Sky High (2003 Film)
is a Japanese supernatural action film from director Ryuhei Kitamura. It is based on the manga of the same title by Tsutomu Takahashi and serves as a prequel to a Japanese television drama of the same name, and starring the same actress, Yumiko Shaku. Although the film is a prequel to the series, the film was made while the series was still in production, sometime between the first and second seasons. The film had a clear effect on the direction of the second season, as evidenced in the look and style of Mina/Izuko's second season costuming—more similar to the darker, edgier look she sports in the film, as opposed to the softer, colourful, kimono-like outfit of the first season. The film reveals how the somewhat meek Mina became the heroic Izuko, as seen in the series (and the film’s action climax). Plot A serial killer is on the loose who just so happens to also be removing the hearts of his victims and taking them with him. His victims however, are not merely random hu ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ryuhei Kitamura
(born May 30, 1969) is a Japanese film director, producer, and screenwriter. Biography Early life Kitamura was born in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. He dropped out of high school at age 17 and relocated to Sydney, Australia, where he attended a school for visual arts. His first film as director was the short ''Exit'', which he made as his graduation piece at age 19. Career After graduating, he returned to Japan to establish Napalm Films, his independent production studio. His featurettes ''Down to Hell'' and ''Heat after Dark'' were successful in film festivals, and he soon found his first mainstream success with the cult film '' Versus''. The film launched the career of stars Tak Sakaguchi and Hideo Sakaki, and brought Kitamura international recognition when it was released on DVD outside Japan in 2004. In 2002, Kitamura directed the short film ''The Messenger: Requiem for the Dead'' as part of the ''Jam Films'' project, as well as ''Alive''. In 2003, he directed a feature film ad ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Heaven
Heaven or the heavens, is a common religious cosmological or transcendent supernatural place where beings such as deities, angels, souls, saints, or venerated ancestors are said to originate, be enthroned, or reside. According to the beliefs of some religions, heavenly beings can descend to Earth or incarnate and earthly beings can ascend to Heaven in the afterlife or, in exceptional cases, enter Heaven alive. Heaven is often described as a "highest place", the holiest place, a Paradise, in contrast to hell or the Underworld or the "low places" and universally or conditionally accessible by earthly beings according to various standards of divinity, goodness, piety, faith, or other virtues or right beliefs or simply divine will. Some believe in the possibility of a heaven on Earth in a ''world to come''. Another belief is in an axis mundi or world tree which connects the heavens, the terrestrial world, and the underworld. In Indian religions, heaven is considered a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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2000s Action Films
S, or s, is the nineteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''ess'' (pronounced ), plural ''esses''. History Origin Northwest Semitic šîn represented a voiceless postalveolar fricative (as in 'ip'). It originated most likely as a pictogram of a tooth () and represented the phoneme via the acrophonic principle. Ancient Greek did not have a phoneme, so the derived Greek letter sigma () came to represent the voiceless alveolar sibilant . While the letter shape Σ continues Phoenician ''šîn'', its name ''sigma'' is taken from the letter ''samekh'', while the shape and position of ''samekh'' but name of ''šîn'' is continued in the '' xi''. Within Greek, the name of ''sigma'' was influenced by its association with the Greek word (earlier ) "to hiss". The original name of the letter "sigma" may have been ''san'', but due to the complica ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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2003 Films
The year 2003 in film involved some significant events. Highest-grossing films The top 10 films released in 2003 by worldwide gross are as follows: '' The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King'' grossed more than $1.14 billion, making it the highest-grossing film in 2003 worldwide and in North America and the second-highest-grossing film up to that time. It was also the second film to surpass the billion-dollar milestone after ''Titanic'' in 1997. '' Finding Nemo'' was the highest-grossing animated movie of all time until being overtaken by ''Shrek 2'' in 2004. Events * February 24: '' The Pianist'', directed by Roman Polanski, wins 7 César Awards: Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Sound, Best Production Design, Best Music and Best Cinematography. * June 12: Gregory Peck dies of bronchopneumonia. * June 29: Katharine Hepburn dies of cardiac arrest. * November 17: Arnold Schwarzenegger sworn in as Governor of California. * December 22: Both of the m ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Vamps (band)
Vamps is a Japanese rock music, rock duo formed in 2008 by Hyde (musician), Hyde (vocalist, rhythm guitarist, lyricist and composer) and K.A.Z (lead guitarist, backing vocalist and composer). Only a year after their founding, Vamps performed its first international tour, ten dates in the United States, and in 2010 they went on their first world tour. Originally signed to Hyde's own record label Vamprose, every release the band has had to date has reached the top ten on the Oricon music chart. In 2013, the group changed labels to Universal Music Group's Delicious Deli Records and produced their worldwide debut release. After several tours and collaborations with Western acts, Vamps worked with outside producers and songwriters for the first time on the 2017 album ''Underworld (Vamps album), Underworld'' before temporarily ceasing all activities at the end of that year. History 2008–2011 Vamps was formed by Hyde (musician), Hyde (L'Arc-en-Ciel) and K.A.Z (Oblivion Dust) in ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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L'Arc-en-Ciel
L'Arc-en-Ciel ( French: 'The Rainbow', stylized as L'Arc~en~Ciel), also known as Laruku, is a Japanese rock band, formed in Osaka in 1991 by bassist tetsuya and vocalist hyde. Following the departure of original members hiro and pero, guitarist ken and drummer sakura were recruited to replace them in 1992 and 1993, respectively. While they first got their start as a visual kei band, L'Arc-en-Ciel have not had any association with the movement since their major label debut in 1994. sakura left the band in 1997 and was replaced by yukihiro in January 1998, completing the current line-up. With a reported 40 million records sold, L'Arc-en-Ciel were the first Japanese act to headline at Madison Square Garden. In 2003, they were ranked 58 on a list of the top 100 Japanese pop musicians by HMV Japan. History 1991–1997: Formation, major label debut and sakura's departure In February 1991, bassist tetsuya (then known as TETSU) recruited vocalist hyde (then known as HIDE),As used in ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Hyde (musician)
, known by his stage name Hyde (stylized as HYDE or hyde), is a Japanese musician, singer-songwriter, record producer, and actor. Best known as the lead vocalist of the rock band L'Arc-en-Ciel since 1991, he is also the lead vocalist of Vamps and has a solo career. Hyde rose to fame in the 1990s as part of L'Arc-en-Ciel, who have sold over 40 million records and were the first Japanese act to perform a solo show at Madison Square Garden. He began a successful solo career in 2001, releasing several number one singles, and many of his albums have reached the top five on the Oricon chart. In 2008, Hyde teamed up with K.A.Z to form the hard rock duo Vamps. Through both his solo career and Vamps, Hyde has collaborated/toured with artists such as Apocalyptica, Motionless in White, Starset, Yoshiki, Sixx:A.M., In This Moment, and Danzig, and producers such as Kane Churko, Nicholas Furlong, Drew Fulk, and Howard Benson. Career L'Arc-en-Ciel In 1991, Hyde left his band Jelsarem's ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Screenplay
''ScreenPlay'' is a television drama anthology series broadcast on BBC2 between 9 July 1986 and 27 October 1993. Background After single-play anthology series went off the air, the BBC introduced several showcases for made-for-television, feature length filmed dramas, including ''ScreenPlay''. Various writers and directors were utilized on the series. Writer Jimmy McGovern was hired by producer George Faber to pen a series five episode based upon the Merseyside needle exchange programme of the 1980s. The episode, directed by Gillies MacKinnon, was entitled ''Needle'' and featured Sean McKee, Emma Bird, and Pete Postlethwaite''.'' The last episode of the series was titled "Boswell and Johnson's Tour of the Western Islands" and featured Robbie Coltrane as English writer Samuel Johnson, who in the autumn of 1773, visits the Hebrides off the north-west coast of Scotland. That episode was directed by John Byrne and co-starred John Sessions and Celia Imrie. Some scenes were shot a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Final Wars , ''The War to End All Wars'', or the ''Great War''
{{disambiguation ...
Final War or Final Wars may refer to: Fiction * Final War, a term used in '' Honorverse'', a military science-fiction book series by David Weber * ''The Final War'', a 1959 Japanese science fiction film made by Toei (released in U.S. in 1962) * ''Final War'', a 1968 novelette by Barry N. Malzberg * "Final Wars", a song by Buckethead from his 2006 studio album ''The Elephant Man's Alarm Clock'' * '' Godzilla: Final Wars'', a 2004 Japanese science-fiction kaiju film directed by Ryuhei Kitamura History * War of Actium, the final war of the Roman Republic * Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628, the last war between the Byzantine Empire and Persia * World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Azumi (film)
is a 2003 Japanese jidaigeki film directed by Ryûhei Kitamura and starring Aya Ueto, Yuma Ishigaki, Shun Oguri, Hiroki Narimiya, Takatoshi Kaneko, Eita, Shogo Yamaguchi and Joe Odagiri. ''Azumi'' is an adaptation of Yū Koyama's manga series of the same title, and was followed by the sequel '' Azumi 2: Death or Love'' in 2005. Plot As in the manga, the old master Jiji is tasked by the Tokugawa shogunate to raise a band of assassins. Their task is to finish off Toyotomi Hideyoshi's three allies: Nagamasa Asano, Kiyomasa Kato and Masayuki Sanada, to prevent an outbreak of the new civil war. Azumi is discovered as a little girl kneeling without visible emotion next to the body of her dead mother by Gessai and his entourage of young students. She is then raised by him in the martial skills of sword fighting and the art of assassination. Azumi and her classmates, now at young adult age, are constantly being told about a "mission" they must accomplish, though they have no idea wh ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Versus (2000 Film)
is a 2000 Japanese zombie action film directed and co-written by Ryuhei Kitamura. The film was an independent co–production between Kitamura's company Napalm Films and Wevco Production in association with KSS and Suplex. In the film, a nameless prisoner, a nameless female and her Yakuza abductors fend off zombies in a forest that resurrects the dead while the Yakuza's mysterious leader attempts to open a supernatural gate hidden within the forest and seize its dark power. The film was originally intended as a sequel to Kitamura's short film ''Down to Hell'' but was re-developed as a new film. Principal photography was originally intended to last 3 weeks but was extended to 7 months due to weather and financial issues. ''Versus'' premiered at the Tokyo International Fantastic Film Festival on October 29, 2000. In 2004, an expanded edition titled ''Ultimate Versus'' was released that featured 10 minutes of new footage and improved music, effects, titles, and edits. Plot Unknown ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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TV-Asahi
JOEX-DTV (channel 5), branded as (also known as EX and and stylized as TV asahi), is a television station that is owned and operated by the subsidiary of certified broadcasting holding company , itself controlled by The Asahi Shimbun Company. The station serves as the flagship of the All-Nippon News Network and its studios are located in Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo. Headquarters In 2003, the company headquarters moved to a new building designed by Fumihiko Maki currently located at 6-9-1 Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. File:朝日電視台 (16202552212).jpg, Atrium of TV Asahi's HQ in Roppongi File:TV Asahi Ark Broadcasting Center 20200801.jpg, TV Asahi's Broadcasting Center at Ark Hills, not far from its headquarters since 2003 Some of TV Asahi's departments and subsidiaries, such as TV Asahi Productions and Take Systems, are still located at ''TV Asahi Center'', the company's former headquarters from 1986 to 2003. It is located at Ark Hills, not far from its headquarter ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |