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Showing posts with the label japanese

FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST - REVIEW

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Based on the popular anime series, Fullmetal Alchemist is a 2017 live-action adaptation from Japan following Alchemist brothers Elric and Alphonse as they encounter a range of powerful enemies and search for the Philosopher's Stone. The film was recently released on Netflix. We first meet the two brothers as children when an alchemy experiment aiming to bring their dead mother back to life goes wrong. Cut to years later and we learn that Alphonse's body somehow vanished after the botched experiment and he now inhabits a knight's empty armour indefinitely, hence the nickname "Fullmetal Alchemist". Unless Elric, who has himself lost limbs, can somehow recover the Philosopher's Stone, he might not be able to ever summon his brother's body back. A big action sequence early on depicts the brothers fighting against a man whom, they believe, is using the Stone nefariously and the scene boasts some big CGI effects, something the film fails to match before it

LIVE-ACTION COWBOY BEBOP? - PODCAST

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We discuss the possibility of a live-action Cowboy Bebop TV series on The Big Rewind .

SHOCKMAN (TGFX-16) - RANT N' PLAY

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I play just a few minutes of the game Shockman .

TASTIN'... MINI COLA

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I try some cola-flavoured candy from Japan.

TASTIN'... JAPANESE KIT-KATS

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I try a few interesting Japanese Kit-Kat flavours.

TASTIN'... WONKA EDIBLE GARDEN

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I try a Japanese Wonka bar.

NEO YOKIO: SEASON 1 - VLOG REVIEW

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I talk a bit about Netflix's new anime series Neo Yokio .

TASTIN'... SANGARIA

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I try a couple of Japanese sodas in this episode of Tastin' . Expect memory and lighting issues.

TASTIN'... CALPICO SODA

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I try some Calpico Soda in this new episode of Tastin'.

GHOST IN THE SHELL (1995) - REVIEW

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As the world digests Hollywood's recent attempt at producing a live-action adaptation of Mamoru Oshii's much celebrated animated feature, there's no better time to revisit the original Ghost In The Shell from 1995. Based on one of the popular manga's stories involving a mysterious hacker known as the Puppet Master, this first film was not only groundbreaking as an anime but as a science-fiction film in general influencing pretty much every science-fiction film after it including The Matrix . We're introduced to a dangerous world where people can be cybernetically enhanced which creates new threats for special units to deal with. Major Motoko Kusanagi is the mostly artificial leader of an assault team tasked with various missions including finding the Puppet Master. The film is a complex sci-fi thriller which deals with self-identity, what it means to be human and technology gone mad in a subtle yet often brutal way. There are unexpected bursts of gore in this

SHIN GODZILLA - REVIEW

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Also known as Godzilla Resurgence , this was Japan's answer to Hollywood's own reboot about the iconic monster released a couple of years ago with Toho coming back to re-introduce Godzilla once again in style. The film initially shows Godzilla when he first appears in modern day Japan, in a lesser form. Out-of-control and extremely destructive, he of course creates a lot of carnage even before morphing into an evolved and more familiar form. Members of the Japanese government and the military, along with the US are therefore forced to figure out the best way to take him out before he reaches Tokyo. Everything you'd expect from a Godzilla movie is in this one including boring talks between officials, buildings toppling left and right, people being evacuated, planes dropping bombs on the beast. There is definitely more cool stuff to look at in Shin Godzilla than there was in the American Godzilla reboot, which was basically unwilling to show us Godzilla until the very e

KING KONG ESCAPES - VIDEO REVIEW

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Here's the video version of my King Kong Escapes review.

FIST OF LEGEND - REVIEW

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Directed by Gordon Chan, Fist Of Legend is a loose remake of Fist Of Fury in which Jet Li takes on the role of Chen Zhen, made popular in the 70's by Bruce Lee. Set during the Japanese occupation, we first meet Chen Zhen as a student who learns of his master's death and returns to his old kung-fu school to pay his respects. Soon enough, he starts to suspect foul play and a rival martial arts school causes trouble over and over. Add to that the fact that Zhen's love interest is Japanese so not exactly popular with his peers and you've got yourself a busy little movie with plenty of tension but also plenty of fighting. Li may not be as expressive or charismatic of an actor as Bruce Lee but he knows his kung-fu and the fight scenes are impressive throughout the film. Gordon Chan not only makes them look fantastic but he successfully makes them feel like timeless, iconic set-pieces. The best may very well be the fight between Zhen and Fumio Funakochi (Yasuaki Kurata)

THE TALE OF PRINCESS KAGUYA - REVIEW

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As the doors of legendary animation empire Studio Ghibli slowly close (though hopefully only for a short time), much to everyone's chagrin, here is yet another example of just how good and important these guys are to the medium. The Tale Of Princess Kaguya may sound like just another surreal folktale on paper but one look at the stunning watercolour/charcoal-style animation used here by visual maestro Isao Takahata ( Pom Poko , My Neighbors The Yamadas ) and you'll find yourself instantly mesmerised by this tale of a baby born out of a bamboo tree. While Hayao Miyazaki was and is a genius at bringing to the screen all-around great-looking, often epic stories, Takahata's forte seems to be to bring an off-beat artistry to the animation and tell predominantly emotional, melodramatic, affecting stories. Case and point: Grave Of The Fireflies . And, to a certain extent, this movie which shows us a young woman's entire life flash by her put-upon parents' eyes as the

THE TWILIGHT SAMURAI - REVIEW

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That Hiroyuki Sanada has been wasting his time lately with underwhelming Hollywood blockbusters like The Wolverine and 47 Ronin is criminal, especially when you know he can be as good as he is in 2002's The Twilight Samurai . Now, don't get excited, no vampire samurais here. No, this is a proper samurai flick in which we follow Sanada's low-level samurai Iguchi as he goes home every evening to be with his daughters and his sick mother following the untimely death of his wife. The people around him mock him, nicknaming him "Twilight Seibei", he even gets in trouble for not taking care of himself, his clothing and his appearance enough, yet he isn't miserable: he enjoys seeing his daughter grow up day by day and he has very little ambition besides giving up being a samurai eventually and living a peaceful life as a farmer. The film is set at a time when the Japanese feudal system was transitioning to a more modern one and the old samurai ways were start

ESCAPE FROM VAMPIRE ISLAND - REVIEW

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Based on a manga, Higanjima: Escape From Vampire Island sounded awesome. I mean, first of all that's a great title, second of all the concept of a vampire island is so delightfully trashy that it could have only been good. Well... If you forget that Uwe Boll's House Of The Dead existed and also took place on an island. The bad news is that Escape From Vampire Island isn't good and most definitely doesn't live up to its premise. The film is surprisingly joyless considering that its key idea was so inherently entertaining. That's like calling a film "Look Out! The Dogs Are Taking Over The Planet!" and then taking it seriously. Why would you do that?! After a promising opening scene set on the titular island, we're soon introduced to our main characters who turn out to be a truly one-dimensional bunch: stereotypes you'd find in a manga or an anime series minus the fun. The smart one with glasses, the fat one who eats a lot, the stupid but h

TURTLE TEARS

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From the movie Monkey Magic . *turtle tears-up*

JAMES BOND'S MAKEOVER

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RETURNER - REVIEW

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  A rubbish title does not a rubbish film make. Then again if you call a film Returner you have to expect some rubbish to make its way into the final product regardless. To be fair, the first half hour of Returner is actually pretty good. When the film remains a straight-forward sci-fi action thriller it works. Unfortunately, the Americans and the CGI aliens show up and it's all downhill from here. Some very silly lines ("I can see the bullets") and dodgy special effects bring down an otherwise cool and fun little film. Kaneshiro and Suzuki make a good team and Goro Kishitani's devilish villain is a lot of fun. The story is patchy at best and the ET -style ending is a mess to say the least. Then again, I'd never seen a plane transform into a weird insect-like Transformer controlled by tiny friendly aliens in big metal suits... By all means check out Returner but I can't promise you'll find much in it to really make it worth your while.

ROBO-GEISHA - REVIEW

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Memoirs of a Geisha was a fine picture.  But where were the butt blades? The wig napalm? The giant castle robots? The killer breast milk? The shoulder guns? The rocket half-bodies? The chainsaw faces?  The answer: in 2009's intentionally goofy trash-terpiece Robo-Geisha .  It's no secret that modern Japanese horror died long ago. Some time after Dark Water and before all those rubbish evil Phone or Premonition movies. The first Battle Royale was a breath of fresh air and brought the gore and cartoon-like violence of anime into live-action cinema to create something completely insane, original and utterly brilliant. Alas, for years to come no film would even attempt to match the bold madness of the cult classic action/horror/black comedy... that is until Japanese horror was reborn into Grindhouse-style gore-fests mixing the crazy concepts of Troma films with the fighting, blood and guts of anime and classic action Japanese B movies. Films like The Machine