Ball Four.

I'm back after a self-induced hiatus (laziness, coupled with a stupid camera problem, deleting a bunch of photos.) Hopefully I'll be back with a vengeance and play catch up this week.

Tonight I saw a bizarre movie, not the one I intended to see, but bizarre nonetheless. I wanted to see エイリアンvsニンジャ (AvN or Alien vs Ninja) and went to our local Repertory Cinema (Cine la Vita) to find out the times. Okay, a show at 6:30 and 20:20. I had stuff to do so I opted for the later, cheaper show. Little did I know that 6:30 was the LAST show for that movie and instead I saw another movie's premiere.



Here's a peek at what AvN looks like.

The above and following are part of upstart-film company Sushi Typhoon's releases which are 1/4 Tarantino, 1/4 Rodriguez, 1/4 Miike, 1/4 Iguchi & 1/4 Nishimura (I was never good with fractions.) They toured around the world in October and have now come to town.

I sufficed with tonight's presentation, デッドボール (Dead Ball--lots of pics here) and based on the poster, it looked pretty dumb...cute babes, lots of blood & baseball. I went in expecting little and was pleasantly surprised. My first surprise was that it had English Subtitles and they were really well done. Relatively few spelling errors and captured a lot of American humour, especially with the frequent use of the F-word. Directed with aplomb by Yudai Yumaguchi, I liked the lead dude, Tak Sakaguchi who could make a lit cigarette magically appear, pitch a killer ball and in a Tex Avery moment, punch out the Warden through a telephone! Check out the above link for more details. It's good silly fun!

Some of the other movies up for grabs are Yakuza Weapon and Helldriver which will premiere in a week.

I'm a little disappointed that we won't be getting Mutant Girl Squad. It looks like a bit of a giggle!

Last Target.

I just got back from watching ラスト・ターゲット (Rasuto Taagetto) after work at one of the Indie theatres in town. I walked into to it knowing absolutely nothing about it except that it starred Rosemary Clooney's nephew, George. You may know it by its American title, The American. It was okay, very little action, a modicum of violence and lots of boobies. Interestingly enough, it was rated R in the US and is considered a PG-12 over here. Can I recommend it? Sure, but wait for video.

Another movie about which I know nothing that is coming soon is called スーパー! (Suupaa! Curiously this one is rated R-15. It must have more violence and less nudity for it to get the more restricted access. It mentions JUNO in the credits, and has Ellen Page, so it might be worth checking out.

Unfortunately, I can only find a YouTube of the above SuperSentai, not of SUPER! So check the SUPER!-link instead.

Trailer Trash!

When I was in the theatre last night, I noticed that there was a distinct lack of posters for Green Lantern, a movie that had several only a month before. Wha' Happened? Was it postponed? Released, then withered away at the box office and was removed? I may never know.

Here are some movies that I don't want to slip away.
カウボーイ^エイリアン which is Cowboy and Alien (I'm fairly certain there is more than one Cowboy and more than one Alien but they aren't big on plurals in Japan.) Release date: 10月22日.

Case in point: スマーフ. I'm pretty sure there is more than one Smurf in this movie. Release date: 9月9日.

猿の惑星：創世記 or Rise of the Planet of the Apes! I definitely don't want to miss this one! Though the Burton version wasn't well received, it did have very cool merchandising. I can only hope this movie gets similar treatment. Release date: 10月7日.

Any movie with creepy kids and blood soaked stuffed bunnies gets my vote, which is why I'll hopefully see ラビットホラー Rabbit Horror! Release date: 9月17日.



Speaking of bunnies, I was intrigued to find that the Easter bomb, Hop has made it here entitled, "イースターラビットのキャンディ工場" (Easter Rabbit & Candyland?), in theatres now. (Also at the cinema is Harry Potter 17 & Cars II if you're interested.)

It doesn't come out until next January but I rather liked the "Magic Treehouse" books. I read one with a student last year and we enjoyed it. It appears to have been anime-ted.

This looks intriguing as well, Friends. I wonder if they can get Monica, Rachel & Phoebe to do voices? Due Date: 12月17日.

Finally, I was definitely intrigued by this poster for 怪物くん (Kaibutsu-kun) as a live action movie, until I saw the trailer that is. It looks kind of dopey, but you be the judge. Granted, Dracula looks spot-on but the make-up on the Franken is not gruesome enough for my taste. You'd think it'd be a natural for Halloween but it won't be released until mid-November. Btw, I featured him for a "Countdown to Halloween" two years ago. I hope he can make a return appearance this year.