Popular reviews

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  Review by Stephen Gillespie ★★★

  JAPAN CUTS 2021
  Full review here (on The Twin Geeks).

  Excerpt:

  A real joy here, though, is the way the film escalates from children’s fantasy and adventure (feeling accessible while never feeling childish in a prejorative sense) to a straight up kaiju film. This movie marks the return of a well known kaiju, used in the marketing but handled as a reveal in the film, and the climax delivers a large-scale, kaiju grudge match of the kind we rarely get to see with this kind of budget behind it. This face-off delivers on the spectacle, relying again on art-design over technical proficiency but the sense of scale is still impressive. However, the final sequences are an example of where the…

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  Review by Stephen Gillespie

  The Twin Geeks are heading (virtually) to Japan!

  Edit: Review here

  That’s right, we will be covering Japan Cuts 2021 in the coming weeks so keep an eye out on the website for coverage from myself, Calvin and DD.

  Full write up to come!

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  Review by Marc-André ★★★½

  Fantasia 2021

  Film de clôture de l'édition 25e anniversaire du festival, à l'Impérial.

  Séance à la fois amusante, émouvante et réconfortante que cette projection du plus récent film de Takashi Miike à l'endroit même où il fut révélé au public international en 1997 avec Fudoh: The New Generation, et dans le cadre du festival auquel il a été associé sans relâche depuis, avec un nombre étourdissant de films qui y furent projetés, dont le premier volet de Great Yokai War en 2006.

  Cette énième offrande de l'inimitable et prolifique cinéaste est à prendre pour ce qu'elle est... c'est-à-dire un film de Takashi Miike (tautologie nécessaire comme message de moi à moi) ET un film destiné à un public avant tout…

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  Review by Cesar Alejandro Jr ★★★½ 3

  Since the death of his father, Kei Watanabe (Terada) finds himself forced to take care of his younger brother Dai (Inomata) which has started to annoy him. He and a group of friends do a test of courage to an abandoned shrine where Kei finds a mysterious red talisman. Meanwhile, the spirits of millenia old creatures have awakened and unite to form a terrifyingly huge demon, the Yokaiju. Rampaging across Japan, the Yokaiju heads to Tokyo, and a barrier which seals away an ancient threat. Panicked, the yokai begin a plan to stop Yokaiju by searching for the descendent of the legendary demon slayer, Watanabe no Tsuna.

  When Takashi Miike released his first Great Yokai War film back in 2005,…

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  Review by Calvin Kemph 🤠 ★★½ 1

  Ranking the Monsters ranks some Alternative Kaijus this week with Great Yokai War — Guardians & Daimajin
  
  Japan Cuts 2021 — #13

  When you’ve recorded on 150 or so movies for the internet, there are bound to be some utterly baffling movies in the bunch. Movies you cannot, with your best foot forward, make heads or tails of. Do I like Guardians? I like Takashi Miike, maybe I should give him the benefit of doubt, that there’s something here. At least, there is the visualization of monsters, as children understand them, which comes closest to what I believe the Kaijus can do at their best: tell socially important stories with the broad accessibility of all age groups. But what is the…

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  Review by Charles Asselin ★★★½

  Fantasia 2021: Film #31

  I don't think another film could have ended the festival on a better note; Miike is arguably the most important director in the history of Fantasia, so ending the 25th anniversary with his latest project was frankly a great idea. The Great Yokai War –Guardians– is one of Miike's most approachable projects - a family film with a lot of creativity at the beginning and at the end, the center being quite uneven with some scenes dragging a bit. I was also surprised by how much music he used - meaning the frequent reliance on music was a huge downer for me, especially in comparison to his earlier works.

  Unlike Sono's Prisoners of Ghostland though -…

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  Review by XM ★★★

  C’était yokai I guess. Perte de points pour le protagoniste criard que l’criss mais point bonus pour les yokai, quoique ça m’a fait réalisé que je ne connais pas assez ma mythologie japonaise… :(

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  Review by Japan Society Film

  U.S. Premiere. In cult director Takashi Miike’s long-awaited return to the phantasmagorical realm of yokai, a vengeful mass of sea spirits arise in the Nagano region of Japan and transform into Yokaiju, a destructive force of nature that leaves nothing but calamity and devastation in its wake. Hoping to prevent the unstoppable Yokaiju from reaching Tokyo (and thus breaking a spiritual barrier that staves off the revival of a nameless evil), the yokai summon the long-forgotten descendent of legendary samurai and yokai hunter Watanabe no Tsuna—fifth-grader Kei Watanabe (Kokoro Terada). Struggling to come to terms with his extraordinary lineage, Kei reluctantly takes on his ancestor’s mantle in an effort to save both yokai and humankind. A gonzo, off-the-wall meld of grand adventure, slapstick humor and fantastical spectacle, Miike’s latest effort reintroduces the mythical world of Japanese folklore (including the return of fan-favorite Daimajin) to a whole new generation of viewers.

  Screening in-person at Japan Society on Aug 28th at 7pm

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  Review by K

  I wish Saturday afternoon TV was still a thing so kids could find this randomly and get obsessed with it like American kids used to get obsessed with Godzilla movies

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  Review by Nazriel Aurellio

  THEY ANNOUNCED THAT DAIMAJIN IS IN THIS MOVIE LET'S FUCKIIINNG GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

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  Review by Jeff Ewing ★★★★ 4

  This is clearly a film made ‘for families’, and there are some plot and tone issues from time to time. And yet, its made with such love, creativity, and attention to detail that you can’t help but love it. An absolute charmer.

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  Review by Boxer_Santaros

  letterboxd.com/boxer_santaros/list/takashi-miike-ranked/

  Pretty clearly maps out the equally fascinating and disappointing sensibilities of Nu-Miike, majority of this is just a generic kiddie fantasy flick that only has two modes, grating and sloppy (felt about ten hours long and left me with a splitting headache), and yet, AND YET, there's maybe something like a third of the film (the opening half hour, and then in tiny spurts throughout the rest) where Miike suddenly wakes up and decides that the material is actually loose and floppy comedy, and the whole thing briefly becomes an absolute blast. Maybe it was just low expectations going in, but that opening stretch really is a miracle, possibly the most goofy and sitcom-ish filmmaking Miike's done since "Happiness…