Just look at that vid. It’s a display of a mod for the physics engine in Crysis and at the same time, it’s a sublime and beautiful display of…crates…..

…What? It is pretty awesome. Much like the fact that Christmas is fastly approaching and Wisconsin actually has snow for the occasion. Sure I have to shovel but who cares?! It’s freaking snowing!

Okay, enough of my apparently undying sense of awe in regards to snowing, here’s this week’s installment of Friday ACE.

–So the headline on Anime News Network reads Anime Shut Out Of Annie Awards but it seems like anything but. Back in 2005, Hayao Miyazaki’s then classic Howl’s Moving Castle was nominated for a ton of awards but was beaten to the punch by the creative team behind Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit.

IMHO, the Were-Rabbit team did deserve it as they did a rather kickarse job on the film but since then, there hasn’t been a single animated film from Japan in the running. Insert your own HOLLYWOOD SUCKS CUZ THEY DIDN’T NOMINATE [your favorite anime film that is apparently better than anything else] here.

Theories range from it being a conspiracy on behalf of the committee, knowing full well that opening the doors would drown out all American achievements to Hollywood sucking period. I’m thinking maybe certain movies didn’t qualify or just didn’t catch the eyes of the judges?

….Expect a petition attempt in the next few weeks folks.

–French Cosplayers rock. Just take a look at these two vids.

-Speaking of Hokuto no Ken…

–And here’s an interesting Yatterman update.

For those that are in the dark, Yatterman is a classic 1970’s anime from the studio that brought us Gatchaman, Tekkaman and the rather awesome Karas. The recently revamped Nikkatsu Studios has been talking about doing a live action adaptation of the series for quite some time with a teaser finally circulating this year. Throw Takashi Miike into the mix as director and it looks like we might have something.

Now, last time on my blog, I mentioned that Arashi’s Sho Sakurai had been cast as the lead character, Gan, making this the second major adaptation film with a Johnny’s Jimushou member in the lead. The other film, a remake of Akira Kurosawa’s Hidden Fortress but that’s another rant altogether that I’d rather not get into for your sake. As it turns out, Sho’s casting seems to be a Box Office insurance policy after all and already fans are getting worried that this movie will bomb harder than Devilman.

As we speak, it appears that the battle has finally begun for casting leading villainess, Doronjo. According to rumors and ryuganji.net, Erika Sawajiri was in the running. However, throw into account her little temper tantrum incident at the premiere of Closed Note….

…And I’m thinking that she’s not getting this one, let alone any other work for awhile. Least she’s still got commercials.

-I’d forgotten how much Kaiju Shakedown rocked until recently when I started making frequent visits again. This week was a shining example of this with a re-enactment of the story in the press involving Paris Hilton trying to get discount at a pawnshop in Japan.

Now if only this had happened:

–TakaraTomy is back on the Tokusatsu bandwagon again. As a follow-up to Madan Senki Ryukendo, in 2008 we’re getting Tomika Heroes RESCUE FORCE.

According to a news article on Japanese news site, Response, the producers are aiming to make the focus more on actual rescue situations rather than just your run of the mill tokusatsu villains.

That’s what the Rescue Police Trilogy said….

–Hollywood wants to remake Kenta Fukasaku’s X-Cross.

Why?

I haven’t seen it yet but I can only imagine how horrible it’ll turn out to be if it was remade. Sure they’ve gotten the producer from Fight Club and LA Confidential involved but that doesn’t guarantee that it won’t bomb. Look at Andrew Lau, the director behind Internal Affairs and Storm Riders for crying out loud, Initial D anyone?

Coincidentally, I was reading up on some trivia about Battle Royale II the other day. I love how he tried to make post 9/11 statements and even that couldn’t save the movie from being this sequel that just did not need to be made. However, despite how bad it was, I’d take BRII over Uwe Boll’s Postal any day of the week.

In the meantime, X-Cross is now playing in theaters in Japan and no reviews have surfaced yet over it being actually any good or not…. *gulp*

-According to a member on HJU and the glaring pre-order page on Amazon.jp, Kamen Rider Shin: Prologue is finally hitting R2 DVD!

I remember seeing this years ago on my blurry Laserdisc rip tape, I didn’t think much of it then but maybe a viewing of it for old time’s sake may change my opinion. The DVD hits on April 25th, 2008.

-And sliding in at the last moment, Derek, one of the guys I met at Otakon while hanging with my fellow podcasters, pointed out this, the brand spanking new trailer for Noboru Igushi’s forthcoming Machine Girl.

Check it out for yourself at Twitch right now. Bit of a warning though, with the high amounts of gore, ye might want to save it for when you get home. Cannot wait to see how this one turns out.

Now, some other interesting news bits/links worth checking out;
–ACE 3 Display Awards (Insert Credit)
–Dear Mr Toriyama… (Kotaku)
–Jet Li VS Brendan Fraser (Kung Fu Cinema)
–I Normally Don’t Cover Video Games This Much But This Is Hilarious (Kotaku)
–The OTHER Dragon Tiger Gate (Kaiju Shakedown)
–Stephen Chow with yet ANOTHER Journey To The West adaptation (Monkey Peaches)

With that said, it’s time to bring this edition of Friday ACE to a close. In the words of L’arc~en~ciel; HURRY UP CHRISTMAS