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Japanese Poster Appreciation Month - January 2009

New Cinema Wallpaper of the Day
Thursday, January 1, 2009

We are now fully off and into Japanese Poster Celebration Month at Cinema is Dope with this minimal but perfect Japanese Poster artwork for Hayao Miyazaki’s Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea (Gake no ue no Ponyo).

Japanese Poster Appreciation Month - January 2009 (Archive):
::: January 6 - Sisters (1973)
::: January 5 - Crime Boss (1972)
::: January 4 - White Lightning (1973)
::: January 3 - The Man from Hong Kong (1975)
::: January 2 - Rolling Thunder (1977)
::: January 1 - Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea (2008)
::: January 1 - Army of Darkness (1992)
::: Preview - Cannonball! (1976)
::: Previous Japanese Posters Featured @ Cinema is Dope

Japanese Cinema Sites I Highly Recommend:
::: Jason Gray
::: Mark Schilling’s Tokyo Ramen
::: Midnight Eye
::: Nippon Cinema
::: Outcast Cinema
::: Ryuganji
::: Toronto J-Film Pow-Wow

* If you don’t see your site listed here and it covers Japanese cinema please comment below so that I can review it and possibly include it in future lists.

About Japanese Poster Artwork Celebration Month:
To kick off 2009, I can think of no better way of doing so than celebrating Japanese poster artwork. The emphasis will be more of western films through the lens of Japanese poster artwork and of course some of my own personal all-time favorites. At a future date I’ll probably have a month devoted to solely Japanese films and their poster artwork. So be sure to tune in each day during the month of January as I have an incredible amount of incredible Japanese posters that will be on display. Hopefully at the end of this I can convert many of you into life long fans of Japanese posters!

Please help and spread the word on the January 2009 themed Japanese Poster Celebration Month here at Cinema is Dope. Tweet your friends. Mention it in your Facebook status or Friendfeed. Link to it on your blog. Any support is greatly appreciated!!!!!

You can follow along at these specific urls/web addresses:
::: www.cinemaisdope.com/category/movie-wallpaper-japanese-poster-celebration-month/
::: http://tinyurl.com/japanese-poster-2009

Starring in these posters will be: Antonio Sabato, Bruce Campbell, Burt Reynolds, Charles Bronson, Clint Eastwood, David Carradine, Dustin Hoffman, Ernest Borgnine, Gene Hackman, George Lazenby, Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata, Jack Nicholson, James Coburn, Jennifer Billings, Jim Brown, Jimmy Wang Yu, John Boorman, Kate Jackson, Lee Marvin, Lee Van Cleef, Michael Caine, Peter Fonda, Richard Pryor, Roddy McDowall, Sergio Leone, Sidney Poitier, Susan Strasberg, Warren Oates, William Devane and many more…

If you’re interested in Japanese cinema, I highly recommend the following Cinema is Dope picks for January 2009. For this months book selection we have Behind the Pink Curtain by Jasper Sharp. For video recommendation this month we have Linda Linda Linda.

Additionally fans of Japanese cinema will want to pick up this amazing Yasujiro Ozu tribute shirt from Mondo Tees!

As always when in Austin, Texas, be sure to check out Weird Wednesday (January/February 2009 lineup) or Terror Tuesday (January/February 2009 lineup) and of course Alamo Drafthouse Cinema.

My current favorite restaurants in Austin that are an absolute must visit are Clay Pit (be sure to place an order of naan bread) and Uchi. Be sure to tell them CinemaisDope.com sent you if you visit.

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For 2009, each month I will highlight one book that is currently out that I personally recommend. The goal is to highlight and promote books on cinema that you might have missed and definitely need to check out.

Behind the Pink Curtain is a dense, rousing and thoroughly exhaustive book on Japanese Pink Cinema that is written with the trademark gusto, infinite knowledge and passion by legendary Japanese writer and expert Jasper Sharp. Until now we have only been given table scraps of information about Pink films in various publications and online sites, which thankfully changes now with this authoritative avalanche of information and insight in Behind the Pink Curtain!

::: Buy it at Fab Press
::: Be sure to check out the new January releases from new label PinkEiga
::: Blue Film Woman Q&A from Fantastic Fest 2008
::: Midnight Eye book spotlight: Table of Contents - Behind the Pink Curtain
::: Taking a Look BEHIND THE PINK CURTAIN by Rodney Perkins @ Twitch
::: January 2009 Japanese Poster Artwork Celebration Month (Cinema is Dope)

Japanese Cinema Sites I Highly Recommend:
::: Jason Gray
::: Mark Schilling’s Tokyo Ramen
::: Midnight Eye
::: Nippon Cinema
::: Outcast Cinema
::: Ryuganji
::: Toronto J-Film Pow-Wow

Linda Linda Linda (2005)

For 2009, each month I will highlight one movie that is currently out on video (DVD or Blu-Ray) that I personally recommend. The goal is to highlight and promote movies that you might have missed and definitely need to check out.

To kick this off we have Linda Linda Linda, a movie that still hasn’t gotten the cult following it deserves! Filmmaker Nobuhiro Yamashita crafts one hell of a nice minimal masterpiece of coming of age awkwardness, friendship and love letter to music (more specifically the band Blue Hearts). For fans of movies that feature aspiring musicians, celebration of music and coming of age nostalgia, this is a must own movie! So what are you waiting for go rent/buy this movie now!

::: Buy the Linda Linda Linda DVD @ Amazon.com
::: Previous Movie Wallpaper (Cinema is Dope)
::: My Interview with Nobuhiro Yamashita on Cinema Strikes Back
::: January 2009 Japanese Poster Artwork Celebration Month (Cinema is Dope)

Japanese Cinema Sites I Highly Recommend:
::: Jason Gray
::: Mark Schilling’s Tokyo Ramen
::: Midnight Eye
::: Nippon Cinema
::: Outcast Cinema
::: Ryuganji
::: Toronto J-Film Pow-Wow

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New Cinema Wallpaper of the Day
Thursday, December 25, 2008

As the fire roasts around the world celebrating Christmas today, I thought these images would make for a great added gift and a definite must for marking your calendars to check this out in 2009 (hopefully US audiences will get to see the original in addition to the dubbed version Disney is putting together). I haven’t seen a lot of the earlier Hayao Miyazaki work and am just now going back through it. I’m starting with Porco Rosso (Kurenai no buta ) and going on from there. If you have any suggestions on titles of his you think I should 100% check out please let me know in the comments below. I plan to watch them all but specific recommended titles would help me out for which ones to watch first!

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New Cinema Wallpaper of the Day
Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Along with Astropia, ROBOROCK marks one of my favorite indie film efforts I’ve seen in 2008. ROBOROCK is by far one of the most wildly entertaining films I’ve seen this year and in recent memory (and I do watch a lot of films each year!!!!!). The 2nd act is overcooked but the opening and closing act are stellar. If you like dark comedies, sci-fi, robots or all out insane comedies and/or all the above… seek this one out asap. The Japanese poster artwork here certainly captures the spirit of this film perfectly.

Japanese Cinema:
::: Jason Gray
::: Mark Schilling’s Tokyo Ramen
::: Midnight Eye
::: Nippon Cinema
::: Outcast Cinema
::: Ryuganji
::: Toronto J-Film Pow-Wow

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New Cinema Wallpaper of the Day
Tuesday, November 18, 2008

I’m surprised at the popularity of this film here at Cinema is Dope. Previous wallpaper I’ve posted from this film has been in the top 10 for months now (view here) with no signs of letting up. I’m glad now to post this great artwork from its Japanese poster for the surging cult status this film seems to be rolling up.

Related Coverage:
::: Previous Movie Wallpaper (Cinema is Dope)
::: TIFF ‘08 Midnight Madness Page
::: TIFF ‘08 Midnight Madness Video of Intro & Q&A
::: Photographs from TIFF ‘08 Midnight Madness Screening (MM Facebook Group)
::: Detroit Metal City Out-Rocks Jimmy Page via Midnight Madness Blog
::: Detroit Metal City and Japanese Duality via Midnight Madness Blog
::: Highlights from TIFF Talk
::: Making of Video on YouTube
::: Another Making of Video on YouTube
::: And yet another Making of Video on YouTube
::: Featurette on YouTube

Japanese Cinema:
::: Jason Gray
::: Mark Schilling’s Tokyo Ramen
::: Midnight Eye
::: Nippon Cinema
::: Outcast Cinema
::: Ryuganji
::: Toronto J-Film Pow-Wow

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