Godzilla Minus One (2023)

My husband is a big fan of Godzilla. Whenever a new film hits the theaters, we are there to see it. We first saw Godzilla Minus One when it came out in theaters in early December. We saw it a second time when they released the black and white version earlier this month. But this time we got to see it in 4DX.

Near the end of World War II, kamikaze pilot Koichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki) diverts his plan to an outpost on Odo Island, pretending that there is a mechanical failure. That night, the island is attacked by a giant sea monster the locals call Godzilla. Everyone except lead mechanic Sosaku Tachibana (Munetaka Aoki) and Shikishima are killed. Ashamed of his cowardice, Shikishima returns home to Tokyo, only to find his parents died in an air raid. He meets Noriko Oishi (Minami Hamabe), a young woman who is caring for an orphaned baby named Akiko. Knowing that they need money to keep Akiko alive, he takes a job detonating mines in the ocean around Japan. When he finds a much larger and more powerful Godzilla is on the way to attack Japan, he teams up with other veterans from the war to defeat the monster.

There are quite a few Godzilla movies that mostly focus on the monster. (I’m pretty sure most of those are American-produced versions.) Minus One is an extremely emotional story about the effects of war and survivor’s guilt and doing what is necessary in order to survive. While I know these are somewhat common themes in the Japanese-produced Godzilla movies, I have never seen one this emotional. We really get to see Shikishima break down over his perceived failures as a man. And Noriko’s anguish at not being able to help someone she loves overcome what the war has done to him. Seeing all of this in color was already amazing and beautiful. Seeing it in black and white was very different. Somehow it made everything feel more important or more heartbreaking. I didn’t think I could enjoy this movie more, but the black and white version proved me wrong.

Rating: A

Shin Ultraman | Movie Review

Whenever we can, my husband and I try to go see any Japanese movies aired by Fathom Events. We saw Shin Godzilla back in 2016. This week we saw Shin Ultraman. Both movies were made by Shinji Higuchi and Hideaki Anno. A third movie is scheduled to be released in Japan later this year but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. First, Shin Ultraman.

Giant monsters called kaiju are attacking Japan. The government has formed a taskforce called S-Class Species Suppression Protocol or SSSP to handle them. During a particularly difficult kaiju attack, an extraterrestrial in the shape of a giant human appears and dispatches the beast. But now the SSSP has a new problem - is Ultraman a friend or foe?

In an attempt to reboot the original series into one 2-hour movie, the kaiju fights are very short. The movie starts with a list of kaiju and how they were killed. Ultraman fights two kaiju then the first “big bad” is introduced. Yes, there is more than one Big Bad. There are actually three Big Bad enemies. Ultraman fights five enemies in total. Unfortunately, the kaiju fights are usually the focus of tokusatsu movies. By minimizing the fights, the movie seems to drag a lot.

Since the fights are so short, the time is filled with a lot of talking. We aren’t given the time to see the kaiju or Ultraman or the baddies do much so it has to be explained to us. This also makes the movie drag. Seriously, this was the longest 2-hour movie I have ever watched.

But there are some good parts. Masami Nagasawa was wonderful as Hiroko Asami. She brought the perfect amount of humor to a movie that sorely needed it. Everyone else was fine but it really was Nagasawa that made Shin Ultraman worth watching. OK, really she is the only good part.

Shin Ultraman really is a Japanese movie for a Japanese audience. While that isn’t a bad thing, we were shown an interview with the director, Shinji Higuchi, before the movie. Higuchi noted the differences between Japanese audiences and American audiences and he hoped that American audiences would enjoy his movie. I didn’t hate the movie. As a matter of fact, I did find a lot of it quite enjoyable. But I’m not sure a lot of people would feel the same.

Jmovie: Kamen Rider Decade: All Riders vs Dai-Shocker

Title: Kamen Rider Decade: All Riders vs. Dai-Shocker Release date: 8/8/09 Genre: Tokusatsu Cast: Masahiro Inoue, Kanna Mori, Ryouta Murai, Moe Arai, Ryuichi Oura Plot: The worlds are merging together, destroying each other. Only by killing all of the Riders from all of the various worlds can one world be saved. Or is that the real solution? What is good: Watching the Kamen Riders fight was interesting. What is bad: Gackt's cameo was awful. Letter rating: B- Overall: I've never watched Kamen Rider in any of its forms. As a matter of fact, the only reason I wanted to watch this was for the Gackt cameo. Unfortunately, the Gackt cameo was terrible. Despite not knowing anything about the series, the movie wasn't too bad. I was able to keep up with the plot, for the most part, and it was kinda cool to see all the various incarnations of the Rider. The main downside was that the movie was only 66 minutes so it was more like a special episode then a full-length movie. They probably could have spent a little more time fleshing out some things or let the battles go on a little bit longer. As a whole, I had a decent time watching it.

Favorite Friday

Because I still have Yankumi on the brain. I am giving you the trailer for the Gokusen movie. YAY!

As a side note, there's a motorcycle gang in the trailer. I wonder if Japan has specialized motorcycle accident lawyers. Then again, it seems to be pretty rare for vehicle accidents to go to court there. I shall use my Google-Fu and find out!

Jmovie review: Kagen no Tsuki

Title: Kagen no Tsuki Also known as: Last Quarter Release date: 2004 Genre: Supernatural romance Cast: Kuriyama Chiaki, Narimiya Hiroki, Kurokawa Tomoka, Ochiai Motoki, Hyde Plot: As Mizuki (Kuriyama) turns 19, she finds out that her boyfriend, Tomoki (Narimiya), has been cheating on her. Running away from her heartache, she comes upon an abandoned estate. Inside she finds a mysterious guitar player named Adam (Hyde), who claims to know her. During the last quarter of the moon, Adam tells Mizuki that he must leave. Desperate to stay with him, Mizuki races to find him, only to be hit by a car. Two schoolchildren (Kurokawa and Ochiai) soon find the estate with a mysterious girl who cannot leave. What is the connection between the house, Adam, and Mizuki? What is good: Kuriyama is a very good actress. What is bad: The story dragged a lot. Letter rating: C Overall: I mostly rented this movie because Hyde is in it. I didn't realize that both Kuriyama and Narimiya were in it as well. Despite all of the talent in the film, it was still very difficult to watch. The pacing was extremely slow. It takes a long time for the characters to come to relatively easy conclusions and some things that don't need to explained are over explained. If you are a fan of the actors, it's a nice way to spend a couple of hours. Otherwise, feel free to overlook this without a second thought.

JDorama review: Kisarazu Cat's Eye: The Movie

Title: Kisarazu Cat's Eye: The Movie Release date: 11/2003 Genre: Comedy Cast: Okada Junichi, Sakurai Sho, Okada Yoshinori, Sato Ryuta, Tsukamoto Takashi Plot: Bussan (Junichi) is dying. His doctors continually tell him that he has six months left to live. Instead of being depressed, he lives life normally with his friends. What is good: There are some very funny moments. What is bad: The beginning of the movie is rather confusing. Letter rating: C+ Overall: I should start out by confessing that I have not watched the 9-episode drama that goes with the movie. This was just something I plucked off of Netflix without any expectations. As such, I was terribly confused for the first 45 minutes. Perhaps, if I was familiar with the series, I might have understood what was going on. Either way, the movie really picks up in the last half of the film. Once you can piece everything together and see how each event relates to other events, the movie is quite fun! I actually found myself staying up way past my bedtime just to find out how it ends. (I rarely stay up past my bedtime. I like sleep.) Now I need to track down the series so I can see what other adventurous mishaps this gang gets into!

Jmovie review: Lupin III: Strange Psycho-Kinetic Strategy

Title: Lupin III: Strange Psycho-Kinetic Strategy Release date: 1974 Genre: Action Comedy Cast: Yuuki Meguro, Hideko Ezaki, Kunio Tanaka, Shirou Itou Plot: Hijinks ensue when Lupin (Meguro), the world's greatest thief, meets Fujiko (Ezaki), a female thief. What is good: Lupin versus Zenigata (Itou) is always funny. What is bad: Too much slapstick. Letter rating: D+ Overall: For some reason, when I added this to my Netflix queue, I thought it was an animated version of Lupin. I was a little surprised when I popped in the disc to see a live action version instead. Regardless, it's still Lupin and I always enjoy Lupin movies. Well, now I can change that line of thought. Where Lupin tends to be silly, he always has a serious side. This version failed to show his serious side. We saw "Funny Lupin," "Horny Lupin," a little tiny bit of "Clever Lupin," but never once was there "Serious Lupin." In my opinion, this is where the movie failed. They relied way too much on "Funny Lupin" to carry the movie. Perhaps this would have been satisfactory in 1974, but it just doesn't stand the test of time.

JDorama review: L: Change the WorLd

Title: L: Change the WorLd Release date: 2/9/08 Genre: Supernatural, Detective Cast: Matsuyama Kenichi, Fukuda Narushi, Fukuda Mayuko, Kudoh Youki Plot: During the final 23 days of his life, L takes the time to solve one more case. This one involves a bio-terrorist group intent on killing most of the Earth's population with a virus. What is good: Matsuyama is as good as ever! What is bad: Well...I fell asleep...that can't be a good thing, right? Letter rating: C Overall: I really wanted to like this sort-of sequel to Death Note. Like many others, L is one of my favorite characters. Unfortunately, this case seems to be a pretty big waste of his talents. The only reason L seems to be involved in this case is because people just randomly send things (and people) to him. As much as I wanted to watch the movie, I did fall asleep because it was so dull. L deserved a better ending than this.

Jdorama review: Ping Pong

Title: Ping Pong Release date: 7/20/02 Genre: Sports comedy Cast: Kubozuka Yosuke, Arata, Sam Lee, Nakamura Shido, Okura Koji, Takenaka Naoto, Natsuki Mari Plot: Peco (Kubozuka), a really good table tennis player, meets his match against a player from China (Lee), but there is another talented player Peco must face. Will he meet the challenge or give up his lifelong dream of being the world's best table tennis player? What is good: Kubozuka Yosuke once again pulls off an amazing character. What is bad: I can't think of anything that really detracts from the movie. Letter rating: A Overall: I really love Kubozuka's acting and his skills shine here. The rest of the cast supports him well, even though I did find myself giggling a little bit about all the drama that takes place around ping pong. This is definitely a movie that every jdorama lover should watch at least once.

JDorama review: Kamikaze Girls

Title: Shimotsuma Monogatari Also known as: Kamikaze Girls Release date: 2004 Genre: Slice of life Cast: Fukada Kyoko, Anna Tsuchiya Plot: Momoko (Fukada) is a Lolita girl. Ichiko (Tsuchiya) is a delinquent. This is the story of their friendship. What is good: The cinematography is beautiful. What is bad: Tsuchicya's acting seems very forced and fake. Letter rating: C Overall: As a general rule, I'm excited to see live action Japanese movies get licensed in the United States. Unfortunately, for every Death Note, there's a Kamikaze Girls. The movie isn't completely awful. I did manage to get through it entirely. However, it is dragged out and dull. While you would like the characters to better themselves, you don't really care about them and, for the most part, you'd prefer if they just left each other alone for once. The ending is very sweet...it just seems to take forever to get there.