Pacific Rim Images

[adrotate banner=”1″]Entertainment Weekly had a new image from Pacific Rim in their Comicon Preview issue, and beyond the image there was almost no new information, excpet maybe that they are using huge sets, including the biggest set in North America (which only had room for two feet from the giant robot Jaegers that the heroes use in their battles with the giant monsters!) The image shows Charlie Hunnam and Rinko Kikuchi suited up for battle. Hunnam is Raleigh Antrobus, one of those washed up bitter pilots who returns for glory and redemption, and Kikuchi is trainee pilot Mako Mori. They pilot an old school Jaeger when all the cool ones get trashed by the kaiju (or something.)

Pacific Rim Entertainment Weekly

Let’s not forget this other image featuring Idris Elba as his General Stacker Pentecost character:

Idris Elba Pacific Rim

I'll kill the next person who makes a "Rim Job" joke!

The film also stars Charlie Day as Newt Gotlieb, but no photos of him have surfaced yet. But they’re waiting. At the bottom of the Pacific Ocean…ready to surface…like monsters…

Pacific Rim gets a synopsis

[adrotate banner=”1″]Is there a monster movie I’m waiting for more than Pacific Rim? I don’t think so! Even the new Godzilla film must take a back seat to this giant monsters vs giant robot action! Hopefully del Toro is enough to make up for the writer giving us films like Clash of the Titans. From el Toro’s other films, there is no way this won’t look spectacular.

Synopsis

From acclaimed filmmaker Guillermo del Toro comes Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Legendary Pictures’ epic sci-fi action adventure Pacific Rim.

When legions of monstrous creatures, known as Kaiju, started rising from the sea, a war began that would take millions of lives and consume humanity’s resources for years on end. To combat the giant Kaiju, a special type of weapon was devised: massive robots, called Jaegers, which are controlled simultaneously by two pilots whose minds are locked in a neural bridge. But even the Jaegers are proving nearly defenseless in the face of the relentless Kaiju. On the verge of defeat, the forces defending mankind have no choice but to turn to two unlikely heroes–a washed up former pilot (Charlie Hunnam) and an untested trainee (Rinko Kikuchi)–who are teamed to drive a legendary but seemingly obsolete Jaeger from the past. Together, they stand as mankind’s last hope against the mounting apocalypse.

Oscar® nominee Guillermo del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth) is directing Pacific Rim from a script by Travis Beacham (Clash of the Titans). Thomas Tull, Jon Jashni and Mary Parent are producing, with Callum Greene serving as executive producer.

The film stars Charlie Hunnam (TV’s “Sons of Anarchy”), Idris Elba (Thor), Rinko Kikuchi (The Brothers Bloom), Charlie Day (Horrible Bosses), and Ron Perlman (the Hellboy films). The ensemble cast also includes Max Martini, Robert Kazinsky, Clifton Collins, Jr., Burn Gorman, Larry Joe Campbell, Diego Klattenhoff, and Brad William Henke.

via Dread Central

Pacific Rim

Assault Girls (Review)

Assault Girls

aka Asaruto garuzu

2009
Written and Directed by Mamoru Oshii

Hot chicks shooting up giant sand whales in a post apocalyptic future should be an easy sell. Except for the fact the film isn’t really about that and is instead just a video game level. The film is short as heck, but that doesn’t stop it from being filled with lots of padding from the worst opening narration experience since Alone in the Dark to many scenes of people just walking in the desert.

Add the above to the fact the women speak badly accented English muffled behind breathing masks and we got a film that is more annoying than anything else. Luckily, parts of the film are just in Japanese, and thanks to our impatient nature we have the import DVD cuz we aren’t gonna wait for it to finally get around to having an official US release. But at TarsTarkas.NET, we don’t need no stinking subtitles!

The film is connected to Mamoru Oshii’s 2001 film Avalon, as the game the players are playing is Avalon(f), and there are references to other established canon from the Avalon film. Mamoru Oshii is probably best known in the west for directing Ghost in the Shell, one of the films that everyone who was into anime talked about all the time until I started ignoring everyone who was into anime. Now I just ignore everyone, because I’m too cool for school ::puts on shades::

Instead of being cool and dealing with the fact there is a movie filled with hot chicks fighting monsters, Assault Girls instead tries to impress us, then tries to give us a feast for the eyes, and finally delivers the goods. Except the only impression is of boring psychobabble, the feast for the eyes is more like a famine, and the goods arrive late and in small quantities. I can’t recommend enough that you don’t bother with Assault Girls. The best thing I can say about it is that it was mercifully short. But don’t take my word for it, follow along for yourself!

Gray (Meisa Kuroki) – Player 0251, spends much of the film cruising around in her jet and posing in the desert. Finally gets around to organizing the Assault Girls into a raiding party. It is almost as if she forgot how MMORPGs work. (She is probably really a male 43 year old divorced Lowes employee with Aspergers.) Meisa Kuroki is a Japanese model/actress who is starting to hit the big time.
Lucifer (Rinko Kikuchi) – Player 0666, who rarely speaks and spends most of her scenes dancing. Can transform into a bird so she’s probably a big fan of Animorphs. (She’s probably really an 11 year old boy with Aspergers.) Rinko Kikuchi was nominated for an Oscar. And now she’s in this. Holy Linda Hunt, Batman!
Colonel (Hinako Saeki) – Player 0266, a friend of snails. Always dressed in red, so you can tell the girls apart. Or maybe it is like Power Rangers… Anyway, she commands a robot thing at one point, something we can all aspire to. I command robots all the time (this is actually true) because my job is awesome. (She’s probably a male 57 year old website designer with Aspergers)
Jager (Yoshikazu Fujiki) – Player 538, what the hell is a dude doing in my Assault Girls? Get the heck out of here, you creep!
Sand Whales (CGI) – This particular Sand Whale is Desert 22 Flag – Madara – who is the end boss the Assault Girls and Scruffy Dude are hunting. Complete with rocket launchers like all real sand whales.
Snail (Isao NO. 1- 5) – Five snails played the snail that becomes the focus of our heroes as the movie drifts into more and more boring territory. Sadly, one snail is eaten, it is unknown it was a real snail, but probably.
Random Dog (Pasta) – Why not have a dog randomly in one brief scene for no reason? It makes as much sense as everything else in this flick! Also bonus statue photo!


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Another Assault Girls Trailer

Assault Girls
[adrotate banner=”7″]UPDATE: Read our review of Assault Girls here!

The trailer for Mamoru Oshii’s Assault Girls has landed. The true story of a post-apocalyptic future where three hot Japanese girls hunt sand worms. Okay, maybe it’s not true. Yet! Gray (Meisa Kuroki), Lucifer (Rinko Kikuchi), and Colonel (Hinako Saeki) get into a world of trouble when a new super-giant worm shows up. Sort of like when that happened in Beetlejuice. He was the ghost with the most, baby.
Source: NipponCinema
Official site

Assault Girls trailer

Assault Girls
[adrotate banner=”7″]UPDATE: Read our review of Assault Girls here!

Japanese girls vs giant sand worms in the post-apocalyptic future. NipponCinema brought the trailer to the outside world.

Plot: In the aftermath of global thermonuclear war, the Earth’s surface has been turned into a desert battlefield. Three beautiful female hunters: Gray (Meisa Kuroki), Lucifer (Rinko Kikuchi), and Colonel (Hinako Saeki) traverse the barren landscape armed with powerful assault rifles to fight a group of deadly sand-dwelling monsters called “sunakujira” (sand whales). When the the epic battle eventually seems to be coming to an end, the sparkle of muzzle flash dies down and assault ship flies overhead. Suddenly, a gigantic super mutation called “Madara Sunakujira” attacks.
Mamoru Oshii directs and it hits theaters in Japan in December, no word on if it will show up in the US.

previous story here
thanks to Avery for the head’s up

Assault Girls – Coming soon from Japan

[adrotate banner=”1″]UPDATE: Read our review of Assault Girls here!

Assault Girls is the first live-action film from anime guru Mamoru Oshii in eight years. In the film, Japanese actresses Rinko Kikuchi, Meisa Kuroki and Hinako Saeki star in a post-apocalyptic desert where they hunt “sand whales”, giant morphing beasts. Yeah. Japan, huh? via Variety

Rinko Kikuchi celebrates her Oscar nomination

Rinko Kikuchi celebrates her Oscar nomination


Meisa Kuroki enjoys nice guys

Meisa Kuroki enjoys nice guys

Hinako Saeki recovering from Sand Whale injuries

Hinako Saeki recovering from Sand Whale injuries