Category: Adventure
Posted by Kevin Ouellette at 9:31pm EST on Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Filed under: Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy, Movie reviews
Note: This review was originally posted on October 12, 2009. It’s getting a temporary bump because Yatterman will be screened again at this year’s New York Asian Film Festival on 6/25 and 7/2. See this link for details.
Growing up in the 80s, there were a few Americanized imports of Japanese cartoons that captured my imagination as a kid; Voltron (1984-1985), Robotech (1985), G-Force: Guardians of Space (1986), and Tranzor Z (1985-1987) being the obvious ones that come to mind. Unfortunately, I don’t recall ever being exposed to Yatterman. In fact, before Takashi Miike’s live-action film adaptation of the popular late 70s cartoon series was first announced back in 2007, I had only heard the name mentioned in passing and really had no idea what to expect. Fortunately, you really don’t need to know anything about the original cartoon going into this one. It’s actually the perfect entry-level primer to the conventions of the original show. Miike takes great pains to forgo a total revamp, instead choosing to emphasize the comedic and repetitive aspects of the show that made it so popular in the first place while occasionally poking fun at it with some clever observational humor.
Posted by Kevin Ouellette at 7:05pm EST on Thursday, April 22, 2010
Filed under: Adventure, Drama, Future releases, Cast updates, Movie announcements
Earlier today, it was announced that Nichirin no Isan, a 1993 novel by Naoki Award-winner Jiro Sato (58) will be made into a film starring Masato Sakai (36).
The novel, which has sold over 500,000 copies to date, revolves around a top secret mission to hide Japanese treasures currently valued at a staggering 200 trillion yen near the conclusion of World War II. Sakai will play Major Mashiba, an intelligence officer with Japan’s Imperial Guard. Together with First Lieutenant Koizumi (Seiji Fukushi) and Master Sergeant Mochizuki (Shido Nakamura), Mashiba attempts to execute secret orders to hide these valuable treasures from the occupying forces of Douglas MacArthur in the hopes of funding the nation’s reconstruction at some point in the future.
Out of necessity, 20 young girls are enlisted to help with the mission without being informed of the details. Yusuke Santamaria (39) will play the girls’ teacher and Kaoru Yachigusa (79) will play one of the girls in the present day.
Kiyoshi Sasabe will be directing the film for distributor Kadokawa Pictures. Filming will begin on April 24th with a release planned for sometime in 2011.
Posted by Kevin Ouellette at 11:12pm EST on Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Filed under: Action, Adventure, DVD/Blu-ray releases
US distributor VIZ Pictures will finally be releasing Shimako Sato's K-20: The Fiend With Twenty Faces (K-20: Kaijin Niju Menso Den, 2008) on DVD on April 20th. The company picked up rights to the film last summer and it has since been screened at several major film festivals as well as VIZ's own theater in San Francisco's Japantown. To celebrate the DVD's release, they'll be holding a special theatrical screening at VIZ Cinema on April 20th at 7:00pm. For full details, see this link.
K-20 takes place in an alternate version of 1949 Japan in which World War II never happened and the Japanese capital of Teito has become home to a dichotomy consisting of the ultra rich upper class and the dirt poor masses. The city is thrown into a state of panic when a phantom thief called "The Fiend (Kaijin) with 20 Faces" begins to use his mysterious abilities to steal from the rich and give to the poor. One day a circus acrobat named Heikichi Endo (Takeshi Kaneshiro) is framed for K-20's crimes and becomes determined to clear his name. He teams up with K-20's next target, a wealthy duchess named Yoko Hashiba (Takako Matsu) and her detective fiancé (Toru Nakamura), to take K-20 down once and for all.
Region 1, NTSC, 137 min., anamorphic widescreen. Japanese Dolby 5.1 audio with English subtitles.
Posted by Kevin Ouellette at 11:20am EST on Friday, March 19, 2010
Filed under: Adventure, Drama, Future releases, Cast updates, Movie announcements
Back in January, the magazine Big Comic Original revealed that Shinichi Ishizuka's mountain-climbing manga "Gaku: Minna no Yama" would be turned into a live-action film to be released sometime in 2011. No further details had been available until earlier today, when Toho officially announced the project to the media.
Filming is currently underway under the direction of Osamu Katayama (Heat Island) and is expected to wrap in July. Actor Shun Oguri (Crows Zero) will play a mountain rescue team volunteer named Sanpo and Masami Nagasawa (Magare! Spoon) will co-star as a new team member named Kumi. The film's budget is said to be around 1 billion yen (~$10 million USD).
Although shooting began only a few days ago, Oguri began training under a professional mountain guide way back in December -- in part, to overcome his fear of heights. Nagasawa, who had to sacrifice 12 inches of length from her hair for the role, also participated in mountain training.
Supporting cast members were also announced. Kuranosuke Sasaki (42) will play the chief of the rescue team, Takuya Ishida (23) will play a team member, Atsuro Watabe (41) will play a rescue pilot, and Yoshie Ichige (59) will play the manager of a mountain cottage.
No official release date has been decided yet, but Toho has it listed for 2011.
More images:
Sources: Tokyograph, Sankei Sports
Posted by Kevin Ouellette at 2:21am EST on Thursday, July 2, 2009
Filed under: Action, Adventure, DVD/Blu-ray releases
Hong Kong DVD distributor CN Entertainment will be releasing Shimako Sato‘s K-20: The Fiend With Twenty Faces (K-20: Kaijin Niju Menso Den, 2008) on English-subtitled DVD next week. I wouldn’t expect much in the way of features considering CN releases are usually barebones, but DVD-9 is a very good sign picture quality-wise; they usually squash everything onto a DVD-5. Fans in North America may want to hold off until Viz Pictures comes out with their release of the film in the very near future.
Plot: In an alternate version of 1949 Japan in which World War II never happened, the Japanese capital of Teito is home to both an ultra rich upper class and the dirt poor masses. The city is thrown into a state of panic when a phantom thief called “The Kaijin (Fiend) with 20 Faces” (K-20 for short) begins to use his mysterious abilities to steal from the rich and give to the poor. One day a circus acrobat named Heikichi Endo (Takeshi Kaneshiro) is framed for K-20’s crimes and becomes determined to clear his name. He teams up with K-20’s next target, a wealthy duchess named Yoko Hashiba (Takako Matsu) and her detective fiancé (Toru Nakamura), to take K-20 down once and for all.
Region 3, NTSC, DVD-9. Japanese DTS and Chinese-dubbed Dolby 5.1 audio tracks with selectable Chinese and English subtitles.