Do you want Search?
Random Post
Random Post
Search
  • Home
  • Author: Tars Tarkas
Search
Necromancer Sleepy Hollow
InMovie News

Wadjda Trailer

July 10, 2013By


Check out the trailer for Wadjda, the first film from Saudi Arabia made by a female director, Haifaa Al-Mansour. It’s getting a limited release in the States, but before that it has been winning tons of awards.

Director Haifaa Al-Mansour had trouble even making the film due to the strict laws in Saudi Arabia about women even talking to men.

She had to stay inside a specially customized van equipped with monitors and communication devices to work on scenes shot in the streets of the capital Riyadh. Otherwise, she could have faced problems with authorities for being a woman on the street without a male guardian.

Saudi Arabia has no theaters and it is unlikely the film will even be shown in its home country. Theaters were banned in the 1980s to appeal to religious conservatives, and the last real film showing I can find information on was 2009 with the film Menahi. Most Saudi filmmakers are forced to switch to internet distribution such as YouTube, or DVDs. On that note, Al-Mansour is not even allowed to enter movie rental stores in Saudi Arabia because she’s a woman, and has to hand her driver a list of films to go inside to rent.

WADJDA is a story of a young Saudi girl whose burning desire for a bicycle leads her into bold
defiance of her society’s restrictive codes of gender and religion.

Every day Wadjda passes a toy store window showing a beautiful green bicycle. Although it is forbidden for girls to ride bicycles, Wadjda concocts a plan to earn enough money to afford the bike by secretly selling ‘illicit products’ in her schoolyard. At first, Wadjda’s mother is too preoccupied with convincing her husband not to take a second wife to realize what’s going on.

Wadjda’s plans are soon exposed, leaving her with only one last chance to make the money she needs; a Koran recital competition with a big cash prize. With her slyness and cunning mind, Wadjda tries to find a way to rise above her fellow competitors to make her most cherished dream come true… the green bicycle.

Wadjda

PACIFIC RIM
InBad, Movie Reviews

Pacific Rim

July 9, 2013By

Pacific Rim

Pacific Rim Title
2013
Story by Travis Beacham
Screenplay by Travis Beacham and Guillermo del Toro
Directed by Guillermo del Toro
PACIFIC RIM
An action packed ride from the first frames, Pacific Rim delivers the giant robots vs. giant monsters action promised, and crafts an entertaining flick around it. Del Toro provides a love letter to a genre he grew up loving, and succeeded in updating it technologically to craft something amazing. Almost every frame is a piece of art by itself. The design and look are outstanding, the jaegers (the giant robots) are banged up and realistic, and the kaiju are scarily beautiful yet deadly looking. Battles encompass multiple environments, from snowy seas of Alaska to the cityscapes of Hong Kong to the ocean floor.

Pacific Rim keeps its flow, the segments where the story is set up feel natural and are done in creative fashion. Following along, our minds are too busy to wander, bereft of distractions and eagerly anticipating the next monster brawl. And when the real action starts, boy does it start.

There are minor spoilers below, but nothing that isn’t in the trailers. But if you don’t want to know anything, just know that Pacific Rim is my favorite film I’ve seen this summer, and possibly 2013. It’s fun, fun, fun, heartfelt and not full of the gritty reluctant heroes that seem to be everywhere. There are giant monster, robots, and it’s awesome.
PACIFIC RIM

Birthday Sex
InMovie Reviews, Ugly

Birthday Sex

July 7, 2013By

Birthday Sex

Birthday Sex
2012
Written by Tina Hawthorne
Directed by Austin Brooks

Birthday Sex

The best birthday ever!


Birthday Sex! We all know the song, we all jam it up on the radio, we all sang it ironically on our birthdays and then moved on to some other song. And now, Birthday Sex is also a softcore flick from our friends at Mainline Releasing, your home for movies that often have more to say than what they appear.

It’s Mia’s 25th birthday! Which is cool because she gets a parade of birthday presents that suddenly become terrible presents and her whole outlook on life changes and this birthday becomes the worst birthday ever that’s also the best birthday ever in the long run. Mia’s 25th is time for her to hit a crossroads, where much is made about how she suddenly wants to grow up and be responsible and boring, while her current boyfriend Tyler just wants to live life and party. Now, I’m not going to get into a big discussion about when it is okay to settle down and when you should still be up all night to the sun for good fun, because each person has their own journey in life. 25 is enough time to have had fun, and to be aware of yourself enough to know what you want in life, though that is far from a requirement at that age (and Lord knows I had no clue and am still winging it years later!)

Birthday Sex

GRRRR!! No one mocks my green earthenware tea set that matches my jacket and green apple paintings!


Obviously, Mia took the Jimmy Eat World line from Praise Chorus seriously, that “even at 25, you gotta start sometime” One wonders if she though no one liked her at age 23 when she was amused by tv shows. One interesting aspect that may be a coincidence or may be on purpose, is that the actress playing Mia has a butterfly tattoo, and later you see butterfly posters on the wall. Symbolically, the butterfly is the mature form, released from the cocoon, while Mia’s journey sees her growing up and becoming the mature form of Mia. She leaves behind her caterpillar boyfriend Tyler to go hang with the fellow butterflies and the flowers.

Packed in this crisis of lifestyle choices are Mia’s two friends, the party girl Kristen (who is crushing on Tyler) and the bitter Sara (who hates all men because she was dumped once!) Never fear, a love interest surfaces in nice guy Simon, but will he and Mia get together, or will all these roommates and different goals and hormones get in the way of a love of the ages. Birthday Sex, surprisingly romantic despite the raunchy title and late night Cinemax air dates.

Tina Hawthorne is rapidly becoming my favorite softcore film writer, to the point where I’m now seeking out some of her films. I don’t know if she’s a real person or just a pen name, but the writing is good, nevertheless. (she also wrote Naughty Reunion, which dealt a lot with the relationships between the various high school stereotypes.) Director Austin Brooks also helmed Sexual Quest, which was another film more about relationships in a marriage than the actual sex, which there was a lot of.

Birthday Sex

The “I Kicked That Guy Out and Now Feel Guilty Pose” is only for advanced yoga enthusiasts.


Mia (Amber Rayne) – Our birthday girl who does the titular birthday sex, then promptly breaks up with her boyfriend and has a sort of quarter-life crisis trying to figure out what she wants in life. Amber Rayne’s acting ability increases with the quality of the actors she’s opposite of. She’s like some sort of acting sponge. Another ear or two and she’ll be holding her own with mainstream stars. Amber Rayne was also in something called Black in the Crack: Black in the Back 2.
Simon (Brandon Ruckdashel) – Mia’s coworker who has been crushing on her since forever. Is a nice dude, thus Sara targets him for destruction. Brandon Ruckdashel continues to be an awesome actor, see more of him in Cougar School and The Sex Spirit.
Kristen (Sadie Katz) – Mia’s roommate who has the hots for her boyfriend, Tyler. Luckily, Mia and Tyler ain’t together no more 15 minutes into the film, leaving a romance option open. Which is sort of bad for Mia, because it happens the same day in the same house, which is her birthday. But it all works out in the end. Sadie Katz wrote the upcoming film Scorned.
Sara (Misty Anderson) – Bitter roommate of Mia who hasn’t gotten over being dumped by her ex and now hates all men. She attempts to prove she’s not so bad by sleeping with and then instantly rejecting her yoga teacher Mike. Then she wants to take down Simon. Will this ice queen ever thaw?
Tyler (Kenneth Blake) – Mia’s boyfriend who isn’t ready to commit or do anything serious, and it takes an act of extreme bravery on his part to even offer her a key. Thus, they’re dumped, he feels sad until Kristen offers to brighten his mood. The Inaccurate Movie DataBase seems to think Kenneth Blake has only been in one other film, Online Crush.
Mona Landers (Tanya Tate) – Owns Mona Landers Publicity, where Mia and Simon work. I’m not sure what Mona does there except have sex with Frank and order Mia and Simon to do work. But I guess it’s good to be the king. She has an odd accent that made it hard to follow what was going on. Tanya Tate is also in Strap Attack 14: The Rules Have Changed.
Frank (Alan Stafford) – Employee at Mona Landers Publicity, whose job it is to landers Mona all the time. Also he’s a messenger or something. But unofficially he’s a dude who gets it on. Alan Stafford is also in Horat: The Sexual Learnings of America for Make Benefit Beautiful Nation of Kaksuckistan.
Mike (Ryan Driller as Jeremy Bilding) – Sara’s yoga instructor, one of those yoga instructors who come to your house to your special yoga room for one-on-one sessions. Does Sara even have a job? How can she afford all this? Anyway, Mike and Sara do some unofficial yoga positions while naked, and despite her rejecting him right afterwards, they end up together at the end because of yoga power. Ryan Driller is also in MILF Massage Team.
Birthday Sex

Extra whip? You pervert!

Dark Fantasies
InMovie Reviews, Ugly

Dark Fantasies

July 6, 2013By

Dark Fantasies

Dark Fantasies
2010
Written by ??? (no credit I could find)
Directed by Jay Robie

Dark Fantasies

Can’t stop looking at dream porn! Nmmgh, yeah, baby!


A tale of sexual dreams turned dark Inception twists makes Dark Fantasies one of the more mean-spirited softcore flicks. It also opens things up to many deep questions. In Dark Fantasies, characters enter shared dreams and have sex with each other, which is at first described as “guilt-free!” But a character hides his involvement in the experiment because he knows it will upset his partner, and it does, leading to more consequences. Beyond that, things get creepy as the Professor begins intruding in the fantasies and having sex with the girls, which begs the question of just how consensual those sessions were. Dark Fantasies seems to draw conclusions as to what the boundaries are, but a tale that opens such questions deserves a closer look. Also there is lots of softcore sex for those of you into that sort of thing…

Because of the darker tone, Dark Fantasies has a more limited target audience. That’s always a price to be paid with these softcore films, some people are couples who like light-hearted stories to get in the mood, while others watching are an audience eagerly awaiting the nude scenes and eager to skip all the boring talking parts. In addition, the group of people who wish to discuss the themes of Dark Fantasies will be even smaller. But for that one guy, here’s hoping this lives up to your expectations!

The dreams are a bit stylized, mostly appearing in similar-looking rooms that are part of whatever house the director rented that week. The ending of each features thunder cracking and a weird phasing effect. At no time do people fly or turn into giant crabs or suddenly are skiing down yogurt sculptures of Joan Rivers like in my dreams, but maybe the sequel will secure $30 million for dream CGI effects.

Dark Fantasies

I’ll continue this interview once I’m done watching the game on the tiniest tv ever!


Mainline Releasing Group/MRE is given props for exploring storylines that do more than just move from sex scene A to sex scene B, but can stop and make you think a bit. Each one is like a small drama story that’s then frontloaded with naked people rubbing and grunting on each other. While not everything is a hit, and even some of them are good only for their concepts than their actual stories, the creativity being shown is a winning effort that deserves praise.

Despite the fancy scifi Inception reality of shared dream sexing, Dark Fantasies gives us some respect by not inventing some sort of dream cam that people watch. Instead the nefarious Professor Carlton just has to stare blankly at an EKG monitor. Is it any wonder he went insane with power and decided to try the dream sexing himself? Of course, he chooses women who aren’t 100% willing until he dream cons them, and that’s ignoring his study isn’t quite in line with the American Psychological Association’s Ethics Code, which probably means big fines and academic suspension. If he wasn’t arrested. Spoilers.

Megan (Reena Sky) – A college student dating Kyle and living the good life of a house too expensive to afford and apparently not even going to school or work. But storm clouds are on the horizon that threaten her relationship with Kyle. Clouds called psychology! Reena Sky is also in Pleasure Spa, and also something called Munch Box. I am sure that is about the Texas Instruments TI-99/4A home computer game Munch Man.
Kyle (Rocco Reed) – College student who is dating Megan and driving Carrie wild because she can’t have him. But he’s prone to doing dumb stuff, like getting involved in experiments where he can have sex with chicks in his sleep, without thinking that maybe he shouldn’t be doing things like that without telling Megan. Rocco Reed was Commander William Riker in Star Trek: The Next Generation – A XXX Parody.
Carrie Branson (Isabella Sky) – College student who likes her psychology professor, Dr. Carlton. She’s also very jealous of Megan and Kyle’s relationship and attempts to sabotage it by getting Kyle involved in the dream sexperiment. Isabella Sky was in something called Pimp My Ride and Nail Me Inside.
Professor Maxwell Carlton (Steve Crest as Jack Lawrence) – Arrogant psychology professor who runs a dream experiment where people travel into each other’s dreams and have sex with them. Takes over and just has sex with every girl experimentee he can. Steve Crest is a former professional cyclist turned actor and porn star, you will be able to see in him Cool Cat Saves the Kids.
Amber (Melessia Hayden as Melissa Jacobs) – Another member of the sexperiment squad, she’s used as a pawn by Carrie to recruit Kyle as part of Carries master plan to break people up. Melessia Hayden is also in Pleasure Spa and Naughty Reunion.
Dark Fantasies

That “Dream Big” sign in the backgroud….foreshadowing or just lucky set decoration?

Godzilla Marvel 14 cover
InCinema Articles

Godzilla #14 (September 1978)

July 5, 2013By


Godzilla Marvel 14

Godzilla is the cheese!


Godzilla #14 – Mega-Monsters Part III The Super-Beasts (September 1978)
Writer – Doug Moench
Penciler – Herb Trimpe
Editor – Archie Goodwin

Now Big G is in trouble! The three invading space monsters are now super-charged and ready to kill Godzilla. Ally Red Ronin has gotten his head chopped clean off, and 12-year-old pilot Robert lies unconscious and in danger. Luckily SHIELD people have finally shown up to give us smart remarks on the impending action.

If you need a refresher on who’s-who, check out the Godzilla Marvel Splash Page, and feel free to check out the rest of March of Godzilla 2013!

Godzilla Marvel 14

Note: Never suck Godzilla’s belly


Tamara Hasioka and Jimmy Woo risk their lives to grab Robert from the battle, as he’s lying unconscious in Red Ronin’s severed head. They succeed, because I really doubt the Godzilla comic will kill off their only child character.

Thanks to the Mega-Monsters having received the super-charging Energex-ray, Godzilla is outnumbered and outgunned, and starts to get stomped. The three super-powered Mega-Monsters pound him like a red-headed dinosaur step-child.

Dum Dum and Gabe grab SHIELD ships to fly in and help the battle. Their distractions allows Godzilla to be able to kill Krollar! Take that, Krollar, you were the worst of these monsters! Godzilla sets his sights on Triax, who soon is killed dead as well. Triax was totally arrogant, so au revoir to that guy.

Rhiahn chomps on Dum Dum’s ship, but doesn’t swallow, and Dum Dum gets knocked out of his mouth…into Godzilla’s hand! Godzilla just puts Dum Dum on the ground and then fights Rhiahn. Rhiahn tries to chop off Godzilla’s head, but Godzilla moves Rhiahn’s blades so the Mega-Monster beheads himself!

On the Moon, the Betas all die from no air. Meanwhile, the Megans decide that since they can’t conquer Earth, they are too tired to war with the Betans any more. It’s peace through exhaustion! Or just being poor. Well, let’s take our victories however we can get them. Luckily, the Betans and the Megans were never seen again in Marvel comics, so we can assume that they broke both their economies so much they can’t even afford space travel to make background cameos!

Next time — Godzilla goes somewhere you will never expect! No, not there, I said somewhere you don’t expect! Stop guessing, just find out next time.

Godzilla Marvel 14

The best part of these tales is Dum Dum’s names for the weird monsters

InMovie News

The Japan Film Festival of San Francisco (JFFSF) is coming!

July 3, 2013By

Kyary Pamyu Pamyu Kawaii

Watch movies or the shark gets you!


The brand new Japan Film Festival of San Francisco will come to the city Saturday July 27th through Sunday August 4th at the New People Cinema in J-town. The JFFSF is also part of the 2013 J-POP Summit Festival, which is July 27th and 28th in Japantown, a street fair featuring all sorts of activities.

The JFFSF will feature live action and anime screenings, including several West Coast and San Francisco premiers. I copied the schedule below for the live action films, but here is a summary in case you want a quick hit:

Notable live-action premieres include:

• Miwa Nishikawa’s Dreams for Sale
• Sakuran director Mika Ninagawa’s Helter Skelter
• Sion Sono’s award-winning masterpiece, Himizu
• “Zero Zen” Architect/author Kyohei Sakaguchi’s documentary, How To Build a Mobile House
• Director Takashi Miike’s Lesson of the Evil
• Director Shinsuke Sato’s Library Wars
• Actor Kazunari Ninomiya’s Platinum Data
• The samurai adventure of Rurouni Kenshin
• Space Battleship Yamato, based on one of Japan’s greatest anime properties (known in the U.S. as Star Blazers)

And, yes, films will be in Japanese with English subtitles!

Also semi-related is Kyary Pamyu Pamyu having a free concert in Union Square in San Francisco on Sunday, July 28th from 2:00pm-4:00pm. Yes, FREE!

The 2013 J-POP SUMMIT FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES THE LAUNCH OF THE FIRST ANNUAL JAPAN FILM FESTIVAL OF SAN FRANCISCO AT NEW PEOPLE CINEMA

Exclusive Premieres Include Dreams For Sale, Himuzu, Lesson Of The Evil, Library Wars, Platinum Data, Space Battleship Yamato And More At First-Ever NorCal/Bay Area Dedicated Japanese Film Celebration; Festival Will Welcome Library Wars Director Shinsuke Sato As Guest of Honor

San Francisco, CA, May 23, 2013 – The 2013 J-POP Summit Festival, the popular yearly San Francisco summertime Japanese Pop Culture celebration, has announced the launch of the Japan Film Festival of San Francisco, the first fully-dedicated annual Japanese film event for Northern California and the S.F. Bay Area.

The week-long Japan Film Festival of San Francisco will take place at the NEW PEOPLE Cinema beginning Saturday, July 27th through Sunday August 4th. The festival will also be a prominent feature of the 2013 J-POP Summit Festival, taking place across Japantown on Saturday and Sunday, July 27th and 28th. A complete schedule and advance ticket information is available on www.jffsf.org.

Tickets are $13.00 per film unless otherwise indicated. NEW PEOPLE Cinema is located at 1746 Post St. (cross street is Webster St.) in the heart of San Francisco’s Japantown.

Nine live-action films representing a vivid cross-section of the best in recent Japanese cinema will have their exclusive U.S. and/or San Francisco premiere at NEW PEOPLE. The Japan Film Festival of San Francisco will complement this press release in coming days with a subsequent announcement detailing an exciting slate of anime feature films also set to receive their U.S. and/or San Francisco premieres.

Live-action films include director Miwa Nishikawa’s Dreams for Sale, Sakuran director Mika Ninagawa’s Helter Skelter, Sion Sono’s award-winning masterpiece, Himizu, architect/author Kyohei Sakaguchi’s documentary, How To Build a Mobile House, director Takashi Miike’s Lesson of The Evil, director Shinsuke Sato’s Library Wars, actor Kazunari Ninomiya’s Platinum Data, the samurai adventure of Rurouni Kenshin, and Space Battleship Yamato, based on one of Japan’s greatest anime properties (known in the U.S. as Star Blazers) and a must-see for any sci-fi aficionado. Films will be presented with their original Japanese dialogue with English subtitles.

The Japan Film Festival of San Francisco is also honored to welcome Director Shinsuke Sato, who is also known for his 2011 blockbuster, GANTZ, for a special in-person appearance for the exclusive U.S. premiere of his newest film, Library Wars. Sato will participate in a special Q&A session with the NEW PEOPLE Cinema audience and also appear as a Guest of Honor during the 2013 J-POP Summit Festival.

The Japan Film Festival of San Francisco is presented in conjunction with the 2013 J-POP Summit, taking place Saturday July 27th and Sunday July 28th across the city’s historic Japantown district to celebrate the phenomenon of Japanese pop culture with a colorful array of live bands and artists, panel discussions, film premieres, edgy fashion shows and DJ dance events, celebrity appearances and more.

The J-POP Summit Festival is hosted and organized by NEW PEOPLE in cooperation with the Japantown Merchants Association. In 2012, the two-day event attracted nearly 65,000 attendees. More information is available at www.J-POP.com.

Japan Film Festival of San Francisco Live-Action Program:

DREAMS FOR SALE – S.F. PREMIERE!!!
Saturday, July 27th, 7:00pm
Written and directed by Miwa Nishikawa, who’s SWAY and Dear Doctor were screened at numerous film festivals around the world, Dreams for Sale is a richly evocative drama about a couple that lose everything in a fire and attempt to make a fresh start by swindling others. Wife Satoko (Takako Matsu) and her husband Kanya (Sadawo Abe) run a small eatery in a corner of Tokyo, but on the 5th anniversary of its opening, a fire erupts in the kitchen and burns the place to a cinder. In desperate need of cash, Satoko and Kanya embark on a hilarious and heartwarming marriage scam in an attempt to put their lives back on track.

HELTER SKELTER – S.F. PREMIERE!!!
Saturday, August 3rd, 4:20pm
Sakuran director Mika Ninagawa’s live-action adaptation of the eponymous shojo manga by Kyoko Okazaki utilizes brilliantly colored visuals to depict the descent of an outwardly perfect but inwardly unstable star that reigns over the entertainment world. Top model Liliko (Erika Sawajiri) captivates the public with her beauty that is the envy of all who look upon her. However, her appearance has been entirely engineered through plastic surgery. Complications arise from the numerous operations and begin to eat away at Liliko both physically and psychologically, sending her into a downward spiral.

HIMIZU – S.F. PREMIERE!!!
Sunday, August 4th, 1:10pm
Sion Sono’s award-winning masterpiece is based on Minoru Furuya’s manga ”Himizu,” named for a species of a Japanese mole. Set after the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, all 14-year-old Yuichi Sumida (Shota Sometani) wants is to live a decent life. But his environment keeps dragging him into the mud. Keiko Chazawa (Fumi Nikaido), a classmate of Yuichi, harbors a severe crush on him and sticks around despite being berated by him. One day, the yakuza comes by Yuichi’s home and tells him to pay off his father’s debt. Yuichi already heartbroken by his mother’s abandonment and abuse from his father nears a tipping point. A string of incidents occurs that brings Yuichi’s world to a screeching halt. Is there light at the end of the tunnel?

HOW TO BUILD A MOBILE HOUSE – U.S. PREMIERE!!!
Saturday, July 27th, 1:30pm
With the appearance of the famous ”Zero Yen” architect, Kyohei Sakaguchi, the documentary, How to Build a Mobile House, makes its U.S. premiere in his favorite city, San Francisco! Screening attendees will also be invited to his free workshop to build a Mobile Green House with him during the J-POP Summit Festival. Kyohei’s numerous books include ”Tokyo Zero Yen House, Zero Yen Life,” inspired by the exuberant creativity of street dwellers. This documentary delves into the roots of dwelling, and living, through the unique activities of this architect who ”does not build.” Sakaguchi, who devised a nest-like abode that fits the size of the human body, apprentices himself to a Tama River Robinson Crusoe who actually lives on a riverbed. The film depicts the completion of a mobile house for only $260.00 in materials.

LESSON OF THE EVIL – S.F. PREMIERE!!!
Saturday, July 27th, 4:20pm & Tuesday, July 30th, 7:00pm
Directed by Takashi Miike, Lesson of the Evil is a twisted psycho thriller based on a bestseller novel by Yusuke Kishi. Hasumi is a popular teacher among students at Shinko Academy, a private high school, and well respected by the faculty and the PTA. However, a student named Reika feels something menacing lurking beneath his shining reputation. While Hasumi brilliantly solves one problem after another, from a teacher-student sexual harassment to group cheating to bulling, he starts to take control of the school. As the problems go away, Reika becomes uneasy about the way they are solved. Tsurii, an unpopular teacher in the school, despises the popular Hasumi and starts investigating Hasumi’s past and discovers that Hasumi is a real psycho.

LIBRARY WARS – U.S. PREMIERE!!!
Friday, August 2nd, 7:00pm & Saturday, August 3rd, 1:10pm
** Featuring special in-person appearance by Director Shinsuke Sato
Library Wars is based on the bestselling novel and manga series by Hiro Arikawa. Set in the year 2019 in Japan, a new law is passed to crack down on free expression, which allows for the government to create an armed force to find and destroy objectionable printed material. Meanwhile, to oppose this oppressive crackdown, the Library Force is created. The Library Force includes instructor Atsushi Dojo (Junichi Okada) and Iku Kasahara (Nana Eikura), who work to protect the libraries. A fierce battle soon ensues between these two groups.

PLATNUM DATA – U.S. PREMIERE!!!
Thursday, August 1st, 7:00pm & Saturday, August 3rd, 7:00pm
J-Pop artist Kazunari Ninomiya (Gantz, Oscar –nominated for Letters from Iwo Jima), stars in Platinum Data, the biggest film to be released n Japan in 2013 and directed by Keishi Ohtomo (Rurouni Kenshin). Ryuheo Kagura (Kazunari Ninomiya) is an exceptional scientist working at the National Police Agency’s Special Analysis Research Institute. After solving series of complex criminal cases, he is assigned to investigate the murders of several people connected to the newly developed DNA forensics. Yet, when the faint trace of evidence left at the scene is analyzed through the DNA forensic system, it identifies himself as the offender. With no such memory, he decides to flee and the pursuer becomes the pursued. Is Kagura guilty or innocent? Should he trust in science, or in himself? Does he represent hope for humanity or despair? Platinum Data holds the key…

RUROUNI KENSHIN – S.F. PREMIERE!!!
Sunday, July 28th, 6:30pm & Thursday, August 1st, 4:00pm
A new live-action film adaptation of creator Nobuhiro Watsuki ’s samurai manga that has sold over 57 million copies, been translated in 23 countries, and also inspired a popular animated series. Rurouni Kenshin follows the adventures of a slight and mild-mannered young man who was once an assassin working for anti-Shogunate forces but vows to abandon killing following Meiji revolution in Japan, and devotes his sword-wielding talents to helping others.

SPACE BATTLESHIP YAMATO – WEST COAST PREMIERE!!!
Sunday, August 4th, 3:20pm
A stunning live-action adaptation of the famed space opera originally created by Leiji Matsumoto that laid the foundation for the entire Japanese science fiction anime genre. A brave young crew journeys into space on a fateful trip to save the human race as it teeters on the brink of extinction. Five years have passed since the alien Gamilas first began assaulting Earth with radiation bombs in 2194. Most of the human race is now gone. Susumu Kodai (Takuya Kimura) joins other survivors of the Earth Defense Force in the mighty Space Battleship Yamato in search of a device that can restore the devastated planet. Although director Takashi Yamazaki first gained prominence with his heartwarming film, Always: Sunset on Third Street, his background is in science fiction and his talents for VFX shine in this acclaimed film based on one of Japan’s greatest sci-fi properties.

NEW PEOPLE Cinema is a 143-seat cinema located in the underground floor of NEW PEOPLE in San Francisco. Equipped with a cutting-edge HD digital projection and THX®-certified sound system, NEW PEOPLE Cinema is home for local film festivals and entertaining events. www.newpeoplecinema.com

About J-POP SUMMIT FESTIVAL
The J-POP SUMMIT FESTIVAL is an annual Japanese Pop Culture celebration that features live bands and artists from Japan, pop culture panel discussions, film premieres, fashion and DJ dance events, and celebrity appearances. The Festival is hosted by NEW PEOPLE in cooperation with the Japantown Merchants Association. In 2012, the two-day event attracted 65,000 attendees. More information about the J-POP Summit Festival is available at J-POP.com.

Older 
147148149150151
 Newer