After the disastrous remake of 1998, Hollywood decides to try again and make another remake of everyone's favorite giant monster, Godzilla. It looks like they've gotten things right this time. The eponymous kaiju is treated as a force of nature, like a typhoon or a hurricane in the shape of a giant radioactive lizard.
Much like the original 1954 film, this film deals with the aftermath of the destruction something like Godzilla can wreak on a city, and the toll it takes on the people involved in the tragedy. It helps that there are excellent performances all around especially with Brian Cranston (who is always a pleasure to watch) and Ken Watanabe (although I wish they had developed his character a bit more.)
I was screaming like a fanboy all throughout, although I wish that they had lit the kaiju fights a little better (and show a little more fights, if that's even possible.) I'll probably be doing a Godzillafest when I have the time, in which case it will be glorious.
I've been used to Takeshi Kitano making yakuza films, films where he is a total badass, even comedic films like Getting Any? But there's nothing quite as delightfully weird as the first film of his surrealist trilogy, Takeshis'. Featuring cast from his previous films, like the tapdancers from Zatoichi and quintessential bad guy Susumu Terajima, It's a movie that parodies a lot of Kitano's older films, tries to make a message about the dichotomy of being a yakuza action dude and a comedian at the same time, and manages to elude any type of conventional explanation at all. It's a recommend for me, but only if you've watched at least some of his films before. It also makes me want to see the other films of the trilogy, which I'll probably cover soon.
Keanu Reeves' directorial debut Man of Tai Chi is surprisingly good; it stars Tiger Chen, protege of legendary action choreographer Yuen Wo ping and someone who worked with Yuen in the Matrix trilogy. The story is relatively simple and a bit predictable, but draws you in. It helps that the action sequences are well shot and excellently choreographed, with a few scenes with wirework in them. Keanu, in a novel role as a villain, stands in the background, brooding and being all moody and stuff. It's actually quite a nice change of pace for him. Super points for a brief cameo with Iko Uwais of The Raid: Redemption fame. Watch it for some great martial arts action. FIGHT!
Haruki Murakami is one of my favorite writers, and I find his works incredibly complex to adapt to film. Which is why my rewatch of Norwegian Wood manages to surprise me with the amount of detail put into film. The film makes up for the pitfalls of translating book to film by enhancing the visuals, which are sumptuous. There's a sense of longing in this film characteristic in Murakami's works, and it's not just seen in the actors or heard in the music, the background helps too.
I'll probably write something discussing this in more detail within the week, so watch out for that.
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