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A tribute to Bud…

Andy H — Wed, 16 May 2012 08:00:40 +0000

It was my great uncle’s funeral this weekend. I know I must have met him a few times, but only fleetingly. The last time must easily have been 20 years ago or more. Families are funny things at the best of times, and my direct family has always been a bit too insular for it’s own good.

It was a touching ceremony on such beautiful sunny day – which my UK based readers will realise how lucky we were! – so it seemed a fitting send off. But a real surprise was finding out one of the things that lightened up his later years, other than endless CSI repeats, was Jackie Chan films! From all accounts they’d have him roaring with laughter.

Who knew?

Well, I wish I had. For one thing, I could have been keeping him supplied with all the latest. Maybe he could even have done the odd review for the site? Perhaps there’s something in our genetic make up, pulling us towards Jackie’s on-screen antics. Or maybe he just knew quality when he saw it?

So Bud, this one’s for you…

Win an exclusive Raid record bag!

Andy H — Tue, 15 May 2012 15:26:43 +0000

Your old satchel looking a bit tatty? Your rucksack a bit frayed at the ends? How about getting your hands on an exclusive, very limited edition record bag to celebrate the release of The Raid…

The Raid – ‘The Action Movie of the Year’ (The Guardian Guide) breaks out across over 290 cinemas on 18th May starring martial arts sensation Iko Uwais as he takes on a tower block rammed with bad guys and decimates them in a style that is nothing short of breath-taking. Find out more including which multiplex it’s showing at on the official Fanhub and Facebook page.

All you need to do is fill out the details below and you could be in with a chance of looking rather stylish with the fashion accessory to the action film of the year! (What the…? Whoops! I’ve soooooo been doing too much for fashion retailers in the last couple of years! )

Please note, only entries from the UK will be accepted for this competition. The competition closes midnight 27 May 2012, no entries after that time will be accepted. Prize winners will then be randomly picked and prizes only sent out after that date.

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Yakuza Weapon / Deadball

Andy H — Tue, 15 May 2012 08:00:48 +0000

More from the guys that brought us Versus, Battlefield Baseball, Meatball Machine and Mutant Girls Squad – but is the joke wearing a bit thin?…

Both Yudai Yumaguchi and Tak Sakaguchi cut their teeth on Ryuhei Kitamura’s cult success Versus in 2000. An irreverent, fun horror that owed a debt to Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead films, it was full of gun-totting zombies and samurai duels in a forest that just happens to be one of 666 portals to hell. Yamaguchi co-wrote the film with Kitamura as well as acting as second-unit director.

Despite taking several years to get released outside of Japan, particularly in the US and UK, it had already gained Kitamura an international reputation which he built on further with films like Alive (also co-written with Yumaguchi), Azumi, Sky High and Godzilla: Final Wars, culminating in his American filmmaking debut, Midnight Meat Train.

Kitamura returned the favour, producing Yumaguchi’s debut film Battlefield Baseball in 2003, based on a manga by Gataro Man, which also starred Sakaguchi along with several other cast members of Versus. (The American DVD artwork even deliberately referenced the iconic silhouette of Sakaguchi in Versus publicity with the samurai sword turned into a baseball bat.) With more than a little of Stephen Chow’s Shaolin Soccer, it’s mix of broad comedy and over-the-top horror helped inspire a new wave of gore horror in Japan, spearheaded by Yumaguchi on Meatball Machine.

Friends and colleagues like Yoshihiro Nishimura (Tokyo Gore Police, Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl, Helldriver) and Norbu Iguchi (The Machine Girl, RoboGeisha) added to scene, with plently of collaborations like Sakaguchi, Iguchi and Nishimura working on Mutant Girls Squad together, and more than a few imitators like Big Tits Zombie and Alien Vs. Ninja.

With varying degrees of success, somewhere that genre quickly morphed into what has been referred to as ‘splatter punk’ (mainly due to the influence of elements of Steampunk.) A mix of Shinya Tsukamoto’s body shock, dysmorphic horror of Tetsuo, the more ‘out there’ elements of Takashi Miike, knockabout humour straight out of manga and more exaggerated bloodletting than a Monty Python sketch.

Yumaguchi and Sakaguchi have returned with a pair of films, undoubtedly created off the back of each other.

First up an unexpected return to Battlefield Baseball, a sequel or sorts. (Indeed, you might also consider it an odd choice for DVD release considering that the original hasn’t been released in the UK at all, the US version will set you back a bomb on Amazon, and even the original Japanese releases are well out of print – but we’ll come back to that later!)

Bursting onto the screen with a flashback like a twisted Field Of Dreams, it quickly loses the rosy glow for a bloody mess. Sakaguchi stars as the mysterious new guy at the Pterodactyl Juvenille Reformatory for hardened criminals, very much Eastwood’s Man with No Name via Napoleon Wilson in Assault On Precinct 13 and Snake Plissken in Escape From New York.

With echoes of Story Of Ricky, the Reformatory is about as sick as it gets. Literally. That’s what they serve for breakfast! And prisoner cavity searches are a daily occurrence. Run by chief warden Ishihara (Miho Ninagawa), an alleged granddaughter of a World War II collaborator in the Nazis’ genocide programme (though she believes herself to be Hitler’s daughter!).

Sworn off pitching at baseball ever again after a childhood incident, the Warden tricks him into joining the team for better treatment of the prisoners, only to find he’s signed up for something completely different, Deadball, and his team are just cannon fodder for the murderous (all female) St. Black Dahlia High School.

Now I have to admit I’ve not seen the original Battlefield Baseball, but from my skimming of the synopsis this is more or less a replay of the original. And therein lies part of the rub, why return to this now? Sure, there are a few new jokes. One of the players known as number ‘3D’ for wearing red/blue specs is turned blue, Avatar style, when offed by the rival team. There are some silly fights that mix The Simpsons’ Itchy & Scratchy violence with pure Looney Tunes. But there’s not a lot of attention to the plot, and the ending seems rather abrupt and messy.

On the plus side, as has been noted by various reviewers, there really isn’t a lot of actual baseball (and this seems to have been true for the original too!).

Which brings us on to Yakuza Weapon, based on another manga; this time the work of the work of the late Ken Ishikawa to whom the film is dedicated. This time Sakaguchi stars as Shozo Iwaki, the errant son of Boss Yakuza Kenzo who commands most of Japan’s crime syndicates who shows complete disregard for his own safety while fighting mercenaries in the South American jungle.

When Shozo learns his father has been assassinated by subordinate Kurawaki (Shingo Tsurumi) he heads straight back to Japan to revenge his death with his trusty friends . He finds Kurawaki atop a 38 storey tower block, each level protected by a master assassin (Tower Of Death style) – which Shozo neatly circumnavigates (in one of he more inspired moments of the film) by blowing up all the floors between the ground and top, rather like a super exaggerated take on that scene in Indiana Jones when, realising he’s lost his whip, he simply pulls his gun on the villain.

The showdown leaves Shozo critically hurt and Kurawaki presumed dead when his escape copter is blown out if the sky. But the government have the technology to rebuild Shozo, giving him a gatling gun for an arm and a missile firing rocket out of his knee. Unfortunately Kurawaki has survived using technology of his own, and is enlisting an army of the homeless who he’s powered up, including Shozo’s sparring partner Tetsu (Jun Murakami), now driven mad by the rape and murder of his sister.

Now I’ve no doubt that Yakuza Weapon captures the original manga fairly, it doesn’t translate to film well. Whether the original manga got here first or not, the gatling gun arm feels like too much of a rerun of Iguchi’s The Machine Girl – still easily the best film to have emerged from the ‘splatter punk’ movies. The first half’s showdown at a tower block feels too close to Iguchi’s RoboGeisha.

It’s the second half that really loses the pace, and plot. That Kurawaki comes looking for Shozo before he’s even left government compounds seems lazy and cheap. The Tetsu subplot adds nothing to the film save an opportunity for for another Spaghetti Western reference, this time Django, and a seriously politically incorrect use of Tetsu’s dead sister as a naked deadly weapon. Characters like the feisty Sister Nayoko (Mei Kurokawa) are completely under utilised.

Yumaguchi and Sakaguchi share directorial reins for Yakuza Weapon, with Yumaguchi taking full hold for Deadball, but there’s little in it: the camp, over-the-top playing is much the same, and both films share several cast members. Sakaguchi plays much the same role in both, and we only glimpse some of his more complex fight choreography in one pretty decent extended scene with the tramp zombies.

Increasing use of CGI in these films rather than nifty use of budgets has spoilt much of the fun of the earlier films, with Yoshihiro Nishimura’s makeup often being the best part. Somehow both films feel more like an ego trip for Sakaguchi and Yumaguchi, with Deadball perhaps just a bit more enjoyable for being more self conscious, even if Yakuza was the film that inspired the project.

Undoubtedly these films hint at a deal between Bounty Films and Sushi Typhoon not unlike that between Sushi and Well Go USA in the States, so get ready for more from these guys soon…

Yakuza Weapon and Deadball are available from Bounty Films now, distributed by Eureka Entertainment in the UK. Both titles are available on 2-disc DVD, with Yakuza Weapon also available on Blu-ray.

Yet another exclusive clip from The Raid!

Andy H — Mon, 14 May 2012 18:48:48 +0000

What, again…? Yes, just a few days to go now and here’s another exclusive clip to let you know what’s in store with the release of The Raid. Unmissable for for fans of proper, old school action movies…

Even easternKicks has gone a bit Raid-mad, with a new pic on our Twitter page, and a new Iko Uwais themed icon for our header and Facebook profile.

It’s out at cinemas Friday, with various advance screenings before (if you’re lucky enough to still get a seat). Book your tickets now!

Win Legendary Amazons on Blu-ray, out today!

Andy H — Mon, 14 May 2012 08:00:00 +0000

Get your hands on an epic martial art adventure produced by Jackie Chan, we have three to give away!…

Paying homage to the 1972 Shaw Brothers classic The 14 Amazons, this action-packed blockbuster recounts the adventures of the legendary Yang Clan, a courageous and patriotic attack force of warrior women. Each a master of a unique style of martial arts, they are called to fight their greatest ever battle, when an overwhelming army of barbarian invaders threatens to overrun their homeland.

Directed by Frankie Chan (no relation!) and starring Richie Ren (Breaking News, Accident, The Sniper), Cecilia Cheung (One Nite in Mongkok, The Promise, Failan) and Liu Xiaoqing (Little Flower, Hibiscus Town), Legendary Amazons is released on DVD and Blu-Ray today by Cine-Asia – but you can win one of three copies on Blu-ray! All you have to do is enter your details below and you could be in with a chance.

Exciting news from Third Window, a round-up of upcoming releases

Andy H — Thu, 10 May 2012 07:00:48 +0000

With Mitsuko Delivers hitting UK screens this Friday, seems like a good time to rundown some of the very exciting releases Third Window Films have coming up…

There’s hardly moments rest with the DVD release of Keralino Sandrovich’s Crime or Punishment?!? on DVD Monday 14 May. Sandrovich worked with Miki Satoshi (Adrift in Tokyo, Turtles are Surprisingly Fast Swimmers) on the comedy TV show Jikou Keisatsu. (Monday also sees the next Asian Movies Meetup Group, where this month the Secret Japanese Movie Meetup also turns Third Window Anniversary Party.)

Of course all eyes will be on the UK theatrical release of Himizu, the award-winning film from Japanese director Sion Sono, which opens on 1 June. Like Cold Fish, it stars the rather lovely Denden in a supporting role. Sono’s epic Love Exposure will also be released on Blu-ray on 6 August. (Meaning you’ll be able to watch all four hours in one go without swapping discs!)

The really exciting news came that Third Window have acquired Shinya Tsukamoto’s Tetsuo: The Iron man and Tetsuo 2: Body Hammer for Blu-ray release to accompany their DVD & Blu-ray release of his latest film Kotoko in late September/October.

They’ve also acquired Sogo Ishii’s first film in ten years, Isn’t Anyone Alive? From a director who has been bringing us strange and surreal films for 30 years such as Burst City, Crazy Thunder Road, Crazy Family, Angel Dust and Electric Dragon 80000V it stars Himizu‘s Shota Sometani.

Wow! It’s shaping up for one hell of a year for Third Window…

Full free Korean Films on YouTube

Andy H — Wed, 09 May 2012 18:30:34 +0000

A few months back it was announced that the Korean Film Archive was going to begin putting classic and often rare (mostly very hard to get hold of) films online via YouTube. The good news is that after a little stopping and starting (and a worrying couple of days were everything became ‘private’) we’re very happy to say the Archive is up in force with 70 films!

There’s a wealth of Korean film history, with films from the 1940s to the 90s, with special sections devoted to Kim Ki-young, Im Kwon-taek and Shin Sang-ok. Amongst the films there’s Hong Sang-soo’s (Hahaha, The Day He Arrives) debut The Day a Pig Fell into the Well, and Park Kwang-su’s breakthrough film Chil-su and Man-su, which formed part of the Korean Cultural Centre UK’s Year of the 12 Directors retrospective. And much more besides!

Better yet, all are provided with English subtitles for us to enjoy…

For more, head on over to www.youtube.com/koreanfilm…

(With any luck one day this will beat my Free kung fu movies! post in popularity. Now all I need is the time to watch them all!:))

Another exclusive clip from The Raid!

Andy H — Tue, 08 May 2012 16:02:44 +0000

With just 10 days to go before The Raid is released in UK cinemas, here’s another exclusive clip that gives you a much better idea of what to expect.

(i.e. It’s got all that machete action you’ve been hearing about!)

Enjoy!…

Mitsuko Delivers (LFF)

Andy H — Tue, 08 May 2012 09:00:01 +0000

As you might guess from the title, the latest film from Yuya Ishii is on similar ground to Sawako Decides – but that doesn’t make it any less enjoyable…

Mitsuko (Riisa Naka, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Summer Wars) is a young woman who determinedly believes that everything will work out in the end, she classifies everything as either ‘cool’ or ‘not cool’. If the wind goes the wrong way, simply take a nap and wait for it to change direction. But that hasn’t stopped her from keeping her current condition from her parents: they still believe her to be in California, and have no idea she is nine months pregnant to a man she proudly states is ‘big and black’ (about as offensive as you can get in Japan where mixed-race relationships are still rather looked down upon).

When her money starts to run out, she heads to a forgotten block of cheap housing that she spent a few formative months in with her parents as a child, which has amazingly escaped being redeveloped after the war. (There are rumours of unexploded shells beneath them!) Once a thriving community nit round the imposing figure of landlady (Miyoko Inagawam, Sawako Decides), she finds nearly all the tenements empty and the landlady unable to even walk. The only other tenants are dinner owner Jiro (Ryo Ishibashi, Auditon, Suicide Club, The Grudge) and his nephew Yoichi (Aoi Nakamura, Quirky Guys and Gals, Paranormal Activity 2: Tokyo Night), who has held a candle for Mitsuko since she left with her parents 15 years before.

The tenements are too messy to rent, the dinner has no customers, Jiro is too tongue-tied to ask a local coffee owner out – with everything and everyone so depressed, seems like someone needs to shake things up a bit, and Mitsuko is just the woman for the job…

As with Sawako Decides, Yuya Ishii finds a lot of inspiration from the current economic crisis. Like the last segment in Quirky Guys and Girls, we open on a post-recession scene where recently unemployed business men kill time in the park, rather than tell their families that they no longer have work; businesses aren’t doing very well, and soon cheap housing is starting to fill up again.

Riisa Naka gives a great performance at the often stroppy, hormone-pumped, over-emotional Mitsuko. Already marked as an up and coming talent, Riisa has made quite an impression both as the original voice and lead star of the animated and live-action versions of The Girl Who Leapt Through Time respectively. As she noted herself in a recent Q&A, it’s only two years before she was playing a school girl while still in her teens, and now she’s a pregnant woman!

Sure, I guess you could say that for all her so-called serenity she mostly bullies others into her way of thinking, but even now this is a very uncommon way for a young Japanese woman to act. Like Sawako, it’s only through asserting herself that she finds her way in the world, and so too helps others. All in all it’s a good-hearted satire, but with much to say about cultural preconceptions about relations and recession not too far below the surface.

In terms of production, this feels a bit more polished than Yuya’s previous films, even if the script isn’t quite as together. There’s a great ensemble cast, with Ryo Ishibashi standing out as the inarticulate diner owner (a much gentler role to what we often see him in), and once again Yuya Ishii finds a great older female role for star Miyoko Inagawa.

One hell of an enjoyable film!

Mitsuko Delivers was screened as part of the London Film Festival. This review was originally published 28 October 2011.

Mitsuko Delivers opens in UK cinemas, including the ICA, from 11 May, and will be released on DVD by Third Window Films on 9 July.

Lee Myung-se replaced as director on Mr.K

Andy H — Mon, 07 May 2012 14:00:29 +0000

It was sad to see the news on HanCinema the other that Lee Myung-se has been replaced as the director on the upcoming spy comedy Mr.K. When we interviewed Lee earlier in the year as part of the KCCUK’s Year Of The 12 Directors he was obviously very excited about the project. HanCinema attributed a falling out (or ‘disharmony’ as they put it) between Lee and writer/producer Yoon Je-kyoon (Haeundae). Lee has been replaced by Lee Seung-joon-I, assistant director on Yoon produced Quick.

It seems rather pertinent that a recurring theme has been of the Year Of The 12 Directors events has been the changing film scene in Korea, and the increasing involvement of big company investors. It’s pushed the market towards ‘event’ movies (something which has happened globally), limiting the sort of films that can be made towards ‘crowd pleasers’, where investors can be sure of their return.

With an estimated budget of 10 billion Won, there was a lot of stake on Mr.K. But I for one would have loved to have seen what Lee Myung-se would have made of it.

easternkicks.com

A tribute to Bud…

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Win an exclusive Raid record bag!

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Yakuza Weapon / Deadball

Yakuza Weapon and Deadball are available from Bounty Films now, distributed by Eureka Entertainment in the UK. Both titles are available on 2-disc DVD, with Yakuza Weapon also available on Blu-ray.

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Yet another exclusive clip from The Raid!

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Win Legendary Amazons on Blu-ray, out today!

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Exciting news from Third Window, a round-up of upcoming releases

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Full free Korean Films on YouTube

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Another exclusive clip from The Raid!

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Mitsuko Delivers (LFF)

Mitsuko Delivers opens in UK cinemas, including the ICA, from 11 May, and will be released on DVD by Third Window Films on 9 July.

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Lee Myung-se replaced as director on Mr.K

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