8.9

Inception

2010, USA, UK

• Actors: Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, Tom Hardy, Ken Watanabe, Dileep Rao, Cillian Murphy, Tom Berenger, Marion Cotillard, Pete Postlethwaite, Michael Caine, Lukas Haas, Tai-Li Lee, Claire Geare, Magnus Nolan, Taylor Geare, Johnathan Geare, Tohoru Masamune, Yuji Okumoto, Earl Cameron, Ryan Hayward, Miranda Nolan, Russ Fega, Tim Kelleher, Talulah Riley, Nicolas Clerc, Coralie Dedykere, Silvie Laguna, Virgile Bramly, Jean-Michel Dagory
• Genre: Action, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
• Director(s): Christopher Nolan
• Available languages:
  • English English.

Dom Cobb is a skilled thief, the absolute best in the dangerous art of extraction, stealing valuable secrets from deep within the subconscious during the dream state, when the mind is at its most vulnerable. Cobb's rare ability has made him a coveted player in this treacherous new world of corporate espionage, but it has also made him an international fugitive and cost him everything he has ever loved. Now Cobb is being offered a chance at redemption. One last job could give him his life back but only if he can accomplish the impossible-inception. Instead of the perfect heist, Cobb and his team of specialists have to pull off the reverse: their task is not to steal an idea but to plant one. If they succeed, it could be the perfect crime. But no amount of careful planning or expertise can prepare the team for the dangerous enemy that seems to predict their every move. An enemy that only Cobb could have seen coming.

  6.5

Shanghai

2009, USA

• Actors: John Cusack, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Ken Watanabe, David Morse, Franka Potente, Yun-Fat Chow, Li Gong, Rinko Kikuchi, Hugh Bonneville, Nicholas Rowe, Gemma Chan, Daniel Lapaine, Ronan Vibert, Michael Culkin, Wolf Kahler, Catherine Balavage, Dean Alexandrou, Don Tai, Selina Lo, Christopher Buchholz, Tohoru Masamune, Hon Ping Tang, Cameron Pearson, David Firestar, Nick Sakai, Yohanna Farrell-Knight, Joe Cummings, Philip Harvey, Yennis Cheung-Yan, Creighton Mark Johnson
• Genre: Drama, Mystery, Romance, Thriller
• Director(s): Mikael Håfström
• Available languages:
  • Chinese Chinese.

An American man returns to a corrupt, Japanese-occupied Shanghai four months before Pearl Harbor and discovers his friend has been killed. While he unravels the mysteries of the death, he falls in love and discovers a much larger secret that his own government is hiding.

  6.0

Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant

2008, USA

• Actors: John C. Reilly, Josh Hutcherson, Chris Massoglia, Jessica Carlson, Michael Cerveris, Ray Stevenson, Patrick Fugit, Daniel Newman, Morgan Saylor, Don McManus, Colleen Camp, Ken Watanabe, Salma Hayek, Orlando Jones, Frankie Faison, Willem Dafoe, Kristen Schaal, Patrick Breen, Tom Woodruff Jr., Jane Krakowski, Drew Rin Varick, John D. Crawford, Ritchie Montgomery, Ted Manson, Ann Mckenzie, Monica Monica, Adella Gauthier, Beau Holden, Patrick Fulton, Tyler Chetta
• Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Thriller
• Director(s): Paul Weitz
• Available languages:
  • English English.

Teenager Darren Shan is an excellent student and the pride and joy of his perfect middle-class family; his best friend is the reckless Steve. When they receive a flyer with an advertisement for a freak show, they sneak to the theater to see the attractions. The ringmaster is a vampire called Larten Crepsley, that has a lethal spider. After the show, Steve tells Darren to go home. However he returns and overhears Steve unsuccessfully trying to convince Larten to transform him into a vampire. Darren steals Larten's spider which bites Steve later and he seeks out Larten asking for an antidote for his friend. Larten proposes a deal to Darren.

  7.9

Earth

2007, UK, Germany, USA

• Actors: James Earl Jones, Patrick Stewart, Ulrich Tukur, Ken Watanabe
• Genre: Documentary
• Director(s): Alastair Fothergill
• Available languages:
  • English English.

Feature-length version of the documentary TV series Planet Earth, following the migration paths of four animal families.

  8.0

Letters from Iwo Jima

2006, USA

• Actors: Ken Watanabe, Kazunari Ninomiya, Tsuyoshi Ihara, Ryo Kase, Shido Nakamura, Hiroshi Watanabe, Takumi Bando, Yuki Matsuzaki, Takashi Yamaguchi, Eijiro Ozaki, Nae, Nobumasa Sakagami, Yoshi Ando, Luke Eberl, Sonny Saito, Steve Santa Sekiyoshi, Hiro Abe, Toshiya Agata, Yoshi Ishii, Toshi Toda, Ken Kensei, Ikuma Ando, Akiko Shima, Masashi Nagadoi, Mark Moses, Roxanne Hart, Yoshio Iizuka, Mitsu, Takuji Kuramoto, Koji Wada
• Genre: Drama, History, War
• Director(s): Clint Eastwood
• Available languages:
  • Japanese Japanese.

The island of Iwo Jima stands between the American military force and the home islands of Japan. Therefore the Imperial Japanese Army is desperate to prevent it from falling into American hands and providing a launching point for an invasion of Japan. General Tadamichi Kuribayashi is given command of the forces on the island and sets out to prepare for the imminent attack. General Kuribayashi, however, does not favor the rigid traditional approach recommended by his subordinates, and resentment and resistance fester among his staff. In the lower echelons, a young soldier, Saigo, a poor baker in civilian life, strives with his friends to survive the harsh regime of the Japanese army itself, all the while knowing that a fierce battle looms. When the American invasion begins, both Kuribayashi and Saigo find strength, honor, courage, and horrors beyond imagination.

  8.2

Ashes and Snow

2005, USA

• Actors: Laurence Fishburne, Jeanne Moreau, Enrique Rocha, Ken Watanabe
• Genre: Documentary, Drama
• Director(s): Gregory Colbert
• Available languages:
  • English English.

Ashes and Snow, a film by Gregory Colbert, uses both still and movie cameras to explore extraordinary interactions between humans and animals. The 60-minute feature is a poetic narrative rather than a documentary. It aims to lift the natural and artificial barriers between humans and other species, dissolving the distance that exists between them.

  8.3

Batman Begins

2004, USA, UK

• Actors: Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Liam Neeson, Katie Holmes, Gary Oldman, Cillian Murphy, Tom Wilkinson, Rutger Hauer, Ken Watanabe, Mark Boone Junior, Linus Roache, Morgan Freeman, Larry Holden, Gerard Murphy, Colin McFarlane, Sara Stewart, Gus Lewis, Richard Brake, Rade Serbedzija, Emma Lockhart, Christine Adams, Catherine Porter, John Nolan, Karen Shenaz David, Jonathan D. Ellis, Tamer Hassan, Ronan Leahy, Vincent Wong, Tom Wu, Mark Chiu
• Genre: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
• Director(s): Christopher Nolan
• Available languages:
  • English English.

When his parents were killed, millionaire playboy Bruce Wayne relocates to Asia when he is mentored by Henri Ducard and Ra's Al Ghul in how to fight evil. When learning about the plan to wipe out evil in Gotham City by Ducard, Bruce prevents this plan from getting any further and heads back to his home. Back in his original surroundings, Bruce adapts the image of a bat to strike fear into the criminals and the corrupt as the icon known as 'Batman'. But it doesn't stay quiet for long.

  7.1

Memoirs of a Geisha

2004, USA

• Actors: Suzuka Ohgo, Togo Igawa, Mako, Samantha Futerman, Elizabeth Sung, Thomas Ikeda, Li Gong, Tsai Chin, Kaori Momoi, Zoe Weizenbaum, David Okihiro, Miyako Tachibana, Kotoko Kawamura, Karl Yune, Eugenia Yuan, Yôko Narahashi, Michelle Yeoh, Kenneth Tsang, Ken Watanabe, Navia Nguyen, Natsuo Tomita, Youki Kudoh, Ziyi Zhang, Fumi Akutagawa, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Koji Toyoda, Rick Mali, Steve Terada, Laura Miro, Diane Mizota
• Genre: Drama, Romance
• Director(s): Rob Marshall
• Available languages:
  • English English.

In 1929 an impoverished nine-year-old named Chiyo from a fishing village is sold to a geisha house in Kyoto's Gion district and subjected to cruel treatment from the owners and the head geisha Hatsumomo. Her stunning beauty attracts the vindictive jealousy of Hatsumomo, until she is rescued by and taken under the wing of Hatsumomo's bitter rival, Mameha. Under Mameha's mentorship, Chiyo becomes the geisha named Sayuri, trained in all the artistic and social skills a geisha must master in order to survive in her society. As a renowned geisha she enters a society of wealth, privilege, and political intrigue. As World War II looms Japan and the geisha's world are forever changed by the onslaught of history.

  7.7

The Last Samurai

2002, USA

• Actors: Ken Watanabe, Tom Cruise, William Atherton, Chad Lindberg, Ray Godshall Sr., Billy Connolly, Tony Goldwyn, Masato Harada, Masashi Odate, John Koyama, Timothy Spall, Shichinosuke Nakamura, Togo Igawa, Satoshi Nikaido, Shintaro Wada, Shin Koyamada, Hiroyuki Sanada, Shun Sugata, Koyuki, Sosuke Ikematsu, Aoi Minato, Seizo Fukumoto, Shoji Yoshihara, Kosaburo Nomura IV, Takashi Noguchi, Noguchi Takayuki, Sven Toorvald, Scott Wilson, Yuki Matsuzaki, Mitsuyuki Oishi
• Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama, History, War
• Director(s): Edward Zwick
• Available languages:
  • English English.

In the 1870s, Captain Nathan Algren, a cynical veteran of the American Civil war who will work for anyone, is hired by Americans who want lucrative contracts with the Emperor of Japan to train the peasant conscripts for the first standing imperial army in modern warfare using firearms. The imperial Omura cabinet's first priority is to repress a rebellion of traditionalist Samurai -hereditary warriors- who remain devoted to the sacred dynasty but reject the Westernizing policy and even refuse firearms. Yet when his ill-prepared superior force sets out too soon, their panic allows the sword-wielding samurai to crush them. Badly wounded Algren's courageous stand makes the samurai leader Katsumoto spare his life; once nursed to health he learns to know and respect the old Japanese way, and participates as advisor in Katsumoto's failed attempt to save the Bushido tradition, but Omura gets repressive laws enacted- he must now choose to honor his loyalty to one of the embittered sides when the conflict returns to the battlefield...