Posted by kevin at 8:37pm EDT on Friday, July 25, 2008
Whenever new info is posted about the upcoming Yukihiko Tsutsumi-helmed 20th Century Boys trilogy here or on other sites people invariably chime in about how it’s too convoluted for a western audience to be interested in without first reading the manga. I don’t really subscribe to that theory personally because science fiction fans are a different breed than typical main stream moviegoers, but it won’t be an issue anymore now that US distributor Viz Media has picked up the rights to the original manga. Anime News Network is reporting the company made the announcement today at Comic Con and will be releasing it starting in February of 2009 on a bi-monthly schedule. So read it, live it, love it, and let’s get some interest going for whenever the movie distribution rights get picked up.
For more on “20th Century Boys”, see this page.
Posted by kevin at 4:37pm EDT on Friday, July 25, 2008
Filed under: Comedy, Fantasy, Future releases
Here’s further proof that if you need to get a truly bizarre project done in Japan, Sakichi Sato is your man. George Asakura, who is actually a woman in spite of her mysterious pen name, has deemed Sato the only person capable of bringing her Ikki comics manga, Heibon Punch to life. The film version will star Sato and gravure idol Rina Akiyama in her first major movie role.
Posted by kevin at 2:21pm EDT on Friday, July 25, 2008
Filed under: Drama, Future releases, New trailers
A new trailer was added to the official website of Shakariki!. I uploaded the teaser a few weeks ago. The new trailer makes the movie look a lot better, but for some reason they switched to an outdated flash codec this time and the actual video looks like crapola.
The movie is about a young cycling enthusiast named Teru (Yuya Endo) who tries to revive his school’s bicycle club along with the club’s new manager, Sakura Nagata (Nao Minamisawa). It’s based on a popular Masahito Soda manga and marks the directorial debut of former A.D. Shinsuke Ono (Kids Return, Ping Pong). The movie is slated for release on September 6, 2008.
Background info via Tokyograph
Posted by kevin at 3:29am EDT on Friday, July 25, 2008
Filed under: Comedy, Crime, Hollywood, Future releases
The trailer for Rian Johnson’s The Brothers Bloom is now online. In the movie Adrien Brody and Mark Ruffalo play scam artist brothers that come up with all sorts of elaborate schemes to separate rich people from their money. When they meet a young eccentric heiress named Penelope (Rachel Weisz) they initially plan to scam her, but instead end up enlisting her help on their next con. However, when one of the brothers falls for Penelope things get complicated. Rinko Kikuchi plays a quirky explosives expert appropriately named “Bang Bang” who’s also part of the team. Trailer embedded after the break.
Posted by kevin at 7:44am EDT on Thursday, July 24, 2008
Filed under: Action, Jidaigeki, Future releases, Movie announcements
A press conference was held yesterday at Space FS Shiodome to announce completion of Go Ohara’s directorial debut, Geisha vs Ninjas. Ohara joined the film’s stars, Minami Tsukui and Masaki Nomura to offer greetings from the stage before a preview screening. Also in attendance were 3 guys in ninja costumes for the sake of corny photo ops.
In the film Tsukui, who was chosen from over 2,000 young actresses, plays a geisha named Kotono who faces off against the ninjas who killed her father. She initially found the the intense fight scenes to be difficult because she had never worn a geisha wig before, but eventually she got used to it. Co-star Nomura praised the acrobatic skill and strength Tsukui showed during their scenes.
![Fine, Totally Fine [Standard Edition] (Pony Canyon)](/images/releases/fine_totally_fine_standard_edition_pony_canyon_57.jpg)
![Gachi Boy: Wrestling With a Memory [Standard Edition] (Pony Canyon)](/images/releases/gachi_boy_standard_edition_pony_canyon_57.jpg)
