Articles in Japanese Movie Reviews
Casshern (2004) Movie Review
Like “Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow”, and before that, Mamoru Oshii’s “Avalon”, the Japanese sci-fi film “Casshern” seems to have been built on a foundation of, “It’d be really cool if we did this, and then follow it up with this!” ideas. Which is to say the film is mostly incoherent, muddled to [...]
October 28th, 2004 | Nix | 0 Comments | Read MoreGodzilla Raids Again (1955) Movie Review
Toho wasn’t going to let a little thing like the title character dying get in their way of making money. Five months after the original “Godzilla” first hit screens, a sequel was quickly made and released out onto an unsuspecting populace. While it is a fairly decent Godzilla film, the sequel nevertheless feels hurried and [...]
October 27th, 2004 | Joseph Savitski | 0 Comments | Read MoreZebraman (2004) Movie Review
You probably won’t find a wackier film than Takashi Miike’s “Zebraman”, a Japanese movie about a loser who discovers that, by making a homemade superhero costume, he can literally transform into his TV idol (who was cancelled years ago) and fight alien invaders. Of course in this movie the invaders happen to be little jumping [...]
October 20th, 2004 | Nix | 0 Comments | Read MoreCross Fire (2000) Movie Review
“Cross Fire” was produced by the Japanese Toho studios, best known for the classic, enduring “Godzilla” series. This attempt at trying something a little different with the horror genre, as opposed to simply churning out another “Ringu” clone, was directed by Shusuke Kaneko, who brought the “Gamera” series roaring back to life in the 1990s, [...]
October 15th, 2004 | James Mudge | 0 Comments | Read MoreGozu (2004) Movie Review
“Gozu” is another recent effort from the apparently tireless Takashi Miike, bringing his total of films released over the last couple of years to a staggering 12, though it’s quite possible there are even more. With this non-stop flood of titles, it’s inevitable that there is a varying degree of quality, or perhaps more accurately, [...]
October 11th, 2004 | James Mudge | 0 Comments | Read MorePatlabor: The Movie 2 (1993) Movie Review
“Patlabor 2″, the sequel to 1990’s “Patlabor: The Movie”, examines the unique status of Japan in the modern world. The country is an economic world power, but due to the constitution drafted after World War II by the Allies, Japan is not allowed a military presence outside its borders. Hence, its military, the ones we’ve [...]
October 11th, 2004 | Erick Kwon | 0 Comments | Read MorePatlabor: The Movie (1990) Movie Review
In the late 20th century, highly advanced robots, known as Labors, were created for construction purposes. Other labors were developed to be used in the military, for undersea exploration and even recreational purposes. However, with the growing amount of labors, there is an unfortunate side effect in the form of crimes involving the use of [...]
October 9th, 2004 | Erick Kwon | 0 Comments | Read MoreOne Missed Call (2004) Movie Review
Takashi Miike is a master of wild, unpredictable cinema. The man regularly churns out multiple films each year which range from the ultra-violence of “Ichi the Killer” to wacky musicals like “Happiness of Katakuris” to odd children’s films such as the recent “Zebraman”. “One Missed Call”, however, is a truly unexpected turn from the director, [...]
October 8th, 2004 | James Mudge | 0 Comments | Read MoreYoung Thugs: Innocent Blood (1997) Movie Review
Considering the sheer volume of his output, it may never be possible for any viewer, either in Japan or abroad, to take in the complete resume of director Takashi Miike. As of this writing, the Internet Movie Database lists a whopping 61 movies where Miike is credited as director, with another movie currently in pre-production. [...]
October 7th, 2004 | Erick Kwon | 0 Comments | Read MoreYoung Thugs: Nostalgia (1998) Movie Review
“Nostalgia” revisits Riichi Nakaba in younger times, though by no means are they more innocent. Director Takashi Miike starts things off with a bang as he treats the audience to a merry little black-and-white flashback complete with festival music where we witness Riichi’s birth and the joy it brings to his father Toshi. Not so [...]
October 7th, 2004 | Erick Kwon | 0 Comments | Read More
It looks like a dud. I saw the trailer. Tom is the only person speaking with an American news network ...
nothing they payed fox.... 
OMG!!!! 
