vampire

Tokyo Vampire Hotel

Link posted on by moviebloke

(Japan 2017)

This theatrical cut of director Sion Sono’s Amazon Prime miniseries Tokyo Vampire Hotel [東京ヴァンパイアホテル] (http://www.indiewire.com/2017/04/tokyo-vampire-hotel-sion-sono-amazon-1201808369/) is a fast-paced stylish and colorful bloodbath, something that wouldn’t be out of place in Quentin Tarantino’s oeuvre.

Manami (Tomite Ami) is a nice girl who shares a tiny apartment with her boyfriend (Saito Takumi) in Tokyo. Just after she arrives for dinner with her friends on the evening of her 22nd birthday, a crazy gun-toting assassin (Shoko Nakagawa) in a fuzzy pink mink shows up and takes out everyone in the restaurant — except Manami, whom she came to kidnap.

Manami flees, only to be picked up by another kidnapper, the mysterious K (Kaho). K in not so may words explains that Manami is a pawn in a war between two vampire clans, the Draculas and the Corvins, who have been enemies for centuries. Unbeknownst to Manami, she’s the target of a worldwide vampire hunt. K takes her to the glamorous Tokyo Vampire Hotel, which is run by a creepy geisha empress (Adachi Yumi) who needs blood.

The end of civilization is coming, but the empress has a plan: use the hotel to trap a healthy supply of humans to serve as food. Things don’t pan out as planned when the humans figure out what’s happening and the Draculas show up to crash the party.

This photo sums up what you’re getting into here:

Tokyo still.jpg

Tokyo Vampire Hotel is quirky, sexy, lavish, and fun. Sono serves up an imaginative feast of dazzling eye candy and nonstop action. His use of Christian symbols adds a nice touch. The sets are fantastic, and the action moves from the streets of Tokyo at night to inside the hotel to Bran Castle in Transylvania, and back. The editing works to make nine episodes flow seamlessly into a feature length film. However, the story wears thin after a little while, and it can’t sustain the interest I started out with. The gore gets old, too. The length, nearly two and a half hours, is a problem. It demonstrates why Tokyo Vampire Hotel is probably better in smaller doses.

With Mitsushima Shinnosuke, Yokoyama Ayumu, Kagurazaka Megumi, Shibukawa Kiyohiko, Takatsuki Sara, Tsutsui Mariko, Sakurai Yuki

Production: Amazon, Django Film, Nikkatsu Pictures

Distribution: Nikkatsu International Sales

142 minutes
Not rated

(AMC River East) C+

Chicago International Film Festival

Yakuza Apocalypse [極道大戦争]

Posted on by moviebloke

(Japan 2015)

According to Wikipedia, Yakuza are members of transnational organized crime syndicates originating in Japan. Notorious for their strict codes of conduct and organized nature, they have a heirarchy of bosses, advisors, and lackeys. They also have a number of rituals– stuff like cutting off fingers and getting full-body tattoos. Mmmm. In Yakuza Apocalypse, lieutenant Akira Kageyama (Hayato Ichihara) is turned into a vampire when his beheaded boss, Genyō Kamiura (Lily Franky), bites him just before he dies, passing on his “powers” presumably so Kageyama can avenge his death. For poor Kageyama, however, being a vampire sorely tests Kamiura’s mantra of “no harm to civilians” and upsets the status quo both in the city where the gang operates and within the syndicate.

I love a dumb movie as long as it’s fun, and a little bizarre goes a long way. Yakuza Apocalypse certainly is both, but despite a strong enough start it is fun only to a point. Too bad. I love the melding of genres: mafia, kung fu, gore, action, end of the world shit. It struck me that I witnessed something come full circle: Yakuza Apocalypse so obviously was influenced by Quentin Tarantino, who in turn so obviously was influenced by martial arts films. Plus, making the deadly monster everyone fears a guy in a fuzzy muppet-like frog suit is a small stroke of genius. However, the plot is choppy, confusing, and hard to follow. I’m not sure what the deal is with “The Captain” or Masuda, to name just two “what the fucks.” The joke gets old, fast: the film goes on about 45 minutes too long and repeats the same tedious, drawn out battles, chases, and other nonsense. The audience loved it, but I got lost and bored; at just about two hours, I thought it would never end.

(Gene Siskel Film Center) D+

http://www.siskelfilmcenter.org/yakuzaapocalypse

What We Do in the Shadows

Video posted on by moviebloke

(USA/New Zealand 2014)

Ever wonder what This Is Spinal Tap might look like mixed with Big Brother and, oh, say True Blood? Me, either, but the result, evidenced by this little gem, is pretty damned funny.

A group of vampires of varying ages– Viago (Taika Waititi), Deacon (Jonathan Brugh), Vladislav (Jemaine Clement), and Peytr (Ben Fransham)– share a house in a New Zealand city. They have the typical housemate drama: one mate fails to clean up the blood from victims and another gets his roomies into tiffs with rival werewolves. The usual stuff. The storyline here involves the cute but annoying Nick (Cori Gonzalez-Macuer), a newbie in need of adapting to the ropes of vampire life, and his best bud, Stu (Stuart Rutherford), on whom the housemates develop a little man crush. Wicked fun!

(Music Box) B

http://whatwedointheshadows.com