Amoeba Music Videos: More from the archives...

Still a lot going on here, which explains my less than stellar updating skills lately. But I thought that I'd put some more links up for the videos and interviews that I've cut for Amoeba Music that have been approved by the bands and their management -- there's been a lot more that's been cut but we're still waiting approval. (Talib Kweli or Jesu or Galactic or all of you others are you listening?)

Lee Rocker - Interview:



Lee Rocker - Performance:



Film School - Performance:



Gore Gore Girls - Performance:



John Doe - Performance:



Menomena - Interview:



Menomena - Performance:



Sondre Lerche - Interview:



Gram Parsons and the Flying Burrito Bros. Live at the Avalon Ballroom 1969 - EPK

Guitar Wolf! Get off your lazy asses!

So it's been, what, like 8 months or something since their last album 'DEAD ROCK' came out? I was beginning to wonder why Guitar Wolf didn't have a new album. What a bunch of slackers!

Yeah, well apparently Guitar Wolf thought they were slacking too and so for the second time in one year they have a new album out!

On sale today in Japan (November 22nd) and called 火星ツイスト(or MARS TWIST in English) the album is being released on the eve of their 20th anniversary! (Congrats guys!) The concept behind this album appears to be 'self covers' (セルフカバーアルバム-- their words, not mine...) of various songs and CD comes with a bonus live DVD and a special booklet.

Additionally, and very cooly, bitchin' retro drag-race inspired artist (Coop look-alike) ROCKIN' JELLY BEAN was commissioned to make a limited edition silk screen poster. (See top.) All in all, it makes me want a sequel to WILD ZERO.

In other news, according to Guitar Wolf's homepage, lead singer Seiji (aka. Guitarwolf) has undergone some surgery for a hip ailment "...due to his intense performance history over the years." (And that is approximately how much they rock: they cripple themselves with their intensity!)

Here's hoping that he has a speedy recovery and they can get back and at 'em putting out 3 albums in 2008. I'll be waiting!

You can listen to sound samples here.

Nightmare Detective Review on Midnighteye

Forgot to post this when it went up, but my review of Tsukamoto Shinya's NIGHTMARE DETECTIVE (aka. Akumu Tantei) is now up on Midnighteye. I had a chance to see it opening day in Tokyo and mention my thoughts about that in the review. Check it out if you have a chance.

Link to previous NIGHTMARE DETECTIVE posting.

Stop the Presses! There's a Variety Japan Now?

I was at a birthday party last Saturday and I met a woman named Atsuko Kohata who is (I think) the lone reporter for the newly started Variety Japan (?!).

Yes, you read that right, Variety Asia was apparently not cutting the mustard since it's all in English.

Launched November 1st, Variety Japan is one stop source for worldwide entertainment news that is all in Japanese. Part of their content consists of articles translated the English language editions, but there's also original content (limited so far, it seems) that's being produced for the site (interviews mainly).

Okay, well, that's cool I suppose, but forgive me for asking the big question: Why?

The implication with the Variety Japan launch is that Japanese companies want to expand abroad with more export minded content. But the problem with the export of Japanese media abroad has never been a lack of willingness from companies in the West-- nor a lack of interest from Japanese companies themselves. The problem has been that many Japanese media companies have an over-inflated sense of their own self-worth and, for example, demand premium prices for films that would have no chance in hell of recouping their costs in the foreign market. This is on top of numerous stories I have heard about hostile foreign sales branches for some major Japanese studios makes me highly skeptical of this whole thing.

Perhaps Don (Ryuganji) or Jason Gray can offer some insights on this? (Know anything guys?) But while I wish Variety Japan the best of luck, I hope that the Japanese companies receive a complimentary change of attitude with foreign film festivals and distribution companies included with the yearly subscriptions.

Link here.

Kaneda! Tasukette!!

On-line postings about the long rumored AKIRA live action US remake (perhaps) finally getting some traction has pissed off a load of fans in Japan-- inflaming comment boards on Mixi and the infamous Nichanneru.

But why now? The AKIRA remake has been one of those long planned projects that has (rightly) been in limbo for four years.

Well, as shown below, Warner Bros. has been trying to fast track it before tomorrow's long dreaded and looming writer's strike and apparently someone picked up on the following blurb from bloody-disgusting.com and translated it into Japanese. Now fans in Nippon are bristling with self-righteous indignity and calling for blood.

Here's the inflaming post:

One of the greatest post-apocalyptic thrillers ever told was the animated Manga Akira, which saw an announcement wayyyy back in July of 2003 that James Robinson would pen the adaptation with director Steven Norrington. I'm sure this has long passed, but we do have something official that just leaked to us through the grapevine, something that's going to blow your socks off. We've been informed that Warner Bros. Pictures is trying to get Akira off the ground pre-strike and have attached 29-year-old Oscar nominated Irish director Ruairi Robinson! No more details have been revealed other than he directed a mind blowing short film entitled The Silent City, which can be viewed over at BDTV. Watch this spot for more news soon and cross your fingers that this sucker gets rolling ASAP. (LINK)

Hey, you know what? The Japanese fans are absolutely right to be pissed off about this. But before they grab their pitchforks and torches let's remind them that there's another Kurosawa Akira remake about to happen in Japan and if they act fast they can stop it. (Link to this via Twitchfilm.net)

Capsule One: SHINOBI NO MONO Vol. 1

Work has been busy here and I have a lot of projects brewing, which have been keeping me away from the blog. In between all of this, I've been trying to catch up on the stack of films sitting in my apartment while also trying to get out and see some limited-run stuff out in the theaters.

So, in the interest of time and because I think that no one really wants to read one of my long-ass reviews, I've decided to turn in a number of capsule reviews on various films I've seen.

I don't know how long or how regularly I will be doing these, so consider this a trial run of sorts. Oh, and by all means, let me know what you think of these films that I've written about. As they say, "Opinions are like assholes..."

Here's the first one:

SHONBI NO MONO
Vol. Ninja Band of Assassins
(1962)
Dir. Yamamoto Satsuo
Cast:
Ichikawa Raizo
Ito Yunosuke
Fujimura Shiho
Wakayama Tomisaburo (aka. Kenzaburou Joh)
Format Viewed: DVD

The kind folks at Animeigo have been hooking me up with their releases for a while now (thanks guys!) and writing reviews about them when I have the chance. (And if this capsule thing takes, then I will try and go back and post some write-ups on the stuff I've already watched.)

Part one of a slated eight disc series release (let's hope Animeigo is able to do them all), this series stars a young Ichikawa Raizo as Ishikawa Goemon a hot-headed young ninja whose aspirations of ninja glory is cynically manipulated by ninja group leader Momochi Sandayu who wants to kill power hungry Oda Nobunaga (played by a pre-LONE WOLF AND CUB Wakayama Tomisaburo who is credited as Joh Kenzaburo). Oda, it seems, wants to unite all Japan and views the ninja's as a stumbling block. Concurrent with this, Momochi learns that a competing clan, run by the wizened old Fujibayashi, also plans to assassinate Oda and this is intolerable, so far as he's concerned. Framed for a murder he didn't commit, Ishikawa goes on the run with Momochi's promise that if he assassinates Oda before the rival clan does, then all will be forgiven... But being the world of the ninja Goemon cannot believe what he sees or hears and he is forced to survive using all of his wit and skills.

Often credited as the series that turned the ninja from a laughable kids' superhero into something more historical accurate and reality based, director Yamamoto Satsuo (picture right) ** states that SHINOBI NO MONO is different because it was carefully researched and precisely shot. Gone are the ninjas who disappear in a puff of smoke and can fly, instead we are shown how ninja's work their 'magic', as illustrated by their guiding rule: 'Be devious!' Use a rat to distract a person and sneak by, use a long string and a eye-dropper of poison to kill a sleeping enemy etc. (This attention to 'realism' is particularly interesting considering that SHINOBI... was a Daiei production: home of the more lush and stagey jidai-geki productions.)

The fact that Animeigo has taken the initiative and started releasing SHINOBI NO MONO -- arguably the most famous ninja series in Japan -- should be applauded. What's more, it seems that slowly but surely Animeigo is heading back in the right direction in terms of quality production, which for a short time had taken a bit of a dip.

That said, my one itty-bitty grievance is that while I know it costs money to print booklets it would be great to get the old liner notes back on the page and off of the discs, while also, perhaps, publishing some new essays about the series. I'm just saying... (Keep in mind that this is one man's opinion, but I'm still holding onto -- and occasionally buying used -- the old Animeigo Laserdiscs because I loved their production quality, translations and liner notes.)

Most definitely recommended.

** Yamamoto's films are the retrospective centerpiece at this year's Tokyo FILMEX, which, regrettably I won't be able to attend as planned. They will be, incidentally, showing SHINOBI NO MONO on both November 18th and 20th. Ii ne.

SHUFFLE

Yesterday, at long last, I finally had a chance to watch Ishii Sogo's CRAZY THUNDER ROAD. I will write about it at another time (as part of my new series of capsule reviews that I'm working on) but in short, it's pretty awesome.

While doing some poking around on-line for more Ishii Sogo stuff, I stumbled upon numerous clips from Ishii's seminal 1981 short film SHUFFLE. Unfortunately, these clips only add up to about half of the film (taken from different parts) and while I'm not advocating bootlegging here, there's just no other way at the moment see a lot of Ishii's work.

Ishii Sogo is a badass. It's just that simple. Bursting onto the filmmaking scene in the late 1970s with a vicious DIY work ethic and a punk rock sensibility, what I love about his early films is how they hum with immediacy and burst angry statements about how shit society is.

In my opinion Ishii Sogo's movies are like bottle rockets shot at your eyes: they DEMAND your attention and you WANT to watch no matter how much it stings.

Watching these clips from SHUFFLE I was struck by how much the opening scene seemed to inform Tsukamoto Shinya's opening for TETSUO (I wonder if it's conscious or not?). Every shot in this opening is beautifully composed and has a considered purpose: it's economical and powerful and will eventually act as a counterpoint to chaotic color, hand-held shots that come later.

The rest of the clips, including the mind-blowing ending, ripples with Ishii's regular themes and metaphors: a youth who is bucking against the norm; radical body manipulation, running, fire arms and loud, punk/industrial music.

Question: What does it take for a company to release a box set of Ishii's stuff in the US? Come on, it's been done for you in Japan. Just port it over and slap on some titles. If you do this, you'd already have one sale: ME.

Enjoy the clips!

OPENING:



CLIP #2:



CLIP #3:



ENDING: