≡ Category: Drama, Japan, Movie Reviews, Recommended, Suspense | ≅ Leave a Comment
Country: Japan
Genre: Suspense/ Drama
Director: Takashi Miike
Year: 2003
Rating:
TRASH CINEMA RECOMMENDED MOVIE
When most people think of director Takashi Miike, their reference is the outrageous genre freakouts of Ichi The Killer and the Dead Or Alive films.
Coming from Miike, The Negotiator is shocking because the filmmaking is classical and, even when horrible violence might be appropriate, Miike […]
≡ Category: Action, Drama, Exploitation, Japan, Movie Reviews, Recommended | ≅ Leave a Comment
Country: Japan
Genre: Action/ Drama/ Exploitation
Director: Shunya Ito
Year: 1972
Rating:
TRASH CINEMA RECOMMENDED MOVIE
When last we saw her, the Matsu (Meiko Kaji) had avenged her lover’s betrayal and was back in the slammer. But it seems that the Warden (Fumio Watanabe) is still nursing a grudge about the incident that left him with only one functioning eye. […]
≡ Category: Action, Drama, Exploitation, Highly Recommended, Japan | ≅ Leave a Comment
Country: Japan
Genre: Action/ Drama/ Exploitation
Director: Shunya Ito
Year: 1972
Rating:
TRASH CINEMA HIGHLY RECOMMENDED MOVIE
I’m not sure what I expected from Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion, but I was surprised by what I got. I was familiar with star Meiko Kaji from the Lady Snowblood movies and, sure enough, we are often treated to her otherworldly glare here, […]
≡ Category: Action, Comedy, Horror, Japan, Movie Reviews, Recommended | ≅ Leave a Comment
Country: Japan
Genre: Horror/ Action/ Comedy
Director: Takashi Miike
Year: 2001
Rating:
TRASH CINEMA RECOMMENDED MOVIE
The most important opening image of Ichi The Killer is the gears of a bicycle whirring in closeup. You can tell that the gears mesh, but they’re moving too quickly to see just how. That’s actually a pretty good metaphor for the movie.
It’s now […]
≡ Category: Art, Highly Recommended, Horror, Japan, Movie Reviews | ≅ Leave a Comment
Country: Japan
Genre: Horror/ Art
Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Year: 1997
Rating:
TRASH CINEMA HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
A murder is committed. The killer remembers doing it but has no idea why. So begins the genuinely unsettling horror move, Cure.
Writer/director Kiyoshi Kurosawa employs none of the standard techniques for this sort of movie. No music which tells you what you’re supposed to be […]
≡ Category: Action, Drama, Japan, Movie Reviews, Not Worth Your Time | ≅ Leave a Comment
Country: Japan
Genre: Action/ Drama
Director: Hiroyuki Tsuji
Year: 2007
Rating:
NOT WORTH YOUR TIME
I’m not sure whether the filmmakers behind Zero Woman R merely have contempt for their audience or if they’re truly incompetent. They start off which a potentially compelling premise, decent actors, and attractive women and wind up with a snooze that would only be of […]
≡ Category: Action, Comedy, Drama, Japan, Movie Reviews, Recommended, Swordplay | ≅ Leave a Comment
Country: Japan
Genre: Action/ Swordplay/ Comedy/ Drama
Director: Kenji Misumi
Year: 1972
Rating:
TRASH CINEMA RECOMMENDED MOVIE
Yet another delightful swordplay series from early 70s Japan, Hanzo The Razor has elements similar to both Lone Wolf & Cub and Zatoichi, but with a singularly perverse thrust.
You see, Hanzo is a lawman in Edo, Japan. In the first film in the […]
≡ Category: Action, Drama, Japan, Movie Reviews, Recommended, Swordplay | ≅ Leave a Comment
Country: Japan
Genre: Action/ Drama/ Swordplay
Director: Toshiya Fujita
Year: 1974
Rating:
TRASH CINEMA RECOMMENDED MOVIE
When last we heard from Lady Snowblood (Meiko Kaji), she had fully avenged her parents, the task for which she had literally been born. Now she’s at loose ends. She’s wanted as a murderer, and she’s weary of cutting through the policemen and bounty […]
≡ Category: Action, Japan, Movie Reviews, Not Worth Your Time, Swordplay | ≅ Leave a Comment
Country: Japan
Genre: Action/ Swordplay
Director: Joe Ma
Year: 2008
Rating:
NOT WORTH YOUR TIME
It’s not easy to make a film with the premise of Sasori nearly unwatchable, but director Joe Ma does his best.
Nami Matsushima (Mizuno Miki) is waiting for her boyfriend, Hei Tai (Dylan Kuo), to bring his father and sister home from the airport, when her […]
≡ Category: Action, Horror, Japan, Movie Reviews, Recommended | ≅ Leave a Comment
Country: Japan
Genre: Action/Horror
Director: Kinji Fukasaku/ Kenta Fukasaku
Year: 2003
Rating:
TRASH CINEMA RECOMMENDED MOVIE
There is no way Battle Royale 2: Requiem could possibly have the same impact as Battle Royale. The cat is already out of the bag. The shock and dismay at witnessing children forced to kill other children for the first time cannot be duplicated, […]