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With the 22nd annual Fantasia International Film Festival kicks off in Montreal this July, the first wave of programming has now been announced, and as per usual, there are many events for genre fans to look forward to, including the world premiere of the horror anthology Nightmare Cinema, screenings of Unfriended: Dark Web and David Robert Mitchell's Under the Silver Lake, and a Lifetime Achievement Award presentation to filmmaker Joe Dante:

Press Release: Montreal, May 2, 2018 - The Fantasia International Film Festival will be celebrating its 22nd Anniversary in Montreal this summer, taking place from July 12-August 1, with its Frontières International Co-Production Market and Industry Rendez-Vous Weekend being held July 19-22.

The festival’s full lineup of over 130 feature films will be announced in early July. In the meantime, Fantasia is excited to reveal a carefully selected first wave of titles, along with several special happenings.

International Premiere Of...

Let me start by stating a few things. The anime “Gantz” is one of my favorite anime of all times. I have not read the manga by Hiroya Oku. When I review an anime/manga adaptation, I try to focus, as little as possible, on how close to the original it remained; instead, I make an effort of watching it as a stand-alone work. The above considering, I think Shinsuke Sato’s two-part movie is one of the best films based on anime/manga.

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Two classmates, Kurono and Kato, are killed while trying to save a homeless person who had fallen on the subway rails. After their death, they find themselves in an apartment, where a man cabled inside a black sphere forces them to participate in a death game, along with a number of other people experiencing the same fate, where they have to kill particular...

The long wait for Death Note: Light Up the New World is almost over. The film will be released in less than 2 weeks and just recently fans were treated to titillating teaser clips to the movie.

Several viral videos were released on the official website. The clips show the looming chaos in Tokyo and the impending doom of six new Death Notes – supernatural notebooks that can extinguish any name written on its pages.

One of the unleashed viral videos particularly tickled avid fans. The clip shows the ‘Kira Virus’ taking over an unsuspecting victim’s mobile phone. The screen goes black and the ever-daunting Kira hijacks the screen. The audience can only tremble as the sight of the serial killer promises to bring more mischief, mayhem and murder.

Set ten years after the events of the previous films, Death Note: Light Up the New World revolves around a...

Before we bear witness to Adam Wingard's (The Guest, You're Next) live-action remake version of the extremely popular long-form anime and manga series Death Note, Shinsuke Sato (the Gantz films) takes a shot with Light Up The New World. Please note prior knowledge and viewing of Death Note is essential to understand the latest film. Madman Entertainment are proud to bring this film to anime fanatics across Australia and New Zealand, as well as show off some of its assets in the upcoming Anime Festival! More after the jump. Death Note: Light Up The New World is set ten years after the confrontation between Kira and L, in a world now afflicted with cyber-terrorism. The Death Note is a supernatural notebook that grants its user...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

At first they we’re just rumors but now the news Bleach manga fans have been waiting for is finally here. Tite Kubo’s long-running manga Bleach is doing a live-action movie adaptation. The movie will open in Japan sometime in 2018. The news comes in time with the ending of the manga which is now in it’s 74th and final volume. Leaks have been circulating online recently but Weekly Shonen Jump is expected to release an official announcement on Monday, August 22nd.

Bleach Live-Action Movie

Sōta Fukushi will play Ichigo Kurosaki, the boy who becomes a shinigami and helps good souls crossover. Shinsuke Sato, known for his work in the Gantz series, Oblivion Island and many others will direct the live-action film. Original creator Tite Kubo will continue to assist in the production to make sure fans remain happy.

Weekly Shonen Jump first published the manga in 2001. Since then,...

The official website for the upcoming film recently updated with a poster featuring the three main characters, also revealing its official title “Death Note Light up the New world”.

The sequel film is set 10 years after the first two live-action films, focusing on a battle for the new six different death notes fall to the human world. Shinsuke Sato (Gantz, Library Wars) will direct the screenplay by Katsunari Mano (Aibou TV drama series). Warner Brothers Japan will distribute it from October 29, 2016.

The poster features Tsukuru Mishima (Masahiro Higashide, center), Yugi Shion (Masaki Suda, left), and Ryuzaki (Sousuke Ikematsu, right). It contains the text, “A decade after that incident … Six new Death Notes have been scattered.”

In the new film’s story, a highly advanced information society is beset by global cyber-terrorism in 2016. New charismatic figures, who “inherited the DNA” of Light and the detective L , emerge. The successors of the...

Gantz (2010) Movie ReviewStory70%Special Effects81%Cinematography 65%2016-01-2572%Overall ScoreReader Rating: (4 Votes)87%

Director: Shinsuke Sato

Written by: Hiroya Oku (manga), Yusuke Watanabe (screenplay)

Cast: Kazunari Ninomiya, Kenichi Matsuyama, Natsuna Watanabe, Kanata Hongo, Yuriko Yoshitaka

Your lives have ended. What you do with your new lives is entirely up to me. That’s the law.

Now go and kill this guy.

(Gantz)

Based on the manga by Hiroya Oku, Gantz proves that a good story cannot be killed by a poor adaptation. The Plot

Kei Kurono and his friend Masaru Kato are hit by a subway train when they were trying to save a drunkard who fell from the platform. The next moment they find themselves in a strange room, empty except for a mysterious black sphere.

There are other people in the room, most of them convinced that, like Kurono and Kato, they have died today.

The people are wondering...

Based on the popular recent manga of the same name and rated as arguably the ‘greatest zombie manga ever made‘. Let’s hope that the movie leaves up to the very high expectations.

From the trailer it does look like it could be something special indeed and with ‘Gantz’ director Shinsuke Sato at least we know its gonna look amazing!

The film originally premiered at the Sitges Film Festival in October 13, 2015 and will finally get its general release in April.

Plot

The story begins with Hideo Suzuki, a 35-year-old manga artist assistant, whose life seem to be stuck around his exhausting but low-paying job, unfulfilled dreams, strange hallucinations and unsatisfying relationships. He sees himself as a supporting character in his own life, has low self-esteem, resulting in frustration.

One day, the world as Hideo knows it is shattered by presences of a disease that turns people into homicidal maniacs, whose...

Nippon Television Network Corp and Warner Bros (Japan) are producing a third Death Note film, temporarily named Death Note 2016. Nippon Television announced the project after the last episode of the homonymous TV drama.

Set in 2016, the new film will take place after the two original films, however it will feature new characters and an original story, that will be based on the fact that the human world can only have six death notes.

Shinsuke Sato, who in the latest years has specialized in bringing anime to the big screen, being the one behind the two Gantz movies and the upcoming Library Wars: Book of Memories, will be the new director.

The previous three Death Note films earned a combined ¥11.15 billion (about $93 million)

 ...

When we asked our staff to vote on the best comic book movie adaptations, we were afraid the results would consist only of superhero films. While there are many superhero movies listed below, it is great to see a bulk of non-Hollywood films appearing on the list as well. We set out to compile a list of 50 movies but as it were, we ended up with 5 ties, and so the list consists 55 films instead. Let us know if you think we missed something. Enjoy!

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55. The Adventures of Tintin

Spielberg’s first venture into animation is one of his best. Taking notes from the classic Raiders of the Lost Ark playbook, Spielberg crafted another spirited, thrilling, and always entertaining adventure. The Adventures of Tintin is one of the most pleasurable, family-friendly experiences, that boils down to one grand treasure hunt. There’s much to admire on-screen, but it is the spectacular...

I've got some good news for all you Attack on Titan fans out there! Last week director Shinji Higuchi announced that the live-action adaptation he's working on will be split into two feature films! He also revealed that with the help of manga creator Hajime Isayama, they will introduce some new characters and new, more dangerous villains. As a fan of the franchise, I'm completely okay with new characters being added to the story. I'm sure the movie will end up being just as badass as the anime.

23 year-old actor Haruma Miura was previously announced as the film’s star, and he is taking on role of Eren Jaeger. We now have a list of actors who will be Joining Miura in Attack on Titan, and they consist of Hiroki Hasegawa (Jellyfish Princess), Kiko Mizuhara (Norwegian Wood), Kanata Hongō (Prince of Tennis), Takahiro Miura (Space Battleship Yamato), Nanami Sakuraba (Twin...

Humankind’s collision with otherworldly life forms can make for unforgettable cinema.

This article will highlight the best of live-action human vs. alien films. The creatures may be from other planets or may be non-demonic entities from other dimensions.

Excluded from consideration were giant monster films as the diakaiju genre would make a great subject for separate articles.

Readers looking for “friendly alien” films such as The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), It Came from Outer Space (1953) and the comically overrated Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) are advised to keep watching the skies because they won’t find them here.

Film writing being the game of knowledge filtered through personal taste that it is, some readers’ subgenre favorites might not have made the list such as War of the Worlds (1953) and 20 Million Miles to Earth (1957).

Now let’s take a chronological look at the cinema’s best battles between Us and Them.

Third Window Films is pleased to announce the release of The Story of Yonosuke on April 14, 2014 in the UK. Shuichi Okita's latest oddity will be released on both DVD and Blu-Ray. Based on a novel by multi-award-winning author Shuichi Yoshida (Villain, Parade), this bittersweet film is the latest offering from the director of The Woodsman & the Rain and stars Kengo Kora (Norwegian Wood, Fish Story) & Yuriko Yoshitaka (Gantz, Robo-g). Synopsis: Yonosuke is a typical Japanese on-screen hero: socially awkward, childish and naive, but always cheerful and charming. We meet him when he moves from Nagasaki to Tokyo in the late eighties at the height of the city’s economic boom. Despite his odd character he manages to make new friends at university, joins a samba class and falls in love with an older woman. Sixteen years later his friends are all reminiscing over their college days, thinking back on how Yonosuke changed their lives.

Third Window Films is pleased to announce the release of The Story of Yonosuke on April 14, 2014 in the UK. Shuichi Okita's latest oddity will be released on both DVD and Blu-Ray. Based on a novel by multi-award-winning author Shuichi Yoshida (Villain, Parade), this bittersweet film is the latest offering from the director of The Woodsman & the Rain and stars Kengo Kora (Norwegian Wood, Fish Story) & Yuriko Yoshitaka (Gantz, Robo-g). Synopsis: Yonosuke is a typical Japanese on-screen hero: socially awkward, childish and naive, but always cheerful and charming. We meet him when he moves from Nagasaki to Tokyo in the late eighties at the height of the city’s economic boom. Despite his odd character he manages to make new friends at university, joins a samba class and falls in love with an older woman. Sixteen years later his friends are all reminiscing over their college days, thinking back on how Yonosuke changed their lives.

The 17th Japanese Film Festival is on full swing in Melbourne, playing commercial fare, classics and festival favorites that have been igniting the rest of the world this year.Twitch colleagues Andrew Mack and Diva Vélez got to sit down with two of the great and prominent directors featured in the festival, check out their in-depth interviews below!Shinsuke Sato and Library Wars:Shinsuke Sato is an award winning film director, screenplay writer and video game designer. He joined a collaboration of Production Ig and Fuji Television on a full-length animation film Oblivion Island: Haruka and the Magic Mirror, which screened at the 10th Japanese Film Festival in 2011. He directed Gantz and the sequel Gantz Perfect Answer. Both films became box office hits grossing over 300 million yen....

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

A still from “Unforgiven”

Twelve new Japanese films will be screened at the upcoming 44th International Film Festival of India, which is to be held in Goa, from November 20 to 30, 2013 as Japan will be the “country in focus”.

In addition, press conferences will be held with directors and producers in attendance.

Kiyoshi Kurosawa, director of Real; Sang-il Lee, director of Unforgiven; Keiichi Hara and Yoshitaka Ishizuka; director and producer respectively of Dawn of a Filmmaker: The Keisuke Kinoshita Story have been invited to attend the festival.

The following twelve Japanese films will be screened:

1. Real, director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa (2013/127 min)

2. Unforgiven, director: Sang-il Lee (2013/135 min)

3. Dawn of a Filmmaker: The Keisuke Kinoshita Story, director: Keiichi Hara (2013/96 min)

4. Oshin, director: Shin Togashi(2013/109 min)

5. The Devil’s Path, director: Kazuya Shiraishi(2013/128 min)

6. Recipes of Diet Diaries,director: Toshio Lee (2013/100 min)

7. Rebirth, director: Izuru Narushima (2011/147 min)

8. The Garden of Words,director: Makoto Shinkai(2013/46 min)

9. Wolf Children,...

Here's the full trailer for the live-action adaptation of the 1960s anime and manga classic, Tiger Mask. The character was created by Ikki Kajiwara, and the story centers on a wrestling hero who fights evil to protect the children of an orphanage. 

The film stars Eiji Wentz (Brave Story) as the hero, Natsuna Watanabe (Gantz, Kimi ni Todoke) as the heroine, Ruriko and Show Aikawa (Zebraman) as Mister X. Here's a little more information on the film and its story, thanks to Anime News Network:

"Tiger Mask" is the alter ego of the character Naoto Date, a pro wrestler who goes against an evil wrestling organization and fights for children in an orphanage. In the new setup for the film, Date dons a special suit and "transforms" into Tiger Mask with enhanced mobility and muscle strength. His mask has also been redesigned with a nod to American comic action heroes such as Spider-Man and Batman.

Related Content: Teaser Trailer For Live-Action Tiger Mask Second Teaser Trailer For Live-Action 'Tiger Mask' "Tiger Mask" is the alter ego of the character Naoto Date (Eiji Wentz), a pro wrestler who goes against an evil wrestling organization and fights for children in an orphanage. In the new setup for the film, Date dons a special suit and "transforms" into Tiger Mask with enhanced mobility and muscle strength. His mask has also been redesigned with a nod to American comic action heroes such as Spider-Man and Batman. The film also stars Natsuna Watanabe (Gantz, Kimi ni Todoke) as heroine and love interest, Ruriko and Show Aikawa (Zebraman) as Mister X. Tiger Mask was the basis for the popular character King from the video game Tekken. The original manga from Kajiwara and Tsuji ran from 1968 to 1971 and received an anime adaptation in 1969. The redesigned look for the wrestler is reportedly based...

We're not overly familiar with this one but we soon will be. Here comes a teaser for the new movie directed by Ken Ochiai, based upon the manga series "Tiger Mask" by Ikki Kajiwara. The film has attracted a lively cast however, including the likes of Eiji Wentz (Kitaro and the Millennium Curse), Natsuna (Gantz), and Shô Aikawa (Dead or Alive). The Tiger Mask persona is instantly recognisable by its trademark mask, designed to look like a tiger's head, as well as the combination of high flying attacks and martial arts in the wrestling ring. This will be the third movie based on the manga, the first two arriving in the 1970s, though the Tiger Mask persona has continued to appear in wrestling arenas since that time. The Tiger Mask opens its cape and its doors sometime in November 2013. The teaser trailer doesn't give much away but it will certainly do for now.

As previously reported, Tiger Mask (タイガーマスク) follows lead Eiji Wentz (Brave Story) as Naoto Date, a character that gets mixed up in a shading wrestling operation and then breaks rank to oppose their forced acquisition of an orphanage. The film also stars Natsuna Watanabe (Gantz, Kimi ni Todoke) as heroine and love interest, Ruriko and Show Aikawa (Zebraman) as Mister X. Tiger Mask was the basis for the popular character King from the video game Tekken. The original manga from Kajiwara and Tsuji ran from 1968 to 1971 and received an anime adaptation in 1969. The redesigned look for the wrestler is reportedly based on American superheroes Batman and Spider-Man. Expect a full trailer to be released in the coming days. Related Content: Ghost In The Shell: Arise - First Full Trailer Debuts First Look At Live-Action Kuroshitsuji Anime Cowboy Bebop Director Says Live-Action Film Is...

We recently posted three big announcements from the Fantasia Film Festival which included Edgar Wright’s The Worlds End (closing the fest), a special Live theatre event for Clive Barker’s A History of the Devil, and a lifetime achievement award for Andrzej Żuławski. Additional first wave highlights have also been announced, and so far the line-up is shaping up to be better than last year’s batch. Hit the jump to view the current roster.

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Across The River

Italy Dir: Lorenzo Bianchini

A brilliant opposition of new and old narratives, this chilling discovery from Italy is the most downright efficient atmospheric horror film you’ll see anywhere this year, haunting with a slow-building, intense crescendo approach to its atmosphere of disorientation and dread. From the director of Custodes Bestiae.

World Premiere.

Big Bad Wolves

Israel Dirs: Aharon Keshales & Navot Papushado

Described in its official marketing as “a brutal comedy...

While we here in the States are getting ready for San Diego Comic-Con, our friends to the North are prepping for the grandaddy of film fests, Fantasia, which kicks off at the same time.

Here's the first announcement of what you crazy Canucks and your guests from around the world will see there.

From the Press Release:

The Fantasia Film Festival is coming back, and coming soon. From July 18 to August 6, Montreal will be home to a showcase of over 100 feature films from around the world, along with a wealth of special events, conferences, and parties. Audiences can look forward to discovering numerous World and International premieres, as well as the Canadian debuts of some of the most acclaimed genre works from this year’s Cannes, Sundance, SXSW, Berlin, and Tribeca film festivals. The festival’s full lineup of screenings and events will be announced on July 9. For now, we...

While Fantastic Fest seems to satisfy my needs when it comes to a genre film festival, I have always wanted to attend Fantasia. I have heard & seen so much about it that, as a genre fan, it makes me salivate. Luckily, Fantastic Fest seems to nab some titles from their extraordinary lineup so I get to experience some of their programming.

Today, Fantasia has released their first wave of titles. Those lucky bastards get to see live Clive Barker stage theater, see the finale of the Cornetto trilogy and more. Read below for the full list.

Fantasia 2013′S First Wave Of Incredible Titles Has Been Announced!

The Fantasia Film Festival is coming back, and coming soon. From July 18 – August 6, Montreal will be home to a showcase of over 100 feature films from around the world, along with a wealth of special events, conferences, and parties. Audiences can look forward to discovering numerous World and International premieres,...

The Fantasia Film Festival is taking place from July 18th to August 6th in Montreal and will feature over 100 films from around the world. The initial lineup has just been announced and includes The World’s End, The Conjuring, and a number of horror films making their world premiere:

Official Closing Film – Edgar Wright’s The World’s End (Canadian Premiere)

Fantasia 2013 will come wildly to a close on the night of August 6 with the Canadian premiere of UK filmmaker Edgar Wright’s hotly anticipated apocalyptic comedy The World’S End, starring Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Rosamund Pike and Martin Freeman. As Fantasia was the site of the Canadian Premieres of Wright’s landmark 2004 debut Shawn Of The Dead as well as his most recent Scott Pilgrim Vs The World, we couldn’t think of a better way to close this year’s festival.

Joining us in Montreal will be...

The Tiger Mask is a classic 1960s anime and manga created by Ikki Kajiwara. The story centers on a wrestling hero who fights evil to protect the children of an orphanage. The original manga ran from 1968 to 1971 in several magazines. In 1969, it was adapted into an anime TV series.

The film stars Eiji Wentz (Brave Story) as the titular hero, Natsuna Watanabe (Gantz, Kimi ni Todoke) as the heroine, Ruriko and Show Aikawa (Zebraman) as Mister X. Here's a little more information on the film and its story thanks to Anime News Network:

"Tiger Mask" is the alter ego of the character Naoto Date, a pro wrestler who goes against an evil wrestling organization and fights for children in an orphanage. In the new setup for the film, Date dons a special suit and "transforms" into Tiger Mask with enhanced mobility and muscle strength. His mask has also been redesigned...

The film stars Eiji Wentz (Brave Story) as the titular hero, Natsuna Watanabe (Gantz, Kimi ni Todoke) as the heroine, Ruriko and Show Aikawa (Zebraman) as Mister X. This new interpretation focuses on lead hero Naota Date, who fights in opposition to an evil wrestling organization and to save a children's orphanage. Date was actually at one time a member of the evil organization, Tora no Ana, before setting down the path to become a hero. The original manga ran from 1968 to 1971 in such publications as Weekly Shōnen Magazine while the anime aired in 1969. Many real-life Japanese wrestlers have donned the 'Tiger Mask' persona over the years. The manga recently became popular again in Japan after a mysterious donation was made a few years back to a children's organization which sparked others to contribute in what became known as "The Tiger Mask" movement.

Another week, another Monday. So it’s time for the rundown of DVDs and Blu-rays hitting stores online and offline this week. It’s another packed week, with plenty of movies waiting to take you money, so let us breakdown the new releases and highlight what you should – and shouldn’t – be buying from today, February 6th 2012.

Pick Of The Week

Tyrannosaur (DVD/Blu-ray)

Joseph (Peter Mullan) is an unemployed widower, drinker, and a man crippled by his own volatile temperament and furious anger. Hannah (Olivia Colman) is a Christian worker at a charity shop, a respectable woman who appears wholesome and happy. When the pair are brought together, Hannah appears as Joseph’s potential saviour, someone who can temper his fury and offer him warmth, kindness and acceptance. As their story develops Hannah’s own secrets are revealed – her relationship with husband James (Eddie Marsan) is violent and abusive...

Gantz 2: Perfect Answer

Stars: Kazunari Ninomiya, Kenichi Matsuyama, Yuriko Yoshitaka | Written by Hiroya Oku | Directed by Shinsuke Sato

Based on a hit manga series created by Hiroya Oku and starring leading Japanese actors Kazunari Ninomiya (Letters from Iwo Jima) and Kenichi Matsuyama (Death Note, Detroit Metal City), Gantz 2: Perfect Answer begins several months after the events of the first film. Kurono (Ninomiya Kazunari) is still fighting aliens under the order of Gantz and he is close to reaching the score he needs to resurrect his friend Kato (Matsuyama Kenichi). As the missions begin to get increasingly dangerous for both the alien fighters and the general public, Kurono discovers that the endgame for Gantz is quickly approaching.

So, mysterious black ball. Check. Tight leather-clad undead heroes. Check. Strange shape-shifting(?) aliens. Check. Complete lack of understanding of what’s going on having not seen the original movie. Check. Enjoying it for what it is,...

Director: Shinsuke Sato. Review: Adam Wing. For those of you that don’t know, let’s cast our minds back to how it all began. In a nutshell - big black balls. Gantz and its sequel Gantz: Perfect Answer are based on a hit manga series created by Hiroya Oku. Directed by Shinsuke Sato, Gantz stars leading Japanese actors Kazunari Ninomiya (Letters from Iwo Jima) and Kenichi Matsuyama (Death Note, Detroit Metal City). After an accident on a train platform, recently deceased childhood friends Kei and Kato find themselves transported to an empty apartment populated by several confused strangers and a mysterious black ball known as Gantz. The big black ball issues them a set of strange suits, instructing them to exterminate "dangerous aliens" from Earth in a series of bloodthirsty games. They are given high-tech weaponry, and the opportunity to collect points depending on how many aliens they kill.

There’s a decidedly oriental tinge to this year’s Gold Coast Film Festival. Jiang Wen’s extremely successful rice-noodle Chinese comedy western Let The Bullets Fly (which had its premiere at the Brisbane International Film Festival – read my review Here) has been chosen as the opening night film and there’s a ‘Cool Japan’ line-up which features the Australian premieres of Makoto Shinkai‘s (Voice of a Distant Star) exquisitely rendered anime Children Who Chase Lost Voices From Deep Below - a nostalgic and mystical adventure concerning family loss which firmly places the young director in a league with the laudable likes of manga masters Katsuhiro Ohtomo, Mamoru Oshii and Hayao Miyazaki. On the non-animated front we have the welcome return screenings of Anh Hung Tran‘s Sydney Film festival favourite Norweigan Wood and Takashi Miike‘s kinetic Seven Samurai throwback 13 Assassins. Two further manic manga adaptations, Shinsuke Sato...

It’s the start of another week, so you know what that means – more DVD and Blu-ray releases to swallow up all your hard-earned cash! So here’s the rundown of what’s available to buy from today, October 3rd 2011.

Pick Of The Week

Chuck: Season 4 Box Set (DVD/Blu-ray)

When Chuck Bartowski opens an e-mail subliminally encoded with government secrets, he unwittingly downloads an entire server of sensitive data into his brain. Now, the fate of the world lies in the unlikely hands of a guy who works at a Buy More Electronics store. Instead of fighting computer viruses, he must now confront assassins and international terrorists. With the government’s most precious secrets in Chuck’s head, Major John Casey of the National Security Agency assumes the responsibility of protecting him. His partner is the CIA’s top agent -and Chuck’s first date in years – Sarah Walker.

★★☆☆☆ The original manga version of Gantz shocked even hard-nosed fans when it introduced a whole new level of over-the-top violence, gore, and nudity. The obvious next step was a live action movie that would provide a definitive powerhouse title for a franchise already on its way to the top. But has rookie director Shinsuke Sato's 2010 adaptation of Gantz done the source material justice?

Read more »...

The 2011 Sitges Film Festival, held 6-16 October on the Catalan coast of Spain, is finalizing its lineup, which now includes Francis Ford Coppola's Twixt, Kevin Smith's Red State, and the return of Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury, who will be presenting their new piece Livide. In addition, The Thing (2011) has been named as the closing movie.

Be sure to visit the official Sitges Film Festival website for more info!

Official In-Competition Fantàstic Selection

Another Earth: a story of redemption revolving around a young girl traumatized by a tragedy in her past, and who will find the answer to her innumerable questions in a bizarre phenomenon, the appearance of a closely orbiting replica of the Earth. This film by Mike Cahill was one of the big winners at Sundance 2011.

The Divide: Xavier Gens, director of Frontieres, is back with the apocalypse as a banner to show the...

If you like your sci-fi; Japanese, action packed and more than a tad surreal - then look no further than Shinsuke Sato’s special effects-laden, live action makeover of Gantz, which is heading for UK DVD. Gantz will be released on DVD and Blu-ray (nice!) by Manga Entertainment on 3rd October 2011. Special Features include: The Making Of Gantz; interviews; teasers, and TV spots. Synopsis: Teenage high school student Kei Kurono is waiting for a subway train home when he recognizes an old childhood friend Masaru Kato on the same platform. Suddenly, a drunken commuter falls on the tracks just as the station’s speaker system announces the approach of a non-stopping express train. Kato immediately goes to the man’s assistance but struggles to lift him to safety on his own. Reluctantly, Kurono joins him and they manage to save the man but are unable to get clear of the oncoming train,...

Ballz. Anytime you encounter a strange metallic sphere, and you don’t know what it does, it never turns out well. For two friends who were accidentally killed while trying to save another man’s life, this orb meant being thrust into a Death Race-like game where they and other recent-dead people are forced to kill aliens in hiding on Earth.

Gantz is a live-action movie based on the hit anime/manga series by Hiroya Oku and stars two of the biggest stars of Japanese cinema, Kazunari Ninomiya (Letters from Iwo Jima) and Kenichi Matsuyama (Death Note). New People Entertainment will release Gantz in North America on DVD and Blu-Ray on August 30, 2011. Celebrating the release, there will be a special screening of the film on Friday, August 26, 2011 at 7pm in San Francisco at the 2011 J-Pop Summit Festival. The sequel, Gantz II: Perfect Answer will also be premiered at the festival on that same weekend.

Kicking off the New York Asian Film Festival 2011 is multimedia artist Yoshimasa Ishibashi‘s debut feature film Milocrorze: A Love Story, a psychedelic journey like no other, examining our most base and primal human emotional desires. It’s a combination of absurdity mixed with insanity, plunging the audience into three separate dreamlike fairy tales, each with a distinct story line that thematically link together in some kind of twisted grand plan. Unlike anything you’d expect from a traditional film, Milocrorze is a stylish example of over the top concepts pushed to the limit that are oddly able to resonate despite being so absurd.

The film opens as if a children’s book were being read, narrated by an omniscient female narrator who introduces the audience to neon redhead Ovreneli Vreneligare (try saying it three times fast) a little boy whose seemingly older than he looks. Every day he goes...

Every summer in New York City there are a multitude of unique events to keep you cool when the streets get too hot. Yet nothing is quite as cool as the annual New York Asian Film Festival, celebrating its tenth year, where avid film enthusiasts flock from all 5 boroughs to uncover hidden cinematic gems rarely seen outside the far east. It’s here where I discovered one of my top films from last year Confessions, which I would have never been able to see otherwise. This is a prime example of why I encourage people to check out the fest, to expand their horizons and diversify their filmic taste. In addition, the festival is run by some of the most energetic, kind-hearted and passionate people who put the whole thing together out of pure love for this unique blend of Asian cinema.

This year features a stellar lineup of amazing titles,...

We won't waste too much time on the American box office today as it's the usual stories: an animated film tops the charts (don't make me say the name), Bridesmaid barely dipped and Midnight in Paris is zooming up the "all time Woody Allen lists". On this last bit I wish we had "adjusted for inflation" charts at the ready. Those inevitable stories about it passing Hannah and Her Sisters at the box office are going to be annoying because $40 million in 1986 is a helluva lot more ticket-buying action than $41 million in 2011, you know? I'm guessing that Annie Hall, which really captured mainstream attention, would reign supreme if you adjusted for inflation. [updated: yep, Annie Hall is #1]

And yes I normally do a new drawing for the box office but I hate drawing cars and the only picture I'd like to conjure in that realm is Cars 2's "Mater" squished flat in a compactor.

The New York Asian Film Festival has announced that its tenth anniversary edition will open on July 1 with the North American premiere of Yoshimasa Ishibashi's Milocrorze: A Love Story ("one solid slab of psychedelia," promises the festival; image above) and close on July 14 with the New York premiere of Na Hong-Jin's The Yellow Sea (aka The Murderer), which has just screened at Cannes in Un Certain Regard (see the roundup).

There'll be two Centerpiece Presentations, Benny Chan's Shaolin, with Andy Lau, Nic Tse and Jackie Chan, and Takashi Miike's Ninja Kids!!! — which, you may remember Danny Kasman caught in Cannes, and got quite a nice kick out of it, too. The festival will also be screening Miike's "director's cut" of 13 Assassins.

There'll be three special focuses. First off...

Wu Xia: Hong Kong's Flying Swordsmen

Tsui Hark's Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame...

The Tribeca Film Festival has the stars. The New York Film Festival has the award winners. But the New York Asian Film Festival has the coolest, boldest, and strangest genre movies, and that's why it holds a special place in my heart. While most festivals specialize in quote-unquote arthouse fare, Nyaff brings the Asian mainstream -- the stuff that would almost never play here otherwise -- to America.

We're big fans of the Nyaff at IFC and we're looking forward to another excellent edition this year. The lineup was just announced and it looks stacked. It includes a few superb films I saw at last year's Fantastic Fest, including the entertaining exploitation documentary "Machete Maidens Unleashed" from "Not Quite Hollywood" director Mark Hartley. The stuff I'm jazzed to see for the first time includes the world premiere of Takashi Miike's "Ninja Kids!!!" (their exclamation points, not mine), "Ocean Heaven,...

One of the biggest and most eagerly awaited Japanese blockbusters for some time arrives in the form of the explosive science fiction thriller “Gantz”, adapted from Oku Hiroya’s ongoing manga. Having already made it to the small screen as a cult hit anime, which controversially had to be censored during its original airing due to graphic content, the live action version sees director Sato Shinsuke (“Sands’ Chronicle”) taking the reins, with a script from Watanabe Yusuke, who previously worked on the sprawling “20th Century Boys” adaptation. Split into two parts, with this first instalment being followed by “Gantz: Perfect Answer”, the films are slick, big budget affairs with an impressive youth-friendly cast headed by Arashi boy band member Ninomiya Kazunari (also in “The Lady Shogun and her Men”) and popular actor Matsuyama Kenichi (known for the “Death Note” series, and who recently starred in “Norwegian wood”), with female eye...

Warner Home Video has acquired the rights to release Shinsuke Sato’s live-action adaptation of Hiroya Oku’s manga series Gantz on Blu-ray August 30th. The film is about the “tale of two teens (Kazunari Ninomiya and Kenichi Matsuyama) who attempt to save a man from an oncoming train, only to wake up in a strange apartment dominated by a mysterious black sphere. Tasked with hunting down aliens, they’re soon given advanced weaponry and returned to Earth”.

According to Blu-ray, the film will be released on a 3-Disc Blu-ray set, and will include a Bd disc and two standard DVDs. Nothing much is known about the Special Features other than interviews and a theatrical trailer.

The team of Nippon Connection has announced the full program for the 11th edition of the Japanese film festival. Despite the current events in Japan, the festival will take place in Frankfurt from April 27th to Mai 1st.

Currently the program isn’t available on the festival’s website, so here’s a quick peek taken from the press release:

A Night in Nude: Salvation (Nudo no yoru: Ai wa oshiminaku ubau), R: Takashi Ishii, J 2010

Abraxas (Aburakusasu no matsuri), R: Naoki Kato, J 2010

Anpo, R: Linda Hoaglund, J 2010

Arrietty (Karigurashi no Arrietty), R: Hiromasa Yonebayashi, J 2010

Beautiful Method (Utsukushii sube), R: Takamasa Ooe, J 2009

Cage, R: Shinsuke Kurimoto, J 2010

Cold Fish (Tsumetai nettaigyo), R: Sion Sono, J 2010

Colorful, R: Keiichi Hara, J 2010

Coming Future (Sinka), R: Kyuya Nakagawa, J 2010

Devil Has Come (Akuma ga kita), R: Shun Sakaida, J 2010

Doman Seman (Horikawa nakatachiuri), R: Go Shibata, J 2010

Door to...

The team of Nippon Connection has announced the full program for the 11th edition of the Japanese film festival. Despite the current events in Japan, the festival will take place in Frankfurt from April 27th to Mai 1st.

Currently the program isn’t available on the festival’s website, so here’s a quick peek taken from the press release:

A Night in Nude: Salvation (Nudo no yoru: Ai wa oshiminaku ubau), R: Takashi Ishii, J 2010

Abraxas (Aburakusasu no matsuri), R: Naoki Kato, J 2010

Anpo, R: Linda Hoaglund, J 2010

Arrietty (Karigurashi no Arrietty), R: Hiromasa Yonebayashi, J 2010

Beautiful Method (Utsukushii sube), R: Takamasa Ooe, J 2009

Cage, R: Shinsuke Kurimoto, J 2010

Cold Fish (Tsumetai nettaigyo), R: Sion Sono, J 2010

Colorful, R: Keiichi Hara, J 2010

Coming Future (Sinka), R: Kyuya Nakagawa, J 2010

Devil Has Come (Akuma ga kita), R: Shun Sakaida, J 2010

Doman Seman (Horikawa nakatachiuri), R: Go Shibata, J 2010

Door to...

Despite the somewhat negative response I’d received regarding the first part of the live action adaptation of Hiroya Oku’s manga “Gantz”, I thoroughly enjoyed the flick. Of course, I’m not familiar with the source material at all, so this may have had something to do with my positive reaction to the somewhat confusing sci-fi actioner. The second installment, “Gantz: Perfect Answer”, now has a brand new teaser and a full trailer, as well as a fully-functioning official website. That’s pretty darn cool. You can find both clips lurking just below this moderately informative paragraph. If you enjoyed the first part, then there’s a very strong possibility that you’ll dig the second. In theory, of course. Via Nippon Cinema function getVideo() { var so = new SWFObject("http://cdn.springboard.gorillanation.com/storage/xplayer/yo033.swf", "mplayer", "590", "375", "8", "#000000"); so.addParam("wmode","transparent"); so.addParam("swliveconnect", "true"); so.

Over the weekend the trailer for Gantz: Perfect Answer - the second installment of Shinsuke Sato's two part live action adaptation of the popular manga and anime - arrived on the official website and it is pretty much what you'd expect. Which is to say a collection of pretty young things clad in tight black costumes shooting at, blowing up and otherwise destroying anything that happens to be in their way. The storyline behind Gantz is notoriously convoluted - it revolves around a mysterious black orb that brings the dead back to life on condition that they don the aforementioned black suits, which enhance their strength and agility, and take on a series of assassination jobs against an alien force - but really it's...

The official website for Shinsuke Sato’s Gantz: Perfect Answer has been relaunched with a new teaser and full trailer.

This is the finale of the 2-part live-action film adaptation of Hiroya Oku’s popular manga about a mysterious sphere called Gantz that grants the recently-deceased super powers and a second shot at life in exchange for a seemingly never-ending string of alien assassination missions.

The two main characters, Kurono (Kazunari Ninomiya) and Kato (Kenichi Matsuyama), were childhood friends who died in a train accident and were subsequently recruited by Gantz to assassination various “seijin” (aliens). Kurono chooses to fight and do whatever it takes to survive, while Kato rejects violence. Trapped in an endless cycle of war, both men are eventually faced with an important choice…

Toho will be releasing Gantz: Perfect in Japan on April 23, 2011.

Watch »...

The Gantz: Part II: Perfect Answer Movie Trailer has premiered. Shinsuke Sato‘s Gantz: Part II: Perfect Answer (2011) stars Kazunari Ninomiya, Kenichi Matsuyama, Kanata Hongô, Natsuna Watanabe, and Yuriko Yoshitaka. Gantz: Part II: Perfect Answer‘s plot synopsis: Part II continues were Part I left off where “after trying to rescue a man on the subway tracks, two teens wake up in a room dominated by a mysterious black sphere that sends them to hunt down and kill aliens hiding on Earth”. We previously posted the Gantz (2011) Movie Trailer for Part One. The movie trailer starts out slowly but then the action kicks in around the half way point. I wish there were english subtitles for this movie trailer but the viewer gets the feeling that there is internal strife in the protagonist’s group.

More about this sequel:

In the sequel (which was preceded, of course,...

In the sequel (which was preceded, of course, by both Manga and Anime versions of Gantz) Kei Kurono (played by Kazunari Ninomiya) works with other players involved with Gantz to revive those who died during the first film. Although details of the film are shrouded in mystery, we can clearly see that Kato Masaru, (Kenichi Matsuyama), will return as well as a bunch of new antagonists. Gantz is losing energy and it appears Tae Kojima, (Yuriko Yoshitaka), is a target for the next mission. Kei Kurono is now torn between saving the girl he loves or completing the final mission of Gantz. To access the gallery, just click below:...

Directed by: Shinsuke Sato

Written by: Hiroya Oku, Yûsuke Watanabe

Cast: Kenichi Matsuyama, Kazunari Ninomiya, Yuriko Yoshitaka

Music by: Kenji Kawai

What is it about live action film adaptations that are just so inferior to their original counterpart?

Without even including anything directed by Uwe Boll, I bet you can easily name five bad live action films that were adapted from either a video game, a book, an anime, or the like. It’s not difficult, is it? I can personally name five films simply from the last few years: Hitman, Dragonball: Evolution, The Last Airbender, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, and A Series of Unfortunate Events. Now, I bet you can’t do the same for good live action film adaptations, can you? Off the top of my head now, I can give small kudos to films like Harry Potter, the original Resident Evil, and the original Spiderman. The point...