Topic: Tom's Random Reviews

[Tom]

MOVIE / DVD INFO:

Title: Battle Royale
Year: 2000
Director: Kinji Fukasaku
Rating: Category III
Length: 113 Min.
Video: Widescreen 1.85
Audio: Japanese: Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles: Chinese, English

Stars:
Tatsuya Fujiwara
Aki Maeda
Taro Yamamoto
Masanobu Ando
Kou Shibasaki

Plot:
A group of 9th graders, led by their teacher, are hijacked to fight the Battle Royale. It only allows one survivor among them at the end of the battle. As the brutal game begins, terror and panic challenge the students' fragile trust in each other. Some suspect everyone, blindly striking down those who cross their paths. Other form alliances, dreaming of a peaceful solution with multiple survivors...

Extras:
Production Notes
Scene Access
Trailers

My Thoughts:

I enjoyed this movie. This movie is about 42 students who are left on an island and must kill each other until only one is left, otherwise all are killed after three days time. I think the movie is well done. My favorite is the teacher who put them all there. My favorite scene is the briefing of the students of what they have to face.

And yet another movie where one of Death Note's cast has a role. "Light" from Death Note has also a starring role here.

Rating:

[Najemikon]

Glad you enjoyed it, Tom. Now... take heed if you want an untarnished memory of this film... no matter how tempted you are, do not consider the sequel. Ever. It's an insult to intelligence.

[Tom]

Glad you enjoyed it, Tom. Now... take heed if you want an untarnished memory of this film... no matter how tempted you are, do not consider the sequel. Ever. It's an insult to intelligence.

Yes, it is actually the first time, that I am not even tempted to buy a sequel to a movie I liked.

[Achim]

Glad you liked it too. Yes, Takeshi Kitano/Beat Takeshi is interesting to watch in this film, although not necessarily my favorite.

Did you also notice the Gogo from Kill Bill Vol. 1 (Chiaki Kuriyama)? She was Girl #13 and went quite mental in the film...

[Tom]

Did you also notice the Gogo from Kill Bill Vol. 1 (Chiaki Kuriyama)? She was Girl #13 and went quite mental in the film...

After having watched the movie I have gone through the cast list and noticed, that someone was in Kill Bill. But I wouldn't have recognized her, as even now I do not remember who Gogo is (only seen Kill Bill Vol 1 twice and Vol 2 once so far). Had to look it up on Wikipedia.

[Tom]

MOVIE / DVD INFO:

Title: NANA 2
Year: 2006
Director: Kentaro Otani
Rating: Category IIA
Length: 130 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85
Audio: Japanese: Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles: Chinese, English

Stars:
Yui Ichikawa
Mika Nakashima
Nobuo Kyou
Tetsuji Tamayama
Hongo Kanata

Plot:
Two Girls with the same name but from very different upbringings, one dreaming of stardom and the other in pursuit of personal fulfillment, take on new challenges as they seek to mature in their personal and professional lives. Despite diametrically opposed personalities, both find in each other a mutual "complementarity" that fuels each other's dreams of happiness and success. But life never stands still, and when reality steps in with challenges that begin eroding the foundations of their friendship, the two Nanas find themselves clinging to a promise they made to see a summer fireworks display together as a symbol of hope that their destinies are still tied.

My Thoughts:

Watchable sequel but far from the first movie. And of what I have read, whereas the first movie was praised by fans of the manga whereas this sequel was a major disappointment for them.

Rating:

[Tom]

MOVIE / DVD INFO:

Title: Midori no hibi
Year: 2004
Rating: PG-13
Length: 325 Min.
Video: Full Frame 1.33:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital Stereo , Japanese: Dolby Digital Stereo
Subtitles: English

Plot:
Seji "Mad Dog" Sawamura is the ultimate high-school punk. With his super-strong, invincible right hand, he can punch through cenemt walls and lay waste to entire street gangs. But street cred comes with a high price - every girl in the school is absolutely terrified of him! Just when he thinks he is doomed to fly solo forever, Seji's right hand becomes an actual girl! Midori Kasugano wished she could be by Seiji's side...but ended up somehow attached to his wrist. Seiji's fighting days may be over, but his girl-trouble days are about to begin!!

Extras:
Deleted Scenes
Original Audio Drama
Outtakes
Scene Access
Trailers

My Thoughts:

Great fun series! Have it seen three times so far, and it never gets boring.

Rating:

[Tom]

MOVIE / DVD INFO:

Title: School for Scoundrels
Year: 2006
Director: Todd Phillips
Rating: NR
Length: 108 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35
Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1 , Commentary: Dolby Digital Stereo
Subtitles: English, Spanish

Stars:
Billy Bob Thornton
Jon Heder
Jacinda Barrett
Michael Clarke Duncan
Sarah Silverman

Plot:
Jon Heder ('Napoleon Dynamite') and Billy Bob Thornton ('Bad Santa') face off in this "devilishly funny comedy" (Jeffrey Lyons, NBC's 'Reel Talk') by writer/director Todd Phillips ('Old School', 'Starsky & Hutch').

When unlucky loser Roger (Heder) takes a confidence-building class taught by an egomaniacal teacher (Thornton), the two are pitted in an outrageous battle to determine the ultimate guy's guy. When the rivalry spirals uproariously out of control, no prank is too extreme, no insult is over the line, and nothing is off limits.

Featuring Michael Clarke Duncan, Sarah Silverman, David Cross, Jacinda Barrett and Ben Stiller, 'School For Scoundrels' is "uncontrollably hilarious... Billy Bob Thornton and Jon Heder are at the top of their game" (Pete Hammond, 'Maxim').

Extras:
Closed Captioned
Commentary
Deleted Scenes
Featurettes
Outtakes
Scene Access
Trailers

My Thoughts:

Against my expectation, I liked this movie very much. As a matter of fact, I liked it so much, that I will probably check out the original 1960 movie of which this movie was remake of.

Rating:


Trailer:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Jh-nQKB8fwg

[Tom]

MOVIE / DVD INFO:

Title: Jesus Christ Superstar
Year: 2000
Director: Gale Edwards
Rating: NR
Length: 107 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85
Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1 , English: Dolby Digital Stereo
Subtitles:

Stars:
Glenn Carter
Jerome Pradon
Renee Castle
Fred Johanson
Rik Mayall

Plot:
Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's Jesus Christ Superstar first exploded onto the the west end stage in 1971 and it was clear that the musical world would never be the same again.
For the first time ever, Jesus Christ Superstar has been specially filmed for video. Shot at Pinewood studios. This brand new filmed stage version starring Glenn Carter and Jerome Pradon captures one of the best scores Andrew Lloyd Webber has ever written and is packed with hit songs including "I Don't Know How to Love Him", "Gethsemane" and "Superstar".

Extras:
Featurettes
Scene Access
Trailers

My Thoughts:

'Jesus Christ Superstar' is one of my all-time favorite musicals. And this stage adaption I like very much. I think it's better than the '70s movie version.
This version together with the original 1970 recording are my favorite versions of the musical.
I especially like the way Jerome Pradon plays Judas. He is not the perfect singer (even his own admission), but I like how he conveys the feelings of someone having to betray one of his dearest friends and his regret doing so.

Rating:


The 'Last Supper' Scene
http://youtube.com/watch?v=0uwF5ppPulY

[Tom]

MOVIE / DVD INFO:

Title: Full Metal Panic!: The Second Raid
Year: 2005
Rating: NR
Length: 325 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78
Audio: English: Dolby Digital Stereo , English: Dolby Digital 5.1 , Japanese: Dolby Digital Stereo , Japanese: Dolby Digital 5.1 , Commentary: Dolby Digital Stereo
Subtitles: Commentary, English

Plot:
It's tough to keep your grades up without having to take off at a moment's notice to save the world. But for Sousuke Sagara, undercover high school student and member of the mercenary group Mithril, life in Tokyo seemed the same as always. But underneath the promising exterior spin the wheels of a conspiracy that threaten to destroy the peace. A new threat has arisen: Amalgam.

An unknown element with advanced mech technology, this mysterious organization has been running things from behind the scenes. As dissension spreads throughout the ranks of Mithril, Sousuke faces his own internal struggle. Spread thin between schoolwork and war, the powers that be have decided to lighten his load... beginning with Kaname!

Life and death hang in the balance as the clash between good and evil scale new heights. When the smoke clears, Sousuke's path will be the one that he forges for himself.

Extras:
Bonus Episode 000; Bonus OVA; Textless Songs
Commentary
Featurettes
Scene Access
Trailers

My Thoughts:

The third installment in the Full Metal Panic series. And what an emotional roller coaster ride!
Whereas the first series mixes a serious story-arc with light fun episodes, this series is mostly drama. Essentially a 180 to the previous (second) series FUMOFFU which was fun-only.

Also the extras on this DVD set a quite fun. A 7-part featurette where the original author and the series director are going location scouting in Hong Kong. Although it gets rather boring with the video footage, the two provide fun commentary to it, which seldomly has anything to do with the video footage.
Then we have audio commentaries for all episodes with the Japanese voice cast. Again, there are mostly talking about everything except about the episodes . But I enjoyed them nonetheless.

The best extra feature of course is the bonus episode centering around the Tessa character. Originally it was released in Japan on DVD-only one year after The Second Raid series. This episode is comedy pure!

Rating:


Here is something rather fun: The audio of the Spider-Man 2 trailer put to video footage from Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid
http://youtube.com/watch?v=mbFngmMz15o

[Tom]

Another little YouTube clip. This is a very short clip of a "blink and you miss it" cameo appearence of four Death Note characters in an episode of Full Metal Panic!: The Second Raid

http://youtube.com/watch?v=j3I7DJbTQTs

[Tom]

MOVIE / DVD INFO:

Title: Genshiken: Complete Collection
Year: 2004
Director:
Rating: NR
Length: 325 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85
Audio: English: Dolby Digital Stereo , Japanese: Dolby Digital Stereo
Subtitles: English

Plot:
Calling all Scruffy Nerd-Herders!

Welcome to the Society for the Study of Modern Visual Culture

It is Sasahara's first day of college and a fateful choice awaits him: which college clubs will he chose to join? But Sasahara is no ordinary young man - a dark secret lurks within his soul. For one thing, he knows what "cosplay" is, how to unlock all the secret characters in "Guilty Gear X," what the plot twist is in episode twenty-five of "Kujibiki Unbalance" because he's read the manga, he's heard of doujinshi, and he needs to know more. Enter Genshiken, the barely legitimized Society for the Study of Modern Visual Culture, home to all subspecies of Otaku!

Now Otaku can watch this complete series from the safety of their own basements!!

Contains all 12 episodes of Genshiken plus 3 episodes of Kubijiki Unbalance.

Extras:
Bonus OVA: Kubijiki Unbalance
Featurettes
Interviews
Music Videos
Production Notes
Scene Access
Trailers

My Thoughts:

Great adaption of the first few volumes of the manga. I also like the music from the opener.

Cannot wait to see further episodes (3 OVAs and a second season already exists) which will introduce my favorite character from the manga.

As a bonus there are three full episodes of the fictional anime series the characters in Genshiken like to watch.

Rating:

The opening
http://youtube.com/watch?v=cueQYuFCW_Y

A funny scene from the series I found on YouTube
http://youtube.com/watch?v=vQcL0qHTlMk

[Tom]

MOVIE / DVD INFO:

Title: The Gokusen: The Complete Collection
Year: 2003
Length: 325 Min.
Video: Full Frame 1.33:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital Stereo , Japanese: Dolby Digital Stereo
Subtitles: English

Plot:
Kumiko Yamaguchi is the heir to the Oedo Yakuza family, but it's her dream to teach the youth of Japan. Putting aside her Yakuza cunning, she takes up the role of a normal bubbly graduate, landing a high-school teaching job. Now Kumiko is determined to understand the teenage mind, teach higher math and maybe carry on a little romance... yet she lives with the fact that her loyal army of brutal hitmen capable of murdering disobedient students are only one step away.

Extras:
Outtakes
Production Notes
Scene Access
Trailers

My Thoughts:

Yesterday, after having received this series, I wrote, that I only bought it, because it was cheap. It seemed like a series, which could be interesting but had a high chance to totally miss my taste (after watching the opener below before buying it seemed to make this impression to me). I was wrong! It was 12 bucks very well spent! Now only one day later I have already watched all 13 episodes almost in one sitting.
This series is about a young female rookie teacher who starts in a school full of rowdy high schoolers. What nobody knows, she is actually part of a feared Yakuza (Japanese mafia) family and she is one of the best fighters there is. But she has to hide this side of herself at school to not get fired as a teacher, which is her life's dream. The problem is, her students always seem to get in some kind of trouble.
Now I am sorry that there are only 13 episodes

Rating:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=2s7TAuASCJ8

[Kathy]

Thanks Tom for the reviews!

This is one of the reasons I like this site best; I get to learn about movies I wouldn't normally hear about. 

Plus there's no fighting!

[Tom]

Thanks Tom for the reviews!

Thanks, Kathy!

Sadly I haven't watched many movies for awhile. My unwatched pile is again growing bigger. 
Too much work, too much other stuff to do and also the nice weather we have now. Then I want to spend my weekends at a lake lying in the sun 
As I started to get a little red after the last saturday in the sun, I didn't want to take a chance and stayed at home on sunday and watched Gokusen 
And during the week I only have time for one or two TV episodes a day on average