Nin x Nin: Ninja Hattori-kun (Japanese) 2004; Poster, Synopsis / Plot and Trailer

Directed by:

Masayuki Suzuki
Genre:
Action + Adventure + Comedy + Family + Fantasy + Drama

Synopsis:

Kanzo Hattori, an apprentice Ninja, leaves his home town of Iga for his final training. He must go to the city of Edo (Tokyo), and the first person he meets shall be his master, whom he must protect with his life, whilst upholding the ninja code.

Also while in Edo, Hattori must find out why their rivals, the Koga Ninjas, are flourishing while the Iga Ninjas are dying out. Hattori’s master is Kenichi, a 9 year old boy. Kenichi is an introvert and not very popular boy, so he never plays with the other children from school.

Kenichi also has a secret crush on a young lady called Midori, yet he’s too shy to speak to her. Though as he watches Hattori trying his best, he too begins to try. Meanwhile, people are being found unconscious, their bodies completely unmarked.

All the victims have a tattoo (the Koga Ninja crest) and are found with a throwing knife lying close by.
(from IMDb.com)

Casts:

Kazuyuki Asano …. Kentaro Mitsuba
Mikihisa Azuma …. Kashiwada Keiji
Yuri Chinen …. Kenichi Mitsuba
Gori …. Kemumaki/Sato Sensei
Shirô Itô …. Jinzo Hattori
Shingo Katori …. Kanzo Hattori
Takeshi Masu …. Korakage
Rena Tanaka …. Midori
Keiko Toda …. Taeko Mitsuba
Takashi Ukaji …. Tahara Keibu

Superheroes:

Ninja Hattori

Runtime:

102 min

Country:

Japan

Based on the manga/anime:

“Ninja Hattori-kun” created by Fujio Fujiko

Year: 2004
Directed: Masayuki Suzuki
Genre: Comedy, Action, Family
Runtime: 01:42
Country: Japan
Language: Japanese
Subtitles: English
Cast: Shingo Katori, Rena Tanaka
IMDB: Nin x Nin: Ninja Hattori-kun, the Movie

Synopsis / Plot

Kanzo Hattori, an apprentice Ninja, leaves his home town of Iga for his final training. He must go to the city of Edo (Tokyo), and the first person he meets shall be his master, whom he must protect with his life, whilst upholding the ninja code.

Also while in Edo, Hattori must find out why their rivals, the Koga Ninjas, are flourishing while the Iga Ninjas are dying out. Hattori’s master is Kenichi, a 9 year old boy.

Kenichi is an introvert and not very popular boy, so he never plays with the other children from school. Kenichi also has a secret crush on a young lady called Midori, yet he’s too shy to speak to her.

Though as he watches Hattori trying his best, he too begins to try. Meanwhile, people are being found unconscious, their bodies completely unmarked. All the victims have a tattoo (the Koga Ninja crest) and are found with a throwing knife lying close by.

Elevé dans les montagnes, Kanzo Hattori, dit NIN, est l’un des derniers descendants du clan des ninjas IGA. Arrivé à maturité, son père, le grand maître Hattori, lui ordonne d’accomplir son destin de Ninja du clan en se rendant à Tokyo.

A son arrivée, le hasard le projette contre le destin du jeune Kenichi qui lui sauve la vie. NlN devra désormais lui prêter allégeance, et servir le jeune maître sans se faire remarquer par la population locale. Plongé dans l’enfer urbain de la métropole japonaise du XXI e siècle, il se rend compte que le clan rival, les KOGA, sont d’ores et déjà bien infiltrés dans la société et prêts à agir…

Par le producteur de Avalon, Nin Nin est l’adaptation cinématographique de Ninja Hattori-kun, le célèbre manga créé par Fujiko F. Fujio (Doraemon). Shingô Katori, star du groupe pop japonais SMAP, nous entraîne dans une aventure exceptionnelle où les ninjas règnent en maître. Un succès phénoménal au Japon !

Nin Nin - trailer VOST

The Fatality (Thai/Taiwanese) 2009, Poster, Plot/Synopsis and Trailer

Aka : Tok Tra Phee
Year : 2009
Country : Thailand/Taiwan
Language : Thai/Mandarin
Subtitle(s) : English/Traditional Chinese
Film Genre : Horror/Thriller
IMDB : Na

Director : Tiwa Moeithaisong, Kuang Sheng, Lin Tsu Liang, Liang Hung Chih
Cast : Kenji Wu, Pitchanart Sakhakorn, Matt Wu, Somlek Sakikul, Sam Lee

Plot/Synopsis

Somehow, a mentally disturbed 30-year-old man from Taipei finds himself waking up out of a coma in a hospital in a small coastal town in Thailand.
A woman is at his bedside, calling him Assanee. But that’s not his name. His name is Her Sue Yong. And besides, he can’t speak Thai. He leaps from his bed and runs, and the nurses give chase.
In Taiwan, he was a bedraggled, long-haired scavenger. He had a disfigured face. But in Thailand, the skin on his face is smooth and his hair is short. He’s a clean-cut young man with a beautiful wife. And he has a job as a civil servant in a government office. His inability to speak Thai is no problem at work. Heck, there’s even a deaf-mute on the staff. All Assanee has to do is wait for people to hand him forms, and he stamps them. Seems easy enough. Read more …

Strange Circus (Japanese) 2005, Poster, Synopsis, Plot and Strange Circus Official Trailer

Aka: Kimyô na sâkasu
Year: 2005
Directed: Sion Sono
Genre: Horro/Mystery/Thriller
Runtime: 108 mins
Country: Japan
Language: Japanese
Subtitles: English
Cast: Masumi Miyazaki, Issei Ishida, Rie Kuwana, Mai Takahashi
Imdb: Kimyô na sâkasu

Synopsis / Plot

From the director of the cult hit Suicide Club comes an unsettling look at the life of a sexually-abused adolescent whose inability to distinguish her mother’s pleasure from her own pain sends her down a dark and surreal path. Sexually molested by her father Gozu (Hiroshi Oguchi) and mentally tormented by her jealous mother Sayuri (Masumi Miyazaki), twelve-year old Mitsuko (Rie Kuwana) is locked in a cello case and forced to watch her parents perform a series of intimate acts. When Mitsuko’s mother dies as the result of a fatal fall, the deeply disturbed young girl begins to believe that she has, in fact, been transformed into her own mother. Read more …

Gwoemul (The Host), Plot, Cast, Production, Special effects, Filming, Political Background and Trailer

The Host (괴물, Gwoemul - “Monster”) is a 2006 South Korean monster film, which also contains elements of comedy and drama films. The film was directed by Bong Joon-ho, who also co-wrote the screenplay, along with Baek Chul-hyun.

Starring in the film as members of an unremarkable family thrust into the middle of extraordinary events were Song Kang-ho, Byeon Hee-bong, Park Hae-il, Bae Doona and Ko Ah-seong. A rare combination of blockbuster plot and political commentary, the film also deals with the implications of America’s military presence in Korea.

Following the success of the director’s previous work, Memories of Murder, The Host was heavily anticipated and hyped. It was released on a record number of screens in its home country on July 27, 2006 and broke box-office records throughout its domestic run. By the end of its run on November 8th, the film had been seen over 13 million times, making it the highest grossing South Korean film of all time, beating the previous leader The King and the Clown, which had attracted 12.3 million people. The film was released on a limited basis in the United States on March 9, 2007, and on DVD, Blu-Ray and HD-DVD formats on July 24, 2007.

Plot

The film opens with an American military pathologist commanding a reluctant Korean assistant to violate protocol by dumping over 100 bottles of formaldehyde down the drain, which leads to the Han River. Read more …

Strange Circus 2005 (Japanese) Poster, Summary, Cast, Trailer

Synopsis / Plot

From the director of the cult hit Suicide Club comes an unsettling look at the life of a sexually-abused adolescent whose inability to distinguish her mother’s pleasure from her own pain sends her down a dark and surreal path. Sexually molested by her father Gozu (Hiroshi Oguchi) and mentally tormented by her jealous mother Sayuri (Masumi Miyazaki), twelve-year old Mitsuko (Rie Kuwana) is locked in a cello case and forced to watch her parents perform a series of intimate acts. When Mitsuko’s mother dies as the result of a fatal fall, the deeply disturbed young girl begins to believe that she has, in fact, been transformed into her own mother. Her father viewing the death of his wife and mental malaise of his daughter as a motivator to ramp up the incestuous relations with his increasingly unhinged offspring, Mitsuko eventually ends up restricted to a wheelchair following a failed suicide attempt. Later, it begins to appear that the preceding events were nothing more than the details of a new novel by reclusive, wheelchair-bound author Taeko (also Miyazaki). When Taeko’s trusted editor places his fey personal assistant Yuji (Issei Ishida) in charge of the successful writer, the probing Yuji launches a clandestine investigation into Taeko’s background while simultaneously being forced to satisfy her deepest and darkest fantasies. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide Read more …

Game of Death (Thai) 2006 720p BluRay, Ploster, Pot, Cast and Trailer

Aka: 13 Beloved | 13 GAME SAYAWNG
Year: 2006
Directed: Chukiat Sakveerakul
Genre: Thriller/Horror
Runtime: 108MiN
Country: Thailand
Language: Thai
Subtitles: English

Cast: Krissada Terrence || Achita Wuthinounsurasit || Sarunyu Wongkrachang || Nattapong Arunnate

Plot: 13 is a new and very secret competition offering a grand prize of 100 million Baht. The contestants are chosen from those most afflicted with problems involving work, money, family and love. Read more …

BEN (1972, US): I Recently Looked at The Original Rat-Attack Classic Willard

BEN (1972, US)

I recently looked at the original rat-attack classic Willard, but unlike the 2004 remake, the 1971 film instantly spawned a sequel.

In the early seventies, movies were slow to get to TV and of course couldn’t be scrutinised on home video. This meant that film-makers making sequels could re-use footage, and flashbacks could be unecessarily long. Ben opens with a hefty recap from the climax of Willard running under the opening titles.

The story then picks up at the moment when the police arrive at Willard’s house. Almost immediately, it’s a different kind of movie – with all the police cars and crowds, this one has scale rather than character-driven claustrophobia. It’s about the police and the city taking on a new type of rat problem – an intelligent rat directing thousands of others…

Ben is big budget but far less even than the first. On the plus side there’s more rat action, special effects on an almost disaster movie level, flame-throwers in the sewers… Read more …