PERFECT EDUCATION 6 (2005) [Kanzennaru Shiiku : Akai Satsui aka Kanzennaru Shiiku 6] (Japan) director: Koji Wakamatsu
starring: Mika Ito & Shiro Sano
A man, seriously in debt to a loan shark, decides to make some money through a murder-for-hire scheme. After the killing – with the police on his trail – he takes refuge inside a house in the wilderness. There he finds a young woman, chained to wall, who pleads for help. Apparently she had been the victim of a kidnapping when she was a child and has been held captive ever since...
Legendary pink/S&M filmmaker Koji Waka-matsu pulls off a next-to-impossible feat: he manages to breathe life into this tired series. See Dan Grissom’s article in ACC #46 for the overview, but no prior knowledge is necessary to truly enjoy this remarkable (and unassociated) film.   Click to see more photos!

SET TO KILL (2005) (Hong Kong)
director: Marco Mak
starring: Isabel Chan & Carl Ng
A Triad money laundering scheme is active inside a Hong Kong bank. But when the funds vanish, the Big Boss demands retribution from assistant chief officer Miss Connie. The bank chairman hires four professional assassins (including female bodyguard Lisa) to protect her. But big question is still... where's the money? Lots of gun action and flirty humor, but ultimately it’s cotton candy.  Click to see more photos!

GO-CON: JAPANESE LOVE CULTURE (2004) (Japan) director: Nobuyuki Shintani
starring: Ryuta Kawabata & Ryoji Ando
"Go-Con" is a trendy Japanese-English word used by the young generation. It means hanging out while looking for love. Or maybe looking-for-sex is more accurate. This story deals with three boys who use a local cafe for their go-con affairs. Under the guise of being shy and reserved (even nerdy) they manage to seduce all kinds of women from highschool girls to office ladies, airline stewardesses to housewives. The kitchen-help gets into the action by taking bets on which horny kid ends up with which girl. Everything is turned upside down when an old flame shows up: Is she also fair game? Could we possibly care less?  Click to see more photos!

KOI NO MON (2004)
aka OTAKUS IN LOVE (Japan)
director: Matsuo Suzuki
starring: Tanabe Seiichi & Ryuhei Matsuda
Matsuo Suzuki, a multi-talented play-wright/novelist/ actor, tries his hand at directing for this quirky romantic comedy. It's the story of Aoki, a geek who creates art by arranging colored stones in wooden boxes. He soon falls madly in love with a young manga artist named Akashi. But then he realizes – too late perhaps – that her girl-geek qualities are even too much for him to accept. The film bursts with life. It's a true love-song for every obsessive geek in the world, filled with tons of cameos from Japan's counter-culture. Watch for Takashi Miike as a bordello director.  Click to see more photos!

AV (2005) [A.V.] (Hong Kong)
director: Ho Cheung Ping (Edmond Pang)
starring: You-Nam Wong & Lawrence Chou
Four HK male college students, infatuated with a Japanese sex star (Amamiya Manami), decide to make a fake porn film so they can all get laid by her. First they raise the money to fly her from Japan and pay her salary, then they set up the crew and arrange for the movie shoot.
Loads of gross-out humor and sex jokes (plus nudity) with some good performances all around. Incidentally, two of the leads are members of a Hong Kong boy band called SHINE. Interestingly, even though this movie reeks from near-fatal levels of testosterone [it has been severely criticized for it’s blatant male humor], the director also made the decidedly feminist ode Beyond Our Ken in 2004.   Click to see more photos!
add a if you like raunchy stuff

BLOOD RAIN (2005) (Korea)
director: Kim Dae-Seung
starring: Cha Seung-Won & Park Yong-Wu
Here's a unique "historical thriller" taking place during Korea's Choson period (late 18th century) from the director of Raging Years. In the story, detective Won-gyu investigates a series of gruesome murders on a rural island. As the body count mounts, Won-gyu becomes apprehensive over the extraordinary cruelty of the killings...
 Click to see more photos!

RED SHOES (2005) (Korea)
director: Kim Yong-Gyun
starring: Kim Hye-Su & Kim Seong-Su
Kim Hye-su plays Sun-jae, a mother with an obsessive maternal instinct for her daughter; she is blinded – to the point of brutality – by love and ambition. Loosely based on the twisted Hans Christian Andersen fairytale, it's the story of a "possessed" pair of red shoes... shoes which cause death and madness to the owner  Click to see more photos!

GODZILLA: FINAL WARS (2004) [Gojira: Fainaru Woazu] (Japan)
director: Ryuhei Kitamura
starring: Masahiro Matsuoka & Rei Kikukawa
Filmmaker Ryuhei Kitamura (Versus) directs the [reportedly] final Godzilla movie. The plot is remarkably similar to Destroy All Monsters as gigantic creatures start attacking metropolitan areas around the world. The Earth Defense Force has created the M Organization, an elite tactical patrol dedicated to stopping the problem. Final Wars unites just about every monster that has ever appeared in the Godzilla series over the past 50 years. The action culminates in a spectacular fight-to-the-death between Godzilla, Gaigan, Ghidorah and Mothra as they rip and tear one another’s body parts off amid the mass devastation of Tokyo. Music by legendary rock keyboard player Keith Emerson.  Click to see more photos!

ONE MISSED CALL 2 (2005) [Chakushi Ari 2] (Japan)
director: Renpei Tsukamoto
starring: Mimura & Asaka Seto
This effective sequel to Takashi Miike's major hit continues the story of telephone terror. Kinder-garten teacher Kyoko visits her boyfriend at work (a Chinese restaurant). She is startled when her cell phone gives off a weird ring; they are reminded of an incident last year when people started receiving phone calls [from themselves] which foretold death in three days. The teacher soon finds herself in a continuation of that Ring inspired horror scenario.  Click to see more photos!

New ULTRAMAN [Urutoraman] (2005) (Japan)
director: Kazuya Konaka
starring: Tetsuya Bessho & Masao Kusakari
This is a darker and more adult Ultraman [think Batman Begins], punctuated by state-of-the-arts visual effects and some nifty action segments. This time around, a Japanese Air Force pilot named Maki becomes Ultraman after colliding with a mysterious glowing object in the sky. Soon, armed with superpowers, he must save the earth from a sea creature who gains strength after devouring other monsters.