Zíza

And here we are, in the last chapter. The hero comes back on the scene (and with stule, if you ask me), confirming what I've suspected since the first episode – who Tomodachi is. We've jumped to the year 2017, killed about a third of the world's population, but we're still doing great! Sure, it started picking up speed again, and the running time pretty much killed it again, but who cares! There's a robot! A virus! Heroes! Obi-wan Kenobi! Twins played by Sano Shirō! A light serving of plot holes! A mother! The fat guy survived (which would never happen in the U.S.)! An Enka singer! Comedy! Action! Even drawn-out scenes! And an ending that wasn't as sappy as it could have been! And watch until the very end, because the movie keeps going during the credits! And I'm writing an awful lot of exclamation points! I'm glad to see so many quality actors together, because that's what made the film series successful and watchable. But I probably wouldn't recommend watching the whole film series in one sitting, you can get really fed up with it. I sure felt that way (I would never have watched the other two right after the first one myself, but I was pushed into it by my dear other half, who I hardly ever watch movies for, but this one I just had to, and right away, and in one go, come on come on).

I was expecting something a little different from this since it's gotten such accolades. I admit the beginning was fine. A bit slow, and it still hasn't been revealed what's going to follow when they say their piece – it's mutual. It's just that from about the third or fourth episode onwards, it slowly fell into the classic Shōjo template. The characters, the plot, everything. Some might argue that it doesn't matter, and I would agree if it weren't presented as something cool, something with added value. Which the show doesn't really have. The Japanese have done plenty of work about gay people, in fact some of those series got the same awards, just in previous years (Kinō Nani Tabeta?, Ossan's Love), and they had much more original story and characters. This is pure innocent office romance. It doesn't matter that they're guys. This has been here a thousand times before and it's disappointing. Especially towards the end, it started to drag a little bit. Quickly watched, quickly forgotten. 55%.

The main character, Momoko, gets fired from her daycare, so she gets a new job where she still takes care of kids. Specifically, the ones who aren't allowed to be in daycare because they have a temperature of 37.5 or higher. However, the employer's rules clearly state that she is not to interfere with the family, educate the child, etc. But Momoko, like a proper soft-hearted Japanese lady, can't be told and has to stick her nose everywhere she can. I guess it's because she had a terrible childhood. But of course, despite initial mistrust, she makes lots of friends, everyone applauds her, and only her family nips at her heels. It's a typical show about family, friendship, helping, and nurturing, it's just that some of the characters are like caricatures. Momoko herself is so unrealistic I'd like to shoot her in the eye. Ditto Asahina, played by poor Narimiya. Such a good actor and such a bad role. If you like cheesy family dramas, go for it; otherwise steer clear. A weak 2 stars.

The film was recommended to me by friends with the words: "We didn't even know films this good were being made in India." So I laughed at them and went to watch it. Three hours flew by, I don't even know how. Reasons to see the film: the three idiots are a likeable bunch, it has at least one catchy song, coincidence is a great thing, and dreams do come true. A movie that brings hope = it’s naive. Well, why not turn off for three hours?

Sakurai was fine, Tappei was fine, but I pretty much spent the majority of the series hating Shio. I just don't like these kind of characters – acting like a teenage girl making mountains out of molehills at 30. I just don't. Nakajima and Kawaguchi were nice distractions there, but even then, I still found them to just be dead weight at times. It's not a terrible series, but there's no point in expecting anything from it either. Within certain limits, the acting wasn't bad (but you could see a lot of the difference between the younger and older generations). I liked the opening. A better 2 stars.

Lyrical. Fantastical. A detective story. It's all intertwined and tied together very nicely by the soundtrack. I think it reflects the Japanese mindset in an interesting way, or rather how they are, what they believe in. Jun, Shiro, and the smoking detective were all well acted. The bonding, the slow unraveling of a past that to a certain extent is still very hard to understand, all of it made for a very interesting cinematic experience. Don't expect a frantic pace, don't expect bloody fights, don't expect a "fluid" story. This film is about the image, it's about what can't be conveyed through peppery dialogue. Watch and listen, but above all keep your expectations low.

Tedious. I watched it in three days, but that was only because I wanted to get the "burden" off my shoulders. Who wouldn't care if she died or not? But that's true of her entire storyline. I was more interested in the other one's storyline, the one who did the lending. And she also appealed to the Angel of Death, the Scheduler, who cried pretty hard in the end. I confess I shed a tear at the last episode too, not so much for the comatose one, but for the other one and what she found in the backpack. Well. You'll see if you watch. Otherwise, nothing. I didn't connect with them. I didn't sympathize. I didn't care for the OST either. But it left me feeling disillusioned – first, the ending sucked, and second it made me think about my own life. Yikes. A better 2 stars.

Yamada Yuki is just not suited to romantic comedy with his voice, looks, or facial expressions. He's a great comedian, he can handle dramatic characters too, bad guys even better, but the main character in a romcom... no, he just didn't fit. Nagasawa Masami, on the other hand, is the type who can act in them just fine, and she wasn't bad here either, though I've seen her do better. Director and writer Fukuda Yuichi, who has a plethora of comedies and parodies to his credit, took a stab at romance and I don't think it suited him. It seemed so bland to me, always just biting off something but not quite finishing it. Sure, it is based on the American original and leaves out the most vulgar jokes, though that's the film's strength and weakness. What it fails to translate, though, is the chemistry between the main characters; I really missed that here. I couldn't understand at all why the two fell in love. Not great.

Even if the actors were working hard here and there, nothing could save the horrifically bad script. Won Joo may be a good actor, but he just didn't have much to do here. Not to mention, I found the main character terribly unlikable the whole time and felt like she wasn't playing what she was supposed to. A terrible show, even the minimum of palatable scenes and the one mediocre song couldn't save it. An obvious Titanic.

The beginning held my attention... for about ten minutes. Then came – apologies to anyone who might be bothered or offended, but I really can't call it anything else – blatant American kitsch. And it didn't hold my attention, or even seem to deserve it. Maybe Shane Acker should have stuck with his 11-minute short from 2005, because he didn't give the world anything new by multiplying the time of the short by seven. Yes, the grim depiction of a post-apocalyptic world was very successful, perhaps I could call it the animated face of Orwell's 1984, but that's just a maybe and a happy accident. Someone wrote here about the gripping action, which I certainly didn't find gripping, rather it made me worry about whether I needed to paint my nails, which I also managed to do, and that just doesn't happen with good fantasy... It would have been a good movie if it could have held my attention. And it doesn’t help that it had been one of my most anticipated films of 2009.