Tag: behind the scenes

[EXPRESSO] Atarashii Gakko! The Movie (2025) | Youthaganda

So, what is this?

I had no idea, i decided to go into it mostly blind, since i did basically the same for the theathrical release of the Ado Shinzo concert, and i became an Ado fan, so….

I wasn’t actually aware of this Japanese all-girls group, Atarashii Gakko!, at all, so it was a gamble to go see a documentary biopic of sorts that chronicles the last concert of their “Nippon Calling Tour” in late December 2024, after a successful wourld tour (and with 2025 marking the group’s 10th anniversary) that had them even play at Coachella, and goes into what the band “Eternal Youth” slogan-motto actually means to them, and their impact on fans and so on.

I didn’t call them an “idol group” because i don’t think it fits, since – with their “freestyle & free” theme of doing what they want regardless of norms – they basically run the gamut and mix j-pop with rap, tokusatsu style hero songs, hip-hop, metal and even some EDM style beats, while sporting revised school uniforms.

It’s tempting to call this documentary a bit too self-serving and the band overall approach-way of doing things a bit too sappy… but honestly i can’t because they do embody their “eternal youth” approach as they mean it, as in, it’s fine to be silly, to be goofy, to be true to yourself, to let yourself be “cringe but free”, to go your way without having to antagonize people or “break the system”.

It might sound like a convenient “compromise” but it’s a surprisingly positive and healthy attitude to spread around, and it’s hard not to get “infected” by their sincere positivity, their youthful energy, their actual committment to their mantra, or not be intrigued by their freeform musical pastiche (and-or their peculiar coreographies).

[EXPRESSO] The Fall Guy (2024) | Project S

Apparently based on a 80s TV series of the same name i’ve never heard before, The Fall Guy is another in what seems to be a recent trend of meta comedies about movie making or the business of fiction breaking out in reality, with a dash of romance, so it’s this more Tropic Thunder or another send-off to Romancing The Stone?

A bit of both, but ultimately neither, as the story follows Colt Seavers, a stuntman that, after nearly dying on the set of a movie years ago, basically removed himself from the business even more as he had a romantic story budding with Jody, the film’s director.

Years later he’s called upon by Jody’s producer to help out with the stunts on her new movie and also locate the film’s douchey star actor, Tom Ryder, as he has been missing for days.

As Colt tries to win Jody back while also secretly attempting to find out where Tom could possibly be, he ends up meeting some thugs and finds out this isn’t some drunken debauchery joke or some movie star bullshit, but that there’s a conspiracy at play behinds the scenes….

i was expecting a decent flick and not much else, plus i was worried about the runtime, but there’s actually more to the plot to warrant the 2 hours lenght, the romance is cute, the lead actors’ chemistry is great, the action is deliciously over the top and satisfying compliments the comedy instead of using it a cushion, the characters are likeable, and it lovingly showcases the work of stuntmen/women and all the people in the biz whose glory is often left unsung.

A surprisingly good mainstream/general audiences movie, and one of the rare ones today that actually manages to deliver on the fabled “something for everyone” promise.