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Godzilla vs Ebirah – Horror of the Deep (1966)
With such a large number of Godzilla sequels being released, we’re truly spoilt for choice. However, it seems that it doesn’t really matter which Godzilla film you watch: they all have a very similar feel, and not just because they all contain the titular giant monster. It’s more that each film shares the same themes and basic plot lines that make them feel so very ‘samey’. There are the recurring themes that nuclear anything is bad, the fact that Godzilla … (read more)
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Godzilla: Son of Godzilla (1967)
Well those wacky Japanese scientists are at it again. As can be gleaned from the synopsis above, weather experiments are being conducted. These weather experiments consist of being able to make it snow on a tropical island. Why? Well, that’s never really explained, but be assured that there is a definite useful purpose behind this research. In any case, it seems that the equipment to be used in the experiments has a high probability of going awry and blanketing the … (read more)
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Cyber City Oedo 808 (1990)
There’s something indelibly 80’s about well known Madhouse Studio director Yoshiaki Kawajiri’s anime. I don’t know; maybe it’s the tendency towards big hair, or maybe it’s just that it was during the 80’s (well, actually more like the early 90’s) that titles like Ninja Scroll, Vampire Hunter D, and this three part series, Cyber City Oedo 808, were among the few anime titles available here in Australia. It’s therefore hard not to look back on those VHS … (read more)
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Branded To Kill (1967)
Seijun Suzuki’s recent movies are beautiful to look at but make little narrative sense and seem to lack formal unity. By their end, films like Pistol Opera tend to lose the viewer in a mish-mash of colour, camera movement and choppy editing, with character, plot and theme long since discarded. If the style was more sophisticated, in the sense that a formal system was revealed up front and sustained throughout, there’d be fewer issues with the jettisoning of story elements. … (read more)
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Tomie (1999)
Thought Japanese schoolgirls were cute? Think again. This one leaves a trail of corpses in her wake, although strictly speaking, it’s not her fault: boys get so enamoured of her that they fight over her. And die, of course. Thinning the competition, that’s the ticket.
This was a surprisingly enjoyable flick, given that it was made on a fairly low budget with bugger-all special effects. This is mainly due to the actress playing Tomie: the talented Miho Kanno, star of … (read more)
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Tetsuo (The Iron Man) (1989)
I have an absolute argument-winner: the next time someone tries to dispute that Japanese filmmakers are weird, I can show them Tetsuo. Then, after I’ve revived them and stopped them gibbering, they’ll have to admit that yes, I’m right, and yes, Japanese filmmakers come from another planet. The film damn near sucked out my brain like a whelk.
If you make it as far as the salaryman being pursued through the train station by a secretary who’s unnacountably turning … (read more)
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Dolls (2002)
It seems that every time I mentioned that I’d seen Kitano Takeshi’s latest effort and liked it, someone said “You must be the only one!” I’d then have to point out that no, I wasn’t the only one, and if they’d seen it themselves they’d be able to offer an informed opinion. ‘Twas an education for me in how rumours get started.
So let’s deal with my impression of Dolls. Tearing into the bad stuff first, it did drag … (read more)
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Karas (2005)
There’s a fine line between the real world and the spirit world, or at least there is in Japan, apparently. Karas, by classics production studio Tatsunoko, seems to have borrowed from the same source as Takashi Miike’s recent kid’s flick, The Great Youkai War, populating its realms somewhere on the edge of general consensus reality with figures and creatures more familiar in mythology than anime’s mecha Halls of Fame. And as in Youkai War, someone with a … (read more)
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