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JAPANESE FILM FESTIVAL ONLINE 2024
United Kingdom
June 5 04:00 - July 3 04:00, 2024 (GMT)

Following on from The Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme (JFTFP) in Feb and March, we are delighted to announce JAPANESE FILM FESTIVAL ONLINE, first launched in 2020, will now also be held in the UK from 5 June at 4am until 3 July at 4am (all times BST).

For the first two weeks of the festival, 18 Japanese films will be available for streaming, with 2 television drama series that were popular in Japan being made available for the festival's second half.

Enjoy the diverse world of Japanese cinema in person and also online this year!

https://jff.jpf.go.jp/watch/jffonline2024/uk

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On 12/06/2024 at 2:57 PM, CrowingJoe79 said:

Has anyone seen The Watchers yet and care to comment?

I've not heard good things about it. I basically heard it's pretty much like the first one but drags on. I may still watch it though because I don't mind a slow-burner as long as something's going on. 

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Just got back from a Columbia 100th Anniversary screening of Spider-Man (Raimi's, 2002) and...wow. I watched the film a few years back in preparation for No Way Home, and it's the Spider-Man film I grew up on alongside its sequel, and it means so much to me for how large a part it played in my childhood – one of a few films which are the personification for me of much simpler times. Chills throughout, genuinely close to tearing up at points, and Danny Elfman's score for the film is just phenomenal. 

Some things I found interesting/funny in hindsight:

• name-drops for both Eddie Brock and Dr Connors in this first Raimi film, when they turn up later on in the trilogy and it makes no real sense for them to be around at this point in the context of the trilogy. Remember when Easter eggs could be just that? 

• obviously Willem Dafoe's Norman is known for his mirror conversations as he spirals into his Green Goblin personality, but something I found super interesting on this re-watch which I'd never noticed before but kept a keen eye out for when I started thinking that maybe they did do it: Norman's hair swoops, face-on, from left-to-right and over, and is parted accordingly; meanwhile, obviously, this is reflected in the mirror, so it swoops from right-to-left and is parted accordingly that way. We see him without the helmet once in the film, when he pleas with Peter at the end – and which way did I think his hair would be going, and which way was it? That's right: it matched the mirror. Freaking subtext, you know what's coming anyways but the film couldn't be more clearly saying to the audience that Norman was assuming his Green Goblin persona and not that of Norman when making those pleas with Peter. 

• maybe my favourite takeaway straight after coming out of the theatre ~ growing up, it seemed obvious to me why Harry would hate Spidey after this film and going into the second, obviously seeing Spider-Man over his father's body at the end of the film. I feel like that's the read for just about everyone I've talked to on the film, he hates Spider-Man just because of that. While it is undeniably partly down to that, the final scene Harry and Norman share, after an entire film of Harry feeling like he'd failed his father and that their relationship could never be better, is that of an apology and a promise to do better by Harry, that he'll be a better father. Obviously this doesn't come to pass due to his demise, and so Harry is holding onto the "what if?" of his father fulfilling his promise and being the father he never got to have growing up, and the next time he seems him, he's dead – which starts his next arc and hatred of Spider-Man*. Meanwhile, this juxtaposes almost perfectly with Ben's and Peter's final talk in the car about power and responsibility, and whereas Harry and Norman have had a rough relationship but end on a high note with the promise of being better, Ben and Peter leave things on a sour note which results in Peter taking that final lesson Ben imparted to heart and assuming the role of Spider-Man, with the regret following being a result that the next time Peter sees Ben, he is about to pass away. I'm sure if Spider-Man 3 were better you'd be able to compare Spidey's chasing down of Ben's killer with Harry's chasing down of Spidey. 

*the real kicker here, and something I've JUST realised after getting home and checking the final scene between Norman and Harry again...Norman's hair is almost perfectly split down the middle because of how it is disheveled – so it can be said to be left somewhat ambiguous in that scene whether Norman or Goblin is in control at this point (he learns of Peter's crush on MJ which hints at Goblin, but the earnestness of his words hint at Norman – perhaps it could even be argued that this is the last time we saw Norman Osborn in the movie?).

Anyways, I absolutely adored it, and it puts so many of the superhero films we get today to shame. The CGI looks a little aged at times, but it's also used sparingly, and some of that shots still genuinely look really good, particularly the final swings around NY. I genuinely think it might be my favourite (and I might also argue the best?) first film of any superhero? Maybe only Batman Begins challenges it? 

Spider-Man 2 next week, and I seriously can't wait. Wouldn't be surprised if that one cracks me. Otto, pizza time, and the power of the sun in the palm of my hand – sign me up :D

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Just got back from Spidey 2, and can confirm, I was absolutely tearing up at points. 

Love that film, think that + Raimi's first Spider-Man are genuinely some of the best superhero films we've had, and I don't think that's just my nostalgia talking, even if I'll happily admit that these films will always mean a lot to me. They're honestly just so well crafted, and I love the fact that they're both flawed in some way or another. There's a level of respect for the viewer which modern superhero films simply don't provide. 

Won't be watching 3 in cinemas, but am looking forward to checking out The Amazing Spider-Man when it re-releases in a few weeks' time. That film came at such an important moment for me in high school, but I haven't watched it nearly as much as Raimi's first two. Think that'll be the last of this slate of Spidey re-releases I turn up for. 

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From Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures and starring Jason Momoa and Jack Black, "A Minecraft Movie," directed by Jared Hess, is the first-ever big screen, live-action adaptation of Minecraft, the best-selling video game of all time.

The film also stars Emma Myers ("Wednesday"), Oscar nominee Danielle Brooks ("The Color Purple"), Sebastian Eugene Hansen ("Just Mercy, "Lisey's Story"), with Jennifer Coolidge.

Welcome to the world of Minecraft, where creativity doesn't just help you craft, it's essential to one's survival! Four misfits—Garrett "The Garbage Man" Garrison (Momoa), Henry (Hansen), Natalie (Myers) and Dawn (Brooks)—find themselves struggling with ordinary problems when they are suddenly pulled through a mysterious portal into the Overworld: a bizarre, cubic wonderland that thrives on imagination. To get back home, they'll have to master this world (and protect it from evil things like Piglins and Zombies, too) while embarking on a magical quest with an unexpected, expert crafter, Steve (Black). Together, their adventure will challenge all five to be bold and to reconnect with the qualities that make each of them uniquely creative…the very skills they need to thrive back in the real world.

This looks predictably cursed. 

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Beyond the Spider-Verse has reportedly hit some creative troubles and potentially had most of its content scrapped, with it being unlikely to release before 2027. 

Damn.

On the one hand, let it cook, but on the other...it was originally pencilled in to release this summer, which makes sense considering it's a two-parter, so it sucks if true.

Loved the first two, Across was one of my favourite films from last year. 

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