I figure if you’re the type to watch a film called Sukiyaki Western Django then you’ve probably watched your fair share of world cinema – and most likely the odd samurai film – and while this film is a western it still owes a debt to the samurai films of the past – even a gunshot wound can produce an arterial spray reminiscent of those in a Zatoichi film.
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Posted in Film
Tagged Asian Cinema, Quentin Tarrantino, Samurai, Spaghetti Western, Takashi Miike, Western
Tagged Asian Cinema, Quentin Tarrantino, Samurai, Spaghetti Western, Takashi Miike, Western
11May11
Godzilla vs Megalon (1973)
Country: Japan Starring: Katsuhiko Sasaki, Hiroyuki Kawase, Yutaka Hayashi, Robert Dunham, Kotaro Tomita, Wolf Otsuki, Kanta Mori, Shinji Takagi, Hideto Odachi, Tsugutoshi Komada, Kenpachiro Satsuma Writer: Jun Fukuda Director: Jun Fukuda Cinematographer: Yuzuru Aizawa Music: Riichiro Manabe Producer: Tomoyuki Tanaka Original Title: Gojira tai Megaro As a highly paid professional writer – you believe that [...]
20Apr11
Black Cat
In the twenty-one years since its release, Luc Besson’s La Femme Nikita has indelibly burnt itself onto the minds of action fans. This is best illustrated by the fact that it spawned an American remake called Point of No Return or Assassin (depending on what country you’re in) starring Bridget Fonda, and two television series, [...]
14Dec10
Zero Woman: Final Mission (1995)
Country: Japan Director: Kenji Enokido Starring: Naoko Iijima, Wataru Takasagi, Misayo Haruki, Hidetoshi Okamoto, Miho Suzuki, Toshihiko Hino Music: Shigeru Umebayashi Zero Woman returns once again, and despite this film’s title, this would not be her final mission, just another in the long line of cheap, exploitative ‘semi-spy’ films from Japan. I say ‘semi-spy’ because [...]
13Dec10
Zero Woman: Red Handcuffs (1974)
Country: Japan Director: Yukio Noda Starring: Miki Sugimoto, Eiji Go, Tetsuro Tanba, Hideo Murota, Ichiro Aki Music: Daisuke Okamoto AKA: The Tigers From Osaka The first thing you should know about this film is that it is violent and repugnant. But to me, there are two types of exploitation pictures. One that serves up its [...]
24Nov10
ESPy (1974)
Original Title: Esupai Country: Japan Director: Jun Fukuda Starring: Masao Kusakari, Hiroshi Fujioka, Kaoru Yumi, Tomisaburo Wakayama, Yûzô Kayama Music: Masaaki Hirao Every now and then I stumble upon a film that is a bit tougher to categorize and describe than most. ESPy is one such film. Firstly it is Japanese, and secondly as the [...]
26Jul10
Warlords (2007)
Country: China / Hong Kong Director: Peter Chan, Wai Man Yip Starring: Jet Li, Andy Lau, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Jinglei Xu, Yu Ai Lei Music: Kwong Wing Chan, Peter Kam, Leon Ko Sorry guys, but this review is not going to be anywhere near the standard I wanted it to be. I didn’t set out to [...]
5Jul10
Who Am I (1998)
Original Title: Wo shi shei Country: Hong Kong Director: Benny Chan / Jackie Chan Starring: Jackie Chan, Michelle Ferre, Mirai Yamamoto, Ron Smerczak, Ed Nelson, Kane Kosugi Music: Nathan Wang I like Jackie Chan’s films. Sure there’s some stinkers in there, but generally over his career he has consistently entertained cinema audiences. Who Am I [...]
Original Title: Qian mian mo nu Country: Hong Kong Director: Chang-hwa Jeong (as Cheng Chang Ho) Starring: Tina Chin Fei, Liang Chen, Pat Ting Hung, Carrie Ku Mei, Hsi Chang, Yu Chin Chang, Hsin, Yen Chao, Yi Ling Chen Music: Wang Foo Ling (plus John Barry and others – most likely without permission) If you [...]
14Jan10
Chinese 007
It would appear that in China, 007 is portrayed somewhat differently!
