Ahh, Halloween — everyone’s doing lists about their fave scary movies… their fave scary moments, and the reviews of many scary movies. Now, horror isn’t exactly my favorite genre, so I’m not well-versed. xD This is why I’m just ranking the scary films that I own… based on scale of how scared I got. LOL
First bonus first!
The Others
Thought that it was scary, but IMDb is not marking it as horror. However, it is one of my favorite Kidman films/performances — and that old lady in the closet! BAM!
We’re in!
You can join all of us too. xD Just head over here, and make sure you blog!
I have no idea what I’ll be talking about, but I gotta match my post on Japanese Cinema taking over the world~
I think this is the first time I post more than one review not of mine of a Yu Aoi film, maybe I’m getting better at finding info… or maybe more people are writing in English. Anyway, this second review of Raiou isn’t so kind either.
I haven’t been able to find Box Office info on whether Raiou opened at #1, or a had weak opening — being a Period Romance, it should open at #1 for various reasons. Anyway~ here’s an excerpt:
Although the charismatic Aoi Yu brings some sorely-needed life to the film with her portrayal of Rai/Yu, her counterpart Okada Masaki is never truly convincing as a man whose inner demons threaten to tear him apart.
Via Screendaily.com
I don’t think those comments will hurt the Okada Masaki fans, but let’s wait for those Box Office numbers~
*EDIT*
Got numbers~ They’re not that good. Raiou opened at #8 ~
OMG, pretty haircut~
Continuing with my thing of mixing the East with the West~~~ I was watching That Evening Sun because I had been inclined to watch anything that I saw had Wasikowska’s name in the credits – except for In Treatment because that’s just way too many hours…
We spotted her when we saw I Love Sarah Jane last year — though we haven’t spotted anyone in a long time — we’ve followed her career closely. Unlike many people, I did like her a lot as Alice… as a girly girl that I can be, I got giddy watching Alice… and Wasikowska has struck me as a Mori Girl.
The general definition would be a “a girl who seems to be/live in a forest”, describing a girl who would fit more into a forest rather than into a city.
“She has to like fashion that’s natural, but also a bit quirky” or “She wears a lot of dresses that have a loose or comfortable feeling to them”, to name a few of the opinions. The difficulty is that the girl should like “natural clothes”
And Wasikowska, each time I see her on screen and/or carpets… she strikes me as this dreamy soft-spoken girl. I can imagine her living as a fairy in the forest. LOL I was going to prepare a whole speech on how she’s a Mori Girl, but then I go on research and find ass-kicker photoshoots, which I’ll be posting later on. However, despite those high fashion chic photos… she’s still kind of a Mori Girl, right?
Picspam after the break!
Okay, this is bordering on Spam~
But Raiou opened on Friday (it’s been more than half the day in Japan already). So there’s been a lot of news naturally, and I hope there are more reviews… super-hoping in English. xD
You know I’ve been listening to Maika’s album right? That she reminds me of Shakira, and I’ve been pimping some of Maika on YAM [1][never never never give up]. Also OFF-TOPIC, but this made me realize Twitter needs a search your tweets feature.
Anyway, this is Kokoro… but 2 minutes longer =D So more Yu and Msaki Okada singing. LOL
[iframe src=”https://player.yinyuetai.com/video/player/88676/v_5501040.swf” width=”480″ height=”334″]
Okay, the Raiou review isn’t so ouch because it’s in Japanese, and it didn’t seem to talk much about the film – other than the synopsis – but they gave it 2/5 which… you know, it’s bad. It doesn’t really surprise me after Ryuichi Hiroki’s April Bride. We’re not talking about Shinobu Terajima — fully, in-your-face actress — with Ryuichi Hiroki. We’re talking about Eita and Nana Eikura — the idols.
But still, as an idol film, I think it’s gonna floor me. I’ve seen the clips, it’s got Yu-chan riding a horse in slow-motion. Screaming. Talking with an accent. Shooting an arrow. It’s got Yu-chan’s first proper on-screen kiss — it’s not an “in your head” kiss scene, it’s not a stolen kiss — it’s a proper romance.
Then Mark Schilling from the Japan Times – who also kicked FLOWERS in the shins – kicks Redline too. I’m gonna pick the phrases that sum up his review the best:
“Redline” is all about visceral thrills that peak in the first slam-bang, headlong race scene. The film then spends the next 90 minutes trying to top this opener — about 90 minutes too long for me.
…
But the first 10 minutes are terrific.
There you go. He gave it a 2.5/5
But he says the animation is good, which… I mean – have you seen the World Record short from The Animatrix? Same guy directing. I can’t wait to just feast my eyes. Maybe, if the story and action is as sucky as he says (not enough drama, again?) Maybe I’ll just watch it one more time. I mean, he did love Tekkonkinkreet.
Or at least that’s what I translated Tetsuko no Heya. xD
The interview is good, we learn a bit — including two questions that some fans wanted to know, or at least that’s what your questions were about. What was her favorite role (or at least that’s what I understood when she replied), and a bit about her family… which also gave us some new photos – including this one!
Never have followed the Asian Pacific nominations… mainly because it’s hard to, you know~~~ watch films from that part of the world for me. However, distribution is getting better – dvds are being launched so much faster, and many of them come with subtitles in English (when needed), and there’s a lot more people willing to fansub when needed.
And YAY! Aftershocks has landed 6 nominations – including Best Film, Best Directing, Best Cinematography, Best Screenplay PLUS! Best Actor and Best Actress. Now, I’m trying not to be biased, I don’t think actor Chen Daoming was THAT good in Aftershocks, but actress Xu Fan completely deserves it.
The other big nominee of the night is South Korea’s Poetry (Shi) – crap! I’m really that good at film recommendations for distributors, someone hire me ASAP! – which received 4 nominations for Best Film, Best Directing, Best Screenplay and Best Actress. While Taiwan’s Monga – see, I’m good – was nominated for 3 awards for Best Film, Best Directing and Best Cinematography.
The APSA(wards) will be handed out December 2nd on a live webcast at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards site.
All nominations below the break~
Raiou, based on the novel by Mari Ueza about tragic lovers, is set to open next week on Friday the 22nd. It stars idol-in-the-rise Masaki Okada opposite established-idol-transitioning-to-actress Yu Aoi. What does Raiou mean to their careers?
A rising-star and an established-idol starring in a period drama romance? If it succeeds, it means the rising-star will keep on rising, and the established-idol still has “it”. A period drama romance lays solely on its protagonists’ shoulders, and their chemistry. If it fails, it’s because of them. That’s a lot of scary thoughts right there~
Why does Yu Aoi need Raiou to succeed? She is indeed an idol still. She sponsors products, and she makes a living selling products. She’s young — to westerners, anyway — she’s cute, youthful… the whole shebang. However, the life-span of a Japanese female idol is short, some of them have retired at 20! So Yu, having turned 25 already, isn’t… well, a young idol any longer. She’s been away of major mainstream entertainment, she’s had relationships, she’s been on tabloids as people discuss who she really is dating. Everything takes its toll. She’s now a woman. An actress who is still an idol. Will people support her passed her prime-early-twenty years like they did when the hit Hula Girls came out?
Raiou holds Yu’s idol-hood future. Will it be a hit right away? Shoot to number one the first week to then drop the next? Will it slowly climb to number one in two or three weeks and stay there a week or two? Will it climb slowly up to stay there for several weeks? Will it never reach number one?? Whatever happens, it will change Yu’s bankability.
Hello to YAM012.
Goodbye (sorta) to YAM PDF.
Hello to yam-mag.com~
Head over, for the last time, to my portfolio to download the latest and last issue.