it's sunday and i had a marathon of japanese movies, three of which has Ayase Haruka and two of which has Abe Hiroshi!!! :)

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Hero
Kimura Takuya and the gang (featuring Abe Hiroshi) are back for a featured length movie! It has all the good stuff that the tv series possessed. Fun at times and touching at times. And finally, a kiss between Kimura Takuya and Takako Matsu's characters!!! Such a sweeeeet ending. It holds up as a movie on its own but extra enjoyment will be had if you watched the tv series and the special beforehand.

Cyborg Girl
Hero had a small cameo by Ayase Haruka, but Cyborg Girl is all her! I laughed a lot during the first 2/3 of the film, it was very quirky and cute with a Terminator-like storyline. And I was mesmerized by Haruka's performance. The last 1/3 of the film gets more dramatic and lovey dovey, and it wasn't as effective. Overall, it's a very entertaining movie that I wouldn't mind watching it over and over again. Did I mention there's time traveling involved? Oh yes, I'm a sucker for time travel theme.

Ichi
This movie has been getting some promotion in the US lately and it's playing in selected theaters. It's a little more dramatic than I thought it was gonna be, and way less action than I expected. This is a new take on the legendary character Zatoichi, Haruka had to fill some big shoes, not only because the character is legendary but also it has always been played by a male. She did an OK job, I felt her acting was a bit wooden. As for other actors in the film, the male lead Takao Ôsawa simply just cashed in, not good but not bad. And then "overacting" would be the word to describe the rest. I have to say I was quite disappointed when the credits rolled. A female Zatoichi is a surprise but the film is a bore.

Glorious Team Batista
Oh boy, have I mentioned Abe Hiroshi is one of my favorite actors of all time? No? Well, I'm telling you now! This guy is simply amazing. Comedy, drama, action...he can do it all. It's rare to find such a versatile actor nowadays. OK, about this film, it's a medical film with a suspense/mystery twist. For a film about open heart surgery, it didn't have a lot of scenes that would make me cringe. I did turn away once or twice though. I have always enjoyed watching Takeuchi Yuko in films and she did a pretty good job in this as well. Abe Hiroshi did not appear until about 30 minutes into the film, Yuko held up pretty well on her own during that time. Once Abe Hiroshi steps in, the film goes from "meh" to "kinda awesome". His performance is so amusing, even in a serious film. He provided comic relief but was also quite effective when it was time to get serious. Too bad he did not have enough screen time to bring this film up a notch. It still ended up being mediocre.