I don’t seem to have much luck with Kitamura Ryuhei films. We’ve recently watched both the adaptation of Clive Barker’s Midnight Meat Train, and 2003′s Skyhigh, starring Shaku Yumiko. I wanted to like both films. The latter I fell asleep in, the former… well, I like the original short story but I didn’t care much for the film. Apparently Clive Barker likes it which is great as he’s had some really bad luck with film adaptations of his work, but I can’t help but think that Kitamura’s direction style did the narrative no justice whatsoever.
Skyhigh differed in that it wasn’t necessarily a poor match of story and style but rather that Kitamura’s style was all there was to the film. I have no idea how they managed to spin both a sequel and a TV series out of such a mediocre story.
Speaking of mediocre stories, I also have an ax to grind with the Super Sentai franchise’s Christmas episode and Goseiger in general. Where was my Christmas Orugu? Where was my guest appearance by Akiyama Rina? Nowhere. In fact, Goseiger, beyond the suggestion of messianic terminology and a shot of a Christmas tree, couldn’t seem to bring itself to be festive at all. Instead we were treated to the kind of clip show/recap usually reserved for New Year.
Bah.
Moving on.
