For those of you who enjoy a little Elf on Orc on Dwarf action comes the first, full-length trailer for the final instalment in Peter Jackson’s epic The Hobbit trilogy. And it doesn’t disappoint, with virtually every frame resonating with beautifully rendered dread, the Battle of […]
Author: fletcher
A Tale of Samurai Cooking- A True Love Story
As eluded in the films title, director Yuzo Asahara tackles one of Japans most famous, true-life love stories stemming from the final bloody years of the Samurai era. The story follows the turbulent relationship between Haru, a precocious young maid of the Kaga Lord’s concubine […]
Pale Moon
Selected to represent Japan in the 27th Tokyo International Film Festival competition section, Pale Moon comes from award winning commercial director Daihachi Yoshida, who makes a strategic retreat from his usual visual flair to deliver a wrenching character study of a Japanese woman seeking significance […]
Trailer Break: Avengers Age of Ultron
After an exhausting few weeks of announcements and updates on the film franchise machines of Marvel and DC, a massive geek bomb just exploded online with the Avengers Age of Ultron trailer being leaked. And while Marvel could have run around yelling cease and desist, a big […]
To Be Takei
There is a moment in Jennifer M. Kroot’s documentary To Be Takei, where her film’s subject, Star Trek alum, stage and screen actor and social activist George Takei has a moment of genuine introspection, pronouncing ‘I, in my own life, have been the beneficiary of an […]
Hosoda’s Pack
With a history that can be traced to the 12th century, Japanese cartoons, or manga as they are commonly referred to in the archipelago, have always been enjoyed en-mass as both divisive social commentary and titillating escapism. And while art historians and contemporary pop-culturists argue […]
The Wind Rises
While Hayao Miyazaki’s (Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away) latest endeavour boasts all the familiar artistic qualities of his previous films, The Wind Rises is a very different and contentious beast on which the writer/director has chosen to rest his pen. Abandoning the high fantasy that usually […]
A Conversation with Kaoru Yachigusa
It’s difficult to fathom the impact that the ever elegant and beautiful Kaoru Yachigusa has had on Japan’s entertainment landscape. Between 1947 and 1957 she honed her trade as an entertainer with the Takarazuka Revue, all all-female musical theatre troupe renowned for their lavish Broadway-style […]
A Conversation with Yoshihiro Fukugawa
On the surface, biopics about elderly poets may not seem like compelling viewing. Yoshihiro Fukugawa, however, begs to differ, having recently finished his new film Don’t Lose Heart, which brings the inspirational true story of Toyo Shibata, one of Japan’s best known poets, to the […]
A Conversation with Edgar Wright
“I literally shot one of the Klingons being shot. So, you know, it’s on screen for like two seconds.” After the smash out performance of Shaun of the Dead and Scott Pilgrim V The World, Edgar Wright puts aside Marvel’s mighty Ant-Man to helm the final […]
A Conversation With Simon Pegg
“Not that we’ve ever fought zombies… but they grow out of our own parochial experiences in the UK, and that’s something that really defines all 3 films.” After trekking across the universe for director J.J. Abrams and globe trotting as part of the Mission: Impossible team, […]
A Conversation with Nick Frost
“I don’t generally indulge myself in terms of looking back and thinking ‘Gee wiz you’ve done fucking great!’” English thespian, foodie and all round nice guy Nick Frost has become a stalwart of the English cinema scene. His long time partnership with the irrepressible Simon […]
