Top 5 Movies I Wanna Watch Now..
There are certain movies that are very hard to get a chance to watch over here, because they're either not from hollywood, too foreign, too weird or too extreme.
Right now I'm listing down the current top five of my most "want it now!" movies. They're just the ones I've somehow stumbled across, heard about and have been waiting since forever. But in order to see them I would have to break either my wallet ($$$), a sweat (by going to some promiscuous film screening somewhere in the city) or the law (uhumm.. y'know).. or just continue waiting...
So without further ado, here's the list..
5. Rena Tanaka's movies
I just LOVE Rena Tanaka but she always manages to flee from me. She has acted in over 20 films (and tons of CMs) but I've seen only a couple of them.. GTO and Hatsukoi (I already have one called Ninja Hattori-kun but haven't had the urge to watch it. An adaptation of a famous manga about modern day Ninja, it looks a bit silly :P).
Not one but four new Rena Tanaka films are coming out in 2007, Toubou Kusotawake, Yuunagi no Machi Sakura no Kuni, Gegege no Kitarou and Mouryou no Hako. I would be so lucky to get my hands on even one of them. I'm still waiting for her Taiwanese movie, Tripping... and her movie version of Ganbatte Ikimasshoi! Actually I'm waiting for the other 15+ movies of hers as well. Someone please share any of them with me if you have them or know where to get them. She's just so sweet! I honestly think if I were to see more of her, she could easily push Yui Aragaki off the number 2 spot in my official "Top 3 Japanese Idols" list XD
(Ai-chan's still holding on for dear life at number 1)
((I have way too many lists))
4. Bakjwi (aka Evil Live)
After a short break with the very tame I'm a Cyborg, But That's Okay, Park Chan Wook's returning to his more familiar thriller/horror route.
The only info so far, it's a modern-day vampire story. That's good enough for me!
3. My Blueberry Nights
Wong Kar Wai is one of my favourite directors.. and whenever I hear he's making a new movie I let out a shrill glee of anticipation (was that correct?). Maybe it is because of the quality; the way he manages to convey the age old story of love and innovates it, the way he makes each scene so memorable and haunting, the perfect use of music, that you can spot that it is a WKW movie from a mile away, how he always makes full use of Tony Leung or is it the Christopher Doyle cinematography? Or maybe it is the fact that he only releases each one of his films for every like, 10 years or so.. but hey, masterpieces aren't masterpieces if they're easy to make and can be produced on the assembly line, like a lot of Hollywood garbage nowadays.
Which is why I even though I'm excited about this movie, I'm not that hopeful that it will be as good as his usual affairs. It's a Hollywood production, and Hollywood always somehow manages to hire extremely talented foreign directors and actors, cut of their hands and legs (i.e creative freedom and so on) and churn out some safe product that will (most of the time) bring in the dough but almost always a mild version of what the artists' are truly capable of.
Featured in the recent Cannes film festival, the early reviews from those who've seen it confirms this. The general consensus was, it's almost a WKW movie, but not quite as profound or subtle.. and no Tony Leung! But it made the top 3 because I've been waiting a long time for another film from WKW, as per usual.
2. Gedo Senki (Tales From Earthsea)
I always try not to read too much into movie synopses because often times they spoil the show. So I basically have no idea what this animation is about apart from the fact that 1. Gedo Senki is a Studio Ghibli production (which is never a bad thing) 2. it was directed by first-time director Goro Miyazaki (Hayao Miyazaki's son) 3. did really well at the box office when it was released in Japan.
I have the soundtrack. It's fairly bland but without watching the story behind the music I guess it doesn't hold as much impact. I saw the singer of the theme song, Teshima Aoi appearing on Music Station. She was so shy! She looked very uncomfortable being up on stage with all the big stars. She also said she finds Tokyo scary and would like to go back to her hometown A.S.A.P to eat her fav ramen ^^. She has a very beautiful voice though..
Out of all the movies mentioned, I think I have a very high chance of seeing this one compared with the rest. For now though decent copies or English subs is still not yet available, I don't think..
1. Sukiyaki Western Django
Heard about this only recently, this is one of Takashi Miike's latest offerings. I view Miike as the anti-WKW. While WKW takes his time with his films, Miike releases them by the bucket-loads. WKW makes his movies slow and beautiful. Miike can do that when he wants to. But his movies are usually very frantic and chaotic to say the least and romance is usually not the main issue, far from it. However both directors have their very own distinct styles.
Miike has also done more genres than you can shake a stick at. Horror, romance, super heroes, action, yakuza, artsy-fartsy.. you name it, chances are he's done it. This time it looks like he's giving a try doing a spaghetti western (?). The casting looks great Hideaki Ito, Masanobu Ando, Yusuke Iseya, Renji Ishibashi, Takaaki Ishibashi, Teruyuki Kagawa, Yoshino Kimura, Kaori Momoi, Toshiyuki Nishida, Shun Oguri, Masato Sakai, Hideaki Sato, Koichi Sato, Christian Storms, Yoji Tanaka, Quentin Tarantino.
Not sure how many of them will just be cameos but Quentin Tarantino, Oguri Shun and Utaban's Taka-san in one movie? That's worth the ticket price in itself. HOWEVERRR they will all be speaking English in the movie.. and sometimes things can get ugly, really ugly *cough*emperorinTheLastSamurai*cough*
Addendum:
Between the time I started writing this entry and now (took a long break in between because the internet was down), the results for the 2007 Cannes Film Festival was made known. Movies that I would like to see (but not holding my breath for them) are Secret Sunshine, a Korean movie to which Jeon Do Yeon won best actress. I heard she did an excellent job in this one (and it stars Song Kang Ho ;D)... and also Mogari no Mori and 4 Luni, 3 Saptamini si 2 Zile (4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days) which won the Grand Prix and the Palme d'Or awards respectively. I don't think there was a truly outstanding film in this year's festival..
Right now I'm listing down the current top five of my most "want it now!" movies. They're just the ones I've somehow stumbled across, heard about and have been waiting since forever. But in order to see them I would have to break either my wallet ($$$), a sweat (by going to some promiscuous film screening somewhere in the city) or the law (uhumm.. y'know).. or just continue waiting...
So without further ado, here's the list..
5. Rena Tanaka's movies
I just LOVE Rena Tanaka but she always manages to flee from me. She has acted in over 20 films (and tons of CMs) but I've seen only a couple of them.. GTO and Hatsukoi (I already have one called Ninja Hattori-kun but haven't had the urge to watch it. An adaptation of a famous manga about modern day Ninja, it looks a bit silly :P).
Not one but four new Rena Tanaka films are coming out in 2007, Toubou Kusotawake, Yuunagi no Machi Sakura no Kuni, Gegege no Kitarou and Mouryou no Hako. I would be so lucky to get my hands on even one of them. I'm still waiting for her Taiwanese movie, Tripping... and her movie version of Ganbatte Ikimasshoi! Actually I'm waiting for the other 15+ movies of hers as well. Someone please share any of them with me if you have them or know where to get them. She's just so sweet! I honestly think if I were to see more of her, she could easily push Yui Aragaki off the number 2 spot in my official "Top 3 Japanese Idols" list XD
(Ai-chan's still holding on for dear life at number 1)
((I have way too many lists))
4. Bakjwi (aka Evil Live)
After a short break with the very tame I'm a Cyborg, But That's Okay, Park Chan Wook's returning to his more familiar thriller/horror route.
The only info so far, it's a modern-day vampire story. That's good enough for me!
3. My Blueberry Nights
Wong Kar Wai is one of my favourite directors.. and whenever I hear he's making a new movie I let out a shrill glee of anticipation (was that correct?). Maybe it is because of the quality; the way he manages to convey the age old story of love and innovates it, the way he makes each scene so memorable and haunting, the perfect use of music, that you can spot that it is a WKW movie from a mile away, how he always makes full use of Tony Leung or is it the Christopher Doyle cinematography? Or maybe it is the fact that he only releases each one of his films for every like, 10 years or so.. but hey, masterpieces aren't masterpieces if they're easy to make and can be produced on the assembly line, like a lot of Hollywood garbage nowadays.
Which is why I even though I'm excited about this movie, I'm not that hopeful that it will be as good as his usual affairs. It's a Hollywood production, and Hollywood always somehow manages to hire extremely talented foreign directors and actors, cut of their hands and legs (i.e creative freedom and so on) and churn out some safe product that will (most of the time) bring in the dough but almost always a mild version of what the artists' are truly capable of.
Featured in the recent Cannes film festival, the early reviews from those who've seen it confirms this. The general consensus was, it's almost a WKW movie, but not quite as profound or subtle.. and no Tony Leung! But it made the top 3 because I've been waiting a long time for another film from WKW, as per usual.
2. Gedo Senki (Tales From Earthsea)
I always try not to read too much into movie synopses because often times they spoil the show. So I basically have no idea what this animation is about apart from the fact that 1. Gedo Senki is a Studio Ghibli production (which is never a bad thing) 2. it was directed by first-time director Goro Miyazaki (Hayao Miyazaki's son) 3. did really well at the box office when it was released in Japan.
I have the soundtrack. It's fairly bland but without watching the story behind the music I guess it doesn't hold as much impact. I saw the singer of the theme song, Teshima Aoi appearing on Music Station. She was so shy! She looked very uncomfortable being up on stage with all the big stars. She also said she finds Tokyo scary and would like to go back to her hometown A.S.A.P to eat her fav ramen ^^. She has a very beautiful voice though..
Out of all the movies mentioned, I think I have a very high chance of seeing this one compared with the rest. For now though decent copies or English subs is still not yet available, I don't think..
1. Sukiyaki Western Django
Heard about this only recently, this is one of Takashi Miike's latest offerings. I view Miike as the anti-WKW. While WKW takes his time with his films, Miike releases them by the bucket-loads. WKW makes his movies slow and beautiful. Miike can do that when he wants to. But his movies are usually very frantic and chaotic to say the least and romance is usually not the main issue, far from it. However both directors have their very own distinct styles.
Miike has also done more genres than you can shake a stick at. Horror, romance, super heroes, action, yakuza, artsy-fartsy.. you name it, chances are he's done it. This time it looks like he's giving a try doing a spaghetti western (?). The casting looks great Hideaki Ito, Masanobu Ando, Yusuke Iseya, Renji Ishibashi, Takaaki Ishibashi, Teruyuki Kagawa, Yoshino Kimura, Kaori Momoi, Toshiyuki Nishida, Shun Oguri, Masato Sakai, Hideaki Sato, Koichi Sato, Christian Storms, Yoji Tanaka, Quentin Tarantino.
Not sure how many of them will just be cameos but Quentin Tarantino, Oguri Shun and Utaban's Taka-san in one movie? That's worth the ticket price in itself. HOWEVERRR they will all be speaking English in the movie.. and sometimes things can get ugly, really ugly *cough*emperorinTheLastSamurai*cough*
Addendum:
Between the time I started writing this entry and now (took a long break in between because the internet was down), the results for the 2007 Cannes Film Festival was made known. Movies that I would like to see (but not holding my breath for them) are Secret Sunshine, a Korean movie to which Jeon Do Yeon won best actress. I heard she did an excellent job in this one (and it stars Song Kang Ho ;D)... and also Mogari no Mori and 4 Luni, 3 Saptamini si 2 Zile (4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days) which won the Grand Prix and the Palme d'Or awards respectively. I don't think there was a truly outstanding film in this year's festival..