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Midnight Eagle (DVD) (English Subtitled) (Hong Kong Version)
Yoshida Eisaku (Actor)
| Takeuchi Yuko (Actor)
| Fuji Tatsuya (Actor)
| Narushima Izuru (Director)
At first glance, Midnight Eagle looks quite promising. A big-budget Japanese action-thriller, Midnight Eagle possesses well-defined characters and situations, and a ticking clock storyline that would do Tom Clancy proud. The film kicks off with photographer Yuji Nishizaki (Takao Osawa of Crying Out Love, In The Center of the World), who's camping in Japan's Northern Alps when he spies a shooting star. He takes a picture and sends it to his estranged son, but it turns out there's more going on than armchair astronomy. Nishizaki's friend, reporter Shinichiro Ochiai (Hiroshi Tamaki of Heavenly Forest) is working on a big story involving the disappearance of the "Midnight Eagle", a U.S. stealth... [read more]
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Gururi no Koto (All Around Us) (DVD) (English Subtitled) (Japan Version)
Kimura Tae
| Lily Franky
| Baisho Mitsuko
| Emoto Akira
Director Ryosuke Hashiguchi takes on eight years of scenes from a marriage in All Around Us, an intimate film about a married couple that plays out in epic length. This is understandably a difficult film for Hashiguchi, who is one of the few openly gay directors working in Japan. Not only is this his first film without any gay characters or gay themes, it's also a comeback of sorts seven long years after his previous film Hush!. All Around Us does run a potentially butt-hurting 140 minutes, but the length is easily justified thanks to its execution as well as a surprisingly well-struck balance between ambitious contemporary historic tale and intimate character study. Add that to Hashiguchi's... [read more]
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Detroit Metal City (DVD) (English Subtitled) (Hong Kong Version)
Lee Toshio
| Gene Simmons
| Matsuyama Kenichi (Actor)
| Kato Rosa
From his eccentric physical ticks as L in the Death Note franchise to his manic energy as the overactive nerd in the TV drama Sexy Voice and Robo, Kenichi Matsuyama has proven himself to be one of the best young physical actors in Japanese cinema today. He solidifies that reputation with Detroit Metal City, the manga-based comedy from TV variety show director Toshio Lee. Here, Matsuyama takes on his toughest role yet, playing a character with two clashing personalities in one crazy, twisted story of dreams, identity, and music about murder. Much like the comic, the film eschews basic exposition and dives straight into its gimmick. Matsuyama plays Negishi, an innocent country bumpkin who goes... [read more]
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Still Walking (DVD) (English Subtitled) (Japan Version)
Natsukawa Yui
| Takahashi Kazuya
| Abe Hiroshi
| Harada Yoshio
In Nobody Knows, Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda told the story of a family of abandoned children and how they struggled to survive on their own in an indifferent, contemporary Japanese society. After a diversion to the samurai world with Hana, Kore-eda returns with Still Walking, a comedy-drama that brings the family back together in a tight setting. However, with all the hidden resentment and family secrets boiling underneath, Still Walking shows that a united family may not be the best way to go, either. On a hot summer day in a seaside countryside town, the Yokoyama family is gathering once again to mark the anniversary of elder son Junpei's death. The father (Yoshio Harada) has... [read more]
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Achilles and the Tortoise (DVD) (English Subtitled) (Japan Version)
Kitano Takeshi (Director)
| Higuchi Kanako
| Aso Kumiko
| Osugi Ren
The concluding chapter of the self reflective trilogy that Japanese icon Takeshi Kitano began with Takeshis' and continued with Glory to the Filmmaker, it is hard to imagine Achilles and the Tortoise being more different than the films that came before. While both Takeshis' and Glory were shot through with manic energy and featured Kitano playing some distorted version of himself, Achilles is a far more sedate and quiet film, one that follows a conventional structure, following a single character through the course of his life, and is concerned more with the creative impulse than with any sort of self representation. If Takeshis' was an attempt to break new stylistic ground while satirizing... [read more]
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Twentieth Century Boys: Chapter 1 (DVD) (English Subtitled) (Hong Kong Version)
Tokiwa Takako (Actor)
| Toshiaki Karasawa (Actor)
| Kuroki Hitomi (Actor)
| Toyokawa Etsushi
Another manga to movie adaptation? Hollywood produced half-a-dozen hit comic book movies in 2008, but in terms of quantity they've got nothing on Japan, which seems to be churning out manga movies every other week. There are now so many manga movies being made that the words "based on a manga" have lost their pop entertainment luster. 20th Century Boys, however, is a doozy. Created by acclaimed manga creator Naoki Urasawa 20th Century Boys is not only a popular manga - it's a complete, generations-spanning epic that's so dense and complex that it simply cannot be told in a single film. So, instead of one movie, the filmmakers are giving us three, all being released over a period of twelve... [read more]
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Yama no Anata - Tokuichi no Koi (DVD) (Standard Edition) (English Subtitled) (Japan Version)
Kusanagi Tsuyoshi
| Kase Ryo
| Hirota Ryohei
| Maiko
Toku and Foku travel between seaside spas in the North and mountain hot springs in the South from season to season. They offer their services as masseurs and are very much respected and appreciated by hotel owners and their patrons. They are also known to be very competitive hikers as they attempt to pass as many other hikers as possible before they reach their destinations each year. They find this very satisfying because they are blind. Toku's first client upon their return to a mountain resort is a woman from Tokyo, Michiho. The two begin a relationship even though one of the first things that Toku notices is that Michiho carries a lot of tension in her shoulders; that her head is always... [read more]
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I Just Didn't Do It (DVD) (English Subtitled) (Hong Kong Version)
Kase Ryo (Actor)
| Yakusho Koji (Actor)
| Seto Asaka (Actor)
| Motai Masako
A man is on his way to a job interview. In a rush, he packs himself into a stuffed commuter train. As he gets off the train, a young girl in a high school uniform grabs his arm on the platform and accuses him of molesting her on the train. He is immediately arrested and dragged through the gauntlet of endless interrogations by different people, forcing him to repeat the same story. Even though train molestation cases have a 99.9% conviction rate because of the overwhelming amount of resulting confessions, the man is insistent of his innocence. Even when the foul-tempered detective and the indifferent prosecutor try to coerce a confession with the promise of just a small fine and no criminal... [read more]
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Murder of the Inugami Clan (DVD) (English Subtitled) (Hong Kong Version)
Fukada Kyoko (Actor)
| Nakadai Tatsuya (Actor)
| Ishizaka Koji (Actor)
| Matsushima Nanako (Actor)
Director Kon Ichikawa's 2006 film The Inugamis is an odd production, as it appears to be just a reverent remake of the original 1976 film The Inugami Family that possesses little novelty besides an updated cast and a self-conscious affection for the original. In a rarity, Ichikawa remakes his own film; the veteran director handled the 1976 classic, and his reverent approach to the remake is a bit odd given the current vogue for director's cuts. Many directors consider rewriting history, looking for ways to tinker with their work instead of simply regurgitating it, but Ichikawa pretty much delivers a carbon copy of his original work. Is Ichikawa so happy with The Inugami Family that he... [read more]
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Dainipponjin (DVD) (English Subtitled) (2-Disc Edition) (Hong Kong Version)
Matsumoto Hitoshi (Director, Actor)
| UA (Actor)
| Takeuchi Riki (Actor)
| Itao Itsuji
Meet Dai Saito. He's your typical, working class shlub in Japan. There's never quite enough money, there are few prospects for the future, he hardly ever see his daughter, and his grandfather suffers from dementia. But there's more! Dai Saito is also Dai Nipponjin, the sixth generation superhero who grows to enormous size when exposed to electricity to battle the monsters rampaging across Japan! Too bad nobody cares ... A famous manzai comic in Japan, Hitosi Matumoto's Dai Nipponjin may just bring the man some well deserved recognition abroad. Shot in a faux documentary style with crews following the day to day life of this unlikely superhero Dai Nipponjin is an absurdist treat, a sly parody... [read more]
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Returner (Hong Kong Version)
Takeshi Kaneshiro (Actor)
| Suzuki Anne (Actor)
| Kishitani Goro
| Yamazaki Takashi (Director)
Although the Japanese film market has been colonized by Hollywood, there are still a number of charismatic Japanese filmmakers striving to make a difference. Director Takeshi Yamazaki is definitely one of these future stars who is full of potentials. His first film Juvenile, targeted to kids and teenagers, was a hit and it even won an award in an overseas film award ceremony. Returner is his sophomore effort. Not only does it contain a more extravagant cast, the scale of the movie is also much bigger than its predecessor. In the early 21st century, our lovely planet Earth is invaded by aliens. Millie (Anne Suzuki) is the last hope of the human race, as her mission is to get back to the past... [read more]
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Sweet Rain (AKA: Accuracy of Death) (DVD) (English Subtitled) (Hong Kong Version)
Takeshi Kaneshiro (Actor)
| Mitsuishi Ken (Actor)
| Konishi Manami (Actor)
| Fuji Jyunko (Actor)
When it comes to playing clueless, lovable innocents, Takeshi Kaneshiro is a master. Since he was a fresh-faced young-un, Kaneshiro has excelled at charismatic puppy-dog characters, his appearances in films like Chungking Express and Lost and Found making him an icon of quirky, innocent and lovelorn youth. Kaneshiro has since aged (he's now 35), and now seems to essay haunted or brooding characters more than the lovable dreamers he made his name on. However, the actor still has the ability to effortlessly charm, and sometimes via acting that would be regarded as overdone or labored if employed by other performers. Case in point: the fantasy-drama Accuracy of Death. Were it not for... [read more]
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The Magic Hour (DVD) (Standard Edition) (English Subtitled) (Japan Version)
Sato Koichi
| Tsumabuki Satoshi
| Nishida Toshiyuki
| Fukatsu Eri
Writer-director Koki Mitani has a knack for making classy commercial cinema. His Suite Dreams (a.k.a. The Unchouten Hotel) was a charming, if slightly labored farce that recalled classic Hollywood comedies, and it was as delightful as it was innocuous. Mitani improves upon his crowd-pleasing formula with The Magic Hour, which shows a love of cinema both in style and subject matter. Not only is the film a guileless screwball comedy like the work of Mitani's inspiration, the peerless Billy Wilder, but it features moviemaking as one of its themes. The film shows us that make-believe can be a worthy art, and does it in a manner that's more fun than it probably should be. Lives won't change, but... [read more]
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Bokutachi to Chuzai-san no 700 Nichi Sensou (DVD) (Collector's Edition) (English Subtitled) (Japan Version)
Ichihara Hayato
| Sasaki Kuranosuke
| Aso Kumiko
| Ishida Takuya
After proving itself as a hit genre in Korean cinema, the "alternative novel" phenomenon has hit Japan. First, it was the film adaptation of teen girl-oriented "cell phone novel" Koizora, which surprisingly became one of the biggest hits of 2007 thanks to a loyal female teen fan base. Now it's time for popular "blog novel" Bokutachi to Chuzai-san no 700 Nichi Sensou (700 Days of Battle: Us vs. The Police) to get its big screen treatment, courtesy of TV writer/directors Yuichi Fukuda (as writer) and Renpei Tsukamoto (as director). However, the film only draws from the basic setup and one of the blog's many episodes. With a total of 15 episodes and 700 entries available for future adaptation,... [read more]
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Crows Zero (DVD) (Standard Edition) (Japan Version)
Oguri Shun
| Yamada Takayuki
| Fukami Motoki
| Kuroki Meisa
Takashi Miike scored his biggest box office hit ever with manga adaptation Crows: Episode 0, and it's not hard to see why. Unlike the director's more celebrated, controversial, and just plain disturbing works, Crows is resolutely commercial and succeeds handily at being so, delivering a fine mix of edgy comedy and crowd-pleasing comic book roughhousing. Pretty boys, cool posturing, and fun ass-kicking scenes seal the deal: Crows: Episode 0 is a manga-to-movie adaptation par excellence. Shun Oguri (The Neighbor No. 13) stars as Genji Takaya, the latest arrival at Suzuran Boys High School, where delinquents battle for supremacy because hey, that's what delinquents are supposed to do. The... [read more]
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Smile - Seiya no Kiseki (DVD) (English Subtitled) (Japan Version)
Jinnai Takanori (Director)
| Iijima Naoko
| Hara Sachie
| Sato Koichi
When tap dancer Sano Shuhei (Moriyama Mirai) suffers a career-breaking knee injury he finds himself somewhat down on his luck. Thankfully his loving girlfriend and skating instructor Shizuka (Kato Rosa) is there to lend her support. All Shuhei really wants now is to marry Shizuka, which is easier said than done when her father (Moro Morooka) refuses to ever let her out of his sight. However, after a bit of nagging he finally agrees to the marriage on one condition, that Shuhei coach and lead the local Hokkaido hockey juniors to victory at the regional's - knowing of course that such a thing isn't very likely. Disparaged but not undeterred, Shuhei takes up the challenge and meets up with the... [read more]
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Yajikita Dochu Teresuko (DVD) (Standard Edition) (English Subtitled) (Japan Version)
Emoto Akira
| Nakamura Kanzaburo
| Koizumi Kyoko
| Ishi Rasa-ru
Most Asian film fans are at least partially aware of the wandering "vagabond of love" Kuruma "Tora san" Torajiro and his 48 films that make up one of the nation's most beloved dramatic franchises. But he's not the only iconic wanderer in the pantheon of Japanese literature, not least of whom are the characters of Yaji and Kita, a pair of crude misadventurers from Edo who travel along the Tokaido highway on a pilgrimage to Ise shrine in the famous early 19th century serial novel Tokai Dochu Hizakurige. Written by Juppensha Ikku as a both a comedy and a traveller's guide to the Tokaido, Hizakurige made Ikku's cult heroes Yaji and Kita a household name and spawned both a spin off novel (Zoku... [read more]
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Giniro no Season (DVD) (Standard Edition) (English Subtitled) (Japan Version)
Tanaka Rena
| Eita
| Tamayama Tetsuji
| Aoki Munetaka
How does a director top himself after making the highest-grossing film of that year? Isao Yukisada, after his surprise hit Crying Out Love, in the Center of the World, expanded to ambitious commercial films while also indulging in more intimate projects at the same time. Katsuyuki Motohiro began making kinder and more high-profile projects after his super successful Bayside Shakedown films, though none of those films matched Bayside's success. Meanwhile, director Eitaro Hasumi decides to stick to the same things that made his mega-blockbuster Umizaru 2: Limit of Love such a success with his follow-up Season of Snow (Giniro No Season), i.e. pretty people in visually spectacular situations.... [read more]
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Funuke Show Some Love You Losers (DVD) (Hong Kong Version)
Sato Eriko (Actor)
| Nagase Masatoshi (Actor)
| Nagasaku Hiromi (Actor)
| Satsukawa Aimi (Actor)
Dysfunctional families don't get much more entertaining than the one in Funuke Show Some Love, You Losers! First-time director Yoshida Daihachi's black comedy is clever, subversive, and quite surprising for a commercial film. Teenaged Kyomi Wago (Aimi Satsukawa) lives in the gorgeous Japanese countryside, where the leaves are green, the fields are yellow, and the sky is a piercing blue. However, Kyomi's theme colors may actually be red and black; her home life is the model of dysfunction, possessing enough sordid gossip to delight any fan of overwritten Asian prime-time dramas. The audience initiation into Wago family warfare begins when Kyomi's parents are killed in a bloody car accident... [read more]
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Gegege no Kitaro (Blu-ray) (Movie) (English Subtitled) (Japan Version)
Tanaka Rena
| Nishida Toshiyuki
| Muroi Shigeru
| Koyuki
Ah, the dilemmas of adapting a well established animated character to live-action. While the filmmakers no longer have to develop the main characters since they've been known for decades, they also have to leave things unchanged in order to satisfy the fans. Created in 1959, Gegege No Kitaro is probably the most beloved yokai character in mainstream Japanese culture, but it took almost 40 years for Fuji Television to bring its characters to live-action. To pull it off, Fuji teamed up with Hong Kong's Centro Digital for the 700 cgi shots required to put all the monsters and supernatural powers onscreen. However, despite all the money the film earned during its theatrical release, newcomers... [read more]
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