DOCUMENTARY of AKB48: to Be Continued (2011)

This documentary movie follows the very popular Japanese idol group AKB48 and covers the group’s activities throughout 2010, using footage from over 1,000 videotapes. The documentary includes the production process behind each of their singles, their concerts at Yokohama Arena and Yoyogi National Gymnasium, their senbatsu events, last year’s appearance at Kohaku Uta Gassen, and their visit to Anime Expo. Viewers will get a glimpse of the idols’ joys and troubles, their growth over the year, and their dreams for the future.

Being a huge fan of AKB48, I really enjoyed going back and reliving the events that happened in 2010 – the highs and the lows, the smiles and tears as well as seeing the girls outside of their job and trying to have a normal life. The motto of AKB48 is “idols you can meet” and that’s true if you’re lucky enough to get a ticket to their shows in their own theater in Akihabara. Hardworking, dedicated, down to earth and giving it their all epitomises what AKB48 is all about. The group although split into 3 teams which have their own captain is overall led by one amazing and inspirational girl – Takahashi Minami. Takamina is the glue that holds all of the girls together and is a good role model that Japanese girls should look up to and strive to be like her. Those that have no interest in Japanese idol groups will find this documentary to be a waste of time but those that love AKB48 will certainly find this entertaining as we get to know these girls a little bit more at work and at play. I’m so proud to be an AKB48 fan and to see them grow in popularity over the past 3 years has been nothing more than what they deserve and long may their success continue.

Sadako’s Rating: 5 stars out of 5

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Public Enemy (2002)

A rather long but very entertaining drama about a bent police detective and a cold, calculating killer who play a dangerous game of cat and mouse against each other. Nothing particularly new in terms of theme (wild-cannon cop chasing serial killer), but in terms of execution and sheer enjoyment, there’s no doubting this movie’s worth. Unlike other murder mysteries where the investigator solves the case with clues and evidence, Kang Cheol-Jung (the main cop) pursues this case because of his instinct. He has no doubt the suspect is guilty (somehow), despite the lack of evidence. There are some problems with the story. We have an overlong introductory period before anything actually happens. On the plus side, it’s pretty enjoyable as it is, getting a sense of our not-quite-anti-hero, but at the same time, it lags a little.

Although the movie contains both scenes of brutal violence as well as slapstick and character-based comedy, it’s all well incorporated, so it doesn’t feel disjointed. The principal actor, the talented Sol Gyung Gu, does an excellent job at making a fallen cop likable enough to follow him. Due to its violence and disturbing scenes, I can’t say that everyone should watch it, but as far as police thrillers go, it has a great concept and executes it well. As such, if you’re looking for a story about a cop and the murderer he’s trying to collar, this is as good a place as any to go.

Sadako’s Rating: 4 stars out of 5

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Detective Conan: Captured In Her Eyes (2000)

An unknown killer is on the loose killing off policemen that have a connection with a case that has details never revealed to the mass media. During a wedding party at a hotel, Conan’s friend Ran witnesses the identity of the killer who tries to kill the last remaining officer. But this causes Ran to lose her memory from the emotional shock of the what she has witnessed. As her memories of all her family, friends, and Conan are wiped out, everyone tries to find a way to slowly get Ran’s memory back as she is the only witness to the face of the killer. Meanwhile Conan deducts all he can on the case by finding out the backgrounds of the 3 possible suspects and the truth of the case that’s “need not to know”.

Another brilliant Detective Conan movie (the 4th in the series). It’s exciting and gripping. I like how the whole mystery keeps you guessing till the climax. It keeps you on your toes from beginning to end and does a great job showcasing character chemistry. The story is very well paced, and builds on its momentum as it goes forth, though not without some lighthearted moments, especially from Professor Agasa and the Detective Kids. Definitely not a Conan movie to miss. People new and old to the franchise will find something to love in this.

Sadako’s Rating: 4 stars out of 5

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Cyborg She (2008)

Absolutely amazing science fiction romcom about a beautiful female cyborg sent from the year 2070 by her creator Jiro, back to the year 2008 to assist his younger self and change some things in the past. I loved this movie. It’s got plenty of very funny moments in it. The director’s inventive humour and storytelling delivers quite a satisfying and entertaining movie. While some of the comedy may border on the silly, I found myself laughing at a lot of the visual gags. The mood though changes from comedy to drama as a major disaster hits Tokyo. You might even shed yourself a tear or two by the end. The special effects in general were fun to watch, and the whole movie was nicely paced. Ayase Haruka is alluring and cute in her role as the future cyborg. She makes for a likable if but somewhat stiff heroine. Koide Kesuke is also likable as Jiro. Their love story begins in typical awkward fashion but soon develops into a sweet romance thanks to their nice and controlled performances.

Running just shy of 2 hours, Cyborg Girl is an enjoyable sci-fi fantasy that will have audiences hooked from the start and invested in the romance between the attractive leads. While some may find the story a bit melodramatic and the humour a tad forced, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Highly recommended.

Sadako’s Rating: 4 stars out of 5

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Detective Conan: CountDown To Heaven (2001)

The 5th Detective Conan movie is an entertaining, full of suspense and action heavy anime movie as Conan and his friends are invited to the grand opening of a pair of high rise twin tower buildings but death and mayhem mars the fresh start to the architectural marvels. Conan, suspecting that the mysterious Black Organization that poisoned and left him for dead of being involved, goes to investigate. But soon finds himself in harm’s way, trapped, as Tower A is deliberately set on fire plus some bombs have been primed to explode. How can Conan escape from the burning building before the bombs go off?

There are nods to 2 classic Hollywood movies here (The Towering Inferno and Die Hard). The murder/mystery in the storyline might be complicated, yes, and filled with the usual red-herring and cryptic hinting, but it’s ultimately disposable and a little silly clue-wise. That’s only a minor gripe though. It’s still a brilliant fast paced, gripping and action packed movie. Having Gin & Vodka (from the Black Organisation) as the main villains certainly add to the enjoyment. The animation isn’t spectacular and on a par with the TV series. For those who want a great introduction to the Detective Conan movies, this entry is a good place to start.

Sadako’s Rating: 4 stars out of 5

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Dog In A Sidecar (2007)

A young innocent girl gradually becomes privy to the shady dealings of her father and his free-spirited mistress over the course of one eye opening summer vacation. Kaoru was just getting her footing in life when her mother walked out on her father. Now, as the head of the household attempts to make up for his shortcomings by working overtime at the used car lot and bringing home a Pac-Man machine for the kids, a new woman named Yoko appears in the household. Yoko is the complete opposite of Kaoru’s real mother – she feeds the kids a steady diet of junk food while coming and going as she pleases – but there’s something about her father’s new mistress that fascinates the impressionable young girl. As the summer goes on and Kaoru becomes increasingly aware of her surroundings, she begins to mature in ways that can only happen when you finally learn to roll with life’s punches.

A very enjoyable friendship movie between a 10 year girl Kaoru and her father’s lover Yoko who takes the little girl under her wing. Dog in a Sidecar is a short, thoughtful movie about growing up and taking the bumps life gives. Kaoru is earnest and sweet, but her environment and parents do not allow her to fully grow as a person and it is a woman from outside the fold of her daily life that changes her. It is these interactions with the other, the unknown and unfamiliar that change Kaoru. Would she have been the same hard-nosed woman if she had not met Yoko or would she have become as weak-willed as her father if her mother had stayed with the family? Kana Matsumoto is incredible and so adorable as Kaoru and the chemistry she shares with Yuko Takeuchi is wonderful. The rapport, their interaction and what they learn from each other is what drives this movie forward. This movie is an absolute delight to see, a feel good movie filled with nostalgia and fond memories of younger days. Highly recommended.

Unfortunately I can’t find a trailer.

Sadako’s Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

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Kokkuri (1997)

The popular and seemingly street-wise radio host Michiru proclaims to her listeners the ease and effectiveness of garnering secret facts by consulting “Kokkuri-san”, a traditional Japanese form of Ouija. Three high school girl friends decide to experiment to ask about their futures and love life. Within this group of three is Mio, a quiet and mature girl who lost both her parents tragically at a very young age, Hiroko whose brief and angst-filled life has left her a nihilist, and Masami who finally got (hot and heavy with) her new heart-throb boyfriend and is intent on keeping him. Well, needless to say the Kokkuri session does not go well for the girls. Masami discovers that her new boyfriend is fooling around with Hiroko on the side, Mio learns that she will suddenly die sometime within the next month, and Hiroko storms out of the room before the proper closing chant is completed, resulting in Kokkuri-san hanging around them for the duration of the film. Then things begin to go downhill.

I was expecting this to be a good Japanese chiller but what I saw was nothing of the sort. In fact this movie was fairly dull and uninspiring. It was a little too melodramatic for me and I’m still not clear on how the ghoul behind Kokkuri-san fitted into this. The story was uninteresting and the cast looked like they were sleepwalking in their roles. I wasted 90 mins watching this borefest. Don’t bother with this movie, unless you want to watch something that will make you fall asleep quickly.

Sadako’s Rating: 1.5 stars out of 5

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Shinjuku Triad Society (1995)

The film is based around the interactions of a homosexual triad group with a police officer as well as opposing yakuza organizations. When the younger brother to a renegade police officer becomes the lawyer to the triad group, an argument between the two leads to the downfall of the organisation.

This movie is the first of Miike’s Triad Society trilogy, and the trilogy kicks off to a great start. The movies in the trilogy are only connected thematically, and these themes are actually apparent in all his movies if you look close enough. Shinjuku Triad Society is about a cop trying to prevent his kid brother from getting too involved with a rather extreme gang of outsiders, struggling their way to the top of Tokyo’s yakuza. The kid brother is a lawyer, and the triad gang is becoming increasingly in need of one, as the movie progresses. The movie takes place in a very harsh environment, and is therefore pretty violent and tough. As you might expect, the violence is utterly visceral, gushing blood and gritty beatings are supplemented by a scene in which a woman has a chair smashed over her face! The movie has a fantastic pace, unlike Dead or Alive which begins and ends strongly and dips in the middle. The movie is in many ways a typical gangster movie, but with a great drive and true grittiness. If you’ve only seen Miike’s far-out movies (Ichi the killer, Fudoh etc.), this is worth checking out since it is sort of a compromise between his aggressive over-the-top style displayed in those movies and his more serious side.

Sadako’s Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5

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Whispering Corridors 3: Wishing Stairs (2003)

The legend goes that if you climb the twenty eight steps leading up to the school dormitory, counting each step aloud, and find a twenty ninth, a spirit will appear and grant you a wish.

The movie takes place in a girl’s art school and focuses on two friends studying ballet, however their friendship soon turns sour when they find themselves competing for a single spot in a Russian ballet school. Yun Jin-seong, remembering the old legend of the “Wishing Stairs” wishes for a place in the prestigious arts school, and in a shocking turn of events, she gets it, but at the cost of her best friend, Kim So-hee’s life. However, it’s only when the extremely odd character of Eom Hye-ju wishes the dead girl back, that an unspeakable evil is released.

This movie had a lot of potential to be really scary, but unfortunately it’s not. For some reason it just doesn’t work till the final 30 minutes. A legend goes that if you climb the twenty eight steps leading up to the women’s art school dormitory where this movie takes place, counting each step aloud, and find a twenty ninth, a spirit will appear and grant you a wish. Now, you can imagine how school girls might abuse of this legend and you have a big scenario of jealousy, mobbing, treachery, broken friendships and love stories in mind. Sadly, the movie only scratches the surface of it and basically focuses on three or four personalities. Overall it’s a slightly dull if still somewhat interesting ghost entry that definitely manages to get some good parts here and there. Really only recommended to those who have enjoyed the previous installments in the series or are a huge fan of Asian ghost movies, otherwise stick to more well-known entries.

Sadako’s Rating: 3 stars out of 5

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One Piece Movie 8: The Desert Princess and The Pirates – Adventures in Alabasta (2007)

The Straw Hats travel to Alabasta, the desert island and home of Nefertari Vivi. They find the country in the middle of a revolution. Sir Crocodile, the country’s hero, secretly used his criminal organization, Baroque Works, to undermine the citizens’ trust in Cobra, Vivi’s father and head of the Kingdom of Sand, in order to seize the throne and the country’s hidden secret for himself. The crew now has to cross the desert, stop the revolution, save thousands of lives from Baroque Works hidden bombers, and most of all, defeat Crocodile, one of the mighty Seven Warlords of the Sea.

Editing the Alabasta Arc into a 90 minute movie wasn’t going to be easy task but director Imamura did a good job to condense the storyline into an action packed anime epic. Those that have seen this arc in the anime will know everything that’s going to happen in it. However there are some differences from the anime series – for instance the anime quality is much better. The flow of the story is slightly different. The battles are much more massive. The drama has a bit more suspense. The background and locations are richer with the use of CGI. And the fights and visual effects are more complex. Overrall, Toei Animation did a great job making this story arc better than it was before. It would be a masterpiece if it included more events and characters that were left out. It’s still one hell of a movie and a must see for One Piece fans.

Sadako’s Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

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Horrors Of Malformed Men (1969)

A young man, Hirosuke wakes up to find himself in a mental institution with no knowledge of his former state or identity, save for a foggy recollection of a strange island. He escapes and pretends to be a dead man who looks exactly like him and whose picture keeps appearing in newspapers.  He travels to a remote island and discovers a mad scientist who turns normal humans into malformed monsters. However, that’s only the beginning of the horrifying things Hirosuke will soon discover.

Still banned in Japan, I’m not really sure why this is the case. I’ve seen far worse disturbing and disgusting horror movies from Japan. There’s no major shocks. It’s not the easiest movie to watch and it didn’t seemed at first to me that this movie was going to be much good early on but it’s definitely a movie that gets better in its second half, when there is more story and the movie visuals become just great to watch. It’s a quite surrealistic Japanese movie, that relies heavily on its visuals. There are some amazing visuals throughout the movie, with also the thanks of the phenomenal camera-work. It’s an artistic movie above all things, so beware of what to expect. The movie becomes a sort of a surrealistic Japanese version of the Island of Dr. Moreau. I think those that are familiar with this story, or any of the other movie versions of the story will be more able to understand and appreciate this movie. It was OK for a one time view but I can’t see me sitting through this one again.

Sadako’s Rating: 2.5 stars out of 5

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Galaxy Express 999: Eternal Fantasy (1998)

The 3rd GE999 installment is perhaps not the best in the movie series as it’s far too short at only 54 mins but it’s still got an interesting storyline as a female warrior Helmazaria targets both Tetsuro and Maetel to be killed and there’s a doom laden prophecy about the Earth.

This is probably the best looking GE999 movie of the lot with gorgeous CG animation which surpasses the other 2 movies. Nice to see the resurrection of Claire, the dining car waitress of the train with a machine body made from glass and there’s the obligatory rescue by Captain Harlock. It’s just a shame that the storyline couldn’t be carried on in another movie. Recommended for GE999 fans only.

This is the link to the whole movie on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RHCNIN838U

Sadako’s Rating: 4 stars out of 5

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The Myth (2005)

Martial arts legend Jackie Chan stars as Jack, a world-renowned archaeologits who has begun having mysterious dreams of a past life as a warrior in ancient China. When a fellow scientist asks for Jack’s help in locating the mausoleum of China’s first Emperor, the past collides violently with the present as Jack discovers his amazing visions are based on fact. Assisted by the spirit of a noble princess, Jack follows a mystical trail that soon finds him battling the forces of the legendary Emperor, as well as the henchmen of a modern-day tomb raider, as he seeks to uncover history’s greatest secret – and his own destiny.

A pretty good movie. The story, while it might be original for a Jackie Chan movie, seemed a little cliché. It plays like a young boy’s fantasy of snagging that exotic oriental princess, enjoying the support of the troop masses, having utmost loyalty to the king, and blessed with good fighting skills topped with a signature sword. The Myth looks and feels like a classic JC movie in terms of production values, like the familiar fight-with-the-baddies-acrobatic-stunts scenes, and physical humour injected at certain points. However, I guess with JC’s age, the number of fight scenes have been reduced, and somewhat slowed down deliberately. The fight at the Rat Glue Factory stood out for being a combination of both brawn and situational humour. Eye candy comes in the form of Kim Hee-seon and Mallika Sherawat and they don’t disappoint. Overall this movie has much that can be enjoyed, just don’t expect too much from a simple predictable storyline, and for some illogical and improbable scenes (a horse back-kicking a couple of people).

Sadako’s Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5

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Dead Or Alive: Final (2002)

Set in a post apocalyptic Yokohama where the population is kept under rigid control by a homosexual megalomaniac mayor. The citizens are administered drugs to suppress heterosexual urges. Officer Takeshi Honda is a hard boiled cop enforcing the mayor’s agenda, and Ryō is a mellowed out drifter that hooks up with a gang of rebels. When the gang kidnap Takeshi’s son, it begins a series of events leading to an inevitable showdown.

Sadly the weakest of the DOA trilogy but it’s still a lot of fun and it does contain a bonkers ending. This seems to be a satire of sorts on sci-fi movies with nods to Blade Runner, The Matrix and The Terminator. The story is nothing new, and even the characters are easily understood and familiar, but there is something about Miike’s gritty take on the conventions of genres and cinema that gives it an originality. Who else but Miike could make three completely different and unrelated movies and tie them all together into a package that is both confusing and cohesive? Okay, so the ending is nuts but it was typical of Miike. Expect the unexpected from him! Riki Takeuchi and Sho Aikawa are once again brilliant in their leading roles and have been in all 3 movies. It’s also obvious to those that watch this movie that the setting is not in Japan but in Hong Kong! There’s a lot to like in this movie: a good sense of humour, exciting action and some very beautiful moments. It’s a great finish to the series. You could criticise it for being a bit cheesy, but isn’t that part of the charm?

Sadako’s Rating: 3 stars out of 5

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13 Assassins (2010)

The plot in a nutshell: a group of assassins come together for a suicide mission to kill an evil lord.

What a fantastic samurai movie by Takashi Miike. I’m a massive Miike fan and this is probably one of his best movies to date and has surely raised his stature to become one of the greatest directors ever. What he has accomplished in this movie is amazing. It’s obvious that there’s a big influence on Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai here. The first part of the movie is fantastic…you can feel the tension growing; you know that is going to explode but you don’t know really when and when it comes you just want more and more and this movie gives you enough. It culminates in a long 45 minute sword fighting battle in a small village as our 13 heroes take a stand against an army of 200. It’s exciting stuff which is breathtaking to watch. This movie is a solid entry from Miike. His previous movies were everything from outstanding to bizarre but this one speaks volumes. It’s got great characters and it is beautifully shot. 13 Assassins is an epic masterpiece and a must see.

Sadako’s Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

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