The Old School Otaku Lounge

For those who love Japanese cinema, what are you watching today?

Today, I watched "Tada, Kimi wo Aishiteru"



I love this film! This is the premium edition from Japan, I don't think it came out in the US. But like a dagger in the heart for those who lost someone they love... One of those films that will have you weeping but an ending so wonderful! And this premium edition ties into the film which was fantastic for fans of the film.

The last Japanese film I watched was GENOCIDE aka WAR OF THE INSECTS, the 1968 Shochiku eco-horror spy disaster movie. Yes, apparently that's a genre! I'm a fan of the hallucinatory GOKE, BODYSNATCHER FROM HELL, from the same studio and screenwriter, and GENOCIDE, while a little more grounded than GOKE, is still one hundred percent nuts.

I haven't seen Shochiku's other '68 horror movie THE LIVING SKELETON yet, but it's on my list.

I need to get a TV. Although I guess that if I use my daughter's portable DVD player, I can watch a movie on that. Aside from the recent Yamato movie, I've found something else I'm dying to see. Cinemassacre did a really cool review of a Japanese movie that copied Star Wars called Message From Space. It looks terrible, but I must see it. Especially since Chris Isaak shows up in the movie. He's cool. The review showed how Message from Space was a total ripoff of Star Wars, and that the release of Star Wars was even delayed in Japan just to give this movie a following. Ironically, it seems that Lucas must have watched this movie, since several elements from the film seem to have been reused in Return of the Jedi! I'll search this one out at my local Tsutaya or Geo soon.

MESSAGE FROM SPACE is terrific. Better than STAR WARS, if only for the fact that it didn't spawn several inferior sequels and an industry dedicated to filling the world with useless junk. (it's also lots better than Toho's WAR IN SPACE.) Me and all my friends saw MESSAGE in the theater when we were 8 and immediately went out and spent the rest of the summer playing "Message From Space" in the empty lot. I had to make do with copies taped off TNT and USA cable for years until a decent DVD release came out here; dubs, subs, letterboxed.

Toho's LATITUDE ZERO also got a fantastic DVD release in North America; the rights issues were finally settled and we can at last see Joseph Cotten's super submarine battle Cesar Romero's super submarine for the fate of the world. Also: gold lame jumpsuits, flying lions, Susume "Ultraman" Korobe, Bath Of Immunity.

Yeah, Star Wars got worse with each movie after Empire. Jedi was okay, excellent for its visuals, but lacking because of Gary Kurtz's departure. I keep my DVDs of the stupid prequel trilogy just to enjoy with the Rifftrax commentary.

I'd like to see War in Space too. I've never heard of that one. I was born in '76, so some of those movies were a bit beyond my time. Another cheesy Star Wars ripoff was Roger Corman's Star Crash, featuring a very young David Hasselhoff. That was a cheesy ball of crud, but very fun to watch and make fun of. Corman's later Battle Beyond the Stars, starring that guy from The Waltons, was a great SF version of The Seven Samurai. I believe James Cameron was involved with that movie too, before he made it big on his own.

Japanese rental stores are great for finding lots of old, obscure movies. Reb Brown's movies were often released on VHS in Japan, but ignored in the States. The SF section at rental stores is incredible, but then again, I am going off of my memories. I haven't really spent much time in a Tsutaya looking at rental movies for a long while. I think many of the great cheese-fests might have not made it to DVD. Back when I lived in Himeji, the VHS selection was incredible.

I'm watching "Legend of the Eight Samurai"


Full movie on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpUamFWiPTo

My Japanese pen-pal recommended it to me. Having watched the first fifteen minutes, I'm not sure if he was messing with me or not. Though I suppose corny dubbing doesn't help...

Last Japanese movie I watched I think was The Flint Geisha starring Junko Fuji and Ken Takakura

Here's a guilty pleasure of mine: Ninja Bugeicho Momochi Sandayu (Shogun's Ninja), starring Hiroyuki Sanada. In a nutshell, it's a revenge story, chock full o' martial arts action, and a 70's/80's-ish funky Jazz score.

Net-Lex wrote:Here's a guilty pleasure of mine: Ninja Bugeicho Momochi Sandayu (Shogun's Ninja), starring Hiroyuki Sanada. In a nutshell, it's a revenge story, chock full o' martial arts action, and a 70's/80's-ish funky Jazz score.

I liked it quite a bit, Though I still don't understand the impromptu dance number by Sanada.