film and the 7th book. As such, anything below this line are full of spoilers. If you haven't seen the 5th film or read the 7th book, look away now.
December 9, 2006 | 52 Comments
Bistro SMAP is basically a cooking segment from SMAPxSMAP, a variety show produced by all 5 members of SMAP. In addition to cooking and interviewing their guests, all 5 members perform sketch comedy, competing in games, and perform song and dance routine. The cooking segment itself is usually hosted by Nakai Masahiro while the other four members form two groups and compete against each other to see who can produce the best dish for their guests. While the idea of singers working as chefs may sound absurd, SMAP members were apparently trained as professional chefs so the quality of their cooking is commendable. This particular segment is special because it features the two stars of Nodame Cantabile drama, Ueno Juri (Noda "Nodame" Megumi) and Tamaki Hiroshi (Chiaki Shinichi). The actual airdate was actually the 4th of December 2006. Unfortunately, I haven't had the chance to blog this until now.
November 11, 2006 | 37 Comments
Tada, Kimi wo Aishiteru - Trailer (11.8MB, for PSP/Quicktime)
I mentioned in an entry below that Miyazaki Aoi decided not to reprise her role as Hachi in NANA 2 movie. Out of interest, I decided to find out which film she ends up starring in instead. Much to my surprise, the film is Tada, Kimi wo Aishiteru. I've been keeping track of this film's progress for a while because it's an adaptation of Ichikawa Takuji's novel, Renai Shashin: Mou Hitotsu no Monogatari. Lately, however, I've forgotten about it and it's not until today I found out that it's been released in Japan on the 28th of October this year. Ichikawa Takuji's previous movie adaptation, Ima, Ai ni Yukimasu, was one of the best films I've had the pleasure to see so I hope that this one will be as good as that one. Anyway, this film stars Tamaki Hiroshi (Nodame Cantabile) and Miyazaki Aoi (NANA). The main theme is performed by Otsuka Ai and titled Renai Shashin. I've included the trailer as well since the one on the official site is a pain to stream.
Source: Tada, Kimi wo Aishiteru (Heavenly Forest) - Official Site
November 5, 2006 | 38 Comments
I think this is a decent adaptation of the anime series. It's not as good as Nodame Cantabile live action, which takes the crown for the best live-action adaptation this season. I think this is because unlike that series, the actors in Jigoku Shoujo are not as talented. Iwata Sayuri herself is not that convincing in her role as Enma Ai. Most of the time she looks wooden and appears as if she's a deer caught in a headlight. The casts who play Ichimoku Ren, Hone-Onna, and Wanyuudou are decent in their role but they are not outstanding either. Speaking of actors, the actress who plays the victim of the week, Odaka Anna, reminds me a bit of Hayashibara Megumi for some reason. Overall, the series is a faithful reproduction of the anime but it doesn't add anything to it. It's not even scary at all, which is a bit disappointing since Japanese live-action horror usually are quite good when it comes to providing a good scare.
October 30, 2006 | 24 Comments
I am pretty much sold on this series. When I started watching it, I was simply looking for something that is different from all of the anime that I cover here. I never thought that I will like the characters and their story so much. The thing is, I wasn't that enthused about the musical part of the story. I do like one or two classical musics but I wouldn't call myself a big fan. Having said that, sometimes I regret the fact that I wasn't serious about learning Piano when I was a kid because when I see a friend playing Piano so well, I wish I could have done the same thing. Speaking of classical music, I decided to rip the Ending theme if you haven't had the chance to see it. It's only in PSP/Quicktime format though since I haven't done proper compression on the AVi version. Anyway, the summary will be shorter this time around although I still haven't been able to figure out how to condense a one hour show into 12 paragraphs or less sentences.
October 19, 2006 | 37 Comments
Well, I've been wanting to see this ever since I saw the announcement for the series. Although I haven't read the manga, I know that it's one of the more popular shoujo series. I have to say that the first episode is quite unusual, so to speak. There are some weird visual clues like the monkey creatures swinging from right to left screen to reveal the next scene. In addition to this, the actions of the characters are highly exaggerated at times. Having said that, I enjoyed the first episode thanks to its characters and comedy. Although speaking of comedy, I regret my decision in googling the meaning of 'Scatologist'. I don't think I could ever see Mozart in the same way again now. Anyway, I think it's worth giving the series a look although I realise that most people won't be willing to waste 1.34GB on this episode alone.
The only people who are interested in this light infomercial are probably just Honey and Clover fans. This is basically Chou-VIP (Super VIP) program featuring Kudou Haruka promoting Hachikuro Cafe. I wrote about the place in Kongetsu the last time I went to Japan. I haven't had the chance to revisit the place at the moment but I may do that just to see if there is any interesting merchandise being sold at the moment. Plus, that melon pan and mango juice look delicious. I wish I was around when the cafe still had the full menu though. I want to taste that blue cheese pizza with honey but never had the chance to do so. When I first visited the cafe, the menu consists mostly of drinks.
Anyway, Kudou Haruka looks cute especially when she says "Oishii" after she bit the melonpan. Having said that, I can't help but wonder if the bread is as delicious as she claims it is. Japanese TV personalities tend to claim that everything is delicious when they are on TV. It's really funny when you watch this food adventure program because no matter what kind of food they eat, they always say it's delicious. In addition to this, they always have different facial expression everytime they say the word. Anyway, the sudden appearances of this infomercial as well as other Honey and Clover related promo means that the film will come to the cinema soon. I am actually excited to see it after I saw the full trailer.
Watch the trailer (Quicktime Movie)
I just came back from watching Death Note live action and it turned out to be a rather good adaptation of the manga. The film came with several trailers including a full trailer of Honey and Clover live action. Watching film in Japanese cinema turns out to be a rather expensive experience since the film itself will set you back 1300 Yen (around $13 dollar). If you do want to watch something, I recommend buying pre-purchased ticket from ticket seller because not only the price is usually similar to the one you buy from the box office, you actually get a better looking ticket (the promotional poster is printed in the ticket). The cinema also sells promotional items related to the film so I couldn't resist buying the live action movie guide (700 Yen). In Japan, you can also bring hot foods into the screening and the cinema actually sells things like french fries and Takoyaki. So if you're not careful, a trip to the cinema can go up to 3000 Yen (around $30) in one go.
*Please do not direct link to the pictures or reproduced them elsewhere. If you want to link, link to this article instead.
The official pictures for the live action adaptation of Honey and Clover finally emerged in Japanese fashion magazine, Non-No. Now that the official pictures are out, people will undoubtedly going to start judging whether or not the actors live up to the way they see the characters. Personally, I think the actor who plays Takemoto, Sakurai Shou, doesn't look that similar to Takemoto. But that's probably because Takemoto is my favourite character and therefore I tend to be more critical of the actor who's going to play him. On the other hand, I think both Hagumi and Harada look very similar to their character. I also feel the same way about the actors who play Morita and Mayama but I've been told that many people disagree with this assessment. Last but not least, Shuuji looks a bit older in my opinion but I suppose the actor will do fine.
This is one of those times where I wonder about my obsession with certain series. I always knew that I like Hachikuro a lot but I realised that I've become obsessed with it when I decided to buy the movie ticket for a film that will be screened in Japan. This means I will have to travel all the way back to Japan again just to see the film. My rational mind told me that this is insane because the film will probably turn out to be bad. But that didn't stop me from asking my friend to buy it for me. I supposed it helps that you get this nifty little Hachikuro coins when you buy the ticket. But I also thought it'll be nice to go back to Japan again. Well, now that the ticket has arrived, I supposed there's no turning back. The tickets look so good and it came in this transparent paper bag. The coins are even better than the wooden one that Hagu got from Morita. There are two coin types. The first one is a gold-coloured with bee motif while the other is silver-coloured 4-leaves clover motif.
In movie-related news, the official site for the movie reported that Spitz will sing the film's main theme song while Suga Shikao and Arashi will provide the ending theme for the film. For the main theme, Spitz will create an all new song titled「魔法のコトバ」- Mahou no Kotoba. On the other hand, Suga Shikao will compose and write a lyric for the ending theme,「アオゾラペダル」- Aozora Pedal, which will then be performed by Arashi. This is the first time Spitz actually writes a theme song for a film. This is also the first time that Suga Shikao offers to write a new musical piece for a movie. Hmm, I thought he wrote the music for xxxHOLiC movie but maybe I'm wrong. The site states that the artist's collaboration work should be on sale this summer. Last but not least, the last volume of Hachikuro DVD will be on sale this April the 28th and will contain episode 22, 23, and 24 of the original TV broadcast. Anyway, here are scans of the movie ticket bag/coins:
Ticket bag, Front
Ticket bag, Back
The coins
Since I'm going to include the upcoming Nana anime into my watching list next season, I figure I should check out the movie adaptation first just to compare and contrast it with the anime later on. I have to admit that I was rather apprehensive about this movie because the majority of manga to live action conversion usually don't end up well. Thankfully this turns out to be an exception. Most of these can be attributed to Nakashima Mika and Miyazaki Aoi's performance as Nana and Hachi. Both of them manage to convey the friendship between the two characters quite well. Having said that, this does't mean that this is a perfect adaptation. I personally disagree with some of the casting choices. But this is just a minor point and in general the movie gives me hope that the anime adaptation will turn out well.
February 3, 2006 | 20 Comments
The full trailer for the movie adaptation of Silent Hill is finally here and it does look really good and far removed from the cheese and embarassment of other video games to movie adaptation. A teaser trailer for the film was actually released a few months ago. But you could barely see anything in it so I decided not to make a fuss about it back then. Having said that, I've provided a link to the place where you can download it if you wish to do so. Also please note that the first set of images you see here is actually from the teaser trailer and not the full trailer. I intentionally put the images from the full trailer below the cut to prevent spoiling those who wish to see the film without any idea of the storyline. For everyone else, download the trailer and proceed to the extended page.
Teaser Trailer (7MB, Quicktime)
Full trailer (34MB, Quicktime)
December 30, 2005 | 54 Comments
Well, everyone else has done it so I may as well jump into the bandwagon. I think 2005 has been a surprisingly good year despite my rather low expectation of it at the beginning. In fact, some of the series that I list here actually end up as my all-time favourites. I don't think I'll be talking much about the state of the industry since I didn't actually follow many series this year. Having said that, I recommend that you read through Bluwacky's thorough analysis of this year's releases. I think he made a lot of interesting point about the industry. What I'm going to do here is simply list my top 3 of this year's series/games/songs and then talk about them. I am also interested to know what other people's favourite series/games/movies this year so feel free to indicate your choices in the comment area. Before I do this, however, please be aware that some of the paragraphs contain light spoilers.
December 6, 2005 | 20 Comments
I finally get the chance to see this after it's been in cinema for quite a while. I have to admit that I wasn't that excited to see it at first because I was too busy with JLPT and also because I was disappointed with the third one. Yes, I'm one of those few ones who were unhappy with the third film. While I agree that the third film's visual and atmosphere went up a notch, the storyline itself was poorly adapted. Because of this, when I first saw the trailer for the fourth film, I didn't expect much from it. It was therefore a rather nice surprise when I went to see the film today and found myself having a great time at the cinema. I think the majority part of the film was quite well done. Sure there were a couple of sub-plots that were not included in the film but they are generally minor plot points and not a major one like the one in the third film.
September 14, 2005 | 147 Comments
Wow, this turns out to be one unusually entertaining film even if the plot is kind of thin and lack of depth. The film actually relies a lot on viewer's knowledge of the game and without it, I suspect some of the scenes will be rather hard to understand. Having said that, what the film lacks in plot, it definitely makes up alot in cool action scenes and haunting soundtrack. Anyway, I'm going to recap parts of this film but honestly, a 2 hour movie is too much to cover on my own. Because of this, I'm just going to keep this as brief as I can since I figure most people will prefer to see this on their own. In addition to this, please be aware that there will be many spoilers from this point forward.
As mentioned by James in the talkback for episode 18 recap, apparently there will be a Honey and Clover live action adaptation in the form of a movie. The announcement was made on the 24th of this month and apparently principal photography will begin this October. I'll be interested to see this one if this is as well-executed as its anime counterpart. In the meantime, here's the link and rough translation:
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/hochi/geinou/aug/o20050824_20.htm
"It was announced on the 24th of this month that the popular Young You comic series, Honey and Clover will be made into a movie. Sakurai Shou (23 years old) from popular idol group "Arashi" will star in his first starring role. Honey and Clover is a romantic love story set within an art college. The 8 volume manga itself has reached a total sales of 3,600,000 copies thus far. The series was recently adapted into animation in Fuji TV and has achieved an unprecedented high ratings despite its late night timeslot."
Okay, I'm back from my holiday and depressed as hell. I've been suffering from some kind of reverse homesickness which actually already started before I even left Japan. This is partly why I haven't written anything in months. I knew that I will miss my friends and Japan terribly once I returned home. But I never expected the reality to be *this* depressing. I want to go back there again. But that's kind of pointless since my friends have also returned to their countries. Anyway, I actually saw this film on a plane that took me to Japan and was impressed by it. This may not be for everyone's taste. But personally, I think this is a simple but well-made film that encourages the viewers to appreciate the time that they have with people who are important to them. As usual, please be aware that the review has few spoilers.
You know, there was a time when I love Star Wars. Actually, I still do love the original three in the series but after the prequel came out, my interest dwindled down to nothing. This is mostly because of the crappy plot, zero character development, and obnoxious use of CGI in the first 2 prequels. But the time for the prequel's final chapter is getting close now and I can't help but getting my hopes up again. Maybe, just maybe, this will finally restore my interest in the series. The teaser trailer is out everyone! And it does look good as the trailer shows some of the returning characters from the original trilogy. Yay! for Chewie!! Download the trailer from this site. If that does not work, try this one.
I'm suffering from another bout of anime-overload here so I thought I'd watch something different for a change. If you're here because you're looking for some information or scans for that Naruto art book, however, you're in the wrong place. The article you're looking for is here. This Uzumaki is actually a live-action adaptation of Junji Ito's famous horror manga of the same name. The film seems to be an okay adaptation of the manga. It doesn't have the same intensity of terror that the manga offers, and some of its storyline are altered here. But the fact that it's a live-action makes the terror slightly more realistic. Having said that, I dislike the fact that the first quarter of the film looks more campy than creepy. But thankfully the rest of the film makes up for this flaw. Before I continue, please be aware that the following paragraphs are full of spoilers and some of the screenshots are quite graphic.
Heh. It's amazing what you can get from a little bit of fact finding here and there. I just found out that the actors who played Onizuka and Fuyutsuki (Takashi Sorimachi and Nanako Matsushima) are actually a couple in real life. I don't know if they actually got hitched after their roles in GTO but it's not that difficult to see that as a possibility. Their chemistry together in this live action version is miles better than that of the anime version. As a result, the fact that Onizuka is interested in her right from the start instead of chasing some high school girls is far more believable here than in the anime version. I also like the fact that the teachers in this version are far more lively than in the anime version. Watching their shenanigans and their office politics is as entertaining as watching Onizuka trying to win over the respect of his students one by one.
Awesome. That's the only word that came into my mind when I saw the trailer for this live action film starring Zhang Zi Yi and Takeshi Kaneshiro. The film, which is also known as House of Flying Daggers, is directed by Zhang Yimou, the famous director of Hero and Raise the Red Lantern. The story is about a revolutionary alliance called House of Flying Dagers that attempts to oppose the opressive Tang Dynasty in the year 859. Jin (Takeshi Kaneshiro) is dispatched to capture a beautiful dancer called Mei (Zhang Zi Yi) since she's suspected to be the daughter of the alliance leader. Because of this, Jin pretends to be a lone warrior who tries to help her. Unknown to him, however, there is more to Mei than meets the eye. And to make matters worse, it seems both end up falling in love with one another for real.
Well, once again I reached my anime saturation point and suddenly felt the need to watch something creepy. I kept hearing how Ju-On: The Grudge is one of the scariest films that people have seen. That in itself, was enough to pique my interest. Then I heard that there is actually a remake in the making at the moment. The remake will actually be directed by the original director, Takashi Shimizu, but with some US casts like Sarah Michelle Gellar and Bill Pullman. While I'll probably check out the remake when it is released later on, I'd much prefer to see the original first and foremost since after all, this is the film that impresses the people that decided to do the remake. As usual, anything below this paragraph will be spoilery although I'll try my best not to reveal all of the plot details.
I'm a bit bored with anime lately and feel like watching something that is a bit different. Since I've heard many good things about the live action version of GTO, I decided to give this series a try. After watching the first two episodes, I have to agree that this is a very interesting take on the GTO story. I originally had reservation about Takashi Sorimachi's version of Onizuka but eventually grew to like his interpretation of the character. I also think that the live action features a more interesting Fuyutsuki. I feel that in the anime she's a rather boring character and doesn't get as much exposure. In here, however, she has a rather large role right from the start and her personality is a standout thanks to an excellent performance from Nanako Matsushima (Ringu, Ringu 2).
I'm glad to see that this turns out to be a really good film that wraps up its plot neatly while leaving some nice trails of possible future storyline behind. I really like that there are so many unpredictable moments happening throughout the second film. I thought things will go as they were in the first one but I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the experience of watching the second film was not the same as watching the first one. Having said that, I have to admit that I missed the cool-looking action scenes of the first film when I saw the second volume. I think some of the action scenes in the first volume were drop dead beautiful and I can't find something similar in this second volume. The neat plot and storyline presented in this film, however, are good substitutes for the cool action scenes. Especially since the first film itself was rather light on plot and storyline.
When I first ordered the R2 limited edition box of Kill Bill Vol.1, I've resigned to the possibility that I may not get it because I ordered the DVD past the pre-ordered date. Thankfully, AmoTokyo came through for me as usual so now I have in my hand the big yellow box, as well as some cool extras such as the Okinawan T-shirt, Kill Bill Kubrick, and a miniature sword. The best of extra, however, can be found inside the R2 disc itself: the full-colour version of "The Showdown at the House of Blue Leaves" scenes. Please be aware that I'm not talking about the blue/black silhouette scene which appears near the end of the film. That part is still in duotone palettes even in the Japanese version. I'm actually referring to the parts in the middle of the Crazy 88 fight scene which got turned to black/white due to the supposedly gory scenes.
I've been watching way too many anime lately that I feel I need something a bit different just for a change of pace. The usual solution to this problem for me is to watch a horror film. I need something unrelentingly disturbing that I'll wish that I had watched that episode of Sensei no Ojikan instead of the horror film. So on a whim I bought a copy of Onmyoji mostly because I've heard some good things about this film. To begin with, the film was a box office hit while it was screened back in Japan. It also span off a TV series as well as a sequel not long after its release. A quick scan of the cast list also reveals a rather good ensemble of Japanese actors. Mansai Nomura, who was last seen in Akira Kurosawa's Ran, plays the coveted role of Abe No Senmei. His best friend, Minamoto No Hiromasa is played by a popular actor, Hideaki Ito. Last but not least, the villain of the movie, Doson, is played by Hiroyuki Sanada who was last seen in Ringu and Ringu 2.
I found three cool Japanese trailers today. First I finally managed to obtain the Quicktime trailer of The Devilman. I personally can't wait for this movie. The big battle between the Devilman and his arch nemesis looks like a sight to behold. The second one is a trailer for a French film called The Immortal but it's been translated as God Diva in the Japanese trailer for some reason. It looks weird. It's like a mixture of Metropolis (the Fritz Lang movie) and Egyptian mythology. Finally, there's a trailer for the new Katsuhiro Otomo's anime, Steamboy.
Warner Bros has just released the 2nd trailer for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Just like the previous trailers, this trailer makes me think that at the very least the film will be darker than the previous two. I did, however, cringe a bit at some of the line delivery from the younger actors so I hope those scenes will be better when they are in context of the story. Other than that, it is nice to see some of the familiar scenes from the book become alive in the trailer.
February 24, 2004 | 0 Comments
There's a nice-looking trailer for the live action adaptation of popular manga called Shinzo Ningen Casshern (Robot Hunter Casshern). Visual-wise the trailer looks awesome and definitely makes me to know more about this film. Some of the imageries remind me of The Matrix while others look like a live action version of the Metropolis anime. Check out the entire web site for the film while you're at it as well.
February 20, 2004 | 3 Comments
It looks like IGN.com has managed to obtain the Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children new trailer that is included inside FFX-2 International + Last Mission. Unfortunately, it looks like unless you're a subscriber, you can only download the Windows Media Player version and not the Quicktime version of the trailer. Anyway, it doesn't look that different from the first trailer that you can download from the official site above but it does show some additional footages which include a glimpse of Barett and Vincent. It is also accompanied by Aerith's Theme which gives the trailer a rather melancholic feel to it. To be honest, I'm not really sure what this particular straight to DVD film can tell as far as storyline goes. I've always felt that the original game had a rather conclusive ending. But I suppose we won't really know for sure until this upcoming Summer.
February 11, 2004 | 4 Comments
Boogiepop and Others is basically the feature film that proceeds Boogiepop Phantom anime. In general, it's good to know that there are some elemental consistency between the movie and the anime. For example, remember the opening theme for the anime called "Evening Rain"? Well, that particular song is actually the ending theme of this film. The song was also heavily used for the multitude trailers that were created for this film. The same can be said for the haunting Boogiepop whistle that is normally heard when Boogiepop is nearby. In addition to these, the look and feel of Shinyo Gakuen/Academy, Geo City, and other locations seem to have been preserved quite well from the movie to the anime.
January 27, 2004 | 20 Comments
All right, this is for those of you who have been typing "Chiaki Kuriyama", "chigusa battle royale", "BR's Sousuke Takaoka" as well as other BR-type keyphrases into this blog's search engine. When I reviewed the Special Edition of Battle Royale back in December, I didn't say anything about the extras. Well, I just recently acquired the Limited Edition Tin version of the film and I now have the time to do review the extra.
January 17, 2004 | 27 Comments
Aint It Cool News has just released some pictures of the upcoming Evangelion live action movie as sketched by WETA Workshop (Lord of the Rings) artists. These pictures can also be found inside the Evangelion: Director's Cut DVD (contains the redone episodes 21-24) that is released by ADV film this week. There have been some controversy surrounding these drawings because some of the character names that accompanied the sketches are different from the character names in the anime version (Shinji, Asuka, Rei, Misato, etc). What we get on the sketches instead are names such as "Ray", "Kate Rose", and "Susan Whitnell".
Some people have suggested that the names are just either code names or the name of the designers who sketch those pictures. I hope that's the case. I want ADV film to have the guts to actually retain the original character names and cast Japanese actors/actress for most of the characters - with the exception of maybe Asuka (she's 3/4 German) and some SEELE members. I'm not even the most hardcore EVA fans out there but I have to say that Shinji, Asuka, and the other original characters are the ones whose stories I've followed, and whose plight I sympathise with. I can't say the same thing if the characters are now named Joe and Angie, or in this case, Susan Whitnell.
Japanese Playstation magazine has released some images of Final Fantasy: Advent Children, a made for DVD movie which will be released around Summer this year. They look quite impressive, especially the CG image of Barett. I wished this had been a game instead of just a DVD-only release
I did, however, find myself disliking like the new rendering of Cloud. I supposed that's because mostly I've always had him looking quite different in my mind if he's rendered in a life-like style. Ditto with Sephiroth. But Barett looks perfect! And I'm keen to see how they'll show Midgar/Midgul in the film.
December 27, 2003 | 5 Comments
No, I haven't turned this blog into a skin care product promo site. The screenshots are just the new teaser trailer to Resident Evil: Apocalypse. I like it when trailer makers go to the length of making a teaser trailer that is rather different from the usual Hollywood teaser trailer. In this case, the trailer looks more like one of those skin care products ad than a movie ad. It begins with the usual question of how ideal it would be if we can reverse the effects of age, stress, and sun. And now you can! With Regenerate. A product that actually brings dead cells back to life (no kidding). The announcer then says please consult your doctor before any treatment and that some side effects may occur :P.
I hope this movie will be as good as the first one. I mean the first one didn't have high calibre acting or an extraordinary storyline. But it wasn't bad either and it was definitely the best example of film that is made out of video game. I was expecting to see a bad, boring, or cheesy flicks like Tomb Raider or Street Fighter but instead got a rather stylish thriller. That's why I hope the second one will do a good job as the first one. Especially since this time the film will merge the film's storyline and characters with the video game's storyline and characters (I think Jill is the one that has been mentioned thus far).
December 26, 2003 | 0 Comments
Well, that was a good end to the trilogy. Everything seems to be wrapped up nicely and the ending is quite good in that bitter-sweet kind of way. Still, since I've never read the book beforehand, I don't know if it actually follows the original story faithfully or not. For example, towards the end, I get the impression that Eowyn seems to have transferred her crush on Aragorn and moves on to be with Faramir. But it happens all of a sudden at the end of the film that I get the feeling that there may be an additional scene or two in the original book, which shows how the two get closer to one another. I supposed this is the sort of scenes that will show up on the Special Edition of the DVD. Or at least I hope so because I find Eowyn and Faramir to be two of the most interesting characters in the film.
December 25, 2003 | 5 Comments
I finally get to see this infamous Kinji Fukasaku's film last night. After much confusion as to which version I should get, I ended up purchasing the Korean Special Edition version since I can't seem to find an e-tailer that still has a copy of the R2 UK version. And this Korean version turns out to be quite a nice release with only a couple of minor deficiencies. I have to agree with the other fans of this film that the English subtitle on this version is lousy. I mean I can still guess what the subtitle actually means 90% of the time. However, there are times when I got confused because the subtitle seems to contradict the earlier events. Having said that, the film transfer is sharp and clean and the menu looks really nice and stylish. All in all, this would have been a perfect release if it wasn't marred by the lousy translation (or lack thereof in the case of the extra disc) and the lack of the extras that were included in the R2 version (metal tin case, collectible film strip, etc).
December 21, 2003 | 0 Comments
Sony has finally decided to release the Spiderman 2 teaser trailer in the Quicktime format. Most of you have probably seen it when it was released a couple of days ago by Yahoo.com in a streaming Shockwave Flash format. But I really hate that version since the streaming always got interrupted from time to time. And I was actually using an ADSL line. Thank God they wise up and decided to present it in Quicktime format. They should have done it like this right from the start.
As for the trailers itself, it looks okay. Nothing much to be seen. MJ is still in love with Parker while Harry seems to want to avenge his father's death. Doctor Octopus is clearly the main enemy though. I have to say that I am not a loyal Spiderman comic book reader so while I'm aware of certain characters' existence within the series, I often don't know their relationship with one another. For example, I've heard that in the comic, Harry is supposed to become the second Green Goblin but I have no idea how that will happen.
November 14, 2003 | 1 Comments
I just found out that the teaser trailer for the third installment of Harry Potter adventure is out. And it's very nice. The movie has a rather...European film look to it. It also feels a bit darker in moods than the first 2 films just by looking at the trailer. I'm personally excited what Alfonso Cuaron ("Y tu mam� tambi�n") can do with this particular installment. Plus, it will be fun to see Gary Oldman, David Thewlis, and Alan Rickman acting within one film. The kids do look a bit older than what 13 year olds are supposed to look but well, I supposed what else can they do? Recasting the kids would have been a much worse alternative especially since most of the actors are now nicely settling into their roles.
Discussions about the movie at kottke.org made me accept/fanwank explanations about some of the unexplainables within The Matrix Trilogy. I still do think that the film itself, Revolutions, is very flawed. And what I'm about to write is a good example as to why I don't like the film: because I and many other people are now forced to fanwank our own explanation.
The explanations require me to think that the entire trilogy happened within the Matrix, even 'the real world' scenarios. Some of the things that put me in this mindset are:
I have a headache. I want to see Kinji Fukasaku's infamous movie Battle Royale, especially since Chiaki Kuriyama (Go Go Yubari of "Kill Bill") was in it. But after looking at this Battle Royale fansite, I can't figure out which DVD version of that film I should get.
There are so many versions and none of them are perfect. Some have excellent transfer but no English subtitle, others have English subtitle but lousy transfer, etc. On top of it, when I was actually ready to make a purchase, I found out that the version that I want is already out of stock. Well, that's swell! Wonder if I should just buy the full-on Japanese version.
the most disappointing movie of the year goes to *drum rolls*.......The Matrix Revolutions. Feh. Just when I thought the entire trilogy couldn't be any worse, this film managed to exceed my expectation in the crappiness scale. It's on par in terms of bad storytelling with The Matrix Reloaded. The difference is, at least Reloaded was the second entry in the series. If things weren't explained then, I still have hope that they'll be explained in the final movie. *spoilers follow*
So I finally get to watch my Raiders DVD. IMO, the menu design is pretty ordinary. I am a bit disappointed with the choice that they've made for the menu. They have these usual montage of scenes from the movie done in photoshop filter way (I think it's the sketch filter). I like the overworld map part of the menu but the rest just looks a bit too Photoshop-ish to me.
But the film restoration itself was awesome! I've never seen Raiders looked this good beforehand. It's so pristine, you'll think it was shot on digital. And I'm surprised that even after all these years, I still love this film. It doesn't have this 'out of date' feel about it (which Star Wars seems to have) even though the film was clearly set around 1930s-1940s. Indiana Jones is still my favourite hero of all times and I think this must be Harrison Ford's best character that I can think of.
