#ryuhei kitamura

[danishexmachina]

LoveDeath (2006, dir. Ryuhei Kitamura) poster by Shintaro Kago

[dare-g]

Alive (2002)

[brokehorrorfan]

The Price We Pay will be released on Blu-ray and DVD on February 21 via Lionsgate. The 2022 action-thriller will also be available on VOD on January 10 and in select theaters on January 13.

Ryûhei Kitamura (The Midnight Meat Train, Godzilla: Final Wars) directs from a script by Christopher Jolley. Emile Hirsch and Stephen Dorff star with Gigi Zumbado, Tyler Sanders, Erika Ervin, Jesse Kinser, Sabina Mach, and Vernon Wells.

Special features are not listed. Check out the trailer below.

EMBED

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After an intense holdup at a pawnshop, Grace is taken hostage by the thieves. Forced to take refuge at a remote farmhouse late at night, they discover a secret dungeon with evidence of sadistic violence—and when "Grandfather" comes home, all hell breaks loose. Can Grace muster the courage to escape the gut-wrenching fates that befall her criminal companions?

Pre-order The Price We Pay.

[carcosahouseparty]

Absolute same energy..

single funniest line in all of anime

[alephskoteinos]

I remember seeing Ryuhei Kitamura's Aragami years ago, and I just did it again, but all that time I didn't realise that fucking Paul Gilbert from motherfucking Racer X did the ending credits track for that movie!

I went wild realising that!

[spielkritik]

Lesenswert: Game Awards, Oneechanbara-Movies, Godmode-Roman, Moonwalker, Perfect Dark Zero, MGS: The Twin Snakes

Da hat’s direkt mal wieder eine Woche länger gedauert, aber das mit voller Absicht. Letzten Mittwoch stand nämlich der erste Beitrag unserer neuen GASTSPIELER-Staffel an, und der Freitag war auch schon der letzte Freitag des Monats – und damit Quest-Log-Zeit. Um den Beiträgen nicht die Luft zum Atmen zu nehmen, wollte ich nicht auch noch Lesenswert dazwischen einzwängen. Bevor in gut einer Woche…

[lupincentral]

Have you heard the news?

Lupin III is diving into the world of live action once again, with Jigen Daisuke ‐ a spin-off film releasing “worldwide” on October 13th, 2023, exclusively on Amazon Prime Video!

Tetsuji Tamayama, who previously portrayed the character in the 2014 released feature film, will be returning to the role of Jigen.

Yoshimasa Akamatsu (BD ~Akechi Tantei Jimusho, Corpse Party: Book of Shadows) has produced the script for the film, and Hajime Hashimoto (The Detective Is in the Bar franchise, AIBOU: Tokyo Detective Duo, Shimauma, Signal) is directing.

In preparation for his reprising of the role, Tamayama states in an interview with Natalie that he has watched the Lupin the IIIRD spin-off film Jigen’s Gravestone, and hopes to bring this cooler, more mature version of the character to television screens come October.

Details on the plot are currently scarce - however, the Natalie article mentions that it involves Jigen searching Japan for the world’s greatest gunsmith, after his trusty combat magnum is in need of some TLC (and said gunsmith just happens to run a rather curious watch shop)…

More details on the film are to be revealed closer to its release date. For now, you can check out the films first trailer embedded below, and its announcement over at website Natalie.

After Lupin ZERO wrapping up at the end of last year, and VS. Cat’s Eye releasing in January, a live action Jigen spin-off is not where I expected TMS to go next with the Lupin franchise. It is, however, in my opinion, a welcome diversion from the norm.

I would be lying if I did not first meet the announcement with some scepticism, though, mostly due to the series’ less than stellar track record of live action adaptations (the amazing 2017 Inspector Zenigata spin-off drama aside). Taking a moment to think back, I quickly realised that while the live action film directed by Ryuhei Kitamura did not win the hearts of fans back in 2014, it did do one thing right - the casting.

Shun Oguri as Lupin III and Tadanobu Asano as Inspector Zenigata were big gets for the film, and both appeared to take their appearance throughout it seriously. Meisa Kuroki played a gorgeous, cunning Fujiko, with Go Ayano trying his best to bring the stoic samurai Goemon to life. It was Tetsuji Tamayama, however, that best looked the part. Fans on social media were swooning over his Jigen as soon as the character portraits were revealed, with some saying he was made for the role.

Despite issues with pacing and its overall narrative, all of the main cast members represented their anime / manga counterparts well, and if there is one positive to take away from that film, it would be their performances.

This gives me hope for Jigen Daisuke - with fresh writing staff and a keen new director to the franchise on board, with an actor we already know can do the character justice, both Amazon and TMS may be on to something special, here. Now slightly older and more experienced, I have full confidence Tamayama will exceed that of his already good performance as Jigen from 2014.

I’m looking forward to finding out how this comes together. Keep an eye out for a full review of the film come October, which I will aim to post up on lupincentral.com a few days after its release.

[astoundingbeyondbelief]

Kaiju Weeks in Review (September 10-30, 2023)

I adore Godzilla Final Wars, but it's a movie with an identity crisis, unsure whether it wants to be headlining a Toho Champion Festival or mesmerizing American teenagers at a mid-aughts multiplex. @spacehunter-m's Final Wars 2004: The Year We Make Corn-Tack gives it a strong tug in the first direction, whittling the runtime down to 77 minutes and replacing most of the music and sound effects. She was inspired by Space Warriors 2000, of all things; as she put it, both films are "largely comprised of nonstop, monotonous action." As in that bizarro Ultraman compilation film, the kaiju trash-talk each other. It makes you wonder why Ryuhei Kitamura didn't at least bring back the speech bubbles from Godzilla vs. Gigan. Kaiju fan edits are rare, and this is in a class all by itself. Download it here.

Shigeru Kayama's novelizations of Godzilla (1954) and Godzilla Raids Again are out—hopefully the first of many to come. My copy only arrived on Saturday, so I haven't had the chance to read the whole thing yet, but I've made it through Godzilla. It's interesting to see Kayama, who wrote the initial treatment, take another swing at the story after the film was finished. He puts back moments like Godzilla eating a cow and attacking a lighthouse, and is also more overt with the wartime allusions. There's an incredible moment where Dr. Yamane muses that studying Godzilla and learning his secrets could be Japan's way of redeeming itself after "caus[ing] a great deal of trouble to people throughout the world." Note that these are novella-length, so much less in-depth than the novelizations of American Godzilla films you might be used to (Godzilla Raids Again is less than 80 pages). The book ends with an afterword by translator Jeffrey Angles contextualizing the tales.

Godzilla: War for Humanity continues to be a standout IDW miniseries. There's a new and very weird monster in the second issue, plus a no-nonsense Mothra (she tries to recruit Godzilla to fight Zoospora by shooting him in the back of the head and dragging him into the ocean in front of Minilla).

I've also got to mention the solicitation for another Godzilla Rivals installment, due December 20. Nola Pfau is writing, Megan Huang is illustrating.

Jen Onça is not excited to start her new, fast-paced fast-food career at Minilla Burger, but she'd much prefer a mundane day to the sudden return of Megalon! The monster brings destruction, trapping Jen in a forgotten lab deep beneath the restaurant with only the half-built form of Jet Jaguar to help her get out! She must repair the robotic defender to save herself and the city, but first she needs to escape the rubble trapping her in this tense adventure!

Yuzo the Biggest Battle in Tokyo, Yoshikazu Ishii's follow-up to Attack of the Giant Teacher, has also been picked up by SRS Cinema. No release details yet. I can't really speak to the film either, since it screened at the same time as Yumiko Shaku's panel at G-Fest, but as you can see from the poster, it's set during the pandemic.

The GAMERA -Rebirth- Gyaos has joined Godzilla Battle Line as an unusual sort of swarm unit. Your first summon of the match calls forth two sub-adults, and by the fifth summon you're sending out two sub-adults and three adults, still for four energy. They're probably the best swarm in the game, though still highly vulnerable to AOE units like Godzilla '01. I'm having fun with them in the Challenge Battles.

Notzilla, one of the sharpest kaiju comedies out there, is unexpectedly getting the graphic novel treatment. Mitch Teemley is adapting his own screenplay, with art by Zumart Putra. The comic is already finished, although I'm not clear on how folks who didn't back the Kickstarter (which wrapped on September 11) will get it. Useless trivia: the terrific cover above (one of four) is by Ben Dunn, who wrote the How to Draw Manga book I poured over in middle school.

After Troll shattered Netflix streaming records (according to Netflix), it's not super surprising that the company wants a sequel. Priority one: coming up with a title that's not Troll 2. Screenwriter Espen Aukan and director Roar Uthaug will both return.

Toy highlights of the past few weeks:

After confusing everyone by teasing its silhouette the day before April Fools', Tamashii has fully unveiled an S.H.Monsterarts Godzilla '72, a rare Showa figure from the line. It comes with two heads, one of them bloodied (see above). Due at the end of February.

After finally running out of ways to repaint their mold of Hedorah's Perfect Stage, Bandai is making a Movie Monster Series figure of the kaiju's Landing Stage. A Godzilla Store exclusive, it'll be released October 25.

After over two years, Funko is releasing a trio of Godzilla Singular Point Pops. Hopefully they go all-out with this show—it's not like there's any other plausible way for a Satomi Kanahara figure to exist.

[romanceyourdemons]

no one lives (2017), when compared to director ryuhei kitamura’s hollywood debut the midnight meat train (2008), is a much stronger production around the same stylistic lines. combining the slick and psychological sensibilities of kiyoshi kurosawa and takashi miike with the gore-fest sensibilities of wes craven and sam raimi, the film presents the “victim becomes the hunter” premise of last house on the left (1972) and i spit on your grave (1978) through the lens of the hyper-slick, hyper-capable, hyper-charismatic psychopath serial killer paradigm. i personally found the combination to be somewhat trite, considering that the appeal of the precedent films lies in the unexpected transformation of the genuinely wretched figure into the unexpectedly vicious, and the survival horror atmosphere clashes somewhat with the jigsaw-like utter control the serial killer is purported to have over his victims. more than that, the “killer in love with his victim, whom he seeks to transform into something inhuman like him” subplot merely telegraphs itself to the audience, rather than presenting any character moments the audience can get their teeth into—exactly the point of greatest weakness in the midnight meat train (2008). but this film learns from that one’s weaknesses: it does not make unsupported philosophical pretensions, and it keeps its plot streamlined and driving in pace, relying more on moment-to-moment suspense than plot-long mysteries. the overall product is cohesive and compelling, albeit with a somewhat factory-made feel. no one lives (2017) shows a director much more comfortable in his work, and for that i congratulate him

[thetriphibianmonster]

Godzilla Film Watch: Week 5

While I could have made this the last week of the watch, I decided to include the anime trilogy in the watch since they did have theatrical releases in Japan. Credit to Wikizilla for the poster images.

Day 29: Godzilla Final Suits (2004) In a twist of irony, the 50th anniversary film is the first Toho entry to cast aside all continuity with the original film, abandoning the partial reboot system that had defined the series since the 80s. Final Wars brings back many old faces, but they are all stripped of their original context, forming a setting as wide as an ocean but as deep as a puddle. The film itself follows suit: Godzilla's quick destruction of his American doppelgänger would have landed better if he didn't mow through the rest of the kaiju cast nearly as quickly (poor Hedorah). The inflated roster must jockey for precious screen time, both with each other and with the excessive human scale fight scenes. Ryuhei Kitamura is a talented director, but I think Kamen Rider would suit him better than Godzilla: here his heavily stylized sensibilities feel out of step with the rest of the series. The more anthropomorphized monster designs such as Gigan and Monster X feel off at 120m, and the extensive wire fu does little to sell their weight. The truncated kaiju fights also feel at odds with the prior films: I think Godzilla works much better as an underdog than an unstoppable juggernaut when facing his peers. The mutant storyline is also a strange place to take the series for its golden jubilee. It starts out somewhat promising, expanding on the Kiryu Saga's themes with the mutant's role as living weapons paired with the EDFs fascist imagery. I think the intrigue following the Xiliens' arrival is the strongest portion of the film, with the subversion of the United Nations institutions and those same fascistic elements. Unfortunately these ideas fizzle out after the Xiliens go mask off, and Ozaki's eventual brainwashing is dispelled by an external tool rather than his internal desire to be more than a weapon. Instead he resolves to not be cattle, replacing the more interesting themes with a generic "indomitable human spirit" message.

Day 30: Godzooky (2014) A decade on, and still nothing quite conveys the sheer scale of daikaiju like Gareth Edwards did. The camera is always set at a human vantage point, with vast spatial depth. CGI is used to give monsters an inertia they could never achieve as people in suits. Godzilla and the MUTOs wade through human structures like they were sand castles and send naval vessels careening in their wake. Some of the later entries approach this sense of scale, even match it occasionally, but none outright exceed it. Beyond the Kaiju, Edwards has a painterly eye for dramatic shot compositions: the HALO jump into San Fransisco is still as fantastic as it was ten years ago. Unfortunately movies are more than just their cinematography. The strongest character is killed off at the end of the first act, and Ford Brody is an unengaging replacement for his father, his only major decision being to destroy the nest. Humanity in general lacks agency in the narrative, including abdication of responsibility for the monsters' existence. Natural disasters can't be controlled, but humans still have a material role in their severity and even initiation, though mitigation measures and anthropomorphic climate change. This film downplays such environmentalist themes, possibly one of the many changes made at the request of military liaison. The US Army now seems to prefer being framed as competent, even if it costs them their monopoly of force, and their positive portrayal robs the film of more biting critique. Still, this film brings a level of subtlety and earnestness to the material that I feel has been sorely missed in the last few Monsterverse films.

Day 31: Shin Godzilla (2016) This is still such a biting satire. I was once more in favor of bureaucracy, but if the last 8 years have taught me anything, it's that the institutions of power have little interest in doing anything constructive. Anno's cinema vérité camera work and painstaking focus on government logistics fully brings us into this world of bureaucracy while maintaining a dry wit about the absurdism of it all. Godzilla himself is wonderfully unique here, approaching realism from an engineering direction instead of the naturalism of the prior film. Like Edwards before them, Anno and Higuchi excel at using CGI to give weight to the King of the Monsters. Godzilla barely notices his surroundings, but causes mass destruction just by moving forwards, sending massive debris flying with a simple step forwards or an errant flick of the tail. I really like how he evolves towards a more familiar shape as the cast become used to him, before starting to diverge again with the introduction of a terrifying new take on his atomic breath. The pacing starts to drag a bit in the downtime after this pivotal scene—the political satire mostly gives way to the still ambiguous mystery of Goro Maki—but these flaws are paltry in the face of one of the best movies in the whole franchise. The themes are compelling, Sagisu's score is sublime, and the cinematography is masterful. There are so many hauntingly beautiful shots over the course of the film, ending with one that will leave you pondering the film for a long time afterward.

Day 32: Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters (2017) When I first saw this I was pretty whelmed, and that hasn't changed much since. I enjoy the novel take on the series and the world building early on. I especially liked the scene where the Exif and Bilusaludo reflect on their initial plans of conquest, and how they were made irrelevant by the sheer power of Godzilla. Unfortunately this seijin face turn gets rolled back in the following films. Likewise, this film's end twist renders much of the prior plot irrelevant, which doesn't help engagement on a rewatch. Haruo's also not a particularly interesting lead: I've seen people claim he's a discount Eren Jaeger, but his vendetta against Godzilla feels like less of a drive for him than the trilogy implies. His interest in defeating Godzilla seems more in service of retaking Earth than a pathologic obsession in the vein of Ahab.

Day 33: Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle (2018). The start of this one is a real slog. The Houta are an interesting twist on the Infant Islanders, but the character dynamics among the human cast are pretty weak. Yuko in particular is gets the short end of the stick, with her childish jealousy over Haruo talking to other women, her unwarranted kiss on her stepbrother, and the gratuitous tentacle attack. I do think the movie manages to pull itself together towards the end. The Bilusaludo get some nice development, building off the control obsession established in Terror of Mechagodzilla and adding a fixation on rationalism over morality. Combine this with the properties of the nanometal and we get one of the better Cyberman stories of the modern era. I like how the Bilusaludo don't betray the United Earth so much as their philosophy ends up incompatible with the other members. This culminates in a pretty intense moral dilemma that manages to wring some pathos out of Haruo for once.

Day 34: Godzilla: Planet Eater (2018) The flawed finale to an equally uneven trilogy. Despite Metphies' prominence, the Exif end up a lot more generically villainous than the Bilusaludo: we only see two members, and both are all in on the death cult. I think their human following needed more setup in the prior films, and despite Metphies' claims Haruo ends up pretty accessory in their plot. Ghidorah is a creatively bizarre take on the three headed monster, but past his wonderfully chilling introduction the movie relies too much on telling rather than showing how unnatural he is. The trilogy's sole kaiju battle is also pretty weak: Ghidorah is untouchable for most of the "fight", and puts up little resistance once his invulnerability is gone. The themes are an equally mixed bag. Urobuchi opts for a radical anarchoprimitivist take on the series usual environmentalist themes, positing that the industrial revolution and its consequences will inevitably lead to ruin. I don't think this message fits well with Godzilla Earth's characterization though. Rather than a byproduct of humanity's environmental depredations, Godzilla is personified as a vindictive avenger in the vein of Battra. He deliberately seeks to exterminate mankind as punishment for the hubris of civilization, but given the way he ends up shaping the environment in his own image he comes across as a self-righteous hypocrite. Giving agency to Godzilla's violence makes him unsympathetic, and Haruo's sacrifice to dispel humanity's hatred feels like it's blaming the victim for fighting back against their abuser. It also ends up fulfilling Metphies' desire: by vindicating the Exif's nihilistic beliefs about the arc of all civilization, Haruo essentially submits to Ghidorah after all.

Day 35: Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) A glorious serving of fan indulgence, but one with a bit more substance than Final Wars. While I have problems with the Ghidorah and Mothra designs, they more than make up for it with personality. Mothra's scrappy underdog status is endearing, as is her connection to Godzilla, and it shocks me how long it took to give Ghidorah's heads individual personalities. Meanwhile Godzilla carries on his battered old soldier persona from the prior film, while Rodan is a delightfully scrungly little bastard. While I wish Desplat's bespoke themes from 2014 could have carried through the series, Bear McCreary's sweeping renditions of Ifukube's classic leitmotifs more than make up for it. Mothra emerging from the waterfall to a triumphant orchestra playing Her Song was among my most sublime experiences in theaters. Dougherty also makes an admirable attempt at continuing Edwards' sense of scale, though rarely with as much success. His impressionistic use of color is a marked contrast with Edwards' naturalism, but both have an eye for iconic visuals. The human cast are an improvement on the Brodys, but are hamstrung by clunky exposition: everyone has to directly state their current emotions and motivation. Unfortunately the film is also poisoned by the irreverent humor that infests modern Hollywood: occasionally it lands but more often it undercuts the genuine love that went into this production. Dougherty at least manages to push through stronger criticism of the US military's belligerence, even if the lower ranks remain somewhat lionized (never have I seen a more complimentary depiction of the V-22 Osprey). He also wrangles the environmentalist themes into something compelling, rejecting both the passivity of 2014 and the nihilism of the Anime Trilogy. Here humans have a clear role in the changing planet, but have the ability to improve by working with its other inhabitants instead of against them. While this film could have easily fallen into the other Hollywood fixation on "going too far", the end of the film instead presents a clear and positive change in the status quo.

[monsterasia-zero]

The Summer Of Godzilla continues, counting down Monsterasia Zero top Goji films every Wednesday and Saturday! This Saturday it’s Godzilla Final Wars, directed by Ryuhei Kitamura

[hardcore-gaming-101]

Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes

Remakes and remasters may feel like all the rage right now but in the early 2000’s, they were just as popular, especially on Nintendo systems. Metroid got its NES game remade for the GBA with Zero Mission and Capcom revamped Resident Evil for the Nintendo Gamecube. Not to be outdone, Konami remade Metal Gear Solid, also for the Gamecube, in 2004. Developer Silicon Knights were brought on to update the game, fresh off their critically acclaimed work on psychological horror game Eternal Darkness. New cutscenes were directed by Ryuhei Kitamura, lending a boisterous flair to the proceedings. Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes is a slick looking remake, and it shows just how much the technological leap there was between two console generations. But this remake also creates tension in the ways in which it adapts the classic game with these new innovations and polish.

Read more...

[mattydemise]

Please tell us what is your favourite Japanese Horror film, Mr. Aussie Horror?!

‘Versus’ from the year 2000, written and directed by Ryuhei Kitamura. Don’t research or spoil it for yourself, just watch it. It’ll blow your mind.

[outlawvernofficial]

Ruby Rose double feature: The Doorman / Vanquish

Today I have a double feature of Ruby Rose action vehicle reviews for all you Rose Bros: Ryûhei Kitamura's THE DOORMAN (2020) and George Gallo's VANQUISH (2021). One of them is a fun time and one of them is a serious challenge to get through.

[wifeofwolfman]

today i'm making a triple feature of Ryuhei Kitamura's 50 ish minute movies with Heat After Dark, Down to Hell, and The Spear of Longinus.

fun filmmaker. i love Godzilla Final Wars so much. recently watched and loved Downrange and Azumi. colder on Sky High and Alive but found things to like. i need to reassess The Midnight Meat Train and No One Lives sometime.