ALL NEW VISUAL VICTUALS (Volume 2)

Hey, it's been quite a while since I've talked about the latest films I've watched. No worries, I do not have an episode guide to any dramas as I haven't watched any lately. Oh, but Mikako and I finally did make it to a theater to watch a movie. And sorry, no pictures this time around. So, what have I been watching? Well, check the list below:

1. 犬神家の一族 [INUGAMIKE NO ICHIZOKU] English title: THE INUGAMIS (2006) - This is a remake of a movie by the same title and by the same director! Yep, Kon Ichikawa decided to remake his 1976 masterpiece. He also used the same star who played Kindaiichi, a renowned investigator, in the original movie. But the Madonna of the current release is Nanako Matsushima who takes on the role of a woman who is to marry one of the Inugami clan's heirs after the father of the clan dies and Kindaiichi is called in to investigate the death. But one by one, the heirs are also being killed off. It's a mystery! The story is based on a novel by Seishi Yokomizo and titled "The Inugami Clan" in English which sounds a lot better than "The Inugamis" if you ask me.

2. ZOOM: ACADEMY OF SUPERHEROES (2006) - Here's one to watch with your kids if you have them (and young ones at that). It's X-Men Lite for kids starring Tim Allen and Courtney Cox. Need I say more?

3. EARTH (2007) - A feature-length version of the documentary television series "Planet Earth". Apparently narrated by Patrick Stewart. But we watched the Japanese language version which is narrated by Ken Watanabe (in Japanese of course). But you don't really need to know either language to enjoy this film. The footage is beautiful. We just had to check this out on the big screen. Yep, this is our first film of the year that we decided to see at the theater. The soundtrack made us a little sleepy but just when we're about to doze off, another exciting sequence would start and we would stare at the screen in awe!!

4. ROGUE ASSASSIN (2007) - Excellent action movie that has just a hint of John Woo's "Face Off". And it stars Jet Li and Jason Statham. What? Never heard of it? That's because it was released as "WAR" in the States. How can you not like a flick with both Jet Li and Jason Statham, unfortunately not as much martial arts action as I hoped there would be.

5. BABEL (2007) - This film got an incredible amount of hype even before it was released in Japan. All because Rinko Kikuchi was nominated for an Academy Award. And with the overkill of the media coverage, I of course had to check it out. It's a fairly good movie I suppose. Rather bleak though and it does reinforce my image of the U.S. Border Patrol as the biggest, most arrogant assholes ever put on the planet. The movie follows the story of four families that are affected by a shooting incident. A Moroccan man buys a gun from a friend and lets his two boys use it to shoot jackals to protect their herd of sheep. An American couple is on vacation in Morocco to try to build a trust that was lost. A Mexican cleaning woman takes the kids of the parents who are on vacation Morocco to Mexico for her son's wedding. And a Japanese man who is having a difficult time with his deaf daughter learns the shooting incident in Morocco was caused by a gun he owned. Now let me just say one thing. Just why was Rinko Kikuchi nominated for an Oscar? The only thing her character did was take off her panties and just stood around in the buff. I think her naked body had more screen time than was necessary. I'm glad I didn't pay USD18.00 to see this at the theater. Oh, even if the American was Brad Pitt.

6. EPIC MOVIE (2007) - Mindless parody to add to "The Scary Movie" series and "Date Movie". Not as good as the "Scary" series but just a tad better than "Date Movie". Mostly one long parody of "The Chronicles of Narnia". Also, "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", "Nacho Libre", and "The DaVinci Code". Only for people who have a lot of time on their hands.

7. RING OF THE NIBELUNGS (2004) - A made for TV movie based on a Nordic legend which was the inspiration for J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings". But my opinion is that because of the success of Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings", this movie was able to be made. It seems they put a lot of money into too for a television production. It's also as long as any of the "Ring" movies - a little over three hours. Siegfried is a blacksmith who falls for the Queen of Iceland (the woman from "Terminator 3" but does not know that he is the son of a king. He becomes a hero when he slays a dragon but does not listen to the Nibelungs, the original keepers of the gold the dragon was hoarding, that the treasure is cursed which will also endanger his relationship with the queen. You haven't heard of this film either? That because it was released as "DARK KINGDOM: THE DRAGON KING" in the U.S.

8. プルコギ THE焼肉MOVIE [PURUKOGI: THE YAKINIKU MOVIE] (2007) - Also known as "THE YAKINIKU MOVIE: BULGOGI". A Japanese comedy centered around the theme of Korean barbecue. Unfortunately it wasn't as funny as I thought it was going to be. But we watched this because we were going to have yakiniku for dinner that same evening.


Yep, a rather short list this time around as I've been spending a lot of time posting messages on this blog, playing Mario Kart on our DS Lite and reading a lot of books. I am interested in checking out some of the films my brother mentioned that he could watch over and over again in a recent silly e-mail survey. The four he listed was 1989's "Batman" with Michael Keaton (this I've seen and enjoyed), "Monsoon Wedding" and "Joe Dirt" which I haven't heard of but checked out on the IMDb site. And "Under World". Really? Is that the one about the werewolves and vampires? I guess I'll have to ask him as I don't know when he'll check this blog site. I have another pile of films already waiting for me to watch but that will have to wait for another time.