Beserk – ベルセルク 黄金時代篇Ⅰ 覇王の卵
Berserk was a brutal manga penned back in 1988, it has since become an anime series and a computer game, but ベルセルク 黄金時代篇Ⅰ 覇王の卵 is the re-launch of the series, coming to the big screen with digitally enhanced animation. The film is set in “The Golden Age” of the entire narrative and fans of the series will find everything rather familiar. But for those new to Berserk, Guts is our violent protagonist, the son of a condemned woman. He meets and joins forces with the elegant and respected leader of the Band of the Hawk, Griffith and his right hand (wo)man, Casca.
Guts and Griffith have a very complex relationship, based around rivalry, a desire to outshine the other and an undeniable respect for one another. Caught in the middle of this odd little love triangle is Casca, a stunning warrior who is very rarely depicted as a helpless beauty in need of rescue.
Set in Medieval times, there are lots of sword fights, a huge amount of blood and severed limbs and even the odd demon and mythical creature thrown in for good measure.
Tower Heist / ペントハウス
ペントハウス (Penthouse) or Tower Heist as it is known back in Hollywood, is an all star comedy with Ben Stiller, Eddie Murphy and Matthew Broderick all fighting for screen time. Alan Alda plays the villain of the movie and he does a great job of becoming the smug, greedy old man who is just so easy to hate.
The basic premise of the film is that a wealthy “1%er” is under house arrest following an investigation into a large amount of fraud. The catch being however, that his house is a luxury penthouse for which he once hired a large staff of “help,” but they have all been fired and with their jobs have gone their pension investments.
Head butler (Stiller) leads a team of Janitors and Bell-Boys in an attempt to steal back what has been swindled away from them. Along with the help of a petty thief (Murphy), they train for the big job, as going from cleaner to crook is a rather large career change.
Directed by the Rush Hour trilogy’s Brett Ratner, it promises to mix humor and action, but it will no doubt be as deep as a paddling pool.
キツツキと雨 – The Woodman and the Rain
Juxtaposing the violent and the silly is キツツキと雨, based on the novel by Shuichi Okita and directed by the consistently cool (沖田修一). The film follows the life of a 60-year-old lumberjack and a 25-year-old film-set runner. Shun Ogori takes on the role of the bumbling but loveable film buff, in a role that will no doubt have the Japanese women in the audience swooning on mass, but the real draw is Koji Yakusho as the aged woodsman.
Perhaps best known in the west for his awkward father figure in the movie Babel(directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu), Yakusho is one of the most well respected actors in Japan.
The film blends subtle humor and real life worries and problems, which may not have you in stitches, but the characters are so rounded, that you will be rooting for them by the time the curtain falls. This mixed with the inherent comedy that comes from filming a zombie movie in a beautifully serine woodland town makes キツツキと雨 a breath of fresh air.
