Archives For Films

A little about the film:
(from Wikipedia)
It’s a 2006 Japanese-award-winning film based on true events of a small coal mining town facing the shut down of the mine, and looking at the loss of +2000 jobs. While all the grownups seemed to be fuzzing about the future of their coal-legacy, a young group of girls see a gleam of hope in the opening of The Hawaiian Center, and hula dancing.

Genre: Drama, Comedy and dancing!
Starring: Yasuko Matsuyuki, Etsushi Toyokawa, Yu Aoi, Eri Tokunaga, Shoko Ikezu & Shizuyo Yamazaki
Duration: 2hrs

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So coming month… what to watch?? Forgive if times are funky, blame the cable mag for that…

Yu Aoi will be on cable this month!!! With a showing of Hana & Alice, as well as Hula Girls!!!

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When I watched Memories of Matsuko, there was one scene when Matsuko’s life was already going to the gutters, she was lying on the garbage bags, and she was watching TV. I immediately recognized the song as an Okaasan to Issho song… today I decided to look for it, and found it!

Okaasan to Issho 1999 song, at first I thought it was a Takoyaki Mambo song, but I was lucky enough to find it on a website listing all the songs. Video and Romaji after the break!
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A 2004 NHK Made-for-TV-Film about a high school girl named Nanako (Yu Aoi), who is often labeled as weird and anti-social due to trust issues with people caused by the betrayal she feels her dad committed. Seven years after his death, Nanako is thrown into the unusual situation to cohabit with her half-brother, Nanao (Yuri Chinen).

Genre: Drama… kinda cute, but drama.
Starring: Yu Aoi, Yuri Chinen
Duration: 1:15hr

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Good Taste is DEAD.

November 23, 2008 — Leave a comment

… or at least scarce.

First, with Maca’s announcement that Twilight earned a little over $70M this past weekend… which isn’t really surprising considering the amount of promotion they did trying to shove it down my throat. Ugh.

If I want smut, I’ll head over to read smutty fanfiction on HP characters, thankyouverymuch.

If I want a broody dark vampire to save my life, I’ll love Angel forever and always. If I wanna rough it up with a bleached rockish vamp with a ‘tude, I’ll pick Spike. If I wanna watch/read an interesting vampire story, I’ll watch/read Let the Right One In (Låt den Rätte Komma in)… and please, NO REMAKES.

THEN! It gets WORSE. UGH! I just read that Pushing Daisies is over. EF it ABC – what the heck, they keep on stretching pretty stupid uninteresting Grey’s Anatomy’s storylines… go wacky with Lost, which I never enjoyed, and you kill Pushing Daisies. WTF! Shut your Pie Hole ABC… >,<x

Takes so Long!

November 22, 2008 — 1 Comment

So I lose my interest… what am I talking about? Movies…

For example, Mon Meilleur Ami – came out on 2006, and it’s actually playing on Cinemax Latin America, but it opened in theaters in Lima this month (Nov. 6 2008) – why bring it if it’s already on cable~~
*rolls eyes*

Next up, The Other Boleyn Girl which just opened this week, and if I’m not mistaken it’s already on DVD. There is also Juno (which I already OWN on DVD) – which is coming out next week (nov. 27).  And so on~

I haven’t been to the movies since Batman came out… There hasn’t been a ‘world premiere’ since Batman came out… unless you count the new James Bond movie, which came out just a few days later, but still… LATER is the keyword. How about all those films that have already come out months ago~~~ Like Tropic Thunder, Forgetting Sarah Marshall… which I never intended to watch, but still had to wait two or three or even half a year to hear about them here. When they finally get here, I have already lost interest or have seen it online somewhere else~ or I have it already on DVD.

When DVD players are already region-free, why make people wait longer than it takes to put the DVD on the market.

Crap! YouTube sucks… still can’t fin the video so this will have to do for ‘multiple post day’ –

This film made its round in theaters this year (2008), just right before TOKYO! – and it’s coming out on DVD soon… if I recall correctly, this coming January 2009 (you can preorder on Amazon.co.jp, and YesAsia), though I doubt it will be subtitled. xx But here’s to hope!

In the meantime, enjoy the trailer.

[iframe width=”480″ height=”390″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/SrfmL36G84k”]

I am just about to watch episode 8, but I just had to mention Aoi Miyazaki on episode 1. You all must see her on this scene at school (for boys), pretending to be a boy… and I mean, can you believe? Aoi Miyazaki and Eita playing kiddos? Bizarre concept idea… and it doesn’t always work, but there ARE cases. You’d know that if you ever saw El Chavo del 8.

Atsu-Hime - Aoi Miyazaki

Aoi Miyazaki as Okatsu (later known as Atsu-Hime) getting Naogoro (Eita) out of a lecture by her father.

Grownups playing little kids, you can see the are grownups, but their acting totally works. This is the case…

A 2001 film of a girl named Sachiko (Aoi Miyazaki) who befriends a street kid, and the things happening around her due to things she’s done and witnessed in her short past.

Genre: Drama
Starring: Aoi Miyazaki, Seiichi Tanabe, Tetsu Sawaki, Ryo Amamiya, Koji Ishikawa, Yu Aoi
Duration: 1:30hr

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With Independent Spirit Award Nominations just around the corner (Dec. 2) – Awards season pretty much begins~

I haven’t seen many (if any) films to fuzz about… yet. Studios say they trust their films, and all are hoping for December releases. This wasn’t the case last year, when Julie Christie (April) and Marion Cotillard (June) released in the US their films and swept awards.

Waltz with Bashir - PosterPretty much everyone is hoping and fuzzing about The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, I am too – because let’s face it, it looks cool… it has a good cast, and a great director. From what I could read, this will be the movie to watch… it will be IT.

Nothing else can’t be said, on my behalf…

The animation category will undeniably go to WALL-E, which was good. However, wouldn’t it be interesting if there were other animated films? One of them could be the Israeli-German-French animated production of Waltz with Bashir. I have heard interesting things about it… but could it surprise Oscar watchers? Unlikely. But it will be a good change… just like I thought Les Tiplettes de Belleville should have won, or Persepolis last year~~

Waltz with Bashir, just from the trailer, looks visually interesting. Definitely different to other animated films in subject, theme, and possibly even different animation approach. I also think this poster on the right looks way more intriguing than the other colored poster. Nonetheless, from the same trailer you could see some funkyness with the animation, as if they had used Flash on some sequences (like some of those MTV crappy animated shorts)… and some others looked just splendid.

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