Japanese live action sucks

[jonny5]

You should go watch this:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057565/

Not this:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0339579/

what exactly is wrong with the second movie?

this whole thread really comes down to personal tastes....

[Dragoforce]

this whole thread really comes down to personal tastes....

And it only took three pages until someone realized that

[lgb]

this whole thread really comes down to personal tastes....

and where there is "personal taste", there are people who don't really care about using English properly

[handsome_rakshas]

Come on guys, can't we all just get along....and agree Miike is a terrible director and his movies blow?

KIDDING!

I got Gozu in the mail 2 months ago and haven't watched it, I'm afraid! Although I did like Audition and his short film "box" from Three Extemes. (Awesome movie) Personally, I'd choose Chan Wook Park over anyone else, his films have a lot of humor to break up the disturbiness. "Disturbiness"...theres some bad grammar for you.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

How is the premise of the Japanese film Dororo circa 2007? I see that it will play only once in it's entirety on IFC on Sunday night 11/15/2009 at 9pm.

The South Korean Triad gangster film of "A Bittersweet Life" about a South Korean hitman who is suppose to do a simple task for his boss but somehow backfires. So his boss orders that he be put to death. The ensuing revenge motive that the hitman takes. The gun battles between the hitman and his former co-horts are quite epic. ^_~

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Skykid]

sky kid i thought battle royale was decent ,2 was a bit shit though !!!

BR2 is one of the worst movies I've ever had the displeasure of watching.

Just watched Seven Samurai for the first time and it was brilliant through and through. Most modern stuff seems to pale in comparison, including the Twilight Samurai.

[Rupert H]

Just watched Seven Samurai for the first time and it was brilliant through and through. Most modern stuff seems to pale in comparison, including the Twilight Samurai.

True, but Seven Samurai is one of the best films ever made and is frequently in most top five lists you come across. Most films come off worse in that comparison.

[xris]

a couple good comidies; Party 7, Kamikaze girls. "batshit crazy", Organ. not jpnz, but taiwanese, Help me eros.

[MX7]

a couple good comidies; Party 7, Kamikaze girls. "batshit crazy", Organ. not jpnz, but taiwanese, Help me eros.

Organ is Japanese! It's directed by Kei Fujiwara, who also stared in Tsukamoto's Tetsuo. It's a shit film though; if it was cut down to about half its run time and had all the crappy detective stuff trimmed out, I think it might be quite interesting.

Skykid; Have you watched any Seijun Suzuki films? He's an extremely interesting director who directed some very worthwhile gangster films in the 60's and 70's, for example Tokyo Drifter and Branded to Kill. The films were very much slated and ignored at the time, but in recent years, he's been reconsidered as something of an auteur in the world of schlocky genre films, imbuing his work with a real striking surrealism and a fascinating way of telling a story. In recent years, he's made a few modern classics too, such as the campy musical Princess Raccoon, and the mind blowingly amazing Pistol Opera, the latter I personally rate as one of the best films ever made, regardless of context. I think his films are worth a look, as they contain all the beguiling excess that typifies a Japanese production in this era, but they also tend to engrossing character studies of rare depth as well.

[xris]

check the grammar, a period ends statement. a comma, continues.

[MX7]

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Checked out Dororo last night. Interesting premise of a guy who has to search and find 48 demons to fighty and slay to get his 48 different body parts back. The CGI used in it is superb, especially for a live-action Japanese film.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Skykid]

Skykid; Have you watched any Seijun Suzuki films? He's an extremely interesting director who directed some very worthwhile gangster films in the 60's and 70's, for example Tokyo Drifter and Branded to Kill. The films were very much slated and ignored at the time, but in recent years, he's been reconsidered as something of an auteur in the world of schlocky genre films, imbuing his work with a real striking surrealism and a fascinating way of telling a story. In recent years, he's made a few modern classics too, such as the campy musical Princess Raccoon, and the mind blowingly amazing Pistol Opera, the latter I personally rate as one of the best films ever made, regardless of context. I think his films are worth a look, as they contain all the beguiling excess that typifies a Japanese production in this era, but they also tend to engrossing character studies of rare depth as well.

No, sounds interesting though, like the sort of thing Tarantino would do some kind of throwback to. Might check it out.

check the grammar, a period ends statement. a comma, continues.

...Are you being serious?

[lgb]

it's good to know he's paying attention, though I honestly believe he is missing something

[video_disease]

What about the Tokusatsu stuff? Ultraman, Kamen Rider, Battle Fever J....etc. That stuff is campy as hell, but it's a lot of fun. Only thing I have seen is Audition, I liked it, but I wasn't wowed by it. My girlfriend has a bunch of DVD's, Old Boy, Machine Girl, some others I forget, that we haven't even watched yet...I will get around to it eventually.

Anyone seen the trailer for Robo Geisha?

[Shocky]

Skykid; Have you watched any Seijun Suzuki films? He's an extremely interesting director who directed some very worthwhile gangster films in the 60's and 70's, for example Tokyo Drifter and Branded to Kill. The films were very much slated and ignored at the time, but in recent years, he's been reconsidered as something of an auteur in the world of schlocky genre films, imbuing his work with a real striking surrealism and a fascinating way of telling a story. In recent years, he's made a few modern classics too, such as the campy musical Princess Raccoon, and the mind blowingly amazing Pistol Opera, the latter I personally rate as one of the best films ever made, regardless of context. I think his films are worth a look, as they contain all the beguiling excess that typifies a Japanese production in this era, but they also tend to engrossing character studies of rare depth as well.

Good call. Although I don't particularly care for Branded to Kill, its sequel Pistol Opera is truly great. Tokyo Drifter is very cool too.. too bad I don't remember who I lent the dvd (

What about the Tokusatsu stuff? Ultraman, Kamen Rider, Battle Fever J....etc. That stuff is campy as hell, but it's a lot of fun. Only thing I have seen is Audition, I liked it, but I wasn't wowed by it. My girlfriend has a bunch of DVD's, Old Boy, Machine Girl, some others I forget, that we haven't even watched yet...I will get around to it eventually.

I was surprised how much fun the new tokusatsu stuff actually is. I recently watched Samurai Sentai Shinkenger, Ultraseven X, Kamen Rider Den-o. Shinkenger is full on classic sentai stuff, too bad these seem to put all effort in the pilot episode (5 people demonstrate their henshin and special weapons; their campy, transforming robot animal companions; fight demons) and then run out of steam, because it's always the same (well, in episode 2 the robot companions of course merge into one big-ass robot). Ultraseven X was cool, mystic and atmospheric, but not so much stupid fun as one would expect from Ultraman. Kamen Rider Den-o I liked the most. It's about this train, much like Galaxy Express, except this one travels through time, and there are weird time effects like the main character has this demon side-kick, who.. damn this is hard to explain.. just watch it, it's fun.

Anyone seen the trailer for Robo Geisha?

I saw Robogeisha at the Japan premiere. Director Noboru Iguchi and some of the cast/crew (Cay Izumi <3) were present. Iguchi is a weird looking little guy, he definitely should star in his films. Too bad the movie didn't live up to its ingenious trailer Some of the effects were just too much, like the robocar transformation, and there wasn't nearly enough gore. Sometimes it was even boring, which is unacceptable! The castle robot climbing Mt. Fuji in the end was brilliant though.

A better movie was "Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl", by the director of Tokyo Gore Police. It's a school comedy that makes merciless fun of Japanese subcultures like ganguros, gothic lolitas and even emos (there's the "13th annual high school wrist cutting rally" at the school, ouch!). And there is plenty of gore when the Frankenstein Girl and Vampire Girl fight over the who gets the only decent guy in the school. And in the school basement, a mad doctor makes hideous new mutant lifeforms from body parts. Great music too.

I also watched Grotesque, phew, it was the sickest thing to come out of Japan in years, I can't recommend it to anyone.

[ChurchOfSolipsism]

I also watched Grotesque, phew, it was the sickest thing to come out of Japan in years, I can't recommend it to anyone.

Thanks for the tip, do- uuuh ordering as we speak.

You seem pretty knowledgeable about Japanese cinema, you don't happen to have seen Shozin Fukui's The Hiding and/ or S-94, have you? I'm so loking forward to DVD-releases of these films... Rubber's Lover and Pinocchio were mindbending.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

I also watched Grotesque, phew, it was the sickest thing to come out of Japan in years, I can't recommend it to anyone.

Thanks for the tip, do- uuuh ordering as we speak.

You seem pretty knowledgeable about Japanese cinema, you don't happen to have seen Shozin Fukui's The Hiding and/ or S-94, have you? I'm so loking forward to DVD-releases of these films... Rubber's Lover and Pinocchio were mindbending.

Another cool horror film worth checking out is Dororo circa 2007. Was there ever a sequel to it btw? With the way how Dororo ends, there are more on-going adventures of the main character to foray into.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[ChurchOfSolipsism]

I also watched Grotesque, phew, it was the sickest thing to come out of Japan in years, I can't recommend it to anyone.

Thanks for the tip, do- uuuh ordering as we speak.

You seem pretty knowledgeable about Japanese cinema, you don't happen to have seen Shozin Fukui's The Hiding and/ or S-94, have you? I'm so loking forward to DVD-releases of these films... Rubber's Lover and Pinocchio were mindbending.

Another cool horror film worth checking out is Dororo circa 2007. Was there ever a sequel to it btw? With the way how Dororo ends, there are more on-going adventures of the main character to foray into.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

I haven't been keeping up much the last couple of years... I hadn't heard of this film, but the fact that it is live action version of a Tezuka manga makes this interesting. Again, thanks for the tip, looking forward to seeing this.

Has anyone in this thread mentioned the live action version of Cutey Honey yet? This Hideaki Ano dude really knows how to make fresh films...

Organ is Japanese! It's directed by Kei Fujiwara, who also stared in Tsukamoto's Tetsuo. It's a shit film though; if it was cut down to about half its run time and had all the crappy detective stuff trimmed out, I think it might be quite interesting.

[Pat70]

I like SABU's movies, ''Unlucky Monkey'', ''Monday'', ''Postman Blues''.
Saw ''The foreign duck, the native duck and God in a coin locker'' the other day and quite enjoyed that one too.

[Skykid]

I caught a bit of Battle Royale 2 on TV last night, and I can honestly say that that sums up everything I dislike about Jlive action movies. What an appalling cliche ridden pile of garbage that movie is.

[ChurchOfSolipsism]

I caught a bit of Battle Royale 2 on TV last night, and I can honestly say that that sums up everything I dislike about Jlive action movies. What an appalling cliche ridden pile of garbage that movie is.

Try watching films without hip young actors next time... they're (one of) the reason(s) I can't stand Ryuhei Kitamura's films.

[Skykid]

I caught a bit of Battle Royale 2 on TV last night, and I can honestly say that that sums up everything I dislike about Jlive action movies. What an appalling cliche ridden pile of garbage that movie is.

Try watching films without hip young actors next time... they're (one of) the reason(s) I can't stand Ryuhei Kitamura's films.

I didn't watch it, I had the misfortune of doing that first time around. The 'young, hip actors' in BR2 are so bad I actually hate their stupid faces.

I don't get on with Kitamura either, that guy turns out some overrated bull.

[Shocky]

I also watched Grotesque, phew, it was the sickest thing to come out of Japan in years, I can't recommend it to anyone.

Thanks for the tip, do- uuuh ordering as we speak.

You seem pretty knowledgeable about Japanese cinema, you don't happen to have seen Shozin Fukui's The Hiding and/ or S-94, have you? I'm so loking forward to DVD-releases of these films... Rubber's Lover and Pinocchio were mindbending.

I haven't seen them. I do love Rubber's Lover, and √964 Pinocchio is one of my absolute all-time favorites (IMO only movie to ever come close to the Tetsuo films thematically and artistically), so I'd be very interested in seeing those, although the chances (especially for subtitled versions) are very slim. Another similar flick that should get a dvd release is Shigeru Izumiya's bizarre Death Powder (1986), but I only saw a super-confusing version with the already confusing movie rigged with made-up subtitles (really, some guy without any knowledge of Japanese had just guessed what the characters might be saying, so that they could market it as having English subtitles! Thanks, Video Search of Miami...)

Btw, I also saw Tetsuo III (Tetsuo: The Bullet Man) at a festival and even though it's not as good or original as the first two, it's still Tetsuo! So it packs a strong artistic cyber-punch, unlike any other movies. The plot is too close to that of Tetsuo 2, and using English language was a bad bad choice, but I still felt very inspired and energetic after seeing this. Might have much to do with Chu Ishikawa's music and the sound effects in the film.

I caught a bit of Battle Royale 2 on TV last night, and I can honestly say that that sums up everything I dislike about Jlive action movies. What an appalling cliche ridden pile of garbage that movie is.

Try watching films without hip young actors next time... they're (one of) the reason(s) I can't stand Ryuhei Kitamura's films.

I didn't watch it, I had the misfortune of doing that first time around. The 'young, hip actors' in BR2 are so bad I actually hate their stupid faces.

I don't get on with Kitamura either, that guy turns out some overrated bull.

All of the 'young, hip actors' in BR2 should have been killed one by one in gruesome and horrible ways instead of this peace-guerrilla bullshit. Then it would have been almost bearable to watch. Battle Royale II is probably the worst sequel ever filmed.

And yeah, Ryuhei Kitamura is an over-rated one-trick pony. I loved Versus, even though it is kind of long, but after that he's been churning out mostly shit. The best ones being the super-average Midnight Meat Train and probably Aragami, and even though there was some atmosphere it was still way too simplistic and the end fight was sleep-inducing.

Another cool horror film worth checking out is Dororo circa 2007. Was there ever a sequel to it btw? With the way how Dororo ends, there are more on-going adventures of the main character to foray into.

I didn't know Dororo was horror, looked like a regular fantasy sword flick. But when director/special effects guru Yoshihiro Nishimura said that the amazing freak with swords for limbs in Tokyo Gore Police was influenced by Dororo, I got very interested! Well, I don't know if he meant the manga or movie... I'd read all of Tezukas comics if I was fluent in Japanese and had some years of free time, but instead I will watch the movie soon (even though it was a strong contender at the Japanese "Bunshun" awards for the crappiest movie of 2007 )

[ChurchOfSolipsism]

I do love Rubber's Lover, and √964 Pinocchio is one of my absolute all-time favorites
I also saw Tetsuo III
Chu Ishikawa's music and the sound effects

Dude, if I were more into good taste in films instead of chicks, I'd totally fuck you.

All of the 'young, hip actors' in BR2 should have been killed one by one in gruesome and horrible ways
And yeah, Ryuhei Kitamura is an over-rated one-trick pony. I loved Versus

I'm happy we all agree on this.

Talking about trashy films involving Japanese pop culture, has anyone seen Ninja Assassin yet? The trailer made it look like average American shite, but I've read numerous times that it's supposed to be very bloody...

[jonny5]

watched gendou hime(samurai princess) the other night.....

pretty awesome....if you like over the top gore this one is a must see....kinda similar vein to tokyo gore police

i quite enjoyed it....written and directed by one of the writers of tokyo gore police, kengo kaji

[ChurchOfSolipsism]

watched gendou hime(samurai princess) the other night.....

pretty awesome....if you like over the top gore this one is a must see....kinda similar vein to tokyo gore police

i quite enjoyed it....written and directed by one of the writers of tokyo gore police, kengo kaji

I've yet to see Tokyo Gore Police , but Machine Girl and Meatball Machines didn't do much for me. Then, Tokyo Gore Police has the lady from Audition playing the lead...

[Skykid]

All of the 'young, hip actors' in BR2 should have been killed one by one in gruesome and horrible ways instead of this peace-guerrilla bullshit. Then it would have been almost bearable to watch. Battle Royale II is probably the worst sequel ever filmed.

Worst film ever filmed.

[jonny5]

All of the 'young, hip actors' in BR2 should have been killed one by one in gruesome and horrible ways instead of this peace-guerrilla bullshit. Then it would have been almost bearable to watch. Battle Royale II is probably the worst sequel ever filmed.

Worst film ever filmed.

see, now how can you say that?

sure its not amazing or even as good as the first one, but hollywood pumps out mindless drivel 100X worse in much larger quantities every month....worst film ever is a pretty big statement.....this wouldnt even make the top 1000 for worst film

i forget if you already have or not, but could you list some movies you thought were good, cuz the more i read, the more i think you just have bad taste in films(directed at skykid)

[Skykid]

All of the 'young, hip actors' in BR2 should have been killed one by one in gruesome and horrible ways instead of this peace-guerrilla bullshit. Then it would have been almost bearable to watch. Battle Royale II is probably the worst sequel ever filmed.

Worst film ever filmed.

see, now how can you say that?

sure its not amazing or even as good as the first one, but hollywood pumps out mindless drivel 100X worse in much larger quantities every month....worst film ever is a pretty big statement.....this wouldnt even make the top 1000 for worst film

i forget if you already have or not, but could you list some movies you thought were good, cuz the more i read, the more i think you just have bad taste in films(directed at skykid)

With all due respect dude, I do appreciate we probably have wildly differing tastes. I can accept that what I consider to be poorly executed drivel is something that some people find stimulating.
However, in the case of BR2 I really don't need to justify how utterly god-awful it is, it's as clear as day.
I do spend a lot of time dodging the shit Hollywood turns out as best I can, which means that BR2 is definitely in my top 1000... nay, easily top 50 worst films I've ever sat through in my life. Definitely. There's zero redeeming about it.

I'm not sure why you want a list from me though, there are so many films I've enjoyed on various levels for various reasons, it feels like a pressure to start trying to reel favourites off.
For instance, I accept that everything has a place: even if it's drivel, it can be excellently made drivel. Some people might say Die Hard and Predator are Hollywood drivel - and they'd be right - but I accept that they're the best at what they attempt to do and love them for it.

If I was forced to throw together some titles I really respect (can't list em all... can't think of them all!) a few of these would be in there:

The Vanishing (Spoorloos - not the shitty remake)
Apocalypse Now
2001: A Space Odyssey (that's my no.1)
Seven
Cinema Paradiso
The Thing (Carpenter ver.)
Kekexili Mountain Patrol
Citizen Kane
Akira
Goodfellas
Blade Runner
Dr Strangelove
Gladiator
Sympathy for Mr Vengeance
Wing of The Honneamise
From Russia With Love
Reservoir Dogs
The Good The Bad and The Ugly
The Lives of Others
Patlabor WXIII
Taxi Driver


I have a 'mindless drivel' and 'light entertainment' affection too:


Die Hard 1&3
Transformers (animated movie)
Predator
Aliens
Trading Places
Rambo (the latest one)
Ninja Scroll
Evil Dead
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Creepshow
Scanners
Big Trouble in Little China

...Amongst others.

You might think a lot of this is sleep inducing or rubbish, you might find that we have something in common, dunno.

All I'm saying is is there's good crap and there's bad crap, and BR2 is the worst kind of bad crap. I don't agree that Hollywood even does turn out 100X worse drivel every month - I really don't. Their utter drivel is at least coherent, their bad actors half-watchable, and their awful scripts just about tolerable if you smoke a lot of weed and accept it doesn't matter.

The only thing I needed to make BR2 tolerable was a gun with a bullet in it.