"Gantz" Live-Action Movie Now on DVD and Blu-ray

NEW PEOPLE ENTERTAINMENT TO RELEASE JAPANESE SCI-FI THILLER GANTZ ON DVD AND BLU-RAY IN AUGUST

Sci-Fi Live-Action Film Based On Hit Anime/Manga Series Features Two Of The Biggest Stars Of Japanese Cinema

NEW PEOPLE Entertainment, a film division of NEW PEOPLE, Inc. that focuses on the licensing and distribution of Japanese films and media, will delight sci-fi, action and anime/manga fans across North America with the release of GANTZ on DVD (SRP $24.92) and Blu-ray/DVD combo-pack(SRP $29.99) on August 30th. The film, which is unrated, features both English and Japanese dialogue options and a bonus disc with an exclusive director’s interview and film trailers.

To celebrate the film’s release, a special screening of GANTZ is scheduled for Friday, August 26th at 7:00pm in San Francisco at NEW PEOPLE’s Cinema as part of the 2011 J-Pop Summit Festival. The film will be shown in Japanese with English subtitles. Get a great deal by purchasing a ticket bundle that also includes the brand-new DVD or Blu-ray plus a poster. Tickets and more information are available at http://www.newpeopleworld.com/films.

GANTZ is based on a hit manga series created by Hiroya Oku and stars leading Japanese actors Kazunari Ninomiya (Letters from Iwo Jima) and Kenichi Matsuyama (Death Note, Detroit Metal City). The film tells the story of two childhood friends that are accidentally killed while trying to save another man’s life. Rather than find themselves in the hereafter, however, they awaken in a strange apartment in which they find a mysterious black orb they come to know as “GANTZ.” Along with similar abductees, they are provided with equipment and weaponry and manipulated into playing a kind of game in which they are sent back out to the greater world to do battle with alien beings, all while never quite knowing whether this game is an illusion or their new reality.

“GANTZ first thrilled domestic audiences when we presented the film theatrically in a special one-night-only premiere at over 300 movie theatres nationally earlier this year that was attended by thousands of people across North America,” says Seiji Horibuchi, President and CEO of NEW PEOPLE, Inc. “Anticipation has risen steadily since then and fans now have the exclusive opportunity to own the film on DVD and Blu-ray with our release on August 30th. GANTZ features two of the biggest stars in Japanese cinema and remains true to the innovative storyline from the original manga series. Fans won’t want to miss this exciting release and stay tuned for news coming soon on the upcoming release of the film’s action-packed sequel, GANTZ II: Perfect Answer!”

Kazunari Ninomiya, best known in America for his role in Clint Eastwood’s 2006 blockbuster, Letters from Iwo Jima, is both an actor and a singer. He is also world-renowned as a member of the Japanese boy band “Arashi,” which topped Japan’s music charts in 2009 with the three best-selling singles.

Kenichi Matsuyama is currently one of the most sought-after actors in Japanese film and he has won several awards including Japanese Academy Awards Best New Actor (2007) and Most Popular Actor (2009). Matsuyama is widely recognized for his part as L in Death Note (2006), Death Note II: the Last Name (2006) and Death Note: L, change the WorLd (2008) and also for his portrayal of Johannes Krauser II in the outlandish rock and roll comedy, Detroit Metal City (2009).


About NEW PEOPLE, Inc.
Based in San Francisco, California, NEW PEOPLE, Inc. (http://www.newpeopleworld.com/) offers the latest films, art, fashion and retail brands from Japan through its unique entertainment destination as well as through licensing and distribution of selective Japanese films. NEW PEOPLE Entertainment (www.newpeopleent.com), a film division of NEW PEOPLE, Inc. strives to offer the most entertaining motion pictures straight from the "Kingdom of Pop" for audiences of all ages, especially the manga and anime generation, in North America. Some titles include DEATH NOTE, GANTZ, KAMIKAZE GIRLS, and THE TASTE OF TEA.

Pixar Unveils the Story of "Brave"

Brave is Pixar Animation Studios' next film and is set to be released in June 2012.  The synopsis of the film has been making the rounds the last few weeks.

From Pixar Planet:

Synopsis: Since ancient times, stories of epic battles and mystical legends have been passed through the generations across the rugged and mysterious Highlands of Scotland. In “Brave,” a new tale joins the lore when the courageous Merida (voice of Kelly Macdonald) confronts tradition, destiny and the fiercest of beasts.

Merida is a skilled archer and impetuous daughter of King Fergus (voice of Billy Connolly) and Queen Elinor (voice of Emma Thompson). Determined to carve her own path in life, Merida defies an age-old custom sacred to the uproarious lords of the land: massive Lord MacGuffin (voice of Kevin McKidd), surly Lord Macintosh (voice of Craig Ferguson) and cantankerous Lord Dingwall (voice of Robbie Coltrane). Merida’s actions inadvertently unleash chaos and fury in the kingdom, and when she turns to an eccentric old Witch (voice of Julie Walters) for help, she is granted an ill-fated wish. The ensuing peril forces Merida to discover the meaning of true bravery in order to undo a beastly curse before it’s too late.

Directed by Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman, and produced by Katherine Sarafian, “Brave” is a grand adventure full of heart, memorable characters and the signature Pixar humor enjoyed by audiences of all ages. The film takes aim at theaters on June 22, 2012, and will be presented in Disney Digital 3D™ in select theaters.

A grand adventure full of heart, memorable characters and signature Pixar humor, “Brave” uncovers a new tale in the mysterious Highlands of Scotland where the impetuous Merida (voice of Kelly Macdonald) defies an age-old custom and inadvertently unleashes chaos, forcing her to discover the meaning of true bravery before it’s too late.

"5 Against the House" a Romantic, Comic Crime Drama

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 75 (of 2011) by Leroy Douresseaux

5 Against the House (1955) – B&W
Running time: 84 minutes (1 hour, 24 minutes)
DIRECTOR: Phil Karlson
WRITERS: Stirling Silliphant, William Bowers, and John Barnwell (based upon the Good Housekeeping magazine short story by Jack Finney)
PRODUCERS: John Barnwell and Stirling Silliphant
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Lester White (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Jerome Thoms
COMPOSER: George Duning

CRIME/DRAMA with elements of romance

Starring: Guy Madison, Kim Novak, Brian Keith, Alvy Moore, Kerwin Mathews, William Conrad, Jack Dimond, and Jean Wills

Released in 1955, 5 Against the House is one of the first filmed heists and one of the first movies to depict a casino robbery. The film follows four college buddies who decide to rob a casino as a hoax. I am primarily interested in this film for two reasons. 5 Against the House is considered to be “film noir,” of which I am a fan. I am also a fan of the late actor, Alvy Moore, and this movie is one of his first big film roles.

Film noir is the term primarily used to describe a category of Hollywood crime dramas generally (but not exclusively) released in the 1940s and 1950s. I have been interested in film noir (or Film-Noir) for a long time, but it is only in the last decade or so that I have specifically sought out these films. 5 Against the House was released in 2009 as part of a five-DVD box set entitled, Columbia Pictures Film Noir Classics 1.

Jack Alvin “Alvy” Moore was born in December 1921 and died in May 1997. Primarily a light comic actor, Moore made numerous guest appearances on television shows, but he is best known for playing the incompetent county agent, “Hank Kimball,” on the CBS television series, Green Acres (1965-71). Moore served in the United States Marine Corps and saw combat in the Battle of Iwo Jima. He broke into film in the early 1950s and had a small speaking role as one of Marlon Brando’s motorcycle gang in the 1953 film, The Wild Ones. As a supporting actor, 5 Against the House was one his early major roles. At one time, Moore had a small production company and produced the cult science fiction film, A Boy and His Dog (1975), based upon the Harlan Ellison short story.

5 Against the House begins with college pals: Al Mercer (Guy Madison), Brick (Brian Keith), Ronnie (Kerwin Matthews), and Roy Cruikshank (Alvy Moore). The young men are on their way back to college from summer jobs when they take a quick side-trip to Reno, Nevada, where they visit the famous casino, Harold’s Club. While there, Ronnie and Roy get caught up in a robbery attempt. After the culprit is apprehended, the boys overhear someone lament that there is no way a casino robbery can be done.

After they return to their college, Midwestern University, Ronnie, a brainy rich kid, begins to formulate a way to successfully rob Harold’s Club. Al reconnects with his gorgeous girlfriend, Kaye Greylek (Kim Novak), who is now a singer at a local nightclub. Meanwhile, Brick, who served during the Korean War, has a psychotic episode after a fellow student goads him into a fight. Al, who served in Korea with Brick, stops the fight and begs Brick to return to a veteran’s hospital for treatment of his head injury and for post-war mental trauma, which Brick refuses.

Ronnie convinces Brick and Roy to join his plan to rob Harold’s Club after he tells them that it is a hoax and that they will return the money afterwards. They plot to find a way to get Al to participate (with Kaye tagging along), but one of them secretly wants the robbery to be real and has no intention of returning a single dime to Harold’s Club.

I wouldn’t call 5 Against the House a great film, but it is certainly a darn good one. The script, by writers Stirling Silliphant (also a producer), William Bowers, and John Barnwell), efficiently covers a lot of ground in terms of characterization, impressive for a film that barely has over 80 minutes of actual narrative. Viewers will get to know the characters, from Brick’s desperation and psychosis to talkative Roy’s ability to diffuse a situation with one quick quip. Ronnie’s rich boy machinations add nice touches to several scenes.

The combined efforts of director Phil Karlson and director of photography Lester White yield a stylish film that can be tension-filled (casino scenes) and laid back (when the boys are on campus). The opening and closing shots of the gateway to Reno and the romantic scenes featuring Al and Kaye epitomize film noir’s alluring contrast of light and dark.

Some film noir movies have beautiful musical scores, and 5 Against the House has an excellent score from George Duning, which is by turns romantic and suspenseful. Kim Novak shimmers while giving superb singing performances of two songs, "The Life of the Party" (written by Hal Hackady and Billy Mure) and "I Went Out of My Way" (written by Helen Bliss).

I watched 5 Against the House mainly to see Alvy Moore, but I was introduced to a film I can add to my “favorite movies” list.

7 of 10
A-

Friday, August 26, 2011

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Review: "Priest" Wants to Be a Cowboy

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 74 (of 2011) by Leroy Douresseaux

Priest (2011)
Running time: 87 minutes (1 hour, 27 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, disturbing images and brief strong language
DIRECTOR: Scott Stewart
WRITER: Cory Goodman (based on the graphic novel series Priest by Min-Woo Hyung)
PRODUCERS: Michael De Luca, Joshua Donen, and Mitchell Peck
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Don Burgess
EDITORS: Lisa Zeno Churgin and Rebecca Weigold
COMPOSER: Christopher Young
ANIMATION STUDIO: Viking Animation Studios

SCI-FI/FANTASY/HORROR/ACTION

Starring: Paul Bettany, Karl Urban, Cam Gigandet, Maggie Q, Lily Collins, Christopher Plummer, Brad Dourif, Stephen Moyer, Madchen Amick, and Alan Dale

Priest is a 2011 post-apocalyptic, vampire action movie. The film is based on the Korean comic book, Priest, by Min-Woo Hyung, which was published in the U.S. by American manga and graphic novel publisher, TOKYOPOP. The film follows a vampire-killing priest who disobeys orders to track down his niece and the vampire that kidnapped her.

Priest takes place on a world where for centuries, humans and vampires (who are bestial and don’t have eyes) have been at war. The Church (similar to the Roman Catholic Church) created an elite group of warriors called “Priests” who are blessed with special powers that allowed them to slay vampires. Humans won the war, killing most of the vampires and placing the rest in reservations. The Church built giant walled cities to protect mankind and to better control people.

The movie opens in Cathedral City and focuses on the character known only as Priest (Paul Bettany), and like other Priests, he has lived as an outcast since the end of the war. Hicks (Cam Gigandet), the sheriff of the nearby small town of Augustine, arrives to tell the Priest that his brother’s family was attacked by a pack of vampires and that Priest’s niece, Lucy Pace (Lily Collins), has been kidnapped by the vampires. Black Hat (Karl Urban), a mysterious vampire leader with a connection to Priest, now has Lucy. Disobeying the Church’s demand for him to stay in Cathedral City, Priest sets out into the Wastelands with Hicks, Lucy’s boyfriend, to recover her. Along the way, they are joined by a talented warrior, Priestess (Maggie Q), who helps them uncover a shocking vampire plot.

Although it may not be as obvious as Cowboys and Aliens, Priest is basically a post-apocalyptic, science fiction Western film. The Priests are something like sheriff’s deputies, with Paul Bettany’s Priest being a renegade Western gunslinger as hero. Of course, Karl Urban’s Black Hat is the villain in a black hat. Sadly, the film does not really do much with the very talented Karl Urban, who has terrific screen chops. By the end of this movie, I couldn’t help but think that Urban was vastly under-utilized.

In fact, Priest is a concept with a lot of good ideas, and the film under-utilizes most of them. Priest’s version of the vampire is wickedly good and the environment in which they live is cool, creepy, and scary, but this film never seems to do enough with that. Luckily, the story does make good use of Hicks, the Priestess, and even Lucy.

Priest does make great use of its lead character, Priest, and of the film’s lead actor, Paul Bettany. Priest is the strong, silent type – part Wesley Snipes’ Blade and part Clint Eastwood’s the Man with no Name. Bettany is a talented actor with movie star looks and skills, and he also has a great speaking voice. Director Scott Stewart, who worked with Bettany on the recent horror movie, Legion, recognizes this and makes great use of his star. Bettany makes the journey through Priest’s kooky world of gruesome vampires and creepy Church officials an entertaining road trip. Priest could have been a B-movie hot mess; instead, Stewart and Bettany make it hot stuff.

5 of 10
B-

Saturday, August 27, 2011

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Review: "Drag Me to Hell" is Gross-Out Fun

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 5 (of 2009) by Leroy Douresseaux

Drag Me to Hell (2009)
Running time: 99 minutes (1 hour, 39 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for sequences of horror violence, terror, disturbing images, and language
DIRECTOR: Sam Raimi
WRITERS: Ivan Raimi and Sam Raimi
PRODUCERS: Grant Curtis and Sam Raimi
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Peter Deming
EDITOR: Bill Murawski

HORROR with elements of comedy and thriller

Starring: Alison Lohman, Justin Long, Lorna Raver, Dileep Rao, David Paymer, Adriana Barraza, Chelci Ross, Molly Cheek, and Reggie Lee

The Sam Raimi who directed The Evil Dead films has returned to his demonic spirits-gone-wild roots with the new film, Drag Me to Hell. Before he directed the Spider-Man films, Raimi unleashed ghoulish, comic horror movies that featured, among other things, preposterous scenes of mutilation and slapstick dismemberment, in flicks like Evil Dead II (1987) and Army of Darkness (1992). Drag Me to Hell is essentially from the same family as those scary movies. It’s like EC Comics on crack with a steroid chaser – and rated PG-13!

This film focuses on the soft-hearted Christine Brown (Alison Lohman), an ambitious L.A. loan officer for WilshirePacific Bank. Christine also has a charming boyfriend, Clay Dalton (Justin Long), who has recently become a philosophy professor, but all is not well. The winsome girl with a dazed look in her eyes is tired of being life’s punching bag. She knows that Clay’s mother doesn’t like her (although they’ve never met), and at work, a cheesy co-worker, Stu Rubin (Reggie Lee), is scheming to snatch a promotion from her. When the mysterious, one-eyed Mrs. Ganush (Lorna Raver) shows up at the bank and begs Christine for an extension on her home loan, Christine decides not to follow her instincts and give the old woman a break. Instead, Christine denies the extension in order to impress her boss, Mr. Jacks (David Paymer), and, in turn, get an edge in the battle for the promotion.

Christine’s fateful choice shames Mrs. Ganush and essentially dispossesses Ganush of her home. In retaliation, Ganush, a rotten-toothed old gypsy woman, places the powerful curse of the Black Lamia on Christine, which transforms the young woman’s life into a living hell. Almost immediately, the evil spirit starts to haunt and torment Christine, and her plight is misunderstood by her skeptical boyfriend. Christine seeks the aid of a seer, Rham Jas (Dileep Rao), in hopes that he can tell her what’s happening. What Christine learns is that after three days of tormenting her, the Lamia will drag her soul to hell to burn for eternity.

Perhaps, it is Allison Lohman loveable, huggable, girl-next-door quality that makes it easier for the viewer to sympathize with her and even want to take on her troubles. Maybe it’s Raimi’s ability to scare the hell out of his audience with cartoonish, ghoulish nightmares – or maybe both. Whatever the reasons are, Drag Me to Hell gets in your head. Raimi does that by creating a hellish carnival atmosphere: the kind where the ticket salesman is a hideous, curse-spewing crone; where the fun house is a level of hell; and where the cotton candy maker is a jack-in-the-box full of wormy devils. The film is also very old school; Raimi often creates the sense of creeping dread by using atmospherics like shifty shadows and sound effects. This film even features a favorite Raimi trademark – a demonic possession

Drag Me to Hell is also filled with wonderfully deranged sequences. The first physical altercation between Christine and Mrs. Ganush is film’s best confrontation, and it involves nothing but hands, feet, and teeth – nothing supernatural until the end of it. In fact, Mrs. Ganush is a great character, conceived to be a physically aggressive granny who is as delightfully vindictive as she is demonic and ghoulish.

You’ll laugh. You’ll scream. You may even laugh at your own gullibility, but Sam Raimi has returned to the wretched roots of his filmmaking – bugf*ck crazy horror movies. Drag Me to Hell isn’t perfect; there’s too much of a focus on Alison Lohman’s Christine to the detriment of the other quality characters (like Justin Long’s Clay and Dileep Rao’s Rham Jas, for instance). Still, its mixture of blood-curdling terror, gross-out horror, and inspired lunacy make Drag Me to Hell one of the most entertaining horror flicks in years.

7 of 10
A-

Sunday, June 21, 2009

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John Pilger on the Recent Riots in London

"Damn It or Fear It, the Forbidden Truth Is There's an Insurrection in Britain"

In an age of public relations as news, the clean-up campaign, however well meant by many people, can also serve the government's and media's goal of sweeping inequality and hopelessness under gentrified carpets, with cheery volunteers armed with their brand-new brooms and pointedly described as "Londoners" as if the rest are aliens.

Go. Read.

 

Review: "Queen of the Damned" is a Mere Curiosity Piece (Remembering Aaliyah)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 175 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux

Queen of the Damned (2002)
Running time: 101 minutes (1 hour, 41 minutes)
MPAA – R for vampire violence
DIRECTOR: Michael Rymer
WRITERS: Scott Abbott and Michael Petroni (based on The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice)
PRODUCER: Jorge Saralegui
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Ian Baker
EDITOR: Dany Cooper
COMPOSERS: Jonathan Davis and Richard Gibbs

HORROR/FANTASY/MUSIC

Starring: Stuart Townsend, Aaliyah, Marguerite Moreau, Vincent Perez, Paul McGann, and Lena Olin

Some may remember the furor and excitement over the unintentionally campy costume drama, quasi horror/fantasy, vampire movie, Interview with a Vampire, based upon the Anne Rice novel of the same title. Released in 1994, it featured Tom Cruise miscast as one half of a vampire duo with Brad Pitt, who wasn’t as miscast, as the other half. At the time, I liked Interview with a Vampire, but I have never been able to watch the film in its entirety since then.

Now comes a sequel of sorts – Queen of the Damned. This 2002 horror film is an adaptation of the third novel in author Anne Rice’s The Vampire Chronicles, The Queen of the Damned, with some plot elements from the second book in the series, The Vampire Lestat. While the first film had its controversy, Queen of the Damned is mostly remembered because it is the last screen appearance of R&B singer and actress, Aaliyah Dana Haughton, best known simply as Aaliyah.

In this film, sexy Stuart Townsend replaces Cruise as the vampire Lestat. Queen of the Damned also depicts Lestat’s rebirth as a vampire (which had been hinted at in the first film) at the hands of a noble dilettante vampire named Marius (Vincent Perez). Marius also possesses the (un)earthly remains of the King and Queen of Vampires (they’re frozen like alabaster statues). Lestat arouses the Queen, Akasha (Aaliyah), from her slumber and that panics Marius. The nobleman takes the remains before Akasha is fully revived and disappears, leaving Lestat alone. This is told in flashback.

The film really begins centuries later, as the sounds of rock music awaken the despondent Lestat, who eventually joins a band of Goth rockers. Still feeling very lonely, Lestat deliberately commits one of the greatest sins a vampire can commit against his kind; he goes public with his vampirism. Marius, who had been secretly following Lestat since he’d abandoned his apprentice, reappears to warn his “child.” However, Lestat’s rock star fame has earned him a death sentence from several vampires who want to destroy him for going public. Worst of all, Akasha finally awakens completely. She has her eyes on Lestat as her royal consort, but she also wants to destroy humanity again, as she did during her first reign.

Queen of the Damned is an occasionally delightful horror film with a heavy fantasy atmosphere, but it also has an equally heavy campy atmosphere. Still, I found it to be an oddly fascinating monster movie. The script is weak, and all the characters are little more than fancy and stylish ciphers. Like its predecessor, Interview with a Vampire, Queen of the Damned manages to have a peculiar kind realism or verisimilitude, as if the world of this movie could actually exist. Director Michael Rymer does a good job grounding this film in reality, which it makes the film’s more fantastic elements really stand out.

A really nice extra from this film is that Jonathan Davis, leader singer of the rock band Korn, and film composer Richard Gibbs provide some nice music and songs for Lestat’s rock band. Davis even sings the songs in the film, but contractual difficulties forced others to sing the songs for the film’s soundtrack CD release. The music adds a nice touch to this campy movie, which is worth seeing when you’re hungry for trash and laughs. I’ll remember Queen of the Damned for Aaliyah, the singer who became an actress with potential. Her beauty radiates in this film, and that makes me think more of it than I would without her.

5 of 10
C+

NOTES:
2003 Black Reel Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Film Poster”

Wednesday, August 24, 2011