Fantasia XXIX Review: In BLAZING FISTS, Choose Your Battles Accordingly
Blazing Fists enjoyed its Canadian Premiere at the 29th Fantasia International Film Festival.
takashi miike
Fantasia XXIX Review: In NYAIGHT OF THE LIVING CAT, Terrorizing Mankind With Cuteness!
Now streaming on Crunchyroll! 🐈 🐈⬛️
BAD LIEUTENANT: TOKYO Reteams ‘Crows Zero’ Star And Director For U.S.-Japan Co-Prod This Month
Shun Oguri will star in the new crime thriller from Neon!
BLUE FIGHT: Takashi Miike’s New MMA Brawlfest Gets An Official Trailer
At long last, AFM is underway with acclaimed auteur Takashi Miike taking the floor alongside sales reps at Toei for upcoming crime thriller, Sham. In the meantime, his latest aesthetic return to Crows Zero glory now invites a bevy of young leads for upcoming MMA action drama, Blue Fight. Ikuto and Ryoma meet in juvenile detention and become best friends, they pursue their dream of participating in the martial arts event Breaking Down. However, rivalries soon turn their dreams into unexpected conflicts. Miike directs Blue Fight from a script by Shin Kibayashi, which takes its cues from “Breaking Down,” the tournament fighting reality show on which the movie is loosely based; Blue Fight also hails from that show’s stewards, ex-MMA pro Mikuru Asakura, and entrepreneur Yuji Mizoguchi, who serve as producers on the film. The cast is led by Danhi Kinoshita and Kaname Yoshizawa, along with Mariko Shinoda, Anna Tsuchiya, […]
BLUE FIGHT: Meet The Fight Roster In The First Poster For Takashi Miike’s New MMA Thriller
Following the launch of YOAKE FILM back in August, the company’s first project, Blue Fight (or idiomatically titled Blue Fight: Breaking Down Of The Blue Youth), is gearing up with a full spread of the cast in a poster that debuted over the weekend. The poster comes following a spell of behind-the-scenes updates and casting announcements in the last few months made via the YOAKE FILM YouTube channel. Blue Fight (shorthand for the purposes of this article) comes from director Takashi Miike of Crows Zero and The Mole Song franchise fame. Miike makes his return to fisticuffs once more here for his latest MMA thriller with the help of executive producers ex-MMA pro Mikuru Asakura and entrepreneur Yuji Mizoguchi, both who shepherd Japan’s hit reality combat sport series, “Breaking Down,” from which Miike’s film takes its storied inspiration. Miike directs from a script by Shin Kibayashi (NTV’s “The Files Of Young […]
LUMBERJACK THE MONSTER: Don’t Miss The Newest Trailer For Takashi Miike’s Return To The Big Screen
Takashi Miike has a new film worth reminding ourselves over as we await his latest arrival over at Netflix in the animation arena with Onimusha. For this, we turn to a new minute-long trailer for Lumberjack The Monster which hit the web last week with actor Kazuya Kamenashi starring based on the hit manga by author Mayusuke Kurai. Akira Ninomiya (Kamenashi) is a remorseless lawyer who doesn’t hesitate to eliminate anyone who stands in his way. One night he is brutally attacked by an unknown assailant wearing a “monster mask.” Although he miraculously survives the assault, Ninomiya becomes fixated on finding the attacker and getting revenge. Meanwhile, a series of gruesome murder occur where the victims are found with their brains removed from their bodies. While police conduct an intensive investigation, Ninomiya seeks revenge against the assaulter. Who will uncover the truth first?! Nanao, Riho Yoshioka, Shota Sometani, and Shido […]
LUMBERJACK THE MONSTER: Kazuya Kamenashi Has An Axe To Grind With An Axe Murderer In The First Teaser For Takashi Miike’s Latest!
Japan auteur Takashi Miike has already taken a hold on a few headlines this week re: The Great Yokai War: Guardians. Don’t count him out just yet however as it’s only the middle of the week, because Miike is on track to get some extra attention with the teaser now running for Lumberjack The Monster, opening locally in theaters on December 1 from Warner Bros. Japan. Lumberjack The Monster is based on Mayusuke Kurai’s Kono Mystery ga Sugoi! Award-winning novel published by Takarajimasha. The film features Kazuya Kamenashi who plays a psychopathic hotshot lawyer who also happens to be a cold-blooded murderer. Everything changes when he crosses paths with an axe-wielding serial killer donning a monstrous mask with a penchant for severing heads open and scooping out the brains of his victims. In short, there’s gonna be some killer-versus-killer type shit in Miike’s latest work, and I reckon anyone who […]
SRS Cinema Nabs THE GREAT YOKAI WAR: GUARDIANS For North America
SRS Cinema has acquired The Great Yokai War: Guardians, the long-awaited sequel to Takashi Miike’s 2005 Daiei revival. Miike returns to direct the pic which firstly opened in August 2021, featuring young actor Kokoro Terada, and written by Yusuke Watanabe. Kokoro plays Kei, who finds himself thrust into whirlwind fantasy and horror in a quest that challenges him as the descendant of a legendary samurai, to save his younger brother and stave off Japan’s annihilation by a fearsome Yokaiju. The film also stars Rei Inomata as Kei’s younger brother, Dai, along with Hana Sugisaki, Nao Omori, Sakura Ando, Yuko Oshima, Eiji Akaso and Takao Osawa among others. The Great Yokai War: Guardians also made the festival rounds that year, ultimately screening for Japan Cuts XV and allowing us to then provide a review for the movie which you can read here. A release of the film on special Blu-ray and DVD/Digital […]
Coming To Hi-YAH! In December: Kowloon Walled City, Epics Featuring Jet Li And Donnie Yen, And More!
December is chock-filled with some Asian action delights over at Well Go USA’s niche streaming channel, Hi-YAH!, and the company has a brand new promo which you can view below, firstly introducing footage from Channel Choi’s Kowloon Walled City (2021), starring Shi Yan Neng (a.k.a. Xing Yu) as a migrant from Dongbei who finds himself up against evil forces to protect friends within the notorious city. The action continues with two Jet Li headliners beginning with The Legend Of The Red Dragon (a.k.a. New Legend Of Shaolin) (1994) from directors Corey Yuen and Wong Jing, with Li joined by then-rising star Xie Miao for the story of a heroic father/son martial arts duo forced to mitigate poverty, and the exploits of a con woman and her mother while journeying to avenge the destruction of their village against a traitor during the government crackdown on Shaolin. Li will also be seen […]
CONNECT Trailer Reveals A Killer Look At Takashi Miike’s First Korean Drama For Disney+ Korea
Firstly set to screen for the 27th Busan International Film Festival this month, fans of acclaimed genre favorite Takashi Miike are now all invited for a look at his latest pivot into streaming with new six-part series, Connect, for Disney+ Korea. What if Miike Takashi, well-known with his unique imagination and visualization, makes a series of drama based on a Korean webtoon? Adapting Shin Dae-sung’s webtoon, Connect depicts a mysterious story that occurs when Dong-soo (Jung Haein) who has been deprived of an eye by organ hunters connects with a person who has received his organ transplant. The unique settings of the original story such as the super regeneration ability of the main character, brutal organ hunters, an unidentified serial killer, and the connection of the body senses between different people become very sensational with the hands of Miike Takashi, who is famous for the extreme violence on human body. His grotesque […]
Japan Cuts XV Review: Takashi Miike’s THE GREAT YOKAI WAR: GUARDIANS Takes You To Yokai Church
My first exposure to Takashi Miike began less than twenty years ago, eyeing Suncoast’s DVD kiosks where I would nab copies of some of their Media Blasters/Tokyo Shock titles. His range of directing proved to me to be as unique as it is versatile, exuding a style that rightfully stirred the pot at times and peppered it beautifully at others. 2005’s The Great Yokai War certainly fit the bill, catapulting viewers into a world where Jim Henson meets Japanese folklore, steampunk and mysticism. I’m not at all sure when Miike decided to make a sequel, though I have to say that last year’s breaking news about the film’s pending release was exciting, particularly since I hadn’t seen the first film until recently. Returning to the genre brings viewers back into the hidden world of the yokai where young Kei (Kokoro Terada) finds himself thrust into an adventure of supernatural creatures […]
Strap In Butt Naked For THE MOLE SONG: FINAL First Trailer!
The bumbling cop-turned-gangster shenanigans are back for one last hoorah with word that celebrated auteur Takashi Miike, currently on the road with trailers for his upcoming fantasy sequel The Great Yokai War: Guardians, just wrapped his curtain closure for the screen-adapted The Mole Song trilogy with The Mole Song: Final. Actor Toma Ikuta reprises his lead role based on Noboru Takahashi’s onward 2005 manga series, with a screenplay by celebrated scribe Kankuro Kudo. As reported by Variety‘s Mark Schilling, the new film sees our haphazard hero, Reiji (Ikuta Toma) sent on an infiltration mission via luxury cruise ship to stop a billion dollar drug shipment, a mission that ultimately pits him against his strongest enemy yet. The first short teaser is online which you can view above as the campaign begins ahead of the film’s release in Japan on November 19 from Toho.
THE GREAT YOKAI WAR: GUARDIANS New Official Trailer Charges Online!
A brand new trailer is now running online for Takashi Miike’s The Great Yokai War: Guardians. Interestingly the film is being billed as a sequel on some pages, and as a reboot according to other reports. At any rate, the film gets an August 13 release in Japan, which leaves an interesting window of opportunity to take a gander at between now and then with festivals coming back this summer. Actor Kokoro Terada stars from a script by Yusuke Watanabe (Twentieth Century Boys), for a story centered on a fifth grader who has inherited hunter’s blood and sets out on a quest to defend the world against the Yokai and the monsters who’ve aligned with them. The film also reunites Miike with actor Nao Omori (First Love) among the cast with Hana Sugisaki (Bleach), Takao Osawa (Kingdom), Sakura Ando (Shoplifters), Kenichi Endo (The Mole Song: Hong Kong Capriccio) and many more. Check out […]
THE GREAT YOKAI WAR: GUARDIANS Trailer Signals A New Hero, A New Story And Miike’s Familiar Fantastical Allure
The first official trailer is now running for The Great Yokai War: Guardians, following a pair of photo reveals late last year. The film marks the latest from celebrated director Takashi Miike who revived the classic Daiei IP in 2005, and is expected to release this summer. Actor Kokoro Terada stars from a script by Yusuke Watanabe (Twentieth Century Boys), for a story centered on a fifth grader who has inherited hunter’s blood and sets out on a quest to defend the world against the Yokai and the monsters who’ve aligned with them. The film also reunites Miike with actor Nao Omori (First Love) among the cast with Hana Sugisaki (Bleach), Takao Osawa (Kingdom), Sakura Ando (Shoplifters), Kenichi Endo (The Mole Song: Hong Kong Capriccio) and many more.
THE GREAT YOKAI WAR: GUARDIANS Introduces Its Hero In First Look Images For The Miike-Directed Sequel
If you took a liking any to Takashi Miike’s 2005 Daiei revival from the late 1960s, The Great Yokai War, you’re more than welcome to get your hopes up for more in the new year with the first promo art now online for the follow-up, The Great Yokai War: Guardians. Kadokawa Pictures is also running a first look at young actor Kokoro Terada in the role of Kei Watanabe, as Sci-Fi Japan reports, “an elementary school student with a connection to the yokai”, a hodgepodge of Japanese mythological creatures with a spiritual connection to the world that permeates us. The 2005 film saw a Ryunosuke Kamiki as Tadashi, a young boy tasked with searching for a mystical sword to defeat the evil Yomotsumono and rescue the children of Japan. Official plot details for the sequel are pending but these what we have so far until a teaser arises. Open the […]
Arrow Video Channel Review: In Takashi Miike’s GRAVEYARD OF HONOR, Criminals Gonna Criminal
In reflecting on Takashi Miike’s 2002 rendition of Kinji Fukasaku’s Graveyard Of Honor, news of pending remakes of Mario Van Peebles’ New Jack City and that of Brian De Palma’s Scarface comes to mind. Remakes and reboots of movies are the lifeblood of controversy for some film eager and opinionated film fans, and brouhaha with the latter two were no exception, although it’s worth imagining if those remakes will be anything like how Miike revised such a throwback classic. The reception for the 2002 film, indeed, was quite positive, which is characteristic of an auteur like Mikke, who roared his way through the 1990s and 2000s with hits like Audition, Ichi The Killer, the Dead Or Alive trilogy and the Bodyguard Kiba movies to name a few, among the dozens of films he did by this juncture. Miike’s casting of Goro Kishitani to play Rikuo Ishimatsu (to the late Tetsuya […]
Takashi Miike’s SUKIYAKI WESTERN DJANGO: COLLECTOR’S EDITION Arrives This June From FilmRise
I’m personally not holding my breath since recent announcements in the last three years with anything Django-related until some more news surfaces. Until then, it’s nice to know that some jewels remain celebrated, and Sony Pictures’s 2007 soba Western from Takashi Miike, Sukiyaki Western Django, is inarguably one of the most notable. FilmRise took notice as well at some point, and is now proudly touting a Collector’s Edition on Blu-Ray, releasing on June 16, along with some key art folks can expect to catch on shelves by then. The film will be presented in 5.1 DTS-HD MA, 2.0 DTS-HD MA and 5.1 Surround, 2.0 Stereo, and jam packed with an extended version of the film, as well as optional English, Spanish and Japanese subtitles, a behind-the-scenes featurette, deleted scenes and much more. Pre-order the film now at Diabolik DVD. Famed Japanese auteur Takashi Miike, best known for cult classics Audition, […]
JOJO’S BIZZARE ADVENTURE: DIAMOND IS UNBREAKABLE – CHAPTER 1: VIZ Media Takes A Stand For Takashi Miike’s Live-Action Horror Manga Thriller
Otakus and cinema fans alike who’d been hoping to take a gander at Takashi Miike’s live action adaptation, JoJo’s Bizzare Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable – Chapter 1, are in luck with Tuesday’s newly-announced release of the film on Blu-Ray/DVD combo pack. Based on Hirohiko Arai’s hit manga franchisen, the film opened in Japan back in 2017, a provenly huge year as it was nearly wall-to-wall in live-action manga/anime adaptations. VIZ Media is supplying the masses following their acquisition in 2018 in the wake of snagging rights to the JoJo’s Bizzare Adventure: Golden Wind anime. The film marks another move proliferating actor Kento Yamazaki for the American market following last year’s rollout of Funimation Films’ Kingdom. Yamazaki is joined by Yusuke Iseya, Ryunosuke Yamada, Nana Komatsu, Masaki Okada and Mackenyu among the cast. Welcome to idyllic Morioh, whose ocean views and charming townscapes make it a breezy Japanese utopia. But a […]
FIRST LOVE Review: An Exemplary, Hyperviolent Gangster Oddity With A Romantic Punch
Takashi Miike is back, and he’s brought out the goods once more with First Love, having crafted an explosive crowdpleaser proving itself on repeat since showing out for its Directors’ Fortnight premiere at Cannes. Miike’s style of cinema often whimsical and bizzare in some of its mechanics doesn’t always mingle with some minds. Similarly, it’s all but grown his audience and the approval rate he’s received as an award-winner and selected juror at festivals. Admittedly, it took me a while to adapt to his style after purchasing Ichi The Killer and his bizzare-as-hell 2004 sword pic, Izo, about fourteen years ago on DVD from a Suncoast outlet. Believe me, as far as acquired tastes go, you can’t go wrong here. As floundering and all-but extinct as they are in real-life, Miike’s own yakuza underworld isn’t not going down without a fight. You can attribute this line effectively to the role […]
FIRST LOVE: Win A Takashi Miike-Signed Copy Of The Official Poster From Well Go USA And Hi-YAH!
Most of my e-mail alerts nowadays pertaining to the new crime thriller, First Love, all have much to do with critical responses that are nothing short of positive. That’s just the kind of delightful narrative that makes Well Go USA’s own release of the film all the more pleasant following their acquisition from the summer, and I’ll be sure to turn my own review in soon. In the meantime, the martial arts action-loaded Hi-YAH network is launching an exclusive GIVEAWAY for a copy of the film’s official poster, signed by the film’s legendary filmmaker himself, Takashi Miike. Sample it below! The film is the prolific auteur, Takashi Miike, at his most fun and anarchic, a noir-tinged yakuza film blending genres in the story of a young boxer and a call girl, who fall passionately in love while getting innocently caught up in a drug-smuggling scheme over the course of one […]
You must be logged in to post a comment.