The Film Freak: Princess and The Frog, Sherlock Holmes, Liar Game: The Final Stage, Golden Eggs

By Adam Miller

Thankfully the weather is starting to take a turn for the better and you can bet that soon enough there will be gaijin soaking up the 15-degree sunshine in shorts, T-shirts and sandals (sockless, one can only hope). If you've just come out of hibernation, you'll be glad to know that there are some pretty awesome movies out this month. There are also some shockers, but I don't make the movies, I just write about them...

flicks for foreigners

The most interesting new flick out this month (IMHO) is The Princess and The Frog, Disney's return to a more traditional form of animation. It may not be as heartachingly sad as Up or as inspired as Wall-E, but fans of Disney's old cutesy, song-laden classics will like this. The duo who directed and wrote The Frog and The Princess have between them written and directed Hercules, The Little Mermaid and Basil The Great Mouse Detective, which is my favorite Disney movie. Ron Clements and John Musker clearly have the experience needed to make another Disney classic, so here's hoping they pull it off.

The second big 'un is Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes. A festive romp back in the West, it's just coming out in Japan now and promises to be entertaining, if not a little stupid. Perhaps the biggest draw to this movie is its leading man, Robert Downey Jr., who's so entertaining to watch that he even made Ally McBeal bearable for an episode or two. The film may offend fans of Arthur Conan Doyle's classic books, though to be honest Basil Rathbone was desecrating the stories way back in the 1940s (although I love each and everyone of them... The Spiderwoman is particularly ridiculous). So what's wrong with an American Holmes, or a hard-man Dr. Watson (courtesy of Jude Law) and greased-up men fighting topless? Hmm, I'm not doing a very good job of selling this, am I?

There are a couple of genuine stinkers this month, with the winner of the biggest thumbs-down either going to G-Force, a movie about a band of secret-agent hamsters - I'm not even joking! - or Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightening Thief. The latter is based on a novel by Rick Riordan and directed by Chris Columbus (he directed the first two Harry Potter movies) and follows Percy Jackson (duuuhhh, you don't say?!) as he discovers he's a descendant of Poseidon and inevitable trials and tribulations ensue. The former, however, is an original screenplay with a pitch that probably went something like this:

"I've got an idea for a movie. Think Small Soldiers and replace the toys with hamsters."

"Well, you've taken a mediocre movie and added the world's smelliest and most boring pet... Here's $100 million."

Both films will be fine for those of you with kids or the intelligence of a pine nut, but watch out for dubbed screenings of G-Force!

new japanese cinema

On March 6th, we have Liar Game: The Final Stage, directed by ex-TV kantoku Hiroaki Matsuyama. It's based on the manga by Kaitani Shinobu, which follows the naïve and trusting Nao Kanzaki, who unwittingly enters the "Liar Game Tournament", a tourney in which you either win ¥100 million or become indebted to the same figure, by - you've guessed it - LYING. This time round, it's even more strange! Instead of ¥100 million the prize is now ¥5,000 million, there's a mystery player called "Player X", and the name of the game this time around is trust rather than deception. "Why's it called Liar Game, then?" I hear you ask. How the hell should I know?! Anyway, this should be a treat if you've seen the TV show or read the manga, although going in with no prior knowledge will make this movie too confusing for most.

japanese gem

This month's Japanese Gem fits the criteria almost perfectly: it is Japanese and it is a Gem. Unfortunately it's also a TV show, and as this is The Film Freak it probably looks a little out of place. Like Mr. Bean on a cinema screen. Anyway, I recently found in Hard-Off (snigger) a second-hand copy of Golden Eggs Season 2, Volume 3 for ¥680! Admittedly the sleeve was torn, but the DVD was in perfect working order...

Golden Eggs, for those of you who are yet to discover it, is an awesome animated sketch show that borders on the insane. I've no proof of this theory, but to me the voice-overs seem to be improvised. The animation is very psychedelic, too, and the humor is stupid and universal (there are actual jokes, not just catchphrases). The first sketch is always subtitled in English, but from there on in you're on your own, which makes this a good method for picking up authentic, conversational Japanese! This DVD features the regular characters of Kevin and Paul, wandering turkeys who can talk, Robert-sensei (a man who can be sympathized with by anyone who has ever worked in a school), and the iconic brain-dead body-builders who argue whether a muscle supporter is a bra or not. It may sound odd, but it's worth checking out; which you can do for free on YouTube. It will be a little strange for some, but I reckon most people will find this to be majestic and easy watching.

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