Second teaser for Takashi Miike‘s upcoming live-action adaptation of the 1970s cartoon, Yatterman. Not much to see in this one, but we do get a glimpse of Doronjo’s room—minus Doronjo (Kyoko Fukada). :(

For the first teaser, see this link. For the full trailer, see this link.

Official website

watch »

Permalink      0 Comments

In Kensaku Watanabe‘s Cheer Cheer Cheer!, Yui Aragaki plays Momoko: a shy, lonely girl who spends her spare time reading romantic fantasy stories. When she develops a huge crush on her school’s star baseball player she comes up with the perfect excuse to watch him play every day: reviving the school’s nearly-defunct traditional cheer squad. However, the only people she can get to join are a bunch of misfits and losers. Although Momoko never lacks spirit, their cheering begins as a disaster. It isn’t until they discover the true meaning of “cheering” and develop a new-found passion for it that they begin to truly inspire the people around them.

Coming to Japanese theaters Saturday, October 11th.

Official website

watch »

Permalink      0 Comments

A woman named Nobuko Bando (Maki Sakai) returns home to her family after failing in her attempt to make it big as a celebrity entertainer (stage name: Non-ko) and a very brief marriage to her manager. Now 36, she resigns herself to doing domestic chores at the Shinto shrine her family runs and meets a naive young man named Masaru (Gen Hoshino) whose ambitions don’t go much further than selling baby chicks. However, his upbeat nature gradually changes her pessimistic outlook on life. Slated for release in Japan on December 20, 2008.

Official website

watch »

Permalink      1 Comment

Spoofs seem to have been gaining steam in the Japanese movie industry over the past few years—from Minoru Kawasaki’s spoof of The Sinking of Japan, The World Sinks Except Japan; Kenji Murakami’s spoof of Always: Sunset on Third Street, Alldays: Nichome no Asahi; and Hideo Jojo’s spoof of Crows Zero, Gachi-ban. Now Jojo is returning with another cornball spoof: Homeless ga Chugakusei. Obviously it’s a direct parody of Homeless Chugakusei, the true story of a junior high school student who loses his home and has to live on his own in a local park. In Jojo’s version the story is flipped around so that a man goes back to junior high school after several decades of homelessness and introduces students to the world of dumpster-diving and living in tents. Check out the trailer after the break.

continue reading »

Permalink      0 Comments

Juri Ueno’s next film project, tentatively titled Gorilla Butterfly, is now in the process of casting extras for various scenes. I don’t think the initial press conference has been held yet so details are sparse, but we do know it’s being distributed by Toho and co-produced by Altamira Pictures and Ueno’s talent agency, Amuse.

continue reading »

Permalink      0 Comments