Somewhere there is a stranger film than Big Man Japan, but it would be hard to find.

| Original Score: B- | Jun 26, 2009

This inspired 2007 send-up of the atomic-monster genre gets a fair amount of comic mileage from Daisato (played by the director) being anything but a big man.

| Jun 26, 2009

Very funny in an insidious way.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jun 25, 2009

The film, written, directed and starring stand-up comic Hitoshi Matsumoto has, like most superheroes, a tragic flaw: It isn't funny.

| Original Score: 1/4 | May 29, 2009

At nearly two hours, Big Man Japan is clever (in a sick sort of way) but overlong. It needs judicious editing -- more mockumentary, fewer superhero antics.

| Original Score: 2/4 | May 15, 2009

As in life, the nonmonster stuff goes on too long. But wait until the giant baby shows up.

| Original Score: 2/5 | May 15, 2009

You've probably never seen anything like Big Man Japan.

| Original Score: 4/5 | May 15, 2009

Deflation--not delight--is the rule, and the key to enjoying the B-movie fights is to accept that even when Masaru wins, we're not meant to feel triumph.

| Original Score: B- | May 15, 2009

The most impressive special effect here is Mr. Matsumoto's hilariously restrained performance, a tour de force of comedic concision in a movie bloated by increasingly surreal developments.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | May 15, 2009

Matsumoto and Mitsuyoshi Takasu trade the grand for the gargantuan, the battle-drama for the video game fight.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | May 14, 2009

A one-joke mockumentary about a misfit superhero, Hitoshi Matsumoto's kaiju eiga comedy milks a slight idea for all it's worth and then some.

| Original Score: 3/6 | May 13, 2009

I hurt myself laughing at this amazingly inventive mockumentary, and because it's so good, I refuse to give away much more than an insistent recommendation.

| Nov 24, 2008

From deadpan to Ultraman.

Full Review | Jun 25, 2008