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| Henshin!Headlines for 2005: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 12/17/05: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| DVD Review ZERO WOMAN: RED HANDCUFFS Ass-Kicking, Eye-Gouging, Bone-Breaking Female Super Cop on R1 DVD! Author: August Ragone Source: Discotek Media
Those who are fans of '70s Japanese Cult Cinema, in the vein of Shigeo Osawa's THE STREET FIGHTER (Gekitotsu! Satsujin-Ken, 1974), Toshiya Fujita's LADY SNOWBLOOD (Shura Yukihime, 1973), and the television series SUKEBAN DEKA (1984-86), should not hesitate to pick up this violent, stylish and outlandish Toei action film directed by Yukio Noda. But, if you're one of those people who squirm at the violence in films like Quentin Tarratino's KILL BILL Volume 1 (2003) or Bo Arne Vibenius' THRILLER: A CRUEL PICTURE (1974), step away from the DVD display - but, if you've relished any of the above-mentioned titles, ZERO WOMAN: RED HANDCUFFS (Zeroka-no Onna Akai Wappa, 1974) is a must-see slice of exploitation carnage for you!
Discotek's audio and video presentation is about equal to similar Toei titles recently issued by Adness America/Ventura Distribution (although Ventura's titles seem to have less speckling and grain). The subtitles are fine for the most part (translating the Japanese "Sori" as "President", instead of "Prime Minister"), and all of the cast and credits are translated (although there are some incorrect translations for names - which is not uncommon). Some lines of subtitled dialogue ran to the very end of my monitor - which could have been a result of the anamorphic presentation, but is still a bit careless. Hopefully Discotek will remedy this problem on future releases. There are 25 chapter stops, which is generous for a movie that only runs 88 minutes. The trailers for the feature are incredibly grainy and appear closer to 1.85:1 aspect ratio, which is a bit squeezed. While the trailer for the live-action LUPIN III feature is in its original Tohoscope 2.35:1 aspect ratio and looks great, considering the age of the source materials. I feel that more effort could have been put into the menus, which are absolutely uninspired - something that Ventura does much better (I really like Ventura's "sock-it-to-me" screen transitions), considering using the non-animated menu style. Different music cues (and the theme song) play over these.
While not up to the (admittedly high) standards of Home Vision Entertainment releases, such as Kinji Fukasaku's STREET MOBSTER (Gendai Yakuza Hitokiri Yota, 1972) or GRAVEYARD OF HONOR (Jingi-no Hakaba, 1975), Discotek's release of ZERO WOMAN is a damned good freshman effort. Hopefully, they will improve on any minor blemishes one may nitpick with this release. Again, while ZERO WOMAN: RED HANDCUFFS is hardly a "family friendly" film, Discotek also is releasing such early Miyazaki classics as ANIMAL TREASURE ISLAND (Dobutsu Tarakajima, 1971), so there's something for everyone! Keep 'em coming, Discotek! |
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| 12/06/05: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| MEDIA BLASTERS RELEASE SCHEDULE 2005-2006 Tons of Titles Coming to R1 DVD from the 'Tokyo Shock' Label Author: Keith Aiken & August Ragone Source: Media Blasters
November 15, 2005: KI REI: TERROR OF BEAUTY (Kirei?, 2004) KI REI (meaning "Beautiful") is the latest horror movie from writer/director Katsuya Matsumura, the man responsible for the infamous ALL NIGHT LONG video series (1992-2003). Dr. Yoko Noguchi (played by RETURNER's Yukiko Okamoto), a beautiful and successful plastic surgeon, is visited at her clinic by a young woman named Yoshie. Yoshie wants her face altered to look like Yoko's, and she pleads with the doctor to perform the surgery. Yoko finally concedes when she is offered an extremely high cash payment. The operation is a success, but the disturbed Yoshie continues to come back and demands more procedures. The young woman's obsessive search for beauty draws the doctor into a never-ending world of insecurity, horror, and pain. 85 minutes, in Japanese with English subtitles, SRP $29.95. November 29, 2005: ZATOICHI TV SERIES VOL. 1 (Zatoichi Monogatari) A threat is uttered, a blade is drawn, a flash of cold steel and then... A dozen attackers lay dead, dispatched by the lightning sword of one blind man: Zatoichi. A humble masseur and gambler, Zatoichi wanders from town to town plying his trade and rolling the dice. With a kind heart and lethal sword skills, he is a protector of the innocent and the ruin of wicked men.
Episode 1: A CHALLENGE OF CHANCE (Director: Kazuo Mori, Original Airdate: 10/03/1974) - Zatoichi joins forces with a new friend to protect a beautiful mining heiress; but a cruel yakuza boss has designs on her body as well as her business. Episode 2: THE FLOWER THAT BLOOMED WITH THE LULLABY (Director: Yoshiyuki Kuroda, Original Airdate: 10/10/1974) - Everyone thinks little Taro is an orphan; when it's learned his father is a wealthy silk merchant, Zatoichi must protect him from a scheming couple and a deadly yakuza gang. Episode 3: A MEMORIAL DAY AND THE BELL OF LIFE (Director: Shintaro Katsu, Original Airdate: 10/17/1974) - On the anniversary of his mother's death, Zatoichi vows not to use his sword. Can he keep his oath? Co-starring Kinya Kitaoji.
Episode 5: THE HEARTLESS MAN, TOUCHED BY COMPASSION (Original Airdate: 10/31/1974) - A masterless samurai works as a hired killer to help his blind sister. Will friend Zatoichi be next on his hit list? Co-starring Toshio Kurosawa. ZATOICHI TV SERIES, VOL. 1 is a two-disc set with a running time of 250 minutes, in Japanese with English subtitles. SRP $29.95. November 29, 2005: THE MAN BEHIND THE SCISSORS (Hasami Otoko, 2004) Directed by Toshiharu Ikeda (EVIL DEAD TRAP), THE MAN BEHIND THE SCISSORS is a quirky a perplexing police thriller centered on a pair of killers who ritualistically murder schoolgirls with scissors. The psychotic Yasunaga (played by Etsushi Toyokawa, THE GREAT YOKAI WAR and the upcoming SUBMERSION OF JAPAN) and his sidekick Chinatsu (Kumiko Aso from ZEBRAMAN, CASSHERN) find themselves being questioned as witnesses to a murder when their next planned victim is executed by a copycat killer. Also starring Hiroshi Abe (TRICK, GODZILLA 2000) and television actor Koji Higuchi. 124 minutes, in Japanese with English subtitles, English dub, SRP $29.95. Official Japanese site
Thousands of years ago, the continent of Mu sank beneath the ocean during a violent earthquake. Some of the inhabitants survived, and the Mu Empire developed into an aggressive undersea kingdom with strange and powerful weapons. Almost 20 years after the close of World War II, Mu attacks Japan as the first step in their plan to conquer the surface world. But, the only thing standing in their way is the rumored colossal flying super submarine, named Atragon (aka the Goten), built by missing Imperial Navy Captain Jinguji. Can the elusive Jinguji be found in time to aid mankind, and even so, can the might of the Atragon be able to defeat the Mu Empire, and their serpent god Manda? Released in Japan as UNDERSEA WARSHIP, Toho renamed the film - and the submarine - ATORAGON for international markets. American International Pictures picked up the film for the US and shortened the title to ATRAGON for their theatrical release in 1964/1965. The crew responsible for producing ATRAGON were made up of many of the people behind the Godzilla series: Producer Tomoyuki Tanaka, Director Ishiro Honda, Visual Effects Director Eiji Tsuburaya, Scenarist Shinichi Sekizawa and Music Composer Akira Ifukube. The cast features such familiar faces as Jun Tazaki (GORATH, GODZILLA VS. THE THING, MONSTER ZERO, DESTROY ALL MONSTERS), Tadao Takashima (KING KONG VS. GODZILLA, FRANKENSTEIN CONQUERS THE WORLD, SON OF GODZILLA), Akihiko Hirata (GODZILLA, THE MYSTERIANS, SAYONARA JUPITER), Yu Fujiki (KING KONG VS. GODZILLA, GODZILLA VS. THE THING), Hideyo Amamoto (WHAT'S UP TIGER LILY?, GODZILLA VS. THE SEA MONSTER, GMK) and Hiroshi Koizumi (GODZILLA RAIDS AGAIN, MOTHRA, MATANGO, GODZILLA: TOKYO SOS). The Asian dragon-styled kaiju, Manda, would next be seen in DESTROY ALL MONSTERS (1968) and GODZILLA FINAL WARS (2004) - and the Goten would return in both GODZILLA FINAL WARS and SUPER STAR FLEET SAZER X: FIGHT! WARRIORS OF THE STARS (2005).
ATRAGON UPDATE: The ATRAGON DVD has been postponed. Delays in receiving original English language materials have pushed back the disc, but the final audio mix is now being worked on by Gramercy Post. Media Blasters is sorry for the delay, but they're confident fans will be very pleased with the finished result. ATRAGON is now tentatively rescheduled for a mid-January release. December 27, 2005: KEKKO KAMEN SURPRISE!! (2004) No one has seen her face, but everyone has seen her body! The fourth installment in the newest live-action series based on the naked super heroine created by Go Nagai (DEVILMAN, MAZINGER Z) takes a strange turn... it's "Kekko Kamen the Musical". When the long-suffering Mayumi (Aki Hoshino) attends the Mangriffon Music Academy, she once again subjected to the usual classroom tortures. Its up to Kekko Kamen to save the day and dole out some rock n' roll justice. Directed by Takafumi Nagamine (KEKKO KAMEN, KEKKO KAMEN RETURNS) and starring Misaki Mori (FLOWER AND SNAKE) as Kaori Wakatsuki/Kekko Kamen. 90 minutes, in Japanese with English subtitles, SRP $29.95.
A 3 disc set of DVD previously released by Media Blasters, this collection features all the violent film adventures of high school student/white witch Misa Kuroi - based on the popular 1970s manga, "Eko Eko Azarak": WIZARD OF DARKNESS (Eko Eko Azaraku, 1995), the prequel BIRTH OF THE WIZARD (Eko Eko Azaraku II, 1996) and MISA THE DARK ANGEL (Eko Eko Azaraku III, 1998). Extras include "The Making of EKO EKO AZARAK", an art gallery, film premiere footage, interviews with director Shimako Sato and actress Kimika Yoshino, and original theatrical trailers. Full running time 270 minutes, in Japanese with English subtitles, English dub, SRP $19.95. December 27, 2005: ART OF THE DEVIL (Khon Len Khong, 2004) ART OF THE DEVIL is a Thai horror film focusing on the investigation into the sensational murder of a millionaire's family. After police fail to uncover the evidence needed to charge the millionaire's mistress, a young crime reporter discovers how the woman committed the murders... she used the dark art of witchcraft! 96 minutes, in Thai with English subtitles, SRP $19.95 January 17, 2006: SPACE AMOEBA (Gezora - Ganime - Kameba: Kessen! Nankai-no Daikaiju) Helio 7, an unmanned rocket probe aimed at Jupiter, is hijacked by a malevolent and non-corporeal intergalactic intelligence and is redirected back to Earth. News photographer Taro Kudo (Akira Kubo, THRONE OF BLOOD, MATANGO, SON OF GODZILLA) spots the probe as it lands near Selgio, a South Pacific island being developed into a tourist attraction. Kudo travels to Selgio with publicist Ayako Hoshino (Atsuko Takahashi, DESTROY ALL MONSTERS), scientist Kyoichi Miya (Yoshio Tsuchiya, RED BEARD, MONSTER ZERO, GODZILLA VS. KING GHIDORAH), and industrial spy Makoto Obata (Kenji Sahara, RODAN and KING KONG VS. GODZILLA). Not long after their arrival, they are attacked by a gigantic cuttlefish, which the islanders worship as "Gezora". They soon discover that the disembodied invaders have infected the cells of tropical sea and land animals, transforming the beasts into massive killer kaiju. Kudo and the others must find a way to stop the aliens and survive attacks from the giant jungle turtle Kamoebas (aka Kameba) and a pair of crab monsters called Ganime.
The DVD of SPACE AMOEBA will include a 2.35.1 transfer of the uncut film, the original Japanese audio track in 5.1 and 2.0, the 2.0 original English-language track from AIP's US theatrical release, with removable English subtitles. Extras include a featurette entitled "Meet the Marine Animals Behind the Monsters!", a photo gallery, the Japanese theatrical trailer, and previews for all of Media Blasters' Toho titles: ATRAGON, DOGORA, MATANGO, THE MYSTERIANS and VARAN THE UNBELIEVABLE. SRP $19.95 January 17, 2006: BAIAN THE ASSASSIN VOL. 1 (Hissatsu Shikakenin, 1973) This release is the first of four DVD volumes collecting the initial and phenomenally popular and long-running "Hissatsu" television and movie series. The original series being released features the exploits of Dr. Baian (Ken Ogata, THE PILLOW BOOK, MISHIMA: A LIFE IN FOUR CHAPTERS), an acupuncturist whose skills can both cure and kill. While he is the epitome of a good man and physician, he also accepts money to assassinate the gluttonous and cruel, in order to care for the poor and sick, which cannot afford medical treatment. Set in the streets, bars, and brothels of the Edo period (1603-1867), the show has been praised for its authentic depiction of that time. Also starring So Yamamura (TORA! TORA! TORA!, GODZILLA VS. KING GHIDORAH) and Ken Watanabe (LAST SAMURAI, BATMAN BEGINS, MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA). In Japanese with English subtitles, SRP $29.95.
January 31, 2006: GARUDA (Paksa Wayu, 2004) Written and directed by Monthon Arayangkoon, GARUDA is a Thai giant monster movie. During a subway tunnel excavation under Bangkok, a group of workers discover a rock so solid that even their most powerful and expensive drill cannot break through. Closer examination of the rock reveals strange animal fossils that are unlike any known dinosaur remains. The government calls in a young French/Thai archaeologist named Leena Pierre (Sara Legge) and her American assistant Tim (Dan Fraser) to investigate the site with a special forces team led by Colonel Tan Toschai (Sornram Theppitak). The group's intrusion awakens Garuda, a mythical beast from Thai folklore that resembles a 15 foot tall humanoid with the head and wings of an eagle. Garuda goes on a rampage through Bangkok, and Leena, Tim and Toschai must find a way to contain the mythical beast. 112 minutes, in Thai with English subtitles, SRP $19.95
GOYOKIN ("The Gold Shipment") is a highly regarded Chambara epic that was recently shown as part of Samurai film festivals in New York and San Francisco. A retainer named Magobei (Tatsuya Nakadai) returns to face the clan he abandoned when he learns that they intend to instigate another massacre. Protecting the sole survivor of that slaughter, a woman called "Taken by the Gods" Oriha, Magobei endures great physical punishment as he works towards a final confrontation with his brother-in-law, the clan's leader. The climatic nighttime battle, set on a snow-covered beach, is one of cinema's epic sword duels. Co-starring Tetsuro Tamba (KWAIDAN, YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE, SUBMERSION OF JAPAN). Directed by the celebrated Hideo Gosha (THREE OUTLAW SAMURAI, HUNTER IN THE DARK, TENCHU). February 14, 2006: SCORPION: BEAST STABLE (Joshu Sasori Kemono-Beya, 1973) The third film in Toei's FEMALE PRISONER: SCORPION series opens with Scorpion's escape from prison. Hiding out in a brothel with a friendly prostitute, Scorpion (Mieko Kaji, LADY SNOWBLOOD) tries to keep her true identity a secret, but the brothel's madam recognizes her as the ex-girlfriend of a vice officer who killed the madam's lover, a member of the yakuza. The madam calls in the yakuza, and Scorpion is soon tortured and framed for a crime she did not commit. SCORPION-BEAST STABLE features the theme song that was immortalized in Quentin Tarantino's KILL BILL VOL. 1. Directed by Shunya Ito (PRIDE).
Based on the hit television series SUKEBAN DEKA II: LEGEND OF THE GIRL IN THE IRON MASK (which was adapted from Shinji Wada's popular manga of the same title), this Toei movie features a band of undercover "delinquent girl detectives" who use unconventional weapons, such as metal yo-yos, against subversive elements who wish to overthrow the Japanese government. This time, suspicion falls on an island Juvenile Detention Facility, whose enrollment is being secretly trained as a mindless army by its ruthless headmaster (played by Masato Ibu, EMPIRE OF THE SUN, GODZILLA FINAL WARS, LORELEI: THE WITCH OF THE PACIFIC). Directed by Hideo Tanaka. February 28, 2006: DIECOVERY (2003) Five years after a girl was murdered in Thailand, an unsuspecting newlywed couple honeymoons at her burial location. They soon discover an evil presence and must try to escape from a ghostly nightmare. March 14, 2006: THE NEIGHBOR NO. 13 (Rinjin 13-Go, 2004) Adapted from the best-selling manga by Santa Inoue, this film is a twisted revenge drama by first-time director Yasuo Inoue (no relation). A kind and gentle young man named Juso Murasaki (Shun Oguri) has been so traumatized by years of school bullying that he develops a second, violent personality called the Neighbor No. 13 (Shido Nakamura). 13 decides it's time for some payback on schoolyard bully Tohru Akai (Hirofumi Arai) and turns his attention towards the man's innocent wife (Yumi Yoshimura of the J-pop group Puffy Ami-Yumi) and son. Filmmaker Takashi Miike has a brief cameo. Also coming on March 14th is ZATOICHI TV SERIES VOL. 3, featuring episodes 10-13 of THE TALE OF ZATOICHI. On March 28th, Media Blasters will release BAIAN THE ASSASSIN VOL. 2 and Right Beyond's TAXI TONIGHT. |
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| 11/17/05: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| DVD PREVIEW: SONY'S GODZILLA: FINAL WARS The 50th Anniversary Godzilla Film is Released on Region 1 DVD and UMD Author: Keith Aiken Source: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Years of war and nuclear tests have awakened a number of giant monsters from hibernation. To combat this threat, mankind stops its infighting and forms the Earth-Defense Force, an international military organization using mutant super soldiers. Through a combination of skill and luck, the EDF is able to trap the most dangerous monster of all, Godzilla, deep in the ice of Antarctica. Decades later, the hard-fought peace is disrupted when aliens from Planet X unleash an army of monsters in attacks on cities around the world. The EDF leaps into action, but soon find themselves overwhelmed. Realizing that Xilians are unaware of Godzilla, a small band of survivors take the last remaining EDF battleship, the flying submarine Gotengo (also known as the Atragon), on a desperate journey to awaken the King of the Monsters and unleash him against the aliens' kaiju army. After half a century of Godzilla films (and a growing feeling in Japan that the formula had grown stale), Toho decided to celebrate the monster's anniversary with one final blowout and then give him an extended vacation. In the hopes of drawing a wider audience, the studio brass chose 35 year-old director Ryuhei Kitamura, known for kinetic action films like the cult hit VERSUS, to helm the picture. Working with executive producer Shogo Tomiyama and writers Wataru Mimura (GODZILLA VS. MECHAGODZILLA II, GODZILLA VS. MEGAGUIRUS) and Isao Kiriyama (ALIVE, AZUMI), Kitamura crafted an "everything but the kitchen sink" tale combining elements of many of Toho's most popular classic monster movies, Hong Kong martial arts, and American blockbusters to create GODZILLA FINAL WARS.
Following an exclusive world premiere screening at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood on November 29, GODZILLA FINAL WARS was released in Japan on December 4, 2004. The film failed to connect with Godzilla fans or the general public and was a box office disappointment. Earlier this year, Sony began negotiations for North American television and home video rights, while Toho held theatrical screenings of the film at a handful of festivals around the US and Canada. Reaction to GODZILLA FINAL WARS in America has been much more varied than its home country, with some fans decrying the film's many flaws while others praise the fast pace and over the top action.
The (admittedly slight) extra attention from Sony has had some Godzilla fans hoping for a truly great release, but the GODZILLA: FINAL WARS DVD is a mixed bag that will please some fans and strongly disappoint others.
The DVD features the original Japanese audio and an English dub track prepared by Toho, both in 5.1 Dolby Digital. The English version is the standard Toho international dub and features many of the familiar Hong Kong voice actors from previous Toho releases. Some of the voices fit well, while others (like those use for Mothra's priestesses, the Shobijin) are incredibly bad. All in all, the dub works well for a film as loopy as FINAL WARS. One nice touch is that all the English dialogue heard in the Japanese release has not been touched; Don Frye, Darren Schnase (the Gangster Pimp), Mick Preston (the NY Cop), and the other English-speaking actors all sound exactly as before. The only exceptions are a couple of lines spoken by the Japanese actors which were redone to match with their dubbed voices.
The film is broken down into 28 chapters. It appears that someone was having fun with the chapter titles, which include names like "Kaiju Apocalypse" and "The Baddest Man Alive" (for Gordon's fist fight with the Xilians). Sony also shows a great sense of humor and a surprising lack of ego by giving the chapter in which their American Godzilla gets trounced by the original the title "Pretender to the Throne". There's a strange inconsistency in the naming of some of the film's characters, by both Toho and Sony. The name of the alien invaders is spelled "Xilian" in the film and Japanese publicity materials, and "Xilien" is Sony's press sheets. The dubbing and subtitles use the name "Anguirus" while the English-speaking characters in the film use the monster's original name, "Angilas". The Son of Godzilla has no less than three names on the Sony disc; the Chapter Menu use the American name "Minya", the subtitles use "Minilla" (a direct translation of the Japanese name Minira, as in "Mini Gojira"), and Toho's English dub calls him Milla (pronounced "Mee-lah").
While the American GODZILLA: FINAL WARS DVD pales next to the bounty of extras on Toho's own Region 2 DVD boxed set, it does include English subtitles and dubs unavailable on the Japanese release, and the film itself is presented as beautifully as one could hope for. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment will also release FINAL WARS and the studio's own version of GODZILLA (1998) on UMD for the PlayStation Portable (PSP) system. Both films have no extra features, though GODZILLA comes with English and French audio and English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean, and Thai subtitles. |
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| 11/08/05: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ENTER, KAMEN RIDER V3! JN Productions Unleashes More Classic Japanese Superhero to US DVD Source: JN Productions and Generation Kikaida.
The 6-disc collector's edition KAMEN RIDER V3 box set features all 52 English-subtitled episodes, with digitally remastered video and audio, and an array of special features sure to amaze fans and non-fans, alike. JNP and Shirokiya are selling the V3 box set at a special introductory price of $169 (the regular retail price will be $199), including free domestic shipping, plus special gifts. The KAMEN RIDER V3 set is being produced in limited quantities, so those interested should order their copies without delay. Each of the first five discs in the KAMEN RIDER V3 DVD box set contains nine episodes and behind-the-scenes episode factoids, meticulously researched by August Ragone, a San Francisco-based authority on Japanese Cult Cinema and Television. Ragone also contributed all of the textual materials for the set, including two in-depth background essays, and also supervised the English subtitle scripts. "For more than six months, all I did was eat, breath and sleep KAMEN RIDER V3 - but still, I can't wait to see the finished product!" exclaimed Ragone.
As was the case with KIKAIDA, JNP aimed to please both hardcore live-action superhero enthusiasts and a more mainstream audience. The opening billboard on each disc - each featuring a different Kikaida- or Kamen Rider V3-related character racing across the JNP logo - is a playful nod to dedicated Tokusatsu fans by Robby Gaskell, JNP senior DVD producer. Gaskell spent countless hours restoring the picture quality and color of the original program, and his menus and animated intros go the extra mile. "This is definitely our best work to date," said Gaskell. "I feel it's the perfect balance of artistic interpretation and homage to the original [V3] series." And if most KAMEN RIDER V3 fans aren't interested in the minutia of technical DVD authoring challenges, they'll appreciate the end result - the complete, fully-subtitled V3 series, a host of fun special features, and eye-catching, easy-to-use disc menu design. "On the surface [the DVD is] bonkers with lightning bolt graphics, karaoke music videos and character sound effects, but when you dig into it, there is an abundance of information to satisfy the 'super-otaku' ['geek'] in everyone," Gaskell said. The user interface on each disc is a delight with vibrant scenes from each episode. The Japanese-to-English translation - by veteran JNP translators Karen Corpuz, Ruby Nagao and Roy Mashima (and edited by Ragone) - is spot on and includes an "expletives-deleted" option for younger viewers.
KAMEN RIDER V3 tells the story of a young Japanese university student and motorcross phenom Kazami Shiro (Hiroshi Miyauchi), who vows to avenge the brutal murder of his family by taking on the sinister Destron organization. After suffering a near-fatal injury at the hands of the ruthless syndicate, Shiro is revived as the mighty cyborg, Kamen Rider V3. Drawing on the power of his Double Typhoon henshin ("transformation") belt, Kamen Rider V3 battles a myriad of mutant monsters dispatched by Destron. Although Toei produced both the KIKAIDA and KAMEN RIDER series the monsters in KAMEN RIDER V3 are more sinister and grotesque than the colorful, comical and clunky KIKAIDA adversaries. Similarly, V3's pyrotechnics are more explosive, and the stunts more exciting with series star Miyauchi performing all of his own stunts. Both heroes were the brainchild of the late, great Japanese manga artist, Ishimori Shotaro (CYBORG 009). Shirokiya and the official Generation Kikaida Online Store are now taking pre-orders for the KAMEN RIDER V3 box set - don't be left out of this special introductory offer! For more information, call 808-845-8567 or go to the official Generation Kikaida website. |
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| 11/04/05: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| DVD REVIEW: YOU KNOW THE NAME OF KING KONG Classic Media Brings the Rankin/Bass KING KONG Cartoon Show to DVD Author: Keith Aiken Source: Classic Media, Inc.
THE KING KONG SHOW was created by Rankin/Bass Productions, a company founded in 1960 by Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass. Originally named Videocraft International, Rankin/Bass is best known for some of the most popular holiday specials in television history, starting with RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER (1964) and including FROSTY THE SNOWMAN (1969), SANTA CLAUS IS COMING TO TOWN (1970), and THE YEAR WITHOUT A SANTA CLAUS (1974). In 1966, the company received permission from RKO General, Inc. to use the name and likeness of King Kong for an animated series and new live-action film. Working with writers Lew Lewis, Bernard Cowan, and Ron Levy, Rankin and Bass crafted the concept for THE KING KONG SHOW; renowned scientist Professor Bond brings his children Susan and Bobby along on an extended exploration of Mondo (sometimes referred to as Skull Island), a tropical island that is home to a variety of dinosaurs, prehistoric animals, and a mysterious beast called Kong. After King Kong saves Bobby from a Tyrannosaurus Rex the two become best friends, and the giant ape joins the Bond family and Captain Englehorn (based on the character from the 1933 KING KONG) for adventures on Mondo Island and all across the globe. In addition to the occasional dinosaur attack, the group must deal with natural disasters, monsters, the military, alien invaders, and recurring villain Dr. Who, a deranged genius whose creations include the robotic Kong doppelganger, Mechani-Kong. THE KING KONG SHOW premiered with an hour-long primetime pilot episode on the ABC network on Tuesday, September 6, 1966. The show moved into its regular Saturday morning timeslot on September 10 and was shown on ABC thru August 31, 1969; then syndicated to stations across America for more than a decade. Twenty four half-hour episodes were produced, each containing two King Kong tales (which run about 7 minutes) and one story of Tom of T.H.U.M.B. - a silly spoof of spy movies featuring a janitor and his assistant who are accidentally shrunken to 4 inches and join the top secret organization T.H.U.M.B. (Tiny Humans Underground Militaristic Bureau) to battle the nefarious agents of M.A.D. (Maladjusted, Antisocial, and Darn mean). The KONG pilot was later split into two shows (entitled "A Friend in Need" and "The Key to the City"), making for a complete series of 26 episodes.
THE KING KONG SHOW has the distinction of being the first animated show created in Japan for broadcast in the United States. While scripts, designs, and voice acting were all done in the US by Rankin/Bass, the episodes were drawn overseas by Toei Animation (then known as Toei Doga). Many of the Japanese staff who worked on KONG were also responsible for some of the most famous anime of the 1960s and 70s. The animators included Sakei Kitamasa, Osamu Kobayashi (THE TALE OF GENJI), Norio Fukumoto (DEVILMAN, GREAT MAZINGER VS. GETTER ROBO), Tsutomu Shibayama (GHOST QTARO, DORAEMON), Midori Kusube, Takao Kasai, Yasuo Maeda (NIGHT ON THE GALACTIC RAILROAD, WHITE WOLF), and Yasuji Mori (ALAKAZAM THE GREAT, LITTLE PRINCE AND THE EIGHT-HEADED DRAGON). Toei also put production money into THE KING KONG SHOW in exchange for Japanese distribution rights. In Japan, the King Kong and Tom of T.H.U.M.B. segments were split into two separate shows, KING OF THE WORLD: THE KING KONG SHOW (Sekai-no Osha Kingu Kongu Taikai) and 1/7th TOM THUMB (0001/7 Oyayubi Tomu). Compared to modern anime, or even other classic shows like SPEED RACER, the animation in THE KING KONG SHOW is rather crude... but the show definitely has a charm of its own. This is due in large part to appealing character designs from Rod Willis (RETURN TO OZ) and MAD magazine legend Jack Davis (MAD MONSTER PARTY?, 1967). The stories, while simplistic, are a clever mix of humor and adventure. The voice actors generally play things in a straightforward manner, but there are a few hammy characters (mostly villains) who often go over-the-top and imitate horror stars like Bela Lugosi and Peter Lorre. THE KING KONG SHOW also includes some rather violent action. Kong's battle with the Tyrannosaur in the pilot episode is surprisingly brutal for a kids' show, and a nice reminder that the series was made long before the days of bland, safe children's programming. Topping off the show is some wonderful sounds effects (the jungle noises are a hoot) and great music by Maury Laws and Jules Bass, particularly "The King Kong Theme" that both explains the series' premise and is a very catchy tune. After watching an episode or two of THE KING KONG SHOW, there's a high probability the theme song will be stuck in the viewer's head for hours. While THE KING KONG SHOW was in production, Rankin/Bass approached Toho Studios (who had previously made the hit KING KONG VS. GODZILLA) about co-producing a live-action theatrical film based on the show. Toho executive producer Tomoyuki Tanaka assigned screenwriter Shinichi Sekizawa (MOTHRA, GODZILLA VS. THE THING, GHIDRAH THE THREE-HEADED MONSTER) to the project. Sekizawa's script, "King Kong vs. Ebirah: Operation Robinson Crusoe", was rejected by Arthur Rankin because he felt it did not capture the feel of the animated show, so the story was quickly reworked and filmed as the seventh movie in the Godzilla series, GODZILLA VS. THE SEA MONSTER (Gojira, Ebira, Mosura: Nankai-no Daiketto, 1966).
Following their work with Kong, Rankin/Bass would produce several popular films and shows. Some of the company's more famous releases include the movie MAD MONSTER PARTY?, the animated versions of J.R.R. Tolkien's THE HOBBIT (1977) and THE RETURN OF THE KING (1980), the television series THE JACKSON FIVE (1971), THUNDERCATS (1985), and SILVERHAWKS (1986), the feature film THE LAST UNICORN (1982), and three TV movies with Tsuburaya Productions-- THE LAST DINOSAUR (Kyokutei Tankensen Pora-Bora, 1977), THE BERMUDA DEPTHS (Bamyuda-no Nazo, 1978) and THE IVORY APE (1980). Production wound down in the mid-1980s, though Rankin and Bass still occasionally re-team for new projects (most recently the 2001 FOX special SANTA BABY!). In 1998, Classic Media acquired the rights to all Rankin/Bass television programming from 1960-1974 and began releasing the classic holiday specials on DVD. Now, on the eve of Warner Bros.' DVD release of the original KING KONG and Peter Jackson's much-anticipated theatrical remake, Classic Media is releasing the first ten episodes of THE KING KONG SHOW on DVD as KING KONG: THE ANIMATED SERIES. The discs are being distributed to retailers by Sony Wonder, a division of Sony BMG Music Entertainment in New York. Both volumes of KING KONG: THE ANIMATED SERIES have an approximate running time of 108 minutes and a suggested retail price of $12.98 (early plans to release a 4-disc set of episodes has been dropped for now). While the DVDs are basically "bare bones" releases, this was to be expected as materials from THE KING KONG SHOW are extremely rare. The lack of materials has led to years of confusion over something as simple as how many episodes were produced; even excellent reference sources like the authorized book ENCHANTED WORLD OF RANKIN/BASS (published in 1997) do not include an episode guide for the series. The DVD covers apparently use new art done in the style of the show but, for some reason, Kong is brown here instead of the blue-grey coloring seen in the actual episodes. The main menus for each disc feature the cover art as well as audio of the entire theme song. There are 'Scene Access' menus (with stills from the series) that allows viewers to play all episodes or selected cartoon shorts. The pilot episode is included on the second 'Scene Access' menu; viewers are advised to start with these shows before moving on to the other episodes. Classic Media has done a wonderful job on the most important feature on these DVDs... the show itself. Barring a few scratches, THE KING KONG SHOW episodes look absolutely fantastic, with a sharp, clear image. The show always had a rather muted palette, but the episodes that use brighter colors (such as the pilot) really pop on the screen. The audio is presented in Dolby Digital and sounds great. With one or two exceptions, the episodes are presented complete and unaltered with full open and closing titles, commercial bumpers, and previews for the next show. If sales of these two discs are strong enough, Classic Media plans to release the remainder of the series (including episodes with the fan-favorite Mechani-Kong) in 2006. I truly hope that comes to pass because THE KING KONG SHOW will bring back fond nostalgic memories for older viewers and is also a fun, entertaining series that should definitely appeal to any fan of Kong and classic Toho fantasy films. Classic Media's DVDs are also well timed; Universal Home Video will release KING KONG ESCAPES on DVD on November 29, so fans will finally have an opportunity to see both the movie and the cartoon show that inspired it. KING KONG: THE ANIMATED SERIES Volume 1 and 2 are highly recommended.
EPISODE 1 King Kong: "Under the Volcano" - While exploring a long dormant volcano on a neighboring island, the Bond family is captured by the inhabitants of an underground kingdom. Kong races to the rescue, but the villains have prepared a trap for him as well. Tom of T.H.U.M.B.: "For the Last Time, Feller...I'm not Bait!" - When a boat containing plans for a top secret weapon sinks at sea, Tom and Swinging Jack use their mini-sub to recover the plans before they fall into the hands of M.A.D. King Kong: "The Treasure Trap" - Bobby discovers an ancient sunken ship. As he explores the wreck, an earthquake strikes Mondo Island and traps Bobby underwater. EPISODE 2 King Kong: "The Horror of Mondo Island" - When Phantasium is discovered, a greedy mining corporation arrives on Mondo Island to dig up the rare metal. Bobby uses a war-painted Kong to send the miners packing before they destroy the island's ecosystem. Tom of T.H.U.M.B.: "Hey, that was a Close One World!" - Tom and Jack go underground to deactivate a M.A.D. doomsday weapon. King Kong: "Dr. Who" - The evil scientist kidnaps King Kong. This short features many elements that would later appear in KING KONG ESCAPES, including a main villain who knocks out Kong with gas bombs then carries him from Mondo Island with helicopters. EPISODE 3 King Kong: "Rocket Island" - Dr. Who disrupts the launch of the Gemini Capsule in order to blackmail the US for 10 million dollars. Tom of T.H.U.M.B.: "I was a 9 1/2 oz. Weakling Till One Day..." - M.A.D. agents capture Tom and Jack and put them in a miniaturized city so that the pair will think they've grown gigantic and go mad. King Kong: "The African Bees" - A giant swarm of aggressive bees descend on Mondo Island, and King Kong uses his brains to protect Professor Bond and a moronic Texas millionaire. EPISODE 4 King Kong: "The Hunter" - A safari hunter named Ulrich Von Kramer uses Bobby as bait to trap the biggest game of all, King Kong. This story features some hilarious monologues from the egotistical Von Kramer and a battle between Kong and a Triceratops. Tom of T.H.U.M.B.: "I was a Starling for the USA!" - Tom and Swinging Jack infiltrate a flock of birds to learn which ones have become agents of M.A.D. King Kong: "The Space Men" - A pair of weird aliens land on Mondo Island to get animal specimens (including Bobby and Captain Englehorn) before they conquer Earth. PILOT EPISODE, PART 1 "A Friend in Need" - Professor Bond brings his children Susan and Bobby with him on an exploration of Mondo Island. Bobby discovers a valley full of prehistoric beasts and is almost eaten by a Tyrannosaurus before being rescued by King Kong. The small boy and the giant ape become fast friends, and Professor Bond and Captain Englehorn decide to take Kong to the US for study. This episode sets up the series and features several dinosaurs, the aforementioned Kong/Rex fight, a tidal wave, and an ocean battle between Kong and a giant octopus called the Kraken.
EPISODE 5 King Kong: "The Jinx of the Sphinx" - Kong and the Bond family travel to Egypt to investigate reports of a monster sphinx destroying ships on the Suez Canal. The sphinx turns out to be the first robotic creation of Dr. Who. Tom of T.H.U.M.B.: "Cool Nerves and... Steady Hands" - M.A.D. agents fill the municipal swimming pool with nitroglycerine, and only Tom and Jack can get close enough to use a can of "nitro neutralizer" before the city is blown to smithereens. King Kong: "The Greeneyed Monster" - Kong gets jealous when Bobby looks after Capt. Englehorn's pet dog. This episode includes a giant vulture-like bird wearing a hat (!?) that tries to eat the pup. EPISODE 6 King Kong: "The Top of the World" - Dr. Who establishes a base at the North Pole and begins to melt the arctic ice with his atomic invention, the Meltifier. As Alaska begins to flood, the Bond family arrives to save the world with the help of King Kong. Tom of T.H.U.M.B.: "All Guys from Outer Space are Creeps" - Tom and Jack are tied to a firecracker and launched into space to befriend a two-headed beatnik alien from Saturn before he can join forces with M.A.D. King Kong: "The Golden Temple" - Bobby and Professor Bond discover a sunken Etruscan temple off the coast of Mondo Island but, when the professor tries to explore further he is sucked into an underwater whirlpool. EPISODE 7 King Kong: "The Electric Circle" - An evil scientist decides to turn Mondo Island into a nuclear missile base for his country, so he kidnaps Bobby as bait to lure Kong into an electric trap. This episode features a very aggressive Triceratops (Professor Bond states that this dinosaur is the "most vicious animal in the world" and "He doesn't kill for food, he kills for pleasure") and a villain who sounds like Peter Lorre. Tom of T.H.U.M.B.: "Mechanical Granma" - To learn why the bad guys are so "maladjusted, antisocial, and darn mean", Tom and Jack infiltrate M.A.D. with a robot "Trojan Horse" built in the shape of a kindly grandmother. King Kong: "Mirror of Destruction" - On a remote island near San Francisco (?!), a scientist has constructed a giant heat cannon (similar in appearance to Toho's Markalites). Dr. Who takes the inventor hostage, then lures the Bond family to the island in order to use the mirrored weapon to kill King Kong. EPISODE 8 King Kong: "Tiger Tiger" - Two perfectly preserved sabretooth tigers are found frozen at the North Pole. When Professor Bond thaws them out, the giant cats revive and attack an Eskimo village. Tom of T.H.U.M.B.: "The Day We Almost had It" - Only Tom can disarm a M.A.D. time bomb before the city is blown to smithereens... but Tom has amnesia after repeated hits to the head. King Kong: "The Vise of Dr. Who" - Dr. Who lures the Bond family and Capt. Englehorn to a fake children's home and traps them in a metal room with freezing and burning walls that slide inward like a giant trash compactor. Can Kong save them? PILOT EPISODE, PART TWO "The Key to the City" - Picking up from Part One on the first DVD; a storm at sea washes King Kong to New York City. Kong climbs the Empire State Building, and the Bond family must stop an overzealous military from attacking the giant ape. HENSHIN! ONLINE EXTRA: THE KING KONG SHOW EPISODE LIST Classic Media has provided an episode list for the entire series so that H!O readers can see exactly how many shows were produced, and what will hopefully be coming to DVD in 2006:
King Kong: "King Kong's House" Tom of T.H.U.M.B.: "Tom Makes History" King Kong: "MechaniKong" EPISODE 10 King Kong: "The Giant Sloths" Tom of T.H.U.M.B.: "Tom Scores Again" King Kong: "The Legend of Loch Ness" EPISODE 11 King Kong: "Dr. Bone" Tom of T.H.U.M.B.: "Blow, Jack, Blow!" King Kong: "No Man's Snowman" EPISODE 12 King Kong: "The Desert Pirates" Tom of T.H.U.M.B.: "Tom and the TV Pirates" King Kong: "Command Performance" EPISODE 13 King Kong: "The Sea Surrounds Us" Tom of T.H.U.M.B.: "The Girl from M.A.D." King Kong: "Show Biz" EPISODE 14 King Kong: "The Wizard of Overlord" Tom of T.H.U.M.B.: "Just One of those Nights" King Kong: "Perilous Porpoise" EPISODE 15 King Kong: "The Trojan Horse" Tom of T.H.U.M.B.: "Runt of 1,000 Faces" King Kong: "The Man from K.O.N.G." EPISODE 16 King Kong: "Caribbean Cruise" Tom of T.H.U.M.B.: "Hello, Dollies!" King Kong: "Diver's Dilemma" EPISODE 17 King Kong: "The Great Sun Spots" Tom of T.H.U.M.B.: "Pardner" King Kong: "Kong is Missing" EPISODE 18 King Kong: "In the Land of the Giant Trees" Tom of T.H.U.M.B.: "Beans is Beans" King Kong: "Captain Kong" EPISODE 19 King Kong: "Statue of Liberty Play" Tom of T.H.U.M.B.: "What Goes Up..." King Kong: "Pandora's Box" EPISODE 20 King Kong: "The Thousand Year Knockout" Tom of T.H.U.M.B.: "Our Man, the Monster" King Kong: "Desert City" EPISODE 21 King Kong: "Eagle Squadron" Tom of T.H.U.M.B.: "Never Trust a Clam" King Kong: "The Kong of Stone" EPISODE 22 King Kong: "Murderer's Maze" Tom of T.H.U.M.B.: "Drop that Ocean, Feller" King Kong: "The Great Gold Strike" EPISODE 23 King Kong: "It Wasn't There Again Today" Tom of T.H.U.M.B.: "Plug that Leak" King Kong: "The Mad Whale" EPISODE 24 King Kong: "The King Kong Diamond" Tom of T.H.U.M.B.: "The Scooby" King Kong: "Anchors Away" |
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| 10/26/05: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NEW FEATURE ADDED TO HENSHIN! ONLINE
We're kicking off the new HENSHIN! HAPPENINGS with news on August Ragone's SHOCK IT TO ME! REVENGE OF CREATURE FEATURES, which is coming to San Francisco this month. To learn more about this great event, please use the link at the top of the Henshin! Online homepage or simply click here. |
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| 10/26/05: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| TOHO PROMOTES NEW FILMS AT AFM 2005 Source: Toho Co., Ltd.
What in your past would you do differently if you could? We all have our regrets, but what if you found yourself back in the moment you most regret... A HEARTFUL OF LOVE portrays a group of characters that return to such moments and find the chance to alter the past. Hiroshi, a 30-year-old businessman, has traveled back in time 20 years. He encounters Kazumi, a young woman whose memory he has always cherished, though he knows she was gravely ill... A HEARTFUL OF LOVE will be shown 5:00 pm on Thursday, November 3rd at the AMC Santa Monica, 1310 3rd Street Promenade.
In the early 1900s aristocracy, a young duke Kiyoaki, and a noblewoman Satoko, have known each other as good friends since they were little children. As they grow up, Satoko gradually realizes that her adoration of the young duke has turned to love. But Kiyoaki does not understand his own mind and he always treats her coldly. However, when Satoko has accepted marriage to another man (for political reasons to save her family), he realizes he loves her, but it seems too late... Based on a novel by Yukio Mishima, Japan's representative novelist whose works are widely known throughout the world.
Tatsuya and Kazuya, twin brothers, have a mutual girl friend, Minami, who has been their playmate since they were babies. After they enter the same high school, Minami harbors a dream: For her school to participate in the national high school baseball championship tournament at Koshien Stadium. In order to make her dream come true, Kazuya joins his high school baseball team as an ace pitcher. But on the morning of the day of the final qualifying game, Kazuya is involved in a traffic accident and dies... Based on the classic manga, which was also a popular anime series in the 1980s.
Timid and withdrawn though he is, a young computer engineer, who is tastelessly clothed, saves a pretty young lady from a wild middle-aged molester on the train. It is love at first sight for him, and when he receives a thank you message from her, she also sends a set of Hermes teacups. Although he was shy about asking her for a date because he never had a girlfriend, he manages to build up the courage to call her. While on the phone with her, however, he asks his friends on the Internet for advice: "Where to take her for lunch?"
Based on the true story of a young boy named Tetsumu who set out against all odds to make the world a better place for elephants. The story begins with Tetsumu as an introverted, sensitive youth who must endure bullying at school and the souring relationship with his parents who operate an animal talent agency, until the arrival of a pair of elephants named "Mickey" and "Randy", who bring him the affection and spiritual bonding he has long sought in human beings. In fact, Tetsumu quickly realizes he is blessed with a natural ability to communicate with the elephants, which prompts him to depart for the jungles near Chiang Mai in Thailand to become Japan's first elephant trainer... |
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| 10/03/05: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| SADAMASA ARIKAWA 1926-2005 Toho and Tsuburaya Pro Special Visual Effects Director Passes Away Author: Richard Pusateri with Keith Aiken Special Thanks to Ed Godziszewski and Steve Ryfle
While some fans may not associate Mr. Arikawa's name with the achievements of Toho's famed special effects unit, a revealing photograph on the set of DESTROY ALL MONSTERS (Kaiju Soshingeki, 1968) significantly places him next to Ishiro Honda, Eiji Tsuburaya and Tomoyuki Tanaka. That photograph reflects the stature that Mr. Arikawa had attained as the Director of Special Effects on that film. (He was sometimes billed as "Teisho Arikawa".) Born in Tokyo in June 1926, Mr. Arikawa graduated from Nippon University's Engineering Department with a degree in machinery. He then joined the Japanese Navy's air corps and flew several anti-submarine patrols over the Pacific Ocean. Following WWII, he was hired by Toho in August 1945 and worked in the studio's sound department. During this time, Mr. Arikawa became interested in special effects of motion pictures and in 1948, he introduced himself to Mr. Tsuburaya. That meeting eventually led to Mr. Arikawa leaving Toho to take a job at Tsuburaya Special Effects Laboratory. In 1950, Eiji Tsuburaya returned to Toho and brought along many of the staff members of his effects house, including Mr. Arikawa. Mr. Arikawa began working on the special effects unit as a camera operator on the Honda/Tsuburaya WWII drama EAGLE OF THE PACIFIC (Taiheiyo-no Washi, 1953), which was followed by the original GODZILLA (Gojira) in 1954. He continued as Mr. Tsuburaya's lead camera operator for most of the Godzilla movies and other classic sci-fi, war and disaster films of the 1960s, occasionally billed as the Director of Special Effects Photography.
In the late 1960s, Mr. Tsuburaya's health began to decline. Mr. Arikawa had been doing the "heavy lifting" of directing the special effects for some time and now he earned the credit on the screen. For SON OF GODZILLA (Kaijuto-no Kessen: Gojira-no Musuko, 1967) and DESTROY ALL MONSTERS, Mr. Arikawa was credited as the Director of Special Effects with Mr. Tsuburaya billed as Supervisor of Special Effects. Following Mr. Tsuburaya's death on January 25, 1970, Mr. Arikawa directed the effects for YOG: MONSTER FROM SPACE (Gezora-Ganime-Kameba: Kessen! Nankai-no Daikaiju, 1970), then left Toho when the studio shut down their special effects department. Mr. Arikawa went freelance, working for various companies, including Kokusai Hoei. But also worked on several of Toho's superhero television shows such as RAINBOWMAN: WARRIOR OF PIETY (Ai-no Senshi Reinboman, 1972-73) on which he served as Visual Effects Director. During the 1970s, he also worked on several overseas films, including the Hong Kong giant monster movie MIGHTY PEKING MAN (Xing-Xing Wang, 1977). Mr. Arikawa was Producer of the Toho Eizo/ Kokusai Hoei television series MONKEY MAGIC 2 (Saiyuki II, 1979) and co-directed the Taiwanese fantasy film THE PHOENIX (1979).
He was an exceptionally entertaining speaker who genuinely enjoyed speaking about his life's work and, during autograph sessions, he cheerfully took time to engage each fan personally. Probably everyone who met Mr. Arikawa that weekend in Hollywood cherishes the memory of an expert technician and skillful artisan who had a sincerely benevolent nature. |
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| 09/27/05: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| THE LATEST FROM MEDIA BLASTERS The Popular DVD Label Releases Several New Japanese Genre Films Author: Keith Aiken Source: Media Blasters
September 13- ONE MISSED CALL (Chakushin Ari, 2004) A group of teenagers start receiving ‘missed call’ messages on their cell phones. When played back the teens hear terrifying voice messages of their own agonizing deaths, with onscreen text giving the exact date and time of their imminent murders. After the first murders occur, the media soon gets hold of the story, and a young woman (Kou Shibasaki) receives her own ‘missed call’. Takashi Miike’s supernatural thriller has already spawned a sequel, ONE MISSED CALL 2, released in January on February 5, 2005. Media Blasters’ 2-Disc set presents the film in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen, with the original Japanese audio track in both 5.1 and 2.0 digital surround sound, a 2.0 English dub, and removable English subtitles. Extras on Disc 1 include the original theatrical trailer and previews for several Tokyo Shock titles. Disc 2 has "The Making of ONE MISSED CALL" documentary, an exclusive interview with Miike, interviews with the cast and crew, TV spots, and more.
Based on the manga by Minetaro Mochizuki (serialized in WEEKLY YOUNG MAGAZINE from September 1994 to December 1999), DRAGONHEAD is an apocalyptic mystery involving students returning home from a school trip aboard a bullet train. A massive earthquake hits while the train is passing thru a tunnel, causing a landslide that derails the train and kills most of the passengers. The only survivors are three classmates; Teru Aoki (Japanese Academy Award nominee Satoshi Tsumanuki, WATERBOYS), Ako Seto (Sayaka Matsuda), and Nobuo Takahashi. As they wait in vain to be rescued, the claustrophobic Nobuo begins to crack under the pressure. Teru and Ako finally manage to escape to the surface only to discover that Tokyo has been destroyed. The two students struggle to survive in the ruined landscape, meet a crazed deserter from the Tokyo Self Defense Forces, and try to uncover the mystery of "Dragonhead"... the source of total devastation. With an enormous budget (by Japanese standards) of approximately $13 million US, DRAGONHEAD features amazing visual effects and scenes filmed on location in the Middle Eastern country of Uzbekistan. Director Joji Iida (ANOTHER HEAVEN, the first RING sequel RASEN) had his crew construct enormous sets and use 80 tons of ash to simulate the remains of Tokyo. Toho released DRAGONHEAD to Japanese theaters in August of 2003. The new DVD features the 122 minute-long film, presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen with the original Japanese audio track (both 5.1 and 2.0) and a 2.0 English dub. Extras include theatrical trailers and TV spots, the half hour documentary "The Making of DRAGONHEAD", a 5 minute "Shooting Diary in Uzbekistan" featurette, and previews for other Media Blasters titles.
Takashi Miike and acclaimed actor/director "Beat" Takeshi Kitano (FIREWORKS, BATTLE ROYALE) had initially planned to work together on the 2003 ZATOICHI remake, but circumstances eventually led to Kitano making the film on his own. The two filmmakers finally teamed for a new project; a period piece samurai movie with a twist. Okada Izo was a warrior from a lower-class family in Midwest Japan. His reputation as a talented swordsman spread across the land, and he was soon recruited as a soldier for a powerful samurai. Under the samurai's guidance, Izo killed so many people that he earned the nickname "Izo the Slaughterer". Eventually Izo was captured by his enemies and crucified. Denied entry to both Heaven and Hell, Izo’s restless soul now travels beyond time and space to unleash deception, despair, and murderous rage on all who cross his path. In addition to Kitano, the cast includes Cisato Amate, Ryuhei Matsuda (GOHATTO, BLUE SPRING, 9 SOULS), Kenichi Endo (VISITOR Q, DEAD OR ALIVE 2), Yoshio Harada (ONIBI, 9 SOULS) rocker Yuya Uchida (DEADLY OUTLAW REKKA), Kirin Kiki (PISTOL OPERA), Susumu Terajima (who has appeared in many Kitano and Miike projects), Mitsuhiro Oikawa (CITY OF LOST SOULS), plus two K-1 fighters, including American superstar Bob "The Beast" Sapp (DEVILMAN). The screenplay is by Shigenori Takechi, who has written for such Miike films as AGITATOR and DEADLY OUTLAW REKKA. Media Blasters’ IZO is a 2-Disc set. Disc 1 features the movie (running time: 128 minutes) in anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen, with the original Japanese audio, removable English subtitles, and an English dub track; plus IZO theatrical trailers, and trailers for Tokyo Shock’s SPACE AMOEBA, NIGHTMARE, SISTERS, and KEKKO KAMEN RETURNS. Disc 2 includes "The Making of IZO", "The Secrets of IZO", footage from the Japanese premiere, the FANGORIA international trailer, and a collection of trailers for Miike’s DEADLY OUTLAW REKKA, VISITOR Q, ICHI THE KILLER, ONE MISSED CALL, THE NEGOTIATOR, and FUDOH.
Just because the gates to the spirit world are usually kept shut does not mean that they cannot suddenly open, that the dead cannot reach out for your throat, that its denizens cannot prowl in abandoned office buildings, or haunt high school video projects. The dark realm is with you, and within you, its emotions calling to yours in shades of horror, of fear, of terror. Writers Kihara Hirokatsu and Nakayama Ichiro have collected these Tales of Terror from accounts told to them as true all over Japan. To date, the Tokyo Broadcasting Services has shown four television movies featuring supposedly "true stories of the unexplained". The films are made up a several short stories (each running approximately 5-10 minutes), with individual segments directed by Takashi Shimizu (JU-ON, THE GRUDGE), Norio Tsuruta (RING 0: BIRTHDAY, THE LOVER), Yoshihiro Nakamuru (writer of Shusuke Kaneko’s musical WHEN YOU SING OF LOVE), Masayuki Ochiai (PARASITE EVE, INFECTION), and Koji Shiraishi (THE UNCANNY). Media Blasters released the first 90 minute-long film, TALES OF TERROR FROM TOKYO: VOLUME ONE, on August 30 with TALES OF TERROR FROM TOKYO AND ALL OVER JAPAN: VOLUME TWO scheduled for October 11.
After a wave of hostage situations, the Japanese Police Headquarters established the "Negotiator System" to deal with the growing problem. Two negotiators, Shuhei Ishida and Maiko Tono, become successful partners until rumors of an affair break up the team and Maiko is demoted to a filing clerk position. When Ishida’s wife and child are taken hostage he fears his emotions will endanger his family, so he asks Maiko to work with him one last time. This TV movie (running time: 107 minutes) is presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen, with 5.1 and 2.0 Japanese audio and English subtitles. Extras include a commentary track by director Takashi Miike, "The Making of THE NEGOTIATOR", the original trailer, and Tokyo Shock trailers for ONE MISSED CALL, TALES OF TERROR FROM TOKYO: VOLUME ONE, TALES OF TERROR FROM TOKYO: VOLUME TWO, and KEKKO KAMEN RETURNS. December 13- ATRAGON (Kaitei Gunkan, 1963) Thousands of years ago, the continent of Mu sank beneath the ocean during a violent earthquake. Some of the inhabitants survived, and the Mu Empire developed into an aggressive undersea kingdom with unique and powerful weapons. In modern day, Mu attacks Japan as the first step in their plan to conquer the surface world. The only thing standing in their way is Atragon (aka the Gohten), a colossal flying supersub built by missing WWII Captain Jinguji. Will Jinguji be found in time to help mankind, and will the Atragon be able to defeat the Mu Empire and their serpent god Manda?
The upcoming DVD will be the first-ever home video release of ATRAGON in the US. While final specifications haven’t been locked down, Media Blasters has revealed their DVD will include most of the extras from Toho’s R2 disc, with the possible exception of the 75 minute-long edited version of the film created for the 1968 "Toho Champion Festival" theatrical re-release. Look for a 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer of the uncut movie (running time: 96 minutes), both the Japanese audio track in 5.1 and 2.0, a 2.0 English dub, the original theatrical trailer, an audio commentary with Honda’s assistant director Koji Kajita, and trailers for other Media Blasters movies. |
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| 09/21/05: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| GODZILLA IN THE UK BFI Brings the Original, Uncut GODZILLA— and THE MYSTERIANS— to British Cinemas Author: Keith Aiken Source: British Film Institute
Following the successful US run of their big budget period film SAMURAI: THE LEGEND OF MUSASHI (Musashi Miyamaoto, 1954), Toho opened a small office in Los Angeles to promote and sell more of their films in America and abroad. GODZILLA was one of the first titles Toho publicized in the US, and an English subtitled print was shown in the Little Tokyo section of downtown LA in mid-1955. Shortly thereafter, US theatrical and television rights to the film were purchased by film distributor Edmund Goldman. Goldman quickly sold his rights to Harold Ross and Richard Kay of Jewell Enterprises, who in turn partnered with Joseph Levine of Embassy Pictures to form a new company called Trans World Releasing Corp that would 'Americanize' and distribute GODZILLA. B-movie director Terry Morse was hired to write and film new scenes with actor Raymond Burr (REAR WINDOW, PERRY MASON) playing an American reporter in Tokyo who witnesses Godzilla's rampage. Nearly 40 minutes of footage from the original GODZILLA was removed; what remained was dubbed into English by James Hong (BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA) and Sammee Tong (BACHELOR FATHER) and edited with Morse's footage. Released on April 4, 1956 as GODZILLA, KING OF THE MONSTERS, the Americanized version did amazing business for a low-budget, independently distributed movie, grossing more than $2,000,000 at the box office.
In England, moviegoers have had far fewer opportunities to see the Godzilla films as only a handful of titles have been released theatrically and on home video in the UK. One of the few bright spots was BBC Two's "Monster Night" in 1998, which featured Godzilla movies and a new documentary about the King of the Monsters. In 1999, British television's Film Four also ran several Godzilla films, including a broadcast of the Japanese version of GODZILLA on their program "Psychomondo". Unfortunately, the subtitles used contained some incredibly mangled and inaccurate credits that listed actors "Akira Murata" (actually Akira Takarada), "Momoko Kawaguchi" (Momoko Koichi), Takeo Murata (the film's screenwriter), and "Shiro Honda" (director Ishiro Honda), with producer Tomoyuki Tanaka credited as the film's director. Now, continuing the monster's 50th birthday celebration and coinciding with the 60th anniversary of the first atomic bomb, the original Japanese version of GODZILLA is finally receiving a UK theatrical release, courtesy of the British Film Institute. Established in 1933, BFI has long provided a wide range of services for film historians and fans, including the National Film Theatre, England's largest screen at the London IMAX Cinema, the National Library, the National Film and Television Archive, the London Film Festival, the London Gay and Lesbian Film festival, theatrical releases thru BFI Distribution, BFI DVD and Video, the popular film magazine SIGHT & SOUND, and award-winning film publications and research services.
- Curzon Soho Cinema - Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in London - Screen on the Green Cinema in Islington - Clapham Picture House in London - Cineworld in Bexleyheath After the opening run, GODZILLA will play at the City Screen Greenwich in London, the Brixton Ritzy in South London, the Riverside Studios in West London, and the Watershed Cinema in Bristol, with more venues added in the coming months. BFI DVD and Video will also bring GODZILLA to DVD (region 2, PAL format) in January, 2006. Check back with Henshin! Online for details on BFI's DVD supplemental features. BFI Distribution will also be screening a new print of the 1957 Toho science fiction classic THE MYSTERIANS (Chikyu Boeigun) at the Institute of Contemporary Arts beginning October 21. Produced by the same creative team behind GODZILLA, THE MYSTERIANS features alien invaders and the giant robot Mogera (later seen in 1994's GODZILLA VS SPACE GODZILLA). GODZILLA has been given a PG Rating by the British Board of Film Classification. BFI's release features new English subtitles by John Minchinton, a veteran translator with more than 50 years experience subtitling films for cinemas and television. The UK theatrical poster was designed and painted by illustrator and fashion designer Phil Ashcroft. Since graduating from St Martins College of Art and Design in 1994, Ashcroft has been a highly sought-after artist; his client list includes Amnesty International, the Royal Mail, EMPIRE magazine, Levi's, and the New York Times, and his work has been exhibited in London, Hong Kong, Brussels, Osaka, Los Angeles, and Tokyo.
For further information and updates on future screenings, please visit the British Film Institute's GODZILLA page. |
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| 09/21/05: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| GARO: THE FANGED WOLF New Series from the Director of MIKAZUKI Author: August Ragone Source: Newtype The Live, Bandai, Additional Information by Daisuke Ishizuka and Keith Aiken
For centuries, the Makai Knights have protected mankind from the Evil Beast Horror (Maju Horror). The latest member of the Makai bloodline is Koga Saejima, a mysterious young man who lives in an ancient castle and battles the evil with his holy sword, the Garo Blade. By tearing into the fabric of space, Saejima is able to become the ultimate incarnation of the Makai, the Golden Knight Garo (Ogon Kishi Garo). The transformation will only last for 99.9 seconds, and as the time limit draws near the Garo armor will begin to change.
23 year-old Hiroshi Konishi stars as Koga Saejima. The supporting cast includes Mika Hijii (one of the stars of director Azuma Morisaki's acclaimed 2004 film THE CHICKEN IS BAREFOOT [Niwatori-wa Hadashi-da]), Rei Fujii, and Amemiya regular Yukijiro Hotaru (the Zeiram films, MIKAZUKI, the Gamera trilogy, GMK). Actor and prop/toy collector Masaki Kyomoto (CUTIE HONEY) will also make a special guest appearance. Garo himself is reminiscent of a refined Toei Sentai Villain, like Loki from HUNDRED BEAST TASK FORCE: GAORANGER (2001-2002) - except plated in high-polished gold armor. The golden savior brandishes a sword called the Makai Blade that can transform into the powerful Garo Blade. Much as the original Kamen Rider appeared to television audiences in the early 1970s, Garo's design is the antithesis of what we think of in terms of a "superhero". In a genre where all of the parameters seem to be firmly set, and like Amemiya's MIKAZUKI, viewers can expect something new and unique with GARO. GARO: THE FANGED WOLF has been approved for 26 episodes and will premiere on Friday, October 7th at 1:30am on the TV Tokyo network. |
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| 08/30/05: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| NEW DVD LABEL TO RELEASE ASIAN GENRE CLASSICS TO AMERICA Discotek Media Presents an Eclectic Mix of Asian Science Fiction, Cult, and Anime Titles Author: Keith Aiken and August Ragone Source: Discotek Media Special Thanks to Ian Friedman
In 2004, a group of retailers in Orlando, FL who were selling Asian cinema and anime videos decided the time had come to start their own DVD label, Discotek Media. Over the past year, they have licensed several titles from Toho and Toei and made a distribution deal with Ryko Distribution, with the first release coming this October. The discs will initially be available through online retailers like Amazon.com, Deep Discount DVD, and DVD Planet; and plans are underway to have Discotek Media titles in all the major retail electronic store chains. The following list covers Discotek's planned release schedule for the next twelve months. Street dates for the first four titles are firm; all others are tentative and subject to change. ZERO WOMAN: RED HANDCUFFS (Zeroka-no Onna Akai Wappa, 1974) Directed by Yukio Noda (YAKUZA COP: THE ASSASSIN), this is the first - and most notorious - entry in the long-running Zero Woman series. Starring Miki Sugimoto, Tetsuro Tamba, Ichiro Araki, Eiji Go, and Hideo Murota, this Toei cult classic will be available in the US for the first time in any format, completely uncut and unedited. The violent police officer Agent Zero is stripped of her badge and sent to prison after she brutally kills a rapist. When a rich politician's daughter is kidnapped, Agent Zero is released from prison to rescue the girl and deal with the criminals however she sees fit. Telecined from a new print, the first Discotek disc corrects print damage that was present when ZERO WOMAN: RED HANDCUFFS was released on DVD in France and the Netherlands. The film is presented in anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen and features the original Japanese language with optional English subtitles (including newly done translations for the credits and onscreen text) and the theatrical trailer. In addition, the initial release of ZERO WOMAN: RED HANDCUFFS will be a limited edition of 10,000 that comes packaged in a slipcase, an inner casing with alternate cover art, and a collectible booklet that will not be available with future pressings. Street Date: October 25, 2005 SRP: $29.95 ANIMAL TREASURE ISLAND (Dobutsu Takarajima, 1971) Inspired by the classic novel by Robert Louis Stevenson, ANIMAL TREASURE ISLAND was directed by Hiroshi Ikeda (special effects director for THE X FROM OUTER SPACE), and features the legendary Hayao Miyazaki (director of MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO and SPIRITED AWAY) as a story consultant and key animator. This "all ages" animated film was regularly shown on US television but has never been released to home video. For the first time, it will be available in its original aspect ratio (presented in anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen), with both Japanese and English audio, and a theatrical teaser and trailer. Street Date: November 15, 2005 SRP: $29.95
A beautiful Toei animated film, based on a classic of Japanese folklore and directed by Kiriro Urayama. Previously released to television and home video in the 1980s, this is the first letterboxed release (2.35:1 anamorphic) in the US - and the first time the film is available on DVD anywhere. Includes the original Japanese language with English subtitles and the English language version that was written and directed by Peter Fernandez (English dubbing supervisor for SPEED RACER and ULTRAMAN). Street Date: January 24, 2006 LUPIN THE THIRD: STRANGE PSYCHOKINETIC STRATEGY (Rupan Sansei: Nenrikichan Sakusen, 1974) Also known as LUPIN III: OPERATION PSYCHOKINESIS, this is the first feature film based on Monkey Punch's long-running and popular manga "Lupin III" (published in English by TokyoPop), working from his original film treatment. The live action caper was directed by Takashi Tsuboshima and stars Yuki Meguro (SHOGUN, LEGEND OF THE EIGHT SAMURAI), and the DVD will be of the same standard as Toho Video's Japanese release from last year - anamorphic letterbox and in Japanese with English subtitles. Street Date: February 21, 2006. SEXY SOCCER (2003) Not a Japanese film, this is a Category III Hong Kong sex comedy made to ride the popularity of Stephen Chow's SHAOLIN SOCCER. As the title implies, this film follows the comedic and erotic adventures of a soccer team of beautiful women. In Cantonese with newly translated English subtitles. Street Date: March 28, 2006. THE WAR IN SPACE (Wakusei Daisenso, 1977) Directed by Jun Fukuda (SON OF GODZILLA, GODZILLA VS MECHAGODZILLA) with special effects by Teruyoshi Nakano (GODZILLA VS HEDORAH- GODZILLA 1985), this Toho sci fi classic combines elements from BATTLE IN OUTER SPACE and ATRAGON, and even throws in a horned Wookiee-like alien called the "Space Beastman". Featuring many familiar classic Toho cast members and a special guest appearance by action star Hiroshi Miyauchi (KAMEN RIDER V3). The first-ever US DVD release of THE WAR IN SPACE will include the original Japanese audio, English subtitles, and the English dub. Street Date: April 25, 2006.
PUSS 'N BOOTS (Nagagutsu O Haita Neko aka "The Wonderful World of Puss ‘N Boots", 1969) This Toei anime feature is based on the Grimm's fairy tale, directed by Kimio Yabuki, and features the early work of Hayao Miyazaki (NAUSICAA, HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE). The English language version was directed by Fred Ladd (GIGANTOR). The title character of "Pero" became the signature mascot of Toei Animation Co., Ltd. Street Date: May 3, 2006 BURST CITY (Bakuretsu Toshi, 1982) Director Sogo Ishii's (GOJOE, ELECTRIC DRAGON 80,000 V) bleak and anarchistic look at a future dystopian Japan; where punk rock gangs wage war in clans and battle with the state police for survival of the fittest. Once you see BURST CITY, you'll never forget it. Discotek's highly-anticipated release of Toei's cult classic is remastered and enhanced for anamorphic televisions, and will also be available in a special box set similar to ZERO WOMAN: RED HANDCUFFS (tentative). Street Date: June 27, 2006. ROBOKILL BENEATH DISCOCLUB LAYLA (Mikadoroido aka "Mikadroid, 1991) Produced by Tsuburaya Eizo and released by Toho's V-Cinema label, ROBOKILL BENEATH DISCOCLUB LAYLA was written and directed by Tomoo Haraguchi (SAKUYA: SLAYER OF DEMONS, KIBAKICHI) with special effects by Shinji Higuchi (the 1990s Gamera trilogy, LORELEI: THE WITCH OF THE PACIFIC). In a forgotten underground factory, an experimental robot soldier intended to fight in the last days of World War 2 is activated and goes on a bloody rampage in modern Tokyo. The cast includes Sandayu Dokumamushi ("Arashi" in ULTRAMAN, "Little Man" Machan ("Minilla" in the Showa Godzilla series), and horror film director Kiyoshi Kurosawa (PULSE) in a supporting note. [I hope that they change the title back to the original MIKADROID, rather than this made-up-by-Asian-Cult-Cinema title - Editor] Street Date: July, 2006 BYE BYE JUPITER (Sayonara Jiyupeta, 1983) While BYE BYE JUPITER has several similarities to the US book and movie 2010, the film is based on the novel by Sakyu Komatsu (SUBMERSION OF JAPAN), which was published years before the sequel to 2001. Directed by Koji Hashimoto (GODZILLA 1985) with effects from Koichi Kawakita (the Heisei Godzilla series), this odd Toho film has too much going on for its own good - a dolphin-loving cult lead by a guitar playing hippie, laser fights, a love scene in zero gravity, and a mystery near Jupiter - but the production design and visual effects are top notch. More than twenty years after its Japanese release, BYE BYE JUPITER comes to the US with the original Japanese audio, English subtitles, and an English dub. Street Date: August, 2006 LUPIN THE THIRD: LEGEND OF THE GOLD BABYLON (Rupan Sansei: Babiron-no Ogun Densetsu, 1985) A bizarre entry in the LUPIN III series, released for the first time on DVD in the US. A Polish Mafia boss and a cadre of female cops pursue Lupin III as he seeks a treasure hidden in ancient Babylon. Discotek's release of this Toho anime will be fully letterboxed, 16:9 enhanced, and contain both Japanese and English Audio, with removable English subtitles. Directed by the legendary Seijun Suzuki (BRANDED TO KILL, TOKYO DRIFTER). Street Date: Late 2006 LUPIN THE THIRD: FUMA CONSPIRACY (Rupan Sansei: Fuma Ichizoku-no Inbo, 1987) During the wedding of Lupin III's partner in crime, the ronin Ishikawa Goemon, a band of ninja disrupt the proceedings to steal a precious family heirloom. All hell breaks loose as Lupin & Co. race to rescue Goemon's bride and retrieve the stolen treasure. One of the best LUPIN III films, this Toho anime title was previously released by AnimEigo, as RUPAN III: THE FUMA CONSPIRACY. Discotek is reissuing this film with the proper "Lupin the Third" moniker and all-new English subtitles and English dub. Street Date: Late 2006 Discotek Media has just launched their own website which features the trailers for ZERO WOMAN: RED HANDCUFFS and LUPIN THE THIRD: STRANGE PSYCHOKINETIC STRATEGY. Henshin! Online will also have news and reviews of Discotek's releases, so check back here for further updates in the near future. |
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| 08/30/05: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Actors Honored in the Japanese Hall of Fame "A Salute to the Stars" Gala Comes to San Francisco Author: David Chapple Source: Japanese Cultural & Community Center of Northern California with assistance of Susan Haramoto and Megumi Komiya
Of the five honorees, one is especially well known to American fans of Japanese monster films. George Takei was the man of many voices for his first acting job as a voice actor on the 1957 American version of RODAN (Sora-no Daikaiju Radon, 1956), followed by the second Godzilla film GIGANTIS: THE FIRE MONSTER (Gojira-no Gyakushu, 1955) and the Toho horror film THE H-MAN (Bijo-to Ekitai Ningen, 1958). Although the general public identifies him as Mr. Sulu in STAR TREK, Mr. Takei is also a great patron and advocate of Japanese-American history and culture, having held two terms as chairman of the board for the Japanese-American National Museum, he now serves as its trustee. In addition, he was one of the driving forces behind the Arts in Transit program that gave each Metro station in Los Angeles its own distinctive look. Mr. Takei considers these two of his most major accomplishments, and was honored for his efforts in Japan-United States relations with the Order of The Rising Sun by Japanese Emperor Akihito at the Imperial palace in Tokyo, in 2004. Another accomplishment that fills him with pride is that he has been able to reach a worldwide audience through a popular medium. Asked why he thought is important to have Asian-American entertainers in mainstream media, he responded by saying, "There is a rich and important story to be told in the Japanese-American experience that is an integral part of the American story. We are a part of the diversity that makes American society so unique." A second nominee agrees. When Noriyuki "Pat" Morita, best known to many as Mr. Miyagi in the KARATE KID films (and Arnold in the long-running series HAPPY DAYS), was asked the same question, he responded, "Japanese- Americans, Chinese-Americans, Filipino-Americans, Korean-Americans, all Asian Americans have been part of the fabric of this country's society history for at least a century or more. Bottom line: we are all Americans despite our racial heritage." James Shigeta, the third inductee in this year's ceremony was the first Asian- American to play a romantic lead in Hollywood films. He is best known for his starring role in the Rogers and Hammerstein musical FLOWER DRUM SONG (1961). Mr. Shigeta has also appeared in the films THE YAKUZA (1975), MIDWAY (1976), DIE HARD (1988) and BROTHER (2000) and television series such as THE OUTER LIMITS (1963 & 1964), PERRY MASON (1965), HAWAII FIVE-O (1968), KUNG FU (1974 & 1975), THE STREETS OF SAN FRANCISCO (1976), BABYLON 5 (1994) and BEVERLY HILLS 90210 (1994). In addition, he starred in a February 1959 episode of the classic DINAH SHORE CHEVY SHOW that introduced American audiences to Japanese entertainment and performers. Mr Shigeta appeared in several skits alongside Oscar winner Shirley MacLaine, Louis Jordan, and acclaimed dancer Sanae Ito (wife of MOTHRA star Jerry Ito).
The fifth honoree is Broadway actress and singer Pat Suzuki, who is best known for playing the lead in "Flower Drum Song" in the 1950s, which has the honored distinction of being the first Broadway musical ever produced about, and starring, Asian-Americans. She was also the first Japanese-American to record on a national label. Her song "I Enjoy being a Girl" was a major hit with American audiences. She appeared on THE FRANK SINATRA SHOW in 1958 and also was a guest on TOAST OF THE TOWN (1959) and THE JACK PAAR VARIETY SHOW (1960). In addition, the event will include a tribute to Japanese American entertainers who have since passed including Jack Soo (BARNEY MILLER), Yuki Shimoda (AUNTIE MAME), Nobu McCarthy (PACIFIC HEIGHTS), and Sessue Hayakawa (THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI). By honoring these outstanding entertainers, the JAHOF intends to recognize not only their excellence in their chosen career, but also the important role they played in bringing pride to the Japanese American community. "A Salute to the Stars" will be held at the famous Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco California and will include a VIP buffet reception and auction for Gold ticket members who will be able to meet and greet the honorees and guests in attendance. The gala, which begins at 5:00 pm will also include performances by many contemporary actors in theatre and film. Ticket sales begin this month. Individual show ticket prices are $50.00 Reserved Seating, $150.00 Premier Ticket, and $250.00 Gold Ticket. All proceeds from the event will be used for funding of the Japanese Cultural & Community Center of Northern California facility and community programs that serve thousands of ethnically diverse individuals every year. The Japanese Cultural & Community Center of Northern California, is a non- profit center created over thirty years ago by the Japanese-American community of San Francisco, and hopes it will continue to be an everlasting foundation of Japanese-American ancestry, cultural heritage, histories, and traditions. For more information, please contact the Japanese Cultural & Community Center of Northern California at (415) 567-5505 or check out their official event webpage. (They also host other cool events like Godzilla film festivals!) |
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| 08/25/05: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ULTRAMANIA COMES TO SAN FRANCISCO THIS WEEK Film Festival Features the Men Who Made Ultraman Author: August Ragone Source: Bay Area Film Events
Joining the premiere will be two of the artists involved in the creation of the more recent Ultraman movies and television series- all the way from Japan, and attending the event for both days- Shinichi Wakasa and Hiroshi Maruyama. Both men will be signing autographs and appearing live on-stage for interviews at "Ultramania". Mr. Wakasa has been one of Japan's premiere monster-makers for over 20 years, working on ULTRAMAN 80 (Urutoraman 80, 1980-1981), the Ultraman spin-off series ANDRO MELOS (Andoromerosu, 1983), ULTRAMAN TIGA (Urutoraman Teiga, 1996-1997), ULTRAMAN COSMOS (Urutoraman Kosumosu, 2001-2002), and the theatrical feature ULTRAMAN COSMOS 2: THE BLUE PLANET (Urutoraman Kosumosu 2: Buru Puranetto, 2002). He has also contributed his considerable talents to most of Toho's Kaiju Eiga films since 1993, including GODZILLA 2000 (Gojira Ni-sen Mireniamu, 1999), GODZILLA VS. MEGAGUIRUS (Gojira X Gojira X Megaguirus: G Shometsu Sakusen, 2000), GODZILLA AGAINST MECHAGODZILLA (Gojira X Mekagojira, 2002), GODZILLA: TOKYO SOS (Gojira X Mosura X Mekagojira: Tokyo SOS, 2003) and GODZILLA FINAL WARS (2004). Mr. Maruyama has been a principal monster designer for the Heisei Ultraman series - ULTRAMAN TIGA through the current series, ULTRAMAN MAX (Urutoraman Makusu, 2005). In addition to producing updated versions of the monsters originally created by Tohl Narita for the original ULTRA Q (Urutora Kyu, 1966), ULTRAMAN (Urutoraman, 1966- 1967) and ULTRA SEVEN (Urutora Sebun, 1967-1968), he is responsible for a cavalcade of creatures that have become popular in their own right.
There will also be a Vendors' Area, free issues of Dark Horse's ULTRAMAN TIGA comic, and special prize give-aways, including a contest for a brand-new, limited edition, Ultraman Guitar (courtesy of Ibanez Iceman Guitars) running this week on Bay Area radio station KRFC 99.7 FM! This special guitar is currently on display at Amoeba Music, 855 Haight St, San Francisco, 94117 - 415-831-1200. On Saturday night, KFRC morning radio personality Cammy Blackstone will be on hand at the Castro Theatre to present the winner with the Ultraman Guitar. For more information, schedules and ticket prices, please visit the "Ultramania" page at the Bay Area Film Events website or the Castro Theatre homepage. |
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| 08/09/05: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| SAN FRANCISCO ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL Ten Days of Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Horror & Melodrama Author: August Ragone Source: San Francisco Asian Film Festival
This year, as always, there are lots of great films from Japan, Hong Kong, Mainland China, Taiwan and Korea but we here at Henshin! Online are especially interested in the films from Japan, and the line up is pretty good for those of you still watching DVDs of old Godzilla and Takeshi Miike films. So, turn off your TV, give your DVD player a rest, and march down to the San Francisco Asian Film Festival and watch some films the way they were meant to be seen on the big screen. The Japanese line-up includes: Makoto Shinkai's A PLACED PROMISE IN OUR EARLY DAYS (08/14 12:30 @ The 4-Star Theater) Shinya Tsukamoto's A SNAKE OF JUNE (08/16 9:50 & 08/18 9:30 @ The 4-Star Theater) Yukisada Isao's CRYING OUT LOVE IN THE CENTER OF THE WORLD (08/13 2:45 @ The 4-Star Theater & 08/20 12:15 @ The Presidio Theater) Tetsuya Nakashima's KAMIKAZE GIRLS (08/14 9:30 & 08/16 5:30 @ The 4-Star Theater) Katsuhiko Fuji's LADY CHATTERLEY IN TOKYO (08/16 12:30 @ The 4-Star Theater) Adults Only! Takeshi Shimizu's MAREBITO (08/18 7:30 @ The 4-Star Theater) Yasuo Inoue's NEIGHBOR NO. 13 (08/12 9:30 @ The 4-Star Theater) Kiyoshi Kurosawa's PULSE (08/15 6:00 @ The 4-Star Theater & 08/20 9:50 at The Presidio Theater) Shinya Tsukamoto's latest VITAL (08/13 10:00 & 08/17 9:45 @ The 4-Star Theater) For more information on these and the other great films in this year's line-up, please go to the official website for synopses, dates, times and venues. You can also go to the official website for more information on purchasing tickets, or just use these methods: By Phone: (415) 666-3488 daily after 1pm to 10pm. By Mail: Send to 4 Star Movie Theatres 2200 Clement St. San Francisco, Ca. 94121. Go to the official website for more detailed information. In Person: 4 Star Movie Theatre, 2200 Clement St., daily 1pm to 10pm. Box Office: (415) 666-3488. Presidio Theatre, 2340 Chestnut St., daily 1pm to 10pm. By fax: (415) 386-3718. Festival Tickets also sold at Super 7 located at 1630 Post St. located in the heart of San Francisco's Japantown (415) 407-4700. See you there, and have a great time at the movies! |
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| 07/13/05: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| GODZILLA 3D TO THE MAX Director Yoshimitsu Banno Plans IMAX Rematch for Godzilla and Hedorah Author: Keith Aiken Source: Advanced Audiovisual Productions, Inc., Godzilla3D.com Special thanks to Oki Miyano
In 1971, Toho released one of the more bizarre films in the Godzilla series, GODZILLA VS HEDORAH (Gojira tai Hedorah, aka "Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster"). Director Yoshimitsu Banno focused on concerns about environmental pollution by depicting Godzilla's battle with Hedorah, a sludge-like alien that emerged from the dirty waters of Sagami Bay. Thirty-four years later the director is hard at work prepping a new Godzilla project that will revisit those themes. Entitled GODZILLA 3D TO THE MAX, the planned short feature will combine the talents of Toho Studios with cutting-edge Hollywood CG and 3-D effects, all on display on the eight- story tall IMAX movie screen. Banno has long dreamed of making a new Godzilla film. In January of 2000, he established Advanced Audiovisual Productions, Inc. to produce 70mm Large Format films and animation, and also manufacture and sell equipment for IMAX and other giant screen theaters. With Toho taking a break from kaiju films in the wake of GODZILLA FINAL WARS, the director was able to secure permission to use the characters of Godzilla and Hedorah, and is currently meeting with investors in the United States to secure financing for the project. Advanced Audiovisual Productions has prepared English language materials explaining the concept, characters, story, and marketing potential for GODZILLA 3D TO THE MAX which provide much more information about the film than has been previously revealed. The AAP materials describe Banno's intentions for both Godzilla and the new version of Hedorah, which is named Deathla (not 'Desera' or 'Deathorah' as has been erroneously reported elsewhere). While recent Godzilla films have depicted the monster as antagonistic towards mankind, GODZILLA 3D TO THE MAX returns Godzilla to his heroic "Save the Earth" persona of the 1970s. One of the director's top objectives for the film is that Godzilla appeal to young people and demonstrate the importance of adopting a more "Earth Friendly" way of living. In addition to a personality change, the King of the Monsters will also display a talent long unseen... that's right, Godzilla flies again!
The story for GODZILLA 3D TO THE MAX begins at dawn, as a flaming meteor from the Deathla Star crashes into the Sargasso Sea. The meteor releases a swarm of Locust-Deathlas which rises into the sky like a tornado. On the border of Brazil and Argentina is Iguassu (Guarana for "Big Water") Falls, one of the largest waterfalls on Earth. On nights of the full moon, the Falls create a rainbow effect known as the "Spray of Iguassu". Mischa, a televison reporter doing a story on the night rainbow, has traveled to Iguassu with her younger brother Jim. The two are still recovering from the loss of their father, a firefighter who was killed during the September 11 attacks in New York, with Jim having a particularly rough time. He constantly carries around a harmonica left to him by his dad, and his only friend is a German Shepard called Little Beard.
A freak summer snowfall heralds the arrival of the monsters to New York City. Monster-Deathla grows larger and larger as it absorbs garbage at a city dump. The alien buries Godzilla in sludge at the Central Park reservoir, then oozes down Broadway in the direction of the 9/11 Monument. Revived by the prayers of children, Godzilla blocks Monster-Deathla's path then leaps into the air. Godzilla attacks with the "Ultra Spin Tail Punch", slicing Deathla into pieces with a series of tail strikes. The victorious monster then flies back to its jungle home. Godzilla arrives at Iguassu as the full moon rises over the waterfall. As Godzilla disappears into the Falls, the beast's tail strikes the rushing water and causes a huge spray that casts a rainbow over Jim and Mischa... in glorious 3-Dimensions.
The crew for the film features a mix of personnel from Japan and America, many of which have a long history with large format and 3-D films. In addition to directing the film, Yoshimitsu Banno is also the lead writer and general producer. Banno's longtime assistant Kenji Okuhira is associate producer. The co-producers are Roger Holden (president of Whitecat Productions and 21st Century Sound and Vision, Inc) and Brian Rogers (T2 3D: BATTLE ACROSS TIME). Acting as co-director is Keith Melton (CIRQUE DU SOLEIL: JOURNEY OF MAN). Godzilla series veteran Eiichi Asada (GODZILLA: TOKYO SOS, GODZILLA FINAL WARS) returns to direct the special effects, while Peter Anderson (CAPTAIN EO, T2 3D, SHREK 2 4D) is the director of photography and supervisor of visual effects. Filming is tentatively scheduled for December, with post-production taking place between March and May of 2006, and the finished film ready for exhibition in June of next year. Toho will handle theatrical distribution in Japan, while Advanced Audiovisual Productions will handle worldwide sales. At this time there are 234 IMAX theaters in the world; including 136 in North America and 16 in Japan, and numbers have been steadily growing, particularly in China and India. In recent years, American studios have prepared special IMAX versions of hit films like FANTASIA 2000, HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN, and BATMAN BEGINS. There is also three major large format film festivals held annually. To tap into this market and expand Godzilla's audience around the world, AAP and Toho are also discussing a wide variety of TV specials, DVDs, CDs, toys, books, and other merchandising featuring Godzilla, Deathla, and GODZILLA 3D TO THE MAX. If everything goes according to plans, Godzilla may soon literally be bigger than ever before. |
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| 07/11/05: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| GATCHAMAN FLIES AGAIN! This Time, Unclipped and Unedited from ADV Films Author: August Ragone Source: ADV Films
Created and produced by Tatsunoko Productions, SCIENCE NINJA TEAM GATCHAMAN (Kagaku Ninja-tai Gatchaman) premiered October 1, 1972 on Tokyo's Fuji Television network. Running 105 episodes, GATCHAMAN became an Anime classic in Japan, and was seen around the world in the late 1970s and 1980s. In the United States, the series was "re-formatted" for Children's television standards of the time by Sandy Frank Productions, and premiered in September of 1978 as BATTLE OF THE PLANETS. A few years later, the series was adapted again, for Turner Broadcasting Service, without the added footage, as G-FORCE: GUARDIANS OF SPACE. But no matter what title or state of truncation it was seen in, the original vision of GATCHAMAN, with their bird-motif costumes, left a lasting impression on children here and abroad. In the near future, humanity is threatened by the technologically superior terrorist organization called "Galactor", who plot to rule the world (what else is new?). Galactor's only rival is the International Science Organization, a division of the United Nations, and its science director Dr. Nambu. While the ISO wants to use its knowledge to develop "green" energy sources, such as the Earth's molten mantle, Galactor wishes to use such resources to subjugate humanity. The unknown and unseen overlord of Galactor is the mysterious "Leader X", who has secretly manipulated mankind into wars and global disasters throughout history. Slowly waiting for his chance to strike, he builds a secret society that spreads across the globe. In order to operate freely among humanity, Leader X creates a "son", by combining a pair of fraternal twins into a singular being - a brilliant master of disguise known as Berg Katse.
Tatsuo Yoshida, the founder of Tatsunoko Productions, began his career in the manga industry in the fall of 1954, and in 1957 called for his brothers, Toyoharu (later assuming the pen name "Ippei Kuri") and Kenji (who handled the business end), to join him in Tokyo. In October of 1962, they established Tatsunoko Productions, but after Tatsuo saw the premiere episode of ASTRO-BOY (1963-1966), things changed. They quickly shifted the company's interest towards television animation (or "TV Manga", as it was known then) and by 1964, after hiring animators from other studios, Tatsunoko Productions was ready for full animation production. Their first series were SPACE ACE (1966-1967) and SPEED RACER (1967-1968), which became instant hits in Japan and remain classics to this day. After a string of successful series, Tatsuo and his brothers decided to develop a tribute to the American superhero comic books given to them by G.I.s during the Occupation of Japan. For the look and feel of GATCHAMAN, Tatsuo and Ippei streamlined their favorite aspects of these comic books, and even modeling the main characters on popular actors of the 1960s for a touch of reality. Of course, since the Adam West BATMAN series was a tremendous hit in Japan in the late 1960s, there would be a dash of the masked detective to the mix (cowls, capes, utility belts, weapons and boomerangs).
The series went through several changes in format and title during pre-production, including "The Secret Seven," until the team was slimmed down to five and dubbed "Birdman." This is when the series adopted the bird-style motif, birds symbolizing peace to the Japanese, and truly became closer to the look of American comic book superheroes. But just before the series starting airing on Japanese television, a much catchier moniker was coined by Kanshi Matsuyama, an executive at Yomiko Advertising Agency, who derived the name from "Gatcha", an onomatopoeia for the sound of metal clanging together. At first, GATCHAMAN reflected the popular currents of Japanese children's television, with its format emulating not only hit live action Daikaiju and Henshin Hero shows (like ULTRAMAN ACE and KAMEN RIDER), but the writers also worked in influences from the popular American series MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE. Even though there were Anime superhero team shows before it, such as RAINBOW TASK FORCE: ROBIN (1966-1967), SKYERS 5 (1967) and CYBORG 009 (1967-1968), GATCHAMAN was the influential force that set the parameters for the team-based Anime and Tokusatsu series that followed, especially in the Sentai and Combination Robot sub-genres. The archetype of the Gatchaman team consisted of the Hero (Ken Washio), the Loner (Joe Asakura), the Muscle (Ryu Nakanishi), the Kid (Jinpei), and the Girl (Jun) - and the need for co-operation to invoke their ultimate weapon; a device that was repeated in such series as SECRET TASK FORCE: GORANGER (1975-1977) and SUPER MAGNETIC ROBO: COMBATTLER V (1976-1977). But, that was not the only impact of GATCHAMAN on its contemporaries. GATCHAMAN established a sophisticated look in its design and hardware. Led by Mitsuki Nakamura (SPACE ACE, SPEED RACER, CASSHERN), the series' stellar art direction rendered popular contemporaries, such as MAZINGER Z (1972-1974), as quaint. GATCHAMAN simply outstripped its competition in visual dynamics and polish.
GATCHAMAN also was the first Anime series to have a "Science Fiction Consultant", Rei Osumi, so that the series' writers (such as former Nikkatsu Studios scenarist Satoshi Suyama) could keep their teleplays within the realm of possible future, and not veer off into wild fantasy. Tatsunoko Productions originally planed the series to end with 52 episodes, but Fuji Television had other plans, and ordered another year's worth of GATCHAMAN. Quickly, the writers were ordered to amend the climax, transforming it into a major turning point for the main characters and the series itself. This upheaval was guided by the skillful hand of Hisayuki Toriumi, who served as the series' Supervising Director. Together with Animation Director Sadao Miyamoto (who designed and animated the opening credit sequence), the final year of GATCHAMAN saw an unprecedented maturity and realism in its teleplays as the series began garnering middle school, high school and adult viewers. For the first time in an animated series, there was the aftermath of war and death - remorse, guilt, angst, and other dramatic conceits brushed over by previous action/superhero titles. They even touched on the losses Galactor suffers, setting the stage for great series to follow, such as Academy's legendary SPACE BATTLESHIP YAMATO television and movie series. In the years that followed, Tatsunoko Productions created other superhero series, such as NEO-DROID CASSHERN (1973-1974) and HURRICANE POLYMER (1974-1975), but none of them achieved the impact and success of GATCHAMAN. The series spawned a feature film released in 1978 and two follow-up series - GATCHAMAN II (1978-1979) and GATCHAMAN FIGHTER (1979-1980) - but few outside Japan saw the real, unabridged GATCHAMAN. Until now... After an aborted attempt several years ago by Rhino Home Video to issue BATTLE OF THE PLANETS (with the corresponding uncut and English-subtitled Japanese episodes), Texas-based Anime import giant ADV Films in early 2005, secured the rights to all 105 episodes of GATCHAMAN in all of its unedited splendor. ADV scored a major coup by securing life-long Gatchamaniac, and comic book colossus, Alex Ross (KINGDOM COME) to create the package art for the domestic DVD release. ADV's current plan is for bi-monthly releases of two volumes, each containing six episodes apiece (in English 5.1 or Japanese 2.0 with English subtitles), audio commentary with the English ADR director and new voice actors, textless closing title sequence, Gatchaman Karaoke (one episode without the voice track) and previews. This could be considered a bare-bones release, but it's the fact that these are the uncut original episodes and digitally remastered, that is important. The single volumes are retailing for $14.98 MSRP. Each pair of volumes will be also packaged in a box set, including a bonus materials disc, adorned with a spectacular Ross painting of the Gatchaman team in action. The box set retails for $34.98 MSRP. The extras on the bonus disc, included in the first box set, are actually pretty cool - but there is room for improvement and expansion. Personally, I would like to see essays by experts like Jason Hofius (who produced the mini-documentary) and James Long (the most knowledgeable person on the subject of Tatsunoko and the Gatchaman saga that I've ever met) on the production of the series, profiles on key personnel, story development, and other insightful information.
02. Character Sketches: Ken - model sheets for Ken, his plane and his boomerang. Pretty basic, but serves its purpose for those who don't own Gatchaman books in their personal libraries. 03. Episode Sketches - model sheets for the first four Galactor Mecha. More material should have been included here, covering all of the Mecha in Episodes 1-12, as it is available. 04. Ken the Eagle Audition Footage - this was mostly a montage of embarrassing clips of potential voice actors trying way too hard. I found it painful to sit though, but some viewers may laugh their pants off. Did they really sign releases for this? Wow. 05. Interview with Leraldo Anazulda (Ken) - a charismatic and good interview subject, and the best of the batch up for the part, based on the Auditions feature. But still, to my ear, the new English actors seem to be hamming it up a bit too much. 06. Interview with Charles Campbell (ADR Director) - this was not a very interesting interview; the impression here is that he seemed unfocused and to have very little insight with the material he is now directing. In his defense, his audio commentaries on the episodes are much better. 07. And We Were Watching - a very brief listing of American television shows airing at the time GATCHAMAN premiered in Japan. A comparative essay would have been more compelling in selling the quality of GATCHAMAN in contrast to such technical and dramatic clunkers as THE AMAZING CHAN AND THE CHAN CLAN. 08. Alternate Ending Credit Sequence - alternate version of the "Defeat Galactor!" song used for episodes 23-27 when the opening and ending songs were switched. These are the materials that DVDs were created for, and really make this disc essential for the die-hard fan. 09. Unused Ending Credits with Sponsor Message - according to James Long of the Tatsunoko USA Fan Club, these were actually used several times during the original broadcast, announcing sponsor giveaways. 10. Gatchaman ModelLock Commercial - original television commercial for the God Phoenix windup-motor model kit from Tatsunoko's own toy company. This is extremely cool... hopefully, there are more commercials like it, which will be included in future volumes. 11. The Origins of Tatsunoko Productions: A Mini Documentary - basic, but well done primer on the Yoshida Brothers, the founding of Tatsunoko Productions and the pre-production of GATCHAMAN. Nicely set to the color storyboards for the first episode. Hopefully, future Mini-Documentaries, if any, will include actual photos of the Yoshida Brothers, the Studio, the production staff, and behind-the-scenes shots. But what's really important are the episodes themselves. The new masters seem to be of the same quality as Columbia Video's R2 Japanese release from 2000 (COBC-90201-90227), and they are stunning - considering the film quality and the condition of 30-years-old negatives. The first few episodes of the series were originally printed somewhat dark (which is hard to correct without extensive work with the original negatives) but that problem seems to be a thing of the past by the end of the second volume. The crisp and strong Japanese audio is excellent, considering its mono nature and there is no hiss or distortion apparent. The English subtitles are very good and clear, as usual with ADV product. As much as I tried, I couldn't sit through the new English-dubbed track for long, since I cringe at new attempts in dubbing "Old Skool" shows. It seems the voice actors aren't approaching the material with the same conviction the original Japanese voice actors did - and while this isn't Shakespeare, they can't seem to get past the fact that they are dubbing a "cartoon". Even though BATTLE OF THE PLANETS was a terrible adaptation of GATCHAMAN, perhaps I was secretly longing to hear the voices of Casey Kasem (THE GLORY STOMPERS), Ronnie Shell (GOMER PYLE USMC), Janet Waldo (JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS), Alan Dinehart (THUNDARR THE BARBARIAN) and Alan Young (MR. ED), who have crept into our collective consciousness as the English voices of the Gatchaman team. Or more truthfully, perhaps, I just didn't want to cringe any more. But, don't let that stop you from revisiting this absolute classic, universally recognized for being ahead of its time, with revolutionary animation and color design, art direction and shocking story arcs. You can always just watch the series in Japanese with English subtitles, as provided by ADV. Ranked as one of the top ten Anime series of all time (The World of TV Anime, Asahi Sonorama), GATCHAMAN is required viewing for anyone who considers themselves a fan of the genre. Unless you have seen the original, uncut and unedited GATCHAMAN, you can't start talking about Anime. This series is a major and seminal cornerstone of the genre and its influence cannot be dismissed. For the first-time viewer, the initial dozen or so episodes may seem formulaic and routine and you might say, "What's the big deal?" But I urge you to let the series grow on you, and by the time the middle of the series comes around (where everything is turned on its head, and nothing is as it appears), you'll thank me. Those willing to have patience will be rewarded with experiencing the groundbreaking final story arc of the second year (starting with the powerhouse of Episodes 51-54), which was unlike anything that came before it, and still manages to pack a powerful emotional punch after all of these years. Those who already know the drill, will relish each and every volume released by ADV Films in celebration of a twenty five year-old dream that has finally come true - the domestic release of the entire 105 uncut and unedited episodes of SCIENCE NINJA TEAM: GATCHAMAN, delivered to their very doorsteps. ADV has done justice to this classic series, that should be not only on every Anime fan's shelf, but in any self-respecting superhero or Godzilla fan's collection. BATTLE OF THE PLANETS is dead. Long live GATCHAMAN!  |
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| 07/07/05: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| I Left My Beta Capsule in San Francisco Ultraman Film Festival Comes to the Castro Theatre Author: August Ragone Source: Bay Area Film Events
ULTRAMAN: THE NEXT (2004) is a "sort of" updated take on the first episode of the original Ultraman series, but with a decidedly dark twist. A fighter pilot for the Japanese Self-Defense Forces pursues a spherical UFO, which collides into his plane. The pilot (Tetsuya Bessho), miraculously survives the incident, but has no memory of his close encounter, but he begins to have strange and powerful visions. Meanwhile, a second UFO encounter out at sea transforms its encountered into a violent mutant, which goes on a rampage of carnage. When both men mutate into their ultimate forms, they meet in a duel to the death, with the fate of humanity in the balance. The film was directed by Kazuya Konaka (THE DIMENSION TRAVELLERS) from a screenplay by Kei'ichi Hasegawa (THE BIG O) with stunning visual effects directed by Yuichi Kikuchi (GODZILLA AGAINST MECHAGODZILLA) and CGI flying effects by Ichiro Sakano (MACROSS: DO YOU REMEMBER LOVE?). The film will be presented in Japanese with English subtitles. This refreshing and decidedly adult incarnation of the legend will be combined with an exciting line up of television episodes and feature films, divided into three separate must-see shows. Saturday night's program will also feature an exciting Ultraman show, live on the stage of the Castro Theatre, featuring actual attraction costumes direct from Tsuburaya Productions in Tokyo. See Ultraman battle monsters, aliens and a special surprise creature Jiras, perhaps?
The Northern California Premiere of ULTRAMAN: THE NEXT will screen next at 7:40 pm, and will be followed at 9:30 pm by the first of three "Special Surprise Tsuburaya Classics", featuring special episodes "from the vaults of Tsuburaya Productions". You'll have to attend to find out which show and which episode will be screened (in Japanese with English subtitles). Saturday, August 27th will kick off at 1:00 pm with the wacky and offbeat parody ULTRAMAN ZEARTH (1995). The world's supply of gold vanishes without a trace and MYDO (Mysterious Yonder Defense Organization) is dispatched to investigate. The culprit is an evil alien (hammed up by the host of IRON CHEF, Takeshi Kaga), who converts the precious metal into energy. The only thing standing in his way is the OCD-suffering MYDO Trainee, Katsuto Asahi, who transforms into the Detective Monk-ish Ultraman Zearth. Can Ultraman Zearth overcome his phobias in order to save the Earth? Direction and Special Effects were helmed by television commercial director Shinya Nakajima from a Screenplay by Shukei Nakasaka (ST. JOHN'S WORT). English dubbed.
ULTRAMAN TIGA: FINAL ODYSSEY will be followed at 3:40 pm by the second installment of "Special Surprise Tsuburaya Classics", featuring another special episode "from the vaults of Tsuburaya Productions". You'll have to attend to find out which show and which episode will be screened (in Japanese with English subtitles).
After the conclusion of the stage antics will be the second episode of the brand new ULTRAMAN MAXX series at 7:30 pm, directed by Shusuke Kaneko. In Japanese with English subtitles. Followed by the final screening of ULTRAMAN: THE NEXT at 8:00 pm (in Japanese with English subtitles) with the event concluding with third and final installment of "Special Surprise Tsuburaya Classics", starting at 9:40 pm, featuring another special episode "from the vaults of Tsuburaya Productions". You'll have to attend to find out which show and which episode will be screened (in Japanese with English subtitles). There will also be merchandise for sale at the Castro Theatre, as well as some incredible giveaways, including a brand new Ultraman Guitar, courtesy of Ibanez Guitars. This is one of less than ten manufactured, and is being touted as an "instant collectors' item." In addition to the great line up, Bay Area Film Events also promises "more surprises and special guests to be announced" at this rate, this will surely be the ultimate Ultraman show of the year and absolutely not to be missed. For more information about the Ultraman show at the Castro Theatre, please go to the Bay Area Film Events website. Advance tickets to all screenings are available through Ticketweb. |
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| 07/07/05: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "JAPANESE GIANT MONSTERS FESTIVAL" ULTRAMAN PRIZE WINNERS ANNOUNCED More Opportunities for Ultraman Fans to Win in Montreal and San Francisco! Source: Tsuburaya Productions
The top prize is an extremely limited edition Ibanez Iceman guitar featuring the face and logo of Ultraman The Next. There will be less than 10 of these Ultraman guitars manufactured and, with standard model Ibanez Iceman guitars retailing for $500 or more, it's easy to see how valuable this item will be among Ultraman and guitar collectors. The guitars will not be made available for sale anywhere in the world and can only be won by ticket buyers for ULTRAMAN: THE NEXT. Second Prize is a 15" tall vinyl figure of the monster Kittyfire from Tsuburaya's television series MIRROR MAN. Produced by Super 7, this toy is from a limited edition of only 500 pieces. The Kittyfire figure will also be available for purchase this month at Comic Con International in San Diego.
1st PRIZE WINNER - ULTRAMAN THE NEXT IBANEZ ICEMAN GUITAR: Kevin McWethy of Santa Monica 2nd PRIZE WINNERS - SUPER 7 KITTYFIRE FIGURE: Julianne Buescher; Egyptian Theatre Brandon Wilson of Pacific Palisades; Aero Theatre
Charlie Cohen Ethan Cohen Mark Fischer Michael Goodrich Alicia Lum-Denchasy Hugo Mendez 1st prize winner Kevin McWethy has given the guitar to his daughter Brynn McWethy, an aspiring guitarist and bass player. The 16 year- old is also a Godzilla and Ultraman fan who talked her father into attending the ULTRAMAN: THE NEXT premiere. Brynn will bring the guitar with her to Rock and Roll Camp in Massachusetts this summer. Ultraman fans will had more chances to win this summer. Additional prize giveaways for the Ultraman Ibanez Iceman guitars and the Kittyfire vinyl figures will take place at upcoming screenings of ULTRAMAN: THE NEXT. Next up will be the popular FanTasia in Montreal, Canada where the new Ultraman film will be shown on July 23. Then Bay Area Film Events presents "Ultramania", a two-day Ultraman festival at the Catro Theatre in San Francisco, CA, August 26-27. American Ultraman fans should not miss these opportunities to see ULTRAMAN: THE NEXT on the big screen and win some amazing collector's items! |
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| AUGUST IS "THE RING" MONTH DreamWorks Home Entertainment Releases Five RING Films on DVD Author: Keith Aiken Source: DreamWorks, DVD Answers Special Thanks to BHImpact
First up is the "Rated Edition" of THE RING TWO, the 109 minute, PG-13 cut which was distributed to box office success but mixed reviews this past March. The DVD's audio options include English Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 stereo surround. Early reports indicate this disc will be available in fullscreen only, and the suggested retail price is $29.99. Customers will find a much better bargain with THE RING TWO "Unrated Edition". This extended cut of the film will be presented in 1:85:1 anamorphic widescreen and comes with several extra features. There will be two featurettes; "The Power of Symbols" (covering how the filmmakers used symbolism to create a sense of terror for the audience) and "Fear on Film: Special Effects", deleted scenes, the theatrical trailer, and more. Also included will be the excellent short film RINGS, which sets up the opening sequence of THE RING TWO. RINGS was previously released as part THE RING 2-DISC COLLECTOR'S SET and was reviewed here on Henshin! Online on 3/29/05. Presented in English Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 stereo surround with English, French, and Spanish subtitles, the "Unrated Edition" also retails for $29.99. Six years before tackling the American sequel, director Hideo Nakata has directed the Japanese sequel RING 2. DreamWorks is finally bringing the 1999 film to the US as RINGU 2. The 1:85:1 anamorphic widescreen DVD features the original Japanese audio track in Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 stereo surround with English, French, and Spanish subtitles. It should come as no surprise that the SRP is $29.99. By all accounts, the real gem of this wave of DVDs will mostly likely be the RINGU: ANTHOLOGY OF TERROR collection. This 4 disc set contains all the Japanese theatrical films in the original RING series; Nakata's smash hit RINGU (1998), the immediate sequel RASEN (aka "The Spiral", 1998) that was written and directed by Joji Iida (ANOTHER HEAVEN, DRAGON HEAD), Nakata's own sequel RINGU 2 (1999), and Norio Tsuruta's prequel RING 0: BIRTHDAY (2000). No word on extra features, if any, but each film will be presented in 1:85:1 anamorphic widescreen, with the original Japanese audio track in Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 stereo surround, and English, French, and Spanish subtitles. The list price for RINGU: ANTHOLOGY OF TERROR is $55.99. |
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| FILM NOTES FOR THE "JAPANESE GIANT MONSTERS FESTIVAL" IN LOS ANGELES Two Theaters, 20 Films and Shorts, More than a Week of Godzilla, Ultraman, King Kong, and other Kaiju! Author: Keith Aiken, with assistance from August Ragone Source: American Cinematheque Publicity Materials
ULTRAMAN: THE NEXT will be part of an entire day of Ultraman programming, including rare episodes, short features, a live stage show, plus exclusive collectibles and prizes. The Egyptian's entire 4th of July holiday weekend is devoted to an exclusive theatrical engagement of GODZILLA FINAL WARS... six screenings over three days. At the same time, the Aero will screen a handful of kaiju favorites, including some of the top films from last year's festival as well as some new titles. Don't miss this opportunity to see some of the newest and best Japanese giant monster movies on the big screen with state-of-the-art projection and sound!
FRIDAY, JUNE 24, 2005 7:30 PM -- Double Feature -- plus a Bonus TV Short! SPECTREMAN (Supekutoraman, 1971) Banished from their homeworld, the simian spacemen Dr Gori and Karis set their sights on earth, using the planet's pollution to create a legion of monsters to destroy mankind. Gori's activities draw the attention of the mysterious Overlords from Nebula 71, who send their cyber-hero Spectreman to save the day. In the early 1970s, environmental pollution had reached epidemic proportions in Japan and inspired genre efforts like GODZILLA VS HEDORAH, GAMERA VS ZIGRA, and P Productions' television series SPECTREMAN. While produced on a miniscule budget, the series was an entertaining mix of action, comedy, social commentary, and some of the weirdest monsters ever to grace a TV screen. (25 min, English Dub)
Godzilla's 20th Anniversary movie introduced one of the King of the Monster's greatest foes... the silver robot Mechagodzilla. Inspired by Mechani-Kong from KING KONG ESCAPES, Mechagodzilla quickly became one of Toho's most popular creations; returning to bedevil Godzilla four more times (most recently in 2003's GODZILLA: TOKYO SOS). King Caesar was based on the shisa, the legendary lion-dog guardians of Okinawa. One of the few mammalian kaiju in the Godzilla series, Caesar's fast-moving fighting style was taken to new heights when the monster returned thirty years later in GODZILLA FINAL WARS. Director Jun Fukuda handles his final Godzilla movie in a more serious and fast pace then his previous two entries, GODZILLA VS GIGAN and GODZILLA VS MEGALON. The film also sports more violence, both human and monster, than is usually the case in the Godzilla serious... blood spurts from wounds in a fashion reminiscent of Sam Peckinpah. The vast array of weapons in Mechagodzilla's arsenal gave Teruyoshi Nakano the chance to fill the screen with a myriad of colorful rays and explosions, and the fx director makes the most of the opportunity. (Toho, 80 min, English Dub)
After several years working in television, original Godzilla director Ishiro Honda returned to the series, as did acclaimed composer Akira Ifukube. Working from a screenplay by Yukiko Takayama (the sole female screenwriter of the Godzilla series), Honda crafted a dark and somber tale centered on Katsura (Tomoko Ai), the beautiful daughter of the deranged Dr. Mafune (Akihiko Hirata). After being injured in a lab accident, Katsura is kept alive by mechanical parts created by the aliens, who then use her as a control unit for both Titanosaurus and Mechagodzilla. Keeping with tone of the story, Nakano's visual effects are much less colorful than in the previous film. While they vary widely in quality, the effects are quite good considering the limited budget-particularly in the design and execution of Titanosaurus, whose dinosaurian appearance was a welcome return to classic form after the recent number of more outlandish kaiju like Gigan, Hedorah, and Megalon. For more than twenty years, the only version of TERROR OF MECHAGODZILLA available on U.S. television and video has been a horribly edited, pan & scan print that completely muddles the story, confusing viewers about the fates of several key characters. The print playing during the "Japanese Giant Monsters Festival" is the rarely seen uncut English language version of the film. (Toho, 83 min, English Dub)
5:00 PM ULTRAMAN AND MORE: RARITIES FROM TSUBURAYA PRODUCTIONS! -In 1963, Toho's renowned special effects director Eiji Tsuburaya (the genius behind such hits as GODZILLA, RODAN, and MOTHRA) established his own special effects shop, Tsuburaya Productions. Initially created to supply visual effects to Toho and other Japanese studios, Tsuburaya Pro was soon making its own original productions. The first of these was the classic television series ULTRA Q, a massive hit which led into the even more successful ULTRAMAN. ULTRAMAN launched a franchise that is still going strong to this day - the latest series, ULTRAMAN MAXX, premieres in Japan in July-and inspired a legion of similar shows like SPECTREMAN, ZONE FIGHTER, and Tsuburaya's own MIRROR MAN and FIREMAN. The original ULTRAMAN was also quickly snapped up by United Artists, who syndicated the English dubbed version to America for nearly two decades. 2005 marks the 40th Anniversary of the first Ultra show. In celebration, Tsuburaya Productions presents, for the first time ever in the US, two hours of Ultraman-related short features and programs on the big screen. The schedule includes: 1. & 2. Two rare Ultraman related episodes from the Tsuburaya vaults. 3. MIRRORMAN (Miraaman, 1971) Starring Noboyuki Ishida and Junya Usami. When alien invaders strike, newspaper photographer Kotaro Kagami switches places with his mirror dimension alter-ego, Mirror Man, to defend the earth. Early episodes of this show were directed by the legendary Ishiro Honda. (Tsuburaya Productions, 25 min, Japanese with English subtitles) 4. FIREMAN (Fuaiyaman, 1973) Starring Naoya Makoto, Goro Mutsu, and Shin Kishida. Scientific Attack Force officer Daisuke Misaki uses the Fire Stick to transform into a being powered by the Earth's molten core. Tsuburaya Productions started off their 10th Anniversary celebration with this series, which featured two of the stars of GODZILLA VS MECHAGODZILLA. (Tsuburaya Productions, 25 min, Japanese with English subtitles)
8:00 PM -- US Premiere of the Newest Ultraman Film -- plus a Live Performance and an Incredible Prize Giveaway! LIVE ULTRAMAN STAGE SHOW- For decades, Japanese audiences has been entertained by stage performances by stuntmen in authentic Ultraman costumes... now American fans will have a chance to see one of these shows. US Premiere! ULTRAMAN: THE NEXT (Urutoraman, 2004) Directed by Kazuya Konaka, Special Effects by Yuichi Kikuchi. Starring Tetsuya Bessho, Ken Osumi, and Kyoko Toyami. A UFO crashes into the Pacific Ocean, destroying a Japanese naval vessel. A week later, a Japan Self Defense Forces pilot named Maki (Tetsuya Bessho from GODZILLA AND MOTHRA: THE BATTLE FOR EARTH) has a strange encounter with another UFO. As his jet nears the mysterious object, Maki blacks out and the two collide. Incredibly, he survives unhurt but with no memory of the crash. Maki is taken into custody by the JSDF, and officials explain that the only survivor of the first UFO incident has mutated into an ever-growing reptilian monster code-named "The One". The beast has escaped from a containment facility, so the government takes no chances with Maki, who has designated "The Next". When The One attacks the JSDF base, Maki undergoes a startling mutation. Instead of becoming a second reptilian beast, he is transformed in a silver giant with insect-like eyes and a glowing red V-shaped mark on his chest. Is this new being friend or foe?
NOTE: Tsuburaya Productions has arraigned a very special contest for attendees of the ULTRAMAN: THE NEXT screening. Ticket holders will have a chance to win 1 (one) limited edition Ultraman guitar from Ibanez Iceman Guitars. Ibanez guitars normally list for $500, and there will be less than 20 Ultraman guitars manufactured, making this an instant -- and valuable -- collector's item. SUNDAY, JUNE 26 3:30 PM FILM MINGLER American Cinematheque members who purchase tickets to tonight's program are invited to attend this free reception. Mix and mingle with fellow members, enjoy some soda, and dessert and chat about Japanese Giant Monsters with Keith Aiken (Henshin! Online, GODZILLA: THE SERIES), Steve Ryfle (Japan's Favorite Mon-Star), Oki Miyano (Henshin! Online, Japanese Giants), and Brad Warner of Tsuburaya Productions (ULTRAMAN).
SPECTREMAN Another thrilling, monster-packed episode precedes the two Toho films. (1971, 25 min, English Dub). KING KONG ESCAPES (Kingu Kongu-no Gyakushu, 1967) Directed by Ishiro Honda, Special Effects by Eiji Tsuburaya. Starring Rhodes Reason, Akira Takarada, Linda Miller, Mie Hama, and Hideo Amamato. The criminal mastermind Dr Who is hired by a villainous nation looking for the Element X needed to build their nuclear arsenal. Who constructs the massive Mechani-Kong to mine the rare mineral, but radiation from Element X shorts out the robot. After the real Kong is discovered on Mondo Island by a UN research team led by Carl Nelson, Dr Who kidnaps Kong and Nelson's team. Will the evil scientist force the strongest creature on earth to dig up Element X, or will King Kong escape?
Producers Arthur Rankin and Jules Bass approached Toho Studios, who had made the hit KING KONG VS GODZILLA, about making a live-action film of the show. Toho executive producer Tomoyuki Tanaka assigned screenwriter Shinichi Sekizawa (MOTHRA, GODZILLA VS THE THING, GHIDRAH THE THREE-HEADED MONSTER) to write the screenplay. After Rankin rejected the proposed "King Kong vs Ebirah: Operation Robinson Crusoe" because it did not contain enough elements from the KING KONG series, Tanaka brought in writer Takeshi Kimura (RODAN, WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS). Working under the pen name "Kaoru Mabuchi", Kimura's KING KONG ESCAPES featured the cartoon show's Mondo Island, Dr Who, Mechani-Kong, and even a lead female character named Susan. One popular addition to the story was the giant dinosaur Gorosaurus who battles Kong on Mondo Island, then returned the following year for the Godzilla classic DESTROY ALL MONSTERS. The film was released in the U.S. by Universal, who is providing a rare original I.B. Technicolor print for this screening. (Universal, 96 min, English Dub)
Released as part of Toho's "Champion Festival" series -- children's films packaged with cartoons and short features -- GODZILLA VS MEGALON has long held a mixed reputation. Many Godzilla fans loathe the silly plot, obvious low budget, and extensive use of stock footage while others look past those flaws and enjoy it as the fun kids' movie that it is. MEGALON is a long way from the scope and grandeur of the early Toho classics, but it is very entertaining in its own way. Child actor Hiroyuki Kawase had previously starred in GODZILLA VS HEDORAH and Akira Kurosawa's DODES'KADEN, but the real star of the picture is the grinning, size changing robot Jet Jaguar. The character (originally named Red Arone) was the winning entry in a Toho-sponsored contest for elementary school students, and was briefly considered for a spin-off television series. While Godzilla and Gigan had both appeared onscreen the year before, the monster suits were too damaged to reuse so new costumes were constructed for each, as was the case with Godzilla's titular opponent (which was based on the Rhinoceros Beetle). U.S. distributor Cinema Shares gave GODZILLA VS MEGALON a well-publicized theatrical release in 1976, followed by a prime-time television premiere on NBC (hosted by the late John Belushi in a Godzilla suit). After Cinema Shares folded, cropped and faded prints of the film were released on video by a plethora of p.d. labels and even lampooned on Comedy Central's cult classic MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 before Toho reacquired the U.S. rights and made quality widescreen prints available again for television and theaters. (Toho, 80 min, English Dub)
7:30 PM -- Double Feature New 35mm Print! MATANGO: ATTACK OF THE MUSHROOM PEOPLE (Matango, 1963) Directed by Ishiro Honda, Special Effects by Eiji Tsuburaya. Starring Akira Kubo, Kumi Mizuno, Hiroshi Koizumi, Yoshio Tsuchiya, Kenji Sahara, Hiroshi Tachikawa, Miki Yashiro, and Hideo Amamoto. A wealthy businessman brings a group of friends -- a famous singer, a writer, a professor and his student/girlfriend, plus a skipper and first mate -- to take a pleasure cruise on his new yacht, but the boat is damaged a storm and washes up on an uncharted island. Exploring the deserted island, the group finds a long-abandoned ship that is covered in a strange fungus, which the ship's journal describes as a dangerous type of mushroom called Matango. As their food supply runs out the group members begin to turn on one another and give into their desires... including their hunger for the mysterious fungi. Based on the short story "The Voice in the Night" by William Hope Hodgson, MATANGO ranks as one of Toho's best horror tales and a personal favorite of stars Hiroshi Koizumi and Akira Kubo. The movie's strength comes not from quick jolts or graphic violence, but in the psychological breakdown of the various characters and the slowly growing temptation that Matango represents. MATANGO was picked up for U.S. distribution by AIP, who released the film directly to television in 1965 under the exploitative -- and derided -- title ATTACK OF THE MUSHROOM PEOPLE. Forty years later, this screening marks the U.S. theatrical debut of the Toho classic. (Media Blasters, 89 min, English Dub)
Director Ishiro Honda, working from a screenplay by Takeshi Kimura (RODAN, THE HUMAN VAPOR, DESTROY ALL MONSTERS), creates a more adult (by 1950s standards) film than the usual Toho monster movie. A great combination of the popular sci-fi, horror and crime genres, THE H-MAN features a bit of everything sure to please moviegoers -- monsters, cops, gangsters, the stars of RODAN, a haunted ship, and musical numbers -- topped off by an amazing score by composer Masaru Sato (Akira Kurosawa's HIGH AND LOW and YOKIMBO). (Columbia, 79 minutes, English Dub) FRIDAY, JULY 1- SUNDAY, JULY 3 Exclusive Los Angeles Theatrical Engagement! Six Screenings! Friday, July 1- 7:00 PM and 9:30 PM Saturday, July 2- 6:00 PM and 8:45 PM Sunday, July 3- 4:00 PM and 6:45 PM GODZILLA FINAL WARS (2004) Directed by Ryuhei Kitamura, Special Effects by Eiichi Asada. Starring Masahito Matsuoka, Rei Kikukawa, Don Frye, Maki Mizuno, Kazuki Kitamura, Kane Kosugi, Kumi Mizuno, Kenji Sahara, Masami Nagasawa, Chihiro Otsuka, Shigeru Izumiya, Masakatsu Funaki, Masatou Ibu, Jun Kunimura, and Akira Takarada. After half a century of Godzilla films, Toho decided the time had come to give the monster an extended vacation... but he would be sent off with a bang. To craft a Godzilla film unlike any seen before, executive producer Shogo Tomiyama recruited 35 year-old director Ryuhei Kitamura, who was known for his kinetic action films and had drawn international attention for his cult hit VERSUS. Working with writers Wataru Mimura and Isao Kiriyama, Tomiyama and Kitamura crafted an "everything but the kitchen sink" tale combining elements of many of Toho's most popular classic monster movies, Hong Kong martial arts, and American blockbusters to create GODZILLA FINAL WARS.
A longer production time and the highest budget in the series' history allowed Kitamura's crew to film on location in New York, Paris, Shanghai, Sydney, and Tokyo. The director also brought in musician Keith Emerson (of Emerson, Lake, and Palmer) to compose the film's soundtrack, and title designer Kyle Cooper (SEVEN, SPIDER-MAN) to create the opening credit sequence. The cast features series veterans Akira Takarada, Kumi Mizuno, and Kenji Sahara supporting lead actors Masahito Matsuoka and Rei Kikukawa... however the standout performances come from mixed martial arts champion Don "the Predator" Frye as the Gotengo Captain Douglas Gordon, and Kazuki Kitamura as the scenery-chewing leader of the Xilians. As for the real stars of GODZILLA FINAL WARS; the film features a stunning fifteen giant monsters. In addition to Godzilla, the lineup includes Rodan, Mothra, Gigan, Angilas, Minya, Manda, King Caesar, Ebirah, Kamakiras, Kumonga, a cameo by Hedorah, the American Godzilla (rechristened Zilla), a new version of King Ghidorah called Keizer Ghidorah, and the new mysterious alien called Monster X. GODZILLA FINAL WARS had its world premiere at an invitation-only event in Hollywood on November 29, 2004. (Toho, 124 minutes, Japanese and English with English subtitles) AERO THEATRE, SANTA MONICA, CA
7:30 PM -- Double Feature New 35 mm. Print! EBIRAH: HORROR OF THE DEEP (Gojira, Ebirah, Mosura: Nankai-no Daiketto, aka GODZILLA VS THE SEA MONSTER, 1966) Directed by Jun Fukuda, Special Effects by Eiji Tsuburaya, Starring Akira Takarada, Kumi Mizuno, Toru Watanabe, and Akihiko Hirata. A bank robber and several young men wash ashore on tropical Letchi Island and find the secret base of a terrorist organization called the Red Bamboo that uses natives kidnapped from Mothra's island home as slave labor. With Mothra in hibernation on Infant Island and the giant crustacean Ebirah prowling the nearby ocean depths, escape seems impossible -- until the castaways discover Godzilla asleep in one of Letchi's caves. Originally written as OPERATION ROBINSON CRUSOE: KING KONG VS EBIRAH, a live-action adaptation of the 1966 Rankin-Bass KING KONG cartoon show, the story was reworked and Godzilla became a last-minute substitute for the famous ape. As with INVASION OF THE ASTRO-MONSTERS, the human cast (led by INVASION co-stars Akira Takarada and Kumi Mizuno) carry the story, and once again deliver an entertaining adventure that would have been enjoyable even without the presence of giant monsters. EBIRAH: HORROR OF THE DEEP was released directly to television in the US as the English dubbed GODZILLA VS THE SEA MONSTER, so this is a rare opportunity to see the original Japanese version on the big screen. (Columbia, 83 minutes, Japanese with English subtitles)
Before selling US rights to Universal-International, Beck jettisoned most of the comedy, characterization, and Akira Ifukube's incredible score in favor of newly-shot scenes featuring Michael Keith, James Yagi, and Harry Halcombe explaining the onscreen events and music lifted from CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON. Despite constant rumors to the contrary, one thing not changed for the US release was the film's ending -- it is the same as in the Japanese version. (Universal, 91 minutes, English Dub)
6:30 PM GODZILLA: TOKYO SOS (Gojira X Mosura X Mekagojira: Tokyo SOS, 2003) Directed by Masaaki Tezuka, Special Effects by Eiichi Asada, Starring Noboru Kaneko, Miho Yoshioka, Katsuya Inozuka, and Hiroshi Koizumi. Professor Shinichi Chujo is visited by some old friends; Mothra's twin priestesses, the Shobijin. They pair announce that Mechagodzilla is an affront to nature and the remains of the 1954 Godzilla must be returned to the sea. If this is done Mothra will protect Japan from Godzilla; if not, she will become an enemy of mankind. The Japanese government is reluctant to put their trust in a creature that attacked them 40 years ago -- but before a decision can be reached, Godzilla returns to take matters into his own hands. A direct sequel to both MOTHRA (1961) and GODZILLA AGAINST MECHAGODZILLA (2002), GODZILLA: TOKYO SOS brings an action-packed conclusion to the "Kiryu Saga". Godzilla is animalistic and violent in this film as it attacks naval forces and battles Mechagodzilla, Mothra, and twin Mothra larvae-- the giant turtle Kamoebas (from the 1970 Toho film YOG: MONSTER FROM SPACE) also makes a brief appearance as an early victim of the monster. After more than four decades, actor Hiroshi Koizumi reprises his role of Professor Chujo from in the original MOTHRA, while Yumiko Shaku has a cameo as Akane from GODZILLA AGAINST MECHAGODZILLA. (Toho, 91 minutes, Japanese with English subtitles)
ULTRAMAN: THE NEXT (Urutoraman, 2004) Directed by Kazuya Konaka, Special Effects by Yuichi Kikuchi. Starring Tetsuya Bessho, Ken Osumi, and Kyoko Toyami. See the Egyptian's film notes for details. (Tsuburaya Productions, 97 min, Japanese with English subtitles) SUNDAY, JULY 3 5:00 PM New 35 mm. Print --LA Premiere! SON OF GODZILLA (Kaijuto-no Kessen Gojira-no Mosuko, 1967) Directed by Jun Fukuda, Special Effects by Sadamasa Arikawa. Starring Tadeo Takashima, Akira Kubo, Beverly Maeda, Akihiko Hirata, Yoshio Tsuchiya, and Kenji Sahara. An accident during a UN science experiment on Solgell Island unleashes a massive radioactive storm that mutates praying mantises in giant monsters called Kamakiras (Gimantis in English). Three hungry Kamakiras uncover a long-buried Godzilla egg and attempt to get at the baby inside, but the infant's cries for help bring Godzilla to the rescue. The idea for SON OF GODZILLA came from producer Tomoyuki Tanaka, who wanted to take the series in a new direction. The film was the second of two consecutive "Godzilla jungle island adventures" by director Jun Fukuda. Detractors often complain about the cutesy title character Minya (known as Minira in Japan) and the rather poor design of the Godzilla suit, but SON OF GODZILLA is an entertaining popcorn flick with a solid story, a strong cast, and quality visual effects by Sadamasa Arikawa under the supervision of Eiji Tsuburaya. The matte paintings and optical photography by Hiroshi Mukoyama, Sadao Iizuka, and Yoshiyuki Tokumasa look absolutely gorgeous on the big screen, and are matched by the incredible wire-operated marionettes manipulated by Fumio Nakadai's team. The massive spider Kumonga (also known as Spiga) was the most complicated marionette the Toho staff had attempted up to that time. The beautiful cinematography by Akira Kurosawa's regular camera Kazuo Yamada was filmed primarily on location in Guam. Rounding out the production is a marvelous score by Akira Kurosawa's regular composer Masaru Sato (GODZILLA VS THE SEA MONSTER, GODZILLA VS MECHAGODZILLA, YOJIMBO). (Sony, 86 min, Japanese with English subtitles) Ticket prices to the Egyptian and Aero Theatres are $9.00 general, $8.00 students and seniors, and $6.00 for American Cinematheque members. Double features are two films for one ticket. Tickets can be purchased at the theater box offices, and by fax (Egyptian only) at 323-467-0163. Complete ordering instructions are available on the Egyptian Theatre website. |
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| DOGORA and YOG Coming to R1 DVD! More Toho Terrors from Media Blasters Author: Keith Aiken Source: Media Blasters 
The film will be presented in 2.35:1, 16x9 anamorphic widescreen, a vast improvement over the pan and scan television version (entitled DAGORA THE SPACE MONSTER) distributed by AIP-TV in 1965. Both the original Japanese audio (with English subtitles) and Toho's English dub (previously used for the AIP-TV release) will be available in mono and a new 5.1 mix. Extra Features include the original Japanese theatrical trailer and a photo gallery consisting of publicity and production photos. There will also be conceptual art for planned sequences that were never filmed. A commentary track is also expected, but just who will be involved has not been announced at this time. Street Date: 07/12/05 SRP: $19.95 Language: Japanese mono, 2.0 and 5.1 Subtitles: English Running Time: 83 min Aspect Ratio & Format: 2.35:1 16x9 Anamorphic Color Cast: Yosuke Natsuki, Yoko Fujiyama, Hiroshi Koizumi, Nobuo Nakamura, Robert Dunham, Akiko Wakabayashi, Seizaburo Kawazu, Jun Tazaki, Susumu Fujita, Hideyo Amamoto and Yoshibumi Tajima Producer: Tomoyuki Tanaka Director: Ishirô Honda Special Effects: Eiji Tsuburaya Screenplay: Shinichi Sekizawa Music: Akira Ifukube Cinematography: Hajime Koizumi Special Features: Brand New Transfer of Feature Film Original Japanese Theatrical Trailer Photo and Art Gallery After months of speculation, Media Blasters has also confirmed that they have acquired the 1970 Toho film SPACE AMOEBA. Known in Japan as GEZORA, GANIME, KAMEBA: DECISIVE BATTLE! GIANT MONSTERS OF THE SOUTH SEAS (Gezora-Ganime-Kameba: Kessen! Nankai-no Daikaiju), the movie was released in the United States by AIP as YOG: MONSTER FROM SPACE. SPACE AMOEBA was the last non-Godzilla kaiju film produced by Toho during the Showa era. It was directed by the legendary Ishiro Honda, with special effects by Sadamasa Arikawa and music by Akira Ifukube. The cast includes a trio of popular genre actors: Akira Kubo (MATANGO, DESTROY ALL MONSTERS), Yoshio Tsuchiya (THE HUMAN VAPOR, MONSTER ZERO), and Kenji Sahara (RODAN, GODZILLA VS. THE THING). As for the monster stars, the giant turtle Kameba returned as a victim of Godzilla in 2003's GODZILLA: TOKYO SOS while a brief stock footage shot of Gezora was part of an early montage in GODZILLA FINAL WARS. Media Blasters' SPACE AMOEBA DVD is scheduled for October 11th. Meanwhile, Toho Video's own R2 DVD release hits shops in Japan this month. UPDATE: Media Blasters' agreement with Toho prevents a US release within six months of that date, so the US DVD of SPACE AMOEBA has been pushed back to January 17, 2006. |
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| GAMERA RETURNS The "Friend of All Children" will be back on the big screen in 2006 Author: Keith Aiken and Daisuke Ishizuka Additional Japanese material translated by Oki Miyano Source: Sports Nippon, various Special Thanks to August Ragone and Aaron Smith
The news comes on the 40th anniversary of the original GIANT MONSTER GAMERA (Daikaiju Gamera, 1965). Directed by the late Noriaki Yuasa for the Daiei Motion Picture Company, GAMERA was a box office smash that spawned six sequels between 1966 and 1971. By the third film in the series, GAMERA VS. GYAOS (Daikaiju Kuchusen: Gamera tai Gyaosu, 1967), the movies directly targeted kid audiences by featuring children in lead roles, bizarre and colorful stories, and cartoonish violence unlike anything seen in Toho's Godzilla films. At its peak, this successful formula made Gamera a strong contender for Godzilla's crown as "King of the Monsters". Unfortunately gross studio mismanagement drove Daiei into bankruptcy in 1971. The Tokuma Shoten Publishing Company purchased the studio in 1974 and began limited production of new films, including the stock footage fest GAMERA: SUPER MONSTER (Uchu Kaiju Gamera, 1980). The monster star returned in earnest on his 30th anniversary with GAMERA: GUARDIAN OF THE UNIVERSE (Gamera: Daikaiju Kuchu Kessen, 1995). The combination of director Shusuke Kaneko (GMK), effects director Shinji Higuchi (LORELEI: THE WITCH OF THE PACIFIC), writer Kazunori Ito (GHOST IN THE SHELL), and composer Kow Otani (GMK) resulted in an intelligent and creative story that was widely hailed as one the best kaiju films in decades. The team returned, and raised the bar even more, with GAMERA: ATTACK OF LEGION (Gamera 2: Region Shurai, 1996) and the aforementioned GAMERA: REVENGE OF IRIS.
Early word suggests that GAMERA: LITTLE BRAVES will not be direct sequel to the previous film but will instead launch a new series of movies by taking the flying turtle back to his "Friend of All Children" roots. Producer Yoichi Arashige (the international hit SHALL WE DANCE? and Takashi Miike's ONE MISSED CALL) remarked that the film will cross monster action with the relationship between a father and son. Directing the film is Toei veteran Ryuta Tazaki, who has helmed episodes of MASKED RIDER BLACK (Kamen Raida Burakku, 1987), MASKED RIDER BLACK-RX (Kamen Raida Burakku RX, 1988), MASKED RIDER AGITO (Kamen Raida Agito, 2001), MASKED RIDER RYUKI (Kamen Rider Ryuki, 2002), MASKED RIDER 555 (Kamen Raida Faiz, 2003), PRETTY GUARDIAN: SAILOR MOON (Bishojo Senshi Serra Muun, 2003), as well as several recent well-regarded Masked Rider theatrical films. In 1999, Tazaki came to the United States to direct episodes of POWER RANGERS: LOST GALAXY and POWER RANGERS: LIGHTSPEEED RESCUE.
As with the classic Gamera films of the 1960s, the lead roles in GAMERA: LITTLE BRAVES will be played by children. 11 year-old television actor Ryo Tomioka plays the boy who befriends the baby monster. Also starring is 13 year-old Kaho, a cast member of the popular 2004 TV series CELL PHONE DETECTIVE (Keitai Deka). Playing the children's fathers are Kanji Tsuda and Susumu Terashima. The two have worked together before, most notably in Takeshi "Beat" Kitano's FIREWORKS (Hana-bi, 1997) and DOLLS (2002). Tsuda's credits also include the massive hit BAYSIDE SHAKEDOWN (Odoru Daisosasen, 1998), MASKED RIDER RYUKI, JU-ON (2003), and ZATOICHI (2003), while Susumu Terashima appeared in ICHI THE KILLER (Koroshiya 1, 2001) and CASSHERN (2004). While Kaneko, Higuchi, Ito, and Otani are busy with their own projects and will not be involved with the new film, at least one veteran from the Heisei movies is returning for GAMERA: LITTLE BRAVES. Issue 244 of FANGORIA reports that monster suit maker Tomoo Haraguchi has signed on to make the new Gamera suits. In the early 1980s Haraguchi established the company Monsters Inc., with Godzilla suit maker Shinichi Wakasa, and in recent years he has directed the features SAKUYA: SLAYER OF DEMONS (Sakuya Yokaiden, 2000) and KIBAKICHI (Kibakichi Bakko Yokaiden, 2004). The latter film will be released in the US this month from MTI Home Video. |
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| HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE COMES TO AMERICAN THEATERS Walt Disney Studios to release both Japanese and English language versions of the new Miyazaki film Author: Keith Aiken Source: Buena Vista Pictures, various Special Thanks to August Ragone and Richard Pusateri
Based on the novel by Diana Wynne Jones, HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE is the latest film from Hayao Miyazaki, the Academy Award-winning director of such animated classics as NAUSICAÄ OF THE VALLEY OF THE WIND, MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO, PORCO ROSSO, and SPIRITED AWAY. It is the story of Sophie Hatter, an average teenager working in a hat shop. A bookworm bored by her bland life, Sophie finds her world thrown into turmoil when she is literally swept off her feet by a handsome-but- mysterious wizard named Howl (who is rumored to eat the souls of young girls) and is subsequently turned into a 90-year old woman by the vain and conniving Wicked Witch of the Waste. Embarking on an incredible odyssey to lift the curse, she finds refuge in Howl's magical moving castle where she becomes acquainted with Howl's apprentice Markl and a hot-headed fire demon named Calcifer. Sophie's love and support comes to have a major impact on Howl, who has also been cursed by the Witch, and the wizard rejects orders from the palace to become a pawn of war and instead risks his life to help bring peace to the kingdom. HOWL'S was originally intended to be the Ghibli premiere of longtime Toei animation director Mamoru Hosoda (DIGIMON), by Hosoda left the project after his story proposal was rejected by Hayao Miyazaki and producer Toshio Suzuki. Miyazaki then stepped in to write the screenplay and direct the film, as well as recruiting such long-time associates as animation director Katsuya Kondou (KIKI'S DELIVERY SERVICE) and composer Joe Hisaishi (NAUSICAÄ to SPIRITED AWAY). Miyazaki also hired a voice cast made up of film and television performers plus several returning Studio Ghibli voice actors. The lead character Sophie was played by Chieko Baisho, a star of the long-running TORA-SAN film series. Baisho also performs the main theme "The Promise of the World" (Sekai-no Yakusoku). Television actor Takuya Kimura voices Howl. Rounding out the cast was Akihiro Miwa (BLACK LIZARD, PRINCESS MONONOKE) as the Witch of the Waste, Tatsuya Gashuin (SHARK SKIN MAN AND PEACH HIP GIRL, SPIRITED AWAY) as Calcifer, Haruko Kato (KIKI'S DELIVERY SERVICE, PISTOL OPERA) as Madame Suliman, and Ryunosuke Kamiki (SPIRITED AWAY, BAYSIDE SHAKEDOWN 2, Takashi Miike's upcoming remake of YOKAI DAISENSO) as Markl.
In recent years, Walt Disney Studios has been bringing the Studio Ghibli films to America via limited theatrical runs and/or high quality DVDs. The task of producing an English language version of HOWL'S fell to directors Pete Docter (MONSTERS INC.) of Pixar Studios and Disney's Rick Dempsey (who had previously worked on PORCO ROSSO). The pair divided the role of Sophie between two actresses, with Emily Mortimer (THE GHOST AND THE DARKNESS, ELIZABETH) playing the teenager while two-time Oscar nominee Jean Simmons (THE ROBE, GUYS AND DOLLS) portrayed the older Sophie. Leading man Christian Bale (REIGN OF FIRE, BATMAN BEGINS) is Howl. Oscar nominee and Humphrey Bogart's main squeeze Lauren Bacall (THE BIG SLEEP, KEY LARGO) is the Witch of the Waste, comedic actor Billy Crystal (WHEN HARRY MET SALLY, CITY SLICKERS) is Calcifer, Gwyneth Paltrow's mother Blythe Danner (1776, MEET THE PARENTS) is Madame Suliman, young actor Josh Hutcherson (the upcoming ZATHURA) is Markl, and Jena Malone (CONTACT, DONNIE DARKO) is Lettie. In anticipation of the upcoming theatrical release, a handful of preview screenings of HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE have been scheduled for early June. ABC television affiliate KGO-TV Channel 7 and Walt Disney are hosting a ticket giveaway to an advance screening in San Francisco, CA. The contest is open only to Bay Area residents, and full details on the screening time, venue, and how to enter are available on the KGO website. Disney is also sponsoring a ticket giveaway with the Village Voice in New York City. The screening will take place at Landmark's Sunshine Cinema on Tuesday, June 7 at 7:30 pm. Check the Village Voice site for further information.
The Japanese version will also be shown on June 10 at the Seattle International Film Festival. Check the festival website for additional details. Also be sure to look at Disney's official movie website, which features information, photos, downloads, and the theatrical trailer from HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE. |
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| 05/24/05: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| MIYAZAKI'S FLIGHTS OF FANTASY Anime Film Festivals at UC Berkeley & New York MOMA Source: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive & Museum of Modern Art
THURSDAY JUNE 2nd 2005 - THURSDAY JUNE 30th 2005 From the Pacific Film Archive's Press Release: "Founded in 1984 by Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata, Japan's Studio Ghibli has won wide recognition as one of the world's foremost animation studios, balancing stunning artistry and soaring imagination with concern for real-world social and environmental issues. For this retrospective, we are delighted to present a range of classic and recent works, from the studio's first production, NAUSICAÄ OF THE VALLEY OF THE WIND, to special screenings of Miyazaki's latest, HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE. If you first encountered Miyazaki's brilliant vision in his Academy Award winner SPIRITED AWAY, this is an opportunity to discover his earlier films, as well as the distinctive work of his colleague Takahata. And even if you already treasure Studio Ghibli's films on video or DVD, you won't want to miss this chance to appreciate their beauty as it was meant to be seen: on the big screen." Films to be screened (all screenings are 35mm prints in Japanese with English subtitles): NAUSICAÄ OF THE VALLEY OF THE WIND (1984), CASTLE IN THE SKY (1986), MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO (1988), GRAVE OF THE FIREFLIES (1988), ONLY YESTERDAY (1991), PORCO ROSSO (1992), POM POKO (1994), PRINCESS MONONOKE (1997), KIKI'S DELIVERY SERVICE (1998), MY NEIGHBORS THE YAMADAS (1999), SPIRITED AWAY (2001), THE CAT RETURNS (2002) and HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE (2004).
Meanwhile, the tribute at New York's Museum of Modern Art, HAYAO MIYAZAKI AND ISAO TAKAHATA: MASTERS OF ANIMATION (June 3rd30th 2005) will feature the same roster of films, including two rare treats: The amazing LITTLE NORSE PRINCE VALIANT (1968), originally released to the US as THE LITTLE NORSE PRINCE. Directed by Isao Takahata with Key Animation and Character Design by Hayao Miyazaki. "Based on an Ainu oral epic and a puppet play by Kazuo Fukazawa, this film is set in northern Europe and centers on a boy who unites with villagers to fight against an invasion by the devil Grunwald." In Japanese, English subtitles. 82 min.
For directions, details, screening times, film synopsis and tickets, go to MOMA's website. For fans in between the coasts who might feel left out, rejoice: Disney's has issued an announcement that both MY NEIGHBORS THE YAMADAS and POM POKO will be released on DVD in North America this coming August 15th. |
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| 05/15/05: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| TOHO STARTS AMERICAN THEATRICAL SCREENINGS OF GODZILLA FINAL WARS Godzilla's 50th Anniversary Film to be shown at festivals in the United States and Canada Author: Keith Aiken and August Ragone Source: Toho Pictures Special thanks to Bruce Fletcher and Clark West
As of now, the first screening will be at the Seattle International Film Festival, which runs from May 19th-June 12 in Seattle, WA. The Neptune Theatre (located at 1330 N.E. 45th St. in Seattle's U District) will show GODZILLA FINAL WARS on Friday, May 27th at midnight leading into Saturday, and on Saturday, May 28th at 3:30 pm. Ticket prices are $7.00 for the midnight movie and $10.00 for the matinee. Advanced tickets are available at the Seattle International Film Festival's main box office (Pacific Place, Sixth and Pine, 2nd Level), the SIFF Ticket Outlet (Broadway Performance Hall, 1625 Broadway), by phone at (206) 324-9996, or online at the festival website. FINAL WARS will also be part of the latest San Francisco Indie Fest event, the "(Yet) Another Hole in the Head Fest: 8 Nights of Horror, Sci-Fi and Fantasy" festival running from June 2nd-9th. The Godzilla movie is just one of several great Japanese films scheduled for the Roxie Cinema (located in the heart of San Francisco's Mission District, at 3117 16th Street between Valencia and Guerrero). The lineup includes: Tomoo Haraguchi's KIBAKICHI (2004) June 4th at 2:30 pm, and June 6th at 7:15 pm Kazuyoshi Kumakiri's BANQUET OF THE BEASTS (Kichiku Daienkai, 1997) June 4th at 11:30 GODZILLA FINAL WARS (2004) June 5th at 7:15 pm Minoru Kawasakl's THE CALAMARI WRESTLER (2004) June 8th at 7:15 pm Takashi Miike's AUDITION (1999) June 9th at 9:30 pm Ticket prices and additional information will soon be available on the festival website. Next, GODZILLA FINAL WARS will be just one of twenty three films shown at Subway Cinema’s fourth annual New York Asian Film Festival. The festival runs from June 17th-30th at the Anthology Film Archives in the East Village and ImaginAsian Theater on the Upper East Side. Check the official website for additional information. Another recent addition is at the popular FanTasia International Film Festival, which takes place July 7th-24th in Montreal, Canada, where GODZILLA FINAL WARS will be shown on July 16th . Check the official website for details in the coming weeks. More screenings are being discussed, so check back to Henshin! Online for further information as it becomes available. |
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| UPDATED 5/10/05! Henshin! Happenings | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
GODZILLA FINAL WARS THREE DAY THEATRICAL RUN IN HOLLYWOOD!
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| 05/09/05: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| DVD REVIEW: VARAN THE UNBELIEVABLE Prepare to be "Knocked for a Ghoul" by Media Blasters' Latest Release! Author: Keith Aiken Source: Media Blasters Special thanks to August Ragone, Ed Godziszewski, and Clay Holden
Media Blasters continues their run of high-quality Toho DVDs when VARAN THE UNBELIEVABLE arrives on store shelves today. After 47 years, this video marks the first time the original version of VARAN will be commercially available in the United States... long overdue for a movie initiated as a solely American release. VARAN's unique origins were a result of the stateside box office success of GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS (Gojira) in 1956, and RODAN (Sora-no Daikaiju Radon) in 1957, as well as the high ratings generated by the first television broadcasts of the classic horror movies of the 1930s and ‘40s. The American public clearly had an appetite for monster movies, so in 1958 an enterprising television production company (backed by the ABC network) approached Toho; not about distributing one of the studios' films, but to make a brand-new monster movie specifically for the US market. Toho quickly agreed, and reassembled the team responsible for their most popular genre pictures -- producer Tomoyuki Tanaka, director Ishiro Honda, special effects director Eiji Tsuburaya, and composer Akira Ifukube -- to craft the new film, GIANT MONSTER VARAN (Daikaiju Baran). In both Japan and the US, GIANT MONSTER VARAN is generally considered a lesser entry in Toho's long line of fantasy films. Starting with MADAME WHITESNAKE (Byaku Fujin-no Yoren) in 1956, the studio had produced their special effects films in color, while widescreen TohoScope began with THE MYSTERIANS (Chikyu Boeigun) in 1957. But since this new film was intended for American television, the producers decided to shoot in the standard Academy aspect ratio and in black and white.
Following the tradition established in KING KONG and GODZILLA, the monster is a creature that is worshipped by villagers in a remote area in Tohoku -- the "Tibet of Japan". Called "Baradagi the Mountain God" (Baradagi-no sanjin), the creature is later identified as a species of dinosaur named "Baran-no podda" (from the Latin "Varanus podder", meaning "Father of Dragons") which is quickly shortened to "Varan". Unlike any known type of dinosaur, Varan walks as both a biped and quadruped (with suit performer Haruo Nakajima's "knee walking" mostly obscured by clever camera angles and foreground objects), swims in both fresh and salt water, takes to the air by means of flying squirrel-like membranes, and has an elastic hide that makes it impervious to attack. In an effective, if unexplained, touch, Varan's presence is often accompanied by strong winds that create an eerie atmosphere, almost as if the monster actually is a godlike being.
The soundtrack by Akira Ifukube is a masterpiece, easily one of the composer's best. Ifukube had spent his childhood in Hokkaido, where he became familiar with the music of the Ainu, Japan's native people, and he used those influences to great effect for the religious and village themes in VARAN. The score also features an early version of the main theme for GHIDRAH THE THREE-HEADED MONSTER, as well as music that bears an odd similarity to John Williams' famous JAWS theme. Headlining the cast was a trio of Toho second-stringers. Lead character Dr. Kenji Uozaki was the only starring role for Kozo Nomura, a bit actor who appeared in several of Honda's genre films as well as Akira Kurosawa's MADADAYO (1993). Ayumi Sonoda, who had appeared in THE H-MAN (Bijo-to Ekitai Ningen, 1958) as the doomed cabaret dancer, played newspaper reporter Yuriko Shinjo. Fumito Matsuo, an actor who had cameo roles in THE THREE TREASURES (Nippon Tanjo, 1959) and THE SECRET OF THE TELEGIAN (Denso Ningen, 1960) performed the role of comic-relief photographer Motohiko Horiguchi. By far the most recognizable actors were those in the supporting roles. Koreya Senda, who appeared in dozens of films (including GATE OF HELL, EAGLE OF THE PACIFIC, THE H-MAN, BATTLE IN OUTER SPACE, BUDDHA and TORA! TORA! TORA!), played the patriarchal scientist Dr. Sugimoto. Senda established a popular acting company, and was the uncle of MOTHRA villain Jerry Ito. Akira Sera, whose credits include IKIRU (1952), HALF HUMAN (Jujin Yuki-Otoko, 1955), THE H-MAN, and the TV mini-series SHOGUN (1980), was the village high priest. Yoshio Tsuchiya (THE HUMAN VAPOR, MONSTER ZERO, GODZILLA VS. KING GHIDORAH) and Yoshibumi Tajima (KING KONG VS. GODZILLA, GODZILLA VS. THE THING, DESTROY ALL MONSTERS) played military officers, while Akihiko Hirata (GODZILLA, RODAN, KING KONG VS. GODZILLA, GODZILLA VS. THE SEA MONSTER, TERROR OF MECHAGODZILLA) appears midway into the film as Dr. Fujimura, a scientist who has invented a "super explosive" that may be the only weapon that can stop Varan.
GIANT MONSTER VARAN premiered in Japanese cinemas on October 14, 1958. Not long afterwards, Toho began marketing the film internationally as VARAN, and the studio's English promotional material contained the odd tagline: "The World is Amazed by Godzilla and Rodan, but will be Knocked for a Ghoul by Varan". The movie was eventually sold to Dallas Productions/Cory Films, who jettisoned nearly all of the Japanese footage except for the special effects sequences and replaced them with a new, and boring, story from director Jerry Baerwitz that starred B-movie actor Myron Healey (THE UNEARTHLY, THE INCREDIBLE MELTING MAN). The Americanized version, entitled VARAN THE UNBELIEVABLE, was distributed by Crown International Pictures in 1962. Oddly, despite the picture's title, the monster is never called by name in the film... the American actors refer to it as "Obake", a shortened and colloquial version of "bakemono", a generic Japanese term for any monster or supernatural creature. Varan returned in a "blink or you'll miss it" cameo in DESTROY ALL MONSTERS (Kaiju Soshingeki, 1968). In 2001, Toho executives vetoed director Shusuke Kaneko's plans to use Varan in GODZILLA, MOTHRA, AND KING GHIDORAH: GIANT MONSTERS ALL-OUT ATTACK (Gojira Mosura Kingu Ghidora Daikaiju Sokogeki), but a brief stock footage shot of the monster was used in the opening moments of Ryuhei Kitamura's GODZILLA FINAL WARS (2004).
While Media Blasters is releasing their DVD with the title VARAN THE UNBELIEVABLE, it is not the butchered American version of the film, but instead the original, uncut Japanese GIANT MONSTER VARAN. The main menu features a close up of Varan's face, and is accompanied by Ifukube's opening theme. In a nice touch, the menu icon is a butterfly... it is the discovery of a rare species of butterfly that starts off the story. The film runs 87 minutes and is in Japanese with English subtitles... unlike with their recent MYSTERIANS and MATANGO discs, Media Blasters did not include an English dubbed audio track for VARAN. The DVD's audio options consist of Japanese 5.1, Japanese 2.0, and Japanese mono. The English subtitles are, for the most part, accurate and do a very good job of conveying the details of the story. The film is presented in 2.35:1, 16x9 anamorphic widescreen and looks absolutely stunning. The picture is incredibly sharp, with strong blacks... it's hard to imagine VARAN looking any better than it does here. There are sixteen chapters, plus an added minute of credits at the end of the film for the Toho staff and Media Blasters' DVD production crew.
There is a pair of trailers for GIANT MONSTER VARAN, including the rarely seen original 2:56 minute promo, which was not included on Toho's "Kaiju Graffiti" trailer collection or any of the VHS or Laser Disc releases of the film. The second trailer is the Toho-produced textless promo that has also been available on other recent Media Blasters DVDs. Also on the disc is an entertaining and informative 29-minute documentary showing how the Varan suit was built. Host Yasuo Kurashiki and monster maker Fuyuki Shinada (GMK, the Godzilla '54 head sculpt included with Toho "Godzilla Final Box" DVD set) are taken through the process by veteran sculptor/creature designer Keizo Murase. Joining Toho in the late 1950s, Murase built monsters for the studio into the 1990s, and his long resume of creations include Mothra, Varan, Matango, Daiei's Gamera, the Heisei King Ghidorah and Mothra, Shaw Brothers' Mighty Peking Man and many more. In a 2004 interview on H!O, Millennium Godzilla series monster maker Shinichi Wakasa referred to Murase as one of the "Godfather Masters" of the craft. In the documentary, Shinada acts like the proverbial "kid in a candy store" as Murase explains how the texture of Varan's skin was decided upon, how the monster's trademark spines were created, and so many other details. The smile never leaves Shinada's face, even when accidentally cuts himself while carving one of Varan's spines.
While there are a few errors in the subtitles, with some names and titles mistranslated, the Media Blasters' team should still be highly commended for the incredible work they've done so far to bring this material to American fans. Media Blasters/Tokyo Shock's DVD of VARAN THE UNBELIEVABLE retails for $19.95 and is worth every penny. |
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| 04/13/05: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| KIKAIDA Rides Again on San Francisco Television! Double Chopped Up with "Live" Appearances Author: August Ragone
If you are a fan of Japanese Superheroes (who isn't?), and live in Northern California, you are in luck! After more than three years of wowing fans across Hawaii once again, the 1972 Toei teleseries, JINZONINGEN KIKAIDA, makes its triumphant return to San Francisco Bay Area airwaves! Jiro's back and KTSF 26 has him! Originally shown as "Kikaider: The Android of Justice", the colorful superhero series made its Mainland debut in December of 1975 on San Francisco's "Fuji Television". Broadcast over the now defunct UHF station KEMO-TV 20, the show never caught on as it did in Hawaii, but local kids of all ethnicities loved KIKAIDA all the same. Every Sunday night at 8:00 pm children tuned in to watch the subtitled series, but our relationship was cut short due to complaints by "concerned" parents over the show's fantasy violence (even though each episode was prefaced with a disclaimer urging kids not to copy the fight scenes). Were these parents unable to change the channel, or force their kids to watch "The Wonderful World of Disney" which was in the same timeslot? Eventually, the show was pulled (ironically replaced by an even more violent anime series, BRAVE RAIDEEN), and the broadcasters announced that the series would be back after a Summer break... it has been one seriously long Summer which has lasted almost three decades! But thanks to JN Productions Inc. (a Honolulu-based company who brought the series back to Hawaii in 2001) and heavy lobbying by a couple of obsessed Bay Area Kikaidamaniacs (who shall remain nameless), KIKAIDA has been picked up by Asian-American broadcasting powerhouse, KTSF. Locally owned and operated by Lincoln Broadcasting Company, KTSF has continued to be a leader in quality programming from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Japan since 1976. Reaching more than 2,750,000 Northern California households in 10 Bay Area counties, KTSF is available over-the-air on Channel 26 and over cable Channel 8 on Comcast Cable throughout the market. The national satellite services DirecTV and Dish Network also carry KTSF, so those interested in watching KIKAIDA should check their Dish directories to see if they have KTSF available in your area. KTSF will broadcast KIKAIDA, fully subtitled in English, every Saturday night at Midnight, beginning this Saturday, April 16th. For the first time on the Mainland, all 43 episodes of the series will be aired, including the final story arc featuring Kikaida's powerful arch nemesis, Hakaida -- one of the most memorable villains in Tokusatsu history (some sources even claiming that Hakaida inspired Darth Vader!). Several local retailers, such as Super 7 Store and Japan Video & Media Inc., are already stocking up on official merchandise from "Generation Kikaida", and other Nor Cal shops are being urged to get on the bandwagon. To commemorate the return of KIKAIDA, KTSF's STIR TV, an Asian-American pop culture show aired on Saturdays at 6:30 pm PST (rebroadcast on Tuesdays at 5:00 pm PST), will feature an interview with lead actor Ban Daisuke, who plays "Jiro". STIR TV is also broadcast on the International Channel, and in several markets across the US, including Hawaii, Los Angeles and NYC. Check out STIR TV's website for stations and times in your area. But wait, there's more! Leaping from the cathode tube and into the real world, Kikaida himself will be appearing -- "in person" -- at the Cherry Blossom Festival in San Francisco's picturesque Japantown, April 16th/17th & 23rd/24th. Come and visit the booths for KTSF (1:00 pm-1:30 pm) and Japan Video & Media Inc. (11:00 am-12:00 pm) on the 16th, 17th & the 23rd... Just look for a red and blue android! Go! Go! Go!! For more information on KIKAIDA go to our "All About Kikaida" page! |
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| 04/11/05: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| GODZILLA FINAL WARS INTERVIEWS: RYUHEI KITAMURA...TIMES TWO The Director of the 50th Anniversary Film Discusses His Work in a Pair of Interviews from the Hollywood Premiere Interviews and Photos by Ira Cord Rubnitz and Biff L. Peterson Introduction by: Keith Aiken Additional Photos Courtesy of Kyle Cooper and Toho Pictures
Born May 30, 1969 in Osaka, Kitamura is a self-proclaimed ‘movie junkie'. As a youth he would regularly skip school to spend his days in theaters watching one film after another, and at age 17 he dropped out and moved to Australia to study directing. He entered the Film Department at the School of Visual Arts in Sydney. In an interview with Midnight Eye, Kitamura explained, "I just walked up to the principal and said 'I'm from Japan and I want to be a filmmaker, so let me in'. He thought I was a funny guy so he let me in and I studied there for two years."
Originally planned as RETURN TO HELL: DOWN TO HELL 2, Kitamura's VERSUS (2000) would be his breakthrough film. By this time, he had been working with his much of his crew for several years and everyone gave their all to make VERSUS much more than originally envisioned. Among the key crew members was Kitamura's film school classmate Ryuichi Takatsu, who directed THE MAKING OF VERSUS documentary, and lead actor Tak Sakaguchi. Both men would play major roles in the making of GODZILLA FINAL WARS. With the international success of VERSUS, Kitamura was given the opportunity to direct several projects including the science fiction thriller ALIVE (2002), "The Messenger" segment of JAM FILMS (2002), the supernatural tales SKYHIGH (2003, released on DVD this month from Media Blasters) and ARAGAMI (2003), and the cut scenes for the video game METAL GEAR SOLID: THE TWIN SNAKES. VERSUS also resulted in him getting his first big-budget assignment, Toho's AZUMI (2003). Producer Mata Yamamoto had seen VERSUS at the Yubari Fantastic Film Festival and decided the young director was the right man to helm the film. Following AZUMI, Kitamura planned to move to Hollywood, but he was approached by Shogo Tomiyama with an offer to take the director's chair for the 50th Anniversary Godzilla film. Kitamura was a huge fan of the character, particularly the 1970s films like GODZILLA VS MECHAGODZILLA (Gojira tai Mekagojira, 1974), so he put his travel plans on hold.
One day before the premiere, Ryuhei Kitamura took part in a handful of brief interviews at the Renaissance Hotel. Among the reporters covering the event was Henshin! Online correspondent Biff L. Peterson and independent journalist Ira Cord Rubnitz. Both men spoke with Ryuhei Kitamura, and both interviews are now presented for your reading pleasure.
Ira Cord Rubnitz is a successful Recording Engineer/Mixer/Sound Designer who has worked for Sony Computer Entertainment America and Sony Megatrax Music (alongside such names as Chick Corea, James Brown, Smokey Robinson, Ambrosia, and the Japanese progressive band Prism). He occasionally writes news and reviews covering the film industry and is a lifelong Godzilla fan, so Ira was on hand to cover the premiere event for the British science fiction movie magazine DREAMWATCH and the LA-based newspaper ENTERTAINMENT TODAY. While excerpts from this discussion have appeared in print the full text was not published, so Ira has kindly offered to share the complete interview for the first time with readers of Henshin! Online... IRA CORD RUBNITZ: Was FINAL WARS influenced by DESTROY ALL MONSTERS? RYUHEI KITAMURA: No, my favorite Godzilla movie was GODZILLA VS MECHAGODZILLA. I think in that time, Godzilla had more power and speed, stronger than what he's been recently. I don't like recent Godzilla movies-- not saying which one-- but Godzilla has lost its power. So, the first thing I do for the producer, when he asked me to direct the 50th Anniversary film, is tell him that Godzilla is too weak! He has to be absolutely strong and that's what I'm gonna do! [My] Godzilla has a taste like back in the 70s, maybe in MONSTER ZERO, that I was influenced most by but updated to 2004.
KITAMURA: [laughs] Oh, it's going to happen! It's not Oscar time at the movies, but... they made so many movies in 50 years that the producers decided Godzilla needs a vacation. I did everything I could, more than the limit. I did everything extreme on FINAL WARS but in 10 years, of course, he'll be back. RUBNITZ: Most people I speak to say that the original GODZILLA film, design, and roar were by far the best. It was re-released here in the US this year to amazing reviews. How will FINAL WARS compare, and what do you think of the original GODZILLA? KITAMURA: You can't compare FINAL WARS to the first film. That's something special and I do respect it. This one is completely different. You can't compete with the original film. RUBNITZ: In addition to a metaphor of nuclear disaster, savior of Japan, or a metaphor of America...what does "Godzilla" mean to you??? KITAMURA: For me, it's something unknown, huge, giant, and very brutal. He's a metaphor of nuclear disaster, of course, but something more than that!
KITAMURA: I put that message in FINAL WARS, it's a fighting movie. Everybody fights [monsters vs. monsters, monsters vs. humans, and humans vs. aliens], but in the end, you will get my message! RUBNITZ: Everyone knows the great sound of Godzilla was done by Akira Ifukube using the contra-bass and tape manipulation, but everyone wants to know how Rodan was done!!! KITAMURA: [laughs] There was a huge stack of sound effects of monsters and they've been doing updating, but I don't know--it's a secret! I asked them to stick to the original versions, so they are doing it, and using Pro Tools. RUBNITZ: What was the choice of monsters in FINAL WARS based on--why not Space Godzilla or Destoroyah...? KITAMURA: Myself and the producer and writers put all the monsters on a table and we decided which were the right ones. "Is this the right one? No, now this one is gone." [laughs] Not my personal choice... RUBNITZ: Keith Emerson is a brilliant musician, but why was he chosen over Akira Ifukube? KITAMURA: Mmmm...well, FINAL WARS is a rock n' roll monster movie and I needed to bring all the rock spirit into it, so I couldn't think of anyone else who has more rock spirit than Keith Emerson. He's already 60, so I wrote him a letter saying "Instead of playing piano, bring back your rock spirit." He did a great job--he's a genius.
KITAMURA: He's not using an orchestra. It sounds more like Emerson, Lake and Palmer. RUBNITZ: It seems that every Godzilla film after the original is basically a battle with other monsters--- with Godzilla's design resembling Cookie Monster from SESAME STREET! Do you feel this gets redundant, and how do you think Godzilla, if resurrected, would be improved plotwise? KITAMURA: Hmm... you'll have to ask me that question in 10 years. I just don't like to continue doing the same things. There needs to be another challenge, so that's why the studio and producers decided to give Godzilla a vacation. They've done everything in the past 50 years, so with FINAL WARS, its extreme and more than the limit. I can't think of any other way to do Godzilla. Everybody needs time to think about giving him a new life. Until then, I think its better not to do it anymore. RUBNITZ: How was Godzilla redesigned for speed, and what makes FINAL WARS so modern compared to the sluggish movement in other films?
RUBNITZ: Will people think of FINAL WARS as a big budget goodbye and a film that's fun like a videogame, or is there an underlying message symbolic of the chaos, choice of countries, and interstellar treachery? KITAMURA: The Godzilla videogame is a lot of fun, but FINAL WARS is a big 50th [anniversary] festival for Godzilla, and nothing personal - in each city we win! [laughs] RUBNITZ: Who influenced you as directors - i.e. Lucas and Spielberg were influenced by Ray Harryhausen, and Peter Jackson loved KING KONG... KITAMURA: Lots of influences, like George Miller, James Cameron, Sam Raimi and Peter Weir. There are so many great directors around. I'm just a movie junkie, so I go to a movie every day. On DVD, I watch my favorite movies so many times. I'm not interested in copying the directors, so I try my best to create my own style. RUBNITZ: Could Bush, by not signing the Kyoto Treaty on Global Warming, cause environmental chaos as bad as or worse than the kaiju? KITAMURA: Yes, of course! Kaiju are fantasy things [laughs]. Only in the world of Godzilla movies it's a lot of fun to destroy the towns and buildings, but not in the real world, you know.
KITAMURA: Yes, I do! I believe in ghosts. I haven't seen them...I think I saw a UFO ten years ago in Alaska. I don't know what it was, but I saw some mysterious lights. It's better to believe in something like that than to be realistic and deny everything. RUBNITZ: Are you relocating to LA or staying in Japan to make films? KITAMURA: Yes, next year [2005]. I have nothing I want to do in Japan after FINAL WARS. RUBNITZ: Who would you like Godzilla to fight: the new Peter Jackson King Kong, George Bush, Dave Chappelle as Blackzilla, or Mecha Bin Laden? KITAMURA: [laughs] Seriously, of course, King Kong. The last one, you know [KING KONG VS. GODZILLA, 1962]...that one was a masterpiece. I really love Peter Jackson's work, so I really want to see these monsters fight. I don't think I'm gonna lose, but... [laughs] I'll let him eat George Bush at the beginning! [laughs] RUBNITZ: What would kill you faster: blowfish improperly prepared...or the American Godzilla? KITAMURA: [laughs] You'll see in my movie what happens to him! Tomorrow night at the premiere, all the audience is gonna shout! My Godzilla is gonna beat up him! RUBNITZ: Ano Gojira-no douruiga mata sekai-no dokokani arawarete kurukamoshirenai!!! [This is part of the final line spoken by Dr Yamane in the original GODZILLA. It means "Perhaps, one day, another Godzilla will appear somewhere in the world."] KITAMURA: Yes, he will! INTERVIEW 2: Biff L Peterson Biff L Peterson is a man of many talents; author, reporter, musician, actor, and chef. On behalf of Henshin! Online, he spoke with Ryuhei Kitamura about GODZILLA FINAL WARS...
RYUHEI KITAMURA: This movie is fast, but not as fast as a Hollywood movie. The fighting is faster than what it used to be. My favorite Godzilla movies are from back in the seventies, like GODZILLA VS. MECHAGODZILLA. Back then, Godzilla had more speed and power. That's my favorite period. But nobody can say which Godzilla is the "right" one. Everyone has a different opinion, all over the world. But my personal taste is the seventies Godzilla. He was stronger. So when the producer asked me to direct the next film, I told him, "Godzilla is too weak in the recent films." H!O: The seventies Godzilla movies sometimes appeared to have been influenced by Peckinpah and the cinematic violence of that time. For instance, the blood spurting out of Godzilla's neck, that kind of thing. Where do you get your influences, as far as movie violence is concerned? KITAMURA: I don't know. I have a lot of influence from Sam Raimi, John Woo, George Miller. I am influenced by lots of great directors, like James Cameron, but I try to create my own style every time I make a movie. But this time, the producer asked me, 'don't put too much blood.' They'd seen my previous movies, like VERSUS and AZUMI, so I understood. I didn't want to make it too violent, but it is a very violent movie. This Godzilla is very brutal. H!O: Do you view Godzilla as an animal, a symbol of nuclear holocaust, or something else?
H!O: Was it important to you that Godzilla be scary? KITAMURA: Yes, but this is not a movie like the first one. In the first film, Godzilla was very terrifying, but the Godzilla series has changed its style over the past 50 years. In my Godzilla movie, I wanted to have human beings fighting against the monsters, not tanks or airplanes or helicopters, just humans. Five soldiers fight against Ebirah, which is a big shrimp monster. That was something I had never seen before, in any of the previous Godzilla movies. In my world of Godzilla, people don't run away, they fight back against the monsters. That's something new, you know? In the past Godzilla movies, the people were just terrified and the army fought back against Godzilla. But in my world of Godzilla, monsters exist everywhere, so you have the Earth Defense Force fighting monsters everyday, somewhere on Earth.
KITAMURA: Yes. I used to watch Godzilla movies as a kid. When I was 15 or 16, I went to the theater where they showed five old Godzilla movies in one night. I used to go there every weekend and watch lots of Godzilla movies. But I never imagined I would be the director of a Godzilla movie, so I was very surprised when the producer asked me. H!O: Why do you think they asked you? Your style is so different. KITAMURA: [Laughs] I don't know. You have to ask Tomiyama-san. It was sort of a mystery to me. But when you look at this movie, you will understand. It fits my style, somehow. H!O: Tell us about the development of the story. KITAMURA: There were lots of ideas, I guess. I first met with the producer last May, right after Toho released AZUMI. Toho liked AZUMI very much, so they introduced me to the producer, and he said they were asking everybody to come up with ideas for the 50th anniversary Godzilla movie. So I wrote a story, which was more like a CON AIR type of movie, with convicts fighting against Godzilla. It was interesting, but everybody ignored that story [laughs]. So right after AZUMI, I started shooting SKYHIGH, so I was busy for about four months, and I think meanwhile the producer gathered lots and lots of different ideas and stories. And after SKYHIGH, I met Tomiyama-san again, and by then he had made up his mind that this was going to be last Godzilla movie for a while. He wanted to do kind of like a 'greatest hits' album, he wanted to include every element from the series. He gave me the synopsis that the screenwriter [Wataru Mimura] had written, and it was basically the same storyline as the film. H!O: How much input did you have in the script?
H!O: Was it already decided that there would be a dozen monsters in the film? KITAMURA: No, in the original story, there were only eight monsters. The title was something like RETURN OF THE XILIANS: EIGHT MONSTERS ATTACK. But the producer told me, 'We want to make this movie big--lots of monsters all over the world!' So, I said, 'Why just eight monsters? We need more--what is the record?' [There were 11 kaiju in DESTROY ALL MONSTERS] So we got action figures of all the Toho monsters and put them on a table, and discussed which ones we should put in the movie. H!O: Were there any monsters you could not include, that you wish you could have? KITAMURA: No. My favorites are Gigan and King Caesar, and they're both in the movie.
KITAMURA: To be honest, I don't like the recent Godzilla movies. I haven't seen one in a theater for a long time, more than 10 years, but sometimes I see them on TV, and I just didn't like them. I had to be honest, so I spoke very directly to the producer and said, 'I think you've been going the wrong way.' The recent Godzilla movies are only for the very maniac Godzilla fans and for children, not for an ordinary audience, and I think there's something wrong with that. Godzilla is a big thing--it's for everybody, not only for the Godzilla fans or for children. They had been making the movies that way for a long time. And also, I couldn't see the director's style in the recent Godzilla movies. So, I told the producer, 'I know there are some rules when you make a Godzilla movie, but it has to be my movie. I have to put my style into it.' And he let me do it, more than 100 percent.
KITAMURA: No. I was just happy about it. H!O: Did anyone give you any resistance when you tried to apply your style of action to the story? KITAMURA: No, everyone was very cooperative. H!O: So, you had final cut? KITAMURA: Yes.
KITAMURA: I didn't like the music in the recent Godzilla movies. It was too slow, and it didn't have a rock feeling. From the films and from the music I couldn't feel a rock kind of power and energy and speed--that's what I felt was missing from the recent Godzilla movies. My concept was to go back to the seventies and eighties. Back in those days, film music was much more fun. Nowadays, it's all computerized music, and I don't like it. I prefer analog music, and analog special effects over using too much CGI. But I think movie music from the eighties had more power, so it was my concept to go back to the eighties and seventies. And when I thought about that concept, and when we were looking for a composer, I needed something that no one could imagine. No one had ever thought of Keith Emerson to compose Godzilla music, but I was a big fan of his for more than 25 years, back to Emerson, Lake and Palmer. So I decided he was the one. He was on tour and very busy, but he did a great job. He didn't compose all the music for the movie, but he did an excellent job [Nobuhiko Morino and Daisuke Yano also worked on the soundtrack.]. [After Emerson agreed to do the score], I wrote him a letter. 'Dear Keith, you've forgotten about rock music recently. You're just playing piano. But please bring back your rock spirit.' And he did a great job. H!O: The special effects for GODZILLA FINAL WARS were directed by Eiichi Asada. How did you ensure that the effects scenes reflected the style of film you wanted to do? KITAMURA: [Asada and I] had been talking ever since when we wrote the script. He had seen my movies and he understands. He's an excellent guy. He was an assistant effects director back in the seventies, when they made GODZILLA VS. MECHAGODZILLA, my favorite film. He knows everything about special effects, everything about monster movies and Godzilla movies. I trusted him 100 percent, and we worked so closely together. He had seen all my movies and he understood my taste. I gave him all the storyboards--my team had storyboarded all the monster fighting sequences. He looked at them and discussed with his crew, and he would come back and give me some new ideas. I'm very satisfied with the job he did. |
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| GODZILLA FINAL WARS INTERVIEW: JOE SIXPACK Ryuhei Kitamura's Pal JOE FENECH Cheers on Xilians and Gets Crushed by Kumonga in GFW Author: Keith Aiken Behind the Scenes Photos Courtesy of Joe Fenech Special Thanks to Mick Preston and James Ballard
While Joe's screen time in FINAL WARS is on par with Hedorah's, his involvement in the film was greater than one might suspect. He was the man in the trailer in Arizona who gets crushed by Kumonga, in the crowd cheering for the Xilians early in the film and present at shoots in both Australia and Japan. He also worked on the screenplay a bit. As was the case with Mick and Darren, Joe Fenech is an outgoing guy who had some interesting, informative, and funny stories to tell about the production of GODZILLA FINAL WARS. I think Henshin! Online readers will enjoy these accounts from one of the many unsung people behind the latest Godzilla movie. HENSHIN! ONLINE: Please tell me a bit about your background. JOE FENECH: My heritage is Greek Maltese and I was born in Australia 35 years ago. I have always lived and worked in Sydney Australia. I've been working in the television industry since 1990; most of that time has been for SBS TV [Special Broadcasting Service] as a camera operator and floor manager. H!O: How did you first meet Ryuhei Kitamura?
Back in college, we had a lot of fun making short films and getting into trouble. Sometimes people would call the police because they thought we were causing trouble in the streets; they neglected to see that there was a camera and sound crew beside us! H!O: In college Ryuhei made some award-winning films like EXIT. Were you involved in any of them? FENECH: The only thing I got to do on EXIT (the name was taken from a U2 song) was some post-production sound since we were all working on our own projects at the time. I did get to work on his "Grim Reaper" drug commercial and a few other projects; I starred in something he shot at his flat one day but that film now seems to be "missing in action". When I visited his house in Japan he still had many of the films that we made. He'd put them onto DVD so we sat there watching them on a big screen and laughing our heads off. H!O: Did you work on any of Ryuhei's other professional movies before GODZILLA FINAL WARS?
H!O: So, I assume you first learned about FINAL WARS from Ryuhei? FENECH: Yeah. One day I got an email from him telling me that he would be directing "the last" Godzilla film. I nearly fell off my chair! I was smiling for days because I had really wanted him to make it as a director. He is a special guy with great vision and he deserves success. H!O: Were you a Godzilla fan before this? FENECH: I had only seen the original GODZILLA and maybe snippets of some of the others while flicking through channels. The first time I saw the movie it was the Raymond Burr version GODZILLA, KING OF THE MONSTERS, but I recently got my hands on the original subtitled Japanese film. H!O: So you didn't know any of the Toho monsters from their earlier films? For example, the monster you share your scenes with -- the giant spider Kumonga?
H!O: How did you end up acting in the movie? FENECH: Soon after Ryuhei had first emailed me about FINAL WARS he came to Sydney with a film crew who were making a documentary about his life. They interviewed some of his friends, went back to his primary school, old house, the School of Visual Arts, and Broken Hill, I think. Ryuhei lived in Sydney for a while when he was a child. It was during this visit that Ryuhei told me that he had written a scene for me in GODZILLA FINAL WARS. Now let me tell ya folks, I ain't no actor! I told him it would be better to employ someone who knows what they are doing, but he insisted it was a short scene of some rock n' roll trailer trash in Arizona and I would be fine... he seemed to think I could play a slob in a trailer really well.
FENECH: Nope, no audition or nothing -- yikes! H!O: Since your character is in only one short scene, did Kitamura bother to give him a name? What was he called in the script? FENECH: My character didn't have a name. It was just called ‘Arizona Trailer Scene' in the script. H!O: That sequence reminded me of the 1955 American horror movie TARANTULA, where a giant spider goes on a rampage in Arizona. FENECH: I don't know if my scene was inspired by TARANTULA. Ryuhei didn't say anything about that. H!O: Where was the Kumonga scene filmed? FENECH: The scene was supposed to be shot somewhere in Sydney, but they never found a location that really resembled Arizona. So poor me, I had to fly out to Japan to do my scene at Toho Studios. That entire flight I was hoping my performance would be worth the price of the plane ticket.
H!O: When I interviewed Mick Preston, he said you were in the movie in a couple of different places; as an extra in the scenes where the American Godzilla destroys Sydney, and then you got stomped by Kumonga in the trailer, and there was one or two others. FENECH: I was not in any of the American Godzilla scenes, but I was involved in two other scenes. I haven't seen the completed film so I don't know if they made the final cut. H!O: I'm surprised you haven't seen the movie yet — you should tell Ryuhei it's time to mail you a copy of his latest film. Would you describe filming your scenes in the movie?
H!O: When was the first day of shooting? FENECH: That was May 30, 2004. They were there from about 5 a.m. with one crew, and continued into the next morning with another crew at different location [Kent St in downtown Sydney] doing the New York cop scene with Mick and Darren. During the day, they were filming several different scenes on Parker Street in Sydney -- running crowds, cars exploding, the two punks in the sports car, and the crowd chanting "X is best!" Ryuhei told me to disguise myself because I was also in the trailer/spider scene. I did get a little overenthusiastic in this scene and Ryuhei called out, "Joe, too much", so I don't know if I made it into that part of the movie or not. H!O: Besides the "X is best" shots, most of the filming that day was for scenes with Zilla, the American Godzilla, am I right?
H!O: Many people who never watch the Toho films saw the U.S. GODZILLA because it was the "big summer blockbuster" of 1998. Did you see that movie? FENECH: I did see the American GODZILLA, and I was very unimpressed with it. It was an insult to the genre. H!O: When did you film the scenes at Toho? FENECH: The trailer scene was shot on the 2nd of September, 2004. They told me they had a lot of trouble finding an American-looking trailer in Japan and making it look like it was in the Arizona desert. It was very hot and cramped in the trailer once we got into it with a full crew and lights. I had to get my Steve Earle t-shirt in the shot, and the name of my band is on my cap. They told me I was gonna shoot my scene at 2 p.m. but all the wirework with Mick and Darren took a long time to shoot, so we began filming my scene at 1 a.m. and didn't finish until about 6 a.m.
FENECH: Oh, yeah. Basically this is what we shot... I don't know if it all made it in the film: I'm watching TV and see that Paris was destroyed by a giant praying mantis [Kamakiras]. I'm eating pizza and drinking beer. A small spider crawls across my pizza. I throw it to the ground and stomp on it and then - kabooshka! - Kumonga destroys the trailer. [The scene in the finished film has been edited down to a quick reaction shot and one line of dialogue.] Well, firstly I'm a reasonably tall guy and the crew decided they wanted a low angle shot of me stomping on the spider so they put me on a small wooden box. That meant that my head was touching the ceiling of the trailer and I was supposed to balance on one foot on this small wooden box with the other leg raised, say my line, then stomp the spider. Well, we did numerous takes due to balance problems, etc. I hope they got what they wanted. Before my last shot, the crew looked concerned and said they would use someone else for the close up of my hand holding a slice of pizza as the spider crawls across it. I said I was fine with doing that shot, but they said the spider was actually poisonous and they insisted I not do it. So, there you go...my first stunt double!
FENECH: Takatsu did direct the trailer scene. Ryuhei was in another studio across the lot directing the lead actor in a spaceship scene. He would pop in occasionally to see how we were doing. H!O: Did you enjoy working with an old college friend? FENECH: It was like deja vu. It was all very exciting; I was gushing with pride that my mates were making a major motion picture of such a grand scale. There was no difference in Takatsu's style or attitude. He was the same guy I first met in 1988. H!O: What was it like working with the Toho crew?
H!O: What was it like shooting at Toho Studios? FENECH: It was great. I even got my own dressing room -- which was hysterical to me -- while Mick and Darren, the "real actors", had to share one. I enjoyed constantly rubbing that in, but I got bored pretty fast being by myself so I went and hung out with those guys. H!O: Did you know Mick and Darren before making this movie?
They were great, enthusiastic guys and really encouraged me along the way. Darren went home after his shoot and then relocated to the states, but I still occasionally see Mick. H!O: Did you get to see any of the other scenes from GODZILLA FINAL WARS being filmed while you were at Toho? FENECH: The only other scene I saw was the lead actor, Masahiro Matsuoka, in the spaceship doing some lines. I did get a mini tour of Toho and it was incredible. All of the history in that place; Akira Kurosawa... the studio Ryuhei was shooting in was the same studio they shot SEVEN SAMURAI in. The props were amazing. And just think of all the Godzilla films that were made there... H!O: Did you spend much time in Japan?
H!O: Since you went to film school with Kitamura, were you involved with the production beyond the acting and extra work? FENECH: I also did some script editing on the FINAL WARS screenplay that Ryuhei may or may not have used. H!O: You worked on the screenplay? FENECH: After I left the School of Visual Arts I wanted to be a writer and script editor, so when Ryuhei first told me about GODZILLA FINAL WARS I said I would help him in any way I could. I suggested either editing the script or music - please note I never mentioned acting! When Ryuhei got back to Japan he sent me a copy of the FINAL WARS script and I spent a week polishing up the lines and grammar but, as I've said, I haven't seen the film so I don't know if he used any of my script changes.
FENECH: I am, but I know I can't act for shit so I dread seeing my scene. H!O: So, what's next for you? FENECH: Well, I'm back at my boring TV job. There's only so much live television you can do before it screws with your head; the hours are crap, the politics are crap, and the pay ain't worth the effect it has on your social life. I have a little band called 'The Torchsong Country Soul Band' and I wish to dominate the world real soon with songs of love, hope, and faith. All we need are more band members, a record deal, and pinch of luck. H!O: What kind of music do you play? What is your role in the band? FENECH: I'm the sole songwriter for The Torchsong Country Soul Band. We mostly do country and folk ballads with some 60's soul (all original). We do lots of three-part harmonies, but our main singer is an Irish girl by the name of Maree Byrne who has been with us for a year. She has the voice of angel and really takes the songs to heaven. The other band member is Edmond Kairouz, an unbelievable guitarist/multi-instrumentalist and singer. I've been working with him for probably seven years. We all really love making music and dream of making an album.
FENECH: It feels great that people will be watching this film for years to come because that means it will stand as a work of art created by my friend. It makes me proud that I was involved in a small way. I hope audiences around the world get a great kick out of this cool film. Rock on!!! |
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| SPACE BATTLESHIP YAMATO: Thirty Years of Galactic Adventure! Interview with Voyager Entertainment's Tim Eldred Author: Bob Johnson
There was a time though when Japanese animation was hard to come by and the fandom surrounding it was a fringe cult of crazy fans watching ninth generation videotapes of giant robots and space adventures in a language few could speak or understand. The 1960s had come and gone with pioneering series such as ASTRO-BOY (Tetsuwan Atomu), GIGANTOR (Tetsujin Niju'hachi-go), KIMBA THE WHITE LION (Janguru Taitei) and SPEED RACER (Maha Go Go Go). As the 1970s came around, a second wave of shows started to appear. BATTLE OF THE PLANETS (Kagaku Ninjatai Gachaman), FORCE FIVE (a potpourri of Toei Animation Super Robot titles) and a series that would have a big impact on science fiction and animation in both Japan and the United States. That series was STAR BLAZERS, known in Japan as SPACE BATTLESHIP YAMATO (Uchu Senkan Yamato). Whereas most animated series catered to an audience with a short, if not non-existent, attention span, STAR BLAZERS was structured as a series-long story with interesting characters interwoven throughout the episodic account of their quest to the planet Iscandar. After three series, four theatrical films and two TV movies, YAMATO as it is known in Japan, left a lasting mark on the structure and style of Japanese animation. As YAMATO reaches its thirtieth anniversary and STAR BLAZERS approaches twenty-five years, Voyager Entertainment has been releasing the series and the movies on DVD in the United States and is now chronicling the entire saga in a 2-hour DVD documentary. Henshin! Online caught up with the man who developed all of the bonus features and helped with the authoring of the Voyager STAR BLAZERS DVD library, he also put together the not yet released documentary,"The Making of an Anime Legend". Tim Eldred has consented to give Henshin! Online readers a sneak peek into the documentary and what went into bringing STAR BLAZERS to DVD.
TIM ELDRED: That's an easy one. Comics, movies, and animation made me want to work on comics, movies, and animation. STAR WARS was a big life-changer, of course, but anime was already working its magic on me before 1977. TV shows like SPEED RACER and BATTLE OF THE PLANETS hit me like tsunamis, and I didn't even know where they came from until much later. Also, do you remember the Shogun Warriors? They were a line of toys that consisted almost entirely of anime giant robots that had been renamed for the US market. I loved those things. And when I got to see STAR BLAZERS for the first time in 1980, that was it. Hooked for life. By the early 90s, I had carved out a career for myself in comic books, and I was a staff member at the now-defunct Malibu Comics in Southern California. I had drawn comics for them based on LENSMAN [Renzuman], ROBOTECH [comprised of three Tatsunoko Productions series] and CAPTAIN HARLOCK [Uchu Kaizoku Kaputen Harokku] and I constantly advocated for them to and more anime licenses. When they got a letter from Voyager Entertainment offering STAR BLAZERS, I strongly campaigned for them to obtain it. When they turned it down, I teamed up with a couple of my comic book buddies, John Ott and Bruce Lewis. Together, we could do everything it took to create a comic book and get it into the marketplace, so we approached Voyager with the proposal that they publish a STAR BLAZERS comic on their own with us as the packager. Voyager went for it, and we formed a tiny little 3-man company called Studio Go. This relationship lasted for about three years and created a foundation for the work I'm doing for Voyager now, their DVDs and their website, www.Starblazers.com. So it was quite a serendipitous little adventure. H!O: SPACE BATTLESHIP YAMATO was one of, if not the, most influential anime series to come out of Japan. It seems that many of the trends that started in anime in the mid-1970s through the mid-1980s were started by the Yamato series and features. ELDRED: Definitely. It was the first real anime saga, with a story that flowed back and forth between TV and movies, and a huge fan following that inspired a massive line of products that enlarged the experience. Naturally, this created a highly successful precedent for other programs to follow. MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM [Kido Senshi Gandamu] was the next one to hit this level. There were other shows that set other trends, but most of what we see now can be traced directly back to YAMATO. I tend to compare it with STAR TREK; it had pretty much the same effect on Japanese pop culture. H!O: When I look at the STAR TREK movies, I see definite STAR BLAZERS/YAMATO influences. Cadets on a training mission in STAR TREK 2, "stealing" the Enterprise IN STAR TREK IV, rebelling to go off on a mission important only to the crews and others in STAR TREK III. So maybe it went full-circle. Do you think American sci-fi felt the influence of YAMATO? ELDRED: To a degree, yes, but I don't think the influence was significant until the mid to late 1980s. Remember, before that time anime wasn't very easy to get. You had to know people and tap into underground fan networks and, most importantly, you had to be willing to sit through multi-generational VHS dubs with no subtitles. Knowing what I do now about TV and movie production, it's hard for me to imagine anyone of influence having the time or patience to go through all that. So many of the earlier similarities you mention were probably coincidental, except for the ones we know about (Michael Okuda, et al). Today, of course, everything has changed. Anime is cool, hip, and mainstream. You can see the influences everywhere. I'll bet the curve went up right after the import companies went into business. H!O: How did you go about putting together the extras for the DVDs?
I also got to do this for one of my other anime favorites, ARMORED TROOPER VOTOMS [Sokokishi Botomusu]. I got to design and package all those DVDs as well. Talk about a charmed life! H!O: Have you considered doing a book that would include all the materials and information you unearthed to include things that didn't make it to the DVDs? ELDRED: Each of the STAR BLAZERS and YAMATO DVD box sets contains an insert booklet that fulfills that very purpose. Other stuff found a home on the website, www.Starblazers.com. But we all felt that the documentary was the best way to deliver the goods to a mass audience. H!O: Was it difficult rounding up the old voice actors? They seem like they are still pretty enthusiastic about their work on the series. ELDRED: It wasn't difficult at all; Amy Howard Wilson (the voice of Nova) did the footwork on her own, tracking down Ken Meseroll [Derek Wildstar], Eddie Allen [Desslok], and Tom Tweedy [Mark Venture]. Amy's story is pretty fascinating in itself; she had no idea STAR BLAZERS fandom even existed until the late 90's when her niece found something on the internet. Amy got in touch with some online fans, established her creds, and now she's one of us! (In fact, she upped the ante by actually MARRYING one of us!). She made it her personal mission to track down her former co-stars and share the love, and that's what made the interviews possible. I think what made STAR BLAZERS special to them was that they were all very young at the time, and this was one of their first professional acting gigs. Eddie Allen in particular wishes he could play more unusual roles like Desslok. It was fun for him to do and still gets a real kick out of being recognized for that part. H!O: Mr. Nishizaki, the producer of the series is involved with Voyager isn't he? Was he much help in gathering materials from the original series and movies or did you have to hunt for those yourself? ELDRED: As I said, his help came in the form of a blanket permission to use anything we could get our hands on, so long as it came out of his original production company. I was really lucky to have started my collection when I did, because a lot of that stuff simply can't be found anymore. As it turns out, the scrounging skills I developed over the years are still serving me well; I've made some incredibly lucky finds during the time I've been working on the DVDs. Sometimes a totally unexpected vintage treasure would fall into my lap precisely when I needed it. So I have to think that this whole enterprise is blessed.
ELDRED: Voyager had the whole first series re-mastered when they released it on VHS, so those prints were good enough to export directly over to DVD. They weren't quite as lucky with the second series (THE COMET EMPIRE), since most of the master materials were lost before Voyager ever took possession of the license. The thing to remember, though, is that the STAR BLAZERS production process was pretty low-tech to begin with. I'm not privy to all the details, but examining the prints tells me that they must have been transferred a couple of times while they made their way through dubbing and editing. What eventually ended up on TV was a big step below what we consider to be DVD quality today, and without all the original elements to work with, there's a limit to what can be restored. H!O: What exactly was done, if anything, to YAMATO II for the DVD release? ELDRED: If you're talking about the episodes themselves, nothing was done to enhance them for DVD; we used the same masters from the VHS release. H!O: How were YAMATO I and II preserved? Were they on film or video? What formats? ELDRED: They must have been transferred to film at some point during the production of STAR BLAZERS, because there's a lot of grain in the picture that you don't see in the original Japanese versions. If I knew more about interpositives and telecine, I might be able to make a better guess, but the masters that Voyager eventually received were all on 1-inch videotape. They were later transferred to digital videotape to prevent degradation. H!O: I know YAMATO III was taken from original Japanese prints for the DVDs. What brought that about? Was there ever a consideration of including the original Japanese voice tracks? ELDRED: As Voyager produced more and more DVDs and I got to learn more about the process, it occurred to me that I had everything I needed at my fingertips to engineer a remastering of series 3. Specifically, I had all the episodes on laserdisc, and the authoring studio could combine them with the English-language voice tracks. Series 3 really cried out for this treatment, since the production company that converted it into STAR BLAZERS had downgraded all of their masters from 35mm to 16. I don't know why this was necessary, but it had the effect of blurring the picture and making it pretty unpleasant to watch. I suggested that the original language track be kept and subtitled, but there were two obstacles standing in the way. First, Voyager only has licensing rights of STAR BLAZERS and the YAMATO movies. They're currently unable to release the YAMATO TV shows in their original format (or you can bet your life they would have by now). Second, the English-language voice track had been sped up just enough to prevent a one-to-one match with the overall timing of the Japanese episodes. The result of this was that we had to trim a few frames here and there to keep everything in sync. But I made sure nothing vital was lost. If you listen very closely, however, you'll hear some artifacts of the original voice track in a few places. Let's just say I took the opportunity to repair some translation problems and leave it at that. H!O: You are now working on a DVD-documentary on the whole phenomena of YAMATO and STAR BLAZERS. How did this come about? ELDRED: It was a direct result of all the work on the DVDs and the STAR BLAZERS website. I reached a point where I could write a comprehensive history of the YAMATO saga, complete with direct quotes from key staff members. After some deliberation, I decided a video documentary was the best format for such a presentation, and Voyager agreed. From there it was a matter of boiling everything down into a script and finding the best images to match the words. H!O: What kind of research did you have to do for the documentary? Did you have a lot of help from Japan and the US on it?
It was regrettable that I didn't have the resources to get any on-camera interviews, but I invented a workaround that I hope everyone will accept. I'll just have to wait and see. H!O: Are we in for any "rare" treats in the documentary? ELDRED: Plenty; lots of really early development artwork, from before the series was even called Yamato, plus a fair amount of footage that was cut from STAR BLAZERS. I tried to plug as much of this in as I could. I incorporated all the YAMATO movie trailers, and I also had access to a Japanese documentary called THE QUICKENING. It was released on YAMATO's 20th anniversary, and it was loaded with great stuff. There will be some bonus extras, too, including the original pilot film that sold the first series, and all the original opening and closing TV titles. H!O: Wasn't there a British dub of the first YAMATO movie released in the UK? Is that covered? I think it was mentioned in an old issue of Starburst Magazine? ELDRED: Good memory! It was called SPACE CRUISER [YAMATO] and though it was released in Europe, it wasn't actually a British dub. It was, in fact, dubbed by American "actors" (I use the term loosely) and then presumably subtitled for non-English speaking countries. It is covered in the documentary, and a few scenes are included for comparison with STAR BLAZERS. The difference is like night and day. H!O: What kind of involvement did Leiji Matsumoto have in it? I know he and Mr. Nishizaki have had their differences in the past. Is he included in the documentary? ELDRED: Again, since I didn't have the resources to track down anyone in Japan, I had to proceed without the direct involvement of Mr. Matsumoto. But he has had plenty to say about YAMATO over the years, and I used as many of his quotes as I could. In the end, this may have been a better way to approach the project, since everyone's memory softens over time. You won't get to hear him say anything on camera, but you will get to hear what he said back when the information was fresh and clear. H!O: Who else were you able to quote? Did you talk to the Star Blazers crew also? Editors, dubbers, etc? ELDRED: In all, about a dozen original staff members are represented in the program, from writing to music, design, storyboard, and animation. No one from the STAR BLAZERS production crew has surfaced other than Kit Carter, who did the casting. We interviewed her in one of the STAR BLAZERS comic books several years ago, but I read that she has since passed away. H!O: How is the documentary structured? I know Yamato was on in Japan and up to YAMATO II when STAR BLAZERS came out here, then continued after STAR BLAZERS ended, then STAR BLAZERS picked up again with YAMATO III. Did you go chronologically or cover Japan and the US in separate sections? ELDRED: The entire program is chronological, with each production coming up as it happened, including STAR BLAZERS. I also researched the volume of anime that was on TV and in theatres during that ten-year span, and indexed those figures from one year to the next. It's pretty amazing to see how the entire industry was expanding from that perspective. Another amazing thing comes to light when you see how much work Nishizaki's studio did in a given year. 1979 was a particular watershed, with the conclusion of YAMATO 2 on TV, the start-to-finish production of THE NEW VOYAGE [Uchu Senkan Yamato Aratanaru Tabidachi], a completely separate TV series called SPACE CARRIER BLUE NOAH [Uchu Kubo Burunoa], and the startup of work on STAR BLAZERS. Nishizaki probably didn't sleep much that year.
ELDRED: Some of his pages are included in a segment where he talks about working on the TV series and the manga simultaneously. There are some interesting differences between the two versions, which I wrote about at length in an article for the website. Every article I've ever written for the site is archived and can be accessed at all times. H!O: Amazingly, STAR BLAZERS is celebrating its 25th anniversary this April (2005). Why do you think interest in the series has lasted this long? ELDRED: My own theory is that it's one of those timeless classics that is always going to have an appeal, regardless of how dated it might look. The stories have such emotional power and honesty that they transcend any technical limitations. I also figured out a while back that there's a mythic element to it all that rises above the sort of raw commercialism that typifies a lot of anime these days. It has to do with the mythological motif of fallen heroes rising from under the Earth to lead defeated peoples into a better world. You can find that story in Celtic and Native American myths, and it certainly describes the state of Japan after World War II. Things like that strike a deep chord and tend to last for a very long time. H!O: Does Voyager have any other plans now that the series and movies are all out on DVD? Any chance of a return to TV? Does Voyager have access to any other product? ELDRED: The documentary should be released in April to commemorate STAR BLAZERS‘ 25th anniversary, and this summer we'll be launching a new project on the website. The working title is " STAR BLAZERS REBIRTH," and it will bring the characters back in a very unique way. We'd like to invite everyone to keep watching the website for updates on this one, because it is fairly unprecedented. As for returning to TV, I think someone will have to devise a "classic anime" programming block before STAR BLAZERS can find a comfortable niche again. Voyager doesn't currently have access to any other anime program.
ELDRED: Let's be completely up-front about it and say that since most American fans don't yet have a grasp of anime history, it's tough for any of the older programs to stand out among the newer, flashier descendants. There's nothing particularly wrong with that; that's how it is in Japan as well. But everyone who gets into anime seems to eventually care enough about it to explore its roots, and that's why it's important for the older shows to remain available. Voyager is committed to keeping STAR BLAZERS and YAMATO around, and I'm confident that anyone who takes the time to look at it will be won over. The audience can only get bigger. H!O: The YAMATO movies in particular got more and more advanced in the animation techniques as they went along. Aside from the technical limitations of the animation, how do you think YAMATO stacks up against the new anime from Japan? ELDRED: There's a lot of great anime coming out these days; the golden age spanned the 70s and 80s, and we may in fact now be in a silver age. Leiji Matsumoto is still active, and one of his recent TV series, THE GALAXY RAILWAYS [Ginga Tetsudo Monogatari], is very evocative of YAMATO. The last 6 episodes pack exactly the same punch that I remember from the first time I saw the COMET EMPIRE climax. There are other shows that borrow bits and pieces from the YAMATO menu, but so far I haven't seen anyone improve on the formula. It's become such an icon that I think it's sort of untouchable now. Something to aspire to rather than borrow from. H!O: What movies/series do you think have the same impact today as YAMATO had in its day? ELDRED: GUNDAM is still in there swinging. GUNDAM SEED [Kido Senshi Gandamu Shiddo] and its follow-up, GUNDAM SEED DESTINY [Kido Senshi Gandamu Shiddo Desuteini], seem to have penetrated Japanese pop culture to YAMATO levels, with a gazillion products and promotional events. That's how the impact should be measured; by what happens outside of the shows themselves. MACROSS [Chojiku Yosai Makurosu] is another contender, but its latest incarnation, MACROSS ZERO [Makurosu Zero], didn't have much of a life beyond the animation itself. EVANGELION [Shin Seiki Ebanzerion] and COWBOY BEBOP [Kauboi Beboppu] were big, but they sort of got buried in the flood of shows that followed in their footsteps. FULL METAL ALCHEMIST [Hagane-no Renkinjutsushi] might be a player, but it will have to stand the test of time first. It's hard to see the true depth of any impact until you've got a context of years to put it in. There's so much more anime these days that only something truly exceptional will demand attention for a significant length of time. H!O: What do you see as the future for STAR BLAZERS or YAMATO? New productions? New adventures? ELDRED: Last year, the original series hit its 30th anniversary in Japan, and any time those big numbers roll around, there's almost always a revival attempt. Nishizaki and Matsumoto went their separate ways long ago, but when YAMATO reached its 20th anniversary, they both got involved in revival projects of one kind or another. None of them had the impact of the original, but I don't know if that was ever even possible. The latest thing is Matsumoto's direct-to-video series called DAI YAMATO, which brings the ship back with a lot of modifications and a completely new crew. It's still in production in Japan, so I think it will be a while before anyone is able to import it. Personally, I'd love to revive the STAR BLAZERS comic book series, since we had a lot more we wanted to do with it, and with the explosion of manga in mainstream bookstores, there might be a new outlet for this. H!O: Would Voyager want to be involved in a CGI or live-action version of the series? ELDRED: I'm sure they would. There was a live-action feature film in the works with Disney about 10 years ago, but the more they tinkered with it the farther it got away from STAR BLAZERS. They were even going to change the Yamato into the Arizona. At that point, why bother calling it STAR BLAZERS any more? You might as well turn it into something else. The simple fact is that any live-action version would have to involve a lot of people who make it their job to put their own personal creative stamp on something, whether it needs it or not. That's just how Hollywood works. So be careful what you wish for! H!O: What projects do you personally have planned for the future? ELDRED: Thanks for asking! I've been working in TV animation for quite a while now, and you can find my name on shows like the CGI HEAVY GEAR and SPIDER-MAN series, WB's XIAOLIN SHOWDOWN, and occasional episodes of other programs like JACKIE CHAN or DRAGON TALES. But on the more personal side, a graphic novel that I've been working on for about 13 years is finally going to get published! It's a sci-fi comedy called "Grease Monkey," and Tor Books will probably have it in stores by the end of the year. It's a real labor of love, and I hope to turn it into a big deal that can cross over into other media. With YAMATO for inspiration, I'm filled with hope and courage! For more information on the YAMATO Documentary DVD, please go to the STAR BLAZERS website. Henshin! Online will have a full review of the documentary very soon. Until then, we're off to outer space! |
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| JAPANESE GIANT MONSTERS FESTIVAL IN HOLLYWOOD!! The American Cinematheque presents a week of Toho classics, the US PREMIERE of ULTRAMAN: THE NEXT and 3 DAYS of GODZILLA FINAL WARS in Hollywood! Author: Keith Aiken Source: Dennis Bartok and the American Cinematheque
The "Japanese Giant Monsters Festival" will begin at the Egyptian Theatre (6712 Hollywood Boulevard, Hollywood CA 90028) and run from Friday, June 24 to Wednesday, June 29, 2005. On the Egyptian's schedule are the first US theatrical screening of the Toho classic MATANGO, the first theatrical screening in decades for KING KONG ESCAPES, three Showa Godzilla films, rare short features and programs, and a live stage show, all of which leads into a major event over the Fourth of July weekend -- an exclusive, three-day theatrical run of GODZILLA FINAL WARS! Last year's premiere of GODZILLA: TOKYO SOS completely sold out and many fans had to be turned away. The American Cinematheque is well aware that many fans have been clamoring for GODZILLA FINAL WARS, so they want to assure that anyone who comes to the festival will have a chance to see the film on the big screen. In order to meet demand, FINAL WARS will be shown six times at the Egyptian Theatre from July 1 to July 3. Not only will fans have an opportunity to attend the first public screening in the US for the movie; they'll be able to see GODZILLA FINAL WARS to their heart's content.
THE JAPANESE GIANT MONSTERS FESTIVAL -- EGYPTIAN THEATRE, HOLLYWOOD, CA FRIDAY, JUNE 24, 2005- 7:30 PM Double Feature plus an added Short Film! SPECTREMAN (Supekutoraman, 1971) A rare screening of an episode from the classic series. English dubbed version (25 min) And GODZILLA VS MECHAGODZILLA (Gojira tai Mekagojira, 1974) Directed by Jun Fukuda, Special Effects by Teruyoshi Nakano. English dubbed version (Toho, 80 min) And TERROR OF MECHAGODZILLA (Mekagojira-no Gyakushu, 1975) Directed by Ishiro Honda, Special Effects by Teruyoshi Nakano. English dubbed version. Recent screenings of this film have used a faded and damaged print, so the Egyptian will use the highest quality English dubbed or subtitled print available. (Toho, 83 min) SATURDAY, JUNE 25- 5:00 PM
8:00 PM - US Premiere of the Newest Ultraman Film-plus a Live Performance! LIVE ULTRAMAN STAGE SHOW - For decades, Japanese audiences has been entertained by stage performances by stuntmen in authentic Ultraman costumes... now American fans will have a chance to see one of these shows. And ULTRAMAN: THE NEXT (Urutoraman, 2004) Directed by Kazuya Konaka, Special Effects by Yuichi Kikuchi. Japanese with English subtitles (Tsuburaya Productions, 97 min) US PREMIERE! SUNDAY, JUNE 26- 5:00 PM Double Feature plus an added Short Film! SPECTREMAN (Supekutoraman, 1971) Another English dubbed episode! (25 min) And KING KONG ESCAPES (Kingu Kongu-no Gyakushu, 1967) Directed by Ishiro Honda, Special Effects by Eiji Tsuburaya. English Dub (Universal, 96 min) I.B. Technicolor Print! GODZILLA VS MEGALON (Gojira tai Megaro, 1973) Directed by Jun Fukuda, Special Effects by Teruyoshi Nakano. English Dub (Toho, 80 min) WEDNESDAY, JUNE 29- 7:30 PM Double Feature MATANGO: ATTACK OF THE MUSHROOM PEOPLE (Matango, 1963) Directed by Ishiro Honda, Special Effects by Eiji Tsuburaya. English Dub (Media Blasters, 89 min) US Theatrical Premiere-- New 35mm Print! And THE H-MAN (Bijo-to Ekitai Ningen, 1958) Directed by Ishiro Honda, Special Effects by Eiji Tsuburaya. English Dub (Sony, 79 min) FRIDAY, JULY 1- SUNDAY, JULY 3 Exclusive Los Angeles Theatrical Engagement! Six Screenings! Friday, July 1- 7:00 PM and 9:30 PM Saturday, July 2- 6:00 PM and 8:45 PM Sunday, July 3- 4:00 PM and 6:45 PM GODZILLA FINAL WARS (2004) Directed by Ryuhei Kitamura, Special Effects by Eiichi Asada. Japanese and English with English subtitles (Toho, 124 minutes) US PREMIERE!
FRIDAY, JULY 1- 7:30 PM Double Feature EBIRAH: HORROR OF THE DEEP (Gojira, Ebirah, Mosura: Nankai-no Daiketto, aka GODZILLA VS THE SEA MONSTER, 1966) Directed by Jun Fukuda, Special Effects by Eiji Tsuburaya, Japanese with English subtitles (Sony, 83 minutes) New 35 mm. Print! And KING KONG VS GODZILLA (Kingu Kongu tai Gojira, 1962) Directed by Ishiro Honda, Special Effects by Eiji Tsuburaya. English Dub (Universal, 91 minutes) New 35 mm. Print! SATURDAY, JULY 2- 6:30 PM GODZILLA: TOKYO SOS (Gojira X Mosura X Mekagojira: Tokyo SOS, 2003) Directed by Masaaki Tezuka, Special Effects by Eiichi Asada. Japanese with English subtitles (Toho, 91 minutes) 9:00 PM ULTRAMAN: THE NEXT (Urutoraman, 2004) Directed by Kazuya Konaka, Special Effects by Yuichi Kikuchi. Japanese with English subtitles (Tsuburaya Productions, 97 min) SUNDAY, JULY 3- 5:00 PM SON OF GODZILLA (Kaijuto-no Kessen Gojira-no Mosuko, 1967) Directed by Jun Fukuda, Special Effects by Sadamasa Arikawa. Japanese with English subtitles (Sony, 86 min) New 35 mm. Print-LA Premiere! Ticket prices to the Egyptian and Aero Theatres are $9.00 general, $8.00 students and seniors, and $6.00 for American Cinematheque members. Double features are two films for one ticket. Tickets can be purchased at the theater box offices, and by fax (Egyptian only) at 323-467-0163. Complete ordering instructions are available on the Egyptian Theatre website. Additional details about the "Japanese Giant Monsters Festival" will be announced on Henshin! Online as soon as they become available... so check back for updates! |
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| DVD FIRST LOOK: Media Blasters' VARAN and DOGORA Two Toho Kaiju Classics Get the Deluxe Treatment! Author: Keith Aiken Source: Media Blasters
Thankfully, someone finally got it right. Last month Media Blasters delighted tokusatsu fans with excellent DVDs of two early Toho classics; THE MYSTERIANS (1957) and MATANGO: ATTACK OF THE MUSHROOM PEOPLE (1963). Released on Media Blasters' "Tokyo Shock" label both DVDs featured uncut, widescreen, dual-language versions of the films plus trailers, commentaries, interviews, production art, and more - everything fans have been asking for. The two titles easily rank among the best Toho DVDs ever released in the US, and fans are doubly fortunate - two additional Toho/Media Blasters discs are on the horizon. The 1958 monster movie VARAN THE UNBELIEVABLE (Daikaiju Baran, "The Monster Varan") will hit store shelves on May 10, followed by DOGORA (Uchu Daikaiju Dogora, aka DAGORA THE SPACE MONSTER, 1964) on July 15. Now, the good folks at Media Blasters have generously provided Henshin! Online with an exclusive first look at these two DVDs. VARAN THE UNBELIEVABLE VARAN first came to America in 1962, when Crown International Pictures gutted the picture and released it stateside as VARAN THE UNBELIEVABLE. The US version jettisoned nearly all of the Japanese footage except for the special effects sequences (and even those were trimmed) and replaced them with a new-and boring-- story starring actors Myron Healy and Tsuruko Kobayashi. The end result bore little resemblance to Toho's original version and is for all intents and purposes a different film. While the Media Blasters DVD is entitled VARAN THE UNBELIEVABLE, it will be the original Japanese movie and not the edited US release. Healy and Co. have been sent packing, but the new disc will still feature two versions of VARAN; the Toho theatrical release and a shorter "Japanese TV Cut". Despite earlier rumors, there will be no English dub track on the DVD. Toho's original English audio was unavailable and Media Blasters chose not to make a new dub (as they did for THE MYSTERIANS). The DVD's audio options consist of Japanese 5.1, Japanese 2.0, and Japanese mono, with English subtitles.
Catalog Number: TSDVD-0511 Preorder Cutoff: 4/05/05 Street Date: 5/10/05 SRP: $19.95 Language: Japanese mono, 2.0 and 5.1, Japanese commentary Subtitles: English Running Time: 87 min Aspect Ratio & Format: 2.35:1 16x9 Anamorphic Black and White Cast: Kozo Nomura, Ayumi Sonoda, Fumito Matsuo, Koreya Senda, Akihiko Hirata, Fuyuki Murakami, Akira Sera, Akio Kusama, Yoshio Tsuchiya, Yoshibumi Tajima, and Haruo Nakajima as "Varan" Producer: Tomoyuki Tanaka Director: Ishirô Honda Special Effects: Eiji Tsuburaya Screenplay: Shinichi Sekizawa Original Story: Takeshi "Ken" Kuronuma Music: Akira Ifukube Cinematography: Hajime Koizumi Special Features: Full-length Theatrical Version (87 min) TV Version in Japanese 2.0 (54 min) Interview with Creature Designer Keizo Murase (29 min) Audio Commentary by Keizo Murase Two Japanese Trailers
In 1965, American International Pictures brought DOGORA to the US. Retitled DAGORA THE SPACE MONSTER, the movie bypassed a theatrical run and went straight to television in a horribly cropped "pan and scan" version. The upcoming DVD will be the first time the widescreen version of the film has been released in the US. Since the DVD is still several months away a complete list of contents are not yet available. Media Blasters has revealed that they are working with the VOOM satellite channel "Monsters HD" on materials for DOGORA, and while details are sketchy at this time, there will be a bounty of extra features. As with the other recent Media Blasters DVDs, DOGORA will include the Japanese audio track in a variety of formats with English subtitles, plus Toho's international English dubbing. This same dub was used for AIP-TV's release, so older fans should experience a welcome sense of nostalgia when watching the movie. The following is a partial list of specs for the DOGORA DVD. H!O will flesh out the information once everything has been confirmed. Street Date: 7/15/05 SRP: $19.95 Language: Japanese/English Subtitles: English Running Time: 83 min Aspect Ratio & Format: 2.35:1 16x9 Anamorphic Color Cast: Yosuke Natsuki, Robert Dunham, Hiroshi Koizumi, Yoko Fujiyama, Jun Tazaki, Yoshibumi Tajima, Hideyo Amamoto, and Akiko Wakabayashi Producer: Tomoyuki Tanaka Director: Ishirô Honda Special Effects: Eiji Tsuburaya Screenplay: Shinichi Sekizawa Music: Akira Ifukube Cinematography: Hajime Koizumi Special Features: TBA |
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| 03/29/05: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ULTRAMAN IS BACK! The new movie ULTRAMAN: THE NEXT comes to selected theaters in North America Source: Tsuburaya Productions Press Release Special Thanks to Brad Warner
Tsuburaya Productions Presents ULTRAMAN: THE NEXT Starring Tetsuya Bessho as Maki/Ultraman Kenya Osumi as Udo/The One Kyoko Toyama as Sara Directed by Kazuya Konaka Produced by Kiyoshi Suzuki Screenplay by Keiichi Hasegawa Director of Photography: Shinichi Ooka Special Effects by Yuichi Kikuchi Music Supervior: Tak Matsumoto (B'z) Running Time: 97 minutes ©2004 ULTRAMAN: THE NEXT Production Consortium SYNOPSIS ULTRAMAN: THE NEXT is the story of Maki, a pilot with the Japan Self Defense Forces, who has decided to give up his love for flying high powered jets in order to devote more time to his young son who is hospitalized with a threatening illness. But just as he is about to turn in his uniform for the last time a strange UFO is sighted on a direct course for Tokyo. Maki's orders are to identify the object or destroy it. As his jet nears the UFO, Maki blacks out and the two collide. Incredibly, Maki survives unhurt but with no memory of the crash.
The reptilian alien beast towers nearly ten meters (30 feet) tall. Its massive snake-like tail can be used as a whip of incredible force and its sinister fangs are capable of tearing a human being to shreds. As predicted, the monster heads straight for the underground area in which Maki has been confined. The door bursts open. Maki steps out and faces the gigantic monster. The monster turns with an almost gleeful expression on its hideous face. It will soon make a meal out of this pathetic creature. But just then something begins to happen. Within seconds Maki too has completely transformed into a bizarre creature, as gigantic as the monster he faces. But this new creature is very different from the reptilian beast. It has a human shape, though its face looks like some insect-eyed alien. On its chest is a glowing red V-shaped mark. The creatures face each other, ready for battle. Will Maki prevail or will the reptilian monster destroy him? And even if Maki does win, can he retain his humanity and avoid ending up becoming a dangerous monster just like the reptilian creature?
Ultraman is a mysterious gigantic being from deep space, his origins unidentified, his intentions unknown, his powers seemingly unlimited. Unlike most American superheroes, Ultraman stands a towering 40 meters (140 feet) tall and does battle with massive monsters often even bigger than he is! Yet Ultraman has one fatal flaw. He can exist in Earth's atmosphere for only three minutes at a time. In order to survive for long periods on Earth he must borrow the body of a human host and exist in a strange symbiosis of man and alien. What is Ultraman? Where does he come from? What is his true identity? What is his purpose here on Earth? Ultraman was created in 1966 by Eiji Tsuburaya, the special effects director of the classic Godzilla films of the 1950's and 60's. Ultraman became an unprecedented hit on Japanese television spawning fourteen sequel TV series and a string of hit theatrical features over the course of its four decade history. Ultraman has been seen all over the world and remains one of the top selling hero characters throughout Asia. The Ultraman Land theme park attracts customers from around the world and Ultraman restaurants have opened both in Japan and in Hong Kong. Ultraman is a licensing bonanza with hundreds of character goods available from toys and action figures for the kids all the way to grown-up items like automobile accessories and gold club covers. Unlike the more juvenile oriented films that came before, ULTRAMAN: THE NEXT takes a grittier, more realistic look at Ultraman, bringing him out of the world of fantasy and into our own world. |
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| 03/29/05: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| THE RING 2-DISC COLLECTOR'S SET Extra Features Include a New RING Short Film Author: Keith Aiken Source: DreamWorks Home Entertainment
With surprisingly little fanfare, DreamWorks Home Entertainment released THE RING 2-DISC COLLECTOR'S SET on March 8. Priced at $26.99 (but sold by some retailers for as low as $14.99), the DVD collection couples a re-issue of the first movie with a new disc of supplemental material devoted to both US films and even a tiny bit from the Japanese version. The extras include cast and crew interviews, featurettes, theatrical and video trailers, a free movie ticket, and the brand-new short film RINGS.
The disc also has a selection of DreamWorks trailers under the header "Look Here". There is a video promo for 'Ringu', the US release of the Japanese RING, plus CATCH ME IF YOU CAN and 8 MILE.
The second featurette is "The Origin of Terror", a four minute-long segment about urban legends and their connection to the mythos of THE RING. The discussion includes comments from Parkes, Verbinski, Watts, producer Laurie MacDonald, urban legends expert Jim Evans, and UCLA Folklore and Mythology Professor Patrick Polk. Strangely no mention is made of Japanese urban legends or the inspiration for author Koji Suzuki's original Ring novels and stories.
By far the main attraction in the Collector's Set is RINGS, the short film that bridges the events between THE RING and THE RING TWO. Director/co-writer Jonathan Liebesman (who previously helmed the dismal 2003 horror movie DARKNESS FALLS) and co-writer Ehren Kruger (SCREAM 3, both DreamWorks Ring films) have crafted a surprisingly effective and creepy story that is exclusive to this collection. While RINGS' running time is less than 17 minutes, it is far superior to THE RING TWO and alone is well worth the cost of the DVD collection.
Oregon high school student Jake Pierce (played by Ryan Merriman from HALLOWEEN RESURRECTION and the SciFi Channel mini-series TAKEN), learns of a Ring group at nearby Portland State University and asks to join. Accepted into the group by leader Eddie (Justin Allen), Jake watches a copy of the tape made by the beautiful Vanessa (Alex Breckenridge, BIG FAT LIAR, THE JACKET). Eddie instructs Jake to record everything he sees and feels for as long as he can, then make a copy of the tape for fellow group member Timmy (Josh Wise) to watch and lift the burden.
Will it be a member of the Ring group, or some unsuspecting potential victim like Jake's high school classmate Emily (Emily VanCamp of the WB series EVERWOOD)...? The conclusion sets up the opening sequence of THE RING TWO. RINGS succeeds as a new take on the Ring mythos that also expands on the premise that the curse does not end but spreads ever outward. The film sets ups several interesting ideas that, if handled as well as they are here, would have made a much more creative and interesting theatrical film than THE RING TWO proved to be. While shot in an odd mix of a documentary made with MTV-style quick cuts, the visual style compliments rather than distracts from the story. Ring fans should be pleased by what RINGS has to offer, and the short film is highly recommended. In addition, there is a clever promotional tie-in for THE RING 2-DISC COLLECTOR'S SET; a "real" version of the website featured in RINGS. Designed to seem as if the events in the films actually happened, the official site SHE IS HERE features photos, artwork, videos, and journal entries from Ring survivors and victims. A lot of effort has been put into making the site seem authentic, so show it to any gullible friends and pass on the terror. |
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| 03/19/05: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| US PREMIERES for GODZILLA FINAL WARS and ULTRAMAN: THE NEXT!! Both Films-And More!-on the Big Screen at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood! Author: Keith Aiken Source: Dennis Bartok and the American Cinematheque
GODZILLA FINAL WARS had its world premiere at an invitation-only event at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood last November. ULTRAMAN: THE NEXT was first screened at the Tokyo International Film Festival and has not played in any American theaters. Now both films will be available to the general public for the first time in the United States. The American Cinematheque's "Giant Monster Festival" will run from Friday, June 24 through Wednesday June 29, 2005. Because the schedule is still being worked out, exact screen times are not yet available - but festival organizers have confirmed that the following movies will be shown: GODZILLA FINAL WARS (2004) Directed by Ryuhei Kitamura, Special Effects by Eiichi Asada. For Godzilla's 50th Anniversary, Toho decided to (temporarily) go out with a bang by crafting a global story with mutant soldiers, aliens, the flying submarine Gotengo, and 15 giant monsters. Featuring Rodan, Angilas, Ghidorah, Mothra, Minya, Gigan, Manda, Kumonga, Kamakiras, King Caesar, Ebirah, and a cameo by Hedorah - plus the American Godzilla and Godzilla's newest nemesis, Monster X. (Toho, Japanese and English with English subtitles) US PREMIERE!
THE H-MAN (Bijo-to Ekitai Ningen, 1958) Directed by Ishiro Honda, Special Effects by Eiji Tsuburaya. After her gangster boyfriend mysteriously disappears, a beautiful nightclub singer draws the attention of police, mobsters, a young scientist, and the Liquid People - strange, radioactive creatures dwelling in Tokyo's sewer system. Technical problems prevented this Toho classic from being shown last year, so its been added to this year's schedule. (Sony, English Dub) MATANGO: ATTACK OF THE MUSHROOM PEOPLE (Matango, 1963) Directed by Ishiro Honda, Special Effects by Eiji Tsuburaya. A group is shipwrecked on a deserted island covered in a strange fungus called "Matango". Released directly to television in 1965 by AIP-TV, this highly-regarded Toho horror film will finally have a US theatrical screening courtesy of a brand-new 35mm print from Media Blasters. (Media Blasters, English Dub) US Theatrical Premiere-- New 35mm Print!
GODZILLA VS MEGALON (Gojira tai Megaro, 1973) Directed by Jun Fukuda, Special Effects by Teruyoshi Nakano. Godzilla and his robot sidekick Jet Jaguar battle Gigan and Megalon in this silly and fun film featuring Robert Dunham (MOTHRA, DOGORA, THE GREEN SLIME) as the toga-wearing King of Seatopia. (Toho, English Dub) GODZILLA VS MECHAGODZILLA (Gojira tai Mekagojira, 1974) Directed by Jun Fukuda, Special Effects by Teruyoshi Nakano. Godzilla's mechanical doppelganger is introduced in this pyrotechnic tour-de-force. Mechagodzilla would become one of Godzilla's most popular foes, returning four more times to challenge the King of the Monsters. (Toho, English Dub) TERROR OF MECHAGODZILLA (Mekagojira-no Gyakushu, 1975) Directed by Ishiro Honda, Special Effects by Teruyoshi Nakano. The final film in the original Godzilla series is a direct and somber sequel to GODZILLA VS MECHAGODZILLA. Alien invaders attempt to conquer the world with Mechagodzilla and the sea monster Titanosaurus, and only Godzilla stands in their way. Recent screenings of this film have used a faded and damaged print; the Egyptian screening will feature the highest quality print available. (Toho) In addition to this amazing lineup, Saturday, June 25 will be a special "Ultraman Day" featuring an entire day of Ultraman episodes, movies, and more. Last year's GODZILLA: TOKYO SOS premiere sold out and many fans had to be turned away. Luckily, the American Cinematheque recently renovated the classic Aero Theatre in Santa Monica and some of these films will be shown at both the Egyptian and the Aero. If you're a kaiju fan (and you know you are) and you want to be the first to see GODZILLA FINAL WARS and ULTRAMAN: THE NEXT on the big screen, the Egyptian Theatre is the ONLY place to be this June... unless you're going to the Aero. Don't miss out! Further details, including ticket prices, guests, and the final schedule for the "Giant Monster Festival" will be available on Henshin! Online in the near future, so check back here for updates! |
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| 03/18/05: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| FULL CIRCLE: THE RING TWO Japanese RING director Hideo Nakata returns for the sequel to the remake of his horror hit Review by Keith Aiken Production info: DreamWorks Presskit Photos by Gemma LaMana, Courtesy of DreamWorks Pictures Special Thanks to Norman England and Ringworld
The saga began in 1991 with the best-selling novel "Ring" by author Koji Suzuki. Kadokawa Publishing followed up Suzuki's "Spiral" in 1995, "Loop" in 1998, and "The Birthday" in 1999. Not long after the publication of the first book, producer Taka Ichise (JU-ON, CURE, DARK WATER) acquired the rights from Suzuki. The project then went thru development hell as Ichise commissioned one script after another, none of which met his approval. While Ichise struggled to find a quality screenplay, he temporarily relinguished the rights to Kadokawa, who produced the 1995 TV movie RING. Directed by Osamu Takigawa, the TV movie was a ratings smash and further inspired Ichise to bring the story to the big screen. The producer hit upon the novel idea of making two Ring films concurrently and releasing them both to theaters at the same time. RING was directed by Hideo Nakata from a screenplay by Hiroshi Takahashi, while the sequel THE SPIRAL (Rasen) was written and directed by Joji Iida. Premiering on January 31, 1998, RING became a box office smash that truly launched the J-Horror boom in Japan that is still going strong to this day. THE SPIRAL also did well at the box office but proved unpopular with fans and critics. It was subsequently removed from Ring continuity with the release of Nakata's own sequel RING 2 in 1999. Since then, there has been an unending wave of Ring projects. The original TV movie was released in an uncut version on video as RING: THE COMPLETE EDITION (Ring: Kanzenban), Fuji TV ran the 12 part mini-series RING: THE FINAL CHAPTER (Ring: Saishu-sho) and its 13 episode sequel SPIRAL: THE SERIES (Rasen The Series) in 1999, there was the Korean remake THE RING VIRUS (1999), Norio Tsuruta's hit theatrical prequel RING 0: BIRTHDAY (2000) several manga titles, and eventually a US remake from DreamWorks Pictures, THE RING (2002).
For the sequel, THE RING TWO, the producers set out to reassemble the main talent behind the first film's success. Screenwriter Ehren Kruger was brought back, as were Naomi Watts, and David Dorfman. Watts acknowledges, "A sequel is a scary thing to enter into because of the comparisons to the first one, which did so well and really resonated within the genre. We want it to deliver and give the audience what they're looking for, but you don't want to repeat the same story. The upside is that you get to carry on with a role that you loved playing the first time around and explore the evolution of the character." However, Daveigh Chase did not reprise her role as Samara for THE RING TWO, but still ended up with an onscreen credit. In May 2004, Chase announced that she would not return because Samara was barely in the film and "she doesn't even show her face." Stepping into the part was Kelly Stables, a young actress who had been Chase's stunt double in THE RING. Though Stables did play Samara in many of the key scenes, the producers worked out a deal that allowed them to footage and outtakes of Daveigh Chase from the film and trailers of THE RING in exchange for giving Chase credit for the role.
Nakata had been impressed by Ehren Kruger's script, and that helped convinced him to return to franchise. "When I first read the draft of THE RING TWO, I thought it was very interesting and also very different from my RING 2. I thought it was powerful and intriguing and would allow me to explore a story that was different from the originals and from the first THE RING movie." The addition of Hideo Nakata brought a renewed sense of promise to the production. Parkes noted, "This was the man who literally created the mythology we are trying to explore." Naomi Watts was particularly thrilled: "I had seen RING as well as his film DARK WATER so I had a huge amount of faith in him already. He understands the visual side of storytelling and knows about pacing; he knows how and when to reveal things and when it's better to take your time revealing them. When Hideo came onto the project, it made perfect sense... like it came full circle."
THE RING TWO picks up six months after the events of the first DreamWorks film. Hoping to start fresh and escape the haunting memories of the ring, reporter Rachel Keller and her son Aidan have left their home in Seattle and moved to the small coastal community of Astoria, Oregon. However, Rachel's resolve quickly turns to dread when she learns that a local teen has died in eerily familiar way. Rachel quickly realizes that Samara has tracked them down to continue her endless cycle of terror and death. "The challenge of any sequel is to find the reason for being...to find a story with its own merits as an interesting tale," said Kruger. "It was a challenge to find an organic way to continue the story of Rachel Keller and her son Aidan and to find a reason for Samara to seek them out and wreak havoc in their lives one more time." Hideo Nakata explained, "THE RING ends with Rachel making a copy of the videotape to keep her son safe. But that means that she has spread Samara's curse out in the world." Naomi Watts comments, "Rachel's obviously changed on every level, living with this secret and this enormous guilt. What has she done? How much destruction has she caused? So she's become a very isolated person and also incredibly protective."
Apart from Aidan, the only person with whom Rachel shares any connection is her boss, Max Rourke, the owner of The Daily Astorian paper. Played by Australian actor Simon Baker (THE GUARDIAN, the upcoming LAND OF THE DEAD), Max knows nothing of her background, but becomes increasingly curious and concerned as Rachel's behavior becomes more suspicious. "Max and Rachel are both outsiders in the sense of this quiet, little town, even though my character was born there, moved away and came back," Baker reveals. "He's interested in why she's even there and why she is so secretive and closed off, so he pushes to find out more about her. When she finally starts to reveal what's going on, Max can't believe what she's telling him."
Rachel's journey leads her to a psychiatric hospital where she meets a mysterious woman named Evelyn who holds the secret of Samara's origin. "When we were developing the script, we knew Evelyn was going to be a key character," says MacDonald. "It's only one scene in the movie, but it's an incredibly important one-all the elements of the story come together in that one scene." Renowned actress Sissy Spacek (BADLANDS, COAL MINER'S DAUGHTER, JFK) took on the part, marking her first appearance in a horror film since her title role of Brian De Palma's 1973 screen version of CARRIE. Parkes recalls, "When Sissy's name came up, everyone in the room said, ‘Do you think it's possible?,' because she is not only an Oscar-winning actress, but she also brings the classic connection to CARRIE." The main cast also includes Emily VanCamp (EVERWOOD), Ryan Merriman (TAKEN, HALLOWEEN RESURRECTION), and Gary Cole (FATAL VISION, OFFICE SPACE, A SIMPLE PLAN, DODGEBALL) as real estate agent Martin Savide. In one of the film's lighter moments, Savide tries to hide the Morgan Ranch's history from Rachel, not knowing that she is all too aware of its gruesome past.
Baker had created the look of Samara, as well as her victims' grotesque, distorted death faces in the first THE RING. For THE RING TWO he and his team were charged with transforming the attractive Kelly Stables into the specter of a young girl who bore the scars of a terrible death and afterlife in a dark, dank well. Stables had to endure at least five hours of makeup every day, beginning with her body being literally spray-painted in a ghostly white pallor. The makeup team then airbrushed the blue veins that show through her translucent skin. Because the actress is in her 20s, special appliances were created for her face to make her look more childlike, even though her face was usually concealed under her long, dark hair. Rick Baker notes, "I thought the scariest stuff of Samara in the first movie was when you just see that hair and don't know what's underneath. You can never make anything scarier than your own imagination."
For Samara's body, Baker did a lot of forensic research about what happens to the skin of a body immersed in water for a long time. "You know when you take a long bath and your hands get all puckered-it gets much worse over time," Baker explains. "We wanted that look." To achieve that look, hundreds of individual appliances had to be created for each section of Stables' hands, arms, legs and feet. There were so many separate pieces, Baker says, "it was hard to tell what was what and where it went, so we had them laid out on little maps so we knew the order to put them on." In addition, every appliance had to be duplicated many times over because each one was used only once and then thrown away. Samara's most notable feature, her long black hair, was a wig of real human hair. Kelly Stables also had to wear white prescription contact lenses to make her look blinded, which had the effect of making it difficult for her to see. Baker says, "She was a trooper. She was always in good spirits throughout the whole demanding process." Another stuntwoman also played Samara for several key scenes where she walks with an unnatural spider-like movement. Nakata reveals, "Samara's movements become more and more weird, so there was a discussion of how to achieve it-maybe even CGI-but I felt it wouldn't work in the scene." Instead the director decided to use Bonnie Morgan, a professional stuntwoman and contortionist who had performed in MINORITY REPORT and MEN IN BLACK II. Morgan was able to twist her limbs to create the bizarre effect Nakata was looking for.
Explaining water's significance to the film, Hideo Nakata offers, "I'm from Japan, which is an island country surrounded by water. Through natural disasters, water itself can be a symbol of death, so we have a natural fear of water that influences me. And, of course, in this movie, water becomes a sign of Samara's evil spirit, because she had been kept at the bottom of a well for a long, long time." Ehren Kruger observes, "As a symbol, water is a life source, but it is also an environment in which we can't naturally live, so it's the perfect elemental metaphor for both life and death."
At the center of the mystery of THE RING TWO is Samara herself, whom Ehren Kruger regards as "the avenging angel-or rather demon-of all abandoned children. In many respects, her behavior, cruel and destructive as it is, is entirely understandable from the perspective of a wronged child. Despite her monstrous appearance, she is a tragic figure." Hideo Nakata agrees. "We can feel fear, but we can also feel sympathy-these are key elements in Japanese ghost stories, and because THE RING was originally a Japanese novel, we do have that kind of duality." After so many retellings of the same basic tale its good to finally see a new story added to the Ring mythos. As was the case with the first DreamWorks movie, Kruger has clearly done his research as THE RING TWO features several references to previous Ring films and directly deals with an idea hinted at in some of the Japanese movies-Samara/Sadako's desire to be reborn. The videotape curse is abandoned early in the film to concentrate on Samara's attempt to break into the natural world and find the loving mother figure she was denied in life. But THE RING TWO's greatest strength is also it's big weakness... the new story is not nearly as creepy or interesting as the original tale. Kruger and Nakata provide a few good shocks and set up some truly horrifying concepts-including the possible need to murder a child for the greater good-- but they fail to push the matter anywhere near the breaking point that would have created the tension a good horror film should have. Because the subject was treated with kid gloves the audience at a preview screening in LA this past week seemed more annoyed than terrified, with some in attendance even openly mocking the events unfolding onscreen.
There are several surprisingly good CGI animals created by Betsy Paterson and her crew at the effects house Rhythm and Hues. Rick Baker's makeup effects are, as usual, excellent, though Samara does look much too old in some scenes. THE RING TWO is an entertaining film, and general audiences will probably have a good time with it. Unfortunately it's not as effective as the first DreamWorks film and has only a pale shadow of the tension and horror that made Nakata's original RING an international hit that spawned a new wave of Japanese cinema. |
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| 03/16/05: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| CASSHERN Not your typical feel-good superhero action flick Author: Brian Keaney
There is so much detail packed into every scene that I found myself literally leaning towards the screen, trying to take in the elaborate visual symphony presented by first-time feature film director Kazuaki Kiriya. Well known as a music video director in Japan, Kiriya also co-penned the intense, complex, dark, and often moving story that drives CASSHERN. In a highly stylized alternate reality combining influences from Jules Verne, ancient Rome, and 1940s Europe and New York, the Eurasian Federation is established after 50 years of war. Those 50 years of biological, chemical, and nuclear conflict had opened a Pandora's Box of war and pollution-induced maladies, so severe that the very existence of the human race is threatened. A brilliant geneticist, Dr. Azuma (Akira Terao, AKIRA KUROSAWA'S DREAMS), is diligently at work developing "neo-cell" technology; living cells that can transform into any type of specialized tissue (such as any body part or organ), can rejuvenate injured or diseased people, and can even resurrect the dead.
Prior to this, Dr. Azuma's son Tetsuya (Yusuke Iseya, AFTER LIFE) had rebelliously gone off to fight the war in "Area 7" against his father's wishes; and was killed during an act of compassion. His spirit returns home to say farewell to his mother, Midori (Kanako Higuchi, LETTER FROM THE MOUNTAIN), and fiancé, Luna (Kumiko Aso, RED SHADOW), and it is while he is there that the Neo-Sapiens are born. During the chaos, and over his own casket, he comes face to face with his future antagonist, Buraiking Boss (Toshiaki Karasawa, WELCOME BACK, MR McDONALD), who will become the Neo-Sapien leader.
Due to his weakened and unstable state, Tetsuya is placed into a stasis tank (a la Luke in THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK) clad in a special suit created by Dr. Azuma's armor-building associate, Dr. Kozuki (who also happens to be Luna's father; it's complicated!) to assist in his rejuvenation. This is the armored Casshern suit (a name Tetsuya will not take until much later), which along with the neo-cell technology will give him near-invulnerability to go along with his super-strength and speed. It also keeps his hyper-developed muscles from exploding, explains Dr. Kozuki (Fumiyo Kohinata, AUDITION).
The Neo-Sapiens get a good start on their extermination plan, sending waves of robot soldiers into the human cities to wreak destruction, and to kidnap top scientists to assist in the creation of the new Neo-Sapien world. It is during one of these scientist hunts that Tetsuya is accidentally released from his stasis tank, and we get a taste of his new powers as he thwarts the efforts of Buraiking Boss' henchpeople, Akubon (Hiroyuki Miyasako, BOYS BE AMBITIOUS) and Sagure (Mayumi Sada). In the wreckage, we see lingering images of a helmet that strongly resembles the one worn by Casshern in the original anime series, but unfortunately it never gets worn in this film.
At the settlement, the kindly doctor tells Tetsuya of the guardian spirit called Casshern that once watched over his people, but has since forsaken them. Suddenly, the settlement is attacked by Federation troopers under the orders of new leader Kamijo (there had been a sudden coup-de-tat; I told you this was complicated), and at the same time Buraiking Boss' henchmen Barashin (Jun Kaname, MASKED RIDER AGITO) and Akubon also arrive. While the defeated troopers retreat with a captured Luna and Akubon (those two have a complicated "relationship," too), Tetsuya faces off with Barashin; and it is during this decisive sword battle that he takes the name Casshern, from the local guardian spirit.
Or so said the English subtitles. What he actually said in Japanese was "Hope... is the child of Luna and I." I suppose "legacy" does sound more dramatic, as the last 20 minutes of this film strives enthusiastically to be. Incidentally, the ending (as far as I understood it) does not appear to leave a whole lot of room for a sequel. If that seemed like a long synopsis, well, the film itself runs two hours and twenty-one minutes! I just gave you the short version. The phrases "visually stunning" and "emotionally draining" pretty much sum up how I feel about this film. Visually, it avoids being "Matrixy" while at the same time breaking new ground in the anime-to-live-action film genre. As in the recent SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW, director Kiriya makes extensive use of green screen photography, and a large percentage of backgrounds are completely CG (supervised by Haruhiko Shono with visual effects by Toshiyuki Kimura). As mentioned above, the anime-style action, storyboarded and planned by Shinji Higuchi (THE PRINCESS BLADE), is refreshingly amazing.
So, it is definitely not your typical feel-good superhero action flick (but what is, these days?). CASSHERN is a dark and depressing film of great complexity, studded with visual beauty and innovative action. I watched it four times so far, and came away from each viewing with a slightly different impression, particularly concerning the final scenes. Watching it the last time with English subtitles was enlightening, as even with a university degree in Japanese language and twelve years of residence in Japan under my belt, it still wasn't easy following the complex story in Japanese!
There are two fundamental differences between this film and the original anime, created by the late Tatsuo Yoshida (GATCHAMAN). The first is that in the anime, Buraiking Boss is an android created by Professor Azuma, brought to "life" by a bolt of real lightning (not mechanical!), and is for the most part an evil character. He organizes a race of robots to destroy mankind. In the film, the greedy humans are "evil," and Buraiking Boss and the Neo-Sapiens are more victims than anything else.
After watching CASSHERN on video, I was so impressed with the film that I picked up the R2 3-disc DVD set, "CASSHERN: Ultimate Edition" (Shochiku Home Video, 4700 yen), when I returned the video. The two extra discs include a video diary-style "making of" documentary, which is a simple narration-free video record of the production, along with cast and staff profiles and interviews, unused scenes, and TV ads. The viewer really gets a good idea of what a typical Japanese film crew eats during a production!
Final verdict on the film: Definitely worth watching, even if you are unfamiliar with the character. Four-and-a-half out of five stars. Again, I regret that I did not see it in the theaters... CASSHERN has already been picked up for limited theatrical release in the US by Dreamworks' Go Fish Pictures so, if you have a chance to do so, GO! For additional info and photos visit the official Japanese CASSHERN website. |
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| 03/11/05: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "CUTIE HONEY" AND "HANA & ALICE" TICKET WINNERS ANNOUNCED!! Source: Taro Goto, NAATA
- JAMES KNOPF - AKEMI OKAMOTO - SEAN PIVERGER The winner of the tickets to see HANA & ALICE at 9:15 PM Wednesday, March 16 at the AMC Kabuki 8 Theatres is: - BRIAN DARR The HANA & ALICE winning passes are available now at the AMC Kabuki 8's Will Call. CUTIE HONEY winners should note that the Castro Theatre's Will Call does not open until 45 minutes before the first screening of the day, so the tickets will be available after 6:15 PM today, Friday, March 11th. The tickets are held under the winners' names so just show your ID to claim your prize. Henshin! Online would like to thank Exhibition and Festival Assistant Director Taro Goto for making this ticket giveaway possible, and offer congratulations to the winners. Enjoy the show! |
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| 03/08/05: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| WIN TICKETS TO SEE "CUTIE HONEY" IN SAN FRANCISCO! SF International Asian-American Film Festival & H!O Ticket Give Away Source: Taro Goto, NAATA
Among the films being shown is director Hideaki Anno's (NEON GENESIS EVANGELION: DEATH AND REBIRTH) live-action adaptation of Go Nagai's infamous manga/anime classic CUTIE HONEY (Kutei Hanii). Released by Warner Brothers Japan in July of 2004, CUTIE HONEY stars fashion model Eriko Sato (aka "Sato Eri") as the title character, with Mikako Ichikawa and Jun Murakami in supporting roles. The movie reportedly set a record for "cosplay" (costume role playing) in a Japanese film as Sato has more than thirty different costume changes that include "Honey Kisaragi", "Cutie Honey", a policewoman, a waitress, an office worker, and a motorbike racer called "Hurricane Honey". The San Francisco premiere of CUTIE HONEY will take place at the Pacific Film Archive Theater in Berkeley, CA on March 12th, and the Castro Theatre in San Francisco, on March 13th. The film will be shown in a new 35mm print, in the original Japanese language with English subtitles. Gilles Poitras, author of "The Anime Companion" (Stone Bridge) will introduce the film. For additional details visit the CUTIE HONEY page on the festival's official site. Also screening at the festival is HANA & ALICE (Hana to Arisu), a coming-of-age tale from acclaimed writer/director Shunji Iwai (ALL ABOUT LILY CHOU-CHOU). Starring Anne Suzuki and Yu Aoi, the film be shown in Japanese with English subtitles at the AMC Kabuki 8 Theatres in Japantown on March 14th and 16th. The AMC Kabuki 8 will also be hosting the North American premiere of Junji Sakamoto's OUT OF THIS WORLD (Konoyo-no Sotoe: Kurabu Shinchugun) on March 13th and 16th. Set during the American Occupation after WWII, OUT OF THIS WORLD tells the story of five young jazz musicians working at an Enlisted Men's Club in Tokyo. The film is in both English and Japanese (with English subtitles). Director Junji Sakamoto and lead actor Shea Whigham will attend, while renowned translator and subtitler Linda Hoaglund (Hayao Miyazaki films) will be on hand for the March 16th screening.
GIVEAWAY RULES Prize: A. There are four prizes in total. Three prizes consisting of two passes to CUTIE HONEY and one prize consisting of two passes to HANA & ALICE; one for the winner, and one pass for a guest, for a total of two passes per winning entry. B. In the event that a winner chooses not to (or cannot) accept a prize, he or she forfeits all claim to that prize. Henshin! Online then has the right, at its discretion, to award that prize to a contest runner-up. C. Prizes are non-transferable. No substitution of prizes allowed. D. These passes are for admission to the screenings only. The SF International Asian American Film Festival is providing complimentary admission with the condition that no other benefits are implied. Winners understand and acknowledge that they are responsible for all other expenses including transportation, food, lodging and any other expenses incurred by attending the screening. Furthermore, winners and their guests understand and acknowledge the SF International Asian American Film Festival and Henshin! Online are in no way liable for any injuries or other losses incurred by accepting the passes. Duration of contest: The contest runs from 03/08/2005 until 12 AM Thursday morning March, 10th (PST).
A. This contest is open to all persons age 18+up. Only online submissions will be accepted. LIMIT ONE ENTRY PER PERSON. Duplicate entries will be void. B. All contestants understand and acknowledge, as a condition of entry, that the SF International Asian American Film Festival and Henshin! Online have the right to publicize winners' names, likeness or all matters incidental herein. How to enter: CUTIE HONEY: The first three entrants whom correctly answer our "Cutie Honey Quiz", will be announced as the winners. First-come, first-served, only. HANA & ALICE: The first entrant whom correctly answers our "Hana & Alice Quiz", will be announced as the winner. Tickets will be awarded first-come, first-serve. Send answers to: movietix@henshinonline.com -- please specify which movie you would like to win tickets for in the header of your e-mail message. Determination of winners: A. The first correct answers, on a first-come, first-serve basis. B. Winners will be announced Friday March 11th on Henshin! Online. C. Henshin! Online is not responsible for typographical, electronic or other errors in Internet operation affecting the offering, outcome, administration of the contest or the announcement of prizes. Void where prohibited or restricted by law. D. The decision of Henshin! Online is final. Entrants agree to be bound by these Official Rules and by the decisions of the Henshin! Online judges, which are final and binding in all respects. Winners can pick up tickets for CUTIE HONEY at the Castro Theatre's Will Call starting at 11:15 AM on Friday, March 11th. For HANA & ALICE, the winning passes will be at the AMC Kabuki 8's Will Call from 11:00 AM on Friday, March 11th. Cutie Honey Quiz: Q: What year did the original CUTIE HONEY anime first appear on Japanese television? Hana & Alice Quiz: Q. What was title of the first film by director Shuji Iwai? |
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| 03/06/05: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| DVD PREVIEW: MATANGO and THE MYSTERIANS Media Blasters Releases Two Toho Classics in March Author: Keith Aiken Source: Media Blasters
Both MATANGO and THE MYSTERIANS go on sale in March with VARAN following on May 10, and DOGORA on July 15. The four DVDs will feature a wealth of extras; some previously available on Toho's R2 DVDs, some new to the US discs. In addition to the original Japanese audio track with English subtitles, MATANGO features Toho's international English dubbing (the same as AIP-TV's US release in 1965) and THE MYSTERIANS has a new English dub created by Bang Zoom Productions and a new Spanish dub by Arventel. Media Blasters has provided full DVD specs for the first two Toho titles. Look for reviews and additional details here on Henshin! Online in the coming weeks.
Street Date: 3/15/05 SRP: $19.95 Language: Japanese mono, 5.1/2.0 English Dub, mono Spanish Dub, Japanese commentary Subtitles: English Running Time: 90 min Aspect Ratio & Format: 2.35:1 16x9 Anamorphic Cast: Akira Kubo, Kumi Mizuno, Hiroshi Koizumi, Yoshio Tsuchiya, Kenji Sahara, Hiroshi Tachikawa, Miki Yashiro Producer: Tomoyuki Tanaka Director: Ishirô Honda Visual Effects: Eiji Tsuburaya Original Story: William Hope Hodgson ("The Voice in the Night") Adaptation: Shinichiro Hoshi & Masami Fukushima Screenplay: Takeshi Kimura Original Music: Sadao Bekku Cinematographer: Hajime Koizumi Film Editor: Reiko Kaneko Production Design: Juichi Ikuno Conceptual Art: Shigeru Komatsuzaki Production Manager: Tadashi Koike Second Unit Director: Koji Kajita Art Department: Shigeru Komatsuzaki Selling Points: Directed by Ishirô Honda Cinematography by: Hajime Koizumi (KING KONG ESCAPES, GODZILLA VS MONSTER ZERO) Special Effects by Eiji Tsuburaya, responsible for the revolutionary monster classics: GODZILLA, GHIDORAH THE THREE-HEADED MONSTER, DESTROY ALL MONSTERS, WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS, DOGORA, THE SPACE MONSTER, AND VARAN THE UNBELIEVABLE! Starring Akira Kubo (GODZILLA VS MONSTER ZERO, SON OF GODZILLA) and the beautiful Kumi Mizuno (GODZILLA VS MONSTER ZERO) Special Features: Commentary by lead actor AKIRA KUBO Interview with Assistant SFX director TERUYOSHI NAKANO Text from MATANGO author MASAMI FUKUSHIMA Original Trailer Trailers for DOGORA, VARAN, THE MYSTERIANS, and GAPPA THE TRIPHIBIAN MONSTER
After a yacht is damaged in a storm and stranded on a deserted island the passengers; a psychologist, his girlfriend, a wealthy businessman, a famous singer, a writer, a sailor and his skipper take refuge in a fungus-covered boat. While using the MUSHROOMS for sustenance they find the ship's journal describing the mushrooms to be poisonous, however some members of the shipwrecked party continue to ingest the mysterious fungi, transforming them into hideous fungal monsters. One of the strangest and most horrific TOHO productions to date. THE MYSTERIANS (1957) Street Date: 3/22/05 (delayed from 1/25/2005) SRP: $19.95 Language: Japanese mono and 5.1, 5.1 English Dub, mono Spanish Dub, Japanese commentary Subtitles: English Running Time: 88 min Aspect Ratio & Format: 2.35:1 16x9 Anamorphic Cast: Kenji Sahara, Yumi Shirakawa, Akihiko Hirata, Momoko Kochi, Takeshi Shimura Director: Ishirô Honda Headline: Witness mankind's most treacherous battle for survival! From behind the moon they came...To invade the earth...Abduct its women...Level its cities!
Directed by Ishirô Honda, Special Effects by Eiji Tsuburaya Music by Akira Ifukube Special Features: NEW 5.1 Eng Dub Original mono and new 5.1 Japanese mix NEW mono Spanish Dub Commentary with Koichi Kawakita (Special Effects Director of GODZILLA VS KING GHIDORAH and GODZILLA AND MOTHRA: THE BATTLE FOR EARTH) and Shinji Higuchi (Special Effects Director of GAMERA: GUARDIAN OF THE UNIVERSE) Photo Gallery and Storyboards Original Trailer Trailers for ONE MISSED CALL, MATANGO: ATTACK OF THE MUSHROOM PEOPLE, DOGORA, VARAN, and GAPPA THE TRIPHIBIAN MONSTER Synopsis: After a Japanese town is totally destroyed the military arrive to investigate. They encounter a giant robot that is decimating everything in its path. A dome appears out of the ground and a group of scientists are invited to meet the alien Mysterians from the planet Mysteroid. The Mysterians have come in peace - all they ask humanity for is three-square kilometers of land and the right to interbreed with Earth women to repopulate their species. Outraged at such a suggestion, humanity declares war on the Mysterians. "...Entertaining blend of giant flying robots, ray guns, UFOs and bubble-helmeted aliens abducting human women". The Science Fiction, Horror and Fantasy Film Review. |
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| KING OF THE MONKEYS Interview with THE MIGHTY PEKING MAN Director Ho Meng-Hua Author: Steve Ryfle Interview: Craig Hale Allen
Hong Kong cinema is not known for gigantic monsters, but in 1977 the Shaw Brothers studio, world famous for unleashing the first wave of kung-fu movies to international audiences in the early 1970's, produced Hong Kong's one and only true giant-monster epic, THE MIGHTY PEKING MAN [Chinese title: Xing-xing Wang, KING OF THE MONKEYS]. Produced to capitalize on the international hype surrounding Dino DeLaurentiis' KING KONG remake, the film was released to the U.S. in 1980 by World Northal Corp under the title GOLIATHON and quickly faded into obscurity. In April 1999, Quentin Tarantino's Rolling Thunder Pictures and Cowboy Booking International resurrected this long-lost camp classic and released it across the U.S., to favorable critical reaction if not great commercial success. In 2004, Celestial Pictures released a newly remastered version of THE MIGHTY PEKING MAN to DVD in Hong Kong and Japan [as Peking Genjin-no Gyakushu, THE PEKING MAN STRIKES AGAIN]. The Japanese release is a special double-DVD set with many new supplemental materials, including a booklet that includes the following interview with the film's director, Ho Meng-Hua. THE MIGHTY PEKING MAN is an unusual re-working of the archetypal man-woman-ape love triangle established by KING KONG in 1933. It was also the best giant-ape movie -no joke- since Merian C. Cooper's original classic. Not that there's much competition: SON OF KONG, the 1976 KING KONG remake and its sequel KING KONG LIVES, the Japanese-made KING KONG VS. GODZILLA and KING KONG ESCAPES, the British-made KONGA and the Korean-made A*P*E all lacked the pathos of the original KONG; and both versions of MIGHTY JOE YOUNG are basically children's films that eschew the Kong-style tragic ending.
Although its story and FX work are inferior by today's standards, THE MIGHTY PEKING MAN is brilliant combination of the man-versus-nature tragedy of KING KONG, the frenzied action of 1970's HK kung-fu movies, the jungle adventures of the Tarzan films, and the all-out destructive rampage of the Godzilla movies. In fact, most of the special effects were filmed by freelance crews from Japan, including such Toho veterans as effects director Sadamasa Arikawa (SON OF GODZILLA, DESTROY ALL MONSTERS, YOG: MONSTER FROM SPACE), assistant effects director Koichi Kawakita (the Heisei Godzilla series), and monster suit maker Keizo Murase (VARAN, MOTHRA, MATANGO, the Heisei Godzilla series, and Daiei's GAMERA). The film is full of unusual and entertaining surprises, such as the monster's final rampage through the metropolis, which is filmed from a variety of impressive angles showing the extensive miniature construction. There is also a great deal of unintended humor that will be appreciated by modern audiences, such as the romantic montages set to outdated 1970's HK pop music themes, showing Danny and Samantha romping through the jungle in slow-motion and frolicking with a variety of wild animals. Although many viewers today will enjoy the film mostly for the postmodern kitsch factor (obvious miniatures, the actor's eyes peering through the sockets of the monster costume, wild animals that appear drugged to keep them docile, the bombastic music score) this film is a forgotten gem containing more action and spectacle that most any modern movie, a relic from an era when technical virtuosity was less important than sheer entertainment, and it remains Hong Kong's lone entry into the giant-monster genre. Ho Meng-Hua was one of the Shaw Brothers' most active directors during the studio's heyday of the 1960's and 70's. Ho was born and grew up near Shanghai, and attended Shanghai Drama Institute. Before the Communists took over China in 1949, he emigrated to Hong Kong; he was in his early 20's and had no filmmaking experience, but somehow he got a job as a cinematographer. He joined Shaw Brothers in 1960 and eventually ascended to the director's chair, helming melodramas, sword-play adventures and other genres. Other than THE MIGHTY PEKING MAN, Ho's most famous film is probably THE FLYING GUILLOTINE (1976), the story of a man who uses a flying hat box to decapitate his enemies. Since the Shaw studios ceased movie production in the 1980's and switched to producing TV soap operas instead, Ho has basically been retired. The following interview was conducted in Hong Kong in 1999 by Craig Allen, an American teacher and film enthusiast living abroad. Mr. Allen describes his first meeting with Mr. Ho this way: "Once I received the interview assignment, I got in touch with Mr. Ho to make an appointment to meet. He was very nice on the phone, but took a couple moments to figure out that I wasn't calling from the U.S., that I instead was actually in Hong Kong. We discussed a couple of possible times to meet. His wife obviously is his appointment secretary, because whenever he would make a suggestion of a time to meet, I could hear her calling from the other room, reminding him of this or that prior commitment. So it took a couple of suggestions on his part before he could come up with a time that he was free. "We arranged to meet three or four days later at the Tsim Sha Tsui MTR subway Station at the Hang Seng Bank at 3:30 p.m. It's a classic Hong Kong meeting place. Whenever I walk past, there are always a number of people loitering around, obviously waiting to rendezvous with someone else. Amusingly, he was a little concerned that we would not recognize each other. Though a lot of white guys pass through the Tsim Sha Tsui MTR station, there couldn't be that many waiting in front of the Hang Seng Bank. I told him to look for blond guy with a beard. I was to look for a white-haired man with a cane. "Just to be ready for anything, I dressed a little bit nicely - no tie or anything, smart casual, I'd say - and I went to Tsim Sha Tsui a bit early to scope out places we could go. I wasn't sure if he'd have a place in mind, so I wanted to be ready. I settled on the coffee shop at the famous Peninsula Hotel. It's a fairly quiet place, which would make it easy for us to talk; not too expensive, but a bit on the swanky side, which might appeal to an auteur of Master Ho's caliber; and he could order a pot of Chinese tea, and I could order coffee. Perfect. Then I went to wait for him in the MTR station.
Q: You shot a lot of the film in India, right? HO: Yes. We went to India four times ... to Bombay, Bangalore... Q: Why did you shoot it in India? HO: Well you see, we used a Swedish actress...
HO: Yeah, that's right, from Sweden. In the story there were a bunch of scenes where she had to act closely with a tiger... cuddle it, kiss it, that sort of thing. We didn't have the capability to do that sort of thing in Hong Kong, but Warner Bros. told us to check out this circus in India. So we went to Bombay and then drove for a whole day and finally that night made it to some small place and found the circus. We went to a performance, and sure enough, there was a tiger in the show. It could perform all sorts of tricks. Q:< |
