Q. "What do you think of Western civilization?" A."It would be a good idea."
Stumbled upon http://www.asianvideoblog.com yesterday, and, well, I'm a bit taken aback. Apparently, they have Yamato with English subtitles. And Dog Bite Dog. And Kung Fu Hustle. And comedies, and dorama, and .... 

... and no need to buy yourself a region-3 DVD player, or wait for U.S. releases that all too often never seem to happen. Once more, your best entertainment value is a highspeed internet connection. 

I've created an LJ feed for the site at asianvideo_blog for those who are interested.

Compare and contrast to the lukewarm stuff that's currently playing in American theatres today, and you'll wonder why these movies aren't over here already. With the cost of taking someone to a movie averaging nearly $40 nowadays, when I do go to a movie, I want something that feels like a "real movie experience". It's no surprise that pretty much the only movie out there right now that really meets that criteria is a Jet Li import. Everything else seems to scream "coming soon on DVD!" 

And as for comedies, outside the amusing quirkiness of Little Miss Sunshine, there's a ghost land of conventional, boring, unchallenging Hollywood dreck out there that makes Jackass 2 look like high art. The only recent comedy release that I'm actually excited about seeing is Mike Judge's vicious satire Idiocracy. 

The premise of the movie is of a future America populated by ignorant jackasses who probably shouldn't be allowed to breed, people herded like sheep by corporations, and completely incapable of even feeding themselves when the machines that control their lives start to break down. (i.e. Like today, only moreso.) Mike Judge has gone from success to success with Beavis and Butthead, King of the Hill, and Office Space, which has established itself as a comedy classic, so you'd expect Fox to be a little excited about being able to release Idiocracy nationwide, right?!
 
Well, apparently not. Fox has buried the movie, giving it a ridiculously small release, despite several glowing reviews. To add insult to injury, they released it in only a handful of theatres nationwide, with no posters in the theatres, no trailer available in theatres or on the internet, and no web site. 

If that's not bad enough, Fox's lawyers recently took down the "Free Idiocracy!" website (archived) which contains a link to the movie's script. (The script's link on Google's archived page still works, for those wanting to read it. Better get it while you can, though. They really don't like this movie, if you haven't guessed.) 

In other words, Fox is treating this movie's release a lot like they treated Office Space... and, indeed, like the release of one of the greatest science fiction films ever made, Brazil.

Good company to be in, I would argue. Can't wait to see it.