Letters from Iwo Jima was Clint Eastwood’s follow up to Flags of Our Fathers as told through the Japanese defender’s perspective. Ken Watanabe stars as General Tadamichi Kuribayashi, who was the man responsible for defending Iwo Jima from the American invasion. Kazunari Ninomiya stars as PFC. Saigo, a conscripted baker who doesn’t want to fight, and wants to return home to his wife and new child.

The film is told through a series of flash forwards and flashbacks such as Flags, and shows the struggle many Japanese soldiers faced while preparing the island for the upcoming invasion by the American Marines portrayed in the first film.

Letters From Iwo Jima is most noted for being the most realistic portrayal of Japanese combatants in a World War II before. Eastwood uses his direction to show a picture which shows the struggles the Japanese faced in preparing themselves for certain death. Of all the characters in the film, both Saigo (Ninomiya) and Kuribayashi (Watanabe) know that this is a fight that they can’t win.

When Kuribayashi arrives on Iwo he is amazed to see how unprepared his forces are in meeting the American threat. Kuribayashi begins transforming Mt. Suribachi into an impregnable fortress that will prove fatal for the American invaders. He also has his men prepare bunker complexes, pillboxes, blockhouses, and many earth covered structures to keep the Americans from gaining a foothold inland from the water’s edge.

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I guess statistically speaking, it was bound to happen.  If you see enough movies, eventually you are going to witness a great movie that just doesn’t do it for you.  Such was the case with Inception.  I was poised to love the movie and declare it a cinematic masterpiece, if not one of my favorite films of the year.

I walked out seeing people high five each other and hug each other in a joyful embrace, no doubt exalted by the awesomeness of the film that they had just witnessed. How I envied them.

I left  frustrated, angry and annoyed. I desperately wanted to belong to that group of blissfully happy movie-goers, but I couldn’t fake it.  I just didn’t enjoy the movie.

Is that to say that it was not an excellent film?  Of course not.  On a purely technical basis, the film is amazing. It is also wildly imaginative, smart and original, all the things I clamor for during the summer film schedule.  Try as I might, though, I couldn’t get engaged in the story.  I never connected with any of the characters, and as a consequence, I never felt any urgency or peril regarding their situations.

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Inception, acclaimed director Christopher Nolan’s next project since the box office smash The Dark Knight, has had buzz surrounding it since it was greenlit at Warners. And while numerous trailers and a poster have been revealed, the details are still vague about this upcoming psychological thriller…until now.

The first full trailer has just hit the web, which finally gives us some more insight on Dicaprio and Ellen Page’s characters. We now know that the story surrounds the world of corporate espionage, with a sci-fi twist. Also revealed online was a brand new poster for the film, giving us a deeper look into the dark and twisted tone of Nolan’s world.

While the first poster just featured Leonardo Dicaprio, alone surrounded by a sea of water and buildings and vaguely reminding us of the The Dark Knight posters, this new IMAX poster features more of the cast. While Leo’s still at his prominent point front and center, other characters walk along the walls and upside down. This film has a really strong ensemble cast so it’s great to see the other actors and actresses of this film on this poster, like Cillian Murphy and Marion Cotillard, as the trailers have all featured Leonardo Dicaprio and Ellen Page.

Written and directed by Christopher Nolan and starring the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio, Ken Watanabe, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Ellen Page, Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, and Tom Berenger. Check out the new poster and trailer (courtesy of TrailerAddict) after the jump and catch Inception in theaters and IMAX on July 16th.

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Inception, Christopher Nolan’s new film starring Leonardo DiCaprio and a whole slew of other great names including Ken Watanabe, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, Marion Cotillard, Tom Berenger, and Michael Caine has finally got a new poster. Other than the fact that its brand new, the big hullabaloo about it is it’s uncanny resemblance to a poster for The Dark Knight, which featured Heath Ledger’s ‘Joker’ facing away from us, with a couple of cards in one hand and a knife in the other.

Both also feature their single character in the middle of a street with a city’s high-rises walling them in. Of course, one of the main differences in the poster for Inception is that DiCaprio’s character is knee-deep in water. The tagline that has already become an Internet meme in itself, “You mind is the scene of the crime,” sits at the top.

The other more interesting question raised by this poster is at the bottom where it states “see it Summer 2010 in IMAX.” I understand that it’s becoming a normal occurrence for summer blockbusters to be released in this format and Nolan has even become obsessed, you might say, with using the IMAX format, but I can’t help but wonder if this movie will actually benefit from being on the larger screen.

I trust that Nolan knows what he’s doing, and the teaser trailer that’s been released, looks pretty amazing.  Anyway, check out the larger poster after the break and mark July 16 2010 on your calendar.

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The Vampire’s Assistant is based on the first three books in a series of twelve by Darren Shan. Like the Twilight series, The Vampire’s Assistant books are targeted towards young adults, and naturally this movie is as well. If you are not a tweener, or a fan of the book series, it is best to steer clear of this painfully bland adaptation.  The movie seems entirely too self-aware of its target audience, and consequently it takes the safe route at every turn throughout the film.  This results in a rather boring final product, despite some bright spots.

Darren  (Chris Massoglia) and his friend Steve (Josh Hutcherson) sneak out one night to attend a freak show in their area.  Ringmaster Mr. Tall (Ken Watanabe) introduces a plethora of captivating creatures, including a snake boy (Patrick Fugit of Almost Famous), a woman capable of spontaneously regenerating lobbed off  limbs (30 Rock’s Jane Krakowski), a bearded lady/psychic (Salma Hayek), and a girl with freakishly large teeth (Kristen Schaal), amongst others.

The opening scene featuring the freak show was my favorite part of the movie.  It aptly portrays the shock, excitement and disgust that two young boys would feel the first time viewing such an event.  It also had some very cool makeup/CGI effects.  Having been a fan of the original Freaks (1932) I tend to delight in this subject matter, and I was not disappointed.

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Seeing as how Vampires are all the rage these days, why not do a film with Walk Hard’s John C. Reilly as a century-old vampire in a cape? There is no wrong answer to that question, only Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant.

Based on the series of Cirque Du Freak books by Darren Shan, the film is a fantasy-adventure about a teenager who unknowingly breaks a 200-year-old truce between two warring factions of vampires. The trailer doesn’t really give off the “warring vampires” vibe, but rather Harry Potter meets Carnivale.

The film also stars Ken Watanabe, Josh Hutcherson, Patrick Fugit, Jane Krakowski and Salma Hayek. Cirque Du Freak hits theaters October 23. Check out the trailer after the jump.

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