Prolific Japanese director Takashi Miike garnered international acclaim in 2011 for the samurai epic 13 Assassins, a remake of the 1963 film of the same name.  It was so successful you can even buy it at Target!  He followed up with another samurai remake, Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai – based on the Masaki Kobayshi 1962 classic Harakiri.  Unlike 13 Assassins, Hara-Kiri is more of a sentimental melodrama than an action epic.  It’s in the vein of classic samurai dramas that examine honor, castes, and revenge.  And holy moly is it a sad and beautiful film. More on the Hara-Kiri Blu-ray after the jump. 

The new trailer for Takashi Miike’s Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai has landed.  The 13 Assassins’ director has remade the 1964 Masaki Kobayashi original, which tells the tale of an elder, poverty-stricken samurai who goes to his feudal lord’s home to commit an honorable suicide.  Things take an unexpected turn when the fate of the samurai’s son-in-law is discovered.  Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai stars Koji Yakusho (13 Assassins), Eita (Azumi) and Hikari Mitsushima.  The Tribeca film is available on VOD staring July 18th, with a 3D theatrical release in New York and LA starting July 20th.  Hit the jump to check out the trailer for Miike’s Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai.

A film adaptation of the Phoenix Wright video game series wasn’t too surprising, but the movie took on an interesting spin when the project fell into the hands of director Takashi Miike.  For those unfamiliar with Miike’s diverse body of work, his filmography includes the gruesome Ichi the Killer, the children’s movie The Great Yokai War, and the samurai action flick 13 Assassins.  So what would his take be on the fun and silly Phoenix Wright series?  Judging by these Japanese trailers, he’s staying true to the games. There are colorful witnesses, characters shouting their dramatic evidence reveals, and even throwing holographic exhibits at each other.  It also looks like the “Turnabout Goodbyes” case from the first game is part of the film’s plot.

Hit the jump to check out the Japanese trailers.  Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney is due out in Japan on February 11, 2012.

Takashi Miike adapted the manga/anime Nintama Rantarō for release in Japan this summer.  By the time it reached the New York Asian Film Festival, the family-friendly comedy was excitably retitled Ninja Kids!!!.  The title stands out among the many scripts that flow through the studio system, and so the property is well on its way to an American remake.  THR hears negotiations are underway with “a major production company.”  Warner Bros. was involved with the Japanese distribution, so the smart money says Ninja Kids!!! ends up there.

The story centers on a first grader sent to ninja school by his lower class parents, “who hope that one day he’ll grow up to be a respectable middle class ninja.”  Watch the trailer for Miike’s adaptation after the jump.  True to the title, it includes ninjas, kids, and at least three exclamation points worth of style.

Set in 19^th century feudal Japan, 13 Assassins is the story of well, thirteen assassins who are recruited to take out a sadistic overlord named Naritsugu (Goro Inagaki) before he finds protection with another clan and continues his spree of brutal dominance.  How brutal is he?  Well, let’s see… he slices off appendages of women he grows tired of (not to be cliché and only cut off arms and legs, Naritsugu goes for the legendary resonance by removing their tongues, too) and shoots arrows at bound children for no other reason than he can.  The thirteen assassins of the film’s title are assembled by the samurai Shinzaemon (Koji Yakusho), who is given top-secret orders to do so by another lord, Sir Doi (Mikijiro Hira).  The plan is to ambush Naritsugu on his trek and wipe him out with extreme prejudice.  Let the games begin, after the jump.

In spite of the fact that Japanese director Takashi Miike (Audition) has two films he is currently promoting (13 Assassins and the Cannes premiere Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai), the filmmaker is already filming his next project. In a recent interview at Cannes, Miike (whose has seen some of his previous work criticized for its violent content) revealed to the Huffington Post’s Karin Badt that his next film will have “little blood”, saying:

“It is a very light comedy that I am filming now, a court drama, based on a video game, the Nintendo game DS.”

Although Miike never explicitly confirms it, some on the interwebs are attempting to connect the dots between the filmmaker and the Nintendo DS franchise Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. Originally released in Japan for the Game Boy Advance in 2001, the original title was remade and released for the Nintendo DS in 2005 and later spawned a pair of direct sequels. For more on the possible connection, hit the jump.

We’ve been sent four exclusive images from Takashi Miike’s new film 13 Assassins.  The movie takes place in feudal Japan and centers on a group of assassins who come together to kill an evil lord.  While Miike is (in)famous for his brutal and graphic films like Audition and Ichi the Killer, I’ve spoken to people who have seen 13 Assassins and been told it’s far more accessible and not in the “Would You Like Nightmares Forever?” realm of his more famous films.

Hit the jump to check out the images.  13 Assassins stars Kôji Yakusho, Takayuki Yamada, and Yûsuke Iseya.  The film is currently available via Video-on-Demand.  It opens in theaters in limited release on April 29^th.