Strawberry Shortcakes (Sutoroberii Shooto Keikusu/ストロベリーショートケイクス-2006)

Starring:
Chizuru Ikewaki - Satoko
Noriko Nakagoshi - Chihiro
Yuko Nakamura - Akiyo
Kiriko Nananan - Toko
Ryo Kase - Nagai
Masanobu Ando - Kikuchi
Ayaka Maeda - Michiru
Seminosuke Murasugi
Yoko Ishino


Based on the eponymous manga for girls by cartoonist Kiriko Nananan, the pic follows the ups and downs of four female friends in Tokyo looking for love and trying to cope with the responsibilities in their lives. The main characters, impeccably played by four powerful actresses, are modern, self-sufficient women and their stories are told with mild irony and a dash of melancholy. The result is a movie that is lighthearted at times, a little sad at others, crazy and sometimes serious, but always special, that investigates the psychology of its characters and offers an accurate depiction of urban Japan, thanks to its director’s know-how. While many overly ambitious directors struggle to tell even one fairly comprehensible story, Yazaki skillfully weaves a powerful depiction of not one, but four women, creating an indissoluble and moving whole that doesn’t succumb to sentimentalism.
I'm not sure if I liked this movie or not. It was a slow movie and the characters looked so much alike I couldn't tell who was who. So that was really confusing. And just when I thought I was going to start liking it....*boom!*....the movie was over.

It had a strange aura about it. I couldn't really feel any happiness in it. Sort of a gloomy movie. Even the end, even though they seemed to be in better spirits couldn't make up for the "gray clouds" that hung over this movie.

I so desperately wanted to like this movie because it had Masanobu Ando. But his little bit piece in the movie just wasn't enough to make this movie any better. Okay, naked Ando-san was a nice touch. LOL! *smiles*

If you are desperate, depressed, suicidal, or any of the combination of the three, don't watch this movie.

Space Travelers (Supêsutoraberâzu/スペーストラベラーズ-2000)

Starring:
Takeshi Kaneshiro - Nishiyama ("Hayabusa Jetter")
Eri Fukatsu - Midori ("Irene Bear")
Masanobu Ando - Makoto Fujimoto ("Black Cat")
Hiroyuki Ikeuchi - Takamura ("Dragon Attack")
Sawa Suzuki - Kimiko Fukaura ("Gold Papillon")
Masahiro Komoto - Takahiro Shimizu ("Karl Hendrix")
Teruo Takeno - Shintaro Kurasawa ("Electric Sunny")
Koh Takasugi - SAT Taicho
Shigemitsu Ogi - SIT Taicho
Isao Nonaka - Det. Arai
Yozaburo Ito - Det. Nishikawa
Seiko Takada - Band manager
Toshio Kakei - Koichi Fukaura ("Hoi")
Jovijova - J-Six Babys
Chikara Ishikura - J-Six Babys
Meisui Kinoshita - J-Six Babys
Satoshi Sakata - J-Six Babys
Tomoharu Hasegawa - J-Six Babys
Magy - J-Six Babys
Shinji Rokkaku - J-Six Babys
Jin Nakayama - Sudo
Guts Ishimatsu - Shoda
Ren Osugi - Tsuneda
Masatoshi Hamada - Kiyoshi Nonomura
Ken Watanabe - Sakamaki ("Crusher")
Masayasu Kitayama - Officer
Bokuzo Masana - Officer
Naoto Kokaji - Toyoyama
Maiko Shobu - Momoe Kimura
Runa Ito - Minako
Kikuyo Saito - Atsuko Kikushima
Aki Hoshino - Yukari Unno
Megumi Ujiie - Moe Susuki
Miho Ogata - Ayana Nagata
Tatsuro Hoshiyama - Danshi Kouin Amemiya

To be able to finally realize their childhood dream, 3 young men plan to rob a bank. Nishiyama, the leader, Takamura, a very self contained guy and Fujimoto, an otaku obsessed by an anime called Space Travelers. Their plan is very simple, enter the bank at the closing time, take the money and leave within 5 minutes. But unfortunately for them, their plan got screwed. Not able to reach the money and surrounded by cops, they are stuck in the bank. They then decide to use the remaining customers and staff as hostages to gather some time to plan an escape, but they soon realize that an escape is almost impossible.

With the time passing, the hostages begin to sympathize with the three robbers and decide to help them. Nishiyama gets an idea that could help them, try to fool the police into thinking that they are more than what they are in reality. They will all decide to personalize a member of the favorite anime of Fujimoto and call the whole group The Space Travelers. Strangely every one has a character that really correspond to their personality and they will soon begin to develop a real association to their character, forgetting their own personality, as they all begin to be more active in the new improvised band of bank robbers. This matter doesn't help the police at all, confusing them even more as they try to solve that delicate hostage situation. -- KFC Cinema

This here movie was really, really, really good. It's a little corny at the beginning and I mean that in a good way.

The guys are 3 orphans who were raised in the same orphanage and through it all became close enough to actually being brothers. They start the movie out as amateur bank robbers. Sort of like bumbling fools but as the story moves on you can't help but fall for their kindness and naivete. With no intention of hurting anybody, they just wanted enough money to get away and find a paradise they couldn't find in their lives living in the town or city they live in.

As the hostages and the robbers get to know each other, they form a bond and realize that they all have the same dream of becoming something better or becoming someone better than they are. You can't but feel the comraderie between them all and the willing sacrifices they make.

But every bad deed doesn't go unpunished. Once the cops find out that there was a bank robbery in progress, the bank becomes surrounded. Rumors fly and the situations outside the bank become unstable and tense. Here is where the movie starts to take turn from comedy to a drama of serious proportions. At once seemed like a game now becomes a crime.

The hostages are willing to help the robbers escape but how can they when every single person from every emergency squad are called in. As the story comes to a close, my heart aches for every single character especially the 3 main characters, the bank robbers. Hopeless, abandoned, and feeling unwanted as children they strived to make their own way to find their own paradise but all this comes with a high price.

What I thought would be a funny comedy to start my day off on the right foot left me grieving for the 3 orphans who struggled in this harsh world and I prayed they found their paradise. *Oh gosh.....tears are forming now. Again!*

Ikeuchi Hiroyuki


Kaneshiro Takeshi

Masanobu Ando

Battle Royale(Batoru rowaiaru-2000)

Starring:
Takeshi Kitano - Kitano (as Beat Takeshi)
Shin Kusaka - Yoshio Akamatsu - Boys #1
Ren Matsuzawa - Keita Iijima - Boys #2
Gouki Nishimura - Tatsumichi Ohki - Boys #3
Shigehiro Yamaguchi - Toshimori Oda - Boys #4
Taro Yamamoto - Shougo Kawada - Boys #5
Masanobu Ando - Kazuo Kiriyama - Boys #6
Yukihiro Kotani - Yoshitoki Kuninobu - Boys #7
Osamu Ohnishi - Youji Kuramoto - Boys #8
Yuuki Masuda - Hiroshi Kuronaga - Boys #9
Shirou Gou - Ryuhei Sasagawa - Boys #10
Sousuke Takaoka - Hiroki Sugimura - Boys #11
Yutaka Shimada - Yutaka Seto - Boys #12
Junichi Naitou - Yuichiro Takiguchi - Boys #13
Shigeki Hirokawa - Shou Tsukioka - Boys #14
Tatsuya Fujiwara - Shuya Nanahara - Boys #15
Hirohito Honda - Kazushi Niida - Boys #16
Yousuke Shibata - Mitsuru Numai - Boys #17
Satoshi Yokomichi - Tadakatsu Hatagami - Boys #18
Takashi Tsukamoto - Shinji Mimura - Boys #19
Ryou Nitta - Kyouichi Motobuchi - Boys #20
Yasuomi Sano - Kazuhiko Yamamoto - Boys #21
Tsuyako Kinoshita - Mizuho Inada - Girls #1
Eri Ishikawa - Yukie Utsumi - Girls #2
Sayaka Ikeda - Megumi Etou - Girls #3
Tomomi Shimaki - Sakura Ogawa - Girls #4
Tamaki Mihara - Izumi Kanai - Girls #5
Yukari Kanasawa - Yukiko Kitano - Girls #6
Misao Kato - Yumiko Kusaka - Girls #7
Takayo Mimura - Kayoko Kotohiki - Girls #8
Hitomi Hyuga - Yuko Sakaki - Girls #9
Anna Nagata - Hirono Shimizu - Girls #10
Kou Shibasaki - Mitsuko Souma - Girls #11
Satomi Ishii - Haruka Tanizawa - Girls #12
Chiaki Kuriyama - Takako Chigusa - Girls #13
Haruka Nomiyama - Mayumi Tendou - Girls #14
Aki Maeda - Noriko Nakagawa - Girls #15
Satomi Hanamura - Yuka Nakagawa - Girls #16
Sayaka Kamiya - Satomi Noda - Girls #17
Aki Inoue - Fumiyo Fujiyoshi - Girls #18
Asami Kanai - Chisato Matsui - Girls #19
Mai Sekiguchi - Kaori Minami - Girls #20
Takako Baba - Yoshimi Yahagi - Girls #21
Ai Iwamura - Girl - won last BR
Ai Maeda - Shiori, Kitano's daughter (voice)
Minami - Keiko
Michiko Yamamura - Reporter
Gou Ryugawa - Lieutenant Anjo
Takashi Taniguchi - Nanahara's father
Ken Nakaide - Mr. Hayashida - Home-room teacher of Class 3-B
Kanako Fukaura - Bus conductress (Basugaido)
Yuko Miyamura - Training Video Girl

At the dawn of the new millennium, Japan is in a state of collapse. Unemployment is endemic and school violence is out of control. The beleaguered government retaliates with Battle Royale... Each year, a randomly chosen class is pitted against itself on an abandoned island in a cruel game of survival. The rules of the game are simple: 1) it lasts three days; 2) Each player starts with food, water and a "weapon"; 3) if more than one player survives, everyone dies (by detonating special electronic necklaces; 4) there is no escape. Takeshi Kitano plays a downtrodden teacher turned Battle Royale operation leader. As the game progresses, terror and panic challenge the students' fragile trust in each other. But despite the game's brutality, the adolescent players remain obsessed with their crushes, their petty grudges - and their dreams...

I finally broke down and watched this. I'm not a girl who likes gore, horror, or intense thrillers. But everyone, and I mean everyone, keeps telling me that this was an awesome movie. Soooooooo...............................

Yeah, I watched it. Okay, Nobu's death was too much. Then there was the guy who's head was cut off and used to encase a hand grenade. But from other than those two instances....it was reeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaally good. I was so happy to see Takashi-san, Ando-san and Taro-san. I love those guys! Tatsuya-san, I was never really a great fan of his because his character in Death Note just wasn't right. From that point on I've avoided his movies and/or dramas. Okay, my bad. He did a really good job in this one. Maybe Kira just wasn't the right character for him in Death Note. Or I could blame the writer's in that one because they totally annihilated that anime/manga movie. But I digress.....Death Note for another time.

I just couldn't imagine having to kill my boyfriend or friends. That's just insane. The part where the girls in the lighthouse "lost it" was very, unimaginably believable. And very sad. The trust was walking a thin line.....and "boom" it was lost in a second.

This was a very good movie all around. Scary, horrible, horrific, and just terribly sad.

Masanobu Ando

Tsukamoto Takashi

Fujiwara Tatsuya

69 (シクスティナイン-2004)

Starring:
Satoshi Tsumabuki - Kenichi Yazaki
Masanobu Ando - Tadashi "Adama" Yamada
Yuta Kanai - Manabu Iwase
Asami Mizukawa - Mie Nagayama
Rina Ohta - Kazuko "Lady Jane" Matsui
Yoko Mitsuya - Yumi Sato
Hirofumi Arai - Bancho
Hideko Hara - Kenichi's mother
Ittoku Kishibe - Matsunaga sensei
Jun Kunimura - Sasaki
Kyohei Shibata - Kenichi's father
Noriko Eguchi
Tasuku Emoto - Tatsuo Masugaki
Gen Hoshino - Yuzuru Nakamura
Haruka Igawa - Alpharomeo girl
Ryo Kase - Ryo Otaki
Rinko Kikuchi
Kenta Kiritani - Yuji Shirogushi
Fumiyo Kohinata - Yoshioka sensei
Hidekazu Mashima
Rie Minemura - Fumiko sensei
Yoko Mitsuya
Akifumi Miura - Goro Narushima
Yosuke Miyauchi - Shirai
Yoshiyuki Morishita - Adachi
Jun Murakami - Yakuza
Shunsuke Sawada - Ezaki
Toshiyuki Seyama - Scribe
Kyusaku Shimada - Aihara sensei
Suzunosuke
Kosuke Toyohara - Kawasaki sensei
Yoshiaki Yoza - Kiyoshi Fukushima

Sasebo, Nagasaki, Japan, 1969: inspired by the iconoclastic example of Dylan, Kerouac, Godard and Che, a band of mildly disaffected teenagers led by the smilingly charismatic Ken (Tsumabuki Satoshi) decide to shake up "the establishment" - i.e. their repressive school and the nearby US military installation. A series of anarchic pranks meets with varying levels of success, until Ken and company focus their energies on mounting a multimedia ‘happening' to combine music, film and theatre. Complications ensue.

This was an all out awesome movie. The version I watched had a few minor subbing boo-boo's (ie....incorrect English grammar) but I got the gist of it.

This was a great coming of age movie set during 1969. The comedy was hilarious. Teenagers, males, who thought of getting their first lay, becoming rock stars, making a name for themselves and all they had to go through to get there. LOL! This was a genius of a movie. Satoshi-san was a riot as Ken...oh, the first 30 minutes of the movie had me laughing so hard. Ken, loves to tell stories and one of them was about a certain particular body part. Then there was when the 3rd year student took over the school and one of the students played a naugty song over the loud speaker about the same particular body part. What a hoot!

Loved, loved, loved this!!

Tsumabuki Satoshi


Masanobu Ando

Nightmare Detective (Akumu Tantei,悪夢探偵-2007)

Starring:
Ryuhei Matsuda ... Nightmare Detective
Hitomi ... Keiko Kirishima
Masanobu Ando ... Wakamiya
Ren Osugi
Yoshio Harada
Shinya Tsukamoto ... '0'

Kyoichi Kagenum (Ryuhei Matsuda) is a dream analyzer with the very unwanted “gift” of being able to hear the thoughts of those around him, as well as the ability to enter peoples’ subconscious while they dream. Kyoichi’s rare talents make him highly sought-after in his field, but they also render his life unbearable. He can heal broken minds, but he would just as soon kill himself as ever help another person again. A string of suicides occur, connected by a distinctly unnatural thread –- the deceased slashed themselves with razors while they slept. Enter Keiko Kirishima (super J-pop star Hitomi in her first role), a homicide detective fascinated by the case. She hunts Kyoichi down and essentially forces the death-tripping clairvoyant to help her investigate.



This movie rocked! I loved it! Total must see. Ryu-san was made for this part. His sad, soulful eyes are haunting. I really think he understood his part. Hell, I wanted to be Kirishima when she lied next to Kagenumi (Ryu-san). It's those eyes, I tell ya.

The idea of a man who is able to read thoughts and get into peoples dreams is an awesome idea. But how would you feel to be able to see people's dreams and thoughts at a whim? I had to think that for the character Kagenumi, it was a terrible experience but you have to think that Kirishima was right that there are good things to to see. Aye!

I can't wait for the second movie to come out! I read there are 3 parts so I'm guessing there will also be a third movie too??? I hope so, even without seeing the second one yet, because Matsuda Ryuhei was made for this part so I know that the next movies will not be a dissappointment!

Masanobu Ando


Matsuda Ryuhei

46 Billion Years of Love (46-okunen no koi, ４６億年の恋-2006)

AKA: A Big Bang Love: Juvenile A

Starring:
Ryuhei Matsuda ... Jun Ariyoshi
Masanobu Ando ... Shiro Kazuki
Shunsuke Kubozuka
Kiyohiko Shibukawa
Jo Kanamori
Kenichi Endo
Renji Ishibashi
Ryo Ishibashi
Shirô Kazuki
Sohee Park ... Prisoner 'A'
Jai West

Ariyoshi Jun (Matsuda Ryuhei), who worked at a gay bar, is sexually assulted by a customer, goes into a frenzy and kills the man. While being transported to jail, Jun meets another young male: Katzuki Shiro (Ando Masanobu) an impressive youth with curious tattoos and looks that could kill. Shiro soon displays his brute force from the beginning. The timid Jun is attracted to Shiro's intensity and strength. Jun is the only person that Shiro opens up to as they accept each other for who they are. A guard witnesses an incident. One of the young men strangles another prisoner with all his might in a common area. The corpse has breathed his last breath. It's Shiro. Tears flow down the face of the young man who turns to the guard. It's Jun.

Okay, another far-out movie. Another love it or hate it kind of movie. I loved it! Damn and it has yaoi overtones all over it. This movie, was really hard to keep up with but beautiful as well.

This movie wasn't really all that graphic in nature like most Takashi Miike movies. This was more of a thought provoking, sensually provocative type. The two main characters are total opposites, night and day. One overly masculine while the other one very gentle. Both in prison for murder.

This movie was dark with back and forth, present and past directives. I think there was a moral to this story. To me, it was about rumors and lies and where they can lead. My opinion only.

I know I'm way behind in watching this but I can only watch so movies a day. LOL! But I've saved many Ryu-kun movies...especially Ranai Shashin (a love story...*gasp*). I know it's not his norm type movie. LOL! Can't wait.

Matsuda Ryuhei


Ando Masanobu