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July 04 Fatal Contact - Is Jacky Wu Jing the next Jet Li?Boy meets girl. Girl leads boy into Hong Kong's underground street fighting circuit. Boy loses girl. Boy goes on psychotic killing frenzy in gangsters' hideout. It's an age old biblical story with a contemporary twist, or in the case of Fatal Contact, a spinning kick.
The film's title is not a reference to the brutal underground sport that the hero competes in but instead to his fateful meeting with a girl who uses him to her own ends. Eve leads Adam into temptation and you can be pretty damned sure there is going to be some serious punishment meted out.
In his first leading role, national Wushu champion Jacky Wu Jing plays poor Olympic kung fu fighter Kong. Both want to be the next Jet Li. "I want to be the next Jet Li", he tells Tin played by Theresa Fu. Like Jet and Donnie Yen before him, Wu Jing was a member of the Beijing Wushu Team.
Tin wants an easy life (which seems to embody eating out at restaurants a lot) and the gangsters controlling the world of illegal gambling promise easy money. Egged on by her, Kong is drawn into an escalating circle of violence and sepia-toned flashbacks.
Fortunately for Kong he has a furious temper and mad fighting skills. The 3 on 3 fight on the deck of a container ship is particularly memorable. As the combat becomes ever more bloadsoaked and viscious, can Kong escape and restore his humanity before it's too late? Guess again.
I wouldn't go as far to as to say writer and director Dennis Law subverts a well worn genre completely but he does his best to lull you into a false sense of security with an all too predictable and cheap looking first half. As the movie looks oddly ever more expensive, Law goes all out to burst some cliches. If I told you how it would only spoil it for you. I may already have said too much.
FATAL CONTACT is released on DVD on July 21st. June 30 Broomsticks, Bikes and Automobiles
An old staple returns to dvd next week in a re-imagined form. The Manga strip Ah! My Goddess, sometimes called Oh! My Goddess, was first published in 1988 and over the past two decades has been animated as several Japanese TV series (one including mini-versions of the characters) and a movie. In 2005 a new Anime version was produced for TV which followed the source material more closely (as far as its 12 certficate allows). A boxset featuring the entire 24 episodes, plus two that were supposedly never broadcast, is released on July 7th.
Ah! My Goddess is a whimsical rom com about Keiichi, a teenage college student and auto enthusiast who accidentally calls the Goddess Help Line. His call is answered in person by the Goddess Belldandy who materialises in his dorm room through a mirror and grants him one wish. Kind hearted but unlucky Keiichi can't get a girlfriend so he wishes for the Goddess to remain by his side forever. I don't know how old Japanese Goddesses are supposed to be but fortunately for Keiichi, Belldandy seems as youthful and naive as him.
A series adventures begin centred around Belldandy's attempts to adjust to life on the mortal plane and Keiichi's painfully shy attempts to get it on with his immortal 'giirlfriend'. There are run-ins with spirits and demons as well as rivals on campus but the tone is always light hearted and life-affirming. It's all about forming good relationships and self worth folks! It may be set in Japan but the Goddesses are based loosely on Norse mythology, dress in stylised Grecian/European outfits, ride on broomsticks and the theme music is kind of Irish folk/pop, so it's a real mish mash. The absolute antithesis of cartoon violence. June 25 John Woo's Red Cliff poster collectionLess controversial than the Olympic Torch relay but the most anticipated two-part movie since Kill Bill, the first half of John Woo's epic Rec Cliff (formerly known as The Battle of Red Cliff) is reportedly still heading for a release date that will co-incide with this summer's Beijing Olympics. Part 2 is expected at the end of the year.
New movie posters are starting to flood on to the web and I have included a collection of them in my Gallery section (right). The new set first, followed by some older less colourful posters.
The movie(s) tell the story of a historic battle in the warlord controlled China of 208 AD. It is rumoured to be the most expensive Chinese film ever made with a budget estimated to be in the region of 80 million dollars (US). June 23 Cartoons are gay - it's officialOk cards-on-the-table time. I myself am what you might describe as one of the 'Happy People'. But even I had never heard of Yaoi and even though I like to fly well under the gaydar as a matter of principal, I thought I had lived on the wildside more than a little. Then again, Yaoi isn't aimed at people like me.
So what the hell is Yaoi, I hear you cry? Well just when you thought they couldn't invent another genre... Yaoi is a sub-set of Manga, Anime and Japanese novels that deal with same sex romances but what specifically sets them apart isn't that they are gay. It is that they are primarily written by women for women. I guess that's why in the one I watched (Gravitation), the big cliffhanger was whether his boyfriend would be angry because he had decided to work late without calling home first.
If this was written by gay guys for gay guys, there would have been a lot more man-on-man action let me tell you. But these are ROMANCES (Yaoi is also sometimes referred to as Boy's Love) and are apart from the occasional snog after a hot stare in the elevator, it's pretty harmless stuff. Best not ask awkward questions like how come these guys both happened to be in the park late at night?
Between 80 and 85 percent of Yaoi fans are thought to be young women or teenage girls and it is a huge market. Since it started in the 1970s, Yaoi has become massive on Japanese language websites. In June 2008 an estimated 18 million people searched for the term Yaoi. And it's not even July yet!
So where can I get this hot stuff, I hear the girls cry? The first disc of the Anime series Gravitation is out on DVD on July 7th (only about 4 years late). It tells the story of Shuichi, the singer in (what only the Japanese would call a rock band) Back Luck and his ambition to follow in the footsteps of his idol Ryuichi Sakum, singer in Nittel Grasper. No, no, not Nettle Grasper. I said Nittle Grasper. C'mon girls, sort your metaphors out!
Inbetween bitchy run-ins with their rivals ASK that would make Spinal Tap jealous, and sporting costumes onstage that even Erasure's Andy Bell or Daffyd - the only Gay in the Village would turn their noses up at, Ryuichi falls for mysterious brooding pretty-boy novelist Eiri Yuki. Will the path of true love run smooth... yada, yada, yada? Oh I can't go on. You get the picture.
June 17 You just can't get the staff (when you heart the eighties)
In their first ever big screen pairing, Jackie Chan reprises his role as the Drunken Master, actually he's called the Drunken Immortal in The Forbidden Kingdom but they're not fooling anyone, and Jet Li plays Monkey (minus pink flying cloud sadly). They both play other parts too. For big kids (especially those who have refused to grow up since the 80s when they were fans of the Monkey TV series) this is a dream come true. Which is perhaps why that is the central premise of The Forbidden Kingdom. A teenage kung fu movie geek (Michael Angarano from 24) falls from a rooftop and wakes up in a mystical realm where he goes on a quest to return King Monkey's magic staff to it's rightful owner. In an old Chinese curiosity shop (Gremlins?), Jason Tripitikas witnesses a kind old man (Chan again) get shot (Back To The Future ?) and is transported into the past to Ancient China (erm, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III?).
Aided by the Drunken Immortal, the Silent Monk (Li again) and the beautiful Golden Sparrow who is out to avenge the murder of her parents (played by Yifei Liu), Tripititaka (sorry, Tripitakas) must return the staff to King Monkey who has been turned to stone by the evil Jade Emperor (played by Colin Chou from The Matrix Reloaded). Mums and dads will probably be reassured that it is directed by Rob Minkoff (Lion King, Stuart Little) but I wouldn't want that to put older fans off the movie. It's Written by John Fusco who has done the screen play for a new version of the Seven Samurai due out next year.
TFK was filmed on location in two Chinese provinces of outstanding beauty with additional studio sets that are at times wonderfully kitsch. Deliberately suggestive of old TV shows, I'm guessing, but without looking low-budget. The cast is spot on, especially Li Bing Bing who plays whip cracking villainess The White Haired Assassin. The inevitable Jackie/Jet fight is both great fun and lives up to expectations. Comparisons with Bulletproof Monk (which I like incidentally) are inevitable. However this is more traditional, unapologetic feel-good fodder that will take kids on a wild ride and make adults feel 10 years younger (or in my case more like 25). It is no Crouching Tiger or House of Flying Daggers (the Forbidden Kingdom doesn't take itself too seriously) but it's ninety minutes of your life you won't be wishing you could get back. The Forbidden Kingdom has already been No 1. in the movie charts in the USA (guess where I saw it) and is set for UK release on July 11 according to some sites but I have seen no official announcement here yet and no glimmer of the hype I would have expecting. Look at my Gallery section for more pics. June 11 Jet Li is Mummy 3
This is no pyramid hoax. Jet Li is back playing the bad guy in the first Mummy sequel since 2001. In The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, Jet plays Brendan Fraser's nemesis, the resurrected Qin Emperor, who is awoken by a 2000 year old curse with his army of terracotta warriors. They had mummies in China? Who knew! The film is directed by Rob Cohen of xXx and The Fast and the Furious fame and is out in August. June 10 Ong Bak is back
Tony Jaa, star of surprise Thai martial arts hit Ong Bak is making his directorial debut with a film under the 'working title' Ong Bak 2. Well, I don't know if you can describe a film as having a working title once poster artwork has started to leak out! Jaa will once again take the lead role. The original Ong Bak is set in modern day Thailand, sort of a Thai version of Kickboxer with some unbelievable Jackie Chan stunts. Despite its title, the sequel it seems is anything but. Instead it's a historical action movie, and is a revival of an never released low budget film Ai Noom Saraphad Phid (Venomous Boy) co-written by Jaa. Ong Bak 2 will feature martial arts based on the scared masked Thai dance Khon. June 07 Talking cats and samurai spats
One benefit of the time it takes for new Anime to reach the UK is that you don't have to wait quite as long to play catch up. Less than a fort-month since the Series 1 box set of the excellent Bleach was released on DVD, part 1 of Series 2 is about to hit the shelves. At the cliff-hanger ending of series 1, Ichigo and the gang had just entered a portal from Earth to the spirit realm of the Soul Society. With Yoruichi the talking cat as their guide, they were on the way to rescue Rukia Kuchiki, the Soul Reaper who was awaiting execution. Series 2 inverts the original premise of the story in which Soul Reaping samurai save lost souls from Hollows (soul eating monsters) and help them to cross over to the Soul Society.
In this thread of the story, there isn't even a hollow in sight as we get to see how the other half 'live'. I use the word loosely as this is the afterlife we're talking about. The Soul Society is exactly heaven it seems, but a hierachical domain with entire districts living in poverty ruled over by the not-so-benevolent Soul Reapers who fight more for glory and prestige. We were told in Series 1 that spirits who cross over remain how they are then forever, with children not growing up, yet we delve into Rukia's part and watch her grow up.
There are more plot holes than the Star Wars saga but the main characters continue to evolve and new players are introduced. Once again the comedic aspects taking centre stage, interspersed with moments of pathos and a fair dose of Ichigo action. Bleach remains addictive, desipe having little to do with the original concept, and the artwork continues to be stylish and inventive while retaining all the trademark aspects of Japanese Anime that we know and love. 32 episodes on, I'm still a big fan but don't have a clue even now why it's called Bleach. Any theories? Post them below. Series 2 Part 1 (Episodes 21 to 32) is out on DVD on June 30th. June 04 Tiger Film Festival TrailerHere are some highlights from the Tiger Far East Film Festival running this month in Brighton. See my last entry or visit the Official Site for program details.
June 02 Catch Brighton's Tiger Festival by the tail
Brighton's Tiger Far East Film Festival kicked off this weekend as part of a series of events showcasing China Now. Only in its second year, it's a small but presitigious event that gives UK connoisseurs the chance to catch the some of the best new movies that Asian cinema has to offer. In 2008 it hosts the World premiere of China's Follow Your Heart and UK premiere for 9 other movies, including Thai romantic comedy 7 Days To Leave My Wife, Assembly - a memoir of the Chinese civil-war, and Japanese drama Show Some Love You Losers!
Tiger Festival runs until June 21st when it's closes with the UK premiere of the Hong Kong crime thriller Mad Detective, co-produced and co-directed by Johnnie To who made his name directing Chow Yun-Fat in All About Ah-Long. May 26 Blades of glory - or should that be boobs?
In 1992 seven high-profile comic book artists, fed up with handing over the copyright to their creations, left Marvel to form their own publishing company Image Comics. They included X-Men and Wolverine penciller Marc Silvestri who later went on to found Top Cow comics and co-create Witchblade. Top Cow were responsible for bringing Tomb Raider's Lara Croft to comics for the first time and more interestingly for Anime fans, producing a Battle Of The Planets comic book with covers by esteemed artist Alex Ross (Marvels, Kingdom Come).
The Witchblade comic book was so popular that in 2006 it was reintepreted for a Japanese audience in a 24 episode animated TV series. The series broke new ground by being available on download to American Xbox owners from Xbox LIVE's Video Marketplace. Now it is available in the UK on DVD with a collection of the first 3 discs (12 episodes) in shops on June 9th. The story is relocated to a post-earthquake Tokyo in the near future, where skyscrapers and the Tokyo Tower poke through the surface of the ocean and single mother Masane Amaha fights to recover her memory and regain custody of her 6 year old daughter. Found at the epicentre of the disaster, she discovers that she is the owner of the Witchblade, a fearsome symbiotic weapon that transforms the wearer into a bloodthirsty warrior of unbelievable power.
Coveted by men but only ever possesed by women, the shady Douji corporation try to unlock the weapon's secrets by forcing Masane to fight for them and studying her remotely. While their rivals, the sinister NSWF who run the Child Welfare Department (go figure), pursue the same aim through genetic experimentation. In true Japanese style, can it lead to anything other than a tragic conclusion for the good guys? One way the Anime version remained true to Silvestri's vision however, was to follow his inclination for drawing scantily clad unfeasibly busty women. It's great stuff but I wouldn't say subtlety was its strong point. The soundtrack has more panting than a Fleetwood Mac record and at one point a robot serial killer changes into a giant drill, so he can literally screw his victims into a bloody pulp. The almost naked Witchblade character was toned down for TV thanks to some strategically placed re-colouring. For the DVD, most viewers will be pleased to hear, the series has been restored to its original glory, hence its 15 certificate.... well it's only animation right?! DVD extras centre on the comic book. There's a video tour of Top Cow with Marc Silvestri and a short on How To Make A Comic Book The Top Cow Way. A certain prize for Tokyo SonataJapanese entry Tokyo Sonata won the Jury Prize in the category A Certain Regard at this year's Cannes Film Festival. This is the prize that encourages young talent and innovation by rewarding one of winners with a grant to help get distribution in France.
It was directed and co-written by Kiyoshi Kurosawa, better known as a horror film maker, and is reportedly the story of a family in breakdown.
May 21 Tokyo youth culture comes to London
Fans of Japanese comic books and animated movies need look no futher East than London's Excel Covenction Centre this weekend when it becomes home to the Movie Comic Media Expo. Manga artists and Anime voice over actors like Johnny Yong Bosch (Bleach, Devil May Cry), who also plays the Black Power Ranger, will face their fans, many of whom will be dressed like their favourite characters or Japanese school girls.
MCM Expo is a glorious geekfest for fantasy and sci-fi fans to indulge in their guilty pleasures. A chance to take part in the Cosplay competition or meet a Time Lord. The entertainment and comics convention takes place on May 24 & 25th at London's Royal Victoria Dock. May 19 No Cannes FuThe only martial arts movie to keep company with Indiana Jones at Cannes Film Festival this year is Kung Fu Panda. The Dreamworks animation does however count a couple of Asian superstars amongst its cast fronted by Jack Black, Angelina Jolie and Dustin Hoffman. Jackie Chan and Lucy Lui provide the voices for Masters Monkey and Viper respectively.
Also showing out of competition is Ji-woon Kim’s Korean Western The Good, The Bad and The Wierd which I talked about last week. Competing for the Palme D’Or is Chinese documentary maker Zhangke Jia with Er Shi Si Cheng Ji, a drama set in Chengdu , currently in the news as one of the areas affected by China’s tragic earthquake. It tells the stories of eight people affected by the closure of a state owned factory to make way for luxury apartments and stars Joan Chen, Lu Liping and Zhao Tao. Sounds a bit like a Chinese Clocking Off. Unsurprising the category that best represents Asian cinema is Un Certain Regard, a showcase of 20 films from different cultures selected for their originality.
The most intriguing prospect is Tokyo!, a film composed of 3 chapters showing the city as viewed by 3 foreign directors. Shaking Tokyo is directed by Joon-ho Bong who scripted and directed the most successful Korean movie of all time, The Host. He tells the story of a hikkomori, someone who has withdrawn from contact with the outside world for the security of his apartment, who falls in love with a pizza delivery girl during an earthquake. Merde directed by Leos Carax concerns a mysterious sewer dwelling man who spreads panic in the streets of the city through a series of provocative acts. Interior Design from director Michel Gondry tells the surreal tale of a lonely woman who discovers something strange after she moves to Tokyo with her partner. Chen Chang who played Dark Cloud in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and will shortly appear in John Woo’s Chinese historical epic Red Cliff, stars in Ting Che, a film from Taiwanese director Mong-Hong Chung. Part detective story, part comedy and part melodrama, it tells the adventures of Chen Mo and the eccentric characters he meets on his quest to free his double parked car and save his marriage. Soi Cowboy is a co-Thai/UK production directed by Thomas Clay. A large European man and a small pregnant Thai woman live together in near silence. He is her escape from Soi Cowboy, Bangkok’s red light district where the couple met. She has a growing collection of cuddly toy animals and he takes Viagra. Meanwhile a teenage mafia enforcer is ordered to kill his older brother.
Ocean Flame is a Hong Kong film based on a novel by iconic Chinese writer Shuo Wang about a blackmailer, Wong Yiu, who is driven to kill his controlling waitress girlfriend in a bid for freedom. Eight years later, freed from jail, he gets a gun who goes looking for her mother. Japanese horror director Kiyoshi Kurosawa (no relation to Akira) is showing Tokyo Sonata, a film he directed and co-wrote. It is a portrait of an ordinary Japanese family in disintegration. The father conceals the truth when he loses his job. The eldest son hardly ever returns from college. The youngest son is secretly taking piano lessons. The mother whose role is to try keep the family together, cannot find the will to do so. With works from China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Thailand, Asian cinema is well represented this year but one has to wonder, where is John Woo’s Red Cliff? Offical Cannes Film Festival site The Good, The Bad and The Wierd May 15 Naruto - Too much of a good thing?
Anime collectors will not be able to resist adding a further 3 DVDs to their shelves when Naruto Unleashed: Series 3 Part 2 hits the stores on May 26th. It will take the Anime blockbuster up to a whopping 78 episodes, not taking into account Series 4 Parts 1 and 2 which are already scheduled for release later in the year, begging the question can we have too much of a good thing? Naruto is already the most popular animated series in Japan where the Manga books have sold over 59 million copies and is the number 1 kids TV show in the US. Not forgeting the video games franchise which, when it lands on the PS3, will make it available on all the major games consoles.
It's easy to get sucked in to the story of Naruto Uzumaki, a young Genin (lowest ranking student) in the ninja school of Hidden Leaf Village whose body imprisons the spirit of the Demon Fox. Although by this part of the series, the story mainly concerns Sasuke's duel with Gaara (a sort of Genin version of the Sandman) and the villain Orichimaru's battle with the Hokage, the ancient protector of Leaf Village. The series is brilliantly illustrated and coloured in a style that reminds me very much of Princess Mononoke, but the resemblance need not have stopped there. The episodes would have benefitted immensely by a bit of choice editing for the DVD format into something approaching movie length.
Even by just chopping out the titles, recap sequences and the credits, the whole thing could have been cut by a third without even losing one iota of the plot or any of the action. As it stands, Series 3 Part 2 is a bit of an endurance test until the pace picks up. And do rival ninjas really need to debate all that existential angst in every episode? Let their shuriken do it for them I say. It had me hooked by the end though, which is why I now not only want to see Series 4, but I am even more keen to see the spin-off Naruto Movie: Ninja Clash In The Land Of Snow which was out on UK DVD only last December. Now if I can only decide whether I prefer to get the video game on Xbox or DS... May 12 Wierd Wierd WestAn Eastern Western is a rare and, if 2000's kitsch Thai cowboy movie Tears Of The Black Tiger is anything to go by, surreal experience.
Still it's not so hard to get your head around the concept when you remember that The Magnificent Seven and A Fistful Of Dollars were remakes of Akira Kurosawa movies, and that the great director himself is said to have learned his art by watching John Ford Westerns.
This summer's Segio Leone inspired Korean movie The Good, The Bad and The Wierd is a tantalising prospect. Bounty hunter Woo-sung Jung (The Good), bandit leader Byung-hun Lee (The Bad) and train robber Kang-ho Song (The Wierd) compete in a chase to own a mysterious map pursued by bandits and the Japanese army.
It is directed by Ji-woon Kim (A Bittersweet Life) and is set in the Manchurian desert in the 1930s, so not only do you have gun fighters chasing trains on horseback but also in a motorbike and sidecar.
Check out this clip on YouTube. May 10 Timely release for Bangkok Dangerous remakeHot on the heels of the remake of the Pang twins' creepy horror classic The Eye, a new version of the film that made their reputation, Bangkok Dangerous, finally gets a release date. It's out in the US on August 22. The UK release date is still tbc.
The new version is once again directed by Danny and Oxide Pang but this time stars Nicolas Cage in the role of the ruthless hitman who finds himself the target when on a job in Bangkok.
The hitman in the original is a deaf mute whose disability makes him fearless but the story has been changed to suit Cage. Oxide was quoted as saying "we understand that from a marketing point of view Nic needs to have some lines."
Instead rumour has it that his onscreen girlfriend plays a deaf-mute instead. Presumably she will be played by his co-star Charlie Yeung, the Cantopop singer and actress who also starred in Seven Swords.
Filmed on location in Bangkok's red light district Soi Cowboy, the filming was suspended during the 2006 Thailand coup d'état, even though Cage stayed in Bangkok. Filimng was completed in October 2006.
The Pang brothers' original film was hailed as "an explosive picture of the Bangkok underworld, illuminated with neon and saturated in violence."
May 04 Black Gold: Pirates get a Tarantino makeover
Addicted to the anarchy of Bleach , I am already pining for the next box set after the cliffhanger ending of Series 1. Until then there is Black Lagoon Vol 2 which is out on DVD on May 19th. Black Lagoon features four episodes of the kind of Anime I grew up on - excessively violent, coarsely expletive laden, cartoons for grown-ups. Well, not for kids at any rate. It's a suicidally grim affair, at times made unintentionally funny due to the pedantic translation of the subtitles. Cue the theme song: 'I have big gun, I took it from my Lord I'll put ou your misery, You made a mess
It follows the adventures of the Revy, Rock, Dutch and Bennie Boy, aka the Black Lagoon shipping company, scavengers and lowlifes for hire who, when they're not threatening to kill each other, come up against Neo-Nazis and gun smuggling nuns. Imagine modern-day pirates given the Pulp Fiction treatment but instead of John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson is teamed up with Uma Thurman in a Lara Croft meets Black Mamba guise. It's lots of people pointing guns at each other and crooks discussing the finer points of business over a hot brew (only in this case it's tea not coffee). The camera angles are great, the violence uncompromising and the language is, without putting too fine a point on it, offensive. 'Jungle Bunnie' is one phrase that immediately springs to mind. The only disappointment is that the dvd ends just when things are really getting interesting with the arrival of (and I quote) a "killer robot from the future" dressed in a French Maid's outfit. Where will they go with this next? I can't wait to find out. Been burn in hell indeed. Check out my Gallery section for lots more screen shots. Black Lagoon Vol 2 features the episodes: Eagle Hunting and Hunting Eagle , Moonlit Hunting Ground, Calm Down, Two Men & Rasta Blasta. April 26 Reaper MadnessOnly the Japanese could turn a best selling Manga about death and the afterlfe into a brash technicolour animated series full of wit and comedy. No wonder that Bleach is already a huge hit amongst the Anime crowd.
It tells the story of Ichigo Kurosaki, a not-so-ordinary 15 year old schoolboy with the ability to see ghosts and 'invisible' monsters.
One fateful night he inherits the powers of a female 'Soul Reaper' called Rukia Kuchiki whose job is to help lost souls crossover to the hereafter, which in Bleach is an alternate dimension called the Soul Society. Nothing is ever straight forward in the world of Anime!
By popping pills from a Pez-like sweet dispenser, Ichigo is able to free his warrior spirit from him body, armed with an unfeasible large sword, and take on soul eating monsters called Hollows.
With me so far?
Part of the appeal of Bleach is its chaotic storyline and mish-mash of visual styles.
Despite a preoccupation with kids who have died in road traffic accidents or have been abandonded, this is no Grave Of The Fireflies. Bleach may look more garish than watching a Pokemon movie with a hangover, but it's definitely cool and has as many in-jokes as an episode of South Park - even if their humour is as often as innocent as its 15 certifcate might suggest.
The series has a complicated and unpredictable story arc with lots of attractive sub-characters. Most of whom develop supernatural powers of their own, such as the mighty Chad who it's safe to say is a man of few words but has comic timing as immense as his physical stature.
Bleach is as anarchic as it is irresistable. A box set of the 20 episode first series is out on DVD on May 5th.
One Americanised Japanese cartoon series that definitely is aimed at all kids of a certain age is 1984's Voltron: Defender Of The Universe which returns to DVD in a 3 disc embossed metallic box set on June 2nd.
Voltron is not held with the same nostalgic affection in the UK as Battle Of The Planets, Transformers or even for those of us old enough to remember, Marine Boy but in the States it was iconic.
Very much a precursor of the Power Rangers, Voltron was a giant galaxy defending robot made up of 5 lion-like vehicles operated by 5 teenagers who suspiciously resemble G-Force.
I wouldn't say I'm a fan but its hard not to be impressed by the restoration process that has made this dvd possible.
Not only has it been newly restored from fresh film transfers with new colour correction applied but it has been re-edited according to the original TV series. The result is the re-inclusion of many scenes lost in the 1980s US version but also it looks as crisp and clean as if it was made last week, let alone last century.
One for collectors for sure.
It's a shame Voltron doesn't have the original Japanese soundtrack but how I wish the same process could be applied to my childhood hero Marine Boy.
He was probably banned because he ate chewing gum that allowed him to breath under-water, his best friend was a topless mermaid and he had a theme tune that sounded like it was sung by someone with their face in a bowl of water. Happy days! April 21 Jet and Jackie's Forbidden Kindom is No. 1 in America
The first ever big screen collaboration between Jackie Chan and Jet Li, the Martial Arts fantasy The Forbidden Kingdom, is the Number 1 movie in the USA in its first week of release, taking $20 million in its opening weekend. I'm still waiting for news on the UK release date. Check my Gallery section for pics and posters from the forthcoming blockbuster. |
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