Movie review theme: 3 Japanese movies you've never heard of

[cheesemon]

I'm back to the really obscure stuff so not expecting any comments for this one. Well, then again I don't expect comments for most of my movie posts these days. ;) Just need to catalog my thoughts.

Comments

[iideliishii]

Oh yes, Paprika was wonderful! I actually saw it as a date movie on Friday, so it can work...if you go with someone who also finds the "WTF" stuff interesting. :-) I would really like to watch it again at a later point -- a lot of it was confusing, but it was beautifully done. I think I might understand more of it if I watched it again down the road. I love how it weaved in and out of the dream world and reality. I think the word I found that seemed to fit this movie best was "trippy."

[cheesemon]

I'm surprised, you're one of the last persons I expected to reply since I thought you rarely watch movies. I'm even more surprised that we actually both liked the same movie for once. ;) So, I assume your friend is a lover of the arts? Mine prefer straight-forward popcorn flicks. :P

So did you follow the subs or were you able to understand the Japanese? Has it become rusty? ;)

One surprising thing I read recently is that the Paprika lady actually falls in love with the DC Mini creator at the end of the movie. But they're complete opposites, and she bashes him for most of the film!! WTF?? Maybe just otaku fan service? ;)

[iideliishii]

I do actually go to the movies on a pretty regular basis (Lately I've been averaging 2-3 theater movies in a month), I just rarely blog about it. :-) And my friend does seem to enjoy the arts -- it, quite literally, was a first date (second date tonight, actually!) so I don't know him particularly well, but if he likes fun, twisted artsy movies, that's definitely a "plus" in my book

[cheesemon]

NOWAI! I'd love to know what movies you've seen recently and what you thought of 'em. So I can disagree with you when I watch them ;)

I couldn't survive without the subs. Just too much technobabble. I mean, I could sorta get it, and there was so English here and there that made my ears perk. ( I had no idea masturbation was katakana eigo, no wonder the students kept using it for their "Do you like . ." examples and pronounced it so well too. Evil kids. :P )

Maybe I'm reading into it too much but it just doesn't work whether motherly or intellectually. The guy's a mess and his room is worse. And if she has to cook for him, yikes. I've seen opposites attract in so many films, but this is just the most oppositiest. XD

[calixa]

I thought Tada, Kimi wo aishiteru was overrated too. It was OK, nothing special. I like Aoi Miyazaki quite a bit though. She can do much better than this.

[cheesemon]

Overrated? Are there a lot of people who *do* like it? From the box-office, it was pretty unpopular in Japan. I was actually talking to a Japanese person recently and she also didn't like it either nor that ridiculous ending. :P

Wasn't Aoi Miyazaki the original Nana? I thought she was pretty good there, seemed like it was closer to her real self. The real test of her acting skills though will be in next year's taiga drama.

[calixa]

Really? It's rather popular on the internet; I watched it because it seemed so many people loved it. I found the story rather thin. I kept expecting some kind of twist, but nothing ever came. The scenery was very beautiful, though.

[acceptance85]

I would probably watch GTO if only to drool over the hotness that is Nanako Matsushima. Damned Takashi Sorimachi. Lucky bastard who gets to sleep with her everyday.

And I would so drill your head with a screwdriver if you have yet to watch Tokyo Friends: The Movie. ;)

[cheesemon]

Meh, I'm more jealous of MatsuJun who gets to hang out with Inoue Mao, Keiko Kitagawa, and well, pretty much any woman he wants. XD Except Nanako Matsushima I guess, Takashi would break him.

Hold back your tools of torture, old boy. ;) I would check out Tokyo Friends but then I'd have to watch the series first and I've got my hands swamped with DVDs and a dozen jdramas already. :P I wonder why Otsuka Ai hasn't acted since then? Was her acting really that bad?

[cheesemon]

Isn't it strange that Gokusen hasn't had a movie yet?

Then there's Kisarazu Cat's Eye who had like sub-10% ratings and got TWO movies, which ended up both doing very well surprisingly. Hm, Sushi Oji's getting a movie? Y'know, one thing some of these movies have in common is Johnny's. I wonder if Johnny pushes studios to make movies with his stars to help sell CDs . . ?

I liked the trailer too but trailers can be quite deceptive. You can find it on Veoh somewhere with pretty good subs.

[caithion]

On the GTO movie... was that the one with the student on the train tracks? Or am I thinking of something else? Because I saw it shortly after it came out, if it's the one I'm thinking of. I didn't think it was so very terrible. But I have bad taste. ;)

[cheesemon]

Whoa, you really are going back to catch up on your f-list? That's insane considering how big it is!

Yup, that's the movie. You watched it when it first came up? You were in Japan in 99? BTW, you don't have bad tastes . . no one who loves Ima Ai has bad taste. ;)

Nice pictures, btw! I can't believe it was all-expense paid!! The teaching programme I'm interested in wanted to send me to Mexico or Trinidad for a month or two and wanted $4000. I decided to reject them and save up for a trip to Japan instead. XD

[caithion]

*holds up "Insane People 'R Us" sign* Actually, I whimped out for a day. ;)

I didn't see it in theaters, but I remember downloading a copy around that time. Probably '99 or 2000? I think I still have it on a disc somewhere...

I hate those programs where they want you to pay to go through hell and/or do someone's grunt work for them. Japan sounds much more exciting.