Your next epic space adventure is here. Maybe

In attempt to revive old glory, someone is trying very hard to bring back space saga Space Battleship Yamato. Started as popular TV series in '73, that spawned into numerous sequels, films and comics books over many years, the saga came out of the history's basement in 2002 when it was announced that work began on a new animated film. The result can be seen already, as the CGI animated film, that I've already mentioned before, opened in Japan few weeks ago, and now comes this short teaser for the big budget live action version about the adventures of the flying ship.
So far this comeback is getting trouble to awake excitement, as the animated film pretty much failed in Japanese box office. Maybe the live action version, coming out next year and can be just the first in the series, will do better. It sure looks decent, and lets face it, they don't make enough sci-fi movies with space battles these days.

Trailers Roundup

Some nice trailers for Asian movies appeared lately, here is a small roundup for the best of them.

First trailer is the latest promo for the upcoming big budget Bodyguards and Assassins, rather dumb English title for the western audience, since the original name can be translated something like The October Siege. The film is about assassination attempt on Chinese political leader (real historical figure) in Hong Kong of 1905 and the group of bodyguards hired to protect him from the assassins. Thus the dumb title.
The film is drawing attention for a while now, and not only due to the massive star-packed cast, but also because of the huge sets, recreating the HK city one hundred years ago, that were made for the filming. This one is expected to be a huge hit in China.



More interesting trailers below.

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Next is Indonesian slasher Waterfall Bride (Air Terjun Pengantin), done by very familiar horror formula. Bunch of happy and free young people arrive to remote place, thinking their life cannot get any better, when some crazy killer starts to hunt them down to satisfy his perverted needs. The main attraction here, obviously, is sexy bikini girls exposing their skin and then being brutally killed. Great way to entertain yourself, indeed.

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This one is upcoming superhero movie from Philippines, Wapakman, staring boxing champion Manny Pacquiao, that just two weeks ago won his seventh title, the first fighter to do so. The man is considered a national hero in Philippines, he is also involved in politics, music and filmmaking. And all that when he is not dating models or fighting giant crabs.

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Another superhero movie is coming from Korea and seems to be on more serious level than cartoonish Wapakman, but no less funny. Entitled Woochi, this action packed spectacle of special effects and martial arts on wires, is about Jeon Woo-chi, an undisciplined monk from the past, that by some magical way finds himself in present time.
This one looks incredibly entertaining and visually stunning, continuing the ongoing tendency of Korean cinema to surpass filmmaking virtuosity of everyone else.



Official website

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And last one is The Treasure Hunter, adventure fantasy from Taiwan, and starring pop idol Jay Chou, which will also appear as Kato in troubled The Green Hornet remake next year. The trailer is really bad quality, but you can appreciate very cool imagery and action. The movie is about group of people looking for an ancient treasure buried under the desert.



More info at this page.

Trailers Roundup

Few interesting trailers appeared lately and I didn't have the chance to post them separately, so I gathered all of them together.

First is the new trailer for The Wolfman. Much better and more action packed than previous trailer, and more or less indicates the entertaining intensity of the movie. I still don't care for Emily Blunt though, she reminds me mold piece of cheese with stale taste.



More various trailers are below.

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Here is new trailer for Sherlock Holmes, that seems to be misplaced and should be a regular summer movie, but instead it will be a summer breeze in the middle of winter.

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Dominic Sena, another average Hollywood director of formula movies, just flopped with Whiteout a month ago, and his next film is another potential disaster with the king of bad movies in the last few years, Nicolas Cage. This time it's a fantasy/horror movie called Season of the Witch, something about medieval knights hunting a witch during Black Plague. The teaser is not very impressive, but maybe it's just poor video quality.

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I've already posted about this movie before, and here is new footage from True Legend, a welcome throwback to the wushu martial arts style of the 90's. Great stuff.

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Another martial arts film with the scent of 90's is new collaboration between Donnie Yen and Sammo Hung, called 14 Blades, which looks like another huge production for the masses.



By the way, don't get me wrong and I love to see sweet Zhao Wei in films, but I am getting the feeling that she's been kinda mistreated in Chinese productions lately. She is a great actress, everyone should see her in excellent Green Tea to fully appreciate her acting abilities, but with all them historical war and martial arts pictures she is doing lately, which are just shallow pop products, I think she is simply wasting away. And her upcoming lead role in over the top patriotic Mulan is not going to make things better.

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And martial arts film that is a sequel to one from 90's, but definitely doesn't have the same style, is Storm Warriors. Here the final trailer before the release.

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And this is one strange film. Ninjas, sword fights, machine guns, rockets, space ships? Heavily based on computer graphics with the main emphasis on visual side, this attempt to make live action anime looks like a warm and pleasant mess. And the strangest thing is that it's coming from Ireland, out of all possible places. Called The Cup of Tears, and directed by unknown Gary Shore, it looks more like an over stylized music video. I am really curious to see the full movie, although I suspect it will be hard to find any sensible story in there, something that usually happens in such projects.

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And now some zombies. Trailer for highly anticipated remake of George Romero's The Crazies is very impressive, bringing back the exciting vibe to the classic "small town in distress" zombie flicks. Great actors and high production values is exactly what zombie movie needs. Going high to my "want to see" list.

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Another zombie film, but with very different approach is The Revenant. Apparently there are many ways to explore zombie genre, and this film is taking it to some interesting places. Clearly, as oppose to beat up and washed-up vampire themed abominations, that lost their subversive appeal once vampires became synonym to "stupid teenagers", zombies still remain exclusively in the grown-ups area, simply because no one can make zombies young and sexy. And while shirtless vampires or werewolfs, or whatever, are fighting to win the heart of some dumb chick because this is what they usually do, looking to fall in love, zombies are slowly overtaking serious movies that actually worth seeing. And this is one of them.



Official website - here.

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And the last one is animated feature from Argentina Boogie, El Aceitoso, which can be translated as The Slick Boogie (?). Based on the works of famous Argentinian cartoonist and writer Roberto Fontanarrosa, the story is about Boogie, a ruthless mercenary killer who seems to feel utter contempt for everything and everyone. An American veteran of the Vietnam war, Boogie does everything for money.
I am guessing that through all that machoism, sexism and racism that this character possesses, Fontanarossa was expressing his criticism of US, and though I am not familiar with the original comics, it seems that it was filled with political context. Through the volumes of the comics, the character of Boogie and his attitude were changing, and since he is lovable character after all, I think there was more that merely anti-American lashing and the whole thing was more complex that it may appear.
Anyway, judging from the trailer the film seems to have some of that misanthropic and racist tone, but also dark humor and bad ass attitude. Offensive but fun, and with a bit of luck it will be also as charming as South Park. I like it already.



Official website - here.

Adrift

Adrift is new Vietnamese film that made festival rounds in the last year, including Venice, Toronto and London. The movie is a mix of stories about lives and sexual desires of different people, trying to find their own way in life. The movie explores forbidden and controversial themes in the changing society of current Vietnam, exposing the conflicts between conservative traditional morals and contemporary temptations. The cast includes popular and familiar Vietnamese actors.
Although it looks like a slow and atmospheric drama, the movie seems to be interesting and meaningful insight, relevant to lives of people in other parts of the world as well.

Does this sword make me look fat?

Nothing like getting your ass kicked by a busty lady with a ninja sword. I bet her hair smells good too.
New Thai action film Vanquisher, literary translated as "beautiful samurai", tells a story of a Genja, a CIA agent who completes covert mission in southern Thailand but then betrayed by her own agency. She survives and two years later in Bangkok she faces her old foes and a plot to detonate a bomb in the city. Yeah...

Armed and Dangerous

And more Japanese crazy goodness.

First is new Japanese TV series called The Ancient Dogoo Girl, and it was created by Noboru Iguchi, that responsible for The Machine Girl and this piece of bizarreness, that I mentioned before on this blog. But it seems that he has reached new limits of absurd storytelling and costume fetish. Again. Watch this ridiculously hilarious trailer and tell me if his is not the dumbest thing you've ever seen.



The series stars pop idol Erika Yazawa and is about ancient girl, who’s revived after 10,000 years to fight evil in modern-day society, while capturing the heart of a misfit teenager named Makoto.
This is her, and the reasons for her popularity are quite obvious, no? She is over 18 on the pics, so no complaints.

More trailers for other crazy projects - below.


Second is live action adaptation of the long running manga and one time anime Iketeru Futari, translated as The Hot Couple, and it's about sex-obsessed high school 16-year old boy who loves to fantasize about young beautiful women. 'Nough said.

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Young girl in high school uniform running around with sword, decapitating heads, splashing blood. Oh yeah, it's Japanese. This is another live action adaptation of manga and anime - The Abashiri Family. The production seems extremely cheap, but what the hell. Set in the near future in Japan, the movie tells a story of a clash between gangster families, with some kind of experiments in mind control or something ridiculous like that.

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And the last one is a little different than all the above, called Assault Girls, and it's a product of imagination by acclaimed Mamoru Oshii. It is about the aftermath of global thermonuclear war, when the Earth’s surface has been turned into a desert battlefield. Three beautiful female hunters travel across the burnt landscape armed with powerful assault rifles to fight a group of deadly sand-dwelling monsters.
This one looks pretty amazing and stylish, despite the low-tech effects.



Everything was found via Nippon Cinema.

Earth, Wind and Fire

New trailer and two clips from The Storm Warriors appeared lately on the web and I didn't even notice it. Well, it's better late than never, right? So here it is. Not much of a quality, but it really can't hide the awesome fantasy visuals and ideas of this film.



Previous posts about he film - here. Two new short clips - below.

The Honorable Enemy

Classic anime series Space Battleship Yamato is getting new sequel in form of full length feature film, scheduled to be released in upcoming December in Japan.
The original anime told a story of a Japanese battleship Yamato, converted by humans into advanced spaceship with the help of alien race, to fight another evil alien race that slowly destroying Earth by radioactive bombs. The series was dubbed into English version for US under the name of Star Blazers, and it was very popular all around the world as well, expanding later into series of full length movies. The saga ended in 1983 with Final Yamato, so the upcoming film is the first appearance of the battleship in 26 years.
In addition to that, back in 2006 it was announced by Hollywood production company Benderspink, that they will be adapting the anime into live action film with possible release in 2010, but I am not sure if they are still behind it. There were some additional recent confirmations for this project, that it's in development, but no solid details so far.

Trailer for Space Battleship Yamato: Rebirth was just released on the official website of the film, and here it is.
The story of the movie is set in the year 2220, 17 years after the events of the last film, and will focus on efforts to evacuate the Earth due to the dangerously expanding moving black hole. The fleet of spaceships with refugees is being attacked, and Yamato is there to defend them.

As wikipedia article amusingly indicates: The Space Battleship Yamato series generally involves themes of brave sacrifice, noble enemies, and respect for heroes lost in the line of duty. Lets hope the current film will be a little bit more cynical.



And second trailer:



Few months ago, a 9 minute promo for the film appeared on the web. You can watch this CGI buffed footage here.

You can also visit English fan site of the space saga for more info about previous films and comics.

On the cliff by the sea

Longer trailer for the Japanese ninja film Kamui Gaiden appeared through official website, and it continues to be attractive, with some great slow motion action sequences and strange looking characters.



Via AHT. Previous teaser and short synopsis - here.

Metal Attraction

Cyborg can fight, but can they love and hate? Why can't a cyborg question his creator like men question God?
Here are two trailers for the upcoming Hong Kong action film Metal Attraction: Kung Fu Cyborg. Directed by the old-timer Jeffrey Lau, the movie looks like a weird mix of Transformers and Iron Man, which is exactly what he had in mind. According to Lau, the film is a sci-fi romantic comedy with kung fu action, and features a cyborg that apparently can turn himself into all kind of things and even swallow a rocket. The CGI effects look pretty cheap and the story seems very cheesy, but it looks like it can be fun to watch. The cast includes former professional swimmer turned pop star Fong Lik Sun, and also big martial arts star Wu Jing.
The first teaser is better cut and more attractive to the action fans, the second is longer and slower, but with English subtitles.



Source: official website. Second trailer below.

News/Rumors Summary

When Curb Your Enthusiasm, an HBO comedy show starring co-creator of Seinfeld Larry David, ended its sixth season back in November 2007, many people were certain that this is the end of the series. Larry was going in the same year through divorce from his real life wife and got some nice media coverage on that, and the show was kind of stuck, plunging deeper into the depth of absurdity. No one could really see what kind of material can bring the show back for another season, but then, shockingly, Larry pulled an ace right out of his sleeve. A Seinfeld reunion! Absolutely genius.
After ten years of constant refusal on various offers, claiming that no more Seinfeld episodes will be ever made, Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David finally found a loophole - a FAKE Seinfeld reunion. Simply brilliant.

Now try to follow me on this one: in the new season of Curb Your Enthusiasm, fake Larry David offers fake Jerry Seinfeld to make a real Seinfeld reunion episode, which is actually a double fake, a show inside the show. So we are going to see three levels of inter-textual content - real actors are playing their fake versions, and trying to make fake reunion of their real show with their real fictional characters... Oh boy, I am so fucking confused right now. Only twisted mind of Larry David can invent something like that.

The real/fake reunion will be in the center of the new season, with the whole cast and some supporting actors (Newman!) appearing as themselves.
The photo above is first promotional image of the main cast back together, and I don't need to say that this will be huge story during upcoming TV Fall season, making lots of headlines and drawing lots of attention.
More info and short video interview with David is here. To be continued...


Prequel for Alien has a director, number of sequels for popular movies will start filming next year, some images from Comic Con, Bruce Lee is getting new biopic, insert yourself into the world of Mad Men, concept art for Tron Legacy and more images and info, below.

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Prequel for Alien is a fact for some time now, and the project finally has director attached - non other than Ridley Scott, the creator of the original film. How is he going to treat his creation after 30 years is unknown right now, but many people are excited. My opinion on Scott I've mentioned before, so I think it's a good gimmick and plenty directions for the marketing and promotion department to exploit, but I prefer to keep my expectations low on this one.

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Futuristic concept art for Tron Legacy.

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To fight all the evil rumors about Green Hornet's cancellation and to show that everything is in order and in full throttle, Seth Rogen revealed at Comic Con "Black Beauty", the car of the masked vigilante. In addition the studio released rumors that Nic Cage is interested in the role of the villain in the film, that in addition to previous announcement that Cameron Diaz will be in the film as well. Problems? What problems?

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Some teaser posters and images from Prince of Persia. Wet Gemma Arterton looks really good.

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World of WarCraft movie, called simply Warcraft, is going to happen. Sam Raimi will direct right after he is done with Spiderman 4, both scheduled for 2011. Quick look at his upcoming projects reveals 21(!!!!!!!) films in development, so new Lord of the Rings it won't be.

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Some slick images from Iron Man 2. Robert continues to look extremely serious. And new viral website for the film is available.

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Now you can animate yourself and see how you look like in the world of Mad Men. Follow this link to "madmen" yourself. And by the way, this is me. The illustration quality makes the look better and flattering, but it's kinda similar.

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I saw unaired last episode of Dollhouse and it's fantastic story with great dialogs. There are actually two unaired episodes. One is original Pilot of the series, that some scenes from it appeared in later episodes, but its plot cannot be connected to the rest of the episodes due to some narrative contradictions. It really works great as a Pilot, much better than what was shown eventually and it presents Whedon's original vision for the show. Why it was changed I don't know, but I wish I could see entire series that started from that episode.
Anyway, the last episode, "Epitaph One", is a look into the future of the series with lots of mysteries and lots of questions. It's like seeing the ending of fifth season in the end of the first one, and it's only creating interest to see all of it. If the show indeed will take that direction, it will be really exciting to follow the story.
Meantime, second season is in preparations and new actors will be joining the show. Right now the biggest names are Summer Glau (River Tam in Firefly) and Alexis Denisof (Wesley in Buffy and Angel, and he is actually married to Alyson Hannigan, Willow in Buffy). So it all stays in the family.

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Speaking of Joss Whedon, he wrote and produced a horror film The Cabin in the Woods, which has these posters. Self aware and self ironic horror film? That should be interesting.

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Some new images from Astro Boy. Apparently David Bowers, director of the film, directed Flushed Away before, which I really, really like, much more than most of the Pixar's stuff.

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New faces of Avatar's alien race Na'vi. August 21st is "Avatar Day", during which a short 15 minute clip will be shown in many IMAX theaters for free. Details on which theaters, in what countries and how to get tickets will be published soon. At the same day or maybe a little bit later, trailer for the anticipated film should also appear. Waiting.

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This is first concept art for the Sucker Punch, next live action film by Zack Snyder, director of Watchmen. The film features very impressive female cast, and the tagline for the film is "Alice in Wonderland with machine guns". Expect the unexpected.

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Pirates of the Caribbean 4: One of the producers dropped the news that the sequel will start shooting next year with plans to create another trilogy. Not many details on this right now, but rumors insist that extravagant Russell Brand will play the brother of Jack Sparrow, with Depp returning in his role as well. Regarding Bloom and Knightley, chances for their return are very low, but expect proper replacement with younger and promising new faces. Gore Verbinski, director of the first three films will probably not direct it, some reports indicating Rob Marshall instead.


Untitled 300 sequel: According to first reports, the screenplay for the sequel is almost ready. Zack Snyder attached to direct next year.


Gary Oldman was promoting The Book of Eli at Comic Con and was asked about next Batman movie. After which he dropped the bomb, saying that the filming will start next year. Oldman, that plays Commissioner Gordon, probably wasn't authorized to say something like that, and I am sure Warner Bros are very angry at him if this is true. Of course no more details about the film.


Wanted 2: Timur Bekmambetov was also at Comic Con, and he announced there that he will direct the sequel next year. James McAvoy will be back as Wesley Gibson, and producers are working very hard to get Angelina Jolie back to the film as well.

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Beijing based movie company announced recently that it would work with Lee's family to produce a movie portraying "the truest Bruce Lee" for his fans worldwide. Apparently this is the first time Lee's family authorizing a movie based on his life, maybe because they will also participate in the making of the film.
"The movie will have three episodes describing the star's youth, his martial-arts film time, his great success and unexpected death" , says Lee's younger brother that will be one of producers. Who will star as Bruce Lee and who will direct the film was not revealed yet.