We’ve known about the inevitability of the west making a Death Note movie for a long time but it’s not until now that we get to put some faces to that bleak idea. Warner Brothers has tapped Shane Black to direct a Death Note adaptation based off the Manga, rather than the series.  Mr. Black is most recently well known for writing and directing the marvelously quirky Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. He’s spoken on treating the project with respect and appealing to the ‘spirituality’ of the original work but he’ll have to forgive us if we take this with a grain, or several barrels, of salt.

[Slashfilm]

It’s been six months after we first saw pictures of Kirsten Dunst in Akihabara wearing a bastardized magical girl costume. First puzzled with the mystery of it all, later on intrigued when we found out that it was a music video that would be part of a much larger documentary about Otaku culture. Now it’s finally here on the interwebs for our enjoyment.

I must say I’m pleasantly surprised at the diverse picture of Akihabara they displayed. Normally when the mainstream west approaches the Otaku world it’s with a very biased perspective, but this video has it all. From pachinko parlors to maid cafes, from idolm@aster to eroge figures and posters. While I’m no fan of the song, Kirsten’s performance was good and we’ll certainly be on the lookout for more information once the full documentary is out.

My only regret? That the happy flower guy we saw back in October appears only a couple of times. What’s your take on this video?

P.S. More Kirsten Dunst panty shots… HHHHHHNG…

Remember about a month ago when a few more details about James Cameron’s live action adaptation of Battle Angel Alita were released? Just a few weeks ago we thought we could see the project released sometime in the vicinity of 2012, you know, after the world ends and no one’s left to watch it. Well now that looks like wishful thinking.

Jan Landau, one of Avatar’s producers recently told MTV that Mr. Cameron plans to do Alita after he gets done with the next Avatar movie. Considering Avatar took a good 5 years to come to fruition and that Cameron isn’t exactly known as a prolific director it’s now safe to say we probably wont be seeing Battle Angel Alita on the big screen until at least 2016. Oh well, better learn to love those space smurfs with guns I guess.

[MTV]

More news from the war front… I mean, the live action front. Now with a few more details about the live action adaptation of Akira. It’s been revealed the project is once again showing signs of life and aiming for a 2011 release. This 2011 release date seems like more wishful thinking than anything else since the movie is in very early pre-production. It’s also been announced that this will not be a one-off deal but rather a two part production that spans the fist 3 volumes of the 6 volume manga. Leonardo DiCaprio’s production company is still attached to the project.

On more uplifting notes, it also seems the original script adaptation was scrapped and we’re now looking at a new script and new direction under the Hughes brothers, of ‘Book of Eli’ fame. So you know, perhaps, just perhaps, we might be able to forget that whole New York as Neo Tokyo deal.

Japan, in their never ending quest for cheap outrageous cinema, have decided to release a Dead Rising live action movie. That’s right, it will be distributed through the web and Xbox 360 owners will be able to watch it a bit early. The production values are abysmal, the plot flimsy and the gore as cheesy as it gets. Yet this movie looks a thousand times more entertaining and faithful to the source material than the last Street Fighter movie or the Tekken one. Take a hint, Hollywood.

[Joystiq]

Countering yesterday’s abysmal Tekken trailer how about some slightly more uplifting movie news?

Recently James Cameron spoke to MTV about Avatar and, of course, other projects, including his adaptation of Battle Angel Alita. Now this is probably the only big anime/game adaptation worthy of hopeful speculation, this is the man who brought us Terminator and Dark Angel after all. In the short interview clip we hear Cameron talking about how Battle Angel will be easier to shoot than Avatar since it will be a pure CGI project and shooting stereoscopic 3D video is pretty simple when it’s pure CGI.

The status of the film is still on standby, only art and pre-production work has been done, so we will probably not see this any sooner than 2012, and the world will end by then so who gives a damn anyway!

[MTV]

Remember the Mortal Kombat movies? Sure they were silly and overacted, but they carried a real resemblance to the game and it’s characters, it tried to be faithful even at the cost of looking cartoonish. Now here we have the trailer for the Tekken movie and it is clear that the more things change the more they stay the same.

Sure it’s still a videogame adaptation that sucks, but it’s like they’ve given up completely now. Straight to DVD release, completely unknown cast, abysmal production value. Hell, I’ve seen better looking B-films on cable TV at 3 am.

At last, a little update on that whole Kirsten Dunst doing mahou shojou cosplay we reported on a while ago. It has emerged that the shooting was indeed a music video. In fact she was singing the much cliche’d and ad hoc song ‘Turning Japanese’.

What’s more though is that the video is to be part of a much larger film based on Akihabara culture directed by Takashi Murakami, who long time readers might remember as the director of this excellent superflat Louis Vuitton video we posted back in 2007. The film is titled “Akihabara Majokko Princess”. Above you’ll find a couple of images of Muramaki, the first being him in front of a giant print allusive to the film, you can even see the legs of a giant Kirsten Dunst in her infamous cosplay, terrorizing the city. The other image… well lets just say it’s quite titillating.

[Arrested Motion]

Wow, you guys made the 2nd movie night a complete success once again! Thank you all for coming. For those that couldn’t make it, you have some explaining to do! Now it’s time for you to voice your comments on the movie, that is, if you’ve stopped crying. Whatever you want to discuss, whether it’s pudding, fixing your bike’s brakes or the intricate workings of nut-based time travel. Let us know what you thought of The Girl Who Leapt Through Time.

It’s Friday and its the movie night! Same as last time, the theater is here, do join us a bit before for some chatting and random videos. The movie starts at 7 or a bit after, be there!