Posted by kevin at 8:39pm EDT on Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Filed under: Fantasy, Future releases
It looks like Takashi Miike will be pulling out all the stops in his live-action take on the classic 70s cartoon Yatterman. Here’s the full-scale version of Yatter-Bark, the huge rescue robot dog which will be featured prominently in the movie. Yatter-Bark measures 5.5 meters and took 3 months to build at an expense of over 30 million yen (currently about $280,000 USD). The photo was taken on the Takada toy shop set, located in an underground garage.
Sho Sakurai, the actor who plays Yatter-Bark’s creator, Gan, was surprised to see it in person for the first time, thinking it would just be added later in CGI. He drew inspiration from being around it during scenes and claims its massive scale and force created a certain tension on the set. Producer Yoshinori Chiba says that although a lot of CGI is needed for the film, great care was taken to maintain a specific feel between the wardrobe and set design, and being in the presence of a real-life Yatter-Bark brought adults back to their childhoods. The live-action shooting for Yatterman wrapped up in the beginning of June and the next few months will be spent working on CGI and editing, with release tentatively scheduled for March 2009. [source]
Posted by kevin at 3:09pm EDT on Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Filed under: Action, Thriller, Future releases, New trailers
When I wrote up this wiki article on Takanori Tsujimoto’s Hard Revenge, Milly last month it seemed odd that it had a run-time of only 44 minutes. Well, it all makes sense now, because it’s actually being packaged with Isao Kaneko’s The Masked Girl as part of the Neo Action double bill premiering at Q-AX on Saturday August 9, 2008. It’s pretty good timing, considering The Machine Girl will be going public in Japan on the previous Saturday and they might be able to piggyback on whatever new found interest in senseless violence that generates.
Posted by kevin at 9:43pm EDT on Monday, June 23, 2008
Filed under: Drama, Future releases, New trailers
If you read my article on Shiori to Shimiko no Kaiki Jikenbo, then you know I really think highly of actress Nao Minamisawa and I’m totally convinced she’s going to be a big deal. So needless to say I was excited when the news broke earlier today that she’s been cast in the lead role of Akai Ito, an upcoming movie based on a popular mobile phone novel. As Tokyograph reported back in April, the story will be split between a Fuji TV television drama and a Shochiku-produced movie with both being directed by Fuji TV’s Shosuke Murakami and featuring the same cast.
Minamisawa will play the lead role of Mei. She says she’s nervous about the prospect of starring in a movie, but really excited at the same time and she’ll give it her all with reckless abandon. Mei’s love interest Atsushi will be played by Junpei Mizobata (Dive!!). Also added to the cast were relative newcomers Ryo Kimura, Rei Okamoto, Tomo Yanagishita, Anna Oshibashi, and Nanami Sakuraba. The film’s theme song will be handled by the band HY, who take their name from the initials of their hometown Higashi Yakena.
Coinciding with cast announcements, the official website for the film posted some behind-the-scenes footage of Minamisawa which you can check out here. I posted the teaser below the break, but since it was made before they announced the cast publicly you can imagine how generic it is.
Posted by kevin at 2:03pm EDT on Sunday, June 22, 2008
Filed under: Comedy, Drama, Future releases, New trailers
Ai Ryutsu Center (roughly “love distribution center") will be released in Japan on July 19, 2008 and the first trailer recently surfaced. Directed by Tetsuhiko Tsuchiya, the film stars 2007 Horipro Talent Scout Caravan Grand Prix winner Rika Adachi as Chikako, an ordinary high school girl without a boyfriend. In an attempt to spark her love life she wishes for true love at a Shinto shrine. Afterward, she receives a strange email on her cell phone with a sign-up page for “Ai Ryutsu Center”. She thinks it’s just junk mail, but in her attempt to delete it she mistakenly registers herself for the service. Later, a clumsy but likable salesman (Kenji Mizuhashi) shows up to assist her in finding love. As a result of his bumbling efforts Chikako ends up in a love triangle with ex-boyfriend Kenta (Goki Maeda) and her best friend Haruka (Mari Iriki). Also appearing in the film will be actress Aya Hirayama (Waterboys, The Backdancers!) and AKB48 “Team A” member Tomomi Itano.
Posted by kevin at 5:00am EDT on Friday, June 20, 2008
Filed under: Drama, Future releases, New trailers
From Jason Gray comes the news that the release date for Takeshi Kitano’s latest movie, Achilles and the Tortoise (Akiresu to Kami) has been set for September 20, 2008. The movie’s title comes from one of Greek philosopher Zeno of Elea’s paradoxes; which surmises that motion, time, and change are all illusions. In the film Kitano plays Machisu, a man who was born into an affluent family, but loses both his parents suddenly as a child and decides to follow his dream of becoming a painter. Kanako Higuchi (Ashura, Memories of Tomorrow) plays his wife, who continues to be supportive of his painting throughout the years even though he’s never had any success and sometimes gets discouraged himself. Yurei Yanagi (Ju-on, Kaidan) and Kumiko Aso (Kairo, Casshern) play the same couple in their younger years. Check out the new trailer below.
