Ken Watanabe nominated!

[Taro Toporific]

Come on, give him props...
On Page One of every morning newspaper here is Ken Watanabe - THE LAST SAMURAI - nominated for best ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE.
See http://www.oscar.com/nominees/nom_33022.html

[Taro Toporific]

Come on, give him props...l

As a counterpoint....

Thank Goodness for the Gattling Gun!
An Unsentimental Review of "The Last Samurai" January 26, 2004 . 2004 USA Vanguard
In "The Last Samurai," someone asks Captain Algren (played by Tom Cruise) why is it that he hates his own people so much. Although Algren doesn't deign to answer, the question could apply also to the producers of this movie or to anyone who likes it. While movies often give us glimpses into foreign lands and simpler times, "The Last Samurai" does so with such a bitter sense of nostalgia, as though the Japanese past was so much better than the American present, that it ceases to be merely sentimental and becomes truly reactionary. It is a reaction against everything modern, even equality itself.

The film opens in San Francisco in 1876, during the star-spangled Centennial of our evil country. Algren/Cruise is a broken old soldier, deeply regretting all he has done to aid America's wicked expansion. He feels especially guilty about joining in an attack on a tribe of Indians and eradicating their nobly warlike (and yet somehow innocent) way of life, and he presumably is sorry about being on the winning side at Gettysburg for the same reason. Alas, Algren's bad gig seems destined to go on forever, for he is soon recruited in the new campaign to export American horribleness overseas. It seems the emperor of Japan is seeking to modernize that country and needs Algren to train a new army for use in fighting off the old army - the disaffected members of Japan's feudal warrior class, the samurai, who have found their values on the wane (and themselves out of a job).

Of course, Algren meets the enemy and finds he loves him. Captured in battle, he is taken to the idyllic home village of the samurai leader, and there he learns what it is to be alive. He sheds his addiction to alcohol (a metaphor for the white man's burden) and is soon able to appreciate the beauty of nature, the change of the seasons, and life on the land. He studies Japanese, unlocks the secrets of bathing, learns to take off his shoes while indoors, and at the end of a few months, comes to master the most esoteric art of them all: breaking skulls with a bamboo stick.

Let's take a closer look at this happy village, this little slice of paradise in which Algren finds himself. The peasants work all day in the paddies, growing food for the samurai, who spend their time writing poetry and playing with their bows and arrows. Actually, the peasants are not even allowed to work without interruption, for they must drop everything and bow to the samurai whenever they pass. The warriors' antique weaponry and esoteric training makes the viewer think he is looking at some sort of Renaissance festival and not the armed camp the samurai have in fact made of things. Last but not least, a woman is forced by her brother to provide lodging for her husband's killer (Algren), and her only recourse is to beg to take her own life.

[Watcher]

Rightfully so that he should be nominated. As to Mr. Negativity's review of the movie would it not have been better to just rip it up as 'Dances with Samurai'? I mean, the movie was a total rip of Costners film. Yeah I can see the point that it idealized a period that wasn't so ideal... but truly my favourite line in the film, and one that characterizes American/Western Hegemonist expansion is said by Cruise at the beginning - 'Bringing you more mechanical amusements and greater commercial opportunitys'. That ranks right up there with Duvall's great line 'Charlie don't surf!'.

Truly can anyone deny that America and the West have killed for their own right to shill mass produced crap? (One may counter that all cultures have on some level)

[Red Floyd]

Wasn't Watanabe in one of the Ring (Sadako, not Sauron) movies?

[Taro Toporific]

Rightfully so that he should be nominated.

It's been a while for Japan....


Oscar Nomination Latest Victory for Japan Samurai[url=http://abcnews.go.com/wire/Entertainment/reuters20040128_170.html]
Jan. 28 &#8212]- Japanese actor Ken Watanabe, best known for his portrayal of samurai warriors, has already won his greatest battle by prevailing over leukemia.
Barely a decade later, he has now become the first Japanese nominee for a performance Oscar in nearly 40 years.

[Taro Toporific]

Rightfully so that he should be nominated. )

Oscar bump's lift
Noms benefit 'Samurai,' 'King,' '21,' 'Lost'
Daily Variety (paid subscription) - Feb 2
http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=upsell_article&articleID=VR1117899406&categoryID=19&cs=1

The cachet from the Oscar noms had a palpable effect on "The Last Samurai," "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King," "21 Grams" and "Lost in Translation" last weekend....
... Ken Watanabe's supporting actor nod boosted the pic by 22% in its ninth stanza in Japan, elevating the market cume to a whammo $98.7 million. ...

[mr. sparkle]

Rightfully so that he should be nominated. )

Oscar bump's lift
Noms benefit 'Samurai,' 'King,' '21,' 'Lost'
Daily Variety (paid subscription) - Feb 2
http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=upsell_article&articleID=VR1117899406&categoryID=19&cs=1

The cachet from the Oscar noms had a palpable effect on "The Last Samurai," "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King," "21 Grams" and "Lost in Translation" last weekend....
... Ken Watanabe's supporting actor nod boosted the pic by 22% in its ninth stanza in Japan, elevating the market cume to a whammo $98.7 million. ...

Check it out, the guy's getting some bounce.


What a maniac!

Good ol' Ken's slated to be the new villian in the Batman series.

[quote]Watanabe gets evil for Batman pic

Ken Watanabe will follow his Oscar-nominated performance in "The Last Samurai" by squaring off against Christian Bale in Warner Bros. Pictures' upcoming untitled Batman movie. Christopher Nolan is directing the film, which will be produced by Emma Thomas, Charles Roven and Larry Franco.

Watanabe will play the villainous Ra's Al Ghul, an immortal strategic mastermind who wants to bring his own brand of order to the world.

Watanabe joins Bale, cast as Bruce Wayne/Batman]

Go Ken, you rock dude!