Movie Madness

[caraig]

I have found a gold mine, and it was right under my nose.

Today while getting to the bank and to the cell phone store ("My phone doesn't work." "Hmm. *takes out, puts back in, the battery* Works now." "!!!" and he didn't even charge me a dime) my wandering eye fell 'pon one of the little kiosks in the SI Mall. Next to a screen showing that incredibly awesome "duel in the mind" scene from Hero, there was, unmistakably, a DVD box with the title... Battoru Royale.

OMZod. And that wasn't the only thing I found there.

Ringu Zero, Warriors of Zhu Mountain, Shaolin Soccer. Even some anime. (None of the kind of anime you'd find in Blockbuster or Saturday Matinee, though. We're talking Urotsukidoji, here, though it wasn't all hentai.) It was an import video kiosk. It has been there for two weeks. I estimate it has one or maybe two more weeks before local parents get into some kind of tizzy and have the mall throw the kiosk out. The woman running the kiosk was helpful but obviously aware that some of what she had was not Dragonball Z or Sailor Moon. Even so, it won't be long before whatever passes for local parents starts screaming about the corruption of youth and this treasure trove disappears.

I mean, dude... Battle Royale. I didn't see if she had Iron Man Tetsuo there but it wouldn't surprise me.

yotogi, I tried to find that movie that had come out recently, that you told us about, but I didn't want to stand there asking the girl, "Do you know that movie, with the thing, and the Japanese demon hunter, set in Imperial Japan, with the swords and leaves and stuff?" That'd just be too damn cliche. What was it's title again? And any suggestions or requests?

Comments

[ruggels.livejournal.com]

"Something" megapolis.. Doomed Megaopolis? I think i have that one

Battle Royale was great. I heard Warriors of Zhu Mountain was panned, but shaolin Soccer was entertaining, and Kung Fu Hustle was a scream.

Scott

[caraig.livejournal.com]

I don't think it was Metropolis or Doomed Megapolis. It was live-action and definitely set in Imperial Japan.

Zhu Mountain was definitely odd, and not the best thing I've seen. But I have seen Shaolin Soccer and it's very, very funny and enjoyable. So wonderfully over-the-top!

[yotogi.livejournal.com]

Okay, here come the pain:

Tetsuo the Iron Man is weird in the extreme. Extra weird. So weird that when the guy who played the Metals Fetishist (Edit: I forgot he was never actually named) appeared in a supporting role in Ichi the Killer, it actually made Ichi even weirder. Speaking of Ichi, this is like the seventh or eighth movie I've really liked that had Tadanobu Asano in it, which is really starting to bother me. It makes me feel just a little bit metrosexual. Well, Ichi didn't. He spent most of that movie looking like an Asian copy of The Joker.

Doomed Megalopolis is interesting, in that it deals with a lot of funny mythology (an incarnation of Kannon, also Taira Masakado, who is sort of a "patron saint" or kami of Tokyo, though I'm not really qualified to say if he's considered a kami in the formal sense... but they do blame things like plagues on him being pissed off, so...) But it's also long (two discs in the copy I watched) and mildly depressing. A lot of heavy shit goes down in terms of rape/incest, female leads getting abused/possessed/smacked around, and supporting characters getting whacked. Also, Masakado's actual shrine is a bit more elaborate than what's shown in the movie.

Battle Royale for teh win. Anything Takashi Miike for teh win. Check out the Dead or Alive series if you haven't already. Riki Takeuchi is in them and that's all the incentive anyone should ever need.

The movie you're probably thinking of is Onmyouji, which was very fun. Totally light, escapist fare with awesome costuming. And the depiction of Abeno Seimei was great, pretty much just what you'd expect someone descended from fox spirits to act like.

As far as recommendations, you might want to check out "Beat" Takeshi Kaneshiro's remake of Zatoichi, or any of his dramatic work like Kikujiro if you're into something less frenetic; and keep an eye out for anything with the Tokyo Shock label on it. That's most of Miike's work, and also really wacky shit like Samurai Armageddon and Versus, basically Asia's version of grindhouse cinema.

[caraig.livejournal.com]

Cool. Thanks for the recommendations! And yes, Onmyouji is what I was thinking of, I think, thanks!

I've read about Ichi the Killer before, and it struck as... one seriously messed up film.

Ahh... need to see if they have Wild Zero, as well. Must see... UFO... defeated by... katana... sheathed in guitar...!

*starts making a Little List* Any requests?

[yotogi.livejournal.com]

You should check out Ichi sometime. But get the unrated version; the cut one actually doesn't make any sense because of the bad editing. I actually consider it a comedy; the gore and violence is just so overblown that you can't take it seriously. And there's some hilarious stuff in there if you look. Besides, Tadanobu Asano spends the movie looking like the Joker on acid.