Articles in Japanese Movie Reviews
Neighbor No. 13 (2005) Movie Review
Bullying is an ugly reality of growing up that most of us can relate to, either as culprits or victims, but we usually grow out of it when we finish elementary school, or for some others, high school. However, in some cases the harassment extends beyond the schoolyard and into a person’s adult life, resulting [...]
January 8th, 2006 | Gopal | 0 comments | Read MoreAegis (2005) Movie Review
Given the pedigree of “Aegis”, it’s no surprise the film is little more than a (barely) covert stab at nationalistic propaganda designed to get the domestic crowd riled up and embrace their “Japaneseness”. Except there isn’t really anyone for the film to rally against, unless you consider the chief villain, who was a North Korean [...]
December 30th, 2005 | Nix | 0 comments | Read MoreAshura-jo no Hitomi (2005) Movie Review
There’s something to be said for the power of the imagination, and never is it more necessary to appreciate the visual arts than when watching a stage play, where, when well performed, the action on stage spurs the viewer’s imagination to fill in the details that the props leave out. Now what would a fantasy [...]
December 23rd, 2005 | Gopal | 0 comments | Read MoreDead Leaves (2004) Movie Review
“Over the top’ is an expression loosely thrown about by film critics to describe anything a little too far out of the ordinary in terms of violence, sexual content or any other thematic material of a transgressive nature. However, in the case of the Japanese animated film “Dead Leaves,” ‘over the top’ doesn’t even begin [...]
December 13th, 2005 | Gopal | 0 comments | Read MoreGodzilla: Tokyo SOS (2003) Movie Review
If familiarity breeds contempt, then kaiju fans ought to feel distain towards Mothra and MechaGodzilla. If appearances in the Godzilla films were frequent flyer miles, the monster pair would have accumulated enough for a round flight trip to Pluto. Despite this unavoidable familiarity, “Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S.” co-scripter/director Masaaki Tezuka still manages the impressive feat of [...]
December 9th, 2005 | Joseph Savitski | 0 comments | Read MoreGohatto aka Taboo (1999) Movie Review
“Gay Samurai? Never seen that before.”
The above are my words, and probably the words of countless people upon discovering “Gohatto” (aka “Taboo”), a tale of homosexuality within a Samurai training camp during Japan ’s Shogun era.
The plotting is minimal, so much so that at times you wonder if something is actually going to [...]
Blood and Bones (2004) Movie Review
Takeshi Kitano is Japan ’s true ‘King of All Media.’ A cultural icon in his home country as an actor, director, poet, comedian, painter and newspaper journalist, Kitano is best known to the rest of the world as a minimalist craftsman of gritty, nihilistic gangster films. In “Blood and Bones,” Kitano [...]
October 17th, 2005 | Gopal | 0 comments | Read MoreViolence Jack (1986) Movie Review
Anime is seen by many a film enthusiast as a deep form of cinema, on par with the noirs and cult classics of the world. And with films like “Akira”, “Perfect Blue”, “Tokyo Godfathers” and “Spirited Away”, it’s hard to disagree with the fan base. However, for each of these four great movies there are [...]
October 9th, 2005 | Andrew Mackenzie | 0 comments | Read MoreSt. John’s Wort (2001) Movie Review
There have been a great many film adaptations of video games, the overwhelming majority of which have been cheap, unimaginative cash-ins on the product name. This is especially true in the horror genre, where fans have been afflicted with the vacuous “Resident Evil” and its equally lackluster sequel, neither of which made much effort to [...]
October 5th, 2005 | James Mudge | 0 comments | Read MoreFinal Fantasy 7: Advent Children (2004) Movie Review
For followers of the Final Fantasy games, “Advent Children” comes as a reward for those long hours spent in front of the TV pushing buttons and ignoring a social life. For everyone else, this is pure eye candy, especially since the film has a story continued from the game, with no background setup whatsoever for [...]
October 4th, 2005 | Alex Lui | 3 comments | Read MoreLorelei: The Witch of the Pacific Ocean (2005) Movie Review
The filmmakers behind “Lorelei” should give out Japanese flags with each copy of the DVD for all the subtlety the film manages. As strictly a movie, and not the jingoistic propaganda it obviously is, “Lorelei” is a lumbering and not entirely coherent piece of filmmaking punctured by the occasional Submarine Movie cliché that you’ve seen [...]
August 30th, 2005 | Nix | 0 comments | Read MoreIchi the Killer (2002) Movie Review #2
On the commentary track for one of his films, director Robert Rodriguez (”Sin City”) relates a story that I’ll paraphrase here: While taking questions about his low-budget debut “El Mariachi,” a critic asked about the significance of a tortoise that crosses the path of the titular character while he’s walking along a stretch of highway. [...]
August 9th, 2005 | Erick Kwon | 0 comments | Read More
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I think he's well suited for the role, and in this day and age, sexual orientation shouldn't matter. And ...
