Thanks to Twitch for bringing Fruity Samurai—a collection of animated shorts that capture the look and feel of classic samurai films, but with an absurd and literally fruity twist—to my attention. The joke may seem simple, but the execution is flawless.
I’m still not entirely sure how I’m going to watch the upcoming season of Doctor Who, which begins April 23, but nevertheless, I’m quite excited for the further adventures of the Eleventh Doctor. Indeed, how can I not be after this fantastic teaser/trailer?
“Fear me. I’ve killed hundreds of Time Lords.” “Fear me. I’ve killed all of them.” Now that’s the stuff geekgasms are made of.
Boing Boing recently produced this awesome video montage of death scenes from classic video games. I recognize a lot of the games from my days of frequenting Omaha’s Family Fun Center: NARC, After Burner, Magician Lord, Shinobi, and U.N. Squadron, to name a few. Needless to say, this has “nostalgia” written all over it. And the MIDI version of “Mad World”? It’s the icing on the 16-bit cake.
Leo Kei Angelos is a fan of Bioware’s Dragon Age video game series. He’s also a stunt coordinator and film director. Put those interests together and you get Dragon Age: Malevolence, a live action fan film set within the realms of Thedas. Above is just a short teaser for the project, which Angelos hopes to release in a few months.
Hirokazu Kore-Eda is easily one of my favorite contemporary directors—read my Filmwell review of Still Walking to learn why—so needless to say, I was very excited to learn of his newest film, titled Kiseki (trans. I Wish). Here’s the film’s synopsis, via Nippon Cinema:
After his parents get divorced, Koichi (Koki Maeda) winds up living with his mother and grandparents in Kagoshima, while his brother Ryunosuke (Oshiro Maeda) lives with their father in Fukuoka. The brothers dream of their family being reunited one day, so they’re both very excited when the Kyushu Shinkansen is completed, especially when they hear that a miracle will occur when the first trains meet. Because of this, they decide to do whatever they can do make sure this miracle actually takes place.
Now, if this film were being made by any other director, I’d stay far away. “Why,” you ask? Because the above synopsis promises all kinds of overwrought melodrama and cute kid shenanigans, two things I really dislike in films. However, Kore-Eda has crafted deeply affecting films from other story ideas with similar potential—e.g., Still Walking, Nobody Knows—so I have great faith in his abilities here.
As you can see from the trailer above, Kiseki reunites Kore-Eda with several of the excellent actors from Still Walking, including Hiroshi Abe, Yoshio Harada, and Kirin Kiki, which is a good sign. Another good sign is that the film stars Joe Odagiri, himself a fine actor.
Kiseki will be released in Japan on June 11, 2011.