4 posts tagged “miike”
This is currently Oscar season and, so far, the only Oscar-caliber movie I've seen this year is the Dark Knight, unless Let the Right One In ends up considered for best foreign language film, in which case, I've seen that (we're not counting technical awards in this statement). This post isn't about the movies I'm likely to see in that category (which include Benjamin Button and Changeling, although the buzz for both has diminished my excitement); instead, this is about the movies that the less high-brow (Dak Knight, totally high-brow) parts of me are looking for to, and, in most ways, you could say I'm looking forward to the most.
Described by one preview critic as live-action anime mixed with horror, Ninja Assassin is the Watchowski's next production with James McTeigue. It stars Korean Pop Sensation® Rain as an orphan taken in by ninjas who turn him into the World's Deadliest Assassin and who eventually end up on his shit list for killing his friend. The chick from 28 Days Later plays a cop or something. V for Vendetta was good, and this looks to be probably less "topical," but probably more lively.
2. Kick-Ass
Kick-Ass is a graphic novel by comic dude Mark Millar, who brought Wanted into the world, the comic that is, and I have to assume the comic is halfway decent, as they did, after all, make a mediocre moderately-appeciated movie out of it. It is directed by Matthew Vaughn, who used to produce Guy Ritchie movies, and who directed Layer Cake, as well as almost directed X3 before the smell of shit became too powerful, eventually forcing him to drop out of the project. Kick-Ass is about a teenager who just straight up becomes a super-hero for no reason, with no powers, or training, but it's probably because no one pays that much attention to him otherwise. Layer Cake was a cool, tough british crime movie (I'm pretending he didn't also direct Stardust) and the graphic novel is supposedly kind of violent, enough to make Nic Cage almost reconsider doing the movie, even though Nic Cage consistently makes terrible movies and is only a draw in the National Treasure franchise, and should just be happy that this isn't one of those. Whatever, it should be a nice, low-key, probably surprising comic story with style and popcorn-worthiness.
3. Yatterman
This movie is Japanese and directed by Takashi Miike, who I am in the tank for, so even if it sucks I'll think it's awesome, but it probably won't suck. Nobody (like me) really knows what exactly he's going to do with the material, but it's based on an old cartoon teevee show, and that show was about a group of villains after an artifact that will lead them to a bunch of gold, and the duo of heroes (the Yatterman) who try to stop them. It's probably going to be big and silly and very Japanese, and so not like anything being released in this part of the world next year. Except for Watchmen, maybe, although that will probably be super-serious. Oh, and Yatterman is live-action, btw.
I've taken a lot of time talking about this, and that Brad Pitt picture is effing huge, so we'll just say it's Tarantino, and I want to see it, and I'm hoping it's something different, presentation- and mood-wise than what he's most known for (Kill Bill and Pulp Fiction). I like those movies, but, as much as I hate to say it, he took a hit in the industry with Death Proof, a movie that was very fucking indie for a movie that was supposed to be trashy. That's my kind of thing, but money is tight these days, and if this movie ends up being indie and quirky, I hope it's in a way that tricks people into theater seats, such as with a couple things exploding, and tastefully-placed dick jokes.
I lump these two together because EVERYONE, give or take, wants to see these, because they will probably be decent. I'm giving it up to Watchmen as likely the better of the two, although I haven't seen any real footage of Star Trek beyond the teaser before Cloverfield. I wasn't that into 300's script, but I thought it looked pretty darn great and I think Watchmen will benefit from not only (allegedly) stronger source material, but the fact that Zack Snyder has had 300 as practice for pretty much anything he'd need to do to pull this movie off, so I'm pulling for him (there's a three and half hour cut to this movie, but the one we'll likely see will be about two and half--so I'm pulling for the DVD as well).
As for Trek, what I like about it is the universe, and always have. I've never liked Deep Space Nine, or Enterprise, or wjatever else after Voyager the first couple years, but I'm hoping JJ Abrams' involvement will make it okay for me to openly praise the Star Trek franchise without getting funny looks. No on H8!
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Whatever, it got pushed back, so I don't even watch trailers at this point, as it's pointless--I mean, I read the book (all these are based on something else, I noticed. All new ideas are in the source material business (books, sometimes teeveez) so any spoilering will be in the images, and not getting to see them presented fresh when the movie opens, instead having them whored across the internet as the movie itself stays locked in its bedroom until next July. That being said, this was a good book, so whatever.
Dishonorable Mention:
Punisher Warzone: I was rooting for director Lexi Alexander (Greenstreet Hooligans), but every image I see of this has been worrisome, and artless studio types have supposedly dubbed a buttrock soundtrack on this thing (something the currect TV spots corrobrate) so we're looking at abortion territory here I fear.
Osker busz:
I also want to see the Wrestler.
Okay, I first heard of Crows Zero from...imdb I guess? Whatever, it's directed by Takashi Miike (Audition and Gozu are two of my favorite movies of the last few years, people are probably over this) and it's got an actual budget as compared to something like Gozu, which, I believe, was like straight to DVD type of thing back in Japan, or like a TV movie (the DVD one is more likely). THis was released in theaters and did pretty well, well enough that a sequel is currently in production with Miike doing the same job (directing, remember?). In an ongoing quest to waste what little money I have, I sought out and bought a copy of this film--I watched it Sunday afternoon.
Basically, there's a high school where all the dudes fight each other, and one kid rules the school, while the new kid wants to take his place, to be the boss hog of the school. It's about honor and "being a man" and fulfilling your potential, and it's kind of great, sating my J-film fan needs and my hollywood spectacle ones as will, albeit, on a pretty small scale. There are no giant set-peices like a Die Hard or anything, it's more along the lines of Kill Bill, or maybe even the first Matrix (without the wire-work of either of those two). The action is filmed and staged convincingly; this isn't Ong-Bak style fists of fury martial arts cinema--this is about a bunch of thugs beating the shit out of each other. Their world is also hyper-reality to a pretty decent extent, and that's the first hurtle of the movies: it is not always self-conscious. I basically groaned through the first few establishing scenes. But the film owned me by the time the plot was established. Basically Miike wanted this shit to look badass, and it does. I fully bought that these kids were cooler than me, but while there is posture, there is also (sniffles) heart and an obvious desire to create a satisfying movie on many levels, including humor, cheesy relationship stuff, introspection, and face-pounding.
So whatever, as i mentioned the budget before, all of that basically went into making the production look professional, and it helps. Miike has said that directing is basically the easiest job on the set, but directing hand-to-hand fight scenes (sometimes featuring a gaggle of extras) this well is not in everyone's range. Rent it, lower your expectations and let it warm up to you, it's worth it.
Four stars.
One of the things I did this one year where I basically hid in a room for a year, writing a particular story, is I was a Netflix subscriber, and I watched a lot of Japanese and Korean (and some Hong Kong) movies. What I got out of it is I became a fan of Kiyoshi Kurosawa, who did the tech thriller Pulse, which Americans know for its shoddy remake, a donkey-dick sucking film also known as Pulse.
But I also came to greatly appreciate Takashi Miike, who everybody and their mom already liked, but who I had to learn to like on my own. His movies are known for being "fucked up", and one of his most famous is Audition, which starts out as sort of a somber romance drama, and turns into a fucking nightmare. My other favorite is Gozu, which makes very little sense but is scary anyway, or because of that. I thought I hated it when I first saw it, but scenes kept popping up in my mind as days passed, and I realized that I thought it was awesome.
