Escape From Tomorrow, which got a lot of attention at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, was filmed guerilla-style at Walt Disney World. That’s why a lot of people suspected that the film itself would never get a general release. However, apparently, it is scheduled to be released in both theaters and via VOD on October 11th.
So, we have Keanu Reeves playing against type in Man of Tai Chi now we have another Keanu extravaganza where he returns to the role he continues to be cast in. The role of the reluctant hero who also happens to be the only one who can save everyone.
47 Ronin, I will have to assume, is probably very loosely-based on the 18th-century real-life account of the forty-seven ronin (masterless samurai) who took on the rival lord of their former lord and master. Their legend grew upon the success of their mission when they presented themselves to the Shogun and were given the chance to commit seppuku (ritual suicide) to keep their honor instead of being executed like criminals for the murder of the rival lord.
This story continues to remain a popular one in Japan and for those in the West who know of it. The film looks to take the basic premise but adapt the story in a more fantasy-setting that makes this 47 Ronin look more like a live-action anime than a traditional jidaigeki film like the recent 13 Assassins. This film marks one of the first Western Chushingura (fictional accounts of the forty-seven ronin event).
47 Ronin is directed by Carl Erik Rinsch and is set for a Christmas 2013 release date.
I think Keanu Reeves has always had it in him to play a bad guy. I think playing a villain suits him better than playing a hero. The latter requires charisma and presence and that’s something that Keanu will never be mistaken for having. Now as a villain he can go all-out and channel his inner-Nicolas Cage.
Man of Tai Chi will be the test to see if he can pull off being a film’s heel. It helps that this film also comes as his directorial debut. Looking like a much more polished, but even more kick-ass take on the Bloodsport-theme, Man of Tai Chi is one film later this year that I’ve been highly-anticipating. It speaks to my inner martial-artist and it’s been awhile since we’ve had a film where it looks like the fighting is not all about wire work.
The film stars Keanu Reeves as the villain Donaka Mark with the hero role going to his stuntman friend and owner of a badass name, Tiger Chen.
Man of Tai Chi has already premiered at both the Beijing and Cannes Film Festivals and should make it’s North American premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival. Here’s to hoping it gets a wide release before the end of 2013.
Have I mentioned just how much I love the anime series Nichijou? If I haven’t then this latest “Scenes I Love” should provide a fine example why this anime series has pretty much captured my otaku-heart and has now made it into my top 10 best things I’ve ever enjoyed watching.
It’s well-known amongst fans of anime that Nichijou is just so random an anime series. While it might confuse the uninitiated for the most part everyone who watches anime just rolls with it. I love this particular scene involving two of the show’s leads in Mio and Yuuko because of just how it escalates so quickly from a misunderstanding into a full-blown mutual assured destructions conflict in so very little time.
This scene illustrates how the series takes very normal and common situations that happens in every high school kids life and just ramps it up past 11. I know that I’ve had arguments and fights about something so innocuous as getting the wrong lunch. Yet, despite the over-the-top nature of the scene and how hilarious each lead takes their argument to the nth-degree it ends in a way that makes one feel good about things.
Amazing, indeed.
Yoshitaka Amano, born 1952 in Shizuka, Japan, is one of Japan’s most-renowned artists and illustrators. He also began his career as a character designer for early anime shows like Speed Racer, Gatchaman and Tekkaman. He would continue to build on his portfolio of unique character designs for anime, video game franchises and Japanese pop culture art.
Amano-san has pointed out Western artists such as comic book artist Neal Adams as an inspiration in his own style which when combined with his knowledge and appreciation of the classic Japanese hard woodblock printing known as Ukiyo-e would lead to one of the most unique character styles in mainstream pop-culture.
Yet, Amano-san will forever be known for and continues to be popular for his work in helping design the characters for the the video game rpg franchise known the world over as Final Fantasy.
I’ve spent the last two weeks sharing with you some of my favorite cinematic dance scenes. I hope you’ve enjoyed them. While this particular series of scenes that I love is ending with this last entry, I do hope to share some more in the future. For now, what better way to end this series of dance scenes that I love than with the ballet from the classic 1948 film, The Red Shoes?
A House Is Not A Home, a film directed by Christopher Douglas-Olen Ray and produced by and starring one of my favorite actors, the great Gerald Webb, is having its world premiere tonight at the Burbank International Film Festival!
Here’s the trailer:
Can the world handle two Jesse Eisenbergs?
This scene is pure joy.
I have to admit that I’m not a huge Western fan. In fact, I can probably count the number of westerns that I’ve actually enjoyed on one hand. However, at the same time, those westerns that I did enjoy also happen to be some of my favorite films of all time. When done poorly, a western can be nearly unwatchable. When done right, however, nothing beats a good western.
Case in point: 1966’s The Shooting.
The Shooting tells the story of Willett Gashade (played by Warren Oates), a former bounty hunter who now makes his living a miner. At the start of the film, he returns to his camp after being gone for several days. At the camp, he discovers one man dead, one man missing, and one sole survivor, the good-natured by simple-minded Coley (Will Hutchins). The panicky Coley explains that the camp was attacked by an unseen gunman and says that it was because the missing man had apparently ridden down “a man and a little person” in a nearby town. How any of this relates to the rest of the film is open to interpretation.
For that matter, the entire film is open to interpretation. That’s one reason why I love it.
The next day, an unnamed, black-clad woman (Millie Perkins) appears at the camp. She hires Gashade and Coley to lead her to a town that lies some distance away, on the other side of an inhospitable desert. Gashade is suspicious of the haughty woman but the far more trusting Coley takes a liking to her immediately.
As Gashade and Coley lead the Woman across the desert, there are hints both obvious and subtle that all is not as it seems. The Woman, at one point, demands to be led in the wrong direction. At another point, the woman suddenly shoots and kills her horse. Eventually, the three of them are joined by Billy Spears (played by a young but already sardonic Jack Nicholson), a well-dressed gunman whose sinister smile does little to hide an obvious sadistic streak and who takes a cruel enjoyment out of taunting and bullying Coley. It all leads to a shockingly violent and deliberately enigmatic conclusion that raises more questions than it answers.
As directed by Monte Hellman (one of the best directors of the 60s and 70s), the film is less concerned with conforming to the rigid expectations of the western genre and, instead, uses the genre as a way to explore the American culture of violence. With its cynical dialogue and its stark imagery of a harsh journey through a seemingly endless desert, it’s little surprise that The Shooting is considered to be an existential western.
Fortunately, The Shooting contains a quartet of fine performances that hold the viewer’s interest, even when the story runs the risk of becoming incoherent. Millie Perkins, who made her film debut playing the title role in 1959’s The Diary of Anne Frank, brings an air of genuine menace to the role of the Woman while Will Hutchins provides the movie with a much-needed heart. The main appeal of the film, of course, is to see two iconic actors performing opposite each other and neither Warren Oates nor Jack Nicholson disappoints. Of the two, Nicholson (who co-produced the film with Hellman) has the showier role and he is obviously having a lot of fun playing such an unrepentant villain. Meanwhile, Warren Oates comes across like a hard-boiled film noir hero who has somehow found himself trapped in a western.
Needless to say, with its deliberately obscure storyline and its refusal to provide a traditional conclusion, The Shooting is not a movie for everyone. However, for those willing to take a chance, The Shooting can be a very rewarding film.
Through the Shattered Lens 